2012 October | Hoops Rumors

Pistons Pick Up Options On Knight, Monroe

October 22nd, 2012 at 12:19pm CST by Luke Adams

In addition to making a pair of roster cuts earlier today, the Pistons have also exercised two team options on players for 2013/14. Keith Langlois of Pistons.com reports (via Twitter) that Detroit has picked up Brandon Knight's third-year option and Greg Monroe's fourth-year option.

Knight, who is earning about $2.68MM in 2012/13, his sophomore year, is now set to earn a guaranteed $2.79MM in 2013/14, while Monroe will receive a guaranteed $4.09MM in '13/14. The Pistons will have an additional year of control on Knight, who is eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2015. Monroe, however, will become a restricted free agent in 2014 if he's not extended by Detroit next summer.

To follow all this offseason's decisions on 2013/14 rookie contract options, be sure to check out our tracker, which we'll keep updated as teams officially announce their moves.

Pistons Waive Terrence Williams, Jonny Flynn

October 22nd, 2012 at 11:39am CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons have officially released camp invitees Terrence Williams and Jonny Flynn, according to Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News (via Twitter). The cuts leave the Pistons with 15 players under contract.

Both Williams and Flynn were lottery picks in the 2009 draft, but hit free agency a year early after the fourth-year options of their respective rookie contracts weren't picked up by the Rockets last season. While neither player has lived up to expectations since coming into the league, Williams and Flynn had productive stretches as bench players in their three-year careers. Still, it was an uphill battle to earn a roster spot in Detroit, where the Pistons already had 15 guaranteed contract on their books.

If both players clear waivers, they'll become unrestricted free agents, free to sign with any team.

Pacers Exercise Option On George, Release Three

October 22nd, 2012 at 11:30am CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers announced a series of roster moves today in a press release, formally exercising their 2013/14 option on Paul George and releasing three players: Luke Nevill, Sundiata Gaines, and Blake Ahearn.

The three cuts reduce the Pacers' roster to 15 players, though it's unclear if the club will carry a full 15-man roster into the regular season. Camp invitee Ben Hansbrough is still on the roster, on a fully non-guaranteed contract, and wasn't considered likely to make the team. Sam Young also has a contract that only has a small guarantee, though he appears a much stronger bet to stick around.

While Nevill had a fully non-guaranteed deal, both Ahearn and Gaines had $25K guarantees on their contracts, so the Pacers will take a very small cap hit for both players.

As for George, he was the only Pacer with an option decision pending for 2013/14. That will be the final year of his rookie contract, and he'll earn a guaranteed $3.28MM salary before potentially becoming a restricted free agent in the summer of 2014. The Pacers will also have the opportunity to sign him to a long-term extension in the 2013 offseason.

Thunder Waive Walker Russell

October 22nd, 2012 at 11:18am CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder have waived camp invitee Walker Russell Jr., according to John Rohde of the Oklahoman (via Twitter). Oklahoma City had been carrying 19 players, so the move reduces the roster to 18 players, with more cuts to come over the next week.

Russell, who signed with the Thunder three weeks ago, has played for a number of teams overseas and in the D-League since going undrafted in 2006. He finally made his NBA debut last year for the Pistons, averaging 3.0 PPG and 2.1 APG in 12.8 MPG.

As Royce Young of Daily Thunder wrote last week, Russell was an extreme long shot to make the regular-season roster, so the move doesn't come as a surprise. As our list of partially guaranteed contracts suggests, the 6'0" guard had been the only player in Thunder camp without any form of guarantee. The team will need to cut three additional players from a group that includes DeAndre Liggins, Daniel Orton, Andy Rautins, and Hollis Thompson, each of whom has at least a small guarantee on his contract.

NBA GMs Weigh In On 2012/13 Season

October 22nd, 2012 at 10:48am CST by Luke Adams

The results are in on NBA.com's annual survey of the league's general managers, with all 30 NBA GMs weighing in on dozens of questions about the 2012/13 season and the 2012 offseason. We won't round up all of their answers here, so feel free to check out the full results at NBA.com, but here are a few of the more notable responses:

70% of respondents believe the Heat will repeat as NBA champs, while 96.7% think Miami will win the Eastern Conference. Since GMs aren't allowed to vote for their own teams, that means the rest of the league's 29 GMs picked the Heat to come out of the East.
The Lakers are the favorites to come out of the West, earning 60% of the votes. The Thunder (36.7%) and Nuggets (3.3%) were the only other teams mentioned.
LeBron James is the player most GMs would start a franchise with, earning 80% of the votes.
86.2% of GMs believe the Lakers made the best offseason moves, with Dwight Howard (70%) and Steve Nash (20%) earning the most votes for the summer addition who will make the biggest impact. Los Angeles' sign-and-trade for Nash was also voted the summer's most surprising move.
Besides the Lakers, the other teams receiving votes for the best offseason roster moves were the Nets, Hawks, and Warriors.
The Nets (62.1%) ran away with the votes on which team will be most improved, while Andre Iguodala (16.7%) topped the choices for most underrated acquisition — the Celtics' duo of Jason Terry and Courtney Lee also received support in that category.
Anthony Davis (76.7%) and Gregg Popovich (80%) were the runaway picks for rookie of the year and the NBA's best coach, respectively.

