Western Notes: Westbrook, Bryant, Clarkson
Russell Westbrook, who is locked in with the Thunder through the 2016/17 season, evolved into a capable leader during a challenging campaign for the team, Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman writes. For the most part, Westbrook, who tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve, kept his composure in check after a preseason outburst, Mayberry adds. Westbrook led the league in scoring with 28.1 points per game and finished fourth in the MVP balloting. Westbrook said he was most pleased with his improved leadership from the stellar season.
““That was something I had to learn. I wouldn’t say it was forced. It was something I had to learn,” Westbrook said. “If I was playing well or not, still find a way to take myself out of the equation and constantly keep helping other guys on the team. That was a huge part of me and my leadership and the biggest part of what I learned about myself [and want] to carry over to the next season.”
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak reiterated to Howard Beck of Bleacher Report (Twitter link) that next year will likely be Kobe Bryant‘s last, but left the door open for the star beyond that. “I’m sure that’s something that will be discussed a year from now,” Kupchak said. Kupchak signaled that next year would be it for Bryant on Thursday in a radio appearance with Rick Fox and Jared Greenberg on SiriusXM NBA Radio (audio links). Bryant hasn’t ruled out playing beyond next season, and said in March that he would probably hold off on a decision until after the 2015/16 campaign.
- Kupchack said Lakers rookie guard Jordan Clarkson compares similarly in terms of athleticism and style of play to Westbrook in a radio appearance with ESPN’s Colin Cowherd, as relayed by Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com. “If there’s a player in the league that plays like him, it’s Russell Westbrook,” Kupchak said. “Now, I’m not saying for a second that Jordan Clarkson is the next Russell Westbrook, but he’s that kind of a ball-handling guard.” The Lakers acquired Clarkson with the 46th pick in last year’s draft, and he earned considerable playing time last season because of injuries, as Holmes points out. Clarkson averaged 15.8 points per game on 45.8% shooting, with 5.0 assists per game and 4.2 rebounds per game in 38 games as a starter.
- Steven Adams, who played so well this season that the Thunder said he was off-limits at the deadline, displayed some growth in his second season in the league and showed defensive versatility, Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman writes.
Hoops Links: Booker, Johnson, Draft
On this date in in 2000, famed Pistons floor general Isiah Thomas was voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. That year, Danny Biasone, Bob McAdoo, Charles Newton, Pat Summit, and Morgan Wootten also joined him in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Got a great basketball blog post that you want to see featured on Hoops Rumors? Send it to Zach at HoopsLinks@gmail.com. Here’s this week’s look around the basketball blogosphere…
- Upside Motor wonders if Askia Booker is prepared for the next level.
- Rant Sports says the Pacers should pursue Stanley Johnson.
- Zocco’s Modern Life weighed in on the lottery.
- Hoop Trends predicts the destinations for some of the league’s top free agents.
- OT-Nation presented a post-lottery mock draft.
- Six Championship Drive produced its latest mock draft.
Please send submissions for Hoops Links to Zach at HoopsLinks@gmail.com.
Northwest Notes: Saunders, Wolves, Nuggets
Despite an NBA-worst 16-66 record this year, Timberwolves coach and president of basketball operations Flip Saunders has the franchise moving in the right direction with some good fortune and solid return on past acquisitions, Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe writes. One positive is that Minnesota has the top pick in the draft. Saunders, who Wolves owner Glen Taylor expects to return next season, must now decide between Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor, Washburn adds. Saunders’ goal is to find the perfect complement to Andrew Wiggins, and trading the pick for an established veteran who may not match the team’s long-term plans is not an option, according to Washburn.
“When you talk about trading the pick, it would have to be a huge-type situation because I feel like there’s three or four players that will be All-Star, All-Pro-type players,” Saunders said. “You’re just not going to give somebody like that away. The positive from our standpoint getting the top pick — we’ve got two great 19-year-olds last year, we got [Adreian] Payne, and we’re waiting to see if [Anthony] Bennett can get healthy and Bennett can develop. They’re all going to be able to kind of mature together. Really similar to the situation Oklahoma City had. We’ve talked about what they’ve been able to do. They’ve been lucky and gotten the right players, and they were able to develop those players, so we’re hoping to follow suit.”
