J.R. Smith Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Central Notes: Rose, Noah, Mozgov

August 1st, 2015 at 5:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Derrick Rose remains undecided about attending Team USA’s minicamp this month, Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com reports. Sources told Friedell that Rose is considering taking more time off before Bulls training camp in late September. If Rose skips the minicamp, he may cost himself any chance of a roster spot since USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo has said that players who wish to be considered for the 12-man roster that will represent the United States at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro must attend the minicamp, Friedell adds. Rose was set to play in the 2012 Olympics before injuring his left knee during the NBA playoffs that year.

In other news around the Central Division:

Joakim Noah said his health issues last season were “very humbling” and he’s eager to “prove I can help this team win big,” K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune tweets. New Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg recently visited Noah at a training facility in California and Noah “enjoyed vibing with him,” Johnson added in a separate tweet.
Timofey Mozgov has no incentive to sign an extension with the Cavaliers since the salary cap will rise dramatically next season, according to Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Mozgov will be an unrestricted free agent after making $4.95MM during the upcoming season and he could be worth at least $15MM a year if he has another strong season, Pluto adds.
Unrestricted Cavs free agent J.R. Smith has value on the right type of team with a one-year contract, Pluto opined in the same story. The Cavs suggested that Smith take a one-year, $6.4MM option for the upcoming season but he declined, Pluto adds.

Atlantic Notes: Larkin, Nets, Lee

July 27th, 2015 at 6:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Shane Larkin admits he had trouble fitting into the Knicks’ triangle offense and feels he’s a much better fit with the Nets, Mitch Abramson of the New York Daily News reports. In Part 5 of a series of Q&As between Knicks president Phil Jackson and author Charley Rosen posted on ESPN’s website, Jackson said in February that Larkin had “failed to show any growth since the start of the season.” Larkin responded in a tweet on Monday. “Couldn’t grow in an offense I wasn’t comfortable in. … Glad I’m across the river now.” The Nets emphasize a faster pace with a pick-and-roll heavy attack, Abramson adds. A free agent after the season, Larkin signed a two-year, $3MM deal with the Nets with a player option on the second season.

In other news around the Atlantic Division:

In the same Q&A with Rosen, Jackson spelled out his reasons for trading J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cavaliers. “J.R. was more interested in hunting for his own shots than in buying into the triangle. Plus, he has a player’s option for next season that would limit our flexibility. As for Shumpert, mainly because of injuries, he’d take one step forward and two steps backward. And because of a salary ‘hold’ on his rookie contract, a CBA format that limits available money in free agency.” Jackson was presumably referring to Shumpert’s cap hold, which would have taken up more than $6.542MM on New York’s cap this summer.
David Lee nearly signed with the Celtics the last time he was a free agent, Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com tweets. Lee signed a six-year contract with the Knicks and then was shipped to the Warriors in a sign-and-trade in 2010. The Celtics completed a long-rumored trade for Lee on Monday. Lee was immediately interested in joining the Celtics when they showed interest in acquiring him, according to Jay King of MassLive.com (Twitter link).
The Nets used their $2,339,131 Kevin Garnett trade exception to acquire Steve Blake from the Trail Blazers last month, as NetsDaily indicates. It was one of three exceptions Brooklyn could have used to accommodate the deal. Blake’s salary, since moved to the Pistons in the Quincy Miller trade, left a virtually unusable $262,131 remaining on the Garnett exception.

Central Notes: Cavs, Jackson, Hilliard

July 25th, 2015 at 10:49am CST by Will Joseph

The Cavs would benefit from bringing back unrestricted free agent J.R. Smith and the guard would benefit from a return to Cleveland after testing his luck in free agency, Bud Shaw of the Northeast Ohio Media Group opines. Smith, who is expected to meet with the Cavs soon, left $6.4MM on the table when he declined his player’s option with Cleveland in June. The reunion would make sense from a basketball standpoint, Shaw writes, because the Cavs would not need Smith to carry the load of a top scoring option and Smith is at his best off the bench and playing loose.

