C.J. Miles Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Central Notes: Pacers, Maker, Drummond, Pistons

July 17th, 2016 at 6:18pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pacers seem ready to re-emerge as an elite team in the Eastern Conference, claims Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders. Indiana made several key additions this summer, swapping George Hill for Jeff Teague in a three-team deal, trading the 20th pick in the draft to Brooklyn for Thaddeus Young and signing free agent center Al Jefferson. The Pacers also have the security of a healthy Paul George, who showed during the season that he was fully recovered from a broken leg in 2014. In addition, Hamilton notes, Indiana has the flexibility for another major move or two this summer. The franchise is about $12MM under the cap and may have a $2.8MM room exception available. Looking ahead, the Pacers could have up to $50MM in cap room next summer if Rodney Stuckey and C.J. Miles opt out.

There’s more from around the Central Division:

The Bucks‘ Thon Maker grabbed attention in the Las Vegas Summer League with Kevin Garnett-like size and Giannis Antetokounmpo-level speed, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com. Many observers were surprised when the Bucks drafted Maker 10th overall, but his athleticism may make that gamble pay off. “We thought he wasn’t afraid and had a little toughness to him,” said GM John Hammond. “That was the key to the draft pick — that we enjoyed him so much as a person and had toughness and wasn’t afraid. You don’t know what is going to go from there.”
The Pistons are reaping the benefits of Andre Drummond‘s decision to put off his extension until this summer, writes Keith Langlois of NBA.com. Because Drummond waited on his big-money deal, Detroit had the cap room to trade for Tobias Harris during the season and then sign free agents Jon Leuer, Ish Smith and Boban Marjanovic. “We either wouldn’t have been able to do Tobias during the year, or if we had done Tobias, we wouldn’t have been able to add the people we added this summer,” said coach/executive Stan Van Gundy. “It goes to Andre’s character, his true commitment to the Detroit Pistons beyond just getting the contract and [owner Tom Gores’] commitment and his relationship with Andre.”
Marjanovic’s three-year, $21MM contract will pay him $7MM each season, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Smith will receive $6MM each year for three seasons (Twitter link), and Leuer’s four-year, $42MM deal starts at $11MM the first season and decreases (Twitter link). He also has $1MM in unlikely incentives.

Central Notes: Noah, Bucks, Pacers

January 18th, 2016 at 9:45am CST by Will Joseph

Coach Fred Hoiberg does not anticipate the Bulls making a move in the wake of Joakim Noah‘s injury, Nick Friedell of ESPN.com relays. “I don’t think there’s anything serious out there,” Hoiberg said. That is not totally surprising, considering Noah was the big man that Chicago most wanted to trade, executives around the league told Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The Bulls recently measured the trade market for Pau Gasol, who has said that he’s leaning toward opting out of his contract this summer.

Here is more out of the Central Division:

It’s conceivable that the Bulls would be able to re-sign Noah, who is set to be a free agent, to a short-term deal because not too many teams are expected to offer significant money to a 31-year-old center coming off shoulder surgery, Mark Schanowski of CSNChicago.com writes. In an interesting stat to note, the Bulls are actually 8-2 this season without Noah, Stein tweets. Surely, however, the Bulls would prefer to have Noah’s presence on the court.
Bucks shooting guard Khris Middleton has found a rhythm with his shot after struggling at the start of the season, Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel details. The resurgence is vital because Middleton, who re-signed with Milwaukee for a five-year, $70MM contract as a restricted free agent last summer, is a key piece for the Bucks’ future, Gardner adds.
C.J. Miles, who is averaging a career-high in minutes this season (26.9 per game), is performing well as a combo forward instead of a shooting guard for the Pacers this season, Andrew Perna of RealGM writes in a profile of the veteran.

Central Notes: George, Noah, LeBron, Mozgov

December 2nd, 2015 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

New teammates and a new, more open attack make Paul George harder to guard, coach Frank Vogel contends, and the willingness of C.J. Miles to defend power forwards, a duty George was reluctant to assume, has the Pacers clicking, as TNT’s David Aldridge examines in his NBA.com Morning Tip.

“I would say it bothered me a little bit,” George said to Aldridge about the idea of guarding fours. “I was like, man, I worked so hard to get back, playing the three, and now you’re putting me at a new position. You guys don’t trust me? So it took some time to get that through my head. But now, everything is working out fine, and I’m happy with what we’ve got going right now.”

George, in his interview with Aldridge, called Miles a “lifesaver” for his willingness to step into the power forward role, and Miles, a full-time starter for the first time since 2008/09, doesn’t seem to mind. See more from the Central Division:

Joakim Noah seemed to make it clear when he spoke to reporters Tuesday that he wants to play more and that he’s frustrated that Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg won’t give him more minutes, but he’s also careful not to publicly criticize Hoiberg, observes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com (Twitter links). The 2016 free agent who’s now coming off the bench tempered his comments by calling it a “blessing to play for this franchise,” notes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune (All Twitter links). “I never want to come out,” Noah said. “But I understand this is my role now and I have to accept it and be the best that I can with what I have.”
LeBron James didn’t think the Cavs would be able to trade for Timofey Mozgov, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert last season, but when they did, he found their acquisitions reassuring signs of GM David Griffin‘s mettle, as the four-time MVP tells Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated. Their additions have been part of James’ struggle to change the culture of the Cavs into a winning one. “Coming back has been everything I thought,” James said to Jenkins of his 2014 return to Cleveland, “only a lot harder. I can’t tell you it’s been comfortable. But that’s O.K. I don’t really like to be comfortable.”

Larry Bird On Tanking, Draft, Roster

March 25th, 2015 at 6:34pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Despite losing star forward Paul George prior to the season to a serious leg injury the Pacers have still been competitive this season, and team president Larry Bird expects his team to make the playoffs, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com relays. Bird spoke with Mazzeo on a number of subjects, and here are some of the highlights of their chat:

Discussing the concept of tanking and what comes to mind when it is mentioned, Bird said…

“It makes me sick to my stomach. For somebody that’s been in this league for over 30 years, I don’t think that’s the way you do things, but that’s my opinion. Everybody else has got their opinion. I’ve read in the past here where people thought we should lose on purpose. I don’t believe in that. I’ve never believed in that. If I ever get that way, I’ll be out of the game.”

When asked if the team prefers to draft players who have stayed in college for multiple seasons, Bird said…

“I don’t think it’s a direction. I do like four-year guys, though. They’re low maintenance. They already know what the league’s all about. We’ve taken some young guys — Paul George, Lance Stephenson, and both of them are very good players. I don’t think every draft we go in and say we’ve got to get a four-year guy or a three-year guy. It’s really who’s there. I know in Danny’s [Granger] situation, we followed Danny’s career pretty closely. And I know when he came in here to work out for us, it was more of a favor to come in here than it was that we had an opportunity to draft him. I think we were at [pick No. 17] that year [2005], and we thought he was gonna be taken in the top six. But he slid to us and we knew about his knee injury and everything. It was pretty easy. If you saw the way Roy [Hibbert] played his freshman year, you would’ve never dreamed he’d be on an NBA court. But the improvement, the work ethic he displayed, showed us that he’d be the best player he possibly could be by sheer work and force. Then, you take a lot of the other guys on our team — David West was a four-year guy. It’s just so much easier.”

On why he decided to keep the Pacers’ core intact at the trade deadline this year…

“I wanted to keep our group together because in the summer, if David and Roy opt out, we’re back to zero, really. We don’t have that much, so you leave your options open. If we did make a trade, I didn’t want to take on a lot of contracts — because that’s what usually happens. Plus, I liked my guys. They’re playing well. If we keep the core together and Paul comes back healthy, we’ll be right back to where we were.”

On which Pacers player has been the biggest surprise this season…

“I’ve been watching Rodney Stuckey for eight years now, and when you watch players from other teams you know how good they are, but you see them every day and you know they’re really good. And I think C.J. Miles has had problems with injuries throughout his career, but our training staff is getting him pretty healthy and he’s going to be here all summer, so I look forward and I look out for the big picture. We are going to have a good draft pick — whether we’re in the playoffs or not, we’re gonna get somebody that can help us. And we’ll just go forward with that, and we think we’re gonna be pretty good next year.“

Eastern Notes: Knicks, Miles, Antetokounmpo

August 22nd, 2014 at 8:39pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The United States defeated Puerto Rico by a score of 112-86 in their final home exhibition game prior to the FIBA World Cup. Stephen Curry was the high scorer with 20 points, and James Harden added 13 for Team USA.

Here’s the latest from the Eastern Conference:

The Knicks already have the D-League rights to Thanasis Antetokounmpo, as Gino Pilato of D-League Digest clarifies in an update to an earlier report. Pilato had originally indicated that the Sixers retained his D-League rights because he played for their affiliate last season, but this year’s D-League rule changes give the Knicks his D-League rights because they selected him in the NBA draft this summer, as Pilato explains. Antetokounmpo, the 51st overall selection, has reportedly agreed to sign with the D-League and play for New York’s affiliate.
C.J. Miles will be asked to do a lot more than the Pacers anticipated when they signed him as a free agent back in July, writes Mark Montieth of NBA.com. In the wake of the potential season-ending injury to Paul George, and the departure of Lance Stephenson to the Hornets, Miles will need to pick up a sizable portion of the scoring load, opines Montieth.
The Knicks have a logjam at the shooting guard position with J.R. Smith, Tim Hardaway Jr, and Iman Shumpert, writes Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. In the article, Begley examines the pros and cons of each player starting versus coming off of the bench. Smith weighed in on the situation, saying, “That’s for the coach to decide. All we’ve got to do is play. Whatever they decide, we’ve got to just live with it. Hopefully everybody could put their egos aside and come together for one common goal.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Rockets, Gay, Livingston, Miles

July 14th, 2014 at 9:02am CST by Chuck Myron

The Rockets promised Chris Bosh that they would match the Mavs’ offer sheet for Chandler Parsons if he jumped from Miami to Houston, but when Bosh agreed to re-sign with the Heat, the Rockets changed course, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com details (All Twitter links). Houston declined to match the deal for Parsons during the three-day window that expired Sunday night, and now the Rockets are poised to turn their attention back to longtime target Rajon Rondo and find a way back into the Kevin Love sweepstakes, Stein says. Here’s more from around the league after a busy weekend:

Rudy Gay, who chose in June to opt into the final season of his contract with the Kings, said Sunday that he’s open to signing an extension but will wait to see how the team develops, as he told reporters, including Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. “If I was going to opt out, I was definitely going to look at my options on different teams,” Gay said. “But with me opting in, I’m not saying no extension is going to happen. I’m just trying to see where we’re going as a team and how we plan on getting better.”
The final season of Shaun Livingston‘s three-year contract with the Warriors is worth $5,782,450 but only guaranteed for $3MM, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. That guarantee could increase if Livingston triggers incentives, Pincus adds.
Mutual options don’t exist in the NBA, but it appears that the last year of C.J. Miles‘ new four-year deal with the Pacers will function much like a mutual option, as Pincus details (Twitter link). Pincus indicates that his salary for that season is non-guaranteed but becomes guaranteed if he’s not waived after a certain date. Presuming he’s retained, Miles has a player option for that season, according to Pincus.
Mark Deeks of ShamSports lists the contract guarantee date for Peyton Siva as having been July 12, so it appeared that his minimum salary contract would be fully guaranteed for the coming season when he remained on the Pistons roster through Saturday. However, Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press (on Twitter) and Keith Langlois of Pistons.com both list the date as the 20th, so it appears that Siva’s contract remains non-guaranteed unless he’s not waived on or before this coming Sunday.
The Jazz didn’t attempt to re-sign Richard Jefferson before he moved on to the Mavs, writes Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune.

Pacers Sign C.J. Miles

July 11th, 2014 at 10:37am CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 11TH: The Pacers formally announced the signing via press release, making it official.

“We’re very glad to have C.J. and he really wanted to be here,” president of basketball operations Larry Bird said. “He brings versatility to the small forward and shooting guard positions. He’s a great shooter and scorer. We think he’ll fit nicely with the culture of our team.”

JULY 2ND: The Pacers have reached agreement with C.J. Miles on a multiyear deal, reports Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). It’s a four-year, $18MM pact, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). Wojnarowski wrote earlier that the Pacers envisioned using part of their $5.03MM non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception on Miles after committing a portion of it to Spanish league sharpshooter Damjan Rudez.

The Adrian Clark client and Pacers officials had been set to meet Tuesday as Indiana’s interest became clear. The Pacers moved quickly on the former Cavalier, and have been the league’s most active team in free agency so far, coming to terms with Rudez as well as the undrafted Shayne Whittington. The movement comes after news of an impasse between the club and Lance Stephenson, and money for Stephenson beneath the tax line for Indiana is quickly drying up. The team also reportedly has interest in Rodney Stuckey.

Miles, 27, averaged 9.9 points and 39.3% three-point shooting in 19.3 minutes per game for Cleveland this past season, starting 34 contests. The deal with Indiana is the most lucrative of his nine-year NBA career, as he topped out at $3.7MM annually with the Jazz, according to Basketball-Reference.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Pacers Sign Damjan Rudez

July 11th, 2014 at 10:31am CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 11TH: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.

“Damjan is one of the best shooters in Europe,” Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird said. “With his size and knowledge, he can play two positions for us. He has experience, maturity and really knows how to play. He had a number of options, he chose us and we’re thrilled he did. We look forward to having him in a Pacer uniform.”

JULY 2ND: 2:43pm: Rudez will make $1.1MM next season, multiple sources tell Grantland’s Zach Lowe (Twitter links). That together with the team’s other deals puts the Pacers about $5MM below the projected luxury tax line, Lowe estimates.

11:08am: Deeks confirms Scola’s salary is now roughly 50% guaranteed for this season, though the precise guarantee remains unclear (Twitter link).

10:27am: The move will not affect Scola’s status, as he remains in the team’s plans, a source tells Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter links). Buckner cites Scola as having a $2.5MM partial guarantee, and while Mark Deeks of ShamSports lists that guarantee at $940,946, he adds that it’s subject to increase via bonus clauses. It’s not clear whether those bonuses have taken effect, but Buckner seems to suggest they have.

9:47am: The Pacers have reached agreement on a three-year deal with Spanish league power forward Damjan Rudez, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Rudez will receive a portion of the club’s $5.305MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception, while the team hopes to use the rest of it on C.J. Miles as it pursues the Cavs swingman, according to Wojnarowski.

Indiana was among several teams reportedly interested in the 27-year-old Rudez as of last month. The Raptors, Jazz and Cavs were also in the mix, and Cleveland was apparently working toward a deal with him. He put on quite a shooting display and felt comfortable at a Cleveland mini-camp recently, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. Rudez, variously listed at 6’8″ and 6’10”, was only a part-time starter for CAI Zaragoza this past season, but his 47.3% three-point shooting on 4.1 attempts per game is surely what had teams so excited.

The timing of the deal is curious considering the report from earlier this morning that talks with Lance Stephenson had struck an impasse. Indiana has limited flexibility beneath the projected $77MM tax line, one which the franchise has made a point of not crossing. The addition of another power forward with such tight finances might spell the end of Luis Scola‘s time in Indiana, since his salary of more than $4.868MM is only guaranteed for less than $1MM.

Western Rumors: Suns, Love, Miller, Miles

July 2nd, 2014 at 3:39pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Suns have spoken with Pau Gasol, Trevor Ariza, Luol Deng, Spencer Hawes, Danny Granger, Ed Davis, Marvin Williams, Josh McRoberts, Gordon Hayward, Chandler Parsons, Isaiah Thomas and Patrick Patterson, reports Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Still, Coro cautions that they aren’t necessarily interested in all of them. Phoenix also made contact with Eric Bledsoe, P.J. Tucker and Channing Frye on the first day of free agency, Coro adds. Here’s more from the West, including a Kevin Love update:

The Wolves are indeed insisting that the Warriors take back Kevin Martin in any trade involving Love, a source tells Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). Minnesota is also holding firm on its insistence that Klay Thompson be a part of the Warriors’ package, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press.
The Clippers, Nuggets, Rockets, Thunder and the incumbent Grizzlies are among the teams pursuing Mike Miller, tweets Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal. He’ll allow the Grizzlies to make a final push before he makes his decision, and while he said on Sports56 radio in Memphis that he’s received at least five offers, he added that his heart is in Memphis, as Tillery notes (Twitter link).
The Thunder and C.J. Miles had mutual interest before he agreed to sign with the Pacers, but Oklahoma City wasn’t willing to have the contract go quite as long as the four years that Indiana gave him, as The Oklahoman’s Darnell Mayberry tweets. The Thunder are believed to be limiting their new contracts this summer to two years with Kevin Durant‘s potential free agency looming in 2016, Mayberry adds (on Twitter).
The Clippers have reached out to unrestricted free agent Ed Davis, reports Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
The Jazz are among several teams interested in Kent Bazemore, according to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter).

Central Rumors: Melo, Bulls, Irving, Sessions

July 1st, 2014 at 8:29pm CST by Zachary Links

Carmelo Anthony says that he values winning over money and if he’s a man of his word, then the Bulls make perfect sense for him, writes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. Here’s more on Melo and Chicago, plus other notes out of the Central Division..

Melo met with the Bulls earlier today and a source tells Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter) that he followed that up with a dinner alongside Joakim Noah, Derrick Rose, and others. Rose had to leave the dinner early, but coach Tom Thibodeau also stopped by (link). The dinner pitch is going “great,” according to the source who is in attendance (link). Prior to dinner, Rose took to the floor at Chicago’s practice facility and went through a private workout to show Anthony that he’s healthy, Kennedy writes.
The Cavs sealed the deal with Kyrie Irving on a five-year, $90MM extension with an overnight meeting, but there was much more that went into wooing the guard. Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer runs it all down.
A bunch of teams are showing interest in Ramon Sessions, including the Bulls, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times.
A league source tells Candace Buckner of The Star (on Twitter) that the Pacers plan to dine with C.J. Miles tonight.