Pat Riley On Stars, LeBron, Bosh, Playoffs
The choice LeBron James made to rejoin the Cavaliers this summer “just crushed us,” Heat team president Pat Riley told Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick, but the Hall-of-Famer remains confident that he can build another championship team in Miami. He acquired quite possibly the best player dealt at the trade deadline, swinging a deal for Goran Dragic, but he did so having already learned of Chris Bosh‘s pulmonary blood clots that ended his season, as Riley revealed to Skolnick. Riley feels as though he was a better coach than he is an executive, but with his 70th birthday coming later this month, he made it clear that he has no desire to coach again, as Skolnick relays. Retirement from the front office crossed his mind while LeBron was still with the team, but it isn’t a consideration now, Riley told Skolnick, though he also indicated during the interview that he’ll probably retire right after he wins his next championship.
Skolnick’s entire piece provides a broad sketch of Riley, dating back to his humble NBA beginnings in the 1960s. It’s worth a full read, but we’ll pass along a few notable quotations from Riley about current-day Heat issues:
On his philosophy of attracting established stars:
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to be able to see what it takes. If you can get three of those kinds of players and fill it out with some other good guys, then you might be ahead of the curve. … So there are a lot of ways to skin a cat. For me, it’s not through the draft, because lottery picks are living a life of misery. That season is miserable. And if you do three or four years in a row to get lottery picks, then I’m in an insane asylum. And the fans will be, too. So who wants to do that?”
On LeBron’s departure:
“That was almost shocking to me that the players would allow that to happen. And I’m not just saying LeBron. I mean, the players, themselves, would allow them to get to a state where a guy would want to go home or whatever it is. So maybe I’m dealing with a contemporary attitude today of, ‘Well, I got four years here, and I think I’ll go up there for whatever reason I went.’ You know, the whole ‘home’ thing, I understand that. But what he had here, and what he had developed here, and what he could have developed over the next five or six years here, with the same team, could have been historic.”
On the Heat’s post-LeBron plans:
“Our plan was always to move to great as quick as we could, past good. And I think that was more disappointing than anything, once we made that deal, to see what happened to Chris, which was devastating to me just from a personal standpoint. For his health. But also for the team, it was another hit. That’s why it would be so great for this team, we’re in this race here, if somehow we could get into the playoffs and make something of it. But I do think we have enough, in that in any series with anybody in the East, with what’s going on in the East, that you never know. And I love that.”
And-Ones: NBPA, Smith, Orton
With the NBPA voting against the league’s cap smoothing proposal the salary cap is expected to increase significantly for the 2016/17 season, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. The owners had hoped smoothing would appeal to the players because it would allow a bigger portion of the new television money to be spread to a wider group of players, Deveney notes. But now there will be nothing preventing the owners from using all the extra space next summer, which won’t benefit players becoming free agents in 2017 and beyond as much as the NBPA expects, Deveney adds.
A source with knowledge of the thinking of NBPA head Michele Roberts told Deveney, “The union should not have to police how much the owners spend. That’s not the job of the union. All of the caps that are on salaries now, the max deals and the shorter lengths and all of that, it’s all stuff that has been done to protect owners from themselves. Michele has been pretty strong on saying, hey, it’s not the job of the players to protect owners from other owners. Why should that fall on the players?”
Here’s more from around the league:
- Thunder GM Sam Presti said it was ludicrous to think that the team would consider trading Kevin Durant, Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman tweets. It was posited earlier by ESPN’s Tom Penn that OKC would likely trade Durant next season rather than risk losing him in free agency for nothing.
- J.R. Smith is happy be a member of the Cavaliers and playing alongside his friend LeBron James, and the guard has indicated that he’d like to remain in Cleveland past this season, Joe Vardon of The Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. Smith, who has a player option for 2015/16 worth $6,399,750, could be leaning toward opting in for next season with an eye on a larger contract come 2016 when the salary cap is expected to increase significantly, Vardon adds.
- The NBA is projecting that the 2016/17 salary cap will be set at $78MM, a figure that many cap analysts believe is a very conservative estimate, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders tweets.
- The Grand Rapids Drive, the Pistons‘ D-League affiliate, have acquired center Daniel Orton, Keith Langlois of NBA.com reports (Twitter link). Orton appeared in 22 games for the Sixers last season and averaged 3.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 11.4 minutes per contest. The big man was in training camp with the Wizards this season.
- Wesley Matthews underwent successful surgery today to repair his torn Achilles, the Trail Blazers announced.
Western Notes: Durant, West, Hunt
ESPN’s Tom Penn, a former NBA executive, in an appearance on ESPN’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” said that with how well Russell Westbrook is playing, the Thunder could consider trading Kevin Durant, who is set to hit free agency in 2016. “I think this burst from Westbrook makes it much more likely that Durant ultimately gets traded next year,” Penn said. “[OKC GM] Sam Presti has proven that he does not ever want to lose anybody for nothing. So he traded James Harden a year early to avoid a potential luxury tax problem a year later. The Kevin Durant drumbeat next year is going to be so loud because he will not commit early to Oklahoma City contractually because the rules are against that. He can’t get the same contract if he signs early as if he just goes to free agency and resigns. So if Sam Presti doesn’t get that commitment, he’ll look to to trade Kevin Durant. And looking at the performance of Westbrook and the team around Westbrook will make it easier for him to do that potentially.”
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Delonte West is considering a deal to join the Texas Legends, the Mavs‘ D-League affiliate, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). West’s last regular season NBA action came with Dallas during the 2011/12 season. The mercurial guard’s career stats are 9.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game.
- Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt has already shown that he should be in the running to be Denver’s coach next season, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “I’ve always viewed myself as a head coach,” Hunt said. “I’ve said before, I’ve been so thankful, I’ve been so blessed that I’ve had coaches and leaders that wanted me to lead. They’ve seen that in me. I was captain of my college team a couple of years. People have always looked at me as a leader, and I take that seriously.“
- Hunt said he has done a “handful” of head-coaching interviews in the past, but thanks to this opportunity with the Nuggets his resume will receive a nice boost, Dempsey adds. When asked if he felt any pressure to prove himself worthy of retaining Denver’s coaching job, Hunt said, “Not at all. There’s no anxiety. I go back to my faith. So it’s not like I feel any pressure as far as to win or play a certain way or do this or do that. When the time’s right, whatever God has for me, it will be. So whenever that time is, it will happen.”
Southwest Notes: Stoudemire, Powell, Green
Tyson Chandler believes that Amar’e Stoudemire, who has been with the Mavs for less than a month, has earned the right to publicly criticize his new teammates, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com relays. “I think he’s earned it throughout his career, and he came here because he wanted to win a championship,” said Chandler. “And I encourage more guys to be vocal. I think he’s only been honest to his teammates. He didn’t say anything to you guys that he didn’t say to us personally, so I respect that. I feel like guys will respect that and get things in order.” Stoudemire had chastised his teammates for a lack of professionalism and competitiveness after Dallas was abused by the Cavs on Tuesday night.
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- The Mavericks have re-assigned center Dwight Powell to the Texas Legends, their D-League affiliate, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com reports (Twitter link). This is Powell’s third D-League assignment by the Mavs, and his eighth trek overall of the season.
- Though Jeff Green‘s overall numbers are down since arriving in Memphis, the forward is thriving in the utility role that Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger has carved out for him, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal writes (subscription required). Green may not have accepted this sort of role with the Celtics, but being on a contending team has reinvigorated the veteran, Tillery adds. “It’s definitely a blessing to be in this position,” Green said. “Not everyone has the chance to say they can play for a championship, especially in the Western Conference. So I’m blessed to be in this position to do whatever it takes to get to that point.”
- Green is also aware that Memphis didn’t acquire him to be a star, but rather to augment the Grizzlies‘ chances of advancing in the playoffs, Tillery relays. “I just try to make plays and try to be the player I’ve always been,” Green said. “Just be aggressive. When I first got here, they told me to just be you. I think when they told me that it instilled that confidence that I needed coming into the situation that I didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes. When they told me that, it just let me play basketball.”
2015/16 Salary Commitments: Hawks
With the NBA trade deadline now passed, teams are focusing on locking down playoff spots or vying for a better chance in the draft lottery. Outside of the players who are added on 10-day deals, or those lucky enough to turn those auditions into long-term contracts, teams’ rosters are relatively set for the remainder of the season.
We at Hoops Rumors are in the process of taking a look ahead at each franchise’s salary cap situation heading into the summer, and the free agent frenzy that occurs every offseason. While the exact amount of the 2015/16 salary cap won’t be announced until July, the cap is projected to come in somewhere around $68MM, with the luxury tax threshold projected at approximately $81MM. This year’s $63.065MM cap represented an increase of 7.7% over 2013/14, which was well above the league’s projected annual increase of 4.5%.
