Rockets Notes: Rosas, Howard, Canaan
The Rockets are in sixth place in the Western Conference after last night’s loss to the rival Mavericks, but Houston is regaining an asset it lost to Dallas in the offseason, as we detail:
- Former Mavs GM Gersson Rosas is rejoining the Rockets front office, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. He’ll serve as executive vice president of basketball operations under GM Daryl Morey. Rosas worked nine years within the Rockets organization before departing this summer for Dallas, where he spent only a few months before leaving amid confusion over his role.
- Mike D’Antoni has presided over plenty of tough breaks in his time with the Lakers, but he doesn’t think there was any more the team could have done to persuade Dwight Howard to pick L.A. over the Rockets. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports has the details.
- Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle catches up with Isaiah Canaan, whose lengthy D-League assignment finally ended with a recall to the Rockets, paving the way for his NBA debut.
Grizzlies Propose Bayless-Meeks Deal To Lakers
The Grizzlies are “clearly looking to shake up their roster,” writes Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher, who hears from a Lakers source that Memphis offered Jerryd Bayless in return for Jodie Meeks. Such a trade wouldn’t work under the NBA’s salary-matching rules, which would require the Lakers to put additional outgoing salary into the deal to come closer to the $3.135MM Bayless makes this season. Still, the proposal appears to indicate changes could be on the way for the disappointing 12-15 Grizzlies.
Memphis has added James Johnson and Seth Curry in recent days to bolster an injury-depleted roster that’s enduring the long-term absences of Marc Gasol and Quincy Pondexter. It appears the Grizzlies have no interest in a rumored trade that would send Zach Randolph to the Pelicans, Bucher says, though a report yesterday indicated that Memphis might be willing to move Randolph for the right offer.
The Lakers have had their own share of injury troubles, particularly among their point guards, and adding Bayless would help them shore up that position. He’s also a free agent after this season, so he wouldn’t clog up L.A.’s cap space this summer. Still, it doesn’t sound as though the Grizzlies’ proposal has gained any traction.
Blazers, Bulls Talked Aldridge, Noah Swap
There were conflicting reports this summer about whether LaMarcus Aldridge wanted to be traded, but Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher hears that there was a deal in the works that would have sent him to the Bulls for Joakim Noah. It’s not clear how close the deal came to happening or whether it was the Blazers or Bulls who initiated the talks, but Portland indeed made Aldridge available in the offseason, Bucher writes.
Rumors about Aldridge have become less frequent since the start of the season as his career-best performance has helped the Blazers to a 23-5 record that has them atop the Western Conference. He’s averaging 23.1 points and 11.0 rebounds a game, both career highs, and his 22.7 PER matches his best mark from his seven previous NBA seasons.
The Bulls drafted Aldridge second overall in 2006, but sent him to Portland in a regrettable draft-night deal that brought in a package of Tyrus Thomas and little else. Chicago might have brought Aldridge back this summer, but it would have cost the Bulls an All-Star of their own in Noah. It’s not clear if there were other players in the discussion, but a one-for-one swap of Aldridge and Noah wouldn’t have worked under salary-matching rules, since it would have added too much to Chicago’s payroll.
I’d be quite surprised if the Blazers revisited Aldridge talks with the Bulls or any other team, given Portland’s fast start, so it seems the scenario will remain a “what if?” proposition.
Grizzlies Sign Seth Curry
TUESDAY, 12:16pm: The Grizzlies have officially announced the move, via press release.
SUNDAY, 7:59am: The Grizzlies are set to add guard Seth Curry, tweets Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. Curry will arrive in Memphis on Monday for a physical and a workout before the team makes the signing official, according to Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal (Twitter links). The move would bring the Grizzlies roster to the 15-player maximum.
Curry performed well earlier this month in an audition with the Grizzlies, but it’s still somewhat surprising to see that the club is expected to sign him, since a report indicated that Memphis had shifted gears after setting up its auditions for Curry and others. The Grizzlies had apparently begun focusing on long-term replacements for Quincy Pondexter, who’s out for the season, but perhaps they circled back to Curry after finding no better fit on the market.
