Wizards Rumors

2015 NBA Draft Grades: Southeast Division

The 2015 NBA Draft is squarely in the rearview and a number of draftees have already provided a taste of what is to come with their summer league play. I held off on my grades until now because I wanted a better context in which to evaluate each team’s selections, with free agency and summer league providing greater perspective. Sometimes, selecting the best available player isn’t the best course of action and it is wiser to nab a player who fits a clear need, which should always be considered when rating how each front office fared in the draft. I’ve already run down my thoughts on the Atlantic and Central Divisions, and next up is a look at the Southeast Division:

Atlanta Hawks

Team Needs: Depth, scoring.

Draft Picks:

  • No. 50 Overall  Marcus Eriksson, SG, Sweden
  • No. 59 Overall  Dimitrios Agravanis, F, Greece

Atlanta’s haul on draft night amounted to two draft-and-stash players whose NBA futures are murky at best, and Tim Hardaway Jr., whom the team acquired from the Knicks in exchange for the No. 19 overall pick that had been garnered in a swap with the Wizards earlier in the draft. So in essence, the Hawks dealt the No. 15 overall pick in the 2015 draft for 2013’s No. 24 overall choice. While I do think that Hardaway could benefit from a change of scenery, I firmly believe that Atlanta would have done better to hold onto its original pick and simply used it to select Kelly Oubre, who was taken by Washington at No. 15 overall.

Oubre, while he didn’t live up to expectations during his lone season at Kansas, has the potential to be a two-way star in the NBA. Hardaway, while being a nice complementary offensive player, has shown himself to be fairly one-dimensional thus far in his professional career. Hardaway is also a bit of a redundant a piece with Kyle Korver already on the roster, which makes the trade even more of a head-scratcher in my view. I would even go as far as saying that keeping the No. 19 overall pick, Jerian Grant, would have benefited the franchise more than adding the former Knicks shooting guard.

Overall Draft Grade: D. While the Hawks did land a proven commodity in Hardaway, Oubre has the potential to be a far better NBA player. Atlanta would have been better served to simply hold onto their original selection instead of wheeling and dealing in the first round.


Charlotte Hornets

Team Needs: Outside shooting, frontcourt depth

Draft Picks:

  • No. 9 Overall Frank Kaminsky, PF, Wisconsin

It feels as if the Hornets have been searching for a player who can stretch the floor on offense for ages, with outside shooting being one of the team’s main weaknesses for a few seasons running. That’s why I found it a surprise that Charlotte passed on Devin Booker with its pick and instead went with Kaminsky. Sure, Kaminsky is certainly capable of filling up a stat sheet from the outside, but the team could have used a wing player who can shoot much more than a stretch-four. Or, perhaps I should say, another stretch-four, given that the team traded for Spencer Hawes this offseason. The addition of Hawes should have allowed for GM Rich Cho to land an impact player on the wing like Booker, or Duke’s Justise Winslow, who may end up haunting Charlotte if he becomes a two-way star in the league.

Kaminsky is limited athletically, and while he is certainly a fierce competitor who is very skilled offensively, his defensive shortcomings will lower his overall ceiling as a prospect. I’m rooting for “Frank the Tank” to succeed in the league, but I can easily see him becoming a specialist like Steve Novak, and reduced to sporadic minutes in reserve. Which is not what you want out of a top 10 pick, especially given some of the talent still on the board when Charlotte was on the clock on draft night.

Overall Draft Grade: C+. The selection of Kaminsky was puzzling given the presence of Hawes, the team’s greater needs at the wing and center positions, and the availability of Winslow and Booker at the No. 9 spot. Kaminsky is a solid player, but the team could have utilized this pick much more effectively.


Miami Heat

Team Needs: Youth, depth at wing and at center.

