Glenn Robinson III

Northwest Notes: Nelson, Huestis, Robinson

The Thunder nearly dealt Reggie Jackson to the Nuggets this week, as Frank Isola of the New York Daily News wrote overnight in a piece linking Kevin Durant to the Knicks, adding that it’s “expected” that the Thunder will trade Jackson before the deadline. Still, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders wrote earlier this week that he’d heard from executives around the league that the Thunder remain on the fence about trading the soon-to-be restricted free agent guard, and that some within the organization want to hang on to him. Jackson’s trade candidacy, which I examined in greater detail last week, looms as a prominent storyline between now and the trade deadline, which is just three weeks away. Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

  • The Nuggets want to keep Jameer Nelson around for next season, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Nelson has a player option worth nearly $2.855MM, though he isn’t giving an indication of his plans beyond this year, according to Dempsey. The point guard rebuffed Denver’s entreaties in free agency this past summer thinking he would have a larger role with the Mavs, Dempsey adds. Nelson is seeing slightly fewer minutes per game since arriving in Denver via trade this month than he did with the Mavs.
  • An NBA GM from outside Oklahoma City tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that he doesn’t think the Thunder‘s D-League arrangement with Josh Huestis will become a trend. The Thunder don’t see this past year’s 29th overall selection as a star, but they do envision him as a potential rotation player, Deveney writes. That suggests that the Thunder will eventually sign him to a rookie scale contract, but Deveney adds that the team has given Huestis no such assurance.
  • Timberwolves coach/executive Flip Saunders wishes he had a roster with enough healthy players so he could send Glenn Robinson III on D-League assignment, as Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com notes amid his Rookie Ladder rankings. Minnesota has yet to make any D-League assignments this season.

Western Notes: Wolves, Budinger, Nelson

The Spurs have been a hallmark of stability over the years, but perhaps never more than they are now, with 14 of the 15 players who were on the team during the Finals last year still on the team, as Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick examines. While we wait to see if familiarity breeds success or stagnation, here’s more from around the Western Conference.

  • It seems at this point that Glenn Robinson III will remain with the Wolves for opening night, and J.J. Barea continues to impress the team with his preseason performance, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities hears (Twitter link). The Pistons are probably the “team to watch” regarding Minnesota’s apparent efforts to trade Chase BudingerWolfson adds.
  • Robbie Hummel is expected to make it to opening night with the Wolves, but with a guaranteed salary of just $880K, that’s not a certainty, and Hummel knows it. Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune has the details. “We have a lot of good players and camp has been real competitive, so every opportunity to get on the court is important,” Hummel said. “You try to stay ready, but it’s hard when you don’t play for a couple games, but it’s part of the job … even if there’s 15 guaranteed contracts, you want to go out and play well. Every night is an audition for another team.”
  • Jameer Nelson has a player option for the final season of the two-year deal he signed with the Mavs this summer, but he says he plans to stick with the team for the long term, as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News observes.
  • Former Clippers owner Donald Sterling is streamlining his legal efforts, having withdrawn a suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against his wife, the NBA and Adam Silver to concentrate on his federal antitrust suit against the league, reports Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times. Sterling also faces the NBA’s counterclaim against him, Fenno notes.
  • A desire to have Sean Kilpatrick play for their D-League affiliate fueled the Warriors‘ decision to sign the undrafted shooting guard Monday, tweets Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Western Notes: Mavs, Warriors, Thunder

Dallas GM Donnie Nelson admits 5’7” point guard Yuki Togashi’s immediate future isn’t likely with the Mavs but rather with the team’s D-League affiliate, writes Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Nelson explains, “I’d say it’s a long shot at best for him to make [an NBA regular season] roster right now. But it’s an opportunity for him to make his dream come true in reality to play for the Legends and, like so many guys before him, to use this as a springboard to get in the league.”

