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:
With training camps opening up, we will soon find out if the offseason moves have turned last season’s also-rans into playoff contenders.
In the Western Conference, it’s safe to assume the Lakers are firmly in the postseason picture — and a serious championship contender — with Anthony Davis joining forces with LeBron James. It’s also easy to deduce that the subtractions of Russell Westbrook and Paul George will drop Oklahoma City out of the playoff chase.
Are there any Western Conference teams that missed last season’s playoffs who have improved enough to reach the postseason?
The Kings, who finished with the ninth-best record in the West, are intriguing. They have a good young core led by De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley III. They re-signed Harrison Barnes and added another solid veteran forward in Trevor Ariza.
The Timberwolves have one of the league’s best big men in Karl-Anthony Towns and the Jimmy Butler drama from early last season is a fading memory. If coach Ryan Saunders can get more out of Andrew Wiggins, and if lottery pick Jarrett Culver can make an immediate impact, they could improve.
The Grizzlies probably need a couple more years but have two building blocks in high lottery picks Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr.
The Pelicans are a lot closer than the Grizzlies after winning the lottery and drafting the most highly-touted prospect in years, Zion Williamson. They no longer have AD but they acquired three rotation pieces in Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart. They also added proven veterans in Derrick Favors and J.J. Redick and still have Jrue Holiday.
The Mavericks had to wait half a season to see what Kristaps Porzingis and Luka Doncic could do together. After sitting out last season, Porzingis is ready for a fresh start in Dallas.
The Suns won only 19 games but now they’ve got a respected floor leader in Ricky Rubio to elevate the play of their stars, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton.
That brings us to our question of the day: Other than the Lakers, which Western Conference team that missed the playoffs last season has the best chance to reach the postseason?
Please take to the comments section to voice your opinion. We look forward to what you have to say.
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 Chicago Bulls.
The Bulls have been in rebuilding mode since trading Jimmy Butler to Minnesota during the 2017 offseason. Chicago won 27 games in 2017/18 and just 22 games last season, reflecting both the team’s ongoing youth movement and a struggle to keep its roster healthy.
While the Bulls aren’t yet ready to go head-to-head with the Eastern Conference’s heavyweights, they entered the 2019 offseason looking to take real steps toward contention. After all, Otto Porter is entering his seventh NBA season, Zach LaVine is entering his sixth season, and Lauri Markkanen will be in his third year. With several of their cornerstone pieces in or nearing their respective primes, the Bulls believe it’s time to win a few more games.
That goal was evident based on Chicago’s approach to free agency. After using the No. 7 overall pick to select point guard Coby White, the team wasn’t content to hand him the keys to the offense, going out and acquiring veteran point guard Tomas Satoransky in a sign-and-trade with the Wizards to add some stability to the backcourt.
The Bulls took a similar approach up front. With veteran center Robin Lopez departing in free agency, the franchise could’ve leaned on its frontcourt duo of Markkanen and Wendell Carter. While those two big men should see plenty of important minutes in 2019/20, Chicago also brought in free agent power forward Thaddeus Young, a reliable veteran who has appeared in 51 playoff contests over the course of his 12-year career.
Outside of Young, Porter (31 playoff games) and Satoransky (16), no other Bull has played in more than one postseason series, so adding vets with that sort of experience was crucial for a club with playoff aspirations.
With the exception of the 2016/17 season, which took place during a period of unprecedented stability for head coaches, at least three NBA teams have made in-season coaching changes in each of the last five years. In 2018/19, Tyronn Lue got the axe after just six games, with Fred Hoiberg and Tom Thibodeau later joining him in the unemployment ranks.
While it’s possible that 2019/20 will be a repeat of ’16/17, recent history tells us that the safer bet is to expect multiple teams to make coaching changes before the season ends.
With that in mind, Ben Golliver of The Washington Post singled out five head coaches around the NBA who might end up on the hot seat in the coming months. Golliver’s picks are Frank Vogel (Lakers), Mike D’Antoni (Rockets), Brett Brown (Sixers), Billy Donovan (Thunder), and Scott Brooks (Wizards).
The Lakers, Rockets, and Sixers will enter the 2019/20 season with championship aspirations, so if they get off to slow starts, it’s not hard to imagine their respective head coaches feeling some pressure.
Vogel was just hired this spring, but he didn’t appear to be L.A.’s first choice and received a shorter-term contract than most other recent hires. D’Antoni is entering a contract year, which is rare for a head coach, and anything short of an NBA Finals appearance will be a letdown for Houston. Brown, meanwhile, appeared to be on the hot seat after losing in the second round of last year’s postseason before Toronto’s championship run made the Sixers’ series against the Raptors look more impressive in retrospect.
As for Donovan and Brooks, they’re suddenly at the helm of rebuilding clubs rather than the contenders they originally signed on to join. The Wizards also have a new head of basketball operations in place, so it’s possible that Tommy Sheppard will want to bring in his own head coach at some point.
What do you think? Will any of those five head coaches be dismissed during the 2019/20 season? Do you expect other coaches to find themselves on the hot seat in the near future?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your two cents!
