Rajon Rondo Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Rondo, Butler, Barnes, Ezeli

January 11th, 2016 at 5:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

Rajon Rondo has earned the complete trust of DeMarcus Cousins, which is no easy task, TNT’s David Aldridge writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Rondo, who’s on a one-year, $9.5MM contract, is “the most unselfish player I’ve ever played with,” Cousins told Aldridge. Rondo said to Aldridge that he signed with the Kings in part to mentor the center, adding that he’s wanted to play with Cousins for the past four or five years. It’s all cast against the backdrop of a Sacramento team that’s just two games out of a playoff spot, and the presence of Caron Butler has had much to do with the team’s improvement, Rondo contends. The Kings reportedly promised to trade Butler last month, but he’s still with the team. See more from the Pacific Division:

Warriors assistant GM Kirk Lacob, the son of co-owner Joe Lacob, hinted at the team’s willingness to pay whatever it takes to re-sign Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli in restricted free agency this summer as he spoke in a recent radio appearance on 95.7 FM The Game’s “NBA This Week” show. Host Matt Steinmetz has the transcription. “Both those guys are a part of the core,” Lacob said in part. “Hopefully we’ll have this team for a number of years to come. If it costs a lot of money, it’s going to cost a lot of money. It probably will. A lot of our players have come up in free agency the last year or two and if they continue to perform we’re going to continue to pay them. We’re 34-2 [now 35-2], we’re trying to get a second championship here. There’s a lot of room for improvement of course, but there’s a lot of power to continuity.”
Numbers suggest that Julius Randle is on track to have a career similar to that of Drew Gooden, a sign that he’s not on the path to stardom the Lakers hoped for him, writes Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com in an Insider-only piece co-authored with Chad Ford. D’Angelo Russell is the only one among the Lakers’ young players who has a strong chance to become an above-average starter, Pelton contends.
The Lakers have recalled Tarik Black and Ryan Kelly from the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). They went down to the D-Fenders together on Friday. Black averaged 11.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in two D-League games this weekend, while Kelly posted averages of 26.0 points and 6.5 boards a night.

Western Notes: Rondo, Gentry, Kerr

January 6th, 2016 at 9:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

One aspect of Alvin Gentry‘s coaching style that has endeared him to his players on the Pelicans is his willingness to hold all players equally accountable, including star power forward Anthony Davis, John Reid of The Times Picayune writes. ”That’s how you get credibility in this league as a coach,” point guard Norris Cole said. ”The top coaches are tough on everybody, including the star players. They always say, it starts at the top, coach is consistent. It doesn’t matter who you are; if he feels he needs to get on you, he will get on you. If you look at all the great coaches, they get on their star players before they get on anybody else. We respect coach and he’s consistent with what he’s trying to bring and what wants out of us.”

Davis welcomes Gentry’s input, even if it means the coach being hard on him, Reid notes. ”He gets on everybody coaches, players,” Davis said. ”He doesn’t care who it is because he wants all of us to be better. If that’s what it takes for us to be better then I’m down for it. Like I said, he got on me during Saturday’s game and I was totally fine. Perk [Kendrick Perkins] gets on me, I don’t care. I know that they have my best interests [in mind].”

Here’s the latest from out West:

Despite his strong individual numbers this season, point guard Rajon Rondo has not improved the Kings‘ offense, and the team has actually been statistically more efficient when the point guard is on the bench, Mika Honkasalo of HoopsHype writes in his analysis of the team. Sacramento has been outscored by 5.4 points per 100 possessions with Rondo on the floor, and the Kings have actually outscored teams by 1.5 points without Rondo, Honkasalo notes.
The Warriors still don’t know when Steve Kerr will be able to return to coaching the team and much still depends on how Kerr’s body responds to travel, Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group relays. “He’s trying,” GM Bob Myers said. “He wants to get back, but it’s just tough right now. He’s not able to do it, and we hope it will be soon. “So he’s kind of putting his toe in the water, getting on the road with the team to see how he can handle that, handle the travel and the up and downs of the road. If he can get through that OK, then we’ll see. But it’s tough for me. If you had him on right now, he’d probably tell you he doesn’t know [how soon he might be back]. So for me to say anything is just speculation.”

Western Notes: Rondo, Hornacek, Randle, Simmons

January 5th, 2016 at 11:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Rajon Rondo said he has “no regrets” about his brief, tumultuous Mavericks tenure, calling Mark Cuban a “great guy” an interview with Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Rondo said he and Rick Carlisle both tried their best to get on same page but couldn’t and insisted a back injury was the reason he didn’t play after Game 2 of the team’s playoff series against the Rockets last year, even though MacMahon reported that the injury was a ruse. Rondo admitted after MacMahon pressed him that he and the Mavs organization “had some talks” regarding his departure. The ESPN scribe asked the point guard whether he felt as though it perhaps would have hurt the team if he stuck around for the remainder of the playoff series.

“I think it ended up hurting anyway,” Rondo said. “But me just sticking around, I didn’t want any more tension between myself and Rick and all the media attention that it was getting. People were seeing stuff on the floor, like making up plays that I took off, and it’s like, some plays I might take off to this day. I mean, I was tired, so you just never know. I just wanted to get out of there and just lay low and had a talk with my agent. But that’s water under the bridge.”

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

Suns higher-ups are fond of Jeff Hornacek and don’t want to fire him, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com hears, but the situation in Phoenix is worsening, Windhorst writes. Still, while coaching changes around the league don’t appear to have a measurable positive effect, it doesn’t seem as though teams will be any less hesitant to make bench bosses pay for poor on-court results, the ESPN scribe contends amid a broader piece.
Byron Scott‘s handling of the young players on the Lakers has drawn criticism, and his relationship with Julius Randle has been up-and-down, with the coach on Monday imploring the 2014 No. 7 overall pick to “grow up,” as Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com details.
The most significant offseason acquisition for the Spurs admits he didn’t know much about Jonathon Simmons, perhaps the most anonymous of the new Spurs, when camp began, but LaMarcus Aldridge and the rest of the NBA are learning just what the rookie can do, notes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. Simmons had a career-high 18 points Monday. “[The Spurs] always try to find guys they can fit into the system, and he’s no exception to that,” Aldridge said. “He’s the energy guy we need, and he’s gotten better every game.”

Pacific Notes: Morris, Dudley, Rondo

December 29th, 2015 at 11:30am CST by Eddie Scarito

There is too much bad blood for Markieff Morris to thrive with the Suns in Phoenix, but there is belief that he can succeed elsewhere, like his brother Marcus is doing in Detroit, Chris Mannix of SI.com pass along (Twitter links). Mannix adds that several teams still really like the combo forward, especially because of his team-friendly contact.

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

Jared Dudley wishes he had played better during his lone season for the Clippers, J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic writes. “How it ended with us, I can always say that’s the one team I played on I played really, really bad,” Dudley said. “Fans probably look at me, ‘Jared was a failure,’ which is very true. I was at that time. I’d be the first to admit it.”
The Rajon Rondo–Darren Collison pairing in the backcourt is starting to show improvement, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee observes. “For some reason, the first 10, 15 games, it just didn’t seem like it had much rhythm,” Coach George Karl said. “But it seems D.C. plays off the ball most of the time when that happens. I still like two guys who can run pick-and-rolls and pick and choose your opportunities with two point guards on the court.”

Chris Crouse contributed to this post.

Kings Notes: Cousins, Hunter, Casspi

December 26th, 2015 at 2:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins have bonded as teammates and the Kings hope that some of Rondo’s ability to shrug off criticism rubs off on the big man, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes. “He’s 25 out here with a lot of pressure, the franchise on his back,” Rondo said. “He’s a strong individual. Me coming in, I just want to help him along the way, make some of the right decisions, push forward and continue to be a good person.” One benefit Rondo’s presence provides Cousins is that he removes some of the pressure from the center to be the face of the franchise, a role that the point guard understands and is comfortable with, Jones adds. “With [Cousins’] leadership and responsibility, it’s a big part to our team,” Rondo said. “I can’t put all the pressure on him. He accepts the pressure and I accept a lot of the pressure. It starts with both of us. I’m the quarterback in the front, he’s the quarterback in the back.”

Here’s more from out of Sacramento:

Kings training camp cut Vince Hunter is on the radar of a number of NBA teams for a possible 10-day contract thanks to his strong play in the D-League, Adam Johnson of D-League Digest tweets. Hunter is averaging 21.5 points and 11.9 rebounds for the Reno Bighorns, Sacramento’s D-League affiliate.
Omri Casspi, who re-signed with the Kings this past summer on a two-year, $6MM deal, has proven to be a bargain with his solid all-around play and the organization is thrilled with his high-energy style of play, Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee writes. “Omri played great for George [Karl] the second half of last season and we wanted to bring him back if we could,” said Kings executive Vlade Divac. “His threes are like layups now. I’m very happy it worked out so well for both of us.“

Pacific Notes: Stephenson, Rondo, Karl, Suns

December 21st, 2015 at 10:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Clippers are fourth in the Western Conference, but at 16-12, they’re not looking nearly as dominant as they hoped after an offseason of upgrades, as Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times examines. They only have five wins against teams with winning records, Bolch notes.

“You’ve got to be honest with yourself as a team,” Griffin said. “I think this is the point of the season where either something’s got to change or we’re not going to put ourselves in a good position come playoff time.”

It’s clear that whatever the Clippers are doing right now isn’t working, posits Dan Woike of the Orange County Register. See more on the Clips amid our look at the Pacific Division:

In spite of the general disappointment about the team’s performance, coach/executive Doc Rivers has expressed satisfaction with Lance Stephenson, who was recently implicated in trade rumors that Rivers denied, as Melissa Rohlin of the Los Angeles Times relays (Twitter link). “You don’t know a guy until you coach guy or meet a guy,” Rivers said Friday in praise of the swingman with a reputation for volatile personality.
Rajon Rondo and George Karl don’t always see eye to eye, Karl admits, adding that the conflict isn’t alarming, and Rondo is eager to have more meetings with Karl and other key figures on the team, writes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. “I think he enjoys my philosophies a little bit,” Karl said of the soon-to-be free agent point guard. “Not 100% in agreement, but I’ve always had wrestling matches with most of my point guards – and this is not a bad wrestling match – but we do have our wrestling match going on.”
The Suns are dealing with more internal strife than they’re letting on, and that transcends the questions regarding the future of Markieff Morris, according to former Suns front office hand Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com, who wrote in a roundtable piece Friday. The team lacks togetherness, ESPN’s Marc Stein observed in the same piece, and they’re active in trade talks, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com noted.

Western Notes: Howard, Rondo, Kaman, Payne

December 15th, 2015 at 4:37pm CST by Chuck Myron

Dwight Howard is “extremely unhappy” as a secondary option to James Harden on the Rockets, league sources tell Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops, but a source tells Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com that “everybody is unhappy” (Twitter link), with everybody presumably a reference to all of the Rockets. Houston has played better since last month’s coaching change, but the team is still just 12-13. Howard and Harden have never truly meshed, as Fran Blinebury of NBA.com wrote last month, adding that members of each other’s camp went into the 2014 offseason “whispering” about their desire to get rid of the other. Sheridan speculates about trade scenarios involving Howard, but no indication exists that the Rockets would indeed entertain any deals for the 30-year-old who has a player option worth more than $23.282MM for next season. Howard is No. 6 in our latest 2016 Free Agent Power Rankings. See more from the Western Conference:

Rajon Rondo apologized to referee Bill Kennedy today in the point guard’s second statement in response to the controversy surrounding the homophobic slur he used during a game earlier this month as an insult to Kennedy, who is gay. Some took issue with his first statement, which he issued Monday via two tweets, for its lack of a direct apology, and executives who spoke with Ken Berger of CBSSports.com offered split opinions on whether the matter would affect Rondo’s free agency this summer.
The Trail Blazers are making Chris Kaman available for trades, league sources told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops. Kaman is pulling down $5.016MM this season, the last one on his contract. A sprained right ankle has helped limit him to just three appearances so far in 2015/16.
Timberwolves power forward Adreian Payne is also available, league sources said to Scotto for the same report. Payne, who’s earning almost $1.939MM in the second season of his rookie scale contract, was the 15th overall pick of the 2014 draft, but he’s played sparingly since. He’s averaging 3.5 points in 10.3 minutes per game across 15 appearances for Minnesota so far this season, though the team committed to him financially less than two months ago when it picked up his 2016/17 team option.

Pacific Notes: Scott, Rondo, Len, Chandler

December 15th, 2015 at 11:31am CST by Chuck Myron

The plan is for Lakers coach Byron Scott to continue the player development strategies he’s using, Scott said Monday, according to Robert Morales of the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Scott revealed that he and GM Mitch Kupchak met recently about the issue, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News reported they likely would. Part of the team’s plan is to use Kobe Bryant as an example of the sort of work ethic they want their young players to adopt, as Morales details. The front office acknowledges the conflict between Bryant’s high usage and the need for young players to see minutes and touches. See more on the Lakers and other Pacific Division teams:

Sources who spoke with Ken Berger of CBSSports.com are split on whether the homophobic slur Rajon Rondo directed at referee Bill Kennedy, who is gay, will dissuade teams from pushing to sign the point guard when he hits free agency again in the offseason. Multiple executives told Sean Deveney of The Sporting News before the controversy that Rondo was back in the discussion for a maximum-salary deal because of his strong early-season play. The 10th-year veteran who turns 30 in February signed a one-year contract for $9.5MM with the Kings this summer after a disastrous stint with Dallas last year. We made the topic of whether the incident will affect Rondo’s free agency the subject of our Community Shootaround discussion on Monday.
Alex Len delivered a clunker of a performance in Monday’s game, but his play of late has otherwise been the best of his career, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. That’s led Suns coach Jeff Hornacek to continue starting Len over free agent signee Tyson Chandler, even though Chandler has been healthy the past two games. That’ll likely change, Hornacek concedes, as the team continues to look for a fit between Chandler, Len and offseason acquisitions Jon Leuer and Mirza Teletovic, Coro notes.
Chandler, in the first season of a four-year, $52MM deal, is one of the most overpaid players in the NBA this season, Deveney argues in a slideshow. Two Lakers — Bryant and Roy Hibbert — and Lance Stephenson of the Clippers also make Deveney’s 15-man list.

Western Notes: Rondo, Jazz, Lawson, Thunder

December 14th, 2015 at 4:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Referee Bill Kennedy revealed that he is homosexual in an interview with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, and Rajon Rondo is drawing fire for the homophobic slur he directed at Kennedy during a game on December 3rd. The NBA suspended Rondo for one game and doesn’t plan to mete out additional punishment, notes Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter), but the apology that Rondo offered in a pair of tweets struck a hollow tone, observe Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck and SB Nation’s Tom Ziller (All Twitter links). Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and GM Vlade Divac condemned Rondo’s use of the slur in a statement that the team released, and Rondo’s words aren’t exactly the most auspicious prelude to his free agency in the summer ahead, opines Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). See more from the Western Conference:

The Jazz are expected to be active in exploring trades when dozens of players across the league become eligible to be traded Tuesday, reports Jody Genessy of The Deseret News (Twitter links). The most likely scenario involves the team absorbing salary via its cap space, Genessy adds. Utah is more than $7MM under the cap.
Ty Lawson‘s game has responded well to Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff‘s decision to bench him upon taking over for Kevin McHale, as Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com details. “He was trying to so hard to do the right things, I think he was frustrating himself and he got to the point where he said ‘I’m just going to play’ and I think that’s where he is now,” Bickerstaff said in part. The more and more he plays and he’s relaxed, the more that his true talent will shine through. We know what he is, we know what he’s capable of and we just got to get him there.”
The Thunder have assigned Mitch McGary to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. It’s the fourth time the former 21st overall pick has gone to the D-League this season and the third time in the past week.

Atlantic Notes: Rondo, Lopez, Joseph, Williams

December 7th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The breakfast meeting between Rajon Rondo and Kobe Bryant that took place a year ago hastened the trade that took Rondo out of Boston, the point guard believes, according to Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge didn’t indicate that was the case, Rondo concedes, and he wound up signing in the summer with the Kings instead of the Lakers, but Rondo still connects the breakfast and the trade, which happened two weeks apart, Forsberg notes.

“No, Danny never said anything, but I’m pretty sure that, after that, Danny thought he’d lose me for nothing at the end of the year so he made a decision and I understand that,” Rondo said.

People in the Celtics organization, including coach Brad Stevens, are glad to see Rondo playing well again, and Avery Bradley and Jared Sullinger both say their former teammate is like a brother to them, as Forsberg details. Rondo is reportedly back in play for a max deal in the summer ahead. See more from the Atlantic Division:

One reason why Kristaps Porzingis is rebounding so well, to the tune of 12.0 per 36 minutes, is the presence of Knicks offseason signee Robin Lopez, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. “When you take a look at Robin in Portland, LaMarcus Aldridge’s rebounding numbers next to Robin were really good,” Knicks coach Derek Fisher said. “Robin does a really good job impacting his guy, boxing out and holding guys away from the basket so other players can get rebounds.’’
Cory Joseph‘s scoring has been a positive revelation for the Raptors, observes Doug Smith of the Toronto Star, who looks at the highlights and trouble spots for the team so far. The inability of fellow free agent acquisition Bismack Biyombo to provide a reasonable facsimile for what the injured Jonas Valanciunas can do on offense helps lead to the lack of ball movement that has plagued Toronto, Smith adds.
Deron Williams‘ shooting percentage and scoring are up, and Lionel Hollins, his former coach, attributes that to his escape from the spotlight of the New York metropolitan area, notes Brian Lewis of the New York Post. Williams gave up nearly $16MM in salary as part of a buyout of the final two years of his contract with the Nets before signing a two-year, $11MM deal with the Mavs this past offseason. “He’s played well. I said he’d play well, he’d be more comfortable out of New York,’’ Hollins said. “I said that he’d go down and play in a little different system, but mainly be out of New York and be away from the New York spotlight and expectations that were really unnatural. So I expected him to play better.’’