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Southwest Notes: Jackson, Evans, Cuban, James

November 4th, 2017 at 9:52am CST by marksuleymanov

Unless it actually happens, rumors of Reggie Jackson joining the Pelicans may persist for years to come. A reported three-team deal that would have sent Suns’ point guard Eric Bledsoe to the Pistons and Jackson to the Pelicans fell through this week. As Bryan Kalborsky of HoopsHype writes, interest in Jackson by people within the Pelicans organization goes back to the 2014/15 season.

Pelicans’ assistant coach Darren Erman was the Celtics’ director of NBA scouting during the 2o14/15 campaign. Boston reportedly had interest in Jackson that trade deadline, according to MassLive. Fast forward two years, Jackson has been connected to New Orleans in some form since February of this year. In mid-June, the Pistons and Pelicans discussed a deal that would send Jackson to New Orleans for E’Twaun Moore and Alexis Ajinca, per Basketball Insiders.

The Pelicans have since re-signed Jrue Holliday to a long-term contract, have veteran Rajon Rondo on the shelf, and recently added Jameer Nelson. Jackson, still just 27 years old, may remain on the Pelicans’ radar until he’s actually wearing their uniform at some point in the future.

Check out other news out of the Southwest Division:

  • Tyreke Evans had a near-historic performance off the Grizzlies’ bench on Wednesday, scoring 32 points. As Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal writes, it may be time to accept that Evans’ shooting — once considered a weak point of his game — has improved.
  • Through the Mavericks‘ first nine games, the team owns an abysmal 1-8 record. However, owner Mark Cuban feels the team is a lot better than the record indicates, Eddie Sefko of Dallas Morning News writes.
  • Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated examines LeBron James‘ possible thinking as he faces free agency next offseason. A lot has been made of James possibly considering Los Angeles as a place of interest but Golliver looks at the Rockets and Spurs as two possibilities for King James.
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SVG: Pistons Not Trading Jackson For Bledsoe

November 3rd, 2017 at 12:58pm CST by Luke Adams

After trade rumors surrounding Eric Bledsoe and Reggie Jackson swirled on Thursday, Pistons head coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy once again assured his starting point guard that no deal is in the works, as Rod Beard of The Detroit News details.

“It was crazy yesterday,” Van Gundy said on Friday. “I left practice yesterday and there’s a rumor out on Reggie and Bledsoe so I had to get home and call Reggie and say we’re not trading you for Bledsoe. I don’t usually address all of them, but it’s early in the (season). You can’t address all of them at the trade deadline, but I felt the need to address this.”

Van Gundy acknowledged that Pistons general manager Jeff Bower is active when it comes to reaching out about trade possibilities and doing his due diligence. However, SVG confirmed that a rumored deal involving the Pistons, Suns, and Pelicans – described yesterday as “dead’ – doesn’t have legs. The hypothetical three-team swap would have seen the Pistons give up Jackson and a first-round pick in exchange for Bledsoe.

For the Pistons, it’s a situation eerily reminiscent of one that took place last January. At that time, reports linked the Pistons and Jackson to a possible Ricky Rubio trade, and Van Gundy publicly denied that such a deal would happen. He was right about that, and there’s no reason to believe he’s misleading reporters and fans about the possibility of a Bledsoe deal either.

Still, the fact that Van Gundy keeps having to come out and shoot down reports involving Jackson suggests that the Pistons continue to explore possible point guard deals, even with the 27-year-old off to a strong start this season. For his part, Jackson says he’s not worried about his name popping up in trade rumors once again.

“I don’t pay attention and really don’t care (about rumors),” Jackson said. “I’m still in Detroit and still here to compete and make my team the best it can be. If something else happens, it happens. That’s not something I’m concerned about.”

