New York Knicks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Smith, Pelicans, Hornets

January 27th, 2015 at 10:18pm CST by Eddie Scarito

J.R. Smith believes that being away from the nightlife of New York will help improve his game and focus, TNT’s David Aldridge, writing in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com reports. The Cavs guard said, “I think this is the best situation for me, ’cause there’s nothing but basketball. There’s nothing you expect but basketball. There’s nothing, there’s no going out, there’s no late nights. There’s video games, basketball and basketball. So it’s a great thing, ’cause I go back to where I came from. When I grew up, I never, I wasn’t allowed to go out.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Smith also intimated that he wished things would have worked out with the Knicks, and wanted to become successful in the triangle offense, Aldridge adds. “I wanted to be one of the players that understood it, that got it,” Smith said. “The two greatest players in the world at my position played in it [Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant], and thrived in it, got all the accolades and championships and whatever else came with it. I wanted to be a part of that significant group. Not that I think I’m like those two guys in any way, but to be a part of the building process that that’s the base of, and go from there.”
Pelicans and Saints owner Tom Benson is asking a judge to dismiss the lawsuit that his heirs have filed regarding the control of the two franchises, Brett Martel of The Associated Press writes. Benson’s legal stance is that he made a “deliberate, reasoned and difficult decision” to change his succession plan so that Gayle Benson, his wife of 10 years, inherits control of the team, Martel notes.
The Pacers have assigned Shayne Whittington to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star reports (Twitter link). This will be Whittington’s initial D-League assignment of the season.
Hornets GM Rich Cho isn’t willing to sacrifice any long-term assets in his search for a backup point guard, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer writes. “I think one of the worst things you can do is lose [draft] picks and flexibility and then get caught in a corner,” Cho said. “That’s one of the challenges of this job: You’ve got to balance winning now with winning in the future.”

Rockets Make Jason Terry Available

January 27th, 2015 at 4:58pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Rockets are dangling veteran Jason Terry in trade talks, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders reports. League sources have informed Kennedy that Houston is open to dealing Terry’s expiring contract worth $5,850,313, and that the team is willing to package him along with prospects or draft picks in order to facilitate a trade.

While Kennedy doesn’t name any specific teams that the Rockets have spoken with, he does speculate that the Knicks are a potential trade partner, seeing how they are looking to free up cap space for next season. If Houston is unable to complete a larger trade that lands it a big name player such as Goran Dragic, then the Rockets could look to flip Terry for Jose Calderon, a player whom the Knicks are reportedly willing to move, Kennedy speculates. I recently examined the trade candidacy of Calderon.

Terry, 37, has appeared in 42 games for the Rockets this season, including four as a starter. He is averaging 7.8 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 22.1 minutes per game. In 1178 career games, Terry’s numbers are 15.1 PPG, 2.5 RPG, and 4.3 APG. His career slash line is .446/.380/.845.

Five Teams Eye JaMychal Green

January 27th, 2015 at 3:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:11pm: Knicks president Phil Jackson inquired about Green today, tweets Marc Berman of the New York Post. Green has offers from two other teams, Berman adds.

3:06pm: The Grizzlies, Knicks, Bulls, Bucks and Blazers are expected to register interest in power forward JaMychal Green, whose 10-day contract expires tonight, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Green is parting ways with the Spurs after the sides failed to come to terms on a new deal, according to Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter).

Chicago, New York and Memphis had interest when Green signed his 10-day deal with San Antonio earlier this month. The 24-year-old spent the preseason with the Spurs and was with San Antonio’s D-League affiliate in between stints with the big club. Green, who went undrafted out of Alabama in 2012, saw just 6.2 minutes per game in four appearances on his 10-day deal.

Memphis has a full 15-man roster, as our roster counts show, though Tyrus Thomas is on the fifth day of a 10-day contract. The Knicks have a pair of 10-day contracts coming off the books later this week. Bucks coach Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin, whose 10-day pact with Milwaukee expires after Wednesday, raised doubts today about a report that Martin and the team had agreed to a deal for the rest of the season, so if they split, that would leave a roster vacancy. The Bulls already have an open roster spot.

The Blazers have 15 players on deals that are guaranteed for the rest of the season, but GM Neil Olshey said on SiriusXM NBA Radio today that the team is actively seeking a way to upgrade the roster, as The Oregonian’s Jason Quick notes. However, Olshey downplayed the need for a big man, like Green, and suggested the team is looking for help on the wing instead.

Knicks Re-Sign Langston Galloway

January 27th, 2015 at 1:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:40pm: The deal is official, the team announced (Twitter link).

11:43pm: The money is partially guaranteed for next season, Berman now says (on Twitter).

11:40am: The sides have agreed to a deal that covers this season and next with full guarantees, Berman reports (on Twitter). Begley corroborates that the deal is indeed done (Twitter link). It’ll be for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Knicks can hand out.

11:17am: The deal isn’t done yet, but it should be soon, league sources tell Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link).

