Philadelphia 76ers President and General Manager Ed Stefanski announced today that the team has waived Andre Emmett, Maureece Rice and Cory Underwood. The roster now stands at 16 players heading into the preseason opener on Wednesday, Oct. 8 against the Boston Celtics at the Mullins Center on the campus of the University of Massachusetts.

Emmett (6-4, 216) was originally selected with the 35th overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft by Seattle. He appeared in eight games for the Memphis Grizzlies during the 2004-05 season. Last season, Emmett averaged a league-high 23.9 points per game for Belgacom Liege Basket of the Belgian League. He played four seasons for Texas Tech, and finished career as the Red Raiders all-time leader in scoring with 2,256 points.

Rice (6-1, 224) is best known for his career at Strawberry Mansion High School, during which he tallied 2,681 points, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain’s Philadelphia school record of 2,206 points. Rice went on to attend The George Washington University, where he was named Atlantic 10 Sixth Man of the Year as a sophomore and A-10 All-Conference Third Team as a junior. He was not selected in the NBA Draft this past June.

Underwood (6-10, 240) played for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds of the NBA Development League last season. Since finishing his career at Southern University of New Orleans in 2003, he has also played in the ABA (American Basketball Association), the USBL (United States Basketball League), WBA (World Basketball Association), CBA (Continental Basketball Association) as well as leagues in both Brazil and Poland.

The New Jersey Nets have requested waivers on guard/forward Awvee Storey, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today.

Storey was singed as a free agent on September 27, 2008. He holds career averages of 2.4 points and 1.4 rebounds in 60 games with New Jersey, Washington and Milwaukee.

The Nets roster now stands at 18.

The Orange County Register (Kevin Ding) reports via blog on key quotes from a Luke Walton interview where the Lakers player talks about being stalked: “A couple of days later, I was signing stuff, and she came up. And I just rolled up my window and drove off. And as I was driving off, she threw her basketball at my car. It didn’t hit the car, but I saw it was bouncing down Nash Street. And I was kind of laughing like, ‘She’s kind of lost it.’ But at the same time, it was like, she’s really starting to pick up what she’s doing.” … “Once I moved out of the gated community, that’s when I started noticing. I’d come home, and the same car with tinted windows would be parked across the street all the time. One time, I was like, ‘I swear I see someone there.’ So I walked up and saw her, and she had a hat on, and I said, ‘I can’t believe this is the same chick from the practice site.’ And then for a while, everywhere I went, I’d see her park like a street down. As soon as I took off, she’s start following me.”

The AP reports: David West scored 19 points, Hilton Armstrong added 14, and the New Orleans Hornets won their preseason opener, 106-103 over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday night. Chris Paul had 13 points, six assists and a steal for New Orleans. Paul and West, the Hornets’ two All-Stars last season, each played 22 minutes. Marco Belinelli led Golden State with 14 points, hitting both 3-pointers he attempted in the fourth quarter to keep the game close… Corey Maggette scored 13 points for Golden State, while Kelenna Azubuike added 12 and Al Harrington 11.

The AP reports: Michael Beasley scored 16 points in his preseason debut, 13 in the third quarter, but Rodney Stuckey scored a game-high 23 for Detroit and the Pistons scored the first six points of overtime on the way to beating the Heat 95-91 in the exhibition opener for both clubs. Jason Maxiell finished with 13 points for Detroit, including the first two baskets of overtime. Richard Hamilton added 12, even though he—like virtually most of the projected regulars for both teams—played sparingly… Mark Blount scored 12 points, while Daequan Cook, David Padgett and Olympic gold medalist Dwyane Wade each added 11 for Miami… The Heat placed Udonis Haslem (foot), Shaun Livingston (knee), Dorell Wright (knee) and James Jones (wrist) on the game’s inactive list. Detroit didn’t have any inactives.