Rumors

Marc J. Spears: NBA names New York University Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer Sabrina Ellis it’s new Chief People Officer.  She will oversee the NBA’s global human resources strategy – including compensation and benefits, talent acquisition, and learning and leadership development pic.twitter.com/ShEAeic5wN

Twitter

You might've heard the term "Knickstape" as a slogan for the New York Knicks and their fan base. Well, that could be retiring. Replaced by two simple words: "Bing Bong." Knicks fan Jordie Bloom shouted the phrase on opening night of the Knicks' season in a video from Sidetalk, a one-minute street show by New York University students Trent Simonian and Jack Byrne that conducts interviews in New York City. Their Twitter and Instagram pages combine for over 700,000 followers and their YouTube channel has more than 3 million views. They've interviewed celebrities such as Lil Uzi Vert, Bella Hadid and A$AP Rocky.

ESPN

One month ago, sports' use of those COVID-19 tests — and the lab capacity needed to process them — was thought to be incidental. But now, the United States is seeing more than 50,000 new cases of COVID-19 a day. Major commercial labs are struggling to keep up with the high demand, causing delays in turnaround times. And experts wonder if the return of sports could burden an increasingly-fragile testing infrastructure. "That's been a big concern for me, as I’ve been seeing different leagues and their plans for reopening," said Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist at New York University and Bellevue Hospital.

USA Today Sports

Ian Begley: Ex-Knick and NYU star Cal Ramsey has died. Ramsay was a part of the Knick organization for 5 decades as a player, broadcaster & community relations team member. Ramsay could usually be found near the court at MSG on game nights, greeting visitors with a smile. A true gentleman.

Twitter

On Wednesday, Stephon Marbury went to Founders Hall at N.Y.U. to talk to some 125 first-year students and tell his increasingly unusual story. “I’ve been trying to get Stephon Marbury to come to N.Y.U. for a long time — for two reasons,” said David Hollander, a clinical associate professor of sports management and the person who extended the invitation. “I love his whole story. I love the evolution of himself as a human being, and I am drawn to the potential of Starbury.

New York Times

Going overseas, Marbury said, allowed him to reset. He found success on the basketball court and reorganized his personal life. As his career prospered, he rejuvenated his Starbury shoe brand, which sells low-price footwear. He intends to play one more year before he retires — he will finish his career with the Beijing Fly Dragons — and said he now considered himself both a C.E.O. and a basketball player, giving equal weight to the two titles. But Marbury says he believes he was invited to N.Y.U. not to serve as a role model or a cautionary tale. “It’s more of a story,” he said. “My lane and what’s gone on with me.”

New York Times

He had just shared a surprising, emotional hug with NYU freshman Zhou Sheng Kang. The 19-year-old student, who grew up in Beijing, was overcome with emotion while standing a few feet away from the player he watched lead his hometown team to three Chinese league championships. Marbury was speaking at a question-and-answer session for incoming NYU students at the school Wednesday, touching on his career with the Beijing Ducks that included the franchise's first championship in 2012. "I had no clue. I couldn't stop crying," Marbury said of meeting Zhou. "I know how he feels, and he's sharing the feeling of how happy he is."

ESPN

The winning team at the hackathon examined the behavior of clubs in the regular season versus the playoffs, and whether any benefited from resorting to "hero ball." The team, comprised of Alex Wainger and Zac Robertson from Columbia University, Ella Kuzmenko from NYU and William Robbins from Pace University, found that changing a team's brand of basketball and decreasing overall passing and increasing the overall number of dribbles on offense resulted in fewer points per possession. For finishing in first, the four received an open invitation to play pickup at Terminal 23, free tickets to an NBA game, a $800 NBA Store gift card and lunch with league staff. In second place was Chris Packard from Stanford University and Senthil Natarajan from Rice University, two writers from Nylon Calculus. Their analysis focused on assessing the defensive versatility and analyzing how players defend against different types of scorers. "With positional versatility valued more than ever, we felt it would be cool to develop a tool to quantify players like Draymond Green who could capably defend multiple positions," Senthil said.

SportsonEarth

Billionaire venture capitalist Gordon Gund is selling his 15 percent stake in the Cleveland Cavaliers, who for the second year in a row are playing for the NBA championship, according to two people familiar with the situation. The pro basketball franchise best known for four-time MVP LeBron James is worth about $1.1 billion, said valuations expert Peter Schwartz. The stake held by Gund, who owned the Cavaliers from 1983 to 2005, is worth as much as $160 million, said Schwartz, a presidential research scholar at New York University.

Bloomberg

Ryan Gisriel has been named as director of basketball administration. Gisriel, who started with the Nets as an intern in 2013, has since served as special projects coordinator and as assistant to the general manager. The Baltimore native received a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Notre Dame in 2013. Andrew Baker has been named strategic planning coordinator. Baker comes to Brooklyn after spending the past year as a quality assurance assistant in the basketball operations department of the San Antonio Spurs. A native of Vero Beach, Fla., Baker received his Bachelor of Science degree in sports management from NYU and his Juris Doctor from Tulane University Law School, where he also received a certificate of specialization in sports law.

NBA.com

A 6-foot-8 forward out of the Bronx, Schayes famously led New York University to the NCAA Final Four as a 16-year-old freshman center. He then helped the Nats to their only NBA title back in 1955. He played his entire 16-season career with the Syracuse franchise, scoring more than 19,000 points and grabbing more than 11,000 rebounds along the way. Only one of his 16 Nats teams failed to qualify for the NBA playoffs.

syracuse.com

Any indication what David Kahn has been up to recently? Jerry Zgoda: I think he's still living in Portland and wants to get back into the NBA. He had been doing some teaching at NYU and writing for Bloomberg, I believe.

Star Tribune

NBPA: In July, our players learned the fine points of commercial real estate investment from NYU professors and Don Peebles of the Peebles Corporation. #NotJustBasketball #MogulsInTheMaking @zazapachulia #richardjefferson @ayobaby11

Instagram

Speaking at the 14th annual Cal Ramsey Distinguished Lecturer Series in Sports Management at New York University, Stern was asked what he would have done with Dolan if he were still commissioner. “Would I discipline James Dolan for that email?” Stern asked. “Why would I do that?” “We have our own brand of due process,” Stern later added. “In terms of all the things that people should be held accountable for … if you are looking for every email that gets sent to a fan who sends a nasty email, I’m sorry … that’s almost beneath the commissioner’s duties.”

ESPN.com