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Southwest Notes: Matthews, Jones, West

September 29th, 2015 at 10:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle has already reportedly ruled out Wesley Matthews for the team’s opener, but the swingman has designs on proving his new coach wrong, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com writes. “I’m trying to be ready by opening day,” Matthews said. “Whether I can play in it or not, I can’t really control that. But my goal is to [be] ready and available opening day.”

Matthews doesn’t think it relevant to compare how long it has taken other players who have had similar injuries to his own to recover, MacMahon adds. “I don’t really pay too much attention to that because if I paid attention to people that were in my situation before me, then I wouldn’t be up here standing and talking to you guys,” Matthews said, “because I can’t think of too many undrafted free agents that have done what I’ve done.”

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • Rockets forward Terrence Jones enters the 2015/16 season with a different, more mature outlook, Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle writes. “I felt like I really needed to grow as a person,” Jones said. “I think I am a lot more mature this year.” Jones is eligible to ink a contract extension with Houston prior to the deadline on November 2nd.
  • David West said that the Spurs‘ signing of LaMarcus Aldridge was the deciding factor for him to join the team as an unrestricted free agent this summer, Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express News tweets.
  • Despite concerns regarding his agility and foot speed, the Spurs‘ signing of center Boban Marjanovic is exactly what the team needed to help offset the free agent losses of Aron Baynes and Tiago Splitter, writes Dan McCarney of The San Antonio Express-News. McCarney notes that Marjanovic’s ample size (7’3″), as well as his inexpensive contract, make the 27-year-old a wise pickup.
  • Pelicans star big man Anthony Davis is hoping that the additional 15 pounds of muscle he added from working out over the summer will make him an even more dominant player, Brett Martel of The Associated Press relays. “I feel great right now. Even just working out, I feel explosive. I feel quick,” Davis said. “When you start actually going against people and all that, it’s a lot different. So I’m going to see how it is during training camp and preseason and go from there.“
  • Despite the expectations that arrived in San Antonio along with him, Aldridge is doing his best to fit in and adapt to the way the Spurs organization handles its business, Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News writes. “It’s never been about one guy here,” said Aldridge. “It’s always been about the team. So it’s not about me.”
  • After missing the end of the 2014/15 regular season and the playoffs, Rockets guard Patrick Beverley is itching to get back on the court, Creech writes in a separate piece. “Six months, nine days,” Beverley said. “That’s the longest I have ever been out and away from basketball. Injuries aren’t something you can control, but I am ready to get back, ready to play and get this thing started.”
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Southwest Notes: Davis, Gentry, Smith, Buford

September 5th, 2015 at 4:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

New Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry is sold on the idea of Anthony Davis as a “generational player” along the lines of the game’s true greats, as he said to Ian Thomsen of NBA.com. The Pelicans secured Davis on a max extension this summer, not long after hiring Gentry to become the big man’s first NBA coach aside from Monty Williams.

“Anthony is right in that category, and there is a lot of responsibility that comes with that,” Gentry said. “It is up to us to make him as good as he can possibly be, and not settle for him to be less than great in this area or that area. I told him that I have no doubt that he is going to be an MVP in this league. And I said to him, ‘We are going to be really, really good if you also win Defensive Player of the Year.”’

See more on Gentry amid the latest from the Southwest Division:

  • Gentry doesn’t expect to fall in lockstep with Pelicans GM Dell Demps and executive VP of basketball operations Mickey Loomis, but Demps told Thomsen that it’s clear that they have the same vision for the team. “Dell has no desire to control anyone,” Gentry said. “He wants opinions. He wants you to challenge what he is saying. He does not want to be in the situation where everything is yes, yes, yes. We’re going to disagree on a lot of things; we are going to agree on a lot of things. To me that is healthy. That is one of the reasons why teams are successful. We talked about loyalty, and I told Dell: I look at loyalty as guys expressing their opinions, and then when everything is discussed and you come to a conclusion, you walk out united. When I worked with Doug Collins, we used to have a saying: Agree, disagree, but align.”
  • Former Mavericks and Rockets center Greg Smith will work out for the Guangdong Southern Tigers, a source told international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). The 24-year-old Seth Cohen client spent last season with the Mavericks and was also briefly on the Bulls roster in 2013/14 after spending parts of three seasons with the Rockets, but NBA interest has appeared slim this summer, as his rumors page shows.
  • GM Daryl Morey deserves credit for his move to acquire Ty Lawson for the Rockets in a trade that didn’t cost any core pieces, but Spurs GM R.C. Buford is an overwhelming favorite for Executive of the Year honors, argues Fran Blinebury of NBA.com. The additions of LaMarcus Aldridge and David West drew headlines, and Blinebury is also a fan of what he believes is a team-friendly new deal with Danny Green.
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And-Ones: Williams, Davis, Bucks

