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The Indiana Pacers announced Friday they have picked up the fourth-year option on Brandon Rush’s contract. Per club policy no details of the contract are released.
Rush, a third-year player out of Kansas, was drafted 13th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft. In his three seasons with the Pacers, Rush has career averages of 8.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
Anderson Varejao did not travel with the Cavaliers to Toronto following practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts this afternoon. He was excused from traveling in order to be with his father who is scheduled to have heart surgery tomorrow in Cleveland.
Anderson’s game status will be updated tomorrow afternoon, but he is currently listed as Doubtful for tomorrow night’s game vs. the Raptors.
Our thoughts and best wishes are with Anderson, his father and their family.
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San Antonio Spurs forward/center Matt Bonner underwent an MRI earlier today after injuring his right ankle in last night’s game vs. Indiana.
The MRI confirmed Bonner suffered Grade 2 right ankle sprain.
He is expected to be out of action for 10-14 days.
The Chicago Bulls announced today that they have named former Bull Sidney Green as a Team Ambassador. Green joins former Bulls great Scottie Pippen as a Team Ambassador.
Green will make the transition to his new role after serving as a scout and Player Development Assistant for the Bulls’ Basketball Operations Department. In this capacity, he will serve as a goodwill ambassador and represent the organization at various community functions, speaking engagements, school activities, non-profit and youth group appearances, as well as other select civic events. Sidney will also have a presence at Bulls games and appear at a variety of sponsor and team-related affairs.
“We are pleased to have Sidney assume his new role as Team Ambassador,” said Chicago Bulls President and COO Michael Reinsdorf. “His compassion and enthusiasm for the Chicagoland community are a natural fit for the city of Chicago and the Bulls.”
In accepting his new position, Green said “I would like to thank the Bulls organization for promoting me to this position. I will work to my utmost ability to earn and justify the confidence the Bulls have shown in me. It is great to work for such a first-class organization, which is not only successful on the court but also is so committed to the betterment of our community.”
A member of the Bulls from 1983-86, the former power forward averaged 9.2 ppg, 6.1 rpg and 1.1 apg during his playing days in Chicago. The Bulls selected Green with the fifth overall pick of the 1983 NBA Draft.
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The Memphis Grizzlies exercised the fourth-year contract options on guard O.J. Mayo and forward Darrell Arthur and the third-year option on center Hasheem Thabeet, Grizzlies General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace announced today. All three players are now guaranteed through the 2011-12 season.
Mayo, the third overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, holds career averages of 17.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 38.0 minutes in 165 games (all starts). The 6-4, 210-pound guard posted 17.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 37.9 minutes last season, and was the only Grizzlies player to start and play in every game. The 22-year-old, who has yet to miss a game in his NBA career, entered the 2010-11 season with more minutes logged (6,234) than any other NBA player in the last two seasons aside from Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala.
Arthur, who missed most of his sophomore season due to right pectoralis surgery, bounced back this preseason to average 11.1 points (4th on the team) and 6.3 rebounds (2nd) in 24.9 minutes in eight games. The 6-9, 235-pound forward, who stepped into the starting lineup last night and scored a career-high 19 points in the Grizzlies’ regular season opener vs. Atlanta, has posted 5.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 17.9 minutes in 109 games (66 starts) with the Grizzlies, who acquired his draft rights (27th overall) during the 2008 NBA Draft. A key member of the 2008 NCAA Champion Kansas Jayhawks, the 22-year-old recorded 4.5 points and 3.4 rebounds in 14.3 minutes in 32 games last season.
Thabeet, the second overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, ranked second among rookies in blocks (1.31) while averaging 3.1 points and 3.6 rebounds in 13.0 minutes in 68 games (13 starts) last season. The 7-3, 267-pound center led all NBA players (min. 60 games) in blocks per 48 minutes (4.84). The 23-year-old, who was named the 2009 Co-Big East Player of the Year (along with current San Antonio Spurs forward DeJuan Blair) in his third and final season at Connecticut, is the first Tanzanian-born player to play in the NBA.
The Grizzlies (0-1) will look to bounce back from last night’s opening night defeat, as they travel to Dallas to play the Mavericks at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow night at the American Airlines Center. The game will be televised locally on SportSouth HD.
The Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., has been selected to host the 2011 NBA Draft, scheduled for June 23, 2011, NBA Commissioner David Stern, Chairman and Managing Partner, Devils Arena Entertainment, Jeff Vanderbeek, and the Honorable Cory A. Booker, Mayor for the City of Newark, announced today at the Prudential Center before the New Jersey Nets’ home opener against the Detroit Pistons.
This marks the second time the NBA Draft is being held in New Jersey.
“We are delighted to bring one of the NBA’s premier events to Newark,” said Stern. “The Prudential Center is a state-of-the-art, multi-purpose arena that will be a great host for another exciting NBA Draft.”
“Hosting the draft is further affirmation of Prudential Center as a home for the NBA,” said Vanderbeek. “In fact, this season the Rock will host more basketball games at the NBA, WNBA and college levels than all but two other arenas, Madison Square Garden and STAPLES Center.”
“Newark, New Jersey, is a basketball City,” said Mayor Booker. “We are proud and honored to host one of basketball’s most significant annual events here in the Prudential Center. It will be a fantastic event, in our great City, helping to wrap up what is expected to be a tremendous year of basketball in Newark.”
The NBA Draft became a public event in 1979, and was held in various venues in New York City through 1991. It was held in Portland in 1992, followed by Detroit (1993), Indianapolis (1994), Toronto (1995), East Rutherford, N.J. (1996), Charlotte (1997), Vancouver (1998), and Washington D.C. (1999).
The Prudential Center, which opened Oct. 25, 2007, is located in downtown Newark and is the temporary home of New Jersey Nets. It also is the home arena of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and Seton Hall University’s Men’s Basketball.
The Theater at Madison Square Garden, which has hosted the NBA Draft for the last several years, is unavailable to hold this year’s Draft due to the ongoing transformation of Madison Square Garden.
Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press reports:
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After being shut down for the preseason after playing only eight minutes, McGrady finally returned to practice Sunday. He confirmed that he will be limited to around 15 minutes per game for the time being. McGrady, 31, has hardly played the last two seasons because of a left knee that was surgically repaired in February 2009.
“They put minutes on me. I think it’s around 15,” McGrady said. “I’m only playing 15 minutes, so when I’m out there, I’m going as hard as I can go.”
Michael Lee of the Washington Post reports (via blog):
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Gilbert Arenas will miss at least the first two games of the regular season because of a strained tendon in his right ankle. Arenas missed his fourth straight practice on Wednesday and walked around the RDV Sports Complex in Orlando while wearing a protective boot.
Coach Flip Saunders said that Arenas will be re-evaluated, but ruled him out for the season opener on Thursday against the Magic and on Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks. After practice, Arenas huddled with Saunders and President Ernie Grunfeld for a few minutes.
“He’s going to have a doctor look at it again,” Saunders said. “So he wont be here for these two. We’ll evaluate him and hopefully these days in the boot will let that [heal]. Right now the tendon’s inflamed, we’ve got to get that thing to settle down. Once it settles down and some of that fluid gets out, he’s probably going to have a better chance of playing. That’s at least what the medical staff tells me.”
The New Orleans Hornets announced today that they have picked up the option for the 2011-12 season for guard Jerryd Bayless.
Bayless (6-3, 204) is in his third NBA season after being drafted in the first round (11th overall pick) of the 2008 NBA Draft. The University of Arizona product averaged 8.5 points, 2.3 assists and 1.6 rebounds in 17.6 minutes of play over 74 games (11 starts) last season for the Portland Trail Blazers. In those 11 games as a starter, Bayless averaged 12.6 points, 3.3 assists and 1.6 rebounds in 24.4 minutes of action. During his rookie seasonin Portland, Bayless appeared in 53 games,averaging 4.3 points, 1.6 assists and 1.1 rebounds in 12.4 minutes of play. The Phoenix native was named the 2008 NBA Summer League MVP after leading the league in scoring at 29.8 points per game.
The New Orleans Hornets announced today that they have named Jon Ishop Head Trainer. Ishop will oversee the health care, prevention and rehabilitation of injuries, and daily training room operations, as well as travel logistics for the team.
Ishop joins the Hornets after eight seasons with the Houston Texans as an assistant athletic trainer. A certified athletic trainer, Ishop is also an NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist, Graston Technique Certified, and is a Licensed Massage Therapist.
Ishop received his bachelor of science degree in kinesiology at the University of Texas at Austin in 1998 and his master’s degree in sports administration from the University of Houston in 2001.