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Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden will miss at least two more games because of a bone chip in his left knee.
Oden was hurt in a collision during a game at Golden State before the All-Star break. The 7-foot Oden missed the Rookie Challenge and will miss sit out Tuesday's game in Houston and Wednesday's game in San Antonio.
McMillan said doctors have assured him that the injury won't turn into a long-term absence. But McMillan admitted he's starting to get worried.
NBA won’t suspend Hawks’ Smith after hard foul
Josh Smith will not be suspended by the NBA for the flagrant-2 foul called against him in Monday’s loss in Utah.
However, Smith will miss tonight’s game in Denver, having returned to Atlanta to attend to a personal matter.
Smith was ejected for a flagrant-2 foul with 8:40 to play in the Hawks’ 108-89 loss to the Jazz. Smith knocked former Marist and Georgia Tech star Matt Harpring to the floor on a fast break. Harpring’s head hit the floor and he bounced up and immediately went after Smith. Both players had to be restrained by teammates and game officials.
Hawks point guard Mike Bibby did not attend shoot-around practice Wednesday and will be a game-time decision tonight. He is suffering from the flu and played 15 scoreless minutes Monday against the Jazz.
San Antonio forward Tim Duncan did not play Tuesday night against the Dallas Mavericks because of a sore right knee, leaving the Spurs to tackle their division rivals without two of their stars.
Duncan leads the Spurs with 20.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. His 35 doubles-doubles are third-most in the NBA.
It is only the fifth game Duncan has missed to injury the past two seasons. He sat out four games last year with a sprained right ankle.
Summer market may be more wind than windfall
So maybe the summer of 2010 doesn't turn out to be one big game of musical chairs after all. Maybe LeBron James stays in Cleveland, Dwyane Wade in Miami, Chris Bosh in Toronto and very few NBA players wind up sending out change-of-address notices. That's because the summer of 2009 might be the day -- or the offseason -- the music starts to die. Or at least goes into a vegetative state. While most of the Saturday night fireworks during All-Star Weekend in Phoenix came from the explosive legs of Superman-clearing Nate Robinson, the real buzz came from the Man of Steely Resolve, David Stern. The commissioner, in his midseason address, acknowledged that the salary cap is expected to decrease next season. Estimates have the number dropping from $2- to $3-million or so, from the current $58.6 million, due to the continuing slump in the overall economy. "Teams know exactly what's happening," Stern said. "They know what their finances are and they also know that the cap is coming down. If you don't have a lot of high-revenue growth over the next couple of years, there may be a slowdown. But teams know the rules and can assess their ownsituations. "Since the salary cap was born in 1984, there was only other time -- the summer of 2002 -- when it decreased. Even taking that into account, the cap has increased by an average of roughly $2 million per season.
In addition, the luxury tax threshold -- currently at just over $71 million -- will likely fall under $70 million next season. While the belt-tightening does not mean that players will have to take summer jobs as lifeguards or driving ice cream trucks to supplement their incomes, it could mean that the anticipated free agent bonanza of 2010 could turn out to be more wind than windfall, just like the recently passed trade deadline. First on the wish-list hit-list could be the New York Knicks and their grand plan to clear enough space under the cap not only to attract LeBron but also to fit in a second pick of the litter -- Wade? Bosh? -- with another max contract. Before the hoped-for and hyped-up event of 2010 rolls around, the Class of 2009 should show what is -- or is not -- to come. When the clock strikes midnight on July 1, there may be a dearth of general managers camped out on the front steps of free agents. And that will signal the start of an era of fiscal caution, if that didn't happen already at the trade deadline. Were there reasons that, despite so many rumors, the likes of Amar'e Stoudemire, Vince Carter, Shaquille O'Neal and Tracy McGrady wound up staying put? Yes -- millions and millions of them on every team's bottom line. This summer, up step the likes of Mike Bibby, Ben Gordon, Jason Kidd, Allen Iverson, Andre Miller, Ron Artest, David Lee and Nate Robinson, to name a few, perhaps to walk smack into a brick wall of reality. "I think it's gonna be ugly, I really do," said an NBA executive. "What's happening is the cap is going to drop and to some amount nobody was ready for it to drop to and the world has operated as if that would never happen."
