NBA roundup: Celtics cancel Rivers press conference
The Boston Celtics cancelled a scheduled press conference with president of basketball operations Danny Ainge and head coach Doc Rivers without giving a reason.
It originally was scheduled for noon EDT on Friday.
The Celtics sent out an e-mail at 9:30 a.m., announcing the press conference at the team's practice facility in Waltham, Mass., according to Boston.com. No reason was given why it was scheduled, but it is assumed to involve Rivers' future with the team.
It was then cancelled an hour later.
The Celtics did indicate that the press conference will likely be rescheduled for Monday, but no other details were provided.
The Celtics were trying to trade Rivers and forward Kevin Garnett to the Los Angeles Clippers, but NBA commissioner David Stern rejected the deal Thursday because it involved the coach as the centerpiece.
---The Miami Heat's 95-88 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Thursday drew a 17.7 overnight Nielson rating.
It is the second highest-rated NBA game ever on ABC, according to ESPN.
The rating peaked at a 22.6 from 11:30 p.m.-11:45 p.m. ET.
It is expected that the game marks the 37th straight time that an NBA Finals telecast delivered a TV ratings win for the night. It is the 25th consecutive time it has a double-digit overnight rating.
-----The Heat's championship parade is scheduled for Monday. An estimated 400,000 fans were on hand for last year's parade.
---The Sacramento Kings announced the hiring of assistant general manager Mike Bratz on Friday.
Bratz spent the past three seasons with the Denver Nuggets, most recently as director of player personnel. He worked under then-assistant general manager Pete D'Alessandro, now the Kings' GM.
---Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant told 710 ESPN Los Angeles this week that the team needs to re-sign center Dwight Howard, who is set to be a free agent on July 1.
"Those guys are hard to find, they don't grow on trees," Bryant said of Howard. "When you have someone like that with his talent level, you have to be able to keep him and lock him in with this franchise."
The Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers have been rumored as being among the teams that will pursue Howard.
--- The Denver Nuggets named Ben Tenzer as director of team operations, team president Josh Kroenke announced.
Tenzer will work closely with Kroenke and general manager/executive vice president of basketball operations Tim Connelly on day-to-day operations, with a focus on salary cap management and the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement.
