- Various members of the Nuggets front office expressed confidence that Jason Terry could have a serious coaching future, Townsend tweets. Denver recently hired Terry to coach its G League affiliate for the 2021/22 season. “Sitting down with [vice president] Calvin Booth and [president] Tim Connelly and [player personnel manager] Scott Howard, they firmly believe that being a bench coach or a head coach is in my near future,” Terry said. “You need that type of support and belief. The sky’s the limit for me. I’m ready for the opportunity.”
Trade rumors have been swirling around Damian Lillard since the Trail Blazers were knocked out of the playoffs, but backcourt partner CJ McCollum believes Lillard is “all in” for the new season, writes Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian. Appearing on a podcast with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, McCollum discussed Lillard, new coach Chauncey Billups and several other topics.
“I don’t want to speak for him, but having a close relationship, he and I talk every day, or every other day, from sharing memes to sending videos to each other to serious talks about our season, what it takes to win, what it’s going to takes to win a championship, I have a pretty good sense of where he’s at,” McCollum said of Lillard. “And I think his goal is to win a championship. I think, at the end of the day, that’s what we all want. We want to put ourselves in the best position to win a championship. But I mean, he’s all in. I think at this stage I can say that he’s all in. He just wants to win at the end of the day.”
Lillard held a press conference last month while preparing for the Olympics to deny a report that he was about to ask Portland’s front office for a trade. Although he hasn’t demanded a deal, Lillard has communicated his desire to upgrade the roster to give the Blazers a better chance to compete for a title.
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Michael Rand of The Star Tribune examines the latest rumors about the Timberwolves‘ interest in Ben Simmons, concluding that Minnesota would like to acquire Simmons but doesn’t have the assets to make a deal. Rand suggests an offer of D’Angelo Russell, Jaden McDaniels and at least one first-round pick, which he concedes still may not be enough to interest the Sixers. Daryl Morey, Philadelphia’s president of basketball operations, is looking for a star in return, so the Wolves might need to get other teams involved to have a chance at Simmons.
- March is a “reasonable target date” to expect Nuggets guard Jamal Murray to start playing again, according to Mike Singer of The Denver Post. That would be 11 months since his surgery for a torn ACL. Denver targeted a scoring guard in the draft to make up for the loss of Murray, Singer adds, and came away with Bones Hyland.
- Jazz owner Ryan Smith tells Ben Anderson of KSL Sports that fans shouldn’t read anything into his golf outings with former Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. There have been rumors that Ainge might be considered for a position in Utah’s front office, but Smith says they have been playing together for a long time. “I’ve played golf with Danny Ainge for 20 years,” Smith said. “I know the media likes to write about it like there’s this thing going on with Danny, but Danny has been a mentor and a friend for 20 years.”
- Assistant coach John Beckett is signing a new contract with the Nuggets, Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets. Beckett was under consideration to join Wes Unseld Jr.‘s staff with the Wizards. Beckett and Unseld worked together under Michael Malone last season.
Veteran forward Paul Millsap has gone under the radar during free agency but he has at least a couple of suitors. The Nets and Warriors have shown interest in Millsap, Mike Singer of the Denver Post tweets.
Both of these teams have roster issues to sort through before they could potentially bring in Millsap. As noted in our updated roster counts, Brooklyn has 16 players on its regular roster, including 13 with fully guaranteed contracts. DeAndre’ Bembry has a partially guaranteed deal while Alize Johnson and David Duke have non-guaranteed contracts. The Nets also have two unsigned draft picks.
It’s tough to see how Millsap would fit in Brooklyn’s rotation. The team already has Blake Griffin and James Johnson, among others, who can play power forward when Kevin Durant is off the floor.
The Warriors also have 13 players with full guarantees along with a partial guarantee for Damion Lee. Mychal Mulder and Gary Payton II have non-guaranteed deals. Golden State added Nemanja Bjelica this offseason but Millsap could presumably provide more depth at power forward, as well as a center in small lineups.
The Nets are limited to offering a minimum-salary contract, while the Warriors still have their taxpayer mid-level exception available.
Denver essentially replaced Millsap by signing another veteran free agent power forward, Jeff Green. Millsap, 36, averaged 9.0 PPG, 4.7 RPG and 1.8 APG in 20.7 MPG last season. He scored in double digits twice during the postseason.
Rookie Bones Hyland averaged 19.7 PPG across four games in Las Vegas and his Nuggets summer league coach believes he can play right away for the NBA club, Mike Singer of the Denver Post writes. “His skill set is undeniable,” Charles Klask said. “… I think there’s always room for players like him that have great feel for the game. They find a way to get on the floor because they can do so many different things, and as long as he can bring it on both ends, night in and night out, I think he can be part of our rotation, for sure.” Hyland was drafted with the No. 26 pick.
- There shouldn’t be any serious concern about the Nuggets’ ability to reach a rookie scale extension agreement with Michael Porter Jr., Singer opines in a mailbag piece. Singer’s sources say there shouldn’t be too much read into the lack of news regarding negotiations, since the club has until the start of the season to extend Porter. His agent, Mark Bartelstein, had a number of other clients to focus on during free agency, Singer adds.
