Pelicans add veteran Jameer Nelson

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher

Free agent point guard Jameer Nelson has signed with the New Orleans Pelicans. It’s a one-year deal for the rest of the season.

Nelson was released by the Denver Nuggets in order for the team to sign free agent forward Richard Jefferson.Jefferson joined the Nuggets after being bought out by the Atlanta Hawks a day after being traded to the team from the Cleveland Cavaliers last weekend.

Jameer Nelson (Getty Images)

The 35-year-old will now be joining his fifth NBA team. He spent the past two seasons with the Nuggets prior to his release.

Nelson also played for the Boston Celtics for a season. He played nearly a decade with the Orlando Magic after being the 20th overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft, before a 2014 trade to the Dallas Mavericks.

Nelson is added to help lessen the blow of point guard Rajon Rondo, who signed with the team in the off-season, but is presently out with an injury. They can off him minutes now — and they will also contend for the postseason.

He’s expected to start alongside Jrue Holiday. Yet, he won’t be handling the ball much, as that will be handled by Holiday and he will be limited as a shooter with Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Holiday and others expected to get the most shots.

Any Corrections?. You can contact Anthony at publisher@thecapitalsportsreport.com.

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DeRozen has 30 in the Raptors win over the Nuggets

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher

The Toronto Raptors defeated the Denver Nuggets, 113-111, on Friday night at the Pepsi Center.

The Raptors out scored the Nuggets 11-9 in the extra session. The Nuggets missed a late half-court shot to end the game.

DeMar DeRozen had a game-high 30-points. He’s the first player since Michael Jordan in 1986-87, according to ESPN Stats & Info, to have 10 30-point games in their team’s first 12 games.

DeMar DeRozen (Getty Images)

Kyle Lowry added 18 points, while Jonas Valančiūnas had 15 and DeMarre Carroll added 11. Pascal Siakam had eight.

The Raptors were eight-of-23 from beyond the arc. Terrence Ross went four of five, while Carroll also made a three-pointer.

Toronto had 31 bench points, including 16 by Ross.

Emmanuel Mudiay had 25 points, while Danilo Gallinari has 21 and Jusuf Nurkić had 14. Kenneth Faired added seven and Jameer Nelson had five.

The Nuggets were four-of-25 from three-point range. Wilson Chandler had three, while Nelson added the other.

Chandler led the bench group with 25 of their 39 points.

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Rondo dealt to the Mavericks for 3 players, two picks

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher

Rajon Rondo finally has a new residence. He’s now a member of the Dallas Mavericks.

Rondo, who has been rumored to be traded for quite some time, has moved on. The free agent-to-be will now look to sign a long-term deal with the Mavericks before the summer.

Rajon Rondo (Getty Images)

In exchange for Rondo, the Boston Celtics have acquired promising center Brandan Wright, Jae Crowder, veteran Jameer Nelson and two draft picks.

One of the draft pick is expected to be a first-rounder, which the Celtics said had to be in any deal for Rondo. The first-rounder is reportedly a 2015 NBA Draft pick, while the other pick is a second rounder in 2016.

The Celtics now have three first-round picks in the 2015 draft. They would like to acquire a fourth if they could convince a team to take Jeff Green‘s contract.

With Rondo, the Mavs now have a starting Five that features Monta Ellis, Dirk Nowitzki, Tyson Chandler and Chandler Parsons.

The 28-year-old has previously said that he would be willing to test the free agent market this summer while a member of the Celtics. The Mavs believe that he could sign him to a long-term deal.

The Celtics, who already had 15 players, have to waive several players to get to the roster maximum. Right now, they stand at 18 players, and could release Nelson, who was in his first-year with the Mavericks.

He played in 23 games in his first two months in Dallas, where he averaged 25.4 minutes per game. Prior to arriving in Dallas, he played a decade with the Orlando Magic.

Rondo was averaging 8.3 points and 10.3 assists per game in Boston.

Wright, the prized player in the deal for the Celtics, is averaging 8.8 points with 4.1 rebounds per game over 18.7 minutes. Crowder averaged 3.6 points and 1.2 rebounds per game in 10.6 minutes.

The Celtics are now going to build around rookie point guard Marcus Smart, second-year center Kelly Olynyk, and Wright.

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Bulls, Nuggets, Magic, 76ers pull off the first two trades in the NBA Draft

By Anthony Caruso III
Posted: June 25th, 2014 at 9:12 pm EST

There has been two trades at the 2014 NBA Draft so far.

Doug McDermott was selected by the Denver Nuggets with the 11th overall pick. A short time later, he was moved to the Chicago Bulls for the 16th and 19th picks.

2014 NBA Draft

Reece Davis, who is a part of the ESPN crew working the NBA draft, said McDermott wanted to play for the Bulls all along.

The complete McDermott deal has Anthony Randolph also going to Chicago for Jusuf Nurkic (16th overall pick) and Gary Harris (19th overall pick) and a 2015 second round pick.

Randolph has bounced around on his career. He began his career with the Golden State Warriors, before moving on to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2010-11 and also made a stop with the New York Knicks that season.

He rejoined the Wolves for the 2011-12 season, before spending the past two years with the Nuggets.

He has averaged 7.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 0.7assists, and 0.9 blocks in 252 career games since the 2008-09 season. He has made 42 starts in his career.

With the 10th overall pick, the Philadelphia 76ers selected Elfrid Payton, while the Orlando Magic drafted Dario Saric with the 12th overall pick.

Besides Sarc, the 76ers also acquire a 2015 second round draft pick and a 2017 first-round draft pick. The first round draft pick was originally the 76ers, before it was dealt to the Magic in the Dwight Howard blockbuster deal from two years ago.

These two players were then swapped for each other. Payton, who rose up the draft board, will be the replacement for point guard Jameer Nelson.

On June 23rd, Saric signed a three-year contract with Anadolu Efes, a Turkish powerhouse. This past season, he played with Cibona Zagreb, where he averaged 19.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.

This contract is two years with a player option for the third year. It also prohibits him from playing in the NBA for at least two years.

The 76ers did not have a single foreign player play for them during the 2013-14 season.