Here’s more from the Central Division:

Reggie Jackson‘s five-year, $80MM deal with the Pistons does not carry any options and will pay the guard $13.9MM in the first year and $18.1MM in the final year, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). It was recently reported that despite widespread criticism, Detroit coach/executive Stan Van Gundy still likes the contract.
Darrun Hilliard, who the Pistons drafted at No. 38 and later officially signed to a three-year deal, received $600K guaranteed in the first year of his contract with Detroit with the second and third years of his deal at the minimum salary, Pincus tweets.
The final year of the two-year deal E’Twaun Moore signed in September with the Bulls became fully guaranteed on July 15th, Pincus tweets. The combo guard will be paid slightly more than $1MM this upcoming season. Moore’s production fell last season as he made 56 appearences and averaged only 2.7 points per game.

Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 7/24/15

July 24th, 2015 at 11:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

With the month of July nearly over most of the bigger name free agents have already locked down their new deals and know what jerseys they will don for next season. The most notable remaining unrestricted free agent is J.R. Smith, who left $6.4MM on the table when he declined his player’s option with Cleveland for the 2015/16 campaign back in June. While there’s still a good chance that Smith will re-sign with the Cavs, his chances of topping that salary amount for next season are rapidly dwindling along with most of the teams’ available cap space. Smith experienced a bit of a career revival after escaping New York at midseason, though his postseason shooting woes, and ill-advised elbow to Jae Crowder‘s face that earned him a two game suspension, could not be considered closing out the season on a high note.

This brings me to the topic of the day: Where does J.R. Smith play next season, and how much do you predict he’ll earn for 2015/16?

Smith can be an explosive scorer when he’s “on” and playing under control. He’s also only two seasons removed from winning Sixth Man of the Year honors, and he did manage to steer clear of trouble while with the Cavs, except for that one postseason incident. The 29-year-old also fit into the Cavs’ rotation quite well, and the team has expressed a desire to re-sign Smith, though they reportedly weren’t pleased at him opting out of his deal.

Is remaining in Cleveland the best option for Smith, or do you see another team being a better fit? What sort of deal can Smith expect to land at this stage of the offseason? Does anyone out there believe he’ll top the $6.4MM he was set to earn? All these questions and more are fair game. Take to the comments section below to express your opinions, share your thoughts, and kill some time with your fellow hoops fans. We look forward to what you have to say.

Note: Since these Shootarounds are meant to be guided by you the reader, we certainly welcome your input on the topics we present. If there is something you’d like to see pop up here for a discussion, shoot me a message at hoopsrumorsmailbag@gmail.com or hit me up on Twitter at @EddieScarito to submit topics or ideas for what we should present in future posts.

J.R. Smith To Meet With Cavs

July 20th, 2015 at 7:52pm CST by Will Joseph

Unrestricted free agent J.R. Smith will meet with the Cavs this week to talk about a new contract and is aware that there’s a decent chance he will make less than the $6.4MM he left on the table when he declined his player’s option with Cleveland in June, Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group reports.

Smith told Vardon he had discussions with the Blazers, but they did not amount to anything. Smith reiterated that he would like to come back to Cleveland. “I definitely want to come back to Cleveland,” Smith said. “The coaches, the team, everything about the situation, it’s perfect for me.”

The team was unhappy with Smith’s decision to opt out and started looking for a replacement, according to previous reports. At this point, most free agents, at least the top ones, have been signed and the list of teams with cap space is dwindling. Smith, 29, averaged 12.7 points per game and shot 39% from three-point range during the regular season with the Cavs after being acquired from the Knicks.

Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Nets, Sixers

July 20th, 2015 at 3:44pm CST by Will Joseph

In Charley Rosen’s latest ESPN piece in a series about the Knicks‘ 2014/15 season, team president Phil Jackson spoke candidly about the team’s problems early in the year, and said J.R. Smith had been showing poor behavior before the trade that sent the guard to the Cavs. Jackson also said that Smith was expected to shoulder a lot of the scoring load and had not been doing his job. Jackson did not add any specifics about what Smith, who is still an unrestricted free agent, was — or was not — doing. One league agent told ESPNNewYork.com’s Ian Begley that Jackson’s revealing of player transgressions was a “classless move” (Twitter link).

