Hoops Rumors Originals

Trade Candidate: Rajon Rondo

January 14th, 2017 at 10:53pm CST by Arthur Hill

As we approach February’s trade deadline, Hoops Rumors will be taking a closer look at several players we consider trade candidates, discussing their value, speculating on potential destinations and explaining why they are – or should be – available. These players won’t necessarily be dealt in advance of the deadline, but it won’t be surprising if they are.

Rajon Rondo, PG
Chicago Bulls
2016/17 salary: $14,000,000
Salary for 2017/18 is guaranteed for just $3,000,000 through June 30th
Trade restrictions: None

Rajon Rondo couldn’t have been happier when he signed with the Bulls in July. After a disastrous stay in Dallas and a lost season in Sacramento, the veteran point guard felt like he had finally found a home.

“I’m excited,” Rondo said after agreeing to a two-year, $28MM deal. “Great organization with pieces around me that I’m excited about.”

Fast forward six months and nobody is excited. Not Rondo, who was pulled from the rotation two weeks ago. And not the Bulls, who are currently outside the playoff race at 20-21 through the first half of the season. Chicago was counting on Rondo and fellow free agent addition Dwyane Wade to turn the team back into contenders, but the fears many observers had about difficulty in meshing their similar styles have come true.

Marksmanship has always been an issue for Rondo, but the problem has become worse than ever since his arrival in Chicago. He’s shooting a career-low .368 from the field and just .298 from 3-point range. His scoring average has dipped to 7.3 points per game, which is the lowest since his rookie season.

Rondo responded to coach Fred Hoiberg‘s decision to take him out of the rotation by asking for a New Year’s Eve meeting with GM Gar Forman and executive vice president John Paxson. Little was resolved from that session and Rondo indicated that he would ask for a trade if he couldn’t get playing time in Chicago. An unidentified member of the coaching staff told Rondo he had been playing poorly and was benched to “save him from himself.”

After riding the pine for 5 1/2 games, Rondo got some help this week from an unlikely source — the flu bug. With Wade, Jimmy Butler and Nikola Mirotic all sidelined, Hoiberg needed healthy bodies and turned to Rondo as the lead guard for the second unit. Rondo played well enough as a reserve that it might become an ongoing role.

“I talked to him about the lift and the spark that he gave us [Tuesday] with the energy and the pace, the push that he had with that second unit,’’ Hoiberg told Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.

Of course, the situation isn’t ideal for either party. Rondo doesn’t want to be a backup after 10 years as a starter, and the Bulls don’t want to be paying $14MM to their second-string point guard.

But does that mean he will be traded out of Chicago before the February 23rd deadline?

Despite his shooting woes, there are still many reasons why teams would be interested in picking up Rondo. He’s the reigning league leader in assists, averaging 11.7 last season for a Kings team that finished well out of the playoffs. Also, Rondo is only 30 and is healthy enough to have several productive seasons left. And his contract for 2017/18 is only guaranteed for $3MM through June 30th, which means a team could easily part ways with him if the deal doesn’t work out.

The defending champs might be a possible trading partner, as a report last week said the Cavaliers are keeping a close eye on the Rondo situation. Cleveland has been in the market for a backup to Kyrie Irving since the season began, following the sign-and-trade of Matthew Dellavedova to the Bucks and the retirement and subsequent trade of Mo Williams to the Hawks.

Rondo’s contract would make him a pricey addition for a team that already has the NBA’s highest salary, and it’s not clear whom the Cavs would give up in a deal. Cleveland seems more likely to swoop in if Rondo gets bought out, although his poor 3-point shooting makes him a bad fit in the Cavaliers’ offense.

Another rumor that has gotten some traction involves Miami. The Heat still owe Goran Dragic more than $54MM over the next three seasons and may want to unload that contract to speed up the rebuilding process. Dragic is making $15.89MM this season, so their salaries would easily match up. Chicago could reunite the Dragic-Wade backcourt and gain some outside shooting, while Miami could either waive Rondo or renegotiate with him after this season and maybe pick up a draft pick or two to help replace the package they sent to Phoenix to acquire Dragic.

