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Month: November 2024

Grizzlies, Tyrus Thomas Discuss 10-Day Deal

January 20th, 2015 at 2:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:14pm: Thomas is among several players Memphis is considering for a 10-day contract, as Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal writes in a subscription-only piece. The chances are 50-50 that the Grizzlies will sign Thomas, sources tell Tillery, who suggests that the greater level of hesitance exists on the power forward’s side, given the team’s deep frontcourt.

8:34am: The Grizzlies and Tyrus Thomas are having serious conversations about a would-be 10-day deal, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The former No. 4 overall pick last week joined the Iowa Energy, the D-League affiliate of the Grizzlies, when the Energy claimed him off D-League waivers, and Memphis worked him out prior to that move, Spears writes. The Grizzlies have an open spot on their NBA roster, so they wouldn’t need to make a corresponding transaction to add the 28-year-old power forward.

Memphis has been interested in Thomas for a while, having reportedly worked him out in November around the same time the Lakers also gave him an audition. Still, the former Bull and Bobcat hasn’t signed an NBA contract since Charlotte waived him using the amnesty clause in the summer of 2013. Thomas had nearly $18.083MM in salary remaining on his deal with the then-Bobcats, and that’s been coming his way even though it doesn’t count against Charlotte’s cap. So, there’s been no pressing financial need for Thomas to get back into the Association, though it appears he’s been making a concerted effort to do since having a cyst removed from his spinal cord last March and hiring agent Roger Montgomery this past fall. Thomas has averaged 14.0 points and 7.5 rebounds in 26.9 minutes per game in two appearances for the D-League Energy.

James McAdoo rejected a 10-day offer from the Grizzlies to sign one from the Warriors instead, and the same was true when JaMychal Green inked with the Spurs, according to Spears, who notes that Memphis has been looking to add a power forward (Twitter link). GM Chris Wallace and company have shown a willingness this season to see what it can get from former top-five picks who’ve fallen out of favor, having signed 2008 No. 2 selection Michael Beasley to a non-guaranteed contract prior to the preseason. Beasley failed to make the regular season roster, but it appears Thomas is close to doing so.

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Eastern Notes: Tolliver, Dawkins, Butler

January 20th, 2015 at 2:07pm CST by Chuck Myron

The release of Josh Smith is easily identifiable as the turning point for the Pistons, but the acquisition of Anthony Tolliver, which took place two days later, has benefited the team, too, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic examines. The deal appears to have helped all three sides, with the Suns on a roll just as the Pistons are and Tolliver having seen an uptick in playing time since his arrival in Detroit. Tony Mitchell, the player the Pistons gave up in the deal, has found a new home after the Suns let him go, as we passed along earlier today. There’s more on the Pistons amid the latest from the Eastern Conference:

  • The Celtics are reportedly meeting with Andre Dawkins this week as they mull signing him to a 10-day contract, but if they do, he’ll spend most if not all of his time with the C’s on D-League assignment, a league source tells A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com (Twitter link).
  • Retirement is far from the mind of 35-year-old Rasual Butler, who credits his time with the Thunder’s D-League affiliate in 2012/13 for his keeping his career aflame and helping spark his sudden resurgence with the Wizards this season, as he tells Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
  • Celtics coach Brad Stevens admires the Hawks, as Julian Edlow of WEEI.com observes while wondering whether the best path the Celtics can take back to contention involves following Atlanta’s egalitarian approach instead of chasing stars.
  • The Pistons are recalling Gigi Datome and Spencer Dinwiddie from the D-League, tweets Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Datome averaged 13.3 points in 25.3 minutes per game and made 6 of 13 three-point shots in his first-ever D-League action, while Dinwiddie has put up 13.0 PPG and 5.4 assists per game in 29.8 MPG across seven D-League games this season.
  • Heat camp invitee Chris Johnson has signed with Turk Telekom Ankara of Turkey, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The former LSU center, who’s not to be confused with the swingman by the same name from the University of Dayton, played in China earlier this season following his release from the Heat prior to opening night.
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Players In Multiple Trades Since 2014 Offseason

January 20th, 2015 at 12:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

Players in NBA trades probably shouldn’t become too comfortable with their new teams. The NBA makes it more difficult for teams to trade players who’ve already been in a swap within the last two months, but 14 players have been traded at least twice since the end of last season. That includes Scotty Hopson, who’s more notable for having been in four trades within a single offseason than for anything he’s done on an NBA court, and Alonzo Gee, who was in three trades between July and September.

The trend figures to continue. The Sixers apparently have an eye on trading Andrei Kirilenko, who came via trade with the Nets in December, and the Celtics are reportedly expected to look for trade partners willing to take on Tayshaun Prince, whom Boston acquired in last week’s Jeff Green swap. Boston has been involved in one trade or another involving eight of the 14 players on this list. The Cavs have had their hands on seven of them.

