Month: May 2024

Offseason Outlook: Toronto Raptors

April 30th, 2015 at 1:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

Guaranteed Contracts

Kyle Lowry — $12,000,000
DeMar DeRozan — $10,100,000
Greivis Vasquez — $6,600,000
Patrick Patterson — $6,268,675
Jonas Valanciunas — $4,660,482
Terrence Ross — $3,553,917
James Johnson — $2,500,000
Lucas Nogueira — $1,842,000
Bruno Caboclo — $1,524,000

Non-Guaranteed Contracts

None

Options

None

Restricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

None

Unrestricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

Amir Johnson ($10,500,000)
Landry Fields ($9,375,000)
Chuck Hayes ($8,938,125)
Lou Williams ($8,175,000)
Tyler Hansbrough ($4,324,106)
(Nando De Colo $1,901,900)¹
No. 20 pick ($1,257,800)
Greg Stiemsma ($947,276)
(Mickael Pietrus $947,276)¹

Draft Picks

1st Round (20th overall)

Cap Outlook

Guaranteed Salary: $49,049,074
Non-Guaranteed Salary: $0
Options: $0
Cap Holds: $46,366,483
Total: $95,415,557

The charmed run had to come to an end at some point. Toronto had been on a wild ride that began with the Rudy Gay trade in December 2013, one that transformed a lottery-bound team on the verge of a teardown into the third seed in the Eastern Conference. A disappointing seven-game playoff loss aside, the team picked up where it left off and sprinted to a 24-7 start, much of it without an injured DeMar DeRozan. The slide began shortly before DeRozan returned, and he and the rest of the Raptors stumbled to a 25-26 finish and a profoundly disappointing first-round sweep at the hands of the Wizards in the first round of the playoffs. All of it has raised uncertainty about whether coach Dwane Casey, just a year into a new three-year deal, will return next season. It would make little sense for the Raptors to cut ties with the coach at this point, as multiple Raptors beat writers have opined, but the team’s defensive shortcomings speak ill of the coach who’s done his best work on that end of the court.

GM Masai Ujiri hasn’t made any promises about Casey yet, but he said this week that he’ll avoid knee-jerk reactions to the way the team played after its strong start. That means Ujiri probably won’t revert to the drastic rebuilding plans that he was considering before the team blossomed after the Gay trade last year. The All-Star backcourt of DeRozan and Kyle Lowry thus figures to remain intact, barring the unforeseen opportunity to trade one or both of them for players of greater value. Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears that those two and Jonas Valanciunas are the only Raptors who should feel confident in their staying power, though that doesn’t necessarily signal an overhaul. Few others on the roster would pass for certifiable core pieces, and the Raptors knew Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams was set for free agency this summer when they made what appears to have been a sweetheart deal with Atlanta to acquire him last June.

Perhaps the most startling name left out of Stein’s trio is Terrence Ross, the former No. 8 overall pick who regressed this past season. His points per game, three-point percentage, PER and Basketball-Reference Defensive Box Plus/Minus numbers were all down. Still, Ujiri defended Ross this week in the same breath in which he said there would be no knee-jerk reactions, as Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun relays. The central question at play may well center on whether the team will seek to sign Ross to a rookie scale extension this summer rather than on whether the team will look to trade him. Sending him away this offseason would be selling low on a top-10 pick from just three years ago. The Raptors reportedly listened to offers for Ross before the trade deadline and considered trading him, though it didn’t appear as though they aggressively sought any deal involving him. Ujiri said shortly before the deadline that it was too early to give up on the swingman and that he’d be “shocked” if he traded him. That sentiment might not be as strong as it used to be, but it would appear Ross will stick on the roster while the October 31st deadline to reach a rookie scale extension draws nearer during the offseason.

