NBA Teams – Page 1487 – NBA Blog

LeBron James wants Kevin Durant to shoot a lot

Kevin Durant, the scoring champ in question, has not played in an Olympics before. Like any newcomer, he wants to be liked. So time and again during the U.S. team’s brief time together this year, Durant has passed up the sort of open shots that he drills with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“I told KD (Durant) to just be himself,” LeBron James said Sunday after Durant led the U.S. with 22 points and added nine rebounds in a game that was only close for one quarter. “On a team like this you can kind of shy away because there are so many great players here. But KD’s on this team for a reason. He’s one of the best players the world has and he’s a three-time scoring champ. So we don’t want the KD that defers. We want the KD that he is in Oklahoma City.”

James seemed determined to make that KD show up on Sunday. He threw the ball to Durant every time he could, passing up one open shot after another to get the ball to Durant. It was a bit ironic, considering that Durant and James went head-to-head in the NBA Finals this season when the Miami Heat defeated the Thunder.

— Reported by Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer

Andre Iguodala passed up chance to play for for Team Nigeria

Andre Iguodala passed up on playing for Team Nigeria

Andre Iguodala is competing in his first Olympics here. But he might have been able to play in 2004 and 2008, if he’d wanted to.

Thing is, he wouldn’t have been playing with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. He would have been playing against them.

Iguodala’s father is Nigerian. So he was invited to try out for – and in this case, “try out for” means “make” – the Nigerian Olympic squad. That team, which includes Penn grad Koko Archibong, will compete in these Games with nine American-born players on its roster.

This is the first time Nigeria qualified for the Olympics, but with Iguodala aboard, who knows if the team would have made it sooner?

— Reported by Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Nic Batum says Team USA can be beat

Moments after Team USA’s men’s basketball team fried the French yesterday, 98-71, in its Olympic opener yesterday before 12,000 at Olympic Park’s basketball arena, Nicolas Batum wasn’t convinced.

The Frenchman and rising NBA star said the American juggernaut can be beaten — not by only one Olympic club, but several.

“You have to play a 40-minute game [to do it],’’ said Batum, who plays for the Trail Blazers. “Rebound, take care of the ball and play good defense. Some team can do it. I think some team can beat them, really. Spain, Argentina, Brazil. A lot of teams can beat them.’’

Oh those French. USA looked invincible after the first quarter as it forced France into 18 turnovers and outrebounded it, 56-40, to get off to an Olympic start as sweet as fresh French pastry.

But a 27-point win against a good French club wasn’t good enough for Batum, who may want to watch when the Americans face Tunisia tomorrow in what will be the Olympics’ biggest mismatch.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

Yao Ming glad Jeremy Lin joined Rockets

Yao Ming doesn’t give many interviews anymore, but he stopped long enough yesterday as he entered the Olympic Park’s basketball arena to give a thumbs up to Jeremy Lin leaving the Knicks and joining his former club, the Rockets.

The 7-foot-6 Yao is doing Olympic commentary for Chinese TV and worked Spain’s 97-81 victory over China. When asked what he thought of Lin joining the Rockets, Yao told The Post, “It will be good for both of them, Jeremy and Houston.’’

Yao declined further comment, saying he is here for the Olympics.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

Andrei Kirilenko scores 35 for Russia

Slashing to the rim, blocking shots and getting out in transition in Russia’s first game of the Olympics, Andrei Kirilenko looked every bit the all-around force he was as a young man with the Utah Jazz.

“I feel great,” Kirilenko said after scoring 35 points on 14-for-17 shooting against Britain on Sunday. “Look at me. I’m running like a young deer.”

The only people happier with his performance than the Russians had to be the Minnesota Timberwolves. After skipping last season to play in his native Moscow, Kirilenko signed a two-year, $20 million contract with the Wolves on Friday.

Kirilenko will be bringing Russian teammate Alexey Shved with him to the Timberwolves next season. Shved had 16 points and 13 assists against overmatched Britain.

“If I’m the Minnesota Timberwolves, I have a big, fat smile on my face,” Russian coach David Blatt said.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Glen Taylor finds future new Timberwolves owner

Glen Taylor, who has owned the Timberwolves for 18 seasons and the Lynx for 13, has found the successor he has been looking for. In the near future, Taylor will close a deal to sell 25 percent of the franchises, and eventually the new owner will own the majority.

Unfortunately, the buyer is from outside the Twin Cities, but Taylor insists he will continue to own a share of the two teams and will make sure that they don’t move out of the state.

“Yes, I have [found a buyer], and we’re working on trying to put a deal together, and it would be a deal that would leave me involved for a number of years yet, but it would be a good transition,” Taylor said Sunday.

“I will be an owner for a number of years but gradually bring in a partner, if this would work out. I’d bring in a partner and … we’d work together. In the initial years, he would have less than 50 percent and then in the later years he would have more than 50 percent and would have the ownership.”

— Reported by Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Luol Deng plays nearly every minute in Britain loss to Russia

Luol Deng always knew this Olympic experience would be about more than final scores.

