Mobile Menu
HEADLINES

Andrew Bogut

Leonard, Green, Allen Lead All-Defensive Teams

May 20th, 2015 at 1:17pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kawhi Leonard, Draymond Green, Tony Allen, DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul comprise this year’s All-Defensive First Team, the NBA announced via press release. Anthony Davis, Jimmy Butler, Andrew Bogut, John Wall and Tim Duncan are on the second team. Bogut’s selection is perhaps most important, since he triggers a bonus worth 15% of his nearly $12.973MM salary for this season, giving him approximately $1.946MM in extra pay. It also means his cap hit for next season jumps to $13.8MM instead of $12MM, since the bonus will fall in the category of a likely bonus. Still, the extra $1.8MM wouldn’t count against the tax next season unless Bogut again plays in 65 games and makes an All-Defensive team.

Leonard was the leading vote-getter from the media members who cast the ballots, which is no surprise, since he also won the Defensive Player of the Year award. The latest honor is further ammunition for a max contract this summer from the Spurs, though it appears he and San Antonio were already set to quickly agree to terms on one come July. Green and Jordan are also soon-to-be free agents on the first team, while Butler and Duncan are heading to free agency from the second team.

Davis, who’s eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer, topped the voting among second-teamers. The balloting went by a points system in which two points were awarded for a first team vote and one point for a second. Rudy Gobert, who received five first team votes, garnered the most points among those who missed the cut for both teams. LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Avery Bradley, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Klay Thompson, Marc Gasol and Mike Conley were others who garnered multiple first team votes but didn’t make it on either team. Click here to see how each media member voted.

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Pacific Rumors: Thornton, Lakers, Bogut

April 11th, 2015 at 5:29pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Marcus Thornton has not improved his free agent outlook since he was dealt to the Suns at the trade deadline, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic reports. The Suns only acquired Thornton to facilitate the Isaiah Thomas trade to the Celtics, which allowed them to acquire the Cavaliers’ 2016 first-round pick in the multi-team deal, Coro explains. Thornton, who becomes an unrestricted free agent after the season, has only appeared in nine games since the deal and has been battling a left Achilles’ tendon injury, Coro adds. That has rendered Thornton as a non-rotation player on a non-playoff team, which is not the best way to head into the free agent market, Coro points out.

In other news around the Pacific Division:

  • Wesley Matthews, Omer Asik and Khris Middleton are some of the free agents that the Lakers should consider pursuing this summer, Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders opines. The Lakers should target free agents like Matthews and Asik that still have several productive years remaining and could be signed at a reasonable price, as well as budding talents like Middleton, Blancarte continues. What the Lakers should avoid is appeasing Kobe Bryant by signing quick-fix, high-priced free agents like Rajon Rondo, since the Lakers are a long way from contention, Blancarte adds. The club also needs to re-think its offensive strategy and embrace the 3-point shot by bringing in some long-range shooters that can space the floor, Blancarte argues.
  • Andrew Bogut‘s gamble when he signed an incentive-laden, three-year extension prior to last season is paying off, Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press writes. The Warriors center will play his 65th game of the season Saturday night, fulfilling one of the requirements for a potential bonus. Bogut’s deal calls for him to earn a 15% bonus — or approximately $1.93MM this year — any season he plays at least 65 games and is named to the NBA’s First or Second All-Defensive Team, Gonzalez continues. Bogut leads the league in defensive plus-minus rating, Gonzalez adds.
  • James Michael McAdoo was recalled by the Warriors on Saturday after he helped the D-League’s Santa Cruz Warriors win a playoff series over the Oklahoma City Blue, the team’s website reports. McAdoo has appeared in 14 games with Golden State this season, averaging 3.9 points and 2.6 rebounds in 8.6 minutes. He had 25 points and 13 rebounds in Santa Cruz’s clinching win over the Blue on Friday.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Pacific Notes: Green, Bogut, Scott

April 9th, 2015 at 11:17am CST by Chuck Myron

Agent Kevin Bradbury is upset with Suns coach Jeff Hornacek‘s criticism of client and soon-to-be free agent Gerald Green, as Bradbury makes clear in his comments to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Hornacek brought up Green’s defense as one reason why the swingman hasn’t seen as much playing time as he’d like, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic relayed earlier this week, and that in particular drew Bradbury’s ire.

“It’s completely unfair to misrepresent Gerald and his game like this,” Bradbury said. “You’re talking about a player that wants to win at any cost and is a tremendous locker guy and teammate. I don’t see the benefit for the coach to go about things this way.” 