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Pelicans, Suns, Pistons Discussed Bledsoe Trade

November 2nd, 2017 at 6:28pm CST by Luke Adams

6:28pm: It turns out the third team involved in the Bledsoe/Jackson trade discussion was New Orleans. Jake Fischer of Sports Illustrated writes that the Suns would have landed Detroit’s 2019 first-round pick, New Orleans’ 2018 first-round pick, Alexis Ajinca, and Omer Asik. Jackson would have gone to the Pelicans in that scenario. The talks are now “dead,” the report states.

2:25pm: According to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders, the Pistons offered the Suns a package including Jackson and a first-round pick for Bledsoe.

12:06pm: If they make a deal with the Pistons, the Suns would prefer to get a third team involved to take Jackson, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

It makes sense that the rebuilding Suns wouldn’t want to absorb Jackson’s contract, which runs through 2019/20, but involving a third or fourth team typically makes trades more difficult to complete, so we’ll see if this goes anywhere.

11:39am: The Pistons should be added to the list of teams that have exhibited interest in disgruntled Suns point guard Eric Bledsoe, league sources tell Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link). However, Stein cautions (via Twitter) that for a deal to appeal to Phoenix, the Pistons would have to attach additional pieces to Reggie Jackson.

Shortly after Bledsoe publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with his situation in Phoenix a week and a half ago, the Suns sent him home and began aggressively seeking a trade. At that point, it seemed as if the Suns may resolve the situation quickly, but GM Ryan McDonough said this week that there’s no timetable for a Bledsoe deal, suggesting the team isn’t rushing to get something done.

Reports last week indicated that the Nuggets and Bucks might be the most likely landing spots for Bledsoe, but Jamal Murray and Emmanuel Mudiay have played well lately for Denver, and Malcolm Brogdon – whom the Suns would reportedly target – is off to a good start in Milwaukee. As such, the Suns may be looking to engage other teams in trade discussions.

The Pistons would be an interesting trade partner. It’s worth noting that the Suns were said to have expressed “strong” interest in Andre Drummond back in June. Jake Fischer of SI.com, who initially reported Phoenix’s interest in Drummond, tweeted today that Bledsoe’s name was part of those discussions as well.

For what it’s worth, Detroit has been linked to multiple point guard trade candidates over the course of the year, including Kyrie Irving in August and Ricky Rubio back in January. Those rumors never led to anything real, so it’s possible Stan Van Gundy and the Pistons are just doing their due diligence again here. However, the fact that they’ve kicked the tires on so many other point guards may also suggest they’re open to moving on from Jackson.

After enjoying a career year in 2015/16, Jackson struggled through an injury-plagued 2016/17 campaign. He’s off to a good start this season, averaging 16.4 PPG and 6.0 APG through eight games.

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Central Notes: Pacers, Bell, Bulls

October 19th, 2017 at 4:28pm CST by Austin Kent

The Pacers have made a concerted effort to play a faster tempo and managed to do just that thanks to their new-look backcourt spearheaded by Victor Oladipo. As Clifton Brown of the Indianapolis Star writes, Indiana managed to up their pace eventually outrunning their opening day opponent altogether.

While Oladipo led the squad in scoring with 22 points in Indiana’s first game, he wasn’t the only guard to post an impressive stat line. Veteran Darren Collison added 21 and 11 of his own while reserve guard Cory Joseph – plucked from the Raptors this offseason – put in 11 points and 4 assists of his own for the victorious Pacers.

“[Pacers coach] Nate MacMillan’s done an unbelievable job of letting us take the onus as point guards and kind of let us run the show,” Collison said. “He was a point guard himself. He knows what it’s like to let us see the game, instead of micromanaging every single play. If we can play like that, call a guard game, play with one another, we’ll be alright.”

There’s more from the Central Division:

  • The Bulls have gotten flak for, among other things, selling second-round pick Jordan Bell to the Warriors. Cody Westerlund of 670 The Score tweets that VP of basketball operations John Paxson said that he was “building up equity” with ownership when he sold the No. 38 pick to Golden State for $3.5MM.
  • After a down year besieged by injuries in 2016/17, Reggie Jackson has recovered and returned to the court for the Pistons. He’s “only going to get better as time goes on” head coach Stan Van Gundy told the media, Brendan Savage of MLive included.
  • The Bulls are looking to regroup after a fight in practice set the team into chaos before the season even began. Sam Smith of the team’s official website offers an inside account of what happened and what comes next.
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Central Notes: Pistons, Maker, Munford

October 15th, 2017 at 7:29pm CST by Austin Kent

Only two of the Pistons‘ opening day starters are set in stone, the other three have yet to be determined, Keith Langlois of the team’s official website writes. With Avery Bradley at the two and Andre Drummond in the middle, head coach Stan Van Gundy is hard-pressed to figure out who will join them at tip-off.

“Everything’s a consideration,” Van Gundy said, before implying that Tobias Harris would probably start for the Pistons but, then, again might not. “I thought he was good off the bench last year. I’m really not locked in to anything.”

As Langlois explains, what Van Gundy decides to do with Harris will impact the other decisions he’ll have to make with the Pistons’ lineup. If the 25-year-old forward plays the three, they’ll look to somebody like Jon Leueur to fill in at the four. If they pencil Harris in at the four, they could turn to someone like Stanley Johnson to man the three.

Another decision that the Pistons will need to come to terms on ahead of opening day is who to start at the point. On one hand the idea of a healthy Reggie Jackson working in tandem with Drummond is tantalizing but there’s no guarantee it plays out that way in the first game of the season.

Langlois writes that Ish Smith could get serious consideration to start for the Pistons. “We found out last year just about anybody’s going to play pretty well with Ish,” Van Gundy said.

There’s more from the Central Division:

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Pistons Notes: Drummond, Ellenson, Johnson, Jackson

October 8th, 2017 at 12:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

Many teams remain interested in trading for Pistons center Andre Drummond, according to Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press. Ellis talked to several talent evaluators around the league, who say that at age 24, Drummond still has the potential to become a successful big man despite questions about his energy and defense. Teams don’t seem reluctant to take on Drummond’s contract, which will pay him more than $105MM over the next four seasons.

The people Ellis spoke with don’t believe the Pistons are currently shopping Drummond, athough they were over the offseason and before February’s trade deadline. However, he cites two potentially interested parties in Knicks GM Scott Perry, who was an assistant GM in Detroit when Drummond was drafted, and Clippers executive VP Lawrence Frank, who coached the Pistons when Drummond was a rookie.

There’s more this morning out of Detroit:

  • Henry Ellenson‘s impressive preseason could mean more minutes for the second-year big man, Ellis adds in the same piece. Coach Stan Van Gundy said Ellenson is “playing at a high level” after he scored 16 points in 17 minutes Friday. He is competing with Tobias Harris, Jon Leuer and Anthony Tolliver for playing time at power forward.
  • The competition at power forward will keep Stanley Johnson at small forward, which may not be his best position, Ellis writes in a separate story. Many observers believe Johnson would excel as a stretch four, but Van Gundy expects nearly all of Johnson’s minutes this season to come at small forward. “We just don’t really have a need for another [power forward],” Van Gundy said. “There may be some defensive things late in the game where teams go small and we could go small with him, but we’ve got enough stuff we could run without having him to spend a lot of time there. I’m not going to confuse him and have him having to work and know all the sets at [power forward].”
  • Point guard Reggie Jackson is ready to take on a larger leadership role this season, Ellis writes in a another story. Now one of the oldest players on the team at 27, Jackson wants to erase the nightmare of last year when knee problems forced him to miss the start of the season and the team wasn’t able to incorporate him smoothly once he returned. Part of the problem was physical, as assistant coach Tim Hardaway says Jackson never fully recovered. “He’s the catalyst,” Hardaway said. “He wants to come out here and be the man. He can be the man, but first he has to be healthy. Once he’s 100% and shape, everybody’s going to see a different Reggie because last year he was hurt all the time.”
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Central Notes: LaVine, Jackson, Calderon

September 29th, 2017 at 5:52pm CST by Austin Kent

The Bulls have had a busy week signing Nikola Mirotic and buying out Dwyane Wade. Now, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes, the team will turn its attention to Zach LaVine, their recently acquired guard currently eligible for a contract extension.

“They [the Bulls and his representation] have had some conversations,” LaVine said. “It doesn’t really matter to me. I’m going to let all that take care of itself. I know I’m a big part of this team and I’m excited to be in negotiations with them. I want to be here for a long period of time. If it’s now or later, I know it’s going to be done either way.”

The guard averaged 18.9 points per game for the Timberwolves last season before tearing his ACL last February. He, along with Kris Dunn and the No. 7 pick ended up with the Bulls in the Jimmy Butler deal.

Just yesterday we wrote about how the Bulls’ front office was clear about their intentions to build around a core that featured the 22-year-old dunk contest champion. Whether that means committing to him on the heels of a significant injury before he even suits up for a game, however, is a whole other question.

There’s more from the Central Division:

  • After four months resting and recovering from knee tendinitis, Reggie Jackson has officially returned to contact practice. The Pistons guard was able to get through his most recent test pain-free, Rod Beard of the Detroit News writes,  but will need to work his way back into game shape. “I’m happy to be feeling good each and every day. The best thing is to wake up and be pain-free; even if [I’m] sore, it’s really body soreness and nothing with the knee. My legs may be a little fatigued because I’m getting back to the swing of things,” Jackson said.
  • Consider Jose Calderon‘s role with the Cavaliers in danger, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com writes. The Cavs have 16 players on guaranteed deals and the 36-year-old veteran doesn’t have the upside that somebody like Cedi Osman has.
  • The Pacers were among the 28 teams that supported draft lottery reform, Jim Ayello of the Indianapolis Star writes. Indiana’s support for the new system is particularly interesting considering they’re a small market team perceived to face inherent challenges recruiting talent via free agency.
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Central Notes: Parker, Jackson, Stephenson

September 27th, 2017 at 6:08pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Bucks GM Jon Horst said the team has had positive discussions with Jabari Parker‘s camp about a contract extension, Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. The franchise places a high value on Parker, though Velazquez relays that former No. 2 overall pick’s injuries will play a role in the contract negotiations.

If Milwaukee can’t sign Parker to an extension by the deadline, the forward will become a restricted free agent at year’s end and the team can match any offer sheet he signs. Horst signals that the front office is negotiating with this in mind, as Velazquez relays in a full-length piece.

“Hopefully, the goal is to come to an extension agreement,” Horst said. “If we don’t, we want to be in a place where we can have the same type of productive conversations again as a restricted free agent with a player who we value significantly in our franchise.”

Here’s more from the Central Division:

  • While Parker “definitely” wants to be in Milwaukee, he admits that it’s out of his hands, Velazquez passes along in the same piece. “I have no clue [what’s going on] and that’s why I pay [my agent],” Parker said of his contract negotiations with the Bucks. “I let them do all the madness.”
  • Reggie Jackson, who has dealt with knee troubles since coming to the Pistons, will begin the season on a minutes limit, Rod Beard of the Detroit News relays via Twitter. “He will be on a minutes limit,” coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said. “It will be progressive as the season goes on.”
  • Despite the lack of firepower on the offensive, it appears the Pacers plan on unleashing Lance Stephenson as their sixth man, Jim Ayello of the Indianapolis Star writes.“I love him in that position,” said Pacers General Manager Kevin Pritchard. “It reminds me of [Manu] Ginobili a long time ago. You can’t always get everybody the opportunity to score and make plays in the first five minutes.”
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Reggie Jackson: Knee Feels Good Heading Into Camp

September 20th, 2017 at 6:08pm CST by Arthur Hill

A year ago, Pistons guard Reggie Jackson was dealing with a sore left knee that caused him to miss the first 21 games of the season, but he tells Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press he believes that problem is in the past.

