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Poll Results: Hoops Rumors’ 2019 All-NBA Teams

April 26th, 2019 at 2:31pm CST by Luke Adams

In an NBA season packed with incredible individual performances, we asked you to decide which 15 players are most deserving of All-NBA recognition.

Last week, we opened voting for the All-NBA First Team. We moved on to the Second Team on Monday, then opened the polls for the Third Team on Wednesday. The results of all those polls are in, so let’s check them out.

All-NBA First Team

All-NBA Second Team

All-NBA Third Team

Your top vote-getters in the final round of polling who didn’t quite earn spots on the Third Team: Bradley Beal (Wizards), Anthony Davis (Pelicans), and Karl-Anthony Towns (Timberwolves).

My own All-NBA Teams would look very similar to the ones you picked. I might flip Durant and George or Westbrook and Irving, and I’m still torn over Walker vs. Beal as the second guard on the Third Team. But if the All-NBA teams end up looking like the ones listed above, I wouldn’t be particularly surprised or disappointed.

What do you think? Do you disagree strongly with any of these choices? Do you expect major discrepancies when the official All-NBA teams are announced? Let us know in the comment section!

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2019 NBA Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Minnesota Timberwolves

April 26th, 2019 at 12:09pm CST by Luke Adams

After ending a long playoff drought last spring, the Timberwolves took a step backward in 2018/19, as they were forced to move on from one of the players (Jimmy Butler) who helped them reach new heights. With franchise cornerstone Karl-Anthony Towns locked up for the next five years, there’s reason to believe Minnesota can have sustained success, but the club might first need to get out from under some pricey contracts for non-stars.

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

Guaranteed Salary

Player Options

  • None

Team Options

  • None

Non-Guaranteed Salary

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
  • Even without accounting for any of their free agents or players on non-guaranteed salaries, the Timberwolves project to be over the cap this summer. They’ll go further over the cap if Towns is named to an All-NBA team, which would increase his salary by approximately $5.5MM. In that scenario, they’ll probably be more concerned with staying under the tax line than carving out any cap space.

Cap Exceptions Available

  • Trade exception: $2,667,600 (expires 11/12/19)
  • Mid-level exception: $9,246,000 4
  • Bi-annual exception: $3,619,000 4

Footnotes

  1. This is a projected value. Additionally, if Towns earns All-NBA honors, his projected salary would increase to $32,700,000.
  2. The salaries for two-way players don’t count against a team’s cap, but their cap holds do during the offseason.
  3. Brooks’ cap hold remains on the Timberwolves’ books because he hasn’t been renounced after going unsigned in 2018/19. He can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
  4. These are projected values. In the unlikely event the Timberwolves use cap room, they’d lose these exceptions (and their trade exception) and would instead would gain access to the $4,760,000 room exception. Additionally, the Wolves will not be able to use these exceptions if their team salary exceeds the tax apron. In that scenario, they’d instead receive the taxpayer mid-level exception, worth a projected $5,711,000.

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.

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Community Shootaround: More Compelling Eastern Conference Semifinal

April 25th, 2019 at 7:23pm CST by clarkcrum

The Eastern Conference semifinals are set and NBA fans have a great weekend to look forward to, with the 76ers traveling north of the border to take on the Raptors this Saturday followed by the Celtics traveling to Milwaukee to face the top-seeded Bucks on Sunday afternoon.

The Bucks took two out of three from the Celts during the regular season, with the Bucks winning on their home floor and the teams splitting the two games played in Boston. Both teams are coming off impressive sweeps – of the Pacers (albeit without Victor Oladipo) and Pistons – and will now face off against a more even-matched opponent.

The Bucks lost to the Celtics in last year’s postseason, falling in Game 7 to a Celtics team led by Terry Rozier, Al Horford, and Jayson Tatum. Both Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward are now back in the fold, but the Bucks are also a much better team this season behind MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo and new head coach Mike Budenholzer.

On the other side of the bracket, the Sixers and Raptors will face each other in the postseason for the first time since 2001, when the Sixers and Hall-of-Famer Allen Iverson pulled out the series win in Game 7 despite a stellar performance from an in-his-prime Vince Carter. The Sixers are looking to return to the NBA Finals for the first time since that season, while the Raptors are looking for the first conference championship in franchise history.

The two-seeded Raptors won the regular season series between the teams 3-1, with Toronto winning both games at Scotiabank Arena and the Sixers splitting their home games at Wells Fargo Center. Both teams have new faces this postseason, with the Raptors adding Kawhi Leonard this summer and the Sixers trading for starters Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris during the 2018/19 season.

So, based on the above and any other factors you may consider, which match-up do you think will be the most compelling? Will either or both series go the full seven games? Will there be a sweep? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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2019 NBA Offseason Salary Cap Digest: New York Knicks

April 25th, 2019 at 5:00pm CST by Luke Adams

There was plenty not to like about the Knicks‘ 2018/19 season. They lost an NBA-worst 65 games; they traded a potential franchise player, Kristaps Porzingis, to Dallas in a deal primarily aimed at creating cap flexibility and acquiring far-off assets; and young prospects Frank Ntilikina and Kevin Knox looked shaky. Still, there’s optimism in New York heading into the 2019 offseason, given the club’s two maximum salary contract slots and whispers that top free agents will seriously consider the Knicks.

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

Guaranteed Salary

Player Options

  • None

Team Options

Non-Guaranteed Salary

Restricted Free Agents

Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds

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

Offseason Cap Outlook

  • Maximum cap room projection: $73.2MM
  • This cap projection assumes the Knicks renounce all their free agents, decline their team options, and waive their players on non-guaranteed salaries. It would give the Knicks enough cap space for two maximum salary contracts, assuming at least one of those two players isn’t a 10-year veteran.
  • If the Knicks don’t need every cent of their cap room for two max contracts, they may not be quite as aggressive in purging their lower-priced players. If the club were to retain Trier and Dotson, for instance, that would reduce its cap room projection to $69.8MM.

Cap Exceptions Available

  • Room exception: $4,760,000 3

Footnotes

  1. Thomas’ salary becomes partially guaranteed ($1MM) after June 30.
  2. Dotson’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 15.
  3. This is a projected value. Assuming the Knicks use cap room, they’ll lose access to one trade exception ($1,435,750; expires 2/7/20).

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.

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Hoops Rumors’ 2019 NBA Award Picks: Most Valuable Player

April 25th, 2019 at 10:05am CST by Hoops Rumors

While the NBA won’t announce this year’s award winners until June, we’re making our picks for 2019’s major awards now.

The Hoops Rumors writing team has weighed in with our choices below, but we also want to know which players, coaches, and executives you think are most deserving of the hardware this season, so jump into the comment section below to share your thoughts.

We’re wrapping things up today with the award for Most Valuable Player. Here are our selections:

Chris Crouse: James Harden (Rockets)
This year’s tight MVP race features two players whose teams built an entire offense around them. The scheme in Milwaukee is designed around Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s play-making ability and lack of shooting. Harden’s masterful game is what powers Houston.

Giannis blossomed into a superstar during the 2018/19 season, blending his athleticism with a smart, fundamentally sound game. He led the league in win shares per 48 minutes and in player efficiency rating. Eight of the past 10 regular season leaders in PER have taken home the MVP award.

Harden, the reigning MVP, maintained his level of play this season, capping off a three-year stretch in which he realstically could have earned three Maurice Podoloff Trophies. In 2018/19, he led the league in win shares (15.2), points per game (36.1), and VORP (9.89, which ranks 12th all-time).

As I mentioned in part two of our “Contract MVPs,” Giannis played under 2,400 minutes this season, ranking 47th in the league (sandwiched between CJ McCollum and Nicolas Batum). The Bucks were able to regularly handle competition and let Antetokounmpo sit early. Harden finished second in the league in time accrued, behind only Bradley Beal.

Should we penalize Antetokounmpo for the Bucks being a much better regular season team than the Rockets? No, but we also shouldn’t discount what Harden was able to do, carrying a team plagued with instability because of injuries and a new cast of rotation players.

Both players are deserving, but Harden gets my vote.

Dana Gauruder: James Harden (Rockets)
I can’t fault anyone who votes for Antetokounmpo, but here’s the stat that tips the scale for me — Harden’s 36.1 PPG is the highest since Michael Jordan averaged a career-high 37.1 in 1986/87. Harden was a one-man band on quite a few occasions, as Chris Paul missed 24 games and Clint Capela sat out 15 due to injuries. Despite facing defenses completely geared to stop him, Harden rarely had an off night. When the situation called for him to be more of a play-maker, he notched double digits in assists 24 times.

