Brook Lopez Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Atlantic Notes: Nets, Knicks, Moultrie

February 8th, 2014 at 9:45am CST by Cray Allred

The Nets are still looking to improve their chances at a deep playoff run this season, and Bojan Bogdanović could be the most likely of the few tradable assets they have to be traded away for immediate help, according to Alex Raskin of The Wall Street Journal. The 24-year-old Croatian is currently playing in Istanbul, and while the Nets own his rights, it isn’t a given that they can outbid European teams to add him next year since they are limited to offering the $3.278 million mid-level exception. Here’s more from the Nets and the rest of the Atlantic Division:

In the same piece, Raskin says Nets centers Brook Lopez and Mason Plumlee are the most likely trade candidates after Bogdanović. Lopez, a former all-star and tremendously skilled 7-footer, is injured for the rest of the year, and Plumlee has shown promise in his first year, sporting the highest PER of any rookie so far this year.
Later in the piece, Deron Williams, who has had a voice in front office decision making before, is quoted as saying he doesn’t think the Nets will make a trade, while adding, “The last time I said that, I think, I got traded.”
While Knicks coach Mike Woodson and star Carmelo Anthony both worked last night to put a positive spin on the coach’s standing and the team’s chances of improving, J.R. Smith gave a more mixed account of the situation to Ian Begley of ESPN New York. When asked if his teammates support Woodson, Smith said, “Yeah, I believe so. It’s kind of hard to tell. “Of course, nobody wants to show their whole hand. I think guys really care about him. I think guys care about this team, care about winning.”
Arnett Moultrie is spending some time in the D-League for the Sixers due to conditioning concerns, and Nick Menta of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia thinks Philly fans should be alarmed at his slow development. Moultrie was obtained in a draft-day deal with the Heat in exchange for a first round pick that now belongs to the Celtics. The pick is lottery protected through next year, and becomes two second rounders after that. The Sixers also still owe a first rounder to the Magic (with staggered protections through 2018) from the Andrew Bynum deal from 2012. Menta says these “outstanding debts” that new GM Sam Hinkie and coach Brett Brown inherited from the previous regime are the reason the Sixers are demanding draft picks in return for trade candidates Evan Turner, Spencer Hawes and Thaddeus Young.

Eastern Notes: Waiters, Sanders, Nets, Green

February 4th, 2014 at 9:37pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Cavaliers shooting guard Dion Waiters has been the subject of quite a few trade rumors throughout the season, and Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer notes that those talks will only intensify as we inch closer to the trade deadline. The second-year guard out of Syracuse insists he isn’t fazed by the possibility that he could be changing addresses soon:

“I don’t worry about that stuff…If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. If not, it’s not. I can’t control that. It’s out of my hands.”

Here’s more out of the Eastern Conference tonight:

During a live chat with his readers earlier today, Eddie Sefko of SportsDayDFW said that the Bucks aren’t willing to trade Larry Sanders right now because they know they’d be selling low.
According to Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders, there isn’t any untouchable player currently on the Nets roster, and in a market where star players are difficult to come by, Brook Lopez, Deron Williams, Paul Pierce, and Joe Johnson could be acquired for less than their true value because Brooklyn will clearly be sellers at this year’s trade deadline.
Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston sheds some light on Celtics forward Jeff Green, who aside from showing glimpses of his obvious potential, has struggled to find a comfort zone this year. With the trade deadline looming, Forsberg says it’s fair to wonder if Green is still a part of Boston’s future plans, and that even considering his under-performance as well as his four-year, $36.2MM price tag, there will still be teams interested in his services.
In a subscribers-only piece for ESPN Insider, Chad Ford cites an anonymous GM who thinks current Syracuse point guard Tyler Ennis will be a more reliable floor general than Kyrie Irving: “If you were to ask me right now whether I’d take Ennis over (Irving), I think it’s Ennis,..He does all the things that help a basketball team win basketball games. You can pick him apart on individual flaws, but I would take this kid right now and trust him to run my team. I think there’s very few freshmen you could ever say that about.”
Though some may be skeptical about how Andrew Bynum‘s past behavioral issues could affect the Pacers’ chemistry, Darvin Ham – formerly an assistant with the Lakers in 2011/12 and now an assistant with the Hawks– vouched for Bynum’s ability to remain focused: “I really spent a lot of one-on-one time with him, been in group settings with him…He’s really not a disruptive guy. He just wants to be left alone and left alone to play the game, plain and simple (Candace Buckner of IndyStar.com).
While Anthony Bennett has struggled for most of the year, Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal writes that the UNLV product hasn’t been listening to the negative talk about his game and doesn’t dwell on his mistakes as much as he’d done earlier in the season: “I was just worried about making a lot of mistakes, with getting subbed out, all that in the back of my head…Now I’m just going out there and giving it my all. Who cares if I get subbed out? I’m just playing.”