The Sixers are another interesting possibility for Rondo, if only as a short-term option until Jerryd Bayless returns from injury next season and rookie Ben Simmons is ready to take over the offense. A recent hot streak has sparked hope of playoff contention in Philadelphia, and a veteran point guard might be just what the Sixers need to maximize the team’s wealth of young frontcourt talent.

Wherever Rondo goes next, it will almost certainly be a better fit than the Bulls. It appeared to be an odd signing even before Wade committed to Chicago, and the Butler-Wade-Rondo trio always seemed destined to fail because of overlapping skills.

Still, Rondo is too talented to sit on the bench with the Bulls or to be relegated to the second unit. If Chicago is set on using Michael Carter-Williams as its starter, the organization is better off finding a new home for Rondo rather than running the risk of him being a disruptive force for the rest of the season. Rondo could be a giant X factor wherever he goes. He could turn out to be a valuable piece for a title contender just as he was in Boston, or he could quickly sink a team’s postseason just like he did in Dallas.

What do you think? Should the Bulls trade Rondo? Weigh in below in the comments section with your thoughts and possible trade ideas.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Hoops Rumors Originals: 1/7/17 – 1/14/17

January 14th, 2017 at 11:58am CST by Austin Kent

The Hoops Rumors staff published their fair share of original content this week, take a look through the best pieces to hit the press since last Saturday:

As the January 7 deadline to waive players on non-guaranteed contracts passed, 29 individuals breathed sighs of relief. Arthur Hill published a team-by-team list of players who saw their partially-guaranteed deals become fully guaranteed for the rest of the 2016/17 season.
Many of the non-guaranteed players waived prior to January 7 were let go in order to free up roster flexibility down the stretch. How? As of January 5, teams are officially allowed to sign players to 10-day contracts. Luke Adams recently announced that the Hoops Rumors 10-Day Contract Tracker is back for the 2016/17 season.
Atlanta’s 60-win power quintet is no longer. Dana Garauder takes a good look at the respective fantasy basketball value of each of the All-Stars that made that Hawks team so great.
Things have gone sideways in New York, at least as far as point guard Derrick Rose is concerned. After his disappearing act last Monday, we polled readers how long they think he’ll last.
The NBA’s Ted Stepien rule prohibits NBA teams from dealing first-round picks in consecutive years. Luke Adams meticulously constructed a list of the teams who thus aren’t eligible to trade 2017/18 firsts.
In the latest edition of our Trade Candidate series, Dana Garauder explored Mavs center Andrew Bogut’s value as an asset as well as possible destinations where he could end up.
It seems like last century the Suns made headlines acquiring Magic superstar Penny Hardaway to pair with Jason Kidd. Austin Kent breaks down the failed Backcourt 2000 experiment and the cultural significance thereof.
In our weekly roundup of the best content from the NBA blogosphere, Will Joseph featured several impressive features including this one from Silver Screen & Roll breaking down Brandon Ingram‘s potential for the Lakers.
As always, we opened the floor for our readers to discuss some of the most interesting headlines from around the league. Here are a few of the topics that were featured in Community Shootarounds:
- The Hawks have decided to not trade Paul Millsap after all. Are they handling the situation appropriately?
- NBA games can slow to a halt in the final two minutes. Should the league consider addressing this?
Don’t forget to submit your questions for this weekend’s mailbag. If you have any questions regarding rules or transactions, we want to answer them!

Categories:
Hoops Rumors Originals

Hoops Rumors Retro: Penny Hardaway To The Suns

January 14th, 2017 at 11:05am CST by Austin Kent

The mandate at Hoops Rumors is to consolidate news from throughout the professional basketball world, but nobody ever specified from which decade. Join us as Austin Kent, a grown man with a binder of 1996/97 NBA trading cards beside his desk, cannonballs down the rabbit hole of nostalgia to give significant trades of yesteryear the modern media treatment.

It’s early August 1999 and the world is racing to prepare for the turn of the millennium. Jerry Colangelo, owner and president of the Phoenix Suns, has other plans.

Sure, the 59-year-old Godfather of Phoenix Basketball reads the papers, he watches the news – but while rest of the country braces for the pandemonium of Y2K, Colangelo and the executive team with whom he manages the organization decide to take the offensive.

The wheels are in motion for a scheme so grand and so bold that it will get the Suns to the top of a mountain they’ve longed to climb since the franchise – and Colangelo along with it – first hit the scene in 1969.

