Denver Nuggets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Latest On Paul Millsap

January 2nd, 2017 at 1:35pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s 2017 rumor mill got off to an interesting start on Sunday, with an ESPN report suggesting that the Hawks are listening to offers on Paul Millsap, among other players. Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution takes a closer look at that report today, noting that Atlanta is indeed doing its due diligence on Millsap, along with Kyle Korver, Thabo Sefolosha, Tiago Splitter, and Kris Humphries. However, just because the team is willing to listen, that doesn’t mean a deal is imminent or even likely. Atlanta hasn’t put Millsap on the trade block, per Vivlamore.

Vivlamore also addressed a separate report from ESPN, which indicated that Millsap has already decided to opt out of his contract and become a free agent in 2017. That report is simply “not true,” according to Vivlamore, who heard from a source on Sunday that no decision has been made on that front. It’s certainly likely that Millsap will turn down his player option and explore the open market, but a serious injury or another unexpected factor could impact that decision, Vivlamore writes.

Here’s more on Millsap, as rumors begin to swirl in Atlanta:

The Hawks‘ asking price for Millsap will be high, and will likely outweigh what suitors are willing to give up for a player on an expiring contract, says Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links). Kyler expects there to be plenty of trade talk surrounding Hawks players like Millsap and Korver, but he isn’t anticipating a ton of action by the deadline.
Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders identifies the Raptors, Trail Blazers, and Nuggets as a few teams that would make sense as trade partners for Atlanta if the Hawks get serious about moving Millsap.
Within his latest mailbag, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel discusses the possibility of the Heat making a play for Millsap via trade or free agency.

Northwest Notes: Motiejunas, LaVine, Nurkic, Oladipo

January 1st, 2017 at 6:49pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Timberwolves had planned to work out free agent forward Donatas Motiejunas, but the Pelicans swooped in before that could happen, according to Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune. Minnesota brought Motiejunas into town, but his agreement with New Orleans stopped a planned meeting and workout session. “His agent cancelled and we never got a chance to sit down with him,” said Wolves coach/executive Tom Thibodeau. The Rockets drafted Motiejunas in 2011 with a pick they acquired from Minnesota. He spent four seasons in Houston before becoming a restricted free agent over the summer.

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

Wolves guard Zach LaVine has become a candidate for Most Improved Player, contends Shams Charania of The Vertical. The third-year guard has raised his scoring average from 14.0 to 21.1 points per game and has become an important part of what Thibodeau calls the team’s “core three” along with Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. Charania added that owner Glen Taylor plans to commit financially to keeping all three.
Nuggets center Jusuf Nurkic has vowed to be professional about his reduced role, even though he’s clearly unhappy with the arrangement, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Nurkic started the season’s first 25 games, but even then he didn’t always get starters’ minutes. Nurkic shared time with Nikola Jokic and only once topped 30 minutes in a game. His playing time has been cut even further since the Nuggets got healthier, and he was stuck on the bench for four straight games last week. “For sure it’s tough,” Nurkic said. “I’m 23 years old. I’m not here to sit on the bench. I’m here to play basketball. And it’s a tough decision for me, from a starting spot and 20 minutes to four straight [games of not playing]. … You control what you control, and I let my agent do the rest of the stuff.” The Nuggets have already exercised Nurkic’s option for 2017/18 at nearly $3MM.
Victor Oladipo returned to the Thunder lineup Saturday after a nine-game absence, relays Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman. Oladipo hadn’t played since spraining his right wrist in a December 11th game.

Hawks Listening To Offers For Paul Millsap

January 1st, 2017 at 6:34pm CST by Arthur Hill

6:34pm: Atlanta will consider offers for not only Millsap, but other impending free agent as well, notably Kyle Korver and Thabo Sefolosha, Stein writes along with Brian Windhorst in a full story. The Hawks are fearful of losing these players for no compensation like they did with Horford last offseason.

Some teams have told ESPN that a trade is unlikely because the Hawks are asking too much for Millsap, but the authors note that Atlanta got close to dealing him to the Nuggets over the summer.

5:34pm: The Hawks have started gauging interest in All-Star forward Paul Millsap, tweets ESPN’s Marc Stein.

The 31-year-old, who is in his fourth season with Atlanta, can opt out of his $21,472,407 deal for next season and become a free agent. He has already made the decision to follow that course, according to ESPN’s Chris Haynes. (Twitter link).

Millsap is coming off three straight All-Star seasons and is putting up similar numbers so far this year. He is averaging 17.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per night while shooting 44% from the floor.

The Raptors are a team that has previously shown interest in Millsap, notes Josh Lewenburg of TSN Sports (Twitter link). They will probably be among the suitors this time around, especially in light of injuries to Jared Sullinger and Patrick Patterson. Lewenburg adds that Toronto was told last February that Millsap wasn’t available (Twitter link). He also points out that Atlanta was “listening to offers” last season for Al Horford, who was in a similar position, but no one was willing to meet the asking price (Twitter link). Horford wound up staying with the team through the end of the season and signing with the Celtics.

Teams interested in adding Millsap will have to be prepared to give up a substantial amount to match his salary, which is a little more than $20MM, this season.

In-Depth Look At The George Karl-Kenyon Martin Feud

December 24th, 2016 at 2:59pm CST by Austin Kent

There have been plenty of headlines about George Karl‘s pending book release, but lost in the Carmelo Anthony barbs that have been heavily discussed in the media of late is the seemingly reignited feud between the ex-Nuggets head coach and his former power forward Kenyon Martin.

Mudiay More Comfortable Playing With Harris

December 22nd, 2016 at 10:32pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Nuggets point guard Emmanuel Mudiay admits he plays better when he’s paired with Gary Harris, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post relays. In six games they’ve started together, Mudiay is averaging 19.0 points on 50% shooting overall. Without Harris, he averages 11.4 points on 32.5% shooting. “Me and him have a great feel for each other,” Mudiay told Dempsey. “That’s the person I’ve been playing with since Day 1. … That’s one of my best friends in the NBA. So, it is a comfort level there.”

In other news around the Northwest Division:

Thunder swingman Alex Abrines has made a strong impression on franchise player Russell Westbrook, Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman reports. The Euro import scored 18 points, including five 3-pointers, against the Pelicans on Wednesday. Westbrook has taken note of Abrines’ shooting ability and work ethic, Dawson relays. “He works out every day, works on his game, and that’s the best part about him,” Westbrook told Dawson. “And it’s his first year, man. He’s gonna learn the ups and downs. There’s gonna be ups and downs throughout the whole season.”
Gorgui Dieng has become the defensive stopper for the Timberwolves, according to Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Coach Tom Thibodeau assigns Dieng to the opponent’s top frontcourt scoring threat. “I think he’s getting better with his team and individual defense. And he has the right mentality for it. He’s a defense-first guy,” Thibodeau told Youngblood. “And, a lot of times, he’s giving up size. He’s small for a center, and he ends up banging with those guys quite a bit. But he’s good fronting the post. He’s a multiple-effort guy. Very good at pick-and-rolls. So he sort of anchors our defense right now.”
Jazz center Rudy Gobert‘s four-year, $102MM extension kicks in next season and he’s playing like an All-Star, as Jody Genessy of the Deseret News notes. Although head coach Quin Snyder has been reserved in his praise for Gobert, the fourth-year center has recorded nine straight double-doubles.

Will Barton Wants To Stay With Nuggets

December 22nd, 2016 at 6:40pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Guard Will Barton is well aware of the trade rumors swirling around him and hopes the Nuggets retain him, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post reports.

Several teams have reportedly expressed interest in Barton, including the Wizards and Pelicans. The Nuggets were offered a first-round pick for him last year, but they declined, according to Dempsey.

Barton would prefer to stay put.

“They know I want to be here. It’s no secret,” he told Dempsey. “I want to be a part of this core that gets it right. I feel like we’re making huge strides. We’re right there, kind of fighting for that eighth seed. I feel like we’ve just gotten our team completely healthy, and I want to be part of that and they know that.”

Part of Barton’s appeal to other teams is his modest contract. He is making approximately $3.5MM this season and the same amount next season. He has been productive since returning from an ankle injury, averaging 14.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists.

Barton’s name probably won’t come off the rumor mill any time soon. Denver has a logjam at shooting guard with Gary Harris and Jamal Murray also competing for minutes.

Barton does see a silver lining, according to Dempsey.

“Teams calling trying to check my availability means that I’m doing something right,” Barton said. “My body is still getting better. I feel like my game is getting better.”

George Karl Blasts Carmelo In Upcoming Book

December 22nd, 2016 at 5:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Carmelo Anthony was “addicted to the spotlight” and had no commitment to defense when he played for the Nuggets, his former coach George Karl writes in a book that is scheduled for release next month.

Excerpts from the book, “Furious George,” were published after an advance copy was obtained by the New York Post’s Marc Berman.

Karl coached Anthony for six seasons and clearly still has issues with the current Knicks star forward. Karl called Anthony “the best offensive player he ever coached” but Anthony drove him crazy with his self-indulgence and refusal to play hard at both ends of the court, Berman continues.

“He really lit my fuse with his low demand of himself on defense,” Karl said in the book. “He had no commitment to the hard, dirty work of stopping the other guy. My ideal — probably every coach’s ideal — is when your best player is also your leader. But since Carmelo only played hard on one side of the ball, he made it plain he couldn’t lead the Nuggets, even though he said he wanted to. Coaching him meant working around his defense and compensating for his attitude.”

Karl admitted that he was happy when Denver traded Anthony to the Knicks in 2011, viewing it as “a sweet release for the coach and the team, like popping a blister.” Karl added that Nuggets got the better of the deal in the long run. Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, two of the players acquired by Denver, are still rotation pieces there.

Karl also took current Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith and former NBA forward Kenyon Martin to task, calling them “spoiled brats.”

Martin responded on Twitter by calling Karl a “terrible person” (Twitter link).

Karl, 65, was fired by the Kings in April after a disappointing 33-49 season.

Several Teams Interested In Will Barton

December 20th, 2016 at 8:22pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Wizards and Pelicans are among the teams to reach out to the Nuggets regarding the availability of Will Barton, Chris Haynes of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Haynes adds that the talks are simply exploratory at this point.

Barton is having a solid season, averaging 13.8 points and nearly a steal per game while making 36.8% of attempts from behind the arc. He missed 12 games earlier in the season because of an ankle injury, but he appears to be healthy at the moment.

The shooting guard started for the team in his first 13 games, but he was pushed back to the bench last week with Gary Harris returning to the lineup. In the three games since Harris returned, Barton has seen only 26.3 minutes per game, down from 31.6, which was his average while starting in Harris’ place. With Harris back and No. 7 overall pick Jamal Murray looming as the long-term option in Denver, Barton could see his further reduced as the season progresses.

Multiple teams reportedly offered the Nuggets a first-rounder in exchange for Barton over the summer, but Denver opted to keep the shooting guard. The 25-year-old is on a team-friendly deal, which pays him slightly over $3.53MM this season and the same figure during the 2017/18 campaign.

Community Shootaround: Nuggets’ Frontcourt Logjam

December 20th, 2016 at 1:09pm CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers’ logjam at center has been the most publicized frontcourt depth chart issue in the NBA in recent days, and it’s not hard to see why. In Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, and Nerlens Noel, the team has three top-six draft picks vying for playing time, one of those three players (Noel) is publicly griping about his role, and it’s all happening in a major market.

Still, Philadelphia isn’t the only city in which a crowded frontcourt is creating problems for an NBA team. As Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer details, there are handful of other teams around the league experiencing similar issues.

Perhaps the most interesting case is in Denver, with Tjarks referring to the Nuggets’ big man logjam as “a less high-profile version of what’s happening with the 76ers.” After starting 25 games for the team to open the 2016/17 season, former first-rounder Jusuf Nurkic has fallen out of Denver’s rotation within the last week.

After playing just five minutes last Thursday and eight minutes on Saturday, Nurkic picked up a DNP-CD on Monday night. Like the Sixers, the Nuggets have shortened their big man rotation, with Nikola Jokic and Kenneth Faried seeing the majority of the minutes up front – and thriving – while Nurkic is the odd man out.

It’s a difficult situation for Nurkic, who had been playing pretty well early on this season, averaging career highs in PPG (9.3), RPG (6.9), FG% (.524), and a few other categories. Although the 22-year-old would have plenty of value on the trade market, the Nuggets probably won’t want to sell low on him.

Faried has long been viewed as the most likely trade candidate in the Denver frontcourt, but the Jokic/Nurkic pairing struggled in the early going this year, as the two bigs got on each other’s way and had problems with spacing, Tjarks notes. The current rotation, with Jokic starting alongside Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, and Faried serving as the primary frontcourt backup, has been very effective lately, so the Nuggets may have to reconsider which of their players they can afford to give up.

What do you think? Is there a trade out there that makes sense for the Nuggets? Which of their bigs should be considered a long-term piece, and which ones might be more expendable? Jump into the comments section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

Darrell Arthur TO Lose Playing Time

December 18th, 2016 at 11:39am CST by Arthur Hill

With the Nuggets now fully healthy, coach Michael Malone wants to shorten his rotation, according to Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Malone plans a limit of 10 players per game, and the first casualty of that decision is Darrell Arthur, who was informed this week that he will no longer receive regular playing time. “The word that Darrell used, and it hits the point, is sacrifice,” Malone said. “Can’t play 15 guys, and Darrell Arthur is a guy that’s proven to be a very good player in this league, but he sacrifices for his team and supports everybody that is playing. So you have to be selfless and support each other along the way.” The 28-year-old forward is in his eighth year in the league and his fourth in Denver. He is under contract for $7,464,912 next season and has a player option for the same amount in 2018/19.