2015 March | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Rumors: Robinson, Kings, Bhullar

March 30th, 2015 at 6:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Nate Robinson‘s sore left knee is improving and he could return to the Clippers since coach Doc Rivers was pleased with what he saw from him, according to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Robinson was not signed for the remainder of the season after his two 10-day contracts expired because of the injury but he’s expected to be cleared to play by week’s end, Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports tweets. Rivers indicated to Bolch that Robinson’s return was a strong possibility when he’s ready to play. “I liked what Nate brought us,” Rivers said “I liked his energy.” However, Robinson’s return could be delayed until Lester Hudson‘s 10-day contract expires. Hudson was signed on Sunday to take the roster spot vacated by Robinson, whose last 10-day contract expired on Thursday. The 30-year-old Hudson was the Chinese Basketball Association MVP the last two years before joining the Clippers.

In other news around the Pacific Division:

Kings owner Vivek Ranadive wants to put an end to the discord in the team’s front office, league sources tell Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. Jones writes about Chris Mullin, the Kings adviser who is reportedly expected to accept an offer to instead become the coach at St. John’s University and who, according to fellow Bee scribe Ailene Voisin, opposed the hirings of coach George Karl and new Kings exec Vlade Divac.
The Kings are also hopeful Sim Bhullar will eventually make their NBA roster as his conditioning improves, Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee reports. Bhullar, a 7-foot-5, center, has been playing for the Kings’ D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, after getting waived by Sacramento during training camp. Bhullar came to camp at nearly 400 pounds and has since shed approximately 45 pounds, according to Voisin. Ranadive is intrigued by Bhullar’s skill set but feels Bhullar still needs to drop another 40-50 pounds, Voisin adds. “He needs to get in much better shape,” Ranadive told Voisin. “That will help him get up and down the floor, and he’s been working on that.”

Northwest Notes: Clark, Hunt, Leonard

March 30th, 2015 at 5:41pm CST by Chuck Myron

Ian Clark is on an expiring contract, but the Nuggets didn’t claim him off waivers on Saturday simply with the hopes of having him around for the last few weeks of the season, according to Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. The shooting guard says he’ll be in summer league with Denver, a hint that there’s mutual interest between the sides in a more formal new deal. Denver can match any offers that Clark receives from other NBA teams this summer if it extends a qualifying offer of about $1.147MM. Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:

Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt is a popular and well-liked figure around the league and shares a longstanding connection with Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey, who nearly hired him for Utah this past offseason, as Dempsey details in a separate piece. Hunt wasn’t widely mentioned as a candidate for Utah’s head coaching job, so presumably Lindsey was talking about an assistant’s position, but that’s not entirely clear.
Meyers Leonard is hiring the Creative Artists Agency for his representation ahead of the offseason, when he’ll be eligible for a rookie scale extension, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Blazers big man had been with Excel Sports Management and Jeff Schwartz.
It’s a critical summer ahead for the Thunder and GM Sam Presti, who have one last full offseason of roster construction before Kevin Durant‘s contract runs out, as SB Nation’s Tom Ziller examines. The majority of Hoops Rumors readers who voted in Friday’s poll believe the Thunder should look to make significant changes around Durant this summer.

And-Ones: Towns, Okafor, Vaughn, Jazz

March 30th, 2015 at 4:09pm CST by Chuck Myron

Duke center Jahlil Okafor has long been considered the favorite to become the top pick in the 2015 draft, but for the first time since Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has been compiling his prospect rankings for this year, he’s slipped to No. 2, as Givony notes via Twitter. That means Kentucky forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns has overtaken Okafor in his rankings as well as the ones Chad Ford of ESPN.com puts together. Of course, there’s still nearly three months to go until draft night, and much can change between now and then. It nonetheless sets up what would surely be a dream matchup in the NCAA tournament final for NBA scouts and executives if Kentucky and Duke are to win their respective semifinals on Saturday. There’s more draft news amid the latest from around the league:

UNLV freshman shooting guard Rashad Vaughn has signed with agent Omar Wilkes of Octagon Sports, according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). Vaughn last week denied a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that he was planning to declare for the draft, but signing with an agent wouldn’t allow him to return to school, which suggests that Vaughn is indeed draft-bound.
Three dozen of 59 NBA executives who spoke to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com support playoff realignment, with the vast majority of the opposition coming from Eastern Conference teams (Twitter link).
Elijah Millsap landed his three-year deal with Jazz thanks to an agent who is four years younger than he is, and Cameron Chung of the Sports Agent Blog chronicles the sudden emergence of 23-year-old Daniel Hazan and his Hazan Sports Management agency.
The glut of high-level point guards in the NBA is a severe impediment to teams that don’t have one, as Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com examines in an Insider-only piece, suggesting that clubs like the Knicks and Sixers should prioritize finding point guards in the offseason.

