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Nuggets Waive Johnson, Pecherov, Sweetney

October 24th, 2015 at 4:23pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Nuggets have waived Nick Johnson, Oleksiy Pecherov and Devin Sweetney, the team announced via a press release. The cuts pave the way for Erick Green to stick for opening night on his partially guaranteed deal, notes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, and he’s indeed made the regular season roster, as Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post confirms (Twitter links). Green’s guarantee is just $100K. Pecherov and Sweetney’s deals are non-guaranteed, but Johnson’s deal is fully guaranteed for two more seasons, and he is owed $845,059 for 2015/16 and $980,431 for the 2016/17 campaign, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Denver will be responsible for that unless Johnson is claimed off waivers. The team’s roster count now stands at 15, the regular season limit.

Johnson, 22, was acquired from Houston as part of the Ty Lawson trade. The 2014 42nd overall pick appeared in 28 games last season, averaging 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds in 9.4 minutes per game, and he owned a slash line of .347/.238/.680. Johnson’s release means the Nuggets have waived all four of the players they acquired in the Lawson trade, Dempsey notes (Twitter link).

Pecherov, 29, has been out of the NBA since the 2009/10 campaign when he appeared in 44 games for the Timberwolves. The center has career NBA averages of 3.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.2 blocks to go along with a slash line of .386/.290/.793.

The 27-year-old Sweetney went undrafted out of St. Francis of Pennsylvania in 2010. In four seasons with the Red Flash, the swingman averaged 14.0 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists, and he had a shooting line of .423/.268/.785. Sweetney spent the 2014/15 season playing for a pair of teams in Switzerland, where he notched averages of 20.0 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 2.3 APG in 19 total contests, before finishing up with Huracanes of the Dominican Republic on a four-game stint in which he put up 9.3 PPG, 2.8 RPG and 1.0 APG in 27.3 MPG.

Northwest Notes: Chandler, Jazz, Saunders

October 24th, 2015 at 10:00am CST by Eddie Scarito

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said that coach/executive Flip Saunders would not return to the team this season because of complications resulting from his treatment for cancer, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune relays. When asked if he expected Saunders to return this season, Taylor said, “Not this year. I just think his illness, I mean, it’s serious. At this point, if he came back I still think he’d have a hard time to recover all his energy and all that because he has been in the hospital for a long time.”

Taylor also noted that GM Milt Newton and interim coach Sam Mitchell have the authority going forward to make trades and player personnel decisions in Saunders’ absence, Zgoda adds. “We haven’t put anything on hold,” Taylor said. “Milt’s handling it just the way I’d expect him to. He tells me what he thinks, and we talk about things, just the same as I did with Flip. Milt’s just stepped in. Sam has to be his own coach. He won’t do things exactly as Flip does, and I wouldn’t expect him to.”

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

Taylor was re-elected as the chairman of the NBA Board of Governors, commissioner Adam Silver announced at a press conference on Friday (h/t Tim Bontemps of The New York Post via Twitter).
The Nuggets have in the past asked for either two first-round picks or a first-rounder and a young player in exchange for Wilson Chandler, league sources told Grantland’s Zach Lowe, and while Lowe thinks it’s conceivable that price comes down, he still doesn’t believe a Chandler trade is likely. Meanwhile, the chatter surrounding the idea of a Kenneth Faried trade that’s been going on for the past two years hasn’t stopped, Lowe adds.
The Jazz intend to utilize their wing players as playmakers this season, which will influence a number of the team’s roster decisions, Aaron Falk of The salt Lake Tribune writes. “I think we’ve got good ball handlers on the wings, and you get to a point where you have to make tough decisions,” coach Quin Snyder said. “… We have Joe Ingles. We have Alec Burks. We have Rodney Hood and Gordon Hayward. Those guys can all handle the ball and make plays.”
Mitchell and Newton indicated that the Wolves still intend to continue with the youth movement put in place by Saunders, who is on a leave of absence while he battles Hodgkins’ Lymphoma, writes Michael Rand of The Star Tribune. “Most definitely the vision is still to develop our young players. We’d love to make the playoffs, but we’re not going to circumvent the process that it’s going to take to be a perennial playoff team,” Newton said. “You have to win to learn how to win, but overall the vision is to develop that young core we have to become that perennial playoff team.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Northwest Notes: Jokic, Kanter, Exum

