NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
Here’s Michigan Live reporting some very sad news about a Pistons rookie:
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Stanley Johnson’s No. 1 fan won’t be around to watch him make his NBA debut for the Detroit Pistons this fall.
Johnson’s mother, Karen Taylor, was a professional basketball player herself who played a major role in her son becoming the Pistons first-round pick (eighth overall) in this year’s NBA draft.
But Johnson will make his NBA debut with a heavy heart after confirming in a tweet that his mother has died.
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The Denver Nuggets have signed guard Emmanuel Mudiay to a multi-year contract, General Manager and Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly announced today.
All first round draft picks are guaranteed to receive a contract, assuming they wish to come to the NBA right away. Thereforefore, this is a standard signing, and was expected.
Mudiay, 6-5, 200, was selected by the Denver Nuggets with the 7th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.
The Congolese native appeared in four games (all starts) for the Denver Nuggets at the 2015 Samsung Summer League in Las Vegas, averaging 12.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.25 steals in 30.5 minutes per game. He was named to the Samsung All-NBA Summer League Second Team.
Mudiay, 19, played one season for the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association in 2014-15. He appeared in 12 games and averaged 18.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.58 steals per game.
The Dallas Mavericks announced today they have signed 21st overall pick Justin Anderson.
All first round draft picks are guaranteed to receive a contract, assuming they wish to come to the NBA right away. So, this signing was expected.
Anderson (6-6, 228) impressed at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas where he started all 6 six games for the Mavericks and averaged 17.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.2 steals while shooting .434 from the floor, .385 from three-point range and .900 from the foul line.
The Rockville, Md., native played three years at Virginia leading the Cavaliers to two Atlantic Coast Conference regular season titles and just the second ACC Tournament Championship in school history. As a junior, he averaged 12.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists while shooting .466 from the field, .452 from behind-the-arc and .780 from the foul line.
The versatile guard improved his three-point shooting from .294 (30-102) as a sophomore to an ACC-leading .452 (47-104) as a junior on his way to being named NABC All-America Third Team and All-ACC Second Team.
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The L.A. Clippers announced today the team has waived forward Jordan Hamilton.
Hamilton appeared in 14 games with the Clippers last season, making two starts and averaging 2.7 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 8.7 minutes.
The Los Angeles native originally signed a 10-day contract with the Clippers on Feb. 24, 2015. He has appeared in 140 career regular season games with Denver, Houston and the Clippers.
The Toronto Raptors finished the 2014-15 regular season with a 49-33 record. Enjoy these video highlights of some of their best plays of the year:
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The New Orleans Pelicans announced today the team has waived point guard Toney Douglas.
Douglas, 6-2, 185, appeared in 12 games for New Orleans during the 2014-15 season, averaging 4.3 points and 2.0 assists in 14.8 minutes per game. Originally signed by the Pelicans on February 4, Douglas was waived on February 19 before subsequently re-signing with the team for the remainder of the season on March 24.
Drafted 29th overall out of Florida State in 2009 by the Los Angeles Lakers, Douglas has appeared in 309 career NBA games with New York, Houston, Sacramento, Golden State, Miami and New Orleans, averaging 7.6 points and 2.2 assists in 18.9 minutes per game.
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The Golden State Warriors have acquired forward/center Jason Thompson from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for forward Gerald Wallace, the team announced today. As part of the deal, Philadelphia also receives cash and draft considerations.
“We’re very happy to add Jason to our roster,” said Warriors General Manager Bob Myers. “He has a proven track record in this league and adds considerably to our team’s depth, which was a big key to our success last season and will be moving forward.”
Thompson, 29, owns career averages of 9.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 26.5 minutes over 541 regular-season games (405 starts) in seven seasons with the Sacramento Kings, hitting 49.7 percent from the field. In 81 games last season (63 starts), he tallied 6.1 points and 6.5 rebounds in 24.6 minutes per contest. The 6’11” forward/center recorded seven double-doubles in 2014-15, including his first career 20/20 game when he tallied 23 points and a career-high 22 rebounds on Jan. 17 vs. the Clippers, one of only three players to post those numbers in a game last season (DeMarcus Cousins, Kenneth Faried).
