Bruno Caboclo

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 1/4/17

Here are Wednesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

4:25pm:

  • The Lakers have re-assigned rookie big man Ivica Zubac to the D-League (Twitter link). Zubac will be in uniform for the L.A. D-Fenders tomorrow night for the team’s game against Iowa.
  • The Pistons officially announced in a press release this afternoon that they’ve sent Henry Ellenson to the Grand Rapids Drive. As Keith Langlois of Pistons.com tweets, fellow rookie Michael Gbinije likely would’ve joined him, but he’s battling a forearm injury.
  • Forward Troy Williams has been recalled by the Grizzlies from his assignment with the Iowa Energy, per a team release. Williams averaged 24.3 PPG in three games during his D-League stint, including 32 in 28 minutes on December 27.

2:28pm:

  • Richaun Holmes, who has completed and passed all the elements of the NBA’s concussion protocol, has been assigned to the D-League by the Sixers, the team announced today in a press release. While some NBADL rehab assignments don’t include game action, the Sixers suggest that Holmes is expected to suit up tonight for the Delaware 87ers.

12:55pm:

  • A pair of Nuggets rookies, Malik Beasley and Juan Hernangomez, have been assigned to the D-League, according to a press release. Despite having a fairly young roster, Denver hasn’t used the D-League much this season, since the team doesn’t have its own affiliate. Beasley and Hernangomez will join the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s NBADL squad.
  • The Raptors have sent Bruno Caboclo and Fred VanVleet back to the D-League, the team announced today (via Twitter). The duo has bounced back and forth between the NBA and NBADL all season — it’s the 13th D-League assignment for Caboclo and the ninth for VanVleet.
  • Maurice Ndour is headed to the D-League, having been assigned to Westchester today by the Knicks (Twitter link). New York’s D-League affiliate is in action tonight against Grand Rapids, and Ndour is expected to suit up for the game.
  • The Suns have assigned rookie forward Derrick Jones to the D-League, the team announced today (Twitter link). It’s the fourth NBADL assignment of the season for Jones, who has averaged 14.0 PPG and 6.1 RPG in 14 games for Northern Arizona.

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 12/22/16

Here are Thursday’s D-League assignments and recalls from across the NBA, with the latest moves added to the top of the list throughout the day:

10:55pm:

  • The Nets recalled forward Chris McCullough from the Long Island Nets, the team tweets. McCullough was assigned to the D-League Nets on December 9 and started the team’s last five games. He had 20 points and eight rebounds in 35 minutes against the Grand Rapids Drive on Thursday.

3:50pm:

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 12/20/16

Here are Tuesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

3:21pm:

11:53am:

  • With Clint Capela sidelined due to a fibula fracture, the Rockets have recalled 2016 second-rounder Chinanu Onuaku from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the team announced today (Twitter link). Onuaku, who had been on his latest D-League assignment for nearly a month, has averaged 10.7 PPG, 10.3 RPG, and 1.5 BPG in 16 games for the Vipers this season.
  • Maurice Ndour and Marshall Plumlee have been assigned to the D-League by the Knicks, according to the team (Twitter link). The duo will join the Westchester Knicks in time for New York’s NBADL affiliate to take on the Los Angeles D-Fenders tonight.
  • The Thunder have sent Josh Huestis back to the D-League, according to a press release issued today by the team. Huestis, who has been shuttled back and forth frequently between the NBA and NBADL, has appeared in nine games for the Oklahoma City Blue, but has yet to play this season for the Thunder.

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 12/19/16

Here are Monday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

9:51pm:

  • The Warriors have recalled Damian Jones from their D-League affiliate, says the team in a press release. The center posted 17 points and nine rebounds in his lone game with the Santa Cruz Warriors Sunday night.

3:20pm:

  • The Raptors have sent Bruno Caboclo and Fred VanVleet back the D-League, the team announced today (via Twitter). Neither player has seen much action this season for Toronto, but with Cory Joseph and Delon Wright on the shelf, VanVleet was Kyle Lowry‘s backup on Sunday and played a career-high 23 minutes.
  • The Jazz have recalled rookie forward Joel Bolomboy from the Salt Lake City Stars, according to a team release. During his most recent game with Utah’s D-League affiliate over the weekend, Bolomboy helped lead the team to a win with 28 points and 19 rebounds.
  • The Magic have recalled C.J. Wilcox and Stephen Zimmerman from their D-League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks, according to the team’s Twitter feed. Both players were sent down on December 15.

