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Central Notes: George, Kaun, Van Gundy

March 19th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Paul George should come back to play if he’s healthy enough to do so before season’s end, but not so he can help the Pacers win more games down the stretch, argues Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. Instead, the focus should be on helping George shake off the rust so he can be ready to go full-speed next season, even if there’s concern that inserting him into the lineup would disrupt the rhythm of this year’s team, Aschburner believes. Here’s more from around the Central Division, which has a strong chance to send the Pacers and three other teams to the playoffs this year:

The Cavs are giving thought to signing draft-and-stash prospect Sasha Kaun this summer, according to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia. The 29-year-old from Kansas is on an expiring contract with Russia’s CSKA Moscow, as Mark Porcaro shows in our Draft Rights Held Players database, and Carchia hears that Kaun has told the Russian club that he won’t be back next season. Cavs coach David Blatt coached Kaun on the Russian national team, Carchia notes.
The Pistons are in line for the seventh overall pick pending the lottery, as our Reverse Standings show, but coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy admits that he hasn’t seen an entire Kentucky game all year, MLive’s David Mayo observes. Van Gundy’s coaching duties have kept him from seeing much college basketball at all this season, and breaking down prospects is a task that he’s left to scouts and other staffers, as Mayo details. Still, Van Gundy added that he intends to watch video before the draft of just about every game the top 10 or 15 prospects played this season, according to Mayo.
Draft-and-stash signee Nikola Mirotic has raised his game to fill the void of the injured Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson, turning into the sort of shooter the Bulls had hoped fellow rookie Doug McDermott would become, writes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com.

Atlantic Notes: Noel, Knicks, Young, KG

March 17th, 2015 at 3:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Rookie Nerlens Noel is already essentially the centerpiece of the Sixers, and he has no complaints about the team’s radical rebuilding, as Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com examines.

“I love the direction that we’re heading in,” Noel said. “I love what [GM] Sam Hinkie is doing with our team: building through the draft, getting young guys and being very particular about the pieces that he brings into this organization. I think this is going to be a very solid team in the next few years and we’re just going to continue to grow together.”

Noel, unlike many other rookies who were drafted in the first round, is set for free agency in 2017, and not 2018, because he signed his rookie scale contract before sitting out the entire 2013/14 season with injury. So, it appears he’ll benefit from a cap surge instead of a potential cap drop like his fellow rookies, as I examined. Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

The amount of cash the Knicks sent the Pacers this past June for the rights to 57th overall pick Louis Labeyrie was $1.5MM, a league source told Marc Berman of the New York Post. That counted against New York’s 2013/14 traded cash limit and doesn’t apply toward the $3.3MM the team can send out in trades between the end of the regular season and June 30th this year. Labeyrie recently signed a one-year extension with Paris Levallois in France, so a buyout would have to be paid for him to sign with the Knicks for next season, according to Berman.
The Nets‘ acquisition of Thaddeus Young for Kevin Garnett helped the team get younger, but it doesn’t erase the ill-fated trade for Garnett and Paul Pierce from 2013, opines Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. Garnett did fill a leadership role, but no one has stepped into that void in his absence, Bondy also argues.
Brooklyn owes its first-round pick to Boston in 2016 because of that Garnett-Pierce trade, and Tim Bontemps of the New York Post examines how that dynamic and others makes Young’s decision about his player option for next season a crucial one for the Nets.
The Celtics have once more assigned James Young to the D-League, the team announced. It’s the 10th time that Boston has sent 2014’s 17th overall pick on D-League assignment this season, though none of his previous nine trips have covered more than three days.

Central Notes: Jackson, Bulls, Love, Pacers

March 15th, 2015 at 9:00am CST by ChrisCrouse

The Pistons are only 1-10 since Reggie Jackson made his debut. The team parted with D.J. Augustin and Kyle Singler to obtain the point guard at this year’s deadline and Jackson hasn’t been spectacular since coming to Detroit, especially on the defensive end. However, I believe the team’s woes have just as much to do with losing Singler as they do with Jackson’s struggles. The Pistons did not have much depth before the deadline and making a two-for-one trade further diminished an area of weakness. Detroit sits at 23-43 on the season, which is seven games behind Charlotte for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Here’s more from the Central Division:

The Bulls have lost four out of their last five games and coach Tom Thibodeau is concerned about how the team is playing, writes Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com. “Everyone is going through the same thing right now, you’re headed down the stretch,” Thibodeau said. “So if your house is not in order now, you’re in trouble.” Chicago currently has a 14-man roster, as our Expanded Roster Counts Page indicates. Adding someone, even on a 10-day contract, to help the team while Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler recover from their respective injuries, may be something the team should look into.
The Cavs‘ recent stretch of success has helped Kevin Love cope with his struggles this season, writes Michael Wallace of ESPN.com. “Everything is easier when you’re winning,” Love said. “So you can have some really good games, and then some tough times. The rotation might be different. But as long as you’re winning, it kind of makes up for everything. And that’s the kind of way it’s been here.” In my latest poll, nearly 60% of Hoops Rumors’ readers believe Love will leave Cleveland in the offseason.
Paul George‘s return may be dominating headlines in Indiana, but the team is focused on making the playoffs with the players currently on the court, writes Shaun Powell of NBA.com. “Honestly, we’re not even thinking about Paul right now,” coach Frank Vogel said. “How effective is he going to be having not played in a year? This is a serious injury. He still has a lot of hurdles to pass before he even gets back on the court. We’re trying to become the best possible team we can be without him and if he gets back, that’s just going to be a bonus.” The Pacers own a record of 30-35, which is good for seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

Atlantic Notes: Noel, Young, Pressey, Turner

March 14th, 2015 at 8:21pm CST by Arthur Hill

Nerlens Noel hopes to be a part of the Sixers‘ long-term plans, according to Tom Moore of Calkins Media. Noel, technically still a rookie after sitting out last season with an injury, has seen a lot of change during his brief time in Philadelphia. But he hopes the Sixers’ core group will stay together, even if the team brings in someone like Duke’s Jahlil Okafor with a high draft pick. “I really hope nothing happens,” Noel said. “I like this team. I like what we’re building. I hope we can stick together and continue to grow.”

There’s more news from the Atlantic Division:

Former Sixer Thaddeus Young, now with the Nets, told Moore he hasn’t made up his mind about free agency this summer (Twitter link). “I’m not a free agent [yet],” Young said. “I have to [decline] my option” to become a free agent. Young will make more than $9.7MM next season if he doesn’t opt out.
An occasional great game helps the Celtics‘ Phil Pressey deal with the frustration of being stuck on the bench, writes Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. The second-year guard may not be in Boston’s regular rotation, but he made his presence known with a 10-point, 10-assist performance Friday against Orlando. Coach Brad Stevens has noticed Pressey’s effort. “He works the right way,” Stevens said. “If he doesn’t play he’s the loudest guy on the bench, and if he does play he’s an energizer. And he’s not going to play perfect, but nobody is, and if you can sustain that and not get down and be confident there’s always a role for him. And that’s a great compliment.”
Pacers coach Frank Vogel admits current Celtics guard Evan Turner was a bad fit in Indiana last season, tweets Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star. “If I needed a guy and wanted to put the ball in his hands 30-40 times,” Vogel said, “he would’ve been the guy.” (Twitter link). But the coach added that wasn’t what the Pacers needed last season. (Twitter link).

Central Notes: George, Miller, Jackson

March 13th, 2015 at 6:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Pacers fans may have to wait a bit longer than anticipated for Paul George to make his return to the court, Matthew Glenesk of USA Today writes. The swingman has been increasingly hesitant to discuss when or if he’ll be playing this season, Glenesk notes. The 24-year-old has been experiencing increased soreness in his injured leg as he attempts to work his way into game shape. George also worries about disrupting Indiana’s team chemistry, the USA Today scribe adds. “I’m on the fence,” George said. “Part of me is, they’re playing so well, they’ve come together, to shake up the chemistry and add another body, another player in there. I don’t want to be that guy that destroys what these guys have going.”

Here’s more from the Central Division:

The Pistons wouldn’t have made the Reggie Jackson trade if Brandon Jennings hadn’t torn his Achilles tendon, and the team would likely match an offer of $13-14MM a year to Jackson when he’s a restricted free agent this summer, as MLive’s David Mayo writes in his mailbag column. Mayo also figures the team will target Paul Millsap this summer.
Quincy Miller showed the Pistons enough potential in practice that the team inked him to a deal that includes the remainder of this season, the summer league, and training camp next season, Keith Langlois of NBA.com writes. “We’ve seen a couple of practices and we know what we had before,” Detroit coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said of Miller. “He’s a guy with size and length and athletic ability and can shoot the ball. He’s somebody that we want to see.“
Van Gundy noted that inking Miller wasn’t a high-risk move on the team’s part, Langlois adds. “It’s not a huge investment for us,” Van Gundy said. “We’re getting it set up so we have him through the summer and through training camp next year, so we get a good, long look at him. He’s a guy that’s got great potential to develop. He’s a really, really hard worker, so we’ll see where it goes.“

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Pacers, Rodney Stuckey Interested In New Deal

March 13th, 2015 at 9:27am CST by Chuck Myron

Pacers coach Frank Vogel said Thursday that the team’s plan all along has been to keep Rodney Stuckey for the long term, and the 28-year-old combo guard is enthusiastic about returning to Indiana next season, reports Mark Montieth of Pacers.com. Stuckey signed a one-year deal for the minimum salary with the Pacers this past summer.

