Sergey Monya scored 16 points to lead a balanced attack and Russia beat Puerto Rico 75-66 on Saturday in the opening round at the basketball world championship. Timofey Mozgov, a 7-foot-1 center who signed with the New York Knicks this offseason, and Sasha Kaun both added 13 points for Russia (1-0). Anton Ponkrashov had 10 points and 11 assists.

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The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to clinch their 4th consecutive Western Conference championship, and although the conference is known for parity, the Lakers seem to defy that logic. The Lakers upgraded their roster during the offseason, and the difficult task of unseating them became a little more complicated in the process, because in 2010-11 the Lakers will be deeper, and presumably …

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Earl K. Sneed writes that the signing of Tim Thomas gives the Mavericks the depth at power forward that they were looking for this offseason.

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With the offseason about to end, or at least the possibility of any significant upgrade gone, the Dallas Mavericks have their roster almost set for next season.   Assuming no trades and no signings take place, the Mavericks will likely keep their current 15-player roster through training camp.     Their roster consists of 15 players, of which only three are expected to get insignificant playing …

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The New Orleans Hornets are waiting till Monday to sit down with Chris Paul (notes) to try to work out their differences, but Paul has already let it be known that he would like to be traded before the season begins to the New York Knicks , Orlando Magic , Dallas Mavericks , or Portland Trail Blazers . The Knicks haven’t waited to talk about it internally, of course

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The New Orleans Hornets are waiting till Monday to sit down with Chris Paul (notes) to try to work out their differences, but Paul has already let it be known that he would like to be traded before the season begins to the New York Knicks , Orlando Magic , Dallas Mavericks , or Portland Trail Blazers .

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

DALLAS The Dallas Mavericks played their offseason trump card Tuesday, dealing Erick Dampier and his juicy contract. All they got for it was a backup big man.

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The Dallas Mavericks played their offseason trump card Tuesday, dealing Erick Dampier and his juicy contract. All they got for it was a backup big man. The Mavericks consider that oversimplification.

What are your opinions.

The Dallas Mavericks have been rumored to be interested in signing free-agent center Shaquille O’Neal (notes) but the Dallas Morning News reports that there is another O’Neal on the team’s radar this offseason: 6-11 center Jermaine O’Neal (notes) , who spent last season with the Miami Heat , pouring in 13.6 points per game along with 1.4 blocks and 6.9 rebounds. The paper reports that the 31-year-old center would more likely go to the Mavs as a "straight free-agent signing, not a sign-and-trade." The Mavs would be O’Neal’s fifth team since he was drafted out of high school back in 1996 by the Portland Trail Blazers

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Plenty of teams were planning to go after free agent guard Joe Johnson (notes) this offseason but none may have wanted him more than his former team, the Atlanta Hawks . Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the team offered Johnson a six-year deal last night that is worth $119 million. Wojnarowski’s sources expect Johnson to take the deal that General Manager Rick Sun delivered to Johnson personally in Los Angeles last night just after the free-agency negotiating window got thrown open.

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The Dallas Mavericks first goal this offseason is to re-sign reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki to an extension, or more likely a new contract for the next four years. Their second goal, which can be considered a first since signing Dirk is probably a given, is to make a push for LeBron James just like another 15 teams probably will. But the Mavericks are considered a dark, dark horse in the LeBron …

There is the quick update of the day.

Eddie Sefko reports that re-signing Dirk Nowitzki is the Dallas Mavericks No.

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I’m no fan of the Dallas Mavericks. However, I am someone who sees the Mavericks on the cusp of becoming a team capable of winning multiple championships.

That’s all the news for today.