NBA News Blog – Page 430 – NBA Blog

Atlanta Hawks hired and promoted numerous people today

The Atlanta Hawks today made several additions and promotions within their basketball operations department.

The Hawks hired Chelsea Lane as Executive Director of Athletic Performance and Sports Medicine, where she will oversee the Hawks’ Athletic Performance Team and medical staff. Other new hires to the APT staff include Michael Irr as Head Strength & Conditioning Coach, John Dusel as Assistant Athletic Trainer/Strength & Conditioning, and Ty Terrell as Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach.

Dwight Lutz recently joined the organization as Director of Basketball Strategy & Analytics, Dipesh Mistry has been hired as Head Video Coordinator, veteran NBA executive Larry Riley has been named Senior Advisor, Nick Ressler has been added as Coordinator of Basketball Operations and Victor Williams has been named as a Security Consultant.

Promotions include Rod Higgins, who has been named Vice President of Basketball Operations, and Daniel Starkman, who has been elevated to Manager of Basketball Operations. Additionally, Therian Williams moves into an Assistant Video Coordinator role.

Lane was with the Golden State Warriors the last three years, serving as Head of Physical Performance and Sports Medicine the last two after beginning her stint as Head Performance Therapist. Lane joined the Warriors from High Performance Sport New Zealand, the provider of sports medicine and athletic performance programs for that nation’s Olympic athletes. The native of Australia was also the lead physiotherapist for New Zealand’s national track and field program.

Also formerly with the Warriors, Irr was most recently Head of Strength and Conditioning. He joined Golden State in 2015 after serving in a similar position for the Charlotte Bobcats from 2008-11 and as the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Chicago Bulls from 2006-08. Irr is an Exercise Science graduate of University of Connecticut with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from University of North Carolina.

Dusel comes to the Hawks from Golden State as well, where last season he was Assistant Athletic Trainer/Strength & Conditioning following a season as the team’s Sports Performance Intern. He has a Bachelor’s in Athletic Training from the University of New England.

Terrell spent the last five years with Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training (IFAST) as a performance coach. Prior to that, he owned and operated True Athletic Development, where he developed and implemented customized strength and conditioning programs. He also has experience with the Indy 11 of the NASL. Terrell attended Indiana Wesleyan University.

Lutz comes to the Hawks from the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he was a Basketball Operations Analyst. Lutz was previously with the NBA for four years as Senior Manager, Game Analytics and Strategy. Prior to his time with the NBA, Lutz served as a Statistical Analyst for Harris Connect, LLC. Lutz also spent time as a Teaching Assistant and Instructor, as well as a Statistical Consultant, at the University of Florida, where he received his Master’s in Statistics.

Most recently with the Phoenix Suns as the team’s Assistant Video Coordinator, Mistry was formerly an Assistant Coach at McMaster University and Ryerson University. He also has experience as a Video Coordinator for the men’s and women’s senior Canadian national teams. Mistry holds a Bachelor of commerce degree from Ryerson.

A veteran of nearly 50 years in basketball, including the last 30 in the NBA, Riley was the General Manager of the Warriors from 2009 to 2012, later serving as a consultant for the team. He was also an Assistant Coach and Director of Scouting for the Warriors, an Assistant Coach and Advance Scout for the Dallas Mavericks, Director of Player Personnel for the Vancouver Grizzlies and an Assistant Coach and Scout for the Milwaukee Bucks. Riley is the former Head Coach at Eastern New Mexico and Chadron State (NE).

Ressler joins the Hawks after working as an Analyst with Tishman Speyer, a Commercial Real Estate firm in New York. He has internship experience with WME/IMG in their Global Partnerships Group, with Wasserman in their Team Sports Group and with the NFL Network for their Integrated Sales team. Ressler majored in Finance, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business.

With a varied background in law enforcement, Victor Williams joined the Hawks after eight years as an Agent with Homeland Security, based in Miami. Following high school and eight-and-a-half years in the United States Coast Guard, the Norfolk, VA native worked with U.S. Customs while earning a Liberal Arts degree from Berry University. He later worked as a customs agent in Atlanta from 2000-05 and with the Joint Terrorism Task Force from 2005-10.

Higgins, a longtime NBA player, executive, coach and scout, played 13 seasons with Chicago, Seattle, San Antonio, New Jersey, Golden State, Sacramento and Cleveland, before retiring in 1994. Higgins was an Assistant Coach with the Warriors from 1994-2000 before joining the Washington Wizards as Assistant General Manager. He returned to Golden State as General Manager, then spent 2007-14 with the Charlotte Bobcats, finishing as President of Basketball Operations. He was a college scout for the Hawks last season.

Starkman began with the Hawks as a seasonal assistant in 2015 before being promoted to several different positions within basketball operations. He was most recently Manager of Basketball Information and Scouting Coordinator. He is a graduate of the University of Florida, where he earned a Bachelor’s in Business Administration, while also serving as a student manager for the men’s basketball team from 2011-15.

Therian Williams has been with the Hawks since 2016, working in video operations and player development. He was previously the Video Coordinator at his alma mater, St. Mary’s College, from 2013-16. He was team manager for the Gaels from 2009-13, earning his Bachelor’s in Sociology.

Pelicans sign Jahlil Okafor

Jahlil Okafor’s quest to find his place in the NBA will continue, now in New Orleans.

The Pelicans signed Okafor, a free agent center, today. According to ESPN.com, “a source told ESPN that Okafor’s deal includes a partial guarantee for the 2018-19 season and a team option for the following season.”

Okafor, 6-11, 275, played last season with the Philadelphia 76ers (two games) and Brooklyn Nets (26 games), averaging 6.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in 12.6 minutes per contest.

Originally selected with the third overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft out of Duke University, Okafor has appeared in 131 career regular season games (81 starts) with Philadelphia and Brooklyn, holding career averages of 12.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks in 23.5 minutes per game.

CBS Sports had this to say about the signing: “The Pelicans’ big men that they’ll certainly be keeping in rotation next season now include Anthony Davis, Julius Randle and Nikola Mirotic. Last season, each of those three players averaged over 12 percent of their points on the fast break. For Davis, it was 12.7 percent. For Mirotic, 14.6 percent. And for newcomer Randle, 16.8 percent with the Lakers. The Pelicans as a whole led the league in pace last season, according to NBA Stats, and their pace only increased after DeMarcus Cousins went down just before the All-Star Break. After Cousins’ injury, they led the NBA in percentage of points scored in transition at 17.7 percent.”

Warriors hire Dr. Rick Celebrini as Director of Sports Medicine and Performance

The Warriors have hired Dr. Rick Celebrini as Director of Sports Medicine and Performance.

Celebrini, a sports and orthopedic physiotherapist, joins the Warriors after spending the previous eight years as Head of Sports Medicine and Science for Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Additionally, Celebrini served as Director of Rehabilitation for the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, a franchise he joined as a consultant in 2014. He is also the Chief Sport Officer and co-founder of Fortius Sport and Health, an athlete development center located in British Columbia.

“Rick is a world-class physiotherapist and will play a vital role in helping to sustain the performance level of our players,” said Warriors President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Bob Myers. “He has worked closely with a number of elite athletes throughout his career and is a great fit for our organization as we strive to maintain the on-court successes of these past few seasons.”

As a therapist and consultant, Celebrini has also worked with the Dallas Mavericks, the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, Canadian Soccer Association and the NHL Players Association. In 2010, Celebrini served as chief therapist at the Vancouver Winter Olympics and was the manager of medical services for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC).

A native of Burnaby, British Columbia, Celebrini is a former professional soccer player and represented the Canadian National Team in the 1987 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile. He graduated with a degree in physical therapy from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1992 and, in 2011, received his PhD in rehabilitation sciences from the faculty of medicine at UBC. He recently received a Doctor of Letters, honoris causa from Capilano University.

Once again, Devin Harris joins Mavs

The Dallas Mavericks signed free agent guard Devin Harris today.

