Suns Re-Assign Diante Garrett To D-League
With the NBA D-League postseason underway, here are today's D-League assignments and recalls. Any additional moves will be added to the top of the page throughout the day….
- The Suns have re-assigned Diante Garrett to the Bakersfield Jam, according to the D-League's official Twitter account. The move comes as the Jam, who finished with the D-League's best record at 36-14, prepare to open up their first-round playoff series tonight against the Austin Toros. In seven games this season for Bakersfield, Garrett has averaged 17.3 PPG and 7.3 APG.
Poll: Defensive Player Of The Year
There will be little to no drama when it comes to voting for some of the NBA's award winners this season, as players like LeBron James (MVP) and Damian Lillard (Rookie of the Year) are virtual locks to collect hardware. But for many other awards, no clear frontrunner has emerged, meaning there is potential for races that include a wide range of candidates, rather than just one or two.
One such award is Defensive Player of the Year. A year ago, Tyson Chandler's influence in turning the Knicks into one of the NBA's better defensive teams led to Chandler winning the award for the first time in his career. But in 2012/13, there's no real dominant narrative.
The Bucks' PR department has aggressively pushed Larry Sanders' candidacy, while Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post wrote today that Andre Iguodala deserves the award. Marc Gasol, Tony Allen, Joakim Noah, and Tim Duncan are among the other players that have earned some buzz for their defense at one point or another this season.
So what do you think? Which player is the frontrunner at this point for the Defensive Player of the Year award? After making your vote, feel free to share your reasoning in the comments section.
Southeast Notes: Heat, Redick, Magic, Webster
The Southeast-leading Heat have clinched the NBA's best record of 2012/13, ensuring that they'll have homecourt advantage throughout the entire postseason. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, the Bobcats' latest losing streak has once again put them in position to secure the best odds for the No. 1 pick this June. A game and a half behind the Magic, Charlotte would have to win at least two of its final four games in order to give up the top spot in the draft lottery, as our reverse standings show. Here's the rest of the latest out of the Southeast:
- Securing the league's best record has already guaranteed Miami a nice chunk of the NBA's $13MM playoff pool, as Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel explains. Assuming the Heat advance to the Finals, as most of us expect them too, the team would earn more than $3MM that would likely be divided among players and other members of the organization.
- Former Magic guard J.J. Redick spoke to Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel about returning to Orlando to play his former team last night. Redick also discussed his impending free agency, noting that while many factors will enter into his decision, salary will be a big one. "I think for any player sometimes, if the money is so different between offers, you go with the money," Redick said. "You secure you and your family's financial future. But there's other things, for sure."
- In examining a few optimal fits for this year's draft prospects, Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com (Insider link) suggests that Michigan's Trey Burke would do well with the Magic.
- According to Michael Lee of the Washington Post, the Wizards may shut down Martell Webster (abdominal strain) for the rest of the regular season. With Webster facing unrestricted free agency, it's possible he has played his last game for the Wizards, but the team is reportedly very interested in bringing him back.
Traded 2013 Draft Picks Still Up In The Air
With just a handful of games remaining in the 2012/13 regular season, most traded 2013 draft picks that included some sort of protection have been locked in, with teams' records ensuring those picks will either change hands or stay put. The Bulls, for instance, obviously aren't getting the Bobcats' top-12-protected pick, while the Jazz know definitively that they will receive Golden State's top-six-protected first-rounder.
There are still a handful of picks whose fate remains up in the air, however. For instance, the Suns and Cavaliers are watching the Lakers' place in the standings anxiously, since Phoenix will get L.A.'s pick if the Lakers miss the playoffs, while the Cavs will grab it if the Lakers earn a postseason berth. With the help of our projected draft order, here are the details on that pick and the rest of the selections that still may or may not change hands:
Team: Raptors (30-48)
Protection details: First-round pick sent to Thunder if not between 1-3 or 15-30.
Projected landing spot: 10th
Current outlook: The Raptors have a chance to jump into the top three in the draft lottery to keep their pick, but it's a real long shot. Assuming they finish with the league's 10th-worst record, the Raps' odds of landing a top-three pick will be about 4%.
Team: Trail Blazers (33-45)
Protection details: First-round pick sent to Bobcats if not in top 12.
Projected landing spot: 12th
Current outlook: With Dallas five games ahead of them in the standings, the Trail Blazers will finish with no better than the league's 12th-worst record. That bodes well for their chances of keeping their first-rounder, since the odds of the 13th and/or 14th teams leapfrogging the Blazers in the lottery (pushing them out of the top 12) are only about 4%.
Team: Lakers (42-37)
Protection details: First-round pick sent to Suns if in top 14. If not in top 14, Cavaliers can swap Heat first-round pick with Lakers first-rounder; Lakers then send Heat pick to Suns.
