January 2013 – Page 5 – NBA Blog

Kyrie Irving and Tony Parker named NBA Players of Week

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving and San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker today were named Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, Jan. 21 through Sunday, Jan. 27.

Irving led the league in scoring at 35.7 ppg, guiding the Cavaliers to a 3-0 week. He tallied at least 32 points in all three games, finishing the week with a .612 shooting percentage from the field (41-of-67 field goals) and a .950 shooting percentage from the foul line (19-of-20 free throws). Irving poured in 40 points on 16-of-24 shooting from the field in a 95-90 win over the Boston Celtics on Jan. 22.

Parker led the Spurs to a 4-0 week behind averages of 24.5 points (fourth in the conference) and 9.5 assists (third in the conference). He posted back-to-back point-assist double-doubles on Jan. 23 and 25, in wins over the New Orleans Hornets and Dallas Mavericks. Parker connected on 40-of-66 field goals (.606) on the week, good for eighth best in the West.

Other nominees for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Atlanta’s Kyle Korver and Josh Smith, Denver’s Ty Lawson, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin, Miami’s LeBron James, Milwaukee’s Ersan Ilyasova, New Orleans’ Ryan Anderson, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and Portland’s Nicolas Batum.

Mavericks re-assign Jared Cunningham to D-League

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have re-assigned Jared Cunningham to the Texas Legends of the NBA Development League.

Cunningham (6-4, 194) is headed for his second stint in the D-League this season. He was originally assigned to the Legends on Dec. 11 and averaged 18.1 points, 3.0 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 37.0 minutes in seven games.

The Mavericks 2012 first round pick has seen action in eight games this season with Dallas and holds averages of 2.0 points and 3.3 minutes per game.

Cunningham will play for the Legends on Feb. 1 when they take on the Santa Cruz Warriors at Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas at 7:00 pm.

Mavericks sign Mike James for rest of season

Mike James may be old, but he’s apparently still good enough to get a job in the league.

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed guard Mike James for the remainder of the season.

James (6-2, 188) signed the first of two 10-day contracts with the Mavericks on Jan. 8 and played in all nine games during the 20 days he was under contract. He averaged 2.9 points, 1.0 assists and 9.9 minutes in nine games off the bench.

The Copiague, N.Y., native is a 10-year veteran and has played in 548 games (263 starts) with Miami, Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Houston, Toronto, Minnesota, New Orleans, Washington, Chicago and Dallas. He holds career averages of 10.2 points, 3.5 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 24.7 minutes per game.

Indiana Pacers re-sign free agent Sam Young

Free agent Sam Young has an NBA job again. The Indiana Pacers announced Monday they have re-signed Young to a contract.

The Pacers originally signed Young on Sept. 12, 2012 and waived him on Jan. 6, 2013. He played 28 games with the Pacers, averaging 3.6 points and 2.9 rebounds.

Young is a 6-6 small forward/shooting guard who played three NBA seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies and Philadelphia 76ers. He has career averages of 6.3 points per game and 2.4 rebounds per game. He was a second-round pick (36th overall) of the Grizzlies in the 2009 NBA Draft.

The 26-18 Pacers are currently the 5th seed in the Eastern conference.

Still unclear when Chris Paul will return for Clippers

There still is no set date for the return of injured Clippers point guard Chris Paul, Coach Vinny Del Negro said Sunday.

“Day to day, no timetable,” Del Negro said of Paul, the team’s star playmaker who is out because of a bruised right kneecap.

“With a bone bruise it’s just a matter of letting it calm down,” and then the Clippers have to wait “until he gets out on the court [in practice] and see how he reacts,” Del Negro said.

In the meantime, “it’s a matter of when [head trainer] Jasen [Powell] gives him the OK to get out there and start working,” Del Negro said.

