NBA News Blog – Page 1117 – NBA Blog

Blake Griffin’s dunks remind George Karl of Shawn Kemp

Blake Griffin

Dunking space robot

“I’ve talked to a couple of guys who’ve said, ‘Was Shawn as powerful?'” said Denver Nuggets Coach George Karl, who coached Kemp in Seattle, before Thursday’s game. “I think that’s the guy who’s closest.”

Legend had it that Kemp once dunked so hard that sparks flew off the rim. He later admitted it to be true, adding that the basket had a metal-chain net, which helped the sparks fly.

Karl said seeing Griffin’s dunks reminded Karl of his own dunks — in a way.

“This kid, he gets so high above the rim. It reminds me of when I was an athlete and I could jump and we got the 8-foot hoops,” Karl said. “He does things that we used to do on 8, maybe 7-foot [hoops]. You know, throwing it down from three feet away.”

— Reported by Baxter Holmes of the Los Angeles Times

Karl Malone calls out Utah Jazz on Jerry Sloan’s exit

Karl Malone

Likes tractors

For four hours last Friday, Malone co-hosted my radio show and talked about many topics, the way only Malone can. His signature point: He said the Jazz botched the Williams-Sloan situation, giving the player too much power, and essentially blamed Kevin O’Connor and Greg Miller for undermining an icon who had coached the Jazz for 23 years.

“On the whole handling of that, I would have to give [them] a D or F, and I would lean more toward an F,” said Malone, who has remained close to Sloan since his own retirement in 2004.

Trouble had been stirring between Williams and Sloan for months. Sloan admitted that the two “got into it.” Malone said the Jazz had empowered the point guard to go directly to O’Connor when he disagreed with Sloan and that was, as Karl called it, “the perfect storm.”

“I know for a fact that [Sloan] was overridden on practices sometime on the road because Deron was calling our G.M. at that time,” Malone said. “ … You give a guy that much power, and he’s the kind of player you think he played hard all the time, but if he wanted to sulk he could sulk. … I never went to Larry [Miller] to talk about Coach Sloan. … It’s not one time, in my gut and heart, that I would go over his head.”

— Reported by Gordon Monson of the Salt Lake Tribune

Bucks waive guard Darington Hobson

The Milwaukee Bucks have requested waivers on guard Darington Hobson (6-7, 210), General Manager John Hammond announced today.

Hobson, 24, was originally selected by the Bucks with the 37th overall pick of the 2010 NBA Draft, but was waived prior to the start of the 2010-11 season. Hobson re-signed with Milwaukee as a free agent on Dec. 10, 2011, and appeared in five regular season games for the Bucks this season, tallying four points, three rebounds and six assists in 39 total minutes of action. Hobson also spent two separate stints with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA D-League where he averaged 10.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists in eight games (six starts).

The Bucks roster now stands at 14 players.

Nenad Krstic wins Top 16, Week 3 Euroleague MVP

Nenad Krstic

Ballin’ overseas

One of the central figures in what is shaping up to be a season for the record books for CSKA Moscow is center Nenad Krstic. The big man added to his stellar campaign this week by picking up Top 16, Week 3 bwin MVP honors and thus joining teammate Andrei Kirilenko among only three players to claim that title twice this season. Krstic was worth maximum production in minimum time in Thursday’s 85-70 home win over GS Medical Park. He came off the bench for 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting and added 9 rebounds, an assist and a steal en route to a performance index rating of 31, which ironically was the same index rating he achieved when he was previously named bwin MVP after Week 9. Krstic was also named Euroleague Basketball’s MVP for November. The team with the second-most wins in the Euroleague this season, FC Barcelona Regal, produced the player with the second best index rating of the week in two-time All-Euroleague big man Erazem Lorbek.

— Reported by Euroleague.net

Blake Griffin does not plan to defend his NBA Slam Dunk title

Blake Griffin

Every day is like a dunk contest

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin was voted as a starter to the NBA All-Star Game on Thursday but said he doesn’t plan on defending his slam dunk contest title during All-Star weekend.

“As of right now I don’t plan on being in it,” Griffin said Thursday night. “Those dunk contests aren’t my thing, I said that last year. There’s a lot of guys that can put on a great show and do some good stuff.”

Last year Griffin won the slam dunk contest, played in the Rookie Challenge and played in the All-Star Game during a whirlwind All-Star weekend in Los Angeles.

— Reported by Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles

Read NBA fan opinion and share your views in this basketball forum topic.