Draft Picks:

  • No. 10 Overall Justise Winslow, SF, Duke
  • No. 40 Overall  Josh Richardson, SG, Tennessee

Team president Pat Riley likely stared at his draft board in disbelief when the Heat’s pick was due and he saw that Winslow was still available at No. 10 overall. Winslow had been projected by a number of mock drafts to be a potential top five pick, so landing him where Miami did cannot be considered anything but a steal for the franchise. The former Duke swingman can provide depth for both Dwyane Wade at shooting guard and Luol Deng at small forward, and given the age and injury concerns for both players, that’s a huge boon for the team. There are concerns about Winslow’s ability to hit his outside shots consistently, but his athleticism and defensive abilities should garner Winslow regular minutes as he figures things out.

The addition of Richardson isn’t likely to have much, if any, impact on the coming season for Miami. It’s doubtful that the swingman will make the team’s regular season roster, though his defensive acumen should ensure him a slot on the Heat’s D-League affiliate for 2015/16.

Overall Draft Grade: A+. It’s hard to find any fault with the Heat selecting a player of Winslow’s potential, especially with the 10th overall pick. Fantastic job for Riley, who continues to show why he’s one of the best executives in the game by not overthinking the selection.


Orlando Magic

Team Needs: Depth, outside shooting.

Draft Picks:

  • No. 5 Overall Mario Hezonja, SG, Croatia
  • No. 51 Overall  Tyler Harvey, SG, Eastern Washington

Like Charlotte, it seems as if Orlando has been searching for a player who can light up the scoreboard from the outside for an eternity. The Magic are hoping that Hezonja, whom the team selected over better-known talents like Justise Winslow, Stanley Johnson, Devin Booker, and Frank Kaminsky with the fifth overall pick, will be the bounty of their quest. While Hezonja certainly has the skills and athletic ability to justify such a high selection, there are legitimate concerns regarding his maturity level and ability to accept coaching, which, if true, will hamper the Croatian’s development significantly. But if Hezonja manages to live up to his predraft hype, the Magic landed themselves a potential star who can fill up the rim from anywhere inside the arena.

My concern for Orlando is the high washout rate of European draftees in the NBA, and the risk the franchise took in nabbing Hezonja that high in the first round. While the upside of Hezonja is certainly tantalizing, the team may have been better served to select a more NBA-ready player in Willie Cauley-Stein, Winslow, or Booker at that slot. All of whom would have filled an obvious need for Orlando, and carried less risk while doing so.

I’m a bigger fan of GM Rob Hennigan nabbing Eastern Washington sharpshooter Tyler Harvey toward the bottom of the second round than I am of his selection of Hezonja. Harvey needs development as a player, but he’s a lethal shooter who needs to be accounted for by defenders the moment he crosses the halfcourt line. There are concerns with his level of athleticism, but he is a smart and savvy player who has the potential to become a solid contributor off of the bench for Orlando in a few seasons.

Overall Draft Grade: B+. I’ll give Hennigan credit for taking a gamble on the upside of Hezonja, but there were a number of players who could have filled the team’s needs at No. 5 overall who didn’t possess as many question marks about their NBA future.


Washington Wizards

Team Needs: Small forward, depth.

Draft Picks:

  • No. 15 Overall  Kelly Oubre, SF, Kansas*
  • No. 49 Overall  Aaron White, F, Iowa

*Acquired from Hawks in exchange for the No. 19 overall pick and two future second-rounders.

The Wizards entered the draft needing to land themselves a wing player who would complement their starting backcourt tandem of John Wall and Bradley Beal, as well as to replace Paul Pierce, who signed a free agent deal with the Clippers this offseason. Washington made a smart trade with Atlanta, swapping first-rounders and giving up two future second round picks in exchange for the opportunity to land Oubre.

