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Pacific Rumors: Bledsoe, Karl, Clippers

December 29th, 2015 at 7:40pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The loss of Eric Bledsoe to a season-ending knee injury has forced Suns coach Jeff Hornacek to make several adjustments to his rotation, Greg Esposito of the team’s website reports. Brandon Knight has taken over the role as the main floor leader with Ronnie Price and Bryce Cotton backing him up. Rookie Devin Booker gets the nod at shooting guard, with Sonny Weems and Archie Goodwin in reserve, Hornacek told Esposito. The Suns nearly upset the Cavaliers on Monday and Hornacek felt his new backcourt played reasonably well in Bledsoe’s absence. “Without Eric in the game, it was a little different,” Hornacek told Esposito. “We had gone over a few plays that might be good for the guys. I thought they really came out and executed it. Defensively, we gave up a lot of 3-point attempts that we need to get better at. Some of it was closing out that we need to get better at.”

In other news around the Pacific Division:

  • Kings coach George Karl has found it difficult to connect with his players and is frustrated by their lack of consistency, according to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee. Karl can no longer be as fiery as he once was because of the way current players react, so he has tried to appeal to them in other ways, Jones continues. “Just tell stories,” Karl told Jones. “You try to bring up situations. My explanation the last couple of weeks is just trying to explain to them how difficult this league is, how tough it is to be successful in this league.”
  • The Clippers used a three-guard alignment against the Wizards on Monday and coach Doc Rivers liked the results, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times reports. Rivers played reserves Jamal Crawford, Pablo Priogioni and Austin Rivers during the first half and the Clippers extended their lead. His son’s versatility allows the three-guard set to work, according to the coach. “The reason we get away with it is because Austin can guard the one, two or the three,” Doc Rivers told the assembled media. “We just put him on them and then we put Pablo on the second-best guy and put Jamal on the third guy. And so it works for us.”
  • Chris Paul is impressed how the Clippers are playing without Blake Griffin, according to Robert Morales of the Long Beach Press-Telegram. The Clippers won their first two games after Griffin suffered a partially torn quad tendon. “I just think we’re fighting,” he told Morales. “We know we’re a big man short and so everyone knows that they have to be involved in the game.”
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And-Ones: Millsap, Lin, D-League

December 20th, 2015 at 10:30pm CST by Will Joseph

The Magic offered Paul Millsap a max contract on July 1st and the power forward told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel that Orlando’s pitch was impressive before he ultimately decided to re-sign with the Hawks.

“I was their first priority, and everything about their team was looking good at the time,” Millsap told Robbins. “It intrigued me. The presentation was great.”

Millsap, per Robbins, chose to stay in Atlanta, however, because he grew a fondness for the area and he got used to calling it home. Millsap added that his teammates and the Hawks’ coaching staff had a lot to do with his decision to re-sign because he believes Atlanta has “built something special thus far.”

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

  • The non-guaranteed minimum salary of recent Wizards signee Ryan Hollins becomes fully guaranteed if the team doesn’t waive him by the end of December 27th, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders in a roundup of guarantee dates. Pincus also reveals that Bryce Cotton, who signed with the Suns last month, is on a non-guaranteed contract for the minimum salary that covers just this season and wouldn’t become guaranteed until next month’s leaguewide guarantee date.
  • Hawks big man Mike Muscala, previously thought to have a $473,638 partial guarantee on his $947,276 minimum salary, has no guarantee at all, Pincus shows in the same post and on Twitter.
  • Jeremy Lin, who signed a two-year, $4.4MM contract with the Hornets in July, said his new team is a very good fit for his style and strengths, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle relays.
  • The Mavs recalled Justin Anderson, Jeremy Evans and Salah Mejri from their D-League affiliate, the team announced in an emailed press release. Evans has appeared in 19 games with the Mavs while Anderson has played in 17 and Mejri has seen action in five.
  • The Thunder assigned Josh Huestis to the D-League, the team announced. Huestis has appeared in nine games this season for the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s D-League affiliate.
  • The Celtics recalled Terry Rozier and Jordan Mickey from their D-League affiliate, the team announced in an emailed press release.
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Suns Sign Bryce Cotton

November 25th, 2015 at 7:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

7:30pm: The signing is official, the team announced.

2:31pm: The Suns are in the midst of calling up point guard Bryce Cotton from the D-League affiliate of the Spurs, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Signing Cotton to an NBA contract wouldn’t require a corresponding move, since Phoenix has an open roster spot beneath the 15-man limit. Phoenix already has three point guards, with Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight and Ronnie Price, but Bledsoe is questionable for tonight’s game with sore right knee. Bledsoe missed Monday’s game, when coach Jeff Hornacek gave lottery pick Devin Booker his first start since high school in Bledsoe’s place, notes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.

