NBA Teams – Page 1009 – NBA Blog

Mavericks happy to have Tyson Chandler back

Here’s the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporting on the Dallas Mavericks:

Chandler was the emotional leader and one of the guiding forces when the Mavs won their only NBA title three years ago. The 7-foot-1 center provided the defensive presence and rim protection the Mavs used to vault past the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.

Following that championship season, however, Chandler left the Mavs via free agency and signed a four-year, $60 million contract with the New York Knicks.

But the Mavs and Chandler are back together again after they acquired the 13-year veteran and point guard Raymond Felton from the Knicks on Wednesday for Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, Shane Larkin, Wayne Ellington and the 34th and 51st picks in Thursday’s NBA Draft.

Coach Rick Carlisle is more than elated to have Chandler back in his role as his team’s defensive vacuum cleaner.

Kings land sharpshooter Nik Stauskas

Here’s the Sacramento Bee reporting on the Kings and the 2014 NBA Draft, which took place last night:

After all the speculation the Kings would trade their pick, Sacramento kept it and selected Michigan guard Nik Stauskas at No. 8 in the 2014 NBA draft.

The front office believes the Canadian-born shooter will help fill multiple holes, but most importantly he can shoot from deep.

The Kings made improving their outside shooting a priority, and Stauskas was one of the best available.

When asked if he was the best shooter in the draft, Stauskas said: “Definitely. Without a doubt.”

Stauskas doesn’t want to be known simply as a shooter, but he realizes why the Kings coveted him.

Warriors still have Kevin Love in mind

Here’s the San Jose Mercury News on the Warriors and their continued interest in Timberwolves star Kevin Love:

His name was never uttered officially and certainly not by the Warriors on this night.

That would be tampering! Kevin who?

Yet … the shadow of Kevin Love hovered over all Warriors thinking and analysis during the NBA draft on Thursday.

And maybe the Warriors crept a little closer to Love by staying patient, sticking to their plotted course and waiting another day …

All this on a night when the Warriors had no draft picks and made no trades but stayed in the thick of the NBA chatter.

They didn’t trade for Love on Thursday, but that doesn’t mean they won’t at some point.

Rockets feel Clint Capela has huge upside

Here’s the Houston Chronicle Blog reporting on the Rockets and the 2014 NBA Draft, which took place last night:

Rockets general manager Daryl Morey raved about his picks and joked that every general manager does. He said his second round acquisitions, Nick Johnson and Alessandro Gentile, could quickly compete for places in the rotation. He said his first-rounder, Clint Capela, has more upside than any but the top players drafted.

When he was asked about Capela’s determination to make the jump to the NBA next season, rather than to remain in France, Morey said little.

He did not rule it out, but he did not go into the factors to be considered, including whether he would need to keep Capela overseas to save as much cap room as possible.

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to Gentile’s or Capela’s agents so it would be unfair for me to talk about that right now,” Morey said.

Magic add defense with draft surprises

Here’s the Orlando Sentinel on the Magic and the 2014 NBA draft, which took place last night:

They selected forward Aaron Gordon at No. 4 and point guard Elfrid Payton at No. 12, making a trade to acquire Payton, a rising small-school prospect out of Louisiana-Lafayette.

Payton was named college basketball’s Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year. Gordon led the country in a sabermetric called defensive win shares for Arizona. Last season the Magic picked Victor Oladipo, who had been named the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year.

There’s definitely a trend here, with the Magic choosing players who, at the moment, are better athletes than basketball players.

Gordon and Payton are somewhat surprising picks for Orlando, lacking the marquee appeal. If general manager Rob Hennigan learned anything at San Antonio, it was that team-building isn’t about collecting talent but fitting pieces together.

The Magic could have taken a heralded point guard at 4 — a move Hennigan will regret if Payton fizzles — but passed on Australian phenom Danté Exum and NBA-ready Marcus Smart.

