Posts Tagged ‘Allen Iverson’

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D-League Diary: Justin Dentmon’s Long Wait

March 4, 2013  ·  5:37PM

FRISCO, Texas — Sometimes Justin Dentmon wants to strangle his cell phone. But like the rest of us, he can’t live without it. It’s just that so few of us experience the stomach-wrenching anxiety he does with each ring of an incoming call or beep of a text.

“I feel like I’m on call every day, I’m waiting every day,” Dentmon said. “Every time Bill [Neff, his agent] calls and leaves a message, I’m thinking that it’s somebody calling for a contract. I’m really just trying to be patient.”

But time is running short, on the the NBA season, on that elusive call-up and ultimately on the 6-foot point guard’s NBA dream.

“I’m just hoping for that call-up, man,” Dentmon said. “Just the chance, the opportunity.”

Dentmon, 27, plays for the Texas Legends. It is his second stint with the Dallas Mavericks’ D-League affiliate in the last three years, and he leads the league in scoring at 21.5 ppg. He’s averaging 25.9 ppg in 15 games with the Legends since being traded mid-season from the Austin Toros, the San Antonio Spurs’ affiliate he won the league MVP with and led to the D-League title a year ago.

That season, while averaging 22.8 ppg and 5.5 apg while shooting lights out from beyond the arc, it took until March 24 for Dentmon to get the call for his first 10-day contract with the Spurs. A few days after San Antonio released him, the Toronto Raptors quickly scooped him up with another 10-day contract. But they decided to hold onto Ben Uzoh, a D-League staple this season with the Springfield Armor.

But Dentmon felt like he had finally got himself on the map and closer than ever before to realizing his dream. Last summer he was set to play for Dallas’ summer league team and Dentmon and his agent believed that the Mavs, whose president of basketball operations, Donnie Nelson, co-owns the Legends, were ready to sign him to a partially guaranteed NBA contract. That would get him to training camp in October where he could compete for a roster spot.

But disappointment followed. He didn’t play as much as he would have liked in the five summer league games and then four days later his desired contract fell through because Dallas re-signed veteran, but troubled guard Delonte West. Without an NBA contract, Dentmon returned to the D-League Toros this season to begin the fight all over again.

And now with just 13 games left in the Legends’ season, West’s shadow looms again. The Mavs waived West prior to the season for detrimental behavior and he’s been out of the league since. Five weeks ago he failed to report to the Legends after signing a contract, however he is apparently ready to join the team now in a late attempt to salvage his derailed career.

It’s a difficult pill to swallow for Dentmon. He essentially plays the same position and could lose essential playing time. It seems like that’s been a constant threat since the Legends traded for him on Jan. 22. West signed his original Legends deal on Jan. 25 and days later a report revealed the team was making a play for former NBA MVP Allen Iverson, who declined the invite.

Still, with flirtations with West and Iverson, the prospect Dentmon was left wondering what it all meant for him.

“I talked to Bill [his agent] and I’m like, ‘Bill what’s going on? They’re bringing in all these guys and they just traded for me,’” Dentmon said. “He just told me to continue to be me.”

So Dentmon does. He’s scored 30 or more points in five of the last 10 games and has averaged 27.9 points during that stretch to get the Legends on the cusp of playoff contention. He arrived to the team during a 12-game losing streak and has since helped them win six of their last nine. Still, he waits for the call he has yet to receive.

“I’m still hoping that he will,” said first-year Legends coach and former NBA forward Eduardo Najera. “I’ve been working with him in terms of mentoring what he needs to be doing. I think scoring takes you a long way, but you’ve still got to be able to play defense and be in great shape. I’ve been pounding on that because I really believe this kid, in top shape and he when plays individual defense — and we’ve been working on it every single day in practice — he can make it to the NBA and also stay there because he’s that talented.”