We’ll begin by taking a look at the Hawks’ cap outlook for 2015/16…
Here are the players with guaranteed contracts:
- Al Horford — $12MM
- Kent Bazemore — $2MM
- Kyle Korver — $5,746,479
- Shelvin Mack — $2,433,333
- Dennis Schröder — $1,763,400
- Mike Scott — $3,333,333
- Thabo Sefolosha — $4MM
- Jeff Teague — $8MM
Here are the players with non-guaranteed contracts:
- Mike Muscala — $947,276
Players with options:
- N/A
The Hawks’ Cap Summary for 2015/16:
- Guaranteed Salary: $39,276,545
- Options/Non-Guaranteed Salary: $947,276
- Total: $40,223,821
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Sergey Karasev Out For Season
The Nets have announced that swingman Sergey Karasev has been diagnosed with a dislocated patella and a torn MCL of the right knee, along with multiple loose bodies in the knee joint. The injury will require surgery to repair and Karasev will miss the remainder of the season. The procedure is scheduled for Thursday. The injury occurred during the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s contest against the Pelicans.
The loss of Karasev isn’t a crushing blow to the Nets, since the Russian wasn’t a regular part of Brooklyn’s rotation. Karasev had only appeared in four of the Nets’ last 17 contests, logging a total of 31 minutes. Brooklyn does have an open roster spot, so the team will be able to add another player for depth if they choose without needing to make an additional roster move.
Karasev, 21, has appeared in 33 games for Brooklyn this season, averaging 4.6 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 16.8 minutes per contest. The swingman was originally drafted by the Cavs with the No. 19 pick in the 2013 draft. Karasev had been acquired by the Nets last July in a three-team trade.
Pacific Notes: Suns, Warren, Livingston
The reinvention of the Suns‘ backcourt has been put on hold temporarily, courtesy of Brandon Knight being out indefinitely with a sprained ankle, Paul Coro of The Arizona Repulic writes. “Finally was figuring out how we’re going to play,” Knight said. “Like I said, that’s going to take time and that’s not going to be perfect right away. I was finally figuring that out. Hopefully, once I do come back, we continue to work on that.”
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Suns have brought rookie T.J. Warren along slowly this season, including four trips to the NBA D-League, to create a smooth transition from college for Warren and to avoid a small forward logjam with P.J. Tucker and Marcus Morris, Coro adds. “It feels good to get an opportunity and get comfortable out there,” Warren said. “Just trying to build my confidence as we move forward and just go play hard every time I get a chance.”
- Warriors guard Shaun Livingston credits his former head coach with the Wizards, Flip Saunders, for his opportunity to work his way back into the league after his gruesome knee injury way back in 2007, Jessica Camerato of Basketball Insiders writes. “Flip Saunders, he revived my career,” Livingston said. “He believed in me and gave me a chance, one. Two, it was after the whole Gilbert Arenas fiasco. We were young, it was a rebuilding situation. He taught me the game, he’s an offensive genius. He kind of changed his offense to tailor [to] my game, so he really put me in a position to excel.”
- David Lee would take issue with his reduced role if the Warriors weren’t so successful this season, Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com writes. “We’re winning and we’re having fun,” Lee said. “It’s hard at times. I couldn’t do this if we weren’t winning. But we are. I’m not going to put myself ahead of that.”
2016/17 Cap Commitments For Each NBA Team
A salary cap of around $90MM for the 2016/17 season has seemed like an inevitability since last month, when the players union rejected the league’s proposal to gradually phase in the effect of the league’s $24 billion TV deal. Today’s news that the league and the union couldn’t agree on any “cap smoothing” measure after revisiting the issue is further confirmation that the cap will spike drastically after next season. That means every team has enough flexibility, or nearly enough, to sign at least one free agent to a maximum-salary contract that summer. The max salaries will escalate, too, since they’re tied to a percentage of the cap, but that the Wizards and Clippers are the only teams with enough salary commitments for 2016/17 to come close to squeezing themselves out of the chance to clear max-level space.
The Trail Blazers and Sixers are on the opposite end. Neither team has any guaranteed salary on the books for that season, though the Blazers will be sorely disappointed if that doesn’t change by this summer, with LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews and Robin Lopez all set for free agency. Philadelphia, too, will no doubt add to its 2016/17 ledger when it picks up rookie scale team options for Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel, though the Sixers are probably better positioned for a spending spree than any other team. Of course, that assumes that they’ll have the ability and willingness by the summer of 2016 to convince desirable free agents that their radical rebuilding will have hit a turning point.
