Category: NBA News Blog

NBA news blog

Report: Melo didn’t want JR Smith on Knicks

After recent success fueled by Linsanity being wiped out by losses and question marks, a juicy story has broken out about the Knicks:

One thing you can’t blame Carmelo Anthony for is the J.R. Smith signing, The Post has learned.

Contrary to popular belief, Anthony was leery of the Knicks bringing in his former Denver teammate three weeks ago and gave a thumbs down to upper management, according to a person close to the Knicks superstar.

Publicly, Anthony said all the right things about Smith, who was fined $25,000 by the NBA Saturday for tweeting a photo of a partially naked woman in his Milwaukee hotel room.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

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Warriors still aggressively seeking deals

The Golden State Warriors aren’t too good. They know it. you know it. The people know it. So they’re looking to deal:

Warriors general manager Larry Riley rejoined the team in Los Angeles after scouting the ACC tournament in Atlanta. He said he’s still aggressively working to find a deal before Thursday’s deadline, but he hasn’t found one that improves the team yet.

“I won’t be surprised if we do something, but I love our team the way it is,” Lee said. “There’s a big difference between doing something that makes sense and doing something just to say you did something.

“We all appreciate that our front office is being active and trying to make us better. It’s nice to feel like they have the same passion that you do.”

— Reported by Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle 

Jazz want meeting with their guard, Raja Bell

Raja Bell

Before Raja Bell plays another game for the Jazz, a discussion is planned between the veteran shooting guard, coach Tyrone Corbin and team management.

Utah General Manager Kevin O’Connor said Sunday he’ll be involved in the meeting, which is expected to occur prior to the Jazz’s game Monday against Detroit at EnergySolutions Arena.

O’Connor declined to discuss specific details about why a healthy Bell was unexpectedly removed Saturday from Utah’s starting lineup against Chicago. Ruled out less than five hours before tipoff due to an unspecified internal matter, Bell was not with the team during a 111-97 loss to the Bulls.

O’Connor spent the last few days scouting NCAA men’s basketball conference tournaments and was not with the Jazz during the end of a five-game road trip that saw Utah go 2-3. As a result, he wants to have a private conference with Bell and Corbin before moving forward with the situation.

“I want to sit down with Raja, and have a meeting with coach and Raja first,” O’Connor said.

— Reported by Brian T. Smith of the Salt Lake Tribune

Lakers, Celtics discussed a Rajon Rondo trade

Rajon Rondo

The teams talked last week about a trade for Celtics guard Rajon Rondo, though nothing was close to accomplished and discussions dried up.

The Lakers are unwilling to trade Pau Gasol for Rondo, making a deal with Boston unlikely before the trade deadline Thursday.

“Unless they give up Gasol, they’re not going to get a top-level point guard,” said a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Rondo had 24 points and 10 assists in the Lakers’ 97-94 victory Sunday over Boston at Staples Center. Gasol had 13 points and 13 rebounds.

— Reported by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times

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Dwight Howard may be resisting a trade to Bulls

Dwight Howard

The Orlando Magic would like to seriously engage the Bulls in trade talks for Dwight Howard, but the All-Star center’s apparent reluctance to make a long-term commitment to Chicago has all but killed the discussions, league sources told CBSSports.com.

The feeling among rival executives remains that the Magic seem intent on rolling the dice and keeping Howard for the rest of the season, hoping a long playoff run, emotional ties to Orlando and an extra year and $29 million they could offer would persuade him to stay beyond this season. But the move would be highly risky, given that Howard has refused to publicly commit to the Magic — a stance that sources view as a strong sign that he’d leave as a free agent if he isn’t traded.

“He’s telling everyone he’s leaving,” one league source said Sunday.

Magic executives are said to be unimpressed with the assets Howard’s three preferred teams could provide in a trade, prompting them to engage in a calculated campaign to expand the field of potential suitors beyond the Nets, Mavericks and Lakers. But the team that can make the strongest case for Orlando to depart from its risky strategy of holding onto Howard are the Bulls, who could offer 7-footer Omer Asik, Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer for Howard and Hedo Turkoglu, sources said. The Bulls also could offer a valuable first-round pick from Charlotte — top-14 protected in this year’s draft but but unprotected by 2016.

— Reported by Ken Berger of CBS Sports

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Rockets guard Kyle Lowry out 2-4 weeks

Kyle Lowry

The Houston Rockets will be without their star point guard for the near future.

Rockets guard Kyle Lowry has been diagnosed with a bacterial infection. Lowry is scheduled to be released from a New York-area hospital on Tuesday and return to Houston.

He will be out 2-4 weeks while completing a full course of antibiotic treatments.

Lowry this season is averaging 15.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.82 steals per game. It’s been the best season of his career so far, in the opinion of InsideHoops.com.

The Rockets are currently 22-20 and are 8th in the Western conference.

Kris Humphries reportedly wants $7 million from Kim Kardashian

Kris Humphries

Kris Humphries is secretly demanding $7 MILLION from Kim Kardashian to walk away from their marriage … TMZ has learned.

Sources directly connected to Kris tell TMZ … the bballer — through his Minnesota lawyer — has given Kim an ultimatum … either pay up, or endure an ugly, public trial.

Our sources say Kris and his lawyer have been told to pound sand, and with good reason.

For starters, even if there wasn’t a prenup, the marriage lasted a grand total of 72 days, so the community property wouldn’t be in the universe of $7 mil.

Second, there was an iron-clad prenup, which provided that Kim owes Kris zilch.

— Reported by TMZ

Lakers regroup with team meeting

Kobe Bryant

The Los Angeles Lakers play their longtime rival Boston Celtics on Sunday, but all anybody wanted to talk about following the team’s light practice Saturday was what was talked about at the team’s meeting between players and coaches Thursday in Minnesota.

The Lakers canceled practice Thursday following back-to-back losses to Detroit and Washington on their three-game road trip that ended with a 105-102 win over the Timberwolves on Friday.

In place of practice, Lakers coach Mike Brown scheduled a film review at the team hotel and invited players and his coaching staff to speak their minds.

Part of the assistant coaches’ message was urging the players to curtail any “external chatter,” according to a source.

“It wasn’t an airing out session,” Brown said Saturday, downplaying its significance. “It was a film session.”

The session was mostly X’s and O’s based and run by Brown until he handed over the floor to his assistant coaches.

“I utilized my assistants a lot because I don’t like the players hearing my voice a lot,” Brown said. “I talked a lot. I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to have someone else talk.’ After two losses like that everybody’s feeling kind of down. So, I wanted to hear other guys’ voices.”

— Reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles

Pistons assign Vernon Macklin to D-League

The Detroit Pistons announced today that the team has assigned rookie forward Vernon Macklin to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League.

Macklin has appeared in 19 games this season with the Pistons averaging 1.4 points and 0.9 rebounds in 4.2 minutes per game.  He scored a season-high five points vs. Dallas (1/10) and collected a season-high four rebounds at Oklahoma City (1/23).

Drafted 52nd overall in  the 2011 NBA Draft from the University of Florida, he started 69 of 71 career games during his two seasons with the Gators.  He played his first two years at Georgetown University prior to transferring to Florida in 2008.