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Trail Blazers founding broadcaster Bill Schonely announces retirement

Trail Blazers founding broadcaster Bill Schonely has announced his retirement after over 50 years with the Trail Blazers organization as play-by-play broadcaster and team ambassador at the age of 92.

Schonely, who coined many popular catchphrases for the organization including Portland favorite “Rip City”, was hired in 1970 by team founder Harry Glickman and served as play-by-play broadcaster for almost three decades. Schonely has served as a Trail Blazers ambassador since 2003 and has made appearances in the community in support of the team’s outreach mission.

“Bill has been a fixture of the Trail Blazers organization since its inception and will continue to be forever engrained in this city,” said Dewayne Hankins, President of Business Operations for the Trail Blazers. “We thank Bill immensely for his 50+ years of hard work and everything he has given to our organization, the city of Portland and the entire NBA community.”

Schonely was one of the organization’s earliest employees at hire number six. He was tasked with quickly assembling a radio network to introduce Oregon to the Trail Blazers organization. Serving as the team’s play-by-play voice for nearly 30 years, he called over 2,500 games including the team’s incredible championship run in 1977 and the exciting runs in the 1990s. Schonely maintained a streak of calling games throughout his 30-year run that was only interrupted in 1982-83 when he stepped away to recover from heart bypass surgery. Prior to joining the Trail Blazers organization, Schonely served in the United States Marine Corps and worked at radio stations throughout the country.

In 1999, Schonely was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame for broadcasting and in 2012, he was awarded the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for his contributions to the game as an outstanding broadcaster.

Schonely will be honored at the last home game of the season on Sunday, April 10 vs. Utah

G League: Jordan Crawford is back on the Long Island Nets

The Long Island Nets, the NBA G League affiliate of the Brooklyn Nets, have reacquired guard Jordan Crawford from the available player pool to replace guard Tyrone Wallace while he plays for the New Orleans Pelicans on a 10-day contract.

Crawford (6’5”, 195) was previously acquired by Long Island on Dec. 30 and appeared in eight games (two starts) with the team this season, averaging 13.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 29.4 minutes per contest prior to being waived on Jan. 31.

The 33-year-old has also appeared in 281 career NBA games (99 starts) across six seasons with New Orleans (2016-18), Boston (2013-14), Golden State (2014), Washington (2011-13) and Atlanta (2010-11), recording averages of 12.2 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 24.4 minutes per game. Crawford has also appeared in 53 career NBA G League games (27 starts) over three seasons with the Grand Rapids (2016-17), Fort Wayne (2014-15) and Long Island (2021-22), averaging 21.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.2 steals in 30.6 minutes per contest. Additionally, Crawford has played five seasons (2014-21) internationally in China, Germany, Israel, Russia and Turkey.

Hornets sign guard Isaiah Thomas to second 10-day contract

The Charlotte Hornets have signed guard Isaiah Thomas to a second 10-day contract.

Thomas signed his first 10-day contract with the Hornets on Mar. 2, averaging 9.7 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game in three games for Charlotte. Earlier this season, Thomas signed a 10-day contract with both the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. He is averaging 9.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 19.4 minutes per game over seven games this season with Los Angeles, Dallas and Charlotte.

Pelicans sign forward Alize Johnson to 10-day contract

The New Orleans Pelicans have signed forward Alize Johnson to a 10-day contract via the COVID hardship exception.

Johnson, 6’7”, 212, has appeared in 71 career games (one start) across four seasons with Indiana, Brooklyn, Chicago, Washington, and New Orleans, recording averages of 2.6 points and 3.1 rebounds in 7.5 minutes per contest while shooting .487 from the field. Johnson has appeared in 22 games this season with the Bulls, Wizards, and Pelicans, averaging 1.9 points and 2.7 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per game.

A native of Williamsport, Pa., Johnson was selected 50th overall in the 2018 NBA Draft out of Missouri State where he averaged 14.9 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists across two seasons.

New Orleans’s roster now stands at 18 players, including two two-way players.

Mitchell Robinson playing well for Knicks this season

Here’s the New York Daily News with some positive words on Knicks center Mitchell Robinson:

Mitchell Robinson began this campaign still recovering from a fractured foot, having added too much weight during a longer-than-expected rehab. The Knicks passed on giving Robinson an extension in the offseason, instead handing $30 million to the other center — Nerlens Noel — who finished last season as the starter.

Robinson’s poor conditioning left him benched in early December, with Noel stepping back into the lineup.

Now?

