Noah Vonleh Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Blazers Opt In With McCollum, Plumlee, Vonleh

September 30th, 2015 at 12:54pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Trail Blazers have exercised their rookie scale team options for the 2016/17 season with C.J. McCollum, Mason Plumlee and Noah Vonleh, the team announced (Twitter link). The moves keep all three under contract for that season at a combined cost of nearly $8.3MM.

McCollum, 24, is enthusiastic about the expanded role he’s poised to take on this season after playing mostly on the fringe of Portland’s rotation his first two NBA seasons. The former 10th overall pick showed plenty of potential during the playoffs, when he averaged 17.0 points in 33.2 minutes per game for the injury-riddled Blazers. He’ll be eligible for an extension next summer, since 2016/17 is the last on his rookie scale contract. The exercised option means the Blazers will pay him $3,219,579 for that 2016/17 season.

The 25-year-old Plumlee arrived via trade this summer from Brooklyn, where he went in an out of favor with the Nets, who reportedly resisted trading him in a deal that would have sent Deron Williams to the Kings last winter before burying him on the bench for the playoffs and ultimately dealing him to Portland. The 22nd overall pick in 2013 had a breakout performance for Team USA in the 2014 offseason, and he figures to have the opportunity to shine on a largely depleted Blazers roster. Like McCollum, he’ll be extension-eligible next summer in advance of the final year on his deal, one in which he’ll make $2,328,530.

Vonleh is another offseason trade acquisition for the Blazers, who brought the 20-year-old in after his quiet rookie season for the Hornets. He saw action in only 25 games last year, notching 10.4 minutes per night, after becoming the ninth overall pick in 2014. He’ll compete with Plumlee and others for playing time in the frontcourt. The Blazers, who are now in line to pay him $2,751,360 in 2016/17, will again have a decision to make on a rookie scale option for him next summer, and he won’t be eligible for an extension until 2017.

Today’s moves give Portland nearly $44.5MM against a projected $89MM cap for next summer. That’s only slightly less than the almost $47.9MM the team has in guaranteed salary for this season, so the Blazers continue to have a wealth of flexibility.

Which of McCollum, Plumlee and Vonleh do you see having the best career? Leave a comment to tell us.

Western Notes: Timberwolves, Vonleh, Warriors

September 14th, 2015 at 8:09pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Timberwolves interim coach Sam Mitchell will have his patience tested by flashy point guard Ricky Rubio, David Aldridge of NBA.com opines. While the franchise wants to take pressure off Rubio by making him understand that he’s no longer viewed as its savior, he may be on a shorter leash than he had with coach Flip Saunders, who is out indefinitely while he receives cancer treatments, Aldridge continues. It was Saunders, as the franchise’s president of basketball operations, who gave Rubio a $56MM extension last year, Aldridge points out. In the same piece, Aldridge also reports that many people around the league felt team owner Glen Taylor wanted to bring back Mitchell as the team’s head coach, though not under these circumstances. Mitchell was one of the franchise’s most beloved players and a former NBA Coach of the Year with Toronto, Aldridge adds.

In other news around the Western Conference:

Noah Vonleh’s size, shooting touch and ballhandling make him an intriguing prospect but he needs to prove he can consistently use those skills against NBA competition, according to Mike Richman of The Oregonian. Vonleh, who was traded to the Trail Blazers from the Hornets this offseason, led Portland’s summer team in scoring (17.3 points per game) and rebounding (8.5) while displaying his ballhandling and ability to take slower forwards off the dribble, Richman continues. A sports hernia injury in training camp sidelined Vonleh early in his rookie season and he got buried in Charlotte’s crowded frontcourt rotation, Richman adds.
Ian Clark and Jarell Eddie will receive approximately half of their salaries if they make the Warriors’ opening night roster, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Clark, a 6’3” shooting guard, would receive $474K on the contract he signed Monday. Eddie, a 6’7” small forward who also signed Monday, would make $423K.
The Warriors announced that 1,650 fans were denied access to Oracle Arena last season due to counterfeit tickets purchased from third-party vendors, Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group tweets.

Neil Olshey On Aldridge, Batum, Aminu, Kanter

August 27th, 2015 at 1:21pm CST by Chuck Myron

Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey was coy when Grantland’s Zach Lowe asked him why he signed Enes Kanter to a max offer sheet but hasn’t done so with Tristan Thompson, but Olshey expressed contentment and optimism about the roster he’s built even amid the departure of LaMarcus Aldridge. Olshey, speaking on The Lowe Post podcast, believes the revamped Blazers have the potential to grow like the group he had with the Clippers in 2010/11 that featured Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Eric Bledsoe, Eric Gordon and Al-Farouq Aminu, all of whom were 22 or younger.

Aminu, who turns 25 next month, is one of the new Blazers, and Olshey talked about the forward’s four-year, $30MM deal, Aldridge’s exit, and a host of other offseason topics. His entire conversation with Lowe is worth a listen, especially for Portland faithful, and we’ll round up a few highlights here:

On the fluctuation of the team’s chances to re-sign Aldridge:

“I think, honestly, because of how unhappy LaMarcus was when we all joined the Trail Blazers, myself, [coach] Terry [Stotts], our regime, it wasn’t like we were put on notice, Zach, but I think we were all aware that it was going to be an uphill battle, and I think it was an uphill battle that we had fought and won right up until [Wesley Matthews] was injured. … We were 100% confident in LaMarcus right up through the trade deadline, and then when Wes got hurt, and we weren’t playing as well, and we realized our margin for error with that group was more narrow than we would have liked to have believed, I think we felt like, you know what? We’re going to have more of a battle on our hands than we had anticipated in terms of keeping LaMarcus.”

On the Nicolas Batum trade, which Olshey said was made independent of Aldridge’s decision to walk:

“There was a three-fold approach there. One, we felt like if we brought in another starter, then Gerald Henderson would have strengthened the bench. We got a bright, young prospect in Noah Vonleh who we were really high on in the draft, and we created a positive variance in our favor in terms of our cap position to go and be more aggressive in free agency to continue to build with the group that was there. So, that deal was done absent anything with LaMarcus other than the fact that he was aware of the deal prior to us making the decision to move forward with Noah and Gerald in lieu of Nicolas.”

On those who would laugh at the team’s financial outlay in the the Al-Farouq Aminu deal:

“If they’re laughing, they haven’t seen him play, and they haven’t realized that in two years, the cap’s going to be $108MM, so you’re basically talking about a deal that’ll be less than what the mid-level was on previous caps. So, this is a guy that I know well. I drafted him. I had him for a year with the Clippers. He’s tracking up. I think his growth was accelerated by playing for Rick Carlisle in Dallas. I think that was like a three-year tutorial crammed into nine months. He’s a better player today than he was then. Look, we had moved Nic Batum. We wanted to get younger at that position and we wanted to get an athletic guy if we chose to push the floor. We felt like, at that point, he could play in multiple roles with LaMarcus or without, depending on what his decision was, and I really believe, look, when you look at a way a contract is structured, we had a lot of cap room this year [and] it’s a descending deal.”

On whether he truly wanted Kanter on the team:

“We did. We absolutely did. We pursued him. Look, it’s not the first time we went down the road of restricted free agency for a starting center and maybe won the recruiting battle but lost the war in terms of adding him to our roster, and that situation played out. You know, look, we’re really happy with the guys we have right now.”

What do you think of the way Olshey has positioned the Blazers for the post-Aldridge era? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Hornets Rumors: Batum, Zeller, Cho, Clifford

July 28th, 2015 at 9:55am CST by Chuck Myron

The Celtics offered the Hornets a package that included four first-round picks to entice Charlotte to give up the No. 9 pick last month, sources tell Grantland’s Zach Lowe. Boston was willing to give up its own pick at No. 16, the No. 15 pick that they would tentatively have acquired from the Hawks, an unprotected future first-round pick from the Nets (presumably the 2018 pick Brooklyn owes Boston) and a future first-rounder from either the Grizzlies or the Timberwolves (presumably the ones those teams already owe Boston), as Lowe details. Some front office members in Charlotte liked the idea, but owner Michael Jordan preferred to roll with Frank Kaminsky, whom the Hornets took at No. 9, several sources said to Lowe. The Grantland scribe delves into the implications of that choice, and he touches on more, too, as we highlight amid the latest from the Queen City:

Nicolas Batum‘s camp has been talking about how much he’d like to play with the Raptors, given the international appeal of Toronto, several league sources tell Lowe. The native of France, whom the Hornets traded for last month, is set to become a free agent after this coming season.
The Hornets have been willing to talk about Cody Zeller when they discuss trades with other teams, sources tell Lowe. That jibes with a report from shortly before the draft that Charlotte was aggressively shopping the big man.
GM Rich Cho and coach Steve Clifford have had a chilly relationship since last year’s departure of president of basketball operations Rod Higgins, sources familiar with the situation tell Lowe, yet Cho, Clifford and Hornets vice chairman Curtis Polk all downplay the notion. “I would say it’s a good relationship now,” Cho says. “I value his input. We’re not always going to agree, but I wouldn’t expect to.”
Polk, Jordan, Cho, assistant GM Chad Buchanan and director of player personnel Larry Jordan, Michael’s brother, are the primary decision-makers for the team, according to Lowe.
Charlotte shopped Noah Vonleh and the No. 9 pick in a package to try to move up in the draft before abandoning that pursuit and trading Vonleh in the Batum deal, as Lowe details.
The Hornets had interest in Rodney Hood going into last year’s draft, Lowe hears. Hood wound up going at No. 23 to Utah, and Charlotte had an opportunity to move down into a spot where it might have nabbed him instead of Vonleh, as Lowe explains.
Hornets brass likes Elliot Williams, whom the Hornets have reportedly agreed to sign to a camp deal, but they see him as an insurance policy and don’t view him as a replacement for backup point guard Brian Roberts, reports Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter links).

Northwest Notes: Jazz, Mudiay, Blazers

July 25th, 2015 at 4:00pm CST by Will Joseph

The Jazz have a logjam at point guard behind Dante Exum that they must sort out prior to next season’s opener, Randy Hollis of the Deseret News reports. The trio of Trey Burke, Bryce Cotton and Raul Neto could be fighting it out for two roster spots during training camp, though GM Dennis Lindsey indicated that it’s possible the team could carry four point guards into next season, Hollis continues. Cotton’s quickness and entertaining style make him a candidate to be the second-stringer and displace Burke, a lottery pick whose shooting issues have pushed him to the bench, Hollis adds. The logjam could be broken by trading Burke, who is rumored to be on the block and doesn’t seem to fit coach Quin Snyder’s system, Hollis concludes.

In other news around the Northwest Division:

The Nuggets’ lottery pick Emmanuel Mudiay will be the starter at point guard, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post opines. While Denver has a safety net in veteran Jameer Nelson, it’s clear that the Nuggets are committed to making Mudiay their floor leader in his rookie season, Dempsey adds. The only concerns are monitoring his workload and allowing him to work through his mistakes, something Nuggets GM Tim Connelly addressed with Dempsey. “We don’t want to put too much pressure on him,” Connelly said. “He’s a 19-year-old kid. We saw some good in summer league and we also saw some bad. I thought that he struggled shooting the ball. We’ve got to improve his free throw line percentage. But I think you see things like positional size, natural playmaking ability, and kind of the will and the approach to be great that excites us.”
Blazers coach Terry Stotts spent a sizable portion of the summer league evaluating five players under contract with the team — Allen Crabbe, Noah Vonleh, Luis Montero, Pat Connaughton and Tim Frazier — and was particularly pleased with Crabbe and Vonleh, Mike Richman of The Oregonian writes. The Blazers added nine new players and are entering a transition season after LaMarcus Aldridge‘s departure. Portland does have some young and athletic talent, however, which has Stotts optimistic, Richman adds.

Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.

Hornets Acquire Nicolas Batum

June 24th, 2015 at 8:09pm CST by Eddie Scarito

8:09pm: The trade is official, the Blazers announced. “Nic Batum was a key contributor to all of our recent success,” said Blazers executive Neil Olshey. “He will truly be missed as a person and a player. We wish Nic all the best for the future.”

6:08 pm: The Blazers and Hornets are finalizing a deal that would send Nicolas Batum to Charlotte in exchange for Noah Vonleh and Gerald Henderson, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). The Yahoo! scribe had reported earlier today that the Hornets were seeking to acquire a wing player in advance of the NBA Draft, but Wojnarowski had relayed that the team was aggressively shopping big man Cody Zeller.

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Batum, 26, certainly can be considered an upgrade for Charlotte, despite him coming off a subpar 2014/15 campaign. He appeared in 71 contests for the Blazers, averaging 9.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.8 assists. His career numbers are 11.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 4.8 APG, with a slash line of .446/.363/.834. Batum is set to earn $12,235,750 for the 2015/16 season, and that amount is fully guaranteed.

It’s a bit of a surprise that the Hornets would deal away Vonleh, the team’s lottery selection of a year ago. The 19-year-old only appeared in 25 contests for the Hornets after getting off to late start due to a preseason sports hernia injury. The immediate conclusion would be that Vonleh was acquired by the Blazers to protect themselves in the event that unrestricted free agent LaMarcus Aldridge departs this offseason, but the deal was made with Aldridge’s knowledge, and was done independently of his free agent decision, Wojnarowski tweets. Vonleh averaged 3.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in 10.4 minutes per contest this past season, and is set to earn $2,637,720 in 2015/16.

Henderson, 27, recently picked up his $6MM player option for next season, and is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. He appeared in 80 games for Charlotte during the 2014/15 campaign, and averaged 12.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 28.9 minutes per contest. His shooting numbers last season were .437/.331/.848.

D-League Notes: Dinwiddie, Vonleh, Suns

December 31st, 2014 at 8:59pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The D-League is becoming an integral part of the NBA’s process of developing younger players, as well as a source for locating hidden gems to bolster rosters during the course of the season. You can easily stay on top of which players are coming and going from the D-League all season by checking out our 2014/15 D-League Assignments, Recalls tracker, which is updated daily. You can also find this page anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features.”

Here are the latest D-League moves:

The Pistons have assigned Spencer Dinwiddie to the Grand Rapids Drive, their D-League affiliate, the team announced in a press release. Dinwiddie has appeared in eight games for Detroit this season, averaging 3.0 points and 12.4 minutes per game.
The Suns have recalled Tyler Ennis, T.J. Warren, and Archie Goodwin from the Bakersfield Jam, their D-League affiliate, the team has announced. This was the second trip to Bakersfield of the season for Ennis and Warren, and Goodwin’s inaugural journey.
Noah Vonleh has been recalled from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the D-League, the Hornets have announced. Vonleh saw action in two games with the Mad Ants, averaging 7.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 block in 13.0 minutes per game. With Al Jefferson set to miss at least a month, Vonleh will likely see increased action with Charlotte.
Toure’ Murry has been assigned to the Idaho Stampede, the Jazz‘s D-League affiliate, the team has announced. This will be Murry’s second sojourn of the season to the D-League. In six games for the Stampede, Murry has averaged 14.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.3 steals in 31.5 minutes of play.

Eastern Notes: Crowder, Celtics, Magic, Vonleh

December 28th, 2014 at 9:45pm CST by Arthur Hill

Of the three players who came to the Celtics in the Rajon Rondo trade, Jae Crowder may be the likeliest to have a future in Boston, speculates Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. The 6’7″ swingman has been impressive in a limited role since the deal, and Forsberg declares it should be an easy decision for the team to give him a $1.2MM qualifying offer in the offseason if he isn’t part of salary aggregation in February.

There’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Roster upheaval is one of the reasons December hasn’t gone as planned for the Celtics, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. Boston entered the month facing a soft schedule and the chance to contend for a playoff spot, but the Celtics are just 6-8 during December and eight games below .500 overall. The team dealt Rondo to Boston on December 18th and Blakely contends the players they got in return — Crowder, Brandan Wright and Jameer Nelson — aren’t good fits with the current roster.
The Magic’s backcourt of the future is starting to live up to the hype, according to John Denton of Magic.com. Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton were Orlando’s top choices in the last two NBA Drafts, and they were recently inserted into the starting lineup together. “It’s on us to make sure that they made the right choice,’’ Payton said after Saturday’s win over the Hornets. “We’re still figuring it out because this is just our [fourth] game [starting] together, but I think we’re making good strides.’’
Hornets rookie Noah Vonleh hasn’t seen major minutes this season, but coach Steve Clifford says that’s not a reflection on his talent or effort, but rather the late start he had due to a sports hernia injury, writes Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Earlier today, Vonleh was assigned to the Austin Spurs of the D-League.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

D-League Notes: Vonleh, Young, Ledo

December 28th, 2014 at 5:10pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Hornets have assigned first round pick Noah Vonleh to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the D-League, according to the team’s twitter feed. The ninth overall pick of the 2014 draft will become one of the higher-profile players to play in the D-League. “We believe Noah would benefit greatly from additional game experience,” GM Rich Cho said in a press release. “He will be able to get that playing time through this D-League assignment.” Vonleh has only seen 8.0 minutes per game this season for Charlotte.

Here’s more from the D-League:

The Hornets are assigning Jeffery Taylor to the Austin Spurs for a D-League stint, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (via Twitter). The team has since confirmed the move in a press release. “As with [Vonleh’s] situation, we think that Jeffery will benefit greatly by getting additional game action,” Cho said in the release. “Our depth at the wing position has limited his minutes and this D-League assignment will allow him to get some valuable playing time.”
The Celtics have assigned James Young to the Maine Red Claws of the D-League, according to the team’s twitter feed. Young has battled a shoulder injury recently and the playing time for the Red Claws should help determine whether his body is ready for significant minutes. Young has only seen action in five games this season for Boston but has been efficient during his time, shooting 62.5% from the field.
The Mavs have recalled Ricky Ledo and Dwight Powell from the Texas Legends, the team announced via press release. Both players saw court time for the Legends during their one game D-League assignment. Ledo nearly recorded a triple-double with 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in 35 minutes of action. Powell was impressive as well, recording 26 points in 38 minutes.
The Hawks have assigned Mike Muscala to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the D-League, the team announced via press release. This will be Muscala’s third assignment to the D-League this season. The second-year center has seen 9.4 minutes per game this season for Atlanta.

Eastern Notes: Hawks, Sixers, McDaniels, Vonleh

October 3rd, 2014 at 2:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

There’s concern around the league that NBA franchises are overvalued, in part out of worry that the union will negotiate a better deal for itself in the next collective bargaining agreement, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News details. That “buy low, sell high” mentality helps explain why Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov seems motivated to cash out on at least part of his majority share of the team. There’s more from Deveney’s piece pertaining to another team on the market, as we pass along here:

Deveney also hears that Hawks owner Bruce Levenson was open to selling his controlling interest in the team even before the discovery of his racially charged email. We rounded up today’s latest on the Hawks sale right here.
The Sixers only signed two players in free agency this year, both to minimum-salary deals, as our Free Agent Tracker shows, but co-owner Josh Harris insists he’s willing to spend in the future, notes Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News (Twitter links). “We’ve bottomed out and now together we build,” Harris said.
Grantland’s Zach Lowe confirms that the deal that K.J. McDaniels signed with the Sixers was indeed the team’s required tender, as I speculated. Teams must offer their second-round picks a one-year, non-guaranteed contract for the minimum salary to retain their draft rights, and those are the terms that McDaniels signed for.
Hornets rookie Noah Vonleh says he didn’t work out for Charlotte before the draft because his agent didn’t believe he’d still be available when the Hornets picked at No. 9 overall, as Vonleh tells Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer.