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NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 1/31/19

January 31st, 2019 at 9:17pm CST by JD Shaw

Here are Thursday’s assignments and recalls from around the NBA G League:

The Hornets have assigned guard Dwayne Bacon to the Greensboro Swarm, general manager Mitch Kupchak announced. Bacon is averaging 4.6 points and 1.6 rebounds per game in 24 appearances with the Hornets this season.
The Cavaliers have recalled Kobi Simmons from the Canton Charge, the team announced in a press release. Simmons has seen action in 31 games with the Charge this season, holding per-game averages of 16.7 points and four rebounds.
The Rockets recalled center Isaiah Hartenstein today, according to the team’s public relations department. Hartenstein was drafted by the Rockets with the No. 43 pick back in 2017.
The Blazers have recalled Anfernee Simons from the Agua Caliente Clippers, president of basketball operations Neil Olshey announced. Simons was originally assigned to Agua Caliente on January 20.

Trade Deadline Targets; James Harden's Unassisted Streak

January 30th, 2019 at 8:42pm CST by Austin Kent

More often than not, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey finds a trade partner ahead of the annual deadline. Although it didn’t happen last year, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes that the team is confident something will transpire this time around.

While the mid-season additions of Austin Rivers and Kenneth Faried have impacted the Rockets’ list of needs, the club could still benefit from making a move for a versatile defender with three-point range.

Morey is said to be extremely active in talks so far this year and the Rockets even offered four first-round picks for Jimmy Butler prior to his trade to the Sixers.

The Rockets care not for your factoid about James Harden scoring 304 consecutive unassisted points, Hunter Atkins of the Houston Chronicle writes. Perhaps more impressively, Mike D’Antoni has coached the two players with the next highest streaks as well (Chris Paul and Steve Nash).

AD Notes: Holiday, Aftermath, Odds, Injury

January 28th, 2019 at 10:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Guard Jrue Holiday admits the main reason he re-signed with the Pelicans was the presence of Anthony Davis, Andrew Lopez of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Holiday signed a five-year, $131.8MM contract in the summer of 2017. “He’s like 90 percent of the reason that I stayed,” Holiday said. “He’s a talent that comes once in a generation. A 7-footer who can do everything at his skill level.” Holiday revealed that Davis notified his teammates over the weekend of his decision to decline a super-max extension with the franchise and request a trade. “He had to what he had to do for his family and what’s best for his career,” Holiday said.

We have more on Davis and the Pelicans:

Davis’ decision is a failure at all levels of the franchise, including Davis himself, Scott Kushner of The Baton Rouge Advocate opines. Davis was unable to carry the franchise on his back, while Pelicans management failed to surround him with enough quality pieces. Instead of methodically building a deep roster of young talent through the draft, the Pelicans tried to take a shortcut into contention and that strategy blew up in their faces, Kushner notes. GM Dell Demps traded away his next seven first-round picks after Davis was drafted and that resulted in a shaky foundation, Kushner adds.
The Lakers are the favorites to land Davis’ services, Nick Goss of NBC Sports Boston relays. Odds posted by B/R Betting have the Celtics as the second choice in the AD sweepstakes, followed by the Knicks, 76ers and Rockets.
Davis won’t play against the Rockets on Tuesday, according to Hunter Atkins of the Houston Chronicle. Davis will miss his fifth consecutive game due to a finger injury.
Davis’ salary options if he’s dealt are broken down in detail by Danny Leroux of The Athletic. Leroux also examines the logistics of making a swap. Any team other than the Kings, who have ample cap space, would have to send out a minimum of $20.25MM to make a trade happen.

Marquese Chriss Gives Rockets Ultimatum

January 28th, 2019 at 11:13am CST by ChrisCrouse

Marquese Chriss‘ camp has spoken with the Rockets about the big man’s desire to see more playing time. If the team can’t find more minutes for Chriss, the preference would be a trade, Chriss’ agent Aaron Goodwin tells Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

“Marquese didn’t ask to be traded to Houston,” Goodwin tells Haynes. “The Rockets are a great organization and the kid has done everything they’ve asked of him to get on the floor. If it’s not going to happen there, we just want him to be treated fairly.”

