Tag: Wilson Chandler

Wilson Chandler explains why he’s sitting out when NBA season resumes

Brooklyn Nets forward Wilson Chandler has decided not to play when the NBA season resumes in July. He explains why he’s choosing to sit out.

Brooklyn Nets forward Wilson Chandler recently announced that he will be sitting out rather than suiting up for the Orlando games.

Chandler explained why he won’t be playing next month when he appeared as a guest on The Court Vision podcast with Jameer Nelson and Ben Stinar.

“For me, personally, I think like the unknown of this whole COVID thing and just having a grandmother who’s 87 – she just turned 87 – and battling all types of illnesses and having young kids, I think it’s more important for me to be at home with my family and taking care of my family,” Chandler said. “So, that’s my biggest [reason] to stay home.

“And then if you throw in the whole social justice [aspect] and everything that’s going on over police brutality with the government and all that, I mean, it just makes it a bit more difficult.”

Like Chandler, a number of NBA players have opted out of playing because they wanted to spend time with their family (including Los Angeles Lakers guard Avery Bradley, Portland Trail Blazers forward Trevor Ariza and Dallas Mavericks center Willie Cauley-Stein).

However, there’s a social-reform component to Chandler’s decision too. Some players believe that resuming play will distract from the Black Lives Matter movement, while others believe that they should play and take advantage of that huge platform. Chandler noted that there’s no wrong answer when discussing the best way to effect change.

“There’s no right or wrong way,” Chandler said. “Everybody has their own opinion on what’s going on and what they would do, so there’s no right or wrong answer. So, I respect everybody who’s going [to Orlando] and everybody who’s not going.

“We’ve always had different types of leaders in sports. You had guys who were overly talkative, who spoke their mind whenever, like Muhammad Ali, who didn’t go to Vietnam and fight in the war and decided to sit out and that spoke volumes. And you got guys who play by the rules and who go out there and play, but they’re going to use their platform before and after the games when they’re doing interviews and stuff. So, it’s kind of up to each player to kind of use their platform how they see fit.”

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Chandler is currently in Brooklyn and he was going through the necessary steps to play next month before ultimately changing his mind.

“I was working out with the team and going through that whole protocol that the NBA has mandated, testing every other day and doing one-on-one workouts,” Chandler said. “But since I just announced the news that I wouldn’t be going to Orlando, now I’m about to stay home and be with my family.”

In addition to Chandler, Brooklyn will be without guard Kyrie Irving, forward Kevin Durant and center DeAndre Jordan in Orlando. Irving and Durant are recovering from injuries and Jordan tested positive for COVID-19 recently. Guard Spencer Dinwiddie has also tested positive for COVID-19, putting his availability in question too.

The Nets are currently 30-34, which is the seventh-best record in the Eastern Conference.

This season, Chandler averaged 5.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.1 threes on 40.4/30.6/87.0 shooting splits in 35 games. Earlier this season, he was suspended for 25 games after testing positive for a growth hormone stimulant.

Nets took Wilson Chandler’s decision to sit out Disney bubble ‘very well’

Wilson Chandler greatly appreciates the Brooklyn Nets franchise being a player-friendly organization.

Wilson Chandler became the fourth Brooklyn Nets player to be ruled out for the remainder of the 2019-20 season on Sunday. However, unlike Kevin Durant (right Achilles), Kyrie Irving (right shoulder) and Nic Claxton (left shoulder), Chandler wasn’t dealing with an injury.

In fact, the Nets forward had been training with his teammates in Brooklyn in preparation for the Disney World bubble in Florida. But Chandler decided it was best to be at home with his family amidst the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Chandler explained how he came to the conclusion, and what other factors were in play when he appeared on his former Denver Nuggets teammate Jameer Nelson’s podcast, “Court Vision“:

Really, there’s no right or wrong way. Everybody has their own opinion [about] what’s going and what they would do. So there’s no right or wrong answer, so I respect everybody who’s going and everybody who’s not going. But for me, personally, I think the unknown about this whole COVID thing and just having a grandmother who just turned 87 who’s battled all type[s] of illnesses and having young kids, I think it’s more important for me to be at home with my family, taking care of my family. That’s my biggest [factor in my] decision to stay home.

Then if you throw the whole social justice, everything that’s going on with police brutality and with the government and all of that, it just makes it that [much] more difficult.

