Nik Stauskas gets awesome accidental nickname: Sauce Castillo

By Dan FeldmanMar 26, 2015, 3:15 PM EDT
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During last night’s Kings-76ers game, Nik Stauskas made a 3-pointer that would change his life forever.

Play-by-play man Marc Zumoff called it:

Stauskas hitting the three

The closed caption, though:

Sauce Castillo hit the three

Deadspin has video here.

With the help Andrew Unterberger, Sauce Castillo began to become a capital-T Thing.

Stauskas embraced it:

He even retweeted Omri Casspi and Jason Thompson mentioning it:

His teammates calling him Sauce Castillo boosts the nickname, but it’s hard to top the inclusion of it on his Basketball-Reference page. It’s official now.

Brooklyn Nets going gray with stylish newly redesigned court

Courtesy Brooklyn Nets
By Kurt HelinSep 23, 2019, 11:00 PM EDT
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The Brooklyn Nets already had one of the sharpest court designs in the NBA.

However, they felt it was time for an upgrade — and they went gray.

It’s bold, not traditional, I’m curious how it looks on a broadcast, but the new look kind of works. It feels very Brooklyn.

Zach Lowe of ESPN had a story on how this all came together.

But [General Manager Sean] Marks wanted change, to put his artistic imprint on the franchise he has helped reinvent, and he had a radical idea: a gray floor meant to evoke blacktop courts, the streets of Brooklyn, and the borough’s “industrial vibe,” he says. Gray has been on the fringes of the team’s Brooklyn-era palette, including on the alternate Brooklyn Dodgers-themed uniforms they wore in past seasons.

Everything Marks and the Nets’ creative team toyed with from there centered around gray. It was a risk — an unknown. The NBA says it has never had an all-gray court, though a few teams — the New Orleans Pelicans, Denver Nuggets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Milwaukee Bucks, and others — have shaded enlarged logos and landscapes into sections of their floors…

There was no pushback. The league liked the idea right away, Marks says.

With Kyrie Irving trying to lead an intriguing young core — and Kevin Durant maybe coming back before the playoffs — the Nets are going to be a team to watch this season. We’re going to see a lot of that gray floor, we’ll see how it grows on us.

Nets reportedly not likely to sign Carmelo Anthony, who still waits for his shot

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By Kurt HelinSep 23, 2019, 9:00 PM EDT
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NBA training camps open next week, and Carmelo Anthony will be… on a couch somewhere.

Actually, probably in a private gym in New York working out and staying ready for the day the phone rings. However, he will not be in an NBA gym with an NBA team.

One place he had been rumored to go was Brooklyn, where Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were reportedly pushing for him. That, however, is not happening, reports Shams Charania at The Athletic.

After losing Wilson Chandler to a 25-game suspension, Anthony and players such as Dante Cunningham, Lance Thomas and Luol Deng emerged as viable options to sign. There’s been a sense around the Nets that players are hopeful to bring in Anthony, but the trust belongs with the front office.

However, the Nets are very unlikely to sign Anthony as of now, league sources told The Athletic.

It appears more likely that the team will decide to sign players it has worked out over the past few weeks, such as Thomas and former Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Clippers forward CJ Williams, sources said. The Nets have two roster spots left.

Executives around the league think there is a place for Anthony in the NBA. As has been written here previously, people I’ve spoken to about him say something along the lines of “he absolutely could still play in the league, he’s just not a fit with us.” After how things ended in Oklahoma City, and then went last season in Houston, they question if he will accept and off-the-bench scoring role. Anthony has said he would, his people have pushed that he would, but people are not sold.

Anthony’s going to get his shot, and maybe still in Brooklyn. It will be somewhere. But like Dwight Howard with the Lakers this season, this is his last shot — play a role, play hard, get it right or nobody is taking a chance on him again.

 

Report: Andre Iguodala, Grizzlies reach agreement, he will not report to training camp

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By Kurt HelinSep 23, 2019, 6:57 PM EDT
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Andre Iguodala was traded to Memphis in a cost-saving move during the Warriors’ wild offseason. The franchise was upfront about the possibility, Iguodala is a smart man who understands the business of the league, there are no hard feelings.

