- The Rockets have no immediate plans to fill the roster spot that opened after they released Ryan Anderson on Monday, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. However, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle notes (via Twitter) that the club is planning to eventually have to convert two-way player Chris Clemons to a standard contract.
- Rockets guard Eric Gordon, who underwent a procedure on his knee last week, said he has been dealing with that injury for “almost a year.” It got worse recently and Gordon is relieved to have addressed it via surgery (video link via Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston). The veteran guard said his goal is to return by around Christmas, which matches the six-week recovery timeline initially announced by the team.
James Harden might make NBA history this season, the kind of history that only one all-time luminary has ever achieved before. James Harden might average at least 40 points a game.
The 30 year-old Rockets guard may scale a height only heretofore reached by the Big Dipper himself, Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt the Stilt averaged 50.4 PPG in 1961/62 for the then-Philadelphia Warriors. He reached a similarly insane 44.8 PPG the next season, after the team had relocated and rebranded itself the San Francisco Warriors. Keep in mind, the three-point line did not exist in the NBA until the 1979/80 season.
Harden is currently averaging an eyeball-popping 39.5 PPG in 2019/20, to go along with 7.8 APG and 5.6 RPG. Yes, it might just be a scorching hot start, just 13 games into this young season. But the reason Harden might really hit the big 4-0 is fairly simple: he actually is not shooting that well yet.
His 39.5 PPG tally is being achieved while he shoots 41.7% from the field and 33.2% from behind the three-point line. He is shooting 14.6 long-range attempts a night. For his career, Harden is connecting on 44.2% of his field goals and 36.4% of his three-point tries. That efficiency was not abetted by the 49 points Harden scored when the Rockets beat the Timberwolves 125-105 on November 15th. He connected on just 16 of a career-high 41 field goal attempts.
Harden was named his conference’s Player of the Week for his phenomenal offensive work last week (he received the same honor the week prior). His highest scoring average prior to this season was a league-leading 36.1 PPG, achieved last year.
Outside of the obvious big personnel change this season, why is Harden scoring so much? As was mentioned in today’s edition of the Brian Windhorst and the Hoop Collective Podcast on ESPN, a pace change has been key. In replacing half-court specialist Chris Paul with speed demon Russell Westbrook, the Rockets ramped up their pace, which has translated into more possessions, and thus more opportunities for Harden to score. Houston has transitioned from the 26th-fastest team in the NBA last season to the third-fastest so far this year.
Harden’s scoring has helped his Rockets keep pace in the chippy Western Conference as they battle through injuries to several core pieces. The team has won its last seven games in a row after starting out the season 3-3. They currently sit second in the West. Houston will try to strengthen its record when the Trail Blazers come to town tonight.
So will The Beard average 40 points a game in a season? Will he at least come close to that lofty number? Weigh in with our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
2:04pm: The Rockets have officially waived Anderson, the team’s PR department tweets.
12:30pm: The Rockets will waive forward/center Ryan Anderson, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports.
It’s an uninspiring and swift end to Anderson’s second stint with the franchise. He signed a partially guaranteed contract after being waived by Miami under the stretch provision. Anderson received a $500K guarantee on his $2,564,753 salary when he made the opening night roster.
Anderson is still collecting on the four-year, $80MM deal that Houston gave him in the summer of 2016. He spent two years with the team before being traded to Phoenix last August in a salary dump. The Suns shipped him to Miami in February and he was waived in July.
Anderson played just 14 minutes this season and remained glued to the bench despite the team being shorthanded last week due to injuries, including a concussion suffered by starting center Clint Capela.
Over the course of the 2019/20 NBA season, up until February’s trade deadline, we’re keeping an eye on potential trade candidates from around the NBA, monitoring their value and exploring the likelihood that they’ll be moved. Each of these looks at possible trade candidates focuses on a specific division, as we zero in on three players from that division.
Although the Spurs don’t typically make splashy in-season trades, the Southwest could still end up being one of the NBA’s busiest divisions in 2019/20 in terms of trade activity. The Rockets and Mavericks are in position to buyers, while the Pelicans and Grizzlies may seek out deals that position them to better build around the top two picks from the 2019 draft.
Let’s focus on three players out of the Southwest who could emerge as trade candidates before this season’s deadline…
Andre Iguodala, G/F
Memphis Grizzlies
$17.19MM cap hit; UFA in 2020
Iguodala is perhaps the most obvious trade candidate in the NBA at the moment. The Grizzlies are so resigned to the fact that the veteran wing has no future in Memphis that they’re not even requiring him to be with the team, having reached an agreement in September allowing him not to report to camp.
While the Grizzlies are holding out hope that a favorable trade emerges for Iguodala, many of his primary suitors don’t have much to offer to match his $17MM+ salary and may rather wait to see if he’s bought out. A recent survey of executives conducted by David Aldridge of The Athletic revealed that most people around the league expect Iguodala to end up with the Lakers, but they have no realistic path to a trade, given the construction of their roster.
