Atlantic Notes: Blatche, Durant, Raptors, Melo

After two solid seasons with the Nets, big man Andray Blatche is still without a deal in August.  Earlier today, our own Chuck Myron attempted to nail down the reasons for Blatche’s unemployment, touching on his rumored locker room issues and possibly unrealistic salary expectations.  Here’s more out of the Atlantic..

• The Raptors have been fined $25K for comments that rap star and “team ambassador” Drake made about Kevin Durant at a recent concert that the NBA has deemed a violation of its anti-tampering rules, sources with knowledge of the league’s ruling told Marc Stein of ESPN.com.  The sources said that Durant, who attended Drake’s recent show in Toronto, was the subject of what the league regards as a public recruiting pitch from the famed Canadian artist.  Durant, of course, becomes an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2016.
• After a late June trade sending him from the Hawks to the Raptors, guard Lou Williams is excited to get started with his new team, writes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. “I am excited to a part of a young core, I am excited be on a team that wants me, that has a high expectation level for me. My time here in Atlanta, I realized that they were going in a direction that probably didn’t fit my style of play and I probably didn’t fit Coach Bud’s style of play. I’m a guy that needs the ball to be effective and they really didn’t need that from me. They were building a different core of a basketball team. I felt like it worked out for both sides, they got some talented guys in making moves this offseason and I feel great about the fit that I’m in,” Williams said.
• Carmelo Anthony displayed his new, slimmer physique today on Instagram, as Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com details, and he wonders if the newly-resigned star will still have the bulk needed to man the power forward position.  Melo is back with the Knicks on a five-year, $125MM pact.