'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol:12

[nasty daddy]

http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=1769

The Philadelphia Daily News (Phil Jasner) reports: Aaron McKie is returning to the 76ers as an assistant coach and is expected to be introduced Monday, according to a team source familiar with the situation. McKie’s status apparently was placed on hold when he was arrested in June on charges that he had lied on application forms to purchase a gun in Pennsylvania in April. Brian McMonagle, his attorney, called it “an honest mistake.” McKie received probation in the case.

InsideHoops.com editor says: This reminds me, someone needs to sign Rick Brunson. I know he’s done playing, but still, someone add him to a 10-day contract, just for tradition’s sake.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketbal ... 3376.story

Let's hope the rent was month to month for Jason Williams. The point guard said goodbye to the Clippers before he essentially ever had time to say hello in a meaningful manner, retiring from the NBA on Friday. He had signed a one-year contract with them as a free agent all those weeks ago, on Aug. 7, and went so far as to rent a place here, according to Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy.

And so, his NBA career ended in a murky fashion -- should anyone really be surprised? -- with no public hint of what made him decide to quit only days before training camp, which opens Tuesday. His agent was not available for comment, either. Dunleavy managed to shed a bit of light on what happened. "It is what it is," he said on Friday. "He called us up, gave us a couple of days' notice through his agent, saying, 'I'm just not feeling like I'm wanting to come in and play. I think I'll send in my retirement papers.' "It caught his agent off guard. It caught everybody off guard. But like I said, it's better than bringing him into camp, taking a spot, working him in and then having maybe some disappointment."

Bottom line? "He didn't waste our time," Dunleavy said. This was one surprise of the recent past not hurting the Clippers, in part, given the presence of backup point guard Jason Hart. Williams broke in with Sacramento and won an NBA championship with Miami in 2006, and in between those stops, played for Memphis. His career averages were 11.4 points and 6.3 assists. Dunleavy did have a good line about Williams not truly being done with hoops. "He's from West Virginia," Dunleavy said. "He could be like Brett Favre. And a month from now he could want to play again."

[nasty daddy]

http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/content ... 7b431566b7

New Grizzlies center Hamed Haddadi touched down at Memphis Internatioanl Airport early Friday afternoon, ending speculation that the Iranian's entrance into the United States would be delayed due to immigration issues.

Haddadi was greeted at the airport by Grizzlies General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace, Director of Player Personnel Tony Barone, Sr., and Director of Scouting Tony Barone, Jr., as well as members of the Memphis Iranian community.

Grizzlies training camp begins Tuesday, September 30.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Chat.asp?CHAT_TOPICS_ID=20

PistonFan in Detroit, MI:Hey Preetom, I was just wondering how you think the Pistons will do this year? I've heard rumors of Amir Johnson starting, what do you think of that?

Preetom Bhattacharya: Last one from me - The Pistons are looking at their last chance .. Maxiell and Johnson both really need to step up this season. I'm curious to see what Curry does differently and how the team reacts to him. If this team stays healthy, they're still very good, but that window is closing.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=10079

Honorable Mention

Rasheed Wallace - Detroit Pistons: Sheed is kind of like the Manny Ramirez of the NBA. When he's focused, he can absolutely dominate games on both ends of the floor. When he's not, though, things can become a circus. If he comes to camp in shape, keeps his head on straight during the regular season and maintains his focus once the playoffs commence, Wallace could help lead the Pistons to another title. On the other hand, Sheed could end up being traded by the deadline if he gets off to a slow start.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/TheWireStory.asp?id=12652

The Golden State Warriors on Saturday signed free-agent center Justin Williams. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Williams, 24, has appeared in 49 NBA games over the last two seasons, averaging 3.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 9.3 minutes with the Sacramento Kings and Houston Rockets.

Last season, the 6-10 Williams averaged 1.4 points and 2.2 rebounds in 22 games with Sacramento before he was waived on February 16. He later signed a 10-day contract with Houston and appeared in one game.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... d_3_o.html

Marc Stein and the ESPN power ranking team rank the Pistons number three overall the last 6 seasons, just behind the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs.

We've clicked back through the archives to find the rankings highs, lows and average placement for every team in our weekly, thoroughly un-automated pulse take of the league. The annual batch of rankings that will take us into training camp for the start of the 2008-09 season is coming Monday.