“With my knee, I’m feeling good,” Jackson said. “With the health of it, I’m feeling great. I just got to do the best I can to take care of it. The team is doing a great job of monitoring it. I’ve had no setbacks. I’m on pace, which is to be ready by training camp.”

Jackson’s early-season absence, followed by inconsistent play once he returned, was a major reason for the Pistons’ 37-45 record a year after making the playoffs. Jackson managed just 52 games, and his scoring, rebounding, assists and shooting numbers were all down significantly from 2015/16.

Diagnosed with chronic tendinitis, Jackson spent the offseason trying to manage the condition. He recently finished a 16-week protocol designed to cut down the strain of summer workouts. Under the supervision of team physical therapist Mark Cranston, Jackson’s basketball-related activities were limited to light shooting and jumping off one leg.

Jackson, who underwent platelet-rich plasma injections last fall, believes he made a mistake by trying to get back on the court as quickly as possible.

“It came about unexpectedly,” Jackson said. “Got injured and the whole key was to try to rush back in six weeks. We went into three weeks of the season, but the goal each day was to try to get back as soon as possible vs. knowing you have a nice amount of time to really take care of the knee and build everything up.”

The Pistons plan to be cautious with Jackson when training camp opens Tuesday. Coach Stan Van Gundy won’t have him practice twice when the team has two-a-days.

Jackson believes the knee is ready, but he can’t be certain until he can test it under game conditions.

“We won’t know until you are in competition and you get to see it,” Jackson said. “If I can get the burst by my man, if I can make the play like I did two years ago. That will be the only true test of knowing it. It feels healthy, but it’s really going to be playing to figure out what it truly is.”

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Central Notes: Jackson, Wade, Bulls

September 12th, 2017 at 10:07pm CST by Austin Kent

One of the biggest factors that will influence the fate of the Pistons is just how well Reggie Jackson manages to bounce back after a disappointing 2016/17 campaign. The 27-year-old guard, Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press says, appears right on schedule following lingering knee issues from last season.

The technical term for Jackson’s knee issue is tendinosis, which Ellis describes as chronic tendinitis. As such, knee woes aren’t exactly new for the Pistons guard and he’s supposedly been impacted by them since he was drafted back in 2011. It was recovery from the platelet-rich plasma injection that he received last offseason, however, that set his 2016/17 campaign askew from the start.

A healthy Jackson is an incredibly potent weapon for the Pistons and Lang Green of Basketball Insiders reminds us that the playmaker averaged a staggering 17.6 points and 9.2 assists per game in his first half year with the club. Do the Pistons still hold Jackson in the same regard following last year’s disappointing results though? And how long will his leash be in 2017/18?

A healthy Jackson tends to inspire Andre Drummond and an enthusiastic Drummond can be a game-changer for a Pistons team that seemed to lack motivation last year. If Jackson can stay healthy and produce as he did when he earned his lofty contract extension back in the summer of 2015, we could very well see Detroit pick up where they left off at the end of 2015/16.

There’s more from the Central Division:

  • The Bulls squandered Jimmy Butler and it has left the franchise a wreck, Dan Feldman of NBC Sports says in his review of the club’s offseason.
  • Time to bring out your tinfoil banana boat again — LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are working out together, Alex Tekip of ESPN writes. If the Bulls buy Wade out, he could join his former teammate on the Cavaliers.
  • The Pistons don’t have any mega-stars in an era that virtually requires them, Rod Beard of the Detroit News writes, suggesting their title outlook is dim. The league, he says, just isn’t what it used to be back in 2004, when Detroit last won a ring with no superstars.
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