The swingman out of Kansas was a disappointment during his lone season with the Jayhawks, never coming close to delivering on the preseason hype that his impending arrival in Lawrence wrought. Oubre’s freshman campaign had a rocky start, with the 19-year-old often looking completely lost on the court and receiving sporadic playing time as a result. But Oubre did turn things around as the season progressed, and Washington landed itself a heck of a talent outside of the lottery. Oubre’s defense is more NBA-ready than his offense is, and he’ll learn the hard way that it takes more than athleticism to be an effective scorer in the pros. But I do expect Oubre to develop into a starter, and possibly a future All-Star, though it often won’t be a smooth ride. But full credit is due to the Wizards’ front office, who made a solid deal on draft night to land themselves a player who fits their needs perfectly.

Overall Draft Grade: A+. Great move by GM Ernie Grunfeld to move up in the first round via trade and to land Oubre at No. 15 overall. He fits an obvious team need, and Oubre has the potential to be a two-way star in a few seasons.

Southeast Notes: Beal, Batum, Spoelstra, Hezonja

The Wizards and Bradley Beal have kept up a dialogue throughout the offseason, but they haven’t made much progress toward an extension, sources tell Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post. That’s not surprising, since the deadline is still weeks away, though both sides have reason not to do an extension at all and wait to strike a deal until next summer, since Beal can get a longer contract then and the Wizards can keep his cap hold low and retain flexibility, Castillo writes. I examined Beal’s extension candidacy further last week. See more from the Southeast Division:
  • Shaun Powell of NBA.com speculates that it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Hornets offer Nicolas Batum an extension. The small forward, whose contract expires after this season, is eligible for a veteran extension, though he could receive better terms if he signs one on or after the six-month anniversary of the June 24th trade that brought him to the Hornets, as I noted here. In any case, Powell likes most of the moves Charlotte has made this summer after the disastrous Lance Stephenson signing of last year.
  • Erik Spoelstra is the second-longest tenured coach in the NBA, but he’s never won a playoff series without LeBron James, so he faces pressure this season with a Heat team expected to advance beyond the first round, opines Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.
  • Mario Hezonja‘s potent, versatile offensive game prevailed upon the Magic to ignore a more pressing need at power forward with the fifth overall pick, writes Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel. The Magic are well-stocked at the wing, but Hezonja may well emerge as the ideal sixth man, playing both the two and the three, Schmitz argues.

Pelicans Work Out Rasual Butler

Free agent Rasual Butler worked out for the Pelicans at their practice facility Wednesday, sources tell John Reid of The Times Picayune, who writes at the bottom of a story about the team’s signing of Sean Kilpatrick. Before this, the Spurs were the last team with interest linked to the 36-year-old, with Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops reporting that San Antonio continued to eye Butler after The Oregonian’s Jason Quick first identified the Spurs as an interested party in early July. The swingman would like to play for the Heat, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald wrote a few days ago, though it’s unclear if Miami wants that to happen.

Butler expressed a desire this past spring to return to the Wizards, with whom he played last season after making the regular season roster on a non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary, and he appeared eager to join the Blazers after they became interested soon after free agency began this summer. Portland reportedly shifted gears away from him soon thereafter, however.

No movement appears to be taking place in negotiations between the Pelicans and lingering restricted free agent Norris Cole, Reid notes, leaving the team with 13 fully guaranteed contracts, plus partially guaranteed deals for Kilpatrick and undrafted shooting guard Bryce Dejean-Jones, as our Pelicans roster page shows. The team also worked out shooting guard Corey Webster, a prospect from New Zealand, as Niall Anderson of The New Zealand Herald reported and as Reid confirms.

Do you think Butler would be a fit for the Pelicans? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Wizards Sign Toure’ Murry

SEPTEMBER 9TH, 10:57pm: Murry has signed with the Wizards, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (on Twitter).

AUGUST 28TH, 4:18pm: The Wizards have agreed to a deal with unrestricted free agent Toure’ Murry, J. Michael of CSNMid-Atlantic reports. The pact is a non-guaranteed training camp arrangement, Michael notes. The addition of the guard will give the Wizards a roster count of 17 players, 15 of whom possess fully guaranteed contracts, making it a longshot for Murry to make the opening night roster.

