NBA Teams – Page 1228 – NBA Blog

Cavaliers welcome top pick Anthony Bennett

Anthony Bennett wasn’t really all that interested in playing basketball. Yeah, it was cool dunking on guys, and a great way to make new friends after moving from Toronto to the city’s suburbs.

Then, he decided to get serious about six or seven years ago.

His future was calling.

”I just started growing,” Bennett said, flashing a smile while talking about his unique path to the NBA. ”And everyone said, ‘You should probably play basketball.’ So I said, ‘All right. I’ll give it a shot.’ Look where it got me now.”

Look indeed.

Bennett was formally introduced Friday by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who shocked the draft by selecting the UNLV power forward with the No. 1 overall pick on Thursday night.

Although he wasn’t regarded by many draft experts as the best player available, Bennett was always at the top of Cleveland’s board. They scouted the 6-foot-7, 240-pounder extensively all season, fell in love with his game and after getting rave reviews about his character, chose him over Kentucky center Nerlens Noel, Kansas guard Ben McLemore, Georgetown forward Otto Porter Jr. in a flawed draft.

Reported by Tom Withers of the Associated Press

End of era as Boston Celtics begin rebuild

Letting Doc Rivers go to the Los Angeles Clippers was the first sign. Getting rid of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett clinched it.

The Boston Celtics are rebuilding.

The Celtics have agreed to the terms of a deal that would send the two remaining members of the Big Three that won the 2008 NBA title to the Brooklyn Nets for a package of draft picks and players. Garnett is a future Hall of Famer, but it’s Pierce’s departure that signals the end of an era for the league’s most-decorated franchise.

”It’s sad to see everybody leave Boston. You just want them to go someplace where they have a chance to win, and they have,” Rivers said at Clippers draft headquarters late Thursday night. ”It’s a great trade for Boston, too; not now, later. Danny wanted to rebuild, and that’s what he’s doing.”

The longest-tenured member of the Celtics, Pierce is the team’s captain, a 10-time All-Star and a likely Hall of Famer. He is the second-leading scorer in the history of the NBA’s most-decorated franchise, and also is in the team’s top seven in rebounds, assists, steals, games and minutes played.

Garnett is also a future Hall of Famer, though only the last six years of his career were in Boston. It’s Pierce, who slipped to 10th in the 1998 draft and has been a Celtic ever since, who had a chance to spend his entire career with the franchise and add his name to a list that includes Hall of Famers Larry Bird, Bill Russell and John Havlicek.

Reported by Jimmy Golen of the Associated Press

Sixers acquire draft rights to Arsalan Kazemi

The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that they acquired the draft rights to forward Arsalan Kazemi (pronounced “are-suh-lahn kah-ZEE-me”) as part of a series of trades made during the second round of the 2013 NBA Draft, which took place last night. Kazemi was selected 54th in the NBA Draft, becoming the first Iranian player drafted into the NBA.

(Hamed Haddadi, the first Iranian to play in the NBA, was not drafted, and entered the league as a free agent.)

The Sixers started by trading the 35th overall pick to Washington in exchange for the 38th overall pick and the 54th overall pick, where Kazemi was eventually selected.

The Sixers then traded the 38th overall pick to Milwaukee for the 43rd overall pick and Houston’s 2014 second round pick.

The Sixers then traded the 43rd overall pick to Dallas in exchange for Brooklyn’s 2014 second round pick.

Kazemi (6-8, 226) was the first Iranian-born player to compete in NCAA Division I men’s basketball. Phoenix’s Hamed Haddadi became the first Iranian to play in the NBA as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies in 2008.

As a senior at Oregon last season, Kazemi averaged 9.4 points, a team-high 10.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 2.0 steals while shooting 59.5% from the floor in 35 games played. He earned Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 and became the first Duck ever to be named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive team.