August 31st, 2015 at 10:29pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Mavericks have seen encouraging signs from Deron Williams during informal workouts, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com tweets. Williams, who appears lean and quick, feels he has a lot to prove, MacMahon adds. Williams signed with the Mavs in July to be their starting point guard after he secured his release from the Nets via a buyout agreement. He received a two-year deal worth $10MM that includes a player option.

In other news around the league:

  • Anthony Davis said there was little doubt that he would sign an extension with the Pelicans rather than test the free agent waters, he told SLAM’s Christopher Cason in a Q&A session. “I knew I was going back to New Orleans,” he said. “I love the city, love what the team is doing and I have faith in the coaching staff and my teammates. It was an easy decision for me.”
  • An overflow crowd packed a Milwaukee City Hall meeting as the public was given its first opportunity to formally comment on a funding plan to build a new Bucks arena, Greg Moore of the Associated Press reports. Milwaukee Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux laid out how the city plans to generate its $47MM share of public funding for a new arena and entertainment district, primarily through special tax districts, Moore continues. While a majority of those who spoke favored the plan, a group called Common Ground questioned why the city would help pay for the project rather than invest in the neighborhood or school improvements, Moore adds.
  • The Celtics extended their exclusive affiliation with the D-League’s Maine Red Claws through the 2017/18 season, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe reports. The Celtics became Maine’s lone affiliate and took over its basketball operations in 2012. Last season, the Celtics assigned a total of six players to the Red Claws, Himmelsbach adds.
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Western Notes: Davis, Blazers, Warriors, Warren

July 28th, 2015 at 10:34pm CST by Charlie Adams

Anthony Davis seems to be completely on board with the Pelicans’ decision to bring aboard Alvin Gentry as head coach next season, John Reid of the Times Picayune suggests. After winning the championship as an assistant with the Warriors last season, Gentry looked into the national TV’s cameras while holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy and exclaimed to Davis that a title was in the duo’s future in New Orleans. Davis said he was impressed with the conviction shown by Gentry, according to Reid, and Davis also added that he’s excited about the mix of old and new assistant coaches that Gentry will be working with next season.

Given the brutal nature of the Western Conference, it might be a stretch to suggest the Pelicans will be in the same spot next year that the Warriors are in now, but with Davis locked in as the franchise’s cornerstone for at least five more seasons, New Orleans will have a shot to be great if they can continue to build around the 22-year-old phenom. We’ll look at more from out West below..

  • The Blazers didn’t have to trade any players over to the Cavs in the deal that netted them Brendan Haywood’s $10.5MM, non-guaranteed deal since they sent the minimum $75K in cash Cleveland’s way, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders points out in a tweet.
  • Portland renounced Joel Freeland‘s Bird Rights, Pincus also tweets. Freeland spent the last three seasons with the Blazers before deciding to sign overseas in Russia on a two-year deal with CSKA Moscow.
  • The Warriors should have a trade exception worth $5.4MM as a result of the trade that sent David Lee to the Celtics, Pincus observes in another tweet.
  • Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM concludes that given the Suns’ roster situation, they’ll need to see improvement from players they already have on the team, like second-year wing T.J. Warren, rather than bringing in new faces. It’s still not totally clear how Warren’s unorthodox game will translate to the NBA however, as Tjarks surmises.
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Pelicans Sign Anthony Davis To Max Extension

July 8th, 2015 at 11:13pm CST by Chuck Myron
NBA: Minnesota Timberwolves at New Orleans Pelicans

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

JULY 9TH, 11:13pm: The signing is official, the team announced. “Words cannot describe the excitement of the New Orleans Pelicans to have Anthony Davis as the cornerstone of our organization,” said Pelicans GM Dell Demps. “Anthony is a great person, a phenomenal player and the ideal representative of his family, the Pelicans and the New Orleans community. We are thrilled to have Anthony commit to the Pelicans as we continue to build our team to have sustained success.”

JUNE 30TH, 11:03pm: The Pelicans and Anthony Davis have agreed to an extension moments after they became eligible to do so, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). It’s a five-year max deal worth an estimated $145MM, Wojnarowski writes in a full story. The full value won’t be known until next July, when the NBA sets the salary cap and max salaries for 2016/17. It’ll have either a player option or an early termination option on the final year, according to Marc Stein on ESPN.com (Twitter link). Davis took to Twitter to confirm the deal (hat tip to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News).

Davis was an All-NBA selection this season, and if he is again so honored in 2015/16, or if he wins MVP, he’ll trigger the Derrick Rose rule and be eligible for a maximum salary of approximately 30% of the cap instead of just 25%. That 30% max will be an estimated $25MM, or thereabouts, for 2016/17, while the 25% max would be about $21MM. Davis will presumably receive the maximum 7.5% raises on whatever the starting salary in his new deal is.

New Orleans has been planning a max extension for its budding star for a while, and John Reid of The Times-Picayune wrote today that the Pelicans intended to act quickly. They did just that, securing the Wasserman Media Group client for at least five more seasons, since the extension won’t kick in until after 2015/16.

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Western Rumors: Clippers, Chandler, Davis

June 30th, 2015 at 7:10pm CST by Zachary Links

If DeAndre Jordan leaves for the Mavs, the Clippers will try to sign and trade for Tyson Chandler, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter).  However, the Clippers are still “hopeful” that they’ll retain Jordan. Here’s more from the West..

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James, Curry, Harden Lead All-NBA Teams

May 21st, 2015 at 10:32am CST by Chuck Myron

LeBron James and Stephen Curry finished atop the voting for the All-NBA Teams, with James Harden, Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol joining them on the first team, the league announced via press release. Russell Westbrook, LaMarcus Aldridge, Chris Paul, Pau Gasol and DeMarcus Cousins comprise the second team. Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Tim Duncan, Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving make up the third team.

Curry, the league’s MVP, and James each received 645 points through a system in which five points are awarded a first team vote, three points go for a second team vote and one point is given for a third team vote. The duo garnered 129 first team votes each, making them unanimous first team selections. They were followed closely by Harden, with 125 first team votes and 637 points, and Davis, who had 119 first team votes and 625 points. Marc Gasol, who’s heading into free agency, wasn’t as widely seen as a first-teamer by the media members who cast their ballots, rounding out the squad with 65 first-team votes and 453.

Every member of the second team received at least one first team vote, and Thompson and Irving were the only members of the third team not to get a first team vote. Al Horford also received a first team vote even though he didn’t make any of the teams. The NBA will soon display the votes of each media member on its website, but the league has already distributed the information via press release, so click here to check it out in PDF form.

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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.

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Tom Thibodeau Rumors: Friday

May 15th, 2015 at 9:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Bulls have been out of the playoffs for less than a day, but already plenty of rumors about Tom Thibodeau the future of their head coaching job are flying. We’ll round up today’s latest here, with any updates that come in added to the top:

  • Chicago won’t even begin to discuss what compensation they would require in exchange for Thibodeau until a clear succession plan is in place, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports. The Bulls want to find a coach who is not only the right fit, but also dynamic enough to justify letting Thibodeau out of his deal, Berger notes.

7:03pm update:

  • Several NBA executives believe that the Bulls will have difficulty getting compensation in return for Thibodeau since teams are aware of the dynamic between the coach and front office, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune tweets.

5:24pm update:

  • The consensus opinion amongst rival NBA executives at the draft combine is that the split between Thibodeau and the Bulls is going to be a protracted, and possibly ugly affair, Chris Mannix of SI.com tweets. One executive likened the situation to a “game of chicken,” Mannix adds.