A troubling consequence of Ross’ poor play this past season is that it would have been a lot easier for the team to draw a hard line in negotiations with Williams if Ross had continued to improve instead. The Raptors are nonetheless replete with perimeter players who are more than capable, from Lowry and DeRozan to Greivis Vasquez, each of whom plays at least one of the two guard positions that Williams is suited for. Toronto, even without the comfort of knowing that Ross is on the right path, has no shortage of guards or offensive threats, and Williams probably wouldn’t help the team shore up its defense. It’s difficult even in light of his award to envision the Raptors bringing back the Leon Rose client unless he agrees to a discount. The Raptors simply have little call for another highly paid player in the backcourt. Toronto should be expected to look into signing Toronto native Cory Joseph, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun, but he won’t command the sort of double-digit salary Williams presumably will.

It will be nonetheless tricky to move on from Williams, since Rose also represents Valanciunas, who’s up for a rookie scale extension in the offseason. It’s quite conceivable the Raptors will make an offer that’s fair but not too competitive to retain Williams or agree to participate in a sign-and-trade if that would be necessary for Williams to go to another team of his choice. Ultimately, the team would be better off spending the money they might commit to Williams to instead address power forward, where Amir Johnson is about to become a free agent and neither he nor Patrick Patterson has distinguished himself as a bona fide starter. It was no surprise to see the team chase David West before the trade deadline, and should he decline his $12.6MM player option for next season, Toronto would probably go after him again, though that’s just my speculation. The Raptors would be able to afford a deal that gives West a salary commensurate with the value of that option, since they have only about $49MM in guaranteed salary out to nine players against a projected $67.1MM cap. He’d fit the mold of the strong defender the team lacks, though he turns 35 this summer and his offensive production has declined.

Stars like Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Monroe are probably out of reach, but that might not be the case for the understated Paul Millsap. Ujiri has pledged a pursuit of Canadians, so Toronto native Tristan Thompson makes sense, though the Cavs can match any offers for him as a restricted free agent and the questions surrounding Love seemingly make it more likely Cleveland keeps Thompson around. DeMarre Carroll looms as an intriguing option if Ujiri is on board with a combo forward type.

The team appears set going into next season at its other interior position, as Ujiri was effusive in his support for Valanciunas as his extension eligibility looms. The former No. 5 overall pick hasn’t played up to his draft position yet, though he turns only 23 next week. Starting centers with potential get paid handsomely in the NBA, though Ujiri might still feel the burn from the four-year, $44MM deal he signed with JaVale McGee when the GM was with Denver. That contract came not long after Ujiri and the Nuggets signed Nene to a five-year, $65MM deal and traded him just a few months later to the Wizards in a deal that netted McGee, so the GM has shown a willingness to quickly pivot from such long-term arrangements. Committing to Valanciunas will nonetheless have consequences, especially if Rose asks for salaries like McGee’s or an extension similar to the incentive-laden four-year, $48MM extension the Magic gave Nikola Vucevic this past fall. Valanciunas hasn’t produced to the level that Vucevic had prior to his deal, so the Raptors would probably hold the line against $12MM salaries and seek numbers around $10MM, though that’s just my estimation.

It all adds up to a healthy stack of decisions facing Ujiri, the former Executive of the Year, who’ll have to take the Raptors farther than he took the Nuggets to earn consideration for the honor again. The way this season ended proved Toronto isn’t a contender to win the Eastern Conference, much less the title, but though the team doesn’t seem close to acquiring the star usually required to rise to that level, there are apparent paths to improvement. It’s up to Ujiri to take them.

Cap Footnotes

1 — See our glossary entry on cap holds for an explanation why these players listed in parentheses technically remain on the books.

The Basketball Insiders Salary Pages were used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Thunder Hire Billy Donovan

April 30th, 2015 at 1:33pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:33pm: The Thunder have hired Donovan, the team announced.

1:30pm: Donovan has resigned from his job at Florida, the school announced, and the statement says he’s doing so to take the Thunder job (hat tip to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com).

12:17pm: League sources tell Wojnarowski that the Thunder have hired Donovan and that’s he’s signing a five-year deal (Twitter links), though the team has yet to make a formal announcement.

11:58am: It’s a “done deal,” a source tells Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated (Twitter link), which jibes with Wojnarowski and Ford’s report.

11:45am: The sides are continuing to work on contract terms, a source tells Zillgitt.

11:01am: University of Florida coach Billy Donovan will sign a multiyear deal to become coach of the Thunder, and the sides are presently finalizing the deal, report Adrian Wojnarowski and Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports. The news has been expected, as the sides were nearing an agreement late Wednesday, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported. Wojnarowski and Forde reported earlier Wednesday that the team was pushing Donovan to take the job and that the coach was enthusiastic about the idea as long as they could agree on terms. The Yahoo! scribes suggested at that point that Donovan was seeking salaries of about $6MM a year from the Thunder, though it’s unclear if the team agreed to shell out that sort of money.

Donovan is set to inherit a roster primed to contend for the title next season after Oklahoma missed the playoffs amid an injury-riddled 2014/15. Thunder GM Sam Presti hadn’t consulted with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook or Serge Ibaka as he negotiated with Donovan, as Wojnarowski wrote Wednesday. Still, he and Ford heard that Durant had formed a positive opinion of the coach after speaking with one of Donovan’s former players who’s now in the NBA. Durant’s opinion looms large, as he’s set to become a free agent after next season, so Donovan will enter the job facing enormous pressure.

The Thunder quickly zeroed in on Donovan after Connecticut’s Kevin Ollie, reportedly the team’s No. 1 target, called Presti to tell him he wouldn’t take the job. Spurs assistant Ettore Messina was also reportedly a candidate, though Donovan was the front-runner once Ollie pulled out, which happened at about the same time the team fired former coach Scott Brooks. Presti and Donovan have long been friends, and Presti previously hired two members of Donovan’s staff to work within the Thunder organization.

Donovan, who turns 50 next month, has spent the past 19 years at Florida and won two national championships, mentoring several players who went on to success in the NBA, including four who earned at least $12MM this season. A feeling that Donovan was ready to jump at the right opportunity to coach an NBA team was growing around the league this spring, as Stein reported then, adding Wednesday that the power and comfort that staying at Florida would entail loomed as the largest hurdle to an NBA jump. Donovan has been making more than $4MM a year at Florida, but there’s no buyout necessary for him to escape his contract with the school, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.

The coach temporarily left the school in 2007, shortly after winning his second national title, to coach the Magic, but reneged on the deal and returned to Florida, which imposed a five-year moratorium on his pursuit of any NBA jobs. That’s long since expired, and had lapsed prior to last year, when Donovan rejected what Stein described as serious interest from the Cavaliers and the Timberwolves. The Nuggets and Magic planned to pursue Donovan this year, Stein reported in early April, but neither seemed to come after him with the conviction that the Thunder did.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Northwest Notes: Blazers, Thibodeau, Donovan

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

The questions that face the Blazers after a disappointing stretch run that threatens to shake the foundation of the roster are as profound as any the team has faced in the last 15 years, The Oregonian’s Jason Quick argues. The emergence of C.J. McCollum and Meyers Leonard, the disappointing play of Nicolas Batum and Robin Lopez, and the rumors surrounding LaMarcus Aldridge‘s willingness to keep playing in Portland provide challenge and opportunity for GM Neil Olshey, Quick contends. Still, few options other than returning to the Blazers would give Aldridge the chance to play a lead role on a true contender, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller opines. Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:

Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post doesn’t envision Tom Thibodeau emerging as the top candidate for the Nuggets job given the conflict of his defense-first philosophy and Denver’s desire for a fast-paced game, as Dempsey writes in a mailbag column.
The decision to leave Florida for the Thunder that Billy Donovan reportedly made should have been an easy one, as Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel argues. He’ll have an “exponentially better chance” at a title in Oklahoma City than he would with the Gators the next two years, and if he fails and the Thunder fire him, he’d have his pick of top college jobs, Thamel believes.
The numbers suggest that Donovan was no better down the stretch in close games at Florida than the oft-criticized Scott Brooks was for the Thunder, The Oklahoman’s Jenni Carlson writes.

