Inside Hoops – Page 2644 – NBA Blog

Rumors Commentary: TJ Ford is OK

Great news that TJ Ford is going to be OK and will resume his basketball career sometime in the near future. Not that there was specific reason to doubt he’d return, other than remembering how serious his past injury situation was. He really needs to stop this getting hurt nonsense. Or next time just sprain a finger or lightly twist an ankle or something.

Isiah Thomas saying this team should head for a championship is ridiculous and it impresses me that none of the reporters there to hear it burst out laughing. Does Isiah really believe what he’s saying, or was he told to say it by ownership? Maybe that’s part of his contract, having to say what owners tell him, no matter how silly it is. Does Isiah read the papers? If so he’d see that literally every single reporter who heard the comments mocked how ridiculous it is to say that stuff.

As the Feb. 21 trade deadline approaches this rumors page will become even more interesting than it already is, and that’s saying a lot. But once the deadline passes we’ll still be a must-read page. The tone merely changes a bit.

Damon Stoudamire probably only has a few seasons left in his career, which I guess is why he and his agent want him moved as quickly as possible. If he just rides this one out, his next contract may be for the league minimum for a player with his experience. But if he gets traded and gets minutes somewhere, he stil has a shot at getting something higher than the minimum. He’s already 34. Most point guards are washed up right around 35 or so.

Who is the better defensive stopper at this point, Ben Wallace or Chris Kaman? Only answer if you’ve seen at least four Clippers and four Bulls games this season.

So it turns out that former Magic coach Brian Hill was right about almost every aspect of the team. Does that mean he gets his job back? No need, because Stan Van Gundy appears to have as good a grasp on the situation.

Speaking of giving coaches their job back, maybe the Rockets should bring Jeff Van Gundy back. It won’t happen, obviously. But I hope Van Gundy stays on television, where he’s terrific to listen to.

At this rate, the Nets will move to Brooklyn right around the time T.J. Kidd (Jason Kidd’s son) has a grandson declaring for the Draft.

This light, unedited editorial is a response to today’s NBA rumors stories. You absolutely need to hit the insidehoops rumors page every single day — with one main morning update, and more stories later in the day as they develop. Also hit that page to see the photo caption that accompanies the commentary. And of course, read the read of insidehoops.com as well. Discuss today’s hot stories on our basketball forum.

No Nets in Brooklyn until 2010 at earliest

The AP reports: The Nets will play most or all of the 2009-10 N.B.A. season in New Jersey instead of in their new arena in Brooklyn, a team spokesman said Thursday. The spokesman, Barry Baum, said the Nets could begin the 2009-10 season at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., and then move to Brooklyn in the first half of 2010. The Nets had planned to play in their new arena starting in 2009. But in October, the Nets’ principal owner, Bruce Ratner, said the arena, to be called the Barclays Center, probably would not be ready by the start of that season.

Iverson’s son OK after fall, surgery

The Rocky Mountain News reports: Allen Iverson was playing with plenty else on his mind. He had missed practice Monday and Wednesday (the Nuggets were off Tuesday) because his 4-year-old son, Isaiah, had fallen off a stool early Monday morning and suffered what Iverson called a “big gash under his mouth” that needed plastic surgery. “He had hands in his shirt, and it was a high stool,” said Iverson, who said there was lots of blood and his son must go back to the doctor every other day in the next week. “When he fell, he couldn’t brace it. . . . (It was tough because) my wife had to go through what she went through and my kids and (Isaiah) having to go through it. The toughest part was when they sedated him. . . . I was just mentally out of it.”

Damon Stoudamire wants trade from Grizzlies

Looks like Memphis point guard Damon Stoudamire, who this season in 21.5 minutes per game has averaged 7.3 points and 3.9 assists on 39.7% shooting, has no interest in being bench fodder while young Mike Conley and Kyle Lowry pass him on the depth charts. The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports:

Grizzlies veteran point guard Damon Stoudamire will seek a trade or contract buyout, his agent said Thursday. Stoudamire was removed from the starting lineup in favor of first-round draft pick Mike Conley. Stoudamire was on the inactive list for the Grizzlies’ victory Wednesday over Indiana. Aaron Goodwin, an experienced NBA agent with a star-studded client list, called the decision to relegate Stoudamire to an insurance player at the point unacceptable and disrespectful.

The Grizzlies have struggled this season and with 9 wins and 22 losses are tied for the 5th lowest winning percentage in the league.