Arthur Hill: James Harden (Rockets)
The MVP narrative favors Antetokounmpo, who was the best player on the team with the best record, but Harden deserves the honor for a second consecutive year thanks to a historically great season. Harden posted the 10th 2,800-point season in league history and won the scoring race by a margin of 8.1 PPG. He also became the first player ever to average 36 points, seven assists and six rebounds in the same season.

Harden rallied the Rockets to the No. 4 seed after a painfully slow start, putting up scoring numbers we haven’t seen in years while lifting his injury-riddled team up the standings. Antetokounmpo may have led the Bucks to 60 wins, but many of those came in an Eastern Conference that only had three other good teams once the Pacers lost Victor Oladipo. The Rockets were 53-29, so seven extra wins against weaker competition shouldn’t be enough for anyone to take away Harden’s trophy.

JD Shaw: James Harden (Rockets)
I was Team Giannis heading into the season and for roughly the first half of the campaign, but what Harden has been able to accomplish in 2019 is historically great — especially on the offensive end. He ended with 36.1 points per game on the year, the NBA’s highest mark in over three decades. He led his team to a 53-29 record despite dealing with injuries across the roster. You can’t go wrong with choosing either him or Antetokounmpo, really, but I’m sticking with Harden.

Luke Adams: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
There’s no doubt that Harden has posted historic numbers this season, but the same can be said of Antetokounmpo. The last – and only – player to match his 27.7 PPG, 12.5 RPG, and 5.9 APG was Oscar Robertson in his infamous triple-double season back in 1961/62, per Basketball-Reference.

Antetokounmpo put up those numbers while also helping to anchor the league’s best defense by net rating. Harden isn’t as bad defensively as certain YouTube compilations may suggest, but his impact on that end of the floor pales in comparison to Giannis’ — The Greek Freak ranked in the top 10 in the NBA in blocks per game (1.5) and in the top 15 in three-point shots contested per game (4.1), showing off a defensive versatility that allowed him to hound offensive players both on the perimeter and at the rim. He’s a legit Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

Antetokounmpo’s on/off court stats also reflect his value. The Bucks (+2.7) and Rockets (+2.4) had fairly similar net ratings with their respective stars on the bench, but Milwaukee was absolutely dominant when Giannis played (+12.8 net rating), while Houston’s numbers when Harden played were simply very good (+6.4).

The quality of competition argument in Harden’s favor isn’t a particularly compelling one to me, given that the Bucks had a better winning percentage than the Rockets against both Eastern Conference opponents (.769 to .700) and Western foes (.667 to .615). I’m not overly swayed by Harden’s role in the Rockets’ midseason resurgence either, impressive as it was, since it’s not as if he didn’t also have a hand in the team’s 11-14 start. That was the sort of slump the Bucks never experienced, thanks in large part to Giannis’ dominance over 82 games.

Clark Crum: James Harden (Rockets)
This is a tough decision for me between The Beard and The Greek Freak, but I think Harden is closing the gap between himself and LeBron James as the greatest player in the world (sorry, Kevin Durant). That opinion, combined with Harden’s ridiculous ability to put the ball into the hoop this season (his 2,818 total points scored are the most since Kobe Bryant in 2005/06, when The Black Mamba scored 2,832 points in two more games played) has me giving the slight edge to Harden.

Yes, I know Antetokounmpo had an all-time great stat line as well, and that his team had a better record. But the Western Conference is still better than the Eastern Conference and Harden had to carry the Rockets on his back for a large portion of the season due to injuries to key teammates. If Giannis wins, it would be well-deserved, but if I had to pick one of the two, I’d pick Harden.

Austin Kent: James Harden (Rockets)
It’s physically painful for any sane basketball fan to say that Antetokounmpo shouldn’t be named the 2018/19 MVP, but year-end awards are imperfect traditions.

To put it simply, Antetokounmpo is a 24-year-old marvel who just recorded one of the most mind-blowing seasons in NBA history. Unfortunately, there’s only one name permitted on the ballot and while Antetokounmpo’s 2018/19 campaign may very well have been worthy of the award in countless previous seasons, it just missed the cut in, well, 2018/19.

Here’s why I’ve given Harden the nod: While both Harden and Antetokounmpo have reached unprecedented levels of dominance, Harden is the one that has reinvented and refined his game to single-handedly drag a ho-hum roster to title contention. Harden’s ability to adjust his game to execute Mike D’Antoni‘s offense deserves more recognition than it gets.

Antetokounmpo’s method is a relatively simple one: be gigantic, mythically athletic, and one of the hardest working players in the NBA. Harden, in contrast, has taken a relatively pedestrian NBA body, choreographed his footwork to the rhythm of a geometry text book and somehow established himself as one of the most potent point catalysts in NBA history.

In an era of padded stats and data-driven efficiency, Harden has Moneyballed the actual physics of the sport. He’s not Shaquille O’Neal dunking with an opposing team’s frontcourt hanging off his back; he’s not LeBron James running like a train in transition; he’s a portly combo guard who exploits weaknesses and studies angles like a teenager who makes $100K per year destroying people in Counter-Strike.

Harden has always been an All-Star caliber guard but now he’s an All-Star caliber guard who draws fouls better than any player in the league – to the chagrin of everyone – and has perfected a step-back that renders anybody with less than a seven-foot wingspan helpless.

I eagerly await what comes next from Antetokounmpo – there’s no question that he’s the NBA’s Best Asset – but if limited to one pick for MVP, I’m going with the mortal who figured out a new way to play a 100-year-old sport. I think in the tome of NBA history, that’s a more valuable chapter.

Who is your pick for Most Valuable Player? Share your choices and your thoughts in the comment section below!

Previously:

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Community Shootaround: Thunder’s Future

April 24th, 2019 at 9:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Russell Westbrook‘s disdain for the media has been talked about quite a bit in recent weeks. Westbrook certainly won’t like what’s written about him and his team now that the Thunder failed to win a playoff series for the third straight season.

The perennial All-Star point guard was outplayed by counterpart Damian Lillard throughout the series with the Trail Blazers, culminating in Lillard’s series-ending 37-footer on Tuesday. Westbrook shot a playoff career-low 36% during Oklahoma City’s abbreviated postseason appearance, the third consecutive time he’s shot below 40% in the opening round. His 22.8 PPG average was his lowest since his first playoff appearance during the 2009/10 season.

Westbrook is undeniably one of the league’s best and most durable players. He’s averaged a triple-double the last three seasons, a momentous feat for anyone but especially a 6’3” guard. However, he’ll be 31 next season and he’s owed a whopping $171MM over the next four seasons.

Paul George averaged 28.6 PPG in the playoffs despite a nagging shoulder injury, though it did affect his 3-point shot (31.9%). George, like Westbrook, was also turnover-prone in the series.

With the possible exception of sixth man Dennis Schroder, the team’s stars didn’t get a whole lot of help. Steven Adams wasn’t the same tenacious defender he’s been in past postseasons, even though Portland lacked its starting center. Jerami Grant had some good moments in the last three games but overall the wings didn’t produce nearly enough.

So where do the Thunder go from here? George is signed through the 2021/22 season, though he has a player option on the final year. Adams has two big years ($53.3MM) left on his deal. Three other players are making at least $9MM next season, putting a major strain on the team’s cap and ability to make moves.

The club could look to trade one of its stars, though Westbrook’s contract would be very difficult to move. Or they could simply try to add some new pieces, particularly through the mid-level exception, and hope for better results.

That brings us to our question of the day: Should the Thunder try to trade Russell Westbrook or Paul George with the aim of starting a rebuild? Or can they be a better playoff team by adding some different pieces around them?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

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2019 NBA Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Memphis Grizzlies

April 24th, 2019 at 3:55pm CST by Luke Adams

An era came to an end for the Grizzlies in 2018/19, as the franchise moved on from longtime center Marc Gasol in a deadline deal. With a potential rebuild looming, Memphis now must determine whether the time is right to trade Gasol’s longtime running mate Mike Conley, or whether the veteran point guard can still be a cornerstone piece going forward.

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

Guaranteed Salary

Player Options

Team Options

  • None

Non-Guaranteed Salary

  • Avery Bradley ($10,960,000) 1
  • Bruno Caboclo ($1,845,301) 4
  • Dillon Brooks ($1,618,520) 5
  • Ivan Rabb ($1,246,762) 2
  • Total: $15,670,583

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
  • Although the Grizzlies only have about $86.5MM in guaranteed salaries on their books, they’re unlikely to create cap room – barring cost-cutting moves – due to Valanciunas’ option and the cap hold for their first-round pick.

Cap Exceptions Available

  • Trade exception: $1,544,951 (expires 7/17/19)
  • Trade exception: $2,416,222 (expires 7/23/19)
  • Trade exception: $8,000,000 (expires 2/7/20)
  • Trade exception: $1,512,601 (expires 2/7/20)
  • Mid-level exception: $9,246,000 6
  • Bi-annual exception: $3,619,000 6

Footnotes

  1. Bradley’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 3.
  2. Rabb’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 15.
  3. The salaries for two-way players don’t count against a team’s cap.
  4. Caboclo’s salary becomes partially guaranteed ($300K) after July 10.
  5. Brooks’ salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 5.
  6. These are projected values. In the unlikely event the Grizzlies use cap room, they’d lose these exceptions (and 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 and RealGM was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Poll: 2019 All-NBA Third Team

April 24th, 2019 at 1:35pm CST by Luke Adams

In an NBA season packed with incredible individual performances, we’re asking you to decide which 15 players are most deserving of All-NBA recognition.

After closing the polls for the All-NBA First Team on Monday, we’ve brought the vote for the All-NBA Second Team to an end today. Some of the results in those Second Team polls were predictable — two forwards, a guard, and the center earned spots on the team by a margin of several hundred votes. However, the vote for the second guard spot was a tight one.

Here are the voting results so far:

All-NBA First Team

All-NBA Second Team

The quality of our All-NBA Second Team is a reflection of how many impressive individual seasons we’ve witnessed in 2018/19. Lillard, George, and Embiid will likely show up on plenty of MVP ballots, and Leonard might’ve been named on even more if not for his frequent absences due to “load management.” As for Westbrook, he’s coming off averaging a triple-double for the third straight season.

We’re moving on today to the All-NBA Third Team, so be sure to cast your votes below for the two guards, two forwards, and one center that you believe are most deserving of being named to that squad. Don’t forget that a few players – including Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, Ben Simmons, and Jimmy Butler – qualify at two positions.

You’ll have about 48 hours for this round of voting before we recap the final results on Friday. You’ll also have the opportunity to select two players apiece in the guard and forward polls, so be sure to take advantage of that.

Guards:

(Select two)

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Forwards:

(Select two)

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Center:

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

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2019 NBA Front Office Shakeup Tracker

April 24th, 2019 at 11:38am CST by Luke Adams

Having created a space to track the NBA’s head coaching changes this spring, it only makes sense that we should do the same for the teams shaking up their front offices.

Of course, the front office structure for an NBA franchise generally isn’t as cut-and-dried as a coaching staff. All 30 teams will enter the 2019/20 season employing a head coach and a staff of assistant coaches. But not every team will have an executive with the title of “president of basketball operations” or “executive VP of basketball operations” on its payroll. And while some general managers around the league have decision-making power within their organizations, that certainly doesn’t apply to all of them.

Nonetheless, we’ll do our best to track this spring’s front office changes in the space below, monitoring which executives have decision-making power in each new management group. Some of these searches could extend well into the spring, so be sure to check back each day for the latest updates.

Completed Searches:

Los Angeles Lakers

  • Out: Magic Johnson (story)
  • Hired: No one
  • Following Johnson’s shocking resignation, there was plenty of speculation about which high-level rival executives the Lakers might target to replace him. The answer? Nobody. The Lakers appear content to have general manager Rob Pelinka – with the help of a Rambis or two – run the front office, at least for the 2019 offseason. A report confirmed that the team has no plans to hire a new president of basketball operations to replace Johnson.

Memphis Grizzlies

  • Out: Chris Wallace (story)
  • Promoted: Jason Wexler, team president (story); Zach Kleiman, executive VP of basketball operations (story); Tayshaun Prince, VP of basketball affairs (story)
  • Hired: Rich Cho, vice president of basketball strategy (story); Glen Grunwald, senior advisor (story)
  • The Grizzlies demoted general manager Chris Wallace after the season ended, re-assigning him to their scouting department, and promoted two non-basketball executive to top roles in the front office. By promoting Prince and hiring Cho and Grunwald, the club added a pair of more seasoned basketball executives to their management group, but it still sounds like Wexler will oversee the basketball operations department, with Kleiman taking the lead on day-to-day matters. More hires are expected, but those will likely fill supporting roles.

