2014 NBA Draft Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Rumors: Randle, Nash, Stokes

August 20th, 2014 at 6:10pm CST by Cray Allred

In an interview with Mike Trudell of Lakers.com, new head coach Byron Scott gave thorough answers on the entire Lakers roster, including this year’s No. 7 pick Julius Randle. Despite the additions of Carlos Boozer and Ed Davis to Los Angeles’ frontcourt, Scott believes in Randle’s versatility and still envisions ample playing time for the rookie. “I love those attributes, being strong, big and quick for his size,” said Scott. “Julius will get plenty of chances to play a lot of minutes. We know he’s a rookie and needs to develop, and a lot of that will come in training camp and in practice. I think he’ll do just that.” Here’s more from the around the West, including more Lakers roster talk:

While Scott believes Kobe Bryant could play beyond the next two seasons if he wants to, he isn’t as optimistic about Steve Nash‘s longevity. “With Nash, it’s going to be interesting,” Scott said. “Steve hasn’t played a lot in the last year, and the clock is ticking. I did see him working out here a couple of days ago and he looked fantastic. He says he’s pain free for the first time in a while, and hopefully he’ll be healthy, number one, and hopefully he’ll be able to provide some things for us on the offensive end especially.”
Scott also thinks Wesley Johnson could earn a significant role on the team and experience a breakout year.
The first two years of Grizzlies rookie Jarnell Stokes‘ three-year contract are fully guaranteed, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.

DeAndre Daniels Signs With Australian Team

August 14th, 2014 at 4:25pm CST by Chuck Myron

AUGUST 14th: The deal is now official, according to an announcement on the Wildcats’ website.

AUGUST 9th, 6:05pm: Daniels confirmed that he was headed to Australia to reporters including Chris Robinson of Australian paper the Herald Sun. Daniels said he would play overseas for four months and then return to the Raptors, although in what capacity he would rejoin Toronto is unclear. The Wildcats managing director told Robinson that the deal still isn’t finalized.

AUGUST 7th, 9:52am: The 37th overall pick in June’s draft is believed to be nearing agreement with the Perth Wildcats of Australia, reports Shayne Hope of The West Australian (hat tip to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando). DeAndre Daniels would head down under in lieu of joining the Raptors this year. It’ll likely be a one-year deal, Hope writes.

Toronto GM Masai Ujiri signaled a month ago that his team probably wouldn’t sign Daniels for the upcoming season, and the Raptors had reportedly been helping the small forward find overseas work. Daniels would head to the same Australian team that last year employed James Ennis, the 50th pick in the 2013 draft, but it’s unclear if the Wildcats will give Daniels the same NBA escape clause that they afforded Ennis. Perth would have been on the hook for its salary to Ennis had he signed with the Heat, who owned his NBA rights, at any point last season.

Daniels would be the most highly drafted 2014 second-rounder to head overseas for this coming season, though a pair of first-round picks have done so, as our list of draft pick signings shows. The 22-year-old from Connecticut was a somewhat surprising selection at No. 37, since he was just the 59th-best prospect in the rankings that Chad Ford of ESPN.com compiled, and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress rated him 64th. The 6’8″ Daniels averaged 13.1 points and 6.0 rebounds in 29.0 minutes per game with 41.7% three-point shooting for the national champion Huskies this past season.

Western Notes: Clarkson, Thomas, Wolves

August 9th, 2014 at 9:42pm CST by Cray Allred

With a trade looming that will send Kevin Love to Cleveland, the many Western Conference contenders will have a more daunting team to potentially face in the Finals, and the Bulls are set to improve mightily as well. Still, the West features more proven juggernauts like the Spurs and Thunder at this stage. Here’s a look around the stronger conference:

Jordan Clarkson is expected to sign with the Lakers before training camp, reports Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. Clarkson was Los Angeles’ 46th pick in this year’s draft.
It appears DeShaun Thomas will play another year overseas, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reports the Spurs 2013 second-round pick is close to signing with an Italian team.
John Zitzler of Basketball Insiders says it’s time for Ricky Rubio to take on a leadership role for the Wolves now that Love is departing. Rubio has dazzled as a distributor, but will have to improve as a shooter to help Minnesota recover from the loss of Love, writes Zitzler.
Meanwhile, expectations will be sky high for Andrew Wiggins, whom the Wolves will acquire in the Love deal. Bill Self, who coached Wiggins at Kansas, tells Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune that the wing will be great, but still needs to be pushed. “He absolutely was too nice [before arriving at Kansas],” said Self. “And he’s still too nice. [Wolves coach Flip Saunders] will have to get more of that dog in him. He’s just young.’’

Suns Sign Tyler Ennis

August 8th, 2014 at 11:22am CST by Chuck Myron

The Suns have signed 2014 No. 18 pick Tyler Ennis, the team announced in conjunction with confirmation of its deal with 14th overall selection T.J. Warren. Ennis will likely make slightly more than $1.59MM this season, as our table of salaries for 2014 first-round picks shows.

The point guard from Syracuse made a run at becoming a top-10 pick before falling back. Still, the Raptors appeared to covet Ennis, a native of Ontario, eyeing him before the draft as well as after the Suns took him. Toronto has since re-signed Kyle Lowry and Greivis Vasquez, so it appears unlikely that they’ll continue to pursue him. The Suns have no shortage of point guards, either, but coach Jeff Hornacek frequently employs lineups that feature two point guards.

Ennis displayed efficent ball-handling in his lone season with the Orange, averaging 5.5 assists against only 1.7 turnovers per game, a ratio of better than 3-to-1. He also tallied 12.9 points in 35.7 minutes per contest. He was more turnover prone in the small sample size of his five-game summer league stint with the Suns, averaging 3.2 assists against 2.6 turnovers per game.

Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors was among those who thought Ennis would become a top-10 pick, citing the 19-year-old’s intangibles in his Prospect Profile, while our Alex Lee had him going to the Raptors at No. 20 in the latest version of the Hoops Rumors Mock Draft.

And-Ones: Kings, Felton, Knicks, Singleton, Oden

August 7th, 2014 at 2:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Lost in the noise surrounding the agreement between the Cavs and Wolves to send Kevin Love to Cleveland is a trade that actually became official Wednesday. The Kings can create a pair of trade exceptions from their deal with the Knicks, one worth $915,243 for Quincy Acy‘s salary, and another worth $228,660 for the difference between the salaries of Travis Outlaw and Wayne Ellington. The Knicks, limited in part because they’re a taxpaying team, can only make a tiny trade exception worth $32,920 for the difference between the three-year veteran’s minimum that Jeremy Tyler makes and the two-year veteran’s minimum that’s coming to Acy. Here’s more on the Knicks and other teams and players from around the league:

Mavs point guard Raymond Felton will serve a four-game suspension at the start of the regular season for his guilty plea to gun-related charges stemming from a February incident, the league announced via press release.
Knicks GM Steve Mills didn’t rule out further moves, but he said Wednesday that the team is satisfied with its backcourt situation after alleviating a logjam with the trade, as Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com chronicles.
The Wizards no longer have free agent Chris Singleton in their plans, a source tells J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. Singleton nonetheless turned down an overseas offer in hopes of landing an NBA job, and has dropped agent Bill Duffy of BDA Sports in favor of Todd Ramasar from Stealth Sports, Michael also reports.
The Heat were unlikely to re-sign Greg Oden before his arrest this morning on misdemeanor battery charges, and the incident probably ends any chance he had of returning to the team, as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes in a pair of tweets.
Mark Deeks of ShamSports clarifies an earlier report indicating that Jusuf Nurkic received less than the standard 120% of the rookie scale from the Nuggets. Denver is doling out the full 120%, but the team is using a portion of it to pay Nurkic’s buyout from his Croatian club, so while Nurkic is receiving less than 120% of the scale in actual salary, his cap figure will reflect that the Nuggets are paying 120%. The move is not unprecedented for a player picked as highly as Nurkic, who went 16th overall.

Xavier Thames Signs With Spanish Team

August 6th, 2014 at 8:48am CST by Chuck Myron

The 59th pick in this year’s NBA draft is headed overseas, as Xavier Thames has inked a deal with Baloncesto Sevilla of Spain, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). It’s not clear how long the contract is for or whether there’s a buyout involved that would allow him to join the Nets, who acquired his NBA rights in a draft-night trade with the Raptors.

The 6’3″ shooting guard had a breakout year as a senior at San Diego State, upping his scoring from 9.5 points per game to 17.6 PPG. It was nonetheless a mild surprise to see Thames sneak into the back end of the draft, since Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranked him as only the 76th-best prospect while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress pegged him 85th.

The 23-year-old is the only one of Brooklyn’s three second-rounders not to sign with the Nets this summer. Markel Brown, the 44th overall pick, and No. 60 selection Cory Jefferson are set to play with the Nets come fall, as our table of draft pick signings shows. Thames will team with potential 2015 top-10 pick Kristaps Porzingis on Sevilla, as well as head coach Scott Roth, who was an assistant for the Pistons this past season.

Lamar Patterson Signs With Turkish Team

August 5th, 2014 at 9:37am CST by Chuck Myron

The 48th overall pick in this year’s draft is headed overseas, as Lamar Patterson has signed with Tofas Bursa of Turkey, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The Hawks acquired the rights to Patterson on draft night, sending their 2015 second-round pick to the Bucks in exchange. The terms aren’t immediately clear, and whether the deal includes any sort of NBA escape clause is unknown.

“Lamar is in a good position to continue his development while playing meaningful minutes for a strong professional program next season,” Hawks GM Danny Ferry said in a statement from the team. “We have a great respect for the international game and will be closely monitoring Lamar’s progress with Tofas.”

The 22-year-old shooting guard acknowledged the chance that he would head overseas but indicated a preference for signing with the Hawks when he spoke last month with Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Patterson expressed excitement about the deal with Tofas Bursa while maintaining that his goal is to eventually play for Atlanta in his comments as part of the statement from the Hawks. It appears that the Hawks are content to stash both of their 2014 second-rounders overseas, since Edy Tavares, whom Atlanta drafted 43rd overall, is reportedly likely to stay with his team in Spain. Still, the Hawks brought 2013 second-round pick Mike Muscala aboard in the middle of last season, so there’s precedent for Atlanta to sign Patterson or Tavares before next summer.

Patterson averaged just 6.0 points in 25.3 minutes per game across six summer league appearances in July for Atlanta, but he was an all-around threat as a senior for the University of Pittsburgh this year. He notched 17.1 PPG in 32.6 MPG while also putting up 4.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists per contest with 38.8% three-point shooting in his final campaign for the Panthers.

Western Notes: Cousins, Gasol, Nurkic, Blazers

August 4th, 2014 at 2:45pm CST by Chuck Myron

DeMarcus Cousins feels like he’s behind in his career because of Sacramento’s inability over the years to find a team that fits around him, but he’s nonetheless ecstatic about what the Kings have done this offseason, as he tells Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee.

“I love what we’re doing. Love what we’re doing. [GM] Pete [D’Alessandro], he’s real aggressive, going after stuff, trying for players we probably have no chance at getting. One of these times we’re going to get lucky, and in the past we wouldn’t do that. Do you know how good that feels? Since [owner] Vivek [Ranadive], Pete, [coach] Michael [Malone], Mullie [team adviser Chris Mullin], [director of pro personnel] Mitch [Richmond] and those guys walked through the [expletive] door, things have been on the rise. I am totally behind it. Michael is like me; he sees everything in black-and-white. I love the fact Pete keeps trying stuff. I am totally behind all this. Rudy [Gay], the [Darren] Collison move, thinking Omri [Casspi] can stretch the floor. And the rookie, that kid [Nik] Stauskas can really play. He makes the game easy and has an impact even when he’s not scoring. I am so happy to be a part of this, of what we’re doing.”

