2017 March | Hoops Rumors

Warriors Optimistic Durant Can Return Before Playoffs

March 22nd, 2017 at 3:22pm CST by Luke Adams

There is “cautious optimism” within the Warriors organization that Kevin Durant will be able to get back on the court before the end of the regular season, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein and Chris Haynes. There are no guarantees yet, but the club is encouraged by the progress Durant has made in his recovery, per the ESPN duo.

It has been three weeks since the Warriors announced Durant suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain and a tibial bone bruise. At the time, Golden State suggested that the star forward would be re-evaluated in four weeks with an update coming at that time, so that’s still a week away. Still, sources tell Stein and Haynes that Durant is about halfway through his rehabilitation, and it will now be important to see how he responds to increased intensity of that rehab work.

The Warriors lost five of seven games after losing Durant, but have rebounded since then, winning their last five. Although Golden State may not need Durant to lock up the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, it would still be a great sign for his chances of making a major impact in the playoffs if he can get back on the court for at least a couple regular season contests in April.

Donovan Mitchell To Test NBA Draft Waters

March 22nd, 2017 at 2:56pm CST by Luke Adams

Louisville guard Donovan Mitchell will declare for the draft, but won’t hire an agent yet, he tells ESPN’s Jeff Goodman. Without an agent, Mitchell will have the ability to withdraw his name later in the process, retaining his NCAA eligibility.

“I want to see if I can improve my draft stock and I am still not 100% leaving,” Mitchell told Evan Daniels of Scout.com. “I just want to be able to see where I stand in the draft and if I can improve in any way.”

Mitchell took on a more significant role in his sophomore season for Louisville, with his minutes per game increasing from 19.1 to 32.3. For the season, Mitchell averaged 15.6 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2.7 APG, and 2.1 SPG. He tells Daniels that he’s happy with his performance, though he believes there’s still room for further growth.

“I think I played well,” Mitchell said. “There are many things I feel I improved on from freshman year. I do feel as though I have other things to work on as well and I will heading into this summer.”

Mitchell’s decision on whether or not to keep his name in the draft may depend on how confident he is that he can be a first-round pick. ESPN’s Chad Ford suggests the 6’3″ shooting guard is probably on the first-round bubble right now, ranking him 29th in his top 100 list. Mitchell comes in at 22nd on DraftExpress.com’s big board.

Central Notes: Mirotic, Butler, Wade, LeBron

March 22nd, 2017 at 2:24pm CST by Luke Adams

Don’t expect the Bulls to make much of an effort to re-sign Nikola Mirotic in free agency this summer, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune writes in his latest mailbag. As Johnson observes, the Bulls can afford to be flexible with their approach to Mirotic, since he’s a restricted free agent — he may sign an offer sheet that they determine fits into their salary structure, in which case they could bring him back. However, Johnson doesn’t think Chicago will “proactively” try to lock up Mirotic to a new deal.

Within that same mailbag, Johnson also suggests that there’s a decent chance Chicago will listen to inquires on Jimmy Butler again this summer. Having acquired Cameron Payne and Joffrey Lauvergne at last month’s trade deadline, the Bulls want to continue accumulating “players they view as young assets,” and any package for Butler would likely include a few of those pieces.

Here’s more on the Bulls and a couple of their Central Division rivals:

Dwyane Wade is a future Hall-of-Famer, but he’s entering the “awkward years” of his career and it’s not clear what’s in store for him in 2017/18 and beyond, says Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. Aschburner explores the potential next step for Wade, whether that means staying with the Bulls, returning to the Heat, or joining a new team this summer.
In LeBron James‘ view, the idea of resting healthy players didn’t become a real issue for the NBA until after he sat out a game or two for the Cavaliers. The reigning Finals MVP also suggested to reporters on Tuesday that he disagreed with the notion that team owners should be involved in that decision, as commissioner Adam Silver has requested. Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com has the details and the quotes from James.
Nets point guard Spencer Dinwiddie has no hard feelings toward the Pistons, for whom he played 46 games over two seasons before being traded last summer. Still, he admits that he was happy to beat them on Tuesday night with his new team, as Aaron McMann of MLive.com writes. “If your first job fired you, you come back and say, ‘What’s up fam, I’m with the New York Times now,'” Dinwiddie said to a reporter following Brooklyn’s win. “I love everybody in that organization. It’s just great to beat them.”

Jayson Tatum To Declare For 2017 NBA Draft

March 22nd, 2017 at 1:26pm CST by Luke Adams

Duke forward Jayson Tatum is the latest NCAA underclassmen to confirm that he’ll declare for the 2017 NBA draft. The school made it official today, announcing in a tweet that Tatum would test the draft waters. According to Evan Daniels of Scout.com, Tatum is also expected to hire an agent, forgoing his remaining college eligibility.

