Goran Dragic replaces Kevin Love in 2018 NBA All-Star game

 

 

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InsideHoops.com

Heat guard Goran Dragic has been selected by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to replace injured Cavs forward/center Kevin Love on Team LeBron in the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, which will be played in Los Angeles on February 18.

This will be Dragic’s first-time as an NBA All-Star.

Dragic is the first player from Slovenia to earn the honor.

The Southeast Division-leading Heat (29-22) have the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference through games of January 31, 2018, and Dragic, a 10-year veteran, has been a big part of their success. He’s averaging team-highs of 17.0 points and 4.8 assists per game.

Dragic joins Kyle Korver (2015), Tyson Chandler (2013) and Sam Cassell (2004) as the most recent players to be named an All-Star for the first time in their 10th season or later.

Love will miss the 2018 NBA All-Star Game due to a fracture in his left hand.

Stephon Marbury may soon wrap up his basketball career

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Stephon Marbury made waves as a star in the NBA, then even bigger waves as a superstar in China. Here’s the latest from The Undefeated on his basketball career, which may soon be wrapping up:

Two-time NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury told ESPN’s The Undefeated that he is at peace with his 22-year professional basketball career ending in China on Feb. 11 — just days before he turns 41 years old.

Marbury plays for the China Basketball Association’s Beijing Fly Dragons, who play their regular-season finale on Feb. 11 against Jiangsu Tongxi and will not play in the postseason.

The three-time CBA champion says he is “tired” and plans to return to his offseason home in Los Angeles after his finale in China. While Marbury also plans to stay in shape — “just in case” an NBA team calls this season — he says he’s “at peace” with his pro career ending in China.

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Blake Griffin says he is happy to be with Pistons

Like you, like me, like everybody, Blake Griffin wants to be wanted. The Pistons appear to want Griffin. That they traded for him is a good indication of this. After you contemplate our impressive detective work, read the Detroit News report below:

After a couple days to think about the trade and his new fit in Detroit, Griffin kept it positive, focusing on the opportunity with the Pistons. With such a mega-contract, Griffin didn’t negotiate a no-trade clause, which left him open to a trade.

“I want to play for an organization that wants me to play there — and clearly this is an organization that wants me to play here,” Griffin said. “The stuff with the no-trade clause, it was something that was brought up, but not something we went about, obviously.

“This is where I want to be. This is the place that wants me and that’s the type of organization that I want to play for. I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a place that wasn’t working.”

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Joakim Noah future with Knicks uncertain

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The Knicks (22-28) have the 10th best record in the Eastern conference through Monday’s games. Their success this season has been limited, but the team is focused more on the future than the present. Veteran center Joakim Noah appears to mostly be part of the team’s past. He’s played in just seven games this season, getting just 5.7 minutes per outing of court time. And it’s unclear when he’ll be utilized again. For the latest, here’s the NY Post:

Exiled Knicks center Joakim Noah will not be with the team Wednesday in Boston, according to coach Jeff Hornacek, and indications are he may not be back with the team until after the Feb. 8 trade deadline.

The Post reported the Knicks have ramped up their trade efforts to see if they can find a taker for Noah’s contract — perhaps in a larger deal. To date, they only have had interest from teams wanting their 2018 first-round pick attached.

The Knicks had believed Noah could rejoin the team Thursday in Milwaukee, but that is now unlikely.

In fact, there’s a growing sense — if they are unable to make a trade — to not bring Noah back at all.

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Lonzo Ball not returning from injury just yet

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The Lakers (19-30) have been without point guard Lonzo Ball (10.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 7.1 apg) recently, and that’ll continue for a bit longer as the talented rookie isn’t ready to return from injury just yet. Here’s the OC Register reporting:

Lonzo Ball will miss his eighth consecutive game Wednesday after doing little during the team’s practice on Tuesday.

“Basketball-wise, you are looking at it,” Walton said, while Ball shot on a hoop at the far end of the court. “He started shooting toward the end of practice. He was in the weight room doing some rehab stuff.

Walton said Ball has started to work on lateral movement with the team’s trainers, but that he is early in that process.