10:33am: The Knicks have reached a deal to re-sign Langston Galloway, reports Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link). It’ll cover at least the rest of the season, since Galloway has already played through a pair of 10-day contracts with the team, and the sides were reportedly negotiating about additional years as part of his new deal. The Knicks were hesitant to give the combo guard the guaranteed salary for next season that he was seeking, as Marc Berman of the New York Post reported Monday, but the terms of the deal they’ve apparently struck aren’t immediately clear.

Other teams were poised to jump in if the Knicks couldn’t secure the undrafted 23-year-old out of St. Joseph’s, according to Shams Charania of RealGM, an indication of the strong impression he made while with New York on his pair of 10-day contracts, the last of which expired after Monday. Galloway averaged 12.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 28.0 minutes per game over eight appearances for the Knicks, and he started half of those games. He was with the Knicks during the preseason and played for New York’s D-League affiliate prior to his first 10-day deal.

The Michael Siegel client is set to become the 13th player signed through the end of the season on New York’s roster. The Knicks are also carrying Lou Amundson and Lance Thomas on their second 10-day contracts with the club. Amundson’s deal expires at the end of Thursday, and Thomas’ comes up on Friday.

Latest On Knicks, Langston Galloway

January 27th, 2015 at 9:59am CST by ChrisCrouse

TUESDAY, 9:59am: Galloway and the Knicks are making progress in negotiations this morning, a source tells Berman.

MONDAY, 5:38pm: The Knicks and Langston Galloway are still apart on negotiations for a new contract, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Knicks are willing to sign Galloway for the rest of this season but the reason for the hold up is the proposed non-guaranteed pact for next season. Galloway is a client of Michael Siegel, as our Agency Database shows.

Team president Phil Jackson has been very frugal with his cap space for next season, already declining Shane Larkin‘s team option, with the intent on remaining as flexible as possible. If Jackson doesn’t decide to guarantee Galloway the roughly $845K minimum for the 2015/16 season, Berman speculates that other teams could come into the fold if the Knicks and Galloway don’t quickly strike another agreement when the point guard becomes a free agent on Tuesday. Multiple NBA teams are indeed poised to chase him should he make himself available, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.

The Knicks only have slightly more than $32.4MM in guaranteed money on the books for the 2015/16 season. With the lack of draft picks over the next couple years and the amount of cap space available, it would be surprising if the Knicks and Galloway don’t come to some sort of arrangement that gives the 23-year-old at least some guaranteed money for next season and gives New York another asset to help build its future team.

Atlantic Notes: Prince, Harris, Ainge, Mullens

January 27th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Tayshaun Prince is playing well and has helped the Celtics close to within two games of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but while Brad Stevens is clearly a fan of his game, Prince’s performance is making him a more valuable trade chip, writes Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. The C’s have reportedly been attempting to deal Prince for draft considerations. There’s more on the Celtics amid the latest from around the Atlantic Division:

A close friend of Tobias Harris told Marc Berman of the New York Post last week that the forward wants to win a championship with the Knicks, but Harris’ father disputes the notion that his son is anxious to play for New York, as Torrel Harris tells Isaiah Narciso of The Gospel Times. The Knicks apparently plan to pursue the soon-to-be restricted free agent.
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge waffled about his future while the Celtics were a winning team, but he’s committed to seeing Boston’s rebuilding project through and says he’s “ready for the long haul,” as he tells Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.
Byron Mullens has changed agents, hiring Todd Ramasar of Stealth Sports, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. The center, who played briefly in China this season and saw his last NBA action for the Sixers last year, had been with Lee Melchionni of the Wasserman Media Group.

Eastern Notes: Kobe, Wizards, Durant, Lopez

January 26th, 2015 at 12:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kobe Bryant wanted to join the Wizards more than a decade ago when Michael Jordan was with the team, Bryant acknowledged to Michael Lee of The Washington Post. While Jordan was playing with the Wizards, Bryant told him several times that he wanted to come to Washington, assuming that Jordan would again head basketball operations for the Wizards as he did before his comeback, sources tell Lee. Jordan was confident he would sign Bryant when he became a free agent in 2004, Lee hears, but the current Hornets owner never got that chance, since then-Wizards owner Abe Pollin decided against letting Jordan run the front office upon his final retirement from playing in 2003. The Wizards missed out on a star then, but they have their sights set on acquiring one a dozen years later, as we detail:

It’s a long shot but more than a pipe dream that the Wizards would land Kevin Durant when he hits free agency in 2016, as TNT’s David Aldridge writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. A D.C. income tax loophole would allow Durant to save more than $700K per year in tax payments if he played for the Wizards instead of the Thunder, as Aldridge explains. However, the Thunder, who hold Durant’s Bird rights, can offer better annual salary raises than the Wizards or any other team can.
J.R. Smith got over some initial mixed feelings about the trade that sent him from the Knicks to the Cavs and calls playing for Cleveland “the best situation for me as a person,” as he told Aldridge for the same piece. Smith has a player option worth nearly $6.4MM for next season.
Trade candidate Brook Lopez would prefer to stay with the Nets, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports writes amid his weekly power rankings.
Scouts, coaches and GMs at the D-League showcase were puzzled when the Sixers signed Larry Drew II, who had been playing for the Heat’s affiliate, to a 10-day contract earlier this month, as Gino Pilato of D-League Digest hears (Twitter links). Drew put up strong numbers, with 10.1 assists per game and 40.4% three-point shooting in 21 D-League appearances this year, but there were other, more intriguing prospects, Pilato believes. Drew signed his second 10-day deal with Philly earlier today.

