Central Rumors: Cavs, Draft, Bulls, ‘Melo, Bucks
Chad Ford of ESPN.com heard conflicting reports about Cleveland’s plans for the No. 1 overall pick on the night of the lottery, and the confusion appears to persist. One source tells Ford for his latest Insider-only piece that Cleveland has already let Andrew Wiggins know that he’s in the lead to become the top pick, while another says the Cavs have narrowed their choices to Jabari Parker and Joel Embiid. The Bucks, meanwhile, don’t have Wiggins in their top two, Ford believes, but there’s plenty of time for that to change, as well. Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Ford clarifies that Tellem and the Cavs are confident not just that they’ll be able to arrange a meeting between Embiid and the team, but that they’ll work out a deal that will allow Cleveland to put Embiid through a physical exam (Twitter link).
Earlier updates:
- People close to the Bulls maintain doubt that owner Jerry Reinsdorf would allow the team to couple an amnesty of Carlos Boozer, which would still require Reinsdorf to pay him, with a max contract for Carmelo Anthony, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. That jibes with an earlier report that the Bulls will look to trade Boozer before amnestying him.
- The Cavs and agent Arn Tellem are in discussions, but both sides believe they’ll come to an agreement that will allow the team a look at Embiid, as Ford writes in the same piece. Presumably, that means Cleveland is likely to get a chance to have its doctors check out Embiid’s troublesome back, but Ford doesn’t specify just what Tellem would allow, so perhaps that’s still a matter of negotiation.
- Even if they don’t get a chance to check him out medically, there’s a chance the Cavs will have access to that sort of information from other teams, as Kyler also writes in his piece. Kyler hears that clubs will often share such intel to prevent agents from wielding too much control.
- That’s probably one reason why the Bucks are confident they’ll enter draft night with all the knowledge they’ll need, as Kyler writes, noting that sources tell him the Bucks expect to meet with and work out each of the top prospects.
Offseason Outlook: Denver Nuggets
Guaranteed Contracts
- Ty Lawson ($11,595,506)
- JaVale McGee ($11,250,000)
- Danilo Gallinari ($10,854,850)
- Wilson Chandler ($6,757,913)
- J.J. Hickson ($5,381,750)
- Timofey Mozgov ($4,650,000)
- Randy Foye ($3,000,000)
- Kenneth Faried ($2,249,768)
- Anthony Randolph ($1,825,359)
- Evan Fournier ($1,483,920)
Options
- Darrell Arthur ($3,457,149, Player)
- Nate Robinson ($2,106,720, Player)
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Quincy Miller ($915,243; guaranteed for $150,000)*
Free Agents / Cap Holds
- (Rudy Fernandez $5,451,108)
- Jan Vesely ($4,236,287)**
- No. 11 pick ($1,898,300)
- Aaron Brooks ($915,243)
- (Wesley Person $915,243)
Draft Picks
- 1st Round (11th overall)
- 2nd Round (41st overall)
- 2nd Round (56th overall)
Cap Outlook
- Guaranteed Salary: $59,049,066
- Options: $5,563,869
- Non-Guaranteed Salary: $765,243
- Cap Holds: $13,416,181
- Total: $78,794,359
Little has gone right for the Nuggets since Danilo Gallinari tore the ACL in his left knee two weeks before the start of the 2013 playoffs. Denver was cruising toward a 57-win finish in the regular season and a first-round matchup with the playoff neophyte Warriors. It’s difficult to say whether a healthy Gallinari would have swung that series, which Golden State won in upset fashion, but it’s clear that the Nuggets have been on a downward arc ever since. The team lost Executive of the Year Masai Ujiri, whose mastery with the Carmelo Anthony brought Gallinari and a host of others to Denver, and watched assistant GM Pete D’Alessandro spurn Denver for the Kings and their new ownership group. Nuggets president Josh Kroenke and company decided against bringing back Coach of the Year George Karl in a move that raised eyebrows, though they deserve credit for hiring well-respected Pacers assistant Brian Shaw to replace Karl. Kroenke is already turning away interest in Shaw from the Knicks, who’ve had eyes on the Phil Jackson protege.
The Nuggets also lost their prize from the summer before, as they agreed to participate in a three-way trade that sent Andre Iguodala to Golden State once it became clear the free agent wouldn’t re-sign in Denver. Receiving Randy Foye and a 2018 second-rounder was a pittance, but even that uneven exchange doesn’t fully explain Denver’s plummet down the standings. Season-ending injuries to JaVale McGee, Nate Robinson, J.J. Hickson together with a botched surgery that cost Gallinari all of 2013/14 fueled Denver’s nightmare. The failure to move up in this month’s draft lottery with two chances to do so was a fitting coda to a luckless year at the foot of the Rockies. The odds of so many injuries happening again are low, and there’s stability atop the organization with Shaw and GM Tim Connelly firmly entrenched. Still, there’s little opportunity for the Nuggets to climb to the heights from which they fell.
Robinson and Darrell Arthur intend to opt in for next season, so that means the Nuggets will have more than $64.6MM in commitments to start the summer, putting them over the projected $63.2MM salary cap. They’re nonetheless nowhere near the tax line, which is expected to rise to $77MM, so they’ll have the $5.305MM non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception at their disposal. That’s enough to add another complementary piece, and with the 11th pick in the draft, the Nuggets are primed to have a better roster this coming season. Kroenke and Connelly have both expressed confidence in a return to the playoffs, but even if the team is able to accomplish that feat, which is no given in the always-stacked Western Conference, there’s little to suggest the team will do any better than 2013’s first-round exit.
The most glaring need for the Nuggets is at starting shooting guard, the position at which the team was unable to replace Iguodala this past season. The free agent options available who’d be worthy of and willing to accept mid-level money range from the over-the-hill (Ray Allen, Vince Carter) to the pedestrian (Jodie Meeks) to the erratic (Nick Young). There are nonetheless a few intriguing choices, each fraught with the drawbacks inherent with anyone in the NBA’s middle class. Former No. 2 overall pick Evan Turner, who’s losing minutes in the playoffs to Rasual Butler, would be a buy-low candidate who provides versatility and above-average rebounding. Avery Bradley showed this season that he’s more than just a defensive stopper, but he’s a restricted free agent and he and the Celtics have mutual interest in a return, so it would probably take more than the mid-level to pry him from Boston. The Thunder have thrived for several years with Thabo Sefolosha starting at the two, but he’s never averaged as many as 30 minutes per game and rarely plays down the stretch. Plus, the Nuggets don’t have the likes of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant to make up for Sefolosha’s lack of offensive punch.
Shaun Livingston might be the most suitable target, particularly since the Nets only have the taxpayer’s mid-level of $3.278MM to lob at him. He’d fit the profile of the long, defensive-minded shooting guard that Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post pegs at the sort of player the team will likely target. His inspiring comeback from a gruesome injury probably gives him the sort of locker room presense Dempsey says the team will also be looking for. He’s more of a hybrid guard than a classic two-man, but the Nets thrived with Livingston and point guard Deron Williams together in the backcourt this year.
The draft offers plenty of shooting guard talent in the Nuggets’ range, too, and Denver has a decent chance to end up with its pick of Gary Harris, Nik Stauskas and James Young. Yet even if one of that trio winds up exceeding expectations in Denver, or if Livingston proves an even better fit next to Lawson than he was with Williams, it isn’t likely to vault the Nuggets into the Western Conference elite, much less give the club a legitimate shot at the championship. The most frequent criticism of Karl was that his clubs failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs, but a year removed from his tenure, it’s difficult to see how Shaw or anyone else could coach the Nuggets deep into the postseason anytime soon.
Connelly must prove as creative as Ujiri, if not more so, to move the franchise forward. Ujiri inherited his job amid the “Melo-drama” of Anthony’s impending exit for Denver, and the Anthony trade plus the team’s participation in the four-team Dwight Howard swap that brought Iguodala to Denver provided the foundation for the team’s 57 wins in 2012/13. Trades will most likely have to be the primary tools that shape the next successful Nuggets team. The deadline pickup of former No. 6 overall pick Jan Vesely didn’t work out, but it was a worthwhile venture in exchange for Andre Miller, whom the team wasn’t going to play, anyway. More such moves are required. The Nuggets already have more than $45MM on the books for 2015/16, so even if Denver were a popular free agent destination, which it is not, the team wouldn’t be in position to make a splash next summer, when a handful of stars can hit the open market. Those commitments don’t include a new deal for Kenneth Faried, with whom the team plans to talk extension this summer.
