- Donta Hall‘s second 10-day contract with the Pistons was about to expire when the NBA suspended its season. Keith Langlois of Pistons.com explores whether the rookie power forward has a future with the franchise.
For most NBA players in contract years, their on-court performances during the 2019/20 season will go a long way toward determining what sort of offers they’ll get this offseason when they reach the open market. And there are a number of players around the league who have increased their value significantly with their play in ’19/20, who now figure to do better than initially expected in free agency as a result.
Today, we’ll shine a spotlight on some of those players from the Eastern Conference, identifying five 2020 free-agents-to-be who have improved their stock with their play this season. Let’s dive in…
Fred VanVleet, PG (Raptors): VanVleet’s value was already on the rise last summer as a result of his red-hot shooting in the final two rounds of the 2019 playoffs, but he has taken his game to another level this season. Having averaged 11.0 PPG last year, VanVleet has bumped that number to 17.6 PPG in 2019/20, adding 6.6 APG and an impressive .388 3PT% on increased volume. Although Kyle Lowry remains the Raptors’ starting point guard, VanVleet has started alongside him or – when Lowry was injured – in place of him in every single one of his 48 games this season, alleviating any concerns that he’s just a sixth man. After All-Stars Anthony Davis and Brandon Ingram, he’ll be one of the most sought-after players on the market.- Davis Bertans, PF (Wizards): Like VanVleet, Bertans had shown his potential in previous seasons before getting a chance to take on an increased role in ’19/20. And like VanVleet, he hasn’t sacrificed any efficiency as he has taken on those added responsibilities. Bertans is the best 6’10” shooter in the league, with a .424 3PT% on 8.7 attempts per game, and while he’s not exactly an elite rim protector, he isn’t a major liability on defense either. After earning $7MM this season, Bertans could double that annual salary on a multiyear contract. The Wizards, who turned down trade offers for him at the deadline, are very interested in retaining him.
- Christian Wood, F/C (Pistons): After bouncing around on minimum-salary contracts and waiver claims during his first three NBA seasons, Wood enjoyed a breakout year in Detroit, averaging 13.1 PPG and 6.3 RPG in a part-time role (21.4 MPG). Those numbers jumped to 22.8 PPG and 9.9 RPG following Andre Drummond‘s departure in February. And after making just 13 three-pointers in his first 51 NBA games, Wood knocked down nearly one per game in 2019/20, at a 38.6% rate. While he probably won’t get any massive offers, a deal in the range of the full mid-level exception seems realistic.
- Evan Fournier, G/F (Magic): One of the beneficiaries of the 2016 cap spike, Fournier earned $17.15MM this past season and has a player option worth the same amount for 2020/21. Given how uncertain the NBA’s salary cap situation is at the moment, it’s possible Fournier won’t exceed that salary on the open market and could decide to simply opt in. Still, his stock is higher now than it was a year ago — his 18.8 PPG represented a career high, as did his .599 TS%. It was a much-needed bounce-back performance for Fournier after he endured perhaps the worst shooting season of his career in 2018/19.
- Derrick Jones, G/F (Heat): Jones’ numbers don’t jump off the page like the ones put up by some other players on this list, but Erik Spoelstra‘s confidence in the young swingman reflects his value to the Heat. Despite the arrival of Jimmy Butler, the emergence of youngsters like Duncan Robinson and Kendrick Nunn, and the midseason additions of veterans such as Andre Iguodala and Jae Crowder, Jones was a consistent part of the rotation all season long and became a starter prior to the hiatus. He averaged a career-high 24.5 minutes per game and was one of the club’s most reliable defenders. A more consistent three-point shot would boost Jones’ value further, but his age (23), athleticism, and versatility will make him an intriguing target this offseason, especially for rebuilding teams.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Clippers hold the top spot in ESPN’s Future Power Rankings, which predicts the best and worst franchises over the next three seasons. While the team has one of the best one-two punches in the NBA with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Los Angeles’ inability to trade a first-rounder may come back to haunt the team, Bobby Marks suggests.
L.A. sent out several first-rounders in the George deal and had just one pick (2020 selection) that was eligible to be included in a trade this season — the franchise used it to acquire Marcus Morris at the deadline.
The Lakers, Warriors, Bucks, and Celtics round out the top-5 in the ESPN’s latest rankings. Here’s more from around the league:
- The Pistons and Cavaliers rank 29th and 30th, respectively, on that aforementioned ESPN’s list. Both franchises lack blue-chip prospects and each has expensive veterans clogging its cap space.
- Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times believes Thaddeus Young will find himself on the trade block this offseason. Young, who inked a deal the Bulls last summer, was the subject of trade rumors earlier in the season.
- NBA agent Mark Bartelstein said he expected the season to get postponed after watching what was going on abroad in February and March, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic relays. Bartelstein has clients in the Chinese Basketball Association and other international leagues.
The Bulls are entering an offseason of change, as the franchise is looking to revamp its basketball operations department. The Athletic’s John Hollinger hears that Miami’s VP of basketball operations Adam Simon is a leading candidate for the team’s top front office job (confirming an earlier report) and adds that the chatter about Indiana’s Chad Buchanan was rather loud before the Pacers‘ GM took himself out of the running. Denver’s Arturas Karnisovas and Toronto’s Bobby Webster have also been linked to the Bulls’ opening.
Hollinger wonders if Chicago will also search for a new head coach during the NBA’s hiatus. Jim Boylen‘s future with the club is uncertain and the Bulls won’t be the only team looking for a new head coach this offseason.
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Many insiders believe that Sixers coach Brett Brown is on the hot seat, though it’s unlikely that the team makes a move while the league is on hiatus, Hollinger adds in the same piece. Firing Brown and having the Sixers proceed to the playoffs with a new coach wouldn’t be an ideal scenario.
- The Cavaliers don’t have enough intel on their top young talent to rule out selecting a player at any position in the 2020 draft, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes. Darius Garland and Kevin Porter Jr. both appear to be long-term building blocks, yet neither is certain to be an All-Star, so the Cavs should select the best available player regardless of position with their top pick.
- Keith Langlois of NBA.com examines Khyri Thomas‘ progress since the Pistons‘ drafted him with the No. 38 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. Injuries have stunted Thomas’ growth and while the franchise doesn’t have major talent on the wing, he’ll need to show more if he’s going to stay with Detroit beyond his current contract, which is non-guaranteed for next season.
- James L. Edwards III and John Hollinger of The Athletic teamed up for an in-depth look at the Pistons‘ future, exploring which players should be long-term fixtures. In Hollinger’s view, no one on the current roster is capable of being the best player on a good team down the road, including Sekou Doumbouya.
- Appearing on the Wizards Talk podcast with NBC Sports Washington’s Chris Miller, Pistons guard Jordan McRae spoke about his experience being quarantined after teammate Christian Wood tested positive for COVID-19. McRae also shared the story of how he indirectly predicted his trade out of Washington at February’s deadline.
- Swingman Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk at minimum established himself as a solid rotation player with the potential to be a key piece for the Pistons, according to Keith Langlois of the team’s website. Mykhailiuk doused the perception that he’s just a 3-point shooter by displaying his offensive versatility this season, including times when he functioned as a primary ballhandler. The team holds a $1.66MM option on Mykhailiuk’s contract for next season and there is little question that they’ll exercise it, Langlois adds.
- The Pistons will have a top-10 draft pick and they’ve been buried in film study during the hiatus, Rod Beard of the Detroit News writes. Detroit had the fifth-worst record when play was halted. “The whole league is watching video,” senior advisor Ed Stefanski said. “We’ve seen some (of the top prospects). Everyone has a bank of information on players, so we’re all in the same boat.”
- Sekou Doumbouya, the No. 15 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, became a more essential piece of the Pistons rotation than they had initially anticipated due to a rash of injuries, as Pistons.com writer Keith Langlois details. The 6’8″ forward out of France appeared in 38 games during the abbreviated 2019/20 season for Detroit.
- While speaking with his former Olympic teammate Dwyane Wade on Instagram Live, Trail Blazers power forward Carmelo Anthony claims he would have won multiple NBA championships had the Pistons drafted him instead of Darko Milicic with the No. 2 pick in 2003, as Nicola Lupo of Sportando notes. Anthony, a 10-time All-Star, was drafted by Denver with the No. 3 pick out of Syracuse. The Pistons went to two straight NBA Finals in 2004 and 2005, winning the title in ’04.
Thanks in part to the Pacers collecting a $10MM insurance policy on Victor Oladipo, who missed all but 13 games of the postponed NBA season, Indiana’s payroll is scheduled to come in at $104.6MM, the league’s lowest mark. If COVID-19 affects league revenue significantly, the Pacers will be in one of the most comfortable financial situations in the NBA, as J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star reports.
Michael notes that a significant drop in league revenue, such as a 5% drop from the projected $115MM cap ($109.25MM) or a 10% decline ($103.5MM), could impede several teams, but the Pacers are stacked with several players on movable contracts.
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- Bulls rookie point guard Coby White‘s late-season scoring streak (he averaged 23.7 PPG while connecting on 39.8%t of his 8.5 three-point looks) was one of the few positives in a generally dismal 22-43 season for Chicago. Morten Jensen of Forbes wonders what White’s performance means for his club going forward.
- Despite the COVID-19 pandemic putting the NBA on pause this month, Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and his assistants have been maintaining their (remote) connection to the young Cleveland squad, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.
- Pistons rookie point guard Jordan Bone logged time with Detroit’s Grand Rapids G League club and the NBA squad this season, and remains an intriguing player for the team’s future, according to Pistons.com writer Keith Langlois.
MARCH 26: Wood has been cleared, having registered negative test results on Wednesday evening, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
MARCH 25: Christian Wood, who was the only Pistons player known to have contracted the coronavirus, has “fully recovered,” according to his agent, as our own Dana Gauruder writes for The Detroit Free Press.
Wood is one of at least 10 NBA players known to have test positive for COVID-19. Gauruder hears from a source that Wood still has to pass a few medical tests and is expected to be cleared by Thursday.
The Pistons played the Jazz on March 7, just days before the news of Rudy Gobert‘s diagnosis and the NBA’s suspension of the season. Detroit, like other squads in the league, was asked to self-isolate. That period of isolation ended today.
Gauruder adds that 17 members of the Pistons were tested for the virus, including five players.
According to the World Health Organization, the median recovery time for mild cases of coronavirus is about two weeks. For critical or severe cases, it’s about three-to-six weeks.
As NBA observers continue to speculate that the current suspension could inspire the league to experiment with its schedule in 2020/21, Chris Mannix of SI.com explores the pros and cons of an NBA regular season that would run from December to June instead of October to April.
As Mannix notes, much of the resistance to such a format change over the years has stemmed from the belief that there simply aren’t as many television viewers in the summer months, which could negatively impact the NBA’s playoff ratings. However, Mannix points out that summer programming has never been particularly strong, which contributes to those low viewership numbers. In recent years, high-profile television programs ranging from HBO series to boxing matches have done well in July and August.
Several players told SI.com that they’d be open to a schedule that includes summer games if it results in a revenue increase for the league. With the current Collective Bargaining Agreement set to run through 2024, as Mannix writes, a revamped calendar could be something for the two sides to discuss for the next CBA.
Here are a few more items related to the coronavirus pandemic and the NBA’s hiatus:
- Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald takes his own look at possible NBA schedule changes, suggesting that waiting for the next set of full-fledged CBA negotiations may not even be necessary if both sides are on board with the idea of adjusting the calendar.
- In an interesting story for ESPN.com, Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon explore how the training staffs for NBA teams are trying to make sure their players stay active and in shape while facilities around the league are off-limits.
- East Tennessee State head coach Steve Forbes tweeted on Wednesday night that Maury Hanks is battling the coronavirus. As noted by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), among other reporters, Hanks is a longtime basketball coach and scout who currently works as a college scout for the Pistons.
- A camera operator who worked the Jazz/Pistons game in Detroit on March 7 is in a medically induced coma after being diagnosed with COVID-19, according to Vincent Goodwill and Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports. The man’s friends told Yahoo Sports that he first began feeling ill about a week after that game.