Category: NBA (Page 526 of 595)

Grizzlies’ star Pau Gasol will have surgery tomorrow on the broken fifth metatarsal in his left foot, an injury he suffered during his team’s semifinal game in the FIBA World Championship. The recovery time for this type of surgery is usually three months.

Boy, how times have changed. Back in the day, NBA owners just had to decide whether or not to let their players compete in international play for Team USA. Most owners allow their players to do so, if only to avoid seeming unpatriotic. But now, with the influx of international players into the league, owners are pressured into allowing their players play against Team USA in international competition. Talk about a quandary.

Put yourself in Mark Cuban’s shoes. You’ve got an NBA franchise that depends heavily on the health of your star player, Dirk Nowitzki. And every other summer – either at the World Championship or the Olympics – he takes off to play an unknown number of games against great competition with national pride on the line. If he suffers an injury like Gasol’s, the Mavericks are in a bad way. No longer are they fighting for home court advantage in the playoffs, now they’re just hoping to make the playoffs.

But Cuban allows Nowitzki to compete, probably because the Big German wants to play for his country. Or at least he says he does. If Nowitzki announced that he wasn’t playing in the World Championship, the Germans would be enraged, asking, “Who does he think he is?” (Of course, they would ask it in German.) So he says he wants to play, but is he just placating the German fans? Only Dirk knows for sure.

Cuban wants to keep his star happy, but he’d feel a lot better if Nowitzki stayed in Dallas for the summer. It would actually be a patriotic move if he could keep Nowitzki – one of the world’s best players – out of international competition. Of course, his worldwide reputation would take a hit. He’d be viewed as an arrogant American hoping to help Team USA win by attrition.

So it’s really a no-win situation. Cuban lets his star compete and can only pray that he doesn’t get seriously injured. Just ask Michael Heisley, the owner of the Memphis Grizzlies, if that’s a good plan.

Or more appropriately, where’s he going to play?

Bonzi Wells entered free agency optimistically, hoping to parlay a 23-point/12-rebound playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs into a fat contract this summer. Surely Wells knew that GMs around the league would look at his season averages of 13.6 ppg/7.7 rpg as more reasonable expectations for the 29 year-old. Even those appear to be a bit high. Wells is going to turn 30 this month and his career averages of 12.8 ppg and 4.7 rpg certainly aren’t awe-inspiring. Throw in some unrealistic financial expectations along with his reputation for being a malcontent, and it’s easy to see why he’s still a man without a team.

His best bet was to stay in Sacramento, but they looked elsewhere and scored with John Salmons, whom the Sixers mysteriously released. (By the way, I think it’s a smart move by the Kings to keep just one malcontent on the roster.) Next, Wells was rumored to be heading home to Indiana, but only as a backup plan if the Pacers weren’t able to land Al Harrington. In fact, it’s not unlikely that the Pacers made their supposed interest in Wells public to let the Hawks and the Harrington camp know that there was another option, effectively driving down each party’s negotiating position.

Wells will eventually sign with someone, but my guess is that he’ll be making the mid-level exception ($5.5-$6 M) instead of the reported $8-$10 M he’s been asking for. He is talented, but his age and his rep are working against him and teams would be wise to avoid a long-term contract. Still, some franchise will suffer a training camp injury and panic, and/or Wells will agree to come down in price. Either way, he’ll be playing – we just don’t know where.