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Atlantic Notes: Bargnani, Galloway, Ross, Nets

January 28th, 2015 at 1:44pm CST by Chuck Myron

The idea of waiving Andrea Bargnani looks like it’s off the table for the Knicks until the trade deadline, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Knicks are reportedly shopping the former No. 1 overall pick who’s missed all but two games this season because of injury, but finding a trade partner will be difficult, as Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors examined last week. There’s more on the Knicks amid the latest from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Knicks are trying to find use for the trade exceptions they picked up when they sent J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cavs earlier this month, according to Berman, who writes in the same piece. The Smith exception is worth more than $5.982MM and the Shumpert exception nearly $2.617MM, but they don’t expire until January 5th, 2016.
  • Langston Galloway is assured of $275K for next season if he remains on the Knicks roster July 1st, and “well more” than half of his $845,059 salary for 2015/16 would be guaranteed if he’s still under contract at the start of training camp, Berman hears.
  • Raptors coach Dwane Casey‘s decision to bench Terrence Ross isn’t a harbinger of a trade, as league sources tell Sean Deveney of The Sporting News the team isn’t making it any easier to deal for the former eighth overall pick.
  • Mirza Teletovic is set for discharge from a Los Angeles hospital today, and Nets team doctor Michael Farber expects him to make a full recovery from the multiple blood clots in his lungs discovered shortly after a game against the Clippers last week, the team announced. Teletovic, due for restricted free agency this summer, is out for the year thanks to the blood thinners he’s taking to treat the issue.
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Hornets Eye Cole, Sessions Amid Walker Injury

January 28th, 2015 at 1:02pm CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 1:02pm: Walker will miss a minimum of six weeks, the team confirmed via press release.

MONDAY, 5:21pm: Hornets coach Steve Clifford acknowledged the possibility that the Hornets would sign a player to help offset the loss of Walker, but while he said Walker has been “by far our best player,” he added that he believes the club has “more than enough” internally to maintain its performance. Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer has the details, and notes that the club is without an open roster spot to accommodate a would-be signee.

5:12pm: The Hornets have Ramon Sessions and Norris Cole on their radar as they pursue trade possibilities to replace injured point guard Kemba Walker, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). Walker will have surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee, the team announced, and while Charlotte didn’t provide a timetable for his recovery, the team hopes he’ll be back in six weeks, Wojnarowski tweets. The team isn’t looking to trade Walker, but merely to find someone to replace his production during his absence, Wojnarowski clarifies (Twitter link).

Charlotte is familiar with Sessions, having signed him in 2012, and he spent a season and a half with the club, a tenure that ended with a trade at last year’s deadline. Sacramento recently engaged in discussions regarding a swap of Sessions for Jordan Farmar before the Clippers waived Farmar, according to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee, who at that point pegged Sessions as the King most likely to be traded. The 28-year-old makes $2.077MM this season and is in line for more than $2.17MM next year.

Cole makes roughly the same amount, drawing slightly more than $2.038MM this year in the final season of his rookie-scale contract. Heat president Pat Riley insists he hasn’t made any offers to any teams, in spite of a report that indicated Miami had proposed a deal for Brook Lopez that would have sent Cole to the Nets. Cole “pretty much knows” that the Heat are ready to trade him, as Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio wrote last week as reported that Miami had put the 26-year-old soon-to-be restricted free agent on the trade block.

The Hornets appear to be active in talks of late, many of them involving Lance Stephenson. Charlotte holds a half-game lead over the Nets for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and is a game and a half back of the Heat. It’d seem unlikely that Miami would want to help a team it’s competing against for a playoff spot, though that’s just my speculation.

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Wizards Interested In Will Bynum

January 28th, 2015 at 11:52am CST by Chuck Myron

The Wizards have joined the Cavs among the teams interested in point guard Will Bynum, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). The seven-year veteran is in China with the Guangdong Southern Tigers, who haven’t lost since he joined them in early December. The regular season ends February 1st for the Tigers, but the playoffs could keep him off-limits for NBA teams until late March, Charania adds.

Bynum has put up strong numbers in China, averaging 23.2 points and 7.4 assists against 3.3 turnovers per game. The longtime Piston went to the Celtics in a preseason trade, but the Celtics waived the Mark Bartelstein client amid a roster crunch before opening night in spite of a guaranteed salary of nearly $2.916MM.

