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Odds & Ends: Noel, Spurs Prospects, Thunder

June 14th, 2012 at 6:27pm CST by Ryan Raroque

It has been extremely rare for a college basketball team to deliver a number one pick in consecutive years. However, with incoming freshman Nerlens Noel already being touted as the top selection of the 2013 NBA Draft, Kentucky could be the first program to do it since 1955 and 1956, when Duquesne’s Dick Ricketts and Sihugo Green were each selected number one overall on draft day in those respective years. Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld provides some background on Noel, from his early beginnings as strictly a defensive minded player to now, a time when some marvel at the possibility of him being the NBA’s next great big man. 

Here's more of what we've heard this evening, including two possible international gems whose draft rights are owned by the Spurs, an offseason dilemma for the Thunder, and some insight on two former Dream Team members looking for work in the NBA… 

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Odds & Ends: Deng, Magic, Ibaka, World Peace

May 15th, 2012 at 10:54pm CST by Daniel Seco

With Tuesday night's second playoff game winding down, let's take a quick break from the action and catch up on the latest stories and headlines from across the league…

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Odds & Ends: Williams, Lorbek, Thunder

May 11th, 2012 at 7:16pm CST by Alex Lee

With the Grizzlies looking to stay alive in Los Angeles against the Clippers tonight, it sounds like Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will play.  Here are some links from around the league as we wait for that contest to get underway:

  • While we don't yet know who will be the Trail Blazers' new general manager or head coach, we do know who will not be their assistant coach.  Chris Haynes from CSNNW.com reports that the team will not renew Buck Williams' deal, as they will let the new head coach choose his own staff. 
  • Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress tweets that the Spurs signing 6-foot-10 center Erazem Lorbek is "very close to being a done deal."  The Spurs acquired the rights to Lorbek via a 2011 draft day trade with the Pacers for George Hill.  The Spurs figure to be desperate for size this summer, and bringing Lorbek over from the Spanish League could prove pivotal.
  • HOOPSWORLD's Tommy Beer gives his take on a question we posed several weeks ago:  Long term, should the Thunder pair Serge Ibaka or James Harden with their already-dynamic duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook?  Ideally Oklahoma City would like to keep both promising youngsters, but given their emergence as impact players that doesn't seem likely.
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Mavs Links: Defense, Minutes, Ibaka

April 27th, 2012 at 7:50pm CST by Daniel Seco

After winning the NBA championship last season against the Heat, the Mavericks will begin their title defense Saturday on the road against the Thunder. The Mavericks fell to the seventh seed after losing four out of their last six games to close out the season. Mike Heika of The Dallas Morning News has the latest out of Dallas with a series of updates from Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle.

  • Defense will be a key for the Mavs if they want to contain the Thunder's trio of stars that guided the team to the third-highest scoring average in the league at 103.1 points per game. Carlisle wants his squad to focus on defending the Thunder as a collective unit rather than attempting to guard them individually. Fouling won't help the Mavs as the Thunder rank first in the league for both free throws made per game (21.3) and free throw shooting percentage (.806).
  • Limiting the minutes of star players such as Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd will not be a consideration for the Mavs as the team looks to rely on their veterans for heavy usage throughout the playoffs. Carlisle rested Kidd the last two games of the season and decreased the 38-year-old point guard's minutes per game this season to 28.7. Nowitzki finished the season averaging 33.5 minutes per game as his time on the court decreased less than one minute from a year ago.
  • The Thunder's Serge Ibaka will be a test for the Mavs' big men after a season in which the 22-year-old rising star blocked 21 shots against the Mavs in four meetings. With defensive stalwart Tyson Chandler now on the Knicks, the Mavs will rely on Brendan Haywood, Ian Mahinmi and Brandan Wright to occupy space in the paint for the team. "Our center position is going to be very important in the series, because the way they defend, our centers have got to give us activity around the basket,'' Carlisle said.
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Thunder Will Try To Sign Both Harden, Ibaka

April 22nd, 2012 at 1:55pm CST by Michael Pina

To nobody's surprise, Thunder general manager Sam Presti told Yahoo! Sports' Marc J. Spears that the team would try to sign both James Harden and Serge Ibaka as soon as they're eligibile for extensions, which will be July 1st when free agency officially begins. After Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, the two are regarded as Oklahoma City's best players. 

Both Harden and Ibaka will become restricted free agents at the end of next season, and given the team's stature as a small market team that's already signed two players to max deals, it's believed they'll be able to keep only one of them. If Harden chooses not to accept an extension offer and hit free agency in the following offseason, it's expected he'll command as much as $10MM per year, which would seriously limit the Thunder's cap flexibility moving forward.

Serge Ibaka is one of the favorites to win Defensive Player of the Year, and James Harden is the favorite to win Sixth Man of the Year. Both players are only 22-years-old. 

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Dwight Howard Rumors: Friday

March 9th, 2012 at 6:27pm CST by Luke Adams

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com wrote last night that the Magic would seek a Carmelo Anthony-esque haul if they decided to trade Dwight Howard. The teams on Howard's list of preferred destinations may have difficulty putting together such a package, but plenty of other clubs, such as the Hawks, Warriors, and Rockets, are still in the hunt. We'll follow today's Howard rumblings right here, with the latest updates at the top of the page:

  • The Magic leaked the Thunder's interest in Howard just to let other teams know that a price similar to the package of James Harden and Serge Ibaka is what Orlando is looking for, tweets Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.
  • Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel tweets that the Magic executives are not at odds over Brook Lopez, who is in the discussion because the Nets are Howard's favored destination. Question remains, however, about whether team CEO Alex Martins or GM Otis Smith has final say on a deal.
  • Robbins also tweets that the only way Howard would agree to a sign-and-trade is if the team he wants to go to does not have enough cap space for him.
  • Sam Amick of SI.com shares some Howard updates in his latest column, noting that the Bulls have been "quietly deliberating" a play for D12 all season, but won't pursue him without assurances he'd remain in Chicago. Amick also hears that Magic GM Otis Smith isn't seriously interested in anyone the Warriors could offer for Howard.
  • Howard's list of teams is becoming somewhat irrelevant at this point, according to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld. If the Magic get a serious offer from a team besides the Mavericks, Lakers, or Nets, they're just as likely to pull the trigger as they would be with one of those clubs.
  • Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel can't see any sort of trade with the Hawks working. He doesn't think Howard would re-sign in Atlanta if dealt there, and he doesn't think the Magic could acquire Josh Smith without giving up Howard — even if they could, he's not sure the presence of Smith convinces D12 to stay in Orlando (Twitter links).
  • Brian Schmitz of the Sentinel (Twitter link) also doesn't see the Hawks as a fit for Howard, saying the hometown team "offers no allure" for the Atlanta native. He adds that the Magic want Kyle Lowry from the Rockets in any Howard deal.
  • The Magic talked to the Thunder about Howard, but Oklahoma City balked at giving up James Harden and Serge Ibaka, reports Schmitz (via Twitter). While that's entirely understandable, the idea of Howard playing with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, even if it's just for two months, is pretty fun, isn't it?
  • It was reported yesterday that Otis Smith has talked to "all 29 teams" about Howard, but Schmitz tweets that only six to eight are serious — the other GMs just want to tell their owners they've called.
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