Atlantic Notes: Mbah a Moute, Smith, Williams
Luc Mbah a Moute, who will become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, would like to remain in Philadelphia and he believes the team wants him back as well, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes.
“Ever since I came here, I didn’t get the sense that it was a one-year kind of deal,” said Mbah a Moute. “We will see what happens this summer, but pretty much what’s been kind of [established] is that I’m part of what they are trying to grow here. I’m part of the culture. When you been through a season like this, when you see ups and downs, you see glimpses of what could be you want to be a part of it. You want to be there when things turn around and we finally get hopefully that right team and become a good team. So yeah, [re-signing is] what I’m thinking now.”
The UCLA product enjoyed his best offensive season in the NBA last year and has worked to improve his shooting. He made 62 three-pointers after only making 24 total during his first six years in the league.
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Ish Smith, who has played for eight teams during his five year career, also would like to play for the Sixers again next season, Andy Jasner of NBA.com writes. “I hope so,” Smith said when asked if he’ll be back in Philadelphia. “I really like it here. I knew I had to play and work hard and not worry about all the other things. I figure that will all take care of itself. It was important to me to come in and do my work and take in everything the coaching staff was teaching me. I still have so much to learn.” The speedy point guard averaged 12.0 points and 6.1 assists per contest during his 25 games as a Sixer.
- Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun can’t envision Lou Williams, who earlier today was announced the winner of this year’s Sixth Man of the Year award, playing for Toronto next season due to the sizable contract he might earn in free agency (Twitter link). The Raptors already have slightly more than $49MM on the books for the 2015/16 season, as our Salary Commitment page shows.
- James Johnson, who didn’t play in Saturday’s game against the Wizards, understands his role and why the Raptors signed him, Eric Koreen of the National Post, writes. “Matchups. I’m here for matchup problems,” Johnson said. “I’m here for the long season, when Kyle [Lowry] got hurt or DeMar [DeRozan] got hurt. Those were when I had opportunities to play a lot. I’m the fill-in. And I’m OK with that.” The forward signed a two-year, $5MM deal with Toronto last offseason.
The Declining Relative Value Of The Mid-Level
The mid-level exception was originally intended to be just that — a middle ground between minimum and maximum salary contracts. Once the cap shoots up next year, the pendulum of the mid-level’s value will have swung decidedly toward the low end. While the cap may go up or down depending on the league’s basketball-related income, the latest collective bargaining agreement locked in set mid-level amounts. The non-taxpayer’s mid-level, sometimes referred to as the “full” mid-level, began at $5MM in the 2011/12 season and isn’t scheduled to eclipse $6MM until 2019/20. The taxpayer mid-level and room mid-level exceptions exhibit similarly measured growth, but the salary cap is projected to rise dramatically.
The league sent out preliminary projections that show the cap ballooning from $67.1MM to $108MM in a two-year period. Of course, the larger figure assumes there isn’t a work stoppage after the 2016/17 season, when the cap is projected to hit $89MM. If there are indeed labor negotiations in 2017, when both sides can opt out of the collective bargaining agreement, it would set up an intriguing dynamic within the union, headed these days by president Chris Paul and vice president LeBron James, both maximum-salary players. Rank-and-file players might like to see the mid-level exceptions — and the minimum-salary exception, which is also a set figure year-to-year — tied to rising revenues as well. It would offset what otherwise is set up to be a growing gap between the most highly paid players and everyone else.
This table shows the league’s projections for the salary cap and the luxury tax thresholds for each of the seasons remaining under the current collective bargaining agreement. It also includes a rough estimate of each maximum salary for those seasons (the NBA uses a different cap calculation for maximum salaries than the cap itself, so that’s why the percentages don’t align precisely). In the rightmost column is the non-taxpayer’s mid-level amount for each season.
A conceivable positive consequence for mid-level players as max salaries surge is that teams would be set up with greater wiggle room between the cap and the tax threshold, so it would be easier for them to spend the full mid-level amount. Fewer teams would cross the tax apron, a mark $4MM above the tax threshold, and thus fewer teams would be limited to only the taxpayer’s mid-level. Still, by that same logic, more teams would be liable to spend less than the cap, meaning they’d have only the room exception, the least lucrative of the three versions of the mid-level.
Front offices may be more hesitant to spend up to the max for as many players as they do now, so perhaps the NBA’s middle class will endure as teams split their resources. Still, a valuable systemic tool to provide for the skilled but less-than-elite stands to have much less effect.
Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Freeland, Wolves
There’s only one Northwest Division team in the playoffs, but it’s been a newsy day around the division, with the Thunder’s apparent interest in UConn coach Kevin Ollie as a possible replacement for Scott Brooks perhaps the most significant story. Concerns in the Blazers locker room about whether LaMarcus Aldridge will re-sign loom over Portland, while another team already has a coaching vacancy, and we’ll pass along the latest from Denver and other Northwest locales here:
- The Nuggets would prefer a coaching veteran to fill their vacancy, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes within a larger look at the offseason ahead in Denver. Ty Lawson is probably staying put, Deveney adds, and the same can be said for Jusuf Nurkic, whom the Nuggets regard as a steal a season after he was the 16th overall pick.
- British-born Joel Freeland hasn’t played a large role for the Blazers in the three years since he came over from playing in Spain, but as his contract nears an end, he would prefer to remain in the NBA and with the Blazers, as he told Chema de Lucas of Gigantes Del Basket (translation via Mark Woods of MVP247.com). Portland can match offers for Freeland in free agency this summer, but that only applies to offers from other NBA teams, not overseas clubs, and the Blazers would first have to tender a qualifying offer of nearly $3.767MM.
- Flip Saunders said today that the Wolves will have a strong prospect regardless of whom they draft with their first-round pick, which could fall between No. 1 and No. 4, but Michael Rand of the Star Tribune figures the coach/exec must hope he can land a big man. Rand argues that’s because of the injury history of Nikola Pekovic, who’s under contract through 2017/18. Top two prospects Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor are big men and the players widely projected to go next are guards Emmanuel Mudiay and D’Angelo Russell. Saunders said he’ll draft the best available talent rather than for position.
Flip Saunders On Coaching, Rebuilding, Draft
Flip Saunders gave no indication that he’s planning on stepping away from his Timberwolves coaching duties, as Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press notes from Saunders’ comments today at his end-of-season press conference (Twitter link). The agreement that Saunders, who also serves as president of basketball operations, made to coach the team is open-ended in terms of length, but Saunders said today that he’ll continue to coach as long as it furthers player development and his vision for where the team will be two years from now, tweets Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. We’ll round up more of the best of Saunders’ remarks here:
- Saunders entered the season with designs on a team that would compete for a postseason berth this year, but he made it clear today that sort of roster is not his ultimate goal, as Krawczynski relays (Twitter link). “I don’t want to get to the playoffs,” Saunders said. “I want to build a team that can win in the playoffs.”
- The team will go with the best player available rather than positional need with its first-round pick, Zgoda notes (on Twitter). Minnesota’s pick will fall within the top four, as the lottery odds show.
- It’s unlikely the team keeps both its second-round picks, at Nos. 31 and 36, Saunders said, according to John Meyer of Canis Hoopus (Twitter link). Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities suggested earlier that there was a strong chance the team would either trade one of the picks or use one of them on a draft-and-stash prospect (Twitter link).
- The Wolves will prioritize adding strength, better defense and three-point shooting over the offseason, Saunders said, as Krawczynski tweets.
Free Agent Stock Watch Series
The playoffs have begun, and within two weeks, all but eight of the 30 NBA teams will be finished for 2014/15. That means players on expiring contracts are making their final statements before they hit free agency, if their teams haven’t already been eliminated. So, it’s time to start looking at soon-to-be free agents across the league and gauge their value.
Hoops Rumors will examine several players who are a part of the 2015 free agent class. Our Free Agent Stock Watch pieces will explore what a player brings to a club, what sort of earnings he can expect on his next contract, teams that could be in the market for the player, and where the player might want to end up, along with any other relevant factors.
