Registration will take place in person on Monday, June 20, Tuesday, June 21, 2011 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Wednesday, June 22, 2011 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the cafeteria at Northwestern High School. Please print the four forms below and bring completed and signed to registration. Or the permission slip, emergency contact info, waiver release and photo permission form can be printed and either e-mailed to flintstonebasketballcamp@gmail.com or mailed to Tonda Peterson, c/o Gail Ganakas, Flint Board of Education, 923 E. Kearsley Street, Flint, MI 48503.”

Attached are the four PDFs that need to be available for download.

Waiver Release

Emergency Contact

Camp Photo Release Form

Permission Slip

The Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder were No. 8 seeds in last season’s playoffs, where neither proved to be a pushover against their respective conference’s top team.

Sneaking into the postseason isn’t the goal this time.

An offseason of building around All-Star Derrick Rose has the Bulls looking like a Central Division contender heading into Wednesday night’s opener in Oklahoma City, where the only significant change around scoring champion Kevin Durant is the Thunder’s soaring expectations.

Oklahoma City (50-32) made an impressive jump from its first season after moving from Seattle, increasing its win total from 23 and securing the franchise’s first playoff appearance since 2004-05.

That coincided with Durant’s transition from young player on the rise to superstar. He averaged 30.1 points to win the scoring title, finished second behind LeBron James in the MVP voting and led his team to within a last-second tip-in of forcing a Game 7 against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round.

“I think we have confidence but we still know that last year is over with,” said Durant, who announced via Twitter that he signed a five-year, $86 million extension July 7.

“We know that we had a good year, we made it to the playoffs, but this year we know that we’ve got to start back at square one. We’ve got to work hard every day to get better, continue to fight every day and work together as a team and continue to be one group.”

Durant was held to 25.0 points per game and 35.0 percent shooting against the Lakers, but had an offseason to envy. He led the United States to its first gold medal at the world championships since 1994, winning tournament MVP honors after averaging 22.8 points.

Durant’s Thunder teammate Russell Westbrook averaged 9.1 points during the tournament, and looks poised to build on a season in which he averaged 16.1 points and 8.0 assists in starting all 82 games.

Westbrook and small forward Jeff Green give Durant some excellent secondary threats, while general manager Sam Presti’s quiet offseason saw him beef up his backcourt depth by adding Daequan Cook, Morris Peterson and Royal Ivey.

The Thunder added Kansas center Cole Aldrich in a draft-day trade as well, but Coach of the Year Scott Brooks knows his team’s chances of making a leap in the Western Conference start and end with Durant.

“He really thinks of himself as a guy that just has to work extremely hard to make a team,” Brooks said. “He has that mentality, and that’s what champions are made of.”

Joining Durant and Westbrook on the gold-medal team was Rose, who made a big leap last season by increasing his scoring average from 16.8 to 20.8.

For the second straight season, though, the Bulls (41-41) finished with as many losses as wins. After giving Boston a huge scare in the first round of the 2009 playoffs, they were competitive but only managed to take one game from top-seeded Cleveland despite Rose averaging 26.8 points.

Getting rid of oft-criticized coach Vinny Del Negro and hiring Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau was only the beginning of a busy offseason. Chicago didn’t land James, Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh, but signed eight other free agents to overhaul the team around Rose and Joakim Noah, who signed an extension in early October.

The biggest addition was power forward Carlos Boozer, and the Bulls weren’t done raiding Utah’s roster. Chicago also signed Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver before rounding out its roster with guards C.J. Watson and Keith Bogans, forwards Brian Scalabrine, Kurt Thomas and Turkish center Omer Asik.

“It (is) exciting that the new players are good players,” Rose said. “They’re not selfish. They can definitely help my game. They’re older than I am, so they know the NBA game better than me.”

Thibodeau should help as well. The assistant was coach Doc Rivers’ defensive guru in Boston, and having the disruptive Noah in the middle is a good place to start.

Rose will be joined by Bogans in the starting backcourt with Luol Deng at small forward, but Boozer won’t be joining Noah in the frontcourt for a while. The two-time All-Star tripped over a bag and broke a bone in his right hand earlier this month, an injury that’s expected to keep him out until December.

