NBA Teams – Page 2292 – NBA Blog

Marbury to start tonight

The New York Daily News (Frank Isola) reports: Stephon Marbury will start tonight against the Celtics which tells you a little about Marbury and a lot about Jamal Crawford. I’ve heard for a few days that the coaching staff is not happy with Crawford’s defense nor is Crawford happy that he is averaging just seven shots per game in the preseason. Marbury has equipped himself well thus far and since trading him (he makes $21.9 million this season) is next to impossible, Mike D’Antoni may be reaching the conclusion that Marbury is the better option in the backcourt to play with Chris Duhon.

The New York post (Marc Berman) reports: Mike D’Antoni confirmed today that Stephon Marbury will start at shooting guard instead of Jamal Crawford when the Knicks play their second-to-last preseason game at the Garden against the Celtics tonight.

InsideHoops.com editor says: I’ve been saying for two months now that if there’s one season Stephon Marbury could redeem himself and rise up as a semi-star again, this one, under Mike D’Antoni, would be it. I know most (almost all) the local beat writers/columnists who cover the Knicks have said the team has to part ways with him, and I know the reasoning behind it, and understand it. Addition by subtraction and all that. Get rid of the bad attitude and the guy that pisses some teammates off. I’d totally buy into that, normally. But I still feel that Marbury could have his best season in years this year if he’s given the chance, and if that happens, the bad attitude and off-court issues would diminish — not totally, but to a bearable level. His contract is up after the season so what does it matter? I see no reason to buy him out. If the team wants to throw money away, buy out other players whose contracts don’t expire this summer. And it doesn’t make sense to bench him as long as he’s on the roster, unless it actually helps the team on the court to do so. I wanna see what he can do under D’Antoni’s offense and I bet it’ll be better than expected.

Wizards waive DerMarr Johnson and Linton Johnson

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has waived forwards DerMarr Johnson and Linton Johnson. DerMarr Johnson appeared in five preseason games for Washington and averaged 8.8 points in 19.6 minutes per game. Linton Johnson appeared in four preseason games as a Wizard and averaged 1.3 points in 12.8 minutes per game. Both players originally signed with Washington on September 22, 2008.

The Wizards roster now stands at 15.

Washington will be without star point guard Gilbert Arenas for a few months and role-playing center Brendan Haywood for most of the season. But fortunately, star forward Antawn Jamison should be healthy soon and OK for the start of the regular season.

Oct 20: Suns 111, Bobcats 108 2OT

For Phoenix, Shaquille O’Neal shot 6-of-10 for 18 points and 9 rebounds. Matt Barnes shot 8-of-16 for 18 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals but 6 turnovers. Robert Hite shot 6-of-11 for 14 points. Grant Hill had 12 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists but 5 turnovers. Steve Nash didn’t play. Amare Stoudemire played just a bit, off the bench. For Charlotte, DJ Augustin shot just 4-of-20 but had 11-of-12 free throws for 19 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, but 5 turnovers. Jason Richardson shot just 5-of-14 for 15 points and 4 assists. Andre Brown shot 6-of-9 for 14 points and 8 rebounds. Emeka Okafor had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks. Adam Morrison scored 12.

Oct 20: Blazers 112, Kings 98

The AP reports: LaMarcus Aldridge scored 24 points, Brandon Roy added 21 and the Portland Trail Blazers never trailed in a 112-98 victory over the Sacramento Kings in a preseason game Monday night. The Kings could not contain Aldridge, who made nine of 16 shots and had six rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Blazers. Portland led by four points after three quarters and stretched the lead to as many as 11 in the fourth. Rookie guard Rudy Fernandez made four 3-pointers and had 16 points for the Blazers, while Greg Oden added 13 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. Portland made 12 of 25 3-pointers. Kevin Martin scored 34 points and John Salmons added 27 for the Kings, who lost their fifth straight.

Oct 20: Knicks 114, Nets 106

The AP reports: Wilson Chandler scored 22 points in his first start of the preseason, and New York got strong play from its reserve guards in a 114-106 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Monday night. Nate Robinson led the Knicks with 26 points, including a floater with 1:46 remaining after the Nets had trimmed New York’s huge lead to four. Stephon Marbury had nine points on 3-of-3 shooting and six assists in just 16 minutes… Devin Harris scored 21 points for New Jersey, still winless this preseason in North America… Top draft pick Brook Lopez, playing extra minutes with fellow center Josh Boone out, had 19 points and nine rebounds, and Vince Carter scored 13 points… Chris Duhon had 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Oct 20: Magic 109, Hawks 103

The AP reports: Dwight Howard had 29 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Orlando Magic to a 109-103 preseason victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night. Joe Johnson, who led the Hawks with 26 points, hit a 3-pointer with 1:10 remaining to pull the Hawks to 102-100. Howard responded with a 5-foot turnaround jumper to make it 104-100 with 54 seconds remaining… For Atlanta, Josh Smith added 13 points and five assists, Al Horford had 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Bibby scored 13 points and had five assists. Johnson also had seven rebounds and five assists. Rashard Lewis scored 25 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Teammate Courtney Lee chipped in with 13 points and four rebounds.

