Cleveland Cavaliers Blog – Page 97 – NBA Blog

Cavaliers recall Darnell Jackson from D-League

The Cleveland Cavaliers have recalled forward Darnell Jackson from the Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today.

Jackson was assigned to Erie on Wednesday and played in the BayHawks’ 114-108 victory over the Dakota Wizards last night. He posted game highs of 34 points on 14-22 shooting (.636) and 12 rebounds while adding two assists, four steals and one block in 42 minutes. Pending his arrival in Toronto this afternoon, he will be available to play tonight for the Cavaliers in their 7 p.m. game versus the Raptors.

The BayHawks are the D-League affiliate of the Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors.

Wizards waive Zydrunas Ilgauskas after buyout

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has waived center Zydrunas Ilgauskas after coming to a mutual agreement on a contract buyout.

According to the Washington Post, “according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations, the 7-foot-3 agreed to surrender $1.5 million in a buyout agreement with the Washington Wizards. The two sides agreed on the terms late Wednesday night, the paperwork was finalized this morning and now Ilguaskas is free to go where he pleases. Ilgauskas was acquired from Cleveland as part of a three-team trade that sent Antawn Jamison to the Cavaliers. The Wizards owed Ilgauskas nearly $3.5 million on the remainder of his $11.5 million contract and Ilgauskas also received a $600,000 trade kicker as part of the deal. But Ilgauskas spent more than one-third of that money in order to play for the team of his choice.”

“We agreed to terms with Zydrunas on a contract buyout, giving us further financial flexibility and allowing our young big men to continue to develop over the remainder of the season,” said Grunfeld.

It is widely expected that Ilgauskas may wind up re-signing with his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, in the coming weeks.

Ilgauskas was originally acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers along with a 2010 first round pick and the rights to Emir Preldzic as part of a three-team deal in which they also acquired Al Thornton from the Los Angeles Clippers while sending Antawn Jamison to Cleveland and Drew Gooden to Los Angeles (the Clippers sent Sebastian Telfair to Cleveland to complete the trade).

Cavaliers assign Danny Green, Darnell Jackson to D-League

The Cleveland Cavaliers have assigned guard/forward Danny Green and forward Darnell Jackson to the Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today.

Green has played in 13 games for the Cavaliers this season and has averaged 2.5 points on .480 shooting and 0.7 rebounds in 5.2 minutes per game. Jackson has averaged 0.8 points on .348 shooting and 0.8 rebounds in 4.0 minutes per game in 23 games. In two games with the BayHawks during the 2008-09 season, Jackson averaged 19.5 points on .652 shooting and 6.0 rebounds in 25.5 minutes per game. Both Green and Jackson will be available to play tomorrow night for Erie in their game versus the Dakota Wizards at 7 p.m. at the Tullio Arena in Erie.

The BayHawks are the D-League affiliate of the Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors.

Marcus Thornton scores 37 in loss

John Reid of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports:

In front of a crowd used to seeing LeBron James dominate opponents at Quicken Loans Arena, New Orleans Hornets rookie shooting guard Marcus Thornton upstaged the reigning league MVP and current scoring leader Tuesday night.

Thornton set a franchise record with a 23-point second quarter before finishing with a game- and career-high 37 on 15-of-22 shooting. Despite his career night, Thornton still ended up on the losing end as the Cleveland Cavaliers closed out the fourth quarter with a flurry to defeat the Hornets 105-95 before 20,562.

The loss snapped New Orleans’ two-game winning streak. The Hornets (30-27) entered trailing the Portland Trail Blazers by a game for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Cleveland ended a three-game losing streak.

Cavs investor buys into Chinese basketball league

The AP reports:

After becoming part-owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jianhua ‘Kenny’ Huang’s next goal is to transform pro basketball in his homeland of China.

As an investor in China’s National Basketball League, Huang says he’ll introduce cutting-edge management practices adopted from England’s Premier League and the NFL.

“This is the first time private enterprise has been given the chance to reform a Chinese league,” Huang told The Associated Press Tuesday by telephone from Cleveland.

The new NBL also plans to promote homegrown talent, distinguishing itself from the dominant Chinese Basketball Association, where 19 of the 20 top scorers last year were foreigners.

Antawn Jamison shoots 0-for-12 in Cavaliers debut

Forward Antawn Jamison struggled mightily in his Cleveland Cavaliers debut, coming off the bench to shoot 0-for-12 as the team lost 110-93 to the Bobcats in Charlotte.

Playing 26 minutes, Jamison finished with two points, seven rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Stephen Jackson (9-of-17) played well for the Bobcats, finishing with 29 points, eight rebounds and four assists (though, five turnovers). Boris Diaw had 18 points and nine rebounds. And All-Star Gerald Wallace contributed 18 points, five rebounds and an impressive nine assists.

For the Cavs, LeBron James had an extremely quiet night with 22 points, three assists, nine rebounds and four steals.

As a team, the Cavs shot just 39.0%. They amazingly shot better from three-point range than overall, hitting 12-of-29 (41.4%) from outside the arc.

Charlotte had 10 more rebounds than Cleveland, and had 27 assists compared to just 15 for Cleveland.

Jamison is obviously a better player than he showed today, so this is a fluke, but it’s worth keeping an eye on Cavs team chemistry over the next 1-2 weeks.

Shaq snowed out of his own All-Star party

I hate to keep talking about snow and slush at Dallas NBA All-Star weekend — and don’t worry, the actual events start tonight, and then everything will probably be all about basketball and fun — but here’s another All-Start party story of note.

TMZ reports:

Shaquille O’Neal was supposed to host a party last night in Dallas for NBA All-Star Weekend — that is, until the biggest blizzard in the city’s history got in the way.

TMZ spoke to a manager of Aura Nightclub in uptown Dallas who told us that before Shaq arrived at the club, the record-setting snowfall blew out some electrical transformers … leaving everyone standing in the dark.

Sounds like this happened to lots of people.

But, that was just Thursday. The weekend really kicks into gear tonight (Friday). And while there’s slush all over Dallas, it’s done snowing, so all should go well for everyone from now on.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas loves his orthotics

Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports:

Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who has become a bit of a foot expert because of the troubles he had earlier in his career, practically could be a spokesman for orthotics. Most of the Cavs’ big men use them, including Shaquille O’Neal and Anderson Varejao, because their feet take extra abuse.

Ilgauskas swears by his orthotics, and he wears them in all of his shoes, even when he’s not playing. He has encouraged teammates over the years to use them.

“Forget athletes, I think everyone should have them just to walk around,” Ilgauskas said. “All your problems start with your feet. The first ones I had years ago were hard plastic and not very good, but they’ve evolved and become better. Now without my orthotics, I couldn’t play.”

Cavaliers sign Cedric Jackson to second 10-day contract

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed guard Cedric Jackson to a second 10-day contract, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today.

Jackson (6-3, 190 pounds) has played in four games this season with the Cavaliers. In seven total minutes, he has scored one point and recorded one rebound. He signed his first 10-day contract on January 23rd.

NBA fines LeBron James for kicking water bottle

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James has been fined $25,000 for kicking a water bottle during last night’s game vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

The incident occurred with 12.4 seconds remaining in the first quarter of Cleveland’s 109-95 victory over the Timberwolves at Quicken Loans Arena.