Odds & Ends: Suns, Nets, Celtics, Ariza

February 4th, 2014 at 3:17pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Suns are exploring their trade options with Emeka Okafor‘s expiring contract, but if they use it to bring in Pau Gasol or another player via trade, Jeff Hornacek insists it won’t be someone who’ll disrupt the locker room, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic observes.

“Our guys have great chemistry,” Hornacek said. “If they ever do anything to bring a guy in here, that guy is going to have to figure out what makes us good chemistry-wise, and he’s going to have to fit in. That’s like every team.”

Here’s more from around the league, with two weeks and two days to go until the trade deadline:

Nets GM Billy King isn’t looking to trade injured Brook Lopez, but he tells Grantland’s Zach Lowe that he’s open to deals that would bring draft picks to Brooklyn.
The Celtics are high on Chris Johnson, though Boston’s proximity to the tax line may keep the team from re-signing him for the season when his second 10-day deal expires Thursday night, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com examines.
Trevor Ariza is performing well in a contract year, and the Wizards will probably make a strong push to re-sign him, according to J. Michael of CSNWashington.com.
Chad Ford of ESPN.com heard a couple of weeks ago that the Bucks are unlikely to pull off a major deadline trade, but in his latest Insider-only “Tank Rank” piece, he says they’d like to acquire a young player or a first-round draft pick in exchange for their veterans.
In the same piece, Ford suggests the Magic are making Jameer Nelson and Glen Davis available.
Draft prospect Dante Exum would prefer to play for the Lakers, and Jabari Davis of Basketball Insiders wonders if agent Rob Pelinka would try to use the threat of Exum playing next season overseas to dissuade other teams from drafting him.
The city of San Francisco received a signed petition that proposes a vote on regulations that would erect a hurdle to the Warriors‘ plans for an arena in the city. The San Jose Mercury News has the details.

Atlantic Notes: Carmelo, Lopez, Patterson

January 5th, 2014 at 11:49am CST by Chuck Myron

Carmelo Anthony brushed off rumors of trade talks involving him and Blake Griffin, calling the reports “silly and stupid” to gathered media today, including Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). That doesn’t mean that he and Chris Paul wouldn’t like to join forces, Isola notes, and Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com wrote yesterday that their desire to play together hasn’t waned since Paul first raised the idea in 2010. Anthony addressed the latest talk linking him to Paul, pointing out that, “It never happens,” as Isola also tweets. Of course, there’s wiggle room with that statement, too, since Anthony didn’t say it will never happen. As cryptic messages and conflicting reports abound, here’s the latest from the Knicks and their Atlantic Division rivals:

The Nets believe Brook Lopez will recover fully from the latest surgery on his right foot, but if the procedure designed to make the foot more resistant to injury doesn’t prove successful, the 25-year-old’s career is probably in jeopardy, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com.
Patrick Patterson‘s strong play has helped fuel the resurgence of the Raptors following his acquisition as part of the Rudy Gay trade, observes Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.
The Knicks and Clippers are denying that they’ve had internal discussions about an Anthony/CP3 trade, but with the Knicks far adrift from their title aspirations, Keith Schlosser of Knicks Journal thinks New York’s front office should be open to such a deal.
Tom Moore of The Intelligencer wonders how the Sixers would have fared if they hadn’t traded Jrue Holiday this past summer.

Odds & Ends: Magic, Stephenson, Warriors

December 28th, 2013 at 7:38pm CST by Jonathan Nehring

Shortly after playing in his first game back since he suffered a torn meniscus, Solomon Jones told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel he is enjoying more than being able to return to playing for the Magic. Jones, who is playing on a minimum salary contract this season, has enjoyed living close to his childhood home and his family. Averaging almost eight minutes in the games he has played, it will be seen whether Jones will play his way into another season near his home town.

A few other notes around the league.

According to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated (Twitter Link), rival NBA executives are predicting that Pacers guard Lance Stephenson will be worth between $7-9MM per season when he enters free agency next summer. While the Pacers and Stephenson have both expressed interest in re-signing with each other next season, a $9MM price tag would almost guarantee they will only be able to re-sign either Stephenson or fellow Pacer free agent, Danny Granger.
The Warriors have assigned center Ognjen Kuzmic and guard Nemanja Nedovic to their NBA D-League team, the Santa Cruz Warriors. In a team announcement, the Warriors said both rookies will be able to play in tonight’s D-League game. Kuzmic has missed most of this season with a hand injury but has averaged 4.1 MPG in the games he has played with the Warriors. Nedovic has appeared in all but 10 of the Warriors games averaging 6.4 MPG, and 1.1 PPG.
According to Jason Lloyd of the Beacon Journal, the Cavaliers biggest need this season is at the small forward position. Former head coach Byron Scott told Lloyd in the summer of 2012 that the Cavaliers have been trying to resolve that position for some time but have not been successful to date. Aware that Cleveland spent their first overall pick on small forward Anthony Bennett, Lloyd still thinks the Cavaliers are looking to fill that hole and could do so in this season’s trade market. The only issue according to Lloyd is every inquiring team wants Dion Waiters in any trade they do with Cleveland which is a move the Cavaliers are unwilling to make.
Although we knew Brook Lopez‘s season is over, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York reports that Brook Lopez will undergo surgery on his foot January 4th officially ending his 2013/14 campaign. Unless the Nets trade him, Lopez will be back for Brooklyn next season continuing the 4 year contract he signed back in 2012.

Atlantic Notes: Lee, Celtics, Lopez, Nets

December 21st, 2013 at 12:30pm CST by Zachary Links

Last night in Philadelphia, the Sixers stopped a seven-game losing streak with a 121-120 overtime win over the Nets. “We needed to get that win for the sanity of the group, keeping our group together, holding hope,” coach Brett Brown said after Evan Turner‘s game winner, “and for those reasons as that ball is hanging on a rim and then decides to fall in, for us, given where we are, that is an important win.” Here’s more out of Atlantic..

A rumored deal would had the Celtics sending Courtney Lee and Brandon Bass along with a first-round pick to Houston for Omer Asik, but Lee says the rumors were never serious enough to warrant a call from his agent, writes the Boston Globe’s Julian Benbow. “I haven’t even had a conversation with my agent,” Lee said. “He called me before and said he hasn’t heard anything and neither [general manager] called him, so don’t worry about it, and that’s what I did.”
Brook Lopez fractures the fifth metatarsal in his right foot, according to Roderick Boone of Newsday (on Twitter). Earlier today, we learned that the Stanford product will be out for the year with the injury.
Looking back on things, Jordan Crawford says that the trade sending him to the Celtics “had to happen” but admits that he could have been more professional during his tenure in Washington, writes Michael Lee of the Washington Post.

Brook Lopez Done For Year

December 21st, 2013 at 9:57am CST by Zachary Links

Nets center Brook Lopez is out for the season with a broken foot, an NBA source tells Gary Tanguay of CSNNE.com (on Twitter). Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (on Twitter) has confirmed the news.

The Nets could theoretically apply for the Disabled Player Exception, which would be worth the mid-level exception if they are approved. DPEs aren’t often used, but the Nets are the most bullish spenders in the league and it’s certainly conceivable that they could tack on to their bloated payroll. At the same token, owner Mikhail Prokhorov reportedly told his front office before the start of his season that he would not add to their payroll, even in the event of an injury. If they do go in that direction, they would be more likely to add a big man via trade than a free agent signing given the lack of quality available talent.

Foot troubles are nothing new for the center, who played in just five games in 2011/12 thanks to his broken right foot, followed by an ankle injury. While the Nets have struggled so far this season, Lopez has been a bright spot, averaging 20.7 PPG and 6.0 RPG off of 56.3% shooting.

The injury to Lopez is a tough blow for the Nets, who are already reeling at 9-17. The Celtics could be a major benefactor, however, as they currently lead the division with a 12-15 mark.

Atlantic Links: Sixers, ‘Melo, Green, Lopez

October 12th, 2013 at 10:17pm CST by Spencer Lund

Through his first three preseason games, Sixers rookie Michael Carter Williams has 16 assists and just 1 turnover. In Orlando, during summer league action, MCW averaged 4.8 turnovers a game, which was the highest in Orlando.

But Sixers coach Brett Brown wants Carter-Williams to play faster and even more uptempo, he tells the Intelligencer’s Tom Moore: “I actually think we can play faster and he can play faster,” Brown said. “I think we can get it out of the net on makes better. I really feel that’s where we want to place a lot of our focus.”

The risk is MCW’s turnover issues from the summer return if he plays out of control trying to match the uptempo pace Brown is favoring with his young team.

Here are some more links from around the Atlantic division on this Saturday night:

Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony told Marc Berman of the New York Post that he took a “huge risk” this season by not having surgery on his left shoulder.
Anthony actually had a torn rotator cuff to go along with a partially torn labrum, but elected not to have the surgery because doctors told him it would be a 4-5 month recovery because of the severity of the tear and he would have missed the beginning of the season.
But now, ‘Melo says he “feels nothing,” as the twin tears healed themselves.
Knicks coach Mike Woodson says he needs to see more toughness from Cole Aldrich, and that he needs to do the “dirty work,” tweets Al Iannazzone of Newsday.
Jeff Green has shot just 28.6% from the field (8-for-28) through the Celtics‘ first three preseason games, but coach Brad Stevens says it’s too small a sample size to accurately judge, reports the Boston Herald’s Mark Murphy.
Stevens thinks Green needs more paint points for the C’s, and tells Murphy, “Getting an and-one, an offensive rebound – something that’s a more difficult thing to do but with an easier finish. That can open the floodgates.”
Brook Lopez came to camp this year at 290 pounds, tweets Pistons.com’s Keith Langlois. That’s 15 pounds heavier than last year’s playing weight for the Nets center, and Langlois says Lopez “looks massive now.”

