NBA News Blog – Page 1135 – NBA Blog

Hornets guard Eric Gordon likely out 2-3 weeks to rest knee

Hornets guard Eric Gordon suffered right knee swelling following Wednesday night’s game with the 76ers. Gordon missed the previous four contests prior to the Philadelphia game after he initially bruised the right knee in the second half of the team’s opening night game in Phoenix.

Team doctors have recommended rest for the 22-year old guard’s right knee and he will be sidelined an estimated 2-3 weeks.

Gordon has played just two games for the Hornets so far this season, averaging 21.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.

The Hornets currently have a 2-4 record.

Nicolas Batum seeks Blazers extension

The agent for Trail Blazers forward Nicolas Batum said on Thursday that he plans to meet with the team next week to discuss a contract extension for his client.

Agent Bouna Ndiaye attended the Blazers’ 107-96 win over the Lakers on Thursday, but said he didn’t negotiate with the team. He said the plan is to meet next week, although no formal date or meeting has been arranged.

The team has until Jan. 25 to sign Batum to an extension. Otherwise, he becomes a restricted free agent at the end of the season. Both the team, and Batum has expressed a desire to sign an extension.

— Reported by Jason Quick of The Oregonian

Jason Kidd leaves game with back injury

Dallas Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd injured his lower back in the first quarter of Thursday’s 93-71 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Kidd will be examined Friday in Dallas and his status for Saturday’s game is uncertain.

“We’ll see where we are,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “It happened on a play and I don’t know which one, but it definitely happened on a play.”

The injury apparently occurred toward the end of the first quarter, but Kidd tried to fight through it. He could be seen reaching for his back a few times before finally exiting the game with 24.7 seconds left in the first.

— Reported by Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas

Isiah Thomas questions Knicks acquisition of Tyson Chandler

Isiah Thomas, FIU coach and former Knicks president, finally spoke out on the club’s acquisition of center Tyson Chandler and did not sound enthused.

Conveniently appearing on the Sid Rosenberg Show on Miami radio yesterday following the Knicks’ 2-4 start, Thomas questioned Glen Grunwald’s acquisition of Chandler, which forced the team to cut Chauncey Billups to get under the salary cap.

Thomas said the NBA has become a guard’s league, and the Knicks cannot win solely with a star-powered frontcourt of Chandler, Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. The Chandler commitment cost them a shot at point guard Chris Paul with next summer’s salary cap space, and Paul was subsequently dealt to the Clippers.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

Sacramento Kings name Keith Smart new head coach

The Sacramento Kings today named Keith Smart as the team’s 24th Head Coach, according to President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed. It may be a two-year deal, but we’ll confirm this later tonight here on this page.

“Keith will bring a new perspective to the team as we try to move forward with the season,” said Petrie. “He’s very well prepared and will assume the job with some new ideas and new approaches of his own. We’re all excited and looking forward to working with him.”

Smart, who spent last season as head coach of the Golden State Warriors where he compiled a 36-46 record, brings over 22 years of professional basketball experience as either a coach or player. Prior to his appointment as head coach for Golden State, Smart served seven seasons as an assistant coach for the Warriors, giving him the longest tenure of any assistant coach in Golden State history.

“I had a chance to work for Paul Westphal in the brief time that I’ve been here and really enjoyed it,” explained Smart. “He was very supportive every step of the way. I want to thank Geoff Petrie and the Maloof family for giving me this opportunity. I’m looking forward to implementing a few new things with what we want to try to do with our basketball team. Hopefully, they’ll respond to what I want them to do, and I believe they will. I think our players will be excited with some of the ideas that I have for our team moving forward.”

The 47-year-old Smart originally joined the Warriors prior to the 2003-04 campaign after spending the previous three seasons as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was named the Cavaliers interim head coach in the middle of the 2002-03 season upon taking over for John Lucas. At the time, he was the second-youngest head coach in the NBA.

“When I asked Geoff to add Keith Smart to our staff, I knew that he would be a tremendous asset going forward,” said Westphal. “Keith has my respect and blessing as he assumes the position he is exceptionally qualified to fill.”

Before joining the Cavaliers, Smart spent three seasons as the head coach of the CBA’s Fort Wayne Fury, compiling a record of 85-83 (.506) and guiding the team to its first back-to-back winning seasons in franchise history in 1997-98 and 1998-99. In his first campaign as a head coach at any level in 1997-98, he guided the Fury to a franchise-record 31-win season and a trip to the playoffs. The club made the playoffs again in 1998-99, despite having a single-season franchise record nine players signed to NBA contracts. He was awarded the American Conference Coach of the Month Award five times during his tenure with Fort Wayne and had a CBA-high 21 players signed to NBA contracts.

During his professional basketball playing career, Smart spent six seasons in the CBA, two seasons in France and one in Venezuela. He also played briefly with the San Antonio Spurs during the 1988-89 season.

Smart was originally drafted by the Warriors in the second round (41st overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft out of Indiana University. He is widely remembered for his Final Four heroics in 1987, in which he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four after leading Indiana to a National Championship with his game-winning shot versus Syracuse in the title game.

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili out 6 weeks after hand surgery

The San Antonio Spurs today announced that guard Manu Ginobili underwent successful surgery to repair a fractured fifth metacarpal in his left hand this morning in San Antonio. He is expected to miss approximately six weeks.

The procedure was performed by Dr. Mark Bagg. During the surgery screws and a plate were inserted into Ginobili’s hand. The injury occurred in the second quarter of Monday night’s Spurs-Timberwolves game in Minnesota.