Patrick Beverley Out For Season, Playoffs

March 30th, 2015 at 2:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:49pm: The Rockets confirmed the news in an official announcement.

12:40pm: Patrick Beverley will miss the rest of the season and the playoffs after deciding to go ahead and have surgery to repair ligaments in his left wrist, a source told Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The news is no surprise, particularly after Rockets coach Kevin McHale said Sunday that the point guard probably wouldn’t return to play in 2014/15. GM Daryl Morey said on ESPN Radio’s NBA Insiders show Sunday night that a final decision on Beverley’s season was expected today, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. Surgery was inevitable, but it was just a matter of whether Beverley could play through it, Stein adds (Twitter link).

Beverley’s been out of action for the past week as the wrist has undergone evaluations. It’s a tough blow for the Rockets, and though Morey acknowledged that it would be more difficult without him, he said in his ESPN Radio appearance Sunday that he believes the team could still win the title, notes Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. That’s in spite of Houston’s relative lack of depth at the point, where he and Pablo Prigioni are the only true one-guards on the roster. The Rockets have used combo guard Jason Terry as the starting point guard in Beverley’s stead, with Trevor Ariza, Corey Brewer and Nick Johnson also seeing some duties at the position, Feigen points out.

Houston already has 15 players on the roster and the team is limited to handing out the minimum salary, with the deadline to apply for disabled player exceptions long since passed. Beverley, Kostas Papanikolaou and Donatas Motiejunas are all expected to miss extended periods of time, and Terrence Jones is out indefinitely, so there’s a chance the NBA would grant the team a 16th roster spot via hardship. That would only be a temporary fix, however, and Houston would be hard-pressed to replace Beverley’s production.

The third-year veteran is known for his aggressive defense, but he also nailed 35.6% of his three-point shots while averaging 10.1 points per game, his second straight season as a double-figure scorer. The BDA Sports Management client is due for restricted free agency this summer, though several reports have identified the Rockets as having interest in soon-to-be unrestricted free agent point guard Goran Dragic. Still, Beverley figures to be fairly sought-after if not by his incumbent team, then by others around the Association, in spite of his injury.

Damian Jones To Stay Out Of Draft

March 30th, 2015 at 2:47pm CST by Chuck Myron

Vanderbilt big man Damian Jones has decided to return to Vanderbilt for a junior season rather than enter this year’s NBA draft, sources tell Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The 6’10” 19-year-old was in line to become a second-round pick. He’s listed as the 43rd-best prospect on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress board while Chad Ford of ESPN.com has him 54th.

Jones showed improvement this year, notching 14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 29.1 minutes per game for the Commodores. He was his team’s leading scorer, but Vanderbilt went .500 in SEC play and failed to make the NCAA Tournament, and he put up just eight points in the team’s season-ending loss to Stanford in the NIT quarterfinals last week.

The school and coach Kevin Stallings have produced Festus Ezeli, John Jenkins and Jeff Taylor in recent years, and each of them was drafted from the 23rd through 31st overall picks. Jones has improved his stock since he left high school in 2013, when he was just 82nd in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index.

Atlantic Notes: Lopez, Calipari, Turner, Knicks

March 30th, 2015 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Brook Lopez says he’s undecided about his player option worth more than $16.744MM for next season, but Lionel Hollins made it clear today that he wants Lopez back one way or another, as the Nets coach told reporters, including Alex Raskin of The Wall Street Journal (Twitter link). There were conflicting reports earlier this season about which way the big man was leaning, and the Nets appeared close to trading him to the Thunder in January and again at the deadline, but he’s having a resurgent March, averaging 20.7 points and 8.9 rebounds per game this month. There’s more on the Nets amid the latest from the Atlantic Division:

There are still some advocates for John Calipari within the Nets organization, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports said last week in an appearance on WFAN-AM with Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts (audio link), as Robert Windrem of NetsDaily transcribes. It still appears unlikely that either the Nets would pursue him or Calipari would want to leave Kentucky, Wojnarowski believes.
Evan Turner isn’t a perfect match for any particular role, but Celtics coach Brad Stevens sees him as versatile rather than a misfit, as USA Today’s Howard Megdal examines. “I’ve been a fan of Evan Turner since his high school days,” Stevens said. “He played for my first boss [Ohio State coach Thad Matta], so I’ve known him, inside and out, for a while. I felt really good about the opportunity to sign him this summer, and was an advocate of that.” The C’s signed Turner for two years and more than $6.7MM this past offseason.
The Knicks fired D-League coach Kevin Whitted and named assistant Craig Hodges his replacement on an interim basis, the team announced, confirming an earlier report from Marc Berman of the New York Post (on Twitter). The move was the result of tension between Whitted, whom Knicks assistant GM Allan Houston hired, and Hodges, a former player under Jackson, as Berman details in a full story. Hodges spoke to Zach Links of Hoops Rumors at the start of the season.

How 2014 Early Draft Entrants Fared

March 30th, 2015 at 12:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

It’s difficult for underclassmen interested in entering the NBA draft to get truly accurate reads on their respective draft stocks, but the majority of last year’s early entrants are in the NBA, if the players who eventually withdrew from the draft aren’t taken into account. Many of the three dozen who have NBA contracts after declaring for the 2014 draft aren’t seeing much playing time, but they still made it to basketball highest level. Four more were on NBA rosters earlier this season, while a half dozen more were drafted and have yet to sign.

These are the players who declared for early entry in 2014 and currently have NBA contracts:

Jordan Adams, UCLA (Sophomore) — The Grizzlies drafted him No. 22 overall.
Kyle Anderson, UCLA (Sophomore) — The Spurs drafted him No. 30 overall.
Jabari Brown, Missouri (Junior) — Undrafted. Currently on second 10-day contract with Lakers. He previously signed with the team in September, but the Lakers waived him before opening night.
Bruno Caboclo, Brazil — The Raptors drafted him 20th overall.
Clint Capela, France — The Rockets drafted him 25th overall.
Jordan Clarkson, Missouri (Junior) — The Wizards drafted him 46th overall and traded his rights to the Lakers.
Spencer Dinwiddie, Colorado (Junior) — The Pistons drafted him 38th overall.
Tyler Ennis, Syracuse (Freshman) — The Suns drafted him 18th overall. A deadline-day trade sent him to the Bucks.
Joel Embiid, Kansas (Freshman) — The Sixers drafted him third overall. He hasn’t played this season due to injury.
Dante Exum, Australia — The Jazz drafted him fifth overall.
Aaron Gordon, Arizona (Freshman) — The Magic drafted him fourth overall.
Jerami Grant, Syracuse (Sophomore) — The Sixers drafted him 39th overall.
P.J. Hairston, D-League — The Heat drafted him 26th overall and traded his rights to the Hornets.
Gary Harris, Michigan State (Sophomore) — The Bulls drafted him 19th overall and traded his rights to the Nuggets.
Rodney Hood, Duke (Sophomore) — The Jazz drafted him 23rd overall.
Damien Inglis, France — The Bucks drafted him 31st overall. He hasn’t played this season due to injury.
Nick Johnson, Arizona (Junior) — The Rockets drafted him 42nd overall.
Zach LaVine, UCLA (Freshman) — The Timberwolves drafted him 13th overall.
James Michael McAdoo, North Carolina (Junior) — Undrafted. The Warriors signed him in February to a two-year deal. McAdoo previously signed a pair of 10-day contracts and a partially guaranteed contract in September that Golden State waived before opening night.
K.J. McDaniels, Clemson (Junior) — The Sixers drafted him 32nd overall. A deadline-day trade took him to the Rockets.
Mitch McGary, Michigan (Sophomore) — The Thunder drafted him 21st overall.
Eric Moreland, Oregon State (Junior) — Undrafted. Signed with the Kings in July.
Jusuf Nurkic, Croatia — The Bulls drafted him and traded his rights to the Nuggets.
Johnny O’Bryant III, LSU (Junior) — The Bucks drafted him 36th overall.
Jabari Parker, Duke (Freshman) — The Bucks drafted him second overall.
Elfrid Payton, Louisiana-Lafayette (Junior) — The Sixers drafted him 10th overall and traded his rights to the Magic.
Julius Randle, Kentucky (Freshman) — The Lakers drafted him seventh overall.
Glenn Robinson III, Michigan (Sophomore) — The Timberwolves drafted him 40th overall. They waived him in March, but the Sixers claimed him off waivers.
JaKarr Sampson, St. John’s (Sophomore) — Undrafted. Signed with the Sixers in September.
Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State (Sophomore) — The Celtics drafted him sixth overall.
Nik Stauskas, Michigan (Sophomore) — The Kings drafted him eighth overall.
Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee (Junior) — The Jazz drafted him 35th overall and traded his rights to the Grizzlies.
Noah Vonleh, Indiana (Freshman) — The Hornets drafted him ninth overall.
T.J. Warren, N.C. State (Sophomore) — The Suns drafted him 14th overall.
Andrew Wiggins, Kansas (Freshman) — The Cavaliers drafted him first overall and traded him to the Timberwolves in August.
James Young, Kentucky (Freshman) — The Celtics drafted him 17th overall.

