Month: November 2024

Dario Saric May Not Enter Draft

February 22nd, 2014 at 9:59am CST by Cray Allred

Dario Saric is only 50/50 to enter the NBA draft this year, acccording to a series of tweets from Jonathan Givony of Draft Express. Givony reports that there is a lot of confusion surrounding the Croatian small forward slated at number 9 in Chad Ford of ESPN‘s latest mock draft [subscription only].

A combination of factors are leading Givony to cast doubt on Saric’s draft entry. First, Saric doesn’t feel he’s ready for the NBA. He also isn’t happy with his draft projection and has reportedly fired agents in both Croatia and the US. Finally, the Barcelona GM was spotted at one of Saric’s recent games, fueling speculation that the international team will try and sign him to stay overseas this summer.

Saric would be old enough to join an NBA team immediately if drafted, but it remains a possibility that he could be drafted and play one or two years overseas while the NBA club that drafted him maintained his rights. It’s also possible that he could skip the draft altogether and enter for the first time when he feels more comfortable with his game and his draft stock. The 6’10” scorer/rebounder has produced well this year, and has ball-handling skills unique for a player his size.

Celtics Notes: Rondo, Free Agents

February 22nd, 2014 at 9:38am CST by Cray Allred

The Celtics and Lakers played last night, but there wasn’t nearly as much at stake as there usually is when the storied franchises meet. Both teams are struggling this season, although it has been more so by design in Boston. Here’s more from the team that usually resides a lot higher in the standings:

Rajon Rondo wasn’t upset by the trade rumors that spiked around the trade deadline, but he apparently didn’t rule out the possibility that he could be dealt, telling Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe in a subscription-only article, “I didn’t know what was going to happen.” It never appeared that the Celtics were open to moving him for anything in the ballpark of what teams were offering.
Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald thinks that Rondo’s detached leadership could hurt the Celtics, specifically players who are anxious when they hear their names swirling in trade rumors. Rondo says he doesn’t worry about reassuring players of their value to the team. “I don’t talk much about it,” he said. “We didn’t speak much about it as a team. [Coach Brad Stevens] announced it a couple of times in the meetings, but I didn’t say much about it.” Bulpett thinks Rondo should think more highly of his own voice within the organization, but the point guard doesn’t seem to think his input would change much. “You can’t worry about stuff you can’t control, you know? Everybody’s situation is different. I can’t worry about [Jeff Green] being traded, because it’s out of my control. He can’t worry about if I get traded. That’s just part of the game. It’s not the first trades that a lot of these guys have been through. We’ve all been through them, and when that time comes, it comes.”
In his “GM for a Day” series, Bradford Doolittle of ESPN Insider [subscription only] takes a look at the Celtics. Doolittle thinks that GM Danny Ainge is in no danger of growing impatient and trying to jump-start the rebuilding process at the expense of the team’s long-term plan. He also covers decisions that lie ahead for Boston, including whether they will still eventually trade Brandon Bass, if they will waive Gerald Wallace and absorb the remainder of his dubious contract, and the outlook for soon-to-be free agents Jerryd Bayless, Kris Humphries, and Avery Bradley.

Lakers Notes: Young, Bryant, Brooks, Bazemore

February 22nd, 2014 at 8:45am CST by Cray Allred

In their first game with the Lakers, new trade acquisitions MarShon Brooks and Kent Bazemore both played a season high in minutes, helping lead Los Angeles to a win over the Celtics. It will be interesting to watch whether the young, athletic guards continue to make the most of the opportunities coach Mike D’Antoni gives them. D’Antoni has built a reputation of giving players a chance to shine, even if they haven’t lived up to previous expectations as in the case with Brooks. Here’s some more from L.A.:

The main reason Brooks and Bazemore will have opportunity in L.A. is that the Lakers roster has been in shambles all year. Kobe Bryant will miss at least another three weeks, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. He will be re-evaluated again at the three-week mark, so there’s a strong likelihood he misses more time than that. Even a return this year isn’t a given for the 18-year veteran, and the plummeting Lakers don’t have any competitive reasons to rush him back now that they are all but eliminated from the playoff hunt.
Both Bazemore and Brooks say that playing on Kobe’s team is one of the more exciting aspects of the trade, reports Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times. “That’s a dream come true, growing up idolizing Kobe Bryant,” Bazemore said. Brooks offered, “I grew up a Lakers fan, a big Kobe Bryant fan, so I’m just excited to get to work.”
Nick Young wouldn’t comment on his player option for next year, which Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak believes the small forward will decline, per Mark Medina of Inside the Lakers (Twitter link). Young’s option is worth approximately $1.2MM, but there is mutual interest for a longer stay in Los Angeles, which will have plenty of cap space to work with should he opt out for a new deal.
In his “GM for a Day” series, Bradford Doolittle of ESPN Insider [subscription only] focuses on the Lakers. Doolittle explores upcoming Lakers decisions, including whether to agree to buyouts with veterans they were unable to move or try and squeeze value out of their Bird Rights this summer. He also touches on whether they will waive the beleaguered Steve Nash at season’s end with the stretch provision and whether they’ll re-sign Pau Gasol this summer.