Murry had inked a one-year, $1MM contract with Utah last offseason, but it was only partially guaranteed, and he saw just one minute of action with the Jazz prior to his January release, much to the dismay of his agent, Bernie Lee. Murry later resurfaced on a pair of 10-day contracts with the Wizards, for whom he totaled six points in 17 minutes.

The Lakers had reportedly brought in Murry as part of a group workout held in Los Angeles earlier this month, though no contract offer came out of that showcase for the 25-year-old.

Wizards To Bring Ish Smith To Camp

SEPTEMBER 9TH, 10:56pm: The signing is official, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (via Twitter).

SEPTEMBER 8TH, 11:27am: The Wizards have a non-guaranteed pact with Ish Smith for training camp, reports Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post (Twitter link). Castillo also confirms an earlier report from J. Michael of CSNWashington.com that Washington will bring Toure’ Murry to camp on a non-guaranteed contract, too. Smith and Murry have already put pen to paper, according to Castillo, though the team has yet to make a formal announcement.

Washington also agreed to a non-guaranteed camp deal with undrafted UNC-Asheville center Jaleel Roberts, as Shams Charania reported at that point for RealGM, though Castillo refers to Roberts as a “possibility” for the Wizards (Twitter links). In any case, Smith, Murry and Roberts all seem to face long odds to make Washington’s roster, which includes 15 others who have fully guaranteed contracts.

Smith finished last season with the Sixers, and on a roster painfully short on point guard options, the five-year veteran had the most productive stretch of his career, averaging 12.0 points, 6.1 assists and 2.8 turnovers in 27.1 minutes per game across 25 appearances. He expressed interest at season’s end in a return to Philadelphia, but his unrestricted free agency this summer has been surprisingly quiet, with a lack of reports about any teams in pursuit. It’s possible that he was waiting on the Sixers, whose flurry of activity over Labor Day weekend left them with no more wiggle room for their camp roster, though that’s just my speculation.

The Raymond Brothers client signed a fully guaranteed contract for the minimum salary with the Rockets last summer, but Houston waived him before the start of the regular season. The Thunder added him as their 16th man via the hardship provision in November and kept him over Sebastian Telfair when they trimmed back down to 15 players. Oklahoma City nonetheless traded him to the Pelicans at the deadline, and New Orleans immediately released him. That’s when the Sixers jumped into the picture, claiming him off waivers two days later.

Do you think Ish Smith deserves to stick with the Wizards? If so, which of their 15 fully guaranteed contracts should go? Leave a comment to tell us.

Southeast Notes: Hawks, Beal, Frye, Heat

The Hawks have gone through several key changes since Bruce Levenson self-reported racially charged emails he’d sent and announced a year ago today that he was selling the team, as Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution recaps. Tony Ressler took over for Levenson as the principal owner, Mike Budenholzer assumed former GM Danny Ferry‘s responsibilities and received a promotion, and Tiago Splitter and Tim Hardaway Jr. replaced DeMarre Carroll and Pero Antic as key parts of the roster. The team now faces the challenge of improving upon a season that saw “the most remarkable on-court run in franchise history,” as Vivlamore puts it. While we wait to find out where the Hawks go from here, see more from the Southeast Division:

  • Some people around the Wizards had questioned Bradley Beal‘s work ethic and whether he could become a great player, but the season that Paul Pierce spent in Washington helped Beal more than anyone else on the team, many Wizards insiders feel, reports Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders. Pierce opted out and signed with the Clippers, so it remains to be seen how Beal, whose extension candidacy I examined in depth Friday, will perform without the veteran mentor.
  • Channing Frye put up his lowest numbers in five years this past season after signing a four-year, $32MM deal with the Magic, and while he started 51 games, the Magic insisted that they brought him in as more of a complementary player than as a starter, writes Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel. Next month, the 32-year-old Frye will try to hold off Aaron Gordon, who turns 20 in a few weeks, for a starting spot, but Frye would best serve the Magic in a reserve role that would emphasize his floor-stretching abilities, Schmitz believes.
  • Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel won’t be surprised if the Heat open the regular season with only 14 players on the roster, though he contends in his mailbag column that the team faces depth issues.

