Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie has mixed feelings about hearing his name in trade rumors, according to an Associated Press report. Dinwiddie is considered a potential target for the Suns, who are in the market for a point guard. Dinwiddie is playing for the bargain rate of $1.656MM before he enters the free agent market next season, and the Nets have other point guard options, which only fuels the trade talk. “Being in trade rumors all summer I guess is two pieces: I want to be here. I love being here. I’m happy that they didn’t (trade me). On the flip side, the spectrum of teams calling me (meant) obviously I played well,” Dinwiddie said.
In other news around the Atlantic Division:
- Knicks point guard Trey Burke doles out high praise when asked about second-round pick Mitchell Robinson, Zach Braziller of the New York Post writes. The 7’1” center has dazzled teammates during fall workouts and Burke compares him to a Hall of Famer. “I got a chance to play with him in open gym, and I was shocked a little bit,” Burke said. “His ability to just get a rebound off of the rim, just go right back up and just dunk it, it reminded me of like a young — and this is high praise — it reminded me of like a young Shaquille O’Neal, just skinnier.”
- Kyrie Irving is trying to downplay the notion that he wants to leave Boston when he becomes a free agent next summer, as he told Celtics.com in comments that were relayed by USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt. The Celtics point guard even tossed out the possibility of getting his jersey in the rafters with other franchise greats when he retires. “Obviously it’s everybody else’s job to look forward to my future before I can, so I just really thought it was important to make sure it’s known that this franchise is really built for the next few years of being at the top-tier of teams in the league,” he said. “Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? What more could you ask for from an organization to really elevate your game? When you want to be on the same lineage of greatness as the guys that have come before you, there are times where I have thought about having No. 11 in the rafters, hopefully, one day. That’s a dream.”
- Another player heading into free agency next summer, center Enes Kanter, reiterated his desire to re-sign with the Knicks, Ian Begley of ESPN tweets. “I want to retire here. Nothing has changed,” Kanter said.
Separate of the obvious that Robinson is not going to be Shaq, I’m still excited to hear the praise and am looking forward to seeing him this season.
You might not say that if you have seen MR shoot free throws.
Trey Burke was like 6 years old during Shaq young days.
Kyrie isn’t going anywhere.
Kyrie was talking at media day about what it takes to be a great player. Kyrie, please don’t get LeBron’s ego.
all those rumors from “credible sources” = fakenews
As for Robinson, I’d be thrilled if he could be Clint Capella. Together with comparisons made by Fizdale, the Knicks have quite a group, with players comparable to D.Wade (Mudiay), D.Green (Lance Thomas) and Shaq (Robinson), and it’s not even clear any of them will start. Not sure Vegas has us with a top 10 pick again.
The Knicks will battle with the Hawks and the Magic for worst record in the east. Unfortunately, the bad teams in the west (Kings, Suns) will have worse records, having to play better teams more often in the west.