New York Knicks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: Butler, Thibodeau, Anthony

March 21st, 2015 at 10:09pm CST by Arthur Hill

The short-handed Bulls should be be getting some help soon, tweets Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. Coach Tom Thibodeau said Jimmy Butler is “real close” to returning to action. His elbow is improving and he could be back on the court this week.

There’s more news from the Eastern Conference:

Thibodeau has no interest in a front office role, tweets K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Before tonight’s game in Detroit, Thibodeau was asked if he would like a dual position, similar to the Pistons‘ Stan Van Gundy, who serves as coach and president of basketball operations. Thibodeau replied, “I’m happy right where I am.”
The Knicks‘ Carmelo Anthony tweeted Saturday that his recovery from knee surgery is “going well.” Team president Phil Jackson told Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com that Anthony has visited the practice facility to receive treatment on the knee, and the plan is for Anthony to begin workouts in June.
Don’t expect Kendrick Perkins to be part of the Cavaliers‘ rotation, writes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Lloyd says Cleveland acquired Perkins as merely an insurance policy, and he won’t see much action in the playoffs, barring injuries or foul trouble.
The Magic’s Evan Fournier is hoping to return to action before the season ends, reports Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. Fournier is dealing with a hip injury and hasn’t played since February 25th. “Hopefully, I’m going to be able to play soon.” he said. “Hopefully, 10 more days. I don’t know.”

Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Noel, Knicks, Young

March 21st, 2015 at 7:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Sixers are doing themselves no favors by winning games, argues Tom Moore of Calkins Media. Even after an 0-17 start and trades that sent away Michael Carter-Williams and Thaddeus Young, Philadelphia could wind up with more wins than it had last season. Moore writes that each victory jeopardizes the team’s position in the draft lottery. The Sixers are currently third in Hoops Rumors’ Reverse Standings, one game above the Lakers.

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

The Sixers‘ Nerlens Noel is making a strong case for Rookie of the Year votes, Moore writes in a separate column. After missing all of last season while recovering from a torn ACL, Noel leads all rookies in rebounds, blocks, steals and double-doubles. “I feel that award should probably go to the best player,” Noel said, “who helps their team win games and keeps them in games and affects the games in so many different ways. I continue to get better and better.”
The Knicks can’t go wrong if they land the first or second pick in June’s draft, writes Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Zagoria talked to NBA legend Magic Johnson, who said Duke’s Jahlil Okafor and Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns both have a chance to be stars. The Knicks currently have the league’s worst record at 14-55.
The Celtics have recalled guard/forward James Young from Maine of the D-League, the team announced in a press release. He has played 11 games with the Red Claws this season, averaging 22.4 points and 4.9 rebounds. His averages in 29 games as a Celtic are 3.2 points and 1.4 rebounds in 10.4 minutes of playing time.

Eastern Notes: Payton, Knicks, Sixers

March 20th, 2015 at 11:03pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Elfrid Payton recorded his second triple-double in as many games and the rookie is starting to help the Magic win games, writes Kyle Hightower of The Associated Press. Antoine Walker is the last player to have two straight triple-doubles as a rookie. He accomplished this feat back in 1997 for the Celtics.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Trading the player they select with their first round pick would be a colossal mistake for the Knicks, opines Jason Concepcion of Grantland.com. Mortgaging the future in order to put above average talent on the court has long been a problem for the franchise. Concepcion looks at the Lakers’ decision not to trade Andrew Bynum for veteran Jason Kidd in 2007 and hopes Phil Jackson can learn from the team’s patience. Just a few years later, Bynum played a huge role in hanging two more championship banners in the Staples Center.
Alexey Shved has impressed since arriving in New York and the guard is glad he is no longer playing for the Sixers, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I don’t know why it happened,” Shved said about his lack of playing time in Philadelphia. “I’m just working every day and playing like always. So it’s not a question for me. It’s a question for the [Sixers] coaches. It doesn’t matter, because the time is gone. Now, I play here and don’t what to think about what happened [with the Sixers].” The 26-year-old is averaging 18.1 points, 5.0 assists and 1.4 steals over his last seven games.
Allen Iverson has interest in a front office role with the Sixers, writes Michael Kaskey-Blomain of Philly.com. “I would like to be even in that war room,” Iverson said. “Even if they don’t go with my decision or whatever, just to have an opinion and putting out what I think and trusting the organization to do what’s right.”

