NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has recalled guard Kyle Weaver from the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League.
Weaver appeared in five games (five starts) with Tulsa, averaging 12.4 points, 7.2 assists, 5.4 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks in 42.6 minutes per contest. This season, he has played in three games with Oklahoma City averaging 6.0 points, 1.7 assists, 1.0 rebound and 1.0 block in 10.0 minutes.
Michael Wallace of the Miami Herald reports:
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The latest episode came early Thursday, when forward Dorell Wright was arrested on South Beach and charged with DUI and driving with a suspended license.
According to the arrest report, Wright, 24, was stopped at 3:37 a.m. in his 2005 Bentley near the intersection of Alton Road and Eighth Street. Officers said they saw Wright driving erratically and, when they approached his car, observed “red and watery eyes, odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath and slurred speech.”
Wright was also accused of driving 52 miles an hour in a 25 mph zone, and of operating his vehicle without proper proof of insurance available.
Ray Richardson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports:
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Ryan Hollins insists he’s not a “dirty player or anything like that,” but he still was given a two-game suspension Wednesday by Stu Jackson, the league’s executive vice president of basketball operations, for striking Dallas guard DeShawn Stevenson during Monday night’s game at Target Center.
“I understand the suspension,” Hollins said after Thursday’s practice. “They said my fist was closed when it happened. That’s a league rule. I have to learn to control myself better and know what the refs are watching. I know it’s a matter of interpretation about what they see.”
Hollins is allowed to practice during his suspension, which cost him $53,252 of his $2.183 million salary this season, but he is prohibited from being in the arena for Wolves games. He was at home for Wednesday’s loss to Denver and will be again tonight for the Wolves’ game against San Antonio at Target Center.
Marc Berman of the New York Post reports:
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Avery Johnson was Knicks team president Donnie Walsh’s second choice to coach Mike D’Antoni. If D’Antoni took the Bulls job, Johnson — and not Mark Jackson — would have become the Knicks head coach in May 2008, bringing his disciplinarian, defensive demeanor.
“From what I was told, yeah [that’s the truth],” Johnson told The Post Wednesday night at San Antonio’s AT&T Center. The Knicks face the Grizzlies tonight (8:00, MSG, ESPN 1050 AM).
Johnson is a coaching free agent, unsure he will coach next season. Johnson might still be on the market if things don’t work out next season for D’Antoni, whose biggest attribute now stands as his recruiting prowess in landing the top-tier free agent class headed by LeBron James.
The AP reports:
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Brandon Roy scored 41 points, Andre Miller added 15 points and seven assists and the Portland Trail Blazers overcame a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Golden State Warriors 110-105 on Thursday night.
Rudy Fernandez added 12 points including a pair of pivotal 3-pointers during a late 17-3 run by the Blazers, who snapped a nine-game losing streak at Oracle Arena.
Portland also avoided what would have been a costly defeat as it tries to hold onto the eighth spot in the Western Conference.
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The NBA career of Gilbert Arenas hasn’t gone well in recent seasons. He played just 13 games in 2007-08, only two in 2008-09, and while this season he was averaging 22.6 points (41.1% FG) and 7.2 assists in 32 games, the Washington Wizards were doing nothing but losing, and then came along the season-long suspension due to toying with firearms in the locker room.
So, Arenas is reportedly going to make a change. Perhaps merely symbolic. But the way things have gone lately, any change is probably a good thing.
According to Michael Lee of the Washington Post, Arenas has submitted paperwork to the league to change from jersey #0 and become #6.
This likely means the end of his nickname, Agent Zero. Perhaps a new nickname will come with future success.
The Washington Post reports: “The No. 6 is significant because Arenas’s birthday is Jan. 6 – which is also the day that the NBA gave Arenas an indefinite suspension for his behavior after it was revealed that he brought guns to the locker room at Verizon Center in a dispute with teammate Javaris Crittenton.”
Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman reports:
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Jeff Green on Thursday expressed his desire to sign a contract extension this summer and continue his career with the Thunder.
“I’d love to,” Green told The Oklahoman. “It’s a great thing going here.”
The Thunder can re-sign Green to an extension of up to five years. Under NBA rules, teams can begin negotiations with free agents on July 1. Green, however, has become lost in the shadows of Kevin Durant, the team’s other third-year forward who also is eligible for an extension and recently voiced his feelings for wanting to remain in Oklahoma City.
The Detroit Free Press reports:
Mayor Dave Bing this morning expressed optimism that the Detroit Pistons could move back downtown.
“I think we can get the Pistons downtown,” Bing said during a meeting with media executives.
Karen Dumas, Bing’s director of communications, said the mayor is hopeful that the dynamics – the potential sale of the Pistons and the Red Wings needing a new home – could bring a new arena to the city’s business district.
Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle reports:
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Guard Monta Ellis revealed Wednesday that he was born with a small hole at the base of his spine, a condition that he says started causing back pain in high school and still is a problem periodically.
The Warriors said the condition is called spondylolysis, a defect that occurs in up to 6 percent of the population and one that doesn’t cause future concerns for the team.
Ellis was immobilized for the better part of the past 12 days but is “leaning” toward playing tonight. “Sometimes it bothers me, but not to the point where I can’t move.”
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Ryan Hollins of the Minnesota Timberwolves has been suspended without pay for two games for punching DeShawn Stevenson and striking Dirk Nowitzki, both of the Dallas Mavericks, on Monday, March 8. The suspension was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
The incident between Hollins and Stevenson occurred with 9:15 remaining in the second period, and the incident between Hollins and Nowitzki occurred with 3:38 remaining in the fourth period of Dallas’ 125-112 victory over Minnesota at Target Center.
Hollins’ suspension will begin tonight when the Timberwolves host the Denver Nuggets.
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