Antonio Blakeney Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Central Notes: Collison, Big Three, Horst, Blakeney

March 22nd, 2018 at 9:26pm CST by marksuleymanov

In a young man’s league, Pacers point guard Darren Collison, 30, is the definition of a veteran, but doesn’t want his ability to reflect it. In his ninth NBA season, Collison wanted to make some adjustments and improvements, which led him to a phone conversation with one of the all-time greats.

Mark Monteith of NBA.com writes that Collision set up a call with future Hall-of-Famer Steve Nash. Collison wanted to pick Nash’s brain on how to adapt to playing against younger guards, implementing new moves, and improving his diet. Collison said he has long admired Nash and wanted to learn as much as he can.

“He was one of my favorite players to watch, because he’s not athletic, he’s not big, he’s not strong,” Collison said. “But when you guard him, it’s the hardest thing to do because he just knows how to keep the defense honest in the pick-and-roll. He doesn’t go fast, he doesn’t go slow. He makes every read precisely. I’ve watched a lot of film on him, so I figured why not just call him and pick his brain?”

Collison is averaging his usually solid numbers this season with 12.7 PPG and 5.3 APG in 59 games. If he ever needs it, he now has one of the greatest point guards in league history just a phone call away.

Check out more Central Division notes below:

With Reggie Jackson back on the court, the Pistons finally have their three best players healthy simultaneously. Midseason acquisition Blake Griffin, prolific rebounder Andre Drummond, and Jackson are a strong trio that can do a lot of damage if healthy, NBA.com’s Keith Langlois writes. “If we can get Reggie healthy and keep him healthy,” head coach Stan Van Gundy said, “with those three guys, that’s going to be a formidable group to play against for anybody.”
After recent reports suggested that the Bucks nearly traded Jabari Parker at the deadline and have a list of potential replacements for interim head coach Joe Prunty, general manager Jon Horst rejected those stories during a radio appearance in Milwaukee. Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relays Horst’s comments, in which the Bucks GM denied the reports and indicated they came from erroneous sources.
As we relayed earlier today, Bulls two-way guard Antonio Blakeney suffered a fractured left wrist and he will miss the rest of the season.

Antonio Blakeney Out For Season With Wrist Fracture

March 22nd, 2018 at 4:47pm CST by marksuleymanov

Bulls guard Antonio Blakeney will miss the rest of the season after an MRI revealed a non-displaced scaphoid fracture in his left wrist, the team announced in a press release.

Blakeney, 21, sustained the injury in Monday’s loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. He was initially diagnosed with a left wrist sprain before Thursday’s MRI revealed the severity of the injury.

The LSU product went undrafted and eventually signed a two-way deal with the Bulls. In 19 games with the Bulls, Blakeney averaged 7.9 PPG, 1.7 RPG, and 1.1 APG in 16.5 minutes. Blakeney was impressive with the G League’s Windy City Bulls, averaging 32.0 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 3.9 APG in 32 contests.

Bulls Notes: Markkanen, Mirotic, LaVine, Nwaba

November 15th, 2017 at 10:34pm CST by Arthur Hill

Rookie Lauri Markkanen will keep his starting job when Nikola Mirotic is cleared to return, according to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Coach Fred Hoiberg confirmed that decision before tonight’s game. The seventh overall pick in this year’s draft is off to an impressive start, averaging 14.5 points and 7.8 rebounds through his first 11 games.

Markkanen got a chance to start after Mirotic suffered two broken facial bones in a scrimmage altercation with Bobby Portis. With Miotic injured and Portis suspended, an opportunity opened up for Markkanen. “[The situation] gave me a bigger chance right away,” Markkanen said. “But I’m glad to have Bobby back and hopefully Niko back. I have to do my work on the court and prove that I can be a starter.”