It makes sense for the Grizzlies to be patient with this process. Iguodala would fit in well on just about every NBA roster, and more buyers could emerge by January or February, increasing Memphis’ leverage.
Courtney Lee, SG
Dallas Mavericks
$12.76MM cap hit; UFA in 2020
Lee had one of his best seasons as a pro in 2017/18, averaging 12.0 PPG on .454/.406/.919 shooting, but he has been slowed by injuries since then and isn’t currently a fixture in the Mavericks‘ rotation.
Although he doesn’t have positive value, Lee’s expiring contract would be Dallas’ best salary-matching piece if the club goes out in search of an upgrade. The team is well below the tax line, so taking on some extra money in a deal involving Lee wouldn’t be an issue.
By way of example, the Mavs could offer Lee and another asset to the Grizzlies for Iguodala (and perhaps already have). Although there’s a gap between their cap charges, the NBA’s trade rules would allow Dallas to take back up to $17.76MM in exchange for Lee alone.
Nene, C
Houston Rockets
$10MM cap hit; $10MM non-guaranteed cap hit for 2020/21
When the Rockets gave Nene an incentive-heavy contract that was only fully guaranteed for $2.56MM (his minimum salary), the idea was to create a trade chip like the one the Mavericks have with Lee. Because the deal featured $7.44MM in incentives deemed “likely,” Nene’s cap hit is technically $10MM, but as long as he doesn’t play more than nine games, he ultimately won’t count for more than $2.56MM against his team’s cap.
Unfortunately for Daryl Morey and the Rockets’ front office, that plan backfired, as the NBA ruled that only the guaranteed portion of Nene’s contract can be counted for salary-matching purposes. That significantly limits his trade value.
Still, it’s not as if Nene now has no value as a trade chip. On his own, he could bring back a player earning up to about $4.59MM. Paired with a little-used player like Isaiah Hartenstein, the Rockets could acquire a player earning up to approximately $7.07MM. That could still come in handy when the deadline rolls around.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NOVEMBER 13: The Rockets announced today in a press release that Gordon has undergone a right knee arthroscopy and will miss approximately six weeks.
NOVEMBER 12: Rockets guard Eric Gordon will undergo surgery on his knee, a source tells Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Speaking today to reporters, head coach Mike D’Antoni confirmed the news (video link via Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston).
Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) first reported that Gordon was gathering information on a knee issue and was leaning toward undergoing a clean-up procedure.
Gordon is expected to be sidelined for at least a month and could ultimately miss up to six weeks, league sources tell Charania (Twitter link). Feigen, who says the surgery will remove debris from Gordon’s knee, tweets that the Rockets are planning to be without the veteran shooting guard for six weeks.
It doesn’t appear that Gordon suffered a new injury in the Rockets’ most recent game — according to D’Antoni, the knee had been bothering the 30-year-old since last season. Gordon was off to a slow start in 2019/20, with just 10.9 PPG on .309/.284/.643 shooting through nine games, so the club will hope that addressing that knee issue helps jump-start his season once he’s recovered and ready to return.
With Gordon on the shelf, Ben McLemore, Austin Rivers, and Chris Clemons are the top candidates to play increased roles for Houston, as D’Antoni told reporters today.
Here are Tuesday’s assignments and recalls from around the NBA G League:
- Victor Oladipo was assigned to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants to practice with the G League squad. He then was recalled by the Pacers and as Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (Twitter link), there remains no timetable for his return. Oladipo has another appointment with his doctor in a few weeks, according to Scott Agness of The Athletic (Twitter link), who hears the shooting guard has impressed during drills.
- The Clippers have assigned two players to the G League. Mfiondu Kabengele and Derrick Walton Jr. will both report to the Agua Caliente Clippers, per the team’s Twitter feed.
- The Knicks have recalled Ignas Brazdeikis from the Westchester Knicks, per the team’s Twitter feed. New York’s second-round pick was sent to the G League on Monday.
- The Celtics have assigned four players to the G League for practice and then recalled each one. Grant Williams, Vincent Poirier, Carsen Edwards and Romeo Langford all practiced with the Maine Red Claws today.
- The Rockets sent Gary Clark and Isaiah Hartenstein to the G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, as Mark Berman of Fox26 tweets.
Chris Paul was sent to the Thunder this offseason and the move doesn’t seem to sit well with him. The point guard recently sat down with Kevin Hart and the comedian asked Paul if any trade he’s been involved in has felt like he was “stabbed in the back” — CP3’s response was noteworthy.
“Absolutely,” Paul said of having the feeling of being stabbed in the back (via Dan Feldman of NBC Sports). “This last situation was one of them. The GM there in Houston, he don’t owe me nothing. You know what I mean? He may tell me one thing but do another thing. But you just understand that that’s what it is.”
Back in June, GM Daryl Morey told the media that he would not trade Paul and ended up dealing him and a pair of first-rounders to OKC for Russell Westbrook this summer. Paul has been traded three times in his career (four if you include the Lakers veto).