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

  • Golden State’s decision to not include Klay Thompson in a Kevin Love trade will determine the fate of the Warriors, Cavs and Wolves, opines Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. Golden State never wavered from its original stance of not breaking up its talented backcourt despite the appeal of bringing Love to the Bay Area, notes Bontemps.
  • Mavs big man Brandan Wright faces a pivotal year in his NBA career, writes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. Wright, who is in the final season of a two year, $10MM contract, has carved out a nice niche as a role-player in Dallas.
  • Reggie Jackson is the biggest “winner” from Kevin Durant‘s injury, writes Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman. Jackson, who the Thunder have until October 31st to offer an extension, will have an opportunity to showcase himself on the offensive end in Durant’s absence.
  • Durant underwent successful surgery to repair a Jones fracture in his right foot, the Thunder announced in a press release. According to the release, Durant will be re-evaluated in six weeks to determine his next step toward returning to action
  • The Wolves currently have a logjam at the small forward position and the team is rumored to be fielding offers for Chase Budinger to help pare down the roster to 15. One player who is looking likely to make the regular season roster is Glenn Robinson III, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities notes (Twitter link). According to Wolfson, Robinson, who is signed to a partially guaranteed deal,  has impressed the team during training camp.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Thunder, Pelicans, Wolves

Two members of the Thunder front office made the list of a dozen potential candidates for future GM openings that SB Nation’s Tom Ziller compiled. Assistant GM Troy Weaver, who excels in scouting and relationships, and Michael Winger, a salary cap expert, have already drawn interest from other teams, as their respective rumors pages show. Many believed that Winger would have been in line for the Cavs GM job if the team had decided against retaining David Griffin this summer, Ziller adds. While we wait to see if the presence of Sam Presti and perhaps two other future GMs gives Oklahoma City the necessary edge to get over the hump and win this year’s title, here’s more from around the Western Conference:

  • The Pelicans considered waiving and stretching Austin Rivers in addition to the notion of trading the former No. 10 overall pick as they sought to clear room to acquire Omer Asik this summer, according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe. Still, the Pelicans held on to Rivers, and they demanded “real assets” in any trade that would involve him, Lowe writes, adding that New Orleans regarded waiving him as the least desirable option. The Grantland scribe suggests that ties between coach Monty Williams and the Rivers family complicate the team’s decision about whether to pick up the fourth-year option on Rivers’ contract by the October 31st deadline.
  • The Wolves offered 40th overall pick Glenn Robinson III a four-year contract, but he turned it down for his partially guaranteed one-year pact, similar to the dynamic between No. 32 pick K.J. McDaniels and the Sixers, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
  • Alonzo Gee‘s deal with the Nuggets is non-guaranteed for the minimum salary and covers one season, but it becomes guaranteed if he remains on the roster through October 29th, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The team’s non-guaranteed contract with Pops Mensah-Bonsu is of the identical structure, except his wouldn’t become guaranteed until the leaguewide guarantee date in January, Pincus adds.
  • Ronnie Price‘s non-guaranteed deal with the Lakers becomes partially guaranteed on November 15th, Pincus writes for the Los Angeles Times, though he doesn’t say just how much Price would be assured of that day. In any case, the veteran point guard has picked up a key supporter, since Kobe Bryant likes what he sees from his teammate so far, as Pincus details.

Western Notes: Kings, Mavs, Robinson III

The Kings aren’t done tinkering with their roster, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee writes. Despite signing Darren Collison GM Pete D’Alessandro would still like to add another ballhandler into the mix. Jones also believes the franchise should be concerned about not having a second round pick in next year’s draft since those selections are growing increasingly valuable, as they allow teams to add young players at lower salaries to their rosters.

Here’s the latest from out west:

  • Alonzo Gee is still expected to be waived by the Kings prior to the start of training camp after he was acquired along with Scotty Hopson in the deal that sent Jason Terry to the Rockets. Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio thinks that there is a good chance that Gee ends up in training camp with the Lakers since Coach Byron Scott was a fan of the player during their time together in Cleveland.
  • The Wolves have guaranteed $250K of Glenn Robinson III‘s minimum salary deal, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link).
  • After the Cavaliers, the team that has done the most to improve themselves this summer is the Mavericks, the staff at Basketball Insiders write in their season preview. They were divided on how Dallas would fare this upcoming season, with the predictions ranging from the team finishing second to ending the season fourth in the Southwest Division.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/17/6716192/kings-offseason-moves-will-continue.html#storylink=cpy

Wolves Sign Glenn Robinson III

1:03pm: The deal is official, the team announced.

WEDNESDAY, 8:28am: The contract will cover just the coming season, Wolfson tweets, adding that no move involving Barea is imminent.

TUESDAY, 11:02pm: Robinson’s deal is partially guaranteed according to Wolfson, who also hears that the Michigan product is no lock to make the roster out of training camp (Twitter link).

