Denver Nuggets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Blazers, Wolves

November 29th, 2015 at 3:02pm CST by Will Joseph

Nuggets rookie center Nikola Jokic is emerging as one of the biggest surprises of Denver’s season, Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post writes. “I did not expect Nikola Jokic to be our starting center 14 games into the season. But he has earned it. … He’s a guy who was wearing a pink uniform and playing in the Adriatic League last year. Now he is in the NBA, starting and doing great things,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. Jokic, who is averaging 7.8 points per game and five rebounds per game, signed a four-year deal worth $5.5MM in July after sitting out last season as a draft-and-stash prospect.

Here’s more out of the Northwest Division:

Malone believes it is important to keep Wilson Chandler, who is out for the season, around the team as the small forward begins his rehab, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post relays. “That was one thing that I felt very strongly about,” Malone said. “Make sure he feels a part of it, still. So once he starts traveling, we’ll have him travel with us the whole time. I might even give him a clipboard so he can be one of our coaches.”
Karl-Anthony Towns‘ lack of playing time recently in the fourth quarter for the Wolves is the result of reserve Gorgui Dieng being a more experienced defensive player, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune details.
Noah Vonleh, with whom the Blazers exercised their rookie scale team option for the 2016/17 season, is experiencing foul trouble while making five starts at power forward as Meyers Leonard recovers from a dislocated left shoulder, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com writes. Vonleh has struggled to make an impact because fouls have forced him back to the bench, Quick adds.

And-Ones: Mudiay, Mickey, Henderson

November 25th, 2015 at 9:17pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Blazers swingman Gerald Henderson has struggled as he makes his way back from hip surgery in July, and he says that he still needs time to round into form, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com writes. “You know, it’s tough. I’m coming back from surgery, trying to implement myself into what we are doing … and I just haven’t found my rhythm yet,” Henderson admitted. “It will take me a while to get into the type of shape I’m used to being in. You missed pretty much the whole summer, the preseason, and the start of the year … like I said, I’ve got some catching up to do. It’s nothing more than that.’’ Henderson was acquired by Portland from the Hornets over the summer as a part of the Nicolas Batum trade, and he is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.

Here’s the latest from around the league:

The Thunder have recalled Josh Huestis from the Oklahoma City Blue, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. Huestis has appeared in four games during his three D-League assignments this season, averaging 10.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 31.3 minutes per game.
The Celtics recalled power forward Jordan Mickey from the D-League, the team announced (via Twitter). This was Mickey’s fourth assignment to the Red Claws this season.
Nuggets rookie Emmanuel Mudiay has played the second most minutes out of any rookie thus far this season, and it will be an interesting case study to see how the increased minutes impact his development, observes Brett Koremenos of Real GM in his look at the young point guard. The 19-year-old is averaging 12.5 points and 6.3 assists in 30.0 minutes per contest through 15 games.

Western Rumors: Bryant, Rockets, Nuggets

November 23rd, 2015 at 10:40pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kobe Bryant is shooting a career-low 33.1% from the field but Lakers coach Byron Scott wants him to stay aggressive offensively, according to Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com. Bryant’s desire to score off isolation plays may be hindering the team’s ball movement but Scott doesn’t plan on telling the aging small forward to stop looking for his shot, Holmes continues. “He’s had 20 years of experience in the league,” Scott told the team’s beat reporters. “We might not have six players that have 20 years in this league combined. He has that privilege, basically. From a coaching standpoint, I want Kobe to be Kobe. Other guys haven’t earned that right yet.”