Here’s more from around the West:

Marc Gasol can hit free agency next summer, but Grizzlies owner Robert Pera said Friday that the team is determined to keep him around for the rest of his career, observes Zach McMillin of The Commercial Appeal. Pera added that convincing Gasol that he can win a title in Memphis will be key, notes fellow Commercial Appeal scribe Michael Cohen.
No. 16 overall pick Jusuf Nurkic didn’t receive the standard 120% of the rookie scale when he signed with the Nuggets last month, and it’s believed that he’s the most highly drafted player ever to take such a discount, reports Mark Deeks of ShamSports. That’s especially surprising given that Nurkic has to pick up a portion of his buyout from Croatian team KK Cedevita. He’ll receive 108% of the scale amount this year and 107% in the second season, while the pair of team option years on his rookie scale contract are at the usual 120%, according to Deeks.
The Blazers don’t mind Damian Lillard‘s participation in Team USA activities this summer as much as they would take issue with players who compete for other nations, as The Oregonian’s Mike Tokito explains. That’s because Team USA doesn’t expect heavy minutes and practice time out of its players the way some countries do.

Eastern Notes: Bulls, Raptors, Ayon

August 4th, 2014 at 10:15am CST by Chuck Myron

The Eastern Conference playoff field for the upcoming season is difficult to predict. The Cavaliers and the Bulls seem like locks, but beyond that, all bets are seemingly off. A majority of Hoops Rumors readers believe the Pacers, conference finalists the last two years, will miss the postseason entirely this time around in the wake of Paul George‘s injury. Here’s the latest from the East:

Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf is prepared to move on after a report of discord between the team and star Derrick Rose, as Reinsdorf said Sunday in a radio appearance with Bruce Levine and Barry Rozner on WSCR-AM, notes Blake Schuster of the Chicago Tribune. Reinsdorf vehemently denied the existence of any tension, and Rose has also walked back some of his comments in the report.
The Raptors are assisting DeAndre Daniels in his efforts to find a team in Europe where he can play this season, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. Raptors GM Masai Ujiri has indicated that he’s anxious for Daniels, whom Toronto drafted 37th overall in June, to see playing time overseas, as Wolstat reported a month ago.
Free agent center Gustavo Ayon has dropped hints in the past that seemed to indicate that he envisioned a return overseas, but he tells the Mexican news agency Notimex that he’s prioritizing an NBA deal this summer over playing in Europe (translation via HoopsHype, hat tip to Gigantes del Basket). Ayon indicated that he’s turned down NBA offers and plans to choose a team after the FIBA World Cup concludes in September. The Hawks declined to tender a qualifying offer last month, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Vasilije Micic To Play In Germany

August 4th, 2014 at 8:06am CST by Chuck Myron

AUGUST 4TH: The deal is official, as Bayern Munich announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). It’s a three-year contract with an option for the final season, though it’s not entirely clear whether that’s a team option or a player option. The team also apparently makes no mention of an NBA buyout that would allow Micic to join the Sixers next summer.

JULY 21ST: Micic told Aco Lazarević of MVP.rs that the deal isn’t quite done yet, though he confirms he’s in the process of finalizing it (translations via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia and Orazio Cauchi of Sportando, on Twitter).

JULY 15TH: Sixers second-round draft pick Vasilije Micic has an agreement to play for Bayern Munich in Germany, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). The Serbian point guard was the 52nd selection in this year’s draft.

Remaining overseas was the likely outcome for the 20-year-old, who’s played the past few seasons with KK Mega Vizura in his native Serbia. Philadelphia will have no shortage of rookies for the coming season, even without No. 10 overall pick Dario Saric, who’ll also stay in Europe.