2015 January | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Rivers, Howard, Green

January 29th, 2015 at 10:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

JaMychal Green is going to rejoin the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s D-League affiliate, Gino Pilato of D-League Digest tweets. Green recently completed a single 10-day contract with the Spurs, with whom he averaged 2.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in five appearances. The 24-year-old has reportedly garnered interest as a possible 10-day signee from the Grizzlies, Knicks, Bulls, Bucks and Blazers.

Here’s more from around the league:

Austin Rivers is beginning to hit his stride with the Clippers, Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com writes. “He’s just getting comfortable and trying to figure out his spots,” Los Angeles president of basketball operations and coach Doc Rivers said. “We’re trying to get him to [be more aggressive]. He’s a guard, so he’s trying to facilitate, and we need his aggression. It was funny — C.P. [Chris Paul] grabbed him and said, ‘You can get to the basket, we need you to attack.’ He listened to him, which was good.”
The Clippers have missed the bench production of Darren Collison, who signed with the Kings as a free agent this past offseason, and are hoping that Rivers can fill that void, Markazi adds. “He doesn’t do the pick-up [like Collison], but where he’s better is once the ball crosses half court,” the elder Rivers said. “He’s 6’5″, so he gives us length and speed and that’s been good for us.”
Rockets big man Dwight Howard has been advised to obtain a second medical opinion regarding his injured right knee, and he could miss an extended period of playing time, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports.
Free agent guard Gal Mekel is thinking about returning overseas to play, David Pick of Eurobasket.com reports (Twitter link). Mekel had reportedly passed on numerous overseas offers after being released by the Pelicans, and he was hoping to land a spot with another NBA team.

Eastern Notes: Olynyk, Knicks, Wade, Nets

January 29th, 2015 at 8:51pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The date when the Celtics can expect Kelly Olynyk to return to action is still in question after the center’s most recent round of medical tests, Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com writes. “It’s tough with something like an ankle, everyone is different,” said Olynyk. “It could be a week, it could be three weeks, it could be a month — you never know. I’m just trying to get better and evaluate it each day, and take the next step whenever it’s deemed necessary.” Olynyk was initially expected to miss a month of action.

Here’s more from the East:

With Lance Thomas and Louis Amundson set to join New York for the remainder of the season, this will limit the team’s ability to make roster roster moves for the rest of the campaign, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com writes. The Knicks will probably need to try and find a taker for Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon or to reach a buyout arrangement with Amar’e Stoudemire, in order for the team to be able to add any new faces to its roster, Begley adds.
Amundson is thankful that the Knicks have signed him for the rest of the season, Marc Berman of The New York Post notes (Twitter link). The big man wasn’t sure if he would be on an NBA roster after being waived by New York earlier this month, Berman adds.
Dwyane Wade told reporters today that he would likely miss a minimum of two or three weeks due to his injured hamstring, Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald reports. “I won’t be seeing y’all for a little while, so take a good look at this face,” the Heat star guard said. “You can’t put a time on it. You can’t look at the hamstring and say you’re going to be out this amount of games. Like many muscle strains, you’ve got to go day-by-day.”
The Nets are hoping to have their own D-League team within the next two seasons, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily writes. Brooklyn would likely buy the rights to an expansion team and place it in the New York area, similar to what the Knicks did with their Westchester affiliate this season, Windrem notes.

Suns Notes: McDonough, D-League, Thomas

January 29th, 2015 at 7:07pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Suns will have enough cap flexibility to be a player in the free agent market this summer, but GM Ryan McDonough said in an interview with Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (hat tip to Matt Petersen of NBA.com), that he prefers to keep the franchise’s focus on the current season, not the offseason. “It’s not something we predetermine,” McDonough said. “We have it set up now where we have a decent amount [of cap space] in the summer of 2015. We have some key free agents this summer in Goran Dragic and Gerald Green that we’d like to re-sign. We’ll see how it goes.”