“I love it here, man,” Stuckey said. “I’m staying in the city, close to everything. I love it here. My family loves it here. I love the people in this organization. Definitely, I want to come back. That’s a no-brainer. Having a guy like Paul George here, of course I want to come play with an All-Star. Who doesn’t? Definitely want to be back here.”

The eighth-year veteran started 36 games for the Pacers this season but lately, he’s embraced a sixth-man role as Indiana has won seven in a row. Stuckey is pouring in a career-best 39.8% of his three-point attempts, and his 13.1 points and 26.6 minutes per game are close to his career averages.

Montieth speculates that Stuckey is in line for a raise, but the Pacers only have his Non-Bird rights, meaning they’d have to use another exception or open cap space to pay him more than 120% of the minimum salary he’s making this season. Indiana has only about $36MM in guaranteed salary on the books against a projected $68MM salary cap for next season, but that figure for the Pacers doesn’t include a total of more than $28MM in player options for Roy Hibbert and David West. If they opt in, it’ll be difficult for the Pacers to dip below the cap, so it would seem the biannual and mid-level exceptions are the team’s likeliest avenues for giving Stuckey a significant raise.

Stuckey is in his first pro season away from the Pistons, who drafted him 15th overall in 2007, but he harbors resentment about his parting from the team, as Montieth details. Stuckey believes someone in the Pistons organization was spreading the idea that he was a poor teammate, had character problems and wouldn’t be a fit on a winning team, according to Montieth. No team offered him more than the minimum last summer, Montieth writes, linking the dearth of more lucrative offers to the defamation that Stuckey alleges.

“It’s just unfortunate,” Stuckey said. “I’m not going to say names, but I know who it was. It’s just unfortunate for that person to throw me under the bus.”

Central Notes: Love, George, Sanders, Jackson

March 7th, 2015 at 6:48pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Cavaliers‘ Kevin Love is shooting a higher rate of threes lately, but he doesn’t take kindly to the label of stretch-four, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. Love didn’t have any post-up opportunities in the game, and 10 of his 11 shot attempts were from three-point range. “I heard some people calling me that but I know I’m not a stretch-four,” Love said. “I’m a post player who can shoot. Right now I’m just doing what I’m called to do. For good, bad or indifferent, I’m playing my role and doing what’s asked of me.” With Love entering free agency this offseason, any hint of unhappiness has to cause concern in Cleveland.

There’s more from the Central Division:

Many in Indiana are hoping Paul George can return to help the Pacers‘ playoff charge, but Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star tweets that coach Frank Vogel isn’t thinking that way. “Honestly, we’re not even thinking about Paul George,” Vogel said of his star, who hasn’t played since breaking his leg during an exhibition game with Team USA last summer. “Our whole approach has been he’s not going to play for us this year,” Vogel added, “even right now we’re just trying to become the best possible team without him.” (Twitter link). At 27-34, the Pacers are tied with the Heat for the final playoff spot entering Saturday’s action.
The Bucks plan to stretch Larry Sanders‘ contract over the full allotment of years, reports Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times. That means Milwaukee can pay its departed center $1.9MM a year over the next seven years, affecting the team’s salary cap through the 2021/22 season. Sanders, who was in the middle of a four-year, $44MM deal, was waived Feb. 21.
The Pistons have long-term plans for Reggie Jackson, according to Brendan Savage of MLive.com. Jackson came to Detroit in a deadline-day trade from the Thunder in exchange for Kyle Singler and D.J. Augustin. Team president and coach Stan Van Gundy plans to sign the free-agent-to-be to a lengthy contract this summer. “We’re committed to him,” Van Gundy said. “It’s a long-term thing. This isn’t a tryout.”

Atlantic Notes: Olynyk, West, Robinson

March 4th, 2015 at 7:10pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Thomas Robinson is now playing for his fifth NBA team since being selected with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. Though the Sixers claimed him off of waivers as much for his contract as for his talent, the big man hopes to use his opportunity in Philadelphia to silence critics that have labeled him a draft bust, Chris Mannix of SI.com writes. When asked what he was hoping for in Philly, Robinson said, “A chance, man. I know what I can do. I’m just keeping it simple here; rebound, defend, get to the open spots. Energy and toughness is my game. That’s who I am as a player right now.”

