EurocupBasketball reports: Alba Berlin added depth to its roster by signing small forward Derrick Byars for the rest of the season. Byars (201, 25) returns to Europe after splitting the 2007-08 season between Bros Baskets Bamberg in Germany and Chorale Roanne in France. With Bamberg he averaged 6.3 points in four ULEB Cup games before transferring to Roanne, where he scored 7 in the team’s Euroleague finale and 8.8 points and 3.6 rebounds in the French League, helping the team reach the playoff final. Last season Byars played for Bakersfield in the NBDL, where he averaged 17.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in 49 appearances and was named to the all-star team.
Month: November 2009
Yi Jianlian has right knee sprain
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An MRI performed today on New Jersey Nets forward Yi Jianlian confirmed a Grade 1 sprain of the medial collateral ligament of the right knee. Yi will begin rehabilitation immediately. There is no timetable for his return.
Both the Nets and Yi are off to slow starts in the 2009-10 NBA season. The team has no wins and four losses. Yi is shooting just 40.6% from the field and averaging 9.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
Ryan Anderson a great Magic fit
Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel reports:
After watching this Ryan Anderson kid through his first three starts as a stand-in, you have to ask (if only in jest):
So how are the Orlando Magic going to find Rashard Lewis playing time when he comes back?
Even Anderson laughed at the question.
Anderson, 21, has been doing more than just keeping Lewis’ power-forward spot warm, but he realizes his days as a starter are numbered. He’ll be heading to the bench when Lewis returns from a league-mandated suspension in seven more games.
Anderson has been very Lewis-like in playing the role, averaging 17.3 points per game, second only to Dwight Howard’s 21.7 ppg. He, too, is 6 feet 10, and can shoot 3-pointers, nailing 11-of-20 for 55 percent.
And he’ll be looking to provide offense again if shooting guard Vince Carter (sprained left ankle) and small forward Mickael Pietrus (flu-like symptoms) are unavailable tonight against the Detroit Pistons.
Lewis will obviously start when he comes back. But it’s still a great “problem” that Anderson has fit in so well it’ll be difficult for coach Stan Van Gundy to move him back to the bench.
No Rudy Gay extension
Yahoo reports – Negotiations between the Memphis Grizzlies and Rudy Gay ended on Monday without a contract extension, and the forward will become a restricted free agent at the end of the season, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. League sources said Gay wanted a $12 million annual deal – either over three or five years – because because that’s what Indiana Pacers forward Danny Granger received last season. But Memphis never raised its offer beyond approximately $10 million a year.
Celtics sign Rajon Rondo to contract extension
The Boston Celtics announced today that the club has signed point guard Rajon Rondo to a multi-year contract extension. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. Several media outlets had reported the deal to be five years and at least fifty five million.
“We are extremely pleased to be able to extend Rajon’s contract,” said Celtics President of Basketball Operations, Danny Ainge. “We believe that he is one of the elite point guards in the NBA and has a tremendous future ahead of him.”
Rondo, a 6’1” guard, is currently leading the NBA in total assists (47) and is second in assists per game (11.8) through four games this season. The former Kentucky Wildcat is also leading the NBA in total steals (10). Last season, Rondo became the second Celtic to post three triple-doubles in a postseason joining Larry Bird when he posted three during the 1985-86 postseason. During the 2009 postseason, Rondo just missed averaging a triple-double when he finished with an average of 16.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 9.8 assists in 41.2 minutes per game.
“I would like to thank the Celtics ownership, Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers, my teammates and the Celtics organization for all of their support over the years,” said Rondo. “I would also like to thank my family, friends and fans. I’m ready to do everything I can to bring banner 18 to Boston.”
During his second season as a professional Rondo helped the Celtics win their 17th NBA Championship with averages of 10.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.73 steals per game. Rondo became just the third starting point guard in the past 30 years to have won an NBA championship at the age of 22 or under joining Tony Parker and Magic Johnson.
Timberwolves exercise Corey Brewer, Kevin Love options; decline Oleksiy Pecherov option
The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced that the team has exercised the fourth-year option on guard/forward Corey Brewer and the third-year option on forward Kevin Love. The Wolves declined to extend forward Oleksiy Pecherov for next season.
“We are happy to extend Kevin and Corey for next season,” said David Kahn, Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations. “All of us have been impressed with the determination displayed by both players this summer to make themselves better players through conditioning, hard work and skill development. I believe both have the drive and desire to be special players in this league.
“As for Oleksiy [Pecherov], I spoke to him this morning that he should not interpret this decision as if Coach Rambis and I believe he has no future with our organization. Far from it. Because of our cap flexibility next season, we could re-sign Oleksiy next summer if it is in our mutual interests. He is a young player with potential, who is just seeing significant playing time for the first time in his career.”
