International Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Greg Whittington Attracting NBA Interest

May 24th, 2020 at 5:05pm CST by JD Shaw

Free agent forward Greg Whittington has received interest from multiple high-level NBA teams throughout the year, his agent told Hoops Rumors.

Whittington impressed scouts during a shortened campaign with Turkish team Galatasaray in the EuroCup, playing against some of the toughest competition overseas. He posted averages of 12.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in 14 Turkish League contests, shooting 52.8% from 3-point range.

“Greg’s put in the work, and now he knows he’s graduated to being able to pick his next opportunity,” agent Jerry Dianis said. “He can now cherry-pick his next opportunity, and obviously he has some high-level NBA and international interest. I think Greg is going to be the most coveted free agent outside of the NBA because of his versatility and ability to shoot the ball.”

Whittington also averaged 18.4 points per game for Hapoel Gilboa Galil in Israel the season before, shooting 41.5% from deep in 30 contests while leading the country in rebounding (9.6 per contest). His versatility and unselfishness are two major reasons why he’s registered NBA interest, with the 27-year-old also being named forward of the year this season.

Whittington, a lengthy 6’9″ combo forward, went undrafted in 2015 after spending two seasons at Georgetown. He joined the Heat for summer league and earned a training camp deal with the team that fall, spending the rest of the season in the NBA G League. He’s since made stops in Australia, Sioux Falls, Japan and Israel.

Whittington’s consistent play has made him a strong candidate for an NBA contract, though all transactions across the league remain on hold amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Several teams around the association are actively preparing for a return to action, possibly as early as July. The season was suspended indefinitely on March 11.

International Notes: Zizic, EuroLeague, Schroder, Sirvydis

May 24th, 2020 at 10:58am CST by Arthur Hill

Maccabi Tel Aviv is interested in signing Cavaliers center Ante Zizic next season, according to Dario Skerletic of Sportando. Zizic will be a free agent after Cleveland declined his fourth-year option in October.

Zizic got into just 22 games this year, averaging 4.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 10 minutes per night. The 23-year-old center is in his third season with the Cavs after being acquired from Boston in the Kyrie Irving deal.

There’s more international news to pass along:

Most EuroLeague players are against resuming the season, tweets Greek basketball writer George Zakkas. A conference call was held yesterday in which players expressed their concerns about the coronavirus and the risk of injury if the season were to start again. The players were unanimous in their stance, which surprised league officials, according to Ennio Terrasi Borghesan of Sportando. The 11 A-licensed EuroLeague teams will vote tomorrow morning on whether the season will resume. Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia has heard that four teams seem to be in favor of restarting, while five clubs are against it (Twitter link).
The BBL in Germany has released its schedule for a 10-team tournament to crown a league champion, Borghesan writes in a separate piece. The opening game is set for June 6 with the finals on June 26 and 28.
Thunder guard Dennis Schroder will become the sole owner of his hometown team in Braunschweig, Germany, on July 1, Skerletic notes in a separate story. “I am very happy to be the sole shareholder of the Lions.” Schroder said. “… I want to give something back to the region. I am convinced that we can develop the team further and make it a top club in the league.”
Pistons draft-and-stash player Deividas Sirvydis has agreed to a long-term deal with Hapoel Jerusalem, Carchia writes. Detroit selected the 19-year-old forward in the second round last year.
Former NBA center Tarik Black has left Maccabi Tel Aviv, Lupo relays.

And-Ones: LaMelo, BBL, Salary Cap, Penny

May 21st, 2020 at 9:18pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Illawarra Hawks of Australia’s NBL were unready for the enormous impact inking LaMelo Ball to a contract had on the 2019/20 season, according to ESPN’s Kane Pitman. “It was weird because you had ‘Melo who was like a rock star and just followed so heavily online and with the social media stuff it made it interesting,” Ball’s teammate David Andersen told Pitman.

