Bojan Bogdanovic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Nets Explore Bojan Bogdanovic Trades

June 25th, 2015 at 6:27pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Nets are looking into the market for swingman Bojan Bogdanovic as they continue to try to move up in the draft, reports Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link). The team’s efforts to trade up from the 29th overall pick with Mason Plumlee attached to such a deal haven’t borne fruit, Youngmisuk adds.

That Brooklyn would at least considering trading Bogdanovic isn’t a complete shock, especially since GM Billy King said he explored trades for everyone on the roster this past season. The one-year veteran from Bosnia and Herzegovina is already 26, so he might not get much better than he already is, posits Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

Bogdanovic is set to make nearly $3.426MM in the second year of a three-year deal in 2015/16.

Wiggins, Mirotic, Noel Lead All-Rookie Teams

May 18th, 2015 at 1:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

Andrew Wiggins was a unanimous All-Rookie First-Team selection, the league announced as it revealed the media voting results for the honors. Nikola Mirotic was the second-leading vote-getter, followed by Nerlens Noel, Elfrid Payton and Jordan Clarkson, all of whom comprise the first team. Marcus Smart, Zach LaVine, Bojan Bogdanovic, Jusuf Nurkic and Langston Galloway make up the second team.

Wiggins far outpaced all other contenders for Rookie of the Year honors after averaging 16.9 points in 36.2 minutes per game this season for the Timberwolves, who acquired the 2014 No. 1 overall pick in the Kevin Love trade. Minnesota, which finished with the league’s worst record this season and has a 25% chance to win the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, is the only team to place two players on the All-Rookie teams, with LaVine on the second team despite having garnered 22 first-team votes. Every member of the second team received at least three first-team votes.

Payton, the 10th overall selection, is the only first-round pick from 2014 to appear on the first team. Mirotic was a draft-and-stash selection from 2011, Noel was the sixth overall pick in 2013 but qualified as a rookie this season because he sat out all of 2013/14 with injury, and Clarkson was the 46th pick last year, having gone overlooked through all of the first round and half of the second.

Galloway made the second team despite having gone undrafted and not having made his debut until January 7th, after he had signed a 10-day contract with the Knicks. New York followed up with another 10-day deal and finally a multiyear pact for the surprisingly effective point guard.

And-Ones: Bogdanovic, Pierce, Haywood

May 10th, 2015 at 9:40pm CST by Will Joseph

Bojan Bogdanovic, in an interview with Hrvoje Sliskovic of Jutarnji List, said he is happy with the Nets and does not want to be traded. A source told Robert Windrem of NetsDaily that Bogdanovic should have nothing to fear, however, saying, “He is not going anywhere.” The shooting guard was benched earlier this season by Nets coach Lionel Hollins, but seemingly responded well with a solid year. He won Rookie of the Month honors in April. Nets GM Billy King recently talked about Bogdanovic being in the team’s rotation going forward.

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

Paul Pierce, who has a player option for 2015/16 worth $5,543,725 he can opt out of this offseason, continues to prove his worth with the Wizards despite being 37, Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders writes. Pierce’s winning shot in Game 3 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Hawks provided another example, Hamilton writes. “These are the moments why you have a guy like him,” Wizards head coach Randy Wittman said about the shot.
Brendan Haywood is this summer’s top trade chip in terms of shedding expiring salary, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders writes in a list about the topic. Haywood is due to make $10,522,500 next season in the final year of his deal. Depending on their luxury-tax position, the Cavaliers can bring in a player making $13-15.5MM in salary in return for Haywood, Pincus notes. The team acquiring the veteran center would presumably cut him, Pincus adds, clearing a good chunk of money off their books. Others Pincus lists as top trade chips include: Caron Butler of the Pistons, Wilson Chandler of the Nuggets and the Nuggets‘ Ben Gordon.

