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Southwest Notes: Smith Jr., Anthony, F. Jackson

July 30th, 2017 at 7:56pm CST by Austin Kent

Count Chauncey Billups among those who think that Mavs rookie Dennis Smith Jr. will be able to make a serious case for Rookie of the Year, Adam Grosbard of the Dallas Morning News writes.

“I think he’s the most polished out of all the point guards that were out there this year,” the former All-Star said of the Mavs’ ninth-overall pick. “I think he’s the most polished, pro-ready in my opinion and there’s some really good ones that came into the draft this year.”

Smith Jr. has been perceived as an early leader for the Rookie of the Year after an impressive summer league showing and will join the Mavs as an explosive playmaker cut from the same cloth, Billups believes, as Baron Davis.

“I’m happy that he’s going to get to play for Rick Carlisle, who’s a guy that I believe in,” Billups added. The current Mavs head coach, of course, coached Billups and his 2002/03 Pistons to the Eastern Conference Finals.

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • Although he isn’t a free agent, Carmelo Anthony holds his fate in his own hands. Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders writes about how it’s in his best interests, financially, to end up with the Rockets sooner than later.
  • One of the things that sets Mavs icon Dirk Nowitzki apart is his willingness to work with young players, Harrison Barnes said in an interview on The Fan’s Ben and Skin. “The biggest thing for me when I came to Dallas was how open and willing he was to work with young guys. Work on the court every day, be willing to talk, have access to. Guys of his status, All-Stars or future Hall of Famers, can kind of be distant,” he said.
  • The majority of Frank Jackson‘s contract with the Pelicans is guaranteed, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Jackson’s first two seasons are guaranteed at the league minimum, as is $506K of his third season.
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Frank Jackson Signs With Pelicans

July 11th, 2017 at 10:14am CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 11: The Pelicans have officially signed Jackson, the team announced today in a press release. While terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed by the club, a three-year contract for Jackson – as reported below – would mean dipping into New Orleans’ mid-level exception.

JULY 8: The Pelicans have worked out a three-year deal with second-round pick Frank Jackson, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical. The 31st overall selection out of Duke will get two guaranteed seasons, along with a partial guarantee for the third year.

New Orleans traded the 40th pick and $1.8MM to Charlotte on draft night for the right to move up and take Jackson. He figures to compete for playing time right away in a Pelicans backcourt that is still being rebuilt after it was depleted in the February trade for DeMarcus Cousins.

Jackson, a 6’4″ combo guard, averaged 10.9 points per game during his lone season with the Blue Devils.

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Southwest Notes: Pelicans, Rockets, CP3, Mavs

June 26th, 2017 at 3:35pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans sent $1.8MM to the Hornets in order to move up from No. 40 to No. 31 on draft night to select Frank Jackson, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). While that’s a significant price to pay to move up nine spots in the second round, New Orleans recouped some of that money later in the night, according to Pincus, who tweets that the Pelicans got $1MM from the Pacers for the No. 52 overall pick.

That 52nd pick in Thursday’s draft initially belonged to Washington, but was acquired by the Pelicans last week in exchange for Tim Frazier. So, in order to acquire the draft rights to Jackson, New Orleans ultimately gave up Frazier, the No. 40 overall pick, and $800K.

Here’s more from around the Southwest division:

  • Discussing the Rockets‘ interest in Chris Paul during a spot on ESPN (video link via Ben DuBose), Chris Haynes suggests that he has heard Houston has a “serious chance” to land the veteran point guard.
  • Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News takes a closer look at some of the potential free agent targets who figure to be in the Mavericks‘ price range this offseason.
  • Mavericks guard Seth Curry still hopes to spend some time at the point, even after the team drafted Dennis Smith Jr., but also believes he and Smith are capable of playing alongside one another. “We’re very different type players,” Curry said, per The Dallas Morning News. “I definitely don’t have his athleticism but hopefully we can do some dynamic things on the court together.”
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Pelicans Acquire Frank Jackson From Hornets

June 22nd, 2017 at 11:07pm CST by Arthur Hill

11:07pm: The trade is now official, according to the Hornets, who used their newly-acquired pick on Dwayne Bacon (Twitter link).

