Western Notes: Exum, Brown, Mavericks
The Jazz are in a holding pattern until they get point guard Dante Exum back, according to Brad Rock of the Deseret News in his midseason evaluation of the team. Exum is expected to miss the season after undergoing left knee surgery over the summer. Utah had built its team around the playmaking talents of their second-year point guard and that plan was sidetracked by Exum’s injury, the primary cause for its 18-23 record after 41 games, Rock adds. “We were all looking forward to how our team fit together as a whole; how Dante and Trey [Burke] would play together with their roles,” Snyder told Rock. “So a lot of planning that went into the year shifted at that point.”
In other news around the Western Conference:
- The Lakers are intrigued by the potential of swingman Anthony Brown, who has seen his playing time spike with Kobe Bryant battling injuries, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News reports. Brown, a second-round pick out of Stanford last summer, has started five games and appeared in 13 others. Though he’s shooting just 30.9%, the Lakers like what they’ve seen from him defensively, Medina adds. “You can put him out there on the defensive end and he’s going to guard the guy,” Lakers coach Byron Scott told the team’s beat reporters. “He’s going to use his athleticism and length. That’s something we’ve been missing.”
- The Mavericks remain a mystery team at the midway point of the season, being equal parts enticing and confounding, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News opines. Dallas reached the 41-game mark five games over .500, compared to 15 games over .500 a year ago. Owner Mark Cuban told Sefko that the team plays too often to the level of the opponent. “What I like is we play up to good teams,” Cuban said. “What I don’t like is we play down to bad teams.”
- A longtime personal assistant to Pelicans owner Tom Benson alleges in an amended lawsuit that Benson’s wife, Gayle, racially discriminated against him, harassed him and ultimately forced him out of his job last year, Mike Triplett of ESPN.com reports. The former assistant, Rodney Henry, had originally filed a suit seeking years of back pay and unpaid overtime he felt he was owed, the story adds.
Central Rumors: Portis, Love, Jackson
Rookie power forward Bobby Portis will be the biggest beneficiary of Joakim Noah‘s shoulder injury that will likely cost him the season, Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg confirmed to the media, including Hoops Rumors. Noah will be sidelined up to six months after undergoing surgery for his dislocated left shoulder. Portis will become a rotation regular in his absence. Power forwards Cameron Bairstow and Cristiano Felicio will also receive more playing time. “It’s a great opportunity for some other guys,” Hoiberg said. “Bobby, his minutes were a little inconsistent after that stretch where he played when Jo was sitting out [with a previous shoulder sprain]. He knows now he’s going to play extended minutes pretty much every night. And other guys are going to have to step up. Cam and Cris are going to have to be ready to go out there and give us some minutes.” The Bulls are 9-2 in games Noah has missed but Hoiberg brushes aside that statistic. “I don’t think you’ll find one guy in that locker room that would say we’re a better team with Jo not in the lineup,” he said. “He does a lot of things that don’t show up in the box score. He’s a guy we’ll absolutely miss the rest of the season.”
In other news around the Central Division:
- Finding a way for power forward Kevin Love and point guard Kyrie Irving to coexist is paramount for the Cavs to have any hope of winning the NBA title this season, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com opines. Love’s stats have declined since Irving returned from the knee injury that kept him out until late last month. Love was averaging 17.6 points on 43% shooting without Irving this season, compared to 13.4 points on 37% shooting with Irving back in action. Cavs players reportedly wouldn’t mind a trade for Suns power forward Markieff Morris, though the front office doesn’t share their enthusiasm. The Cavs could try to go small more often with Love at center and deal Timofey Mozgov, who has seen his playing time decline dramatically, but making major roster moves could also backfire, Berger adds.
- Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson is frustrated by the team’s inability to put together a winning streak, as he told the media, including Hoops Rumors. Detroit handed the Warriors their fourth loss of the season on Saturday, then had a low-energy performance while losing to the Bulls Monday. “We’re a consistently inconsistent team,” Jackson said. “We’ve shown we play well at times. We play to the level of our opponent quite a bit. We’ve shown the world that we have flashes of being a good team and then we show flashes of being not so good.”
