Inside Hoops – Page 1262 – NBA Blog

No, J.R. Smith does not own an armored truck

J.R. Smith

Not a tank or armored truck owner

When the Knicks re-signed Smith, they also renewed their acquaintance with his flamboyance. He denied he was driving a $450,000 armored truck that was parked outside a restaurant where he was dining in the Meatpacking District last month. Smith said the vehicle was his friend’s and he came in a Bentley.

“I don’t know how that got out,’’ Smith said. “I wasn’t even in the truck. I was standing next to the truck. It’s not my truck. It’s one of my friend’s. The Bentley was just over there. I don’t know why they didn’t think that was mine.”

Smith also no longer has blonde hair after his mother and coach Mike Woodson made him dye it back to its original color.

“My mom was killing me, [Woodson] didn’t like it at all,’’ Smith said. “He told me he wasn’t playing my golf outing if I had it blonde. My mom was the deciding factor. She said it was time to bring back the old me.”

Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

Financial issues continue between Allen Iverson and ex-wife

Allen Iverson’s ex-wife is sick and tired of dragging him to court to squeeze out child support … she’s asking a judge to make him cough up the next 13 years worth RIGHT NOW — a cool $1.2 MILLION.

TMZ broke the story … after the couple’s nasty divorce Iverson was ordered to pay $8000/month in child support for their 5 kids. Problem is, Tawanna has gone to court on numerous occasions because A.I. won’t pay.

It came to a head in July when a judge threatened Iverson with jail, unless he forked over $40,000 in back support — which he did. But Tawanna says she doesn’t want to keep running into the same problem.

Reported by TMZ.com

Spurs have hired scout Dave Telep

The San Antonio Spurs, long innovators in NBA front-office operations, have hired well-respected prep recruiting analyst Dave Telep, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Telep will work in a scouting coordinator role for the NBA draft under GM R.C. Buford, sources said.

Telep had recently left a job as an analyst for a cable television network, where he had grown his sizable reputation in the basketball community as one of the game’s most knowledgeable and trusted talent evaluators.

Reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports

Thunder guard DeAndre Liggins jailed on domestic battery complaint

Oklahoma City Thunder guard DeAndre Liggins has been jailed on domestic abuse complaints, according to Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office records.

He was taken to the Oklahoma County jail, where he remains, per a jail official. No bond has been set. He is being held on complaints of domestic assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and domestic abuse in the presence of a minor, a jail official said.

Oklahoma City police were called about 4:40 p.m. to the 2300 block of NW 180th near North Pennsylvania Avenue. An official police incident report is not yet available, Lt. Arthur Gregory said.

Reported by The Oklahoman

Reminder from InsideHoops.com: This is just a complaint. Liggins is innocent until proven otherwise.

J.R. Smith says Paul Pierce will pay for his anti-Knicks comments

Paul Pierce has sparked a war of words between the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Knicks.

Earlier this month, Pierce said that he believed that the Nets would eventually own New York.

J.R. Smith is the latest Knick to take umbrage to Pierce’s comments.

“I just look at him as a bitter person just getting out of Boston. He doesn’t really know what New York is all about. He’s been playing in Boston his whole career,” Smith told ESPN New York on Saturday.

Smith, speaking without anger in his voice, added: “He just knows, just know that his words have consequences and he’s going to have to pay for them.”

Pierce, an ex-Celtic, said earlier this month that his hatred for the Knicks “has grown a little” since he joined the Nets in July following a blockbuster trade.

Reported by Ian Begley of ESPN New York

76ers president Hinkie keeps eye on future

Still living out of a suitcase in a hotel, Sam Hinkie has yet to really settle in Philadelphia.

But in four months, he’s already become quite comfortable running the 76ers.

Hinkie has already made sweeping changes in his short tenure as Philadelphia’s president and general manager, hiring coach Brett Brown, trading All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday, hoarding future draft picks, and making moves for low-cost, low-risk players who could blossom in the right system.

