Greivis Vasquez Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Links: Grunfeld, Kerr, Vasquez, Ariza

May 5th, 2014 at 3:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

Ernie Grunfeld‘s contract with the Wizards was believed to run only through this season, but Mike Wise of The Washington Post reports that it covers next season, too. That Grunfeld is on target to return to the team for 2014/15 is no surprise, given Washington’s revival this year, and perhaps Grunfeld may still have the opportunity to parlay the success into an extension. Still, it looks he won’t be hitting the open market this summer. Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Steve Kerr was the only voter to have Tim Hardaway Jr. atop his Rookie of the Year ballot. It’s seemingly further indication that Kerr is on his way to the Knicks, and a source tells Marc Berman of the New York Post that the would-be coach sees re-signing Carmelo Anthony as “vital” to the team’s future, as Berman writes.
Greivis Vasquez is set for restricted free agency this summer, but he apparently has no intention of leaving the Raptors, as he told reporters today, including Cathal Kelly of The Globe and Mail (Twitter link). “I want to be back. I truly want to be back … It will truly be heartbreaking if I’m not back,” Vasquez said.
Trevor Ariza would like to re-sign with the Wizards in free agency this summer and says that returning to the West Coast to be closer to family wouldn’t be his top priority, but the small forward tells Michael Lee of The Washington Post that he’ll go “wherever I’m wanted.”
Elton Brand remains uncertain about retirement, though Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution gets the sense that the 15th-year veteran still thinks he can play (Twitter link).
Fellow Hawks big man Mike Scott, a restricted free agent, probably earned a raise as he established himself as a key part of Atlanta’s rotation this year, and he says he would like to come back to the team, Vivlamore tweets.

Eastern Notes: Heat, Anthony, Young, Raptors

April 15th, 2014 at 6:23pm CST by Ryan Raroque

The general consensus among several NBA executives is that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh will presumably re-sign with the Heat, says Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio. As for Carmelo Anthony, most executives reportedly believe that the seven-time All-Star will re-up with the Knicks (Twitter links).

Unfortunately, the Knicks reported today that an MRI revealed a small tear in Anthony’s right labrum; however, no surgery is needed and he’ll be re-evaluated in a month (Twitter links via the official Knicks PR account). Depending on how one looks at it, it may be considered a blessing that the star forward will not risk aggravating the injury by trying to play through pain had New York made the playoffs this year. Al Iannazzone of Newsday (via Twitter) notes that Anthony decided to continue playing on a torn labrum in his left shoulder at the end of last season.

Here’s more out of the Eastern Conference tonight:

Thaddeus Young isn’t sure if his time with the 76ers is running out, but the veteran forward tells Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer that he’ll remain with the team as long as they want him and he’s under contract. Young is still on the books for 2014/15; however, the Sixers could look to deal him this summer if they feel that he’ll eventually choose to turn down his $9.8MM player option for 2015/16, adds Pompey.
Soon-to-be restricted free agents Patrick Patterson and Greivis Vasquez are “immensely open” to re-signing with the Raptors on long-term deals this summer, according to Shams Charania of RealGM. Charania also hears from DeMar DeRozan, who says he never thought about trying to push for an early escape from his four-year extension when the team was struggling early this season.
Nets GM Billy King is exploring all of the team’s options in the NBDL right now, relays Tim Bontemps of the New York Post (via Twitter). King added that an announcement will be made as soon as a decision is reached.
Toney Douglas considers himself to be in a more advantageous position heading into free agency this summer after making the most of his chance to revive his career with the Heat this season, writes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Nash, Vasquez, Bucks

April 1st, 2014 at 10:35pm CST by Eddie Scarito

John Zitzler of Basketball Insiders looks at the steps the Bucks should take in the offseason to get their rebuilding process heading in the proper direction. He believes the team needs to select the best player available in the draft, regardless of position, and shape the rest of the roster around Giannis Antetokounmpo. Zitzler also opines that the Bucks need to retain and develop some of their other young players, such as John Henson, Brandon Knight, Khris Middleton, and Nate Wolters.

Eastern Notes: Vasquez, Miller, Stoudemire

March 21st, 2014 at 8:02pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune details the close relationship between Pelicans coach Monty Williams and Raptors point guard Greivis Vasquez, who played for New Orleans last season. The trade that split up the pairing last summer stung Vasquez, who’ll be a restricted free agent at season’s end. “It hurt,” Vasquez said. “It really touched me a little bit. I was close not only with Coach Monty, but I was close with (assistant) Fred Vinson, all the coaching staff, the guys, messing around with Austin Rivers, Chief (Al-Farouq Aminu), Anthony Davis . . . . it was hard for me to let it go. But it’s part of the business.”

