Terry Rozier Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Northwest Notes: Saunders, Jazz, Thunder

May 23rd, 2015 at 8:33pm CST by Arthur Hill

Wolves owner Glen Taylor expects Flip Saunders to return as coach next season, reports Charley Walters of The St. Paul Pioneer Press. Saunders, who also serves as president of basketball operations, led the team to a 16-66 record this year, which was the worst mark in the league and helped Minnesota land the top pick in the draft. However, the Wolves were hampered by injuries all season. “I think he worked so hard last year with all those problems that he wants an opportunity to see if we are healthy, if we really have the team he thought he had,” Taylor said. Saunders expects to hold pre-draft workouts with at least five players, including Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Duke’s Jahlil Okafor.

There’s more news from the Northwest Division:

The Jazz will bring in six more players for pre-draft workouts Sunday [Twitter link]. The players are Andrew Harrison of Kentucky, Terry Rozier of Louisville, Vince Hunter of Texas-El Paso, J.P. Tokoto of North Carolina, Terran Petteway of Nebraska and Aaron White of Iowa.
Re-signing free agents Enes Kanter and Kyle Singler is as much a business decision as a basketball decision for the Thunder, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. The columnist questions the wisdom of giving an eight-figure salary to a defensive liability like Kanter, but concedes that Oklahoma City has few options to replace the two players if they sign elsewhere.
Anthony Morrow was the best free agent signing in Thunder history, Mayberry contends in a separate story. Morrow inked a three-year, $10MM deal last summer and gave Oklahoma City the outside shooting threat it needed. He connected on 43.4% of his shots from downtown and managed to lead the team in games played.

Atlantic Notes: Russell, Sixers, Nets

May 18th, 2015 at 9:52pm CST by Dana Gauruder

D’Angelo Russell could wind up as a top-two pick if the Knicks or Sixers are that position after the results of the draft lottery on Tuesday, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. While it’s widely assumed that Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor will go 1-2 in the draft, there was some speculation by rival executives at the draft combine that Philadelphia or New York may opt instead to transform to its backcourt with the Ohio State guard, Berger reports.

In other news around the Atlantic Division:

Michael Qualls (Arkansas), Keifer Sykes (Wisconsin-Green Bay), Ryan Boatright (Connecticut) and Terry Rozier (Louisville) are scheduled to work out with the Sixers on Tuesday, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Philadelphia brought in Julian Washburn (Texas-El Paso), Seth Tuttle (Northern Iowa), Terran Petteway (Nebraska), Marcus Thornton (Georgia), Stanton Kidd (Colorado State), Juwan Staten (West Virginia) and Shannon Scott (Ohio State) for workouts on Monday, Pompey adds.
Mike Conley and Kevin Love, if he does not opt out this summer, are potential free agent targets for the Nets in 2016, according to NetsDaily.com. The Nets will undergo many changes this offseason as they try to get under the luxury tax but they need to remain a playoff-caliber team to attract future free agents, the story adds.
A shakeup of Dwane Casey’s staff is underway as the Raptors parted with assistants Bill Bayno and Tom Sterner today, sources told Berger (Twitter links).

Draft Notes: Russell, Okafor, Staten

May 17th, 2015 at 4:59pm CST by Zachary Links

When asked why a team should select him on June 25th, D’Angelo Russell had a simple answer for reporters. “I’m the best player in the draft,” Russell said, as Henry Green of FOX Sports Ohio writes. Russell is expected to be a top-five pick, and many analysts have him as the No. 3 prospect in the 2015 draft class. Of course, it remains to be seen whether he can jump Jahlil Okafor and Karl Anthony-Towns for the top spot. Here’s today’s draft news..

