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Nuggets Notes: Campazzo, Lineup, Green, Arena, Roster

December 1st, 2020 at 2:42pm CST by Luke Adams

Having officially signed a two-year contract with the Nuggets, longtime EuroLeague star Facundo Campazzo is excited about finally making it to the NBA, as he wrote for HoopsHype. Campazzo said that he also received interest from the Knicks and Timberwolves before signing with Denver.

“Aside from being super happy about becoming an NBA player, I’m also ecstatic about doing it so with the Nuggets,” he wrote. “There was mild interest from New York and Minnesota made a hard run at my services with my friend Pablo Prigioni recruiting me all the time, but it was impossible to say no to Denver.”

As Campazzo explained, the Nuggets’ ability to contend was a major factor in his decision. He also got feedback from fellow Argentines Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, and Luis Scola about the Nuggets organization and the city of Denver, which helped win him over.

“It goes without saying that signing with the Nuggets is a dream come true, but it’s by no means mission accomplished for me,” Campazzo wrote. “I’m coming here to stay and have a relevant NBA career.”

Here’s more on the Nuggets:

Discussing his projected starting five today, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said that no one besides Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic are locked in yet, tweets Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Malone did single out Michael Porter Jr. though, telling reporters that the young forward has a chance to be an “All-League talent” (Twitter link via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN).
JaMychal Green said today that he’s not concerned about whether or not he starts, as long as he gets consistent minutes (Twitter link via Singer). The veteran forward also said he nearly signed with Denver a year ago as a free agent (Twitter link via Singer).
The Nuggets have formally announced that they won’t be hosting fans at Ball Arena in Denver to start the 2020/21 season due to coronavirus-related regulations and concerns.
The Nuggets plan on going through training camp with just 17 players under contract and won’t bring in camp invitees to fill out the final three spots, a source tell Singer (Twitter link). After signing RJ Hampton today, the Nuggets have 15 players officially locked up, with Paul Millsap and Zeke Nnaji still to be finalized.

Knicks Notes: Toppin, Randle, Rivers, Quickley

November 28th, 2020 at 8:08pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Knicks are excited about lottery pick Obi Toppin, but there are concerns about his fit alongside Julius Randle, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Both are natural power forwards, and many scouts tell Berman that Toppin doesn’t have the versatility to play small forward in the NBA.

“I think best case, they don’t play together that often and you share the 48 power-forward minutes,’’ former NBA scout Bryan Oringher said. “You can get away with each of them as a small-ball 5 for a few minutes a game, but I really don’t think either can play the 3. As centers, they are obviously undersized, and your rim protection will be pretty porous.’’

Randle is headed into the final fully guaranteed year of the contract he signed last summer. He would eat up $4MM in cap space if the Knicks cut him loose before the 2021/22 season, so there’s incentive to trade him before then and let Toppin become the starter at power forward.

There’s more from New York:

The Knicks’ point guard situation may be even more muddled than it was last season, contends Greg Joyce of The New York Post. Elfrid Payton, Frank Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr., who shared the job a year ago, are all still with the team, as well as free agent addition Austin Rivers and first-round pick Immanuel Quickley. New York missed out on free agent targets Fred VanVleet and D.J. Augustin.
Rivers’ new deal will pay him $3.5MM this season, $3.3MM is 2021/22 and $3.15MM in 2022/23, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. The second and third years won’t become guaranteed until seven days after the final day of the moratorium for each season.
In a lengthy interview, Quickley talks to Steve Serby of The New York Post about his experiences at Kentucky and his hopes for the NBA. “My whole life I wasn’t ranked,” Quickley said. “I had just gotten ranked like my junior and senior year. And then I come into Kentucky, people don’t believe that I’m gonna be good enough to be able to … I’m not the quote unquote usual Kentucky player like John Wall or De’Aaron Fox or something like that. But I still came in and had success. And then I think it’s a lot of people that still doubt me coming into the league, don’t think I can play point guard, don’t think I’m strong enough or things like that, so just always trying to prove the doubters wrong and prove myself right.”

