Inside Hoops – Page 1062 – NBA Blog

Bucks sign first round draft pick Jabari Parker

The Milwaukee Bucks have signed first round draft pick Jabari Parker, General Manager John Hammond announced today.

All first round draft picks are guaranteed to receive a contract, assuming they want to begin their NBA career right away. Therefore, this signing is standard operating procedure, and was expected.

The second overall selection in the 2014 NBA Draft, Parker played one collegiate season at Duke University, where he was a consensus First Team All-America selection. While with the Blue Devils, Parker also earned honors as a First Team All-ACC member, ACC Rookie of the Year and USBWA National Freshman of the Year. His 19.1 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game were both Top-50 in the nation, with the points per game average marking the fourth-highest effort ever by an ACC freshman. He is the fourth freshman in ACC history to lead the league in rebounding.

With 670 points and 306 rebounds, Parker became the 14th player in Duke history to record 600+ points and 300+ rebounds in the same season, and he is just the sixth ACC freshman to ever reach the 600-point plateau. He is also the first Duke freshman to lead the team in both scoring and rebounding. Parker posted a career-high 30 points (10-of-17, .588) to go along with 11 boards in a win vs. UNC on March 8. The 30-point effort was the most by a Duke freshman in the 238 games played in series history against the rival Tar Heels.

Additionally, Parker received First Team All-America honors from The Associated Press, NABC, USBWA, Sporting News and Sports Illustrated. Parker was a finalist for the Naismith Trophy, Oscar Robertson Trophy and John R. Wooden Award, and he was honored as the top freshman in the country through the Integris Wayman Tisdale Award by the USBWA. He was named ACC Rookie of the Week a record 10 times and was on the All-ACC Academic Team.

A native of Chicago, Parker attended Simeon Career Academy, where he led Simeon to four IHSA Class 4A state championships and averaged 18.4 points and 10.4 rebounds as a senior. He was named the 2013 Jordan Brand Classic Co-MVP, is a two-time Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year and Illinois Mr. Basketball winner, and was named National Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior. Parker has also played for USA Basketball, earning gold medals at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship and the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship.

Raptors sign first round draft pick Bruno Caboclo

The Toronto Raptors announced Wednesday they have signed forward Bruno Caboclo (cuh-BO-clo) to his rookie scale contract. He is under contract through the 2015-16 season, with two team option years to follow. The Raptors selected the 18-year-old Brazilian with the 20th overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft.

All first round NBA draft picks are guaranteed to receive a contract, assuming they wish to come to the NBA right away. Therefore, this signing is standard operating procedure, and was expected.

Caboclo, 6-foot-9, 205 pounds, was the Most Valuable Player at the 2013 Basketball Without Borders Americas. He played in 16 games this past season with Pinheiros (Sao Paulo) where he contributed 4.9 points and 3.1 rebounds. In three Liga Americas contests, he averaged 8.0 points shooting .714 from the field and .667 from three-point range.

Caboclo and the Raptors open their preliminary round in the 2014 Samsung NBA Summer League in Las Vegas on Friday, July 11 versus the Los Angeles Lakers at 3 p.m. (6 p.m. ET).

Jarred Shaw added to Hornets summer league roster

Here’s the Deseret News reporting on the Jazz summer league squad:

Former Utah State men’s basketball player Jarred Shaw will be a member of the Charlotte Hornets NBA Summer League roster.

The NBA Summer League will be held July 11-21 in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Thomas and Mack Center and COX Pavilion on the UNLV campus. Each team will play no fewer than five games, including three preliminary games before beginning the seeded tournament on July 16.

Cavs will reportedly trade Jarrett Jack to Nets

Here’s ESPN.com reporting on a trade that absolutely does matter, because it helps the Cavs clear salary room in their quest to try to bring LeBron James back to Cleveland:

The Cleveland Cavaliers will trade Jarrett Jack to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday as part of a three-team deal with Boston to create more salary-cap space for the pursuit of LeBron James, according to sources close to the process.

Sources told ESPN.com that the Nets have agreed to take on the contracts of Jack and youngster Sergey Karasev from the Cavaliers in a swap that will also see the Celtics acquire Brooklyn’s Marcus Thornton, Cleveland’s Tyler Zeller and a protected 2016 first-round pick from the Cavaliers.

