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Mannix’s Latest: Celtics, Pelicans, Afflalo

February 19th, 2014 at 9:42am CST by Chuck Myron

Every Celtics player, including Rajon Rondo, is available for the right price, Chris Mannix of SI.com reports in a pair of tweets. Still, some rival executives believe Boston is overvaluing Brandon Bass and Jeff Green, for whom Danny Ainge is demanding first-round picks, as Mannix writes in a full piece. Mannix also notes that the Celtics would prefer to keep Kris Humphries through the deadline. There’s plenty more in Mannix’s dispatch covering several of the league’s most active teams in advance of Thursday’s deadline, so let’s dive in:

  • The Pelicans are making a strong effort to trade either Eric Gordon or Tyreke Evans, Mannix hears, contradicting what coach Monty Williams told reporters earlier this week.
  • Mannix adds Arron Afflalo to the list of players the Bobcats are eyeing. Charlotte is apparently willing to absorb a player-friendly contract as part of a deal that brings in an impact player, Mannix writes.
  • The Pistons like Evan Turner, and they may be willing to offer the Sixers the first-round draft pick they’re looking for, according to Mannix. Still, it will take “an overwhelming offer” to pry Greg Monroe from Detroit, which would like to trade Josh Smith instead but is finding no takers.
  • Andre Miller is “gone one way or another,” but that may be the only trade Denver makes, in spite of a heavy volume of calls coming in from other teams, Mannix writes. The Nuggets don’t appear inclined to auction off Kenneth Faried, according to Mannix. His report contrasts with what teams are telling Grantland’s Zach Lowe, who hears that anyone outside of Ty Lawson is available (Twitter link).
  • Rival teams are interested in Bojan Bogdanovic, but the Nets are unwilling to trade the rights to the former second-round pick who’s playing in Turkey.
  • Kirk Hinrich has been drawing more interest than Mike Dunleavy, but executives around the league believe the Bulls probably won’t deal Hinrich and risk deepening the divide between Tom Thibodeau and the front office. Dunleavy is similarly off the table.
  • Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has been “determined” to find another star to go along with Kyrie Irving, but the league appears to have lukewarm feelings about the young players on the Cavs, according to Mannix, which would appear to make a blockbuster unlikely.
  • There’s been friction between Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala, Mannix hears, but rival executives nonetheless believe it will take a massive offer to acquire Barnes, Mannix notes, echoing what Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob has said.
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Fallout From Warriors/Celtics/Heat Trade

January 15th, 2014 at 4:44pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Heat made initial inquiries about Kyle Lowry prior to today’s three-team trade with the Celtics and Warriors, but those talks with the Raptors went nowhere, Grantand’s Zach Lowe reports. Lowe predicts the Heat will cut either the newly acquired Toney Douglas or Roger Mason Jr. to open a roster spot for Andrew Bynum. Regardless, the trade is a “no-brainer” for Miami, Lowe believes. We’ve roundup up more news and reaction in the wake of today’s deal below:

  • Even if the protected first-rounder the Celtics acquired turns into a pair of second-round picks after next season, the trade still provides Boston with a “small bounty,” Lowe writes in the same piece, as teams around the league are valuing second-rounders more highly.
  • The departure of Joel Anthony prompts Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel to wonder if Udonis Haslem might be the next to go as the Heat continue to pursue a strategy of freeing money to keep their three stars and supplementing them with bargains.
  • The Warriors are still “thrilled” to have essentially passed on Jarrett Jack in favor of Andre Iguodala this summer, even though Douglas proved ineffective as a replacement at backup point guard, forcing today’s move, notes Sam Amick of USA Today.
  • Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com figures the depature of Crawford, who was developing into a serviceable point guard, strengthens the chances that the Celtics will keep Rajon Rondo long-term (Twitter link).
  • Today’s trade means the Heat have cut their projected luxury tax bill by more than 50% since the start of July, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com explains (Twitter links).
  • The Timberwolves weren’t among the teams interested in Jordan Crawford, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link).
  • Crawford played point guard for the Celtics, but he’s otherwise been a shoot-first gunner, and Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group believes he’ll benefit the Warriors most as a pure scorer.
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Deveney’s Latest: Miller, Hawks, Iguodala