Atlantic Notes: Ledo, Nets, Larranaga

March 20th, 2015 at 7:03pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Ricky Ledo could be a steal for the Knicks, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told Marc Berman of the New York Post. Ledo signed a 10-day contract with New York on Thursday because of injuries to shooting guards Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cleanthony Early. The Mavs waived Ledo last month so they could sign Amar’e Stoudemire, who agreed to a buyout with New York. He was playing with the Texas Legends, the D-League affiliate of the Mavs, before the Knicks signed him. “He is incredibly talented,” Cuban stated to Berman via email. “Because we are trying to compete for a championship, we really weren’t in a position to give him minutes to help his development. I think with playing time he will get better and better and could be a steal for the Knicks.’’

In other news around the Atlantic Division:

The Nets‘ future looks bleak regardless of whether they make the playoffs this season, Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com opines. The Nets don’t have total control over their own first-round pick until 2019 and even with ample cap space in the summer of 2016, Mazzeo doubts the Nets can attract impact free agents. The team has a leadership void and veteran players like Deron Williams and Joe Johnson with big contracts that are difficult to move, Mazzeo adds, plus GM Billy King is entering the final year of his contract.
The Nets were influential in the move that 2014 59th overall pick Xavier Thames made to join the D-League after he’d run into problems with his Spanish team, as Thames told Scott Kaplan and B.R. Smith of San Diego’s Mighty 1090 AM Radio (audio link), and as Robert Windrem of NetsDaily transcribes. Brooklyn acquired the shooting guard’s NBA rights on draft night in a trade with the Raptors.
Celtics assistant coach Jay Larranaga has declined to be part of George Mason University’s search for a new head coach, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

Chris Crouse contributed to this post.

And-Ones: George, Griffin, Knicks

March 19th, 2015 at 10:51pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Paul George has been cautious in his timetable to return to the Pacers, but the Fresno State product is fully committed to participating with Team USA again, writes Scott Horner of the Indy Star. “I’m in. Of course,” George said. “The day [the injury] happened, right after, I told them I looked forward to continuing on with USA Basketball.” George reiterated that he wants to be close to 100% when he returns to the court for the Pacers. “I want to play, but I don’t want to play under any terms of just wanting to get out there. I want to be fully healthy,” George said. “It’s different if this was the beginning of the year, and we were still trying to find our way. But these guys are playing at the top at their game right now and again, the last thing I want to do is slow them down.” Indiana is 30-37 on the season, tied with Boston for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Here’s more from around the league:

Blake Griffin says his right arm is considerably smaller than his left one because it was in a cast for so long, according to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Griffin missed 15 games due to a staph infection in his right elbow. The power forward is shooting 50% from the field in 37.7 minutes per game since recovering from the injury.
Knicks team Physician Dr. Lisa Callahan has been named the 2014 Physician of the Year, by members of the National Basketball Athletic Trainers Association. Perhaps New York can use her employment to its advantage when luring free agents to the city. Older veterans and players coming off of an injury, such as Wesley Matthews, could look at the rank of a team’s medical staff as a deciding factor in where they sign during the offseason, although that is just my speculation.

Eastern Notes: Cavs, Knicks, Sixers

March 19th, 2015 at 6:03pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Cavs first-year coach David Blatt believes that finishing second in the Eastern Division is a worthy goal the remainder of the regular season, according to Chris Fedor of Northeast Ohio Media Group. Cleveland’s relative lack of playoff experience, other than LeBron James, makes homecourt advantage even more essential, the story continues. The Cavs have not lost a home game since January 7th. Blatt may still rest some of his top players at times but not if it costs the team in seeding, Fedor adds. “I’d like us to finish as high as possible because there’s value in that,” Blatt said to the team’s beat reporters. “We’re going to come out and try to win every game regardless of who we are putting on the floor. If we see the need and we have the ability to rest someone we may do that too. We’re not going to lose sight of the fact that we’re going to compete every single game and not give anything away.”

