- Having missed two games with a thigh contusion, Tony Parker returned to the Spurs‘ lineup on Monday, but was sidelined again with an apparent knee injury. There’s no official word on Parker’s situation yet, but head coach Gregg Popovich said the point guard’s latest injury could keep him out for an extended period (link via ESPN.com).
Here are Sunday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Thunder have assigned forward Josh Huestis to Oklahoma City Blue, according to a press release from the team. Huestis has appeared in four games with the Blue, averaging 9.3 points and 6.5 rebounds.
- The Spurs have recalled forward Davis Bertans from their Austin affiliate, the team announced on its website. Bertans has played two games in the D-League and 16 in San Antonio, where he is averaging 3.8 points and 1.2 rebounds per night.
- The Knicks have recalled power forward Maurice Ndour from their Westchester affiliate, tweets ESPN’s Ian Begley. Ndour had 12 points, six rebounds and four blocks for the D-League team Saturday night.
Here are Saturday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Knicks assigned forward Maurice Ndour to the Westchester Knicks and he will play against the Erie Bay Hawks tonight, the team’s PR staff tweets. The power forward has appeared in 10 NBA games this season, averaging 2.3 points and 1.6 rebounds in 8.1 minutes.
- The Celtics assigned forward Jordan Mickey to their D-League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, the team tweets. The second-year power forward has appeared in eight games with Boston this season, averaging 2.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in 8.3 minutes.
- The Thunder recalled forward Josh Huestis from the Oklahoma City Blue, the team announced in a press release. In four games with the Blue this season, Huestis is averaging 9.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 2.00 blocks in 31.8 minutes. He has yet to make his season debut with the Thunder.
- The Spurs assigned Davis Bertans and Dejounte Murray to their D-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs, according to the team’s website. Both players are available tonight for Austin’s game against the Salt Lake City Stars.
Here are Tuesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
10:35pm:
- The Spurs have recalled Bryn Forbes, Nicolas Laprovittola and Dejounte Murray from their Austin affiliate, the team announced on its website.
- The Nets have recalled forwards Anthony Bennett and Chris McCullough from their Long Island affiliate, the team announced in a press release. Both started Long Island’s game today and were available for Brooklyn’s game with the Clippers.
- The Raptors have quickly recalled Caboclo and VanVleet, whose assignments to the D-League were noted below (Twitter link).
2:07pm:
- After getting a rare shot at playing time for the Raptors on Monday night in the team’s blowout of the 76ers, Bruno Caboclo and Fred VanVleet have been re-assigned to Raptors 905, according to Blake Murphy of Raptors Republic. As Murphy writes, the schedules for Toronto’s NBA and D-League teams overlap neatly this week, so Caboclo and VanVleet could be up and down a couple more times.
- Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, who received some playing time on the other side of that blowout in Toronto on Monday, has been assigned to the Delaware 87ers in advance of the team’s Tuesday night contest, according to a press release issued by the Sixers. The 2016 first-rounder has appeared in 11 games for Philadelphia so far, and one for Delaware.
- Former first-round pick Josh Huestis has been re-assigned to the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder announced today in a press release. Huestis has appeared in a pair of games for the D-League squad so far, averaging a modest 9.0 PPG and 6.5 RPG.
Here are Sunday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- Forwards Anthony Bennett and Chris McCullough were recalled by the Nets after being assigned to Long Island earlier today for the D-League team’s game against Grand Rapids, the team announced in an email. Bennett had 22 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while McCullough put up 15 points and nine rebounds.
- The Raptors have recalled Jakob Poeltl, Bruno Caboclo and Fred VanVleet from Raptors 905, according to The Toronto Sun. All three had been sent down to participate in Satuday’s game against Maine.
- The Spurs assigned rookie guards Dejounte Murray, Bryn Forbes and Nicolas Laprovittola to Austin, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio News-Express. They are expected to be recalled in time for San Antonio’s game on Tuesday.
- The Pelicans have recalled rookie forward Cheick Diallo from Austin, the team announced in an email. He has played six games in the D-League and just one for New Orleans.
- The Mavericks recalled rookie center A.J. Hammons from the Texas Legends, according to an email from the team. He was assigned Saturday for a game against Salt Lake in which he scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds.
- The Bulls have recalled forward/center Cristiano Felicio and guards Jerian Grant and R.J. Hunter from their Windy City affiliate, the team announced in an email.
A consistent scorer since entering the NBA, Pau Gasol has faced a huge adjustment since signing with the Spurs this summer, writes Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News. Gasol went scoreless Friday in Boston and he has put up a pair of two-point games during the early season. It’s a change for Gasol, who has averaged 18.1 points per game through his career, but apparently not an issue for coach Gregg Popovich. “I’m not really too concerned with who scores and who doesn’t,” Popovich said. “We just try to have more than the other guys.”