Promising young rookies enter the NBA every season, but few come with the sort of fanfare that Zion Williamson has. The Duke forward is the kind of prospect who comes along once every few years, following in the footsteps of former No. 1 overall picks like LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Given the hype surrounding him – and the expectations facing him – it’s no surprise that Williamson will enter the 2019/20 season as the overwhelming favorite to win this year’s Rookie of the Year award. The 19-year-old is in position to put up numbers immediately on a Pelicans team that has playoff aspirations, with no veterans ahead of him on the depth chart at the power forward spot.
Williamson’s Rookie of the Year chances are buoyed by the fact that 2019’s draft class wasn’t considered particularly strong. While plenty of this year’s draftees should turn into successful pros, the ’19 class lacks the star power that other recent rookie classes have had. It would be a surprise if three NBA newcomers have the type of seasons that last year’s Rookie of the Year finalists – Luka Doncic, Trae Young, and Deandre Ayton – did.
Still, there are players who will push Williamson for Rookie of the Year honors. Sports betting site Bovada.lv lists the Pelicans’ forward as a -130 favorite (you’d have to risk $130 to win $100), with fellow top-three picks Ja Morant (+350; risk $100 to win $350) and RJ Barrett (+550) viewed as the primary challengers. Darius Garland (+1800) and Coby White (+1800) are among the players in the next tier of Rookie of the Year contenders, along with 2018 draftee Michael Porter Jr. (+1600).
With Mike Conley no longer a member of the Grizzlies, Morant should get a chance to take the reins and assume control of the rebuilding franchise right away, and while he may experience some growing pains, he’ll have the opportunity to have some big games. Developing Barrett will be a priority for the rebuilding Knicks too, despite the fact that the team invested heavily in veteran forwards in free agency.
Porter is an intriguing dark horse candidate — like past ROY winners Ben Simmons and Blake Griffin, he’ll have the advantage of having spent a year with an NBA team already, perhaps giving him a leg up on a competition. But it will be difficult for him to carve out a significant role on a deep, talented Nuggets roster. That shouldn’t be a problem for Garland, as the Cavaliers seem likely to jettison some of their veteran talent during the season to clear even more minutes for their youngsters.
Williamson may be the frontrunner, but he’ll have to produce and – perhaps more importantly – stay healthy in order to take home the hardware next spring. Davis, arguably the last No. 1 pick to enter the NBA with this sort of hype, took a year to develop into the impact player many were expecting out of Kentucky. Though he has a streak of six consecutive 20/10 seasons now, AD averaged a modest 13.5 PPG and 8.2 RPG in his rookie year in 2012/13, losing out to Damian Lillard in the Rookie of the Year vote.
What do you think? If you were placing a bet on the 2019/20 Rookie of the Year winner, would you pick Williamson or the field? Which player do you think will be the biggest threat to Zion in this year’s ROY race?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
Tampering has quietly existed in the NBA for decades, but teams, players and agents barely tried to hide it this summer. Several big-money contracts were announced shortly after the official start of free agency on June 30 that were obviously too complex to have been formed during the few minutes in which negotiations were legal.
Teams that lost stars complained loudly about the process, and the league decided action had to be taken. The NBA’s Board of Governors voted yesterday to adopt tough new rules, which include a fine of up to $10MM if it’s determined that “egregious” tampering has taken place.
Commissioner Adam Silver stressed that the penalties may not stop with fines. Suspensions of team executives, forfeiting draft picks and voiding contracts are all now on the table.
“We need to ensure that we’re creating a culture of compliance in this league,” Silver said. “Our teams want to know that they’re competing on a level playing field and frankly don’t want to feel disadvantaged if they are adhering to our existing rules.”
The league also has the authority to review cell phones and other electronic communication devices to look for evidence of tampering. That provision has raised the most concern among team officials, who fear that their privacy may be violated and sensitive information could be leaked.
This is hardly the first time the league has promised to crack down on tampering, but the tough talk has never made a difference in the past. Part of the problem is that many of the sales pitches made to players who are under contract come from other players, which the league acknowledges it can’t prevent. There’s no way to stop players at an All-Star Game or an international competition from talking about becoming NBA teammates some day. And the league can’t do anything if friends like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving make plans to join forces when they hit free agency at the same time.
Previous penalties for tampering have never been strong enough to scare teams. The Clippers and Nets, for instance, wouldn’t care how much they were fined or how many draft picks they had to surrender as long as they get to keep the new stars they added.
We want to get your input. Will these latest rules on tampering make a difference, or will business as usual continue behind the scenes?
Head to our comment section below to share your feedback.
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:
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 Dallas Mavericks.
Standard contracts:
The 2019 offeason was similar to most other recent offseasons in Dallas for one key reason: The Mavericks entered free agency armed with enough cap room to sign a maximum-salary player, but struck out on their top target(s).
