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Bulls Notes: Satoransky, Valentine, Kornet, LaVine

October 11th, 2019 at 9:51pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bulls coach Jim Boylen hasn’t announced who will start at point guard but Tomas Satoransky seems to be leading the pack, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reports. Satoransky, who is battling rookie Coby White and incumbent Kris Dunn for the job, was acquired from the Wizards in a sign-and-trade deal. Satoransky had 11 points and eight assists in 20 minutes against the Pelicans in a preseason outing earlier this week.

“Every day, there is more clarity on what you like, what you don’t like, who fits, who doesn’t fit. Not only in that (lead guard) position but other situations,” Boylen said. “We can’t play everybody. From Day One, I said we’re going to have to share and become a team where sacrifice is involved. That day is coming not just for that lead guard position but other ones, too.”

We have more on the Bulls:

  • When swingman Denzel Valentine drove to the United Center on Monday, he got choked up en route to making his preseason debut, as he told Johnson in a separate story. Valentine missed last season after undergoing left ankle surgery. “I shed a tear on the way over to the arena,” Valentine said. “It’s just very emotional for me. This is my passion. This is what I love. It’s huge being healthy and being out there again.”
  • Big man Luke Kornet received a fully guaranteed two-year, $4.5MM deal from the Bulls in free agency but the possibility of being a rotation player was also a crucial factor in his decision, Johnson reports in another story. “A couple teams contacted me but I was able to talk to Coach Boylen for awhile and I got the feel they value what I do and understand the value of it,” Kornet said. “That got me excited.”
  • If the Bulls can make inroads in the win-loss column, Zach LaVine believes can receive All-Star recognition, as he told Eric Woodyard of ESPN. “I had an All-Star-caliber year last year, but we had 22 wins so it got a little bit swept under the rug,” he said. “But that’s how it’s supposed to be when you have 20 wins. But if I continue to play the way I’m supposed to, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be an All-Star or All-NBA type guy.”
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Bulls Notes: Young, Point Guards, Hutchison, WCJ

September 30th, 2019 at 4:59pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran forward Thaddeus Young played in the postseason in each of his last three seasons in Indiana, and has appeared in the playoffs in eight of his 12 NBA seasons in total. However, as an unrestricted free agent this offseason, he opted to sign with the Bulls, who were coming off a 22-win season.

Speaking today to reporters, including Mark Strotman of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link), Young said he received interest from potential championships contenders in free agency, but liked the idea of becoming a veteran leader in Chicago. According to Young, he intends to bring energy and veteran leadership to the club and to be the sort of player who can speak up in the locker room and hold everyone accountable (Twitter link via Strotman).

While joining the Bulls may have appealed to Young for the reasons he mentioned, it’s probably also safe to assume that most of those title contenders who expressed interest in him this summer weren’t able to match the $13MM+ annual salary he received from Chicago.

Here’s more from the Bulls on Media Day:

  • Head coach Jim Boylen said the point guard situation in Chicago will “work its way out” in terms of minutes and that the Bulls’ players have embraced the competition, tweets Strotman. Tomas Satoransky, Coby White, Kris Dunn, Ryan Arcidiacono, and Shaquille Harrison are all expected to be in the point guard mix.
  • The Bulls’ goal in 2019/20 is to make the playoffs, Boylen declared today (Twitter link via Strotman). The club finished 19 games back of the No. 8 seed last season.
  • Chandler Hutchison, who suffered a hamstring strain earlier this month, is “going to be out for a little bit,” per head of basketball operations John Paxson (Twitter link via K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune). Paxson also noted that Luke Kornet has turf toe and will miss a few days.
  • Wendell Carter Jr., on the other hand, said today that he feels 100% – and better than he has for the last five or six years – after undergoing core muscle surgery during the offseason, tweets Strotman.
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Central Notes: Horst, Pistons, Kornet, Holidays

July 21st, 2019 at 3:58pm CST by clarkcrum

Eric Nehm of The Athletic recently sat down with the Bucks’ award-winning GM Jon Horst to discuss the team’s free agency this summer. Here are a few noteworthy passages from Horst’s interview.

