2017 March | Hoops Rumors

Hoops Links: Westbrook, Nwaba, Sanders, Green

March 19th, 2017 at 5:17pm CST by Milo Taibi

On Sundays, we link to some of the very best work from around the basketball blogosphere. Do you have a link to a great basketball blog post – either your own or someone else’s – that you want to see featured on Hoops Rumors? Send it to us at HoopsLinks@gmail.com. Here’s this week’s rundown:

Kwame Fisher-Jones of The 76er Files lauded Russell Westbrook: the “Real MVP” of the 2016/17 season.
Mo Dakhil of The Jump Ball discussed David Nwaba‘s NBA debut, comparing him to NBA vet Tony Allen.
Kristian Winfield of SB Nation defended the Cavs for resting their Big Three in a nationally televised game.
Trevor Magnotti of The Step Back stated Greg Monroe‘s case for Sixth Man honors.
Ivica Zubac is playing his way into the Lakers’ future, Louis Keene of VICE Sports writes.
The Warriors’ most constant producer- Draymond Green– is also its most erratic personality, Haley O’Shaughnessy of The Ringer writes.
Larry Sanders‘ comeback was made on his own terms, Colin McGowan of RealGM writes.

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NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 3/19/17

March 19th, 2017 at 4:38pm CST by Milo Taibi

Here are the D-League transactions for Sunday:

The Thunder recalled Josh Huestis from the Oklahoma City Blue, the team announced in a press release. Through 28 games with the Blue, Huestis has averaged 14 points and 6.3 rebounds over 32.1 MPG.
The Hawks recalled DeAndre’ Bembry from the Salt Lake City Stars, the team announced in a press release. Bembry, 22, has appeared in just one NBA game since February 27, predominantly getting experience in the D-League in his rookie season. With Kent Bazemore out at least one week with a bone bruise, Bembry may receive playing opportunities.

Kent Bazemore Out At Least One Week With Bone Bruise

March 19th, 2017 at 4:01pm CST by Milo Taibi

Kent Bazemore exited last night’s game against the Blazers with a right knee contusion. After being evaluated this morning, Bazemore was shown to have suffered a right knee bone bruise. Bazemore will be treated and reevaluated in 7-10 days (Hawks press release).

The Hawks will have to make do without Bazemore or Paul Millsap, who will miss Atlanta’s next two games with left knee soreness, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta currently occupies the fifth seed of the Eastern Conference, staked to a 1.5 game lead over the Pacers.

It’s been an up-and-down season for Bazemore, who signed a four-year, $70MM contract before 2016/17. Bazemore’s shooting percentage dropped nearly four points from his 2015/16 campaign, at one point averaging 7.8 points over a 17-game stretch.

The Hawks are likely to recall DeAndre’ Bembry in Bazemore’s absence, Vivlamore reports (Twitter link),

Pelicans Sign Quinn Cook To 10-Day Contract

March 19th, 2017 at 3:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

March 19, 3:02pm: The Pelicans formally announced their signing of Quinn Cook to a 10-day contract (Twitter link).

March 18, 4:34pm: The Pelicans will sign point guard Quinn Cook to a 10-day contract, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.

Cook, who completed a 10-day deal with Dallas last week, had been in training camp with New Orleans but was waived before the season started. The former Duke guard made a positive impression on Pelicans GM Dell Demps with his preseason performance, tweets Scott Kushner of The Advocate.

Cook has been playing for the D-League’s Canton Charge since leaving the Mavericks. He got into five games with Dallas, averaging 5.4 points in 15.4 minutes per game.

The Pelicans can fit Cook into the roster opening that occurred when Wayne Selden‘s 10-day contract expired last night. Selden inked a multi-year contract with the Grizzlies earlier today.

Central Notes: Sanders, Korver, Mirotic, Miles

March 19th, 2017 at 1:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Cavaliers‘ plans for Larry Sanders remain uncertain after the recently signed big man played his first D-League game Saturday night, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Sanders had two points, a rebound and three blocks to go with five fouls for the Canton Charge. Afterward, Canton coach Nate Reinking refused to comment on Sanders’ future, calling the plans “classified.” The Cavaliers sent Sanders to the D-League to get used to playing again while they are on a four-game Western swing. The two minutes he played on Tuesday represented his first NBA action since the 2014/15 season. “Get my legs under me. Hopefully help this team win games and get back into basketball shape,” Sanders said of his goals with Canton. “Just defensive timing off a bit and trying to get into position, but it will come.”

