Phoenix Suns Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southeast Notes: Budenholzer, Scott, Clifford, Weltman

April 16th, 2018 at 8:05pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Hawks can expect a first-round pick if coach Mike Budenholzer bolts for another team, according to Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Budenholzer, who has two years left on his contract, was granted permission to interview for the Suns job. The Celtics received an unprotected first-round pick in the 2015 draft when the Clippers hired Doc Rivers in 2013, Cunningham notes. The Suns own extra first-round picks in the 2019 and 2021 drafts from previous trades, Cunningham adds.

In other developments around the Southeast Division:

Forward Mike Scott has emerged as a key member of the Wizards’ second unit in their playoff series against the top-seeded Raptors, Chase Hughes of NBCSports.com notes. Scott was the only productive bench player Washington had in Game 1, as he scored 14 of its 21 points. A productive series would help Scott land a contract this summer. He signed a one-year, $1.47MM deal with the Wizards last summer.
Steve Clifford, who was fired as the Hornets coach last week, believes the team didn’t play with the same attitude it showed in previous years. Clifford made the comments during a press conference posted on the team’s website. “We’ve always had spirit. We didn’t have that this year,” he said. “Some games (we did), but not nearly the togetherness and spirit we’ve had in other years. They know that.”
The Magic are in no rush to hire a new coach after firing Frank Vogel following the regular season, John Denton of the team’s website reports. President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman indicated that during a postseason press conference. “It is something that you’d rather do sooner than later so that we can get a guy in place and have our new staff around so that they can get their arms around our players, develop relationships and develop our young guys,’’ Weltman said. “All of that factors in. It would be better sooner, but as I always say … `we’re going to get it right before we get it fast.’ Hopefully, we can do both on this.’’

Heat Notes: Whiteside, McGruder, Draft Pick

April 15th, 2018 at 10:04am CST by Arthur Hill

After lashing out at coach Erik Spoelstra two weeks ago over a lack of playing time, Heat center Hassan Whiteside isn’t finding his situation any better in the playoffs, writes Manny Navarro of The Miami Herald. Whiteside was on the court for just 12:26 in the Game 1 loss at Philadelphia, even though the Sixers were missing injured center Joel Embiid. Whiteside played just four minutes in the second half and didn’t return after being replaced early in the third quarter.

“I think coach wanted some change,” said Whiteside, who was fined for his earlier comments. “[Kelly Olynyk] was playing well. Of course, I would love to be out there rebounding and blocking shots and be out there with my teammates. But I think K.O. was playing well, so coach just wanted to get him out there.”

Saturday’s benching may or may not be an indication that the Heat have moved on from Whiteside, but it continues a season-long trend in which his minutes per game have fallen to 25.3 after a career-high 32.6 last season. Olynyk, a free agent addition, and rookie Bam Adebayo have performed well at center and Whiteside has Miami’s most expensive contract. He is signed for more than $25.4MM next season with a player option worth $27MM for 2019/20.

There’s more this morning out of Miami:

The Heat and Whiteside seemed to quit on each other last night, observes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Winderman states that the organization made an error in not assigning someone to help Whiteside stay focused after giving him a four-year, $98MM contract in 2016. He contends a “blueprint of motivation” should have been created for Whiteside, whether it was by Spoelstra, assistant coach Juwan Howard, team president Pat Riley or chief executive officer Nick Arison.
Spoelstra should have given Rodney McGruder more than two minutes in Game 1, Winderman adds in the same story. McGruder missed most of this season after surgery in October for a left tibia stress fracture, but played a key role in last year’s stretch drive.
The Heat will only have to part with a mid-level first-rounder this summer as part of the payment for Goran Dragic, Winderman writes in another piece. Miami finished with the 16th pick in this year’s draft, which Winderman notes often produces journeyman players. The Heat’s roster is already stocked with youth, so surrendering the pick shouldn’t do much to affect the future. The team still owes the Suns an unprotected first-round selection in 2021.