Celtics Rumors: Free Agency, Jerebko, Crowder

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

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge seeks a talent upgrade this summer and, to no one’s surprise, pledged today to try for a marquee acquisition, MassLive’s Jay King notes (on Twitter). Still, King hears that that the C’s are prepared to chase second-tier free agents if they miss out on stars, and league sources told King that the Celtics are ready to offer a contract that would make it seem like they were overpaying one of those Plan B free agents. The idea is that Boston would do so with someone who it felt would improve enough to justify the hefty salaries and that those paydays wouldn’t seem as large in the context of the surging cap in the next few years, as King explains. There’s more from King amid the latest from Boston:

Reggie Jackson and Enes Kanter are second-tier free agents the Celtics are unlikely to pursue, King writes in the same piece. They fear that Kanter believes he’s more valuable than he is and that such thinking would disrupt the team concept, according to King.
Soon-to-be free agent Jonas Jerebko drew raves today from Ainge, who jokingly called him “the Swedish Larry Bird,” and Ainge dropped hints that he’d like to re-sign the forward, as King observes (Twitter links). “I think I would sign off on the ‘sign the Swede’ hashtag. … But it all depends,” Ainge said.
Ainge confirmed the team will indeed extend the qualifying offer of little more than $1.181MM necessary to match competing offers for Jae Crowder in free agency this summer, notes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). Ainge strongly signaled last week that he’d like to re-sign the swingman acquired in the Rajon Rondo trade.
Ainge again challenged Jared Sullinger to improve his conditioning, as Globe scribe Adam Himmelsbach relays. Sullinger is up for a rookie scale extension this year. “I think he’s hurting the longevity of his career and his play now by not being in as good shape as he can be in,” Ainge said.

Hoops Rumors Glossary: Early Bird Rights

April 30th, 2015 at 9:31am CST by Chuck Myron

Bird rights offer teams the chance to sign their own free agents without regard to the salary cap, but they don’t apply to every player. Still, there are other salary cap exceptions available for teams to keep players who don’t qualify for Bird rights. One such exception is the Early Bird, available for players formally known as Early Qualifying Veteran Free Agents.

The Bird exception is for players who’ve spent three seasons with one club without changing teams as a free agent, but Early Bird rights are earned after just two such seasons. Virtually all of the same rules that apply to Bird rights apply to Early Bird rights, with the requirements condensed to two years rather than three. Players still see their Bird clocks restart by changing teams via free agency, being claimed in an expansion draft, or having their rights renounced.

The crucial difference between Bird rights and Early Bird rights involves the limits on contract offers. Bird players can receive maximum-salary deals for up to five years, while the most a team can offer an Early Bird free agent is 175% of his previous salary or 104.5% of the league-average salary in the previous season, whichever is greater. These offers are also capped at four years rather than five, and the new contracts must run for at least two years.

Another distinction between Bird rights and Early Bird rights applies to waivers. Players who are claimed off waivers retain their Early Bird rights, just as they would if they were traded. Those who had Bird rights instead see those reduced to Early Bird rights if they’re claimed off waivers. This rule stems from a 2012 settlement between the league and the union in which J.J. Hickson was given a special exception and retained his full Bird rights for the summer of 2012 even though he’d been claimed off waivers that March.

Teams can benefit from having Early Bird rights instead of full Bird rights when they’re trying to preserve cap space. The cap hold for an Early Bird player is 130% of his previous salary, significantly less than most Bird players, who take up either 150% or 190% of their previous salaries.