There’s more news out of Chicago:

Johnson passes along some injury updates in the same piece. Mirotic may travel with the team during a four-game road trip that begins Sunday. Zach LaVine could be cleared for contact during that trip, and the team is hoping he will be able to practice starting Nov. 20. The plan is to activate him in mid-December. David Nwaba isn’t close to returning after spraining his right ankle nearly two weeks ago.
After a 16-point performance tonight, Antonio Blakeney has solidfied his spot in the rotation, tweets Vincent Goodwill of NBC Sports Chicago. Hoiberg told reporters after the game that Blakeney will continue to get playing time “for the foreseeable future.” After going undrafted out of LSU, Blakeney impressed the Bulls with his summer league performance and signed a two-way contract in July.
Denzel Valentine won’t be used as a starter, but Hoiberg still has faith in the second-year guard, relays Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Hoiberg made a change to his starting lineup tonight by replacing Paul Zipser at small forward, but the job went to veteran Quincy Pondexter instead of Valentine. “We need a playmaker and scorer in that second unit,’’ Hoiberg explained. “Denzel has done a nice job in that role.’’

Bulls Sign Antonio Blakeney To Two-Way Deal

July 15th, 2017 at 9:32am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 15: Blakeney’s contract is a two-year pact, per Sean Highkin of The Athletic (via Twitter). Two-way contracts can be for either one or two years.

JULY 14: The Bulls have finalized their first two-way contract, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed Antonio Blakeney to one of their two-way spots. Chicago has one more opening to add another two-way player.

Two-way contracts, which were introduced Collective Bargaining Agreement, allow NBA teams to keep two extra players under club control without counting them as part of the typical 15-man roster. Those players will essentially be on G League contracts, but they’ll be paid more than the average G League player, and rival NBA teams won’t be able to sign them away from their current team. We go into more details on two-way contracts in our glossary entry on the subject.

Blakeney, who declared for the draft after his sophomore season at LSU, was considered a top-100 prospect by DraftExpress, but went undrafted last month. The 6’4″ guard caught on with the Bulls for Summer League and has made a strong impression in Las Vegas, averaging 16.8 PPG and 5.0 RPG in four Summer League games.

In his final year at LSU, Blakeney averaged 17.2 PPG and 4.8 RPG with a .511/.358/.724 shooting line for the season.

Southeast Notes: Hayward, Hornets, Hawks, Workouts

June 10th, 2017 at 9:03am CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat have the flexibility to sign Gordon Hayward and create room for another top-level free agent, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. A report Friday said the Jazz consider Miami a legitimate threat to sign the free agent forward, who is coming off the best season of his career. In response to a reader’s question, Winderman notes that the Heat can give $30MM to Hayward and open up another $23MM or so by trading Tyler Johnson, Josh McRoberts and Justise Winslow. However, he cautions that the team tried to find a taker for McRoberts’ contract last summer, and that was before he missed more than half a season with injuries. If Miami were able to pull off such a scenario, it would be in the range for players such as Serge Ibaka, Paul Millsap or the combination of Zach Randolph and a re-signed Dion Waiters.

There’s more this morning out of the Southeast Division:

The Hornets have limited resources to work with as they try to improve on this year’s 36-46 record, writes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. With six players who have salaries topping $12MM, Charlotte is already over the salary cap for next season, leaving GM Rich Cho with little to offer prospective free agents. The team will have its mid-level exception [worth about $8.4MM] and its bi-annual exception [about $3.3MM], but neither will be enough to add a difference maker. The Hornets own both of their picks at 11 and 41, but the team’s draft record has been mixed in recent years. Trade assets are limited, with only Kemba Walker able to bring a significant return. Bonnell cites depth, defense and closing out games as areas in which Charlotte needs to improve.
Duke’s Amile Jefferson is among six players who will work out for the Hornets today, Bonnell relays in a separate story. He will be joined by Antonio Blakeney of LSU; Torian Graham of Arizona State; Kyle Kuzma of Utah; Derrick Walton of Michigan; and Nigel Williams-Goss of Gonzaga. Several more workouts are planned for next week.
Kuzma held a second pre-draft workout for the Hawks on Thursday, tweets Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Joining him at that session were Dwayne Bacon of Florida State, Nigel Hayes of Wisconsin and Nik Slavica of Croatia.

Northwest Notes: Hill, Favors, Workouts

June 8th, 2017 at 10:09pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Keeping Gordon Hayward in Utah is the top priority for the Jazz this offseason, but re-signing him alone isn’t going to help the team climb in the Western Conference standings, Benjamin Mehic of the Deseret News writes.

