And-Ones: Selby, Cavs, Knicks, Rockets

Josh Selby, a 2011 second round draft pick of the Grizzlies, nearly quit the game as he bounced between playing overseas and the NBA D-League, David Pick of Basketball Insiders writes. Selby is currently trying to catch the eyes of NBA scouts while playing over in Israel, though Selby said that no NBA teams have been in contact with him this season, Pick notes. “I want to help my team reach the playoffs and take them as far as possible,” Selby said. “As long as I take care of business and win here, the NBA will come find me.”

Here’s more from around the league and abroad:

• Joe Alexander has officially inked a deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv, the team announced (translation by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Alexander had a $45K buyout amount on his D-League contract with the Santa Cruz Warriors, Gino Pilato of D-League Digest reports (Twitter link).
• The Cavs are performing their due diligence on available options, but are in no rush to replace the injured Anderson Varejao, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). Cleveland is intrigued by the possibilities of playing “small ball,” Spears adds.
• Knicks president Phil Jackson took to Twitter yesterday to promise fans that 2015 would hold better things for New York than 2014 has. But the Knicks’ star player, Carmelo Anthony, noted that Jackson doesn’t have much time to make the necessary changes before the year ends to ensure that statement comes true, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com writes. Anthony is also growing increasingly frustrated with the team’s lack of consistency and progress, Begley adds. “We have spurts throughout the course of the game where we are showing something, showing that we’re getting it and we’re focused and we have the energy to go out and do it,” Anthony said. “But there are times where we show that we’re not even out there on the basketball court. We gotta start trying to put a whole game together.”
• The Rockets hope to open up a roster spot for Josh Smith by completing a trade by Friday rather than waiving a player, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Houston is currently pursuing various deals to try to make this happen, Stein notes. The Rockets are reportedly willing to trade Isaiah Canaan, Joey Dorsey, Tarik Black, Nick Johnson and Clint Capela.