Suns Rumors

Suns Waive Isaiah Canaan

4:23pm: The Suns have officially waived Canaan, per a release from the team.

2:40pm: The Suns will waive point guard Isaiah Canaan, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Canaan, 27, started 15 games for Phoenix this season, though as Charania notes, Devin Booker has been getting more run at the point guard spot lately. Canaan is averaging 7.5 points and 3.3 assists per game this season.

The Suns’ G League affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns, owns Canaan’s rights should he choose to join go that route, Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days tweets. Canaan has played in 23 G League games to date.

Because Canaan was on a non-guaranteed contract, the Suns won’t be on the hook for his entire salary. Assuming he goes unclaimed on waivers, his cap charge would be about $407K.

NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 11/27/18

Here are Tuesday’s G League assignments and recalls from across the NBA:

Devin Booker Wants To Build Super-Team In Phoenix

The 4-15 Suns are the only team in a hyper-competitive Western Conference that hasn’t won at least nine games already this season. However, while Phoenix may not be ready to contend in the West quite yet, Devin Booker is thinking big after signing a five-year contract extension with the franchise over the summer, as he tells Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports.

“I’d like to build a super-team. I’d like the super-team to come to me,” Booker said. “If that’s through free agency, people seeing what we have here with the big fella [Deandre Ayton] and myself and wanting to join in on that, to reach higher heights, then I’m with that.”

Phoenix hasn’t won more than 24 games in a season since 2014/15 and looks like a good bet to finish at the bottom of the Western Conference once again in 2018/19. Still, Booker’s “super-team” goals aren’t quite as outlandish as the club’s spot in the standings might suggest.

As Booker alludes to, the Suns already have two long-term cornerstones in place — Booker is 22 years old and is under contract for five years beyond this season, while Ayton is 20 years old and in his rookie season.

The club is also fairly flexible in terms of its salary cap outlook. Ryan Anderson still has one year left on his pricey contract after this season, but otherwise, the only players on Phoenix’s books beyond 2018/19 are Booker, Ayton, Josh Jackson, Mikal Bridges, T.J. Warren, Elie Okobo, and De’Anthony Melton. On top of all that, the Suns should have another top draft pick to work with in 2019.

With Booker and Ayton locked up for the next several years and likely to keep getting better, the Suns have plenty of time to figure out how to fill out their roster with the pieces necessary to return to contention. Landing a star player via trade or free agency within the next year or two would accelerate the team’s timeline, and it sounds like Booker would like to go that route.

“It’s my job to speed up that plan and have the team believe we can move forward with me as a center point,” Booker told Goodwill.

Kokoskov Grateful To Ex-Piston Coaches

  • Suns first-year coach Igor Kokoskov believes his days as an assistant in Detroit were pivotal in his coaching career, as he explained to Chris McCosky of the Detroit News. He was a young coach with the Pistons when they reached the Eastern Conference Finals on a regular basis. “I had the privilege of being with Larry Brown for two years and Flip Saunders for three years,” Kokoskov told McCosky. “I was very fortunate to learn from those great coaches and those great players. Just being a part of that group, with those guys all in their prime, I had a chance to steal the best from those guys. I learned a lot. Especially when you are winning.”

Pacific Notes: Crawford, Green, Kings, Canaan

Jamal Crawford has positively impacted the Suns in his first season with the team, leading the club in the locker room and staying ready on the bench to provide production when called.

Crawford found that opportunity at the end of the team’s game on Friday, with the 38-year-old sinking a clutch game-winner against the Bucks in Milwaukee. His shot inspired the younger Suns players watching from afar.

“Sometimes, going from Point A to Point C is more gratifying than going (from) W to Z,” Crawford said, according to The Athletic’s Gina Mizell. “Seeing the young guys take steps in the right direction, (this is) stuff that can stick with them their whole career. It can be some of the foundation pieces. … When you get wins like this, it kind of cements this and opens their ears even more.”

Crawford, a 19-year NBA vet, was named the NBA’s Teammate of the Year last season. He’s averaged a career-low 13.2 minutes per game this year, but his impact with the team measures far beyond what he’s able to give on the court.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • Warriors forward Draymond Green recently underwent an MRI on his right toe, with the results confirming that he sustained a sprain, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets. Green has missed the team’s last five games.
  • Kings general manager Vlade Divac raved about his team’s early season start, explaining his thoughts to NBC Sports California’s James Ham“I love it,” Divac said. “It’s a team that plays the way that I like and enjoy as a fan. This is basketball — when the whole team is involved in some way. They all share the ball, they cheer for each other, they all move around. Dave [Joerger] is doing a great job.”
  • Isaiah Canaan discussed his gruesome ankle injury from last season with The Chicago Tribune’s K.C. Johnson, stating he was unsure whether he’d ever return to basketball at the time. “There were a few times I did think my career was over,” Canaan said. “I just didn’t know what type of player I’d be, if I could be the same. But I also looked in the mirror and said, ‘This can’t be it and I’m going to work my a— off to get back.’ So I’m here.” Canaan has appeared in 17 games with the Suns this season, averaging 27.2 minutes per contest.

One Exec Suggests Fultz/Ariza Swap

According to Mannix, one rival executive suggested to him that the Sixers ought to make a call to the Suns – who badly need a point guard – to discuss a swap centered around Fultz and Trevor Ariza. Ariza would be a good fit for a Sixers team that could use another three-and-D wing, but he’s a 33-year-old veteran on a one-year deal — he wouldn’t exactly be a substantial return for a player who was drafted first overall just 17 months ago.