So minutes after Great Britain opened preliminary round play at a raucous Basketball Arena Sunday night with a 95-75 loss to Russia, the All-Star Bulls’ forward offered as much postgame eloquence as he had in-game sweat while playing all but 63 seconds.

“It was a special moment,” Deng said after his 26-point effort. “For us growing up, basketball didn’t get much attention. We’re playing against the world where basketball is everything in their country. We have dreams. We want to develop the game. Hopefully, we have youngsters watching and following our footsteps.”

This is Great Britain’s first Olympic basketball appearance since 1964. It’s Deng’s first Games. He is playing in with a torn ligament in his left wrist as some way to repay the country that offered his family political asylum from war-torn Sudan.

“This is why I chose to do this,” Deng said.

— Reported by K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune

Deng led Great Britain with 26 points, but was unusually inefficient, shooting 8-of-27 from the field, including 2-of-11 from beyond the arc. Deng, one of only two NBA players on the national team (Joel Freeland), was forced to shoot early and often to try and keep pace with the Russians. He also played a team-high 39 minutes in the loss.

Last year Deng’s shooting percentage dropped nearly five percentage points, from 46.0 to 41.2 percent. It’s unknown whether Deng will require wrist surgery or opt to have it after the Olympics, which would cause him to miss 3-4 months.

— Reported by CSN Chicago

Utah Jazz agree to sign Randy Foye

Utah Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor announced today that the team has agreed to terms with free-agent guard Randy Foye, pending the outcome of a physical. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not released.

The 28-year-old Foye (6-4, 213, Villanova) is entering his seventh NBA season and has played in 389 career games (214 starts) with Minnesota, Washington and the Los Angeles Clippers, owning career averages of 11.6 points, 3.2 assists and 2.4 rebounds in 27.1 minutes. A career 86.1-percent free-throw shooter, Foye twice has finished in the NBA’s top 10 in free-throw percentage (2009-10, 2010-11).

This past season Foye saw action in 65 of a possible 66 games (48 starts) for the Clippers, averaging 11.0 points, 2.2 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 25.9 minutes while helping L.A. to the best record in franchise history and a trip to the Western Conference Semifinals. Foye led the Clippers in three-pointers made and attempted (127-329, .386) last season, ranking seventh in the NBA in both categories, and scored 20-plus points on nine occasions, including equaling a Clipper franchise-record with eight made threes (8-15 3FG, 10-19 FG) in a 28-point effort at Dallas on April 2, 2012. Foye led the NBA with 46 made three-pointers from March 30 through the end of the regular season and averaged 15.3 points over the final 15 games of the season, hitting the 20-point mark five times in that span. He also had a streak of 21 straight games with at least one three-pointer from March 17 – April 22. Foye was teammates with recent Jazz addition Mo Williams the last two seasons in L.A.

Originally selected by the Boston Celtics in the first-round (seventh overall) of the 2006 NBA Draft, Foye was traded to Minnesota on a draft-night deal and was selected to the 2007 NBA All-Rookie First Team. He played for the Timberwolves from 2006-09, the Washington Wizards in 2009-10, and the Clippers from 2010-12.

Prior to the NBA, the Newark, N.J., native played four seasons at Villanova University (2002-06), where he averaged 14.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.51 steals in 131 games (128 starts). He finished his career as the eighth-leading scorer in Villanova history (1,966 points) and was an Associated Press First Team All-American his senior year as he led the Wildcats to a No. 1 seed in the 2006 NCAA Tournament and Elite Eight appearance.

Foye operates a charitable foundation, the Randy Foye Foundation (www.randyfoye.org), which raises funds and develops programs and projects aimed directly at improving the lives of the people, especially the kids, of Newark.

James Harden open to signing with Suns

A flicker of hope for Valley basketball fans:

Former Arizona State star James Harden would consider signing with the Suns if his contract expires after next season.

“Yeah,” he said. “Of course. I love it there. My mom lives there still. So that’s definitely my second home as far as my comfort level and going to school there. But obviously, I’m with the Thunder right now and what we have is special.”

Harden and his beard enjoyed breakout seasons in 2011-12, helping Oklahoma City reach the NBA Finals. The Thunder already secured stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook to long-term deals, and by 2015, those two players alone will command $35 million.

— Reported by Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic

Jon Diebler continues playing in Turkey

Former Ohio State guard Jon Diebler will play a second season in Europe after signing today with Pinar Karsiyaka, a team in the Aegean Sea town of Izmir, Turkey. His agent, Lance Young, confirmed the signing.

Diebler, taken by the Portland Trail Blazers in the second round of the 2011 NBA draft, played last season in Greece. He played with the Blazers’ entry in the Las Vegas Summer League this month, but last week his negotiating rights were traded to the Houston Rockets as part of a three-team deal also involving Boston.

Young said the Rockets encouraged Diebler to play overseas again this season because they are well-stocked with players on the wing.

— Reported by Bob Baptist of the Columbus Dispatch