| RECENT NBA NEWS provided by RotoWire.com |
| Coverwire Update |
Coverwire Take |
| Kelenna Azubuike (G) NY |
9/3/2010 |
| Azubuike (knee) could miss the start of training camp, the New York Post reports. Knicks’ team president Donnie Walsh said, “He is working extremely hard every day and is improving. It is too early to pinpoint an exact date when he will be available.” |
Azubuike is coming off a serious surgery that he had in November of last year and the original projections were that it would take him around a full year to recover. He has the potential to be a valuable fantasy option this year, but that clearly depends on how quickly he recovers from this injury. Keep an eye on the situation as the season approaches. |
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| Chase Budinger (G) HOU |
9/3/2010 |
| Budinger suffered an ankle sprain Thursday, Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports. |
The injury is expected to keep Budinger sidelined for four to six weeks, which would allow him to return for the start of the regular season. |
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| Dee. Brown (G) |
9/3/2010 |
| Brown has been invited to join the Mavericks for their upcoming training camp, ESPN Dallas reports. |
Brown will compete for Dallas' final roster spot but faces stiff competition from a loaded backcourt that includes Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, and JJ Barea. |
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| Danny Granger (F) IND |
9/3/2010 |
| Granger is averaging just 13.3 minutes per game for Team USA in the FIBA Championships in Turkey, the Indianapolis Star reports. |
The report suggests Granger has regressed defensively over the last few seasons, as his stature as a scorer in the NBA has grown. And that his lack of defensive commitment is the reason he's being sat, while Andre Iguodala and Rudy Gay get playing time. |
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| Mario Chalmers (G) MIA |
9/2/2010 |
| Chalmers (ankle) is listed as questionable by the Heat for the start of training camp on September 28th, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. |
It was originally thought that Chalmers would be back to full strength before training camp opened, but it looks like his ankle isn't recovering as quickly as the Heat had hoped. With Carlos Arroyo sidelined with a deep bruise in his left quad, the Heat are hurting at point guard. |
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| Rudy Gay (F) MEM |
9/2/2010 |
| Gay suffered a slight groin strain during Thursday's win over Tunisia, but he isn't expected to miss any games with the injury, Fanhouse.com's Chris Tomasson reports. |
Coack K said "We think we'll be fine but we just didn’t want to chance that", so Gay was held out of the second half of Thursday's game. Team USA doesn't play again until Monday. |
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| James Anderson (G) SAN |
9/2/2010 |
| Anderson (hamstring) is almost ready to return to full basketball activities, MySanAntonio.com reports. |
Anderson is in the final stages of recovering from a hamstring strain that has plagued him since before draft day. He has been unable to participate in any on-court activities with his teammates due to the injury, but Anderson said he's "about 95 percent right now", so he should be on the court soon. |
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| Etan Thomas (C) |
9/2/2010 |
| Thomas is expected to sign a one-year deal with the Hawks on Friday, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. |
The one-year deal would be worth the ninth-year veteran's minimum amount of $1.2 million. Thomas averaged 3.3 points per game to go along with 2.8 rebounds per game last season. |
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| Andrew Bogut (C) MIL |
9/1/2010 |
| Bucks' team officials remain optimistic about Bogut's recovery from injuries he suffered to his elbow, hand and wrist late last season, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. "Our hope and anticipation is that Andrew will be ready to go when the season begins," Bucks general manager John Hammond said. "The great thing about going through this process with Andrew is he's proven to us as an organization and to our fans that his effort, energy and toughness will never be questioned." |
The Bucks still don't have a concrete timetable in place, but indications all offseason have been that Bogut will be at full strength when training camp opens. The seven-foot Australian is coming off a career-best campaign with averages of 15.9 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. |
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| Delonte West (G) BOS |
9/1/2010 |
| West will sign a non-guaranteed deal with the Celtics, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. |
He was drafted by the Celtics in 2004 and spent his first three seasons there. West had his two best seasons in terms of PPG for the Celtics, but this time around he will be in more of a reserve role behind Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, and Nate Robinson. |
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| Sean Williams (F) |
9/1/2010 |
| Williams signed a contract with Hapoel Jerusalem of the Israeli Super League on Tuesday, the Examiner reports. |
After spending his first two and a half seasons in New Jersey, Williams is opting to leave the NBA for at least a short while. |
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| Hamady N'diaye (C) WAS |
9/1/2010 |
| The Wizards are unlikely to sign N'diaye for this season, the Washington Post reports. |
Washington will still retain the rights to the second-round pick, but N'diaye was unimpressive in summer league play and is looking into playing overseas in 2010-2011. Even the talent-thin Wizards wouldn't mind getting him some more seasoning before bringing him to Washington. |
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| Jonas Jerebko (F) DET |
8/31/2010 |
| Jerebko averaged 25 points and 12.3 rebounds in four appearances with Sweden's national team in the European Championships this summer. |
While the European Championships don't offer the same level of competition as the World Championships, it's still impressive to see Jerebko play this well in an international competition. He was a surprise performer with the Pistons last season, averaging 9.3 points and six rebounds in under 28 minutes per game. Other than adding Greg Monroe in the draft, the Pistons didn't change much in their frontcourt, so look for Jerebko to have a significant role during his sophomore campaign. |
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| Carmelo Anthony (F) DEN |
8/31/2010 |
| New vice president of basketball operations, Masai Ujiri, said Tuesday that he intends to meet with Anthony soon, the Denver Post reports. |
"It's a process," Ujiri said. "Until he tells me that (he wants to be traded), we want him back, the city wants him back, ownership wants him back." We've heard nothing but strong indications that Anthony wants out of Denver for the past few weeks, but we've never heard it straight from the horse's mouth, so there is clearly still a lot of uncertainty regarding Anthony's status. This story probably isn't going away anytime soon. |
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| Jonny Flynn (G) MIN |
8/31/2010 |
| Flynn is off crutches and walking in a pool workout for the first time since July surgery to repair a tear in the labrum of his left hip, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. |
It was thought he'd be out until early November or December, so this looks like a positive development. |
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| Maurice Williams (G) CLE |
8/31/2010 |
| First-year Cavs coach Byron Scott wants Williams to revert back to the player he was with Milwaukee earlier in his career, the Akron Beacon Journal reports. |
Scott wants to put the ball back in Williams' hands and let him control the flow of the Cavs' offense. Williams had to take a backseat to LeBron James the past two seasons, shifting to more of a spot-up shooter than the playmaker he was with the Bucks. With the ball in his hands more, Williams should be able to help out more in the assists department while still contributing a healthy amount with his scoring and three-point shooting. |
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| Dwayne Jones (C) PHO |
8/31/2010 |
| The Suns signed Jones to an undisclosed contract on Monday, the Arizona Republic reports. |
Jones was shipped out of Phoenix in the Hedo Turkoglu trade earlier this summer. He was later released by the Raptors, which opened the door for his return to the desert. Look for Jones to once again split his time between the end of the Suns' bench and the D-League. |
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