There’s more news from the Northwest Division:
- With more on the debate of Towns versus Okafor, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune examines which player would better suit the Wolves’ style and better fit the team’s needs. Kentucky’s Towns is the new generation big man — a mobile center who can shoot, while Duke’s Okafor is more of a throwback, low-post option, Zgoda adds. In theory, Zgoda writes, going with Okafor spreads the floor and creates open shots for Wiggins, Shabazz Muhammad and Zach LaVine. However, as Zgoda points out, the game has changed with more teams relying — and thriving — on shooting from beyond the arc, and Towns gives the team a way to keep up with everybody else in that regard.
- Chauncey Billups wants to be a GM, and not a coach, and therefore the Nuggets would have to give him some say in player personnel matters if the team wanted to offer him the head coaching job, Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post writes in response to a question from a reader. The chances that Denver sticks with interim head coach Melvin Hunt are reportedly improving.
Offseason Outlook: Brooklyn Nets
Guaranteed Contracts
- Joe Johnson ($24,894,863)
- Deron Williams ($21,042,800)
- Jarrett Jack ($6,300,000)
- Bojan Bogdanovic ($3,425,510)
- Sergey Karasev ($1,599,840)
- Mason Plumlee ($1,415,520)
Non-Guaranteed Contracts
- Earl Clark ($1,185,784)1
- Darius Morris ($1,015,421)2
- Markel Brown ($845,059)3
- Cory Jefferson ($845,059)4
Options
- Brook Lopez ($16,744,218 — Player)5
- Thaddeus Young ($10,221,739 — Early Termination)6
- Alan Anderson ($1,333,484 — Player)7
Restricted Free Agents/Cap Holds
- Mirza Teletovic ($6,399,390) — $4,210,125 qualifying offer
- Jerome Jordan ($1,147,276) — $1,147,276 qualifying offer)8
Unrestricted Free Agents/Cap Holds
- (Andray Blatche $1,788,285)9
- No. 29 pick ($950,200)
- (Jason Collins $947,276)9
- (Jerry Stackhouse $947,276)9
Draft Picks
- 1st Round (29th overall)
- 2nd Round (41st overall)
Cap Outlook
- Guaranteed Salary: $58,678,533
- Non-Guaranteed Salary: $3,891,323
- Options: $28,299,441
- Cap Holds: $12,179,703
- Total: $103,049,000
Mikhail Prokhorov knows how to have a good time. When he’s not counting his billions, the Nets owner is busy partying with “a phalanx of [20] beautiful women in the French Alps” or heli-skiing in Vancouver. He also knows how to hit it off with NBA superstars, like Carmelo Anthony. In 2011, the two met as the Nets were pushing Anthony (then with the Nuggets) to sign off on a trade sending him east and agree to a three-year extension.
“It was a fantastic meeting, trust me,” Prokhorov told Darren Rovell of CNBC. “No words, live music, excellent atmosphere. We looked into each other’s eyes. Just real man talk.”
It might have been for the best in hindsight – that deal would have cost the Nets Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, and four first-round picks – but the man talk of the evening did not sway Melo. Months later, the Nets parlayed Favors, Harris, and two first-round choices into Deron Williams, who would later be re-signed to a contract that stands as one of the worst in the NBA today. Williams, Celtics stars Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, Joe “Jesus” Johnson, and Brook Lopez were brought together to form one of the league’s best starting units, but the Nets didn’t get very far with that group. In five years, Prokhorov’s Nets have employed four coaches and made zero conference finals appearances.
Prokhorov knows how to have a good time, but it remains to be seen if knows how to bring a championship to Brooklyn, especially with the purse strings pulled considerably tighter than they were two years ago.
There are several bad contracts on the Nets’ roster but Williams’ aforementioned deal is, without question, the most onerous of the bunch. The guard is owed ~$43MM over the next two seasons and that’s a rate that would be high even if he reverted back to his Utah form. Now, Williams is a temperamental veteran with two surgically-repaired ankles and the deal is an absolute albatross. Nets GM Billy King claims that there is a market for Williams, but, frankly, that’s hard to imagine at this point, unless the Nets are willing to take back an equally bloated contract. The Nets also aren’t interested in a buyout, and that will likely lead them to turn their attention to Williams’ backcourt mate.