Bradbury told Deveney that opposing teams were willing to give up assets in significant trade offers for Green at the deadline, only to have the Suns turn them down. Green, who hits free agency this summer, said that in spite of his lack of minutes that he wants to re-sign with Phoenix and retire as a Sun, though he’s not sure if Phoenix feels the same way, as Coro relays. Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • Andrew Bogut is closing in on a key milestone tied to a bonus clause in his deal, as Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group points out. He played his 63rd game of the season Tuesday, so if he plays in two of the Warriors‘ last four regular season contests, he’ll hit the first criteria for triggering the bonus. He’d need to either win Defensive Player of the Year or make one of the league’s two All-Defensive teams for the bonus to kick in, but Bogut will almost certainly earn an All-Defensive nod, Kawakami writes.
  • The prospect of Bogut triggering the bonus, worth 15% of his $12.973MM salary this season, was one reason why the Warriors didn’t give serious thought to adding a veteran the past few months, according to Kawakami. Golden State is well shy of the tax threshold for this season. Bogut’s cap figure for 2015/16 will be higher if he earns the bonus this year, but it won’t count toward the team’s salary for tax purposes next year unless he again hits the same benchmarks next season.
  • Lakers coach Byron Scott on Wednesday tempered his earlier remark that he “wouldn’t want to be in a fox hole with” many of his players, which seemed to indicate a desire for an offseason overhaul. Scott said that he made that comment out of frustration and that he’s been pleased with the effort of his players for most of the year, as Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com details.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Western Notes: Warriors, Matthews, Mavs

February 4th, 2015 at 9:39pm CST by Eddie Scarito

With Rajon Rondo out indefinitely after suffering two facial fractures, the Mavs are in need of some depth, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News writes. Dallas may look to add a player on a 10-day contract while it waits for Jermaine O’Neal to decide when and where he resumes his NBA career, Sefko reports. Owner Mark Cuban said that Dallas will be looking at players returning from China as well as those waived by NBA teams, in order to fill its final roster spot, Sefko adds.

Here’s more from out west:

  • Soon-to-be free agent Wesley Matthews wants to remain with the Trail Blazers, as he tells Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders, and the shooting guard makes it clear the team’s success on the court is a factor.
  • The Warriors have led the NBA in defensive rating from the opening day of the season, and the team’s dominance on defense can be traced back to two personnel moves that the franchise has made, Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com writes. The ESPN scribe points to Golden State’s deal with the Bucks that sent Monta Ellis to Milwaukee and netted the team Andrew Bogut, and the sign-and-trade deal for Andre Iguodala, as major reasons for Golden State’s defensive prowess this season.
  • Rival executives have said that the Nuggets would love to add a star player between now and the trade deadline, but if the team is unable to accomplish that goal, it will seek to trade away some of its veteran players for first round draft picks, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders writes.
  • Rudy Gobert has emerged as a defensive force for the Jazz this season, and Wesley Share of RealGM.com profiles the big man’s growth into an impact player.
  • Quincy Miller, who is on his second 10-day contract of the season with the Kings, has never been short on talent, but poor timing has slowed his career up to this point, Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders writes. Discussing why the Nuggets chose to waive him earlier this season, Miller said, “I think they really wanted a veteran in Alonzo Gee and a defensive player. I don’t think I was the defensive player that they wanted, and I was everything they already had in Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari – a shooter/finisher. They wanted to go in a different direction, which is fine, but I just wish it would’ve been different timing.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Pacific Notes: Warriors, Bogut, Thompson, Bryant

January 24th, 2015 at 10:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

With the NBA’s best record in the first half of the season, Golden State GM Bob Myers isn’t planning any major moves before the February 19th trade deadline, according to Rusty Simmons of The San Francisco Chronicle. The Warriors are off to a franchise-best 35-6 start and are beating teams by an average of 12.1 points per game. “I don’t think anybody wants roster turnover,” Myers said. “You want to keep the group together as long as you can, and the players have earned the right to grow together and see what they can do in the playoffs.”

There’s other news from the Pacific Division:

  • Andrew Bogut isn’t complaining about the way the Warriors are handling his rest and physical condition, even though it may cost him money, tweets Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group. Reduced playing time hampers Bogut’s ability to reach a $1.9MM incentive bonus.
  • No one enjoyed Klay Thompson‘s 37-point third quarter Friday more than his father Mychal, who told Scott Ostler of The San Francisco Chronicle he hopes his son retires as a Warrior. The elder Thompson, who works as a commentator for the Lakers, said Golden State made the right move last summer by not breaking up the “Splash Brothers” to acquire Kevin Love from the Timberwolves. “I’m very happy they decided to keep that special backcourt together,” he said. “When you have someone like Stephen [Curry] and Klay, you let those guys retire together in a Warriors uniform.”
  • Although he’s likely done for the season, it’s not time for the Lakers‘ Kobe Bryant to retire, argues Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times. Bryant may undergo season-ending surgery after having his shoulder re-examined on Monday, but Plaschke contends that’s no way for such a brilliant career to end. He wants to see Bryant return in 2015/16 for the final year of his contract with a better team that should include a healthy Julius Randle, a high pick in this year’s draft and possibly a quality free agent addition.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Pacific Notes: Bogut, Clarkson, Crawford

