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Month: November 2013

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By | at November 12, 2013 1:14 pm

If you want to keep tabs on all of Hoops Rumors’ stories and updates, you can follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or subscribe to our feed through your RSS reader of choice. However, if you prefer to only receive news about your favorite NBA team, we have you covered. Below are links to our Facebook, Twitter, and RSS pages and feeds for all 30 teams.

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Lakers May Explore Adding Point Guard

By | at November 12, 2013 11:26 am

The Lakers revealed on Monday that point guard Steve Nash will be sidelined for at least the next two weeks with nerve root irritation in his back, leaving the team with just Steve Blake and Jordan Farmar at the point. While the Lakers don’t necessarily have to make a move to deal with Nash’s absence, rival executives tell Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio that they expect to hear from GM Mitch Kupchak.

“It’s not like Mitch to sit and do nothing,” one executive said to Amico. “I’d be really surprised if that’s his course.”

Although it’s possible that Nash could return by December, his ongoing health issues at age 39 will likely give the Lakers pause. The club is also waiting on the return of 35-year-old Kobe Bryant, and had been playing Blake at the two during Kobe’s absence. As Amico notes, Blake figures to see more minutes at point guard while Nash recovers.

Having traded away multiple future draft picks and without a ton of young players under contract, it’s not clear whether the Lakers have the assets to swing a trade. Execs who spoke to Amico indicated that they hadn’t heard from Kupchak as of late Monday, but most expected that to change shortly.

“We have a good idea which players (on the roster) he’ll ask about,” one GM said. “We’re already preparing counter offers.”

1 comment Los Angeles Lakers

Knicks Rumors: Love, Carmelo, Chris Smith

By | at November 12, 2013 8:49 am

The Knicks are the latest team to be featured in our Offseason in Review series, with Zach Links recapping the club’s summer moves last night. So far though, New York’s offseason additions haven’t been paying dividends, as the Knicks have struggled out of the gate, losing four of their first six games. They’ll have a chance to climb closer to .500 tomorrow night in Atlanta, in a game James Dolan guaranteed his team would win. As the Knicks prepare for that contest, let’s round up a few interesting tidbits on the club from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:

  • The Knicks are already looking ahead and planning their strategy for the summer of 2015, when big contracts for Amar’e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, and Andrea Bargnani all come off the books. According to Wojnarowski, the club is eyeing Kevin Love, and has already begun to devise a strategy to lure him to New York when the time comes.
  • Of course, it’s possible Carmelo Anthony will no longer be a Knick by that point. However, the Lakers are considered the most credible threat for Carmelo, and one source rhetorically asks Wojnarowski: “Do you think ‘Melo wants to be known for not winning titles in New York and L.A.?”
  • Referring to the signings of J.R. Smith and younger brother Chris Smith as a package deal, Wojnarowski cites a source who says former GM Glen Grunwald “never wanted” to sign Chris, and that the call came down from above him.
  • Wojnarowski writes that some Knicks coaches don’t believe Chris Smith is a D-League player, let alone an NBA player. One GM called the younger Smith “maybe the worst player in the history of the Summer League,” according to Wojnarowski.
3 comments Los Angeles Lakers Minnesota Timberwolves New York Knicks

Odds & Ends: Wiggins, Lakers, TV Revenue

By | at November 11, 2013 9:43 pm

Tanking might be a dirty word in the NBA today, but Chad Ford of ESPN.com tells colleague Henry Abbott that this year’s class is worth losing for.  Aside from Andrew Wiggins, this year’s class features impressive prospects like Julius Randle, Jabari Parker, Marcus Smart, Dante Exum, and Aaron Gordon.  Here’s more from around the Association..

  • Is Wiggins the top talent in the 2014 class?  A few front office executives and scouts aren’t sure, writes Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports.  “He’s not LeBron,” one NBA general manager said. “It’s not his fault regarding all the hype. People say he’s pretty humble. He’s a top-three pick for sure, if not No. 1.“
  • While the Lakers have struggled early on in the year, offseason acquisitions Wesley Johnson and Jordan Farmar have been bright spots, writes ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Dave McMenamin.  D’Antoni has kicked around the idea of promoting one of them to the starting lineup, but he fears weakening the second unit, which has been pretty sharp as a whole.
  • The league is engaged in settlement talks with Ozzie and Daniel Silna to end what has long been described as the greatest sports business deal of all-time, sources tell Chris Broussard of ESPN.com.  The Silnas are the former owners of the ABA’s Spirit of St. Louis.  At the time of the NBA/ABA merger, the Silnas agreed to dissolve their team for a small percentage of the NBA’s television revenues.  The concession didn’t seem like much at the time, but the Silnas have racked up $300MM since the late 70s and are taking in a nice chunk of change that would otherwise be shared by the league’s 30 owners.
  • The NBA is using the D-League to experiment with the possibility of shortening games, explains Zach Lowe of Grantland.
0 comments 2014 NBA Draft Los Angeles Lakers