“I’m very, very excited. Obviously, playing in New York is a compliment in and of itself,” Jack told ESPN’s Josina Anderson. “The opportunity to play at the Barclays every night, I couldn’t be happier.”

Cleveland will take back the draft rights to Ilkan Karaman and Edin Bavcic from the Nets to complete the transaction, a league source told ESPNNewYork.com’s Ohm Youngmisuk. The moves will give the Cavaliers significant financial flexibility by shedding the contracts of Jack, Zeller and Karasev.

Carmelo Anthony likely to re-sign with Knicks

Here’s the New York Daily News reporting that unless something changes, Carmelo Anthony is expected to stick with the Knicks:

Carmelo Anthony is prepared to spend the prime years of his career in New York, the Daily News has learned.

A person close to Anthony told The News on Wednesday that barring a last minute change of heart Anthony will re-sign with the Knicks after “agonizing over this” for the past week.

“He will have something for everybody on Thursday,” said the friend who was with Anthony before Anthony’s scheduled workout with Kevin Durant and Kevin Love in Los Angeles on Wednesday. “He is really torn because this is the biggest decision of his career. But he wants to get it done in New York. He told me he believes in Phil.”

Hornets hire Pat Delany as assistant coach

Charlotte Hornets General Manager Rich Cho announced today that the team has added Pat Delany as an assistant coach on the staff of Head Coach Steve Clifford.

Delany joins the Hornets after spending last season as head coach of the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the NBA D-League affiliate of the Miami Heat. In his first head coaching job, Delany led the team to a 31-19 record, which was tied for the second-best record in the D-League. The .620 winning percentage was the fifth-best in the franchise’s 25-year history and the second-best in its eight seasons in the D-League.

Prior to being named head coach of the Skyforce, Delany served as the Heat’s advance scout for six seasons from 2007-13. He also served as the team’s video coordinator for four seasons from 2003-07 following one season as a video intern.

Video: Top plays from Orlando Day 4

Here are video highlights of top plays from summer league Day 4 in Orlando:

Rick Brunson faces legal charges from incident with longtime massage therapist

Here’s the Chicago Tribune reporting a Rick Brunson story that would work quite well as an episode of your favorite investigation-focused TV show:

Former Chicago Bull Rick Brunson used the name of a retired NBA superstar to book an appointment with a massage therapist who he allegedly attempted to sexually assault at a Vernon Hills fitness center, according to a newly released police report.

Brunson was charged last month with attempted sexual assault and aggravated battery after an incident April 2 at Life Time Athletic center.

The employee at the fitness center had notified Brunson that she would stop giving him massages in 2013, due to a undisclosed prior problem with him, according to the heavily redacted Vernon Hills police report.

Brunson, 42, was arrested June 25 in connection with the latest incident, according to the police report obtained by the Tribune through an open records request.

He had formerly booked massages with the alleged victim 10-20 times over a three-year period “always using his name,” the police report stated. On April 2, “she was surprised to see Brunson when she walked into the massage room since the name in the appointment book was not Brunson’s but listed as Patrick Ewing.”

Trainer Fred Tedeschi gone from Bulls

Here’s the Chicago Tribune with an update on the Bulls training staff:

Longtime Chicago Bulls athletic trainer Fred Tedeschi, hired by former general manager Jerry Krause in August 1998, has left the organization.

Tedeschi twice won the NBATA’s Joe O’Toole Trainer of the Year award. According to a team spokesman, he has accepted a position at Oregon State, where his daughter is enrolled in graduate school.

Young Magic need veteran leadership from Channing Frye

Here’s the Orlando Sentinel reporting on new Magic addition, Channing Frye:

The Magic just didn’t pay for Channing Frye’s basketball services. They are paying him to run their daycare, too.

As any parent knows, finding the right person to watch your kids is money well spent.

You can’t put a price on the maturity and professionalism that Frye will bring to this NBA nursery, although the Magic figured it was worth about $32 million over four years.

You’d ask for the moon, too, to baby-sit this brood.

The Magic are so young and impressionable that they need chaperons and curfews. Top pick Aaron Gordon is 18, and they’ll surely award custody of him to Frye, 31.

Without question, they have turned their lockeroom over to Frye for the next four seasons — or however long he’s in Orlando.