Billy King On Lopez, Young, Trades, Teletovic

May 6th, 2015 at 11:00am CST by Chuck Myron

The Nets pulled together for a late season run to the playoffs and pushed the top-seeded Hawks in the opening round, but this wasn’t a successful season, GM Billy King said today to reporters, including Newsday’s Roderick Boone, at his end-of-season press conference (Twitter link). The GM didn’t address rumors that he’s close to an extension, but he had many more revelatory comments, as we’ll run down here. All links go to Twitter, unless otherwise noted:

The team’s long-term plan is to build around Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young, King said, according to Andy Vasquez of The Record. Lopez and Young haven’t made decisions about their respective player options yet, but King said the Nets want them back regardless of whether they opt in or not, notes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post.
King said the Nets explored trading every player on the roster at some point during the season, Boone notes, and King wouldn’t rule out trades when he added that the team would continue to look into all possibilities with Lopez, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson, observes Devin Kharpertian of The Brooklyn Game.
Brooklyn, slated to pick 29th and 41st overall in June, will continue an annual tradition of trying to trade up, King said, as Kharpertian relays, but the GM insisted he’ll value draft assets more highly than in the past. “I don’t expect us to be trading any of [our future draft picks],” King said, according to Kharpertian. “We’ve done that.”
The Nets will extend the more than $4.21MM qualifying offer required to match competing NBA offers for Mirza Teletovic in free agency this summer, King confirmed, nonetheless adding that the market will dictate the forward’s next deal, as Bontemps notes.
The team would like a new deal with Alan Anderson, King said, according to Lenn Robbins of Nets.com, but the GM also said that the swingman may need a procedure on his ankle to deal with bone spurs, Bontemps observes.
The goal is to avoid the luxury tax next season, and the repeat-offender penalties that would come with it, but the Nets will stay above the tax line if it’s the right thing to do, according to King, as Kharpertian relays. That’s similar to what owner Mikhail Prokhorov said last month (non-Twitter link), but it conflicts with what Bontemps has heard (non-Twitter link) from sources who’ve said the team has no interest in remaining a taxpayer.
King said the Nets can’t keep turning the roster over from year to year and added that internal improvement is necessary, Boone notes. King pointed to rookies Bojan Bogdanovic, Markel Brown and Cory Jefferson as players who can be parts of the rotation going forward, according to Bontemps.

Atlantic Notes: Williams, Bogdanovic, Varnado

April 21st, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Lou Williams paid dividends for the Raptors, and it seems he believes the trade that brought him to Toronto this year was mutually beneficial. The guard reiterated Monday after winning the Sixth Man of the Year award that he wants to re-sign with the Raptors in free agency, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca observes.

“[Staying in Toronto] would be ideal for me,” he said. “Just the culture that they’re building here, just the identity that this team and this town has, I really want to be a part of it. I look forward to it. I don’t want to say hopefully we get something done, I’m really positive that we will get something done. I don’t see why not, at this point. So I just look forward to the future here.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

Bojan Bogdanovic struggled in his NBA playoff debut, but a player who has European postseason experience, as Bogdanovic does, has a measure of added value, notes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. Bogdanovic is in his first NBA season after signing with the Nets for the taxpayer’s mid-level exception in the summer.
Jarvis Varnado, who was in camp with the Sixers this past fall, has signed to play in Puerto Rico with Piratas de Quebradillas, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports. Varnado also spent time with the Lakers D-League affiliate this season.
The Sixers, who’ll pay Furkan Aldemir nearly $2.837MM in guaranteed salary next season, didn’t invest much in the former draft-and-stash prospect, but it still seems like too much for a player who showed limited skills, as John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com examines.

Atlantic Notes: Bargnani, Lopez, Bogdanovic

March 18th, 2015 at 8:58am CST by Chuck Myron

Soon-to-be free agent Andrea Bargnani isn’t making any promises, but he would like to remain with the Knicks, as agent Leon Rose indicated to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. An earlier dispatch noted that the Knicks are open to re-signing him for the right price, and Isola advances that report, writing that the team will “strongly consider” doing so.

“Andrea is optimistic about what [team president] Phil [Jackson] is trying to accomplish and he certainly wants to be part of it,” Rose said. “But he’s a free agent this summer so it’s too early to predict what may or may not happen.”

While we wait to find out where the former No. 1 overall pick plays next season, here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

Brook Lopez revealed that he’s building a home at Disney World in Orlando, but he also said again that he wants to remain with the Nets as he spoke with Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. Lopez has a player option worth more than $16.744MM for next season, but he hasn’t lent any clarity to conflicting reports about whether he’ll exercise it.
Bojan Bogdanovic and the Nets were both somewhat skeptical about just what sort of impact the draft-and-stash product would have even after he signed a three-year deal for the taxpayer’s mid-level exception this summer, writes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. Inconsistency earlier this season validated that uncertainty, but he’s played well since the All-Star break and is showing signs that he’s capable of helping the Nets through a period of roster transition in the years ahead, Bontemps observes.
The Celtics are having success with undersized perimeter players, but that’s out of necessity, not by design, writes Paul Flannery of SB Nation, who hears from president of basketball operations Danny Ainge on the state of the team’s rebuilding. “We will make an attempt in free agency for sure but we have to be careful that we spend [money] correctly and on the right players and not just spend it because it’s available,” Ainge said of the offseason ahead. “We have to maintain that flexibility to get the right players.”

