NBA Teams – Page 980 – NBA Blog

Team USA tells Paul George he has a spot on the 2016 Olympic team

Here’s the Washington Post blog with an update on Paul George and Team USA:

Paul George may be down for now when it comes to Team USA, but he’s not out. USA Basketball plans to keep a roster spot open for the injured Indian Pacers star so he can play in the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

“We’ve told him we have a spot for him in ’16,” USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo told NBA.com. He noted the offer was unconditional and not dependent on how George comes back from his injury.

“We thought it’s the right thing to do,” Colangelo said. “We didn’t give thought to all the detail. Just that when a guy goes down and all these things, the circumstances, his career passes before him, he’s out for a year, a year-plus, he’s not able to participate now with us — we wanted to throw that out and say, ‘We’re counting on you. You’ve got a spot in ’16.’ ”

Wizards hire Roy Rogers as assistant coach

The Washington Wizards announced today that the team has named Roy Rogers as an assistant on the staff of Head Coach Randy Wittman.

Rogers comes to Washington after spending the 2013-14 season with the Brooklyn Nets. He began his NBA coaching career with the Nets, serving as an assistant coach from 2008-2010. He then served as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics as part of Doc Rivers’ staff in 2010-11 before joining the Detroit Pistons for two seasons (2011-2013) under head coach Lawrence Frank.

Prior to his first stint with the Nets, Rogers coached in the NBA Development League with the Austin Toros (2007-08), Tulsa 66ers (2005-07) and Huntsville Flight (2004-05). Selected 22nd overall in the 1996 NBA Draft out of the University of Alabama, Rogers spent three years in the NBA, averaging 4.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game in his NBA career split between four teams (Vancouver, Boston, Toronto and Denver). He also played four seasons (2000-04) of professional basketball internationally with stops in Russia, Italy, Greece and Poland.

Rogers will join returning assistants Don Newman, Don Zierden and Pat Sullivan and newcomer David Adkins, who was hired earlier this summer, on the Wizards’ bench.

Suns sign first-round draft picks T.J. Warren and Tyler Ennis

The Phoenix Suns have signed 2014 first-round draft picks T.J. Warren (14th overall selection) and Tyler Ennis (18th overall), the team announced today.

All first-round NBA draft picks are guaranteed to receive a contract, assuming they wish to play in the league right away. Therefore, these signings are standard and were expected.

Both Warren and Ennis made their Suns’ debuts as members of Phoenix’s entry at NBA Summer League 2014 in Las Vegas. Warren was named to the All-NBA Summer League Second Team after averaging a team-high 17.8 points on 54.4 percent shooting, while Ennis posted team-highs of 3.2 assists and 1.6 steals in addition to 4.2 points and 4.0 rebounds.

Warren, a 6-foot-8 forward from Durham, N.C., earned Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Player of the Year honors this past season to complete a two-year career at North Carolina State. In his sophomore season, Warren ranked third in the nation with 24.9 points per game while also averaging 7.1 rebounds and shooting an ACC-best 52.5 percent from the field. Named a Second Team AP All-American, Warren also excelled on the defensive end, leading the ACC in steals in conference games.

One of the best scorers in this year’s draft, Warren is a creative shot-maker who can get points in a variety of ways. Warren set a single-season North Carolina State record with 871 points this past season, including a career-high 42 points against Boston College. Warren became just the third player in ACC history to lead the conference in scoring and field goal percentage in the same season, in addition to posting back-to-back games with 40-plus points to join Hall of Famer David Thompson as the only two players to do so in Wolfpack history.

A 6-foot-3, 19-year-old from Brampton, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, Ennis is considered to be one of the best pure point guards in recent drafts. Ennis played one season at Syracuse, earning All-ACC Second Team honors after averaging 12.9 points and 5.5 assists in 2013-14. Ennis has also shined in international competition, leading Canada with a tournament-high 20.8 points per game at the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship.

One of the most clutch players in college basketball as a freshman, Ennis earned a reputation for his late-game heroics, including a buzzer-beater from near half-court in Syracuse’s win at Pittsburgh. Ennis’ poise was also on display with his superb decision-making as he ranked sixth in the nation with a 3.60 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Eventual Kevin Love to Cavs trade will reportedly involve 76ers

Here’s the Philadelphia Daily News with an update on what the expected Kevin Love trade may wind up looking like:

While news came out yesterday that Minnesota and Cleveland had agreed in principle to a trade that will send All-Star Kevin Love to the Cavaliers for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a first-round draft pick, the Daily News has learned that the Sixers will, indeed, be involved in the deal.

A source informed the Daily News that the Sixers will be sending veteran forward Thaddeus Young to Minnesota for a package that will include Bennett, the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NBA draft.

The deal, which two sources have confirmed to the Associated Press, will not be official until Aug. 23, when Wiggins, this year’s No. 1 draft pick, becomes eligible to be traded.

