Kyle Singler Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Shaw, Thunder, Hunt

March 4th, 2015 at 8:39pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Former Nuggets coach Brian Shaw released a statement through his agent, Jerome Stanley, regarding his recent firing by Denver, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post relays. “Having been a part of five NBA Championship teams, I know how difficult it is to make the commitment necessary to achieve that goal,” said Shaw. “It takes sacrifice for the greater good … and time, for a club to get to the championship level. Players, coaches, management and ownership all must share that commitment and build toward that goal. It is not an easy task. I am very proud of the effort that my staff and I put in while coaching the team. I also appreciate the support that I received from the KSE group. Finally, I believe that the Nuggets will grow to be a championship level club and give the fans in Denver a much deserved Championship. In time.“

Here’s more out of the Western Conference:

The Thunder are attempting the difficult feat of remaining in contention while undergoing a significant overhaul of their roster, Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman writes. Seven out of the 15 players on OKC’s roster weren’t with the team at the end of last season, and since the beginning of the 2014/15 campaign, five players have been acquired via trade, Slater notes.
Oklahoma City intends to retain both Kyle Singler and Enes Kanter, who become restricted free agents after the season, Slater adds. The Thunder are operating with the idea that a massive luxury tax bill next season will be softened in 2016/17 when the NBA’s new television deal kicks in and the salary cap increases as a result, Slater notes.
Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt inherits the difficult task of piloting a team that has underperformed all season, and had reportedly quit on former coach Shaw, Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post writes. “It’s bittersweet,” Hunt said. “This is not the way you want it to happen, because there are a lot of people involved that are impacted by this. At the same time, in the pit of my stomach, there is a feeling of excitement because I love to compete and I’m ready for the challenges.“

Central Notes: Jackson, Perkins, Bulls

February 26th, 2015 at 6:24pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Reggie Jackson has embraced his new role as the Pistons’ floor leader but he’s not ready to become the leader in the locker room, according to David Mayo of MLive.com. Jackson, who becomes a restricted free agent after the season, was acquired by Detroit from the Thunder at the trade deadline. “It’s hard, it’s really hard,” Pistons president of basketball operations and coach Stan Van Gundy said in the story. “You don’t have a relationship with guys yet. That’s why I think it’s tough for point guards. And yet, as a point guard, you’re expected to organize and lead and everything else. I think it’s a major challenge when you haven’t been with the team all year.” Jackson has already been organizing post-game restaurant outings with teammates, according to Mayo, which is perhaps an indication that he would welcome the opportunity to sign with the club long-term.

In other news around the Central Division:

The contract that Kendrick Perkins signed with the Cavs is a minimum-salary affair that runs only until season’s end, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reveals on his Cavs salary page (Twitter link).
The Pistons created two traded player exceptions in the deal for Jackson, Pincus tweets. Along with one worth $1.09MM for Kyle Singler, they also created a $796K exception for D.J. Augustin, according to Pincus. That will give the Pistons more flexibility to make trades this offseason.
The mood around the Bulls is glum in the wake of Derrick Rose‘s latest knee surgery, and there’s concern he may not recover mentally after undergoing three knee operations since the 2011/12 playoffs, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. His teammates took the news particularly hard. “Very tough news, unexpected,’’ Pau Gasol said to Chicago beat reporters. “Heartbreaking in a way because of how much he has been through the last couple of years. Difficult to deal with; we feel for him. He’s definitely a key player for us, as well.’’ Even if Rose is able to return this season, it might difficult for him to be effective because of the intensity level of the postseason, Cowley adds.
The Bulls could add another player to the roster depending upon the timetable for Rose’s return, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune tweets. The decision on whether to sign a free agent will hinge on whether Rose is out for the season or not, according to Johnson.

Will Joseph contributed to this post.

Central Notes: Cavs, Miller, Pistons

February 23rd, 2015 at 7:46pm CST by Zachary Links

Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith are giving LeBron James even more reason to believe in the Cavaliers, Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. Shump and Smith shined against their former team over the weekend and no moment encapsulated that better than the alleyop lobbed by the former to the latter in the fourth quarter. “They’ve given us everything we’ve asked, and more,” James said, about the former Knicks. “We love them. I know I do. I love them and I’m happy to have them on board.” More from the Central Division..

