Hoops Rumors Originals

Community Shootaround: NBA Draft Winners, Losers

The concept of “winners” and “losers” in an NBA draft isn’t necessarily a flawed one, but naming those winners and losers within 24 hours of the draft’s completion is probably misguided. Three years ago, for example, how many fans or even draft experts would have called the Raptors a winner of the 2016 NBA draft for nabbing little-known forward Pascal Siakam with the 27th overall pick?

Still, the “winner” and “loser” tags are simple short-hand for assessing which teams’ drafts we like, at first glance, and which ones we don’t. With that in mind, we want to hear your thoughts on which teams you believe have a good night on Thursday and which ones you believe could have done better.

The Cavaliers are among the teams that received plenty of praise for their work on Thursday — they came out of the first round with three promising young rookies, having selected Darius Garland at No. 5, Dylan Windler at No. 26, and Kevin Porter Jr. at No. 30. Garland was long viewed as the probable fourth overall pick, and Porter was considered a candidate for the end of the lottery, so Cleveland got seemingly great value in the first round.

[RELATED: 2019 NBA Draft Results]

The Pelicans are among the other teams whose work was lauded, though it’s hard not to get high marks when you come away with Zion Williamson. Besides the No. 1 overall pick, New Orleans also came away with Jaxson Hayes at No. 8, Nickeil Alexander-Walker at No. 17, and Marcos Louzada Silva at No. 35. They also managed to shed Solomon Hill‘s contract in their trade with the Hawks.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Suns‘ moves generated some confusion. They had to give up the No. 32 pick to move T.J. Warren, whose three-year, $35MM contract didn’t look like an albatross. Then they traded down from No. 6 to acquire Dario Saric and used their newly-acquired No. 11 pick to select Cameron Johnson, a player most experts didn’t expect to go in the top 20.

What do you think? Which teams’ drafts did you like most, and which ones were you a little less bullish on? Head to the comment section below to weigh in!

Hoops Rumors’ 2019 NBA Draft Live Chat

The 2019 NBA Draft is here! In addition to our standard coverage of the NBA, we’ll be hosting a live chat to discuss all the player movement and selections from around the league.

Believe a team is drafting a prospect too high? Concerned that your favorite player has been overlooked? Feeling good about a trade (looking at you Pelicans fans) or upset with your team for making a move?

We’ve got you covered on everything going on around the NBA! We’re starting at 6:30 pm CT through the first round!

Join Hoops Rumors’ live 2019 NBA Draft chat

Five Key Offseason Questions: Denver Nuggets

After missing the postseason by a single game in 2018, the Nuggets left no doubt about their spot in the playoffs in 2019, winning 54 games and claiming the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

Although Denver ultimately fell to Portland in the Western Semifinals, it was a hugely successful year for the organization, which won its first playoff series since 2009 as Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray established themselves as one of the NBA’s most promising young duos.

Here are five key questions facing the franchise this summer:

1. What will the Nuggets do with Paul Millsap?

Eleven players from last season’s Nuggets roster remain under contract for 2019/20, include nine of the team’s top 10 players in terms of minutes per game. The only player in that top 10 whose situation remains murky is Millsap.

After being limited to 38 games in his first season in Denver due to a wrist injury, Millsap served as the team’s starting power forward in 2018/19, averaging 27.1 minutes per contest in 70 games. While Millsap’s numbers (12.6 PPG, 7.2 RPG) were relatively modest, he helped solidify the Nuggets’ defense and provided crucial veteran leadership on a young team.

I don’t have any doubt that the Nuggets would like to bring Millsap back. The only problem? The final year of his contract features a $30.35MM team option. That’s a steep price to pay for a 34-year-old who is no longer in the prime years of his career.

The Nuggets could probably afford to pick up Millsap’s option and maybe even still use the full mid-level exception in free agency, though they’d be right up against the tax line in that scenario.

Declining Millsap’s option and bringing him back at a lower salary would be an option, but once Denver turns down that option, he’ll be free to test the open market — there’s no guarantee he’d want to negotiate a more modest deal with the Nuggets after they’ve denied him what could be his final major payday.

While many big-money team and player option decisions are obvious, Millsap’s is one of the few that could legitimately go either way.