Brewer, a third-year forward from Florida, appeared in just 15 games for the Wolves last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury on Nov. 29, 2008 vs. Denver. After averaging 5.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game as a rookie, Brewer increased his scoring to 6.2 points per game last season and is averaging 12.3 points per game thus far in 2009-10.
Love, the fifth overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, appeared in 81 games for the Wolves as a rookie, averaging 11.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. His 29 double-doubles on the season were the most in the NBA among rookies and the most ever by a rookie in Wolves franchise history. Love averaged 12.5 points and a league-leading 11.5 rebounds per game in his four preseason appearances before breaking a bone in his left hand on Oct. 16 at Chicago.
Bucks decline Joe Alexander option
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Milwaukee Bucks General Manager John Hammond announced today that the team will not exercise the third year team option on the Rookie Scale Contract of forward Joe Alexander (6-8, 230).
“It was a difficult decision not to pick up Joe Alexander’s option,” said Hammond. “Joe has missed valuable on-court development opportunities due to injury during his first two training camps, and this year he will miss almost the first three months of the season with his hamstring injury.
“We believe Joe can be a good NBA player, but his latest injury had hampered our ability to further assess his progress.”
The Bucks announced on October 22 that Alexander aggravated his right hamstring injury during rehabilitation exercises and is expected to be sidelined for a period of 8-to-12 weeks.
Alexander, 22, originally suffered the injury during voluntary drills prior to the start of training camp on September 17.
In 59 games during his rookie season, Alexander averaged 4.7 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.
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Celtics will sign Rajon Rondo to extension
Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reports:
The Celtics and Rajon Rondo walked close to the edge of the bridge with their contract negotiations. But while each was confident it could pull off a successful dive, neither really wanted to jump.
By agreeing to an extension that will pay Rondo some $55 million over the five seasons after this, there was security for all. Or about as much as the rigors of the NBA and the global economy allow.
Indeed, the Celtics could have easily let the season play out, secure in the knowledge that they could make Rondo the qualifying offer after the year and thus render him a restricted free agent. They could then let the market do its thing and match any offer that came his way.
No matter the final numbers, Danny Ainge and the owners knew that Rondo would be a Boston Celtic next season if they so desired.
Once the deal is signed, it’ll be interesting to watch Rondo’s growth in the future. Lots of players, not by coincidence, seem to stop getting better starting the season after the one in which they sign a big contract extension. Hopefully Rondo keeps improving in years to come.
Jeff Foster out two weeks
Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star reports:
Veteran center Jeff Foster is expected to miss the next two weeks because of a high right ankle sprain, which he suffered in the first half of last Friday’s loss to the Miami Heat.
Foster’s injury leaves the Pacers (0-2) with a relatively inexperienced frontcourt, which has been abused by Atlanta’s Al Horford and Miami’s Jermaine O’Neal in the first two games.
Pacers coach Jim O’Brien said rookie Tyler Hansbrough could make his season debut Friday against the Washington Wizards as long as he has no setbacks in practice this week.
In the two regular season matchups Indiana has played, Foster only received 9.5 minutes per game, averaging just 1.0 points and 2.5 rebounds.
Euroleague MVP for October, 2009: Bojan Popovic
Euroleague.net reports: Of six undefeated teams through two weeks of the 2009-10 regular season, five have rosters featuring Euroleague, world and continental champions and medalists. Three of those five boast plenty all-Euroleague superstars and MVPs, and the other two each have a Euroleague champion to look to for experience. Lietuvos Rytas, by contrast, started the season with just one player who had ever been a full-time Euroleague starter – and he did that for only one season before. Despite his relative inexperience and coming to L. Rytas new this season, point guard Bojan Popovic has proven over two weeks to be the perfect leader, playing almost non-stop and re-defining himself as an assist-maker of prodigious potential. Only a handful of the Euroleague’s finest point guards all decade can match the 19 assists Popovic dished while L. Rytas was beating Efes Pilsen and Entente Orleanaise to tie for first place in Group B. Popovic posted 10 assists and 11 points while playing 40 minutes for L. Rytas in its opening-night home win against Efes Pilsen. On the road the next week, he scored another 11 points and distributed 9 assists in 35 minutes to lead L. Rytas to victory in Orleans. He lacked one more assist against Orleans to become the first Euroleague player all decade to register back-to-back double-doubles in points and assists. But the numbers that most prove Popovic’s impact on L. Rytas are 2 and 0, wins and losses, respectively. Largely due to his efforts, a young, inexperienced team is sharing first place in its regular season group when no one expected it. For that reason, Bojan Popovic is the choice as Euroleague MVP for October.