One example of a player who will have Early Bird rights this summer is DeMarre Carroll of the Hawks. Carroll is coming off the second season of a two-year deal with Atlanta after having finished the season before with Utah. The Hawks can use the Early Bird exception this summer to re-sign him, and it’s likely that this season’s average salary, which will probably come close to $6MM based on the average salary in the past few years, will exceed 175% of his salary of a little more than $2.442MM from this year. The Hawks will have to weigh retaining his Early Bird rights against the chance to renounce them if they open up cap space this summer, since they have only about $39MM in guaranteed salary against a projected $67.1MM cap for next season.

A special wrinkle involving Early Bird rights, called the Gilbert Arenas Provision, applies to players who’ve only been in the league for one or two years. We covered the Gilbert Arenas Provision in another glossary entry.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Earlier versions of this post appeared on April 19th, 2012, April 24th, 2013 and June 3rd, 2014.

Magic Sign Rob Hennigan To Extension

April 30th, 2015 at 9:05am CST by Chuck Myron

The Magic have signed GM Rob Hennigan to an extension that carries through the 2017/18 season, the Magic announced. Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reported earlier this morning that the sides were close (Twitter link). The news is no surprise, as Robbins reported a month ago that the team would seek an extension, and two weeks ago the Sentinel scribe relayed that all signs pointed to the sides striking a deal soon. Magic CEO Alex Martins stopped short of confirming that report, but he did make it clear that he’s pleased with the job that Hennigan has done since the team hired him in 2012. The previous terms of the GM’s contract took the pact through 2015/16, and Martins was wary of having such a key executive on an expiring deal, as Robbins detailed in his initial story on the team’s desire for an extension.

“Under the leadership of Rob, we feel that we are positioning ourselves to be able to contend in a long-term, sustainable fashion,” Martins said in the team’s statement. “We are proud of the work that Rob and our basketball operations department has done to this point and we look forward to taking the next steps in the process.

The feeling around the league earlier this month was that the Magic’s intention to extend Hennigan’s deal was a clear signal to candidates for the team’s coaching vacancy that they wouldn’t get personnel control, as Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher said. The Magic picked up team options for 2015/16 on Hennigan and former coach Jacque Vaughn last spring but fired Vaughn in February, forcing the coach and not the GM to face the ultimate consequences for the team’s failure to show significant improvement over the past three seasons. The team hired both Hennigan and Vaughn in the 2012 offseason and has gone 68-178 since, topping out at just 25 wins this past season.

Hennigan made what’s likely the most significant move of his tenure shortly after taking the job, when he traded Dwight Howard to the Lakers in August 2012 for a package that included three first-round picks and Nikola Vucevic, who blossomed in Orlando. The Magic and Hennigan signed Vucevic to a four-year, $48MM extension that includes incentives, and though Vucevic hasn’t matched the production of Howard, particularly defensively, he has nonetheless become more than a capable starting center. Hennigan also received Arron Afflalo in that trade, flipping him after he led the team in scoring last season for the much cheaper Evan Fournier, who’s performed a lot better in Orlando than he did in Denver.

The Magic now seek an experienced coach to pair with Hennigan and face key decisions in the offseason. Forward Tobias Harris, the jewel of the 2013 J.J. Redick trade, is set to become a restricted free agent, and Orlando is in line for another high lottery pick, with a better chance of drafting sixth than in any other spot in the first-round order, as our lottery odds table shows.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Q&A With NBA Draft Prospect Richaun Holmes

April 29th, 2015 at 11:45pm CST by Zachary Links

Throughout the spring and summer, Hoops Rumors will be talking with some of the most intriguing prospects in the 2015 NBA Draft. The Hoops Rumors Draft Prospect Q&A series begins with Bowling Green product Richaun Holmes, whom Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranks No. 45 in this year’s class and Chad Ford of ESPN.com rates 59th.

Standing at 6’10”, Holmes is a lengthy forward with athleticism that translates to both sides of the floor. With a wingspan of 7’1.5″, the 21-year-old can disrupt passing lanes and protect the paint on defense. Offensively, Holmes has worked hard to improve his game, transforming from a fairly one-dimensional low-post threat to a legitimately strong shooter. Holmes can score with his back to the basket, from 15 feet out, and by driving to the hoop, and that could prove troublesome for defenders at the next level.

Holmes, a client of Keith Kreiter at Edge Sports International, took some time out of his schedule on Tuesday to chat with Hoops Rumors about his skill set, his basketball journey up to this point, and more.

Zach Links: Scouts are enamored with your athleticism, but you’ve also developed into a very solid shooter over the last couple of years. What do you attribute that to?

Richaun Holmes: Just putting the time in. A lot of the time I wasn’t shooting the ball well or consistently, I wasn’t doing it the same way every time and I was just putting up a lot of shots. I knew that I wanted to develop a solid outside shot because I was being left open at the top of the key so often. So, I put the time in and made my shot better.

ZL: What did you change in your form?

RH: My elbow was the main thing that my coaches worked on with me. It was kind of loose and they taught me to keep it tucked in. Once I started doing that, my shots were staying on line.

ZL: You’ve shown that you can score in the post, by driving to the basket or by spotting up from further out. Which facet of your offensive game are you most comfortable with?

RH: I’m definitely most comfortable around the basket just because that’s the most natural thing I did in basketball. Scoring around the basket, getting boards around the rim, that’s what I’ve always done. That’s my domain.

ZL: If you had to write your own scouting report, what NBA player(s) would you compare yourself to?

RH: I think the main guy is Serge Ibaka because of how he affects the game defensively. Obviously, he blocks a ton of shots, and on the offensive end he’s extremely active there finishing around the rim. Now, he’s developed a very good mid-range jumper like I have, so that’s a guy I look up to as I go through this process.

ZL: In a limited sample size, you’ve done pretty well from beyond the arc, too, making 18 of 43 shots this season. Do you feel comfortable shooting from deep now?

RH: I feel like I’m more of a mid-range guy, but I feel like I can space the floor and make three point shots. I definitely have that in my game.

ZL: Are you looking to bulk up between now and the fall? In terms of size and conditioning, what are your goals as you get ready to make the jump to the NBA?

RH: I’m in the weight room just trying to get stronger and ready to compete against those guys. I can’t really put a number on [how many pounds] I want to be, I just want to be strong enough to compete at the highest level. I’ve been talking to a nutritionist, trying to put the best things in my body to keep myself going, [and] doing different weightlifting programs to get more strength and explosiveness.

ZL: You have the size and strength defensively to guard big men, but I imagine that scouts also see you as a guy that can guard on the perimeter thanks to your athleticism and wingspan (7‘1.5“ wingspan, 6’10” height). Do you feel comfortable defending against guards and smaller guys when necessary?

RH: I have the confidence to do that when my team needs me to. I’ve been assigned to a smaller guy at times because I can move pretty well and sometimes they have me switch from 1-5 all over the court. Also in pick and rolls, there are times where you have to switch assignments and I’m comfortable with doing that.

ZL: You took an unusual path to Bowling Green as you first began your collegiate career at Moraine Valley Community College in Illinois. What led you to go that route rather than a four-year program right out of high school?

RH: When I got out of high school my dream was to play [NCAA] Division I basketball but I was a late bloomer in high school. When I first came out, I didn’t have any D-I offers really. I had a lot of D-IIs and D-IIIs interested, but i wanted to play D-I so I went to MVCC and the coach there at the time told me that if I worked hard and if I played for him, he’d get me to a D-I college. I trusted him and he came through; that’s how i ended up at Bowling Green.

ZL: Did you think it would be easier to transfer from a community college rather than a D-II or a D-III school?

RH: I knew if you transferred from a community college you could play right away at a D-I and I wasn’t sure how it worked at a D-II or a D-III, so I went to community college to be sure.

ZL: When did you take that major leap forward in high school?

RH: I didn’t step into a leadership or starting role until my senior year. I really didn’t play much in my junior year.

ZL: What led you to break out?

