Nikola Vucevic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Magic Notes: Harkless, Nicholson, Canada

September 7th, 2013 at 7:23pm CST by Spencer Lund

Hoops World's Alex Kennedy wrote about the young core Rob Hennigan has acquired since his term as Magic general manager started in 2012. The Magic's roster has been growing closer this offseason, akin to the young Thunder team Hennigan worked for before joining the Magic.

The youthful Magic players mentioned in the piece, Maurice Harkless, Tobias Harris, Nikola Vucevic, rookie Victor Oladipo, Andrew Nicholson, Kyle O'Quinn, and Doron Lamb only took a couple weeks off after the season concluded in April before returning to Orlando.

Once in town, they all work out, lift weights and scrimmage five-on-five together before hanging out off the court to grab food, play cards or watch TV at someone's house at night.

Said Harkless of all the time spent together, “I think it’s really important. We pretty much spend all of our time together, whether it’s in the gym or just hanging out at a guy’s house playing video games, watching TV or playing Spades. We just spend a lot of time together. I think it’s really good. It’s going to help us build chemistry, on the court and off of the court.”

It's that same chemistry Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, Jeff Green, James Harden and Eric Maynor developed while they were all growing together in Oklahoma City with Hennigan looking on. Whether the Magic go on to reach the upper-tier as one of the NBA's true title-contenders, remains to be seen, but Magic fans have to like the growing bond between their young players.

This summer, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reported that the Magic were going to pick up the options on four of the players mentioned in Kennedy's piece who are all on their rookie-scale deals: Harris, Vucevic, Harkless and Nicholson.
Picking up the options on all four – they have until October 31st, but Robbins believed the options could be picked before the 1st of October – means they'll be under contract in Orlando through the 2014/15 season. Next summer, the Magic will decide on fourth-year options for Harkless and Nicholson and an extension for Vucevic.
Nicholson played well for team Canada tonight during their 81-74 loss to the Dominican Republic at the FIBA Americas qualifying tournament, tweets the Toronto Sun's Ryan Wolstat. Nicolson's play was one of the only bright spots in the game for Canada (Twitter).
According to another Wolstat tweet, Canada needs Puerto Rico to beat Venezuela tonight and Mexico tomorrow while Canada also needs to defeat Argentina tomorrow to grab a spot in the 2014 FIBA World Championships in Spain next summer.

Magic To Pick Up Options On Four Players

July 26th, 2013 at 4:39pm CST by Luke Adams

The Magic will exercise their 2014/15 options on Maurice Harkless, Andrew Nicholson, Nikola Vucevic, and Tobias Harris, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (via Twitter). For Harkless and Nicholson, the options are for their third years, while for Vucevic and Harris, they're fourth-year options.

Given the promise shown by Orlando's young players on rookie-scale contracts, none of these decisions comes as any surprise, and the moves may not become official for a while. The deadline to exercise team options on rookie-scale contracts is October 31st, so the Magic aren't in any rush. Still, Robbins says the moves could become formally completed prior to October 1st.

Picking up all four options will ensure that Vucevic (due $2.75MM in 2014/15), Harris ($2.38MM), Harkless ($1.89MM), and Nicholson ($1.55MM) will all remain under contract until at least the summer of 2015. In the 2014 offseason, the Magic will face decisions on fourth-year options for Harkless and Nicholson, and will have the opportunity to sign Vucevic and Harris to contract extensions.

Southeast Notes: Magic, Vucevic, Bobcats

April 23rd, 2013 at 7:55pm CST by Zachary Links

Here's a look at the Southeast Division as the Heat look to go up 2-0 on the Bucks..

While Nik Vucevic is getting noticed, he's not considered totally untouchable to the Magic, according to Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel (on Twitter). Orlando, of course, would require a star in exchange for their promising young big man.
Schmitz tweets that if he was making the decisions for the Magic, he'd try to see what the Clippers want for guard Eric Bledsoe. Earlier this week, Chris Paul opined that Bledsoe should be starting somewhere and is likely to be wearing a different uniform next season. The guard is under contract for about $2.6MM in 2013/14.
Bobcats executives Rod Higgins and Rich Cho sat down with Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer and the Associated Press and Bonnell has the highlights. Higgins indicated that player interviews factored into the club's decision to fire coach Mike Dunlap, but said that they weren't the only element involved. Meanwhile, Cho said that the team won't limit their search to a more experienced coach.

