2016 March | Hoops Rumors

Marquese Chriss, Dejounte Murray To Enter Draft

March 23rd, 2016 at 7:56pm CST by Eddie Scarito

University of Washington freshmen Marquese Chriss and Dejounte Murray are declaring for the NBA Draft, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Both players intend to hire agents, which would eliminate the possibility of them returning to school next season, Goodman adds.

Chriss, 18, is currently ranked as the No. 15 prospect by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and is pegged by Goodman to be a potential first-rounder this year (Twitter link). The power forward appeared in 34 games for the Huskies this season, averaging 13.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 24.9 minutes per contest. His shooting line was .531/.350/.685. Chriss has excellent athleticism and his potential should entice NBA scouts during the predraft process, but he is still rather raw offensively.

Murray, a combo guard, also appeared in 34 games this season and notched averages of 16.1 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.8 steals in 33.5 minutes per outing, to accompany a slash line of .416/.288/.663. The 19-year-old is the No. 37 overall prospect, according to Givony, which makes him a projected second-round pick come June. Murray will certainly need to improve upon his shooting numbers if he hopes to stick in the NBA, and he’s almost assuredly going to spend more time in the D-League than the NBA early in his career.

2015/16 Salary Cap Update: Thunder

March 23rd, 2016 at 6:46pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA’s salary cap for 2015/16 is set at $70MM, which is good for an 11% increase from last season, and the luxury tax line is fixed at $84.74MM. With the February 18th cutoff date for trades and the de facto deadline of March 1st for buyouts now past, we at Hoops Rumors are in the process of updating the salary cap commitments for each NBA franchise for the 2015/16 campaign. Here’s the cap breakdown for the Oklahoma City Thunder, whose regular season roster can be viewed here:

2015/16 Salary Cap= $70,000,000
2015/16 Luxury Tax Line= $84,740,000
Fully Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $93,765,298
Remaining Cap Room= -$23,765,298
Amount Over Luxury Tax Line= $9,025,298

Cap Exceptions Available:

Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception= $2,144,753
Trade Exception= $2,750,000 (Luke Ridnour. Expires June 30th, 2016)
Trade Exception= $2,038,206 (Perry Jones III. Expires July 14th, 2016)
Trade Exception= $3,750,001 (Steve Novak. Expires February 18th, 2017)

Cash Available to Send Out In Trades= $1,900,000

Cash Available to Receive Via Trade= $3,400,000

Note: Despite the trade deadline having passed, the NBA season technically doesn’t end until June 30th. Teams are able to again make trades upon the completion of the regular season or when/if they are eliminated from the playoffs, whichever comes later. So these cash limits still apply.

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

Atlantic Notes: Lin, D-League, Cleamons

March 23rd, 2016 at 5:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Jeremy Lin isn’t interested in discussing the pointed comments that Amar’e Stoudemire had made regarding some Knicks players being unhappy with Lin’s rapid rise to stardom during the 2011/12 season, Daniel Popper of The New York Daily News writes. “I can’t speak on behalf of somebody else talking about somebody else,” Lin told Popper. “When you talk about journalism or being a professional or whatever, that’s not really what I like to do. I don’t like to guess or assume or predict or whatever. So I’m just going to stay out of it.” The assumption was made that Stoudemire was referring to Carmelo Anthony, though Stoudemire later denied that he was talking about the small forward. For what it’s worth, Lin said his relationship with ‘Melo during their stint together was fine, Popper adds. “He was always nice to me. He took us out to eat,” Lin said. “I’ve hung out with him a few times and stuff. And so, like I’ve said for a long time, I’ve never had issues with him.”

Lin’s contract with the Hornets includes a player option for next season, and when asked if the chances of him opting out and returning to New York would increase if Anthony was no longer with the team, Lin told Popper that there were “many factors at play.” The point guard said his agent reached out to the Knicks last summer but was told the team had no interest, the Daily News scribe notes.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Knicks assistant Jim Cleamons is interested in the vacant head coaching position at the University of Pittsburgh, Paul Zeise of 93.7 The Fan relays (Twitter link). Cleamons previously coached college ball for Youngstown State in the late 1980s and owns a career NCAA mark of 12-44.
The Nets may need to look overseas and to other undervalued markets in order to find impact players this summer, Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post writes. While Brooklyn is expected to have in the range of $40MM in cap space, the projected jump in the cap means that there will be plenty of competition for free agents, Bontemps notes.
The Celtics have assigned swingman James Young and power forward Coty Clarke to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Young’s 11th assignment on the season to Maine and Clarke’s second.

Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript

March 23rd, 2016 at 4:02pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:02pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.

3:00pm: LeBron James teamed with friends six years ago when he left Cleveland for Miami, and he’d like to play with his buddies again, though whether that happens in Cleveland, Miami or elsewhere, or whether it happens at all, remains to be seen. Others, including those on our growing list of draft entrants, are merely looking to join any NBA team. Some franchises are already gearing up for the summer ahead, while some are merely trying to have enough healthy bodies to finish the season. A multitude of different stories surround the NBA, and we can talk about a bunch of them in today’s chat.

And-Ones: Silver, Simmons, Sterling, Valentine

March 23rd, 2016 at 2:56pm CST by Chuck Myron

Commissioner Adam Silver stumped for raising the NBA’s minimum age to 20 and pointed to an agreement with the National Basketball Players Association to shorten this summer’s July moratorium as a sign of a high level of trust between the league and the union, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders details. The commissioner made his comments Tuesday while also noting that the moratorium change is only for this summer (Twitter link). “I would say with this executive director [Michele Roberts], I’d say there are a lot of things we work out behind closed doors all the time,” Silver said. “Issues that are not necessarily high profile – we deal with each other on a daily basis. Again, these are our players. This is our union. It didn’t surprise me we worked out [the moratorium issue].”

The league and the union have until December 15th to opt out of the collective bargaining agreement. See more from around the NBA:

Elite draft prospect Ben Simmons has confirmed his selection of the Klutch Sports Group as his agency, as he revealed in a video on the Twitter feed for Uninterrupted.com. Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reported last week that the former LSU combo forward would sign with Klutch and agent Rich Paul, who represents LeBron James, among others.
A federal district court judge dismissed an antitrust lawsuit that former Clippers owner Donald Sterling brought against the NBA in his continued dispute of the 2014 $2 billion sale of the team to Steve Ballmer, as Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times details. The suit, in which Sterling sought more than $1 billion in damages and named wife Shelley Sterling and former NBA commissioner David Stern among the defendants, alleged that the NBA conspired to strip him of the team.
The yawning gap between Denzel Valentine‘s superb offensive talents and his glaring defensive shortcomings make him a particularly intriguing draft prospect liable to go anywhere from the late lottery to the end of the first round, observes Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress in a scouting report. Dana Gauruder of Hoops Rumors went in-depth on the Michigan State senior earlier this month.

LeBron Longs To Play With Wade, ‘Melo, CP3

March 23rd, 2016 at 1:09pm CST by Chuck Myron

LeBron James is holding out hope that he can team with Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul for at least one season before they retire, as he told Howard Beck of Bleacher Report. James, 31, and Wade, 34, can hit free agency this summer, but the 30-year-old Paul’s locked in with the Clippers through next season and Anthony, 31, doesn’t have an opt-out in his deal until the summer of 2018.

“I really hope that, before our career is over, we can all play together,” James said to Beck just before the All-Star break last month in comments that Beck kept under wraps until today (Twitter link). “At least one, maybe one or two seasons — me, Melo, D-Wade, CP — we can get a year in. I would actually take a pay cut to do that.”

Each is probably powerful enough to force a trade, with most such chatter surrounding Anthony, who has a no-trade clause that he’s been reluctant to consider waiving. Rumors about a three-team deal involving the Knicks, Celtics and Cavaliers emerged before the trade deadline this year, but it never appeared as though Anthony was close to joining James in Cleveland. Anthony once more reiterated his commitment to the Knicks today, as Marc Berman of the New York Post relays.

“I know the reason why I stuck it out,’’ Anthony said. “People that really understand it know why I’m sticking it out. It’s odd to question my loyalty at this point in time, especially when you showed and I’ve showed time and time again my loyalty to not just the organization, but New York and vice versa.”

Still, commitments change. That was the case with Anthony and the Nuggets, a team ‘Melo believed in strongly enough in 2006 to resist what James admits were veiled overtures meant to convince Anthony to sign a shorter extension that would allow him to become a free agent in 2010, just as James and Wade did, as Beck details. That was the summer that James and Wade teamed up on the Heat while Anthony and Paul remained under contract in Denver and New Orleans, respectively.

Anthony told Beck in January that he was disappointed that the Pistons passed him up with the second overall pick in 2003, saying that he’d been told Detroit would take him. It’s not clear who told Anthony that the Pistons would draft him instead of Darko Milicic, the center the Pistons fatefully selected when the time came. Regardless, the bond between James, Anthony, Wade and Paul is strong, and it’s made an impression on Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski, who’s mentored all of them with the USA Basketball program.

“I think they love one another,” Krzyzewski said. “It’s so damn genuine, and it’s so cool to see. … They have each others’ back, on everything.”