Taj Gibson, who averaged 9.0 points and 7.5 rebounds as a rookie, will start in his place.

“You hate to lose a guy like that, but it’s also part of the NBA,” Thibodeau said. “You have injuries, but we have good depth.”

The teams split four meetings the past two seasons, with the road team winning each time. Rose averaged 25.5 points in the two victories at Oklahoma City.

Guard Morris Peterson is trying to impart some veteran wisdom to his younger Thunder teammates.

“James (Harden) said this is my 20th year in the league,” Peterson confessed. “He teases me a little bit.”

During a one-on-one drill Wednesday, Peterson put together a series of moves that took some time to develop but ended in a score nonetheless. Kevin Durant, with a wide-stretching smile, promptly declared, “That’s that old man game.”

“I expect some of those jokes,” Peterson said.

But Peterson, 33, has acquired his share of wisdom in his “old age.” His most recent lesson, one he picked up at his last stop with New Orleans, is one in which his young teammates should find value.

Peterson was the starting shooting guard for the Hornets team that took the league by storm in 2007-08, winning a franchise record 56 games and coming within a win of reaching the Western Conference Finals. The Hornets were projected to be on pace for a title but won seven fewer games the next season and were embarrassingly ousted from the playoffs in the first round by Denver. New Orleans is still trying to pick up the pieces.

“We went from being the hunter to the hunted. We kind of snuck up on people,” Peterson said. “And last year, I don’t think people expected Oklahoma to do what they did. (Going from) the hunter to the hunted, you’re always going to have a target on your back. You’re not going to be able to sneak up on anybody.

“And I think we learned a lesson about that when I was in New Orleans. Every team has injuries, so I’m not going to make that as an excuse. But that’s something I can pass on to this team to always keep us hungry. Let them know that if they thought what we did last year was good, we can’t be fat and sassy and get complacent.”

How well the Thunder is able to focus following a small taste of success could be a defining key to this season. The team won 50 games a year ago and came within a last-second tip-in of forcing a seventh game in its first-round series against the Lakers. Suddenly, the Thunder has become the darling of the NBA, with the national media wasting no opportunity to declare how dangerous this team is.

Peterson, though, remembered how everything became more magnified with the Hornets. Games grew more important. Expectations skyrocketed. The notch on general outside noise was turned up.

“It’s just a lot of different things that’s going on, and it can be distractions or you could choose to use that as a positive.”

Fortunately for the Thunder, there are at least a few elder statesmen to squash any potential cockiness and correctly steer player’s psyches this season.

“There’s been a lot of teams in the history of the league who have had a really good year and teams that have been projected to continue to rise,” said Nick Collison, who turns 30 on Oct. 26 and is the team’s second oldest player. “And for whatever reason that didn’t happen. It happened to me personally. My rookie year we won the division. We had almost everybody back and for whatever reason we never got back there.”

Thunder coach Scott Brooks said the potential for backsliding “hasn’t crossed his mind,” adding that he doesn’t think it will be an issue so long as his players work hard and prepare well.

“In this league, if you don’t respect it, it hits you and kicks you and throws you out,” Brooks said. “You have to respect it every day. It’s tough to get wins in this league. You don’t just step on the floor and get a win. I don’t care how talented of a team you have.”

Morris Peterson of the NBA’s Oklahoma City franchise joined current and former athletes from several sports Wednesday to tell a state House committee they oppose the current version of “right of publicity” legislation.

“The hearing went well today, I was able to address the issue at hand and let them know why I feel that 5964 should not be passed” said Mr Peterson.

They say the measure would make it too easy for video game and souvenir manufacturers to use their likenesses without athletes’ permission.

The bill’s supporters say it is aimed at protecting attributes of a personality that have commercial value. The athletes said the current proposal has too many exemptions.

The House Judiciary Committee did not vote on the bill.
—
The legislation is House Bill 5964.

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“Hey!” Cleaves screamed in the hallway lined with framed posters that promoted past teams.