“J.R. had been exhibiting some delinquent behavior and had gotten into the habit of coming late to team meetings, or missing them altogether,” Jackson told Rosen. “Also, [Iman Shumpert] and [Tim Hardaway Jr.] were regressing, so I decided to meet with them separately and try to find out what, if anything, was bothering them.”

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

The Nets have promoted Steve Jones, the team’s manager of video operations, to assistant coach for player development, the team announced. He replaces John Welch, as Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com points out (Twitter link). Welch left for an assistant coaching job with the Kings.
Thomas Robinson, who is expected to be a reserve behind Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young for the Nets, is hopeful he can stay in Brooklyn and finally stop bouncing from team to team, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com writes. Brooklyn will be Robinson’s fifth team in his first four seasons in the league. The Nets signed him to a two-year deal.
Pierre Jackson‘s four-year deal with the Sixers will pay him about $3.7MM, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, who adds that the first year is fully guaranteed and the fourth year has a team option.

Central Notes: Smith, Antetokounmpo, Granger

July 18th, 2015 at 9:53pm CST by Arthur Hill

J.R. Smith will probably regret turning down his $6.4MM option for next season, writes Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer, although the free agent guard could still rejoin the Cavaliers at a lesser rate. The team was unhappy with Smith’s decision and started looking for a replacement, Pluto reports. Although Smith is still trying to find a better deal, most free agents have been signed and the list of teams with cap space is dwindling. Pluto notes that Cleveland would like to bring Smith back, but only on a “modest” one-year contract.

There’s more tonight from the Central Division:

The Cavs‘ “immediate need” for “championship caliber” players may keep Rakeem Christmas and Sir’Dominic Pointer from making the roster, according to Joe Vardon of The Northeast Ohio Media Group. The second-round picks were acquired from the Wolves in a draft-day deal that sent Tyus Jones to Minnesota, and although the Cavaliers like both players there may not be room on the roster for them to sit and learn the NBA game. “We’re in a really unique situation roster-spot wise, where both of them could be affected by that,” said Cavs GM David Griffin. “What we need are guys that can compete in championship caliber games. We ended up in a situation where we ran out of bodies in the Finals and guys that were ready to play significant minutes.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo would like to spend his entire career with the Bucks, the 20-year-old Greek star wrote on his blog. Antetokounmpo expressed gratitude to the Milwaukee front office for drafting him and making him a team leader at such a young age, though he did include a qualifier that could make Bucks fans nervous: “Okay, if LeBron [James] said to me ‘Come to my team and play with me,’ I’d think about it! [laughs] He’s the best player in the world and a member of that exclusive group of the best that have ever played the game. Still, though, the Milwaukee Bucks would come first. They will always be the team that gave me my chance and opened up the doors to paradise.”
Veteran Danny Granger will be among five players battling for the last two roster spots with the Pistons, according to Vince Ellis of USA Today. The others in contention, according to Ellis, are second-round pick Darrun Hilliard, Reggie Bullock, Cartier Martin and Adonis Thomas.

And-Ones: Cavs, Raptors, Pistons

July 12th, 2015 at 11:03pm CST by Will Joseph

Cavs GM David Griffin told reporters, including Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group, that he is interested in re-signing unrestricted free agent J.R. Smith and restricted free agent Matthew Dellavedova. “In Delly’s case, the restricted free agency is a totally different process,” Griffin said. “With J.R., I wouldn’t want to characterize the discussion or anything, but he’s a player I’d like to have back. We just have to find a way to make it work.”

