Michael Carter-Williams Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Bucks, Mekel, Bargnani

February 19th, 2015 at 11:27pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Bucks rejected an offer from the Suns that would have sent Goran Dragic to Milwaukee for Brandon Knight, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com, adding that Michael Carter-Williams and Tyler Ennis, whom Milwaukee acquired instead of Dragic, were who they wanted all along. Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times disputes that Milwaukee ever turned down a Dragic proposal, however (Twitter link).

Here’s more from around the league:

Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside wonders if Peyton Siva is being overshadowed with the Erie BayHawks this season. Seth Curry has gotten most of the attention on the team, but Siva is still having a relatively strong campaign in his own right.
Danny Granger says he wanted to rejoin the Pacers when he was a free agent this summer but couldn’t afford to wait for them to decide what to do with Lance Stephenson, as Granger tells Scott Agness of VigilantSports.com (Twitter link).
Unless an NBA offer materializes in the next few days, Gal Mekel is going to play in Europe, David Pick of Eurobasket.com tweets. The point guard has reportedly passed on numerous overseas offers after being released by the Pelicans back in December.
Knicks team president Phil Jackson said there are no immediate plans to reach a buyout arrangement with Andrea Bargnani, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. “It’s debatable,’’ Jackson said regarding a buyout. “Now that we have a gap in scoring, this is a guy that is a natural scorer. I think the coaching staff would like to have him on the court and be competitive with his scoring capabilities. Without Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, we are going to need some scorers out there. And we would like to give him a forum. I am not going to hold it against him if he wasn’t here for the first 40-something games.’’
The Sixers almost wound up with Isaiah Thomas in their three-team deal with the Bucks and Suns, but they let the Suns send him to the Celtics in a separate transaction instead, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

Zach Links and Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Suns Acquire Brandon Knight

February 19th, 2015 at 9:16pm CST by Chuck Myron

9:16pm: The trade is official, the Suns have announced. In addition to Knight, Phoenix receives Marshall, who will be waived, from the Bucks. Milwaukee gets Ennis and Plumlee from the Suns, and Carter-Williams from Philadelphia, and the Sixers garner the Lakers’ top-5 protected 2015 first-round pick from Phoenix. By the looks of it, the component involving the Celtics will go as a separate transaction.

4:31pm: Phoenix will waive Marshall, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Coro sums up Phoenix’s side of the deal. It’s Knight, Thornton, Marshall and the Cavs’ top-10 protected 2016 first-round pick, which Cleveland had owed to the Jazz (Twitter links). The Suns are sending Ennis and Plumlee to the Bucks, Thomas to the Celtics, and the Lakers’ top-five protected 2015 first-round pick to the Sixers, Coro tweets.

4:10pm: Kendall Marshall, who’s out for the season, is headed to the Suns in the deal, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). It’s undecided whether the Suns will keep him or waive him, Charania adds.

2:30pm: The Celtics will send Marcus Thornton to the Suns and the Cavaliers’ first round pick in 2016 to the Suns, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

2:25pm: The breakdown, according to Stein (on Twitter) is as follows: Knight will go to the Suns. Michael Carter-Williams, Tyler Ennis, and Miles Plumlee will go to the Bucks. The Celtics will acquire Isaiah Thomas. Meanwhile, the 76ers will acquire draft picks.

The Sixers will get the Suns’ protected first round pick via the Lakers, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (on Twitter).

2:15pm: Thomas is headed to the Celtics, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, in what essentially functions as a four-way deal with the Bucks, Suns and Sixers (Twitter link).

2:00pm: The Bucks are trading Brandon Knight to the Suns, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). There are conflicting reports regarding other details Michael Carter-Williams and Tyler Ennis are going to the Bucks, and Isaiah Thomas and picks go to the Sixers (Twitter link), according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, while Wojnarowski has Thomas heading from Phoenix to the Celtics (Twitter link). Miles Plumlee is also headed to Milwaukee, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The Sixers are getting the Lakers’ protected first-round pick that they owed to the Suns, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.