“It’s extremely exciting,” Tatum said. “It’s just another step closer to a life long dream that I’ve always had and it’s the next step and I’m happy to be taking it.”

Tatum’s decision comes as no surprise, since he is viewed as one of the top prospects on the board for the 2017 draft. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com and Chad Ford of ESPN.com both have the freshman ranked as the No. 4 overall prospect on their respective top 100 lists.

In his first – and likely only – year at Duke, Tatum filled up the stat sheet, averaging 16.8 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.3 SPG, and 1.1 BPG. According to Ford, the 6’8″ forward has “all the physical tools” to be a dominant small forward in the NBA, and there’s a good chance Tatum will be a top-five pick in June.

Tatum could ultimately be joined in the draft pool by some early-entry teammates from Duke. However, at this point, Luke Kennard and Grayson Allen are “up in the air” about testing the draft waters, reports Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link).

Ivan Rabb To Enter 2017 NBA Draft

March 22nd, 2017 at 12:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Cal sophomore Ivan Rabb has decided to enter the 2017 NBA draft, and doesn’t expect to withdraw his name later in the spring, he tells Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. Jon Rothstein of FanRag Sports confirms (via Twitter) that Rabb plans to sign with an agent, forgoing his remaining NCAA eligibility.

“Cal meant a lot to me,” Rabb told Spears. “My two years at Cal was a huge learning experience both on and off of the court.”

[RELATED: 2017 NBA Draft Early Entrants List]

Many draft experts and NBA observers expected Rabb to declare for the draft a year ago, but he made the surprise decision to stay in school for his sophomore season. In his second year with the Golden Bears, Rabb averaged a double-double with 14.0 PPG and 10.5 RPG, though his FG% dipped from .615 in his freshman year to .484 in 2016/17.

According to ESPN’s Chad Ford, NBA scouts viewed Rabb’s sophomore year as a “mild disappointment” — although he improved as a scorer and rebounder, Rabb didn’t take the major steps forward that those scouts had been hoping for. Still, Ford views the 20-year-old power forward as a probable first-round pick, ranking him 23rd overall on his big board. DraftExpress also places Rabb 23rd among this year’s draft prospects.

And-Ones: B. Roy, Blatt, BIG3, Amundson

March 22nd, 2017 at 11:31am CST by Luke Adams

Brandon Roy, a former sixth overall pick who earned three All-Star nods before injuries derailed his NBA career, is enjoying success in a new role. As Molly Blue of The Oregonian writes, Roy has remade himself as a high school basketball coach at Seattle’s Nathan Hale High School. After taking over a team that had gone 3-18 a year before, Roy led the school to a 29-0 run this season. Nathan Hale High School won Washington’s Class 3A state title, and the former Trail Blazers star was named the 2017 Naismith High School Coach of the Year. At age 32, Roy would probably prefer to still be playing in the NBA, but it’s good to see him continuing to thrive in the sport in a new way.

Here are a few more odds and ends from across the basketball world:

Former Cavaliers head coach David Blatt has been coaching in Turkey this season, and has no plans to return to the NBA for 2017/18, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando details. In an interview with Match TV, Blatt said that he’s not going anywhere and intends to remain with Darussafaka Dogus next season.
The BIG3, Ice Cube‘s half-court, three-on-three league that will debut in June, has a broadcast television deal. The league announced today that it has partnered with FOX Sports and FS1. For more on the BIG3, be sure to check out our breakdown of the players and coaches participating in the league.
Veteran NBA center Lou Amundson, who appeared in 29 games for the Knicks last season, appears to be headed to the Philippines. Emiliano Carchia of Sportando writes that Amundson is close to signing a deal with TNT, after international basketball journalist David Pick reported (via Twitter) that the 34-year-old would land with a team in the Philippines.
Free agent point guard Greivis Vasquez and Lakers guard David Nwaba have new representation, according to Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal, who reports (via Twitter) that Glushon Sports Management recently signed the duo.

NBA Teams With Open Roster Spots

March 22nd, 2017 at 10:12am CST by Luke Adams

With just three weeks in the NBA season, most teams across the league have full rosters. Teams still fighting for playoff spots or jockeying for higher seeds may not use all 15 players on their rosters, but they want to be well-stocked in case they need the depth heading into the postseason. Meanwhile, teams out of the running for a playoff spot will often use the last few spots on their rosters to take fliers on younger players and see if they can find a hidden gem before the regular season ends.