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

Knicks first-year coach Derek Fisher says the most frustration he’s experienced this season is trying to instruct and lead players from the sidelines rather than on the court, Fred Kerber of the New York Post reports. “A lot of times, you see things in them that they’re still trying to discover in themselves,” Fisher said. “Being a guy that was just in that position a year ago at this date, there are a lot of things I can relate to and I can offer.”
The Sixers are winning too much for their own good and need to stay among the top four in the draft to get an impact player, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer opines. Philadelphia, which currently owns the third-worst record in the league, has won three of its last six. It plays the Knicks, who are tied for the worst record, and Lakers, who have the fourth-worst record, this weekend. Pompey notes that Jahlil Okafor, Emmanuel Mudiay, Karl Anthony-Towns and D’Angelo Russell are generally considered by most NBA scouts as the only sure things in the draft. You can track all of the teams in the hunt for the No. 1 overall pick by visiting our Reverse Standings page.
Miles Plumlee is making the most of his extended playing time with the Bucks, writes Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel. The team likes what the 6’11” center has brought to the court since coming to Milwaukee in a deal with the Suns at the deadline. “I think his athletic ability, his ability to set screens and run the floor [was impressive],” coach Jason Kidd said. “The big thing is rebounding the ball, and he had 11 rebounds in 18 minutes. We have to get him more time on the floor.”

Chris Crouse contributed to this post.

Draft Notes: Knicks, Russell, Hunter

March 19th, 2015 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Today’s 32-game NCAA tournament schedule will draw plenty of eyes from fans and NBA personnel alike, even if the connection between college postseason success and NBA riches isn’t all that strong. Still, it serves as a gateway into the buildup for June’s draft, and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress outlines today’s games from a prospect-focused perspective. We’ll share more draft-related items here as the action heats up:

Knicks president Phil Jackson made it obvious that he’s high on Ohio State combo guard D’Angelo Russell, drawing a fine for complimenting the underclassman’s game, and Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal examines how Russell would fit on the Knicks. There’s a potential for a fit there, but he’s not the typical sort of player Jackson’s teams have had to run their offenses, and his lack of defensive skill would force the team to prioritize stoppers in free agency, Herring opines.
Russell, Jerian Grant, Myles Turner, Devin Booker and R.J. Hunter are the five prospects an SI.com panel of writers believes have the most on the line during the NCAA Tournament.
Hunter, a Georgia State shooting guard, leads a pack of mid-major prospects who have a chance for rare high-profile showcases in the tournament, as Chad Ford and Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com examine in an Insider-only piece. Eastern Washington’s Tyler Harvey and Kyle Collingsworth of BYU are others who appear in line to be drafted, according to Ford and Pelton.

Knicks Sign Ricky Ledo To 10-Day Deal

March 19th, 2015 at 9:26am CST by Charlie Adams

THURSDAY, 9:26am: The deal is official, the team announced.

WEDNESDAY, 10:08pm: The Knicks are set to sign Ricky Ledo to a 10-day deal, reports Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com (Twitter link; hat tip to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com). New York won’t need to make a corresponding move to accommodate Ledo’s arrival since they’re only carrying 14 guaranteed contracts at the moment, as our list of roster counts shows.

Ledo was waived by the Mavs around the trade deadline to make room for Amar’e Stoudemire. He only appeared in five games with Dallas this season, spending the lion’s share of his time with the Texas Legends, the club’s D-League affiliate. The 22-year-old guard was the 43rd pick in the 2013 draft but hasn’t been given much of a chance to display his skills at the NBA level. Joining the league-worst Knicks might give him a better platform to demonstrate his abilities than he had with the title-hopeful Mavs.