December 19th, 2014 at 7:06pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Andrew Bogut has struggled with various injuries throughout his career, something that weighs heavily on the Warriors’ big man, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports writes. Bogut’s injury woes reached a boiling point during the middle of the 2012/13 season, and Bogut went as far as telling his agent David Baumann that he planned to retire at the end of that season, Spears notes. “I called him midseason and said, ‘I’m done, ‘ ” Bogut said. “My back was so bad at the time. After every game it was like a balloon and it was like catching my tail to get back to the next game. If we had two games in three days, my ankles were really swollen. I had to get around the clock treatment, anti-inflammatories. It got to the point where it just wasn’t responding.”

Here’s more out of the Pacific Division:

  • Bogut’s most recent malady involves his right knee, for which he recently underwent platelet-rich plasma therapy, and he’ll be sidelined indefinitely as a result. Despite his frustrations, Bogut will attempt to finish out his current deal with the Warriors, which runs through 2016/17, and then decide if he wishes to continue playing, Spears adds. “I got two years left [on my contract] and I will play it by ear,” Bogut said. “My goal is to play these two years out and see where I’m at. I am having fun, but it’s a grind though. Some days you wake up and you can’t walk. It takes you an hour to get your body right, to get to the gym, get to your car. But that’s a part of being a pro athlete.“
  • The Lakers have recalled Jordan Clarkson from the Los Angeles D-Fenders, their D-League affiliate, the team announced (Twitter link). This was Clarkson’s fourth stint with the D-Fenders of the season.
  • Jamal Crawford has heard all of the trade rumors surrounding him, but the Clippers guard doesn’t let them get to him, Rowan Kavner of NBA.com writes. “I’ve been in trade rumors ever since I’ve been here, which is the weirdest thing,” Crawford said. “But that’s part of the business, honestly. I can play wherever. I can play here, I would love to play here. But if not, if something happens, you move on and do what you’ve got to do.”
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Pacific Notes: Crawford, Allen, Bogut

December 18th, 2014 at 7:04pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Doc Rivers dismissed the rumors that the Clippers are looking to trade Jamal Crawford, Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com writes. “I honestly don’t read anything,” Rivers said. “The fact that Jamal’s name is being mentioned, this is the first I’ve heard of it, literally right now. I don’t get into it. You guys are going to ask him about every rumor that’s out there. It’s just so much bogus chatter.”

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • When discussing free agent Ray Allen, Rivers reaffirmed that the Clippers would have interest in signing the veteran shooting guard if he decides to play this season, Markazi adds. “I just think he’s a good player,” Rivers said of Allen. “Why not add a good player to your team? He’s still good. We’ll see. I still have interest in him. He’s a good player. I think. I know he’s great at golf right now. He’s probably a scratch golfer by now; he’s had all this time. I’m assuming he’s still a good player.”
  • Warriors center Andrew Bogut will be out indefinitely after undergoing platelet-rich plasma therapy on his ailing right knee, the team announced. “We fully support Andrew in his decision to undergo the PRP treatment,” Warriors GM Bob Myers said in a statement. “Our number one concern is that Andrew is 100 percent healthy and we will continue to support him in any way we can to make that happen.”
  • Bogut’s health this season will be the difference between the Warriors remaining in the championship hunt, or the franchise becoming a second or third-tier contender instead, Marcus Thompson II of The Bay Area News Group writes.
  • The Lakers have re-assigned Jordan Clarkson to the Los Angeles D-Fenders, Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News reports (Twitter link). This will be Clarkson’s fourth trip of the season to Los Angeles’ D-League affiliate.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Bogut’s Bonus Could Push Warriors Into Tax

March 5th, 2014 at 1:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

Andrew Bogut will earn a contract bonus worth $425K if he lands a spot on either of the league’s two All-Defensive Teams this season, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports, noting that it would be just enough to push the Warriors over the $71.748MM luxury tax threshold. The Bulls have a similar arrangement with Taj Gibson that would put them into tax territory, as Mark Deeks of ShamSports previously reported, but Lowe reveals that bonuses for Joakim Noah could also knock the Bulls over the line. A bonus that Lowe reports is a part of Serge Ibaka‘s deal wouldn’t force the Thunder to pay the tax, but it might have if the team had used a significant portion of its room under the tax at the trade deadline, as it appeared Oklahoma City attempted to do.

Bogut and a few of his teammates would also receive bonuses worth enough money to force the Warriors to pay the luxury tax if they make the Finals. Golden State has never paid the tax, as Deeks has noted, though co-owner Joe Lacob has said multiple times this season that he would be willing to do so under the proper circumstances.

