Inside Hoops – Page 1244 – NBA Blog

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

Cleveland Cavaliers announce staff promotions

The Cleveland Cavaliers have promoted Trent Redden to Assistant General Manager and Koby Altman to Director of Pro Player Personnel. Additionally, Alex Moore has been hired as High Performance Director and will oversee the Cavaliers Performance Team, which manages the team’s rehabilitation, physical therapy, nutrition, strength and conditioning, and athletic training areas.

Redden was most recently the Director of College Player Personnel for the Cavs and has been with the organization since 2006. Altman joined the Cavaliers in 2012 as the Pro Personnel Manager after spending several seasons as an assistant coach at Columbia University and as an Operations Manager with USA Basketball.

Moore, joins the Cavs from the United States Ski Team where he served as the program’s Strength and Conditioning Coordinator for six years.

Within the Performance Team, Steve Spiro has been promoted to Head Athletic Trainer after serving the last three seasons as assistant athletic trainer and Derek Millender has been promoted to Performance Specialist after three seasons as the team’s assistant strength coach. The Cavs have also hired Yusuke Nakayama as Assistant Athletic Trainer, Performance Scientist. Nakayama comes to the Cavs by way of Michigan State University, where he served as an athletic trainer with the Spartan Nutrition and Athletic Performance Program, while finishing his PhD. George Sibel also continues as Physical Therapist, a role he has held with the team for the last seven seasons.

Orlando Magic sign rookie Romero Osby, four others

The Orlando Magic have signed rookie forward Romero Osby, General Manager Rob Hennigan announced today.

In addition to Osby, the Magic have signed free agents Mickell Gladness (#40, 6-11, 220, 7/26/86, Alabama A&M), Manny Harris (#3, 6-5, 185, 9/21/89, Michigan), Solomon Jones (#22, 6-10, 245, 7/16/84, South Florida) and Kris Joseph (#32, 6-7, 210, 12/17/88, Syracuse). The roster currently stands at 19 players.

Osby (AHZ-bee, 6’8”, 230, 5/7/90) was selected by Orlando in the second round (51st overall) of the 2013 NBA Draft. He appeared and started in 63 career games during two seasons at the University of Oklahoma, averaging 14.4 ppg., 7.2 rpg. and 1.1 apg. in 29.4 minpg., while shooting .509 (321-631) from the field. Osby also played in 71 games (three starts) in two seasons at Mississippi State University, averaging 4.2 ppg. and 2.6 rpg. in 12.8 minpg.

OKC Thunder sign guards Diante Garrett and Rodney McGruder

The Oklahoma City Thunder signed guards Diante Garrett and Rodney McGruder to contracts, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti. We assume these are just non-guaranteed deals that merely bring the players to training camp.

Garrett (6-4, 190 pounds), appeared in 19 games last season as a member of the Phoenix Suns where he averaged 2.1 points and 1.6 assists in 7.9 minutes per game. Additionally, Garrett played eight games last season for the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA D-League where he posted averages of 17.3 points, 7.3 assists and 1.63 steals.

While playing collegiately at Iowa State, Garrett became one of three players in Big 12 history to amass 1,300 points and 600 assists.

McGruder (6-4, 205 pounds), recently concluded his four year college career at Kansas State where he became one of two players in school history to rank among the top 10 in both career scoring and rebounding.

During his senior season, McGruder earned All-Big 12 First Team and Honorable Mention All-America honors after registering averages of 15.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.26 steals per game.

The Oklahoma City Thunder roster now stands at 17.

Vander Blue, Darius Morris, Hollis Thompson, Rodney Williams, Khalif Wyatt join 76ers training camp

The Philadelphia 76ers today announced their training camp roster in preparation for the 2013-14 NBA season. Training camp will take place at Saint Joseph’s University’s Hagan Arena beginning tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 28, and runs through Wednesday, Oct. 2.

In conjunction with the start of training camp, the Sixers have announced the signing of five players.

Vander Blue (6-4, 200) is a rookie from Marquette and was an early entry candidate for the 2013 NBA Draft following his junior season, during which he averaged 15 points, three rebounds and two assists en route to earning All-BIG EAST Second Team honors. Blue increased his scoring average, along with his field goal, three-point and free throw percentage across each of his three collegiate seasons. He averaged 12 points and nearly six rebounds in the 2013 Orlando Pro Summer League.

Darius Morris (6-4, 195) was the 41st overall pick by the L.A. Lakers in the 2011 NBA Draft. In two seasons with the Lakers, Morris appeared in 67 games with 17 starts. During the Lakers First Round series vs. San Antonio in the 2013 playoffs, Morris averaged 11 points and three assists in 26 minutes per game. Morris entered the NBA Draft as an early entry candidate after his sophomore season at Michigan, where he averaged 10 points and five assists en route to earning All-Big Ten Third Team honors.

Hollis Thompson (6-8, 206) is a rookie from Georgetown and was an early entry candidate for the 2012 NBA Draft following his junior season, during which he averaged 13 points and nearly six rebounds en route to earning All-BIG EAST honorable mention. Last season, he played for the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League, averaging eight points and four rebounds.

Rodney Williams (6-7, 205) is a rookie from Minnesota and was eligible for the 2013 NBA Draft following his senior season, during which he averaged 10 points, five rebounds and two assists. He also shot over 51% from the floor for his collegiate career. Williams averaged eight points, two assists and a block and a half per game in the 2013 Orlando Pro Summer League, while playing for the Sixers’ Summer League team.

Khalif Wyatt (6-4, 205) is a rookie from Temple and was eligible for the 2013 NBA Draft following his senior season, during which he averaged 20 points, four assists, three rebounds and nearly two steals en route to earning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year honors. The Norristown native played for the Sixers in the 2013 Orlando Pro Summer League, averaging a team-high 14 points along with three assists and over a steal and a half per game.

Vowing maturity, Jazz center Enes Kanter steps into spotlight

A wispy dark beard aside, not much appeared to have changed about Enes Kanter six months since he last appeared in a game for the Utah Jazz. Surrounded by children, Kanter fit right in, bouncing enthusiastically, smiling as he played shooting games and behaving like the big, fun-loving kid Jazz fans have come to know him as in the two years since the franchise made him the No. 3 overall pick in the NBA Draft.

But Kanter, who turned 21 in the offseason, said a summer of rehabbing from shoulder surgery and an anticipated spike in on-floor responsibility matured him — even though he said the beard won’t make it to Jazz training camp, which starts with Monday’s media day.

No more, he vowed, will the player who once emerged from the Jazz locker room wearing a SpongeBob SquarePants T-shirt use his popular Twitter feed to conduct a casting call for the women of Salt Lake City to join him at the Cheesecake Factory, or to disseminate photos showing off his physique. Like it or not, the Jazz’s most entertaining player seems to be growing up.

“When I was in my first two years,” Kanter said, “I was thinking I’m not going to get old, I’m just going to be like this my whole life. I was wrong. You grow up. And the stuff I put out there, rookie mistakes.”

Reported by Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune

Stephen Curry Leaves Nike for Under Armour

Warriors star point guard Stephen Curry has decided to leave Nike and sign a new deal with the up-and-coming brand Under Armour, according to multiple sources.

Curry will debut is new allegiance at the Warriors’ media day on Friday.

His contract with Nike expires at the end of September. His rising stardom, coming off the Warriors’ playoff run, prompted Under Armour to go hard after Curry. After months of negotiations with both companies, Curry made the surprising move to leave the shoe giant, who he signed with as a rookie, to become the face of the new kid on the block.

Reported by Marcus Thompson of the Contra Costa Times (Blog)