Month: March 2024

Odds & Ends: Lin, Rockets, Camby, Hornets

The Bulls and Thunder square off tomorrow afternoon, but Chicago will likely be without the services of Derrick Rose for a tenth straight game.  The Bulls could certainly use the help of the reigning MVP but they've found a way to win without him, going 14-5 without Rose in the lineup this season.  Here's a look around the Association to close out the evening..

Pacific Notes: Suns, Nash, Warriors, Clippers

The Clippers finish off tonight's slate of NBA action as they take on the Jazz at the Staples Center.  Chris Paul & Co. are coming off of their fourth straight win after edging the Trail Blazers last night, 98-97.  News out of the Pacific..

  • Suns guard Steve Nash refuted a recent report which suggested that he was upset over the club's failure to actively pursue former teammate Boris Diaw after he was cut by Charlotte, writes Vince Marotta of Arizona Sports.  The 38-year-old will be a free agent after this season and recently said that he wants to see the club make upgrades this summer.
  • Meanwhile, Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (via Twitter) is hearing that Nash will not rule out the Knicks in free agency, even though his former coach Mike D'Antoni is no longer there.
  • Matt Steinmetz of CSNBayArea.com opines that the Warriors shouldn't make a deal to get their top seven protected first-round pick back from the Jazz this year.  Owner Joe Lacob has hinted at such a move to regain the pick if it falls outside of the top seven but Steinmetz doesn't believe that it will be worth the sacrifice down the line.
  • Clippers guard Randy Foye is in the final year of a $4.25MM contract but isn't worried about his future beyond this season, writes Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times
  • Longtime Warriors forward Adonal Foyle is now in Orlando's front office and appears to be a GM-in-training, writes Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel.

Grizzlies Recall Josh Selby

We'll keep track of tonight's minor moves here..

  • The Grizzlies recalled guard Josh Selby from the Reno Bighorns, the team’s NBA Development League affiliate, the club announced today.  In two stints with Reno, Selby has averaged 22.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists in six total contests.  Selby saw his minutes decrease when the team inked veteran Gilbert Arenas.

Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Knicks, Lin, Bargnani, Nets

Here's a look at some items out of the Atlantic division, including some unfortunate news for Knicks fans..

  • Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated told CSNNE.com that he can't imagine Duke's Austin Rivers being available by the the time the Celtics pick.  The C's currently own the No. 18 and No. 21 picks in this year's draft.
  • Knicks coach Mike Woodson doesn't expect the club to sign a point guard in the wake of Jeremy Lin's injury, writes Jared Zwerling of ESPN.com.  "I haven't had a chance to sit down with [general manager] Glen [Grunwald] and [owner] Mr. [James] Dolan and see.  My thinking is that we'll probably go with what we have," the coach said. "I don't think there's a whole lot out there right now who will make a big difference for our ball club."
  • Lin's MRI revealed that he will require surgery for a torn meniscus and will be sidelined for six weeks, tweets Marc Berman of the New York Post.  The Knicks guard was already seeing reduced minutes and will now likely miss the remainder of the season as he looks ahead to free agency.  Just a month ago, Lin was a lock to recieve the mid-level exception from the Knicks this summer but that is no longer the case.
  • In today's mailbag, Doug Smith of the Toronto Star does his best to quell the concerns of a reader who is unhappy with Andrea Bargnani's poor rebounding.  The Raptors forward is averaging just 5.7 boards per contest but Smith points out that rebounds have never been the big man's forte.  Bargnani's name has been linked to trade rumors all season long and Toronto expects to have the services of fifth-overall pick Jonas Valančiūnas soon.
  • Ben Couch of Nets.com caught up with Dennis Horner, whom the Nets signed to a 10-day contract yesterday.  The forward saw D-League teammates Jeff Foote and Jerry Smith get NBA time earlier in the year before getting his opportunity in New Jersey.

Southwest Notes: Johnson, Gordon, Hornets, Ford

Jarrett Jack gave the Hornets 18 points and ten dimes this afternoon but it wasn't enough as they fell to the Lakers 88-85.  Here's more out of the Southwest division..