There’s more from the Central Division:

The expected return of Cavaliers guard Kyle Korver during the road trip may be delayed, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. Korver has missed the past six games with inflammation in his left foot, and he has already been ruled out for tonight’s contest with the Lakers. “There’s still something in there,” Korver said. “It’s getting better but it hasn’t come along like I’d hoped. I should’ve stopped playing on it a week and a half earlier. Now that I’m out, we might as well let it come all the way back, but it just hasn’t yet.”
Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic is focused on a playoff push rather than his impending free agency, relays K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Mirotic, who has gone from inactive to the starting lineup in less than a week, knows that Chicago tried to trade him before last month’s deadline and that his time in the city may be over once the season ends. “There have been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of things I never lived in my life,” he said. “Who could see that? It’s crazy. But I know that I’ve been playing much better the last couple games.”
Veteran swingman C.J. Miles could parlay his newfound starting role with the Pacers into a healthy raise this summer, writes Jordan J. Wilson of The Indianapolis Star. Miles has started every game since the All-Star break and is the team’s best 3-point shooter. After the season, he will have to decide whether to opt out of a nearly $4.8MM salary for next year.

Chandler Parsons To Have Season-Ending Surgery

March 19th, 2017 at 12:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Memphis forward Chandler Parsons will have season-ending knee surgery on Monday, tweets Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com.

The meniscectomy will be his third knee operation in three years and will come nearly a year after a procedure to fix his right knee last March (Twitter link). Wallace says the Grizzlies still have “high hopes and optimism” about Parsons’ future with the team (Twitter link).

Parsons was the focal point of the Grizzlies’ offseason, signing a four-year deal worth $94,438,523. But issues with both knees limited him to 34 games in which he averaged 6.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per night.

The latest setback came last week when he was diagnosed with a partial tear of the meniscus in his left knee.

Suns Sign Jarell Eddie To 10-Day Deal

March 19th, 2017 at 12:34pm CST by Arthur Hill

MARCH 19, 12:34pm: The signing is official, according to a tweet from the Suns.

MARCH 18 8:56pm: The Suns will sign Jarell Eddie to a 10-day contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical. The 6’7″ forward is currently playing for the Bulls’ Windy City affiliate in the D-League.

Eddie, 24, has previous NBA experience with Washington, where he appeared in 26 games last season but averaged just 5.7 minutes per night. He went through training camp with the Wizards, but was waived in October just before the start of the season.

Eddie went undrafted out of Virginia Tech in 2014 and has spent most of his career in the D-League, playing for Austin as well as Windy City.

The Suns have been carrying an open roster spot since last month’s trade deadline, when they acquired and then waived Jared Sullinger and Mike Scott. Phoenix signed Ronnie Price to fill one of those openings, but left the other one vacant until now.

New York Notes: Rose, Jackson, Lin, McDaniels

March 19th, 2017 at 11:56am CST by Arthur Hill

NBA agents are forecasting a disappointing free agent market for Knicks guard Derrick Rose, with one calling him “the next [Rajon] Rondo,” relays Fred Kerber of The New York Post. New York is considered unlikely to try to re-sign Rose, who has been a disappointment since being acquired in a trade with the Bulls last summer. The unidentified agent who compared him to Rondo said Rose will probably get a short-term deal from a bad team worth about $15MM per year. Another expects him to take less money to join a better organization, probably $8MM to $10MM or $10MM to $12MM annually.

One positive for Rose this season has been health, as he has appeared in 60 of the Knicks’ 69 games and is on track for the most he has played since a devastating ACL tear in 2012. “I really believe I worked my butt off this summer to hold up,” Rose said. “I had aches and nagging injuries [in the past]. This year I didn’t have that. Every game, it’s a fatigue factor, but as far as how my body’s feeling, my body’s holding up pretty well.”

