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The Cleveland Cavaliers announced tonight that they have waived guard/forward Danny Green. Green averaged 3.3 points on .375 shooting, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 steal in 14.0 minutes per game in four games this preseason.
The Cavaliers roster now stands at 15.
The Toronto Raptors announced Tuesday they have released forward Ronald Dupree.
A free agent, Dupree was signed September 15. He appeared in five preseason games where he totaled 20 points and eight rebounds in 55 minutes.
The roster now stands at 15.
The Raptors’ final preseason game is Friday versus the New York Knicks at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The Raptors and Knicks will tip-off the regular season at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday, October 27.
Tim Buckley of the Deseret News reports:
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He hardly expects Gordon Hayward to do every night what he did Sunday.
But the day after Utah’s 2010 first-round draft choice scored a team-high 26 in a preseason win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan hinted Hayward has a shot at cracking Utah’s regular rotation for the 2010-11 NBA season.
“We intend on trying to play him,” Sloan said. “He’s got a lot of basketball savvy. And he’s got a lot to learn, which is fine.
“He’ll work,” Sloan added, “to try to get better every time we play. And we see him do other things each time we play — some good, some bad. But we’re not dissatisfied with him. We think he’s gonna be a very good player.”
InsideHoops.com editor says: One obstacle Hayward faces is constantly being asked for ID by security to prove he’s over age 13 and is allowed to scoot around without being accompanied by a parent or guardian.
The AP reports:
The NBA said in a statement Tuesday that “under league rules, players may not wear any shoe during a game that creates an undue competitive advantage.”
Athletic Propulsion Labs’ Concept 1 shoe employs a spring-based system designed to increase lift.
InsideHoops.com editor says: Players need shoes like this in order to try to sky-walk through the air like I do.
The San Antonio Spurs announced today that they have waived forward James Gist. Gist was originally selected by the Spurs in 2008 NBA Draft with the 57th overall pick. He spent the past two seasons playing overseas before being signed by San Antonio on September 27. Gist appeared in four preseason games, averaging 3.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in 10.8 minutes.
The Spurs roster now stands at 15.
The New Jersey Nets have exercised the fourth year contract option on Brook Lopez and the third year contract option on Terrence Williams, Nets General Manager Billy King announced today. Lopez and Williams are now signed through the 2011-12 season. Per team policy, terms of the contracts were not released.
Lopez was selected 10th overall by the Nets in the first round of the 2008 NBA Draft. Last season he was the only Net to appear and start in all 82 games, becoming the first center in franchise history to do so. He averaged team-highs with 18.8 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.70 blocks (ranked 10th in the NBA) and dished out 2.3 assists in 36.9 minutes per game, while shooting .499 (563-1,129) from the field and .817 (416-509) from the line (3rd among qualified centers). In his rookie season, 2008-09, he was selected to NBA All-Rookie First Team and finished third in the NBA Rookie of the Year voting (Derrick Rose, O.J. Mayo). He also set the Nets all-time rookie blocks record with 151.
Williams was selected 11th overall by New Jersey in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft. The Louisville product appeared in 78 games for New Jersey last season, earning nine starts. He finished 5th among rookies in double-doubles with eight and 9th among rookies in rebounds and assists, while earning Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors for April. Williams averaged 8.4 points while shooting .401 (261-651) from the field, along with 4.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 22.6 minutes per game.
The Milwaukee Bucks have requested waivers on guard Chris Kramer, General Manager John Hammond announced today.
Kramer (6-3, 214 – Purdue) signed as a free agent on September 27. He appeared in four of the team’s preseason games and averaged 5.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.0 assist. On Sunday at Minnesota he played a team-high 36 minutes and contributed 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
The Bucks Training Camp roster now stands at 16 players.
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Golden State Warriors forward Lou Amundson underwent successful surgery this afternoon to repair a fractured right index finger, the team announced. The procedure was performed by Dr. Andrew Gutow, a hand specialist from the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, at the Menlo Park Surgical Hospital.
Amundson will begin rehabilitation immediately and his return will be based on the progress of his rehabilitation. The injury, which consisted of a displaced joint with a fracture of the proximal phalanx, occurred during the fourth quarter of Golden State’s preseason game at Portland on Saturday, October 16.