Here’s more from Phoenix:

McDonough also relayed that he expects the Suns to be a draw for free agents, Petersen notes. “Jerry Colangelo was able to get Tom Chambers [in 1988],” McDonough said. “[Managing Partner] Robert Sarver and company and Jerry and that group got Steve Nash. There have been some very good players, if you look at the Suns relative to other NBA teams. This is a place where people have been able to recruit in the past. I think with all the things that the city of Phoenix and the state of Arizona has going for it, we’ll be in the mix when those top free agents come.“
The Suns have assigned Archie Goodwin and Reggie Bullock to the Bakersfield Jam, their D-League affiliate, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic reports (Twitter link). This will be Goodwin’s third D-League jaunt of the season, and the first of Bullock’s career.
Phoenix’s three point guard lineup has been a key to the Suns’ recent turnaround, Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) writes. The success that Isaiah Thomas has had in replacing Ish Smith has been one of the biggest boons to the team this season, Elhassan notes.

Lakers Notes: Kupchak, Bryant, Scott

January 29th, 2015 at 5:11pm CST by Eddie Scarito

With Kobe Bryant expected to miss nine months of action after undergoing shoulder surgery, Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak said that he had no regrets about signing Bryant to a two year, $48MM extension, as he told reporters, including Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News (Twitter link). Kupchak said that Kobe was worth “every penny of it,” Medina adds.

Here’s more from Los Angeles:

Kupchak also went on to defend Lakers coach Byron Scott‘s usage of Bryant. The GM said that Scott playing the veteran for more minutes than the team had anticipated had no impact on Bryant’s latest injury, Medina tweets.
The nine month timetable given for Bryant’s surgical recovery would have the swingman returning to action toward the end of training camp. But Kupchak is anticipating that Bryant will beat prognostications and be ready to join the Lakers when training camp begins, Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times notes (Twitter link).
Kupchak scoffs at any suggestion that the Lakers would be better served to tank for a better shot at retaining their 2015 first round draft pick, which is owed to the Suns if it falls out of the top five, Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com writes. “Our coaches and players have been instructed to win games,” Kupchak said. But the GM did add, “A top-five pick is always a good thing.“
The Lakers coaching staff has been directed to focus their efforts on developing and evaluating players for the future, Holmes notes. “We want Byron [Scott] to establish and maintain a culture that he’s comfortable with,” Kupchak said. “And the players have to adhere to that culture, which [is], clearly, play hard, play to win, work before practice, work after practice, work before games, show high character under adverse conditions. That’s what we’re going to look at going forward.“
Though the Lakers possess a number of tradeable assets, Kupchak stressed that the franchise wouldn’t sacrifice its future cap flexibility to make any trades, Bill Oram of The Orange County Register writes. “If we make a move, we have to make sure it’s the right move and not give away hard-earned flexibility,” Kupchak said. “One of the primary things in this league that you do have to protect is your flexibility. It gives you a lot of options.”

Central Notes: Pistons, Thibodeau, Martin, Cavs

January 29th, 2015 at 3:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pistons have talked about trading for a point guard, but coach/executive Stan Van Gundy remains firm about the sort of future assets he doesn’t want to give up in any deal, as MLive’s David Mayo notes. Detroit hasn’t won since Brandon Jennings tore his Achilles tendon last week.

“It has to be on our terms,” Van Gundy said of any potential trade. “We’ve already decided what we would and wouldn’t give up, and right now, people obviously want more than we’re willing to give up.”

Van Gundy also backed off an earlier assertion that the team would make a move by today and said he won’t rush to make any decision. Here’s the latest from around the Central Division, as Detroit slips back down the standings:

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau‘s coaching style is once more drawing criticism amid renewed rumors of tension between him and the front office, but Thibodeau tells USA Today’s Sam Amick that he has no intention of slackening his demands on players. Derrick Rose tells Amick that he has no issues with the coach, as Amick writes in a separate piece, echoing his report from earlier that opposing teams are keeping an eye on how the situation plays out in Chicago with the hope that Thibodeau will become available.
It’s been “a little different” playing for friend and former teammate Jason Kidd on the Bucks, as Kenyon Martin admits. Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the details, with the Bucks having signed Martin today for the rest of the season. “The respect is there,” Martin said. “He respects me and I respect him to the utmost. Him having me here is an honor.”
Joe Harris is headed back on D-League assignment just one day after the Cavs recalled him, the team announced. It’s the fourth time in nine days Cleveland has sent the rookie, whose deal is guaranteed through next season, to the Canton Charge.

Latest On Bulls, Tom Thibodeau

January 29th, 2015 at 2:18pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:18pm: Forman once more denied any issues with the coach, as he told reporters, including Johnson (All Twitter links). “While as an organization we try to avoid responding to rumors, there is absolutely no basis to this recent speculation,” Forman said. “We are very proud of what the team and our players have accomplished to this point in the season, and we will not allow anything to detract us from our ultimate goal. The focus of the entire organization from top to bottom is on winning basketball games.”