In just 12 games, Ball won the NBL’s Rookie of the Year award sporting a slash sheet of 17 PPG/7.5 RPG/7 APG. The 18-year-old younger brother of Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball is expected to be a top-five pick in the forthcoming NBA draft.

There’s more from around the basketball world:

Germany’s Basketball Bundesliga will resume play, after pausing the league due to the coronavirus pandemic, with a three-week final tournament commencing June 6, per Dario Skerletic of Sportando.
An adjusted salary cap would affect each of the NBA’s teams in a variety of ways, as John Hollinger of The Athletic details. Though the 2020/21 cap was projected at $115MM per team in February, that number was predicted prior to the coronavirus pandemic and will almost certainly end up being lower.
Memphis Tigers coach Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway opined to ESPN’s The Jump that the G League’s recent recruitment of players straight out of high school will greatly impact college recruitment, including his program, according to ESPN News Services. “It’s going to have a huge impact, because it’s just a recruiting war right now when it comes to that,” Hardaway said. “But I think it’s going to affect us because we’re recruiting a bunch of five-stars.”

Alexey Shved A Candidate To Return To NBA?

May 20th, 2020 at 10:29am CST by Luke Adams

Although veteran guard Alexey Shved hasn’t played in the NBA since 2015, Khimki general manager Pavel Astakhov isn’t ruling out the possibility of the EuroLeague standout, whose contract expires this year, returning to North America.

In comments to RG.ru – translated by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando – Astakhov referred to Shved as Khimki’s “leader,” stating that the Russian club wants to retain him while acknowledging the 31-year-old will be open to the NBA if the right opportunity arises.

“We want him to stay in Khimki,” Astakhov said. “The negotiations with his agent have been held. We are in pause now. If he gets serious proposals from the NBA – not about the money but about the role in the team – it won’t be easy for us to keep him. He will accept a proposal with certain guarantees from the club and the coach. If he doesn’t get a good offer from the NBA, I don’t see any reason why he should change clubs. He is the absolute leader. But the final decision is up to him.”

During his first NBA stint, from 2012-15, Shved appeared in 182 games for the Timberwolves, Sixers, Rockets, and Knicks, averaging 7.4 PPG, 2.5 APG, and 2.0 RPG with a modest .369/.306/.762 shooting line in 18.0 minutes per contest. However, he has excelled in recent years for Khimki, averaging 22.0 PPG and 5.8 APG over the last four years in EuroCup and EuroLeague contests.

Presumably, in order to seriously consider a return to the NBA, Shved would need to be confident that he’d be given the opportunity to play regular minutes rather than becoming a little-used backup.

We last heard about Shved receiving NBA interest in 2018, when he reportedly received multiple offers but opted to remain with Khimki. At that time, his agent suggested that the possibility of an NBA return might increase in 2019, when teams had more money available to spend. That didn’t happen, and there won’t be many NBA clubs with major spending power during the 2020 offseason either, so perhaps Shved will once again decide to continue his career overseas.

And-Ones: Campazzo, Holland, Doyle, Combine

May 18th, 2020 at 6:44pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Argentinian guard Facundo Campazzo could explore NBA options this year, according to former NBA and EuroLeague player Andres Nocioni (hat tip to Sportando’s Dario Skerletic). Though the point guard is under contract with Real Madrid until 2024, Nocioni believes it could be time for the 29-year-old Campazzo to play in the U.S.

“I think that Real Madrid will have to listen to offers from NBA teams this summer … He is not going to push it, but circumstances are going to make him consider the possibility,” Nocioni said.

