Suns, Warriors, Bobcats, Thunder Eye Bass
WEDNESDAY, 1:31pm: An NBA GM tells Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio that the Thunder have interest in Bass, too, as Amico shares in a chat with readers.
MONDAY, 2:42pm: The talk of Bass going to the Warriors has “little to no legs,” tweets Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group, who isn’t sure how Golden State could pull off the deal unless the Celtics agreed to take on Marreese Speights.
10:30am: The Suns, Warriors and Bobcats are among a wide array of teams interested in Celtics power forward Brandon Bass, reports Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. The power forward is the most frequent subject of trade talk on the Celtics, a team that rival executives believe could be one of the busiest at the trade deadline, according to Deveney. The Celtics are willing to trade just about any player on the roster, short of Rajon Rondo, whom Danny Ainge wouldn’t give up for anything short of an “overwhelming offer,” Deveney writes.
Ainge has expressed a fondness for building through the draft, and to obtain Bass, the Bobcats would most likely give up Portland’s first-rounder, which the Blazers owe Charlotte, Deveney says. The Warriors don’t have much in the way of draft assets to offer Boston, but they could give up young players like Festus Ezeli, Nemanja Nedovic and Ognjen Kuzmic, as Deveney speculates. Golden State also has the flexibility of a sizable trade exception they acquired when they sent Richard Jefferson to the Jazz in the summer. The Suns see Bass as an alternative to a Pau Gasol deal, a source tells Deveney.
Bass was linked to the Rockets in December, when Houston was pushing to trade Omer Asik. The 28-year-old Bass is putting up 10.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in 27.4 minutes per game this season, numbers all somewhat above his career averages. He’s making $6.45MM this season, and will get $6.9MM next season in the final year of his deal.
Atlantic Rumors: Lowry, Sixers, Wyatt, Celtics
The Raptors continue to be aggressive in their search for the right Kyle Lowry trade, according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com, who echoed his own late-January dispatch on the subject as he answered reader questions in a chat. Ford also says the Sixers are still leaning toward taking Andrew Wiggins over Jabari Parker if they have the opportunity at draft time. Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- The Blazers had talks with the Sixers in December about Spencer Hawes, tweets Jake Fischer of Liberty Ballers, who wonders if Portland will reignite those discussions now that Joel Freeland is sidelined for at least the next month with a sprained right MCL.
- Sixers camp invitee Khalif Wyatt has signed to play in the D-League, reports Gino Pilato of D-League Digest (Twitter link).
- The Celtics are keeping an eye on Turkish league center Colton Iverson, whom they took 53rd overall this past June, as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia observes.
- Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com goes over the likely scenarios for the Celtics at the deadline, writing that it’s more likely the team trades Keith Bogans in the summer than in the next eight days.
- We rounded up news on the Knicks in a separate post.
Knicks Notes: Carmelo, Faried, Shumpert
The Knicks are once more eyeing Kenneth Faried and Kyle Lowry, dredging up trade chatter from earlier this season. New York seems to be ramping up efforts to make a move with the deadline just eight days away and a summer of uncertainty ahead. Here’s more from Madison Square Garden:
- Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has made a few public comments this season regarding Carmelo Anthony‘s free agency, and Anthony admits he leans on his ex-college coach for advice, as Peter Botte of the New York Daily News observes.
- Faried would give the Knicks a young, cheap power forward who fits short-term and long-term needs, but the team might regret letting Iman Shumpert continue to develop elsewhere, argues Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com.
- The Knicks shouldn’t be looking to trade any young players of value, argues Keith Schlosser of Knicks Journal, who examines what Shumpert and Tim Hardaway Jr. bring to the team.
NBA Unlikely To Expand To Seattle Soon
Concerns about the future of the Bucks in Milwaukee, pending TV negotiations, and dilution of on-court talent have prompted commissioner Adam Silver to tell Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com that the league has no plan in place to put an expansion team in Seattle. Silver lauded Seattle as a “wonderful” market and says that it would be beneficial to the league to have a team there, but he’s maintains that the league is nonetheless holding off on any expansion.
“I and the owners will look at not only dilution of economic opportunities with one more partner to divide national and international money but also dilution of talent,” Silver said. “Right now are already making comments about the (Eastern Conference), so is the ideal time to be adding another 15 or 30 players to the league? Ultimately I’m responsible for the financial and competitive health of a 30-team league and while we made tremendous strides in the last collective bargaining agreement, we’re still not there yet. We don’t have 30 profitable teams in the NBA and while we’ve made progress, there are still teams that aren’t competitive enough.”
It’s unlikely Silver and the league will seriously consider expansion to any city until the situation in Milwaukee is resolved, Windhorst writes. City leaders have been reluctant to fund maintenance to the Bucks’ existing arena, and it could be an uphill battle for the Bucks to secure public money for a new building. The team’s lease at the Bradley Center expires in 2017.
The willingness of a Seattle investment group fronted by Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer to pony up $800MM in their pursuit of the Kings has Mavs owner Mark Cuban eager to infuse their money into the league. Still, the NBA is set to begin negotiations on a new national TV deal, and until it’s known just how much networks are willing to pay for broadcast rights, teams will likely be unwilling to let a new team in on a share of that revenue, Windhorst explains.
