Posts Tagged ‘Chris Singleton’

Wizards Undecided On Blatche Amnesty

July 11, 2012  ·  4:06PM



The first day that NBA teams are officially allowed to sign free agents and make trades is also the first day of the six-day window where teams are allowed to use the amnesty provision to cut players and remove them from their salary cap. The Washington Wizards are still undecided about whether to use the amnesty provision on one of the top league-wide candidates, forward Andray Blatche, according to sources.

Washington is exploring several options for Blatche, who has fallen out of favor both with fans in D.C. and with the organization after signing a contract extension in 2010 that reworked his existing contract into a five-year deal worth $35 million. The Wizards could opt for amnesty, which would remove the remaining $23 million the team owes Blatche from its salary cap, freeing up resources that the team will need in the next few years to extend players like John Wall and this year’s first-round pick, Bradley Beal.

The Wizards could trade Blatche immediately. Or, they could continue to explore trade options while removing Blatche from the daily workings of the team–in essence, paying him his salary to stay away. The Pacers used a similar strategy in 2008, forcing guard Jamaal Tinsley to sit out the whole season while not playing after he clashed with then-coach Rick Carlisle and the organization.

But asking owner Ted Leonsis to write that $23 million check is a big ask, sources allow, even though Blatche is not in the team’s future plans. The Wizards have remade their power forward group in the last year and a half, drafting Jan Vesely with the sixth pick in the 2011 Draft and acquiring Emeka Okafor from New Orleans last month (along with small forward Trevor Ariza) for Rashard Lewis. Second-year forward Trevor Booker also played extremely effectively in spots the last couple of years. Washington has Ariza and Chris Singleton penciled in to take the lion’s share of minutes at small forward. (more…)

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Posted in Free Agency 2012 / Comments (15) /

Heat To Sign Lewis To 2-Year Deal

July 10, 2012  ·  5:49PM



The Miami Heat continued to add veteran free agents at low prices Tuesday, agreeing to terms with forward Rashard Lewis on a two-year deal worth around $3.3 million, according to a source.

Lewis had visited the Heat on Sunday and spoken with both the Hawks and Knicks in the following couple of days. But ultimately, he liked the fit of the Heat. And given that he is already going to make $13.7 million this season after being bought out by the New Orleans Hornets, who acquired him last month from Washington for Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza, money was not a major issue. The buyout completed the massive $118 million deal Lewis signed with the Orlando Magic in 2005.

The Heat are clearly looking to surround LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with as many proven shooters as possible. Miami reached agreement last week with free agent guard Ray Allen, the NBA’s all-time leader in 3-pointers, to a three-year, $9.5 million deal. The 32-year-old Lewis is currently eighth on that 3-point list with 1,690, and is a career 38.8 percent shooter from behind the arc.

Lewis has been injury plagued the last couple of years. Since coming to Washington in December, 2010, in a trade for Gilbert Arenas, Lewis missed 60 games with knee problems, and lost his starting job at forward with the Wizards to rookie Chris Singleton. But even the threat of someone as potent as Lewis has been over his career as a perimeter scorer will force opposing defenses into a quandary next season — even more so if Allen is on the other side — as they figure out how to keep Miami’s Big Three from going wild if facing single coverage.


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Posted in Free Agency 2012 / Comments (90) /

Rookies Say The Darndest Things

June 26, 2011  ·  10:38AM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – We’ve got dreamers, late-bloomers, trail blazers and twins, oh and at least two guys — Kyrie Irving and to a lesser extent Derrick Williams – who are supposed to be franchise saviors.

The NBA Draft is the gift that just keeps on giving, year after year and player after player. The 2011 edition was no different, with tons of colorful sorts from lands near and far joining the party.

The rookies, whether they realize it or not, will probably never be more entertaining than they are right now and in the next few months, when all of this is still new to them, before they are no longer blinded by the lights, cameras and non-stop action that is the daily grind of NBA life.

Of course, we are not talking about Wizards rookie Jan Vesely, who seemed more than a little bit comfortable with the bright lights shining on him and his girlfriend, Eva Kodouskova, on draft night.

But even without the cameras around, the new guys can’t help but make you smile. Because rookies say the darndest things sometimes. After spending a few days with them leading up to the big night, we gathered a couple of examples to share with you:

“Well, I truly believe that Duke is a professional program.  The way we prepare, practice, we practice like professionals and that’s what he taught me and that’s what I’m going to carry to the next level is how to prepare like a professional:  Countless hours of film, breaking things down in practice, preparing for the next team, thoroughly.  There’s not one team that I thought we were unprepared for, even when I was hurt.

