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Atlantic Notes: Kanter, Davis, Boucher, Robinson

October 11th, 2019 at 7:28pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Celtics are still decided whether to use center Enes Kanter as a starter or have him play a bigger role on the second unit, Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reports. Kanter signed a two-year deal worth approximately $10MM to be a rotation player for Boston.

“Everybody’s preference is to start,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “But he didn’t seem to me like he was losing sleep over it. He understands what we were thinking, and I told him no decisions have been made. We’re still mixing and matching. We’ll be doing it all the way until Oct. 21.”

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

  • Raptors guard Fred VanVleet has taken rookie Terence Davis under his wing, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun writes. The former Ole Miss guard went undrafted but earned a two-year deal from Toronto after impressing with the Nuggets’ summer league team. “He’s got to get a lot better obviously to be able to help this team but you see flashes,” VanVleet said. “You see what he brings to the table. But he’s kind of in an awkward position. I know they’re asking him to do some primary ball-handling which is probably not natural for him so I think in a more traditional second unit with a point guard (on the floor with him) he can play off the ball more.”
  • Raptors power forward Chris Boucher has impressed coach Nick Nurse to the point where he might be a rotation player, Wolstat tweets. Boucher’s $1,588,231 salary becomes guaranteed if he makes the opening night roster. Up to that point, Boucher has a $125K guarantee. The 6’10” Boucher appeared in 28 games with the Raptors last season and is one of eight players on the training camp roster with a partial or non-guaranteed contract.
  • Center Mitchell Robinson has already outplayed his team-friendly four-year contract and an extension may be in the Knicks’ best interests, as Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News examines. Robinson is eligible next summer for a four-year extension in excess of $53MM. Robinson could sign that extension as early as July and would require the Knicks to tear up Robinson’s $1.8MM team option for 2021/22, Bondy adds.
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Atlantic Notes: Brown, Payton, VanVleet, LeVert

October 9th, 2019 at 1:23pm CST by Luke Adams

While Jaylen Brown and the Celtics have reportedly opened talks on a possible rookie scale extension for the fourth-year swingman, a new deal by the October 21 deadline is considered unlikely. As one Eastern Conference executive pointed out to Frank Urbina of HoopsHype, it’s easy to see why each side may be reluctant to get something done before the summer of 2020, when Brown can become a restricted free agent.

“The Celtics may be thinking that they don’t want to give a max deal to their third-best player, but Jaylen Brown may be thinking that he can be the top free agent next summer if he has a big year,” that executive said. “Brown could play his way into a max contract. He’s going to have a bigger role than ever before with Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and Marcus Morris gone, and next summer’s free agent class is weak.”

As Urbina notes, that Eastern executive believes the Celtics should be comfortable at this point going up to about $20MM per year for Brown — or even higher if they feel like he’s in position to potentially secure a maximum-salary offer sheet next July.

“If you want him to be part of your core long-term and want to lock him in, it may make sense to give him more,” the exec said. “Boston may be comfortable saying, ‘We’ll give you something around $25MM [per year] now to sort of get a discount and not pay the max.’ And Brown really could be the top free agent available next summer, so I could see the argument for giving him the max.”

As we wait to see whether Boston can find common ground with the 22-year-old, here’s more from around the Atlantic:

  • With Dennis Smith Jr. on the shelf due to a back strain, offseason free agent addition Elfrid Payton may be playing his way into the Knicks‘ starting point guard job, sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv. No matter who starts, it will be a big year for all three Knicks point guards — Smith will be extension-eligible next summer, Payton has a non-guaranteed 2020/21 salary, and Frank Ntilikina will be eligible for restricted free agency.
  • Eric Koreen of The Athletic explores whether the Raptors‘ one-year extension for Kyle Lowry will affect future negotiations with Fred VanVleet, who will be an unrestricted free agent in 2020. As Koreen notes, VanVleet has talked about wanting to be a starter, and there may be teams willing to offer him that role – and pay him like a starter – next summer.
  • After signing a three-year extension with the Nets this offseason, Caris LeVert is eager to prove he’s capable of becoming a star, writes Michael Lee of The Athletic. “I’m at the point where now I feel I can control how good I can be,” LeVert said. “I’m going to push myself every single day and see where that ceiling is. I don’t know where it is. I don’t like to put limits on myself.”
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Atlantic Notes: Burke, N. Young, Kanter, Raptors

October 2nd, 2019 at 1:30pm CST by Luke Adams

Addressing the backup point guard battle this week, Sixers head coach Brett Brown said that he wants to see the candidates for that spot “making shots and just guarding,” per Derek Bodner of The Athletic.