Robinson is registering the best and most consistent basketball of his career, becoming a tour de force on the offensive glass as Noel devolved to unreliable. His strength and basketball IQ is finally catching up to his athleticism, and the development is reflected in his rebounding numbers: Robinson, 23, is second in the NBA in total offensive rebounds, behind only his opponent in Friday night’s game, Memphis’ Steven Adams. He’s shooting a ridiculous 77% from the field, with an equally ridiculous 42.5% of his field goals coming from putbacks off rebounds.

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Pelicans sign Tyrone Wallace to 10-day contract, and release Alize Johnson

The New Orleans Pelicans have signed guard Tyrone Wallace to a 10-day contract.

And in a related move, the Pelicans released Alize Johnson.

Wallace, 6-5, 198, has appeared in 106 career games (19 starts) across three seasons with the LA Clippers and Atlanta Hawks, recording averages of 5.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 15.5 minutes per contest.

Wallace most recently appeared in 20 games (11 starts) this season with the G League’s Long Island Nets, averaging 18.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists in 33.4 minutes per game.

New Orleans’s roster now stands at 17 players, including two two-way players.

James Harden struggles in Sixers loss to Nets

Thursday night in Philly, as a still-inactive Ben Simmons looked on, the Nets easily handled the Sixers, winning 129-100. Here’s the Philly Voice on the play of James Harden, who shot a miserable 3 for 17 and shot just two free throws for 11 points against his former squad:

James Harden was absolutely horrendous in this game. All the issues he has been accused of having when it matters in the playoffs came roaring to the forefront in a game with all eyes on it, and it was probably the single biggest reason the Sixers found themselves down 20 points early in this game. Brooklyn’s perimeter stars played at an A1 level, and Harden was a mess, turning the ball over and getting his shot packed whenever he tried to get into the painted area.

There were far too many attempts from Harden to sell contact and draw fouls when he could have simply played basketball. He didn’t look particularly good or shoot well even when he tried to reach deep into the stepback bag, but that was frankly a secondary issue. Throughout this game, Harden looked without a hope or a plan after spending most of his time here to date completely controlling games.

You look at Harden’s passing a lot differently when the other team has completely shut him down as a scorer. There were moments in Thursday’s game where it felt like Harden was so in his head and stuck in the mud that he simply wanted to get rid of the ball, uninterested in attacking the teeth of Brooklyn’s defense. And this isn’t even a good defense! Far from it, in fact. It’s almost hard to describe just how bad and detrimental to the cause Harden was in this game.

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Cavaliers sign center Moses Brown to 10-day contract

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed center Moses Brown to a 10-day contract, Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.

Brown (7-2, 245) has appeared in 78 career NBA games (33 starts) with Portland, Oklahoma City and Dallas over his three seasons in the NBA. He holds career averages of 5.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 0.73 blocks in 14.4 minutes. Additionally, Brown has also played in 45 games (15 starts) over three seasons in the NBA G League and was named to the 2021 All-NBA G League First Team and NBA G League All-Defensive Team, posting averages of 18.5 points, 13.9 rebounds and 1.71 blocks in 26.4 minutes over the 2020-21 NBA G League season. Brown went undrafted in 2019 after playing one season at UCLA.

This season with the Mavericks, Brown appeared in 26 games (1 start), averaging 3.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 6.5 minutes per contest. Brown will wear jersey number 6 for the Cavaliers.

Knicks rookie Quentin Grimes might return later this month

The 27-38 Knicks were getting 6.3 points in 17.4 minutes per game this season from rookie guard Quentin Grimes, and he could be back in action fairly soon. Via the New York Post:

The impressive rookie season for Quentin Grimes is not over.

And if there’s nothing else to take from this downbeat Knicks season, Grimes has flourished as a solid two-way shooting guard representing a piece for the future.

In the first game out of the All-Star break, on Feb. 25 versus Miami, Grimes’ knee buckled while he was moving through a screen, and was helped off by teammates.

No time table was set for his return after the Knicks announced a dislocated right knee, but Grimes is progressing quickly, is shooting and running, and likely will be cleared for his first contact practice Tuesday. Perhaps he will be back in 10 days or so.

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A power outage almost threatened tonight’s Magic at Pelicans game

A power outage issue had threatened tonight’s Magic at Pelicans game. But all wound up being okay. Here’s the New Orleans Times Picayune:

Wednesday’s game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Orlando Magic appears to no longer be in danger of postponement.

Less than three hours before tipoff, power was restored at Smoothie King Center after an hours-long outage.

The power outage, which appeared to be caused by a bird flying into a substation, City Council President Helena Moreno said, affected more than 10,000 Entergy customers. Parts of downtown, the Central Business District, Treme, Mid-City and Central City were all left without power…

Full power was restored to the arena at around 4:24 p.m. on Wednesday.

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