Inside Hoops – Page 595 – NBA Blog

Sixers add Kris Humphries and Emeka Okafor to training camp roster

The Philadelphia 76ers have agreed to terms with forward Kris Humphries and center Emeka Okafor and signed those players to their training camp roster.

Humphries, a 13-year NBA veteran, has appeared in 800 career games (203 starts) with Utah, Toronto, Dallas, New Jersey/Brooklyn, Boston, Washington, Phoenix and Atlanta. The Minnesota native holds career averages of seven points and five rebounds in 18 minutes per game. He averaged a double-double in consecutive seasons from 2010-12 with the Nets.

Originally selected with the second overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft by the then-Charlotte Bobcats, following an NCAA Tournament win with UConn, Okafor has played nine NBA seasons. He has competed in 590 career games (584 starts) with Charlotte, New Orleans and Washington and holds career averages of 12 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks per game.

Training camp will be held from Tuesday, Sept. 26 through Friday, Sept. 29.

Clippers trade DeAndre Liggins to Hawks, who quickly waive him

The Atlanta Hawks have acquired guard/forward DeAndre Liggins and cash considerations from the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for draft considerations, the team announced today.

Liggins, 29, holds career averages of 2.1 points and 1.5 rebounds in 119 appearances over four seasons with Orlando, Oklahoma City, Miami, Cleveland and Dallas.

UPDATE: The Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club has waived DeAndre Liggins, the team announced today.

Tony Parker should return sooner than expected

Tony Parker is up there in age but he remains a key member of the Spurs, who enter the 2017-18 season in their usual place, as a contender. It was unclear when Parker would return from injury, but good news has emerged. Here’s ESPN.com reporting:

With the San Antonio Spurs set to report to the team facilities Monday for media day, point guard Tony Parker received some positive news Friday when doctors cleared him to participate in the club’s upcoming training camp, after he suffered a season-ending torn quadriceps tendon in May during the Western Conference semifinals.

“The thing is, I did an MRI on Friday, and the doctor said they were really happy with the MRI,” Parker told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. “It looked very good. So they cleared me. But it’s still going to be like another, I think, two months to get back in shape and getting my leg stronger.” …

“In my mind, hopefully, I can be back by mid-November, end of November,” Parker said. “But overall, it’s great news. Because at first, the doctors thought it would be the end of January. So it’s still like great news.”

Full article

Several key players gone from Jazz

The Jazz are a different team this upcoming season. They lost some key parts during the offseason, the biggest being young star Gordon Hayward. Here’s the Deseret News reporting:

A lot has changed in the last four and a half months since the Utah Jazz were eliminated from the NBA playoffs by the eventual champion Golden State Warriors, following a 51-win season and a fifth-place finish in the Western Conference.

The Jazz lost their premier player, Gordon Hayward, to the Boston Celtics in a free agency move that gave the Utah franchise nothing in return. They also lost starting point guard George Hill, who chose to sign with Sacramento, again with nothing in return. Also moving on were former first-round draft choice Trey Lyles, who was traded to Denver, part-time starting point guard Shelvin Mack and backup center Jeff Withey, who signed with the Mavericks and veteran Boris Diaw, who was waived.

Jazz picked up seven new players, six of whom who are expected to be on the 13-man active roster, led by former lottery pick Ricky Rubio. The Jazz also have first-round draft picks Donovan Mitchell and Tony Bradley as well as veterans Thabo Sefolosha, Jonas Jerebko and Ekpe Udoh. The Jazz also signed swingman Royce O’Neal, but he’ll most likely be fighting for a spot on the 15-man roster.

Full article

Bulls and Dwyane Wade reportedly agree to buyout

The Bulls aren’t what they were. Jimmy Butler and Rajon Rondo are gone. The team won’t be a contender in 2017-18. So why would Dwyane Wade, as his NBA career winds down, want to stick around? And why would the Bulls, clearly now in a rebuilding period, still need him? As has been expected, the two sides will part ways. Here’s the Chicago Tribune reporting:

Three months after trading Jimmy Butler and waiving Rajon Rondo, the Bulls reached agreement on a buyout with Dwyane Wade on Sunday night, the eve of training camp. A source said Wade gave up roughly $8 million to $9 million of the $23.8 million he stood to make after picking up his player option on June 20, two days before the Butler deal.

The move clears the way for Wade to sign with a contender like the Cavaliers, Thunder or Spurs or possibly return to his beloved Heat. More importantly, it allows the Bulls to start fresh with their full rebuild and eliminate a potential distraction since Wade preferred to play for his fourth championship at this stage of his career.

“I just felt it was time for me, turning 36, that I want to be competing for a championship,” Wade told the Tribune in a phone interview. “I said when I got here, it was always a dream for me to play here. And getting that opportunity was special. And I can’t even say it wasn’t what everyone expected because we went to the playoffs. And trying to restore this franchise to respectability was our goal. The organization decided to go in a different direction, which I respect.”

Full article

Nets sign Akil Mitchell

The Brooklyn Nets have signed forward Akil Mitchell.

