Hooped Up

Want to meet Michael Beasley? Need some new kicks? Well I’m about to kick-start your already good Miami Friday.

Today adidas is putting Beasley to work as a Champs Sports employee at Aventura Mall in Miami to get fans amped up about the new, Official NBA Shop at Champs Sports.

That’s right, Supercool Beas is gonna trade in his Miami HEAT duds for a Champs uniform to be your personal shopper, work the register, heck — maybe he’ll even upsell you some insoles too and everybody’s invited to come out. Read More »

The Miami Heat take serious pride in their game intros at American Airlines Arena and they kicked up the “Heat” a notch for their Noche Latina games.

Dwyane Wade split the Philadelphia 76ers defense like his name is Moses and he was loading points instead of animals two by two. Welcome to smash time Sixers.

Dorell Wright was arrested in South Beach and charged with DUI and driving with a suspended license.

According to the arrest report, Wright, 24, was stopped at 3:37 a.m. in his 2005 Bentley near the intersection of Alton Road and 12th Street. Officers witnessed Wright driving erratically and, upon approaching the vehicle, observed “red and watery eyes, order of an alcoholic beverage on his breath and low and slurred speech.”

Wright could not find his proof of insurance, knew he was driving on a suspended license and refused to submit to a sobriety test, according to the affidavit. Wright also was accused of driving 52 mph in a 25 mph zone. Read More »

Rafer Alston’s future with the Miami Heat is in serious doubt.

The 11th-year point guard has been suspended by the team, which made the announcement about two hours after beating Atlanta on Saturday night. Alston was not at the arena for the game, with the Heat saying he was inactive for personal reasons and coach Erik Spoelstra only saying more details would likely be released Sunday.

“Rafer Alston, while having made contact with the team via text message, has made himself otherwise unavailable to the team. As a result he has been suspended indefinitely,” the team said in a release.

Alston could not be reached for comment. He did not immediately respond to an email message. Read More »

Miami Heat point guard Carlos Arroyo has been charged with resisting arrest after police say he was pulled over for driving suspiciously.

The Coral Gables Police Department reports that a motorcycle officer made several attempts to pull Arroyo over Friday morning. After Arroyo was stopped, police say he refused to get out of his vehicle several times before complying.

Arroyo was charged with operating a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to block traffic, failure to obey a lawful order and resisting arrest without violence.

Miami Heat President Pat Riley declined to comment on the arrest.

Arroyo released a statement saying he was on his way to practice when he was stopped. He says the matter will be resolved in his favor when all the facts come out in court.

Press Release

Sit back and watch New York street artist WK Interact bring the intimidating power of Dwyane Wade to life on the streets of Manhattan. Beautiful graff work!

The Miami Heat received an optimistic progress report Thursday on the status of Dwyane Wade’s strained left calf.

With swelling down and Wade maintaining full functionality, the team continues to list the guard as day-to-day, although it is almost certain he will not play in the final two stops of this four-game road trip, Friday night against the Memphis Grizzlies and Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks.

Wade’s injury is the type that can take two weeks or longer to heal, but a team spokesman said there is hope that a return could come far sooner. Wade remains with the team, with his treatment regimen the same as it would be with a return to South Florida.

“He’s on a day-to-day basis and he’s being treated three or four times a day and we hope it’s something that he’ll get over with quickly,” Heat President Pat Riley said.

Sun Sentinel

After failing to acquire Stoudemire, Miami Heat turns focus to keeping Dwyane Wade
Having come up short in its battle to acquire Amare Stoudemire by Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, the Heat is preparing for a bigger fight heading into free agency.

At stake: Dwyane Wade.

Although the Heat was unable to swing a deal amid a flurry of movement at the deadline, the focus shifts to protecting its biggest asset in Wade from an expanded field of suitors flushed with cash.

The New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings made moves in recent days to join the New Jersey Nets as teams that cleared enough salary-cap space to make maximum offers to Wade and other top-tier free agents.
Miami Herald

Read More »

Over the last two days I’ve had some mad technical problems bringing you Hooped Up, but it looks like the worst has passed and everything is okay — for now (crosses fingers, throws salt over shoulder, and climbs sacred mountain to retrieve in bloom rare good luck orchid).

After watching the outtakes from Charles Barkley, Dwight Howard and Dwyane Wade filming their T-Mobile ads, I guess I wasn’t alone in the problems department. Yup, you could even say that minus the money, height and graduate professor jackets. I’m exactly like those guys. Then again, you could also say “keep dreamin’ buddy”.