Inside Hoops – Page 644 – NBA Blog

Jusuf Nurkic returns from injury for Blazers

Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic, who was part of the big Trail Blazers turnaround that took place when he arrived from the team in trade from the Nuggets, has a fracture in his leg but is returning much earlier than anticipated and will be playing hurt against the Warriors. Here’s CSNNW reporting:

From doubtful to starting! The Bosnian Beast is back!

The Trail Blazers announced Nurkić will play in Game 3 vs. the Golden State Warriors at the Moda Center Saturday night.

Nurkic fractured fibula in his right leg on March 28th and was expected to miss at least two weeks before he was re-assessed.

Before the series, Nurkić told reporters, “if it was up to me I’d play right now.”

Blake Griffin injury update

The L.A. Clippers announced that forward Blake Griffin will miss the remainder of the 2017 NBA Playoffs with an injury to the plantar plate of his right big toe suffered during the Clippers’ 111-106 win over the Utah Jazz in Game 3 of their Western Conference First Round Playoff series.

Griffin will be re-evaluated upon the team’s return to Los Angeles and will see foot and ankle specialist Dr. Richard Ferkel.

Griffin averaged 21.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists in 61 regular season games in 2016-17, and averaged 25.0 points per game in the first two games of the Clippers’ Playoff series vs. the Jazz.

Blake Griffin out for remainder of NBA playoffs

Yet another Blake Griffin injury, at the worst possible time. The Clippers will be without their star power forward for the remainder of the playoffs. Here’s the LA Times reporting:

This season will finish similar to the last, with a sidelined Blake Griffin on the bench in street clothes.

Only this isn’t the same old story for the Clippers.

The most critical offseason in the franchise’s history has come early, courtesy of news that Griffin will miss the remainder of the playoffs because of damage to the plantar plate on his big right toe.

Chris Paul and Doc Rivers promised the Clippers will be ready to take on Utah Jazz in Game 4 of their opening-round playoff series Sunday, but this is something more far-reaching than that.

The Clippers are staring ahead into the unknown.

No Steve Kerr or Kevin Durant tonight for Warriors

Here’s the Bay Area News Group reporting on the Warriors, who will be missing some key pieces tonight but still have everybody they should need to look like their usual selves:

The Warriors will be without their coach and star small forward for Game 3 in Portland on Saturday night, plus a pair of other rotation pieces.

Steve Kerr will not coach because of an illness. Kevin Durant will be sidelined for a second straight game because of a calf strain, the team announced. Matt Barnes (foot sprain) and Shaun Livingston (hand contusion) also remain out.

Kings hire Scott Perry as Executive VP of Basketball Operations

The Sacramento Kings today hired Scott Perry as Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, according to General Manager Vlade Divac.

Perry will report directly to Divac and assist in all aspects of the day-to-day operation of the Kings front office, including roster management and development, player personnel matters, scouting strategy and free agency negotiations.

“I’m thrilled that Scott will be joining our front office team,” said Divac. “His extensive experience in the league and management talents will help build on our progress as we work to develop a winning franchise.”

Perry joins Sacramento’s front office after serving the last five seasons in a similar capacity with the Orlando Magic. Prior to his time in central Florida, Perry spent parts of 12 seasons with the Pistons as a collegiate scout (2000-02), director of player personnel (2002-2007) and later as Vice President of Basketball Operations (2008-12). Detroit reached the Eastern Conference Finals on six occasions (2003-08), made consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals (2004 and 2005) and won the NBA Title in 2004 during Perry’s tenure. He also served as the Seattle Supersonics assistant general manager in the 2007-08 season, during which the franchise drafted Kevin Durant No. 2 overall.

Before entering the NBA executive ranks, Perry spent three seasons as head basketball coach at Eastern Kentucky University (1997-2000) and nine years as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan, UC Berkeley and Detroit Mercy.

The former Wayne State University Warrior was a captain and all-conference player his senior season (1986). He also suited up for the University of Oregon as a freshman after being recruited by NBA coach Jim O’Brien and former NBA executive Stu Jackson.

Rajon Rondo injured: broken thumb

Just when things were looking up for the Chicago Bulls, surprisingly up 2-0 in their postseason series against the No. 1 East seed Boston Celtics, guard Rajon Rondo has been lost to injury.

