Uncategorized Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Trade Rumors App Now Has Notifications

February 4th, 2015 at 4:36pm CST by Tim Dierkes

The world’s best app for staying up-to-date on NBA, MLB, and NFL trades and free agency just got better. I’m happy to announce that our free Trade Rumors app, available for iOS and Android, now has notifications! You can set up notifications at the sport, team, or even player level, and receive a notification as soon as a new article is posted on that topic.

We’ve also rolled out an improved, more intuitive layout to the app, with each feed represented by a vertical column on the home screen. Switch between your feeds by swiping left on the home screen. Vertical columns allow for easier one-hand scrolling.

[Download Trade Rumors for iOS and Android]

But wait, there’s more! Other features of the Trade Rumors app:

Customize your home screen. The app has feeds for Hoops Rumors, MLB Trade Rumors, and Pro Football Rumors by default, but if you’re more of a one or two-sport person, you can easily remove and reorder feeds. You can also add a feed for any of the 92 MLB, NFL, or NBA teams, as well as the thousands of players in the archives of our three sites. Please note that the default ordering puts MLB Trade Rumors on your home screen, but you can easily go into Settings to reorder and add or remove feeds.
We’ve also allowed for filtering of all stories versus top stories, for what is shown on the home screen as well as for notifications. This allows you to limit yourself to just the most important news for a feed, if you prefer.
Article sharing options are plentiful: choose Facebook, Twitter, email, and text message.
Once you’ve clicked an article in a feed, you can swipe to read the next article in that feed.
Did we mention the Trade Rumors app is completely free? Download today for iOS and Android.

Wondering what’s next for the always-improving Trade Rumors app? We intend to add comments, but must first switch to a native commenting system on the three websites.

Nets GM Billy King On Trade Talks

February 2nd, 2015 at 8:46pm CST by Zachary Links

The trade deadline is weeks away and the Nets have been featured prominently on the pages of Hoops Rumors. Nets GM Billy King admits that the phone is ringing in Brooklyn, but he insists that he’s not the one doing the dialing.

“Are we aggressively shopping our guys? No. Have we had a lot of conversations with people? Yes,” said King in an interview with Sarah Kustok and Lenn Robbins of BrooklynNets.com earlier tonight (via Roderick Boone of Newsday on Twitter).

King went on to explain (link) that he wants to “see this group play” before making any deals. In fact, King said that he wants to sit back and evaluate things between now and the All-Star break before doing anything at all, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (on Twitter). “Then, if a deal makes sense, we’ll do it,” the GM said. The Nets will play their last game before the break on February 10th and won’t resume action until February 20th.

Despite the Nets’ struggles so far this season (they’re 18-28 heading into tonight’s tilt against the Clippers), King says that he still believes that the Nets have enough talent to make it to the playoffs. With that in mind, King says that he will not make a deal just for the heck of it (via Andy Vasquez of The Bergen Record on Twitter). Still, he has spoken to Joe Johnson, Brook Lopez, and Deron Williams about the possibility being traded (via Boone on Twitter).

Recently, the Nets have been discussing Lopez with the Nuggets, though it appears that things have been dormant for the last week. The Nets could also upgrade their roster in the coming weeks without making a trade as they are looking into old friend Andray Blatche.

DraftKings NBA $55K Layup

January 16th, 2015 at 12:01am CST by Chuck Myron

The following is a sponsored post from DraftKings.

Win big in just a single night with DraftKings! The entry fee for the NBA $55K Layup is just $2. If you’re a first-time depositor, the contest is free, plus you receive matching funds in your DraftKings account up to $600. First place wins a cool $5,000, and rest of the $50,000 in prize money will be handed out among the top 6,600 finishers, so there are plenty of chances to cash in.

All you have to do is draft a team of the best fantasy performers in this salary-cap style pick ‘em. You have $50,000 to select eight players — one at all five positions, plus another guard, another forward, and a utility player. The deadline to enter is tonight at 6:00pm Central time.

Here’s a look at my team, which features a host of Suns going against Minnesota’s league-worst defense:

Don’t hesitate! Sign up for tonight’s NBA $55K Layup and you may be the one taking home $5,000!

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Western Notes: Curry, Jackson, Green

January 12th, 2015 at 10:15pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Stephen Curry is a legit contender to win the 2014/15 most valuable player award, opines Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group. The Warriors have the league’s best record at 29-5 and Curry’s player efficiency rating is 27.13, which ranks fourth best in the league. With those numbers, Curry belongs in the conversation for this season’s MVP award, along with James Harden, Anthony Davis and LeBron James, whose candidacy I briefly wrote about on Sunday.

Here’s more from the Warriors as well as another contender in the Western Conference:

The arrival of Dion Waiters might mean a further diminished role for Reggie Jackson, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. Jackson will be a restricted free agent in the offseason and Mayberry speculates that Jackson will garner a contract worth upwards of $12MM annually. For that price, the Thunder might be interested to see if they can get similar production off their bench from Waiters for a fraction of the cost.
The Warriors are constructed to contend for a championship this season, opines Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group. Golden State is the top ranked team in defensive efficiency this season. However, the window for the team to contend as currently constructed might be closing as key piece Draymond Green is set to become a restricted free agent. The team already has $82.6MM in salary commitments for next season and it will likely be forced to make a move if it wants to re-sign Green.
Warriors center Andrew Bogut says he has no relationship with former coach Mark Jackson, as Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group writes. “I haven’t heard from him since [his firing]. I know he keeps in touch with some guys on the team, but I’m kind of in a different crowd I think.” The Australian big man has played well this season under new coach Steve Kerr. He is averaging 2.0 blocks per game and sports a player efficiency rating of 16.87.

Nets, Kings Discuss Deron Williams Deal

December 30th, 2014 at 11:55am CST by Chuck Myron

DECEMBER 30TH: The Nets also expressed interest in acquiring Nik Stauskas as part of a deal, but the Kings were reluctant to give him up, reports Tim Bontemps of the New York Post.

2:27pm: The talks aren’t completely dead, Broussard cautions in a full story, and a source tells the ESPN scribe that he expects the teams to continue their conversation until the February 19th trade deadline.

DECEMBER 23RD, 10:57am: The conversation between the Kings and Nets is “virtually dead,” since Plumlee, and not Williams, was Sacramento’s primary target and Brooklyn is unwilling to give up Plumlee, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

DECEMBER 20TH, 8:24pm: Talks aren’t ongoing for now, according to Alex Raskin of The Wall Street Journal (Twitter link). The Kings made the initial inquiry, according to Raskin and Devin Kharpertian of The Brooklyn Game (Twitter link). Still, the discussion is liable to pick back up, since the Nets are listening to all offers, Raskin tweets, adding that Brooklyn considers none of its players untradeable, an assertion that would seem to conflict with the other reports indicating that Plumlee is off-limits. Sources “emphatically” told Tim Bontemps of the New York Post that Plumlee isn’t going anywhere, however.

5:49pm: The Nets and Kings are in trade talks about Deron Williams, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who cautions that no deal is imminent. A source confirms the talks to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, who nonetheless hears that the sides aren’t at all close to a deal that this point (Twitter link). The discussion involves Darren Collison, Derrick Williams and Jason Thompson from Sacramento’s side, according to Wojnarowski. The Kings would like for Mason Plumlee to be a part of any transaction, and that’s a stumbling block from the Nets’ perspective, Wojnarowski adds. Plumlee is virtually untouchable as far as Brooklyn is concerned, Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck tweets, and the same is true of Sergey Karasev and Bojan Bogdanovic, as NetsDaily’s Robert Windrem hears (Twitter link). The Kings are high on Collison and hesitant to give him up, but the Nets want to have a point guard to replace Williams should they give him up, as the Yahoo scribe details.

The relationship between Deron Williams and the Nets has chilled over the past two years, and there’s mutual appeal to parting ways, sources tell Wojnarowski. Conversely, Williams and Kings coach Tyrone Corbin have a relationship that’s persisted since their years together in Utah, where Corbin was an assistant coach while Williams played with the Jazz. The Kings are thrilled with Collison so far this season, Wojnarowski writes. Still, they’ve poked around for an upgrade at point guard since signing Collison over the summer, having asked the Timberwolves about Ricky Rubio before Rubio signed his extension with Minnesota in October, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). The Kings maintained interest in Rajon Rondo, though the Celtics’ demands for him were reportedly too high for Sacramento’s liking.

The Nets have had talks about moving Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson of late as they appear ready to make major changes. They also looked into the idea of trading for Lance Stephenson and spoke to Boston about Rondo before he went to the Mavs, according to earlier reports.

Deron Williams’ salary of more than $19.754MM for this season and the two additional years that remain on his contract make him tough to move, especially considering the decline in his performance since he signed the maximum-salary deal as the marquee free agent in the 2012 market. He averaged 20.1 points and 8.7 assists the season before he signed the max contract and is putting up 15.6 PPG and 6.8 APG this season. Those numbers are similar to the 15.6 PPG and 6.1 APG that Collison is putting up for the Kings this year, as Windrem notes (on Twitter). Collison makes about $4.798MM this season, less than Derrick Williams and his salary of more than $6.331MM and Thompson, who’s getting almost $6.038MM.

Western Notes: Thunder, Daniels, Bjelica

December 28th, 2014 at 10:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Thunder are staying calm despite two devastating early-season injuries, reports Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. A hurt hand cost Russell Westbrook the first month of the season, and foot and ankle injuries have limited Kevin Durant to just nine games this season. “We want to get our guys healthy,” said coach Scott Brooks. “Until then, we want to keep improving so that when the guys come back, we’re a better team. These are great opportunities to build our team and our bench when Kevin comes back.”

There was more on Sunday from the Western Conference:

Troy Daniels is quickly finding a home with the Timberwolves, writes Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune. After being acquired from the Rockets in the December 19th trade that sent Corey Brewer to Houston, Daniels has impressed with his three-point shooting touch. He hit four from long distance in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s loss to the Warriors and wound up with 14 points in less than 9 minutes of action. “That’s my job,” Daniels said. “I always stay ready and shoot the ball when I’m open.” Daniels is in the first year of a two-year guaranteed contract for the minimum salary.
Wolves draft-and-stash prospect Nemanja Bjelica offers hope for ex-GM David Kahn‘s 2010 draft class, writes Zgoda. He’s currently in the midst of a season that has caught the eye of team president/coach Flip Saunders. “He has proven it this year,” Saunders said. “He has taken his game to another step up, to where he’s ready to come over here. He has potential because he’s 6’10” or 6’11”, but he’s very skilled. He’s a guy we’ll definitely follow.”
Nuggets rookie Jusuf Nurkic is impressing early on in his NBA career, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. “He’s my type of player,” Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried said. “He likes to bang. He likes to rebound.” Nurkic, a 6’11” big man, has earned more playing time of late, seeing 16.1 minutes per contest in his last eight games.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Central Notes: James, Boozer, Jerebko

December 26th, 2014 at 9:10am CST by Arthur Hill

The Cavaliers felt the absence of Anderson Varejao in Thursday’s loss to the Heat, writes Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. In its first game since the announcement that Varejao would miss the rest of the season with a torn Achilles tendon, Cleveland suffered a 10-point loss. Vardon noted the Cavs were late on defensive rotations and were slow getting to the kind of loose balls that Varejao typically chases down. “Guys just have to step up and do a little bit more than what they’ve been doing before,” said LeBron James, “but you can’t replace him.”

There’s more from the Central Division:

The Heat’s Dwyane Wade continues to defend James’ decision to leave Miami, telling Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that a different standard exists for players and teams. “It’s tough in this league,” Wade said. “When a player makes a decision, and however you make it, there is always backlash. But when an organization makes it, it’s the right thing for an organization to do. And it’s fine. Josh Smith just got cut. It was the right thing for the Pistons to do. It’s fine. LeBron James or players make decisions in free agency, then it becomes a different situation.”
Another player who didn’t have a happy homecoming Thursday was Carlos Boozer, reports Jon Greenberg of ESPNChicago.com. The Lakers’ forward returned to Chicago for the first time since being amnestied by the Bulls over the summer. Despite an unfriendly reception — Boozer was booed repeatedly by the Chicago crowd — Boozer still has a fondness for the Windy City. “This is like a second home for me,” he said. “I know everybody here. We became like a family over the years.”
Jonas Jerebko could benefit from all the turmoil in Detroit this week, according to Brendan Savage of MLive. The veteran Pistons’ forward, whose contract expires at season’s end, sees an opportunity to pick up more playing time after the release of Smith. “Obviously, with a 4 man gone — I see myself as a 4 man — a lot more minutes open up in practice and in games,” Jerebko said. “I feel like I’m ready to take that step and I’m ready to go in there and battle for them.

Poll: Will The Mavs Win The Title With Rondo?

December 21st, 2014 at 10:55am CST by ChrisCrouse

Earlier in the week, the Mavs acquired four-time All-Star Rajon Rondo and reserve forward Dwight Powell from the Celtics in exchange for Brandan Wright, Jae Crowder, Jameer Nelson, the Mavs’ 2015 first-rounder and a 2016 second-rounder. The team was looking for improvement in order to push itself into the upper echelon in the Western Conference.

Dallas didn’t need any help on the offensive end. The Mavs were already scoring 110.1 points per game, which was best in the league. The primary reason for the trade, according to owner Mark Cuban, was to bolster the team’s defense. The point guard position was the weakest area for the Mavs, and their upgrades on defense could pay real dividends. When the playoffs come, one of Dallas’ biggest challenges will be defending All-Star point guards like Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard and Tony Parker. This would have been problematic for the Mavs without Rondo. By turning their biggest weakness into a perceived strength, the Mavs now stand a fighting chance.

However, there are reasons to temper expectations after the trade. Dallas gave up three role players and by doing so, the team’s lack of depth becomes a liability, especially at the backup center position. The Mavs are now relying on 32-year-old Tyson Chandler to stay healthy without having a proven option behind him. The team is the front-runner to sign veteran free agent Jermaine O’Neal and he would fill that void, but it is unclear how big of role the 36-year-old will be able to play at this stage in his career.

Overall, the move would seem to be a net positive for Dallas, at least for this season. After going 0-5 against incumbent Western Conference playoff teams to begin the year, the team realized it needed to make adjustments in order to make it out of a tough Western Conference and reach the NBA Finals. After their blockbuster trade, how far will the Mavs advance this season?

Atlantic Notes: Anthony, Stevens, Kirilenko

December 13th, 2014 at 6:29pm CST by Arthur Hill

It may be time for Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony to consider knee surgery, suggests Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. Citing Anthony’s troublesome knee pain and the Knicks’ miserable 5-20 record, Begley writes that shutting down their star player for the season might be the best solution. Anthony, whose status is uncertain for Sunday’s game with the Raptors, said he considers surgery a last resort. He is in the first season of a five-year, $124MM deal he signed with the Knicks after being one of last summer’s most hotly pursued free agents.

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Despite the Knicks‘ lousy start, Anthony isn’t having second thoughts about staying in New York, writes Mike Lupica of The Daily News. “After all the work I did to get here and get back here? If I was to get up and want to leave now that would just make me weak, make me have a weak mind,” Anthony said in response to a question after Friday’s victory over the Celtics. “I’ve never been a person to try to run from any adversity or anything like that so I’m not going to pick today to do that.”
Are the rigors of another losing season taking their toll on Celtics coach Brad Stevens, asks A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. At 7-14, Boston is two wins behind its pace of last season and ranks 28th in the league in points allowed. But Stevens, who built a successful college program at Butler before coming to the Celtics, retains respect around the league. “He runs a lot of good stuff that works for the players they have,” an unidentified Eastern Conference scout said of Stevens. “But other than Marcus Smart, they’re not very good defensively and the Smart kid keeps getting hurt. Most nights, it’s their defense that kills them.”
Seventeen months ago, the Nets‘ signing of Andrei Kirilenko seemed like a steal, recalls Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily. The veteran forward, a Russian native just like team owner Mikhail Prokhorov, agreed to join the Nets for less than a third of the $10MM annual salary he was making with the Timberwolves. But the relationship quickly soured. Back spasms kept Kirilenko off the court early in the year, and he saw limited playing time throughout the season and playoffs. Kirilenko was traded to the Sixers earlier this week.

And-Ones: Cousins, Clifford, Knicks, Covington

December 8th, 2014 at 9:56pm CST by Alex Lee

We heard yesterday that DeMarcus Cousins has been out for the past two weeks with a case of viral meningitis and could miss another week or two as he recovers. Kings head coach Michael Malone said today that Cousins is out “indefinitely,” reports Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee (via Twitter). After a 9-5 start, Sacramento has lost four of five without its emerging superstar. Let’s take a look at what else is going around the Association:

The Hornets‘ playoff appearance last season automatically triggered a team option for the third year of head coach Steve Clifford‘s contract, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Clifford, hired in May 2013, signed a three-year, $6MM deal with Charlotte that is now officially fully guaranteed through next season.
While the disappointing Knicks might not be ready to turn their focus toward the draft, team president Phil Jackson also said that he doesn’t plan to make any in-season moves that might jeopardize the team’s long-term flexibility, writes Ian Begley of ESPN.com. “I’m not going to make movement for movement’s sake,” Jackson said. “There is sometimes addition by subtraction but I don’t see anybody that doesn’t want to be part of this organization, doesn’t want to play with his teammates, doesn’t want to learn… What we have to do is protect our future… If we evaluate a player and see he’s going to be a long-term player who is going to fit in our organization, we’ll do that.”
Duke center Jahlil Okafor remains the top prospect in the latest update to Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings, while high school senior Jaylen Brown, a small forward, is No. 1 on Givony’s 2016 mock draft.
Robert Covington has quickly worked his way into Brett Brown‘s rotation in Philadelphia, writes Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Sixers added Covington in mid-November and he has averaged 9.5 points in 11 games since arriving in Philly. However, the Tennessee State product has scored 63 points and played significant minutes in Philadelphia’s last three contests, two of which the success-starved Sixers have won.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.