Tag: National Basketball Association

Joseph expects easier time in second NBA game

Rookie guard Cory Joseph barely had a chance to get acclimated with the Spurs before he was playing his first  NBA game.

Joseph had only a morning shootaround to prepare with his new team before playing in his first game Saturday night at Houston. His delay in practice  work came because he could not practice while awaiting a work visa.

“Pop just said go out there and play. Don’t worry about it. Just play hard,” Joseph said. ” So that’s what I tried to do.” 

And despite working with the Spurs for a couple of more days, Joseph continues to adjust to the demands of the NBA.

“It’s still pretty steep,” Joseph said Tuesday at the Spurs’ practice. “I’ve only been here for a couple days now, getting to meet my teammates. Just trying to work hard and learn.”

Joseph was drafted by the Spurs with the 29th pick in the first round in the summer draft after playing only one season at Texas.

But he showed flashes during play with the Canadian National Team during their play at the FIBA Americas Championship this summer.

And he expects an easier adjustment for Wednesday’s rematch against the Rockets at the ATT Center in the preseason finale for both teams.

“They’re bringing me along fast,” Joseph said. “I’m trying to learn as much as I can as fast as I can.”

Stern speaks out on CP3 trade

David Stern was careful to avoid the national radio sports talk shows this morning.

But Stern finally has spoken on his controversial decision that nullified the three-way trade that would have moved Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Here’s what Stern had to say, courtesy of a statement released by the NBA.

“Since the NBA purchased the New Orleans Hornets, final responsibility for significant management decisions lies with the Commissioner’s Office in consultation with team chairman Jac Sperling. All decisions are made on the basis of what is in the best interests of the Hornets. In the case of the trade proposal that was made to the Hornets for Chris Paul, we decided, free from the influence of other NBA owners, that the team was better served with Chris in a Hornets uniform than by the outcome of the terms of that trade.”

But Dallas owner Mark Cuban said he was against the trade  for “basketball reasons.”

“The message is we went through this lockout for a reason,” Cuban said Friday on ESPN Dallas 103.3. “Again, I’m not speaking for Stern. He’s not telling me his thought process. I’m just telling you my perspective, having gone through all this. There’s a reason that we went through this lockout, and one of the reasons is to give small-market teams the ability to keep their stars and the ability to compete.”

Cuban said he was against the trade because it was with the lockout.

“We just had a lockout, and one of the goals of the lockout was to say that small-market teams now have a chance to keep their players, and the rules were designed to give them that opportunity,” Cuban said. “So to all of a sudden have a league-owned team trade their best player, particularly after having gone out and sold a ton of tickets in that market, that’s not the kind of signal you want to send.

“Then, part two of that is all the rules of what you can and can’t do under the new CBA weren’t finalized until yesterday, so how do you really make a strategic decision until you know all the rules?”

10 days to circle on the NBA schedule

We’ve done without NBA action since the stunning Finals series where Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks made LeBron James and “the Heatles” look ordinary back in June.

It’s been a long time. One of the best presents for all of Spurs Nation under our collective Christmas trees will be the return of NBA action again.

Here are 10 red-letter dates to circle of key games across the league. We can all hardly wait.

  • Dec. 25 — Christmas Day and the NBA is always a special time. But this with being opening day and the delicious matchup of Miami at Dallas, it should be even more interesting. Toss in the fact that James and the Heat will be watching the Mavericks raise their championship banner and it should be a fantastic return for the league.
  • Dec. 29 — Dallas makes its first visit of the season to Oklahoma City in a rematch of the Western Finals. We’ll see how much closer Kevin Durant and Co. are to toppling the defending champions.
  • Jan. 10 — The best playoff game last season came when Oklahoma City overcame Memphis in an classically exhausting triple-overtime Game 4 victory. We’ll see if Lionel Hollins can get the Thunder in regulation this time around with Rudy Gay finally healthy.
  • Jan. 16 — Two brawls occurred last season when the Lakers and Dallas tangled. And you’ve got to know that the Lakers’ unceremonious playoff departure stuck with Kobe Bryant during thousands of practice jumpers over the summer.
  • Jan. 28 — Jimmermania returns to wild and crazy Utah when Jimmer Fredette and Sacramento visits the Jazz.
  • Feb. 5 — Most of the nation will be waiting for Super Bowl XLVI later in the day. But Memphis’ trip to Boston earlier in the day will provide a tantalizing appetizer on America’s biggest sports day.
  • Feb. 8 — The season is six weeks old before Sunshine State rivals Miami and Orlando meet in the regular season. Stan Van Gundy always has his team ready to play the Heat. But will he have Dwight Howard this time around?  
  • March 4 — Miami’s trip to the Lakers will prove why the best basketball being played on NCAA Selection Sunday clearly is in the NBA.
  • March 11 — The Lakers-Celtics rivalry has endured through three generations of players. And it’s as bitter as ever now, as will be evidenced in this game at the Staples Center.
  • April 11 — The Spurs will have played everybody else in the league before finally stirring up hostilities with the Lakers for the first time with only 16 days left in the season. It will be their first of three games in nine days with Bryant’s team in a prelude to what could be a playoff opponent for the Silver and Black.