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Month: November 2024

Hoops Links: Hickson, Dunleavy, Amare, Miller

March 24th, 2012 at 8:56am CST by Zachary Links

Thirty-three years and one day ago, the 76ers and Nets replayed the final 17:50 of their game that began on November 8, 1978.  The Sixers won the November contest in double overtime, but there was one problem: referee Richie Powers called three technicals on Nets coach Kevin Loughery and star Bernard King rather than the limit of two. 

During this five month gap, the Nets sent Harvey Catchings and Ralph Simpson to the Sixers for  Eric Money and Al Skinner.  Simpson and Money played in both the original contest and the March continuation, marking the only time in the history of professional sports that any player played for both teams in the same game.  And before you ask, no, we're not counting Rock N' Jock Basketball. 

Today at Hoops Rumors, we're making our own bit of history with our inaugural edition of Hoops Links.  If you have a great basketball blog piece that you think we should feature, send me an email at HoopsLinks@gmail.com.  

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Zach can be reached here.

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Odds & Ends: Butler, Heisley, Kroenke, Bayless

March 23rd, 2012 at 11:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

Much of the NBA spent the evening with concerns about Celtics swingman Mickael Pietrus, who suffered a head injury during tonight's game with the 76ers and left the arena in an ambulance. It originally appeared Pietrus would spend the night in a hospital, as ESPN's Chris Forsberg and others reported, but apparently his injury, a concussion, will allow him to return home for the night, Forsberg tweets. Here's more from around the Association:

  • Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel reports that Rasual Butler, who is drawing attention from the Bulls, would have gotten a look from the Heat at the beginning of the season had they not signed Shane Battier (Twitter link).
  • Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley is out of the running to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers, but separate groups that include Magic Johnson and Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke remain in the hunt with a decision looming as soon as next week, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. 
  • Raptors backup point guard Jerryd Bayless shined while starter Jose Calderon missed games with injury earlier this month, and Alex Raskin of HoopsWorld argues the team should bring back the restricted free agent this summer and give him a larger role.
  • Despite a loss to the Raptors tonight, the Knicks have been playing markedly better since Mike Woodson took over as coach, but that doesn't mean the team had quit on former coach Mike D'Antoni, Tyson Chandler says, according to Newsday's Al Iannazzone.
  • Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida tweets that the Pistons have offered retiring Ben Wallace a job for when he hangs up his sneakers, but Wallace is undecided on whether he'll take it.

 


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Lakers Notes: Buss, Bryant, Bynum, Sessions

March 23rd, 2012 at 10:33pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Lakers appear to be distancing themselves from their in-house rivals, establishing a three-game lead over the struggling Clippers as they settle into third place in the Western Conference. New point guard Ramon Sessions was in the starting lineup tonight, thanks to the comfort level coach Mike Brown and the team have with him on the floor, notes Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles. Here's the rest of what's happening with the Purple and Gold:

  • McMenamin summed up the comments of Jim Buss, Lakers executive vice president of player personnel and son of owner Jerry Buss, on the Mason & Ireland Show on 710 ESPN. Buss said the team has no interest in trading Kobe Bryant, and that he expects Bryant to play longer than the two years remaining on his contract.
  • Buss also rejected the assertion that his fondness for Andrew Bynum gets in the way of deals that would help the Lakers, and said the team was upset when the Chris Paul deal fell through."Basically, we had a deal and the commissioner didn't think that it was a good deal and he has every right to veto it," he said. "It shocked us. I was in (Lakers general manager) Mitch (Kupchak's) office when that happened and I was ducking from things that he was throwing against the wall." 
  • Using the small sample size of the past week, Brian and Andy Kamenetzky look at the impact new point guard Ramon Sessions is having on the Lakers, while passing along some analysis on the matter from Sports Illustrated's Zach Lowe as well.
  • Marc Stein of ESPN passes along a scout's take on Sessions' impact as well.
  • Brian Kamenetzky looks at how coach Brown is shortening the rotation as the playoffs draw near. 

 

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Spurs Expected To Sign Justin Dentmon

March 23rd, 2012 at 10:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Spurs plan to sign guard Justin Dentmon to a 10-day contract, Scott Schroeder of Ridiculous Upside reports. Dentmon had been playing with the Austin Toros, San Antonio's D-League affiliate, where he put up 22.9 points and 5.3 rebounds a night to go along with 42% three-point shooting.

