Category: General NBA insight

Watch this video clip of the top 10 NBA circus shots of March, 2014:

Bakersfield Jam forward Ike Diogu was today named NBA Development League Player of the Month for games played in March. The award is the first of Diogu’s career.

Diogu (6-8, 255, Arizona State) led Bakersfield to a 10-3 record in March, including a 7-2 road record and a seven-game winning streak between March 12 and March 26. For the month, Diogu averaged 21.4 points, shooting 59 percent from the field, to go with 12.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks. He recorded a double-double in 12 of his 13 games in March, notching two 30-plus point outings.

On March 19, Diogu recorded a season-high 19 rebounds to go with 30 points in a 114-106 road win over the Texas Legends. The following week, on March 30, he tied his season high with 32 points in a 115-109 win at the Santa Cruz Warriors.

For the season, Diogu is averaging 18.0 points on 55 percent shooting, to go with 9.4 rebounds, good for sixth-best in the NBA D-League.

Additional players considered for the award included Austin’s Flip Murray, Canton’s Shane Edwards, Erie’s Lewis Jackson, Fort Wayne’s Tony Mitchell, Iowa’s Moses Ehambe, Othyus Jeffers and Curtis Stinson, Los Angeles’ Shawne Williams, Maine’s Frank Gaines, Santa Cruz’s Cameron Jones, Sioux Fall’s Henry Walker, Springfield’s Jeff Foote and Texas’ Damion James.

Video highlights of the NBA plays of the week, through March 30, 2014:

Enjoy this video of NBA bloopers from March, 2014:

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed guard Scotty Hopson to a contract, Cavaliers acting General Manager David Griffin announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.

Hopson appeared in 12 league games this year for Anadolu Efes in the Turkish Basketball league, where he averaged 7.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in 21.6 minutes per game. He also played in 11 Euroleague games for Anadolu Efes, averaging 15.5 points on .625 shooting and 4.2 rebounds in 28.2 minutes per game.

The 6-7, 204-pound guard played in three 2013 NBA Summer League games for the Miami Heat and averaged 11.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 22.0 minutes per game, including 22 points, two assists and three steals in 26 minutes against the Brooklyn Nets on July 8.

Hopson, who went undrafted in the 2011 NBA Draft after averaging 12.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in 103 career games at the University of Tennessee, spent the 2011-12 season with Kolossos Rodou of the Greek League and the 2012-13 season with Hapoel Eilat of the Israeli League.

Charlotte Bobcats President of Basketball Operations Rod Higgins announced today that the team has signed forward DJ White to a second 10-day contract.

The 6-9 White has seen action in one game for the Bobcats this season, tallying one rebound and one steal in four minutes.  He is in his sixth NBA season and has career averages of 5.9 points and 3.2 rebounds in 133 games played with the Thunder, Bobcats and Celtics.  For his career, White has shot .507 from the field (348-686) and .720 from the free-throw line (113-157).

Prior to joining the Bobcats, White played 27 games this season for the Sichuan Blue Whales of the Chinese Basketball Association.  He averaged 20.2 points and 8.5 rebounds in 31.9 minutes, while shooting .672 (219-326) from the field and .733 from the free-throw line (96-131).  He scored in double figures 25 times, including 17 games of 20 points or more, and posted eight double-doubles.

Here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel with some analysis:

The NBA should have its own hall of fame.

There is a College Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City, a Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville and a FIBA (international) Hall of Fame in Spain.

But when it comes to NBA inductees, they go into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., along with those who made their marks collegiately, internationally and in the women’s game.

That said, because the Naismith Hall is about more than the NBA, because it also is about college and international play, because it is about using the game for greater good, a week from Monday should be a particularly meaningful day for the Miami Heat.

It should be the day Alonzo Mourning is named to join previously inducted Pat Riley in Springfield, with the Naismith Class of 2014 to be announced in the hours before the NCAA Tournament championship game in Dallas.

John Wall scored 20 points, and the Washington Wizards avenged two of their biggest losses of the season Friday night, never trailing in a 91-78 win over the cold-shooting, turnover-prone Indiana Pacers.

Marcin Gortat added 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Al Harrington added 12 points, including a personal 10-0 run in the second quarter, for the Wizards, who dropped their first two games against the Pacers this season by a combined 47 points. Of Washington’s three losses by 20-plus points this season, two have been against Indiana.

But Indiana was due for a letdown, two nights after a big win over the Miami Heat in a matchup of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. The Pacers committed five turnovers in the first four minutes Friday and shot 35 percent overall.

Paul George scored 19 points, and Lance Stephenson had 13 points and matched a career-high with 14 rebounds for the Pacers, who have lost a season-high four straight road games.

— Associated Press

Video of the best D-League dunks of the week, through March 22, 2014:

The Portland Trail Blazers have assigned rookie guard Allen Crabbe to the NBA Development League’s Idaho Stampede, it was announced today by General Manager Neil Olshey.

Crabbe, 21, is averaging 2.1 points, 0.3 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 5.1 minutes in 14 games for the Trail Blazers this season. Acquired by Portland in a draft day trade with Cleveland, Crabbe was the 31st overall selection in the 2013 NBA Draft out of California.

Crabbe averaged 16.7 points (42.6 FG%) and 5.3 rebounds in three games during his first assignment to the Stampede from March 10-16.