2:58pm: The Wolves have agreed to a guaranteed deal with Glenn Robinson III, the 40th overall pick in this year’s draft, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The deal will be the 16th fully guaranteed pact for Minnesota, but the team has reportedly sought to trade J.J. Barea, and the Wolves are also open to allowing the veteran guard to buy his way out of his fully guaranteed contract, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities hears (Twitter link).

The terms of Robinson’s deal aren’t immediately clear, and the Wolves have $1.555MM left on their mid-level exception to make it worth more than the minimum salary and extend the length of the deal beyond two years. Minnesota had held out hope of creating a roster spot for Robinson as the Kevin Love trade loomed, but that swap left the team with just as many players as it had before. Robinson turned down a partially guaranteed offer a couple of weeks ago, Wolfson tweets.

Robinson averaged 13.1 points and 4.4 rebounds in 32.3 minutes per game as a sophomore for Michigan this past season. The small forward is listed at the same 6’7″ height as his father, former No. 1 overall pick and NBA All-Star Glenn Robinson.

The 20-year-old Robinson will join Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine as 2014 draftees on the Wolves roster, which also features training camp deals with Kyrylo Fesenko and Brady Heslip. Whatever Robinson receives on his deal, that amount plus LaVine’s approximately $2MM salary wouldn’t add up to the more than $4.5MM that Barea is set to make in the final season of his deal this year.

And-Ones: Prigioni, Wolves, Adams

Team USA chairman Jerry Colangelo believes many may have missed the point of Mark Cuban’s tirade against the International Olympic Committee, writes Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Still, Colangelo didn’t weigh in on whether or not he agreed with Cuban’s stance, as Price notes, though he emphasized that NBA owners aren’t allowed to dissuade their players from joining their national teams as long as they’re healthy enough to play at the outset.

I think people need to read between the lines, which is basically he’s not against international competition,” Colangelo said. “He’s against international competition when he believes the beneficiary — being the IOC — is getting the money. So he’s basically saying it’s OK for our players to play internationally if the money goes to the NBA and to the team owners. That’s the difference.”

As Paul George‘s injury shines a spotlight on the relationship between national teams and the NBA, here’s more from around the league:

  • The Knicks are fond of Pablo Prigioni, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com, even though they’re thinking of packaging him in a deal that would send Wayne Ellington away. It simply appears as though the Knicks won’t be able to find a taker for Ellington by himself, as Stein explains.
  • The Wolves have 15 fully guaranteed deals, as our roster counts show, but they hope to create a spot for Glenn Robinson III, who remains unsigned after Minnesota drafted him 40th overall this summer, notes Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune (Twitter link). There’s a chance they’d be able to accomplish that if they offload more players than they receive in a Kevin Love trade.
  • There are bonuses tied to Jordan Adams‘ body fat percentage in his rookie scale contract with the Grizzlies, reports Mark Deeks of ShamSports. It’s an odd incentive clause for this year’s No. 22 overall pick, though it’s not unprecedented, since Marcus Williams once had body-fat stipulations in his deal, too, as Deeks points out (Twitter links).

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Nuggets, Blazers, Wolves

Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey will be busy once the free agent signing period begins, writes Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. Olshey will look to upgrade his bench and he will have the team’s mid level exception which would allow Olshey to spend as much as $5.305MM on a player for up to four years, and a biannual exception that will allow him to spend roughly $2.1MM on a player for up to two years, the article notes. Freeman also looks at some of the free agent possibilities the team might entertain signing this summer.

More from the west:

  • According to Nuggets GM Tim Connelly, both Jusuf Nurkic and Gary Harris are “long term plays,” writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Connelly also said, I think Brian [Shaw] is an open competition coach, and if those guys come in and earn minutes, great, but I like what’s in front of them and I like the guys they are going to be able to learn from.”
  • Shaw is happy with how the Nuggets roster is currently constituted, writes Dempsey in a separate article. Shaw said, “In terms of our team, I think we got better yesterday. It’s tough. Evan Fournier is a young guy that had a lot of promise and had tremendous upside. But I think (the Arron Afflalo trade) gives us a legitimate starter at the two position. In terms of the depth of our team… we wanted to wear them down with the first unit and wear them out with the second unit. We never got an opportunity to get to that because of the injuries.”
  • If Kevin Love is traded this summer, the Timberwolves will move from an offense centered on his versatility and shot-making to one built around passing and a dangerous transition game, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press. The article examines how the draft night selections of Zach LaVine and Glenn Robinson III fit into that plan.
  • Rod Beard of The Detroit News examines what Nik Stauskas will bring to the Kings.

