HERE are some facts and figures that you readers might want to know regarding the start of the 2013-14 U.S. National Basketball Association season.
Each of the 30 member clubs is allowed to employ no more than 15 players on its regular roster with a minimum of 13. Teams are permitted to dress 13 active men for each game although only 12 can see action.
The old rule was 12 active players with at least one on the inactive list. The latest scheme was instituted during the lockout shortened 2011-12 season and has become permanent since the time.
Players assigned to an NBA Development League-affiliate are automatically placed on their NBA team’s inactive list.
There are some exceptions, though.
A team is allowed to carry just 11 active players or zero inactive players for no more than two weeks at a time. It can also temporarily place up to four men on its inactive list (for a total roster of 16 players) with league permission in the event of an injury hardship.
In the past, a team must have a minimum of 11 active players but no more than 12 on its roster and at least eight men must dress up during a game. Additionally, a maximum of three can be placed on the injured list.
At the time, a player assigned to the injured list must sit out at least five games. That policy was disregarded more than half a decade ago.
The Indiana Pacers’ blossoming All-Star forward Paul George, the 2013 NBA Most Improved Player awardee who last September inked an incentive-based five-year, $90 million-plus maximum contract extension that takes effect in 2014-15 (following the expiration of his four-year rookie-mandated scale deal that pays him a paltry $3.2 million this season), scored on an unmolested short jumper for the first points in Season 68 of the NBA’s 1,230-game regular wars.
Behind George’s 24-point, six-rebound, five-assist output, the Pacers went on to register a 97-87 home victory over the Orlando Magic. Indiana’s other high-priced All-Star forward, Danny Granger, is out for the first three weeks due to a calf strain.
He was limited to just five games last season due to a knee injury. With the 23-year-old George’s star on the rise, the 30-year-old Granger (and his expiring contract) is reportedly on the trading block.
Magic rookie guard Victor Oladipo, the NBA’s No. 2 overall draft selection from Indiana University behind the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Anthony Bennett (the first Canadian ever to be drafted No. 1 out of University of Nevada at Las Vegas and an asthmatic 6-foot-8 power forward who is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery), came off the bench for Orlando to collect 12 points and a pair of assists.
Chicago completed the exhibition schedule with an 8-0 record, putting together its first perfect preseason of at least eight games since 1992. In their regular season opener at the hostile AmericanAirlines Arena, the Bulls got a 107-95 spanking from the two-time defending NBA titlist Miami Heat.
The Heat received their 2013 championship rings during a pre-game ceremony. Seven of the nine men fielded in by Fil-American Miami bench maestro Erik Spoelstra scored in twin digits, led by LeBron James’ 17 points and Chris Bosh’s 16.
Bulls star point guard Derrick Rose made his first NBA appearance since suffering a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in his left knee during a first-round playoff game against Philadelphia on April 28, 2012 and subsequently undergoing surgery that forced him to sit out the entire 2012-13 campaign.
In his first game in 18 months, the 6-foot-3 Rose, the youngest NBA Most Valuable Player awardee in 2011 at age 22, stared for the Bulls, scored 12 points on 4-for-15 field shooting and dished out four assists in 34 minutes.
In the final game of the three-game NBA-opening bill, the retooled Los Angeles Lakers started their season against the up-and-coming LA Clippers, at the Staples Center without meal ticket Kobe Bryant for the first time since 2006.
Bryant is still recovering from last April’s surgery for a torn left Achilles tendon and reportedly will be unavailable for action until Christmas Day (versus Miami).
Without Kobe, the Lakers won again, 116-103, and are now 5-0 in Bryant’s opening-game absences since the Black Mamba made his NBA debut in 1996.
It was considered a “home” game for the 16-time league champion Lakers, who are co-tenants with the Clippers at the Staples Center.
Down by four points (79-75) after three quarters, the Lakers broke away to take a 17-point lead (98-81) late in the payoff period with a number of three-point bombs from their reserves, who played the entire payoff period and the game’s final 15 minutes and knocked in the team’s final 48 markers.
Little-publicized Xavier Henry, a fourth-year shooting guard from Belgium whom the Lakers picked up as a free agent this summer after a forgettable 2012-13 season with the New Orleans Pelicans (formerly Hornets), came off the pines for a career-high 22 points.
He and substitute guard Jodie Meeks each had three triples of the Lakers’ total of 14 (in 29 attempts). Spanish center Pau Gasol, in the final year of his contract at $19.3 million, registered a double-double with 15 points and 13 boards aside from four assists but was benched in the fourth quarter along with the four other starters.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Bandera. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.