- The largest rookie class in Spurs history has gotten a lot of D-League training, McDonald notes in a separate piece. Bryn Forbes, Davis Bertans, Dejounte Murray and Nicolas Laprovittola all earned spots on San Antonio’s roster, but they have spent much of their first month in Austin. “It’s been real important to us, keeping guys in shape and getting guys minutes, learning the game, learning the NBA,” Popovich said. “We’ve been fortunate we have had guys who have had the character and humility to do that and not think it’s below them.”
David Lee‘s 15-point, 12-rebound effort in the Spurs’ win at Boston Friday gave the Celtics a glimpse of the performance they expected from him last season, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Boston acquired Lee in a trade with the Warriors in the summer of 2015, but started the season out of shape and was quickly pulled from the rotation. He played just 30 games for the Celtics before agreeing to a buyout in February. Lee signed with the Mavericks, then joined the Spurs over the summer on a minimum contract. “Everybody makes mistakes in their career and I think I came in not in the best shape and it wasn’t by design,” he said. “It was not laziness. I just didn’t do what I needed to do. I’ve been up front about acknowledging that. It’s easier to look at the coaching staff and say ‘Brad should have played me more.’ But I’ve been very open in saying I should have been in better shape and it takes that for me to be successful on the court. The staff did an unbelievable job of getting me in shape here but by that point I think it wasn’t coach’s wish to play me. We went our separate ways.”
There’s more news out of Boston:
- Jae Crowder is starting to get comfortable again after an eight-game absence with an ankle injury, according to Taylor C. Snow of NBA.com. After two difficult games, Crowder has scored 15 and 18 points in his last two outings, and his teammates are noticing the difference. “When you come back from an ankle injury you’re kind of second-guessing yourself,” said Isaiah Thomas. “You don’t want to jump. You don’t think you can cut and do the things that you’re normally used to doing. So I think he’s gaining confidence in that ankle and getting back to his old self.”
- The Spurs represent the kind of successful veteran team the Celtics believe they can become if they stay together, according to Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com. Friday’s game was in doubt until a late sequence where San Antonio hit a critical 3-pointer. “I was just talking with [Thomas] about how [Spurs coach Gregg Popovich] knows what he wants to get, and those guys run it to a T,” Crowder said. “… That’s one of the best teams that I ever saw in the fourth quarter.”
- Veteran forward Gerald Green remains in the Celtics’ plans even though coach Brad Stevens held him out for the sixth time Friday, Forsberg tweeted. “The biggest thing is that you can’t play everyone,” Stevens said. “Gerald has been a great pro. Missing a lot of training camp was a really tough thing … but he’ll help us this year. I feel really good about that, and his attitude is really good. I’m glad he’s here.”
- Spurs veteran guard Manu Ginobili said a less intense attitude played into his decision to return to the NBA for another season. The 39-year-old, who pondered retirement this summer before accepting San Antonio’s offer, said winning and losing used to bother him so much that he couldn’t even enjoy being in the NBA Finals. “I decided the last few years not to let a win or a loss affect my everyday life, my family’s life, and all that,” Ginobili said. “So I’m way more relaxed. I decided to come back because I feel I still enjoy it. I can still help the team. That’s it.”
Listed below are Sunday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA.
- The Grizzlies sent rookie guard Wade Baldwin to the Iowa Energy, the team announced in an email. He has appeared in nine games for Memphis, averaging 3.1 points.
- The Knicks recalled center Marshall Plumlee from Westchester, the team tweeted.
- The Hornets recalled guard Aaron Harrison and forward Christian Wood from Greensboro, the team announced on its website. They were the first players ever to be assigned to the new D-League franchise.
- The Spurs recalled guards Bryn Forbes and Dejounte Murray from their Austin affiliate, according to the team’s website. Both players were sent down Saturday to participate in a game against Erie.
- The Wizards will recall guard Danuel House from the Sixers‘ affiliate in Delaware in time for Monday’s game, according to J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.
Pau Gasol knows that trying to replace Tim Duncan is a quixotic task, as Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post relays. “I didn’t come here to replace Tim,” Gasol said. “Tim is an incredible player, a player that I looked up to, an icon in San Antonio, and anywhere else, for that matter. But I just came to bring my talent, my abilities and help this team be the best it can be. That’s what I’m focused on. I’m not going to try to be someone that’s played here 19 years, got five championships with this team. I’m trying to help this team get one, and that’s where I’m at.” The Spurs signed Gasol to a two-year, $30MM deal over the summer and the big man has helped the team earn a 10-3 record this season.