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Atlantic Notes: Colangelo, Rose, Uthoff, Early

September 24th, 2016 at 2:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Sixers executive Bryan Colangelo wasn’t a fan of the team’s culture when he was hired, as he told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on his podcast. “There was a losing culture,” Colangelo said of the team before he arrived. “There was a losing mindset. It had been ingrained partly due to the undertaking of rebuilding that they had been going through. It becomes part of the fabric of the team,” Colangelo said. “I think more than anything the mindset needed to shift, the mindset needed to change. And that’s why we’ve been talking about winning. Doing everything we can to promote winning, to promote a culture of excellence.”

Colangelo also told Wojnarowski that he had little interest in working under former GM Sam Hinkie, which was the arrangement first pitched to him by team ownership. “The first time that I met with David Blitzer and Josh Harris I basically told them I’m not the guy for this job. I suggested a few other people, one in particular that I thought would be ideal, to come in and compliment Sam to help take this thing to that next level. They were a little bit stunned at my reaction and my suggestion,” Colangelo said.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

The crew over at Basketball Insiders previewed the Celtics‘ upcoming season, with the general opinion being that Boston will finish first or second in the Atlantic Division in 2016/17.
The Knicks are hoping that Derrick Rose‘s upcoming civil suit involving an alleged sexual assault won’t impact his season, Ian Begley of ESPN.com writes. “I think we’re just going to let the process work itself out,” team president Phil Jackson said when asked about the possibility of Rose missing training camp. “We’re not concerned with it. We understand this is a serious subject we’re talking about. But this has to be done outside of our control. It’s something we can’t control. Derrick has expressed that he’s not concerned with it. I mean, he’s quite aware of it. It’s not keeping him up at night. So we’re going with that, OK?“
Undrafted free agent Jarrod Uthoff is excited to be joining a Raptors team that made it to last season’s Conference Finals, Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders relays. “It’ll be a great chance to learn from experienced NBA guys that play at a very high level,” Uthoff said. “Being around that every day, you can’t replace that. It’s a really professional organization that handles themselves with class in whatever they do. I think that’s showing on the court as well. It starts from the top down. They really created a special organization there.”
Former second round pick Cleanthony Early won’t be attending the Knicks‘ training camp and the forward remains a free agent, Marc Berman of The New York Post notes.

Atlantic Notes: Noah, Porzingis, Rose, Embiid

September 17th, 2016 at 9:46pm CST by Arthur Hill

Joakim Noah‘s intensity has already made an impression on at least one of his new teammates, relays Ian Begley of ESPN.com. At a youth camp today in Westchester, N.Y., Kristaps Porzingis told the story of his first meeting with Noah and the Knicks‘ new center’s dedication to the upcoming season. “That’s the type of guy that we want on our team,” Porzingis said. “He brings that good energy. He brings that spirit, you know? So from the first opportunity that we got to talk, I fell in love with [his intensity].” The addition of Noah should also limit the amount of time that Porzingis spends playing center, which many people believe will eventually become his primary position. Noah, who signed a four-year, $72MM deal with the Knicks in July, is hoping for a bounce-back year after being limited to 29 games last season because of an injured shoulder.

There’s more tonight from the Atlantic Division:

Porzingis also addressed Derrick Rose‘s “super team” comment from earlier this summer, writes Barbara Barker of Newsday. Porzingis says the statement was just a sign of confidence and he agrees with Rose that the Knicks have the talent to be very good. He added that Rose has looked impressive in pickup games. “He’s still got it. He’s still Derrick Rose,” Porzingis said. “I’m excited to play with him. He draws so much attention. When he’s driving, he’s so dangerous. I’m going to be wide open, and that’s what I’m looking forward to.”
The Sixers‘ crowded frontcourt means players are going to have to earn their minutes more than ever, and the way to do that is to adapt to coach Brett Brown’s new up-tempo approach, according to Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com. Brown is calling on players to get in “career-best shape” before reporting to training camp and said their roles will be determined by their ability to do that.
Joel Embiid may be cleared to play, but the Sixers will rely heavily on their medical staff to determine when and how often he takes the court, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Embiid is expected to start the season with restricted minutes and probably won’t play on back-to-back nights.