Mike Miller‘s role on the court with the Cavs has been reduced quite a bit, but he believes that he still has a place on the team and in this league. Miller has a $2.8MM player option for the 2015/16 season and as of now he says his intentions are to pick up that option, Chris Haynes of The Plain Dealer. “I would say yes. I am coming back, but it’s a long year,” Miller said. “I’m going to see how this one goes. All I’m focused on is what we do here. We’ve got 25 games here and then a playoff run. We’ll see how that goes. Where I’m at now, I’ve been blessed to do 15 years. It’s a year-by-year basis. I love what I’m doing.”
The Pistons were reluctant to trade Kyle Singler at the deadline, Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press tweets. Detroit knew he was about to hit restricted free agency, however, and more importantly they really wanted to land Reggie Jackson.
More from Ellis (link), who says that despite what’s being said, it’s hard to see Brandon Jennings remaining with the Pistons after next season. Jennings is out for the remainder of this campaign after suffering a torn Achilles tendon. He makes $8MM this season and has one more year worth nearly $8.344MM left on his deal.

Pistons Notes: Jackson, Prince, Singler

February 20th, 2015 at 10:59pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Pistons president of basketball operations and coach Stan Van Gundy stressed that Detroit acquired Reggie Jackson with an eye on signing him to a long-term deal this summer, Keith Langlois of NBA.com writes. “We wouldn’t have made the move we did if we didn’t feel ready to make it a long-term commitment,” Van Gundy said. “There’s no guarantees. He’s a [restricted free agent]. We know we can keep him through next year no matter what he does, but we feel good about making a long-term commitment to him and hopefully he’ll feel real comfortable making a long-term commitment here and we’ll get it done. We’ve got a chance to put together a really solid young core and continue to develop them. You’ve got to have some patience, but I’m not all that patient, so hopefully it will come together sooner. But you do see a window there and it’s not a short window. It’s not a two- or three-year window.”

Here’s more from Motown:

Van Gundy told newly acquired swingman Tayshaun Prince that the team had no intention of buying out the veteran’s contract, Langlois tweets.
Jackson is overjoyed to be a starter with the Pistons, and relieved to be putting the difficulties he had with the Thunder behind him, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports writes. “I wasn’t always perfect, nor was the situation, but I became the brunt of the blame there,” Jackson said. “Everything bad that happened, I was the scapegoat. I’m taking all this blame, and I’m wondering: ‘How am I supposed to change it all here, make an impact, in eight minutes a game?’ Everybody is jumping down my neck, and it gets annoying when I’m supposed to have this great impact playing so little this season.”
Out of the four players the Pistons traded on Thursday, the only one who the team didn’t want to part with was Kyle Singler, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. Detroit liked the idea of having Singler as a lower budget backup at small forward, Mayo notes.
It was Jackson’s desire not to stay in Oklahoma City beyond this season, not his trade request, that led to him being dealt by the Thunder, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com writes. The point guard also had an offer sheet in the $14.5MM per season range “already in the bank,” a league source told Berger. OKC wasn’t willing to remain in luxury tax territory to re-sign a player who didn’t want to commit to them, Berger adds.

Pistons Acquire Reggie Jackson

February 19th, 2015 at 7:13pm CST by Chuck Myron

7:13pm: The release on the Thunder’s website indicates that the Thunder received Detroit’s unprotected 2019 second-round pick, too.

6:34pm: The Jazz have formally announced that the deal is official. The Pistons and Thunder have also confirmed the trade in press releases. Utah has acquired Jerrett, the rights to Pleiss, Perkins, and a future first-round pick from Oklahoma City, as well as a 2017 second-round pick from the Pistons. The Thunder will receive Kanter and Novak from Utah, and Augustin and Singler from the Pistons, while Detroit garners Jackson.

4:06pm: The Jazz are getting Jerrett, a protected first-round pick from the Thunder and a second-rounder from the Pistons in addition to Kanter and the rights to Pleiss, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

3:49pm: Several picks are changing hands in the deal as well, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, suggesting that a significant chunk of the draft considerations are heading Utah’s way (Twitter link).

3:33pm: The Thunder dealt for Kanter with the intention of re-signing him this summer, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

3:25pm: Grant Jerrett is headed out in the deal, too, according to Mayberry, though he doesn’t specify which team he’s going to (Twitter link). The Thunder are expected to waive Ish Smith to accommodate all the moves, Mayberry adds.

2:49pm: The Thunder will send the draft rights to center Tibor Pleiss to the Jazz, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman (on Twitter).

