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Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv power forward Nik Caner-Medley will be sidelined for one month due to a leg injury, the club announced Thursday. Caner-Medley got injured in Maccabi’s final regular season game against Alba Berlin. Further research confirm that he had a hamstring tear which will keep him sidelined for one month. Caner-Medley has averaged 2.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 10 Turkish Airlines Euroleague games this season.
— Reported by Euroleague.net
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Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard has been fined $35,000 for his Flagrant Foul Two against Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
The incident, in which Howard made excessive contact with Faried above the shoulders, occurred with 5:02 remaining in the third quarter of the Lakers’ 126-114 loss to the Nuggets at Pepsi Center on December 26.
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Deron Williams’ reaction to Avery Johnson being fired
Deron Williams was in the practice facility when he heard that his coach was about to get canned, and one of his immediate thoughts flashed back to Utah: “Here we go again.”
Just like in Utah two years ago, where coach Jerry Sloan retired following a reported rift with his point guard, Williams was blamed for the departure of Avery Johnson, who was abruptly fired Thursday morning by Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.
“I was surprised,” Williams said in a telephone interview with Daily News. “I never had any conversation with (GM) Billy King about not liking coach, nothing about coach Johnson. Avery was a big reason I came back, because him and Billy. So I was surprised.
“We’ve never had an argument, we’ve never had a fight, any disagreements, anything. So, I think it was more kind of what happened in Utah, people still saying I got coach Sloan fired even though he resigned and that’s going to stick with me for a while.”
— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News
The Indiana Pacers today re-assigned rookie guard Orlando Johnson to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Pacers’ NBA Development League affiliate. The assignment is the record 81st of the 2012-13 NBA and NBA D-League seasons, and is the second for Johnson this year. He is one of 43 NBA players who’ve been assigned to the NBA D-League this season.
Johnson (6-5, 220, UC-Santa Barbara) has played nine minutes in three games for Indiana this season. In his previous two-game assignment with Fort Wayne, Johnson averaged 22.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals.
Selected in the second round (36th overall) of the 2012 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings, Johnson was acquired by the Pacers via trade on June 28, 2012. In just three seasons at UC-Santa Barbara, Johnson became the Gauchos all-time leading scorer (1,825 points), and is the only player in school history to have scored 500 or more points in a season three times. His 674 points as a junior and 39 points in a game vs. Cal-Davis are also school records
Johnson is expected to join the Mad Ants today and be available when the team hosts the Texas Legends on Friday, Dec. 28.
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The Brooklyn Nets, who today fired head coach Avery Johnson, have appointed Assistant Coach P.J. Carlesimo as the team’s interim head coach, it was announced by General Manager Billy King.
A search for a new head coach will commence immediately.
Carlesimo has previous NBA head coaching experience in Portland, Golden State and Seattle/OKC. He owns a career coaching record of 204-296 in the regular season and 3-9 in the playoffs.
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The Brooklyn Nets have relieved Avery Johnson of his head coaching duties, it was announced today by General Manager Billy King.
“The Nets ownership would like to express thanks to Avery for his efforts and to wish him every success in the future,” said Brooklyn Nets principal owner Mikhail Prokhorov.
Johnson was named head coach of the Nets on June 15, 2010. In two-plus seasons as head coach of the Nets, Johnson compiled a record of 60-116.
The Nets are expected to name current assistant P.J. Carlesimo as the interim head coach.
Read NBA fan reaction and share your opinion in this basketball forum topic.
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Will the Knicks ever get healthy and whole?
Raymond Felton, the team’s starting point guard, said last night he has a fracture in his right pinkie, discovered following an X-ray. He added he will likely need surgery and be out four to six weeks.
Bah, humbug. Carmelo Anthony also missed last night’s 99-97 victor y over the Suns with a hyperextended knee suffered during Tuesday’s loss to the Lakers, but his injury doesn’t appear serious.
The timing of Felton’s latest injury is tough considering Amar’e Stoudemire is expected back on Jan. 1 and Iman Shumpert is gearing up to return later in the month. Jason Kidd and Pablo Prigioni will now be the point guards.
Felton took the X-ray of his shooting hand at halftime after sitting out last night. He injured the pinkie fighting for a loose ball with the Lakers’ Steve Nash. Felton will fly to New York tomorrow and see a hand specialist to confirm the next course of action, a Knicks official said.
— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post
The Oklahoma City Thunder has assigned forward Perry Jones, guard DeAndre Liggins and center Daniel Orton to the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.
Jones has appeared in 10 games this season with the Thunder while recording averages of 1.2 points and 1.4 rebounds in 7.6 minutes per game.
In seven games with the Thunder, Liggins is averaging 0.7 points and 1.1 rebounds in 3.0 minutes per game.
Orton has seen action in one game for the Thunder, scoring two points in two minutes versus Cleveland on Nov. 11th.
All three players will travel with the 66ers to Canton for this weekend’s matchups with the Charge on Fri. Dec 28 and Sat. Dec 29.
Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey announced today that the team has re-assigned forward Terrence Jones to Houston’s single-affiliation NBA D-League partner the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
Jones (6-9, 252, Kentucky) has averaged 22.5 points and 17.5 rebounds in two starts with Rio Grande Valley this season.
The Memphis Grizzlies re-assigned guard Tony Wroten to the NBA Development League’s Reno Bighorns, Grizzlies General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace announced today.
Wroten (6-6, 208) averaged 13.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists on .370 shooting (.438 three-point shooting) in 22.8 minutes in six games for Reno during his first assignment from Nov. 27-Dec. 17. The 19-year-old scored a D-League season-high 21 points in his Bighorns debut on Dec. 2 at Santa Cruz and matched that total in his next game on Dec. 7 vs. Bakersfield.
The Seattle native will be Bighorns for their next game on Friday, Dec. 28 at Idaho.
Drafted by Memphis in the first round (25th overall) of the 2012 NBA Draft after one season at the University of Washington, Wroten has totaled eight minutes in three appearances for the Grizzlies during his rookie season.
Memphis will seek its fourth consecutive home victory tonight when the Grizzlies host the Philadelphia 76ers at 7 p.m. tonight at FedExForum.