Brooklyn and Dallas have the next fewest dollars committed, though each of those teams must contend with more than $20MM in player options. The Bucks and Lakers follow as the only teams other than the Sixers and Blazers to have no player options and fewer than $10MM in commitments for 2016/17.
No team has more than four fully guaranteed contracts for that season, meaning none of them could strip their payrolls quite as bare as the numbers below indicate. For instance, if the Lakers were to renounce the rights to every player on their roster except Nick Young, who holds the team’s lone fully guaranteed 2015/16 salary, they’d incur roster charges for all but one open spot on their roster underneath the regular season roster minimum of 13. That means the Lakers would be hit with 11 roster charges worth the rookie minimum salary, which is $543,471 for that season. That would add close to $6MM to L.A.’s books, giving the team a total of roughly $11.4MM that it couldn’t use to sign free agents.
Of course, these figures will surely change quite a bit between now and the summer of 2016, and a great deal of those alterations will take place in the offseason ahead. Teams have already demonstrated that they’ve become cautious about handing out guaranteed contracts that run beyond next season, and that will surely be the case in the summer ahead for all but the top free agent talent. Just how willing teams are to spend on deals that cover 2016/17, and whom they’re willing to give up flexibility for, will be key questions in the 2015 offseason.
For now, here’s a look at every team’s salary commitments for 2016/17, ranked in descending order of money on the books, along with the number of fully guaranteed contracts for each club. The list also makes note of player options.
- Sixers: $0
- Trail Blazers: $0
- Nets: $4.073MM (plus a $22.331MM player option for Deron Williams), 1 guaranteed deal
- Mavericks: $4.544MM (plus a $16.023MM player option for Chandler Parsons and a $8.692MM player option for Dirk Nowitzki), 1 guaranteed deal
- Bucks: $4.753MM, 0 guaranteed deals
- Lakers: $5.444MM, 1 guaranteed deal
- Hornets: $12MM, 1 guaranteed deal
- Pistons: $12.392MM, 1 guaranteed deal
- Celtics: $14.857MM, 2 guaranteed deals
- Hawks: $17.089MM, 3 guaranteed deals
- Grizzlies: $18.03MM, 2 guaranteed deals
- Raptors: $18.05MM, 2 guaranteed deals
- Magic: $19.557MM, 2 guaranteed deals
- Pelicans: $25.108MM, 3 guaranteed deals
- Nuggets: $25.292MM, 2 guaranteed deals
- Timberwolves: $25.5MM (plus a $7.378MM player option for Kevin Martin), 2 guaranteed deals
- Rockets: $25.571MM (plus a $23.282MM player option for Dwight Howard), 3 guaranteed deals
- Cavaliers: $26.407MM, 1 guaranteed deal
- Suns: $28.303MM, 3 guaranteed deals
- Wizards: $28.958MM, 2 guaranteed deals
- Spurs: $29.274MM, 3 guaranteed deals
- Heat: $29.524MM, 2 guaranteed deals
- Pacers: $30.898MM, 3 guaranteed deals
- Knicks: $32.268MM, 2 guaranteed deals
- Thunder: $33.869MM, 3 guaranteed deals
- Bulls: $36.056MM (plus a $7.77MM player option for Pau Gasol), 3 guaranteed deals
- Jazz: $37.278MM, 3 guaranteed deals
- Kings: $45.594MM, 4 guaranteed deals
- Warriors: $53.934MM, 4 guaranteed deals
- Clippers: $57.631MM, 4 guaranteed deals
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Jordan Crawford Joins D-League
Jordan Crawford has been acquired by the Fort Wayne Mad Ants via the D-League’s waiver process, the team has announced. The 26-year-old guard had inked a one year deal with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, but he left the team in November after suffering an eye injury.
The 6’4″ guard out of Xavier appeared in 81 games for the Warriors and Celtics last season, averaging 11.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per contest. In four NBA seasons, Crawford’s career numbers are 12.2 PPG, 2.6 RPG, and 3.2 APG. His slash line is .405/.306/.828.
Crawford is reportedly drawing strong interest from NBA teams, and the D-League could act as a springboard to a 10-day deal for the guard. No specific teams have been mentioned, though the Heat reportedly had concerns about the 26-year-old’s maturity, which turned the team off to inking the guard.