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2019 NBA Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Toronto Raptors

After years of postseason disappointment, everything went right for the Raptors in 2018/19. Kawhi Leonard stayed healthy and proved he still belongs in the conversation about the best player in the NBA. Pascal Siakam emerged as the league’s Most Improved Player. Marc Gasol arrived in a deadline deal to help tighten up the club’s defense and improve its ball movement on offense. And after impressive series wins over Philadelphia and Milwaukee, Toronto knocked off the two-time defending champion Warriors to win the first title in team history.

Here’s where things currently stand for the Raptors financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2019:

Guaranteed Salary

Player Options

Team Options

  • None

Non-Guaranteed Salary

  • Malcolm Miller ($1,588,231) 2
  • Chris Boucher ($1,463,231) 1
  • Total: $3,051,462

Restricted Free Agents

Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds

Projected Salary Cap: $109,000,000
Projected Tax Line: $132,000,000

Offseason Cap Outlook

  • Realistic cap room projection: $0
  • If Gasol opts in or Leonard re-signs with the Raptors, the team will be over the cap. If both happen, another year in luxury tax territory is probably on tap for the franchise. Should both players depart, the Raps could technically create up to about $20MM in cap room, but it would mean waiving Miller and Boucher and renouncing all their other free agents too.

Cap Exceptions Available

  • Trade exception: $2,947,320 (expires 7/18/19)
  • Trade exception: $1,569,360 (expires 2/6/20)
  • Trade exception: $1,512,601 (expires 2/7/20)
  • Trade exception: $2,536,898 (expires 2/7/20)
  • Mid-level exception: $9,246,000 4
  • Bi-annual exception: $3,619,000 4

Footnotes

  1. Boucher’s salary becomes fully guaranteed on the first day of the season.
  2. Miller’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 24.
  3. The cap holds for De Colo, Nogueira, and Thompson remain on the Raptors’ books because they haven’t been renounced after going unsigned in previous years. They can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
  4. These are projected values. If the Raptors are at risk of going into tax territory, they may forfeit the bi-annual exception and have to use the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5,711,000) rather than the full mid-level exception. In the event they use cap room, they’d lose these exceptions, plus their trade exceptions, and would instead would gain access to the $4,760,000 room exception.

Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders, ESPN, and RealGM was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Hoops Rumors’ 2019 NBA Mock Draft

With the 2019 NBA draft just mere hours away, we’re finally set to reveal Hoops Rumors’ own mock draft. Arthur Hill and Chris Crouse of Hoops Rumors have tackled the 2019 first round, alternating picks and providing their thoughts and rationale for each selection.

Our mock draft isn’t necessarily a reflection of what we think will happen on Thursday night, but rather what Arthur and Chris feel each team should do with the 30 first-round picks. Our draft also doesn’t include trades, so a busy day on the trade market could significantly alter our projected order.

After checking out our picks, be sure to head to the comments section to weigh in with your own thoughts, opinions, and predictions.

Let’s dive in…

1. New Orleans Pelicans: Zion Williamson, F (Duke)

Arthur Hill: It didn’t take long for the Duke freshman to prove he was the best player in college basketball. Unlike most No. 1 overall picks, Williamson comes into a solid situation with New Orleans’ upgraded roster, so he won’t need to be dominant right away. His talents will be fully unleashed in the NBA and he will be a strong favorite for Rookie of the Year.

2. Memphis Grizzlies: Ja Morant, G (Murray State)

Chris Crouse: Memphis traded away Mike Conley in order to make room for their new point guard of the future. Morant will likely be the selection here and he has big shoes to fill from day one.

3. New York Knicks: R.J. Barrett, F (Duke)

AH: It’s been a disappointing offseason already for the Knicks, who lost out on Zion Williamson, Anthony Davis, a healthy Kevin Durant, and probably Kyrie Irving too. They need to resist any temptation to gamble with the No. 3 pick and simply make the safe choice in Barrett. He’s a high-volume scorer who proved in college that he can be a play-maker as well. He will be a nice piece for what now looks like it could be a long rebuilding process.