They call it: Backcourt 2000.

The Penny Hardaway that takes a seat at the press conference announcing his arrival in Arizona isn’t the one that you might remember – the last Lil Penny TV spot aired several years prior – but he isn’t the tragic hero that you’ve grown to mourn either.

Not yet at least.

In 1999, Hardaway is coming off a decent lockout-shortened 1998/99 campaign, an abbreviated season in which he suited up for every game. That bold 50 you see in the ‘G’ column of his Basketball Reference profile means more than just league leader – it means hope.

To recap, Hardaway was named to the All-NBA 1st team two times before his 25th birthday. Put another way it’s even more impressive; after winning the Rookie of the Year award in 1994, he finished 1995 and 1996 as one of the top two guards in the NBA. Not bad, young blood¹.

What came after the early accolades but before his exit from Orlando is all too familiar. In the first year after Shaquille O’Neal’s departure, Hardaway would miss 23 games to injury. The following season a pair of knee surgeries would limit him to just 19 total.

At the time of the injuries, few knew what to make of the All-Star’s frequent stints on the sidelines. Doctors barely knew what the future would hold for NBA players with degraded knee cartilage, never mind teammates or fans.

“Nobody bonded with me at that time,” Hardaway has since told SLAM. “No support. It was weird. Nobody would say, ‘Hey man, are you OK?’ Nothing. It was more that people thought I was faking.”

Suffice it to say, Hardaway’s once meteoric star faded as quickly as it appeared on the NBA horizon. In its wake, a once beloved superstar with an elite ceiling but mysteriously compromised body.Read more

The Arizona summer heat builds in the indoor conference room. Watching above from a balcony is 26-year-old Jason Kidd, a reigning All-NBA 1st-teamer in his own right. Together, the plan goes, Hardaway and Kidd will make the best backcourt in the league, together they’ll push the perpetually good-but-not-great franchise to new heights.

In each of the past 11 seasons – and 19 of the past 22 – the Suns have made the playoffs. Still, something needs to be done. First-round exits may build character, but only for so long. Coming off their fourth straight premature exit, the Suns are in desperate need of a home run swing in the awkward, post-Charles Barkley transition years.

Pairing two of the most iconic guards of the decade in one backcourt is such a home run swing

Never mind that even in 1999 Hardaway’s injury history was a potential red flag, the idea of combining two superstar playmakers under 30 years old, was an impossible one to ignore. That Hardaway would ply his trade in Phoenix was the biggest headline of the offseason².

“[This] ranks right up there with any acquisition we’ve ever made,” Colangelo said of the deal. “He’s a marquee guy.”

Considering the Suns had little cap space to sign the then-free agent, Colangelo and company would have to facilitate a sign-and-trade deal with a Magic franchise that had begrudgingly accepted that their once prized All-Star was outbound.

To Orlando went rookie Pat Garrity, 33-year-old Danny Manning, and a pair of first-round picks. Though it was the shedding of Manning’s $6.8MM deal that allowed Phoenix to sign Hardaway to the max allowable under the cap³, the veteran’s tenure in Florida lasted just two weeks.

On August 19, 1999 – exactly 14 days after the Hardaway deal – Manning was flipped to the Bucks alongside Dale Ellis for Chris Gatling and Armen Gilliam. Garrity, by contrast, would stay with the Magic, playing nine seasons before retiring from the NBA in 2008.

The draft picks sent east would prove to be the most valuable aspect of the sign-and-trade package, though even that part of the deal would prove to be a dark spot in Orlando history. With the 2001 first-round pick the Magic acquired, they drafted Jason Collins. The 2002 pick involved would go on to net… Amar’e Stoudemire⁴.

It’s hard to criticize a team’s haul in a sign-and-trade scenario, but there’s no denying that the ripple effects of the Hardaway deal didn’t help the culture in Orlando. The Magic toiled in irrelevance for eight years after the trade, a run of lost seasons and first-round exits ending only when Dwight Howard came of age under Stan Van Gundy.

In Phoenix, too, the forecast would eventually dim, though not without initial glimmers of hope. Limited to just 45 games together in that initial season, Backcourt 2000 didn’t quite make the splash Colangelo and the Suns expected it to. Nonetheless, a reasonably healthy Hardaway showed signs of promise, averaging modestly better numbers than the ones he was posting at the end of his tenure in Orlando.

As Kidd recovered from an ankle injury in the 2000 postseason, Hardaway led his new Suns squad to a first-round victory over the reigning champion San Antonio Spurs, the 28-year-old’s 20.3 points, 5.7 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game as positive a sign that things were turning around as anybody had seen in years.

Alas, as history would have it, the cartilage issues that plagued Hardaway in Orlando would resurface in Phoenix. In the 2000/01 campaign, the guard would play just four games — depressingly, that’s the same number of subsequent knee surgeries he would undergo before his time with the Suns officially came to an end during the 2003/04 season.

“I was one of the first guys to get microfracture surgery,” Hardaway told SLAM in the same interview. “It wasn’t even heard of in the NBA yet.”

Nowadays the procedure is more commonplace, but don’t let the medical advances of the past 20 years normalize what the guard went through at the time. Microfracture surgery involves a surgeon scratching small perforations in the bone surface of an athlete’s knee, allowing otherwise stationary stem cells to seep out and eventually form new cartilage to supplement the existing stuff.

Some athletes, like the aforementioned Stoudemire, would end up undergoing the procedure with some success much later, but Hardaway never quite recovered as well as he or the Suns hoped.

To the man’s credit, he would bounce back and play 80 games at a less dominant level the following season, but Backcourt 2000 just wasn’t meant to be. Due to, or at least partly influenced by, domestic abuse allegations that surfaced in January 2001, Kidd was promptly shipped off to New Jersey for disgruntled Nets guard Stephon Marbury.

Not surprisingly, as only hindsight can reveal, sometimes headlines break that don’t end up bearing the significance they’re presumed to; sometimes reality just doesn’t quite live up to the narrative and we find ourselves prying the last of Walmart’s canned goods from the desperate fingers of a stranger in hopes of stocking our underground Y2K bunker with enough non-perishables to make it through the impending apocalypse.

And sometimes, just sometimes, a crafty NBA executive’s grand scheme to assemble talent and storm triumphantly into the 21st century on the backs of an unprecedented superstar backcourt proves to be little more than an underwhelming miscalculation.

Footnotes:

Kyrie Irving’s Uncle Drew campaign is the empirical best NBA advertising campaign to run in the years since those Lil Penny, according to Austin’s Fluid List of Preferred NBA Advertising Campaigns.
Come at me, fans of the Antonio Davis/Jonathan Bender deal.
$9MM, with raises over the course of the next seven years (maxing out at $15.8MM). Yes, really.
Two years later the Magic would trade that same 2002 first-round pick back to the Suns along with Bo Outlaw in exchange for Jud Buechler (and, essentially, cap space).

Hoops Rumors Retro is a weekly feature. Be sure to follow and get at Austin Kent (@AustinKent) with suggestions for future pieces.

Jan. 7, 2017 – Gary Payton to the Bucks.

Community Shootaround: End Of NBA Games

January 13th, 2017 at 11:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking this week from London, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that the league is studying the end of NBA games with an eye toward speeding them up, writes Tom Hamilton of ESPN.com. The NBA, which will review the issue at the end of the season, wants to retain younger fans who “have increasingly short attention spans,” per Silver.

“It’s something that I know all of sports are looking at right now, and that is the format of the game and the length of time it takes to play the game,” Silver said. “When the last few minutes of the game take an extraordinary amount of time, sometimes it’s incredibly interesting for fans, other times it’s not. … We are going to take a fresh look at the format, specifically in the last two minutes.”

While Siver didn’t go into detail about what changes the NBA’s competition committee might consider, reducing the number of timeouts a team can use in a game – or at least in the final two minutes of a game – would be one way to go. The final minute or two of an NBA contest can also be slowed down significantly if one team is trailing by a few points and commits several intentional fouls in an effort to extend the game and make up ground.

“It’s something that we track very closely,” Silver said. “In the league office we time out every game, we know exactly how much time each possession takes and, again, we can also look at minute-by-minute ratings, so we know at what point fans are potentially tuning out as well.”

What do you think? Does the NBA need to seriously consider making changes related to timeouts, intentional fouls, or another aspect of the game to speed up the final few minutes? Or are things fine the way the are?

Jump into the comments section below to weigh in with your thoughts.

Submit Your Questions For This Weekend’s Mailbag

January 13th, 2017 at 9:13pm CST by Luke Adams

We at Hoops Rumors love interacting with our readers. This is why we provide an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in our mailbag feature, which is posted on Sundays.

Have a question regarding trades, free agent rumors, the salary cap, the NBA draft, or the top storylines of the week? You can e-mail them here: hoopsrumorsmailbag@gmail.com. Feel free to send emails throughout the week, but please be mindful that we may receive a sizable number of questions and likely won’t get to all of them.

If you missed out on any past mailbags and would like to catch up, you can view the full archives here.

Categories:
Hoops Rumors Originals

2016/17 NBA Trade Candidate Series

January 13th, 2017 at 7:14pm CST by Luke Adams

The February 23 trade deadline is fast approaching, and teams have already started making deals, with the Cavaliers landing Kyle Korver last weekend. In the weeks leading up to the deadline, Hoops Rumors will be taking an in-depth look at some players who may change teams on or before February 23. These aren’t players who necessarily will be traded by the deadline, but there’s a distinct possibility that their teams will at least listen to offers, if not actively shop them, in the coming weeks.

Our Trade Candidate pieces explore why a trade might happen, the likelihood of a deal going down, and potential suitors, along with other relevant details. Last season, we profiled 15 players, including many who were dealt before the deadline, such as Markieff Morris, Chris Andersen, Brandon Jennings. We also looked at guys like Jeff Teague, who were eventually traded in the summer.

A list of the players we’ve examined so far during the 2016/17 season is below, in alphabetical order. This list can be found in our right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features” and will continue to be updated until the deadline.

Andrew Bogut, Mavericks (link)
Rudy Gay, Kings (link)
Brandon Knight, Suns (link)
Nerlens Noel, Sixers (link)
Jahlil Okafor, Sixers (link)
Rajon Rondo, Bulls (link)
Ricky Rubio, Timberwolves (link)

Trade Candidate: Andrew Bogut

January 12th, 2017 at 8:32pm CST by Dana Gauruder

As we approach February’s trade deadline, Hoops Rumors will be taking a closer look at several players we consider trade candidates, discussing their value, speculating on potential destinations, and explaining why they are – or should be – available. These players won’t necessarily be dealt in advance of the deadline, but it won’t be surprising if they are.

Andrew Bogut, C
Dallas Mavericks
2016/17 salary: $11,027,027
Eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2017
Trade restrictions: Can’t be re-acquired by the Warriors during the 2016/17 league year.

The Mavericks took advantage of Kevin Durant‘s if-you-can’t-beat-them-join-them approach to free agency, acquiring two former Warriors in the aftermath of Durant’s decision to wear the Golden State uniform. Signing forward Harrison Barnes to a max contract grabbed most of the headlines but Dallas also secured another starter from the two-time defending Western Conference champions. It traded for veteran center Andrew Bogut, dealing only a conditional second-round pick while also receiving a second rounder.

That virtual giveaway allowed the Warriors to clear cap space, even if it meant handing over one of the league’s premier interior defenders. The Mavericks anticipated that a frontcourt of Bogut, Dirk Nowitzki and Barnes would make them a solid playoff team, if not a serious contender.

Fast forward six months and the outlook for the Mavs and Bogut looks quite different. Dallas has one of the league’s worst records, while Bogut has battled through a number of nagging injuries, including a right hamstring strain suffered this week. He also missed 11 games last month with a right knee issue.

It’s no secret that the Mavericks are shopping Bogut, who is making a little over $11MM in the final year of his contract. Bogut seems resigned to the notion that he’ll be wearing a different uniform in the near future.

“Look, if there’s an opportunity to go somewhere and they want to do it, I’m not going to beg them to not trade me. But I have not gone to the [front] office and asked for a trade,” Bogut said during a press conference last week. “That’s probably the best answer that I can give you. It’s been a tough season for everybody involved, but it’s far from the truth that I’ve gone to management and asked for a trade.”

Bogut realizes the club has every incentive to try to get something for him before the trade deadline. If the Mavs had lived up to their own expectations, they might have a compelling reason to re-sign him. Under the current circumstances, Bogut is taking minutes away from younger players that need to develop.

Coach Rick Carlisle recently indicated that re-signing Bogut was a “real possibility” but even Bogut is skeptical.

“If there was an opportunity for me to come back, there would have been at least extension talks, which I’m not bitter about,” he said. “I’m not mad about it. It’s just the reality of it. It’s the writing on the wall. … The Mavs eventually have to start rebuilding, too. There’s no point in bringing back a 33-year-old center if you’re in rebuild mode. … I just don’t see it.”

The first question that potential suitors need to ask themselves is whether Bogut can impact them in the short term. The answer, provided Bogut can return to full strength, is yes.

He’s always been a subpar offensive player but his defensive prowess is unquestioned. He led the league two consecutive seasons – 2013/14 and 2014/15 – in Basketball Reference’s Defensive Box ratings at 5.6 and 5.5, respectively.

He was close to that mark last season with a 5.1 rating and sports a 5.2 rating this season despite being in and out of the lineup. In the last three postseasons, his Defensive Box numbers were even higher — 5.6, 6.1 and 7.3. Bogut’s sprained knee in Game 5 of last year’s Finals could have been the difference in the series, though he played limited minutes against the Cavs.

Assuming Bogut will be dealt, where will he go? The Rockets seem to be the most likely destination. The Warriors had deals in place with both the Mavs and Rockets this summer and gave Bogut the option of choosing the team. He, of course, picked Dallas but Houston now looks like a great fit.

Starting center Clint Capela is recovering from a fractured fibula, forcing the Rockets to go with the duo of Montrezl Harrell and Nene Hilario in the middle. A defensive stalwart like Bogut could be the piece needed to get them into the Western Conference Finals for the second time in three seasons.

The Rockets, however, are capped out and there’s no obvious package they could put together that would entice the Mavs and still get salaries to match. Thus, it’s likely they’d need to get a third team involved.

The Sixers had some unusual interest in Bogut during the offseason but they’ve got too many bigs as it is. It wouldn’t seem reasonable for them to give up a much younger one for him and they’ve got gobs of cap space for next season, so his expiring contract won’t do much good, either.

There are a few contenders that could use Bogut for a playoff push. A Celtics frontcourt pairing of Bogut with Al Horford would be intriguing, possibly vaulting them past the Raptors in the Eastern Conference pecking order.

The Raptors themselves need to shore up a defense that ranks 19th in defensive field-goal percentage. Bogut could provide some assistance in that area.

Memphis could also be a landing spot. Bogut wouldn’t have a starting role with the Grizzlies but they could use a veteran backup to Marc Gasol.

It’s unlikely that Bogut could wind up with the Big Two. The Warriors would welcome his lane presence again, but league rules prevent them from re-acquiring him until the 2017/18 league year. The Cavaliers have all sorts of cap constraints of their own and seem more intent on finding a backup point guard than a post player.

It seems a pretty solid bet that Bogut will be moved within the coming weeks. It would help all parties involved if Bogut could stay on the court long enough to convince potential suitors that they wouldn’t be acquiring damaged goods. Once he proves he can stay out of the training room, a healthy Bogut could certainly improve any contender’s outlook this postseason.

What do you think? Should the Mavericks trade Bogut? Weigh in below in the comments section with your thoughts and possible trade ideas.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

10 Teams Ineligible To Trade 2017/18 First-Round Picks

January 12th, 2017 at 12:43pm CST by Luke Adams

Before the Cavaliers traded for Kyle Korver last weekend, the team needed to make a smaller deal first that flew a little under the radar. Cleveland had previously traded its 2018 first-round pick to Portland, meaning that the team couldn’t move its 2017 or 2019 first-round picks to another team. The Ted Stepien rule, which we’ve previously explained, prohibits clubs from trading future first-rounders in consecutive years, so the next first-rounder the Cavs could trade was in 2020.

Presumably, the Hawks were more interested in Cleveland’s 2019 pick, so before trading for Korver, the Cavs sent their 2017 first-round pick to the Trail Blazers in order to get their 2018 selection back. With that ’18 pick in hand, the Cavs were now eligible to move their ’19 first-rounder without violating the Stepien rule.