Eastern Notes: Sanders, Woodson, Hawks, Nets

By | at November 11, 2013 8:14 pm

The Bucks announced that center Larry Sanders will be out six weeks after he underwent surgery this afternoon to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb.  Sanders suffered the injury in an apparent nightclub skirmish.  That’s more bad news for a 2-3 Milwaukee team as Ersan Ilyasova is sidelined and Zaza Pachulia still isn’t 100%.  One has to imagine that the Bucks will at least explore a deal for some frontcourt help. Here’s a look at the latest out of the Eastern Conference..

  • If the Knicks continue to struggle, coach Mike Woodson could be the one to pay for the club falling short of expectations, writes Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld.  
  • Meanwhile, Knicks star Carmelo Anthony came to the defense of Woodson in the face of criticism from fans and the media, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com.  “It’s New York,” Anthony said. “It happens. Woody’s not out there playing. We’re out there playing. You can’t blame Woody. We’re not, as a team, giving him the effort that he’s looking for and we’ve got to change that.”
  • The Hawks announced earlier today that have assigned Jared Cunningham to the D-League’s Bakersfield Jam.  While with the Mavericks last season, Cunningham played in 15 D-League games for the Texas Legends, and averaged 15.3 points, 3.0 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 34.5 minutes.
  • Kennedy also caught up with Nets rookie Mason Plumlee, who says that he has already learned a great deal from veteran forward Kevin Garnett.  Plumlee says that there isn’t much external pressure on him, but he does feel some internal pressure to play well since the expectations are so high in Brooklyn this year.
1 comment Atlanta Hawks Brooklyn Nets Milwaukee Bucks New York Knicks

Offseason In Review: New York Knicks

By | at November 11, 2013 5:47 pm

Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees, and more will be covered, as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.

Signings

Trades

Draft Picks

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

The Knicks won the Atlantic Division by a healthy margin last season, but they’ll have a tougher road to guaranteed home-court advantage this time around.  That’s exactly why the Knicks didn’t stand pat while their cross-borough rivals overhauled their roster.  This year, the Knicks are rolling out a different squad but one that is still chock full of familiar faces and veteran players.

The Knicks’ biggest acquisition of the summer came in late June when they agreed to send Marcus Camby, Steve Novak, Quentin Richardson, a 2014 second-round draft pick, a 2016 first-round draft pick, and a 2017 second-round draft pick north of the border for Andrea Bargnani.  The former No. 1 overall pick has struggled to stay healthy and give consistent production over the course of his career in Toronto and the Raptors’ new regime, led by GM Masai Ujiri, was very willing to cut bait with him.  The Raptors’ loss might be the Knicks’ gain as the big man looks pretty comfortable so far in blue-and-orange.  The biggest knock on Bargnani over the last seven years has been his aggressiveness and toughness and only time will tell if he can turn over a new (non-maple) leaf with his new club.  However, the offensive acumen has always been there with Bargnani and he’ll be given opportunities to score in bunches as he did on Friday night against the Bobcats (25 points off of 11-of-25 shooting).

The other headline grabbing out-of-house move to come out of MSG was the Knicks’ signing of Metta World Peace in July.  The tenacious rebounder formerly known as Ron Artest was amnestied by the Lakers over the summer, not necessarily because he’s finished, but because he’s no longer worth the $7.73MM cap hit he would have put on Los Angeles.  However, for a piece of the mini mid-level exception, World Peace is absolutely a worthwhile pickup for the Knicks.  While the forward has a reputation around the league for being a little, um, uneven, he has leveled off in recent years and Lakers star Kobe Bryant says that he’ll miss having the veteran in L.A.  World Peace more-or-less handpicked the Knicks after discouraging clubs from claiming him off of amnesty waivers (MWP’s camp told anyone that would listen that he was headed to China in 2013/14) so there’s every reason to believe that he’s on board with making this union work.  Players can sometimes get in trouble when they return to their hometown and are surrounded by the friends they grew up with, but World Peace, who celebrates his 34th birthday on Wednesday, should be able to keep any distractions at bay.

