The Philippine Online Chronicles

US men's baskeball team down to 15

With the 2010 FIBA-World Championships just around the corner, the US Men’s Basketball team is on its last stages of tweaking with its lineup.

On Thursday, the team has two centers left in Brook Lopez and Tyson Chandler. The team, which offers the best young players from the United States recently sent Tyreke Evans, O.J. Mayo, and Gerald Wallace back home.

If not for Lopez’s seven-foot frame though, he would have been told to pack his things up as well.

While training last week, Lopez, who plays for the New Jersey Nets struggled mightily. It was reorted that he was still recovering from mono that the team leadership wasn’t aware of when he showed up for practice.

In an interview, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said that the entire management is going to give Lopez the chance that he deserves. He also added that Lopez knows that he didn’t perform well, so he’s quite certain that he’s going to bounce back.

Aside from Chandler and Lopez, the US team is bannered by rising superstar Kevin Durant, who will be clearly the team’s main man. Eric Gordon, Chauncey Billups, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, and Russell Westbrook complete the guard rotation.

The remaining finalists include Lamar Odom, Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, Rudy Gay, Danny Granger, and Kevin Love.

Colangelo admits that this US team is similar to the 2008 men’s team that won the gold medal in the Olympics. It may not have the front-court depth, but it has unmatched athleticism in every position.

The Americans should have had another insurance big man if Kendrick Perkins did not get injured in Game 6 of this year’s NBA Finals. Aside from Perkins, the US team also had the misfortune of losing Amar’e Stoudemire, David Lee, and Robin Lopez.

Meanwhile, reigning rookie of the year Evans missed the last few days of practice in Las Vegas because of an ankle injury. Wallace on the other hand, only contributed four points and got no rebounds. Their poor performance caused them to be cut from the team.

In spite of the management’s insistence to have one of the players from 2008 to join, not one of them showed interest to play basketball this summer.

Before the World Basketball championships starts, the US team will play against France on August 15. After that, they will be facing Spain, Greece, and Lithuania before going straight to Turkey.

Former NBA player Wright shot to death

Former NBA player Lorenzen Wright was found dead in the woods just outside Memphis on Wednesday.

According to initial reports, he was shot to death and there’s a strong argument for it to be considered a homicide case.

For weeks, Wright’s family has been looking for him when he disappeared on July 18. After almost two weeks, his body was found with gunshot wounds that caused his death. Police reports say that Wright was carrying a large amount of cash the day that he disappeared.

An affidavit that was obtained by the Associated Press said that Wright sold two vehicles to a person who is connected to the Memphis drug ring. It has been said that the money that was used to purchase the vehicles came from illegal activities.

Four days after he was last seen, Wright’s family already filed a report that he was missing. His mother said that her son’s unusual quietness alarmed her and that’s there’s a good chance that he was carrying a lot of case when he left.

Wright’s body was found near an apartment complex located in Southeast Memphis on Wednesday. Police however needed to wait for his dental records in order to confirm Wright’s identity.

When Wright’s body was found, his cellphone indicated that he placed a call to 911 on July 19. Police figured out that the call was placed near the area where his body was found.

In 13 seasons, the 6-11 Wright played for the Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Wright left the University of Memphis in his sophomore year and in 1996, he was selected by the Clippers as the seventh overall draft pick. In over 700 professional games, he averaged eight points and 6.4 rebounds.

Wright will be leaving six children, his mother Deborah Marion and father Herb Wright. Before playing professional basketball, his father coached him in a wheelchair after getting shot in the spine years ago.

According to friends, Wright was a people person and he treated everyone with respect. The news of his death caused over 200 people to flock the crime scene and it included former NBA star Penny Hardaway.

Pacquiao-Margarito on November 13

For the second time, talks between a possible fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. collapsed.

With that out of the way, the newly-elected congressman from Sarangani has turned his attention to former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito.

Top Rank big boss Bob Arum said that Pacquiao is looking to get his eighth title in as many divisions by fighting Margarito in the junior middleweight division. Pacquiao is currently the only boxer in history to ever win seven different titles in seven weight classes.

Although Miguel Cotto is the current holder of the junior middleweight belt, Margarito was chosen over him because Cotto was already defeated by Pacquiao last year.

According to sources, the Pacquiao-Margarito bout is for the vacant WBC super welterweight title that Sergio Martinez vacated this year.

According to Arum, the fight will be very attractive to fight fans because Margarito is way bigger than the Filipino champion. The announcement of the bout was made right after Mayweather ignored the deadline that was set by Arum on a proposed megafight with Pacquiao.

Right after the deadline, Mayweather’s adviser Leonard Ellerbe said that there were no negotiations that happened between Arum and Mayweather. However, Arum completely slammed Ellerbe by saying that he has been negotiating with the other camp for months.

Arum used HBO sports boss Ross Greenburg as intermediary because he didn’t have a great relationship with Mayweather. Greenburg on the other hand, backed up Arum by admitting that negotiations really took place.

Margarito is the biggest winner in the Pacquiao sweepstakes. One year ago, many people thought that his career is already over when it was revealed that he was using loaded gloves in his fight against Shane Mosley that he lost.

Many people believed that his career is already over, but with this upcoming fight against boxing’s pound-for-pound king, he’ll be getting his largest paycheck ever.

According to Arum, he wants the fight to happen in Las Vegas because he doesn’t have to pay taxes. However, Margarito needs to get a license first because his appeal to renew it was declined.

Arum is confident that if he doesn’t get a license in Nevada, Margarito will be filing one in California. If all his options don’t materialize, there’s a big possibility that the fight will happen in Mexico, which happens to be Margarito’s hometown.

Photos Courtesy of: Wikimedia and Flickr