As Bodner points out, those criteria would seem to favor Raul Neto over Trey Burke, since Neto has historically been a more efficient shooter than Burke and is also considered a stronger on-ball defender. However, Burke has made a strong impression early in camp for the Sixers, earning rave reviews from teammates Al Horford and Ben Simmons.

“I was really impressed with a guy like Trey Burke,” Horford said after the Sixers’ first day of practice. “(He) came in with a lot of energy, really scoring the ball at will, just being very active.” Simmons added that Burke “played amazing” on Tuesday.

Unlike the 14 other players who are expected to make the Sixers’ regular season roster, Burke doesn’t have a fully guaranteed salary for 2019/20, so his hold on a roster spot is somewhat tenuous. If he continues to play like he did on day one though, he may not be considered the club’s 15th man for long.

Here’s more from out of the Atlantic:

  • Nick Young was among the veteran free agents who joined the Knicks for offseason workouts and scrimmages, tweets Ian Begley of SNY.tv. That doesn’t mean that the Knicks necessarily have any interest in Young — Lance Thomas and Carmelo Anthony also participated in some of those scrimmages, and Thomas signed with Brooklyn while Anthony remains a free agent.
  • Asked this week about his stint with the Knicks, Enes Kanter took a shot at his old team, as Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald tweets. “That’s why I chose [the] Celtics,” Kanter said. “They don’t tank.”
  • After starting just 28 games in his first three seasons with the Raptors, Fred VanVleet is hoping to crack the starting five with Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green no longer in the picture, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. “I wouldn’t say it’s the end-all, be-all, [but] I’ve been vocal in saying that it’s something I would like to do in my career,” VanVleet said. “If I end up being a bench player my whole career, then so be it. But that’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m reaching for the stars, I don’t put limits on myself.”
  • Elsewhere at Sportsnet.ca, Steven Loung explores what the Raptors should do with their big expiring contracts for Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, and VanVleet.
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Wolves Notes: Saunders, Teague, Free Agents, Towns

September 29th, 2019 at 10:25am CST by Arthur Hill

While the Timberwolves would like to return to the playoffs this season, the focus will be on building long-term success, head coach Ryan Saunders tells Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Last year’s 36-46 disappointment began with a chaotic training camp that opened amid a trade demand from Jimmy Butler and a public war with ownership and coach Tom Thibodeau. Saunders, who took over the team at midseason, says the road toward rebuilding will start with a much calmer camp.

“I think you need to look at it in different scopes and see where you are at certain points of the season,” he said. “We’re not looking to just get into the playoffs for one year. That’s not our goal. And we understand that. So with that, you want to make sure you’re building for sustainable success. You want to make sure you’re doing the right things each day.”

There’s more from Minnesota:

  • This will be a pivotal season for Jeff Teague after he opted in for another year at $19MM, writes Britt Robson of The Athletic. Teague was a favorite of Thibodeau, who saw the point guard as a stabilizing presence on a team of veterans. However, he’s coming off the worst season of his 10-year career and doesn’t seem to be in the plans for the new management team, which tried to sign D’Angelo Russell in free agency and wanted to land Darius Garland in the draft. Teague hopes to be healthier after missing 40 games last season with a variety of injuries and undergoing ankle surgery in April.
  • The Wolves will have limited options to find a point guard on the free agent market next summer, observes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Kyle Lowry will be the top name on the list, but he’ll be 34 and won’t fit in with the team’s youth movement. Dejounte Murray could be a restricted free agent if he doesn’t reach an extension with the Spurs, but San Antonio is likely to match any offer sheet. Fred VanVleet could be available, but the Wolves would face a competitive market for him. Krawczynski adds that Minnesota may take another shot at Russell, trying to swing a deal with the Warriors in February if Klay Thompson is close to returning to action.
  • In a separate story, Krawczynski examines the questions surrounding every player on the Wolves’ roster heading into camp, including the importance of Karl-Anthony Towns becoming the team leader, whether Andrew Wiggins can fix his game and what newcomers Jake Layman, Shabazz Napier, Noah Vonleh and Jordan Bell will bring.
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More Details On Thunder, Raptors Trade Talks

July 6th, 2019 at 3:59pm CST by Luke Adams

Earlier today, we relayed a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on the Thunder‘s efforts to engage the Raptors in trade discussions involving Paul George. As Wojnarowski explained, the threat of Oklahoma City sending George to Toronto instead of to Los Angeles forced the Clippers to put a massive offer on the table to ensure that they secured not only George but Kawhi Leonard as well.