Eastern Notes: Beal, Pacers, Celtics

Bradley Beal is a very talented player with a lot of upside and one who will receive a maximum deal from a different team if the Wizards don’t sign him to a max extension, Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders opines. Hamilton takes into account the expected rise in the league’s salary cap and suggests that Beal is likely worth a large contract because of the league’s current market. Our own Chuck Myron recently examined Beal’s extension candidacy. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported in May that the Wizards were committed to paying him the max, but talks didn’t really begin until mid-July, and the sides apparently met with conflicting desires.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • The Pacers, with depth in the frontcourt, don’t appear to be a good potential trade partner with the Suns for  Markieff Morris, who issued a trade demand, Scott Agness of VigilantSports.com writes. The four-year, $32MM extension that Morris signed last fall kicks in for this coming season, but a lack of communication between Morris and the team indicates that the relationship will be extremely difficult to repair. For the Pacers, landing Morris would be worth looking into in exchange for a bench player and a second-round pick, Agness adds, but that package would likely not be enough to reel him in.
  • The main problem with the Celtics heading into this season, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com writes, is the team lacks an elite star. Forsberg compares this group of Celtics to last year’s Hawks and adds that although Atlanta had a remarkable season without a star, it ultimately ran out of gas without a big-time player.

Extension Candidate: Bradley Beal

NBA: Playoffs-Atlanta Hawks at Washington Wizards

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

It was somewhat surprising not to see Bradley Beal‘s name pop up alongside Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard when they agreed to max extensions on the first and second nights of free agency, respectively. After all, J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com reported this past fall that Washington was planning a rookie scale extension for the former No. 3 overall pick, and Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported in May that the Wizards were committed to paying him the max. Still, talks didn’t begin in earnest until mid-July, and the sides apparently met with conflicting desires.

The Wizards want non-guaranteed salary if they sign Beal for the maximum, while the Mark Bartelstein client would want a player option in any deal for less than the max, Michael reported this summer. Washington can’t sign him to a five-year extension, since the team already did so with John Wall, making him its Designated Player. So a player option would mean Beal could leave after three seasons of the deal, setting him up for unrestricted free agency in 2019, when he’d be 26 and the salary cap would be a projected $102MM, giving him the chance to reap more than he could at the back end of an extension that would start in 2016/17, when the cap is projected to be a relatively paltry $89MM. Max salaries rise and fall with the cap, so the higher the cap, the more Beal could earn. Plus, Beal would qualify for a higher maximum salary tier in 2019, when he’d be a seven-year veteran and thus eligible for a max equivalent to 30% of the cap, rather than the roughly 25% he could get now.

That presents an intriguing compromise if Beal would be willing to come off the max number, but it’s unclear just how much the Wizards would want him to sacrifice in that scenario. If they asked him to sign for no more than the current projection for his max salary of $20.4MM, a hedge against an unexpected rise that the Warriors made with Klay Thompson last fall, Beal could end up having made no financial concession at all if the projection is accurate. If Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld and company want him to commit to a deal closer to the $16MM salaries that Jonas Valanciunas will see in the extension he signed with the Raptors last month, it would be easy to see why the sides haven’t come to an agreement.

Washington’s push for non-guaranteed money apparently stems from a concern over Beal’s history of injuries, though he’s avoided major issues and has missed only 26, 9 and 19 games the last three seasons, respectively. Beal could bet on himself and feel confident about his chances to collect on his full salary. Still, guaranteed contracts are de rigueur with core players, so Bartelstein may well have a desire not to set a precedent in that regard for his other clients.

Casting a shadow on the negotiations is the specter of Kevin Durant‘s free agency next summer. The Wizards certainly won’t be alone among teams seeking the former MVP, but they have a unique geographical advantage of playing in Washington, Durant’s hometown. An associate of Durant’s told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald this summer that if the four-time scoring champ were to leave the Thunder, he would sign with the Wizards. Washington has clearly been preparing should Durant be so inclined, but an extension for Beal would complicate that effort.

