Jae Crowder Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: Crowder, Sixers, Dunleavy

June 27th, 2015 at 5:27pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Celtics have completed the paperwork to make Jae Crowder a $1.1MM qualifying offer, Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald reports. The deadline is Sunday. Crowder has expressed a desire to return to the Celtics but is expected to test the free-agent market, Murphy adds.

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

Mario Hezonja’s buyout with his Barcelona team will be finalized as early as Monday, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel tweets. Barcelona had reduced the NBA escape clause for Hezonja, whom the Magic drafted with the No. 5 pick, to 1.5 million euros, or roughly $1.675MM, in order to retain his Euro rights, according to David Pick of Eurobasket.com. (Twitter link). Agent Arn Tellem had been negotiating for a lower amount, as Pick reported previously. The most the Magic, who drafted him fifth overall, can pay toward a buyout is $625K, with the rest having to come from Hezonja. Orlando wound up drafting Hezonja despite a report that teams felt his camp might be steering him toward the Pistons. Tellem is leaving the Wasserman Media Group to take an executive position with the Pistons organization later this year.
The Sixers received second-round picks in 2020 and 2021 from the Knicks in the draft-night trade for Spanish big man Guillermo Hernangomez, according to Derek Bodner of PhillyMag.com. The Knicks had already traded away their own second-round picks through 2019, with the picks in 2018 and 2019 potentially headed to the Sixers. Bodner continues. Philadelphia will get a second-rounder from either the Knicks or Clippers in 2018, whichever is higher, Bodner adds.
The Bulls are hopeful of re-signing Mike Dunleavy, according to a tweet from Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. There’s interest from both sides but it depends on how much money the unrestricted free agent is seeking, Friedell adds.

Atlantic Notes: Mudiay, Crowder, Raptors, Nets

June 7th, 2015 at 1:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Emmanuel Mudiay is on his way to New York as he tries to prove that he is worthy of a top four pick in the NBA Draft, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Mudiay, who worked out for the Lakers Saturday, is scheduled to undergo physicals and have dinner with Knicks‘ brass Monday, and then follow that with a formal workout Tuesday. After skipping last month’s combine in Chicago, Mudiay is trying to make an impression through individual workouts. He gets high marks from scouts as a penetrator, defender and passer, but they question his outside shot. “I think I can be a great player when it’s all said and done,” he said. “I’m just the type of player who loves to win and compete and whatever I have to do for the team to win.’’ Berman noted that the Knicks also have interest in Duke’s Justise Winslow, who will be working out tomorrow, and Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein, who is due in June 16th.

There’s more news from the Atlantic Division:

Jae Crowder hopes to return to the Celtics, but not before testing the market, according to Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. The restricted free agent, who made a little more than $915K last season, is currently rehabbing a knee injury he suffered late in the playoff series with Cleveland. Despite initial concerns that the injury might impact his free agent value, it turned out to be just a sprain and bone bruise. “Of course you want to find out what your value might be,” Crowder said. “Time will tell that. I’m talking to my people and others, and everything will eventually show. My worth will be revealed.”
The Raptors are looking at former players to fill vacancies on their coaching staff, reports Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. One of the names mentioned is Jerry Stackhouse, whose tough-guy attitude might be perfect for getting through to some of the Raptors players, Smith writes.
The Nets are still compiling their workout schedule, but Oregon’s Joseph Young and UNLV’s Rashad Vaughn have been confirmed, tweets NetsDaily.com. Brooklyn owns the 29th pick of the first round.

Eastern Notes: Crowder, Hezonja, Pacers

May 27th, 2015 at 8:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Celtics forward Jae Crowder is making “great strides” recovering from his left knee sprain injury suffered last month and has begun to do some workout-related activities, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes. Crowder can become a restricted free agent this summer if Boston tenders him a qualifying offer worth $1,181,34. The team has already indicated that it plans to re-sign Crowder, who is the only player remaining on Boston’s roster from the Rajon Rondo trade.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Croatian swingman Mario Hezonja would be a fit for the Pistons with the No. 8 pick, but the same fiery attitude that fuels his play won’t fly in Detroit if it manifests in on-court tongue-lashings of teammates, as it has in past, writes Terry Foster of The Detroit News.
The Pacers have workouts scheduled on Thursday for Andrew Harrison, Terran Petteway, Terry Rozier, J.P. Tokoto, Rashad Vaughn, and Dez Wells, the team announced.
The Lakers have the potential to throw a wrench in the Sixers‘ draft plans if Los Angeles opts to select D’Angelo Russell instead of a big man with the No. 2 overall pick, as is widely expected, John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com writes. Sixers GM Sam Hinkie isn’t concerned, noting how in flux the NBA Draft rumors can be, Gonzalez adds. “Let’s see how things go,” Hinkie said. “Not only us, but I suspect the Lakers and the Timberwolves and the Knicks, they will do what we all do — spend a lot of time trying to analyze the players that are likely to be available to them. That time may yield different results than what the prognosticators are saying so far.“
The Sixers held workouts today for Amere May Jr., Jherrod Stiggers, Kyle Anderson and Alpha Kaba, Jake Fischer of LibertyBallers.com tweets.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Atlantic Notes: Thomas, Crowder, Sixers

