The Phoenix Suns Friday assigned second year forward Alando Tucker to the team’s NBA Development League affiliate Iowa Energy. Tucker is the 12th player assigned from an NBA team to an NBA D-League affiliate this season.
The 6-6, 205-pound Tucker was originally selected by the Suns with the 29th overall selection in the 2007 NBA Draft and played in six games for Phoenix during his rookie season, averaging 3.7 points and 1.3 rebounds. Tucker has yet to make an appearance with the Suns this season after missing the first 22 games due to injury, including 19 following arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in November.
No stranger to the NBA D-League, Tucker was assigned to the Albuquerque Thunderbirds from Phoenix last season, when he appeared in 21 games and averaged 27.7 points and 6.0 rebounds.
The Indianapolis Star (Jeff Rabjohns) reports: Memphis has eight players 23 or younger and is one of only four teams in the league with at least four rookies. The Grizzlies’ starting lineup in 15 games — Mike Conley (21), O.J. Mayo (21), Rudy Gay (22), Darrell Arthur (20) and Marc Gasol (23) — averages 21.4 years old. Last year’s University of Memphis team that was the NCAA runner-up had a starting lineup that averaged 21.6 years old. “After you’ve been through a year, you understand the wear and tear, the grind and the level you have to play at, night in and night out,” Conley said. “It’s something I’ve gotten used to. “It’s a matter of putting all the things you’ve worked on every day in the offseason into games. You definitely have more responsibility as a second-year player.”
The Denver Post (Chris Dempsey) reports: Nene just can’t seem to feel 100 percent. He swears he has been fighting a cold for the past couple of weeks. “After the cancer, I don’t know,” Nene said. “I’m hard to get sick, you know? But now I get sick all the time.” That’s not all. Nene will play his 30th game tonight, which is nearly double last season’s workload. While he’s held up just fine, there is a wear-and tear factor that warrants keeping an eye on the 6-foot-10 Brazilian as the season progresses. Nene acknowledges the difficulty of his nightly tasks and says he is doing all he can to stay healthy and in game shape. One of those things is letting the coaches know when he needs a breather. He has signaled the bench more often of late to remove himself from games to grab rest. When he has been on the court, his level of exhaustion is obvious. On his way back down the defensive end of the court, he walks the first few steps, gradually trots and then runs.
The Sacramento Bee (Melody Gutierrez) reports: Candace Parker may not be rooting for the Kings tonight. With her brother, Anthony Parker, on the Raptors, and her husband, Shelden Williams with the Kings, the WNBA star will have her allegiances tested. Anthony and Candace Parker became the first brother-sister duo to represent the NBA and WNBA after the Los Angeles Sparks drafted Candace in April. “It will be like a family reunion,” said Williams, who joined Kings teammates and Monarchs players in handing out turkey dinners Tuesday to 200 families.
The Sacramento Bee (Scott Howard-Cooper) writes: Don Nelson has the look and sound of someone trying to get fired. This comes as no surprise to those who know him well: thrive in the underdog role, scuttle the ship when people get excited for a genuine payoff. Except that, now, the timing is curious even by his standards. He signed a two-year, $12 million extension in October, set to begin after the current deal expires with $5 million due this season. One of Nellie’s closest friends, Larry Riley, was moved from the bench to the front office to handle personnel matters in place of titular head Chris Mullin. Nelson is entirely in position to be at the intersection of everything that goes on with the Warriors, without having to get bogged down in management minutiae. There is no such thing as shocking in the Nelson world, but quitting and walking away from $12 million would qualify. No one expects that to happen. Moving himself into the line of fire to become the seventh coach to get the ax, that’s another story. He would get a sizable payoff and the freedom to swing a new deal elsewhere, if he suddenly feels tough enough again.
The Detroit Free Press (Chris Lau) reports: Ideally, Pistons coach Michael Curry would like to play veteran forward/center Antonio McDyess in the second and fourth quarters only, and keep him in during crunch time. McDyess is the leader of the second unit. He’s valuable because he’s the primary scoring option off the bench, a strong defensive presence and a calming influence on teammates. He’s also 34, so Curry wants to limit his playing time now to preserve him for the playoffs. That hasn’t happened of late. In Tuesday night’s 104-98 win over Chicago, McDyess played 26 minutes, 34 seconds, including the final 8:53 of the third quarter.