Damian Jones

NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 1/16/18

Here are Tuesday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

8:54pm:

  • The Warriors have assigned Damian Jones to their G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, the organization announced in a press release. Jones appeared in one game with Golden State this season, with most of his play coming in the G League. In 26 games with Santa Cruz, Jones has averaged 15.6 PPG, 8.4 RPG, and 2.1 APG while shooting 68.6% from the field.

6:59pm:

  • The Bucks have recalled Jabari Parker from the Wisconsin Herd, according to the team’s Twitter feed. The former No. 2 overall pick has yet to play in an NBA game this season, though it was previously reported that he hopes to return to the court before the All-Star break.
  • The Thunder have assigned Dakari Johnson to the Oklahoma City Blue, according to the team’s website. The center made one G League appearance earlier this season where he scored 21 points and nabbed 11 rebounds.

Warriors Notes: Kobe, Jones, McGee

Despite being the defending NBA champions and holding the league’s second best record so far this season at 23-6, the Warriors will be playing second fiddle during tonight’s contest against the Lakers in Los Angeles, reports Monte Poole of NBCS Bay Area.

Of course, tonight marks the Lakers’ retirement of iconic jersey numbers 8 and 24 in recognition of legend Kobe Bryant, who helped lead the Lakers to five championships during his illustrious 20-year career.  And given the circumstances, Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr is willing to allow his team the freedom to leave the locker room at halftime to witness the ceremony.

I want our guys to see it,” Kerr said Saturday. “It’ll be a pretty cool moment. Just to experience of one of the greatest players in the history of the game getting his jersey retired and we happen to be there? I’m not going to keep them in the locker room watching tape from the first half. The players would look at me like I was nuts.”

There’s more from the Bay Area:

  • The Warriors are happy with the development of young big man Damian Jones, reports Melissa Rohlin of The Mercury News. The Warriors announced that they recalled Jones from the Santa Cruz Warriors on Sunday, one day after assistant coach Mike Brown watched Jones record 20 points, 15 rebounds and six assists against the Westchester Knicks.  Asked to discuss Jones mindset on his lack of role with the team thus far in his career, Kerr stated, “He’s handled it really well. He’s such a quiet guy, he doesn’t say a whole lot. It can’t be easy to be gone from the main group so often, but he understands. We talked to him about it. The most important thing is for him to play and gain experience.”
  • Teams are going to continue selling their second round picks to the Warriors (and other teams) so long as the price and circumstances are right, as Danny Leroux relays in a mailbag piece for The Athletic. Leroux also tackles questions regarding the futures of Jordan Bell and Patrick McCaw, among others.
  • After being an integral part of the Warriors championship run last season, JaVale McGee has seen his playing time significantly drop so far this season. The reduction in minutes is the result of the way the game is changing, reports Mark Medina of The Mercury News. Despite the challenge for McGee, he appears to be accepting of his new role. “He’s handling it well. I think JaVale has been really good as far as understanding things haven’t gone his way and staying with it,” Kerr said. “He works hard in practice. I tell him all the time things will turn. They always do.”

NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 12/17/17

Here are Sunday’s G League assignments and recalls from across the NBA:

NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 11/14/17

Here are Tuesday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

  • The Lakers completed a series of G League moves on Tuesday, assigning Josh Hart and Ivica Zubac to the South Bay Lakers while also recalling Thomas Bryant, per a team release. L.A.’s affiliate plays its next game on Wednesday, so Hart and Zubac should get a chance to play major minutes if they remain on assignment through the day.
  • First-round pick Terrance Ferguson was assigned to the G League by the Thunder, the club announced in a press release. Ferguson took advantage of his opportunity to suit up for the Oklahoma City Blue on Tuesday night, scoring a team-high 24 points in a 122-118 win over the Texas Legends.
  • Second-year center Damian Jones was re-assigned to the G League on Tuesday by the Warriors, according to Mark Medina of The Bay Area New Group (Twitter link). Jones has spent most of the season with the Santa Cruz Warriors, but was recalled for brief stint in Golden State this week.

NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 11/13/17

Here are Monday’s G League assignments and recalls from across the NBA:

  • The Knicks have recalled Ron Baker and Damyean Dotson to the NBA after the duo played for the Westchester Knicks on Sunday, per an announcement from the team (Twitter link). New York plays on Monday night, while Westchester is back in action Tuesday morning, so we’ll see if Baker and/or Dotson are sent back to the G League prior to tomorrow’s contest.
  • Second-year center Damian Jones has been recalled to the Warriors, the team announced in a press release. Jones had been on assignment with Santa Cruz for most of the season, averaging 12.2 PPG and 6.2 RPG in five games as the starting center for Golden State’s G League affiliate.

Warriors Exercise Damian Jones’ 2018/19 Option

The Warriors have exercised Damian Jones‘ third-year option for 2018/19, per RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions. Mark Medina of The Bay Area News Group had reported on Monday night that Jones’ option would be picked up.

Jones, the 30th overall pick in the 2016 draft, is one of two Warriors players who has rookie scale team option for 2018/19. The other, Kevon Looney, won’t have his option exercised by Golden State, as we learned on Monday.

[RELATED: Decisions On 2018/19 Rookie Scale Team Options]

Neither Jones nor Looney has a real role for the Warriors, but there are a couple key differences between the two players. For one, Looney is already in his third season, so Golden State management has had an extra year to decide whether or not he’s in the club’s long-term plans — Jones is coming off an injury-plagued rookie season, meaning the Dubs haven’t had a chance to take a long look at him yet.