Suns Rumors: Coaching Search, Booker, Knight

April 13th, 2018 at 10:19am CST by Luke Adams

As we relayed earlier today, the Suns reached out to former assistant Dan Majerle to see if he’d have interest in the head coaching position in Phoenix, but were turned down. Despite Majerle’s lack of interest, the club should have no shortage of candidates for the position. GM Ryan McDonough said this week that there are at least five to 10 names on the Suns’ list of targets, per Bob Baum of The Arizona Republic.

While it’s not clear just how quickly the Suns intend to conduct interviews and narrow down their list of candidates, McDonough said that he’d like to have a head coach in place before the draft combine and lottery in May. The lottery is scheduled for May 15, with the combine to follow from May 16-20, so we can probably count on the Suns making a hire within the next month or so.

Here’s more out of Phoenix:

In the wake of another losing season, Devin Booker says he’s “done with not making the playoffs,” as Baum details. “I’m serious. This is probably my last year ever not making the playoffs. If that’s putting pressure on myself, I’m going to take this summer and work that hard so that it doesn’t happen again.”
Speaking of Booker, he’ll become extension-eligible for the first time this offseason. While the standout guard didn’t formally commit to inking a new deal in the coming months, he dismissed the speculation that he’s unhappy in Phoenix, according to Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic. “Don’t believe in nonsense,” Booker said. “With TV, they need something to talk about. I’ve always mentioned since my first day here that I fell in love with this city, I fell in love with the fan base and the dedication they showed to the team.”
Brandon Knight is looking forward to getting back on the court in 2018/19 after missing the entire 2016/17 season with a torn ACL, Baum writes. Knight still has two fully guaranteed seasons on his contract, so he figures to be a part of the Suns’ rotation going forward. “I’m just trying to help the Suns in any way I can,” Knight said this week.
Having finished first in the lottery standings, the Suns are assured of a top-four pick in the first round of this year’s draft. McDonough said this week that he wouldn’t trade that selection unless it’s for a young superstar, tweets Bordow.

Dan Majerle Turns Down Meeting With Suns

April 13th, 2018 at 8:27am CST by Luke Adams

It appears the Suns can take one name off their list of potential head coaching candidates. According to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, Grand Canyon head coach – and former Suns star – Dan Majerle has turned down a request from the club to meet about the head coach position.

“(Suns GM) Ryan (McDonough) reached out and asked to meet, but I told him that I was going to stay at Grand Canyon,” Majerle said, per Richard Obert of The Arizona Republic. “I’m not ruling it out in the future. But there are still things I want to do here.”

As Obert notes, Majerle has some history coaching the Suns, having served as an assistant from 2008 to 2013. He left the team on bad terms in ’13 when Lindsey Hunter was named the interim head coach in Phoenix. Majerle blasted the organization on his way out, criticizing the Suns for passing over him and Elston Turner for the job and calling the process a “charade.”

Of course, that situation played out under an old regime in Phoenix, led by then-GM Lance Blanks. According to Obert, Majerle’s messy exit from the team in 2013 has nothing to do with his decision to turn down an opportunity in 2018 — the former Suns All-Star says his relationship with the franchise was repaired by McDonough two years ago.

The Suns were said to be getting an early head start on their head coaching search in March, so Majerle certainly isn’t the only candidate to hear from the club so far. Reports have suggested that Phoenix is likely to reach out to David Fizdale, Jason Kidd, and Jay Wright, among others. Interim coach Jay Triano will also be considered for the permanent job.

Details On Traded Picks, Upcoming Draft Tiebreakers

April 12th, 2018 at 12:20am CST by Luke Adams

With the 2017/18 NBA regular season in the books, the postseason matchups are set in both the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference.

More importantly for fans of most non-playoff teams, the end of the regular season means that the 2018 NBA draft picture is clearer than ever. The 2018 draft order is close to being set and – with a small handful of exceptions – most of this year’s traded draft picks with protections on them have now officially changed hands or officially stayed put.

However, there are still some major question marks surrounding the draft order, since several clubs finished the regular season with identical records, and draft tiebreakers don’t work like playoff tiebreakers do. In order to break these ties, the NBA will conduct random drawings this Friday, as Jonathan Givony of ESPN notes (via Twitter).

