May 2016 – Page 4 – NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog

Rockets reportedly interview Kenny Smith for head coach job

The Rockets have lots of major roster decisions to make. The team was good enough to just barely qualify for the playoffs, but then were quickly sent packing and looked ready for vacation before their first round sweep at the hands of the Warriors was even complete. The team’s future is confusing. They are nowhere near being a serious playoff competitor, yet as long as a super offensive talent like James Harden is on board, an absolute full rebuild is difficult and unlikely. Oh, and they need a head coach. Here’s ESPN.com reporting:

The Houston Rockets interviewed Jeff Hornacek and Kenny Smith for their vacant head-coaching position Tuesday, according to a source.

So far, the Rockets have interviewed David Blatt, Sam Cassell, Chris Finch, Mike D’Antoni, J.B. Bickerstaff, Hornacek and Smith. Bickerstaff pulled his name from consideration for the position last week.

The team has plans to interview Charlotte assistant coach Steven Silas and also has interest in Frank Vogel, who was fired last week as Pacers head coach.

Kent Bazemore hopes to stick with Hawks

Small forward Kent Bazemore averaged 11.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 27.8 minutes per game for the Hawks this regular season. He started 68 of the 75 games he played in. Will Bazemore remain on the squad? Here’s the Atlanta Journal Constitution reporting:

In 2013, the Hawks signed [DeMarre] Carroll to a $5 million contract. He started at small forward for two seasons before leaving last summer to play for the Raptors on a four-year, $60 million deal.

In 2014, the Hawks signed [Kent] Bazemore to a $4 million contract. He replaced Carroll in the starting lineup this season. Now, he enters unrestricted free agency.

According to the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, players who sign contracts for less than four years are not eligible for extensions. They must enter free agency at the conclusion of their deal. Last summer, Paul Millsap and Carroll both were unrestricted. Millsap returned and Carroll left.

“I would love to return here,” Bazemore said this week during an exit interview following the Hawks’ playoff loss to the Cavaliers. “I think the past two years I’ve taken a tremendous leap. Not only my professional year but personally. I’m growing more into myself and figuring out life. This place as a special place in my heart. I grew up right up the street in North Carolina. Super close to home. Not close enough. Has its perks here. The weather is great. Golf is great. God is great.”

Shaun Livingston regrets Game 4 ejection

Here’s the San Francisco Chronicle reporting on Warriors guard Shaun Livingston, a fantastic contributor to the squad and a key member of the supporting cast who was needlessly ejected last game. Fortunately, Stephen Curry came back that same day and steadily rose to the occasion, helping Golden State secure a dramatic overtime win to take a 3-1 series lead:

Shaun Livingston was back to his usual calm and introspective self on Wednesday morning, two days after the first ejection of his 12-year career.

The Warriors’ backup point guard joked that he did some yoga and meditation and will listen to some soothing music after getting two technical fouls in the second quarter of Monday’s Game 4 victory at Portland.

“You don’t ever want to leave your brothers out there, so I was wrong for that,” Livingston said following the Warriors’ shootaround. “Definitely, it was a mistake on my behalf to get ejected. I lost my cool. I made a mistake.

“Intentionally, I was going for the technical. I wasn’t going for the ejection.”

Do not expect a Knicks, Carmelo Anthony trade

The Knicks finished 32-50 last season. For vast improvement to be expected, major roster changes would probably have to take place. Will veteran star forward Carmelo Anthony still be the heart of the team? Seems likely. Here’s the New York Post reporting:

Carmelo Anthony gave an assurance he won’t waive his no-trade clause this summer.

Anthony spoke for 15 minutes Thursday, at a TechCrunch conference at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, about Melo7 Tech Partners, the company he started a year ago that invests in tech start-ups, then took questions from a couple of business-news outlets.

When asked by Yahoo Finance if he will be on the Knicks next season, Anthony said, “Oh, yeah, you’ll see me here for the Knicks. Absolutely.”

Bryan Colangelo says he never stopped scouting NBA prospects

Here’s the Philadelphia Inquirer with insight on the Sixers, whose relatively new president of basketball ops appears to have been fully prepared for the job:

One might think that Bryan Colangelo is way behind in the evaluation process for the NBA draft.

After all, the June 23 event will come just 74 days after he was officially introduced as the 76ers president of basketball operations.

But Colangelo will tell you that he’s far from behind. The 50-year-old said he never stopped scouting prospects in college and Europe after stepping down as Toronto’s president on June 23, 2013. In fact, the two-time executive of the year said he carried on as if he was still running an NBA team, keeping a close eye on the day-to-day happenings around the league.

“I was prepared because I needed to be prepared in the event that one of those other [jobs] that I was being considered for happened,” said Colangelo, who along with Sixers coach Brett Brown and other team officials are here this week at the NBA draft combine.

Devin Harris has surgery on toe and thumb

Dallas Mavericks guard Devin Harris had a busy morning, undergoing surgery on the big toe of his left foot and on his left thumb.

The surgery on Harris’s left big toe was performed by Dr. Martin O’Malley while the surgery on his left thumb was executed by Dr. Michelle Carlson. Both surgeries were performed at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

Harris (6-3, 185) recently finished his 12th NBA season and averaged 7.6 points, 1.8 assists, 0.9 steals and 20.0 minutes in 64 games with the Mavericks.

Stephen Curry wins 2015-16 NBA MVP award

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who led the team to the best regular-season record in NBA history, has won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award for the second year in a row, the NBA announced today. He is the first unanimous winner in the award’s 61-season history. Curry, the 11th player to win back-to-back MVP awards, joins Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Steve Nash as the only guards to earn the honor in consecutive seasons.

