International Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Rudez, Trade Candidates, Singh, Canales

November 11th, 2021 at 5:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Former NBA forward Damjan Rudez has announced his retirement, as Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files relays (via Twitter). Rudez confirmed his decision on his own Twitter account, posting a message thanking everyone who was “a part of this long and beautiful journey with me.”

A 6’10” Crotian, Rudez spent most of his professional career in Europe. Besides playing in his home country, he also had stints in Belgium, Slovenia, Spain, Monaco, and The Netherlands. He did briefly play in the NBA from 2014-17, appearing in a total of 146 games for the Pacers, Timberwolves, and Magic.

Rudez’ NBA career got off to a promising start in Indiana, where he made 40.6% of his three-point attempts in 68 games (15.4 MPG) as a 28-year-old rookie. However, he was traded to Minnesota in exchange for Chase Budinger following his rookie year and his production fell off after that.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype identifies some players around the NBA who aren’t getting regular minutes and could become trade candidates this season. Some, including Raptors guard Goran Dragic and Kings big man Marvin Bagley III, are probably already on the trade block, while others, such as Magic center Robin Lopez and Pistons wing Hamidou Diallo, are more speculative.
Indian prospect Principal Singh is finalizing a three-year contract with the New Zealand Breakers of Australia’s National Basketball League, tweets Marc Stein. Singh spent last season with the G League Ignite, but logged just 25 minutes in four games with the developmental club.
Veteran NBA assistant coach Kaleb Canales will be the associate head coach for Mexico’s national team, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Canales, who became the NBA’s first Mexican-American head coach in 2012, last worked for the Pacers under Nate Bjorkgren.
Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz of ESPN (Insider link) have updated their 2022 NBA mock draft and provided early impressions on a handful of prospects, including Duke guard Trevor Keels, who enjoyed an impressive college debut on Tuesday.

Sindarius Thornwell Signs With German Team

November 11th, 2021 at 3:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran free agent guard Sindarius Thornwell will resume his career overseas, having signed with Ratiopharm Ulm, the German team announced today in a press release. Thornwell is an injury replacement for Christoph Philipps, who hurt his shoulder.

A second-round pick in the 2017 draft, Thornwell has appeared in 160 total regular season games since entering the NBA, spending time with the Clippers, Pelicans, and Magic from 2017-21. He played in 21 games last season for New Orleans and Orlando.

Thornwell is considered a strong perimeter defender, but his offensive output in the NBA has been modest. The 6’4″ guard, who turns 27 next Monday, averaged 2.5 PPG on 40.7% shooting in his 160 NBA contests (10.8 MPG).

Thornwell finished last season on a two-way deal with the Magic, but had been a free agent since then. In Germany, he’ll join a Ratiopharm Ulm roster that includes a handful of other former NBA players, including Cristiano Felicio, Jaron Blossomgame, and Semaj Christon. The club competes in both Germany’s top league and the EuroCup.

And-Ones: M. Gasol, I. Thomas, 2022 Draft, Sharpe

November 9th, 2021 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

After reuniting with Pau Gasol last season, FC Barcelona is attempting to recruit his brother Marc Gasol, team manager Juan Carlos Navarro confirmed this week (link via Mundo Deportivo; hat tip to Sportando).

Navarro classified the team’s discussions with Gasol as “conversations” rather than “negotiations,” but suggested that the Spanish center hasn’t ruled out the possibility. Gasol, who was traded from the Lakers to the Grizzlies and then was waived during the offseason, decided to return home to Spain rather than continue his career in the NBA. It remains to be seen if he’ll play on either side of the Atlantic in 2021/22.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

