Willie Warren

Odds & Ends: Abdur-Rahim, Kazemi, Butler

According to a team press
release
, former NBA All-Star and Kings' director of player
personnel Shareef Abdur-Rahim has
been named as the general manager of the Reno Bighorns, which serves as Sacramento's D-League affilliate. Abdur-Rahim will be joined by Chris Gilbert,
who was named assistant general manager. Here are some more of this evening's miscellaneous news and notes:

  • Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer tweets that the 76ers could still send second-round pick Arsalan Kazemi overseas for the coming season. 
  • Caron Butler is "thoroughly excited" about returning home to Wisconsin to play for the Bucks, writes Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times
  • Suns GM Ryan McDonough issued a statement about the team's trade agreement with Milwaukee, saying that the deal was about creating more cap space (Paul Coro of AZCentral.com). 
  • Yannis Koutroupis of Hoopsworld profiles this year's rookie head coaches and identifies some challenges that may lie ahead for each of them. 
  • Later in the same piece, Koutroupis wonders if Marcin Gortat is the next player in Phoenix to be on the move. 
  • The newly created Delaware 87ers of the NBDL acquired the rights of 16 players via the D-League's expansion draft last night (NBA.com). Among the more notable names on that list with NBA experience are Ish SmithSean Williams, Willie Warren, Jerome Dyson, and Josh Akognon. Smith and Akognon remain on NBA rosters, but if they were released and wanted to play in the D-League, Delaware would hold their rights.

International Moves: Graham, Barron

We'll track today's notable international transactions here:

  • Puerto Rican team Mets de Guaynabo has officially signed Joey Graham, the team announced via Twitter (hat tip to Sportando). The six-year NBA veteran had joined the D-League in March in hopes of returning to the Association.
  • Puerto Rico's Atleticos de San German has parted ways with Earl Barron, replacing him with Willie Warren, according to Sportando. Barron, who was released by the Warriors in February, just signed with the Puerto Rican club last week.