- Shooting guard Dionte Christmas, who spent training camp with the Cavs this fall, will have his contract with AEK Athens guaranteed for the season, international journalist David Pick tweets. Christmas previously signed a one-month deal with the Greek team, Pick adds. Christmas, who was waived after playing four preseason games with Cleveland, signed with Israel’s Hapoel Holon in December and then was released from that contract to play in Europe.
Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Thomas, D-League Recalls
The Celtics’ pipeline to the lottery, via the Nets, and the possibility of moving some of those picks for an established star, gives them real hope of becoming a serious contender, Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM.com opines. Brooklyn must give Boston unprotected picks in 2016 and 2018. The Celtics also have the right to swap picks in 2017. There’s a good chance all those picks might be top five selections, Tjarks deduces, providing them multiple opportunities to select a future superstar. It might be wiser, however, for Boston to accelerate its timetable by acquiring a franchise-caliber big man for those picks, with the Kings’ DeMarcus Cousins and Cavs’ Kevin Love being obvious targets to upgrade their flawed frontcourt, Tjarks adds.
In other doings around the Atlantic Division:
- Isaiah Thomas’ improvement as a defender makes him an All-Star candidate, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com outlines through advanced metrics. While the Celtics’ diminutive point guard hasn’t become a defensive stopper, he’s become a more willing defender by fighting through screens and using his quickness to cover more areas of the court, Forsberg continues. Thomas’ impact on the team’s offensive efficiency remains his best argument for All-Star selection, as he’s one of its few players who can create for himself off the dribble and get to the free throw line, Forsberg adds.
- Raptors coach Dwane Casey clearly misses having power forward Amir Johnson on his team, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports reports. Johnson signed a two-year, $24M contract with the Celtics during the offseason. “Amir plays with pure heart,” Casey told Lewenberg. “There’s no agendas. He’s about the team, he’s about winning, he’s about giving everything on the court, he’s about his teammates … each and every night he was going to give you the same effort.”
- The Raptors recalled power forward Anthony Bennett, small forward Bruno Caboclo and and combo guard Delon Wright from their D-League affiliate, Raptors 905, the team’s media relations department tweets. Toronto plays six home games the remainder of the month.
Nuggets Sign GM Tim Connelly To Extension
The Nuggets and GM Tim Connelly have agreed to a multi-year contract extension, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. Connelly’s front-office staff, including assistant GM Arturas Karnisovas, will also receive new contracts, sources told Wojnarowski. The Nuggets confirmed the extensions in a press release.
Connelly and his staff have earned the trust of Denver president Josh Kroenke as they work to reconfigure the roster under first-year coach Michael Malone, Wojnarowski continues. Through trades, Connelly has acquired three potential lottery-protected first-round picks over the next two drafts, Wojnarowski points out.
Connelly drafted center Jusuf Nurkic in the first round in 2014 and point guard Emmanuel Mudiay in the lottery last summer. During Connelly’s tenure since he replaced Masai Ujiri in 2013, he also traded for starting shooting guard Will Barton and reached extensions with small forwards Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler and power forward Kenneth Faried.
Connelly has focused on unearthing talent that others have overlooked and that strategy has led the Nuggets to draft many international players, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post recently reported. “We’ve put a lot of emphasis in international scouting. … We want to be very well informed with any player in the world,” Connelly told Dempsey. “Certainly the more well informed we are, hopefully we make better decisions. It just so happens that when we’ve selected guys, signed guys, traded for guys, we’ve had a pretty big international influence.”
Connelly was the Pelicans’ assistant GM for three years prior to joining the Nuggets. He came through the ranks with the Wizards, working for that franchise for 10 years.
“Over the past few years Tim, Arturas, and the rest of our front office staff have worked tirelessly in reshaping our roster and our entire organizational vision for the future,” Kroenke said in the release. “Whether through the draft, trades, or free agency, we have an excellent mix of players and are extremely well positioned moving forward.”
