February 2016 – Page 5 – NBA Blog

Bucks sign Steve Novak, waive Chris Copeland

The Milwaukee Bucks have signed free agent forward Steve Novak, General Manager John Hammond announced today. In a related transaction, the Bucks requested waivers on forward Chris Copeland.

“Steve has always been a terrific shooter from distance,” said Hammond. “He’s a great teammate who can provide some veteran leadership to our young roster, and we’re excited to welcome him back to Milwaukee.”

Novak, 32, has appeared in seven games for the Oklahoma City Thunder this season prior to being traded to Denver on Feb. 18. He has appeared in 456 career games (six starts), averaging 4.7 points and 1.3 rebounds while shooting 43.2% from three-point range in 10 seasons with Houston, L.A. Clippers, Dallas, San Antonio, New York, Toronto, Utah and Oklahoma City. The Marquette University product was drafted by Houston with the 32nd overall pick of the 2006 NBA Draft.

In 24 games (one start) for the Bucks this season, Copeland averaged 2.1 points and 0.5 assists in 6.5 minutes per game.

Warriors waive Jason Thompson

The Golden State Warriors have waived forward Jason Thompson.

Although the Warriors didn’t have much use for Thompson, I would assume another NBA team will pick him up. He’s worthy of being in a rotation.

Thompson, 29, appeared in 28 games (one start) with the Warriors this season, posting averages of 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds in 6.4 minutes per contest. The Rider University product owns career averages of 9.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 569 games over eight campaigns, having spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Sacramento Kings.

Originally selected by Sacramento with the 12th overall pick of the 2008 NBA Draft, Golden State acquired Thompson on July 31, 2015, from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for forward Gerald Wallace and cash and draft considerations.

Knicks sign Jimmer Fredette to 10-day contract

The New York Knicks have signed guard Jimmer Fredette from the NBA Development League’s Westchester Knicks to a 10-day contract. His signing marks the 20th D-League to NBA “call-up” of the season and the third Westchester player to New York over the past two seasons.

Fredette is still in the process of solidifying his long-term future in the NBA. He is clearly too good to play in the D-League. Now he’s got to prove he belongs in an NBA team’s rotation on a real contract. Or else we may see him rocking an overseas league in a year or two.

Fredette, 6-2, 195-pounds, holds career averages of 6.0 points, 1.4 assists and 1.0 rebounds over 13.5 minutes in 233 games (seven starts) over five seasons with Sacramento, Chicago and New Orleans. He rejoined the Westchester Knicks, after being waived by the Pelicans on Nov. 19, 2015, and has averaged 21.8 points (fifth in the D-League), 4.8 assists and 4.6 rebounds over 36.2 minutes in 30 games. He earned MVP honors after a game-high 35 points in the D-League All-Star game in Toronto, ONT last weekend.

The Glens Falls, New York-native, was originally selected by Milwaukee with the 10th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft following his senior season at Brigham Young University.

Mavericks sign David Lee, waive John Jenkins

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed free agent forward/center David Lee.

In a related move, the Mavericks also requested waivers on guard John Jenkins.

Lee (6-9, 245) was originally drafted by the New York Knicks with the 30th overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft. He spent the first five years of his career as a Knick before signing as a free agent with the Golden State Warriors prior to the 2010-11 season. He played five seasons with the Warriors before being traded to the Boston Celtics this past offseason.

The two-time NBA All-Star (2010, 2013) holds career averages of 14.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 30.9 minutes in 725 career games (494 starts) with New York, Golden State and Boston. Lee was named All-NBA Third Team in 2013 and was a member of Golden State’s 2015 World Championship squad.

The Saint Louis, Mo., native was waived by the Celtics February 19 and cleared waivers before the Mavericks signed him as a free agent. Lee will wear number 42.

Jenkins was signed by the Mavericks as a free agent on July 24, 2015. He saw action in 21 games for Dallas this season (1 start) and averaged 3.3 points and 1.0 rebounds in 9.2 minutes per contest.

