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Western Notes: Bass, Watson, Lee

March 19th, 2016 at 3:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Lakers big man Brandon Bass is unsure if he’ll exercise his player option worth $3,135MM for 2016/17, but he did note that he’s enjoyed acting as a mentor to the team’s younger players, relays Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Bass told Medina. “I’m a special type of player and person to be around this type of group. I think I can help develop these young guys. I want them to be successful. I would love to see them grow and would love it to be here. But you never know what happens.”

Coach Byron Scott was effusive in his praise for the veteran, telling Medina, “I love Brandon Bass. I love his work ethic. I love his professionalism. I love his attitude. I love that you know when you put him in the game, you know what you’re going to get.” The 30-year-old has made 60 appearances for the Lakers this season and is averaging 7.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per outing.

Here’s the latest from out west:

Suns interim coach Earl Watson credits his time spent in the Spurs organization as a D-League assistant with preparing him for the challenge of leading Phoenix, Mike Sorensen of The Deseret News writes. Watson also offered thanks to San Antonio assistant GM Scott Layden, who provided him with his first coaching opportunity, Sorensen adds. “Coach Layden is why I ended up in San Antonio,” Watson said. “It’s amazing how people you meet along the way, how they give you opportunities later in life and it can turn out to be the greatest opportunity ever. If I don’t go to San Antonio with coach Layden I don’t know if I become a coach that quickly. I learned a lot in San Antonio from coach Layden bringing me in.”
David Lee appears rejuvenated now that he’s a member of the Mavs and is receiving regular playing time, Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group writes. The 32-year-old is averaging 11.9 points and 8.3 rebounds in 12 appearances for Dallas. Lee is under contract for next season, though his $2,502,805 is non-guaranteed.
The Trail Blazers have benefited from the presence of Gerald Henderson, who has not only added some scoring pop off the team’s bench but has also emerged as one of the team’s most vocal leaders, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com writes. “He is one of those guys when it really gets tough out there, he’s one of those guys you know you can count on,” point guard Damian Lillard said of Henderson. “When the game gets a little rough, the other team gets going a little bit and you are up against it, some guys get quiet. Some guys shy away from it. But he got louder in the huddle.’’ Henderson will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

Western Notes: Henderson, Griffin, Whiteside

January 2nd, 2016 at 10:15am CST by Eddie Scarito

Blazers swingman Gerald Henderson was supposed to provide some much needed veteran leadership on the court in the wake of the departure of LaMarcus Aldridge as a free agent and the trade of Nicolas Batum to the Hornets, but instead he has fallen to third-string on the team’s depth chart, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com writes. Henderson and his expiring contract could potentially be dealt prior to this season’s trade deadline, but his struggles on the court may make it difficult for Portland to extract much in the way of value if the swingman is traded, Quick notes.

Henderson understands he’s not performing up to par, but believes he can turn things around, Quick adds. “I don’t feel like I can really play worse,’’ Henderson said. “I think I play good defense; I think I’ve done a good job on that end of the court. But offensively … just been inconsistent. I look at myself … I know how to play. And it will turn around at some point … but I feel like I can help the team, obviously more.’’

Here’s more from out West:

One unsung aspect of injured power forward Blake Griffin‘s game that the Clippers will miss is his passing, and the team’s offense has already taken a hit in its efficiency since the high-flying big man has been out of the lineup, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today writes. “You forget, other than CP [Chris Paul], who makes the passes for our team,” Rivers said. “You realize how important Blake is. Most people just look at his scoring, and it’s his passing that makes us go as well.” Griffin is expected to be out of action for at least two weeks after suffering a partially torn left quadriceps.
Look for Heat center Hassan Whiteside to be one of the top free agent targets for the Mavericks this coming offseason, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News opines. While Sefko does praise the play of Zaza Pachulia for Dallas this season, he notes that Whiteside would be a clear upgrade, especially on the defensive end, and the Heat’s salary cap situation could make it difficult for Miami to re-sign the big man, thus helping the Mavs’ cause in regards to inking Whiteside this summer. Miami is currently projected to have approximately $39MM-$45MM in free cap space, but those figures only include six players and don’t account for pending free agents Dwyane Wade and Luol Deng, among others.

