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The Miami HEAT announced today that they have request waivers on center Mickell Gladness.
Gladness appeared in six games with the HEAT this season totaling two points, eight rebounds, a steal and a block in 21 minutes of action. He was signed in is second stint with the HEAT as a free agent on December 10, 2011. He was previously signed by Miami on September 27, 2010 before being waived on October 11, 2010.
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Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant has passed former teammate Shaquille O’Neal and moved into fifth place on the NBA’s career scoring list.
Bryant needed 24 points to pass O’Neal entering Monday night’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers. O’Neal retired with 28,596 points. Bryant nailed a long jumper late in the first half to give him 24 points.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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LeBron James has plenty of dazzling slams so far this season.
Wednesday, he chose not to slam the door on participating in the All-Star Slam Dunk contest in two weeks in Orlando.
“I have thought about it before and a few times in the past I kind of had an ankle injury that kind of kept me out of it and a couple of times I was just like, ‘You know what, I’m going to go in here and rest my legs for this weekend and then get back to the regular season,” James said. “But, I mean, they say a lot of the greats have done it and I’ve watched it over the years.”
A lot of the greats – Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Clyde Drexler – have, and All-Star talents Vince Carter, Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin have participated in recent years.
— Reported by Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post
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Don’t call Kyrie Irving another LeBron James just because he’s also a Cleveland No. 1 pick. But if you want to call him another Chris Paul, that might be OK.
In fact, James said he sees plenty of similarities between the Cavaliers rookie point guard and Paul, the Clippers star point.
“He reminds me of CP early in his days as well,” said James, the Miami forward who will go against Irving on Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena for the first time in his NBA career. “They definitely remind me of each other. Just how in control, and how they think the game. They show that you’re not in like a rookie mindset. You’re trying to put guys in a position to succeed. I’ve been looking forward to going against him …. He’s definitely beyond his years as a rookie point guard.”
James won’t be guarding Irving, but they will be the focal points for their teams. James leads the Heat in scoring with a 29.7 average and in assists at 7.3, and Irving tops the Cavaliers with 17.4 points and 4.9 assists.
— Reported by Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida
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Heat guard Dwyane Wade will not play Tuesday against San Antonio because of a sprained right ankle.
Wade has been dealing with at least three lower-leg injuries in recent weeks, and sprained the ankle late in Miami’s loss on Friday at Denver. He also has been battling a sore left foot and a strained calf muscle.
Tuesday’s game will be the fourth Wade has missed this season. Miami won all three of the previous contests without the 2006 NBA finals MVP, who turned 30 on Tuesday.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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Antoine Walker is in a battle with time.
Time has stripped him of what made him part of an NBA championship team, a three-time All-Star and a prolific scorer. His 3-point shooting has gone flat, his legs have turned from springs to anchors and financial trouble has plagued him like a pesky defender. It’s overshadowed his NBA career — a 17.5 points per game average and 10th all-time ranking for 3-point field goals (1,386).
But Walker, 35, has found a way to fight back. He now plays for the NBA D-League’s Idaho Stampede, which is playing in the D-League Showcase this week at the Reno Events Center. Surrounded by youth and energy, the Stampede’s elder statesman has found a way to slow the final seconds ticking off his career and find hope for one more return. He wants to end his career on his own terms.
“I didn’t get to leave on my own merit,” Walker, known for his “Walker Wiggle” celebrations, said. “I still love the game, I still want to play. I believe that if I’m in the proper shape I could play another year or two and help some teams out.”
— Reported by Brian Nordli of RGJ.com
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The good news out of the Heat’s full-contact practice on Monday was that Mike Miller and Eddy Curry made their long-awaited returns to the court. The bad news was that Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers did not practice.
Wade’s foot injury, more serious than initially believed, is taking time to heal. He is questionable for both Tuesday’s game against Golden State and Wednesday’s game against the Clippers.
“I would love for it to be [Tuesday],’’ Wade said of his return. “I would love for it to be Wednesday. I don’t know. I’m just trying to be smart.
“I wanted to play the other night against New Jersey. If it was up to me, I would have played, but in Miami we make sure we all come together and put our heads together and see what’s the best for the team and for the player.”
Wade, who said his game status is “hour to hour; minute to minute,” is clearly frustrated with his slow progress and the mysterious pain in his left heel. More disconcerting is the root of the problem. Wade couldn’t offer an exact ailment but didn’t rule out plantar fasciitis.
— Reported by Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald
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While warming up for Wednesday’s night, Joel Anthony received some surprising news: he’s one of four Heat players on the East All-Star ballot, along with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
“I didn’t think they were serious,” Anthony said.
Anthony’s not a serious candidate, of course, not with Orlando’s Dwight Howard on the ballot.
Yet the panel of four media members needed 12 centers in the guard-heavy Eastern Conference, and chose one from all but three teams – Toronto (with Andrea Bargnani listed as center), Boston (reduced to a broken Jermaine O’Neal) and New Jersey (which just lost Brook Lopez for several weeks).
— Reported by Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post Blog
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Heat guard Dwyane Wade has two problems: A sore left foot and a jammed game schedule.
So he decided that taking a game off was his smartest option.
After battling the foot issue for a week with limited success, Wade sat out for the first time this season when Miami played host to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night. Wade played both ends of a back-to-back on Sunday and Monday, got extensive treatment on Tuesday, but did not see enough improvement to merit playing against Indiana — especially since Miami starts a five-game road swing at Atlanta on Thursday.
“As much as I want to be out there, my team needs me to be Dwyane Wade and not somebody else on the floor,” Wade said after sitting out Miami’s shootaround Wednesday morning.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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Wade turns 30 later this month, and in his ninth pro season nutrition is as important to him as any other part of his regimen. That wasn’t always the case: Even when he was on his way to being MVP of the NBA finals in 2006, Wade could get away with eating just about anything he wanted, chicken fingers and cheeseburgers seeming like staples of his diet.
Not anymore. Farewell, sweets. Hello, salads.
And Wade says changing the way he fuels his body has him feeling as healthy as ever.
“The protein, the drinks, the carbohydrates, I know all the things I need,” Wade said. “The biggest thing is that I’ve talked with a nutritionist, who’s working with the team, who understands what we need, how much we practice, what weight I need to be at, what body fat, this, this and this. Put them together, come up with a master plan and I reap the benefits.”
So are the Heat, who are 5-0 for the first time after polishing off the Charlotte Bobcats 129-90 on Sunday night not long after Wade polished off that pasta-and-fruit dinner. Wade came into the season with a body fat of less than 4 percent, but says he has enough strength and bulk to get through the grind of a condensed 66-game regular season, and credits the culinary changes for that belief.
— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press
