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Eric Bledsoe

Western Notes: Bledsoe, Love, Kaman

January 9th, 2014 at 8:31pm CST by Ryan Raroque

ESPN’s Kevin Pelton wonders if the Suns can continue to play well without Eric Bledsoe, mentioning that in the ten games Bledsoe has missed, Phoenix has gone 5-5 (Insiders only). Should the 24-year-old guard be unable to return this season, Pelton doesn’t think the Suns will have trouble finding a viable backup point guard, whether it be Leandro Barbosa (recently signed to a 10-day contract) or acquiring one with an expiring deal via trade.

Here are some more links to share out of the Western Conference tonight:

  • In the midst of mounting frustration in Minnesota, Ken Berger of CBS Sports wonders if the Timberwolves should consider trading Kevin Love before he hits free agency.
  • Lakers center Chris Kaman is still confused about his on-again/off-again role in Mike D’Antoni’s rotation, telling Mike Bresnahan and Eric Pincus of the L.A. Times: “I honestly can’t answer that question for you without telling you a lie. I really have no clue why. I’d just be making something up…I haven’t played in six games and then all of a sudden I play [Wednesday]…I really have no rhyme or reason for it. When it’s my turn, it’s my turn and when it’s not, I just sit and be positive and try to be professional about it.”
  • The city of Sacramento filed an eminent domain lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court that seeks to take control of a former downtown Macy’s department store for the development of a new sports arena, reports Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee. The Kings wired $4.3MM to the city in anticipation of the city taking the eminent domain action.
  • Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune briefly mentions that at a reasonable price of $4MM this season, Brandon Rush could become one of the Jazz’s best assets leading up to the February trade deadline.
  • Doug Robinson of the Deseret News discusses how Trey Burke has been one of the lone bright spots of a “bad” 2013 NBA Draft.
  • Despite their continued struggles, the Lakers aren’t resorting to any finger-pointing, writes Janis Carr of the OC Register.
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Stein On Bulls, Bynum, Bledsoe, J.R. Smith

January 9th, 2014 at 8:00pm CST by Ryan Raroque

During a five-and-a-half minute interview earlier tonight, ESPN’s Marc Stein offered his thoughts on the Deng-Bynum trade, Eric Bledsoe‘s latest injury, and the latest on J.R. Smith and the Knicks (ESPN Radio link). You can find some of the highlights from the interview below.

On what the Deng-Bynum trade means for the Bulls: 

“I really like this deal better for Chicago because they’ve reset themselves entirely as far as finances…nobody wants to part with first-round picks, but to be able to get a first-round pick for a guy who was headed to free agency, that’s a pretty impressive feat…when you look at what’s left over in Chicago, lets assume Derrick Rose comes back, they still have Jimmy Butler, they have Joakim Noah, they’ve got some picks coming in, they’re going to try to get Nikola Mirotic – who’s considered one of the top players in Europe…there’s still some pieces there…if they can hang onto Tom Thibodeau, they still have a good platform for a team moving forward.”

On Andrew Bynum‘s free agency prospects: 

“…the issue with Bynum is I think everyone’s concerned because it’s been so long since he’s been motivated…the reality is that he’s still a very big guy who takes up a lot of space and did show enough flash in Cleveland to let you know he can still be a productive player when he’s in the mood…He wants to go to a contender and somewhere where he can (make more) than the league minimum. I know Dallas is very interested in him. Miami and the Clippers are two teams that have been mentioned, but I think in both cases there’s probably some hesitation as well…Miami already has Greg Oden there, do they really want two reclamation project centers on that team? 

Doc Rivers has been very vocal this week saying that our concern is on the perimeter because we lost Chris Paul for six weeks…they’re not looking for a big man. Is that smoke screen from (Rivers)? I think we’ll find out pretty soon.”

On how Eric Bledsoe’s injury affects the Suns plans: 

“It’s a crusher…there’s been all kinds of talk that Phoenix would move (one or two of their stash of future first-round picks) in order to try to get another frontline player and make a playoff push now…those plans are going to have to be revised most likely because it looks like Bledsoe (could) miss a significant amount of time.” 

“…they won’t know exactly how bad (the condition) and they won’t know until the surgery takes place, but this is the first depressing downer to happen to Phoenix after a fairy-tale two months.”

