Dragan Bender Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Brown, Van Gundy, Jackson

April 12th, 2016 at 10:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Nets have gone 11-33 under interim coach Tony Brown, who understands that he is coaching for his job but asserts that he is unfazed by the pressure involved, Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily relays. “I feel like the situation has been tough from the beginning,” Brown said. “I’ve tried to make the best of it, and I’m going to continue to do that the last two games and whatever happens, happens. I’m not worried about my fate with this organization. I’m just trying to give these guys a great opportunity to showcase their skills, and I’m going to continue to do that.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy won the trade market this season, with his deals for Marcus Morris, Reggie Bullock and Tobias Harris being clear victories for the franchise, writes Rod Beard of The Detroit News. The scribe also points to the offseason signing of Aron Baynes, who has provided solid minutes as the backup center, as another strong roster move by Van Gundy.
Notre Dame junior point guard Demetrius Jackson intends to hire Priority Sports to represent him, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops tweets. Hiring an agent would eliminate the possibility of Jackson returning to school for his senior campaign. The 21-year-old is ranked No. 11 in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress listings and 25th according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
Dragan Bender is easily the most tantalizing among the international prospects who are entering the 2016 NBA Draft, opines Derek Bodner of USA Today. The big man’s combination of size, speed and mobility have NBA scouts excited for his potential, though he will need to add strength and bulk before he can hope to be a force in the NBA, Bodner adds. Bender is the No. 3 overall prospect according to both Ford and Givony.

Dragan Bender Enters Draft

April 6th, 2016 at 11:40am CST by Chuck Myron

11:40am: Bender is unlikely to take part in any predraft workouts for NBA teams, Pick hears (Twitter link). The season for his team in Israel could stretch until June 9th, precisely two weeks prior to the draft, as Pick points out.

9:14am: The buyout in Bender’s Israel deal is in excess of $1MM, a source told Pick, who nonetheless adds that he still won’t become a draft-and-stash prospect (Twitter link).

8:46am: Elite European prospect Dragan Bender officially entered the draft this morning, agent Doug Neustadt says, according to Fran Fraschilla of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The 18-year-old power forward already told Maccabi Tel Aviv, the Israeli team he’s played for this season, that he intends to leave, tweets international journalist David Pick. Bender is the No. 3 prospect in the rankings that both Chad Ford of ESPN.com and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress compile.

Officials from at least one NBA team believe the buyout clause in his contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv requires only $650K, precisely the amount an NBA can pay without it affecting his rookie scale contract, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported earlier this week. That, combined with the news that he’s told the Israeli team he’s headed elsewhere, seems to make it clear that Bender won’t be a draft-and-stash player and will appear on NBA hardwoods this fall. If so, it’ll bring years of anticipation to a climax, though he doesn’t turn 19 until November, and his body isn’t close to ready for the NBA, Givony wrote in February.

Bender has nonetheless been the object of intrigue for quite some time despite his pedestrian stats overseas. He’s seen just 12.3 minutes per game for Tel Aviv so far this season, averaging 4.7 points and 2.3 rebounds, though he’s shown an emerging 3-point stroke, hitting 39.7% of his 63 attempts. He can play small forward or center in addition to the four, as Ford notes in his profile, and that versatility comes with an underrated toughness, according to Givony.

And-Ones: Hawks, Labissiere, Bender, Beasley

April 5th, 2016 at 3:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Hawks hope they’ve scored some brownie points with free agents through today’s announcement that P3 Sports Science, a California training facility that counts many NBA players among its clients, will open a location within the new practice facility that the team revealed plans for today, tweets Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com. Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported the Hawks would announce today that they’re building the $50MM practice facility, to be paid for through private funding (Twitter links), and Hawks owner Tony Ressler was adamant that building the new facility is his top priority for the team, Vivlamore notes (Twitter link). Soon-to-be free agent Al Horford is among the dozens of NBA players that P3 lists as clients. The facility is scheduled to open in time for the 2017/18 season, Vivlamore writes.