2:44pm: Guard D.J. Augustin is headed from the Pistons to OKC in the deal, according to Wojnarowski (on Twitter). The former No. 9 overall pick averaged 10.6 PPG and 4.98 APG in 23.8 minutes per game for the Pistons this season.

2:15pm: Steve Novak is heading from the Jazz to the Thunder in the deal, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com (on Twitter). Jody Genessy of The Deseret News (on Twitter) first reported that Novak would be included in the three-way swap.

1:56pm: It’s now a three-way deal, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter links). The Jazz will send Enes Kanter to OKC, the Thunder will ship Kendrick Perkins to Utah, and Detroit will send Kyle Singler to OKC.

Talks with the Jazz about Kanter picked up today as OKC weighed the pros and cons of the Nets’ Brook Lopez/Jackson proposal. For his part, Kanter made it clear last week that he’s frustrated with his role and wants a trade. In 49 games this season, Kanter has averaged 13.8 PPG and 7.8 RPG – both career-highs, in 27.1 minutes per contest. For his career, the former No. 3 overall pick has put up 9.3 PPG and 5.9 RPG across four seasons in Utah.

Perkins, 30, is now slated to join the third franchise in his NBA career. The big man has been playing mostly in a reserve role this season, averaging 4.0 PPG and 5.5 RPG in 19.2 minutes per contest. In total, Perkins has put up 5.6 PPG and 6.0 RPG over the course of 12 seasons with the Celtics and Thunder.

1:50pm: The Thunder have traded Jackson to the Pistons, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).

1:34pm: The Pistons are making a strong run at Reggie Jackson, a league source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Jackson appeared to be Brooklyn-bound earlier today, but it’s not clear if that deal will be consummated.

The Thunder and the Nets were discussing the framework of a deal that would involve Brook Lopez going to OKC and Jackson going to Brooklyn. However, the Thunder pumped the breaks a bit on the talks when they started looking at a deal with another team. Given that Detroit is enthusiastic about landing Jackson, the PIstons might be the party putting a spoke in that wheel.

Jackson’s agent, Aaron Mintz, recently requested that the Thunder trade his client, who’s due for restricted free agency this summer. The Kings, Bucks, Heat, Pacers, Rockets and Nuggets also registered their interest in Jackson, while there are conflicting reports about whether the Celtics are pursuing him.

The 24-year-old turned down an extension offer in the neighborhood of four years and $48MM this past fall, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick (Twitter link). That was around the time teams around the league thought he’d end up commanding $13-14MM a year this summer, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported at the time.

Pistons Notes: Monroe, Stuckey, Draft

June 24th, 2014 at 2:03pm CST by Chuck Myron

Pistons coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy says he’s spent more than half of his time since taking the job on Greg Monroe‘s impending free agency, tweets Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. There’s been plenty of uncertainty surrounding the future of the 24-year-old big man, but it seems as though Van Gundy has found some clarity, saying, “We know exactly where we’re headed on that,” as Langlois also passes along (on Twitter). Here’s more from the Pistons boss, with all links going to Langlois’ Twitter account:

Van Gundy identified Monroe, Andre Drummond, Josh Smith, Brandon Jennings, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Singler and Jonas Jerebko as the team’s core players. Conspicuous by his absence from that list is soon-to-be free agent Rodney Stuckey,
The Pistons probably won’t trade into the first-round, according to Van Gundy, who said he wouldn’t make a trade for a pick in the 25-30 range unless he’s certain a prospect of interest will be there for the taking. Even if an intriguing prospect does emerge within those picks, Detroit won’t give up a current player or a future No. 1 pick in a deal to trade into that range, Van Gundy added.
The team is unlikely to make a splashy move in the offseason, Van Gundy said.

Eastern Links: Price, Knicks, Hinkie

June 20th, 2013 at 5:51pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Former NBA star Mark Price is in the process of joining Steve Clifford's coaching staff on the Bobcats, writes Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Price – who had previously worked with Clifford on the Magic – figures to be an integral part of helping the team's overall shooting percentages improve. Bonnell adds that Stephen Silas will be retained and Bob Beyer is expected to join the team as another assistant. Here are some more miscellaneous notes out of the Eastern Conference this evening:

Patrick Hayes of the Detroit Free Press identifies what the reasonable expectations are for Kyle Singler, Jonas Jerebko, Khris Middleton, and Kim English going into next season for the Pistons.
Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York relays a list of players who participated in a free agent mini-camp hosted by the Knicks today, which included Keith Gallon, Malcolm Grant, Ricky Harris, Terrence Jennings, Ahmad Nivins, Dustin Salisbery, Tony Taylor Jr., and Brandon Webster.
While some may find it puzzling that the 76ers haven't decided on hiring a coach yet, one source tells Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer says that GM Sam Hinkie has a plan in place and knows what he's doing. Though he could not be reached for comment, Hinkie is expected to address the media on the night of the draft.