9:58pm: The Hornets drafted Duke guard Frank Jackson at No. 31 and will trade him to the Pelicans, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical.

Charlotte will receive pick No. 40 in return, along with cash. The selection they used to on Jackson was acquired from the Hawks in Tuesday’s Dwight Howard trade. The Hornets sent pick No. 41 to Atlanta in that deal, so they are essentially back where they started.

A 6’4″ combo guard, Jackson averaged 10.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game during his lone season at Duke.

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Draft Rumors: Monk, Ntilikina, Hornets, Thunder

June 22nd, 2017 at 6:38pm CST by Luke Adams

Malik Monk and Frank Ntilikina may be in “weird positions” tonight, according to ESPN’s Chad Ford. As Ford explains, one of those two players is a good bet to land with the Knicks at No. 8. However, the player who isn’t picked by New York is a candidate to fall out of the top 10 and perhaps to the end of the lottery. In his final mock draft, Ford has Ntilikina going to the Knicks and Monk slipping to the Pistons at No. 12.

Here are a few more draft rumors and notes:

  • Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post continues to hear that if he’s still on the board at No. 11, Donovan Mitchell appears likely to land with the Hornets (Twitter link).
  • There’s “growing chatter” that Frank Jackson has a first-round promise, and the Thunder may be that team that gave him that guarantee, tweets Royce Young of ESPN.com. Young adds (via Twitter) that Oklahoma City may look to trade back a few spots in the first round in an effort to pick up a second-round selection.
  • John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 identifies Davon Reed and Semi Ojeleye as two players to watch for the Suns in the second round (Twitter link).
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Draft Rumors: Jackson, Kennard, Isaac, Smith Jr.

June 15th, 2017 at 10:18am CST by Luke Adams

Although foot issues have prevented former Duke guard Frank Jackson from working out for teams in recent weeks, he has been visiting and meeting with several clubs, per Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Deveney reports that the Hawks, Knicks, and Jazz have all brought in Jackson.

Elsewhere in his piece, Deveney provides updates on OG Anunoby and Luke Kennard, writing that the Lakers are holding out hope that Anunoby will fall to them at No. 28, though he’s receiving interest from plenty of teams picking earlier. As for Kennard, one scout who spoke to Deveney wasn’t overly bullish on Kennard’s ability to sneak into the top 10.

“I understand that everyone wants shooters,” the scout said of Kennard. “No one questions that the kid can shoot. But I can’t see him becoming a good defender. You just hope that he develops into a neutral defender, that he does not hurt you. He might go in the lottery in this draft because of the way he can shoot, but in most drafts he is more down in the late teens.”

Here are a few more draft-related rumors and notes from around the league:

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Knicks Notes: Draft, Lottery, Jackson, Oakley

May 16th, 2017 at 4:53pm CST by Joshua Fischman

With the NBA draft lottery a mere hours away, the Knicks organization will soon learn where it will draft next month. The Knicks stands a 5.3% chance of grabbing the first overall selection and, at worst, will pick 10th overall. The team has trained its focus on wings and guards, according to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com.

The Knicks delegation made up of Phil Jackson, GM Steve Mills, assistant GM Allan Houston, and head coach Jeff Hornacek interviewed Markelle Fultz, De’Aaron Fox, Justin Jackson, and Frank Jackson, at the combine, per Zagoria. Fox beamed about his desire to play for the Knicks in another piece Zagoria wrote for FanRagSports.com.

“I don’t know too much about the triangle,” Fox said. “Everyone says it’s hard to learn but if I go in there I’ll have to learn quickly. And Porzingis, he’s amazing, watching the NBA this year. I really paid attention to the NBA this year knowing I’m about to go into this business; I had to stop watching it as a casual fan and start thinking of it as a business aspect. He’s great and if I get to play with him, I feel like we can do something special.”

