NBA stars Manu Ginobili, Fabricio Oberto, Luis Scola, Carlos Delfino and Andres Nocioni were selected for a preliminary 10-man roster to defend Argentina's basketball gold at the Beijing Olympics.
Coach Sergio Hernandez said Thursday that 12 players will eventually travel to Beijing to defend the title won in Athens four years ago.
Returning from that team are San Antonio Spurs teammates Ginobili and Oberto. But Hernandez left off Ruben Wolkowyski and Gabriel Fernandez from the gold-winning squad. Hernandez expects Argentina's NBA standouts to lead the roster, drawing on the experience of the Toronto Raptors' Delfino, the Chicago Bulls' Nocioni and the Houston Rockets' Scola.
MO SURGERY: Milwaukee Bucks point guard Mo Williams had surgery to repair ligament damage in his right thumb and is expected to be ready for training camp in October. A former Jazz guard, Williams averaged 17.2 points and a career-best 6.3 assists in 66 games in the first year of a six-year contract worth $51.5 million.
NETS PROMOTE KIKI: The New Jersey Nets have a new general manager. Kiki Vandeweghe was promoted to the position Thursday, less than six months after being hired as a special assistant to team president Rod Thorn. Vandeweghe replaces Ed Stefanski, who left in midseason to become the GM of the Philadelphia 76ers.The general manager's job is the second for Vandeweghe. He held the GM job with the Nuggets from 2001 until the end of the 2005-06 season.
SONICS TAP WEAVER: Former Utah Jazz player personnel director and scout Troy Weaver is the new assistant general manager of the Seattle SuperSonics. Sonics general manager Sam Presti made the announcement Thursday. Weaver will replace Scott Perry, who spent one season with Seattle before recently returning to the Detroit Pistons as their vice president of basketball operations. Weaver was with the Jazz for four seasons. He spent the first three years as the team's head scout.
DOCUMENTS STAY SEALED: A federal judge ruled documents subpoenaed from a group that attempted to buy the Seattle SuperSonics from their Oklahoma-based owners can remain sealed. U.S. District Judge Martha Pechman ruled Thursday that documents from Seattle developer Matt Griffin's group that were labeled for "attorney's eyes only" can remain confidential. In seeking to have the documents unsealed, attorneys for SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett accused the potential owners and the city of Seattle of duplicity in an effort to force him to sell the team. Pechman ruled that the SuperSonics didn't make a good-faith effort to resolve the document dispute