Category: NBA News Blog

NBA news blog

Heat sign Shaun Livingston and waive Tre Kelley

The Miami HEAT announced today that they have signed free agent guard Shaun Livingston and requested waivers on guard Tre Kelley. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Heat have bench-quality point guards, so they’re giving Livingston a shot. Before his injury, it seemed like Shaun would keep developing into a capable starter. He was playing under 30 minutes a game, scoring under 10 points but putting up nice, well-rounded numbers. He wasn’t a sure future star, but the possibility existed. Right now, though, until proven otherwise, Shaun is a bench project as he works his way back. Here’s more on him:

Livingston, a 6’7”, 185-pound guard, appeared in 145 games (60 starts) with the Los Angeles Clippers and averaged 7.4 points, 4.8 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 0.94 steals in 27.2 minutes while shooting 44.0 percent from the field and 71.0 percent from the foul line. In his last season (2006-07) with the Clippers, he led the team in assists per game (5.1) and set career highs in games started (31), minutes per game (29.9), field goals made (208), field goal attempts (449), field goal percentage (.463), free throws made (82), free throws attempted (116), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.54), rebounds per game (3.4), steals per game (1.09), and blocks per game (0.54).

“Shaun Livingston was one of the best young players to come into the draft in a long, long time. We feel very fortunate to be able to sign him and help us rebuild our program,” said HEAT President Pat Riley.

Livingston, the fourth overall selection in the 2004 NBA Draft, was named the Western Conference got milk? Rookie of the Month for April of 2005 after averaging 11.0 points, 7.4 assists, 1.40 steals and 35.9 minutes in 10 games.

Kelley was signed by the HEAT on September 26, 2008 as a free agent.

Nuggets sign Juwan Howard

The Denver Nuggets have signed F Juwan Howard to their training camp roster, team Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien announced today. Both local newspapers covering the Nuggets have said this will be a nonguaranteed deal.

Howard, a 14-year NBA veteran, played in 50 games for the Dallas Mavericks last season. In 1,001 career regular season games, he has averaged 15.3 ppg and 6.8 rpg and was an All-Star with Washington in 1996.

Howard, 6-9, 250, played in 105 games for the Nuggets from 2002-03, averaging 18.3 ppg and 7.7 rpg. Originally drafted by Washington with the fifth overall pick of the 1995 NBA Draft, he has also played for Orlando and Houston.

The addition of Howard brings Denver’s training camp roster to 19 players.

Mavericks name Paul Westphal VP of basketball operations

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have named Paul Westphal executive vice president of basketball operations. He will work directly with President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Donnie Nelson and assist in all areas of management as well as scouting.

Westphal, a 12-year NBA veteran, brings 25 years of coaching experience to his new role. Westphal owns a .627 winning percentage as an NBA coach and led the Phoenix Suns to the 1993 NBA Finals. In 1995, he became the second-fastest coach in NBA history to reach 150 wins. The Suns surpassed the 55-win mark in each of his three seasons in Phoenix. Last season, Westphal served as an assistant coach for the Mavericks.

As a player, Westphal was the 10th overall selection by the Boston Celtics in the 1972 NBA Draft. His career included stints in Boston, Phoenix, New York and Seattle. He was a member of the 1974 NBA Champion Boston Celtics and played in the 1976 Finals as a member of the Suns.

“I can’t tell you how excited we are to add Westy to our management team,” Nelson said. “The Mavericks have gained a valuable asset. As a player and coach, Paul has pretty much seen and done it all. He has a wealth of experience and expertise. Now he has the opportunity to apply that knowledge on the management side of the ball and the Mavericks are a much better team for it.”

Jared Jeffries breaks leg

The Bergen Record (Steve Adamek) reports via blog: Jared Jeffries was supposed to have a significant role in Mike D’Antoni’s rotation this season, even playing a little center as the Knicks’ version of Boris Diaw, whom D’Antoni played everywhere in Phoenix. Instead, the player considered a disappointment his first two seasons in New York after Isiah Thomas signed him to a five-year, $30 million mid-level salary cap-exception deal will start his third straight season injured after breaking his leg landing awkwardly late in Thursday’s practice. The team estimates he’ll miss six to eight weeks.