While we wait to see if today’s news has a tangible effect on Horford or anyone else Atlanta targets, see more from around the NBA:

Kentucky freshman center/forward Skal Labissiere plans to hire an agent as he heads into the NBA draft, the school announced, so he’ll be ineligible to withdraw and return to college ball. The 7’0″ 20-year-old is one of 14 Kentucky underclassmen who are entering the draft, as coach John Calipari said last month, though whether any of the others intend to hire agents remains unclear. Labissiere, who once sat atop Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress prospect rankings, is now No. 10 on that list, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com has him 16th.
Officials from one NBA team told Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders they believe the buyout clause in elite draft prospect Dragan Bender‘s contract with Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv is $650K, precisely the amount NBA teams will be able to pay without it affecting his rookie scale contract (Twitter link). Bender, an 18-year-old power forward, is No. 3 in both Ford’s and Givony’s rankings.
Michael Beasley has left agent Jared Karnes of the Allegiant Athletic Agency, as the SportsBusiness Journal reports. The former No. 2 overall pick has averaged 14.1 points in 19.8 minutes per game since signing with the Rockets last month. The minimum-salary deal includes a non-guaranteed salary for next season, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.

Pacific Notes: Cousins, Bender, Knight

March 16th, 2016 at 6:57pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Kings will listen to offers for DeMarcus Cousins this summer, but it’s unlikely that a trade occurs until they lower their asking price, Sam Amick of USA Today writes.

Last June, Sacramento reportedly wanted Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, the No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft and other draft considerations in exchange for Cousins. Some rival executives believed Sacramento’s demands were outrageous, Amick hears, while other executives viewed the proposal differently, speculating that the Kings didn’t value either the draft picks or unproven prospects as enough for Cousins by themselves because they wanted to win immediately.

The Kings are likely to soften their stance on a Cousins trade if the situation doesn’t improve leading up to the 2017 trade deadline, the scribe adds. Cousins is signed through the 2017/18 season, and he’ll make slightly over $35MM during the two seasons that follow this one.

Here’s more from the Pacific Division

The Kings would like to mend their relationship with Cousins, and some within the organization hope that it could be fixed with a coaching change in the offseason, Amick writes in the same piece.
Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak was in attendance for Maccabi Tel Aviv’s practice in Israel today, presumably to watch Dragan Bender, Jake Fischer of SI Now reports (Twitter link).
The acquisition of Brandon Knight hasn’t worked out for the Suns, and the team would be foolish not to consider trading him, Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post opines. Bontemps argues that Knight’s five-year, $70MM deal is movable, and that with the emergence of Devin Booker, the team can afford to make a move in the backcourt.

And-Ones: Horford, Howard, LeVert, Simmons

March 15th, 2016 at 3:41pm CST by Chuck Myron

Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey is unsurprisingly a major fan of soon-to-be free agent big man Al Horford, as Jason Quick of CSNNW.com tweets. Horford will reportedly prioritize the fifth year that the Hawks, and no one else, can offer him in a new contract this summer, but he hasn’t made any commitments despite his fondness for Atlanta, and he reportedly has a degree of interest in the Magic. Portland wouldn’t offer the geographical advantage of no state income tax and proximity to his college home of the University of Florida that the Magic could, but the Blazers have an intriguing backcourt of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum to showcase to Horford and other free agents this summer, when the team will have only about $47MM in guaranteed salary on the books against a salary cap expected to be twice that amount. See more from around the league:

Rockets GM Daryl Morey was mum when ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan asked him whether he planned to re-sign Dwight Howard this summer, as Matt Dollinger of SI.com notes in a roundup of last week’s MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Agent David Falk regards Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf as the toughest negotiator he’s ever gone against, Dollinger notes in the same piece.
Positional versatility and a strong overall package make Michigan swingman Caris LeVert an intriguing prospect, but he looks ill-suited to become a go-to guy, and his history of injuries is a concern, write Josh Riddell and Mike Schmitz of DraftExpress.
Sean Deveney of The Sporting News sides with LSU combo forward Ben Simmons in the debate over whether Simmons or Duke small forward Brandon Ingram is the top prospect in this year’s draft, listing Simmons atop his first mock draft. Ingram follows, with European power forward Dragan Bender at No. 3.

And-Ones: Oden, D-League, NBA Draft

February 10th, 2016 at 10:33pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA is enamored with the idea of expanding rosters from the current regular season maximum of 15 to as many as 17 as part of the next CBA, with the additional spots to be designated for two-way D-League contracts, Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com writes. While the concept is still very much in the planning stages, the current idea is that the D-League portion of the contracts would be valued in the neighborhood of $75K to $100K per season, according to the NBA.com scribe. If the player were called up to the NBA, he would then earn a prorated portion of his NBA salary, Howard-Cooper adds.