— Reported by Jim Peltz of the Los Angeles Times

Milwaukee Bucks coaching change does wonders for Ersan Ilyasova

[Coach Jim] Boylan’s vote of confidence in Ilyasova is paying huge dividends. Since Boylan assumed the coaching reins, Ilyasova has shot 47 percent from the field and a white-hot 51 percent from 3-point range. In that same 10-game span under Boylan, Ilyasova is averaging 15.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 28.3 minutes.

While those numbers are nice, his numbers in the last four games are off the charts: 25.5 points, 12.2 rebounds, 55 percent shooting and 63 percent 3-point shooting.

Oh, and one other not-so-insignificant number: 34. That’s his minutes average for the last four games.

Ilyasova’s sterling play has been one of the key reasons why the Bucks are surging, why they are 23-19 and why they have won seven of 10 games with Boylan at the controls.

— Reported by Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times

Rodney Stuckey benched in Pistons win over Magic

The Detroit Pistons escaped their three-game road trip with a 104-102 win over the Orlando Magic on Sunday, after which the media wanted to discuss one topic, the head coach declined, and the players expressed some level of confusion over it all.

Rodney Stuckey was inactive. He was healthy and in a suit, though he was the last player to the bench in both halves.

Frank, who traditionally discloses his two inactive players at his press conference 90 minutes before the game, coyly said he hadn’t decided at that point who would be inactive.

A half-hour later, at the mandatory league-imposed time when inactives must be turned in, Stuckey’s name was on it.

Afterwards, Frank was just as coy about why.

“Just coach’s decision,” he said. “That’s as far as I’m going. I’m sorry to be evasive but that’s all I’m giving you.”

— Reported by David Mayo of Michigan Live

Sixers sign Shelvin Mack to a second 10-day contract

The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that they have signed guard Shelvin Mack to a second 10-day contract. He signed his first 10-day contract on January 17 and was the 15th GATORADE Call-Up of the 2012-13 NBA Development League season.

Mack (6-3, 207) has appeared in two games for the Sixers this season. In nine total games for Washington and Philadelphia, he is averaging 4.3 points, 2.6 assists and 1.8 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game.

At the time he left the Maine Red Claws to join the Sixers, Mack ranked third in the D-League in scoring (20.5 ppg) and first in assists (8.0 apg).

Luol Deng calls for support of British basketball

Britain’s basketball superstar Luol Deng has today delivered a hard-hitting letter to the Prime Minister over the slashed funding that is crippling the sport.

The Chicago Bulls star has weighed in on the debate after UK Sport’s funding was cut in the aftermath of the Olympics.

In a letter sent to 10 Downing Street, Deng wrote: ‘We all heard about the “legacy” that London 2012 was going to bring to sport in the UK and I refuse to sit back and let that legacy be completely demolished for basketball.

‘I, along with other people involved in the game, have put too much in and care too greatly to let this happen.

‘The sport of basketball is a pathway, a pathway that teaches so many valuable lessons on and off the court, how are we supposed to motivate these kids to carry along their journey when there’s now nothing at the end? No Team GB, no Olympic dream, no goal.’

— Reported by Mike Dawes of Daily Mail (UK)

Rudy Gay trade speculation continues

Gay still might soon be out of a Grizzlies uniform, but he’s clearly not down despite the fact that trade speculation surrounding the 6-8 small forward has hardly decreased.

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, NBA executives believe the Grizzlies, Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have had trade discussions that could involve Gay, Paul Pierce and Pau Gasol.

The speculation is that Memphis would receive Pierce, Los Angeles would get Gay and Gasol would land in Boston.

Griz CEO Jason Levien told local reporters last week that no deal was imminent. It is widely known that the Griz still are open to trading Gay, and expect better offers for the swingman now that the franchise is no longer on the hook for a luxury tax payment.

Memphis shed more than $6 million and got under the tax threshold Tuesday with a multiplayer deal that sent Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington, Josh Selby and a protected 2015 first-round draft pick to Cleveland for forward Jon Leuer.

— Reported by Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal