Now in his fifth NBA season, Ty Lawson is looking to make his final All-Star push before teams are selected, writes Aaron J. Lopez of Nuggets.com. The Nuggets guard is historically a slow starter, but he has scored in double figures in 39 of his 41 games and is averaging 17.9 points and 8.9 assists – both career-highs. In his past 12 games, Lawson is averaging 18.5 points and 11.1 assists with ten double-doubles. While Lawson hopes to punch his ticket for New Orleans, let’s take a look at today’s news out of the Northwest Division..
- Jazz newcomer Malcolm Thomas has bounced around a bit but he’s hoping to stick with the club so that he can build on what he learns, writes Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune. Meanwhile, GM Dennis Lindsey told reporters, including colleague Steve Luhm, that Utah has had the former Spurs forward on their radar for some time. Thomas was in the middle of getting a pedicure when he found out Utah was claiming him, writes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News.
- The Thunder announced that they have assigned Andre Roberson to the Tulsa 66ers of the D-League. In 19 games (four starts) with the Thunder this season, Roberson is averaging 1.7 points and 2.1 rebounds in 7.9 minutes per game. Roberson has seen action in seven games (all starts) with the 66ers this season and recorded averages of 16.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.86 steals and 1.29 blocks in 37.3 minutes. He’s quite familiar with the drive from OKC to Tulsa, as our running list of D-League assignments shows.
- Lee Benson of the Deseret News writes that outgoing commissioner David Stern helped save the Jazz and the NBA as a whole.