D2
S
THE SIDELINE B
ack when he was a supposedly undersized, supposedly un-athletic
guard at Herndon High, Scottie Reynolds began assembling his wall of disrespect.
When someone said he was a Division I talent in a Division III body, that went on the bedroom wall of his Northern Virginia home. When he was called a shorter, slower Allen Iverson, that went on the wall. When he didn’t make all-star teams, or all-league teams, or prospect watch lists, it all went on the wall. “A big platter,” Reynolds said, describing the litany of slights. “Just a big wall of articles. It started out being around the area, then it was nationally. I try
D.C. SPORTS BOG Dan Steinberg
to keep that going.” The NBA draft provided him another chance. After averaging 18.2 points for a Villanova team that was ranked in the top 10 all season, Reynolds went undrafted last month. He was the first AP all-American since 1976 not to be selected. And before draft night
Quick Fix 6From the blogs at
washingtonpost.com/sports
CAPITALS INSIDER Johansson is looking more comfortable in camp The biggest surprise at the second scrimmage of the Capitals’ development camp was the emergence of Marcus Johansson, who struggled Wednesday but rebounded with a much better effort Thursday. Johansson, a 2009
first-round pick who is expected to compete for a job in Washington this fall, scored his first goal of camp and nearly had another. Johansson looked nervous
24 hours earlier. On Thursday morning, after a tentative start, the 19-year-old stood out the way a first-rounder of his ilk should at development camp. “Like I said yesterday, it’s
going to take a while for him to get adapted to not being the
third guy high all the time,” Coach Bruce Boudreau said. “The more he plays here . . . we’ll convert him. He was looking to make plays and wasn’t playing as safe.” Johansson’s goal tied the
game at 4 at 3:23 of the third period. The smooth-skating Swede sneaked down low and snapped a crossing pass from linemate Cameron Burt into the net. Then, less than a minute later, Johansson found himself open again, but Burt took the shot and was stopped. Johansson also misfired on back-to-back shots from the slot in the second period. “It’s difficult,” he said. “It’s a
different type of game here. It’s a smaller ice surface. But hopefully I’m getting there. Things happen a lot faster here.”
— Tarik El-Bashir
KLMNO
WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS First Things First, Tracee Hamilton’s weekday chat about hot topics in sports, resumes today at 9:30 a.m.
FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010
WASHINGTON POST LIVE WITH IVAN CARTER 5 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet Competitive eater Joey Chestnut and former Virginia basketball star Cory Alexander join The Post’s Mark Maske.
Diss time: Scottie Reynolds isn’t giving up on his NBA dream
was over, Reynolds printed the full list of 60 players who’d been chosen and hung it on his bedroom wall. “I wasn’t mad, I wasn’t mad at
all,” Reynolds told me this week in Las Vegas, where he’s competing with the Phoenix Suns’ summer league team. “Everybody always talks about what I can’t do, this and that. That’s been my career. I’ve always proved people wrong. Hopefully I can do that now.” It’s actually fairly amazing how constant the critique has been, and how constant Reynolds’s response has been. “Whatever I can do to prove people wrong, I’m going to try to do it because I’ve been doing it
my whole life,” he told the Connection newspapers in 2005. His high school coach, Gary
Hall, said Reynolds was first told he couldn’t succeed at Herndon. When his stats disagreed, he was told he was feasting on weak public-school talent. Then he was told he wouldn’t make it in high-level AAU leagues, or in the Big East. “I’ve seen this script over and over again,” Hall told me. “Scottie’s production has been the same, regardless of the situation, no matter where he is.” Reynolds worked out for about
10 NBA teams this spring, but he didn’t expect to get selected. He spent draft night back at Herndon High, playing pick-up
with about 25 or 30 friends from the area, not watching television. They played for hours as the first round went on and stopped sometime during the second round, while Reynolds continued to be passed over. The Suns were the first team to
call after the draft, and Reynolds and his agent thought it was a good fit, with Steve Nash to learn from and an offense somewhat similar to Villanova’s. Friends and fans from Northern Virginia and Villanova were disgusted that Reynolds wasn’t selected, but he said he didn’t pay it much mind. “Always take the high road,” he said with a grin. “When that happens, you’ve got a chance to
make it a positive or a negative. I’ve chose to make it a positive.” He tweaked his Achilles’ last week, and missed Phoenix’s first three summer league games, but he made his debut Monday night, playing at what he said was about 80 percent health. In his first game, he scored 16 points in 18 minutes. In his second, he had nine assists and two turnovers. Reynolds and his Phoenix coaches have been cautious when asked about his chances to stick around. His former high school coach is less so. “I believe in my heart he’s
gonna be on an NBA roster,” Hall told me. “You never bet against Scottie Reynolds.”
