Bulls Notes: Trade Possibilities, Hoiberg, Butler
The Bulls could use more athleticism at small forward but are in a difficult position to make a trade, according to Sam Smith of Bulls.com. With Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah both likely to be free agents this summer, Derrick Rose having a long injury history and Jimmy Butler being untouchable, Smith believes the Bulls are limited in what they can offer in a major deal. He mentions former Bull Luol Deng as a possibility because he is being “phased out” by the Heat, but speculates Taj Gibson would be the asking price. Smith writes that the Suns would want a first-round pick for P.J. Tucker, and the Celtics would ask for rookie Bobby Portis in exchange for Jae Crowder. The Bulls may have to settle for what they have unless they are willing to surrender a significant piece in return.
There’s more out of Chicago:
- Despite some ups and downs, rookie coach Fred Hoiberg still has the attention of his team, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun Times. Even with the distractions of Gasol and Noah possibly heading elsewhere next season — if not before — Hoiberg has found a way to keep the team focused. “I think guys are listening,’’ Rose said. “We have good-hearted people here. We don’t have any knuckleheads or anything like that. It’s all about just incorporating that into the game. Everything he tells us in shootaround, and everything he tells us before the game to prep us before the game, we just got to incorporate that into the game, but on a more consistent basis.’’
- Butler got the coaching style he had been seeking from Hoiberg in Thursday’s comeback victory over the Sixers, writes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. Butler made headlines in December when he took a public shot at Hoiberg for being too “laid back,” but Hoiberg was intense with his halftime speech Thursday when the Bulls were trailing by 16 points. “Fred came in here and got on our [butt] to tell you the truth,” Butler said. “I like it though. He was fired up. He came in and let us know that’s not how we’re going to play.”
Western Notes: Suns, Kings, Davis
Mirza Teletovic and P.J. Tucker have attracted interest on the trade market, but the Suns are delaying discussions about those two players until they believe they are out of the playoff picture, one league source told Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. That time might come soon, however, considering the Suns are 13-27 and four and a half games behind for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Markieff Morris is also still viewed as a valuable stretch-power forward on the trade market, according to Deveney. That’s because Morris’ contract (he has three years and $24MM left after this season) is affordable and he still has plenty of upside, one source told Deveney.
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Kings vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac does not make it a priority to return calls from other executives around the league, according to ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst (link to podcast hosted by ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe; h/t Dan Feldman of NBCSports.com). What’s more, Divac was unaware that there was a trade call to the league office when Sacramento sent Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, and Nik Stauskas to the Sixers, according to Lowe.
- Ed Davis, whom the Blazers signed to a three-year, $20MM deal in the summer, said Portland differs from his previous team, the Lakers, because the Blazers have a clear-cut rebuilding plan, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders details. “Here, we’re trying to build something,” Davis told Kennedy. “I enjoyed my time with the Lakers. Coach [Byron] Scott, [GM] Mitch [Kupchak] and all those guys were good to me, so I don’t really have any complaints. But it’s just different [in Portland]. Obviously in L.A. they want those big stars and they’re not really trying to keep a core together. Now they’re starting to do it because they aren’t getting those top free agents in. Here, there’s just stability. You know that guys are going to be around for a while. You don’t have the feeling that you could get traded any minute or that they’re going to bring a superstar in [to replace you]. You can just focus on doing your job. You know [the plan] and that everything is going to be fine.”
- The Grizzlies assigned James Ennis to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Ennis’ seventh assignment to the Iowa Energy.
Enes Kanter Splits With Agent Max Ergul
Enes Kanter has left agent Max Ergul, who helped the Thunder center land a maximum-salary offer sheet this past summer, as USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt hears (Twitter link). Kanter is Ergul’s only NBA client. It’s uncertain whom Kanter will hire to replace him, though Ergul will continue to receive his commission on the deal. Standard commission would give him a 4% cut of Kanter’s $70,060,025 contract.
The Thunder matched the offer sheet that Portland gave Kanter, keeping the center they traded for at the deadline last February. The big man made it clear shortly before the swap that he wanted the Jazz to deal him away, though Ergul denied a report that he had been asking the Jazz to trade his client for years.
In any case, Utah has flourished since the departure of Kanter freed up more playing time for Rudy Gobert. The Thunder have done well, too, compiling a record of 28-12 this season, fourth-best in the NBA. Kanter is seeing only 20.1 minutes per game in 2015/16, down drastically from the 31.1 minutes per contest he saw down the stretch with Oklahoma City last year.
