Category: NBA News Blog

NBA news blog

Rockets re-sign Dikembe Mutombo

Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey announced today that the Rockets have re-signed unrestricted free agent center Dikembe Mutombo. Per team policy, financial terms were not released.

Mutombo (7-2, 260, Georgetown) has averaged 9.9 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.76 blocked shots in 1,187 career games (995 starts) with Denver, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York and Houston. The NBA’s first four-time recipient of the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001), Mutombo has averaged 3.3 points, 5.5 boards and 1.09 blocks in 258 games (83 starts) over four seasons with the Rockets. The second all-time leading shot blocker in NBA history (3,278) also stands 10th in blocked shots in Rockets annals (282). In NBA history, Mutombo ranks 17th in total rebounds (12,326), 10th in offensive boards (3,796) and eighth in defensive rebounds (8,530).

Last season with Houston, Mutombo averaged 3.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.23 blocks in 39 games (25 starts). He was also honored by Owner Leslie Alexander and the Rockets with “Dikembe Mutombo Tribute Night” on Mar. 26, 2008. Overall, Mutombo totaled 44 blocked shots (1.76 bpg) over his 25 starts. In 2006-07, Mutombo became the oldest player in NBA history to post 20 or more rebounds in a game with 22 boards at Denver (3/2/07). Mutombo also posted double-digit rebounding totals in 11 consecutive games (12/27/06-1/16/07), which was the fourth longest such streak of his career (16 games: 3/22/93-4/21/93; 15 games: 3/24/99-4/16/99; 14 games: 12/9/92-1/8/93).

Thunder hire Ron Adams as assistant coach

Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has hired Ron Adams as an assistant coach.

Adams brings 17 years of NBA coaching and player personnel experience to the Thunder. Most recently, Adams spent six seasons with the Chicago Bulls serving as an assistant coach, under three different head coaches, in his first five years. Most recently he held a personnel position as a Special Assignments Scout for the Bulls.

Prior to joining the Bulls, Adams worked as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks (1998-2003), Philadelphia 76ers (1994-96) and San Antonio Spurs (1992-1994). He also spent two seasons as a player personnel scout for the Portland Trail Blazers (1996-98).

Adams spent many years at the collegiate level, including being named head coach at Fresno State in 1972. The Fresno Pacific graduate started his coaching career at his alma mater as an assistant coach in 1972 and held similar positions at U.S. International, UC-Santa Barbara, Fresno State and UNLV.

Adams brings a wealth of international coaching experience having served as a coach and consultant to the Canadian national basketball program, two Japanese basketball teams and the Belgian national basketball program.

Adams will be on the bench tonight as the Thunder host the Golden State Warriors.

Charles Barkley arrested: DUI suspicion

The AP reports: Former NBA star Charles Barkley was arrested on suspicion of drinking and driving early Wednesday morning. An officer with a law enforcement task force that targets drunken driving saw Barkley run a stop sign around 1:30 a.m., said Gilbert police Lt. Eric Shuhandler. Barkley declined to submit to a breath test but was given a blood test. The results weren’t immediately available.

Blazers score with six players on court

Tuesday night in Portland the Trail Blazers are hosting the Boston Celtics and late in the second quarter were losing to the visitors 44-38. But they got a late first half basket using six players on the court.

A video clip of this has been added below (scroll down).

With 10 seconds left in the half, Portland took a 20-second timeout. A Blazers substitution brought Jerryd Bayless into the game. Greg Oden was supposed to leave the game, but he didn’t.

So, after the timeout, Bayless inbounded the basketball to Steve Blake. With time ticking down, Blake lobbed it down to Oden outside the left paint near the rim, who quickly flipped it to Travis Outlaw on the right side of the paint, who threw down an open dunk.

LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Fernandez were also on the court for the Blazers, giving them six players versus Boston’s five.

At this point I’m leering at the 200-inch 1080P 120mhz InsideHoops.com home office HD LCD television (valued at $75,000) and laughing.

On the court for the Celtics was their starting lineup: Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins

Before Blake threw the pass, Kevin Garnett was guarding Aldridge at the left free throw corner. Oden was unguarded behind KG near the basket just outside the left paint. When Garnett spotted Oden he yelled/motioned for help (or was yelling that there are six Blazers men on the floor). Perkins, who was around the right side of the paint, responded.

Perkins switched over to guard Oden as Blake lobbed it inside, so Oden quickly flipped it to the now wide-open Outlaw, who crammed home the easy dunk with 3 seconds left, making it 44-40.

InsideHoops.com is 95 percent certain it was Oden who should have come out.

The Celtics went wild protesting. But the amazing result was that the referees, who did not notice the problem until after the dunk, actually counted the basket for the Blazers but issued a technical foul on them, putting Ray Allen on the line for a free throw, which he hit, putting Boston up 45-40, the score going into halftime.

Is this the rule? Did the referees handle this correctly? If so, the Blazers actually benefitted from this!

What if a team intentionally put six men on the floor, almost always scored as a result, and only gives up a single technical foul free throw each time. Right? Of course, that would only work if they managed to score before the refs noticed there were too many players on the court, so they’d have to get it done very quickly before the tech gets called. It could work, for a few plays every now and then!

This was wild.

–InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner

Read fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum thread.


Carlos Boozer needs knee surgery

Utah Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer is a key part of the team, but like so many other players on the squad this season, injury has been his worst opponent. So far in 2008-08 Boozer has played just 12 games, and he hasn’t played since November 19.