On J.R. Smith and the Knicks: 

“The reality is that I don’t think they’ll be able to move him. Now I would not co-sign on the notion that this is purely a Knicks ‘scare tactic’…the Knicks weren’t the ones who told me or Ian Begley that J.R. Smith was being shopped…I don’t think this was some sort of thing the Knicks strategically leaked because they’re trying to light a fire under (him)…They’re undoubtedly frustrated with him, they (feel) like it’s time for a fresh start for all parties, but the reality is that (Smith) has two more years left on his contract after this one, his production has dropped considerably, and off the cour there’s been four or five flareups already that have resulted in fines or negative headlines…the Knicks are realistic, they know that chances are they’re not going to find a trade partner for him, but they’re trying. They are trying and that is legitimate.”

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Suns Will Do “Whatever It Takes” To Keep Bledsoe

January 1st, 2014 at 10:42am CST by Zachary Links

The Suns decided against trying to hammer out an extension with guard Eric Bledsoe before this year’s Halloween deadline.  The rationale from Phoenix over the offseason was that they wanted to know for sure that the athletic Kentucky product would shine in his first full year as a starter.  Now that he’s left no doubt, GM Ryan McDonough says there’s no way he’ll let Bledsoe walk as a restricted free agent.

“Obviously we don’t have a whole lot of money committed for the future, we don’t have a lot of long-term contracts on our books. So we’ll have no problem stepping up and paying Eric whatever it takes to keep him,” McDonough told Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com.

In addition to the built-in advantages that Phoenix has in their effort to re-sign him (five contract years versus four from others, high percentage increases), McDonough points out that Bledsoe is also happy with the Suns.  Meanwhile, Bledsoe isn’t bitter over not getting a contract before the season.  The guard told his agent back in October that he was fully prepared to play without a deal beyond the 2013/14 season.

The 24-year-old has been nothing short of stellar in his first year with the Suns, averaging 18.0 PPG and 5.8 APG with a PER of 20.2.

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Los Angeles Notes: Pau, Williams, Bledsoe

December 31st, 2013 at 12:27pm CST by Luke Adams

As the Lakers prepare to host a New Year’s Eve contest against the Bucks, let’s check in on the latest items on Los Angeles’ two NBA teams….

  • Following up on ESPN’s report that the Lakers and Cavs have discussed a trade centered around Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com writes that such a move would represent a “fundamental shift in [the Lakers’] competitive and financial DNA.” Rival executives are dubious that the Lakers would really make a drastic cost-cutting move, and Berger doesn’t believe it would benefit the team in the short- or long-term, though I think he may be underselling the benefit of getting out of the tax this season — in that scenario, the Lakers could be a tax team again by 2015/16 and avoid paying the repeater penalty.
  • For what it’s worth, the early returns on Hoops Rumors’ poll today suggest many of our readers believe the Lakers‘ best strategy for Gasol involves a salary-dump trade.
  • In his list of potential fits for Bynum, ESPN.com’s Amin Elhassan (Insider link) classifies the Clippers as strong contenders, and doesn’t mention the Lakers. Of course, Elhassan’s piece is focusing more on logical on-court destinations for Bynum, rather than the best trade partners for the Cavs.
  • In a separate ESPN Insider piece, Tom Haberstroh writes that the Lakers should embrace 2014’s Tankapalooza.
  • Terrence Williams‘ D-League team will be the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the Lakers‘ affiliate, according to Gino Pilato of D-League Digest. Williams, who played for the Celtics last season, signed to play in Turkey this year, but returned stateside in November for family reasons.
  • Eric Bledsoe spoke to Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com about returning to the Staples Center to face the Clippers for the first time as a Sun. Doc Rivers discussed Bledsoe as well, referring to the three-way trade involving the Clippers and Suns as a deal that should ultimately help both clubs.
  • More Rivers on Bledsoe: “He was ready to be a starter. There’s no doubt about it. We really only had one talk and I talked to his representatives, and they made that very clear. If it wasn’t starting, it was playing a lot of minutes. That could have happened here. I just didn’t know if it was going to happen here, and I didn’t know if he would be happy or not. I think he would have handled it, but it would have been no fun.”
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Pacific Rumors: Jackson, Rivers, Bledsoe

