NBA Teams – Page 1186 – NBA Blog

Thunder still among best in NBA West

Lost in this summer’s extolling of other teams’ activity is this simple but significant truth: most every Western Conference playoff contender that added a major player lost a major player.

Dallas, for instance, added Jose Calderon, Monta Ellis and DeJuan Blair but lost Darren Collison, O.J. Mayo and Elton Brand. Golden State welcomed Andre Iguodala and Jermaine O’Neal but said goodbye to Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry. The Los Angeles Clippers brought in the aforementioned Collison, J.J. Redick and Jared Dudley but watched Eric Bledsoe, Chauncey Billups and Caron Butler take a hike.

Houston, with the addition of Dwight Howard, is the only Western Conference playoff contender that escaped this negligible, at best, net gain.

But because Oklahoma City didn’t reel in Mike Miller or Dorell Wright or whoever else to replace Martin, the Thunder, on paper, appears to be worse. Of course, this logic fails to consider OKC’s in-house replacements, rising star Reggie Jackson and sharpshooter Jeremy Lamb. Both have been recognized as possible Sixth Man Award candidates next season, and, together, the two should be more than capable of supplying what Martin provided last season — if not more.

Reported by Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman

Multiple Nets players gather for summer workouts

Even with the addition of two future Hall of Famers, the Nets are still Deron Williams’ team.

The captain is doing his best to lead in the summer, as well.

Williams organized players-only workouts this week in Southern California, with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in attendance. Williams told the Daily News that 10 of Brooklyn’s 15 players will participate in the workouts that started Sunday and runs until Friday.

The entire starting lineup, including Brook Lopez, is expected in SoCal. Lopez only recently shed his walking boot after offseason surgery to replace a screw in his right foot. He also spent a large portion of the summer on a goodwill tour of the world, while Pierce has been winning over the Nets’ fan base by persistently bashing the Knicks.

Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News

Bobcats assistant coach Bob Beyer arrested after fight in NY restaurant

Charlotte Bobcats assistant coach Bob Beyer was arrested in upstate New York on Thursday night following an incident in a Saratoga Springs restaurant.

Beyer, 51, was charged with second-degree obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

A Bobcats spokesman said Beyer is still employed by the team and issued the following statement: “We are aware of the incident. It is a legal matter and we will have no further comment until the legal process has run its course.”

Reported by Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer

Bucks add Jim Cleamons to coaching staff

Former Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls assistant Jim Cleamons has been hired as the Bucks lead assistant coach, joining Bob Bender, Nick Van Exel, Scott Williams and Josh Oppenheimer on coach Larry Drew’s staff.

Cleamons was a guard on the Lakers’ championship team in 1971-’72 and later served as an assistant to Phil Jackson on the Lakers staff from 1999-2004 and again from 2006-’11. Cleamons also was an assistant to Jackson with the Chicago Bulls for seven seasons, winning four titles during the Michael Jordan era in the Windy City.

The 63-year-old Cleamons has been connected with 10 NBA championship teams (one as a player with the Lakers and five as a coach, and the four titles with the Bulls).

Reported by Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Milwaukee Bucks set to give Larry Sanders a contract extension

Larry Sanders has made big strides in the past year.

And the Milwaukee Bucks are banking on his ability to leap to another level as a team leader and major defensive presence in the middle.

A league source indicated Friday that Sanders and the Bucks were near agreement on a four-year, $44 million contract extension.

Only final details remained to be settled on a deal that will keep the 6-foot-11 Sanders in Milwaukee through the 2017-’18 season.

Sanders, in the final year of his rookie-scale contract, will be paid $3 million next season. But he will make $11 million per year in the next four years, showing the high hopes the Bucks have placed in the 24-year-old center.

Reported by Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Dwyane Wade remains optimistic about health, and future of Heat

Determined to show his critics he’s still at the top of his game and feeling stronger physically after electric shock treatment to his knees, Heat guard Dwyane Wade was the portrait of optimism on several fronts Friday:

He said he has no reason to believe that any of the Big Three will sign elsewhere after next season, when he, LeBron James and Chris Bosh can exercise opt-out clauses.

He said he has no intention of abandoning the attacking style that has been a hallmark of his game, an element that became far more difficult as he dealt with knee pain during this past season’s playoffs.

He said he does not believe the knees – which were problematic the past two postseasons – will be a lingering issue for the remainder of his career. And he feels no need to curtail his minutes with the hope that will keep him healthy for May and June.

“I don’t worry about it because I’ve dealt with so many different injuries since I was young and I’ve always bounced back and found a way to be the player you guys have seen,” he said Friday morning at the Westin Diplomat before overseeing his fantasy basketball camp. “I’ve seen it work with my body before. I’m confident it will. My skills haven’t diminished. I’m not done yet.”

Reported by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald

Adding 5th year to contract offer helped Timberwolves keep Nikola Pekovic

Timberwolves fans might have fretted and feared the worst those six weeks when their team haggled with restricted free-agent center Nikola Pekovic over a new contract.