It appears he’ll be out longer, probably for another month,  possibly longer. The Deseret News (Tim Buckley) reports:

Jazz All-Star power forward Carlos Boozer will undergo arthroscopic surgery sometime next month on his injured left knee. No specific date for the operation is set, but the team is targeting Jan. 9… A timetable for Boozer’s continued absence will not be released until sometime after the surgery, though O’Connor said he expects Boozer to be out at least another month.

With 19 wins and 14 losses, the Jazz have actually done fairly well considering the amount of injuries they’ve suffered. If the season ended today they’d just only miss the 8th spot of the playoffs by virtue of a tie-breaker that they’d lose to the Phoenix Suns.

Rockets re-sign Dikembe Mutombo

Aside from center Yao Ming and power forward Luis Scola, the Houston Rockets are pretty short up front. Carl Landry is strong but a modest 6’9″, and Chuck Hayes is listed at just 6’6″. But now Houston has brought back the Cookie Monster. The Houston Chronicle (Jonathan Feigen) reports:

The Rockets reached an agreement with veteran center Dikembe Mutombo on Tuesday, Rockets GM Daryl Morey said. Mutombo was signed for the remainder of the season at a pro-rated veteran’s minimum contract… “I almost haven’t touched a ball in six months. I shoot the ball in the park with my kid. I am not a shooter anyway,” said Mutombo, a career 52 percent shooter. “As long as I can rebound and block shots, that’s what’s important.”

Mutombo played 39 games for Houston last season, averaging 3.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks on good shooting in 16 minutes per game.

It’s a good move for the Rockets. Mutombo can come in, take up space, rebound, wave his arms around, defend, and talk funny.

Krstic joins Thunder, Steven Hill waived

Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team’s acquisition of center Nenad Krstic has been finalized. The Thunder originally signed Krstic to an offer sheet on Dec. 22nd. The transaction was finalized today when the New Jersey Nets declined to match the Thunder offer.

“We are pleased to be able to add Nenad to our organization,” said Presti. “He is someone that we feel helps this team both in the short and long term. We are excited that he will be a part of the Thunder as we continue to build our team here in Oklahoma City.”

Krstic (7-0, 213), the 24th overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft by the Nets, played four seasons in New Jersey appearing in 226 games. During that time he averaged 11.3 points and 5.7 rebounds in 27 minutes per contest.

The Serbian national had his best year in 2005-06 when he started 80 games for the Nets as a second year player. He averaged 13.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Krstic had his 2006-07 season cut short by a torn ACL in his left knee. Prior to the injury he was averaging 16.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per contest.

Krstic signed a contract with Triumph Lyubertsy of Russia’s Superleague A on July 29, 2008. In seven Superleague A games with Triumph he averaged 10.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.0 block in 21 minutes per contest.

Prior to his move to the NBA, Krstic played four seasons for Partizan in Yugoslavian League where he averaged 10.6 points and 5.2 rebounds.

Krstic will wear uniform #12.

At the same time the team announced that it has waived center Steven Hill. Hill appeared in one game for the Thunder scoring two points and grabbing thee rebounds in two minutes.

No back-to-backs for McGrady

The Houston Chronicle (Jonathan Feigen) reports: Rockets guard Tracy McGrady returned to the court Monday after missing Saturday’s game, but said he and the team have agreed he will not play both games when the Rockets play two games in as many nights. After struggling in New Orleans on Friday, McGrady sat out Saturday’s game against the Utah Jazz. “Me and coach talked about it, and I think when we do have back-to-backs, we’ll really have communication to decide which game I should play and which game I should sit out.

Steve Nash has back spasms

The AP reports: Former MVP Steve Nash left the Phoenix Suns’ game against Oklahoma City in the first quarter Monday night with back spasms and was not expected to return.

InsideHoops.com editor says: I’m still annoyed I didn’t go earlier to Nash’s soccer game in an NYC park last year. I saw some of it, but from a lousy angle. Now, what does that have to do with Nash having back spasms? Absolutely nothing. Hope those clear up.

Players of Week: LeBron, Kobe

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant today were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, Dec. 22, through Sunday, Dec. 28.

James guided the Cavaliers to a 3-0 mark, with home wins over the Rockets, Wizards and Heat, improving Cleveland’s mark at Quicken Loans Arena to 16-0, tops in the NBA. He averaged 26.0 points on 53 percent shooting, while adding 6.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists, as Cleveland improved to 26-4, the best start in franchise history. He finished with 27 points, including 19 in the second half, as Cleveland rallied to defeat Houston. He tallied 11 fourth-quarter points and finished with 33 points and nine assists in a comeback win over Miami.

Bryant led the Lakers to a 4-0 week, averaging 30.0 points on 54 percent shooting, to go with 5.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists. He tallied a game-high 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists, as the Lakers defeated Boston on Christmas Day, 92-83, snapping the Celtics’ 19-game winning streak. He capped off the week going 10-for-10 from the free throw line en route to scoring 31 points in a 130-113 victory over Golden State.

Other nominees for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Miami’s Dwyane Wade, Orlando’s Rashard Lewis, Cleveland’s Mo Williams, Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace, Atlanta’s Joe Johnson, Detroit’s Rodney Stuckey, Houston’s Yao Ming, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, San Antonio’s Tony Parker and Toronto’s Jermaine O’Neal.