D-League Updates: Cavaliers, Roberson, James
Here is a look at some of the D-League moves around the NBA:
- The Cavaliers have recalled both guard/forward Carrick Felix and center Henry Sims from their D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge. The rookie Felix has appeared in 3 games for the Cavaliers this season, averaging 5.0MPG and 1.3PPG. Sims has appeared in 6 games so far for Cleveland, averaging 1.7PPG in 5.8 minutes played per contest.
- The Thunder have recalled rookie forward Andre Roberson from the Tulsa 66ers. While Roberson has only appeared in six games for the Thunder this season, he averaged 17.3PPG in his three starts with the 66ers.
- Small forward Damion James has signed with the D-League Bakersfield Jam. James signed with the Nuggets in September but was waived prior to the start of the season. James has played two games so far with the Jam and has filled the stat sheet with 11PPG, 3.5RPG, and 1.5BPG in his short return tenure.
Minor Moves: Baynes, De Colo, Spurs, Conroy
Today’s minor moves..
- The Spurs assigned center Aron Baynes, guard Nando De Colo, and forward Malcolm Thomas to the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League. Baynes has appeared in 11 games for the Spurs this season, averaging 1.5 points and 2.2 rebounds in 7.9 minutes. De Colo has seen action in six contests this season for the Silver and Black, averaging 2.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 9.0 minutes. Thomas was recently signed by the Spurs on Dec. 3 and will make his first appearance for the Toros this season. To keep up with all of this year’s D-League assignments, check out Hoops Rumors’ running list.
- Point guard Will Conroy has signed to play in Germany with BBC Bayreuth, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia notes. Conroy appeared in four games with the Timberwolves last season, but the close friend of Brandon Roy wasn’t in an NBA camp this fall.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Central Rumors: Butler, Pistons, Cavs
The Pistons met the Bulls on Saturday in a game that would allow the winner to hit .500, and Detroit came away with the victory. That gives the Pistons the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference, where everyone’s looking up at the Pacers, now 18-2 after a resounding win against the Spurs. Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Caron Butler would be interested in putting a group together to buy the Bucks from Herb Kohl, reports Rich Kirchen of The Business Journal. Butler also says he’d like to take an active role in managing the team, but the 33-year-old would have to retire from playing first to accomplish either objective.
- The Pistons aren’t likely to send Tony Mitchell on a D-League assignment this season, according to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, contradicting his report from before the season. The team feels differently about Peyton Siva, who could wind up in the D-League once Chauncey Billups and Will Bynum return from injury, Ellis adds.
- Some Cavs players haven’t been enamored with Mike Brown‘s strict coaching this season, the Plain Dealer’s Terry Pluto observes. The team gave Brown license to use a heavy hand with his four-year contract, Pluto writes.
California Rumors: Lakers, Lee, Fredette
Injuries to Steve Nash and Jordan Farmar have left the Lakers short on point guards, and they planned to assess the progress of Nash’s recovery in practice this week before exploring the idea of a roster move. Nash isn’t rushing his return, but another player who’s back to health might fit the bill. Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni tells reporters that Kobe Bryant will see time at the point when he makes his season debut Sunday against the Raptors (Twitter link). Here’s more from the state with the most NBA teams:
- The Warriors place a high value on David Lee, and his bloated contract, worth nearly $44.4MM through 2016/17, virtually ensures the team won’t find offers worthwhile enough to trade him, tweets Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group.
- James Ham of Cowbell Kingdom hears from a source that there was nothing substantial to a recent report that the Raptors were talking to the Kings about acquiring Jimmer Fredette, and spoke to Fredette about being the subject of trade rumors.
- The Kings recalled Hamady N’Diaye from the D-League in time for tonight’s game against the Jazz, according to a press release. N’Diaye appeared in just one game for the Reno Bighorns during his assignment, contributing to a win over the Santa Cruz Warriors by recording seven points, seven boards, and four blocked shots.
- The Los Angeles D-Fenders, the D-League affiliate of the Lakers, announced their acquisition of former Cavs swingman Manny Harris in a trade (on Twitter). Harris was in an NBA training camp this fall with the Magic.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
D-League Moves: Westbrook, N’Diaye, Hawks
Let’s take a look at today’s D-League moves from around the NBA:
- Charlie Westbrook has been claimed by the Heat‘s D-League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. We heard Wednesday night that Westbrook had entered the D-League’s waiver process.
- Kings center Hamady N’Diaye has been assigned to the club’s D-League affiliate in Reno, the team announced today in an official press release. Ndiaye has played 52 minutes in nine games for Sacramento his season.
- The Hawks have swapped out two shooting guards today, assigning John Jenkins to the Bakersfield Jam of the D-League while subsequently recalling Jared Cunningham. A press release earlier today revealed the pair of moves.
Lakers Notes: Kobe, Kelly, Harris
Here’s the latest coming out of Lakerland tonight:
- After acknowledging that he won’t be making his season debut against the Kings tomorrow night in Sacramento, Kobe Bryant is tentatively targeting Sunday’s game against the Raptors, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN LA: “We (have) to see how it feels tonight. I’m going to try to get another hard session in and then [Friday] morning try to push it again and the same thing tomorrow evening. Continue to just keep on measuring it.”
