April 2010 – Page 9 – NBA Blog

Jeff Bower remains GM of Hornets, who seek head coach

The New Orleans Hornets announced today that the search for a new head coach will begin immediately and Jeff Bower will resume his sole duties and focus as the team’s general manager.

“Jeff stepped in to coach in a difficult situation and did a phenomenal job this season serving both roles as head coach and general manager.” said Hornets President Hugh Weber. “We had a lot of setbacks with injuries but still competed every night even though our players missed a total of 230 games due to injury. This move allows Jeff to fully focus as the team’s general manager and build off of our great draft success of last season. He has been a valued part of shaping our franchise for a long time and we feel fortunate that Jeff will continue in a major role as GM. We will continue to supplement and evaluate our resources on the basketball side so we can compete and maximize our personnel decisions at the highest level.”

Bower took over the head coaching role this season on November 12 after the Hornets relieved Byron Scott of head coach duties. Bower guided the Hornets to a 34-39 record (.466) this season while the team endured many injuries to its key players. The Hornets high this season came on January 27th when the team was five games above .500 at 25-20 and occupied the sixth seed in the Western Conference before three-time All-Star Chris Paul went down with an injury and missed the next 29 of 37 games to finish the season.

Bower, who has spent his 14-plus seasons with the club, has been an invaluable asset for the Hornets at all levels in basketball operations. He began his tenure with the Hornets as an advance scout from 1995 to 1997 before earning a promotion as the team’s director of scouting. In addition to his scouting duties during the 1998-99 season, Bower joined the coaching ranks as an assistant after Paul Silas was named interim head coach on March 7, 1999 (and helped him lead the Hornets to a 22-13 record). After serving as the assistant general manager for the 2000-01 season, Bower was promoted to general manager in June of 2001 and has since held that position. He returned to the bench as an assistant coach under Floyd in 2003-04. Bower’s years of experience working at all levels in the Hornets’ basketball operations department culminated with his appointment to the current post of general manager just prior to the start of the team’s 2005-06 training camp.

“First off, I want to thank the Hornets organization for their belief in me to serve as both head coach and general manager for the majority of the 2009-10 season,” said Bower. “One thing that our team did night in and night out was compete regardless of circumstances. However, we were able to get some great support from our two rookies, who have shown that they are among the best rookies in this year’s class. I look forward to the challenges ahead as GM and to build off the positives from this season and the previous seasons in the draft and free agency.”

Prior to joining the Hornets, Bower enjoyed an impressive career at the collegiate level. He spent three years as an assistant coach at Penn State University from 1983-86 before moving to Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. After first serving as an assistant coach from 1986 through 1990, he was promoted to associate head coach, a position he held for five years. Bower helped lead the Red Foxes to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1987 after winning the Northeast Conference.

Dwight Howard wins second straight defensive player of the year award

The AP reports:

Dwight Howard has won his second straight NBA defensive player of the year award after becoming the only player to lead the league in blocks and rebounds in the same season twice — let alone in consecutive years.

Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy and players confirmed the All-Star center will accept the award at a news conference Tuesday at 2 p.m.

“I think it’s a well deserved honor,” Van Gundy said. “He’s the most impactful defensive player.”

For complete voting results, click here.

Read NBA fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.

Patience a friend to Knicks fans

Steve Adamek of the Bergen Record reports (via blog):

It’s more than two months until July 1, which means the Knicks and their fans will need a lot of patience.

Patience when Marcus Camby, a likely free-agent target, decides to re-up with Portland for two more years.

Patience when Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo proclaims that Chris Bosh can expect a max-salary offer from his team.

Patience when Dwyane Wade says the Heat are “in the driver’s seat” when it comes to his future.

Patience if LeBron James says anything suggestive (or definitive) about staying in Cleveland.

That’s the problem with these next two-plus months. While the Knicks can’t do anything (officially, anyway) in terms of recruiting members of the upcoming free-agent class, those members’ teams can sign them to extensions or new deals to keep them off the July 1 market.

Tony Parker OK with coming off bench

Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News reports:

Spurs point guard Tony Parker admits he hasn’t quite been feeling like himself lately. He’s been feeling a little off, a little out of sorts, a little Argentine.

“I’m Manu Jr.,” Parker said.

Coming off the bench, it seems, can create quite an identity crisis. For the past seven games including Sunday’s Game 1 defeat at Dallas, Parker — like Manu Ginobili once did — has found himself in unaccustomed territory as a reserve.

In the Spurs’ 100-94 playoff-opening loss, Parker backed up George Hill and produced a Manu Jr.-like bench line: 18 points and four assists.

It is an arrangement Parker has told coach Gregg Popovich he’s OK with, even though he started all but seven of his first 662 career games.

Game 2: Short-handed Jazz beat Nuggets

The AP reports:

With Utah running out of big bodies, Deron Williams carried an even bigger load.

Williams had 33 points and 14 assists while chalking up nearly 45 minutes to lead the Jazz to a 114-111 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night in Game 2 of their Western Conference first-round series.

