January 2016 – Page 3 – NBA Blog

On the OKC Thunder offense

The OKC Thunder are 33-13 this season and getting 26.6 ppg from Kevin Durant, 23.9 ppg from Russell Westbrook, 13.2 ppg from Serge Ibaka, and 11.6 ppg from Enes Kanter. Here’s the Oklahoman reporting on what drives the Thunder offense:

In general, the Thunder offense seems to be moving a bit more fluidly this season. OKC’s assists are up and its point distribution is more spread.

But despite Billy Donovan’s tweaks, the engine of the Thunder’s offense is still its rare individual talent. Nearly everything is predicated off Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook making something happen, often in isolation.

Per NBA.com/stats, the Thunder ranks dead last in the league 263.3 passes per game, more than 10 fewer than the next team (the Detroit Pistons). But despite that, OKC’s offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) is second in the league at 109.2, right behind the Warriors (112.7) and ahead of the Spurs (108.2). The Warriors average 325.2 passes per game, fifth most in the NBA. The Spurs average 339.0, third most.

Tyronn Lue wants the Cavs to play faster

The Cavaliers (30-12, 4th best record in NBA) are getting 25.0 ppg from LeBron James, 15.8 ppg from Kyrie Irving, 15.6 ppg from Kevin Love, and 12.3 from J.R Smith. They recently said goodbye to head coach David Blatt and put assistant Tyronn Lue in charge. Here’s the Akron Beacon Journal reporting:

The Cavs rank 28th in the league in pace, or possessions per 48 minutes. Lue wants to get this team playing faster, but he cautioned Saturday that will take time. This team is used to a slow pace that has proved successful.

When Lue tried to speed that pace up Saturday, all three of his stars asked out of the game early because they were tired. That forced him to use 10 players in the first quarter, jumbled his preset rotation and he struggled to recover. LeBron James didn’t dispute the idea the Cavs aren’t physically ready yet to run Lue’s style of offense.

“We played slow basketball up to this point,” James said. “We walk the ball up a lot. … All of us need to do something different as far as our pace and our conditioning. If he wants us to play faster and you want to be out on the floor, you can’t get tired. And if you do, you’ve got to come out. Something that Coach Lue wants us to do and we’ve all got to accept it.”

Kristaps Porzingis gets weight changes under control

The Knicks (22-24 through Sunday’s games) are getting 14.0 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.96 blocks per game from talented 7’3″ rookie Kristaps Porzingis. Here’s the New York Post reporting on his weight fluctuations:

Kristaps Porzingis realized he would shrink to nothing if he didn’t take the Knicks’ new dietitian’s advice and inhale a grand-style breakfast.

While the rail-thin Knicks 7-foot-3 rookie added 11 pounds from the end of July’s summer league to the start of training camp, Porzingis started to gradually drop weight as the regular season rolled on and his minutes increased.

After going from 227 to 238 pounds over the summer, Porzingis dropped to 233 by December.

“Now I’m maintaining it,’’ Porzingis told The Post on Saturday. “I lost a little bit at the beginning of the season. It was hard to maintain that, but I’ve been staying at the same weight and I got to maintain this weight for sure. Once the season is over, I’ll try to get up to 245 pounds for next season.’’

David Blatt may be coaching option for Nets

Here’s the New York Daily News reporting on the Nets (11-33, which is the third-worst record in the league) and now-available coach David Blatt:

The Nets already made their coaching change earlier this month, even if it was not nearly as surprising as David Blatt’s ouster Friday in Cleveland.

Brooklyn already has dropped 10 games in January – including six of seven since interim coach Tony Brown took over for fired Lionel Hollins — with Friday’s 108-86 loss to Utah at boo-filled Barclays Center.

“This was by no means our best effort,” Brown said. “I’m going to keep coaching, but some soul-searching needs to be done. I’m going to keep fighting. I just hope they do, too.”

The Nets’ 1-10 record this month represents just one fewer loss than the Cavaliers totaled all season before Blatt — a candidate with both NBA success and ties to Russian basketball — became available on Friday for Mikhail Prokhorov to possibly consider as the next coach of the Nets.

Thunder at Nets game start time moved to 7:30pm ET

Like much of the Eastern United States, New York City is covered with a ton of snow. So today’s area game is being moved to a later start time.

The NBA announced that the Brooklyn Nets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder game at Barclays Center scheduled for 3:30 pm ET today has been delayed to 7:30 pm ET “due to the impact of severe weather conditions in the New York area.”

Yes, there’s bigtime playoff football on today. But the chance to see Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and friends unleash their basketball magic in person is a great draw. We’ll be at the game.