January 3rd, 2014 at 9:53pm CST by Chuck Myron

Sean Deveney’s latest piece for The Sporting News focuses on Andre Iguodala‘s impact on the Warriors, timed appropriately enough since Iggy’s three-pointer at the buzzer gave the W’s a one-point win over the Hawks tonight. He passes along a few other tidbits of note, and we’ll start with those:

  • The Nuggets are “a ways away” from trading Andre Miller, a source tells Deveney, adding that a deal would probably come closer to the February 20th trade deadline. Presumably, Deveney isn’t suggesting that Miller will probably be traded and is instead referring to the timing of any deal that might involve the 37-year-old. The Nuggets rescinded Miller’s suspension today, though a source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that it was merely a gesture to allow Miller to receive his salary while he sits for two games (Twitter link).
  • No moves that would help Atlanta’s front line are imminent, Deveney writes. The latest report we heard indicated that Hawks GM Danny Ferry was still deciding whether to pursue reinforcements in the wake of Al Horford‘s season-ending injury. The team apparently had talks with the Magic about Hedo Turkoglu before Orlando let go of the veteran small forward today.
  • Deveney points out that Iguodala’s teams have a record of 142-89 (143-89 after tonight) over the past four years in games he plays, and 12-21 when he doesn’t. That was a reason why Golden State sought to acquire him this summer, Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob tells Deveney. “He is a winner,” Lacob said. “He knows how to win. Anyone you talked to about him, coaches or whoever it was, that was what they said.”
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Pacific Notes: Iguodala, Warriors, Bledsoe

December 23rd, 2013 at 6:06pm CST by Zachary Links

Here’s tonight’s look at the Pacific Division as the Lakers face the Suns, the Kings take on the Pelicans, and Andre Iguodala faces his old team when his Warriors meet the Nuggets..

  • Iguodala says he didn’t see the Nuggets contract offer over the summer as more lucrative than the Warriors deal because of the non-guaranteed portions, tweets Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post.  The small forward inked a four-year, $48MM deal with Golden State in July while Denver reportedly made him a four-year, $52MM offer and also proposed five-year scenarios.
  • The Eric Bledsoe trade that almost didn’t happen changed the future of the Suns, writes Sean Deveney of the Sporting News.  “It was close [to falling through],” Suns president Lon Babby said. “But Eric is someone we had long pined for here, and we saw the opportunity. When we saw that we could formulate a scenario that would work for everyone, we really felt like we had to keep pushing for it and fortunately, it all worked out.”
  • The Lakers have to be strong and not rush Kobe Bryant back this season, writes David Aldridge of NBA.com.
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Atlantic Rumors: Thibodeau, Rivers, Iguodala

December 12th, 2013 at 8:58am CST by Chuck Myron

The idea that Tom Thibodeau could become the next coach of the Knicks is centered around the notion that friction between Thibodeau and Bulls management would prompt a parting of ways, but such tension has cooled, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. Thibodeau, GM Gar Forman and executive vice president John Paxson cleared the air during several meetings early in the offseason, and while they may not be the best of friends, the relationship is “more than just workable,” Cowley writes. Thibodeau had no comment on the Knicks rumor, and with New York beating Chicago last night, it seems Mike Woodson‘s job is safe for at least another day. Here’s the latest on the Knicks’ rivals in the Atlantic Division:

  • Amid a return to Boston as coach of the Clippers, Doc Rivers said taking the Celtics job in 2004 was “the best decision I ever made,” HoopsWorld’s Jessica Camerato notes.
  • Andre Iguodala was shocked when the Sixers traded him to the Nuggets as part of last year’s four-team Dwight Howard blockbuster, and tells Grantland’s Jonathan Abrams that he wishes the deal hadn’t come while he was competing in the Olympics. Iguodala also shares his frustrations about playing in front of Philly’s notoriously critical fans and says the constant changes to the Sixers during his tenure with the team hurt his game.
  • Nerlens Noel might be done for the season, but he and the Sixers are working diligently on improving his shot, as Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer details.
  • Nets GM Billy King admits that he was involved in the decision to demote former lead assistant Lawrence Frank, notes Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.
  • Kyle Korver told HoopsHype’s Jorge Sierra that his ties to King, who as Sixers GM 10 years ago swung a deal to acquire him on draft night, were part of the reason he nearly signed with the Nets this summer. Ultimately, Korver says he and his wife decided to stay in Atlanta.
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Western Notes: Gasol, Nowitzki, Armstrong

