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Atlantic Rumors: Lowry, Raptors, D-Will, Celtics
The Celtics were the only one of three Atlantic Division teams to win on Christmas, beating the division rivals Nets to tie them for seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Boston is also the only Atlantic Division club not playing on the road tonight, as they have the day off. But no one will envy the Celtics tomorrow, when they must face the scorching Clippers in Los Angeles. There hasn't been much for Boston to crow about this season, and there's more about that along with other Atlantic Division scuttlebutt here.
- Sam Smith of Bulls.com writes that the Raptors "supposedly would like" to package Kyle Lowry in a trade and hang on to Jose Calderon. I'm not sure about this one, since Lowry's deal, which lasts through next season, is cap-friendly while Calderon's expiring contract is paying him $10.56MM this year. The Raptors have won five of the six games Calderon has started since Lowry went down with a tear in his right triceps, but that's a tiny sample size.
- Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun looks at five questions facing the Raptors, including the matter of who should start at point guard when Lowry returns to health.
- When you’re a point guard, your job is to get others going, but when you’re making the max, as Deron Williams is, you also have to look for your own shot, something Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News urges Williams to do more often after his seven-shot, 10-point effort on Christmas.
- There's more to team-building than simply adding talent, as Brandon Bass of the struggling Celtics attests to HoopsWorld's Lang Greene.
Trade Candidate: Richard Hamilton
Richard Hamilton seemed like the missing piece for a contending Bulls team in need of some scoring punch at shooting guard when he signed before last season, but the fit hasn't been as comfortable as many foresaw. Injuries have limited the 34-year-old to playing in just 43 of Chicago's 93 regular season games the past two seasons, and he's currently on the shelf with a torn plantar fascia in his left foot. When Hamilton has been in the lineup, he's averaged just 25.7 minutes a night over this year and last. Some of that has to do with coach Tom Thibodeau's desire to shield Hamilton from further injury, but Thibodeau has also gone with others down the stretch for defensive purposes. Defense has always been Thibodeau's calling card, and it's tough to find minutes on the Bulls if the coach doesn't like the way you defend.
Many of Hamilton's stats are down from his days with the Pistons, but his 45.3% shooting percentage as a Bull is slightly above his career mark, while most of his per-36-minutes stats indicate little drop off in performance. He's become a more consistent long-range shooter with age, having shot better than 37% from behind the arc in 2010/11 and 2011/12, the first time he's done so in consecutive seasons. Hamilton has kept it up this year, shooting threes at a 37.5% clip.
Chicago reportedly tried to trade Hamilton over the summer, but found no takers. He's still on the block, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, and as more teams look toward next year, Hamilton's contract may become an attractive trade chip. He's set to make $5MM this season and another $5MM in 2013/14, but only $1MM of next year's salary is guaranteed. That could make him an option for a team in need of a veteran with championship experience in the short-term but with plans to clear cap space for the future. The Hawks and Mavs fit that profile, though Hamilton would probably have to come off the bench for both teams. Hamilton would have a better shot at starting in Minnesota, where the Wolves have had a hole at shooting guard for a while. With the team's final roster spot in flux as it searches for a wing player, Minnesota might make the perfect landing spot for Rip. The Wolves could take on Hamilton in exchange for a draft pick, allowing the hard-capped Bulls flexibility and the chance to avoid paying the luxury tax, something that Johnson points out the franchise has never done. Chicago could sign someone for the minimum salary to get back up to the minimum 13 players on the roster. Still, there are complications. If Minnesota GM David Kahn insists on trying to move Derrick Williams as part of any deal, that would probably scuttle any movement between them and the Bulls.
Plus, the Bulls may insist that they not take any player in exchange for Hamilton, preferring instead a draft pick and the $5.1MM trade exception such a move would create. That would make it harder to deal Hamilton to a team like the Hornets or the Suns, teams focused firmly on the future who might be reluctant to give up picks. In his mailbag yesterday, Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago identified Phoenix as a team with interest, but cautioned that Hamilton may not want to play for a team without a title shot. Hamilton clashed with coach John Kuester on the moribund Pistons in 2010/11, reportedly organizing a locker-room revolt. Teams that would otherwise be attracted to his veteran presence might be wary.
