Dwight Howard will engage in the free agency process and is expected to hear pitches from the Lakers, Rockets, Mavericks, Cavaliers and the Hawks. Read More.
With Andrew Wiggins joining Kansas, the Jayhawks should stay at the Top of the Big 12. But the projection for West Virginia, Kansas St., and Oklahoma is entirely different from last season. Read More. Written by Dan Hanner on May 19, 2013
Dwight Howard will engage in the free agency process and is expected to hear pitches from the Lakers, Rockets, Mavericks, Cavaliers and the Hawks. Read More.
The event gives front offices the opportunity to evaluate D-League players with the possibility of offering Summer League or training camp invites. Read More.
Tyus Jones, the No. 2 overall recruit for 2014 and an excellent point guard, was selected by Paul Biancardi, Adam Finkelstein and John Stovall. Read More.
After sporadic playing time as a rookie last season, Reggie Jackson emerged as a critical guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder and averaged 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the playoffs.
With Russell Westbrook set to return next season, the Thunder might be anticipating a sixth man role for Jackson.
“If that's the number that's called,” Jackson said, “I'm doing my best to just be ready for whatever situation I'm thrown into next year.”
“I'm excited about his future, about what he was able to do during the minutes that he had," Brooks added.
The Charlotte Bobcats have started the process to rename the team back to "Hornets," according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
There is no timetable for the switch and Adam Silver has said such a change would take at least 18 months to implement.
Charlotte's NBA team was known as the Hornets from its 1988 inception through 2002 when then owner George Shinn moved the team -- and mascot -- to New Orleans.
The New Orleans franchise changed its name to Pelicans after this season, which opened the door for Charlotte to reclaim its old name.
Arron Afflalo is looking forward to playing to his strengths next season.
"I'm kind of getting to the age now where I'm kind of settling into being great at something," Afflalo said. "Whether it's being a high-level defensive player, a high-level shooter, an efficient scorer, doing the things where I'm really playing to my strengths. That's something I'm looking forward to."
With Afflalo often acting as the team’s go-to scorer, the Magic lost 62 games this season.
"It is what it is," Afflalo said. "We had a lot of firsts in terms of role definition, in terms of learning, in terms of the coaching staff. And when you're fully committed to doing better and trying to win it all at some point in time, you have to go through experiences like this. All we can do is try to learn from what happened this year and move forward into next year."
Michael Reinsdorf believes that Nikola Mirotic would be a lottery in this year’s NBA draft.
Mirotic was acquired by the Bulls after he was drafted 23rd overall in 2011.
Reinsdorf is proud of the Bulls’ recent draft record, pointing to the 2011 selection of Jimmy Butler.
“This is a guy who was the 30th pick in the draft that any other team could have had,” Reinsdorf said of Butler. “He played nearly every minute against Miami and LeBron James. If you saw how LeBron James embraced Jimmy Butler after that game, to me, it was the ultimate show of respect and that Jimmy has arrived as a ballplayer.”
Rick Carlisle has studied past NBA drafts and is aware of the talent that figures to fall to the Mavericks on June 27.
“You know, if you look at the history of drafts, which I have in the last couple of weeks, and if you look at the last 10 drafts, there’s a history of being multiple guys 13 and below that turn out to be really good, solid, long-term NBA players,” Carlisle said, while standing on the sideline during day 2 of the NBA draft combine. “So, you know, there’s value in this draft. Our job is to find it.”
The Mavericks will pick in the lottery for the first time since 2004, when they selected Devin Harris with a pick acquired from the Washington Wizards.
Carlisle is confident the Mavericks will add a player capable of stepping in right away.
“Well, you want to get a guy with as much experience as possible,” Carlisle confessed. “One of the reasons that (Jae) Crowder was in our rotation most of the year last year and one of the reasons that Bernard James did a good job for us when he played was because those guys had experience and they were older players. I think there’s been a move towards putting a value on maturity and for good reason.”
Due to the injury to David Lee, the Golden State Warriors were forced to be inventive and play Harrison Barnes minutes at power forward.
Many in the media had proposed that Barnes play as the Warriors' small ball power forward previously in the season in order to space the floor due to their lack of playmakers able to get to the basket off the dribble.
"It was fun to kind of play that style," said Barnes. "We’d never really done that before this season. Really, I’d never really played that at Carolina. I’ve always been so accustomed to having two bigs, especially fixtures on the block.
"So just to be able to play that spread out basketball, kind of drive and kick… it was fun to have four people who could handle the ball, just get out on the break, we all had different mis-matches. It was exciting."
Larry Drew will interview for the Milwaukee Bucks' head coaching vacancy on Monday and is receiving interest from a second team.
The Bucks called Danny Ferry about speaking with Drew, who is still under contract with the Atlanta Hawks until June 30, and they were granted permission.
“I’ve moved on from the situation,” Drew said. “We had a very professional talk just trying to get things in order since I’m still under contract.”
While Drew is prepared to part ways with the Hawks, the door is not completely closed on him returning as coach.
“There is not a sadness,” Drew said. “This is a business. We left open that this could evolve back. If it doesn’t, I have to move on. That’s how this business works. I knew that. Nine years is a good run. There is a business side to this profession."
Otto Porter patterns his game after Tayshaun Prince.
Porter, a small forward out of Georgetown, measured at 6-8.5 in shoes with a 7-1.5 wingspan at the NBA draft combine.
“Yeah, Tayshaun Prince,” Porter said when asked who his game is modeled after. “Long, lanky and can do a lot of things on the floor. Can defend, rebound, kind of a glue guy.”
Porter averaged 16.2 points and 7.5 rebounds, while shooting 47.9 percent from the floor, in 35.4 minutes per game last season for the Hoyas.
Phil Jackson's daughter, Brooke, had been sexually assaulted by an athlete while she was in college, so Kobe Bryant's situation "cracked open an old wound."