Projected landing spot: 15th
Current outlook: A game up on the Jazz, the Lakers are in the driver's seat in the race for the final Western Conference playoff spot, but they'll host the Warriors, Spurs, and Rockets in their last three games, so it won't be a cakewalk. The Jazz hold the playoff tiebreaker and finish with games against the Timberwolves (twice) and Grizzlies. John Hollinger's playoffs odds give the Lakers 73.5% odds to earn the 8th seed, but this could still go either way.
Team: Trail Blazers (33-45)
Protection details: Second-round pick sent to Nuggets if not in top 40.
Projected landing spot: 42nd
Current outlook: Unlike the team's first-rounder, Portland isn't likely to keep this pick. Even if the Blazers' losing streak continues and they don't win another game this season, two of the Raptors, Sixers, and Timberwolves would have to finish the year with a handful of wins to push Portland's pick into the top 40. That means the Nuggets will probably receive it.
Team: Clippers (52-26)
Protection details: Second-round pick sent to Pistons if not in top 55.
Projected landing spot: 55th
Current outlook: The Clippers are a half-game up on the Knicks in the NBA standings and are within a game of the Grizzlies and two games of the Nuggets, so this pick remains unsettled. If the Pistons land it, it'd be one more very small asset in an offseason where the team is expected to have a lottery pick and a ton of cap space.
Team: Grizzlies (53-25)
Protection details: Second-round pick sent to Lakers if not in top 55.
Projected landing spot: 56th
Current outlook: A late-season loss or two for the Grizz could mean this pick ends up in the top 55 and remains in their control, but I don't think either team is losing much sleep over it.
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Chauncey Billups Not Considering Retirement
Injuries have wiped out the majority of Chauncey Billups' last two seasons, as the veteran guard has combined to play just 40 games since December 2011 — 20 in '11/12 and 20 more this season. However, despite being slowed by health issues, Billups isn't contemplating retirement, as Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com writes.
Before he sat out last night's game against the Timberwolves, the sixth in a row he has missed, Billups assured reporters, including Markazi, that he'd be back on the court by the end of the regular season. Asked whether this would be his last season and/or postseason, Billups replied, "No. Not at all."
While Billups' drop-off in production over the last two seasons can probably be attributed in large part to his health, he'll also turn 37 years old before the 2013/14 season gets underway. Having made over $100MM in his playing career, according to Basketball-Reference, and with no contract yet for next season, it wouldn't have been totally shocking if Billups called it a career. But he did suggest earlier this season that he'd like to play for a few more years, and it looks like he's sticking to that stance.
Billups signed a one-year deal worth $4MM last summer to remain with the Clippers. I'd imagine there will be mutual interest between the two sides in continuing the relationship beyond this season, though it would likely have to be for a reduced salary.
Latest On Kings, Sacramento, Seattle
The Maloof family, principal owners of the Kings, made headlines earlier today when they set a Friday deadline for the Sacramento bidders, and there's plenty more on the tug-of-war over the Kings this evening. Here's what we know:
- Commissioner David Stern is pushing Sacramento's bid along and personally seeking new investors, sources tell Chris Daniels of King 5 News in Seattle. That puts him at odds with several owners who have expressed their willingness to approve the team's proposed move to Seattle, according to Daniels.
- Ron Burkle pulled out of Sacramento's bidding group this week presumably because of the conflict regarding his stake in the Relativity Sports agency, but Daniels hears Burkle wasn't that excited about the effort to begin with.
- Daniels also hears the second half of Sacramento's presentation before NBA owners last week fell flat, and that it was based largely on vision rather than facts. A source tells Daniels that Sacramento's offer is still "way off" the $341MM price set when the Seattle group agreed to purchase the team earlier this year.
- Chris Hansen, the point man in Seattle's bid, used his presentation to outline an agreement with the city of Seattle to operate Key Arena while a new building is under construction, Daniels reports. That new arena could open as soon as 2015, Hansen claimed, while also revealing a potential regional televsion deal worth in excess of $40MM a year, much more than a similar deal would be worth in the Sacramento market.
- The Maloofs' deadline for Sacramento is of no real consequence, writes Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com (Sulia link).
Prospect Profile: Michael Carter-Williams
Michael Carter-Williams surely would have wished for a better final impression on the college hardwood. The 6'5" point guard spent the last minute of Syracuse's Final Four loss to Michigan on the bench, having fouled out after a two-point, 1-for-6 shooting performance that included two assists and five turnovers. Yet even as Carter-Williams was struggling mightily on offense last weekend, he was part of a suffocating zone defense that held Trey Burke, another point guard widely projected to go in the lottery, to seven points on 1-for-8 shooting. A longtime NBA scout tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv that he thinks Carter-Williams' overall performance in the tournament, highlighted by a season-high 24 points against top-seeded Indiana, has lifted his stock.