[RELATED: Thunder to trade Paul George to Clippers]

Wojnarowski’s report suggested that Thunder head of basketball operations Sam Presti had been open to pursuing a deal with the Raptors that would have sent both George and Russell Westbrook to Toronto, with Pascal Siakam as the centerpiece of the deal. However, Raps president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri balked at the idea, and talks didn’t gain traction.

Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star adds a few more details to that report, tweeting that the Thunder asked for Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and four unprotected first-round picks as a starting point for George.

Arthur’s report doesn’t make clear whether Westbrook was involved in that proposal, or which veteran(s) the Raptors would have had to include for salary-matching purposes. However, according to Arthur, the Raptors believed they were being used as leverage — and also believed that Leonard would be headed home to Los Angeles.

[RELATED: Russell Westbrook mulling possibility of being traded]

Wojnarowski’s and Arthur’s sources paint a similar picture of the Raptors’ involvement in these trade talks with the Thunder. It sounds as if things never really got all that serious from Toronto’s side, given their concern that they were being used to get more out of the Clippers, but OKC had to make the Clippers believe that sending George to the Raptors was a real possibility. Ujiri and Raps GM Bobby Webster didn’t have the ability or the inclination to top the Clippers’ offer, league sources told Wojnarowski.

It’s possible that the Raptors would’ve made a stronger push for George if they’d known that acquiring him would lead directly to a long-term commitment from Leonard, but there’s no indication that was the case.

As Wojnarowski reported, the Clippers believed Kawhi would go to the Lakers if the Clips couldn’t acquire PG13 — assuming they were right, it’s not clear that Toronto acquiring George would have changed that.

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Eastern Notes: Leonard, Pistons, VanVleet, Hornets, Wizards

June 9th, 2019 at 9:03pm CST by JD Shaw

Despite a report from last week that Kawhi Leonard bought a house in Toronto, Leonard denied the story on Saturday in front of reporters, according to a Canadian Press report (via The Toronto Star).

Raptors fans were optimistic that this could be a clue of Leonard’s upcoming free agency decision, with the 2014 Finals MVP scheduled to become a free agent on June 30, one day after his 28th birthday. He’ll likely register interest from several suitors outside of Toronto, including his hometown teams in Los Angeles.

“No, it didn’t. It didn’t happen yet, no,” Leonard said of the report.

Leonard has guided the Raptors through the Eastern Conference and out to a 3-1 series lead over the Warriors, averaging a playoff career-high 31.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 22 postseason games.

The Raptors have a chance to win their first ever NBA championship on Monday night, a pivotal game for a franchise hoping to persuade Leonard to re-sign on a lucrative free-agent contract this summer.

There’s more from the Eastern Conference tonight:

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Raptors Notes: Leonard, Ibaka, Celtics, VanVleet

June 9th, 2019 at 2:28pm CST by clarkcrum

Tim Bontemps of ESPN recently wrote an in-depth piece on Raptors superstar Kawhi Leonard, and while the entire piece is worth a read, several anecdotes stick out, particularly one involving Wizards veteran forward Trevor Ariza.

At some point between his freshman and sophomore seasons at San Diego State, Leonard received word that Ariza, already a six-year NBA veteran and NBA champion, would be working out on the Aztecs’ campus.

Leonard, always one to do whatever he can to be the best he can be, asked Ariza if he could take part in the veteran’s workouts. Ariza agreed, and was immediately impressed with Leonard’s talent and immeasurable work ethic.

“Man, my first impression of him was, this kid is here to work, period… No matter what… I prided myself on being there first person in all the time,” Ariza said. “And, when I got there, (Leonard) was already there. He’d done everything he needed to do, and he was ready to work out again… When I saw the work ethic he had, I knew he was going to be special.”

