Brandon Knight Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Free Agent Stock Watch: Brandon Knight

April 10th, 2015 at 10:25am CST by Chuck Myron

The Suns have plenty invested in Brandon Knight, having relinquished a potential lottery pick from the Lakers as well as Miles Plumlee and Tyler Ennis, both of whom have shown promise and are on rookie scale contracts. Knight is also on a rookie scale contract, but unlike Plumlee and Ennis, his deal expires this summer, when the Suns figure to have to shell out eight-figure salaries to keep him. Several GMs told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops earlier this spring that they believe Knight is worth $12MM a year. Suns GM Ryan McDonough referred to Knight as the best player in the trade, though it’s unclear if he was merely referring to the Knight trade itself or the series of moves the Suns made on deadline day, when they shipped Goran Dragic to Miami in a separate trade. It’s nonetheless clear that McDonough thinks highly of Knight, a former eighth overall pick, having referred to him as a “23-year-old who is a borderline All-Star in the East.”

McDonough and president of basketball operations Lon Babby will have to go chiefly by what Knight did while he was in the East with the Bucks as they wade through his restricted free agency, since a heel injury has ended the season for Knight after he played only 11 games as a Sun. The point guard took just 4.6 shots per game during that small sample size, a figure that would be a career low if extrapolated over a full season. He looked every bit the part of the budding All-Star that McDonough envisions in a 28-point performance against the Magic, but that was less than a week after a one-point, 0-for-6 clunker against the Spurs.

Knight has struggled over the course of his NBA career to become a true point guard, though he’s expressed a desire to embrace the role. The Suns don’t have to worry too much about that with Eric Bledsoe around. He and Bledsoe fit the mold of the small backcourt that’s marked McDonough’s Suns teams, and Bledsoe’s presence also takes pressure off Knight to improve defensively. Bledsoe is second among point guards in ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus/Minus this season, while Knight languishes at No. 50, well into the minus side of the ledger. Knight has been a minus defender in all four of his NBA seasons, according to Basketball-Reference’s Defensive Box Plus/Minus.

There’s still potential for growth on that end of the floor, since he’s only 23, as McDonough notes. He certainly wouldn’t be the only one-way player making $12MM a year if that’s what he ends up with, and he helps in other areas. He averaged 5.2 rebounds per game this season, the 12th most among any player 6’3″ or shorter who saw at least 500 minutes, as Basketball-Reference shows. Bledsoe is third on that list. Knight also bumped his three-point shooting to a career-high 38.9% this season after last year’s regression to 32.5%, and he was at 40.9% in that category this year before his disjointed 11 games with the Suns. His PER was 18.5 with Milwaukee, and though that shrunk to 17.2 thanks to his brief time playing with Phoenix, it’s still a career high.

The Arn Tellem client has validated his draft position, and while he doesn’t seem the sort who’ll ever be one of the top two players on a contender, he could certainly be the third. Bledsoe’s ceiling is beginning to emerge as a No. 2 on that kind of team. So, the Suns have the groundwork for a contending core, but they lack the superstar piece that’s almost always the hardest to obtain.

A new deal for Knight would essentially put the Suns out of the running to acquire a superstar in free agency this summer, since Phoenix already has about $41MM on the books. It wouldn’t be much of a setback for the franchise if it comes up empty in its star search this summer, since the top five players in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings all seem likely to stay put. It’s the summer of 2016 when the Suns appear positioned to make their move, as they only have about $28MM committed, and even with an eight-figure salary for Knight, they should have no shortage of flexibility with the cap set to catapult to around $90MM. The Valley of the Sun looms as an attractive destination for top free agents as long as the roster infrastructure is there for a superstar to contend immediately upon joining the team, and Knight’s presence helps the Suns toward that roster prerequisite.

Phoenix also has its share of trade assets, with the Heat’s 2021 unprotected first-round pick perhaps the juiciest. The Suns took a step back at the deadline this season, as Babby has acknowledged, with the long term in mind, and that’s why keeping Knight is more or less imperative. There’s been chatter connecting the Lakers to Knight, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see some team with aspirations of contending in the West in the near future pitch an outsized offer sheet to Knight this summer, just to force the Suns to pay a premium. That would carry risk for a team like the Lakers, since it would be difficult for any team to end up paying a defensive minus a salary approaching the max in case Phoenix doesn’t match, but it’s a distinct possibility nonetheless, given the consequences for the Suns if they let Knight walk.