Currently, only two teams have open spots on their rosters, as our list of roster counts shows. Those teams are as follows:

New Orleans Pelicans (13 guaranteed contracts, one 10-day contract): Since sending three guards to Sacramento in the DeMarcus Cousins deal last month, the Pelicans have been shuffling backcourt players on and off the roster in an effort to find good fits. As our 10-day tracker shows, New Orleans has signed six different guards to 10-day contracts since the deadline. One of those players – Jordan Crawford – earned a rest-of-season contract, while another – Quinn Cook – is still on the roster on a 10-day deal. For now, the Pelicans are leaving their final spot open, but that may not last.
Orlando Magic (14 guaranteed contracts): Orlando is a curious case. Outside of their Serge Ibaka trade with Toronto and a lone 10-day contract for Anthony Brown, the Magic haven’t made any roster moves since waiving Arinze Onuaku prior to the salary guarantee deadline in early January. The Magic were carrying 15 players during those 10 days that Brown was on the roster, but otherwise have left a spot open for the last two and a half months. The club has several young players on its roster that should get playing time down the stretch, so perhaps the thinking is that a 15th man on a 10-day contract would have no role and wouldn’t be worth the modest investment. But it’s still a little surprising that Orlando hasn’t made use of that roster spot.

Meanwhile, the following three teams have full 15-man rosters at the moment, but at least one of their players is on a 10-day contract that will soon expire:

Brooklyn Nets (14 guaranteed contracts, one 10-day contract): The Nets remain below the salary floor by about $1.235MM, so when Archie Goodwin‘s 10-day deal expires later this week, I’d expect the club to quickly fill that 15th spot. It remains to be seen whether that will mean re-signing Goodwin or adding someone new.
Dallas Mavericks (13 guaranteed contracts, two 10-day contracts): The Mavericks are a perfect example of a team that used 10-day contracts to find a potential keeper — they struck gold with Yogi Ferrell. Like New Orleans, Dallas has signed six different players to 10-day deals this year, with one keeper to show for it. The Mavs will have to decide next week whether either Jarrod Uthoff or Manny Harris is a keeper, or if they’ll use those two roster spots on new guys.
Phoenix Suns (14 guaranteed contracts, one 10-day contract): With Eric Bledsoe, Tyson Chandler, and Brandon Knight no longer in the rotation, the Suns are fully in look-at-young-players mode. Jarell Eddie is currently on a 10-day contract with Phoenix, so we’ll see if he sticks.

If one of these teams wants to take a flier on a D-League prospect before season’s end, there is no shortage of options. Pierre Jackson, Keith Benson, Jalen Jones, and Jabari Brown are among the players thriving in the NBADL and earning a shot at an NBA call-up, as Adam Johnson of D-League Digest details.

New York Rumors: Nets, KCP, Goodwin, Knicks

March 22nd, 2017 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst wrote last week that the Nets are expected to be “major players” this summer for restricted free agent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. This week, Brian Lewis of The New York Post confirms Brooklyn’s interest in the Pistons sharpshooter, writing that the Nets will likely make KCP a “top priority” in the offseason.

“I’m impressed,” Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson said of Caldwell-Pope. “I love how he competes, how he competes on the defensive end. That’s really the essence of what I see when I watch him play. He plays with force, he competes on the defensive end.”

It remains to be seen if the Pistons will be open to a maximum-salary contract for Caldwell-Pope, but that may be what it takes to retain him. With KCP’s Bird rights in hand, Detroit can offer more years and more money than any other team and will have the chance to match any offer. Still, it sounds like the Nets will put plenty of pressure on the Pistons, dipping back into the restricted free agent market after striking out last summer on Allen Crabbe and Tyler Johnson.

Here’s more out of New York:

Former first-round pick Archie Goodwin, who is on a 10-day contract with the Nets, tells NetsDaily that he hopes to stick around in Brooklyn for much longer than those 10 days.
Carmelo Anthony said on Tuesday that Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek informed the team that he plans to start reducing minutes for some veteran players down the stretch. As Newsday’s Al Iannazzone details, the Knicks want to assess some of their younger players to determine whether or not they have a future with the club.
Former Knicks head coach Derek Fisher appeared on The Vertical’s podcast this week and spoke to Adrian Wojnarowski about what led to the end of his time in New York. Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News has some of the quotes from Fisher, who admits that his fight with Matt Barnes hurt his standing with the Knicks and talks about the tension created by the triangle offense.
Speaking of the triangle, TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal defended his former head coach Phil Jackson, suggesting that the Knicks players are to blame for the system’s ineffectiveness in New York. Marc Berman of The New York Post has the details.