October 21st, 2015 at 10:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Rookie center Nikola Jokic is arguably the biggest surprise of the Nuggets‘ preseason, and the young big man will be called upon early in the season to produce with projected starter Jusuf Nurkic out until November, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “Nikola Jokic, he’s a young kid and I’m not saying he’s ready, but he does things every practice that make you say ‘Wow, this kid has a chance to be a [heck of a] player,’” coach Michael Malone said. “For him to be that young and that skilled is really exciting to see. The fact that he’s gotten so much better even from summer league.“

Here’s what else is happening in the Northwest:

Thunder forward Steve Novak downplayed teammate Enes Kanter‘s feud with the Jazz organization, and suggested that the situation between the two sides was blown out of proportion last season, writes Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman. “I’m not really sure what went on there, but Enes is a great guy and Utah is a great organization,” Novak said. “I was here [Utah] with Enes. There was never any big incidents. I think it became a little bit bigger than it was. And I know Enes played to it and got a little bit of what he deserved.” Novak, when asked if he thought Kanter would do things differently with the benefit of hindsight, Novak responded, “I doubt it. He had to get something out and he got it out. He felt good about it. And then he probably felt bad about it and now it’s over with…Enes is very happy and Utah is doing great, so it’s over.”
Jazz point guard Dante Exum credits a month of grueling prehab work in Utah for helping prepare him for his ACL surgery, and he’s making excellent progress in his recovery as a result, Jody Genessy of The Deseret News writes. “The prehab — as much as I hated it, it was really good for me,” Exum told Genessy. “I saw the results coming out of the surgery. I was still able to lift my leg up on its own. The strength was still there as much as I’d lost. That was the biggest thing. It’s helped me to be able to walk sooner, get off the crutches and out of the brace, just because of that.”
Damian Lillard is excited about being paired alongside Maurice Harkless, and he believes the two of them give the Blazers a formidable backcourt, Mike Richman of The Oregonian relays. Portland acquired Harkless from the Magic this summer in exchange for a protected 2020 second round pick.

Western Rumors: Warriors, Green, Ingles

October 19th, 2015 at 8:12pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Warriors remain uncertain when coach Steve Kerr can return to the team on a full-time basis, ESPN.com’s Marc Stein and Ethan Sherwood Strauss report. Kerr, who underwent two offseason back surgeries, was with the club on its weeklong preseason trip through Southern California, but there’s no timetable on when he can coach on a daily basis, the story continues. ‎”He still doesn’t know,” interim coach Luke Walton told reporters after the team’s practice on Monday. “He’s not going to force a return.”

In other news around the Western Conference:

Clippers coach Doc Rivers feels the Warriors are too thin-skinned about recent comments he made about them, according to Diamond Leung of the Bay Area Sports Group. In an interview with Grantland, Rivers insinuated that the Warriors were lucky they didn’t have to play his club or the Spurs in the playoffs last season, Leung continues. He told reporters on Monday that he’s taken aback by the Warriors’ strong reaction to that notion, Leung adds. “I’m really surprised how sensitive they are about it,” Rivers said. “They are the champions, so they can just be the champions.” Walton told Leung that Rivers is playing mind games with the champions. “It doesn’t make much sense if it’s not,” Walton said. “There’s no other reason to bring that type of stuff up.”
Second-year point guard Erick Green is making a strong case for a Nuggets roster spot even though he doesn’t have a guaranteed contract, Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post writes. New coach Michael Malone has raved about Green during camp, though Green suffered a temporary setback with a minor knee injury, the story continues. Green, who could make $845,059 if he stays with the team through the season, bounced back with a 16-point, four-assist outing against the Thunder on Sunday night. But the club would have to move one of 15 players with guaranteed contracts in order to retain Green, Dempsey points out.
Jazz forward Joe Ingles had more difficulty deciding to take the summer off than he did re-signing with the club, Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Ingles stayed put by inking a two-year, $4.3MM deal, then opted not to participate in the Australian national team’s Olympic qualifiers over the summer. “I’m not going to say it was like the hardest decision of my life, but it was something that weighed on me for a little bit,” he told Falk. “I did want to play.”

Northwest Notes: Presti, Malone, Gobert

October 18th, 2015 at 1:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

Thunder GM Sam Presti is looking to a fresh start in Oklahoma City with Billy Donovan taking over the coaching reins, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. The Thunder were overwhelmed by injuries last season, particularly to star Kevin Durant, and narrowly missed the Western Conference playoffs. A revival is seen as key this year with Durant becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer. “The combination of the transition to a new coaching staff, a healthy team with the benefit of seven years of experience together that is now entering its prime years, and some additions to our roster that fit our age horizon also help fortify the existing culture,” Presti said, “and has created an organizational momentum that has everyone excited about the present but also very optimistic about the future.”

There’s more news from the Northwest Division:

New Nuggets coach Michael Malone has brought an emphasis on defense to Denver, according to Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Darrell Arthur said that when he was traded from the Grizzlies to the Nuggets in 2013, he was surprised how rarely defense and communication were taught by former Denver coach Brian Shaw. “It’s the exact same thing, what we did in Memphis to what coach Malone is doing,” Arthur said. “This is the way I was taught to play. I’m pretty sure this is the right way to play basketball.”
Utah’s Rudy Gobert is among the most likely candidates for Most Improved Player honors this season, writes Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders. The Jazz center finished third in voting for the award last season, but Brigham believes he can still get much better by improving his offensive game. Former Thunder guard Reggie Jackson, now with the Pistons, is also on the list, along with the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Wizards’ Bradley Beal, the Sixers’ Nerlens Noel, the Magic’s Victor Oladipo and the Raptors’ Jonas Valanciunas.

Northwest Notes: Johnson, Green, Cooley, Exum

October 17th, 2015 at 5:38pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Nuggets gave extended minutes to guards Nick Johnson and Erick Green in Friday’s game as they battle for a roster spot, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Neither was outstanding, as Johnson had three points and three assists on 1-of-7 shooting in 19 minutes and Green shot 2-of-5 while scoring seven points and collecting two assists in 21 minutes. Johnson came to Denver in the trade that sent Ty Lawson to Houston, while Green was part of a 2013 draft night deal that shipped Rudy Gobert to Utah.

There’s more news from the Northwest Division:

Jack Cooley, who signed today with the Cavaliers, told Spencer Davies of AmicoHoops.net that he was surprised the Jazz let him go. Cooley, who had a non-guaranteed contract in Utah, was waived Tuesday. “You obviously don’t expect that to happen,” he said, “but it’s always good to keep your head up and there’s other good teams out there that’ll look a player up who works that hard. I’ve just got to keep doing what I do, which is work hard, rebound and be physical.”
Two months after tearing his ACL, Jazz guard Dante Exum is pain free and able to walk without help, according to Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune. Exum, who is expected to miss the entire 2015/16 season, credits his quick healing to a rigorous program of physical therapy he underwent for a month before having surgery. He would like to be ready for the Olympics in August, although there is no timeline for when he might play again. “At this point, I’m not too sure,” he said. “It’s just a matter of taking it day by day, week by week and month by month.”
Dion Waiters admits he was out of shape when he was traded from the Cavaliers to the Thunder last season, writes Anthony Slater of NewsOK.com. However, Waiters is working to change his mind and body as free agency looms next summer.

Nuggets Waive Matt Janning

October 15th, 2015 at 12:27pm CST by Chuck Myron

12:27pm: The Nuggets have released Janning, the team announced via press release.

12:11pm: Janning has signed with Hapoel Jerusalem, the Israeli Winner League says via Twitter (hat tip to Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi). It’s a one-year deal with an option for a second, Pick tweets. The Nuggets haven’t announced anything about releasing Janning yet, and he’d have to clear waivers before any overseas deal could become official.

8:34am: The Nuggets will waive Matt Janning and his non-guaranteed deal, and the 27-year-old swingman is already in talks with Israel’s Hapoel Jerusalem, reports international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). Janning scored two points in about nine minutes of preseason action spread over a pair of games this month. The move will bring the Nuggets down to 18 players, including 15 with fully guaranteed pacts, as our roster count shows.

Janning’s contract with Denver is his first formal NBA deal since the 2010/11 season, when he was briefly on the Suns roster but didn’t manage to make it into a regular season game. He’s nonetheless been a frequent summer league participant, appearing on squads for the Suns, Celtics, Grizzlies, Pacers, Bulls, Nets and Timberwolves, though he didn’t play in an NBA summer league this year. Much of his career has taken place overseas, and he played for Anadolu Efes of Turkey last season.

He was a long shot to stick with the Nuggets for opening night, given the presence of those 15 guaranteed deals plus Erick Green, a holdover from last season who has a $100K partial guarantee. Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post opined recently that Green, and not Nick Johnson, who has a fully guaranteed one-year veteran’s minimum salary, is in the lead for the final regular season roster spot. Oleksiy Pecherov is also in Nuggets camp on a non-guaranteed contract as he attempts an NBA comeback, and Denver has summer-leaguer Devin Sweetney on a non-guaranteed deal, too.

Who do you think will end up on the Nuggets regular season roster? Leave a comment to give your thoughts.

Northwest Notes: Mitchell, Mensah-Bonsu, Neto

October 14th, 2015 at 8:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Raptors coach Dwane Casey believes that Timberwolves interim head man Sam Mitchell will be an improved leader now that he is getting another head coaching opportunity, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune writes. “Huge,” Casey said of the difference between the first and second times around as a coach. “You learn so much from your mistakes, more from your mistakes than the success you have. So I’m sure Sam has learned. I don’t know a coach who has been fired who felt like he should have been fired. I didn’t feel like I should have been fired in Minnesota. We were in the playoff hunt. You never feel that way. I made mistakes in Minnesota. Everybody does. But you learn from them, you grow from them. I’m sure Sam has. He’ll tell you that.”

Mitchell agrees with Casey’s assessment, and said that he is a better coach now because of his past failures, Zgoda notes. “You just try to get better,” Mitchell said. “You try to have more patience. You understand Rome wasn’t built in a day and you’re not going to win a championship in a day. You understand the process, the ups and downs a little bit better. You understand how difficult the league is. Everybody wants to win right now, but it just doesn’t work. You put in your time and you keep your players focused, understanding it’s a process.”

Here’s the latest from the Northwest Division:

Former NBA player Pops Mensah-Bonsu has officially retired from the game, Mark Woods of MVP247.com relays. The 32-year-old was in training camp with the Nuggets last year, but left the team due to personal reasons. Mensah-Bonsu appeared in 61 combined games over the course of his career and owns averages of 3.0 points and 3.0 rebounds to accompany a shooting line of .410/.000/.589.
Rookie Jazz point guard Raul Neto, who will be counted on in Utah’s rotation with Dante Exum expected to miss the season, is becoming more comfortable with the team’s system as well as life in the U.S., Mike Sorensen of The Deseret News writes. “Each game I’m getting more comfortable with the team and with the plays, with everything, so I’m feeling great,’’ Neto told Sorensen. “You always have somebody close to you, helping you. I really like it here.’’
With the departure of LaMarcus Aldridge via free agency this summer, Damian Lillard is poised to have big season, according to teammate C.J. McCollum, Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders relays. “I just expect him to continue to do a lot of the things he has done in the past: being a good leader, orchestrating the offense, being aggressive like he has been and just being a killer,” McCollum said of Lillard. “I always joke with him and tell him this is just like when he was at Weber State only he’s got more help. He’s going to take on the bulk load of attention from an in-game standpoint and a media standpoint so a lot of pressure is going to be on him, but I think he’s ready for it. Offensively, he has all the tools to be an All-Star again….”

Western Notes: Rondo, West, Nuggets

October 14th, 2015 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

It’s been barely two weeks since the start of training camp, but Kings coach George Karl has already had some run-ins with Rajon Rondo, the point guard said in a Q&A with Manny Vieites of Cowbell Kingdom (video link; scroll to 1:00 mark). Karl said this summer that he expected them to butt heads to some degree, notes Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk.

“It’s not been going too well,” Rondo said to Vieites. “We got into a couple of arguments the last couple of days, but hopefully we continue to talk and get better.”

It’s unclear what Rondo’s remark means for the Kings, but it’s not ideal, Grantland’s Zach Lowe observes (on Twitter). Rondo is signed for just one season, with a salary of $9.5MM. See more from the Western Conference:

The Spurs have a “mythological lure,” as David West put it in an interview with USA Today’s Sam Amick as he explained his decision to sign with San Antonio for the minimum salary. “I’ve been a Spurs fan my whole life, and having an opportunity and wanting to learn from [Tim] Duncan and Manu [Ginobili] and Tony [Parker] and obviously Coach [Gregg] Popovich and all his knowledge, I just felt like it was a good environment, and it was the best environment,” West said.
Erick Green appears to have shown enough during the offseason and training camp to convince the Nuggets to keep him, posits Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post as he takes a crack at predicting the Nuggets lineups. Denver has 15 fully guaranteed pacts while Green has just a $100K partial guarantee. Nick Johnson, who came via the Ty Lawson trade and who possesses the smallest full guarantee at just more than $845K, isn’t in Dempsey’s lineup predictions, so ostensibly he’d be the one to go.
Turmoil seems to stalk the Kings, and the moves they made this summer don’t bode well for the long term, but Sacramento still has as much of a chance at the last playoff spot in the Western Conference as any of their competitors, opines Tim Bontemps of the New York Post.

And-Ones: Malone, Draft, D-League, Amerileague

October 13th, 2015 at 3:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

Michael Malone was an assistant coach on teams that featured LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Chris Paul, so he’s using that experience to draw the attention of rookie Emmanuel Mudiay, as Malone explains to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. The new Nuggets head coach is getting a second chance to lead a team after the Kings fired him this past December, and Malone reiterated his feeling that the turmoil Sacramento endured after his dismissal served to validate the work that he and his staff had done.

“By the end of it, I looked like John Wooden,” Malone said to Simmons.

Malone will seek to right a franchise that had its share of upheaval last season. See more from around NBA circles:

UNLV is the latest school to organize a preseason showcase for NBA scouts, joining Kentucky and LSU, reports Jeff Borzello of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link). A handful of UNLV players are drawing looks from NBA personnel, Borzello says, but only Stephen Zimmerman, a 7’0″ freshman center, appears in the top 100 prospects for 2016 that Jonathan Givony compiles for DraftExpress or on Chad Ford’s ESPN.com Big Board.
The Timberwolves will speak with organizers in Omaha who say they’ve secured a commitment for a D-League franchise there at some point, but the Wolves would prefer their eventual one-to-one D-League affiliate be closer to Minneapolis, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. The Wolves are less likely to end up with a D-League affiliate in the near future than any team except the Bulls, opines Adam Johnson of D-League Digest. Johnson identifies the Hornets as the team most likely to have its own D-League team soon, probably by the 2016/17 season.
The Amerileague, a startup domestic minor league with six teams, is handing out contracts worth as much as $50K per month, notes international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). That’s about twice as much as D-Leaguers in the top salary tier make for an entire season.