12:05pm update:

  • Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck says that the same source who called Warriors assistant Alvin Gentry the favorite to succeed Thibodeau in Chicago expects a quick ending to the Thibs/Bulls drama, adding that the source pegs New Orleans as Thibodeau’s likely destination (Twitter link).
  • If Thibodeau isn’t coaching in Chicago next season, he’ll most likely be coaching the Pelicans, a source tells Johnson, largely echoing what Beck heard (Twitter link).

10:17am update:

  • Chicago will “absolutely” try to reap compensation for Thibodeau, with management viewing him as an asset, according to Johnson, who writes in a full piece. The Tribune scribe expects the Pelicans and Magic to request permission to talk with the coach and for the Bulls to grant that permission.

8:59am update:

  • One source put it bluntly to Marc Stein of ESPN.com: “Thibs is gone. They know it and he knows it.” Most people around the league have similar feelings, Stein adds, having heard from one source who indicates that Thibodeau and GM Gar Forman have barely talked since November.
  • The Bulls are optimistic about their chances to land Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, in spite of his heart ailments, Stein also writes.
  • Thibodeau won’t quit and walk away from the money in the remaining two years of his contract, a source close to him told Ken Berger of CBSSports.com Thursday night. That jibes with what K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune surmised last month when he wrote that he believed Thibodeau would stay if the choice were up to the coach.
  • Derrick Rose is rumored to be in Thibodeau’s corner, and he essentially confirmed that Thursday, making it clear he backs the coach, as David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune relays. “It’s not up to me, but if it was, he would be back,” Rose said. Taj Gibson also said that he wants Thibodeau to stay, as Berger notes in his piece.
  • Anthony Davis‘ “family and friends are already salivating at the idea” of Thibodeau joining the Pelicans, as Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher says (video link). Stein, in his report, emphasizes that Thibodeau’s interest in New Orleans is strong. Still, Bucher suggests that Mike D’Antoni and Mark Jackson are other coaches who would meet with the approval of Davis, and the Pelicans know that Davis is an unassuming type whom they don’t have to keep in the loop as they navigate their coaching search, Bucher says. New Orleans is confident that if it makes the right choice, Davis will be on board, according to Bucher.
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Pelicans Rumors: Calipari, Cole, Williams

May 13th, 2015 at 1:48pm CST by Chuck Myron

A potential Pelicans coaching candidate appears close to coming off the market, as John Calipari is nearing a deal on extension that would tack an extra season worth $8MM onto his deal with the University of Kentucky, reports Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News. The amended contract would run through 2021/22, according tp DeCourcy. Calipari received a similar extension last year, though that didn’t stop NBA rumors. In any case, here’s more on the latest NBA team with a coaching vacancy:

  • The Cavs sought to trade for Norris Cole when he was on the Heat prior to the deadline before the Pelicans were instead able to wrangle the point guard from Miami, as Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal writes within his Final Thoughts column. Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com spotted the Ohio native in Cleveland’s for last night’s Game 5 between the Cavs and the Bulls (Twitter link). Cole, a restricted free agent, is a client of Klutch Sports, the same Cleveland-based agency that represents LeBron James and Tristan Thompson.
  • Monty Williams thought Tuesday’s meeting with Pelicans management would include discussion about a contract extension, league sources told John Reid of The Times-Picayune. Instead, it was in the meeting that the Pelicans told Williams they were firing him, and executive vice president of basketball operations Mickey Loomis admits the coach was surprised by the termination, Reid writes. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported Tuesday that the expectation was that the Pels would use the meeting to tell the coach that they would at least pick up his option for 2016/17.
  • Williams regarded Loomis as his immediate supervisor rather than consulting with GM Dell Demps, and the coach last week admitted that he and Demps hadn’t always seen eye-to-eye about the roster, Reid writes in the same piece. Demps, who wasn’t in the meeting in which Williams learned of his firing, denied that there was a disconnect between him and the coach.
  • Anthony Davis was close with Williams, as USA Today’s Sam Amick notes, but the star was cognizant that Williams probably wouldn’t be his coach for his entire career, and Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel posits that the Pelicans made the change in part to try and entice Davis to stay. Williams sits atop the market for rookie scale extensions, as I examined earlier today, and if New Orleans doesn’t sign him to one this offseason, he’d hit restricted free agency in 2016.
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