Jrue Holiday Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southwest Notes: Gordon, Holiday, Wallace, Rockets

March 6th, 2016 at 5:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pelicans fear that shooting guard Eric Gordon‘s season may be finished, according to John Reid of the Times Picayune. Gordon had to leave Saturday’s game when he fractured his right ring finger on a steal attempt. He missed 16 games after having surgery on the same finger in January. ”I don’t know for sure what happened, but it looked like he might have done the same thing again,” said Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry, who speculated Gordon could be out six to eight weeks. ”That would be really unfortunate because he worked so hard to get back and I really thought he was playing really good basketball.” Gordon, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, is averaging 15.4 points, 2.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds through 45 games.

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Gordon’s injury will likely mean more playing time for Jrue Holiday, writes Justin Verrier of ESPN.com. Holiday started the second half Saturday after Gordon was hurt, and Gentry indicated that he wants to see more of the former All-Star point guard who’s mostly come off the bench this season. “I’m happy to be playing, if you want me to be honest,” he said. “I appreciate it. I don’t take it for granted. Obviously with previous two years and what’s happening now — and I think Eric just went out with his finger — I’m happy to be on the court.”
Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace gives the team an A-plus for how it has responded to Marc Gasol‘s season-ending injury, according to Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal. Memphis has gone 7-2 since Gasol went down with a broken right foot last month. “The fans are enjoying this recent incarnation of the Grizzlies,” Wallace said. “It’s come together rather well and rather quickly. You have to give the players and coaching staff credit. They’ve embraced the challenge.”
No team has fallen harder this season than the Rockets, writes Chris O’Leary of The Toronto Star. After winning the Southwest Division and reaching the Western Conference finals last year, Houston enters tonight’s game 30-32 and in danger of missing the playoffs. “Success in this league is fragile,” said Raptors coach Dwane Casey. “You should work every day to be better, work every day on every possession, because it is fragile and fleeting.”

Eastern Notes: Morris, Teague, Middleton, ‘Melo

February 22nd, 2016 at 12:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

Ex-Suns coach Jeff Hornacek gave one of the most positive reviews about Markieff Morris that the Wizards encountered when they asked around the league about Markieff Morris prior to last week’s trade, sources told TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip for NBA.com. Wizards coach Randy Wittman said he only heard “rave reviews,” while Marcin Gortat and Jared Dudley, former teammates of Morris who are now on the Wizards, told the front office that Morris wouldn’t be a problem, as Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post details. See more from the Eastern Conference as the ramifications of the trade deadline continue:

The Bucks reportedly had at least passing interest in Jeff Teague, but they weren’t willing to part with Khris Middleton to get a deal done, league sources told Aldridge for the same piece. Milwaukee reportedly held tight to Middleton in talks about Ricky Rubio, too. The Hawks were trying to score both a starter and a first-round pick in would-be trades involving Teague, sources told USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt last week (Twitter link).
Meanwhile, the Pelicans were the team that clung to one of their players in their talks with the Bucks, as the conversation between those teams involving Greg Monroe fell apart when New Orleans refused to give up Jrue Holiday, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.
Several teams think that if the Knicks don’t make much progress in their rebuilding by the middle of July, Carmelo Anthony would be willing to waive his no-trade clause, Deveney writes in the same piece. The Knicks spoke with the Rockets about Ty Lawson before the trade deadline, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post.
The retention of Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside this summer would almost assuredly mean the end to Luol Deng‘s time with the Heat, observes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel, who writes in his mailbag column. Front office executives around the league were led to believe that Deng was available on the trade market before last week’s deadline, as USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt noted (on Twitter).

And-Ones: Raptors, Holiday, Middleton, Asik, Draft

January 28th, 2016 at 2:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

Attracting a major free agent to Toronto comes down to the team’s success on the court, Raptors GM Masai Ujiri believes, and Toronto is holding up its end of the bargain so far this year, as Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com examines. The Raptors are in second place in the Eastern Conference, thanks in part to a lineup of Kyle Lowry, Patrick Patterson, offseason signees Cory Joseph and Bismack Biyombo, and the recently extended Terrence Ross that outscores opponents by a whopping 32.6 points per 100 possessions, Arnovitz notes.

“It’s simple: Win,” Ujiri said. “If you have a good culture, you can attract free agents. We have a very unique opportunity here.”