In other news around the Western Conference:

Former first-round pick Jordan Hamilton, who finished last season with the Clippers, has left the Russian club Krasny Oktyabr, aka Volgograd, tweets international journalist David Pick. JaJuan Johnson, another former NBA first-rounder who hasn’t played in the league since 2012, also left the team, Pick adds.
The struggling Rockets have slowed down offensively and interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff wants to increase the tempo, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports. Houston was second in pace last season but has slipped to eighth this season. Some of that is due to defensive breakdowns but Bickerstaff also wants to utilize his team’s quickness to a greater extent, especially in the first half, Feigen adds. “That’s one of the things we’re focused on now,” Bickerstaff told the Houston media. “We want to be speedy. We want teams that come in here in the first five minutes of the game … to be overwhelmed by our speed. We have the athletes. We have the skilled players who can get up and down and do those things.”
Nuggets first-year coach Michael Malone is generally pleased with his team through the first 14 games, as he relayed to Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post on Monday afternoon. “We lost eight games, but, c’mon, two of those to Golden State,” Malone said. “We lost to OKC when they were healthy. Phoenix twice, [which] is a good basketball team; at San Antonio. We’ve had some tough games, and hopefully as long as we keep on staying together, learning from the losses and growing, we’re going to be OK.”

Northwest Notes: Thunder, Nuggets, Blazers

November 22nd, 2015 at 3:45pm CST by Will Joseph

Kenneth Faried, who had some issues with former Nuggets coach Brian Shaw, likes the direction the team seems to be headed in and is surprised by the decent record so far under new coach Michael Malone, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post details.

“Coming out, I felt that we were going to struggle at first,” Faried said. “And we’ve had our struggles, but we’re 6-6. If you would have told me at the beginning of the season, ‘Oh, the Nuggets will be 6-6 and ahead of a lot of people in the West,’ I would have said ‘all right.’”

Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:

The Thunder recalled small forward Josh Huestis from the D-League, the team announced in a press release. Huestis has appeared in three games in the D-League this season, averaging 7.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in 29.3 minutes per game.
Noah Vonleh, on whom the Blazers exercised their rookie scale team option for the 2016/17 season in September, is one of the team’s younger players who has developed through putting in extra practice time, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com writes in a three-part series on how the team is improving. While the team’s younger players show up well before practice, the veterans have logged hours after practice and both groups are vital parts of the Blazers’ rebuilding process, Quick adds.

Mavericks Rumors: Cuban, Ex-Jazz, Iguodala

November 22nd, 2015 at 1:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban expects the soaring salary cap to bring significant changes to the league next season, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. In a wide-ranging interview, Cuban touched on the planning implications that come with an increased cap. “It’s going to change a lot,” Cuban said. “More from a strategy perspective, it makes the value of draft choices go through the roof because they’re pegged at a certain price. Minimum contracts will go through the roof. Anybody that signs for the mid-level, the value goes through the roof.” He added that it will be more difficult for teams to assemble multiple stars when they’re each making more than $30MM per season.

Cuban also addressed this week’s firing of Rockets coach Kevin McHale, who guided the team to the Western Conference Finals last season, but stumbled to a 4-7 start. “So I’ve said it before, the hardest thing for an NBA owner to do is hire a coach,” Cuban said. “The easiest thing to do is fire a coach. The reason it’s hard to hire a coach, coaches are great at date-face, they know exactly what your weaknesses are and they know exactly how to sell to those weaknesses, so it’s really difficult to pick it right and it’s 90% luck.”

There’s more news out of Dallas:

After adding Deron Williams, Wesley Matthews and Jeremy Evans over the summer, the Mavericks are taking on the look of the old Jazz teams, writes Jody Genessy of The Deseret News. Devin Harris is the fourth former Utah player on the roster, which Evans said helped to ease the transition when he signed with Dallas. “We always have something we can talk about — when we were in Utah, the times that we were together, the teammates there and what happened that year,” Evans said. “We know those guys and have fun here.”
Cuban insists the team was “20 minutes away” from acquiring Andre Iguodala from the Sixers in 2012, tweets Dwain Price of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Instead, Philadelphia traded Iguodala to the Nuggets.
The Mavericks have recalled Justin Anderson and Salah Mejri from the D-League, the team announced today. Anderson, a 6’6″ guard, is averaging 3.2 points and 1.3 rebounds in 10 games with Dallas, while Mejri, a 7’2″ center, hasn’t scored and has five rebounds in four games.

Erick Green Joins Kings D-League Team

November 21st, 2015 at 1:51pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Former Nuggets point guard Erick Green has signed with the NBA D-League and has been claimed via the league’s waiver process by the Reno Bighorns, the Kings’ D-League affiliate, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor reports (Twitter link). Green will still be free to sign with any interested NBA team if offered a deal.

Green was cut loose by Denver earlier this month in order to clear a roster slot so that the team could re-sign Kostas Papanikolaou, whose services were sorely needed after injuries had sidelined Wilson Chandler, Jusuf Nurkic, Joffrey Lauvergne and Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets were high on Green’s potential, with GM Tim Connelly saying of the point guard, “He lives in the gym, everyone in this building has a positive impression of Erick, not just him as a player but him as a person. He’s a fantastic person, and he’s going to be back in the NBA, ASAP. He’s a guy we’ll keep close tabs on. You never close the door, especially for a guy who has done as much as Erick and worked as hard as he has.”

The 24-year-old was the No. 46 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. He has appeared in a total of 46 contests over two seasons with Denver, averaging 3.2 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists. Green’s career NBA slash line is .374/.292/.833.

Western Notes: Chandler, World Peace, Durant

November 17th, 2015 at 7:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Nuggets small forward Wilson Chandler underwent successful surgery today to repair a labral tear in his right hip, the team announced via a press release. Chandler initially suffered the injury during the preseason and he will be out for the remainder of the 2015/16 campaign. Despite missing approximately 133 games since 2011 due to hip injuries, the veteran, who signed a four-year, $46.5MM renegotiation and extension with Denver back in July, recently told Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post that he isn’t contemplating retirement.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

The Lakers have assigned small forward Anthony Brown the the L.A. D-Fenders, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This is the first trip of the season to the D-League for Brown, as our D-League assignments and recalls tracker shows. The rookie has appeared in three games for the Lakers this season, averaging 1.7 points in 3.0 minutes of action per contest.
By not signing Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli to rookie scale extensions prior to this season’s deadline, the Warriors have left open the possibility of swinging a sign-and-trade deal for Kevin Durant this offseason, Danny Leroux of the Sporting News posits. Leroux also runs down a number of other scenarios that could result in Golden State potentially trotting out one of the greatest offensive teams of all-time, though the scribe does note that Barnes and Ezeli, both of whom are eligible to become restricted free agents next summer, would have the right to decline any sign-and-trade agreement.
Lakers coach Byron Scott was worried that Metta World Peace‘s body wouldn’t hold up through training camp, but the 16th-year veteran who just turned 36 says he’s in better shape than when he was with the Lakers the first time, notes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. World Peace is seeing occasional starting assignments and 19.1 minutes per game. “You have to give him a lot of credit for somebody who was out of the league for a couple of years,” Scott said. “He worked as hard as he worked to get back into the league and be able to be a vital part of what we’re trying to do. It’s been great.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Chandler, Kings, Spurs

November 15th, 2015 at 7:15pm CST by Will Joseph

Wilson Chandler, who is out for the season because of a labral tear, is not thinking about retirement despite hip problems that have been a recurring issue for the Nuggets small forward, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post relays. Chandler, 28, signed a four-year, $46.5MM extension with Denver in July. Chandler told Dempsey that he knew he had a labral tear prior to the Nuggets’ season opener at Houston, but hoped that rest and an anti-inflammatory injection would help him be able to play. Counting this season, according to Dempsey, hip injuries will have cost Chandler 133 games since 2011.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

It’s been an interesting start to the season for Ben McLemore, whom the Kings exercised their $4,008,882 team option on in October. He lost his role as the team’s starting shooting guard and then reportedly voiced frustration about Kings coach George Karl. Now, however, Karl has shown more trust in McLemore and has twice let the third-year player start the second half, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee details.
The Thunder have recalled Josh Huestis from the D-League, the team announced in an emailed press release (and on Twitter). The small forward has not appeared in a game for the Thunder this season.
The Spurs‘ decision to trade reserve guard George Hill to the Pacers for a package centering around Kawhi Leonard in 2011 was not a popular move among San Antonio’s players at first, Spurs GM R.C. Buford told Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News. McCarney examines the trade in an interesting look back. George Felton, the Spurs’ director of college scouting, was high on Leonard, who, McCarney writes, was viewed as “a prototypical Spur.”

And Ones: Gasol, Nuggets, Drummond, Hawks

November 14th, 2015 at 10:55pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Bulls‘ Pau Gasol could miss out on a major payday if he doesn’t opt out of his current deal next summer, according to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Gasol has a player option on the final season of a three-year, $22.3MM contract that brought him to Chicago in 2014. He is owed a little less than $7.77MM for 2016/17, when increased TV revenues are expected to greatly raise the salary cap. Two unidentified executives from rival teams told Johnson that even at age 36, Gasol could land two more years of guaranteed money if he becomes an unrestricted free agent. “I’ll wait to make that decision,” Gasol said. “All I’m focused on now is trying to play the best I can so that if I do opt out and explore, I have options. If I have the best season possible and work on my body and stay healthy and help this team accomplish its goals, I’ll go from there.”

There’s more from around the world of basketball:

The league has taken steps to reduce the unique home-court advantage the Nuggets possess because of Denver’s location and altitude, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Denver is at least a two-hour flight from nearly all NBA cities, which gives the home team a decided advantage against an opponent playing back-to-back games, especially when the thin mountain air is factored in. “I didn’t like it when I had to come here,” said Michael Malone, who is in his first season as Nuggets coach. “But I love it now.” Dempsey reports that the NBA has tried to cut into that edge by making Denver the first stop for teams traveling from the east and building an off day into the schedule for teams coming from the west.
The Pistons‘ Andre Drummond tops a list of six players exceeding expectations compiled by Jonathan Concool of Basketball Insiders. Drummond was averaging 20.3 points and 20.3 rebounds per game heading into Saturday’s action. Rounding out the list are the Blazers‘ C.J. McCollum, the Pistons’ Marcus Morris, the Bucks‘ Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Magic’s Evan Fournier and the Lakers‘ Jordan Clarkson.
The Hawks will recall Edy Tavares and Lamar Patterson from the D-League Sunday, tweets Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Both are expected to be in Atlanta in time for the game with the Jazz.

Southwest Notes: Nowitzki, Smith, Lawson

November 14th, 2015 at 2:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki hasn’t made up his mind about when he’ll retire from the game, but he isn’t shutting the door on the possibility that he may play beyond 2016/17, which is the final year on his current deal, Sam Amick of USA Today writes. “I always said that when the body is hurting every day, and when you’ve got to do all this extra stuff to just play, I think that’s when it’s time to go,” said Nowitzki. “But I feel good. I feel good right now and I felt good this summer. I mean, we had a five-games-in-six-days for the [Eurobasket], and I got through that just fine. … I felt good. I don’t need to pop a thousand pills to play or practice. So as long as that’s still good, and it’s still fun to go. I’m going to definitely ride this contract out [this season and next]. I don’t know. We’ll see what happens after that.”

Here’s more from out of the Southwest Division:

Ish Smith, who was claimed off waivers from the Wizards back in October, has been forced to play major minutes because of injuries to Norris Cole and Tyreke Evans, and he has impressed the Pelicans‘ coaching staff with how quickly he has acclimated to the team’s system, writes John Reid of The Times Picayune. ”It’s really tough, especially just coming in,” coach Alvin Gentry said. ”It would have been different if he had been in training camp and had gone through the whole situation. But you just pick a guy up and then throw him out there, I thought he responded great. I just think it’s a situation and [GM] Dell [Demps] and I talked about it and we just got to keep our head above water. We just got to keep playing hard and competing.”
Ty Lawson made his return to Denver Friday night, which was his first game back in the city after being dealt to the Rockets during the offseason. While his tenure with the Nuggets didn’t necessarily end well, the point guard had nothing negative to say about his former team, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “It was pretty great,” said Lawson of his time with the Nuggets. “I had a good couple of years here. This team gave me my first opportunity and chance. So I have nothing bad to say.” When asked if he wished things had turned out differently for him in Denver, Lawson responded, “Things happen for a reason. God has a plan, so I’m going to follow it.”
Mavericks point guard Raymond Felton has signed with agent Jim Tanner of Tandem Sports and Entertainment, reports Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports (Twitter link). Felton was previously represented by Wasserman Media Group.