Dentmon, who went undrafted out of Washington in 2009, has played overseas in stints, in Israel and Italy and even the Dominican Republic. At home, he’s fought the constant battle of being labeled undersized and the perception that he’s a shooting guard trapped in a point guard’s body. He keeps coming back to the lower wages of the D-League, he said, because he deems it the second-best league in the world and the best way to make it to the No. 1 league.

“I just really want to stay here, but playing here it seems like it keeps pushing me away,” Dentmon said. “I’m trying my hardest. Last year, I did a great job of playing the point and this year I’m playing a little bit of both, but it’s just tough, it’s tough.”

So he plays, practices and practices some more as he waits for the phone to ring. If it doesn’t ring soon, Dentmon said it will be time for him to make his own call whether to stay or go make a better livelihood playing overseas.

“It all depends on if I’m getting any looks or if get called up this year,” he said. “If I don’t get any call-ups this year, maybe it’s telling me I need to go overseas for a little bit.”

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Sizzling Stars: LeBron and KD Meet Again

February 14, 2013  ·  10:07AM

OKLAHOMA CITY – The historic impact of the supremacy of LeBron James and Kevin Durant is impossible to ignore. Legends are being made before our eyes, and before All-Star weekend arrives, the NBA gives us the final regular-season meeting between two of the most uniquely gifted players compiling two of the most individually intriguing seasons ever.

No, it’s not a stretch to make such a pronouncement about two players dominating individually and who also have their teams positioned for ultimate goal: a potential NBA Finals rematch in June.

James, built like a bull at 6-foot-9 and 25o pounds and defying every traditional position on the floor, is averaging 27.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg and 6.9 apg. He’s shooting 56.5 percent overall and 42.0 percent from beyond the arc. The Heat (35-14) have won six in a row and lead the Eastern Conference by three games.

Durant is listed at 6-foot-9, but everybody knows his 235 pounds (probably a stretch) are spread out over a near-7-foot frame and boasts a ridiculously wide wing span. He’s averaging 29.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg and 4.4 apg. He’s shooting 51.9 percent overall, 43.2 percent on 3s and 90.4 percent from the free-throw line. The Thunder (39-13) own the league’s best point-differential at plus-9.1, although they trail San Antonio by one game in the loss column.

When it comes to LeBron and KD, no matter the era, the numbers don’t lie.

“They’re two unique bodies and two unique styles of play,” said former Atlanta Hawks great and 1986 scoring champ Dominique Wilkins. “Totally different, but with the same efficiency. The thing with these guys is you rarely see them take a lot of bad shots. That’s why they shoot the percentages they are. When guys have great shooting percentages, they limit their bad shot attempts. That’s what both those guys have done.”

James floats into Thursday’s game at Oklahoma City (8 p.m. ET, TNT) on a run for the ages as the only player in NBA history to reel off six consecutive 30-point games while shooting better than 60 percent in each. And forget about 60 percent, James is 66-for-92 in those games for a blistering, almost unbelievable, 71.7 percent.

It’s the kind of stretch that has practically assures him of joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players to twice win consecutive MVP awards. And if he does win it this season, James and Bill Russell will be the only players named MVP four times in five seasons. Oscar Robertson – perhaps the player James most resembles — stopped Russell’s run at three in a row in 1963-64. Russell followed the next season by winning it again.

Derrick Rose‘s awesome 2010-11 MVP season stopped James at two straight and Rose could ultimately prevent him from being the first player to ever have won it five consecutive seasons.

Still, a fourth MVP would already give LeBron, at age 28, more than the three won by Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Moses Malone, while tying him with Wilt Chamberlain and moving him one away from matching Michael Jordan and Russell at five. A sixth would put LeBron with Abdul-Jabbar on the mountaintop.

In any other season, Durant would be the frontrunner for his first MVP. As it is, he’s locked in a battle with Carmelo Anthony for a fourth consecutive scoring title — both lead the league at 29.0 ppg. Only Wilt (1959-66) and Jordan (1986-93), each with seven consecutive scoring titles, have won more than three in a row.

