pro basketball

• Sports

Boxer Franchon Crews wins Police Athletic League middleweight title

Franchon Crews of Baltimore captured the National Police Athletic League middleweight championship Saturday in Oxnard, California

• Sports

Memories of Len Bias are complicated, but still remain strong

If Len Bias could attend his own Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday, he'd do so as a 50-year-old man. That's a heck of a thing to wrap your head around if you grew up as an obsessed ACC basketball fan in the 1980s.

• NBA

Unseld steps into spotlight to promote Wizards preseason game

Wes Unseld has never been one to seek the spotlight. Yet there he was on Thursday, surrounded by media, NBA players past and present and several hundred youngsters who packed the gym at the Unseld School in West Baltimore for the promotion of a Washington Wizards preseason basketball game to be played in Baltimore on Oct. 20.

• Opinion

No defense for what Ray Rice did [Commentary]

Fans who have a reflexive need to excuse Ray Rice should ask themselves whether they would feel the same if Rice were in a different business

• Opinion

If not for TMZ, Ray Rice would be a Raven today

News media loath to accept disruptive competitor as a peer

• Howard County

Ellicott City resident taps sports world to fight sarcoidosis

Ellicott City resident and college basketball official enlists the helps sports world to fight Sarcoidosis

• High School sports

Aquille Carr signs deal with Canada's Saint John Mill Rats

The Saint John Mill Rats have signed play-making guard Aquille Carr to a one-year contract.

• High School sports

Aquille Carr finalizes deal with Canadian basketball team

finalized a contact with the National Basketball League of Canada's Saint John Mill Rats Friday night

• Pro Basketball

Under Armour in tussle to try to pull NBA's Kevin Durant away from Nike

Under Armour has offered NBA superstar Kevin Durant – one of the nation's most popular and marketable athletes -- a package worth between $265 million and $285 million that would be the company's largest sponsorship deal, according to a media report..

• Laurel Leader

Laurel hosted educational experiments in the 1970s [History Matters]

In 1971, Laurel High School devoted two days to the radical idea of scrapping the standard curriculum for a non-traditional, student-designed one that was taught, in some cases, by students themselves.

• High School sports

Aquille Carr close to signing with Canadian basketball team

Former Patterson star Aquille Carr is reportedly close to signing a deal with the Saint John Mill Rats of the National Basketball League of Canada.

• Maryland

Hard to play 'what if' with 1994 strike

• Sports

Former Terps coach Gary Williams on turning the corner, considering the NBA and more

Former Maryland men's basketball coach Gary Wlliams reflected on his career during an interview with The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday.

• Sports

Former players praise Bob 'Slick' Leonard as he heads into Hall of Fame

On Friday he is to be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, a greying icon of a long-gone professional league that introduced the tri-colored ball and the 3-point shot. That's where Bob "Slick" Leonard won acclaim.

• Sports

Dez Wells turns to Chris Paul for lessons on and off the court

Maryland guard Dez Wells first met Chris Paul during an Amateur Athletic Union tournament at the University of North Carolina five years ago. They've been working out every summer since.

• Howard County

Far from home, Howard's Tommy Brenton living basketball dream

As he prepares for his second season playing in the Japan National Basketball League with Link Tochigi Brex, Tommy Brenton sits down to talk about the thrills and challenges of playing professionally overseas.

• Maryland

The cautionary tale of golf star Dustin Johnson

• Sports

Trayvon Reed won't be allowed to enroll at Maryland after arrest

Trayvon Reed won't be allowed to enroll at Maryland after he was arrested Wednesday night in College Park.

• Sports

Former Terps standout Alyssa Thomas adapting to life as a professional

Maryland's victory song wasn't playing as Alyssa Thomas jogged onto the court at Verizon Center for pregame warm-ups, and she and her team weren't welcomed with a standing ovation from the crowd.

• Metta World Peace

NBA veteran Metta World Peace drops track about Baltimore

Metta World Peace debuted his new song, "Baltimore," last night.

• Sports

Len Bias to be inducted into Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame

Nearly three decades after he died from a cocaine overdose, Len Bias will be formally recognized by the University of Maryland as a member of its Athletics Hall of Fame.

• Pro Basketball

C.J. Fair throws down highlight dunk in NBA Summer League

C.J. Fair wasn't selected in last month's NBA draft, but the Baltimore native and former Syracuse star has started to make at least something of an impression in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

• Sports

LeBron James' homecoming bolsters Maryland football's recruiting pitch

Randy Edsall and the Maryland football coaching staff face the same challenge every year: How do you get a top prospect from Maryland or Washington, D.C., to stay home rather than choose a bigger, more prestigious football program

• Pro Basketball

After diagnosis, Baylor University star highlights Marfan Syndrome

About one in 5,000 people have Marfan Syndrome, a rare progressive disease that affects many different organs and tissues. Common signs include heart and vision problems, curvature of the spine and the long arms, legs and fingers that in retrospect mark Baylor University basketball start Isaiah Austin as one of the affected.