Curry swept all 131 first-place votes (1,310 points), including 130 from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters in the United States and Canada, and one from the MVP fan vote.

The San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard finished second with 634 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James was third with 631 points. The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook (486 points) and Kevin Durant (147) rounded out the top five. Players received 10 points for each first-place vote, seven points for each second-place vote, five points for each third-place vote, three points for each fourth-place vote and one point for each fifth-place vote.

The 28-year-old Curry helped the Warriors finish a historic 73-9 by leading the NBA in scoring (30.1 ppg), three-pointers made (an NBA-record 402), free throw percentage (90.8) and steals (2.14 spg), along with averaging 6.7 assists and a career-high 5.4 rebounds in 79 games. He shot a career-high 50.4 percent from the field, the NBA’s highest mark among guards, and made 45.4 percent from three-point range, good for second in the league. Curry became the seventh qualifying player in NBA history to shoot at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from beyond the arc and 90 percent from the foul line.

Behind Curry, the reigning champion Warriors opened the season with 24 straight victories – one of many NBA records they broke on their way to the all-time single-season wins mark. They set NBA records for single-season road victories (34) and consecutive home regular-season wins (54, including 18 to finish last season). Golden State also became the first team in NBA history to go an entire season without losing back-to-back games or losing to the same team twice.

In yet another NBA record, the Warriors made 1,077 three-pointers, becoming the first team with 1,000. Curry powered the attack with his 402 three-pointers, shattering his own single-season league record of 286 set last season – an increase of 116. Along with leading the NBA in three-pointers made for the fourth season in a row, Curry extended his streak of regular-season games with a three-pointer to an active league record of 152 straight games.

Curry’s other accomplishments this season included:

· He became the fourth player in NBA history to average at least 30 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals in a season, joining Rick Barry (1974-75), Michael Jordan (three times) and Dwyane Wade (2008-09).

· He became the first Warriors player to lead the NBA in scoring since Barry in 1966-67.

· He improved his scoring average by 6.3 points from last season (23.8 ppg), the largest year-over-year increase in league history for a reigning Kia NBA MVP.

· He matched the NBA single-game record for three-pointers made, hitting 12 (including the last-second game-winner) in a 121-118 overtime victory over the Thunder on Feb. 27.

Curry receives the Maurice Podoloff Trophy, which is named in honor of the NBA’s first commissioner, who served from 1946 until his retirement in 1963.

Jonas Valanciunas injured, out for rest of series vs Heat

The Toronto Raptors announced yesterday that center Jonas Valanciunas will miss the remainder of the Eastern Conference Semifinal playoff series versus Miami with a sprained right ankle.

This is a huge blow to the squad. Jonas has been one of their best performers this postseason.

Valanciunas sustained the injury during the third quarter of Saturday’s Game 3 in Miami. He has averaged 15.0 points, shooting .550 (61-111) from the field, with 12.1 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 28.5 minutes in 10 playoff games this season. In the series versus the Heat, he has averaged 18.3 points on .649 (24-37) percent from the floor, 12.7 rebounds, 1.33 blocks and 33.7 minutes in three contests.

Kings hire Dave Joerger as head coach

Sacramento Kings Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Vlade Divac announced today that the team has hired Dave Joerger as their new head coach.

“I am thrilled to welcome Dave to the Sacramento Kings,” said Divac. “He is a strong and passionate leader with a proven track record of producing results. Dave shares our focus on creating a long-term culture of winning and I look forward to a bright future ahead for the Kings with his leadership on the court.”

Joerger joins the Kings after spending the previous three years as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, where he accrued a 147-99 regular season mark (.598) and guided the franchise to postseason berths in each of his seasons at the helm. Following three straight 50-win campaigns for the first time in club history (2012-13 thru 2014-15), two under Joerger, Memphis again qualified for the playoffs even after injuries forced the team to dress a league-record 28 players last season. Until then, no NBA team had reached the playoffs utilizing 24 or more athletes on its roster in a single season.

Prior to entering the NBA ranks, Joerger won accolades as one of the most successful minor league coaches in history, piloting five teams to championships in three different basketball leagues from 2000-07. Demonstrating strong player development skills, Joerger sent 18 of his players to the NBA during his time in the minor leagues. By the time he was hired by the Grizzlies as an assistant coach in 2007, Joerger had collected titles in the NBA Development League, CBA (Continental Basketball Association) and IBL (International Basketball League).

Kemba Walker undergoes knee surgery

Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker underwent successful surgery today to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. The procedure was completed by Hornets Team Physician Dr. Marcus Cook at Novant Orthopedic Hospital in Charlotte. Walker is expected to resume basketball activities in early July.

The 6-1 Walker finished second in NBA Most Improved Player balloting in 2015-16, after averaging a career-high 20.9 points per game in 81 games (all starts) and shooting career highs of .427 from the field and .371 from beyond the three-point line. The Connecticut product also added 5.2 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. Walker was one of only five players in the NBA to total at least 1,600 points, 400 assists, 300 rebounds, 100 steals and 100 three-pointers on the season. He had a career-high 13 games with 30 points or more and led the NBA in scoring in late and close situations (the last two minutes of the fourth quarter when the game is within four points). Walker led the Hornets to the fifth-best season in Charlotte NBA history (48-34, .585) and the best record in the Eastern Conference from Feb. 1 through the end of the season (25-9, .735).

Walker has spent all five seasons of his career in Charlotte, appearing in 364 games (319 starts) with averages of 17.3 points, 5.3 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. Walker finished the 2015-16 campaign ranked second in Charlotte NBA history in career three-point field goals (552), third in assists (1,946) and fourth in scoring (6.307).