Campazzo was averaging 9.9 PPG, 7.1 APG and 1.4 SPG before play was suspended.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Former NBA player John Holland has re-signed with Hapoel Jerusalem in Israel’s Basketball Premier League, according to Sportando’s Alessandro Maggi. Holland, who averaged 13 PPG this season, played 24 games for the Cavaliers during the 2018/19 season.
Milton Doyle has agreed to a deal with Hapoel Eilat for the resumption of the Israeli Winner League season, according to Sportando’s Nicola Lupo. Doyle played 10 games with the Nets on a two-way deal during the 2017/18 season. The 26-year-old guard played for the G League’s Windy City Bulls this season.
The NBA is moving forward with plans for the postponed draft combine, Tim Bontemps of ESPN reports. The league has circulated a memo, asking teams to vote for up to 70 players to invite to the combine. Numerous executives believe a virtual combine – where coaches, scouts and executives would watch players work out from afar – would be the most likely way the event could be held this year, Bontemps adds.

Turkish Team “Strongly Interested” In Ryan Broekhoff

May 16th, 2020 at 4:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

The next opportunity for former Maverick Ryan Broekhoff may come in Turkey, tweets Greek basketball writer George Zakkas (hat tip to Sportando). According to a source, Anadolu Efes is “strongly interested” in signing the 29-year-old shooting guard.

Broekhoff appeared in 17 games for Dallas this season before being waived in February when the team signed Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Broekhoff averaged 4.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per night in limited playing time. He also got into 42 games for the Mavs as a rookie last season.

We passed along reports last month that Olympiacos in Greece and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel both had interest in signing Broekhoff. All these teams are currently on hiatus as they wait to see if their seasons will resume.

International Notes: James, Koufos, Kaba, Delaney, Clark

May 15th, 2020 at 12:54pm CST by Luke Adams

EuroLeague powerhouse CSKA Moscow has agreed to a two-year contract extension with former NBA guard Mike James, according to a report from Russian outlet Izvestia (hat tip to Sportando). James enjoyed a brief NBA stint in 2017/18 when he appeared in 36 games for Phoenix and New Orleans, but has otherwise spent his professional career overseas, playing for teams in Greece and Italy before joining CSKA.

Meanwhile, the same Izvestia report also indicates that CSKA Moscow isn’t expected to exercise its second-year option on veteran center Kosta Koufos, who signed a one-plus-one deal with the team in 2019. Koufos spent over a decade in the NBA, playing in 686 games from 2008-19, but it’s not clear if the 31-year-old would draw any stateside interest if and when he becomes a free agent.

Here are a few more NBA-adjacent updates on international basketball leagues:

Alpha Kaba, whose NBA rights are held by the Hawks, is joining French team Nanterre 92, according to a report from BeBasket (French link). A 24-year-old forward/center, Kaba was selected by Atlanta with the No. 60 pick in the 2017 draft, but has continued to play in France since then.
Spanish team FC Barcelona has parted ways with veteran guard Malcolm Delaney, per a team press release (h/t to Sportando). A standout EuroLeague contributor who spent two seasons with the Hawks from 2016-18, Delanyed is in talks with Italian club Olimpia Milano and has drawn interest from Olympiacos in Greece, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.
Veteran forward Earl Clark, who appeared in 261 NBA games from 2009-15, has parted ways with Spanish team San Pablo Burgos, according to the club (h/t to Sportando). Clark has spent time in China, Turkey, Montenegro, Spain, and the G League since last playing in the NBA.

China’s CCTV Has No Plans To Resume Airing NBA Games

May 12th, 2020 at 11:51am CST by Luke Adams

CCTV, the major state-owned media network in China, has no plans to resume airing NBA games once the league is able to resume play, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst writes. The network stopped broadcasting NBA content last fall following Daryl Morey‘s tweet in support of Hong Kong protestors.

As Windhorst outlines, the NBA named Michael Ma its new CEO of NBA China this week, and there were signs that the league hoped the appointment would help thaw its relationships with Chinese partners. His father Ma Guoli is regarded as “the father of CCTV Sports,” having run it for the last 16 years, according to Windhorst.

However, the Chinese network is apparently still unwilling to extend an olive branch to the NBA, issuing a statement to the Global Times “reiterating its consistent stance on national sovereignty,” per Windhorst. CCTV’s stance has been that it won’t resume showing NBA games as long as Morey remains unpunished for his tweet.