Eastern Links: Ellis, Bargnani, Magic, Pistons

February 11th, 2013 at 12:06pm CST by Luke Adams

As we prepare for an evening schedule that includes the Celtics looking to extend their winning streak to eight in Charlotte and the Wizards looking for their fourth straight win in Milwaukee, let's check in on a few stories out of the Eastern Conference….

Monta Ellis has the opportunity to opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent at season's end, but he insists he's committed to the Bucks and isn't thinking about his contract situation, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Despite the trade rumors surrounding Andrea Bargnani and the Raptors, coach Dwane Casey is moving forward as if Bargnani will be in Toronto for the rest of the season, writes Joel Brigham of HoopsWorld.
Moke Hamilton of Sheridan Hoops explains why he thinks the Knicks ought to consider trading Iman Shumpert.
Considering that Magic GM Rob Hennigan targeted young players such as Nikola Vucevic and Maurice Harkless in the Dwight Howard trade, the team appears to be in good hands when it comes to Hennigan's talent evaluation, says Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel.
The Pistons have already begun recruiting one of their own players, as they attempt to convince Jose Calderon to stay in Detroit beyond this season, writes Terry Foster of the Detroit News.
With Tayshaun Prince now in Memphis, David Mayo of MLive.com wonders if Kyle Singler could be the Pistons' new long-term answer at small forward.

Odds & Ends: Martin, Blatche, Lillard, Gibson

December 2nd, 2012 at 10:56pm CST by Sean Highkin

The latest news and notes from around the NBA on Sunday evening:

Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman writes that Kevin Martin is performing up to expectations since being acquired by the Thunder in the James Harden trade.
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel thinks, in hindsight, that the Heat would have been wise to sign Andray Blatche this summer. Miami was held back by concerns about his effect on the locker room, as well as their belief in Josh Harrellson and Dexter Pittman, Winderman adds.
Joe Freeman of the Oregonian admires the poise of Damian Lillard as the Trail Blazers rookie continues to impress.
Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com likes what he's seen from Taj Gibson since signing a four-year extension with the Bulls.
Mark Potash of the Chicago Sun-Times adds to the praise of Gibson while also singling out Jimmy Butler for his defensive impact.
Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun writes that Raptors bigs Amir Johnson and Ed Davis have not received due attention for their contributions.
Rick Bonnell of the Oklahoman examines the Bobcats' defensive successes this season.
Keith Langolis of Pistons.com says that rookie Kyle Singler has made a fan of head coach Lawrence Frank with his work ethic.
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle praises Patrick Patterson's improvement.

Eastern Notes: Calderon, Bradley, Harkless, Singler

September 24th, 2012 at 6:12pm CST by Michael Pina

Here's a quick look around at what's going on in the busy Eastern Conference.

A point guard who spent much of the summer embroiled in relentless trade rumors, Jose Calderon told the Toronto Sun's Ryan Wolstat that he never demanded a trade, and that he wants to win games in Toronto. (Twitter link) Rumors first began to surface when the Raptors traded a lottery pick for former Rockets point guard Kyle Lowry, making Calderon his backup. Given his contract as one of the team's highest paid players, (he's due $10.5MM for the 2012/13 season), the Spanish guard was also seen as a likely amnesty candidate, but it appears he's steadied both those storms and will head to Raptors training camp feeling comfortable about his situation. Calderon is set to become a free agent next summer.
After undergoing offseason surgery on both of his shoulders, Celtics guard Avery Bradley will not be back until at least December, possibly January, Celtics head coach Doc Rivers told ESPNBoston.com's Jackie MacMullan. An earlier report by CSNNE.com's A. Sherrod Blakely surmised that Bradley could return as soon as opening day.
Rookie guard Moe Harkless will miss all of Magic training camp as he recovers from sports hernia surgery he had in August. The Orlando Sentinel's Josh Robbins believes the missed time could be a crucial hindrance for Harkless' development. He isn't expected back until the middle of November.
MLive.com's Brendan Savage writes a profile on former Duke and current Pistons forward Kyle Singler.