4. New Orleans Pelicans: Darius Garland, G (Vanderbilt)

CC: Regardless of whether or not the Pelicans keep this selection, Garland should be the pick. He’s the fourth-best player in this draft and would arguably be in contention for a top-three selection had he played the entire season. There’s risk with this pick, but the upside is too great to allow him to fall in the draft.

5. Cleveland Cavaliers: Jarrett Culver, G (Texas Tech)

AH: At 6’7″ and a strong defender, Culver is an ideal complement to Collin Sexton in the Cavaliers’ backcourt. Culver was a versatile player in college, running the Texas Tech offense as well as being the team’s leading scorer. He also has a high basketball IQ and should be able to adjust to whatever role he asked to play.

6. Phoenix Suns, De’Andre Hunter, F (Virginia)

CC: The Suns may move on from Josh Jackson and T.J. Warren this offseason, which would leave their forward situation in flux. Hunter could come and add to a promising nucleus that includes Mikal Bridges, Devin Booker, and last year’s No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton.

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2019 NBA Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Golden State Warriors

The Warriors earned a spot in the NBA Finals for a fifth straight year in 2019, but health issues slowed them down against the Raptors and now appear likely to compromise their ability to contend for a title next season. With potential free-agents-to-be Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson recovering from a ruptured Achilles and torn ACL, respectively, Golden State may be preparing to commit huge money to two players who will barely see the court in 2019/20.

Here’s where things currently stand for the Warriors financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2019:

Guaranteed Salary

Player Options

Team Options

  • None

Non-Guaranteed Salary

  • Shaun Livingston ($5,692,308) 1
  • Alfonzo McKinnie ($1,588,231)
  • Total: $7,280,539

Restricted Free Agents

Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds

Projected Salary Cap: $109,000,000
Projected Tax Line: $132,000,000

Offseason Cap Outlook

  • Realistic cap room projection: $0
  • If the Warriors let all their free agents go, they could create some cap room, but that’s extremely unlikely. Thompson, at least, is expected to sign a deal that would put the club over the cap, and Durant, Cousins, Cook, and Looney are all candidates to return too.

Cap Exceptions Available

  • Taxpayer mid-level exception: $5,711,000 4

Footnotes

  1. Livingston’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after June 30.
  2. The salaries for two-way players don’t count against a team’s cap, but their cap holds do during the offseason.
  3. The cap holds for Barnes and West remain on the Warriors’ books because they haven’t been renounced after going unsigned in 2018/19. They can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
  4. This is a projected value. If the Warriors don’t re-sign both Thompson and Durant, they may be able to stay out of tax territory. In that case, they could instead have access to the full mid-level exception ($9,246,000) and the bi-annual exception ($3,619,000).

Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.

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

Five Key Offseason Questions: Philadelphia 76ers

The Sixers took two major in-season gambles during the 2018/19 campaign, plucking Jimmy Butler from Minnesota and putting together a package of assets to acquire Tobias Harris from the Clippers.

The team’s five starters played in just 10 regular season games together due to various injuries and rest management. Those five saw their playoff run cut short in the second round after playing only 11 postseason games together as a group. The organization longs for an opportunity to get a larger sample size on its collection of talent.

Here are five key questions facing the franchise this summer:

1. How many starters will the Sixers bring back?

Philadelphia will face immense competition for Butler, Harris, and J.J. Redick on the free agent market.

Multiple teams are expected to offer Harris a max deal, with the Nets standing out as a noteworthy threat. The interest between Harris and Brooklyn is reportedly mutual. The Grizzlies, Jazz, Mavericks, Kings, and Pacers have all been linked to Harris as well.

Butler is confident he’ll also receive a full max and the Lakers will be among the teams looking to swoop in and steal the four-time All-Star. GM Elton Brand plans on doing everything he can to bring Butler back.

Redick’s underwhelming playoffs aside, his shooting will be coveted by many teams in the league. He made just over $12MM last year, though it’s unclear what the price range for him will be going forward as he prepares to enter his age-35 season.

The Sixers will be among the offseason winners if they can bring back all five starters and supplement them with an additional role player or two. Of the three pending free agents, I’d speculate Butler is the most likely to leave.

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Five Key Offseason Questions: Brooklyn Nets

After spending several years mired in NBA obscurity as the ramifications of an ill-fated trade with Boston limited their ability to acquire impact talent, the Nets finally broke through in 2018/19, earning their first playoff berth since 2015.