Crumbling United States Basketball League (USBL) won’t play in 2008

The USBL, which has been steadily shrinking in size, for now has suspended their operations and not even setting up their 2008 season until they find more teams. The AP reports:

The United States Basketball League, down to only a handful of teams, has suspended operations. “We’re not going to schedule for the ’08 season until we have enough teams we feel comfortable going forward with,” USBL director of public relations Jake Gordon said. The league began the 2007 season with eight teams and lost two during the year, he said. One of the six remaining teams, the Albany Patroons, decided not to play in the post-season, leaving only five squads for the summer tournament — the Oklahoma Storm, the Gary Steelheads, the Dodge City Legend, the Kansas Cagerz and the Brooklyn Kings.

InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner used to attend a few Brooklyn Kings games per season around 2003-2005, and estimates that around 75-125 fans attended an average game. And they played in a college gym that made no mention of an actual event going on outside on the street, so people walking by wouldn’t even know a semi-pro basketball game was taking place.

McGrady injury update: Out 7-10 days

Statement from Dr. Tom Clanton: “Rockets guard/forward Tracy McGrady underwent further examination and a second MRI at the Roger Clemens Institute at Memorial Hermann, which revealed a strained popliteus tendon in his left knee. This is in addition to his patellar tendinitis and bruised bone that had been diagnosed previously and were confirmed by the first MRI. McGrady is expected to miss between 7-10 days as he continues his current rehabilitation program.”

Latest All-Star voting results are in

Thursday afternoon, the latest updated results for fan voting that picks the All-Star game starters came in. InsideHoops.com has the full voting counts posted here (click this).

If voting ended today, here’s who would start:

East: Kidd, Wade, LeBron, Garnett, D-Howard.
West: Kobe, McGrady, Melo, Duncan, Yao.

– Subscribe to our blog’s RSS feed (click here).
– Discuss this on the InsideHoops basketball forum (click here).

Rumors commentary: Hughes May Stay

Losing Chris Mihm for a few weeks hurts the Lakers frontcourt depth a tiny but but it won’t make a huge difference. The 7-0, 265-pound player gets 13.3 minutes per game but contributes just 4.1 points and 3.7 rebounds on awful 36.9% shooting. Though, still, you never want to lose anyone to injury… I agree with the league for suspending Lamar Odom for one game. I hope that Dikembe Mutombo, now age 62, keeps playing and doesn’t retire at season’s end, though he’s said for a while now that he will. The 74-year old center is playing just 8.5 minutes per game this season, putting up a whopping 0.5 points and 2.5 rebounds on awesome 16.7% shooting. Clearly, the 83-year-old has some game left in the tank… Larry Hughes is shooting 33.5% from the field and 27.3% from three-point range. He does make his free throws, though, nailing 86.5% of them. He’s scoring just 9.7 pppg, the lowest average since his rookie season. His career FG% is 41.1%… I think the Hornets and Bobcats should combine into one team, and move to Oklahoma City… New Orleans clearly can’t support an NBA team right now. Me, my friend Mike, you, and a random hot chick chosen from the background of an MTV music video could stand centercourt, do the “Crank Dat Superman” Soulja Boy dance, and draw the same number of fans that have been going to home Hornets games.

Bulls looking better under Boylan

The Bulls actually look like a real team again under new head coach Jim Boylan. Maybe they’ll soon be a force as it was expected they’d be. The AP reports:

Ben Gordon scored 22 points, Luol Deng added 21 points and 13 rebounds and the Chicago Bulls continued their strong play under interim coach Jim Boylan with a 109-97 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night. The Bulls, who improved to 3-1 under Boylan, rallied from a 12-point third-quarter deficit when Boylan tweaked his rotation to take advantage of Charlotte’s small lineup.

Lots of teams rally when a big change gets made, though. Let’s see if it continues.

Knicks hold Salmons to 32/11/6/6 yet still lose to Kings

The Knicks continued their losing ways Wednesday night in New York, losing to the injury-riddled Sacramento Kings 107-97. The final score is deceptive. This game wasn’t close at all and for all intents and purposes was really a 20-point Kings win.

In addition to Mike Bibby and Kevin Martin being out the Kings were also without Ron Artest, who had right elbow surgery today. But Brad Miller, John Salmons and Francisco Garcia played like stars.

Miller put up 26 points and 16 rebounds. Garcia shot badly but earned plenty of free throws to make up for it, getting 22 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

Salmons was king of the court, shooting 13-of-18 for 32 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 steals.

For the Knicks, Eddy Curry found offense, shooting 10-of-17 (and just 4-of-11 free throws) for 24 points, most of which came in the first half. But he grabbed just 3 rebounds and was totally destroyed when attempting to play defense.

Stephon Marbury returned for the Knicks, coming off the bench to play reasonably well, getting 16 points and 4 assists.

Nate Robinson got 19 points on just 11 shots.

Jamal Crawford was awful, as was Quentin Richardson. And Zach Randolph had one of his worst games of the season and was ejected after throwing his headband in disgust.

The Knicks committed 21 turnovers and 32 fouls.