Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has waived guard Mike Wilks.

In four games with the Wizards, Wilks averaged 1.3 points and 1.5 rebounds in 11.0 minutes per contest.  He originally signed with Washington on December 19.

InsideHoops.com NewsWire: The New Jersey Nets have named Kiki Vandeweghe Special Assistant to the President, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today. His duties will include working closely with Thorn in preparing for the 2008 NBA Draft and in the evaluation of current and future player personnel.

“We are very pleased to welcome Kiki to the Nets,” said Thorn. “Kiki has been a mainstay in the league for almost two decades, first as an All-Star player and then as a front office executive. His experience in both areas will be an invaluable asset to the franchise, and we look forward to his contributions.”

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We’re not sure if this one even hit the rim, but no matter how it went in, Michael Hall of East Troy, Wisconsin, will trade in his beat-up wheels for a hard earned 2008 Chevy Malibu for sinking a half court shot during halftime of the Bucks vs. Nets game Saturday night at the Bradley Center.

The half-time competition has become a staple at Bucks home games throughout the years.  At each Bradley Center-based contest, two random fans are selected to participate in the Chevy Super Shot 2007-2008 Midwest Airlines Skyshots Competition.  Both contestants are given 24 seconds to make as many free throws as possible.  The shooter with the most made free throws advances to half-court for one shot at the coveted grand prize –­ the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu.

Hall was attending his second Bucks game of the year when he was approached and asked to be a part of the contest. “I usually get to nine or ten games a year,” Hall said.  “The car I own right now is pretty old and beat-up, so this is perfect.”

The Chevy Super Shot 2007-2008 Midwest Airlines Competition is sponsored by Chevrolet, Midwest Airlines and the Milwaukee Bucks.

Hall’s car will be presented to him at a future Bucks home game this season.

With 27 points and 13 rebounds last night in New Jersey, Wizards forward Antawn Jamison increased his career totals to 13,010 career points and 5,180 career rebounds — becoming one of just 11 active players with 13,000+ points and 5,000+ rebounds in his career.  Injured Heat players Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning are two of the other 10 players.  In fact, of the 11 active players with 13,000 career points and 5,000 career rebounds, six of them (Jamison, O’Neal, Mourning, Antoine Walker, Juwan Howard, Rasheed Wallace) played for either the Wizards or Heat at one point during their career.  Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki are the lone active players with 13,000+ points and 5,000+ rebounds that never played for Miami or Washington.

InsideHoops.com NewsWire: The San Antonio Spurs have signed guard DerMarr Johnson.

The 6-9 Johnson has played for three teams - Atlanta, New York and Denver - during his seven-year NBA career. He was originally selected by Atlanta in the first round of the 2000 NBA Draft, with the sixth overall pick. In his career he has appeared in 339 regular season NBA games, averaging 6.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in 17.4 minutes.

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InsideHoops.com NewsWire: The San Antonio Spurs today announced that they have waived guard Marcus Williams.

The 6-7 Williams was signed by San Antonio on 12/26. He appeared in one game with the Spurs, logging a total of two minutes vs. Chicago on 12/26.

The Spurs selected Williams with the 33rd pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. During the 2007 preseason he appeared in seven games with the Spurs, averaging 3.3 points and 2.6 rebounds. He was waived by San Antonio on 10/27. He then joined the Austin Toros - the Spurs affiliate in the NBA Development League - where he averaged 18.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 35.3 minutes in nine games.

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InsideHoops.com NewsWire: Philadelphia 76ers President and General Manager Ed Stefanski announced today that the Sixers have acquired guard Gordan Giricek and a first-round pick from the Utah Jazz in exchange for guard Kyle Korver.

“We are excited about acquiring a player of Gordan’s ability, as well as an additional asset in the form of a first-round draft pick,” Stefanski said. “This move will provide us with increased salary cap flexibility this off-season and also allows us to continue our evaluation and development of the young talent we have on this team.”

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The San Antonio Spurs announced today that they have signed guard Keith Langford. Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.

The 6-4, 215-pound Langford has been playing with the Austin Toros, the Spurs affiliate in the NBA Development League. He averaged 23.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 42.6 minutes of action in nine games. Langford has started seven games for the Toros and was second on the team in scoring. He was allocated to Austin by the D-League prior to the 2007-08 season.

Langford spent the 2007 training camp with San Antonio where he averaged 6.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 5 preseason games. He was waived on 10/24.

Langford, who went unpicked in the 2005 NBA Draft, spent last season with Vanoli Soresina in Italy where he averaged 19.7 points and 4.8 rebounds in 34 games. During the 2005-06 season he spent time with the Fort Worth Flyers of the D-League and the Kansas Cagerz of the USBL.

The University of Kansas product spent four seasons with the Jayhawks. He finished his collegiate career as the sixth all-time leading scorer in Kansas history with 1,812 points.

The San Antonio Spurs announced today that they have waived guard Darius Washington.

Washington appeared in 18 games for the Spurs where he averaged 2.9 points and 1.1 rebounds in 8.1 minutes.  He was originally signed by San Antonio on 10/1.

Washington had also played for the Spurs NBA Development League affiliate Austin Toros.  He averaged 25.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists in six games with the Toros.