[SOURCE LINK]

Pacific Notes: Bridges, Kings, Green, Durant

A draft night trade that sent Mikal Bridges from the Sixers to the Suns gave the rookie a better chance to excel than he would have had in Philadelphia, writes Sarah Todd of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Bridges, who was in the starting lineup when the teams met Monday, has been playing roughly 20 minutes per game in Phoenix and averaging 8.0 points per night.

The draft was briefly a dream come true for Bridges, who grew up in Philadelphia and played at Villanova. But after the Sixers selected him with the 10th pick, they accepted an offer from the Suns that gave them 16th pick Zhaire Smith and an unprotected first-rounder in 2021.

“He’s starting to feel good about the situation, he’s playing more, he’s having more success,” said Jack Bridges, Mikal’s father. “At the end of the day, he just wants to win.”

There’s more tonight from the Pacific Division:

  • The Kings have been able to block out distractions on their way to a 10-8 start, even a weekend report that coach Dave Joerger’s job was in jeopardy because of a dispute with management over playing time for younger players, relays Jason Jones of The Athletic. Although turmoil has defined the organization over the past decade, this new crop of Kings seems to be able to ignore negative influences. “We’re not worried about any of that stuff outside the locker room,” Willie Cauley-Stein said. “We’re just worried about our guys, developing our guys and everybody just leveling up. For us, the business side of this, we can’t control none of that, we don’t care about none of that at the end of the day. We want to get get better, we want to win ball games.”
  • Draymond Green is reasserting himself as a leader in the Warriors‘ locker room after last week’s altercation with Kevin Durant, says Shams Charania of The Athletic in a Twitter video. Green addressed the team following Sunday’s loss in San Antonio, emphasizing the need to regroup and pointing out areas that need to be worked on. Charania adds that the Warriors remain confident that things will be fine once Stephen Curry returns from his injury.
  • Durant was fined $25K for a profane comment he made to a fan during Saturday’s Warriors game in Dallas, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

Trail Blazers Rumors: Stotts, Lillard, Collins

After their 2017/18 season ended with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Pelicans in the first round of the postseason, the Trail Blazers came close to firing head coach Terry Stotts, sources tell ESPN’s Zach Lowe. Portland was close enough to making a move that teams like the Suns begin reaching out to intermediaries to gauge Stotts’ potential interest in their own coaching openings.

However, while ownership seriously considered a change, president of basketball operations Neil Olshey and star point guard Damian Lillard fought for Stotts, according to Lowe.

“I was asked what I thought, and I just said I love him as a coach,” Lillard said of Stotts. “We all love him.”

Lowe’s piece takes a deep dive into the Trail Blazers’ culture, as he notes that Lillard and C.J. McCollum “tolerate no squabbling, or blame games.” That attitude permeates the organization from top to bottom, according to Lowe, who points to the relationship between Olshey and Stotts as another example.

Although the two team leaders haven’t always seen eye-to-eye on everything, they’ve developed an understanding that Olshey will avoid players who don’t fit Stotts’ style and Stotts will coach the players he gets. As a result of their relationship, Lowe explains, players will never see Olshey and Stotts at odds in any serious way, as the organization emphasizes a drama-free and resentment-free culture.

Here’s more from Lowe on the Blazers:

  • The Blazers’ late owner Paul Allen, who passed away last month, addressed the team in the wake of its first-round exit, calling the four-game sweep “unacceptable,” sources tell Lowe. Based on the language and the tone, people within the organization were nervous that a major shakeup was coming during the offseason.
  • Allen was ultimately convinced to give everyone – including Stotts and the Blazers’ core – one more season, while team management and coaches vowed to make changes heading into 2018/19. Namely, as Lowe details, Portland wanted to surround Evan Turner with more shooting on the second unit, re-shuffle the rotation to get Lillard and McCollum more playing time together, and get off to a faster start this season. So far, that plan is going well.
  • The Blazers still want to find a way to supplement their Lillard/McCollum duo with a third impact player, sources around the NBA tell Lowe. Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic have emerged as perhaps Portland’s most valuable trade chips, but the club doesn’t want to trade Collins and “almost certainly won’t” anytime soon, Lowe reports.
  • Lowe identifies Khris Middleton and Tobias Harris as the type of player who would appeal to the Blazers, though acquiring either of those guys in a trade or as a free agent would be an extreme long shot. Forwards like Otto Porter of the Wizards and Taurean Prince of the Hawks may be more realistic trade targets, Lowe notes.
  • Lillard still believes the Blazers are capable of reaching greater heights during his tenure with the team. “Good things come to good people, even if you get swept somewhere along the way,” he tells Lowe. “This is what goes through my mind: I’m gonna be in my 11th year or something here, I’m gonna stick with it, and we’re gonna make the Finals.”

TJ Warren Capitalizing On Improved Three-Point Shot

  • Ryan Anderson has found comfort in his new role with the Suns, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic writes. “When I was first starting off like some of these guys,” Anderson said, “I was ready when my name was called, and I performed and that’s what led to me getting more minutes and I was eventually starting. Those are moments that coaches really notice. If I can bring that out of a guy, I can help work after practice, that’s more important than me playing 10 minutes in a game.”

Elie Okobo Recalled From G League

  • The Suns have recalled rookie point guard Elie Okobo from their G League affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns, per a release from the team. In his first-career assignment, Okobo averaged 18.5 points, 9.0 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 1.0 steals in two games.