July 2014 – Page 21 – NBA Blog

Cavs will reportedly trade Jarrett Jack to Nets

Here’s ESPN.com reporting on a trade that absolutely does matter, because it helps the Cavs clear salary room in their quest to try to bring LeBron James back to Cleveland:

The Cleveland Cavaliers will trade Jarrett Jack to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday as part of a three-team deal with Boston to create more salary-cap space for the pursuit of LeBron James, according to sources close to the process.

Sources told ESPN.com that the Nets have agreed to take on the contracts of Jack and youngster Sergey Karasev from the Cavaliers in a swap that will also see the Celtics acquire Brooklyn’s Marcus Thornton, Cleveland’s Tyler Zeller and a protected 2016 first-round pick from the Cavaliers.

“I’m very, very excited. Obviously, playing in New York is a compliment in and of itself,” Jack told ESPN’s Josina Anderson. “The opportunity to play at the Barclays every night, I couldn’t be happier.”

Cleveland will take back the draft rights to Ilkan Karaman and Edin Bavcic from the Nets to complete the transaction, a league source told ESPNNewYork.com’s Ohm Youngmisuk. The moves will give the Cavaliers significant financial flexibility by shedding the contracts of Jack, Zeller and Karasev.

Carmelo Anthony likely to re-sign with Knicks

Here’s the New York Daily News reporting that unless something changes, Carmelo Anthony is expected to stick with the Knicks:

Carmelo Anthony is prepared to spend the prime years of his career in New York, the Daily News has learned.

A person close to Anthony told The News on Wednesday that barring a last minute change of heart Anthony will re-sign with the Knicks after “agonizing over this” for the past week.

“He will have something for everybody on Thursday,” said the friend who was with Anthony before Anthony’s scheduled workout with Kevin Durant and Kevin Love in Los Angeles on Wednesday. “He is really torn because this is the biggest decision of his career. But he wants to get it done in New York. He told me he believes in Phil.”

Hornets hire Pat Delany as assistant coach

Charlotte Hornets General Manager Rich Cho announced today that the team has added Pat Delany as an assistant coach on the staff of Head Coach Steve Clifford.

Delany joins the Hornets after spending last season as head coach of the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the NBA D-League affiliate of the Miami Heat. In his first head coaching job, Delany led the team to a 31-19 record, which was tied for the second-best record in the D-League. The .620 winning percentage was the fifth-best in the franchise’s 25-year history and the second-best in its eight seasons in the D-League.

Prior to being named head coach of the Skyforce, Delany served as the Heat’s advance scout for six seasons from 2007-13. He also served as the team’s video coordinator for four seasons from 2003-07 following one season as a video intern.

Video: Top plays from Orlando Day 4

Here are video highlights of top plays from summer league Day 4 in Orlando:

Rick Brunson faces legal charges from incident with longtime massage therapist

Here’s the Chicago Tribune reporting a Rick Brunson story that would work quite well as an episode of your favorite investigation-focused TV show:

Former Chicago Bull Rick Brunson used the name of a retired NBA superstar to book an appointment with a massage therapist who he allegedly attempted to sexually assault at a Vernon Hills fitness center, according to a newly released police report.

Brunson was charged last month with attempted sexual assault and aggravated battery after an incident April 2 at Life Time Athletic center.

The employee at the fitness center had notified Brunson that she would stop giving him massages in 2013, due to a undisclosed prior problem with him, according to the heavily redacted Vernon Hills police report.

Brunson, 42, was arrested June 25 in connection with the latest incident, according to the police report obtained by the Tribune through an open records request.

He had formerly booked massages with the alleged victim 10-20 times over a three-year period “always using his name,” the police report stated. On April 2, “she was surprised to see Brunson when she walked into the massage room since the name in the appointment book was not Brunson’s but listed as Patrick Ewing.”

Trainer Fred Tedeschi gone from Bulls

Here’s the Chicago Tribune with an update on the Bulls training staff:

Longtime Chicago Bulls athletic trainer Fred Tedeschi, hired by former general manager Jerry Krause in August 1998, has left the organization.

Tedeschi twice won the NBATA’s Joe O’Toole Trainer of the Year award. According to a team spokesman, he has accepted a position at Oregon State, where his daughter is enrolled in graduate school.