Leonard was even able to win some one-on-one drills against the NBA veteran as a 19-year-old college sophomore-to-be, Ariza admits, telling ESPN that “(Leonard) was an NBA player when he was a freshman in college.”

There’s more from Toronto this afternoon:

  • After an up-and-down season in which big man Serge Ibaka became a bench player for the first time since the 2010/11 season, his second in the NBA, Ibaka’s superb play in Game 4 of the NBA Finals was instrumental in the Raptors taking a commanding 3-1 lead against Warriors, writes Doug Smith of the Toronto Star. Ibaka finished with 20 points, four rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
  • The Raptors remarkable run to the cusp of the franchise’s first NBA championship has to resonate painfully with the Celtics, where Danny Ainge, Brad Stevens, and company envisioned making a similar run, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. The biggest difference? Perhaps the gap between Leonard and Kyrie Irving is larger than we all realized.
  • While Fred VanVleet concedes that there is an increased mental focus and sense of responsibility that comes from the birth of your child, he denies the correlation between the birth of his son, Fred Jr., and his improved play in these playoffs, write Michael Lee and Dan Robson of The Athletic. Rather, Fred Sr. credits his own hard work and unbreakable confidence for helping him transform his game this postseason.
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Atlantic Notes: Butler, Vonleh, VanVleet, Ntilikina

March 28th, 2019 at 6:19pm CST by JD Shaw

Jimmy Butler will return to Minnesota on Saturday when the Sixers visit the Timberwolves, marking his first game back in Target Center since shockingly requesting a trade from the team back in September.

Butler, who received mostly boos in the 10 games after his trade request last fall, is preparing to enter what’s sure to be a hostile environment during his return.

“They’re going to boo me,” Butler said of the Timberwolves fans, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times. “I would boo me, too. I’m not going to lie to you.”

Butler, who’s known as one of the most outspoken players in the NBA, said he’ll even consider joining in with the fans’ boos. Butler spent just one full season on the Wolves, with the 29-year-old set to reach unrestricted free agency on July 1.

“Oh, I love it,” Butler continued about the fans’ reaction to the trade, as relayed by Stein. “I love it. I love it. Who wants to be loved all the time?

“It’s O.K. It’s fine. I don’t need everybody to like me. I know who I am. I can’t say that enough. I know what I’m about. I know where my heart is. People will say, ‘He’s this way, or he’s that way,’ but nobody knows except for the people around me every day. Ask them and they’ll tell you differently.”

Let’s check in on more items from out of the Atlantic…

  • Knicks forward Noah Vonleh underwent an MRI on Wednesday that revealed a right ankle sprain with a bone bruise in his right foot, the team announced. Vonleh is expected to be re-evaluated in one week, with the 23-year-old averaging a career-high 8.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 25.3 minutes per game this season.
  • Raptors guard Fred VanVleet turned to analytics in order to improve his game while injured, Blake Murphy of The Athletic writes. VanVleet missed 12 straight games after undergoing surgery to fix ligament damage in his left thumb, returning to the court two weeks ago. “I’ve found some spots where I think I can be good. I’ve looked at my numbers. I’ve been bored outta my mind so I studied some analytics a little bit, watched a lot of film, and just seeing where I can get better,” VanVleet said. “This feels like October again for me so I’m approaching this as a new season, the end of the season, and hopefully I can come back and take another jump of improvement towards the end of the season.”
  • Knicks coach David Fizdale couldn’t commit to Frank Ntilikina returning this season, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. Ntilikina re-injured his groin on Friday, an injury that cost him nearly two months of action earlier in the year. “We don’t know yet on the status of how far away he is from coming back,” Fizdale said when asked whether Ntilikina is out for the season. “I know it was a tough blow to the kid the other night. I just don’t know how severe it is. I just know that it got to a point during the game where it was really bothering him. It’s just been frustrating for the kid. It’s been frustrating for all of us, but for him it’s been tough.”
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Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Celtics, Horford, Knicks

March 18th, 2019 at 2:13pm CST by Luke Adams

Fred VanVleet returned to the Raptors‘ lineup at the right time, suiting up for the team on Sunday for the first time since injuring his thumb before the All-Star break. As Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca details, Toronto threw VanVleet into the deep end in his return, playing him for 31 minutes in a tightly-contested loss to Detroit, and the club was at its best when he was on the floor.

