Western Notes: Afflalo, McAdoo, Abrines
An MRI performed on Trail Blazers guard Arron Afflalo confirmed that he has suffered a right shoulder strain, the team announced. Afflalo is expected to be out of action for one to two weeks, and if that timetable holds, the injury will likely cause the guard to miss Portland’s opening round playoff series. With the team already without Wesley Matthews, who is out for the season with a torn left Achilles, losing Afflalo puts a major dent in the team’s postseason hopes. In 25 games for the Blazers since being acquired from Denver the 29-year-old has averaged 10.6 points and 2.7 rebounds in 30.1 minutes per contest.
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- The Warriors have assigned James Michael McAdoo to the Santa Cruz Warriors, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. McAdoo has appeared in 33 games for Santa Cruz this season, averaging 19.5 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 32.8 minutes per contest.
- Alex Abrines, a draft-and-stash prospect for the Thunder, in an interview with Gigantes.com (translation by HoopsHype.com) said that he isn’t ready to make the jump to the NBA just yet. The 21-year-old swingman was the No. 32 overall selection in the 2013 NBA draft, and he is under contract with Barcelona through 2016.
- Timberwolves‘ rookies Zach LaVine and Andrew Wiggins have learned much about what it takes to make it through the rigors of an NBA season, and the pair hope to take the momentum that they have gained into the summer to continue their development as players, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune writes.
Central Notes: George, Mohammed, Pistons
Paul George is looking at the remaining games on the Pacers‘ schedule as a “test drive” to see how well he has recovered from the devastating leg injury he suffered last summer while scrimmaging for Team USA, Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com writes. “That’s exactly what it is [a test drive], it’s just seeing where I’m at and then getting ready for more rehab this summer and getting ready to build off these last couple of games of the season,” George said. “It’s been tough. There were days when I told myself I wanted to shut it down and get ready for the summer. But it’s great having the staff that we have here to push me here and keep my going. I’ve had days when I’m sure they hated me. And I hated them. But we got through it and they did a great job with being in my corner.”
Here’s more out of the Central Division:
- Veteran big man Nazr Mohammed has been making his presence felt on the Bulls with his vocal leadership, Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com writes. Mohammed’s spark and guidance was integral in snapping Chicago out of its stupor after a terrible second quarter against the Heat last night when the Bulls were outscored 33-12, Friedell adds. “I think you got to be accountable and you got to play for each other,” guard Aaron Brooks said. “I think one thing that Naz brought up was you’re letting your teammate down when you’re not getting back or you’re not helping. You’re not letting the coach, you’re not letting the fans. You’re letting your teammate down, and you got to have your brother’s back.” The center is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the season.
- The Pistons are likely to target a forward in the first round of this year’s NBA draft, David Mayo of MLive.com opines in his weekly mailbag. Detroit currently is in line for the No. 8 pick, according to Hoops Rumors’ reverse standings. Potential targets at that spot for the team could include Justise Winslow, Stanley Johnson, and Frank Kaminsky, Mayo notes.
- Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy hopes to go to Spain after the NBA season ends to get a first-hand look at guard Mario Hezonja and power forward Kristaps Prozingis, both of whom are projected top 10 picks this year, Mayo adds.
2015/16 Salary Commitments: Raptors
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 Raptors’ cap outlook for 2015/16…
Here are the players with guaranteed contracts:
- Bruno Caboclo — $1,524,000
- DeMar DeRozan — $10.1MM
- James Johnson — $2.5MM
- Kyle Lowry — $12MM
- Lucas Nogueira — $1,842,000
- Patrick Patterson — $6,268,675
- Terrence Ross — $3,553,917
- Jonas Valanciunas — $4,660,482
- Greivis Vasquez — $6.6MM
Here are the players with non-guaranteed contracts:
- None
Players with options:
- None
The Raptors’ Cap Summary for 2015/16:
- Guaranteed Salary: $49,049,074
- Options/Non-Guaranteed Salary: $0
- Total: $49,049,074
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Atlantic Notes: Smith, Knicks, Fisher
Since arriving in Philadelphia Ish Smith has averaged a career-best 12.4 points and 6.0 assists, but the 26-year-old isn’t sure whether he fits in with the Sixers‘ rebuilding plan yet, Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Daily News writes. When asked if he had found a home with the Sixers, Smith responded, “I don’t know. I don’t ever really think about it. I kind of just play and let the chips fall where they may. For me, it’s getting better every quarter, every minute, figuring out what coach wants, and we’ll see from there this summer. This is a good situation. This is the first time I think I’ve played a lot of minutes. A lot of people ask for opportunities. I’m just glad I’m able to be productive in those minutes.” Smith will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Knicks coach Derek Fisher has endured a nightmarish first season in New York, but he does believe that the franchise can turn things around dramatically next season, Fred Kerber of The New York Post writes. When asked about the possibility of the Knicks going from 15 wins to 63 next season, Fisher said, “I guess that’s possible, but we are not here trying to squeeze in, we are not here trying to go from 15 to 36. That’s just not who we are. So it can turn around quickly. It will turn around quickly. But we don’t really have to put a number on it. We are 6-21 in games [decided] by six points or less this year. So we lost 21 games on two possessions. So we don’t have to go from 15 to 36 next year. We can go from 15 to 63 if we really want to. But that is up to us.”
- Fisher also believes that having to play out the string while out of contention has been a learning experience for him and the team, Kerber adds. “As a coach, there’s so much to learn by watching the postseason: How other teams are playing, the type of things they’re doing at the ends of games, strategy and even listening to the coaches during timeouts, the way they’re addressing their team,” Fisher said. “I’ve even thought about how purposeful it could be to actually be present in person in certain environments, especially for me in the Eastern Conference compared to the West.“
Latest On Clips, Nate Robinson, Lester Hudson
3:11pm: Robinson’s knee, a factor when the Clippers didn’t re-sign him earlier, is better, but it still isn’t 100%, tweets Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times.
FRIDAY, 1:31pm: The team will fill its open roster spot before season’s end, Rivers said, and the move is likely to take place this weekend, according to Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Robinson and Hudson are both in the running to re-sign, Markazi adds (Twitter links).
MONDAY, 3:37pm: The Clippers and Nate Robinson plan to talk this week about a deal that would cover the rest of the season and the playoffs, league sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). The sore left knee that kept the Clippers from inking him right after his second 10-day contract with the team expired last month has healed, Charania hears. The team signed Lester Hudson into its lone open roster spot while Robinson was hurt, but Hudson’s 10-day deal is up after Tuesday.
The decision regarding whether to give that roster spot to Robinson or Hudson for the playoffs has been dependent in part on Hudson’s performance, as Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com suggested, but coach/executive Doc Rivers was complimentary of Robinson. Hudson, who had been out of the NBA since 2012 before he inked his 10-day contract, has seven points on 2 for 8 shooting with two assists and two turnovers in 34 total minutes across three games. Robinson averaged 5.1 points, 2.2 assists and 0.9 turnovers in 14.0 minutes per game during his nine contests with the Clips. Both played for Rivers when he was the coach of the Celtics.
The Clips are in less need of backcourt help now that Jamal Crawford is probable for Tuesday’s game, just a few weeks after Rivers expressed worry that he would be out for the season. Still, it seems likely the club will give the roster spot to someone just in case for the playoffs, since a prorated minimum salary deal for the balance of the season would cost the team less than $50K if it’s signed after Hudson’s 10-day deal expires.
Northwest Notes: Leonard, Batum, Hood
Former lottery pick Meyers Leonard appears to have turned a corner for the Trail Blazers, as Joe Freeman of The Oregonian details. That’s fortunate timing for him, as the client of recently hired agent Aaron Mintz is eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer, though usually such extensions are the domain of budding stars, like Damian Lillard, who also becomes extension-eligible in July. In any case, it’ll be an active summer for the Blazers, with LaMarcus Aldridge headlining several key free agents on the team, which has yet to commit any money for 2016/17, when the salary cap is set to spike. Here’s more on the Blazers and their Northwest Division rivals:
- Nicolas Batum is still friendly with Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, but while Batum sometimes thinks about what might have been if the Blazers hadn’t matched the offer sheet he signed with Minnesota in 2012, he tells Freeman, who writes in a separate piece, that he’s “very happy” in Portland. Then-Wolves coach Rick Adelman, since retired, was the main reason he wanted to play in Minnesota, Batum added. The small forward will be on an expiring contract next season.
- It took a while for Rodney Hood to start to see consistent playing time, but last year’s 23rd overall pick is looking like a steal lately, as Ryan McDonald of The Deseret News writes in a look at the improvement that he and fellow Jazz first-rounder Dante Exum have made over the season. Hood is averaging 14.3 points in 27.0 minutes per game with 39.0% three-point shooting since March 10th.
- Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman offers a peek behind the scenes at the Thunder front office, where a team of GM Sam Presti‘s hand-picked contributors work in a collaborative environment.
Southeast Notes: Harris, Sefolosha, Dragic
Tobias Harris says he and his representatives haven’t spoken about the idea of accepting a qualifying offer worth nearly $4.434MM this summer, as the soon-to-be restricted free agent tells Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. Rumors linking him to the Knicks have been somewhat distracting, Harris also tells Robbins, but the combo forward insists he hasn’t thought much about his free agency and points out that he’s not in control of his next NBA destination, since the Magic can match offers. Just how willing Orlando will be to use its right of first refusal remains to be seen, particularly given the depth around the league at Harris’ primary position of small forward and the presence of fellow combo forward Aaron Gordon on the Magic’s roster, Robbins writes. Here’s more from around the Southeast Division:
- The Hawks and the players union are separately scrutinizing the circumstances surrounding Thabo Sefolosha‘s arrest after he remained in custody for several hours without treatment for the broken fibula he suffered in the incident, reports Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com. The injury has ended the season for the swingman.
- Goran Dragic rated Miami his favorite American city in an interview with Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post. The Heat guard, who plans to hit free agency this summer, ranks non-NBA city San Diego No. 2, followed by New York, San Francisco and Phoenix. Dragic reportedly made the Knicks, Lakers and Heat his favored destinations amid a trade request before the deadline, and Dragic has Los Angeles as an honorable mention on his top cities list.
- A shakeup of Erik Spoelstra‘s Heat coaching staff this coming offseason is a distinct possibility, as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel speculates in his mailbag column.
Latest On Tyus Jones, Draft
Duke freshman point guard Tyus Jones is “proceeding toward plans” to declare for this year’s draft and is setting up meetings with agents, sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM. Jones is No. 21 in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and No. 24 with Chad Ford of ESPN.com. The Minnesota native, who turns 19 next month, told Chip Scoggins of the Star Tribune on Wednesday that he hadn’t made up his mind about leaving school, fresh off his Most Outstanding Player award-winning performance in the Final Four. NBA personnel recently told Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com that Jones’ stock doesn’t stand to climb much higher than it already is, making the case that he should declare this year.
The 6’1″ Jones has averaged 11.8 points in 33.9 minutes per game this season, but he’s been most impressive with his skills as a pure point guard, juxtaposing 5.6 assists against 1.9 turnovers per contest. He’s also displayed a decent outside touch, hitting 37.9% of his three-pointers for the season, though he could stand to work on his perimeter shooting, as Eddie Scarito wrote as he ranked him 20th in the latest Hoops Rumors Draft Prospect Power Rankings.
The Pistons, Pelicans, Sixers, Magic and Rockets have paid particularly close attention to Jones, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities has reported. Jones breaks the mold of recent highly regarded NBA prospects from Duke, almost of whom have played other positions. Fellow point guard Kyrie Irving came from Duke, but he saw action in only 11 games in his lone season as a Blue Devil.
Sam Dekker To Enter Draft
Wisconsin junior small forward Sam Dekker has told Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com that he will enter the draft. Dekker is up to No. 15 in the rankings that Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress compiles and No. 15 with fellow ESPN scribe Chad Ford. No player had helped his draft stock as much during the first two weeks of the NCAA Tournament as Dekker did, Ford wrote at the time.
The 6’9″ 20-year-old’s numbers dropped off a bit in the national semifinals and the championship game, but it was nonetheless clear as Wisconsin made a strong bid for the title that Dekker has plenty of talent. He rose from a player expected to go in the final 10 picks of the first round to the 10-20 range, Goodman tweets. Dekker put up 13.9 points and 5.5 rebounds in 31.0 minutes per game for the season, but he averaged 19.2 PPG for the tournament as he nailed 15 of 26 three-point attempts, much greater than his 33.1% accuracy on three-pointers for the season.
It wouldn’t be altogether shocking for his stock to cool a bit once he goes through workouts and the memory of his tournament run fades, though that’s just my speculation. Still, it’s not as if Dekker’s stock is reaching unprecedented heights, since Givony had him at No. 11 before the season. He was the 19th-best recruit coming out of high school three years ago, according to the Recruiting Services Consensus Index.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Brandon Knight
The Suns have plenty invested in Brandon Knight, having relinquished a potential lottery pick from the Lakers as well as Miles Plumlee and Tyler Ennis, both of whom have shown promise and are on rookie scale contracts. Knight is also on a rookie scale contract, but unlike Plumlee and Ennis, his deal expires this summer, when the Suns figure to have to shell out eight-figure salaries to keep him. Several GMs told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops earlier this spring that they believe Knight is worth $12MM a year. Suns GM Ryan McDonough referred to Knight as the best player in the trade, though it’s unclear if he was merely referring to the Knight trade itself or the series of moves the Suns made on deadline day, when they shipped Goran Dragic to Miami in a separate trade. It’s nonetheless clear that McDonough thinks highly of Knight, a former eighth overall pick, having referred to him as a “23-year-old who is a borderline All-Star in the East.”
McDonough and president of basketball operations Lon Babby will have to go chiefly by what Knight did while he was in the East with the Bucks as they wade through his restricted free agency, since a heel injury has ended the season for Knight after he played only 11 games as a Sun. The point guard took just 4.6 shots per game during that small sample size, a figure that would be a career low if extrapolated over a full season. He looked every bit the part of the budding All-Star that McDonough envisions in a 28-point performance against the Magic, but that was less than a week after a one-point, 0-for-6 clunker against the Spurs.
Knight has struggled over the course of his NBA career to become a true point guard, though he’s expressed a desire to embrace the role. The Suns don’t have to worry too much about that with Eric Bledsoe around. He and Bledsoe fit the mold of the small backcourt that’s marked McDonough’s Suns teams, and Bledsoe’s presence also takes pressure off Knight to improve defensively. Bledsoe is second among point guards in ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus/Minus this season, while Knight languishes at No. 50, well into the minus side of the ledger. Knight has been a minus defender in all four of his NBA seasons, according to Basketball-Reference’s Defensive Box Plus/Minus.
There’s still potential for growth on that end of the floor, since he’s only 23, as McDonough notes. He certainly wouldn’t be the only one-way player making $12MM a year if that’s what he ends up with, and he helps in other areas. He averaged 5.2 rebounds per game this season, the 12th most among any player 6’3″ or shorter who saw at least 500 minutes, as Basketball-Reference shows. Bledsoe is third on that list. Knight also bumped his three-point shooting to a career-high 38.9% this season after last year’s regression to 32.5%, and he was at 40.9% in that category this year before his disjointed 11 games with the Suns. His PER was 18.5 with Milwaukee, and though that shrunk to 17.2 thanks to his brief time playing with Phoenix, it’s still a career high.
The Arn Tellem client has validated his draft position, and while he doesn’t seem the sort who’ll ever be one of the top two players on a contender, he could certainly be the third. Bledsoe’s ceiling is beginning to emerge as a No. 2 on that kind of team. So, the Suns have the groundwork for a contending core, but they lack the superstar piece that’s almost always the hardest to obtain.
A new deal for Knight would essentially put the Suns out of the running to acquire a superstar in free agency this summer, since Phoenix already has about $41MM on the books. It wouldn’t be much of a setback for the franchise if it comes up empty in its star search this summer, since the top five players in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings all seem likely to stay put. It’s the summer of 2016 when the Suns appear positioned to make their move, as they only have about $28MM committed, and even with an eight-figure salary for Knight, they should have no shortage of flexibility with the cap set to catapult to around $90MM. The Valley of the Sun looms as an attractive destination for top free agents as long as the roster infrastructure is there for a superstar to contend immediately upon joining the team, and Knight’s presence helps the Suns toward that roster prerequisite.
Phoenix also has its share of trade assets, with the Heat’s 2021 unprotected first-round pick perhaps the juiciest. The Suns took a step back at the deadline this season, as Babby has acknowledged, with the long term in mind, and that’s why keeping Knight is more or less imperative. There’s been chatter connecting the Lakers to Knight, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see some team with aspirations of contending in the West in the near future pitch an outsized offer sheet to Knight this summer, just to force the Suns to pay a premium. That would carry risk for a team like the Lakers, since it would be difficult for any team to end up paying a defensive minus a salary approaching the max in case Phoenix doesn’t match, but it’s a distinct possibility nonetheless, given the consequences for the Suns if they let Knight walk.
Knight might not be the best player involved in Phoenix’s deadline trades, but he’s the best the Suns have to show from a pivot point in their rebuilding. Phoenix, which still hasn’t made the playoffs since Steve Nash left town, can’t afford to take a step back in both the short and the long term, so expect Knight’s Suns tenure to last a lot longer than 11 games.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.