Regarding the team’s ability to bring back Khris Middleton on a five-year deal:

“Khris was always a focus… He’s our second superstar, our second star. He’s an All-Star. He’s been one of our best players for a long period of time here… Khris was a target obviously and he got a contract that represents that and we think it’s a great contract because we got our second All-Star locked up for the next five years.”

Regarding the team’s trade of Tony Snell and a first-round pick for Jon Leuer in order to create the requisite cap space needed to re-sign Brook Lopez:

“When we got Brook last offseason, we understood, at some level, how important he was going to be to us… (and) we also understood if he’s as good as we think he’s going to be, it’s going to present a lot of challenges.”

“So, we spent the entire year trying to prepare for that… Just different things we did throughout the year were in preparation to position ourselves to either be prepared to keep Brook, be in a position to keep Brook or be prepared to react if we couldn’t… I don’t know if a lot of people saw it coming, maybe after the Tony Snell deal. Then, maybe they were like, ‘Okay, this is how they’re going to try to do it.’ But before that, I don’t think people saw the moves we lined up to position ourselves to hopefully keep Brook and I’m very thankful we were able to.”

Regarding the decision to trade RFA Malcolm Brogdon to Indiana and whether the luxury tax was a factor in that decision:

“I think there’s a lot that goes into restricted free agency. It’s a monster. Malcolm is very, very important and we knew how important he was to our team. It will be hard to replace him. I think we’ve done the best that we can and we’ll continue to work in ways to be creative and fill that gap.”

“I would say the luxury tax was only part of the consideration for not matching or not being willing to pay Malcolm the market that he was able to get from Indiana. Whether or not he had that market from anywhere else besides Indiana, I don’t know. The decision on Malcolm was much more about our internal evaluations, the roster fit, the ability to be flexible and have options going forward and just building a team that, as I always say, can sustain success over a long period.”

There’s more from the Central Division this afternoon:
  • Horst confirmed in the above interview that the Bucks were not able to create a traded player exception when they traded Brogdon to Indiana, as the signing of George Hill with cap space occurred after the trade, and teams lose their exceptions (other than the Room MLE) when they go under the cap.
  • Taking a look at what each player’s role may be for the Pistons’ during the 2019/20 season, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com opines that there are five guys locked in to being sure-fire rotation pieces – Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard, and Derrick Rose, and three who will almost certainly join that group – Markieff Morris, Tony Snell, and Bruce Brown.
  • The Bulls are hoping that the three-point shooting ability of free-agent addition, big man Luke Kornet, will be a nice complement next to starter Wendell Carter Jr. and fellow reserve, rookie Daniel Gafford, writes Sam Smith of Bulls.com.
  • Pacers’ new addition Justin Holiday is excited about the prospect of playing with his baby brother, reserve point guard Aaron Holiday, reports Scott Agness of The Athletic. “It was the best situation I had at this time,” Justin said. “(T)he Pacers obviously being a contender every year and going to the playoffs, and then also them having my brother was something that was very, very enticing for me. To be able to be a part of that culture and play with my brother, I think it made it pretty simple where I needed to go.”
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Bulls Sign Luke Kornet

July 17th, 2019 at 7:30pm CST by ChrisCrouse

JULY 17: The deal is official, Charania tweets. It is fully guaranteed for both seasons with a total value of $4.5MM.

JULY 2: The Bulls will bring in Luke Kornet, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. The pact will be for two seasons.

Chicago will get a chance to further develop the 23-year-old big man. Kornet saw action in 46 games for the Knicks last season, starting 18. He also spent time on their G League squad, averaging 18.8 PPG, 8.8 RPG, and 3.6 APG with a blistering .514/.485/.730 shooting line in 11 games for the Westchester Knicks.