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 12/16/16

Here are Friday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

  • The Warriors have announced that they’ve assigned Damian Jones to the D-League, giving him a chance to suit up for Santa Cruz tonight, tweets Anthony Slater of The Bay Area News Group. Jones, Golden State’s 2016 first-round pick, made his NBA debut with the Warriors last week, but continues to be brought along slowly after a pectoral injury sidelined him to start the season.
  • Rookie guard Demetrius Jackson has been sent back to the D-League by the Celtics, the club announced today (via Twitter). Jackson has played very sparingly in Boston so far this year, but has looked good for the Maine Red Claws, averaging 19.6 PPG, 6.5 APG, and 5.9 RPG in eight contests.
  • The Raptors have recalled Bruno Caboclo and Fred VanVleet from the D-League after the duo played in Thursday night’s Raptors 905 game. The team announced the move via Twitter.

Atlantic Notes: Caboclo, Embiid, Parker, World Peace

The Raptors have seen just glimpses of what they expected from Bruno Caboclo, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. Now in his third season with the organization, the Brazilian small forward still sees most of his action in the D-League. He has played just three games for Toronto this season, bringing his career total to 17 after being taken with the 20th pick of the 2014 draft. Still, the organization showed confidence in Caboclo, picking up his option for 2017/18 in October. “There’s a timeframe to get better,” said Raptors 905 coach Jerry Stackhouse. “We have to hold him to the fire, hold him accountable for what he can control. There’s a lot of things he can’t control but there are quite a few things he can control and that’s making sure he focuses, lets me know when he understands something and when he doesn’t understand something.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • Joel Embiid didn’t enjoy being used at power forward in his first game starting alongside Jahlil Okafor, according to Jessica Camerato of Philly.com. Embiid was stationed far from the basket most of the night and looked uncomfortable in his new role. “I’m not a 3-point shooter and I don’t want to take a lot of threes,” Embiid said. “I want to be dominant on the block. But last night was kind of frustrating because I wasn’t as much on the block. But I’ve just got to find my spots and get into the flow of the offense.” The Sixers are trying to find playing time for Embiid, Okafor and Nerlens Noel.
  • Tony Parker briefly held a Celtics cap during the 2001 draft, relays ESPN’s Chris Forsberg. Boston was considering using the No. 21 pick on the French point guard before opting to go in a different direction. Instead, the Celtics took Joseph Forte from North Carolina, and Parker fell to the Spurs at No. 28.
  • As he nears the end of his NBA career, Metta World Peace still regrets not being able to begin it with the Knicks, writes Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders. The team passed on the New York City native, then known as Ron Artest, with the 15th pick in the 1999 draft to take Frederic Weis, who never played in the NBA. “Obviously I wanted to go to the Knicks, but St. John’s was the closest that I could get to bringing that fire back to New York City,” World Peace said. “As a kid, New York was in my blood, and that was it. I got a chance to play for the Knicks, so it was cool, but it was towards the end of my career. It wasn’t when I was the best defender and everything. But that was my goal, man: to bring a championship to New York City. It just didn’t work out that way.”

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 12/15/16

Here are Thursday’s D-League assignments and recalls from across the NBA:

  • The Raptors assigned point guard Fred VanVleet and forward Bruno Caboclo to their affiliate, Raptors 905, according to the team’s Twitter feed (Twitter links). They both played against the Oklahoma City Blue on Thursday, with VanVleet scoring nine points and dishing out 12 assists, while Caboclo had 13 points. VanVleet has seen action in six games with Toronto this season, while Caboclo has appeared in three games.
  • The Magic assigned guard C.J. Wilcox and center Stephen Zimmerman to the Erie BayHawks, the team announced on its website. Wilcox has played in 10 games this season with the Magic. Zimmerman has appeared in four games this season with the Magic. He was previously assigned to Erie on November 28th.
  • The Suns recalled point guard Tyler Ulis and big man Alan Williams from the Northern Arizona Suns, the team tweets. Ulis, an early second-rounder, has played in 14 games with Phoenix this season. Williams has played nine games with the NBA club.
  • The Jazz assigned forward Joel Bolomboy to their affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, the team announced. This marks the fifth assignment this season for Bolomboy, who has played eight games this season with the Jazz.
  • The Grizzlies assigned guard Wade Baldwin IV to their affiliate, the Iowa Energy. Baldwin, who has appeared in 20 games with Memphis, played two games for the Energy last month.

