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In-Market Bubble Updates: Pistons, Wolves, Cavs

September 17th, 2020 at 10:04am CST by Luke Adams

As the NBA’s bottom eight teams gear up to conduct group workouts starting next week, the Pistons have 15 players in attendance for the first phase of their in-market bubble. However, that 15-man group includes five G Leaguers, with a number of notable names from the NBA roster absent.

As Eric Woodyard of ESPN details, head coach Dwane Casey said on Wednesday that Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose, Christian Wood, and Langston Galloway aren’t participating.

“All of our young guys are here. Derrick Rose and Blake are not here, which is totally understandable,” Casey said. “Both are working out, and it’s nothing physical. They’re both 100 percent. Blake’s working out in LA, and Derrick is in and out of town.”

As for Wood and Galloway, both players are set to reach unrestricted free agency this fall, so Casey said he understood why they’d be reluctant to participate in workouts with the club over the next few weeks.

“We’re not reading anything into that either way,” Casey said, per Woodyard. “So it’s just something I totally get because if I’m a free agent, I wouldn’t attend anyway to the team you’re not under contract with.”

Here’s more on those mini-camps taking part in “bubbles” across the country:

  • The majority of the Timberwolves‘ key players, including Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell, and restricted free agent Malik Beasley, are participating in their in-market bubble, as are G Leaguers Canyon Barry and Lindell Wigginton (Twitter link via Woodyard). Free-agent-to-be Evan Turner, Omari Spellman, and Juan Hernangomez won’t be in attendance. Hernangomez is an RFA and is currently overseas, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic notes (via Twitter), while Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News tweets that Spellman’s camp is hoping to find the big man a new home.
  • Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com provides details on the Cavaliers‘ in-market bubble plans for the next two-and-a-half weeks, with group practices set to begin next Wednesday. Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova, both eligible for free agency, won’t attend, but G Leaguers Levi Randolph, Marques Bolden and Vince Edwards have been invited to participate.
  • A personal matter will also prevent center Andre Drummond from attending the Cavaliers‘ mini-camp, though he wanted to be there, sources tell Fedor. “He’s been pretty engaged in everything,” one source said of Drummond. “It’s not like he’s gone dark. He wanted to be there. It’s nothing malicious. It’s not a sign or anything like that. It’s not going to cause a rift.”
  • The NBA sent a memo to the league’s bottom eight teams warning them that if they “require or coerce” players to participate in the optional workouts, they’ll be subject to league punishment, tweets Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
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NBA’s Bottom Eight Teams Gearing Up For Group Workouts

September 14th, 2020 at 12:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Monday, September 14 marks the first day of the three-week offseason workout window for the NBA’s bottom eight teams. The first phase of these de facto training camps will last for one week, through next Monday. During that time, activities will continue to be limited to individual workouts, as participants begin being tested daily for the coronavirus.

After one week, once participating players have returned multiple negative COVID-19 tests – or have been quarantined if they test positive – the second phase of the camps will take place in bubble-type environments. Group workouts, including practices and intra-squad scrimmages, will be permitted during the next two weeks as coronavirus testing continues.

The eight teams not invited to Orlando – the Warriors, Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Hawks, Knicks, Pistons, Bulls, and Hornets – won’t congregate at a single site like the top 22 teams did at Walt Disney World. Their “bubbles” will be created in their respective markets.

[RELATED: Eight Teams Left Out Of Restart To Conduct Workouts At Home Sites]

For instance, as K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago writes, the Bulls will stay at a downtown hotel and will be transported back and forth between there and the Advocate Center. The Hawks, meanwhile, are working to secure their players a hotel that has not yet opened to help avoid any outside contact, per Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The other clubs will make similar arrangements.

These workouts – both the individual sessions this week and the group activities beginning next week – are entirely voluntary. However, since these players have been unable to take part in organized basketball activities with teammates since March and are likely itching to get back on the court, there’s an expectation that attendance will be robust for most clubs.

Chris Kirschner of The Athletic reports, for example, that the Hawks anticipate all their core players – including Clint Capela – will take part in the camp. Jeff Teague is one of the only players not expected to participate, per Spencer, who notes that the veteran point guard is ticketed for free agency.

The Pistons are in a similar situation — James L. Edwards III of The Athletic reports that free-agent-to-be Langston Galloway isn’t expected to be in attendance, but most of the rest of the team’s players will participate.

There are some cases where players who could reach free agency in the coming months will take part in workouts. For instance, Marc Berman of The New York Post says that Bobby Portis and Taj Gibson will likely be in attendance for the Knicks. Portis has a pricey team option for 2020/21, while only $1MM of Gibson’s $9.45MM salary is guaranteed, so both vets could be let go by the team this fall.

Berman does caution that some veteran Knicks players intend to participate in individual workouts but won’t join the rest of the club in the “bubble.”

Teams that want to fill gaps on their roster and make sure they have enough players to hold intra-squad scrimmages will be able to invite players who suited up for their G League affiliates this past season. For example, Lindell Wigginton and Canyon Barry of the Iowa Wolves will join Minnesota for the team’s mini-camp at Mayo Clinic Square, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News.

With these offseason camps set to end on October 6 and the NBA Finals likely to wrap up shortly thereafter, the next time clubs meet for organized activities will presumably be for training camps at the start of the 2020/21 season.

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Pistons Interview R.J. Hampton Ahead of 2020 NBA Draft

September 9th, 2020 at 6:47pm CST by Jovan Alford

2020 NBA draft prospect R.J. Hampton interviewed with Pistons general manager Troy Weaver a month ago, according to Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press.

Hampton, who spent this past season with the New Zealand Breakers of the NBL, told Sankofa he was encouraged by his conversation with the Pistons general manager. “You can tell he knows the game, you can tell he’s very detailed about the way he sees the game of basketball,” Hampton said. “That’s why he was very in-depth with his conversation. He seems like a really smart guy. Knows a lot about the game.”

As of now, the Pistons hold the seventh overall pick in the draft and will likely take the best player available. However, Sankofa notes that the Pistons could potentially move down and acquire another first-round selection.

If that’s the case, then the 6’5″ Hampton, who is projected to go in the early-to-late teens, might be on the Pistons’ radar. This season with the Breakers, Hampton averaged 8.8 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 2.4 APG in 15 games.

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Pistons, Hawks, Knicks Could Control Free Agency

September 9th, 2020 at 3:52pm CST by Luke Adams
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Trying To Make The Most Of Prolonged Layoff

September 7th, 2020 at 8:05pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • The Pistons will be one of the eight teams not invited to Orlando to hold team camps, beginning in the middle of this month. Pistons.com’s Keith Langlois explores how each of their core players can make the most of their prolonged off-season.
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Pistons' Future Appears Bright With Troy Weaver At Helm

September 6th, 2020 at 3:29pm CST by JD Shaw
  • The Pistons‘ future looks bright with the hiring of Troy Weaver as general manager, Keith Langlois of NBA.com writes. Weaver is known for having an eye for young talent, helping draft the likes of Darius Bazley and signing Luguentz Dort as an undrafted free agent during his time with the Thunder. Both players have impressed in Oklahoma City since joining the team, as Weaver joins a Pistons franchise that will likely start rebuilding.
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Assessing Possible Selections At No. 7 For Detroit in 2020 NBA Draft

September 2nd, 2020 at 9:26pm CST by Jovan Alford
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Pistons Add Ryan West To Front Office

September 1st, 2020 at 6:40pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • The Pistons have finalized a contract with former Lakers executive Ryan West, Jerry West‘s son, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The news that Detroit was hiring West broke three weeks ago. He will concentrate on player evaluation with Detroit. West and the Lakers mutually agreed to part ways last summer after both sides felt he had reached a ceiling in his 10 years with their franchise.
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Fred VanVleet Expected To Draw Interest From Pistons, Knicks, Suns

August 24th, 2020 at 1:09pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons, Knicks, and Suns are among the teams expected to emerge as suitors for Fred VanVleet once the Raptors guard reaches unrestricted free agency this offseason, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic.

VanVleet projects to be one of the top free agents on the market when the 2020/21 league year begins. The 26-year-old is coming off a career year in which he averaged 17.6 PPG, 6.6 APG, and 3.8 RPG on .413/.390/.848 shooting in 54 contests and is off to a hot start in the postseason, with 21.3 PPG, 7.8 APG, and 4.0 RPG on .527/.559/.800 shooting in four games against Brooklyn.

Only a handful of teams project to have cap room available this offseason, so the Raptors are in a good position to re-sign VanVleet. However, a team like the Pistons or Knicks could certainly make things interesting — and make signing VanVleet a more costly endeavor. Neither club has a long-term answer at the point and both will have cap space at their disposal this fall. VanVleet also played for current Pistons head coach Dwane Casey in Toronto.

As for Phoenix, the fit there is less obvious, considering the Suns already have Devin Booker and Ricky Rubio in their backcourt and may not have the cap flexibility to make a competitive bid for VanVleet if they hope to bring back contributors like Dario Saric, Aron Baynes, or Frank Kaminsky.

Still, VanVleet has plenty of experience playing alongside another point guard in Toronto, where he started this season alongside Kyle Lowry, and Suns GM James Jones showed last year in his pursuit of Rubio that he’s willing to make moves to carve out cap room if there’s a target he likes. Bobby Marks of ESPN recently suggested the idea of trading Rubio to a team like Atlanta to open up cap space for VanVleet.

The four-year, $85MM contract signed by Malcolm Brogdon in 2019 was recently cited as a potential point of comparison for VanVleet’s next deal.

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Pistons Notes: Galloway, Weaver, Draft, Wood

August 21st, 2020 at 2:13pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

New Pistons general manager Troy Weaver remains excited about Detroit’s prospects in the 2020 draft, despite the team falling two slots from its pre-lottery position to No. 7, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Weaver is confident in the depth of this season’s draft lottery prospects.

“From three to 13, it’s going to be a scramble,” he said. “We have to continue to do our work and be disciplined and be ready, because this is a draft where you don’t know.”

There’s more out of the Motor City:

  • Pistons free agent guard Langston Galloway and his wife Sabrina have continued to represent the Pistons for charitable events within the community this year despite 28-year-old’s impending free agency, writes Vince Ellis of Pistons.com. The 6’1″ Galloway, a sharpshooting combo guard, signed a three-year, $21MM contract with the Pistons in the summer of 2017.
  • Though the Pistons fell out of the running for likely top picks LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards and James Wiseman, the team should still have a shot at a prospect with a high ceiling, opines Keith Langlois of Pistons.com in a separate piece. Langlois mentions that current All-Star forwards Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Giannis Antetokounmpo were all drafted at or below the No. 10 pick in their respective drafts.
  • Promising Pistons power forward Christian Wood, a free agent this summer, could be used in a sign-and-trade if he wants to join a team without salary cap space, as we relayed earlier this week. The 24-year-old stepped into a full time starting role with the team soon after Detroit traded former All-Star center Andre Drummond.
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