Here’s more on the Knicks:

  • Phil Jackson is furious about the coverage he and the team are getting by the New York media, but it is Jackson who must take accountability for his failures for the Knicks culture to improve, writes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. In particular, Jackson should question the effect of his treatment of star players on the team, argues Isola. Jackson claims that NBA commissioner Adam Silver agreed that media coverage has become problematic when the pair recently met, but Isola is skeptical.
  • Jackson has tempered his expectations for the lottery and the draft, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. Jackson knows that there are no guarantees and is approaching the draft in a holistic manner: “We don’t expect a whole lot. Even our franchise, the New York Knicks, deigned to draft guys back in the ’90s, went with all veterans, gave up a lot of their picks. There’s that feeling too. As this talent pool is narrowed, it really is important to have both draftable players, tradeable players and free agents. We want to look at all these options before we get into it.”
  • Lonzo Ball and Fultz top the list of Knicks possible targets, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. That’s no surprise, as those are considered the top two prospects in the draft by nearly every expert.
  • Charles Oakley is still facing charges stemming from his infamous February expulsion from Madison Square Garden and says that James Dolan should have been fined or suspended, writes Ted Berg of USA Today Sports. Oakley made his comments on the For the Win podcast.
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Frank Jackson To Remain In 2017 NBA Draft

May 12th, 2017 at 11:17am CST by Luke Adams

Having initially elected to test the waters without hiring an agent, Duke guard Frank Jackson has now decided to keep his name in the draft and go pro, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link). Jackson will forgo his remaining three years of NCAA eligibility.

Jackson, who turned 19 last week, is ranked as the 45th-best prospect in this year’s draft class by ESPN’s Chad Ford, while Jonathan Givony of Draft Express has him at No. 48 on his big board. Jackson averaged 10.9 points and 1.7 assists in 24.9 minutes per game during his lone season at Duke, with a shooting line of .473/.395/.755.

Ford wrote last month that Jackson has generated some “buzz” as a possible late first-round pick, though there’s some uncertainty about whether he’ll be an undersized two guard or a legit point guard at the NBA level. ESPN’s Jeff Goodman suggests that Jackson will likely be a second-round pick, citing sources who say that Grayson Allen return to Duke and the school’s probable addition of Trevon Duval were factors in Jackson’s decision to leave the Blue Devils.

According to Goodman (Twitter link), Jackson will sign with Bill Duffy of BDA Sports for representation.

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Frank Jackson Declares For Draft

April 23rd, 2017 at 2:20pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Frank Jackson has declared for the draft but has not hired an agent, Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune reports. The point guard will wait until after the pre-draft process before making a final decision on whether to stay in the draft or return to Duke.

Jackson’s father, Al, told Jones that had his son’s experience at the school was the only reason Jackson hasn’t hired an agent yet. “If he had gone anywhere else, we wouldn’t have had to struggle with this decision. Frank would’ve been a one-and-done player with no doubt,” Al Jackson said.

He added that he had a positive conversation coach Mike Krzyzewski about his son’s decision to test the waters. “The door is definitely open for Frank to return,” Al Jackson said. “Frank still may very well go back.”

The elder Jackson said he has received feedback from sources within the NBA, many of which have expressed interest in his son. “It’s clear to us enough teams consider Frank an NBA player,” Al Jackson said. “He has superior athleticism, he has high character and he has a high basketball IQ.”

The 19-year-old Jackson is the 45th best prospect in the upcoming draft, according to Jonathan Givony of Draft Express. He averaged 10.9 points and 1.7 assists in 24.9 minutes per game during his lone season at Duke.

Jones adds that the prospect is a native of Utah and has long been a fan of the Jazz. Jackson is hoping for a pre-draft workout with the organization and he also hopes to be invited to the pre-draft combine, which takes place in Chicago in May.

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