Charlotte Bobcats 30-Team Control Association

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League Update - Febuary 16, 2012

2012 NBA All-Star Game Rosters
Eastern Conference		Western Conference
Head Coach: Erik Spoelstra		Head Coach: Scott Brooks
Pos	Starters	Pos	Starters
G	Dwayne Wade	G	Kobe Bryant
G	Derrick Rose	G	Chris Paul
F	LeBron James	F	Kevin Durant
F	Carmelo Anthony	F	Pau Gasol
C	Dwight Howard	C	Tim Duncan
Pos	Reserves	Pos	Reserves
G	Rajon Rondo	G	Russell Westbrook
G	Joe Johnson	G	Monta Ellis*
F	Andre Iguodala*	F	Rudy Gay*
F	Amare Stoudemire	F	LaMarcus Aldridge*
C	Greg Monroe*	C	Al Jefferson*
F	Andrea Bargnani*	F	Kevin Love
G	Deron Williams	F	Blake Griffin

* - First time All-Star

[volstopfan14]

League Update - Febuary 16, 2012

2012 NBA Rookie-Sophomore Game Rosters
Rookies		SOPHOMORES
Head Coach: Tom Thibodeau		Head Coach: Rick Carlisle
Pos	Starters	Pos	Starters
G	Kemba Walker	G	John Wall
G	Ricky Rubio	G	Paul George
F	Derrick Williams	F	Blake Griffin
F	Markieff Morris	F	Jonas Jerkebo
C	Enes Kanter	C	Greg Monroe
Pos	Reserves	Pos	Reserves
G	Kyrie Irving	G	Greivis Vasquez
G	Marshon Brooks	G	Jordan Crawford
F	Kawhi Leonard	F	Damion James
F	Tristan Thompson	F	Tiago Splitter
C	Josh Harrellson	C	DeMarcus Cousins

[volstopfan14]

NBA League Update - Febuary 16, 2012
Around the League
All-Star Starters Named

NEW YORK - Today the NBA All-Star teams were announced and there were some surprises. In the East the starters were as projected with Derrick Rose, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwight Howard. The question marks came at the reserve positions. The Pistons Greg Monroe picked up his first All-Star bid despite the fact that centers Al Horford and Roy Hibbert have better stats than he has. At F, you have to notice the ommision of Chris Bosh but it's hard to argue that Andre Iguodala, Andrea Bargnani, or Amare Stoudemire were undeserving. To this point in the season, it is clear that Joe Johnson is the second best SG in the East and he deserved in. Rajon Rondo and Derron Williams have both had solid seasons and deserved the All-Star bid. Danny Granger, Josh Smith, and Brandon Jennings have had solid seasons, but it's hard to say they should get in over anyone on the team.

In the West, things were even more wild. Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant are cleary deserving of their All-Star starting spots but the other 3 starting spots were questionable. Pau Gasol was voted as the starter at PF despite having lower stats than Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Blake Griffin, all reserves. Tim Duncan was named the starting center although Andrew Bynum, who was left off the team, and Al Jefferson, a reserve, have better numbers than him. The starting point guard could have gone to either Chris Paul or Russell Westbrook, but ultimately Paul won the spot. Monta Ellis and Rudy Gay won the final spots over players including Eric Gordon, Kevin Martin, Caron Butler, and, perhaps the biggest snub, reigning Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki.

The game will be played on Febuary 26.

Biggest Snubs: Dirk Nowitzki, Andrew Bynum, Al Horford, Chris Bosh, Eric Gordon, Zach Randolph, Roy Hibbert
Biggest Question Marks: Tim Duncan, Greg Monroe, Pau Gasol

[volstopfan14]

League Report - Febuary 19, 2012

NBA Power Rankings
RK (LW)	Team	Record
1 (1)	Miami Heat	39-13
2 (3)	Oklahoma City Thunder	41-14
3 (2)	Chicago Bulls	38-14
4 (4)	Dallas Mavericks	35-17
5 (5)	Los Angeles Clippers	35-19
6 (5)	Orlando Magic	35-19
7 (7)	San Antonio Spurs	34-21
8 (6)	Los Angeles Lakers	34-20
9 (10)	Philadelphia 76ers	33-21
10 (14)	Boston Celtics	30-23

NBA Players of the Week - Feb 12-18
East			West
	Dwayne Wade, SG, MIA			Kobe Bryant, SG, LAL