And-Ones: Mudiay, Mickey, Henderson

November 25th, 2015 at 9:17pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Blazers swingman Gerald Henderson has struggled as he makes his way back from hip surgery in July, and he says that he still needs time to round into form, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com writes. “You know, it’s tough. I’m coming back from surgery, trying to implement myself into what we are doing … and I just haven’t found my rhythm yet,” Henderson admitted. “It will take me a while to get into the type of shape I’m used to being in. You missed pretty much the whole summer, the preseason, and the start of the year … like I said, I’ve got some catching up to do. It’s nothing more than that.’’ Henderson was acquired by Portland from the Hornets over the summer as a part of the Nicolas Batum trade, and he is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.

Here’s the latest from around the league:

The Thunder have recalled Josh Huestis from the Oklahoma City Blue, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. Huestis has appeared in four games during his three D-League assignments this season, averaging 10.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 31.3 minutes per game.
The Celtics recalled power forward Jordan Mickey from the D-League, the team announced (via Twitter). This was Mickey’s fourth assignment to the Red Claws this season.
Nuggets rookie Emmanuel Mudiay has played the second most minutes out of any rookie thus far this season, and it will be an interesting case study to see how the increased minutes impact his development, observes Brett Koremenos of Real GM in his look at the young point guard. The 19-year-old is averaging 12.5 points and 6.3 assists in 30.0 minutes per contest through 15 games.

Gerald Henderson Switches Agents

November 18th, 2015 at 4:13pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Trail Blazers shooting guard Gerald Henderson has changed agents, going from Wasserman Media Group to agent Jim Tanner of Tandem Sports and Entertainment, Erik Gundrsen of The Columbian reports. Henderson’s parting of ways with Wasserman was first reported by international journalist David Pick. The 27-year-old, who is earning $6MM this season, will become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Henderson joins a growing list of talent who have left the agency in the wake of Arn Tellem departing to accept a position with the Pistons during the offseason. The list of names is quite prominent, including the likes of Jabari Parker, Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, LaMarcus Aldridge, Al Horford, Danilo Gallinari and Joe Johnson all taking their earning potential elsewhere.

Henderson has been dealing with hip-related issues that have limited him to just four appearances thus far this season. His career numbers through 395 regular season contests are 11.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists to accompany a slash line of .442/.308/.794.

Jabari Parker Hires New Agent; Gasols Looking

November 6th, 2015 at 3:53pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:53pm: Parker has chosen Dr. Charles Tucker as his new agent, Vincent Goodwill of CSN Chicago reports (Twitter link).

3:27pm: Parker is leaning toward hiring Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, Pick hears (Twitter link).

1:10pm: Gerald Henderson is also parting ways with Armstrong, a source tells international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). The Blazers swingman is in the final season of his contract.

11:28am: Jabari Parker is leaving the Wasserman Media Group and agent B.J. Armstrong, he confirmed to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol are also looking for new agents in the wake of Wasserman super agent Arn Tellem’s departure, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt reports (All Twitter links). Zillgitt doesn’t specify whether the Gasol brothers have left Wasserman just yet, but it’s nonetheless the latest round of disappointing news for the agency that’s lost LaMarcus Aldridge, Al Horford, Danilo Gallinari and Joe Johnson in recent months. Michael Tellem, the son of Arn and the agent who inherited many of his clients, is reportedly leaving the agency, too.

Each of the Gasols is doing his own search for an agent, and they’re not necessarily a package deal, Zillgitt hears (Twitter link). That makes sense, since they’re in different stages of their contracts. Marc re-signed with the Grizzlies this summer on a five-year max deal, while Pau can opt out of his deal with the Bulls this summer. Marc has said he’ll try to recruit Pau to join him on the Grizzlies. Parker is still close to two years away from the next significant negotiation on his NBA contract, since he won’t be eligible for a rookie scale extension until July of 2017.

Arn Tellem left the agency during the offseason to become the vice chairman of Palace Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the Pistons. That’s touched off a whirlwind of movement as many of his former clients have sought new representation. Wasserman isn’t the only agency to suffer high-profile losses of late, with Harrison Barnes and DeAndre Jordan also among those making changes.

Neil Olshey On Aldridge, Batum, Aminu, Kanter

August 27th, 2015 at 1:21pm CST by Chuck Myron

Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey was coy when Grantland’s Zach Lowe asked him why he signed Enes Kanter to a max offer sheet but hasn’t done so with Tristan Thompson, but Olshey expressed contentment and optimism about the roster he’s built even amid the departure of LaMarcus Aldridge. Olshey, speaking on The Lowe Post podcast, believes the revamped Blazers have the potential to grow like the group he had with the Clippers in 2010/11 that featured Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Eric Bledsoe, Eric Gordon and Al-Farouq Aminu, all of whom were 22 or younger.

