Knicks Sign Ricky Ledo For Season
The Knicks have signed Ricky Ledo for the remainder of the season, the team announced (Twitter link). Ledo’s second 10-day contract with the team expired overnight. It’s not immediately clear if the pact carries into next season, but either way, New York has control over the point guard’s NBA destination for 2015/16. A deal that covers only the rest of this season would allow the Knicks to make him a restricted free agent with a qualifying offer of $1,147,276.
The 22-year-old shooting guard has played a more prominent role in his brief time with the lottery-bound Knicks than he did with the playoff-contending Mavericks during his season and a half with them. Ledo is averaging 9.5 points and 3.4 rebounds in 21.1 minutes per night across eight games with New York. He’s made nine of 21 total attempts from behind the three-point line.
Ledo gives the Knicks a full roster of 15 players signed through at least the end of the season. He’s the fourth Knick to have wound up with a deal that covers the balance of 2014/15 after having initially joined New York on a 10-day contract this year, as our 10-Day Contract Tracker shows.
Chris Copeland Stabbed, Suffers Broken Elbow
9:58am: The Pacers confirm Copeland suffered knife wounds to his abdomen and left elbow and that he remains in stable condition.
9:04am: A source close to Copeland tells Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling that Copeland suffered a broken left elbow as he was attacked, and he will undergo surgery (All Twitter links). Copeland’s contract is up at season’s end and the Pacers can make him a restricted free agent with a qualifying offer of nearly $3.919MM.
8:00am: Pacers combo forward Chris Copeland is in stable condition at a New York hospital after he was stabbed in the abdomen at a nearby nightclub early this morning, sources tell Rocco Parascandola of the New York Daily News. His wounds are not life threatening, according to Madeline Buckley of the Indianapolis Star.
Hawks swingman Thabo Sefolosha and center Pero Antic were later arrested at the same location and charged with obstructing governmental administration, as they allegedly refused to move when police were setting up a crime scene, sources tell Parascandola. They had just arrived in town with the Hawks set to play the Nets tonight, while Copeland’s Pacers are scheduled to play at the Knicks.
The precise nature or severity of Copeland’s injuries aren’t immediately clear. He’s played in only eight games since the beginning of February for the Pacers, who trail the Nets by a game for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
2014/15 NBA Reverse Standings
There’s just one week left in the 2014/15 regular season, meaning that for the 14 teams that don’t make the playoffs, the lottery and the 2015 NBA draft become the primary focus. Much of the draft order and many of the lottery positions remain in flux, and with the Hoops Rumors Reverse Standings, which list the NBA’s 30 teams from worst to first, you can follow along as it comes down to the wire. We update these standings daily to reflect the outcomes of the games that took place the night before.
The Reverse Standings take into account playoff teams in each conference, so they’re essentially a reflection of what the 2015 first-round order would look like if the lottery goes according to the odds. Traded picks are indicated via footnotes. For instance, the note attached to the Thunder’s pick shows that they’ll send it to the Sixers if it falls outside the top 18 selections. The final week of the season will determine the pick’s fate, since the Thunder are in 14th place in the Reverse Standings as the non-playoff team with the best record, but they’re only a half-game back of the Pelicans, who occupy the 18th spot.
The existence of the lottery means there’s no guarantee that teams atop the Reverse Standings will draft in the order in which they finish, but the worse a club’s record, the better shot it has at landing the cream of the 2015 draft class. This year’s top prospects include Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor, D’Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay, all of whom carry plenty of star potential.
Our Reverse Standings feature can be found at anytime on our right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features.” It’s a great resource not just for monitoring a team’s draft position, but also for keeping an eye on whether or not traded picks with protection will be changing hands in 2015. Be sure to check back often as the season draws to a close!
D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera Withdraws From Draft
APRIL 8TH: Smith-Rivera has changed his mind and won’t enter the draft, reports Brian Snow of Scout.com (Twitter link). It’s unclear whether he formally submitted paperwork, but even if he had, the NCAA allows players to withdraw and maintain college eligibility until this coming Monday.
MARCH 31ST: Georgetown junior shooting guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera has decided to enter the NBA draft, the school announced. Smith-Rivera faces long odds to find his way to an NBA roster, as he isn’t among the top 100 prospects that either Chad Ford of ESPN.com or Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress compile. Ford has him at No. 185, and while Givony doesn’t list an overall ranking, he tabs him as the 61st-best prospect among college juniors. It’s unlikely that the 6’3″ Smith-Rivera would have been any more than a fringe prospect had he remained in school for another season, Givony tweets. Still, Givony surmises that he’ll undoubtedly draw interest from European teams (Twitter link).
The 22-year-old averaged 16.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 34.4 minutes per game with 38.7% three-point shooting this season, certainly a respectable line, though with the exception of his assists, those numbers were all down from his sophomore year. He was fairly well-regarded coming out of high school in 2012, as he ranked 37th in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index that year, one spot ahead of current lottery prospect Willie Cauley-Stein.
Smith-Rivera was the leading scorer for this year’s Hoyas, who entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed and advanced to the round of 32 before falling to fifth-seeded Utah. He plans to sign with an agent, according to the school’s announcement, though if he holds off on doing so, he can still withdraw his name by April 12th and retain his eligibility for his senior year.