Odds & Ends: Arenas, McGrady, Sixers, Kings

March 13th, 2013 at 7:16pm CST by Alex Lee

It's a Wednesday night full of storylines in the NBA, as LeBron James and the Heat go for their 20th consecutive win in Philly and Carmelo Anthony returns to Denver for the first time since he was traded to the Knicks. Let's round up all the other Wednesday links from around the league here:

An NBA executive told Sports Illustrated's Ian Thomsen, via text, that he would be "shocked" if any team picked up Gilbert Arenas or Tracy McGrady in the final month of the season. Both former NBA stars have spent this season playing in China.
Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com caught up with 76ers president Rod Thorn on what has become an intriguing organizational situation in Philadelphia due to Andrew Bynum. While Thorn initially refused to comment on Bynum, he eventually said, "It's a little bizarre, no doubt about it." (Twitter links)
With regard to Nikola Vucevic, who the Sixers gave up for Bynum and is now averaging a double-double at 22-years-old, Thorn said, "Nik is a very skilled player with great hands. You could tell he had a very good future ahead of him." (via Twitter)
Sacramento city officials have given themselves an eight day window to construct a financing plan for a new downtown arena, writes Ryan Lillis, Tony Bizjak and Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee. With that timeline, the plan would be complete five days before the city council voted on the plan on March 26. Cementing the terms of an arena deal is vital in the city's claim to keep the Kings.
The Bee's Marcos Breton writes that many knowledgable businessmen in the Sacramento area and beyond consider the city's last-ditch effort to keep the Kings a fool's errand. Breton spoke with a leading authority on arena financing who describes the offer from the Seattle group "considerably stronger."

Heat ‘Feverishly’ Pursued Trade For Nikola Vucevic

March 6th, 2013 at 10:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Nikola Vucevic gives the Heat fits, having twice gone for at least 20 points and 20 rebounds against the team after tonight's 25-point, 21-board performance. The second-year Magic center could have been putting up those numbers for the Heat instead of against them if Miami had been willing to part with either Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole, or both, according to John Denton of Magic.com (Twitter link). Denton tweets that the Heat were "feverishly" trying to trade for Vucevic when he was with the Sixers last season, but apparently they weren't willing to give up their top two point guards to make it happen.

The Sixers dealt Vucevic to the Magic in August as part of the four-team Dwight Howard/Andrew Bynum blockbuster. The 22-year-old native of Switzerland has blossomed in Orlando, where he averages 12.1 points and 11.2 rebounds per game as the starting center. He's seeing twice as many minutes per game as he did last year with Philadelphia, which made him the 16th overall pick in the 2011 draft. Vucevic saw even less time in the playoffs, notching just three minutes during the Sixers' run to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Heat had evidently seen enough to believe he could address their deficiencies in the paint. Miami has grabbed the fewest rebounds of any team in the league, and certainly the addition of Vucevic would have helped remedy that. Money likely wasn't an inhibiting factor for the Heat, since he's on a rookie-scale contract that pays him just $1.7MM this season. Still, Heat president Pat Riley and the rest of the team's front office probably didn't predict Vucevic would develop as well and as quickly as he has. If they had foreseen it, they might have had pause about dealing away both of their top two point guards, though they're apparently confident enough in the ballhandling abilities of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James to go without a third point guard this season.

Eastern Links: Magic, Vucevic, Sixers, Boozer

February 18th, 2013 at 11:48am CST by Luke Adams

The Eastern Conference may have been on the losing end of yesterday's All-Star Game in Houston, but there's still plenty happening around the conference. Here's the latest:

As decision day nears for the Magic and J.J. Redick, Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel says the team would be more willing to move Redick if another team was willing to take on Al Harrington and/or Hedo Turkoglu along with the sharpshooter, which isn't likely.
Nikola Vucevic, who Schmitz calls Orlando's only untouchable player, appeared on WGYG in Orlando, and said he wasn't bitter at all about the offseason trade that sent him from the Sixers to the Magic (link via Steven Cuce of Sports Radio Interviews).
Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer argues that it's time for the 76ers to cut their losses on another major piece of that Vucevic trade: Andrew Bynum.
One league source tells Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press that he thinks Carlos Boozer is the player most likely to be moved by Thursday (Twitter link).
Josh Smith, Andrea Bargnani, and Rodney Stuckey are among the players Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld says should have been traded before now in order to maximize their value.

Odds & Ends: Vucevic, Kings, Rockets, Cavs

January 20th, 2013 at 7:43pm CST by Alex Lee

Here are some news and notes from around the NBA on Sunday evening:

With his Magic hosting the Mavericks, Nikola Vucevic says that the career of fellow European Dirk Nowitzki inspired his game and his confidence as he developed his game as youngster, writes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. After being somewhat of a 76ers throw in in the Dwight Howard blockbuster, Vucevic has been a revelation in Orlando, averging 11.6 points and ranking third in the NBA in rebounding as a 22-year old.
Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee puts the Kings move scenario into context by providing other similar examples from professional sports, including the 1994 instance where the NBA blocked the Minnesota Timberwolves from moving to New Orleans. As we have seen recently, it appears as if the NBA has sided with Kevin Johnson and the city of Sacramento over Seattle.
Citing the team's abundance of youth, Daryl Morey says this trade deadline may very well be the first that goes by in his tenure as GM without the Rockets making a move, reports Jonathan Feigen of Ultimate Rockets. In addition to their youth, Morey understands that he must land another star to become a realistic contender – the type of star that doesn't appear to be available in the coming month.
With the franchise committed to building through the draft, Byron Scott is not worried about the Cavaliers 10-32 start, writes Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer. Improved toughness and consistency, Scott says, will be the focus of the season's second half for his young team.

Odds & Ends: Grizzlies, Redick, Magic

January 19th, 2013 at 7:24pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Ric Bucher of CSN Bay Area (Sulia link) hears that the trade rumor involving Rudy Gay to the Suns in exchange for Jared Dudley and Michael Beasley was leaked in order to facilitate more offers from around the league. In terms of the Grizzlies dealing Gay for luxury-tax purposes, Bucher notes that the Wizards and Warriors only have trade pieces that would relieve Memphis of the super luxury tax in two years, but not after this season. You can find more of tonight's miscellaneous notes from the Association here:

David Baumann of Bright House Sports Network tweets that the Celtics covet J.J. Redick as a possible trade target before February's trade deadline.
Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel provides a primer of what the Magic front office has to think about heading into next month's deadline. He thinks that GM Rob Hennigan might want to deal for more young players and draft picks while shedding salary, adding that Redick, Glen Davis, Arron Afflalo, Jameer Nelson, and Josh McRoberts are among the team's most tradeable assets. Lastly, Robbins thinks that Orlando is unlikely to part with Nikola Vucevic and that the team has almost no interest in dealing for Rudy Gay.
Noting that Chris Johnson had been a member of Timberwolves' training camp before the season, Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press says that his familiarity with the team provided an advantage during the team's search for help at center.
The recent struggles of Nuggets swingman Andre Iguodala prompted him to admit after today's practice that he's "probably behind the curve" and has had trouble finding his comfort level this season (Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post reports).
HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy (Sulia link) anticipates a quiet trade deadline for the NBA considering a busy offseason that saw 31 deals involving 96 players.
Alex Raskin of HoopsWorld looks at Jeff Teague, one of four players who are guaranteed to remain in Atlanta beyond this season, as a viable long-term investment for the Hawks.

Odds & Ends: Mavericks, Most Improved, George

January 15th, 2013 at 6:49pm CST by Alex Lee

With six games on the NBA docket tonight, let's round up any odds and ends from around the Association here:

In HoopsWorld's NBA PM column, Alex Kennedy summarizes some of the trade chatter we've heard recently from the Mavericks, Grizzlies, Raptors, Rockets, Lakers, Magic and Jazz.
Speaking of the Mavs, despite Mark Cuban's recent bold proclamations, Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas writes that it is business as usual in Dallas. While some of the Mavs players admit that swirling rumors can be a distraction, Rick Carlisle says it has always been the norm in his time under Cuban.
In a Yahoo Sports video, Greg Anthony and Marc J. Spears discuss the leading candidates for the NBA's Most Improved Player award, specifically mentioning Paul George, James Harden, Greivis Vasquez, Nikola Vucevic and Jrue Holiday as the current contenders.
In the New York Times' Off The Dribble blog, Jim Cavan writes that the Pacers have been one of the few teams that has arguably benefited from losing a superstar to injury this year, citing the emergence of Paul George as a franchise player in Danny Granger's absence as the reason.

Eastern Notes: Knicks, Magic, Vucevic, Carlesimo

January 4th, 2013 at 9:13pm CST by Chuck Myron

Lakers coach and former Knicks boss Mike D'Antoni was a little thrown by Amare Stoudemire's recent assertion that he was never taught defense before this year, as Newsday's Al Iannazzone documents. D'Antoni, who coached Stoudemire in New York and Phoenix, said he didn't think Stoudemire meant to be malicious, but still found the comment "mind-boggling" and implied that Stoudemire threw him and his assistant coaches with the Knicks under the bus. Here's more from around the Eastern Conference.

We heard earlier today that the Magic, unsurprisingly, will not try to sign Dwight Howard in the offseason, and Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel reports that the team isn't interested in acquiring fellow Dan Fegan client DeMarcus Cousins, either.
Schmitz also writes that Nikola Vucevic is off the market unless a team "blows away" the Magic with a proposal (and a Cousins offer wouldn't qualify). Still, Schmitz wonders if Orlando could swap him for a marquee talent when he gets closer to the end of his rookie deal in 2015.
HoopsWorld's Yannis Koutroupis checks in with Nets interim coach and former Spurs assistant P.J. Carlesimo, who has admiration for the San Antonio model but doesn't think it's one that can be applied in Brooklyn.
In a video attached to the same piece, Nets swingman MarShon Brooks, who's been seeing more playing time under Carlesimo, predictably gives the coach his stamp of approval, and brushes off trade rumors.
Former Raptors small forward Gary Forbes had his sights set on an eventual return to the NBA when he signed with the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions in China in November, but his next move will be to Puerto Rico, where he'll play for Atleticos de San German, reports Manolo Rodriguez of Tiro Al Blanco (translation via Sportando).