Okafor skipped the official draft combine, but he found himself in the Chicago area on Friday night and worked out at Quest Gym, as Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. One of the big knocks on Okafor is his conditioning, but trainer Rick Lewis says that the big man has shed 12 points of fat and his conditioning is improving every day. The trainer, who might be a tad biased, also tells Berman that the Duke offensive system didn’t allow Okafor to showcase everything he can do.
West Virginia guard Juwan Staten is working out for the Sixers on Monday and roughly half the league is expected to work him out before the draft, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). Staten is currently not in the top 100 rankings done by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress but he is the No. 79 overall player according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required).
An NBA scout told Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (on Twitter) that LSU’s Jordan Mickey and Louisville’s Terry Rozier “really helped themselves” by playing 5-on-5 at the Combine.
Murray State guard Cameron Payne is finally getting the respect he deserves, Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders writes. Payne also isn’t afraid to speak his mind. Recently, an NBA exec asked him who shouldn’t be ranked ahead of him in this year’s class and he answered truthfully. “Tyus Jones,” Payne said. “Just because he played on a great team. He had a lot of exposure through that team. He didn’t have to carry his team like I did, so I just felt I went through a lot of adversity and he had one of the best big men playing college basketball around him. He wasn’t a focal point.” (Recently, Payne spoke with Hoops Rumors about a wide range of topics, including where he thinks he might land).

Bulls Rumors: Butler, Thibodeau, Rose, Rozier

May 16th, 2015 at 9:36pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Bulls must bring back Jimmy Butler, even though it will strain their finances, contends K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Butler is almost certain to receive a maximum contract, which would start at an estimated $15.8MM per season. Counting the team’s first-round pick, which falls at No. 22, Chicago would have $80MM budgeted for 11 players, which is just below the luxury tax figure of $81.6MM. It will be tough to stay below that number if Mike Dunleavy is re-signed, Johnson writes. One possibility is trading Taj Gibson, who will make $8.5MM next season and is signed through 2016/17.

There’s more offseason news from Chicago:

The Bulls need to find a way to keep Tom Thibodeau as their coach, writes David Haugh of The Chicago Tribune. Speculation that Thibodeau was on the way out started well before the playoffs, even though the coach has two years left on his contract and the Bulls landed the third seed in the East. Haugh argues that bringing in a new coach would lessen the sense of urgency for Chicago to be a title contender next year.
Despite the team’s disappointing finish, the Bulls have to be encouraged by the late-season return of Derrick Rose, contends Sean Highkin of Bleacher Report. This will be the first summer since 2011 that Rose won’t be recovering from a major knee injury, Highkin notes. “My body felt good,” Rose said. “It’s all about going into the lab this summer and putting my game back together. See where that takes me.” Chicago needs increased court time from its franchise player, who will make more than $20MM next season and more than $21MM in 2016/17 before becoming a free agent that summer.
Terry Rozier of Louisville has a Monday workout set for the Bulls, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.

Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Raptors, Knicks

May 15th, 2015 at 8:46pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Sixers fans may want to hope that the team doesn’t land the top pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Daily News opines. Cooney’s reasoning is that if Philly nabs the No. 1 overall pick the team will either select another big man, or quite possibly trade the selection for more future assets, which could further delay the team’s rebuilding process. Conversely, if the Sixers fall to third or fourth the team will be more likely to select D’Angelo Russell or Emmanuel Mudiay, and thus land its point guard of the future, Cooney adds.

Here’s more from the NBA’s Atlantic Division:

The Raptors have six free agents whom they need to decide the futures of, and Holly MacKenzie of NBA.com examines the situation for each. These players include Amir Johnson, Landry Fields, and Lou Williams.
Knicks team president Phil Jackson met with Russell at the draft combine today, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv reports (Twitter links). Also meeting with the Knicks, though the Zen Master wasn’t present, was Kansas big man Cliff Alexander, Zagoria adds
The Knicks also met with Duke’s Justise Winslow and Jerian Grant of Notre Dame, Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal relays in a series of tweets. Kentucky big man Willie Cauley-Stein said that he is scheduled to work out for the team in New York this Sunday, Herring adds.
Cauley-Stein also sat down with members of the Sixers’ front office, and he came away with the impression that the team was genuinely interested in him, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer tweets.
Arkansas power forward Bobby Portis has a workout scheduled with the Celtics, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com reports (Twitter link).
The Sixers have scheduled workouts on Tuesday for Keifer Sykes and Terry Rozier, both of whom are guards, Pompey tweets.

Draft Notes: Combine, Tokoto, Christmas

May 15th, 2015 at 5:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

With the 2015 NBA Draft combine in full swing, two players whose performances in the five-on-five events have elevated their draft stock are Syracuse’s Rakeem Christmas and North Carolina’s J.P. Tokoto, Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) relays. When discussing Christmas’ potential one NBA GM told Ford, “He had an advantage [over his combine competition] as a four-year senior. But that wasn’t what set him apart. I felt he showed that he could disrupt shots, attack the rim and play bigger than I felt he did at Syracuse. There aren’t many centers in this draft after the lottery, and I think he’ll draw a lot of interest for teams in the late first and early second.”

Here’s the latest news regarding the 2015 NBA Draft:

Another player who may have improved his draft stock according Ford was Kentucky guard Andrew Harrison. “I haven’t been a big fan of his all year,” one GM told Ford. “But if you take all of that away, he was one of the two or three best players here. He played under control, made some great passes, got to the line relentlessly [7-for-8] and just played with confidence. It was a very good showing.“
There were some scouts who questioned if Tokoto was ready to make the jump from college to the pros, but for his part the player has no regrets about his decision, Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel writes. “I’m past that,” Tokoto said of worrying about his choice. “All that really matters is if my family and I are comfortable with my decision. I know I made the right decision. With the teams I’m interviewing with, the question about my jump shot comes up. To go out and have a game like this…I told them, ‘I’ve been working on it and I’m going to shoot jump shots.’“
Oregon guard Joseph Young worked out for the Pacers on Thursday, and he has upcoming workouts scheduled with the Blazers and Spurs, Jabari Young of CSNNW.com tweets.
Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune (via Twitter) also lauded the performances of Harrison and Christmas, while also adding Louisville’s Terry Rozier and Bowling Green’s Richaun Holmes to the list of players who stood out at the combine.

Celtics Notes: Trades, Young, Draft Combine

May 15th, 2015 at 11:18am CST by Chuck Myron

A league source suggests to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald that the impending leap in the salary cap for 2016/17 will make teams around the league more willing to take on sizable contracts in trades. Celtics assistant GM Mike Zarren also sees a more liquid trade market and more activity ahead, as he tells Bulpett.

“I think so,” Zarren said. “I think there’s just a lot of teams in the middle in the NBA right now, and they all sort of feel like they need to do something. That will create more opportunities for us, because we’ve got as many assets as any other team, if not more.”

The Celtics have only one eight-figure salary on the books for next season, the nearly $10.106MM owed to Gerald Wallace, as Bulpett points out, and Boston is willing to attach a first-round pick to him to ship him out in a trade, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported last month. While we wait to see if the Celtics can top the 11 trades they made in 2014/15, here’s more from Boston:

One opposing GM is high on James Young, telling Bulpett for the same piece that last year’s No. 17 overall pick would be generating top-10 buzz this year if he had stayed in school another year. Young spent extensive time in the D-League this season.
Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe adds Bobby Portis, Anthony Brown, Kelly Oubre, Dez Wells, Chris McCullough, Terry Rozier and Tyus Jones to the list of players who’ve interviewed with the Celtics at the draft combine (Twitter links), to go along with those previously reported.
Boston is slated to speak with Devin Booker, Myles Turner, Kevon Looney, Pat Connaughton and Jordan Mickey today, a source tells Himmelsbach (Twitter link).

Draft Rumors: Porzingis, Wood, Dawson

May 15th, 2015 at 10:29am CST by Chuck Myron

At least one GM is among the multiple executives who believe Latvian power forward Kristaps Porzingis has a shot to be drafted as highly as No. 2, reports Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. The head of basketball ops for another team said that he’s a “lock” for the top five and that it wouldn’t be surprising to see him go within the top three, adding that he’d draft him in front of Jahlil Okafor, the Duke center who occupied the top spot in projections for most of the season. The 19-year-old is No. 5 in Chad Ford’s ESPN.com rankings and No. 8 with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress. Here’s more as draft rumors kick into high gear:

Christian Wood, a power forward out of UNLV, is hoping to follow in Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s footsteps as a ball-handler with unusual height and length, Howard-Cooper writes in the same piece. The Bucks intend to interview Wood, Virginia small forward Justin Anderson and others today, tweets Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times.
Both the DraftExpress team and Ford go in depth on the measurements from the combine, with Ford, in his Insider-only piece, noting that most top prospects sized up well and that this year’s draft class is among the longest groups in memory in terms of both height and wingspan.
Michigan State power forward Branden Dawson has interviewed with the Wizards, Clippers and Pelicans at the draft combine, as he told Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. Ellis, in the same report, adds Stanley Johnson, Frank Kaminsky and Rashad Vaughn to the list of prospects with whom the Pistons have spoken.
Terry Rozier met with the Pistons, too, as well as the Mavs, Suns, Knicks and Spurs, reports Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter).
The Sixers, Lakers, Cavs and Bucks have interviewed Cameron Payne, Kyler also tweets. Payne spoke with our Zach Links recently about his draft prospects.
Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer adds the Hornets and Warriors to the list of teams speaking with Rakeem Christmas (Twitter link).

Northwest Notes: Bjelica, Draft, Wright, Kalamian

May 14th, 2015 at 9:58am CST by Chuck Myron

Timberwolves draft-and-stash prospect Nemanja Bjelica has won the Euroleague’s MVP award, the overseas circuit announced. The versatile 6’10” standout for Turkey’s Fenerbahce Ulker averaged 11.9 points and 8.6 rebounds in 27.6 minutes per game in Euroleague play. Still, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities finds it tough to picture the Wolves giving him a deal comparable to the more than $16.631MM the Bulls shelled out to draft-and-stash gem Nikola Mirotic last summer (Twitter link). The 27-year-old Bjelica would seek just that sort of deal if were to make the jump to the NBA this summer, as Basketball Insiders contributor David Pick recently wrote. There’s more on the Wolves amid the latest from the Northwest Division:

Frank Kaminsky, Tyler Harvey, Joseph Young and Terry Rozier are among the draft prospects who interviewed Wednesday with the Timberwolves, reports Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (on Twitter). Minnesota native Tyus Jones is set to meet with the Wolves on Friday, Wolfson hears (Twitter link).
Dorell Wright‘s playing time cratered this season, but The Oregonian‘s Joe Freeman points to his locker room presence as reason why the Blazers would be well-served re-signing him if he’s willing to accept a pay cut from the $3.135MM he made this season, as Freeman writes in a roundtable piece. Still, fellow Oregonian scribe Mike Richman believes Wright will look elsewhere for more playing time, while Casey Holdahl of Blazers.com and Erik Gundersen say that where he plays next season will depend on what other free agents decide to do.
New Thunder head coach Billy Donovan won’t be keeping assistant coach Rex Kalamian on the Oklahoma City staff, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Some believe the longtime top aide to ex-Thunder head man Scott Brooks has the capability to become an NBA head coach someday, according to Stein.

Montrezl Harrell, Terry Rozier To Enter Draft

April 2nd, 2015 at 7:12pm CST by Chuck Myron

THURSDAY, 7:12pm: Rozier has officially signed with Verus Management, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops tweets.

MONDAY, 2:06pm: Louisville junior power forward Montrezl Harrell and sophomore combo guard Terry Rozier are entering this year’s draft, coach Rick Pitino said today during his season-ending press conference, as The Courier-Journal relays. Harrell is 21st on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and 24th with Chad Ford of ESPN.com. There’s more of a gulf in opinion on Rozier, who’s the 26th-best prospect according to Ford but just 39th-best as Givony has it.

Harrell’s stock slipped during the season, as he was No. 12 with Givony and No. 16 with Ford prior to the season. He stands 6’8″, and he’s neither a natural power forward nor a true small forward, as Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors writes in our latest Draft Prospect Power Rankings. The 21-year-old averaged 15.7 points and 9.2 rebounds in 35.1 minutes per game this season, all higher numbers than last year, but his per-36-minute figures in scoring and rebounding declined as the Cardinals moved from the American Athletic Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The difference in projections on the 6’2″ Rozier were even more pronounced during the preseason, when Ford ranked him 11th and Givony had him 50th. Rozier, also 21, had a breakout campaign after failing to see much action as a freshman, putting up 17.1 PPG and 5.6 RPG in 35.0 MPG this season. He also averaged 3.0 assists against 2.2 turnovers per game.