In a documentary-style YouTube video called ‘For The Love of The Game,’ free agent guard Isaiah Thomas says he nearly signed with an NBA team during the summer. “This offseason I worked out for three teams and got very positive feedback from every organization,” Thomas said, per Marcus Kwesi O’Mard of NESN.com. “There was one team that I was basically very close to signing (with), then it didn’t happen.” The 32-year-old is attempting to make an NBA comeback after spending just 10 days on a roster last season.
In the first draft of his big board for the 2022 NBA draft, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic contends that Duke forward Paolo Banchero and Gonzaga big man Chet Holmgren are in their own tier at the top of the ’22 class. According to Vecenie, there are a lot of question marks beyond the top two at this point.
Shaedon Sharpe, the No. 1 prospect in ESPN’s ranking of the 2022 recruiting class, announced on Tuesday (via Twitter) that he’ll be enrolling at Kentucky in January. Sharpe won’t be eligible for the 2022 draft because he didn’t graduate high school before the NBA’s 2021/22 season began, notes ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Twitter link).

And-Ones: Booster Shots, Plumlee, Saunders, Ramasar

November 8th, 2021 at 6:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The NBA and the Players Association are recommending booster shots for players and personnel who received their Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 shots more than six months ago, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press tweets. Those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine more than two months ago should also get a booster shot, per the NBA and NBPA. The league is recommending that those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine get either a Moderna or Pfizer booster.

We have more from the basketball world:

Former NBA big man Miles Plumlee is close to signing with Guang Zhou Loong Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports. Plumlee has previously played in the CBA. He appeared in 19 games with Atlanta during the 2018/19 season, his most recent NBA stint.
Former Timberwolves coach Ryan Saunders has found a new gig. He’ll be joining the University of Northwestern-St Paul faculty as an adjunct professor in the spring to teach a class on Sports Leadership, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter links). However, Saunders intends to return to coaching soon. He had several chances to get back into the league but chose to take this season off for family reasons, per Krawczynski.
NBA agent Todd Ramasar believes the next Collective Bargaining Agreement will impose penalties on players who try to force trades shortly after signing long-term deals, as he told Ian Begley of SNY TV. “I do think there will be. Without getting into specifics, (I think it will be) similar to how the NBA probably adjusted fines for owners as it relates to tampering,” Ramasar said in an in-depth interview.

And-Ones: Foul Calls, New Ball, Mudiay, Acy

November 3rd, 2021 at 1:42pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA is pleased with the way its referees have handled the crackdown on foul calls on non-basketball moves so far this season, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Monty McCutchen, the NBA’s VP of referee development and training, said that the refs are still focused on allowing offensive players to have freedom of movement and will continue to seek the right balance of foul calls as the season progresses.

“There’ve been a few instances, nothing that’s raised to a significant level, where we would still want a defensive foul where it’s getting lumped into a non-basketball move,” McCutchen said, per Bontemps. “We’re in the middle of that adjustment period with the staff. We have staff calls at a higher cadence than we would when we’re not implementing something as significant as this, and we’re showing them examples so that we can adjust in real-time to meet the demands of the league.”

As Shams Charania of The Athletic relays (via Twitter), the NBA’s competition committee has also discussed the increase in “take” fouls on transition plays and has encouraged the league to office to consider tweaking the rules for those fouls. However, that’s unlikely to happen in the middle of the season, so it may have to wait until 2022/23.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

The NBA is using a new basketball this season, having switched from Spalding to Wilson. Clippers star Paul George said on Monday night that the Wilson ball doesn’t have the “touch and softness” of the Spalding one (Twitter link via Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times) and NBPA president CJ McCollum said he’ll discuss the ball this week with players to get their input (Twitter link via Chris Mannix of SI.com). For what it’s worth, president of league operations Byron Spruell said on Tuesday that the NBA hasn’t gotten much feedback on the new ball (link via Tim Bontemps of ESPN), and Seth Partnow of The Athletic is skeptical it’s the reason for the early-season dip in offensive efficiency.
Lithuanian team Zalgiris Kaunas has parted ways with former NBA lottery pick Emmanuel Mudiay, according to Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com (Twitter link). Sources tell Urbonas that Mudiay will likely continue playing in Europe — he’ll be eligible to sign with a new EuroLeague team next month.
Former NBA big man Quincy Acy has signed with Olympiacos, the Greek team announced in a press release. Acy, who appeared in 337 NBA games from 2012-19 and has since played in China and Israel, agreed to a deal that runs through 2022/23.

And-Ones: M. Gasol, Leunen, B. Ferry, Overtime Elite

October 28th, 2021 at 11:03am CST by Luke Adams

After big man Ekpe Udoh suffered a serious knee injury last month, Virtus Bologna head coach Sergio Scariolo reached out to Marc Gasol to gauge his interest in joining the Italian club, Scariolo confirmed this week on Italian Twitch channel Area 52 (video link). As Marc Stein of Substack relays (via Twitter), Scariolo said Gasol turned him down in an “elegant way.”

Scariolo coached Gasol on the Spanish national team and as an assistant in Toronto, so he has an existing relationship with the veteran center. However, Gasol – who was traded to Memphis and then waived in September – appears content to spend time with his family in Spain rather than joining another NBA or EuroLeague team anytime soon. There were rumors last month that Gasol would be playing for Girona, the Spanish club he owns, but that hasn’t come to fruition yet.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Former Oregon forward Maarty Leunen, who spent the last 13 seasons playing overseas in various European leagues, has announced his retirement, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays. Leunen was the 54th overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft and has had his rights traded four times since then – most recently to the Pacers in 2019 – but never signed an NBA contract.
Former Washington Bullets general manager Bob Ferry, who ran the front office from 1973 to 1990, died at age 84 on Wednesday, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. The father of Danny Ferry, Bob Ferry won two Executive of the Year awards and helped Washington win the only title in franchise history in 1978.
Jeremy Woo of SI.com shares his impressions of the Overtime Elite’s Pro Day, including his thoughts on the program’s three most notable 2022 draft-eligible players: guard Jean Montero, wing Kok Yat, and forward Dominick Barlow.

Dwayne Bacon Signs With AS Monaco

October 27th, 2021 at 8:12am CST by Luke Adams

Veteran shooting guard Dwayne Bacon will continue his playing career outside of the NBA, having signed with AS Monaco Basket, the team announced today in a press release.

Bacon, 26, was selected with the 40th overall pick in the 2017 draft and spent his first three seasons in Charlotte before joining the Magic for the 2020/21 season. He appeared in all 72 of Orlando’s games last season, establishing new career highs in PPG (10.9), RPG (3.1), and MPG (25.7), though he still struggled to score efficiently, making just 40.2% of his field goal attempts, including 28.5% from beyond the arc.

In four total NBA seasons, Bacon has averaged 7.3 PPG and 2.6 RPG in 207 games (19.4 MPG). He joined the Knicks for training camp this offseason, but was beaten out by Wayne Selden for the 15th spot on the team’s regular season roster and was waived at the end of the preseason.

Bacon will join former NBAers Mike James, Donatas Motiejunas, and Donta Hall on AS Monaco’s roster. The team, which competes in France’s top basketball league, won the EuroCup title in 2020/21 and is playing in the EuroLeague for the first time in ’21/22.

And-Ones: USA Basketball, Scariolo, OTE, 2022 Draft

October 26th, 2021 at 10:31am CST by Luke Adams

Martin E. Dempsey has been reelected as the USA Basketball chairperson for 2021-24, the program announced on Monday in a press release. Dempsey, a retired U.S. General, was first named to the role in 2016.

USA Basketball also expanded its Board of Directors from 11 individuals to 15. Kevin Durant, Harrison Barnes, Sue Bird, and NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum are among the most notable members of the board. The board of directors is responsible for overseeing the program and making major USA Basketball decisions, such as naming Grant Hill the managing director of the national men’s team.

We’re still waiting on Hill to announce who will replace Gregg Popovich as the Team USA men’s coach for the next four-year cycle, which will include the 2023 FIBA World Cup and the 2024 Olympics. Steve Kerr is rumored to be the frontrunner.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

In an interesting interview with Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com, former Raptors assistant and current Virtus Bologna head coach Sergio Scariolo spoke about the challenges that European coaches face when trying to get high-level opportunities in the NBA. “I don’t recall many European coaches being there, which is something to think over,” Scariolo said. “‘We want you here, we want you to help, but we’re extremely cautious in giving front-of-the-bench responsibilities to European coaches.'”
Scouts came away from Overtime Elite’s Pro Day impressed by how the new developmental program is operating, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, who says it’s clearly being run professionally and the level of investment is “substantial.” Among OTE’s prospects, 2022 draft-eligible forward Kok Yat was a standout during the Pro Day scrimmages and figures to show up on more experts’ top-100 lists going forward, Hollinger says.
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic and Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report recently released updated versions of their NBA mock drafts for 2022. Vecenie has Duke freshman Paolo Banchero as his No. 1 pick, while Gonzaga freshman Chet Holmgren is atop Wasserman’s mock.

Quinn Cook Signs With Lokomotiv Kuban

October 26th, 2021 at 8:08am CST by Luke Adams

Veteran free agent guard Quinn Cook has signed a rest-of-season contract with Lokomotiv Kuban, the Russian team announced today in a press release.

Cook, 28, has appeared in 188 total NBA games since making his debut in 2017, spending time with the Mavericks, Pelicans, Warriors, Lakers, and Cavaliers. He won titles with Golden State and L.A., recording career averages of 6.4 PPG, 1.7 RPG, and 1.6 APG with a .461/.408/.795 shooting line in 14.1 minutes per contest.

The Trail Blazers signed Cook to a non-guaranteed contract prior to training camp and he competed for a regular season roster spot, but lost that battle to Dennis Smith Jr. Because Portland doesn’t have its own G League team, heading to the NBAGL as an affiliate player wasn’t an option for Cook. The 6’1″ guard could’ve still signed a G League contract and entered the player pool, but he opted to go overseas instead.

Cook will join a Lokomotiv Kuban roster that features a few other players with NBA experience, including big men Alan Williams and Johnathan Motley. The team is off to a 2-2 start in the VTB United League this season and is 1-0 in EuroCup play.

And-Ones: Boylen, Team USA, Stephenson, Exum, More

October 20th, 2021 at 12:51pm CST by Luke Adams

USA Basketball has announced that former Bulls head coach Jim Boylen will coach Team USA during November’s qualifying games for the 2023 FIBA World Cup, which will take place in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia. The U.S. team will face Cuba on November 28 and Mexico on November 29.

While NBA players make up Team USA’s roster in the World Cup itself, the qualifiers take place during the NBA season, so the roster is typically made up of G League veterans. After November’s games, the next round of qualifiers will take place in February.

Jeff Van Gundy coached the qualifying team leading up to the 2019 FIBA World Cup before handing things off to Gregg Popovich for the World Cup itself. USA Basketball has yet to announce Popovich’s successor, but Steve Kerr has been identified as a frontrunner. If Kerr gets the job, he’d coach the 2023 team in the World Cup, assuming Boylen’s group clinches a spot in the event.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

NBA veteran Lance Stephenson, who last played in China, has signed an NBA G League contract and will be draft-eligible on October 23, our JD Shaw reports (via Twitter). Stephenson’s last stint in the NBA came during the 2019/20 season with the Lakers. He has appeared in more than 500 career regular season games.
The NBA announced on Tuesday that this season’s opening-night rosters feature a total of 109 international players from 39 countries. That includes a record number of players from Canada (18) Germany (seven), and the Bahamas (three). Appropriately, the Raptors lead the league with 10 international players.
Within his in-depth look at the players who did and didn’t sign extensions this offseason, ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) notes that Wizards guard Bradley Beal and Bulls guard Zach LaVine remain extension-eligible, but would be able to maximize their future earnings by waiting until free agency to sign new deals.
Dante Exum, who was waived on Saturday by the Rockets, owns a minority stake in the South East Melbourne Phoenix, and the NBL team’s general manager indicated it would love to him as a player. “If and when Dante decides that the NBL is the right move for him, we of course will do whatever we can do to make that as easy for him as possible,” GM Tommy Greer said (link via NBL.com.au).