And-Ones: Knicks, Draft, Vasquez

March 8th, 2014 at 10:34pm CST by Cray Allred

Greivis Vasquez, traded to the Raptors in December, is finally feeling more like himself after undergoing ankle surgery in the offseason and experiencing a dip in production while playing for the Kings early this season, he tells Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. “I’m a little upset because I couldn’t really show the fans what I could really do. Last year, I led the league in total assists and was playing at a high level, and I wanted to do that in Sacramento,” Vasquez said. “I’ve been showing what I can do and getting better. The playoffs are going to buy me more time to show what I can do.” Here’s more from around the NBA:

Vasquez will become a restricted free agent this offseason if the Raptors extend a $3.2MM qualifying offer. In Jones’ piece, Vasquez says a return to the Kings isn’t out of the question.
Tom Moore of Calkins Media wonders if the Sixers will struggle badly next season, even if they manage to upgrade their talent level through the draft and free agency. Moore is skeptical that massive roster turnover won’t create new challenges, and sees evidence of bad habits taking hold in Philadelphia, including in standout rookie Michael Carter-Williams.
A former GM tells Al Iannazzone of Newsday that Carmelo Anthony would help the Knicks more by leaving this summer than re-signing with them. The former GM says losing Anthony and enduring one more season at the bottom of the standings is worth it to maintain New York’s cap space for the summer of 2015, when they could take swings at a number of star free agents. “Guys want to go to play in New York. It’s going to hurt for a little bit,” he said. “But if you have cap space, it’s not going to be that hard to get a good player to come to New York.”
Aquille Carr discussed his hopes for the upcoming draft with Matthew Hochberg of Ridiculous Upside. The 5’5″ point guard chose to forgo college basketball, spending time in China and the D-League in preparation for this year’s draft.
Two NBA scouts are high on Kentucky’s James Young, telling Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv that Young will land in the first round (Twitter links). One of the scouts thinks he’s a lottery talent, while the other thinks Jones would be better served to stay in college another year despite his upside.

Masai Ujiri On Lowry, Casey, Hayes

February 17th, 2014 at 12:36pm CST by Chuck Myron

Raptors GM Masai Ujiri‘s phone isn’t making much noise, but he’s not turning it off, either. Ujiri tells Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun that he’ll be listening to trade offers that come in between now and Thursday’s deadline. The Raptors are 28-24, good for third place in the Eastern Conference, but the team’s performance hasn’t altered Ujiri’s timetable for putting the club in title contention, Ganter notes. Ujiri also spoke with Doug Smith of the Toronto Star, and we’ll pass along the best of both pieces here:

On whether he’s open to trading Kyle Lowry or any other player:

“I hate to comment about any player in that way, but I think we are not good enough so you have to keep it open. That’s the honest answer. These guys have done pretty good. I know we’ve won a couple of games but we haven’t done anything yet. We’ll keep trying to grow.”

On coach Dwane Casey, whom Ujiri says has done “an excellent job”:

“When we talked about it with Casey when I came on, it was something like where I said we are going to assess the whole season and for me, my evaluation was not wins and losses at all. For me, you almost put a coach under pressure where he’s trying to do things. It wasn’t only the growth of the players. It was the growth of the coaches and the growth of us working together as a front office … I don’t just mean, ‘How did Terrence (Ross) grow or Jonas (Valanciunas) grow?’. How did we all grow working together? How are we all growing together? How do we interact, how do we communicate with front office, coaches, players? That’s our job here. We’re not always going to agree but we have to find a way to communicate and make a decision on things.”

On whether he sensed the December trade that shipped Rudy Gay to the Kings would be so beneficial to the Raptors:

“When we did the trade, we honestly didn’t know which way it would go so we were preparing for either way. Obviously, you do background, you check on attitude, you check on good teammate, you check on off-the-court habits and that stuff. Even some of that information, you can only get so much that’s accurate and so much that’s not but we tried to just do our homework, due diligence like everyone does. You bring in someone like (Greivis) Vasquez who can maybe (play) as a starter in the pinch. I think (Patrick) Patterson is a young big in the league and you’re intrigued by some of the little things he does. I think (John) Salmons is older but brings a steady calm and, you know what? Chuck Hayes? I didn’t know what Chuck Hayes had left but (as) a post-defender and leader and anchor type in pinch minutes on defense, I think he’s shown us he can be (of) some help.”

