A report last Thursday that the Hornets were giving renewed consideration to taking Scoot Henderson with the No. 2 pick was a late attempt to get the Trail Blazers to trade up, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports said on the Basketball Illuminati Podcast.
“I don’t think this was done (with) betting markets, conspiracy, blah, blah, blah,” Fischer said (hat tip to Real GM). “I think the Hornets tried to get a little savvy.”
Fischer points out that Charlotte general manager Mitch Kupchak tried a similar tactic in 2015 when he had the No. 2 pick as GM of the Lakers. Kupchak was deciding between D’Angelo Russell and Jahlil Okafor and didn’t communicate to their agents what he planned to do.
“I believe the Hornets did not tell Brandon Miller or Scoot until right on the clock that they were going either direction to continue that misdirection, mystery or whatever you call,” Fischer added. “I think it was a concerted effort by the Hornets to drum up some trade interest there.”
There’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- An NBA executive tells Sean Deveney of Heavy.com that he thinks Immanuel Quickley will want “nine figures” over four years in his extension talks this summer. The Knicks guard helped his bargaining position with an outstanding third season that saw him finish second in the Sixth Man of the Year voting. “I can’t say the Knicks will go that high but they might have to,” the executive said. “He is not a guy you want to send to restricted free agency.”
- The Bulls didn’t address their need for outside shooting in the draft, so they’re likely to look for shooters in free agency, per Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. Chicago’s only pick was Julian Phillips, who shot 23.9% from behind the arc on 46 attempts last season at Tennessee. The Bulls ranked last in three-point attempts per game the past two years, and general manager Marc Eversley believes recently hired shooting coach Peter Patton will help. “Peter comes to us not only as a shooting coach but somebody who can oversee our player development function,” Eversley said. “… And we feel like he can help the overall look and feel of how we play the game and shoot the ball.”
- Sidney Dobner will be the first female assistant coach in the history of the Bucks, the team stated in a press release announcing Adrian Griffin‘s staff. This will be Dobner’s sixth season with the franchise.
Bulls will address zero of their needs in free agency, Reinsdorfs do not spend money.
IQ is a keeper, and I hope he’ll be a Knick for a long while. But I also hope the NYK FO doesn’t succumb to this ridiculous fear of the RFA market that seems to grip so many modern FO’s (perhaps based on bloated offer sheets in the past, who knows). It’s not rational. There’s a negotiated system in place that’s designed to allow teams to get a 4-year look at their RSC players, and then keep the ones they want, while letting the market determine their salary. Let it work, unless there’s a good reason to jump the market a year out. Rare that’s the case.