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Atlantic Notes: Teague, Schröder, Embiid, Knicks

February 17th, 2016 at 11:37pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Sixers may plan a last-second attempt to acquire Jeff Teague or Dennis Schröder from the Hawks, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. A source told Pompey that Philadelphia front office could make an “11th-hour” call to the Hawks on Thursday to remind them of the Sixers’ interest. Pompey cautions that it will probably take Jahlil Okafor or Nerlens Noel to get either of the point guards, and Philly’s front office would rather keep both until it knows the status of 2014 draftee Joel Embiid, who has yet to play an NBA game. However, a report emerged tonight that the Sixers are “gauging interest” in Okafor. “I think you always have to be aware of what the market is for acquiring something or considering a trade,” said chairman of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo. “But we are not actively looking to do deals.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • Embiid has traveled to Qatar for “a kick-start to the next phase” of his rehab process, according to Tom Moore of Calkins Media. He is working on his surgically repaired foot with doctors at Aspetar, which calls itself “the world’s leading specialized orthopedic and sports medicine hospital.” Embiid’s visit will include evaluation, consultation and meetings with specialists.
  • Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis was happy to be called “untouchable” in trade talks by team president Phil Jackson, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork. Porzingis said he would like to remain in New York for his entire career.
  • Interim coach Kurt Rambis said the Knicks front office hasn’t asked his opinion on any possible deals Begley also relays (Twitter link).
  • The Nets won’t rush to make a deal before the deadline, owner Mikhail Prokhorov said, as NetsDaily notes. “If we have some small, good pieces, maybe we can do something,” Prokhorov said. “But we are [being] very passive because we’re not in a hurry. We have a long-term vision.”
  • The Rockets asked for Jonas Valanciunas when they unsuccessfully approached the Raptors about a Dwight Howard trade, according to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange. Such a deal would have required Toronto to relinquish much more to make the salaries match.
  • The Celtics would give up more for Kevin Love than they would for Al Horford, but the Cavs and Hawks are expected to continue to demand more than Boston is willing to relinquish for either, writes Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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Celtics Could Get Love In Rumored Anderson Deal

February 17th, 2016 at 7:17pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Celtics’ desire to add Kevin Love could get a boost from the Cavaliers’ interest in Ryan Anderson, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE. He hears from a source that Boston could wind up with Love as part of a three-team deal with Cleveland and New Orleans.

The potential deal is “very fragile,” but Love will wind up in Boston if it goes through, Blakely writes, adding that the Celtics have been trying for weeks to convince the Cavaliers to give up Love, and that Boston has been pursuing a third team to make the trade work. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is determined to find a star and sees Love as his best opportunity in years, according to Blakely.

The possibility of a three-team deal was mentioned by Frank Isola of the New York Daily News when he tweeted about the Cavs’ interest in Anderson earlier today. Anderson averages 16.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, but the Pelicans are concerned that they won’t be able to re-sign him in free agency this summer. Anderson is making $8.5MM this season, while Love’s salary is $19.5MM, so several other players will have to be included to make the proposed deal possible.

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Atlantic Notes: Griffin, Morris, Johnson

February 16th, 2016 at 6:46pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge doesn’t merely want a short-term upgrade, as he told Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald, leaving Bulpett to surmise that the Celtics don’t have interest in trading for a soon-to-be free agent they’re not confident they can re-sign. The front office objective isn’t merely to help the team grab a better playoff seed in the spring, Ainge said. The Celtics were indeed one of the many teams to inquire about Blake Griffin, a Western Conference source told Bulpett, adding that the Clips have no serious interest in moving him. While the Thursday trade deadline looms ever closer, here’s what else is happening in the Atlantic Division:

  • Taking a patient approach and sitting out this trade deadline may be the Celtics’ best option despite their stash of draft picks, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com argues. While Boston should explore the possibility of landing a star player, it might be prudent to hold on to that stockpile of assets and make a big move during the offseason, Forsberg adds.
  • With the Raptors reportedly seeking to upgrade their power forward position, the team is not interested in the Suns’ Markieff Morris, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports relays (on Twitter). Toronto has reportedly expressed interest in Thaddeus Young, Kenneth Faried, Ryan Anderson and Morris, according to multiple reports.
  • Despite reportedly being miserable with the Nets, small forward Joe Johnson has yet to approach the team about a possible buyout arrangement, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. Johnson said recently that he wouldn’t dismiss the idea of a buyout from his contract with the Nets, which expires at season’s end, and the Heat, Cavs and Mavs reportedly want to make a run at him if he is released by Brooklyn.
  • Former Knicks coach Derek Fisher‘s negative remarks regarding future unrestricted free agent Rajon Rondo may have contributed to his ouster in New York, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. Fisher, responding to comments Rondo had made regarding the triangle offense not being a good fit or him, said, “That’s your decision on whether or not he’s elite or not. You can’t ask him, when he wasn’t very successful playing against it, whether or not he wants to play in it. That’s his opinion. That’s fine. He doesn’t play for us. We’re not concerned about his opinion about us at this point.’’ The former coach was said to be a fan of Memphis’ Mike Conley, who is also set to become a free agent this offseason, Berman notes.
  • Sixers small forward Robert Covington will likely have the most trade value among Philly’s bench players because of his team-friendly contract and ability to stretch defenses with his shooting, Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports opines in his deadline primer for the team.

Chuck Myron and Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.

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Nets Likely To Part Ways With Andrea Bargnani

February 16th, 2016 at 6:59am CST by Chuck Myron

TUESDAY, 6:59am: Colangelo and Rosas are still in the race for the GM job, Wojnarowski clarifies (on Twitter).

MONDAY, 11:24am: Andrea Bargnani is among the players almost certain to work a buyout with their respective teams if they’re not traded by Thursday’s 2pm Central deadline, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. It’s not surprising to see David Lee and J.J. Hickson as the other names on Wojnarowski’s short list of buyout candidates, since Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck reported earlier this month that the Celtics intended to either trade Lee or do a buyout, while the Nuggets have apparently been shopping Hickson. Bargnani is in the first season of a two-year deal for the minimum salary that includes a player option for next season and is averaging only 13.8 minutes per game, by far the fewest of his 10-year NBA career.

Still, it’s difficult to gauge just what the Nets will do with their personnel, since they’re in the midst of hiring a new GM. Nuggets assistant GM Arturas Karnisovas and Spurs assistant GM Sean Marks continue to talk with the team as it moves toward second interviews this week, league sources told Wojnarowski. The general consensus around the NBA as of Friday held that former Raptors and Suns GM Bryan Colangelo would ultimately emerge with the gig, as Beck reported then, though Colangelo and Rockets executive VP of basketball operations Gersson Rosas aren’t necessarily out of the running, Wojnarowski indicates. Chris Broussard of ESPN on Thursday identified Colangelo, Karnisovas and Marks as the front-runners for the job that’s been vacant since the Nets removed Billy King from the position last month.

Regardless of whom the Nets choose as GM, he’ll be only one part of a committee that will hire the team’s next coach, Wojnarowski also writes. Various reports have indicated that some combination of team chairman Dmitry Razumov, board member Sergey Kushchenko, CEO Brett Yormark and owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s holding company president Irina Pavlova comprise the committee in charge of the GM search. The new GM will join that group in its efforts to find a coach, according to Wojnarowski. The Nets hope to draw from a pool of coaching candidates that includes NBA head coaching veterans Jeff Van Gundy and Tom Thibodeau and Spurs assistant Ettore Messina. Mike Mazzeo and Marc Stein reported last month that Brooklyn had strong interest in Thibodeau, and Stein later identified Messina as a candidate, but this appears to be the first legitimate link between the Nets and Van Gundy.

Whomever ends up coaching the Nets likely won’t have Bargnani, unless the team speeds through the process. March 1st represents the de facto buyout deadline, since it’s the last day any player can hit waivers and still be eligible to play for another NBA team in the postseason.

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Eastern Notes: Monroe, Carter-Williams, Love

February 15th, 2016 at 4:32pm CST by Chuck Myron

Greg Monroe isn’t available but Michael Carter-Williams is “undeniably gettable,” sources tell Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. That conflicts with one side of an earlier report indicating that Milwaukee had let other teams know it was open to giving up Monroe for the right price, but it confirms the other part, about the team’s willingness to trade Carter-Williams just a year after acquiring him from the Sixers at last year’s deadline. The Bucks are turning away calls on Jabari Parker, Stein and Windhorst also write. See more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Cleveland has made it clear it wants a star in return for Kevin Love, not the role players and draft picks the Celtics are offering, league sources tell Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Some executives around the league are growing stronger in their belief that the Cavs are more likely to entertain Love trades in the summer than they are now. the ESPN scribes add.
  • The market is strong for the first-rounders that the Sixers have from the Thunder and Heat this year, according to Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports, and with a below-average draft class and several teams devoid of first-round selections, it would be wise for Philadelphia to thinking about trading the picks, Marks opines.
  • The Heat have recalled Jarnell Stokes from the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). Miami sent Stokes, whom the team is reportedly dangling in search of a second-round pick and tax relief, on assignment late last week so he could play in the D-League All-Star Game this past weekend, notes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel (on Twitter).
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Atlantic Notes: Patterson, Hinkie, Ainge

