Inside Hoops – Page 872 – NBA Blog

Raptors sign Ronald Roberts

The Toronto Raptors have signed forward Ronald Roberts to a multi-year contract.

He will likely be used as a backup and play limited minutes off the bench.

Roberts, 6-foot-8, 225 pounds, recently participated with the Raptors’ entry in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, where he averaged 10.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 23.5 minutes in four games. Roberts posted a double-double (14 points, 12 rebounds) in the opener July 10 against Sacramento.

Roberts spent the 2014-15 season with the Delaware 87ers (NBA D-League), Santa Cruz Warriors (NBA D-League) and San Miguel Beermen (Philippines Basketball Association).

Roberts averaged 10.7 points and 6.6 rebounds over four seasons at St. Joseph’s and helped the Hawks claim the 2014 A-10 Tournament title.

Richard Jefferson to join Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers were just two wins away from winning the 2015 NBA championship, and aside from regaining the health of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, the supporting cast is getting stronger. Jefferson doesn’t have a lot left in the tank, but he’s still a very good backup provided he plays very limited minutes. Here’s the Akron Beacon Journal reporting:

Richard Jefferson is expected to sign a one-year deal with the Cavaliers for the veteran’s minimum, a league source confirmed. Jefferson, 35, shot 43 percent from 3-point range primarily as a reserve last season with the Dallas Mavericks.

Jefferson was widely expected to return to the Mavericks, but when their deal with free agent center DeAndre Jordan fell through, the Mavs allowed their other free agents to shop elsewhere again if they could find a better situation to win.

Pacers re-sign Rodney Stuckey

The Indiana Pacers have re-signed veteran free agent guard Rodney Stuckey to a contract.

“I felt all along it was important to re-sign Rodney,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird. “He proved to us last year how much he could help. He’s a pro and a good teammate. We’re really happy to have him back. He added a lot to our team, on and off the court.”

Stuckey, a 6-5, 205-pound guard played the 2014-15 NBA season with the Pacers and averaged 12.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 71 games. Prior to that he played seven seasons with the Detroit Pistons. He was a No. 1 pick of the Pistons (15th overall) in the 2007 NBA Draft after playing collegiately at Eastern Washington. While with the Pistons, Stuckey had a career average of 13.4 points per game with a career high 16.6 average in 2009-10. He made the NBA’s All-Rookie second team after the 2007-08 season.

It`s Reggie Jackson time in Detroit

Here’s the Detroit News reporting on Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson, who has been handed a very large sum of money to life the squad to a brighter future:

Reggie Jackson might not be another Mr. Big Shot.

But he is now, officially, the best shot for the Pistons to end this era of irrelevance, one that was at least symbolically ushered in by an ill-advised trade — Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson — in November 2008.

This franchise has been searching in vain for a leader — on the floor and in his prime — ever since, spiraling from mutiny to malaise. And the underlying message Monday, as president/coach Stan Van Gundy announced Jackson’s five-year, $80 million extension during a news conference at The Palace, was as much about that as anything else.

Jackson didn’t bother holding up a No. 1 jersey — the same one Billups wore in the championship heyday of a decade ago — because “he’s already worn it,” Van Gundy noted.

Spurs win 2015 summer league championship

Spurs win 2015 summer league championship

Here’s the Arizona Republic reporting on the Spurs and Suns, who Monday in Las Vegas battled for the 2015 summer league championship:

The Suns’ Summer League rotation of hot scoring hands turned to rookie free agent Mike James on Monday night, but even his 32-point game was not enough to bring the league tournament’s championship trophy to Phoenix.

James scored 23 second-half points, but San Antonio overcame an early 10-point hole to down the Suns 93-90 at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

The Suns ended the 24-team tournament with their sloppiest game. They committed 18 turnovers and had three players – T.J. Warren, Archie Goodwin and Devin Booker – foul out as the Summer League’s first female head coach, Becky Hammon, led the Spurs (6-1) to a win with two roster players – league MVP Kyle Anderson and championship-game MVP Jonathan Simmons.

James, an explosive 6-foot-1 point guard, hit 10 of 18 shots with 3-of-6 shooting from the 3-point line and 9-for-11 free throw shooting. He also had eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and five turnovers.