Knicks Sign First-Round Pick Quickley

November 28th, 2020 at 1:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks have signed rookie guard Immanuel Quickley, according to a team press release.

The former Kentucky guard was taken with the 25th overall pick in the first round. The Thunder had his draft rights and traded them to New York in a three-team deal with Minnesota that was made official on November 20.

Assuming Quickley received the usual 120% above his rookie scale slot, he’ll make $2,105,520 in his first season. If he plays out the next four seasons on his rookie deal, he’ll make $10,803,948.

Quickley was named the 2019-20 SEC Player of the Year after posting averages of 16.1 PPG and 4.2 RPG over 33.0 MPG in 30 games as a sophomore last season.

Knicks Sign Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

November 28th, 2020 at 9:16am CST by marksuleymanov

1:04pm: The signing is official, according to the team’s PR department (Twitter link).

9:16am: The Knicks have agreed to a one-year deal with veteran forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The deal is expected to be an Exhibit 10 contract for Kidd-Gilchrist, per Newsday’s Steve Popper (Twitter link), which is essentially a non-guaranteed, one-year minimum-salary deal.

Regarded as a solid defender, Kidd-Gilchrist has ties to the current Knicks organization as current president Leon Rose represented him at CAA and is longtime friends with executive vice president and senior basketball adviser William Wesley. The 27-year-old appeared in just 25 games between the Hornets and Mavericks last season after spending the first seven seasons of his career with the Charlotte organization.

The Kentucky product was taken second overall by the then-Charlotte Bobcats in the 2012 NBA Draft and subsequently developed into a solid starter for the team. After three solid seasons, the Hornets rewarded Kidd-Gilchrist with a four-year, $52MM contract extension in August 2015.

Right shoulder injuries limited him to just seven games in his first season post-extension in 2015/16 but Kidd-Gilchrist returned to start 81 games and then 74 games in the two campaigns proceeding it. However, starting in 2018, Kidd-Gilchrist lost his starting role whilst battling a barrage of injuries.

Ultimately, Kidd-Gilchrist fell out of the rotation and was waived by the Hornets earlier this year before latching on with Dallas for 13 games down the stretch.

Wolves Rumors: Hernangomez, Edwards, Rubio, Beasley

November 27th, 2020 at 1:53pm CST by Luke Adams

Timberwolves restricted free agent forward Juan Hernangomez initially sought an offer in excess of $10MM per year, sources tell Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Unwilling to meet that price right off the bat, the Wolves “essentially told” Hernangomez to prove he could get an offer from another club while they went looking for possible alternatives at power forward, writes Krawczynski.

Minnesota ended up reaching out to a number forwards in free agency, including Derrick Jones (as previously outlined), Paul Millsap, Jae Crowder, and JaMychal Green, and inquired on possible trades involving Magic forward Aaron Gordon, Rockets forward P.J. Tucker, and Cavaliers big man Larry Nance Jr., sources tell Krawczynski.

The Timberwolves didn’t have any luck with any of those potential targets, but held firm on their offer to Hernangomez, who mulled the possibility of accepting the one-year qualifying offer worth $4.64MM, per Krawczynski. Ultimately, the two sides came to an agreement on a three-year, $21MM deal that has a third-year team option.

Here’s more out of Minnesota:

The Timberwolves chose Anthony Edwards with the No. 1 pick last week because they believe he has the clearest path of any of this year’s draft-eligible prospects to becoming a multi-time All-Star, says Krawczysnki.
Sources tell The Athletic that the team’s acquisition of Ricky Rubio was partly motivated by seeing what the veteran point guard did for Donovan Mitchell and Devin Booker at his previous stops and a belief that he’ll aid Edwards’ development.
The Knicks told Malik Beasley he’d be their Plan B in free agency if they couldn’t land Gordon Hayward, according to Krawczynski. Recognizing that New York could be a threat to put forth a troublesome offer sheet, the Wolves went in with an aggressive pitch on the opening night of free agency and secured a commitment from Beasley on the spot. Sources tell The Athletic that Beasley has appreciated the support he’s received from the franchise since running into off-court legal problems.
The Timberwolves officially announced Beasley’s new deal today. Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) has the year-by-year financial breakdown of that contract, which guarantees the swingman $43MM+ over three years.