Southwest Notes: Ellis, Rockets, Leonard
Monta Ellis, who has a player option for the 2015/16 season, has “contract numbers for next year in his head” and he’s “very replaceable,” Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News writes in a chat. Ellis has seen a decline in points per game, assists per game and field goal percentage since the All-Star break. Still, he’s a proven scorer who can carry a team on any given night. If he opts out of the final season of his contract, his Early Bird rights allow the Mavericks to make an offer with a starting salary of up to $14.63MM. If Rajon Rondo flees via free agency, locking up Ellis would be a decent fallback plan. If the Mavs kept Rondo, Sefko adds he would be stunned if Ellis also wound up back with the team as well.
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- A more experienced and mature roster seems to be making a difference for the Rockets as they head into the playoffs, Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle writes. In the offseason, the Rockets added Jason Terry and Trevor Ariza. Then, Corey Brewer, Josh Smith and Pablo Prigioni were each acquired during the season and have added strong work ethic and sound basketball knowledge, Creech notes.
- Kawhi Leonard, who is set to be a restricted free agent this summer, continues to get overlooked as a star, but with him back in the lineup after the All-Star Break, the Spurs are playing very similar to the way they did last season, which, of course, bodes well for a deep playoff run, Ben Golliver of SI.com writes. San Antonio is 27-10 since Leonard returned from a hand injury in mid-January.
And-Ones: Wolves, Monroe, Noel
After the season, Chase Budinger’s contract with the Timberwolves will be down to one year at $5MM and Kevin Martin’s deal will go to two years for $14.4MM, making it easier for Minnesota to find trade partners for both players this summer, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. The Wolves were exploring ways to deal both players, as previous reports indicated and as Deveney confirms. There were conflicting reports about Minnesota’s willingness to trade Martin, but while coach/executive Flip Saunders likes him and won’t give him up easily, the Wolves aren’t expecting significant return for either Martin or Budinger, according to Deveney. In the same story, Deveney notes that the Wolves’ biggest question mark heading into the summer is if Saunders will remain coach or return to solely a front office role.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Speaking of the Wolves, they came pretty close to originally signing Arinze Onuaku back in mid-January, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweets, but Minnesota instead went with Miroslav Raduljica, who played five games with the team. The Wolves officially inked Onuaku earlier today, a few months later.
- Kevin Seraphin, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, told J. Michael of CSNWashington.com that he is adjusting to his smaller role within the second unit. He hasn’t scored more than 12 points in a game since January 19th. The big man said in January that he would like to re-sign with Washington.
- Reggie Jackson’s production increased and the Pistons played well without Greg Monroe, who will become an unrestricted free agent after the season, but the team is determined to make things work with the big man expected back on the court Wednesday, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. The Pistons were 7-4 without Monroe. Jackson is a restricted free agent this summer and it’s a distinct possibility that the Pistons will match any potential offer he receives from a different team, so it is much more likely that he is with Detroit next season than Monroe is, Mayo adds.
- Cameron Payne, who announced Monday he will enter the draft fresh off finishing up his sophomore season with Murray State, has signed with agent Travis King of Relativity Sports, HoopsHype tweets.
- Sixers rookie Nerlens Noel has quickly emerged as one of the league’s top big men because of his defensive efficiency, Wesley Share of RealGM.com writes. Noel, unlike many other rookies who were drafted in the first round, will hit free agency in 2017, and not 2018, because he signed his rookie scale contract before sitting out the entire 2013/14 season with an injury.
Western Notes: Ginobili, Lakers, Green
Manu Ginobili says he plans to retire either this coming offseason or next, as he tells Diego Morini of Argentina’s La Nacion (translation via HoopsHype). Ginobili, 37, has spent his entire 13-year NBA career with the Spurs, who he joined after playing four years in Italy and three years in his native Argentina. His contract expires at the end of the season.
“Every retired [player] tells me, ‘Enjoy it, play one more year.’ And, well, I’ve been doing this for 19 years and if it’s not at the end of the season, it will be the following year,” Ginobili said. “Then it’s over and it won’t come back.”
There’s more from the Western Conference:
- Lakers coach Byron Scott has a good idea which of his players are still fighting this season and which he wouldn’t like to see return to Los Angeles next season, Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times writes. “I got a sense of a whole lot of them I wouldn’t want to be in a fox hole with,” Scott said. “I think they’d end up shooting me in the back. So I’ve got a pretty good sense of the guys that I think are going to be around, that we will build around, build together in this process and go through it.“
- Nick Young has taken Scott’s comments, which he believes were partly directed at him, with a grain of salt, Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com relays. “Nah,” Young said of buying into Scott’s coaching advice to become a more complete player. “I don’t know. I feel like it’s just a target toward me. It’s a little unfair. But it’s cool.“
- Gerald Green, who will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, said he is frustrated with his lack of playing time since the end of January, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic writes. The Suns reportedly made Green available before the deadline, and the Clippers were among teams that expressed interest. Since Green was benched on January 30th, the Suns are 11-18 with Green appearing in 22 of those games and averaging 14.7 minutes in them, Coro notes.