These players include guys who are no longer on NBA rosters, and others who wound up with yet another NBA team when the club that acquired them in the last of the series of trades put them on waivers, like Gee, who signed with the Nuggets after the Kings let him go. It doesn’t include players whose draft rights were included in trades, since those are often conveyed multiple times.

Here’s the complete rundown, with the players in alphabetical order and links to our posts on each trade:

* — Powell’s draft rights were traded from the Hornets to the Cavaliers on July 12th.

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Atlantic Notes: Prince, Galloway, Sixers

January 20th, 2015 at 11:05am CST by Chuck Myron

The last time the Knicks won a game, NBA teams had only pulled off one trade during the 2014/15 regular season. By the time New York snapped its 16-game losing streak Monday, there had been 11 trades, including the January 5th three-team swap with the Cavs and the Thunder that the Knicks were a part of. While we wait to see if the Knicks can make it back-to-back victories for the first time since early November, here’s the latest from the Atlantic Division:

  • It won’t be up to Brad Stevens to decide whether the Celtics keep Tayshaun Prince for the rest of the season, but the coach hopes Danny Ainge and his staff will retain the veteran forward, notes Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. The Celtics are expected to try to trade Prince, and they’re likely to arrange a buyout deal if no trade partner emerges, as Bulpett reported this past weekend.
  • The Sixers are the only team that voted against lottery reform this past fall that stands to benefit in this year’s draft from the measure’s failure, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller observes. Philadelphia would have a 96% chance at a top-five pick if it finishes with the league’s third worst record, which the team has now, as our Reverse Standings show. The Sixers would be in line for only a 56% chance at a top-five pick had the league’s lottery proposal passed, as Ziller explains.
  • Knicks 10-day signee Langston Galloway has been a bright spot in an otherwise dreary season for the team, as George Willis of the New York Post examines.
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Pacific Notes: Goodwin, Green, Jordan

January 20th, 2015 at 10:04am CST by Chuck Myron

Suns reserve shooting guard Archie Goodwin is frustrated with his lack of playing time amid Phoenix’s continued addition of guards, as he tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Goodwin cautioned that he understands all the guys ahead of him on the team are talented players and that he wants to maintain a professional attitude. Still, the 20-year-old is putting up a strong performance while on D-League assignment, and he tells Deveney that he won’t tolerate a limited NBA role next season.

“I don’t know what they’re doing,” Goodwin said. “Honestly, I really don’t. I guess they know what they’re doing — I can just play ball and let them make the decisions. I don’t know what the purpose is for it, but there is nothing I can do about it.”

Indeed, there isn’t much recourse for Goodwin, since his rookie scale contract runs through 2016/17, but he’s not the only one dissatisfied in Phoenix, even as the Suns have won 13 out of their last 17. Here’s more from Phoenix and elsewhere in the Pacific Division:

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Southwest Notes: Jones, Green, Pelicans

January 19th, 2015 at 10:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

Two months after fearing his NBA career would end prematurely, the Rockets‘ Terrence Jones is preparing to return, reports Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle. Still recovering from a nerve issue in his left leg, Jones has been going through intense workouts and plans to start playing again soon, though no firm date is set. “I am more active than I’ve been in so long,” Jones said.  “Being on the court feels real good and it’s a blessing to be able to  get up and down and finally move my leg a little and jump and do things with the basketball that I couldn’t do two months ago at all.”

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • Jeff Green has fit in smoothly since the January 12th trade that brought him from the Celtics to the Grizzlies, according to Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal. Green’s versatility and feel for the game have made an impression in Memphis. “He’s extremely smart and he’s picked up our stuff very quickly,” coach Dave Joerger said. “Now we’ve just got to keep building the chemistry amongst the players.”
  • Mike Conley said Green could be the missing ingredient the Grizzlies need to win the Western Conference, reports Tim Bontemps of The New York Post. “I think with us adding a guy like [Jeff] … but even before him, I thought we had a chance,” Conley said. “But now with him, I feel it gives us that much more of a boost, that extra confidence that we belong, we can really do it now for sure.” 
  • Pelicans coach Monty Williams tells John Reid of The Times-Picayune he has been doing a lot of self-evaluation as he tries to bring a winner to New Orleans. The Pelicans are 20-21, but haven’t managed three straight wins during the first half of the season. “I’ve always felt you should always look at yourself first as it applies to helping your team,” Williams said. ”Obviously our guys know if you play a certain way, it equals great success for us. At the same time, I have to make evaluations on what I’m doing and that’s not giving us a chance to be consistent. As frustrating as it is as a coach, I have to stay the course and make sure I get the right guys in the game.”
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And-Ones: Onuaku, Jackson, LeVert

January 19th, 2015 at 7:26pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Six NBA teams have shown interest in power forward Arinze Onuaku, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Onuaku, who was briefly with the Pelicans and Cavs last season and spent camp this past fall with the Pacers, recently turned down an offer to play in the Philippines as he continues his dialogue with NBA clubs, Kennedy adds (Twitter links).