Anthony Davis scores 59 points against Pistons

The Pelicans are having a mess of an NBA season, but their star Anthony Davis will make fans forget that for a day, unleashing an epic performance against the Pistons Sunday. Here’s Michigan Live reporting:

Davis had a career-high 59 points, the highest-scoring game in the NBA this season, to go with 20 rebounds, and willed the New Orleans Pelicans to a 111-106 victory Sunday.

Davis became the first NBA player ever to record a 50-point game at The Palace of Auburn Hills, He also became just the third player in the last 30 years with a 50-20 game, along with Shaquille O’Neal in 2000 and Chris Webber in 2001.

The Pelicans’ power forward was 24 of 34 from the field, including making both his 3-point attempts, and 9 of 10 from the free-throw line.

Meantime, the Pistons (27-29) have major problems after slipping two games under .500 for the first time.

Cavs deliver beating to Thunder

In a battle between teams on a very short list of NBA championship contenders, the Cavs Sunday unleashed a beatdown on the Thunder. Here’s the Akron Beacon Journal blog reporting:

Kevin Love scored 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in one of his finest performances of the season and the Cavaliers handed the Oklahoma City Thunder their worst loss of the season Sunday, 115-92, despite severe limitations in their backcourt.

LeBron James had 25 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds on a day the Cavs were without Iman Shumpert, Mo Williams and Kyrie Irving. Shumpert missed the game with a sprained left shoulder, Williams was out with a sore knee and Irving departed in the first quarter with flu-like symptoms and did not return.

Melo not super-excited about Jimmer

It sounds like Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony is not quite ready to throw a ticker-tape parade about the team’s signing of Jimmer Fredette

When asked by The Post Saturday night about the imminent signing of D-League sensation Jimmer Fredette to a 10-day contract, Anthony said, “Who are we getting? To be honest with you, I haven’t seen Jimmy play in a long time. I’ve been hearing about what’s he’s doing down there in the D-League but I haven’t seen him play in action for a long time.”

Anthony didn’t seem overly jacked about the Knicks filling their final roster spot with the former lottery pick out of upstate Glens Falls. Anthony joked with The Post: “I thought you were telling me we were about to sign someone.”

— New York Post

No Vince Carter retirement announcement yet

Vince Carter isn’t ready to call it a career. Not today, at least.

Vince Carter sounds pretty confident this won’t be his last time on the court in Toronto.

Carter and a vastly different Memphis lineup than the one the league was seeing even three games ago, are in town to take on the Raptors Sunday and Carter is giving no indication that fans will be witnessing his Toronto swan song.

“Not now, not yet,” Carter said when asked if he goes into a game like Sunday’s thinking this might be his last time on this particular court.

“I just go year by year and listen to the body. Every now and then I’ll think about ‘When I do know (it’s time), how do I approach that?’ It’s just tough accepting it because I enjoy playing still. I think when I don’t enjoy playing I will definitely let it be known.”

— Toronto Sun

Nets waive Andrea Bargnani

The Brooklyn Nets have requested waivers on Andrea Bargnani, General Manager Sean Marks announced today. It was a buyout agreement between the two sides.

Bargnani, who signed with the Nets on July 17, 2015, appeared in 46 games for Brooklyn, with averages of 6.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 13.8 minutes per game.

The Nets roster now stands at 14 players.

Clippers sign Alex Stepheson to 10-day contract

The L.A. Clippers announced today the team has signed forward/center Alex Stepheson to a 10-day contract.

Stepheson, 28, appeared in 31 games (all starts) for the Iowa Energy in the NBA Developmental League this season and was a 2016 D-League All-Star, averaging 15.9 points, a league-high 13.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks

The Los Angeles native and former Harvard-Westlake star has played professionally in Greece, Slovenia and Turkey since finishing his collegiate career at the University of Southern California.

The 6-foot-10 inch forward/center averaged 12.3 points and a league-leading 9.2 rebounds in 26.8 minutes over 29 games (21 starts) during the 2014-15 season for Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyesi.

Undrafted in the 2011 NBA Draft, Stepheson also made three appearances for the Dallas Mavericks during the 2015 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.