NBA News Blog – Page 546 – NBA Blog

Vander Blue wins D-League MVP award

Los Angeles D-Fenders guard Vander Blue has been named the 2016-17 NBA Development League Most Valuable Player in a vote by the league’s 22 head coaches, it was announced today.

Blue (6-4, 200) played in 47 games (46 starts) for the D-Fenders this season, averaging 24.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game while finishing as the league’s third-leading scorer. The former Marquette standout led Los Angeles to a Western Conference-best 34-16 record on the season before becoming the first player in team history to win the league’s top individual honor.

An NBA D-League All-Star in each of his three seasons with the D-Fenders, Blue scored in double figures in all but one of his contests this season, hitting the 20-point mark 39 times throughout the 2016-17 campaign. He was named the NBA D-League Player of the Week on December 26 and January 30.

Blue’s latest season adds to what has been a record-breaking career as he leads the D-Fenders in all-time points and rebounds. Blue’s 4,058 career point total ranks third in D-League history, and his 22.5 scoring average is good for the second-best career average in the league. He set league records in single-game free throws made (23) and attempted (27) this season, also finishing the year with a new league record in makes from the charity stripe (363).

Jusuf Nurkic returns from injury for Blazers

Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic, who was part of the big Trail Blazers turnaround that took place when he arrived from the team in trade from the Nuggets, has a fracture in his leg but is returning much earlier than anticipated and will be playing hurt against the Warriors. Here’s CSNNW reporting:

From doubtful to starting! The Bosnian Beast is back!

The Trail Blazers announced Nurkić will play in Game 3 vs. the Golden State Warriors at the Moda Center Saturday night.

Nurkic fractured fibula in his right leg on March 28th and was expected to miss at least two weeks before he was re-assessed.

Before the series, Nurkić told reporters, “if it was up to me I’d play right now.”

Blake Griffin injury update

The L.A. Clippers announced that forward Blake Griffin will miss the remainder of the 2017 NBA Playoffs with an injury to the plantar plate of his right big toe suffered during the Clippers’ 111-106 win over the Utah Jazz in Game 3 of their Western Conference First Round Playoff series.

Griffin will be re-evaluated upon the team’s return to Los Angeles and will see foot and ankle specialist Dr. Richard Ferkel.

Griffin averaged 21.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists in 61 regular season games in 2016-17, and averaged 25.0 points per game in the first two games of the Clippers’ Playoff series vs. the Jazz.

Blake Griffin out for remainder of NBA playoffs

Yet another Blake Griffin injury, at the worst possible time. The Clippers will be without their star power forward for the remainder of the playoffs. Here’s the LA Times reporting:

This season will finish similar to the last, with a sidelined Blake Griffin on the bench in street clothes.

Only this isn’t the same old story for the Clippers.

The most critical offseason in the franchise’s history has come early, courtesy of news that Griffin will miss the remainder of the playoffs because of damage to the plantar plate on his big right toe.

Chris Paul and Doc Rivers promised the Clippers will be ready to take on Utah Jazz in Game 4 of their opening-round playoff series Sunday, but this is something more far-reaching than that.

The Clippers are staring ahead into the unknown.

Kings hire Scott Perry as Executive VP of Basketball Operations

The Sacramento Kings today hired Scott Perry as Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, according to General Manager Vlade Divac.

Perry will report directly to Divac and assist in all aspects of the day-to-day operation of the Kings front office, including roster management and development, player personnel matters, scouting strategy and free agency negotiations.

“I’m thrilled that Scott will be joining our front office team,” said Divac. “His extensive experience in the league and management talents will help build on our progress as we work to develop a winning franchise.”

Perry joins Sacramento’s front office after serving the last five seasons in a similar capacity with the Orlando Magic. Prior to his time in central Florida, Perry spent parts of 12 seasons with the Pistons as a collegiate scout (2000-02), director of player personnel (2002-2007) and later as Vice President of Basketball Operations (2008-12). Detroit reached the Eastern Conference Finals on six occasions (2003-08), made consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals (2004 and 2005) and won the NBA Title in 2004 during Perry’s tenure. He also served as the Seattle Supersonics assistant general manager in the 2007-08 season, during which the franchise drafted Kevin Durant No. 2 overall.

Before entering the NBA executive ranks, Perry spent three seasons as head basketball coach at Eastern Kentucky University (1997-2000) and nine years as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan, UC Berkeley and Detroit Mercy.

The former Wayne State University Warrior was a captain and all-conference player his senior season (1986). He also suited up for the University of Oregon as a freshman after being recruited by NBA coach Jim O’Brien and former NBA executive Stu Jackson.