Knight might not be the best player involved in Phoenix’s deadline trades, but he’s the best the Suns have to show from a pivot point in their rebuilding. Phoenix, which still hasn’t made the playoffs since Steve Nash left town, can’t afford to take a step back in both the short and the long term, so expect Knight’s Suns tenure to last a lot longer than 11 games.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Eastern Notes: Knicks, Brown, Pistons

April 2nd, 2015 at 4:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Knicks have thought about trading their first-round pick, but they haven’t given it much consideration, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News hears. New York has canvassed other teams about their feelings on the strength of this year’s draft, as most front offices do, but that’s the extent of it, according to Deveney, who adds that teams rarely give much thought to trading lottery picks until the lottery takes place.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Knicks president Phil Jackson is expected to prioritize young free agents this summer, as Deveney writes in the same piece, figuring the Knicks will make Brandon Knight among their targets.
Nets rookie Markel Brown‘s improved play has gained him coach Lionel Hollins‘ confidence, as well as cut into the playing time of teammate Bojan Bogdanovic, Tim Bontemps of The New York Post writes. “When you start leaving Markel out there, the minutes have to be skewed for somebody,” Hollins said. “It’s nothing more than that. I have to kind of manage the game as I see it in that moment. It’s all a part of utilizing the group we have. It’s nothing personal. It doesn’t have to do with anybody playing poorly. It’s the way I see it. It’s part of my job, and I have to be the final decision on it.” Brown, the No. 44 overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft, is averaging 4.7 points and 2.2 rebounds in 15.5 minutes per contest.
The Pistons are pleased with how their relationship has gone this first year with the Grand Rapids Drive, their new D-League affiliate, Peter J. Wallner of MLive.com writes. “Every year will be different,” said Detroit GM Jeff Bower. “The makeup of your Pistons roster will dictate how much crossover we’ll have. The younger the team, the more the need for minutes with the Drive. Having gone through it the first year now, we have a baseline sense of it and it is only going help us with our planning in the future. I thought that was a strength going into the year, and it’s a strength as we wrap up. Our comfort level with knowing what, for example, Quincy Miller would find when he got here [Grand Rapids] was very high.“

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Suns Notes: Trades, Thomas, Knight, Dragic

March 24th, 2015 at 11:28am CST by Chuck Myron

Most executives from other teams around the league said they wouldn’t have given up Isaiah Thomas and the Lakers’ protected first-rounder for what the Suns acquired in return at the deadline, according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe. Phoenix ended up with Brandon Knight, Marcus Thornton and Cleveland’s 2016 top-10 protected first-round pick, as our trade deadline recap shows.

“Everybody loves the L.A. pick,” Suns GM Ryan McDonough told Lowe. “The concept of a pick is great, but it’s more of a sure thing to get a 23-year-old who is a borderline All-Star in the East.”

That 23-year-old is Knight, the soon-to-be restricted free agent whom the Bucks declined to trade straight-up for the Lakers pick, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com first reported and as Lowe reiterates. There are conflicting reports about whether Milwaukee turned down a Knight-for-Goran Dragic offer from the Suns, but several league sources tell Lowe that the Bucks indeed rejected such an offer. Lowe and others have plenty more from Phoenix:

Suns coach Jeff Hornacek insisted to Lowe that the idea behind collecting Dragic, Thomas and Eric Bledsoe on the same roster before the season was to afford all three of them rest so they’d be fresh for the playoffs, as Lowe relays in the same piece.
The Suns won’t spend money for the sake of spending it in free agency this summer, McDonough tells Lowe, who nonetheless believes it’s imperative that the Suns make the most of the additional cap flexibility that their deadline deals created.
Steve Nash‘s retirement underscores just how well the Suns made out in the 2012 sign-and-trade that sent him to the Lakers, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic examines. Knight is the primary asset that the Suns snagged thanks to what they gained in the deal, Coro points out, though president of basketball operations Lon Babby believes there was a subtle cost that lingers. “It was among the most difficult, if not the most difficult, decisions we’ve had to make since I’ve been here…” Babby said of letting Nash go. “We made the right decision. I’m just disappointed it didn’t work out better for [Nash]. He defined our culture. To be honest about it, when you assess a trade like that, we gave up intangibles that we’re still trying to replace.”