Here’s more from around the league:

  • Reggie Jackson is open to signing his qualifying offer this summer in an attempt to align his unrestricted free agency with the summer of 2016, USA Today’s Sam Amick reports. Most league executives reportedly assume the salary cap will surge to around $90MM. Jackson is on pace to invoke the starter criteria, which would lift the value of his qualifying offer from to nearly $3.223MM to almost $4.434MM.
  • Michigan’s Caris LeVert will miss the remainder of the season after injuring his foot during Saturday’s contest against Northwestern, the university has announced. The junior is scheduled to undergo surgery this week to repair the damage. This will be the second such procedure on LeVert’s left foot, as he had a similar injury last May. LeVert is currently the No. 14 ranked prospect by DraftExpress.
  • ESPN’s Chad Ford (Twitter link), who has LeVert slotted No. 30 in his draft rankings, still projects the guard to be a late first round to early second round pick come this June, provided LeVert is healthy in time for his pre-draft workouts.
  • Former Kings coach Michael Malone isn’t expected to remain with the Wolves past Wednesday’s game against Dallas, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune reports (Twitter link). Malone has been acting as a special observer with the Wolves, but Flip Saunders, Minnesota’s president of basketball operations, doesn’t see Malone having a role with the team past this stint, Zgoda notes.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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Pacific Notes: Rivers, Green, Lin, Boozer

January 19th, 2015 at 5:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

The back-and-forth that preceded Doc Rivers‘ jump from the Celtics to the Clippers in 2013 was the product of a careful approach Rivers took to his Clippers contract, as Rivers tells Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. The coach knew then-owner Donald Sterling had resisted paying guaranteed salary to coaches he’d fired in the past, as Bulpett details.

“That was the delay, the contract,” Rivers said. “People don’t realize it, but the deal could have been done three weeks before it happened. … It’s the longest written contract in coaching history. Five different lawyers had to look at it. Even my lawyer sent it to another lawyer. That tells you the hesitation in who I was going to be working for.”

Rivers is on a different contract with the Clippers now after striking a five-year deal worth more than $50MM with new owner Steve Ballmer. There’s more from Rivers and Bulpett amid the latest from the Pacific Division:

  • Rivers, who also serves as president of basketball operations for the Clippers, won’t hesitate to admit a mistake and reverse course on a personnel move he’s made in the past if necessary, a lesson he learned from Danny Ainge, as Rivers says to Bulpett.
  • All signs point to the Warriors matching offers this summer for soon-to-be restricted free agent Draymond Green, even if it means shelling out a little more than they’d like and crossing the luxury tax line, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt and Sam Amick write.
  • The Lakers probably won’t be re-signing offseason acquisitions Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer when both enter free agency this summer, according to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times.
  • Austin Rivers has split with agent David Falk, notes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Rivers, whom the Clippers acquired via trade last week, hits unrestricted free agency this summer.
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Cavs Back Off Interest In Jordan Farmar

January 19th, 2015 at 5:07pm CST by Eddie Scarito

MONDAY, 5:07pm: The Cavs won’t pursue Farmar beyond their initial inquiry, Haynes tweets.

FRIDAY, 3:59pm: The Cavaliers have made inquiries about point guard Jordan Farmar, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group reports. The talks were classified as a “feeling out process,” according to Haynes’ sources. Farmar reached a buyout agreement with the Clippers earlier today, and barring the unlikely event that another team claims him off waivers, then Farmar could sign a deal with a new team as early as Sunday. The Cavs have also been mentioned in connection with free agent Nate Robinson, who reached a buyout agreement of his own with the Celtics recently.

Cleveland is seeking to add a backup point guard, Haynes reports. A.J. Price, who was the team’s third point guard on its depth chart, was waived earlier this month, leaving Matthew Dellavedova the lone backup on the team. The Cavs roster currently stands at 14 players, which means no corresponding roster move would be needed in order to sign another player. “We’re at 14. We’d like to address something there at that position,” Cavs GM David Griffin said. The Cavaliers are not in a rush to fill that last roster spot, but at the opportune time, they plan to snag another playmaker, Haynes adds. According to Haynes’ sources, Cleveland will be extensively evaluating point guards who are on the verge of being waived or bought out.