[RELATED: 2017/18 NBA Reverse Standings]

For lottery teams, such as the 24-58 Mavericks and Hawks, who finished tied for third in the lottery standings, the implications of those drawings are huge. Whichever team wins that tiebreaker will have ever-so-slightly better odds at the first overall pick (13.8% to 13.7%), and will be in position to claim the higher first-round pick if neither team lands in the top three.

For instance, if the Suns and Grizzlies remain at No. 1 and No. 2 in the lottery and another team leapfrogs the Mavs and Hawks, the winner of the tiebreaker between Dallas and Atlanta would claim the No. 4 overall pick — the loser would get No. 5. For the second round, the loser of the tiebreaker would receive the higher selection.

Here are the draft tiebreakers that will be conducted on Friday:

Mavericks vs. Hawks for Nos. 3, 4.
Kings vs. Bulls for Nos. 6, 7.
Bucks vs. Heat for Nos. 16, 17.
Spurs vs. Timberwolves for Nos. 18, 19.
Pacers vs. Pelicans vs. Thunder vs. Jazz for Nos. 20-23.

Several of those tiebreakers will also affect this year’s traded picks. Most notably, the Bucks/Heat drawing has massive implications for Milwaukee and Phoenix — the Bucks’ first-round pick will head to the Suns if it lands at No. 16, but Milwaukee would keep it if it ends up at No. 17. In other words, each team has a 50/50 shot at the pick. If the Bucks keep it, they’d owe their 2019 first-round selection to Phoenix, albeit with somewhat similar protections.

Here’s a breakdown of the traded first-round picks for 2018. A check mark indicates the pick will definitely be sent to the indicated team:

Nets pick to Cavaliers (✔️): Eighth in lottery standings
Lakers pick to Sixers (97.1%) or Celtics (2.9%): 10th in lottery standings
- Note: Celtics will receive pick if it lands at No. 2 or No. 3 via the lottery.
Pistons pick to Clippers (97.5%): 12th in lottery standings
- Note: Pistons will keep pick if it lands in top three via the lottery.
Heat pick to Suns (✔️): No. 16 or 17 (tie)
Bucks pick to Suns (50%): No. 16 or 17 (tie)
- Note: Bucks will keep pick if it lands at No. 17 via a random drawing.
Timberwolves pick to Hawks (✔️): No. 18 or 19 (tie)
Thunder pick to Timberwolves (✔️): No. 20, 21, 22, or 23 (four-way tie)
Pelicans pick to Bulls (✔️): No. 20, 21, 22, or 23 (four-way tie)
Cavaliers pick to Lakers (✔️): No. 25
Raptors pick to Nets (✔️): No. 29
Rockets pick to Hawks (✔️): No. 30

Here’s a breakdown of the traded second-round picks that will change hands in 2018:

Bulls pick to Knicks (✔️): No. 36 or 37 (tie)
Nets pick to Sixers (✔️): No. 38
Knicks pick to Sixers (✔️): No. 39
Lakers pick to Nets (✔️): No. 40
Hornets pick to Magic (✔️): No. 41
Clippers pick to Nuggets (✔️): No. 43
Bucks pick to Nets (✔️): No. 45 or 46 (tie)
Heat pick to Rockets (✔️): No. 45 or 46 (tie)
Nuggets pick to Lakers (✔️): No. 47
Trail Blazers pick to Mavericks (✔️): No. 54
Cavaliers pick to Hornets (✔️): No. 55
Celtics pick to Thunder (✔️): No. 57
Warriors pick to Nuggets (✔️): No. 58
Raptors pick to Suns (✔️): No. 59
Rockets pick to Sixers (✔️): No. 60

Suns Rumors: Len, House, Booker, Fizdale

April 10th, 2018 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

As we detailed last month, fifth-year center Alex Len seems like a good bet to leave the Suns as an unrestricted free agent this summer. Len reinforced that idea this weekend by talking like a player who is preparing to move on from his current situation.

“I had a great five years here,” Len said of his time in Phoenix, per Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic. “I had ups and downs but I feel like it’s been a great time and a great learning experience with everything I’ve had thrown at me so I feel like anywhere I go or stay here from here on out I’m going to keep rising and get better.”

