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Northwest Notes: Roberson, Butler, Draft Picks

August 17th, 2018 at 2:49pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Andre Roberson‘s 2017/18 season was cut short because of a ruptured patellar tendon and the Thunder are not rushing the defensive-minded wing back on the court, as Nick Gallo of NBA.com details. Oklahoma City realizes how crucial Roberson will be to their postseason success.

“I’m really excited for him to get back on the floor. I think we all know at this stage how important he is to the team and just what his size and length, and I think just his fiber in general, what it means to the team,” said GM Sam Presti.

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

The Roberson-Russell Westbrook–Paul George trio had the fifth-best defensive ranking in the league last season, Gallo notes in the same piece. “There was crazy potential there,” Roberson recalled. “We kind of finally started to figure it out, figured out how to play off of each other, and things were clicking.”
Despite an ESPN forecast panel that gave the Wolves just a 12 percent chance to keep Jimmy Butler beyond this season, Michael Rand of the Star Tribune is still optimistic that the two sides can find common ground on a long-term deal. Rand also advises readers not to worry too much about the rumors of Butler teaming up with Kyrie Irving on a rival squad.
The Nuggets are the only team in the Northwest Division that has traded away its own first-round pick, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors detailed this week. Denver sent the pick to Brooklyn in the Kenneth Faried deal.

Marcus Georges-Hunt To Work Out For Nuggets

August 15th, 2018 at 5:10pm CST by clarkcrum

Former Timberwolves guard Marcus Georges-Hunt is working out with the Nuggets this week, per Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype.

The 6’5” shooting guard became an unrestricted free agent this summer after Minnesota decided not to give him a qualifying offer. He appeared in 42 games and only averaged 1.4 points in 5.3 minutes per contest during the 2017/18 season with the Wolves.

The Nuggets, meanwhile, have already filled both of their two-way slots with rookies DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell and Thomas Welsh, and have 15 players on their roster with guaranteed contracts for the 2018/19 season. Accordingly, any deal for Georges-Hunt would likely be an unguaranteed, training camp contract only.

Georges-Hunt, 24, was a four-year college standout at Georgia Tech, but went undrafted in the 2016 NBA Draft. In addition to his stint with the Wolves, he also spent some time with the Magic toward the end of the 2016/17 season.

Poll: Which Team Will Win Northwest Division?

August 14th, 2018 at 1:17pm CST by Luke Adams

There may not be an NBA division more top-heavy than the Atlantic, where the Celtics, Raptors, and Sixers are all projected to win more than 50 games in 2018/19. However, the Atlantic also features the Nets and Knicks, who are widely expected to finish in the lottery.

In terms of top-to-bottom talent, the Northwest has a stronger case to be considered the NBA’s best division. Last season, four Northwest teams made the playoffs and a fifth missed the postseason by a single game. The five clubs finished the regular season separated by just three games, racking up between 46 and 49 wins apiece.

None of those Northwest clubs took a huge step backward this offseason, but there were no massive upgrades either, with many of the most significant roster moves in the division involving re-signing key free agents. As such, oddsmakers once again view the Northwest as a five-team race, with each of those five teams projected to finish above .500.

According to betting site Bodog.eu, the Thunder are consider the very slight favorites to win the Northwest, with an over/under of 49.5 wins for the season. However, the Jazz (49 wins) and Nuggets (47.5) are right behind them, with the Timberwolves (44.5), and Trail Blazers (42.5) within striking distance.

After we asked you on Monday to assess the top of the Atlantic standings for 2018/19, we’re shifting our focus today to the Northwest.

Will the Blazers repeat as division champions? Will the Thunder or Jazz take a step forward and win the Northwest? Or will the Nuggets or Timberwolves go from vying for the No. 8 seed in the West to battling for the division crown?

Vote below in our poll for the 2018/19 Northwest division winner, then head to the comment section to make your case for your pick.

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Michael Porter Jr. Pain-Free After Second Surgery

August 12th, 2018 at 1:41pm CST by Arthur Hill

Nuggets first-rounder Michael Porter Jr. is optimistic after his second back surgery and tells Chris Forsberg of ESPN that he hopes to be ready early in the upcoming season.

“I finally feel, like, good,” Porter said at today’s annual rookie photo shoot, expressing hope that the back issue that robbed him of most of his college career won’t do the same in his first NBA campaign.

“I don’t have a date but I’m hoping to be back for the beginning of the year. Gotta heal up, but I feel great,” he added. “I’m able to get on the court a little bit right now, do some different things. But my rehab has definitely been very conservative. They’re really taking it easy with me, being patient with me.”

Porter injured his back in his first game at Missouri and underwent a microdiscectomy in November to fix one of two bulging disks. He had another spinal surgery last month, and the Nuggets haven’t set any kind of recovery timetable after that procedure.

Porter was among the top college recruits in last year’s class and could have been a high lottery pick if he had remained healthy. However, concerns from the medical staffs of several teams that examined him caused him to slide to Denver at No. 14.

“[Doctors originally] only thought one of [the bulging disks] was symptomatic,” Porter explained. “They went in and fixed that one. Turns out that both were symptomatic. So my first surgery helped a lot but didn’t fix the entire problem. Now that they did this one, I’ve got no pain or anything. I’m excited.”

Nuggets Sign DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell To Two-Way Deal

August 7th, 2018 at 12:04pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 7: The Nuggets have officially signed Akoon-Purcell to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release.

AUGUST 6: The Nuggets are expected to sign shooting guard DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell to a two-way contract, Chris Dempsey of Nuggets.com tweets.

Akoon-Purcell averaged 12.0 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 1.5 APG and 2.0 SPG in 19.3 MPG over four Las Vegas summer league contests with Denver. He played the last two years with the Bakken Bears in the Danish league, averaging 17.3 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 3.8 APG last season.

The 6’5” Akoon-Purcell went undrafted in 2016 after playing at Illinois State. As a senior, he averaged 14.9 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 1.9 APG.

Denver’s two-way slots will now be filled if the team completes the transaction. The Nuggets signed second-round pick Thomas Welsh, the former UCLA center, to a two-way deal last month.

Monte Morris Contract Details

August 7th, 2018 at 9:59am CST by Luke Adams

Monte Morris‘ three-year pact with the Nuggets was originally reported as a $4.8MM deal, but Pincus classifies it as a minimum-salary contract, worth about $4.6MM. Morris received two guaranteed years, with the third-year salary set to become guaranteed if he remains under contract through June 30, 2020.

Emanuel Terry Signs With Nuggets

August 6th, 2018 at 6:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nuggets have signed forward Emanuel Terry, according to the NBA.com transactions log. The contract is believed to be a training camp deal.

Terry made a good impression during summer league action with Denver, posting averages of 7.4 PPG and 5.0 RPG while shooting 61% from the field in 17.6 MPG over five games. He caught the attention of the coaching staff even more with his high energy level and ability to guard multiple positions.

The 6’9” Terry, 22, defied the odds by landing an NBA contract after going undrafted out of a Division II program. He played four seasons at Lincoln Memorial, averaging 16.9 PPG, 10.3 RPG and 2.2 BPG in his senior year.

And-Ones: ROY Predictions, Offseason Rankings, NBAGL

August 6th, 2018 at 4:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mavericks guard Luka Doncic has the best chance to win the Rookie of the Year award, according to an ESPN panel. Doncic will fill up the stat sheet and might wind up with the ball more often than second-year guard Dennis Smith Jr., according to Mike Schmitz. Top overall pick Deandre Ayton ranks second on the poll, with Schmitz noting that the Suns big man likely to get more playing time than any other rookie. Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr., Cavaliers point guard Collin Sexton and Bulls center Wendell Carter Jr. round out the top five.

We have more from around the league:

Retaining Paul George in free agency and dumping Carmelo Anthony‘s contract while receiving projected sixth man Dennis Schroder in return earned the Thunder the top spot on NBA.com’s David Aldridge’s offseason rankings. The rankings are based upon what teams have done during the offseason. The Lakers ranked No. 2 by virtue of signing LeBron James and handing out one-year contracts to other players, thus allowing them to be a force again in next year’s free agent market. The Nuggets gained the No. 3 spot by locking up Nikola Jokic and making trades that cleared roster spots and eased their luxury-tax situation.
Forwards DJ Hogg (Texas A&M) and Malik Pope (San Diego State) and swingman BJ Johnson (LaSalle) are among the top 10 prospects at the G League Invitational, according to Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype. The invitational takes place Sunday in Chicago and over a dozen of last year’s prospects received training camp invites afterward.
The Warriors’ over-under odds for wins next season is 62.5, according to Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook. The Celtics ranked second overall with a 57.5 over-under win total with the Rockets third at 54.5. The Hawks have the lowest projected win total at 23.5. The odds for each NBA team were passed along by ESPN’s Ben Fawkes.

Nuggets, Thunder Hold Largest Trade Exceptions

August 5th, 2018 at 4:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Within the last month and a half, several of the most sizable traded player exceptions from around the NBA have expired. The Clippers‘ $7MM+ exception from last year’s Chris Paul deal expired in June, a pair of big Raptors TPEs went unused a couple weeks later, and the Trail Blazers saw their $13MM exception from last summer’s Allen Crabbe trade expire late in July.

None of these developments were particularly surprising. Traded player exceptions, even bigger ones, often go unused. That’s especially true for teams like Toronto and Portland, whose team salaries are over the tax line. For those clubs, taking on a salary using a traded player exception would cost exponentially more due to tax penalties.

Still, those bigger trade exceptions can occasionally come in handy and are worth keeping an eye on. For instance, the Cavaliers have a $5.8MM trade exception created in last August’s Kyrie Irving deal that would have expired if it hadn’t been used within the next few weeks. The Cavs are taking advantage of it by using it to finalize the acquisition of Sam Dekker without sending out any salary in return.

That Cleveland traded player exception had been the seventh-most valuable TPE around the NBA. Here are the top five, all of which could be used to acquire a player earning at least $7MM in 2018/19:

Denver Nuggets: $13,764,045 (Expires 7/15/2019)
Denver Nuggets: $12,800,562 (Expires 7/8/2019)
Oklahoma City Thunder: $10,883,189 (Expires 7/25/2019)
Charlotte Hornets: $7,819,725 (Expires 7/6/2019)
Detroit Pistons: $7,000,000 (Expires 1/29/2019)

Check out our tracker for the full list of available traded player exceptions. For more information on exactly how trade exceptions work, be sure to check out our glossary entry on the subject.

Thomas Ready To Overcome Tough Year

August 3rd, 2018 at 5:53pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey doesn’t seem inclined to break up his smallish backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, Dan Feldman of NBC Sports notes. Olshey recently said he plans to keep his core group together, despite the team’s first-round flameout in the Western Conference playoffs last season. It might be wise to deal one of them for an impact forward but either Olshey has great faith in his guards or he’s tested the market and couldn’t find a worthwhile deal, Feldman adds.

We have more from the Northwest Division:

Hamidou Diallo feels a sense of relief after signing a contract with the Thunder but isn’t sure what kind of role he can carve out, Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman reports. The second-round rookie shooting guard was acquired in a draft-night deal. “We haven’t even spoken about a role yet,” Diallo told Dawson. “We’re still playing pickup ball and stuff like that, still training. Guys are just coming in, veteran players, and trying to teach us as much as possible as early as possible.” Diallo, who received a three-year, $4MM contract, will compete with newcomers Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Abdel Nader for backup minutes.
The Jazz brought back big man Ekpe Udoh because of his defense and positive attitude, according to Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune. Udoh was signed by Utah last season because of his reputation as a strong defender and he lived up to that billing, posting an average of 1.2 blocks per game. He also showed a superior ability to guard on the perimeter during switches and pick-and-rolls, Jones continues. Udoh, who will serve as the team’s third center, never complained last season when his role diminished, Jones adds. Udoh had his $3.36MM salary guaranteed last month.
Nuggets guard Isaiah Thomas had to settle for a one-year, $2MM contract in free agency but he’s determined to be a major bargain for his new team, as he told Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports. “This has been tough, but it was only a tough year because I wasn’t healthy. My job is to get as healthy as I possibly can and then show the world what I’m capable of doing,” he said.