Richard Hamilton heard the rumors and the reports. He’s 32, but he’s not deaf. And he’s not dumb in any way.
He heard how he was going from the Pistons to the Nets as part of the proposed Carmelo Anthony trade. Then he was dropped from Detroit’s rotation. And so he waited. And waited.
But now he feels even more uncertain about his situation after the Nets pulled the plug on the deal.
“I just wanted closure to it. With all the stuff going on . . . I just wanted closure,” said Hamilton, who sat out his sixth straight game last night, an 89-74 loss to the Nets. He last played on Jan. 10.
“I still [haven’t] even spoken to nobody. Nobody has spoken to me about it,” said Hamilton, whose benching was explained as the Pistons looking at different players but was speculated to be because they didn’t want to risk injury as part of the trade. “Nobody told me what was going on. It’s one of those things where you give your team for the last nine years your blood, sweat and tears. You never expect nothing like that to happen, but it happens
“I want to go out and perform. It’s all I’ve been doing since I’ve been in the NBA.”
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Nets general manager Billy King
, who on Wednesday said Troy Murphy
requested a trade, has backed off. “Troy didn’t demand a trade,” King said last night. The Nets are trying to move Murphy.
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Kris Humphries
on reports he was shopping for an engagement ring for Kim Kardashian
: “The only ring I’m looking at getting is a championship ring in my career.”
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Sasha Vujacic
, who scored nine points off the bench, drew a double technical with Tracy McGrady
at the end of the first quarter. Vujacic said there is no history between the two. What was said?
“You know how they say, ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?’ Well, what’s said on the court stays on the court,” Vujacic said with a laugh.
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Anthony Morrow
had enough on his plate. The Nets’ shooting guard already was climbing the walls when he was sidelined with a right hamstring strain that kept him out the 17 games before last night, dating to Dec. 14.
Being out was tough. Being out and not knowing what team he would come back to when he came back was even tougher. Morrow was one of the players mentioned as part of the proposed Anthony trade.
“That was tough, being out, and family members worrying about where you’re going to be, what’s going on and me not having any answers,” said Morrow, who missed his first four shots then hit his next four, including a pair of 3-pointers in his 10-point return last night.
He says he is back, mentally and physically.
“Everything feels good, man. It might take a couple games to get my legs completely up under me, but that’s natural,” he added.
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Coach Avery Johnson
didn’t want to do it. But he did. He talked about his playing days to keep the Nets calm during the Anthony rumors.
“I hate using my playing career,” Johnson said. “I’ve seen coaches in the NBA who kind of refer to that too much. But there are times I have to bring it up. I’d been the subject of trade rumors before, and it’s not the most pleasant thing to go through. And I’ve been traded and cut before, too.
“So sometimes, you just have to go and dig out some examples and tell them that you know exactly what they’re going through,” he said. “And I really do. The main thing was, the stuff that we can control [on the court]. And believe it or not, like I told the guys, even when you don’t hear your name, your name’s always being brought up. That’s every player in the NBA, except a few.”
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Johnson said he was uncertain if he would use Morrow tonight against Dallas.
“He’s probably not going to be in good game shape probably for another week to 10 days,” he said. “I’m looking more on the 10-day side because of the type of injury he had. It’s just going to be game-by-game, day-by-day until we can build him up to a level where he can get back to playing 24 minutes or so.”
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The Pistons lost Charlie Villanueva
for the second half because of a sprained left ankle.