Tag: DENVER

Green headed to Russia as hoops missionary

Spurs guard Danny Green spent part of last fall’s NBA lockout playing professionally in Slovenia. This month, he’s set to return to eastern Europe, but only for a few days.

Green has been selected to participate in the first-ever Basketball Without Borders event in Russia, to be held Sept. 13-16 in Moscow. There, he will help run basketball camps for as many as 50 up-and-coming European players.

Also scheduled to participate are Russian NBA players Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved (both of Minnesota) and Denver’s Timofey Mozgov, as well as Brooklyn guard MarShon Brooks and Brian Cardinal, formerly of the Dallas Mavericks.

Lithuanian legend  Sarunas Marciulionis is also scheduled to participate.

Basketball Without Borders camps are held annually as a collaboration between the NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

It is described in a news release as a “global basketball development program that uses the sport to create positive social change in the areas of education and health and wellness.”

Since its inception in 2001, Basketball Without Borders has staged 30 camps in 15 countries.

Najera retires from NBA to coach D-League’s Legends

FRISCO — Eduardo Najera, the first Mexican-born player drafted in the NBA, retired Wednesday to become the coach of the NBA Development League’s Texas Legends.

Najera was drafted by Houston in the second round in 2000. The former Cornerstone High and Oklahoma standout played 12 NBA seasons with Dallas, Golden State, Denver, New Jersey and Charlotte.

The Legends said Najera will now be the first Mexican-born head coach under the NBA umbrella. The deal also includes Najera becoming a minority owner of the Legends, who are co-owned by Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson, and holding a front-office position with the NBA team.

“This is a dream come true,” Najera said. “I have long wondered what would be in store for me when I hung up the basketball playing shoes, and this is the perfect opportunity for my post-playing career. The chance to develop as a coach, while also assisting Mark (Cuban) and Donnie with the Mavs, is an ideal situation.”

Najera succeeds Del Harris as the Legends coach. Harris is the general manager.

The Legends’ first coach two years ago was Nancy Lieberman, the first woman to coach a men’s pro team.

Najera, who made his NBA debut with the Mavericks in 2000 and played parts of five seasons in Dallas, played the last two seasons with the Bobcats.

Even computers underrate the Spurs

ESPN released its predictions for the upcoming season yesterday, with a projecting the Spurs to finish third in the Western Conference with 54 victories, while an accompanying statistical analysis from has them taking fifth with 51.7 victories.

Albeit clinically done, it’s a somewhat puzzling result considering that would place them behind not only Denver but Minnesota, which is projected to improve by a whopping 16 games. We’ll just have to see how everything pans out — heaven forbid that a preseason prediction would be incorrect — but a look at BP’s past predictions with a different formula reveals that even computers tend to underrate the Spurs.

2008-09

Projected wins, conference finish: 41.8, ninth. Actual wins, finish: 54, third.

2009-10

Projected wins, conference finish: 52.1, second. Actual wins, finish: 50, seventh.

2010-11

Projected wins, conference finish: 49.0, third. Actual wins, finish: 61, first.

2011-12

Projected wins, conference finish: 38.3, third. Actual wins, finish: 50, first.

So that’s three out of four seasons in which BP has not only underestimated San Antonio’s performance, but drastically so.

What that means is anybody’s guess. Age is going to catch up to Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili at some point. And the fact that they overachieved by several victories according to their , another favored formula amongst the statisticians, means their win percentage will likely decrease from last season, when they would have won 62 games in a normal season.

Still, based on BP’s past results and simple common sense, it’s hard to imagine they’ll drop as much as expected. (If at all.)