Torrey Craig Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Nuggets Rumors: Grant, Bates-Diop, Bol, Craig, Nnaji

November 21st, 2020 at 4:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jerami Grant‘s decision to join the Pistons had a lot to do with his role with the Nuggets, according to Mike Singer of the Denver Post.

Grant received similar offers of three years and $60MM from Detroit and Denver and decided to take an expanded offensive role with the rebuilding Pistons. Grant wasn’t thrilled with being the fourth option on a prime championship contender. He served on the second unit a majority of last season behind Paul Millsap and Grant viewed that as a sacrifice.

Singer offers more info on the Nuggets

They filled one of their two remaining roster spots by agreeing to a contract with Millsap on Saturday afternoon. But they don’t intend to keep forward Keita Bates-Diop, so that will open up another roster spot. It will likely be filled by second-year center Bol Bol. The team plans to convert his two-way contract into a standard deal.
With Millsap coming back, the next priority is restricted free agent Torrey Craig. His perimeter defense increases his value due to Grant’s departure.
If Craig signs elsewhere, they’ll look to add a mobile big man to replace Mason Plumlee, who is also headed to Detroit. If that plan falls through, the role may be filled by first-round selection Zeke Nnaji.

Nuggets Extend Qualifying Offer To Torrey Craig

November 17th, 2020 at 9:36pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Nuggets forward Torrey Craig has been extended a qualifying offer for the 2020/21 season in Denver, making him a restricted free agent, per Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The Nuggets own Craig’s full Bird rights.

The move ensures that the Nuggets front office will be able to match any offer sheet Craig, 29, signs on the open market.

The 6’7″ Craig played for 58 regular season games in Denver for the 2019/20 season. A solid perimeter defender with limited shooting ability, he averaged 5.4 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 0.8 APG for Denver in 2019/20, his third NBA season. He was a key bench rotation option during the 46-27 Nuggets’ surprising run to the 2020 Western Conference Finals.

Craig was the first man off the bench behind starting Nuggets small forward Jerami Grant, who recently declined his $9.35MM player option for the 2020/21 season and is now an unrestricted free agent.

Nuggets Notes: Malone, Free Agents, Morris, Murray

September 27th, 2020 at 1:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

Even though the Nuggets‘ magical postseason run came to an end Saturday, the team appears to have a bright future ahead, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post. After overcoming 3-1 deficits in the first two rounds of the playoffs, Denver couldn’t do it again against the Lakers, but coach Michael Malone believes the experience in Orlando should benefit his players.

“I think we have something special brewing,” Malone said. “And I think most importantly, I think people around this country, around the world, who were watching the playoffs, this group of guys, you would be hard pressed to find a better story coming out of this bubble. A bunch of young kids faced elimination, looked it in the face and just kept on surviving and advancing.”

The Nuggets’ hopes for improvement will center around the development of rookie forward Michael Porter Jr., who averaged 11.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in the postseason. Porter should be a full-time rotation player next season, and fellow rookie Bol Bol may also have a larger role. In addition, Will Barton will return after missing the entire playoffs with a knee injury.

“I think all great teams and champions have to go through the pains of losing,” Malone said. “And nothing is handed to you in this business. And we’re making steps. We’re moving in the right direction with a great group of guys.”

There’s more on the Nuggets:

Denver’s challenge for the offseason will be deciding how to handle free agents Jerami Grant, Mason Plumlee, Torrey Craig and Paul Millsap without exceeding the luxury tax threshold, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN. The Nuggets hold Bird rights or Early Bird rights on all four players and can go over the salary cap to keep them. However, the team already has $95MM in guaranteed money committed to five players. Marks states that Denver can spend $29MM without paying the tax — that figure drops to $20MM if Grant opts into a $9.3MM salary for next season.
Reaching an extension with reserve point guard Monte Morris should be another priority, Marks adds in the same story. Morris has a $1.7MM non-guaranteed contract for 2020/21 that will become guaranteed whenever free agency begins. Marks believes a realistic extension offer would be in the neighborhood of $27MM over three years.
Jamal Murray played Saturday’s game with a bone bruise on his right knee and another bruise on his right foot, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. The pain contributed to Murray’s off night with 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting. “I don’t like to tell everybody what I got. I just like to play through it,” he said. “I was in pain, but it’s cool. I was out there. I was struggling a little bit today.”

