"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Our recent interview with the former UA point guard

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Jason Terry

>> AUDIO: Interview with Jason Terry at the 2010 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas

On Saturday night, I had the opportunity to sit down the former UA guard and 11-year NBA veteran Jason Terry minutes before Dallas’ NBA Summer League game with Houston. The Q&A was published at TucsonCitizen.com. This is the audio to go with it. I thought the Q&A without the audio of the animated Terry did not do the interview justice. I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support of this site, the Facebook page, and my endeavors with WildcatSportsReport.com and TucsonCitizen.com. The support has been tremendous and makes me want to keep going strong.

– Javier Morales

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Romar: Recruitment of committed players common practice

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AAU coach confirms Vargas’ trip to Arizona rescheduled for May 14-15

Jason Terry appears to be a mainstay in Dallas

• Bruce Pascoe of The Arizona Daily Star reports that UA’s director of basketball operations Jamall Walker may return to the coaching staff at Ohio.
• In case you missed it: No hedging here: Recruiting definitely more of a spectacle these days.
• Terrence Jones’ coach believes the player made his announcement prematurely and reports that Jones called John Calipari, not the other way around.
• Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said the practice of luring away recruits who have verbally committed is a common practice.
• A Kentucky fan site takes a playful look at the reported Jones-Calipari conversation after Jones announced he was headed to Washington
• Despite a lackluster performance in the playoffs, former UA guard Jason Terry will likely stick with Dallas for the last two years of his contract
• Richard Jefferson returns home to play in the playoffs with San Antonio. By the way, the Western Conference playoffs has a decided Arizona flavor: Jefferson, Channing Frye with Phoenix, Steve Kerr, the GM of Phoenix, and Luke Walton with the Lakers. Could former teammates and best friends Jefferson and Walton face each other in the Western Conference finals?
• Mike Bibby struggled against Orlando’s Jameer Nelson in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

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Ex-UA teammate Terry also on brink of elimination from playoffs

By Javier Morales

Some of the more notable players who have won championships at the high school, college and NBA level include Magic Johnson, Jerry Lucas and Quinn Buckner.

Former UA guard Mike Bibby has tried 12 years to join this list, but other than the 2001-02 season with Sacramento, he did not have a good opportunity like this season. Atlanta seemed prime to make a deep run in the playoffs with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference.

However, the Hawks are one game away from being eliminated by sixth-seed Milwaukee, which is playing without injured center Andrew Bogut. The Bucks won Game 5 of the first-round series Wednesday night to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Bibby played in the Western Conference finals with Sacramento in 2001-02. Bibby hit the game-winning jumper in Game 5 with 8 seconds remaining to put the Kings ahead 3-2 in the series, but the Lakers rallied to take the series, one of the best in NBA history. Sacramento finished that season with the NBA’s best record in the regular season but it did not amount to an NBA championship.

Bibby helped Arizona win the 1997 NCAA tournament as a freshman, a year after he averaged 34.3 points, eight assists and four steals for Class 5A state champion Phoenix Shadow Mountain.

Jason Terry won back-to-back state titles with Seattle Franklin High School in 1994 and 1995 before committing to Arizona. He was the sixth man in Arizona’s 1997 title season. He carries the same role for Dallas, which trails 3-2 against San Antonio in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Terry has also never won an NBA title. He came close in 2006, when the Mavericks led Miami 2-0 in the NBA finals before losing four consecutive games.

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Former UA assistant Mike Dunlap is now rumored to be a candidate at Iowa State

• Matt Carlino‘s elite college hoops odyssey takes turn to UCLA
• Kevin O’Neill beats Tim Floyd (UTEP) and Herb Sendek (ASU) and lands talented Iowa transfer Aaron Fuller
• Former UCLA player J’mison Morgan looks for a fresh start with Baylor
• Mike Dunlap‘s name is now surfacing for the Iowa State vacancy
• UPDATE: Former Cyclone Fred Hoiberg is named the new Iowa State coach
• Sigh of relief for UA followers: The hiring of Phil Mathews as an assistant at UCLA means Miles Simon will not join Ben Howland‘s staff
• Jason Terry‘s comment about Phoenix’s defense — or lack thereof — lights a fire under the Suns
• Terry finishes second to Atlanta’s Jamal Crawford for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award
• Don’t expect Richard Jefferson to return to San Antonio next year because he’s talked about opting out of his last year there

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FORMER UA PLAYERS IN THE NBA (Thru 4/14/2010)

* -- Rookie season. Bold -- Career highs

By Javier Morales

Thirteen years after leading Arizona to its first NCAA title, NBA veteran guards Mike Bibby and Jason Terry are still enjoying success on the court. Their respective teams — Atlanta and Dallas — are currently the No. 3 team in each conference with one week remaining.

