The NBA has announced that Warriors head coach Mark Jackson has been fined $25K by for influencing officials with recent postgame comments, reports Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post.
Here are a few more notes from around the league.
MONDAY, 7:46am: Dooling is still the "big favorite" to earn a spot with the Grizzlies, but the team's search for a guard may continue for a couple more days before a signing occurs, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
FRIDAY, 10:56am: In addition to Dooling and Flynn, the Grizzlies are also considering Scott Machado, Courtney Fortson, and Sundiata Gaines, according to Chris Vernon of 92.9 FM ESPN in Memphis (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 10:14pm: Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe received a similar text from Dooling, who says he'll know for sure about a deal with Memphis by Sunday (Twitter link).
10:05pm: Dooling texted TNT's David Aldridge to say that he's been in contact with the Grizzlies, but hasn't signed with the team (Twitter link).
7:20pm: The Grizzlies haven't committed to signing Dooling, a source tells Ronald Tillery of the Commercial Appeal. Memphis is also considering Jonny Flynn as the team looks to add a veteran point guard rather than rely on rookie backup Tony Wroten, according to Tillery (Twitter links).
6:31pm: Former New York Post columnist Peter Vecsey reports that the Grizzlies have signed Keyon Dooling for the rest of the season (Twitter link). If the move becomes official, it would mark an end to Dooling's retirement, which he announced in September while with the Celtics. Presumably, he'd have to leave his job as a player development coordinator for the C's, which he assumed after he retired.
Dooling suffered a nervous breakdown over the summer that stemmed from sexual abuse he endured in childhood, as he detailed last year to Jessica Camerato of CSNNE.com and TNT's David Aldridge. Shortly after his retirement, he was linked to the Heat, but denied interest in a return to the league. The 32-year-old guard told Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe he was open to coming back in January and said he informed Celtics coach Doc Rivers he was upping his workout regimen, but announced a few days later that he would not return to the NBA this year.
Boston and Dooling agreed to a $400K buyout of his guaranteed minimum-salary contract, so he's represented a small cap hit for the C's all year despite not having been on the team's roster. Dooling couldn't return to the Celtics unless they waived someone else, but the Grizzlies have two open roster spots, so they could accomodate Dooling if they choose.
In light of news that Rajon Rondo has a torn ACL, it looks like most readers think the Celtics would be smart to move Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. It is a question that basketball writers around the league will be tackling for weeks leading up to the trading deadline. Let's round up all of the media fallout from the Rondo injury here:
Earlier updates:
The Clippers have waived Courtney Fortson and Chris Johnson, leaving their roster at 18 players as the team heads to China, according to a tweet from Clippers reporter Madelyn Burke.
Fortson was signed by Los Angeles after being released by the Rockets earlier this summer, while Johnson was an undrafted rookie out of the University of Dayton.
The Clippers will sign point guard Courtney Fortson after he clears waivers from the Rockets, who cut him loose earlier today, tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. Kennedy indicates that it's just a training camp invitation, which would likely mean a non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary.
It will be Fortson's third stint with the Clippers in less than 12 months. The team brought him to last year's training camp, but waived him on the eve of the regular season, picking him back up three weeks later. The Clippers waived him again after 11 days, and he signed a ten-day contract with the Rockets in March, followed by a deal that kept him with Houston for the rest of the season.
Fortson played in only 10 total NBA games last season, and saw most of his action in the D-League. He put up 17.2 points and 6.2 assists in 34.2 minutes per game in 31 contests with the Los Angeles D-Fenders and the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. The 5'11" University of Arkansas product averaged 3.5 PPG and 1.0 APG with a 9.9 PER in limited action for the Clippers and Rockets.
The move will bring the Clippers roster to 16 players, but with 15 of them on fully guaranteed contracts, Fortson is a long shot to make the team. To keep him, the Clippers would have to trade someone else or waive a player with a guaranteed deal and absorb the cost.
5:34pm: The Rockets have made the series of transactions official in a press release.
1:24pm: Before training camp opens next week, the Rockets will waive Courtney Fortson and his non-guaranteed contract, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). That will reduce the team's roster to 18 players, at which point Houston will fill its last two roster spots by signing Demetri McCamey and Kyle Fogg, says Feigen.
We heard back in June that the Rockets had decided to bring back Fortson for this season, but the 24-year-old's contract ensured that Houston actually had to make two decisions on whether or not to retain him. As Mark Deeks of ShamSports explains, Fortson's deal included a team option for 2012/13, but despite that option being exercised, Fortson's contract was still non-guaranteed, meaning the Rockets won't take a cap hit by releasing him.
McCamey, 23, went undrafted out of Illinois in 2011, despite being ranked as the 53rd-best prospect of the class by ESPN.com's Chad Ford. The 6'3" point guard played in Turkey last season before joining the Bulls' summer league squad this July. Another 6'3" guard, Fogg went undrafted out of Arizona this June. The 22-year-old averaged 13.5 PPG in his senior year with the Wildcats, and played for the Rockets' summer league team in July.
Assuming the deals for McCamey and Fogg are fully non-guaranteed, the Rockets now have 18 contracts on their books that are at least partially guaranteed. Shaun Livingston, Greg Smith, and Scott Machado will all require small buyouts if they don't make the team's final roster and aren't traded.
The Rockets have been active on the trade market in recent days and figure to make more moves before the week is out, but they're not quite jettisoning all their players. Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston tweets that the Rockets have decided to bring back Courtney Fortson for next season, according to agent Charles Briscoe. Fortson is on a non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract for 2012/13.
Fortson signed a rest-of-season deal with the Rockets in late March, following a 10-day contract with the club. While Fortson spent a good chunk of that time with Houston's D-League affiliate in Rio Grande, the Rockets apparently saw enough to decide to retain the 24-year-old for another year.Fortson would be the eighth Rockets player with a fully guaranteed contract for 2012/13. As our list of non-guaranteed deals shows, he was one of five players for Houston whose deal was partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed.
We'll track today's international and D-League-related transactions right here:
A day after his 10-day contract expired, the Rockets have decided to keep Courtney Fortson for the rest of the season, with a non-guaranteed contract next year, also. According to the Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen, this means Fortson can go through the Rockets' offseason program and summer league, and, hopefully, be a part of their training camp.
Fortson was waived by the Clippers after signing a 10-day contract with the team on January 27th. Since signing with Houston on March 18th, Fortson has appeared in five games, posting averages of 2.8 PPG and 0.8 APG.
The Rockets have been in search of backcourt stability since losing Kyle Lowry to a mysterious bacterial infection a few weeks ago. Days after acquiring Derek Fisher at the trade deadline, Houston agreed to a buyout with the former Laker point guard, and yesterday they signed 13-year veteran Earl Boykins to a 10-day contract.
With a busy Monday chock full of games set to get underway, let's take a look around the Western Conference to catch up on the latest news and happenings.
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