2:04pm: The tension between the front office and Thibodeau appears to be higher than ever, tweets Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com.

9:18am: The relationship between Tom Thibodeau and the Bulls front office is “beyond repair,” several league sources believe, and many people around the NBA wouldn’t be surprised to see the sides mutually part ways this summer, reports K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. Still, the Bulls don’t have any plans to make a coaching change this season, Johnson cautions.

Thibodeau is under contract through 2016/17, though a source told Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops recently that the Bulls wouldn’t mind simply eating the rest of his roughly $11MM in salary if they were to let him go. Executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson feels “lukewarm at best” toward the coach, Sheridan hears, but more recently Paxson publicly backed Thibodeau with a strident response to criticism of the coach. GM Gar Forman dismissed the idea that Thibodeau’s job is in jeopardy, as Forman told Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times last week.

Rumors of tension between Thibodeau and Bulls management date back more than a year, and the Knicks, among other teams in the past 12 months, eyed the former Coach of the Year in case he shook free from Chicago. Still, at the beginning of this season there was more talk around the Bulls that the team would end up giving Thibodeau a raise than that the sides would part ways, as USA Today’s Sam Amick reported then.

Thibodeau’s hard-charging style is a challenge for his players, and while many of them have publicly backed their boss, some have felt as though he goes too far, according to Sheridan. The Bulls are in a disappointing fourth place in the Eastern Conference, but they’re only a game and a half behind the second-place Raptors and are coming off a signature overtime win against the Warriors.

Southwest Notes: Pelicans, Parsons, Randolph

January 29th, 2015 at 1:48pm CST by Chuck Myron

There’s a perception around the NBA that GM Dell Demps and coach Monty Williams are on “thin ice” in New Orleans, as Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders wrote this week, corroborating an earlier report from Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher that linked the team to former Pistons exec Joe Dumars. Still, the Pelicans are hanging around the playoff race, sitting in ninth place in the Western Conference and two and a half games out of the final postseason spot. There’s more on the Pelicans amid the latest from the Southwest Division:

Chandler Parsons doesn’t have a role that’s expansive as he envisioned when he signed with the Mavs for three years and $46.085MM this past summer, but he’s not complaining, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com details.
It would be “crazy” for the Mavs to make an offer to Rajon Rondo that even approaches the maximum salary, MacMahon opines in a roundtable piece with other ESPNDallas.com writers, adding that he’d hesitate to give the point guard more than $10MM a year.
John Reid of The Times-Picayune chronicles the ascent of Dante Cunningham from languishing in free agency two months ago to starter for the Pelicans today. Cunningham signed with New Orleans in early December.
Zach Randolph would stand to draw offers this summer for more than the two-year, $20MM extension he signed with the Grizzlies last year if he had played out his contract instead, as Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal speculates in a subscription-only piece. Still, the power forward believes the extension was worth signing. “It definitely is, man,” he said. “It’s about sacrificing. I sacrificed. This is what it’s all about, sacrificing for your team, your teammates and your organization.”
The Rockets have assigned Clint Capela to the D-League, the team announced (on Twitter). It’s the fourth time that Houston has sent the No. 25 pick from the 2014 draft to its affiliate.

Kevin Durant Interested In Knicks

January 29th, 2015 at 12:37pm CST by Chuck Myron

12:37pm: An NBA GM cautioned that the Knicks have the same chance at Durant as the Thunder and other contenders, naming the Wizards, Lakers, Clippers and Nets, as the GM said to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.

8:38am: Kevin Durant can envision signing with the Knicks when he hits free agency in 2016, a person close to Kevin Durant tells Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, citing his affection for Carmelo Anthony. Durant is close to Knicks coach and former Thunder teammate Derek Fisher, and, Isola writes, he also admires Knicks GM Steve Mills and assistant GM Allan Houston.

“No question about it,” the person close to Durant told Isola “Kevin loves Carmelo [Anthony]. It could work in New York. But never rule out the Thunder.”