Do you think James, Wade, Anthony and Paul will all play together on an NBA team at some point? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Ben Bentil To Test Draft Waters

March 23rd, 2016 at 12:12pm CST by Chuck Myron

Providence power forward Ben Bentil will enter this year’s NBA draft, a source told Evan Daniels of Scout.com (Twitter link). He won’t hire an agent right away, Daniels hears, so he’ll retain his college eligibility if he pulls out in advance of the May 25th withdrawal deadline. The sophomore had an impressive closing kick to the season, and rankings are split, as he checks in at No. 27 with Chad Ford of ESPN.com while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him as only the 58th-best prospect. One Eastern Conference executive recently told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops that Bentil would go late in the first round or early in the second.

Bentil, who turns 21 next week, scored 21 or more points in six of his last eight games this season, including a 38-point explosion against Butler in the Big East tournament. He followed it with a three-point dud in Providence’s loss to Villanova the next day, but he also has a 42-point, 12-rebound effort from February 10th against Marquette on his resume. He averaged 21.1 points and 7.7 rebounds overall, leading the Big East in scoring even though he shared the floor with teammate and top-10 prospect Kris Dunn, who’s also entering the draft.

This season has been a breakthrough for the 6’9″ Bentil, who averaged only 6.4 points per game as a freshman. He showed some promise of developing a 3-point stroke, averaging 4.5 attempts per game and nailing a passable 32.9% of them. His defense could use some improvement, according to Ford, so it remains to be seen if he can develop into a two-way player at the NBA level.

Western Notes: Matthews, Parsons, Griffin

March 23rd, 2016 at 11:31am CST by Chuck Myron

Wesley Matthews was angry but not surprised when the Trail Blazers didn’t offer him a chance to return this past summer, as he explained to Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. It worked out for Matthews, who landed a max contract from the Mavericks, and for C.J. McCollum, who’s affirmed Portland’s faith in him as he’s stepped seamlessly into Matthews’ old job as the Blazers’ starting two-guard. “I don’t blame them for doing what they did, by any means,” Matthews said. “That’s the hand they wanted to play. That’s fine. I’m not bitter, and I didn’t mean for anything to come out like I was bitter. Just would have liked a phone call. Hey, [Blazers GM Neil Olshey] could have texted me. But they’ve got a nice thing going there with [Damian Lillard] and C.J.”

See more on another Dallas wing player amid news from the Western Conference:

It’s conceivable that Chandler Parsons will play again this season for the Mavericks even if he does undergo surgery on a torn meniscus in his right knee, reports Schuyler Dixon of The Associated Press. Parsons is reportedly getting a second opinion before having the procedure, but he’d be able to resume basketball activities within six weeks of having the operation, Dixon hears, meaning it’s conceivable he returns during the playoffs, which begin April 16th. It’s no certainty the Mavs qualify for the postseason, however. They’re one game up on the Jazz for the last playoff spot in the West.
Doc Rivers won’t rule out the possibility of Blake Griffin missing the rest of the regular season, but he’s confident that he’ll be back in game action within the next three weeks before the regular season ends, observes Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Griffin will have to serve a four-game suspension once he’s healthy enough to play. The Clippers signed Jeff Ayres for the rest of the season last week.
James Anderson has been frustrated sitting on the bench for long stretches this season with the Kings, even though coach George Karl acknowledges he’s probably the team’s best defender, but the swingman is seeing more playing time of late, notes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. Anderson has to decide on a minimum-salary player option for next season.

Wolves Sign Greg Smith For Rest Of Season

March 23rd, 2016 at 11:14am CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 11:14am: The signing is official, the team announced (Twitter link). Minnesota’s press release also confirms that Smith’s second 10-day signing took place on March 12th, not March 13th.

TUESDAY, 12:12pm: The Timberwolves will sign Greg Smith for the rest of the season, reports Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (Twitter link). The big man previously signed a pair of 10-day contracts with Minnesota. His second 10-day deal expired overnight, according to Krawczynski, and that jibes with the information on the RealGM transactions log, which shows Smith as having signed the pact March 12th. The team didn’t give a formal announcement until March 13th, making it seem as though today, and not Monday, is the final day of the contract. Regardless, it appears Smith will be sticking around as Minnesota’s 14th player.

Smith has averaged 10.3 minutes per game across nine appearances with the Wolves so far, though he hasn’t had much of a role in the team’s offense, averaging just 2.3 points per contest. His size has come in handy as fellow big men Kevin Garnett and Nikola Pekovic deal with knee and Achilles tendon injuries, respectively.

