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Wizards Notes: Oubre Jr., Frontcourt, Draft

June 2nd, 2017 at 9:31pm CST by Austin Kent

Second-year Wizards guard Kelly Oubre Jr. underwent platelet-rich plasma injections in his right knee today, Candace Bucker of the Washington Post reports. As a result, he won’t return to basketball activities until later this summer and even when he is cleared to play, he’s expected to sit out of July’s summer league.

Oubre Jr. was plagued by lingering knee issues for a number of weeks but didn’t miss any games due to the injury during the regular season or postseason.

PRP injections have gained in popularity around the league of late with Isaiah Thomas, D’Angelo Russell and Reggie Jackson all undergoing the procedure with mixed results in 2016/17 alone. Per Buckner, the goal of the procedure is to promote healing by injecting the patient’s blood into the injured area.

There’s more from the Wizards:

  • There are a number of eligible frontcourt alternatives that the Wizards could pursue should they decide to part ways with Marcin Gortat and Ian Mahinmi, including a pair of bigs who plied their trade for playoff contenders in 2016/17. J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic discusses what players like Dewayne Dedmon and Kelly Olynyk could bring to the table.
  • Expect the implementation of two-way contracts to impact how teams like the Wizards draft players, J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic writes in a separate feature. With the new collective bargaining agreement, teams will be able to sign two players in addition to the usual 15 and those players will be able to bounce back and forth between their big league clubs and their Gatorade League affiliates.
  • The Wizards are actively seeking a reliable backup point guard for John Wall, Candace Buckner of the Washington Post writes in a separate article, after trialing a number of options in a carousal of options in 2016/17. The club has been busy auditioning shooters ahead of this month’s draft.
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Wizards Notes: Free Agency, Workouts, Beal, Brooks

May 30th, 2017 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

As John Wall has suggested, fortifying the bench will be a priority for the Wizards this offseason, so J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com has examined the upcoming free agent market in an effort to identify some potential fits for Washington. Assuming they remain over the cap, which is a near certainty, the Wizards will have the mid-level, bi-annual, and minimum salary exceptions available to sign players, giving them a little flexibility.

In three separate pieces, Michael lists some potential point guard backups for Wall, a few possible backups for Beal at the two, and several veteran forwards who could be targets. While some of the players on Michael’s lists, such as J.J. Redick and Patty Mills, may end up being out of Washington’s price range, there are a handful of intriguing names noted, including Darren Collison, Kyle Korver, and Patrick Patterson.

Here’s more on the Wizards:

  • The Wizards are bringing in six prospects for a pre-draft workout on Tuesday, the team announced in a press release. Jamel Artis (Pittsburgh), James Blackmon Jr. (Indiana), Daniel Dixon (William & Mary), D.J. Fenner (Nevada), Monte Morris (Iowa State), and Melo Trimble (Maryland) will get a closer look from the club.
  • When the Wizards signed Bradley Beal to a maximum-salary, five-year contract last summer, there was skepticism among NBA observers that it was the right call. However, as Chase Hughes of CSNMidAtlantic.com writes, Beal showed in the first year of the deal that he’s capable of living up to it and making good on Washington’s $127MM+ investment.
  • New head coach Scott Brooks turned out to be another solid investment for the Wizards, Hughes details in a separate piece for CSNMidAtlantic.com. “I think as a team we respect him,” Beal said of Brooks. “On the outside of coaching, he’s a really down-to-earth guy. He has a relationship with everyone on the team. I think everybody loves that. He holds everybody accountable. Me, I loved him. He granted everybody confidence and freedom on both ends of the floor, especially offense.”
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Nets Will Pursue Otto Porter, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

May 26th, 2017 at 9:00am CST by Arthur Hill

The Nets are planning an aggressive push for restricted free agents again, with Washington’s Otto Porter and Detroit’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as targets, tweets Keith Smith of RealGM.

It would be the continuation of a strategy that resulted in a four-year, $75MM offer sheet for Portland’s Allen Crabbe and a four-year, $50MM offer to Miami’s Tyler Johnson last summer. Both deals were matched by their current teams.

Similar offers this year would create financial dilemmas for the Wizards and Pistons, Smith adds (Twitter link).

Brooklyn has about $27MM in cap room right now and could easily get into position to offer a max deal to Porter or Caldwell-Pope. Most of that salary for next season is tied up in Brook Lopez ($22.6MM) and Jeremy Lin ($12MM), with eight players on the roster making between $1.12MM and $1.7MM.

