As rumored, D.J. Augustin will sign with the Chicago Bulls, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports: “The Chicago Bulls will sign point guard D.J. Augustin after he cleared waivers on Wednesday, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Augustin was waived by the Toronto Raptors on Monday. The Bulls lost superstar point guard Derrick Rose for the season, and have been searching for further depth at the position with backup guard Mike James working his way back from a sprained knee. Shooting guard Jimmy Butler has been recovering from a foot injury and could return in the near future. The Bulls (8-10) are clinging to the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and have lost seven of 10 games. Augustin, 26, played sparingly for the Raptors after a season with the Indiana Pacers. In 10 games in Toronto, he averaged two points and eight minutes.”
After the game against the Phoenix Suns, Kobe Bryant admit that he wasn’t sure if he had enough athleticism to go above the rim during the game, from Mark Medina of Daily News: “He opened the game showing he somehow found the fountain of youth again, throwing down a a baseline dunk after dribbling past P.J. Tucker. Bryant also showed off his athleticism by going up for a layup after Pau Gasol connected him on a no-look pass. “Going to the basket is something I didn’t know I’d make it above the rim or not,” Bryant said. “But I figured I’d just try.”… “I felt a lot lighter,” Bryant said. “It’s crazy. I dropped some weight already. I can tell the difference in how I move. I still have some more pounds to go, but I felt a lot better.”… “I feel like it weighs too much on my legs physically. It doesn’t make sense for me to be on top of the floor a lot,” Bryant said. “We have guys on the team who are more than capable of handling those responsibilities.”
Marc Stein of ESPN explains why we shouldn’t rule out the possibility of the Knicks chasing after Tom Thibodeau as the next head coach of the team: “If you’re into looking for potential coaches for the New York Knicks, you’re advised to spend some time scouting the visitors bench Wednesday night. Because … While there’s no such thing as a safe bet in the unpredictable world of James Dolan, suggesting he’ll try someday to import Tom Thibodeau from Chicago to coach the Knicks is, at the very least, in the right zip code. In the long term, though, I can’t imagine Dolan resisting the urge to try to make another coaching splash no matter where this team ends up once Tyson Chandler returns. Coaching sources say Woodson is already more fearful about his job security in private than he ever lets on publicly … and rightfully so. Surely Woody understands that, unfair as some of us find all the blame he’s getting given the injuries and holes all over the roster, banking on a future at MSG is the antithesis of a safe bet. My sense from the latest coaching scuttle is that Woodson, even if he survives the crisis at hand, is only going to last until Dolan can find a bigger, splashier name to take over. The belief here is that the Knicks’ impresario, given his lack of draft and trade assets to make impactful changes to the talent, ultimately wants a superstar coach as much as he wants to re-sign Melo come July. Which is where Thibodeau comes in. “
Doc Rivers was emotional about facing the Boston Celtics prior to the game, from Sean Deveney of Sporting News: “It’s going to be a hard night,” Rivers said. “I already told my coaches that it is just going to be hard. You don’t spend nine years in one place and win a title and have the emotions you have toward the city and the fans and be normal when the game starts. I already prepared my coaches to be good coaches tonight. It is going to be too tough for me. … I tend to like having control, and I just feel like the last day-and-a-half, I have not had great control.”… “Yeah, but there is not a lot I could have done about it, honestly,” he said. “I did wish it could have ended better, yes. It wasn’t like Danny and I or the team, we were not arguing or anything. It was just dragged out. … The part I was involved in was where I couldn’t make up my mind, what I wanted to do. Retire—or, not retire, I am too young for that, but take a break. But then, after that went through, the process between the two teams, it felt like it took two months. It might have. That’s how it felt. The strange part for me during the whole thing is I just had to sit there and watch. That part I hated. It made everyone look bad.”
Mike Malone isn’t concerned with analytics and believes Rudy Gay will buy into his system, from Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee: “Cousins is sixth in the NBA at 26.27 in PER. Thomas is 10th at 24.14. Gay is 116th at 15.98. That doesn’t worry the Kings at all. “A lot of these things I don’t know what they mean,” said Kings coach Michael Malone. “I know Rudy Gay is a talented player. I know when he was in Memphis and they were a competitive team and he was a big part of their success.”… The Kings also believe they will have a system that puts Gay in his best positions to be successful. “We don’t want it the ball to be just dribble, dribble, dribble, no ball movement, easy to guard and shoot,” Malone said. “Rudy’s going to buy in. He’s a high character kid. We’re happy to have him and he’ll buy in.”… Yes, the Kings know the numbers. They just don’t care about them. In some cases, numbers don’t tell the whole story and they believe Gay’s talent will trump all analytics.”
Rajon Rondo denied the notion that Carmelo Anthony is trying to recruit him to the Knicks, from Baxter Holmes of Boston Globe: “Rumors surround Rajon Rondo like no other. A fresh batch is born every season, few with merit. One of the latest eyebrow-raising reports tied the Celtics All-Star point guard to New York Knicks star forward Carmelo Anthony. Steve Smith, who coached both Anthony and Rondo at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, told USA Today last week that Anthony was “recruiting” Rondo to come play for the Knicks. “C’mon man. In my book, that’s tampering,” Anthony told reporters when asked about it. Rondo also dismissed Smith’s comments. “People talk, media talk, people make up rumors, people run with them,” Rondo said after the Celtics’ shootaround Tuesday before they played the Brooklyn Nets. “I haven’t spoken to him. He ain’t contacted me. It’s just rumors.”
James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. You can find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.
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