The Indiana Pacers announced Monday they have picked up the options on Darren Collison and Tyler Hansbrough’s contracts. Per club policy no details of the contracts are released.
Collison, a second-year player out of UCLA, was traded to the Pacers on Aug. 11 from New Orleans. Last year for the Hornets, he averaged 12.4 points and 5.7 assists per game.
Hansbrough, the 13th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, played in 29 games for the Pacers during the 2009-10 season and averaged 8.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
“Darren and Tyler are key components of our team’s young core,” said Larry Bird, Pacers President of Basketball Operations. “They both have bright potential and we’re excited to have them as part of our future.”
Los Angeles Lakers legend and part-owner Earvin “Magic” Johnson has sold his share of the team to Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, it was announced today. The transaction price of Johnson’s share of the team is undisclosed.
Lakers majority owner Dr. Jerry Buss had this comment on the transaction: “The sale of Earvin’s share of the team is a business decision which will not change our relationship. Our friendship goes well beyond business. Patrick is a long-time and passionate Lakers fan and we are delighted to have him as a partner.”
Johnson, drafted by the Lakers with the first overall pick in the 1979 NBA Draft, played 13 seasons with the Lakers, leading the team to five championships (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988) and nine appearances in the NBA Finals. He was named NBA Most Valuable Player three times (1987, 1989, 1990), NBA Finals Most Valuable Player three times (1980, 1982, 1987) and All-NBA First Team nine times. He participated in 12 NBA All-Star games, winning Most Valuable Player honors in 1990 and 1992. A member of the United States Men’s National “Dream Team” that won the Gold Medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Johnson was named “One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History” in 1996 and was subsequently inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September 27, 2002.
“After heavy deliberation and a weighing heart, I have decided to sell my share of the Lakers to Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. Dr. Soon-Shiong is a super Lakers fan, an outstanding businessman, a dedicated philanthropist and one of the most active community leaders in Los Angeles,” said Johnson. “I am truly humbled to have been a Lakers player for 13 years and an owner for over 10 years. I thank Dr. Buss from the deepest part of my heart and soul for allowing me such an incredible opportunity. I will continue to work alongside Dr. Buss, Jeanie Buss and Mitch Kupchak in their efforts to continually build and maintain the best NBA franchise in the league. This was a bittersweet business decision made on behalf of my family and myself, and I want to assure all the wonderful and loyal Lakers fans that my decision will in no way affect my dedication and support for the Los Angeles Lakers. I am and will always be a Laker for life.”
Dr. Soon-Shiong, a Lakers season seat holder for more than 25 years, is Chairman of the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation, Chairman and CEO of All About Advanced Health and founder of the National Coalition for Health Integration. He is the Executive Director of the UCLA Wireless Health Institute and Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, Molecular Genetics and Bioengineering at UCLA. Dr. Soon-Shiong is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. In 1993, he performed the world’s first encapsulated human islet transplant and the first pig to man islet cell transplant in diabetic patients. He invented the nation’s first FDA approved protein nanoparticle delivery technology for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, now approved in over 38 countries and currently in trials for lung, melanoma, gastric and pancreatic cancer. He is co-inventor of over 50 issued U.S. patents, has published more than 100 scientific papers and has founded two multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies, American Pharma Partners (APP) and Abraxis Bioscience (ABII). APP was responsible for the only safe supply of Heparin in the United States in 2008, and ABII achieved the nation’s first FDA approved blood-derived nanoparticle for breast cancer, doubling the response rate in patients with metastatic disease.
Dr. Soon-Shiong serves on the RAND Health Board of Advisors and the President’s Council at RAND, the Board of Trustees for Saint John’s Health Center in Los Angeles, the Advisory Board of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, the Advisory Board for the Institute of Technology Advancement at UCLA School of Engineering, the Arizona Commerce Authority Board and the Board of Councillors of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.
“It is an honor for me to be part of the Lakers family and the nation’s foremost basketball franchise,” said Soon-Shiong. “The Lakers’ leadership and spirit of community engendered by Dr. Jerry Buss and his family is an inspiration to us all. Our family looks forward to a future filled with the excitement this team brings to the city and the nation. Earvin Johnson is a shining example of excellence on and off the court, and it is a privilege to have acquired his ownership position.”