Here’s the latest out of the Atlantic Division:

ESPN.com Insider Chad Ford (subscription required) believes that the Sixers would be the team most likely to use the No. 1 overall pick to select Emmanuel Mudiay instead of Jahlil Okafor, who is the consensus top pick amongst scouts. Ford also thinks that the Magic would select Karl-Anthony Towns over Okafor if given the opportunity, since Towns would slot in better alongside Nikola Vucevic, Orlando’s starting center.
The Raptors were interested in acquiring David West from the Pacers prior to the February trade deadline, but the impending return of Paul George from injury and the wide open Eastern Conference negated any chance of a deal, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com tweets.
Center Kelly Olynyk is expected to make his return to the Celtics‘ lineup tonight after missing over a month with a sprained right ankle, Jimmy Toscano of CSNNE.com relays. “I don’t know what to expect,” Boston coach Brad Stevens said of Olynyk. “I watched him play 3 on 3 yesterday and he looked good to me. So hopefully he can give us what he gives us and that is a skilled offensive guy and a guy defensively with some savvy.”

Nuggets Likely To Target D’Antoni, Gentry, Others

March 3rd, 2015 at 3:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:38pm: Denver is expected to make former Bulls and Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro a candidate for the job, and according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, who also hears mention of ex-Kings coach Michael Malone. Berger hints that’s true of Pelicans assistant Bryan Gates, Pacers assistant Nate McMillan and Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga, too, though that’s not entirely clear. In any case, the Nuggets will likely give Gentry “heavy consideration,” Berger writes.

1:10pm: The Nuggets have yet to any consider long-term candidates, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

1:01pm: Former Warriors coach Mark Jackson, current Warriors assistant coach Alvin Gentry and Bulls assistant Adrian Griffin are believed to be likely candidates to replace the fired Brian Shaw as Nuggets head coach, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick. One-time Mavs and Nets coach Avery Johnson and former Nuggets, Suns, Knicks and Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni are other likely candidates, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com, and a source who knows D’Antoni’s thinking told Amick that he would certainly be interested in the job. Still, the Nuggets indicated when they announced Shaw’s firing that Melvin Hunt would remain as interim coach through season’s end and that they would begin a search for a more permanent replacement after that. Sources confirm to Stein that the Nuggets will take a “long-term view” on their search (Twitter link).

D’Antoni recently suggested in a radio appearance with Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck and Ethan Skolnick that he had interest in returning to coach in the NBA (Twitlonger link; Twitter link). That was before Shaw’s firing, Beck cautions (on Twitter). D’Antoni resigned as Lakers coach last spring, and he got his start as an NBA coach with the 1999 Nuggets.

Jackson also coached as recently as last season, though his three-year Warriors stint is his only head coaching experience. Still, his name was linked to both the Magic and Kings openings earlier this season. Gentry has spent parts of 12 seasons as an NBA head coach, the last coming in 2012/13 with the Suns. That was Johnson’s last year of coaching, too, though he was only in charge of the Nets for the first 28 games that season. Johnson had more success in Dallas, where he took the team to the 2006 NBA Finals and won 67 games in 2006/07. Griffin has so far only served as an assistant coach with the Bucks and Bulls since the 2008/09 season, but Chicago promoted him before this season to lead assistant.

Reaction To Nuggets’ Firing Of Brian Shaw

March 3rd, 2015 at 1:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post takes Ty Lawson to task in a piece written before the Nuggets fired Brian Shaw today, and Hochman doesn’t completely believe Shaw is to blame for Lawson’s struggles of late. The post scribe passes along a comment from Shaw in response to a question about whether he should have tried a different approach to coaching Lawson this season.

“I believe what I’m doing. I don’t know if I’d say I’d do anything differently,” Shaw said. “There are a lot of circumstances that when [we talk to the media], I can’t talk about. I’ve always tried to be as honest as I possibly can. But there are also a lot of things I can’t say, because these are young men, and I look at them like I do my three kids — they make mistakes because they’re young. Our philosophy has been — make new mistakes, don’t make the same old mistakes. I feel obligated that when a guy makes a mistake — and I’m not talking about on the court, I’m talking about off the court — that I say, ‘I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon and dump on him because he made a mistake.’ “

Ultimately, those mistakes cost Shaw his job, and there’s plenty of news surrounding Denver’s decision apart from the latest on likely candidates, which we passed along earlier. Here’s more surrounding the firing:

There were moments of tension between Shaw and Lawson in the locker room this season, several league sources tell Grantland’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link).
It was just days ago that Nuggets GM Tim Connelly said that Brian Shaw’s job was “absolutely” safe in comments the executive made in an video interview with The Denver Post’s Woody Paige and Les Shapiro, as Christopher Dempsey of the Post notes in his story on Shaw’s dismissal.
Shaw knew the “1, 2, 3 … six weeks!” chant the Nuggets gave as they broke a huddle Friday was a reference to the time left in the season, a league source tells Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Shaw claimed Monday that the chant was about the six weeks that had passed since the team’s last home victory.
Pacers power forward David West pointed to a lack of “grownups” on the Nuggets roster as he expressed his disdain for the firing, notes Scott Agness of VigilantSports.com (on Twitter). Shaw coached West, who has a $12.6MM player option for next season, when he was a Pacers assistant.