Central Notes: George, Bucks, Thibodeau

March 23rd, 2015 at 7:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pacers coach Frank Vogel insists that Paul George is not ready to play, Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star tweets. ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst reported on Friday that George could return within a week but Vogel told Buckner that’s not the case. “There’s a lot of layers to it,” Vogel said. “He’s not ready. He hasn’t reached our level of what we feel he’s ready to play.” In a separate tweet from Buckner, Vogel added that while George is cleared to practice, he’s not cleared to play, though that refuted what president of basketball operations Larry Bird indicated to ESPN.com’s Mike Mazzeo.

In other news around the Central Division:

Trading Brandon Knight to the Suns has led to the Bucks’ recent struggles, according to Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. The deadline deal had an emotional impact on the team and hindered the team’s offense because replacement Michael Carter-Williams isn’t as proficient as Knight, in Aschburner’s assessment. Coach Jason Kidd did not view Knight as his long-term solution at the point and Knight’s status as a restricted free agent after the season contributed to the decision to deal him, Aschburner adds.
Iowa State’s Fred Hoiberg could be a candidate for the Bulls head coaching job if they part ways with Tom Thibodeau after the season, Chad Ford of ESPN.com speculates. Thibodeau reportedly has a strained relationship with the team’s management and Ford considers Hoiberg the hottest college coach on the market. Hoiberg played in the league, worked in an NBA front office, and has a more laid-back demeanor than Thibodeau, Ford points out.
The Cavs turned their season around by making trades for Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Timofey Mozgov, Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer opines. Cleveland started out 19-20 and GM David Griffin fixed its problems by shaking up the roster, which dramatically improved the team’s defense, Pluto adds.

Pacific Notes: Suns, Warren, Livingston

March 11th, 2015 at 6:04pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The reinvention of the Suns‘ backcourt has been put on hold temporarily, courtesy of Brandon Knight being out indefinitely with a sprained ankle, Paul Coro of The Arizona Repulic writes. “Finally was figuring out how we’re going to play,” Knight said. “Like I said, that’s going to take time and that’s not going to be perfect right away. I was finally figuring that out. Hopefully, once I do come back, we continue to work on that.”

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

The Suns have brought rookie T.J. Warren along slowly this season, including four trips to the NBA D-League, to create a smooth transition from college for Warren and to avoid a small forward logjam with P.J. Tucker and Marcus Morris, Coro adds. “It feels good to get an opportunity and get comfortable out there,” Warren said. “Just trying to build my confidence as we move forward and just go play hard every time I get a chance.”
Warriors guard Shaun Livingston credits his former head coach with the Wizards, Flip Saunders, for his opportunity to work his way back into the league after his gruesome knee injury way back in 2007, Jessica Camerato of Basketball Insiders writes. “Flip Saunders, he revived my career,” Livingston said. “He believed in me and gave me a chance, one. Two, it was after the whole Gilbert Arenas fiasco. We were young, it was a rebuilding situation. He taught me the game, he’s an offensive genius. He kind of changed his offense to tailor [to] my game, so he really put me in a position to excel.”
David Lee would take issue with his reduced role if the Warriors weren’t so successful this season, Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com writes. “We’re winning and we’re having fun,” Lee said. “It’s hard at times. I couldn’t do this if we weren’t winning. But we are. I’m not going to put myself ahead of that.”

Western Rumors: Rondo, Knight, Neal

March 9th, 2015 at 10:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Rajon Rondo considers it an “honor and a compliment” that Kobe Bryant is trying to recruit him to the Lakers, but the point guard said Sunday that his focus is on the present day with the Mavericks, notes Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Rondo on Sunday didn’t deny interest in playing for the Lakers, Holmes adds in a separate piece, but Bryant downplayed the significance of his conversations with Rondo on Sunday when the Lakers star chatted with Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. There’s more on the Mavs’ most significant in-season acquisition amid the latest from around the West:

The Celtics had “serious doubts” about whether Rondo was worth the max before trading him in December, and that was one of the reasons Boston pulled off the swap, sources told Holmes for the second of his two pieces linked above. That echoes a recent dispatch from Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, who heard that it’s unlikely the Mavs point guard receives a full max deal in free agency this summer.
Several GMs who spoke with Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops believe Brandon Knight is worth $12MM a year. The Suns traded for Knight, a restricted free agent at season’s end, at last month’s deadline.
Gary Neal was reportedly angling for a buyout from the Timberwolves last month, but he said this weekend that he’d love to stay with Minnesota, observes Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune. Wolves coach/executive Flip Saunders hinted at interest in a long-term future with the guard whose deal expires this summer, as Hartman also relays. “A lot of people questioned whether we were going to keep him, but I said from the beginning he was a guy that we traded for that we liked,” Saunders said. “We wanted him to come in and we were hoping it could be a long-term-type situation, but we’ll wait and see.”

