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Lakers ‘Inevitable’ Destination For Rajon Rondo?

April 22nd, 2015 at 4:50pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:50pm: During a press conference today, Carlisle was asked if he expected Rondo to wear a Mavericks uniform again, to which the coach responded, “No, I don’t,” Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com tweets. The coach was also asked if he believed that he could coexist with Rondo in the future, to which Carlisle responded, “Absolutely. I like Rondo. My relationship with him was professional.”

8:59am: Rajon Rondo hasn’t given up on the Mavericks, but there’s strong momentum toward an “inevitable” departure for the Lakers in free agency this summer, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Rondo won’t return to Dallas as long as Rick Carlisle is the coach, sources told Wojnarowski, who suggests that the Mavs might not want the point guard back, anyway. In any case, no team is planning a maximum-salary offer for Rondo, whose value has been in decline since he suffered a torn ACL in January 2013, according to Wojnarowski.

Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com also uses the word “inevitable” to describe Rondo’s parting from the Mavericks. MacMahon reported earlier this month that the Bill Duffy client was expected to ask for more than the Mavs were willing to pay him, adding that the Mavs’ stance on the matter was subject to change if Rondo played well in the postseason. That hasn’t happened, as the Rockets outscored Dallas by 25 points with Rondo on the floor in Game 1, and Carlisle saw fit to have Rondo on the floor for fewer than 10 minutes in Game 2, as MacMahon points out. The Mavs played 11 men during the fourth quarter, but Rondo wasn’t one of them, notes Ben Golliver of SI.com (Twitter link). Chandler Parsons wasn’t one of them either, as he sat out with a knee injury from which he won’t return during the Rockets series, sources told Wojnarowski.

Reports indicated that the Rockets pushed to trade for Rondo almost until the Celtics sent him to the Mavs instead, but Duffy never wanted Rondo in Houston, since his presence would hinder fellow Duffy client Patrick Beverley‘s value, as Wojnarowski details. Still, the Rockets went after Rondo in an attempt to drive up the price for the Mavs, according to Wojnarowski. Rondo planned to sign a max deal with the Lakers prior to the trade, but afterward he became open to re-signing with Dallas, Wojnarowski writes. However, it now appears as though there’s little chance the point guard will re-sign with the Mavs. Kobe Bryant has made no secret of his desire to recruit Rondo to the Lakers, who’ve reportedly been likely to make a summer pursuit of the point guard since at least the beginning of the season.

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Texas Notes: Beverley, Mavs, Spurs

April 11th, 2015 at 8:26pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Patrick Beverley hopes to return to the court if the Rockets make a deep playoff run, Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston writes. “Very strong possibility,” the 26-year-old said about his possible return. “Very strong. Let’s hope everything goes right.”  Beverley, who will become a free agent at the end the season, also expressed his interest in returning to the team. “I want to be in Houston. I want to be a part of this whole thing that we’ve built since me and James first got here, but that’s not under my control. That’s up to my agent and [general manager] Daryl Morey of the Rockets. It’s going to be interesting this summer. I’m just happy I put myself in a position where I can play basketball and earn enough money to take care of my family,” the point guard said. “The culture, the city is me. A hard-working blue-collar type of city. I embrace that and they embrace me. I will definitely enjoy being here again.”

Here’s more from Texas:

  • Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News believes this season won’t be Dirk Nowitzki‘s last. Cowlishaw also adds that he could see Tyson Chandler, who will be a free agent this offseason, leave the Mavs. Despite the uncertainty surrounding Dallas’ frontcourt, I’d speculate the team will have both players back for the 2015/16 season.
  • San Antonio has assigned Kyle Anderson to its D-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs, according to the team’s website. This will be Anderson’s sixth trip to the D-League this season.
  • The Spurs are ready to pass the torch to Kawhi Leonard, writes Andrew Keh of The New York Times. “It’s going to be Kawhi’s team, anyway,” 32-year-old Tony Parker said. “[Tim Duncan] transitioned to [Manu Ginobili], Manu transitioned to me, and now it’s going to be transitioned to Kawhi.” Leonard will be a restricted free agent during the offseason and it was reported that the team would almost certainly match any offer sheet that he signs.
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Rockets Plan Push To Re-Sign Patrick Beverley

March 31st, 2015 at 11:54am CST by Chuck Myron

The Rockets are “determined” to re-sign Patrick Beverley this summer amid no shortage of interest from other clubs around the league, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports writes in a report on the latest surrounding the point guard’s season-ending wrist injury. Beverley, whom the Rockets have employed as their starting point guard for just the minimum salary, is set for restricted free agency this summer.