And-Ones: Sixers, Jackson, Marble

February 17th, 2015 at 11:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Sixers are willing to take on expiring contracts in order to increase their stash of second-round draft picks, according to Tom Moore of Calkins Media. Trade talks have been heating up, an NBA source told Moore, and the team is likely to make at least one deal before Thursday’s deadline. The Sixers already own 16 second-rounders over the next six drafts but wouldn’t mind adding more assets. The franchise also has $18.4MM in salary-cap room to absorb expiring deals, Moore continues. If the Sixers do make a deal, Luc Mbah a Moute is the player most likely to be moved. Mbah a Moute, who has an expiring contract of approximately $4.4MM, is averaging a career high of 10.0 points, and could draw interest from a contender. Moore also speculates the club would consider moving its best all-around player, Michael Carter-Williams, for the right price.

Here’s more from around the league:

Reggie Jackson would probably wind up with a non-contender if he’s dealt by the Thunder before the trade deadline, Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman writes. Jackson’s most likely destination would be a team needing a long-term solution at point guard with the expectation of re-signing him when he becomes a restricted free agent this summer, Slater adds. Jackson is making just over $2.2MM and might have to be paired with a higher-salaried player such as Kendrick Perkins, who is making approximately $9.65MM, in order to bring back a quality player in return, according to Slater.
Gary Payton has shown interest in joining George Karl’s staff with the Kings, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee tweets. Payton was Karl’s long-time point guard in Seattle, including during the 1996 NBA Finals when the SuperSonics lost to the Bulls.
The Magic have re-assigned Devyn Marble to the Erie BayHawks, their D-League affiliate, Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel tweets. Marble, a rookie guard, has not appeared in an NBA game since January 25th. In 16 games with the Magic this season, Marble is averaging 2.3 PPG.
Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert are the main building blocks for the Jazz and have too much potential to be traded, Brad Rock of the Deseret News writes. Quality big men are precious commodities and that makes the duo more important than the team’s current star, Gordon Hayward, Rock adds.

Trade Candidate: Michael Carter-Williams

January 28th, 2015 at 7:58pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Usually, when players in the early years of their rookie deals find themselves in trade discussions, it’s typically because there’s a lack of production or the player is a poor fit on his team. Michael Carter-Williams doesn’t go into either of those categories but the Sixers aren’t operating like a typical NBA franchise. The team’s plans to obtain superstar-caliber players via high lottery picks are well-documented, and Philadelphia seems in no rush to assemble a winning team that doesn’t have a few of these sorts of players on it.

It’s unclear whether the Sixers view Carter-Williams as a rising superstar. Some team officials reportedly don’t view him as part of the club’s long-term plan. The point guard has impressed during his first season and a half, but there are major concerns about whether he can lead a contending team. Carter-Williams owns a .381/.250/.642 slash line this season, which ranks 71st, 71st, and 79th respectively among all point guards in the league. His shooting has been historically poor for a player getting starter’s minutes, and that kind of production can seriously hinder a team’s ability to win games.

Philadelphia is on a mission to win championships in the long run, but it’s going to take more than improved shooting from MCW to get there. While the team’s strategy to aim for superstars in order to win titles seems foolproof, only one team per year actually comes away with the Larry O’Brien trophy. Only once every few years does a team come away with a transcendent talent in the top of the draft. For every LeBron James or Anthony Davis, there are several players whose ceilings aren’t in that ballpark.

The Magic are a prime example of what can happen when a franchise accumulates high draft picks without obtaining a transcendent talent. Orlando had a top five pick in the last two drafts and traded up to get another top 10 pick last June. Those selections have netted the team Victor Oladipo, Aaron Gordon, and Elfrid Payton. Those are nice players and the Magic have a good nucleus, but they lack a game-changer who will keep them dispatched as a perennial contender. Without some good luck, Orlando won’t be able to grab a elite prospect in this year’s draft, and they won’t sniff the postseason this year, either. MCW isn’t that much better than most of the players on Orlando’s roster and the Sixers want to avoid being stuck with that fate.

By trading Carter-Williams, the Sixers can dwell in the very bottom of the league’s cellar and prolong their rebuilding project, thus increasing the chances of obtaining a transcendent talent. The team plan appears to be lather, rinse, repeat until that special talent becomes available or ownership decides it wants to put a competent team on the floor. There has never been an ownership group willing to oversee this kind of rebuild in NBA history, but as long as attendance in Philadelphia continues to show a slight year over year rise, I would suspect that executives stay on course with the franchise’s current plan.

