Brooklyn Nets point guard Deron Williams practiced fully Thursday, a team spokesman confirmed.
It's the first time Williams has done so since spraining his right ankle during an offseason workout in Utah.
Williams had been limited in practice and has yet to play in a preseason game. He finally did some 5-on-5 half-court contact stuff Tuesday, then made it through the team's morning shootaround without any setbacks Wednesday.
The Nets are less than a week from their Oct. 30 regular-season opener in Cleveland. It has been Williams' goal to play in that game.
The Nets have not announced whether Williams will play in the team's preseason finale Friday night in Miami.
TheMiami Heraldreports that Miller has drawn up a complaint to be filed in court asking theHeatfor over $1.7 million in damages related to a scam he fell victim to. The head of the scam was introduced to Miller by a team employ. It's a long story. Take it away,Herald:When Mike Miller was waived last summer using the amnesty clause by Miami, it was thought there would be no bad blood. He helped them win two championships, they needed the financial relief, Miller wanted to keep playing, these things happen. But it appears that there is an emnity from Miller's side that has nothing to do with basketball.
Miller, who now plays for the Memphis Grizzlies, lost $1.7 million in a scam allegedly orchestrated by Haider Zafar, a South Beach bling king who presented himself as a member of a wealthy Pakistani family.
According to Miller's complaint that has been drawn up but not yet filed, a Heat employee introduced Miller to Zafar, and Zafar used $700,000 of the money he stole from Miller to pay for courtside Heat tickets.
Settlement talks between Miller and the Heat have stalled. Miller asked for that $700,000 back from the Heat, plus attorney's fees, but “the parties were far apart,” Miller's attorney, Andrew Fine, said.
In the potential lawsuit, Miller is seeking a lot more: the entire $1.7 million that he lost in Zafar's scam.
The paper notes that the "bling king" is in custody in Ohio on an unrelated fraud case, that teammates James Jones and Rashard Lewis were also victims of the fraud, that the Heat employee who introduced the two left the team during the playoffs, and most disturbingly, that meetings involving the two were held at the Heat's offices.
The paper notes that Miller hasn't filed the complaint yet, but he very clearly takes the situation seriously.
Carmelo Anthony said he had a "heart-to-heart" with longtime teammate J.R. Smith when news surfaced that Smith had been suspended five games for violating the NBA's anti-drug policy.
Anthony delivered a dose of tough love to Smith during the conversation.
"The time is now," Anthony said he told Smith. "You've got to want to help yourself. Everybody else wants to help you, but if you don't want to help yourself, that defeats the purpose."
Smith was suspended in early September for violating the league's anti-drug policy. He is expected to make his preseason debut Friday when the Knicks take on the Charlotte Bobcats.
Smith had been rehabbing from offseason surgery to repair his left patella tendon and a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee.
"We've been looking forward to him coming back all offseason," Anthony said before delivering school supplies to more than 100 New York City teachers and classrooms in what was dubbed a "Tools for Teachers Initiative" on behalf of his foundation and a real estate development company. "I'm pretty sure he's been looking forward to coming back. We're looking forward to it.
"We wish the suspension didn't happen but it happened and we move forward from that. He had a long offseason, thinking about what's been going on, trying to get back. Hopefully he turns over that new leaf."
Smith had a strong regular season in 2012-13. He was named the NBA's Sixth Man Award winner after averaging 18.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
But he struggled mightily in the playoffs, making just 33 percent of his field goal attempts. A turning point in Smith's postseason seemed to be his one-game suspension for elbowing Jason Terry in Game 3 of the Knicks-Boston Celtics series. He shot 43.5 percent from the field before his Game 4 suspension and 29 percent after that.
Smith re-signed with the Knicks for three years and $18 million shortly before his surgery. His success on the court is vitally important for the Knicks, who have relied on Smith to complement Anthony as the team's secondary scorer.
Earlier in the preseason, Knicks coach Mike Woodson said he'd like to see the 28-year-old Smith "grow up and do the right things."
"He's got to do the right thing by J.R., and his teammates and me as a coach in this organization and the fans that support him. That's what it's all about," he said.
Anthony has spent seven seasons with Smith between his time in Denver and New York. He said he hopes his recent message to Smith will sink in.
"It seemed like he took heed to what I was saying," Anthony said. "So we shall see."
After reading that tweet from LeBron James, and this article from Bleacher Report's Ethan Grant, I decided to ask three NFL scouts their opinion on James as an NFL prospect. The scouts have decades of experience projecting NFL players. The answers, well, surprised me.
My question was simple: How would James fare in the NFL? Not from five years ago, but now. How would he do right now?
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Scout One: "I really believe that in a matter of a few months, after some serious practice and contact, he'd be the best non-quarterback player in football. He'd play tight end, and he'd be better than [Rob Gronkowski] or any other tight end. He'd be better than Megatron. LeBron James would dominate the NFL."
I thought: Wait, what? James could come into the NFL and after a month of practices dominate the hardest sport in the world? Thought my scout friend had one too many margaritas. Then came the following from a second NFL scout.
Scout Two: "My question would be, what would happen once the hitting started? I also don't think he'd be able to block, which would be a liability to some degree—but there have been great tight ends who couldn't block. In today's game, blocking by the tight end isn't as huge a deal as it once was.
