Odds & Ends: Rivers, Pierce, Grizzlies, Magic, Heat
The Hornets suffered a scare earlier this evening as rookie guard Austin Rivers injured his surgically-repaired right ankle in the first quarter of tonight's preseason game against the Mavericks. The 20-year-old was helped off the floor and was unable to put weight on the right leg, writes Jimmy Smith of the Times-Picayune. Thankfully, Rivers' postgame X-rays came back negative, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Here's more from around the league…
- Celtics star Paul Pierce confessed to CSNNE's Mike Gorman that he considered moving on from Boston after last year's exit at the hands of the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. Pierce now says that he has a hard time envisioning himself in another uniform.
- Robert Pera's bid to own the Grizzlies will be on the agenda Wednesday at the NBA's Board of Governors meetings in New York City, sources familiar with the process told Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal. To finalize the transaction, Pera will need to receive approval three-fourths of the league's majority owners. Pera has already made waves with a celebrity cast of minority partners including Justin Timberlake and Ashley Manning, the wife of NFL quarterback Peyton Manning.
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel looks at the roster crunch facing the Magic as the deadline approaches. Swingman Chris Johnson and point guard Armon Johnson are near locks to be cut in the coming days. That leaves combo forward Justin Harper, power forward Josh McRoberts and swingmen Christian Eyenga, DeQuan Jones, and Quentin Richardson to battle for the final two spots on the roster.
- Heat guard Dwyane Wade admitted that it's going to be a challenge to get all of the team's new talent to mesh, tweets Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports Florida. “We have a lot of guys that are so used to being kind of the main focus and not a lot of us are going to be the main focus now,’’ Wade said. “So that’s a challenge to see how we all can incorporate ourselves within our offense and keep each other happy.’’
Odds & Ends: Gibson, Kirilenko, Hawks, Rockets
With just eight days until the NBA regular season officially gets underway in Cleveland, Miami, and Los Angeles, let's round up a few updates from around the league….
- While Taj Gibson is hoping to get a long-term extension worked out with the Bulls, he's preparing for any outcome, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Shams Charania of RealGM.com.
- Discussing his free agency with Joel Brigham of HoopsWorld, Andrei Kirilenko explained that a number of factors went into his decision to sign with the Timberwolves: "I’m not just looking at one thing. Here, I found that all the pieces fit together. The contract is great, don’t get me wrong, but the team has made a big improvement from last year, and you know it’s a team on the way up, not on the way down or stuck. They’re growing up."
- The Hawks aren't sure whether they'll keep 13, 14, or 15 players on their roster, as coach Larry Drew tells Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Of the team's 16 players currently under contract, Vivlamore suggests Anthony Tolliver, Damion James, and James Anderson are the three on non-guaranteed deals. Tolliver's contract was previously reported as being fully guaranteed, so it's unclear exactly what his situation is.
- Rockets GM Daryl Morey appeared on KBME in Houston and discussed offseason additions Carlos Delfino and Omer Asik, as Eric Schmoldt of Sports Radio Interviews documents.
- With Spurs coach Gregg Popovich having indicated that Eddy Curry and Derrick Brown are the frontrunners for the team's final roster spot, Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News gives the edge to Curry.
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel isn't sure if there's a place for Joel Anthony on the Heat's current roster and wonders if a trade might make sense.
NBA GMs Weigh In On 2012/13 Season
The results are in on NBA.com's annual survey of the league's general managers, with all 30 NBA GMs weighing in on dozens of questions about the 2012/13 season and the 2012 offseason. We won't round up all of their answers here, so feel free to check out the full results at NBA.com, but here are a few of the more notable responses:
- 70% of respondents believe the Heat will repeat as NBA champs, while 96.7% think Miami will win the Eastern Conference. Since GMs aren't allowed to vote for their own teams, that means the rest of the league's 29 GMs picked the Heat to come out of the East.
- The Lakers are the favorites to come out of the West, earning 60% of the votes. The Thunder (36.7%) and Nuggets (3.3%) were the only other teams mentioned.
- LeBron James is the player most GMs would start a franchise with, earning 80% of the votes.
- 86.2% of GMs believe the Lakers made the best offseason moves, with Dwight Howard (70%) and Steve Nash (20%) earning the most votes for the summer addition who will make the biggest impact. Los Angeles' sign-and-trade for Nash was also voted the summer's most surprising move.
- Besides the Lakers, the other teams receiving votes for the best offseason roster moves were the Nets, Hawks, and Warriors.
- The Nets (62.1%) ran away with the votes on which team will be most improved, while Andre Iguodala (16.7%) topped the choices for most underrated acquisition — the Celtics' duo of Jason Terry and Courtney Lee also received support in that category.
