Eastern Notes: Sixers, Knicks, Pistons

The Sixers‘ reputation among several agents around the league likely won’t do the franchise any favors when the team expects to be a player in free agency in the future, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes in an interesting story after speaking with several sources and agents. One agent told Pompey that he doesn’t want his max-level players in Philadelphia, but he is open to his midlevel players signing with the Sixers only if they overpay. Agents also told Pompey that Sixers GM Sam Hinkie is hard to deal with, saying he doesn’t make it a priority to return calls.

• It’s doubtful the Pistons trade Danny Granger, reports David Mayo of MLive.com after asking coach/executive Stan Van Gundy about the possibility. Instead, it seems very likely the Pistons will waive Granger. Granger has a fully guaranteed salary of $2,170,465, one of 16 full guarantees on the Pistons. “We’re probably sort of at the end of the road with him,” Van Gundy said. “We took it as far as we could, hoping to get a look at him, but he hasn’t been ready to come back. So we’ll go with the 15 guys that are here.”
• The Knicks‘ D-League affiliate expects to have Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Darion Atkins, Travis Trice and Wesley Saunders to start season, Marc Berman of the New York Post reports (on Twitter). All four players were cut Friday by the Knicks.
• The Celtics‘ expected starting five on opening night – Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, David Lee and Tyler Zeller – has been the most successful of the four different starting lineups used in the preseason, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes. That lineup, of course, notably does not include Isaiah Thomas.