Minnesota Timberwolves

  • Out: Tom Thibodeau (story)
  • Hired: Gersson Rosas, president of basketball operations (story); Gianluca Pascucci, assistant GM (story); Sachin Gupta, executive VP of basketball operations (story)
  • Having dismissed Thibodeau in January, the Timberwolves finished the 2018/19 season with GM Scott Layden running the show. However, they announced at the end of the regular season that they’d begin searching for a new president of basketball operations to replace Thibodeau. After interviewing several candidates, they ultimately landed on Rosas, a longtime Daryl Morey lieutenant in Houston.
  • Also considered: Chauncey Billups (story), Trajan Langdon (story), Calvin Booth (story), Michael Winger (story)

New Orleans Pelicans

  • Out: Dell Demps (story); Danny Ferry (story)
  • Hired: David Griffin, executive VP of basketball operations (story); Trajan Langdon, general manager (story)
  • The Pelicans fired Demps during the season and finished the season out with Ferry holding the interim GM role. Ferry was considered for the permanent job, but ultimately withdrew from consideration, citing concerns about moving his family to New Orleans full-time. Shortly thereafter, the Pelicans officially hired Griffin to run their basketball operations department. They later hired Langdon, who had interviewed for the top job, as their GM under Griffin.
  • Also considered: Larry Harris (story), Gersson Rosas (story), Tommy Sheppard (story), Danny Ferry (story)

Phoenix Suns

  • Out: Ryan McDonough (story)
  • Promoted: James Jones, permanent GM (story)
  • Hired: Jeff Bower, senior VP of basketball operations (story)
  • Considering McDonough was fired back in October, it may not be fair to consider this an offseason change. But when the regular season ended, it wasn’t clear who would be running the Suns’ front office going forward, after Jones and Trevor Bukstein served as interim co-GMs since McDonough’s ouster. Phoenix answered that question quickly, announcing Jones’ promotion to the permanent GM role. The team also compensated for Jones’ relative lack of management experience by pairing him with a veteran executive in Bower, who figures to play a key role in the front office.

Washington Wizards

  • Out: Ernie Grunfeld (story)
  • Promoted: Tommy Sheppard, general manager (story)
  • Hired: Sashi Brown, chief planning and operations officer (story)
  • The Wizards fired Grunfeld about a week before their season ended and hired a search firm to identify candidates to replace him. Although they conducted a number of interviews for the job, they ultimately chose to elevate an internal candidate, promoting Sheppard to the permanent GM job after he ran it on an interim basis through the draft and free agency. Former NFL executive Brown also joined the front office in a top role.
  • Also considered/rumored: Danny Ferry (story), Troy Weaver (story), Gersson Rosas (hired by Wolves), Tim Connelly (turned down offer), Masai Ujiri (story)
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Poll: Which Team Wins The Eastern Conference?

April 23rd, 2019 at 11:24pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Eastern Conference semifinal matchups are set and after enduring four underwhelming first-round battles, NBA fans will be blessed with two thrilling series.

The Bucks will take on the Celtics, having lost to Boston in Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s second trip to the postseason last spring. This Milwaukee team features an improved supporting cast, a new coach, and an advanced version of The Greek Freak.

Boston’s squad also will have new faces, as Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward did not play in the franchise’s 4-3 series win over Milwaukee. The Celtics will likely be without Marcus Smart, though the Bucks aren’t fully healthy either with Malcolm Brogdon still sidelined.

The Sixers and Raptors will face-off on the other side of the Eastern Conference bracket and both sides feature varying degrees of unfamiliarity.

Kawhi Leonard (22 games) and Kyle Lowry (17) each missed significant time for Toronto in 2018/19. Including the Raptors’ five postseason games, the pair has suited up together in a total of 48 games. The Raptors made a shrewd addition in Marc Gasol, but they didn’t initially commit to inserting him in the starting lineup and it further complicated their continuity.

The Raptors have put out the Gasol-Leonard-Lowry-Danny Green–Pascal Siakam starting five on just 14 occasions this season (including the postseason), though the group played together in five other contests in which Gasol came off the bench.

The Sixers also have just 14 games with their starting five taking the court at tip-off — Philadelphia’s five has just 168 minutes of action together compared to Toronto’s which has 257.

Which team do you think will advance in each of the next two rounds and represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals?

Vote below in our poll, then head to the comment section to weigh in!

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

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