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

The Raptors have hired Andy Greer as an assistant coach, reports Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski (on Twitter). Greer, who previously was an assistant with the Bulls under former Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau, will run the Raptors’ defense.
The Raptors let a leftover sliver of the Steve Novak trade exception expire Friday. It was initially a $3,445,947 exception created when Toronto sent Novak to Utah on July 10th, 2014. The lion’s share of it went toward the acquisition of Luke Ridnour last month, a move that failed to be of much efficacy for the Raptors, who simply waived Ridnour this past Thursday.
The Pistons plan to proceed with finalizing Reggie Jackson‘s five-year, $80 million contract later this week or early next week, Detroit coach/executive Stan Van Gundy told reporters including David Mayo of MLive.com. At around the same time, Gundy plans to address the topic of Andre Drummond‘s contract extension, Mayo adds. The Pistons expect to lock Drummond into a long-term extension, Mayo writes, though they would have about another $15MM in cap flexibility in 2016/17 if the 21-year-old center agrees to wait until 2016 to sign rather than inking an extension this summer.
Free agent guard A.J. Price, who was formerly with the Suns, is mulling a move overseas and might land with Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade, a source told David Pick of Eurobasket.com (on Twitter).
Anthony Randolph has decided to return to Russia and the former NBA forward re-signed with Kuban, Pick also tweets.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Cavaliers Rumors: Love, Thompson, Smith, Haywood

July 11th, 2015 at 5:25pm CST by Arthur Hill

A pool-side meeting with LeBron James and a 12:01 a.m. phone call on July 1st helped convince Kevin Love to stay in Cleveland, according to Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer. “We talked everything out,” Love said of the session with James. “A lot of stuff was very honest. We came to a very good place and agreed on a lot of things.” Love added that the early phone call from the organization let him know he was a priority. He agreed to a new five-year, $113MM deal with Cleveland.

There’s more news regarding the Cavs:

The newly signed James reminded the Cavaliers that they still have offseason work left to do, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. While filming a movie Friday, James talked about moves the team has made this summer and some that are still left to finish. “We still got to re-sign Tristan Thompson,” he said. “Hopefully we can bring back J.R. Smith as well and see if there’s some other free agents out there that’d love to come here and play if we’re able to do that.”
Thompson and the Cavs were reportedly close to reaching a five-year, $80MM deal, but talks stalled when he asked for the $85MM that the Warriors’ Draymond Green received, according to Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. He also notes that Smith, who turned down a $6.4MM option for next season, has found few suitors in free agency. Cleveland is reluctant to give him a large raise or a long-term deal, two things Smith is seeking.
Turning Brendan Haywood‘s non-guaranteed $10.5MM contract into a trade exception might be the best option for the Cavs, writes Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal. Today’s release of Deron Williams by the Nets eases Brooklyn’s financial strain and removes another potential suitor for Haywood, Lloyd writes. One possible alternative is to send Haywood to the Clippers for Jamal Crawford, but L.A. officials have denied they are dealing Crawford, and Cleveland won’t need him if Smith re-signs. Haywood is expected to be dealt before his contract becomes fully guaranteed August 1st.

Central Notes: Smith, Bulls, Johnson

July 8th, 2015 at 9:32pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Cavaliers are still interested in re-signing unrestricted free agent J.R. Smith, who has not met with any other teams yet, Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report tweets. Smith is reportedly seeking a three-year commitment on his next deal after opting out of his contract for 2015/16. Cleveland has also explored dealing for Nets veteran Joe Johnson, who could fill the scoring void that would be left by Smith’s departure, but those talks are considered dead for the time being.

Here’s more out of the Central Division:

The Bulls announced that Randy Brown and Charlie Henry have been hired as assistant coaches, and that Mike Wilhelm will be retained as an assistant coach on Fred Hoiberg’s coaching staff.
Some eyebrows were raised when the Pistons selected Stanley Johnson in this year’s NBA Draft with Justise Winslow still available, but the rookie is showing during Summer League play that he’s ready for the NBA, Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders writes. It’s Johnson’s toughness that has stood out, a trait that the forward believes led to Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy taking him, Brigham notes. “I don’t think Stan would draft somebody that’s soft,” Johnson said. “I’m not going to let anybody punk me on the court just because I’m 19 years old and new to this. You’re not going to disrespect me. I have no tolerance for that type of stuff. I’ve had some stupid fouls, and I’ve got to get better at that. But I’m going to get my respect, especially in the Summer League.”
The Pistons will miss more than just Greg Monroe‘s on court production according to point guard Reggie Jackson, Terry Foster of The Detroit News relays. “He was like a big brother to me,” Jackson said. “And he was a role model also. We are going to miss what he brings to the table, and we wish him the best with the Bucks.” Monroe has agreed to a three-year, maximum salary deal with Milwaukee.