Southwest Notes: Brewer, Barnes, Williams
More than two dozen players became eligible to be traded today, and among them is Corey Brewer, about whom the Rockets and Suns reportedly had serious discussions as they entertained a swap that would also include Terrence Jones going to Phoenix for Markieff Morris. Still, Suns GM Ryan McDonough denied that any deal was prearranged or pending as he spoke Wednesday on the “Burns & Gambo” show on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, as Kellan Olson of ArizonaSports.com transcribes. McDonough predicted lots of activity between now and the February 18th trade deadline and promised he’ll take an aggressive approach, though he said he can envision Morris remaining with Phoenix through the end of the season, adding that the Suns are “under no pressure to do anything immediately.” While we wait to see what happens on that front, there’s more on the Rockets and other Southwest Division teams:
- Improved defense, better 3-point shooting and the presence of Patrick Beverley in the starting lineup instead of Ty Lawson have sparked the Rockets to improved play, as Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com details, but GM Daryl Morey isn’t satisfied. “I’m worried given our goals,” Morey said, according to Watkins. “We still have a lot of improvement to do and we’re working towards that.”
- The performance Matt Barnes has put on for the Grizzlies lately makes it clear his controversial October encounter with Knicks coach Derek Fisher isn’t a distraction to the team and that he’s been one of the most valuable Grizzlies on the court, writes Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal. The 35-year-old has maintained his high level of defensive play all season, and more recently he’s begun to regain his usual shooting touch, Tillery notes. Barnes delivered pithy comments to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, saying, “I don’t talk to snakes” when asked if he’ll speak to Fisher while the Knicks are in Memphis for Saturday’s game. Barnes sent threatening text messages to Fisher in the weeks preceding Barnes’ alleged physical attack on Fisher at the home of Barnes’ estranged wife, a source told Marc Berman of the New York Post.
- A pair of small trade exceptions expired for Southwest Division teams this week, vestiges of the three-team trade that sent Jeff Green to the Grizzlies. The Pelicans allowed their $507,336 Russ Smith trade exception to lapse, while the Grizzlies didn’t find a use for the $396,068 leftover scrap of the Quincy Pondexter trade exception. Memphis used most of that Pondexter exception, originally valued at $3,146,068, to take in Luke Ridnour, whom the Grizzlies promptly flipped for Barnes.
- Chris Herrington of The Commericial Appeal doesn’t think the Grizzlies will issue a second 10-day contract to Elliot Williams, whose existing 10-day deal expires at the end of Sunday (Twitter link).
Traded 2016 First-Round Pick Exchange Scenarios
The trade deadline is a month from Monday, and with draft picks always serving as key trade chips, executives are keeping a close eye on whether the protected picks they either owe to, or are owed from, previous transactions will change hands. For instance, the Celtics and the Sixers could each have as many as four first-round picks this year, depending on where other teams finish this season, so Boston and Philly are no doubt monitoring those teams closely to determine what sort of assets they can offer in trade talks. A draft pick can be traded an unlimited number of times, and traded picks often end up traded again.
We’ve been keeping tabs on the different scenarios involving the protections attached to 2016 first-round picks that have already been traded, first examining them in August and again on December 1st. Plenty has changed in the last month and a half, and the likelihood of some outcomes is different than when we last checked.
So, we’ll again break down every scenario here, with an assist from our Round-by-Round Traded Picks Register, which Mark Porcaro compiles, and RealGM’s comprehensive database, as well as our Reverse Standings, which are updated daily. The simple explanation for the likelihood of each pick exchange is in bold, with details to follow:
- Nets to Celtics (unprotected) — 100% certain to happen
- Cavaliers to Suns (top-10 protected) — Overwhelmingly likely to happen: The Cavs lost a tough one to the Spurs last night, and a relatively slim eight-game margin separates Cleveland from the ninth-place Celtics in the Eastern Conference, but let’s not kid ourselves; the Cavs will make the playoffs and this pick is going to Phoenix.
- Mavericks to Celtics (top-7 protected) — Likely to happen: The Mavericks, at 22-18, have been one of the most pleasant surprises of the year, and while enough season remains and enough firepower exists in the Western Conference to conceivably knock them out of the playoffs, it looks like they’re going to the postseason and giving up their pick.
- Heat to Warriors (Golden State gets Miami’s pick if it falls outside the top 10 and comes after Golden State’s pick and Oklahoma City’s pick) — Unlikely to happen: A complicated set of scenarios surround this exchange, but essentially, the Heat would have to finish with a better record than the Warriors as well as the Thunder. Miami is five and a half games behind Oklahoma City and the Warriors are virtually untouchable, so this scenario is a long shot at best.
