Portland Trail Blazers center Arvydas Sabonis may be returning to the NBA next season, ESPN's David Aldridge reports.
The 38-year-old is expected to meet with Blazers officials next week to inform the team of his plans, but the Blazers are increasingly hopeful that Sabonis will play for them.
An internet report out of Europe in May said that Sabonis had decided to play next season for his Lithuanian team Zalgiris, which he co-owns. But Sabonis's agent, Herb Rudoy, said his client has not yet decided what to do.
Sabonis, who played very well in the Blazers' seven-game first-round series loss to Dallas, would make $7 million next season, but the Blazers can waive him before August 15 and not have to pay his salary.
Via ESPN
Portland Trail Blazers
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Jul 30, 2003 12:36 AM EST
A steady flow of red ink engulfing Paul Allen's investment empire has prompted the nation's third-richest man to impose an unprecedented austerity program on his once free-spending companies.
The Microsoft co-founder's vast fortune has been nearly halved -- from $40 billion to $21 billion -- by the decline of the stock market and other setbacks, according to one 2002 estimate. Since fall, companies in which Allen has invested heavily have laid off thousands of employees and implemented other measures to cut costs. Some companies have been sold, others disbanded.
The new era of restraint within Allen's world hit Portland this month when the Trail Blazers and Oregon Arena Corp. laid off a third of their staffs. The cutbacks came after a team of financial analysts from Allen's Seattle headquarters company, Vulcan Inc., pored over the Blazers' books and deemed the team's costs to be well beyond NBA norms.
Similar reviews are taking place throughout Allen's vast portfolio as his financial operatives send out a clear message: The Paul Allen gravy train has left the station and may not be coming back.
"Paul Allen owns 94 companies, and every one of them got looked at over the last year," said Tim McNamara, general manager of Rose City Radio in Portland, one of Allen's holdings. "Some will be sold, some will be shut down, some will cut costs, some will be invested in further."
The new discipline has hit Allen's biggest holdings and some of his smallest. Charter Communications, the nation's fourth-largest cable operator and Allen's single-largest investment, laid off 1,500 in the first quarter of 2003. Rose City Radio, owner of an AM and an FM station in Portland, laid off four employees earlier this month.
Via The Oregonian
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Jul 26, 2003 10:24 AM EST
Former UA basketball guard Damon Stoudamire has pleaded not guil-ty to charges stemming from an incident at the Tucson airport in which officials said he set off a metal detector by carrying a small package of marijuana wrapped in aluminum foil.
Stoudamire, a 29-year-old Port-land Trail Blazers guard, was originally scheduled to be in court Friday. He and his Portland, Ore.-based attorney, Steve Houze, instead filed a notice of appearance and plea earlier in the week, meaning they could skip the proceeding and request a trial date. It had not been set Friday.
Houze declined to comment on the case, for which the Blazers fined his client $250,000 and suspended him indefinitely.
After the July 3 incident was discovered, Trail Blazers officials said Stoud-amire would remain suspended until the matter was settled.
They also said they were working with union representatives to get Stoudamire into a drug-rehabilitation program.
Blazers media representatives were out of the office Friday and could not be reached for comment.
Via Arizona Daily Star
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Trail Blazers Jul 2003 Archive
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Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Jul 21, 2003
Antonio Daniels was dressed in white, from the silky sweat suit down to the sneakers.
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ESPN | Jul 19, 2003
Scottie Pippen is returning to familiar stomping grounds.
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Commercial Appeal | Jul 18, 2003
A decision on where free-agent forward Scottie Pippen will play next season could come early next week.
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Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter | Jul 18, 2003
Guard Antonio Daniels is believed to be close to signing with the Sonics as a free agent.
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Portland Oregonian | Jul 17, 2003
Start squirming, Trail Blazers players.
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Memphis Commercial Appeal | Jul 17, 2003
Free-agent forward Scottie Pippen said Wednesday his meeting with Grizzlies majority owner Michael Heisley went well, and he's seriously considering Memphis as his final stop.
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Chicago Tribune | Jul 16, 2003
As Scottie Pippen watched baseball's best Tuesday night from a suite at U.
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Philadelphia Daily News | Jul 16, 2003
John Nash says he never really felt "out" of the NBA since leaving the New Jersey Nets in June 2001.