steinbergd@washpost.com
Hot Topic Redskins Insider Blog excerpt from
washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider
CHAT EXCERPT
“Call me when the Heat wins a title. The Caps will win one before that.”
Thomas Boswell, responding to a question about LeBron James. Read the complete transcript at
washingtonpost.com/sports.
TELEVISION AND RADIO
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 7 p.m.
7 p.m.
Washington at Florida » MASN2, WXTR (730 AM), WFED (820 AM, 1500 AM)
Toronto at Baltimore » MASN, WWXT (92.7 FM), WWXX (94.3 FM), WTEM (980 AM)
NBA SUMMER LEAGUE 8 p.m.
GOLF 4 a.m. 4 p.m.
CYCLING 8:30 a.m.
BOXING 9 p.m. 11 p.m.
SOCCER 7 p.m.
JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST Clinton Portis may be headed in the right direction after a series of strong workouts and help from Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan. Washington vs. New Orleans » Comcast SportsNet All signs from Portis are positive British Open » ESPN PGA Tour, Reno-Tahoe Open » Golf Channel
Running back appears energized by Shanahan and seems ready for big season
Tour de France » Versus by Jason Reid
Friday Night Fights, Zab Judah vs. Jose Armando » ESPN2 Middleweight bout, Fernando Guerrero vs. Ishe Smith » Showtime
Manchester United vs. Celtic » ESPN2 only from Comcast. PRO BASKETBALL Warriors sold for an NBA-record $450 million
Golden State Warriors owner Chris Cohan reached an agree- ment Thursday to sell the fran- chise for a record $450 million to Boston Celtics minority partner Joe Lacob and Mandalay Enter- tainment chief executive Peter Guber. The bid from Lacob and Guber
broke the record for the largest sale in league history, topping the $401 million that Robert Sarver paid to buy the Phoenix Suns in 2004. . . . Former Washington Wizard
Mike Miller signed his long- awaited five-year contract with the Miami Heat, becoming the latest player to take less money than he could have made else- where to play for Miami. . . . Agent Herb Rudoy said Raja
Bell and the Utah Jazz agreed to a three-year deal worth around $10 million. The 33-year-old shooting
guard just needs to pass a physi- cal, which probably won’t happen until next week. . . . Aperson with knowledge of the
deal says the Houston Rockets have agreed to terms with re- stricted free agent Luis Scola. ... Anthony Carter has signed a one-year league-minimum deal to stay with the Denver Nuggets, who also signed Shelden Wil- liams. ... The New Orleans Hornets have decided not to sign free agent Lu- ther Head after consulting with the team’s medical staff. . . . Boston Celtics captain Paul
Pierce has re-signed with the team he led to the 2008 title, stay- ing with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, whose contracts run for the next two years. The Celtics gave no details of
Pierce’s deal. The Boston Herald has reported that he agreed to a
Don’t be surprised if Clinton Portis is among the top candidates for this season’s NFL comeback player of the year award. Although Portis has said little about his personal goals for 2010, the eight-year veteran is determined to show he’s still an elite running back capable of a 1,500-yard season, people familiar with his thinking said recently. Eager to prove his critics wrong, Portis
has done everything Coach Mike Shanahan has asked of him, team sources said, and is expected to hold off fellow Pro Bowl backs Larry Johnson and Willie Parker for the starting job. Portis has surprised many in the organization with his positive outlook and hard work throughout the offseason program. As many Insider readers are aware, I’ve been critical of Portis because of his lackadaisical approach toward practice, among other things. But he was energized by the firing of former coach Jim Zorn and the hiring of Shanahan, whom Portis played under during his first two (and arguably best) seasons in the league, and will approach training camp and the preseason with enthusiasm, he has told several players.