Harris (6-3, 185) will return for his third stint with the Mavericks in 2018-19. He played in 71 games (one start) for Dallas and Denver last season, averaging 8.4 points and 2.1 assists in 18.9 minutes per game. He was traded by the Mavericks to the Nuggets on Feb. 8, 2018, as part of a three-team trade-deadline deal that sent Doug McDermott from New York to Dallas, Emmanuel Mudiay from Denver to New York, a 2018 second-round pick from the Knicks to the Nuggets, and a 2018 second-round pick from the Nuggets to the Mavericks.

The 14-year veteran holds career averages of 11.1 points, 4.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 25.0 minutes in 917 games (446 starts) with Dallas, New Jersey, Utah, Atlanta and Denver. He moved into 10th place on the Mavericks’ all-time games played list (540) in 2017-18, and also ranks eighth in franchise history in steals (524).

Harris enjoyed his best season as a pro in 2008-09 when he averaged career highs in points (21.3), rebounds (3.3), assists (6.9), steals (1.7) and minutes (36.1) in 69 games (all starts) for New Jersey en route to earning Eastern Conference All-Star honors.

Dallas originally acquired Harris from Washington, along with Jerry Stackhouse and Christian Laettner, in a draft-day trade for Antawn Jamison on June 24, 2004. He played for the Mavericks from 2004-08 and was an integral part of the 2005-06 Western Conference championship team. The 6-3 guard was traded from Dallas to New Jersey on Feb. 19, 2008, in a deal that brought Jason Kidd to the Mavericks.

Harris returned for his second stint with Dallas after signing with the team as a free agent on July 31, 2013. He then re-signed with the club on July 17, 2014.

The Milwaukee native was named 2003-04 Big Ten Player of the Year at Wisconsin where he broke Michael Finley’s single-season scoring record with 624 points (19.5 ppg) in his junior season. He was also named Second Team All-America by the Associated Press.

Timberwolves sign James Nunnally

The Minnesota Timberwolves signed forward James Nunnally today.

Nunnally, 6-7, has spent the last two years playing in Turkey with Fenerbahçe, making back-to-back EuroLeague Final Four appearances, including winning a championship in 2017. Over 29 EuroLeague games in 2017-18, he averaged 9.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game, while shooting 54.0% overall from the field, including a 55.4% mark from beyond the arc.

Undrafted in 2012 out of UC Santa Barbara, Nunnally spent parts of the 2013-14 NBA season with Atlanta and Philadelphia, totaling averages of 3.4 points and 1.5 rebounds in 12.7 minutes per game in 13 contests. He has also played in the G League with Bakersfield and Texas, as well as overseas in Greece, Puerto Rico, Spain, Israel and Italy. Nunnally earned Italian League MVP honors in 2016 after averaging 18.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 40 games.

Nuggets sign DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell and Emanuel Terry

The Denver Nuggets have signed rookie free agent DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell to a two-way contract and rookie free agent Emanuel Terry to a training camp contract.

Akoon-Purcell, 6-5, 200, most recently appeared in four games for the Nuggets’ Las Vegas Summer League team, averaging 12.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.00 steals in 19.3 minutes per game. Akoon-Purcell went undrafted in 2016 out of Illinois State University and has spent the last two seasons playing for the Bakken Bears of the Danish league.

The Orlando, Florida native averaged 18.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.65 steals in 49 games (45 starts) for the Bakken Bears in 2017-18. He appeared in 53 games (43 starts) during the 2016-17 campaign, posting averages of 20.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.89 steals while being named both the Danish League MVP and Finals MVP.

Terry, 6-9, 220, also played for the Nuggets’ 2018 Las Vegas Summer League team, appearing in all five games while averaging 7.4 points and 5.0 rebounds on .607 shooting from the field in 17.6 minutes per game. The Birmingham, Alabama native went undrafted in 2018 after spending four years at Lincoln Memorial University.

Terry started all 31 games as a senior in 2017-18, averaging 16.9 points, 10.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 2.19 blocks while shooting .711 from the field. He was named the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year as well as earning SAC All-First Team, SAC All-Tournament Team and NABC Division II All-American Team honors that season.