Aminu, who turns 25 next month, is one of the new Blazers, and Olshey talked about the forward’s four-year, $30MM deal, Aldridge’s exit, and a host of other offseason topics. His entire conversation with Lowe is worth a listen, especially for Portland faithful, and we’ll round up a few highlights here:

On the fluctuation of the team’s chances to re-sign Aldridge:

“I think, honestly, because of how unhappy LaMarcus was when we all joined the Trail Blazers, myself, [coach] Terry [Stotts], our regime, it wasn’t like we were put on notice, Zach, but I think we were all aware that it was going to be an uphill battle, and I think it was an uphill battle that we had fought and won right up until [Wesley Matthews] was injured. … We were 100% confident in LaMarcus right up through the trade deadline, and then when Wes got hurt, and we weren’t playing as well, and we realized our margin for error with that group was more narrow than we would have liked to have believed, I think we felt like, you know what? We’re going to have more of a battle on our hands than we had anticipated in terms of keeping LaMarcus.”

On the Nicolas Batum trade, which Olshey said was made independent of Aldridge’s decision to walk:

“There was a three-fold approach there. One, we felt like if we brought in another starter, then Gerald Henderson would have strengthened the bench. We got a bright, young prospect in Noah Vonleh who we were really high on in the draft, and we created a positive variance in our favor in terms of our cap position to go and be more aggressive in free agency to continue to build with the group that was there. So, that deal was done absent anything with LaMarcus other than the fact that he was aware of the deal prior to us making the decision to move forward with Noah and Gerald in lieu of Nicolas.”

On those who would laugh at the team’s financial outlay in the the Al-Farouq Aminu deal:

“If they’re laughing, they haven’t seen him play, and they haven’t realized that in two years, the cap’s going to be $108MM, so you’re basically talking about a deal that’ll be less than what the mid-level was on previous caps. So, this is a guy that I know well. I drafted him. I had him for a year with the Clippers. He’s tracking up. I think his growth was accelerated by playing for Rick Carlisle in Dallas. I think that was like a three-year tutorial crammed into nine months. He’s a better player today than he was then. Look, we had moved Nic Batum. We wanted to get younger at that position and we wanted to get an athletic guy if we chose to push the floor. We felt like, at that point, he could play in multiple roles with LaMarcus or without, depending on what his decision was, and I really believe, look, when you look at a way a contract is structured, we had a lot of cap room this year [and] it’s a descending deal.”

On whether he truly wanted Kanter on the team:

“We did. We absolutely did. We pursued him. Look, it’s not the first time we went down the road of restricted free agency for a starting center and maybe won the recruiting battle but lost the war in terms of adding him to our roster, and that situation played out. You know, look, we’re really happy with the guys we have right now.”

What do you think of the way Olshey has positioned the Blazers for the post-Aldridge era? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Northwest Notes: Henderson, Wolves, Claver

August 24th, 2015 at 4:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

No player has been with a Northwest Division team longer than Nick Collison, who carved out a long-term stay with the SuperSonics/Thunder franchise even though he’s never played a starring role. He’ll make $3.75MM this season and next on the extension he signed in February. We listed the longest-tenured member of every team earlier today, and we’re sharing more from the Northwest Division here:

Trail Blazers trade acquisition Gerald Henderson wasn’t surprised the Hornets dealt him away, though the timing of the move caught him off guard, since it came the week after he opted in, as he tells Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. He maintains ties to the Charlotte area, but he’s enthusiastic about his new team. “It was not so much about being traded as where I was going. This is a contract year,” said Henderson, who’s set for free agency next summer. “I wanted to be at a place with opportunity, a good organization and potentially a chance to win. I got all those things in Portland.”
The Timberwolves allowed the $6,308,194 trade exception they picked up in the Kevin Love trade to expire unused Sunday, though that wasn’t a surprise, as I suggested earlier this month. They still have five other trade exceptions, the largest of which is worth $5MM and doesn’t expire until next July.
Victor Claver officially joined Valencia of Spain after the team matched the offer sheet he signed with Baskonia, the Spanish ACB league announced (Twitter link; translation via Austin Green of LosCrossovers). Valencia had held his Spanish rights from the time he spent with the team before his jump to the Trail Blazers in 2012. He finished up this past season playing in Russia after the Nuggets waived him following his inclusion in the Arron Afflalo trade.

Hornets Acquire Nicolas Batum

June 24th, 2015 at 8:09pm CST by Eddie Scarito

8:09pm: The trade is official, the Blazers announced. “Nic Batum was a key contributor to all of our recent success,” said Blazers executive Neil Olshey. “He will truly be missed as a person and a player. We wish Nic all the best for the future.”