Kazemi spent his first three seasons at Rice, averaging a double-double as both a sophomore and a junior. For his entire collegiate career, Kazemi had nearly as many steals (225) as turnovers (232).

Bobcats extend qualifying offer to Gerald Henderson

One of the few bright spots of the Charlotte Bobcats last season was solid production from their backcourt. And today, the team is making a move to hold on to a key contributor at the guard spot.

Bobcats President of Basketball Operations Rod Higgins announced today that the team has extended a qualifying offer to guard Gerald Henderson, making him a restricted free agent. The qualifying offer allows the Bobcats to match any offer he receives from another team.

Henderson was initially selected by the Bobcats with the 12th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. He played in 68 games during the 2012-13 season, averaging a career-high 15.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, a career-high 2.6 assists and 1.0 steal in 31.4 minutes per game. In his four NBA seasons, Henderson has played in 234 career games, averaging 11.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 25.6 minutes.

Ray Allen exercises option to stay with Miami Heat next season

The Miami HEAT announced today that guard Ray Allen has exercised his player option for the 2013-14 season.

Allen, a 17-year NBA veteran, appeared in 79 games with the HEAT this season, averaging 10.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 25.8 minutes per game. He led the team in free throw percentage (.886) and both three-point field goals made (139) and attempted (332). He ranked second on the team in games played and three-point field goal percentage (.419). During the HEAT’s successful playoff run, he averaged 10.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 24.9 minutes over 23 games.

Allen has appeared in 1,227 games (1,140 starts) throughout his NBA career, and has averaged 19.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.14 steals and 36.2 minutes, while shooting 45.2 percent from the floor, 40.1 percent from three-point range and 89.4 percent from the free-throw line.

Philadelphia 76ers still deciding on next head coach

Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie denied a New York Daily News report that the team has decided to hire San Antonio Spurs assistant Brett Brown as their new coach.

Saying “nothing of that substance happened,” Hinkie also said after the draft: “We had a lot of things going on. That was not part of what happened in the last several hours.”

Hinkie said he has yet to formally interview anyone following the departure of Doug Collins, who was not retained after three seasons as the club’s coach.

Brown has been an assistant under Spurs coach Gregg Popovich for the past seven seasons and previously served as San Antonio’s player development coach.

Reported by ESPN.com news services

Dirk Nowitzki reaches out to Dwight Howard

Houston’s James Harden and Chandler Parsons aren’t the only Texas residents in the NBA who have gotten a head start on recruiting Dwight Howard.

Dirk Nowitzki has also been in touch with Howard, although the Dallas Mavericks star indicated that he hasn’t been too aggressive with his recruiting efforts.

“I reached out to him and told him we’d love to have him,” Nowitzki said Thursday night. “That’s really about it. It’s not like we call each other every day.”

Grinning, Nowitzki added, “I haven’t written him a letter. We’ve just had a little phone contact, and that’s about it.”

Reported by Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas

Timberwolves exercise contract option on Dante Cunningham

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the team has exercised the one-year option on forward Dante Cunningham’s contract for the 2013-14 NBA season.

“It was important for us to bring Dante back,” said Wolves President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders. “We all saw last year how he fits in really well with Coach Adelman’s style and system. His versatility, energy and ability to knock down the open jumper are all reasons we feel he is an invaluable piece to our team. We are excited to have Dante back for next season.”

Cunningham, 26, enjoyed a career-best season the Wolves in 2012-13, averaging career highs in scoring (8.7 ppg), rebounds (5.1 rpg), assists (0.8 apg) and minutes (25.1 mpg) in a career-high 80 games, including nine starts. He reached double figures on 32 occasions, including 10 of his final 16 contests, and shot a perfect 9-of-9 from the floor on Feb. 2 vs. New Orleans to set a single-game for accuracy. Cunningham also swiped 84 steals (1.05 spg) and ranked fourth in the NBA in steal/turnover ratio (1.50-to-1). The Wolves originally acquired the fourth-year forward from the Memphis Grizzlies on July 24, 2012 in exchange for guard Wayne Ellington.