“Mo!” sophomore Draymond Green responded.

Players come and go at all colleges.

Spartans come back.

They make a trip to the banks of the Red Cedar River to pop into coach Tom Izzo’s office and team up with former and current NBA players such as Magic Johnson — still called by his given name, Earvin, on and around campus — to take on collegians in the summer.

When the ex-greats can’t get back, cell phones keep the Michigan State basketball family in touch.

Izzo says that ranks No. 1 on his list of joys he gets from his job.

“Just about all of them have called or texted,” Izzo said Tuesday at his news conference. “Definitely a good time for me.”

On Monday, a day after Michigan State beat Tennessee by a point, Cleaves was making the rounds through the Breslin Center when Goran Suton knocked and barged into Izzo’s conference room with the subtlety of Kramer on a “Seinfield” episode.

“G!” Izzo said with an ear-to-ear grin, taking a break from breaking down videos of Butler to welcome a key player on last year’s runner-up team.

It was just another afternoon at Michigan State, where Izzo’s dream of building a family atmosphere and an elite program has come true.

Johnson put the Spartans on college basketball’s map in 1979 when he led the Spartans past Larry Bird-led Indiana State for their first national title in an epic game.

Cleaves, Morris Peterson and Charlie Bell — known as “The Flinstones” because they hailed from Flint — won the school’s second title a decade ago.

Michigan State will face the hometown Butler Bulldogs at the Final Four on Saturday.

“It makes me feel old and young at the same time,” the 32-year-old Peterson said in a telephone interview Tuesday night. “But most of all, it makes me proud that this team has carried the torch that guys like Steve Smith and Shawn Respert passed down to us.”

Johnson was in the stands in St. Louis, where the Spartans squeaked past Tennessee, and is expected to be in Indianapolis on Thursday to share his wisdom and enthusiasm.

Cleaves plans to be at Saturday’s game.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Cleaves said. “It was our goal to help build a big-time program and it has happened.”

Cleaves was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of drunken driving in Mount Morris Township and jailed in nearby Flint, then released.

Defense lawyer Frank Manley said Cleaves drove because of an emergency involving his son. He says Cleaves knows he’s a role model and hopes people reserve judgment until more facts come out.

Every player recruited by Izzo in his 15 seasons as head coach has been on a Final Four team.

Michigan State will play in its sixth Final Four since 1999. UCLA, North Carolina and Duke are the only other schools who have played in college basketball’s showcase at least six times in a 12-year stretch.

If the Spartans can beat Butler and get past the winner of the Duke-West Virginia game on Monday night, they would have three national titles to trail just UCLA, Kentucky, Indiana and North Carolina in NCAA men’s basketball championships.

Izzo has also steered his players into the classroom, graduating 31 student-athletes since 2000 and 84 percent of players who completed their eligibility on campus.

The Spartans also get schooled in the summer, shooting hoops against Johnson when he visits his hometown of Lansing and other former college stars at what has become a state-of-the-art basketball facility in East Lansing.

“The pickup games get real competitive, especially because the old veterans foul us a lot and we don’t get any calls,” junior shooting guard Durrell Summers said with a chuckle. “It’s great for us. It means a lot to us for those guys to come back and take time out of their day to talk to us. It really shows that we have a Spartan family.”

Bell said he considers the Spartans who came before him older brothers and those after him little brothers.

“We have a common bond that I don’t see other guys in the NBA have with their schools,” said Bell, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks. “We all bleed green.”

This article was originally posted by the Associated Press

New Orleans Hornets lifted by Peterson’s return to lineup

In one of his best performances since joining the New Orleans Hornets in 2007-08, shooting guard Morris Peterson was accurate from the perimeter and assertive rebounding Wednesday night. It came after the Boston Celtics’ Paul Pierce tried cutting him off from getting through the lane and Kevin Garnett lunged to block his shots.

