November 26, 2010 – NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog

President Obama gets 12 stitches for lip injury while playing basketball

Tahman Bradley and Stephanie Smith of ABC News report:

President Obama needed 12 stitches on his upper lip after he was inadvertently hit this morning while playing basketball with friends and family at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C.The president was playing defense when Rey Decerega, an opposing player, turned into him to take a shot and his elbow hit Obama in the mouth.

“I learned today the president is both a tough competitor and a good sport,” Decerega, who works for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, said in a written statement. “I enjoyed playing basketball with him this morning. I’m sure he’ll be back out on the court again soon.” …

The injury occurred in the last of the five games Obama was playing with his friends, which included his nephew, Avery Robinson, personal aide Reggie Love and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

InsideHoops.com says: The picture above is old, but the video below is of Obama after the above incident.

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

Bulls sign John Lucas III

The Chicago Bulls announced today the team has signed free agent guard John Lucas III. In accordance with team policy, terms of the contract were not announced.

Lucas III (5-11, 165) saw action in five preseason games with the Bulls and averaged 2.2 ppg and 0.8 apg in 6.4 mpg.

Undrafted out of Oklahoma State in 2005, Lucas spent two seasons with the Houston Rockets (2005-07) and appeared in 60 regular season contests. While with the Rockets he averaged 3.1 ppg, 0.8 apg and 0.7 rpg in 8.2 mpg, and shot .396 from the field, .250 from behind the arc and .789 from the line.

Chicago’s roster now stands at 14 players.

Nets assign Terrence Williams to D-League

The New Jersey Nets have assigned second year guard/forward Terrence Williams to their NBA Development League affiliate, The Springfield Armor, Nets General Manager Billy King announced today.

“After discussing the situation with Avery over the last several days, I feel the best course of action for Terrence and the team at this time is for him to play in the D-League,” said King. “He is currently on the inactive list and this move will allow him to play until he is once again placed on the active list. There is no timetable on his return to the active list, and Terrence’s future status will be addressed at the appropriate time.”

Williams was selected 11th overall by New Jersey in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft. The Louisville product has appeared in 86 career games for the Nets, averaging 8.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg and 2.9 apg. This season, Williams has played in eight contests, with averages of 6.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg and 3.0 apg.

What’s your opinion? Share it on the New Jersey Nets forum.

Pacers stepping up defensively

The Indianapolis Star reports:

The Pacers, who host Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse, are having their best defensive season under coach Jim O’Brien.

They are sixth in the league in field goal defense at 43.5 percent, which O’Brien feels will be good enough to get them into the playoffs. They are seventh in the league in points allowed at 95.5 a game.

And they are second in blocks at 6.7 a game.

“We’re actually focusing on it now,” forward Danny Granger said. “We’re not scoring like we have in the past as far as points a game, but we’re putting a lot of work in on the defensive end. We’re stepping up, we’re rebounding well and doing things we haven’t done in the past.” …

Center Roy Hibbert has more of an intimidating presence in the paint because he’s quicker and doesn’t foul as much. Hibbert is sixth in the league in blocks at 2.3 a game.

Heat assign Dexter Pittman to D-League

The Miami Heat announced today that Dexter Pittman has been assigned to the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA Development League. The Skyforce are the Heat’s NBA D-League affiliate.

Pittman was originally drafted by the Heat in the second round (32nd overall) of the 2010 NBA Draft and has yet to appear in a regular season game. He did appear in three games (all starts) for the Heat during summer league play and averaged 6.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.67 blocks and 19.1 minutes.

Pittman will be available for the Skyforce’s home opener tomorrow night vs. the Dakota Wizards at 7PM.

Texas Legends (D-League) sign Joe Alexander

The Texas Legends today announced that they have claimed former University of West Virginia sharp-shooting forward Joe Alexander off of waivers.

Alexander, 23, joins Antonio Daniels, Reece Gaines, Rashad McCants and Sean Williams as the fifth Texas Legend who was drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft.

The Milwaukee Bucks took Alexander eighth overall in the 2008 NBA Draft and that season he became the first ever Taiwanese-born NBA player.

Alexander also lived in China for six years where he became conversant in Mandarin, which is an interesting connection to part owner of the Legends, Sonny Xiao, who recently became the first Chinese-born owner of an NBA or NBA D-League team.

During his junior year at West Virginia, the 6’8”, 230 pound Alexander was named to the All-Big East First-Team as well as an All-American Honorable Mention in leading the Mountaineers to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

In his rookie season with the Bucks, Alexander appeared in 59 games, averaging 4.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 12.1 minutes per game, while shooting 34.8% from beyond the arc.

Alexander is no stranger to the D-League. After missing the first 41 games of the 2009-10 season with a hamstring injury, he was assigned to the D-League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants in January. In six games (three starts) with the Mad Ants, Alexander averaged 10.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 26.8 minutes per game.

In February, shortly after his stint in Fort Wayne, Alexander was traded to the Chicago Bulls along with Hakim Warrick in exchange for John Salmons. Alexander played in eight games for the Bulls, averaging 0.5 points and 0.6 rebounds per game in 3.6 minutes of play.

On September 20, Alexander was signed by the New Orleans Hornets, but was released on November 13 after spending the first few weeks of the NBA season on the Hornets inactive list.

Hamed Haddadi charged with assault

The AP reports:

Police say Hamed Haddadi of the Memphis Grizzlies and his girlfriend have been charged with assault following an altercation between the two.

Memphis police were called Thursday morning to a downtown apartment building and found Haddadi, a backup center from Iran, and his girlfriend with bruises and scratches.

The arrest report says a verbal disagreement turned physical, and both Haddadi and Goolnaz “Asal” Karbalaeinematmoeeney were taken to the Regional Medical Center for treatment.

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