The Wizards have nearly $33.5MM in guaranteed salaries for next season, though that doesn’t include a team option of almost $5.9MM on Otto Porter‘s rookie scale contract that Washington will almost certainly pick up. That accounts for four players, and they’d have to carry cap holds for eight more. At minimum, they could strip down to seven roster charges, which are cap holds that represent empty roster spots and are equal to the rookie minimum salary, plus Beal’s cap hold, which would be about $14.2MM if he doesn’t sign an extension.

Thus, barring trades or stretch provision maneuvers, the Wizards would carry no less than about $54.6MM on a projected $89MM cap for 2016/17. That would be enough to sign Durant to a max contract starting at the projected $24.9MM he’d be eligible for as a nine-year veteran next summer, with about $6.7MM in cap room to spare. Give Beal an extension for the max, which entails a projected starting salary of $20.4MM since he’ll be a four-year vet, and the Wizards would have just enough to squeeze in Durant at his max salary, but essentially no breathing room beyond that. Barring a higher than expected cap, Washington wouldn’t even have room to hang on to its first-round pick next year. The Wizards would have Durant, Beal, Wall, Porter Marcin Gortat, Kelly Oubre, whomever they could sign with the room exception and only minimum-salary additions from there. The Wizards would be able to sell Durant on a strong starting five, but they couldn’t promise any depth.

Instead, the Wizards could forgo an extension with Beal and sign him to a new deal next summer, much in the same way the Spurs put off a deal with Kawhi Leonard last fall to help clear cap space for their successful pursuit of LaMarcus Aldridge this year. The Wizards could spend freely while Beal’s cap hold stays at that $11.4MM figure, wooing Durant and supporting talent, and use Beal’s Bird rights to finally re-sign him once they’re finished scouring the market. Of course, such a strategy would require Beal’s cooperation, but the Wizards would have the ability to match offer from other teams, since he’d be a restricted free agent, and the July Moratorium buys Washington some time to negotiate with Durant and others before Beal could sign an offer sheet. The Wizards would have three days to match even if he signed an offer sheet the moment the moratorium ended, giving them plenty of time.

Beal is no doubt a sterling talent. His scoring average dipped this past season in part because he took fewer shots than the season before, but his shooting percentages, from behind the three-point line and from the floor as whole, improved. He was the ninth-most accurate three-point shooter in the league in 2014/15. His defense was so-so, as he was essentially break-even in Basketball-Reference’s Defensive Box Plus Minus and the 18th-best shooting guard in ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus Minus. Still, at only 22 and already an elite floor-stretcher, he offers enticing value.

It’s merely the context that should prevent the sides from reaching a deal this year. The Wizards have incentive to let this fall’s deadline pass because of Durant and all the other avenues they can pursue in free agency next July. They must be careful not to poison their relationship with Beal if they present too many reasons for not signing him, so it’s somewhat curious to see them bring up the notion of non-guaranteed money. Ultimately, the main reason for the team not to sign Beal is timing, and if Washington makes that clear to him and to Bartelstein, chances seem better that the sides will continue a fruitful partnership for years to come.

Do you think the Wizards should sign Beal to an extension, and if so, what sort of deal should they give him? Leave a comment to tell us.

Eastern Notes: J.R. Smith, Wizards, Contracts

J.R. Smith‘s new two-year contract with the Cavaliers has an unusual structure that includes partial guarantees for both this season and next, sources tell Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter links). This year’s salary, worth $5MM, is guaranteed for only $2MM, and next year’s salary, a player option, has a $2.15MM partial guarantee on the full $5.4MM value, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (All four Twitter links). However, this season’s salary becomes fully guaranteed if the team keeps him through Monday, Pincus adds. That’s almost certain to happen, but the reason that clause is in the contract is so that his 2016/17 salary can become fully guaranteed if he sticks on the roster through the same date next year, in a structure similar to the deal that Kostas Papanikolaou signed with the Rockets last year, Pincus explains. The Cavs formally announced Smith’s signing Wednesday, nearly two weeks after Smith revealed that he would be rejoining the team.

