Category: NBA News Blog

NBA news blog

Cavaliers sign Sasha Kaun

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed center Sasha Kaun to a contract, General Manager David Griffin announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.

Kaun (6-11, 250) spent the last six seasons with CSKA Moscow where he was a five-time Russian League champion (2009-2013), five-time VTB United League champion (2010, 2012-2015) and 2010 Russian Cup winner. Over his career with the team, he appeared in 142 games (94 starts) with averages of 7.6 points on .702 shooting from the field and 3.6 rebounds in 17.9 minutes per game. Last year with the club, he played in 30 games (all starts) and averaged a career-high 9.9 points on .691 shooting from the field and 4.5 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per game.

The Russian native played collegiately at Kansas, where he was a member of the Jayhawks 2007-08 National Championship team. He was also a member of the Russian National Team coached by Cavs head coach David Blatt, winning a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Kaun was originally the 56th overall pick of the 2008 NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder (then Seattle SuperSonics) and had his rights traded to the Cavs on draft night.

NBA playoff seedings rule change

The NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved changes to playoff seeding and qualification procedures effective with the 2015-16 season, the league announced today.

As part of the modifications, the eight playoff teams in each conference will be seeded in order of their regular-season record. Most recently, every division winner was guaranteed a top four seed in its respective conference regardless of its record but did not receive home-court advantage if its playoff opponent had a better record.

InsideHoops.com spoke with a league official just to clarify that this rule change applies to both (1) Seeding and (2) Qualifying for a playoff spot (before seeding even takes place.) And what we were told is that yes, this rule change applies to both. So, the teams in a conference with the eight best records are the teams that will make the playoffs, and they will be seeded in that order.

An NBA division-winner will now miss the playoffs if that team does not have a top eight record in the conference.

Therefore, winning a division means nothing in regard to making the playoffs except in tiebreaker situations as described below:

The Board also approved changes to tiebreak criteria for playoff seeding and home-court advantage. Head-to-head results have become the first criterion to break ties for playoff seeding and home-court advantage between two teams with identical regular-season records; the second criterion is whether a team won its division. Under the old tiebreak system, a division winner was awarded the higher seed and received home-court advantage in a series if the two teams met in the playoffs.

The NBA’s Competition Committee unanimously recommended each of these changes prior to the Board of Governors vote.

No FIBA Asia play for Jordan Clarkson

Here’s the Los Angeles Daily News blog reporting on Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson, who will be more rested coming into the upcoming NBA season, as explained below:

No FIBA Asia play for Jordan Clarkson

Jordan Clarkson had wanted to play for the Philippine national team. The team wanted Clarkson to play, too.

But amid concerns that his participation would conflict with his responsibilities to the Lakers, Clarkson will not play during for the Gilas Pilipinas during this month’s FIBA Asia championships, the Philippine Basketball Assn. announced on Tuesday on their website.

The statement added that Philippine national team executives Ricky Vergas and Patrick Gregorio met recently with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and president Jeanie Buss about Clarkson’s participation.

Nets are adding Dahntay Jones

With NBA training camps opening in a few weeks, we’ve reached the part of the offseason where the vast majority of players who are going to receive guaranteed contracts for the upcoming season have already been signed. At this point, most signings will be non-guaranteed deals merely bringing players into training camp. Here’s the New York Daily News with the Brooklyn Nets latest:

Nets are adding Dahntay Jones

The Nets added some veteran savvy and feistiness to their training camp roster by coming to terms with free agent guard and Jersey-product Dahntay Jones, the Daily News confirmed.

The 34-year-old Jones agreed to a non-guaranteed deal and will try to make the team out of training camp at Duke University, a school he attended for two years after transferring from Rutgers.

Alternate black Suns uniform coming Tuesday

Here’s the Arizona Republic reporting some Phoenix Suns uniform news. It’s always cool when teams roll out alternate jerseys, because in some cases the take some chances that pay off big. And then suddenly there’s something awesome worth buying. As for the report:

The Suns will be back in black next season.

On Tuesday, the Suns will reveal an alternate black uniform for the coming season, along with the “#WeArePHX” marketing campaign that already has been used in some recent franchise initiatives.