The Bulls have had an eventful offseason, adding Thaddeus Young and Tomas Satoransky over the past 48 hours. It’s unclear how much opportunity Kornet will see in Chicago, as the team has a full roster of bigs, led by Wendell Carter Jr.. and Lauri Markkanen

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Knicks Won’t Tender QO To Emmanuel Mudiay Or Luke Kornet

June 26th, 2019 at 10:46pm CST by clarkcrum

The Knicks, setting themselves up to have the maximum amount of cap space available once free agency begins, will not extend qualifying offers to former first-round pick Emmanuel Mudiay or big man Luke Kornet, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). Both Mudiay and Kornet will be unrestricted free agents.

Haynes adds that the decision on Mudiay was solely to clear cap space for this summer, and that both Mudiay and the Knicks are interested in a reunion next season. However, because the Knicks will need to renounce the 23-year-old point guard’s Bird rights to clear his free agent cap hold of $12,883,440 off their books, they’ll need to use cap space or an exception to re-sign him.

As for Kornet, it’s unclear whether the Knicks have any interest in re-signing him. He played a significant role towards the end of the 2018/19 season, but the Knicks are clearly not looking at last year’s team as a building block for the future, and they already have a young big in Mitchell Robinson around whom to build.

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Knicks Notes: Roster, Robinson, Durant, Ewing

April 14th, 2019 at 2:04pm CST by Arthur Hill

Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson and Damyean Dotson are the only current Knicks who should definitely be on the roster next season, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. Knox showed enough promise at age 19 to hold onto, Robinson was a second-round surprise who became the league’s second-best shot blocker and Dotson is a part-time starter with an affordable contract.

Popper lists Dennis Smith Jr., who was acquired in the Kristaps Porzingis trade, as a question mark, noting that his fate could depend on whether the Knicks are in position to draft Ja Morant or sign Kyrie Irving or Kemba Walker in free agency. Also questionable to return, according to Popper, are Frank Ntilikina, Allonzo Trier, Lance Thomas and Luke Kornet. Popper expects the rest of the roster to be overturned, including DeAndre Jordan, whom he speculates will be too pricey to re-sign as a back-up center.

There’s more today from New York:

  • Coach David Fizdale believes Robinson would be a lottery pick if last year’s draft were redone, relays Chris Iseman of NorthJersey.com. Fizdale admits he didn’t know much about Robinson when the Knicks grabbed him with the 36th pick, but he quickly blossomed into a force in the middle, swatting 2.44 shots per game. “I think we can all agree if we had to restructure the draft right now, I don’t think he’ll go 36,” Fizdale said. “I think he’d be in that top 10 pretty easily.”
  • LeBron James‘ disappointing first year with the Lakers should make Kevin Durant think twice about whether he wants join the Knicks, states Frank Isola of The Athletic. For all of Durant’s talent, he has a reputation as a highly sensitive player who might not adjust well to the atmosphere in New York. Isola suggests that he will only consider the Knicks if he can find another top-level free agent to join him.
  • Fizdale played a pivotal role in easing tensions between Patrick Ewing and the Knicks after years of a strained relationship, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Ewing will represent the team at next month’s draft lottery.
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Knicks Notes: Kornet, Allen, Mudiay, Oakley

April 3rd, 2019 at 12:45pm CST by Arthur Hill

Luke Kornet is making a strong push for a new contract during his late-season audition with the Knicks, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Coach David Fizdale has benched veteran center DeAndre Jordan to take a longer look at rookie Mitchell Robinson alongside Kornet, who will be a free agent this summer. They will be starting for the rest of the season as management evaluates how well they fit together.

Kornet responded to the opportunity with 17 points against the Heat, followed by a career-high 24 against the Bulls. Fizdale has called him the smartest player on the team when it comes to ball movement and helping his teammates on defense.

“They have chemistry together,’’ Fizdale said of the Kornet-Robinson pairing. “Luke stretches the floor for us. Mitch puts pressure on the rim. Both when they get the ball in their hands, they’re looking to get down the floor and get other people involved.”

There’s more out of New York:

  • Two-way point guard Kadeem Allen would also be getting a chance to showcase his talents if he hadn’t suffered a concussion Monday, Berman notes in a separate story. Allen was a two-way player with the Celtics last season and reportedly turned down an offer to stay in Boston because he believed the Knicks provided a better opportunity. Berman states that scouts from other teams have shown up since the All-Star break to get a look at Allen. He adds that Fizdale has included Allen in discussions of the team’s future and seems to prefer him to Frank Ntilikina.
  • Emmanuel Mudiay started his 41st game Monday, meeting starter criteria and making him eligible for a $5.75MM qualifying offer, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN. The Knicks have a June 29 deadline to make the offer. His $12.88MM cap hold will not change.
  • Former Knick Charles Oakley is predicting Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will be the next owner of the team, tweets Bill Simmons of the Ringer. Oakley, who has feuded with current owner James Dolan, made the surprising statement during the filming of a “Tough Chef” segment. Oakley also predicts New York will miss out on free agent targets Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and will sign Kemba Walker and Jimmy Butler instead.
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New York Notes: Jordan, Robinson, Russell, LeVert

March 31st, 2019 at 9:01am CST by Arthur Hill

Mitchell Robinson will be the Knicks‘ starting center for the rest of the season, pushing DeAndre Jordan out of the rotation, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Coach David Fizdale made the move official yesterday, with Robinson and Luke Kornet each playing 36 minutes while Jordan never left the bench. The Knicks are also taking a long look at Kornet before deciding how to handle his upcoming free agency.

Fizdale has been holding off the move out of respect for Jordan, who was acquired from the Mavericks in the Kristaps Porzingis deal. The 30-year-old Jordan will also be a free agent this summer and is a close friend of Kevin Durant, whom the Knicks are hoping to sign. There had been talk that Jordan might seek a buyout, but he opted to remain in New York.

“I can’t speak highly enough about DJ,’’ Fizdale said. “I spoke to [Jordan] today about it. Asked him what he thought. The pro that he is — exactly what he’s been since he got here. He sacrificed not going to another team to stay here with the Knicks to help Mitchell. He said, ‘Coach, let’s get that kid in there and see what he can do and I’ll be ready for you.’ I can say he’s one of the most professional veterans I’ve ever been around, been a great leader.”

There’s more this morning from New York City:

  • Landing Durant would be just the first step toward solving the Knicks‘ problems, observes Steve Popper of Newsday. Massive overhaul is expected during the offseason on a roster where few players have established themselves as part of the future. Robinson and rookie Kevin Knox appear most likely to stay, but Knox and Durant play the same position.
  • The Nets‘ D’Angelo Russell dominated Boston’s Terry Rozier Saturday in a matchup of the top two restricted free agent point guards who will be on the market this summer, notes Michael Scotto of The Athletic. Russell’s 29-point, 10-assist performance is part of a season of redemption that could land him a contract starting at more than $20MM a year. “Everybody was wrong obviously,” Russell said. “Everybody was wrong about me, so I don’t have to say anything.”
  • Nets guard Caris LeVert feels like he’s finally getting his game back after recovering from a severe right leg injury he suffered in November, relays Brian Lewis of The New York Post. LeVert posted his third straight solid game Saturday as Brooklyn tries to lock down a playoff spot. “I’ve just been trying to stay consistent with my habits off the court, get my work in, taking care of my body,” LeVert said.
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NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 3/28/19

March 28th, 2019 at 9:10pm CST by JD Shaw

Here are Thursday’s assignments and recalls from around the NBA G League:

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NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 3/27/19

March 27th, 2019 at 7:29pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Here are Tuesday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

  • The Thunder have recalled Deonte Burton from the Oklahoma City Blue, according to the team’s website. Burton accumulated 17 points, four rebounds, four assists, and one block during Monday’s G League playoff game against the Salt Lake City Stars.
  • The Rockets have assigned Isaiah Hartenstein to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). The Vipers are in the G League Western Conference Finals.
  • The Knicks have assigned Luke Kornet to the Westchester Knicks, per the team’s Twitter feed. The big man will be available for the G League squad’s playoff game tonight.
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