In 285 career games with Minnesota, Memphis, Charlotte and Portland, Cunningham owns career averages of 6.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 19.2 minutes per contest. Cunningham was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the second round (33rd overall) of the 2009 NBA Draft.

Nuggets get Darrell Arthur from Grizzlies

The Denver Nuggets have acquired F Darrell Arthur and the draft rights to Joffrey Lauvergne from the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for C Kosta Koufos, general manager/executive vice president of basketball operations Tim Connelly announced tonight.

Arthur, 6-9, 235, has averaged 6.7 points and 3.9 rebounds in four NBA seasons. He averaged 6.1 points and 2.9 rebounds in 59 games for the Grizzlies in 2012-13.

Selected 27th overall in 2008, Arthur enjoyed his best season in 2010-11, averaging a career-high 9.1 points and 4.3 rebounds. He missed the 2011-12 season while recovering from an Achilles’ injury.

Koufos, 7-0, 265, started 81 games for the Nuggets last season. He averaged a career-high 8.0 points and 6.9 rebounds while shooting .581 from the field.

Lauvergne (pronounced LA-vern-yea), 6-11, 240, was selected 55th overall out of France. He played for three top pro leagues in Europe last season – France Pro A, Spanish ABC and Serbia A.

The 21-year-old averaged 10.6 points and 6.1 rebounds in eight games with Partizan in Serbia, and 6.2 points in 14 games with Elan Chalon in France. He also was a member of the French junior national team in 2011 and will represent the national team this summer.

Atlanta Hawks 2013 NBA Draft results

The Atlanta Hawks selected point guard Dennis Schroeder from Germany with the 17th overall pick of the 2013 NBA Draft and acquired the draft rights to Brazilian center Lucas Nogueira (16th overall), forward/center Mike Muscala from Bucknell and guard Jared Cunningham from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for the draft rights to Shane Larkin (18th overall).

Atlanta also acquired two future draft picks: a 2015 second round pick from the Utah Jazz in exchange for the draft rights to Raul Neto (47th overall pick) and a conditional 2017 second rounder from Miami for the draft rights to James Ennis.

Nogueira (new-GAY-ruh), a 7-0 center from Brazil, has played professionally for four seasons (2009-13) with Asefa Estudiantes Madrid II and Asefa Estudiantes Madrid in Spain after spending his early teenage years at Central Club in Niteroi, Brazil. He averaged 5.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 13.3 minutes in 32 games (.664 FG%, .674 FT%) last season with Asefa Estudiantes Madrid in the Spanish ACB league.

“Lucas has a tremendous level of talent and charisma,” said Hawks President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Danny Ferry. “He can do things with his length, athletically, protecting the rim and finishing around the rim. He has a good understanding of the game and is a good teammate.”

The 20-year-old has additional international experience as a member of Brazil’s U-18 National Team, helping the club to a second place finish at the 2011 FIBA Americas U-18 Championship in San Antonio, TX. Nogueira also played for the World Select Team, facing off against the U.S. Junior National Team at the 2011 Nike Hoop Summit.

Schroeder (Shroe-derr), a 6-foot-1 point guard from Germany, has played professionally in Germany since 2009-10. The four-year veteran most recently was a member of the New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig in the country’s top league, the Beko League. He put up 11.9 points, 3.3 assists and 2.5 rebounds in 24.7 minutes in 31 games (.424 FG%, .402 3FG%, .838 FT%) last season.

“Dennis is tenacious and athletic,” said Ferry. “He’s a highly competitive, two-way player and I think he can have a really good future in the NBA with hard work, development and opportunity.”

The 20-year-old has represented Germany in junior national play in the 2012 U-20 Euros and the 2011 U-18 Euros, and was also a member of the World Select Team at the 2013 Nike Hoop Summit.