Charlotte Bobcats General Manager Rod Higgins announced today that the team has signed forward Linton Johnson III. The Bobcats roster now stands at 15 players.
Johnson (6-8, 205 pounds) appeared in four preseason games with Washington this season with averages of 1.3 points and 2.8 rebounds in 12.8 minutes.
Over his five-year NBA career, Johnson has appeared in 147 games (27 starts) with averages of 4.1 points and 3.4 rebounds in 14.6 minutes with Chicago, San Antonio, New Jersey, New Orleans, Toronto and Phoenix. Johnson went undrafted out of Tulane University in the 2003 NBA Draft, but was signed as a free agent by the Bulls before the start of the 2003-04 season.
The Bobcats will open the 2008-09 season on Thursday, Oct. 30 at Cleveland, with their home opener slated for Saturday, Nov. 1 against Miami.
The Boston Celtics announced today that they have promoted Celtics Executive Director of Basketball Operations/General Manager Danny Ainge to President of Basketball Operations. The team also announced that Ainge’s contract has been extended. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Arlington Heights Daily Herald (Mike McGraw) reports: Rookie guard Derrick Rose refused to admit feeling nervous about his official NBA debut. “I can’t wait, but I don’t think I’ll be nervous,” he said. “My first pro game was the preseason. I (treated it like) it was a real game. So I’m just going to continue to play hard and act like it’s not the first game and try to be aggressive.” Rose rented a suite for tonight’s game to accommodate his friends and family. Also, he admitted it was his idea to be announced as “from Chicago” during pregame introductions instead of from his college, Memphis. “I’ve been here my whole life,” he said. “I’ve only been in Memphis one year. I think that the fans in Memphis will understand.”
The Arizona Republic (Paul Coro) reports: Shaquille O’Neal can talk the topic of supremacy, having climbed the NBA mountaintop four times and believing that he still sits above all centers. “Because I’ve done the most,” O’Neal said. “I’m not worried about guys winning dunk contests and doing stuff like that. You still have to outdo the shogun to become the shogun. When I leave, it’ll be because my time is up, not because someone is outplaying me or someone has done more than me. The only one who has even done close, and I don’t really consider him a center, is Mr. (Tim) Duncan. Any other center, the things that they have done, I invented.”
The East Valley Tribune (Jerry Brown) reports on the Suns: Reasons to be excited: Depth. The Suns have their top seven players back from last season and have added Barnes, Dragic and Lopez to the rotation. The Suns have plenty of available fouls up front and several ball-handlers to soak up the responsibilities when Nash is on the bench. Porter plans to play nine players a night, but 10 or 11 should be involved when injuries and fouls are factored in. Reasons to be worried: The already loaded Western Conference got even better over the summer. Andrew Bynum is healthy for the Lakers in Los Angeles. James Posey is coming off the bench in New Orleans. Ron Artest has joined forces with Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady in Houston. Greg Oden and Rudy Fernandez are the latest to join a young and talented Portland team. And we haven’t mentioned the Spurs, Mavericks and Nuggets. A very good team won’t make the playoffs. Will the Suns find a chair when the music stops?
The Los Angeles Lakers have exercised a fourth year contract option for the 2009-10 season on Jordan Farmar, it was announced today. In accordance with the league’s collective bargaining agreement, the Lakers had until October 31 to exercise their option on Farmar. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not released.
The Milwaukee Bucks have acquired forward Austin Croshere (pronounced CROW-zhur) off of waivers, General Manager John Hammond announced today. In a subsequent move, the team requested waivers on forward Adrian Griffin.
The Chicago Bulls announced today that the team has re-signed forward/center Michael Ruffin to a contract. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.
The Toronto Raptors announced Monday they have exercised the fourth year team option on the Rookie Scale Contract of forward Andrea Bargnani. Bargnani is now guaranteed through the 2009-10 season. In accordance with the league’s collective bargaining agreement, the Raptors had until October 31 to exercise their option on Bargnani. Per team policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.