February 21, 2014 – NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog

Melo scores 44 but Magic beat Knicks in 2OT

Arron Afflalo had 32 points, rookie Victor Oladipo added 30 points and a career-high 14 assists, and the Orlando Magic rallied to beat the New York Knicks 129-121 in double overtime on Friday night.

The Magic trailed by as many as 14 points, but got 25 points and 10 assists from Oladipo after halftime to stave off the Knicks. Tobias Harris added 22 points.

Orlando snapped a three-game losing streak in its first game following the departure of Glen Davis, who had the remainder of his contract bought out earlier in the day.

Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 44 points, but only 14 came after the third quarter.

— Associated Press

Rajon Rondo is used to being mentioned in trade rumors

Here’s the Boston Globe blog reporting on Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo, who gets mentioned in trade rumors around pretty much every trade deadline for years now:

Rondo has said before that he’s intrigued by the free agency process, but he has also said that he doesn’t like change and could see himself staying in Boston for the rest of his career.

As for being mentioned in rumors, Rondo said, “It gets annoying at times. It’s been like that the last eight years, though. It’s what I do for a living. It’s not who I am. I play basketball for a living, for the time being.

“I’ll be 28 (Saturday). I have a long life to live. I have a lot of things going on outside of basketball for me right now and it’s part of what happens when you’re an NBA player. “

In a rebuilding season, Rondo wasn’t the only Celtic who might have been traded, but Rondo said he didn’t notice concern among his teammates.

Hawks GM shares trade deadline insight

Here’s the Atlanta Journal-Constitution blog reporting insight from Hawks general manager Danny Ferry:

On trying to trade for a center: “We are missing Gustavo (Ayon) for a period, to be determined. Pero (Antic), to be determined. Obviously, Al (Horford) is out for the year. Those are tough for our group. We are going to be undersized most nights. But hopefully we get one or two of those guys back coming up here and get our group more whole. We won’t be completely whole the rest of the year. This is the NBA. Injuries are part of it. We have to work around it. You can’t use them as excuses. But there is also a reality to them and we’ve had to deal with them this year.”

On trade deadline under new Collective Bargaining Agreement: “You see a lot of small deals, a lot of cap deals, a lot of CBA-centric deals happen today. A couple teams probably improved themselves some, whether that is from positioning in salary cap or that’s in the roster… No deal is better than a bad deal. Every team has had bad deals and has had to live with bad deals. … We have to continually and methodically make sound decisions to put ourselves in the best position to succeed. You are going to need some luck. You are going to need some health. You are going to need a lot of things.”

Larry Bird discusses Pacers/Sixers Danny Granger trade

Here’s the Indianapolis Star with insight on the Pacers trade of Danny Granger to the Philadelphia 76ers:

Larry Bird discusses Pacers trade of Danny Granger

Pacers president Larry Bird didn’t begin negotiations on the Evan Turner-Danny Granger trade until 2:30 p.m., 30 minutes before Thursday’s trade deadline.

*Philly was trying to get a first-round pick for Turner and, when that didn’t manifest, Bird said the 76ers reached out to the Pacers.

“They wanted to move him and we were there and we took it. I had to think about it for a while but decided to do it (and) move on.”

*Bird said that rather matter of factly, but it was somewhat hard for him because “Danny’s always been my favorite,” Bird said.

*Bird insists that there was “no shopping around” of Granger but the last-minute proposition with Philly had to be considered.

LeBron James suffers broken nose

Yes, LeBron James can suffer injuries. Like a regular human being. He’s mortal — at least somewhat.

The Miami Heat announced today that after being re-evaluated in Miami, it has been determined that James has suffered a broken nose.

The injury occurred last night at Oklahoma City after James drove to the basket with 5:56 remaining in the fourth quarter. He will be a game-time decision for the Heat’s next contest this Sunday, February 23 against the Chicago Bulls.

Hawks sign Cartier Martin for rest of season

The Atlanta Hawks have signed forward Cartier Martin for the remainder of the season, it was announced today by President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Danny Ferry.

Martin has appeared in 31 games (four starts) with the Hawks this season, averaging 6.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 17.1 minutes (.429 FG%, .424 3FG%, .794 FT%). He has also played in six contests this year with the Chicago Bulls, and averaged 2.5 points in 7.9 minutes (.625 FG%, .600 3FG%).