Arron Afflalo is back on the Nuggets

Here’s the Denver Post reporting on the Nuggets:

The Arron Afflalo who returns to the Nuggets is much different than the veteran guard who left via trade in 2012.

“It feels good to come back as a better player and someone that can really impact the team, this current team, and the franchise,” a confident Afflalo said Thursday afternoon after he was traded from the Orlando Magic to the Nuggets. Afflalo is back with Denver in a deal that sent Evan Fournier and the 56th pick in Thursday’s draft to the Magic.

“I’m excited,” Afflalo said. “My whole career has been about maturity and growth, and Denver is the first team that gave me the opportunity to grow.”

Afflalo’s acquisition will not be a means to another end. According to NBA sources, Afflalo will remain with the Nuggets rather than being flipped in another trade, making him the front-runner to be their starting shooting guard next season.

Pistons get Spencer Dinwiddie, who considers himself a PG

Here’s the Detroit Free Press, reporting on the Pistons and the 2014 NBA Draft, which took place last night:

Spencer Dinwiddie didn’t hesitate.

When he was asked to identify his position late Thursday night, the Colorado junior was emphatic.

“I view myself as a pure (point guard),” he said over the phone after the Pistons used their second-round pick, 38th overall, in the NBA draft on Dinwiddie.

“I think I showed that in college.”

The record will show that Dinwiddie, 21, was the first pick of the Stan Van Gundy era of Pistons basketball.

The Pistons get a talented guard with size that is able to get to the rim, distribute and score — a talent growing more and more important in today’s NBA of pick-and-roll basketball.

Tyler Ennis adds depth to already-dynamic Suns backcourt

Here’s Arizona Sports reporting on the Suns and NBA Draft, which took place last night:

It would be easy to connect a few dots.

Eric Bledsoe a point guard, and P.J. Tucker, a small forward, are restricted free agents. Forward/Center Channing Frye opted out of his contract earlier in the week and is now an unrestricted free agent.

Thursday night, the Phoenix Suns spent the first two of their three first-round picks on North Carolina State’s T.J. Warren, a small forward, and Syracuse’s Tyler Ennis, a point guard. And with their second-round pick, 50th overall, they added Wisconsin-Green Bay center Alec Brown.

“I guess with free agency you’re not sure what’s going to happen,” Suns GM Ryan McDonough said. “We’re really high on the three free agents we have. We’d like to bring all of them back if we’re able to do that.

“We didn’t draft anybody to be replacements for those guys, let’s put it that way. We drafted these guys because we think they can help solidify our depth and because we want to keep bringing young talent into the pipeline and we think they can be really good players down the road. But our top priority would be to bring back the free agents that we have and add these guys to that group.”

Bucks select Jabari Parker second overall in 2014 NBA Draft

The Milwaukee Bucks selected forward Jabari Parker with the second overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. In the second round, the team took Damien Inglis (31st overall) and Johnny O’Bryant (36th overall), and traded the draft rights to Lamar Patterson (48th overall) to Atlanta for a Brooklyn 2015 second-round draft pick (via Atlanta).

Parker (6-8, 235), a 19-year-old early entrant candidate, played one collegiate season at Duke University, where he was a consensus First Team All-America selection. While with the Blue Devils during the 2013-14 season, Parker also earned honors as a First Team All-ACC member, ACC Rookie of the Year and USBWA National Freshman of the Year.

His 19.1 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game were both Top-50 in the nation, with the points per game average marking the fourth-highest effort by an ACC freshman ever. He is the fourth freshman in ACC history to lead the league in rebounding.

With 670 points and 306 rebounds, Parker is the 14th player in Duke history to record 600+ points and 300+ rebounds in the same season, and he is just the sixth ACC freshman to ever reach the 600-point plateau. He is the first Duke freshman to lead the team in both scoring and rebounding. Parker posted a career-high 30 points (10-of-17, .588) to go along with 11 boards in a win vs. UNC. The 30-point effort was the most by a Duke freshman in the 238-games played in series history against North Carolina.