Nets, Kings Discuss Deron Williams Deal

December 30th, 2014 at 11:55am CST by Chuck Myron

DECEMBER 30TH: The Nets also expressed interest in acquiring Nik Stauskas as part of a deal, but the Kings were reluctant to give him up, reports Tim Bontemps of the New York Post.

2:27pm: The talks aren’t completely dead, Broussard cautions in a full story, and a source tells the ESPN scribe that he expects the teams to continue their conversation until the February 19th trade deadline.

DECEMBER 23RD, 10:57am: The conversation between the Kings and Nets is “virtually dead,” since Plumlee, and not Williams, was Sacramento’s primary target and Brooklyn is unwilling to give up Plumlee, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

DECEMBER 20TH, 8:24pm: Talks aren’t ongoing for now, according to Alex Raskin of The Wall Street Journal (Twitter link). The Kings made the initial inquiry, according to Raskin and Devin Kharpertian of The Brooklyn Game (Twitter link). Still, the discussion is liable to pick back up, since the Nets are listening to all offers, Raskin tweets, adding that Brooklyn considers none of its players untradeable, an assertion that would seem to conflict with the other reports indicating that Plumlee is off-limits. Sources “emphatically” told Tim Bontemps of the New York Post that Plumlee isn’t going anywhere, however.

5:49pm: The Nets and Kings are in trade talks about Deron Williams, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who cautions that no deal is imminent. A source confirms the talks to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, who nonetheless hears that the sides aren’t at all close to a deal that this point (Twitter link). The discussion involves Darren Collison, Derrick Williams and Jason Thompson from Sacramento’s side, according to Wojnarowski. The Kings would like for Mason Plumlee to be a part of any transaction, and that’s a stumbling block from the Nets’ perspective, Wojnarowski adds. Plumlee is virtually untouchable as far as Brooklyn is concerned, Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck tweets, and the same is true of Sergey Karasev and Bojan Bogdanovic, as NetsDaily’s Robert Windrem hears (Twitter link). The Kings are high on Collison and hesitant to give him up, but the Nets want to have a point guard to replace Williams should they give him up, as the Yahoo scribe details.

The relationship between Deron Williams and the Nets has chilled over the past two years, and there’s mutual appeal to parting ways, sources tell Wojnarowski. Conversely, Williams and Kings coach Tyrone Corbin have a relationship that’s persisted since their years together in Utah, where Corbin was an assistant coach while Williams played with the Jazz. The Kings are thrilled with Collison so far this season, Wojnarowski writes. Still, they’ve poked around for an upgrade at point guard since signing Collison over the summer, having asked the Timberwolves about Ricky Rubio before Rubio signed his extension with Minnesota in October, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). The Kings maintained interest in Rajon Rondo, though the Celtics’ demands for him were reportedly too high for Sacramento’s liking.

The Nets have had talks about moving Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson of late as they appear ready to make major changes. They also looked into the idea of trading for Lance Stephenson and spoke to Boston about Rondo before he went to the Mavs, according to earlier reports.

Deron Williams’ salary of more than $19.754MM for this season and the two additional years that remain on his contract make him tough to move, especially considering the decline in his performance since he signed the maximum-salary deal as the marquee free agent in the 2012 market. He averaged 20.1 points and 8.7 assists the season before he signed the max contract and is putting up 15.6 PPG and 6.8 APG this season. Those numbers are similar to the 15.6 PPG and 6.1 APG that Collison is putting up for the Kings this year, as Windrem notes (on Twitter). Collison makes about $4.798MM this season, less than Derrick Williams and his salary of more than $6.331MM and Thompson, who’s getting almost $6.038MM.

