Tony Parker

Western Notes: Kobe, Kelly, Parker

As Lakers' star Kobe Bryant continues his path toward recovery, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News hears from team athletic trainer Gary Vitti that the 35-year-old guard is a few weeks away from advancing to full-weight bearing running and hasn't suffered any setbacks. With that being said, Vitti added that there still isn't a projected return date. Here's more out of the Western Conference tonight, including another injury update from Medina: 
  • As for most recent second-round pick Ryan Kelly (whom Vitti says is "asymptomatic"),  the trainers have still decided to take a conservative approach with his rehab and aren't sure when he'll be returning to action either.  
  • Tony Parker tells Mark Woods of ESPN that general manager R.C. Buford wants him to play less minutes at Eurobasket, but added that he has a great relationship with the Spurs and appreciates them letting him play for the French national team. 
  • Dan McCarney of Spurs Nation relays a snippet of Marco Belinelli's interview with HoopsHype, noting that the 27-year-old guard chose San Antonio over several other teams because of the opportunity to play for Gregg Popovich and a chance to win a championship. 
  • Rockets guard Jeremy Lin tells Mark Berman of Fox 26 about how great it was to work out with Hakeem Olajuwon and says that "anybody with (Dwight Howard) is a deadly combination" in response to the 50-year-old's recent comments about Lin and Howard being a potent duo next season (All Twitter links). 

Injury Notes: Wallace, Granger, Bynum, Parker

A roundup of a few injury related notes from around the league, some of which could have implications on rotations and roster spots. 

HoopsWorld On Best NBA Contracts

The staff of HoopsWorld.com has posted a new roundtable in which several of their staff writers weighed in on which players have the best contracts in the NBA.

  • Joel Brigham writes that as the best three-point shooter in NBA history, Ray Allen is a steal for the Heat at $3MM per year.
  • Bill Ingram believes the Spurs got an excellent value in Tony Parker. Parker is making $12.5MM this season, considerably less than other elite point guards such as Chris Paul and Deron Williams.
  • Robert Wing calls Kyle Lowry's contract a "complete steal," saying the Raptors got a major upgrade at starting point guard over Jose Calderon for cheap.
  • Eric Pincus thinks the Knicks were able to take advantage of Raymond Felton's low stock after his poor performance in Portland last season to land the point guard for $14.9MM over four years.
  • Alex Kennedy points out that Rajon Rondo would be worth much more on the open market than the five-year, $55MM extension he signed with the Celtics in 2009.

Odds & Ends: Martin, Jennings, Parker, Gaines

The NBA has issued its first two warnings for flops, as the league's official site outlines today. The league has formally warned the Timberwolves' J.J. Barea and the Cavs' Donald Sloan about flopping, meaning that if either player commits a second offense, they'll be fined $5K. Let's round up a few more odds and ends from around the Association….

Odds & Ends: Blazers, Timberwolves, McGrady

The NBA does not make a profit by sending its stars to play at the Olympics, and a move to re-direct their headline players into a rebranded World Cup of Basketball would certainly change that. While Ken Berger of CBS Sports understands the idea of pulling NBA stars out of the Olympic games in the future, he says that it should be based on the premise that "Dream Teams" have run their course, and not because it is driven by an opportunity for David Stern and NBA owners to try to make money elsewhere. With that aside, here are some of tonight's miscellaneous links…

  • Bill Ingram of HoopsWorld mentions that Jeremy Lamb, Royce White, and Terrence Jones cannot be included in a potential Dwight Howard trade until the end of August, specifically 30 days after each of them signed their rookie deals with the Rockets on July 26 (Sulia link).  
  • In a series of tweets, Jason Quick of The Oregonian reports that Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey has concluded the second round of interviews and will "move on to the next phase" of the process once all four finalists are given due consideration.  Although team owner Paul Allen was not involved in the interviews with Terry StottsSteve CliffordKaleb Canales, and Elston Turner, Quick assumes that Olshey will ultimately present a recommendation for hire to Allen after deliberation.  Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (via Twitter) pointed out that Turner's interview lasted for four-and-a-half hours today.
  • When asked if the Timberwolves had more changes to make after the Olympics, GM David Kahn replied, "Maybe it’s a tweak here and there, maybe even something big, to make us even better still" (according to a tweet by Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune).  In a separate piece, Marcus R. Fuller of the Pioneer Press documented Kahn's thoughts on the team's new additions this offseason.  
  • HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy says that although the Bulls and Tracy McGrady have flirted in the past, it doesn't sound like a deal is close (Twitter link). 

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Tony Parker May Miss Olympics

After recently injuring his eye in a New York City nightclub, the Spurs may force Tony Parker to sit out this summer's Olympic games, according to the San Antonio Express-News' Mike Monroe

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Odds & Ends: Parker, Collison, Magic

In an article by the Orlando Sentinel's Josh Robbins, Stan Van Gundy explained that the injury to Hedo Turkoglu has caused major defensive issues for the Magic that the team should be able to overcome by the playoffs