Nuggets trade Ty Lawson to Rockets

The Denver Nuggets have acquired Joey Dorsey, Nick Johnson, Kostas Papanikolaou, Pablo Prigioni, a protected 2016 first round pick and cash considerations from Houston in exchange for Ty Lawson and a 2017 second round pick, General Manager and Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly announced today. Subsequently, Prigioni was waived by Denver following the trade.

Dorsey, 6-8, 268, appeared in 69 games (17 starts) and averaged 2.7 points and 4.0 rebounds in 12.4 minutes per game for the Rockets during the 2014-15 season. The four-year NBA veteran holds career averages of 2.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in 130 career games (26 starts) with Houston, Sacramento and Toronto. Dorsey was originally drafted with the 33rd overall selection of the 2008 NBA Draft out of the University of Memphis.

Johnson, 6-3, 200, averaged 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds in 9.4 minutes per game in 28 games for the Houston Rockets during his rookie campaign in 2014-15. The first-year guard also appeared in 20 games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA D-League, averaging 18.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 33.9 minutes per game. The Arizona product was selected 42nd overall by the Houston Rockets in the 2014 NBA Draft.

Papanikolaou, 6-8, 225, appeared in 43 games (one start) in his rookie season with Houston, averaging 4.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 18.5 minutes per game. He was originally drafted by the New York Knicks with the 48th pick of the 2012 NBA Draft and was traded to Portland in 2012 and then to Houston on July 10, 2013. From 2011 to 2013, the Greek forward played for Olympiacos and in 2013-14 he played for FC Barcelona in the Spanish ACB league.

Prigioni, 6-3, 180, averaged 3.0 points and 2.8 assists in 16.8 minutes per game in 24 games with the Houston Rockets during the 2014-15 NBA season. Prigioni went undrafted in the 1999 NBA Draft and has appeared in 211 career games (48 starts) in three seasons with New York and Houston, averaging 3.8 points, 1.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.

Lawson, 5-11, 195, appeared in 75 games (all starts), averaging 15.2 points and a career-high 9.6 assists in 35.5 minutes per game with Denver during the 2014-15 NBA season. Lawson spent the first six years of his career with the Nuggets, playing in 416 games (307 starts) and averaging 14.2 points, 6.6 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 35.5 minutes per game. The North Carolina Tar-Heel was originally selected 18th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves and was traded to Denver in a draft-night deal.

Pistons re-sign Joel Anthony

The Detroit Pistons have re-signed center Joel Anthony to a multi-year contract.

Anthony is considered strictly backup material and will likely play very limited minutes.

Anthony, 32, appeared in 49 games (no starts) and averaged 1.8 points, 1.9 rebounds, 0.1 assists, 0.2 steals and 1.0 blocks in 8.3 minutes per game. He scored a season-high 10 points at Utah (3/14), grabbed season-high seven rebounds at Charlotte (4/1) and scored the 1,000th point of his career at Orlando (3/27). The 6-foot-9, 245-pound center recorded a season-high two steals twice [at Milwaukee (1/24) and at Charlotte (4/1)] and blocked a season-high four shots six times [at Orlando (12/30), at Philadelphia (3/18), vs. Chicago (3/21), at Orlando (3/27), vs. Atlanta (3/31) and at Charlotte (4/1)]. Anthony was acquired from Boston in an offseason trade that sent Will Bynum to the Celtics.

Anthony has averaged 2.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and 15.1 minutes in 452 career games (110 starts) with Miami, Boston and Detroit. Undrafted out of the University of Las Vegas Nevada, Anthony has averaged a career-high of 3.9 rebounds per game twice (2007-08 and 2011-12). He averaged a career-high 3.5 points per game during his rookie season with Miami. Anthony is a career 50% shooter from the field and played a career-high 80 games during the 2009-10 season. He was a member of the HEAT’s 2012 and 2013 NBA Championship teams.

Celtics sign second round pick Jordan Mickey

The Boston Celtics have signed rookie forward Jordan Mickey.

According to the Boston Herald, “the team did not release terms of the agreement, but sources told the Herald it is a four-year deal for a total of $5 million. The first two years are guaranteed at a combined $2.4 million, with the latter two years at the team’s option.”