3. Detroit Pistons Record 56-26 .683: Hard to imagine that anyone would claim that Detroit hasn't fully deserved its regular spot in our top five. Frustrated as Pistons fans might be to come away from six consecutive trips to the East finals with only one championship, there's been only one source of positive consistency emanating from the Leastern Conference since Michael Jordan's retirement ... and this team is it.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/HeadlineStori ... TORY_12071

The Golden State Warriors have signed free agent center Justin Williams to a contract as a training camp invitee, Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Mullin announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not announced.

Williams, 24, has appeared in 49 NBA games over the last two seasons, averaging a combined 3.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 9.3 minutes per contest with Sacramento (48 games) and Houston (one game). Last season, he began the campaign with the Kings and averaged 1.4 points and 2.2 rebounds in 22 games before being waived on February 16. The 6-10, 260-pound center subsequently signed a 10-day contract with Houston and appeared in one game for the Rockets. Williams, who joined the Warriors prior to today's first practice of training camp, will wear uniform #30.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/HeadlineStori ... TORY_12071

You can never have too many forwards. The day after matching the offer to keep restricted free-agent forward Carl Landry, the Rockets learned Shane Battier will miss most of the exhibition season with inflammation in his left foot.Battier had surgery to remove bone spurs from around his left ankle joint May 9 and has experienced pain during his rehabilitation.

The 30-year-old forward averaged 9.3 points and 5.1 rebounds while playing 80 games in his second season with the Rockets. “It’s precautionary,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said Friday. “(The doctors) want to see how it reacts to rest and they figured now is the time to rest him, in the preseason. “I suppose if the inflammation weren’t to go down, then we can all get more worried. “But right now they feel that it will do good with rest and then he’ll be better.” The inflammation hadn’t prevented Battier, 6-8, from working out hard over the summer in a rehab program. “He’s always had pain in his feet. He’s always had issues,” Morey said. “He trained on it pretty hard and didn’t think there was any reason to worry about it at all. “But they looked at it and said he should probably rest.”

Team doctors have said Battier will be sidelined for up to four weeks, which means he’ll miss the start of training camp Tuesday and could miss all seven of the Rockets’ preseason games. That could affect chemistry development with the addition of forward Ron Artest to the roster. “We’re a pretty veteran team, very professional,” Morey said. “Shane is the last guy you’re ever worried about being ready. In a perfect world, you’d have everyone together and they could try different lineups and rotations in preseason. But it’s not an ideal world.” Battier is expected to be ready for the start of the regular season Oct. 29 against Memphis at Toyota Center.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/HeadlineStori ... TORY_12071

With Chucky Atkins injured, point guard Mateen Cleaves will get another chance to return to the NBA. Danny Servick, the agent for Cleaves, confirmed Friday his client will sign with the Nuggets before training camp, which begins Tuesday. Cleaves, a six-year veteran, last played in the NBA in 2005-06.

Cleaves, scheduled to arrive in Denver on Friday afternoon, will sign a one-year nonguaranteed minimum contract. While Servick said Cleaves had been invited to Denver’s camp before it was known that Atkins would undergo right knee surgery Wednesday, his chances of at least starting the season with the Nuggets are now obviously better. Atkins is expected to miss six weeks. That would keep the point guard out of all of training camp and the early part of the regular season, which begins Oct. 29. “The Nuggets have always kept in touch with me regarding Cleaves,’’ said Servick, noting Cleaves worked out with them in April 2007, when the Nuggets chose to sign point guard Anthony Carter instead, and also in the summer of 2007.

Cleaves, 31, who won a national championship with Michigan State in 2000, has NBA averages of 3.6 points and 1.9 assists in 167 games. The 6-foot-2 Cleaves split 2006-07 with a team in Russia and the NBADL’s Bakersfield Jam and last season was with a team in Greece and the Jam.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/HeadlineStori ... TORY_12071

The Timberwolves are expected to bring former NBA lottery pick Rafael Araujo and Las Vegas Summer League guard Blake Ahearn to training camp, which begins Tuesday in Mankato, while they remain in contract discussions with free-agent guard Shaun Livingston. Restricted free-agent forward Chris Richard also is expected to sign the team's qualifying offer before Tuesday's opening practice.

