September 27, 2013 – NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog

Wizards sign Josh Childress, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Xavier Silas, D’Or Fischer to training camp

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed forwards Josh Childress and Pops Mensah-Bonsu, guard Xavier Silas and center D’Or Fischer. We assume these are all non-guaranteed deals that merely bring those players to training camp.

Childress (6-8, 210) is a seven-year NBA veteran who holds career averages of 9.2 points and 4.8 rebounds in 387 games with Atlanta, Phoenix and Brooklyn. He was originally selected by Atlanta with the sixth overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft. In 2008, after four seasons in Atlanta, Childress signed a contract with Olympiacos in Greece where he averaged 12.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game over two seasons. After being traded to Phoenix and playing two seasons with the Suns (2010-2012), Childress signed as a free agent with Brooklyn last season.

Mensah-Bonsu (6-9, 240) appeared in six games with Cajasol in Spain and nine games with EA7 Armani in Italy during the 2012-13 season. The four-year George Washington product has played 61 career NBA contests with Dallas, San Antonio, Toronto, Houston and New Orleans, averaging 3.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in 8.3 minutes per game. Mensah-Bonsu, a London native, competed in the 2012 Olympic Games for the United Kingdom where he averaged 8.5 points and 7.3 rebounds in four games. He has also played professionaly in France and Turkey.

Silas (6-5, 205) appeared in two games with the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2011-12 season where he averaged 5.5 points and 2.0 rebounds in 20 minutes per game. In the last two seasons with the Maine Red Claws of the D-League, Silas has averaged 10.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 73 games. He was undrafted out of Northern Illinois University.

Fischer (6-11, 240) finished his collegiate career playing two seasons at West Virginia after transferring from Northwestern State. After going undrafted in 2005, the Philadelphia native has played professionally in Poland, Germany, Belgium, Israel and Spain as well as with Roanoke Dazzle of the D-League in 2005-06 where he averaged 5.9 points and 5.0 rebounds in 26 games.

The Wizards’ training camp roster currently stands at 19 players.

New York Knicks sign Ike Diogu

The New York Knickerbockers announced today that the team has signed forward Ike Diogu. We assume this is a non-guaranteed deal that merely brings Diogu to training camp.

Diogu, 6-9, 250-pounds, holds career averages of 6.0 points, on 50.9-percent shooting, 3.1 rebounds and 12.4 minutes in 225 games (18 starts) over six seasons with Golden State, Indiana, Portland, Sacramento, L.A. Clippers and San Antonio. He spent the last two seasons playing in Puerto Rico (Arecibo) and China (Xinjiang), after playing in two games for San Antonio in 2011-12. The Buffalo, NY-native was originally selected by Golden State following three seasons at Arizona State University in the first round (ninth pick overall) of 2005 NBA Draft.

Miami Heat sign Roger Mason Jr

The Miami Heat announced today that they have signed guard Roger Mason Jr.

Mason, a nine-year NBA veteran, has appeared in 493 career NBA games (101 starts) and averaged 6.5 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 18.0 minutes while shooting 40.9 percent from the field, 38.4 percent from three-point range and 86.3 percent from the foul line. Additionally, Mason has appeared in 24 career postseason NBA games (three starts) and averaged 5.3 points, 1.0 rebounds and 17.1 minutes while shooting 36.8 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from three-point range and 76.5 percent from the foul line.

Last season, he appeared in 69 games (13 starts) with New Orleans and averaged 5.3 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 17.7 minutes while shooting 43.3 percent from the field, 41.5 percent from three-point range and 90.7 percent from the foul line. He led the team in three-point field goal percentage while finishing second in free throw percentage and third in three-point field goals made (66).

Mason will wear number 21.

The Heat’s roster now stands at 19.

Lakers add Dan Gadzuric to training camp

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed center Dan Gadzuric, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak. We assume this is a non-guaranteed deal that merely brings Gadzuric to training camp.

A ten-year NBA veteran, Gadzuric spent the 2012-13 season playing with Marinos de Anzoátegui in Venezuela. In 30 games with the team he averaged 10.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 19.4 minutes. Selected in the second round (34th overall) by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2002 NBA Draft, the 6-11 center out of UCLA has played in 527 career NBA games with Milwaukee, Golden State, New Jersey (now Brooklyn), Toronto and New York, averaging 4.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 14.8 minutes.

The Lakers training camp roster now stands at 19 players.

Warriors will wear white short-sleeve alternate uniforms each Saturday home game

The Golden State Warriors will wear white short-sleeve alternate uniforms for every Saturday home game during the 2013-14 season, beginning Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. at Oracle Arena when the team takes on the Sacramento Kings.