December 11th, 2013 at 1:43pm CST by Chuck Myron

A pair of Pacific Division teams have turned their final roster spots over to experienced players, with the Clippers signing Stephen Jackson and the Warriors bringing on Hilton Armstrong. Doc Rivers says he wanted a player who’s been around, as Brian Robb of ESPN.com notes, and the 35-year-old Jackson, who’s played 13 seasons in the NBA, certainly fits the profile. Rivers also enjoys getting to make that kind of decision, as we detail in our roundup from the Pacific:

  • The opportunity to coach as well as run the front office helped make the Clippers job appealing to Rivers, as he said on radio with Felger and Massarotti of 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston (link via CBS Boston).
  • Soon-to-be restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe says he feels more confident and has a greater sense of freedom playing for the Suns this year as opposed to his time with the Clippers, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
  • The Suns are 12-9, just a game and a half out of first place in the division, and the success is surprising even to members of the team’s braintrust, notes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Phoenix’s unexpected victories hurt the team’s chances of landing a superstar in the draft, but they don’t necessarily derail an ascent to contention, writes Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register.
  • The Warriors made the right decision when they traded Monta Ellis at the 2012 deadline to free up playing time for Klay Thompson, and the move has worked out well for Ellis, too, as Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com argues in an Insider piece.
  • There’s plenty of activity surrounding the Kings, as we passed along earlier today.
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Pacific Rumors: Bledsoe, Hornacek, Warriors

November 24th, 2013 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The league has been full of unanticipated performances so far, but the Pacific Division standings come close to expectations. The Clippers and Warriors would be playoff teams if the season ended today, while the Suns, Lakers and Kings would miss out. Of course, Phoenix is 6-6 and just a game behind Golden State, so chaos isn’t far off. Here’s the latest:

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Odds & Ends: Bledsoe, Stephenson, Korver

November 7th, 2013 at 7:36pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Eric Bledsoe has kicked off his inaugural campaign as a full-time starter in Phoenix with a bang, averaging 21.0 PPG, 7.2 APG, 5.0 RPG, 1.8 SPG in 33.8 MPG, and helping the Suns to a 3-2 record after five games. The 4th year veteran is set to become a restricted free agent next summer after failing to land an extension last week, and while some may be worried that this potentially means a short tenure for Bledsoe in Phoenix, GM Ryan McDonough was openly optimistic about being able to re-sign him (Adam Green of Arizona Sports, hat tip to Burns and Gambo of Arizona Sports 620):

“I feel very confident that he’s going to be a Sun long-term…We negotiated with Eric and his agents. I think the contract situation was handled very professionally on both ends…We can match any offer to Eric next summer…Another advantage would be we have an extra year to play with. Other teams who are making Eric an offer can offer him four years, we can offer him up to five if we chose to do so…So there’s some inherent advantages that I just mentioned, also we can give higher percentage increases than another team could give Eric in a contract.”

Here are some more miscellaneous news and notes to pass along tonight:

  • Looking into Lance Stephenson‘s comments that he thinks the Pacers would “do anything” to keep him in Indiana for the long term, Candace Buckner of IndyStar.com (along with USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt) explores how the 23-year-old shooting guard could be positioning himself for a five-year max deal next summer. While I’m not too sure about labeling Stephenson as a max-level player at this point, if he can maintain his current averages of 16.3 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 4.6 APG, and 47% shooting from the field, he should draw some very lucrative offers next July.
  • Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post notes how the Nuggets’ plans to recruit Kyle Korver this past summer led to nothing more than brief contact because of the massive turnover that had been going on within the front office and coaching staff. Korver would eventually re-sign with the Hawks.
  • The Thunder have hired former Raptors vice president and assistant GM Maurizio Gherardini in a senior adviser/international affairs position, according to Darnell Mayberry of NewsOK.
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Western Rumors: Kings, Martin, Bledsoe

November 2nd, 2013 at 11:57am CST by Chuck Myron

Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro said the lack of extensions for Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson and the team’s decision to decline its fourth-year option on Jimmer Fredette aren’t necessarily a reflection of the way the club feels about those players.

“With Jimmer, we spoke to him and his representatives throughout the process,” D’Alessandro said, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee observes. “And they’re not easy decisions to make. We have these deadlines that are at an awkward time, Oct. 31, especially at a time when we just got our positions here.”