Star forward Paul George is expected to make his debut as a member of the Clippers on Thursday in New Orleans, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
George has spent the first three weeks of the regular season recovering from a pair of shoulder surgeries he underwent in the spring after the Thunder’s season came to an end.
There was an expectation that he’d miss about 10 games to start the season before targeting this week’s back-to-back set in Houston (Wednesday) and New Orleans (Thursday) for his return. Barring a setback, the plan is for him to sit out the game against the Rockets before suiting up vs. the Pelicans, says Haynes.
George’s return is great news for a Clippers team that may be without Landry Shamet, who is undergoing an MRI today on his sprained left ankle. If Shamet misses time, the rest of the Clippers should play similar minutes with George back in the lineup. Once the roster is fully healthy, some of those players figure to have their roles adjusted.
Kawhi Leonard, who is on a load-management plan, will likely sit out one game of the Clippers’ back-to-back set, but it’s unclear at this point whether that will happen Wednesday or Thursday.
The storyline that dominated NBA headlines during the preseason has fallen off the radar to some extent with the regular season underway, but that doesn’t mean league and team executives aren’t still concerned about the NBA’s relationship with China.
League sources tell Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com that NBA leadership is monitoring the trade negotiations between the United States and China in the hopes that a resolution on that front will help thaw the league’s relationships in its “most profitable foreign market.” Those relationships have been frosty since Rockets general manager Daryl Morey published a tweet supporting pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong.
Tencent – the NBA’s streaming partner in China – has resumed broadcasting games, but still isn’t showing Rockets contests, as Arnovitz details. Meanwhile, China’s state-run network CCTV hasn’t shown any regular season games at all. While the NBA has remained in contact with CCTV officials, there’s no sense of when the impasse may be resolved.
Arnovitz’s full story at ESPN.com provides an exhaustive, in-depth look at where things stand between the NBA and China, and is worth reading in full. Here are a few more highlights from the report:
- Terminated sponsorships with Chinese companies have affected teams around the NBA, not just the league itself, according to Arnovitz, who hears that one club immediately reduced its 2019/20 projections for revenue derived from Chinese sponsorships to zero. The Rockets have been hit particularly hard, having lost $7MM+ in cancelled sponsorship agreements for this season, and $20MM overall once multiyear deals are taken into account.
- Beyond the financial ramifications, some NBA front offices have been “shaken by the turmoil” caused by the drama with China, league sources tell ESPN. As Arnovitz explains, the league has enjoyed increasing revenues and positive media coverage for years, but the China controversy has tested the idea that any issue can be managed.
- Many team executives would like the league to establish guidelines for dealing with potentially sensitive political topics, since teams and players will likely have to answer those questions in the future — especially on trips to China and India, among other countries. League sources have acknowledged the need for those guidelines, Arnovitz says.
- Rival executives don’t expect this controversy will impact Morey’s ability to do his job. However, sources close to the Rockets view the marriage of Morey and team owner Tilman Fertitta as a “tenuous fit,” according to Arnovitz. Fertitta has been more averse to paying the tax than his predecessor Leslie Alexander was, and quickly denounced Morey’s tweet last month, announcing that the GM’s views didn’t reflect that of the organization.
Rockets center Clint Capela is off to a slow start compared to last season and a sore right shoulder is partially to blame, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon tweets. Capela injured the shoulder playing for the Swiss national team this summer and has been working to strengthen it. It has especially affected him when trying to dunk with one hand and reaching for rebounds, MacMahon adds. Capela is averaging 13.5 PPG and 7.1 RPG through the first eight games after averaging 16.6 PPG and 12.7 RPG last season.
We have more on the Rockets:
- Coach Mike D’Antoni is second-guessing himself for taking it too easy on his players during camp, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Houston split its first six games before winning its last two outings. “I’m also kind of responsible. I was saving their legs in the preseason so that near the end of the year we’ll be fresher,” D’Antoni said. “I can’t also be crazy because they’re not quite in shape. We’re working on it.”
- TV analyst and former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy believes James Harden should get more credit for resisting the load management strategy that many other teams are using for their stars, Feigen writes. “Everybody is so hypercritical of everything Harden does. He should be absolutely lauded [for wanting to play 82 games],” Van Gundy said. ” It’s like the Rolling Stones came through here and don’t bring Mick (Jagger.) It would be the same thing if Harden doesn’t show up.”
- The team should be much more worried about Eric Gordon’s shooting woes rather than Harden’s early slump, John Hollinger of The Athletic opines. Gordon is having a harder time getting to and finishing at the rim and that raises concerns, However, the team’s biggest long-term issues are their lack of overall interior size on defense and the fact that Russell Westbrook is a downgrade from Chris Paul at that end, Hollinger adds.
- Ben McLemore, who has taken all but three of his 38 shots this season from beyond the arc, has solidified his rotation spot, Feigen writes a separate story.