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Western Notes: Morris, Jones, Leonard

December 30th, 2015 at 11:26am CST by Eddie Scarito

Suns power forward Markieff Morris apologized to his teammates and the coaching staff and was allowed to return to the team after serving his two game suspension for throwing a towel at coach Jeff Hornacek during a game last week, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic relays. “We kind of put it out there what we wanted from him, what we expected,” Hornacek said. “He’s been good for us in the past. We want him to get back to playing like he did last year. It’s been a struggle this year.  We basically tried to get a feel if he was good for that. He said he wanted to get back and help his teammates and help us win.”

”We definitely had a successful meeting and I’m just happy to be back,” Morris said. The forward also indicated that he regretted the comments he made over the summer regarding his desire to be traded, Coro notes. “I could’ve did that different based on the fans,” Morris said. “I think I owe the fans an apology for saying some of the stuff I said. They deserve better.”

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

  • Wolves point guard Tyus Jones is hopeful that his time spent in the D-League this season will translate into more minutes at the NBA level, writes Kent Youngblood of The Star Tribune. “You do go down there trying to prove a point,” Jones said. “Trying to make a statement. I think I played pretty well down there.” The rookie is averaging 24.7 points and 5.0 assists in six contests for the Stampede this season.
  • After re-signing with the Spurs this past offseason, small forward Kawhi Leonard has taken on an increased role in San Antonio’s offense, much to the delight of coach Gregg Popovich, writes Fran Blinebury of NBA.com. “He’s a lot more demonstrative scoring-wise,” Popovich said. “When he gets the ball, he tries to make opportunities for himself. I don’t have to call his number. In transition offensively, he’s looking for situations where he can post up. Mismatches more. Those are probably the main things. More aggressive offensively and understanding that he can do some things that people can’t guard very well. And yeah, there’s been a incremental increase in the volume of his language.”
  • The Kings need to suspend center DeMarcus Cousins for his latest outburst that resulted in his ejection from Monday night’s contest against the Warriors, Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee opines. Voisin believes that the organization needs to stop treating Cousins with kid gloves and force him to mature, and she also believes that any suspension should be initiated by the organization and not the league if it is to truly register with the big man.
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Southwest Notes: Howard, Leonard, McGee

December 19th, 2015 at 3:45pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Though he acknowledges that center Dwight Howard is unhappy with the current state of the Rockets, interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff refutes any notion that Howard is a disruptive influence in the locker room, Sam Amick of USA Today writes. “Since I’ve taken over [for fired coach Kevin McHale], I’ve tried to spend a lot of time with Dwight,” Bickerstaff told Amick. “And Dwight’s mind, his heart, are in the right place. He’s about the right things. Dwight wants to win. He wants to play the right way. He wants to contribute to winning, obviously at a high level. So for me, that’s all I can go on. I trust Dwight. He hasn’t misled me at any point since I’ve known him, since I’ve been working with him. So I can’t hang any value to what other people are saying.”

“I know he’s frustrated, I’m sure,” Bickerstaff continued. “[But] I don’t see him as a guy who’s looking to take the easy way out. … He has been there to perform through all of it. He’s been hurt. He’s been battling the knees, the back, all those things, and never once has he let on that he didn’t want to be a part of it or he was going to take the easy way out. I think he needs to have a bigger role, but I think it’s a combination of how we get him to that point. I’ve got to do a better job of getting him the ball in positions where he can score.”

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard isn’t surprised by his ascent to NBA stardom, because he knows just how hard he worked to get his game to its current level,  Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com writes. “I worked hard,” Leonard said. “It’s my fifth year. It’s not just about what I did this summer, it’s about the experience I had under my belt for the past four years. It just comes with a mindset. There are a lot of guys that stay in the gym and don’t get any better. It’s about being smart, figuring out your weaknesses and not being scared to do it in the games.“
  • Despite not seeing much action for the Mavericks as he makes his return from injury, center JaVale McGee remains an important piece for the team given its lack of rim protecting big men, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News writes. “He’s not 100% of the player he was before the injury just because he hasn’t had a training camp and he hasn’t had a significant amount of time since being cleared,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “Matchups are part of it with everybody playing smaller. It’s just a little trickier getting him minutes.“
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Sam Hinkie On Colangelo, Marshall, Free Agents

December 11th, 2015 at 5:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

GM Sam Hinkie pledged to remain with the Sixers, quelling rumors that he’s looking to leave the organization following the arrival of Jerry Colangelo as chairman of basketball operations, as Hinkie said as part of an in-depth interview with Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. “Our owners made it very clear they want me leading us long-term,” Hinkie said. “Adding one more voice will make the conversation richer. Might it be challenging at times? I’m sure it will be. But making big decisions shouldn’t be easy — it shouldn’t be that you have an idea, and you get to execute it without anyone questioning it.” The entire interview is certainly worth a read, and below are some of the highlights:

  • The GM said the team was off in its prediction that Kendall Marshall would be ready to play on opening night, with the point guard finally set to make his season debut this evening, Lowe relays. “We predicted it wrong,” Hinkie said. “That’s my fault. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, and I’m sure I’ll make more.”
  • The Sixers believe Marshall can provide veteran leadership for younger players like Jahlil Okafor, as well as stabilize the point guard position, Lowe notes. “This has been hard,” Hinkie says. “We haven’t been proud of this kind of start. We had strong desires for a point guard who could help us play at a high tempo, and get our best players the ball in positions where they could be successful. We want someone to throw a post entry pass. We thought Kendall was that guy.“
  • Discussing why he has eschewed signing free agents who would have cost more, but likely would have helped the team win more games in the short term, in favor of adding younger players making the minimum salary, Hinkie told Lowe, “We could have chosen safer options. Many in the world would have us choose safer options — keep this player, instead of taking a gamble on a player whose name you don’t know. But when that player becomes Robert Covington, people are excited. We’ve chosen that sort of thing very often.“
  • Hinkie acknowledged to Lowe that the Sixers reached out to free agents Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler this past summer, but the lack of an existing star player hamstrung those efforts. “The most challenging part is to go from zero stars to one,” Hinkie said. “After the Clippers got Blake Griffin, Chris Paul is a possibility. After the Rockets had James Harden, Dwight Howard is a possibility. After the Cavaliers have Kyrie Irving, LeBron coming back is a possibility.“
  • The GM stands by the organization’s decision to select Joel Embiid and Dario Saric during the 2014 NBA draft, despite the knowledge that the duo would not be immediately available to contribute, Lowe notes. “That night showed tremendous courage on the part of our organization to have a longer view, and to do everything we could to get the best players,” Hinkie told the ESPN scribe. “Those were not easy decisions.”
  • Hinkie also maintains that the team selected point guard Elfrid Payton with every intention of keeping him, and that it wasn’t a move designed to pry assets away from the Magic, who were known to be high on Payton entering the draft, Lowe relays. “That’s such a high-stakes gamble that it strikes me as reckless,” said Hinkie. “I’m a lot of things, but I’m not reckless.“
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Spurs Notes: Leonard, Joseph, Aldridge, West

November 16th, 2015 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Spurs GM R.C. Buford concedes he’s not sure anyone in the organization thought Kawhi Leonard would blossom as much as he has during his NBA career, a development that shooting coach Chad Engelland and player development coach Chad Forcier have aided, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News details. It’s a testament to Leonard, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, and to the Spurs, as Leonard’s agent Brian Elfus admits.

“At the end of the day, the draft is about where you end up, what kind of situation you’re in,” Elfus said. “I’ve got a strange suspicion — no, I know for a fact — if Kawhi had ended up in a different place, he wouldn’t be nearly the player he is today. I think everybody counts their blessings every day he ended up in San Antonio.”

See more from San Antonio:

  • Raptors signee Cory Joseph, a Toronto native, wasn’t eager to leave the Spurs, but he knew that with the arrival of LaMarcus Aldridge and a new max deal coming to Leonard, the team wouldn’t have much left over for him, as he tells TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. “It’s always hard, leaving somewhere that you’re comfortable in,” Joseph said. “You’re comfortable with the system, comfortable in the city, comfortable with the people there. So it’s always tough. It obviously made it a lot more easier ’cause I was coming home. I knew it was a good situation for me basketball wise as well. That’s how it goes business-wise. I couldn’t complain. They were getting a great basketball player in LaMarcus.”
  • Aldridge hasn’t found his hot spots on the floor thus far with the Spurs, but Gregg Popovich believes that’s not necessarily a product of the uniqueness of San Antonio’s system, relays Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. “No matter what system he’s in, there’s going to be a learning curve,” Popovich said. “It doesn’t matter who he’s playing for this year. If it’s not Portland, he’s going to have to learn the system.”
  • David West has been efficient in his fairly limited playing time as a reserve for the Spurs, but it’s the maturity, professionalism and leadership that the minimum-salary signee has brought to the locker room that’s really stood out to Popovich, observes Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News.
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Spurs Notes: Popovich, Aldridge, Leonard

November 9th, 2015 at 11:49am CST by Chuck Myron

Spurs coach/president Gregg Popovich was hesitant to make a definitive statement about how long he’d continue before retiring, but when the question came up while he was pitching LaMarcus Aldridge on signing with the Spurs this summer, he knew he had to answer, as Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe details.

“He outed me,” Popovich said to Washburn. “He put the pressure on me. Who knows when you might want to retire, but he and his agent sat across, and [the agent] said, ‘Ask him, ask him, go ahead and ask him.’ I knew it was coming, so I tried to end the meeting, ‘OK, we gotta go eat. We gotta do something.’ [The agent] said, ‘No, no, ask him.’ That’s when he hit me: ‘What are you going to do? How long are you going to be here?’ I said, ‘I’m here.’ I had just signed a five-year [extension] a year before. The contract was in place, so I told him I’ll be here.”

It’s unclear whether it was departing Wasserman Media Group agent Arn Tellem or another agency representative who prompted Aldridge to ask the question, but regardless, the Aldridge signing apparently secured more than just a star power forward for San Antonio. See more on the Spurs:

  • Popovich also told Washburn that he and GM R.C. Buford initially weren’t quite sure how to approach Aldridge. “R.C. and I sat in a room and just looked at each other and just said, ‘What do we do now?’” Popovich said. “We don’t know how to do this. So we just decided to be who we are. ‘This is us, you know who we are, you wanna come or not?’”
  • Kawhi Leonard‘s ability to perform so well on both ends of the floor is “spectacular,” according to Popovich, who applauds the faith he showed when the Spurs decided against an extension last year before re-signing him this past summer, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio News-Express relays. “He trusted us,” Popovich said. “We think everything comes at its own pace, at the appropriate time. I think he understood that, and his agent [Brian Elfus] understood it. He knows our history.”
  • The Spurs are 4-2 so far, but with key figures Aldridge and David West among the team’s six newcomers, they must make adjustments before hitting their stride, as TNT’s David Aldridge examines in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.
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Southwest Notes: Terry, Grizzlies, Leonard, Gentry

October 6th, 2015 at 12:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pelicans offered Jason Terry more than the guaranteed one-year deal for the minimum salary that the Rockets gave him, but he preferred a better chance to make the Finals with Houston, even though his role on the Rockets will likely shrink, reports Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com.

“I don’t have to play a lot of minutes to be effective,” Terry said. “With the minutes, I know my role and what’s expected out of me, and that goes a long way.”

Terry saw 21.3 minutes per game for Houston in the regular season last year but 28.6 in the playoffs as he filled in for the injured Patrick Beverley, a duty that would now fall to trade acquisition Ty Lawson. See more from the Southwest Division:

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Sixers Notes: Leonard, Brown, Okafor, Stauskas

September 24th, 2015 at 9:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Sixers “sniffed around” the idea of an offer sheet for Kawhi Leonard earlier this summer, sources tell Grantland’s Zach Lowe, who adds that the team was simply performing its due diligence. The same is true of the Sixers and Jimmy Butler, Lowe hears. Butler had reportedly been scheduled to meet with Philadelphia but put those plans aside while he considered an offer from the Bulls, with whom he eventually re-signed. Leonard re-signed with the Spurs. The primary focus of Lowe’s piece is on former No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett, whom the Sixers are apparently looking into adding. See more from Philly:

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Southwest Notes: Lawson, Williams, Pondexter

September 4th, 2015 at 12:32pm CST by Chuck Myron

Ty Lawson says he’s ready for basketball again after a 30-day alcohol rehabilitation stint that followed two arrests in seven months and expressed excitement about joining coach Kevin McHale, James Harden, Dwight Howard and former Nuggets teammate Corey Brewer on the Rockets, as he conveyed in an interview with Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston. Lawson agreed to give up the guarantee on his 2016/17 to facilitate the trade that sent him from Denver to Houston this summer.

“I’m about winning,” Lawson said to Berman. “I love being on a winning team. At every level I’ve played at, high school, middle school, college I won championships. This is a chance to play for one of those and get an NBA ring. I’m ready for it.”

See more from the Southwest Division:

  • Deron Williams is excited to play with Dirk Nowitzki and former Jazz teammate Wesley Matthews and for the chance at a new beginning with the Mavericks, as he tells Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com. “You know, there’s definitely a stability about this organization that’s definitely intriguing,” Williams said. You know, they have guys that have been here forever, so it’s just about plugging in the new pieces — myself included — and just trying to get to work. But, you know, I’m just excited about this opportunity, and I’m ready to get the season going.”
  • It’s unclear if Quincy Pondexter will be healthy in time for the start of Pelicans training camp, writes John Reid of The Times Picayune, though while Pondexter admitted on SiriusXM NBA Radio that rehab from left knee surgery in May has been slow-going, he’s hopeful that he won’t miss much time, if any, Reid notes (audio link). Pondexter is due a guaranteed salary of more than $3.382MM this season, but the team added depth at small forward this summer with the free agent signing of Alonzo Gee.
  • Kawhi Leonard, fresh off his new deal with the Spurs, said he’ll try to win an MVP award, as David Zink of The Press-Enterprise wrote last month, but going for that honor would require significant change to his game and upset the offensive balance with which he and the Spurs have found so much success, argues Ian Levy of The Sporting News.
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Southwest Notes: Gee, Cunningham, Barea, Spurs

July 20th, 2015 at 10:43pm CST by Charlie Adams

The Pelicans used a portion of their mid-level exception to sign Alonzo Gee and Dante Cunningham, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders passes along (on Twitter). Gee will earn $1.32MM this season, while Cunningham will take home a bit more at $2.85MM. That means New Orleans still has $1.294MM of its mid-level exception remaining and 10 guaranteed contracts on the books. We’ve got more contract details in tonight’s look at the Southwest Division:

  • The front-loaded deal J.J Barea inked with the Mavericks will pay him slightly more than $16MM over four years, as Pincus reveals in his updated Dallas salary page. He’ll earn $4.29MM this season, $4,096,950 the following year, $3,903,900 in year three, and $3,710,850 during the 2018/19 season. The Mavs upped the Puerto Rican guard’s yearly salaries after missing out on DeAndre Jordan.
  • It has been a busy offseason in San Antonio, and the most overlooked move that the Spurs have made is the addition of 7’3” center Boban Marjanovic, as David Pick details for Bleacher Report. Marjanovic was a relative unknown prior to last season, but his efficient play and massive size netted him some lucrative offers from European teams that he turned down in favor of the Spurs, as Pick relays.
  • LaMarcus Aldridge, Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, David West, and Danny Green all have player options in the final years of their contracts, as Pincus notes on his updated Spurs salary page.
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Spurs Re-Sign Kawhi Leonard For Five Years

July 16th, 2015 at 4:05pm CST by Chuck Myron
Jan 22, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (2) during the second half at the United Center. The Chicago Bulls defeated the San Antonio Spurs 104-81. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

JULY 16TH, 4:05pm: The deal is official, the Spurs announced in a press release.

JULY 1ST, 4:00pm: The deal includes a player option for the fifth year, Zach Lowe of Grantland reports (on Twitter).

JUNE 30TH, 11:13pm: The Spurs will re-sign Kawhi Leonard for five years and an estimated $90MM, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The sides have agreed to a framework of a deal, as Wojnarowski details.

“I have every intention of signing with the San Antonio Spurs,” Leonard said in a statement, as Wojnarowski passes along. “There are details in the contract which need to be worked out with the organization. I am confident that this will be accomplished.”

The deal was agreed to just minutes after midnight on the East Coast, but the two sides still have to iron out some specifics over the next several days.  The language in the statement (“every intention”) and the report (“agreed to the framework”) could be an inference to suggest that the Spurs will take their time in finalizing the pact.  By waiting, the Spurs could avoid getting charged with max cap hit so that Leonard’s cap hold stays low, thereby preserving cap room for other free agents.

Leonard, 24, averaged 16.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists last season.  While Tim Duncan and Tony Parker were the anchors for many elite Spurs outfits, Leonard can be expected to be the cornerstone of future contending teams.  Leonard’s resume includes the 2014 Finals MVP and this past season’s Defensive Player of the Year award.

Back in April, it was reported that Leonard was unlikely to pursue offer sheets, even though he had the ability to as a restricted free agent.

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