Northwest Notes: Porter, Harris, Barton, Bryant, Little

August 18th, 2020 at 8:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The first round of the playoffs is an educational experience for young Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., as Mike Singer of the Denver Post details. Porter had 13 points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes in the team’s postseason opener against Utah on Monday but was also targeted on defense and saw extra attention offensively.

“Just being out there, learning, going through it, you can’t put a dollar sign on that,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “That’s the best teacher that Michael is going to have. We can tell him, we can prepare him, but he has to go out there and feel it for himself and learn from it, which I know he will.”

We have more from the Northwest Division:

The Nuggets will once again be down two starters in Game 2 of their first-round series on Wednesday, Kendra Andrews of The Athletic tweets. Wings Gary Harris (hip) and Will Barton (knee), both of whom missed the opener, will sit out. Porter and Torrey Craig started in their place, though Jerami Grant and Monte Morris played heavy minutes off the bench.
Johnnie Bryant will remain on the Jazz’s coaching staff through the playoffs, Steve Popper of Newsday tweets. Bryant has reportedly reached an agreement with the Knicks to become the club’s associate head coach.
Trail Blazers rookie forward Nassir Little experienced a syncopal episode (fainting) on August 12 while attending an optional practice in Orlando, the team tweets. He was diagnosed with dehydration and further tests have been negative. He will remain with the team and undergo precautionary health monitoring for two weeks. Little has appeared in 48 games, but none during the restart.

Western Notes: G. Harris, Craig, Kings, Mitchell

July 21st, 2020 at 8:30pm CST by Luke Adams

The official Nuggets summer roster, announced on Monday by the NBA, features 17 names, the maximum allowed by the league. However, a number of those players didn’t arrive at the Orlando campus with the rest of the team earlier this month and have been slowly trickling in.

Two key players traveled to the campus on Sunday, as Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN details, with Gary Harris and Torrey Craig reporting for their quarantine period. Mike Singer of The Denver Post provided an update on Harris and Craig today, tweeting that they’ve now cleared their quarantine period. The two Nuggets didn’t practice today because they also must complete cardiac testing before being fully cleared.

With Harris and Craig nearly ready to start practicing, the Nuggets are a little closer to being whole, but that won’t happen in time for the team’s first inter-squad scrimmage on Wednesday. Earlier this week, head coach Mike Malone said that he expects to have only nine players available for that exhibition game (Twitter link via Chris Dempsey of Altitude Sports). Fans who tune in can expect to see some unusual lineups for Denver, including the possibility of Bol Bol at small forward.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

De’Aaron Fox, who is recovering from an ankle sprain, returned to practice for the Kings today and took part in non-contact drills, per Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Richaun Holmes also participated in his first practice since clearing his extended quarantine.
In addition to improving as a player, Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell also wants to improve as a teammate, writes Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. As Walden relays, head coach Quin Snyder has been impressed by Mitchell’s development in both areas. “That maturation process has been going on,” Snyder said. “And some of it you guys don’t see as much. Some of it we see on the floor, some of it we see in the locker room, some of it we see during video (review). … There’s an awareness and a care factor there that has manifested itself in even more leadership.”
John Hollinger of The Athletic questions whether the Warriors really need to prioritize acquiring a center this offseason and explores how the Timberwolves might address their shooting guard and forward spots.

Nuggets Missing Multiple Players In Orlando

July 13th, 2020 at 3:00pm CST by Luke Adams

In addition to waiting on star center Nikola Jokic to arrive at the Walt Disney World campus from Serbia, the Nuggets are also currently missing a few other players, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). League sources tell Haynes that Gary Harris, Michael Porter Jr., and Torrey Craig haven’t made the trip to Disney.

Haynes’ report doesn’t include any additional info, so it’s not clear if Harris, Porter, and Craig are set to arrive soon, or if there’s a possibility that any of them might end up not reporting at all. There’s also no word on whether the absences are related to the coronavirus.

Jokic’s trip to Florida was delayed by the fact that he tested positive for COVID-19 in his home country of Serbia. Before joining the Nuggets at the Disney campus, he had to be medically cleared and get a flight to the United States. Head coach Michael Malone said last week that he expected Jokic to arrive within a few days.

According to Kendra Andrews of The Athletic (Twitter link), guard Monte Morris also hasn’t been spotted in photos or videos since the team reported to Orlando last week, so it’s possible Morris isn’t there yet either, though that’s unconfirmed.

Even if all of the Nuggets’ missing players eventually arrive at Disney, they’ll have to go through a brief quarantine period before being cleared to participate in practices, so they could have a very abridged ramp-up period — Denver’s season is set to resume on August 1, just 19 days from now.

Still, with a comfortable hold on a playoff spot, the Nuggets could end up focusing on getting to full strength by the time the postseason begins rather than going all-out during the seeding games.

Northwest Notes: Hood, Craig, Timberwolves, Jazz

June 18th, 2020 at 8:47pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After tearing his left Achilles on December 6, Trail Blazers wing Rodney Hood began pondering his life after the league and joined a small support group of fellow NBA players currently on or recently off the rehab trail from the injury, according to ESPN’s Eric Woodyard.

“I reach out to Kevin Durant or Wesley Matthews, DeMarcus Cousins,” Hood said. “The guys who have been through it, and I just get confident more and more every day.”

With the encouragement of his wife Richa, a fellow Duke alum, Hood re-enrolled in school to complete his undergraduate degree: “I want to do something special… And getting a degree from Duke is special, especially coming from where I come from.” Prior to his injury, the 6’8″ southpaw sported a slash line of 11.0 PPG/3.4 RPG/1.5 APG across 21 games in 2019. He connected on 50.6% of his shots from the floor, a whopping 49.3% on 3.4 three-point attempts, and 77.8% from the charity stripe.

Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:

Nuggets forward and 2020 restricted free agent Torrey Craig could parlay his play in Orlando into a big contract when the NBA resumes its season this summer, according to The Athletic’s Nick Kosmider. Craig, a two-way threat in spot minutes on a deep Denver squad whose counting stats belie his skills, is currently a steal as he wraps up a two-year, $4MM contract.
Due to the financial impact caused by COVID-19 closures, Glen Taylor and the ownership group behind the Timberwolves, Lynx, and Iowa Wolves has laid off 18 members of their full-time staff and reduced pay for employees making $70K or more, per a statement cited by The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski (Twitter link). ESPN echoes the news.
Jazz All-Star Donovan Mitchell has been conducting workouts with teammates Royce O’Neale, Jordan Clarkson, Rayjon Tucker and Miye Oni at the Sports Academy in Newbury Park, California, according to Sarah Todd of the Deseret News. Mitchell, 23, has been having a breakout season in Utah, setting career highs in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and three-point percentage. The Jazz are 41-23, the No. 4 seed in the West, thanks especially to the sterling offense of Mitchell and the stellar defense of center Rudy Gobert.

Nuggets Notes: Craig, Morris, Porter Jr., Booth

April 24th, 2020 at 8:44pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Torrey Craig has established himself as a menace defensively but the Nuggets still have a tough decision regarding the swingman, as Mike Singer of The Denver Post explains. Craig is headed to restricted free agency and his playing time this season fluctuated due to his offensive limitations. However, Craig had some big moments as the season wore on and he’s a valuable reserve due to his pesky style, Singer adds. The team can make him a restricted FA by extending a $2.5MM qualifying offer.

We have more on the Nuggets:

Backup point guard Monte Morris has emerged as a key locker room voice, according to Singer. Morris is candid with the media and refuses to accept excuses such as injuries or absences during losses. Morris, who has a non-guaranteed $1.7MM contract next season, contributed on the court with his solid assist-to-turnover ratio and savvy decision making, Singer adds.
Michael Porter Jr. saw wild fluctuations in his playing time but the Nuggets haven’t lost any confidence in the rookie forward, who sat out the 2018/19 season due to back surgery, Kyle Fredrickson of the Denver Post writes. Coach Michael Malone said Porter got frustrated at times and was bothered by an ankle injury prior to the hiatus but can still become a “great” player. “He’s shown all of us what he can do,” Malone said. “Now, the challenge is to help him do that on a more consistent basis.”
The team has reportedly chosen Calvin Booth as its GM and Malone wholeheartedly endorses the promotion, Fredrickson reports in the same story. “He works his butt off, is very detailed and organized. … I have complete confidence in Calvin Booth if he’s selected,” Malone said. “I would be shocked if he wasn’t.”

Northwest Notes: Wolves, Wiggins, Craig, SGA

December 23rd, 2019 at 11:01am CST by Luke Adams

A combination of injuries and head coach Ryan Saunders‘ desire to play matchups have resulted in the Timberwolves using 11 different starting lineup combinations this season. While those changes have often been made out of necessity, Jeff Teague believes the lineup juggling has impacted the club’s chemistry, as Chris Hine of The Star Tribune details.

“We haven’t been healthy all year, so it is difficult to try and get a rhythm,” the Timberwolves’ veteran point guard said. “Seems like every four games something happens. It’s part of the NBA. Just try to keep adjusting, keep making things happen. Hopefully we can get all on the same page one of these games.”

Since starting the season with a 10-8 record, the Timberwolves have lost 10 consecutive games and dropped to 13th in the Western Conference, so Saunders may continue tweaking the lineup until the club finds a combination that works.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins and Nuggets forward Torrey Craig have each signed with CAA Basketball for representation, according to Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal (Twitter link). Craig had previously been represented by Tony Dutt, while Wiggins had been operating without an agent.
Mike Singer of The Denver Post looks into whether the Nuggets should be trying to make a trade, what sort of move would make the most sense for the team, and what obstacles might stand in the way of a potential deal.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s 32-point performance in Sunday’s win over the Clippers was the latest sign that the Thunder‘s Paul George trade was a blessing in disguise, writes Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman.
When Al-Farouq Aminu returned to Portland as a member of the Magic on Friday, Joe Freeman of The Oregonian took the opportunity to talk to the veteran forward about what this season would have looked like if the Trail Blazers had kept most of last season’s roster intact.

Nuggets Notes: Bol, Malone, Rotation, Porter, Craig, Murray

November 26th, 2019 at 3:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nuggets have recalled rookie center Bol Bol from the G League but they’re not burning any of the 45 days he’s allotted to spend in the NBA on his two-way contract, according to Mike Singer of the Denver Post.

Bol is expected to remain with the Nuggets for a couple of weeks but won’t practice or play before being sent back down to the Windy City Bulls. He’ll be listed as out due to “injury management” for his surgically repaired left foot, Singer adds. Bol has averaged 11.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG and 2.3 BPG in less than 17 MPG with Windy City.

We have more on the Nuggets:

The league has instituted coach’s challenges this season but like many of the men who patrol the sidelines, Michael Malone likes to save his challenge for crunch time, Eric Spyropoulos of the team’s website notes. “As you see it kind of play out, most coaches like to keep it (the challenge) in their pocket for late game situations. The only time I can see using it early is if you’re trying to protect a great player (from foul trouble),” Malone said.
The Nuggets have plenty of depth, which has created a pleasant dilemma for Malone on a game-by-game basis, Nick Kosmider of The Athletic points out. Mason Plumlee, Monte Morris and Jerami Grant have defined reserve roles but Torrey Craig, Juancho Hernangomez, Michael Porter Jr. and Malik Beasley have seen major fluctuations in playing time. “It’s not easy from a player or coach’s standpoint,” Plumlee said. “But I’ll say guys have handled it as well as any team I’ve been on.”
Porter has appeared in 10 games, averaging 3.8 PPG in 9.0 MPG, and Malone hopes to expand his role, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic. “I have to find ways to play him this year,” Malone said. “This cannot be a wasted year for him.”
Craig has lost playing time but he’s not creating any problems in the locker room, Singer relays in a separate story. “We all get along, we’re all happy for each other when each other have success,” he said. “I’m not one to sit here and pout when my teammates are doing good. If they’re doing good and we’re winning, I’m happy.”
Jamal Murray will play for Team Canada next summer, Michael Grange of Sportsnet Canada reports. Canada will host an Olympic qualifying tournament in Victoria, B.C. in late June, and then head to Tokyo if the team snags one of the six remaining spots in the 12-team Olympic tournament.