“He’s got to start with them (the trainers),” Walton said, “but nothing to the extent of what it would take to be able to play basketball, move laterally and change direction, full speed, hit somebody, those type of drills. He has not done that. He is slowly doing that in a controlled setting.”

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LeBron James reacts to Blake Griffin trade

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LeBron James had an interesting reaction to the news that the Clippers traded Blake Griffin to the Pistons. Here’s the Akron Beacon Journal reporting:

Cavaliers star LeBron James said he was shocked when he woke up from a nap Monday to learn that the Los Angeles Clippers had traded Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons.

Griffin, a five-time All-Star and four-time All-NBA selection, signed a five-year, $171 million contract with the Clippers last summer and had been the face of the franchise.

“I was like, a little bit in shock when I first saw it. But it’s a business. As unfortunate as it looks, I know the business so it is what it is,” James said before shootaround Tuesday for the Cavs game against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena.

Asked why he thought it was unfortunate, James said, “Because he spent his last nine years there. He signed a multi-year deal there this summer, so that’s unfortunate. But that’s the business side of it. It works both sides, though.”

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Blake Griffin traded to Pistons

 

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The Clippers are shaking up the entire foundation and future of their franchise, by reportedly agreeing to trade Blake Griffin to the Pistons. Here’s Michigan Live reporting:

They acquired All-Star forward Blake Griffins from the Los Angeles Clippers for a package of players and draft picks, according to various reports.

The Pistons sent foward Tobias Harris, guarfd Avery Bradley, center Bob Marjanovic and a first- and second-round draft pick to the Clippers, ESPN reports. The Clippers also sent Brice Johnson and Willie Reed to Detroit.

According to ESPN, protections on Detroit’s 2018 first-round pick include 1-4 in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and unprotected in 2021.

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Fred VanVleet playing well for Raptors

 

 

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The Raptors (33-15) have the second best record in the Eastern conference and have raised their overall both-ends-of-floor play this season. They’ve stumbled a bit recently, winning just five of their last 10 games, but overall are having an excellent season. They’ve also enjoyed solid play off the bench from guard Fred VanVleet, who in 18.0 minutes per game is putting up 7.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per outing. Here’s the Toronto Star with more on his play:

Undrafted out of Wichita State after four years with the Shockers, a kid who made the most of a Summer League internship in 2016 to make the Raptors’ 15-man roster last season, VanVleet has become an indispensible cog on a 33-15 team — its backup point guard, which allows Delon Wright to harass bigger defenders as a shooting guard, a 40 per cent three-point shooter, and maybe the toughest guy on the team.

“That kid gets hit every time he goes in there . . . he hits the floor, gets up, gets back in the play. He’s not down there while the play’s going back,” Casey said of the 23-year-old native of Rockford, Ill., who missed practice Monday after the birth of his child.

“He’s an important part of what we do just because of his toughness. Size to him is nothing. He goes in there and challenges people.”

It is VanVleet’s fearlessness that impresses his teammates; they see a smallish guard not afraid to challenge big men at the rim, often ending with VanVleet crashing to the floor.

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Andre Roberson out for rest of season

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The Thunder, who this season have relied primarily on defense to get their wins, will be without their main defensive stopper at the guard/forward spot, Andre Roberson, for the remainder of the season. Here’s the Norman Transcript reporting:

Oklahoma City Thunder shooting guard Andre Roberson underwent successful knee surgery Sunday, the team announced. The Thunder expect him to miss the remainder of the 2017-18 season.

Roberson ruptured his left patellar tendon during the third quarter of Saturday’s 121-108 win over the Detroit Pistons. The injury occurred when he planted his left leg awkwardly while trying to jump for an alley-oop from Russell Westbrook. Instead of receiving the ball and finishing the play, he flipped in the air and landed hard on his backside. After a few minutes on the ground with trainers and teammates around him, Roberson left the court on a stretcher.

The Thunder’s defensive stopper missed eight games because of left patellar tendinitis from Dec. 31 to Jan. 17. Rookie wing Terrance Ferguson started in his place during seven of those. Ferguson started once again Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers. Roberson also received plasma injections in his knee during the offseason.

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