April 2012 Basketball Wiretap

Jeffrey Carroll Commits To Oklahoma State

Sep 30, 2012 8:22 PM

Jeffrey Carroll gave an oral commitment to play for Oklahoma State.

The 6-foot-5 Carroll had offers from Oklahoma, Kansas State and Nebraska.

Oklahoman

Tags: Oklahoma State Cowboys, Big 12 Conference, NCAA, NCAA Recruiting, NCAA Commitment

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Colorado Receives Commitment From Tre'Shaun Lexing

Sep 30, 2012 8:20 PM

Tre'Shaun Lexing verbally committed to play at Colorado during a visit to Boulder.

Lexing, a 6-foot-5 wing, chose the Buffaloes over Arizona State, UCLA and Washington State.

Ryan Thorburn/Boulder Daily Camera

Tags: Colorado Buffaloes, Big 12 Conference, High School, NCAA, NCAA Rankings, NCAA Commitment

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Dunlap: Kidd-Gilchrist Solidifying Reputation As Elite Competitor

Sep 30, 2012 8:17 PM

Mike Dunlap believes Michael Kidd-Gilchrist rates in the top one percent of players as a competitor.

Kidd-Gilchrist had a strong showing at the Las Vegas summer league.

"The little thing that showed up for us that wasn't highlighted is when the game's on the line, his uncanny ability to get offensive or defensive rebounds," Dunlap said.

Dunlap also noted Kidd-Gilchrist's ability to finish plays at the basket.

"Guys ricochet off him," Dunlap said. "He can finish against 7-footers."

Jerry Tipton/Lexington Herald-Leader

Tags: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Charlotte Hornets, NBA, NBA B-Ball IQ

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LeBron To Limit Minutes During Preseason

Sep 30, 2012 6:43 PM

LeBron James is likely to limit his minutes during the preseason, beginning with the possibility of skipping the opener on October 7th against the Hawks.

"I don't even know if I'll play much at all in that game," James said Sunday about the game in Atlanta.

The Heat are monitoring how much time James spends on the floor during drills.

James contends he is already in regular season shape.

"It does feel different," James said. "I'm in better shape right now than I've been, because I've played so much basketball. Usually, it takes me a week, a week-and-a-half of camp to kind of get back into it. But at the same time, I've still got to be cautious. I've played a lot of basketball and I've got to be cautious and not allow myself to be out there too much. We'll monitor that."

Michael Wallace/ESPN

Tags: LeBron James, Miami Heat, NBA, NBA B-Ball IQ

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Carlisle Plans To Give Darren Collison Freedom To Improvise Offensively

Sep 30, 2012 12:12 PM

Rick Carlisle wants the Mavericks to operate out of the “flow” offense instead of set plays the majority of the time.

That means newly acquired point guard Darren Collison will have freedom to direct the team’s offense on the fly.

“My continuing goal, my ongoing goal is to call less or no plays if we can,” Carlisle said. “I think that that’s better. We want our guys to make plays, not call plays.”

Carlisle prefers to call plays only in specific situations, such as coming out of timeouts in crunch time.

“I want our system to be based on simplicity and counters and guys knowing which counters are there are how to react and respond appropriately, not having 75 plays that each have five options,” Carlisle said. “That’s too confusing.”

Tim MacMahon/ESPNDallas

Tags: Darren Collison, Dallas Mavericks, NBA, NBA B-Ball IQ

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Rivers Wants Jeff Green To Be A Power 3, Uptempo 4

Sep 30, 2012 12:08 PM

Doc Rivers is hoping to maximize the skills and abilities of Jeff Green this season.

"When he’s at the 3, I want him to be a power player, I want him to post more," Rivers explained. "That’s one of the things I thought I let him down when he was with us the first time, I didn’t think we posted him enough. I thought in the Miami series, if you remember, he had a little stretch in the post.

"I don’t have a big body of work to go with on Jeff. When he’s at the 4, I want him to be the fastest player in the gym. I want him to outrun [his defender and] one of the things we have been working on the last three weeks, is throwing the ball ahead to him on the break at the 4, and tell him to attack the basket. There’s a 4 guarding you that probably doesn’t want to guard you. We want him to be uptempo 4, power 3."

Green has spent the majority of his four-year career at small forward.

Greg Payne/ESPNBoston

Tags: Jeff Green, Boston Celtics, NBA, NBA B-Ball IQ

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Chris Kaman Exits Practice With Back Sprain

Sep 30, 2012 12:06 PM

Chris Kaman suffered a back sprain during the Dallas Mavericks' first preseason practice.

Kaman has missed 69 games over the past two seasons.

