November 2012 – Page 4 – NBA Blog

Private funding holding up Timberwolves Target Center deal

Six months after the Vikings stadium deal paved the way for a public/private renovation of Target Center, Minneapolis’ chief negotiator says the Timberwolves and the arena’s operator still won’t say how much they will pay.

The “implementation committee” for the estimated $100 million renovation of the city-owned building has already met twice. But the city’s lead official on the project, Jeremy Hanson Willis, expressed frustration Tuesday night that there wasn’t a deal.

“We’ve said that we need to have significant private contribution in order for us to do this renovation,” Hanson Willis said after a meeting of the committee. “And we don’t yet have confirmation about to what degree the private sector is going to contribute to this.”

— Reported by Eric Roper of the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Too soon to tell if Darren Collison is a long-term Maverick

Nobody wants Collison to be a keeper more than me. The guy has great quickness, is a good ballhandler and is fearless. Not as good a defender as the Mavericks would like. But he’s working on it. But it’s tough to say right now whether he’s the long-term solution at point guard. Mayo obviously is great on the offensive end. But he too has limitations on defense. That’s what the next 65 games are going to be about — figuring out who stays and who goes. And they’d like to be a playoff team while they’re at it. As for Kaman, he’s been what we all thought he would be. He’s a 15-and-8 guy who occasionally will get you 20 and 10 and occasioally get you 8 and 4. He’s still figuring things out, as he said last week. So let’s get to the quarter mark of the season in a week or so before drawing any hard conclusions.

— Reported by Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News

James Harden is gone, but Thunder still rolling

The Thunder have the third-most effective offense in the league thus far, even with ESPN.com’s John Hollinger tearing at the inefficiency in their starting lineup last week.

“After the trade, it was come in and do your job,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “We said, ‘This is what we need from you guys,’ and they’ve done that.”

Last season with Harden, the Thunder averaged 107 points per 100 possessions, shot 47 percent overall and were second in the league in getting to the foul line at 26 times per game. Harden and his 16.8 scoring average, 49 percent shooting and 6 free throws per game were a big part of it.

A month after the trade, the Thunder are averaging 109 points per 100 possessions, shooting 48 percent overall and are second in the league in getting to the foul line at 28 times per game. Kevin Martin, Harden’s replacement, and his 15.7 scoring average, 46 percent shooting and 5 free throws a game are a big part of it.

— Reported by Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com

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Turner, Young lead 76ers past Mavericks 100-98

The 76ers won again with Elton Brand having another strong game and earning a hefty paycheck from the organization.

Brand just couldn’t celebrate because his effort was wasted with Dallas.

Evan Turner scored 22 points and Thaddeus Young had 20 to lead Philadelphia to a 100-98 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.

Brand scored a season-high 17 points for the Mavericks in his first game against the Sixers since they used their one-time amnesty provision over the summer in the new labor deal to let him go. The move meant the $18.1 million Brand was owed in the final season of his $80 million, five-year contract did not count against the salary cap for Philadelphia, though it still owed him about $16 million…

Jrue Holiday had 18 points and seven assists for the Sixers, who snapped a six-game losing streak to Dallas. Philadelphia shot 6 of 14 on 3-pointers and won its second straight game.

Chris Kaman scored 20 points and Shawn Marion also had 17 for the Mavericks. Vince Carter added 15 and was clutch in the fourth quarter in trying to bring Dallas back from a 10-point hole.

— Reported by Dan Gelston of the Associated Press

Reggie Evans rebounding like crazy for Nets

Reggie Evans keeps it simple, with a slogan that Nike once might’ve kicked around: Just get it.

Evans doesn’t view his job as a science, or a reward for practice and technique. After grabbing 14 boards Monday against the Knicks, he couldn’t really explain why he’s rebounding at a better rate than anybody in the NBA.

Evans just plays by a creed, which signals in his head as the ball bounces off the rim.

“Go get it,” he said. “No excuses. Just get it.”

Evans, 32, is averaging a league-high 22.1 rebounds per 48 minutes — a number that keeps rising as the Nets (9-4) keep winning. In the last three games — all home victories — Avery Johnson has trusted Evans in fourth-quarter crunch time over starter Kris Humphries.

— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News

Rockets to attend Sasha McHale funeral

Rockets players and coaches did not know if they could help, but were certain that they had to try, that they had to be there for Kevin McHale and his family.