However, he doesn’t want to play for Memphis. The Grizzlies don’t just want to buy him out — unless he’s leaving a lot of money on the table, which he will not do — they want to trade him for picks or a young player coming back to help their rebuild.

That left the sides at an impasse, but they have reached an agreement that allows Iguodala to not report to training camp and instead keep working out on his own, reports Chris Herrington of the Daily Memphian.

Andre Iguodala will not attend Grizzlies’ Media Day on Monday nor report to the team’s training camp under an arrangement reached between the two sides, according to team and league sources.

Iguodala will remain on the Grizzlies roster, likely well into the season. However, the team agreed the veteran can continue private workouts at a location of his choosing while Memphis pursues trades involving the former Golden State Warrior and NBA Finals MVP.

This almost certainly drags out into December, and likely much closer to the Feb. 6 trade deadline. On Dec. 15 the players who signed contracts this summer can be traded, opening up the trade pool. By then, contending teams — or, teams that fancy themselves contenders — will have a better sense if they could use Iguodala off the bench to boost a playoff run. And if they have the players and picks to get a trade done.

Iguodala talked about his situation in Memphis with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole over the weekend.

“We’re trying to figure out things on both sides. They’re trying to figure out some things, and I’m trying to figure out some things. As of today, we’re on the same page. Camp opens the next week. We’ll see. We’re on the same page, though.”

“At this point, the only buyout that makes sense — if I’m speaking on someone else’s behalf, thinking as an agent — is you don’t leave money on the table,” he says. “Especially in this league. Because you’ll never get it back, no matter what people say. Negotiations are a tactic, so you’ve got to be careful how you approach it, or how you verbalize what you would do going forward. But you can’t leave anything on the table.”

Iguodala is in the final year of his contract, worth $17.2 million this season, and he wants to get paid. The Grizzlies want to jumpstart their rebuild. The best option for both sides is just to wait it all out, which is what they have decided to do.

For now. Expect Iguodala rumors to start ramping up around Christmas.

Andre Iguodala tells the story of how he knew he would get traded this summer

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By Kurt HelinSep 23, 2019, 5:14 PM EDT
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Andre Iguodala is a smart man, a veteran who gets the business side of basketball.

Which is why he knew he was likely getting traded this summer, especially if Kevin Durant left.

Iguodala told Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area how he knew it would go down, and the inside joke he had with his wife that came true.

“But I have a sense that something is going down; Bob Myers and I are pretty cool. We have our conversations, so we’re on the same page. It was, ‘It might happen, but it might not. Most likely, it will. So, we’ll see.’

“So, I’m texting my wife, telling her I’ll probably get traded because I think it’s 100 percent sure, even though everyone else is saying, it’s only a chance. Then, once KD (Kevin Durant) left, I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’ll probably get traded. They’re probably going to do a sign-and-trade, so they can get something back, to at least get assets for him.’ No one was thinking that. But I was thinking they’ll want to get assets back because they can’t just let him go. And they’ll probably move me as well. So, she asked me where I thought I would go. I said, ‘I don’t know, I’ll probably end up in Memphis or some s–t.’

“She says, ‘For real?’ I was like, ‘Maybe. But probably not. I don’t know.’

“The next day, I got the message. It was Memphis. I fell out laughing.”

Iguodala remains a member of the Memphis Grizzlies, for now. Iguodala would like a buyout and to get to another contender, but he doesn’t want to leave a lot of money on the table because, as he told Poole, he would never get that money back. Memphis, on the other hand, would rather trade Iguodala in an effort to get a pick or player back that can help their rebuild. The Grizzlies are not going to be down with a buyout unless there are significant savings. Iguodala says that both sides are “on the same page.” We’ll see if the good vibes continue once training camps open next week.

Whatever happens, it’s going to be weird not seeing Iguodala in a Warriors uniform next season. He was the glue that helped hold the Warriors together and win three titles, seeing him in Grizzlies’ blue will just look strange and out of place.