The move gives the Spurs depth at point guard, as Tony Parker missed tonight's game with hamstring soreness and Patrick Mills is still finalizing his work visa. The Diaw signing put the Spurs roster at the maximum 15 players, so they'll have to drop someone before Dentmon can officially join the team. Eric Dawson's 10-day contract is up in a couple days, so the team may simply elect not to re-sign him. Cory Joseph was sent down to the Toros earlier this week, so he could be let go instead.

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Southwest Rumors: Azubuike, Carlisle, Diaw

March 23rd, 2012 at 9:55pm CST by Chuck Myron

The defending Southwest Division champs met the defending NBA champs tonight, with the first-place Spurs coming away with a 104-87 win, padding their lead as they seek a second straight division title. Here's more on two of the Southwest's top teams:

  • Mavs owner Mark Cuban thinks his team's signing of Kelenna Azubuike will be a steal if his knee holds up, according to Mavs.com writer Earl K. Sneed. Cuban isn't sure if Azubuike will help the team this year, but has his eyes on the future, calling the team option for the second year "pretty much a lock" to be exercised (All Twitter links).
  • Mavs coach Rick Carlisle didn't respond to questions about his future when asked about his contract, which expires at the end of the year, on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM’s Galloway and Company. While Mavs GM Donnie Nelson indicated that the team intends to retain the coach, Tim McMahon of ESPN Dallas cites rumors linking Carlisle to the Blazers and suggests the Knicks and Clippers as possible destinations. 
  • The recent moves the Spurs have made aren't surprising to Carlisle, who's particularly intrigued by the acquisition of Patrick Mills and Boris Diaw, Tim Griffin of the Express-News writes.
  • Diaw had to wait a week to sign with the Spurs because of visa issues, but he's been waiting much longer to fulfill his childhood dream of playing with fellow frenchman Tony Parker, according to Griffin. Diaw is Parker's best friend in the NBA, but the point guard didn't push the team to sign his buddy.
  • ESPN's Marc Stein spoke with new Spur Stephen Jackson, who shared some revelations about his time with the Bucks and says he "never should have left" San Antonio after 2003.
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Warriors Latest: Jefferson, Bogut, Lacob

March 23rd, 2012 at 9:00pm CST by Chuck Myron
It's been an interesting week for the Warriors. They were about to sign J.J. Hickson when the Blazers blocked the move by putting in a waiver claim. The wound up with Mickell Gladness instead, which surely isn't about to appease the fans who serenaded co-owner Joe Lacob with boos during Chris Mullin's jersey retirement ceremony. Earlier this week Bill Simmons of Grantland.com broke down the unfortunate personnel moves over the past few decades in an attempt to explain the fans' displeasure. Here's the latest on a couple of the team's most recent acquisitions:
  • New Warriors forward Richard Jefferson has already begun to share his veteran wisdom with the team, writes Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group, but he didn't exactly sound psyched about getting traded away from the Spurs. "At some point, man, you just get too old to really get pissed off," he said. "I could get traded at the end of the summer or I could be here the next five years. I could go out and get hurt and my career could be over. So at the end of the day, whatever the opportunity is, if I'm still able to play on my terms, and step on the court, then I'm blessed and I'm happy. I'm not going to sit and cry and whine and complain."
  • Andrew Bogut shot down speculation that he might return before the end of the season, saying he's "99% sure" his season is over, Thompson notes. Without a chance to see him on the floor, Thompson believes that means skepticism surrounding his acquisition will continue into the offseason (Twitter link).
  • Bogut was a little caught off guard by the enthusiasm of Lacob, who burst into a sweat when discussing potential free agent signings when the two sat down for their first meeting following last week's trade, but the Australian center likes the direction his new team is headed, notes Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

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Largest Cap Holds

March 23rd, 2012 at 8:26pm CST by Chuck Myron

With teams making some final tweaks to their rosters heading into the final weeks of the season, let’s take a look at one of the most interesting wrinkles in the NBA salary cap. The cap hold exists primarily to close a loophole. Without cap holds, a team could structure a bunch of its contracts to end simultaneously, giving them cap room to pursue other teams’ free agents while still possessing Bird rights on its own free agents.  Almost every team in the NBA has a cap hold on someone. There are free agent cap holds and draft pick cap holds, but the largest ones fall into the free agent category. Whenever a player’s contract with a team ends, it creates a cap hold (see Larry Coon’s CBA FAQ for how the amount of the cap hold is determined).

