NBA Rumors Round-Up
NBA Rumors: Chandler Wants to Contend
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
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If Knicks president Phil Jackson is more concerned with 2015 free agency than the 2014-15 season, center Tyson Chandler acknowledged this may not be the right place for him. “I definitely don’t want to waste another season,’’ Chandler said before the Knicks faced the Nets Tuesday at Barclays Center. “I don’t want to waste this season. I’m not into wasting seasons. Your time is too short in this league and I want to win a championship, another one. I’m not into wasting seasons.’’
Not only is Chandler a former champion, he’s also going to be 32 years old before the start of next season. So, it’s understandable that he doesn’t want to spend another season playing for a lottery-bound team. This year has been tough on everyone in New York; his desire to play competitive basketball again is shared by everyone in the organization and throughout their fan base in particular.
As one of the premier defensive centers in the league, Chandler could certainly help the Knicks in their quest to get back to the playoffs next year. His $14.5 million contract is expiring, though, and Jackson could cash in on that trade asset, especially if he doesn’t view him as a piece of the long-term picture.
New #Rockets center Josh Powell passed his physical, signed his contract and is joining the team in New Orleans.
The last time we saw Powell in the NBA was back in 2011 with the Atlanta Hawks. Since then he’s spent two of the last three seasons in China, with a season in Greece in between his two CBA stints. This past season Powell played for the Guandong Tigers, putting up 14.4 points, 9.6 rebounds a game. He’s going to be fighting an uphill battle to get into the Rockets’ rotation this late in the season, but Powell does bring championship experience and the ability to stretch the floor with his jump shot. If he does get out on the floor, look for him to fit in nicely alongside Dwight Howard in the frontcourt.
To whoever falsely said that I will enter the draft, I am still weighing my options and have not come to an official decision yet.
We’ve seen this on a couple of different occasions this offseason where prospects are coming out and denying that they are leaving. So far we haven’t seen any instances where the original report ends up being incorrect.
What happens after reports like that surface in today’s day and age is that player’s twitter accounts start getting flooded, everyone close to him blows up his cell phone and it creates a lot of attention that they were hoping to have a little bit more control over when it occurred. It also takes away from the moment when they actually announce their decision.
Bleacher Report’s Jason King is the one who reported that Austin will be leaving. He’s one of the best college basketball reporters in the business and is very well connected. He almost certainly got the information from quality sources, so don’t be surprised if before the deadline Austin does indeed declare.
Make sure to read: Who’s in and who’s out of the 2014 NBA Draft