And-Ones: Pressey, Cavs, Rose, Bulls

September 15th, 2016 at 9:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Warriors have acquired the D-League rights to training camp invitee Phil Pressey via a trade with the Jazz’s D-League affiliate, according to a press release from the Salt Lake City Stars. The Santa Cruz Warriors secured the returning player rights of Pressey in exchange for the same rights to point guard Aaron Craft and a 2017 D-League second-round pick. Pressey, a 25-year-old point guard, signed what is believed to be a non-guaranteed, one-year contract with Golden State, which already has 16 other players under contract. By acquiring his D-League rights, the Warriors can not only ship him to their affiliate if he makes the 15-man roster but also keep him in the organization even if he doesn’t secure a spot.

In other news around the league:

The Cavs are renegotiating the contract of assistant coach Larry Drew, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com reports. The former head coach of the Hawks and Bucks will be head coach Tyronn Lue’s chief assistant and associate head coach this season. Drew, who is entering his third season with Cleveland, will get a raise but the two sides are still working out the details, Vardon adds.
Attorneys for the woman who has accused Knicks point guard Derrick Rose of sexual assault are demanding an NBA investigation into the 2013 incident, Julia Marsh of the New York Post relays. Waukeen McCoy, one of those lawyers, suggested that the league and team should enforce the morality clause in Rose’s contract and suspend him, Marsh adds. A lawsuit filed in California is scheduled for trial on October 4.
Nate Loenser has been the named the head coach of the Bulls’ new D-League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls, the team announced via press release. Loenser was the Chicago Bulls’ video coordinator last season. He’s also coached at Southern Mississippi and Iowa State. Bulls assistant GM Brian Hagen will also serve as Windy City’s GM.
Guard Langston Galloway signed a two-year, $10MM contract with the Pelicans but he still doesn’t think he’s established himself in the league, as he told Jake Rauchbach of Basketball Insiders in an exclusive interview. “I’ve got a lot to prove,” Galloway told Rauchbach. “I want to be one of those top guys one day and I gotta go out and prove it to each of the guys that I play against every night. Like, ‘Hey, I am trying to be at that level.’ That’s what I gotta go out there and do.”

Lawyer: Jackson Didn’t Investigate Rose Case

September 14th, 2016 at 8:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

The attorney for the woman accusing Derrick Rose of rape in a civil lawsuit suspects the Bulls traded him because of the legal action and says Knicks president Phil Jackson didn’t investigate the case, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News.

Brandon Anand, who is representing the unidentified woman in a $21.5MM suit, says the Knicks made no attempt to contact her before completing the deal.

“My first reaction was maybe [the Bulls are] hiding this from the Knicks and passed him off without giving full disclosures,” Anand said, “but it seems to me like the Knicks should’ve done their own investigation.”

Jackson responded that he was “aware” of the suit before making the trade, but didn’t see a need to investigate it further, adding that, “Investigation is a big word.”

“I think [the Knicks] should’ve conducted that big word [and called me],” Anand said. “I think I would’ve shown them the documents that were public, that were fair game, and I think it all speaks for itself. [Rose’s] testimony certainly revealed a lot. Just showing them the evidence that’s already out, they would’ve gotten a very clear idea about what actually happened.”

Rose admits that he and two friends drove to the woman’s home in the early morning hours of August 27th, 2013. He also said in a deposition just before the trade that “you can assume” that the men had sex with her.

An October 4th trial date has been set, meaning Rose would probably miss at least two preseason games and several practices if a settlement is not reached by then.

Knicks Notes: Early, Rose, Jennings

September 12th, 2016 at 1:58pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks have yet to make a final decision on whether or not to bring Cleanthony Early to training camp, an NBA source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post. The 25-year-old remains on the free agent market, while New York still has room on its offseason roster to bring him back.

Phil Jackson admitted last month that his biggest regret since arriving in New York was passing on Jae Crowder in a trade with the Mavericks, opting for a second-round pick instead. That pick became Early, so presumably the Zen Master would like to give the Wichita State product every opportunity to carve out a role with the Knicks.

Here’s more out of New York:

Within his scouting report and analysis of the Knicks’ roster, ESPN’s Kevin Pelton (Insider-only link) notes that the team made a significant gamble this offseason on the health of players like Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Brandon Jennings. Pelton also suggests that it might make sense to use Jennings when Rose and Carmelo Anthony aren’t on the floor, since Jennings tends to be better at creating shots than making them.
The Knicks’ ability to make room for a maximum-salary free agent in 2017 will hinge largely on what happens this year with Rose and Jennings, writes Ian Begley of ESPN.com. As Begley observes, the cap holds for Rose and Jennings will exceed $30MM, so the team will have to make important decisions on whether to re-sign or renounce the duo.
Be sure to check out our salary cap breakdown for the Knicks to get an idea of how the team is using its cap space for the 2016/17 league year.

Reinsdorf Bullish On Wade-Rondo-Butler Trio

September 8th, 2016 at 5:39pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf believes that the headstrong trio of Dwyane Wade, Rajon Rondo and Jimmy Butler will be successful because they’re “high character guys who want it to work,” K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune tweets. Wade and Rondo signed with Chicago as free agents this summer and the club held onto Butler despite trade rumors swirling around him, particularly on draft night. The Bulls are projected to pair up Wade and Rondo in the backcourt while Butler sliding to small forward, though they are all subpar 3-point shooters.

In other highlights of the interview as reported by Johnson:

Reinsdorf expressed surprise that Wade ditched the Heat to join his hometown team (Twitter link). Wade signed a two-year, $47MM deal in mid-July.
The owner believes the team will be “competitive” this season but wouldn’t offer any predictions. Chicago’s failure to make the playoffs last season “bothered me a lot” because “we lost a lot of games to teams we shouldn’t have lost to.” (Twitter links)
Looking back on recent years, Reinsdorf laments the knee injuries that plagued former franchise player Derrick Rose. He had high hopes for the group and its inability to accomplish more during that era was “disappointing.” (Twitter link) Rose was traded to the Knicks in June.
Joakim Noah‘s leadership and involvement in the community will be missed but Reinsdorf is happy that the free agent center “got that kind of money.” (Twitter link). Noah signed a four-year, $72MM pact with the Knicks.

Atlantic Notes: Nets, Rose, Lowry, Knicks, Noah

September 5th, 2016 at 2:30pm CST by Luke Adams

Six NBA teams are currently below the league’s minimum salary floor of $84.729MM, but a league spokesman tells Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal that the NBA expects all – or almost all – of those clubs to exceed the floor by the end of the 2016/17 league year. Two of those teams, the 76ers and Nets, are in the Atlantic division, with Philadelphia at about $65MM in guaranteed salary while Brooklyn has nearly $76MM in guarantees on its books.

Net Income of NetsDaily is somewhat skeptical that the Nets will add another $7MM+ to their cap by April, pointing to quotes by GM Sean Marks from earlier in the offseason. It’s possible a team will want to dump salary in a trade with Brooklyn, but the rising cap means that fewer teams need to make that sort of in-season move. And as the NetsDaily report notes, there’s not much incentive for Brooklyn to get up to the cap unless the club gets something out of it — the only penalty for failing to spend the minimum is that a team must pay the difference to its own players.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

When the Knicks acquired Derrick Rose in a June trade with the Bulls, the point guard’s legal issues weren’t really a part of the conversation. However, as Steve Popper of USA Today writes, that has changed since Rose’s deposition in a civil suit was released last week. While Rose has maintained his innocence, parts of his testimony are “troublesome” and raise additional questions about the Knicks’ decision to acquire him, says Popper.
Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders takes a look at another Atlantic point guard, examining Kyle Lowry‘s situation in Toronto. Lowry will have the opportunity to hit free agency in 2017, and after locking up DeMar DeRozan this summer, the Raptors will have to decide how heavily they’re willing to invest in their other All-Star guard, who will turn 31 in March.
Joakim Noah‘s father is excited to see his son joining the Knicks for the 2016/17 season, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. “It’s hard to find the words. You just feel blessed basically because when he was young and used to go to games together, that was his dream,” Yannick Noah, a former tennis champion, said at the U.S. Open this weekend. “Posters in the bedroom. Autographs. That was his dream. Knicks.”

New York Notes: Holiday, Knicks, Booker, Nets

September 3rd, 2016 at 10:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Headed to his fifth team in four years, Justin Holiday wants to show the Knicks that he’s more than a throw-in from the Derrick Rose trade, relays Marc Berman of The New York Post. Holiday, a 6’6″ shooting guard, divided last season between the Hawks and Bulls, moving in February after a three-team trade that also involved the Jazz. Holiday said he started to feel comfortable in Chicago after the deal, appearing in 27 games, starting four and averaging 6.5 points per night. However, the 27-year-old brother of the Pelicans’ Jrue Holiday found himself on the move again with the June trade to New York. “As far as talent goes, I think we’re one of the more talented team tins his league, especially in the East,” Holiday said of the Knicks. “Hopefully we do some stuff [the Warriors] did.’’ Holiday was a reserve on the Golden State team that won the NBA title in 2015.