Mickey, a 6’8” forward out of LSU, was selected with the 33rd overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. He appeared in five games for the Celtics during the Las Vegas Summer League and averaged 13.8 points on 52.9 percent shooting from the field, 9.6 rebounds, 1.0 steal and 2.6 blocks in 30.0 minutes per game. Mickey recorded his best game in the Vegas Summer League on July 18 with 18 points on 7-12 (.583) shooting, five rebounds, one assist and three blocks in 33 minutes against the San Antonio Spurs.

He also played in three contests for the Celtics during the Utah Summer League and averaged 9.7 points on 52.2 percent shooting, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 25.0 minutes per game. Mickey recorded his best game in the Utah Summer League on July 6 with 16 points on 7-8 (.875) shooting, four rebounds, one steal and three blocks in 27 minutes against the Utah Jazz.

Mickey led the NCAA D-I in blocks per game (3.64) and led the SEC in rebounding (9.9 rpg), while being selected First-Team All-SEC by the coaches and media for the 2014-15 season. Other than Shaquille O’Neal, he was the only player in LSU history to block more than 100 shots in a season (106 in 2014, 113 in 2015).

Pistons sign second round pick Darrun Hilliard

The Detroit Pistons have signed rookie guard Darrun Hilliard to a contract.

Hilliard, a 6-6 guard from Villanova University, was selected 38th overall in the 2015 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons. He averaged 9.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.2 steals in the recently concluded NBA Orlando Summer League.

A native of Bethlehem, Pa., Hilliard averaged 11.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.3 steals and 26.8 minutes in 132 career games at Villanova. Last season, he averaged 14.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.8 steals and 28.8 minutes in 35 games. As a senior, the 6-foot-6 guard, led Villanova in scoring and earned First Team All-Big East honors. He scored a season-high 31 points against Butler and posted 27 points, including six 3-pointers made, against North Carolina State in the NCAA Tournament. As a junior, Hilliard shared the Big East Most Improved Player award and was Honorable Mention All-Big East. He improved his scoring from 4.8 points per game as a freshman to 11.4 points per game as a sophomore.

Spurs re-sign Manu Ginobili

The San Antonio Spurs have re-signed guard Manu Ginobili.

At this point in his career, Ginobili remains a key member of the Spurs’ supporting cast but is not counted on as a leader the way he used to be. And with the fantastic additions to the team’s frontcourt this offseason, there will be even less pressure on Manu than ever before.

The upcoming season will mark Ginobili’s 14th campaign with the Silver and Black. Over the course of his NBA career, he has appeared in 865 games, averaging 14.3 points, 4.0 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.39 steals in 26.7 minutes. He has shot .450 (4,015-8,925) percent from the field, .368 (1,272-3,457) from three-point range and .827 (3,093-3,739) from the charity stripe.

Ginobili, who was drafted by San Antonio with the 57th overall pick in the second round of the 1999 NBA Draft, is the Spurs all-time NBA leader in three-pointers made (1,272), second in steals (1,201), fourth in games played (865) and free-throws made (3,093) and fifth in total points (12,395) and assists (3,478). He has twice been named to the All-NBA Third Team (2008, 2011). The 2008 NBA Sixth Man of the Year and two-time All-Star (2008, 11), Ginobili currently owns the best winning percentage of any active player in the NBA (.723, 625-240).

The four-time NBA champion has appeared in 187 career playoff games, averaging 15.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.40 steals in 29.4 minutes. Last postseason, he passed Michael Jordan for 11th all-time in postseason wins (120). That total gives Ginobili, along with teammates Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, the most playoff victories by a trio in NBA postseason history. The trio has also set an NBA record for most regular-season games played together (730) and is second all-time in league history for its 539 shared victories.

The Argentina native is one of only eight players in NBA postseason history (Kobe Bryant, Scottie Pippen, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, LeBron James, Clyde Drexler) with at least 2,500 points (2,836), 750 rebounds (793), 700 assists (747) and 250 steals (261) in the playoffs.

Ginobili has been a member of the Argentinian National Team since 1998. He led his home country to the Gold Medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, becoming one of only two players to have won a Euroleague title, an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal (Bill Bradley). In 2010 he was awarded the Diamond Konex Award, given to the most important sportsman of the decade in Argentina.