February 15th, 2016 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Atlantic Division figures to be among the most interesting corners of the NBA to watch as the trade deadline approaches, with the Celtics stuffed with assets, the Raptors apparently looking for a power forward, the Knicks having just changed coaches, the Sixers a continued mystery, and the Nets in a continued search for a GM. See what’s going on around the Atlantic:

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Celtics Rumors: Lee, Thomas, Horford, Love

February 14th, 2016 at 10:02am CST by Arthur Hill

The trade deadline is just four days away, but the Celtics don’t feel any urgency to make a deal, according to Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. A league source told Murphy that Friday’s rumored three-team trade with Cleveland and New York “never existed” and that Boston hasn’t talked to the Rockets about acquiring Dwight Howard. The Celtics are willing to add a player for the right price, but they believe everyone currently in play is overpriced. The source said that includes the Hawks’ Al Horford, whom the Celtics don’t want to invest heavily in because of his looming free agency. Boston had interest in the Nuggets’ Danilo Gallinari, but the source said that would-be deal was “a dead issue” before it was even reported.

There’s more this morning out of Boston:

  • The Celtics haven’t found any teams interested in David Lee and his $15.5MM contract, Murphy writes in the same piece. The source said Lee has “no value” around the league, even though his expiring deal presents an opportunity for cap relief this summer.
  • Isaiah Thomas recently became a recruiter when a player from another team asked him about the benefits of Boston, Murphy adds. Thomas, who used the reputation of coach Brad Stevens as one of his selling points, wouldn’t offer any clues as to who the player was. “The coaching staff is great and the organization is 100% – it’s A1,” Thomas said. “I told him, You watch us. It’s fun to watch us. We were joking around the locker room about how everyone likes to watch the Boston Celtics, and how hard we play.”
  • The unidentified player may have been Horford, speculates A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE. He noted that Thomas smiled and said, “I didn’t say that” when asked if it was Horford he was talking about. A late replacement pick for the All-Star Game, Horford is trying to focus on business as usual despite the trade talk. “I’m going to continue doing what I do,” he said. “I can’t control the speculation that’s going on.”
  • It’s unlikely the Celtics can get Kevin Love from Cleveland without a third team involved, Blakely said in an interview on SportsNet Central. Blakely explained that Boston has enough young players and draft picks to make a deal happen, but such a move wouldn’t get Cleveland any closer to a championship.
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Latest On Carmelo Anthony

February 14th, 2016 at 8:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Denials continue regarding the rumor that broke Friday of a proposed three-team deal that would send Carmelo Anthony to Cleveland, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Berman cites two league sources who told him the Knicks haven’t talked to either the Cavaliers or Celtics about the trade, which would have shipped Kevin Love to Boston and a package of players and draft picks to New York.

Anthony, who said Saturday that he wouldn’t waive his no-trade cause to make the deal possible, attracted attention earlier this weekend with comments that “it won’t sit well with me” if the Knicks miss the playoffs for a third straight season. He plans to eventually talk with his representatives from Creative Artists Agency about his future in New York, but on Saturday Anthony expressed a desire to stay in the city.

“Doing it in New York is better than doing it any place in the world,’’ Anthony said. “One in New York is better than multiple somewhere else. That was the reason I wanted to come to New York. That’s the reason I’m in New York. It just bothers me when I start hearing all these trade rumors. Nobody has talked to me. I don’t know where it comes from. Sometimes it gets to you. As a player you get tired of hearing something all the time.”

There’s more Anthony-related news as Thursday’s trade deadline draws closer:

  • In addition to the no-trade clause, Anthony’s contract contains a 15% trade kicker, which means the Knicks would pay a heavy price if they deal him away. “That was something my agent really talked about,’’ he told Berman. “Knowing how few people had that, that was a big part of signing that contract. It’s security at the end of the day. You never know what could possibly happen or what it can do. All players would want that.”
  • Anthony is still hoping to find another star willing to join the Knicks, Berman writes in the same piece. One possibility is the Thunder’s Kevin Durant, whom New York plans to target this summer with an estimated $19MM in cap room. Anthony said talk about star players joining forces is common around the league. “I say why not come with me,’’ he said. “When I say playing with stars, that’s conversations. Everybody has those conversations. Guys that are in my circle have those conversations. On the Olympic team, guys have those conversations — 90% of the time it never happens. The Miami thing came into fruition, but it took a lot. That’s just dreams and wishes.’’
  • All parts of the proposed deal aren’t dead, according to Frank Isola of The New York Daily News, who broke the story Friday. Isola writes that the Celtics and Cavaliers have talked about a trade sending Love to Boston, and Anthony’s name was included as part of “very preliminary discussions.” Anthony would prefer to stay with the Knicks for now because he has a good relationship with owner James Dolan and he wants to keep his family in New York, which was a factor when he re-signed with the franchise in 2014.
  • If Anthony ever does decide a trade is in his best interest, the Cavaliers remain a possibility, along with the Celtics and Clippers, according to Isola. Anthony owns a house in Los Angeles and has a friendship with Chris Paul.
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Eastern Notes: Horford, Ainge, Magic

February 13th, 2016 at 9:24pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Al Horford is happy in Atlanta and remains committed to the Hawks, Sam Amick of USA Today writes. “I’ve said it repeatedly. I love the city. My family, we all live in Atlanta, we stay there in the offseason, so my focus is just to keep playing and taking it day by day,” Horford said. The big man will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and the team is thinking “long and hard” about offering him a five-year max deal that would pay him an estimated $32.7MM at the age of 34 years old.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge doesn’t believe that the Hawks will move any of their key guys before the deadline, Jay King of MassLive relays (Twitter link).
  • The Magic are one of the few teams with an open roster spot and the health of C.J. Watson will influence how the team uses it, Bobby Marks of the Vertical on Yahoo Sports notes. Watson, who signed a three-year, $15MM deal with Orlando last summer, has only played in eight games this season.
  • The only player that Orlando should look to move is Channing Frye, Marks opines in the same piece. The scribe believes that Frye still holds value throughout the league and the Magic shouldn’t shake up their core, as they have a chance to push for a playoff spot with this group. Orlando sits four and a half games behind the Hornets for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
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Atlantic Notes: Shaw, Howard, Mbah a Moute

February 13th, 2016 at 1:06pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Brian Shaw is reportedly a candidate for the Knicks head coaching position, and despite not having run the triangle offense during his tenure in Denver, Shaw said he could coach any system, Marc Berman of The New York Post relays. “I was 12 years involved in it as a player and coach,’’ Shaw told Berman. “The funny thing about it is everybody makes a big deal about the triangle. Almost every team in the league runs different aspects. They’re not dedicated solely to the triangle. It’s something that will always be ingrained in me — the fundamentals of that offense. In Denver, I didn’t run the triangle. I could adapt to any style the personnel dictates.’’

The former Nuggets coach also hopes he isn’t solely judged by his performance in Denver, which was marred by injuries and player unrest, Berman adds. “It was a situation I don’t really feel I was able to succeed in,’’ Shaw said. “I don’t think anyone placed in that situation could’ve succeeded. I hope I’m not judged on the year-and-a-half I was there more so than the 27 years prior to that I’ve been involved in the NBA.’’

Here’s more regarding the teams of the Atlantic Division:

  • Despite the reports that the Celtics are targeting Rockets center Dwight Howard, team executive Danny Ainge is reluctant to part with assets for a short-term rental, a description Howard would potentially fit, since he can opt out of his deal this summer, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes. While Boston is looking to make a significant trade prior to Thursday’s deadline, it won’t get itself caught up in a bidding war for players, and the franchise is willing to stand pat, Himmelsbach adds. “This team is not in it for the short term,” a league source told Himmelsbach regarding the Celtics. Boston has also been linked to Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony, both of whom are under contract beyond this season.
  • Luc Mbah a Moute believed he would be back with the Sixers this season, but the team went in a different direction instead, leading the combo forward to sign with the Clippers after his deal with the Kings fell through. For his part, Mbah a Moute is pleased with how things turned out and he has found his niche in Los Angeles, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. “It’s a life lesson, you know,” Mbah a Moute said. “It’s always something good when everything bad happens. You never know. When you go through it, it’s kind of tough. It’s always something that better comes out of it.“
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