6:08 pm: The Blazers and Hornets are finalizing a deal that would send Nicolas Batum to Charlotte in exchange for Noah Vonleh and Gerald Henderson, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). The Yahoo! scribe had reported earlier today that the Hornets were seeking to acquire a wing player in advance of the NBA Draft, but Wojnarowski had relayed that the team was aggressively shopping big man Cody Zeller.

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Batum, 26, certainly can be considered an upgrade for Charlotte, despite him coming off a subpar 2014/15 campaign. He appeared in 71 contests for the Blazers, averaging 9.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.8 assists. His career numbers are 11.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 4.8 APG, with a slash line of .446/.363/.834. Batum is set to earn $12,235,750 for the 2015/16 season, and that amount is fully guaranteed.

It’s a bit of a surprise that the Hornets would deal away Vonleh, the team’s lottery selection of a year ago. The 19-year-old only appeared in 25 contests for the Hornets after getting off to late start due to a preseason sports hernia injury. The immediate conclusion would be that Vonleh was acquired by the Blazers to protect themselves in the event that unrestricted free agent LaMarcus Aldridge departs this offseason, but the deal was made with Aldridge’s knowledge, and was done independently of his free agent decision, Wojnarowski tweets. Vonleh averaged 3.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in 10.4 minutes per contest this past season, and is set to earn $2,637,720 in 2015/16.

Henderson, 27, recently picked up his $6MM player option for next season, and is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. He appeared in 80 games for Charlotte during the 2014/15 campaign, and averaged 12.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 28.9 minutes per contest. His shooting numbers last season were .437/.331/.848.

Gerald Henderson Opts In With Hornets

June 17th, 2015 at 2:26pm CST by Chuck Myron

Gerald Henderson has picked up his $6MM player option for next season to stay with the Hornets, the team announced. The move means the Wasserman Media Group client will enter free agency next summer instead of this year, as the coming season is the last on a three-year, $18MM deal that the swingman signed with the team in 2013.

It’s the second time this week that a member of the Hornets exercised a player option. Al Jefferson officially did so Monday, the same day the team traded Lance Stephenson to the Clippers for Spencer Hawes and Matt Barnes. This week’s moves, including Henderson’s decision, have lifted the team’s guaranteed salary for next season from about $46.2MM to approximately $63.8MM, making it likely the team stays above the projected $67.1MM cap for 2015/16.

Henderson started 72 games this past season, in part because Stephenson failed to become the mainstay that Charlotte hoped he’d be. The 27-year-old Henderson nonetheless averaged fewer minutes, points and shots per game than in any of the four seasons since he became a full-time starter for the team.

Southeast Notes: Fournier, Henderson, Heat

April 16th, 2015 at 9:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Al Jefferson indicated earlier today that he would likely opt in and remain with the Hornets next season. Swingman Gerald Henderson also has player option for 2015/16, his being worth $6MM, but Henderson says that he hasn’t thought about free agency yet, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer writes. The 27-year-old did say that he would prefer to remain with Charlotte, Bonnell adds. Henderson appeared in 80 games for the Hornets this season, averaging 12.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 28.9 minutes per contest.

Here’s the latest from the Southeast Division:

After a difficult first campaign with the Hornets, Lance Stephenson vowed to return next season much improved and with his confidence back, Bonnell notes. “My 3-point percentage was the lowest ever in history. That’s terrible,” Stephenson said. “It’s confidence – just wanting the shot to go in so bad and then you lose your confidence. That plays a major part when you don’t have confidence in your shot. This summer I’m going to find my confidence.” Stephenson’s 17.1% three-point accuracy wasn’t quite the worst ever, but it was a sharp drop from last season’s 35.2%.
Evan Fournier is eligible to sign an extension this summer, and the swingman loves playing for the Magic, but he acknowledged that contract extensions are usually reserved for star players, Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel tweets.
Dwyane Wade says that he won’t be recruiting Luol Deng and Goran Dragic to remain with the Heat next season, Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post tweets. “Nope,” Wade said about playing recruiter. “They know. If they want to be here, they’ll be here.” Both Deng and Dragic possess player options for the 2015/16 campaign.
Magic GM Rob Hennigan fully expects restricted free agent Tobias Harris to be with Orlando next season, John Denton of Orlando Magic.com relays (Twitter link). “I’ve said all along that we don’t envision a scenario where Tobias isn’t with us next season,” stated the GM.