Nikola Vucevic and Al Horford were among the players cited as possible options for the Mavericks. But it was Horford’s decision to opt out and become a free agent in the first place that actually indirectly cost the team its presumed No. 1 target. With Horford and Kyrie Irving leaving Boston, the Celtics suddenly had the cap flexibility to box out the Mavs in the Kemba Walker sweepstakes. Team owner Mark Cuban acknowledged in mid-July that his team had been eyeing Walker and had to “adjust” when the C’s snatched him up.
Still, while there was nothing new about the Mavs missing out on their preferred veteran star in free agency, there was one important difference this time around — the franchise had already acquired a potential cornerstone in a trade earlier in the year. And since Kristaps Porzingis was a restricted free agent, Dallas had no problem locking him up to a five-year, maximum-salary contract.
While the Mavs certainly would’ve liked to add a veteran All-Star like Walker to the mix to form a Big Three with up-and-coming stars Porzingis and Luka Doncic, they’ll have more opportunities to go that route. Doncic won’t get a huge raise until 2022, and the club should have major cap flexibility again in 2021. By that time, perhaps the allure of joining Porzingis and Doncic will strengthen the Mavs’ position in free agency, allowing them to secure the big fish that has eluded them in recent years.
With NBA training camps right around the corner, several more teams filled their 20-man offseason rosters this week. The Hornets did so on Monday, with the Mavericks, Pistons, Raptors, and Hawks following suit over the next few days. Those clubs join a list of 16 total teams that don’t have any openings on their offseason rosters.
Of course, every NBA team with a full 20-man roster is carrying multiple players who have non-guaranteed contracts, so it’s not as if any of them would be hamstrung if they really want to sign another player. But for now at least, it appears as if those 16 teams have their 20-man squads set for when camps get underway at the end of the month.
That leaves 14 clubs that still have open roster spots, as our tracker shows. Here’s a breakdown of those teams, along with my speculation on whether we can expect them to make moves within the next week or two:
19 players under contract:
None of these teams are carrying 15 players on fully guaranteed contracts, so it’s possible they’ll still add a veteran player who could earn a regular season roster spot. But it’s more likely that they’ll each sign another young player who could end up in the G League, since all four teams have their own NBAGL affiliates. The Wizards, who need to add some point guard depth, are said to be eyeing Chris Chiozza for their final spot.
18 players under contract:
While it’s not official yet, the Celtics essentially have a full roster. Kaiser Gates and Yante Maten have both reportedly agreed to Exhibit 10 contracts with the Celtics, but have yet to finalize them. Once they’re under contract, Boston’s 20-man roster will be full.
The Magic could also have a full 20-man roster if and when they complete their reported agreement with Isaac Humphries and sign first-round pick Chuma Okeke. The Pelicans, meanwhile, reportedly reached deals with undrafted rookies Jalen Adams, Javon Bess, and Aubrey Dawkins, but there’s only room for two of them on the roster, so unless New Orleans plans to waive a player, the team won’t be signing all three.
The Rockets are signing Thabo Sefolosha and would have room for one more camp invitee, while I’d expect the Suns to invite two more young players to camp with them.
The Nuggets and Trail Blazers don’t have their own G League affiliates, so they may not fill out their rosters unless they just need healthy bodies for camp.
17 players under contract:
All three of these teams have their own G League affiliates and should fill out their camp rosters with young players who can play for the Long Island Nets, Windy City Bulls, or OKC Blue. Of course, rumors continue to swirl that the Nets are eyeing Carmelo Anthony, but I wouldn’t expect the Bulls or Thunder to be seeking any veteran help.
Last spring, 13 of the 15 players who were named to the All-NBA teams for the 2018/19 season had earned an All-NBA nod at least once in the past. Only two players made an All-NBA team for the first time: Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (First Team) and then-Hornets guard Kemba Walker (Third Team).
There are a handful of players who we can expect to claim spots on one of those three All-NBA teams on an annual basis as long as they stay healthy. James Harden and Stephen Curry have made six All-NBA teams apiece. Russell Westbrook has made eight, while his former teammate Kevin Durant has made nine. LeBron James has earned a staggering 15 All-NBA nods, tying the all-time record.
Still, injuries like the Achilles tear that will sideline Durant for most or all of the 2019/20 season can create openings for newcomers, as can down years by established stars (think Anthony Davis in 2018/19). And longtime All-NBA mainstays like LeBron won’t keep playing at that level forever.
With the 2019/20 season set to get underway next month, we want to know which players you think are in position to potentially grab an All-NBA spot for the first time next spring.
Will a veteran All-Star like Bradley Beal, Jrue Holiday, or Nikola Vucevic make another leap and enter the All-NBA ranks for the first time? Will a former lottery pick like Ben Simmons, Luka Doncic, or Donovan Mitchell break through with a career year that puts him in the conversation for a spot among the league’s top 15 players? Will an up-and-coming star like Devin Booker or Pascal Siakam take advantage of an opportunity to be his team’s No. 1 option and deliver an All-NBA caliber season?
Those players all received All-NBA votes last season, but they’re hardly the only candidates to become an All-NBA player for the first time.
What do you think? Do you expect any NBA players to make an All-NBA for the first time in 2019/20? And which of last season’s All-NBA players – besides Durant – do you expect to fall out of the top 15 next season?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
