European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 18, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday april 18 2007 stripes Page 39 West will leave ret suspended for actions toward Duncan the associated press Memphis Tenn Jeny West will leave As the Memphis grizzlies director of basketball operations july 1 saying Hes not a youngster and weary of the turmoil surrounding the team West one of the nabs great players and executives with the los Angeles lakers will end a five year stint with the former expansion franchise West who turns 69 in May had been under contract Only through this season and said tuesday Many factors played into Bis Deci Sion in not a youngster anymore said who disclosed his plans during an Endo season meeting with reporters i think the Wear and tear of the season particularly like this has been theres been a lot of tur Moil Here the ownership thing have made it very difficult to concentrate on what we need to do Here to improve our basketball team he did not indicate any immedi ate jobs he was considering in the Aba the grizzlies 2160 have the worst record in the league and their troubles on the court have been compounded by the possible Sale of the club West fired Mike Fratello in december and hired Tony Barone As an interim coach the Long speculated announce ment of west1 s departure came a Day after majority owner Michael Heisley said he would abandon his yearlong Pursuit of Selling the franchise if he does not have a via ble offer by May 1 i think Heisley pretty much said it monday night when he said he wanted me to put in place a future management team West said he will advise the team through the draft and the hiring of a new coach Barone was Given the Job on an interim basis after the firing of Fratello he said he believes two people should be hired to take Over his duties a general manager and a vice presi Dent of basketball operations Aba suspends ref Crawford new York Aba referee Joey Crawford was suspended in definitely by commissioner David Stern on tuesday for his conduct toward Tim Duncan who contends the official challenged him to a fight Crawford regarded As a too ref Eree ejected Duncan from a game in Dallas on sunday he called a second technical foul on the san Antonio spurs Star while he was on the Bench he looked at me and said do you want to fight do you want to fight Duncan said if he wants to fight we can fight i dont have any problem with him but we can do it if he wants to i have no reason Why in the Middle of a game he would yell at me do you want to fight Crawford suspension will last at least through the Aba finals he apparently will have to meet with Stern after that to Dis cuss reinstatement Joey Crawford handling of this situation failed to meet the standards of professionalism and game management we expect of Aba referees Stern said in a statement especially in Light of similar prior acts by this official a significant suspension is War ranted although Joey is consistently rated As one of our top referees he must be held accountable for his actions on the floor and we will have further discussions with him following the season to be sure he understands his responsibilities the prior act Stern noted Likely refers to the 2003 Western Confer ence finals a matchup involving the same teams As in sundays game Crawford called four tech Nical fouls in the first 10plus min utes leading to ejections of the mavs coach Don Nelson and assistant Del Harris Crawford also called a technical in a recent game against Dun can who said sunday that Craw Ford has a personal vendetta against me Duncan was called for his first technical foul sunday with remaining in the third Quarter for arguing about an offensive foul Crawford hit him with the Sec Ond technical later after Dun can was on the Bench laughing about a Call that went against the spurs Butler Hopes to get cast off next week eyes playoffs Washington Caron but Ler is not ready to write off the sea son the Washington wizards Allstar Forward said monday he Hopes to have the cast removed from his broken right hand in a week and thinks he could play if the team reached the second round of the playoffs his recovery time was sup posed to be six weeks after he broke a Bone in his hand two weeks ago theres definitely a Chance Butier sad to trying to get my cast off probably As Early As next monday so the second round s what were looking at Butler was injured when he hit his hand on the backboard while trying to Block a shot during a win Over Milwaukee on april l since then Washington is 17 two games after Butler got Hurt ail Star guard Gilbert Arenas Tore his left knee and needed sur Gery Butler was averaging career highs in Points rebounds 74 and assists lawmakers wont vote on sonics Arena this session Olympia supersonics majority owner Clay Bennett said a decision by the Washington state legislature not to vote on a measure to finance a new Arena has All but doomed efforts to keep the Aba team in the state beyond next season clearly at this time the sonics and Wanba storm have Little Hope of remaining in the puget sound Region the Oklahoma Cit based Bennett said in state ment issued soon after the Mon Day night decision Seattle has been the sonics Only Home for 40 seasons the team is looking to replace key Arena in Seattle where the sonics hold what Aba commissioner David Stern called the leagues worst lease the Pur Chase agreement that Bennett and his Oklahoma based Crown ers have stipulates that if Bennett Doest have a new Arena Deal in place by oct 31 he is contractually free to move the teams Jack Allen Iverson left has done More than score for the nuggets he is a better Leader than i heard Denver coach George Karl said melding 2 stars coexist Lead Denver to playoffs melding from Back Page Anthony is averaging 291 Points and was leading the league in scoring until Kobe Bryant went on his supersized surge last month and Iverson is averaging 263 but the nuggets have shown they can play slowdown too something that is vital in the Post season where possessions Are More precious i think if s important because in the playoffs were not going to be Able to run As much but were going try to do it anyway Iver son said on missed shots were going to try to get out and run we dont want to play Hal court basketball but if we have to we have two great Post up Guys in Melo and Nene we throw the Ball Down there and let them play if there doubled they can kick it out to us and let us play with that blueprint the nug gets reeled off eight straight Victo Ries before losing at Memphis on saturday night the kind of Streak they been hoping was possible since Iverson arrival once we got Ai i was lying to myself but i had to Tell myself it was going to work right away Anthony said but it was going to take time for us to jell As a team right now its happening for us so far Iverson and Anthony Are dispelling the notion that two superstar scorers cant coexist i think it was a great Trade Bryant said when you add a Tal ent like that you cant help but make a team better there Doest seem to be a problem7 Hes a phenomenal Talent the nuggets certainly have no regrets about sending away Andre Miller Joe Smith and two first round draft picks for Iver son whom they had coveted for a Long time i saw a great Talent that was hungry for winning and wanted to come Here with a better team and hopefully turn whatever we were a winning team into a playoff team Karl said that Iverson surely did he is a better Leader than i heard i had Only read the Nega Tive Karl said he has much More positive Energy to his personality to his Demeanour to his locker room than i Ever thought he would i dont know what the other people think i just see a passionate my that likes to play basketball at a High level of intensity with a great Deal of Talent thais All we can ask for would i like him to be a better defensively would i like him to find the open Man a Little better sure but the Way he plays he is a great Way to build around his passion makes every body else feels Good about com ing Here every Day