Chandler felt the Nets handled his decision “very well.” He spoke with Sean Marks on the matter, and the Nets general manager was supportive of Chandler:

Like I told Sean when I spoke to him, I told him I appreciate them for definitely being a player-friendly organization, always helping me an supporting me when I needed it most, making my transition very smooth. Just always being there for me, so I told him I appreciate that. Same thing with [this situation], when I told him, he just said he supported me, wished me well and that they won’t hold it against me at all.

RELATED: Nets will sign Justin Anderson to replace Wilson Chandler

Report: Nets will sign Justin Anderson to replace Wilson Chandler

Justin Anderson is back with the Brooklyn Nets after having a 10-day contract with the franchise in January.

The Brooklyn Nets have quickly found a player to substitute for Wilson Chandler at Disney World in Florida.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Justin Anderson will sign with the Nets.

Anderson played three games with Brooklyn this season on a 10-day contract before he was released in January. The Nets then brought him back in a trade to play for their G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets.

The move to sign Anderson comes after Wilson Chandler said he was “opting out of playing” in the Orlando restart, according to ESPN’s Malika Andrews. Chandler cited the importance of his family’s health as the reason for not participating in the NBA’s resumption of the 2019-20 season.

In three games with Brooklyn, Anderson averaged 1.0 points per game and 5.7 minutes of play. He shot 2.0 field goal attempts a game and shot 16.7% from the field.

Anderson played 31 games during his time with Long Island this season, scoring 20.6 points per game and shooting 47.9% from the field. He also grabbed 6.6 rebounds a game and shot 35.4% from the 3-point line.

Anderson played some of his best basketball during his runs with the Philadelphia 76ers and Dallas Mavericks. During the 2016-17 season, he started with Dallas and was traded to Philly in February of 2017.

He averaged a career-high 7.1 points per game in 75 total games that season and grabbed a career-high 3.3 rebounds a game. He also shot 42.4% from the field.

[lawrence-related id=11132,11124,11118,11110]

Report: Wilson Chandler ‘opting out of playing’ at Disney

The Brooklyn Nets will be down yet another player when the NBA resumes the 2019-20 season at Disney World in Florida.

Another member of the Brooklyn Nets’ roster will not be with the team when they take part in the league’s resumption of the 2019-20 season in late July.

Heading into Sunday, the Nets were already set to play without Kevin Durant (right Achilles), Kyrie Irving (right shoulder) and Nic Claxton (left shoulder) with Brooklyn’s two stars still in the middle of rehab and the Nets rookie fresh off of surgery.

Wilson Chandler is the latest member of Brooklyn to decide to sit out the NBA’s restart at Disney World in Florida, according to Malika Andrews of ESPN.

Andrews is reporting Chandler is “opting out of playing,” and he has informed the organization. Chandler also told Andrews:

As difficult as it will be to not be with my teammates, the health and well-being of my family has to come first. Thank you to the Nets organization for understanding and supporting me in this decision, and I will be watching and rooting for our team in Orlando.

Wilson Chandler keeps backing Kyrie Irving: ‘He had the backbone to speak his mind’

Wilson Chandler was among those who came to Kyrie Irving’s defense recently when he was criticized for his opinion about resuming 2019-20.

One of the players who, like Kyrie Irving, expressed that they didn’t think the NBA should resume te 2019-20 season at Disney World in Florida so it wouldn’t distract people from the social justice protests happening in the U.S. was Los Angeles Lakers guard Avery Bradley. On Tuesday, Bradley made it official that he’s not going to play, but it was for different reasons — concerns about COVID-19 and bringing his family into the bubble.

Throughout the process of speaking out against the league’s restart, Bradley did not receive much criticism. Whereas, seemingly everyone had something to say about Irving. Given the Brooklyn Nets point guard is a superstar and Bradley is a role player, it makes sense why one would be under the spotlight more than the other.

However, everything Irving went through recently still isn’t sitting well with Wilson Chandler, which he recently expressed on Twitter:

Crazy to me how fans, ex players and players criticized Kyrie for voicing his opinion. A[n] opinion that wasn’t wrong at all. Who cares if you didn’t like his delivery or the way he went about it. With everything that’s going on from police brutality to covid he had the backbone to speak his mind. Whether I’m on the court playing or not I respect and support his opinion.

Chandler is one of several teammates who’ve defended Irving throughout this entire process, along with Kevin Durant.

Kendrick Perkins apologizes for recent remark about Kyrie Irving on ESPN

Kendrick Perkins and Wilson Chandler recently spoke on the phone rather than go back-and-forth on Twitter.