May 21st, 2015 at 5:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

James Dolan’s hire of Isiah Thomas as team president and a minority owner of the New York Liberty hasn’t reportedly sat well with Knicks president Phil Jackson. When Thomas was asked if he wanted to return to the NBA someday, the former coach and executive didn’t rule it out, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. “You never know where life takes you,’’ Thomas said. “I don’t think there’s anyone in this room who can say three years from now I’ll be here. I live in the present. This is where I’m at today. I’ll do the best job I can possibly do here. You never know where you’re going to end up.’’

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Thanks to some unkind ping-pong balls, the Sixers only walked away from the NBA Draft lottery with one of three potential 2015 first round picks. Philly’s GM Sam Hinkie believes the results were simple mathematics, and not bad luck, Bob Ford of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. “It was a good night for us. Even better than we anticipated,” Hinkie said. “We spent a lot of time looking at the odds and the most likely outcome was that we would get the fourth pick alone, and the next most likely outcome was we would get the third pick alone. We had a 77% chance of only getting our pick.“
Celtics president Rich Gotham confirmed that the team intends to re-sign Jae Crowder this offseason, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe relays (via Twitter). “Jae is definitely a priority,” said Himmelsbach. “He added toughness, energy and confidence. I think he gave our guys a swagger.” This echoes the sentiments that Danny Ainge, Boston’s president of basketball operations, relayed last month regarding Crowder, who can become a restricted free agent this summer if the team tenders him a qualifying offer worth $1,181,348.
The Celtics will work out LSU big man Jordan Mickey, who sat down for an interview with the team while at the draft combine, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes. “It was a great conversation,” Mickey told Blakely. “The guys that interviewed me, I felt like they enjoyed having me in there. I felt it was a good interview.”

Celtics Rumors: Ainge, Jerebko, Bass, Crowder

May 2nd, 2015 at 9:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Celtics are looking forward to having cap space this summer for the first time in recent memory, according to Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. The team has to renounce some trade exceptions and cap holds (including Stephon Marbury and Shaquille O’Neal) to get there, but president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is enjoying the thought of having some ammunition — possibly as much as $33.2MM — to chase free agents. “We need to use that space wisely,” Ainge said. “We can’t just spend it just because we have it.”

There’s much more from Boston:

The Celtics have important decisions to make on unrestricted free agents Jonas Jerebko and Brandon Bass, Forsberg writes in a separate story. He says Boston would like to keep Jerebko, who became an important bench player after being acquired in a trade with the Pistons. However, Jerebko’s large cap hold could make that problematic, and a decision will have to be made before the Celtics can start pursuing free agents. Forsberg adds that the team’s depth at power forward will likely make Bass expendable.
Ainge wouldn’t commit to bringing back Jerebko or Bass — or restricted free agents Gigi Datome and Jae Crowder — but he had encouraging words for all four, writes Brian Robb of Boston.com. “I would just say that we like all of them to some degree,” Ainge replied. “Some of it’s going to be dependent on numbers and roster spots and draft and trades and everything else.”
To become a contender, the Celtics need to find a rim protector, more size and depth in the frontcourt and a true superstar, contends Rich Levine of CSNNE.com. He also touts Crowder and Marcus Smart as the only current Celtics worthy of being locked up to long-term deals.

Celtics Eye Aminu, Want New Deal With Jerebko

April 30th, 2015 at 2:34pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Celtics are among the teams with interest in soon-to-be free agent Al-Farouq Aminu, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. He isn’t a top priority for the Celtics, who are intent on re-signing Jae Crowder and Jonas Jerebko, Blakely writes, adding that he would nonetheless be unsurprised if the team looks more closely at Aminu if it can’t sign those two. Aminu confirmed Wednesday that he’ll turn down his minimum-salary player option for next season with the Mavs and hit free agency, though there’s mutual interest in a new deal between the forward and Dallas. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge made it clear last week that he’d like to re-sign Crowder, who’ll be a restricted free agent, and hinted today at a desire to bring back Jerebko.