VanVleet won’t be relied upon to play quite as significant a role once Kyle Lowry is ready to return from his ankle injury, but Jeremy Lin‘s struggles since joining the Raptors last month have highlighted VanVleet’s importance, Grange notes.

In 15 games since he arrived, the Raptors have a -5.9 net rating when Lin plays and a +12.9 rating when he sits. With VanVleet back in the rotation and Lowry nearing a return, Lin’s role is in danger of being cut back significantly as the postseason approaches.

Here’ more from around the Atlantic:

  • Although he only played for the Celtics for three seasons, it felt like 15 based on the love he was shown by fans in Boston, Isaiah Thomas tells Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Suggesting that he’ll always consider Boston home, the veteran guard said he wouldn’t close the door on returning to the Celtics at some point. “You never know,” Thomas said. “You can’t predict the future. My options are always open for anybody. I’m a Denver Nugget now, but I’m a free agent at the end of the season, and you never know what can happen. Who knows?”
  • Over the weekend, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens told reporters, including Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston (Twitter link), that the club plans to sit Al Horford for three or four games down the stretch. Horford’s impact has been a little inconsistent this year, which is due in part to nagging injuries, so the C’s want to make sure he’s ready for the postseason.
  • Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have been frequently linked to the Knicks this season, while they’ve had contentious exchanges with the media nearly just as frequently. In a column for Newsday, Steve Popper wonders how Durant, Irving, or any other star who signs with the Knicks this summer would handle the pressure and expectations that would face them in New York.
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Raptors Notes: Lin, VanVleet, Kawhi, Green

March 8th, 2019 at 8:39pm CST by Luke Adams

When the Raptors landed Jeremy Lin on the buyout market last month, it looked like a perfect fit. Toronto had just lost backup point guards Fred VanVleet (to injury) and Delon Wright (in a trade), opening the door for Lin to play a key role off the bench. However, the veteran hasn’t looked comfortable with the Raps so far — entering today, he was a minus-46 in 140 minutes and made 0-of-17 three-point attempts, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca writes.

“We’ve gotta get him more comfortable,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said. “He’s just a little uncomfortable with me, I think, more than anything. I like to let those guys [have freedom]. I say to him, ‘Jeremy, hey, call something. You know, you get the ball in your hands and you look like you don’t know what you want to do out there.’

“I say, ‘You don’t have to look at me, just call this, this or this, pick one.’ He’s got to get a little more comfortable. Even though I’ve tried to shorten it down to three things, he’s so new that he can’t quite come up with one. I need to give him more help. I need to give him more help until he’s more comfortable with that.”

Lin admits that he has more freedom in Toronto than he’s accustomed to, suggesting that he hasn’t had this sort of “empowerment” since he played for Mike D’Antoni in New York, as Lewenberg relays. The 30-year-old welcomes the opportunity to return to that style of play.

“That is kind of how I always played,” Lin said. “I was always more of a free space, free-flowing playmaker. That’s just kind of who I am by nature. That’s my personality. That’s probably what attracted me to this team and obviously vice-versa. We got to just make the pieces fit and [we] will.”

Here’s more on the Raptors:

  • The Raptors’ bench will get some reinforcement when VanVleet returns, and according to Lewenberg (via Twitter), he’s ahead of schedule in his recovery from a thumb injury. Nurse expects VanVleet to return to Toronto’s rotation at some point within the next couple weeks.
  • Appearing on the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Michael C. Wright reiterated a point he’s made before, suggesting that he doesn’t believe Kawhi Leonard is interested in heading to the Lakers to play alongside LeBron James this offseason. “I do not,” Wright said, per RealGM.com. “That’s just what I’ve been told. It’s what I’ve been told going back to last summer. I don’t see that as something that’s happening. … I think he goes to the Clippers.”
  • While Leonard’s free agency will be the biggest storyline in Toronto this summer, his longtime teammate Danny Green will also be an unrestricted free agent, and Green’s impact on the Raptors this season shouldn’t be overlooked, writes Dan Feldman of NBC Sports.
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