The AP reports: Dirk Nowitzki and Brandon Bass each scored 17 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 108-82 victory over the injury-depleted Washington Wizards on Tuesday night in the preseason opener for both teams. Wizards forward Antawn Jamison left in the first quarter with a right knee injury and did not return… Andray Blatche’s 18 points paced the Wizards. Dallas’ Josh Howard, who finished with 15 points, was greeted by a mixture of cheers and boos from the crowd when he was introduced with the starting lineup following a controversy-filled offseason.
Oct 7: Jazz 99, Lakers 90
The AP reports: Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap each scored 13 points, Deron Williams had 11 points and eight assists, and the Utah Jazz beat the Los Angeles Lakers 99-90 on Tuesday night in the preseason opener for both teams. Kobe Bryant played 24 minutes for the Lakers, finishing with eight points, five rebounds and five assists after sitting out the entire second and fourth quarters. Bryant, who won the league’s MVP last season for the first time in his career, was on the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team at the Beijing Olympics along with Williams and Utah teammate Carlos Boozer.
Oct 7: Blazers 110, Kings 81
The AP reports: Greg Oden debuted to a standing ovation, as did the rest of the young Portland Trail Blazers, in a 110-81 exhibition victory over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night. Oden finished with 13 points in just under 20 minutes… Brandon Roy, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in August, played a little more than 23 minutes and had 14 points and seven assists for the Blazers. Martell Webster led Portland with 15 points. Donte Greene, acquired from Houston in the Artest deal, had 18 points and Francisco Garcia added 12 for the Kings, who led by as many as 11 points in the first half before the Blazers seized control.
Mike Dunleavy now Clippers GM
The Los Angeles Clippers today announced that Head Coach Mike Dunleavy will assume the additional role of General Manager, replacing Vice President of Basketball Operations, Elgin Baylor.
In a related move, the team’s current Director of Player Personnel, Neil Olshey, will be elevated to the post of Assistant General Manager.
“We greatly appreciate Elgin’s efforts during his time with the Clippers, and we wish him the very best,” said Clippers’ Owner and Chairman of the Board Donald T. Sterling.
Referring to Dunleavy and Olshey respectively, Clippers President Andy Roeser said, “In Mike and Neil, we’re fortunate to already have talented people in place to make this transition a seamless one. Going forward, we have high expectations for our team. From a basketball standpoint, these are the people we’re counting on to make those expectations a reality.”
Dunleavy welcomed the opportunity, saying, “I really appreciate the trust that the organization has placed in me. We’re ready and excited to move forward, and we think we’ll have a team which can be dynamic and exciting, certainly one with enough talent to be a force in the Western Conference.”
Baylor, an 11-time NBA All Star, joined the Clippers in 1986 as Vice President of Basketball Operations after a stellar 14-year playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers and a brief coaching stint with the New Orleans Jazz. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1976, chosen as one of the NBA’s “50 Greatest Players of All Time” during the league’s 50th Anniversary celebration in 1997, and was named the 2005-06 NBA Executive of the Year.
Dunleavy, entering his sixth year as Clippers’ Head Coach, has manned dual roles before: he was Vice President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach of the Milwaukee Bucks from 1992-93 through 1995-96.
Olshey, originally hired as Clippers’ Director of Player Development prior to the 2003-04 season, became an assistant coach on Dunleavy’s staff in 2004-05. He has been the team’s Director of Player Personnel for the past three seasons.
Oct 6: Wolves 117, Bucks 79
The AP reports: Rookie Kevin Love scored 13 points and Mike Miller added 12, lifting the Timberwolves to a 117-79 preseason victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night that made Minnesota’s draft day trade look promising. Al Jefferson chipped in 18 points and eight rebounds in 19 minutes, and the new-look Timberwolves may have acquired enough offensive threats to improve on last season’s 22-60 mark. Love originally was credited with 16 points, but 1 hour, 15 minutes after the game, the official scoring crew took three points away from Love and added them to Corey Brewer’s total, giving him 12… Rashad McCants scored 22 points and Randy Foye 11 for Minnesota. Charlie Villanueva scored 14 points and Matt Freije and Ramon Sessions had 11 each for Milwaukee.