Expiring Contracts Traded At 2015 Deadline
Pelicans GM Dell Demps last week became the latest NBA figure to point to the declining value of expiring contracts as trade chips in recent years, but it’s not as if contracts in their final season don’t still end up in trades. Several expiring contracts changed hands at the trade deadline last year, and Demps’ Pelicans were involved, both coming and going. They acquired the expiring rookie scale contract of Norris Cole and shipped out John Salmons and his expiring deal in a three-team trade with the Suns and Heat. They also traded for Ish Smith that day, though his deal was only for the minimum salary, and they immediately waived it.
Here’s a look at each expiring contract worth more than the minimum salary that ended up in a trade at the deadline last season, ranked in descending order of value. Note that this doesn’t include contracts that contained options or non-guaranteed salary beyond last season.
- Kevin Garnett ($12MM)
- Kendrick Perkins ($8,719,795)
- Marcus Thornton ($8.575MM)
- Tayshaun Prince ($7,707,865)
- Goran Dragic ($7.5MM)
- Enes Kanter ($5,694,674)
- Andre Miller ($4.625MM)
- Jonas Jerebko ($4.5MM)
- Thomas Robinson ($3,678,360)
- Brandon Knight ($3,553,917)
- Alexey Shved ($3,282,057)
- Reggie Jackson ($2,204,369)
- Norris Cole ($2,038,206)
- John Salmons ($2MM)
- Gigi Datome ($1.75MM)
- Victor Claver ($1.37MM)
- Kyle Singler ($1.09MM)
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Southwest Notes: Howard, Harrell, Pachulia
- Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff wants to give rookie Montrezl Harrell more playing time, as the Chronicle’s Jenny Dial Creech details. Houston imposed a hard cap on itself when it signed Harrell in the offseason. Fellow power forward Terrence Jones is reportedly a trade candidate. “Every time Montrezl has played, he’s helped us,” Bickerstaff said, according to Creech. “I have to do a better job of finding minutes for him and getting him on the court. His energy is infectious and the guys love to play with him. We need guys like that on the floor.”
- Zaza Pachulia likes Dallas and said he’s not focused on what he’ll do when he hits free agency this summer, observes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Still, Pachulia made it clear he enjoys playing with Dirk Nowitzki, who doesn’t appear ready to retire from the Mavericks in the near future. “It’s such a great honor to play next to him,” Pachulia said to Deveney. “Dirk has been there for years, and this guy is all about the winning. That’s a lot of motivation when you come to Dallas and play for the Mavericks; you have to do all the things to win games and have a good season.”
- The Pelicans have been disappointing this season, but their bench has been a bright spot, thanks to Ryan Anderson and Jrue Holiday, as John Reid of The Times Picayune examines. At least one person within an NBA team has raised the specter of Anderson as a maximum-salary player when he hits free agency this summer.
Pacific Notes: Smith, Stephenson, Hibbert, Crawford
The Clippers feel as though they’d be better in the long run if they could trade offseason acquisitions Josh Smith and Lance Stephenson, who are dissatisfied with their respective roles on the team, Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher says in a video dispatch (scroll to three-minute mark) that echoes his report from December. The team apparently gauged their value on the trade market as far back as November, though coach/executive Doc Rivers denied it. In any case, Bucher and Bleacher Report colleague Howard Beck identify the Clippers, Bulls and Lakers as likely sellers, with the Kings and Rockets set to become buyers at the trade deadline. Sacramento has been “active and aggressive,” according to Bucher. See more from the Pacific Division:
- Roy Hibbert likes L.A. and has maintained a professional demeanor throughout a losing season, writes Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. The Lakers are reportedly trying to find a trade that would send Hibbert to a playoff team. The center acknowledges that it hasn’t been easy this year after playing on much more successful teams in Indiana. “It’s rough,” Hibbert said. “The skeletons are there to be a really good team. It’s just not going the way we want it to be. You see glimpses but it’s been rough.”
- Jamal Crawford cited familiarity and the desire for a “pit bull” negotiator for his recent decision to rehire agent Aaron Goodwin of Goodwin Sports Management, having moved on from a brief time with the Wasserman Media Group, the agency he hired in the offseason. TNT’s David Aldridge has the details in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. The Clippers sixth man is poised for free agency in the summer.
- Draymond Green has far surpassed expectations, and in addition to his own effort, he’s been fortunate to arrive in the NBA just as small-ball truly took off and to land with a Warriors franchise that believes in him, as Steve Aschburner of NBA.com examines. “Obviously I’m blessed to be here in a situation with Golden State where what I brought to the team was needed,” Green said. “And appreciated. I know that’s important. Sometimes going to a certain franchise can ruin a career if you’re not with the right team. I was blessed to come to a great situation. A great franchise that appreciated the way that I do. So I’ve been able to become the player I’ve become.”
Trade Candidate: Markieff Morris
When I first wrote a trade candidate piece on Markieff Morris in August, it didn’t seem as though the Suns could get fair value for a player who had made no secret of his desire to leave town, and after months of twists and turns in the saga, that still appears to be the case. It’s nonetheless worth checking in on the idea of a Morris trade once again, since much has changed for both player and team.
Morris came to training camp and essentially retracted his trade demand, though he’s played coy when asked specifically about whether he wants to be traded. He otherwise made a litany of team-friendly statements, but his twin brother, Marcus, caused a stir when he said Markieff “doesn’t look happy” playing with the Suns. Markieff dismissed his brother’s remark, but regardless, the problem the Suns had earlier this season appeared to be how he was playing, not where he was playing. Coach Jeff Hornacek took the struggling power forward out of the starting lineup and at times the rotation entirely, a situation that came to a head when Morris threw a towel that struck Hornacek after the two engaged in an argument on the bench during a late December game, leading the Suns to suspend Morris without pay for two games. Morris apologized, and after a 16-point, nine-rebound effort off the bench against the Pacers a week ago, Hornacek surprisingly gave him his starting job back.
A decent chance exists that Morris is starting again chiefly because the Suns want to showcase him for trades, but it’s not as if Phoenix is without reason to legitimately experiment with its lineups, having lost 13 of its last 14 games. The Suns have nonetheless made Morris “very available” to other teams, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote last month, and reports over the past few months have indicated that Phoenix has spoken about potential Morris trades with the Pelicans and Rockets.
New Orleans has seemingly been reluctant to trade Ryan Anderson for Morris, but conversations with the Rockets reportedly reached an advanced stage, with the sides discussing the idea of swapping Morris for Terrence Jones and Corey Brewer. Friday was the first day such a trade could happen, since Brewer wasn’t eligible to be traded before January 15th, but it hasn’t happened yet. The Suns have reportedly eyed the Cavs as a potential faciliator in a three-team deal that would send Morris elsewhere, and the Pistons, who already traded for his brother this summer, also apparently hold interest.
The Suns have reportedly shifted focus away from veterans like Anderson and toward young players and draft picks as they consider what they could get in a Morris trade. That makes sense, since the team has plummeted to 13-29, but that only puts them five and a half games out of the playoffs in a Western Conference that’s much weaker than usual. GM Ryan McDonough said recently to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe that the team isn’t quite ready to declare the postseason a lost cause yet.
Regardless, it doesn’t appear as though the Suns can be too picky about what they get for Morris at this point. McDonough said on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM last week that he felt no immediate pressure to trade him. Perhaps that’s because of an unyielding market. Zach Lowe of ESPN.com reported last month that teams were asking the Suns to attach another player to Morris in trade proposals, indicating an unwillingness to take Morris without receiving some additional compensation. I speculated in August that packaging either Archie Goodwin or T.J. Warren with Morris could net the Suns a starting-caliber power forward in return, but Warren and Goodwin are just the sort of developing players Phoenix reportedly wants to have. Goodwin is still struggling to find playing time in his third NBA season, however. It wouldn’t represent that much of a sacrifice for the Suns to move on from him if another team really likes the former 29th overall pick, but it’s unclear if McDonough and company are ready to make such a move.