The team must also shore up its point guard position. George Hill will be a free agent this summer and the team will have trouble finding a top-notch point guard replacement should he bolt. Hill has expressed a desire to return, as Dana Gauruder of Hoops Rumors mentioned in the team’s offseason preview. However, many players say flattering things about their current team as they head into free agency only to leave for another club.

If Hill is lured away, the most likely option for the Jazz is promoting Dante Exum to the starting unit, though that could hurt the team in the win column since Exum hasn’t quite proven himself in the league yet.

Here’s more from the Northwest:

Derrick Favors doesn’t appear to be in the Jazz’s long-term plans and if they look to deal him this summer, the Lakers could be a good fit, Mehic contends in the same piece. The scribe believes Jordan Clarkson, who is reportedly on the trade block, would be a nice addition for Utah and he envisions Favors along with one of the team’s draft selections to be enough to get a deal done.
The Nuggets held a pre-draft workout earlier today, according to their website. Laurynas Birutis, Amida Brimah, Terrance Ferguson, Isaiah Hicks, Amile Jefferson, and Matt Jones were all in attendance.
The Blazers have brought in several prospects for workouts, according to the team’s website. Antonio Blakeney, John Collins, Josh Hart, T.J. Leaf, Sindarius Thornwell, and Paris Bass all took part in drills for the club.

Central Rumors: Butler, Garrity, Griffin, Pacers

June 5th, 2017 at 7:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jimmy Butler held a meeting with Bulls management on Monday to discuss the team’s direction, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune tweets. Butler had only met with team officials briefly after the season, the tweet adds. Chicago isn’t looking to move the three-time All-Star swingman but will listen to any offers, Johnson wrote in an earlier story. Butler had been training in Los Angeles and will leave for Europe later in the month to train there, Johnson adds.

In other developments around the Central Division:

Pistons assistant GM Pat Garrity interviewed for the Hawks GM position and will soon interview for the Bucks‘ GM opening, according to Tony Paul of the Detroit News. Atlanta chose Warriors executive Travis Schlenk. Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy confirmed to Paul that Garrity will interview for the job formerly held by new Magic GM John Hammond.
There are several more hurdles to clear before the Pistons can move into a new downtown arena next season, the Detroit Free Press reports. The Detroit City Council on Tuesday will vote on a package of agreements that would allow the move, while the lease agreement with Little Caesars Arena has not been finalized, the report continues. The league also has to give its final approval. The franchise hopes to have all the elements completed in time for the annual July board of governors meeting in Las Vegas, the report adds.
Cavaliers GM David Griffin will seek a significant raise from owner Dan Gilbert, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com reports. Griffin is making less than $2MM annually, according to Vardon’s sources. The two sides have not yet discussed financial terms on a new contract for Griffin, whose current contract expires at the end of the month. The Magic and Hawks were denied permission to interview Griffin for front-office openings and the Bucks appear to be moving away from Griffin in their GM search, Vardon adds.
The Pacers will bring in six players for a pre-draft workout on Tuesday, according to the team’s website. That group includes Antonio Blakeney (LSU), Isaac Hamilton (UCLA), Zak Irvin (Michigan), Naz Long (Iowa State), Johnathan Motley (Baylor) and Rashawn Thomas (Texas A&M-CC). It’s a group of second-round hopefuls, headlined by Blakeney, a shooting guard ranked No. 85 by DraftExpress.

Draft Workouts: Nets, Smith Jr., Magic, Bucks, Celtics

May 15th, 2017 at 2:55pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets will be the only non-playoff team without a close eye on Tuesday night’s lottery results, since the Celtics have swap rights to their first-round pick. But after that swap is made, the Nets will hold the rights to the first-round picks for the two teams in action on Monday night, the Celtics and the Wizards. And Brooklyn is busy exploring its options for those two late first-round selections, along with its second-round pick.

According to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com, the Nets will bring in Rawle Alkins, Melo Trimble, Kobi Simmons, Davon Reed, Amida Brimah, and Omer Yurtseven for a group workout on Tuesday. On Thursday, Brooklyn will take a closer look at Josh Hart and Tyler Dorsey. Meanwhile, Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan is also expected to be a part of that Thursday workout, per Nathan Baird of The Journal & Courier (Twitter link).