A year ago, Len became one of the few restricted free agents who sign a one-year qualifying offer rather than negotiating a longer-term deal with his current team or a rival club. Generally, players who take that approach don’t stick with their current club when they become eligible for unrestricted free agency a year later, so it’s not a real surprise that Len is already talking about his time with the Suns in the past tense.

Here’s more out of Phoenix:

While Len may be on his way out, two-way player Danuel House hopes that his recent play has shown the Suns – or another team – that he deserves a spot on an NBA roster next season, as Bordow details. “I think I’ve proven a lot,” said House, who has averaged 12.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 2.8 APG in his last five games. “I’m just going to play hard, try to make the right plays, that I’m able to step up and do things for the team that they need me to. That’s my main objective to show that I belong in this league and that I deserve to be here.”
In a separate article for The Arizona Republic, Bordow touches on a few topics, including Devin Booker‘s upcoming extension window, T.J. Warren‘s future role, and the Suns’ coaching search. Notably, Bordow fully expects Booker to sign a max deal with the club sometime after he becomes extension-eligible on July 1.
The Suns are among the teams expected to show “serious interest” in former Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale, Marc Stein of The New York Times writes in his latest email newsletter. As Stein notes, James Jones has an “increasingly loud voice” in Phoenix’s front office, and Fizdale coached Jones for several years as an assistant in Miami.
For more Suns stories, including an explanation of how the “starter criteria” impacts Elfrid Payton and the details on the team locking up the top spot in the lottery standings, be sure to check out their team page right here.

Potential 2018 RFAs Whose Qualifying Offers Will Be Impacted By Starter Criteria

April 10th, 2018 at 2:56pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s rookie scale, which dictates how much first-round picks earn during their first four NBA seasons, also dictates how much the qualifying offers will be worth for those players when they reach restricted free agency after year four. However, the value of those qualifying offers can fluctuate depending on whether or not a player has met the “starter criteria.”

Here’s how the starter criteria works: A player who is eligible for restricted free agency is considered to have met the starter criteria if he plays at least 2,000 minutes or starts 41 games in the season before he reaches free agency. A player can also meet the criteria if he averages either of those marks in the two seasons prior to his restricted free agency. For instance, if a player started 50 games in 2016/17 and 32 in 2017/18, he’d meet the starter criteria, since his average number of starts over the last two seasons is 41.

A player’s ability or inability to meet the starter criteria can affect the value of the qualifying offer he receives as a restricted free agent, as follows:

A top-14 pick who does not meet the starter criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 15th overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
A player picked between 10th and 30th who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the ninth overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
A second-round pick or undrafted player who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 21st overall pick would receive if he signed for 100% of the rookie scale.
For all other RFAs, the standard criteria determine the amounts of their qualifying offers.

Extending a qualifying offer to a player eligible for restricted free agency officially makes that player an RFA, ensuring that his team has the right of first refusal if he signs an offer sheet with another club. It also gives the player the option of signing that one-year QO.

Generally, the value of a restricted free agent’s qualifying offer isn’t hugely important, since very few RFAs accept those offers outright. There are exceptions though. Last offseason, for instance, both players who signed their one-year QOs – Suns center Alex Len and Mavericks center Nerlens Noel – failed to meet the starter criteria heading into restricted free agency, reducing the value of their QOs to approximately $4.2MM (from $6.4MM and $5.85MM, respectively). Had Len and Noel met the starter criteria and been eligible for those larger QOs, their free agencies could have played out differently.

Top-14 picks who failed to meet starter criteria:

With that in mind, let’s check in on how this year’s RFAs-to-be will be impacted by the starter criteria. Listed below are the former top-14 picks on track for restricted free agency who have not met the starter criteria. These players will be eligible for qualifying offers worth $4,333,931.

Jabari Parker (Bucks)
Dante Exum (Jazz)
Nik Stauskas (Nets)
Noah Vonleh (Bulls)
Doug McDermott (Mavericks)
Zach LaVine (Bulls)

No player was hit harder by missing out on the starter criteria than Parker, whose torn ACL made him fall short. If he’d stayed healthy, the former No. 2 overall pick likely would’ve been in line for a qualifying offer worth about $8.851MM. Instead, his QO will be worth less than half of that.