The deal figures to be for the minimum salary. There are only a couple of weeks left before the January 10th leaguewide guarantee date, so if the arrangement doesn’t include a full guarantee, the Grizzlies won’t have long to evaluate Curry before they must decide on picking up his salary for the entire season.
Curry, 23, went undrafted out of Duke this past June and spent training camp this fall with older brother Stephen Curry and the Warriors. He’s been playing with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the D-League since then, averaging 21.3 points and 7.8 assists in 12 games.
Pacers Rumors: Hill, Granger, Stephenson
The Pacers are off until Saturday after last night’s blowout win over the Nets, but many of the team’s players take it as a slight that the NBA excluded them from the Christmas Day games, observes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Indiana would certainly be a welcome addition to a holiday schedule that doesn’t look quite as star-studded as it did when the season began. Here’s more on the Pacers:
- A rumored trade would send Danny Granger and George Hill to the Celtics for Rajon Rondo, but Hill’s agent, Michael Whitaker, tells Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star there isn’t much to the idea. Whitaker hasn’t spoken with any team about a trade involving Hill this season, he says. Hill isn’t paying much attention to the rumor either, Buckner observes.
- Lance Stephenson last night reiterated his desire to re-sign with the Pacers to reporters, including Harvey Araton of The New York Times. “This is a great team — I’d love to stay,” Stephenson said.
- Josh Newman of SNY.tv wonders if Stephenson could be an All-Star this season, and gauges the ability of the Pacers to re-sign the emerging talent.
Sarver, McDonough On Suns, Rebuilding
The Suns are 17-10 and perhaps the most surprising team in the NBA two months into the season. The winning comes on the heels of GM Ryan McDonough‘s mission to “clean up the nonsense, frankly, that had gone on here in years past,” as he tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The GM and owner Robert Sarver share plenty of thoughts on the turnaround and what might come next with Wojnarowski, and we’ll pass along the highlights here:
Sarver on his reluctance to embrace rebuilding:
“For all successful people in business, I think that the notion of taking a step back to take a step forward is a foreign concept. You simply don’t say, ‘We’re going to go backward for a couple years,’ in business. But pro sports – especially the NBA – is different, and it’s set up to do just that. I had a hard time stomaching the idea of rebuilding, and spent a couple of years trying to patch together a way that we could still capitalize on Steve [Nash]‘s ability. I was a couple of years too late in really facing the music.”
Sarver on the hiring criteria for McDonough and coach Jeff Hornacek:
“I needed to get a team with a GM and a coach who would have a good working relationship. We had problems with Steve [Kerr] and Mike [D’Antoni], with Alvin [Gentry] and Lance [Blanks]. It puts too much stress on the team.”
McDonough on his approach this season:
“To have a season where everything goes wrong and you’re just hoping for the pingpong balls to bounce your way – and then hope you draft the right guy, who then turns into a great player – that’s not something I’m comfortable doing and Jeff, [Suns president of basketball operations] Lon [Babby] and ownership wanted no part of it. We can keep drafting and adding to our talent, or we have six first-round picks over the next two years and could accelerate the process using picks and our cap space to trade for a star player.”
McDonough on free agent signings next summer:
“We have max cap space next summer and we will be chasing the top guys. But if we don’t get them, it won’t be the end of the world. Then, we will hope to draft well and put together a group that might take a little longer to get to a contending level, but will have a longer timeline together.”
Clippers Emerge As Possible Carmelo Suitor
Many around the Knicks doubt that Carmelo Anthony will re-sign with the team this summer, and they believe the Clippers are the team most likely to land last year’s scoring champion, according to HoopsWorld’s Steve Kyler. Those same sources suggest the Knicks may try to trade Anthony to the Clippers before the February 20th deadline, Kyler writes.
It’s unclear whether that sort of talk is coming from Knicks management, players, or others around the team. Kyler also suggests that the Knicks would be reluctant to make Anthony a max offer in the summer, which would erode the team’s built-in financial advantage for re-signing its own player.
Anthony has made it clear he intends to exercise the early termination option on his deal and test free agency this summer, but it’s not a given that he would do so if he’s traded this season, Kyler says. The Clippers or another team could attempt to see if Anthony is willing to waive his option before agreeing to any trade.
Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling recently posed the idea of a Clippers/Knicks swap centered on Anthony and Blake Griffin to league executives, and it would probably take a star-laden package for the Knicks to pull the trigger on any trade. Such a move also require plenty of salary going to New York, since Anthony is making nearly $21.4MM this year. That figure alone would make any swap difficult, and it doesn’t sound like the Knicks are actively talking to teams about trading him, so the idea seems far-fetched, at least for now.
Amico’s Latest: Lowry, Dragic, Cavs
Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio leads his latest piece with news about the Bucks making Larry Sanders available in trades, but he passes along plenty more pre-Christmas rumors. Let’s dive in:
- Amico identifies the Magic and Pelicans as potential Kyle Lowry suitors and hears from one league executive who says he’d be shocked if the Raptors don’t deal the point guard by the deadline.
- A report yesterday suggested Goran Dragic is the Suns player most likely to be dealt, but Amico hears that while the Suns would listen to offers, they aren’t looking to trade him.
- The Cavs have been aggressive in their search for “an impact player” on the trade market recently, but they’re not willing to give up Dion Waiters or Tristan Thompson to do so, according to Amico. The team might become more willing to include those players in trades at a later point, Amico speculates.
- Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro is still talking to other teams about moves that would improve his club, Amico writes, which jibes with earlier reports that suggest Sacramento remains in trade mode.
- Draft prospect P.J. Hairston could soon wind up in the D-League. The University of North Carolina recently dismissed the swingman, but many around the league think he might head to the D-League to help his draft stock. He’s currently No. 32 on the DraftExpress Top 100 Prospects list.
Bucks Open To Trading Larry Sanders
The Bucks locked up Larry Sanders to a four-year, $44MM extension in the offseason, but now it appears that maybe “no NBA player is as available” in a trade as he is, writes Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. Milwaukee believes it can get decent return for him, and the Bucks don’t want to move anyone else from their relatively well-stocked front line.
Milwaukee isn’t rushing to move him, according to Amico, but executives around the league believe the Bucks would be willing to send him out if they received the right offer, which may be centered on draft considerations. Such an offer might not be forthcoming, since an executive recently indicated to Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times that teams around the league aren’t too high on Sanders right now.
Further complicating any trade is the Poison Pill Provision, which would come in to play since Sanders signed a rookie scale extension that hasn’t kicked in yet. His $3.053MM salary for this season would count as his outgoing salary for Milwaukee, but he’d represent about $7.027MM in incoming salary for the team that acquires him. That figure is the average between Sanders’ 2013/14 salary and the average annual value of his extension. So, any trade would have to include additional salary going out on both sides, or a third team.
The 6’11” defensive stalwart has been out for most of the season with a broken hand suffered in a nightclub brawl, and the Bucks haven’t updated his status recently, even as the original timetable for his return draws to a close. Amico wonders if the Bucks are bringing him along slowly in an effort to reduce their chances of winning games and hurting their draft lottery chances, though Milwaukee owner Herb Kohl usually wants his team to stay competitive.
Odds & Ends: Draft, Shaw, Mavs, Williams
Switzerland’s Clint Capela may enter his name in the 2014 Draft, according to a report from Catch and Shoot, translated by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. “If I had to decide today, I think I’d add my name in the next NBA draft,” said Capela. The young big man born in 1994 is averaging 5.3 PPG and 4.8 RPG in Pro A with Chalon, while in Eurocup he scored 11.2 PPG with 6.5 RPG in 10 games. Capela has been followed by several NBA scouts over the last months. Here’s more from around the Association..
- Terry Frei of the Denver Post takes a look at some of the growing pains Brian Shaw is experiencing in his first season as the Nuggets’ head coach.
- Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says his club has to make things easier on rookie point guards Shane Larkin and Gal Mekel, writes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas News.
- There’s mutual interest between former Celtics guard Terrence Williams and the D-League’s Maine Red Claws, writes Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. That interest, however, does not guarantee that Williams will join the Red Claws, currently in second place in the East Division. Williams must sign with the D-League and then go through the waiver claim process and go untouched to land with the Red Claws. Williams played two games for a Turkish club last month before calling it quits and coming back to the states.