Raptors starting SF battle

The ultra-athletic, defensive-minded Jamario Moon started at small forward for the Raptors last season. Will he retain the job? Or will Joey Graham shock Raptors faithful and move ahead of Moon in the depth chart? The Toronto Sun (Mike Ganter) reports:

After the game, Sam Mitchell muddied the starting small forward waters a little bit more. “Does Joey start or Jamario come off the bench?” Mitchell asked in his post-game comments. “Does Jamario start and Joey come off the bench? I don’t know yet.” Mitchell’s problem right now is his second unit is giving him almost nothing. Anyone who witnessed the second quarter last night, when the Raptors were outscored 34-20 and turned the ball over seven times with the starters on the bench, is aware of that. “We know Andrea (Bargnani) can score,” Mitchell said. “We know Jason can score and get some shots, but we have to find that other guy. One thing Joey has shown an ability to do is put the ball on the floor and get a shot for himself or get to the basket and create some contact.”

Obviously whichever player best fits in with the starters should be the one to start. Simple formula that applies to every team.

Oct 16: Pistons 85, Mavs 81

The AP reports: Chauncey Billups’ jumper with 1:19 to play helped the Detroit Pistons rally for an 85-81 exhibition victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night. Down 13 points entering the fourth quarter, the Pistons (5-1) outscored the Mavericks (3-2) 36-19 in the final 12 minutes. Richard Hamilton led Detroit with 17 points, and Billups added 16 and seven assists. Dirk Nowitzki had 15 points for Dallas in 23 minutes, and Brandon Bass added 11 points and nine rebounds.

Oct 16: Celtics 111, Nets 108

The AP reports: The AP reports: Tony Allen scored 32 points, 22 in the first half, to lead the NBA champion Boston Celtics to an 111-108 victory over the New Jersey Nets in an exhibition game Thursday night. The Celtics (4-1) played without Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, all kept out of action by Doc Rivers as a coach’s decision and not because of injury. Former Nets guard Sam Cassell also sat out… Former Nets guard Eddie House added 21 points for the Celtics…  Vince Carter scored 19 points to pace the Nets. Yi Jianlian had 15 points before fouling out in the third quarter, and Keyon Dooling, who had been battling a leg injury, scored 14 points in his first action with the Nets.

Oct 16: Wolves 90, Raptors 86

The AP reports: Ryan Gomes scored 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, and Blake Ahearn added 15 points to help the Timberwolves beat the Toronto Raptors 90-86 on Thursday night… Rodney Carney and Randy Foye each had 13 points, and Al Jefferson had 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Timberwolves, 4-1 in exhibition play… Andrea Bargnani led Toronto (3-2) with 22 points. Joey Graham added 12, and Kris Humphries had 10. Chris Bosh had 10 points in 21 minutes, and Jermaine O’Neal was held to four points in 15 minutes.

Oct 16: Spurs 91, Cavs 70

The AP reports: Tim Duncan had 16 points and 13 rebounds in 26 minutes and the San Antonio Spurs beat Cleveland 91-70 on Thursday night, dropping the Cavaliers to 0-4 in exhibition play. Matt Bonner added 15 points, going 3-for-3 from 3-point range and 6-for-7 overall from the field, for the Spurs (2-2). Tony Parker had 14 points and five assists after missing the Spurs’ game Tuesday night against Detroit because of a sore left Achilles’ tendon. He played 17 minutes in the first half, then sat out the second half… LeBron James scored six points in 17 first-half minutes for the Cavaliers. He had two rebounds, five assists and a blocked shot.

Oct 16: Magic 94, Bobcats 84

The AP reports: Rashard Lewis scored 26 points, Dwight Howard 15 and Keith Bogans 14 for Orlando, which overcame a 13-point halftime deficit to win its third consecutive NBA preseason game… Gerald Wallace had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Bobcats before coming out of the game in the fourth quarter with a lower back contusion… Jason Richardson and Sean May added 11 points each and Emeka Okafor 10 for Charlotte, which shot 29.4 percent from the field over the final two quarters to remain winless in four exhibition games.

Devin Harris explains UK streetball incident

I’m sure you’ve heard by now about the Devin Harris streetball incident in the UK where a pretty harmless-looking dude had about 60 seconds of success against Devin in a little mini-game of one-on-one. The first shot was a simple but decent close-range jumper, but the second move involved putting the ball through Devin’s legs for a pretty sweet reverse layup.
Thursday night I was with Devin in New Jersey and a full explanation from him as to what happened is here in this Harris interview. Read it and post the link in any discussion you’ve seen about what went down.

–Jeff

Brendan Haywood out 4-6 months after surgery

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that center Brendan Haywood had successful surgery to repair a torn dorsal scapho-lunate ligament in his right wrist.  He originally suffered the injury on Thursday, October 2 during the Wizards’ training camp in Richmond, VA.

The procedure was performed by Dr. Michelle Carlson at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.  Haywood is expected to make a full recovery after missing four to six months while recovering from the surgery.  He will spend the next 10 weeks in a cast before he begins the rehabilitation process.

Thunder exercise two options

Oklahoma City has exercised the third-year team options on both guard/forward Kevin Durant and forward Jeff Green for the 2009-10 season it was announced today by General Manager Sam Presti.

Durant and Green were both members of the 2007-08 T-Mobile NBA All-Rookie First Team and participated in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge at the NBA’s All-Star Weekend.

Durant, 20, was named the 2007-08 NBA Rookie of the Year after averaging 20.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists in 80 games.  The Washington D.C. native was named NBA Rookie of the Month five times and became just the third teenager to average 20 or more points per game.

Green, 22, concluded his rookie campaign with averages of 10.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists in 80 games.  The Georgetown product averaged 10.5 points per game, fourth among all rookies last season.

Kings exercise option on Spencer Hawes

The Sacramento Kings today picked up the option on forward Spencer Hawes for the 2009-10 campaign, it was announced by Kings’ President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie.

Hawes, currently in his second NBA season, was selected by Sacramento in the first round (10th overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft as an undergraduate out of Washington. He averaged 4.7 points (.459 FGs, .190 3FGs, .655 FTs) and 3.2 rebounds as a rookie last season.