The problem is that over the last half-dozen or so seasons, teams have handed out max contracts to players that grow at 10 to 10 1/2 percent per season and gave out mid-level exception deals that grow at 8 to 8 1/2 percent. At the same time, revenues have been growing only at lower, single-digit rates and may actually be flat this season. Team owners are nervous and it's only going to get worse in the next few weeks and months as they try to get season ticketholders to commit themselves to next season. There will be only a handful of teams that can pay more than the mid-level exception this summer. While in the past the top 20 free agents might have received deals paying $30-, $40- and $50-million, this time around those offers won't be quite as forthcoming. What it means is that where the mid-level exception used to land second-tier free agent talent, this time it could eventually get some top drawer talent. It will be a buyer's market, maybe not the best of time to be Charlie Villanueva, Ramon Sessions, Raymond Felton, Rasheed Wallace or Hedo Turkoglu. It could be musical chairs, with many fewer chairs. And the new rules of the new game could stick around for a while. "Definitely," said the executive. "Take whatever the shock and awe of 2009 and double it for 2010."
Spurs' Duncan out again with right quad tendonosis
Spurs forward Tim Duncan will miss his second consecutive game Wednesday night against Portland after being diagnosed with right quad tendonosis. The Spurs listed Duncan as day-to-day.
The perennial All-Star was a late scratch before Tuesday's victory over Dallas after being unable to overcome stiffness in his knee during warmups.
The two games are the first Duncan has missed to injury this season. He leads the Spurs with 20.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.
Duncan (right quad tendonosis) to sit
Spurs forward Tim Duncan will miss his second consecutive game Wednesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers after being diagnosed with right quad tendonosis.
The Spurs listed Duncan as day-to-day. The perennial All-Star was a late scratch before Tuesday's victory over the Dallas Mavericks after being unable to overcome stiffness in his knee during warmups.
The two games are the first Duncan has missed to injury this season. He leads the Spurs with 20.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.
The Spurs also announced that Fabricio Oberto suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left thumb during the win over the Mavericks but is still expected to play Wednesday.
Detroit Pistons going backwards fast
John Schuhmann of NBA.com has a pretty interesting analysis that outlines the quick decline of the Detroit Pistons. Most Piston fans and media probably knew that the time was coming for the Pistons to decline and retool, but the bottom falling out so fast couldn't have been predicted.
With Tuesday's loss in Miami, Detroit has lost seven straight and 16 of their last 21 games. They're under .500 this late in the season for the first time in eight years. Their seven-year run with at least 50 wins and their run of six straight Eastern Conference Finals will both likely end . Heck, at the rate they're dropping down the standings, they might miss the playoffs altogether. You could blame it on the trade that sent Chauncey Billups to Denver for Allen Iverson. You could blame it on the coaching change (from Flip Saunders to Michael Curry) they made this summer. Or you could blame it on the combination of the two. Perhaps there would have been more stability and less of a dropoff in Detroit if only one of those two moves were made. Maybe retaining Saunders and/or keeping Billups would have just been delaying the inevitable. With the trade, Pistons president Joe Dumars saved his team some long-term money, which will allow him to retool sooner rather than later. But you would think that there wouldn't have been much of a dropoff had he not made such drastic changes. After all, Detroit won 59 games last season; only the Celtics won more.
Yes, the combination of losing Billups in a trade and replacing Flip Saunders with first-year head coach Michael Curry has proved to be a disastrous combination for the Pistons. You do have to wonder what changed from January when the Pistons were 22-12, had a 7 game winning streak and looked like they might finally be gelling, to now. The Pistons sit with a sub .500 record and are in the midst of a 7 game losing streak.
Schuhmann provides an interesting chart to try to provide some context to the quick decent.
Look at the improvement the Pistons made on offense under Flip Saunders. Jumping 14 spots in Flip's first season was a huge leap forward, while only declining 2 spots on defense. This season. with a pace as slow as the Rick Carlisle era, an offensive ranking almost as low as the George Irvine era and a 9 place drop in their defensive ranking, it's easy to see that this is a mixture that won't lead to many Piston victories. Slipping a little on defense might be covered up a bit if the offense was not so terrible.
