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Central Notes: Thibodeau, Pacers, Jackson

May 14th, 2016 at 7:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

Former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said it was painful to watch the team struggle to a non-playoff season, according to Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago. Now president and coach of the Timberwolves, Thibodeau discussed the Bulls as he returned to Chicago for this week’s draft combine. “I think Derrick [Rose] after the first couple months, played very well and it was great to see him healthy,” Thibodeau said. “He went through four years that were difficult. I think Jimmy [Butler] continues to improve and get better. Pau [Gasol] was terrific. Doug McDermott had a terrific season and Niko [Mirotic] was inconsistent but he finished strong. There were a lot of pluses and one or two games go a different way and if Joakim [Noah] doesn’t get hurt, this is a terrific team. They need their health. For me, just looking from afar, that’s the biggest thing for this team.” Thibodeau also supported the coach who took his place, Fred Hoiberg, and said he expects the Bulls to become contenders again next season.

There’s more out of the Central Division:

  • The Pacers will hold a workout on Tuesday for Indiana small forward Troy Williams, Maryland point guard Melo Trimble, Oklahoma point guard Isaiah Cousins and others, tweets Jeff Rabjohns of Basketball Times. High schooler Thon Maker will work out for the Pacers on Wednesday, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link).
  • Maryland power forward Robert Carter Jr. had an interview with the Pacers at the draft combine, tweets Scott Agness of VigilantSports.
  • The Bucks will likely be looking for backcourt help in next month’s draft, according to Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel. Milwaukee enters Tuesday’s draft lottery with the No. 10 pick, along with second-rounders at No. 36 and No. 38. GM John Hammond insists the team will employ the “best-player-available” strategy, but Gardner says it’s obvious the Bucks need better guard play. One possibility could be Notre Dame junior point guard Demetrius Jackson, who interviewed with Milwaukee during the draft combine. “[Bucks coach] Jason Kidd is awesome,” Jackson said. “I do my research before I go in there. I’m naming off some of his accomplishments — nine-time all-NBA defender. At the next level I really want to be an elite NBA defender. It’s cool to meet some of these people you see on TV.”
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And-Ones: Weems, Mirotic, Augustin

March 7th, 2016 at 10:44pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Sixers acquired swingman Sonny Weems to reach the salary floor but they plan to take a hard look at him, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The Sixers claimed Weems from the Suns on Monday, allowing them to reach the minimum team salary requirement for the season since they’ll get credit for his full $2.814MM salary, even though they’ll only have to pay less than $700K, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders points out (Twitter link). The Sixers made similar moves to reach the floor last season, including a claim of power forward Thomas Robinson, whom they did not re-sign, Pompey notes. Weems may be a different case. Robert Covington, Nik Stauskas and Hollis Thompson are the only true wing players on the roster, and thus Weems should get some opportunities to play, Pompey adds. A league source conceded to Pompey that it looks unseemly for the Sixers to work the system to meet the salary floor two years in a row but argued that the team has a legitimate need for a wing player that Weems can fulfill.

In other news around the league:

  • Bulls power forward Nikola Mirotic has to prove he’s part of their future, now that he’s returned from an appendectomy, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times opines. He endured major growing pains during his second season with the team prior to the injury and he now has to work his way back into shape and be productive, Cowley continues. “You can’t play scared that if you get hit, something may happen, or you’ll have a setback,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg told Cowley and other members of the Chicago media. “You just have to go out there and react and play. I think it was big step for Niko. Now it’s a matter of getting his lungs in shape and getting his wind back.’
  • Point guard D.J. Augustin has revived his career with the Nuggets, Erik Horne of The Oklahoman writes. Augustin averaged 12.8 points and shot 54.3% on 3-point attempts in his first nine games with Denver after he was acquired in a trade deadline deal from the Thunder. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City has averaged 16.4 turnovers, fourth-most in the league, since the trade, Horne notes.
  • The Warriors recalled power forward Kevon Looney from their D-League affiliate, as the Santa Cruz Warriors tweet.
  • The Thunder assigned forwards Josh Huestis and Mitch McGary to their D-League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, according to the team’s website. Huestis has already appeared in 16 D-League games this season, while McGary has played 17 games with the Blue.
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Central Notes: Pistons, Lawson, Budinger, Butler

March 5th, 2016 at 1:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

Terrence Jones and Meyers Leonard would be attractive free agent options for the Pistons in their search for a backup power forward, according to David Mayo of MLive. Both will enter restricted free agency this summer, which means the Rockets and Blazers can match any offers they get. Mayo notes the teams may want compensation for letting Jones or Leonard go, which could tempt the Pistons to give up a first-round draft pick, something they were willing to do to get Donatas Motiejunas from Houston last month before that deal was voided. Mayo suggests keeping Anthony Tolliver might be the best strategy now that Tobias Harris is on board as the starting power forward. Tolliver is making $3MM in the final season of his contract and is averaging 5.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in nearly 20 minutes per night.

There’s more out of the Central Division:

  • The Pacers expect to finalize a deal with free agent point guard Ty Lawson on Sunday or Monday, tweets Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star. Lawson is still working out in Houston after the Rockets waived him Tuesday in a buyout agreement.
  • Chase Budinger‘s brief stay in Indiana was a “dud,” Buckner tweeted after the Pacers waived the seventh-year small forward today. She also laments last summer’s trade that sent Damjan Rudez to the Wolves in exchange for Budinger, saying the Pacers gave up a badly needed 3-point shooter (Twitter link). She credits Budinger for being “a pro” during his time in Indiana, though he never fully understood what the organization expected from him (Twitter link).
  • Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg says shooting guard Jimmy Butler, who has been out of action since February 5th with a sprained knee, is “ready to go” for tonight’s game, tweets Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. Combo forward Nikola Mirotic, who had acute appendicitis and underwent surgery January 27th, is “close,” Hoiberg adds (Twitter link). Injured center Joakim Noah won’t play anytime soon, but he’ll rejoin the team for “leadership,” tweets K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune.
  • The Pistons have shooting guard Jodie Meeks, who hasn’t played since suffering a right foot injury October 29th, listed as questionable for tonight’s game, tweets Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.
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Bulls Notes: Front Office, Gasol, Mirotic

February 12th, 2016 at 2:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

All indications are Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf remains confident in the front office duo of GM Gar Forman and executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson, writes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com, who calls for them to make changes to the roster with the deadline less than a week away. Forman has reportedly signaled that he’s concerned about his future, but it’s instead the immediate situation in Chicago that has others worried.

“We got to find ourselves,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said, according to Friedell. “I challenged them, whatever they got to do over the [All-Star] break, look themselves in the mirror, find a way to get committed to this team where we can come out and go on a run. And that’s all we can do right now is look forward. It’s been a bad, bad stretch of basketball. Hopefully we’ll get healthy and move forward.”

Hoiberg’s job is in no danger, Friedell confirms, advocating instead for the Bulls to deal away Pau Gasol. Two executives recently told K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune that they don’t think the Bulls are done testing the trade market for Gasol in spite of injuries to Joakim Noah and Nikola Mirotic. See more from Chicago, where the Bulls are in seventh place and just a game up on the ninth-place Pistons:

  • Mirotic will remain out for weeks, not days, as he continues to recover from a follow-up procedure to an appendectomy, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. The power forward had been targeting a return after the All-Star break.
  • The front office set a destructive tone when it undermined coach Tom Thibodeau last season, and it shows in the way the Bulls have responded on the court this season, contends Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. Forman and Paxson told players last season that they didn’t have to buy in to Thibodeau’s coaching because the team planned to move on from him at season’s end, according to Cowley.
  • However, the negative effect Thibodeau had on the work environment in Chicago and the coach’s questionable substitution patterns are some of the reasons why it’s not as if his continued presence would have prevented the team’s problems this year, contends Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune. The Timberwolves are the latest team to emerge with apparent interest in the ex-Bulls coach.
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And-Ones: Morris, Dunleavy, Korkmaz, Labor

February 4th, 2016 at 1:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

Markieff Morris said he “never had a problem” with former Suns coach Jeff Hornacek, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. The incident in which he threw a towel that connected with Hornacek after the pair exchanged words during a game in December, prompting a two-game suspension for the power forward, was “misperceived,” Morris said. With trade rumors continuing to surround the Suns, see more from around the NBA:

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Central Notes: Mirotic, Mahinmi, Blatt

February 3rd, 2016 at 8:21pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Bulls originally believed Nikola Mirotic would return after the All-Star break, but that timeline is now up in the air after the forward underwent hematoma removal surgery over the weekend, Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com writes. Mirotic was originally out of commission due to an appendectomy he underwent on January 27th. “He’s still in the hospital,” coach Fred Hoiberg said. “He developed a hematoma, which is a collection of blood, that he had to go back in and have a second surgery to remove. He’s on a liquid diet right now. He’s in quite a bit of pain, but his spirits are OK. Hopefully he’ll get out of the hospital soon and just get him back. As far as a timetable for Niko to get back on the floor, we just don’t know yet. But he had the complication, got it fixed. Hopefully we’ll get him back soon.”

“It’s still too early to tell,” Hoiberg said, when asked about the post-All-Star break timeline. “We’ll have a better idea once Niko gets out of the hospital and just gradually have to get his strength back. Hopefully he’ll be out in the next day or two, out of the hospital. Hopefully Niko will recover quickly from it, but you got to be careful any time you’re dealing with surgery. Not just one, but two, you got to be a little bit careful.”

Here’s more from the NBA’s Central Division:

  • The struggles he’s had dealing with injuries thus far this campaign have Pacers center Ian Mahinmi calling 2015/16 one of his difficult seasons as a pro, Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports notes. “Yeah, it’s been a little bit of a tough year as far as injuries [for me],” Mahinmi, a free agent at season’s end, told Agness. “When you look at it, I only missed a few games. I probably missed like, what, five games this year. So overall, it’s not crazy. That’s the behind-the-scenes thing that fans and people that work the game don’t really know about it. How much your body goes through. It goes through a lot. You got to keep playing games, and you got to keep practicing every day. It’s been tough. It’s been one of the toughest years for me. Knock on wood — it hasn’t been anything bad, injury wise.”
  • Cavs shooting guard J.R. Smith appreciates the opportunity former coach David Blatt gave him in Cleveland and believes Blatt will be a head coach in the league again, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com writes. “I mean, I think he’s a good coach,” Smith said. “I think he has an opportunity to get another job somewhere. I think somebody will give him a shot given the circumstances. I think before he took the [Cleveland] job, it was pretty much he was going to coach a different team until LeBron James and Kevin Love and everybody came to the situation. So it was kind of weird, I’m sure, for him from the start for him because he was expecting just to have Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson and before you know it, you got all these other guys. So, I think he has a good chance of getting a job somewhere else. It’s just a matter of time.”
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Central Notes: Noah, Anderson, Turner

January 29th, 2016 at 7:50pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Bulls would have preferred to have traded Joakim Noah rather than Taj Gibson, hoping to extract value of some sort from Noah before he has the chance to depart in free agency this summer, executives from around the league said to Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The injuries to Noah and Nikola Mirotic have made a Gibson trade even less likely, sources confirmed to Stein. Noah is expected to be out four to six months while Mirotic isn’t likely to return until after the All-Star break.

Here’s the latest from out of the Central Division:

  • The Pistons have interest in Ryan Anderson as a free agent this summer but not as a trade candidate, preferring not to have to relinquish assets to snag him, sources tell Stein in a separate piece. ESPN colleague Zach Lowe of ESPN.com previously reported that Detroit was eyeing the Pelicans stretch four.
  • The Pacers have elected to go with a bigger lineup after experimenting with a small-ball approach earlier in the season, a move that has benefited 2015 draftee Myles Turner, Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star notes. “You don’t know when you’re dealing with a rookie, a 19-year-old player, how soon it’s going to come,” coach Frank Vogel said. “There’s going to be some ups and some downs but if you look at this at what we think Myles can be. … This is what this team should look like out there.“
  • The Bulls‘ backcourt tandem of Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler are still working on developing on-court chemistry, since the two haven’t shared much time on the floor together thanks to Rose’s many injuries, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune writes. Butler is excited about the potential of the duo, telling Johnson, “I love playing with him [Rose]. He’s super aggressive. He’s taking great shots. That’s what we need. As long as I follow his lead in that attacking style, we’re going to be really good.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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And-Ones: Gasol, Mirotic, Bazemore

January 27th, 2016 at 10:26pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The latest indications coming out of Chicago are that the Bulls want to re-sign Pau Gasol this offseason rather than deal him prior to the trade deadline, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. The Bulls have reportedly gauged the trade market for Gasol in discussions that have more often centered on Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson. Gasol possesses a player option worth $7,769,520 for 2016/17 and has said that he’s leaning toward opting out of his contract this summer. However, he did add that he would like to remain in Chicago beyond this season.

Here’s the latest from around the NBA:

  • Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic was diagnosed with an acute appendicitis and underwent surgery earlier today, the team announced. The power forward is expected to be out until after the All-Star break.
  • Hawks shooting guard Kent Bazemore is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and the Nuggets are one potential destination, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. Denver coach Michael Malone is familiar with Bazemore from their time spent together with the Warriors when Malone was an assistant, Dempsey notes. “I’m very proud of him,” Malone said of Bazemore. “He was a guy that when he was with us in Golden State, worked hard. Before practice, after practice, barely got a chance to play the year I was there but never dropped his head. He’s got a great work ethic and I think a great story for a lot of these young kids that want to come in the NBA — keep on working, get better.”
  • The Raptors have recalled Lucas Nogueira and Norman Powell from their D-League affiliate and have assigned Anthony Bennett and Bruno Caboclo to the Raptors 905, the team announced (Twitter links).
  • The Hawks have assigned center Edy Tavares to the D-League, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution relays (via Twitter). The big man will be assigned to the Austin Spurs since Atlanta does not possess its own affiliate. Tavares has been assigned to the Spurs‘ affiliate five times this season and the Cavs‘ once.
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Eastern Notes: Afflalo, Mirotic, Jennings

January 23rd, 2016 at 11:36am CST by Eddie Scarito

Knicks shooting guard Arron Afflalo is fine with playing second fiddle to small forward Carmelo Anthony in New York, but he’s ready to answer the call as the team’s go-to player if needed, Mike Coppinger of USA Today writes. “[Anthony] is one of the best scorers of all time, so I don’t mind being second fiddle to that,” said Afflalo. “But, for example, if he ever was to get hurt, or if he’s out of the game for any reason, I don’t have any issues with stepping into that role.”

Most NBA players begin to decline when they reach the age of 30, but Afflalo, who turned 30 in October, believes he can buck that trend, Coppinger relays. “I think I’m only going to get better as I get older because of my style of play,” Afflalo said. “I like to play a more post game, spot-up 3s, coming off screens. These are things that as long as you’re in good condition – I’m not really relying on heavy speed or heavy athleticism – I’m more relying on my footwork and skill and my body. So I feel as I get older with more experience, I’m just going to get better with age.”

Here’s the latest from the Central Division:

  • Bulls combo forward Nikola Mirotic is struggling with his confidence this season after losing his spot as a starter, but he understands he needs to keep working to regain his form, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune writes. “I’m struggling a little bit now and not shooting well,” Mirotic said. “I’m not feeling the same confidence I was before. The only way to get it back is to work hard and stay positive. I need to forget what happened yesterday. I’m not scoring easy baskets. I’m not running like before. I’m not making those open 3s. I’m not doing things in the low post. But if I can do it last year in March, I can do it this year, too. I think it will come soon.“
  • Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy is pleased with Brandon Jennings‘ performance leading the team’s second unit, but he doesn’t think the point guard will be back to full speed until training camp next season, MLive’s David Mayo notes. “For the most part, our team has played well with him on the court, I think because of the way he pushes the ball, and moves the ball, and everything else,” Van Gundy said. “Not only are you coming back off injury, but you miss 30-plus games, and you missed all of the summer. It just takes time to get back into it.“
  • The Celtics have assigned James Young to their D-League affiliate in Maine, the team announced.
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Wiggins, Mirotic, Noel Lead All-Rookie Teams

May 18th, 2015 at 1:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

Andrew Wiggins was a unanimous All-Rookie First-Team selection, the league announced as it revealed the media voting results for the honors. Nikola Mirotic was the second-leading vote-getter, followed by Nerlens Noel, Elfrid Payton and Jordan Clarkson, all of whom comprise the first team. Marcus Smart, Zach LaVine, Bojan Bogdanovic, Jusuf Nurkic and Langston Galloway make up the second team.

Wiggins far outpaced all other contenders for Rookie of the Year honors after averaging 16.9 points in 36.2 minutes per game this season for the Timberwolves, who acquired the 2014 No. 1 overall pick in the Kevin Love trade. Minnesota, which finished with the league’s worst record this season and has a 25% chance to win the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, is the only team to place two players on the All-Rookie teams, with LaVine on the second team despite having garnered 22 first-team votes. Every member of the second team received at least three first-team votes.

Payton, the 10th overall selection, is the only first-round pick from 2014 to appear on the first team. Mirotic was a draft-and-stash selection from 2011, Noel was the sixth overall pick in 2013 but qualified as a rookie this season because he sat out all of 2013/14 with injury, and Clarkson was the 46th pick last year, having gone overlooked through all of the first round and half of the second.

Galloway made the second team despite having gone undrafted and not having made his debut until January 7th, after he had signed a 10-day contract with the Knicks. New York followed up with another 10-day deal and finally a multiyear pact for the surprisingly effective point guard.

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