We've rounded up a few links on Dwight Howard tonight. Peter May of Sheridan Hoops explains why it wouldn't make sense for him to choose a return to the Lakers over a chance to join the Rockets. Marcus Thompson II of Mercury News - going off of the speculation linking Dwight to the Warriors - lists some of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of Golden State being able to acquire him. Tim Cowlishaw of SportsDayDFW thinks that the Mavericks will finish fourth behind the Hawks, Houston, and Los Angeles in the sweepstakes for Howard, adding that Dallas has little else to offer aside from no state income tax. Here are a few more links to share out of the Western Conference:
As the lengthy layoff between Game Two and Game Three of the Western Conference Finals continues, let's check out a few links from around the West....
There are more than 30 million reasons for Dwight Howard to re-sign with the Lakers this summer, but as is often the case with Howard, he hasn't made a decision on his future yet. According to Sam Amick of USA Today, Howard is "torn" between the idea of re-signing in Los Angeles or pairing with James Harden in Houston and signing with the Rockets.
This isn't the first time in the last several days that we've heard Howard is intrigued by the Rockets. A report over the weekend indicated that the All-Star center was showing interest in both the Rockets and Mavericks, though the report classified the Lakers as the frontrunners. A separate report since then classified Howard's relationship with current Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni as somewhat strained, so if D12 decides to sign where he'd be happiest, it's not hard to make the case that'd be somewhere besides L.A.
We're still several weeks away from July 1st, when teams can officially make pitches to Howard and other free agents, so I wouldn't expect Dwight to make his final decision before that point. When free agency opens, the Mavericks, Hawks, and perhaps the Cavaliers are expected to join the Lakers and Rockets in pursuit of Howard.
Earlier today, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com wrote that Dwight Howard was showing interest in the Rockets and Mavericks while he contemplates his free agent fate this summer and ignores the Lakers' request to re-sign with them as quickly as possible. The Lakers can offer Howard a fifth year and more money because the 2011 CBA allows annual raises of 7.5% over the first year, which would be in excess of $20MM for Howard; the other teams bidding for the 27-year-old center's services, including the long shot Nets and Hawks, can only offer increases of 4.5% over the first year.
Remember, Howard is just entering his peak years, and will likely sign another max contract before he retires, so a four-year deal with an option for the final year would allow him to become a free agent again at 30, when he can then sign a larger five-year deal. While Howard takes his time deciding, do you think he re-signs with the Lakers, or does he jump to some other team said to be in the mix?
2:52pm: Here are a few more updates out of Chicago:
11:44am: It took us multiple posts yesterday to round up all the tidbits trickling out of Chicago, where the NBA is holding its draft combine this week. We'll see if today is as busy, but in the meantime, here are the latest updates on the 2013 draft:
2:47pm: More afternoon combine updates from Chicago:
1:35pm: We covered the Thursday morning updates from Chicago's predraft camp earlier today, but with so many tidbits surfacing throughout the day, we're starting an afternoon post to round up the latest notes:
11:56am: More A.M. updates out of Chicago:
11:09am: With a number of reporters in attendance at the NBA's predraft camp in Chicago, we're expecting plenty of noteworthy tidbits to trickle in throughout the day. Here's a round-up of the first batch of updates on 2013's draft combine participants:
Let's round up the latest out of the Atlantic, where the division's lone remaining team (the Knicks) will attempt to stave off elimination at Madison Square Garden tonight....
Michael Pina contributed to this post.
MONDAY, 3:21: Owner Josh Harris has made it official at a press conference this afternoon, announcing Hinkie's hiring as president of basketball operations and general manager.
FRIDAY, 11:06pm: Hinkie's hiring doesn't change Thorn's situation with the team, Thorn tells Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com (Twitter link). The veteran executive is transitioning into the role of a consultant for the Sixers. Moore also clarifies that Hinkie will choose the team's next head coach.
3:04pm: DiLeo will not return to the Sixers in any capacity, according to John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). DiLeo had been part of the Sixers' basketball operations department since the 1990/91 season.
2:53pm: According to Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News, Hinkie will also be the Sixers' new president of basketball operations, and DiLeo is "out" (Twitter links). Cooney adds that Hinkie's contract is expected to be for three or four years (Twitter link).
An official announcement from the Sixers could come as soon as next week, tweets Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com.
2:35pm: The 76ers have reached an agreement with Rockets assistant GM Sam Hinkie on a deal that will make Hinkie the Sixers' new general manager, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
Tony DiLeo had previously been serving as the GM in Philadelphia, but his contract was set to expire next month, making his status going forward uncertain. DiLeo has been a longtime member of the Sixers' front office and had been working with ownership on the team's coaching search, so it's unclear whether he'll be parting ways with the club or simply transitioning into a new role. I wouldn't be surprised if he moved into the team president position previously held by Rod Thorn, but it appears as if Hinkie will be the final decision-maker in basketball operations.
Before the Sixers promoted DiLeo to GM last summer, the team conducted a search that included Hinkie. According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, the two sides re-opened discussions "very recently" (Twitter link).
We could have a fairly clear idea of the two teams that will play for the Eastern Conference title by the end of tonight. The Heat appear on their way to the conference finals with a 3-1 lead against the Bulls, and the Pacers can take a 3-1 lead of their own with a win at home against the Knicks tonight. Of course, we won't know for sure until later this week at the earliest, but if Indiana wins this evening, most of the on-court intrigue will shift to the Spurs-Warriors series in the West. All five open head coaching jobs are in the East, however, and there's news on that along with other notes from around the conference today:
All eyes will be on Clippers guard Chris Paul this summer and while the All-Star has been treated like royalty in L.A. and arguably has been given more pull than any other player in the league when it comes to personnel decisions, it's possible that CP3 will head elsewhere as he looks to win his first NBA title. Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld ran down the Clippers' biggest competition and identified the Mavericks, Hawks, Rockets, and Nuggets as the top threats to pull him away from La La Land. Here's tonight's look around the Association as the Clippers gear up for a very interesting summer..
The Rockets will not exercise their team option on Francisco Garcia for 2013/14, tweets Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston. Given the price on the option ($6.4MM), the decision comes as no surprise for a Houston team that will have the opportunity to clear more than $15MM in cap space this summer.
With Garcia heading for unrestricted free agency, Houston will have about $39.33MM in guaranteed salaries and $9.18MM in non-guaranteed salaries remaining on its books for next season. Some of those non-guaranteed contracts, such as Chandler Parsons' and Patrick Beverley's, seem to be locks to become guaranteed, while others aren't so certain, as I outlined when I previewed the Rockets' offseason.
As for Garcia, the longtime Sacramento King was sent to Houston for salary purposes as part of the six-player deadline deal that also sent Thomas Robinson to the Rockets. In 58 total games this season, the 31-year-old Garcia averaged 5.5 PPG and shot 37.4% from three-point range. While the Louisville product has never been an exceptional scorer in the NBA, he can still contribute as an outside threat, leading Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com to speculate that he could be a fit for the Lakers. Garcia, for his part, has said he'd like to return to Houston.
In a twist, the Western Conference playoff game preceded the Eastern Conference tilt on today's schedule. The Grizzlies beat the Thunder to claim a 2-1 series lead, while the Knicks and Pacers are under way in Indiana. The Eastern matchup prompted rare non-Sunday coverage from ABC, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of intriguing storylines out west, where the latest Kings developments are threatening to steal the show. Here's more from the conference that won this year's All-Star Game:
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Metta World Peace hasn't offered any public hints about whether he plans to exercise his early-termination option for next season, but Salary Cap FAQ author Larry Coon hears he intends to play out his contract with the Lakers. World Peace is due $7,727,280 in the final season of his five-year deal, and Coon would be "shocked" if he turned that down.
The news isn't unexpected, since World Peace might have trouble making half as much next season if he were to hit the open market. He could probably wrangle more guaranteed money as part of a long-term deal, but at 33 years old, few teams would be willing to give him a contract that stretched out for too long.
World Peace has shown durability and, this year, a remarkable capacity to recover from a late-season knee injury, but his on-court efficiency hasn't been the same since he signed with the Lakers four years ago. His career PER had been 16.5 during his first 10 seasons in the league, but his PER with L.A. is just 11.8. His number this year was slightly higher, at 12.5, as World Peace was tasked with more minutes and shots amid an injury-hit season for his Lakers teammates.
In his blog post, Coon counts World Peace among the Lakers' commitments for next season and ponders whether the team could sign both Dwight Howard and Chris Paul, as Grantland's Bill Simmons suggested. Such a move would require the team to amnesty Kobe Bryant and trade Pau Gasol to the Rockets, and there's no reasonable scenario that would allow the Lakers to offer max contracts to both Howard and Paul, as Coon deduces.
After taking a look at the offseason challenges that the Nets will face earlier today, here's more out of the Atlantic..
Guaranteed Contracts
Options
Non-Guaranteed Contracts
Free Agents (Cap Holds)
Draft Picks
Cap Outlook
Before the Rockets pulled off the most shocking move of the 2012 offseason, acquiring James Harden from the Thunder just a few nights before the regular season got underway, many pundits were picking them to be among the league's worst teams, down there with the Bobcats and Magic. Even after the trade, it was expected to be a transition year in Houston, with another big move still needed to make the team a real contender.
