BOSTON — The Leon Smith watch continues for the Nets. The troubled teen has cleared waivers from Dallas and there was a possibility he would meet with the Nets yesterday. Didn’t happen. But don’t rule against a workout soon.
“Maybe sometime next week,” said team president Michael Rowe. “It’s going to take a while.”
The Nets had planned to meet with Smith Monday but he was still technically under contract to the Mavs, although on the suspended list. Commissioner David Stern stepped in and squashed that meeting.
But the Nets, obviously, still hold interest in the 6-10, 19-year-old, who bypassed college and entered the draft out of high school last June.
It is a true longshot, but the Nets’ Stephon Marbury conceivably could still make it to the All-Star Game as a replacement reserve. Should Detroit’s Grant Hill decide to rest his aching tailbone and bypass the event in Oakland next weekend, the East would need a fill-in. Logical choices would be Marbury or Knick Latrell Sprewell.
“I really don’t even want to talk about it,” said Marbury when asked about the prospects.
Marbury, “the best point guard East of the Mississippi,” according to Nets’ GM John Nash, was snubbed in the voting of the Eastern Conference coaches as a reserve. If a replacement is needed, Stern would select the sub. Marbury finished fourth in the guard voting, but the East already is stocked with six guards.
“I’ll do whatever they ask,” said Marbury, averaging 22.4 points and 8.4 assists.
Celtics coach Rick Pitino insists that he is not shopping Antoine Walker and that “without a shadow of a doubt, on Feb. 25, Antoine Walker will be a Celtic. He will be a Celtic for the whole year.”
With the firing of Chris Ford by the Clippers, Don Casey, at $1.1 million, is now the lowest paid NBA head coach not carrying the title “interim” around.
Casey on the new floor at FleetCenter: “If I know them, there are some dead spots somewhere.”
Kerry Kittles scored six last night. That’s the fifth time in seven games he failed to get double figure points.