Will Joseph contributed to this post.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson To Enter Draft
TUESDAY, 7:44pm: Hollis-Jefferson will indeed enter this year’s NBA draft, Brandon Schlager of The Sporting News relays. “I’ve decided to move on to the next chapter of my life and enter my name in the 2015 NBA Draft,” Hollis-Jefferson said during a joint press conference with coach Sean Miller. “After talking with my family and coach Miller to weigh the pros and cons, I fully believe this is the right choice. I’m excited for the challenges that lie ahead, and with the knowledge that God rewards hard work, I plan to attack them.”
6:23pm: Hollis-Jefferson took to his personal Twitter account (hat tip to Zagoria) to say that he had not made a decision regarding the draft as of yet. He indicated that he still needed to discuss the matter with his mother and Arizona coach Sean Miller.
WEDNESDAY, 6:18pm: Arizona sophomore Rondae Hollis-Jefferson intends to enter the 2015 NBA draft, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). The 20-year-old is currently ranked No. 24 by DraftExpress and No. 25 by ESPN.com. Hollis-Jefferson played his last game in a Wildcat uniform last Saturday in Arizona’s 85-78 loss to Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament. The sophomore went out with a good game, despite the loss, logging 17 points and 8 rebounds on 6-12 shooting.
The swingman was overshadowed a bit this season by highly heralded freshman Stanley Johnson, who is also likely to enter the draft, though that is merely my speculation. Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv tweets that Johnson is 50-50 on leaving school. The 6’7″ Hollis-Jefferson is a fantastic athlete and defender, and both are skills that will translate well to the professional level. But he is extremely limited on the offensive end, which is why he is projected to last until the late first round. Hollis-Jefferson is exciting on the break and a monster when attacking the rim, but his outside shot needs significant work. He’s a player who will benefit from spending significant time in the D-League in 2015/16.
Hollis-Jefferson appeared in 38 games for the Wildcats this past season, averaging 11.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 28.7 minutes per contest. His career averages in two seasons at Arizona are 10.2 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 1.5 APG. His career shooting numbers are .496/.205/.697.
Eastern Notes: Middleton, Babb, Scola
Bucks‘ forward Khris Middleton has made tremendous strides this season, setting himself up for a nice raise this summer when he can become a restricted free agent, Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel writes. “Khris is one of the guys who has really improved,” coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s just letting the game come to him. He’s one of our best scorers and shooters on the floor, and the ball will find him. He’s been able to step up and knock down shots for us. Confidence in this game is big, and I think his confidence is growing.” In 74 appearances this season, including 53 as a starter, Middleton averaged 13.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 30.1 minutes per contest.
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Chris Babb‘s two-year minimum salary deal with the Celtics calls for him to make $48K for the remainder of this season and $947,276 for 2015/16, Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com tweets. Babb’s contract contains no guaranteed money for next season, Forsberg adds.
- Forward Jae Crowder has enjoyed his time with the Celtics since coming over from Dallas in the Rajon Rondo trade, Forsberg writes in a separate piece. The 24-year can become a restricted free agent this summer, but Crowder insists that he hasn’t thought about next season, Forsberg adds. “I just want to make the playoffs,” Crowder told the ESPN scribe. “And once you make the playoffs, everything will take care of itself. I’m not worried about it. Because my goal is to make the playoffs and we are right here where we want to be. I’m just focused on that.” Crowder is averaging 9.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists over 24.2 minutes per game in 53 appearances since arriving in Boston.
- Pacers‘ big man Luis Scola is finally adjusting to his reserve role with the team, and the 34-year-old veteran says he would like to continue playing past the age of 40, Mark Montieth of NBA.com writes. “I don’t feel close to the end, that’s the truth,” said Scola. “I know people don’t play that much longer after 35, but I’m feeling well. I don’t know how fast the process is from the moment you start feeling close to the end versus the actual end. But I’m not feeling close to the end. I’ve got energy and I feel I can still do this and I’m still having fun and I can work out hard and play hard every day. As long as all that’s still there I don’t see me being close to retirement.”
Grayson Allen Plans To Stay Out Of Draft
Duke freshman shooting guard Grayson Allen plans to stay out of the draft this year and return to school for his sophomore season, sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). While Allen’s freshman campaign wasn’t a stellar one from a statistical standpoint, the guard turned some heads with his 16 point performance in Monday night’s NCAA Championship win against Wisconsin where Allen drained five of his eight field goal attempts.
Allen is the 32nd-ranked prospect on the list that Chad Ford of ESPN.com compiles, though Ford said today that he’s hearing lots of positive feedback from NBA personnel, which means there’s a decent chance he would have vaulted into the first round (Twitter link). Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress doesn’t have Allen among his top 100 prospects ranking, likely because Allen has been expected to stay in school. The 19-year-old is No. 30 on Givony’s list of the top freshmen.
In 35 appearances this season for the Blue Devils Allen averaged 4.4 points, 1.0 rebound, and 0.4 assists in 9.2 minutes per contest. His shooting line was .425/.346/.849.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.