Originally selected by the Kings with the 12th overall pick of the 2008 NBA Draft, Thompson appeared in more games in the Sacramento-era than any player in team history and ranks in the top-10 in several categories on the Kings’ all-time franchise leaderboard, including games played (eighth; 541), total rebounds (ninth; 3,746), offensive rebounds (third; 1,232), defensive rebounds (seventh; 2,514) and blocked shots (sixth; 394). The Rider University product has appeared in 541 of a possible 558 games (97%) during his seven-year NBA career. Thompson was traded to Philadelphia from Sacramento, along with Carl Landry and Nik Stauskas, on July 9, 2015.
Wallace, 33, was acquired by Golden State from Boston, along with Chris Babb, in exchange for David Lee on July 27. He owns career averages of 11.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.44 steals and 29.7 minutes in 832 regular-season games (611 starts) over 14 NBA seasons with Sacramento, Charlotte, Portland, New Jersey/Brooklyn and Boston.
The Sacramento Kings have hired Chad Iske as associate head coach and John Welch, Anthony Carter, and Nancy Lieberman as assistant coaches, according to Kings Vice President of Basketball and Franchise Operations Vlade Divac. Iske, Welch, Carter and Lieberman join Corliss Williamson and Vance Walberg on George Karl’s staff.
Iske joins the Kings after the past two seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers. He spent the previous 14 seasons with the Denver Nuggets, including the last six as an assistant coach under Karl. While with the Nuggets, Iske oversaw the scouting of upcoming opponents and assisted Karl with game plan preparation.
Welch brings years of knowledge to the Kings after two seasons with the Brooklyn Nets. Welch came to Brooklyn in 2013 in the same capacity, following eight seasons as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets under Karl. Before joining the Nuggets, Welch spent two seasons as an assistant coach/workout coach for the Memphis Grizzlies.
Prior to his arrival in Memphis, he spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at Fresno State, serving under Head Coach Jerry Tarkanian. Welch joined Fresno State in 1995 and helped the Bulldogs to two consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, six consecutive 20-win seasons and seven straight postseason appearances.
Carter joins the Kings after spending the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons as an assistant coach with the Austin Toros, the NBA D-League affiliate of the San Antonio Spurs.
In 14 NBA seasons, Carter suited up for the Miami Heat (1999-00 – 2000-03), San Antonio Spurs (2003-04), Minnesota Timberwolves (2004-05 – 2005-06), Denver Nuggets (2006-07 – 2010-11), New York Knicks (2010-11) and the Toronto Raptors (2011-12). In 623 career games, the Hawaii alum averaged 4.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 19.6 minutes per game. Carter suited up in 39 playoff games, averaging 4.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 18.0 minutes per contest.
A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1996), Lieberman most recently coached the Texas Legends of the NBA D-League, an affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks, in 2009 and coached the team to a playoff appearance during the 2010-11 season. Lieberman was then named the team’s assistant general manager in 2011-12.
Prior to coaching, Lieberman won an Olympic Silver Medal (1976), won back-to-back AIAW National Championships in college with Old Dominion (1979, 1980) and was named an All-American at Old Dominion (1978, 1979, 1980).
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The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed free agent forward Jeremy Evans.
According to ESPN Dallas, the deal is a two-year veteran’s minimum contract with no option.
Evans (6-9, 200) played his first five seasons in Utah (2010-15) where he averaged 3.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 10.8 minutes in 219 games (seven starts). He won the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend in 2012.
A native of Crossett, Ark., Evans played four seasons at Western Kentucky University. As a senior, he averaged 10.0 points and 6.9 rebounds in 34 games. He is the Hilltoppers’ all-time leader in blocks with 224. Evans was selected by Utah in the second round (55th overall pick) of the 2010 NBA Draft.
The Philadelphia 76ers today announced they have signed rookie forward Richaun Holmes.
Holmes appeared in all three games for the Sixers in the 2015 Utah Jazz Summer League, averaging 10 points and five rebounds in just 17 minutes per game.
The 21-year-old spent his final three collegiate seasons at Bowling Green and was named Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year and All-MAC First Team as a senior.
Holmes shot 55% for his career and left as Bowling Green’s all-time leader in blocks with 244. He became the first player in school history to record at least 1,000 points, 600 rebound and 200 blocks. Holmes also hit 18 3-pointers on 42% shooting as a senior after having 12 3FGM on 29% shooting his first two seasons with the Falcons.