“So being a part of the Duke program and shadowing the coaches when I was hurt, I really learned a lot how to prepare like a professional.  When I was playing it was a little different, because things were happening really fast.  But when I was hurt, things ‑‑ it slowed down for me.  So I really got a chance to learn from them, learn from the coaches especially.”

– Irving on why Duke is such a great training ground for future professionals

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Posted in 2011 NBA Draft / Comments (22) /

Draft Day: The Moving Parts Festival

June 23, 2011  ·  10:15AM

NEW YORK — Monta Ellis deserves credit for being the man to get this all started a few weeks ago. And sooner or later someone’s going to give the wacky days of trade chatter and pure speculation leading up to the NBA Draft a name.

Trade-rumors-a-palooza?

The Great Speculations?

Basketball’s International Moving Parts Festival?

We’ll keep working on that. In the meantime, it’s time to dive in and sort through the all the mess just hours away from the 2011 Draft and see if we can’t make a little sense of all these rumors:

Ellis Might Not Get Moved

For all the drama surrounding Ellis in recent weeks, he might not go anywhere. Both Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News and Ken Berger of CBSSports.com have confirmed the same things regarding Ellis:

According to an NBA source, new Warriors coach Mark Jackson has made at least two phone calls to Monta Ellis to tell Ellis how much he would love to coach him.

Here’s a full report and breakdown of the latest Ellis info by CBSsports.com’s Ken Berger, who has been all over this situation and everything I’ve heard is totally consistent with this.

It’s an open secret around the league that Ellis and his representatives are starting to believe that this might be the right time to move him to a title contender.

Ellis is in his prime, has put in many years with the Warriors, and two sources indicate that there has been some frank general discussion between GSW management and Ellis’ camp about his future, the team’s future, and whether the two should remain entwined.

Big point: Ellis loves playing at Oracle Arena. He apparently also appreciates what Jackson has been telling him.

But he’s wondering the same thing many execs around the league are wondering: How else could the Warriors get a necessary bigger player if they don’t trade Ellis?

Iguodala Stays Put As Well

Andre Iguodala‘s name has been linked to as much trade bluster as anyone in recent weeks, including Ellis. And yet there seems to be nothing solid in place heading into tonight’s festivities, as Kate Fagan of the Philadelphia Inquirer explains:

In recent weeks, the Sixers have discussed trades involving swingman Andre Iguodala with both the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers, along with various other teams, but have yet to find a deal they deem worthy of execution.

Two factors seem to be slowing the Sixers’ willingness to deal Iguodala: the impending change in ownership and the impending lockout.

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Chris Singleton is Getting Offensive

June 8, 2011  ·  3:11PM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Once, his rep was strictly as a versatile defensive standout, a small forward strong enough to muscle around with some power forwards at 6-feet-9 and 230 pounds and fleet enough to check some shooting guards, and that was enough to put Chris Singleton of Florida State in the mix to be drafted late in the lottery. It just made him seem one-dimensional.

But now that Singleton has been touring with a series of team workouts typical for most prospects, the perception is changing. He is showing an offensive game that didn’t much light in college. He has been better on that side of the ball than even some, or many, executives and scouts realized, an admission that comes from front offices themselves.

Singleton has shot well enough in some auditions that the success has jumped out. He has shown some low-post moves. In short, he has helped his stock heading toward the June 23 draft when it was in good shape to begin with.

There are two possible explanations: Dedicated players with good agents and trainers who understand the perception game will prepare for the workout process by focusing specifically on the areas that need improving, wanting to address perceived concerns as they travel from city to city. And, the 3-on-3 format typical of the team auditions is much more conducive to breaking out than the 5-on-5 setting. Two fewer players on offense means more opportunity to shine.

Or there is the other possibility. That Singleton was always better than the 13.1 points per game and 43.4 percent from the field of his junior season in 2010-11 and that was overshadowed by the defense.

“Some people don’t think I can score the ball, just because of me not taking enough shots,” Singleton said a few weeks ago in the early stages of individual workouts. “But I feel like I can score the ball. I’ve just got to go out there and show them I can score the ball.”

He is doing just that.

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Posted in 2011 NBA Draft / Comments (2) /