In fact, after Shanahan in March publicly challenged Portis to improve his conditioning, Portis trimmed down to about 217 pounds after playing at more than 230 pounds last season, sources said. Portis’s strong showing apparently has made a favorable impression on Shanahan. To be sure, Johnson and Parker will have
opportunities to unseat Portis when camp opens July 29 at Redskins Park. Portis, however, is in top shape and highly motivated. He’s also guaranteed $6.4 million of his
$7.2 million base salary, so management presumably would prefer for Portis to be highly productive after a concussion cut short his ineffective 2009 season.
reidj@washpost.com
DIGEST
four-year contract worth $61 mil- lion, with the team and Pierce having a mutual option for the fourth year.
Boston Celtics point guard Ra-
jon Rondo was among three play- ers added to the new-look nation- al team roster and will take part in training camp next week in Las Vegas. Newly acquired Dallas center
Tyson Chandler and Phoenix cen- ter Robin Lopez also were select- ed and will be among the 21 play- ers who will compete for a chance to play for the Americans in the world championships in Turkey from Aug. 28 to Sept. 12. None of the 2008 Olympic gold medalists were on the list, with many already saying they planned to take the summer off because of injuries or personal reasons.
Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant,
the NBA’s leading scorer, heads the list of those keeping their commitments to suit up.
HOCKEY Center Jay Beagle has signed a
two-year contract with the Wash- ington Capitals. The 24-year-old Beagle played
in seven games with Washington last season, scoring his first NHL goal Nov. 23 at Ottawa. Washington also signed right
wing Andrew Gordon, center An- drew Joudrey, and defensemen Zach Miskovic and Patrick McNeill to one-year contracts. . . . The Wild has signed center
Mikko Koivu to a seven-year, $47.25 million contract extension, which would keep the franchise center in Minnesota through the 2017-18 season.
COLLEGES A person familiar with the in-
vestigation says the NCAA is look- ing at North Carolina’s football program. The person spoke to the Associ-
ated Press on condition of ano- nymity because the investigation
is confidential. Athletic Director Dick Bad-
dour said the NCAA is investigat- ing one of the Tar Heels’ sports programs for possible rules vio- lations. He says the school is cooperat-
ing, but he declined to specify which sport or exactly what was being investigated. . . . A second former University of Kansas athletics official admitted in court that he knew about a massive scam that allegedly in- volved the theft and sale of at least $1 million worth of tickets to sporting events. . . . Oregon has hired Rob Mullens to be its new athletic director. The 41-year-old Mullens arrives from Kentucky, where he was the Wild- cats’ deputy director of athletics.
HIGH SCHOOLS Stone Bridge defensive end
Rob Burns, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound- er, committed to Virginia, which provided the perfect balance of
proximity and promise — a pro- gram with a new coach, Mike London, that had the added ap- peal of being close to home.
MISC. MLS Commissioner Don Gar-
ber said the league has no inten- tion of accepting transfer offers for the Los Angeles Galaxy’s Lan- don Donovan. ... Thierry Henry announced his
retirement from the French na- tional soccer team. . . . Caster Semenya won her first
race since being cleared to return to competition after undergoing gender tests, winning the 800 me- ters at the Lappeenranta Games in Finland. . . . Cleveland Browns nose tackle Shaun Rogers will enter a di- version program to resolve a felo- ny charge that he tried to carry a gun through airport security. . . . Miami Dolphins defensive
tackle Jason Ferguson is retiring. — From news services
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