The Miami HEAT announced today that they have signed free agent guard Shaun Livingston and requested waivers on guard Tre Kelley. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Heat have bench-quality point guards, so they’re giving Livingston a shot. Before his injury, it seemed like Shaun would keep developing into a capable starter. He was playing under 30 minutes a game, scoring under 10 points but putting up nice, well-rounded numbers. He wasn’t a sure future star, but the possibility existed. Right now, though, until proven otherwise, Shaun is a bench project as he works his way back. Here’s more on him:
Livingston, a 6’7”, 185-pound guard, appeared in 145 games (60 starts) with the Los Angeles Clippers and averaged 7.4 points, 4.8 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 0.94 steals in 27.2 minutes while shooting 44.0 percent from the field and 71.0 percent from the foul line. In his last season (2006-07) with the Clippers, he led the team in assists per game (5.1) and set career highs in games started (31), minutes per game (29.9), field goals made (208), field goal attempts (449), field goal percentage (.463), free throws made (82), free throws attempted (116), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.54), rebounds per game (3.4), steals per game (1.09), and blocks per game (0.54).
“Shaun Livingston was one of the best young players to come into the draft in a long, long time. We feel very fortunate to be able to sign him and help us rebuild our program,” said HEAT President Pat Riley.
Livingston, the fourth overall selection in the 2004 NBA Draft, was named the Western Conference got milk? Rookie of the Month for April of 2005 after averaging 11.0 points, 7.4 assists, 1.40 steals and 35.9 minutes in 10 games.
Kelley was signed by the HEAT on September 26, 2008 as a free agent.
The Denver Nuggets have signed F Juwan Howard to their training camp roster, team Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien announced today. Both local newspapers covering the Nuggets have said this will be a nonguaranteed deal.
The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have named Paul Westphal executive vice president of basketball operations. He will work directly with President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Donnie Nelson and assist in all areas of management as well as scouting.
The Bergen Record (Steve Adamek) reports via blog: Jared Jeffries was supposed to have a significant role in Mike D’Antoni’s rotation this season, even playing a little center as the Knicks’ version of Boris Diaw, whom D’Antoni played everywhere in Phoenix. Instead, the player considered a disappointment his first two seasons in New York after Isiah Thomas signed him to a five-year, $30 million mid-level salary cap-exception deal will start his third straight season injured after breaking his leg landing awkwardly late in Thursday’s practice. The team estimates he’ll miss six to eight weeks.
Florida Today (John Denton) reports: Despite losing weight and getting back healthy over the summer, Orlando Magic forward Brian Cook has still managed to work his way into head coach Stan Van Gundy’s doghouse. Three days into training camp and it’s already apparent that Cook’s conditioning isn’t where the Magic would like for it to be. It certainly isn’t a serious situation this early in camp, as Van Gundy pointed out, but it could hurt Cook’s chances of getting significant minutes off the bench as the backup power forward.
The Arizona Republic (Paul Coro) reports: The Suns’ offense will be different. Based on what sets coach Terry Porter has implemented in two days, it appears that it will be more motion-oriented and deliberate at times. Porter embraces a transition game to reward stops, but there will be no constant “run-and-gun.” It’s more “cut-and-what?” now as they learn plays. “From what I’ve seen so far it’s very different, but he’s not going to throw everything at us at once,” forward Grant Hill said. “It’ll be interesting to see if we totally get away from some of the old stuff.” Porter has used each session to walk the Suns through plays. Part of the reason Porter was hired was his ability to blend new and old, having spent time as a player and coach under Rick Adelman’s similar style. Under Mike D’Antoni, the Suns averaged 110.1 points last season and led the NBA in field-goal shooting the past three seasons. Alvin Gentry returned to the Suns bench, in part to help maintain some of the offense… Don’t expect Amaré Stoudemire experimenting out there anymore. He wants to post up more.
The Golden State Warriors have signed free agent guard Dan Dickau to a contract, Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Mullin announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not announced.