“It was a really good practice,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “We had one casualty. Kaman went out with a sprained lower back. It’s not considered serious. So we’ll see how he’s doing for tonight and tomorrow and go from there. It’s not serious, but it was enough to keep him out of about half of what we did [in the morning].”

Elton Brand replaced Kaman at center in drills.

“I don’t know who’s going to start at center,” Carlisle said. “On paper, it looks like Kaman will be the starter, but we got a long way to go before we figure out what’s best for the team. Everything’s on the table.”

Eddie Sefko/Dallas Morning News

Tags: Chris Kaman, Dallas Mavericks, NBA, NBA Injury

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Paul, Billups Participate In Practice, Sit Out Scrimmage

Sep 30, 2012 11:55 AM

Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups are unable to scrimmage as they recover from injuries, but they still ran through a few offensive sets with the first team of the Los Angeles Clippers.

"It was real nice to see Chauncey out there," Paul said. "When Coach called the first team out so we could go over things, me and Chauncey went out there. And then when they started scrimmaging, me and Chauncey came to the side and shot some."

Paul is expected to be fully available to return sooner than Billups.

"Me and Chauncey had a chance to watch a lot. I found myself watching over there on the sideline and I was actually excited," Paul said. "I hate to watch basketball. Obviously I love to play. But it was kind of cool because I'm sitting there and I'm watching Jamal Crawford, Lamar Odom — all these great players out there on the court."

Broderick Turner/Los Angeles Times

Tags: Los Angeles Clippers, NBA, NBA Injury

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Rasheed Wallace To Join Knicks On Monday

Sep 30, 2012 11:50 AM

Rasheed Wallace has notified the New York Knicks that intends to sign with the team for the 12-13 season.

Wallace first worked out for the Knicks last Saturday and had been considering ending his retirement.

Wallace last played in the 2010 NBA Finals.

Wallace has not yet signed a deal, according to a team source. Wallace will join the team on Monday, according to the New York Post.

Ian Begley/ESPN

Tags: Rasheed Wallace, New York Knicks, NBA, NBA Signing Rumor, NBA Misc Rumor

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Timberwolves Paid $7M To Amnesty Darko Milicic

Sep 30, 2012 11:06 AM

The Timberwolves used their amnesty designation to waive Darko Milicic, who had two years remaining on a four-year contract signed in the summer of 2010.

Milicic had $10 million remaining on his deal, but only $7 million was guaranteed.

Jerry Zgoda/Minneapolis Star Tribune

Tags: Darko Milicic, Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA, NBA Misc Rumor

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Wade Slow To Recover From Knee Surgery

Joseph Goodman/Miami Herald

Clippers Hire Shooting Coach To Work With Griffin, Jordan

Broderick Turner/Los Angeles Times

Billy Hunter Received 25 Percent Raise During Lockout

Jeff Zillgitt/USA Today

Blake Griffin Completely Healthy Following Surgery

Broderick Turner/Los Angeles Times

Lakers Showing Howard How Princeton Offense Can Expand His Game

Adrian Wojnarowski/Yahoo! Sports

Dwight Howard Targets Opening Night For Return From Back Surgery

Adrian Wojnarowski/Yahoo! Sports

Self Agrees To 10-Year, $52 Million Extension

Blair Kerkhoff/Kansas City Star

Dorian Pickens Visits Syracuse

Mike Waters/Syracuse Post-Standard

Garnett: I Don't Have Ray Allen's Number Anymore

Andrew Perna/RealGM

Pierce Would Have Considered Retiring Had Garnett Not Returned

Andrew Perna/RealGM

John Wall Out Eight Weeks With Stress Injury To Left Patella

RealGM Staff Report

Julius Randle Was Advised Not To Pick Duke, UNC Or Kentucky By Rival Coaches

Jason Jordan/Sports Illustrated

Rasheed Wallace Takes Physical With Knicks, Expected To Sign

Frank Isola/New York Daily News (via Twitter)

LeBron: Scary To Think We Can Be Better Than Last Season With New Additions

Ira Winderman/South Florida Sun-Sentinel (via Twitter)

76ers Still Intend To Improve Analytics Use In Front Office

John Mitchell/Philadelphia Inquirer

Curry Expected To Sign Extension With Warriors Before Deadline

Marcus Thompson II/San Jose Mercury News

Mavericks Aren't Looking To Reinvent Their Eight New Players

Dwain Price/Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Warriors To Allow Biedrins To Compete For Minutes

Rusty Simmons/San Francisco Chronicle

Xavier Rathan-Mayes Postpones UConn Visit

David Borges/New Haven Register

Jordan Mickey Pledges To LSU

Randy Rosetta/Times-Picayune