6:56pm: The Nuggets have officially hired Terry as the Grand Rapids Gold head coach, according to a team press release.
2:39pm: Former NBA guard Jason Terry is finalizing a deal to coach the Nuggets‘ new G League affiliate, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Terry, a former NBA champion and Sixth Man of the Year winner, last played in the NBA in 2018. He joined the Texas Legends – Dallas’ G League affiliate – as an assistant general manager in 2019, then left the team to become an assistant coach at his alma mater of Arizona for the 2020/21 season.
Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News, who reported in June that Terry was in the mix for an assistant role on Jason Kidd‘s coaching staff, tweets that Terry spent some time in Las Vegas observing the Mavericks’ coaches and weighing the possibility of joining the team as an assistant. However, it seems Terry determined that becoming a head coach at the G League level will move him closer to his goal of eventually coaching an NBA team, notes Townsend.
The Nuggets, who had previously been one of the only NBA teams without an NBAGL affiliate, entered a partnership with the Grand Rapids Drive earlier in 2021 and rebranded the franchise, which will now be known as the Grand Rapids Gold.
Since the Gold are based in Michigan, it won’t be easy for the Nuggets to quickly shuttle players back and forth between Denver and Grand Rapids. But it will give the franchise an opportunity to assign players to the G League without having to worry about how another team’s affiliate will use and develop them.
AUGUST 19: The Nuggets have officially re-signed Green, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
AUGUST 2: The Nuggets will bring back reserve power forward JaMychal Green, an unrestricted free agent, on a two-year, $17MM deal, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). The agreement includes a player option for the 2022/23 season, Charania adds.
After going undrafted out of Alabama in 2012, the 6’8″ Green logged time with the Spurs, Grizzlies, and Clippers before linking up with Denver. Green, now 31, initially joined the Nuggets as a free agent in 2020, inking a two-year, $15MM deal with a player option for the 2021/22 season, which he then declined this summer.
An athletic big man with long-range shooting ability, Green proved a helpful contributor in Denver’s frontcourt rotation. Across 58 contests with Denver, Green averaged 8.1 PPG and 4.8 RPG in 19.3 MPG, with a stellar shooting line of .463/.399/.807. He averaged 5.4 PPG and 5.2 RPG during 19 MPG in the 2021 postseason.
The Pelicans were also interested in adding Green this summer, writes Mike Singer of the Denver Post.
The Nuggets appear determined to retain some key role players this summer, as it was also reported today that Denver is set to bring back free agent shooting guard Will Barton, also on a two-year deal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
- Rookie guard Bones Hyland looks like he may be the Nuggets‘ latest draft steal, observes Sean Keeler of The Denver Post. Hyland showed off his full range of moves in a 28-point Summer League performance on Saturday. “When the bright lights come on, I never shy away from them,” Hyland said. “That’s been me my whole life. I make things happen when the lights are on. The bigger the stage, the bigger I play.”
Shooting guard Markus Howard has re-signed with the Nuggets on a new two-way contract, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
Howard, who spent last season on a two-way deal with Denver, may have simply accepted his qualifying offer. Because he was a two-way player last season, that offer would be the equivalent of another two-way contract that includes a partial guarantee of $50K for the upcoming season.
Howard, 22, signed with Denver last November after going undrafted out of Marquette. He got into 37 games and averaged 2.8 PPG in 5.5 minutes per night. He was a two-time All-American in college and led the nation in scoring during the 2019/20 season.
In an Instagram video, ESPN’s Bobby Marks broke down two of the Nuggets’ contracts, clarifying that Will Barton is on a descending two-year deal, with $30MM fully guaranteed. He’ll receive $15.6MM in year one and $14.37MM in year two. Keith Smith of Spotrac adds that Barton’s deal includes $1MM in unlikely bonuses in each of the two years.
Marks also outlined Nuggets’ forward Jeff Green‘s new contract, which is a two-year, $9MM pact with $1MM in bonuses. Green will have a player option in year two, as had been previously reported. Marks notes that Green had been on minimum-salary contracts for several seasons, so this contract represents a big win for him and his agent.
We have more news from around the Northwest Division:
- While the general terms of the Thunder’s No. 32 pick Jeremiah Robinson-Earl have been previously reported, Keith Smith provides a breakdown of the exact amount of Robinson-Earl’s four-year deal. The ex-Villanova Wildcat will receive two years at $2MM, fully guaranteed, followed by $1.9MM non-guaranteed in year three, and a non-guaranteed team option of $1.98MM in year four. OKC signed Robinson-Earl using part of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
- Michael Scotto of HoopsHype confirms via tweet that Mike Muscala‘s contract with the Thunder is for $7MM over two years, and adds that the second year is a team option. This will be the third straight season in OKC for the 30-year-old center
- Scotto also clarifies the terms of Greg Brown III’s deal with the Trail Blazers. The 43rd pick, for whom the Blazers traded a 2026 second-round pick and cash considerations, will receive a three-year, $4.3MM (minimum-salary) deal, with the first two years fully guaranteed. The final year of the contract will be non-guaranteed. The signing used Portland’s mid-level exception.