Sacramento Kings fire coach Paul Westphal

The Sacramento Kings today relieved Paul Westphal of his head coaching duties, according to President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie. Current Kings’ assistant coach Keith Smart will serve as head coach in tonight’s game versus the Milwaukee Bucks.

“I want to thank Paul for all of his effort on behalf of the Kings,” said Petrie. “Unfortunately, the overall performance level of the team has not approached what we felt was reasonable to expect. I wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

In two-plus seasons as head coach of the Kings, Westphal amassed a record of 51-120.

“I would like to thank the Maloof family for the incredible opportunity they gave me to participate in the attempt to bring the Sacramento Kings back to prominence,” said Westphal. “While the job is far from finished, I am proud of the strides we were able to make.

“Geoff Petrie and his staff have been nothing but honest and supportive throughout my time here. They are first class in every way and I wish them nothing but success. My hope is to see the fans of the Kings and the city of Sacramento rewarded with many years of great basketball.

“Finally, I want to thank my loyal staff and players for their efforts in attempting to climb out of the hole we shared. Nothing comes easy in the NBA and I know they will not rest in their efforts to rebuild this team.”

Knicks defense fails as Bobcats win in NY

Behind 27 points from forward Boris Diaw, 24 from guard Gerald Henderson and a balanced, 10-assist output from guard D.J. Augustin, the Charlotte Bobcats beat the defenseless Knicks Wednesday night in New York 118-110.

A huge 4th quarter effort from forward Carmelo Anthony made a game of it, but the Knicks were simply unable to play the level of defense required to win. Melo scored 22 in the final period, finishing with 32 points (12-of-24), six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

“That hurt,” said Anthony. “It’s just the way we’ve been playing these past couple of games. I mean it hurts to lose games like that. To dig ourselves in a hole like that and try to fight back every time, it takes a toll.”

New York got 25 points and 12 rebounds from Amar’e Stoudemire. As a team, they shot a very good 49.4%, but had 19 assists and 17 turnovers.

The Bobcats shot 55.3% from the field and hit 7-of-11 three-pointers. They consistently made the extra pass, and usually made one move too many for New York to defend.

“It’s just a matter of us being comfortable with one another, and trusting each other on the defensive end,” said Anthony. “I think it’s going to turn around. I’m not concerned about that.”

For Charlotte, Diaw and Henderson could not be stopped. Playing center, Diaw shot 12-of-15 with 3-of-3 three-pointers for his 27 points. Henderson hit 10-of-13 shots for an easy 24. And Augustin hit just 4-of-14 for 14 points, but also added six rebounds and 10 assists with no turnovers.

Diaw was animated and involved from the start. “He was real motivated to come to New York City, ” said Bobcats coach Paul Silas.

A bright spot for the Knicks was the play of guard Iman Shumpert, who today returned weeks earlier than expected from injury. The athletic rookie shot 6-of-10 and 4-of-6 from three-point range, and finished with 18 points, five rebounds and two steals. He played enthusiastic defense as well. Shumpert cramped up in the end, but it appears he’ll be fine.

Bobcats guard Kemba Walker played fairly OK by rookie standards, shooting 3-of-8 for seven points and five assists. The native New Yorker was thrilled to go up against his hometown team. “Beating them here just made it even better.”

Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni summed the game up perfectly afterwards: “Offense was good… just bad defense. Rotations weren’t there.”

Joel Anthony surprised to make All-Star ballot

While warming up for Wednesday’s night, Joel Anthony received some surprising news: he’s one of four Heat players on the East All-Star ballot, along with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

“I didn’t think they were serious,” Anthony said.

Anthony’s not a serious candidate, of course, not with Orlando’s Dwight Howard on the ballot.

Yet the panel of four media members needed 12 centers in the guard-heavy Eastern Conference, and chose one from all but three teams – Toronto (with Andrea Bargnani listed as center), Boston (reduced to a broken Jermaine O’Neal) and New Jersey (which just lost Brook Lopez for several weeks).

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

Warriors sign guard Nate Robinson

The Golden State Warriors have signed free agent guard Nate Robinson, the team announced today. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not released. According to the Contra Costa Times, it’s a one-year deal for around $1 million.

Robinson, 27, appeared in 59 regular-season games combined between the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder last season, averaging 6.8 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 17.2 minutes. The 5’9” guard played a majority of the season with Boston, appearing in 55 games and averaging 7.1 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 17.9 minutes. In 11 starting assignments with the Celtics, Robinson averaged 12.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 33.2 minutes. After being traded to Oklahoma City on February 24, 2011, he appeared in four regular-season games and three postseason games for the Thunder. He was waived by the Thunder on December 24, 2012.

Originally selected by the Phoenix Suns in the first round (#21 overall) of the 2005 NBA Draft out of the University of Washington and traded on draft night to the New York Knicks, Robinson owns career averages of 11.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 23.0 minutes over six seasons with the Knicks, Celtics and Thunder. The Seattle native had his finest season in 2008-09 with New York when he averaged 17.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.28 steals in 29.9 minutes over 74 games. That season he finished third in voting for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award and won the second of his three NBA Slam Dunk titles at NBA All-Star 2009 in Phoenix (also won 2006 in Houston and 2010 in Dallas).

Robinson will wear uniform #2 and join the team in Los Angeles tomorrow in advance of Friday’s game against the Lakers.