Tracy McGrady is not expected to play in the next two games for the Rockets due to tendinitis in the left knee.

Yao Ming also missed practice today with flu-like symptoms, but is expected to be in the lineup for the Rockets tomorrow at Memphis (12/28/07).

InsideHoops.com NewsWire: The San Antonio Spurs today announced that an MRI revealed that Brent Barry tore the plantaris muscle in his left calf.  The injury occurred during the first quarter of the Spurs vs. Chicago Bulls game on Dec. 26.

Barry is expected to miss 10-to-14 days.

Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations John Paxson announced today the team has appointed Lead Assistant Coach Jim Boylan to Interim Head Coach for the remainder of the 2007-08 season. Boylan’s role as the Bulls’ Interim Head Coach will begin immediately.

“After sitting down with Jim yesterday and discussing our team I feel comfortable giving him the interim head coaching position. Jim has paid his dues as an assistant coach and has his own ideas on the way he wants us to play,” stated Paxson. “Many top assistants never get the chance to be a head coach in the NBA and Jim has assured me he will provide the necessary energy and commitment this position requires. Ron Adams, Pete Myers and Mike Wilhelm will continue to play integral roles on the staff and will give great support to Jim and our team.”

Full info on insidehoops.com.

The Denver Nuggets have waived F/C Jelani McCoy, team Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien announced today.

McCoy was signed on Dec. 21 and appeared in one game, posting two points and four rebounds in 18 minutes as a starter at Portland on Dec. 21.

In two stints with the Nuggets this season, McCoy averaged 0.5 ppg and 1.2 rpg in six contests.

The latest voting results for selection of the starters for the NBA All-Star game are posted on InsideHoops.com.

If the voting ended today, here’s who would start:

East: Wade, Kidd, Garnett, LeBron, Dwight Howard

West: Kobe, McGrady, Melo, Duncan, Yao

Full results and detailed info is here: Updated All-Star Voting Results

I was recently with Andrew Bynum. Here’s one piece of the interview:

InsideHoops.com: I remember when you were a rookie I asked if you were maybe going to try to learn Kareem’s sky-hook. Did that ever happen?

Andrew Bynum: Naw. I tried to pick it up, but still haven’t gotten it yet. We shoot it every day. I shoot it against Vlade [Vladimir Radmanovic, who is sitting next to Bynum during this interview] repeatedly. It looks good against Vlade. I got him scared.

See the full Andrew Bynum interview.

The Houston Chronicle reports: Without Tracy McGrady, the Rockets are 0-3 this season, 2-12 the past two seasons and 11-42 since he joined the Rockets for the 2004-05 season. McGrady has left three games with injuries this season — a sprained elbow, a sprained ankle and the sore left knee. But in the previous game McGrady missed, the Rockets took the Nuggets to two overtimes in Denver before losing on a last-second shot.

One possibility is to play Nate Robinson at center, and give Eddy Curry a shot at running the point, with Spike Lee at SF and Fat Joe at PF, and a lucky fan chosen at random playing SG.

The San Antonio Spurs announced today that they have signed forward Marcus Williams.  Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.

The 6-7, 205-pound Williams has been playing with the Spurs affiliate in the NBA Development League, the Austin Toros.

He had been with the Spurs before, and was drafted by them in 2007, but was waived in October.

More info is on insidehoops.com.

After seeing Andrew Bynum several times over the last week and a half, including once live, I understand why some still feel he’s got star, possibly superstar potential. He’s still got a ton of development and game refining to do, however… Word is, Gordan Giricek has locked himself in a room with no phone and is just surfing InsideHoops.com 18 hours a day, rocking back and forth while muttering stuff under his breath about Jerry Sloan, being a good defender, and how great InsideHoops.com is. Or, I could be making that up… The Bulls coaching job, at least for the rest of the season, appears to be Jim Boylan’s to lose. Better to keep someone from the current staff who knows the player strengths and weaknesses than bringing in someone new… Scott Skiles was fired because the team was losing but also because he and many key players weren’t getting along. It was simply time to move on… Jason Williams feels like a prostitute. I definitely feel badly for him. The dude has a rough life. I know that very few InsideHoops.com readers would quit their current jobs for an opportunity to make millions of dollars being a famous sports star… Eddy Curry is a nice guy who appears to lack killer instinct. He’s also extremely big, and it’s hard for him to become as quick, agile and explosive as people want him to be. He can leap if there’s room to leap, but otherwise, he’s just a really huge dude blessed with size but not too much else… Stephon Marbury sure is taking a very long time to return to the court… Inglewood, up to no good.

This light, unedited commentary accompanies today’s stories on the world famous InsideHoops.com NBA rumors page. Read that page each morning, and check back during the day as new stories develop. Also, talk with other fans on the web’s prime fan talk destination, the InsideHoops basketball message board.

The Bergen Record reports: Jared Jeffries and David Lee are in, along with Quentin Richardson, Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford. Zach Randolph and Fred Jones are out, and Nate Robinson will still come off the bench. Yes, Zach Randolph, the Knicks’ second-leading scorer (18.0 per game) and top rebounder (10.3). “It ain’t like I played my way out of the lineup,” Randolph said before Isiah Thomas trotted out his new starting five Wednesday vs. Orlando. “I’ve been playing good.”