Set to earn $24.9MM in 2015/16, Johnson doesn’t come cheap either. However, with one less year and probably more quality basketball left in the tank, Johnson holds more trade value than Williams, if only by default. Last season, Johnson averaged 14.4 PPG while shooting 43.5% from the floor and 35.9% from beyond the arc, all significant dips from his career averages. That dip in production was reflected in his PER as well. Johnson was never an efficiency darling outside of his best years in Atlanta, but his 14.1 PER in 2014/15 rates him as a below average player. Much like Williams, any dispatching of Johnson will call for the Nets to take back a bad contract and get little else, if anything, in the way of value.
Brooklyn may be stuck with Williams and Johnson and, at this point, it seems a safe bet that they’ll be in black and white in October. The same can’t be said for other Nets notables like Lopez, Thaddeus Young, and Mirza Teletovic.
Lopez is one of the most offensively gifted centers in the NBA when he’s healthy, but unfortunately he’s spent a ton of time on the sidelines in recent seasons. In 2011-12, Lopez broke his right foot and missed the first 32 games of the lockout-shortened season and his return saw him play five games before a sprained ankle shut him down for good. Two years later, a foot injury cut his season short after just 17 games. The injury bug reared its head a bit again this past season, but Lopez mostly weathered the storm and played 72 games, averaging 17.2 PPG and 7.4 RPG in less than 30 minutes per game. This summer, Lopez will have to decide whether to exercise his $16.74MM player option or to opt out in search of a long-term deal. On one hand, Lopez might want to jump at a comfortable multi-year pact given his injury history. On the other hand, a longer deal would preclude him from truly cashing in after the league’s next big TV contract. It’s not hard to envision a scenario in which Lopez goes the safer route while staying put. The 27-year-old could very well opt out of his deal and immediately sign a max-level contract with Brooklyn.
Young, by all accounts, has been rather happy in Brooklyn following the trade that sent him from the Timberwolves to the Nets. “It was the perfect situation for me, especially with me being good friends with Billy [King], just knowing him and him drafting me in Philly,” Young said.“So it was a good situation, plus they had the right mix of players for me and I felt like I could be a great complementary piece to a lot of guys on this team.” Earlier this month, in his exit interview with the press, Young hinted to reporters that his agent, Jim Tanner, has advised him to opt in. Young’s option for 2015/16 would pay him $10.2MM and while he could get a longer deal, Tanner would like to see him wait until the summer of 2016 when the salary cap rises.
Teletovic is a restricted free agent this summer but he recently told the Bosnian press that his “desire” is to stay with the Nets. Last season was a trying one for the sharpshooter as he was diagnosed with multiple blood clots in his lungs in January, ending his season early, save for three playoff appearances. It was a year the 29-year-old would probably like to forget, but he expressed major gratitude towards the Nets for the medical care they provided him during that time. That’s a critical issue for players, and as we saw with Luol Deng and the Bulls, it’s an issue that can make or break a relationship. The Nets can match competing bids for Teletovic, who was averaging 8.5 points and 4.9 rebounds across 40 games before he was shut down, if they tender a qualifying offer worth $4,210,125, and they intend to do so.
While Lopez and Young will wrestle with their decisions a bit, Alan Anderson already knows what he’s doing. “I’m free,” Anderson said earlier this month, according to Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. “I mean, I would love to stay in Brooklyn, but I am a free agent. So I will be free.” The Nets will have Anderson’s Early Bird rights, so they’ll have some additional flexibility to re-sign him. Still, they may only go so far to retain the veteran. Anderson, like Lopez and Young, has until June 29th to make the call.
The Nets have publicly said they’re willing to go into the repeater tax to keep Lopez for next season and beyond, but there isn’t a ton of financial flexibility for them to work with this summer. Normally, the Nets could find themselves a difference maker in the draft after finishing with a pedestrian 38-44 record, but the Johnson deal of 2012 calls for them to switch first-round picks with the Hawks, leaving them with the No. 29 selection rather than the No. 15 pick.
Even though it would create a logjam, the Nets might look to grab a point guard in the draft in order to get some foot speed back at the position. With Williams and Jarrett Jack (who has had some very strong stretches in Brooklyn) at the one, the Nets were torched by Atlanta’s Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder in the playoffs. The likes of Cameron Payne and Jerian Grant will probably go earlier in the draft – you know, where the Nets were supposed to pick – but other options like Delon Wright and Terry Rozier could be available. The Nets can also be expected to target shooters given the uncertain futures of Teletovic and Anderson. Eastern Washington’s Tyler Harvey might be a bit of a one-way player, but he knows how to score and he’ll likely be there at No. 29.
