Inside Hoops – Page 647 – NBA Blog

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.

2017 BIG3 basketball league game schedule

The BIG3, the new pro 3-on-3 basketball league founded by Ice Cube, released their full 10-week city-by-city season game schedule today.

As previously mentioned, all of the league’s teams will play one game per week, and at each city, all of the league’s teams will play one game. It’s essentially a weekly 3-on-3 tour. Here’s where the BIG3 will play.

2017 BIG3 SEASON SCHEDULE

· June 25: Barclays Center | Brooklyn, New York

· July 2: Spectrum Center | Charlotte, North Carolina

· July 9: BOK Center | Tulsa, Oklahoma

· July 16: Wells Fargo Center | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

· July 23: UIC Pavilion | Chicago, Illinois (was Nashville. Now Chicago.)

· July 30: American Airlines Center | Dallas, Texas

· August 6: Rupp Arena | Lexington, Kentucky

· August 13: Staples Center | Los Angeles, California

· August 20: Key Arena | Seattle, Washington (Playoffs)

· August 26: T-Mobile Arena | Las Vegas, Nevada (Championship Finals)

Isaiah Thomas plays through personal tragedy

Shortly before the start of the playoffs, Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas found out some tragic personal news. Here’s the Boston Herald reporting:

Isiah Thomas plays through personal tragedy

Just one day after losing his sister in a tragic car crash, NBA star Isaiah Thomas chose to play with the Boston Celtics in their first playoff game. Although he was clearly devastated, sobbing on the bench before the game, Thomas had a longtime friend and teammate supporting him.

Fellow Celtics player Avery Bradley was spotted putting his arm around the 28-year-old point guard as he cried during the pregame shoot around. The two athletes grew up together in Tacoma, Washington, before becoming NBA teammates.

After learning that his 22-year-old sister, Chyna J. Thomas, died in a one-car crash in Tacoma early on Saturday morning, the basketball player opted to play on Sunday. He ended up scoring 33 points, although the team lost to the Chicago Bulls.

“It says a lot about him,” Bradley said after the game, according to NBA.com.

Chris Bosh still hopes to resume NBA career

Here’s the Miami Herald with the latest on Chris Bosh, who is technically still a member of the Heat but whose NBA career is currently in limbo:

Chris Bosh still hopes to resume NBA play

He hasn’t been around the team all season, not since he failed a physical in the preseason following his third blood-clotting episode since he was first hospitalized with one after the All-Star break in 2015.

But Bosh did speak to Larry King recently. In clips from an interview on “Larry King Now” on the Ora.tv digital network posted Sunday night, Bosh said he still believes he will return to the NBA one day, but made no promises it will happen.

He also sounded much more at peace than he had in the past about Pat Riley’s decision back in September to no longer work towards his return and to eventually recoup the 11-time All-Star’s $25.2 million salary cap hold for next season, giving the Heat money it can spend elsewhere to improve the team.

“I understand what they have to do as a team,” said Bosh, who is signed through the 2018-19 season. “It is a business. I know we as athletes and owners and people involved with the NBA never want to say that it’s a business and things like that. It is a business. And hurt does come in with that. But, as president of the Miami Heat, I understand what he has to do.”

Rudy Gobert suffers knee injury

The Utah Jazz enjoyed a big win in Game 1 of their first round playoff series in L.A. against the Clippers, but their star center suffered a knee injury just seconds into the game. Here’s the Deseret News reporting:

The Utah Jazz’s first playoff game in five years couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start.

It couldn’t have had a better finish — well, almost.

Despite playing all but 17 seconds without defensive terror Rudy Gobert, the Jazz took a 1-0 first-round series lead over the Los Angles Clippers with a shocking 97-95 win at Staples Center after veteran forward Joe Johnson dropped in a stunning game-winning floater at the buzzer…

Seconds into the organization’s first playoff game since 2012, Hayward made a pass that sailed way above Gobert’s head into the Staples Center crowd.

It wasn’t a bad pass. Normally, in fact, the pass would’ve been right on target.

Problem was, Gobert wasn’t standing up. The 7-foot-1 center was crawling on the court in agony, having just injured his left knee while setting a screen for Hayward.

NBA Players Union issues statement on Phil Jackson

NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts released the following statement regarding the recent comments by Knicks President Phil Jackson on Carmelo Anthony: “We voiced with the Commissioner today our view on the inappropriate comments by Knicks President Phil Jackson. If players under contract cannot, under threat of league discipline, speak openly about their desire to be employed elsewhere, we expect management to adhere to the same standards. The door swings both ways when it comes to demonstrating loyalty and respect.”

That’s the end of the statement.

To catch you up with what the Players Union is referencing, the New York Post yesterday reported that “in a wide-ranging 49-minute press conference, Jackson said he made his intention clear in his “not-contentious” exit meeting with Anthony, who has a no-trade clause in his contract that has two years and $54 million remaining. “We have not been able to win with him on the court at this time,’’ Jackson said in his first remarks to the local media since Sept. 23. “I think the direction with our team is he’s a player who will be better off somewhere else and using his talents somewhere where he can win or chase that championships.”

Paul George and Chris Paul named NBA Players of Month

Indiana Pacers forward Paul George and LA Clippers guard Chris Paul today were named the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month, respectively, for games played in April.

George averaged an NBA-high 32.8 points and added 8.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists as the Pacers went 5-1 in April to clinch a playoff spot for the sixth time in seven seasons. He scored at least 30 points in four of six games, including a season-high 43 points in a 135-130 double-overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on April 2. The 26-year-old forward shot 54.8 percent from the field and 42.4 percent from three-point range for the month. He also finished third in the NBA in steals with 2.17 per game. George and the Pacers will visit the Cavaliers on Saturday, April 15 for Game 1 of a first-round postseason series (3 p.m. ET, ABC).

Paul led the Clippers to a 5-0 month behind averages of 21.2 points, 9.8 assists (fourth in the NBA) and 5.0 rebounds, helping LA clinch the fourth seed in the Western Conference and secure home-court advantage against the Utah Jazz in the first round of the playoffs. The 31-year-old guard shot 54.4 percent from the field and 52.6 percent from three-point range and went 22-for-22 from the free throw line in April. He finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in a 98-87 road win against the San Antonio Spurs on April 8. The Clippers, who have made the playoffs a franchise-record six consecutive seasons since acquiring Paul, will host the Jazz in Game 1 on April 15 (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Here is a recap of April for George and Paul:

Paul George, Indiana Pacers
April 4 vs. Toronto: Notched 35 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in a 108-90 victory against the Raptors.
April 6 vs. Milwaukee: Finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds and five steals in a 104-89 win over the Bucks.
April 12 vs. Atlanta: Made five three-pointers on his way to 32 points and added 11 rebounds in a 104-86 victory over the Hawks.

Chris Paul, LA Clippers
April 1 vs. L.A. Lakers: Recorded 29 points, 12 assists and four rebounds in a 115-104 win against the Lakers.
April 5 vs. Dallas: Registered 22 points, 11 assists and three rebounds in a 112-101 win over the Mavericks.
April 10 vs. Houston: Contributed 19 points, nine assists, five rebounds and four steals in a 125-96 victory against the Rockets.

Other nominees for the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month were Boston’s Isaiah Thomas, Chicago’s Jimmy Butler, Cleveland’s LeBron James, Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Houston’s James Harden, the Clippers’ Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns, Portland’s Damian Lillard, Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan and Utah’s Gordon Hayward.