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Jrue Holiday has shown flashes of his peak form, and that’s perhaps partly because the Pelicans restricted his minutes earlier in the season as he recovered from a stress reaction in his right leg, writes Brett Dawson of The New Orleans Advocate. Would-be trade suitors have been “petrified” about Holiday’s leg issues, though the Pelicans are reluctant to deal him, as Zach Lowe of ESPN.com wrote this week. “I think it helped me mentally, for one, preparing mentally to feel good,” Holiday said of the minutes restriction, since lifted. “Not to second-guess myself if I’m making a cut or doing a move, especially when it comes to the point where I’m playing back-to-back and playing a lot of minutes. And physically, I do feel really good right now.”
The five-year, $70MM deal that Bucks leading scorer Khris Middleton signed this past offseason is the NBA’s most trade-able contract, opines Keith Smith of RealGM, while Pelicans center Omer Asik‘s five-year pact worth nearly $53MM, also signed this past summer, is the league’s least trade-able deal, Smith writes in a follow-up piece.
LSU combo forward Ben Simmons unsurprisingly tops the latest draft rankings from Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com, with Duke small forward Brandon Ingram second and Providence point guard Kris Dunn third.
Raptors D-League power forward Ronald Roberts, who’s averaging 18.4 points in 34.4 minutes per game, tops the latest D-League prospect rankings.

Northwest Notes: Hayward, Durant, Plumlee, Davis

January 26th, 2016 at 9:47am CST by Chuck Myron

The Jazz are “poking around” the market for a point guard, several league sources tell Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. It’s not entirely clear if such efforts are related to the team’s reported 10-day deal with Erick Green, though it would seem given the timing of that agreement, so soon after Raul Neto suffered a concussion Monday, that the team had already been looking. The Heat reportedly rebuffed Utah when it tried to engage them in Mario Chalmers trade talks over the offseason, but the Jazz’s interest in Chalmers was minimal, according to Lowe. The ESPN scribe speculates about other options, including Jrue Holiday, whose leg issues leave teams “petrified” and whom the Pelicans are reluctant to deal, anyway, Lowe reports. Lowe also believes Jeff Teague would be a fit for Utah, but reports that the Hawks have had “major trust issues” with backup Dennis Schröder and are focused on contending this season. In any case, the Jazz appear reluctant to pilfer from their store of future picks, which includes the Warriors unprotected 2017 first-rounder as the relative cost of rookie scale contracts becomes cheaper amid the rapid salary cap escalation, Lowe writes.

“Picks are that much more valuable,” GM Dennis Lindsey said to Lowe.

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The impending financial realities threaten the core of the Jazz, as Lowe details in the same piece, and Gordon Hayward, who can opt out after next season, acknowledged to Lowe that they cast a shadow on his future. “I’m constantly thinking about that,” Hayward said. “Contracts are so short now. A lot of our guys are on their rookie deals, and they’ll come up for extensions. It all might determine whether or not I stay in Utah.”
The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater examines the surprising lack of legitimate rumors about Kevin Durant‘s impending free agency, writing that the idea of the Thunder star signing a deal that would allow him to opt out after just one season “has gained traction.” It’s not clear whether that idea is growing on Durant himself or if more people are simply realizing that it would likely represent the most lucrative path for the former MVP. That would allow him to take advantage of a projected $108MM cap for the summer of 2017 and a higher maximum-salary tier, since he’d be a 10-year veteran.
The playmaking ability of Trail Blazers offseason acquisitions Mason Plumlee and Ed Davis has helped alleviate the pressure from incumbent guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, as Mike Richman of The Oregonian examines. Plumlee will be eligible for a rookie scale extension in the offseason.

Southwest Notes: Cummings, Holiday, Gordon

September 12th, 2015 at 8:09pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Will Cummings, who will join the Rockets in training camp after signing with the team, understands Houston has well-established point guards on the roster, but hopes to learn as much as possible from them, Colby Giacubeno of SB Nation writes.

“It’s going to be a great experience going against [Patrick Beverley and Ty Lawson] in practice. Pat has been back in Houston, so I’ve been able to work out with him a few times now and putting me through different types of workouts, which definitely helps give me a jump-start going to training camp,” Cummings said. “It’s really just a blessing to be playing at the highest level and learn as much as I can from the guys who have been there and want to be the best.”

Cummings went undrafted after leading Temple University in points (14.8), assists (4.2) and steals (1.9) per game as a senior last season.

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Jrue Holiday is still rehabbing from the surgery on his right leg, but the point guard is optimistic about returning to the court full-time, John Reid of the Times Picayune tweets. ”I’m not doing everything that [the team] is doing [in volunteer workouts], my time is limited which I think is really good,” Holiday said.
The stakes are high for Eric Gordon this season, Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders opines. Gordon will be a free agent after the season and Blancarte believes if the shooting guard can stay healthy, he will have a big contract waiting for him next summer. Shooting guards Wes Matthews and Khris Middleton just received $70MM each on their contracts this summer and Blancarte believes Gordon’s potential deal next summer could top both of those.

Southwest Notes: Holiday, Aldridge, McGee

September 4th, 2015 at 9:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday has made sufficient progress in his recovery from the surgical procedure he underwent in May that the team expects him to be cleared to participate in basketball related activities when training camp begins, John Reid of The Times Picayune writes. ”What I think we’re trying to do is not push him anywhere,” coach Alvin Gentry said. ”We’re going to monitor obviously his practices. I doubt there will be a situation where we’ll let him go two-a-days. It’s just doesn’t make sense right now.” Holiday has missed a combined 90 games over the past two campaigns because of recurring problems with his right leg. The NBA had ordered the Sixers to pay $3MM to the Pelicans last season for not fully disclosing the extent of Holiday’s injury prior to shipping him to New Orleans.

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Rick Barnes, who coached LaMarcus Aldridge at the University of Texas, doesn’t think that his former player will have any difficulty adapting his game to the Spurs‘ system, Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News relays. “What he wants is to win an NBA championship,” Barnes said. “He’ll do whatever he feels he has to do to make that happen.” Aldridge had expressed some level of concern to San Antonio assistant Ime Udoka about him being more of a scorer than the Spurs typically feature during the team’s recruitment of him, McDonald adds. “He’s a tremendous teammate. He’s a team player,” Barnes continued. “He knows he’s a franchise-type guy, but he also has to have people around him. Credit to him for wanting to be part of something special.”
Mavs big man JaVale McGee believes that his athleticism will set him apart from the other centers on Dallas’ roster, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com writes. “Well, I definitely feel like we’re different players, the centers that we have, so it’s definitely going to be good competition,” McGee said. “But that’s what basketball is for, competition, so it’s definitely going to make us all better. It’s definitely a positive thing, being a leaper as I am and a shot blocker and a dunker, so that’s definitely what teams need. I’m just somebody who keeps it simple, who dunks the ball, blocks shots and is just a presence in the paint. … [coach Rick Carlisle] just wants me to keep it simple, and just play as hard as I can and be a presence in the paint.”

Kings Eye Jrue Holiday, Schröder, Jeremy Lin

June 30th, 2015 at 12:57pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Kings are eyeing Jrue Holiday and Dennis Schröder among potential trade targets as they seek a point guard to play along with Darren Collison, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN (Twitter link), who confirms the team’s interest in Ty Lawson, too. Broussard adds Jeremy Lin to the team’s list of free agent targets and confirms that Sacramento is still high on Rajon Rondo. Kings ownership is making a hard push to sign Rondo and fellow reported target Monta Ellis, as Chris Mannix of SI.com hears (on Twitter), pointing out that Sacramento, with about $53MM in guaranteed salaries against a $67.1MM salary cap, can likely afford only one of those two.

Ellis, a shooting guard, would appear the lower priority, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee says the team is making point guard and small forward more of a priority (Twitter link). The team appears to be casting a wide net as it seeks a new point man. Coach George Karl has long seemingly been enamored with the idea of trading for Lawson, as Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck wrote months ago, though the Kings are reportedly investigating the idea of firing Karl as they gauge John Calipari‘s interest in joining the team. Lawson is set to make approximately $12.404MM next season on a contract that runs through 2016/17. Holiday’s deal with the Pelicans runs through the same season, though he’ll make only about $10.596MM next season. Schröder, whose rookie scale deal with the Hawks also goes through 2016/17, is by far the cheapest trade option, as next season he’s in line for roughly $1.763MM.

Lin would also seemingly come relatively cheaply after a largely unsuccessful stint with the Lakers. His scoring average has declined in each of the three years since his “Linsanity” season with the Knicks.

Report: Sixers Ordered To Pay $3MM To Pelicans

June 28th, 2015 at 3:45pm CST by Arthur Hill

SUNDAY, 3:45pm: Pelicans officials refused to comment on whether they received $3MM from the Sixers, tweets John Reid of The Times-Picayune.

The NBA ordered the Sixers to pay $3MM to the Pelicans last season for not fully disclosing the extent of Jrue Holiday‘s injury before his 2013 trade, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Sixers dealt Holiday to New Orleans shortly after the 2013 draft in exchange for the rights to Nerlens Noel.

Two unidentified sources told Pompey that Holiday had stress fractures in his right leg during his last season in Philadelphia, but the Sixers didn’t provide full disclosure of the injury prior to the deal. Philadelphia GM Sam Hinkie refused to comment on the report, but a team source said the allegation is untrue.

Holiday appeared in just 34 and 40 games in his first two seasons in New Orleans. He averaged 14.8 points and 6.9 assists this season, while helping the Pelicans reach the playoffs. Noel missed the entire 2013/14 season after the deal, but emerged as a Rookie of the Year candidate this season, averaging 9.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.

The sources say the Sixers are pursuing a similar complaint against the Lakers regarding Andrew Bynum, accusing Los Angeles of providing misinformation about Bynum’s injured knees. Bynum was traded to the Sixers as part of a four-team deal in 2012, but never played for Philadelphia because of his knee problems. “They are saying the Lakers didn’t disclose all of the information about Bynum’s knees,” one of the sources said. “They think they should be able to get some type of monetary resolution.”

Southwest Notes: Holiday, Messina, Chandler

May 7th, 2015 at 4:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday underwent successful surgery on Wednesday to remove a previously implanted screw from his right leg, the team announced. No timetable was announced for when Holiday could resume basketball activities. The 24-year-old appeared in 40 games this past season for New Orleans, averaging 14.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 6.9 assists in 32.6 minutes per contest.

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Spurs assistant Ettore Messina is still interested in becoming an NBA head coach, Dan McCarney of The San Antonio Express-News writes. “I am seriously thinking about that but I’d ask first [coach] Gregg Popovich and [GM] R.C. Buford for advice,” Messina said. “At the same time I am very happy with the Spurs. I have two years left on my contract with the Spurs. Maybe I finish my contract and I will go back home peacefully.” Messina’s best shot to snag a head coaching position may be to hang on in San Antonio as an assistant until Popovich retires, and then take over the team, McCarney opines.
Tyson Chandler might be the most attractive asset the Mavericks could pitch to prospective free agent targets, opines Kevin Sherrington of The Dallas Morning News in his weekly mailbag. Of course, Dallas will still need to make a decision regarding the 32-year-old big man first. Chandler will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and with the team reportedly interested in signing fellow free agents DeAndre Jordan and LaMarcus Aldridge, there likely won’t be room under the salary cap for all three in Dallas.
Pelicans guard Eric Gordon still hasn’t made a decision regarding his player option for 2015/16 worth $15,514,031, John Reid of The Times Picayune writes. But the 26-year-old does believe that New Orleans has a bright future as a franchise, Reid adds. ”I just believe when you think about winning, people do things and think positive,” Gordon said. ”I’ve just tried to get healthy, do the things that I can do to help this team. The talent is here, it’s all about us being healthy and playing together.We can only get better at this point. It’s all about guys staying on task and getting healthy. I think we can be really good.”

And-Ones: Holiday, Hibbert, Lawson

February 18th, 2015 at 11:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday could be sidelined for more than another month after reaggravating the stress reaction injury in his lower right leg on Monday, John Reid of NOLA.com reports. The Pelicans announced on Wednesday that he will be re-evaluated in three weeks by the team’s medical staff but New Orleans offered no timetable for his return. Holiday, who suffered the setback while doing light drills, has been sidelined since January 14th. He was averaging 15.2 points and 7.1 assists prior to the injury.

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The Pacers are open to trading Roy Hibbert, rival executives told Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). There is nothing imminent regarding a potential trade of Indiana’s starting center, Kennedy adds.
Gal Mekel is being hotly pursued by Hapoel Jerusalem of the Israel Premier League, David Pick of Eurobasket.com tweets. Mekel, a point guard, appeared in four games with the Pelicans in December this season.
Trade chatter around the Raptors is unusually low, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun tweets. The Raptors are looking toward the offseason to make any big moves, Wolstat adds.
Jermaine O’Neal, who has opted not to play this season, hinted that the Warriors and Trail Blazers as well as the Mavs were interested in his services, according to quotes posted by Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com from a Dallas radio interview. The Mavs were expected to sign O’Neal but the veteran delayed his comeback because he felt that the timing wasn’t right, O’Neal explained in the interview on 103.3 FM’s “Friedo and Fitzsimmons” show.
The Nuggets are still considering offers for Arron Afflalo, and some “late charging” teams have expressed interest in the guard, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). The Blazers are still strongly in the mix to acquire Afflalo, Wojnarowski adds.
Ty Lawson‘s no-show at Nuggets practice on Wednesday might be a ploy on Lawson’s part to force a trade, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders opines. Lawson’s absence was unexcused by Nuggets coach Brian Shaw, according to Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post.
The Timberwolves had checked in on free agent Jamaal Tinsley but never offered him a 10-day contract, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweets. It was reported earlier that Minnesota and two other teams had offered Tinsley 10-day deals that he had declined.