[volstopfan14]

League Report - Febuary 19, 2012
Around the League
KNICKS

Free agent swingman J.R. Smith has agreed to sign a contract with the New York Knicks. Smith will be paid $1.8M this season with a $2.5M player option. New York is expected to use Smith as a scorer off the bench behind SG Landry Fields and SF Carmelo Anthony. The former Nugget signed an overseas contract during the NBA lockout but the China basketball regular season is over and Smith is free to return immediately. The Clippers were a finalist for Smith but only could offer a league minimum contract. Smith will debut as a Knick on Wednesday in Charlotte. F Renaldo Balkman was waived to make room for Smith.

SUNS

Phoenix suffered a blow this week when two players suffered serious injuries. C Robin Lopez will miss the next 4 weeks with a foot injury while PG Sebastian Telfair will not return this year with a shoulder injury. This is the second injury that Lopez has suffered this year and you have to worry about his durability. Phoenix has signed former Maverick and Heat C Erick Dampier to a veteran’s minimum contract to provide depth inside. Channing Frye and rookie Markieff Morris will split time at the backup center spot while Hakim Warrick will take over as the backup power forward. To replace Telfair, the Suns will move Ronnie Price to the bench as a backup point guard and Jared Dudley will resume his spot as the starting SG. The Suns will likely do what they can to sign restricted free agent PG Aaron Brooks to a contract when he returns from China.

Below is the league injury report.

NBA Injury Report
Pos	Player	Injury Note
PF	Darrell Arthur	Grizzlies (out for the season)
C	Greg Oden	Trailblazers (out for the season)
SG	Jamal Crawford	Trailblazers (out until April 21)
PG	Sebastian Telfair	Suns (out for the season)
C	Robin Lopez	Suns (out until March 17)
PG	Baron Davis	Knicks (out until Febuary 26)
SF	Mike Dunleavy Jr.	Bucks (out until March 1)
PG	Ty Lawson	Nuggets (out until Febuary 23)
PF	Chris Wilcox	Celtics (out for the season)

NBA Rumor Mill

NBA Rumor Mill - Updated: Feb 19, 2012
B. Lopez Ready?		NJ	New Jersey or Bust?		ORL
	RUMOR - According to several reports, the Nets Brook Lopez is ready to return from the foot injury that has cost him his season to this point. Lopez is considered one of the Nets' best players but has not played at all this year. Lopez is expected to debut this Wednesday against Indiana. Without any inside scoring presence, the Nets have been one of the worst teams in the NBA this year. The fact that Lopez is back is a great sign for New Jersey, who desperately needs help inside.			RUMOR - According to sources close to the situation, Magic C Dwight Howard has informed ownership that New Jersey is his preffered trade destination. Howard is likely to either be traded at the deadline or leave as a free agent in the summer. Orlando must decide in the next week if they will keep him and take their chances on re-signing him or trade him. New Jersey has reportedly offered a deal centered around Brook Lopez, Marshon Brooks, and draft picks. However, Orlando is still considering other options, including trades to the Lakers or Bulls.
Pacers Shopping Granger?		IND	Chandler to RETURN?		DEN
	RUMOR - The Indina Pacers have reportedly let it be known around the league that Danny Granger is available if they can get a starting calibar SG. They would like to move the younger Paul George to SF and acquire a new SG. Their top target appears to be the Hornets Eric Gordon, an Indiana native. If New Orleans does not believe that Gordon will sign an extension this summer then they could be willing to trade him. If they can not get Gordon, then the Pacers would likely consider Kevin Martin or Monta Ellis.			RUMOR - Restricted free agent Wilson Chandler is almost ready to return from China. Chandler's rights are owned by the Denver Nuggets. However, according to sources, Chandler has no intention of siging a long term deal there. However, Denver would like Chandler to return and would likely match any offer from another team. Chandler hopes to sign the qualifying offer that they gave him before the lockout and then test his value as an unrestricted free agent in the summer. Chandler is a versitile player who can play SG, SF, or PF and could be instrumental as a reserve for Denver if he chooses the sign the qualifying offer.

The NBA Trade Deadline is Thursday, Febuary 23.

