Month: November 2014

Celtics assign Dwight Powell and James Young to D-League

The Boston Celtics announced today that they have assigned rookies Dwight Powell and James Young to the Maine Red Claws.

Powell, a 6’11” forward out of Stanford, appeared in six contests for the Celtics during the preseason and averaged 1.7 points and 1.2 rebounds in 9.0 minutes per game over that span.

Young, a 6’6” guard/forward out of Kentucky, appeared in two games for the team during the preseason and averaged 7.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.0 steal in 22.7 minutes per game. He made his NBA debut against the Houston Rockets on November 1 and has averaged 4.5 points in 4.7 minutes over his two appearances this season.

Sixers sign Robert Covington, waive Chris Johnson

Sixers sign Robert Covington, waive Chris Johnson

The Philadelphia 76ers signed free agent forward Robert Covington today. The first overall pick in the 2014 NBA Development League Draft by the Grand Rapids Drive, Covington is the fifth D-League to NBA “Call-Up” of the 2014-15 D-League season.

In a related move, the Sixers waived Chris Johnson.

As a rookie last season, Covington saw action in seven games for the Houston Rockets while spending most of his time with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the D-League. In 42 games (41 starts) for the Vipers, Covington averaged 23 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.4 blocks in 34 minutes per game while also averaging 3.2 3-pointers made on 37.0% shooting.

In addition to being named the 2014 NBA D-League Rookie of the Year, Covington also earned D-League First Team honors and won the MVP award at the D-League All-Star game after scoring a record 33 points in helping his team to victory.

Covington was eligible for the 2013 NBA Draft following a standout four-year career at Tennessee State. He earned Second Team All-Ohio Valley Conference honors as a senior and a sophomore and First Team distinction as a junior.

Warriors recall Justin Holiday and Ognjen Kuzmic from D-League

The Golden State Warriors have recalled guard Justin Holiday and center Ognjen Kuzmic from the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA Development League, the team announced today. The duo helped lead Santa Cruz to a 122-95 season-opening victory over the Los Angeles D-Fenders last night in Santa Cruz.

Holiday scored a team-high 26 points to go along with six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal in 36 minutes. Kuzmic finished with six points, a team-high 14 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal in 29 minutes.

Thunder assign Grant Jerrett to D-League

Thunder assign Grant Jerrett to D-League

The Oklahoma City Thunder have assigned forward Grant Jerrett to the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA Development League, Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced.

During the 2013-14 season with the Thunder’s D-League affiliate, Jerrett appeared in 27 games (25 starts) and averaged 15.1 points and 6.1 rebounds in 29.3 minutes per contest. He is yet to appear in a game as a member of the Thunder.

The Thunder secured the rights to Jerrett on draft night after he was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 40th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.

Video: Jabari Parker NBA career begins

The Milwaukee Bucks have a perfectly respectable 4-5 record in the 2014-15 NBA season. Rookie forward Jabari Parker isn’t a star just yet, averaging 10.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game, with 41.8% shooting, but he’s doing better than just about any other rookie so far. Enjoy these video highlights with a look at the his pro career, which began just 2.5 weeks ago.

Dwyane Wade sidelined with hamstring strain

Here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel with an update on veteran Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade:

Dwyane Wade sidelined with hamstring strain

After pushing through three sets of back-to-back games this season, Dwyane Wade said Friday that it is time to stop pushing and instead take time to deal with a strained left hamstring sustained early in Wednesday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Wade not only decided to skip Friday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena, but indicated he would be careful not to rush back too soon. He missed nine games late last season with a similar strained left hamstring.

“For me, obviously I want to play as many games as possible,” he said Friday. “As I said before, you can’t control certain things. I’ve had worse. I’ll be back out there soon enough. Just when I come back, I want to be able to play the way I was playing the way before, and not hampered like I was the other night.”

Cavaliers assign Alex Kirk to D-League

The Cleveland Cavaliers have assigned center Alex Kirk to the Canton Charge, the Cavaliers exclusively owned and operated NBA Development League team, Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin announced today.

Kirk has appeared in two games for the Cavs this season. He will be available for Saturday’s Charge opening game against the Delaware 87ers at the Canton Memorial Civic Center at 7:00 p.m.

NBA expanding All-Star ballot to include all players

The NBA is expanding the All-Star ballot to include all players, and pushing back the start of voting so fans can better consider their choices.

Voting for the Feb. 15 game in New York will open Dec. 11. It traditionally began this week, when teams aren’t even 10 games into their seasons.

The ballot on NBA.com will for the first time feature every player in the league. It formerly included only 60 players per conference who had been selected by a media panel.

— Associated Press

Quick reaction from InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner: Both of these moves make sense. The league might as well include all players on the ballot. There’s no negative. But having a set number of players on the ballot, as has been the case, always meant that at least a few players who deserved to be listed weren’t included. And pushing back the start date also makes sense. Voting used to begin extremely early in the season. Yes, All-Star balloting will always be a popularity contest. There will always be many fans voting for players they like, instead of going strictly with players who actually deserve the vote. Still, pushing back the start date at least ensures that the world of basketball observers will have a better sense as to who deserves consideration, and it should only make the voting better.