Whoever the Nets take with their first-round pick had better be solid considering their lack of draft choices going forward. Brooklyn owes its 2016 and 2018 first-round picks to the Celtics thanks to the blockbuster deal of 2013 and the C’s can swap picks with the Nets in 2017. The Nets can’t afford not to get this one right and, frankly, King will have to do better than he has in years past.
Cap Footnotes
1 — Clark receives a $200K guarantee if he remains under contract through October 26th.
2 — Morris receives a $25K guarantee if he remains under contract through July 1st.
3 — Brown receives a $100K guarantee if he remains under contract through July 1st, a $150K guarantee if he remains under contract through July 15th, a $200K guarantee if he remains under contract through September 1st, and a full guarantee if he remains under contract through September 29th.
4 — Jefferson receives a $100K guarantee if he remains under contract through July 1st and a full guarantee if he remains under contract through September 29th.
5 — The cap hold for Lopez if he opts out would be the lesser of $23,578,593 or the NBA’s maximum salary for a player with seven years of experience. It’s likely to be the latter.
6 — The cap hold for Young if he opts out would be $14,491,304.
7 — The cap hold for Anderson if he opts out would be $1,658,879.
8 — Jordan’s cap hold would be $947,276 if the Nets decline to tender a qualifying offer.
9 — 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. Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Central Notes: Pacers, Scola, Blatt
The Cavs are up 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals and that’s thanks in no small part to their defense, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports writes. The Cavs lead the playoffs in points allowed per 100 possessions (98.1), points allowed (91.4), and blocked shots (7.0 per game).
“We understand that ultimately, if we want to win long term, we have to defend. It’s going to give us the best possible chance to win because the ball doesn’t go through the rim all the time, and you have to be able to get stops,” LeBron James said.
Here’s more from the Central Division..
- There’s mutual interest between Pacers president Larry Bird and veteran Luis Scola in a new deal, Scott Agness of VigilantSports.com tweets. “[There’s] this huge gap that we got to fill. We’ll see how it goes,” Scola said. Scola, 35, averaged 9.4 PPG and 6.5 RPG in 20.5 minutes per contest last season. Bird made it known back in April that he hopes to retain the forward.
- Cavs first year coach David Blatt is silencing the critics one meaningful win at a time, Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio writes. Blatt sometimes takes a condescending tone with reporters, which meant that he got off on the wrong foot with many Cleveland beat writers. With the way the Cavs are playing now, however, it’d be hard to criticize the NBA newcomer.
- If the Pistons want to add a strong defender in this year’s draft, they should take Arkansas’ Michael Qualls at No. 38, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. “I look at the NBA, and for one, I see that no one really plays defense,” Qualls said. “There’s a couple defensive guys [on each team], but for the most part, everyone else is just offense. I’m fine on the offensive end, but I feel like I’ll be able to play the NBA game right away and be their defensive stopper.”
Q&A With Lottery Hopeful Jerian Grant
Throughout the spring and summer, Hoops Rumors will be talking with some of the most intriguing prospects in the 2015 NBA Draft. Today, the Hoops Rumors Draft Prospect Q&A series continues with Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant, whom Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranks No. 14 in this year’s class and Chad Ford of ESPN.com rates 17th.
A team in need of a playmaking point guard would do very well to wind up with Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant. Blessed with tremendous size for the position, the 6’5″ athlete is a tremendous passer with exceptional ball handling skills. Grant also offers a level of maturity that the younger guards in this year’s class might not possess right out of the gate. Through five years with the Fighting Irish, Grant has developed on and off the court, blossoming into a high-upside NBA prospect. Last week, Grant took time out of his busy schedule to chat with Hoops Rumors about his strengths, where he might wind up getting drafted, and much more.
Zach Links: Your older brother, 76ers forward Jerami Grant, went through the draft process last year. What kind of advice has he given you?
Jerian Grant: Just do what you do. Don’t go out there trying to do things that you’re not supposed to be doing. They already know that you can play the game. Just go out there and reinforce what you do best. 
ZL: What would it mean for you to play alongside him at the next level?
JG: It’d be great. We got to play together a bit when we were younger. Both of our games have developed so much, so I think that we can be a dynamic duo together.
ZL: What teams have you worked out for so far?
JG: Just the Pacers on Monday [May 18th].
ZL: What team workouts do you have coming up?