“I think it’s something that makes a lot of sense for our league,” D-League president Malcolm Turner said. “I don’t want to get ahead of where we are, in terms of planning conversations, but I think it’s clearly a logical next step in our evolution. As you expand, you have rosters to fill, and we want to do so in a way that allows us to add more and better talent to the league faster. A two-way system can be facilitating.”

Here’s the latest from around the league:

Former 2007 No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden was released by the Jiangsu Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association recently, throwing his playing future into question, Doug Lesmerises of The Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. Oden indicated that his deal with Jiangsu was month-to-month, so letting him go saved the team a month’s worth of salary, Lesmerises notes. When asked if he intended to continue his playing career, Oden said, “I mean, if the opportunity is there, and it’s the right opportunity, of course. I’ve just got to look at the opportunities. I haven’t heard about anything yet. I’ll take what I can.” Oden last appeared in the NBA during the 2013/14 campaign when he played in 23 games for the Heat.
LSU’s Ben Simmons, Duke’s Brandon Ingram and Croatian big man Dragan Bender top the latest 2016 NBA draft rankings from ESPN’s Chad Ford (Insider subscription required).
One factor contributing to why the Knicks fired Derek Fisher prior to the All-Star break is that the league office frowns upon teams parting ways with coaches during All-Star week, as it detracts from the festivities, Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports tweets.
The Heat have assigned power forward Jarnell Stokes to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Stokes’ sixth trip to Sioux Falls on the season.

And-Ones: Celtics, Sixers, Bender, Free Agency

February 5th, 2016 at 4:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The unprotected first-rounder that the Nets owe the Celtics for this year’s draft is available for the right price, Boston president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Thursday in an appearance on the “Dale & Holley with Thornton” show on WEEI radio. That price is high, Ainge cautioned. Sean Deveney of The Sporting News wrote earlier this week that the pick was “definitely not available,” but while that might not technically be true, it sounds like that’s effectively the case for all but the most enticing offers.

“It would have to be, certainly, a very good player. And also it probably wouldn’t be someone in their 30s,” Ainge said to the radio hosts. “That would have to be a good young player, because again, even if we had a 5% or a 10% or a 15% chance at one of the top picks in the draft, that’s worth keeping.”

The Nets pick is No. 3 in the lottery order for now, as our Reverse Standings show, so if that position holds, it would give the Celtics a 17.8% chance at the No. 1 pick and about 50-50 odds of picking somewhere in the top three. See more from around the NBA:

Brett Brown understands the Sixers front office has the task of improving the team for the future, and the roster he has isn’t exactly a coach’s dream, but he would prefer that Philadelphia stands pat at the trade deadline, as he told Tom Moore of Calkins Media. “All coaches beg for consistency,” Brown said. “You feel like your teaching message, your purpose, your points of emphasis have a chance to resonate and be delivered and improved upon better with time.”
Versatility and an underrated toughness are some of the qualities that make Dragan Bender easily the top overseas prospect for the 2016 draft, but as the draft’s youngest prospect, his frame isn’t close to being ready to handle the NBA, according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Still, he’ll almost certainly enter the draft this year, Givony hears, and his vast potential has him No. 3 in Givony’s prospect rankings.
The ability to match competing bids in the summer, an understanding of the player’s contract demands from the extension window, and low rookie scale salaries are reasons why soon-to-be restricted free agents are intriguing trade candidates, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller posits, offering a few names as particularly interesting cases.

And-Ones: Durant, Noah, LeBron, Draft

January 26th, 2016 at 2:15pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kevin Durant fielded the first direct questions in more than two months about his upcoming free agency today as the Thunder prepare to play the Knicks in New York, and his answers revealed little, with mostly boilerplate responses surrounding his sentiments for playing at Madison Square Garden, as The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater transcribes. Still, he dismissed the notion that a large market would be any better for his business profile than small-market Oklahoma City and said his main focus is on the court, anyway. He spoke fondly of New York basketball culture, but that’s standard fare, as Durant himself essentially suggested.

“They link everybody with New York City,” Durant said, according to Slater’s transcription. “One of the greatest cities in the world. They link everybody with this city. So it’s not a bad thing. Great city. Great place to visit, great place to live, I’m sure. They link everybody, it’s not just me.”

