The Cleveland Cavaliers have recalled forward Cedric Simmons from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today.

Simmons was assigned to Rio Grande Valley on Jan. 2 and played in three games for the Vipers. He averaged 9.3 points on .450 shooting, 5.3 rebounds and 4.3 blocks in 28.7 minutes per game. Against the Austin Toros on Jan. 5, Simmons scored 13 points, grabbed three rebounds and blocked a game-high seven shots.

In four games for the Cavaliers this season, he has grabbed 11 rebounds in 43 minutes.

The Memphis Grizzlies signed forward Bobby Jones to a 10-day contract, Grizzlies General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace announced today.

The 6-7, 215-pound forward owns career averages of 2.8 points and 1.3 rebounds in 8.1 minutes in 67 games (five starts) in two seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers (2006-07) and Denver Nuggets (2007-08).

Jones became available after the Nuggets waived him on Jan. 7 after averaging 3.3 points and 1.4 rebounds in 23 games (no starts) this season. Jones, who celebrated his 24th birthday yesterday, was acquired by Denver from Philadelphia on September 10, 2007 along with Steven Hunter for Reggie Evans and the draft rights to Ricky Sanchez. The Nuggets briefly assigned him to the Forth Worth Flyers of the NBA Development League from Nov. 28-Dec. 8, where he averaged 13.7 points and 8.0 rebounds in three contests for the Flyers.

Originally selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round (37th overall) of the 2006 NBA Draft, Jones was acquired by the 76ers in a draft night trade in exchange for a 2007 second round draft pick and cash considerations. The Compton, California native appeared in 44 games in his rookie season with Philadelphia, and started five of the final six games, where he averaged 9.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.20 steals on 53.8 percent shooting in 27.2 minutes per game.

The four-year letterman at the University of Washington was the co-winner of the John Meyers Defensive Player Award at the team’s postseason banquet along with teammate and 2006-07 NBA Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy as a senior in 2005-06.

Jones, who will wear jersey No. 6 with the Grizzlies, joined the team this morning for the club’s shootaround in Sacramento. The Sacramento Kings host the Memphis Grizzlies 9 p.m. (Central time) tonight at ARCO Arena.

The roster currently stands at 14 players.

The San Antonio Spurs announced today that they have signed guard/forward Jeremy Richardson.  Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.

The 6-7, 195-pound Richardson was signed by the Memphis Grizzlies on 12/20.  He did not register a point in three games with Grizzlies and was waived on 1/7.  Prior to joining the Grizzlies, Richardson was with the Fort Wayne Mad Antz in the NBA Development League.  He was averaging a league-high 28.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.63 steals in 41.5 minutes in eight games.  The 23-year-old spent the 2007 preseason with the Miami Heat before being cut on 10/29.

The Delta State alum had two call-ups last season, first with the Atlanta Hawks and then the Portland Trail Blazers, averaging 1.3 points in six games. The 23-year-old spent the majority of the 2006-07 season with the Forth Worth Flyers in the D-League where he earned All-NBA Development League Second Team honors.  Richardson averaged 17.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 34 games with Fort Worth.

Yao Ming had tortured the Knicks last night. In more ways than one. It wasn’t just the 36 points. It was the five dunks and four lay-ins, and the way he would linger in the paint on the offensive end. All of it was too much for Isiah Thomas to take.

The Knick coach had complained to the officials that Yao should’ve been called on a number of three-second violations, but to no avail. Danny Crawford hit him with a ‘T”, then wasted no time in tossing him.

Afterward, a much more subdued Thomas explained his stance, after getting bounced 41 seconds into the fourth quarter, with the Rockets ahead 77-74.

“In the second quarter,” recounted Thomas, “I spoke with [Crawford] and asked if they could watch Yao in the lane. I also said that, if you are not going to call [a violation], would I need to get a technical foul to bring your attention to it?

“I wasn’t trying to get ejected. But, I was trying to get a technical, because I did want to bring it to [the officials’] attention.

“I was close enough to [Crawford’s] ear that he could hear me. I didn’t bump him, or anything like that. You can look at my reaction two ways –I could have been given a tech, or be thrown out of the game. I have shown, that I am not a guy who complains a lot. I just needed to make a point, because there was no way that we could guard Yao in the lane that long.”

Thomas paused briefly.

“Even out of the lane,” he joked, “we couldn’t guard him.”

Subsequently, Yao converted the ensuing free throw, fueling the Rockets’ 78-74 advantage, and the Knicks were effectively beaten after that.

In the fourth and final update before All-Star starters are announced on Jan. 24, Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics and LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers remain the leaders in the Eastern Conference, while Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers and Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets continue to pace Western Conference players after the fourth returns of 2008 NBA All-Star Balloting program.

Here are the current starters:

East: Kidd, Wade, LeBron, Garnett, D-Howard
West: Kobe, McGrady, Melo, Duncan, Yao

For more info and full vote totals, see the InsideHoops NBA All-Star voting results page.

During New Jersey’s 99-88 victory against Seattle last night, Jason Kidd grabbed five rebounds, pushing his career total to 6,605.  Only Oscar Robertson [7,804], Clyde Drexler [6,677] and Michael Jordan [6,672] are ahead of him.

Kidd -who has averaged no fewer than six boards per game since 1997-98, and is tied for 29th [first among guards] with 8.7 rpg this season- should be passing both MJ and ’Clyde The Glide’ over the next nine games. 

Kidd’s resume includes 14,117 points, 9,056 assists [6th, but only five dimes behind Isiah Thomas], and 1,960 steals [11th].  He is, far and away, the modern leader with 97 regular season triple-doubles [3rd overall, behind Robertson’s 181 and Magic Johnson’s 138].

The game against the Sonics was never in doubt and, thus, Kidd [who also tallied 16 points and 11 assists] was benched for the final 12 1/2 minutes.  He appeared to be in line for his 11th triple-double of the season, after collecting eight points, five assists and four rebounds in the opening quarter.

Kidd entered with a string of three consecutive triple-doubles.  Jordan, in 1989, was the last player to have four straight.  The NBA record is nine, by Wilt Chamberlain in 1967-68.