Video: DeMar DeRozan NBA season highlights

Enjoy these video highlights of some of the best plays of the season from Toronto Raptors star DeMar DeRozan:

Miami Heat sign guard Tyler Johnson

The Miami HEAT announced today that they have signed guard Tyler Johnson.

Most recently, Johnson appeared in 11 Summer League games with the HEAT and averaged 12.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 22.2 minutes while shooting 54.8 percent from the field, 46.7 percent from three-point range and 81.4 percent from the foul line.

Johnson played four seasons at Fresno State University, appearing in 127 career games (87 starts) and averaged 10.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.10 steals and 27.9 minutes while shooting 45.6 percent from the field, 37.4 percent from three-point range and 71.6 percent from the foul line. He finished his collegiate career ranked No. 16 on Fresno State’s all-time scoring list (1,346 career points). As a senior, he was named to the All-Mountain West Second Team and shot 43.2 percent from three-point range, the sixth-highest single-season three-point field goal percentage in school history.

A Kevin Love to Cavs trade is expected

Here’s Yahoo Sports with the latest on the Cavaliers and Timberwolves:

The Minnesota Timberwolves have reached an agreement in principle to send All-Star forward Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a protected 2015 first-round draft pick, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Cleveland is making the deal with Minnesota with a firm agreement Love will opt out of his contract in 2015 and re-sign with the Cavaliers on a five-year, $120 million-plus contract extension, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The deal cannot be finalized until Aug. 23, because Wiggins, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft, cannot be traded until one month after the signing of his rookie contract. The two teams have agreed to the deal, but neither would have recourse if the other decided to pull out of the arrangement before it can be formally completed this month. No third team is involved in the Cavaliers-Timberwolves trade agreement.

Sacramento Kings downtown arena construction project continues

Here’s the Sacramento Bee reporting on the future new home of the Kings:

After months of quiet prep work, the Sacramento Kings downtown arena construction project goes public this week.

Crews will be restriping J, L and Fifth streets, pushing traffic away from the site to give the project elbow room. Workers will erect 9-foot noise-dampening walls at key spots in the streets around the project in the next few days, allowing space for the first of up to 16,500 dump truck trips hauling demolition debris and dirt over the next few months. Tractors were being delivered to the site. Some demolition begins Friday.

Both J and L streets will maintain three lanes throughout the two-plus-year project. Crews, however, plan to take one northbound lane of Fifth Street where it dips under the mall to allow for truck access to the site. Several bus stops on L Street will be relocated to Capitol Mall in the next few days, and some portions of the J and L street sidewalks will be closed for the duration.

“That makes sure we have space outside the demolition zone for safety for the public,” said Matt Hiser, project supervisor with Turner Construction. “This is tight for Sacramento.”

NBA career of Mitch Richmond takes him into Hall of Fame

Here’s the Sacramento Bee reporting on former NBA shooting guard Mitch Richmond, who will soon be immortalized in the Basketball Hall of Fame:

Mitch Richmond and his Run TMC teammates, Chris Mullin and Tim Hardaway, made plenty of highlights during their two seasons together with the Warriors.

But it was Richmond’s seven seasons with the Kings – after the Warriors broke up Run TMC by trading the shooting guard out of Kansas State for the draft rights to Billy Owens – that made him a Hall of Famer.

That deal, on Nov. 1, 1991, sent Richmond from a two-time playoff team to the lowly Kings, who were coming off a 25-57 season, but it also gave Sacramento its first bona fide star player.

“I would drive back to Oakland (where he still lived), knowing we weren’t that good. … So when I was on the court, that was kind of my peace, playing,” Richmond said. “But when I was off the court, all those thoughts (of winning) came back, especially driving back to Golden State every time. At that time … Golden State was the headline.”

Richmond, who averaged 23.3 points for the Kings, will inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday in Springfield, Mass., the first Kings player of the Sacramento era so honored.

Donald Sterling may file more lawsuits

Here’s the Orange County Register with an update on Donald Sterling, who if the NBA has its way will soon no longer own the Los Angeles Clippers:

Shelly Sterling, Adam Silver, the NBA and Steve Ballmer will soon have company. Doctors Meril Platzer and James Spar and the UCLA Health System are on Donald Sterling’s litigation radar.

The banned Clippers owner intends to sue the doctors and UCLA Health System for disclosing his medical information to Shelly Sterling and her attorney, Pierce O’Donnell, according to Donald Sterling’s attorney, Bobby Samini.

The results of exams conducted by Spar and Platzer were used to oust Donald Sterling as a trustee, allowing his wife, Shelly, to sell the Clippers to Ballmer for $2 billion.

The distribution of those results was a key part of Donald Sterling’s defense, though it was ultimately shot down in probate court.