As Brooklyn does its homework on the non-lottery prospects in this year’s draft class, let’s check out a few more workout-related updates, including an additional note on Swanigan:

As Baird notes in his previously-linked tweet, Swanigan also has a workout lined up for May 22 with the Magic. That session will take place just two days before the deadline to withdraw from the draft and retain his eligibility — Swanigan appears likely to take that decision down to the wire.
One of this year’s top point guard prospects, Dennis Smith Jr., worked out today for the Magic, as Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel details.
The Bucks brought in six prospects – JaJuan Johnson, Dwayne Bacon, Trevon Bluiett, Tyler Dorsey, Damyean Dotson, and Davon Reed – for a group workout on Monday, according to the team.
Georgia guard J.J. Frazier has workouts lined up with the Bucks, Kings, and Lakers after getting a look from the Timberwolves today, tweets Adam Zagoria. L.J. Peak and Antonio Blakeney are among the prospects joining Frazier at Minnesota’s group workout today, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News.
Marcus Keene, Tacko Fall, Michael Ojo, and others are participating in a group workout on Monday with the Celtics, sources tell Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).

Draft Notes: Collins, Comanche, Combine, Jazz

May 6th, 2017 at 6:16pm CST by Arthur Hill

Gonzaga big man Zach Collins is quickly rising up draft boards, tweets Jon Rothstein of Fanrag Sports. The 7’0″ freshman didn’t play a lot this season, but he has become a favorite of NBA scouts. Collins averaged 10.0 points and 5.9 rebounds in just 17.2 minutes per night for the national runners-up. He is ranked 12th in Jonathan Givony’s latest list of the top 100 prospects at DraftExpress and 11th by ESPN’s Chad Ford. Collins is the top-rated center on Ford’s list, while Givony has him one spot behind Jarrett Allen of Texas.

There’s more draft-related news today:

Sophomore big man Chance Comanche of Arizona has announced via Twitter than he plans to remain in the draft. He averaged 6.3 points and 3.6 rebounds this season and is a long shot to be drafted.
Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders examines players who have gone on to NBA success after not receiving invitations to the draft combine. This year’s edition will be held this week in Chicago.
Kentucky guard Hamidou Diallo may be the best athlete at the combine, an NBA executive tells Rothstein (Twitter link). Diallo is projected to go early in the second round by both Givony and Ford.
Three Michigan players are headed to the combine, writes James Hawkins of The Detroit News. Moritz Wagner and D.J. Wilson, who entered the draft without hiring agents, both received invitations, along with senior Derrick Walton. Another Wolverines senior, Zak Irvin, also has draft aspirations but wasn’t invited to the combine.
Wagner will be among six players working out for the Jazz on Sunday, according to a tweet from the team. Joining him will be LSU’s Antonio Blakeney, UCLA’s Aaron Holiday, Florida State’s Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Georgetown’s L.J. Peak and BYU’s Eric Mika.

Draft Notes: Ferguson, Blakeney, Berry

April 25th, 2017 at 8:22pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Terrance Ferguson has hired Rich Paul of the Klutch Sports Group to be his agent, Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). The shooting guard opted to play in Australia over attending a university this season and Jonathan Givony of Draft Express pegs him as the 15th best prospect in the draft.

Here’s more on the upcoming draft:

Antonio Blakeney is staying in the draft and he has hired Aaron Turner of the Verus Management Team, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com tweets. The shooting guard is the 97th best prospect in the draft, according to Givony.
Joel Berry is withdrawing from the NBA draft and returning to North Carolina, according to the university’s website. “I know I can continue to improve my game and be better prepared for the NBA after another year playing against the best college competition in the country. There’s no reason to rush leaving school,” Berry said.
B.J. Johnson is will return to La Salle for his senior season, according to the school’s website. Johnson had previously declared for the draft but didn’t hire an agent.
Elijah Stewart will head back to USC, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reports (Twitter link). Stewart initially intended to declare for the draft without hiring representation, but that didn’t happen because he never submitted the proper paperwork.