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Month: November 2024

Execs Think Jabari Parker Won’t Enter Draft

January 21st, 2014 at 8:18am CST by Chuck Myron

TUESDAY, 8:18am: Parker’s father, Sonny Parker, tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv that his son has yet to make up his mind about the draft and will wait until after the college season to announce his intentions. The elder Parker says he doesn’t think his son spoke to Smith, though Smith’s news appears to have come from conversations with NBA executives and not Jabari Parker himself. Still, an executive tells Zagoria that he thinks there’s no way that Parker will stay in school. “Please,” the exec said. “He’s going top 3 and he’s coming out. Anything to the contrary is the ramblings of someone who couldn’t fit his column inches.”

MONDAY, 3:40pm: Executives around the NBA increasingly believe that ballyhooed draft prospect Jabari Parker will choose to stay an extra year at Duke rather than enter the NBA draft this June, according to Sam Smith of Bulls.com. Parker, who grew up in Chicago, is No. 3 on both the DraftExpress and ESPN Insider prospect rankings, and his absence from this year’s draft would deal a blow to teams banking on a top pick in what’s supposed to be one of the best classes in years.

The presence of Jahlil Okafor, a former AAU teammate of Parker’s who’ll enter Duke next season, is weighing heavily on Parker’s mind, the executives believe. Parker also places a high value on education and feels he owes it to Duke to contribute to a better season than the Blue Devils are having so far this year, Smith hears. Parker has also seen the benefits that staying in school has provided to NBA stars in the past.

Recruiting analyst Tom Konchalski told Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv in November, when Okafor revealed he would go to Duke, that he thought the decision might influence Parker to stay in college another year so they could play together. The idea seemed far-fetched at the time, but now it appears it could indeed come to fruition. Parker, a 6’8″ freshman forward, won’t have to make his call on this year’s draft until the spring, so there will be plenty of time for him to go back and forth.

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Western Notes: Marshall, Corbin, Crawford

January 20th, 2014 at 11:01pm CST by Cray Allred

Sean Highkin of USA Today looks at how Kendall Marshall is doing his best to shed his “bust” status. After being traded and cut just a year after being selected with the 13th pick in the 2012 draft, Marshall has worked his way from the D-League to the Lakers, and has performed better in coach Mike D’Antoni‘s offensive system. “I think it’s been great,” says Marshall. “It fits what I do well, it helps me get guys involved, and hopefully makes the team better.” Here are some more notes from around the Western Conference:

  • The fire under Tyrone Corbin‘s hot seat isn’t blazing, as league sources say that the Jazz like their coach despite the team’s struggles, per Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio.
  • League executives think that newly-acquired guard Jordan Crawford can benefit the Warriors, Amico writes. The 25-year-old is playing for his fourth team in his fourth season, and will become a restricted free agent this summer.
  • The Kings are still being very active in trade talks with GMs around the league, according to ESPN Insider’s Chad Ford [subscription only].
  • David Aldridge of NBA.com sees the Mavs as a potential suitor for Luol Deng, especially if the veteran forward leads the Cavs to a playoff spot before he hits free agency this summer.
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Eastern Notes: Green, Heat, Melo

January 20th, 2014 at 10:37pm CST by Cray Allred

Sam Young has signed with the Vaqueros de Bayamon team in Puerto Rico, per Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The former Pacers wing is currently playing in Australia, and will play out his season there before joining the Puerto Rican league. Here are some notes from around the Eastern Conference:

  • League executives believe the Celtics want to trade Jeff Green, according to Sam Smith of Bulls.com. Smith suggests Boston is “probably trying to persuade someone to take Gerald Wallace along with Green” at this point, but that he could be moved on his own eventually.
  • The opinion around the league is that the Heat – after bringing in guard Toney Douglas and shipping out center Joel Anthony – are not done dealing, per NBA.com’s David Aldridge. League sources believe Miami is looking to add another wing before February’s trade deadline.
  • Carmelo Anthony says he’s not losing hope that he can win a championship with the Knicks, per Al Iannazzone of Newsday. The star will opt out of his deal and become a free agent this summer, and there has been much speculation on whether he truly intends to re-sign with the Knicks at that point.
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D-League Notes: Canaan, Roberson, Rice Jr.

January 20th, 2014 at 8:42pm CST by Cray Allred

Playoff teams in both conferences have tweaked their rosters with some recent D-League maneuvers.  Here’s a look at the moves the Rockets, Thunder, and Wizards are making with their rookie players..