Durant is one of just five players to claim three straight: Jordan (1995-98), George Gervin (1977-80), Bob McAdoo (1973-76), Neil Johnston (1952-55) and George Miken (1948-51).

If Durant — who is also on pace to notch the ultra-rare 50-40-90 season (50 percent field goals, 40 percent 3-pointers, 90 percent free throws) – claims the scoring title, he will tie Allen Iverson and Gervin — the player Durant is most often compared to because of his slender frame and cool demeanor — with four.

Even if Durant doesn’t pick up his fourth in a row, at only 24 years old, he’s still lined up to threaten Jordan’s unprecedented, and once thought to be untouchable, 10 scoring titles.

For history in the making, stay tuned.

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Dirk Passes Wilt In Free Throws Made

February 10, 2013  ·  12:32PM

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HANG TIME SOUTHWEST – Dirk Nowitzki moved past Wilt Chamberlain Saturday night and into 15th place on the NBA’s all-time free throws made list.

In his 1,076th career game, Dirk collected eight more free throws to total 6,059 on 6,910 attempts. That’s 87.7 percent, currently good for a tie for 13th all-time with Jeff Hornacek. Only four active players have better career free-throw percentages — No. 1 Steve Nash (90.4), No. 5 Chauncey Billups (89.4), No. 6 Ray Allen (89.3) and No. 12 Kevin Durant (88.2).

But back to Wilt’s free throws and a little comparison to Dirk because these numbers are really mind-blowing:

* In 1,045 games — 31 fewer than Dirk has played to this point — Wilt made two fewer free throws (6,057) on 4,952 more attempts.

* Dirk has averaged 6.4 free throws a game; Wilt averaged 11.4.

* Dirk, 18th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list (24,442 career points), has missed 851 free-throw attempts.

* Wilt, fourth on the all-time scoring list (31,419), missed 5,805 free- throw attempts.

Dirk’s percentage has dipped a bit this season. After going 8-for-11 from the free-throw line in Saturday’s blowout win over the Golden State Warriors, Dirk is shooting just 78.5 percent from the free- throw line, his low-water mark by far since finishing his rookie season at 77.3 percent.

The slippage is rather stunning considering Dirk finished six of the last seven seasons at 89.0 percent or better (the other season was 87.9 percent).

The only conclusion is that the Oct. 19 athroscopic surgery on his right knee that sidelined him for the first 27 games of the season has taken a toll on a player who has always featured a pronounced knee bend in his shooting form (his 40.7 field-goal percentage is also the lowest since his rookie season).

That aside, Dirk remains one of the game’s all-time great free-throw shooters and he needs to average just under 4.0 made free throws in the final 32 games of the regular season to pass Bob Pettit (6,182) and move into 14th place.

In any other season, that would seem automatic, but this season Dirk is averaging just 2.9 made free throws a game. Prior to this season, he averaged 5.7 made free throws a game. 

Whether it happens this season or next, it will happen. In fact, by the second half of next season Dirk should take his place in the top 10 all-time for most free throws made.

He’s just 317 away from overtaking No. 10 Allen Iverson (6,375), who despite his preference, doesn’t appear headed to an NBA free throw line ever again.

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Delonte West Does D-League U-Turn

February 1, 2013  ·  8:19PM

HANG TIME SOUTHWEST – Delonte West has pulled an Allen Iverson and decided that the D-League isn’t for him.

Iverson, though, never actually signed a contract. He simply turned down an offer earlier this week to play for the Texas Legends, the affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks, as a means to help attract the attention of NBA teams. West did indeed sign a contract last week to play for the Legends, who are co-owned by Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson.

According to a source with knowledge of West’s thinking, the troubled combo guard has decided not to play in the D-League against the advisement of his representation. West is represented by agent Dan Fegan. The source said that NBA teams have been reluctant to bring in West, even on a 10-day contract, until he gets back on the court and they see him play. The Memphis Grizzlies recently kicked around the idea of offering West a 10-day contract, but no offer materialized.

