The Minnesota Timberwolves have decided Friday to waive guard Brandon Roy, which may effectively end his career. Zach Harper of CBSSports has the scoop: “Another one of the low-risk, high-reward decisions that Kahn made was signing Brandon Roy to a two-year, $10.4 million deal last summer. After being amnestied from his six-year, $85 million deal with the Portland Trail Blazers and looking like his career was done, the three-time All-Star staged a comeback with the Wolves in the hopes of finding a way to capture the lightning that used to be his play on the court. After playing just five games of the 2012-13 season, the Wolves have waived the 28-year-old Roy to free up a roster spot and some salary.”
From the team:
The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced that the team has waived guard Brandon Roy.
“We wish Brandon and his family all the best in the future,” said Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders.
While the Philadelphia 76ers are still in search of a new head coach to replace Doug Collins, they have found their new GM, Sam Hinkie. More from Yahoo! Sports: “Hinkie will replace Tony DiLeo with the 76ers and assume full control of basketball operations. Hinkie, who had been the Rockets’ vice president of basketball operations since 2010, met with 76ers officials a year about the job, but the team ultimately promoted DiLeo to the GM role. Philadelphia president Rod Thorn is retiring this spring and assuming a consultant’s role with the organization. Doug Collins resigned as coach at season’s end. Hinkie has had a major influence in reshaping the Rockets franchise, bringing an analytics background to the organization’s strong run of draft picks, trades and free-agent signings. Houston GM Daryl Morey finished third in the voting among his peers for Executive of the Year.”
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Chris Hansen and the Seattle ownership group trying to bring the Kings to Seattle have raised their bid for the team: “Two weeks after a committee of owners voted to recommend the Kings stay in California, the investors trying to bring the team to Seattle fired a last salvo Friday. Chris Hansen, who leads the group, announced he was increasing his offer for 65 percent of the Kings from $358 million to $406 million. The increase in the total valuation of the team would go from $550 million under his previous offer to a stunning $625 million. To put into perspective how much Hansen’s group is offering over perceived market value, theMemphis Grizzlies was sold last October for $377 million.”- More from Windhorst: “Technically, the bid is being offered to the Maloof family, which owns the majority of the Kings. But it is really a message aimed at all of the league’s owners before they officially vote on Hansen’s relocation bid at a meeting next week in Dallas.”
“While we appreciate that this is a very difficult decision for the league and owners, we hope it is understood that we really believe the time is now to bring the NBA back to Seattle,” Hansen said in a statement. “It is paramount that we do everything we can to put Seattle’s best foot forward in this process.”
Adi Joseph of USA Today is in the camp that believes the return of Amar’e Stoudemire to the Knicks’ lineup will be a problem…for the Knicks: “Anthony and Stoudemire are scorers who fit best at power forward. When they play together, Anthony must shift up to small forward or Stoudemire down to center. A study of their shot charts shows Anthony and Stoudemire both perform best on the right low post, where Anthony has shot 53.9% (146-for-271) and Stoudemire 69.5% (57-for-82), according to Vorped.com. And make no bones about it: The Knicks are better with Anthony on that block. They are 4.7 points per 48 minutes better with Anthony on the floor than without, according to 82games.com. With Stoudemire, they are negative-3.0 points per 48 minutes worse.”
The story surrounding Derrick Rose has been all about whether he will play or not, but nothing to do with how he will play. SheridanHoops’ Jeremy Bauman explains why his injury will help him become a more dangerous shooter: “But when he returns, he should return a better shooter. That’s what happens when hard-working, coachable players have to rehab from leg or knee injuries. All they can do is practice their shot, and the thousands of repetitions – when done the right way – usually pay off with better accuracy numbers. Will it take time for him to regain his wind, rhythm and mojo? Of course – that’s one of the main reasons he has been out so long – but if there’s one area where we should certainly see an improvement in over time, it’s with regards to Rose’s jimmy.”
According to ESPN Los Angeles’ Dave McMenamin, Pau Gasol had surgery to repair knee tendonosis in both of his knees and could take 12 weeks to recover: “The procedure, known as the FAST (Focused Aspiration of Scar Tissue) technique, involves a probe being inserted into the knee that “directs ultrasonic energy to eliminate scar tissue without damaging healthy tissue,” according to a team release. Gasol also will receive stem cell injections next week and is expected to make a full recovery, the Lakers said. The four-time All-Star will return to basketball activities in approximately 12 weeks.”
“My knees are being an issue,” Gasol said during the Lakers’ first-round playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs. “My patellar tendons are suffering.”
“It’s more than tendinitis, it’s tendonosis,” Gasol said. “There’s a degeneration of the tissue, and it’s something that I’ve dealt with all year. So I’ll have to do something to regenerate the tissue so I don’t have to play with this pain.”
From Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York, Knicks’ guard Pablo Prigioni — the 35-year old rookie — would like to return to the Knicks next year: “When Prigioni recently was asked about his plans for 2013-14, he said his focus was “playing in the playoffs, in important games.” At season’s end, Prigioni likely will fly back to his home in Alicante, Spain, and weigh his decision there with his family. Before the NBA, he spent 17 years playing professionally in Spain and Argentina. Last summer, Prigioni signed a one-year veteran’s minimum deal for $473,604. This offseason, the Knicks could make him a restricted free agent by giving him a qualifying offer before June 30. That offer for next season would be for $988,872 (the second-year veteran’s amount of $788,872 plus a non-Bird exception of $200,000).”
“Pablo really enjoyed himself here, and he has interest in playing again next year,” Bass said. “He’s fallen in love with New York, there’s no doubt. The Knicks are just a first-class organization, so it’s been good all the way around.”
Ben Baroff is a basketball journalist who blogs for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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