Mitchell (6’9”, 250) appeared in four games for the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s NBA G League affiliate, during the 2016-17 season, averaging 8.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 28.6 minutes per contest. He joined the team in late February after his rights were originally acquired by Long Island in the fourth round of the 2016 NBA G League Expansion Draft.

Prior to his time with the LI Nets, Mitchell appeared in 25 games for the New Zealand Breakers in Australia’s National Basketball League last season, averaging 9.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 22.7 minutes per game while shooting .556 from the field (105-of-189). Mitchell has also played professionally for Antibes in France’s LNB Pro A (2015-16) and for the NBA G League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers (2014-15) after four years (2010-14) at the University of Virginia. The Charlotte, N.C., native was named to the 2013-14 All-ACC Defensive Team as a senior (2013-14) and the All-ACC third team as a junior (2012-13). He finished his career at Virginia ranking third all-time in games played (133) and seventh in rebounds (798).

Bucks sign Joel Anthony and Gerald Green

The Milwaukee Bucks have signed free agent center/forward Joel (Jo-EL) Anthony and guard/forward Gerald Green to training camp contracts.

Anthony, 35, appeared in 19 games last season for the San Antonio Spurs and averaged 1.3 points and 1.6 rebounds in 6.4 minutes per contest.

Undrafted out of UNLV, Anthony played his first seven seasons with the Miami Heat and won back-to-back NBA Championships in 2012 and 2013. Over his ten-year NBA career he has averaged 2.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots over 490 games (110 starts) with Miami, Boston, Detroit and San Antonio.

Green, 31, appeared in 47 games last season for the Boston Celtics and averaged 5.6 points and 1.9 rebounds in 11.4 minutes per contest.

A ten-year NBA veteran, Green was the 18th overall selection in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics. He sports career averages of 9.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.0 assist over 544 games (116 starts) with Boston, Minnesota, Houston, Dallas, New Jersey, Indiana, Phoenix and Miami. Green spent two years (2009-11) playing professionally overseas in Russia and China.

Lots of preseason travel for Timberwolves

The Timberwolves are doing a ton of traveling this preseason. The good kind of traveling. Where you get on planes and go visit interesting places. Not the bad kind of travel, where the referee is forced to blow a whistle at you. Well, maybe they’ll do that as well. We’ll see! Anyway, here’s the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

The Timberwolves rolled out the basketballs on a new season Saturday morning, convening in a University of California-San Diego gym more than 1,500 miles away from their downtown Minneapolis training facility.

Why, you very well might ask?

Well, it’s sort of on their way to China, where they will play two preseason games against defending NBA champion Golden State next week.

It’s also a sunny and chic version of Mankato, Minn., — former training-camp home to both the Wolves and the NFL’s Vikings — and a getaway where they’ll drill during the day with the Pacific Ocean shimmering in the distance and bond at night.

Full story

Warriors statement on Trump not inviting team to White House

OFFICIAL TEAM STATEMENT BY THE WARRIORS

While we intended to meet as a team at the first opportunity we had this morning to collaboratively discuss a potential visit to the White House, we accept that President Trump has made it clear that we are not invited. We believe there is nothing more American than our citizens having the right to express themselves freely on matters important to them. We’re disappointed that we did not have an opportunity during this process to share our views or have open dialogue on issues impacting our communities that we felt would be important to raise.

In lieu of a visit to the White House, we have decided that we’ll constructively use our trip to the nation’s capital in February to celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion — the values that we embrace as an organization.

Grizzlies trade Troy Daniels to Suns

The Phoenix Suns have acquired guard Troy Daniels and a 2018 second-round pick from the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for a conditional Suns’ 2018 second-round pick.

Daniels, a 6-4, 205-pound guard, is a four-year NBA veteran who has played 162 games with Houston, Minnesota, Charlotte and, most recently, Memphis. In 2016-17, Daniels averaged 8.2 points while shooting 38.9 percent from three-point range in career-highs of 17.7 minutes and 67 games with the Grizzlies. The 26-year-old scored in double figures 23 times last season, including a career-high 31 points against the Lakers on December 3.

Holding a career three-point mark of 40.6 percent, Daniels has averaged 6.2 points, 1.2 rebounds and 13.2 minutes over his four-year NBA career. Since he entered the league in 2013-14, his 40.6 percent mark from three-point range is 10th-best in the league among those with at least 250 makes. Undrafted in 2013, Daniels began his pro career with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League before signing with the Rockets late in the 2013-14 season and becoming a member of their rotation in the 2014 playoffs. He split time between Houston, Minnesota and Charlotte in 2014-15 and played the 2015-16 season with the Hornets before being dealt to the Grizzlies in July 2016.

A native of Roanoke, Virginia, Daniels played collegiately at Virginia Commonwealth University and was a member of the Rams’ 2011 Final Four team. As a senior in 2012-13, Daniels averaged a career-high 12.3 points and set a single-season school record with 124 three-point makes.