Washington has an open roster spot, and though it seems the club would prefer to use it to sign Ray Allen, for whom the Wizards are reportedly the most aggressive suitor, it’s still seems a long shot that Allen would head to the nation’s capital. Washington, just like Cleveland, is limited to handing out the prorated minimum salary to Bynum, Allen or any other free agents.

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Spurs Sign Reggie Williams To 10-Day Contract

January 28th, 2015 at 11:48am CST by Chuck Myron

11:48am: The deal is official, the Spurs announced via press release.

11:35am: The Spurs are closing in on signing Reggie Williams to a 10-day contract, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The five-year veteran swingman would take the place of JaMychal Green, with whom the Spurs failed to reach agreement on a new deal after his 10-day arrangement expired Tuesday night. Williams has been playing for the Thunder’s D-League affiliate.

The 28-year-old was with the Heat on a non-guaranteed training camp deal, but he failed to make the opening night roster and hooked on with the Oklahoma City Blue late last month. A career 37.1% three-point shooter in the NBA, he’s nailed a sizzling 49.2% of his three-point attempts in 13 D-League games so far this year.

The relationship between the Thunder organization and Williams dates back to last season, when he also played for Oklahoma City’s D-League affiliate and was briefly on the NBA roster, but without a current NBA contract, the Herb Rudoy client is free to sign with any NBA team. The Spurs have 14 players, all of whom have contracts that cover at least the rest of the season, leaving a single open roster spot created when they ate the rest of Austin Daye‘s guaranteed contract to sign Green.

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Jazz Sign Chris Johnson To 10-Day Contract

January 28th, 2015 at 11:17am CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 11:17am: The deal is official, the team announced.

TUESDAY, 2:04pm: The Jazz are setting up a 10-day contract for swingman Chris Johnson, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The former member of the Grizzlies, Celtics and Sixers is not to be confused with the three-year NBA veteran center by the same name who recently signed to play in Turkey. The Chris Johnson who’s apparently headed to Utah would fill the roster spot vacated when the team’s second 10-day deal with Elliot Williams expired Monday night, so there won’t be a need for a corresponding move. Utah isn’t planning another deal for Williams, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported late Monday (on Twitter).

Johnson has been playing with the D-League affiliate of the Rockets since December, not long after the Sixers waived him the previous month. He spent the preseason with the Celtics, who released him before opening night, but Philly claimed him off waivers and kept him for a little more than two weeks. The 24-year-old averaged 20.8 minutes per game during his brief time in Philly, so it was surprising to see the Sixers let him go. He put up 6.3 points per game in 19.7 MPG across a career-high 40 appearances for Boston last season.

The Jazz are in need of help on the wing, with Alec Burks expected to miss the rest of the season and Rodney Hood out until at least the All-Star break. Rookie Joe Ingles, who’s on a minimum-salary deal, has started the past 12 games.

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Latest On Celtics, Tayshaun Prince

January 28th, 2015 at 10:43am CST by Eddie Scarito

JANUARY 28TH: Sources tell Bulpett that Prince will push to leave the Celtics, a notion that the forward hinted at publicly.

“Obviously I want to be in a winning situation,” Prince said. “Everybody wants to be in a winning situation, make no mistake about it, especially toward the end of your career. But at the end of the day, it’s about doing what’s right and going out there and having fun. If you get to the point where I am in my career after all these years, you just want to go out there and have a chance to win and do the right things.”

JANUARY 24TH: The Celtics still wish to trade Prince prior to the February deadline, and are seeking a future draft pick in return, Bulpett reports. There have been reports that Boston would attempt to work out a buyout deal if they failed to find a taker for Prince. But Celtics coach Brad Stevens may lobby for the team to keep the forward if a trade fails to materialize, Bulpett adds. Stevens believes that Prince can help the franchise with both with his talent and leadership, Bulpett notes. Stevens also added, “I think there’s no question about his value, but also there’s the fact that he’s a veteran who knows how to,” the coach said. “The other thing is he just has such great poise and presence. Tayshaun just knows how to play. There’s a lot of things that come very natural to him. I think natural is right, but also he’s been in the league for 13 years.”

JANUARY 19TH: A buyout deal with Prince is likely in the event the Celtics don’t end up trading him, Bulpett writes.

JANUARY 18TH: The Celtics are expected to attempt to trade Prince, and perhaps do a buyout deal if they can’t find a taker, according to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. Prince told reporters including Bulpett that all options remain in play, adding that talks about his future with Boston took place today for the first time. The Clippers and Prince reportedly have mutual interest, though the Clips would rather sign him post-buyout than trade for him.

