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And-Ones: Trades, Antetokounmpo, World Cup

June 29th, 2019 at 1:27pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Jae Crowder would be a nice contingency plan for the Warriors should they lose Kevin Durant in free agency, Kevin Pelton contends in a piece for ESPN+. Pelton argues a deal that sends Crowder, who has one year left on his contract, to Golden State for Shaun Livingston and a future first-rounder makes sense for both sides.

Other ESPN insiders write about the trade they’d like to see this summer, with Bobby Marks breaking down a Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade that sends Eric Gordon to Philadelphia and Clint Capela to Sacramento. The whole piece is worth checking out.

As we brace for an offseason of change, let’s take a look at some notes from around the league:

  • Giannis Antetokounmpo will play for Greece in the Basketball World Cup, according to Demetris Nellas of the Associated Press. “Whether I play the 1 [point guard] or the 5 [center], I don’t care,” the NBA MVP said. “I’m a basketball player. I want to help the team any way I can.”
  • The NBA has announced that the Academy Games will be in the United States for the first time in history. Jonathan Givony of ESPN.com provides a detailed look at the games in Atlanta, relaying that the camp will feature eight teams and approximately 90 players from around the world.
  • Isaiah Whitehead will play for the Trail Blazers‘ Summer League team, The Athletic’s Michael Scotto relays (Twitter link).
  • The Mavericks have announced their Summer League roster and former first-rounder Cameron Payne is among the notable players. Kostas Antetokounmpo, the brother of Giannis, is also playing for the team in Las Vegas.
  • Semaj Christon will play for the Kings‘ Summer League team, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia tweets.
  • Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox has been invited to join Team USA’s Select Team, which will hold training camp in Las Vegas this summer, Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports passes along (Twitter links). Nets center Jarrett Allen has also been invited.

[In case you missed it: Team USA Announces 20-Player Roster For World Cup]

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Raptors Hosting Free Agent Mini-Camp

June 12th, 2019 at 10:58am CST by Luke Adams

As the Raptors‘ players and coaches focus on preparing for a potential NBA Finals close-out game in Oakland on Thursday night, the team’s front office will take a closer look at a number of veteran free agents over the next two days in Toronto.

According to a press release, the Raptors will host a free agent mini-camp at its practice facility on Wednesday and Thursday, with 23 players scheduled to attend.

Those players are as follows:

McLemore, Patton, and Payne – all former first-round picks – are perhaps the most well-known players on the list of participants, but they aren’t the only ones with some NBA experience. Artis, Brussino, Costello, Lofton, Thomas, and Weber have each appeared in at least one regular season game as well.

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Cavaliers Sign Kobi Simmons To 10-Day Contract

January 27th, 2019 at 9:58am CST by Arthur Hill

Kobi Simmons has signed a 10-day deal with the Cavaliers, the team announced on its website.

The 21-year-old guard has spent the season with Cleveland’s G League affiliate in Canton after the Cavs waived him in training camp. Simmons averaged 17.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 30 games for the Charge.

After going undrafted out of Arizona in 2017, Simmons signed a two-way deal with the Grizzlies. He appeared in 32 games for Memphis last season, starting 12, and averaged 6.1 points in about 20 minutes per game. He was released during the summer.

The addition of Simmons ensures that Cameron Payne is done in Cleveland, at least for now. His second 10-day contract expired on Friday.

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Cavs Cut Ties With Cameron Payne

January 25th, 2019 at 9:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Cavaliers will not offer Cameron Payne a standard contract, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

Payne’s second 10-day contract expired on Friday night and the Cavaliers had to either sign him for the remainder of the season or cut ties with the point guard.

Cleveland wanted to maintain roster flexibility heading into the trade deadline, according to Fedor.

“I feel really good about how I played here,” Payne told Fedor. “It’s understandable that they want the roster spot.”

The Cavaliers will likely sign another player to a 10-day contract. Payne played 10 games with the Cavs and averaged 8.2 PPG and 2.6 APG in 19.6 MPG. He played 31 games with the Bulls earlier this season but was waived in early January.

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Cavs Sign Cameron Payne To Second 10-Day Deal

January 16th, 2019 at 11:49am CST by Luke Adams

After Cameron Payne‘s initial 10-day contract with the Cavaliers expired overnight, the team has re-signed him to a second 10-day deal, according to a press release. As a result of the move, Cleveland once again has a full 15-man roster.

Payne, a former first-round pick, who has spent most of his NBA career with the Thunder and Bulls, joined the Cavaliers on January 6 and has appeared in four games with the club. The fourth-year point guard earned a longer look from Cleveland by recording 8.8 PPG and 2.8 APG with a .500/.400/.750 shooting line in those four games (17.8 MPG).

Payne’s new contract will run through January 25, covering the Cavs’ next six games, including tonight’s contest in Portland. Once the deal expires, the team will have to decide whether to re-sign Payne to a rest-of-season deal or let him walk — a club can’t sign a player to more than two 10-day contracts in a single season.

Like Payne’s first 10-day contract, this deal will have a cap hit of $85,468, increasing his total cost for the Cavaliers to $170,936.

For a full breakdown of this season’s 10-day contracts, active or otherwise, be sure to check out our tracker.

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Cavs Notes: Thompson, Osman, Dellavedova, Payne

January 13th, 2019 at 2:29pm CST by JD Shaw

Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson called out the team after suffering a 28-point blowout loss to Houston on Friday, detailing how they failed to execute a defensive game plan centered around James Harden during the contest.

The game plan, Thompson said, was to keep it 2-on-2 on the ball and force Harden and Clint Capela to score. It was designed to make sure other players weren’t effective behind Harden as a passer, which is when the Rockets are at their best.

“Obviously have to give Harden a lot of credit for his scoring ability, but we can live with him scoring all the points as long as other guys are not contributing,” Thompson said, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “We didn’t do that tonight. Didn’t do that at all.”

Instead, the Cavs trailed by as many as 44 points and lost their 12th game in a row. Cleveland’s record now sits at 8-35 on the season, with the patience of Thompson reaching a boiling point after the loss.

“How many games has it been? At this point, we’ve taught everything we can teach,” Thompson said. “Now it’s up to the players to come out there and just do their job. Do your job. Simple. Our players didn’t do their job.”

There’s more out of Cleveland today:

  • Cedi Osman quickly earned the respect of LeBron James last season, Fedor notes in a separate story for Cleveland.com. Osman accidentally injured James during one of his first scrimmages, but James appreciated his effort level and work ethic on the team. “For me, every practice with him, dinner, lunch, being together was special. It was my favorite,” Osman said of James. “I will say I was really proud when he was talking about me to the media. What he was saying about me, all that good stuff, that was really special to me.” Osman and James have remained in touch throughout the 2018/19 season despite mostly being thousands of miles apart, checking in on each other over text.
  • Matthew Dellavedova is focused on a new role in his second stint with the Cavs, Joe Gabriele of Cavs.com writes. Dellavedova joined Cleveland, a much younger team, via trade last month, mentoring Collin Sexton and others this season. “I’m just trying to talk with him about what I’m seeing out there, what he’s seeing out there – and just talk through the game,” Dellavedova said of Sexton. “We’ve watched quite a bit of game-tape together. But he works extremely hard on the court and in the weight room. So, as long as he keeps doing that, he’s going to have a really good chance.”
  • Cameron Payne is fighting to prove himself during his 10-day contract, Joe Vardon of The Athletic writes. Payne, remembered by some fans as Russell Westbrook‘s dance partner during pre-game rituals in Oklahoma City, has averaged 11.7 points in three games with the Cavs. “It’s crazy that that’s what people do remember me for,” Payne said. “Like I really haven’t, I wouldn’t necessarily say I’ve had the opportunity, but I started out playing behind Russ and D.J. Augustin, now he’s starting with the Magic. Then I got hurt. Then I’ve been just out. I came back and I’d be able to play and just get sprinkled in, and I never really got back to my full potential.”
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Bulls Notes: Boylen, Markkanen, Payne

January 11th, 2019 at 2:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Critics have called on coach Jim Boylen to make the 3-point shot a greater part of his offense, but the Bulls don’t have the personnel to make that strategy work, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.

“What we haven’t done is finished very well at those plays at the rim,” Boylen said in response to a question this week. “That’s where we have to grow. Then it’s finishing at the rim, maybe the defense takes it away, and now you spray out [to the 3-point line]. Who are we spraying out to? Well, we’re going to keep working at that.”

Lauri Markkanen has been the team’s most efficient 3-point shooter, but he doesn’t rank in the league’s top 20. The Bulls are 19th in the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage at 34.7%, but are 26th in the number of shots taken and tied for last in makes.

“Sometimes you don’t have the personnel to become a team that’s in the top 10 in 3-point attempts, and makes, and field-goal percentage,” Zach LaVine said. “I think we can take more, but we’d have to be hunting them, and certain guys have to hunt them.”

There’s more news out of Chicago:

  • The Bulls shouldn’t be so quick to commit to Boylen beyond this season, argues Jon Greenburg of The Athletic. He notes that the organization didn’t really conduct a coaching search before hiring Fred Hoiberg in 2015 and contends that Boylen is too similar to what management decided it didn’t want when it fired Tom Thibodeau. Greenburg mentions current Grizzlies assistant Jerry Stackhouse as a bold hiring the team could make.
  • Markkanen is still finding his way after missing the first part of the season with an elbow injury, relays Sam Smith of NBA.com. The second-year forward is averaging 17.0 PPG since returning to action, but hasn’t become the focus of the offense that many had hoped, taking just 14.6 shots per night.“I’d rather have plays where I get good shots rather than trying to force something up,” he explained. “I think it all starts from being aggressive and getting to my spots, try to make the right basketball plays.”
  • Taking a chance on Cameron Payne wasn’t a bad gamble, Smith writes in a question-and-answer column. The Bulls waived Payne last week after giving up Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott and a second-round pick to acquire him in 2017. But Smith says the front office never intended to re-sign Gibson or McDermott, so it didn’t hurt to take a chance on a former lottery pick.
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Cavaliers Sign Cameron Payne To 10-Day Contract

January 6th, 2019 at 5:25pm CST by Eric Spyropoulos

5:25pm: The signing is now official, the Cavs announced in a press release.

4:33pm: After releasing Patrick McCaw earlier in the day, the Cavaliers will sign point guard Cameron Payne to a 10-day contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Payne was most recently with the Bulls, as he was traded to Chicago during the 2016/17 season. Unfortunately, Payne struggled with injuries, as he only appeared in 67 games for the Bulls since that 2017 trade. For his career, Payne has averaged 5.8 points and 2.5 assists per game, while shooting 32.9% from beyond the arc.

This appears to be another tryout for Payne to latch on to an NBA roster, but he will likely be behind both Collin Sexton and Matthew Dellavedova in the rotation.

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Paxson Talks Holiday Trade, Parker, Payne, Future

January 5th, 2019 at 11:54am CST by marksuleymanov

The Bulls (10-29) are tied with the Knicks for the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference, and are focused on the future. That was signaled by this week’s trade that sent veteran swingman Justin Holiday to the Grizzlies for Wayne Selden, MarShon Brooks and two second-round picks. Chicago also subsequently waived Cameron Payne to created a roster spot.

Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson spoke to reporters, including NBC Sports Chicago’s Mark Strotman, on Friday and said the Holiday trade came together “in a couple of hours.” Paxson also addressed Jabari Parker‘s future with the team, Chicago’s plan leading up to the trade deadline and expectations of new head coach Jim Boylen.

On potentially making more trades before the deadline…

“That’s what has to happen. Things have to align. You can’t just force it. Again, if we can acquire young players, draft assets, we can maybe look at our roster and think there’s a better fit, we’ll go that route.”

On Parker’s future in Chicago…

“The one thing [Boylen] has been really consistent with is the accountability aspect. I believe you can hold players to a certain standard of what you want as a coach. Jabari is a really good guy. You guys have been around him. He’s a terrific person. If we can acclimate him back into things, he’s going to get a chance. This league is about getting chances, even for players who have been through what Jabari has been through.”

The decision to part with Payne…

“You make decisions and hope for the best. The reality is both (Ryan Arcidiacono) and (Shaq Harrison) have outplayed him. They fit what we want to do. Cam had some struggles with his foot and trying to get him back. We wish him well.”

On the Bulls’ future and player development…

“Very important. It’s really important. We need to see growth. We need to see how they play. We’re a month into [Boylen]’s tenure now, and I think they understand what’s expected. So we’re going to go out on the road here after these next two games. That’s a good time for a young team to get together. They’re going to be hard games. We just need to see development. That’s going to be a big key.”

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Bulls Waive Cameron Payne

January 3rd, 2019 at 10:39pm CST by JD Shaw

10:39pm: The Bulls have officially waived Payne, according to a press release from the team.

8:05pm: The Bulls are likely to waive Cameron Payne once their multi-player trade with the Grizzlies is official, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Payne is a former first-round pick and holds four years of NBA experience.

Chicago agreed to send Justin Holiday to Memphis in exchange for Wayne Selden, MarShon Brooks, a 2019 second-round pick and a 2020 second-round pick on Thursday, Wojnarowski reported. The Bulls already have a full 15-man roster, so they don’t have the room necessary to acquire two players for one without releasing someone else.

The Bulls are expected to remain active in trade discussions as the February 7 deadline nears, with the team already shopping players such as Jabari Parker and Robin Lopez, Wojnarowski adds. Chicago holds a 10-28 record through their first 38 games this season.

Payne, 24, was traded from the Thunder to the Bulls at the trade deadline in February of 2017. He’s struggled to establish himself as a consistent contributor since entering the league, dealing with a series of foot injuries in recent years.

Payne spent one full season and two half-seasons with Chicago, though he appeared in just 67 total games for the Bulls during that time. He has averaged 5.7 points, 2.7 assists and 17.3 minutes in 31 games this season, shooting 41% from the floor and 27% from 3-point range.

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