Cody Zeller out with shoulder injury

The Charlotte Hornets announced today that forward/center Cody Zeller underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which revealed a sprained ligament in his right shoulder. Zeller is listed as out and will be reevaluated in one week.

The third-year Indiana product is averaging a career-high 9.0 points (.496), 5.9 rebounds and 0.9 steals in 24.8 minutes per game in 40 contests (27 starts). In three years, all with Charlotte, Zeller has averaged 7.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game in 184 games (75 starts).

Nuggets sign Sean Kilpatrick to second 10-day contract

The Denver Nuggets have signed guard Sean Kilpatrick to a second 10-day contract, General Manager and Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly announced today.

Kilpatrick, 6-4, 210, initially signed with the Nuggets on January 12 and has averaged 2.3 ppg in four games with Denver.

He appeared in 22 games (21 starts) for the Delaware 87ers of the NBA D-League this season, averaging 27.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.14 steals in 38.5 minutes per game. He was the seventh GATORADE Call-Up of the season.

Cavs fire David Blatt; Tyronn Lue takes over as head coach

Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin announced today that David Blatt has been released from his duties as head coach. Associate Head Coach Tyronn Lue has been named Head Coach. The current Cavaliers assistant coaches and staff remain under contract and will continue working with the team.

“On behalf of the organization, I would like to thank David Blatt for his efforts and commitment to this franchise,” said Griffin. “He spent the last year and a half battling intense scrutiny, working to mold a very willful group and we all recognize that is not at all an easy task.”

“But with that said, when you have the clarity of purpose that our ownership has instilled in this entire organization, decisions often make themselves. Every decision made is an answer to the following question: does it put us in the best position to deliver Championships to Northeast, Ohio.”

“So, today, we are elevating Tyronn Lue, from his role as Associate Head Coach to Head Coach. I am more than confident that he will have the pulse of our team and the buy-in required to enhance the habits and culture that will foster the kind of identity and results we must have.”

Blatt was named the 19th head coach in Cavaliers history on June 20, 2014. During his one and half seasons as head coach, Blatt compiled a regular season record of 83-40 and a 14-6 mark in last year’s playoffs.

“Over the course of my business career I have learned that sometimes the hardest thing to do is also the right thing to do,” said Dan Gilbert, Majority Owner of the Cavaliers. “Our ownership group supports David Griffin’s decision. We would like to thank David Blatt for his work over these past two seasons where the Cavaliers transformed into a playoff team after a rebuilding phase. We believe Tyronn Lue is the right coach at the right time to put us in the best position to take the last but most challenging step to complete our mission to deliver Cleveland an NBA Championship.”

Lue is in his second season with the Cavs after being hired as the associate head coach in June 2014. He was previously an assistant coach on Doc Rivers’ staff with the Los Angeles Clippers, who captured the Pacific Division title with a 57-25 record in 2013-14. Prior to the Clippers, Lue spent four seasons as a member of Rivers’ Boston Celtics staff, the last two as an assistant coach. He began his time in Boston as the Director of Basketball Development in 2009-10.

Originally drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the 23rd overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, Lue played 11 seasons in the NBA, appearing in 554 career games with the Lakers, Washington, Orlando, Houston, Atlanta, Dallas and Milwaukee. The former University of Nebraska star won NBA Championships in 2000 and 2001 with the Lakers.

January 23 Celtics-Sixers and Jazz-Wizards games postponed

The National Basketball Association announced today that two games scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 23 have been postponed due to potential severe weather conditions in the Eastern United States.

The game between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers has been postponed and will be made up on Sunday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. ET. The game between the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards has been postponed and will be rescheduled at a later date.

Clippers trade Josh Smith to Rockets

The L.A. Clippers announced today the team has acquired the draft rights to Maarty Leunen from the Houston Rockets in exchange for forward Josh Smith, the draft rights to Sergei Lishouck and cash considerations.

Leunen, 30, was a stand-out at the University of Oregon and the 54th overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft by Houston. Leunen currently plays for Scandone Avellino of the Italian Serie A.

The Clippers signed Smith on July 16, 2015 as a free agent and the 11-year NBA veteran appeared in 32 games (1 start) for Los Angeles this season, averaging 5.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 14.3 minutes per game.

Originally selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 17th pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, Smith has appeared in 868 career regular season games with Atlanta, Detroit, Houston and the Clippers and owns career averages of 14.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.0 blocks in 32.9 minutes.

The rights to Lishouck, 32, were acquired by the Clippers on Jan. 7, 2015 from the Philadelphia 76ers. Originally drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies with the 49th overall selection of the 2004 NBA Draft, Lishouck currently plays for UCAM Murcia in Spain.