And-Ones: Davis, Roberts, Maker, Referees, Travel
NBA veteran Glen Davis was arrested in a Maryland hotel room last month on drug possession charges, reports Brian Kuegler of ABC 2 WMAR in Baltimore. The former NBA champion reportedly gave signed consent for his room to be searched after the hotel owner called police complaining of a strong scent of marijuana coming from Davis’ room.
“They recovered 126 grams of marijuana,” Aberdeen Police Lieutenant William Reiber said. “In addition to that, there was a briefcase that contained 92,164 dollars of U.S. currency along with a ledger that contained language which is consistent with someone involved in the sale and distribution of narcotics.”
The 32-year-old last played in the NBA during the 2014/15 season, averaging 4.0 PPG and 2.3 RPG in 74 games for the Clippers. He had signed on to participate in the BIG3 this season.
Davis’ attorney said that his client is innocent of the charges and looks forward to his day in court. Davis is due back in court next month.
Check out more news around the basketball world:
- The executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, Michele Roberts, plans to seek a new deal when her current contract expires in September, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports. Roberts, 62, assumed her post in 2014 and seemed to be interested in leaving the job when her deal expired, but she has reportedly changed her mind, Wojnarowski writes.
- Thon Maker‘s younger brother, Matur Maker, will be eligible for the NBA Draft in June and the Bucks’ young center feels his brother can be a first-round pick, Gery Woelfel of Woefel’s Press Box writes. “He does a lot of things well at both ends of the floor,’’ Thon said. “Offensively, he handles the ball well; he’s a playmaker. When I say playmaker, I don’t mean like he just passes first or passes only. He makes the right play every single time. He’s very unselfish.”
- There may be an issue brewing between the NBA and its referees. After the official Twitter account for the NBA’s referees criticized the Last 2 Minute report and its effectiveness, an official NBA Twitter account fired back, calling the referees’ take “inaccurate.”
- It’s possible that the NBA changes its playoff format in the near future but going to a 1-16 format seems unlikely, Sam Amico of Amico Hoops writes. Commissioner Adam Silver indicates that the league is not ready to make a change and that geographically, it would be a difficult proposition.“We’re serious about looking at it. We’re far from a place where there’s a solution,” Silver said. “Of course it makes sense to seed teams 1-16 in the league but we have two conferences that are geographically apart.”
Brandon Jennings Makes Immediate Impact For Bucks
Brandon Jennings, who signed with Milwaukee on a 10-day contract over the weekend, was just two rebounds away from notching a triple-double in his first game back with the Bucks. The point guard started the season playing for Shanxi Zhongyu of the Chinese Basketball Association and he credits his international experience as part of the reason he was able to make an immediate impact.
[RELATED: Michael Beasley’s Journey Sets Him Up For The Future]
“I just was able to find myself again mentally [in China],” Jennings said (via Nick Friedell of ESPN.com). “I was really mentally messed up in the head because of my so-called career-ending injury. I always wanted to bounce back from that … but I just did a lot of manifests. I manifest a lot about positivity. So I tried to get a lot of negative thoughts and things out of my head and it really helped me. It really helped me off the court being a better father too.”
Jennings suffered an Achilles tear during the 2014/15 campaign while he was a member of the Pistons. He made stops in Orlando, New York, and Washington over the ensuing two seasons, but he never resembled his old self.
“It’s just all the hard work I was putting in in China,” Jennings said “People don’t understand, I was still hurt with my Achilles injury, so now I’m finally healthy. I was able to really just revamp my whole self, just focus on basketball and be able to just work out. So when I was in China, I just felt like I was at Oak Hill [Academy] again, just working on my game and trying to get to that level again.”
Jennings appeared much closer to his peak form during Monday’s win than he did the last time he was in the league. Coach Joe Prunty called the performance “a really positive night” and John Henson, who is the only member of the Bucks who played with Jennings during his first stint with the club, believes the team lucked into a rare opportunity with the point guard in the fold.
“I don’t think it’s a question whether he can play in the NBA,” Henson said. “Obviously, it’s about the right situation. Especially this summer, it was a rough summer for free agents. But he can clearly play, so I’m excited to have him. On a 10-day, for a guy like that to have that type of talent, it’s rare.”
