Paul Pierce Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Ainge on Pierce, Rivers, Garnett, Barbosa

May 9th, 2013 at 6:54pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Danny Ainge made his final weekly appearance on 93.7 WEEI's Salk and Holley Show to share his thoughts on the team heading into the offseason. Ben Rohrbach of WEEI passed along the highlights of the interview, notably mentioning that Ainge feels that Paul Pierce has "a lot of basketball left in him" and that he thinks Kevin Garnett and Doc Rivers will be back next season. You can read more about Ainge's comments below:

Determining the future of Pierce will be the first difficult decision Ainge will have to make this summer.
He downplayed recent rumors which suggested that he and Rivers are questioning whether they can continue to coexist or not: "(Those rumors) are silly. Those are a waste of time to even acknowledge…I think I have the best coach in the NBA, and I'm not the least bit tired of hearing his voice…I think Doc'll be coaching the Celtics (next year)."
Garnett will be given some time to himself before the team approaches him about next season: "I'll touch base w/him some time next week…He needs time to chill and contemplate his life. I do anticipate KG will play."
On a side note, Leandro Barbosa has been rehabbing at the team's facility, leading Rohrbach to wonder if Boston will consider bringing him back to the team next season.
Rajon Rondo has "looked good" as he continues to recover from his ACL injury and should be ready to go by training camp.
Ainge thinks that the team is more than one player away from contending (unless it's a great player) and added that it would be tough to become a championship team with the way the Celtics are currently constructed.

Eastern Notes: Rose, Cavaliers, 76ers

May 4th, 2013 at 11:25pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Despite ongoing criticism directed at Derrick Rose for not returning to action yet after being medically cleared nearly two months ago, the Bulls superstar remains unfazed, primarily because he doesn't put himself in a position to hear about any of it, observes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. As for the theory that the "Rose camp" – whether it involves his brother Reggie, Adidas, or agent B.J. Armstrong – has decided to keep him out of action, Rose dispelled the notion, telling Cowley, “Who said that? If anything, it’s up to me…My brother and them can’t tell me what to do with my body. They give me control. I’m in control of the whole process. It’s really all on me.’’ Rose also mentions that he's still trying to prepare himself mentally for a return and downplayed the idea that the Bulls have put pressure on him to make haste on a comeback. Here's more out of the Eastern Conference tonight:

Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer provides a breakdown of the Cavaliers' key free agents and lists who he'd keep as well as let go.
Tom Moore of Philly Burbs thinks that landing a proven head coach for the 76ers will be challenging without a star or the ability to attract a big time free agent.
Jackie MacMullan of ESPN Boston writes that Doc Rivers' job will become infinitely more difficult without Kevin Garnett, who has been a vocal leader and loyal supporter of the nine-year Celtics coach.
Paul Pierce says that it will be up to GM Danny Ainge to determine whether or not Boston's core should be dismantled this summer, writes Jimmy Golen of the Associated Press.

Celtics Notes: Garnett, Pierce, Rondo

May 4th, 2013 at 9:35am CST by Zachary Links

Could the early conclusion to the Celtics' 2012/13 season spell the end of the Big Three era? Here's the latest out of Boston..

Boston needs to retool again, and Kevin Garnett could make it easy for them with retirement, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. The big man has two years and $23.5MM left on a deal that includes a no-trade clause. Meanwhile, around the NBA, there's belief that the hire of Flip Saunders as GM of the Timberwolves will open the door for the club eventually offering KG the opportunity to invest in the franchise.
If the C's don't believe that they can win with their existing core, they'll have to consider trading Rajon Rondo as he is their best asset, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.
Even if Garnett retires, the Celtics really aren’t left with a lot of options, writes Joel Brigham of HoopsWorld. Even if KG walks away and they amnesty Pierce, Boston still wouldn’t really have enough cap space to add a marquee free agent. With no other moves, the Celtics would basically be bringing back the same club sans Pierce and Garnett plus a player towards the bottom of free agency’s top tier.
People close to Pierce are certain that he has played his final game as a Celtic, according to Greg Dickerson of CSNNE.com (on Twitter).

Odds & Ends: Pierce, Jackson, Fortson

May 2nd, 2013 at 9:25pm CST by Michael Pina

The NBA has announced that Warriors head coach Mark Jackson has been fined $25K by for influencing officials with recent postgame comments, reports Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post.

Here are a few more notes from around the league.

D-League guard Courtney Fortson will not be playing in the D-League next year, according to RidiculousUpside.com's Keith Schlosser. His options for next season, as he told the site, are the NBA, Europe, or China.
Nola.com's Jimmy Smith takes a look at Pelicans forward Lance Thomas, who has a team option on his contract next season for less than $1MM. Smith focuses on what Thomas needs to do to make him worth keeping on the roster.
Celtics general manager Danny Ainge says dealing with Paul Pierce's contract this offseason will be difficult. Ainge and the C's have an option to buy out Pierce for $5MM, which would save the team more than $10MM, according to CSNNE.com's A. Sherrod Blakely.
Philadelphia Inquirer reporter John Mitchell reports that the Sixers will look to interview Jeff Hornacek, Michael Curry, Mike Malone and Brian Shaw for their open head coaching position.

