2020 July | Hoops Rumors

Nets Sign Donta Hall To Rest-Of-Season Deal

July 10th, 2020 at 8:41am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 10: The Nets have officially signed Hall as a substitute player, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 9: The Nets have agreed to sign free agent big man Donta Hall to a rest-of-season contract, reports Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link).

Hall, who will turn 23 next month, spent last fall with the Pistons after going undrafted out of Alabama. He was waived by Detroit before the regular season began, but spent most of his rookie year with the Grand Rapids Drive – the Pistons’ G League affiliate – before eventually earning a call-up to the club’s NBA roster.

In 38 games (28.6 MPG) for Grand Rapids, Hall averaged 15.4 PPG, 10.6 RPG, and 1.4 BPG on 66.9% shooting, earning All-NBAGL Second Team honors. He signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Pistons in February and March, logging limited minutes in four NBA games during that time. His 10-day deal was still active when the NBA went on hiatus on March 11, but didn’t carry over to the summer, making him a free agent.

The Nets have ruled out Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, Taurean Prince, and Wilson Chandler for the NBA’s restart due to positive coronavirus tests or voluntary opt-outs. As a result, the team is eligible to sign four substitute players. It appears those players will be Michael Beasley (whose deal is already official), Justin Anderson, Jamal Crawford, and Hall.

As Stein tweets – and previously reported – the Nets strongly considered signing Amir Johnson to add frontcourt depth. The club also reportedly had some interest in Lance Thomas. However, having already reached deals with multiple veterans, Brooklyn will opt instead for youth in signing Hall.

Hall’s rest-of-season contract won’t include any form of Bird rights, and he’ll become an unrestricted free agent this fall. Still, if the Nets like what they see this summer, they could try to get him back for the 2020/21 season.

Rockets Notes: D’Antoni, Travel Details, Tucker

July 9th, 2020 at 9:04pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

69-year-old Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni, who says he has cleared his medical screenings with Houston, has flown with the team to Orlando, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon (Twitter link). Though D’Antoni was granted no “formal NBA thumbs up,” as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle tweets, the league also did not restrict D’Antoni’s campus attendance following the medical clearance.

D’Antoni is the league’s second-oldest head coach, after 71-year-old Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. The 40-24 Rockets are currently the No. 6 seed in the West, 1.5 games clear of the seventh-seeded Mavericks.

There’s more out of Houston:

D’Antoni and Rockets general manager Daryl Morey are relishing the opportunity for the team to practice together ahead of the league’s scheduled July 30 restart, per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. “Because we had a major change in the components of the team, we do think a second training camp benefits us,” Morey said. “Because when you’re integrating a starter onto a very good team, getting more time to drill… will allow us to integrate (Robert) Covington in, and I do think that slightly favors us.”
Rockets All-Stars James Harden and Russell Westbrook did not travel with the rest of the team to Orlando today, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link). They are expected to arrive later this week. Newly-signed substitute player Luc Mbah a Moute and player development coach John Lucas also did not travel with the rest of the Rockets, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
35-year-old Rockets forward/center and defensive stalwart P.J. Tucker has indicated that he would like an extension on his current four-year contract, which expires after the 2020/21 season, per Fox 26 Houston’s Mark Berman (Twitter link). “I want to retire as a Houston Rocket,” Tucker said. “The fans, the city have embraced me since day one. So fingers crossed, I hope we can strike a deal and get it done.”

Thomas Bryant, Gary Payton II Test Positive For COVID-19

July 9th, 2020 at 7:30pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Wizards center Thomas Bryant and point guard Gary Payton II have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and did not travel with their teammates to the Orlando campus for the NBA’s season restart, according to Ava Wallace of The Washington Post (Twitter link).

Shooting guard Garrison Mathews also did not travel with the rest of the team to Orlando, though his absence was a result of “personal reasons,” as Luke Adams noted in another Wizards story earlier today.

The 6’10” Bryant, a third-year player out of Indiana, started in 28 of his 38 games with the Wizards this season. He averaged career-highs in points (12.1 PPG), rebounds (6.8 RPG), assists (1.9 APG), and three-point percentage (40.7% on 1.4 attempts per night).

Since going undrafted in 2016 out of Oregon State, Payton saw limited action with the Bucks, Lakers and Wizards in parts of three NBA seasons. He saw more consistent action with Washington this year, playing in 14.9 MPG across 29 games, including 17 starts.

The future availability for all three Wizards players in the restart is now up in the air. Players who test positive for COVID-19 can be replaced by substitutes, but teams also have the option of waiting for those players to be medically cleared.

Washington is already missing starting shooting guard Bradley Beal (a two-time All Star), power forward Davis Bertans, and nominal starting point guard John Wall, who has been sidelined for the entire season.

Jamal Crawford Signs With Nets

July 9th, 2020 at 6:06pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

JULY 9: Crawford has officially signed with the Nets, per an official team statement (Twitter link).

JULY 8: Free agent guard Jamal Crawford has agreed to join the depleted Nets for the league restart, per Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic (Twitter link).

The 40-year-old crossover maestro, a three-time Sixth Man of the Year, last suited up for the Suns in 64 games during the 2018/19 season. Across 19 NBA seasons, Crawford sports a slash line of 14.6 PPG, 3.4 APG, and 2.2 RPG. He is also averaging 34.8% from three-point range and 86.2% from the free-throw line.

During his lone Phoenix season, Crawford’s scoring dipped to a single-digit average for the first time since his 2001/02 season with the Bulls. Crawford averaged 7.9 PPG, 3.6 APG and 1.3 RPG, while shooting just 39.7% from the field. He scored 51 points in his last game for Phoenix, on April 9, 2019. John Hollinger of The Athletic notes that Crawford rated as a below-replacement level player last season (Twitter link).

The Nets have been hit particularly hard ahead of the NBA’s return to action at Orlando’s Disney World campus, currently scheduled to kick off July 30. Injured All-Stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will miss the rest of the 2019/20 season. Center DeAndre Jordan, wing Taurean Prince, and guard Spencer Dinwiddie have been stricken with COVID-19 and will also all miss the restart. Additionally, Nicolas Claxton is sidelined due to a shoulder injury and Wilson Chandler has opted out of participating.

The team can sign up to two more substitute players after making it official with Crawford and Justin Anderson, whose deal was reported in June.

Atlantic Notes: T. Johnson, Beasley, Knicks, Raptors

July 9th, 2020 at 5:30pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets, already missing seven players from their 15-man roster this summer, are also currently without guard Tyler Johnson, who was signed by the club during the transaction window at the end of June.

Nets general manager Sean Marks said today that Johnson hasn’t accompanied the team to the Walt Disney World campus for personal reasons, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link). However, Marks added that Johnson will join the club in a few days.

When Johnson reports to the NBA’s campus in Orlando, he’ll have to go through a six-day quarantine period, testing negative multiple times for the coronavirus before he’ll be permitted to practice, Lewis adds in a separate tweet. That longer quarantine period applies to any player who arrives after his team has already traveled to Disney and gone through its own initial 36-hour quarantine period.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

New Nets forward Michael Beasley, who will also have to quarantine for six days, is already in the team’s Florida hotel, tweets Lewis. Marks confirmed today that Beasley will have to sit out Brooklyn’s first five games due to his drug suspension from 2019, which he has yet to serve (Twitter link via Lewis). The forward will be eligible to make his Nets debut on August 9 vs. the Clippers, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter).
The Knicks‘ previously-reported head coaching interviews with Tom Thibodeau and Bulls assistant Chris Fleming took place on Thursday, according to reports from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). Thibodeau and Fleming are two of 11 candidates for the position, as our tracker shows.
Raptors rookie Dewan Hernandez, who had been sidelined since December due to a severe ankle sprain, is with the team in Orlando and will be healthy enough to play this summer, tweets Austin Kent of SLAM. Hernandez is unlikely to play meaningful minutes, but will provide added frontcourt depth.

Wizards Notes: Mathews, Beal, Rotation, Hachimura

July 9th, 2020 at 3:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Having been one of the first NBA teams to arrive at the Walt Disney World campus on Tuesday, the Wizards announced today (via Twitter) that their quarantine period has ended and they’ll conduct their first practice later this afternoon.