Aminu, the eighth overall pick in the 2010 draft, was a premier defender in a bench role for the Mavericks this season, ranking sixth among small forwards in ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus/Minus metric. He played just as much power forward, as Basketball-Reference shows, and while his offensive contributions weren’t impressive, he capably filled the role that Shawn Marion had vacated when he left the Mavs for Cleveland last summer.

Jerebko is an improved three-point shooter over the past two seasons, having shot 39.7% on a healthy sample size of 214 attempts during that period. He’s not an especially strong rebounder for his 6’10” height, though he averaged more per 36 minutes during his 29-game stint with the Celtics than in any of his four and a half seasons with the Pistons. The 28-year-old would like to re-sign with the Celtics, and Ainge suggested today that there was some mutual interest before cautioning that “it all depends.”

Ainge made it clear today that he wants to land stars, though MassLive’s Jay King reported that the C’s are willing to chase a second-tier free agent with a lucrative offer and the idea that the player they target can eventually prove the contract worthwhile as the salary cap shoots skyward. It’s unclear if Aminu fits that bill, though the 24-year-old’s lottery pick pedigree suggests there might be untapped potential. The Celtics have only about $40MM in guaranteed salary committed against a projected $67.1MM cap.

Celtics Rumors: Free Agency, Jerebko, Crowder

April 30th, 2015 at 10:30am CST by Chuck Myron

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge seeks a talent upgrade this summer and, to no one’s surprise, pledged today to try for a marquee acquisition, MassLive’s Jay King notes (on Twitter). Still, King hears that that the C’s are prepared to chase second-tier free agents if they miss out on stars, and league sources told King that the Celtics are ready to offer a contract that would make it seem like they were overpaying one of those Plan B free agents. The idea is that Boston would do so with someone who it felt would improve enough to justify the hefty salaries and that those paydays wouldn’t seem as large in the context of the surging cap in the next few years, as King explains. There’s more from King amid the latest from Boston:

Reggie Jackson and Enes Kanter are second-tier free agents the Celtics are unlikely to pursue, King writes in the same piece. They fear that Kanter believes he’s more valuable than he is and that such thinking would disrupt the team concept, according to King.
Soon-to-be free agent Jonas Jerebko drew raves today from Ainge, who jokingly called him “the Swedish Larry Bird,” and Ainge dropped hints that he’d like to re-sign the forward, as King observes (Twitter links). “I think I would sign off on the ‘sign the Swede’ hashtag. … But it all depends,” Ainge said.
Ainge confirmed the team will indeed extend the qualifying offer of little more than $1.181MM necessary to match competing offers for Jae Crowder in free agency this summer, notes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). Ainge strongly signaled last week that he’d like to re-sign the swingman acquired in the Rajon Rondo trade.
Ainge again challenged Jared Sullinger to improve his conditioning, as Globe scribe Adam Himmelsbach relays. Sullinger is up for a rookie scale extension this year. “I think he’s hurting the longevity of his career and his play now by not being in as good shape as he can be in,” Ainge said.

Atlantic Notes: Love, Celtics, Brand, Raptors

April 28th, 2015 at 3:13pm CST by Chuck Myron

People around the Celtics were intrigued to hear of what had been Kevin Love‘s growing fondness for the team, and while the C’s plan to pursue him, they believe he’ll back with the Cavs for next season, a league source told Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. That was before Cavs GM David Griffin announced that Love will likely miss the rest of the playoffs and that surgery on his injured shoulder is a possibility. It’s unclear whether the Celtics will land Love or another star, but an active summer is surely ahead, as I wrote today in examining the Celtics offseason, and Murphy has more clues about what’s ahead for Boston amid the latest from the Atlantic Division:

Jae Crowder and Jonas Jerebko are among the Celtics who want to re-sign with the team, Murphy notes in the same piece as he looks at the status of every player on the team’s roster. The Celtics are interested in keeping Crowder but haven’t decided on Jerebko or Brandon Bass, whose desire to remain in Boston is well–documented, as Murphy details.
The Knicks expressed their interest in Elton Brand to the big man immediately after free agency began last July, and he’d consider signing with them if they pursue him again this summer, the 36-year-old New York native tells Marc Berman of the New York Post. Brand, who’s also pondering retirement, passed on a minimum-salary offer from the Knicks last year to sign a one-year, $2MM deal with the Hawks, as Berman details. Knicks team president Phil Jackson might have had more than Brand in mind last summer, since Brand’s agent, David Falk, also represents Greg Monroe, a rumored Knicks target, tweets Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.
Sportsnet’s Michael Grange views Kyle Lowry‘s comments about coach Dwane Casey on Monday as a rather tepid endorsement, though those who know the point guard tell Grange there wasn’t any hidden meaning and that there’s no tension between player and coach. GM Masai Ujiri offered praise for Lowry today but wouldn’t commit to bringing Casey back. Grange argues that Casey couldn’t have been expected to take the Raptors much farther.