Kyler’s Latest: Love, Monroe, Gasol, Leonard

March 3rd, 2015 at 10:58am CST by Chuck Myron

The trade deadline is in the past and the focus is shifting to the draft and this year’s class of free agents. Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders takes a broad look at free agency for the summer ahead, passing along a number of noteworthy tidbits from his conversations around the league. His entire NBA AM piece is worth a read as he examines the outlook for several teams, and we’ll hit the highlights here:

The Celtics are planning to target marquee free agents this summer, with Kevin Love atop their list, followed by Greg Monroe, Kyler writes. Marc Gasol and restricted free agents Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler are others in Boston’s sights, sources tell Kyler. It appears the Celtics will look to re-sign Brandon Bass to a salary lower than the $6.9MM he’s making this season, Kyler suggests, also indicating a likelihood that the Celtics renounce Jonas Jerebko‘s rights. That wouldn’t preclude a new deal with Jerebko, something that Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reported earlier that the Celtics would like, though it does indicate that the C’s aim to open cap space. That’s a path of questionable merit, as I examined.
There’s a “sense” that the Sixers will make a play for Monroe, too, as well as Butler, Tobias Harris and Reggie Jackson, according to Kyler.
Monroe, Love and Rajon Rondo are at least willing to meet with the Lakers this summer, Kyler hears, though Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge are long shots for the team, the Basketball Insiders scribe cautions. Still, chatter is connecting the Lakers to just about every would-be free agent, including Jackson and Brandon Knight.
It’s unlikely that Rondo gets a full maximum-salary deal in free agency this summer, league sources tell Kyler, who surmises that teams would float short-term max offers instead. A full max from the Mavs would entail a five-year deal with 7.5% raises, while other teams can offer four years and 4.5% raises.
Sources also tell Kyler that they believe Monta Ellis will opt out this summer, which is no surprise given his level of play and the $8.72MM value of his player option.
Kyler also gets the sense that Paul Millsap is content with the Hawks and would like to stay for the long term, though it appears Atlanta is eyeing an upgrade at DeMarre Carroll‘s small forward position.
The Spurs will make Gasol their top free agent priority this summer, Kyler writes, though the team will have trouble signing him if Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili return at salaries comparable to the ones they’re making. In any case, San Antonio was believed to be the team with the most interest in Monroe last summer, Kyler adds.

Suns Rumors: Dragic, Knight, Granger

March 2nd, 2015 at 11:46am CST by Chuck Myron

The Suns traded a conditional first-round pick for backup big man Brandan Wright in January, but the Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas deadline-day trades seemed to represent a different philosophical tack. GM Ryan McDonough told TNT’s David Aldridge recently that there is little use for the team to sacrifice the future for the present, as Aldridge writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.

“I think we’re realistic about where we are in the league, especially in the Western Conference,” McDonough said. “We could have done things to load up. Giving away picks or taking on contracts may have given us a short-term bump but it wouldn’t have helped us toward our goal of building a championship contending team.”

While we wait to see if the organization shifts back toward win-now mode in the summer, here’s more from the Valley of the Sun:

Dragic expressed regret today for his remarks shortly before the trade deadline in which he said he didn’t trust the Suns front office, notes Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post. The new Heat point guard said he felt he was “too harsh” and should have shown more restraint, and he expressed his gratitude toward Suns owner Robert Sarver. McDonough also used the term “harsh” to describe the comments he and president of basketball operations Lon Babby made after the deal that sent Dragic, who has planned to opt out and hit free agency this summer, to Miami.
Still, Dragic rejects the notion that he’s selfish, as McDonough and Babby seemed to imply he was, according to Bob McManaman of the Arizona Republic. “It’s hard, but I know it’s not true,” Dragic said, as Lieser notes in his piece. “That’s their opinion. I cannot do nothing else. Everybody has their own opinon. It’s a, how you say, free country. Everybody can speak freely and it is what it is.”
The Suns thought after Dragic met with Sarver not long ago that Dragic had committed to staying with them long-term if they traded Thomas, a source tells Aldridge. That predated Dragic’s “harsh” comments prior to the deadline.
The trade that sent Brandon Knight to the Suns took Knight by surprise and, at first, made him angry, as he tells Aldridge. “Initially, I was,” Knight said. “Initially, after the trade, you’re kind of upset. But for me, I look at the bright side of things. The Suns gave up a lot to get me. So it’s someone that wanted me. A system where I can flourish offensively. And we’ve got a lot of young talent. So I take the bright side of things.”
Danny Granger and the Suns had discussed the idea of a buyout, but they missed Sunday’s deadline for Granger to hit waivers and remain playoff-eligible for other teams. Still, McDonough told Aldridge on Sunday that Phoenix was “keeping an open mind” regarding the forward’s future with the team.

Eastern Notes: Knight, Thibodeau, Antic

February 25th, 2015 at 6:27pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Brandon Knight‘s price tag as a restricted free agent was a good reason for the Bucks to trade him to the Suns, Nate Duncan of Basketball Insiders believes. Knight will likely receive offer sheets in the range of $13MM-$15.9MM annually this summer after he was unable to reach an agreement on a contract extension with the club last fall, Duncan adds. Michael Carter-Williams, who was acquired from Philadelphia to take Knight’s spot, is on a rookie contract through the 2016/17 season and has more upside, Duncan opines.

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

The acquisition of Carter-Williams could hurt the Bucks in the short run but improves their flexibility this summer, Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes. The move gives them a young core of Carter-Williams, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker, and they have approximately $15MM in salary cap space to make another major move, Gardiner adds.
Four-year NBA veteran Daniel Orton has turned down offers from overseas after returning from his stint in the Philippines and is holding out for an NBA deal, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Orton was with the Wizards during preseason.
Derrick Rose‘s latest knee injury could lead to Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau’s departure, according to Nancy Armour of USA Today. Thibodeau’s relationship with Bulls management was already strained, Armour reveals, and Rose is one of his most fervent supporters. Losing Rose for perhaps the rest of the season could lead to Thibodeau, who has two years left on his contract, and the team cutting ties, Armour opines.
The Hawks will try to re-sign Pero Antic when he becomes an unrestricted free agent after the season, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Antic has struggled with his shooting in a reserve role this season, averaging 28.7% on three-point attempts, but that hasn’t changed the Hawks’ thinking, Vivlamore adds.
Magic COO Alex Martins says the team will not interview head coaching candidates until after season, Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel tweets. James Borrego is the interim coach for the remainder of the season after Jacque Vaughn was fired earlier this month.
Forest City Enterprises, the Ratner parent company, confirms it’s looking to sell its shares in Nets and Barclays Center, NetsDaily tweets. Bruce Ratner is a minority owner of the Nets after selling 80% of the club to Mikhail Prokhorov in 2010.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Pacific Notes: Knight, Perkins, Kerr

February 25th, 2015 at 4:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Suns were already planning to a hard push for Brandon Knight in free agency before they traded for him at last week’s deadline, according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com, who writes amid a chat with readers. Phoenix was willing to trade the rights to the Lakers’ top-five protected first-round pick to Milwaukee for Knight, but the Bucks decided instead to take a package that included Michael Carter-Williams from the Sixers in what ended up a three-way deal, Ford adds.

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

It was tough for Kendrick Perkins to turn down former coach Doc Rivers and the Clippers, but a pitch from LeBron James was too tempting to pass up, notes Chris Fedor of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. “He was real honest with me,” Perkins said of Rivers. “He told me, ‘I think your best two situations right now is either us or Cleveland.’ So I was like, ‘Doc? Or I have a chance to go play with The King [LeBron James]. Doc? The King? Uh, I choose The King.”
New Kings assistant coach Vance Walberg is being counted on to bring creativity to Sacramento’s offense, which is something the team was looking for when it fired former coach Mike Malone, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes.
The hiring of Steve Kerr as coach was the final ingredient needed to change the Warriors from a one-and-done playoff team into a title contender, Chris Ballard of SI.com writes. Ballard also runs down how GM Bob Myers constructed the rest of the team’s roster, which is currently an NBA best 44-10.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.