See more from around the NBA:

Joakim Noah, another soon-to-be free agent, hopes he’ll be back with the Bulls next season, as he told reporters, including Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com (Twitter link). It’s not uncommon for players to say that about their incumbent teams as they approach free agency, but he has reportedly been displeased with how the team has viewed him this year, one in which he played mostly in a backup role before suffering a shoulder injury that’s likely to have ended his season.
Heat minority share owner Ranaan Katz is among those who say that LeBron James engineered the firing of former Cavaliers coach David Blatt, adding that James tried and failed to oust Erik Spoelstra when they were together in Miami, according to international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). Spoelstra is currently the NBA’s second longest-tenured coach.
Ben Simmons goes to the Sixers, Brandon Ingram to the Lakers and Dragan Bender to the Celtics in the top three picks of the latest mock draft from Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.

And-Ones: Williams, Love, McLemore

January 21st, 2016 at 10:35pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Shooting guard Elliot Williams, whom the Grizzlies didn’t sign to a second 10-day contract after his first expired on Sunday, has declined multiple offers from overseas teams as he awaits another NBA team to come calling, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter link). Williams averaged 1.6 points on 20% shooting in nine minutes per contest across five appearances for Memphis. The Grizzlies instead signed center Ryan Hollins to a 10-day contract today, filling the roster spot Williams had been in.

Here’s more from around the league:

The Bulls are a team in disarray, which is a byproduct of parting ways with former coach Tom Thibodeau, Colin McGowan of RealGM writes. Chicago wanted a coach who was more respectful of the chain of command, and it got that in new coach Fred Hoiberg, but the team has looked sluggish on offense and disinterested in defense far too often this season as a result of the switch, McGowan contends.
Kings shooting guard Ben McLemore‘s playing time has suffered due to the offseason additions of Rajon Rondo and Marco Belinelli, and the third-year player is still trying to adjust to his new role, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes. “I think I’m still trying to find my flow on this team,” McLemore told Jones. “I know what I need to do. I’m just trying to figure it out. Last year I figured it out pretty fast. Now I need to get over this hump and push from there.”
If the Cavaliers are to maximize their potential this season, power forward Kevin Love will need to fully embrace his role as the team’s third star, Kevin Cottrell Jr. of NBA.com writes. Love has struggled with his touches and role being reduced since arriving in Cleveland, something that Chris Bosh, a former teammate of LeBron James, cautioned could become an issue when the trade for Love was first announced, Cottrell notes.
LSU’s Ben Simmons tops the latest mock draft from ESPN’s Chad Ford (Insider subscription required). The combo forward is followed on Ford’s list by Duke’s Brandon Ingram and Croatian big man Dragan Bender, who round out the top three.

Atlantic Notes: Wroten, 2016 Draft, Johnson

January 21st, 2016 at 5:34pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Knicks don’t want to sign a player to a 10-day deal who won’t crack their rotation, which explains why the team hasn’t added Tony Wroten or Jimmer Fredette despite possessing an open roster spot, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. New York thinks it would be wasteful to do so, according to Berman, and the franchise won’t be pressed into making a move unless a rotation player goes down with an injury. The Knicks are also considering using a 10-day pact on a young player who would play primarily in the D-League in order to learn the triangle offense, the New York Post scribe adds. Berman notes that New York has expressed some level of interest in Wroten but is concerned about his tendency to gamble on defense.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Celtics power forward Amir Johnson, who departed the Raptors as a free agent this past offseason, is missed by his former teammates and Toronto’s fans because of his tireless work ethic, Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca writes. “I think fans appreciate hard work,” said Patrick Patterson, who spent a season and a half with Johnson with the Raptors. “They appreciate guys who lay it out every single night, who play with their heart and soul. Like I said, he was battling through injuries and he wasn’t sitting out. He wasn’t in the locker room not participating. He was out there every single night playing those games no matter how he felt, no matter how badly his body needed rest, he was out there every night with his heart and soul.“
The Nets have hired well-known shooting coach David Nurse to work with their players, NetsDaily relays. Brooklyn is shooting 44.6% from the field and hitting just 31.8% of their 3-pointers on the season.
The Celtics own Brooklyn’s 2016 first round pick. which is likely to land in the top five, and the crew over at CSNNE.com looked at six potential draft targets for Boston. Besides the projected No. 1 overall pick, Ben Simmons of LSU, Boston is also likely to strongly consider Jaylen Brown (California), Buddy Hield (Oklahoma), Kris Dunn (Providence), Dragan Bender (Croatia) and Brandan Ingram (Duke).