Day: July 15, 2014

Enjoy these video highlights of the top plays from Monday, July 14 in Vegas:

The New Orleans Pelicans announced today that the team has acquired Omer Asik, Omri Casspi and cash considerations from the Houston Rockets in a three-team trade that sends Alonzo Gee, Scotty Hopson and the Pelicans’ protected first round pick in the 2015 NBA Draft to the Rockets and Melvin Ely to the Washington Wizards. As part of the three-team trade, the Rockets have acquired Trevor Ariza from the Wizards.

Ariza (6-8 220, UCLA), ranks in the top five NBA players at his position in three-pointers made, three-point percentage, steals, and effective field goal percentage. He spent the last two seasons in Washington averaged 14.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game last season. Ariza had a career-high 40 points on March 1, 2014 including eight made 3-pointers in a 122-103 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. He improved his three-point shooting to 40.7% in the 2013-14 season, ranking him the 16th best three-point shooter in the league. Ariza had 126 steals last season, which ranks 13th in the NBA and is ranked 12th in effective field goal percentage with 56.2%. In his first stint with Houston, Ariza averaged 14.9 points and 5.6 rebounds in 77 games with the Rockets during the 2009-10 season. During that season, he registered his first triple-double of his career with 26 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds vs New Orleans on April 14, 2010.

Gee (6-6, 225, Alabama) spent the past three seasons in Cleveland, averaging 7.9 points and 3.6 rebounds over the course of his five year NBA career. He went undrafted in the 2009 NBA draft and began his career in the D-League with the Austin Toros.

Hopson (6-7, 204, Tennessee) went undrafted in the 2011 NBA Draft. He spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons overseas playing in Israel and Turkey. He signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 31, 2014 and spent time with the Canton Charge, the Cavaliers D-League affiliate.

Asik (7-0, 255) was originally drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in the second round (36th overall) of the 2008 NBA Draft before having his draft rights traded to the Chicago Bulls. The four-year veteran has appeared in 278 games (103 starts) with the Bulls and Rockets and holds career averages of 5.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game.

In 2013-14, Asik appeared in 48 games (19 starts) and averaged 5.8 points, 7.9 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 20.2 minutes per game. He started all 82 regular season contests for the Rockets in the 2012-13 season, posting career-high averages of 10.1 points, 11.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 30.0 minutes per game.

Appearing in 33 career playoff contests over his four NBA seasons, Asik holds postseason averages of 4.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.0 block per game.

Prior to the NBA, the Turkey native played for Fenerbahçe S.K. Istanbul from 2005-10.

Casspi has appeared in 327 games (96 starts) over the course of five NBA seasons with Sacramento, Cleveland and Houston, holding career averages of 7.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 20.7 minutes per game.

The New Orleans Pelicans announced today that the team has signed guard Russ Smith.

Smith, the 47th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, was acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers on June 27, 2014. He recently completed his senior season at the University of Louisville, becoming the only player in program history with at least 1,800 points, 350 assists and 250 steals. Over the course of his career, the 6’0” guard led the Cardinals to two Big East Tournament titles, the American Athletic Conference Tournament title, two NCAA Final Fours and a school-record 35 wins in 2012-13 en route to the NCAA Championship.

In his senior campaign, the unanimous all-AAC first team member averaged 18.2 points, 4.6 assists and 2.0 steals on his way to being named a consensus All-American. He guided Louisville to the AAC Championship and garnered AAC Championship Most Outstanding Player honors by averaging 25.7 points, 3.7 assists and 2.7 steals in the tournament.

As a junior, Smith helped Louisville win an NCAA Championship and earned All-Big East First Team accolades with averages of 18.7 points, 2.9 assists and 2.1 steals. He averaged 22.3 points and 2.5 steals per game in the Cardinals’ six NCAA Tournament contests.

Over the course of four seasons, Smith appeared in 133 games and averaged 14.3 points, 2.8 assists and 1.9 steals. He completed his career as the school’s all-time steals leader (256) and finished second in free throws (488).

The 2013-14 NBA champion San Antonio Spurs today announced that they have re-signed forward Boris Diaw. This agreement was reported earlier in July, but the signing is now official.

Diaw returns to the Silver and Black coming off his best season since 2010-11.  The Frenchman appeared in 79 games, averaging 9.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 25.0 minutes while shooting .521 (302-580) from the field and .402 (45-112) from three-point range.  During the 2014 playoffs Diaw averaged 9.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 26.3 minutes.  In the Finals vs. Miami, Diaw posted averages of 6.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 34.2 minutes.

Diaw originally joined the Spurs as a free agent on March 23, 2012 and re-signed with the Silver and Black on July 12, 2012.  In three seasons with the Silver and Black, Diaw has appeared in 174 games, averaging 7.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 23.5 minutes while shooting .532 (521-980) from the field and .409 (83-203) from beyond the arc.

An 11-year NBA veteran, Diaw was originally drafted by the Atlanta Hawks with the 21st overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. He was traded to the Phoenix Suns on Aug. 19, 2005. In his first season with the Suns, Diaw won the 2006 Most Improved Player Award after averaging 13.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists in 35.5 minutes over 81 games.

For his career, Diaw has appeared in 834 NBA games, averaging 9.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and  3.7 assists in 28.9 minutes while shooting .497 (3,166-6,369) from the field, .344 (376-1,094) from three-point territory and .711 (900-1,266) from the foul line.  Diaw has seen action in 92 playoff games, averaging 9.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 28.1 minutes.

The Oklahoma City Thunder has signed free agent guard Sebastian Telfair to a contract, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to welcome Sebastian to the Thunder organization and Oklahoma City community,” Presti said. “His competitiveness and work ethic have complimented his on-court leadership skills throughout his career, and we are excited to be able to integrate these qualities into our team.”

Telfair (6-0, 175) joins the Thunder after spending last season with Tianjin Ronggang in China where he averaged 26.1 points, 6.0 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 2.03 steals and 36.3 minutes in 35 games.

The 13th overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, Telfair owns career averages of 7.4 points, 3.5 assists, 1.6 rebounds and 21.6 minutes in 548 games (192 starts) during nine seasons with Portland, Boston, Minnesota, LA Clippers, Cleveland, Phoenix and Toronto.