The Los Angeles Clippers today signed free agent forward Kenyon Martin.
An 11-year NBA veteran and former NBA All-Star (2004), Martin joins the Clippers after signing with the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association this summer.
“Kenyon is the ultimate competitor and a key acquisition," stated Vice President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey. “We expect that he will provide additional experience, passion and professionalism, as well as some important depth to our front court."
Martin is expected to join the Clippers on their current road trip in Orlando and will wear uniform #2.
Greg Oden will undergo a procedure to "remove debris" from his right knee.
Oden hasn't appeared in a game with the Blazers for over two years.
Last season, he had microfracture surgery on his left knee. It was expected that he might be able to play for the Blazers this season, but a checkup before the start of training camp in December revealed he had suffered a setback in his rehabilitation.
Blake Griffin was voted as a starter to the NBA All-Star Game on Thursday, but said he doesn't plan on defending his slam dunk contest title.
"As of right now I don't plan on being in it," Griffin said Thursday night. "Those dunk contests aren't my thing, I said that last year. There's a lot of guys that can put on a great show and do some good stuff."
Last year Griffin won the slam dunk contest, played in the Rookie Challenge and played in the All-Star Game during a hectic All-Star weekend in Los Angeles.
"Last year was hectic and it kind of made it unenjoyable," Griffin said. "So this year, we'll see what will happen, but I will try to tone it down a bit and get a break instead of being so busy."
DeAndre Jordan could potentially take his place, though he hasn't been contacted by the NBA.
The Hawks met Thursday with a representative for Kenyon Martin, according to a person with knowledge of the team’s thinking.
Martin, 34, averaged 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds in 48 games for the Nuggets last season. The 11-year veteran signed a one-year deal to play in China with Xinjiang during the NBA lockout last summer. He is eligible to return to the NBA following the Chinese season in several weeks.
Martin has reportedly been offered a contract by the Heat.
The Hawks could probably only offer Martin the veteran minimum in salary.
Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun will have to take an indefinite medical leave of absence to address spinal stenosis, a lower back condition that causes him severe pain and hampers his mobility.
“Last summer, Jim had some significant back pain and has seen two excellent back specialists,” said Dr. Peter Schulman, Calhoun’s primary care doctor. “The initial approach recommended to him was stretching, physical therapy and exercise, and that was successful for several months. It turns out that there is some degenerative problem in the lumbar vertebrae and it’s impinging on the nerves.”
The Huskies have struggled lately, dropping four consecutive games and falling out of the Top 25 after a 12-1 start to the season.
Wizards owner Ted Leonsis was asked about the coaching change that put Randy Wittman in the head chair.
“Well, I thought we needed to implement a system that played to the strengths of the players,” he said. “We’re young, we’re athletic, we’re long, and playing a more up-tempo game has made the team a lot more competitive. I think the players are adapting very very well to it.
“The game with Chicago, that’s one really really good team, also built around the draft, but we stayed with them and we played really really hard, played that pressing kind of defense, outscored them in the fourth quarter and that’s what we want to see. We want to show the fans that the team has upside, that even though we have nine players on rookie contracts, that we can be competitive....
“The young kids are growing up. They don’t look scared anymore. And that’s a natural evolution of their outlook towards games, and now we think we can win games.”
Despite coming into the Garden 0-8 on the road recently, the Bucks were oddly confident. They had watched a tape of the Knicks’ home setback to the Suns and were happy to see them employing the same defensive principles assistant Mike Woodson used as head coach of the Hawks.
“They switch on just about every play, and it creates a lot of favorable mismatches for opponents,” a member of the Bucks disclosed before his team broke the streak with a 100-86 win Jan. 20. “Check out how many times Tyson Chandler wound up having to guard Steve Nash.”
The Cavaliers have committed 18 shot-clock violations through 20 games, which is tied for the third-most in the league.
“We’re getting into what we call late-clock situations way too often,” said Byron Scott, who addressed the issue with his players again during practice Thursday. “Our pace of play has to be faster. The way we want to play and the way we want to get the ball moving from side to side and then look to attack means you have to get the ball up the court a lot faster.”
The Detroit Pistons have the most shot-clock violations with 31, according to Elias Sports Bureau. The New Jersey Nets are next with 19, and the Cavs are tied with the Sacramento Kings at 18.
Scott has been hounding point guards Kyrie Irving and Ramon Sessions to play faster for weeks, in part for this reason.
Nenad Krstic came off the bench for 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting and added nine rebounds, an assist and a steal en route to a performance index rating of 31 in CSKA's 85-70 win over Galatasaray and was subsequently named Euroleague Top 16, Week 3 MVP.
Krstic was also named Euroleague MVP for November.
Lietuvos Rytas, featuring Jonas Valanciunas, is winning by an average of 20.9 points per game, but have dropped two games and are a game and a half behind undefeated Zalgiris.
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