There won't be any call for Hamilton until he returns from his latest injury, so no move appears imminent. I think if he's to be dealt this year, it will be close to the deadline, unless the T-Wolves or another team looking for a wing player gets antsy and gives the Bulls what they want. Chicago is a half-game out of fourth place in the Eastern Conference even without Derrick Rose, so if Thibodeau still thinks Hamilton can help them continue to stay within hailing distance of a high playoff seed, the Bulls will probably be inclined to keep him, at least until Rose gets back. If Hamilton comes back healthy and sees an even greater reduction in minutes, however, I believe he'll finish the season elsewhere.
Pacific Rumors: Cousins, Fredette, Blakely, Paul
Only in Los Angeles could five be greater than 14. That's where the Lakers, winners of five straight, are casting shadows on the Clippers, who are on a franchise-record 14-game winning streak. We passed along some Lakers news earlier, but they aren't the only team making noise in the Pacific Division, as we round up here.
- Agent Dan Fegan may have influenced the Kings’ decision to lift their suspension of DeMarcus Cousins after just one game, writes Mark Perner of the Philadelphia Daily News, who chastises the team for being too lenient.
- Tom Ziller of Sactown Royalty doesn't think coach Keith Smart is behind the decision to reinstate Cousins.
- Victor Contreras of the Sacramento Bee argues that former 10th overall pick Jimmer Fredette deserves a chance to start for the Kings, citing his 16.5 points per game in contests in which he plays 20 or more minutes.
- Clippers training camp invitee Marqus Blakely has signed with the German club Telekom Baskets Bonn, the team announced on its website (translation via Sportando). Emiliano Carchia of Sportando first reported the move would take place. Blakely, a 6'5" small forward, has been in camp with NBA teams the past three seasons but has yet to make his official debut in the Association after going undrafted in 2010.
- The impact soon-to-be free agent Chris Paul has on the Clippers doesn't always show up in the box score, but J.A. Adande of ESPN.com echoes Nuggets coach George Karl's argument that Paul should be a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year.
Lakers No Longer Seeking Free Agent Help
The Lakers certainly didn't envision a break-even 14-14 mark on Christmas, but after their early-season struggles, they'll certainly take it. Pau Gasol's resounding dunk with just seconds to play iced L.A.'s win over the Knicks, and it may have signaled a sea change in the team's immediate plans. The team no longer has interest in opening a roster spot for free agents Derek Fisher, Kenyon Martin or anyone else, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
Of course, that doesn't mean the team won't explore such moves in the future, and it doesn't rule out a trade of Gasol or another key figure. What it does mean is that the Lakers are likely no longer in the hunt for another guard, as they reportedly were as recently as a week ago. Steve Blake remains out after surgery to repair a torn abdominal muscle, but the team appears satisfied with a backcourt rotation featuring a healthy Steve Nash alongside Darius Morris in the starting lineup, with Kobe Bryant at small forward. Jodie Meeks and Chris Duhon have also seen significant minutes since Nash's return.
The Lakers have won five in a row, though Nash has only been back for the last two. The team has repeatedly pointed to the star point guard's impending return as reason not to panic. Mike D'Antoni admitted that when he signed to coach the team in November, he thought Nash would be back by the time D'Antoni made it to the bench for his first game, as Spears writes. D'Antoni, whose Lakers debut was delayed by a week because of knee replacement surgery, wound up guiding the team to a 7-9 record without Nash.
The Lakers have a full complement of 15 players, and would have probably targeted either Darius Johnson-Odom or Robert Sacre, both second-round picks this year, for a cut if they had brought another guard on board. Two weeks ago, Marc Stein of ESPN.com linked the Lakers to West, Mike James and Jonny Flynn, while noting that the team's top trade target was Jose Calderon.
SEEDS Academy And The Development Of Basketball In Africa
Louisville's Gorgui Dieng was off to a bit of a slow start to the 2012/13 season before a late-November left wrist injury, a fractured scaphoid bone, sidelined him for what's expected to be four to six weeks. Despite the setback, the Louisville junior still projects as a likely draft pick next June, assuming he declares his intent. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com ranks the 6'11" center as the 27th-best prospect in the 2013 class, while ESPN.com's Chad Ford has him 39th in his top 100.
It's worth following Dieng's progress to see if he comes back strong from his wrist injury, can help lead the Cardinals to a deep run in this year's NCAA tournament, and can eventually become a contibutor on an NBA team, but the 22-year-old's past is just as interesting as his future. Dieng is one of 25 current college players that was part of the SEEDS Academy, a program founded by former Dallas Mavericks executive and current vice president of NBA development in Africa, Amadou Gallo Fall.
Based in Senegal, the SEEDS Academy was the first basketball education organization of its kind in Africa. A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, SEEDS (Sports For Education and Economic Development in Africa) relies on charitable donations to support student-athletes in Africa. Executive Director Noah Levine, who is responsible for helping to raise global awareness and funds for the program, explains that SEEDS gives Senegalese teenagers the opportunity to receive an education both in the classroom and on the basketball court.
"When we have openings at the academy, hundreds of kids will show up for a tryout, and then there's an interview process," Levine told Hoops Rumors. "We really look for kids that want to show a commitment to academics and basketball. We're not a basketball academy. We use basketball as a hook to engage these kids in education."
Dieng represents arguably the most exciting NBA prospect to come out of SEEDS, but the process was similar for him as it was for many others that were part of the program in Senegal. After being at SEEDS in 2008, Dieng was placed at an American high school (Huntington Prep), where he continued his education and received the opportunity to play in front of college recruiters, including those from Louisville. While Levine stresses that the "number one goal" for SEEDS is to maximize students' educational opportunities, he notes that the highest level of amateur collegiate basketball is played in America, so coming stateside benefited Dieng's on-court prospects as well, allowing recruiters and scouts more opportunities to watch him play against stronger competition.
Anne Buford, whose brother R.C. Buford is the general manager of the San Antonio Spurs, followed a number of SEEDS Academy students that transitioned to American schools, documenting their respective journeys in the film Elevate. She agrees that giving kids an opportunity to receive a good education is SEEDS' top priority, noting that basketball is one way of bringing together people of all different backgrounds who may have little else in common.
"The whole point of this really is not to get a bunch of guys in the NBA," Buford told Hoops Rumors. "The whole point of it is to get a bunch of guys a really good education. Then they can take what they learned and take it back and work with the guys that were at SEEDS with them, that maybe didn't have the opportunity to go play internationally….. They know guys from Nigeria, they know guys from Angola, they know guys from Mali. It's a network I think they're really trying to create."
In America, children often grow up having started playing basketball before they reach grade school, but in Senegal and other African countries, where soccer is typically the sport of choice, kids often don't begin playing basketball until they're 14 or 15 years old. That's something that Levine, Buford, and SEEDS are hoping changes in the future.
"While our vision and mission haven't changed since 2003, the way we go about achieving it certainly has," Levine said, adding that SEEDS is developing middle-school programs to reach out to kids in their earlier years. "Being able to work with these kids at such a young age, and show them that through sports you can really change your life and stay in school, is what we're really preaching."
Levine and SEEDS are looking to increase development and awareness in Africa, pursuing potential partnerships with NBA and WNBA players, as well as bringing the program to other African nations. As Buford points out though, basketball's continued growth in the continent relies in no small part on the success stories of African players, including SEEDS alumni. "If they weren't doing well in the States, it really wouldn't matter," Buford told Hoops Rumors.
Louisville's Dieng may be the next young Senegalese player to make an impact on the NCAA or NBA stage, and if that's the case, he appears well-positioned to be an ambassador for the SEEDS Academy.
"When [Dieng] talks about basketball and life, he's really committed to school, and he really understands the mission of SEEDS, which is to create real global citizens," Levine told Hoops Rumors. "It's rare to find student-athletes today that have that kind of perspective like he does, which I don't want to say helps him on the basketball court, but he's very aware of his role as an African player in the U.S. and being a role model for the kids back at home."
"He's not the kid who has any problems getting along with anyone or thinks that he's better than anyone," Buford adds. "He's the kid that they all gravitate towards. Nobody's jealous of Gorgui's success. Gorgui's success is everyone else's success…. Everything that you want in a player, Gorgui is that person."
As the SEEDS Academy approaches its tenth anniversary and awareness of basketball in Africa continues to grow, Levine expresses optimism that continued support of SEEDS will ensure that Dieng is just one of many in a line of "global citizens" to come out of the program and help the development of basketball in Africa.