However, one player who won’t participate in that practice is two-way guard Garrison Mathews. Sources tell Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link) that Mathews didn’t travel to Orlando with the team for personal reasons. According to Katz, Mathews hasn’t tested positive for the coronavirus, but it remains unclear whether he’ll join the team later or miss the rest of the season.

Mathews, a rookie out of Lipscomb, appeared in just 18 games for the Wizards during the season, averaging 12.6 minutes per contest, so he wasn’t exactly an indispensable rotation piece. Still, Matthews would likely have moved up on the depth chart with Bradley Beal sidelined for the restart, so if he doesn’t eventually join the club at Disney, he’ll be missed.

Here’s more on the Wizards:

Although Beal was shut down for the rest of the season due to a rotator cuff injury, Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard said this week that he doesn’t think surgery “is an option at all” for the All-Star guard. Rest and a longer training camp period should have Beal ready to go for 2020/21, according to Sheppard. “I think if we had another month of ramp-up time, Bradley would probably be ready to play,” Sheppard said, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. “These are eight games vs. 82 next season and all the seasons beyond that. I think it’s worth mitigating the risk right now for what’s ahead.”
In a separate story for NBC Sports Washington, Hughes contends that Beal’s performance this season showed that we still don’t know exactly what his ceiling is.
With Beal, Davis Bertans, and John Wall not participating in the summer restart, a handful of younger Wizards will get a chance to take on larger roles, according to Jackson Filyo of WashingtonWizards.com, who points to Troy Brown Jr., Rui Hachimura, Thomas Bryant, Moritz Wagner, and Jerome Robinson as players who could step up. “I’m so excited for this opportunity,” Hachimura said, per Hughes. “I think we have a chance to make the playoffs.”

Nets Sign Michael Beasley As Substitute Player

July 9th, 2020 at 3:08pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 9: The Nets have officially signed Beasley, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 8: The Nets and free agent forward Michael Beasley are moving toward a contract agreement, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The second overall pick in the 2008 draft, Beasley hasn’t played in the NBA this season, having last suited up for the Lakers during the 2018/19 campaign. He averaged 7.0 PPG and 2.3 RPG in 26 games (10.7 MPG) for the Lakers before being traded to the Clippers at the ’19 deadline. The Clips subsequently waived him.

Beasley, who averaged 19.2 PPG for the Timberwolves back in 2010/11, has always been an effective scorer, but isn’t a particularly strong play-maker or defender. Still, the 31-year-old’s ability to put the ball in the basket could benefit the depleted Nets.

As a result of injuries, opt-outs, and positive coronavirus tests, Brooklyn will be missing Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, Taurean Prince, Wilson Chandler, and Nicolas Claxton when play resumes this summer.

Dinwiddie, Jordan, Prince, and Chandler are eligible to be replaced by substitute players, and Brooklyn has already reached agreements with Justin Anderson and Jamal Crawford. Assuming they strike a deal with Beasley too, the Nets would still be able to sign one more substitute player — they’re said to be eyeing a frontcourt piece, perhaps Amir Johnson or Lance Thomas.

Beasley – who has a strong relationship with Durant, according to Charania (Twitter link) – would sign a minimum-salary, rest-of-season contract with Brooklyn if the two sides finalize an agreement. It wouldn’t count against the club’s cap and the Nets wouldn’t have any form of Bird rights on Beasley at season’s end.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks points out (via Twitter), Beasley was hit with a five-game suspension in August 2019 for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy. He has yet to serve that ban and would have to do so if he signs with Brooklyn. Still, the club would have him available for its final three seeding games, plus up to two play-in tournament contests and the entire postseason, assuming the Nets make it.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pistons Hire Bucks Exec David Mincberg As Assistant GM

July 9th, 2020 at 2:06pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 9: The Pistons have officially hired Mincberg as an assistant general manager, announcing the move today in a press release.

