- Dwyane Wade is listed as day-to-day after aggravating a foot injury on Wednesday night, from Tim Reynolds of the AP:
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports has the details on Wade’s injury: “Wade sprained his left foot when he landed on teammate Chris Bosh’s foot in Houston on Monday. Wade returned after the injury, but was clearly limited. Wade had X-rays on the foot, and after testing it in a workout prior to the Clippers game, he opted to play. He missed all but two of his 10 shots and had nearly as many turnovers (five) as assists (six). “Is he 100 percent?” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “No. But he will never tell you that. Hopefully, he will be able to get healthier.” Wade said his foot was still sore after the Clippers game, but didn’t think it was serious.”
- Kyle Lowry could miss one to two weeks of action, according to Matt Devlin:
@Klow7 has a bruised cuboid bone in his right foot. Will be treated symptomatically with an estimated return time of 1-2 weeks. #Raptors
@MattDevlinRaps
Matt Devlin
- From the Raptors PR, Landry Fields is out indefinitely after undergoing elbow surgery:
@Klow7 has a bruised cuboid bone in his right foot. Will be treated symptomatically with an estimated return time of 1-2 weeks. #Raptors
@MattDevlinRaps
Matt Devlin
See why Sixth Man of the Year candidate J.R. Smith was out of focus when he joined the Knicks last season, from Mitch Lawrence of New York Daily News: “J.R. Smith would rather be the NBA’s top sixth man than continue trying to be the Knicks’ unofficial man about town. “I’m not going to lie, the New York City nightlife last year pretty much got to me,” Smith said Thursday before the Knicks tried to remain the NBA’s lone unbeaten team while facing the powerhouse Spurs at the AT&T Center. “I was going out pretty much every other night and not focused on the task at hand. This year, it’s different. I go out, here and there. But I’ve got to pick and choose my spots, definitely not before games. I got to be smart about it.”
Magic Johnson got very personal while discussing the Lakers latest move to hire Mike D’Antoni, from Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles: “I love Dr. (Jerry) Buss. I don’t believe in Jim Buss,” Johnson said on ESPN’s “NBA Countdown” on Wednesday night. “He’s made two critical mistakes already. To me, they made two critical mistakes. “First, hiring Mike Brown — he wasn’t the right coach. He’s a great coach but not the right coach for the Lakers. And I don’t feel Mike D’Antoni is the right coach for the Lakers. Especially when you have Phil Jackson sitting out there, who wanted to be the Laker coach. Jim Buss decided he didn’t want Phil Jackson, he wanted Mike D’Antoni. And that’s OK, but why didn’t you just say that? But the fans were cheering for Phil Jackson two nights in a row.”
Kobe Bryant, while respecting Johnson’s thoughts, did not necessarily agree that Jim Buss isn’t trustworthy, from Shelburne: “Bryant understand that “everybody has an opinion.”… “His opinion is valued greater than most others because of what he’s done here with this franchise,” he said after Lakers practice Thursday, D’Antoni’s first day with the team. “I can only speak from my perspective and my dealings with Jim and he’s been phenomenal. He’s seemingly made all the right choices. If he had gone back in time, I’m sure he would have called me and consulted me on the Mike Brown hiring, but that is what it is. Other than that, he’s been behind some pretty good moves, some pretty good trades for this organization.”
Meanwhile, Mitch Kupchak explained why the decision to go with D’Antoni was unanimous, from Shelburne: “Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said Monday that hiring D’Antoni was a unanimous decision amongst himself, Jerry Buss and Jim Buss. The Lakers simply felt D’Antoni was a better fit for their current roster than Jackson, who would need time to install his Triangle offense with a group of players who has so far struggled to grasp the similarly complicated Princeton offense. “Without going into great detail, some of our guys, I don’t think would be very successful in the Triangle,” Kupchak said Tuesday. “Some of our newer players might take a long time to learn the Triangle.”