See more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • Coach Randy Wittman likes the grit that Wizards camp signee Toure’ Murry has shown in the past, but the shooting guard will have to make quite a convincing case for the Wizards to keep him over one of the 15 players on their roster with a fully guaranteed contract, writes J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic. Jaleel Roberts, the other Wizard with a non-guaranteed deal, won his training camp roster spot more so by his performance at Tim Grgurich’s private camp than through his play with the Wizards summer league squad, Michael hears. Still, Roberts is more likely to make the regular season roster in 2016/17, when the team will ostensibly have greater flexibility, than he is this year, according to Michael.
  • Kelly Dwyer, Ben Rohrbach and Eric Freeman of Yahoo! Sports weighed in on which 2015 NBA draftee ended up in the best situation to succeed next season. Dwyer chose the KnicksKristaps Porzingis, while Rohrbach tabbed Justise Winslow of the Heat, and Freeman’s pick was the Nuggets’ Emmanuel Mudiay.
  • The Cavs had possessed one of the most tradeable contracts in the league in Brendan Haywood‘s non-guaranteed pact, which they had dealt to the Blazers at the end of July. Pincus, in a separate post, ran down some of the most desirable trade chip contracts around the NBA , including Amir Johnson and Jonas Jerebko of the Celtics, the WizardsKris Humphries and Martell Webster, as well as Ersan Ilyasova‘s deal with the Pistons.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

Doc Rivers On Pierce, Allen, Celtics, Magic

Doc Rivers believes Paul Pierce‘s choice in free agency came down to the Clippers and the Celtics, as the Clippers coach/executive said Wednesday and as Jay King of MassLive.com relays. That would mean the Wizards, with whom Pierce spent last season, finished no better than third.

“I think he wanted to go one of two places. He wanted to come back [to Boston] or he wanted to finish his career at home where he grew up, and I think it’s really cool for me that I can be a part of that,” Rivers said.

Those comments came while Rivers was in Boston for a charity function, so location perhaps played a role. Regardless, Rivers had plenty more to say about Pierce, the Clippers, the Celtics, and other topics, as we’ll round up here:

  • Pierce, who signed with the Clippers for the full value of the taxpayer’s mid-level exception, was the team’s priciest free agent addition, but Rivers said he’ll use him judiciously, notes Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. Rivers isn’t guaranteeing a starting spot for the 17-year veteran who turns 38 next month. “Paul will be great. Paul, I don’t want to overuse him. I know that,” Rivers said. “So, I don’t even know how we are going to use him yet. I want to play him at [power forward] a lot. What I want him to be is healthy in the playoffs. So however we can figure that out, that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
  • Rivers said he and Ray Allen recently played golf, but the Clippers executive added that he didn’t try to convince Allen to sign with the team, tweets Scott Souza of the MetroWest Daily News. The Clips were one of several teams that reportedly attempted to lure Allen this past season, when the shooting guard instead lingered in free agency.
  • Rivers said the collective trust the Celtics players had in coach Brad Stevens was readily apparent after last season’s flurry of trades, Souza also observed (Twitter link). An ESPN panel recently tabbed Stevens as Boston’s No. 1 reason for optimism about the C’s.
  • The Magic, another of Rivers’ former teams, have a shot to make the playoffs this year, Rivers said earlier Wednesday in an appearance on Mike Bianchi’s Open Mike radio show on 740 The Game in Orlando, as Bianchi transcribes in the Orlando Sentinel. Rivers praised new coach Scott Skiles“I think he’s a wonderful coach,” Rivers said. “I think he was a great choice for the franchise. I think people will be surprised with how well they do this year.”