Tyson Chandler gets harrassed in Barcelona

I spent some time in Barcelona this summer. It was my second time there. And I can tell you that Barcelona is a fantastic, wonderful place, but only if you don’t spend too much time in the heart of the city, where tourists flock. The most famous street in downtown Barcelona is Las Ramblas, and it’s flooded with street performers, locals, but also hoards of pickpockets and nutjobs. And it’s directly next to an extremely bad neighborhood called La Raval, a neighborhood where not a lot of actual Spanish people live.

I quickly learned that the best way to enjoy Barcelona is to stick to the residental neighborhoods. They have less nightlife than the busy areas, but are still as alive as you’d want them to be, and far more fascinating than the crowded tourist spots.

The point of my mentioning this is, Tyson Chandler himself recently learned that the tourist heart of Barcelona has problems. Here’s Chandler, via his NBA.com blog:

So after we left the restaurant, I took off, walking faster to get ahead of them and take pictures. I’m taking pictures and all of a sudden, I hear somebody start cursing at me. I’m looking through my camera lens at the time, so I can’t see anything but the pictures I’m taking. I come from up under, and this dude walks up to me, cursing me out.

I put my camera down and I’m like, “Am I not supposed to be taking pictures here?” He starts yelling in Spanish and I can’t understand him obviously. He looked homeless to me, and I’m saying, “Oh, I’m not supposed to be taking pictures here. I’m sorry.”

He’s just screaming at me and I put the camera away and walk away. But then he’s still going off and I see like 10 more homeless people up against the wall with dogs and stuff. It looked to me like the other 10 people were asking him what he was doing, but they were speaking Spanish, so I don’t know what they were saying.

The guy’s walking toward me and I’m putting my hand out like, “Stay back.” I walk backwards and start to turn around, but then, in the corner of my eye, I see him reach back to throw something. I kinda ducked and all these coins hit me.

He threw a bunch of coins at me.

At this point, I wanted to just go at it. This dude just hit me all over my back with coins, and he’s still screaming at me. But I told him, “Listen, you had better stay back.”

And I look at my wife and that’s the only thing that could calm me down. I see my pregnant wife and realize that I can’t have a situation go down like that. My teammates were in shock, because they saw what happened. I didn’t want anything else to happen so I tried to calm myself down. I started walking away from him and he kept his distance.

I personally know three girls (separate people who don’t know each other) who had their cameras stolen by pickpockets in Barcelona this summer.

I loved the place, as soon as I learned to hang out about a 20+ minute walk away from La Ramblas.

–Jeff

Larry Brown digs Jared Dudley

The Charlotte Observer (Rick Bonnell) reports: Larry Brown, the Charlotte Bobcats’ Hall of Fame coach, calls Jared Dudley the most pleasant surprise of this preseason. The only surprise to me is how long it took Brown to fall in love with Dudley’s approach. Brown said Dudley had a terrible performance in summer league. I concur. He was self-conscious initially, trying to do everything just-so, then hurt his back. But trying too hard is not the worst offense, right? Dudley started training camp third-team, mostly playing with guys who’ll migrate to various D-League addresses soon enough. But he never complained, always tried, and now he’s, at worst, in a tie with Adam Morrison for the second-best small forward on this team. That’s how it’s always been. On Tuesday, the Bobcats will play the Los Angeles Lakers in San Diego, Dudley’s hometown. About 300 friends and family will attend, cheering wildly. But that’s as well as he’ll be remembered along the West Coast.

Jamison will be OK

The AP reports: Wizards all-star forward Antawn Jamison practised Monday without a protective sleeve on his banged-up right knee and expects to be at 100 per cent for the start of the regular season next week. “No pain at all. No stiffness or anything like that,” Jamison said after practice. “I feel pretty good.” He bruised the knee and left in the first quarter of Washington’s first exhibition game, at Dallas on Oct. 7.

Bobcats owner not selling team

The AP reports: The first black majority owner of a major professional sports team is not interested in selling, even as he loses millions in a bad economy. Bob Johnson said Monday he remains committed to the Charlotte Bobcats, who have struggled to win and attract fans since he paid $300 million for the expansion franchise four years ago. Johnson laid off nearly 40 employees in the past month to save money, and three top executives have left the organization. But in an interview with The Associated Press, Johnson said he has no intention of unloading the team, and will spend what it takes to get the Bobcats to the playoffs for the first time.