The Boston Celtics announced today that they have signed 2008 second round
draft pick Bill Walker. Per team policy, financial terms of the deal were not
disclosed.
“Bill’s hard work and skill development this summer has given us the
belief that he can be in our short-term plans as well as our long-term plans.”
said Danny Ainge, Celtics Executive Director of Basketball Operations/General
Manager.
Walker, a 6′6, 220 pound forward from Kansas State University was taken
with the 47th pick by the Washington Wizards and was acquired by the Celtics for
cash considerations.  Walker earned Third Team All-Big 12 honors from The
Associated Press and the league coaches as a redshirt freshman this past
season.  The former Wildcat ranked second on the team in scoring with 16.1
points per game which also was good for fifth in the Big 12.  Walker scored 20
or more points nine times and topped the 30-point mark twice. Walker posted
career averages of 15.3 points and 6.0 rebounds in 37 games over two seasons for
the Wildcats.
Walker was acquired in a draft night trade from the Washington Wizards on June
26, 2008 in exchange for cash considerations.  Walker will wear #12.

The Oklahoman (Mel Bracht) reports: Say you’re working late and
can’t make it to the Ford Center to watch Oklahoma City’s new NBA
team play its game that night. Instead, you log on to your computer and watch
streaming video of the team’s game broadcast. Sound far-fetched? Not if
the NBA has its way. The league is aggresively promoting three new Internet
elements — video streaming in home markets, interactive TV and video-on-demand
— for the upcoming season. Ed Desser, a media consultant for Oklahoma
City’s team, said many details have yet to be worked out, and didn’t
expect the team to offer the Internet elements anytime soon.

Jeff says: Miles has always been a question mark. Early on he was just an
athletic dunker who didn’t really know how to play basketball. But as his
career progressed, he kept showing stretches of occasional brilliance. He was
still raw and not yet developed, yet for 10 or 15 minutes here and there Miles
seemed like a future star, if he could just learn how to play. Only that never
really happened, because he got hurt, badly, over and over. And fell out of
shape. And even when he was playing well, there was never a sense that he ever
really loved basketball. But now he’s apparently back, in shape, and ready
to contribute. I think the Celtics are making the right move, taking a low-risk
chance on him with potential decent reward. And, here’s the news release:
The Boston Celtics announced today that they have signed free agent forward
Darius Miles. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Miles, a 6′9”, 235lbs forward out of East St. Louis High School has
posted career averages of 10.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.15 blocks in 412
career games. Miles was originally drafted with the third overall pick in the
2000 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. Miles last played for the Portland
Trail Blazers during the 2005-06 season when he averaged a career high 14.0
points and 4.6 rebounds in 40 games. Miles missed all of the 2006-07 and
2007-08 seasons due to microfracture surgery on his right knee.
“Darius has been in twice for workouts with us and has impressed us with his
progress, health, and attitude;” said Danny Ainge, Celtics Executive Director
of Basketball Operations/General Manager. “Darius will have the next couple
of months to prove to myself and Coach Rivers that he can help us win.”
The Bellville, Illinois native became the first player in NBA history to
receive All-Rookie honors straight out of high school when he averaged 9.4
points and 1.54 blocks for the Clippers in the 2000-01 season. Miles scored in
double-figures in 31 of the 40 games that he appeared in during his last NBA
season in 2005-06. As a starter in 23 of those 40 games he averaged 16.9
points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.
“I’ve watched the Boston Celtics play a lot last year and loved what I
saw in their teamwork and chemistry on the court and it’s the team that I
want to try to resume my career with.” said Miles. “I am excited about
having an opportunity to play on a team that I feel my personality fits with and
a team that can have great success on the court.”

The Boston Globe reports: Ray Allen and longtime girlfriend Shannon Walker
Williams finally made it official, tying the knot in an intimate ceremony on
Martha’s Vineyard over the weekend. Guests at the wedding, which was held
under sunny skies at a private home in Oak Bluffs, included the couple’s
three children Tierra, Ray III, and Walker, fellow UConn alums Scott Burrell and
76er Kevin Ollie, Celts CEO Wyc Grousbeck and wife Corinne, and, of course, the
NBA Championship trophy.
Here’s a photo. And another.

The Oklahoman (Darnell Mayberry) reports: Oklahoma City will be one of only
four NBA teams without any Saturday home games. The defending NBA champion
Boston Celtics, the runner-up Los Angeles Lakers and the Toronto Raptors are the
only other NBA teams without any Saturday home games. “I don’t like
it at all,” Hill said. “It’s hard to make it down to Oklahoma City
to go to a game during the week.” The NBA compiled Oklahoma City’s
schedule from a list of available Ford Center dates submitted to the league by
arena management as agreed to by the team. Teams play 41 regular-season home
games, but out of the 75 possible home dates submitted to the NBA, only one was
a Saturday, according to schedule maker Matt Winick, NBA vice president of
operations.

Minnesota Timberwolves Vice President of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale
today announced the team has re-signed restricted free-agent forward Ryan Gomes.
Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We’re really happy to have re-signed Ryan. He was one of our most
consistent performers last year, and one of our top priorities this offseason
was keeping him in a Wolves uniform,” McHale said. “Ryan is the
consummate professional and a great asset to our organization both on the court
and in the community.”
The Timberwolves acquired Gomes on July 31, 2007 in a trade with Boston. In his
lone season with Minnesota, the 6-7, 250-pound forward averaged career highs
with 12.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, including a career-high 35-point
effort against Golden State on Jan. 21. For the first time in his career, Gomes
appeared in all 82 games for the Wolves, starting 74 (including the final 58
contests). Originally selected by Boston with the 50th overall pick (second
round) in the 2005 NBA Draft, Gomes has appeared in 216 NBA games, posting
career averages of 11.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.
InsideHoops.com says: Gomes is a good fill-in-the-blanks forward to bring off a
bench. The man works hard and is a smart player.

The Oklahoman (Mike Baldwin) reports on a team’s 82-game regular season
schedule: “Four games against division opponents. Four games against six
out-of-division conference opponents. Three games against the remaining four
conference teams. Two games against teams in the opposing conference. A
five-year rotation determines which out-of-division conference teams are played
only three times.”

The Los Angeles Clippers today signed veteran free agent swingman Ricky Davis
to a multi-year contract, it was announced by Vice President of Basketball
Operations Elgin Baylor.  Per team policy, terms of the deal were not
announced.
Carrying career averages of 14.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 31.1
minutes, Davis tallied 13.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 82 games
played for the Miami Heat during the 2007-08 season.  The 6-foot-7-inch Iowa
product also connected on 420-971 FG (.433), 135-333 3FG (.405) and 155-197 FT
(.787) on the year.
“We believe he will be a good addition,” Clippers Vice President of
Basketball Operations Elgin Baylor said. “His versatility and ability to shoot
from the outside will spread the floor and help our low post players.”
Davis turned in his most productive NBA season in 2002-03 with the Cleveland
Cavaliers, averaging 20.6 points, 5.5 assists and 4.9 rebounds in 79 games
played.
Davis was originally selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the first round (21st
overall) of the 1998 NBA Draft, after one season at Iowa where he tallied 15.0
points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.

July 27: It would be a real shame if the Hawks and Josh Smith are unable to
work out a long-term contract and instead wind up having to sign-and-trade him,
especially after the team made the playoffs last season. Not that qualifying for
the postseason is hard when playing in the Eastern conference. Myself, a few
other InsideHoops.com guys, Chuck Nevitt, JR Rider and Leon Smith could probably
pull it off. Still, the Hawks are fun to watch, show promise to get a bit
better, and have a squad that’s decent to cheer for. Losing Josh Childress
to a faraway overseas land hurts, but if a bench guy or two steps up a bit and
shows some improvement, he’ll only be missed a little. His afro, on the
other hand, will be tougher to replace.
Anyway, imagine if a team like the Celtics were able to land Smith. If that
happened I’d imagine they’d use him as a super-sixth man. They have
championship chemistry in the starting lineup and shouldn’t mess with
that. Imagine Smith getting 28-32 bench minutes on a 60-win Boston squad. Sweet,
huh?
I’m just tossing Boston out there for the fun of it. Obviously every team
in the league would love to have Smith, and he’d start for almost all of
them.
Aside from being good and still young, Smith is also extremely exciting to
watch. He sells tickets. The Hawks need to keep him, even if it means
overspending a little.

The Boston Celtics announced today that they have re-signed guard Tony
Allen.  Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Allen, a 6′4”, 213lb guard, has spent his entire four year career with
the Celtics after being drafted with the 25th overall pick in the 2004 NBA
Draft.  The former Oklahoma State Cowboy recorded career highs in minutes
(1373), assists (114) and points (494) in 75 games last season as he worked to
return from his January 2007 knee injury.  Allen posted averages of 6.6 points
and 2.2 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per game during the 2007-08 campaign.  In his
11 starts last season Allen averaged 9.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and
1.45 steals in 29.2 minutes per game including a 16 point performance in a
110-91 victory over the Lakers in Los Angeles on December 31, 2007.  The
Celtics had a 9-2 record in games that Allen started last season.  Allen has
posted career averages of 7.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.01 steals in 236 career
games.