RH: I went from 6’4″ to 6’6″ in my senior year and I just kept working as hard as I could. Then, I kept growing after high school. I measured in at 6’7″ and 3/4 inches in my sophomore year of college and now I’m 6’10”.

ZL: When did you first realize that you had an excellent chance of making it to the NBA? After playing less than 20 minutes per night in your first year at Bowling Green, did you see yourself eventually going pro?

RH: In my junior year I would talk to the coaching staff at that time with [head] coach Louis Orr and he told me that the sky was the limit, that I could play in the pros somewhere if I worked hard enough. I think towards the end of this year the NBA started to become a more realistic possibility for me.

ZL: What specific areas of your game do you feel like you need to improve upon?

RH: I would say for one, ball handling. I just want to be able to create for me and my teammates. I also want to keep developing that solid mid-range jumper because it’s so important in the NBA now for a 4 to stretch the floor and make his shots.

ZL: Have you gotten an indication of where you might go in the draft?

RH: I’m not sure. I talk to my agent, Keith Kreiter, a lot and he tells me I’m a mid-second round guy right now with a chance to get to the first round, so I’m working hard to improve my stock every day.

ZL: What led you to choose Keith Kreiter and the team at Edge Sports International to represent you?

RH: When we sat down with him — we being me, my family, and my brothers — we all just got a really good vibe from him. He was sincere and I knew he was gonna work hard for me and he really cared about me as a person, not just as a commodity. He’s been doing this for a long time and all of those elements for me made this a good decision.

ZL: Have interested teams started reaching out to you?

RH: They’ve talked to Keith and had conversations with him. They know who I am and they want to know even more about me, so that’s exciting.

ZL: What are you up to now?

RH: I’m still down at Bowling Green in school, finishing up. I work out during the week and I train back home in Chicago on the weekends, training there and working around the clock. I’ve got a pretty full slate right now with 12 credit hours, but finals week is next week so I’m almost done.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

And-Ones: Thunder, Warriors, Bargnani

April 29th, 2015 at 10:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Thunder will be over the league’s luxury tax line this season for the first time in team history, and will likely do so again next season if the team wishes to retain restricted free agent Enes Kanter, Tom Moore of Calkins Media writes. If OKC decides it wants to avoid the extra cost associated with paying the luxury tax, the Sixers could end up being the beneficiaries, Moore opines. Philadelphia will have enough cap room to add three OKC players who have fallen out of the team’s rotation — forwards Steve Novak and Perry Jones III, and guard Jeremy Lamb, which would in turn lower OKC’s 2015/16 payroll by approximately $8.82MM, though it would likely cost GM Sam Presti the team’s 2015 first-rounder to get the Sixers to bite on such a trade, Moore adds.

Here’s more from around the league:

Stiff opposition has arisen against the Warriors‘ plan to construct a new arena in San Francisco’s Mission Bay area, Phil Matier and Andy Ross of The San Francisco Chronicle write. “This arena is going to essentially ruin decades of good work and planning in Mission Bay and make it impossible for people to access the hospital there,” said public relations expert Sam Singer, who has been hired by the group opposing the project, the scribes relay. This opposition comes just a month before the final environmental impact report for the proposed arena is due to be released, which could suggest that the effort is largely aimed at trying to force the team to scale back its ambitious plan for developing 12 acres next to the University of California, San Francisco, the Chronicle duo adds.
Knicks unrestricted free agent Andrea Bargnani spoke with La Gazzetta dello Sport about his future (translation by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando), and indicated he intends to remain in the NBA next season, and favors a return to New York. “I am happy with the Knicks. I love the city and the organization. There is an important project here,” Bargnani told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I will consider all the offers I receive from July. I want to remain in the NBA. And I will. I am at the peak of my basketball career and I want to win in the NBA.” The Knicks are reportedly open to re-signing Bargnani to a minimum salary deal.

Kevin Love Out For Rest Of Playoffs

April 29th, 2015 at 9:52pm CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 9:52pm: Love underwent successful surgery this afternoon to repair his dislocated left shoulder, the Cavaliers announced. The estimated recovery time for Love will be four to six months.

