Hooped Up

Previously on Hooped Up, I played part one of the new series of Adidas commercials with Gilbert Arenas and today you get part two of that commercial. So to recap, last week random kids hopped into a tinted SUV with Gilbert Arenas and this week they will hop on a plane no questions asked to Orlando to meet Dwight Howard. 

Who needs parents when you have Adidas.

One of the NBA’s classiest dudes is looking at retirement next season and since he’s already in the state of Florida.  Home to old folks and visiting drunk college kids, I’m sure he’ll have no problem finding a daily game of shuffle board.  

“Orlando Magic center Adonal Foyle said he’s thinking about retiring from the NBA after the season, and in fact, “It’s constantly in the back of my mind.” Foyle, 33, isn’t expected to receive much playing time this season unless another big man is injured or matchups favor his rugged style. He was reminded by Coach Stan Van Gundy before Monday night’s 109-103 exhibition victory against the Atlanta Hawks that the club’s big-man plan behind Dwight Howard is to use veteran Tony Battie and young Marcin Gortat. “Tony is sort of the guy we want as the first big off the bench and right now, I think Marcin is our second guy,” Van Gundy said. “As I told Adonal, we know what he can do. We think he can be a very effective backup center, but we’re intrigued by Marcin. That’s what our plans our now.”

Orlando Sentinel

Hedo Turkoglu is hoping for a big payday next season.

“Hedo Turkoglu said Tuesday that he likely will opt out of his contract after the season to become a free agent, signaling the end of his six-year, $39-million deal with the Magic. He could play out his final season in 2009-10 at $7.3 million. But he seemingly has gained enough leverage and equity after earning the NBA’s most improved player award last season. He turns 30 next March, meaning this is likely his last shot at a lucrative long-term contract.”

Orlando Sentinel

Who better than Dwight Howard aka Superman to promote the goodness of Milk . Howard recently became the latest celebrity to joined the Body By Milk campaign and sport the milk mustache. Since he’s built like a Peterbuilt truck, this was an excellent choice.  Along with his spread, Dwight Howard is kicking off the Refuel Your School tour, according to AKA Media “which will reward 25 high school athletic teams across the country that chose chocolate milk to help them refuel and rehydrate after intense play. The winning teams will score a Refuel Rally at their school, a $1,000 new equipment grant, gear and more”.  

Hopefully “more”, includes Ana Ivanovic as a supply teacher for a week, yowza! Here are some behind the scences footage of the Dwight Howard Body By Milk campaign.

Via a tip submitted by Hooped Up reader  Brent

After several weeks of rumours, which included Jason Williams, Earl Boykins, Willie Solomon and many others, Maccabi Tel Aviv have finally sealed their roster for next season, with the purchase of Carlos Arroyo.

Puerto-Rico’s starting playmaker, which turned 29 last week, signed with the “Yellows” today, and will be their highest-paid player ever, with a contract around 2.5 million dollars.

Safsal

The Orlando Magic added veteran depth to their backcourt Tuesday, signing guard Anthony Johnson.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed,

Johnson, 33, has played for seven different teams over parts of 11 seasons. The South Carolina native split last season with the Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings, averaging 5.6 points and 3.8 assists in 69 games.

National Post

While he might not be officially re-signed until next month, veteran center Adonal Foyle is expected to return to play for the Magic. The Magic want Foyle to come back and mentor young center Marcin Gortat and shooting guard Mickael Pietrus — Foyle’s former teammate with the Golden State Warriors. Pietrus signed a four-year free-agent deal with the Magic.

Orlando Sentinel 

Derrick Rose is going home, and a record crowd of freshmen are following him to the NBA. The Chicago Bulls selected Rose, who grew up on the city’s South Side, with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Thursday night, choosing the Memphis guard over Kansas State forward Michael Beasley.  Below are the rest of the NBA draft results.

Round 1 NBA Draft Results

Second round results after the jump Read the rest of this entry »

Team USA is official and here are the members selected by the USA basketball comitee.

Carmelo Anthony
Carlos Boozer
Chris Bosh
Kobe Bryant
Dwight Howard
LeBron James
Jason Kidd
Chris Paul
Tayshaun Prince
Michael Redd
Dwayne Wade
Deron Williams

This is an awesome squad but, who is going to take a back seat to who and who leads this team?