Additionally, Parker received First Team All-America honors from The Associated Press, NABC, USBWA, Sporting News and Sports Illustrated. Parker was a finalist for the Naismith Trophy, Oscar Robertson Trophy and John R. Wooden Award, and he was honored as the top freshman in the country through the Integris Wayman Tisdale Award by the USBWA. He was named ACC Rookie of the Week a record 10 times and was on the All-ACC Academic Team.

A native of Chicago, Parker attended Simeon Career Academy, where he led Simeon to four IHSA Class 4A state championships and averaged 18.4 points and 10.4 rebounds as a senior. He was named the 2013 Jordan Brand Classic Co-MVP, is a two-time Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year and Illinois Mr. Basketball, and was named National Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior. Parker has also played for USA Basketball, earning gold medals at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship and the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship.

Inglis (6-8, 215), another 19-year-old early-entry candidate, hails from Cayenne in French Guiana, and played last season with Roanne as a rookie in France’s top league, Pro A. He averaged 4.6 points and 3.6 rebounds in 27 games. He grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds vs. Strasbourg and scored in double figures in three straight games in December. Inglis began his career at INSEP in France, where he averaged 10.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists over three seasons from 2010-13. He competed in the 2014 Nike Hoop Summit and has played for France in the U18, U17 and U16 Euros.

O’Bryant (6-9, 256) played three collegiate seasons at Louisiana State University, averaging 12.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists over his career. He was named to the All-SEC First Team by the coaches in 2013 and 2014, and earned All-SEC Second Team honors from the AP in 2014. O’Bryant is one of 14 LSU players to record 1,000 career points (1,157) and 700 career rebounds (702). He recorded 25 career double-doubles as a Tiger and scored 10+ points in 28 games his junior season. He led the team in scoring his sophomore season, averaging 13.6 points per game.

As a high school senior at East Side HS (Cleveland, Miss.), O’Bryant appeared in the 2011 McDonald’s All-American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic. He was also named a USA Today and Parade All-American that year.

The Bucks selected Patterson with the 48th pick, but traded his draft rights to Atlanta for Brooklyn’s 2015 second-round draft pick.

Heat, Hornets swap Shabazz Napier, PJ Hairston in draft-day trade

The Miami Heat announced today that they have acquired the draft rights to guard Shabazz Napier (24th overall) from the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for the draft rights to P.J. Hairston (26th overall) and Semaj Christon (55th overall), a 2019 second-round draft choice and cash considerations.

“Shabazz Napier is a winner, he’s a two-time NCAA champion and he’s one of the elite players in college basketball,” said HEAT President Pat Riley. “We feel very fortunate we were able to acquire him and we feel like he fits in extremely well. He has a high motor, high basketball IQ, is a great shooter and has great character.”

Napier, a two-time NCAA champion, appeared in a school-record 143 career games (98 starts) for the Huskies and averaged 13.7 points, 4.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.76 steals and 32.3 minutes while shooting 41.1 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from three-point range and 81.3 percent from the foul line. He totaled 1,959 points while dishing out 646 assists, becoming the only player in school history to total at least 1,500 points and 500 assists.

During his senior season, Napier helped lead UConn to the 2014 NCAA Championship after appearing in 40 games (all starts) and averaging 18.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.83 steals and 35.1 minutes while shooting 42.9 percent from the field, 40.5 percent from three-point range and 87 percent from the foul line. He was named the 2014 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year and earned the 2014 Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award. Additionally, he was a unanimous All-Conference First Team selection and named to the AP All-American First Team. He led his team in points (720), rebounds (196), assists (195), steals (73), field goals made (213), three-point field goals made (87) and free throws made (207) while capping his senior season averaging 21.2 points during the NCAA tournament, earning the Final Four and East Regional Most Outstanding Player honors.