[volstopfan14]

Bobcats Report - Febuary 22, 2012

Last Friday the Bobcats travelled north of the border to take on the Toronto Raptors. All-star PF Andrea Bargnani continued his great season scoring 32 leading the Raptors to a 105-99 win. Toronto's SG combination of Demar DeRozan and Leandro Barbosa also played well combining for 35 points. Charlotte was led by Byron Mullens with 18 points, while Reggie Williams, Kemba Walker, D.J. Augustin, and Gerald Henderson were also in double figures.

On Tuesday Charlotte went down south to play the Heat. Chris Bosh exploded for 38 points, while LeBron and Wade both scored over 20 as Miami won 121-95. Kemba Walker led the Bobcats with 19 points and also had a team high 6 rebounds and 2 steals.

Wednesday the Bobcats came back home to play the Knicks in the last game before the All-Star break. Reggie Williams scored 21, including 4-5 on 3 pointers, but Charlotte came up just short losing 115-112. Carmelo Anthony scored 32 while Amare Stoudemire was right behind him with 28. J.R. Smith scored 10 in his first game with the Knicks.

The trading deadline is tommorow and then All-Star weekend begins, starting with the Rookie Challenge on Friday and ending with the All-Star game on Sunday. The Bobcats next game with be next Tuesday in Oklahoma City.

[volstopfan14]

League Update - Febuary 22, 2012
BREAKING NEWS
CLIPPERS TRADE FOR JACKSON

LOS ANGELES - In the first trade of the week, the Los Angeles Clippers have acquired SG Stephen Jackson from Milwaukee in exchange for SG Randy Foye and SF Ryan Gomes. Jackson, who was in his first season with the Bucks, had become extremely unhappy with the organization and demanded a trade. He did not get along at all with head coach Scott Skiles and wanted out. Because the Bucks were just trying to get him out, it would appear the Clippers got a great deal based on talent alone. The question is, will Jackson be a distraction for LA? If not, he could prove to be a vital part of a team trying to make a run at a tite. Jackson will surely see time of the bench at the 2 and the 3. The Bucks got out of Jackson's contract and got a soild role player in Foye. Milwaukee sent SF Darrington Hobson to the D-League to make room on the roster.

This is just the first trade in what will likely be an exciting 2 days in the NBA. Be on the lookout for more news over the next 24 hours.

NBA Transactions - Febuary 22, 2012
Milwaukee Bucks Receive			Los Angeles Clippers Receive
	Randy Foye	SG		Stephen Jackson	SG
	Ryan Gomes	SF

[volstopfan14]

League Update - Febuary 23, 2012
BREAKING NEWS: HOWARD TRADED TO NETS

NEWARK – In a blockbuster trades, the New Jersey Nets have acquired Dwight Howard. Howard, the superstar center formerly with the Magic, had been upset with the direction of the Orlando franchise and requested a trade. The Nets sent out center Brook Lopez, rookie guard MarShon Brooks, power forward Kris Humphries, small forward Damion James, center Memhet Okur, point guard Jordan Farmar, and 3 first round draft picks. Along with Howard, the Nets received power forward Ryan Anderson and small forward Hedo Turkoglu. New Jersey made a huge trade a year ago to acquire star point guard Deron Williams and had targeted Howard to join him ever since. New Jersey has a great core of Williams and Howard, but has very little depth and minimum cap room. Assuming that Williams and Howard sign max extensions, the Nets will not have any cap room in free agency until the summer of 2014. However, they will have the mid-level exception to get help in the offseason.

The Magic, on the other hand, are going into rebuilding mode. They have some talented young players including Brooks and Lopez to build around in addition to some solid role players including James, Humphries, Glen Davis, and J.J. Redick. They also have $18M worth of expiring contracts in Humphries and Okur so they can be active in free agency this summer. They will also receive a projected lottery pick plus a potential pick in the late teens. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season goes for each of these teams. Despite acquiring Howard, the Nets are probably out of the playoffs as they are would have to win every game on their schedule to just get to a 50% winning percentage. Orlando has the 3 seed right now and is probably safe despite the major drop off in talent.

NBA Transactions - Feb 23, 2012
Magic Receive			Magic Receive
	Brook Lopez	C		MarShon Brooks	SG
	Damion James	SF		2012 1st Round Pick
	Kris Humphries	PF		2014 1st Round Pick
	Memhet Okur	C		2012 1st Round Pick (HOU)
	Jordan Farmar	PG
Nets Receive
	Dwight Howard	C
	Ryan Anderson	PF
	Hedo Turkoglu	SF