November 2012 – Page 22 – NBA Blog

Josh Powell signs in Greece

Turkish Airlines Euroleague defending champs, Olympiacos Piraeus, announced on Friday the addition of power forward Josh Powell (2.06 meters, 29 years old) through a two-year deal. Powell arrives from Brujos de Guayama of Puerto Rico where he played 14 games averaging 16.1 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. Powell played college ball in N. Carolina State from 2001 to 2003. After that he played preseason with the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA but started his season in Russia with Lokomotiv Rostov and midseason moved to the Italian second division. He also spent the 2004-05 season with Pepsi Caserta in the Italian second division and was back to the States in 2005, again with the Mavericks.

— Reported by Euroleague.net

Hornets guard Eric Gordon out 4-6 more weeks

ERIC GORDON INJURY UPDATE: YEAH, STILL INJURED

New Orleans Hornets shooting guard Eric Gordon will be sidelined for four to six weeks because of recurring problems with his right knee, a league source confirmed Friday afternoon.

Gordon’s prognosis was determined after he underwent further evaluations with doctors in Chicago on Friday to determine the extent of the problems involving his right knee. Gordon could not be reached for comment but he told Yahoo! Sports on Friday that he would be out for an additional four to six weeks.

Hornets General Manager Dell Demps said through spokesman Harold Kaufman that the Hornets are still gathering information and at this point any prognosis would be speculation. There is no confirmation if Gordon will have to undergo surgery. He required arthroscopic surgery last February and missed all but nine games last season…

Gordon said he began experiencing soreness in his right knee about a month before training camp after participating in volunteer workouts with his teammates. He missed all of training camp and the Hornets’ eight-game preseason schedule.

— Reported by John Reid of the New Orleans Times-Picayune

Mavericks waive Eddy Curry, sign Troy Murphy

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed free agent center Troy Murphy.

Murphy will replace Eddy Curry on the Mavericks’ 15-man roster. Curry was waived after playing in the first two regular season games for Dallas. Curry averaged 4.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 12.5 minutes.

Murphy (6-11, 245) was the 14th overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors and has played in 715 games (481 starts) with Golden State, Indiana, New Jersey, Boston and Los Angeles Lakers. He holds career averages of 10.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 27.5 minutes per game.

Murphy has averaged a points-rebounds double-double four times in his career, most recently in 2009-10 when, as a member of the Indiana Pacers, he averaged 14.6 points and 10.2 rebounds. Murphy spent last year with the Lakers and played in 59 games during the lockout-shortened season.

The Morristown, N.J., native played collegiately at Notre Dame where he was a consensus All-America selection as a sophomore and a junior and was an early-entry candidate in the 2001 NBA Draft.

Return of Kevin Garnett was critical factor in Celtics retooling

A LOOK BACK AT THIS PAST OFFSEASON

With Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen set to become free agents and well into their 30s, change appeared imminent. The Celtics faithful fully prepared for an offseason of adjustment, the organization taking a step back to potential mediocrity after five years of elite status.

But the Celtics instead took a surprising turn, adding eight players and re-signing Garnett, and they remain one of the East favorites as they head into the home opener Friday night against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Conventional wisdom said there was no way Garnett, playing on aging legs and tiring at the end of playoff games, would return. Allen, meanwhile, had grown increasingly unhappy with his situation in comparison with second-year guard Avery Bradley and wanted to explore free agency for the first time.

So the 2012-13 Celtics likely would consist of Rajon Rondo, perhaps Paul Pierce, and a bunch of pieces meshed together until the Celtics could attract a major free agent. But as free agency approached, the central figure in their quest to extend the Big Three Era was Garnett himself.

— Reported by Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe

Luis Scola looking to expand shooting range

The Suns have always been known as a 3-point shooting team.

Luis Scola, not so much.

“I want to add 3-point shot to my game,” he said. “I feel confident the whole preseason. I just made one in preseason but I was feeling confident. I just need to keep working at it. It’s not going to happen overnight. I never shoot 3s before in my career. We’ll see how it goes.”

