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Celtics Heavily Involved In Trade Discussions

January 24th, 2022 at 6:23pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Celtics have been extremely active in trade talks with the aim of improving the pieces around stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, longtime beat writer Steve Bulpett reports in a Heavy.com story.

President of basketball operations Brad Stevens is looking to at least improve the team’s salary cap sheet and free up more playing time for young players such as Payton Pritchard, Aaron Nesmith and Romeo Langford.

The Celtics already made one move this month to improve their salary cap situation and reduce their chances of paying the luxury tax, dealing Juancho Hernangomez and his $7MM salary to San Antonio in a three-team trade.

Boston has been exploring the trade value of Al Horford, who is making $27MM this season and has a partial guarantee of $14.5MM on his $26.5MM contract next season.

Though Bulpett didn’t specify which other players the Celtics are looking to deal, it stands to reason that Dennis Schröder (a free agent again this summer), Josh Richardson and Marcus Smart would have the types of contracts they’d like to move. Richardson’s contract runs through next season and Smart signed a four-year extension last summer.

Another interesting nugget in Bulpett’s report is that Celtics had targeted big man Alperen Sengun if they had kept their first round pick last year. They wound up dealing it to Oklahoma City, which eventually ended up drafting Sengun and trading him to the Rockets. Boston shed Kemba Walker‘s contract in the trade with the Thunder. Sengun is averaging 8.8 PPG, 4.6 RPG and 2.6 APG with Houston in 39 appearances.

Rockets Notes: Silas, Mathews, Wood, Porter, Sengun

January 4th, 2022 at 12:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Rockets lost big on Monday night in Philadelphia with Christian Wood and Kevin Porter Jr. both serving a one-game suspension, but coach Stephen Silas said the game with the Sixers wasn’t a consideration in deciding how to discipline two of his starters, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Both players were suspended for their actions on Saturday, with Wood being late for a COVID-19 test and refusing to enter the game in the second half and Porter leaving the arena at halftime after a confrontation with assistant coach John Lucas.

Silas, the son of former NBA player and coach Paul Silas, said he turned to his father’s advice of “follow your gut” in deciding how to handle the situation. Especially with a young team, he believes it’s more important to set boundaries about proper behavior than to worry about the results of one game.

“There isn’t a balance (between winning and disciplining) to me,” Silas said. “There’s doing what’s right and doing what’s best for this organization. That’s how you build culture. You do it through a lot of different things. Accountability is huge, making sure everybody knows what is acceptable and is not acceptable and learning from that. That’s the big part, learning from those moments and learning from those experiences so we can improve and we can be better.”

There’s more on the Rockets:

Garrison Mathews tied his season high with 23 points Monday shortly after clearing the league’s health and safety protocols, Feigen adds in the same story. Mathews described his time off as “boring” and was happy to be back on the court. “From the jump, I felt good,” he said. “Having six, seven days off, it’s hard to take that many days off and come back and get right to it. My body felt fresh. It wasn’t sore like it was before. It was good to have a few days off, but when you take seven days off, your conditioning starts to wear down at the end.”
In the wake of Saturday’s incident, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated believes the Rockets should get rid of Porter and Wood as soon as possible, even if that means waiving Porter, whose contract is guaranteed for $3.2MM next season. Mannix also criticizes general manager Rafael Stone for assembling the current roster, which Mannix claims is becoming a distraction for talented young players such as Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun and Jae’Sean Tate, and for having Silas deal with the media whenever there’s a personnel issue.
Fans have been calling for Sengun to get more playing time, but the rookie center told a Turkish magazine that the Rockets are bringing him along slowly so he can adjust to the NBA, relays Matt Young of The Houston Chronicle. “(The Rockets) played nine games in 15 days, we used to play nine games in nine weeks in Turkey, we did it in two weeks here,” Sengun said. “It’s hard to get used to it right away.”

Southwest Notes: Jones, Zion, Tillie, Sengun

January 1st, 2022 at 8:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

Pelicans forward Herb Jones has been one of the surprises of this year’s rookie class, and veteran guard Garrett Temple got an early tip about his new teammate, writes Christian Clark of NOLA.com. Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports serves as the agent for both players, and Temple said Bartelstein was raving about Jones shortly after he was selected with the 35th pick.

Jones has exceeded expectations for a second-rounder, starting 23 of the 32 games he has played and averaging 8.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks per night. He was named Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC last season, but there were questions about whether he could provide enough offense to succeed in the NBA. He has been working to develop his jump shot and is connecting at 36.6% from three-point range on 1.3 attempts per game.