The Suns no doubt understand better than anyone else how much the continued presence of Morris influences Goodwin, Warren and the rest of the locker room. Morris’ legal troubles and criticism of Suns fans in the past raise red flags, but it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a poor teammate. It’s possible the Suns prefer to keep Morris around as a lightning rod for controversy to deflect blame from Hornacek and the rest of the roster as it underachieves.
Still, the back-and-forth surrounding Morris seems to signal that Phoenix will ultimately trade him. The Suns could do worse than Jones and Brewer from the Rockets, if that proposal remains in play. They could see what they could get from the Pistons, but Detroit is in strong contention for its first playoff berth since 2009 and doesn’t seem particularly eager for a major move. The Pelicans have traded their last three first-round picks and don’t have many intriguing young players other than Anthony Davis, who’s surely off the table.
It’s easy to say the Suns should have moved on from Morris a while ago, but for now, it doesn’t appear they have too many strong options. The chances of finding a taker improve as the deadline nears, and the Suns should have a better idea by then of whether they’ll have a reasonable chance to make a run at a playoff berth. All bets are off if Phoenix doesn’t win a game or two in the next couple of weeks or if another Morris controversy emerges, but barring an unforeseen change, expect the Suns to hang on to Morris until the deadline, if not longer.
What do you think the Suns should do with Morris? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Joakim Noah Out Four To Six Months
TUESDAY, 1:34pm: Noah underwent surgery this morning and will begin rehab Wednesday, coach Fred Hoiberg said, as Johnson relays (on Twitter).
SATURDAY, 7:25pm: Bulls center Joakim Noah will be out of action for four to six months after suffering a dislocated left shoulder in Friday’s game, the team announced today. He underwent an MRI exam this morning, and it was determined that he will need surgery. Details of the procedure have not been set, but he is expected to make a full recovery.
Noah is making $13.4MM this season in the final year of his contract. Before the injury, Chicago reportedly made him available for trade, as Hoops Rumors’ Chuck Myron detailed last month. He is averaging a career-low 4.3 points per game through 29 contests.
Chicago won’t be able to get any cap relief because of the injury, tweets former NBA executive Bobby Marks. The deadline for the disabled player exception expired Friday. The DPE would have only given the Bulls a $5.4MM exception, Marks notes, not an extra roster spot (Twiter link). Chicago already has 15 guaranteed contracts.
Noah suffered a similar injury on the shoulder December 21st and missed nine games. He was in his fourth game back when he re-injured it Friday.
In anticipation of the news on Noah, the Bulls recalled Cristiano Felicio from the D-League this morning, according to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. He has seen limited action in two games with the Bulls.
Avery Bradley Hires Rob Pelinka As New Agent
Avery Bradley has hired Landmark Sports agent Rob Pelinka, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The Celtics combo guard had been with former NBA player Mitchell Butler of the Vanguard Sports Group and Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports. The move appears to have more to do with Bradley’s off-court career than his playing contract, since he isn’t scheduled to hit free agency again until 2018 after signing a four-year, $32MM deal with Boston in the summer of 2014.
The 25-year-old is averaging a career high 32.5 minutes per game this season, his sixth in the NBA, though he’s running slightly behind his career-best average of 14.9 points per game, which he delivered the season before he signed his contract. He’s made his reputation as a stout defender, though some numbers don’t back that up this season. ESPN’s Real Plus Minus categorizes Bradley as a point guard and places him as the 40th-best defender at that position, while he’s the 64th-best guard overall in Basketball-Reference’s Defensive Box Plus Minus metric.
Pelinka boasts a star-studded list of clients that includes James Harden, the soon-to-retire Kobe Bryant, 2016 free agent Eric Gordon, and Finals MVP Andre Iguodala. Preliminary projections show the salary cap shrinking from $108MM in 2017/18 to $100MM in 2018/19, so Bradley is poised to enter a relatively tough market. Much can change between now and then, however. The Celtics continue to look for a star, so Bradley, like just about everyone else on the roster, isn’t immune from inclusion in a trade.