The team gauged the interest of other teams about trading for Faried at the beginning of the season, likely sparking a series of trade rumors leading up to the deadline, many of them involving Iman Shumpert and the Knicks. The Nuggets didn’t seem interested in New York’s offers, but concern that agent Thad Foucher would find a suitor willing to produce an eight-figure offer sheet in 2015 prompted Denver to make the initial trade inquiries, according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe. Faried made strides this season that have probably brought him closer to eight-figure territory, if not fully into it, but it’s unclear just how high Connelly and the Denver brass are willing to go at this point. As of February, the team was reportedly willing to draw a hard line in negotiations based on misgivings about Faried’s defense. Faried will turn 25 in November, so in spite of his improvement this past season, his ceiling probably isn’t much higher. Given the limited salary flexibility at play for the Nuggets and the restrictions that the Poison Pill Provision places on teams that attempt to trade players who’ve just received rookie scale extensions, Denver would be wise not to bend too far with Foucher and Faried.
The sort of superstar talent that’s generally required to win an NBA title rarely passes through Denver, unless it’s clothed in a road team’s uniform. Connelly possesses the unenviable task of building a contender without the benefit of high draft picks in a city that’s unappealing to most free agents. Still, such circumstances beget low expectations, and with that comes the necessary leeway for the sort of risky moves required to lift the franchise into the elite.
Cap footnotes
* — Miller’s salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before opening night.
** — The cap hold for Vesely is equivalent to the greatest amount Denver can offer him for next season. Because the Wizards declined their fourth-year team option on Vesely prior to the season, before trading him to the Nuggets, Denver isn’t allowed to re-sign him for a 2014/15 salary that’s more than he would have earned on that option.
ShamSports and Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ were used in the creation of this post.
Draft Notes: Hairston, Clarkson, Cotton
Memorial Day brought no shortage of updates on NBA draft prospects and teams as they schedule workouts, and today promises still more clues about the June 26th draft. Here’s the latest:
- P.J. Hairston will work out for the Suns, Celtics and Hornets in addition to today’s previously reported audition for the Heat, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.
- Jordan Clarkson is also on the agenda for the Heat, according to Goodman, who reiterates that Miami will put Jordan Adams and Jarnell Stokes through workouts, too (Twitter links).
- Bryce Cotton will also show off for the Heat, as well as the Spurs, his agent tells Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia.
- Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel adds seniors Chris Crawford of Memphis and Drew Crawford of Northwestern to the list of the prospects working out today for the Bucks.
- Jermaine Marshall of Arizona State is working out for the Rockets today, Carchia reports.
- It appears as though Nedim Buza will audition for the Bucks, Timberwolves and Nuggets, while Adin Vrabac has a workout with the Wolves on tap, according to agent Alexander Raskovic (Twitter links; hat tip to Sportando).
Hoops Rumors Features
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Kings Want Love Even Without Re-Sign Promise
TUESDAY, 8:29am: Sacramento’s pitch would probably only interest the Wolves if Minnesota feels confident that either Julius Randle or Noah Vonleh will be available with the eighth overall pick, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. The Wolves prefer those two to Aaron Gordon among top-ranked power forward prospects, Wolfson adds.
MONDAY, 9:57pm: If the Wolves aren’t willing to take the gamble that Kevin Love will re-sign with them at the end of the year, the Kings are. A league source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports that the Kings would pull the trigger on a deal for the All-Star big man without any assurance that he’d sign a new deal.
The Kings are willing to give up their No. 8 overall pick in this year’s draft and a combination of players for Love, even though he would not be expected to sign a contract extension with Sacramento, the source said. The Kings know it’s a gamble on convincing Love to re-sign, given that the franchise is rebuilding and Love is looking to go to the postseason for the first time. They’ll also have to vie with suitors from bigger markets including the Celtics, Lakers, Knicks, Warriors, Rockets and Bulls. While Love doesn’t have a no-trade clause (few do), he figures to wield a good amount of influence over where he lines up.
If the Kings can land the All-Star, they’ll have a very dangerous frontcourt with Love, DeMarcus Cousins, and Rudy Gay, if he exercises his player option. Sacramento struggled to a 28-54 record last season and missed the playoffs for the eighth straight season, but there’s a new regime in charge that’s hoping to right the ship quickly. The Kings expect to begin playing in a new downtown Sacramento arena in 2016.