We heard earlier that the Kings are enamored with Vasquez and intend to match any offer he gets in restricted free agency this summer. Here’s more on free agents past and future, with a Western kick:

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Odds & Ends: Bledsoe, Turner, Bradley

November 1st, 2013 at 11:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Suns might not get a discount on Eric Bledsoe this summer after passing on an extension for him last night, but team president of basketball operations Lon Babby would be OK with seeing Bledsoe’s price tag escalate if he has a breakout year. Matt Petersen of Suns.com shares that and more from Babby in the wake of last night’s extension deadline.

“I can’t say that we received an unqualified declaration of [Bledsoe wanting to stay in Phoenix long-term], but I wouldn’t expect that,” Babby said. “That’s part of the issue. He’s only been with us for a short time. But if you’re asking me is there any indication he’s not happy here, absolutely not. I think he’s very, very happy and we’ll do everything we can to make sure he’s happy. He’s an important part of this franchise for a long, long time to come.”

There’s more on a pair of players who’ll also hit restricted free agency this summer as we round up the latest from the Association:

  • Evan Turner said earlier that he and Sixers GM Sam Hinkie didn’t have any talks about an extension, and that silence extends to any mention of Turner’s future in Philadelphia, as Turner told reporters, including Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News. Turner isn’t sure if that future includes the Sixers after seeing the team trade Jrue Holiday, a player he called a “walking legend.” (Twitter links).
  • Avery Bradley isn’t concerned that the Celtics passed on what reportedly would have been a four-year extension, telling Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald and other assembled media today that he’d love to stay in Boston.
  • We already knew that the Rockets had protected B.J. Young from tonight’s D-League draft, and Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle notes the team did the same for fellow camp casualties Jordan Henriquez and Troy Daniels (Twitter link).
  • In an interview with the YES Network, Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov shared his enthusiastic response when informed of the prospect of the Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce trade and explained that his desire for a non-traditional coach led him to Jason Kidd. Newsday’s Roderick Boone has the details.
  • Commissioner-in-waiting Adam Silver spoke with Jared Weiss of CLNS Radio about the this season’s leaguewide rollout of SportVU cameras, expressing the league’s desire to create a level playing field in terms of the data and technology available to teams.
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Odds & Ends: Mavs, D-League, Collins, Dragic

November 1st, 2013 at 4:56pm CST by Luke Adams

Dirk Nowitzki publicly questioned Mark Cuban‘s approach to retooling the Mavericks back in January, and the team struck out on its top target again this summer when Dwight Howard decided to join the Rockets. But Nowitzki tells Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com that he’s pleased with the roster Cuban and Donnie Nelson put together this offseason, and he’s encouraged by the club’s direction.

“I think as a franchise, we’ve moved on,” Nowitzki said of the failed attempts to recruit star free agents. “We didn’t go for the whole cap space deal again, like we did last year, so I was obviously pleased to see that.”

Here are a few more Friday afternoon odds and ends:

  • With the D-League draft set to get underway at 6:00pm CT tonight, the Iowa Energy traded the third overall pick as part of a deal with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Heat camp invitee and NBA champion Jarvis Varnado headed to Iowa in the move, as Keith Schlosser writes at Ridiculous Upside.
  • One player who won’t be playing on a D-League squad anytime soon is free agent big man Jason Collins, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein. Stein hears from a source that Collins isn’t considering playing overseas or in the D-League, since he still believes he’s an NBA player and prefers to continue his workout regimen at home in Los Angeles.
  • In a separate ESPN.com story, Stein writes that the Suns are comfortable with Eric Bledsoe heading into free agency next summer. However, it sounds like Phoenix hasn’t ruled out the possibility of facilitating a sign-and-trade involving Bledsoe in July if he gets too pricey, so the team likely won’t shop Goran Dragic for now.
  • John Jenkins tells Lang Greene of HoopsWorld it “feels great” that the Hawks elected to exercise his third-year option for 2014/15 yesterday.
  • $14MM over four years is a reasonable price for Quincy Pondexter, but he’ll have to continue to develop for his new contract to be a good investment for the Grizzlies, says Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com.
  • DeShawn Sims, who was in camp with the Celtics in October, has signed with Galil Gilboa in Israel, agent Mike Silverman tells Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
  • Since being released by the Rockets, Tim Ohlbrecht has remained in the U.S. in hopes of landing another NBA job, but continues to consider overseas offers, according to Schlosser at Ridiculous Upside.
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