Sonics Get Brickowski For Marciulionis
On the day the NBA lockout officially ended, the Seattle Sonics made a 2-for-1 deal with the Sacramento Kings that brought center Frank Brickowski back to Seattle in exchange for underused veteran guard Sarunas Marciulionis and little-used forward Byron Houston.
Sonics president Wally Walker said the addition of Brickowski, 36, who played in Seattle from 1984-86, gives the Sonics a veteran center who can rebound and score. The parting with Marciulionis is no surprise considering coach George Karl didn’t play him in the past postseason.
“We had a logjam at our swing position, particularly at our big guard spot,” Walker said.
The 6-foot-9, 248-pound Brickowski missed last season in Sacramento with a partially dislocated right shoulder. Walker said, “We hear he’s in great physical condition.”
In Brickowski’s last full season, 1993-94 in Milwaukee and Charlotte, he averaged 13.2 points and 5.7 rebounds.
McDonald’s game on
The McDonald’s Championship, the first tournament pitting champions from the world’s top basketball leagues, will go as scheduled Oct. 19-21 in London.
When the NBA players and owners ratified a collective bargaining agreement, it cleared the way for the champion Houston Rockets to join the English champion Sheffield Sharks; Real Madrid, the Spanish and European champion; Buckler Bologna of Italy; Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel; and the yet to be determined Australian champion in the field.
Raptors get 5 for Armstrong
The first-year Toronto Raptors traded B.J. Armstrong, their first pick in the expansion draft, to Golden State for centers Victor Alexander and Carlos Rogers and the rights to 1995 second-round draft picks, forwards Dwayne Whitfield, Martin Lewis and Michael McDonald.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Armstrong averaged 14 points and three assists in 82 games last season with Chicago.
Anticipating the trade of Armstrong, the Raptors drafted 5-foot-10 guard Damon Stoudamire from Arizona with their first pick in the 1995 entry draft.
Alexander is a 6-10, 265-pound fifth-year player, who averaged 10 points and 5.8 rebounds in 50 games last season. Rogers, 6-11 and 220, averaged 8.9 points and 5.7 rebounds in 49 games during his rookie season in 1994-95.
Whitfield was picked 40th out of Jackson State, Lewis 50th out of Seward County Community College and McDonald 55th out of New Orleans. McDonald has signed with a team in France for the 1995-96 season.
Around the league
San Antonio center David Robinson has been hospitalized with the stomach flu, a team spokesman said, and is doing OK. The spokesman said Robinson was expected to be released from the hospital today… . . Derrick Coleman’s request to be traded will be discussed this week by the New Jersey Nets’ owners and executives… . Muggsy Bogues is recovering well from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee late last month, but could miss all of Charlotte’s training camp.