Chart in the link above showing the decline over the years.No team has fallen off more offensively or defensively since last season than the Pistons. They're a worse offensive team than the Timberwolves and a worse defensive team than the Bobcats. Their defensive rating over the last 21 games (112.4) is at the level the Clippers have been this season. That they've deteriorated so much on both ends of the floor jibes with the idea that this team is in a general malaise, suffering from a lack of chemistry and fire.
Piston fans that want to watch the game against the Wednesday against the Hornets will have to tune in to FOX Sports Detroit Plus. Tim B. from FSN emailed the channel listins for FCP readers. Thanks Tim. Here is the .Doc file, and here is the .PDF file
Iverson isn't helping himself, or the Pistons, with his play this season. Sometimes he looks ready to dominate and take over the game, other times it's hard to know if he's on the court or not. Stuckey has almost completely disappeared lately and Sheed exerts his presence once every four games.
There is plenty of blame to go around, but the majority of blame must be placed on the coach and then Joe Dumars. Curry, because it's his job to control the players and develop schemes to best fit the team he has. And Joe Dumars because both the players and the coach were put together by him.
Still, Joe Dumars will have the coming draft and free agent period to right the ship. Piston fans have to be somewhat confident that he will be able to accomplish that, given that he's done it once before. Piston fans can only hope the team comes together this season and provides some entertainment until Joe can try to retool the team.
Fabricio Oberto to play with broken thumb
Spurs forward Tim Duncan was examined by team medical personnel today where it was determined he has right quad tendonosis. Duncan will not play in tonight’s Spurs-Trail Blazers in San Antonio. He is considered day-to-day.
Spurs center/forward Fabricio Oberto suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left thumb during last night’s Spurs-Mavericks game. He will be fitted with a split and is expected to play in tonight’s game.
The trade deadline has come and gone, meaning that fans of NBA transactions will have to wait a few more months for any other significant moves, but that doesn't mean we can't talk about what some of those moves might be. In a continually changing economy teams are forced to take a creative look at their rosters. For some teams that means shedding salaries, and for others that means reaping the rewards of that shedding. Here's a sneak peak at some players we can expect to see traded this summer:
Richard Hamilton, Detroit Pistons – After 2010, the Pistons have only one player on their payroll who will cost over $4.1 million, and that's Tayshaun Prince. That means next year the Pistons can try and cash out Hamilton's $10+ million for a similarly pricy long-term option. Detroit's in a good place to take advantage of other teams looking to shed some money commitments.
The Return Of Mensah-Bonsu
Pops Mensah-Bonsu is one of those players we have always expected more from. Spectacular in summer league and NBDL play, Mensah-Bonsu has never quite been able to make his mark on the NBA.
During the 2006-07 season he appeared in 26 games for the Fort Worth Flyers of the D-League, averaging 15.8 points and 10.4 rebounds in 30.7 minutes. Mensah-Bonsu was selected to the 2007 D-League All-Star Game where he captured MVP honors after scoring 30 points and grabbing 7 boards. More recently, the 25-year-old Mensah-Bonsu has been playing with the Austin Toros, the San Antonio Spurs NBA D-League affiliate. In eight games with the Toros, he averaged 26.6 points, 13.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.50 blocks in 39.8 minutes. His best game with the Toros came on 2/22 vs. Colorado where he had 39 points and 18 rebounds in 47 minutes.
Sounds like a guy ready to dominate in the big league, right? Well, Mansah-Bonsu had several shots with the Dallas Mavericks in 2006-07, but only managed to average 2.4 points and 1.0 rebounds in 5.9 minutes in 12 games with Dallas. Is Mansah-Bonsu finally ready to go from D-League legend to NBA star? If so, the Spurs could have just made a very important move as they look to solidify their odd-yeared Finals run this season.
Detroit Pistons @ New Orleans Hornets: The Pistons seem to be content to mail in the rest of the 2008-09 season, having now lost seven games in a row. The Hornets will be happy to help them continue that trend now that Tyson Chandler is back in the lineup. Chandler scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his first game back after a failed trade, with New Orleans beating the Kings 112-105.
