Pistons Rumors

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 3/10/17

Here are Friday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

  • Having signed him to a 10-day contract, the Mavericks have now recalled Manny Harris from their D-League affiliate, tweets Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com. Harris, assigned to the Texas Legends for one more game after signing with the Mavs on Thursday, put up 31 points last month in a loss to Northern Arizona.
  • The Pistons have sent Henry Ellenson and Michael Gbinije back to their D-League affiliate for the weekend, tweets Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. The Grand Rapids Drive will play games in Erie tonight and tomorrow.
  • Rookie guard Malik Beasley is headed to the Sioux Falls Skyforce on an assignment, the Nuggets announced today in a press release. Denver doesn’t have its own D-League squad yet, so this is Beasley’s fifth assignment to Miami’s affiliate.
  • The Lakers have assigned Ivica Zubac to the D-League for tonight’s game against Reno, per Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News (Twitter link). Zubac has had a more regular role for the Lakers over the last month, and will get a chance to suit up for the D-Fenders today with the NBA club not in action until Sunday.
  • The Knicks have assigned Maurice Ndour to Westchester, the team announced today (via Twitter). The rookie forward has averaged 14.3 PPG and 6.7 RPG in 12 D-League games this season.
  • The Grizzlies have assigned Deyonta Davis to the Iowa Energy, the team announced in a press release. The No. 31 overall pick in the 2016 draft, Davis has been used sparingly in David Fizdale’s rotation; accumulating four DNP’s over Memphis’ last seven games. Davis has averaged 8.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks over five games with the Energy in 2016/17.

Early Decision Dates For 2017/18 Player Options

By default, NBA players who hold player options for the following season generally don’t have to make an official decision on those options until June 29, just two days before the new league year gets underway. However, that date can be altered on a contract-by-contract basis, which is why many of the 25 players who have player options or early termination options for 2017/18 will be making their decisions prior to June 29 this year.

Several of those player option decisions are due either on a specific date or a certain number of days following a team’s final regular season game. For instance, Rudy Gay‘s player option calls for him to make a decision either on June 10, or five days after the Kings’ last game — whichever comes later. Kyle Lowry, meanwhile, has to make a decision on his player option by June 19, or within seven days of the Raptors’ last game — whichever comes earlier.

Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders has done an excellent job keeping tabs on these early player option decision dates, so we’ll use his data to break down the schedule of upcoming decision dates. If a player who holds a 2017/18 player option isn’t listed here, that means his decision is due on June 29, or his decision date hasn’t been reported.

Here’s the list of early decision dates for 2017/18 player options:

Potentially dependent on when team’s season ends:

  • June 10 (or five days after team’s last game): Rudy Gay (Kings)
  • June 19 (or seven days after team’s last game): Kyle Lowry (Raptors)
  • June 20 (or two days after team’s last game): Aron Baynes (Pistons), C.J. Miles (Pacers)

The rest:

For details on how much these player options are worth, check out our list of 2017 free agents by position or by team.

SVG Explains Why Pistons Kept Baynes At Deadline

Aron Baynes looked like a logical trade candidate for the Pistons prior to last month’s deadline, since he’ll likely become a free agent this summer and Detroit may not be able to re-sign him. However, as Aaron McMann of MLive.com writes, Stan Van Gundy preferred to roll the dice on retaining Baynes rather than accept a low-ball offer on the trade market.

Van Gundy Shakes Up Point Guard Minutes

  • He didn’t demote Reggie Jackson to the bench but Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy did tweak the minute distribution at the point guard position, MLive’s Aaron McMann reports. “The only thing we told [Jackson] was, he was going to go in shorter bursts and really pace himself,” Van Gundy said. “Push himself defensively and try and get the pace of the game up on offense. That’s all we talked about.”

Analytic Deep Dive Says Harris Is Pistons' Best Scorer

  • The Pistons made the wrong choice when deciding to shake up their starting lineup, Stephen Shea of Basketball Analytics Book writes. A deep dive on Tobias Harris reveals that he is Detroit’s most efficient scorer and that the team performs better when he’s on the floor.

Ish Smith May Replace Reggie Jackson In Starting Lineup

Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy is contemplating starting Ish Smith over Reggie Jackson, according to a report from Rod Beard of The Detroit News. Van Gundy has showed concern of his starting unit’s lack of energy and production, Beard reports, and has not been pleased with Jackson and Andre Drummond‘s defensive efforts.

“Those are the two guys [Jackson and Drummond]. The energy has got to go up,” Van Gundy said. “Andre picked up his energy the other night but that’s got to be on a consistent basis, and we need more energy out of Reggie.”

It’s been a slog for Jackson of late, averaging nine points on 32.6% shooting over his last four games. The 26-year-old still has plenty of upside, but has regressed in PPG, rebounds, assists, and field goal percentage from 2015/16. Jackson was mentioned in rumors throughout the trade deadline, but stayed put due to Detroit’s high asking price, as well as his lengthy contract (Jackson is in the second season of a five-year, $80MM deal).

The Pistons enter a vital stretch of their season with just a one game lead over the eighth seed. Though Smith’s recent play has hardly been stellar- shooting 33.3% over his last five games- Van Gundy may give him the starting role in Saturday’s match-up with Philadelphia.

“We’ve got to get better energy off the start of the games,” Van Gundy said. “The last Philadelphia game was one of our better starts in each half. That’s got to get going — that’s not just him (Jackson). Anything’s possible right now, but we’ve got to get playing better and we’ve got to get our first unit playing more consistently and playing better.”

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 3/3/17

Here are the D-League transactions for Friday:

  • The Pelicans have assigned forward Cheick Diallo to the D-League, the team reports in a press release on its website. Diallo has averaged 13.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in 18 contests with the Greensboro Swarm.
  • The Pistons have recalled rookies Henry Ellenson and Michael Gbinije from their D-League affiliate, Rod Beard of the Detroit News. Ellenson and Gbinije have seen action in 14 and nine games for the Pistons respectively.
  • The Wizards have assigned center Chris McCullough to the D-League, writes Chase Hughes of CSN Mid-Atlantic. McCullough has averaged 18.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game in 31 D-League contests this season. Having previously played for the Long Island Nets, McCullough is expected to join the Northern Arizona Suns on this assignment, says Hughes.

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 3/1/17

Here are Wednesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

  • Pistons rookies Henry Ellenson and Michael Gbinije are headed back to the D-League, tweets Rod Beard of The Detroit News. Both players should have the opportunity to play significant minutes tonight for the Grand Rapids Drive, Detroit’s NBADL affiliate.
  • The Kings sent rookie big man Georgios Papagiannis to the D-League today, per Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link). Playing for the Reno Bighorns this afternoon, Papagiannis chipped in 19 points and four rebounds in a loss to Windy City.
  • The Jazz have recalled rookie forward Joel Bolomboy from the Salt Lake City Stars, according to a press release issued by the team. Although he has barely seen any action for Utah this season, Bolomboy has been a double-double machine in the D-League, averaging 16.1 PPG and 13.3 RPG in 20 games.

Pistons Unlikely To Sign Brandon Jennings

  • The Pistons don’t appear to be interested in a reunion with Brandon Jennings, Rod Beards of The Detroit News relays. “With Ish here, I don’t think [Jennings] would be a fit. From Brandon’s standpoint, my guess is he wants to go somewhere he can play,” Van Gundy said. “In a contract year, especially, he needs to get playing time and get seen. I hope it works for him. I really like him and he’s able to land something good this summer.”

    [SOURCE LINK]

Pistons Show Faith In Roster; McCallum Returns To Grand Rapids

Rumors swirled around Pistons players as the NBA’s trade deadline approached but as Thursday came and went, the Detroit roster went unchanged. Stan Van Gundy spoke with Aaron McMann of MLive about the club’s lack of activity.

Look, we’re not real happy with how we’ve played up to this point overall, but we still do have a young group,” Van Gundy said of the now 28-31 Pistons.. “And as much as you would like the progress to be steadily up hill, it’s not always. That doesn’t mean that you lose faith in your guys.”

The Pistons have struggled since starting guard Reggie Jackson returned to the lineup in early December, previously he had been recovering from a knee procedure and Ish Smith had stepped in to man the point. Over the course of the past month, Jackson’s name has been linked to the Timberwolves in a possible two- or three- team trade, potentially involving the Knicks.

  • After a pair of 10-day contracts with the Hornets, former Pistons guard Ray McCallum – one of the last cut by the Pistons during training camp – is back in the D-League with Detroit’s affiliate in Grand Rapids. The point guard is averaging 17.8 points and 7.5 assists per game with the Drive so far this season.