NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog
NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
NBA news blog
The Cleveland Cavaliers have waived guard Kevin Anderson and guard/forward Justin Holiday, Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.
Anderson appeared in one preseason game, scoring three points in five minutes. Holiday also appeared in one preseason game, scoring three points in 12 minutes.
The Cavaliers roster now stands at 18.
The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that they have waived forward/center Mikki Moore and guard Xavier Silas. The Sixers roster now stands at 16
Moore (7-0, 225) has appeared in 564 games with 181 starts across NBA 13 seasons, averaging 5.8 points and 3.9 rebounds in 18.2 minutes per game.
Silas (6-5, 205) was an undrafted rookie out of Northern Illinois in 2011. He originally signed with the Sixers in late April and appeared in the final two regular season games.
 |
The 34-year-old Lakers star addressed his retirement after practice Tuesday, saying he remained uncertain if he would play beyond his contract that expires after the 2013-14 season.
“We’ll see where it goes,” Bryant said. “It will be a lot of basketball being played.”
Bryant has logged 1,161 regular-season games and 42,377 minutes in his career. He has two years and $58.3 million remaining on his contract and probably would have to take a steep discount to return for an additional season.
What might there be left to play for at that point? One possibility would be catching or surpassing the number of championships won by Michael Jordan, who has six titles on a resume widely considered the best in NBA history.
Bryant has won five championships.
What would it take for him to come back after his contract expires?
“How the hell do I know?” Bryant said. “It’s three years from now.”
— Reported by the Los Angeles Times
|
A swollen right knee kept Dirk Nowitzki out of the Dallas Mavericks’ 99-85 loss at FC Barcelona Regal on Tuesday, with Pete Mickeal and Juan Carlos Navarro each scoring 19 points for the 17-time Spanish champions.
After only leading by two points at halftime, Barcelona outscored the Mavericks 32-16 in the third quarter to open up an 18-point gap. Center Chris Kaman led the Mavericks with 15 points. Darren Collison was next with 14, and Elton Brand had 10.
Nowitzki was expected to play but was ruled out just before tip-off.
”Last year I dealt with (swelling in the knee),” Nowitzki said. ”We did treatment twice and the swelling didn’t come back. Hopefully it will respond next week and I can play through the year.”
— Reported by Joseph Wilson of the Associated Press
The Orlando Magic have signed free agent forward Chris Johnson, General Manager Rob Hennigan announced today. We presume, but have not confirmed, that this is just a training camp signing.
Johnson (6’6”, 201, 4/29/90) played in 138 career games during four years at the University of Dayton, averaging 10.6 ppg., 6.1 rpg. and 1.1 apg. in 24.9 minpg. He was named the 2010 NIT Most Valuable Player and was a four-time Atlantic 10 Conference honoree during his collegiate career.
Johnson was waived by the Los Angeles Clippers on Oct. 7.
Orlando’s roster currently stands at 20 players.
|
Dwyane Wade hopes to make his preseason debut Thursday when the Heat plays the Los Angeles Clippers at Beijing’s MasterCard Center.
Wade practiced with the team Tuesday in Beijing and said his knee has responded well to a gradual return from offseason knee surgery. The Heat will practice Wednesday before a final decision is made on whether or not Wade is ready to return.
On Tuesday, all signs pointed to him being medically cleared.
Wade bounced around with his teammates after practice, participating in a player-organized shooting contest geared towards building team chemistry. During practice, he ran with the team during offensive drills.
— Reported by Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald
And now Smith has added a new layer of intrigue. He’s starring in a new music video called “How Deep Is Your Love,” which features Grammy award-winning reggae artist Sean Paul and popular R&B singer Kelly Rowland. Smith, who plays the love interest, said he didn’t even have to audition for the role.
“They just came to me and asked me to do it,” he told ESPNNewYork.com on Saturday. “From listening to the song, they just said I was the perfect person to play it.”
Smith said that Paul and Rowland filmed their own scenes in Los Angeles, and his was a one-day, six-hour shoot in NYC. While the experience made him want to continue acting, he’s not jumping into it again so fast.
“It’s hard,” he said. “A lot of people underestimate it. Acting is definitely a tough gig to have.”
— Reported by Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York
“How Deep is Your Love” video, featuring J.R. Smith
|
Joakim Noah was back to practice with the Bulls for Tuesday morning’s shoot-around, and according to head coach Tom Thibodeau, will now start tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies in their first preseason game at the United Center.
Noah had missed three days of practices for what the team called personal reasons, but on Monday, the Bulls big man used his Twitter account to explain that his grandmother had passed away and that’s why he put basketball on the backburner.
— Reported by Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times
 |
“It’s very different to be in a situation where you are not in the middle of the hurricane as far as rumors, where there’s a big chance of you not being part of the team you’ve been through so much with,” Gasol said in a quiet moment Sunday before the Lakers’ exhibition opener. “With all that now aside and the addition of great players, it makes it much more enjoyable.”
Gasol didn’t have fun last season. He was shoved outside the key more often than not to make way for Andrew Bynum’s less-fluid presence down low. It was great for Bynum, not so much for Gasol. His three-year run as an All-Star ended.
“We all know how competitive and how hard it is to make the All-Star team, but we weren’t doing great as a team,” Gasol said with a sigh. “Obviously, I like to make the All-Star team every single year because I like to consider I’m one of the best players in the league and the world.”
Even the Lakers seemed to sympathize last March. “This has been a really hard, hard period for Pau,” said Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak, who was put in the awkward position of welcoming Gasol back after the Paul trade fell through. — Reported by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times
Clippers guard Chris Paul was cleared for full-contact participation before Tuesday morning’s practice at MasterCard Center.
“Chris practiced today pretty much the whole practice that obviously changes things when he’s out there,”
Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro said. “He played well. He’s just got to get in better game condition. He’s been out for a while, but there’s no question he’s a factor when he’s out there no matter what kind of shape he’s in.”
— Reported by Eric Patten of Clippers.com