Month: December 2024

How do you upstage the NBA Draft?  It's pretty easy.  All you have to do is acquire Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in a blockbuster trade with the Celtics.  The deal won't be finalized until July 10th, but the trade will send Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, MarShon Brooks, Kris Joseph, Keith Bogans, and three future first round picks for KG, Pierce, and Jason Terry.  The trade made it clear that the Celtics are serious about a full rebuild and that the Nets are completely wiling to mortgage the future to win right now.  Here's more from the week that was..

• No one knew who the Cavs were going to select with the No. 1 pick and they shocked everyone by taking UNLV forward Anthony Bennett.  The surprises didn't stop there as the Bobcats took Indiana's Cody Zeller at No. 4 and Nerlens Noel fell all the way to No. 6.  You can get caught up on the full results of the draft right here.
• The Celtics and Clippers finalized their deal to send Doc Rivers to Los Angeles.  Rivers will have final say over all personnel decisions.  Meanwhile, the league has barred the Clippers and Celtics from making any trades through the 2013/14 season. 
• Noel wasn't sporting a Pelicans cap for long as he was quickly shipped to the Sixers, along with a 2014 first-round pick, for Jrue Holiday.  A center recovering from injury in Philadelphia – what could go wrong?  For what it's worth, one exec says that the Kentucky product is actually healthier than Bennett and Alex Len, so injury concerns aren't behind his slip.
• The Knicks reached agreement on a deal with Toronto for Andrea Bargnani, but it has hit a snag.  
• The Rockets are shopping Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin.  They're also increasingly confident that they'll sign Dwight Howard,
• The Blazers acquired Thomas Robinson from the Rockets.
• The Mavs declined to make a QO to Darren Collison.
• The Hawks won't give Ivan Johnson a qualifying offer.
• The Nuggets made Brian Shaw their next head coach.
• The Grizzlies promoted Dave Joerger to head coach. 
• It's wrapped up: Chris Paul is staying.
• LaMarcus Aldridge would prefer to be traded to a contender but he's not opposed to returning to Portland.  If he does get moved, the big man is said to like the Bulls.
• The Jazz acquired the No. 9 overall pick Trey Burke from the T'Wolves for the No. 14 and 21 selections which turned out to be Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng.
• A draft night swap landed Ricky Ledo with the Mavs.
• The T'Wolves appeared close to trading for Brooks but he wound up going to Boston.
• Minnesota is unlikely to trade Derrick Williams.
• The Jazz bought the rights to French big man Rudy Gobert from the Nuggets.
• Want Eric Gordon?  Word is, he's very available.
• The Pacers, Bucks, and Knicks all like Tony Allen.
• The C's waived Terrence Williams.
• The Pelicans have strong interest in Andre Iguodala.
• The Raptors are going after Eric Bledsoe.
• The Nets put an experienced staff around Jason Kidd, headlined by Lawrence Frank.
• The Wolves extended a qualifying offer to Nikola Pekovic.
• Andre Iguodala offically opted out.
• Carl Landry decided to opt out of his deal and find something better than the $4MM he would have made.
• Larry Bird is staying on as president in Indiana.
• The Bulls, who dangled Luol Deng to the Wizards for the No. 3 pick, may or may not have discussed an extension with him.
• Trevor Ariza is going to opt in with the Wizards seeing as how he won't get $7MM+ anywhere else.
• The Celtics will target lower-profile coaches to replace Rivers.
• The Raptors declined their option on John Lucas III.
• Bryan Colangelo's new job in Toronto didn't last long and he has decided to leave that position.
• The Lakers aren't expected to retain Chris Duhon or Devin Ebanks.
• Bobcats GM Rich Cho says he's not shopping Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
• The Clippers and Blazers discussed DeAndre Jordan.
• The Magic were close to trading the No. 2 pick twice and could re-visit the Eric Bledsoe talks with the Clippers.  The Thunder were one of the clubs making a run for that second overall pick.
• Orlando has competition for Bledsoe: the Pelicans, Raptors, Pistons, and Mavericks also have interest in the Clippers guard.
• Suns GM Ryan McDonough says he won't trade Marcin Gortat.
• Nate Robinson and the Bulls are likely to part ways.
• The Nets like Kyle Korver but their interest in Jason Collins is either overstated or nonexistent.
• Jared Cunningham went to the Hawks on draft night, clearing up some extra space for the Mavs.
• The Bucks were dangling Brandon Jennings on draft night and have reportedly discussed a swap of Ekpe Udoh and Luke Ridnour with Minnesota.
• Ray Allen picked up his option with the Heat.
• The Wizards moved up in the draft to take Glen Rice Jr.
• The Bucks extended a QO to Jennings.
• The Wolves had a no-brainer QO situation as well, offering one to Nikola Pekovic.
• Boris Diaw opted in for his final year with the Spurs.
• The Wolves exercised their club option on Dante Cunningham.
• Jerryd Bayless will exercise his player option.
• Kwame Brown picked up his player option.
• Chris Copeland could get attention from overseas as well as other clubs this summer.
• Several teams are eyeing Copeland and teammate J.R. Smith.
• No surprise here, Ben Gordon triggered his player option.
• Bogans will make out like a bandit in the Nets-C's swap.
• The Trail Blazers got the rights to Allen Crabbe (No. 31 overall) from the Cavs for a pair of future second-round picks.
• The Warriors inquired on Kevin Garnett but they were beaten out by the Nets.