Month: February 2018

Pelicans sign Walter Lemon Jr. to 10-day contract

The New Orleans Pelicans today signed free agent guard Walter Lemon Jr. to a 10-day contract.

Lemon, Jr., 6-3, 180, has appeared in 36 games this season with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA G League, posting averages of 22.7 points while shooting .495 from the field, 4.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.1 steals.

Undrafted out of Bradley University of 2014, Lemon, Jr. has also played internationally in Hungary, Germany, Turkey and Greece.

Lemon, Jr. will wear #25 for the Pelicans.

New Orleans’ roster stands at 16, including one two-way player (Charles Cooke).

Blazers sign Brandon Rush to 10-day contract

The Portland Trail Blazers signed guard/forward Brandon Rush to a 10-day contract today.

A nine-year NBA veteran, Rush (6-6, 220) holds career averages of 6.8 points (42.6% FG, 40.2% 3-PT, 70.6% FT), 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 481 games (163 starts) playing for Indiana, Golden State, Utah and Minnesota. Rush played 47 games (33 starts) for the Timberwolves during the 2016-17 season, averaging 4.2 points (37.4% FG, 38.6% 3-PT, 72.2% FT), 2.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 21.9 minutes.

Rush was originally selected by the Trail Blazers with the 13th pick of the 2008 NBA draft before being traded to the Indiana Pacers.

He will wear No. 21 for the Trail Blazers.

Suns sign Shaquille Harrison to 10-day contract, and release Josh Gray

The Phoenix Suns have signed guard Shaquille Harrison to a 10-day contract, calling him up from the Northern Arizona Suns of the NBA G League.

Phoenix has also released guard Josh Gray.

The team’s roster remains at 17 players.

Harrison, a 6-4, 190-pound guard, will be making his NBA debut when he first appears for the Suns. In 36 games with the NAZ Suns this season he averaged 11.0 points, shooting 46.4 percent from the field, 4.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.9 steals (10th in G League). In five games after taking over the starting point guard role on February 2, Harrison averaged 14.0 points on 48.3 percent shooting, 9.2 assists, 7.0 rebounds and 2.4 steals, guiding the NAZ Suns to a 4-1 record in those games. On February 9 at the South Bay Lakers, Harrison scored 25 points and dished out a career-high 12 assists.

The 33rd GATORADE Call-Up in the NBA this season and league-high fourth from the NAZ Suns, Harrison has averaged 10.3 points on 45.8 percent shooting, 4.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals in 84 career G League games, all with the NAZ Suns over the past two seasons.

The 24-year-old went unselected in the 2016 NBA Draft out of the University of Tulsa. In addition to two seasons with the Suns’ NBA G League affiliate, Harrison participated in Phoenix’s training camp prior to the 2016-17 season and played for the Suns’ Summer League team in 2017, averaging 10.3 points on 61.1 percent shooting in three games.

A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Harrison left Tulsa as the only player in Golden Hurricane basketball history to start every game in a four-year career. He averaged 11.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals in 133 games for his career, finishing second in program history with 461 career assists and third with 244 steals.

Gray first signed a 10-day contract with the Suns on February 2 and averaged 6.4 points, 2.4 assists and 1.6 steals in 17.2 minutes over five games.

Harrison will wear uniform No. 10

Reggie Jackson still recovering from ankle sprain

Detroit Pistons guard Reggie Jackson is entering the next stage of his rehabilitation this week in preparation for a return from a Grade 3 right ankle sprain suffered Tuesday, December 26 vs. Indiana.

Jackson has been cleared to begin light running, shooting and continued ankle strengthening exercises. The Detroit Pistons medical staff will monitor progress throughout the week in anticipation of beginning an escalation process towards resuming normal basketball activities.

No timeframe has been set for a return to practice or game action.

Knicks and Joakim Noah will not reunite anytime soon

The Knicks have barely used well-paid center Joakim Noah this season. Currently, the two sides are taking a break from each other. Which isn’t really an ideal situation. How will it resolve? Tough to say, because Noah has a lot more Knicks money coming to him. Here’s NY Newsday with the latest:

Jeff Hornacek wouldn’t comment on reports that he pushed Joakim Noah during their heated exchange last month in Denver. But Hornacek gave the strongest indications yet that Noah won’t be back with the Knicks.

“I think that is the plan,” Hornacek said following practice Tuesday night.