We’ll be profiling many of the players set for free agency in the next couple of months, and we’ve already begun. We’ll be maintaining the list below as we continue this series, and you can find them in alphabetical order by last name. Potential restricted free agents will have an (R) by their names. A link to this list will stationed on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features.” You can also find these pieces under our Free Agent Stock Watch tag, and you can set up an RSS feed if you enter this URL into the reader of your choice: hoopsrumors.com/free-agent-stock-watch/feed
Pat Riley On LeBron, Dragic, Wade, Draft
Heat team president Pat Riley said today that he’s “at peace with” the choice LeBron James made last summer to return to Cleveland, and he indicated that everyone else in the organization had moved on, too, as Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald transcribes (Twitter links). That didn’t appear to be the case when Riley, in response to a question about the draft, said there would be “no more smiling faces with hidden agendas, so we’ll be going in clean,” as Goodman also relays from today’s season-ending press conference (Twitter link). That could be interpreted as a jab at James, whose affection for Shabazz Napier was well-known before the Heat drafted him just weeks prior to James’ departure from Miami, but Riley insists his remark could be a reference to “anyone across the board,” Goodman tweets. Regardless, Riley had much more to say about the Heat’s future, and we’ll round up the highlights here:
- Riley underscored the importance of re-signing Goran Dragic, as Herald columnist Barry Jackson relays. “If he doesn’t sign, my [expletive] is going to be in that seat and I’ll be writing about it,” Riley said to the gathered media. Still, Riley is “very confident” that Dragic will be back, Jackson notes.
- Dwyane Wade‘s health been an ongoing issue, but Riley challenged the 33-year-old to be prepared to play more often. Wade said last week that he intends to opt in for next season. “Dwyane has to change the narrative about his body, his injuries, his missing games,” Riley said. “We’ve had a discussion about that. Night in, night out, there’s always a question of whether he can or cannot [play]. I’d like to see him do whatever he has to do to get himself ready to practice and play every single night. He’s got five months. This is not just a Dwyane Wade problem. It’s throughout the league.”
- Riley would like to see the current starters return, Jackson relays in the same piece. That would indicate that the team wants to keep Luol Deng, who’s undecided about his more than $10.15MM player option.
- The Heat president laid out what he’s looking for in the draft, where the Heat have a lottery pick as long as it falls in the top 10, and the 40th pick, saying that he wants “developed players, experienced players,” Jackson notes. “While we felt we might have had enough on the perimeter, that might be an area where we look,” Riley said. “I don’t want a one-dimensional guy. [I want] guys that can [shoot], guys that are playmakers, guys that can defend. We will take the best player that’s available.”
- Riley believes the Heat will return to title contention next year, Goodman tweets, and he expressed bitter disappointment about falling short of the postseason this time around, as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel notes (on Twitter). “There is not a person in the organization that doesn’t think we should have made the playoffs,” Riley said.
Lou Williams Wins Sixth Man Of The Year
11:41am: The NBA has released the ballot of each of media member who voted, in keeping with a transparency practice that began last year.
11:14am: Soon-to-be free agent Lou Williams has won this year’s Sixth Man of the Year award, the league announced via press release and on Twitter. Isaiah Thomas, whom the Suns signed to a four-year deal last summer and dealt at the deadline to the Celtics, finished second, with last year’s winner, Clippers guard Jamal Crawford, coming in third.
Williams finally looked back to his normal self this season for the first time since tearing his right ACL in January 2013. He was a strong fit for the Raptors despite the presence of fellow guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, affirming GM Masai Ujiri‘s decision to absorb Williams’ salary in a swap with the Hawks just before the 2013/14 season officially ended last June. The 28-year-old Williams, who made $5.45MM this year, averaged a career-high 15.5 points in just 25.2 minutes per game.
Williams, a Leon Rose client, will look to further boost his stock in the postseason. He’s expressed a preference to return to Toronto, and the team will have his Bird rights. He won the award by a fairly wide margin, garnering 78 first-place votes to 33 for Thomas and topping Thomas 502-324 in total points. Media members cast the ballots, and the NBA assigned five points for each first place vote, three for a second-place vote and one for a third-place vote. Crawford, Andre Iguodala, Nikola Mirotic, Marreese Speights, Corey Brewer and Taj Gibson were the others who drew first-place votes.
Central Notes: Scola, Stuckey, Jackson, Prince
Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star looks at each of the soon-to-be free agents on the Pacers, pegging Rodney Stuckey and Lavoy Allen as the most likely among them to return, C.J. Watson and Chris Copeland as unlikely to be back, and Luis Scola and Donald Sloan somewhere in between. President of basketball operations Larry Bird said they’d all like to be back, but Scola, while praising the Pacers organization, doesn’t seem quite ready to commit, as Buckner relays.
“We’ll see what happens. We didn’t have our exit meeting yet. I’m hoping to get some type of feedback there and some type of impression of what they want to do in the future and move on from there,” Scola said last week.
Buckner suggests Stuckey, who drew praise from Bird, wants a multiyear deal with his wedding planned for mid-July. While we wait to see if the Pacers have something picked out for him on his registry, here’s more from around the Central:
- Greg Monroe isn’t ruling out a return to the Pistons, but Reggie Jackson has spoken of communicating with other Pistons over the summer so everyone stays motivated for next season, notes MLive’s David Mayo, pointing to the dichotomy between Detroit’s two main soon-to-be free agents. As for other free agents on the team, the Pistons are unlikely to offer Tayshaun Prince a chance to return, and John Lucas III probably won’t be back with the team next year, Mayo writes.
- Several NBA executives say that they expect Khris Middleton to wind up signing a deal with $8MM annual salaries this summer, reports Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times. That figure is somewhat lower than the $10MM estimate that Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops heard from several GMs and other executives recently. Woelfel points to numbers that don’t suggest much improvement from Middleton this season, though he grants that the Bucks combo forward’s value could escalate with a strong playoff performance.
- Former Bucks center Larry Sanders still doesn’t have a desire to return to the game, Woelfel notes within the same piece.
Teammates Worry LaMarcus Aldridge Will Leave
A Blazers teammate of LaMarcus Aldridge who spoke with The Oregonian’s Jason Quick earlier this month said that he thinks the chances that Aldridge will leave Portland in free agency this summer are just as strong as the chances he’ll re-sign. That’s reflective of the worry that some Blazers have expressed to Quick about the All-Star power forward’s willingness to remain with the team. Still, Quick cautions that Aldridge has grown comfortable in Portland and feels as though the Blazers value him. Aldridge said nearly a year ago that he would re-sign and repeated that before the season.
Aldridge didn’t always sense the Blazers organization was behind him, and he reflected upon that in a recent interview with Michael Lee of The Washington Post, one in which the former No. 2 overall pick wondered if the Blazers would find it easy to move on from him. Quick, who uses the words “fickle,” “moody” and “unpredictable” to describe Aldridge, nonetheless believes the 29-year-old will re-sign. That was the belief of most executives around the league at the All-Star break, even though one executive at that point told Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that the Blazers were “very, very scared” that Aldridge would leave. The exec suggested that it was paranoia of the Blazers’ part, however. Aldridge hasn’t discussed his free agency much since he said again before the season that he would re-sign with the Blazers, though he spoke about his comfort with the Blazers and Portland in December. During the All-Star break, he said that he’d be a fit for the triangle offense and praised Knicks team president Phil Jackson in response to questions from the New York media during the All-Star break.
Portland can give Aldridge a fifth year and 7.5% raises on his next deal, while other teams are limited to four years and 4.5% raises. A teammate of Aldridge’s nonetheless suggested to Quick that money won’t be the primary deciding factor. Aldridge, No. 4 in our latest Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings, is a native of Seagoville, Texas, which is close to Dallas, and the Mavs reportedly plan to pursue him. There’s been off-hand chatter among executives about the Spurs and Aldridge, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe documented in January.
Jakob Poeltl Decides Against Entering Draft
8:15am: Poeltl confirmed that he’s staying out of this year’s draft in an announcement released through the school (hat tip to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com).
7:58am: Projected lottery pick Jakob Poeltl has decided not to enter this year’s draft, report Kyle Goon and Matthew Piper of The Salt Lake Tribune. The freshman center from the University of Utah is the No. 11 prospect in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings, and Chad Ford of ESPN.com has him 14th. Poeltl is so far the most highly regarded prospect for this year’s draft to opt against entering, though he’ll have until Sunday to enter if he changes his mind.
The Austrian-born 19-year-old impressed defensively against top-two prospect Jahlil Okafor in the NCAA Tournament, holding the Duke big man to just six points on 3-of-6 shooting, even though Poeltl’s Utes lost to the eventual national champion Blue Devils. Poeltl didn’t put up strong numbers offensively, averaging just 9.1 points in 23.3 minutes per game and shooting just 44.4% from the free-throw line this season. The 7-footer could stand to refine his game some more in college, as Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors wrote in our latest Hoops Rumors Draft Prospect Power Rankings, advocating for Poeltl to stay in school as he’s apparently decided to do.
This year’s draft is top-heavy with big men, so it would seem Poeltl stands a better chance of being selected more highly next year. There aren’t many centers projected to go in the back half of the first round this year, so teams that have needs on the interior and a mid first-round pick are probably disappointed.