Camp Cuts Currently On NBA Rosters
When Seth Curry signed his 10-day contract with the Suns today, he became a member of a not-so-exclusive club. Players that teams let go at the end of the preseason to trim to the 15-man regular season roster limit are usually lightly regarded, but Curry is now one of 23 camp cuts currently occupying a place on an NBA roster. That means approximately 15% of camp invitees who didn’t make it to opening night have made their way back to the league. The percentage would be even higher if we included those who appeared on regular season rosters earlier this season but are no longer in the Association.
That total of 23 also doesn’t count either Jordan Hamilton or Chris Johnson, since both were waived in advance of opening night but claimed off waivers by other teams. Many of the 23 are on 10-day contracts, while others have already established themselves as fixtures for the team. There’s no name more prominent among them than Hassan Whiteside, who slipped through the hands of the Grizzlies at the end of the preseason and again in November before the Heat snapped him up. Michael Beasley is another Grizzlies camp refugee who’s now with the Heat, hoping his second 10-day contract will lead to a deal for the rest of the season and a Whiteside-like breakthrough.
Here’s the complete list of 23, with details on how they went from camp cuts to regular season players:
- Seth Curry — Cut from the Magic on October 25th; signed a 10-day contract with the Suns on March 11th.
- Jabari Brown — Cut from the Lakers on October 25th; re-signed with Lakers on March 10th.
- Michael Beasley — Cut from the Grizzlies on October 9th; signed the first of a pair of 10-day contracts with the Heat on February 26th.
- Jerrelle Benimon — Cut from the Nuggets on October 27th; signed a 10-day contract with the Jazz on March 6th.
- Bryce Cotton — Cut from the Spurs on October 23rd; signed the first of a pair of 10-day contracts with the Jazz on February 24th.
- Jarell Eddie — Cut from the Celtics on October 27th; signed a 10-day contract with the Hawks on March 5th.
- Elliot Williams — Cut from the Sixers on October 27th; signed the first of a pair of 10-day contracts with the Jazz on January 7th; signed a 10-day contract with the Hornets on February 4th; signed a 10-day contract with the Pelicans on March 4th.
- Earl Barron — Cut from the Suns on October 25th; re-signed with the Suns on the first of a pair of 10-day contracts on February 21st.
- Bernard James — Cut from the Mavericks on October 25th; re-signed with the Mavs on February 11th to the first of a pair of 10-day contracts that led to a deal for the rest of the season.
- Quincy Miller — Cut from the Nuggets on October 27th; signed the first of a pair of 10-day contracts with the Kings on January 17th; signed the first of a pair of 10-day contracts with the Pistons on February 21st.
- JaMychal Green — Cut from the Spurs on October 25th; re-signed with the Spurs on a 10-day contract on January 18th; signed with the Grizzlies on February 2nd to the first of a pair of 10-day contracts that led to a multiyear deal.
- John Lucas III — Cut from the Wizards on October 25th; signed with the Pistons on February 2nd to the first of a pair of 10-day contracts that led to a deal for the rest of the season.
- Reggie Williams — Cut from the Heat on October 13th; signed with the Spurs on January 28th to the first of a pair of 10-day contracts that led to a deal for the rest of the season.
- James McAdoo — Cut from the Warriors on October 25th; re-signed with the Warriors on January 19th to the first of a pair of 10-day contracts that led to a deal for the rest of the season.
- Tyler Johnson — Cut from the Heat on October 25th; re-signed with the Heat on January 12th to the first of a pair of 10-day contracts that led to a deal for the rest of the season.
- Dahntay Jones — Cut from the Jazz on October 22nd; signed with the Clippers on January 14th to the first of a pair of 10-day contracts that led to a deal for the rest of the season.
- Langston Galloway — Cut from the Knicks on October 25th; re-signed with the Knicks on January 7th to the first of a pair of 10-day contracts that led to a deal for the rest of the season.
- Elijah Millsap — Cut from the Bucks on October 16th; re-signed with the Jazz on January 5th to the first of a pair of 10-day contracts that led to a deal for the rest of the season.
- Darius Morris — Cut from the Trail Blazers on October 25th; signed with Nets on December 11th.
- Hassan Whiteside — Cut from the Grizzlies on October 22nd; re-signed with the Grizzlies on November 19th; waived by the Grizzlies on November 20th; signed with the Heat on November 24th,
- Robert Covington — Cut from the Rockets on October 27th; signed with the Sixers on November 15th.
- Ish Smith — Cut from the Rockets on October 27th; signed with the Thunder on November 7th; traded on February 19th to the Pelicans, who immediately waived him; claimed off waivers by the Sixers on February 21st.
- J.J. Barea — Cut from the Timberwolves on October 27th; signed with the Mavericks on October 29th.