JULY 7: The Pistons are hiring Bucks executive David Mincberg to fill an assistant general manager role in their front office, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Mincberg, who previously worked in the Grizzlies’ legal and scouting departments, has been in the Bucks’ front office for the last three years under GM Jon Horst. As Wojnarowski notes, Mincberg most recently served as Milwaukee’s vice president of basketball strategy.

It’s the first front office addition the Pistons have made since hiring new general manager Troy Weaver, who presumably played a role in the pursuit and hiring of Mincberg. Detroit has lost two assistant GMs this year, with Malik Rose leaving the team for a job in the NBA’s league office and Pat Garrity departing the organization as well.

Given both of those losses, Mincberg won’t be the last executive hired by the Pistons to fill out Weaver’s new-look basketball operations department. Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link) hears that the club will likely make “at least” two more hires.

Hawks Name Tori Miller GM Of G League Team

July 9th, 2020 at 1:58pm CST by Luke Adams

The Hawks have promoted Tori Miller to the role of general manager of the College Park Skyhawks, the team announced today in a press release. The move makes Miller the first woman to ever hold the title of GM in NBA G League history.

Miller, a native of Decatur, Georgia, began her career as a basketball operations intern with the Suns. She eventually joined Atlanta’s G League affiliate – then the Erie BayHawks – as the club’s manager of basketball operations before being named the Skyhawks’ assistant GM in July 2019.

Chris Kirschner of The Athletic published a profile of Miller shortly after last summer’s promotion, noting that her goal is to eventually become the general manager of an NBA team.

“I want to create that path,” Miller told The Athletic at the time. “I want to be the one person where others say, ‘Hey, Tori Miller did it. I want to do it as well.'”

In addition to Miller’s promotion, the Hawks and Skyhawks announced a handful of other promotions and hires. Notably, former Skyhawks GM Derek Pierce will remain in the organization and will continue to oversee Atlanta’s scouting department as the Hawks’ VP of player personnel.

Atlanta also promoted Dwight Lutz to senior director of basketball strategy and analytics and Zac Walsh to director of team operations, among other moves.

Nets Notes: LeVert, Crawford, Beasley, Chiozza

July 9th, 2020 at 1:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

The absence of so many key players means Caris LeVert will have to take on a larger role for the Nets in Orlando, writes Greg Joyce of The New York Post. The 25-year-old guard has always been a reliable scorer, but he will need to serve as a play-maker and team leader with Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Spencer Dinwiddie, Taurean Prince, DeAndre Jordan, Wilson Chandler and Nicolas Claxton all unavailable.

“I think for me it’s just taking on that challenge of being a leader, being the leader of that group,” LeVert said. “Going down there with some of the most experience on the team, playoff experience. I feel like I relish these types of opportunities and situations. Everything aside, I’m looking forward to going down there and seeing what we can do.”

The restart will give LeVert a chance to prove he can be a third star in Brooklyn and show management it doesn’t have to pursue someone else to team with Irving and Durant. A strong performance could also raise his trade value if the Nets decide to go that route. He agreed to a three-year, $52.5MM extension last summer.

“I feel good right now,” said LeVert, who missed 24 games earlier this season after thumb surgery. “I haven’t played in games since March so that’s the question I really don’t know. I feel good in my workouts though. And if I didn’t, I honestly wouldn’t be going down there to play. So I’m looking forward to getting out there.”

There’s more on the Nets:

Adding Jamal Crawford and Michael Beasley shows that Brooklyn intends to be competitive in Orlando despite its depleted roster, observes Alex Schiffer of The Athletic. Schiffer looks at what the veteran duo can provide the Nets along with scoring punch.
Even with the additions, Brooklyn will need increased contributions from players such as Chris Chiozza and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, according to a NetsDaily article. Both could be competing for a chance to be on the roster next season. “I feel like it’s a big opportunity for me,” Chiozza said recently. “It’s something I’m looking forward to. I hope Spencer feels better, but if not, I’ll be ready to take on those extra minutes.”
The Nets’ misfortune could wind up costing the Timberwolves a first-round pick this fall, writes Michael Rand of The Star-Tribune. Minnesota will receive Brooklyn’s first-rounder as long as the Nets reach the playoffs, which no longer seems certain with the number of players sitting out.

Month: November 2024