Central Notes: Deng, Pacers, Bulls

February 22nd, 2014 at 12:13am CST by Cray Allred

Anthony Bennett appears to have turned around his season, averaging nearly 20 minutes per game this month for the Cavs, with a boost in production. “I’m just more relaxed on the court, going out there not really thinking about too much, not thinking about the plays or who needs to get the ball where. I just need to go out there play my game, play hard, rebound and then things will start flowing,” Bennett said, according to Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. Here’s a look at what else is happening around the Central Division:

Cavs guard Jarrett Jack was a heavily discussed trade candidate as the trade deadline came and went, but tells Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer that the rumors didn’t affect him much.
In the same piece, Luol Deng said that all of the contract talk from this year has been “exhausting,” and that his perspective on the Cavs is incomplete as he heads toward free agency, when he will decide whether to stay with the team that traded for him earlier this year: “It’s just the same thing everybody wants. The guy who brought me here [former GM Chris Grant] is not here, and now we have [current GM David Griffin] and Griff is an interim. Those two guys are who really brought me here. I really don’t know if Griff is going to be the GM or what’s going on. I know the direction the organization is going and how everything has been set up. I’ve been happy with that from day one.”
The Bulls might be interested in adding Ben Gordon if the Bobcats buy out his contract as expected, per Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. Gordon was an impact player for Chicago in his first five seasons in the NBA.
Speaking of the pool of players being bought out or waived, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said that any player added by Chicago won’t wind up a forgotten man on the end of the bench, per K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune.
The Pacers are sad to lose former face of the franchise Danny Granger after Thursday’s trade with the Sixers, but the team isn’t questioning the front office’s championship-or-bust mentality that brought about the trade, writes Mark Montieth of NBA.com.

Sixers Notes: Young, Draft, Granger

February 21st, 2014 at 10:27pm CST by Cray Allred

Thaddeus Young just played one of the best games of his career a day after surviving an exodus of Sixers players at the trade deadline. The Sixers, shorthanded and already the losers of nine in a row, still lost the game and further increased their lottery odds for next year’s draft. Here’s more from the franchise that seems most committed to “tanking” this year for future trade-offs:

Before the game, Young commented to reporters on the Sixers not trading him, including Tom Moore of Bucks County Courier Times (via Twitter). After a lot of speculation around his rumored dissatisfaction in Philadelphia and their willingness to move him, the 25-year-old power forward doesn’t sound necessarily upset, but still wants to play for a winner. “I was prepared to stay or go,” said Young. “I’ve always said I want to play on a winning team.” The question remains whether Philadelphia’s slew of assets can develop into anything close to a winning club by next year, when Young will be on the final year of his contract.
Sixers GM Sam Hinkie stated the obvious to reporters, including Tom Moore of Bucks County Courier News, that he will try and turn the Sixers’ $26MM cap space, two first-round picks, and five second-round picks in the upcoming draft into premium players. “I think we’ll have a whole set of interesting opportunities in June,” Hinkie said. “We are focused on what matters, on trying to build something for Philadelphia, on trying to plant seeds and to put this program in a place that we can compete when it matters. We thought (Thursday) was yet another step in that process.”
In the same piece, coach Brett Brown said “We have to be ruthless and get the right people here” in reference to the picks and cap room that took the place of Evan Turner, Spencer Hawes, and Lavoy Allen in deadline-day trades. Brown has previously said that the rebuilding process in Philadelphia has been more difficult than he anticipated.
Brown also said that he too will talk to newly acquired Danny Granger. Hinkie said earlier that he wanted to meet with Granger before granting the 30-year-old’s buyout wishes, and Brown says he’d like “to sit down with (Granger) and see what he wants.”

Western Notes: Rockets, Nash, Brooks

February 21st, 2014 at 8:35pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Rockets GM Daryl Morey is high on the athleticism and skill of trade acquisition Jordan Hamilton, as Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle observes. “He is really a highly-regarded prospect and hasn’t had a chance to emerge,” Morey said. “That is usually the kind of guy we do really well with, catch him before they get a chance and see them flourish with us.” Hamilton averaged 6.8 PPG and 3.4 RPG per game this season for the Nuggets and started 11 games.