Hoops Rumors Features

October 22nd, 2012 at 10:11am CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors passes along the latest news and rumors on NBA player movement 365 days a year, but those aren't the only updates you'll see on the site. On our right sidebar, you'll find a number of additional features and featured posts. Here's a rundown of a few of them:

Our Free Agent Tracker features up-to-date details on this summer's free agent signings, with data sortable by team, position, contract years, and contract amount.
We also have free agent lists for both next summer, and the summer of 2014, which will continue to be modified as needed.
Our tracker for 2013/14 rookie-contract options follows teams' decisions as they exercise options in advance of next Wednesday's deadline.
Using our 10-day contract tracker, you can find any 10-day contract signed since 2007, sorting by player, team, year, and other variables.
Every Thursday at 4:00pm CT, Luke Adams answers readers' questions in a live chat. You can check out transcripts of past chats here.
Our list of outstanding traded player exceptions is updated whenever a trade exception is used or expires.
We're also tracking teams' amnesty provisions — using our complete list, you can check to see which clubs have used the amnesty clause and which will carry it into next summer.
The Hoops Rumors glossary helps explain some of the more complex concepts in the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Our ongoing Extension Candidate series provides a look at a handful of players that could have their contracts extended before the season begins.
Zach Links rounds up the best of the blogosphere every Saturday in his weekly Hoops Links feature.
If you're looking to catch up on a few days worth of content, our Week in Review posts round up the week's news and rumors, while our Hoops Rumors Originals posts recap the site's original content for the week. Both round-ups are published every Sunday.
Be sure to check out the Featured Posts section on the right sidebar for more original pieces from the Hoops Rumors writing team. Recently, we listed the longest-tenured GMs in the NBA, examined the teams that have designated franchise players, and recapped all the trades made this offseason.

Categories:
Uncategorized

Kevin Pritchard Talks Pacers Offseason, Outlook

October 22nd, 2012 at 8:47am CST by Luke Adams

As Steve Kyler writes today at HoopsWorld, the Pacers have flown under the radar a little this offseason, with other Eastern Conference teams getting most of the attention. While Indiana may not have made the splash that the Nets, Knicks, Celtics, and other clubs did, new GM Kevin Pritchard suggests that Indiana shouldn't be ruled out, noting that his players "tasted a little success and they liked it." Here are a few of the other comments Pritchard made to Kyler about the Pacers' offseason:

On trying to improve the roster when their rivals are doing the same thing:

"It’s challenging. It’s a lot easier to say, 'Hey, we’ll just get a little bit better, we’ll just work on getting better,' because everybody is trying to do that. I mean, the East has got some tough teams: Boston, New York, obviously Miami, everybody is going to be shooting for them, Brooklyn, Atlanta, a couple of other teams are pretty good. It’s going to be a tough conference to play in. Chicago, they’re getting [Derrick] Rose back. It’s a tough conference and you got to play as a team and I think that’s the biggest thing for us. We have to play as a team, our chemistry is so important to us.

On the Pacers' main goal this summer:

"What we always wanted is to have a good team and bring our starters back. That’s what we really wanted. That was goal number one and we did that."

On adding Gerald Green and other high-energy bench players:

"When you’re talking about playing some of the elite teams in the East, you’ve got to be athletic. You have got to be athletic at the rim. You have got to be athletic on the wing. D.J. [Augustin] and Ian [Mahinmi] really give us some of that athleticism. They have got to incorporate their games into what [our] guys have done and the starters have done. It’s still a process and we’re still working on it. We like what we’ve seen so far, but it’s a marathon."

On his outlook for the team this season:

"I think what we have is some very good veterans and then we’ve got some up-and-coming players. Paul George, Gerald and Ian, I think those guys have the opportunity to get better. I don’t think they’ve plateaued. I don’t think they’ve made it where they want to be. As long as they keep making steps forward, we have a chance to sustain success and that’s what we’d like to have."