Kyler’s Latest: Carmelo, Magic, W’s, Kings
Lottery picks will be hard to come by at the deadline, which means there’s a strong chance that clubs, like the Sixers, with hopes of trading for one will have to settle for less, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Kyler has a lot more from around the league in his latest NBA AM piece, as we detail:
- Knicks executives have had a “very open and candid dialogue” about the notion that Carmelo Anthony could leave as a free agent this summer, but they remain confident enough in re-signing him that they’re not looking to trade him at the deadline, Kyler writes. New York appears intent on adding to its roster rather than selling off assets, Kyler observes, though the Knicks are still reluctant to include a draft pick in a deal for either Kenneth Faried or Kyle Lowry.
- The Magic are open to moving Glen Davis, but there’s essentially no market for him because of concerns about his attitude and his contract, which pays him $6.6MM next season, Kyler writes. Orlando is listening to offers for Jameer Nelson, too, but the Magic’s unwillingness to take back long-term money makes it a long shot he’ll be dealt. Nelson’s deal, which gives him $8.6MM this season, is an impediment to a deal, too, according to Kyler, even though it’s partially guaranteed for just $2MM next year. Orlando also continues to rebuff offers for Arron Afflalo.
- The Warriors are interested in acquiring players who are either on expiring contracts or relatively short-term deals, and in spite of last month’s trade for Jordan Crawford, they continue to look around for point guard help, according to Kyler. They’re also looking to acquire draft picks, Kyler adds.
- The Kings remain the front runners for Andre Miller, Kyler says, though Miller’s lack of value on the market is making Denver hesitate. The Basketball Insiders scribe also reiterates that Marcus Thornton and Jimmer Fredette are prime trade candidates for Sacramento and adds Aaron Gray to that list.
- Executives from the Magic, Wizards, Pacers and Grizzlies are downplaying their willingness to make deadline trades, but all of those teams are nonetheless on the lookout for some kind of deal between now and next Thursday.
Spurs Re-Sign Shannon Brown To 10-Day Deal
The Spurs have re-signed Shannon Brown to a second 10-day contract, the team announced via press release. The timing isn’t quite as curious as it might seem with the All-Star break looming, since Brown’s contract will cover four games, just as many as it would have if San Antonio had signed him right after the break. That’s in contrast to Atlanta’s decision to ink Cartier Martin to a second 10-day deal last night, since the Hawks have six games in the 10 days following the break.
The new deal for Brown isn’t a surprise, since he traveled with the team for tonight’s game in Boston, as Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News observes (Twitter link). Injury-riddled San Antonio made Brown a starter in his first game with the team, but he’s only played 50 minutes total over six games, averaging 2.2 points per contest.
The Mark Bartelstein client will have a few more opportunities to impress the Spurs brass before they have to decide whether to make him the team’s 15th guaranteed contract or let him go. The Spurs can’t trade Brown at the deadline, but they could unilaterally cut ties with him before his latest 10-day contract expires if they need to use his roster spot to accommodate an unbalanced swap.
Warriors Owner On Jackson, Thompson, Barnes
Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob didn’t necessarily expect to contend for a title this year, but he did envision the team becoming a “serious competitor” for a top-four finish in the Western Conference, as he tells Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group. Golden State is in sixth place, four games back of the Clippers and Rockets, who are tied for fourth. The Warriors are just two and a half games up on ninth place Memphis. It’s left Lacob a “little disappointed,” but “not overly concerned yet,” he says. With plenty of trade rumors surrounding the Warriors, Lacob had much more to say to Kawakami, and while the entire piece is worth a read, we’ll share the highlights here:
On coach Mark Jackson:
“Of course there’s pressure on him. Just like there’s pressure on the players, there’s pressure on Mark, too. There’s on me, pressure on (GM) Bob Myers … and you know what? We should all be happy we have that pressure, because the truth is that means we’re relevant. If there’s no pressure and no expectations, that means we’re in rebuild mode and still coming. I don’t think that’s the case. We’re good. Whether we are achieving our expectations or not, we’ll look at the end of the year and see what we did. Maybe he is feeling it a little and he should be feeling pressure. That’s a good thing. I feel the pressure for this team to perform. We’ve invested a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of thinking, a lot of effort, and we’re going to continue to do so. I certainly feel pressure and some weight of expectation and I’m very happy to feel those things because it means we’ re getting somewhere.”
On how he’ll assess Jackson and others:
“I think you’re always evaluating everybody, whether it be the players, the coaches … it’s hard to know, if you don’t quite win a few games you should, is it the coach’s fault? Is it the players’ fault? It’s hard to say. I think we’ll have to look back on a body of work at the end of the season and look at that and make an evaluation. I do think our coach has done a good job; we have had some big wins, a lot of wins on the road, and that’s usually a sign of good coaching. But some things are a little disturbing; the lack of being up for some of these games at home, that’s a concern to me.”
