Denver Nuggets Blog – Page 44 – NBA Blog

Raptors sign guard Anthony Carter

The Toronto Raptors announced Monday they have signed free-agent guard Anthony Carter. Per team policy, financial details were not disclosed. InsideHoops.com assumes but has not confirmed that it’s a short deal, for the league minimum.

Carter, a veteran of 12 NBA campaigns, split last season between Denver and New York. He has averaged 4.9 points, 3.9 assists and 20.0 minutes in 599 regular season games. He has started 181 contests, recording averages of 5.6 points, 7.3 assists and 27.6 minutes. He has averaged better than 15 minutes per game in nine of his 12 seasons.

In 39 playoff outings, Carter has averaged 4.5 points, 3.2 assists and 18.0 minutes. He contributed 7.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists in 27.5 minutes in 10 postseason contests with Miami in 2000.

The 6-foot-2, 195 pounder posted his best career statistical regular season in the 2007-08 campaign as a member of the Nuggets. He averaged 7.8 points, 5.5 assists and 22.9 minutes in 70 games, with a career-best 67 starts.

Carter has posted career highs of 21 points (last: vs. Orlando, 1/11/08) and 15 assists (last: vs. Philadelphia, 1/6/08). He has appeared with Miami, Sacramento, Denver and New York in his NBA career.

Carter attended the University of Hawaii for his junior and senior seasons, where he averaged 18.4 points, 7.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds.

Raptors sign Gary Forbes to offer sheet. Nuggets can match.

The Toronto Raptors announced Saturday they have signed restricted free-agent forward Gary Forbes to an offer sheet. Per team policy, financial details were not disclosed.

The Denver Nuggets are expected to receive the offer sheet today. Under the terms of the NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement, beginning Sunday the Nuggets will have three days to match the Raptors’ offer.

Forbes averaged 5.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 12.6 minutes during his rookie campaign last season with the Nuggets. He started 11 contests, where he averaged 9.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 22.8 minutes.

Forbes scored in double figures on 12 occasions, with a career-best 19 points at Phoenix on November 15, 2010. He also grabbed a season-best nine boards in the contest against the Suns. He had 15 points, six rebounds and two steals in a career high-tying 24 minutes on December 10 in Toronto.

Forbes played his junior and senior seasons at the University of Massachusetts. He averaged 16.3 points per game in his two campaigns with the Minutemen, joining Julius Erving as the only players in school history to score more than 1,000 points over two seasons.

A native of Panama, Forbes scored 39 points to lead his country to a victory over Canada in this summer’s FIBA Americas Championship tournament.

Nuggets hope to re-sign Arron Afflalo

While Nuggets execs continue to hammer out a possible deal with Arron Afflalo – a restricted free agent who said he wants to return to Denver – coach George Karl spoke honestly about the importance of Afflalo in his post-Carmelo system.

“I think Arron has become our most intangible glue guy,” the coach said. “When we evaluate why we lost in the playoffs (to Oklahoma City in the first round), free throw shooting was No. 1 and not having Arron Afflalo was probably No. 2.”

There was indeed a big hullaballoo about Afflalo’s absence during the most of the first round, sparking debate about his importance.

— Reported by Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post (blog)

Nuggets hope to re-sign Nene, Arron Afflalo

Denver Nuggets General Manager Masai Ujiri said he will try to re-sign free agents Nene and Arron Afflalo when teams can agree to terms with players starting Dec. 9.

Nene opted out of the last season of his contract and is one of the most sought-after players on the market. Ujiri said he has contacted the center’s agent and wants to bring him back.

Afflalo is a restricted free agent.

— Reported by the Associated Press

J.R. Smith injures knee in Chinese basketball season-opener

Nuggets guard J.R. Smith suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury while playing for his Chinese team Sunday.

Smith signed to play for Zhejiang, a Chinese Basketball Association team, during the NBA lockout. Sunday’s game was the CBA regular season-opening game for Smith.

— Reported by the Denver Post

InsideHoops.com November 22 update: It appears the injury was extremely minor and Smith will be fine.

Judge dismisses lawsuit against Allen Iverson over Detroit bar fight

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against former NBA star and Detroit Piston Allen Iverson over a 2009 bar fight.

The Detroit News reports Tuesday that federal Judge Nancy Edmunds found no evidence that Iverson punched an Ohio man or that the man who struck him was linked to the player.

Lawyer Michael Cafferty said Iverson feels vindicated. Guy Walker plans to appeal.

— Reported by the Associated Press

George Karl staying active during lockout helping American Cancer Society

With no basketball to coach, George Karl is tending to his other passion in life: fighting cancer, a disease he has beaten twice.

The Nuggets coach lent his voice Tuesday to the American Cancer Society and Quest Diagnostics, which are teaming up on a nationwide cancer prevention study. It aims to follow 300,000 people for 20 to 30 years to see how genetics, lifestyle and the environment affect cancer risk.

“There are a lot of people who want to get into this fight who don’t have cancer, and this is one way,” Karl said.

Karl is 21 months removed from a brutal battle with neck cancer, which came a few years after he beat prostate cancer. His son Coby is a survivor of lymph-node cancer.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Harlem Globetrotters trainer found shot

Authorities say they are investigating the death of an athletic trainer for the Harlem Globetrotters after he was found shot in his Colorado home.

Weld County sheriff spokeswoman Margie Martinez said Saturday that the girlfriend of 42-year-old Thomas Bashline’s called deputies around 4:30 p.m. Friday, saying she had found him unresponsive in a bedroom. Bashline’s home is 11 miles west of Frederick in northern Colorado.

Investigators responding to the scene determined he had died.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Did Danilo Gallinari turn down a chance to date Kim Kardashian for reality TV?

Before Kim Kardashian met Kris Humphries she allegedly had her eye on another NBA player, former Knicks hoopster Danilo Gallinari. And, according to Web site Wetpaint.com, Kardashian specifically was in the hunt for a piece of arm candy from the NBA.

Kardashian was so eager to land a basketball player, the site says, that she had producers at E!, the home of her reality shows, contact NBA teams about potential beaus. Sources say that producers at the network called the Knicks to find out if the team’s handsome Italian import, Gallinari, was single.

“They asked if he would be interested in dating her and being on a reality show,” a source told the site. “Danilo said he would love to meet Kim but was not interested in dating her or being on a reality show … Even though E! explained it would be great for his career, Gallinari turned the offer down.”

— Reported by Page Six of the New York Post

Carmelo Anthony reveals extent of surgeries on elbow, knee

Carmelo Anthony revealed the severity of his left elbow and right knee surgeries yesterday and confessed he didn’t want it out in the public after it was performed in early May.

Anthony said he had loose chips removed from his left elbow and a broken-bone fragment cleaned out from his left knee.

“Something I like to keep off the radar,” Anthony said on WFAN’s “Boomer & Carton” show on why he kept it secret until late September. “I just wanted to go in there and get it done and not have a big movie surrounding that. Eventually it came out. It came out when I was healthy.” …

The Knicks normally announce their players’ surgeries. But the club needed permission from Anthony because of recent medical disclosure laws, and got denied.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

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