Offseason Outlook: Toronto Raptors
Guaranteed Contracts
- DeMar DeRozan ($9,500,000)
- Landry Fields ($6,250,000)
- Chuck Hayes ($5,958,750)
- Steve Novak ($3,445,947)
- Jonas Valanciunas ($3,678,360)
- Terrence Ross ($2,793,960)
- (Marcus Camby $646,609)*
Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Contracts
- John Salmons ($7,000,000; guaranteed for $1,000,000)**
- Amir Johnson ($7,000,000; guaranteed for $5,000,000)
- Tyler Hansbrough ($3,326,235; guaranteed for $1,000,000)***
- Julyan Stone ($948,163)****
- Dwight Buycks ($816,482)*****
Free Agents / Cap Holds
- Kyle Lowry ($9,315,000)
- Patrick Patterson ($7,763,253)******
- Greivis Vasquez ($5,375,470)*******
- Nando De Colo ($1,901,900)********
- No. 20 pick ($1,215,300)
- (Sebastian Telfair $2,037,750)
- (Mickael Pietrus $915,243)
Draft Picks
- 1st Round (20th overall)
- 2nd Round (37th overall)
- 2nd Round (59th overall)
Cap Outlook
- Guaranteed Salary: $39,273,626
- Options: $0
- Non-Guaranteed Salary: $12,090,880
- Cap Holds: $28,523,916
- Total: $79,888,422
We all spent last summer talking about the Nets and Knicks. In retrospect, we should have paid some attention to the Raptors. Yes, Brooklyn bested the Raptors in a hard-fought seven game series, but the Raptors were the best team in the Atlantic Division from wire-to-wire, playing their way to a 48 win season when few had them pegged as a playoff team.
The single biggest reason for Toronto’s success in 2013/14 was the outstanding play of Kyle Lowry. The veteran was never heralded as one of the top point guards in basketball, but this past season put him squarely in the conversation. After averaging a career-high 17.9 PPG and 7.4 APG (and a career-high 20.1 PER), Lowry is set to hit the open market and figures to see a significant pay raise on a multi-year deal. Raptors CEO Tim Leiweke has made no secret of his desire to keep the 28-year-old in Toronto.
“There’s a really special bond between [GM] Masai [Ujiri] and Kyle,” Leiweke said in April. “This town should be in love with this guy. What a great story. He’s vented that anger and energy that he had last year, and it was sometimes aimed at the refs, sometimes aimed at other people. He’s figured out how to vent that and put that into the team, and this team truly loves each other.”
While it’s true that Toronto historically hasn’t been a prime free agent destination, Lowry has found a home in more ways than one with the Raptors. The Raptors hold Lowry’s bird rights and they have just ~$39MM in commitments on the books for 2014/15. There will be plenty of suitors desperate for a solid veteran PG like Lowry, but it would be a surprise to see him go elsewhere.
Earlier this month, the Raptors took care of their second-biggest free agent: head coach Dwane Casey. After guiding Toronto to a record that pretty much no one saw coming, the veteran coach was rewarded with a three-year deal that will pay him roughly $4MM per season. With a number of openings this summer, Casey was likely to get major offers elsewhere, so it was very prudent of Raptors management to wrap him up early in the offseason.
With some financial flexibility in their favor, the Raptors could do something that was unthinkable just a few years ago: bring back Vince Carter. The Mavericks veteran is coming off of a three-year, $9.3MM deal in Dallas and Mark Cuban may not have enough wiggle room to keep him. Carter is still going strong at 37 and would be a solid addition to the Raptors, as well as a feel-good story, though he says he would welcome a new deal with the Mavericks. We’re not so sure that Air Canada wouldn’t fly back home if the money was right.
Lowry is the most important free agent on the roster but he’s not the only one. The well-traveled Patrick Patterson is a restricted free agent. He showed promise at times and averaged 9.1 PPG and 5.1 RPG in 23 minutes per contest for the Raps. Patterson is an adept three-point shooter who nailed 41.1% of his shots from downtown for Toronto and may seek out an opportunity with more playing time. He’s not in line for a massive deal but a better opportunity to showcase himself could set him up for a bigger contract in the future.
The Raptors finished the season with two of their summer league invites on the roster. Dwight Buycks and Julyan Stone found their respective niches on the bench and it’s a safe bet that their inexpensive team options, $816K and $948K ($100K guaranteed) respectively, will be exercised. Still, one has to imagine that they’ll push for new deals and the Raptors may choose to lock them up on mulii-year pacts before they can increase their value further next season.
In addition to having a bit of cap room, the Raptors also have an opportunity to improve through the draft. Toronto has three picks: their first round pick selection (20th overall) and two second round picks, the No. 37 (via the Kings) and No. 59 (via the Thunder). While the Raptors are still somewhat future-minded, they got a taste of winning this season and they presumably want to position themselves for a deep playoff run in 2014/15. It wouldn’t be a shock to see the Raptors move one or both of their second round picks and take calls on their No. 20 overall pick. The Raptors also have 2012 second-round pick Tomislav Zubcic stashed overseas, so they’ve already got a young prospect in the pipeline.
