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Eastern Notes: Caldwell-Pope, DeRozan, Gores

April 26th, 2016 at 9:05pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Pistons shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is eligible to ink a rookie-scale contract extension this summer, but he says his focus is on improving his game and not on his next deal, David Mayo of MLive relays. “Yeah, I mean, why do it now? It’s not in my mind. I mean, it could happen. If it does happen, it happens. But right now I’m going to stay focused and get better,” Caldwell-Pope said. “Right now, I’m just going to let my agent handle all that. If you have any questions about that, I really can’t answer them. I let my agent answer for me. I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about it.” If Caldwell-Pope and Detroit are unable to reach an agreement by October’s deadline, he would be eligible to become a restricted free agent in the summer of 2017.

Team owner Tom Gores, one of the principals who will be involved in the Pistons’ future decisions regarding Caldwell-Pope, is involved in a bid to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Detroit, Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press relays. Gores is partnering with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert on the venture, Ellis notes. “I’ve always believed a sports franchise is a community asset with the power to unite and inspire people,” Gores said in his official statement. “I’m excited to partner with Dan and help in Detroit’s resurgence. Together we have all the tools we need to make a new team successful.”

Here’s more from the East:

  • Raptors swingman DeMar DeRozan‘s struggles this postseason call into question whether or not he is worthy of a max salary deal this summer, should he choose to opt out of his current deal and become an unrestricted free agent, Steve Simmons of The Toronto Sun writes. The 26-year-old is averaging 13.3 points and shooting a woeful 29.6% from the field in four playoff outings. His player option for 2016/17 is worth $10.15MM, but he’ll almost certain decline it and end up with more than that.
  • The Nets hiring of the hard-working Kenny Atkinson as their new coach is another positive sign of the franchise trying to change its culture for the better, NetsDaily opines.
  • If the Wizards intend to maintain their “pace-and-space offense,” they need a playmaker off the bench who’s capable of sinking the long ball and should consider signing Seth Curry, Ben Standig of CSN Mid-Atlantic.com writes. The Kings combo guard averaged 16.4 points, 5.3 assists and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 45.9% from the field, including 48.9% from beyond the arc over Sacramento’s last seven contests, Standig notes. Curry, 25, has a player option on his deal for 2016/17 worth $1,015,696.
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Atlantic Notes: Colangelo, Brand, Ujiri, DeRozan

April 11th, 2016 at 9:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The hiring of Bryan Colangelo and resignation of Sam Hinkie doesn’t signal “a departure from a process,” Colangelo insisted Sunday as the Sixers introduced him as their new president of basketball operations, as Christopher A. Vito for The Delaware County Daily Times observes. Colangelo nonetheless expects a “summer of change” for the roster, suggesting that with as many as four draft picks this year, all in the first round, the Sixers will consider parlaying some of that youth into more experienced talent. “You can only have so many developing players on your roster at a time, so there may be some decision to defer some of those to a future date, or may be a decision to package some of those things to acquire players that make sense and fit our strategy,” Colangelo said. “… It’s about putting a basketball team together. We’re really changing our focus toward winning. It’s part of a shift in culture, a mindset. I think [coach] Brett [Brown] is excited about shifting that. … There’s going to be a much-greater likelihood that we win basketball games.”

See more from Philadelphia amid news from the Atlantic Division:

  • Elton Brand, whose signing earlier this season was one of the team’s first moves away from developing players, thinks he’ll retire at season’s end, Vito notes (Twitter link). Brand, 37, also thought he’d retire this past summer before the Sixers came calling.
  • GM Masai Ujiri‘s contract with the Raptors is believed to be worth $15MM, according to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange, so it appears the executive is seeing an average of $3MM annually on the five-year deal. Grange wonders whether the Raptors will explore restructuring the pact, which has two years left on it, now that the Knicks are reportedly eyeing him.
  • DeMar DeRozan admitted Sunday to a fondness for playing in Madison Square Garden, but he said he didn’t know whether he would consider the Knicks in free agency this summer, notes Marc Berman of the New York Post. Of course, it’s par for the course that a soon-to-be free agent would praise the Garden, and all indications are DeRozan will re-sign with the Raptors, as Grange points out, given the shooting guard’s consistent praise for Toronto and the organization.
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Knicks Notes: Anthony, Afflalo, Williams, Lopez

April 10th, 2016 at 1:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Despite Carmelo Anthony‘s plea for continuity, the Knicks could be looking at another offseason of change, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. “I would love to see guys come back and be together for another year and establish something we already created,” Anthony said after Friday’s game. But Arron Afflalo and Derrick Williams both have opt-out clauses and could test the free agent market. Afflalo had a public dispute with interim coach Kurt Rambis after losing his starting role and seems likely to turn to down his $8MM option. Williams has a $4.598MM option, but could be aiming for a raise after a productive season. Also headed toward free agency are Lance Thomas, Langston Galloway and Kevin Seraphin.

The Knicks are expected to be major players in the free agent market, particularly with an eye toward improving their backcourt, and Berman mentions Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan as a possible target. “If you have the opportunity to make additions in free agency, you should take advantage of that,’’ Anthony said. “That’s why you have salary cap money in the offseason.”

There’s more news out of New York:

  • Center Robin Lopez, one of the team’s free agent additions last summer, has excelled in the triangle offense, Berman writes in a separate story. Lopez is averaging 10.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game after signing a four-year deal worth about $55MM. After a slow start in New York, he began to adapt quickly after Rambis replaced coach Derek Fisher in February. “To see him blossom, to see what he’s done, he’s a smart basketball player, high basketball IQ,’’ Rambis said. “We’re encouraging him to do a lot offensively. In the past he wasn’t asked to do those things. He just had to gain confidence and his teammates had to gain confidence in him.’’
  • Fisher was fired partly because he wanted to make adjustments to the triangle, tweets Frank Isola of The New York Daily News.
  • Anthony’s future in New York will overshadow the Knicks’ offseason, according to Keith P. Smith of RealGM. Anthony is under contract for three more seasons, but a no-trade clause gives him some say in his future. If Anthony decides he wants out of New York, Smith said the team will start rebuilding around Kristaps Porzingis. If Anthony stays with the Knicks, team president Phil Jackson will try to create a contender as quickly as possible.
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Southeast Notes: Wade, Bosh, Williams, Magic

March 6th, 2016 at 6:07pm CST by Arthur Hill

Dwyane Wade will be a free agent for the second straight year, but there’s virtually no chance he will leave Miami, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Wade is proud of spending his entire 13-year NBA career in one city and persevering through the ups and downs. “It’s not that common in today’s game, but, yeah, you feel very prideful,” Wade said. “It hasn’t all been great, but you continue to stick with it, you continue to fight with it. I’ve been here, good or bad, the Miami Heat stays relevant.” Wade cashed in last summer, earning the highest salary of his career when he re-signed with the Heat for one year at $20MM. He stands to increase that figure this year with the expected jump in the salary cap.

There’s more news from the Southeast Division:

  • Chris Bosh has been working out with Heat staff members rather than his teammates, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. “Not necessarily with the team. But, yeah, he’ll work out with the staff,” said coach Erik Spoelstra. “He’s staying engaged and he’s in great spirits. And that never surprised me with C.B.” Miami is trying to assess Bosh’s chances of returning to action this season after reportedly suffering a blood clot in his calf. The team hasn’t confirmed his condition and is simply putting him on the inactive list without explanation.
  • The Hornets‘ Marvin Williams is posting some career-high numbers in his 11th season, notes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. Williams is having his best season in rebounding and 3-point shooting, and at 10.9 points per game, he has his highest scoring average in seven years. Those figures should be attractive on the open market this summer, as Williams is wrapping up the final season of a two-year, $14MM contract. “One thing my father always taught me is hard work pays off,” Willliams said. “I worked extremely hard this summer and I feel like I’m benefitting from that. It’s helping me and it’s helping our team.”
  • The Magic could strengthen their presentation to this summer’s free agents with a berth in the playoffs, writes Brian Schmitz of The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando is expected to be aggressive in the free agent market, and Schmitz lists Al Horford, Mike Conley, DeMar DeRozan, Bradley Beal, Nicolas Batum, Chandler Parsons, Ryan Anderson and Harrison Barnes as possible targets.
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Magic, Al Horford Have Mutual Interest

February 19th, 2016 at 11:02am CST by Chuck Myron

The Magic and Al Horford share interest in each other with free agency looming for the big man and Orlando having opened plentiful cap room with its trades this week, a source told Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Zach Lowe of ESPN.com tweeted Wednesday that he expects the Magic to push hard for the Jason Glushon client this summer. Horford remains with Atlanta, though he was reportedly in play for a trade as late as two hours before Thursday’s deadline.

Atlanta was nonetheless setting a high price in trade talks for the former University of Florida standout who holds the Hawks in high regard. His Bird rights are tied to Atlanta, meaning the Hawks are the only team that can offer him a fifth year in a contract, a factor that Lowe hears will be of utmost importance to the 29-year-old. The Hawks can also give him 7.5% raises instead of the 4.5% raises other teams are limited to, so a five-year package from Atlanta would be worth $36.852MM more than a four-year deal from the Magic or anyone else, based on the NBA’s projection of a $24.9MM maximum salary for players with Horford’s level of experience. However, Florida’s lack of a state income tax mitigates that difference, at least to some degree.

Deveney speculates about the prospect of Horford and fellow soon-to-be free agent Joakim Noah, Horford’s college teammate, joining forces in Orlando. Noah is unlikely to re-sign with the Bulls, Deveney writes, a view that conflicts with Bulls GM Gar Forman‘s optimism on the matter, which Forman expressed Thursday to reporters, including Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com (Twitter link). Noah and Magic coach Scott Skiles didn’t always see eye-to-eye when they were together on the Bulls, but much has changed since then, according to Deveney, and players generally like working under coach Scott Skiles despite his reputation as a hard-liner, Deveney writes.

The Magic have the flexibility necessary to spend on multiple high-profile free agents if they can attract them to Orlando. They have only about $36MM in guaranteed salary against a salary cap for next season that’s estimated to be between $89MM and $95MM. The Magic will also go after DeMar DeRozan, according to Deveney, but he’s consistently made it clear he wants to re-sign with the Raptors.

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Atlantic Notes: DeRozan, Sixers, Knicks

February 14th, 2016 at 9:16pm CST by Will Joseph

DeMar DeRozan again indicated that it would be unlikely for him to sign elsewhere this summer, Marc Stein of ESPN.com relays. DeRozan is poised to turn down his player option worth only slightly more than $10MM and hit free agency this summer, but he has made it clear on several occasions that he prefers to stay with the Raptors. The Lakers, however, are ready to make a maximum-salary offer to him.

“My whole mindset has always been this is home for me,” DeRozan said. “I never think otherwise unless it’s brought up to me, or you see things, or people ask you about certain things. This has always been home to me. I took pride in putting on this Toronto Raptors jersey since I’ve been drafted here. And my whole goal was to get this team to the point where it is now. And I feel I’ve been a major key to that.”

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • Point guard Ish Smith has been credited with helping to improve things with the Sixers and teammate Nerlens Noel doesn’t want to see the soon-to-be free agent leave this summer, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. “He has to come back,” Noel said. “He has to. He’s an important piece to this and why we are so playing so well these past couple of months. And he’s helped us at the point guard position, you know, just setting guys up in the post position. So he’s got to come back.” The Sixers were 1-30 before they acquired Smith from the Pelicans in late December. They are 7-15 since the trade. Sixers team executive Jerry Colangelo was non-committal recently about Smith’s future with the team beyond this season.
  • Carmelo Anthony said he was shocked when he learned the Knicks had fired coach Derek Fisher, Marc Berman of the New York Post details. “We were all surprised,’’ Anthony said. “This was something, I really don’t know if it was a quick decision or if it was lingering. Nobody wants to lose their coach, especially some of the young guys. This is an experience they have to go through. For me, having to keep those guys intact, keep them in line, and let them know it happens. Unfortunately it’s happening to us right now.”
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Atlantic Notes: DeRozan, Saric, Williams

January 30th, 2016 at 8:55am CST by Eddie Scarito

DeMar DeRozan has been trying to silence his doubters since entering the NBA as the No. 9 overall pick in 2009, and the Raptors shooting guard readily admits to being motivated by any negativity he comes across, Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca writes. “Man, there’s been so much stuff, honestly,” DeRozan told Lewenberg. “I could write a book [with] how much stuff was said. ‘He’ll just be an average player, he’ll never…’. There’s so many things you could start [with]. It’s crazy. But you can’t look at it and get sad or cry about it, you’ve got to use that as motivation. At the end of the day, the same people who probably said this, or whatever it was, you feel better knowing they’re eating their words. And that’s what it’s all about. You can’t get mad. I understand. I take all that frustration out when I’m working out in the summer, try to come back and prove everybody wrong.” DeRozan was recently added to the Eastern Conference’s 2016 NBA All-Star squad as a reserve.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • In his latest mailbag, Philadelphia magazine’s Derek Bodner opines that Sixers draft-and-stash prospect Dario Saric should make an immediate impact on the court if he indeed joins the NBA next season. Bodner pegs Saric’s role as the team’s sixth man and his creativity on offense is something the roster sorely needs. Saric has indicated that he intends to join Philadelphia for the 2016/17 campaign.
  • Former Nets point guard Deron Williams is surprised at how quickly things turned south for the franchise after his departure, Andy Vasquez of The Record relays. “I figured they’d be a lot better,” Williams said regarding the Nets. “But I know they’ve struggled with some injuries and things like that that have definitely hurt them, and the coaching change and [former GM] Billy [King] getting let go, so there’s a lot of things going on over there right now.”
  • Williams also noted that he didn’t expect the Nets would fire coach Lionel Hollins when they did, Vasquez adds. “I was a little surprised,” Williams said, “because Lionel’s only been there a year and a half. I thought he’d get a little bit more of a chance, but that’s the nature of this business. You see how things are going around the league, not just there. You look at — David Blatt got fired and he was supposed to be coaching the All-Star game, so it’s just the nature of this business.”
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2016 NBA All-Star Game Reserves Announced