It will take four months for Beverley to recover from the surgery he underwent today, league sources tell Wojnarowski. There was a “fleeting hope” prior to surgery that Beverely could have been back to play in the Western Conference Finals if the Rockets made it to that round, according to Wojnarowski, but that’s not to be. A four-month timetable would mean he wouldn’t be ready until August, a month after free agency begins, but Beverley is expected to be near full recovery by the time he hits the market, Wojnarowski writes.

Houston has reportedly held interest in fellow soon-to-be free agent Goran Dragic since before the season began, though he apparently didn’t make them a preferred trade destination at the deadline because he worried that the Rockets would seek to trade him if he signed a long-term deal with them. The Rockets likely would have given up Beverley in a trade for Dragic, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, and when Houston was close to signing Chris Bosh last summer, the Heat were poised to target Beverley in sign-and-trade talks, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News reported.

Still, it appears that absent a desire from Dragic to sign with the Rockets, Houston is prepared to recommit to Beverley, and according to Wojnarowski, the Rockets want a long-term deal. Beverley has expressed contentment in playing for the team. The BDA Management client has a reputation as a strong defender, though he’s down the list of point guards on ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus/Minus ratings and of guards as ranked by Basketball-Reference’s Defensive Box Plus/Minus. Still, he averaged a career-high 3.4 assists this season, and he shot 35.6% from three-point territory.

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Patrick Beverley Out For Season, Playoffs

March 30th, 2015 at 2:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:49pm: The Rockets confirmed the news in an official announcement.

12:40pm: Patrick Beverley will miss the rest of the season and the playoffs after deciding to go ahead and have surgery to repair ligaments in his left wrist, a source told Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The news is no surprise, particularly after Rockets coach Kevin McHale said Sunday that the point guard probably wouldn’t return to play in 2014/15. GM Daryl Morey said on ESPN Radio’s NBA Insiders show Sunday night that a final decision on Beverley’s season was expected today, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. Surgery was inevitable, but it was just a matter of whether Beverley could play through it, Stein adds (Twitter link).

Beverley’s been out of action for the past week as the wrist has undergone evaluations. It’s a tough blow for the Rockets, and though Morey acknowledged that it would be more difficult without him, he said in his ESPN Radio appearance Sunday that he believes the team could still win the title, notes Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. That’s in spite of Houston’s relative lack of depth at the point, where he and Pablo Prigioni are the only true one-guards on the roster. The Rockets have used combo guard Jason Terry as the starting point guard in Beverley’s stead, with Trevor Ariza, Corey Brewer and Nick Johnson also seeing some duties at the position, Feigen points out.

Houston already has 15 players on the roster and the team is limited to handing out the minimum salary, with the deadline to apply for disabled player exceptions long since passed. Beverley, Kostas Papanikolaou and Donatas Motiejunas are all expected to miss extended periods of time, and Terrence Jones is out indefinitely, so there’s a chance the NBA would grant the team a 16th roster spot via hardship. That would only be a temporary fix, however, and Houston would be hard-pressed to replace Beverley’s production.

The third-year veteran is known for his aggressive defense, but he also nailed 35.6% of his three-point shots while averaging 10.1 points per game, his second straight season as a double-figure scorer. The BDA Sports Management client is due for restricted free agency this summer, though several reports have identified the Rockets as having interest in soon-to-be unrestricted free agent point guard Goran Dragic. Still, Beverley figures to be fairly sought-after if not by his incumbent team, then by others around the Association, in spite of his injury.

