After losing a pair of games to the Knicks early in the season, the Sixers will continue to square off against Atlantic Division rivals this weekend, playing the Celtics in Boston tonight before heading to Toronto to face the Raptors. As we await those games and others, let's round up a few of the latest items out of the Atlantic, where the Knicks are the league's only remaining undefeated team....
- Raymond Felton told WFAN in New York that he was "hurt" when he was initially traded out of New York in the Carmelo Anthony deal, and "felt like a newborn kid again" when he got the chance to rejoin the Knicks. Steven Cuce of Sports Radio Interviews passes along the quotes.
- Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News believes it's time for Mark Cuban to get over Jason Kidd's departure from the Mavericks to the Knicks.
- John Shurna, who was a Knicks camp invitee last month, is currently weighing his overseas and D-League options, according to Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside.
- With his star player out of action and a number of new additions still
adjusting to the team's system, head coach Doug Collins is preaching
patience when it comes to the Sixers, writes Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
- Like the 76ers, the Nets are another team caught between offseason hype and their regular-season results so far, says Howard Beck of the New York Times.
- Appeaing on WEEI in Boston, Rajon Rondo spoke about a number of topics, including wanting to establish chemistry with new Celtics Jason Terry and Courtney Lee in offseason workouts (link via Sports Radio Interviews).
The Knicks waived four players to get down to the 15-man roster limit today, cutting ties with
Oscar Bellfield, John Shurna,
Mychel Thompson and
Henry Sims, as Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports (
Twitter link). Shurna and Sims had partial guaranteed of $50K, while Bellfield's and Thompson's contracts were non-guaranteed. The moves likely mean
Chris Copeland, who has a non-guaranteed deal, will be on the Knicks opening-night roster.
Knicks owner James Dolan would like to see Isiah Thomas back with the club in some official capacity, but surprisingly it's Thomas who has cold feet about the proposed reunion. As it stands now, it doesn't seem likely that we'll see Thomas re-hired by the Knicks, though the former coach will likely continue to be an unofficial consultant for Dolan. Here's tonight's non-Isiah news out of New York..
- The Knicks offered Patrick Ewing an opportunity to coach the D-League's Erie BayHawks, but the team's former star center turned it down, tweets Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Ewing, who previously worked for the Magic and interviewed for a couple of head coaching jobs this summer, would prefer to stay in the NBA.
- One source told Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com that Ewing felt slighted by the club's offer to coach in the D-League. "Patrick has paid his dues," the source said. "He was a little insulted."
- Earlier tonight, the Knicks signed former Northwestern forward John Shurna to a contract and Begley (via Twitter) notes that his deal will be for the minimum salary with a partial guarantee that becomes fully guaranteed if he is on the roster on January 10th.
- Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com looks at some of the top Knicks storylines that just won't go away. Among them are the club's pursuit of Chris Paul, which Zwerling classifies as a longshot.
The Knicks have signed forward John Shurna to a one-year, partially guaranteed deal, according to Howard Beck of the New York Times (via Twitter). The former Northwestern star hooked on with the Hawks summer league team after going undrafted in June.
Shurna, 22, averaged 20 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 2.8 APG, and 1.7 BPG in his final season at Northwestern. Most impressively, Shurna shot 46.3% from the field while draining 44% of his shots from downtown. While he offers an impressive shooting stroke for a 6'8" forward, it remains to be seen what position he can best fill at the next level.