While the COVID-19 pandemic will ultimately be more damaging to the NBA’s finances this season, the ongoing tension with China is also costing the league a significant amount of money. As Windhorst writes, commissioner Adam Silver estimated in February that the NBA had lost more than $300MM as a result of the controversy. If those revenue streams are lost permanently going forward, they’d have at least a modest impact on the growth of the league’s salary cap.

Unlike CCTV, Chinese streaming giant Tencent resumed broadcasting NBA games last October, just a few weeks after the Morey incident. However, as detailed by J. Brady McCollough and Tommy Yang in The Los Angeles Times in February, the relationship between the NBA and Tencent remains tenuous as well, with the service having lost advertisers and having reduced the amount of games it shows.

An industry official told The Times that the deal between the NBA and Tencent, a five-year agreement worth a reported $1.5 billion, could be in jeopardy. It’s currently set to run through 2024/25.

And-Ones: FIBA, Turkey, Coach K, NBA Transactions

May 11th, 2020 at 6:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 will be held that summer from August 25 to September 10, according to a FIBA press release. The group phase of World Cup 2023 will be played in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines, with the final phase taking place in the Philippine capital city of Manila. It will be the first time the competition has been staged in more than one country. Spain defeated Argentina in the finals of last year’s Cup, which was held in China.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Turkey became the latest country to cancel the remainder of its basketball season. Former NBA player Hedo Turkoglu, the basketball federation’s president, officially announced the cancellation of BSL and TBL seasons, according to Alessandro Maggi of Sportando.
Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski turned down numerous offers over the years to become an NBA coach, Sportando’s Nicola Lupo relays. In an interview on WIP radio, the Duke coach said he turned down the Sixers job in 2003, the Celtics in 1990 and the Lakers in 2005.
The Warriors’ signing of Kevin Durant, the Spurs’ draft-night acquisition on Kawhi Leonard and the Rockets’ trade for James Harden rank as the biggest and best transactions over the past decade, according to ESPN Insiders. A list of 74 major moves was compiled by ESPN’s NBA experts.

Coronavirus Notes: Dudley, Bubble, Heat, China

May 10th, 2020 at 12:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jared Dudley, who serves as a Players Association representative for the Lakers, revealed that the NBA might be willing to play until October to finish the season (hat tip to The Sporting News). Responding late on Friday night to a comment by ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that the league is willing to extend the season through Labor Day, Dudley tweeted, “I heard even Oct from Adam Silver today…”

The league has been talking with players and owners for weeks to determine a workable plan to save the season, and this is the latest potential completion date that has been made public. It reflects the growing optimism that has been reported throughout the league since a conference call involving the commissioner and the players Friday night.

There’s more coronavirus-related news:

Players aren’t excited about the proposed “bubble” concept that would isolate everyone in a host city such as Las Vegas or Orlando, Shelburne said in an appearance on ESPN’s Dickerson & Hood radio show (Twitter link). “Players don’t really want to do a bubble,” she said. “They would much rather stay in their home cities, fly privately to and from wherever they’re going and be home with their families, not have tons of restrictions … players were really against the idea of being cooped up in a hotel for two months, three months or however long that would be.” She adds that strictly enforcing quarantine rules in a bubble setting could become problematic.
The Heat have received formal clearance to begin player workouts at AmericanAirlines Arena, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Miami-Dade County issued an amendment to an emergency order that permits “use of facilities owned or leased by a professional sports franchise, solely by employees of such franchise for training purposes.” Players are expected to begin using the facility on Wednesday.
Chinese Basketball Association president Yao Ming said the league is considering three options for resuming play, relays Ennio Terrasi Borghesan of Sportando. In an interview with CCTV, Ming explained that the league is still deciding whether to finish a full schedule, shorten the season, or go straight to the playoffs. Under any setup, players will be confined to hotels and fans will not be admitted to games.
Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports contends it would be a mistake for the NBA to move opening day to Christmas on a permanent basis.