Carter-Williams currently checks in at No. 9 on Chad Ford's ESPN.com big board and No. 12 on Jonathan Givony's rankings at DraftExpress.com. It's quite a rise from a year ago, when he averaged just 10.3 minutes per game as a freshman buried behind Dion Waiters and Scoop Jardine. Carter-Williams might not be the best pro prospect among point guards in the draft, as some argued during a hot streak earlier this season, but his superior size allows him to disrupt offenses, having averaged 2.8 steals per game this year. He can play shooting guard, but his passing and ball-handling skills scream "point guard."
The stumbling block that could particularly affect him as a point man is his propensity for turnovers. He gave the ball away 3.4 times per game in 2012/13, negating his takeaways on defense. His shot is an issue as well, as he posted a shooting line of .393/.292/.694 this season. Both problems are correctable over time, however, so neither seems like a deal-breaker. The greater question may surround how well his defensive ability translates to man-to-man schemes from Syracuse's full-time zone, and scouts and executives will probably be looking for answers to that during pre-draft workouts.
That's when Carter-Williams expects to make his case to be the No. 1 overall pick. He believes Kansas shooting guard Ben McLemore would go first if the draft were today, but Carter-Williams thinks he can overtake him, as he tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
"If I go in the pre-draft camp and kill it and do the things I know I can do, I don't see why not," he said.
As with just about every prospect, the order in which teams will be drafting could go a long way in determining when Carter-Williams is selected. Assuming his stock doesn't jump as he's predicting, there might not be much call for a point guard where he's projected to be drafted. The five teams currently in line to pick eighth through 12th all have youthful incumbent point guards. Of the clubs likely to wind up with mid- to late-lottery picks, the Hornets, Kings and Mavs seem likeliest to go after a point guard, though trades could shake that up. The best bet for Carter-Williams is probably a team that can afford to be patient, since he could struggle to adjust defensively and have trouble on offenses as well, given the importance of floor spacing and long-range shooting in today's NBA.
Still, it seems he has the gifts and passing ability necessary to allow him to become better at the pro game than he was at the college game, a feat Carter-Williams told Spears he believes he can accomplish. Given the timing of those comments, made four days after this weekend's nightmare against Michigan, it doesn't sound like that performance has caused him to lose confidence, and that, too, will be an asset at the next level.
Gorgui Dieng To Enter Draft
Louisville center Gorgui Dieng will enter the NBA draft, Cardinals coach Rick Pitino tells Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). Dieng, the 6'11" shot-blocking junior, is fresh off a three-block performance for the victorious Cardinals in the NCAA championship game. Pitino said about a month ago that Dieng would be leaving if he's projected to go in the first round, and he ranks No. 24 on Chad Ford's ESPN.com draft board and No. 18 on Jonathan Givony's list of prospects for DraftExpress.com.
Dieng averaged 9.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game for the champs this year. He missed more than a month with a fractured bone in his left wrist, but his draft stock climbed from early-second-round status after he returned. He's a product of the SEEDS Academy, a development program in Senegal founded by Amadou Gallo Fall, a former Mavericks executive and current vice president of NBA development in Africa. Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors took an in-depth look earlier this season at Dieng and the effect of the SEEDS program.
He went scoreless in the national semifinals against Wichita State, but aside from his lack of offense, the most significant knock on Dieng could be his age, as he's already 23. That makes him significantly older than most of the underclassmen entering this year's draft.
Celtics Rumors: Pierce, Garnett, Christmas
The Knicks have ended the Celtics' five-year reign as Atlantic Division champs, but it's looking increasingly like Boston will have a chance for revenge in the first round of the playoffs. The Celtics are a game and a half behind the Hawks for the sixth spot in the East, but otherwise they and the Knicks appear locked into the seventh and second seeds, respectively. While we wait to see if that matchup becomes reality, the Knicks are set to make a roster move, and there's plenty of news on the C's as well.
- Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports speculated last night that the Clippers and Celtics, who explored a Kevin Garnett trade before the deadline, could revisit talks in the summer, this time centering around Paul Pierce (video link). Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com has a partial transcription of the video. Teams may be wary of trading for Garnett, who has a no-trade clause, because they fear he might retire rather than play anywhere but Boston, as Garnett has suggested.
- Bradford Doolittle of ESPN.com runs the numbers to examine the potential impact a Garnett trade could have had on the Clippers, concluding that the move would have given L.A. a better shot at the title (Insider only).
- Dionte Christmas, a training camp invitee with the Celtics last fall, has officially signed to play in Italy with Montepaschi Siena, according to the Italian team (translation via Sportando). Christmas tweeted the news of his signing over the weekend.