Major injuries also prevented Exum and LaVine from meeting the starter criteria, while Celtics guard Marcus Smart stayed just healthy enough to meet the necessary benchmarks — he totaled 4,013 minutes played over the last two seasons, barely averaging more than 2,000 per year.

First-round picks between 10-30 who met starter criteria:

The players listed below were picked between No. 10 and No. 30 in the 2014 draft and will meet the starter criteria. That will make each of them eligible for a qualifying offer worth $4,749,591.

Elfrid Payton (Suns)
Jusuf Nurkic (Trail Blazers)
Clint Capela (Rockets)
Kyle Anderson (Spurs)

Anderson is the biggest winner here, with his projected qualifying offer of $3.23MM set to increase by more than $1.5MM. However, Anderson, Capela, and Nurkic shouldn’t have any issue landing long-term deals, making the value of their QOs somewhat irrelevant. I wonder about Payton though — he didn’t exactly finish this season strong in Phoenix and could be a candidate to accept his increased QO.

Rodney Hood, the 23rd overall pick in 2014, can blame injury luck and lineup decisions for missing out on the starter criteria. He started 78 of 119 total games for Utah and Cleveland over the last two seasons, averaging 27.0 minutes per contest during that span. Without health issues, he almost certainly would’ve logged 82+ starts or 4,000+ minutes during those two years.

Second-round picks and UDFAs who met starter criteria:

Only one player falls into this group this year.

Yogi Ferrell (Mavericks)

Initially signed to a 10-day contract in 2017, Ferrell parlayed that audition into a multiyear deal and has become an integral part of the Mavericks‘ rotation this season. He has appeared in all 81 games for Dallas, averaging 28.1 minutes per contest — that’s good for 2,274 total minutes, boosting his qualifying offer from $1,699,698 to $2,919,204.

The rest of this year’s restricted free agents won’t have their projected qualifying offers impacted by the starter criteria.

Suns Secure Top Spot In Lottery Standings

April 9th, 2018 at 8:19am CST by Luke Adams

Following the Grizzlies’ win over Detroit and the Suns‘ loss to Golden State on Sunday, Phoenix has locked up the NBA’s worst record for the 2017/18 season. As our Reverse Standings show, the Suns’ 2.5-game lead for that top lottery spot ensures that they’ll head into next month’s draft lottery with a 25% chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick. They’ll also be guaranteed a top-four pick in the 2018 draft.

The Suns will be hoping for better luck this year than they had last spring — after finishing with the NBA’s second-worst record in 2016/17, Phoenix slipped out of the top three of last year’s lottery, ultimately landing Josh Jackson with the fourth overall pick. This time around, the Suns will have a 64.3% chance of securing a top-three selection.

Although the Grizzlies are no longer in the running for the No. 1 spot in the lottery, they look like a good bet to wind up at No. 2 in the lottery standings — they have a 22-58 record, putting them 1.5 games ahead of the 24-57 Hawks and Mavericks with three days left in the season.

Unlike in the NBA’s playoff race, where ties are broken based on each team’s performance in certain regular-season matchups, lottery ties are broken via coin flips. If Atlanta and Dallas ultimately finish tied for third in the lottery standings, they’d receive nearly equal odds of landing the No. 1 pick. Rather than 15.6% for third place and 11.9% for fourth, one team would have a 13.8% chance for the No. 1 pick and one team would have a 13.7% chance. In that scenario, the winner of a coin flip would receive the slightly higher lottery odds, and would get the higher draft pick if neither team ends up in the top three.

2018 represents the last year that the NBA will use its current draft lottery format. Starting in 2019, the lottery odds will be smoothed out, reducing the “top” teams’ chances of landing the highest picks. If the Suns had finished No. 1 in the lottery standings under that new format, they’d only have a 14% chance at the No. 1 pick – plus a 40% chance at a top-three selection – and could have fallen as low as No. 5.