- Heat to Sixers (Philadelphia gets Miami’s pick if it falls outside the top 10 and comes before either Golden State’s pick or Oklahoma City’s pick) — Toss up (flipped from likely to happen last time): This would-be swap is a corollary to the long-shot Heat/Warriors possibility described above. Assuming that above scenario doesn’t happen, Miami’s pick is going to Philly if the Heat make the playoffs. Miami seems like a strong bet for the postseason, but with only two games separating them from ninth-place Boston, that’s no certainty.
- Thunder to Warriors (Golden State gets Oklahoma City’s pick if it falls outside the top 15 and comes after Miami’s pick and Golden State’s pick) — Unlikely to happen: This is another one related to the Heat/Warriors exchange above. The Thunder would have to catch the Warriors for that to happen, and Golden State has a nine-game lead on Oklahoma City.
- Thunder to Sixers (Philadelphia gets Miami’s pick if it falls outside the top 15 and comes before either Golden State’s pick or Oklahoma City’s pick) — Likely to happen: If the Thunder don’t send their pick to the Warriors, and it seems they won’t, they’re probably sending the pick to Philly. Oklahoma City, at 28-12, would have to miss the playoffs — or make the playoffs with the worst record among postseason teams — to keep the pick.
- Warriors to Sixers (Philadelphia gets Golden State’s pick if it comes before either Miami’s pick or Oklahoma City’s pick, as long as Miami’s pick falls outside the top 10 and Oklahoma City’s pick falls outside the top 15) — Unlikely to happen: The final of this string of five possible outcomes depends on whether the Thunder or the Heat can catch the Warriors. It doesn’t seem anyone can, so this pick probably stays put.
- Rockets to Nuggets (top-14 protected) — Likely to happen (flipped from toss-up last time): This pick comes down to whether or not Houston makes the playoffs, and while the team’s four and a half game lead on ninth-place is by no means safe, it’s large enough, and the Rockets are talented enough, to move this into the likely category.
- Lakers to Sixers (top-3 protected) — Toss-up: The Lakers are three and a half games worse than the Timberwolves, who are in the No. 4 spot in the lottery, but, ironically, the team that finishes with the second-worst record in the league has a better chance of picking at No. 4 than the team that finishes with the fourth-worst record. All that is to say that the fate of this pick will probably be determined on the night of the lottery.
- Grizzlies to Nuggets (Denver gets the Memphis pick if it falls anywhere from No. 6 to No. 14) — Unlikely to happen: This one is quite similar to the Rockets-to-Nuggets exchange. Memphis, thanks to its win Thursday against the Pistons, has a five-game lead over the Trail Blazers and Kings, who are in a virtual tie for ninth in the Western Conference. The Grizzlies should hold on to a playoff spot, but they’re not quite shoo-ins.
- Timberwolves to Celtics (top-12 protected) — Unlikely to happen (flipped from toss-up last time): The Wolves were just a game below .500 when we last looked at these scenarios, but they’re 12-28 now. They could always make a surge, and they’re only seven and a half games behind Washington, the 12th-worst team in the league, but this pick is unlikely to end up in Boston.
- Knicks to Nuggets (Denver gets the better pick of its own and New York’s) —Toss-up: The Knicks have the edge to finish with a superior record, which would mean their pick wouldn’t be going to Denver, but they’re only ahead by three in the loss column, so we can’t make any conclusions yet.
- Knicks to Raptors (Toronto gets New York’s pick if it comes after Denver’s pick) —Toss-up: The Raptors will end up with whichever pick the Nuggets don’t take in the pick swap described immediately above, so with little separation between Denver and New York, this one is just as hard to call.
- Nuggets to Raptors (Toronto gets the Denver’s pick if it comes after New York’s pick) — Toss-up: See the explanation for the last two picks.
- Trail Blazers to Nuggets (top-14 protected) — Toss-up (Flipped from unlikely to happen last time): Few have noticed, but Terry Stotts is delivering one of the best coaching performances in the NBA this season, leading a team that didn’t sign any of its own free agents into a virtual tie with the Kings for ninth place in the Western Conference, just one game behind the Jazz for the last playoff spot. Thus, it’s too early to tell about this pick, which depends on whether the Blazers make the playoffs.