The Rockets came together much quicker than expected, however, and that was in large part due to the moves made by GM Daryl Morey last summer. In addition to landing Harden, who blossomed into one of the league's elite scorers, Morey signed Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik to big-money offer sheets. Both signings were at least questioned, if not outright panned, at the time, but Lin and Asik didn't disappoint. And at about $8.37MM each per year, both players are affordable core pieces or trade chips, as Morey enters this offseason in search of that second star to pair with Harden.
Looking at the Rockets' current cap situation, a couple items of note immediately jump off the page. First, the team somehow heads into this summer with technically no expiring contracts on its books. Sure, Francisco Garcia's contract is essentially expiring, since his $6.4MM option won't be exercised, and not all of the team's non-guaranteed players will be retained. But with no player options or unrestricted free agents to be found, Morey has given the club the opportunity to bring back any and/or all of its players next season, which is extraordinary in today's NBA. Houston's tendency to sign contracts that included a season or two of non-guaranteed control is what allows the team to retain hidden gems like Chandler Parsons and Patrick Beverley at bargain-basement prices.
The second item of note relating to the Rockets' cap? They should be able to afford a maximum-salary player this summer. Depending on where next year's salary cap settles, the team may need to make an extra move or two to clear the necessary space to make a max offer to, for instance, Dwight Howard. But Houston has virtually no toxic assets, meaning small moves like that should be simple. If the club needed to move, say, Donatas Motiejunas' modest salary to clear space for a max offer for Howard, teams would be lining up to acquire a young player like Motiejunas, who is on an inexpensive contract for the next three seasons.
In the past, we've seen the Rockets take advantage of their room under the cap to facilitate trades. Their cap flexibility allowed them to bail the Thunder out of long-term tax issues in the Harden deal, and Houston's ability to take on salary made the team an ideal trading partner for Sacramento when the Kings moved Thomas Robinson this past season. Robinson was the prize in the deal for the Rockets, but they wouldn't have been able to land him had they not been willing to take on Garcia's contract as well.
So based on their history, we shouldn't rule out the possibility that the Rockets elect to use their 2013 cap space to make another trade or two. But if the team is going to land a star, free agency looks like its best bet. Although the Rockets still have plenty of young talent on the roster that could be expendable in the right deal, most of the draft assets the team had acculumated have been used in other deals. For example, Houston essentially sent Oklahoma City four draft picks in the Harden deal -- 2012's 12th overall pick (Jeremy Lamb), Toronto's 2013 first-rounder, a future Mavericks' first-rounder, and Charlotte's 2013 second-rounder. Now that they're no longer holding all those picks, the Rockets only have a couple extra second-rounders in hand, and don't have their first-rounder in 2013, making it more difficult to pull off a blockbuster.
Still, having fewer trade chips shouldn't be a problem if Houston can land the right player in free agency. Howard obviously represents the top priority, but I wonder if the Rockets would be happy to land someone in the second tier -- perhaps a player like Josh Smith, Paul Millsap, or Al Jefferson. Those players will be expensive and they don't exactly qualify as superstars, so maybe Morey would be reluctant to settle for one of them rather than landing a bigger fish.
After turning what initially looked like a lottery team into a playoff club that nearly took the Thunder to seven games, Morey is facing the next step of the rebuilding process this offseason. By essentially giving himself 2013/14 options on half the roster, he could go in any number of directions, whether or not the Rockets are able to land a second star. At this point, the GM has earned the benefit of the doubt in Houston, and it will be fascinating to see what he has up his sleeve to keep improving his team this summer.
Additional notes:
Cap footnotes:
Storytellers Contracts and Sham Sports were used in the creation of this post.
The latest piece from Marc Stein at ESPN.com includes word that Dwight Howard remains more likely than Chris Paul to leave Los Angeles this summer. One source predicted to Stein that there's "zero chance" Paul signs with any team besides the Clippers. However, while Paul looks like a strong bet to return to L.A., the same can't be said for his head coach. Here are the latest rumblings on Vinny Del Negro and the rest of the NBA's coaching carousel:
When discussing potential landing spots besides L.A. for Dwight Howard this summer, many pundits point to Houston as an ideal fit for the big man, given the Rockets' combination of young talent and cap space. Of course, the Rockets already have a solid defensive center in their starting lineup, but Omer Asik tells Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle that he's not letting the Howard rumors affect him.
"It’s all things that happen out of my control," Asik said. "I really don’t know and I really don’t care. Whether it happens, we’ll see. I’m just looking forward to rest and getting better for the next season."
Here's more on the Rockets and their Western Conference rivals:
After the Pacers took a 1-0 lead over the Knicks with a win in New York yesterday, the second Eastern Conference Semifinal will get underway tonight, as the Heat play their first game since April 28th. As we look forward to the first game in the Bulls/Heat series, let's round up a few items from out of the Eastern Conference....