Araujo, a 6-11 former BYU center whom Toronto selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2004 draft, gives the Wolves another big body for two-a-day practices now that star forward Al Jefferson and reserve center Jason Collins will begin camp injured.

Ahearn, an NBA Developmental League player who was signed by Miami late last season, is a candidate to earn a job as a third point guard behind Randy Foye and Sebastian Telfair. So, too, is Livingston, a young, talented 6-7 guard who did not play last season after suffering a severe knee injury in February 2007 while with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Wolves also likely will sign another guard to their training-camp roster by Monday.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/HeadlineStori ... TORY_12071

Former Oklahoma State point guard John Lucas III has been signed to the Thunder's training camp roster.

With the Thunder's roster standing at 14 players, one below the NBA maximum a team can carry into the regular season, Lucas will have the opportunity to make the team as its third-string point guard behind veteran Earl Watson and rookie Russell Westbrook. "I'm just going to come in and try to contribute any way I can,” Lucas said.

Lucas is expected to add competitiveness to training camp and preseason practices, but the Thunder also has the option to waive Lucas before the regular season if the team chooses to maintain roster flexibility by going into the regular season with an open roster spot. Lucas holds career averages of 3.1 points, 0.8 assists and 0.7 rebounds in 60 games, all with the Houston Rockets from 2005-07. The Rockets waived Lucas just before the start of the regular season last year. Lucas then spent the season playing in Italy.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/HeadlineStori ... TORY_12071

C.J. Watson will get that opportunity perhaps more often than anyone envisioned as he and Marcus Williams head into the start of the Warriors' training camp Saturday as the team's lone true point guards. Starting point guard Monta Ellis is expected to be out for the first month of the regular season, and possibly more, after he suffered an ankle injury in August. On Wednesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Ellis was injured in a "low speed" moped accident. After being signed from the NBA's Development League in January, Watson averaged 3.7 points and 9.5 minutes in 32 games. But after a busy offseason — which included four summer league games in Las Vegas where he was the Warriors' second-leading scorer — he figures to get ample time during camp to prove himself worthy of a larger role.

A month before the start of the summer league, Watson was working with Warriors assistant coach Stephen Silas on his defense, getting to the basket and improving his jump shot. In the summer league, he averaged 18.8 points per game and was team leader in assists (4.8) and steals (4.2). "I feel a lot more comfortable (this year) with this system and the speed of the NBA," Watson said. "After being in there for the last couple of months (last year) and playing summer league, I'm excited for the season and to get a chance to show my skills, what I've been working on and how much I can play."

Before Ellis' injury and the Warriors' acquisition of Williams in late July from the New Jersey Nets for a conditional first-round pick, Watson had his sights set on being the team's backup point guard. But it wouldn't be out of the question to see Watson as the team's starter at some point in the first month of the season, considering his familiarity with Don Nelson's up-tempo offense."I think right now, everything's wide open," said Chris Mullin, the Warriors' executive vice president of basketball operations.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/HeadlineStori ... TORY_12071

The Suns completed their training camp roster Friday by signing former Virginia Tech center Coleman Collins.

Collins joins previous non-roster invitees Robert Hite and Trey Johnson, who guards who have been participating in voluntary workouts but also signed camp contracts Friday. Collins, 6 feet 9 and 240 pounds, played on a first-division German team in Ludwigsburg last year. He averaged 10.6 points and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 58.3 percent to help the team to the league finals. He played on Denver's and Toronto's summer league teams the past two years. He averaged 7.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in 17 minutes per game for the Raptors this summer.

Collins replaced the Suns' original big man camp invitee, Jiri Hubalek, who signed a European contract.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/spo ... 26243.html

The day after matching the offer to keep restricted free-agent forward Carl Landry, the Rockets learned Shane Battier will miss most of the exhibition season with inflammation in his left foot.

Battier had surgery to remove bone spurs from around his left ankle joint May 9 and has experienced pain during his rehabilitation. The 30-year-old forward averaged 9.3 points and 5.1 rebounds while playing 80 games in his second season with the Rockets. “It’s precautionary,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said Friday. “(The doctors) want to see how it reacts to rest and they figured now is the time to rest him, in the preseason. “I suppose if the inflammation weren’t to go down, then we can all get more worried. “But right now they feel that it will do good with rest and then he’ll be better.”