The Suns have not worn a black uniform since they donned an alternate throwback black uniform during the 2012-13 season. That uniform was designed after the 1994-95 black jerseys but this uniform will have a new style.

Tom Gores buys rest of Pistons

The Detroit Pistons are built around guards Reggie Jackson and Brandon Jennings, and center Andre Drummond. And maybe rookie Stanley Johnson, if he’s as good as he thinks he is. Here’s the Detroit Free Press reporting on Pistons ownership:

Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores had a 51% stake in the team. Now he has a 100% stake.

Gores has bought the remaining 49% from his firm, Platinum Equity, according to firm partner Mark Barnhill.

Though this won’t change anything from a control standpoint – Gores, the founder, chairman and CEO of Platinum Equity, has had full control of the Pistons’ operation since becoming majority owner in 2011, Barnhill said in an email to the Free Press – this transaction gives Gores 100% of the equity, which is important for his long-term commitment to the franchise.

Gores also owns Palace Sports & Entertainment.

Miami Heat sign Greg Whittington

The Miami HEAT announced today that they have signed forward Greg Whittington.

Until we hear otherwise, we will assume this is a non-guaranteed deal that merely brings Whittington to Heat training camp.

Whittington appeared in nine total games (six starts) with the HEAT during Summer League play in both Orlando and Las Vegas this summer and averaged 9.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.44 steals and 1.33 blocks while shooting 43.5 percent from the field, 39.1 percent from three-point range and a perfect 13-of-13 from the foul line. During Las Vegas Summer League play, he led the team in points (65), rebounds (41), blocks (8) and three-point field goals made (8).

Whittington spent two seasons at Georgetown University appearing in 46 games (13 starts) averaging 6.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 24.4 minutes while shooting 42.4 percent from the field. He scored a career-high 25 points while also grabbing 11 rebounds against West Carolina on December 15, 2012 and posted three double-figure rebounding games as a sophomore, including a career-high 15-rebound effort against Duquesne on November 11, 2012.

The HEAT’s roster now stands at 18.

Grizzlies forward Jarell Martin suffers fractured foot

The Memphis Grizzlies announced that rookie forward Jarell Martin sustained a fractured left foot today following a collision with another player during a workout. He will undergo surgery tomorrow, Sept. 3, which will be performed by team physicians Dr. Fred Azar and Dr. Drew Murphy at the Campbell Clinic. There is no timetable for his return. Further updates will be provided when available.

The 21-year-old was selected by the Grizzlies with the 25th overall pick in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft. A native of Baton Rouge, La., Martin played two seasons at Louisiana State University and finished his collegiate career with averages of 13.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 30.7 minutes in 65 games (57 starts) for the Tigers.

Cavaliers re-sign J.R. Smith

Cavaliers re-sign J.R. Smith

The Cleveland Cavaliers have re-signed guard J.R. Smith, General Manager David Griffin announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.

According to ESPN.com, “the deal is for two years and more than $10 million total… The second year of the contract [is] a player option.”

Smith played in 70 games (51 starts) with Cleveland and New York in the 2014-15 regular season, averaging 12.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.2 steals in 29.7 minutes per game. He also shot .383 from the three-point line and ranked 11th in the NBA in three-pointers made with 163. In his 46 games (45 starts) with the Cavs, the 6-6 guard shot .390 from beyond the arc and averaged 12.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.4 steals in 31.8 minutes per game. He led Cleveland in steal-to-turnover ratio (1.23) and made the most three-pointers in the Eastern Conference since the Cavs acquired him in a three-team trade on Jan. 5, 2015 (131 three-pointers).

Over his 11-year NBA career, Smith owns career averages of 13.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steal in 26.5 minutes over 762 games (218 starts) with New Orleans, Denver, New York and Cleveland. He currently ranks 24th in NBA history in three-pointers made (1,475) and has 13 games with at least eight three-pointers, which is the most in NBA history. He also holds the NBA record with 25 games of at least seven three-pointers made.

During Cleveland’s NBA Finals run in the 2015 playoffs, Smith appeared in 18 games (four starts), averaging 12.8 points and 4.7 rebounds in 31.1 minutes per game.