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Western Notes: Beverley, Nuggets, Kanter

March 29th, 2015 at 10:13pm CST by Will Joseph

Rockets coach Kevin McHale told reporters, including Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, that injured point guard Patrick Beverley will “probably” miss the rest of the season. Beverley tore ligaments in his left wrist in a game against the Pacers on Monday. Beverley has been seeking opinions of specialists to determine whether he can play with the injury or would need surgery, Feigen added. Multiple sources close to the situation told Feigen on Sunday that no decision has been made.

Here’s more on the Rockets and the Western Conference:

  • Rockets rookie Nick Johnson has seen an uptick in minutes because of injuries like Beverley’s and his role in the point guard rotation will likely continue, Feigen writes in a separate story.
  • Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post believes the Nuggets could make a run at acquiring Nets big man Brook Lopez after the season if Lopez decides to opt out of his $16.7MM player option for the 2015/16 season. The Nets reportedly made attempts to trade Lopez at the deadline. The Nuggets had interest in landing Lopez before the deadline, Dempsey added.
  • Enes Kanter, who will become a restricted free agent this summer, is back to enjoying basketball because the Thunder have the big man playing to his strengths, Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) writes. Kanter was traded from the Jazz, at his request, in a deadline-day move. Kanter is averaging 17.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game in 17 games with the Thunder as opposed to 13.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game in 49 games with the Jazz earlier this season. Elhassan writes that the improved production with the Thunder is a result of fewer spot-up opportunities in Oklahoma City, more offensive rebound opportunities and a much higher pick-and-roll efficiency.
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And-Ones: Beverley, Woodson, Terry

March 25th, 2015 at 10:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Patrick Beverley‘s injured wrist is still being evaluated and the player will miss at least ten days, and potentially the remainder of the Rockets‘ season if he requires surgery, Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle writes. “He is going to meet more people today and get a final determination as to what is going to happen,” coach Kevin McHale said. “There probably won’t be any major decisions made for a week-10 days, see what happens.” Beverly has been diagnosed with a torn ligament, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.

Here’s more from around the league:

  • Former Knicks coach and current Clippers assistant Mike Woodson says that he absolutely wants to be an NBA head coach again, Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times relays (Twitter link).
  • Woodson also said that if he had been retained as Knicks coach he would have pushed for the team to hold onto Tyson Chandler and to keep the veteran core together another season, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com tweets.
  • With the loss of Beverely, the Rockets will need Jason Terry to step up his game if the team is to stay afloat in the Western Conference, Creech writes in a separate article. “I am looking to turn up my aggression offensively,” Terry said. “It’s something I haven’t been doing all season. You have seen a spark once or twice, like in Atlanta, maybe the Milwaukee game, but at this age it’s hard to do that all the time, but in these last two weeks before the playoffs, I am going to  turn up my aggression very high and try to get a rhythm and consistency on the offensive end of the floor.”
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And-Ones: Draft, McRoberts, Beverley

March 24th, 2015 at 10:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Josh McRoberts is traveling with the Heat for the first time since tearing the meniscus in his right knee in early December, Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post writes. “He’s progressing very well, but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves right now and I wouldn’t look too much into this road trip,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s really to help him with his spirits being around the team, and we’re enjoying that, but the larger picture is he’s going to be able to do more work with our training staff. The last couple road trips we left him back there to work with our trainers, but we’ve had so many injuries that we need our full staff here right now. That means Josh has to come with us. But he will not be working with the basketball coaches, not yet.”

When asked about the possibility of McRoberts returning to action this season, Spoelstra said, “He’s still not working with coaches. Everything is with trainers right now. I check in with him every single day. Most of the work is in the training room and the weight room. I’m not thinking about him playing this year.”

Here’s more from around the league:

  • The Rockets will learn on Wednesday if Patrick Beverley will need season-ending surgery on his injured wrist, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter links). The guard is waiting for doctors to inform him if continued play will risk further ligament damage before making his final decision, Spears adds.
  • The Wizards and the Nets are both interested in one-to-one affiliations with D-League teams, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today tweets. Both franchises currently share the Fort Wayne Mad Ants with the 11 other NBA teams also without one-to-one affiliations.
  • LSU sophomore forward Jordan Mickey is leaning toward entering the 2015 NBA draft, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Mickey averaged 15.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game for the Tigers this season. The 6’8″ big man is currently ranked as the No. 81 prospect by DraftExpress.
  • Sean Deveney of The Sporting News looked at 10 players whose performances in the NCAA Tournament improved their NBA draft stock. Deveney’s list includes Justise Winslow (Duke), Terry Rozier (Louisville), Jerian Grant (Notre Dame), and Jakob Poeltl (Utah).
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Goran Dragic Rumors: Wednesday

February 18th, 2015 at 11:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

The ultimatum that Goran Dragic‘s agent, Bill Duffy, issued to the Suns late Wednesday when he told them his client wouldn’t re-sign with the team this summer set in motion of flurry of trade rumors surrounding the league’s reigning Most Improved Player. We’ll round up the rest of today’s Dragic news here, with any additional updates added to the top:

  • The Suns are trying to attach Zoran Dragic to any trade packages involving his brother, Goran, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. The Suns signed Zoran to a two-year contract last summer, largely as a way to make Goran feel more comfortable with re-signing with the organization, Wojnarowski notes.

11:20pm update:

9:18pm update:

8:20pm update:

  • The Suns’ asking price for Dragic is a young player with significant potential and a first-round draft pick or two first-round picks, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports.

7:24pm update:

  • Coro’s full piece has more of Dragic’s input. “They give promises, OK. It’s hard. But at the same time, I wish them all the best,” Dragic said of the Suns. “They were great to me the past five years. I’m always going to have a good memory about Phoenix fans and the city. I just hit that point of my career that it’s better for me and my family to move on.”

3:53pm update:

  • The Suns are still resisting any Dragic deals and remain active in their attempts to trade Thomas instead, a source tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Still, Dragic’s camp has complained to GM Ryan McDonough multiple occasions this season, Deveney hears.

2:01pm update:

  • Dragic told reporters today that he wants out of Phoenix because his role changed, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter links). “I don’t feel comfortable with the situation,” Dragic said. The guard also called out the Suns front office. “I don’t trust them anymore,” he said.

1:39pm update:

  • The Knicks and Lakers lack the motivation, as well as the assets, necessary to make a competitive offer for Dragic because they know they have the cap flexibility to sign him in free agency this summer even without his Bird rights, Wojnarowski writes.

12:43pm update:

  • The Suns are more focused on talking with the Celtics, Rockets, Kings and others than with any of Dragic’s preferred destinations, sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

11:47am update:

  • There’s a decent chance the Suns would attach Miles Plumlee to Dragic in a trade, Stein reports (on Twitter). The Knicks and Lakers reportedly have interest in both Dragic and Plumlee.

10:55am update:

  • Teams that have spoken with the Suns remain unconvinced the team will trade him, as it appears Phoenix is willing to call Dragic’s bluff and tempt him with the five-year deal that no other team could offer if the Suns keep him through the deadline, reports Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter links).

10:15am update:

  • The Lakers and Knicks top Dragic’s preferred locations, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Phoenix offered Isaiah Thomas instead to the Lakers last week after the purple-and-gold made a pitch for Dragic, but the Lakers rejected that idea, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com adds to Stein’s story. The Suns this week showed a willingness to talk about a Dragic deal with the Lakers if they removed the top-five protection on the pick L.A. owes Phoenix, but the Lakers turned down that idea, too, Shelburne also reports.
  • The lack of minutes that the Suns are giving Zoran Dragic is believed to be part of Goran’s frustration with the team, Stein writes in the same piece.

8:34am updates:

  • The Pacers are conveying the sense that they want to stand pat, and while the prospect of a Dragic trade will be tempting, it’s hard to see Indiana putting together a package that convinces the Suns to trade him there, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links). Wojnarowski on Tuesday noted interest from the Pacers and heard that they were a team that Dragic might be willing to commit to.
  • Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report hears a somewhat different story on the Pacers, whom his sources say are instead looking to move one of their high-salaried veterans to create the cap flexibility necessary to sign Dragic this summer. They’re believed to be willing to trade anyone aside from Paul George to accomplish that, Bucher writes. Bucher suggests that the team would be less willing to trade Roy Hibbert than David West or George Hill.
  • The Suns want a first-round pick as part of any package for Dragic, sources tell Bucher for the same piece.
  • Dragic is the No. 1 target of the Rockets, Bucher hears. It’s likely that the Rockets would give up Patrick Beverley in a trade for Dragic, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.
  • Assuming Beverley wouldn’t head out in a trade that brings Dragic to Houston, Beverley’s free agent stock would go down, and Beverley and Dragic are both BDA Sports clients, Wojnarowski notes (Twitter link). Dragic has signaled an unwillingness to make a long-term commitment to the Rockets.
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Eastern Notes: James, Millsap, Allen

February 13th, 2015 at 9:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Cavs superstar LeBron James has been elected as the vice president of the NBPA, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter links). Chris Paul, the NBPA president, has been pushing for James to join him as the No. 2 man in the player’s union for some time now, Wojnarowski adds. The announcement of James’ election was soon overshadowed by the reports that the NBPA had voted to reject the league’s salary cap smoothing proposal for 2016. This news sets the stage for a potential lockout in 2017, when both the league and the union can opt out of the current CBA, though that is merely my speculation.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Paul Millsap said that the support he has received from Hawks fans and the community in Atlanta would not factor into his decision-making when he becomes a free agent this summer, Nick Powell of NJ.com relays. “It’s a good thing, but I’m not one to base my decision off emotions,” Millsap said. “I base my decisions off of everything else. Where our team is at, can I grow with this team, how’s the coach, how’s the community? There’s a lot of things that factor into it besides emotions.” When asked his feelings about potentially playing in New York, Millsap said, “It’s a good place. I consider myself a guy who could fit in anywhere.“
  • When Patrick Beverley was asked about potentially joining the Knicks as a free agent this summer, he stated that his first desire was to remain in Houston, Powell adds. “That’s not up to me, that’s up to my agent and stuff like that,” Beverley said. “I’m extremely happy with Houston, that’s one of the teams that kind of took a chance on me for me getting to the NBA, but at the end of the day this is a business, and I’ll let my agent handle that.” Beverly will become a restricted free agent at season’s end.
  • Though the Heat were indeed in contact with free agent Ray Allen last summer, the team never made a contract offer to the veteran guard, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald writes.
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Rockets Sign Geron Johnson, Waive Akil Mitchell

October 23rd, 2014 at 9:40am CST by Chuck Myron

The Rockets have signed former University of Memphis shooting guard Geron Johnson and waived power forward Akil Mitchell, the team announced via press release. The terms of the deal for Johnson aren’t immediately clear, but it’s probably a minimum-salary arrangement, perhaps with a nominal guarantee. Houston will be stuck with the $150K partial guarantee on Mitchell’s contract unless another team claims him off waivers.

Johnson went undrafted this past June, but he’s been on Houston’s radar for a while. The Rockets were among the teams that worked him out prior to the draft, and he joined Houston’s summer league team in July. The now 22-year-old Johnson averaged just 8.9 points in 27.9 minutes per game as a senior with the Memphis Tigers last season, but he grabbed 4.9 rebounds per contest even though he’s only 6’3″.

Mitchell also went undrafted this summer and scored his deal with the Rockets shortly before training camp began. Still, he didn’t play in any of the team’s preseason games and a report last week indicated he hadn’t been with the Rockets for several days.

Houston still has 20 players on its roster, and with 15 fully guaranteed contracts plus a non-guaranteed pact with starting point guard Patrick Beverley, the Rockets have a logjam they must resolve by Monday’s deadline for teams to set their opening-night rosters. Johnson seems unlikely to remain with the team into the regular season, so it appears the Rockets are signing him chiefly to be able to claim his D-League rights, though that’s just my speculation.

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