The inflammation hadn’t prevented Battier, 6-8, from working out hard over the summer in a rehab program. “He’s always had pain in his feet. He’s always had issues,” Morey said. “He trained on it pretty hard and didn’t think there was any reason to worry about it at all. “But they looked at it and said he should probably rest.” Team doctors have said Battier will be sidelined for up to four weeks, which means he’ll miss the start of training camp Tuesday and could miss all seven of the Rockets’ preseason games. That could affect chemistry development with the addition of forward Ron Artest to the roster. “We’re a pretty veteran team, very professional,” Morey said. “Shane is the last guy you’re ever worried about being ready. In a perfect world, you’d have everyone together and they could try different lineups and rotations in preseason. But it’s not an ideal world.”

[nasty daddy]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/HeadlineStori ... TORY_12071

For four straight years, Nene showed up for training camp in line to be a backup. Or he just waited until power forward Kenyon Martin or center Marcus Camby got hurt. Well, there's no longer any need to wait. For the first time since 2003, Nene will show up Tuesday for a camp as a definite Nuggets starter. "Now coach has no option," Nene quipped about Nuggets head man George Karl, who didn't start Nene unless Camby or Martin was absent.

But the Nuggets traded Camby to the Clippers in July. Enter Nene as his replacement at center. Of course, to stay there, Nene must remain healthy. He has missed a staggering 165 games during the past three seasons, including 66 last season, 37 because of testicular cancer.

But Nene, who returned from his cancer to play three late regular-season contests and three playoff games, said he's close to being fully healthy. There have been only some minor expected complications. "I had a lot of pains in my stomach when I do a lot of exercise, but then I started getting better," Nene, who underwent testicular cancer surgery in January, said of working out in Denver throughout the summer. "That I can't control. It's a year to have things get out of my system."

[nasty daddy]

http://newsok.com/okc-thunder-former-os ... 1222531834

Former Oklahoma State point guard John Lucas III has been signed to the Thunder's training camp roster.

With the Thunder's roster standing at 14 players, one below the NBA maximum a team can carry into the regular season, Lucas will have the opportunity to make the team as its third-string point guard behind veteran Earl Watson and rookie Russell Westbrook. "I'm just going to come in and try to contribute any way I can,” Lucas said.

Lucas is expected to add competitiveness to training camp and preseason practices, but the Thunder also has the option to waive Lucas before the regular season if the team chooses to maintain roster flexibility by going into the regular season with an open roster spot. Lucas holds career averages of 3.1 points, 0.8 assists and 0.7 rebounds in 60 games, all with the Houston Rockets from 2005-07. The Rockets waived Lucas just before the start of the regular season last year. Lucas then spent the season playing in Italy.

[nasty daddy]

http://newsok.com/okc-thunder-former-os ... 1222531834

The Thunder also plans on adding Derrick Byars, a 6-foot-7 guard/forward from Vanderbilt, and Chris Alexander, a 7-1 center from Iowa State, to its training camp roster.

Byars was the 42nd overall pick by Portland in the 2007 NBA Draft before being traded to Philadelphia. The 76ers released him just before the start of the regular season. Alexander played in the NBA D-League last year and in the Philippines.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... d_3_o.html

The Flint Journal's "It's Just Sports" interviewed Need4Sheed.com's creator Natalie Sitto, a website that is very popular with Piston fans and that some Piston players even read from time to time.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... d_3_o.html

In other news, the Detroit Pistons announced that individual game tickets to will go on sale October 1st.

On Wednesday, October 1, 2008, starting at 10:00 a.m., the Detroit Pistons will make individual game tickets for their 2008-09 campaign available. Tickets can be purchased at The Palace Box Office, online at www.pistons.com, by calling 248-377-0100 or at any TicketMaster outlet.

Tickets in various price ranges will be available at all outlets, with the exception of the most inexpensive seats in the building at $10. The $10 price range seats will only be available at The Palace Box Office, all day on Wednesday. The $10 seats will be available at all points of sale beginning Thursday, October 2 at 10:00 a.m.