Category: General NBA insight

Sacramento Kings’ forward J.J. Hickson suffered a hip pointer in last night’s game versus the Los Angeles Clippers at Power Balance Pavilion. Tests (X-ray and MRI) taken today revealed that there were no fractures.

He will miss the next three games and be re-evaluated when the team returns from their current road trip on Tuesday.

The Atlanta Hawks today signed center Erick Dampier for the remainder of the season, according to Executive Vice President/General Manager Rick Sund.

The 15-year veteran has appeared in six games for the Hawks this season, after signing consecutive 10-day contracts on February 9 and February 19, averaging 1.8 rpg, 0.3 apg, 0.2 spg and 0.2 bpg in 5.0 mpg.

The Los Angeles Clippers today signed forward Bobby Simmons to a 10-day contract.

Simmons, the 29th GATORADE Call-Up of the 2011-12 season, averaged 13.5 points and 7.6 rebounds in 21 games played for the Reno Bighorns of the NBA Development League this season. Simmons also played ten games for the Bighorns during the 2010-11 season after playing two games with the San Antonio Spurs.

This marks Simmons’ second stint with the Clippers, having last played in Los Angeles during the 2003-04 and 2004-05 campaigns. He turned in his most productive NBA season while with the Clippers in 2004, tallying career-highs of 16.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists, garnering the NBA’s Most Improved Player award that season.

A nine-year NBA veteran, Simmons has averaged 9.4 points and 4.0 rebounds over his career while connecting on 44% of his field goals and 40% of his three-point field goal attempts.

Now that the Minnesota Timberwolves have put themselves in the “playoff hunt,” as coach Rick Adelman described it, can they remain in contention for their first postseason appearance in eight years?

The Wolves (17-17) enter the second half of the season only 1-1/2 games out of the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot with 32 games remaining.

A road-heavy schedule plus inconsistency at small forward makes the playoff push more challenging. The Wolves open the second half with a four-game Western swing,beginning Tuesday night at Los Angeles against the Clippers.

“We’ll need a lot of guys to step up if we’re going to maintain what we’ve done so far,” Adelman said. “Our schedule becomes really difficult in March.”

— Reported by Ray Richardson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press
http://www.twincities.com/rss/ci_20055584

An extremely athletic high-flyer has received an audition in Jersey.

The New Jersey Nets have signed free agent forward Gerald Green from the NBA D-League’s Los Angeles D-Fenders to a 10-day contract, Nets General Manager Billy King announced today.

Green, who was named MVP of the 2012 D-League All Star Game, has played in 22 games for the D-Fenders this season, averaging 19.1 points and 4.6 rebounds in 30.6 minutes per game. The 6-8 forward was selected in the first round of the 2005 NBA Draft (18 th overall) by the Boston Celtics, entering the draft out of high school. Green played two seasons for the Celtics, having his best year in 2006-07 with averages of 10.4 points and 2.6 rebounds over 81 games (26 starts), as well as winning the 2007 NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

Following his stint in Boston,Green appeared in a total of 30 games with Houston and Minnesota in 2007-08, and 28 games in 2008-09 with the Dallas Mavericks. In his four NBA seasons, Green holds career averages of 7.5 points and 2.0 rebounds in 181 games played.

The Golden State Warriors have assigned forward/center Jeremy Tyler to the Dakota Wizards of the NBA Development League, the team announced today.

Tyler, 20, has appeared in 14 games this season, averaging 1.9 points and 1.0 rebound in 4.6 minutes per contest. He was acquired by Golden State in a draft-night trade on June 23, 2011, after being selected by Charlotte with the 39th overall selection in the 2011 NBA Draft.

At the halfway point of an already whirlwind season,union leader Billy Hunter is pleased overall while still reserving judgment about the game in the aftermath of the prolonged lockout.

“Obviously the TV ratings are up. The attendance is up. Merchandising is up. So all the signs are positive,that’s what I’m getting from [commissioner] David [Stern],’’Hunter said yesterday. “The early report is that things are positive.’’

After a summer and fall spent haggling mostly over revenue sharing,Hunter said the union is waiting to see the first official revenue figures from the league.

Hunter said he’s not at all surprised that the league has rebounded so swiftly after a contentious summer.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Along with points and assists, New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin is piling up something less desirable lately —apologies to him for racially questionable references.

The first American-born NBA player of Taiwanese descent received another apology this weekend,this time from the famous Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company,which is known for coming up with funky names for its flavors.

Its Cambridge,Mass.,store attempted to honour the Harvard alum’s increasing notoriety with a “Taste the Lin-Sanity” frozen yogurt flavor in Harvard Square. But it included fortune cookies in the flavor before changing the fortune cookies to waffle cones and later issuing an apology.

— Reported by Reuters

Golden State Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob walked over to chat, and when his perspective on his neighbor’s arena situation, offered strong support for keeping the Kings in Sacramento. “We want the team in Sac because that market supported that team (very nicely) in the past,” he said, “and should be able to do so again in the future. For us, having them there is a rivalry. We don’t see it as competition even though both teams are in Northern California. I really hope it works out.”

— Reported by Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee Blog
http://blogs.sacbee.com/sports/kings/archives/2012/02/warrriors-owner.html

LeBron James Keeping his dunk talent in games

Yet even after saying he would compete in the slam-dunk contest when it was held in Dallas in 2010, Miami Heat forward LeBron James has never participated in this aerial dynamic contest during his nine seasons in the NBA. And he knows the fans would love to see him fly through the sky with the greatest of ease.

“That’s just not me,” James said during media availability today at the player’s swanky hotel. “I’m not a dunk contest type of guy.

“I’m an in-game dunker. I kind of improvise during the game.”

— Reported by Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram