Jonas Valanciunas Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Kyler’s Latest: Dragic, Deng, Garnett, Lawson

February 17th, 2015 at 10:09am CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks have engaged the Suns in talks as they keep an eye on Goran Dragic, just as the Lakers have done, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders writes in his NBA AM piece. The Knicks and Lakers would be on board with trading for a player whom they could otherwise just wait to sign outright in free agency this summer, like Dragic, but it doesn’t seem that either would give up major assets in any such swap. Kyler has plenty more new information with the trade deadline just two days off, and we’ll hit the highlights here:

Miami is open to trading Luol Deng, according to Kyler, who suggests that the veteran small forward isn’t garnering the sort of interest it would take for him to be traded. Kyler also lists Norris Cole, Chris Andersen and Danny Granger as players the Heat are making available, which jibes with earlier reports on all three.
Golden State is “more than” interested in Kevin Garnett, Kyler hears, which advances a suggestion from Grantland’s Zach Lowe on Monday that the Warriors would like to try to convince Garnett to waive his no-trade clause. The 20th-year veteran reportedly has no plans to seek a buyout.
The Bucks are “being linked” to Ty Lawson, Kyler writes, though it’s unclear just what sort of interest is there.
The Bulls would think about trading Tony Snell for a veteran shooting guard who fits what they’re looking for, Kyler writes. Still, while Chicago is speaking generally about doing some deals before the deadline, the team doesn’t appear to be willing to give up what it would take, according to Kyler.
The Suns are making Gerald Green available, according to Kyler.
Charlotte has interest in Wilson Chandler, but the Hornets would prefer to trade for Arron Afflalo, as Kyler hears. That’s the reverse of the Blazers‘ apparent preference. The Bulls are “sniffing at” both players, too, Kyler adds, nonetheless casting doubt once more on whether Chicago is willing to give up the assets necessary to swing a deal.
Terrence Ross and Jonas Valanciunas have come up in trade rumors, but it’s more likely that the Raptors deal someone on an expiring contract, according to Kyler, naming Landry Fields, Tyler Hansbrough and Amir Johnson as examples.
Sources close to the Pacers tell Kyler that David West is likely to opt in with the Pacers for next season, when his contract calls for him to make $12.6MM.
There is “a sense” that the Magic are making Ben Gordon and Luke Ridnour available, Kyler says.

Raptors Seek West, Mull Ross, Valanciunas Deal

February 16th, 2015 at 4:42pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:42pm: It’s “all quiet on the trade front” for the Raptors at present, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.

11:08am: The Pacers are leaning against trading West unless he makes a push for a trade, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who believes that the power forward is unlikely to agitate for such a move (Twitter links).

10:41am: The Raptors are pursuing David West and they have considered trading Terrence Ross if they receive the right offer, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Executives from opponents who’ve spoken with the Raptors tell Kennedy that Toronto has thought about packaging Terrence Ross and Jonas Valanciunas for a star (Twitter links). The Raptors have been listening to offers for Ross, several league sources tell Grantland’s Zach Lowe. Still, Lowe senses the team will keep him, as he says on Twitter, and a Raptors source told Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that the team had “absolutely not” engaged teams about dealing for the former eighth overall pick (on Twitter). Ross has struggled of late but Toronto coach Dwane Casey remains a fan, Deveney hears (Twitter link).

Fellow Basketball Insiders scribe Steve Kyler wrote a couple of weeks ago that league sources had mentioned West’s name, among others, in connection with the Raptors. Lowe heard earlier this season that the Pacers were open to dealing West for a first-round pick, but that talk of that had dried up. The Grantland columnist makes much the same point in his latest dispatch, writing that West has been “available off and on” for that first-rounder over the last couple of months, according to several league sources. Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird said recently that West hadn’t given him an indication of whether he’d exercise his $12.6MM player option for next season.

The Raptors are within $1MM of the tax threshold, so taking in West’s $12MM for this season would be troublesome unless they offloaded others. Ross and Valanciunas only make about $6.472MM combined this season on their rookie scale contracts, each of which runs through 2015/16, though West doesn’t fit the description of the star they’re apparently looking for. The team hadn’t been making it any easier to deal Ross in spite of the small forward’s disappointing play, as Deveney wrote late last month, and there hasn’t been much chatter surrounding Valanciunas, the fifth overall pick from 2011, so it would appear as though the Raptors would want a marquee return. That’s a problem for any potential deal, since there don’t appear to be any stars on the trade market, as Kennedy notes via Twitter.

Eastern Notes: World Peace, Sixers, Humphries

November 15th, 2014 at 8:47am CST by Eddie Scarito

Metta World Peace believes it was a post-game locker room confrontation with J.R. Smith last year that led to him not being re-signed by the Knicks this season despite his familiarity with the triangle offense, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. “I don’t understand why they didn’t [sign] me,’’ World Peace said. “But then again, I’m very direct. I think I was too direct in the locker room, too direct to J.R. Smith. It wasn’t from a bad place. If someone is not playing defense or not giving effort, that’s my specialty. I don’t hold back on my words. Nobody wants to talk direct to them. We don’t give it to them straight. I said some things directly to J.R. Smith in the locker room and he challenged me back, said some direct things to me. But he understood where we came from.”

Here’s more from the east:

As the Sixers‘ losses continue to mount, head coach Brett Brown still feels pride in what the franchise is working for and constantly reminds the players of the team’s plan, Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle writes. “It is hard, but it it’s something you remind yourself – why did you take the job?” Brown said. “What are the true realities of the roster we have? What’s the possible outcomes if we can navigate through the first few years we have to face? Sometimes its hard with the personnel that we have. I gotta coach them. I gotta remind them every single day that they have to be focused on the process, not the result.”
Raptors big man Jonas Valanciunas‘ production has been under a higher level of scrutiny this season but head coach Dwane Casey is quick to defend his young player, Mike Ganter of The Toronto Sun writes. “He’s a young kid and his curse is two years ago when he got here everybody said he was the second coming,” Casey said. “Everybody was expecting that sort of impact. As a staff, all we expect is he’s going to grow at the right time, at the right pace and [eventually] he’ll get there. But everybody is waiting for him or wanting him to be more than what he is ready to be right now. He’s right where we need him to be.”
Sign-and-trade acquisition Kris Humphries has added a needed level of toughness and physicality to the Wizards‘ frontcourt, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post writes.

Raptors Pick Up Options On Valanciunas, Ross

October 14th, 2014 at 10:35am CST by Chuck Myron

The Raptors have exercised their options to keep Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross under their rookie scale contracts for 2015/16, the team announced via press release. The moves were expected, as both are mainstays of a team on the rise in the Eastern Conference. Valanciunas will make more than $4.660MM and Ross nearly $3.554MM, respectively, in 2015/16, which will be the fourth pro season for each of them, as our Rookie Scale Team Option Tracker shows.

Valanciunas played overseas for a year after the Raptors drafted him fifth overall in 2011, but Toronto wasted little time in giving him a prominent role during his rookie season, when he started in all but five of his 62 appearances. The native of Lithuania started all 81 games he played this past season, averaging 11.3 points and 8.8 rebounds in 28.2 minutes per contest. Ross was a reserve for Toronto the season after the team picked him eighth overall in 2012, but he blossomed last year, when the Rudy Gay trade opened the starting small forward position for him. Ross put up 10.9 PPG in 26.7 MPG and raised his three-point shooting to 39.5% from the 33.2% mark he posted as a rookie.

The exercised options give the Raptors about $49MM in commitments for 2015/16, or about 17.5MM beneath the projected $66.5MM salary cap. That would give Toronto a chance to go after a restricted free agent with an offer at or near the maximum salary, but next summer is still a ways off, and many moves are yet to come.

Ford On Randolph, Raptors, Cavs, Suns, Draft

December 23rd, 2013 at 3:09pm CST by Luke Adams

Recent reports have downplayed the Grizzlies‘ and Raptors‘ interest in moving Zach Randolph and DeMar DeRozan, but in his latest chat, ESPN.com’s Chad Ford suggests both teams would still be open to moving their respective highest-paid players in the right deal. Here’s more from ESPN’s draft guru:

Jonas Valanciunas and perhaps Amir Johnson are the only players the Raptors “really want to keep,” according to Ford.
The Cavaliers are working the phones in an effort to add impact players, and are still very much trying to make the playoffs this season, says Ford.
Ford believes that anyone on the Suns except for Eric Bledsoe could be had, suggesting that Goran Dragic, who is drawing interest from the Kings, is “the most likely to go.” I’d assume the Suns would require a pretty nice package to seriously consider moving Dragic, given how well he and Bledsoe have played together so far.
In a 2013 re-draft, Ford would have Giannis Antetokounmpo at No. 1, followed by Victor Oladipo and Michael Carter-Williams.
There’s no clear consensus on who will be picked first overall in 2014. According to Ford, conservative GMs will lean toward Julius Randle or Jabari Parker, while risk-taking teams will likely opt for Andrew Wiggins, Dante Exum, or Joel Embiid.