On the team’s approach to the trade deadline:
“Very aggressive. I don’t think I would answer that differently any year. Honestly, I don’t even know how you think about it any other way. You should always be very aggressive, should always be looking to improve your team. Now it’s not clear we’ll be able to do that. There’ve been a lot of discussions, that’s what I hear around the league, but we’ll just have wait and see. We’re not going to make a move just to make a move. Certainly there are certain parts of the roster that we’d like to improve. No matter how good we are, we’d probably have that attitude. There’s no real limit on what we can do. Bob Myers has the ability, he knows, to propose anything to ownership, even if it means going into luxury tax, if means using those trade exceptions. We’ll consider all things.”
On the assertion that everyone except Stephen Curry and Andrew Bogut is available for a trade:
“That specific statement has been out there. But I think we’d be very reluctant to trade any of our core pieces; we like our core. And our young core players–Curry, Klay (Thompson) and (Harrison) Barnes — a lot of teams like them because we’re getting specific trade proposals on a daily basis about those players. We are not anxious nor are we likely to make a move involving those players. Everyone wants what we have, young pieces. And we also have some important veteran players in our core and you need a mix of the two. … It’s obvious we need to get a little better, need a little more bench production and we need to jell a little more. We just haven’t quite hit our stride. Hopefully we hit that; we’ve got 30 games left to do it and make a strong run to the playoffs.”
Western Notes: Ellington, Ellis, Warriors
Here are some miscellaneous tidbits to share out of the Western Conference tonight:
- It doesn’t seem likely that the Mavericks would part with any of their rotation players in a deal right now, according to Eddie Sefko of SportsDayDFW. One player who does appear to be available is Wayne Ellington, who hasn’t been able to find significant playing time and is owed $2.5MM next season.
- Sefko also doesn’t believe there’s any chance that Dallas would consider trading Monta Ellis, adding that the team thinks Ellis and Dirk Nowitzki will make a good recruiting tandem this summer for prospective free agents.
- Earlier today, the Warriors announced that they assigned Kent Bazemore, MarShon Brooks, and Ognjen Kuzmic to their D-League affiliate in Santa Cruz.
- The out-of-town owners of the property needed for the new Kings arena are seeking a change of venue in the city’s eminent domain lawsuit, reports Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee. City officials recognize that the Kings need swift access to the property and will fight the attempt to move the suit. Kasler adds that the new arena is expected to be completed in 2016; if the building doesn’t open by 2017, the NBA has the right to buy the team and move them out of Sacramento.
- Spurs guard Tony Parker told French website BMFT that he’d like to continue playing in the NBA for another six or seven years (hat tip to Michael Rehome of Project Spurs).
Eastern Notes: Bobcats, Turner, Celtics
Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said before tonight’s game against the Mavericks that the chances of Charlotte making a deal soon depends on who’s available and what makes sense. GM Rod Higgins couldn’t put a percentage on the likelihood that something gets done, but went so far as to say “…the thing you should know is we’re definitely shaking the tree (and hope) a trade pans out” (Tom Sorensen of the Charlotte Observer).
You can find several links worth sharing tonight out of Eastern Conference below, including more from the above piece:
- Sorensen hears that the Bobcats are interested in 76ers guard Evan Turner and presumes that Ben Gordon and a first round pick are on the table (whether it’s the one owed to them by the Trail Blazers or Pistons is unclear).
- Yahoo’s Marc J. Spears says that in addition to Turner, Thaddeus Young is another starter who could be moved soon.
- Eddie Sefko of SportsDayDFW shared some of what he’s heard from around the Eastern Conference: Turner and Spencer Hawes are the most likely to be traded from Philadelphia; the Celtics are reportedly bound and determined to make moves before the deadline; the Cavaliers think pretty highly enough of their key pieces and aren’t likely to deal them for anything less for a “king’s ransom.”
- Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony tells Fred Kerber of the New York Post that tales of stars trying to make recruiting pitches during the All-Star break are blown out of proportion by the media and says it “never happens.”
- Earlier tonight, we relayed a piece from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports about the Cavs’ recent misfortune over the last few years. Another interesting thing to note is about how Anthony Bennett – who aside from his double-double performance tonight has otherwise failed to impress this season – would likely have fallen into the back end of the top 10 picks or further on draft night if Cleveland didn’t select him first overall.
Harrison Barnes Drawing Plenty Of Interest
The Warriors are getting flooded with calls for Harrison Barnes but won’t deal him unless he’s part of a package for a big name, reports Sam Amick of USA Today. Despite Barnes’ struggles this year, Golden State remains extremely high on the 21-year-old forward and isn’t likely to deal him before the trade deadline (Twitter links). Last month, Zach Lowe of Grantland reported that Barnes had been garnering interest from around the league.
In January, Barnes averaged 6.9 PPG and 4.1 RPG in 24.5 MPG, but shot just 33.7% from the field overall. However, over his last four games this month, the North Carolina product is scoring 13.3 PPG on 48.8% shooting from the field and 54.5% from long range – much closer to his promising numbers to start the 2013/14 regular season. Earlier today, we made note from Lowe that the Warriors still aren’t ready to trade him.