Month: August 2014

Miami Heat sign guard Tyler Johnson

Miami Heat sign guard Tyler Johnson

The Miami HEAT announced today that they have signed guard Tyler Johnson.

Most recently, Johnson appeared in 11 Summer League games with the HEAT and averaged 12.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 22.2 minutes while shooting 54.8 percent from the field, 46.7 percent from three-point range and 81.4 percent from the foul line.

Johnson played four seasons at Fresno State University, appearing in 127 career games (87 starts) and averaged 10.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.10 steals and 27.9 minutes while shooting 45.6 percent from the field, 37.4 percent from three-point range and 71.6 percent from the foul line. He finished his collegiate career ranked No. 16 on Fresno State’s all-time scoring list (1,346 career points). As a senior, he was named to the All-Mountain West Second Team and shot 43.2 percent from three-point range, the sixth-highest single-season three-point field goal percentage in school history.

A Kevin Love to Cavs trade is expected

Here’s Yahoo Sports with the latest on the Cavaliers and Timberwolves:

The Minnesota Timberwolves have reached an agreement in principle to send All-Star forward Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a protected 2015 first-round draft pick, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Cleveland is making the deal with Minnesota with a firm agreement Love will opt out of his contract in 2015 and re-sign with the Cavaliers on a five-year, $120 million-plus contract extension, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The deal cannot be finalized until Aug. 23, because Wiggins, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft, cannot be traded until one month after the signing of his rookie contract. The two teams have agreed to the deal, but neither would have recourse if the other decided to pull out of the arrangement before it can be formally completed this month. No third team is involved in the Cavaliers-Timberwolves trade agreement.

Sacramento Kings downtown arena construction project continues

Here’s the Sacramento Bee reporting on the future new home of the Kings:

kiings

After months of quiet prep work, the Sacramento Kings downtown arena construction project goes public this week.

Crews will be restriping J, L and Fifth streets, pushing traffic away from the site to give the project elbow room. Workers will erect 9-foot noise-dampening walls at key spots in the streets around the project in the next few days, allowing space for the first of up to 16,500 dump truck trips hauling demolition debris and dirt over the next few months. Tractors were being delivered to the site. Some demolition begins Friday.

Both J and L streets will maintain three lanes throughout the two-plus-year project. Crews, however, plan to take one northbound lane of Fifth Street where it dips under the mall to allow for truck access to the site. Several bus stops on L Street will be relocated to Capitol Mall in the next few days, and some portions of the J and L street sidewalks will be closed for the duration.

“That makes sure we have space outside the demolition zone for safety for the public,” said Matt Hiser, project supervisor with Turner Construction. “This is tight for Sacramento.”

NBA career of Mitch Richmond takes him into Hall of Fame

Here’s the Sacramento Bee reporting on former NBA shooting guard Mitch Richmond, who will soon be immortalized in the Basketball Hall of Fame:

mitch richmond

Mitch Richmond and his Run TMC teammates, Chris Mullin and Tim Hardaway, made plenty of highlights during their two seasons together with the Warriors.

But it was Richmond’s seven seasons with the Kings – after the Warriors broke up Run TMC by trading the shooting guard out of Kansas State for the draft rights to Billy Owens – that made him a Hall of Famer.

That deal, on Nov. 1, 1991, sent Richmond from a two-time playoff team to the lowly Kings, who were coming off a 25-57 season, but it also gave Sacramento its first bona fide star player.

“I would drive back to Oakland (where he still lived), knowing we weren’t that good. … So when I was on the court, that was kind of my peace, playing,” Richmond said. “But when I was off the court, all those thoughts (of winning) came back, especially driving back to Golden State every time. At that time … Golden State was the headline.”

Richmond, who averaged 23.3 points for the Kings, will inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday in Springfield, Mass., the first Kings player of the Sacramento era so honored.

Donald Sterling may file more lawsuits

Here’s the Orange County Register with an update on Donald Sterling, who if the NBA has its way will soon no longer own the Los Angeles Clippers:

Shelly Sterling, Adam Silver, the NBA and Steve Ballmer will soon have company. Doctors Meril Platzer and James Spar and the UCLA Health System are on Donald Sterling’s litigation radar.

The banned Clippers owner intends to sue the doctors and UCLA Health System for disclosing his medical information to Shelly Sterling and her attorney, Pierce O’Donnell, according to Donald Sterling’s attorney, Bobby Samini.

The results of exams conducted by Spar and Platzer were used to oust Donald Sterling as a trustee, allowing his wife, Shelly, to sell the Clippers to Ballmer for $2 billion.

The distribution of those results was a key part of Donald Sterling’s defense, though it was ultimately shot down in probate court.

Spurs sign forward JaMychal Green

spurs

The San Antonio Spurs today announced that they have signed forward JaMychal Green.

According to the San Antonio Express-News, the deal is “a standard “make-good” training camp contract contingent upon making the team.”

Green, 6-8/230, was a member of the Spurs 2014 Summer League team in Las Vegas. In six games he averaged 7.8 points and 6.5 rebounds in 16.2 minutes.

The Montgomery, Ala. native spent last season playing in the French Pro A League for Roanne, averaging 11.8 points and 6.6 rebounds in 22.1 minutes in 25 games while shooting .530 (122-230) from the field.

Green spent the 2012-13 season with the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League, averaging 12.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 40 games.

An undrafted forward out of Alabama, Green averaged 14.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks his final season for the Crimson Tide en route to being named All-SEC First Team in 2012.

Knicks trade Wayne Ellington, Jeremy Tyler to Kings for Quincy Acy, Travis Outlaw

knicks trade wayne ellington

New York Knicks President Phil Jackson announced today that the team has acquired forwards Quincy Acy and Travis Outlaw from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for guard Wayne Ellington and forward Jeremy Tyler. In addition, the Knicks have reduced the protection on the 2016 second-round draft selection acquired by Sacramento, via Portland.

According to the New York Daily News, “Ellington, slated to make $2.77 million this season, was acquired in the June deal from Dallas − along with Jose Calderon, Shane Larkin, Samuel Dalembert and two second-round picks − in exchange for Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton. The 6-10 Tyler, whose $948,000 option had yet to be exercised, averaged 9.7 minutes over 41 appearances for the Knicks last season.”

Acy, 6-7, 225-pounds, holds career averages of 3.1 points, on 50.0-percent shooting, 3.2 rebounds and 12.9 minutes over 92 games in two seasons with Toronto and Sacramento. This past season, he averaged 2.7 points and 3.4 rebounds over 13.4 minutes in 63 games for the Raptors and Kings. The Tyler, TX native played collegiately for four seasons at Baylor University, and was originally selected by the Raptors in the second round (37th overall) of the 2012 NBA Draft.

Outlaw, 6-9, 210-pounds, holds career averages of 8.5 points, on 42.3-percent shooting, and 3.2 rebounds in 622 games (98 starts) over 11 seasons with Portland, L.A. Clippers, New Jersey and Sacramento. This past season for the Kings, he averaged 5.4 points and 2.7 rebounds over 16.9 minutes in 63 games. The Starksville, MS native was originally selected in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2003 NBA Draft directly out of Starkville HS.

Ellington, 6-4, 200-pounds, holds career averages of 6.4 points and 17.9 minutes in 312 games over five NBA seasons with Minnesota, Memphis, Cleveland and Dallas. He was originally acquired by the Knicks in a multiple-player deal with the Mavericks on Jun. 25, 2014.

Tyler, 6-10, 250-pounds, has averaged 3.6 points and 2.6 rebounds over 9.9 minutes in 104 career games with Golden State, Atlanta and New York. The San Diego, CA-native, posted averages 3.6 points and 2.7 rebounds over 9.7 minutes in 41 games for the Knicks this past season after signing as a free agent on Dec. 31, 2013.

Blake Griffin back injury update

Here’s ESPN Los Angeles reporting the latest on Blake Griffin:

Blake Griffin back injury update

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin, who pulled out of Team USA practices to allow a small fracture in his back to heal, continues to work out and expects to be ready for next season.

“It’s less than a hairline, and my back is not fractured. Everything is still intact,” Griffin told the Los Angeles Times. “I can still come out here, and I can do my workouts, and I can do everything I used to do. I just shouldn’t be playing and practicing every day this early.”

Griffin left the Team USA training camp last month after doctors advised him to allow the injury to heal. He is working out in Los Angeles with teammate DeAndre Jordan and former Laker and Clipper Sasha Vujacic.