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Rockets In Mix For Stephen Jackson?

August 12th, 2013 at 11:07am CST by Luke Adams

After seeing his three-year, $27.77MM contract expire at the end of this past season, Stephen Jackson will have to accept a significant pay cut if he hopes to continue his NBA career. But Jackson does intend to keep playing, and he's been working out in the hopes of joining a contender, according to Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. Kennedy tweets that the Rockets have been mentioned as a possible landing spot for Jackson.

Jackson's production fell off last season, with his 6.2 PPG, .373 FG%, and 8.0 PER all among the worst marks of his career. He didn't even make it to the end of the season with the Spurs, as the team released him before the playoffs got underway.

Still, Jackson can make the occasional three-pointer, a skill of particular interest to the Rockets, who have added a number of shooters around Dwight Howard this summer. Jackson and Howard have also reportedly discussed the possibility of playing together in the past, which makes Houston a logical fit for the 35-year-old.

The Rockets can offer minimum-salary contracts to free agents, and are believed to still have their $2.65MM room exception available as well.

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Eastern Notes: Knicks, Amundson, Sanders, Heat

August 9th, 2013 at 11:53am CST by Luke Adams

Let's round up a few Friday morning items from around the Eastern Conference….

  • The Knicks are one of a handful of teams that have interest in Louis Amundson, tweets Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com. Zwerling adds that Amundson is hoping to make his free agent decision next week.
  • When the Knicks conducted a workout featuring five free agents on Wednesday, the identity of the fifth player, a Lithuanian big man, wasn't immediately clear. Today, Zwerling identifies the player as Ovidijus Galdikas (Twitter link).
  • According to Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times (via Twitter), Larry Sanders, who is reportedly nearing an extension with the Bucks, recently changed agents, switching from Andy Miller to Dan Fegan. Earlier in his career, Sanders was represented by Happy Walters, who now works with Fegan at Relativity Sports.
  • Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld hears that unrestricted free agent Stephen Jackson has talked to the Heat (Twitter link).
  • Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel reiterates that the Heat will sign at least one more veteran before camp, though he's not sure if it'll be another minimum-salary deal, or if the team will use some or all of its mini mid-level exception.
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Southeast Notes: Wizards, Heat, Bobcats

August 6th, 2013 at 11:58am CST by Luke Adams

Let's round up a few Tuesday morning items from around the Southeast Division….

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Odds & Ends: Jackson, Celtics, Spurs

June 18th, 2013 at 8:27pm CST by Michael Pina

A few random notes from around the league as the Spurs and Heat do battle in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

  • Former Spurs guard Stephen Jackson says he isn't bitter about being waived by the team earlier this season, and maintains he'll land somewhere else this summer, according to Sam Amick of USA Today. Jackson also said three teams called him after he was waived, but wouldn't specify on which did so.
  • Tim Healey from WEEI.com wrote a profile of Providence guard Ricky Ledo, and how the scorer who took last season off can help the Celtics, who hold the 16th pick in the upcoming draft.
  • Hoopsworld.com's Alex Kennedy reports a rumor that the Spurs will take French forward Livio Jean-Charles in the draft and then allow him to develop overseas for at least one year. 
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Odds & Ends: Mavs, Collins, Jackson, Jordan

April 12th, 2013 at 11:48pm CST by Chuck Myron

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban takes the blame for his team's subpar season, saying he failed to construct an adequate roster and promising he'll be more attentive this summer, observes Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com. "I'm not making any predictions," the owner said. "All I'm saying is we're not going to do a traditional rebuild. That's (why) we got all this cap room, so we wouldn't. We're going to be opportunistic." 

