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[Raymond] Felton said the Knicks plan to meet for workouts in early September, about 3-4 weeks before training camp starts.
“We should be back at full force by then,” the point guard said.
It’s fairly common for NBA teams to organize players-only workouts before training camp.
Both the Knicks and Nets did so last season.
The Nets will convene this week in Los Angeles for players-only workouts, a source confirmed to ESPNNewYork’s Mike Mazzeo.
Reported by Ian Begley of ESPN New York
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Raymond Felton says he “loves” the changes the Knicks made in the offseason. Felton also made a pretty significant change himself.
With the help of Washington D.C.-based trainer Keith Veney, Felton says he has lost approximately 15 pounds since the end of the 2012-13 season. He played at around 212 pounds last year and is encouraged with his new physique and the added speed it can lead to.
“I was quick before, but if you take off 15 pounds, you can be that much quicker,” Felton said Sunday at a Big Brothers-Big Sisters New York City event at St. John’s.
Felton’s weight was an issue in his lone season in Portland in 2011-12. He entered the season out of shape because he was caught off guard by the lockout. When the lockout ended and the season began in late December, Felton admits that he was not physically prepared.
Reported by Ian Begley of ESPN New York
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Former Spur DeJuan Blair has already poured some gasoline on the Mavs’ rivalry with his old team.
When asked about getting back to the NBA Finals, Blair told NBA.com, “Of course I want to get back. I don’t think we’ve [Spurs] would have came up short if I would’ve played but, hey, keep that out there.”
Blair only played four minutes in Game 4 and six minutes in Game 5 of the Finals—both blowouts.
This is not the first time Blair has complained about playing time, though, something Coach Rick Carlisle surely won’t tolerate.
Reported by SportsDayDFW
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“Paul Pierce said the Nets are gonna take over the city,” the Knicks point guard said with a smirk Sunday. “It’s hard for you to take over the city when we’ve got ‘New York’ on our chest and you’ve got ‘Brooklyn’ on yours. It’s been this way since long before he started playing.”
Felton fanned a flame initially sparked by Pierce last week when the new Net told Complex magazine that he hates the Knicks “with a passion” and wanted to “start the beef.”
Pierce, a longtime Knicks nemesis with the Boston Celtics, was traded to the Nets in July along with Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry. The blockbuster deal has made Brooklyn the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic Division title and, in Pierce’s estimation, the allegiance of New York fans.
“It’s already a rivalry with them, and when you add Pierce and Garnett, that makes it bigger,” said Felton, who helped conduct a basketball clinic for 50 kids Sunday at St. John’s in conjunction with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
Reported by Stephen Haynes of New York Newsday
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Lost in this summer’s extolling of other teams’ activity is this simple but significant truth: most every Western Conference playoff contender that added a major player lost a major player.
Dallas, for instance, added Jose Calderon, Monta Ellis and DeJuan Blair but lost Darren Collison, O.J. Mayo and Elton Brand. Golden State welcomed Andre Iguodala and Jermaine O’Neal but said goodbye to Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry. The Los Angeles Clippers brought in the aforementioned Collison, J.J. Redick and Jared Dudley but watched Eric Bledsoe, Chauncey Billups and Caron Butler take a hike.
Houston, with the addition of Dwight Howard, is the only Western Conference playoff contender that escaped this negligible, at best, net gain.
But because Oklahoma City didn’t reel in Mike Miller or Dorell Wright or whoever else to replace Martin, the Thunder, on paper, appears to be worse. Of course, this logic fails to consider OKC’s in-house replacements, rising star Reggie Jackson and sharpshooter Jeremy Lamb. Both have been recognized as possible Sixth Man Award candidates next season, and, together, the two should be more than capable of supplying what Martin provided last season — if not more.
Reported by Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman
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Even with the addition of two future Hall of Famers, the Nets are still Deron Williams’ team.
The captain is doing his best to lead in the summer, as well.
Williams organized players-only workouts this week in Southern California, with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in attendance. Williams told the Daily News that 10 of Brooklyn’s 15 players will participate in the workouts that started Sunday and runs until Friday.
The entire starting lineup, including Brook Lopez, is expected in SoCal. Lopez only recently shed his walking boot after offseason surgery to replace a screw in his right foot. He also spent a large portion of the summer on a goodwill tour of the world, while Pierce has been winning over the Nets’ fan base by persistently bashing the Knicks.
Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News
Charlotte Bobcats assistant coach Bob Beyer was arrested in upstate New York on Thursday night following an incident in a Saratoga Springs restaurant.
Beyer, 51, was charged with second-degree obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
A Bobcats spokesman said Beyer is still employed by the team and issued the following statement: “We are aware of the incident. It is a legal matter and we will have no further comment until the legal process has run its course.”
Reported by Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer
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Former Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls assistant Jim Cleamons has been hired as the Bucks lead assistant coach, joining Bob Bender, Nick Van Exel, Scott Williams and Josh Oppenheimer on coach Larry Drew’s staff.
Cleamons was a guard on the Lakers’ championship team in 1971-’72 and later served as an assistant to Phil Jackson on the Lakers staff from 1999-2004 and again from 2006-’11. Cleamons also was an assistant to Jackson with the Chicago Bulls for seven seasons, winning four titles during the Michael Jordan era in the Windy City.
The 63-year-old Cleamons has been connected with 10 NBA championship teams (one as a player with the Lakers and five as a coach, and the four titles with the Bulls).
Reported by Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Larry Sanders has made big strides in the past year.
And the Milwaukee Bucks are banking on his ability to leap to another level as a team leader and major defensive presence in the middle.
A league source indicated Friday that Sanders and the Bucks were near agreement on a four-year, $44 million contract extension.
Only final details remained to be settled on a deal that will keep the 6-foot-11 Sanders in Milwaukee through the 2017-’18 season.
Sanders, in the final year of his rookie-scale contract, will be paid $3 million next season. But he will make $11 million per year in the next four years, showing the high hopes the Bucks have placed in the 24-year-old center.
Reported by Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Determined to show his critics he’s still at the top of his game and feeling stronger physically after electric shock treatment to his knees, Heat guard Dwyane Wade was the portrait of optimism on several fronts Friday:
He said he has no reason to believe that any of the Big Three will sign elsewhere after next season, when he, LeBron James and Chris Bosh can exercise opt-out clauses.
He said he has no intention of abandoning the attacking style that has been a hallmark of his game, an element that became far more difficult as he dealt with knee pain during this past season’s playoffs.
He said he does not believe the knees – which were problematic the past two postseasons – will be a lingering issue for the remainder of his career. And he feels no need to curtail his minutes with the hope that will keep him healthy for May and June.
“I don’t worry about it because I’ve dealt with so many different injuries since I was young and I’ve always bounced back and found a way to be the player you guys have seen,” he said Friday morning at the Westin Diplomat before overseeing his fantasy basketball camp. “I’ve seen it work with my body before. I’m confident it will. My skills haven’t diminished. I’m not done yet.”
Reported by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald