Kreativecke » defending champion Cavs still have their work cut out

The Cleveland Cavaliers?announced Friday that they have traded seldom-used big man Sasha Kaun to the Philadelphia 76ers. The move created room on the roster for Cleveland to sign center Chris Andersen in a separate deal, sources told ESPN.Fridays trade sends Kaun and his $1.3 million guaranteed salary for 2016-17 to Philadelphia along with cash considerations, with the Cavs receiving the draft rights to Chukwudiebere Maduabum in return.The Sixers intend to waive Kaun once the trade is completed, league sources told ESPN. Kaun averaged just 0.9 points and 1.0 rebounds last season as a 31-year-old rookie after spending the beginning of his career overseas.In effect, the Cavs purchased some of Philadelphias cap space in the form of a trade exception, with the Sixers having the Kaun salary hit mitigated by the cash that Cleveland attached to the deal.Cleveland also agreed to a one-year, veterans minimum deal with Andersen on Friday, according to sources. Andersen, a 6-foot-10 center who turned 38 last week, previously played four seasons in Miami as a teammate of LeBron James. Andersen averaged 4.6 points and 4.5 rebounds in 20 appearances with Memphis last season.The defending champion Cavs still have their work cut out for them this offseason, with contract extensions for James, J.R. Smith and head coach Tyronn Lue still needing to be hammered out. Wholesale Custom Jerseys .Y. - Detroit goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has earned NHL first star of the week honours after winning in his first three appearances of the season. Custom Jerseys China . Pirlo limped out of Sundays 1-0 win over Udinese after just 13 minutes. Juventus says Pirlo underwent tests on Monday which revealed he has "a second-degree lesion to the collateral medial ligament in his right knee. http://www.customwholesalejerseys.com/ .com) - Christian Ponder will get another chance to prove himself for the Minnesota Vikings, with head coach Leslie Frazier announcing Wednesday that the struggling quarterback will start this weekends game against the Green Bay Packers. Custom Shirts Outlet . The Vikings announced Thursday that Priefer will be one of seven holdovers from the previous staff, along with offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, wide receivers coach George Stewart and others. Norv Turner will mark his 30th year of coaching in the NFL as the offensive co-ordinator, as widely reported for weeks, and George Edwards will be the defensive co-ordinator. Cheap Custom Jerseys . On June 12, just as the sun sets on the magnificent historical city of Sao Paulo the inventors, innovators and purveyors of “joga bonitowill” open their campaign. The opponent, Croatia and all its football might and will. As opposites do attract we are set for a corker of an opener. LOS ANGELES -- Many of the 40 men leaving Rio de Janeiro with Olympic boxing medals around their necks in three weeks will have their pick of professional promoters eager to reward them with riches and fame.For the 12 women who claim medals in the second Olympic womens boxing tournament, the pro options still arent glittery.Several years after the International Boxing Association (AIBA) won its fight to get womens boxing into the Olympics, the games still represent the apex of the sport. While womens boxing has grown in prestige and popularity since the inaugural London tournament, female pros still languish behind their male counterparts in money, exposure and opportunities.Claressa Shields and Katie Taylor could be in position to change that if the two biggest Western names in the amateur game can claim a second gold.Whichever promoter takes on womens boxing is going to be a very wealthy man, especially if he takes up me, said Shields, the 21-year-old American middleweight. If he wants some money, he knows what to do.Shields dominated in London as a teenager, and she is favored to win again in Rio. But when she hears about the opportunities available to hot-prospect bantamweight Shakur Stevenson and her other American teammates, she wonders whether shell ever be able to cash in.Its like that because nobody actually goes pro from the womens (sport) yet, Shields said. We have to see what opportunities await after my Olympic gold medal run. Im just weighing my options right now. I dont know.Taylor, the 2012 lightweight gold medalist and a five-time world champion, is arguably the most accomplished female athlete in her native Irelands history. Taylor also has spoken about her interest in going pro, and its not tough to imagine her fame translating into professional riches.But Shields and Taylor are still waiting for a promoter or a television network to step up with enough of a commitment to make them bankable stars. Many promoters have tried with fighters from Laila Ali to Christy Martin, but the titular payday of Hilary Swanks character in Clint Eastwoods Oscar-winning 2004 film, Million Dollar Baby, remains fiction.Ive never been able to make womens boxing pay, said Top Rank boss Bob Arum, who promoted former WBC champion Mia St. John. I tried to take it on. I might still do it again, but I wasnt successful. Its always been that you start them, you pay them small amounts, and then they read their press clippings and they want a lot of money, but they dont bring it in. I dont know how to make it work yet.But womens combat sports have evolved drramatically in the past four years.dddddddddddd Shields and Arum both point to mixed martial arts as a reason for optimism: The UFC has turned womens MMA into a vibrant, money-making sport, and Ronda Rousey -- who signed with the UFC in November 2012 -- became the sports most prominent fighter of any gender.Yeah, and Ronda is a bronze medalist, not a gold medalist, know what I mean? Shields said of Rousey, who won bronze in judo in Beijing.Womens UFC title fights headlined two consecutive fight cards in Las Vegas earlier this month. Last weekend, longtime pro boxer Holly Holms headlining non-title bout against Valentina Shevchenko was one of the highest-rated UFC shows in Foxs history.You have to notice what UFC did, Arum said. Theyve built their female fighters into stars. They made Rousey into the big superstar of that sport. I dont know whether that could happen in boxing. I dont see why not, but its never happened.Holm won multiple world titles while boxing mostly in casinos in her native New Mexico. She clearly makes more money from the UFC than she ever did on the pro boxing circuit, but money wasnt Holms motivation for the change.I definitely think it can happen for womens boxing, Holm said. Right now is hard, because its not really mainstream. But look how quickly womens MMA blew up. It could be the same. Women who are passionate about boxing should follow it. Stay passionate about it. People arent going to give you the opportunities before you show something.The right promoter for womens boxing could be the organization that put women into the Olympics in the first place.AIBA has two professional boxing ventures for men as it seeks a larger role in the pro game, and President Wu Ching-Kuo has been a vocal advocate for womens boxing throughout his tenure. AIBAs World Series of Boxing doesnt include women yet, but executive director Karim Bouzidi has said he expects female fighters to be included by next year.U.S. lightweight Olympian Mikaela Mayer has already fought on a WSB card as a special attraction, and while she hasnt decided to turn pro, she is intrigued by a prizefighting future after her first Olympics in Rio.The pros havent been big for women because there hasnt been a platform for us, Mayer said. Now that were allowed into the Olympics, it also gives us credibility. We can go to the pros and say, `Look, Im an Olympian. Im a gold medalist. Theyre going to want to sign us. Its just evolution and time. ' ' '