So even though a player is no longer getting paid, he can still be on the books for a large number. The cap hold doesn’t go away unless the team waives the player or renounces its rights to him, or until the player signs with another team or formally files retirement papers with the league. Players are often slow to file that paperwork, as there’s no real impetus to do so until they’re eligible for a pension. Teams often won’t renounce the rights to retired players so they can throw them into trades, as with the Keith Van Horn deal a few years ago, and because there’s little reason to do so if the team is over the cap anyway, since cap holds don’t count for luxury tax purposes.

For more on cap holds, check out this post on ShamSports. Here are the largest current cap holds, according to Storytellers Contracts:

Andrei Kirilenko, Jazz: $18,091,250
Wally Szczerbiak, Cavs: $18,091,250
Jeff Green, Celtics:  $11,139,970
Marcus Banks, Hornets: $9,210,413
Darius Songaila, 76ers: $9,154,200
Richard Hamilton, Pistons: $8,430,293
Nenad Krstic, Celtics: $8,314,674
Pat Garrity, Magic: $7,342,075
Julian Wright, Raptors: $7,145,143
Steven Hunter, Grizzlies: $7,022,400
Robert Horry, Spurs $6,897,000
Greg Ostertag, Jazz: $6,305,000
Aaron Brooks, Suns: $5,041,730


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Northwest Notes: Petrie, Rubio, Crawford

March 23rd, 2012 at 7:15pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Northwest Division is home to five playoff contenders, but it could boast only one playoff team in the end. The last-place Blazers are within three and a half games of the final postseason berth, but if the playoffs began today, only the first-place Thunder and the Nuggets, who would be the No. 7 seed, would qualify. Here's the buzz from around the Northwest:

  • While a report came out earlier today suggesting Kings GM Geoff Petrie was about to sign a new deal with the team, co-owner Gavin Maloof said that's not the case, according to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee. In a separate story, Jones passes along that Petrie says his job status for next season is the "last thing on my mind."
  • The discovery of a torn LCL will not affect the timetable of Ricky Rubio's return, according to an Associated Press story published on ESPN.com. The six to nine month timetable, however, suggests Rubio may not be ready for the start of next season. However, Wolves GM David Kahn is optimistic he'll recover in time for 2012/13.
  • In a Q&A with Brendan Bowers of Slam magazine (hat tip to Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge), Jamal Crawford says he was surprised he wasn't among the exodus at the trade deadline in Portland. Crawford also asserts he had nothing to do with any uprising against former coach Nate McMillan, citing a connection that dates back to when Crawford was 16 years old.
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Doc Rivers Denies Son Austin Is Entering Draft

March 23rd, 2012 at 6:26pm CST by Luke Adams

6:26pm: Austin Rivers is still deciding whether he will stay at Duke or enter the draft, according to his father, reports Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston (Twitter link)

10:15am: After one season at Duke, Austin Rivers will sign with an agent and forgo his remaining NCAA eligibility, reports Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com. Doc Rivers' son will declare for the 2012 NBA draft and could be a lottery pick.

Rivers' Duke career ended prematurely when the Blue Devils were upset by a 15-seed, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks, in the first round of the NCAA tournament. In his freshman season, the 6'4" guard averaged 15.5 points and 1.7 three-pointers in 33.2 minutes per game.

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Team Facebook/Twitter/RSS

March 23rd, 2012 at 6:00pm CST by Luke Adams

If you want to keep tabs on all of Hoops Rumors' stories and updates, you can follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or subscribe to our feed through your RSS reader of choice. However, if you prefer to only receive news about your favorite NBA team, we have you covered. Below are links to our Facebook, Twitter, and RSS pages and feeds for all 30 teams.

Atlantic

Central

Southeast

Southwest

Northwest

Pacific

Transactions only: Twitter / RSS

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