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Memphis Commercial Appeal | Jul 16, 2003
NBA free agents can officially sign contracts starting today and the Grizzlies are entertaining future Hall-of-Famer Scottie Pippen.
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Associated Press | Jul 16, 2003
High schooler Travis Outlaw signed his first NBA contract with the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.
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Chicago Sun-Times | Jul 15, 2003
The ball is in Scottie Pippen's court.
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Philadelphia Daily News | Jul 15, 2003
John Nash is about to re-emerge an an NBA executive.
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Chicago Sun-Times | Jul 11, 2003
Scottie Pippen contacted Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf on Tuesday, enhancing the likelihood of Pippen returning to the Bulls to finish his career.
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Portland Oregonian | Jul 10, 2003
A National Basketball Players Association official said Wednesday that the Trail Blazers have no right to fine guard Damon Stoudamire $250,000 or suspend him indefinitely after his latest arrest for marijuana possession.
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Cleveland Plain Dealer | Jul 10, 2003
The Cavaliers and General Manager Jim Paxson remain mum when it comes to which players the organization is pursuing through free agency or which players they have interest in through a possible trade.
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Chicago Tribune | Jul 10, 2003
In low-key fashion, the Bulls welcomed Ira Newble to Chicago in an attempt to prove to the free-agent forward that their interest isn't limited to Scottie Pippen.
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Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter | Jul 9, 2003
Guard Antonio Daniels was in Seattle last night, sitting right next to Sonics coach Nate McMillan during the team's summer scrimmage at Seattle Pacific University last night.
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Chicago Tribune | Jul 9, 2003
They sat in a room at the Berto Center, three old friends and former teammates who had tasted sweet victories, bitter defeats and all the sweat inherent in working for such moments together.
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Portland Oregonian | Jul 8, 2003
For the third time in 18 months, Trail Blazers guard Damon Stoudamire has gotten caught up in marijuana possession charges, drawing a swift and forceful response from new team management that has put a premium on character.
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Los Angeles Times | Jul 8, 2003
After a wearying 24 hours in which the gloom over Kobe Bryant's arrest would not lift, and as they pushed along at a business-as-usual pace, Laker decision-makers awaited word on Gary Payton and kept their other options in play.
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Chicago Tribune | Jul 8, 2003
Speaking at his basketball camp Monday in Portland, Ore.
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Chicago Sun-Times | Jul 8, 2003
After discussing a return to the Bulls with Scottie Pippen over the weekend, John Paxson will shift his attention to the opposite end of the name-recognition spectrum today when Ira Newble visits.
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Jul 8, 2003
Gary Payton will not be wearing the purple and hunter green colors of the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2003-'04 season.
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ESPN | Jul 7, 2003
The agent for Gary Payton said Sunday that the All-Star guard has narrowed his list of prospective employers for next season to three teams, headlined by the Los Angeles Lakers.
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| Jul 7, 2003
The AP reports that Damon Stoudamire, guard for the Portland Trail Blazers, was arrested on drug charges as he boarded a plane at Tucson International Airport, a spokeswoman for the airport police said Monday.
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Chicago Tribune | Jul 3, 2003
Scottie Pippen is coming to Chicago—for personal reasons.
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Chicago Sun-Times | Jul 3, 2003
Bulls operations chief John Paxson wouldn't confirm Wednesday whether he has talked to free agent Scottie Pippen, which is a sign Pippen would like to keep the negotiations private.
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Orlando Sentinel | Jul 3, 2003
Craig "Speedy" Claxton was so impressive during the NBA Finals that it made the Orlando Magic cringe.
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Chicago Sun-Times | Jul 2, 2003
Jerry Krause's giddy proclamation that the Bulls have no chance of signing free agent Scottie Pippen didn't deter general manager John Paxson from calling Pippen on Tuesday, the first day teams could contact free agents.
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Portland Oregonian | Jul 2, 2003
The Trail Blazers had hoped to name a new general manager by today -- the first day NBA teams can begin negotiating with free agents -- but team president Steve Patterson said Monday a decision won't be made for at least a few days.
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Orlando Sentinel | Jul 1, 2003
They try to save the whales, save the rain forests and save the rhino.