To hear him tell it, even Pekovic’s agents might have done a little of the same.

But the big man who on Friday celebrated five years’ job security and a $60 million guaranteed payday by wearing nearly all black never sweated the small stuff when negotiations stalled — until the Wolves offered a fifth year so Pekovic’s side would accept the team’s $12 million salary ceiling.

“I always knew it was going to get done,” he said at a Friday news conference that officially presented him and the new deal. “I was not nervous. I think my agents were more nervous, that’s for sure. They were calling me, like, ‘Calm down, calm down.’ I said don’t worry, I’m fine.”

He felt fine all those weeks because — as he suggested all last season — he knew he wanted to return to the team that drafted him with the first pick in the 2008 draft’s second round.

He knew that for certain because, well, he likes it here.

Reported by Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Knicks give Hamed Haddadi a workout

Free-agent center Hamed Haddadi worked out for the Knicks yesterday at the team’s training facility, according to ESPNNewYork.com.

Haddadi, 28, played parts of five seasons with the Grizzlies before being traded to the Suns in January.

The 7-foot-2 Iranian center, who could be considered to fill the role of Tyson Chandler’s primary backup, averaged 4.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks while averaging 13.8 minutes in 17 games with the Suns.

Haddadi was waived by Phoenix on July 29, but most recently played in the Philippines, where he was named MVP of the FIBA Asia Championship.

Reported by Howie Kussoy of the New York Post

Kevin Garnett may not play back-to-back games for Nets

Jason Kidd has ideas to keep Kevin Garnett healthy

The preseason is more than a month away, but Jason Kidd is already thinking about the playoffs.

The new Nets coach enters his first year on the sidelines with a championship contender whose success hinges on the health of the veteran core. Kidd already is considering minutes restrictions for his players, starting with the likelihood the 40-year-old coach will rest 37-year-old forward Kevin Garnett for one-half of back-to-back sets this season.

“When you look at KG, probably no back-to-backs for him,” Kidd said yesterday at Nassau Coliseum, where renovation plans for the aging arena were announced. “But those are just topics right now that we’re throwing around to try and keep these guys’ minutes down because we are deep.”

Since joining the Celtics in 2007, Garnett has not surpassed 33 minutes per game in a season. This past season, the former MVP played in 68 games and averaged fewer than 30 minutes per game, his lowest total since his rookie season.

Reported by Howie Kussoy of the New York Post

Mark Stevens joins Golden State Warriors ownership group

Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, the Co-Executive Chairmen of the Golden State Warriors, announced today that longtime Silicon Valley venture capitalist Mark Stevens has purchased the equity interests of the team that were previously held by Vivek Ranadivé and joined the team’s ownership group as an Executive Board Member.

Ranadivé was required to relinquish his stake in the club after leading a group that purchased a controlling interest in the Sacramento Kings on May 31, 2013.

“We’re extremely excited about the addition of Mark to our ownership group,” said Lacob. “He brings an incredible track record of success in the business world, primarily as a venture capitalist in the Bay Area, and his expertise on many levels will certainly aid us in our quest to become a World Class organization. We’ve managed to take a step closer to that goal today with Mark’s arrival.”

“Mark will prove to be a tremendous asset to our organization as we strive to become one of the model franchises in professional sports,” said Guber. “We’ve managed to build a strong and well-rounded ownership group in which each individual contributes to our success, and Mark is no exception. He’s an ideal fit.”

Currently the managing partner of S-Cubed Capital in Menlo Park, CA, Stevens is also a special limited partner and former managing partner at Sequoia Capital, a global venture capital firm based in Menlo Park. He joined Sequoia in 1989 as an associate and became a partner in 1993. During his tenure at Sequoia, his investment focus areas have been in semiconductors, networking systems, software and energy. Stevens has been responsible for numerous, successful Sequoia investments including: Aspect Development, AtWeb, Billpoint, Commquest, Documentum, Mobile Peak, MP3.com, Nvidia, Pixelworks, Quicklogic, Quickturn, Stratum One, Summit Design and Terayon Communications.

“This is an incredible opportunity for me,” said Stevens. “Under the guidance of Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, the Warriors have established themselves as a top flight organization in a very short time. The future of this team and franchise is unbelievably promising and I’m looking forward to contributing my part to help us achieve our goals.”

Stevens, who was advised by Game Plan LLC in connection with his acquisition of Ranadive’s equity interests, currently serves on the Board of Directors of Nvidia and has served on the Board of Trustees of the University of Southern California since 2001 (co-chair of the Investment Committee and member of Finance and Executive Committees). He is also a member of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Board of Councilors, is the founder and chairman of the USC Stevens Center for Innovation, and serves on the Advisory board of the Harvard Business School’s California Research Center. Stevens, who is a part time lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and B.A. in Economics (both magna cum laude) from the University of Southern California in 1981, an M.S. in Computer Engineering from USC in 1984 and an MBA from Harvard University in 1989.

The Golden State Warriors ownership group consists of leaders in a wide variety of fields including: sports, entertainment, e-commerce, mobile technology, communications and venture capital.