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The Los Angeles Clippers announced today that they have waived forward Brandon Davies. The Clippers roster now stands at 15 players.
Davies appeared in five preseason games for the Clippers, averaging 3.4 points and 2.8 rebounds in 11.2 minutes of action.
Davies, 22, was a member of the Clippers 2013 Summer League team in Las Vegas, averaging 5.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in 15.8 minutes of play over five games. He was undrafted out of BYU in the 2013 NBA Draft.
The Miami HEAT announced today that they have waived forward Jarvis Varnado and guards Larry Drew II and Charlie Westbrook.
Varnado appeared in six games with the HEAT this preseason and averaged 2.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and 9.9 minutes. Additionally, he appeared in 13 regular season games with the HEAT last season totaling eight points, nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal in 58 minutes.
Drew appeared in one game with the HEAT this preseason totaling 5:52 minutes of action.
Westbrook appeared in four games with the HEAT this preseason and averaged 2.5 points and 5.7 minutes.
The HEAT’s roster now stands at 17.
The Boston Celtics are probably in for a rough year. But one thing they do know is that Gerald Wallace is going to outwork a lot of the opposition:
Asked Saturday about the reasons for Boston’s inability to put together 48 consistent minutes this preseason, Gerald Wallace suggested some of his young teammates might not be familiar with the necessary level of intensity needed on the floor, dubbing the team’s effort “lackadaisical” at times this preseason.
Lackadaisical is one adjective that will rarely be associated with Wallace. Slotted in a starting role on Sunday in Montreal, Wallace injected the first unit with a jolt of energy. He finished with a team-high 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting to go along with 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 rebounds while working up a regular-season sweat over 26 minutes.
Wallace couldn’t save the Celtics from absorbing a 104-89 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Bell Centre, their sixth defeat in seven tries this preseason, but he gave another glimpse of the relentless energy and effort that he’ll bring to the team during the 2013-14 season.
Reported by Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston
Rebuilding or not, the Celtics are still worth watching.
Lots of players suffer bumps, bruises, soreness and other not-fun things during NBA preaseason:
There was a point during the Knicks’ open scrimmage on Sunday at Columbia, in which Carmelo Anthony was teamed with Ike Diogu, Cole Aldrich, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Chris Smith.
What made that quintet significant was how many regulars were unavailable due to injuries, with newcomer Andrea Bargnani the latest to be added to the list when he was forced out of practice due to back stiffness.
Bargnani, who was slowed by injuries during his final two seasons with the Raptors, is questionable for Monday’s preseason game in Toronto — their second visit to his previous NBA home in a week.
Reported by Peter Botte of the New York Daily News
Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but worth keeping an eye on this next week.
One of the biggest things a coach has to do before the start of the season is figure out his rotation:
It’s the start of the Wolves’ final three preseason games in the next five days and a Sunday night during which Rick Adelman will continue to search for answers at small forward.
Right now, he sounds like a confused man.
He started Derrick Williams at that spot tonight and said he might start somebody else there Wednesday in Philadelphia and perhaps somebody else again on Thursday in Detroit.
That list of somebodies includes Othyus Jeffers, Robbie Hummel and Shabazz Muhammad.
Reported by Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune
The good news is, the rest of the starting Wolves lineup appears pretty solid.
The San Antonio Spurs today announced that they have waived guard/forward Courtney Fells and guard Dan Nwaelele.
Fells appeared in three preseason games, averaging 4.7 points and 3.3 rebounds in 12.4 minutes of action.
Nwaelele saw action in three preseason games, averaging 3.7 points and 1.7 rebounds in 12.3 minutes.
San Antonio’s roster now stands at 14.
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Kenyon Martin’s lingering ankle injury will keep him out of Monday’s preseason game against the Raptors. It may also keep him out of the Knicks’ season opener.
Martin suffered an ankle injury late last season but returned to play in every playoff game for the Knicks.
But the injury is still bothering Martin, according to Mike Woodson.
“His knees are fine. He feels great there. It’s just, he’s nursing his ankle,” Woodson said after Saturday’s practice.
Reported by Ian Begley of ESPN New York
The Cleveland Cavaliers have waived guard Michael Lee, Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant announced tonight. The Cavs roster now stands at 19.
The 6-9, 207-pound rookie guard from St. Bonaventure, appeared in three preseason games for the Cavs this year, averaging 1.7 rebounds in 4.3 minutes per game.
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Amar’e Stoudemire took a big step toward getting back on the court Saturday, but his status for the season opener is still up in the air.
Stoudemire was cleared for contact and participated in half-court drills Saturday. It was the first contact for Stoudemire since he underwent surgery on his knee over the summer.
“I felt explosive. So we’ll see how the progress continues,” Stoudemire said.
Stoudemire collided with rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. in half-court drills and hit his head, but he seemed to be OK.
Reported by Ian Begley of ESPN New York
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“If it ain’t on the Xbox, I ain’t reading it,” said Wallace. “I couldn’t tell you anything about no magazines, newspapers, none of that.”
But try as he might to avoid the noise, even Wallace couldn’t help but acknowledge that few pundits expect Boston to be very competitive this season with most win projections — both locally and nationally — topping out in the high 20s.
“Our main thing is we want to try to get better,” said the 31-year-old Wallace, the Boston player with the most service time in the league (12 seasons). “We know nobody is picking us to win the championship; nobody is picking us to make the playoffs. Our main thing is we just gotta continue to get better. I told the guys, we’re like a sleeper team. We’re that team that everybody’s looking at on their schedule like, ‘OK, we can get a win,’ [or,] ‘We can rest, this might be a night off for us.’ We can surprise some teams and do some things. … A lot of teams are not going to be expecting it.”
Reported by Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston