Hoops Rumors Originals

2019 Offseason In Review: Utah Jazz

October 26th, 2019 at 3:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2019 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2019/20 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Utah Jazz.

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Bojan Bogdanovic: Four years, $73.1MM. Signed using cap room.
- Ed Davis: Two years, $9.77MM. Signed using room exception.
- Jeff Green: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Emmanuel Mudiay: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Stanton Kidd: Three years, minimum salary. First year partially guaranteed ($250K). Second and third years non-guaranteed. Signed using cap room.
- William Howard: Three years, minimum salary. First year partially guaranteed ($50K). Second and third years non-guaranteed. Signed using cap room. (Waived)
Two-way contracts:
- Jarrell Brantley
- Justin Wright-Foreman
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Trevon Bluiett: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Kyle Collinsworth: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Isaac Haas: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Anthony Lawrence: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Juwan Morgan: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Mike Scott: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired the draft rights to Jarrell Brantley (No. 50 pick) from the Pacers in exchange for the Jazz’s 2021 second-round pick and cash ($1MM).
Acquired the draft rights to Miye Oni (No. 58 pick) from the Warriors in exchange for cash ($2MM).
Acquired Mike Conley from the Grizzlies in exchange for Jae Crowder, Kyle Korver, Grayson Allen, the draft rights to Darius Bazley (No. 23 pick), and the Jazz’s 2020 first-round pick (1-7 and 15-30 protected).
Acquired the Warriors’ 2021 second-round pick and the Warriors’ 2023 second-round pick from the Pelicans in exchange for Derrick Favors.

Draft picks:

2-50: Jarrell Brantley — Signed to two-way contract.
2-53: Justin Wright-Foreman — Signed to two-way contract.
2-58: Miye Oni — Signed to three-year, minimum-salary contract. Second and third years non-guaranteed. Signed using cap room.

Draft-and-stash signings:

Nigel Williams-Goss (2017 draft; No. 55 pick) — Signed to three-year, $4.8MM contract. Second and third years non-guaranteed. Signed using cap room.

Contract extensions:

Joe Ingles: One year, $12,436,364. Includes $1.2MM in incentives. Starts in 2021/22.

Departing players:

Grayson Allen
Tyler Cavanaugh (two-way)
Jae Crowder
Derrick Favors
Kyle Korver
Naz Mitrou-Long (two-way)
Raul Neto (waived)
Ricky Rubio
Thabo Sefolosha
Ekpe Udoh

Other offseason news:

Promoted Dennis Lindsey to VP of basketball operations; promoted Justin Zanik to general manager.
Agreed to long-term extension with head coach Quin Snyder.
Named Jim Olson as team president.
Lost assistant coaches Fotis Katsikaris, Antonio Lang; named Bryan Bailey assistant coach.
Exercised 2020/21 rookie scale team options on Donovan Mitchell, Tony Bradley.
Will host 2023 NBA All-Star Game.

Salary cap situation:

Used cap space; now over the cap.
Carrying approximately $116.29MM in salary.
No cap exceptions available.

Story of the summer:

For a third straight season, a top-five defense helped buoy the Jazz and their middle-of-the-pack offense to one of the best records in the Western Conference. However, Utah’s 15th-ranked offense looked even more pedestrian in the postseason than it did in the regular season, as the team fell to Houston in five games in the first round.

Of the 16 teams that made the playoffs last spring, only three – the Pistons, Magic, and Pacers – had postseason offensive ratings worse than Utah’s. With Donovan Mitchell struggling to score efficiently, the Jazz had few other play-makers to turn to as they tried to keep pace with James Harden and the Rockets.

It was a pressing issue that needed to be addressed for the franchise this offseason, and the Jazz did just that, pulling off a trade for point guard Mike Conley and signing sharpshooting forward Bojan Bogdanovic in free agency.

Neither Conley nor Bogdanovic has ever made an All-Star team, and neither is the type of volume scorer who will pour in 40 points on a given night (though each player has reached that mark once in his career). But they’re reliable veterans who can be counted on to make Utah’s offense a little more versatile, taking some of the shot-creating pressure off Mitchell and giving the team a couple more players who can share ball-handling duties.

As long as two-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert is patrolling the paint and protecting the rim, the Jazz can reasonably expect to be above average on that end of the court. The club’s offensive limitations have stood in the way of a deep playoff run in recent years, but with a pair of intriguing new weapons at their disposal, the Jazz are hoping that will change in 2019/20.

Key offseason losses:

A handful of rotation players from last year’s Jazz squad had to be traded in order to secure Conley and Bogdanovic, including Derrick Favors, who had been Utah’s longest-tenured player. Acquired in 2011’s Deron Williams blockbuster, Favors spent eight-and-a-half years with the organization, appearing in 576 regular season contests and another 31 playoff games during that time.

Favors was never quite an ideal fit besides Gobert due to floor-spacing issues, but the Jazz managed to mostly make it work for several years with Favors playing at the four alongside Gobert and spelling him at the five. It’s a testament to his value that the Jazz were able to move Favors’ $17.65MM expiring contract to open up cap space for Bogdanovic and managed to get a pair of second-round picks in return, rather than having to attach an asset to dump him.

Jae Crowder, Kyle Korver, and Grayson Allen were attached to a pair of draft picks in the deal to land Conley.

At age 38, Korver is an increasingly one-dimensional shooter and may not have been retained anyway at his $7.5MM salary, since it was only partially guaranteed. However, Crowder was a valuable – and inexpensive – part of Utah’s lineup due to his three-and-D abilities and would’ve had a role on this team if he hadn’t had to be included in that trade. As for Allen, he appeared in just 38 games as a rookie, but still has the potential to develop into a more reliable performer.

Besides Favors, the Jazz’s most noteworthy loss was probably Ricky Rubio, who wasn’t technically part of the Conley trade, but whose departure was all but assured when that agreement with Memphis was reached. The former No. 5 overall pick was Utah’s starting point guard for the last two seasons, and while his jump shot was still inconsistent, he has always been elite at setting up teammates on offense and has more than held his own on defense. Conley will be an upgrade, but Rubio was a solid starter.

Raul Neto and Ekpe Udoh were third-stringers at their respective positions, so the Jazz won’t badly miss either player. Thabo Sefolosha can still be a useful contributor at age 35, but some nagging injuries limited his effectiveness in 2018/19.

Key offseason additions:

We’ve already discussed Conley and Bogdanovic at length, but it’s worth reiterating what they can bring to this Jazz team.

Conley averaged a career-high 21.1 PPG last season for the Grizzlies, averaging 6.4 APG while turning the ball over just 1.9 times per game. Despite the fact that Memphis finished the season with a 33-49 record, the team had a +0.7 net rating when Conley was on the court. The 32-year-old is an underrated play-maker who could be just the backcourt partner that Mitchell needs to make a big third-year leap.

Bogdanovic, meanwhile, was overextended as the Pacers’ primary play-maker after Victor Oladipo went down last season. But just the fact that he was the next man up in that role was a positive sign for how much he has expanded his game in recent years. Once considered more of a catch-and-shoot specialist, Bogdanovic showed major improvements as a ball-handler in 2018/19, even as he posted a career-high .425 3PT%.

The Jazz had reportedly set their sights on Nikola Mirotic before the Spaniard decided to return to his home country to play for Barcelona, but Bogdanovic is a more dynamic, versatile player who will help Utah create shots and spread the floor without being a liability on defense.

With Favors and Udoh gone, the Jazz needed to address the backup center spot behind Gobert, and did so by signing Ed Davis using the room exception. A quality defender and rebounder, Davis may struggle against some of the game’s biggest centers, but Gobert should get the brunt of those assignments anyway.

Jeff Green signed in Utah on a minimum-salary deal to play a role similar to the one occupied by Crowder. He’ll contribute a little on offense and play a part in trying to lock up the top wing scorers on opposing teams.

Finally, Emmanuel Mudiay replaces Neto on the point guard depth chart, giving the Jazz more of a score-first ball-handler off the bench.

Outlook for 2019/20:

This year’s Jazz roster looks like the most talented group the franchise has had since Gordon Hayward‘s departure in 2017. In fact, this team’s ceiling is likely higher than that of the Hayward-led squads, particularly with the Western Conference race looking more wide open this season.

Gobert isn’t a typical NBA superstar, Mitchell isn’t at that level (yet, at least), and Conley isn’t that player either. Put all the pieces together though, and Utah has the potential to be an extremely tough out in the playoffs. While I don’t necessarily expect the Jazz to represent the West in the NBA Finals or even to make the Conference Finals, it certainly won’t be a shock if the club wins multiple postseason series.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Hoops Rumors Originals: 10/19/19 – 10/26/19

October 26th, 2019 at 2:21pm CST by Luke Adams

Every week, the Hoops Rumors writing team creates original content to complement our news feed. Here are our original segments and features from the past seven days:

Six of our writers made predictions for the 2019/20 NBA season, picking playoff teams, award winners, and Finals participants. The Clippers were the most popular title pick, with three of us picking them to win the 2020 championship.
Our Offseason in Review series continued with three more teams:
I explored how the “Rose Rule” will affect Pascal Siakam‘s potential earnings on his new four-year extension with the Raptors.
Nine players signed rookie scale extensions this year. I broke down those deals and dug into why we saw so many more preseason extensions in 2019 than we did in 2018 or 2017.
I identified the teams with the most and least roster continuity between the end of last season and the start of this one.
Here are the key dates and deadlines to keep an eye out for during the 2019/20 regular season.
I looked at which teams had roster spots open to start the regular season — some of those clubs have since filled those openings.
Here’s our recap of your over/under predictions for all 30 teams’ win totals in 2019/20.
In our lone Community Shootaround discussion this week, we explored the most viable Rookie of the Year candidates not named Zion Williamson.

Categories:
Hoops Rumors Originals

2019 Offseason In Review: Denver Nuggets

October 25th, 2019 at 2:54pm CST by Luke Adams

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- None
Two-way contracts:
- Bol Bol
- Tyler Cook (Waived)
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- PJ Dozier: One year, minimum salary (Converted to two-way contract).
- Jorge Gutierrez: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Elijah Millsap: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Tyler Zeller: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired the draft rights to Bol Bol (No. 44 pick) from the Heat in exchange for either the Nuggets’ or Sixers’ second-round pick (whichever is least favorable) and cash ($1.2MM).
Acquired Jerami Grant from the Thunder in exchange for the Nuggets’ 2020 first-round pick (top-10 protected)

Draft picks:

2-44: Bol Bol — Signed to two-way contract.

Draft-and-stash signings:

Vlatko Cancar (2017 draft; No. 49 pick) — Signed to three-year, minimum salary contract. Third year non-guaranteed. Signed using mid-level exception.

Contract extensions:

Jamal Murray: Five years, 25% maximum salary. Projected value of $168,200,000. Starting salary can be worth up to 30% of the cap if Murray earns All-NBA honors in 2020 (full details). Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2024/25.

Departing players:

Brandon Goodwin (two-way)
Trey Lyles
Tyler Lydon
Isaiah Thomas
Thomas Welsh (two-way; waived)

Other offseason news:

Retained Tim Connelly as president of basketball operations after Wizards pursued Connelly.
Exercised 2020/21 rookie scale team option on Michael Porter Jr.

Salary cap situation:

Remained over the cap.
Currently about $979K below the tax line.
Carrying approximately $131.65MM in guaranteed salary.
$4.82MM of taxpayer mid-level exception still available ($898K used on Vlatko Cancar).

Story of the summer:

After improbably finishing at the bottom of the Northwest in 2017/18 despite winning 46 games, the Nuggets were the division winners in 2018/19, earning the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed with a 54-28 record. The club then followed up its regular season performance by winning its first playoff series in a decade.

Nikola Jokic was the driving force behind Denver’s success, earning a spot on the All-NBA First Team, but it was the Nuggets’ depth that helped set them apart from many of the other contenders in the conference.

Ten players averaged 19 or more minutes per game for the Nuggets in 2018/19, and all 10 of those players remained under contract for ’19/20. While many of their Western rivals drastically transformed their rosters, continuity was key for the Nuggets, who retained a dozen players in total from last year’s end-of-season squad. As we detailed earlier this week, no team in the West brought back more players than Denver.

Continuity isn’t inherently a good thing. A front office won’t be praised for keeping together an aging roster that just won 35 games. But in Denver, the approach makes a lot of sense.

Jokic is still just 24 years old. Jamal Murray, the second option on offense, is 22. Gary Harris is 25. Rotation players like Malik Beasley, Monte Morris, and Torrey Craig are coming off breakthrough seasons and still have plenty of room to grow. And 21-year-old forward Michael Porter Jr., the 2018 lottery pick who missed his entire rookie season due to injuries, is now ready to contribute.

With so many promising young players still on the rise, the Nuggets can realistically count on improvements from within to keep them near the top of the standings in the West. And if they want to go out and make a splash, all those young prospects – and available future draft picks – give them the ammo to do so.

The Nuggets may not have made many changes to their roster this offseason, but they didn’t need to.

Key offseason losses:

The Nuggets let a pair of power forwards, Trey Lyles and Tyler Lydon, walk in free agency. It may be hard for fans in Denver to remember Lyles and Lydon as more than the two players the team received in exchange for the draft pick that became Donovan Mitchell in 2017, but Lyles at least looked like a quality rotation player in his first year in Denver in 2017/18.

In that season, Lyles averaged a career-best 9.9 PPG on .491/.381/.706 shooting as a stretch four off the bench. However, his efficiency declined significantly last season, as he made just 25.5% of his three-pointers and saw his minutes cut back. With Lyles struggling and Lydon still not proving he was capable of handling regular minutes, it made sense that the team moved on and looked elsewhere for reinforcements at power forward.

The Nuggets also lost Isaiah Thomas in the offseason after the veteran point guard was limited to just 12 games due to injury issues. Signing Thomas to a minimum-salary contract in the 2018 offseason was a worthwhile gamble, but Denver ultimately didn’t need him that much even when he got healthy, given the emergence of Morris. Re-signing him this summer never made sense.

Key offseason additions:

Sending Wilson Chandler to the Sixers in 2018 cost the Nuggets a second-round pick and a separate second-round pick swap at the time. A year later though, the traded player exception created in that deal paved the way for Denver to make a savvy deal with a division rival, acquiring Jerami Grant from the Thunder in exchange for a first-round pick.

Oklahoma City’s trades involving Paul George and Russell Westbrook overshadowed the Grant deal, for good reason, but the veteran forward was an ideal frontcourt addition for a Nuggets team that parted ways with Lyles and Lydon. Grant showed off an improved three-point shot in 2018/19, knocking down 39.2% of his attempts. He also has the defensive versatility to match up with wings on the perimeter while holding his own against big men down low.

Even with Lyles struggling last season, the Nuggets had some frontcourt players who could shoot from outside — Paul Millsap and Juan Hernangomez each made 36.5% of their three-point tries. But neither player let it fly as often as Grant, and neither player has the positional flexibility that Grant does. The ex-Thunder forward should make Denver an even more dangerous team.

The Nuggets’ other offseason additions all have question marks and may not contribute a whole lot right away. Bol Bol was once considered a potential lottery pick, but injuries dropped him to the second round, and he won’t even start the season on the Nuggets’ standard roster, having signed a two-way deal.

Vlatko Cancar, the team’s second-round pick in 2017, signed this summer after being stashed overseas for a couple years, but I expect him to see some time in the G League too.

Finally, Porter isn’t technically a new addition, but practically speaking, he’ll be another weapon that head coach Michael Malone didn’t have at his disposal a year ago. Like Bol, Porter was projected to be drafted higher before health questions impacted his stock, and like Bol, he has the potential to be an impact player if he avoids the injured list and puts it all together. It’ll be worth watching to see how often he ultimately becomes a fixture in the Nuggets’ crowded rotation.

Outlook for 2019/20:

The Nuggets didn’t make major headlines this offseason, but they enter the 2019/20 season with one of the deepest, most talented rosters in the NBA. They look like a lock for a postseason berth and a strong contender for one of the Western Conference’s top seeds — I had them at No. 1 in our preseason predictions.

While the Nuggets should have a huge regular season, this will be a pivotal year for evaluating their playoff ceiling. Beyond Jokic, Denver doesn’t have quite as much star power as their rival contenders in the West, so if Murray doesn’t show soon that he’s capable of developing into an All-Star caliber player, the team may have to start thinking seriously about how to acquire that sort of star in a trade.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Community Shootaround: Rookie Of The Year Candidates

October 25th, 2019 at 10:02am CST by Luke Adams

A month ago, we asked in a poll whether you’d take Zion Williamson or the field in the race for Rookie of the Year. At the time, professional oddsmakers had made the No. 1 overall pick the heavy favorite for the award, and an impressive preseason only strengthened his position as the frontrunner.

However, news that Williamson would miss six to eight weeks after undergoing meniscus surgery put a damper on the start of the NBA regular season and threw some cold water on Williamson’s Rookie of the Year bid. If he comes back strong in December and doesn’t miss more time the rest of the way, the former Duke standout could absolutely still win the award, but he’s no longer the overwhelming favorite he was a month ago.

With that in mind, we want to check in to see where you stand on the top contenders for this season’s Rookie of the Year award. Are you still riding with Williamson? Or are you betting on another top pick from the 2019 draft, such as Ja Morant (No. 2; Grizzlies) or RJ Barrett (No. 3; Knicks)?

Both Morant and Barrett had promising debuts on Wednesday night. The Grizzlies’ point guard scored 14 points to go along with four assists and four rebounds, though he turned the ball over six times. Barrett was more efficient, scoring 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting while adding five rebounds and a couple steals.

Neither of those players had the best night among rookies though. That honor belongs to Hornets forward PJ Washington, who announced his arrival to the NBA by pouring in 27 points and making 7-of-11 shots from three-point range. The No. 12 overall pick had a strong preseason and looked like an impact player in his debut, as Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer writes.

Morant, Barrett, and Washington are all on teams expected to finish comfortably in the lottery this season, so there’s no reason they shouldn’t play big minutes as long as they remain productive, making them prime candidates for Rookie of the Year consideration.

Bulls point guard Coby White (17 points, seven assists), Wizards forward Rui Hachimura (14 points, 10 rebounds), and Heat shooting guard Tyler Herro (14 points, eight rebounds) are among the other rookies who had promising debuts this week after receiving some preseason hype and should have regular roles. Darius Garland (Cavaliers) had a more modest opening game, with eight points and five assists, but the fact that he played 32 minutes was a good sign.

What do you think? Who is your current pick for Rookie of the Year? Are you rolling with Zion or another top pick like Morant or Barrett? Or do you have your eye on a dark horse?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in!

2019 Offseason In Review: Brooklyn Nets

October 24th, 2019 at 5:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Kevin Durant: Four years, maximum salary ($164.26MM). Fourth-year player option. Acquired via sign-and-trade.
- Kyrie Irving: Four years, $136.49MM. Fourth-year player option. Includes unlikely incentives. Signed using cap room.
- DeAndre Jordan: Four years, $39.96MM. Signed using cap room.
- Garrett Temple: Two years, $9.77MM. Second-year team option. Signed using room exception.
- David Nwaba: Two years, minimum salary. Second year non-guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Theo Pinson: Two years, minimum salary. Second-year team option. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Wilson Chandler: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
Two-way contracts:
- Henry Ellenson
- Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Deng Adel: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Devin Cannady: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- John Egbunu: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- C.J. Massinburg: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Lance Thomas: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- C.J. Williams: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired the Sixers’ 2020 first-round pick (top-14 protected) and the draft rights to Jaylen Hands (No. 56 pick) from the Clippers in exchange for the draft rights to Mfiondu Kabengele (No. 27 pick).
Acquired Taurean Prince and the Hawks’ 2021 second-round pick from the Hawks in exchange for Allen Crabbe, the draft rights to Nickeil Alexander-Walker (No. 17 pick), and the Nets’ 2020 first-round pick (top-14 protected).
Acquired the draft rights to Aaron White and the draft rights to Nemanja Dangubic in a three-team trade with the Spurs and Wizards in exchange for DeMarre Carroll (sign-and-trade; to Spurs).
Acquired Kevin Durant (sign-and-trade) and the Warriors’ 2020 first-round pick (top-20 protected) from the Warriors in exchange for D’Angelo Russell (sign-and-trade), Treveon Graham, and Shabazz Napier.

Draft picks:

2-31: Nicolas Claxton — Signed to three-year, minimum salary contract. Fully guaranteed. Signed using cap room.
2-56: Jaylen Hands — Signed G League contract.

Contract extensions:

Caris LeVert: Three years, $52.5MM. Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2022/23.
Taurean Prince: Two years, $25.3MM. Includes $3.7MM in incentives. Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2021/22.

Departing players:

DeMarre Carroll
Allen Crabbe
Ed Davis
Jared Dudley
Treveon Graham
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
Shabazz Napier
D’Angelo Russell
Alan Williams (two-way)

Other offseason news:

Kevin Durant expected to miss entire season due to Achilles tear.
Joseph Tsai finalized purchase of Nets from Mikhail Prokhorov.
CEO Brett Yormark stepped down; David Levy named new CEO.
Wilson Chandler suspended 25 games for failed PED test.
Rodions Kurucs arrested for alleged domestic incident.
Lost Trajan Langdon from front office; lost Gianluca Pascucci from front office.
Hired Jeff Peterson as assistant GM; hired Andy Birdsong as assistant GM; hired J.R. Holden as director of player personnel.
Lost assistant coach Chris Fleming to Bulls.
Named Tiago Splitter player development coach.
Hired Shaun Fein as head coach of G League affiliate (Long Island Nets).
Exercised 2020/21 rookie scale options on Jarrett Allen, Dzanan Musa.

Salary cap situation:

Used cap space; now over the cap.
Hard-capped.
Carrying approximately $126.08MM in guaranteed salary.
No exceptions available.

Story of the summer:

The fact that the Nets somehow weren’t the only team this summer that acquired two of the top 10 players on last season’s All-NBA rosters shouldn’t diminish what they were able to accomplish.

Sure, the Clippers may have “won” the offseason by signing Kawhi Leonard and trading for Paul George, but few clubs in NBA history have had a more successful free agent period than the 2019 Nets, who landed both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.

While the Nets may never match up with the Knicks in terms of their arena, brand, and history, they’ve clearly surpassed their New York rivals on the court and in the front office in recent years. It had to feel good for Brooklyn to secure commitments from two superstars with NBA championships on their résumés at the same time the Knicks were sending out a statement acknowledging their fans’ disappointment and insisting they were still upbeat about their rebuilding plans.

Once the free agency celebration died down and the hangover wore off, a clear-eyed look at the Nets’ roster did leave us with some questions.

With Irving replacing All-Star guard D’Angelo Russell and Durant not expected to play in 2019/20, how much better can the Nets actually be this season? Would bringing in DeAndre Jordan along with his two friends Irving and Durant interfere with the development of up-and-coming big man Jarrett Allen? And even when Durant is recovered from his torn Achilles and ready to return, will he ever be the same player he was before the injury?

As we mulled over those questions, the Nets’ offseason took a turn for the worse, as newly-signed forward Wilson Chandler was suspended for 25 games for violating the NBA’s PED policy and second-year forward Rodions Kurucs faced accusations of domestic violence.

Those developments put a bit of a damper on what should have been a victory lap for the Nets, and Durant’s absence means the team likely won’t to get to fully reap the rewards of its free agency success until the 2020/21 season.

Still, the franchise deserves kudos for the way it has reshaped its roster. After all, it feels like just yesterday that the 2015/16 Nets completed a 21-61 season with no promising young prospects on the roster and no lottery draft picks on the horizon due to that infamously lopsided trade with the Celtics.

Brooklyn still hasn’t drafted a player in the lottery since then, but general manager Sean Marks and company put together a core – and built a culture – that two of the NBA’s top players wanted to be a part of. It should be a long time before the franchise endures another 21-61 season.

Key offseason losses:

When it became clear that Irving and Durant were heading to Brooklyn, the Nets essentially had no choice but to move on from Russell, who would have been impossible to retain in restricted free agency. It had to be a bittersweet turn of events for the Nets, who acquired Russell as a distressed asset in 2017 and saw him evolve into one of the Eastern Conference’s best point guards.

The 2018/19 season was Russell’s best as a scorer (21.1 PPG), shooter (.369 3PT%), and play-maker (7.0 APG), though he had trouble scoring efficiently in the playoffs when he faced increased defensive pressure. Irving, one of the league’s best shot creators, will be an upgrade in that area.

None of the other players the Nets lost in the offseason were stars, but DeMarre Carroll, Ed Davis, Jared Dudley, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson were all rotation pieces. So were Allen Crabbe, Shabazz Napier, and Treveon Graham, when they were healthy.

It’ll be interesting to see how all that turnover among the Nets’ supporting players affects the team’s win-loss record in 2019/20. Only a handful of teams had less roster continuity from the end of last season to the start of this season than Brooklyn, and players like Carroll, Davis, Dudley were the kind of hard-nosed veteran glue guys who thrive in complementary roles, even if their numbers don’t jump off the page.

The Nets will also have plenty of outside shooting to replace as a result of their offseason departures. Russell led the team in three-pointers per game, while Crabbe, Carroll, Napier, Graham, and Dudley all ranked in the top nine in that category.

Key offseason additions:

If he were healthy, Durant wouldn’t have just been the Nets’ most important offseason acquisition — he would’ve been up there with Leonard and Anthony Davis as the most impactful additions made by any team this summer. Due to his injury situation though, Durant will essentially become a 2020 offseason addition for the Nets unless his rehab process moves much quicker than anticipated.

That leaves Irving as Brooklyn’s top offseason signing, and he’s certainly worthy of that title. Things went south in Boston for Irving last season due to chemistry issues, but his first year with the Celtics was a success and he’ll likely be on his best behavior in Brooklyn to shake the problematic reputation he earned last year.

All that off-court drama in Boston overshadowed just how good Kyrie can be on the court — he averaged 23.8 PPG on .487/.401/.873 shooting in 67 games last season, with new career highs in APG (6.9) and RPG (5.0). His 50-point outburst in his first regular-season game as a Net showed he’s ready to pick up right where he left off.

Irving and Durant are joined by Jordan, whom the Knicks carried through the end of the season in 2018/19 in the hopes that he’d help recruit his friends to New York — that plan technically worked, albeit not how the Knicks envisioned.

A four-year, $40MM investment in the veteran center is a little scary if the Nets get the version of Jordan we saw in Dallas and New York last season. If he’s rejuvenated by playing in Brooklyn, Jordan probably still has a few effective years as an above-average rebounder and rim protector left in him, but there’s a risk that contract could become a negative asset before it’s over.

The Nets used their room exception to bring aboard Garrett Temple, who has been a solid three-and-D contributor in recent years. He’ll likely play some of the minutes that guys like Carroll, Crabbe, and Dudley got last season.

Other candidates for those minutes includes Taurean Prince, a reliable three-point shooter who signed a contract extension with the Nets before his first regular season game with the team, and Chandler, once he returns from his 25-game suspension. Brooklyn will be eligible to add a 16th man after for 20 games during that ban, as Chandler can be moved off the active roster after five games.

David Nwaba, Theo Pinson, and Nicolas Claxton round out the Nets’ notable offseason additions, though I don’t expect Pinson or Claxton to see regular minutes.

Outlook for 2019/20:

While it’s disappointing that we likely won’t see Durant suit up for the Nets until the 2020/21 season, it also lowers the stakes for the team in 2019/20 to some extent. If Brooklyn falls short of expectations this season, the team can rest assured that things will get better once it can add one of the best basketball players in the world to its lineup.

Still, no one in Brooklyn wants to see a worst-case scenario play out this season — especially since post-Achilles-tear KD may not be the cure-all that Warriors-era KD would have been.

After winning 42 games and earning a playoff spot in 2018/19, the Nets will count on increasing that number and returning to the postseason next spring, positioning themselves to ascend to bona fide contending status once Durant gets healthy.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Key In-Season NBA Dates, Deadlines For 2019/20

October 24th, 2019 at 11:02am CST by Luke Adams

With the 2019/20 NBA season underway, our calendar of important 2019 preseason dates and deadlines can be retired in favor of a list of the key in-season dates for the ’18/19 campaign. Here’s a breakdown of the deadlines and events that will influence player movement for the next several months across the NBA:

October 26

NBA G League draft.

October 28

NBA G League training camps open.

October 31

Deadline for teams to exercise rookie scale options for 2020/21.

November 8

NBA G League season begins.

December 1

Priority order for waiver claims is now based on 2019/20 record, rather than 2018/19 record. Teams with the worst records receive the highest waiver priority.

December 15

Most offseason signees become eligible for inclusion in trades.

January 5

First day teams can sign players to 10-day contracts.

January 7

Last day to waive non-guaranteed NBA contracts before they become guaranteed for the rest of the season. Salaries officially guarantee on January 10 if players haven’t cleared waivers before that date.

January 15

Most other offseason signees become eligible for inclusion in trades.
Last day to apply for a disabled player exception.
Last day to sign a two-way contract.

January 20

Salaries for all two-way contracts become fully guaranteed.

February 1

Former first-round picks who were stashed overseas may sign rookie scale NBA contracts for the 2020/21 season.

February 6

Trade deadline (2:00pm CT).

February 14-16

All-Star Weekend in Chicago.

February 29

Last day for contract renegotiations.

March 1

Last day a player can be waived by one team and remain eligible to appear in the postseason for another team.
Last day for a restricted free agent to sign an offer sheet.

March 10

Last day to use a disabled player exception.

March 28

NBA G League regular season ends.

April 15

Last day of the regular season.
Last day players can sign contracts for 2019/20.
Last day two-way contracts can be converted to standard NBA contracts.
Luxury tax penalties calculated based on payroll as of this day.

April 17

Playoff rosters set (2:00pm CT).

April 18

Playoffs begin.

Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and NBA.com were used in the creation of this post.

Categories:
Hoops Rumors Originals

2019 Offseason In Review: Indiana Pacers

October 23rd, 2019 at 5:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Malcolm Brogdon: Four years, $85MM. Acquired via sign-and-trade using cap room.
- Jeremy Lamb: Three years, $31.5MM. Signed using cap room.
- T.J. McConnell: Two years, $7MM. Second year partially guaranteed ($1MM). Signed using cap room.
- Edmond Sumner: Three years, $6.48MM. Third-year team option. Re-signed using Early Bird rights.
- Justin Holiday: One year, $4.77MM. Signed using room exception.
- JaKarr Sampson: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
Two-way contracts:
- Brian Bowen
- Naz Mitrou-Long
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Amida Brimah: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Jakeenan Gant: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Stephan Hicks: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Walt Lemon Jr.: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- C.J. Wilcox: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired the Jazz’s 2021 second-round pick and cash ($1MM) from the Jazz in exchange for the draft rights to Jarrell Brantley (No. 50 pick).
Acqu ired T.J. Warren, the Heat’s 2022 second-round pick, the Heat’s 2025 second-round pick, and the Heat’s 2026 second-round pick in a three-team trade with the Heat and Suns in exchange for cash ($1.1MM; to Suns).
Acquired Malcolm Brogdon (sign-and-trade) from the Bucks in exchange for the Pacers’ 2020 first-round pick (top-14 protected), the Pacers’ 2021 second-round pick, and the Pacers’ 2025 second-round pick.
- Note: The Pacers’ 2021 second-round pick will convey one year after the Pacers’ 2020 second-round pick (traded to Nets; 45-60 protected through 2022; unprotected in 2023) conveys.

Draft picks:

1-18: Goga Bitadze — Signed to rookie contract.

Contract extensions:

Domantas Sabonis: Four years, $74.9MM. Includes $10.4MM in incentives. Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2023/24.

Departing players:

Bojan Bogdanovic
Darren Collison (retired)
Tyreke Evans (dismissed, disqualified from NBA)
Cory Joseph
Wesley Matthews
Kyle O’Quinn
Davon Reed (two-way)
Thaddeus Young

Other offseason news:

Reached 25-year deal to remain in Indianapolis.
Victor Oladipo continues to rehab torn quad tendon; out to start season.
Exercised 2020/21 options on Aaron Holiday, T.J. Leaf.

Salary cap situation:

Used cap space; now over the cap.
Hard-capped.
Carrying approximately $114.59MM in guaranteed salary.
No exceptions available.

Story of the summer:

The Pacers entered the offseason at an interesting crossroads. While franchise cornerstones like Victor Oladipo, Myles Turner, and Domantas Sabonis remained under contract, most of the rest of the team’s rotation headed to free agency this summer. Of the seven players who played the most minutes for Indiana in 2018/19, five were unrestricted free agents.

Re-signing most of those players would’ve been the safe move. After all, the Pacers were comfortably a top-five team in the East last season, and their ceiling could get even higher once Oladipo gets healthy, as Turner and Sabonis continue to improve.

Instead though, not one of those five key free agents returned to the Pacers on a new deal. In some cases, there was good reason for that — Darren Collison announced his retirement, while Tyreke Evans was dismissed and disqualified from the NBA for at least two years as a result of a drug violation. But it was still a little surprising to see so much turnover in Indiana.

The Pacers did well to fill out their roster around their top players through a series of free agent signings and trades, but there’s still a degree of uncertainty surrounding the franchise heading into the 2019/20 season.

Can Malcolm Brogdon carry the ball-handling load with Oladipo out? Will a starting frontcourt duo of Turner and Sabonis have its ups and downs? And just when will Oladipo be ready to return?

This is a well-coached team that still has plenty of talent on its roster, but with so many reliable veterans no longer in the mix, there will be a lot riding on the players the Pacers brought in to replace them.

Key offseason losses:

While neither player was a star, Collison and Cory Joseph had performed admirably handling point guard duties for the Pacers for the past two seasons. Collison, the starter, knocked down 43.9% of his three-point attempts in his two years as a Pacer, and distributed the ball well, averaging a career-high 6.0 assists per game in 2018/19. Those numbers made it all the more surprising that he decided to call it a career in June at the age of 31.

Joseph, meanwhile, was one of the only NBA players to appear in all 82 games in each of the last two seasons, and has been one of the league’s most reliable backup point guards during that stretch, particularly on the defensive end. His play earned him a three-year, $37MM+ deal from the Kings which Indiana was presumably unwilling to match.

The Pacers’ frontcourt losses were perhaps even more impactful, as Bojan Bogdanovic and Thaddeus Young both departed in free agency, securing nice paydays in Utah and Chicago respectively. Bogdanovic was perhaps overextended down the stretch and in the postseason as Indiana’s go-to play-maker with Oladipo out, but he still enjoyed a career year, establishing new career highs in PPG (18.0), FG% (.497), and 3PT% (.425), among other categories.

As for Young, he had been a nice fit as the Pacers’ starting power forward over the last three years. His offensive numbers were modest (11.8 PPG on .513/.346/.597 shooting), but his versatility and toughness were a major asset on defense — he had the athleticism to guard scorers on the perimeter and the length to challenge them inside as well.

Evans was inconsistent during his lone season as a Pacer, though he was one of the club’s few players capable of creating his own shot on offense. Indiana may miss Wesley Matthews more — he provided the team with some much-needed floor spacing after Oladipo went down.

Key offseason additions:

The Pacers made a splash early in free agency this year, agreeing to a sign-and-trade deal with the division-rival Bucks for Brogdon. Besides costing Indiana a lottery-protected first-round pick and a pair of future second-rounders, Brogdon also represents the biggest free agent expenditure in team history, on a four-year, $85MM deal.

At times last season, Brogdon looked like the second-best player on a 60-win team, so it’s no surprise that he did well on the open market. The two big questions facing him this season will be whether he can stay healthy (he has a history of foot problems) and whether he can maintain anything close to his .505/.426/.928 shooting line as his usage rate increases.

The Pacers’ trade for T.J. Warren was one of the most widely praised deals of the summer. Considering the team also secured three second-round picks in addition to Warren in exchange for just $1.1MM in cash, that move has to be considered a big win even if the veteran forward is a disappointment in Indiana. His offensive numbers for Phoenix were certainly promising, but scoring empty points for a lottery team is different than playing a key role on a playoff contender. Indiana will want to see improvements from him on the defensive end of the court.

Jeremy Lamb and Justin Holiday will also join the Pacers on the wing, having signed as free agents. Lamb, who was Charlotte’s second-leading scorer last season with a 15.3 PPG, was a nice pickup, though Holiday’s one-year, $4.77MM deal makes him the more low-risk addition of the two. Indiana will want to see Holiday improve upon the .378 FG% he posted over the last two years in Chicago and Memphis.

Finally, one of the Pacers’ most interesting additions of the offseason came on draft night, when the club used its first-round pick to nab big man Goga Bitadze. His skill set seemingly overlaps with Sabonis’ and Turner’s, which immediately led to trade speculation, but the Pacers have said they simply targeted the best player available. Plus, if Sabonis and Turner are both starting, Bitadze makes sense as a depth piece. If he develops quickly and proves he deserves regular minutes, it will be interesting to see how the Pacers handle their potential frontcourt logjam.

Outlook for 2019/20:

While they flew under the radar to some extent during a wild 2019 offseason, the Pacers underwent some significant roster changes and have an interesting season ahead of them. It’s not out of the question that Indiana finishes as high as No. 3 in the Eastern Conference. It also wouldn’t be a total shock if the club misses the postseason altogether.

Oladipo’s recovery timetable – and how he looks upon returning – will go a long way toward determining where the Pacers finish in 2019/20, but even without the former All-NBA guard in the lineup, this team should have enough talent to hang onto a playoff seed. The safe bet is that Indiana ultimately lands somewhere in the 5-7 range in the East.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Hoops Rumors’ 2019 NBA Free Agent Tracker

October 23rd, 2019 at 2:36pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s 2019 offseason is now in the books, with the regular season getting underway on Tuesday night. In case you didn’t keep up with this summer’s signings, Hoops Rumors is here to help you keep track of which players are on which teams this fall.

To this end, we present our Free Agent Tracker, a feature we’ve had each year since our inception in 2012. Using our tracker, you can quickly look up deals, sorting by team, position, free agent type, and a handful of other variables.

Now that the regular season is underway, our tracker will no longer be updated with the latest signings, since it’s meant to provide a snapshot of the offseason.

Our 2019 Free Agent Tracker can be found anytime on the right sidebar of our desktop site under “Hoops Rumors Features,” and it’s also under the “Tools” menu atop the site. On our mobile site, it can be found in our menu under “Free Agent Lists.” If you have any corrections, please let us know right here.

The tracker includes every team’s non-guaranteed contract agreements for the offseason, so a number of the players listed have since been waived. When viewing the tracker, you can eliminate non-guaranteed deals by using the filter option to turn off “summer contracts,” though a small handful of players who signed summer contracts did eventually made regular season rosters.

Our list of current free agents identifies the players who have yet to reach contract agreements.

Note: If you’re viewing the tracker on our mobile site, be sure to turn your phone sideways to see more details.

Categories:
Hoops Rumors Originals

NBA Teams With Open Roster Spots To Start Season

October 23rd, 2019 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

As of Monday’s roster cutdown deadline, no NBA team is carrying more than 17 players in total — 15 on standard contracts and two on two-way deals. However, not every team is making use of all 17 roster spots available to them.

Currently, a third of the league’s 30 teams have at least one open roster spot, either on their regular roster or in their two-way slots.

For most clubs, that decision is financially motivated — teams like the Magic and Nuggets are getting dangerously close to the tax line and prefer to avoid moving even closer by paying an extra player or two. The Thunder and Trail Blazers are already over the tax and won’t want to push their projected bills higher.

For teams like the Heat and Warriors, the decision not to carry a 15th man is dictated by the hard cap — neither club currently has sufficient room under the hard cap for more than 14 players.

Teams’ reasoning for retaining an open two-way spot is less clear. Those players earn very modest salaries and don’t count against the cap, so finances shouldn’t be a factor. Perhaps the teams with two-way openings are still considering their options before G League training camps begin next week, recognizing that any two-way player they sign now is unlikely to actually play for the NBA team this week.

Listed below, with the help of our roster counts breakdown, are the teams that aren’t carrying full rosters.

Teams with an open 15-man roster spot:

Atlanta Hawks
Cleveland Cavaliers
Denver Nuggets
Golden State Warriors
Miami Heat
Oklahoma City Thunder
Orlando Magic
- Note: The Magic have two open roster spots, giving them two weeks to get to the required minimum of 14 players.
Portland Trail Blazers

Teams with an open two-way slot:

Brooklyn Nets
Phoenix Suns

2019 NBA Rookie Scale Extension Recap

October 22nd, 2019 at 3:03pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s annual deadline for rookie scale contract extensions passed on Monday, with a flurry of deals completed just before time ran out. In total, nine players eligible for rookie scale extensions signed new contracts, which represented a significant increase over the last two years and put 2019 more in line with some earlier extension periods.

From 2012 to 2016, for instance, a total of 38 players signed rookie scale extensions before the October deadline, an average of nearly eight per year. By comparison, only four players signed early deals in 2017 and five did so in 2018. This year was the first time since 2014 that as many as nine rookie scale extensions had been signed in a single year.

Here’s a breakdown of the nine rookie scale extensions signed before this year’s deadline, sorted by total value. In cases where we haven’t yet seen the official contract terms for the extension, we’re basing our figures on the latest reports. These deals will go into effect beginning in 2020/21:

Ben Simmons (Sixers): Five years, 25% maximum salary (story). Projected value of $168.2MM. Starting salary can be worth up to 30% of the cap if Simmons earns All-NBA honors in 2020 (full details). Includes 15% trade kicker.
Jamal Murray (Nuggets): Five years, 25% maximum salary (story). Projected value of $168.2MM. Starting salary can be worth up to 30% of the cap if Murray earns All-NBA honors in 2020 (full details).
Pascal Siakam (Raptors): Four years, 25% maximum salary (story). Projected value of $129.92MM. Starting salary can be worth between 28-30% of the cap if Siakam earns All-NBA or MVP honors in 2020 (full details).
Jaylen Brown (Celtics): Four years, $103MM (story). Includes $12MM in incentives.
Buddy Hield (Kings): Four years, $86MM (story). Includes $20MM in incentives.
Domantas Sabonis (Pacers): Four years, $74.9MM (story). Includes $10.4MM in incentives.
Dejounte Murray (Spurs): Four years, $64MM (story). Includes $6MM in incentives.
Caris LeVert (Nets): Three years, $52.5MM (story).
Taurean Prince (Nets): Two years, $25.3MM (story). Includes $3.7MM in incentives.

There are a couple factors that could go a long way toward explaining the jump in rookie scale extensions in 2019.

One of those factors, as John Hollinger of The Athletic explains, is a weak 2020 free agent class. This seems counter-intuitive, since not signing a rookie scale extension now would have positioned some of the players listed above to be among the very best players in next year’s class. There’s just one problem with that plan though — hardly any teams will have the cap room available to bid on them.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks observed over the weekend (via Twitter), there are only four teams that currently project to have the cap room necessary to sign a restricted free agent to a big offer sheet next summer. Those four clubs are the Hawks, Hornets, Cavaliers, Grizzlies, all of whom are expected to be among the league’s worst teams in 2019/20.

If a few players who signed extensions had waited for next summer, it’s possible they could have secured a more lucrative offer sheet from one of those teams. But there wouldn’t have been enough money to go around for all of them to land big paydays, especially if some of those rebuilding clubs use cap room to take on contracts in trades. Plus, even if those teams retained their cap room, there’s no guarantee they’d even appeal to 2020’s potential RFAs.

The second factor for the rookie scale extension rush is related to China. Multiple reporters, including Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link), have pointed out that players and agents are a little concerned about how the NBA’s ongoing standoff with its Chinese partners will impact the salary cap in 2020 and beyond.

Before the NBA’s issues in China began, the league projected a $116MM cap for 2020/21. If that number dips before next June, it would further limit teams’ abilities to spend. Additionally, the difference between, say, Jaylen Brown‘s new $103MM+ extension with the Celtics and a maximum-salary offer sheet in free agency wouldn’t be in substantial as current projections suggest.

While nine players signed rookie scale extensions, that leaves 11 players who were eligible for a new deal and didn’t get one. Here’s the list of those players, who are now eligible to become restricted free agents during the 2020 offseason, assuming they finish their current contracts:

Malik Beasley (Nuggets)
DeAndre’ Bembry (Hawks)
Kris Dunn (Bulls)
Juan Hernangomez (Nuggets)
Brandon Ingram (Pelicans)
Damian Jones (Hawks)
Skal Labissiere (Trail Blazers)
Thon Maker (Pistons)
Jakob Poeltl (Spurs)
Dario Saric (Suns)
Denzel Valentine (Bulls)

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Categories:
Hoops Rumors Originals

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