Earlier on Friday, a league source said that West is in the process of changing agents, which could be delaying his arrival in Texas. That is, if it happens at all. As of Friday night, West’s name was on the Legends’ roster on the team website, although no number had been issued. Legends officials did not immediately answer messages Friday night.

While Iverson’s return to the NBA certainly appears as though it might never happen, he is 37 and had an All-Star career. West, 29, needs to get back in the league if he hopes to salvage a career that veered off course with his arrest in 2009 when he was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He has since had a brief second stint with the Boston Celtics and played the 2011-12 season with the Mavs on a veteran minimum, one-year contract. West, who is bipolar and has struggled with money issues, signed another one-year deal to return to Dallas this season.

But twice during training camp the team suspended him for conduct it deemed detrimental to the team and they waived him just days before the start of the season.

West had been upset with his contract situation and with what he saw as an overcrowded backcourt after the team brought in Darren Collison, O.J. Mayo and Dahntay Jones to go with holdovers Vince Carter, Rodrigue Beaubois and Dominique Jones, plus first-round pick Jared Cunningham.

West reportedly wanted to join the Legends with hopes that he could show the Mavs he was ready to be a part of their team again. However, last Friday night Mavs owner Mark Cuban made it clear that he had no intention of bringing back West. Dallas signed veteran guard Mike James last Sunday for the remainder of the season after he exhausted two 10-day contracts.

Now, by opting not to play in the D-League, West could be throwing away his career.

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Iverson Turns Down D-League Route

January 29, 2013  ·  2:15PM

HANG TIME SOUTHWEST – Donnie Nelson offered Allen Iverson a potential lifeline back to the NBA. The Answer has answered: No thanks.

As first reported Monday by ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, Nelson, co-owner of the D-League Texas Legends and president of basketball operations for the Legends’ NBA affiliate Dallas Mavericks, offered Iverson a chance to get back in the game.

Iverson, 37, has been seeking a path back to the NBA, but through his Twitter account on Tuesday, he made it known that he doesn’t want that path to go through the NBA Development League as some other veteran players have done successfully.

Iverson doesn’t say which route he would prefer to get back in the NBA. He’s had opportunities to make good money in China but has passed. A direct route seems preferred, but it’s one that has not materialized.

He last played in the league in 2009-10 for the Memphis Grizzlies and Philadelphia 76ers. After making his intentions clear not to join the Legends — they play in Frisco, located about 30 minutes north of Dallas — Iverson offered a series of tweets:

The Legends just helped veteran guard Mike James get back to the NBA. After signing a pair of 10-day contracts with the Mavericks, the club opted to sign him for the remainder of the season. The D-League team is also on the verge of suiting up Delonte West as he hopes to play his way back into the league after being released by Dallas for poor behavior prior to the season.

Iverson sits at No. 19 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, having just been passed at No. 18 by Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki. A.I. has 24,368 points over 14 seasons. He spent his first 10-plus seasons with Philadelphia before being traded to Denver during the 2006-07 season.

He averaged 26.4 points for the Nuggets in 2007-08 and was moved to Detroit the following season.

If Iverson truly hopes to add to his career point total, he’s going to have to swallow his pride and take whichever circuitous rout is offered, even it means being a marketing tool for a D-League operation.

Otherwise, he seems out of options.

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Garnett Passes Iverson In Points, Wonders About Rose In Rehab

November 13, 2012  ·  2:47PM

CHICAGO – Kevin Garnett made a reference to practice – how he chews it up and spits it out, basically, and has for 18 NBA seasons – and that word “practice” triggered a reminder of Allen Iverson. In fact, with his short fadeaway jumper just minutes into Boston’s 101-95 victory over the Bulls at United Center Monday, Garnett passed Iverson on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

Garnett, who finished with 15 points, sits at No. 17 with 24,381 points. Iverson is at 24,368. On the combined NBA/ABA points list, they rank 22nd and 23rd, respectively. Garnett, based on his current scoring average (15.9), could pass or close in on Nos. 16 (Patrick Ewing, 24,815), 15 (Jerry West, 25,192), 14 (Reggie Miller, 25,279) and 13 (Alex English, 25,613) by season’s end.