Suddenly, with the weight of the Celtics trade off their shoulders (Brooklyn’s 2018 first-round pick was the final piece of that deal), the Nets have a bright future ahead of them. They managed to add young talent like D’Angelo Russell, Caris LeVert, and Jarrett Allen in recent years despite a dearth of lottery picks, and they’re now positioned to bring in one or two star free agents to complement their young core.

Here are five key questions facing the franchise this summer:

1. What does the Nets’ Allen Crabbe trade signify?

It’s rare for two NBA teams to reach an agreement on a trade before the NBA Finals end, but the Nets and Hawks did just that last week, agreeing to a swap that will send Crabbe to Atlanta along with two first-round picks (this year’s No. 17 overall selection and next year’s top-14 protected pick). In return, Brooklyn will receive solid young wing Taurean Prince, Atlanta’s 2021 second-round pick, and – most importantly – additional cap flexibility.

The trade can’t officially be completed until July for cap reasons. But after removing the cap hold for the No. 17 pick ($2.96MM) and Crabbe’s expiring salary ($18.5MM) from their books and replacing it with Prince’s expiring deal ($3.48MM) and an empty roster charge ($897K), the Nets will have created about $17MM in extra cap space.

Before the deal, the Nets had no path to two maximum-salary slots and wouldn’t have had enough space for even a single max free agent if they’d retained Russell’s cap hold. Now, even if Russell sticks around, the club can comfortably afford a max-level player along with a second free agent above the mid-level. Renouncing Russell would clear a path to two max slots (with a caveat, as we’ll explain in the next section).

Teams generally don’t make this sort of move unless they know something — the Nets aren’t giving up two first-round picks to shed salary unless they’re pretty confident that the extra cap space will come in handy.

It’s probably not a coincidence that rumors linking Kyrie Irving to Brooklyn heated up right around the same time this deal was agreed upon. While things could change in the next few weeks, the possibility of Irving becoming a Net looks increasingly likely in the wake of the Crabbe trade, as a Thursday report suggested.

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Hoops Rumors Originals: 6/8/19 – 6/15/19

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

Five Key Offseason Questions: Utah Jazz

After a torrid second-half run to finish the 2017/18 season, the Jazz entered the 2018/19 campaign widely viewed as a probable top-four seed in the Western Conference. A brutal first-half schedule ultimately prevented Utah from reaching that goal, but the team finished strong again and reached the 50-win mark.

Unfortunately, for a second straight postseason, the Jazz found themselves matched up against their nemeses in Houston, and were unable to take more than a single game from the Rockets. The Jazz had a pretty quiet offseason a year ago, but in the wake of their early exit from the playoffs, they appear far less likely to run it back with the same roster again.

Here are five key questions facing the franchise this summer:

1. How drastically will the Jazz change their roster?

A year ago, the Jazz bet on continuity and the continued improvement of young players like Donovan Mitchell and Dante Exum. The team figures to take a different approach this time around, as newly-promoted president of basketball operations Dennis Lindsey indicated at season’s end.

“We want to move the group forward,” Lindsey told reporters after the Jazz were eliminated from the postseason. “And while we have a very good team, the results told us that we don’t have a great team.”

Lindsey’s comments suggest changes are on the way, but we know that the Jazz aren’t about to rebuild their roster from the ground up. Mitchell and Rudy Gobert are safe. Joe Ingles probably isn’t going anywhere either. However, there may not be many guarantees beyond that.

Derrick Favors has been in Utah since coming over from the Nets as the centerpiece of the Deron Williams trade in 2011, but his $17.6MM salary for next season is non-guaranteed, and he isn’t a lock to return.

Ricky Rubio has been the Jazz’s starting point guard for the last two seasons, but he told an international outlet earlier this month that he may not be in the team’s plans going forward.

The Jazz have been high on Exum since selecting him fifth overall in the 2014 draft, but after another injury-plagued season, it’s not clear how much longer the Australian point guard will be a fixture in Utah.

The Jazz’s core isn’t going anywhere, but there’s a possibility the pieces around them will look significantly different in 2019/20.

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