November 23rd, 2013 at 6:48pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Grizzlies aren’t releasing a timetable for the return of Marc Gasol, who’s out indefinitely with a sprained MCL in his left knee, as the team announced today. That hasn’t stopped reporters from speculating about how long Memphis will be without the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, and the consensus seems to suggest he’ll miss at least six weeks. The injury is a blow to the Grizzlies, though there’s no talk of the team looking for reinforcements yet. This summer’s trade for Kosta Koufos, who started at center for the 57-win Nuggets last year, could be about to pay dividends. Here’s more from the West:

  • Derrick Rose‘s diagnosis is the big injury news of the day, but Western stars, including Gasol, are being plagued with their share of physical ailments as well. ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reports that James Harden of the Rockets is expected to miss at least the next two games with a foot injury, while the Warriors announced that Andre Iguodala is out indefinitely with a strained hamstring. I doubt either injury will result in a roster move.
  • Jeff Caplan of NBA.com doesn’t put much stock in Mavs owner Mark Cuban’s revelation that Rockets GM Daryl Morey asked him this summer if he’d trade Dirk Nowitzki. The scribe notes that Cuban has vowed he’ll never trade the former MVP and that Nowitzki has said he plans to re-sign with Dallas next summer. About 70% of Hoops Rumors readers agree that the Mavs shouldn’t even think about trading their star.
  • According to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link), the Santa Cruz Warriors announced that they’ve re-added former NBA veteran Hilton Armstrong to their roster. The big man played for Golden State’s D-League affiliate last season, so Santa Cruz still held his rights.
  • We looked back at the offseasons for a pair of Western Conference teams today, covering the Kings and the Jazz. You can find all the Offseason in Review pieces we’ve done so far on this page.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

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California Rumors: Kobe, Pierce, KG, Warriors

November 16th, 2013 at 3:05pm CST by Chuck Myron

It might be awhile before Lamar Odom is back on the court, though it sounds like he’s moving toward a reunion with the Clippers. A much bigger L.A. star is also making progress toward playing again, as we detail here:

  • Kobe Bryant returned to practice today with the Lakers, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, though there’s still no timetable for when he’ll make it into a game for the first time since tearing his left Achilles tendon in April.
  • Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett remain in regular contact with Clippers coach Doc Rivers, but at one point this summer the ex-Celtics figured they’d both be following their coach to L.A., as Pierce and Garnett tell Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Garnett and Pierce also expressed doubt that they would have been pleased to play in Boston without Rivers around.
  • Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber have made strides in turning the franchise into a team that didn’t have to make a sales pitch to convince Andre Iguodala to come aboard this summer, as Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle examines. Lacob and Guber may face their stiffest test yet as they seek to build an arena in San Francisco.
  • We covered more Lakers rumors earlier this morning in our roundup from the Pacific Division.
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Odds & Ends: Jennings, Rondo, Shumpert

November 15th, 2013 at 11:15pm CST by Chuck Myron

Pistons point guard Brandon Jennings admits basketball wasn’t his primary focus during the first four years of his career, but the free agent process this summer jolted him out of complacency, as he tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.

“I just wanted a new start,” Jennings said. “Seeing a bunch of my teammates leave, Monta (Ellis), J.J. (Redick), Mike Dunleavy, everybody, the coaching staff I’d been around for four years, everything was different. I felt like they were going in a different direction and I felt like I had do the same.”

Jennings considered signing his one-year qualifying offer from the Bucks to get to unrestricted free agency in 2014, but Milwaukee’s hiring of an unfamiliar coach in Larry Drew dissuaded him from that idea, Jennings says. Still, at least one beat writer doesn’t see him as Detroit’s point guard of the future, as we detail in our league-wide roundup:

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Odds & Ends: Nets, McHale, Felix

November 14th, 2013 at 11:10pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Shortly after the Nets’ 21-point loss in Sacramento on Wednesday night, Brooklyn GM Billy King had a closed-door meeting with head coach Jason Kidd and Kevin Garnett to presumably discuss (as Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News surmises) why almost nothing seems to be going according to plan in Brooklyn right now. In another Nets-related piece, Lenn Robbins of NBA.com writes that the current roster hasn’t shown they deserve a player’s coach like Kidd.