The former No. 8 overall pick came to the Rockets in the Ryan Anderson deal along with Brandon Knight. Houston declined to pick up Chriss’ fourth-year option and he’ll become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

“I would hate to see a career derailed because teams feel he cannot play at the level he did before the trade,” Goodwin said.

Chriss seemed like a candidate to see more playing time with Clint Capela sidelined, though the team brought in Kenneth Faried and placed another frontcourt player ahead of Chriss on the depth chart. Nene and Isaiah Hartenstein, who was the team’s 2018 second-round pick, have seen more action than Chriss this season.

James Harden Is Excited For Paul's Return

January 27th, 2019 at 9:13pm CST by Eric Spyropoulos

Chris Paul has returned to action for the Rockets, which excites James Harden, as Liam Blackburn writes for Sporting News. Harden has carried an incredible usage and workload over the past month due to a lack of playmakers and scorers across the Rockets’ roster.

James Nunnally Will Play In Italy

January 27th, 2019 at 8:15am CST by Luke Adams

JANUARY 27: Nunnally has signed a two-year deal with Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, according to Sportando.

JANUARY 22, 8:59am: Agent Bill Neff tells Sportando that Milano was one of five teams to make Nunnally an offer before he signed with the Rockets, but the two sides aren’t in agreement on a new deal at this point. Nunnally has not yet decided on his next move, per Neff.

8:45am: After being waived by the Rockets on Monday, veteran swingman James Nunnally is expected to head back overseas, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando, who hears from a source that Nunnally will likely sign a two-year contract with Italian club Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano.

Nunnally, initially released by the Timberwolves earlier this month, reportedly turned down EuroLeague offers to join the Rockets on a 10-day contract, with at least one report suggesting that he was “giving up a lot” by opting to remain in the NBA.

However, the 28-year-old had his 10-day deal terminated after just six days when Houston needed to open up a roster spot to sign Kenneth Faried. Given how quickly he reportedly agreed to terms with Milano, it appears that EuroLeague interest in Nunnally didn’t wane over the last week.

For Nunnally, the move overseas will represent a return to the European leagues where he has enjoyed his most professional success. He averaged 18.4 PPG in 30 Italian League games in 2015/16 for Sidigas Avellino before joining Fenerbahce for the next two seasons. Last season, in 29 EuroLeague contests, he shot a sizzling 55.4% on three-pointers, averaging 9.3 PPG for the Turkish squad.

Assuming Nunnally makes his deal with Milano official, it will presumably rule out a return to the NBA this season. It’s not clear if the agreement would include a potential NBA out for the 2019 offseason.

Chris Paul Expected To Return Sunday

January 25th, 2019 at 11:27am CST by Luke Adams

Meanwhile, a division rival got some promising injury news this week. The Rockets are expected to get Chris Paul back in their lineup on Sunday, head coach Mike D’Antoni confirmed today (Twitter link via Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun). While Paul isn’t quite ready to return from his hamstring ailment on Friday night against Toronto, he’d play if it were a playoff game, D’Antoni said.

NBA Announces 2019 All-Star Starters

January 24th, 2019 at 6:26pm CST by JD Shaw

The NBA announced the starters and captains for the 2019 All-Star Game on Thursday, with the Lakers’ LeBron James and Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo being named team captains for their respective conferences.

The Western Conference starters are comprised of James, Warriors stars Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, Rockets guard James Harden, and Thunder forward Paul George.

Antetokounmpo, Hornets guard Kemba Walker, Celtics guard Kyrie Irving, Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard, and Sixers center Joel Embiid were named starters in the Eastern Conference.

James (4,620,809 votes) and Antetokounmpo (4,375,747 votes) received the most fan votes from each conference in the past month, giving them the honors of being captains this season.

James and Antetokounmpo will draft their teams from the list of these starters and reserves on Thursday, February 7, hours after the NBA’s trade deadline. The All-Star Game will take place on Sunday, February 17, with the reserve players set to be announced next Thursday night.

We made our All-Star picks for the Western Conference and Eastern Conference earlier this week.