He’s done it all with the simple mission of turning the Sixers into winners.

Just not this season.

In the NBA, fans like to call down seasons ”tanking,” though the Sixers prefer to call the 2013-14 season simply the first step in a rebuilding process toward the franchise’s first championship since 1983.

Reported by Dan Gelston of the Associated Press

Memphis Grizzlies waive Fab Melo

Memphis Grizzlies waive Fab Melo

The Memphis Grizzlies have waived center Fab Melo, the team announced today. Melo was originally acquired on August 14, 2013 in exchange for forward Donté Greene.

Entering his second NBA season, Melo (7-0, 255) saw action in six games last season with the Celtics averaging 1.2 points in six minutes per contest. He appeared in 33 games for the NBA Development League’s Maine Red Claws, where he averaged 9.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and a league-high 3.1 blocks in 26.2 minutes per game after being assigned to the Celtics affiliate on Nov. 14.

Drafted by Boston with the 22nd overall pick in the first round of the 2012 NBA Draft, Melo decided to forgo his final two years at Syracuse University after being named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year in his sophomore season. In two seasons at Syracuse, he averaged 4.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks on .576 shooting in 17.3 minutes in 63 games (54 starts).

Lamar Odom arrested for DUI in Los Angeles

Basketball star Lamar Odom was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence early Friday after a California Highway Patrol officer saw his white Mercedes-Benz traveling erratically on a San Fernando Valley Freeway.

The husband of reality TV star Khloe Kardashian was stopped shortly before 4 a.m. and was arrested after a field sobriety test.

The CHP said Odom’s car was observed traveling in a ”serpentine manner” before he pulled off the freeway.

”Mr. Odom showed objective signs of intoxication and was unable to perform field sobriety tests,” the CHP said in a report. Authorities said he later declined to take a chemical test.

Reported by the Associated Press

Phoenix Suns sign first round pick Alex Len

The Phoenix Suns signed Alex Len, who the team selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.

All players selected in the first round of the NBA Draft are guaranteed to receive a contract. So, this signing is routine, and was expected.

Len is a 7-foot-1, 255-pound athletic center, who finished a two-year career in College Park, Maryland, with an Honorable Mention All-ACC season in which he was also named to the All-ACC Defensive team. Born in Antratsit, Ukraine, Len became the highest-drafted Ukrainian in NBA history after seeing huge jumps in production from his freshman to sophomore campaigns, averaging 11.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in 38 games as a sophomore.

Considered one of the best athletes in this year’s draft, Len is a rim protector with a 7-foot, 4-inch wingspan who recorded an ACC-best 78 blocked shots in 2012-13. Len, 20 years old, shined against some top competition as a sophomore. Matched up against Kentucky early in the season, Len scored a career-high 23 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked four shots. In the ACC Tournament against runner-up North Carolina, scored 20 points, grabbed seven boards, and went 10-of-12 (.833) from the free-throw line. Len posted eight double-digit rebounding efforts as a sophomore, including six double-doubles.

A standout performer for his native Ukraine, Len averaged 16.0 points, 11.4 rebounds and 4.3 blocks in nine games at the under-18 European Championships in 2010. A slew of impressive performances on that international stage included a 20-point, 17-rebound, nine-block effort against Germany, and a 24-point, 20-rebound, four-block, four-steal effort against Sweden.

Portland Trail Blazers change radio stations

The Portland Trail Blazers are changing radio stations for the third time in three years.

The Blazers will air all preseason and regular season games on Fox Sports Radio AM 620 during the 2013-14 season, the team announced today.

The Blazers had been on AM 1190 KEX since last August. Both AM 1190 and AM 620 are owned by Clear Channel Media and Entertainment.

“We are excited about the opportunity to broadcast our games on a station the offers an all-sports format,” said Trail Blazers President & CEO Chris McGowan. “This transition also allows us to avoid any preemption throughout the course of the season.”

Reported by Micah Rice of the Columbian