If the Raptors move those picks, they’ll likely target a backup center to support Jonas Valanciunas. They could also go for a veteran athletic wing player if they can’t rope VC back to his original club. John Salmons and Landry Fields were charged with this role last season and neither made a tremendous impact. Salmons gave the Raptors some solid D when he came over this season but averaged just 5 PPG and 2.0 RPG in ~21 minutes per game. Fields, who has yet to justify his three-year, $20MM contract, lost most of the season to injury. If they turn to free agency, affordable bigs on the open market could include Drew Gooden and Malcolm Thomas (non-guaranteed deal). There are also intriguing free agent veteran wings such as Danny Granger and Marvin Williams available. If the Raptors want to make a major addition instead, they could put themselves in the mix for Cavs free agent small forward Luol Deng. Many reports have indicated that Deng is unhappy in Cleveland and it stands to reason that he could make a bee line to a winning club.
The Raptors will look to re-load this summer, but improvements from within are probably more central to their success next season. If Valanciunas and Terrence Ross can take another step forward and DeMar DeRozan progresses the way we expect him to, the Raptors should find themselves at or near the top of the Atlantic with a chance to make some noise in the postseason.
Cap footnotes
* — The Raptors waived Camby in July 2013. Guaranteed money remained on the contract, even though Camby agreed to give up $2MM in a buyout arrangement.
** — Salmons’ salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before June 30th.
*** — Hansbrough’s salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before June 29th.
**** — Stone’s salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before July 7th.
***** — Buycks’ salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before July 22nd.
****** — Patterson’s qualifying offer would be $4,268,609.
******* — Vasquez’s qualifying offer would be $4,677,708.
******** — De Colo’s qualifying offer would be $1,828,750.
ShamSports and Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ were used in the creation of this post.
Draft Rumors: Hood, Stokes, Fair, Hairston
The draft takes place one month from tonight, and teams are beginning to ramp up their schedule of workouts with prospects. Busy draft hopefuls include Rodney Hood, who’ll audition for eight lottery teams, and Jarnell Stokes, who’s working out for 11 teams drafting in the back half of the first round, as Zach Links of Hoops Rumors has learned (Twitter links). One of those teams is the Magic, as we passed along Sunday, and Hood will also work out for the Sixers and Bulls, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. The Wolves are on Hood’s schedule, too, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Stokes will show off for the Heat and Sixers, Goodman also tweets. Here’s more on an evolving draft landscape:
- Stokes will also audition for the Hawks and Bulls in addition to Miami and Philadelphia, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv tweets.
- The Bucks will audition Washington’s C.J. Wilcox, Iowa’s Devyn Marble, Pittsburgh’s Lamar Patterson, Virginia’s Joe Harris, and Missouri’s Jabari Brown on Tuesday, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Journal-Times.
- C.J. Fair will work out for the Bulls on Wednesday, the Bucks on Thursday, and the Hornets on Friday, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.
- P.J. Hairston, DeAndre Kane and Markel Brown are also among those auditioning for Minnesota, Wolfson reports in the same tweet in which he passed along the Hood news. Nick Johnson will join that group, and the Wolves are eyeing Melvin Ejim and Chane Behanan for workouts, too, Wolfson adds (on Twitter).
- Behanan will audition for the Sixers and Wolves, as well, Goodman reports via Twitter, seconding his earlier dispatch about Behanan’s workout with the Mavs. Russ Smith, Behanan’s former Louisville teammate, is slated to work out for the Heat, Thunder and Suns, Goodman tweets.
- Johnson will also work out for the Magic, Goodman notes (via Twitter). He’ll join Smart and Hood in Orlando, as previously reported.
- The Lakers are set to work out Marcus Smart and Noah Vonleh, while Vonleh will also audition for the Celtics and Kings, according to Goodman (Twitter links).
- Goodman adds the Raptors to the teams working out Kyle Anderson (Twitter link).
- The ESPN.com scribe also reports additional workouts for DeAndre Daniels, who’s set to get a look-see from the Hornets and Hawks (Twitter link).
- The Bulls, Suns and Grizzlies are on the workout agenda of Scottie Wilbekin, Goodman reports (on Twitter). The Suns, along with the Bucks and Lakers, are also among the trio of teams auditioning Joe Harris, Goodman tweets.
- Johnny O’Bryant III will work out for the Hawks, Raptors, Suns and Spurs, according to Goodman (Twitter link).
Eastern Notes: ‘Melo, Calipari, Sixers, Erden
Reports downplaying the Lakers’ interest in Carmelo Anthony have been around for months, but apparently Phil Jackson‘s arrival in New York created another reason why Anthony is unlikely to end up in purple-and-gold. Lakers co-owner Jeanie Buss, who’s engaged to Jackson, doesn’t like the idea of poaching Anthony from her fiance’s team, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. As a bicoastal romance threatens to play a role in NBA free agency, here’s more from Jackson’s half of the NBA:
- The Cavs went so far as to reach out to rumored coaching candidate John Calipari, but he’s still a long shot to coach the team, notes Bob Finnan of The News-Herald.
- Sixers draft-and-stash prospect Furkan Aldemir has agreed to a new three-year deal for the equivalent of more than $5.3MM with Galatasaray in Turkey, Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi reports. It’s unclear what sort of NBA escape clauses, if any, are part of the arrangement.
- Another Turkish team, Anadolu Efes, has opted out of its contract with former NBA center Semih Erden, tweets Ismail Senol of NTV Spor (translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Erden, now a free agent, last played in the NBA with the Cavs in 2011/12.
Jazz, Warriors Eye James Nunnally
Former Hawks and Sixers small forward James Nunnally will work out for the Warriors and Jazz, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. The 23-year-old who received four NBA 10-day contracts this past season has been playing for Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Puerto Rican league, and he’ll be leaving the club to audition for Golden State and Utah, according to Charania. Many of the free agents receiving NBA auditions at this point in the year are striving just to make summer league rosters, but Nunnally was one of the most sought-after training camp invitees last fall before winding up with the Suns, who carried him through the preseason.
Nunnally averaged 3.4 points in 12.7 minutes per game in 13 contests with Atlanta and Philly this past season, though he spent much of the year in the D-League, where he put up 18.1 PPG in 33.6 MPG to go along with 41.3% shooting from behind the arc. The performance earned him a trip to the D-League All-Star Game, and he’s put up remarkably similar numbers in Puerto Rico, notching 18.2 PPG in 31.4 MPG with 41.2% three-point shooting.
Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey typically casts a wide net, and he’ll also audition former Kings small forward Tyler Honeycutt. The Warriors have already had a busy offseason featuring a high-profile coaching search, and Steve Kerr, who emerged with the job, remains tied up with his broadcasting duties for TNT. Still, GM Bob Myers and company seem to remain engaged with the hunt for free agent talent, a need exacerbated by the team’s lack of draft picks in either the first or second round next month.
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Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio stopped by the comments section to give feedback on our Offseason Outlook for the Hawks, and we’ve had plenty of response to the stories shaping what promises to be a wild NBA summer. The latest Hoops Rumors Mock Draft from our Alex Lee sparked plenty of debate, and reader Scott shared his thoughts on what the Sixers, drafting third and 10th, should do.
- Jabari Parker and Doug McDermott are not very athletic, which is something I think Philly values. I could see them taking Dante Exum at No. 3 if Parker is one of the big three who falls. I also see them looking to pick Gary Harris instead of McDermott at No. 10 if they do take Parker. Harris is small for a shooting guard, but Michael Carter-Williams makes up for it with his size. Also, I like James Young as another option. To me, they need a go-to scorer eventually and I don’t see them getting it in free agency. I think Parker at No. 3 or Young at No. 10 might be their best options. It’ll be curious if they dangle Thaddeus Young to L.A. or Sacramento if a player they like falls.
As David Griffin gets to work as Cleveland’s GM for the long haul, Keith B McGlothin wonders why Griffin doesn’t get more of the blame for the team’s inability to make the playoffs the last four seasons.
- David Griffin has been in the building since LeBron James left Cleveland. He has been the VP of Basketball Operations (2010), so why aren’t the failures of the organization he spoke of not HIS FAILURES as well?
I pointed to the inherent value of David Lee‘s high-caliber offensive production amid a report suggesting the Magic have interest in the Warriors power forward, but jeffdg isn’t in Lee’s corner:
- He is a negative value asset, and GSW would have to give up something to move him, or take back another undesirable contract. Sure, he is a solid offensive player, but he is much better suited as a third big — a scoring big off the bench — at about 40% of his current salary. I can’t see anyone giving up anything of value to acquire him.
We appreciate everyone who adds to the dialogue at Hoops Rumors, and we look forward to seeing more responses like these from you!