  • The last 15 games of the season will determine whether the Hornets re-sign center Chris Johnson in the offseason, team officials tell John Reid of The Times-Picayune.  Coach Monty Williams said he's still trying to figure out what the 6'11", 210-pound journeyman from LSU can do.
  • The Hornets expect shooting guard Eric Gordon to return from right-knee surgery Wednesday against the Nuggets, writes Reid.  Earlier this week, Luke Adams pegged Gordon as the prize of the restricted free agent market in his look at this summer's available shooting guards.
  • Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star checks in with former Spurs guard T.J. Ford, who's now a volunteer assistant with the Austin Toros after bringing his playing career to an end earlier this season. "I'm healthy, that's the whole purpose of me retiring," he said. "There really wasn't much else I could prove with my circumstances. I became more a role player coming off the bench. I'd rather now move on to the next phase in my life."

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Assessing Marquee Free Agents Who Re-Signed

A while back we looked at some of the biggest names to switch teams in free agency this past offseason. Now, let's take a look at some of the top free agents from the class of 2011 who wound up back with their teams and see how the deals have paid off so far:

  • Marc Gasol signed a four-year, $57.5MM offer sheet with the Rockets, but the Grizzlies matched it even though it meant they'd be well over the cap and flirting with luxury tax territory this year. So far it looks like it was worth it, as he's averaging career highs in virtually every relevant statistical category and made his first All-Star Game this year. The 27-year-old's improvement helped mitigate the absence of fellow post player Zach Randolph for much of the season. The only negative has been his 48.8% shooting from the floor, which barring improvement will represent his first season shooting below 50%. Still, the struggles of Nene Hilario and DeAndre Jordan, the market's other top centers this past offseason, make Gasol's deal look smart.
  • The Nuggets did an about-face on Nene Hilario's signing so quickly that team president Josh Kroenke had to deny they weren't looking to get rid of him all along. Nene missed most of training camp as he and the team hammered out a five-year, $65MM deal. That missed time, coupled with injuries, helps explain a dip in scoring and a jump in turnovers in his play for Denver this year. Since his trade to the Wizards, he's shown signs of breaking out of the funk, averaging 14.8 PPG and 9.3 RPG. Though the numbers are from a tiny sample size of six games, they would be career highs if extended out over an entire season.
  • The Warriors had to have thought they were sure to have DeAndre Jordan this season when he inked a four-year, $43.04MM offer sheet with the team in December. Clippers GM Neil Olshey swallowed hard and matched the offer, however, locking up the 23-year-old long-term despite more promise than production in three previous seasons. His averages in points (7.7), rebounds (8.4) and blocks (2.2) are up, but that's largely been the result of increased minutes, as his per-36-minute numbers are mostly consistent with where they've been throughout his career. His PER, though, is at 17.2, well above the 14.8 PER he posted last year, so his progress seems to be a matter of which stats you trust. The question of whether the Clippers can trust Jordan to deliver on his contract, however, is yet to be resolved.
  • Tayshaun Prince might have fit in well with a contending team looking to add a veteran with championship experience. Instead, he re-signed with the Pistons for four years and $28MM. He's responded with 12.8 PPG, his worst scoring average in eight years, even though he's taking a career-high 13 shots a game. His PER of 12.6 suggests he's having his worst season since his rookie year, when he was only on the floor for 10 minutes a night. The only consolation for GM Joe Dumars on this one is he's making less per season than Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, his much-maligned signings from the summer of 2010, as well as Rodney Stuckey, who's become a more efficient scorer after inking a three-year, $25.5MM deal before the season.
  • Compounding the misery for Dumars is the play of former Pistons draftee Arron Afflalo, whose points per game number is up for the fourth straight season after re-signing with the Nuggets for $36.75MM for five years.  He's been a fixture in the starting lineup for Denver ever since coming over from Detroit three years ago for the bargain price of just a second-round pick, and Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri was willing to pay a premium to keep Afflalo even though he's not a top-tier shooting guard. His 14.2 PPG this year reflects the increased offensive load he's been carrying as the team deals with a multitude of injuries and another shakeup at the trade deadline. His steady improvement and willingness to commit to the team long-term may prove worth the price.   