Keeping Smith still leaves Minnesota with an open roster spot, one of two the Wolves reaped through buyouts with Kevin Martin and Andre Miller. A minimum-salary contract for Smith would cost the Wolves no more than $128,161 if it doesn’t carry into next season. Even on top of the $111,444 total for the two 10-day contracts, it’s still much less than the $609,083 the team saved in the buyouts.

2016 Free Agent Power Rankings

March 23rd, 2016 at 10:28am CST by Chuck Myron

The regular season ends three weeks from tonight, and while the playoffs lie ahead, precious little time remains for the top 2016 NBA free agents to make their cases on the court to front offices around the league. We’ve ranked the best of this year’s free agent class from time to time since last summer’s free agent market died down, and amid a crucial stretch run, it’s time to do so again. Here’s where they stand:

Kevin Durant — The prize of this year’s free agency is addressing the summer ahead more often now as it approaches, but only in general terms, and while the Warriors and Spurs are threats to land him, the appeal of staying “home” in Oklahoma City still looms large. Last time: No. 1.
LeBron James (player option) — We can’t accuse LeBron of not having fun with his ability to hit free agency every year. His cryptic messages via social media raise eyebrows, and sometimes he needn’t even say anything to cause a stir, as was the case when he unfollowed the Cavs on Twitter this week. Still, he risks turning his beloved northeast Ohio into a land of antipathy if he dares leave Cleveland again. Last time: No. 2.
Andre Drummond (restricted) — The outcome of Drummond’s free agency is essentially preordained, since both sides were on board with not doing an extension this past fall and allowing the Pistons greater cap flexibility before an inevitable max-contract signing in the summer. His numbers have dipped after a strong start, but it’s hard to argue with 16.5 points and 14.9 rebounds per game overall. Last time: No. 4.
DeMar DeRozan (player option) — The 26-year-old shooting guard has been pouring it on in March, averaging 27.6 points per game as he makes the Raptors even more fortunate that he’d like to spend his entire career with the organization. Max offers reportedly await from elsewhere, but Toronto is certain to shell out whatever it takes to hang on to its homegrown star. Last time: No. 7.
Al Horford — The delineation between Horford and the next man on this list is likely arbitrary and comes down to whether a team is looking for a quiet, consistent inside force to plug in as a complementary star or a polarizing figure with higher upside but more baggage. The Hawks didn’t find the overwhelming trade offer they were reportedly holding out for at the deadline, but that doesn’t mean Horford won’t draw plenty of interest on the open market, with the Magic looming as a threat. Last time: No. 4.
Dwight Howard (player option) — NBA observers have learned through the years that it’s virtually impossible to predict what Howard will do months in advance. New agent Perry Rogers, who represented Shaquille O’Neal, will help guide Howard through his apparent interest in the Bucks, Knicks and surely others. The prospect of a Rockets return seems unlikely, but you never say never with Howard. Last time: No. 6.
Mike Conley — The 28-year-old point guard was playing some of his best basketball when he went out with Achilles tendinitis earlier this month, averaging 17.6 points, 6.4 assists and 1.6 turnovers per game in 14 contests since the beginning of February. His relatively low position on this list is probably just a placeholder until he proves his health. Last time: No. 5.
Bradley Beal (restricted) — An opposing GM said that he’s “scared” of the shooting guard because of his injury history. Beal would rank much more highly if not for that, given his 17.7 points per game this season, 39.9% career 3-point percentage and the fact that his next birthday, in June, will be only his 23rd. Last time: No. 8.
Nicolas Batum — The Hornets swingman has been clamoring for a place in the top 10 all season, and amid a March in which he’s averaged 18.6 points, his best scoring month of the season, we’ll give him the long overdue honor. He was reportedly likely to receive max offers as of January, and that seems a near-certainty now. The mystery is in where he’ll end up in what promises to be one of the most fascinating free agent pursuits of the summer. Last time: No. 11.
Hassan Whiteside — The Heat big man probably wouldn’t be here if Chandler Parsons were healthy, but as difficult as it is to put a reserve in the top 10, Whiteside is no average bench player. His performance Tuesday, when he went 10 for 11 for 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, shows the vast potential of the one-time journeyman who’ll turn 27 in June. Last time: No. 10.

We don’t always carry the rankings past the top 10, but we’ll do our next 10 here:

11. Chandler Parsons (player option)
12. Harrison Barnes (restricted)
13. Rajon Rondo
14. Dwyane Wade
15. Pau Gasol (player option)
16. Ryan Anderson
17. Evan Fournier (restricted)
18. Kent Bazemore
19. Jordan Clarkson (Gilbert Arenas Provision)
20. Jared Sullinger (restricted)

See all the previous editions of our rankings here. See the full list of 2016 free agents here.

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