To keep Dwight Howard, the Lakers will have to sell him on a vision for 2014 and beyond. As a result, if championships are his goal, the Rockets are the safer bet for a whole host of reasons. Read More. Written by Jonathan Tjarks on May 23, 2013
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.
Stan Van Gundy knows his family has become comfortable living together in Orlando and has made it clear that he will not coach in the NBA next season.
Furthermore, Van Gundy is leaving open the possibility of never coaching in the league ever again.
"It is possible and that scares me," Van Gundy said. "Coaching is all I've ever done and all I know.
"Every year, you're out of it, it gets harder and harder to get back in."
For now, Van Gundy has decided not to pursue head coach openings and has turned down offers.
"We love where we're living and quite honestly it would be hard for us to leave Central Florida," Van Gundy said. "... As much as I would like to be back in coaching, we're all real happy here. I don't know what will happen in the future, but for right now we've decided not to pursue anything."
The 2013 NBA Draft Lottery was held on Tuesday in Times Square with the Cleveland Cavaliers winning for the second time in three years and third time in ten years. The Washington Wizards moved up from the eighth slot to draft third.
1. Cleveland Cavaliers 2. Orlando Magic 3. Washington Wizards 4. Charlotte Bobcats 5. Phoenix Suns 6. New Orleans Pelicans 7. Sacramento Kings 8. Detroit Pistons 9. Minnesota Timberwolves 10. Portland Trail Blazers 11. Philadelphia 76ers 12. Toronto Raptors 13. Dallas Mavericks 14. Utah Jazz
After a breakout season in Europe, Gani Lawal has intrigued NBA teams and could receive consideration for a contract, league sources told RealGM.
Lawal has already scheduled workouts – private and as part of mini-camps – with the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic, sources said. Four to five other teams have discussed bringing him in to work out, too.
Lawal, the 6-foot-9 athletic, scrappy forward, had his best professional season with Italy’s Virtus Roma, averaging 13.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks. Virtus Roma has gone 20-10 this season and ranks third in the league standings.
Since leaving the Phoenix Suns organization that drafted him in the second round in 2010, Lawal, 24, has lost weight and added strength. Lawal played one game with the Suns two seasons ago and was in the San Antonio Spurs’ training camp in 2011, but he was derailed by injuries and didn’t figure into a long-term plan. He was drafted after three years at Georgia Tech.
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."
Nerlens Noel was widely considered the consensus best player available in the 2013 NBA Draft, but his status in that position became questionable after tearing his ACL.
Noel is targeting a return of December, but could be out longer depending on how the rehab progresses.
With the 2014 NBA Draft expected to be incredibly strong with Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Julius Randle and Marcus Smart, amongst others, teams could be more comfortable being patient with Noel.
"I actually think that's helping Noel's case with teams like Orlando and Charlotte," wrote Chad Ford of the scenario of letting Noel rehab slowly to improve their lottery position for 2014. "Going for the double-play."
John Amaechi said several of his Orlando Magic teammates knew that he was gay when he played for the franchise between 1999 and 2001.
"I just thought I would lose my job," Amaechi said during an interview on Wednesday. "My teammates knew. We didn't talk about, but they knew. ... My teammates took care of me."
Amaechi said that the climate of the United States at that time, as well as playing for a conservative owner like Rich DeVos whose family has donated money to anti-gay marriage groups, made coming out publicly not something he was comfortable doing.