April 2017 – Page 2 – NBA Blog

Blake Griffin out for remainder of NBA playoffs

Yet another Blake Griffin injury, at the worst possible time. The Clippers will be without their star power forward for the remainder of the playoffs. Here’s the LA Times reporting:

This season will finish similar to the last, with a sidelined Blake Griffin on the bench in street clothes.

Only this isn’t the same old story for the Clippers.

The most critical offseason in the franchise’s history has come early, courtesy of news that Griffin will miss the remainder of the playoffs because of damage to the plantar plate on his big right toe.

Chris Paul and Doc Rivers promised the Clippers will be ready to take on Utah Jazz in Game 4 of their opening-round playoff series Sunday, but this is something more far-reaching than that.

The Clippers are staring ahead into the unknown.

No Steve Kerr or Kevin Durant tonight for Warriors

Here’s the Bay Area News Group reporting on the Warriors, who will be missing some key pieces tonight but still have everybody they should need to look like their usual selves:

The Warriors will be without their coach and star small forward for Game 3 in Portland on Saturday night, plus a pair of other rotation pieces.

Steve Kerr will not coach because of an illness. Kevin Durant will be sidelined for a second straight game because of a calf strain, the team announced. Matt Barnes (foot sprain) and Shaun Livingston (hand contusion) also remain out.

Kings hire Scott Perry as Executive VP of Basketball Operations

The Sacramento Kings today hired Scott Perry as Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, according to General Manager Vlade Divac.

Perry will report directly to Divac and assist in all aspects of the day-to-day operation of the Kings front office, including roster management and development, player personnel matters, scouting strategy and free agency negotiations.

“I’m thrilled that Scott will be joining our front office team,” said Divac. “His extensive experience in the league and management talents will help build on our progress as we work to develop a winning franchise.”

Perry joins Sacramento’s front office after serving the last five seasons in a similar capacity with the Orlando Magic. Prior to his time in central Florida, Perry spent parts of 12 seasons with the Pistons as a collegiate scout (2000-02), director of player personnel (2002-2007) and later as Vice President of Basketball Operations (2008-12). Detroit reached the Eastern Conference Finals on six occasions (2003-08), made consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals (2004 and 2005) and won the NBA Title in 2004 during Perry’s tenure. He also served as the Seattle Supersonics assistant general manager in the 2007-08 season, during which the franchise drafted Kevin Durant No. 2 overall.

Before entering the NBA executive ranks, Perry spent three seasons as head basketball coach at Eastern Kentucky University (1997-2000) and nine years as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan, UC Berkeley and Detroit Mercy.

The former Wayne State University Warrior was a captain and all-conference player his senior season (1986). He also suited up for the University of Oregon as a freshman after being recruited by NBA coach Jim O’Brien and former NBA executive Stu Jackson.

Rajon Rondo injured: broken thumb

Just when things were looking up for the Chicago Bulls, surprisingly up 2-0 in their postseason series against the No. 1 East seed Boston Celtics, guard Rajon Rondo has been lost to injury.

Rondo injured his right hand in Game 2 at Boston on Tuesday night, and underwent a subsequent exam and x-rays that confirmed a thumb fracture.

Surgery is not required for this injury, and he is out indefinitely.

According to the Chicago Tribune, “Jerian Grant will start in Rondo’s place. “My teammates have confidence in me,” he said Friday. Jimmy Butler will be the primary ballhandler. “I’ve been doing it all year,” Butler said.”

Devondrick Walker wins D-League Most Improved Player award

Delaware 87ers guard Devondrick Walker has been named the 2017 NBA Development League Most Improved Player, as voted on by the league’s 22 head coaches. The award honors the player who demonstrated the most significant improvement during the 2016-17 NBA D-League season.

In his third season in the NBA D-League and his first with the 87ers, Walker (6-5, 205) appeared in 48 games, averaging 12.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He was acquired by the 87ers in a trade with the Westchester Knicks on Dec. 14, 2016.

Walker’s best month was January, when he averaged 14.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists. Five of his six 20-point games came after December, including a career-high 24 points in a 131-125 loss to the Maine Red Claws on Feb. 4. Walker also tallied at least 17 points in 12 games this season, with 10 of those performances coming after December.

Walker played for Westchester during the 2015-16 season before joining Delaware in December. In 2014-15, Walker spent time with the Austin Spurs, helping them reach the Western Conference Finals of the 2015 NBA D-League Playoffs.

Kings hire Luke Bornn as VP of Strategy and Analytics

The Sacramento Kings today announced the hiring of Luke Bornn as Vice President of Strategy and Analytics.

Bornn joins the Kings organization after most recently serving as Head of Analytics for A.S. Roma of the Italian Serie A Football League, where he worked closely with managers, coaches and sports scientists to measure and evaluate athletes and performance. Concurrent with his tenure at Roma, the British Columbia native has served as a visiting scholar and professor at Harvard University in the Department of Statistics.

In his new role with Sacramento, Bornn will report directly to Vice President and General Manager Vlade Divac and employ expertise in data engineering and collection to empower basketball operations personnel with relevant information valuable in decision making processes regarding roster compilation, player evaluation and overall strategy. The material gleaned from Bornn’s data infrastructure will also assist the team’s training staff in analyzing information received via wearable technology.

Over the coming weeks, Bornn will work with Divac and the front office to add some of the sharpest minds in the field of statistical sciences to augment the analytics department and continue building a database accessible to players, coaches and basketball operations personnel.

In addition to his academic acumen and professorships at Harvard and Simon Fraser University, Bornn is a frequent contributor to the field of sports analytics, authoring articles for the Journal for Quantitative Analysis, the Annals of Applied Statistics and the Journal of the American Statistical Association—providing insights on basketball related topics such as NCAA Tournament forecasting, predicting possession outcomes in NBA contests and the spatial anatomy of defensive success.

Justise Winslow shooting ability still a work in progress

Justise Winslow is an intriguing young player for the Heat, but he still has a long way to go to prove himself as a starter-level player who can be counted on in a big-time situations. Here’s the Miami Herald with more:

Two NBA scouts insisted over the past several months that even though he’s a terrific defender and smart player, Winslow would need to become a more efficient perimeter shooter to become a quality starter on a good team.

And Heat people strongly believed that was going to happen this season after his work last summer with shooting coach Rob Fodor.

But injuries derailed his season, and his 7 for 35 three-point shooting in 18 games wasn’t a fair gauge because a wrist injury affected him before the season-ending shoulder surgery.

“It held me back a little bit,” Winslow said when asked whether the troublesome wrist hurt his ability to incorporate Fodor’s mechanical changes.

Report: Carmelo Anthony and wife La La are breaking up

Here’s the New York Daily News reporting on Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, whose marriage to entertainment personality La La is reportedly coming to an end:

Knicks superstar Carmelo Anthony is about to lose the only ring he’s ever had in New York.

The Knicks forward and his wife of seven years, La La Anthony, are calling it quits, according to reports.

La La, 37, moved out of their home into her own New York apartment and the couple no longer live together, TMZ said.

2017 BIG3 basketball league game schedule

The BIG3, the new pro 3-on-3 basketball league founded by Ice Cube, released their full 10-week city-by-city season game schedule today.

As previously mentioned, all of the league’s teams will play one game per week, and at each city, all of the league’s teams will play one game. It’s essentially a weekly 3-on-3 tour. Here’s where the BIG3 will play.

2017 BIG3 SEASON SCHEDULE

· June 25: Barclays Center | Brooklyn, New York

· July 2: Spectrum Center | Charlotte, North Carolina

· July 9: BOK Center | Tulsa, Oklahoma

· July 16: Wells Fargo Center | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

· July 23: UIC Pavilion | Chicago, Illinois (was Nashville. Now Chicago.)

· July 30: American Airlines Center | Dallas, Texas

· August 6: Rupp Arena | Lexington, Kentucky

· August 13: Staples Center | Los Angeles, California

· August 20: Key Arena | Seattle, Washington (Playoffs)

· August 26: T-Mobile Arena | Las Vegas, Nevada (Championship Finals)

Isaiah Thomas plays through personal tragedy

Shortly before the start of the playoffs, Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas found out some tragic personal news. Here’s the Boston Herald reporting:

Isiah Thomas plays through personal tragedy

Just one day after losing his sister in a tragic car crash, NBA star Isaiah Thomas chose to play with the Boston Celtics in their first playoff game. Although he was clearly devastated, sobbing on the bench before the game, Thomas had a longtime friend and teammate supporting him.

Fellow Celtics player Avery Bradley was spotted putting his arm around the 28-year-old point guard as he cried during the pregame shoot around. The two athletes grew up together in Tacoma, Washington, before becoming NBA teammates.

After learning that his 22-year-old sister, Chyna J. Thomas, died in a one-car crash in Tacoma early on Saturday morning, the basketball player opted to play on Sunday. He ended up scoring 33 points, although the team lost to the Chicago Bulls.

“It says a lot about him,” Bradley said after the game, according to NBA.com.