Detroit vs. New Orleans? The Pistons could turn their season around, but we've been waiting for that turnaround for too long to assume that it goes down tonight against a healthy Hornets squad.
The Pistons probably aren’t looking forward to their second game in two nights against Chris Paul and the 33-22 New Orleans Hornets. And as Pistons fans I don’t think I have to tell you why. OK I guess I will tell you a little something that’s eating on all of us right now.
First time the Pistons fell below .500 after the halfway mark of the season since 2000-01
7 game skid
Rotation deviation.
Defensive disarray.
Locker room tension.
Lack of leadership.
Here’s a look at the Pistons’ numbers over the last nine seasons, starting with 2000-01, the season before they became a perennial 50-game winner.
Pistons Record Since 2000-01
Year Coach Record Pace Rank Offensive Rank Defensive Rank
2000-01 Irvine 32-50 93.6 1 101.3 25 103.0 8
2001-02 Carlisle 50-32 88.7 21 106.3 12 103.9 8
2002-03 Carlisle 50-32 85.5 29 105.6 14 101.3 4
2003-04* Brown 54-28 86.9 23 103.1 18 96.5 2
2004-05** Brown 54-28 86.2 29 106.7 18 102.3 3
2005-06 Saunders 64-18 85.7 29 112.1 4 104.4 5
2006-07 Saunders 53-29 86.1 30 110.3 6 105.6 6
2007-08 Saunders 59-23 86.3 30 112.7 8 104.1 4
2008-09 Curry 27-28 85.9 29 107.5 23 108.9 13
* = Won NBA title
** = Reached NBA Finals
PACE = Possessions per 48 minutes
OFF RAT = Points scored per 100 possessions
DEF RAT = Points allowed per 100 possessions
You get the picture. Is this what a Lions fan feels like?
The Pistons must win tonight to avoid the its longest losing streak in 14 years
Tip off is at 8:00 PM and will be locally broadcast on FSN Plus. If you’re not sure what channel FSN Plus is on your dial, FSN was kind enough to give us the channel list. If you can’t catch the broadcast you can listen to it on WDFN 1130 AM or you can follow/listen from your computer at NBA.com.
NBA Development League Expands to Portland, Maine
The NBA Development League has awarded an expansion team to Portland, Maine for the 2009-10 season, NBA D-League President Dan Reed announced today at a press conference at Portland High School. The team, which is the first expansion franchise awarded for the 2009-10 season, will play at the Portland Expo Center. The franchise will be owned and operated by Maine Basketball, LLC, which is principally owned by Bill Ryan Sr., the chairman of TD Banknorth Group and Bill Ryan Jr., who owns and operates Oxford Plains Speedway. Jon Jennings, a partner in Maine Basketball, LLC and former Boston Celtics assistant coach, will serve as the team’s president and general manager.
Today’s announcement, the NBA D-League’s first foray into New England, was held in front of the school’s student body while featuring Reed, Celtics Team President Rich Gotham, the Celtics Dancers, and a speech by the Portland High Student Body President Brian Furey. “Expansion to Portland is another example of the health and growth of the NBA D-League,” said Reed. “We are very pleased to add Bill Ryan Sr., Bill Ryan Jr., and Jon Jennings to our ownership ranks, as they bring a wealth of business, sports operations, and basketball experience on behalf of the team and the community. I’m confident that fans throughout the state of Maine will enjoy our world-class level of basketball featuring current and future NBA players, as well as appreciate the team's family-friendly environment, affordable prices, and positive impact on the Portland and Maine community." “I’m overjoyed to bring NBA D-League basketball to Portland,” said Jennings. “We’ve already established strong relationships with the people of this community, and we can’t wait to get underway next season. I know that this team will have a long and exciting future in Maine.”
Portland will be affiliated with two NBA team parent-clubs, which will be able to assign their first and second year players to the club a maximum of three times during a season. Thus far, the 2008-09 NBA D-League season has had 22 NBA players assigned on 24 occasions to NBA D-League affiliates as players continue to develop their game. An announcement regarding Portland’s NBA team affiliations will occur during the offseason.