Jennings is scheduled to play in three more contests before his 10-day deal expires.
NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 3/11/18
Here are Sunday’s G League moves from around the NBA:
- The Bucks recalled rookie forward D.J. Wilson from the Wisconsin Herd, according to the Bucks’ Twitter feed. Wilson scored 19 points for the Herd against the Westchester Knicks Saturday night. He’s appeared in 10 G League games, averaging 15.6 PPG and 5.6 RPG. Wilson, the 17th overall pick last June out of Michigan, has played in 20 games for the Bucks but is only averaging 3.4 MPG.
Brandon Jennings Signs 10-Day Deal With Bucks
MARCH 11, 12:04pm: The signing is official, according to a tweet from the Bucks.
MARCH 10, 2:37pm: Brandon Jennings will sign a 10-day contract with his original team, the Bucks, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. The Bucks do not have an open roster spot, which means the team will need to waive a player to make room for Jennings.
Jennings, 28, signed a G League deal on Feb. 13 and was promptly signed by the Bucks’ affiliate, Wisconsin Herd. In five games with the Herd, Jennings showed flashes of his past success, averaging 20.4 PPG, 8.0 APG, and 4.8 RPG in 37.4 minutes per contest.
“Blessed and grateful for a second chance coming from a franchise where it all started,” Jennings said to The Undefeated (Twitter link).
The Compton, California, native spent his first four NBA seasons with the Bucks, averaging 17.0 PPG and 5.7 APG in 291 games. Jennings was shipped to the Pistons in 2013, where he played well in parts of two seasons; a ruptured left Achilles tendon in Jan. 2015 altered his career.
Jennings has not averaged double-digits in scoring since the injury and has suited up for four teams the past two seasons. His last NBA stint came with the Wizards last season, averaging a career-worst 3.5 PPG in 23 games.
The former 10th overall pick started the 2017/18 season with the Shanxi Brave Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association but was waived in early December.
Bucks Must Wait Until November To Seek Cap Relief On Teletovic
- The Bucks will have to wait until November to petition the league for salary cap relief involving Mirza Teletovic, writes Matt Velasquez of The Journal Sentinel. Milwaukee can seek to have the $10.5MM Teletovic will make next season removed from its cap because of a medically induced retirement. However, the team must wait a year from the last game he played, which was November 7. Teletovic had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee later that month, which is when doctors discovered blood clots in his lungs.
Bucks Waiving Mirza Teletovic
The Bucks will make room on their roster for Brandon Jennings by waiving forward Mirza Teletovic, the team announced on its website.
Teletovic, 32, was limited to 10 games this season by a medical condition diagnosed as pulmonary emboli in both lungs. He had a similar health scare three years ago when he developed multiple blood clots in his lungs.
Teletovic issued a statement last week denying that his career was over, but it’s uncertain if he could get medical clearance to ever play again. He had been participating in supervised workouts at the Bucks’ facility in hopes of returning to the court.
“The health of our players is our primary concern,” GM Jon Horst said in announcing the move. “The Bucks and Mirza Teletovic, in consultation with team doctors and other physicians, have been working together since December to evaluate and manage Mirza’s situation. As a result of the overall evaluation that we’ve gone through, at this time we are both moving on. We appreciate all of Mirza’s contributions to the Bucks organization and our community. We wish him a lifetime of good health with his family.”
Teletovic was in his second year in Milwaukee after signing as a free agent in the summer of 2016. He has one more season left on his contract at $10.5MM, but the Bucks may petition the league to remove that money from their cap, similar to what the Heat did with Chris Bosh.
Teletovic was a valuable reserve during his first season with the team, averaging 6.4 points in 70 games. He also played for the Nets and Suns in a six-year NBA career.
A report surfaced earlier today that the Bucks plan to sign Jennings to a 10-day deal, but a roster spot had to be opened before that could happen.
Central Notes: Nance, Parker, Booker
Larry Nance Jr. has never been a prolific three-pointer shooter, evidenced by his 12 career treys, but he is not scared to shoot the ball from the perimeter, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes. Nance has made just one triple in seven attempts this season but he has impressed the Cavaliers in practice with his range.