A fourth-year small forward, Porter has been a starter in Washington the past two seasons. He averaged 13.4 points and 6.4 rebounds in 80 games this year. Although the Wizards own his Bird rights, the team is in a bind with only about $7MM in cap space and the need to re-sign Bojan Bogdanovic and rebuild a faltering bench.

Caldwell-Pope has been Detroit’s starter at shooting guard for the past three and a half seasons and averaged 13.8 points per game this year. The Pistons are about $3MM over the cap entering this summer.

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John Wall Talks Bench Help, Recruiting Free Agents

May 25th, 2017 at 3:26pm CST by ChrisCrouse

John Wall is eligible for the CBA’s new Designated Veteran Player Extention and the Wizards would like to sign him to one this summer. It was previously reported that Wall would like to see the front office’s plans for the future before signing with the team long-term. He wants to win a title, but Washington isn’t a true title contender just yet.

The team will look to make upgrades this summer and Wall would like to see the team add help off the bench, as he tells Comcast Sportsnet. “We need to help our bench,” Wall said. “Just to be honest, that was our downfall in each series that we had in the [Eastern Conference] semifinals, our bench got out played.”

The point guard was asked if he’ll play an active role in the recruiting of free agents and it sounds like he has no plans to spend his summer convincing other players to join him. “I don’t think I have to do that. They understand and see what we do as a team over here: how we play together, how we move the ball. I think guys will just come if they want to come,” Wall said.

Despite the need for reinforcements, Wall believes the team is close to his goal. “We have our main core guys. I think adding a couple little pieces here and there will help us get over the hump,” he said. “Even with all that, we still feel like we had a chance by getting to a Game 7. We had a 50-50 chance of getting to the Eastern Conference Finals. We were one game away. We couldn’t ask for more.”

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Wizards Confident And Comfortable With Otto Porter

May 23rd, 2017 at 7:22pm CST by marksuleymanov

Despite a strong regular season, Hawks center Dwight Howard was merely a struggling spectator for most of the team’s brief playoff run, which ended with a 4-2 series loss to the Wizards. Information in the days after the elimination revealed Howard was pulled over on the morning of Game 6, and he teased possibly leaving and joining a franchise where he’s a focal point.

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Several Teams Interested In Otto Porter

May 23rd, 2017 at 2:39pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Wizards have no intention of letting Otto Porter walk in restricted free agency, but a bevy of rival teams will try to pry him from Washington, Sean Deveney of Sporting News reports. The Nets have long been interested in Porter and Deveney adds that the Sixers and Magic will consider making the small forward an offer this summer.

It was recently reported that an extension for John Wall will be at the top of the team’s list and the organization would like to get that done before moving onto other objectives, which include a Porter deal. One anonymous GM cautions that Washington shouldn’t wait too long to come to terms with the Georgetown product.

“If his situation goes past the first couple of days of free agency, it will cost them because some of these teams that have space and miss out on the players they have in mind to start with are going to move quickly to the restricted [free agents],” one GM told Deveney. “And Otto Porter is going to be at the top of that list, even at $100 million.”

The Mavericks had intended to pursue Porter, but that was before they acquired a restricted free agent of their own in Nerlens Noel. Deveney suggests that Dallas may not be looking to tie up its cap space on a rival restricted free agent while its own player is free to sign with other teams. Noel is expected to receive a lucrative offer from the franchise and once he signs with the team, nearly all of the team’s cap space will be exhausted. Then again, Owner Mark Cuban could always work out a verbal agreement with Noel, akin to what Detroit did with Andre Drummond, which would allow the Mavs to use its cap space on other players before circling back to a Noel deal.

Porter, who went to college in the Washington area and is comfortable in the city, has little reason to give the Wizards a discount, Deveney adds. It was previously reported that Porter could be a candidate for a max contract. The salary cap is projected to come in at $101MM next year, meaning the soon-to-be 24-year-old could command a starting salary of slightly over $25MM in a four-year deal worth north of $115MM.

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Wizards To Pursue John Wall Extension

May 22nd, 2017 at 2:28pm CST by ChrisCrouse

An extension for John Wall will be Washington’s top priority this offseason, sources tell J. Michael of Comcast Sportsnet. The team hasn’t yet reached out to Wall, but the front office is expected to do so now that Wall has made an All-NBA team this season and is eligible for the Designated Veteran Player Extension.

Wall can sign on for an additional four years and nearly $170MM with the CBA’s new extension. While that may be tempting to most, Wall isn’t ready to sign on the dotted line just yet. Sources tell Michael that Wall would like to see the front office’s plan for the future before committing long-term.

Wall had his most effective season as a pro during the 2016/17 season. He scored 23.1 points, dished out 10.7 assists and made 45.1% of his shots from the field. He wasn’t able to elevate the Wizards past the second round in the Eastern Conference, but that was arguably due to the team’s lack of firepower off the bench.

The Wizards will have several pressing issues this offseason, including Otto Porter‘s restricted free agency. Locking up Wall long-term is No. 1 on the list and once they know how long the point guard will be in Washington, they can move onto other objectives.

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Wizards Need Bench Upgrade; Sheppard Interviewed By Hawks

May 21st, 2017 at 10:28pm CST by Austin Kent

The Wizards fell just shy of the Celtics in their Eastern Conference Semifinal showdown and now must look at ways to improve if they hope to take the next step as a potential contender. One place they can start, point guard John Wall tells Chris Miller of CSN Mid-Atlantic, is with their bench.

“I think we have to add pieces to help our bench,” the Wizards All-Star said. “Just to be honest I think that’s been our downfall.”

While Wall and shooting guard Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 27.2 and 24.8 respective points per game this postseason, mid-season trade acquisition Bojan Bogdanovic was their most potent reserve averaging a modest 8.8 points per game.

Brandon Jennings, another mid-season Wizards target charged with the task of jump-starting the second unit, posted averages of just 2.8 points and 1.8 assists per game in the playoffs.

  • The Hawks have interviewed Wizards VP of basketball operations, Tommy Sheppard and Warriors assistant general manager Travis Schlenk in their ongoing search for a new executive, Marc Stein of ESPN writes.
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Will There Be Roles For Both Gortat, Mahinmi Next Season?

May 19th, 2017 at 10:04am CST by Luke Adams
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No Paul George, Gordon Hayward On All-NBA Teams

May 18th, 2017 at 1:08pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially announced its All-NBA teams for the 2016/17 season, and neither Paul George nor Gordon Hayward is among the 15 players honored. That’s big news for both players and their teams, since they’ll be ineligible for the Designated Veteran Extension, reducing the amount of money the Pacers and Jazz – respectively – could offer their star forwards in contract extensions this offseason.

Here are this year’s All-NBA teams:

All-NBA First Team

All-NBA Second Team

All-NBA Third Team

Based on this year’s All-NBA voting results, Wall is now eligible to sign a Designated Veteran Extension this summer, while Leonard is eligible to sign one next summer. Harden, Westbrook, and Curry are also eligible to sign DVEs this summer, as Bobby Marks of The Vertical notes (via Twitter).

Those Designated Veteran Extensions – which are dependent on a player making an All-NBA team in the year before he signs an extension, or in two of the previous three years – apply to players finishing up their rookie scale extensions. They allow a player re-signing with his own team to earn up to 35% of the salary cap, rather than just 30%. So, if we assume a $101MM salary cap for 2017/18, a player like Curry could sign a new Warriors contract with a starting salary of $35.35MM, instead of $30.3MM.

The Pacers and Jazz will still be able to offer George and Hayward larger and longer contracts than any other team, but the advantage won’t be as significant as it would have been if those players had earned All-NBA spots. Teams can offer their own Bird-rights free agents up to five years (instead of four) and 8% raises (instead of 5%).

Hayward figures to opt out of his contract and become a free agent this summer, while George is expected to reach free agency in 2018. George could still become eligible for the DVE in ’18 if the Pacers hang onto him through next season and he earns All-NBA honors a year from now. However, there’s no guarantee that Indiana will be willing to take that risk.

As for the rest of the All-NBA votes, there weren’t any major surprises, particularly on the first two teams. Perhaps the biggest surprise, in a year which was dominated by four clear-cut MVP candidates, is that Harden was the only player who received 100 out of 100 possible First Team votes. Westbrook and James received 99 apiece, while Leonard received 96.

Note: Hoops Rumors readers voted last month on All-NBA teams, and our squads looked awfully close to the official ones, with a couple notable exceptions. You can check out the results of our voting right here.

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