That was the expected outcome when the Knicks sent Noah away after he and Hornacek got into it at a practice Jan. 24 in Denver. Noah was upset that he played less than five minutes the night before in a lopsided loss to the Warriors when the Knicks were without Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle O’Quinn.

“That’s something that happened three weeks ago, four weeks ago,” Hornacek said. “We handled that thing with Jo. It’s not finalized because he’s still on the roster. We’ve dealt with that situation.

Full article

Magic sign Rashad Vaughn to 10-day contract

The Magic today signed guard Rashad Vaughn to a 10-day contract.

The 6’6”, 210-pound Vaughn, born 8/16/96, has played in a combined 23 games this season with both Mthe Bucks and Nets, averaging 2.6 points in 7.7 minutes per game. He was traded by Milwaukee to Brooklyn, along with a second round draft pick, in exchange for Tyler Zeller on Feb. 5. Vaughn was then traded by the Nets to New Orleans in exchange for Dante Cunningham on Feb. 8. He was waived by the Pelicans on Feb. 10.

Originally selected in the first round (17th overall) of the 2015 NBA Draft by Milwaukee, Vaughn has appeared in 134 career NBA regular season games (eight starts) with Milwaukee and Brooklyn, averaging 3.1 ppg. and 1.1 rpg. in 12.2 minpg. Prior to his NBA career, he spent one season at UNLV (2014-15), averaging 17.8 ppg., 4.8 rpg. and 1.6 apg. in 32.3 minpg., while shooting .383 (54-141) from three-point range. Vaughn was named 2014-15 Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year, as well as Honorable Mention All-MWC.

The Magic’s roster now stands at 16 players.

Vaughn will wear #20 with Orlando.

Joakim Noah attends Jimmy Goldstein NBA All-Star party

The exiled Knicks center was spotted Saturday night at impresario Jimmy Goldstein’s All-Star Weekend party in Los Angeles, along with Stephen Curry, his wife, Ayesha, Joel Embiid and ex-Knick draft pick Danilo Gallinari. Noah may attend Sunday’s All-Star Game at Staples Center.

Goldstein is an eccentric longtime NBA superfan who is seen at all of the NBA’s big events and is regularly courtside at Staples Center.

“I’ve known [Noah] a long time, I spoke to him last night,” Goldstein told The Post on Sunday before Team LeBron faced Team Stephen. “I asked him if he was going to be all right, that I’m a little worried about you. He said don’t worry about him, everything’s going to be fine.”

— NY Post

Koby Altman impressive in reshaping of Cavs

There was no shortage of shock and surprise when Koby Altman, the 35-year-old, first-time GM of the Cavs, reshaped the team’s roster with three major trades on Feb. 8.

It was Altman and his staff who targeted Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance of the Lakers, George Hill of the Kings and Rodney Hood of the Jazz. There was no directive from owner Dan Gilbert, no plea from James, no nudging from Lue, to go and get those players, specifically.

Everyone was wrong about Altman. Everyone.

“I think Koby did a heck of a job of understanding what our team needed,” James said this week, after the rejuvenated Cavs — to use an Altman word — beat Oklahoma City, 120-112.

“It just wasn’t working out for us, and he felt like, obviously you guys saw his quotes, he made the changes that he felt best fits our team,” James continued.

The Cavs enter the All-Star break as the talk of the NBA. They’ve won four straight, tore up half their roster and are being discussed again as a legitimate contender while playing with a renewed sense of energy since Hill, Clarkson, Nance and Hood arrived.

— Cleveland.com

Pistons season has been a roller coaster

This has been a wild Pistons season, first with stretches of success and also plenty of losing, then a huge trade for Blake Griffin, and to make sense of some of this, here’s Michigan Live reporting:

Said forward Anthony Tolliver: “All the years I’ve played in this league this team has been a little bit more roller coaster as far as high highs and low lows.”

The Pistons reached the All-Star break at 28-29, 1 1/2 games behind the Miami Heat for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

It’s not where they hoped to be following a promising 14-6 start. But they’ve had issues offensively, have lacked intensity on defense on too many nights, have lost too often to bad teams and haven’t capitalized enough at home (19-12). Losing point guard Reggie Jackson to an ankle injury on Dec. 26 also has hurt.

The Pistons return to practice on Wednesday and host the Boston Celtics next Friday (7 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit). With 15 of their final 25 games on the road, reaching the playoffs for only the second time in nine years will be a challenge.