- More from Kobe, who added that he was “pleased” with how he’s feeling after three straight days of practice: “I’m not jumping through the gym by any means, but I don’t need to be able to do that in order to be a great player…It just takes awhile, no matter how much running and conditioning you do, to get out there and play is different. So, I’m sure I’ll be limited in some capacity.”
- Hoopsworld’s Eric Pincus reports that the Lakers have re-assigned Ryan Kelly to their D-League affilate, the D-Fenders (Twitter link).
- While Elias Harris had been signed to a partially-guaranteed rookie minimum of $490K, Pincus – in a piece for the L.A. Times – explains how waiving Harris saved the Lakers a total of nearly $1.1MM.
- Mike D’Antoni may not be the most ideal man for the Lakers’ head coaching job for some, but Kevin Ding of the Bleacher Report argues that at least he’s no Mike Brown. Citing Cleveland’s slow start as well as Brown’s indecisiveness with his rotation, Ding characterizes it as the “same tortoise pace of progress” that the former Lakers coach tried to sell in Los Angeles before getting the boot last season.
Cavs Notes: Sims, Felix, Shaw, Bennett
Here’s today’s look at the Cavs..
- The Cavs announced that they have assigned center Henry Sims and guard/forward Carrick Felix to their D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge. Sims has appeared in six games for the Cavs this season, averaging 1.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in 5.8 minutes per game and Felix has appeared in three games, averaging 1.3 points in 5.0 minutes per game. To keep up on all of this year’s D-League assignments, take a look at Hoops Rumors’ running list.
- Bob Finnan of the Plain Dealer look at how Nuggets coach Brian Shaw nearly became Cleveland’s head man.
- Former Cavalier J.J. Hickson can empathize with struggling No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett and has some advice for him, writes Sam Amico of FOX Sports.
Charlie Westbrook To Sign In D-League
Guard Charlie Westbrook has agreed to sign a deal in the NBA Development League, a league source told Shams Charania of RealGM. Westbrook was in training camp with the Heat this summer and was said to impress, but the logjam of talented veterans was too much for him to overcome.
Westbrook had been deciding on his next professional team and he joined the D-League’s waiver process tonight to determine his franchise. The 24-year-old played four games with the Heat in preseason, with averages of 5.7 minutes and 2.5 points before being released on October 21st.
Undrafted in 2012 out of the University of South Dakota, Westbrook was on the second team all-conference as a senior, scoring over 18 points per game. He spent last season in Italy, where he averaged 16.2 points per contest.
D-League Updates: Teague, Schröder, Marshall
The Rockets were upset by the Jazz on Monday, but had won eight of their previous nine games before that, and are comfortably in the playoff picture in a competitive Western Conference. So far though, Houston’s D-League affiliate is off to an even better start. Led by Rockets camp invitee Troy Daniels, as well as assignees Isaiah Canaan and Robert Covington, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers sit atop the D-League standings with a 5-0 record, and have averaged an incredible 133.4 points per game so far.
Here are a few more Wednesday notes from around the D-League:
- Bulls GM Gar Forman indicated yesterday that Marquis Teague wouldn’t have a long-term stay in the D-League, but Forman probably didn’t expect to recall Teague quite so early. The Bulls guard has been recalled from the Iowa Energy due to Mike James‘ knee injury, according to the team. “As soon as I landed they told me to come right back,” Teague told K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link).
- The Hawks have assigned rookie guard Dennis Schröder to the D-League, the team announced today in a press release. The 20-year-old has appeared in just 11 of 19 games for Atlanta this season, so he should see more playing time in the D-League. Schröder will join Hawks teammate Jared Cunningham on the Bakersfield Jam.
- The Delaware 87ers made their acquisition of Kendall Marshall official today, sending out a press release to formally announce the addition of last year’s 13th overall pick.
Odds & Ends: Nets, Shaw, Odom, Hansbrough
Divergent coaching styles and philosophies ultimately prompted Jason Kidd to demote Nets assistant coach Lawrence Frank, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com, but that doesn’t appear to be the only reason for the move. Frank has been badmouthing Kidd around the league, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has additional details on the troubled relationship between the two coaches. Here’s more on the Nets soap opera and the rest of the NBA:
- The Nets maintain their strong support of Kidd, and they still believe he’ll develop into an effective head coach, Mannix writes. Brian Shaw, whom the Nets passed on when they hired Kidd, has “thrilled” Nuggets brass so far, Mannix notes via Twitter.
- Lamar Odom isn’t yet performing basketball drills in workouts, a source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. The earliest he could be ready to play is mid-January, Berger hears. The Clippers appear in no rush to sign him, even with other teams in the mix.
- Tyler Hansbrough wasn’t pleased with his limited role on the Pacers last season, and while he signed with the Raptors hoping to be a more integral part of his team, he never expected to become the starter he is now, as Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun details.
- A short-term injury to Mike James will force the Bulls to cut Marquis Teague‘s D-League assignment short, reports K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. The Bulls are down to 10 healthy players, but they don’t plan on signing anyone, Johnson says.
- Amid a rough week for the top four college prospects, Kansas center Joel Embiid‘s performance made him a legitimate candidate to become the No. 1 overall pick in June, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com writes in his latest Insider piece on the draft landscape.