- Anthony Davis (76.7%) and Gregg Popovich (80%) were the runaway picks for rookie of the year and the NBA's best coach, respectively.
Heat Waive Gladness, Dozier
The Heat have waived Mickell Gladness and Robert Dozier, according to a tweet from the Miami Herald's Joseph Goodman. For the 6'11" Gladness, this is his second time being waived by the Heat, with the first coming last February. Dozier was the last player selected in the 2009 NBA draft, but he's yet to play a single minute of basketball in the NBA.
Miami's roster now stands at 18, tweets Yahoo! NBA reporter Marc J. Spears.
Odds & Ends: Nolan Smith, Allen, Rondo, Paul
Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com wonders whether Nolan Smith's preseason troubles for the Blazers might be due in part to the pressure of the looming October 31st deadline the team has for picking up the third-year option on his rookie contract. Blazers GM Neil Olshey told Haynes he's going to wait as long as possible to make a decision. Stay up to date on this month's rookie-scale option decisions with the Hoops Rumors Rookie Contract Option Tracker, and check out the latest notes from around the league right here.
- The root of the hard feelings between Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen stemmed from a phone call Allen made to his then-teammate to get him to lobby against a trade that would have sent the pair to the Suns in 2009 for Amare Stoudemire, Leandro Barbosa and a 2010 draft pick, Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald reveals.
- Chris Paul was instrumental in recruiting Jamal Crawford and others to the Clippers, and doesn't give the look of someone who wants to leave L.A. as he enters the final season of his deal, Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld writes (Sulia link).
- Marvin Williams is paying early dividends for the Jazz after coming aboard in an offseason trade, as Mike Sorenson of the Deseret News and Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune examine.
- Coach Doug Collins pointed to four Sixers whose minutes he wants to limit during the season, and all of them are offseason acquisitions, as Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com chronicles.
- Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com and Newsday's Al Iannazzone share the opinion that a cyst in Stoudemire's left knee that will keep him out two to three weeks boosts the chances that Knicks non-guaranteed camp invitee Chris Copeland will make the team (Twitter links).
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel thinks Garrett Temple, Josh Harrellson and Dexter Pittman will all be on the Heat roster come opening night.
Eastern Notes: Holiday, Rasheed, Barron
76ers point guard Jrue Holiday enters his fourth season as the youngest starting floor general in the Atlantic Division, and head coach Doug Collins appears confident in giving him the reigns to Philadelphia's offense: "I want that ball in Jrue's hands…I want our wings getting down the floor, I want Jrue to be the one getting that ball and pushing it. For the most part I want our guys sprinting the floor, getting down the floor and flattening it out and let Jrue come down and make plays." Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com also points out that the team now has more capable perimeter shooters compared to having to rely on multiple playmakers last year, which implicitly benefits the spacing on the floor and allows Holiday more room to operate. Here are a few more notes out of the Eastern Conference:
- Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago chronicles the shooting struggles of Marco Belinelli during the preseason, but Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau doesn't appear too concerned.
- Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun believes that the Raptors could have one of the better combinations of reserve players in the league this season.
- Al Iannazzone of Newsday says that Knicks guard/forward Ronnie Brewer will go through contact work during Sunday's practice and could play as soon as Monday night if he doesn't feel any pain. The 6'7 veteran has been sidelined since undergoing knee surgery in early September.
- Heat sharpshooter Mike Miller looks forward to playing a full season this year, as Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today writes that he is the healthiest he's been in two seasons.
- Newsday's Al Iannazone provided an update on Rasheed Wallace, who according to Knicks head coach Mike Woodson is still doing conditioning work and will be re-evaluated on Tuesday after the team returns from its current pre-season road trip (Sulia link). Woodson hinted that the team may play Wallace next week in order to get an idea of his progression.
Odds & Ends: Possible Cavs/Heat Cuts, Olshey
- Jodie Valade of The Plain Dealer takes a closer look at the decision the Cavaliers have to make on Sloan and Pargo and lists the pros and cons of keeping both. She also notes that Byron Scott believes one of them currently has an edge over the other, but the coach would not elaborate beyond that.
- Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald took to Twitter to speculate on what he calls the Heat's "no-doubt-about-it cut list," listing Rodney Carney, Jarvis Varnado, Mickell Gladness, and Robert Dozier. He mentions that the last two spots could come down to a competition among Josh Harrellson, Garrett Temple, and Terrel Harris, adding that he would keep the latter two (Twitter link).
- Interestingly enough, although Juwan Howard is not part of Miami's training camp roster, Goodman points out that the former Heat player still has a locker.