“But the most important thing is, even though all options are on the table, my job is to be a Boston Celtic at this point in time and help where help is needed,” Prince said. “So that’s the main thing, and I can’t have one foot in and one foot out the door right now — even though everything’s on the table. That would be wrong on my behalf. So we’ll see how it plays out.”

4:40pm: Ainge and Prince will meet in Los Angeles during Boston’s upcoming trip to the West Coast to discuss Prince’s future with the club, and it’s not out of the question that Prince would remain with the Celtics, Murphy tweets.

JANUARY 15TH, 9:14am: The Celtics are exploring potential trades involving Prince as they seek more draft picks, and a buyout is a “secondary option,” according to Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. They can’t aggregate his salary in a swap, since they just acquired him via trade, but they’re otherwise still allowed to flip him.

JANUARY 13TH, 6:44pm: Sean Deveney of The Sporting News (Twitter link) reports that “no substantive talks” have taken place between Prince and the Celtics regarding a buyout yet.

6:27pm: Prince is unlikely to ever don a Celtics uniform, and the two sides are making progress on reaching a buyout agreement, Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe reports (Twitter link).

4:43pm: The Celtics continue to reshape their roster with an eye on the future. Boston and newly acquired forward Tayshaun Prince are negotiating toward a buyout arrangement, Chris Mannix of SI.com reports (Twitter link). No agreement has been reached just yet, Mannix adds. Prince is set to become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, and is making $7,707,865 in the final year of his deal.

Prince came to Boston as part of the three-way deal between the Celtics, Grizzlies, and Pelicans that sent forward Jeff Green to Memphis. But with Boston obviously building toward next season and wanting to get a better look at younger assets, Prince seemed like an obvious candidate to be dealt to a contending team or to reach a buyout arrangement that would allow him to try and catch on with a squad in the playoff hunt. The Cavs have been reported to have interest in the 34-year-old if he were to become a free agent.

In a career spanning 908 games, Prince has averaged 11.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. His slash line is .455/.368/.758. He was averaging 7.3 PPG and 3.2 RPG for Memphis this season prior to being dealt.

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Nets Ownership Ups Scrutiny Of Lionel Hollins?

January 28th, 2015 at 10:33am CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 10:33am: Hollins didn’t seem to worried about his job when he answered a question from Newsday’s Roderick Boone about the report (Twitter links).

“Why wouldn’t the team be evaluating me? Now if you are talking about evaluating me like I’m doing something bad and all that … ,” Hollins said. “Whoever wrote the article, it’s his opinion. All I can do is coach.”

6:41pm: The Nets aren’t looking to fire Hollins, a source tells Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Twitter link), asserting that Stein and Youngmisuk’s report is “totally false.”

MONDAY, 4:46pm: Nets officials are taking a close took at the job performance of coach Lionel Hollins amid concern about the team’s recent slide, report Marc Stein and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com. Tension between Hollins and some of his players is escalating, Stein and Youngmisuk hear, and sources tell Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com for the same story that Hollins’ public criticism of his players has upset people at the ownership level of the club. Principal owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who owns 80% of the franchise, is reportedly looking to sell his interest in the team while trade talk swirls around Joe Johnson, Deron Williams and Brook Lopez, Brooklyn’s three most highly paid players.

The Nets last week became the fifth team in NBA history to lose consecutive games by 35 or more, as Stein and Youngmisuk point out, and Brooklyn has fallen a half-game behind Charlotte for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Hollins is in just the first season of a four-year deal to coach the team, and according to the ESPN scribes, the contract would be worth more than $20MM if Hollins triggers incentives and if the team exercises a fourth-year option. However, it seems that Hollins’ approach, featuring a healthy does of brutal honesty, is quickly wearing thin on some within the Nets.

Hollins got along quite well with Mike Conley and Zach Randolph in his last job as coach of the Grizzlies, according to Stein and Youngmisuk. However, Hollins failed to see eye-to-eye with a new management team at the end of his tenure with Memphis, which let him go in 2013 even though he had just led the franchise to the only conference finals appearance in its history. The 61-year-old is 232-227 in parts of eight seasons as an NBA head coach, including this year’s 18-26 mark with the Nets. Prokhorov and his advisers ultimately decided to keep former coach Jason Kidd for the duration of last season after entertaining the idea of letting him go, as Stein and Youngmisuk note. Kidd and the club eventually had an acrimonious split in the summer, clearing the way for Hollins to come aboard.