Wizards Notes: Maynor, Davis, Jamison

February 21st, 2014 at 7:45pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Wizards saw trading Eric Maynor as an “imperative,” a source tells J. Michael of CSNWashington. That’s a strong indictment of his play, since Michael notes that Maynor didn’t cause trouble in the locker room. Maynor was never the team’s first choice last summer when they were seeking a backup for John Wall, he was just the first to accept their offer, writes Michael. Now that Andre Miller is on the roster, the team believes they have found the right player for them.

Knicks Notes: Durant, Udrih, Buycks

February 21st, 2014 at 6:46pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Knicks didn’t pull off a deadline trade, so they will need to look to the future in their quest to surround Carmelo Anthony with other star caliber players. This is assuming of course that ‘Melo decides to return to New York next season. If the Knicks re-sign Anthony for the maximum salary this summer and ink another maximum-salary free agent in 2015, they probably won’t be able to afford Kevin Durant in 2016, as Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com explains.

How Deadline Trades Worked Financially

February 21st, 2014 at 5:24pm CST by Chuck Myron

A source told the Plain Dealer on Thursday that in the hour leading up to the deadline, the negotiations are 10% about basketball and 90% about accounting (Twitter link). Much of the math has to do with trade exceptions, whether the deal involves using one, creating one, or both. Just about every trade that teams make provides the opportunity to create at least one new exception.

Teams can structure deals as they see fit, and sometimes there are multiple ways to create exceptions. We’ve sorted out seemingly the most favorable scenarios from each of this year’s deadline trades, as explained below. Teams don’t always take the intuitive path, so that’s why we’re treating these as exceptions a club CAN make or use, rather than ones they definitively have made or used.

For more information on how these exceptions work and the difference between a simultaneous and non-simultaneous trade, check out our Hoops Rumors Glossary entry on trade exceptions right here.

Nets-Kings

The Nets can’t create an exception from this trade, since the salary-matching rules for taxpaying teams are stricter than for non-taxpayers. That prevents Brooklyn from structuring the swap of Jason Terry for Marcus Thornton as a swap of its own, which the Nets could do if they weren’t in the tax. Such a move would have created an exception equal to the full salary of Reggie Evans.
The Kings can create an exception worth $2,424,687, equal to the difference between the salaries for Thornton and Terry. They can absorb Evans and his $1,695,635 salary into the Patrick Patterson exception worth $2,316,429. That would reduce the Patterson exception to $620,794.

Warriors-Lakers

Steve Blake‘s $4MM salary fits perfectly into Golden State’s $4MM Brandon Rush exception. That allows the Warriors to structure the offloading of MarShon Brooks and Kent Bazemore as separate, one-player non-simultaneous trades. That creates a pair of exceptions, one worth $1,210,080 for Brooks and another at $788,872 for Bazemore. The ability for Golden State to send out Brooks and Bazemore individually is what makes this deal legal in the first place, since the Warriors couldn’t have aggregated the salaries of Brooks and another player in any deal. That’s because it’s been less than two months since the Warriors acquired Brooks via trade from the Celtics.
The Lakers can create a $2,789,920 trade exception representing the difference between the salaries for Blake and Brooks. They can structure that part as its own transaction because Bazemore’s minimum salary can go into the minimum-salary exception.

Heat-Kings

This one is straightforward. The Heat can create a $884,293 exception equal to the amount of Roger Mason Jr.‘s cap hit.
The Kings don’t create an exception, but they used the minimum salary exception to absorb Mason without giving the Heat any player in return.

Wizards-Nuggets-Sixers

The Nuggets can absorb Jan Vesely‘s $3,340,920 salary into their Andre Iguodala exception worth $9,868,632, reducing the Iguodala exception to $6,527,712. That allows Denver to create a $5MM exception that’s equal to Andre Miller‘s salary. They could also leave the Iguodala exception alone and create a $1,659,080 exception equal to the difference between the salaries for Miller and Vesely, but that seems a less likely course.
The Wizards can treat the Miller-Vesely swap as its own transaction, and while they can’t create an exception from that, since Miller’s salary is greater than Vesely’s, Washington can get an exception that’s equal in value to Eric Maynor‘s salary of $2,016,000. Structuring the offloading of Maynor to Philadelphia as its own separate deal allows the Wizards to create that exception.
The Sixers don’t get any exceptions, since they didn’t relinquish any assets in the trade at all. The Wizards simply used Philadelphia as a dumping ground for Maynor, since the Nuggets didn’t want him. Keeping him while swapping Miller for Vesely would have left Washington over the tax line. The Sixers wound up with a pair of second-round picks for their trouble, and the deal also helped them exceed the league-minimum payroll of $52.811MM, which they’d been under all season. That’s of greater consequence to the Sixers players than the team itself, since the team would have had to split the difference between its payroll and the minimum payroll among the players if it hadn’t met the minimum by season’s end. Thus, Philadelphia’s four deadline moves mean the Sixers players will miss out what might have been tidy bonus checks.