“I’ve gotten to know Herb as a person,” Temple said. “He’s the epitome of a great teammate, a great person. He’s someone you want on your team. He’s going to be in the league for a very, very long time.”

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

There’s an assumption that the Pelicans will offer Zion Williamson a maximum extension this summer, but John Hollinger of The Athletic questions whether that’s wise considering Williamson’s injury history. The third-year forward has only played 85 total games and continues to recover from offseason foot surgery. Hollinger suggests an offer similar to Joel Embiid‘s contract, which protects the team if he can’t play a minimum number of games.
The Grizzlies used their room exception to sign Killian Tillie to a two-year contract, tweets Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian. The former two-way player will become a restricted free agent after the 2022/23 season.
Rockets rookie center Alperen Sengun may face an extended absence after spraining his right ankle in Friday’s game, according to Mark Berman of Fox 26 in Houston (Twitter link). “It’s not day-to-day,” coach Stephen Silas said. “It’s probably about a week and then we’ll see.”

Rockets Notes: Wall, Augustin, Sengun, Simmons, Theis, Gordon

November 30th, 2021 at 1:00pm CST by Rory Maher

As we previously detailed, John Wall met with Rockets management on Sunday, including general manager Rafael Stone and head coach Stephen Silas. Wall informed his bosses he would like to return to the court and be a starter again. Since the Rockets would prefer to have him play a limited role off the bench, the two sides reached an impasse.

However, the situation remains fluid, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Silas said the Rockets will continue to have conversations with Wall while he works himself into game shape over the next couple weeks.

“Rafael and I did meet with John (on Sunday) and he had indicated that he wants to play and work towards that so right now we’re in that phase as far as getting him back in game shape,” Silas said. “He’s been doing a lot of one-on-oh type stuff and one-on-one type stuff but nothing up and down, nothing four-on-four, five-on-five.

“Right now is the ramp-up time. That’ll probably take a couple weeks. We’ll continue our conversations and try to determine what it looks like.”

Here’s more from Houston:

Silas said backup point guard D.J. Augustin is in the health and safety protocols, tweets Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston. It’s unclear how long Augustin will be sidelined.
In his latest mailbag, Kelly Iko of The Athletic tackles a number of topics. He believes rookie Alperen Sengun will stay in his current bench role, especially since the Rockets have finally found some success (winning three straight after starting 1-16). He thinks Sengun will eventually get more minutes as the season progresses, but writes that Christian Wood is playing too well right now as the lone big man to disrupt his rhythm.
Within the same column, Iko says he doesn’t think the Rockets have any interest in Ben Simmons, but they could potentially help facilitate a deal involving multiple teams. He says Houston is committed to Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green as its backcourt of the future.
Iko also believes that offseason addition Daniel Theis and shooting guard Eric Gordon will be available if the price is right. Theis has fallen out of the rotation recently, but he’s a veteran with a proven defensive presence, and his contract (four years, $35MM, with $26MM guaranteed) will likely be easier to move than Gordon’s (two years, $37MM guaranteed).

Christian Wood Expected To Generate Significant Trade Interest

November 29th, 2021 at 9:11am CST by Luke Adams

There’s an expectation around the NBA that Rockets big man Christian Wood will generate “significant” trade interest this season, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who adds that people around the league believe Houston will consider offers.

Wood, 26, parlayed a strong 2019/20 season in Detroit into a three-year, $41MM deal with the Rockets during the 2020 offseason. He has outperformed that deal so far, averaging 19.5 PPG and 10.2 RPG on .499/.362/.612 shooting in 60 games (32.5 MPG) in Houston. He’ll become an unrestricted free agent in 2023.

As O’Connor notes, one reason Wood chose to sign with the Rockets a year ago was to play with James Harden, which obviously didn’t last long. That doesn’t necessarily mean Wood wants out now, but he’d be more valuable to a playoff team than a rebuilding club. Rival executives have wondered whether Houston will be motivated to trade its veteran bigs – Wood and/or Daniel Theis – in order to open up more minutes for promising rookie Alperen Sengun, O’Connor writes.

I’d be a little surprised if the Rockets look to move Theis this season — the team signed him to a long-term deal in August after having drafted Sengun and fully committed to the rebuild, so he doesn’t fall into the same category as vets like Wood, John Wall, and Eric Gordon, who were on the roster before Harden was dealt. For what it’s worth, O’Connor says Theis will receive “mild” trade interest from teams in need of a reliable backup center.

