By the Associated Press
National Basketball Association
EVANSTON, Ill. – Illinois high school star Eddy Curry announced Monday night he will forego college and make himself available for the NBA draft.
The 6-11, 290-pound Curry made his announcement following the EA Sports Roundball Classic, an all-star game featuring some of the top high school players in
the nation.
Curry, 18, committed to DePaul last fall, but said then he might go pro if he thought he would go high enough in the draft.
Chicago Bulls general manager Jerry Krause was in attendance at Monday’s game, in which Curry finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
Curry’s East teammates beat the West 151-148 before 5,712 fans at Northwestern’s Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“If I was picked by the Bulls that would be great,” Curry said. “That’s why I chose DePaul, to stay close to home.”
Scouts say he’s expected to go in the top 10.
Curry was a McDonald’s All-American, Parade Magazine player of the year, Illinois Mr. Basketball and a unanimous Associated Press All-State selection after guiding South Holland Thornwood High School to second place in Class AA basketball in Illinois.
Averaging 25 points and 10 rebounds in the state finals tournament, the Thornwood star would join Kevin Garnett, Leon Smith and Darius Miles as Illinois high school stars who skipped college and went directly to the NBA.
Ten days ago, 7-foot sophomore Steven Hunter said he will skip his last two years at DePaul with the Blue Demons and make himself available for the NBA draft.
The Demons also lost two underclassmen to the NBA after last season – Quentin Richardson and Paul McPherson.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – A former NFL executive has been named president of the new North Charleston team in the National Basketball Development League.
M. Quentin Williams has been with the Jacksonville Jaguars for the past three years, first as director of player development and most recently as director of player administration and community affairs. Prior to that, he worked for the NFL as the league’s senior manager for player liaison.
His appointment was announced Monday by Rob Levine, senior vice president for new league development of the National Basketball Association.
Alex English, a standout both in the NBA and at the University of South Carolina, will coach the new team that which will play at the North Charleston Coliseum.
The NBDL will tip off in November with eight teams in the Southeast and a 56-game schedule that runs through March, followed by playoffs. The NBDL teams
will not have a direct affiliation with specific NBA teams, but players will be eligible to be picked up on any NBA team’s roster.
MARION, Ind. – Zach Randolph is ignoring the wishes of his mother and high school coach to enter the NBA draft after just one season as a reserve at Michigan State.
Randolph on Wednesday became the second Michigan State player in two days to announce an early jump to the NBA. Sophomore shooting guard Jason Richardson announced Tuesday that he also is going pro.
“It is my dream and that is what I’m doing it for,” Randolph said at a news conference in his hometown. “Nothing is promised to you, so you have to take advantage of your opportunities.”
Randolph said he would turn pro regardless of where he was drafted, but both he and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said they expected him to be drafted in first round.
The 6-9 Randolph averaged 10.8 points and 6.7 rebounds in less than 20 minutes a game last season.
Major League Baseball
BOSTON – The technology built to track planes and missiles through the sky soon will be tracking Pedro Martinez fastballs.
An array of cameras and other gizmos designed to help umpires tell whether they’re getting the hang of Major League Baseball’s new, strict interpretation of thestrike zone was installed Monday at Fenway Park by QuesTec.
There are no plans to replace an umpire’s judgment with that of QuesTec’s “Umpire Information System.” But developers of the technology and baseball officials say some objective feedback – which umpires will be able to access on laptops after a game – will help make for more consistent calls.
“The only feedback available to umpires has been the opinions of people that invariably have a worse angle on the pitch than they do,” said Paul Baim, an engineer and baseball fan who has worked on the technology for QuesTec and its collaborator, Atlantic Aerospace, based in Waltham.
The system, an upgrade of technology currently used on Fox television broadcasts, pinpoints a pitch within two-fifths of an inch. Umpires will be able to view pitch data, video clips and batter snapshots on their laptops after a game. The final display format has yet to be determined.
QuesTec, based in Deer Park, N.Y., began testing the technology at a fall league last year and at spring training this season in Arizona. The company, which has a five-year contract with MLB, hopes to begin operating the system at six yet-to-be determined major league parks by May.
The system installed at Fenway marks the first time it has been onsite at a Major League park for testing, though Fenway won’t necessarily be one of the six parks where it’s first tested in game situations.
The new version of PitchTrax being developed for umpires knows how to factor in the stance of the batter, whose crouch can raise or lower the strike zone, and even how to ignore birds or hot-dog wrappers that move through the field of view.