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Bucks Sign Jorge Gutierrez To 10-Day Deal

January 28th, 2015 at 10:19am CST by Eddie Scarito

10:19am: The deal is official, the Bucks announced. Milwaukee makes no reference to a corresponding move in its statement, so it appears that they indeed moved Sanders to the suspended list to create room to carry 16 players.

WEDNESDAY, 9:43am: Milwaukee will take Gutierrez into a roster vacancy the team can create by moving Sanders to the suspended list, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (All Twitter links). Sanders served the fifth game of his league-imposed suspension Tuesday, so the Bucks are allowed to move him to the suspended list.

TUESDAY, 11:53pm: The Bucks intend to sign Jorge Gutierrez to a 10-day contract in the near future, Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link) reports. The Bucks currently have 15 players on their roster, including Kenyon Martin, whose second 10-day contract is set to expire this week. Martin is expected to be signed by Milwaukee to a deal that covers remainder of the season by the end of this week. If the veteran is signed as expected, this will require the team to waive or release a player in order to add Gutierrez to its roster.

The need for a point guard arose when Kendall Marshall was lost for the remainder of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Their sudden shortage at the one spot could potentially make the Bucks regret their decision to waive Nate Wolters in order to add Martin to the team. Wolters has signed two consecutive 10-day deals with New Orleans since being released by the Bucks. Center Larry Sanders is also currently serving a drug-related suspension that will last a minimum of 10 games, further adding to Milwaukee’s roster woes.

Gutierrez has been playing in the D-League for the Canton Charge, the Cavs’ affiliate. He opted to enter the D-League after being waived by the Sixers earlier in the season. This was shortly after Philadelphia had acquired him from the Nets in the deal for Andrei Kirilenko. In 10 NBA appearances with Brooklyn this season, Gutierrez has averaged 1.6 points in 4.4 minutes per game.

In six D-League appearances with Canton this season, Gutierrez has averaged 15.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.0 assists in 35.6 minutes per contest. His slash line is .456/.143/.621.

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Team Facebook/Twitter/RSS

January 28th, 2015 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

If you want to keep tabs on all the stories and updates at Hoops Rumors, you can follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or subscribe to our feed through your RSS reader of choice. If you prefer to receive only news about your favorite NBA team, we still have you covered. You can even get updates only when teams make a move with our Transactions-only Twitter and RSS feed. Below are links to our Facebook, Twitter, and RSS pages and feeds for all 30 teams.

Atlantic

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Southwest

Northwest

Pacific

Transactions only: Twitter / RSS

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Kings Shop Derrick Williams

January 28th, 2015 at 8:47am CST by Chuck Myron

The Kings are shopping former No. 2 overall pick Derrick Williams, league sources tell Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. The fourth-year power forward is putting up career lows in several categories this season as his minutes have sunk below 20 per game for the first time. Williams was reportedly part of Sacramento’s discussions with the Nets last month regarding Deron Williams and was apparently in the earliest proposals the Kings made to the Pistons this summer for Josh Smith.

The 23-year-old is on an expiring contract with a salary of more than $6.331MM this year and is eligible for restricted free agency this coming summer. His draft slot calls for a qualifying offer of more than $8.262MM, but because he’s unlikely to meet the starter criteria, the value of that qualifying offer is instead in line to be slightly less than $4.046MM. That’d make it easier for whichever team holds him at season’s end to retain the right to match offers for him this summer, though it wouldn’t be a shock if that team declines to tender the qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent.

It was somewhat surprising to see the Timberwolves decide last year to pick up Williams’ team option for this season, and precisely a month after doing so, Minnesota traded him to the Kings straight up for Luc Mbah a Moute. Sacramento has been active in the year and a half since owner Vivek Ranadive and GM Pete D’Alessandro took charge, as Kennedy notes, though Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee recently pegged Ramon Sessions as the King most likely to be traded. Charlotte reportedly has Sessions on its radar, while Sacramento recently made Nik Stauskas available, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported.

Just which teams the Kings have called about Williams is unclear. Sacramento has shown a willingness to try to win quickly and make a playoff push this season, but the team doesn’t have a reasonable shot at the postseason at this point as it sits eight and a half games back of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Kings have a chance to open some cap room this summer, with about $55.3MM in commitments against a projected $66.5MM salary cap. Taking back salary from a trade partner who values Williams for his expiring contract would compromise Sacramento’s flexibility for the summer ahead.

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