Finding the right trade partner could be a tricky obstacle, because Philly is apparently holding out for a high return. There were rumors that the Lakers were interested in giving up the No. 7 overall pick in last summer’s draft as well as Steve Nash’s expiring contract for Carter-Williams and Thaddeus Young. The Sixers didn’t believe that was enough for the reigning Rookie of the Year and they might be hard pressed to find a team with a better offer. MCW’s value comes from his play being worth more than his contract during the next few seasons. The point guard will make roughly $2.3MM this season and slightly less than $5.6MM combined over the next two years.

Production at that cost is a real asset in the NBA, but most of the teams that are set to have the sort of high draft pick that Philly covets, like the Wolves and the Celtics, won’t be inclined to trade those picks. They’re pursuing their own rebuilding efforts that most likely won’t come to fruition over the next two years. Teams that are pressing harder to win now, like the Knicks and the Lakers, don’t have the enough desirable assets to spare in order to make a trade worthwhile for both parties. Carter-Williams would be a great fit on a few contending teams, including the Clippers or Cavs. These teams would love the opportunity to upgrade their backup point guard situations with starter talent without paying a starter’s contract. However, these teams probably lack the willingness to give up assets that the Sixers would demand.

A franchise with the right elements to be a trade partner for Carter-Williams might be the Kings. They are currently eighth overall in our Reverse Standings, meaning if the season ended today, they would likely have a top 10 pick. They also have an owner who wants to win now, and while the team hasn’t traded any top draft picks during its quest to contend, no player whom Sacramento acquired over the last several years possesses quite the trade value that Carter-Williams has. Rudy Gay might be a better player but because of his oversized contract, the Kings only had to give up multiple role players to acquire him. Carter-Williams’ contract is very team friendly and I would speculate that it would take the Kings dangling their 2015 first-round pick plus someone like Derrick Williams, who apparently is on the trade block, to intrigue the Sixers.

Indiana makes another logical destination for the point guard. The Pacers may not be in position to qualify for the playoffs this season, but with a healthy Paul George on the court next year, the team will be a contender again. The Pacers currently have the sixth worst record, and without some luck, they will not have a top-five draft pick. History suggests that players who are drafted outside the top five are much less likely to become star-caliber players than those who are drafted in the top five. With the Pacers’ current situation, they might be more inclined to trade their pick for an established, above-average talent rather than gambling for a star and ending up without a player who can contribute.

The Sixers are more than willing to gamble on obtaining a superstar. Carter-Williams has established that he belongs in an NBA rotation and he can contribute right now if put in the right situation. Many teams could use an above-average player, but it’s easier for those would-be trade partners of the Sixers to find those players than it is for them to find superstars. MCW could certainly improve his shooting and start showing more consistent flashes of being a star player, similar to how Jason Kidd improved as his career progressed. Yet if the Sixers don’t believe that is going to happen, now is the time to deal Carter-Williams, while his trade value remains at its highest.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Sixers Explore Michael Carter-Williams Trades

January 14th, 2015 at 1:21pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Sixers have engaged in exploratory talks with several other teams over the past few weeks about trading Michael Carter-Williams, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com reports amid his reader chat. Some but not all among Sixers officials don’t view him as a long-term asset, according to Ford, who suggests that Philadelphia is holding out for a high return. Carter-Williams is making slighly more than $2.3MM this season in the second year of his rookie scale contract.

Ford reported this past May that the Sixers had considered trading the reigning Rookie of the Year, and Grantland’s Zach Lowe wrote that they made a hard push to do so around the draft. The Lakers wanted Carter-Williams and then-Sixer Thaddeus Young in return for the No. 7 pick and Steve Nash, though the Sixers rebuffed that proposal, as Ford wrote then. Sean Deveney of The Sporting News suggested the Lakers weren’t serious about that pursuit.

Scoring is down for the 23-year-old Carter-Williams this year after offseason shoulder surgery, and while his assists are up, so are his turnovers. Backup point guard Tony Wroten has continued to progress for Philadelphia, so much as to draw the rumored pursuit of the Clippers, so the Sixers have a an in-house replacement should they opt to deal Carter-Williams.

Eastern Notes: Smart, Sixers, Mitchell

November 26th, 2014 at 10:12pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Celtics rookie Marcus Smart has begun practicing but is still limited in what he is able to do on the court, Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com reports. Head coach Brad Stevens is eager for Smart to return to action but stressed that Smart would only return when the player felt comfortable, notes Forsberg. “I think, obviously, you want him to be as close to pre-injury [health] as possible, otherwise he shouldn’t be full-go,” Stevens said. “Is there a transition period? Absolutely. But sometimes in those first couple days, you’re so excited to be back out that you actually play pretty darn well. So it’s just a matter of him getting back out here and it’s more about the conditioning than anything else right now, just because he hasn’t done anything on the court, physically, as far as 5-on-5, in the last three weeks.”

Here’s more from the east:

With the Celtics‘ early-season record a disappointing 4-8, Stevens said that he doesn’t sense any overwhelming frustration among his players, Forsberg writes in a separate article. “I don’t sense the frustration level to be as high as maybe it’s made out to be, because a lot of that is made out after a game where you lose close and, that soon after, everybody’s disappointed, everybody is — you lose a little perspective immediately after a game,” said Stevens.
“Everyone in the league knows” that some sort of lottery reform is on its way, even though the owners rejected the league’s last proposal, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. The widespread negative perception of the Sixers‘ radical rebuilding hasn’t changed in front offices around the league, as Berger notes. One GM told Berger that aside from Nerlens Noel, Michael Carter-Williams and Joel Embiid, the majority of Philly’s players wouldn’t be claimed off waivers if the Sixers were to release them.
When Detroit assigned Tony Mitchell to the Grand Rapids Drive earlier today he became the first player that the Pistons have sent to their new D-league affiliate, as Peter J. Wallner of MLive.com examines. Mitchell is expected to return to Detroit on Thursday.
Michael Carter-Williams has been struggling for the Sixers since returning to the lineup after his preseason injury. If the young point guard hopes to remain a part of the team’s future he’ll need to improve his decision-making with the ball and his body language when things don’t go well, Michael Kaskey-Blomain of Philly.com writes.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Sixers Pick Up Options On Three Players

October 31st, 2014 at 9:57am CST by Eddie Scarito

FRIDAY, 9:57pm: The moves are official, the team announced via press release. Sixers spokesperson Michael Preston confirms the news via Twitter.

THURSDAY, 7:37pm: The Sixers have picked up the third-year team options for Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams, as well as the fourth-year team option for Tony Wroten, as is shown in the RealGM transactions log. These moves give Philadelphia approximately $13,508,212 in guaranteed salary commitments for the 2015/16 season.

None of these moves come as a surprise since all three players factor heavily into the Sixers’ long term rebuilding plans. The 2015/16 salaries for the three players will be $3,457,800 for Noel; $2,399,040 for Carter-Williams; and $2,179,354 for Wroten.

Carter-Williams won the Rookie of the Year award last season after being selected with the No. 11 overall pick in the draft. He averaged 16.7 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 6.3 APG. His slash line was .405/.264/.703. There were rumors during the offseason that the team was shopping Carter-Williams, but no deal materialized and he remains the team’s starting point guard. For him to take the next step in his development, Carter-Williams desperately needs to cut down on his 3.5 turnovers per game of a season ago.

The 20-year-old Noel begins his rookie campaign after an injury suffered during his lone year at Kentucky kept him out for the entire 2013/14 season. Extremely athletic and a gifted defender, Noel will need to develop his offensive game if he hopes to fulfill his immense potential.

Originally drafted by the Grizzlies, Wroten is being counted on this season to provide a large portion of Philadelphia’s scoring. In 108 career games, including 17 starts, he has averaged 9.7 PPG, 2.4 RPG, and 2.5 APG. His career shooting percentages are .423/.216/.642.

And-Ones: Saric, Thompson, Carter-Williams

October 14th, 2014 at 3:50pm CST by Chuck Myron

The father of lottery pick Dario Saric is upset about his son’s lack of playing time for Turkey’s Anadolu Efes and is threatening to end his son’s deal with the Euroleague team, David Pick of Eurobasket.com tweets. Predrag Saric said he’ll look for someone who would finance a buyout if his son, whose NBA rights belong to the Sixers, doesn’t start to see the floor soon, as he told Hrvoje Slišković of Jutarnji.hr, a outlet in Saric’s native Croatia. Dario agreed to a long-term contract with Efes shortly before the draft, one that was to keep him out of the NBA for at least this season and likely until 2016, but it’s not clear if Predrag’s agitation is a precursor to an early NBA jump, particularly since he’s advocated in the past for his son to remain in Europe. There’s more on the Sixers in our look around the league:

There have been conflicting reports about whether Klay Thompson is asking for the maximum salary in an extension with the Warriors, but Thompson’s father says it’s indeed the max that he’s after. Mychal Thompson made his comments Monday on his own ESPNLosAngeles radio show (audio link), as Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group transcribes.
Mychal, a former Lakers player, also signaled that he’d like to see his son play for the Lakers at some point, Leung observes in the same piece.
Sixers coach Brett Brown clarified to reporters that the team never gave a recovery timetable for Michael Carter-Williams, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Carter-Williams said yesterday that he was told when his shoulder surgery took place in May that he would be out six to nine months. Indeed, Philly’s release at the time stated that there was no timetable. Pompey and other reporters gave a two-to-four month estimate shortly after the surgery based on the way others have come back from the injury.
Shawn Marion, who left Dallas for the Cavs this summer, still has a bitter taste in his mouth from the Mavs‘ decision to let go of Tyson Chandler soon after the team won the championship in 2011, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. “We didn’t give ourselves a chance to defend [our title],” Marion said.

Lowe’s Latest: Rondo, Green, Horford, Sixers

October 14th, 2014 at 11:05am CST by Chuck Myron

Grantland’s Zach Lowe includes a few eye-openers among his annual preseason predictions, including his assertion that the Suns will again miss out on the playoffs. As usual, Lowe’s must-read column isn’t all conjecture, and he shares a few whispers he’s heard from around the league. We’ll pass along the news items here:

The Celtics have set a remarkably high price for Rajon Rondo as they’ve gauged the trade market for him over the past year, but Boston is also putting out trade feelers about Jeff Green, Lowe writes. People around the league are higher on Green than the forward’s public reputation would suggest, according to Lowe, who adds the Pelicans to the list of teams that have shown interest in Green in the past. It’s unclear if New Orleans still has eyes for Green, however.
The Hawks brought up Al Horford‘s name in trade talk with a few teams last year, seeking an unprotected 2014 first-rounder in return, sources tell Lowe.
Michael Carter-Williams found his name in trade rumors around the draft, and the Sixers indeed made a hard push to find a deal, Lowe hears. The Grantland scribe cautions that the team isn’t necessarily dead set on trading him, writing that the Sixers understand there are plenty of quality point guards to go around and that Philadelphia prioritizes deal that would help the team land more high draft picks.
It would catch no one in the league offices by surprise if Mikhail Prokhorov eventually decides to give up control of the Nets, according to Lowe.
The Cavs have shown reluctance to surrender the 2015 first-round pick that the Grizzlies owe them, Lowe writes. It’s the only first-rounder other than their own that the Cavs possess.

Eastern Notes: Van Gundy, Mirotic, Sixers

October 13th, 2014 at 1:33pm CST by Chuck Myron

Pistons owner Tom Gores expressed a desire for more synergy between the front office and the coaching staff during his first meeting with Stan Van Gundy this spring, and that was “music to my ears,” Van Gundy tells TNT’s David Aldridge for his Morning Tip column on NBA.com. Van Gundy asserts that his dual executive/coaching role is as aligned with the owner’s vision as it is with his. It’ll be a while before we know whether Gores and Van Gundy had the right idea to consolidate authority, but while we wait on the early returns, there’s more on the Pistons amid the latest from the Eastern Conference:

Nikola Mirotic thought he’d keep playing in Spain until at least 2015 until the Bulls pushed for buyout talks with Real Madrid this spring, as Shams Charania of RealGM details.
The Pistons have discussed the idea of retaining the D-League rights to Josh Bostic and Lorenzo Brown with their respective agents, GM Jeff Bower says, according to MLive’s David Mayo. Detroit can do so with up to four of its preseason cuts.
Michael Carter-Williams told reporters today that the original prognosis when he had shoulder surgery in early May was for him to miss six to nine months, which conflicts with the two-to-four month timetable the Sixers released at that point, notes Tom Moore of Calkins Media (Twitter links). The reigning Rookie of the Year has yet to play in the preseason this month, though Carter-Williams added that he’s ahead of that six-to-nine month schedule.
Vitor Faverani will miss six to eight weeks after today’s left knee surgery, perhaps endangering his place on a Celtics roster on which he has one of 16 fully guaranteed contracts, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com.
Tom Thibodeau will make close to $4.4MM a year through 2016/17, but amid persistent rumors about his future and with the going rate for coaches on the rise, the Bulls should grant him an extension that’s more reflective of his value, opines Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.