There’s more NBA news tonight out of New York:

The Knicks may not live up to Rose’s “super team” designation, but they raised their talent level considerably this offseason, writes A.J. Neuharth-Keusch of USA Today. New York’s addition of Rose, Joakim Noah and Brandon Jennings makes the team interesting, but their collective injury history limits the Knicks’ offseason grade to a B-minus.
The Nets are counting on Trevor Booker to help replace the production lost when Thaddeus Young was traded to the Pacers, according to NetsDaily. Brooklyn signed the former Utah power forward to a two-year, $18.5MM deal shortly after free agency began. The 6’8″ Booker averaged 5.9 points and 5.7 rebounds with the Jazz last season, and he will be counted on to help improve the Nets’ interior defense.
The Nets might be in the worst position of any team in the league, writes Shaun Powell of NBA.com. Powell likes the additions of GM Sean Marks and coach Kenny Atkinson, as well as some of the other offseason moves, but cautions that it will take a long time to change the situation in Brooklyn.

Eastern Notes: Mickey, Brown, Wall, Beal

August 31st, 2016 at 9:04pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jordan Mickey‘s spot on the Celtics‘ roster seems safe even in a crowded training camp, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE. With John Holland being waived today, Boston has 18 players on its roster, with 16 on fully guaranteed contracts. But the Celtics don’t seem likely to cut ties with Mickey after making a four-year commitment to him last offseason. After taking him in the second round of the 2015 draft, Boston gave Mickey a $5MM deal with a higher annual salary than first-round pick R.J. Hunter received. Mickey appeared in just 16 games for Boston as a rookie, spending most of the season with the team’s Maine affiliate in the D-League. He led the league in blocks with 4.4 per game and was a D-League All-Star. Blakely writes that the Celtics want to see more of Mickey at the NBA level before making a long-term decision.

There’s more tonight from the Eastern Conference:

Celtics power forward Jaylen Brown was voted the most athletic rookie by his fellow Class of 2016 members, relays CSNNE. Brown, the third player taken in the June draft, topped an NBA.com poll with 38.7% of the votes, followed by the Clippers’ Brice Johnson with 16.1% and the Suns’ Marquese Chriss with 9.7%.
It’s healthy for John Wall and Bradley Beal to be open about their disagreements, contends Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report. He believes the Wizards‘ backcourt tandem will improve their communication because they’re willing to speak publicly about the problem, which Bucher describes as both wanting to be the dominant personality on the team. Bucher doesn’t think there’s a need to trade either one because their skills are complementary.
The Knicks are gambling with their point guard position by bringing in two players with significant injury histories, writes Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders. New York traded for Derrick Rose, whose 66 games last season were by far the most since tearing his ACL in the 2012 playoffs, and signed Brandon Jennings, who suffered an Achilles tear in January of 2014. Beer lists several unsigned players the Knicks should consider as insurance: Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole, Kirk Hinrich, Nate Robinson, Jordan Farmar, Andre Miller and Lance Stephenson.

New York Notes: Rose, Carmelo, Lin, Nets

August 23rd, 2016 at 4:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Derrick Rose, traded by the Bulls to the Knicks two months ago, referred to his new squad as a “super team” last month, and recently doubled down on the assertion. In a conversation with Nick DePaula of The Vertical, the former MVP continued to rave about his new club and his new teammates.

“I just love the group,” Rose said. “I think everybody is on the same page. I love the culture that Phil [Jackson] is creating. Just the organization and franchise, I love everybody that’s working on it, and they seem like they’re very excited for everything. That just rubs off on people. … I think we have a chance to win every game, and in the league, that’s rare.”

While Rose expects a big year from the Knicks, Hoops Rumors commenters recently named the Nets as the most likely team to be the NBA’s worst in 2016/17. Here’s the latest out of New York on both squads:

Carmelo Anthony is riding high after winning his third Olympic gold medal this summer, but his supporting cast with the Knicks this season won’t be as star-studded as the one he enjoyed in Rio. Marc Berman of The New York Post examines the leadership role Anthony will have to assume for the new-look Knicks as they look to return to the postseason.
Nets CEO Brett Yormark, speaking at an event in Beijing, admitted that the Nets will market newly-signed point guard Jeremy Lin in an effort to tap into a new, Chinese-American fan base (link via Net Income of NetsDaily). However, Yormark says his team won’t try to recreate the “Linsanity” phenomenon, preferring to let things happen organically.
A separate NetsDaily piece focuses on the storylines to watch in Brooklyn with training camp around the corner, including Lin’s arrival, Bojan Bogdanovic‘s contract year, and the Nets‘ youth movement.