McCullough, Caboclo Leaders In D-League Assignments

More NBA teams than ever have their own D-League affiliates in 2016/17, with three expansion D-League clubs joining the mix this year to bring the league’s count to 22 total teams. The NBA’s other eight teams can still send players to the D-League using the flexible assignment rule, but they may not be as inclined to do so as the clubs that operate and control their affiliates.

As expected, during the first month of the D-League’s season, the NBA teams most frequently assigning and recalling players from their affiliates generally met two criteria:

  1. They have young players on their roster who aren’t necessarily ready for regular NBA minutes, or can’t crack the NBA rotation.
  2. They’re geographically adjacent to their D-League affiliates, making it easy to send a player down for a practice, then recall him later in the day.

As Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily wrote last week, no team has taken advantage of the close proximity of a D-League affiliate quite like the Nets, who are temporarily sharing venues with the Long Island Nets, their new D-League squad. Long Island’s new building won’t be ready until the 2017/18 season, so when both teams are playing at home, it’s very easy for Brooklyn to send players back and forth between the NBA and the D-League. Chris McCullough has been the player most frequently affected, having already been assigned to Long Island nine times this season.

Like the Nets, the Raptors have a D-League affiliate that plays nearby — the Raptors 905 are based in Mississauga, a city in the Greater Toronto Area. And like McCullough with the Nets, Bruno Caboclo has been shuttled back and forth nine times between the NBA and D-League already this season, as Toronto takes advantage of having its D-League affiliate in the area.

While many NBA teams have established D-League teams – or relocated them – to ensure that sort of geographical proximity, not every club has done so. The Heat, for instance, might be more willing to assign and recall players from their D-League club more frequently if it wasn’t located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The distance between American Airlines Arena and the Sanford Pentagon (where the Skyforce play)? Over 1,800 miles.

Here are the players with the most D-League assignments early on in the 2016/17 season:

Information from RealGM.com was used in the creation of this post.

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 12/1/16

Here are Thursday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

8:36pm:

  • The Nets recalled point guard Yogi Ferrell and forward Chris McCullough from the Long Island Nets in time for their game against the Bucks, according to a team press release. Ferrell and McCullough started for Long Island earlier in the day in the team’s 114-104 victory over Santa Cruz in Brooklyn. Ferrell recorded a double-double with 18 points and 10 assists, while McCullough totaled 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

2:34pm:

  • As expected, Nerlens Noel was recalled from the D-League today by the Sixers, the team announced in a press release. Noel figures to go back and forth between the NBA club and the Delaware 87ers as he continues to rehab his knee injury and works toward a return.
  • Speaking of going back and forth between the NBA and the D-League, the Raptors once again assigned Bruno Caboclo and Fred VanVleet to their NBADL affiliate today, per the team (Twitter link). Given the close proximity the Raptors and Raptors 905, Caboclo and VanVleet are among the league leaders in D-League assignments so far this season.
  • The Bucks have recalled guard Rashad Vaughn from the Westchester Knicks, according to a press release from the club. Milwaukee doesn’t control its own NBADL affiliate, so Vaughn played for New York’s affiliate, and has averaged just 16.6 minutes per game for the quad in three games this year — if the Bucks had their own D-League team, Vaughn likely would have seen more playing time.

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 11/29/16

Here are Tuesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

10:35pm:

  • The Spurs have recalled Bryn Forbes, Nicolas Laprovittola and Dejounte Murray from their Austin affiliate, the team announced on its website.
  • The Nets have recalled forwards Anthony Bennett and Chris McCullough from their Long Island affiliate, the team announced in a press release. Both started Long Island’s game today and were available for Brooklyn’s game with the Clippers.
  • The Raptors have quickly recalled Caboclo and VanVleet, whose assignments to the D-League were noted below (Twitter link).

2:07pm:

  • After getting a rare shot at playing time for the Raptors on Monday night in the team’s blowout of the 76ers, Bruno Caboclo and Fred VanVleet have been re-assigned to Raptors 905, according to Blake Murphy of Raptors Republic. As Murphy writes, the schedules for Toronto’s NBA and D-League teams overlap neatly this week, so Caboclo and VanVleet could be up and down a couple more times.
  • Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, who received some playing time on the other side of that blowout in Toronto on Monday, has been assigned to the Delaware 87ers in advance of the team’s Tuesday night contest, according to a press release issued by the Sixers. The 2016 first-rounder has appeared in 11 games for Philadelphia so far, and one for Delaware.
  • Former first-round pick Josh Huestis has been re-assigned to the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder announced today in a press release. Huestis has appeared in a pair of games for the D-League squad so far, averaging a modest 9.0 PPG and 6.5 RPG.