Cuban also made headlines this evening for his desire to keep Vince Carter for years to come, but there are plenty of other newsmakers tonight:

  • Contradicting a report from earlier this week, John Finger of CSNPhilly.com writes that Sixers management wants to keep Doug Collins for as long as he has a desire to coach. 
  • Collins will still receive his $4.5MM salary for next season if the Sixers fire him, but he won't get the money if he quits, notes Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News.
  • Stephen Jackson's discontent, which was apparently at the root of his release from the Spurs, didn't stem from the lack of a contract extension, but simply a desire for more playing time, according to Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News.
  • Lakers assistant coach Eddie Jordan is nearing a deal to become the next head coach at Rutgers, tweets Chick Hernandez of CSNWashington.com. Jordan is willing to take the job even if it means he'd have to leave the Lakers right away, reports Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times.
  • Mike Woodson has interest in Kurt Thomas rejoining the Knicks as an assistant coach next season, as Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal notes via Twitter.
  • North Carolina announced sophomore swingman P.J. Hairston is returning to school, tweets Andy Katz of ESPN.com. Hairston is No. 40 on Chad Ford's list of prospects for ESPN.com, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com has Hairston at No. 14 on his 2014 mock draft.
  • Before he gets into the latest edition of his mock draft, Chris Mannix of SI.com discusses Louisville's Russ Smith, whom coach Rick Pitino now says is "50-50" to go pro after it seemed earlier that he would enter the draft. At least one scout who spoke to Mannix thinks Smith would go undrafted in June.

Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors contributed to this post.

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Fallout From Spurs’ Release Of Stephen Jackson

April 12th, 2013 at 7:21pm CST by Chuck Myron

Usually, roster moves this time of year involve tweaks to the end of the bench, so San Antonio's decision to waive Stephen Jackson, who averaged close to 20 minutes per game this season, comes as a surprise. We're beginning to hear some of the reasons why the team let Jackson go, as well as some reaction from the locker room.

  • The timing of the move was strategic, according to USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt. Jackson and the team had discussed a release prior to the trade deadline, but the Spurs preferred to wait until after the March 1st deadline for him to have been eligible to play for another team in the postseason.
  • Jackson has made just one appearance of at least 20 minutes in the last month, so his lack of minutes made it easier for the team to make the move. Still, it was a risk, since Jackson was popular with his Spurs teammates, notes Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links).
  • Danny Green, one of Jackson's now-former teammates, expressed shock as he explained his feeling about the move. Dan McCarney of the San Antonio News-Express has the details in three Twitter links.
  • Gregg Popovich addressed the move with reporters this evening, and fellow Express-News scribe Jeff McDonald shares some of his remarks. "Tough decision, because on a personal basis, I’ve known him a long time and I enjoy him very much," Popovich said of Jackson. "But you’ve got to make decisions that are tough sometimes. We thought this was best for our group." (Twitter links)
  • Popovich also called the move "a basketball decision and a family decision." Jackson took the news in a "classy" manner, Popovich added, though the coach wouldn't answer whether he thought Jackson had been disgruntled (Twitter links).
  • The move caught Jackson off-guard, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Spurs felt Jackson had begun to have a negative influence on the team's younger players, and the team's brass didn't feel like Jackson's play of late was justifying the disruption.
  • The Spurs front office knew what it was getting with Jackson and had wanted to add "edge" to the locker room when the team acquired him last season, tweets Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com.
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Spurs Release Stephen Jackson

April 12th, 2013 at 5:13pm CST by Luke Adams

5:13pm: The Spurs have sent out a press release officially announcing that they've waived Jackson.

4:50pm: Jackson and head coach Gregg Popovich had been "sparring" about Jackson's role with the Spurs all season, according to Wojnarowski. The two sides discussed a potential release prior to the trade deadline, but agreed to move forward for the rest of the season. However, the disagreements resurfaced this week, says Wojnarowski (Twitter links).

4:24pm: With just over a week until the postseason gets underway, the Spurs have waived Stephen Jackson, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). It's not clear yet why the Spurs are parting ways with Jackson, but one source tells Wojnarowski that it's been "brewing for a few days" (Twitter link). Art Garcia of FOX Sports Southwest first tweeted word of the roster move.

Jackson, 35, hadn't been having a strong season on the court, with his averages of 6.2 PPG and 8.1 PER the lowest he has posted in over a decade. Nonetheless, given the timing of the move and his place in the Spurs' rotation, I would assume he's out of work for off-the-court rather than on-court reasons.

Jackson had been playing out the final year of his contract, earning more than $10MM this season. He won't lose any of that money by being waived, though he will hit free agency a few months earlier than expected. Since he was released after the March 1st buyout deadline though, he'd be ineligible for the postseason, making it unlikely that he catches on with another team next week.

As for the Spurs, they had been carrying a full roster of 15 players, so the move opens up a spot for a free agent, should they choose to make an addition.

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Spurs Frontrunners To Acquire Al Jefferson?

February 6th, 2013 at 1:35pm CST by Luke Adams

As ESPN.com's Chad Ford noted in his chat this afternoon, the Jazz are one of the league's most close-to-the-vest teams, which may explain why we haven't heard a ton of rumors about trade candidates and soon-to-be free agents Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. However, according to Chris Sheridan of Sheridan Hoops, one team has emerged as a frontrunner to acquire Jefferson: the Spurs.

Sheridan points out that various members of San Antonio's and Utah's front offices used to work for the other club, strengthening the relationship between the two teams. As one source tells Sheridan: "Those teams are practically incestuous, they are on such good terms internally."

The Spurs don't have a ton of obvious trade assets, but Stephen Jackson's $10MM+ expiring contract could be used in an offer for Jefferson, who makes $15MM. From there, Sheridan suggests that a package including Tiago Splitter, Patrick Mills, and the rights to European prospects Erazem Lorbek could make some sense for both sides, though he cautions that he's not sure whether that specific deal has been discussed. Like Jefferson and Jackson, Splitter will be a free agent after this season, while Mills has a 2013/14 player option for a modest $1.13MM, so the Jazz wouldn't be giving up much future flexibility in that hypothetical trade.

Some reports have suggested the Jazz would prefer to move Millsap rather than Jefferson, while others have indicated the team would be fine with simply standing pat and keeping both big men. Given the club's secrecy when it comes to trade talks, we likely won't know for sure what Utah's intentions are until a move is made or the deadline passes.

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Central Rumors: Cavs, Jackson, Drummond, Cook

January 6th, 2013 at 3:28pm CST by Chuck Myron

Bob Finnan of The News-Herald blames Cavs GM Chris Grant and coach Byron Scott for the team's struggles this season, and calls on the team to take a more aggressive approach and pull the trigger on a deal for a "good, young piece" at the trade deadline if someone like that is available. The Cavs should carry that aggression into free agency, Finnan believes, and use their cap space for better assets than they've pursued recently. Finnan has more on the team, which we'll round up along with other notes from their Central Division rivals.

  • We've heard before that the Cavs and Wolves have had brief discussion about an Anderson Varejao trade, and Finnan confirms those talks, speculating that Minnesota would probably want to include Derrick Williams, a potential deal-breaker. Finnan believes the Cavs may have interest in taking back Nikola Pekovic instead.
  • There's been little talk of Scott's job security this season, but if the losing continues, Finnan doesn't foresee that immunity lasting into 2013/14.
  • Former Bucks swingman Stephen Jackson said he spoke with GM John Hammond about a contract extension during his time in Milwaukee, but never took a confrontational tone, as Jackson told Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times. Jackson expressed respect for Hammond and said he can envision working for him someday, though I'd guess he's referring to a front-office role rather than a return to the Bucks as a player. Jackson said Hammond was the only person from the Bucks organization he still spoke to, and balked at the suggestion that he'd reached out to coach Scott Skiles, with whom he feuded last season.
  • Andre Drummond has improved as the season has gone on, but he's content with the Pistons' plan to bring him along slowly, MLive's David Mayo observes.
  • Mayo and fellow MLive scribe Brendan Savage debate who got the better of Detroit's offseason trade with the Bobcats that swapped Ben Gordon for Corey Maggette.
  • Scott Powers of ESPNChicago.com writes that Daequan Cook understands that he must earn playing time with the Bulls after signing in Chicago this morning.
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Southwest Notes: Nowitzki, Jackson

December 30th, 2012 at 5:58pm CST by Michael Pina

Dirk Nowitzki says that despite his team's poor place in the standings, their goal is still the playoffs, according to ESPN.com's Tim MacMahon. If Nowitzki's thoughts are shared by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, this could indicate that the team is a buyer, instead of a seller, before the trade deadline. 

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