Primarily known for his athleticism and defense, Nance did not bring a known mid-range game to Cleveland. Head coach Tyronn Lue admitted that he was not aware that Nance could shoot threes. With Tristan Thompson out for a while, Nance will see time at center and he is comfortable shooting from beyond the arc if he is given space.
“If they sag off me I will shoot it,” Nance told Cleveland.com this past Monday. “Obviously I’m not going to be K-Love with it or anything. But if they sag off me and don’t respect me as a shooter I feel completely comfortable (making them pay) and shooting it now.”
In a separate story, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com writes that Nance will start until Thompson is healthy. Lue was encouraged by Nance’s contributions off the bench after he traded from the Lakers.
“I was just letting (Nance) get a chance to figure out our offense, our defense and what we want to do,” Lue said. “I liked what he did off the bench because we need that spark and that energy.”
Check out other Central Division notes below:
- Jabari Parker‘s career has hit two major snags, both of them being torn ACLs that cost him significant playing time. He was reportedly close to an extension with the Bucks that would have paid him $18MM annually — while recovering from the second ACL injury — but it didn’t happen. As he approaches free agency, Parker’s future with the Bucks remains a dilemma in the short- and long-term, NBC Sports’ Dan Feldman writes.
- Trevor Booker was waived by the Sixers and while he had other options, he chose to sign with the Pacers. Booker’s defense and rebounding is something the Pacers have been looking to add, Clifton Brown of the Indianapolis Star writes. “I had a few other choices,” Booker said. “I factored in everything. I thought I could come to this team and bring something positive.”
- The Pistons have been hampered by injuries all season, primarily in the backcourt. Those injuries have impacted the team’s perimeter shooting, but head coach Stan Van Gundy does not want to use injuries as an excuse, Rod Beard of the Detroit News writes. “I’m not going to make an excuse on that. We’ve got good players and we should be playing better. We’re capable of playing better and I think we will play better,” Van Gundy said. “Nobody wants to be without guys for long periods of time, but injuries are a fact of life in the NBA and you have to play through them.”
Muhammad Expects To Join Rotation
- Shabazz Muhammad didn’t play on Sunday after joining the Bucks but he expects to jump into the rotation soon, as he told Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Muhammad signed with Milwaukee after he was bought out by the Timberwolves last week. “I think I’ll probably get some minutes off the bench — that’s why I came here, to help out,” Muhammad told Velazquez.
Bucks Waive Kilpatrick, Sign Shabazz Muhammad
MARCH 4th, 6:22pm: The Bucks have officially signed Muhammad, according to a team press release.
MARCH 1st, 11:14pm: The Bucks have formally waived Kilpatrick, the team announced tonight (via Twitter).
9:44pm: It’s official that the Bucks will waive Kilpatrick. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets that they’ll do so before the deadline (11:00pm CST) so that he would be playoff-eligible should he land somewhere else this season.
9:25pm: Recently bought-out swingman Shabazz Muhammad plans to commit to the Bucks when he clears waivers, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets. We wrote about the Timberwolves’ decision to part ways with the veteran earlier today.
While Matt Velasquez of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets that there’s no indication what the corresponding roster move will be to make space for the signing, Darren Wolfson of 5 Eye Witness News tweets that word is it will be Sean Kilpatrick who is eventually let go. (This has since been corroborated by several writers, including ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski).
In a follow-up to his initial tweet, Charania adds that the Bucks had been interested in Muhammad back in the offseason. In September, however, the 25-year-old inked a two-year pact with the only franchise he’d ever known.
While Muhammad’s role with the Wolves has been negligible this season, he’s been a reliable source of perimeter offense at times throughout his career. Muhammad will slot in on a Bucks roster light on prototypical perimeter threats.
NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 3/4/18
Here are Sunday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Spurs have assigned guard Derrick White to their G League affiliate, the Austin Spurs, the team announced today in a press release. White has averaged 2.5 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 16 games with San Antonio this season.
- The Bucks recalled rookie power forward D.J. Wilson from the Wisconsin Herd, the team announced on its Twitter feed. The first-round pick is averaging 14.9 PPG and 5.2 RPG in nine G League games.
- The Wizards have assigned third-year forward Chris McCullough to the G League, according to the team. Washington doesn’t have a G League team of its own, so McCullough will join Phoenix’s affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns. He has appeared in 12 games with Northern Arizona this season.