“He took over from the beginning of the game, which is huge for us,” said Carlos Boozer, who added 20 points and 15 rebounds as the injury-riddled Jazz tied the series before it shifts to Salt Lake City for Game 3 on Friday night…

Utah was playing without two of its most experienced playoff performers in forward Andrei Kirilenko (calf), who is out for this series, and center Mehmet Okur, who tore his left Achilles’ tendon in Game 1 and is done for the playoffs…

Kyryo Fesenko played admirably on Nene, and Carmelo Anthony was flustered despite scoring 32 points just 48 hours after his playoff-best 42-point performance in the opener.

Anthony made 14 of 15 free throws but was just 9 of 25 from the field and was whistled for four offensive fouls.

Game 2: LeBron scores 40, Cavs beat Bulls

The AP reports:

“They were telling me I can’t make jump shots,” LeBron James said. “They asked me to shoot a jumper so I did that. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.”

James scored 40 points—15 in a tour-de-force fourth quarter—as the Cavaliers, fueled by a rabid home crowd that booed every move by Joakim Noah, maintained home-court advantage by beating the Bulls 112-102 on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

James added eight rebounds and eight assists for the Cavs, who led 96-93 with 4:30 left before the league’s soon-to-be-two-time MVP took over. He hit his 3 with the 6-foot-11 Noah coming at him and followed with a quick dance move and wink directed at Chicago’s talkative bench…

Noah, who drew the ire of Cleveland fans by criticizing the city’s lack of downtown activity, had 25 points and 13 rebounds…

Derrick Rose added 23 points and Luol Deng had 20 for the Bulls, who will head home for Game 3 on Thursday night.

Robin Lopez out at least another week

Phoenix Suns center Robin Lopez was seen today by specialist Dr. Christopher Huston of The Orthopedic Clinic Association (TOCA) in Phoenix. Lopez, who has not played since March 26 due to an injured back, is progressing well. He will begin light, de-weighted jogging and more light court work, including easy jumping. Lopez will be re-evaluated in one week.

The second-year player was the Suns’ first-round pick (15th overall) of the 2008 NBA Draft. The 7-0, 255-pound center blossomed after being inserted into the Suns’ starting lineup on Jan. 18, helping to lead the Suns to a 22-9 (.710) record in his starts. Lopez averaged 11.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 24.5 minutes as a starter in 2009-10.

For the season, the Stanford product posted career highs in points (8.4), rebounds (4.9), blocks (1.04) and minutes (19.3). His 58.8-percent field-goal accuracy (171/291) would have ranked third in the NBA if he had reached the statistical minimum needed to qualify (min. 300 field goals made).

Containing Melo will be hard for Jazz

Jody Genessy of the Deseret News reports:

With Andrei Kirilenko and his strained calf out, the enormous challenge of containing the explosiveness of one of the NBA’s elite scorers will still mostly fall on the shoulders of 23-year-olds C.J. Miles and Wesley Matthews.

Carmelo Anthony, flashing his trademark wide smile, recently told ESPN what he’d do if he were in a situation similar to the young Jazz players’.

“If I had to guard me,” Melo said, “I would take the night off.”

Even though the confident-for-good-reason Anthony had a huge Game 1 at their expense, Miles and Matthews don’t plan on taking that easy way out.

“I got a rude awakening, a huge wake-up call in that regard, Carmelo, and just playing the Denver Nuggets on the road,” a more seasoned-feeling Matthews said.

“But I’m excited for (tonight). I’m more excited for (tonight) than I was Saturday.”

Rose wants Bulls to get physical with Cavs

John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times reports:

”We’ve got to go out there and be totally opposite of what we did last game,” point guard Derrick Rose said. ”I didn’t think we were aggressive on the defensive end. We talked about it, and we have to have some type of swagger or nastiness about ourselves.

”[Tonight] I think it’s gonna be totally different. I think now that we got our feet wet a little bit, I think some of the guys will be a little more comfortable in the game and we’ll get a groove to our game. We have to just start hitting people. No ‘[basket]-and-ones’ or anything like that. We have to start hitting people.”

Rose isn’t talking about becoming the modern-day Detroit Pistons Bad Boys or playing dirty. He’s simply pointing out that the Bulls were too passive and need to do a better job of matching the Cavs’ physicality.

Jerryd Bayless shines for Blazers

Joe Freeman of The Oregonian reports (via blog):

With 20 family members and friends watching from the US Airways Center stands, Jerryd Bayless produced one of the most important and impressive performances of his young career.

The Blazers stole home court advantage — and momentum — from the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night with a 105-100 victory at US Airways Center, and a significant part of the stunning win came courtesy of the resurgent Bayless, who helped Rip City make up for the absence of All-Star Brandon Roy.

Bayless finished with 18 points and four assists off the bench, flashing the aggressive, attacking style that allowed him to break out earlier this season. Most importantly, Bayless, who made 6 of 10 field goals, played all but three seconds of the pivotal fourth quarter, as Rudy Fernandez watched from the bench.