Categories:
Indiana Pacers

Knicks Notes: Amare, Copeland, Point, Prigioni

October 21st, 2012 at 11:11pm CST by Alex Lee

Carmelo Anthony makes his return to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse tomorrow night when they take on the Sixers in their fifth preseason game. The Knicks currently stand at 2-2, but announced today that Amare Stoudemire will miss two to three weeks with a ruptured cyst behind his left knee. While the time period isn't devastating, it is another medical issue for the oft-injured Stoudemire. Here are some other notes from the Knicks preseason:

Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York posts his reaction to the Stoudemire news, reiterating that it is not a serious injury and the time off may help a knee that was still recovering from a bone bruise on October 10. Zwerling also says to expect Kurt Thomas to start and Chris Copeland to make the team.
Keith Schlosser of KnicksJournal.com mentions Copeland and Steve Novak as two candidates to step up in Stoudemire's absence. On Saturday night, Copeland exploded for 34 points in Boston on 11-for-18 shooting and has impressed throughout the preseason.
Stephen Brotherston of HoopsWorld takes a look at the Knicks point guard situation, where the team has replaced Jeremy Lin with a trio of veteran guards that have 42 combined years of pro hoops experience in Jason Kidd, Raymond Felton and Pablo Prigioni.
Speaking of Prigioni, Nate Taylor from the New York Times writes that Suns big man and fellow Argentinian Luis Scola gave him the final push that he needed to come over from the Euroleague and join the Knicks. Prigioni, at 35, is the oldest rookie to enter the NBA in the last 40 years.

Celtics Notes: Offseason, Allen, Barbosa, Bradley

October 21st, 2012 at 10:25pm CST by Alex Lee

It seems hard to steal the NBA's offseason headlines without landing a star these days. While the Celtics didn't do that, the team had an extremely effective offseason, adding Jeff Green, Jason Terry, Courtney Lee, Leandro Barbosa and drafting Jared Sullinger, Fab Melo and Kris Joseph. Chuck Myron posted some Celtic-specific links this morning, and here are a couple more:

Doc Rivers said the Celtics will carry 15 players and that the team will announce the final cuts soon, tweets A. Sherrod Blakely. Blakely also says that Kris Joseph will get the 15th spot, meaning Rob Kurz and Micah Downs will be cut. We will keep an eye out for official word from the C's in the coming days.
Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald tweets that he doesn't think that Kurz and Downs will be on the Celtics roster for much longer. The signing of Leandro Barbosa seems to have closed the door on their roster hopes.
In this CSN New England video, former NBAer turned
Celtics analyst Donny Marshall addresses Ray Allen's comments over the weekend
that the Celtics put him in a position where he had to leave.
Marshall, who played 119 games for the Cavs and Nets, said it is easy to blame
the player, but many times the teams are just as much at fault in situations like this one.
We heard earlier that Barbosa talked to the
Lakers before joining the Celtics. While the newly-signed Barbosa won't be
playing for the team until his visa issues are resolved, the veteran guard has said all the right things since arriving in
Boston, writes Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston.
Jimmy Toscano of CSN New England caught up with Avery Bradley, who is now shooting every other day to work his way back from two offseason shoulder surgeries. Bradley is on track to come back in mid-December and while the team is deeper than they were last year, Bradley is hoping to come back stronger than ever: "I just have to be ready for my team. If I'm starting, I'm starting. If I'm not, I'm not. I just have to be prepared for what Doc wants me to do, and I'm going to. Like I tell everybody, I'm going to come back stronger than last year."

Northwest Notes: Kirilenko, Carroll, Faried, Kanter

October 21st, 2012 at 9:57pm CST by Alex Lee

While the Thunder's 108-101 win over the Nuggets in Oklahoma City was the only Northwest game action tonight, that doesn't mean there isn't plenty going on within the division. Here are some other things happening in the Northwest:

Blazers coach Terry Stotts said that the team's final roster decisions will not be made until next week, tweets Ben Golliver of Blazers Edge. The Blazers haven't made any cuts of late, and their roster still stands at 21. They need to get to 15 by October 31.
David Harkins of the Winnipeg Sun writes that Andrei Kirilenko has begun to get comfortable in Minnesota, and the 6'9" Russian is extremely excited for the upcoming Timberwolves' season.
DeMarre Carroll and his improved jump shot are vying for a spot in the Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin's regular rotation, says Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune. "Last year, Utah gave me a chance and I took advantage of my opportunity," Carroll said. "This year, coach has me in the rotation and I want to keep giving him faith that he can put me in the game — at any time of the game."
The play of Enes Kanter has been a pleasant surprise for the Jazz this preseason, and at least some of it can be attributed to the mentorship of fellow big man Al Jefferson, writes Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune. Oram adds that with Jefferson set to be a free agent after the season, Kanter's development will be a major factor in what the team decides to do.
After a successful rookie season, it is apparent that Nuggets power forward Kenneth Faried has the tools and attitude to become one of the NBA's best rebounders, writes Benjamin Hockman of the Denver Post. Faried averaged 7.7 rebounds in only 22.5 minutes per game, but figures to get increased playing time this season. In seven playoff games, he averaged 10.0 rebounds in 27.4 minutes.

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