On the season, Martin has played in 37 games (four starting assignments), putting up 6.0 points and 1.8 rebounds in 15.6 minutes (.438 FG%, .433 3FG%- sixth in the NBA, .763 FT%).

Atlanta Hawks waive Antawn Jamison

The Atlanta Hawks have requested waivers on forward Antawn Jamison, it was announced today by President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Danny Ferry.

Jamison was acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 20 in exchange for the draft rights to Cenk Akyol. This season, Jamison has appeared in 22 games, averaging 3.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in 11.3 minutes.

Orlando Magic and Glen Davis agree to contract buyout

The Orlando Magic and forward Glen Davis have mutually agreed to a contract buyout, General Manager Rob Hennigan announced today. We’ll add some financial details to this page later today.

The Magic roster now stands at 12 players.

“As we continue to chart what we believe is the best course of action for our organization, maximizing the development of our young players remains of critical importance. This agreement allows us an opportunity to do just that,” said Hennigan. “We were able to reach a buyout agreement with Glen that was mutually beneficial, and we certainly wish Glen all the best as he continues his playing career. We thank him for his service and contributions to the organization and the Central Florida community.”

Davis has played in 45 games (43 starts) this season with Orlando, averaging 12.1 ppg., 6.3 rpg., 1.6 apg. and 1.02 stlpg. in 30.1 minpg. He has led (or tied) the team in scoring four times, in rebounding eight times and in assists twice. Davis has scored in double figures 29 times and had 20+ points four times, including a career-high 33 points on Dec. 3 @ Philadelphia.

Originally selected in the second round (35th overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft by Seattle, Davis has appeared in 417 regular season games during his NBA career with Boston and Orlando, averaging 8.9 ppg. and 4.8 rpg. in 23.1 minpg. He has also appeared in 64 career playoff outings, averaging 8.7 ppg. and 4.4 rpg. in 22.2 minpg. Davis helped Boston capture the 2007-08 NBA Championship.

Davis was acquired by Orlando along with Von Wafer in exchange for Brandon Bass on Dec. 12, 2011. He played in 138 regular season games (87 starts) with the Magic, averaging 11.7 ppg., 6.2 rpg. and 1.3 apg. in 27.7 minpg.

Clippers were boarding a plane just as NBA trade deadline approached

Here’s ESPN Los Angeles reporting on a situation that sounds like something out of a movie. A sports movie. Not necessarily the greatest movie of all time. But still, a movie:

The timing could have been better.

As the NBA trade deadline was coming to a close Thursday afternoon, Los Angeles Clippers players were gathered on the team’s chartered plane, waiting to depart for Memphis for their game against the Grizzlies on Friday.

With each minute that extended past their scheduled departure time, the tensions began to grow as players who were rumored to be traded, refreshed the Twitter pages on their smart phone and checked text messages.

“The plane was a sweatbox today,” said Matt Barnes, who was prominent in trade talks with the New York Knicks for Iman Shumpert. “It’s just a business and it’s tough. We sat on that plane for almost two hours looking around in silence, looking at Twitter.

“No one was really talking. We were looking around and the captain said [the delay was caused by] bad weather and we’re like, ‘Yeah, bulls—, we’re waiting for that trade deadline.’ I’m just glad it’s over.”

Despite rumors, Knicks keep Iman Shumpert

Here’s the New York Post with an update on pretty much every aspect of Iman Shumpert’s basketball existence:

Iman Shumpert avoided a trade and a serious knee injury at Thursday’s trade deadline.

The 21-33 Knicks stood pat at the deadline and announced just after it passed Shumpert’s MRI exam showed he had a sprain of his left MCL and would miss “approximately two weeks.’’

Shumpert sprained his MCL early in his 2011-12 rookie season and returned in two weeks. Still, the uncertainty surrounding the most recent injury may have been a factor in the Clippers passing on Shumpert Thursday despite serious talks with the Knicks, who were hot after point guard Darren Collison.

Now they are stuck with each other. And the Knicks also are stuck with point guards Raymond Felton and out of-the-rotation Beno Udrih, and Metta World Peace. The Knicks failed to deal Udrih despite coming close with Denver.