August 2016 – NBA Basketball Blog from InsideHoops.com

Sixers waive Carl Landry and Tibor Pleiss, sign Anthony Barber

The 76ers on Wednesday waived forward Carl Landry and center Tibor Pleiss, and signed guard Anthony ‘Cat’ Barber.

Barber played three seasons at North Carolina State University prior to declaring for the 2016 NBA Draft. This past season, he was named First Team All-ACC and led the conference with averages of 24 points and 39 minutes played per game. Over the course of his three seasons with the Wolfpack, the 2013 McDonald’s All-American appeared in 104 games and posted averages of 15 points, four assists and three rebounds in 31 minutes per game.

This past season, Landry appeared in 36 games (12 starts) and averaged 10 points and four rebounds in 16 minutes per game. A veteran of nine NBA seasons, Landry has played for five NBA teams since being selected by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 31st overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. In 513 games (93 starts), Landry holds career averages of 11 points and five rebounds in 23 minutes per game.

Pleiss, acquired from Utah on August 26, was originally selected with the 31st overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft by the Brooklyn Nets and acquired by the Jazz as part of a three-team trade in February, 2015. In 12 career games with Utah, he posted averages of two points and one rebound in seven minutes per game.

Noah Vonleh out 3-4 weeks after surgery

Trail Blazers forward Noah Vonleh underwent a procedure today to remove a bone fragment from his right thigh musculature.

Dr. Evan Ellis performed the procedure at Rebound in Vancouver, Washington.

The expected recovery time is 3-4 weeks.

Vonheh played 15.1 minutes per game in the 2015-16 season for the Blazers, averaging 3.6 points and 3.9 rebounds. That is backup-level court time, though he started in 56 of 78 games played.

2016 NBA preseason games in Vancouver and Calgary

The Raptors will play a pair of 2016 NBA preseason games in Vancouver and Calgary.

Their opponents will be the Warriors and Nuggets.

Even though it’s just preseason, that Warriors game will be Kevin Durant’s debut on the squad and is therefore worth watching.

And as for Canada in general, any games outside of Toronto should certainly be attended by fans who don’t get to see NBA players with their own eyes on a regular basis.

Here’s more info: http://www.insidehoops.com/canada-nba-preseason-games-083016.shtml

Former MSU player Keith Appling arrested again

Here’s the Detroit Free Press with an unfortunate update on a former MSU player:

For the third time since May, former Michigan State University basketball player Keith Appling has been arrested and once again a gun is involved, police say.

Appling, 24, was arrested at about 9 p.m. Sunday on Detroit’s east side after first driving away from a traffic stop and then stopping his car following a short pursuit, Detroit police said in a news release this morning.

Expect an up-tempo Heat offense next season

Expect an up-tempo Heat offense this season

How will the Heat be different this upcoming season, their first in many years without star shooting guard Dwyane Wade? According to their head coach, they plan to speed things up. With Chris Bosh’s return still uncertain due to health reasons, the squad is built around Goran Dragic, Tyler Johnson, Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow and Hassan Whiteside. Here’s the Palm Beach Post blog reporting:

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s latest video clip on the team’s website is a message to Heat fans to expect more of what you saw the second half of last season when the Heat, behind point guard Goran Dragic, scrapped its lumbering style for an up-tempo offense.

“The style of offense when you’re pushing the tempo and you’re attacking and you’re looking for opportunities in the open court, that’s a fun style of basketball,” Spoelstra said. “Our guys enjoy playing that style, they’re committed to the conditioning level and the work ethic. … they’re willing to do it because they want to have fun they want to express athleticism and I think that’s what Heat fans can expect from this team next year.”

Pacers sign Julyan Stone and Alex Poythress

The Pacers signed Julyan Stone and Alex Poythress today.

Stone is a 6-6 guard that is a three-year veteran of the NBA, spending time with both the Denver Nuggets and the Toronto Raptors. He has NBA career averages of 1.3 points and 1.1 assists per game. He also played in the D-League, where he averaged 4.7 points and 4.3 assists per game. He played collegiately at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

Alex Poythress is a 6-8 forward from the University of Kentucky. Heplayed four seasons for the Wildcats and in his senior year he averaged 10.2 points and 6.0 rebounds. He also played for the Orlando Magic this past summer in Summer League.

New Sacramento Kings arena costs rise

The Kings will soon have a new home in Sacramento to call their own. Here’s the Sacramento Bee with the latest:

Barely a month before opening, the Sacramento Kings continue to pour money into their new downtown arena, bringing the latest estimate of Golden 1 Center’s construction costs to $556.6 million.

The estimate has risen by $21.7 million in just a month, according to a construction consultant’s report submitted to Sacramento city officials late last week. The $556.6 million price represents a more than $79 million increase since the Kings broke ground in October 2014 on what was envisioned as a $477 million project. When the arena was first proposed to city officials, in 2013, Kings officials said it would cost $447 million –bringing the total increase in price to around $109 million.

Dwyane Wade`s cousin shot in Chicago

The violence in Chicago is out of control. Or rather, continues to be out of control — because this isn’t new. But once again, a relative of Dwyane Wade is a victim. Here’s CSN Chicago reporting:

On Thursday, Dwyane Wade appeared on an ESPN special for The Undefeated to talk about gun violence. The next day, Wade’s cousin was shot and killed in Chicago.

Nykea Aldridge was pushing a baby stroller in the Chicago neighborhood of Parkway Gardens when she was shot and killed. Aldridge was 32 and a mother of four.

Police said she was not the intended target and one person was taken into custody as a result of the incident.

A lot of people say all the right things about violent crime, but clear, direct, honest solutions on how to reduce it aren’t quite so common. Just our opinion.

Jazz waive Kendall Marshall

That was quick. The Jazz have waived guard Kendall Marshall, whose rights were acquired by trade from Philadelphia on Friday.

Marshall (6-4, 200, North Carolina) is a four-year NBA veteran who has appeared in 160 career games (57 starts) over four seasons with Phoenix, the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee and Philadelphia.

Sixers trade Kendall Marshall to Jazz for Tibor Pleiss

The 76ers have acquired center Tibor Pleiss (“TEE-bore Plice”), two 2017 second-round draft picks and cash considerations from the Jazz in exchange for Kendall Marshall.

The Sixers will receive the most and least favorable of the four 2017 second-round picks currently held by Utah (their own, in addition to those of Detroit, Golden State and New York).

Pleiss (7’3″, 256lbs) was originally selected with the 31st overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft by the Brooklyn Nets and acquired by the Jazz as part of a three-team trade in February, 2015. He has appeared in 12 career games with Utah, averaging two points and one rebound in seven minutes per game.

Marshall (6-4, 200, North Carolina) is a four-year NBA veteran who has appeared in 160 career games (57 starts) over four seasons with Phoenix, the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee and Philadelphia.