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Hall of Fame: Reportedly Joe Dumars (Detroit) and Dominique Wilkins (Atlanta) will be inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in September. Word is that Charles Barkley will also get the nod.

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Stockbroker Calvin Darden stole almost $6 million from Securities firms and investors including $300,000 from Latrell Sprewell (Minnesota). Darden, spent the money on a lavish lifestyle including the purchase of a $2.85 million Long Island, N.Y. home that featured a 6 meter aquarium and a movie theatre. He was sentenced to 4- 12 years in prison and ordered to repay all the money.

Former NBA star Jayson Williams remains free on bail after his conviction on four charges related to an attempted cover up of the shooting of a chauffeur in his home April 30/04. He was acquitted of the more series charges of aggravated manslaughter but the jury couldn’t reach a verdict on a reckless manslaughter charge and the prosecutors want a new trial. Williams has now sold his New Jersey mansion for $8 million (U.S.)

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NBA's First Superstar Passes

George Mikan, a former Laker centre has died at age 80. Shaquille O'Neal announced that he would pay for the funeral to help Mikan's family. Mikan, who was selected one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history in 1996, died in Scottsdale, Arizona June 2nd.

He played for the Lakers when they were based in Minneapolis and retired four years before they moved to Los Angeles. His illustrious career included 5 championships and six scoring titles before he retired in 1956. He averaged 28.4 points in 1951 - a season in which the Lakers' team averaged less than 83 points a game. At 6"10' and 245 pounds, he would be considered small for a centre in today's game, but at the time most centres averaged 6"6'. He was the "first true superstar" in the NBA said Commissioner David Stern. With a virtually unstoppable hook shot, he dominated the game and forced the sport to adapt to him. The NCAA banned goaltending to keep him from swatting away shots at will at DePaul University in the 1940s and the NBA doubled the size of its then 6' wide key - it's now 16" wide - to slow him down on the offensive end.

He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959. From 1967 to 1969 he served as the first commissioner of the American Basketball League. When the Lakers moved to L.A., the team retained their nickname mainly because of the reputation and influence of George Mikan and the championships they won. The Lakers' current owner Jerry Buss credits Mikan as a trailblazer for such future franchise stars as Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Wilt chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, and Shaquille O'Neal.

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Inside The NBA

NBA PLAYOFFS - Conference Finals

West:
Dallas vs Phoenix

East:
Detroit vs. Miami


NBA AWARD WINNERS:

Scoring: Kobe Bryant, (Lakers) with a career high 35.4 average won the scoring title

MVP: Steve Nash (Phoenix) - the first Canadian to win the league MVP, Nash won for the second year in a row and is only the 9th player in NBA history to win back to back titles. He joins Kareem Adbul Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, Bill Russell and Moses Malone in the history books. Nash had career high averages in points (18.8), rebounds (4.2), field goal percentage (.512) free throws - a league leading .921 and assists (10.5) also tops in the league and he was 6th in 3-point shooting (.439)

6TH MAN: Guard Mike Miller (Memphis) - He led the league with a 13.7 point average coming off the bench

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Ben Wallace (Detroit) won for the 4th time. Only Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo have won the award 4 times.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Chris Paul (New Orleans). He led all rookies in points (16.1), assists (7.8), steals (2.2), double doubles (21) minutes played (36.4) and triple doubles (2)

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER AWARD: Boris Diaw (Phoenix) - Arriving in Phoenix in the Joe Johnson trade with Atlanta, he improved from an average of 4.6 points per game to 13.3, 6.9 rebounds from 3.6, and 6.2 assists from 2.4. His shooting average jumped from 44% to 53%


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Suspensions/Fines, etc.





Injury List:

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Elsewhere in Basketball

Canada Basketball has signed a partnership deal with management firm IMG to develop their “Be One” program. IMG will seek corporate sponsors to get the program financially sound in order to promote and develop basketball across the country. Basketball raised $700,000 last year, far behind National hockey and soccer which generated approximately $7 million each from sponsors and registrations.

Team Canada Coach Leo Rautins says there are more than 100 Canadians playing basketball in Europe and at last count 79 in the NCAA. He says Steve Nash (Phoenix) and Jamaal Magloire (N.O.) would be tremendous assets on Canada's team but there's no guarantee either will play. He hopes to recruit the players to build a program that would convince the NBA stars to come on board. "We have the talent", he added.

The U.S. Men's Basketball team will be chosen by Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Coach Larry Brown with help from Jerry West and a handful of NBA Presidents and General Managers. USA Basketball, the sport's national governing body is hoping for better results in tournaments than the 3rd place finish in the 2004 Olympics.

Joe Bryant, Kobe’s father has signed to coach the Tokyo Apache, one of six teams in Japan’s professional basketball League. Bryant played 8 seasons in the NBA with the 76ers, San Diego Clippers and Houston before playing overseas for Italy, Germany, France and Israel for another 9 years.

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