At 36, Garnett is a year younger than Iverson, who got to the NBA one year later and amassed his total in just 14 NBA seasons.

“What’s the A.I. thing?” Garnett said as he walked to the Celtics’ team bus afterward. “Who, me? I would never have known no [bleep] like that. I don’t think about [bleep] like that until it’s brought to me.”

OK, so? “A.I. scored a lot of points in this league early on, and he did it at 5-11,” Garnett said. “So I got a lot of respect for dude. I wish he was still in the league.”

Iverson last played in the NBA in 2009-10. He reportedly has been unable to land another deal acceptable to him in China, after taking his game to Turkey in 2010-11. Last season, he was said to have turned down offers from teams in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Iverson gained most of his attention in 2011-12 for reports that he spent through most or all of his fortune, built off NBA earnings of about $154 million plus endorsement and outside income.

“There’s a lot of great players who are not in our game right now,” Garnett said. “Then I look at our game and think, damn, these guys could be playing right now.”

For what it’s worth, Garnett inquired about the rehab timetable for Chicago’s Derrick Rose, working his way from knee surgery toward what is presumed to be a February or March return.

“He should take the year. Do what’s right for himself,” said the Celtics star, who had knee surgery in May 2009 and didn’t return to what he and teammates felt was full production until midway through last season. One difference: Garnett is a big man who was 33 at the time of his surgery, compared to point guard Rose’s 23 this spring.

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Still A Market For T-Mac, Iverson …

September 4, 2012  ·  1:01PM




HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Hall of Fame week always reminds us of a seemingly endless debate we have here at the hideout about the worthiness of some of the game’s current stars and whether or not they’ll one day end up in Springfield.

One of those stars we talk about often is Tracy McGrady, who at one point earlier in his career seemed like he would be a lock for the hallowed halls of the Naismith Memorial. That view isn’t quite as clear these days. The journeyman nature of his career the past few years has made the argument for McGrady a bit tougher.

The news that McGrady might be working out for the Charlotte Bobcats, courtesy of Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer, who insists that the rumblings are strictly “informal and exploratory,” makes you wonder if there really is still a viable market for faded stars of his ilk?

Unlike some others from his generation, injuries and various other issues have prevented McGrady from settling into the twilight of his career as a franchise staple.

Reports that Allen Iverson is considering a move to China to play if he can’t find a team in the NBA willing to give him look is another reminder that not every superstar career has a fairy tale ending.

Iverson, who has already played in Turkey, has perhaps the best perspective and understanding of how dramatically things can change from highest of highs for some NBA superstars to the long road back to the league once you’ve lost your way. He’s desperate for another shot and is willing to go the other side of the world to play if he can’t find a place here, as this Netease Sports report (translated)  makes clear:

“I definitely want to return to the NBA, but if I can’t get back there, I’m hoping to play ball here (in China).  China is still one of my choices, but the team that wants me to join has got to show me that they really mean it, like ‘Hey, we really need you.’”

Makes you wonder if there is any NBA team out there willing to say the same about either McGrady or Iverson?

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Jackson Ranks Shooting Guards … Reggie Miller Just After MJ and Kobe?

September 4, 2012  ·  8:54AM


HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – With all due respect to Warriors coach Mark Jackson and his view of basketball history, we have to pick a bit of a fight with him about the subjectivity of his ranking of the NBA’s greatest shooting guards.

Jackson, no doubt celebrating the Hall of Fame induction of his good friend and former Indiana Pacers teammate, Reggie Miller (TNT’s very own), went a bit overboard when he told the Indianapolis Star:

“When you take Michael Jordan and you take Kobe Bryant out of the discussion, he’s as good as any two-guard that has ever played the game.”