While it remains to be seen whether either Wood or Theis will be dealt, the 3-16 Rockets should certainly be sellers at the February deadline — Wall, Gordon, D.J. Augustin, and Danuel House are among the other vets who could be shopped.

NBA GMs Like Heat’s Offseason Moves, Nets’ Title Chances

October 5th, 2021 at 11:32am CST by Luke Adams

Nearly half of the NBA’s general managers voted for the Heat as the team that had the best 2021 offseason, John Schuhmann of NBA.com writes in his annual survey of the league’s GMs. Miami got 14 of 30 possible votes, while the Lakers picked up five votes. The Nets, Rockets, and Wizards were the other teams picked by multiple GMs as having the best offseason.

The Heat’s acquisition of Kyle Lowry via sign-and-trade helped tip the scales in their favor. Asked which offseason player acquisition will make the biggest impact for his new team this season, GMs overwhelmingly chose Lowry — he received 23 of 30 votes. New Lakers point guard Russell Westbrook was the only other player to get multiple votes (five).

Although the Heat and Lakers received high marks from rival GMs for their work over the summer, neither club is considered the title favorite entering the 2021/22 season. That honor belongs to the Nets, who earned 22 votes from GMs for the team that will win the 2022 Finals. The Lakers (five) and Bucks (three) were the only other teams to receive any votes.

Here are a few more of the most interesting responses from Schuhmann’s GM survey, which is worth checking out in full:

The Trail Blazers‘ trade for Larry Nance Jr. received the most votes (28%) for the most underrated acquisition of the offseason, with the Nets‘ signing of Patty Mills (17%) and the Wizards‘ addition of Spencer Dinwiddie (14%) also receiving support in that category.
The NBA’s GMs view Rockets guard Jalen Green (47%) and Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (40%) as the best bets to win Rookie of the Year, but voted Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley as the rookie who will be the best player in five years. Mobley (33%) narrowly edged out Cunningham (30%) and Green (23%) in that category.
The GMs voted the Magic‘s selection of Jalen Suggs at No. 5 (23%) and the Rockets‘ pick of Alperen Sengun at No. 16 (20%) as the biggest steals of the 2021 draft.
The Bulls (27%) are considered the best bet to be the most improved team in 2021/22, while Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. (17%) received the most support as the top breakout candidate.
Following their run to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Hawks (50%) were overwhelmingly voted as the team with the best young core. The Rockets received three votes, while no other team got more than two.
Only two players received multiple votes when GMs were asked which player they’d want to start a franchise with: Mavericks star Luka Doncic (43%) barely beat out Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo (40%).

Southwest Notes: Spurs Roster, Pelicans, Sengun, Porter

October 3rd, 2021 at 1:51pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Though the 2021/22 Spurs roster may confuse some outsiders, head coach Gregg Popovich indicates that the team was constructed with plenty of intentionality, Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express News writes. Finger notes that the club’s front office appears to be open-minded about the potential of the team this season.

“This was purposeful, what you are seeing,” Popovich said. “It was put together with a lot of foresight and a lot of discussion.”

Finger notes that the keys to the franchise have now been handed to intriguing young players like Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, Lonnie Walker, Keldon Johnson, and rookie lottery selection Joshua Primo.

There’s more out of the Southwest Division:

With the first week of Pelicans training camp in the books, Christian Clark, Scott Kushner and Rod Walker of NOLA.com assess the latest news out of New Orleans. The team discussed the unified front presented by injured Pelicans All-Star forward Zion Williamson and head of basketball operations David Griffin, the apparent increased strength of 2020 All-Star forward Brandon Ingram, new head coach Willie Green, and more.
The rebuilding Rockets appear ready to use the 2021/22 season to develop their youth. Rookie forward Alperen Sengun, the No. 16 pick in this year’s draft, is already leaving his mark with the club, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. “He showed he can play in the high post and make plays for other guys, no look passes, all kinds of stuff, which is really good,” head coach Stephen Silas noted after an early practice. “Then, when he catches it in the paint, he has pivots and fakes, and all that. He’s going to be exciting for people to see.”
Talented swingman Kevin Porter Jr. is ready to grow with the Rockets, his second NBA team so far, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. “I want to be able to do everything great,” Porter said. During his first season in Houston, Porter averaged 16.6 PPG, 6.3 APG, 3.8 RPG and 0.7 SPG across 26 games.

And-Ones: Rule Change, Rookies, Ignite, J. Franklin

September 14th, 2021 at 8:57am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s Board of Governors will vote later this month to approve a rule change to the way late-game out-of-bounds reviews are handled, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links).

In past seasons, close out-of-bounds calls have been automatically reviewed in the last two minutes of games, resulting in prolonged stoppages that have halted the momentum of close contests and dragged out the final moments of those games. If the Board of Governors approves the rule change, a head coach’s challenge will be required to trigger those reviews, says Charania.

As John Hollinger of The Athletic points out, it’s possible some close calls would be missed as a result of this change. However, some of the calls being overturned by those automatic reviews were plays where a defender clearly knocked a ball out of bounds, but it grazed the ball-handler’s fingertips last, which was a change “nobody wanted.”

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Mike Schmitz of ESPN (Insider link) identifies several 2021 rookies who are strong candidates to outperform their post-lottery draft positions, including Rockets big man Alperen Sengun (No. 16), Pelicans wing Trey Murphy III (No. 17), and Nuggets guard Bones Hyland (No. 26).
BIG3 director of basketball operations Thomas Scott, a former Lakers assistant, has joined the G League Ignite as an assistant coach on Jason Hart‘s staff, per an announcement from the BIG3 (Twitter link). Scott will also be the Ignite’s head of player development, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.
The Chinese Basketball Association has lifted its restrictions on teams signing foreign players now that it has decided to conduct its 2021/22 season in a bubble, as Nicola Lupo of Sportando writes. Sources tell Sportando that former Grizzlies and Nuggets wing Jamaal Franklin – a second-round pick in 2013 – is one of the first players to take advantage, having signed a lucrative new deal with the Shanghai Sharks.

Rockets Notes: Green, Sengun, Wall, Weaver

August 20th, 2021 at 11:03am CST by Arthur Hill

The Rockets liked what they saw from Jalen Green in Summer League play, and their excitement goes beyond his statistics, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. The No. 2 overall pick averaged 20.3 PPG and shot 51.4% from the floor (52.6% from three-point range) in his first two games before getting shut down after reporting hamstring tightness midway through the third game.

Coaches were impressed by Green’s decision making when the Pistons threw traps at him after he crossed half court. Green made the right reads and got the ball where it was supposed to go, rather than focusing on a one-on-one battle with No. 1 selection Cade Cunningham.

“It’s exciting to see him up and close and personal in a Rockets uniform,” coach Stephen Silas said. “Jalen out there making exciting plays but doing it within the context of how we do things.”

There’s more from Houston:

All four of the Rockets’ first-round picks looked like legitimate prospects during their first Summer League experience, Feigen adds. Usman Garuba and Josh Christopher may be sent to the G League to get playing time, but Alperen Sengun appears ready to contribute with the NBA team. Feigen notes that Sengun, the MVP of the Turkish League last season, displayed an advanced understanding of the game in Las Vegas.
The youth movement in Houston raises questions about the future of John Wall, who will be 31 when the season begins, per Rahat Huq of The Houston Chronicle. Wall had a 31.6 usage percentage last season and figures to have a similar role as long as he remains with the team. There has been speculation of a possible buyout with Wall, who will make $44.3MM this year and has a $47.4MM player option for 2022/23, but the organization’s best move may be to rebuild his value and try to trade him next summer.
Summer League coach Will Weaver talks about giving players their first NBA experience, plus several other topics, in an interview with Kelly Iko of The Athletic.

Rockets Sign Alperen Sengun, Josh Christopher To Rookie Deals

August 7th, 2021 at 3:06pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets have signed first-round picks Alperen Sengun and Josh Christopher to their rookie scale contracts, according to NBA.com’s official transactions log.

Sengun, a 19-year-old forward/center from Turkey, was named the Turkish League MVP in 2021 after averaging 19.2 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 2.5 APG, and 1.7 BPG in 29 games (28.3 MPG) for Besiktas. Houston traded a pair of protected future first-round picks to acquire the No. 16 pick to select Sengun on draft night.

Christopher is a 6’5″ guard who played his college ball at Arizona State and declared for the draft following his freshman year. He was selected 24th overall after averaging 14.3 PPG and 4.7 RPG in 15 games (29.7 MPG) for the Sun Devils.

The Rockets, who drafted four players in the first round last Thursday, have already locked up No. 2 pick Jalen Green to his rookie contract as well. No. 23 pick Usman Garuba is the only one of the four still unsigned, likely due to the complications created by his expensive buyout with Real Madrid. We’ll have to wait to see if the Rockets are able to get him stateside for the 2021/22 season.