Suns Notes: Jones, Booker, Cousins

April 6th, 2018 at 8:20pm CST by Austin Kent

Fourteen-year NBA veteran James Jones hasn’t had much time to acclimate to his new role as vice president of basketball operations for the Suns but, as Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic writes, the 37-year-old has fallen in love with the position just one year removed from his playing career.

Jones, who focuses on player development while team general manager Ryan McDonough tackles scouting, believes that the club is closer to winning than their record suggests and implies that they need to surround their solid young core with players committed to winning.

“Our young guys have talent that needs to be realized,” Jones said. “I think we need to challenge them to be better, to be great and to continue to put them in a winning environment and surround them with players that want to win at all costs and raise the bar for them from a performance and conditioning standpoint.”

If taken at face value, the club could be looking to take the next step in its rebuild, progressing from the asset accumulation stage that saw them acquire valuable young players like Devin Booker and Josh Jackson to the stage of actually starting to build a winning environment.

The Suns have failed to win 25 games in each of the past three seasons, so a conscious commitment to winning would be a notable development.

“We’ll look to add guys that bring that type of mentality but also we have to create it internally by putting our guys in tough situations, putting our guys in strategic situations that will test their mental toughness, test their level of competitiveness and push them and reveal who they are,” he said.

There’s more out of Phoenix tonight:

The Suns were said to have an interest in DeMarcus Cousins when he came available for trade during the 2016/17 season. This summer he’ll be a free agent and HoopsHype’s Bryan Kalbrosky suggests that Phoenix, replete with several other former Kentucky Wildcats, could once again explore such an option.
Count Devin Booker among those confident that the Suns will be aggressive this offseason. “This summer is a big summer for us,” Booker told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. “You hear our GM come out and say he’s going to be super aggressive. We have young talent, we have a lot of picks, with a lot of money too. So I think there’s definitely going to be a lot of moves made this summer.“
The Suns have a pile of interesting young assets and a mandate to capitalize on them so expect an interesting summer in the desert. Did you know that you can get a sneak peek at any rumors that start to swirl in the weeks leading up to the much anticipated 2018 offseason? Follow our Phoenix Suns page or, if you’re using the Trade Rumors app, add the dedicated team feed to your account.

Coaching Rumors: Magic, Bucks, Suns, Knicks

April 6th, 2018 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

When Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports polled executives around the NBA recently on rising head coach candidates, Raptors assistant Nick Nurse and Raptors 905 head coach Jerry Stackhouse were among the top names on the list. According to Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times, both Nurse and Stackhouse will likely be among the the candidates the Magic consider if the club elects to replace Frank Vogel this offseason.

In addition to the fact that current Magic president Jeff Weltman was formerly the GM in Toronto, Stackhouse also has a connection to Orlando general manager John Hammond, who was the GM in Milwaukee when Stackhouse played for the Bucks. Woelfel adds that some NBA officials believe the Magic are “leaning toward” replacing Vogel with Stackhouse, though Orlando’s list of preferred targets figures to become clearer if and when the club formally moves on from its current head coach.

Here are a few more coaching notes and rumors from Woelfel:

Multiple sources tell Woelfel that Clippers coach Doc Rivers and Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer would have “more than a passing interest” in the Bucks‘ position if they move on from their current teams this offseason. Some NBA officials believe that Budenholzer wouldn’t want to be part of an “extensive” rebuild in Atlanta, according to Woelfel.
While the Suns are expected to conduct a wide-ranging head coaching search, multiple NBA executives and coaches think David Fizdale, Jason Kidd, and Villanova’s Jay Wright will receive strong consideration, says Woelfel.
Besides Wright, Virginia’s Tony Bennett is among the college coaches expected to draw NBA interest. “Everybody knows he’s an exceptional defensive coach, but he does some really nice things offensively, too. He can flat-out coach.” one longtime NBA executive told Woelfel. “I think almost every team that is in the market for a new coach will take long, hard looks at Wright and Bennett. They’re both great coaches and they’re both great guys.”
A league source expects Mark Jackson and David Blatt to be among the finalists for the Knicks‘ job if the team dismisses Jeff Hornacek, according to Woelfel.