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:
- The Spurs have recalled Dejounte Murray and Bryn Forbes from their D-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs. Tom Orsborn of Spurs Nation relays. Both players will be available for tonight’s game against the Clippers.
- The Jazz have assigned Joel Bolomboy to the Salt Lake City Stars, the their D-League affiliate, according to the team’s website. This will be Bolomboy’s sixth assignment of the season.
- The Raptors have assigned Bruno Caboclo and Fred VanVleet to their D-League affiliate, according to the team’s Twitter feed.
Versatile Norm Powell Needs More Minutes
- The Raptors need another elite player to become true title contenders but they should try to hold onto shooting guard Norm Powell, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun opines. Powell has the ability to play three positions and could play some minutes at point guard if Toronto includes current backup Cory Joseph in a blockbuster deal, Wolstat continues. In any case, coach Dwane Casey should try to give Powell, 23, more consistent minutes, Wolstat adds.
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 12/20/16
Here are Tuesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
3:21pm:
- After participating in the Raptors 905 game at the Air Canada Centre today, Bruno Caboclo and Fred VanVleet were recalled to the NBA squad, the Raptors announced (via Twitter). The D-League game at the ACC set a new league record for attendance, with more than 15,000 fans in the building.
- The Kings have assigned rookies Georgios Papagiannis and Skal Labissiere to the D-League, according to a press release issued by the club. Fellow first-rounder Malachi Richardson apparently won’t be joining them on their latest NBADL assignment, as he has multiple times this season.
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.
VanVleet Latest Shuttling Project For Raptors
- The Raptors are making the most of their D-League affiliate in nearby Mississauga, Ontario and point guard Fred VanVleet is a shining example of the value that having such a resource can bring. Doug Smith of the Toronto Star explains how the franchise has found success shuttling players back and forth.
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.
Kyler: Raptors A Team To Watch On Nerlens Noel
- Following up on Noel, Kyler suggests the Raptors are a team to watch, though Toronto wouldn’t want to risk affecting its team chemistry by moving a core piece. If the Sixers are interested in one or two of the Raptors’ young players or non-core pieces, a deal could be possible, sources tell Kyler. The Trail Blazers may also be eyeing Noel.
[SOURCE LINK]
Biyombo Has Fond Memories Of Toronto
- Magic center Bismack Biyombo has great memories of the single season he spent with the Raptors, relays Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. Biyombo helped Toronto advance to the Eastern Conference finals last season before a signing a four-year $72MM deal with Orlando in July. The 6’9″ center, who will face his former team for the first time Sunday night, said he was exchanging messages with Kyle Lowry DeMar DeRozan and other teammates all the way up to the start of free agency. “The expectation that everybody [had] was that I was going back there,” Biyombo said. “I had conversations with teammates before free agency was open. An hour before free agency was open I was still talking to all my teammates. Ten minutes before free agency opened they were still talking to me. So the expectations was high. But in the end, it was tough.”
Nerlens Noel Upset About Playing Time
It didn’t take long for the logjam in Philadelphia’s frontcourt to go south. The 76ers had been largely shielded from their inevitable fate for the first 20 games of the season as 22-year-old Nerlens Noel rehabilitated from a knee injury out of sight and out of mind. Now that the third-year veteran is back and able to play, he has expressed frustration with the conditions to which he’s returned.
Not only is Noel being used less than he had been in his first two seasons (30.8 and 29.3 MPG, respectively), he’s been plugged in the lineup alongside other big men like Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor.
“I just want to play basketball,” Noel told CSN Philly’s Jessica Camerato after playing eight minutes in a loss to the Lakers. “I’m not an eight-minute player so I don’t know what that’s about. […] I need to be on the court playing basketball. I think I’m too good to be playing eight minutes. Like, no, that’s crazy. That’s crazy. That’s crazy. They need to figure this s–t out.”
Throughout the first month and a half of the 2016/17 campaign, Noel’s absence allowed head coach Brett Brown to utilize various combinations of other power forwards and centers without having to balance this final piece. Now that Noel’s back, however, players like Richaun Holmes and Dario Saric, too, have seen their roles adjusted. Holmes saw a DNP-CD Friday, while Saric has been shifted down to small forward.
Displeasure with the club’s new rotation doesn’t seem limited to just Noel, either. Rookie Embiid has voiced his own concerns with the modified rotation. As Philadelphia Magazine’s Derek Bodner tweeted Friday night, Embiid expressed subtle displeasure with the defensive effort of his teammates after the loss and, per Camerato, he wasn’t pleased with his own performance “standing on the perimeter” in Wednesday’s loss to the Raptors either.
The Noel comments serves as the latest example that something appears likely to give in Philadelphia, whether that means the club limits Noel’s playing time in an effort to showcase and eventually trade Okafor, or – more likely – to just deal Noel, as has been rumored for months. Basketball Insiders’ Steve Kyler speculates that two of the most likely trade partners for Noel would be the Raptors or Wizards.
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.
Raptors Still Waiting For Caboclo To Produce
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.”