When the NBA first announced the Board of Governors and the National Basketball Players Association had agreed upon the league’s proposal to continue the 2019-20 season in late July at Disney World, Kyrie Irving had reportedly expressed interest in going down to Florida as an inactive player. While ESPN analyst and for NBA center Kendrick Perkins is known to criticize the Brooklyn Nets point guard more than anyone else, he commended his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate for his decision, indicating he was growing as a leader.

Then when later reports revealed Irving had a change of heart and he didn’t think the season should resume, Perkins went after Irving:

If you take Kyrie Irving’s and you put it in a brain right now, guess what that bird is gonna do? It’s gonna fly backwards.

Perkins later added more to the conversation on Twitter, which prompted both Kevin Durant and Wilson Chandler to fire back.

Durant called his old Oklahoma City Thunder teammate a “sell out” on Instagram, and Chandler replied to a tweet from Perkins:

If you got something to say, say it. Don’t [try] threatening us with gossip.

In the wake of this blowup, Perkins spoke to Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson on the Scoop B Radio podcast, explaining how he hasn’t sold out:

I’ve been the same person that I’ve been in the league. I’ve been outspoken, I’ve been a leader; I’ve been the same guy that you see on TV, I’ve been the same person that I’ve been in the NBA. So, at the end of the day guess what? If KD chooses not to be my friend, that’s on him. Because every other person that I befriended in the NBA, I’m still cool with to this day. I can still pick up the phone and call them.

In fact, in the wake of this battle on social media, Perkins reached out to Chandler to have a phone conversation. The retired big man says the Nets forward took him up on his offer:

Wilson Chandler said something towards my way on Twitter. I didn’t get into a Twitter beef with him. What it did was I DM’d him, and I gave him my telephone number. And I told him, “Ay man, we talk this out like real men.” He called me, we did. And guess what? I understood where he was coming from, he understood where I was coming from and we hung up the conversation in good grace. Straight up, just like that. Listen, one thing about me is, I ain’t duckin’ no phone conversations, I’m not duckin’ anything about it. But people do have to realize is that, I have a job. I work at ESPN, right? And I don’t come up with the topics. The topics are brought up to me. And I have to answer those topics to the best of my knowledge, and that’s what I do. You know what I’m sayin’? That’s what I do.

Perkins also admitted his bird-brain comment about Irving was not appropriate. However, he still feels Irving is ‘confused as a leader’:

Now was my bird statement a little out of character? Yes, it was; and guess what? I apologized to Kyrie Irving for that. Do I agree with him saying; that we all need to hold out? No, I don’t. I don’t agree with that because I need to know a plan behind it, you see what I’m sayin’? That’s all.

RELATED: Kevin Durant responds to Kendrick Perkins’ recent criticism of Kyrie Irving

RELATED: Wilson Chandler calls Kendrick Perkins out: ‘If you got something to say, say it’

Wilson Chandler calls Kendrick Perkins out: ‘If you got something to say, say it’

Both Brooklyn Nets fans and players have had about enough of Kendrick Perkins.

There are those who disagree with Kyrie Irving for the stance he’s taken recently — that the NBA shouldn’t resume the 2019-20 season at Disney World in Orlando — and then there’s Kendrick Perkins.

Irving’s former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate, and Kevin Durant’s former Oklahoma City Thunder teammate, has been critical of the Brooklyn Nets point guard for his “lack of leadership” in the past and reiterated that stance recently.

Then on Wednesday, Perkins tweeted he “took it light” on Irving during his most recent rant on ESPN. The retired NBA center also indicated he knows more about what Irving is doing “behind those phone conversations” that Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News recently reported on.

Kevin Durant has responded to his old teammate’s remarks. Wilson Chandler also chimed in, first tweeting:

Ex players turning into suckers right before your eyes on television.

Then Chandler responded to Perkins’ directly on Twitter with this message:

If you got something to say, say it. Don’t [try] threatening us with gossip.

RELATED: Kevin Durant responds to Kendrick Perkins’ recent criticism of Kyrie Irving

Sixers 2007 re-draft: Wilson Chandler instead of Thaddeus Young at 12

In this Philadelphia 76ers re-draft from 2007, the Sixers would select Wilson Chandler rather than Thaddeus Young.

We continue our look back at past drafts in the history of the Philadelphia 76ers as we wait until the NBA resumes. We have looked back at numerous drafts so far, but now we take a look at the 2007 draft where the Sixers held the 12th pick.