"He'd be an impossible matchup. He'd draw a pass inference penalty every play. You couldn't cover him with one guy. The Megatron comparison is a good one. Megaton is what [6'5"], and LeBron is [6'8"] and can run probably faster. He's young, still (28). He'd be in that Megatron mold, only bigger, stronger, faster. Think about a [receiver] that would be better than Megatron, better than [Gronkowski]. A lot better. That would be LeBron."
Oh. Snap.
The third scout had a different take: "He wouldn't be able to take the physical abuse. A guy that tall crossing the middle of the field would get killed. I don't think he would last a single game."
Then the scout made an interesting point.
"He would be a huge target, because every player would want to knock the piss out of LeBron James."
There is some middle ground here.
James' physical gifts would make him one of the more unique players in NFL history. Yet it is also true that James' body would be shell-shocked by the violence of professional football. He's not posting up Kevin Garnett. He'd be going up against some of the most vicious athletes in all of sports. His frame just isn't ready for that type of punishment.
But if James were ever serious and ended up spending an entire training camp with a team, he'd be formidable. He'd be beyond formidable. He'd be Jim Brown formidable. That's how good he could be.
2. A nasty day in the NFL
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This story from ESPN's Jason Wilde details the frightening moments in the immediate aftermath of Green Bay tight end Jermichael Finley's violent collision. It was a collision that left some of Finley's teammates wondering if he'd walk again.
Said teammate Andrew Quarless:
He couldn't move at the time. So I just told him, "Just stay here, just lay here, don’t move." That look he had in his eyes, that was something that stuck with me. It really hurt me just to see him like that. My brother was out there on the ground.
I was the first one there, I tried to help him up, and he just couldn't get up. That was tough to see, for me to see my brother out there on the ground and I couldn't do anything about it.
If he does, the NBA is due for some strange twists and turns over the next few years. Here's what Rose had to say in a recent installment of his 2013 NBA preview with Bill Simmons:Apparently, Kevin Durant is going to return to his old stomping grounds in Texas and join the Houston Rockets, teaming up withDwight Howard and James Harden to form one hell of a Big Three. And when that happens—which would be 2016, based on current contracts—there's more movement to come.
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love, who were once teammates at UCLA, will also return to their former homes and team up once more—this time for the Los Angeles Lakers. Maybe they'll even stay in their college dorms.
The basis for these predictions is nothing more than the desire to play with former teammates (Westbrook and Love, Durant and Harden) and the college-town connections. Seriously. That's it.
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I suppose Durant's support of the bearded shooting guardmight play into this as well. He recently told Noah Coslov ofCineSport that he believes Harden has carved out a place among the league's top 10 players.
Even if Rose does have some inside scoop on what's being discussed around the league, it's not like teams are planning for the 2016 offseason already. Instead, they're currently focused on the upcoming 2013-14 season, and some squads are already thinking about what they can do next offseason, especially since both the free-agent class and the draft are set to be quite stacked.
No one is thinking about 2016.
Well, except Rose. Apparently, he's clairvoyant.
I'm not going to say definitively that his predictions won't come true. There's a possibility that Durant does become a member of the Rockets, and there's also a chance that Westbrook and Love usher in a new era of Lakers basketball.
Sure, why not?
But let's not pretend that we have any degree of certainty here. 2016 is a long way off, and a lot changes each and every offseason.
What if the Lakers re-sign Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol to three-year contract extensions and then land Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James over the offseason? Well, there goes the cap space that would be needed to sign either Love or Westbrook, much less both of them.
It's fun for Rose to make these bizarre, off-the-wall predictions, largely because he doesn't have to be held accountable for them. He can spew whatever nonsensical projections he wants, and it's not like anyone is going to remember them down the road if they don't come to fruition. And if he's right, he gets to look like a psychic.
But hey, at least this is better than predicting Michael Jordan will play a game for the Charlotte Bobcats this year.
The 2014 White Infrared 6 release date is fast approaching, and with each week we see more and more leaked photos of early production pairs. Unlike the "Varsity Red" Retro back in 2010, the 2014 pair will have the true Infrared Colorway.The addition of a blue translucent sole will make the older retro pairs distinguished from the 2014 retros, which otherwise are identical. Are you amped to the release?
For the first session, six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Andre Johnson laced up a cleated version of the Air Jordan 12 "Playoffs." Johnson is one of five wideouts on the Jordan roster, which recently added Dez Bryant of the Dallas Cowboys.
Those of you gearing up for a new football season — would you like to see the Jordan Brand put cleated retros back on the market? Check out a few shots of Andre at Houston's OTAs and share your thoughts below.
Miss those old Air Jordan PE cleats that the likes of Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick use to lace up? You’re in luck. Jordan Brand has just announced the official induction of Dez Bryant and Earl Thomas to the JB family. The wideout and the defensive back will be lacing up cleated versions of the Air Jordan 12, as will veteran JB athlete and Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks. Take a look at the player’s PEs in their respective team colors below. Would you rock the Air Jordan 12 on the gridiron? Would you like to see these launch in turf or basketball form? Let us know in the comment section.
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