Should Ledo stick around in New York, there’s little chance Thanasis Antetokounmpo makes the roster in 2014/15, as Begley points out (on Twitter). The Knicks were reportedly considering bringing aboard Thanasis, the older brother of Giannis Antetokounmpo, but Ledo’s presence might indicate they’ve moved on from that idea.

Western Notes: Wiggins, Chandler, Booker

March 18th, 2015 at 12:03pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Raptors are reportedly already planning a run at Andrew Wiggins, and there are apparently whispers that he’d love to play for his hometown Toronto team someday, even though he can’t elect unrestricted free agency until 2019. Still, Wiggins said today, in advance of tonight’s Timberwolves-Raptors game, that he’s quite content in Minnesota, making his remarks to reporters, including Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun (Twitter link).

“I love Minnesota,” he said. “They treat me nice up there. I plan to be there a very, very, very long time.”

That’s no doubt the plan for the Wolves, too, who acquired the 2014 No. 1 overall pick this year in the Kevin Love trade. Here’s more from the Western Conference:

Tyson Chandler knew the Mavericks were trying to trade for him this past summer, but he didn’t think it would happen, as he tells Ian Thomsen of NBA.com. “I think the Knicks had rejected every possible trade that they offered,” Chandler said. “I didn’t think I was going from New York. The Knicks had visited me to teach me the triangle offense two days before I got traded. So I definitely didn’t think [a] trade was in the works.”
The Jazz are 11-2 since the trade deadline, when the deal that sent Enes Kanter out created more playing time for Trevor Booker. The ex-Wizards power forward didn’t expect Utah to play this well when he signed with the Jazz in the offseason, and he wants to remain with the team, as he tells Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. Only $250K of his $4.775MM salary for next season is guaranteed.
Pelicans coach Monty Williams praised Eric Gordon for putting the team above himself when he decided not to have surgery on the torn labrum in his left shoulder, a move that would have helped ensure he’s 100% for next season, the last on his contract, observes Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune. Gordon can hit free agency as soon as this summer if he chooses, though he’d have to turn down a player option worth more than $15.514MM to do so.

Atlantic Notes: Bargnani, Lopez, Bogdanovic

March 18th, 2015 at 8:58am CST by Chuck Myron

Soon-to-be free agent Andrea Bargnani isn’t making any promises, but he would like to remain with the Knicks, as agent Leon Rose indicated to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. An earlier dispatch noted that the Knicks are open to re-signing him for the right price, and Isola advances that report, writing that the team will “strongly consider” doing so.

“Andrea is optimistic about what [team president] Phil [Jackson] is trying to accomplish and he certainly wants to be part of it,” Rose said. “But he’s a free agent this summer so it’s too early to predict what may or may not happen.”

While we wait to find out where the former No. 1 overall pick plays next season, here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

Brook Lopez revealed that he’s building a home at Disney World in Orlando, but he also said again that he wants to remain with the Nets as he spoke with Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. Lopez has a player option worth more than $16.744MM for next season, but he hasn’t lent any clarity to conflicting reports about whether he’ll exercise it.
Bojan Bogdanovic and the Nets were both somewhat skeptical about just what sort of impact the draft-and-stash product would have even after he signed a three-year deal for the taxpayer’s mid-level exception this summer, writes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. Inconsistency earlier this season validated that uncertainty, but he’s played well since the All-Star break and is showing signs that he’s capable of helping the Nets through a period of roster transition in the years ahead, Bontemps observes.
The Celtics are having success with undersized perimeter players, but that’s out of necessity, not by design, writes Paul Flannery of SB Nation, who hears from president of basketball operations Danny Ainge on the state of the team’s rebuilding. “We will make an attempt in free agency for sure but we have to be careful that we spend [money] correctly and on the right players and not just spend it because it’s available,” Ainge said of the offseason ahead. “We have to maintain that flexibility to get the right players.”