Here's a look at some items out of the Atlantic division, including some unfortunate news for Knicks fans..
- Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated told CSNNE.com that he can't imagine Duke's Austin Rivers being available by the the time the Celtics pick. The C's currently own the No. 18 and No. 21 picks in this year's draft.
- Knicks coach Mike Woodson doesn't expect the club to sign a point guard in the wake of Jeremy Lin's injury, writes Jared Zwerling of ESPN.com. "I haven't had a chance to sit down with [general manager] Glen [Grunwald] and [owner] Mr. [James] Dolan and see. My thinking is that we'll probably go with what we have," the coach said. "I don't think there's a whole lot out there right now who will make a big difference for our ball club."
- Lin's MRI revealed that he will require surgery for a torn meniscus and will be sidelined for six weeks, tweets Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Knicks guard was already seeing reduced minutes and will now likely miss the remainder of the season as he looks ahead to free agency. Just a month ago, Lin was a lock to recieve the mid-level exception from the Knicks this summer but that is no longer the case.
- In today's mailbag, Doug Smith of the Toronto Star does his best to quell the concerns of a reader who is unhappy with Andrea Bargnani's poor rebounding. The Raptors forward is averaging just 5.7 boards per contest but Smith points out that rebounds have never been the big man's forte. Bargnani's name has been linked to trade rumors all season long and Toronto expects to have the services of fifth-overall pick Jonas Valančiūnas soon.
- Ben Couch of Nets.com caught up with Dennis Horner, whom the Nets signed to a 10-day contract yesterday. The forward saw D-League teammates Jeff Foote and Jerry Smith get NBA time earlier in the year before getting his opportunity in New Jersey.
Bargnani can really be an offensive force sometimes, but I wouldn’t mind seeing him go… I’m very excited to see Valanciunas in the line-up, and feel the Raps should continue to build with players who play a better all-around game… Calderon’s another one… He looks very good at sometimes, and has even made progress with his defense, but it’s getting to a point where it looks like the Raps should go in a new direction, featuring Jonas, James Johnson, Ed Davis, DeRozan (who’s annoyingly inconsistent)
… I also like Bayless and A. Johnson, (and even Gray is a solid bench player) But it seems like their current crew isn’t enough, so they’re going to have to shake things up.