Month: November 2007

D-Wade won’t become PG

With the Heat looking like they have no idea how to play basketball, could Dwyane Wade eventually switch from shooting guard to the point?

Apparently not.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: Even as Jason Williams struggles at point guard, Pat Riley and Dwyane Wade said Monday they could not envision Wade making a fulltime shift to the position. “Absolutely not,” Wade said. “I’m not trying to go back there. My team is better when I’m able to play more than one position. “If I’m stuck to just playing the point guard, then it takes something away from my game. Then it feels like I’ve got to make all the plays. I don’t want to get back to that point-guard mentality, where I feel I’ve got to set everybody up every time down.”

Brendan Haywood having career year

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports: Center Brendan Haywood is having a career year and is averaging career highs in points (9.5), rebounds (8.9) and blocks (1.8). In year’s past, Haywood’s biggest competition at center was Etan Thomas. Thomas recently had open-heart surgery and his career might be over. This has opened up more minutes for Haywood and he has responded accordingly. Behind Jamison and Butler, Thomas is the best player you’ll likely see on the floor tomorrow. Third-year power forward Andray Blatche has also been stepping up his game lately and is scoring and rebounding well. Point guard Antonio Daniels has also been filling in well with Arenas out and has averaged 11.6 points and 7.8 assists since Arenas played his last game.

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Ryan Bowen sprains left knee, out 3+ weeks

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: “The Hornets announced Monday that forward Ryan Bowen will miss at least three weeks after spraining his left knee in a loss to the Utah Jazz on Friday. Bowen said Monday morning at the team’s shoot-around that the injury occurred while he was going for a loose ball and that an MRI revealed a second-degree MCL sprain with no torn ligaments. “It feels pretty good right now,” Bowen said Monday morning. “It’s loose, it’s wobbly, so I just have to wait for that to tighten up.”

‘Plastic Man’ now a Nuggets player development coach

The Denver Nuggets have hired Stacey Augmon as a player development coach, team Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien announced today.

Augmon played 15 seasons in the NBA with Atlanta, Portland, Charlotte/New Orleans and Orlando. In 1,001 career NBA games, he averaged 8.0 ppg and 3.2 rpg.

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Brad Miller calls Beno Udrih a ‘metrosexual’

The Sacramento Bee reports: “What Beno calls style, Brad calls something else. Kings center Brad Miller has been giving Udrih a hard time about his fashion, and his ridiculing became public on Sunday. “He’s a typical, goofy European with tight pants, tight clothes – pretty standard,” Miller said with a laugh. A metrosexual, one might say? “Definitely a metrosexual,” Miller said. “He has the nice accent. He’s telling us, ‘This team was loaded with lots of Europeans before (in the days of Peja Stojakovic, Hedo Turkoglu etc.), so everybody knows what’s going on.”

Celtics recall Gabe Pruitt from D-League

The Boston Celtics announced today that they have recalled rookie guard Gabe Pruitt from their NBA Development League affiliate Utah Flash.

Pruitt averaged 21.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists in 37.0 minutes per game for the Flash in two games. Pruitt hit the game-winner in the season opener for the Flash as they defeated the Anaheim Arsenal 110-109 on November 24 in which he scored 31 points and had eight assists. Pruitt has appeared in two games this season for the Celtics and has averaged 2.0 points per game.

Review of Knicks record under Isiah Thomas

The New York Post reports: “The Knicks are 116-185 since Thomas arrived, 36-58 since he became the head coach, 7-24 since he received a contract extension. The are also 1-6 since the last time they held a team (Miami) under 80 points, a stretch that curiously caused a coach-GM who hasn’t drafted and traded much for defensive players to start threatening to bench them because of a lack of defense.”

Kenyon Martin knee issues continue: MRI scheduled for Monday

Nuggets F Kenyon Martin did not play in the second half of last night’s game in Houston due to a right knee strain. He is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Monday, after which his status will be determined.

Martin this season in 13 games has been averaging just 8.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 22.2 minutes. Injuries limited him to just 56 games in 2005-06 and only two in 2006-07.

Woman accuses Dennis Rodman of assaulting her at Las Vegas resort

Dennis Rodman was always great at grabbing rebounds. Now he’s being accused of grabbing at something else.

The Associated Press reports: “A former beverage manager at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas has sued Dennis Rodman, claiming the former NBA star assaulted her in March 2006 by rubbing up against her body and slapping her on the buttocks. In her federal lawsuit filed this week, Sara Robinson also accused her former employer of retaliating against her after she complained about Rodman’s behavior. Rodman spokeswoman Shannon Barr declined to comment Saturday.”

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