TUESDAY, 11:09am: Kevin Love is “highly unlikely” to return at any point in the postseason, Cavs GM David Griffin said today, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com tweets. The damage to his injured left shoulder was extensive, and surgery is an option, Griffin added, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio (on Twitter). It’s a devastating blow for the Cavs and for Love, who can opt out of his contract this summer. The team can’t sign a player to replace him for the postseason, since the last day of the regular season was the final day for signings. Griffin added that there’s no possibility that Anderson Varejao, who tore his Achilles tendon in December, will come back during the playoffs to offset the loss of Love, tweets Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group.

The injury occurred when Kelly Olynyk hooked Love’s arm as they chased a loose ball in Sunday’s Game 4 of Cleveland’s first round series against the Celtics. In layman’s terms, Love suffered a shoulder dislocation, torn ligaments and a torn labrum, writes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. It threw not only the postseason but the long-term future into flux, as Love went from a growing affection for Boston as a possible free agent destination to a “legitimate loathing” of the Celtics on Sunday, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote. Love called Olynyk’s move a “bush-league play” as the All-Star power forward spoke to reporters shortly after the game Sunday.

Love said in January that he planned to opt in and take his $16.744MM salary for next season, but teams that have looked into the possibility of signing him have been convinced that he’ll “minimally explore” the market, according to Wojnarowski. Some executives are reportedly questioning whether the Cavs would give Love a max deal, with a starting salary of an estimated $19MM, if he were to opt out. Love would nonetheless be at the forefront of the Lakers’ plans if he became available, as Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding wrote, and surely others would value Love highly even though he’s coming off a down season in which he failed to mesh with the Cavaliers on the court.

The injury complicates the future for the Jeff Schwartz client, and it would seemingly be even more troublesome if it requires surgery. It would probably make it a safer bet that Love would opt in and give himself a chance to hit free agency at full health next year, when the salary cap is projected to jump to $89MM, though that’s just my speculation.

Central Notes: Hibbert, Love, Bucks

April 29th, 2015 at 9:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Pacers performed their due diligence last summer and shopped center Roy Hibbert, but Indiana predictably found no takers for the big man, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. This offseason may offer the franchise more luck in dealing the 28-year-old since he’ll be on an expiring contract, provided Hibbert exercises his player option worth $15,514,031, Deveney notes. One NBA assistant coach said Hibbert might be a worthy gamble for another team if the big man could be motivated to stay in shape, Deveney adds. “The last two years, he has dropped off in the second half of the season,” the assistant said. “With big guys like that, the first thing you think of is conditioning. If you can make sure he is in shape for all 82 games, maybe give him time off here and there, he would be worth the risk.”

Here’s more from the Central Division:

LeBron James says that he hasn’t spoken with Kevin Love recently about whether or not the big man intends to opt out of his deal, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com writes. When asked if Love would return to the Cavs next season, James said, “That’s a question that I can’t answer right now. I think that’s the last thing on his mind right now. What’s on his mind is his shoulder and how disappointed he is, how hurt he is over the fact that he can’t play in this postseason. I don’t think he’s thought about the offseason or what he wants to do. I haven’t had that conversation with him, and I shouldn’t have to have that conversation with him, especially right now when we’re going through this challenge and this battle of trying to win a championship. So I can’t answer that question.“
The mid-season trade for Michael Carter-Williams shows that the Bucks are looking toward their future rather than trying to simply make the playoffs, Deveney writes in a separate piece. “That’s the difference between the past and now,” GM John Hammond told Deveney. “There’s the big difference. We’re not building toward that now. We’re building toward becoming a championship-caliber team.”
The Pistons would like to bring back unrestricted free agent Joel Anthony to fill the role of backup center next season, but the team needs to address more pressing needs prior to making a decision regarding the big man, Keith Langlois of NBA.com writes.

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