Odds & Ends: Roster Spots, Hunt, Mavericks

August 29th, 2013 at 11:15pm CST by Ryan Raroque

ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter) points out that the Lakers, Bulls, and 76ers are the three teams that still need to sign players in order to reach the league minimum of 13 players by opening night, although it's worth noting that L.A. is still yet to sign second round pick Ryan Kelly and Philadelphia is in the same boat with Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams. Also, as we pointed out a few days ago, Dexter Pittman accepted a training camp invite with Chicago and could fill that 13th roster spot if they end up offering him a guaranteed contract.

Here are more of tonight's news and notes from around the league:

Jeff Haubner of ESPN.com offers a two part preview of the upcoming FIBA Americas tournament.
Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel notes that the Bucks/Suns deal keeps Milwaukee about $1.9MM under the salary cap and saves Phoenix around $5.6MM in cap space. Gardner also has more comments from Caron Butler regarding his happiness with the trade.
Former 76ers star Charles Barkley isn't happy with the way his former team handled their assistant coaching situation, saying that those who were released upon the Brett Brown hiring had worked for the team the entire summer and therefore didn't have the opportunity to look for another job (Michael Kaskey-Blomain of The Philadelphia Inquirer).
Keith Schlosser of RidiculousUpside.com takes a look at Kyle Hunt, who while eligible for the D-League draft in the fall is also looking to earn an NBA training camp invite.
Tim Cowlishaw of SportsDayDFW suggests Mavericks fans should be happy with 45 wins and a 7th seed in the Western Conference next season.
Ben Couch of BrooklynNets.com provides a brief breakdown of the Nets' depth at the center position, profiling Brook Lopez, Andray Blatche, and Mason Plumlee.
Former Knick and now a member of the Canadian men's national basketball team, Andy Rautins tells Steve Buffery of the Toronto Sun about how prepared he and his teammates feel heading into the FIBA Americas tournament.
NBA.com posted an article from Atlanta-based freelance writer Jon Cooper about Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer. Though he stressed the importance of forming good relationships with each player up to the 15th man, Budenholzer specifically mentioned Al Horford and Jeff Teague as two players that he's very much looking forward to working with.
Suns.com passes along an article from the archives which delves into the mind of the late former Suns coach Cotton Fitzsimmons.

New York Notes: Lopez, Johnson, Garnett

July 27th, 2013 at 9:50pm CST by Spencer Lund

Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News says the Eastern Conference has returned to its most competitive since the 1990s (Twitter link). But whereas the Heat have LeBron James, the Bulls get back Derrick Rose and the Pacers have improved, neither New York Team – the Knicks, or the Nets – had the "backbone" for the playoffs last year.

The only difference between the two New York teams is the Nets had “surgery” this summer (Twitter link), adding Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce without giving up any of their core players – save an unproductive Gerald Wallace - in an offseason splurge that also saw them sign Andrei Kirilenko.

The Nets are coming off a tough season that ended with a game 7 loss at home to the Bulls in the first round. Bondy mentions, via Twitter, that some players were partying at the 40/40 club the same night of the loss. Garnett's presence changes the culture that would allow that sort of behavior following an elimination defeat.

Pierce and Garnett's former coach, Doc Rivers, agreed about KG changing the culture in Brooklyn when he spoke to the Boston Globe's Gary Washburn. But there are some players who might not gel with Garnett's brand of basketball intensity.

Bondy mentions that Brook Lopez took the game 7 loss the hardest out of anyone else on the team (Twitter), which could mean a good partnership with Garnett returning to his more comfortable position at power forward and with Brook on the block.
If Lopez's foot can stay healthy, he might have a real future, but Bondy is concerned about where Joe Johnson fits in with this new team led by the experienced former Celtics (Twitter).
Lopez's toughness shouldn't be an issue now, and Bondy tweets that the seven-footer turned a corner last season; the only real question that remains is whether the foot is fully healed.
The game 7 loss by the Nets was so brutal because it was at home and there were such high hopes for the Nets during their inaugural season at the Barclay's Center. Bondy singled out Johnson for the 40/40 Club visit over Twitter, saying that it was not the best night to go party. It's Johnson's demeanor that could clash with the win-at-all-costs mantra of Garnett.