Rondo injured his right hand in Game 2 at Boston on Tuesday night, and underwent a subsequent exam and x-rays that confirmed a thumb fracture.

Surgery is not required for this injury, and he is out indefinitely.

According to the Chicago Tribune, “Jerian Grant will start in Rondo’s place. “My teammates have confidence in me,” he said Friday. Jimmy Butler will be the primary ballhandler. “I’ve been doing it all year,” Butler said.”

Devondrick Walker wins D-League Most Improved Player award

Delaware 87ers guard Devondrick Walker has been named the 2017 NBA Development League Most Improved Player, as voted on by the league’s 22 head coaches. The award honors the player who demonstrated the most significant improvement during the 2016-17 NBA D-League season.

In his third season in the NBA D-League and his first with the 87ers, Walker (6-5, 205) appeared in 48 games, averaging 12.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He was acquired by the 87ers in a trade with the Westchester Knicks on Dec. 14, 2016.

Walker’s best month was January, when he averaged 14.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists. Five of his six 20-point games came after December, including a career-high 24 points in a 131-125 loss to the Maine Red Claws on Feb. 4. Walker also tallied at least 17 points in 12 games this season, with 10 of those performances coming after December.

Walker played for Westchester during the 2015-16 season before joining Delaware in December. In 2014-15, Walker spent time with the Austin Spurs, helping them reach the Western Conference Finals of the 2015 NBA D-League Playoffs.

Kings hire Luke Bornn as VP of Strategy and Analytics

The Sacramento Kings today announced the hiring of Luke Bornn as Vice President of Strategy and Analytics.

Bornn joins the Kings organization after most recently serving as Head of Analytics for A.S. Roma of the Italian Serie A Football League, where he worked closely with managers, coaches and sports scientists to measure and evaluate athletes and performance. Concurrent with his tenure at Roma, the British Columbia native has served as a visiting scholar and professor at Harvard University in the Department of Statistics.

In his new role with Sacramento, Bornn will report directly to Vice President and General Manager Vlade Divac and employ expertise in data engineering and collection to empower basketball operations personnel with relevant information valuable in decision making processes regarding roster compilation, player evaluation and overall strategy. The material gleaned from Bornn’s data infrastructure will also assist the team’s training staff in analyzing information received via wearable technology.

Over the coming weeks, Bornn will work with Divac and the front office to add some of the sharpest minds in the field of statistical sciences to augment the analytics department and continue building a database accessible to players, coaches and basketball operations personnel.

In addition to his academic acumen and professorships at Harvard and Simon Fraser University, Bornn is a frequent contributor to the field of sports analytics, authoring articles for the Journal for Quantitative Analysis, the Annals of Applied Statistics and the Journal of the American Statistical Association—providing insights on basketball related topics such as NCAA Tournament forecasting, predicting possession outcomes in NBA contests and the spatial anatomy of defensive success.

Justise Winslow shooting ability still a work in progress

Justise Winslow is an intriguing young player for the Heat, but he still has a long way to go to prove himself as a starter-level player who can be counted on in a big-time situations. Here’s the Miami Herald with more:

Two NBA scouts insisted over the past several months that even though he’s a terrific defender and smart player, Winslow would need to become a more efficient perimeter shooter to become a quality starter on a good team.

And Heat people strongly believed that was going to happen this season after his work last summer with shooting coach Rob Fodor.

But injuries derailed his season, and his 7 for 35 three-point shooting in 18 games wasn’t a fair gauge because a wrist injury affected him before the season-ending shoulder surgery.

“It held me back a little bit,” Winslow said when asked whether the troublesome wrist hurt his ability to incorporate Fodor’s mechanical changes.

Report: Carmelo Anthony and wife La La are breaking up

Here’s the New York Daily News reporting on Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, whose marriage to entertainment personality La La is reportedly coming to an end:

Knicks superstar Carmelo Anthony is about to lose the only ring he’s ever had in New York.

The Knicks forward and his wife of seven years, La La Anthony, are calling it quits, according to reports.

La La, 37, moved out of their home into her own New York apartment and the couple no longer live together, TMZ said.