Maybe teammates had been so used to LeBron James needing his headband, whether it’s for comfort or appearance. Fighting for his life in these NBA Finals, fighting for his basketball stature, this accessory was the last thing James had on his mind in Game 6. Read More. Written by Shams Charania on Jun 19, 2013
Until the Sacramento Kings hire a new general manager, Geoff Petrie will maintain a key role in directing the franchise leading up to the NBA draft.
The Kings officially hired Mike Malone on Monday.
"I just told (Petrie) how much I appreciate him sticking around because he knows the draft a lot better than I do," Malone said. "He's been studying these guys ... and he also can offer great insights to the current players on our roster as to what their strengths, weaknesses are and personalities. But I'm still going to keep an open mind and form my opinion on these guys."
Chris Wallace is reportedly a leading candidate to take over as the Kings' GM.
Dwayne Davis, the draft prospect out of Southern Miss, has scheduled workouts for six NBA teams and interests those organizations as a possible second round pick, a source told RealGM.
Davis will work out for the Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks and a sixth team that could sign the 6-foot-5 guard if he falls out of this month’s draft.
After averaging 16 points and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 41.3 percent from three-point range in his senior season at Southern Miss, Davis stood out in the pre-draft’s Portsmouth Invitational, earning workout opportunities despite not participating in the combine.
Davis, 23, grew up as a homeless child, living through foster care and looking after his siblings.
The Dallas Mavericks brought in Zeke Marshall, a 7-foot center out of Akron University, for a pre-draft workout on Friday.
Marshall has a series of workouts slated in the coming days, according to a source.
Marshall will work out with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday. After Sunday’s workout, Marshall will work out for the Houston Rockets on June 5, the Phoenix Suns on June 6, the Los Angeles Lakers on June 17, the Chicago Bulls on June 18 and the Indiana Pacers on June 22.
The Washington Wizards hold three selections in the upcoming NBA draft – the No. 3 pick overall and two picks in the second round.
Ernie Grunfeld and Randy Wittman have indicated they would like to explore dealing at least one pick, maybe both in the second round, in a package for a veteran.
The Wizards plan to bring in mostly second-round prospects for individual workouts starting Monday.
The Minnesota Timberwolves want to add a shooting guard with size to play alongside Ricky Rubio.
“Just because we’re so small there, outside of [Alexey] Shved,” Flip Saunders said. “The other guys — [J.J.] Barea and Luke [Ridnour] — are 6-foot players who have to guard Kobe Bryant and those guys. So what you want is a ‘2’ guard [shooting guard] who has size and can shoot the ball.”
To that end, the Timberwolves worked out Tim Hardaway Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Allen Crabbe and Ricky Ledo on Thursday.
Saunders will likely bring C.J. McCollum, Shabazz Muhammad, Jamaal Franklin and others to Minnesota for workouts as the draft approaches.
Ben McLemore think he'd fit in nicely with the Orlando Magic.
"The Orlando Magic, I think that's a great program," McLemore said. "I think I could fit perfectly in that system and that organization and help that team in different kinds of ways."
McLemore already feels a kinship with Jacque Vaughn, who attended Kansas and played four seasons for the Jayhawks during the mid-1990s.
McLemore met with Vaughn during the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago.
"It was great just walking in and just seeing that face and seeing that connection as soon as we saw each other," McLemore recalled. "Big smiles came on our faces. He was great."
Aaron Gordon expects to primarily play at small forward for Arizona this season, though he appears to be best suited at power forward on the college level.
Gordon's position in the NBA remains unclear, though he could certainly play minutes at both positions due to how power forwards are evolving.
“As of right now I plan on playing on the wing full time,” Gordon told Jason Scheer of Wildcat Authority. “There will obviously be some times where I’ve got to go down in the post and go to work, but the plan is for me to play on the perimeter, which makes sense when you have players like Brandon (Ashley) and Kaleb (Tarczewski) in the low post. A lot of my training has been done with that in mind. I’ve always been able to dribble pretty well, so I’ve continued to work on that along with becoming a more consistent shooter.”