NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
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The Sacramento Kings announced today that power forward Carl Landry underwent successful arthroscopic right knee surgery performed by Dr. David Altchek at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.
Landry is expected to make a full recovery and be ready for the 2014-15 NBA campaign.
He played in just 18 games for the Kings this season, averaging 4.2 points in 12.9 minutes per game.
The Kings have a 24-44 record this season, which is the 7th worst record in the NBA.
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The NBA Development League announced today that Devin Ebanks of the NBA D-League’s Springfield Armor has been suspended without pay for five games for violating the league’s Anti-Drug Program.
Ebanks’ suspension will begin tonight when the team hosts the Erie BayHawks.
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The New York Knicks announced today that the team has signed guard Shannon Brown for the remainder of the season.
Brown, 6-4, 210-pounds, is averaging 1.8 points over 6.4 minutes in nine games with New York and had been originally signed to the first of two 10-day contracts on Feb. 27.
The Knicks are just 28-40 this season, but recently hired Phil Jackson as their new team president, and last night beat the Indiana Pacers for their 7th win in a row.
The Miami HEAT announced today that center Justin Hamilton will join the Sioux Falls Skyforce for their NBA Development League home games this Friday and Saturday against the Idaho Stampede. Following Saturday night’s game, he will re-join the HEAT in Miami for their contest against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.
Hamilton, who was signed by the HEAT on March 14, appeared in 37 games (all starts) with the Skyforce earlier this season and averaged 19.3 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.03 blocks, 1.5 assists and 35.8 minutes while shooting 49.1 percent from the field, 38.5 percent from three-point range and 81.2 percent from the foul line. The 2014 NBA D-League All-Star has not appeared in a game with Miami this season.
Here’s the New York Post reporting on the Knicks and their recent success:
So you want to impress the new boss. Show up looking all neat and spiffy. Speak clearly and succinctly. If you must, laugh at his jokes.
But most of all, go out and beat the best team in the Eastern Conference.
Phil Jackson had to be impressed.
And when the Knicks pulled off that final part Wednesday, stuffing the 50-victory Pacers, 92-86, before a frenzied, sold out Garden crowd for a seventh straight triumph that kept their dim playoff hopes alive, Jackson might have been sitting among the faithful asking himself, “What the heck do the Knicks need me for?”
“No pressure,” said 34-point, five-assist performer Carmelo Anthony about having the new team president watching about 10 rows up at halfcourt. “The energy is not just in the building. It’s throughout the whole city, all of New York City, the fans, all the supporters of the Knicks and you can feel it as we walk into the building. We want to keep that up. We want to build on that. As far as winning basketball games, we’re playing at a very high level right now.”
Deron Williams’ confidence is sky high and he’s taking the Brooklyn Nets along for the ride.
With the Nets’ winning streak in jeopardy, Williams scored 23 points, 11 in the final six minutes, to lead Brooklyn to a 104-99 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night.
The Nets were trailing 85-82 midway through the fourth quarter following Josh McRoberts’ dunk and free throw.
That’s when Williams took over.
He hit a driving layup with 6:00 left, then a 3-pointer on the next possession. He followed that with a steal and two free throws to give the Nets an 89-85 lead with 5:22 remaining.
The home team never trailed again in registering its 10th straight win at the Barclays Center.
— Associated Press
Down and out or down to the wire, the 76ers are freefalling toward NBA history.
D.J Augustin scored 20 points and Taj Gibson had 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 102-94 win over Philadelphia on Wednesday night, handing the 76ers their 22nd straight loss.
The Sixers are four losses shy of matching the NBA record for the longest single-season losing streak. The Cleveland Cavaliers set the record of 26 consecutive losses in the 2010-11 season. The Vancouver Grizzlies (1995-96), Denver Nuggets (1997-98) and Charlotte Bobcats (2011-12) each lost 23 straight.
“Winnable game,” 76ers coach Brett Brown said. “I say that because a group that’s been losing … still stays together. They still compete. I’m proud of them.”
The Sixers also lost their 17th straight home game since beating Charlotte on Jan. 15. They were 8-11 at home at that point and had already defeated Miami, the Bulls, and Houston in Philadelphia.
— Associated Press
Here’s the Charlotte Observer Blog reporting:
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The Charlotte Bobcats will bring back a familiar face when they sign power forward DJ White later this week.
A source familiar with the situation told the Observer Wednesday that the Bobcats plan to sign White, a 6-foot-8 forward, as soon as FIBA clears him. The deal will be a 10-day contract.
White has been playing this winter in China for the Sichuan Blue Whales, and his obligation to that team is over.
Here’s the New Orleans Times-Picayune with some free agency insight from Pelicans general manager Dell Demps:
Demps said in free agency this upcoming summer, they are not likely to pursue a maximum-money free agent like they did last year when they offered a four-year, $44 million contract to swingman Tyreke Evans before acquiring him in a sign-and-trade deal from the Sacramento Kings.
”Last year was our opportunity to go on the free-agent market,’’ Demps said. “We’re very far under the luxury tax and we’ll still have opportunities to use money to add players to our group. But we’re currently not going to be a cap team; we’re not going to be able to go get a max free agent.And so our plan is to continuously add pieces to our group to make our team the best possible team we can be.’’
Here’s ESPN.com reporting that the NBA wants to make sure that no funny-business happens between the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks:
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An NBA official has acknowledged that the league has put parameters in place to make sure that the high-profile relationship between Jeanie Buss and Phil Jackson doesn’t create any issues.
“The Knicks’ hiring of Phil Jackson is subject to the league’s conflict of interest rules,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass told ESPN.com. “To avoid even the appearance of a conflict, we have addressed the issue with the Knicks and Lakers to ensure that the relationship between Jeanie Buss and Phil Jackson will not affect how the teams operate.”
Buss, the Lakers’ president and representative at board of governors meetings, and Jackson, who was named the Knicks’ president on Tuesday, got engaged in December 2012. They’ve been dating since 1999.
Since the engagement, sources say the league has gotten more serious about the two being on the up and up.