Durant isn’t enamored with Reggie Jackson and is becoming increasingly frustrated with Russell Westbrook, Isola hears. The Knicks tried to acquire Jackson when they and the Thunder participated in a three-team trade earlier this month, and they’re likely to make another run at trading for the guard, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported around the time of the swap. However, the Thunder almost traded Jackson to the Nuggets this week, according to Isola, who says on Twitter that Oklahoma City is “expected” to deal Jackson before the February 19th trade deadline.

Jackson’s set for restricted free agency this summer, while Westbrook’s contract with the Thunder runs one year longer than Durant’s, carrying through 2016/17. Westbrook and Durant have been teammates since the 2008/09 season, but Kevin Love reportedly said that he, Anthony and Durant have spoken, at least casually, about playing together. Love has repeatedly insisted that he’s committed to Cleveland for the long haul, but since the Cavs power forward plans to opt in for next season, that would align his free agency with Durant’s for the summer of 2016, when Anthony will have three years left on his deal with the Knicks. New York only has about $32.3MM in commitments for that summer, when most league executives assume the salary cap will surge to around $90MM.

Still, the Knicks will have plenty of competition for Durant, even if he’s indeed growing tired of some of his Thunder teammates. The Wizards, who play in Durant’s hometown, are more than a pipe dream, even if they are a long shot, as TNT’s David Aldridge wrote this week, pointing out a potential income tax savings for Durant if he plays in D.C. and establishes residency in another state. Durant and Kobe Bryant have spoken of mutual interest in playing with each other, though Bryant has said he’ll probably retire after next season, just when Durant is set to hit free agency. Durant has also publicly backed the Thunder, saying recently that he loves playing for Oklahoma City and that, “There’s just a certain level of pride that I have when I play with that Oklahoma City on my chest.”

Northwest Notes: Nelson, Huestis, Robinson

January 29th, 2015 at 12:07pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Thunder nearly dealt Reggie Jackson to the Nuggets this week, as Frank Isola of the New York Daily News wrote overnight in a piece linking Kevin Durant to the Knicks, adding that it’s “expected” that the Thunder will trade Jackson before the deadline. Still, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders wrote earlier this week that he’d heard from executives around the league that the Thunder remain on the fence about trading the soon-to-be restricted free agent guard, and that some within the organization want to hang on to him. Jackson’s trade candidacy, which I examined in greater detail last week, looms as a prominent storyline between now and the trade deadline, which is just three weeks away. Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

The Nuggets want to keep Jameer Nelson around for next season, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Nelson has a player option worth nearly $2.855MM, though he isn’t giving an indication of his plans beyond this year, according to Dempsey. The point guard rebuffed Denver’s entreaties in free agency this past summer thinking he would have a larger role with the Mavs, Dempsey adds. Nelson is seeing slightly fewer minutes per game since arriving in Denver via trade this month than he did with the Mavs.
An NBA GM from outside Oklahoma City tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that he doesn’t think the Thunder‘s D-League arrangement with Josh Huestis will become a trend. The Thunder don’t see this past year’s 29th overall selection as a star, but they do envision him as a potential rotation player, Deveney writes. That suggests that the Thunder will eventually sign him to a rookie scale contract, but Deveney adds that the team has given Huestis no such assurance.
Timberwolves coach/executive Flip Saunders wishes he had a roster with enough healthy players so he could send Glenn Robinson III on D-League assignment, as Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com notes amid his Rookie Ladder rankings. Minnesota has yet to make any D-League assignments this season.

James McAdoo To Rejoin Warriors D-League Club

January 29th, 2015 at 10:49am CST by Chuck Myron

James McAdoo, whose 10-day contract with the Warriors expired Wednesday night, will head back to Golden State’s D-League affiliate, a source tells Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). The power forward had been with the Warriors affiliate prior to signing his 10-day deal. He remains eligible to sign another 10-day contract with Golden State later this season.

The Grizzlies reportedly had contact with the Jim Tanner client before he inked his 10-day deal, and they, too, are still eligible to sign him, just like any NBA team, even as he heads back to Golden State’s affiliate. McAdoo appeared in three games during his 10-day stint with Golden State, totaling 14 points and five rebounds. He’s averaged 17.6 points and 9.3 rebounds in 32.6 minutes per game in the D-League.

The end of McAdoo’s tenure with the Warriors leaves the team with an open roster spot. GM Bob Myers has touted roster stability, and the team seems to have abandoned its pursuit of Ray Allen, at least for the time being.

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