Western Rumors: Bjelica, Watson, Crawford

March 21st, 2017 at 10:51pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Timberwolves big man Nemanja Bjelica underwent surgery Tuesday to repair a fractured navicular bone in his left foot, the team announced in a press release. Bjelica’s season-ending injury occurred during Minnesota’s 117-104 loss to Boston on March 15th. He was averaging 6.2 PPG and 3.8 RPG in 18.3 MPG while appearing in 65 games. The club did not announce how long it would take for Bjelica, who will make a guaranteed $3,949,999 next season, to recover from the injury.

In other developments around the Western Conference:

Suns coach Earl Watson brushed aside speculation that might leave Phoenix if the UCLA coaching job opens up, Doug Haller of the Arizona Republic reports. Current UCLA coach Steve Alford is considered a top candidate for the vacant Indiana job because of his ties to the school. Watson, a UCLA alum, would be a logical choice to replace him if that happened. “I’m more focused on creating value for our [organization], to give management and ownership many options to build a championship contender here,” Watson told Haller. “What I mean by that is, building the value of the young players so that their value and their game and their confidence give them the option to be financially secure in this league when they become free agents; giving our ownership the option to build around them or give ownership and management the option to make moves because their value is so high to put us in contention quicker.”
Jordan Crawford has become a potent force for the Pelicans, William Guillory of the New Orleans Times-Picayune writes. Crawford averaged 14.3 PPG in his first seven games with the club while shooting 51.9% on 3-point attempts, giving it a much-needed boost on the perimeter. Crawford’s production allowed the 28-year-old guard to turn a 10-day contract into a two-year deal. “When I got the 10-day, that was the accomplishment,” Crawford told Guillory. “I didn’t really feel like I was on a 10-day once I was here. The hard part was getting the 10-day.”
Lakers power forward Larry Nance Jr. wants to remain with the organization on a long-term basis, as he relayed to Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype.com in a Q&A session. Nance is still on his rookie contract and will make $1,471,382 next season. The club will have to decide whether to make him a qualifying offer in the summer of 2018. “We’re on the up-and-up as a team and we’ve got a bright future,” Nance said. “And would I love to be a part of that future? Man, I’d love nothing more than that.”

Draft Notes: Williams, Kuzma, Wilder, Ball

March 21st, 2017 at 9:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Texas A&M freshman forward Robert Williams decided to remain in college because he wants to be the top pick, a source told Evan Daniels of Fox Sports and Scout.com (Twitter link). Williams also believes he’s not mature enough yet to enter the league, the tweet adds. Williams averaged 11.9 PPG, 8.2 RPG and 2.5 BPG during his freshman season for the Aggies. The 6’9” Williams was considered a late lottery pick, ranked as the 10th-best overall prospect by DraftExpress and 13th in Chad Ford’s top 100 at ESPN.com.

In other news involving the draft:

Utah forward Kyle Kuzma will enter the draft but won’t hire an agent, Kyle Goon of the Salt Lake Tribune tweets. Kuzma is ranked No. 73 among the top 100 prospects by DraftExpress and doesn’t make Ford’s top 100 list. The 6’9” Kuzma averaged 16.4 PPG and 9.3 RPG for the Utes in his junior season.
Western Michigan’s Thomas Wilder will also test the draft waters, Jeff Goodman of ESPN tweets. The 6’3” guard averaged 19.3 PPG, 4.3 RPG and 3.8 APG in his junior season. He is not rated among the top 100 by either DraftExpress or Ford.
Seton Hall’s Angel Delgado and Khadeen Carrington will also enter the draft without hiring agents, Jon Rothstein of FanRagSports.com reports. Delgado, a 6’10” junior forward, averaged 15.2 PPG and 13.1 RPG this past season while Carrington, a 6’4” junior guard, averaged 17.1 PPG. Neither is considered a top 100 prospect.
Former Virginia and Memphis forward Austin Nichols has declared for the draft and hired an agent, according to Evan Daniels of Scout.com. The 6’9” Nichols played two seasons at Memphis, sat out a year, then played one game for the Cavaliers before he was dismissed from the team.
UCLA freshman point guard Lonzo Ball and Kansas freshman small forward Josh Jackson have solidified their status as two of the three top prospects with their performances in the NCAA tournament, Ford writes in a stock watch column. Arizona freshman forward Lauri Markkanen and Michigan State freshman forward Miles Bridges are among the players who have improved their draft stock during the first two rounds of the tournament, according to Ford. Villanova senior guard Josh Hart and Duke sophomore guard Luke Kennard are among the players that Ford believes hurt their draft status with subpar tournament outings.

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