Kyle Lowry takes plea in Las Vegas misdemeanor case

Kyle Lowery

Allegedly also likes playing dodgeball

A lawyer has entered a no contest plea for Kyle Lowry in a bid for dismissal of a misdemeanor battery case alleging the Houston Rockets guard threw a basketball at a female referee and threatened her during a game at a Las Vegas gym last September.

A court clerk said the 25-year-old Lowry didn’t appear Thursday with his lawyer, Patrick McDonald, before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Eric Goodman.

Goodman agreed to dismiss the case July 19 if Lowry completes 100 hours of community service at a battered women’s shelter or a similar program, completes an impulse control counseling program and stays out of trouble for six months.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Gerald Henderson out 2-4 weeks

Gerald Henderson

An actual decent Bobcat

Things keep getting harder for the 3-20 Charlotte Bobcats.

An MRI taken Thursday confirmed that Bobcats guard/forward Gerald Henderson suffered a right hamstring strain during the third quarter of Wednesday night’s game at Portland. Henderson is expected to miss 2-4 weeks.

Herderson is the team’s leading scorer this season, averaging 15.0 points and 4.4 rebounds in 33.8 minutes per game.

The Bobcats have been getting smoked this season. And now things will get even harder.

Read NBA fan opinion and share your views in this basketball forum topic.

Orlando Magic sign guard Ish Smith

Ish Smith

Has cool first name

The Orlando Magic have signed free agent guard Ish Smith from the NBA D-League’s Los Angeles D-Fenders, President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Otis Smith announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deal are not disclosed.

Smith (#10, 6’0”, 175, 7/5/88) was not selected in the 2010 NBA Draft. This season, he played in six games (one start) with Golden State, averaging 4.5 ppg., 1.5 rpg. and 1.5 apg. in 10.5 minpg. Last season (2010-11), Smith played in 43 combined games (three starts) with Houston and Memphis during his rookie campaign, averaging 2.3 ppg., 1.8 apg. and 1.1 rpg. in 10.3 minpg. He also played in eight games (five starts) with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League, averaging 12.5 ppg., 7.9 apg., 4.3 rpg., 1.50 stlpg. And 1.25 blkpg. in 32.9 minpg.

Smith appeared in 121 career games (91 starts) during his four-year collegiate career at Wake Forest, averaging 9.2 ppg., 5.1 apg., 3.7 rpg. and 1.26 stlpg. He became the first player in Wake Forest history to post more than 1,000 points (1,114) and 600 assists (612) during his career. Smith finished his career ranked second all-time on the Demon Deacons’ list in assists.

As a senior (2009-10), he started all 31 games, averaging 13.2 ppg., 6.0 apg. (seventh in the nation), 4.9 rpg. and 1.68 stlpg., earning Second Team All-ACC honors. As a freshman (2006-07), became the first freshman in ACC history to lead the conference in assists (6.0 apg.) and the first Wake Forest player to do so since Muggsy Bogues in 1987.

Read NBA fan opinion and share your views in this basketball forum topic.

Rick Carlisle is sorry for kicking ball into stands

Rick Carlisle

Apparently also enjoys soccer

Before Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle took questions, he apologized for kicking a ball into the stands that boinked a young boy on the noggin and led to Carlisle’s second technical foul and ejection from Wednesday’s 95-86 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“I want to apologize to our franchise, Mark [Cuban], our fans,” Carlisle said. “The incident where the ball got kicked into the stands — that can’t happen. My intent was not to kick it into the stands, I was trying to kick it to the referee, but I’m not a very good kick. But, that can’t happen; the officials made the right call on that one. That’s a regrettable situation.”

It’s many of the other calls — or non-calls — that Carlisle objected to. He picked up his first technical 27 seconds into the fourth quarter when he felt Delonte West got fouled on a drive to the basket. Carlisle’s night ended about two minutes later when Jason Terry lost the ball to Nick Collison, who Carlisle thought should have been whistled for a foul.

— Reported by Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas (Blog)

LeBron James open to being in Dunk Contest

LeBron James

Has talents

LeBron James has plenty of dazzling slams so far this season.

Wednesday, he chose not to slam the door on participating in the All-Star Slam Dunk contest in two weeks in Orlando.

“I have thought about it before and a few times in the past I kind of had an ankle injury that kind of kept me out of it and a couple of times I was just like, ‘You know what, I’m going to go in here and rest my legs for this weekend and then get back to the regular season,” James said. “But, I mean, they say a lot of the greats have done it and I’ve watched it over the years.”

A lot of the greats – Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Clyde Drexler – have, and All-Star talents Vince Carter, Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin have participated in recent years.

— Reported by Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post

Read NBA fan opinion and share your views in this basketball forum topic.