The 2006-07 season was not fun for Philadelphia. The team traded franchise icon, Allen Iverson, to the Denver Nuggets 15 games into the season and they then released Chris Webber in January in an effort to revitalize a product that had gone bland. So, they focused on the continued development of Andre Iguodala and a new point guard in Andre Miller as the team slumped to a 35-47 record.

With that came the 12th pick in the draft and they selected Georgia Tech’s Thaddeus Young who would become a fixture on the team for a long time. He actually would play a key role on the 2007-08 Sixers team that surprisingly reached the postseason.

However, Bleacher Report did a re-draft of 2007 and they have Young going early to the Milwaukee Bucks at 6. Therefore, they have the Sixers selecting Wilson Chandler out of DePaul at 12.

B/R:

Denver acquired Chandler from the Knicks in the Carmelo Anthony deal at the 2011 deadline, and he overcame repeated injuries to have a strong six-plus-year run as a starting forward in Denver. He’s bounced around since then but stayed in the league as a productive veteran wing.

Chandler, of course, did end up spending some time in Philadelphia. He played 36 games, starting 32 of them, in the 2018-19 season before being sent to the Los Angeles Clippers in the Tobias Harris deal. He averaged 6.7 points and 4.7 rebounds during his time with the Sixers. He’s a career 34.1% shooter from deep.

When one considers the way the Sixers played in the 2007-08 season, Chandler may have turned out to be the better choice due to his shooting ability, but Young fit into the team’s run-and-gun style. Obviously, Young had a career that has placed him among the best in his draft class and that is why he is drafted as highly here.

The Sixers did have a second pick in the first round, they selected Daequan Cook of Ohio State at 21, but they flipped the pick to the Miami Heat for Jason Smith. In the re-draft, the Sixers selected Nick Young. [lawrence-related id=29549,29536,29527]

Wilson Chandler unleashes about a call he had during self-isolation

After the Nets announced four players were diagnosed with COVID-19, Wilson Chandler heard from his building manager. It didn’t go well.

The Brooklyn Nets announced on Tuesday that four of their players tested positive for COVID-19, but they did not disclose any names in the process. Brooklyn’s superstar forward, Kevin Durant, revealed he was one of the Nets players who tested positive, and that he was asymptomatic. Two of the other three Nets were also asymptomatic.

After the Nets’ announcement, another Brooklyn forward, Wilson Chandler, had an unsavory phone call with his apartment building manager. He explained in The Players’ Tribune that he left his apartment to get a notebook from his car, and he also grabbed a delivery from Whole Foods at the front desk.

After that, Chandler got the call from his building manager. He then shared some of the exchange on Twitter:

Building manager called me saying ‘Oh, I seen Nets players had the virus. We would like to know your status. And if you could possibly stay out of the lobby etc. We can’t afford to lose our staff.’

Needless to say, Chandler wasn’t happy.

Didn’t even ask was I ok, one. And two, she didn’t ask me if I had been tested and if it was negative or positive. [Expletive] this building man. I’m going home.

Has to be 300 + plus ppl in this building coming and going. Plus Fed Ex and UPs deliveries, Amazon etc. [Expletive] that lady man.

Although he said he was going home — which is in Michigan — on Twitter, Chandler wrote in his piece for The Players’ Tribune “it’s probably in my family’s best interest if I stay here, you know?” He added:

It just wasn’t worth it, what with traveling, the risk of getting sick, and then possibly getting my grandmother sick — since older people, with immune systems that are not as strong, are the ones who are most affected by corona. So that was my fear.

In addition to the Nets, members of six other NBA franchises have tested positive for COVID-19.

Nets drop fourth straight with 116-113 loss to Heat

The Brooklyn Nets had a chance to win on their final possession in Miami, but the Heat wound up victorious.

For the third time in their last four games, the Brooklyn Nets had a heartbreaking loss — the exception being the blowout in Atlanta.

Against the Orlando Magic on Monday, the Nets had a chance to win on the final possession. Same thing happened against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.

After getting blown out by the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, the Nets had an opportunity to steal a win in Miami on the final possession, but Brooklyn struggled to run a play effectively and Spencer Dinwiddie threw an errant pass into the stands. Following a foul on the ensuing possession, the Heat were able to finish things off their 116-113 win.

Dinwiddie logged another double-double, finishing with a team-high 25 points and 12 assists.

Jarrett Allen also finished with a double-double, scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

Joe Harris scored 20 points and drilled 5 of his 9 3-point attempts.

Caris LeVert (15 points) and Taurean Prince (10) both finished in double figures, as well.

Wilson Chandler chipped in 11 points off the bench, and DeAndre Jordan grabbed 10 boards.