Draft Notes: Payton, Embiid, Knicks

In Jeff Goodman’s latest mock draft for ESPN (Insiders only), Elfrid Payton gets selected by the Timberwolves at No. 13. In response to that projection, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN said that Minnesota doesn’t have any interest in drafting the former Louisiana Lafayette guard with that pick. It probably won’t matter anyway, as Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe hears that Payton has been greatly impressive in workouts and won’t slip past the top 10 on draft night (Twitter links).

With that aside, we’ll keep tabs on this evening’s draft-related news here:

  • Add Sweden’s Viktor Gaddefors to the list of players that Memphis is bringing in for a second workout on Wednesday, notes Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal.
  • The Hornets appear primed to add at least one big man with either the 24th or 45th pick in this year’s draft, and Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer lists Mitch McGary and Johnny O’Bryant as potential targets.
  • Former Florida big man Patric Young is on Phil Jackson’s draft wish list, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. Berman also points out that the Knicks worked out Jahii Carson recently.
  • Following up Andy Katz’s earlier ESPN report that the Kings have three deals in place regarding their No. 8 pick, ESPN’s Marc Stein identified the Celtics, Suns, and 76ers as the potential trading partners.

Earlier updates:

  • The Pelicans are making a concerted effort to acquire a first-round pick, tweets NBA.com’s David Aldridge.
  • According to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, Joel Embiid is strongly in play for the 76ers at No. 3 and the Magic at No. 4; the worst-case scenario is that Embiid won’t fall past the Kings at No. 8 (Twitter link).
  • The Knicks remain confident that they’ll land a first-round pick and/or a second-round pick in Thursday’s draft, tweets Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.
  • The Pistons are without a first-round pick this year, but team president/head coach Stan Van Gundy says that one team picking between No. 26 and No. 30 is open to shedding their pick for the best offer. There’s one team that’s saying “give us your best deal for (our) pick” (Twitter link via Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News). 
  • The Bucks made an unsuccessful attempt to bring in Cleanthony Early for a workout, tweets Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times.
  • In another piece, Woelfel notes that the Spurs, Pacers, and Pistons are among the list of teams that brought second-round hopeful Jamil Wilson in for a workout.
  • The Grizzlies are trying to put together a last minute workout for Glenn Robinson III, Jordan Adams, Joe Harris, and Geron Johnson tomorrow, tweets Chad Ford of ESPN.
  • Former Duke swingman Rodney Hood participated in a second workout for the Suns, notes Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).

Western Notes: Grizzlies, Harris, Wolves

The Grizzlies need to find a small forward this summer, opines Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal in a subscription-only piece. Coach Dave Joerger said, “It’s becoming much more of a playmaking position. Used to be your shooting guard was a guy you ran off of picks and spot up to make shots. Point guard brought it up and your small forward was a defender and athletic runner. That’s not the case anymore. Teams are playing smaller and small forwards are like having another point guard. They’re having to make plays, create shots for other people and just do more than, say, 10 years ago.” Tillery notes the players the Grizzlies are looking at in the draft to fill this need are Kyle Anderson, K.J. McDaniels, Jerami Grant, Glenn Robinson III and Cleanthony Early.

More from the west:

  • All signs point toward the Grizzles and Zach Randolph agreeing on a long-term contract, and the process appears to be a mere formality, writes Tillery in a separate article. GM Chris Wallace told Tillery, “It’s going forward. We’re very excited about what Zach’s done in the past and hope to have him here in the future. This has really been a terrific boon for both sides. He’s obviously meant a great deal to us on and off the court. And Memphis has worked for him. This has been, by far, the best stop for him since he’s been in the NBA. So we’re working towards that goal.”
  • Devin Harris is looking for security in his next contract, writes Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. Harris becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, and is seeking a three-year deal according to the article. When asked what the chances were of him returning to the Mavericks, Harris said, “Pretty good. This is where I want to be, so, we’ll see. As long as things make sense.”
  • Sid Hartman of The Star Tribune asked Flip Saunders what kind of players would be available when the Timberwolves pick at No. 13, and Saunders said, “There’s a good player. I think there’s rotation players, probably all the way to 18 or 19, guys that will be able to come in and be in teams’ top eight [next season]. There’s a box of a lot of good players at that spot.