January 28th, 2016 at 6:14pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA has officially announced the reserves for the 2016 All-Star game, which will be played at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Sunday, February 14th. The names of the reserves were first reported by Carron J. Phillips of The News Journal and confirmed by Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution (All four Twitter links). The starters for both conferences were announced last week, with Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard voted to tip off the exhibition in the West and LeBron James, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Kyle Lowry slated to represent the East.

While the starters are selected by the fans, reserves are chosen by the coaches in each conference, though they are not permitted to vote for players on their own team. Listed below are the reserves for the 2016 NBA All-Star game for each conference:

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Who was the biggest surprise among the All-Star reserves announced tonight? Share your thoughts with a comment.

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Atlantic Notes: Anthony, Larkin, Lowry

January 22nd, 2016 at 4:11pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Knicks coach Derek Fisher envisions Carmelo Anthony evolving into more of a facilitator from the forward spot in the team’s offense, Al Iannazzone of Newsday writes. “I think there’s some more playmaking opportunities that will continue to be a part of his maturation in how we play,” Fisher said. “I think there will be times when we can put the ball in his hands more and allow his size and his ability to create shots for other people to be more of a feature. And that’s a part of our offense that we really want to get to. We’re looking forward to being able to play Carmelo at the top of the floor at times. I think he can average a pretty high number of assists because of how aggressive teams are defending him.’’

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • The friendship that has developed between Raptors backcourt mates Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan has helped both the players and the team be successful, Jessica Patton of The Toronto Sun writes. “I think when they first got here, I think they looked at each other like ‘OK’, ” coach Dwane Casey said. “But then as things went on and as the games went on and winning went on, they saw that they could co-exist together. I think the trust has been built, the friendship built, and they [have] a good thing going.”
  • Nets point guard Shane Larkin is still trying to prove that he belongs in the league amid the team’s difficult season, notes Andy Vasquez of NorthJersey.com. “I haven’t established myself as a proven backup — whatever you want to say,” Larkin said. “And that’s what I’m trying to do. So every single night I go out there, I have that kind of mentality. And even though lately I’ve been struggling, I’ve just got to stay confident, keep playing and get back to what I was doing.”
  • If the Sixers return to prominence in the coming seasons the credit is likely to go to new team executive Jerry Colangelo and not to GM Sam Hinkie, despite the GM having laid much of the foundation, Derek Bodner of Philadelphia magazine opines in his mailbag. While Hinkie’s plan certainly has its flaws, the GM should share in the credit for any inroads the team makes, Bodner adds.
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Atlantic Notes: Lopez, DeRozan, Nets

January 20th, 2016 at 6:45pm CST by Eddie Scarito

DeMar DeRozan missed 22 games last season for the Raptors with a groin injury and the shooting guard used the scare it gave him to motivate himself to return to form in 2015/16, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca writes. “I don’t talk about it too much,” DeRozan said of the time he missed in 2014/15. “But mentally that injury was tough on me. It took a lot out of me just to accept that I was hurt and I was going to be away from the game that long.”

The swingman also used the time to study the game and players who excelled by the use of their brains not their athleticism, Grange adds. “I watched all these guy who were successful and weren’t even athletic and I asked myself: How were they successful when they weren’t the fastest on the court?” DeRozan told Grange. “You tried to figure out how they did it and apply that to your game, so I didn’t have to jump higher than the defender or be faster than the defender, but just be craftier, smarter and be more patient.”

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • Knicks center Robin Lopez has become a more integral part of the team’s offense recently, something he credits to becoming more comfortable with his teammates as well as the addition of a hook shot to his game, Fred Kerber of The New York Post writes. “I think I have a better idea of where guys are on the floor and where my opportunities are going to present themselves,” said Lopez. “Guys, the team, coaching staff, they’re developing a confidence in me and that helps, that’s contagious.“
  • The Nets‘ offseason signings of Shane Larkin, Thomas Robinson, Wayne Ellington and Andrea Bargnani were considered low risk at the time, but with each underachieving this season their deals could hamper the franchise next season, NetsDaily opines. All four players possess player options for next season and if they all opt in it could impact the team’s free agent plans, NetsDaily notes.
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