Atlantic Links: Noel, Celtics, Vasquez

December 12th, 2013 at 10:34pm CST by Ryan Raroque

76ers prospect Nerlens Noel hasn’t let his knee rehab prevent him from working on other parts of his game, as Dei Lynam of CSN Philly reports that head coach Brett Brown has been tutoring the young big man on defensive principles in addition to working with him on his shooting form. As per Brown:

“I am thrilled [with] what he has done with his shot…We said from the very beginning that this is an opportunity and one that I hope he never has again…There is far more fluid to his shot and I think the carryover from this year will be significant if we can get it right for his future.”

Here are a few more minor notes to pass along out of the Atlantic Division:

In his latest Celtics mailbag, Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston answers questions about Jordan Crawford‘s emergence, what happens to the rotation once Rajon Rondo is cleared to play, and which players have improved their trade value since the start of the season.
According to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is taking a cautious approach with the team’s Atlantic Division-leading 10-14 start to the season (Subscribers only).
Eric Koreen of the National Post writes about how Greivis Vasquez‘s affinity for playing for playing pick-and-roll basketball on a Raptors team that welcomes plenty of those opportunities will be an important development as the team looks to move on from Kyle Lowry.
Chris Sheridan of Sheridan Hoops explores the Knicks and Nets’ proposed deals with Toronto for Lowry and discusses whether or not they make sense.

Eastern Notes: MKG/CDR, Teague, Kidd, Raptors

December 12th, 2013 at 7:32pm CST by Ryan Raroque

According to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer, Bobcats forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is ecstatic about the team’s recent addition of Chris Douglas-Roberts, a player who Kidd-Gilchrist idolized while growing up: “It’s so good to have (Douglas-Roberts) here, a dream-come-true for me and him to be on the same team…I never would have thought that in a million years. He’s my favorite player.”

Bonnell also relays what Douglas-Roberts is sharing with the former Kentucky Wildcat:

“(Kidd-Gilchrist) always been a student of the game since he was a little kid…(But) one thing you can’t prepare for is the business of this. I tell him, ‘You’re a basketball player – a good basketball player. Just have a thicker skin…“I told him you have to embrace all the pressure (of being the No. 2 overall pick). Never shy away from it…You want people criticizing you. You want the media talking about you, positively or negatively.”

With that aside, here are some more noteworthy links to pass along out of the Eastern Conference tonight:

Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution explains why Jeff Teague has been the answer the Hawks have long been looking for at point guard and says it’s no coincidence that he’s flourishing without Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, and Marvin Williams on the team anymore (Subscribers only).
ESPN’s Chris Broussard asked two NBA executives and a scout to weigh in on Jason Kidd’s struggles as a rookie head coach with the Nets (Insiders only).
Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun reports that recently-acquired Chuck Hayes, who is known to have a previous heart issue, won’t receive approval to play from team doctors until he undergoes baseline testing with the Cleveland Clinic. Regardless, this isn’t expected to hold up anyone else involved in the Raptors’ deal with the Kings.
In another piece, Ganter notes Greivis Vasquez‘s excitement at a fresh start as well as his desire to remain in Toronto for the rest of his career.

Kings Acquire Rudy Gay

December 9th, 2013 at 3:49pm CST by Zachary Links

The Kings have officially acquired Rudy Gay from the Raptors along with Aaron Gray and Quincy Acy, Toronto announced via press release. Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes are headed north of the border. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports originally reported last night that the swap would take place (Twitter links).

“We thank Rudy, Aaron and Quincy for their time here. They were great professionals and strong community ambassadors of the Raptors,” Toronto GM Masai Ujiri said in a statement. “The trade gives us good flexibility and more certainty as we plan for our future.”

The Kings plan on using Gay as a stretch-four and see Gay and the recently-acquired Derrick Williams as being capable of guarding either forward position, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports tweets. With Williams and Gay, the Kings are buying low on two notable names that have depreciated in the eyes of many evaluators.

“We’re excited to welcome these additions to our team,” Sacramento GM Pete D’Alessandro said, according to a release from the Kings. “In Rudy we’ve acquired one of the league’s proven scorers while Aaron and Quincy provide size and depth in our frontcourt. We also appreciate the contributions and efforts that John, Chuck, Greivis and Patrick made to the Kings organization. We all wish them the very best moving forward.”

Gay, 27, boasts career averages of 18.0 PPG and 5.9 RPG, but newer metrics such as PER have shown that his efficiency leaves much to be desired. It’s not just fans and front office execs that have taken notice, either. After a November game in which the small forward took 37 shots and scored 29 points, LeBron James remarked that he would put up 60 points “easy” if he attempted such a gaudy number of shots.

While the Kings gain at athletic wing in Gay, the Raptors free up a good amount of money for 2015 and gain a couple of interesting pieces along the way as well. As for the financial part of things, the only guaranteed 2015 money that came back in the deal is Hayes’ $5.9MM contract. Beyond that, they can clear $14.5MM by declining options/qualifying offers for Vasquez, Salmons, and Patterson.