Farmar, 28, has career averages of 7.7 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 2.9 assists over 490 games. His career shooting numbers are .423/.374/.734. In 36 appearances for the Clippers this season, he has logged 4.6 PPG and 1.9 APG in a career-low 14.7 minutes per game.

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2015 Free Agent Power Rankings

January 19th, 2015 at 3:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

We’re in the midst of a wild trading season so far in the NBA, with 11 deals having gone down in a five-week span, and it all sets the stage for a deep crop of players who can hit free agency this summer. The names listed under “honorable mention” below show just how much talent is poised to become available, and the top 10 in the latest Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings are a star-studded bunch. Here’s where they stand as teams cross the midpoint of their 82-game schedules:

  1. LeBron James (player option): It looks like James won’t rule out a second free agent departure from Cleveland. It’s still seems highly unlikely that the Akron native would leave, even though the possibility that he might gives him no shortage of leverage as the Cavs scramble to reassert themselves as championship contenders.  Last month: No. 1
  2. Kevin Love (player option): The Jeff Schwartz client pulled a surprise when he told Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group last week that he intends to opt in for next season. He has plenty of financial incentive to go back on that, even amid statistical declines this season. In any case, the 26-year-old’s relative youth gives him a slight edge on the next player on the list. Last month: No. 2
  3. Marc Gasol: The 7’1″ center who’s just a few days shy of his 30th birthday isn’t playing defense at the level he had last season, but his leap in offensive production and the Grizzlies’ position near the top of the Western Conference standings have cast him as a hot commodity. Still, the more the Grizzlies win, the less likely it seems that Gasol would cut his longstanding ties to Memphis. Last month: No. 3
  4. Jimmy Butler (restricted): The Bulls reportedly could have had Butler for between $12.5MM and $13MM a year if they had signed him to an extension in October, shortly before the initial Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings had him outside the top 10. Clearly, the Bulls weren’t the only ones who erred, but they’re ready to pay the price and are apparently planning a maximum-salary offer that’s projected to start at around $15.5MM a year. We, too, have amended our outlook on Butler, who continues his ascent. Last month: No. 5
  5. LaMarcus Aldridge: It’s not Aldridge’s fault that he’s slipped one spot in the rankings. The Arn Tellem client is averaging a career-high 23.5 points per game for a Trail Blazers team that’s second only to the Warriors in the Western Conference. The 29-year-old has even added a three-point threat to his attack, as he’s nailing an impressive 48.7% on 1.1 attempts per game. Last month: No. 4
  6. Kawhi Leonard (restricted): A hand injury has cost Leonard time, but when he’s played this season, he’s continued the year-over-year improvement that’s marked the career of the reigning Finals MVP. He’s averaging career highs in points, assists, rebounds and steals per game, and he won’t turn 24 until June. Last month: No. 6
  7. Greg Monroe: The subtraction of Josh Smith has done wonders for the Pistons, and Monroe has been among the beneficiaries. He averaged 16.2 points and 11.8 rebounds per game in 10 contests this month entering today. The Lakers have reportedly called the Pistons about trading for him, but the David Falk client apparently has no interest in waiving his de facto no trade clause this season, as doing so would cost him his Bird rights.  Last month: No. 9
  8. Rajon Rondo: The point guard’s outside shot has looked better since the trade that took him to the Mavs, though his scoring average for the season remains in the single digits. He also admitted that his effort on defense slipped prior to the trade, but the Mavs appear willing to bet that he’ll remain engaged, as it doesn’t look like Rondo is going to be making another move this summer. Last month: No. 7
  9. DeAndre Jordan: Defense isn’t an issue for Jordan, and neither is rebounding, as he’s on pace to lead the league in rebounds per game for a second straight year, but the Greg Lawrence client wants to improve on offense. His 71.5% field goal percentage is the NBA’s best, but the 26-year-old has a single-digit scoring average and takes 91.2% of his shots from 3 feet and in, according to Basketball-Reference. Last month: Unranked
  10. Goran Dragic (player option): The Rockets have been trying to trade for the point guard this season, as Jeff Zillgitt and Sam Amick of USA Today reported, and Dragic won’t rule out signing with any team, having praised the Lakers and Knicks when given opportunities to do so this season. Still, the 28-year-old, who plans to turn down his $7.5MM player option for next season, reportedly intends to give the Suns the first crack at him. Last month: No. 10

Dropped out: Al Jefferson (Last month: No. 8)

Honorable mention: Al Jefferson (player option), Dwyane Wade (player option), Roy Hibbert (player option), Tristan Thompson (restricted), Brook Lopez (player option), Reggie Jackson (restricted), Paul Millsap, Monta Ellis (player option), Luol Deng (player option), Omer Asik.

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