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Rose says he took money from BoosterThe (AP) reports: Chicago Bulls guard and former Michigan player Jalen Rose said he took some money from a former Michigan booster who pleaded guilty earlier this week to a federal conspiracy charge. Rose, who was drafted out of Michigan in 1994, told Fox Sports Net on Thursday that Ed Martin gave him pocket money. "He gave me money before, but it wasn't in excess of -- you know -- trying to allow me to be rich," Rose said. "You know, it was allowing me to have a couple of dollars in my pocket." Martin was accused of illegally lending $600,000 to four Wolverines basketball players. Martin said he paid $280,000 to Chris Webber, now with the NBA's Sacramento Kings; $160,000 to Robert Traylor, now with the Charlotte Hornets; $105,000 to Maurice Taylor, now with the Houston Rockets; and $71,000 to Louis Bullock, who is playing professionally in Europe. Rose didn't say how much he was given. "Like I said, just something to make me feel like I can go to a movie, go to a show, I can get a pair of gym shoes, I can get -- you know -- a fresh outfit," Rose said, according to excerpts released by Fox Sports prior to the show's airing. Rose said Martin gave him money before he was at the university, but didn't clarify whether he also received money while playing for the Wolverines. On Tuesday, Martin, 68, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. As part of his plea, he agreed to cooperate with the government and the university in their investigations of improper benefits to basketball players. Rose reportedly had been interviewed by investigators, but was not listed in the federal indictment as one of the players who took loans from Martin. Authorities alleged Martin and his wife, Hilda, ran an illegal numbers game at Detroit auto plants and laundered the profits, in part through the loans to the players and their families. Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Don’t rule the Hawks out of the first round yetThe Atlanta Hawks officially lost their pick to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of the sign and trade deal for Lorenzen Wright on draft night, but as Jeffrey Denberg reports do not rule them out of the first round just yet. Atlanta will learn by June 10 if they get the 23rd pick in the NBA draft, Hawks GM Pete Babcock said yesterday. The pick belongs to Detroit, which owes Houston a pick. If Detroit deals it, Houston owes Atlanta a first-rounder from last year's trade for the draft rights to Maryland's Terence Morris. The Rockets must give the Hawks a pick by the 2004 draft. Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Pistons in great shapeThe Detroit Pistons had the second-lowest payroll in the league this season and won 50 games. That, by an NBA ranking of victories per dollar, made them the second most efficient franchise in the league. San Antonio, which spent $4 million more on players and won eight more games, was the most efficient. But Chris McKoskey of the Detroit News says you could hardly call the Pistons cheap. They put out quite a lot in multi-million dollar contracts to Corliss Williamson and Zeljko Rebraca last summer, and to Michael Curry, and previously unproven players Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins a year earlier. In fact, the Pistons have 11 players being paid $1.5 million or more. But the Pistons saved by having no player over $8 million. Alan Ostfield, senior vice-president of business and legal affairs, otherwise known as the Pistons' salary capologist, says "We have never had a maximum-salary player. When you aren't paying one player $10 million-plus a year, you give yourself a lot of flexibility." The Pistons are very comfortable with their position for the future. They will probably be just over the 2002/03 salary cap, and Ostfield says they're likely to use a goodly amount of the mid-level exception. Perhaps even better, they could be anywhere between $12 million and $18 million under the cap in the summer of 2003 when there's a bonanza of top-level free agents. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Pistons May 2002 Archive
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