Bucks-Bobcats

The Bucks can create an exception worth $3.25MM, the equivalent of Gary Neal‘s salary. They can do this by structuring their offloading of Neal as its own trade, with the swap of Luke Ridnour for Ramon Sessions and Jeff Adrien as another.
There doesn’t appear to be a way for the Bobcats to gain an exception through this trade, since the deal as a whole increases their payroll, and from their perspective, there’s no way to split the deal into workable separate transactions.

Spurs-Raptors

The Spurs can fold Austin Daye into the minimum-salary exception, creating an $1,463,000 exception worth the equivalent of Nando De Colo‘s salary.
The Raptors add salary in the two-player swap, so there’s no way for them to create an exception short of absorbing De Colo into their existing $4,583,432 Rudy Gay exception. That would reduce that exception’s value and create a diminutive $947,907 exception for Daye’s salary, which wouldn’t serve much of a purpose. So, it’s unlikely the Raptors are using or creating an exception here.

Nuggets-Rockets

The Nuggets can take Aaron Brooks into the minimum-salary exception to create a $1,169,880 exception equal to Jordan Hamilton‘s salary.
The Rockets add salary in the two-player swap, and they have no existing exceptions that would facilitate the creation of another, so there’s no way for them to gain an exception in this trade.

Clippers-Sixers

This deal involves only one player, so the Clippers can simply create a $947,907 exception that’s equal to the cap hit for Byron Mullens.
As mentioned above, this trade and Philadelphia’s other moves helped the Sixers exceed the minimum team payroll.

Clippers-Hawks

Much like L.A.’s trade with the Sixers, this trade involves just a single player under contract. The Clippers create an exception worth $884,293 that’s equal to the cap hit for Antawn Jamison.
The Hawks don’t create an exception, but they used the minimum-salary exception to absorb Jamison without giving the Clippers any player in return.

Cavs-Sixers

The trade wouldn’t work for the Cavs if it were split into smaller parts, and Cleveland adds payroll from the deal, so there’s no exception for the Cavs here.
The Sixers remain under the cap, so they don’t create an exception for the players they’re sending out. As mentioned above, this trade and Philadelphia’s other moves helped the Sixers exceed the minimum team payroll.

Pacers-Sixers

Indiana can’t split the deal into individual parts and still have it work, but the Pacers nonetheless gain a sizable $4,281,921 exception from the difference between Danny Granger‘s salary and the combined salaries for Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen.
The Sixers remain under the cap, so they don’t create an exception.

Basketball Insiders and ShamSports were used in the creation of this post.

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Odds & Ends: Miller, Neal, Cavs, Warriors

February 21st, 2014 at 4:02pm CST by Chuck Myron

In a radio appearance this morning with William Qualkinbush on WCCP-FM in Clemson, South Carolina, I praised the Pacers‘ acquisition of Evan Turner and deemed the inability of the Suns to find a taker for Emeka Okafor and his expiring contract a missed opportunity. There’s plenty more reaction to Thursday’s trade deadline amid our latest look around the NBA:

The Nuggets are relieved to move on from the Andre Miller situation, writes Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post. For his part, GM Tim Connelly took the high road when discussing the 37-year-old guard. “There’s always going to be issues that pop up,” said Connelly. “There’s no villain here. Unfortunately what happened, happened. We have to have the full support of our coach. I think it’s important that everyone understands that is Brian (Shaw)‘s locker room. (Miller) was out of character. He’s a pro. I’m sure he’s excited to move on to D.C. and help that team make a playoff push.“
Gary Neal didn’t see a whole lot of playing time with the Bucks and head coach Larry Drew acknowledged that the rapid progress of rookie Nate Wolters was partially responsible for that, writes Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel. Neal will now hope to see more burn with the Bobcats.
GM David Griffin says the Cavs will “take a swing at someone” in an effort to fill the open roster spot that Thursday’s trade created, notes Bob Finnan of The News-Journal.
The Warriors would have more interest in Earl Clark than Glen Davis, tweets Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group. Both hit waivers today and should become free agents on Sunday.
The Hawks have recalled Jared Cunningham from the D-League, the team announced. The 24th overall pick in 2012 has made 22 appearances for the Bakersfield Jam this year and only five for Atlanta.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

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