NBA Teams – Page 1187 – NBA Blog

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.

New Sixers coach Brett Brown will find new assistant coaches

In one of the first moves since he was hired as the 76ers coach, Brett Brown has decided not to retain the team’s assistant coaches.

He said Michael Curry, Aaron McKie and Jeff Capel will not be apart his coaching staff moving forward. The three assistants are holdovers from cDoug Collins’ staff, and are under contract for another season. It is unclear if they remain with the Sixers in another compacity or take a job elsewhere.

Curry was a candidate for the Sixers coaching job after Collins resigned on April 18.

“I’m doing that for obvious reasons,” said Brown, who was hired Monday. “I want to hire my own staff and have a clean start going in that direction. … I feel like it’s important that I come in with my own staff and start fresh and try to rebuild.”

Reported by Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Blog)

Still a bumpy road in Sacramento quest for new arena

California’s political watchdog agency filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to force a Los Angeles law firm to identify who paid signature gatherers trying to force a public vote on Sacramento’s arena subsidy.

The Fair Political Practices Commission’s suit against Loeb & Loeb charged that the high-powered firm has “failed and refused” to report the source of the money, despite warnings that it had violated the Political Reform Act by failing to meet a state financial disclosure deadline.

Loeb & Loeb represented the Maloofs when the family reached a deal in January to sell the Sacramento Kings to a group in Seattle. The Maloofs have denied any involvement in the signature campaign, and members of the family were not available for comment Thursday.

Reported by Ryan Lillis, Dale Kasler and Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee

Kobe Bryant declares himself obsessed with winning

Kobe Bryant isn’t sure he’ll be ready to play when the Los Angeles Lakers open the season on Oct. 29, although he remains ahead of schedule in rehabbing his surgically repaired Achilles’ tendon.

Bryant turns 35 next week and he vowed that his 17-year career is “definitely not over.”

“I just want that jewelry,” he said, referring to the possibility of claiming his sixth NBA championship.

“People just don’t understand how obsessed I am with winning.”

Bryant made his comments to late night host Jimmy Kimmel during “Kobe Up Close,” a one-on-one conversation with the NBA superstar on Thursday night at Nokia Theatre across from Staples Center.

He had a one-word answer when Kimmel asked whether he would finish his career with the only team he’s ever played for: “Yeah,” Bryant replied.

Reported by the Associated Press

Sixers have a few veteran trade pieces

The 76ers will be far from the best team in the NBA this season. And in a way, that’s the plan.

What new coach Brett Brown has is a roster with a raw rookie in Michael Carter-Williams playing point guard and a lot of uncertainty at the other positions. There’s a thought that the team could trade Thaddeus Young, Evan Turner, or Spencer Hawes, the three players with the most trade value, for the right price.

But the three veterans were among the players who Brown raved about during Wednesday’s introductory news conference.

“I’ve always been a fan of Thaddeus,” Brown said. “I see in Evan just that potential. You see the versatility in Spencer. You pay attention to Michael Carter-Williams and what he did in college. . . . I think about with a healthy fit, Lavoy [Allen], what he can bring to the table.

“The pieces are there were we can build around them.”

Reported by Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Celtics trade Fab Melo to Grizzlies for Donte Greene

The Memphis Grizzlies acquired center Fab Melo and cash considerations from the Boston Celtics in exchange for forward Donté Greene, the team announced today.

According to the Boston Globe, “Though Melo was a low-risk gamble at the No. 22 overall pick, he made little progress in his rookie season. The Brazilian played sparingly in six games, scoring 7 total points and proving to be little more than a long-term project at best.”

Entering his second NBA season, Melo (7-0, 255) saw action in six games last season with the Celtics averaging 1.2 points in six minutes per contest. He appeared in 33 games for the NBA Development League’s Maine Red Claws, where he averaged 9.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and a league-high 3.1 blocks in 26.2 minutes per game after being assigned to the Celtics affiliate on Nov. 14. While with the Red Claws, he recorded a triple-double on Dec. 22 against Erie with 15 points, 16 rebounds and a D-League record 14 blocks. In Maine’s next game, he recorded 32 points, nine rebounds and nine blocks. Melo, a native of Juiz de Fora, Brazil, was named to the 2013 NBA D-League All-Rookie First Team and All-Defensive First Team.

Drafted by Boston with the 22nd overall pick in the first round of the 2012 NBA Draft, Melo decided to forgo his final two years at Syracuse University after being named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year in his sophomore season. In two seasons at Syracuse, he averaged 4.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks on .576 shooting in 17.3 minutes in 63 games (54 starts).

Greene (6-11, 226) signed with Memphis on April 17, 2013, holding NBA career averages of 6.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 16.8 minutes in 253 games (82 starts) over four seasons (2008-12) with the Sacramento Kings, but did not see action in a game with the Grizzlies.

The 25-year-old had missed the majority of the 2012-13 regular season while recovering from a fractured ankle suffered during an offseason workout on Aug. 25, 2012. He played one game in Puerto Rico for Atleticos de San German of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) last year.