Knicks Add Austin Rivers Via Sign-And-Trade

November 27th, 2020 at 11:11am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks have officially completed their addition of Austin Rivers in a sign-and-trade deal with the Rockets rather than signing him outright, announcing the move today in a press release.

The move also sends the draft rights of three players – guard Sergio Llull, forward Tadija Dragicevic, and forward Axel Hervelle – to New York. In exchange, the Rockets receive the draft rights to guard Issuf Sanon and create a modest trade exception.

Rivers had agreed over the weekend to sign a three-year, $10MM deal with the Knicks. The final two years of his new contract are non-guaranteed, which is permitted under sign-and-trade rules.

The inclusion of Llull in this deal is the most interesting new piece of information. The Rockets have long attempted to get the Spanish guard, who was selected 34th overall in the 2009 draft, to come stateside and play in the NBA, but he has preferred to remain in his home country with Real Madrid — he has played for the EuroLeague club since 2007.

At age 33, Llull seems increasingly unlikely to ever make the move to the NBA. That’s even more true of Dragicevic and Hervelle, who were drafted in 2008 and 2005, respectively, and are in their mid-30s now. However, their rights could be useful as filler in future trades.

Sanon, who has played for Slovenian and Ukrainian teams since being drafted in 2018, is still a candidate to eventually sign an NBA contract. He was the 44th overall pick two years ago and is still just 21 years old.

Of course, the only player of immediate importance in the deal is Rivers, who will add some veteran experience to the Knicks’ backcourt in 2020/21. He averaged 8.8 PPG and 2.6 RPG on .421/.356/.703 shooting in 68 games (23.4 MPG) for the Rockets last season.

New York will technically be hard-capped as a result of acquiring a player via sign-and-trade. The team remains far below the cap for the time being though, so it’s fair to assume that $138.93MM hard cap won’t become an issue in 2020/21.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Knicks Could Be Seeking Additional Talent; Details On Aaron Brooks

November 25th, 2020 at 9:58pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Steve Popper of Newsday indicates that the Knicks might still be in the market for talent this offseason. The team remains $8MM below the salary cap floor. Given the club’s cap space, New York might be in the mix to take back money in a trade. Popper notes that the contracts of Nicolas Batum, Victor Oladipo, and DeMar DeRozan could still be traded into cap space.
New Knicks coaching hire Aaron Brooks will be the first “two-way liaison” in the NBA, as Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. We passed along word of Brooks’ hiring earlier today.

Knicks Notes: Cap Room, Second-Round Picks, Ellington

November 25th, 2020 at 2:53pm CST by Luke Adams

Teams around the NBA are under the impression that the Knicks remain open to providing cap relief to clubs looking to unload unwanted salary, writes Ian Begley of SNY.tv. New York already used its cap space to accommodate an Ed Davis salary dump, acquiring two second-round picks for taking his contract, then flipping him to Minnesota for another future second-rounder.

The Knicks still have at least $18MM in cap room, so they could absorb a more significant salary than Davis’ $5MM. However, there’s also no rush for New York to use up all that space now. Preserving their cap room into the season would make the Knicks a go-to-trade partner for teams looking to cut costs at the in-season deadline.