The Warriors were the first team in NBA history to wear a modern short-sleeve NBA uniform when they debuted yellow alternates on February 22, 2013 against the San Antonio Spurs at Oracle Arena. The Warriors wore the yellow uniforms during the 2012-13 season for two additional home games including March 8 vs. the Houston Rockets and March 15 vs. the Chicago Bulls.

The Warriors will wear the white modern short sleeve NBA uniform for every Saturday home game.

Warriors sign Ognjen Kuzmic; add Joe Alexander to training camp

The Golden State Warriors have signed center Ognjen Kuzmic (oge-NEN KOOZ-mitch) to a contract, the team announced today. The team has also added free agent forward Joe Alexander to the Training Camp roster.

Kuzmic, 23, was selected by the Warriors with the 52nd overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft and remained overseas last season to play with FIATC Joventut in Spain, where he averaged 6.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. A 7’0” center from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kuzmic has played professionally in Europe for six seasons, with stops in Spain, Bosnia and Finland.

Alexander, 26, most recently played in Russia with Krasnie Krilya in 2011-12, averaging 8.7 points and 3.8 rebounds in six Russian League games and 8.4 points and 4.0 rebounds in nine VTB United League contests. Prior to playing overseas, Alexander played two seasons in the NBA Development League, including the 2010-11 season when he earned First Team All-NBA D-League honors with the Texas Legends. Originally drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round (eighth overall) of the 2008 NBA Draft, Alexander holds NBA career averages of 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 67 games over three seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Hornets.

The Warriors now have 18 players under contract.

Pau Gasol reports improvement in his knees

Pau Gasol recently stepped foot in Los Angeles in high spirits for reasons including a new season and a likely increased role.

There’s another reason, too.

Gasol visited with Dr. Steve Yoon of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic Thursday for an evaluation after rehabbing this offseason the tendinosis in both of his knees. Gasol then turned to Twitter to deliver a positive assessment in 140 characters.

Gasol: “Great news! My knees are a lot better thanks to the procedure, the rest & the hard work during the summer! Let’s go!”

Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)

Houston Rockets CEO thinks team may sell out every home game

The Rockets’ first prediction of the season might not be topped, even if this one never mentioned games to be won or a championship to be chased.

Kevin McHale will not be so bold. His players are as unlikely to be as daring. Their boss, however, did not hesitate, at least when it came to the goals of his wing of Toyota Center and the business of basketball.

The Rockets, CEO Tad Brown said, will sell out every home game this season. For the Rockets in the Toyota Center era, that is a huge proclamation.

“We’re further ahead in our sales process at this time than we ever have been,” Brown said heading into the start of team workouts Saturday. “The season-ticket base is up 34 percent. We are close to being sold out of season tickets. And we are pretty confident with the excitement that this team has already created in the market that we’ll be sold out of every game.”

Reported by Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle

Some Knicks items of note

The Knicks could be in a position to have cap room flexibility in 2015 and may make another run at LeBron James, who has three years left on his contract with the Heat but can opt out of the final two seasons in July.

The Knicks have several important issues facing the team, starting with coach Mike Woodson’s contract. Woodson, who played college ball with Grunwald at Indiana, is under contract for this season but has a team option for next season.

Carmelo Anthony can opt out of his contract after the season. J.R. Smith is recovering from knee surgery and has been suspended five games by the NBA for violating the terms of the anti-drug agreement. Amar’e Stoudemire is trying to become a regular contributor again after surgeries on both knees limited him to 29 games last season.

Reported by Al Iannazzone of New York Newsday

Some thoughts on new Pistons Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith

Jennings sat on the outside looking in during this summer’s free-agency frenzy, arriving in Detroit in a three-year deal via sign-and-trade. The Pistons believe he’ll return to his prep school mode of being a distributor first, rather than primarily looking for his own offense, as he’s done during his first four years in the NBA.

Jennings represents an upgrade over Brandon Knight in terms of point guard aptitude, but he must be willing to buy into the system and set up his teammates.

Rumors of the Pistons pursuing Boston point guard Rajon Rondo won’t amount to anything anytime soon. Jennings can quiet them with steady play.

Josh Smith: The shiny new, $54 million signee gets a fresh start away from the sometimes-unfair scrutiny he faced in his hometown Atlanta. There’s no denying his talent, and he and Drummond can raise terror defensively and in the open floor with their length and athleticism. He’ll be the starting small forward, but is expected to see time at power forward as well, so his role in the offense remains to be seen.

Smith will face a bit of a culture adjustment this season, moving from the pressure of playing for his hometown team to the pressure of playing for a franchise with more of a winning tradition and the resulting higher expectations.

Reported by Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News