Pierce, Garnett Not Thinking About Retirement

May 1st, 2013 at 3:16pm CST by Luke Adams

With the Celtics trailing their first round series against the Knicks three games to one, it may just be a matter of hours until the team is officially eliminated from the postseason. Even so, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett aren't thinking about whether or not tonight's game could be the last of their NBA playing careers. Both players told reporters that they haven't considered retiring after this season.

"I’m thinking about the game Wednesday, and pretty much I haven’t thought about post-, after," Garnett said, according to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. "I’m focusing on what it’s going to take to get to the next game."

While Garnett's comments didn't entirely rule out the possibility he could call it a career this summer, Pierce was more adamant that he'll be playing at least one more season. When his contract expires in 2014, Pierce's future is uncertain, but he reiterated a desire to retire as a Celtic, even if the team lets him go or trades him this offseason.

"I have a contract for next year, but it's not guaranteed. So the decision is in their hands," Pierce said, according to Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. "Whatever decisions they make, maybe if they trade me somewhere or I end up somewhere else, maybe it can be a situation where I come back for a one-day deal and retire a Celtic."

Like Pierce, Garnett has a partially-guaranteed season in the final year of his current contract, though that won't happen until 2014/15. Garnett is owed a guaranteed $12.44MM for '13/14, so I'd be pretty surprised if he retired after this season.

Kyler’s Latest: Pierce, Nuggets, Rockets, Odom

April 25th, 2013 at 1:08pm CST by Luke Adams

According to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld, Hawks sources say the team would be open to working out a sign-and-trade involving Josh Smith this summer if it meant getting something of value in return for the unrestricted free agent. It appears there are still a number of possibilities though for Smith, who could end up returning to the Hawks or signing outright with another suitor. Here's more from Kyler:

Since less than a third of Paul Pierce's $15.33MM salary for 2013/14 is guaranteed, the "basketball move" may involve trading him or buying him out, but Pierce's history with the Celtics complicates the team's decision, says Kyler.
Andre Iguodala seems likely to decline his player option for next year in favor of re-signing a long-term contract with the Nuggets that reduces his cap hit for '13/14.
There's also mutual interest between Corey Brewer and the Nuggets in a new deal for the veteran, though Denver's cap situation may make it tricky for the club to give him much of a raise.
Carlos Delfino and Chandler Parsons both have deals with the Rockets that aren't fully guaranteed, but are good bets to be back in Houston unless the team needs to move them to make room for a star.
Sources tell Kyler that the Clippers would like to re-sign Lamar Odom, albeit for a significantly lesser salary than he's making now. Considering Odom is unlikely to receive huge offers on the open market, a multiyear offer from the Clips could get it done, says Kyler.
Mike Dunleavy's future in Milwaukee may depend on how much the Bucks spend to retain their bigger-name free agent guards.
According to Kyler, league sources have "openly questioned" how much longer Robert Sarver intends to own the Suns, leading to speculation that after the Kings sale is finalized, the Suns could be the next NBA franchise on the market.

Atlantic Notes: Bargnani, Lowry, Pierce, Collins

April 13th, 2013 at 7:39pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun believes the Raptors will pursue a power forward this summer via trade in return for Andrea Bargnani, and he advocates that Toronto go after Carl Landry, as the team is reportedly considering (Twitter links). If Bargnani is successfully dealt, he joins Greg Oden, Andrew Bogut, Dwight Howard, and LeBron James on the list of #1 picks over the last ten seasons to either eventually leave or be traded from the team that drafted them. Here are a few more tidbits to relay from the Atlantic Division:

Raptors guard Kyle Lowry tells Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun that he's hopeful about returning to Toronto next season and wants to be back, but acknowledged that the decision is out of his hands. Ganter, who argues that the 6'1 point guard must become a 'jack-of-all-trades' player to fit Toronto's needs, also mentions that Lowry has a $6.21MM team exception for next season.
Celtics star Paul Pierce still finds it difficult to fathom that Ray Allen left for the Heat, saying that his former teammate could have gone anywhere else – citing the Lakers as another exception – and he wouldn't have felt betrayed, says Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.
Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com wonders why Doug Collins would want to return next season, when the 76ers may still be mediocre.
Although P.J. Carlesimo would like to rest his key players as much as he can before the playoffs, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson aren't ready to sit just yet, writes Roderick Boone of Newsday. Williams and Johnson briefly mentioned the possibility of catching the Pacers, who are currently the third seed in the Eastern Conference.

Celtics Rumors: Pierce, Garnett, Christmas

April 10th, 2013 at 7:25pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks have ended the Celtics' five-year reign as Atlantic Division champs, but it's looking increasingly like Boston will have a chance for revenge in the first round of the playoffs. The Celtics are a game and a half behind the Hawks for the sixth spot in the East, but otherwise they and the Knicks appear locked into the seventh and second seeds, respectively. While we wait to see if that matchup becomes reality, the Knicks are set to make a roster move, and there's plenty of news on the C's as well.

Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports speculated last night that the Clippers and Celtics, who explored a Kevin Garnett trade before the deadline, could revisit talks in the summer, this time centering around Paul Pierce (video link). Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com has a partial transcription of the video. Teams may be wary of trading for Garnett, who has a no-trade clause, because they fear he might retire rather than play anywhere but Boston, as Garnett has suggested.
Bradford Doolittle of ESPN.com runs the numbers to examine the potential impact a Garnett trade could have had on the Clippers, concluding that the move would have given L.A. a better shot at the title (Insider only).
Dionte Christmas, a training camp invitee with the Celtics last fall, has officially signed to play in Italy with Montepaschi Siena, according to the Italian team (translation via Sportando). Christmas tweeted the news of his signing over the weekend.

Atlantic Notes: Nets, Celtics, Sullinger

March 27th, 2013 at 10:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

It had to end sometime. The Heat finally lost a game after winning 27 in a row, falling to the Bulls tonight despite the absence of Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose. That leaves the Knicks, who earned their sixth straight victory with a win over the Grizzlies this evening, as the team with the longest current winning streak in the NBA. The six W's in a row have allowed the Knicks to essentially end the Celtics' hopes of a sixth straight division title, and New York has built a three-game lead on second-place Brooklyn, pending the Nets' late game against the Blazers. Here's more on a pair of teams looking up at New York in the Atlantic standings.

Last year's Gerald Wallace deal allowed the Blazers to select Damian Lillard sixth overall in the draft this past June, but if that trade hadn't happened, the Nets still wouldn't have Lillard, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. Brooklyn's scouts weren't high on last year's draft class, and the team likely would have traded the pick elsewhere if Portland hadn't come along, a source tells Bondy, who adds that the Nets weren't close to trading for Paul Pierce at the deadline a year ago, either.
SB Nation's Paul Flannery delivers a lengthy piece on Celtics assistant GM Ryan McDonough, examining his role in drafting Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley, along with plenty of insight on the team's inner workings. The article deserves a look in full, particularly for Boston fans, and details someone who appears poised to take over an NBA front office sometime soon. "He’s very good at what he does," C's coach Doc Rivers said. "He’ll be a GM. There’s no doubt about that."
Jared Sullinger's back had him red-flagged by NBA doctors before last year's draft, and even though the rookie is out for the season after undergoing back surgery, Rivers doesn't regret the Celtics taking him 21st overall, as Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer notes.

Aldridge On Pierce, Kings, Seattle, Hunter

March 11th, 2013 at 5:29pm CST by Zachary Links

In today's column, David Aldridge of NBA.com writes that the strong backcourts of the Eastern Conference's up-and-down teams are giving them hope for the future. Who's the best of the bunch? Evan Turner, who might be slightly biased, says it's him and Sixers teammate Jrue Holiday. "It's not an arrogant thing or anything like that," Turner said. "We're the best. It's not even — no disrespect to anybody else — it's not even close…Obviously, John [Wall] is a next-level-fast point guard. Bradley Beal has been great. But I just feel like we match up better. Kyrie Irving's a great player, and also Dion [Waiters] can definitely play. But the stuff that Jrue and I have been through, you can't really speed down that rock." Here's more from Aldridge..

Paul Pierce told Aldridge that he has never gone to Celtics GM Danny Ainge and asked him not to break up the team's core. At the same time, the star guard says that he hopes to retire as a Celtic. He believes that Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Dirk Nowitzki have a 100% chance of going out with their respective clubs but he's not quite as confident about his own odds, given the amount of trade talk surrounding him over the last two years.
There have been mixed interpretations of Commissioner David Stern's recent disclosed that the Sacramento group's bid for the Kings is well behind Seattle's. One NBA exec says that he is taking it at face value and believes that Stern sees it as a win-win since either outcome will result in a new arena.
Meanwhile, Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson still has to sell the city council on the arena plan and how to pay for it. At least two council members are strongly against it but there are three swing votes that the mayor is working hard to win. Sources believe that he will ultimately be successful in picking those votes up.
Aldridge wonders if the NBPA could be working on a settlement with Billy Hunter. Sources indicate such talks could be picking up steam, though neither side would comment. One source with knowledge of the situation said the two sides had been talking throughout the process and didn't believe there was any new momentum toward a potential deal. A settlement would be the smart way to go for both Hunter and the union in order to avoid the continued airing of dirty laundry.