J.R. Smith returning to New York was hardly a surprise, but the mini-circus that led up to it certainly was.  Shortly after it was reported that Smith agreed to a three-year, $17.95MM deal (player option on year three) with the Knicks, the club announced that the guard would require patellar tendon surgery and an arthroscopy for a tear in the lateral meniscus of his left knee.  Conveniently, the announcement was made just as the Knicks PR staff was packing up for summer vacation.  Most Knicks fans were on board with having the reigning Sixth Man of the Year back in NYC at the time of the signing, but after the news, opinions were split on whether the deal was a good call for the club.  The strangest part of it all is that agent Leon Rose claims that the two sides originally agreed to a four-year pact before Rose had it amended to a three-year deal with a player option for the final season.  After learning that Smith would need to go under the knife, one would imagine that the Knicks would be the party looking to shorten the deal and minimize their risk.  It also doesn’t help matters that Smith was slapped with a five game suspension for a positive marijuana test.  The guard has long had a reputation for partying hard and after spending equal time on the New York Post’s backpage and Page Six thanks to his dalliances with Rihanna, the Knicks couldn’t have been thrilled about that piece of news.

Think the Smith saga was weird?  Knicks owner James Dolan, a man with a penchant for raising the ire of sports radio callers, saved his strangest move for the very end of the offseason.  After putting the finishing touches on the Knicks’ roster for 2013/14, General Manager Glen Grunwald was shown the door in favor of former MSG exec Steve Mills.  Six weeks later, the move is still a head-scratcher.  If you feel bad for Grunwald, you should save some empathy for Mills as well.  When the Knicks were trailing in the third game of the season (at home vs. Minnesota), Dolan reportedly left his seat after the first quarter to give his new GM a verbal lashing over the team’s effort.  Of course, Mills isn’t the man responsible for the Knicks’ roster as currently constructed, that would be Grunwald.

In addition to re-signing Smith, the Knicks also re-upped point guard Pablo Prigioni and forward Kenyon Martin.  Martin was out of a job for quite a while thanks in part to a perception that he wasn’t a model teammate, but he has been nothing but a positive for the Knicks since coming aboard.  The aging Prigioni earned his contract after a solid 2012/13 campaign and he’ll be helped by the tremendous addition of Beno Udrih.  The 31-year-old has taken a step back since his days in Sacramento, but he was a very solid pickup for the Knicks at the low, low price of $1.27MM.

The Knicks also rounded out the end of their roster with Cole Aldrich, Toure’ Murry, and Chris Smith – a signing that has absolutely nothing to do with the new contract given to older brother J.R.  Coach Mike Woodson & Co. haven’t stopped praising rookie shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. since drafting him in June and he figures to see significant minutes throughout the year.

Ultimately, the Knicks’ success will depend largely on another banner year from star Carmelo Anthony and their overall defensive effort.  A team featuring the likes of Melo, Smith, and Bargnani should have no trouble filling a statsheet, but getting it done on the other end will be another story, especially with Tyson Chandler sidelined for the next four-to-six weeks.  How the season plays out is anyone’s guess, but it’s probably safe to assume that the Knicks won’t finish the year in the cellar of the Atlantic alongside the Nets while the Sixers occupy the No. 1 spot.

2 comments New York Knicks Offseason In Review

Odds & Ends: Head, Corbin, Exum, Mavericks

By | at November 11, 2013 1:48 pm

As we get ready for a Monday evening slate that features nine NBA games, let’s round up a few odds and ends from around the league….

  • Luther Head, who last played in the NBA with the Kings prior to the 2011 lockout, is fielding interest from teams in Turkey, Ukraine, and Australia, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com. While Head is hoping to return to the NBA at some point, it looks like a trip overseas might be his next move.
  • Tyrone Corbin has faced difficult circumstances ever since he took over as Jazz head coach in 2011, and he deserves a chance to coach the current roster after Trey Burke gets healthy, writes Kurt Kragthorpe of the Salt Lake Tribune. Still, Kragthorpe suggests that if things don’t get any better on the court, the team may eventually have to consider making a change.
  • ESPN.com’s Chad Ford fielded both NBA and NCAA questions in his latest chat, discussing some of the early-season developments as well as looking ahead to next year’s draft and free agent period. Within the chat, Ford notes that 2014 prospect Dante Exum is strongly leaning toward entering the draft rather than attending college.
  • The Mavericks‘ offseason additions are meshing very well with Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas so far, says Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com.
  • In his latest piece, Sam Smith of Bulls.com proposes some trade scenarios involving Pau Gasol, Omer Asik, and Evan Turner.
0 comments 2014 NBA Draft Dallas Mavericks Utah Jazz