 

Michael Jordan May Sell Bobcats

Michael Jordan intends to sell the Bobcats if the team doesn't improve in the standings and make a profit in the next three or four years, Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News reports. Lawrence also says Rod Higgins, the team's president of basketball operations, is on the outs, with GM Rich Cho taking more responsibility.

This represents a change of plans for Jordan, who has been seeking someone to buy half the team for several months, according to the report. Lawrence notes the Bobcats lost $20MM last year, and are again losing money as they struggle through a 7-42 campaign. Jordan has told Cho to rebuild and "follow the Oklahoma City model," the report states. 

Jordan invested $275MM to become majority owner of the Bobcats a little more than two years ago. The franchise made the playoffs for the first time that spring, but the team failed to keep its cornerstones together. The Bobcats didn't re-sign Raymond Felton and Tyson Chandler in free agency during the summer of 2010, and traded away Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson last year. 

Cho spent last season as the Blazers' GM, but was let go after only one season. The Bobcats quickly snapped him up and promoted Higgins, who had held the GM title since 2007.  

Warriors ‘Very Likely’ To Re-Sign Mickell Gladness

3:50pm: Matt Steinmetz of CSNBayArea.com reports the deal is likely to be for the rest of the season, and not another 10-day contract. Thompson is reporting it this way now, too. 

2:25pm: Mickell Gladness is "very likely" to get another 10-day contract with the Warriors, a source tells Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). He's on the last day of a 10-day deal he signed earlier with the team.

The 6'11", 220-pound Gladness has played a total of 44 minutes in six games with Golden State, hitting on six of 12 shots from the floor and recording six blocks. The Warriors are short on big men with Andris Biedrins out with a groin injury, and have signed both Gladness and Keith Benson to 10-day deals in the last two weeks, as our 10-day tracker shows.

Gladness began the season with the Heat, and appeared in just eight games before getting waived February 7. He then signed a pair of 10-day deals with Miami, despite interest from the Warriors when he signed the last one.  If he re-ups with the Warriors as expected, it will be his fourth 10-day deal this season.

Pacific Notes: Cousins, Warriors, Brooks

The Pacific Division's top two teams are both in action at Staples Center today, and if the first-place Lakers get upset by the Hornets the afternoon and the Clippers beat the Jazz tonight, there will be a tie atop the division. Here's the rest of the news from the West Coast:

  • The Kings picked up DeMarcus Cousins' $3.88MM option for 2012/13 this past offseason, and the investment looks smarter as the center matures and develops, writes Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee.  
  • Matt Steinmetz of CSNBayArea.com criticizes the Warriors' approach to the season, reasoning that the caliber of player the team is likely to get in the draft probably won't be enough to make Golden State a contender. 
  • Suns GM Lance Blanks blogged about his trip to China to see Aaron Brooks for Suns.com. Blanks' comment that Brooks is "eager to get back home to the States, see his family and begin his off season training to prepare himself for a return to NBA" seems to indicate that the point guard will not play in the league this season, and instead test restricted free agency this summer. The Suns hold the right to match any offer Brooks gets.
  • The Clippers have started winning again, but the heat is still on coach Vinny Del Negro, writes Sam Amick of SI.com. Amick says Del Negro has been told to heighten the team's offensive pace, get them to play more aggressive defense, and regard stars and role players with the same level of scrutiny.
  • The Kings, who've signed Terrence Williams for the rest of the season, have quickly come to trust him in the 10 days he's spent with the team, giving the former 11th overall pick key fourth-quarter minutes, notes Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee. 

Kings Sign Terrence Williams For Season

2:14pm: The team has confirmed the move, Jones tweets.

8:13am: Terrence Williams says he has already signed the paperwork to stay with the Kings the rest of the season, tweets Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee.  Williams, 24, inked a ten-day contract with Sacramento on March 21.

The former 11th overall pick in the 2009 draft languished on the Rockets' bench this season and saw time in just twelve contests.  Houston shopped Williams heavily in early March but wound up waiving him on March 16th.  For his career, Williams has averaged 7.4 PPG and 3.8 RPG.