• Sports

Ravens, NFL players react to LeBron James' return to Cleveland

NBA superstar LeBron James' blockbuster decision to leave the Miami Heat and rejoin the Cleveland Cavaliers triggered shockwaves throughout the sport world and Twitterverse on Friday.

• NBA

Otto Porter, Glen Rice Jr. ready for summer with Wizards

All Otto Porter Jr. and Glen Rice Jr. could do last season was sit, watch and wait. T

• Maryland

Free agency opens in the NBA

• Maryland

Commentary: When grading NBA draft, give commissioner an A+

• Maryland

Commentary: When grading NBA draft, give commissioner an A+

• Maryland

Wiggins joins Cavaliers with lofty goals

• Maryland

Agent: Grizzlies' Randolph agrees to extension

• Basketball

Baltimore hopefuls don't hear their names called at NBA draft

Baltimore native C.J. Fair was not selected in the Thursday night's NBA draft at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

• NBA

Aquille Carr not stressing over NBA draft

Aquille Carr isn't worried about the NBA draft Thursday night. After a journey from Baltimore to Beltsville to China to Delaware to New York City, the 20-year-old is excited to hopefully take a momentous step in his basketball career.

• NBA

Roscoe Smith hopes hard work is his ticket to a chance in the NBA

Roscoe Smith, a former Walbrook star, wasn't invited to the NBA draft combine, but he tried to impress teams at individual workouts.

• Maryland

LeBron tells Heat he will become free agent

• NBA

C.J. Fair has put in the work to hear his name called at NBA draft

C.J. Fair, the Baltimore-born Syracuse star, has prepared for the NBA draft by training with George Gervin and John Lucas.

• NBA

NBA draft prospect Elfrid Payton Jr. has his dad's defensive instincts

Elfrid Payton, an NBA draft prospect from Louisiana-Lafayette is the son of a CFL Hall of Famer who starred for the Baltimore Stallions.

• Opinion

Memo to the World Cup: Leave the fake injuries to pro wrestling [Commentary]

FIFA needs to follow the NBA's example and crack down on flopping.

• Football

Ravens tight end Daniels keeps an eye on the skies

Baltimore Ravens tight end Owen Daniels, 31, has had a longtime affinity for meteorology and the weather — a fact that's mostly unbeknown to many of his teammates.

• Terps

Former Maryland women's basketball player Jasmina Perazic inducted into Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

Former Maryland women¿s basketball player Jasmina Perazic was inducted into the Women¿s Basketball Hall of Fame Satuday. She became Maryland¿s fourth inductee, behind longtime coach Chris Weller (2010) and players Tara Heiss (2003) and Vicky Bullett (2011).

• Pro Basketball

Coffee Companion (6/16): Orioles fall on a championship Sunday for Spurs, Kaymer

The Orioles dropped their Sunday matchup with the division-leading Blue Jays, 5-2. The O's are 5-5 in their past 10 games, all of which have been at home, and now head on a six-game road trip to Tampa and New York.

• NBA

Benimon and Usher follow similar paths seeking NBA dreams

This past season, Jerelle Benimon and Davon Usher battled on the court as rivals, playing for the top two teams in the Colonial Athletic Association. Now they're both trying to latch on with NBA teams.

• Pro Basketball

Coffee Companion (6/11): Machado appealing suspension, IronBirds season nears

Morning, y¿all. I¿ve replaced Jon for today¿s Coffee Companion, where we recap yesterday¿s sports headlines, because he feels sleep is important, or something. Regardless, your daily trip to the water cooler is approaching, which means you should read up here so you¿ll have something to talk about while you¿re there.

• Baltimore City Paper

Dave Zirin Presents Not Just a Game at 2640 Space March 29

• Baltimore City Paper

Should Baltimore have an NBA team?

• Baltimore City Paper

The Nation's sports editor talks about Brazil's Dance with the Devil

• Justice System

Holder commemorates Brown v. Board decision at Morgan State commencement

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told the youngest members of Morgan State's 2014 graduating class that due to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling 60 years ago that outlawed racially segregated public schools "your generation will never know a world in which 'separate but equal' was the law of the land."

• Harford

'Bata Belcamp' book chronicles rise, fall of footwear manufacturing center

Book chronicles the rise and fall of a worldwide footwear manufacturing center

• NBA

Wizards' third-quarter woes have Pacers nearing a knockout fourth win

"I don't know if we ran out of gas or what, but we didn't have the same confidence .. to try to increase the lead," Drew Gooden said.

• NBA

Wizards on brink of exit after late collapse in Game 4 loss to Pacers, 95-92

Paul George scored a game-high 39 points, 28 in the second half, to help the Pacers take a 3-1 lead in this best-of-seven series.