A Finals berth would probably qualify under Lacob’s criteria, but an All-Defensive Team nod for Bogut during a season in which the team languishes near the bottom of the Western Conference playoff picture seems a paltry return on a tax investment. Bogut is third in the league in defensive rating and ninth in defensive win shares, according to Basketball-Reference.com, so there’s a realistic chance he receives the bonus and triggers the tax penalty. The team likely took that into account when it acquired Steve Blake and his $4MM salary at the trade deadline, Lowe observes, figuring that the Warriors sought a cheaper alternative but came up empty.

Noah will make $500K if he earns a first-team All-NBA selection, and with a case to be made that the Bulls center has been as valuable as anyone not named LeBron James or Kevin Durant this season, Noah stands a reasonable shot at receiving the bonus. The money would be more than enough to push the Bulls into the tax regardless of what happens with Gibson. Their recent signing of Jimmer Fredette for the season was an indication the team is betting that Gibson and Noah won’t trigger the bonuses this season, and there’s much at stake. The Bulls paid the tax last season, meaning the team would be in line for backbreaking repeat-offender tax rates if it pays the tax again this year and in 2014/15. Noah would also receive $250K if the Bulls win the title, according to Lowe, though that seems quite a long shot, and that bonus alone wouldn’t be enough to force Chicago to pay the tax.

Ibaka receives $250K if he wins Defensive Player of the Year honors, and while he’s not the favorite to do so, Lowe deems him a candidate, which is no stretch, considering he finished second in voting for the award in 2011/12 and third last season. The Knicks reportedly rejected a deadline offer that would have sent Iman Shumpert to the Thunder in exchange for Oklahoma City’s 2014 first-rounder. The exact proposal is unclear, Lowe writes, but if it was a straight exchange of Shumpert for a pick, it would have left the Thunder a few hundred thousand dollars under the tax even if Ibaka had received his bonus, by my calculations. Ibaka also gets a $100K bonus if he makes the All-Defensive First Team, but the league lists that as a likely bonus, meaning it’s already applied to team salary.

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Western Links: Trail Blazers, Bogut, Mavericks

December 5th, 2013 at 10:47pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Beckley Mason of the New York Times examines the chemistry and cohesiveness that have galvanized the Trail Blazers this season, prompting LaMarcus Aldridge to call this the ‘happiest time in his career’: “Guys are playing so (unselfishly) — our team chemistry is unreal right now…Coach Stotts gives us the freedom to play loose and make plays, and guys aren’t abusing it.” 

Veteran point guard Earl Watson also weighed in: “Everyone accepts their role, and the roles were never defined. It’s the truth of our team, the DNA of our team. The way we fit together, it’s like the perfect storm, so to speak.”

Here’s more out of the Western Conference tonight:

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Extension Leftovers: Hayward, Bledsoe, Bogut

November 1st, 2013 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

Although several players signed lucrative long-term contract extensions over the course of the offseason, last night’s deadline came and went with a whimper, rather than a bang. Extension candidates like Gordon Hayward, Eric Bledsoe, and Avery Bradley failed to work out last-minute deals, meaning they’ll become free agents next summer. News continues to trickle in on a few of those players and their motives for passing on new contracts, so let’s round up the latest….

  • Agent Mark Bartelstein, who represents Hayward, tells Sam Amick of USA Today that extensions are often the most difficult deals to complete: “Teams sometimes have a view of wanting to get something for doing it early, and the player wants to get what he perceives his value to be, so they’re hard to do.” Bartelstein added that the Jazz put in a “tremendous amount of time and effort,” so it wasn’t for lack of trying that nothing was agreed upon.
  • Suns president Lon Babby echoed Bartelstein’s thoughts on the challenge of extension negotiations, telling Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic that the lack of a deal with Bledsoe “doesn’t in any way suggest” the Suns aren’t committed long-term to their new point guard.
  • While 2014 free agency is still a ways off, Grantland’s Zach Lowe notes (via Twitter) that the Magic will likely be a strong rival suitor for Bledsoe.
  • Discussing the Hayward and Bledsoe negotiations, ESPN.com’s Marc Stein says Bledsoe was believed to be seeking a deal worth at least $10MM annually. Hayward, meanwhile, wasn’t seeking the max, but wanted a contract “commensurate with his standing as the face of Utah’s rebuilding effort,” according to Stein.
  • One executive suggested to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com that extending Derrick Favors and not Hayward was an “odd message” for the Jazz to send (Twitter link).
  • Andrew Bogut‘s new contract is a veteran extension, rather than a rookie scale extension, but we’ll include this update here anyway: Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld has the specifics on Bogut’s salaries for the next several years, which start at about $12.29MM in 2014/15 and drop to about $11.03MM for 2016/17.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0
Load More Posts