Despite the Celtics’ resistance, they did little to prevent Peterson from carrying the Hornets in the third quarter. He made four of six shots to score 13 of his 16 points, leading to a 93-85 victory Wednesday night before 14,848 at the New Orleans Arena. In 28 minutes, Peterson made five of 10 shots and grabbed 10 rebounds to achieve his first double-double since April 17, 2007, when he played for the Toronto Raptors. Behind Peterson and rookie point guard Darren Collison’s 25 points and nine assists, the Hornets (28-25) snapped a four-game home losing streak as they entered the All-Star break with needed momentum.

“I knew being down by 10 or 12 in the first half, we needed a spark, ” Peterson said. “I just have tried to play within the system, and we were able to push the ball.”

Peterson’s stellar play came after the Hornets had a second-quarter disaster, when backup Darius Songaila was their only player to make a shot from the field. Songaila made five of seven shots for 10 points, but the Celtics outscored the Hornets 28-14 to take a 55-43 halftime lead.

In the quarter, the Hornets made five of 18 shots and committed six turnovers. Besides Songaila’s scoring, forward David West made three of four free throws and Collison one of two.

But Peterson came to the rescue when the third quarter began. He scored five points in the opening minute to cut the Celtics’ lead to 55-48. Boston, taking advantage of its inside scoring, still led 60-48. But the Hornets established momentum and continued to surge after Peterson’s layup and free throw gave them their first lead, 67-65, since the first quarter. New Orleans closed out the third outscoring Boston 29-12 to take a 72-67 lead.

In the fourth, the Hornets withstood the Celtics’ rally after Marques Daniels’ layup cut their lead to 74-73 with 9:48 remaining. Behind Collison’s 13 points in the quarter, the Hornets prevented the Celtics from regaining the lead.

“Morris was definitely involved in that third-quarter run that gave us breathing room, ” Collison said. “We really needed Mo in this game.”

Peterson started the first five games this season before being demoted. He returned to the starting lineup for the first time since November when rookie shooting guard Marcus Thornton missed three games last week with a sore lower back. Thornton returned Wednesday night but came off the bench — he played nine minutes and scored two points.

“Mo is a professional, and he kept himself in shape, ” West said. “When his number got called, he stepped up and was ready to produce.”

In Monday’s 123-117 loss to the Orlando Magic, Peterson spent most of the game trying to guard Vince Carter, who scored a season-high 48 points. Peterson responded against the Celtics, holding Pierce, who finished with 15 points, to two points in the second half. Pierce’s only made shot came with 21.7 remaining in the game. Garnett finished with seven points and went scoreless in the second half. The Hornets forced the Celtics into 23 turnovers and outscored them 50-30 in the second half. It was the Celtics’ fifth consecutive loss to a team with a winning record. Boston has lost eight of its past 12 road games after opening the season winning 13 of 14. The Celtics were without starting shooting guard Ray Allen, who was sidelined with back spasms. Former LSU forward Glen Davis, whom the Celtics are rumored to be looking to trade, possibly to the Charlotte Bobcats for New Orleans native D.J. Augustin, scored nine points.

“We played well in the first half, but they came out hard, and we didn’t get back on defense early on in the third quarter, ” Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said. “We just have to get better. In the first half, we gave great effort and had a good lead going into halftime. In third quarter, we came out with a lot of jump shots and dribbling, which led to a lot of turnovers, then we missed seven free throws. It’s tough to win games when you turn the ball over and miss free throws.”

Collison easily got the Hornets into their offense, despite facing constant backcourt pressure from Celtics guard Rajon Rondo. Filling in for injured starting point guard Chris Paul, Collison achieved his fourth consecutive game of scoring 17 or more points. But Collison made 10 of the Hornets’ 24 turnovers.

“The turnovers made everything really difficult, ” Bower said. “Not only were we not getting shot attempts, but it put us in a hole trying to guard them.”

This article was originally published on Nola.com February 10th, 2010.

No.5 Morris Peterson

Mo Pete spent seven seasons with the Toronto Raptors, being drafted in the mid first round from Michigan State. A mature well rounded player came into a great situation, and was ready to provide. During his time with the raptors he was not known for being a scoring option but was a glue player and energizer.