JG: I have one scheduled with the Hornets on June 8th but that’s it for now.
ZL: You’ve been on the NBA radar for some time now and it seems like you could have gone pro earlier if you wanted to. Why was it important for you to stay in school and graduate?
JG: A few things, one is that I wanted to graduate. Also, I wanted to come back and take on more of a leadership role and I did that too. In the previous years I was at Notre Dame, I felt like I was one of the better players on the team but maybe not the No. 1 leader. As a point guard that’s a role you want to fill and I’m glad I got to do that last season.
ZL: You took a seismic leap forward in your senior year. What do you attribute that to?
JG: I think stepping into a leadership role really helped make me a more rounded player. I practiced even harder than before, I worked even harder than before, and I was more vocal.
ZL: Thanks to redshirting in your freshman year, you spent five total years in school. Do you think that allowed you to gain some additional maturity on and off the court as you look ahead to the NBA?
JG: Absolutely. i’ve been through a lot over those five years, I’m definitely seasoned. Now I know that I can go into the NBA and help right away. It’s not gonna take two or three years for me to acclimate myself.
ZL: You had a ton of memorable moments at Notre Dame, including leading your team to an Elite Eight appearance this past season. If you had to pick your favorite game or one highlight from your career at Notre Dame, what would it be?
JG: I think just winning the ACC championship. We went down there to Carolina and to beat Duke and Carolina to win the ACC championship – the first conference championship for our school – it meant so much.
ZL: At 6’5″, what kind of things can you do on the court that smaller point guards typically can’t?
JG: I think my vision is definitely helped by my height. I can see over defenses and make better passes on certain players. Smaller guys can’t do it because they don’t have the length. My vision and my playmaking ability at 6’5″ is that much better because of my height.
ZL: What’s the ideal kind of offense for you to thrive in at the NBA level?
JG: It’s tough to say. I definitely like to get up and down the court, I make a lot of plays there. But, I think my strong suit is in the ball stance in the half court.
ZL: What specific areas of your game do you feel like you want to improve on most?
JG: Being able to knock down shots consistently, that’ll go a long way for me. Being able to spot up and nail those shots. I also want to develop different types of one-on-one moves. I used the step back a lot in college, but I want to have a wider variety of ways to attack the defense.
ZL: Where have you been working out since the end of the season?
JG: I’m back home in Maryland, working with my old teammate Victor Oladipo and my brother Jerami. It’s real competitive.
ZL: What led you to choose IAM Sports to represent you?
JG: Victor is my best friend and he uses the same agency. I met with them and felt like it was the right place for me. I asked about them, Victor told me all about them and he only had positive things to say. There are only like seven players in the agency, so it has a family feel and they give every client a ton of attention.
ZL: Do you have an idea as to where you’ll be drafted? What’s your floor and what’s your ceiling?
JG: My agent and I have been hearing anywhere from No. 8 to No. 20, anywhere around that range. They don’t see me going past No. 22 and they say the ceiling is around No. 8 or 9. It’s a wide range right now.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Young, Nets, Celtics
The Sixers hold the third overall pick in this year’s draft and the team will select the player that they believe will be the best player long-term rather than the player who’s more NBA ready now, Tom Moore of Calkins Media writes.
“We’ll spend all the available time between now and then to try to gain all the information we can to make good decisions,” GM Sam Hinkie said. “By design, we’ll have to make a decision at the end of June. I think it’s really a mistake to make one sometimes much, much earlier.”
Many executives believe the Sixers will take D’Angelo Russell, but selecting Emmanuel Mudiay remains a possibility due to his potential. Moore wonders what the team will do if either Jahlil Okafor or Karl-Anthony Towns fall to the third pick. He believes the team would keep Towns, but it would look to trade Okafor, potentially to the Knicks for their fourth overall pick and an additional asset. New York cannot trade a first round pick until 2018, but that might work for Hinkie, who appears to be one of the most patient executives in the league.
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Joseph Young will work out for the Nets, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily writes. Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranks the Oregon product as the 40th best prospect, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranks him as the 53rd. Brooklyn holds the No. 29 and No. 41 picks in this year’s draft.