Central Notes: Mozgov, Pistons, Bulls

January 25th, 2015 at 11:02pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavaliers are suddenly the hottest team in the Central Division, and with their sixth straight win Sunday, over the Thunder, they own the NBA’s longest winning streak aside from the Hawks and their 16 wins in a row. Here’s the latest from Cleveland and the rest of the Central:

The record will show that the Cavs gave up two first-round picks in their deal to acquire Timofey Mozgov, but in the original structure of the trade, Cleveland never would have held one of those first-rounders, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group details. The Mozgov swap was supposed to have been part of the team’s three-way deal with the Knicks and Thunder involving Dion Waiters, Haynes reports. A scheduling conflict on Denver’s end broke what would have been one four-team transaction into separate trades, and the Thunder’s protected 2015 first-rounder that was destined for Denver wound up with the Cavs for the two-day period in between swaps, according to Haynes.
Stan Van Gundy acknowledged that the Pistons are looking for a third point guard to go with D.J. Augustin and Spencer Dinwiddie in the wake of the season-ending Achilles injury to Brandon Jennings, TSN’s Josh Lewenberg tweets. Detroit is looking either to swing a trade or sign a D-Leaguer, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The D-League option would jibe with the team’s reported interest in Lorenzo Brown.
Van Gundy’s brother, ESPN commentator Jeff Van Gundy, accused Bulls management on Friday of trying to undermine coach Tom Thibodeau, and Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson shot back Sunday, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune writes. “Tom Thibodeau isn’t being undermined at all,” Paxson said. “What’s being undermined is the entire Bulls organization by [Jeff] Van Gundy, who has an agenda against our organization for whatever reason and has for years. I guess he thinks he’s trying to protect his friend, but he’s doing just the opposite. It’s pretty pathetic when you think about it, and truth be told he owes Jerry Reinsdorf an apology for his disparaging remarks.”

Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Teletovic, Celtics

January 25th, 2015 at 8:37pm CST by Zachary Links

Despite what some may believe, the Knicks‘ goal was never to lose games this season, as Al Iannazzone of Newsday writes. “I do believe that we put a lot of hard work in to kind of get to this point,” Knicks star Carmelo Anthony said. “To see the results of winning basketball games after the work we put in, after the chemistry we’re trying to build, the culture that we’re trying to build, just to see us put together a few wins right now is a great feeling.” More from the Atlantic Division..

Odds are strong Nets three-point shooting specialist Mirza Teletovic will recover from his pulmonary embolism and play at some point next season in the NBA. However, medical experts tell Marc Berman of the New York Post that there are no guarantees this doesn’t turn into a career-threatening episode. Teletovic is a restricted free agent this summer.
All of the losing will have been worthwhile for the Knicks if they can land Jahlil Okafor, opines Fred Kerber of the New York Post. A scout who spoke with Kerber loved his upside, saying teams “see the next LeBron or Kevin Durant down the road.” Meanwhile, one NBA GM called him “the No. 1 pick without question.”
The Celtics‘ extreme makeover is nearing the final stretch, writes Jeremy Gottlieb of Boston.com. Gottlieb writes that there’s still more work to be done, however, including trading Brandon Bass and figuring out what to do with Jared Sullinger.
With Celtics big man Kelly Olynyk out of action, Bass can now improve his trade value, writes Brian Robb of Boston.com.

And-Ones: Dragic, Whiteside, World Peace, Kobe

January 25th, 2015 at 4:59pm CST by Charlie Adams

Goran Dragic reportedly feels better about his situation with Phoenix now than he did during the 2013/14 campaign, but he admits that there’s no guarantee he’ll return to the Suns once he becomes a free agent this summer, as he tells Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. “Every team in the NBA is an option to me, because it is a privilege to play for any team in the NBA,” Dragic said. “When the time comes I’m going to sit down with my family and my agent and try to make the best decision for myself.” We’ll round up more from around the NBA below:

Hassan Whiteside is opening eyes with the Heat, having posted a triple-double today with 14 points, 13 boards, and 12 blocks. The Knicks had some interest in the big man last year but eventually signed Lamar Odom instead, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.
Metta World Peace‘s stint in China has come to an end, as the veteran forward passed along on Twitter. The Clippers were rumored to have interest in inking World Peace to a late season deal.
Kobe Bryant spoke and said he would be a major part of the Lakers’ recruiting efforts this upcoming summer, observes Michael Lee of the Washington Post. “It’s a pretty simple message. It’s the best organization in the world, best brand in the world,” Bryant said of the Lakers. “We win championships. That’s what we do. It would be much more than … X’s and O’s and style of play, things of that nature. There’s no place like winning in Los Angeles, man.”
Jonathan Givony of Draft Express released his latest prospect rankings, with Jahlil Okafor unsurprisingly still topping out the list.