Additionally, Jones’ third-year option will count against the cap for just $1,544,951 in 2018/19. Looney’s fourth-year option would have had a cap charge of $2,227,081. While that might not seem like a significant difference, every dollar will be important for the Warriors going forward, since they project to be in luxury-tax territory for the foreseeable future.

Warriors Notes: Young, Bell, Jones, Green

The Warriors became the first team to make a roster move after a preseason game, waiving guards Antonius Cleveland and Alex Hamilton. Anthony Slater of The Athletic shares a few more observations about Saturday’s loss to the Nuggets:

  • Free agent addition Nick Young has a lot of rust to shake off after not playing since March 17. Golden State is counting on Young to provide scoring off the bench, but he has a new offense to learn and didn’t report to camp in top condition. Slater called Young’s performance “sluggish” in the preseason opener as he sometimes seemed lost in transition and was short of breath as play went on for several possessions without a stoppage. “He’s not shot the ball well in camp,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “He came in a little bit heavy. As he rounds into shape, he’s going to shoot it better.” Young said earlier this week that he “feels like I’m in everyone’s way,” and that was evident Saturday as Kerr, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala all took time to explain principles of the offense to him during the game.
  • Kerr gave Jordan Bell some unexpected minutes in the third quarter, letting him play alongside the Warriors’ All-Stars. Bell looked like a rookie at times, but also showed promise on the defensive end. Bell gave himself a C grade for his first NBA experience, saying, “Couple people scored on me that shouldn’t have.”
  • Damian Jones missed last year’s training camp and preseason while recovering from a torn pectoral muscle. The second-year center was never able to catch up, playing just 10 games with the Warriors, so he says this feels like his rookie season. Slater notes that Jones might be the team’s best athlete but tends to be overly aggressive on defense, which showed Saturday with three fouls in 11 minutes. “His ability to play vertically defensively without fouling should be a real strength,” Kerr said. “But he came down and swiped down. Little things like that, he has to work on.”
  • Green received a surprise Saturday when former Pistons star Ben Wallace showed up to present his Defensive Player of the Year Award. “That was a good one,” said Green, who grew up in Michigan and was a big fan of Wallace as a child. “That was a great feeling. A guy I looked up to growing up.”

Pacific Notes: Kings, Ball, Warriors, Jordan

The decision to remove DeMarcus Cousins from the equation has brought a sense of happiness and hope around the moribund Kings franchise, Nick Zappulla of RealGM opines. The pieces are now in place for a quick turnaround via the acquisition of Buddy Hield in the trade with the Pelicans along with four promising rookies taken in the draft, particularly floor leader De’Aaron Fox and forward Harry Giles, Zappulla continues. Big men Skal Labissiere and Willie Cauley-Stein showed progress once Cousins was removed from the picture and the club also brought in three veteran free agents to facilitate the development of the young players, Zappulla adds.

In other items regarding the Pacific Division:

  • The league’s television partners certainly have Lonzo Ball fever, as evidenced by the Lakers’ 35 nationally-televised games next season, Bill Oram of the Orange County Register notes. That’s the fifth-most national broadcasts among all teams despite the franchise coming off a 26-win season. Much of it can be attributed to lottery pick Ball, both for his passing skills and the hype-man routine of his father LaVar, Oram adds.
  • The Warriors’ center rotation is unlikely to change next season despite the presence of some promising young players at the back end, Anthony Slater of The Athletic opines. Zaza Pachulia will continue to start with JaVale McGee backing him up and David West getting minutes there at the start of second quarters, according to Slater. Damian Jones, who was inconsistent in summer-league play, or rookie Jordan Bell could force their way into the rotation at some point, Slater adds.
  • Center DeAndre Jordan realizes the Clippers won’t be the same team without Chris Paul, but expects point guard additions Patrick Beverley and Milos Teodosic to keep the franchise among the best in the West, Jovan Buha of ESPN.com reports. “Those guys are going to come in and play their style of basketball, and it’s going to be fun,” Jordan told Buha.

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 4/11/17

Here are Tuesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

  • The Warriors have recalled Damian Jones from their D-League affiliate, tweets Anthony Slater of the Mercury News.
  • The Rockets have recalled Kyle Wiltjer from the Rio Grand Valley Vipers, according to the team’s Twitter feed. Wiltjer scored 21 points in the Vipers’ win over the Los Angeles D-Fenders on Monday.
  • The Thunder have recalled Josh Huestis from the Oklahoma City Blue, per a team press release. In 32 games with the Blue this season, the small forward averaged 14.6 points per game.

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls 3/12/17

Here are Sunday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

11:58pm:

5:00pm:

  • The Raptors have assigned Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam to the Raptors 905, according to the team’s Twitter feed. Poeltl and Siakam are just two of the 2016 first-round picks who were sent down to the D-League this season, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors details.
  • The Mavericks have recalled Manny Harris and Jarrod Uthoff from the Texas Legends, according to a team press release. Dallas is about to embark on a 4-game road trip and each of the 15 players on the roster will make the journey, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com tweets.
  • The Cavaliers have recalled Kay Felder from the Canton Charge, according to the team’s website. Felder has seen action in 37 games for Cleveland this year and he’s averaging 4.0 points per game