Celtics Notes: Wallace, Crowder, Free Agency

April 27th, 2015 at 1:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Celtics are willing enough to trade Gerald Wallace that to do so, they would part with one of the seven extra first-round picks in line to come their way, sources tell Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, who writes in his NBA AM piece. Wallace’s contract is poised to turn into an expiring deal next season, when it calls for a salary of nearly $10.106MM, and while that would ostensibly make it less costly to move, it appears Boston is ready to give up an asset of value to facilitate a swap. Here’s more from Boston one day after a playoff exit:

Kyler has heard suggestions that the Mavs will make a run at Jae Crowder, as the Basketball Insiders scribe writes in the same piece. President of basketball operations Danny Ainge made it clear that he’d like Crowder back, and the soon-to-be restricted free agent received an auspicious diagnosis of a left ACL sprain after his injury Sunday, the team announced. That isn’t the serious injury that it appeared Crowder might have suffered, observes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com (Twitter link).
Blakely, in a full piece, examines the relative interest the C’s have in re-signing Crowder, Jonas Jerebko, Gigi Datome and Brandon Bass for next season
A first-round playoff exit was just the sort of outcome Ainge feared for the Celtics, leaving them without a lottery pick or having had much of a playoff run, writes Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. Still, people in the organization are warming to the idea that the postseason berth can help, and they’re hopeful that having been on the playoff stage raises the team’s profile for free agents. Already, Kevin Love had reportedly held Boston in high regard as a free agent destination before a tie-up with Kelly Olynyk left the injured All-Star with a “legitimate loathing” of the C’s, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported earlier.

Celtics Notes: Crowder, Stevens, Bass

April 26th, 2015 at 6:21pm CST by Will Joseph

The biggest question mark for the Celtics, Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com writes (Insider subscription required), heading into the offseason is this: Can the franchise land a star? Pelton projects the Celtics will likely have $21.1MM in cap space. The Celtics have the cap space to offer a max deal this summer while bringing others (including soon-to-be restricted free agent Jae Crowder and soon-to-be unrestricted free agent Jonas Jerebko) back, Pelton adds. In an ideal offseason, Boston would ink Kevin Love, if the big man chose to opt out of his deal with the Cavs, and also package its pair of first-round picks to move up and draft Willie Cauley-Stein as a rim protector and versatile defender, Pelton writes.

Here’s more from Beantown:

In the same piece, Pelton writes that soon-to-be unrestricted free agent Brandon Bass will probably fill the role of a veteran who can knock down the midrange jumper for a different team after playing well for the Celtics this season.
Crowder plays with a ton of energy, plays physical and plays with emotion, all of which makes him an ideal player for a playoff-team and someone who would help the Celtics in coming seasons, if the team were to re-sign him, Jimmy Toscano of CSNNE.com writes. Crowder, someone Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said he’d like to have back, averaged 10.8 points per game and five rebounds per game in the four games Boston lost to the Cavaliers. Boston can match any competing offers for the forward who turns 25 in July as long as they tender a qualifying offer worth only $1,181,348.
Despite trading away their two best veterans, Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green, before the season’s midway point, the Celtics made the playoffs and that’s a credit to second-year head coach Brad Stevens, who finished fourth in NBA Coach of the Year Award balloting, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. Stevens, 38, has come a long way since last year, Deveney adds. While Stevens described himself as “clueless” in his first year, scouts told Deveney that the former Butler coach is now a respected leader in the league for both his offensive system and focus on transition defense. The team consistently played hard under Stevens, who, as Deveney notes, is often praised for his even-keeled demeanor. What’s special about Stevens’ offensive system is that it runs 10 players deep, so it will be interesting what role — if any — that has in the Celtics’ offseason plans. It’s very possible Stevens’ coaching style could benefit the Celtics in that regard because, as Deveney points out, Stevens has shown an ability to adapt his style to the players he has.