New York Notes: Woodson, Carmelo, D-League

By | at November 11, 2013 12:15 pm

The Nets and Knicks are both coming off home losses, and even though those losses came to a couple of the best teams in the NBA (the Pacers won in Brooklyn, while the Spurs beat the Knicks), New Yorkers are still getting uneasy about their teams’ slow starts. Here’s the latest on the pair of 2-4 clubs:

  • According to Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News, Mike Woodson‘s seat in New York is starting to heat up after the Knicks’ 31-point loss to San Antonio. However, Marc Berman of the New York Post argues that the team’s slow start should be attributed to a combination of the front office, the players, and the medical staff.
  • In his Morning Tip column at NBA.com, TNT’s David Aldridge focuses on the Nets, a team still trying to adjust to a new roster and a new coach.
  • Jim Cavan of Bleacher Report explores what the Knicks’ future could look like if Carmelo Anthony signs somewhere else in free agency next summer.
  • The Nets have recalled Tornike Shengelia and Tyshawn Taylor from the D-League, the team announced this morning in a press release. Shengelia has already been assigned to the Springfield Armor twice, while Taylor was on his first assignment, so it looks like both players will be shuttled back and forth frequently throughout the season.
1 comment Brooklyn Nets NBA G League New York Knicks

Pacific Links: Nash, Malone, Rivers

By | at November 11, 2013 10:43 am

The 2013/14 NBA season is less than two weeks old, but the early leaders in the Northwest and Southwest look about right, with the Thunder and Spurs sitting atop their respective divisions. The same can’t be said about the Pacific though, where the 5-2 Suns are the surprise leader out of the gate. Phoenix will get to enjoy its spot in first place until at least Wednesday, when the club will face a tough challenge in Portland. As we look forward to seeing how long the Suns can keep up their solid play, let’s round up a few more notes from out of the Pacific….

  • Steve Nash was forced to exit Sunday’s game early due to back pain and is scheduled to meet with a specialist on Monday for an evaluation, as Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com details. Nash recently expressed his intent to play out the remaining two years on his current contract, but Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni is “concerned” with the health of his 39-year-old point guard, who is also still dealing with nerve issues related to last year’s broken leg.
  • In the past, the Kings may have replaced a coach who wasn’t on the same page as his players, but new coach Michael Malone has the support of the front office and ownership, writes Victor Contreras of the Sacramento Bee. If someone on the current roster is unable to coexist with Malone, it will likely be the player, rather than the coach, who is shipped out, says Contreras.
  • Ken Berger of CBSSports.com takes a look at how the Clippers are adjusting to their first season under head coach Doc Rivers.
0 comments Los Angeles Clippers Los Angeles Lakers Sacramento Kings

2013/14 NBA Reverse Standings

By | at November 11, 2013 9:00 am

For the third straight season, Hoops Rumors is introducing a feature that will allow you to keep an eye on how next summer’s draft order will play out: Our 2013/14 NBA reverse standings. Throughout the season, these standings, which list the NBA’s 30 teams from worst to first, will be updated daily to reflect the previous night’s outcomes.

Our reverse standings take into account playoff teams in each conference, so they’re essentially a reflection of what 2014’s draft order would look like with no changes to lottery position. Traded picks are also included via footnotes — for instance, the notes next to the Nuggets’ and Knicks’ picks indicate that Denver will receive the more favorable of those selections, while the Magic will receive the less favorable of the two. For now, that looks like pretty good news for Orlando, since Denver and New York have combined for just three wins.

It’s still too early in the season to put too much stock in a team’s spot in the draft lottery, but unlike last year, when there was no clear No. 1 pick to dream on, 2014’s draft class figures to include Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Julius Randle, Dante Exum, and Marcus Smart, among others. The general consensus among draft experts is that any one of those players would have had a great shot to go first overall in 2013, so it’s worth getting excited if your favorite team has a shot to land a top pick.

Our reverse standings feature can be found at anytime on our right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features.” It’s a great resource not just for monitoring a team’s draft position, but also for keeping an eye on whether or not traded picks with protection will be changing hands in 2014. So be sure to check back often!

1 comment 2014 NBA Draft
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