The New York Post (Marc Berman) reports: Jeffries had so impressed the new coaching staff and D’Antoni all but admitted he would be part of their expected nine-man rotation, classifying him as a center. D’Antoni felt he was misused as a small forward. “He’s 6-11, 250 pounds, that spells center to me,” D’Antoni said before the bad news. “He’s big, running the floor, great defensive player. He worked on his shot all summer, came ready to play. The guy does lots of things.”

Warriors sign Dan Dickau

The Golden State Warriors have signed free agent guard Dan Dickau to a contract, Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Mullin announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not announced.

Dickau, 30, has appeared in 300 regular-season games during his six-year NBA career, owning career averages of 5.8 points, 2.5 assists, 1.4 rebounds and 15.4 minutes per game with Atlanta, Portland, Dallas, New Orleans, Boston and the Los Angeles Clippers. The 6-0 guard spent last season with the Clippers, appearing in 67 games (eight starts) and averaging 5.3 points and 2.6 assists in 15.5 minutes, while shooting 41.9% from the field, 33.3% from three-point range and 82.9% from the free throw line.

A native of Portland, OR, Dickau had his finest NBA season in 2004-05, averaging 12.5 points, 4.9 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.07 steals in 71 games combined with Dallas and New Orleans. Following his trade from the Mavericks to the Hornets on December 3, 2004, the Gonzaga University product received the most extended playing time of his career and appeared in 67 games (46 starts) for New Orleans, averaging 13.2 points, 5.2 assists and 2.7 rebounds in 31.0 minutes per game.

Dickau will wear uniform #10. With the signing, Golden State currently has 19 players under contract.

Ben Gordon signs one-year Bulls qualifying offer

The Chicago Bulls today announced that guard Ben Gordon agreed to accept the one-year qualifying offer ($6.4 million) that had been tendered to him by the team. Gordon will thus be under contract with the Bulls for the 2008-09 season, at which time he will become an unrestricted free agent.

The 6-3, 200-pound Gordon has appeared in 316 games, including 128 starting assignments, in four seasons with the Bulls. During that time, he has averaged 18.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 2.9 apg, while shooting .432 from the field and .416 from three-point range. Last season in 72 games, he led the team in scoring for the third consecutive season, posting 18.6 ppg and shot a career-high .908 percent (third in NBA) from the free throw line. Gordon was selected by the Bulls in the first round (third overall) in the 2004 NBA Draft.

InsideHoops.com editor says: Gordon should have taken the more-than-generous Bulls offer that was widely reported to be a multi-year deal for around $10 million per season. Assuming he plays as well as he usually does, the Bulls may wind up making the same offer next summer. Each year only a few teams are under the salary cap, and it’s doubtful any are going to offer Ben a better deal than what Chicago is.

Kings add Abdur-Rahim to coaching staff

The Sacramento Kings today added Shareef Abdur-Rahim to their coaching staff as an assistant coach, it was announced by Kings’ President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie. Abdur-Rahim, a 12-year NBA veteran, recently retired his playing career due a reoccurring knee injury.

Abdur-Rahim enjoyed 12 seasons in the NBA with four different teams (Vancouver 1996-97 to 2000-01, Atlanta 2001-02 to 2003-04, Portland 2003-04 to 2004-05 and Sacramento 2005-06 to 2007-08), amassing career averages of 18.1 points (.452 FGs, .297 3FGs, .810 FTs), 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game through 830 outings. His most productive season, statistically, occurred during the 1998-99 campaign in Vancouver when he averaged 23.0 points (.432 FGs, .306 3FGs, .841 FTs), 7.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game through 50 contests (NBA Lockout season). The following season (1999-00), Abdur-Rahim averaged double figures in both points (20.3) and rebounds (10.1) per game, in which he played in all 82 contests for the Grizzlies.

Abdur-Rahim was a member of the gold-medal winning United States Olympic team in 2000 while still with the Vancouver Grizzlies. He was selected to the Eastern Conference NBA All-Star Team where he scored nine points in 21 minutes as a member of the Atlanta Hawks in 2002.

