G League Rumors
Rod Beard: As expected, #Pistons have recalled Khyri Thomas from @grdrive and he has joined the team in Denver.
Dane Moore: The Timberwolves have recalled Jarred Vanderbilt and Jacob Evans for tonight’s game in Dallas. Omari Spellman will remain in Iowa.
NBA G-League coach Chase Buford used a postgame interview as an opportunity to vehemently criticize the poor officiating he felt his team, the Wisconsin Herd, received in a 126-117 loss to the Grand Rapids Drive on Sunday. Buford was especially displeased with referee Matt Rafferty. “The officiating definitely went right for Grand Rapids,” Buford began, speaking to WFRV-TV in Green Bay. “That was as unprofessional as an officiating performance — I hope you tweet this out and tag the league, because that was embarrassing. Matt Rafferty is a (expletive) clown.”
“That being said, we have to be so much better at the end of games,” Bufford said. “We can’t blow a 21-point lead with 12 minutes to go. However bad and biased and unfair and illegal and cheating the referees are, we have to be better closing games. So that’s the way I feel.” Buford played college basketball at Kansas as a reserve and is the son of five-time NBA champion general manager R.C. Buford. Buford was hired by the Milwaukee Bucks, which oversee the Herd, in July as the team’s second-ever head coach. Prior to that he was an assistant for the G-League’s Delaware Blue Coats and Erie BayHawks.
Dane Moore: Jarred Vanderbilt will be up from the G-League w/ the Wolves in Dallas for Monday night. Jacob Evans, I heard, will likely be coming too. I don’t know about Omari Spellman. Nothing official yet. They’ll all get a shot eventually. Lotta season left. Not a lotta healthy players.
The Golden State Warriors have assigned forward Alen Smailagić to the team’s G League affiliate in Santa Cruz, the team announced today. Smailagić has played in 17 games (15 starts) with Santa Cruz this season, posting averages of 16.3 points on 51.8 percent shooting from the field and 35.1 percent from beyond the arc to go with 6.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.00 steals in 26.3 minutes per game. The rookie forward has appeared in 13 games for Golden State, averaging 4.5 points on 52.6 percent from the field to go along with 2.1 rebounds in 10.0 minutes per game.