  • The Rockets have re-assigned point guard Isaiah Canaan to the Rockets’ D-League affiliate Rio Grand Valley Vipers, according to the Rockets’ official Twitter account. Canaan has spent a third of this season at Rio Grand Valley.
  • The Thunder called up shooting guard Andre Roberson from the Tulsa 66ers D-League squad, per NBA.com. Roberson is only averaging 8.4 MPG, but has made four starts in place of Thabo Sefolosha when the latter has sat out due to injury.
  • The Wizards are sending shooting guard Glen Rice Jr. down to the Iowa Energy, per The Washington Post’s Michael Lee, in what head coach Randy Wittman described as a rehabilitation stint.
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Joel Embiid Unsure If He’ll Enter Draft

January 20th, 2014 at 7:10pm CST by Cray Allred

Joel Embiid’s entry into the 2014 draft isn’t a certainty, according to a report by ESPN’s Dana O’Neil.  The 7-foot center has been a consensus top-five pick all year, and recently rose to the number one overall spot on ESPN Insider Chad Ford’s Big Board [subscription only]. Despite performing at a high level and gaining momentum with scouts, the Cameroonian says he isn’t sure this will be his last season with Kansas.

“I don’t know if I feel like I’m ready for all of this,” Embiid is quoted as saying, acknowledging his inability to drive a car, eat well, and other elements that go along with the pro game. His hesitancy is not just based on life practicalities, either. He has studied other skilled big men that have thrived in the league, concluding: “All of the great big men went to college at least two or three years. I think it’s a big factor. I don’t know if it will always work, but I think it’s the best choice.”

Embiid is averaging 11 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks in his freshman year. The report of his uncertainty comes on the heals of the news that NBA executives are increasingly expecting fellow top-5 projected prospect Jabari Parker to stay at Duke another year as well.

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Wizards Expected To Pursue Greg Monroe

January 20th, 2014 at 6:07pm CST by Cray Allred

The Wizards are interested in the Pistons’ Greg Monroe, either by trade this season or as a restricted free agent in the offseason, per Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. The Wizards have cap room next year, when an extension for Monroe would kick in. Marcin Gortat, the Wizards’ current starting center, will also be a free agent at that point.

When the Pistons signed Josh Smith last summer, it created a very big starting five in Detroit, with Andre Drummond at center, Monroe at power forward, and Josh Smith at small forward. This lineup has had spacing issues in a league increasingly dependent on the three-point shot. Smith is near the bottom of the league’s long-distance shooters at .239 from deep, and the team’s 17-24 start hasn’t silenced questions about the long-term viability of the unconventional roster.

Drummond is highly prized and on the second year of his rookie deal, and Smith has three years remaining after this season on his four-year, $54MM contract. The 23-year-old Monroe will be a restricted free agent next year, and has averaged 13.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.2 steals over his three-plus years in the league. Our readers voted Monroe the most likely to be traded from the Pistons yesterday, and Kennedy says the Pistons’ front office is considering whether to do just that: “Rival executives have said that there is “turmoil” within the organization and that they haven’t decided what to do as the deadline approaches.”

The Pistons are still in contention for the eighth seed in the weak Eastern Conference, and they are expected to be active before the trade deadline. Whether the front office tries to bolster the current foundation, or deconstructs some of the “ill-fitting pieces” such as Monroe could be determined by the team’s performance in the near term.

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Dirk Nowitzki Will Likely Re-Sign With Mavs

January 20th, 2014 at 4:10pm CST by Zachary Links

Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki is one of many big names who will hit the open market in 2014, but don’t expect him to change uniforms in the fall.  Nowitzki told Sport1 in a recent interview that he will likely re-sign with Dallas on a two or three year deal, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (via Twitter).

“In the summer I will be free agent and likely extend the contract for two or three years,” Nowitzki told the German TV outlet, according to Sportando’s translation. “As long as the body supports me, it is still fun to play basketball. After the new contract I will be 38 or 39 and I will probably stop. For a few years it will work out all right.”

Recently, outspoken Mavs owner Mark Cuban said that he didn’t expect Nowitzki to ask for too much money on his next contract and added that he would do everything in his power to keep him “forever.”  The former regular season MVP and NBA Finals MVP also touched on his relationship with Cuban in the interview.

“It is clear that our relationship is amicable. We had so many ups and downs together. The championship was the best part. Mark has always supported me. Even when things were not going well, he has always told me: ‘You are and will remain my franchise player,'” the 35-year-old said.

The 7-footer is averaging 21.2 PPG with 5.8 RPG per contest this season and is showing no signs of slowing down.  Nowitzki’s PER of 23.5 is his best in years, even edging his 2010/11 mark.

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Covington Tops List Of Long D-League Stints

January 20th, 2014 at 3:04pm CST by Chuck Myron

Robert Covington didn’t really know what he was missing while he toiled away on a 72-day assignment to the D-League, by far the longest any NBA player has endured this season. The power forward from Tennessee State had yet to make his NBA debut, so when the Rockets finally called him up to the big club on Saturday, the moment had to be extra sweet. He got into Houston’s 10-point win over the Bucks that night for a scant 54 seconds, but that was still no doubt a welcome appearance for the 23-year-old.

Covington at least had someone to commiserate with for most of his time with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Teammate Isaiah Canaan spent 45 days there until the Rockets called him up last month. Now that Patrick Beverley is ready to return from his broken hand, Houston has once again assigned Canaan to the D-League, the team announced today via Twitter.

Canaan would surely like to avoid joining Jared Cunningham of the Hawks as the only player to have two separate D-League stints of more than two weeks this season, as noted in the list below. Cunningham’s second lengthy assignment is still active, as he’s been with the Bakersfield Jam since New Year’s Day.

Here’s every D-League assignment of 15 days or longer this season, ranked by number of days:

The Hoops Rumors list of D-League Assignments and Recalls was used in the creation of this post.

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Eastern Notes: Bogans, Bucks, Nets, Rice

January 20th, 2014 at 1:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

A source tells Steve Bulpett of the Boston Globe that Keith Bogans intends to “stick it out” with the Celtics this season, seemingly indicating the guard isn’t thinking buyout (Twitter link). The C’s and Bogans agreed to have the 33-year-old stay away from the team as Boston pursues takers for him via trade. It wouldn’t really be a surprise if Bogans doesn’t want to do a buyout, since that would mean giving up some of his more than $5MM in guaranteed salary for the season, the largest take of his career. Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Bucks owner Herb Kohl is signaling to the team’s management that he’s ready to give up the pursuit of a playoff berth this season, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com writes in his latest Insider-only “Tank Rank” column. That contradicts what we heard earlier from Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio, who says the team would be “more than willing” to trade for veteran help.
  • Mark Deeks of ShamSports breaks down the trade agreement between the Bulls, Nets and Pelicans in a piece for SB Nation, noting that the cash Brooklyn is sending to New Orleans will be enough to cover the rest of Tyshawn Taylor‘s contract, which expires at season’s end. He also says the Nets briefly looked into a deal for Jazz point guard John Lucas III, echoing a report from July.
  • The Wizards assigned Glen Rice Jr. to the D-League today, the team announced (Twitter link). It’s a rehab stint for the rookie as he makes his way back from a fractured right wrist, coach Randy Wittman says, according to Michael Lee of The Washington Post. Wittman also says it’s possible the team will send No. 3 overall pick Otto Porter to the D-League at some point, too.
  • The Sixers will decide within the next two or three days whether to bring back Dewayne Dedmon on a second 10-day deal, coach Brett Brown told reporters, including Tom Moore of Calkins Media (Twitter link). The center’s deal expires after Thursday night.
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Bulls Re-Sign Cartier Martin

January 20th, 2014 at 11:17am CST by Chuck Myron

11:17am: The Bulls hope to sign Martin for the season once his second 10-day deal expires, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link).

10:30am: Martin’s deal with Chicago is official, the team has announced.

8:00am: The Bulls and Cartier Martin have agreed on a second 10-day contract, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.com. His first 10-day expired last night.

Martin appeared in three games for an average of 13.7 minutes on his first deal with Chicago, averaging 5.0 points per game with a 15.9 PER over that diminutive sample size. The 29-year-old small forward spent most of the season with the Hawks, for whom he averaged 6.6 PPG in 17.5 MPG, with a 10.1 PER. Atlanta waived him on the final day before his contract would have become guaranteed for the entire season.

The Bulls have only 12 other players, so they’d have had to bring on someone else within 14 days if they weren’t re-signing Martin. Teams can carry fewer than 13 players for no more than two weeks at a time. Martin says he had interest from other clubs before he initially signed with Chicago, so it behooves the Bulls to strike quickly to retain the ASM Sports client.

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