Clippers trade Sam Dekker to Cavs

The Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired forward Sam Dekker from the Los Angeles Clippers. In exchange, Cleveland will trade the draft rights to Vladimir Veremeenko to the Clippers. The Cavaliers will also receive the draft rights to Renaldas Seibutis and cash considerations from Los Angeles.

“We want to thank Sam for his contributions to our team competitiveness and culture this past season,” said Clippers President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank. “Sam is a talented and hard-working athlete who represented this organization well as a player and a person. We wish him the best of luck with his opportunity in Cleveland.”

Dekker (6-9, 230) spent last season with the Los Angeles Clippers, averaging 4.2 points on .494 shooting and 2.4 rebounds in 12.1 minutes per game over 73 games (one start). Over his three NBA seasons, he owns career averages of 5.3 points on .481 shooting and 3.0 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per game during 153 career contests (three starts) with the Clippers and Houston Rockets. Dekker also appeared in four postseason games with Houston in the 2017 Playoffs, averaging 2.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in 7.8 minutes per game.

The 6-9 forward, who hails from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and played collegiately at the University of Wisconsin, was originally selected by the Rockets with the 18th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.

Raptors sign Jordan Loyd to two-way contract

The Toronto Raptors today signed guard Jordan Loyd to a two-way contract.

Loyd, 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, averaged 17.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 33.3 minutes in 38 games last season with Hapoel Eilat in Israel. He shot .482 (219-454) from the field and .399 (75-188) from three-point range.

Loyd spent the 2016-17 season with Fort Wayne of the NBA G League. He averaged 15.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 28.4 minutes in 49 games. Loyd was picked 48th overall by the Mad Ants in the 2016 NBA G League Draft.

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Loyd played three seasons at Indianapolis (2013-16) after transferring from Furman (2012-13). He was selected to the All-GLVC First Team and All-GLVC Defensive Team as a senior with the Greyhounds.

Loyd recently participated with the Raptors’ entry at NBA Summer League 2018 in Las Vegas, averaging of 8.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 17.3 minutes in four games.

Bucks sign Jordan Barnett

The Milwaukee Bucks have signed Jordan Barnett to a training camp contract.

Barnett, 22, appeared in all five of the Bucks’ Las Vegas Summer League games in July and averaged 6.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 18.6 minutes per game. The 6-foot-7 forward went undrafted in the 2018 NBA Draft after playing the final two seasons of his collegiate career with Missouri after transferring from Texas. As a senior in 2017-18, Barnett averaged 13.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 32 games (all starts) with the Tigers while shooting 44.9 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from 3-point range.

Magic sign Amile Jefferson to two-way contract

The Orlando Magic signed free agent forward Amile Jefferson to a two-way contract today.

Jefferson, who is 6-foot-9, 222 pounds, born 5/7/1993, played in 47 games (46 starts) last season with the Iowa Wolves of the NBA G League, averaging 17.8 ppg., a team-high 12.8 rpg., 2.5 apg. and 1.00 stlpg. in 34.8 minpg., while shooting .626 (335-525) from the floor. He recorded an NBA G League-record 36 double-doubles. Jefferson was named to the All-NBA G League Second Team, the NBA G League All-Defensive and All-Rookie Teams.

Not drafted by an NBA franchise in 2017, Jefferson played 150 career games at Duke University from 2012-17, averaging 7.2 ppg. and 6.3 rpg. in 22.3 minpg., while shooting .620 (426-687) from the floor. His 150 games are the most played in Duke history and tied for the seventh most all-time in NCAA history. Jefferson helped the Blue Devils capture the 2015 NCAA National Championship. Duke went 124-26 when he played, giving him the third-most wins in program history. At the end of his career, Jefferson also ranked second on Duke’s all-time list in field goal percentage, third in offensive rebounds (361), seventh in blocked shots (138) and 11th in rebounds (944).

Per NBA rules, teams are permitted to sign two players to two-way contracts in addition to the 15-man regular-season roster. A two-way player for Orlando will provide services to the team’s G League affiliate – the Lakeland Magic – but can spend up to 45 days with Orlando, not including any time prior to the start of Lakeland’s training camp and at the conclusion of their season.