Fergie/Photo courtesy of Associated Press
The Clippers on Wednesday announced that 8-time Grammy Award winner Fergie will sing the national anthem prior to the Clippers’ season-opener Thursday against the Oklahoma City Thunder at 7:30 p.m. at Staples Center.
Fergie is a solo singer as well as a vocalist for The Black Eyed Peas.
Hedo Turkoglu/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers
There will be a record 101 international players on opening-day rosters, breaking this past season’s previous record of 97, the NBA announced Tuesday.
San Antonio will lead the way for the third consecutive season with nine international players. The Minnesota Timberwolves and Brooklyn Nets have six apiece, the Golden State Warrios five and eight teams have four.
The Clippers have just one – reserve forward Hedo Turkoglu of Turkey.
Canada leads countries with 12 players in the league, France has 10 while Australia and Brazil have eight and seven, respectively.
Moreover, the number of international players has more than doubled since the 2000-01 season, when there were 45. Ten years before that, in 1990-91, there were only 21 international players.
J.J. Redick/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers
J.J. Redick averaged a very respectable 15.2 points in 2013-14 for the Clippers. But the shooting guard played in only 35 games because of injuries.
On Monday, he talked in appreciative tones that he enters this 2014-15 campaign with a clean bill of health.
“I feel good,” he said ahead of practice at the team’s facility in Playa Vista. “It just seemed like I couldn’t stay healthy last year. It started right after the first of the season when I strained my quad.
“So I’m happy to have gotten through October, well, so far,” he said, knocking on wood. “But I’m happy I’ve gotten through the preseason healthy.”
Redick also missed time with a bulging disk in his back.
The Clippers open the season Thursday at home against Oklahoma City.
Spencer Hawes/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers
Spencer Hawes late Friday night was talking about his team’s less-than-stellar showing in the preseason – the Clippers went 2-6 in exhibition games – when he had an interesting observation.
“We have got an important week of practice coming up here to get things going in the right direction,” Hawes, the Clippers’ backup post, said after the Clippers lost to the Portland Trail Blazers in their final exhibition game. “We have got to hit the ground running. We have the opportunity here starting the season with a pretty long stretch at home and we have to take advantage of that.”
The Clippers play eight of their first nine games at Staples Center. One of those is an “away” game against the Lakers on Friday. The one true away game in that stretch will be Nov. 5 at Golden State.
The Clippers open the season Thursday against Oklahoma City at Staples Center.
Joe Ingles/Photo courtesy of YouTube.com
The Clippers on Saturday pared down their roster to 15 by waiving forward Joe Ingles of Australia. Ingles appeared in five exhibition games and averaged 1.2 points and one rebound.
NBA teams can carry as many as 15 players, but only 13 can be activated for any one game.
The roster as it stands: Guards: Chris Paul, Jordan Farmar, Jamal Crawford, Reggie Bullock, J.J. Redick, C.J. Wilcox, Jared Cunningham; Forwards: Matt Barnes, Glen Davis, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Blake Griffin, Hedo Turkoglu, Ekpe Udoh; Centers: DeAndre Jordan, Spencer Hawes.
Note: Although the Clippers list Bullock as a guard, he also plays small forward.
The Clippers, who went 2-6 during the exhibition season, begin the regular season Thursday when they play host to Oklahoma City at Staples Center.
Blake Griffin/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers
Blake Griffin scored 21 points, but the Clippers were beaten 99-89 by the Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center in the final exhibition game. The Clippers, who open the real season Oct. 30 against Oklahoma City, finished 2-6.
J.J. Redick and Jared Cunningham scored 12 apiece for Los Angeles, but no one else on the team was in double figures. Chris Paul had eight points and 11 assists, Spencer Hawes had nine points and seven rebounds and Hedo Turkoglu scored eight points.
DeAndre Jordan led the Clippers in rebounding with nine, but the team was outrebounded 49-39.
Portland, which went 4-3 in exhibition play, got 21 points from Damian Lillard, 14 from Meyers Leonard and 13 from Chris Kaman, who also had nine rebounds.