Ford’s Latest: Bucks, Raptors, Kings, MKG

December 16th, 2013 at 7:26pm CST by Luke Adams

ESPN.com’s Chad Ford latest Tank Rank feature focuses on the teams that have the best chance of landing an impact player in the 2014 draft, but those clubs could also end up being the most intriguing sellers leading up to the ’14 trade deadline. As such, Ford’s piece includes a handful of notable tidbits on some of the 10 clubs on his list. Here are the highlights:

The Bucks have been “steadfastly rejecting” trade offers for players who could help them in the short-term, such as Rudy Gay and Omer Asik. Ford interprets that as a sign that Milwaukee could be embracing the idea that “one bad season could lead to many, many good ones.”
While Raptors GM Masai Ujiri seems open to moving Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, rival GMs are even more interested in trying to pry away Jonas Valanciunas and Amir Johnson. According to Ford, Valanciunas is “virtually untouchable,” and it would take a high draft pick to land Johnson.
The Kings are in the market for a pass-first point guard, sources tell Ford. Sacramento just traded Greivis Vasquez to the Raptors in last week’s Rudy Gay deal, so presumably the team would like to replace Vasquez’s production at the point.
The Cavaliers continue to be active in discussions on trades that would improve the current roster, while the Bobcats also appear to favor deals that improve the team’s 2013/14 outlook. Ford hears that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist could be made available when he gets healthy.
Rival GMs are split on what Danny Ainge intends to do, and Ford suggests we may not know the Celtics‘ plans until February.

Raptors Notes: Gay, Valanciunas, DeRozan

December 9th, 2013 at 5:25pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kings owner Vivek Ranadive was the catalyst behind Sacramento’s trade for Rudy Gay, and he’s wanted the 6’9″ forward for months, regardless of the advanced metrics that suggest Gay is no star, a source tells TNT’s David Aldridge. His enthusiasm allowed the Raptors to unload a player that GM Masai Ujiri clearly wasn’t as high on. Here’s more on the swap along with other news from Toronto:

Jonas Valanciunas is the Raptor least likely to be traded, but even he isn’t entirely off-limits as Ujiri attempts to overhaul the team, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. A desire to sell tickets and the expectation that Gay would raise his trade value helped keep the Raptors from trading Gay before the season, Wolstat suggests.
Wolstat adds more thoughts on the trade in a separate piece, passing along word from a source who says it’s likely the Raptors trade one or both of DeMar DeRozan and Amir Johnson.
It’s clear that Ujiri is rebuilding the Raptors, but it’s not as easy to see what he’s building toward, writes Matt Moore of CBSSports.com.
Andrew Wiggins isn’t the lock for the No. 1 overall pick he once appeared to be, but there’s no way the Raptors would pass him up if they won the draft lottery, writes Chad Ford of ESPN.com, who looks at what several teams would do with the top pick (Insider only).

Raptors Exercise Team Options On Valanciunas, Ross

October 24th, 2013 at 5:59pm CST by Ryan Raroque

As per the team’s official PR Twitter account, the Raptors have exercised their third-year team options on center Jonas Valanciunas and swingman Terrence Ross, essentially guaranteeing their contracts through 2014/15. Though the terms of the deal were not officially released, Valanciunas and Ross are expected to earn roughly $3.7MM and $2.8MM respectively during that season.

The 6’11 Valanciunas, who averaged 8.9 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.3 BPG, and shooting 55.7% from the field in 24 minutes per contest in 2012/13, is arguably primed for a breakout season after winning the MVP award of the Las Vegas Summer League this year and some strong public support given by head coach Dwane Casey back in July:

“(The offense) will change quite a bit because (Jonas) has developed into the type of player that we can go to on a consistent basis far more than we did last year…He’s done a good job this summer not only scoring out of the low post, but of reading defences, understanding when to pass, when to score, when to attack…He’s going to get his big portion of the offence run through him, around him, not only just to score out of the low post, but to quarterback” (Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun).

As for Ross, who averaged 6.4 PPG in 17.0 MPG last year, there should be ample opportunities to continue to develop and see floor time, as he eventually became a trusted crunch-time defender in coach Casey’s rotation midway through last season. Through 7 pre-season games, Ross has come off the bench and emerged as the team’s third leading scorer, averaging 12,0 PPG in 21.0 MPG. The next step, according to Casey, is consistency:

“(He’s shown) that he can score the basketball, he can defend, but his key thing, like I’ve always said, is consistency, doing it over a long period of time…Youth is part of that, understanding what it takes to be an NBA player each and every night. It’s a grind, it’s a marathon — not a sprint. It’s not what you did on the last play, it’s what you do on the next play. He’s got to learn.”

Both Ross and Valanciunas will be eligible for fourth-year team options in 2015/16, and considering how much the Raptors appear to be committed to their development, it probably wasn’t likely that the two would have made it past this year’s deadline without having their options picked up.

Poll: Most Improved Player In The Atlantic?

August 29th, 2013 at 8:22pm CST by Ryan Raroque

The Atlantic Division saw plenty of player movement during this offseason, with teams either adding significant rotation players or dealing them away to create bigger roles for their younger ones. Let's take a look at a few players who could continue to elevate their standing next season:

After sitting out the 2011/12 season to recover from open heart surgery, Jeff Green returned to the Celtics last year as a productive contributor and arguably the team's most important reserve, appearing in 81 games (17 starts) and averaging 12.8 PPG and 3.9 RPG in 27.8 MPG while shooting a career best 46.7% from the field and 38.5% from three. Over the final three months of the season, the former Georgetown Hoya put on a tremendous display of efficient shooting, posting scoring averages of 15.3/17.6/17.1 and never averaging less than 48.8% overall and 41.4% from long distance per month. Green could very well be relied on in a primary scoring role next season following the departures of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry – three of Boston's top five scorers last year.

One of the biggest question marks for the Knicks heading into last season was how Iman Shumpert would fare after returning from an ACL injury suffered during the 2011/12 playoffs. After sitting out the first 37 games, the sophomore swingman returned in mid-January, averaging 6.8 PPG and 1.0 SPG in 22.1 MPG the rest of the way. While those numbers may not stand out very much, Shumpert proved to be an intriguing young player within a playoff atmosphere, going for 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting in a closeout win against the Celtics and 6-for-10 (with an uncanny 5-for-6 performance from long distance) in a comeback attempt that fell short against the Pacers in Game 6 of the Conference semi-finals. Although his shooting numbers appeared to have wildly fluctuated at times during last season (26.4% from the field/ 27.2% from three in February followed by 47.9% from the field/49.9% from three in March), Shumpert has also garnered recognition as a strong defensive player, and there is some belief that his development is strongly tied to how far the Knicks can go this year.

With last year's team leading scorer Jrue Holiday now donning a Pelicans uniform and Jason Richardson still rehabbing from knee surgery, Evan Turner will most likely stand as the 76ers' most experienced guard in their backcourt to start the season. The fourth-year player was actually given an enormous amount of minutes last year and put up some of the best numbers of his career thus far – 13.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 4.3 APG, and 36.5% from long range in 35.6 MPG. A few things to keep an eye out for in terms of Turner's offensive development are how much he can increase his scoring average by, how well he can improve from last season's 41.8% overall shooting average, and if he can get to the free throw line at a higher rate.

Another name to keep an eye out for in Philadelphia is Thaddeus Young, who finished the year as the team's second-leading scorer. The 6'8 forward posted 14.8 PPG on an efficient 53.1% from the field along with 7.5 RPG in 34.6 MPG. While 57.4% from the charity stripe leaves a lot left to be desired – especially considering he shot 77.1% in 2011/12 – Young showed a tremendous amount of promise overall as a scorer in March, going for 16.7 PPG on a 58.0% clip.

A very intriguing name to follow north of the border is second-year center Jonas Valanciunas, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2013 Las Vegas Summer league. As a rookie, the 6'11 center delivered 8.9 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and 1.3 BPG for the Raptors last season. In what could reasonably have been a preview of what to continue to expect, Valanciunas averaged 11.7 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 1.1 BPG, and 27.1 MPG in March, followed by 14.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.4 BPG, and 31.6 MPG in April. What's even more interesting are his field goal percentages and accuracy from the line over those final two months of the year (62.0%/82.0% and 55.8%/85.2% respectively). With that in mind, the 21-year-old big man figures to have the keys to the starting center position in Toronto.

Of the aforementioned players in the Atlantic Division, who stands to take their game to another level in 2013/14?

Odds & Ends: Hill, Team USA, Cousins

July 25th, 2013 at 11:14pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Opting to stick around for youth basketball camps he sponsored in Texas, Pacers guard George Hill understands that his decision to forego his commitment to Team USA training camp on short notice could hurt his chances at future invitations (IndyStar.com). USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo's reacted to Hill's decision: "We expected him here, and he withdrew…Until I really get the answer, I don't know what else to tell you. I just don't think it's fair to comment one way or the other until I have facts, out of courtesy and respect."

Here are a few more miscellaneous rumblings to pass along from tonight:

Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee (via Twitter) hears that the Kings will be meeting with DeMarcus Cousins' agent Dan Fegan in the near future to discuss a contract extension.
Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today tweets that early next year, Colangelo will announce another pool of 25-28 players for next summer's World Cup competition.
Though he almost chose the Mavericks at the request of his son, Jermaine O'Neal passed on the chance to return home and ultimately chose to join the Warriors for the opportunity to be a part of something special (Marcus Thompson of the San Jose Mercury News).
Eric Koreen of the National Post introduces us to Bill Bayno, Jesse Murmuys, and Jama Mahlalela – some of the new faces on the Raptors' assistant coaching staff. In another piece, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun gathers some of head coach Dwane Casey's thoughts on Jonas Valanciunas and DeMar DeRozan and their improvement this summer.
Zach Harper of CBS Sports is puzzled by Cavaliers center Andrew Bynum's statement to Cleveland media that he's never played for a city that really supported their team, coming from someone who developed and enjoyed plenty of success with the Lakers.