Rajon Rondo injured: broken thumb

Just when things were looking up for the Chicago Bulls, surprisingly up 2-0 in their postseason series against the No. 1 East seed Boston Celtics, guard Rajon Rondo has been lost to injury.

Rondo injured his right hand in Game 2 at Boston on Tuesday night, and underwent a subsequent exam and x-rays that confirmed a thumb fracture.

Surgery is not required for this injury, and he is out indefinitely.

According to the Chicago Tribune, “Jerian Grant will start in Rondo’s place. “My teammates have confidence in me,” he said Friday. Jimmy Butler will be the primary ballhandler. “I’ve been doing it all year,” Butler said.”

Devondrick Walker wins D-League Most Improved Player award

Delaware 87ers guard Devondrick Walker has been named the 2017 NBA Development League Most Improved Player, as voted on by the league’s 22 head coaches. The award honors the player who demonstrated the most significant improvement during the 2016-17 NBA D-League season.

In his third season in the NBA D-League and his first with the 87ers, Walker (6-5, 205) appeared in 48 games, averaging 12.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He was acquired by the 87ers in a trade with the Westchester Knicks on Dec. 14, 2016.

Walker’s best month was January, when he averaged 14.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists. Five of his six 20-point games came after December, including a career-high 24 points in a 131-125 loss to the Maine Red Claws on Feb. 4. Walker also tallied at least 17 points in 12 games this season, with 10 of those performances coming after December.

Walker played for Westchester during the 2015-16 season before joining Delaware in December. In 2014-15, Walker spent time with the Austin Spurs, helping them reach the Western Conference Finals of the 2015 NBA D-League Playoffs.

Kings hire Luke Bornn as VP of Strategy and Analytics

The Sacramento Kings today announced the hiring of Luke Bornn as Vice President of Strategy and Analytics.

Bornn joins the Kings organization after most recently serving as Head of Analytics for A.S. Roma of the Italian Serie A Football League, where he worked closely with managers, coaches and sports scientists to measure and evaluate athletes and performance. Concurrent with his tenure at Roma, the British Columbia native has served as a visiting scholar and professor at Harvard University in the Department of Statistics.

In his new role with Sacramento, Bornn will report directly to Vice President and General Manager Vlade Divac and employ expertise in data engineering and collection to empower basketball operations personnel with relevant information valuable in decision making processes regarding roster compilation, player evaluation and overall strategy. The material gleaned from Bornn’s data infrastructure will also assist the team’s training staff in analyzing information received via wearable technology.

Over the coming weeks, Bornn will work with Divac and the front office to add some of the sharpest minds in the field of statistical sciences to augment the analytics department and continue building a database accessible to players, coaches and basketball operations personnel.

In addition to his academic acumen and professorships at Harvard and Simon Fraser University, Bornn is a frequent contributor to the field of sports analytics, authoring articles for the Journal for Quantitative Analysis, the Annals of Applied Statistics and the Journal of the American Statistical Association—providing insights on basketball related topics such as NCAA Tournament forecasting, predicting possession outcomes in NBA contests and the spatial anatomy of defensive success.

Report: Carmelo Anthony and wife La La are breaking up

Here’s the New York Daily News reporting on Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, whose marriage to entertainment personality La La is reportedly coming to an end:

Knicks superstar Carmelo Anthony is about to lose the only ring he’s ever had in New York.

The Knicks forward and his wife of seven years, La La Anthony, are calling it quits, according to reports.

La La, 37, moved out of their home into her own New York apartment and the couple no longer live together, TMZ said.

2017 BIG3 basketball league game schedule

The BIG3, the new pro 3-on-3 basketball league founded by Ice Cube, released their full 10-week city-by-city season game schedule today.

As previously mentioned, all of the league’s teams will play one game per week, and at each city, all of the league’s teams will play one game. It’s essentially a weekly 3-on-3 tour. Here’s where the BIG3 will play.

2017 BIG3 SEASON SCHEDULE

· June 25: Barclays Center | Brooklyn, New York

· July 2: Spectrum Center | Charlotte, North Carolina

· July 9: BOK Center | Tulsa, Oklahoma

· July 16: Wells Fargo Center | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

· July 23: UIC Pavilion | Chicago, Illinois (was Nashville. Now Chicago.)

· July 30: American Airlines Center | Dallas, Texas

· August 6: Rupp Arena | Lexington, Kentucky

· August 13: Staples Center | Los Angeles, California

· August 20: Key Arena | Seattle, Washington (Playoffs)

· August 26: T-Mobile Arena | Las Vegas, Nevada (Championship Finals)