Former UA guard Mustafa Shakur will not be in the NBA playoffs with Oklahoma City (which has signed him for the remainder of the season) but he is an important player for Tulsa in the NBA’s D-League playoffs.

Other former Wildcats assured to be in the NBA postseason include the ailing Luke Walton (out most of the season with a back injury) of the Los Angeles Lakers, Channing Frye with the Suns, Richard Jefferson of the Spurs and Jerryd Bayless of the Blazers.

Rookies Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill will be at home watching the playoffs despite Houston’s 39-38 record.

Also not in the postseason are the two best scorers Arizona has produced who are currently in the NBA — Gilbert Arenas of the Wizards and Andre Iguodala of the Sixers.

Arenas was sentenced last month to 30 days in a halfway house for bringing guns into the Wizards locker room. He avoided extended jail time. However, the three-time NBA All-Star will first serve two days of his sentence at the Montgomery County (Md.) Pre-Release Center, which means he will be behind bars at that time.

Don’t expect Arenas to be Tweeting while in the halfway house. According to a Washington Post report, residents can have visitors, and they are given access to a computer room to hunt for jobs. But Internet surfing, Facebooking and Tweeting are forbidden.

Also according to the Post, residents cannot have cellphones, laptops, video games or portable DVD players in their rooms. They can bring their own TV, no bigger than 13 inches, but they can’t have cable.

Read about career milestones reached by some ex-UA players on the jump

(more…)

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Hill, D’Antoni debate Knicks coach use of rookies

Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni responded to Jordan Hill‘s claim that the coach doesn’t like to play rookies by saying, “I don’t like bad rookies.”

• Our Anthony Gimino posts a story about the UA’s spring football practice at FoxSportsArizona.com
• Jason Terry is following doctor’s orders and wearing a protective mask in order to keep playing this season for Dallas
• Luke Walton, who has held a clipboard on the Lakers’ bench lately, looks to return from his back injury in early April
• Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni lauded Jordan Hill when he drafted him but now he insinuates that Hill is a “bad rookie”.
• The Houston Chronicle offers more on Hill’s claim that D’Antoni does not like to play rookies
• The Kansas City Star reports that Sean Miller recruited K-State leading scorer Jacob Pullen while he was at Xavier
• Xavier finally has its coach for the future in Cincinnati native Chris Mack

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Budinger and Frye pleasant surprises, others not faring well

ALL-STAR LINKS OF INTEREST:

• Chase Budinger rates as the 15th best rookie according to David Thorpe of Scouts, Inc. Jordan Hill ranks 39th.
• Former UA recruit Brandon Jennings talks about his surprising success in his rookie season with the Bucks
• ESPN reporter writes that former UA players Richard Jefferson and Mike Bibby are two of the biggest disappointments of the NBA season
• San Francisco Chronicle: For repentant athletes, Gilbert Arenas sets fine example
• Andre Iguodala “posterizes” LeBron James? Yes, he does in this video.
  

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  Jason Terry: Jim Rome correspondent at Dallas’ All-Star festivities

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  By Javier Morales

  One of the best recruiting pitches going for new UA coach Sean Miller these days are the 10 former Wildcats in the NBA. His message to recruits of the Classes of 2010, 2011 and even 2012: You can get there from here.

  If, for example, the Sixers’ Andre Iguodala makes ESPN’s Top 10 plays of the day — which is the norm more than the exception — chances are Miller or his assistants tell a recruit, “Check out ESPN’s top 10 plays. Did you see what Iguodala did? You know he played at Arizona right?”

  Iguodala, Phoenix free-agent acquisition Channing Frye, Houston rookie forward Chase Budinger and Dallas veteran Jason Terry have played well enough at the All-Star break to be shining examples for the Arizona program. While the season has seen some extraordinary individual performances — including Terry’s 36 points against Golden State on Monday — some of the ex-Wildcats are hoping for a reversal of fortunes.

  (more…)

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