Charles Jackson Entering Draft
Tennessee Tech junior center Charles Jackson has decided to enter this year’s draft and signed with agent Scott Nichols, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. The 21-year-old, who turns 22 next month, is an unheralded prospect outside the top 100 rankings for both Chad Ford of ESPN.com and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
The 6’10” Jackson was eighth in the nation in double-doubles this season, tied with first-round prospect Christian Wood and ahead of lottery hopeful Kevon Looney, as Charania points out, though Jackson did his much of his damage against weaker competition in the Ohio Valley Conference. He put up 13.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 27.2 minutes per game this season, his only NCAA Division I year after he transferred from junior college.
Jackson intends to stay in the draft, according to Charania, though the RealGM scribe notes that it’s possible he’ll withdraw by the NBA’s June 15th deadline and instead play in the D-League or overseas. He can’t return to NCAA competition if he formally enters the draft or has indeed hired an agent.
Spurs, Mavs Believe They Can Lure Aldridge
FRIDAY, 8:28am: Two executives told Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com last month that there was a belief among some around the league that Aldridge would consider the Knicks as well as the Spurs this summer.
2:03pm: All options are on the table for Aldridge this summer, including a departure from the Blazers, a source familiar with his free agency strategy told Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. The source also said to Berger that he wouldn’t be surprised if the All-Star signed with a Texas team.
THURSDAY, 8:59am: The Spurs and Mavs believe they can convince LaMarcus Aldridge to sign with them in free agency this summer, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Both teams are planning aggressive pursuits of the Blazers power forward, and the Knicks and Lakers will go after him, too, Stein also says. It’s the latest ominous news for Portland’s hopes of keeping the No. 4 player in our Free Agent Power Rankings, in spite of his insistence last summer and before the season that he intends to re-sign, and the Blazers have their “work cut out” for them if they’re to retain their star, as Stein puts it.
A Blazers teammate who spoke with The Oregonian’s Jason Quick earlier this month cast it as a 50-50 proposition that the Arn Tellem client would be back with the Blazers. Quick noted that Aldridge feels as though the franchise is behind him, but the veteran of nine NBA seasons, all of them in Portland, recently expounded to Michael Lee of The Washington Post on times when he didn’t sense that sort of support from the Blazers. The Blazers have been “very, very scared” that Aldridge will leave, as one rival executive said to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News in February, though that executive chalked the team’s feeling up to paranoia.
Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News first reported in November that Dallas planned to target the native of nearby Seagoville, Texas, while Grantland’s Zach Lowe has consistently heard chatter vaguely linking Aldridge to San Antonio. The big man praised Knicks president Phil Jackson and the city of New York and said that he thought he’d be a fit for the triangle upon prompting from New York media at the All-Star Game. There hasn’t been much connecting Aldridge to the Lakers, besides a report from Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders indicating that the prospect of the former No. 2 overall pick winding up in purple-and-gold was a long shot. Still, Aldridge makes sense for a Lakers team with plenty of cap flexibility and an ever-present desire to chase star free agents.
The same can be said for the Knicks, and the Mavs have max-level flexibility, too, though the team’s apparent willingness to move on from Rajon Rondo will help Dallas clear the cap space necessary to put a max offer in front of Aldridge. The Spurs have a more complicated path as long as Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili decide they want to return, but having decided against a lucrative extension for Kawhi Leonard this past fall gives the Spurs a chance to clear max cap room. His cap hold remains just slightly more than $7.235MM until San Antonio signs him to a new deal or matches an offer sheet for him.
Moussa Diagne To Enter Draft
Senegalese center Moussa Diagne is entering this year’s draft, the Interperformances agency confirms to Shams Charania of RealGM. The 21-year-old Herb Rudoy client is No. 42 in Chad Ford’s ESPN.com prospect rankings and 56th with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, so it appears Diagne is in line to become a second-round pick. Of course, that’s assuming he stays in the draft and doesn’t withdraw as he did after declaring for last year’s draft.
The 6’10” Diagne has played a reserve role for Baloncesto Fuenlabrada, his Spanish league team, averaging 4.4 points and 3.9 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per game this season. He impressed on the boards at last year’s Adidas EuroCamp, a prestigious showcase for overseas players, pulling down 5.7 boards in 16.5 MPG, but his offense lagged behind, as he scored only 4.0 PPG at the event.
The deadline for Diagne and other international prospects to withdraw isn’t until June 15th, so he and Rudoy will have plenty of opportunity to get a better feel for how NBA front offices view him. He’ll probably have the chance to attend this year’s EuroCamp, and he can perform individual workouts for NBA teams. Regardless, it wouldn’t be surprising if he ends up as a draft-and-stash prospect and remains overseas even if he is drafted this year.
And-Ones: Monroe, Rondo, Draft
The Pistons haven’t given up hope that they can re-sign unrestricted free agent Greg Monroe this summer, Terry Foster of The Detroit News writes. In a letter sent to the team’s season ticket holders, coach/executive Stan Van Gundy indicated that Monroe was one of the players whom the franchise hoped to build around, Foster relays. “We have a nice young nucleus forming with Andre Drummond [22 years old], Reggie Jackson [24 years old], Kentavious Caldwell-Pope [22 years old], Greg Monroe [24 years old] and Spencer Dinwiddie [21 years old],” Van Gundy wrote. “We will continue to build around this young group with quality veterans cut from the same mold as Caron Butler, Tayshaun Prince, Joel Anthony and Anthony Tolliver.”
Here’s more from around the league:
- Brad Stevens, Rajon Rondo‘s coach while a member of the Celtics, said he was shocked with all the difficulties Rondo has had with the Mavs, Jimmy Toscano of CSNNE.com writes. “Yeah. I am,” Stevens said when asked if he was surprised by his former point guard’s issues in Dallas. “And I haven’t paid as much attention or read every article or even really watched anything on it. So yeah I was a little bit surprised.”
- Coach Rick Carlisle says he was simply being truthful when he said that he didn’t expect to see Rondo in a Mavericks uniform again during an appearance on “The Afternoon Show with Cowlishaw and Mosley” (hat tip to the Dallas Morning News). “Well it’s highly unlikely, to be honest,” Carlisle said. “I think it’s important to be truthful in these situations. But here’s the other fact: this is a guy that’s going to have a lot of free-agent options in the summer. If we wanted to get him back, we were going to be bidding against multiple other teams with a lot of cap space, and there’s going to be a big market for him So that’s where all that stuff is at, but right now our attention and focus has got to be on Game 3.”
- Greek power forward Dimitrios Agravanis intends to enter the 2015 NBA draft, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress tweets. The 20-year-old isn’t expected to hear his name called in June’s draft after averaging 4.4 points and 2.7 rebounds for Olympiakos this past season.
- Serbian point guards Miroslav Pasajlic (20) and Nikola Radicevic (20) will enter the 2015 NBA draft, Givony reports (Twitter link). Neither player is projected to be drafted come June.
Eastern Notes: Knicks, Contracts, Bucks
Knicks team president Phil Jackson has sounded like a defeated man during his end of season press conferences, which isn’t what the organization or its fans need to see at this critical juncture in New York’s rebuilding process, Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post writes. The Zen Master has taken on a somewhat pessimistic attitude when discussing the team’s ability to attract free agents, Vaccaro notes. “The market value is going to be really interesting,” Jackson said. “There’s going to be a zillion guys being chased, and it’s not just us trying to do this. It only takes one individual team that says, ‘We want this guy.’ The prevailing attitude is: Guys get overpaid in this situation. You have do that in free agency to get a player. We know we have a limited amount and have to do some judicious shopping. We’re not going to the dollar store, but we may not be at one of the bigger [stores].”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- If Knicks guard Ricky Ledo is still under contract through August 1st, $100K of his minimum salary arrangement for 2015/16 will become guaranteed, with another $100K becoming guaranteed if he begins the season under contract, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
- Jorge Gutierrez‘s minimum salary deal for 2015/16 with the Bucks is non-guaranteed, Pincus tweets.
- Will Bynum‘s contract with the Wizards was strictly for the remainder of the 2014/15 campaign, and the guard will become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, Pincus notes (Twitter link).
- Commissioner Adam Silver indicated that he still has faith that a deal can be reached on a new arena in Milwaukee for the Bucks, Kami Mattioli of The Sporting News tweets. The franchise is struggling to secure $250MM worth of public financing toward the construction of a $500MM arena.
Shawn Long Declines To Enter Draft
Louisiana-Lafayette forward/center Shawn Long intends to return to school for his senior season and bypass this year’s draft, Luke Johnson of The Acadiana Advocate tweets (hat tip to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com via Twitter). Long’s play helped the Ragin’ Cajuns notch a record of 22-14 this past season.
The 22-year-old was projected to be a borderline second-rounder if he entered this year’s NBA draft, with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress rating him the No. 58 overall prospect. Long does not appear on Chad Ford of ESPN.com‘s list of his top-100 college prospects (Insider subscription required).
In 34 games this past season, the 6’9″ Long averaged 16.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.5 blocks in 28.0 minutes per contest. His career averages are 16.8 PPG, 10.3 RPG, 1.0 APG, and 2.1 BPG. Long’s career shooting percentages are .496/.360/.674.
2014/15 D-League Usage Report: Cavaliers
The D-League’s regular season is now complete, and the three-round D-League playoffs are winding down. The relationship between the NBA and the D-League continues to grow, and 17 NBA franchises currently have one-to-one D-League affiliates amongst the 18 D-League teams. The remaining 13 NBA teams shared the Fort Wayne Mad Ants this season.
We at Hoops Rumors will be recapping each team’s use of the D-League this season, looking at assignments and recalls as well as the players signed out of the D-League. We’ll begin with a look back at how the Cavaliers utilized the D-League during the 2014/15 campaign…
D-League Team: Canton Charge
Affiliation Type: One-to-one
D-League Team Record: 31-19
Number of NBA Players Assigned To D-League: 2
Total D-League Assignments: 14
Player Stats While On Assignment:
- Alex Kirk: 5 assignments, 41 games, 12.2 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 1.2 APG. .492/.219/.727.
- Joe Harris: 11 assignments, 11 games, 14.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 3.5 APG. .391/.261/.733.
D-League Signings
- None
Assignment/Recall Log
- November 14th: Assigned Alex Kirk (Recalled November 17th)
- November 19th: Assigned Alex Kirk (Recalled November 24th)
- November 30th: Assigned Alex Kirk (Recalled December 1st)
- December 4th: Assigned Alex Kirk (Recalled December 21st)
- January 20th: Assigned Joe Harris (Recalled January 21st)
- January 24th: Assigned Joe Harris (Recalled January 25th)
- January 27th: Assigned Joe Harris (Recalled January 28th)
- January 29th: Assigned Joe Harris (Recalled February 2nd)
- February 5th: Assigned Joe Harris (Recalled February 8th)
- February 12th: Assigned Joe Harris (Recalled February 18th)
- March 20th: Assigned Joe Harris (Recalled March 23rd)
- March 31st: Assigned Joe Harris (Recalled April 1st)
- April 3rd: Assigned Joe Harris (Recalled April 10th)
- April 13th: Assigned Joe Harris (Recalled April 15th)
- April 18th: Assigned Joe Harris (Recalled April 20th)
Southeast Notes: Skiles, Hawks, Jefferson
Scott Skiles is still “very interested” in coaching again but isn’t pushing the issue, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders notes within his NBA AM piece. Skiles isn’t actively seeking or campaigning for a job with the Magic or any other team, nor would he insist on player personnel power or control if he were to become a team’s coach, league sources told Kyler, a reversal of the narratives from earlier.
Here’s the latest out of the Southwest Division:
- The second highest bid for the Hawks came in around $815MM, which includes the approximately $120MM worth of arena debt, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today tweets. The franchise is awaiting the NBA Board of Governors to approve the sale of the team to the Ressler Group for approximately $850MM, which also includes the arena debt amount.
- The Hornets are relieved that center Al Jefferson has decided not to opt out of his contract for next season and become a free agent, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. Charlotte did not want to have to commit to a deal for Jefferson beyond this season, even at a reduced cost, Deveney adds. The organization hopes that the big man can give the Hornets another solid year while the team figures out what its frontcourt is going to look like in the future, adds the Sporting News scribe.
- Kemba Walker was glad to have had surgery during the season to repair a tear in his left knee, Matt Rochinski of NBA.com writes in his season recap for the Hornets‘ point guard. “[The surgery] was something that I had to do and I’m happy I got it done,” Walker said. “I’m feeling good. I won’t do anything different and will still have a pretty good summer [working out and getting stronger], so I’m looking forward to it.” Walker will be entering the second season of the four-year, $48MM extension he signed with the team last October.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Thunder Coaching Rumors: Donovan, Messina
A third NBA head coaching vacancy opened Wednesday when the Thunder cut ties with Scott Brooks, and college coaches Billy Donovan and Kevin Ollie have emerged as perhaps the most prominent candidates. We’ll round up the latest on the Thunder’s search here, with any additional updates added to the top:
- While Donovan is the current favorite to land the Thunder’s coaching position, Spurs assistant Ettore Messina is also on the team’s list of candidates, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets.
1:18pm update:
- “Very personal reasons” have led Ollie to call Presti and tell him he wouldn’t take the job, a source told Zagoria. A second source said to Zagoria that the Thunder made it clear that they were indeed interested, but there were a variety of reasons why Ollie decided against it.
12:10pm update:
- Ollie has “removed himself from consideration” for the Thunder job, sources tell Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com (Twitter link; hat tip to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman). Given the doubt that lingered Wednesday even after Ollie issued his statement that he would stay at Connecticut, it’s unclear if that completely closes any reasonable chance that Ollie will end up in the Oklahoma City job.
12:00pm update:
- “All signs point to” Donovan becoming the next Thunder coach, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, who hears sentiments similar to those that Marc Stein of ESPN.com heard earlier this spring indicating that the Florida coach is ready to jump to the NBA. Donovan, a friend of Thunder GM Sam Presti, is tired of recruiting and while he would jump to the NBA only for a winning situation and a GM he knows and trusts, as a person who knows Donovan tells Berger, the Thunder fit the bill. Donovan would seek a deal worth $25MM over five years, or similar terms, league sources tell Berger.
- Donovan doesn’t have the credibility or relationship with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook that Ollie does, a source points out to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. The same source who earlier identified Ollie as the Thunder’s No. 1 target tells Zagoria that Ollie is “listening” as Oklahoma City pursues him, despite Ollie’s statement from Wednesday in which he indicated that he would remain at Connecticut. The source also suggests to Zagoria that if the Thunder’s next coach can’t manage the two-superstar dynamic between Durant and Westbrook to Durant’s liking, last year’s MVP will leave in free agency next summer.
- Durant expressed “100%” support for the team’s decision to part ways with Brooks but said the news was difficult to take and lauded Brooks for his mentorship on and off the court, as the injured star posted on his Instagram account.
Stanley Johnson To Enter NBA Draft
Arizona freshman forward Stanley Johnson intends to enter the 2015 NBA draft, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). The University has scheduled a press conference for later this evening when the 18-year-old is expected to announce he is leaving the Wildcats after a single season.
Johnson is an anticipated lottery pick in this June’s draft, with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranking him as the No. 9 overall prospect, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) places him at No. 11 overall.
The 6’7″ forward appeared in 38 contests for the Wildcats last season, averaging 13.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.5 steals in 28.4 minutes per game. His shooting numbers were .446/.371/.742.