Cotton, 23, finished last season with the Jazz after signing a pair of 10-day contracts and a three-year deal. However, that three-year contract didn’t include any guaranteed salary beyond last season, and Utah released Cotton during the preseason last month, choosing to give more time to wing players instead of carrying a third healthy point guard. He joined the D-League shortly thereafter, heading back to the Spurs affiliate, which had acquired his rights when San Antonio designated Cotton as an affiliate player in 2014.

The undrafted former Providence player averaged 5.3 points, 1.0 assist and 0.8 turnovers in 10.6 minutes per game across 15 NBA appearances with Utah last season. He’s been impressive against D-League competition in his two seasons as a pro, piling up 22.4 points, 4.7 assists and 2.5 turnovers in 39.8 minutes per contest during 38 total games, four of which have come this month.

Do you think Cotton can help the Suns? Leave a comment to let us know.

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Southwest Notes: Bickerstaff, D-League, Gee

November 24th, 2015 at 6:01pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff believes that the team has become more orderly in its approach since Kevin McHale was fired as head coach last week, Mark Berman of FOX 26 relays in a series of tweets. “Our attitude has changed over the last week and a half. We’ve taken a more serious approach to what we’re doing,” Bickerstaff said. “Guys are more disciplined in what we’re doing and they were hungry for that. That was the first thing they were calling for, some more discipline, some more structure, some more rules.”

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • The Mavericks intend to use their D-League affiliate to help get their younger players minutes this season, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News writes. Discussing Justin Anderson and Salah Mejri, who had been assigned to the Texas Legends recently, coach Rick Carlisle said, “It’s a positive to be able to send guys there to get game action. We’re going to do more of it. It’s a positive tool for our franchise and for those guys. It’s a win-win. In this instance they were able to play in the game last night and we got them here [Saturday night].”
  • Despite Alonzo Gee only averaging 3.5 points in 21.1 minutes per contest this season, Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry considers the small forward a vital part of the team due to his defensive prowess, John Reid of The Times Picayune writes. ”I know my role on the team and I try to focus on my role,” Gee said. ”You can’t really coach effort. I try to be the hardest-playing player on the floor. I’ve glad to be in that situation. That’s why I wanted to come here, I felt like it was an opportunity to play.”
  • Jazz camp cut Bryce Cotton, who currently plays for the Spurs‘ D-League affiliate in Austin, hopes to return to the NBA this season, and he believes that hustle and effort are his tickets back to the big league, writes Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News. “Being called up last year and being blessed to finish the season [in Utah], I still didn’t feel like I could kind of sit back and coast,” Cotton said. “I still felt like I needed [to prove a lot]. I wanted to work as hard as I could, but unfortunately it just ended up with me being waived. The biggest thing that I’ve learned is just continuous emphasis on remaining professional on and off the court, always having a great attitude and being a great teammate.”
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NBA Teams Designate Affiliate Players

November 3rd, 2015 at 4:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

NBA teams cut as much as 25% of their rosters at the end of the preseason, but franchises that have D-League affiliates have a way to maintain ties to many of the players they release from the NBA roster. An NBA team can claim the D-League rights to up to four of the players it waives, as long as the players clear waivers, consent to join the D-League, and don’t already have their D-League rights owned by another team. These are known as affiliate players, as our Hoops Rumors Glossary entry details.

NBA teams allocated 46 affiliate players to the D-League at the beginning of the season last year, and this year, that number has risen to 56, according to the list the D-League announced today. These players are going directly to the D-League affiliate of the NBA team that cut them and weren’t eligible for the D-League draft that took place Saturday. Teams that designated fewer than the maximum four affiliate players retain the ability to snag the D-League rights of players they waive during the regular season, but for now, this is the complete list:

Boston Celtics (Maine Red Claws)

Cleveland Cavaliers (Canton Charge)

Dallas Mavericks (Texas Legends)

Detroit Pistons (Grand Rapids Drive)

Golden State Warriors (Santa Cruz Warriors)

Houston Rockets (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)

Indiana Pacers (Fort Wayne Mad Ants)

Los Angeles Lakers (Los Angeles D-Fenders)

Memphis Grizzlies (Iowa Energy)

Miami Heat (Sioux Falls Skyforce)

New York Knicks (Westchester Knicks)

Oklahoma City Thunder (Oklahoma City Blue)

Orlando Magic (Erie BayHawks)

Philadelphia 76ers (Delaware 87ers)

Phoenix Suns (Bakersfield Jam)

Sacramento Kings (Reno Bighorns)

San Antonio Spurs (Austin Spurs)

Toronto Raptors (Raptors 905)

Utah Jazz (Idaho Stampede)

Also, several players who were on NBA preseason rosters are on D-League rosters through means other than the affiliate player rule. Most of them played under D-League contracts at some point within the last two years, meaning their D-League teams have returning player rights to them. Others entered through last weekend’s D-League draft, while others saw their D-League rights conveyed via trade. Most of these players aren’t with the D-League affiliate of the NBA team they were with last month, with a few exceptions.

Roster information from Adam Johnson of D-League Digest, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor and freelancer and Hoops Rumors contributor Mark Porcaro was used in the creation of this post.

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Jazz Waive Bryce Cotton, Treveon Graham

October 20th, 2015 at 12:22pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Jazz have waived Bryce Cotton and Treveon Graham, the team announced (Twitter link). The moves reduce Utah to 15 players, the regular season limit, ostensibly a sign that Jeff Withey, Chris Johnson and Elijah Millsap will stick around for opening night despite the lack of full guarantees on their respective contracts. Graham has a $75K partial guarantee on his salary, though it’s more surprising to see Utah release Cotton and his non-guaranteed deal, since the move leaves the Jazz with only two healthy point guards.

Cotton totaled 13 points but just one assist against three turnovers in more than 34 minutes of action combined over two preseason games. The 23-year-old was a holdover from last season, when he joined the Jazz on a pair of 10-day contracts and eventually a deal for the rest of the season that included non-guaranteed salaries for 2015/16 and 2016/17. Graham, a 21-year-old swingman, signed a three-year deal with the Jazz in August after going undrafted out of VCU in June. He scored one point in more than 18 minutes of preseason action. The length of their respective deals makes it unlikely a team claims them off waivers, since many teams can’t claim any deal that runs longer than two.

The Jazz have 12 fully guaranteed contracts, as our roster count shows, plus Withey on a $200K partial guarantee. Johnson and Millsap don’t have any guaranteed salary. Utah isn’t obligated to carry more than 13 players for opening night, though most teams keep 15. Still, Johnson and Millsap will be in tenuous position until the leaguewide guarantee date in January. That’s especially so if the Jazz decide they want more depth at the point. Shooting guard Alec Burks seems likely to see time handling the ball in the meantime.

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Northwest Notes: Jazz, Mudiay, Blazers

July 25th, 2015 at 4:00pm CST by Will Joseph

The Jazz have a logjam at point guard behind Dante Exum that they must sort out prior to next season’s opener, Randy Hollis of the Deseret News reports. The trio of Trey Burke, Bryce Cotton and Raul Neto could be fighting it out for two roster spots during training camp, though GM Dennis Lindsey indicated that it’s possible the team could carry four point guards into next season, Hollis continues. Cotton’s quickness and entertaining style make him a candidate to be the second-stringer and displace Burke, a lottery pick whose shooting issues have pushed him to the bench, Hollis adds. The logjam could be broken by trading Burke, who is rumored to be on the block and doesn’t seem to fit coach Quin Snyder’s system, Hollis concludes.

In other news around the Northwest Division:

  • The Nuggets’ lottery pick Emmanuel Mudiay will be the starter at point guard, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post opines. While Denver has a safety net in veteran Jameer Nelson, it’s clear that the Nuggets are committed to making Mudiay their floor leader in his rookie season, Dempsey adds. The only concerns are monitoring his workload and allowing him to work through his mistakes, something Nuggets GM Tim Connelly addressed with Dempsey. “We don’t want to put too much pressure on him,” Connelly said. “He’s a 19-year-old kid. We saw some good in summer league and we also saw some bad. I thought that he struggled shooting the ball. We’ve got to improve his free throw line percentage. But I think you see things like positional size, natural playmaking ability, and kind of the will and the approach to be great that excites us.”
  • Blazers coach Terry Stotts spent a sizable portion of the summer league evaluating five players under contract with the team — Allen Crabbe, Noah Vonleh, Luis Montero, Pat Connaughton and Tim Frazier — and was particularly pleased with Crabbe and Vonleh, Mike Richman of The Oregonian writes. The Blazers added nine new players and are entering a transition season after LaMarcus Aldridge‘s departure. Portland does have some young and athletic talent, however, which has Stotts optimistic, Richman adds.

Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.

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Western Notes: Green, Davis, Jazz

April 6th, 2015 at 7:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Draymond Green, who will be a restricted free agent after the season, said that being a 2012 second-round pick gave him motivation to prove his skeptics wrong, Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press writes. The Warriors’ versatile forward felt snubbed when he was passed over in the first round, Green told Ellis, and that led him to become one of the league’s most sought-after free agents. “Everybody wants to be a first-round pick. But things have a funny way of working out,” Green said in the article. “Who’s to say I’d be having this season if I was a first-round pick? Who’s to say I’d even be here? But it’s all worked itself out. It’s put me in a solid position and I’m just trying to take advantage of it.” Green is expected to receive an offer sheet worth over $10MM per season, Ellis speculates, but the Warriors have said they will match any offer. Whether Golden State can actually afford to do that is debatable, Ellis adds, and they may have to trade David Lee to create financial flexibility in order to retain Green. Green wouldn’t confirm or deny a recent report that the ex-Michigan State forward would like to play for his hometown Pistons, Ellis adds.

In other news around the Western Conference:

  • Anthony Davis should decline a maximum extension this summer and instead accept a qualifying offer so that he can become an unrestricted free agent in 2017, Daniel Leroux of RealGM.com opines. By doing so, Davis can maximize his leverage with the Pelicans and position himself to sign two major multi-year deals during his career rather being past his prime after the first one expires, Leroux continues. With the salary cap rising dramatically after next season, the benefits of waiting for his first big contract outweigh the risks, Leroux adds. It also puts added pressure on New Orleans to surround Davis with enough talent by the summer of 2017 to convince him to stay put, Leroux concludes.
  • Bryce Cotton feels he still has much to prove to the Jazz even after signing a contract for the remainder of the season, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic reports. Cotton, who is backing up Dante Exum and Trey Burke at point guard, received the contract after two 10-day contracts expired. Cotton’s approximately $845K salary for next season is not guaranteed and he doesn’t feel secure, Coro adds. “It’s one of those temporary sighs of relief but you never want to get complacent no matter what your situation is,” Cotton said in the story. “Just keep working hard and do whatever it was that got you to this situation.”
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Western Notes: Anderson, Douglas, Barron

March 26th, 2015 at 7:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Ryan Anderson, who has been out of action since February with an MCL sprain in his right knee, could be making his return for the Pelicans next week, John Reid of The Times Picayune writes. ”We’re progressing each day and continue to ramp up to be ready,” Anderson said. ”We’ll do a little more on the court. There is a mental aspect where I got to get over the fact that my knee is stronger and OK. There is still some strengthening I need to build up. But we’re doing everything we can and it is frustrating and it’s tough being out.”  In 52 games this season the big man has averaged 14.6 points and 5.1 rebounds in 28.6 minutes per night.

Here’s more out of the Western Conference:

  • Earl Barron‘s deal with the Suns for the rest of the season is indeed just that, without any extra years tacked on, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
  • Jordan Hamilton‘s latest Clippers contract is a two-year arrangement with non-guaranteed salary for next season, Pincus tweets.
  • The Pelicans tacked a non-guaranteed minimum salary for next season onto their deal with Toney Douglas, Pincus relays (Twitter link). His 2015/16 pay becomes guaranteed if he remains under contract through August 1st, as Pincus shows on the Basketball Insiders Pelicans salary page.
  • Bryce Cotton‘s multiyear deal with the Jazz covers both 2015/16 and 2016/17 with non-guaranteed salaries, as Pincus also reports (Twitter link).

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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Jazz Sign Bryce Cotton To Multiyear Deal

March 16th, 2015 at 11:19am CST by Chuck Myron

The Jazz have signed Bryce Cotton to a multiyear deal, the team announced. Shams Charania of RealGM reported earlier that the sides were making progress as they spoke about a deal that covered the rest of the season. I speculated then that Utah and the Passing Lane Sports Management client were probably haggling over the existence of additional seasons on such a contract and the details thereof. It’s unclear just how long the deal stretches and whether there’s any guaranteed salary beyond this year.

Jazz coaches have liked what they’ve seen from Cotton in practice and the limited time he’s seen in games, tweets Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune. The 22-year-old point guard saw only 12 total minutes of action on a pair of 10-day contracts with the Jazz, but Utah has nonetheless committed to him for at least the balance of the season. He saw a ton of playing time in 34 games with San Antonio’s D-League affiliate earlier this season, averaging 40.3 minutes per game. Cotton was also on San Antonio’s NBA roster for the preseason and joined the Spurs for summer league this past offseason after going undrafted out of Providence.

Utah filled its open roster spots in quick succession with announcements separated by a few minutes of Cotton’s deal and a new 10-day contract with Jack Cooley. The Jazz have signed a half dozen players to at least one 10-day deal this season, as our 10-Day Contract Tracker shows, but Cotton and Elijah Millsap, who received a three-year deal, are the only ones to have been re-signed for the balance of the season.

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