The next group signed NBA deals earlier this season but have since cleared waivers:

Sim Bhullar, New Mexico State (Sophomore) — Undrafted. Signed with Kings in August but waived before opening night. Plays for Sacramento’s D-League affiliate.
Khem Birch, UNLV (Junior) — Undrafted. Signed with Heat in September but waived before opening night. Plays for Miami’s D-League affiliate.
Alex Kirk, New Mexico (Junior) — Undrafted. The Cavs signed him in August. A January trade sent him to the Knicks, who waived him shortly thereafter. He’s now playing for Cleveland’s D-League affiliate.
Roscoe Smith, UNLV (Junior) — Undrafted. The Lakers signed him in September but waived him prior to opening night. He’s played for the Lakers D-League affiliate this season.

These 11 players went undrafted and haven’t signed with NBA teams at any point, aside from summer league:

William Alston, Baltimore County Community College — Remains unsigned.
Isaiah Austin, Baylor (Sophomore) — Retired from basketball after he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome.
Chane Behanan, Louisville/Colorado State (Junior) — Played 13 games with the Rockets D-League affiliate this season.
Jahii Carson, Arizona State (Sophomore) — He’s played for teams in Australia and Serbia this season.
Michalis Kamperidis, Greece — He’s played for teams in Spain and Greece this season.
Artem Klimenko, Russia — He’s played for Russia’s Avtodor Saratov this season.
Lucas Mariano, Brazil — He’s played for Brazil’s Franca this season.
LaQuinton Ross, Ohio State (Junior) — He’s played for Vuelle Basket Pesaro of Italy this season.
Antonio Rucker, Clinton Junior College (Freshman) — Remains unsigned.
Ojars Silins, Italy — He’s played for Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia of Italy this season.
Ta’Quan Zimmerman, Canada — He’s played for the Jazz’s D-League affiliate this season.

These players are “draft-and-stash” prospects who are playing either in the D-League or overseas even though NBA teams drafted them last year:

Semaj Christon, Xavier (Sophomore) — The Heat drafted him 55th overall, and a pair of trades sent his rights to the Hornets and ultimately the Thunder. Oklahoma City didn’t sign him but he entered the D-League and has been playing for the Thunder’s D-League affiliate.
Nemanja Dangubic, Serbia — The Sixers drafted him and traded him to the Spurs. He’s played for Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda this season.
DeAndre Daniels, Connecticut (Junior) — The Raptors drafted him 37th overall. He played for the Perth Wildcats of Australia this season.
Nikola Jokic, Serbia — The Nuggets drafted him 41st overall. He’s played for Serbia’s KK Mega Vizura this season.
Vasilije Micic, Serbia — The Sixers drafted him 52nd overall. He’s played for Germany’s Bayern Muenchen this season.
Dario Saric, Croatia — The Magic drafted him 12th overall and traded his rights to the Sixers. He’s played for Turkey’s Anadolu Efes this season.

The final group consists of players who withdrew from the draft, most of whom are from overseas. There’s a decent chance that many of these names will resurface again as early-entry candidates this year:

Mychal Ammons, South Alabama (Junior) — withdrew from draft
Lefteris Bochoridis, Greece — withdrew from draft
Matias Bortolin, Austria — withdrew from draft
Nedim Buza, Bosnia — withdrew from draft
Berkay Candan, Turkey — withdrew from draft
Joonas Caven, Spain — withdrew from draft
Moussa Diagne, Spain — withdrew from draft
Tomas Dimsa, Lithuania — withdrew from draft
Marcus Eriksson, Spain — withdrew from draft
Ilja Gromovs, Latvia — withdrew from draft
Rasmus Larsen, Spain — withdrew from draft
Kristaps Porzingis, Spain — withdrew from draft
Mateusz Ponitka, Belgium — withdrew from draft
Marko Ramljak, Croatia — withdrew from draft
Alejandro Suarez, Spain — withdrew from draft
Devon Van Oostrum, Spain — withdrew from draft
Guillem Vives, Spain — withdrew from draft
Adin Vrabac, Bosnia — withdrew from draft

R.J. Hunter To Enter Draft

March 30th, 2015 at 11:46am CST by Chuck Myron

11:46am: Hunter confirmed his decision in an interview with Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com, adding that he’s been told he’ll likely be drafted between the 15th and 35th overall picks.