While I was lucky enough to witness some of Miller’s best years with the Pacers and have a deep appreciation for what it takes to play at the level he did for so long, I’m not sure I can abide by Jackson’s assessment when presented with the long list of distinguished shooting guards that have graced the game.

Let’s see … (and these names are no particular order) George Gervin, Jerry West, Allen Iverson, Dwyane Wade, Clyde Drexler, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe,  Ray Allen, Joe Dumars and “Pistol” Pete Maravich are names that certainly come to mind when the discussion turns to the top shooting guards of all time.

Miller is no doubt an all-time great and everything you’d ever want in a Hall of Famer.

But top 3 behind MJ and Kobe …

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“Linsanity” … Five And Counting!

February 12, 2012  ·  12:13PM





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – If Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin wanted to disappear right now, hop on the next flight to anywhere and never be heard from again, his sports legacy would still cast a mammoth shadow.

Seriously, it can’t get much better than this.

Lin is off to the best scoring start (109 points) to a career of any player since the 1976 NBA/ABA merger, Allen Iverson has the old mark of 101.

He’s fueled five straight wins for the Knicks, the last four as a member of the starting lineup. He’s put together five straight performances that not only woke up a fan base, but five straight hair-raising showcases that rattled the basketball world to its foundation, if only because it proved that in this day and age of advanced statistics, where scouts have scorched the earth looking for the next big thing (we like to call it the “no star left behind” era), Lin has turned out to be a genuine find.

The fact that he was hours away from being released by the Knicks (seriously, the coaching staff actually discussed it, per a source) before fate intervened and pushed him into the starting lineup, makes the story more Hollywood than Broadway.

“This whole thing almost never happened,” the insider said via text late Saturday night. “He’s probably saved a few jobs and the Knicks’ season.”

How long this magic ride lasts is anyone’s guess.

(more…)

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Still No Love For Kobe In Philly

February 6, 2012  ·  4:49PM





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Kobe Bryant is just 24 points shy of passing Shaquille O’Neal for fifth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

Fifth all-time!

That he could reach that milestone a short train ride away from where he cut his teeth as a high school basketball star would seem like the ideal way for things to play out tonight when Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers face the Philadelphia 76ers, except for that little issue the city of Philadelphia has with one of its greatest exports.

Bryant is loathed by sports fans in the city. So if he does pass O’Neal tonight, don’t expect a fireworks show or a standing ovation for the pride of Lower Merion High. Because, as Philadelphia Daily News columnist John Smallwood, no one wears the black hat in Philadelphia better than Bryant:

He is unquestionably one of the most despised athletes in Philadelphia history.

Just last week, Bryant was ranked at No. 2 in the Comcast SportsNet series of the Top 20 All-Time Philadelphia Villains. Only the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s, with Jerry Jones, Jimmy Johnson, Michael Irvin and Troy Aikman, topped him.

Listen to sports talk radio today and don’t be surprised if venom spewed about Bryant generates more air time than the results of Super Bowl XVLI.

That’s just the way it’s been between Philadelphia and Bryant.

If you’ve ever wondered where that chip on Bryant’s shoulder comes from, just take a look at the peculiar relationship he has with his hometown and it might make sense to you.

Bryant left for Italy, where his father was a pro star, when he was just 6. He returned for high school, though, and that’s easily the most crucial time for a budding star to bond with the hometown fans. But he had more doubters as a 17-year-old declaring for the draft than he had supporters.

(If only they knew the things he would do in his career …)

The relationship never healed. Bryant helped the Lakers to that 2001 NBA title over the Allen Iverson-led Sixers, a title clinched on hometown soil, and then there was that nasty incident at the 2002 All-Star Game when he was booed after winning MVP honors.

If the Sixers keep him from getting loose tonight this whole story moves on the next stop and the dynamics change completely. But he’s had just four games all season where he didn’t score at least 24 points and he’s averaging 29.4 points per game … like we said, it’s going to be interesting to see what sort of reaction the folks at the Wells Fargo Center have tonight if Bryant has just an average night before the hometown fans.

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