There’s more today out of the Big Apple:

Most of the current Knicks aren’t comfortable in the triangle offense and would like to see the team abandon it, writes Ian Begley of ESPN.com. They believe the tight spacing makes it difficult to drive to the basket and say the offense results in a lot of contested shots. If team president Phil Jackson insists on running the triangle, he might have to overhaul the roster to make it work. There are also concerns that the young players who are learning the triangle will have to make a huge adjustment when Jackson leaves.
The Nets are finally enjoying the benefits of teaming Jeremy Lin with Brook Lopez, relays Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Brooklyn was expecting the combination to be the core of the team after signing Lin last July, but injuries wiped out a major part of his season. The Nets are 7-11 with Lopez and Lin in the lineup together, but just 6-44 otherwise. “That growth is absolutely there, and I think it’s going to get exponentially better,’’ Lopez said. “That’s team-wise as well. When you really look at our situation, I don’t think we’ve all been out there at the same time. We’ve got some new guys who are coming in. They don’t know all the plays, they’re just getting thrown in the fire in the heat of the moment, but they’re producing. That bodes well for our future.”
Nets coach Kenny Atkinson has been happy with the play of K.J. McDaniels, who was acquired from Houston at the deadline, tweets NetsDaily.com. “He’s given us some quality minutes,” Atkinson said. “He’s a smart player, he can stretch the floor. I like his IQ and spirit.”

Weekly Mailbag: 3/13/17 – 3/19/17

March 19th, 2017 at 11:00am CST by Arthur Hill

We have an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in this, our weekly mailbag feature. Have a question regarding player movement, the salary cap or the NBA draft? Drop us a line at HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com. Here are this week’s inquiries:

Who do you think will be awarded the NBA Coach of the Year? Mike D’Antoni of the Rockets, Scott Brooks of the Wizards, Gregg Popovich of the Spurs or who else? — Greg Dizon

For several months, D’Antoni seemed to have the award locked up after taking a dysfunctional team that barely made the playoffs last year and turning it into one of the powers in the West. Putting James Harden into the Steve Nash role and surrounding him with shooters has been a brilliant move as Harden has become the league leader in assists. However, the recent surge by the Wizards, who are now in contention for the top spot in the East, at least creates an interesting race. Some other deserving candidates who will probably get overshadowed by D’Antoni and Brooks are Billy Donovan in Oklahoma City, Erik Spoelstra in Miami, Brad Stevens in Boston and Rick Carlisle in Dallas.

Can you see teams who don’t have any picks in this year’s draft buying in? I’m thinking the Cavs, Warriors, Grizzlies and Pelicans will try find their way in due to the depth of this year’s class. — Chris Hawkins

The first-rounder that New Orleans sent to Sacramento in the DeMarcus Cousins trade is top-three protected, so there’s a small chance that the Pelicans will keep it. They obviously could use draft help, but they don’t have many assets left to trade for a pick. Of the teams you mentioned, the Grizzlies are most likely to try to trade into the first round. The core of their roster is getting very old by NBA standards, and their first-rounder is headed to Portland by way of Cleveland and Denver. For elite teams like Cleveland or Golden State, a first-round pick can sometimes be a burden by filling up a roster spot with a young player who needs time to develop. Either team may decide to trade into the first round if they find an opportunity and a player they like, but both will probably be content trying to uncover second-round gems.

Will the Clippers sign someone? — Richard Garcia

We can’t guarantee it, but the organization is exploring its options. The latest report has them among the teams keeping an eye on Carlos Boozer while he wraps up his playoff commitments in China. A story last week linked L.A. to Omri Casspi, who has been medically cleared after breaking his thumb last month, but that was later denied. With the Clippers locked in a tight race for playoff positioning and a tough first-round series ahead, we expect them to add at least one more player before the season ends.

Mavs Sign Jarrod Uthoff To Second 10-Day Deal

March 19th, 2017 at 10:30am CST by Austin Kent

MARCH 19: The Mavericks have officially re-signed Uthoff to another 10-day contract, the team announced in a press release.

MARCH 18: The Mavericks intend to sign big man Jarrod Uthoff to a second 10-day deal, Marc Stein of ESPN tweets.

The 23-year-old forward saw limited action during his first deal, playing limited minutes just twice earlier in the week. He last took the court in Dallas’ Monday evening loss to the Raptors on March 13.

Given that the Mavs are currently in the hunt for the final postseason berth in the Western Conference, it’s unclear if Uthoff will see more than the 2.5 minutes per game he saw the first time around, but even if they don’t aggressively audition the undrafted rookie, the franchise will benefit from the added depth on the roster.

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