On December 28, 2002, Abdur-Rahim became the sixth-youngest player in NBA history to reach the 10,000-point plateau when he scored 18 points at Washington at age 26, trailing only Kobe Bryant, Bob McAdoo, Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with that distinction. He scored a career-high 50 points (including a career-high 21 field goals made) versus Detroit on November 23, 2001, becoming the first Hawks player to hit that mark since Dominique Wilkins poured in 52 points in 1991.

Selected by the Vancouver Grizzlies (now Memphis) as an undergraduate out of California with the third pick of the 1996 NBA Draft, Abdur-Rahim has a long-standing history of community service involvement. He was named by The Sporting News as the NBA’s Number 1 Good Guy for 2004 after funding the Reef House in Atlanta through his Atlanta-based Future Foundation with the purpose of assisting at-risk and underprivileged youth.

Pat Burke signs in Poland

The East Valley Tribune (Jerry Brown) reports: Suns fan favorite Pat Burke will be continuing his basketball career. The 34-year-old signed with Polish champion Asseco Prokam this week, continuing his tour of European basketball to yet another outpost. Burke hooked on with Khimky in the Russian League last season, where he played in 11 games, after some bad luck in October.

InsideHoops.com editor says: He came. He saw. He hit some jumpers or something.

Ginobili out 20-25 games

The San Antonio Express-News (Jeff McDonald) reports: Manu Ginobili, the Spurs’ leading scorer last season, will miss at least all of November while recuperating, coach Gregg Popovich said. “Manu will be out 20 to 25 games – until mid-December at the latest,” Popovich said on the eve of Spurs training camp. Doctors initially gave Ginobili a timetable of 8-12 weeks for recovery. The most optimistic end of that spectrum would put him back in uniform for the start of the regular-season. For now, it appears the Spurs will approach Ginobili’s return more cautiously. When training camp begins today, Ginobili, 31, will be a non-participant. He has been able to walk without crutches and without pain for some time but has not been cleared to participate in any activities other than swimming and weightlifting.

InsideHoops.com editor says: For the good of the Spurs and his NBA career, Manu needs to stop playing international basketball. Or else he should just start paying money back to the Spurs for all the times he’s not 100 percent because he keeps playing for Argentina in the summer.

Rumors Talk: Little expected from Iran player

From what little I’ve seen of Hamed Haddadi, the giant Iranian dude who yesterday signed with the Grizzlies, he’s just size. He’ll take up space. The dude is big. He’s a large guy. Also, he adds bulk. And height. He’s got size. Large big-man. In other words, he’s like Allen Iverson.

I don’t expect much from Haddadi. But it’s always fun when a player from a new country enters the league. So, congrats to him and I hope it’s a good experience for him. We’ll see if he gets to stick around. Odds are against it.

Sean Marks, now with the Hornets, can come off the bench and stretch the floor a bit with his face-up jumper for a few minutes per half.

We’ve heard 29 times now that the Oklahoma City team name is probably going to be Thunder. But what if it’s a fake-out? Maybe someone said “Let’s call them ‘Thunder’ for now” when telling Ticketmaster what to list, and when telling some NBA.com person what page to link to (before removing it).

Yeah, unlikely. They’re probably the Thunder. And I’m actually cool with the name, though it still reminds me more of Arena football than basketball. But that’s because it’s new. In a year or two, it’ll make you think of basketball. Names grow on you that way.

If I was DJ Mbenga, I’d learn how to DJ. Just because chicks who meet him and find out that his abbreviated first name is “DJ” probably ask him if he knows how to rock the turntables. And it would be cool to be able to say yes, I’d think.

What if Warriors coach Don Nelson goes wild and decides Stephen Jackson is the team’s point guard until Monta Ellis, a scoring guard who isn’t really a point guard, comes back. Jackson would probably average 5+ turnovers per game and get angry a lot but I bet the game flow would be fun.

The above is InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner’s totally unedited, off the top of the head responses to some recent NBA rumors stories.