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Berger On Lakers, Love, Spurs, Bulls, Miller

January 10th, 2014 at 10:46am CST by Luke Adams

Last month, we heard that the Nets and Rockets discussed the idea of a trade that would have sent Deron Williams to Houston and Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik to Brooklyn. While it’s not clear how serious those talks were, or if they still had any legs at all, they’re probably “dead for good” after D-Will underwent multiple injections in his ankles, says Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Berger’s latest piece includes several other trade tidbits from around the NBA, so let’s dive in and round up the highlights….

  • The Lakers are seeking an athletic power forward that would fit Mike D’Antoni‘s system, but league sources tell Berger that it’s unrealistic for the team to expect to land an impact player for Pau Gasol, whose trade value has “plummeted.”
  • Rival execs are also skeptical that the Lakers would take on any long-term salary. One Eastern Conference exec even tells Berger that “everyone knows” Kevin Love wants to sign with L.A. in 2015, so if the Lakers believe they have a shot at the star forward, it’s unlikely they’d tie up their ’15 cap space and compromise their chances.
  • Arn Tellem of Wasserman Media Group continues to work hard to try to find deals that would get two of his clients, Asik and Donatas Motiejunas, out of Houston.
  • The Spurs have been “unusually aggressive” in pursuing roster upgrades via trades this season, which signals to rival executives that the team recognizes its window may be closing.
  • As anticipated, J.R. Smith has generated “zero” trade interest, says Berger.
  • The Bulls are receiving interest in guards Kirk Hinrich and Mike Dunleavy, according to Berger, who reiterates that the Warriors are eyeing Hinrich and the Rockets like Dunleavy.
  • The Nuggets‘ talks with the Kings about Andre Miller have not gained any further traction, writes Berger. Meanwhile, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities says (via Twitter) that Denver coach Brian Shaw wants the club to land a skilled big man in any Miller deal.
  • Team executives around the league are encouraged by a growing perception that new commissioner Adam Silver will be more open-minded than David Stern. Among the ideas gaining traction among front offices that could be considered by Silver: A 16-team playoff bracket that includes the league’s 16 best teams, not sorted by conference.
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Western Notes: Bledsoe, Love, Kaman

January 9th, 2014 at 8:31pm CST by Ryan Raroque

ESPN’s Kevin Pelton wonders if the Suns can continue to play well without Eric Bledsoe, mentioning that in the ten games Bledsoe has missed, Phoenix has gone 5-5 (Insiders only). Should the 24-year-old guard be unable to return this season, Pelton doesn’t think the Suns will have trouble finding a viable backup point guard, whether it be Leandro Barbosa (recently signed to a 10-day contract) or acquiring one with an expiring deal via trade.

Here are some more links to share out of the Western Conference tonight:

  • In the midst of mounting frustration in Minnesota, Ken Berger of CBS Sports wonders if the Timberwolves should consider trading Kevin Love before he hits free agency.
  • Lakers center Chris Kaman is still confused about his on-again/off-again role in Mike D’Antoni’s rotation, telling Mike Bresnahan and Eric Pincus of the L.A. Times: “I honestly can’t answer that question for you without telling you a lie. I really have no clue why. I’d just be making something up…I haven’t played in six games and then all of a sudden I play [Wednesday]…I really have no rhyme or reason for it. When it’s my turn, it’s my turn and when it’s not, I just sit and be positive and try to be professional about it.”
  • The city of Sacramento filed an eminent domain lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court that seeks to take control of a former downtown Macy’s department store for the development of a new sports arena, reports Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee. The Kings wired $4.3MM to the city in anticipation of the city taking the eminent domain action.
  • Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune briefly mentions that at a reasonable price of $4MM this season, Brandon Rush could become one of the Jazz’s best assets leading up to the February trade deadline.
  • Doug Robinson of the Deseret News discusses how Trey Burke has been one of the lone bright spots of a “bad” 2013 NBA Draft.
  • Despite their continued struggles, the Lakers aren’t resorting to any finger-pointing, writes Janis Carr of the OC Register.
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Knicks Want To Trade For Rajon Rondo

December 26th, 2013 at 8:41am CST by Chuck Myron

Knicks management is confident it can attract the stars necessary to pull the team out of its malaise, and its first target will be Rajon Rondo, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The Knicks hope Rondo will become discontent with the Celtics and attempt to force them to trade him to New York sometime between now and 2015, when his contract ends. If they come up short on trading for Rondo, the Knicks think they’ll sign him in free agency or land one or two of the following potential 2015 free agents: LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Roy Hibbert, Kevin Love and Tony Parker.

The notion of Rondo joining the Knicks isn’t new, since the point guard’s high school coach claimed earlier this month that fellow former pupil Carmelo Anthony has been trying to recruit Rondo. Anthony pointed out that any such talk could constitute tampering, and both he and Rondo denied that they were discussing the idea of teaming up. It’s not clear how the Knicks could sell Rondo on the notion of pushing for a trade to New York, as Anthony did in 2011, without violating tampering rules. Still, much of the Knicks’ confidence in their future comes from the built-in lure of star-making capital New York, Windhorst writes.

Anthony could leave in free agency himself this summer, and there’s talk that the Knicks may attempt to trade him by the upcoming February 20th deadline if they don’t feel as though they can retain him. Windhorst seems to suggest there’s little chance of that happening, given how certain the Knicks seem about the road ahead. An executive from another team says the Knicks expect to re-sign Anthony and have another star player with him in a year’s time, adding that, “They’re so sure about it you’d think they already know what will happen.” 

The same attitude explains why Mike Woodson is still coaching the team, according to Windhorst. The Knicks don’t feel there’s an adequate replacement available during the season, but plenty of intriguing candidates may exist in the summer, Windhorst writes. Having traded their potential lottery pick for 2014, the Knicks may be better off trying to make the playoffs this year with Woodson as coach, the ESPN scribe opines.

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Knicks Rumors: Love, Carmelo, Chris Smith

November 12th, 2013 at 8:49am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks are the latest team to be featured in our Offseason in Review series, with Zach Links recapping the club’s summer moves last night. So far though, New York’s offseason additions haven’t been paying dividends, as the Knicks have struggled out of the gate, losing four of their first six games. They’ll have a chance to climb closer to .500 tomorrow night in Atlanta, in a game James Dolan guaranteed his team would win. As the Knicks prepare for that contest, let’s round up a few interesting tidbits on the club from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:

  • The Knicks are already looking ahead and planning their strategy for the summer of 2015, when big contracts for Amar’e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, and Andrea Bargnani all come off the books. According to Wojnarowski, the club is eyeing Kevin Love, and has already begun to devise a strategy to lure him to New York when the time comes.
  • Of course, it’s possible Carmelo Anthony will no longer be a Knick by that point. However, the Lakers are considered the most credible threat for Carmelo, and one source rhetorically asks Wojnarowski: “Do you think ‘Melo wants to be known for not winning titles in New York and L.A.?”
  • Referring to the signings of J.R. Smith and younger brother Chris Smith as a package deal, Wojnarowski cites a source who says former GM Glen Grunwald “never wanted” to sign Chris, and that the call came down from above him.
  • Wojnarowski writes that some Knicks coaches don’t believe Chris Smith is a D-League player, let alone an NBA player. One GM called the younger Smith “maybe the worst player in the history of the Summer League,” according to Wojnarowski.
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Atlantic Notes: Love, Teletovic, Sixers, Raptors

November 4th, 2013 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

While some rumors popped up last night suggesting that a Steve Nash trade between the Lakers and Raptors is a possiblity, Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld is skeptical that such a deal is realistic. As Kyler notes (Twitter links), Toronto’s old regime had interest in Nash, having pursued him during the summer of 2012, but there hasn’t been any indication that the team’s new leadership group has that same level of interest.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

  • Following up on Kevin Love‘s assertion that he “loves” New York City, Zach Braziller of the New York Post points out that Love will likely hit free agency in the summer of 2015, at the same time the Knicks will free up a ton of cap space.
  • Mirza Teletovic acknowledged to Bosnian newspaper Daily Azaz that the thought of returning to Europe has crossed his mind, but says he still hopes to succeed in the NBA with the Nets. NetsDaily has the details on Teletovic’s early-season frustrations.
  • Tom Ziller of SBNation.com argues that as long as the Sixers keep winning, there’s nothing GM Sam Hinkie can do. In Ziller’s view, Hinkie can’t and won’t seriously attempt to move veterans like Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes until the team starts to struggle.
  • League sources tell Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio that former coach Doug Collins may have been a reason that Andrew Bynum never wanted to be a Sixer.
  • Doug Smith of the Toronto Star answers a handful of Raptors-related questions in his latest mailbag.
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Odds & Ends: Lakers, LeBron, Gibson, KG

October 29th, 2013 at 11:23pm CST by Chuck Myron

Magic Johnson tells the “Max and Marcellus Show” on ESPNLA 710 that he’d be willing to help the Lakers recruit free agents during what he calls a “crucial summer” ahead. “If it’s (Lakers co-owner) Jim Buss going up against Pat Riley, he’s going to lose that battle. He needs help,” Johnson said. “You have to have a recruiter. Jim needs a recruiter with him.” Johnson touched on plenty more about the Lakers and their recent past, and Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com rounds up the highlights. Here’s more from opening night in the Association:

  • LeBron James tried to recruit Taj Gibson to the Heat when Gibson was a year away from restricted free agency, but Gibson doesn’t think he’ll return the favor with James poised to hit free agency this summer, as Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times details.
  • Kevin Garnett has yet to make his official debut for the Nets, but he’s already the “heartbeat of the team,” according to fellow offseason addition Alan Anderson. Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News has more.
  • Kevin Love tells Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune that he and Ricky Rubio have spoken about a long-term future together, but for now, they’re focusing on the present. Both Timberwolves can become free agents in 2015.
  • Sixers GM Sam Hinkie is confident that the city of Philadelphia can be a selling point for marquee free agents when he’s ready to make a run at them, but Mike Sielski of the Philadelphia Inquirer wonders if local fans will turn on him before he gets to that point.
  • Brett Brown admits that the challenge of coaching the Sixers is harder than he envisioned when he took over the team in August, observes Tom Moore of The Intelligencer.
  • Xavier Henry remains on a non-guaranteed contract after making the Lakers out of camp, but he’s drawing raves from coach Mike D’Antoni, notes Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link).
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Flip Saunders On Love, Williams, Kahn, Newton

September 9th, 2013 at 4:51pm CST by Zachary Links

Timberwolves president Flip Saunders has had a very busy summer, but he's finally at the point of the offseason where he's down to lower priorities. In fact, David Aldridge of NBA.com writes that he has gotten far enough down the checklist to start working on the player intros.

"I believe that whether it's your game introductions, or the music that's played, that it have a purpose. And you have to understand your fan base and what really makes them go," Saunders said. "We want them to have the kind of experience that when the fans do come in, they come back."

Here's more from Aldridge's chat with Saunders…

On his relationship with Kevin Love:

I've probably had as much communication with him as any player that I've had, over the course of the summer. I know there have been a lot of things said about him. But he's been extremely committed to the organization. We've asked him to do things from a business standpoint, meeting with different sponsors and different things, and he's been readily available to do that. I communicate with him, I'd say, three times a week, just to see how things are going..I don't know if there's fence-mending. I just kind of came in with myself, and I knew Kevin a little bit from before. I was just very point blank with him about expectations I have for him within the organization. He was very receptive and very open to that.

On predecessor David Kahn's front office setup:

They had — not saying it's wrong — but they had, he had made a decision that they were going to go more like baseball, where they had a lot of satellite scouts, and the scouts were pretty much scattered pretty much around the country..Talking with [owner] Glen [Taylor], I believe there was more organization in the places where I'd been, like with Detroit and Joe [Dumars], and other places that I'd been.  I'd already been looking at Chicago back through their heyday. They had people that were there. And they had contact every day with the management, and also with the team. So going out scouting and looking at players, they had a better understanding of what the team needed.

On Milt Newton's role as GM:

He's going to have a lot of responsibility. Where he was at, he was ready to make the step to have more responsibility, maybe have more influence in what happened, both with the day-to-day and also with the vision of the team. I believe in him and [director of basketball operations] Rob [Babcock] we cover a lot of areas with the management team going forward.

On former No. 2 overall pick Derrick Williams:

He's made a big push this summer to lose weight and be quicker, and hopefully be able to play some three. We'll see over the next three weeks, and into training camp, that month, what this offseason has done with him, and what losing weight and being a little quicker has done for him. His biggest thing is, can he guard threes? The way Coach [Rick] Adelman plays, he'll be able to fit him in offensively.

Will Saunders return to coaching?

I'm extremely happy where I'm at. I never get into hypotheticals or what ifs, or what coulds, because you never really know. But I'd say when I'm just talking to people, I don't think I've been any more relaxed, happier. I'm in a perfect situation. I can really mold the team. I have a lot of input on how a team can be formed. And I don't think about coaching because Coach Adelman has been very open to me.

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Western Notes: Kobe, Young, Mavericks

August 15th, 2013 at 11:04pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Sitting outside of Staples Center tonight with late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, Lakers guard Kobe Bryant says that he'll never accept being called the greatest Laker ever from Magic Johnson considering that he learned so much from him. As for his injury timetable, he's not sure if he'll be back by opening night at this point but is trying his best to get ready (ESPN Los Angeles' Arash Markazi via Twitter). Here are the rest of tonight's miscellaneous tidbits from the Western Conference: 

  • Markazi and ESPN LA's Ramona Shelburne relay that Kobe would have picked North Carolina instead of Duke had he not decided to make the jump to the NBA out of high school, and shared that the Clippers feared they wouldn't be taken seriously if they drafted a 17-year-old despite telling him that he'd given them the best workout they've ever had (All Twitter links). 
  • Flabbergasted that his team was projected to finish 12th in the West this year, Nick Young is "upset and ready for the season," writes Markazi: "How are you going to be ranked that low with Kobe and Pau and Nash? There’s always going to be haters and we just have to keep proving them wrong." 
  • Tim Cowlishaw of SportsDayDFW thinks that the seventh or eighth-seed will be the best-case scenario for the Mavericks if all goes well this year. Jarret Johnson of the Star-Telegram looks at why there's optimism surrounding the team heading into the season. 
  • Noting that six general managers around the league have previous ties with the Spurs along with four former coaching assistants now leading teams of their own, Dan McCarney of Spurs Nation describes why San Antonio's structure is a model that many teams want to follow but will find hard to duplicate.
  • Timberwolves' president Flip Saunders says that Kevin Love is now 242 lbs after playing last season at 250 (Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press via Twitter). 
  • Paul Coro of AZ Central tweets a picture of the Suns' new uniforms, which were debuted tonight. 
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Wolfson’s Latest: Pekovic, Aldridge, Redick

August 4th, 2013 at 9:56am CST by Chuck Myron

Agent Jeff Schwartz's initial asking price for Nikola Pekovic was around $15MM per year, a source tells Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities, and Schwartz and the Timberwolves continue to haggle over the amount of money the restricted free agent center will get in his next contract. Schwartz knows he won't get $15MM a year from the team, Wolfson tweets. The Wolves are offering four years and $48MM, and though they're willing to add some incentives, it's "nearly ludicrous" to expect that they'll budge from the $12MM annual base salary, as Wolfson writes in his Scoops column. Wolfson has plenty more on Pekovic and other Timberwolves issues, so let's dive in:

  • It's possible that Pekovic could wind up with a fifth year in his deal, but it appears four years is more likely.
  • A trade that would send Pekovic and Derrick Williams to the Blazers for LaMarcus Aldridge is far-fetched. Minnesota would prefer Kevin Love instead, Wolfson tweets, but Love doesn't appear to be on the market. Schwartz represents Love as well as Pekovic.
  • J.J. Redick was five minutes away from heading to another team before talks revved up on the three-team trade that sent him to the Clippers, but that mystery team wasn't the Wolves. Redick met with Wolves brass and was prepared to sign with them, but talks never got that far.
  • Andrei Kirilenko's claim that Wolves president of basketball ops Flip Saunders didn't want to give him a long-term contract is incorrect, writes Wolfson, who hears from two people who say Minnesota offered a three-year, $21MM deal.
  • The Wolves have not invited Seth Curry to training camp, contrary to a report.
  • Lorenzo Brown, Robbie Hummel, Othyus Jeffers and another big man figure to be the contenders for the 15th spot on the Timberwolves opening-night roster. 
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Northwest Rumors: Team USA, Pekovic, Nuggets

July 25th, 2013 at 9:53am CST by Luke Adams

Two Northwest stars, Kevin Durant and Kevin Love, announced yesterday that they'll play for Team USA in the 2014 World Cup of basketball, but we don't know exactly who'll join them. USA Basketball Executive Director Jerry Colangelo says he'll narrow the pool of prospects to 25 or 30 by January, and he'll have until 48 hours before next summer's event begins to name a final roster, as Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com points out (Twitter links).

Here's more from around the Northwest division:

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