Rumors

Michigan State HC Tom Izzo reveals he was in talks with the Phoenix #Suns: "I've had more than a couple job offers in the NBA, looked at one last year with Phoenix – my former player Mat Ishbia. That was hard, that was a hard thing to turn down... we talked seriously about it."

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Marc Stein: Tom Izzo could have been the coach of the Phoenix Suns. Today Izzo confirmed on the @dpshow something that has circulated in NBA coaching circles for the past year: He turned down Suns owner Mat Ishbia last spring when offered the chance to jump to the NBA. The Suns hired another coach with Michigan State ties instead in Jordan Ott and have themselves a Coach of the Year candidate.

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Farbod Esnaashari: James Harden invited MSU shooting survivor John Hao and his entire family to the Clippers game tonight. It's a friendship that's lasted over two years dating from when he was 76er. Another example of Harden's special relationship with fans. "It's not just a one time thing. He had something was literally life-changing happen to him. For him to still be strong enough, we talked before the game and he's about to get his Masters. That's just something... you know, first of all, I don't even have a college degree. For someone to have something that's life-changing and still has the motivation to keep pushing and keep going - that motivates me. Just keep pushing in whatever obstacles I feel like I'm going through in life. Strong human being, strong man, and I'm just proud of him."

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CJ McCollum: "But no, I did — I remember what I said. I used to go on HoopsHype and look at deals and look at stats. I did this my whole life. Like, before I went to Lehigh, I knew George Hill’s stats. I knew Steve Nash. I knew every — like, Steph Curry — every borderline mid-major that went to the league, like first round. I looked at them. I looked at Eric Snow — obviously he went to Michigan State — but Keith McLeod went to Bowling Green. Antonio Daniels — Ohio high school legend. So I knew, like: 'Alright, I gotta average this. I gotta be this efficient. I gotta get to the tournament.' So when it came to contracts in the league, I did the same thing. I looked at your trajectory, size, points — obviously statistics. How good is the team? And I was like: 'Okay, he’s getting eight. Okay, this guy’s getting twelve. What do I have to do? And how much team success do we have to have for me to get paid?'

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Pierre Brooks is keeping his options open. The Butler senior forward who began his career at Michigan State is declaring for the NBA draft with the possibility of returning to college if granted an extra season of eligibility, he announced Wednesday on social media.

Booth Newspapers

Detroit Pistons PR: The @DetroitPistons and Phoenix Suns announced today the scheduling of a preseason game between the two clubs at the storied Breslin Center at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. on Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 7:00 p.m.

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“It doesn’t ever die,” Joey Skinn, the manager at ABC Vintage, said. “(Vintage clothing) is the one thing in fashion that never goes out of style.” At any given time inside the establishment, which is co-owned by Aaron Cohen and Mike Pang, you’ll find forgotten, lost and unique clothing from Detroit’s four major professional sports teams, as well as the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, other sports teams, musical artists and movies. Every “sports piece,” as vintage heads like to call the clothing, was birthed in the 1970s, ’80s, ’90s or early 2000s by well-known apparel companies like Chalk Line or Starter and by fashion designers like Jeff Hamilton. Others are “bootlegs” from those periods — pieces of clothing, often illegally using sports team logos or variations of them, created by civilians and sold out of the trunks of cars or hung on nearby fences during big sporting events in the city.

New York Times

Jason Dumas: The following players will workout for the Warriors on Tuesday: N'Faly Dante (Oregon)   Malik Hall (Michigan State) Xavier Johnson (Southern Illinois) Mantas Rubstavicius (New Zealand Breakers) Tolu Smith (Mississippi State) Jahmir Young (Maryland)

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Sean Highkin: Today's Blazers predraft workout session participants: Melvin Ajinca (Saint-Quentin), Cam Christie (Minnesota), Thierry Darlan (G League Ignite), Malik Hall (Michigan State), Harrison Ingram (North Carolina), Keshad Johnson (Arizona)

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Magic Johnson: My two favorite basketball teams in the world have a chance to win championships this year. The Los Angeles Lakers have a chance to win the NBA Championship and MSU’s men’s basketball team has a chance to win the NCAA Championship!

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Noah Levick: James Harden with a pregame hug for John Hao, a Michigan State shooting survivor. Hao’s a big fan of Harden, who connected with him and invited him to a game:

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Magic Johnson posted on Instagram Thursday and expressed his heartbreak over his father's death. He said the elder Johnson was his biggest supporter, best friend, hero and idol. "I wanted to be just like my dad," the Michigan State University and NBA legend said. "My father was the hardest working man I've ever known. He worked two to three jobs at any given time to provide for his family and never made excuses."

lansingstatejournal.com

When 76ers star James Harden saw the news that John Hao -- a 20-year-old Michigan State student and huge fan of the future Hall of Fame point guard -- had been paralyzed from the chest down in the tragic shooting on the university's campus earlier this month, Harden knew he had to do something. "There's things like that, where you sit back and think about just real life and things bigger than basketball," Harden said after Philadelphia's 110-105 win over the Memphis Grizzlies at Wells Fargo Center Thursday night, the Sixers' first game back from the All-Star break. "I heard that he was a fan of mine, so I wanted to get up on that ASAP and just see what I could do, anything I could do."

ESPN

Malika Andrews: Last week, 20-year-old John Hao’s life was changed forever. He was one of the students shot at Michigan State University and was left paralyzed from the waist down. Hao is a huge fan of James Harden, and when Harden heard Hao’s story, he stepped in: pic.twitter.com/Htm2RXRdQ2

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