So far, it’s gone quite well—at least through one game.

Wednesday night against the Warriors, Scola hit as many 3s as he had in his previous 386 games combined. He made 1-of-2 and is now 2-for-19 in his career but a sparkling 2-for-3 all-time against Golden State.

— Reported by Craig Grialou of Arizona Sports

Sixers hire Aaron Barzilai as Director of Basketball Analytics

The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that they have named Aaron Barzilai as their Director of Basketball Analytics. Barzilai joins the Sixers from the Memphis Grizzlies, where he served as the Basketball Analytics Consultant dating back to April of 2009.

In his role with the Grizzlies, Barzilai was the sole advanced analytics consultant for the team and reported directly to General Manager Chris Wallace. He assessed potential transactions, including trades, free agent signings and draft picks.

Barzilai is the founder of BasketballValue.com, a website which presents adjusted and unadjusted plus/minus for players and units to illustrate the impact a player has on the court as well as on a team’s offensive and defensive efficiency. He has also contributed content to 82games.com.

A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Barzilai also owns a Ph.D. and Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford. He was a member of MIT’s varsity basketball team and was the co-captain his senior season.

Blazers guard Ronnnie Price remains day-to-day

The Trail Blazers will play at least one more game without their backup point guard.

Coach Terry Stotts said Ronnie Price will not play tonight when the Blazers visit the Oklahoma City Thunder. Price, who is still recovering from the high right ankle sprain he suffered during an Oct. 12 exhibition game in Phoenix, is listed day-to-day.

Second-year guard Nolan Smith, who had two points and two assists in the Blazers’ season-opening win over the Los Angeles Lakers, again will take Price’s spot in the Blazers’ rotation.

— Reported by Joe Freeman of The Oregonian

Deron Williams has bone spurs in ankle

Brooklyn Nets general manager Billy King confirmed Thursday that an MRI revealed point guard Deron Williams has bone spurs in his left ankle and probably will have to undergo offseason surgery to have them “cleaned up.”

However, King downplayed the results and expects the injury to be “manageable.”

King said the bone spurs were causing inflammation in the point guard’s ankle. Williams needed a cortisone shot to ease the pain, missed two practices as a result, but expects to be fine during the season.

— Reported by Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York

Tobias Harris, Sam Dalembert will start for Bucks

Bucks coach Scott Skiles didn’t make any lineup changes for Friday night’s season opener against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.

Skiles decided to stay with second-year pro Tobias Harris at small forward, with Mike Dunleavy coming off the bench at that position. And veteran Samuel Dalembert will be at center, with third-year pro Larry Sanders serving in a strong backup role.

Harris will go against Celtics star Paul Pierce as the Bucks try to spoil Boston’s home opener. The Celtics lost their season opener at Miami on Tuesday.

“it’s something we intended all along,” Skiles said of the starting five, which also includes Ersan Ilyasova, Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings. “Mike is comfortable coming off the bench.

“We need Tobias to get some sort of consistency. But we also know he’s 20 years old, and last season was not a wash or anything because he got some minutes but it was a very unconventional season. He’ll have his hands full here opening night.”

— Reported by Charles F Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Blog)

Dwyane Wade thinks NBA should have postponed Heat at Knicks game

The NBA is getting Heat from one of its marquee players over Friday night’s game between Miami and the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Dwyane Wade took to Twitter to express his feelings over the league’s decision not to postpone the contest between the two Eastern Conference rivals in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

“3 hour traffic just to get into the NY city.. C’monMan…” Wade tweeted on Thursday night.

Wade clarified his comments later on after deleting that original tweet.

“2 be clear “Traffic tweet was meant 2 say”… We shouldn’t B hre 2 play a basketball game when theirs so many families obviously still R affected by #Sandy,” Wade wrote.

— Reported by Anthony Sulla-Heffinger of the New York Post (Blog)