8:07am: Georgia State junior shooting guard R.J. Hunter will soon formally announce that he’s entering this year’s draft, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The NCAA Tournament hero is the 20th-ranked prospect on Chad Ford’s ESPN.com list, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him 27th.

Hunter hit a long three-pointer with 2.7 seconds left to seal Georgia State’s upset of No. 3 seed Baylor on the first full day of the tournament, sending his father and coach Ron Hunter tumbling on the sidelines and giving March another iconic moment. Still, R.J. Hunter was well-positioned for a shot at NBA glory even before that, having continued to climb prospect rankings this past season. He was 59th among Givony’s top prospects when he declined to enter the draft last year. He cooled after a hot start vaulted him into consideration for a mid-first-round pick earlier this season, but his passing ability has him poised to play a prominent role as an NBA sixth man, as Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors writes as he ranks him 19th in our latest Draft Prospect Power Rankings.

The 6’5″ 21-year-old averaged 19.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 37.0 minutes per game this season for the Panthers, who compete in the Sun Belt Conference. He made 39.5% of his three-pointers as a sophomore and 35.4% for his college career, but he was just a 30.5% three-point shooter this season.

2015/16 Salary Commitments: Pelicans

March 30th, 2015 at 11:14am CST by Eddie Scarito

With the NBA trade deadline 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 $67.4MM, 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 continue onward by taking a look at the Pelicans’ cap outlook for 2015/16…

Here are the players with guaranteed contracts:

Ryan Anderson — $8.5MM
Anthony Davis — $7,070,730
Tyreke Evans — $10,734,586
Jrue Holiday — $10,595,507
Quincy Pondexter — $3,382,023

Here are the players with non-guaranteed contracts:

Toney Douglas — $1,185,784

Players with options:

Eric Gordon (Player Option) — $15,514,031

The Pelicans’ Cap Summary for 2015/16:

Guaranteed Salary: $40,582,846
Options/Non-Guaranteed Salary: $16,699,815
Total: $57,282,661

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

Eastern Notes: Dudley, Monroe, Fisher

March 30th, 2015 at 10:04am CST by Chuck Myron

Jared Dudley didn’t really want to play for the Bucks after the Clippers traded him to Milwaukee this summer, but his new team’s training staff, Jason Kidd‘s coaching style, and Milwaukee’s competitiveness helped convince him otherwise, as Lori Nickel of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel details. Dudley has a $4.25MM early termination option for next season, and while he hasn’t said what he’ll do with that, he told Nickel that he’d like a long-term deal with the Bucks and that he’s willing to take a discount to sign one, citing Kidd as his top reason why. Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Greg Monroe believes former Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars deserves another chance to run a team, as Terry Foster of The Detroit News relays. Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher wrote in January that Pelicans owner Tom Benson had some interest in Dumars, and Monroe, soon to be an unrestricted free agent, is a New Orleans native. “I mean, yeah,” Monroe said when asked if Dumars should have another shot at team building. “He put together a championship team. Obviously he knows what it takes to get it done. For a stretch he had one of the most successful teams in the league. Obviously he is good at that job. I don’t see how that would be a problem to get back.”
Derek Fisher says he doesn’t have regrets about taking on the Knicks coaching job even with the team in possession of the league’s worst record and added that he talks daily with team president Phil Jackson, notes Peter Botte of the New York Daily News. Coaching colleagues, like Tom Thibodeau, have no shortage of praise for Fisher, Botte adds.
Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers believes the Celtics almost had to trade Rajon Rondo this season with his contract running out this summer, as he told reporters, including Brian Robb of Boston.com. Rivers said a rebuilding team like the Celtics, whom he used to coach, can’t afford to risk that a soon-to-be free agent walks and added that he believes Rondo, and not the Celtics front office, was the catalyst for the move, as Robb passes along.

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