Heat Notes: Ellington, McGruder, Grizzlies, Olynyk

January 23rd, 2019 at 8:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

Trading Wayne Ellington would give the Heat just enough cap relief to escape the luxury tax, writes salary cap expert Albert Nahmad for HeatHoops. Miami currently projects to be $6.2698MM over the tax line and Ellington’s salary is $6.27MM, so if the Heat can find a deal in which they don’t take any money back, they would be in the clear by $159.

However, Nahmad notes that won’t be easy to accomplish. Only six teams have the ability to make such a trade with Miami, but the Hornets and Pistons would put themselves into tax territory, the Thunder and Wizards are already over the threshold and may not want to take on more salary and the Kings aren’t likely to be interested in using their cap room because they already have Buddy Hield.

Nahmad identifies the Nuggets, who are $6.9MM below the tax line and have a pair of trade exceptions worth $12.8MM and $13.8MM, as the most likely team to take on Ellington. His salary would be pro-rated at $2.2MM if he’s acquired at the February 7 deadline, and the Heat can trade up to $5.3MM in cash to help offset that.

However, it’s not certain that another shooter is Denver’s top priority. Any other club that trades for Ellington would have to send out at least $3.5MM in salary, which means a third team would have to get involved to make it work for Miami. Nahmad cites the Lakers, Rockets and possibly the Thunder as other potential contenders for Ellington.

There’s more news from Miami:

The Heat have been working on deals to ease their overcrowded roster and Rodney McGruder may be a candidate to get traded, a source tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. The source adds that McGruder would be a good fit for the Celtics, who could use an all-around role player and wouldn’t mind adding his expiring $1.5MM contract. The Heat may not get more than a second-round pick for McGruder, but won’t be in a great position to re-sign him this summer because of their cap situation.
In the same story, Jackson states that the Heat don’t seem like a good fit for the Grizzlies’ Marc Gasol or Mike Conley, who are reportedly now available on the trade market. Jackson cites Conley’s $32.5MM salary for next season and $34.5MM in 2020/21 as too much for Miami to take on, while Memphis may not be interested in the collection of players — James Johnson, Kelly Olynyk and Dion Waiters — that would need to be included to match the salaries of Gasol and Chandler Parsons, whom the Grizzlies would like to move in a trade involving the center.
Olynyk is the latest player to fall out of the Heat’s frequently changing rotation, notes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The backup center didn’t play in the second half Saturday, then was held out of Monday’s game. “You look at the game saying, ‘I definitely think I can help out there. I can make an impact, make a difference,'” Olynyk said. “But Coach has to do his job and I don’t envy him, because it’s not an easy job.

Bulls Notes: Carmelo Trade, Boylen, Forman, Rose

January 23rd, 2019 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls will receive $1,566,570 in cash from the Rockets in the Carmelo Anthony trade, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (via Twitter). As was the case with the deal the two teams completed earlier in the month involving Michael Carter-Williams, Houston will send that cash in installments — 10 payments of $66,657 will be followed by a lump sum of $900K before July, according to Pincus, who adds that Chicago didn’t require Anthony to pass a physical or report to the team to finalize the swap.

Each NBA team is permitted to send and receive no more than $5.243MM in trades during the 2018/19 league year. As our breakdown of traded cash shows, Houston is now nearly at its limit, with only about $566K still available to send out. Chicago, meanwhile, could still receive up to about $2.61MM.

Here’s more on the Bulls:

Mark Schanowski of NBC Sports Chicago identifies a number of important issues the Bulls will be evaluating during the second half of the season, including whether or not head coach Jim Boylen should return next season, Kris Dunn‘s potential to be the club’s long-term answer at point guard, and whether Bobby Portis deserves a lucrative new deal in the offseason.
In a column for The Chicago Sun-Times, Joe Cowley makes a case for why the Bulls need to strongly consider replacing general manager Gar Forman.
Meanwhile, over at The Chicago Tribune, K.C. Johnson argues that this offseason is the right time for the Bulls to bring former MVP Derrick Rose back home to Chicago.
During an appearance on Nate Duncan’s Dunc’d On podcast, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports revisited the near–revolt that took place early in Jim Boylen‘s tenure as Bulls head coach, noting that Zach LaVine was “kind of running things” and that Robin Lopez was the veteran who helped hold things together.