For many NBA teams, shuffling around future first-rounders like the Cavs did won’t be quite so easy, and the trades they’ve made in the past could limit their ability to make deals involving draft picks going forward. That information is worth taking into account as this year’s trade deadline nears.

Using our own data, along with RealGM’s breakdown of traded draft picks, we’ve put together a list of teams that aren’t able to freely move all of their future first-round draft picks at this point, along with a list of the teams that have the freedom to move future first-rounders in any year.

The following 10 teams are ineligible to trade their 2017 or 2018 first-round picks (unless they get one back to avoid violating the Stepien rule). The year noted in parentheses represents the earliest first-round pick that these teams are eligible to trade:

Brooklyn Nets (2020)
Cleveland Cavaliers (2021)
Golden State Warriors (2019)
Los Angeles Clippers (2021)
Los Angeles Lakers (2021)
Memphis Grizzlies (2021)
Miami Heat (2023)
Minnesota Timberwolves (2020)
Oklahoma City Thunder (2022)
Sacramento Kings (2021)

Some of the criteria for the future first-round picks these teams have traded away are more clear-cut than others. In Brooklyn’s case, for instance, things are fairly simple — the 2018 first-rounder they’ve committed to send to the Celtics is unprotected, so it will absolutely change hands in 2018.

On the other hand, the outlook is a little cloudier for a team like the Timberwolves. The 2018 pick they’ve committed to send to the Hawks is lottery protected. While there’s certainly optimism that Minnesota will be a playoff team by 2018, the pick wouldn’t change hands for another year or two if the Wolves remain in the lottery. So if Minnesota wants to include its 2020 first-rounder in a trade, the team would have to include a condition: that second traded pick will only change hands in 2020 if the first traded pick gets sent to Atlanta in 2018.

Meanwhile, the following teams can trade any of their future first-round picks (but can’t leave themselves without a first-rounder in consecutive future years):

Atlanta Hawks
Boston Celtics
Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Dallas Mavericks
Denver Nuggets
Detroit Pistons
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
Milwaukee Bucks
New Orleans Pelicans
New York Knicks
Orlando Magic
Philadelphia 76ers
Phoenix Suns
Portland Trail Blazers
San Antonio Spurs
Toronto Raptors
Utah Jazz
Washington Wizards

The outlook is pretty clear for these teams, and some of them actually do have the flexibility to include consecutive future first-round picks in a trade. Utah, for instance, has the rights to Golden State’s 2017 first-round pick. So, if the Jazz wanted to include its own first-rounders for both 2017 and 2018 in a deal, they could do so, since they’d still have at least one first-round pick in 2017 and 2019.

Information from RealGM.com was used in the creation of this post.

Poll: How Long Will Derrick Rose Remain A Knick?

January 12th, 2017 at 11:37am CST by Luke Adams

Although Derrick Rose spoke optimistically earlier in the season about a possible contract extension with the Knicks, and the team was said to be open to the idea, there were already questions about the long-term outlook of the relationship even before Rose went AWOL on Monday, missing the team’s game against New Orleans.

The Knicks and Rose patched things up following his unexpected absence, with the team accepting the point guard’s explanation and choosing to fine him rather than suspend him. Rose was back in the starting lineup on Wednesday night, and had a solid game, though the Knicks blew a big fourth-quarter lead to the Sixers.

Still, there were reports this week suggesting that the relationship between Rose and head coach Jeff Hornacek is frayed, along with reports that indicated the former MVP’s future in New York looks increasingly uncertain.

Rose is a free agent at season’s end, and while there are rumblings that he could seek a maximum-salary contract, he’s unlikely to land a deal in that neighborhood. His ability to slash and create on offense provides the Knicks with a skill set that their other guards don’t possess, but based on the way the first half has played out, there’s a good chance the team looks elsewhere to fill that point guard position.

If things continue to go south in New York, it’s possible Rose won’t even finish the season with the club — if the Knicks fall out of the playoff race and know they won’t re-sign Rose, there would be little reason to keep him, so a trade or buyout could be in play.

What do you think? Will Rose finish the season in New York? Will he leave in the offseason? Or are the two sides capable of turning things around and making their marriage a long-term one? Vote in our poll below, and jump into the comments section to weigh in with your thoughts!

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote in today’s poll.