Last month, it was reported that Ujiri was exploring trade options for Gay and others with Jonas Valanciunas, 2011′s fifth overall pick, the only real untouchable of the bunch. Gay was the team’s most obvious chip since he’s still capable of being a top scorer for a team and could be a rental since he has a player option for 2014/15 that he could turn down in favor of a longer deal. With a $17.89MM salary, however, finding a home for Gay hasn’t been easy. Gay’s player option for 2014/15 is worth $19.2MM.

Vasquez, 27 in January, took a major step forward with the Pelicans last season when he put up career best averages of 13.9 PPG and 9 APG. Today’s news means that Vasquez has now worn three different jerseys in this calendar year – the guard came to Sacramento in July as a part of the three-way Tyreke Evans deal. While Vasquez has fans in the Kings front office, they clearly felt that this was a trade they had to make to get a dominant wing. It also has the added benefit of clearing up the Kings’ backcourt logjam.

Patterson, 24, is also in his third career trade with today’s deal. The power forward has had an up-and-down career through Houston and Sacramento and hasn’t been off to a blazing start this season. Patterson is putting up just 6.9 PPG and 5.8 RPG while shooting 41% from the floor.

Salmons, 33, has been seeing almost 25 minutes per contest with the Kings this season but is putting up some of his weakest per 36 minutes averages of his career. Only $1MM of Salmons’ $7MM salary in 2014/15 is guaranteed and it’s a safe bet that he’ll be let go. Acy, 23, hasn’t seen much burn this season, playing 8.7 minutes per contest across seven games.

More than three-quarters of Hoops Rumors readers said that they expected Gay to be traded before the deadline. It certainly helped that Ujiri and D’Alessandro have a history after working together in Denver. By trading Andrea Bargnani and Gay, Ujiri has cleared ~$20MM off of the books next season.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Extension Deadline: Hayward, Bledsoe, Vasquez

October 31st, 2013 at 11:33pm CST by Alex Lee

As the Gordon Hayward negotiations inch forward and tonight’s deadline draws closer, let’s take a look at the latest on Hayward as well as a few other members of the draft class of 2010:

As expected, Phoenix and Bledsoe were unable to come to an agreement, making the Suns’ recent acquisition a restricted free agent come next summer, tweets Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
We haven’t heard much recently about the possibility of an extension for Avery Bradley and the Celtics, but Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe confirms that the sides were unable to agree on what was to be a four-year deal (via Twitter).
While we already know a Hayward extension didn’t happen, Stein tells us the sides were negotiating a four-year deal that was for less than the maximum amount, yet they still couldn’t get it done despite the Jazz CEO’s support. (Twitter links)
Shams Charania of RealGM tweets that the Jazz and Hayward never discussed a five-year pact.

Earlier updates:

ESPN’s Marc Stein reports that the entire Jazz organization is “absorbed” by the extension talks with Hayward, adding that the expectation inside the organization is that it will get done since team CEO Greg Miller is fully behind it. Miller conceded Monday that it would probably be a distraction, and Stein senses that it already is one for Hayward. (Twitter links here)
Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report quotes an opposing general manager, who says the “Jazz had better lock up Hayward.” As Bucher notes, the implication is that Hayward would be a highly sought after restricted free agent next summer. (Twitter link)
On that topic, Jody Genessy of the Deseret News says that the Jazz could be forced to match a “toxic” contract next summer to retain Hayward, making this a “risky game of chicken.” Genessy assumes the sides must be far apart considering that Hayward is expected to be a team leader. (Twitter links here)
Grantland’s Zach Lowe suspects that the five-year extension Paul George signed in September might be “infecting” the Hayward situation, adding that it was inevitable that Hayward’s representation would use that deal as a benchmark since they are similar players. (Twitter links)
Meanwhile, Stein also tweets that the situation in Phoenix is similar to the one in Utah, as the Suns and Eric Bledsoe are apparently far apart in talks despite general manager Ryan McDonough being previously hopeful of a deal getting done. We heard earlier tonight that there are “no indications” that the sides will agree to a pact before tonight’s deadline.
Despite not inking him to an extension, we heard earlier from Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports that the Kings feel strongly about Greivis Vasquez and will likely match any offer sheet he signs next summer. It appears the feeling is mutual, as Spears has since spoken with Vasquez, who told him, “Hopefully everything works out with the Kings and I’m confident it will.” (via Twitter)
Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee agrees, tweeting that the Kings “love” Vasquez and would have done the deal had the price been right. Citing Vasquez’s love for Sacramento, Jones adds that he doesn’t foresee the point guard going anywhere next summer.