"We're really looking forward to the next 10 years to take the next step and take it to the next level, so we can have more kids like Gorgui and [Syracuse's] Baye Keita and all the kids that we have in college right now," Levine said. "I really feel like we're in position to change the future of where student-athletes come from. As we get more funding and help more kids, I think we can really impact the future of basketball."
Cavaliers Claim Livingston, Waive Sloan
The Cavaliers have claimed Shaun Livingston off waivers from the Wizards, according to a team release. To clear a roster spot for Livingston, the Cavs have waived Donald Sloan, the club announced.
Sloan earned a spot on the Cavs' roster out of training camp, but wasn't playing on a guaranteed contract, meaning Cleveland will only be on the hook for a portion of his minimum-salary deal. Livingston, meanwhile, was signed by the Wizards earlier in the season to what was also assumed to be a minimum-salary contract, and was released this weekend. The Cavs will take on that deal, and if they hold on to Livingston past January 10th, his deal will become guaranteed for the season.
Sloan, 24, appeared in 20 games for the Cavs, averaging 4.1 PPG and 1.9 APG, and seeing a bit of a bump in playing time when Kyrie Irving was on the shelf. Livingston, meanwhile, averaged 3.7 PPG, 2.2 RPG, and 2.2 APG in 17 contests for the Wizards, including four starts.
Odds & Ends: Fisher, Cuban, Williams, Landry
We hope you're enjoying your holidays and today's NBA quintuple-header! As we look forward to the rest of tonight's action, let's round up a few more odds and ends from around the Association….
- Derek Page of HoopsWorld explores whether Derek Fisher's release from the Mavericks could eventually lead to a reunion between Fisher and the Lakers. For his part, the veteran point guard doesn't sound like he's ready to officially retire or immediately sign elsewhere: "My family is my priority and that is where I choose to be. I won’t close the possibility that I will play again, however for now my family and being close to them remains the priority."
- Mark Cuban fielded a variety of questions in a recent Reddit AMA, and the Dallas Morning News has rounded up a few of Cuban's basketball-related answers.
- We heard earlier that Turkish team Fenerbahce Ulker would buy out Shelden Williams' contract with Elan Chalon, but Emiliano Carchia of Sportando tweets that such a move now appears unlikely. Williams is expected to finish the season with the French club.
- Carl Landry, who signed a two-year deal with the Warriors over the offseason, has been everything Golden State hoped for and more, says Marcus Thompson of the San Jose Mercury News.
- ESPN.com's Chris Broussard delivers a lengthy profile on Rich Paul, longtime friend and now agent to LeBron James.
- Shelvin Mack and Garrett Temple both spoke to the media about signing with the Wizards, and the team's official site has the videos.
Rockets Assign Terrence Jones To D-League
The Rockets announced today that Terrence Jones will be re-assigned to the team's D-League affiliate, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). It's the third assignment of the year for Jones, who was sent to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on November 30th and again on December 14th.
Jones, the 18th overall pick in the 2012 draft, hasn't seen significant playing time with the Rockets, scoring 34 total points in his 11 appearances for the team (8.3 MPG). In two games for Rio Grande, he has exhibited the ability that made him a first-round pick this past June, scoring 22.5 PPG and grabbing 17.5 RPG.
You can check out this season's complete list of D-League assignments and recalls right here.
Wizards Sign Shelvin Mack, Garrett Temple
The Wizards have officially signed Shelvin Mack and Garrett Temple, the team announced today in a press release. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first reported that Washington would bring back Mack, while ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported that Temple was expected to sign with the Wizards.
Both Mack and Temple had been playing in the D-League, for the Maine Red Claws and Reno Bighorns, respectively. In 10 starts for Maine, Mack had averaged 20.2 PPG and 7.1 APG while playing over 40 minutes per contest. Temple, meanwhile, has started nine games for the Bighorns, averaging 14.7 PPG and 5.8 APG.
The Wizards released Earl Barron and Shaun Livingston over the weekend, clearing a pair of roster spots. At the time, Michael Lee of the Washington Post indicated that Washington would likely bring in backcourt reinforcements to fill those roster spots. Barron's and Livingston's deals were non-guaranteed, and I would expect Mack's and Temple's will be as well, meaning the team will have a couple weeks to decide whether to keep the duo on board, guaranteeing their contracts.