Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay has been in several trade rumors these last few weeks, and the combination of his expensive contract and team's need for outside shooting makes it possible one of them comes true. Where will he end up at the end of the season?
Earlier today, it was reported that the Maloofs were finalizing an agreement to sell the Kings to a Seattle-based group led by investor Chris Hansen. That's certainly cause for celebration for the basketball widows in Seattle, but the deal isn't as close to being completed as first thought.
We've been through this before with the Maloofs. There have been rumors of the team being sold over the years and in 2012 they were being courted by the city of Virginia Beach. Of course, all of that conjecture has yet to manifest itself in the form of a sale or a move. It seems that most NBA fans outside of Sacramento are on board with the Sonics 2.0, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the transaction will go through. When all is said and done, do you think we will see the Association return to the Emerald City?
When the 1-4 Lakers fired Mike Brown, it was hard to imagine the season getting much worse in Los Angeles. But nearly 30 games later, despite playing a reasonable schedule, with more home than road games, the Lakers are still three games under .500, at 15-18. Los Angeles currently sits 3.5 games back of the 20-16 Nuggets and Trail Blazers for the Western Conference's final two playoff spots.
As Ric Bucher of the 95.7 The Game points out (via Sulia), we may be nearing a tipping point, where the idea of the Lakers making the postseason is more far-fetched than the idea that they won't. After all, if Denver's and Portland's current pace of 46 wins represents the price of admission to the postseason in the West, the Lakers would have to go 31-18 the rest of the way to get there. For a team that's currently without Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard, and Jordan Hill, that could be a very tall order.
Still, as Zach Lowe of Grantland writes, the Lakers have had a borderline top-five offense and the NBA's eighth-best point differential, which suggests some potential for a turnaround. And it's not as if they'd have to pass a collection of juggernauts in the Western Conference standings. The Timberwolves are banged up, the Jazz have played sub-.500 ball, and two of the teams currently in the top eight, the Rockets and Trail Blazers, are young and fairly unproven.
One thing is clear: The Lakers can no longer be considered a playoff lock. And if the team does crack the top eight, it figures to face a team like the Thunder, Clippers, or Spurs in the first round, without homecourt advantage. What do you think? Will the Lakers make a second-half run and appear in the postseason, or will the injuries and the slow start be too much to overcome?
The Timberwolves are currently in ninth place in the Western Conference, fighting for a playoff spot with the Lakers, Mavericks, and Jazz hot on their heels. But news today of Kevin Love missing time with a broken right hand could deter those playoff plans.
With the trade deadline looming, do you think Minnesota will sell assets (Derrick Williams, Andrei Kirilenko), add pieces that could help them in the short term, or do nothing?
Gordon Monson of the Salt Lake Tribune wrote an interesting column today regarding the current state of the Utah Jazz. Despite having a roster filled with talented young pieces and valuable veterans, a variety of factors have the Jazz trapped in NBA mediocrity.
Most important, they simply aren't good enough as currently constructed and will likely be a fringe playoff team. Additionally, Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson are both unrestricted free agents at the end of the year. Utah has never been a traditional landing spot for big name free agents, nor has it had a great track record of keeping its best players (see Deron Williams). So what should the Jazz do?
The easy answer is to move Millsap and Jefferson this season for draft picks and/or young assets, especially when you consider that the team's best young players – Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward and Enes Kanter – play similar positions to them and would receive valuable bumps in playing time. That is essentially what they did with Williams. But compiling a team of 20-to-24 year olds, while it looks good on paper, is a risk in itself. For every Oklahoma City Thunder type result, there are teams that spend a decade in the lottery taking this approach.
Should Utah decide to make a run at a playoff spot, they could keep their big man duo and either attempt to re-sign one or both of them after the year or look to replace them with other free agents. But again, the Jazz have had limited success luring any free agents to Utah, much less impactful ones.
Every option comes with a certain level of uncertainty. So what would you do if you were running the Jazz? And please, feel free to expand on your selection in the comments section, especially if you selected "Other."
In his column yesterday for NBA.com, TNT's David Aldridge listed what he felt were the 10 biggest NBA stories of 2012, including Linsanity, the Dwightmare, and the Lakers' drama in Los Angeles.
On New Year's Day, it seems appropriate to look back on the year that was, and the stories that dominated headlines for the last 12 months. Today's poll asks which story you felt was the biggest of the year. When you think about 2012 a few years down the road, what will be the first thing that comes to mind? LeBron James' first title? The Nets' move to Brooklyn? Jeremy Lin's magical run in New York? Or something else?
Weigh in with your thoughts in the poll and in the comments section.
Earlier today it was reported that Rockets rookie forward Royce White would decline his D-league assignment. In other news that's possibly related, the Rockets signed free agent forward James Anderson to a non-guaranteed three-year contract.
According to the Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen, White's contract is worth $1.6MM this season and $1.8MM next season, with both seasons guaranteed. If the Rockets cut him without showing cause, White would have to be paid the balance of the guaranteed two seasons of his contract. But they could try to show he had not fulfilled his contract.
Should they keep him around? Or is this situation too far gone?
When the Lakers fired Mike Brown five games into the 2012/13 season, many observers felt that the team should have given Brown more time to get everyone on an overhauled roster on the same page. Avery Johnson received a little more time from the Nets than Brown did from the Lakers, but it was still a surprising decision.
The Nets fired Johnson mere weeks after he was named Coach of the Month for November, and Avery Johnson Jr. isn't the only one that feels the move was premature. The Nets were just 14-14 when the change was made, a pace not far off from what many predicted for the team, as Grantland's Zach Lowe pointed out yesterday. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich lamented the Nets' impatience with Johnson at San Antonio's shootaround today, calling Johnson a "very good coach" who was victimized by circumstances (link via Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News).
On the other hand, the Nets were coming off a pair of embarrassing losses, and Deron Williams had publicly questioned Johnson's offensive system last week. Throw in Kris Humphries' demotion and the mixed results of Johnson's small-ball lineup, and there were enough factors in play to make a case that coaching decisions were becoming a real concern in Brooklyn.
What do you think? Should the Nets have given Johnson more time to right the ship, or was it time to make a change?
After a red-hot start to the season, things have cooled down rather quickly in Brooklyn. The Nets are now 14-12 following today’s ugly win over the Sixers – not quite cause for absolute panic, but it’s certainly not the kind of record the Nets hoped to have after spending major money this summer. The Nets re-upped Deron Williams on a max deal, gave Gerald Wallace $40MM over four years, and inked Brook Lopez to a four-year, $60MM pact. This offseason’s biggest addition – All-Star guard Joe Johnson – is set to earn nearly $90MM through 2015/16. But the player being most scrutinized these days is forward Kris Humphries, who re-signed with the Nets on a two-year, $24MM deal.
Of course, Avery Johnson has taken his fair share of criticism from people in recent weeks (including a certain point guard wearing No. 8), but Humphries might be the biggest scapegoat on the floor. After starting more than 100 games for the Nets over the past two seasons, Humphries saw himself demoted to the bench in the midst of the club’s five-game slide. After getting back in the starting five for back-to-back games, the 27-year-old was left in his warmups this afternoon while Keith Bogans started in a downsized lineup with Reggie Evans and Andray Blatche offering support in the frontcourt.
Johnson says that Hump isn’t in the doghouse, but it’s hard to believe based on the way that he has been phased out of the rotation. Humphries has survived adversity before, from his lack of playing time in Utah, Toronto, and Dallas to the constant heckling that he endured last season thanks to a high-profile split with a certain Page Six mainstay. However, this might be a case where a trade will benefit both the player and the team.
Whether or not the Kings' long-term plans involve DeMarcus Cousins, the team will eventually have to address the topic. Last season, just a few days after then-head coach Paul Westphal had barred Cousins from being with the team, Westphal had been fired in what some believed was management's way of resolving the issue of them not getting along. After a recent clash with current coach Keith Smart and a suspension for conduct detrimental to the team, one could only wonder how Sacramento will try to handle this situation moving forward. Also, Tom Ziller of SBNation.com also points out that Cousins' decision to sever ties with agent John Grieg poses some significance, as Grieg was known to be somewhat of a good buffer between Cousins and Smart (Twitter link).
Similar to how Javale McGee and Andray Blatche have demonstrated in their respective post-Wizards careers, a change in scenery can possibly be beneficial for a young player who may not be in a situation that fits him best. In the event that the Kings were looking for a deal, which team would be the best suitor for Cousins?