Oct 6: Hawks 118, Magic 101
The AP reports: The Magic are looking for a starting shooting guard. On Monday night they watched the player they let go after last season help beat them. Maurice Evans, who left as a free agent last summer, scored 17 points and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Orlando Magic 118-101 in the preseason opener for both teams… Rashard Lewis led Orlando with 22 points. Olympian Dwight Howard had 17 points, five rebounds and eight blocks. The block total matches Howard’s regular-season best… J.J. Redick, the former Duke star who has yet to crack the rotation, scored six of his 12 points in the first quarter.
Sixers waive three players
Philadelphia 76ers President and General Manager Ed Stefanski announced today that the team has waived Andre Emmett, Maureece Rice and Cory Underwood. The roster now stands at 16 players heading into the preseason opener on Wednesday, Oct. 8 against the Boston Celtics at the Mullins Center on the campus of the University of Massachusetts.
Emmett (6-4, 216) was originally selected with the 35th overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft by Seattle. He appeared in eight games for the Memphis Grizzlies during the 2004-05 season. Last season, Emmett averaged a league-high 23.9 points per game for Belgacom Liege Basket of the Belgian League. He played four seasons for Texas Tech, and finished career as the Red Raiders all-time leader in scoring with 2,256 points.
Rice (6-1, 224) is best known for his career at Strawberry Mansion High School, during which he tallied 2,681 points, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain’s Philadelphia school record of 2,206 points. Rice went on to attend The George Washington University, where he was named Atlantic 10 Sixth Man of the Year as a sophomore and A-10 All-Conference Third Team as a junior. He was not selected in the NBA Draft this past June.
Underwood (6-10, 240) played for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds of the NBA Development League last season. Since finishing his career at Southern University of New Orleans in 2003, he has also played in the ABA (American Basketball Association), the USBL (United States Basketball League), WBA (World Basketball Association), CBA (Continental Basketball Association) as well as leagues in both Brazil and Poland.
Nets waive Awvee Storey
The New Jersey Nets have requested waivers on guard/forward Awvee Storey, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today.
Storey was singed as a free agent on September 27, 2008. He holds career averages of 2.4 points and 1.4 rebounds in 60 games with New Jersey, Washington and Milwaukee.
The Nets roster now stands at 18.
Luke Walton was being stalked
The Orange County Register (Kevin Ding) reports via blog on key quotes from a Luke Walton interview where the Lakers player talks about being stalked: “A couple of days later, I was signing stuff, and she came up. And I just rolled up my window and drove off. And as I was driving off, she threw her basketball at my car. It didn’t hit the car, but I saw it was bouncing down Nash Street. And I was kind of laughing like, ‘She’s kind of lost it.’ But at the same time, it was like, she’s really starting to pick up what she’s doing.” … “Once I moved out of the gated community, that’s when I started noticing. I’d come home, and the same car with tinted windows would be parked across the street all the time. One time, I was like, ‘I swear I see someone there.’ So I walked up and saw her, and she had a hat on, and I said, ‘I can’t believe this is the same chick from the practice site.’ And then for a while, everywhere I went, I’d see her park like a street down. As soon as I took off, she’s start following me.”
Oct 5: Hornets 106, Warriors 103
The AP reports: David West scored 19 points, Hilton Armstrong added 14, and the New Orleans Hornets won their preseason opener, 106-103 over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday night. Chris Paul had 13 points, six assists and a steal for New Orleans. Paul and West, the Hornets’ two All-Stars last season, each played 22 minutes. Marco Belinelli led Golden State with 14 points, hitting both 3-pointers he attempted in the fourth quarter to keep the game close… Corey Maggette scored 13 points for Golden State, while Kelenna Azubuike added 12 and Al Harrington 11.