Jerry Stackhouse

Eastern Notes: Calderon, Stackhouse, Cavs

Since Martell Webster dubbed the Wizards' third game of the season, against the Celtics, a "must-win," the team has lost ten more games and now sits at 0-12. With a home contest vs. 6-8 the Trail Blazers on tap tonight, the club has a decent opportunity to finally notch its first victory of the season. As Michael Lee of the Washington Post writes, things will only get tougher going forward, with four road games against the Knicks, Heat, Hawks, and Warriors up next.

While we wait to see if Washington can get into the win column, let's check out a few updates from around the Eastern Conference….

Nets Notes: Howard, Stackhouse, Celtics

While the Knicks have got much of the Atlantic Division press for being the NBA's last undefeated team, their cross-town rivals are off to an impressive start of their own. The Nets will look to extend their early-season winning streak to five games tomorrow in Sacramento, but in the meantime, let's round up a few items out of Brooklyn….

  • It's no secret that Brooklyn was Dwight Howard's preferred destination last year, and that the Nets attempted multiple times to acquire him from the Magic. But Howard tells Fred Kerber of the New York Post that he was nearly positive he'd be headed to Brooklyn at some point, and continued to think so "until I got traded to the Lakers." According to Kerber, there were at least two occasions where the Nets thought they had a deal for Howard done.
  • When Jerry Stackhouse signed with the Nets this summer, he expected to assume a sort of player-coach role on the bench, but he's seeing more playing time than expected in Brooklyn, as Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News writes. Within Bondy's piece, Stackhouse says he might take it as a sign it's time for retirement when he can no longer dunk.
  • Although the Nets defeated the Celtics on Thursday night, Brooklyn views the C's culture as something worth emulating, writes Beckley Mason of the New York Times.
  • Earlier today, I looked back at a busy Nets offseason that saw the team take on more than $300MM in salary commitments

Atlantic Links: Calderon, Felton, Stackhouse

After the Raptors dealt for Kyle Lowry this past summer, the questions surrounding Jose Calderon's future with Toronto were inevitable. Back in July, we even heard rumor that he had requested a trade just one day after Lowry had been acquired (which Calderon would later deny). Now, the Spanish guard finds himself starting for a team riddled with injuries, averaging 30.1 MPG,  10.7 PPG, 7.4 APG, 1.1 steals per game, and shooting 50% from long-range through the team's first eight games. Despite what the future holds for Calderon, who surprisingly is just 19 games away from becoming the franchise's all-time leader in games played, Eric Koreen of the National Post glowingly reflects on his best qualities and contributions as a member of the Raptors. With that aside, you'll find tonight's notables from the Eastern Conference here:

  • After looking at how Ray Allen's transition with the Heat has fared, Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld highlights how Raymond Felton has surpassed expectations thus far in his second stint with the Knicks after a disappointing, short-lived tenure with the Trail Blazers
  • Nets guard Jerry Stackhouse told ESPN New York that he was disappointed but not surprised that Rasheed Wallace wound up with the Knicks instead of Brooklyn, noting that Wallace was a big Knicks fan while the two played together in college (Jared Zwerling reports) 

Odds & Ends: Lazenby, O’Bryant, Hibbert

Jabari Davis of Sheridan Hoops noted a few highlights from a roundtable discussion between longtime personal friend of Phil Jackson/NBA author Roland Lazenby and the hosts of a blog talk radio show called TheOpinioNationNetwork. Most notably, Lazenby feels that Jackson's return to the Lakers is a foregone conclusion and went on to briefly talk about how Jackson would be able to handle the team's schedule, Nash's fit within the triangle offense, and where he currently stands with Jerry Buss. 
    
While the head coaching situation in Los Angeles currently appears to be the most polarizing topic of the basketball world, we'll keep track of tonight's other rumblings from around the Association here:

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Nets Sign Jerry Stackhouse

MONDAY, 2:01pm: The Nets have officially signed Stackhouse, the team announced (Twitter link). Stackhouse himself first tweeted the news: "Officially a member of The Brooklyn Nets… NYC here we come!!!"

WEDNESDAY, 9:38am: The Nets have agreed to terms on a one-year contract for Jerry Stackhouse, reports ESPN.com's Chad Ford (via Twitter). The deal will pay Stackhouse the veteran's minimum, approximately $1.35MM.

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Woelfel On Knicks, Ilyasova, Stackhouse, Fesenko

Earlier this morning, we passed along a report from Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times on Beno Udrih's decision to exercise his player option this summer. Within the same column, Woelfel also shared a few other items of interest, so let's round those up:

  • Woelfel is hearing that the Knicks will make a "major push" to hire Phil Jackson as their new coach if the team doesn't make it through the first round of the playoffs. However, a New York Post report suggests that interim coach Mike Woodson has become the odds-on favorite to earn the permanent position after the Knicks named Glen Grunwald their permanent GM.
  • The "growing consensus" among some NBA officials is that Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova will land a multiyear contract worth about $8MM annually in free agency this summer.
  • Hawks veteran Jerry Stackhouse is close to ending his playing career and pursuing a coaching position in either college or the pros. "I’m trying to transition into the next phase of my career," Stackhouse said. "I definitely want to be a head coach some day and I’m willing to pay my dues to make it happen."
  • The Bucks were interested in Kyrylo Fesenko before the big man signed with the Pacers. Said Fesenko: "I had a good workout with the Bucks. I was interested (in signing with them), but they kept asking me to wait and to wait and to wait and I couldn’t wait anymore. I don’t what they were waiting for, a magic moment or what?"

Decisions On Non-Guaranteed Contracts

February 10th marks the day that all players on non-guaranteed contracts will have their deals guaranteed for the remainder of the season. However, if a team wants to meet that Friday deadline, it will need to make its decisions today, allowing its player(s) to pass through waivers in time.

Some non-guaranteed players, such as DeJuan Blair and Jeremy Lin, are in no danger of being waived. However, with a few dozen players on non-guaranteed deals across the league, there will be plenty of cuts before the day is out. Some of those players will sign 10-day contracts shortly after being cut, while others could join the D-League or find a place on our list of current unrestricted free agents.

We'll track all the day's decisions on non-guaranteed contracts right here, with the latest news up top:

Zach Links contributed to this post.