Here’s more on the Knicks:

In a separate SNY.tv article, Begley considers whether the Knicks could realistically help Charlotte dump Nicolas Batum‘s $27MM salary.
The two draft picks that the Knicks acquired from the Jazz in their Davis trade – initially reported as two 2023 second-rounders – will actually be second-round selections in 2023 and 2024, per RealGM’s breakdown of traded draft picks. New York received the Jazz’s own ’23 second-rounder and either Utah’s or Cleveland’s ’24 second-rounder (whichever is more favorable).
The Knicks will receive $559,528 in set-off on Wayne Ellington‘s $1MM dead-money cap hit as a result of his new deal with Detroit, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks explains (via Twitter). Although New York will save a little money, the set-off amount won’t change Ellington’s cap hit until after the season, so the club won’t open up any extra room.
Las Vegas’ Westgate Sportsbook has the Knicks projected to be one of the NBA’s worst teams in 2020/21, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post, who says the club’s over/under is 22.5 wins (in 72 games) and its title odds are 500-to-1. Both of those are tied for the lowest mark in the league, which isn’t a big surprise, given the Knicks’ relatively quiet offseason so far.

Knicks Hire Aaron Brooks, Others

November 25th, 2020 at 12:22pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks have hired longtime NBA point guard Aaron Brooks, announcing in a press release that he’ll act as the team’s “two-way liaison.” Based on his title – and a story from Ian Begley of SNY.tv, who first reported the hiring – it sounds like Brooks will be primarily responsible for working with New York’s two-way players, Jared Harper and Theo Pinson.

Brooks, who spent 10 seasons in the NBA, played for current Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau in Chicago and Minnesota. He also shares a relationship with team president Leon Rose, who served as his agent at CAA Sports.

Brooks, 35, appears to be transitioning to a new phase in his career. He suffered a torn Achilles’ tendon last October in Australia, making past stops with the Rockets, Suns, Kings, Nuggets and Pacers. The Oregon product hinted at retirement shortly after suffering the injury.

The Knicks have also announced a series of other hires, including Darren Erman as an assistant coach, Larry Greer as an advance scout/assistant coach, Richard Williams as the strength and conditioning coach, and Reggie Johnson and TJ Zanin as scouts.

Most of those moves had been previously reported — Zanin’s hiring was even announced by the Knicks once before, way back in June.

JD Shaw contributed to this story.

Stein’s Latest: Williams, Clippers, Giannis, Bucks, Knicks

November 25th, 2020 at 9:57am CST by Luke Adams

After adding Serge Ibaka and Luke Kennard to their roster while losing Montrezl Harrell, JaMychal Green, and Landry Shamet, the Clippers may not be done, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times. A number of rival teams expect L.A. to trade away Lou Williams at some point, Stein says.

Although Williams is now 34 years old, he’s on a team-friendly expiring $8MM contract and remains a very talented scorer, having averaged 18.2 PPG off the bench in 2019/20, so he’d certainly draw interest if the Clippers put him on the trade block.

Interestingly, Stein notes that the Clippers made it a top priority this offseason to make “dramatic chemistry changes.” There were reports last season of tension in the locker room based on what some incumbent players viewed as preferential treatment for new Clippers stars Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. While he doesn’t specify whether it was related to those issues, Stein says that team officials “quietly decided (Harrell) had to go.” The Sixth Man of the Year ended up with the rival Lakers.

Here’s more from Stein’s latest newsletter:

For weeks leading up to the offseason, there had been “promising rumblings” about the Bucks‘ ability to sign Giannis Antetokounmpo to a super-max extension this fall, according to Stein. As Stein explains, there was an increasing belief that Antetokounmpo would opt for long-term financial security and reserve the right to ask for a trade down the road if he becomes dissatisfied with the situation in Milwaukee. The Bucks are now in wait-and-see mode, with Giannis expected to soon arrive back in the U.S. from Greece.
People around the NBA are wondering if the Bucks gave up too much to acquire Jrue Holiday, having surrendered three first-round picks and two pick swaps for the standout guard, writes Stein. However, he contends that if Holiday and Antetokounmpo end up sticking around beyond 2021, Milwaukee’s “all-in approach will be redeemed.”
After initially offering Gordon Hayward a two-year deal in free agency, the Knicks increased their offer to four years and remained in the chase for the veteran forward “throughout the process,” according to Stein, who notes that head coach Tom Thibodeau is an “admirer” of Hayward. Ultimately though, Charlotte’s four-year, $120MM was at a level that neither New York nor any other suitor was willing to match.