Young Magic need veteran leadership from Channing Frye

Here’s the Orlando Sentinel reporting on new Magic addition, Channing Frye:

The Magic just didn’t pay for Channing Frye’s basketball services. They are paying him to run their daycare, too.

As any parent knows, finding the right person to watch your kids is money well spent.

You can’t put a price on the maturity and professionalism that Frye will bring to this NBA nursery, although the Magic figured it was worth about $32 million over four years.

You’d ask for the moon, too, to baby-sit this brood.

The Magic are so young and impressionable that they need chaperons and curfews. Top pick Aaron Gordon is 18, and they’ll surely award custody of him to Frye, 31.

Without question, they have turned their lockeroom over to Frye for the next four seasons — or however long he’s in Orlando.

Wolves sign first round draft pick Zach LaVine

The Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday announced the team has signed 2014 first-round draft pick Zach LaVine. LaVine, a 6-5 guard out of UCLA, was the 13th overall selection in this year’s draft.

All first round draft picks are guaranteed to receive a contract, assuming the player wants to come to the NBA right away. This signing is standard routine, and was expected.

LaVine appeared in all 37 games, making one start, as a freshman at UCLA this past season. He averaged 9.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, earning Pac 12 All-Freshman honors. He connected on 37.5% from three-point range, finishing the year with 48 made three-pointers, the second-highest made three-pointers by a UCLA freshman in school history. LaVine scored in double figures in 17 games, including nine of his first 10 contests.

LaVine will make his Wolves debut at the Samsung NBA Summer League 2014, which takes place in Las Vegas from July 11-21. Minnesota’s first game is against Dallas on July 12 at the Thomas & Mack Center at 5:30 p.m. CT.

Kings sign first round draft pick Nik Stauskas

The Sacramento Kings on Tuesday signed first-round draft pick Nik Stauskas (STOUS-kiss) to a contract, according to Kings General Manager Pete D’Alessandro. Sacramento selected Stauskas out of the University of Michigan with the eighth-overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.

As a first round draft pick, Stauskas was guaranteed to receive a contract. This signing is standard and was expected.

An early entry candidate, the 6-6, 205-pound Stauskas earned numerous All-American honors and was named the 2013-14 Big 10 Player of the Year after averaging 17.5 points (.470 FG%, .442 3pt%, .824 FT%), 2.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 35.6 minutes per game in 36 appearances for the Wolverines during his sophomore campaign. In two seasons with Michigan, Stauskas helped the Wolverines to the NCAA Tournament title game in 2013 and a Big Ten Championship and an Elite Eight appearance in 2014, finishing with career averages of 14.1 points (.467 FG%, .441 3pt%, .832 FT%), 2.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 32.9 minutes per game in 75 contests. In the Michigan record books, he is ranked second all-time in career free throw percentage, fifth in three-point field goal percentage, eighth in three-point field goals made (172) and 10th in three-point field goals attempted (390).

Nets introduce new head coach Lionel Hollins

Here’s the New York Daily News reporting on the Nets, who formally introduced new head coach Lionel Hollins yesterday:

In tone, message and appearance, Lionel Hollins was the anti-Jason Kidd in his introductory press conference with the Nets on Monday, even going so far as to say that he is not after general manager Billy King’s job, a startling remark that seemed appropriate given the tumult of the past week.

In the wake of the Kidd fiasco, Hollins, 60, reached an agreement with the Nets last Wednesday to become the 19th coach in the team’s long and increasingly strange history.

Implied in his hiring is the understanding that Hollins will bring stability to a franchise that was thrown for a loop when Kidd abruptly left to become head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks last week after he tried, unsuccessfully, to undercut King.

So it was telling that Hollins made it clear on Monday that he has no intentions of currying more influence within the Nets. He’s happy being a coach.

“It’s just nice to be able to do your job,” Hollins said, wearing a dark suit with his wife, Angela, beaming in the front row and King by his side. “That’s all I want to do. I’m a basketball coach. I don’t want to do Billy’s job. I don’t want to do anybody else’s job in the organization, but the one I’m hired to do. That’s important to me. I’m very low maintenance.”