- The Celtics need to improve their talents and cannot afford to pass on free agents this summer, Jackie MacMullan of the Boston Globe opines (Video link). MacMullan concedes that a top target, such as LaMarcus Aldridge, could be difficult to obtain, but even if that is the case, the team needs to add players from the next tier of free agents. She suggests Khris Middleton and Tobias Harris as potential targets. DeMarre Carroll could be another option, as Boston reportedly has interest in the forward. The Celtics have slightly more than $40.4MM in guaranteed salary on the books for the 2015/16 against a projected $67.1MM salary cap. The team could sign a few mid-tier free agents in order to improve on their 40-win campaign.
Draft Notes: Hunter, Mudiay, Kaminsky
Georgia State’s R.J. Hunter has the potential to be a draft steal, writes Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders. Hunter is a two-time Player of the Year in the Sun Belt and played a key role in the upset of Baylor in the NCAA Tournament. He is currently ranked 21st by Chad Ford of ESPN.com and 24th by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress. “Being a coach’s son and a captain alone is extra pressure,” Hunter said during the NBA Combine. “I had to learn how to react to coaching for me and my teammates. So I feel like I’m a good leader. I think I’m a proven leader.”
There’s more news as the NBA counts down to draft day:
- The top four teams in the draft have reached out to Emmanuel Mudiay, reports Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Zagoria notes that the Knicks are expecting Mudiay to be available with pick number four, but surprises could happen in the next month to shake up the draft. Zagoria says the Wolves could be willing to trade the number one pick and the Lakers aren’t committed to drafting Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor with the second pick.
- Frank Kaminsky is eyeing a new position when he transitions to the NBA, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders writes. “[I’m] turning myself into a four,” Kaminsky said. “In college, I played the five for so long. I know I can play the four. I just have to pick up the nuances. The NBA values big guys that can stretch the floor.”
Chris Crouse contributed to this post
Latest On Goran Dragic
Goran Dragic is a fan of coach Erik Spoelstra as well as team president Pat Riley, and the Heat’s status as the front-runner to keep him remains unchanged, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald hears. Jackson lists the Lakers, Knicks, Pelicans, Kings and Bucks as other teams that are expected to have interest in signing the guard.
Dragic has previously confirmed that he’ll turn down his $7.5MM player option. The Heat possess the guard’s Bird rights, meaning they can offer him a fifth year, which is reportedly something Dragic values highly. The 29-year-old has previously said the Heat meet all the criteria he’s looking for in a team from a basketball standpoint and he’s named Miami as his favorite U.S. city. Dragic wants the Heat to play much faster next season, but he’s been assured that’s a key part of Miami’s plan, a source tells Jackson.
Still, Dragic has reportedly viewed the Lakers as a “perfect fit,” so perhaps Los Angeles is Miami’s biggest threat to sign the winner of the NBA’s 2013/14 Most Improved Player award. The Knicks and Lakers, along with the Heat, were among Dragic’s preferred destinations prior to the deadline trade that sent him from Phoenix to Miami.
Pacific Notes: Warriors, Curry, Knight
The Warriors beat the Rockets on Saturday night by a score of 115-80 and Stephen Curry passed Reggie Miller for the most three-pointers made in a single postseason. Curry has made 63 shots from behind the arc during just 13 playoff games and has made a staggering 91% of his left corner three attempts. Curry, who signed a four-year, $44MM contract extension in 2012, may have most team friendly deal in the league.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Brandon Knight will be a restricted free agent this summer and he hasn’t yet made his decision on where he is going to sign, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic writes. “For myself, just doing what I’m comfortable with and what’s best for myself and for my family,” Knight said. “I can’t speak on that until I know what’s going on and that won’t be until July.”
- Knight, who before coming to Phoenix played a majority of his minutes as a point guard, enjoys sharing the responsibilities with Eric Bledsoe, Coro writes in the same piece. “As far as playing with Eric goes, I think it’s a great thing because you have two players who can attack at any time. Instead of having one team focus on just one of us, being able to have two guys who can really break down a defense at any time, I think will not only make it easy for myself but also make it easier for him as well,” Knight said. “If Eric was a selfish guy, then I think it wouldn’t work but both of us being pretty unselfish guys and really just wanting to win and also being familiar with each other, I think that helps the situation.”
- Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic believes that Curry could change the NBA, just like Steve Nash did nearly a decade ago. Nash’s impact changed how the league played, cleansing the game of shoot-first point guards in favor of players who empowered their teammates to play a more efficient version of the sport. Bickley wonders if Curry’s success will inspire more prospects to prioritize shooting from long-range.