Here’s more of the miscellaneous links to pass along tonight:

  • When asked further about why Omer Asik didn’t play during tonight’s game in New York, Rockets coach Kevin McHale said that Asik told him that he wasn’t feeling well earlier (Sean Deveney of the Sporting News via Twitter). It should be noted that this was Asik’s first DNP-CD of his NBA career.
  • Cavaliers shooting guard Carrick Felix recently returned to the practice floor after being out with a sports hernia, but head coach Mike Brown made it clear that the 23-year-old rookie would find his minutes in the D-League once he’s ready to play (Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal).
  • Zach Harper of CBS Sports details why Andre Iguodala may be the ultimate role player.
  • Although Michael Beasley may be a ways away from being a contributor with consistent playing time on the Heat, NBA.com’s Couper Moorhead tells us how the former second-overall pick continues to work hard and has taken a significant step forward to improve his overall game.
  • Joseph Lombardo, who founded the investment firm Prim Capital (which previously handled the investments and finances of the NBPA), has been charged with fraud, according to the Associated Press. Authorities say that Lombardo used a signature stamp to forge the signature of a deceased general counsel for the NBPA and another employee that awarded Prim Capital a $3MM fee over five years.
  • Nate Duncan of Hoopsworld goes in depth about what to make out of the Timberwolves’ and Pacers’ hot starts this season.
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Warriors Owner On Offseason, Iguodala, CBA

October 3rd, 2013 at 6:06pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Warriors owner Joe Lacob sat down with Sean Deveney of the Sporting News earlier today to disucss several topics, including how he feels about the improvements made during the offseason and how the new collective bargaining agreement will affect his decision-making moving forward. You can read some of the highlights from the Q&A transcript below: 

On how much the team has improved since last year: 

We have improved this team on paper. Perhaps even substantially. We’re still a very young team. We have a young core that hopefully begins to organically grow and get better. We added key free agents, we added size, we added depth. We’re pretty interesting. We have very good shooting, we have very good height and depth. We’re a big team now. We have, at any time, we can put out five individual defenders that are really good defenders. We couldn’t do that a year ago.

On how he thinks the team will stack up against the rest of the Western Conference: 

There are some really good teams in the West. But I think we are right there in that group. We believe we are right there. We feel that, if we stay injury-free, we can be a contender to finish in the Top 4 in the West and get homecourt advantage and from there, you see what happens.

On the significance of being able to add a top-tier free agent like Andre Iguodala: 

We started a process whereby we wanted to make a run at improving through the ways that you traditionally improve a team. Draft, we have bought draft picks all three years we have been involved here. We wanted to have more shots at bringing in players. Free agency, we wanted to be in the conversation every year. (Andre) wanted to come here and came here for less than he would have gotten somewhere else. It was emblematic of the way he sees our franchise and the changes we have made. We have made it clear we want a championship. We will spend the money. I said I would be willing to go into the luxury tax for that, and we would have. It wound up that we did not have to do it that way. 

If he's worried about keeping his young and talented core together under the new CBA: 

As time goes by, we will have some challenges in that regard. We will have to deal with that as those situations occur. Steph Curry is signed up for the long term—the long term is four years in the NBA now. (Klay Thompson) is in his third year, (Harrison Barnes) is in his second year. So it is not an urgent problem right now. But eventually, that could become a problem, how do you keep them? It is not going to be a monetary issue because this ownership is willing to spend whatever it takes to build a championship here and be extremely competitive every year. That isn’t something I even think about, we will spend the money.

I don’t want to pay the luxury tax, nobody wants to. That’s why it is a luxury tax, it is very punitive. But if it means winning vs. not winning, I choose winning. So that’s not an issue. At the end of the day, all the things we are talking about are important, but the fans care about one thing: Are you winning? Not the luxury tax. If I am not here to win, then I shouldn’t be here. We need to win.

On the risk of signing Stephen Curry to an extension after he had been injured: 

 A lot of people questioned signing him to a long-term deal—I would read it, every day, ‘Will he ever be healthy? Ever?’ He had several years of chronic ankle problems. But I looked at that and thought, ‘I don’t remember an ankle ending a guy’s career.’ I believed with good medical attention, he was going to be able to overcome that. And we probably got a discount relative to what someone else would have paid for him at the end of last year, given the performance he had. At that moment, though, yes, a lot of people wouldn’t have signed him. We took the chance, we signed him and now we look like we’re pretty smart.

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