Nets Notes: Bogdanovic, Agents, Camp Invitees

September 21st, 2014 at 12:55pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Nets are entering a season of unknowns for the franchise. They have a new head coach in Lionel Hollins, Paul Pierce is with the Wizards, Kevin Garnett hasn’t officially stated that he’s returning yet, and the usual injury concerns for Deron Williams and Brook Lopez cloud Brooklyn’s outlook for 2014/15. Robert Windrem of Nets Daily looks at a number of items for Brooklyn’s hoops team:

Zeljko Obradovic, the coach of Fenerbahce in Istanbul, has been referred to as the “Phil Jackson of Europe” due to his enormous success and having won eight Euroleague titles with four different teams. Obradovic coached Bojan Bogdanovic the last two seasons and lauds his former player’s potential, saying, “He’s maybe 40 percent of what he can be. He still has lot of room for improvement and it’s all up to him. Bojan knows what I think about him, I told him everything. I really wish he will stay as long as he can in NBA, but I wish he stays as someone who could leave deep imprint in the league and be very important player.” Good news for the Nets who are hoping Bogdanovic can help make up for the loss of Shaun Livingston in free agency.
The article also looks at the player agents who have the closest ties to the Nets, with Arn Tellem of Wasserman Media Group being the most influential. Tellem reps four players on Brooklyn’s roster including Joe Johnson, Brook Lopez, and Bogdanovic.
The complete list of training camp invitees hasn’t been announced yet, and according to Windrem, the official list should be published later this week. But for those hoping to be dazzled, team sources have said that there won’t be any headline grabbing names added to the 17 players currently on Brooklyn’s preseason roster.

Lionel Hollins On The Nets

August 31st, 2014 at 9:00am CST by Eddie Scarito

Lionel Hollins returns to the sidelines this season, replacing Jason Kidd as the head coach of the Nets. In an interview with reporters, Hollins addressed a number of subjects, and Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com has some of the highlights.

Hollins still hasn’t spoken with Kevin Garnett, who hasn’t committed to returning for another season yet. In regards to Garnett, Hollins said, “He’s such a heckuva competitor. He’s very focused and intense, and you like that about a player that brings it every night, and you know what you’re going to get from that player. That’s huge. Just his level of competitiveness and his willingness to do whatever it takes to win.”
When asked about Paul Pierce‘s departure via free agency, Hollins said, “Players retire, players get traded, players leave in free agency. You take what you have and you work with them.”
When discussing rookie guard Bojan Bogdonovic, Hollins said, “I think he’s got great size, he’s also got great speed and quickness. He can shoot the ball, but also put the ball on the floor. He can post up. I’m looking for players. Players that have multiple skills and are not just one-dimensional.”
Asked if he would use Brook Lopez similar to how Marc Gasol was utilized in Memphis, Hollins said, “I’m gonna utilize Brook in a way that fits Brook. Like I said, he’s a very talented kid, skilled kid, and he’ll be a very talented piece of what we’re trying to do offensively, but I want him to be a big part of what we’re trying to do defensively as well.”

And-Ones: Cavs, Wiggins, Embiid, Nets

August 10th, 2014 at 10:58pm CST by Zachary Links

Despite what you may think, Barry Tramel of The Oklahoman reminds us that building superteams in the NBA is not some new fad. The “Thunder Way” involves growing your own superstars, but the Cavs‘ route of building a superteam is not unlike what others have done in years past. The Lakers have been collecting All-Stars for decades and the 76ers build a superteam in the 1970s with ABA stars George McGinnis and Julius Erving. At the end of the day, Tramel writes, both ways work and some franchises never get to make a stab at either gameplan. Here’s tonight’s look around the league..

Wolves president and coach Flip Saunders did well for himself in the proposed Kevin Love trade, writes Chip Scoggins of the Star Tribune. Considering the general lack of leverage that Minnesota had, the Wolves did well by landing this year’s No. 1 overall pick and more. Ultimately, however, the deal will be judged on how well Saunders can mold the young talent he’s receiving.
Kansas will have a lot of work to do without stars Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid, but don’t go crying for them just yet. Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders looks at the players who will be fueling KU this season – five-star prospects Kelly Oubre and Cliff Alexander. Oubre is a 6’6 small forward who is explosive offensively and an elite-level athlete. Alexander is a rugged big man who thrives with contact and plays with an extremely high motor. Both players are projected as lottery picks in the 2015 NBA Draft.
Following a successful season in the D-League, Scott Rafferty of Ridiculous Upside looks at what kind of impact Robert Covington could have on the Rockets next season.
Bojan Bogdanović expects to play a key role for the Nets next season, writes Sportando’s Hrvoje Vujanic.