- Ben Golliver of the Blazers Edge shared a transcript of Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey's in-game interview with CSNNW on Friday. Some notable comments include Olshey's thoughts on Will Barton's potential, Nicolas Batum and the team moving forward after his contract extension, and landing J.J. Hickson.
- In response to a report that Stephen Curry will sit out the rest of pre-season, Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News tweets that Curry's long-term extension talks with the Warriors are on hold.
Camp Rumors: Curry, Brown, Varnado, Blazers
The first regular season action is just 10 days away, so it's crunch time for players gunning for the last spots on the end of an NBA bench. There's news about several training camp hopefuls this afternoon, and we've rounded it up here.
- Spurs coach Gregg Popovich gave strong indication before today's preseason game that the competition for the last roster spot in San Antonio is down to Eddy Curry and Derrick Brown, tweets Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. Josh Powell and Wesley Witherspoon are also trying to make the team, while it appears DeJuan Blair and Gary Neal, the other Spurs without full guarantees, are safe.
- McDonald also notes, via Twitter, that Popovich said Curry has lost 20 pounds, and that's on top of the 100 pounds he lost while with the Heat last year, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
- Curry said he didn't entertain the idea of returning to the Heat this summer, as Winderman reports in the same piece. "It was frustrating. It was bittersweet," Curry said of his season in Miami, during which he saw little playing time. "Got a ring out of it, but it definitely wasn't the year I was looking forward to and wasn't what I worked for."
- Winderman also writes that a hamstring injury has likely torpedoed any chance Jarvis Varnado had of making the Heat's regular season roster.
- The Trail Blazers are one of three teams left at the 20-player preseason roster limit, and GM Neil Olshey said he's going to wait as long as possible before making cuts, tweets Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge. "Some of it is strategic," according to Olshey, and Golliver interprets that remark to mean the team is trying to funnel some of its camp invitees to its D-League affiliate.
Southeast Notes: LeBron, Heat, Cole, Beal
Lakers executive vice president Jim Buss confirmed earlier this week that the Lakers are indeed looking to make a major splash in the free agent market in 2014. That's the summer in which Kobe Bryant's deal expires and a certain Heat superstar also hits the open market. Here's more on the next summer of LeBron and other notes out of the Southeast Division..
- It's not surprising to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel that the Lakers are allowing the current narrative of LeBron James leaving for Los Angeles to stay alive. The buzz can only enhance the odds of getting Dwight Howard to re-up and is essentially a tamper-proof way of both seducing LeBron and securing Dwight.
- Offseason pickups such as Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis may wind up squeezing Norris Cole out of the rotation, Winderman writes. Cole had flashes of brilliance for Miami in his rookie season before hitting the rookie wall.
- Wizards rookie guard Bradley Beal looks to be an impact rookie, writes Stephen Brotherston of HoopsWorld. The 19-year-old obviously has high expectations as the third-overall pick but he is already displaying the poise of a much older player.
Eastern Notes: Hawks, Allen, Fields, Ilyasova
In this morning's round-up of Celtics items, we linked to ESPN The Magazine's 2012/13 NBA projections, which included the Celtics as a No. 4 seed in the East, behind the Knicks (No. 3). While those ranks are somewhat surprising, the team that ESPN and Basketball Prospectus placed directly behind the top-seeded Heat is even more of a shock: The Hawks will be the East's second-best team, according to the magazine's predictions. We've got updates on Atlanta and a few other Eastern Conference clubs, so let's check them out….
- If and when John Jenkins and Mike Scott officially earn spots on the Hawks' roster, they'll be the team's only draft picks in the last five years besides Jeff Teague to do so, says Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- It's been over three months since Ray Allen officially left the Celtics for the Heat, but the veteran's free agent decision is still a hot topic in both Boston and Miami. Allen appeared on WMEN in Miami recently and said he felt the Celtics put him in a position where he had to leave (link via Sports Radio Interviews). Celtics coach Doc Rivers, meanwhile, says he's over Allen's departure but is still "disappointed" with the way it played out (link via the Boston Herald).
- Landry Fields told reporters, including Al Iannazzone of Newsday (Twitter link) that he lost some of his confidence and comfort level after the Knicks acquired Carmelo Anthony and needed a change of scenery.
- It appears Ersan Ilyasova's new long-term contract with the Bucks has him feeling more comfortable in Milwaukee, writes NBA.com's Steve Aschburner.
- The Cavaliers aren't expected to make their final roster cuts for a few days yet, but it appears one of Donald Sloan or Jeremy Pargo has the upper hand in the backup point guard battle — coach Byron Scott just won't say which, according to Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal (via Sulia).
- Sam Smith fields Bulls questions on Nate Robinson, Kirk Hinrich, and others in his latest mailbag at Bulls.com.