Danny Granger Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Central Notes: Deng, Bulls, Pacers

November 29th, 2013 at 6:01pm CST by Ryan Raroque

The Cavaliers reportedly had interest in trading for Luol Deng this past summer but were rebuffed by the Bulls, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. As of now, Deveney adds, it doesn’t appear that anything on that front will change anytime soon, and unless Chicago can obtain a 2014 draft pick, there isn’t much sense in moving Deng. Here’s more out of the Central Division tonight, including much more from Deveney:

That same piece explores the trade value of Carlos Boozer, who according to one general manager isn’t really being sought after by any team at this point. While the Bulls still have the former Duke product on their books until 2015, Deveney opines that the Knicks might become desperate enough to make a move for him to shore up their struggling front court.
Deveney also writes that Joakim Noah still has high value around the league despite his battles with injury over the last few seasons. The Knicks would appear to be another logical landing spot for the 6’11 center, although the Pelicans, Thunder, and Mavericks are expected to be in pursuit should the Bulls place Noah on the trading block.
Lastly, with reports that Nikola Mirotic – whose draft rights are still owned by the Bulls – has developed into a star in Spain, Deveney says that if Chicago were to package his rights in a deal including Deng, Noah, or Boozer, they would be looking to get a star player in return. According to one scout, Mirotic is currently the “best player who is not in the NBA right now.” If Mirotic weren’t included in a deal involving any of those three, the Bulls would supposedly settle for cap relief, draft picks, and/or young talent.
Sam Smith of Bulls.com opened his mailbag and dissects trade suggestions sent in by his readers.
Sports Illustrated’s Ian Thomsen thinks the Pacers currently have the requisite pieces in place to make a title run this season. However, considering Indiana’s vow to remain under the tax threshold, the team isn’t likely to maintain the same type of depth after this year, especially with Danny Granger‘s contract set to expire and Lance Stephenson due for a new contract.

Poll: Will Danny Granger Stay With The Pacers?

November 9th, 2013 at 10:44am CST by Zachary Links

Pacers guard Lance Stephenson says that he’s confident he’ll be staying put, even though his bargain basement ~$1MM deal expires at season’s end. “It’s a long season, I’m not thinking nothing about contracts,” Stephenson said. “I’m going to stay with the Pacers, so I’m not even thinking about the contract.” Meanwhile, team president Larry Bird constantly tells Stephenson that he’s the next one to get a new deal after teammates Roy Hibbert, David West, and George Hill have all received contract extensions over the last two years. Barring something unexpected, it looks like Stephenson will be in Indiana for years to come. However, the same can’t be said for former franchise cornerstone Danny Granger.

After missing the bulk of 2012/13, Granger is in the final year of his contract. The Pacers have about $60.6MM in commitments for next season thanks to Granger and a few others coming off of the books, leaving them about $15MM shy of the luxury tax threshold – which they will not go over – with two notable players eligible for the open market. Stephenson probably won’t see $10MM+ per season, but a deal with an average annual value closer to $8MM would make sense for the 23-year-old. With a big chunk of their breathing room going to Stephenson and at least some of the remainder being allocated elsewhere, there isn’t a ton of space for Granger. Even if he halves his $14MM+ salary for this season, it’s an unlikely squeeze, barring a significant trade.

It stands to reason that Granger’s future rests upon how well he does when he returns to the hardwood in a couple of weeks. If Granger shows that he is still somewhat near his All-Star form, it’s hard to see the Pacers being able to carve out enough space for him. If he appears to still be a work in progress as he rehabs his patellar tendinosis, then the Pacers could conceivably find a way to keep him on a low-risk deal at the end of the season. Of course, there’s another possible outcome: Granger looks sharp over the first half of the season and becomes a strong trade chip for Indiana at the deadline. How will things play out?

Eastern Rumors: Granger, Raptors, Osby

October 28th, 2013 at 10:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

After missing nearly the entire 2012/13 season, Danny Granger is off to an ominous start this season as well. Entering the final year of his contract, Granger will be sidelined for the next three weeks as he recovers from a calf injury, the Pacers announced today. Indiana held off on trading Granger this summer, optimistic that he’d bounce back from an injury-plagued season and help the team overcome the Heat on the way to a title. As we wonder whether that optimism remains for team president Larry Bird and company, here’s the latest out of the East:

Sources tell Bruce Arthur of the National Post that Raptors GM Masai Ujiri has talked about trading Rudy Gay, though it’s unclear whether those discussions were within the organization or involved other teams. Arthur also passes along thoughts from Ujiri about setting the Raptors on the right course toward contention.
HoopsWorld’s Eric Pincus confirms to Hoops Rumors that the Magic are paying Romero Osby $100K this year, despite his earlier report that Osby’s partial guarantee would only kick in if he made the opening-night roster. The team waived Osby on Friday. Pincus lists the $100K on the Magic’s updated salary page at HoopsWorld.
Khalif Wyatt, whom the Sixers released last week, has signed a one-year deal with the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, reports Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News speculates that Thaddeus Young would most likely be the centerpiece of any trade the Sixers make this year. Part of Cooney’s suspicion that an early-season trade might be in the works was based on the team’s roster standing at 14 players, but the Sixers got back up to the 15-man limit when they signed Brandon Davies today.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Central Notes: Cavs, Granger, Zeller

October 5th, 2013 at 8:09pm CST by Spencer Lund

The Cavs went through their Wine & Gold scrimmage today and it appears No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett is struggling with his conditioning, reports the Akron Beacon Journal's Jason Lloyd. He was winded after playing just four minutes in the scrimmage.

The scrimmage ended early after second-year center Tyler Zeller took a nasty fall and Anderson Varejao landed him on, adds Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Zeller suffered a strained left hip, which is not considered serious, but he was impressing coach Mike Brown before the scary fall.

Here's more on the Cavs and some notes on the Pacers' possible new sixth man while most fans are taking in all the early preseason action tonight…

Kyrie Irving dominated the Wine & Gold game writes Boyer, with some flashy moves on his way to scoring a game-high 17 points during the intra-squad scrimmage.
Bennett looks to be 10-15 pounds overweight writes the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto, echoing Lloyd's report from above. But Pluto also relays Brown's belief that Bennett has NBA 3-point range; although, he still needs to work on his defense.
Pacers coach Frank Vogel alluded to James Harden and Manu Ginobili when talking about the possibility of Danny Granger coming off the bench, tweets the Indianapolis Star's Candace Buckner. But she adds, via Twitter, that Granger would share starters' minutes with Lance Stephenson.

Central Notes: Granger, Thibodeau, Pistons

September 24th, 2013 at 9:02pm CST by Michael Pina

A few notes from around the Central Division.

Lang Greene of HoopsWorld spoke to a leading surgeon and sports medicine expert about Danny Granger's health, and how it will affect his on-court contributions going forward.
According to the Detroit Free Press' Keith Langlois, the Pistons likely won't invite any more than the 15 players they currently have under contract to training camp.
Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau speaks to HoopsWorld.com's Yannis Koutroupis about the new challenges his team will face this season, including improved competition in the Central Division.

Eastern Notes: George, Pacers, Deng

September 19th, 2013 at 7:32pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Hoopsworld's Yannis Koutroupis explores the possible implications from a potential contract extension for Paul George and suggests that Danny Granger has now become an expendable piece. Losing Lance Stephenson - who is coming off of a career year and may have likely played himself out of Indiana's price range next summer – would be a bitter pill to swallow, opines Koutroupis. Here's more out of the Eastern Conference:

Granger believes that Indiana can contend for a title next season and calls the addition of Luis Scola "our biggest free agent pickup" (Scott Agness of NBA.com).
ESPN's Chad Ford (via Twitter) notes that Luol Deng has been working out at BYU-Hawaii over the last several weeks and says that the Bulls forward appears to be in fantastic shape.
Erildas Budraitis of RealGM catches up with CSKA Moscow's Jeremy Pargo, who last played for the 76ers and Cavaliers during the 2012/13 season. The 6'2" point guard admitted that he probably won't think of returning to the NBA for another one or two years and calls his exit from Cleveland "unfortunate."
Earlier today, Yahoo's Marc J. Spears reported that Cavs number one overall pick Anthony Bennett resumed playing five-on-five basketball this week.
Nets star Deron Williams is even more eager to get the season started after hearing head coach Jason Kidd and teammate Jason Terry say they expect him to be a part of the MVP conversation in 2013/14 (link via Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report).
Despite NBA commissioner David Stern's recent efforts to quell tension between the Knicks and Nets owners, the players don't seem to be necessarily following suit. When Paul Pierce was asked today about J.R. Smith calling him a bitter person recently, the Brooklyn forward tersely responded with "Who? Who are we talking about right now? Exactly" (Tim Bontempts of the New York Post).

Odds & Ends: Seattle, Expansion, Thunder

September 12th, 2013 at 5:35pm CST by Ryan Raroque

There has been speculation that Chris Hansen's contributions to an anti-Kings-arena movement in Sacramento could hurt Seattle's chances of eventually landing an NBA franchise. However, current commissioner David Stern and future commissioner Adam Silver both recently downplayed concerns about the league or its owners holding a grudge, according to Percy Allen of the Seattle Times. You can find more of this evening's miscellaneous news and notes below, including more from the above article:

Allen also points out that Hansen still has around four years to secure an NBA team and finalize an agreement with Seattle and King County to build a $490MM arena in Sodo with $200MM in public subsidies.
Given that there currently aren't any teams for sale, Silver had this to say about possible expansion within the near future: "I would never say it’s never going to happen. There’s nothing in the works at the moment…Obviously the league has grown over the years and there may come a point to look at it…But right now coming off of our new collective bargaining agreement, we really want to make sure we have 30 franchises that are all financially sound."
RealGM's Jonathan Tjarks makes a case for why the Thunder's core still has enough time to win a title.
Mark Willard and Arash Markazi of ESPN LA talk about what Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni has to accomplish in order to keep his job in Los Angeles.
Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com discusses the ten players most likely to be dealt this season (Insiders only). Among the more notable names on the list include Luol Deng (who we recently heard is set to hit free agency next summer), Rajon Rondo, Omer Asik, and Danny Granger.

Kyler’s Latest: Pacers, Granger, Clippers, Thunder

September 9th, 2013 at 10:37am CST by Luke Adams

With only a handful of teams remaining in his offseason look at trade situations to watch, Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld focuses today on the Pacers, Clippers, and Thunder. Let's dive in and check out the highlights from Kyler's NBA AM piece…

While there's still a belief in some circles that the Pacers will try to trade Danny Granger this season, Kyler says that's not necessarily the case. There's almost no scenario in which Indiana could trade Granger's $14MM+ expiring contract and avoid taking back long-term salary, so the Pacers likely prefer to keep the veteran forward and let him help the club contend in 2013/14. Clearing his contract from the books next summer will free up money for players like Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
If the Pacers have injury problems during the season, their stance on Granger and other players could change, but for now it appears that the team will stand relatively pat, believing the roster is strong enough to contend for the title.
The Clippers are currently in luxury-tax territory, but only by about $1.5MM. If the team were to cut Maalik Wayns' non-guaranteed contract and move a player like Willie Green, it could slip below the tax. The Clips may have to give up an asset or two (such as cash or draft picks) to facilitate a deal. But L.A. has enough depth, particularly on the perimeter, that giving up a player to get below the tax line shoudn't hurt the club's on-court production.
With Kevin Martin no longer in OKC, the Thunder will be searching for a reliable third scorer behind Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. The team would probably prefer to see a player from within, such as Serge Ibaka, Reggie Jackson or Jeremy Lamb, emerge as that third scorer. However, OKC also has several young inexpensive players that could be used as trade chips if necessary, including Perry Jones III, Andre Roberson, and Steven Adams.

Pacers Nearing Trade For Luis Scola

July 27th, 2013 at 1:34pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:34pm: Green, Miles Plumlee, and a protected 2014 draft pick are the parts headed to Phoenix in the proposal, Wojnarowski tweets. USA Today's Sam Amick tweets that the pick is lottery protected. Marc Stein of ESPN.com notes that the deal is still a proposal at this point, so it looks like a formal agreement has not yet been reached (Twitter link).

SATURDAY, 12:56am: The "early word" is that the Pacers will send Gerald Green and draft considerations to Phoenix in exchange for Scola, Stein reports. The teams are still discussing the specifics of the picks headed Phoenix's way (Twitter links).

FRIDAY, 10:50pm: The Suns and Pacers are having "serious" talks about a trade that would ship Luis Scola to Indiana, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The teams are close to an agreement, Wojnarowski also tweets, but the deal won't involve Danny Granger, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).

The Pacers have been pursuing Scola for weeks, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link), though both front offices have been keeping the news quiet. The Pacers re-signed starting power forward David West this summer, and they also brought in Chris Copeland. Centers Roy Hibbert and Ian Mahinmi are on long-term deals, so there wouldn't seem to be an immediate fit for Scola, unless one of Indiana's big men is headed to Phoenix.

As Stein notes, the news originated in Scola's native Argentina, where Juan Sebastia, Scola's publicist, tweets tonight that Scola is headed to the Pacers, and that the deal will become official Saturday. Scola is set to make a little more than $4.5MM this season, with a non-guaranteed $4.868MM on the books for 2014/15. The Suns are under the cap, but the Pacers are over it, so Indiana would have to give up about $3MM in salary to make the deal work if Scola is the only player Phoenix is giving up.

The Pacers could make a straight-up acquisition of Scola work with either Mahinmi or Gerald Green, or they could aggregate the salaries of Lance Stephenson, Miles Plumlee and Orlando Johnson. West and Copeland are ineligible to be traded until the middle of next season because they signed new deals this summer.

The 33-year-old Scola has been remarkably durable in his six-year NBA career, missing just eight regular season games, all of them in 2010/11. His minutes declined somewhat last year in his first season with the Suns, who claimed him off amnesty waivers after the Rockets cut him in a cap-clearing move. He notched 12.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 26.6 minutes per game in 2012/13, with a 16.7 PER that's nearly identical to his career mark of 16.9.

Central Rumors: Pistons, Rondo, Pacers, Bucks

July 3rd, 2013 at 8:36am CST by Luke Adams

With new general managers taking over for a handful of NBA franchises this offseason, there's a chance that organizational philosophies or approaches could shift drastically in some instances. The Pistons are hoping that's the case with the Raptors, offering up a package of expiring contracts to Toronto in exchange for Rudy Gay, who was acquired by old head of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo.

However, Grantland's Zach Lowe tweets that he'd be "blown away" if the Raptors accepted Detroit's offer without a significant sweetener. And as Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun notes (via Twitter), just because an offer is on the table, it doesn't mean the Raptors have to take it, as several teams have made "unimpressive" proposals for Gay.

Here's more on the Pistons and their Central Division rivals:

Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News tweeted yesterday that the Pistons would be at the front of the line if the Celtics make Rajon Rondo available. While Boston GM Danny Ainge continues to insist he's not interested in moving Rondo, despite plenty of incoming calls, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com also reports that the Pistons have made their interest clear in case Ainge changes his mind.
Within Berger's piece, the CBSSports.com scribe says the Pacers have explored potential trades involving Danny Granger and/or Gerald Green. However, they're finding "no market" for either player so far.
The Pistons remain interested in Josh Smith and Andre Iguodala, but are reluctant to engage in a bidding war, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
The Bucks may be emerging as the leading suitor for J.R. Smith, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post, pointing out that deals for J.J. Redick and Kevin Martin could set Smith's market value at $7MM+ per year. That would be more than the Knicks are able to offer.
Prior to reaching an agreement with Mike Dunleavy, the Bulls viewed him as their top priority in free agency, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times.