About 40 members of the team, coaches and staff were scheduled to fly to Minneapolis from Houston after tonight’s game against Toronto to attend the funeral of McHale’s daughter Sasha. Sasha McHale passed away on Saturday at 23 of complications of the disease Lupus.

“It’s real important,” Patrick Patterson said. “We have to support coach McHale. He’s a priority. He’s part of this family. His family is part of our family. We have to show him that we care, that we love him, each and every one of them.

“I believe and I hope it helps from the standpoint of support. There’s not too much words can really do, but knowing people are there supporting, knowing you have a family, a team, an organization behind you and understands what you’re going through, that’s what we want to show coach McHale and the McHale family. We love them and we’re here for them.”

— Reported by Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Blog)

Grizzlies assign guard Tony Wroten to D-League

The Memphis Grizzlies assigned guard Tony Wroten to the Reno Bighorns, the team’s NBA Development League affiliate, Grizzlies General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace announced today.

Wroten (6-6, 208) has totaled one rebound and one steal in eight minutes through three appearances in his rookie season with Memphis.

The Grizzlies drafted the 19-year-old in the first round (25th overall) of the 2012 NBA Draft after one season at the University of Washington. In his lone season with the Huskies, the Seattle native became the first freshman in school history to earn First Team All-Conference honors, ranking fifth in the Pac-12 in scoring (16.0 points), eighth in assists (3.7) and second in steals (1.9).

Memphis will conclude its season-long five-game home stand this week when the team hosts the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, Nov. 28 and Detroit Pistons on Friday, Nov. 30.

Utah Jazz now 6-0 at home

After pulling a no-show in the first half, the Utah Jazz’s defense arrived in time to help them stay perfect at home.

Backup power forward Derrick Favors hit three clutch free throws down the stretch, and center Al Jefferson scored 28 points as the Utah Jazz rallied to beat the Denver Nuggets 105-103 Monday night at EnergySolutions Arena.

But it was Utah’s defense down the stretch that sealed its sixth straight home win.

Jazz wings Randy Foye and DeMarre Carroll prevented Denver guard Ty Lawson from getting off a game-tying attempt in the final 3.6 seconds, and time ran out on the Nuggets.

“I knew they were going to try and get it to Ty Lawson or Gallo (Danilo Gallinari),” Carroll said. “When I saw Ty drive, I’ve been playing against him all summer, I knew he was going to try and make something happen and go to the goal. I just tried to collapse. He saw me and time ran out.”

— Reported by the Sports Xchange

Kobe Bryant playing with great efficiency this season

Bryant is shooting 51 percent overall so far this season (his previous career best was 46.9 percent in 2001-02), 41.5 percent from the 3-point line (his previous career best was 38.3 percent in 2002-03) and 87.4 percent from the foul line (his previous career best was 86.8 percent in 2006-07). He also has shot 50 percent or better in 10 of the Lakers’ 14 games, so his accuracy has been consistent. And with 17.1 percent of the season in the books, the sample size has grown to the point that this can’t be just an aberration.

So, where does the credit go? How does Bryant jump from shooting just 43 percent overall last season — his worst shooting mark since his second season in the league, back in 1997-98 — to his best marksmanship as a 34-year-old?

“I think the system has a lot to do with it,” Bryant said Monday. “The floor is spaced out a little bit more. I can penetrate to the basket and get to the free throw line a lot more.”

He is averaging 7.92 free throw attempts per game this season, up from 7.77 a game last season. The improvement isn’t dramatic in that category, but Bryant seems to have adopted the mental standpoint that slashing opportunities are there for him whenever he wants them, whereas last season, he would have Andrew Bynum and his defenders clogging up the paint.

— Reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles

Lakers did not call Brian Shaw during coaching search

Shaw won three championships as a Lakers player under Jackson and was part of two more on Jackson’s coaching staff from 2005 to ‘11. Shaw returns to Staples Center on Tuesday as the associate head coach of the Indiana Pacers, the right-hand man of coach Frank Vogel.

Shaw didn’t get a phone call from the Lakers after they fired Brown on Nov. 9.

“I’m in a good situation here in Indy, a situation where I have a job,” he said. “After how things ended for all of us in L.A. at the end of that last season I was there, there’s no reason for me to get my hopes up about anything because if that was the case, something different would have probably been done initially.”

Shaw interviewed to replace Jackson after the 2010-11 season. He found out he didn’t get the job after seeing media reports of Brown’s hiring.

— Reported by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times