Fantasy Hoops: Hawks, Carroll, Hardaway

January 10th, 2017 at 11:19pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The 2016/17 campaign is nearing the half-way mark and Hoops Rumors is examining the fantasy basketball landscape in order to help you dominate the competition. Check back weekly for more fantasy basketball analysis.

Atlanta’s 60-Win Quintet No Longer Makes Music

The Hawks have been pretty busy recently. They traded away Kyle Korver and fielded calls for Paul Millsap over the last week, though it was reported today that the team has informed the power forward that he will not be dealt. Millsap is the last remaining starter from Atlanta’s tremendous 2014/15 team that led the Eastern Conference with 60 wins.

Let’s examine how each starting member of that team is doing this season and rank them according to their fantasy basketball value.

Paul Millsap (Remains with the Hawks): The 31-year-old leads this list because of his ability to reliably contribute in a number of categories. He’s in the top-10 in points, rebounds and assists per game among power forwards and he’s only slightly outside the top-10 in free throw percentage and blocks per game. Draymond Green is the only big man to average more steals per game than him. Factor in his 3-point shooting (making over a shot per game from behind the arc) and his solid field goal percentage overall, and you’ve got one of the most well-rounded fantasy options in the league.
Jeff Teague (Traded to the Pacers during the offseason): Teague took a while to get acclimated to the Pacers, but he’s playing well lately. Entering Tuesday, he’s averaging 17.4 points and 10.1 assists per game while shooting 48.0% from the field over his last 11 contests. He’s in a great situation playing in Indiana’s fast paced offense and he’s on pace to have one of his best seasons as a pro.
Al Horford (Signed with the Celtics during the offseason): Horford also had an adjustment period with his new team this season, a situation that was compounded when he missed nine games because of a concussion. He’s appears to have grown more comfortable in his new home, though his field goal percentage remains an issue. He’s only making 45.2% of his attempts this season, which is his lowest mark since his rookie campaign. That’s due in part to an increase in 3-point attempts, as he’s chucking a career-high 4.4 shots per game from behind the arc. He’s making 1.5 3-pointers per contest, the second highest mark in the league among centers (Brook Lopez is knocking down nearly two per night). The increased usage on the perimeter has hurt his rebounding totals over the last few seasons and this year, it’s impacting that category yet again, as he’s grabbing a career-worst 6.7 rebounds per game.
DeMarre Carroll (Signed with the Raptors during the 2015 offseason): Carroll is a fantasy asset when he’s both healthy and receiving a full complement of minutes. He’s missed over 51% of his games due to injury since signing with Toronto and he’s been limited in many others. However, it appears the team is starting to feel comfortable giving him a full workload, as he’s averaging 37.3 minutes per game over his last four contests. He was particularly impressive over his last two games, where he’s made a total of 10 3-pointers and shot 50.0% from the field.
Kyle Korver (Traded to the Cavs last week): The 35-year-old shooting guard will come off the bench for the defending champs and don’t expect him to contribute much in terms of fantasy. He saw 18 minutes of action in tonight’s loss to Jazz, but only made one of his five field goals. Beyond an occasional spot start, it’s best if he’s left on the waiver wire.

Here’s more fantasy analysis and notes from around the league:

Kent Bazemore re-signed with the Hawks on a massive $70MM deal during the offseason, but he has failed to live up to expectations. Don’t expect his fantasy value to rise too much with Korver out of the picture. Bazemore’s problem isn’t opportunity, it’s a lack of efficiency. He’s shooting the ball more this season than he was last year, though he’s only making a career-low 37.0% of his attempts. Despite the potential for a slightly bigger role, he’s not worth a valuable roster spot at the moment.
Tim Hardaway is the player most likely to benefit from the Korver trade. He’s seeing about four more minutes per game than he was prior to the deal and he’s averaging 17.2 points per game over his last five contests. He’s not a must-own player, but he’s serviceable as a streaming option. He’s available in over 88% of ESPN leagues.
Keep tabs on Clint Capela. The center fractured his left fibula in mid-December and was expected to miss 4-6 weeks. The projected timeline puts him at about halfway through his recovery, though it could take longer for him to regain the role he had with the Rockets prior to being injured. Capela had the third best field goal percentage and had the 10th most blocks per game among centers during the first two months of the season, as I mentioned in a previous edition of Fantasy Hoops.