- Kings to Bulls (top-10 protected) — Toss-up: Sacramento is right there for a playoff spot, virtually tied with the Trail Blazers and one game behind eighth-place Utah, but the Kings nonetheless have the ninth-worst record in the league, and if the pick ends up at No. 9, Chicago doesn’t get it. It’s tough to tell how this will turn out.
- Kings to Sixers (Philadelphia gets the better of Sacramento’s pick and its own if Sacramento’s pick falls inside the top 10) — Unlikely to happen: The Sixers are playing better since hiring Jerry Colangelo, but they’re 13 games behind the Kings. They’d have to at least make a significant bite into that gap if this scenario were to become remotely likely. Still, the Kings could always beat the odds and win a top-three pick in the lottery, triggering this swap, so we don’t know for sure about this one.
- Sixers to Kings (Sacramento gets the inferior of its own pick and Philadelphia’s pick if its own pick falls inside the top 10) — Unlikely to happen: Since Philadelphia probably doesn’t end up with Sacramento’s pick, the Sixers probably won’t be sending their pick to the Kings.
We looked at traded 2016 second-round pick exchange scenarios last month.
Greivis Vasquez Changes Agents
Soon-to-be free agent Greivis Vasquez has signed with Octagon agent Alex Saratsis after leaving the Wasserman Media Group, reports Liz Mullen of the SportsBusiness Journal (Twitter link). Darren Matsubara had been the representative for the Bucks backup point guard, and for Joel Embiid, who also recently left Wasserman and is reportedly expected to sign with Leon Rose. The departure of Vasquez represents another hit for an agency in transition following the departure of Arn Tellem for a job in the Pistons organization last year.
Vasquez is recovering from right ankle surgery in December that’s poised to keep him out for most of the rest of the season. He was averaging his fewest points per game since his rookie season in 16 contests before the injury, so Saratsis seems likely to face a difficult challenge to equal or better the two-year, $13MM deal Vasquez signed in 2014. Saturday is Vasquez’s 29th birthday, and the memory of his 9.0 assists per game for New Orleans in 2012/13 is receding farther into the past.
Saratsis represents many clients from outside the U.S., including fellow Buck Giannis Antetokounmpo, so he’s a fit for the Venezuelan-born Vasquez in that regard. The four-year, $8MM deal for Kendall Marshall that Saratsis and fellow Octagon agent Jeff Austin helped him find is the largest free agent contract the Sixers have handed out since GM Sam Hinkie came aboard in 2013, and it came after Marshall suffered a torn ACL while playing for the Bucks last season. Vasquez might be loath to settle for $2MM a year, but the Marshall precedent nonetheless seems encouraging.
Pacific Notes: Gay, World Peace, Kelly, Acy
It’s not accurate to say the Kings have Rudy Gay on the block, and Sacramento isn’t actively shopping him, sources tell James Ham of CSN California and CSNBayArea.com, adding that it’s unclear whether the team’s reported offer to the Pelicans of Gay for Ryan Anderson took place. Gay has strong relationship with DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo, Ham notes, adding that Gay recruited Rondo, a longtime friend, when the point guard was a free agent this past summer. Gay has also been linked to the Bulls and the Clippers in the past, according to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee, and much has changed since the Kings made him virtually untouchable in trade talk a year ago, Jones adds. He’s struggled to fit into coach George Karl‘s system on the court, Jones writes, noting that the team has had concerns about its depth at two guard all season and speculating that Rondo’s presence might make Gay expendable. See more on the Kings and the rest of the Pacific Division:
- Metta World Peace would like to play in the NBA for another two seasons, though it appears he’ll be OK with whatever the outcome is following the end of his Lakers contract this summer, observes Janis Carr of the Orange County Register. The 36-year-old is meanwhile dispelling his volatile reputation, serving as a mentor for younger Lakers, as Carr details. “I didn’t think he would be that nice of a guy,” rookie D’Angelo Russell said. “But he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.”
- Ryan Kelly is seeing less playing time this season than in his first two years with the Lakers, but he’s confident that he’s a much better player than he was when he arrived in the NBA, Carr notes in a separate piece. He’s on an expiring contract and is set for restricted free agency at season’s end.
- The Kings netted Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray in the same trade with the Raptors a little more than two years ago, and all three are still paying dividends, with Gay and Acy on the roster, and Gray, an assistant for the Pistons D-League team, still a confidant of Acy’s, as The Bee’s Matt Kawahara details.
Cavs Seek Three-And-D Wing Player
Influential Cavs players are open to trading for Markieff Morris, but the front office is instead looking for a defensive-minded wing player who can effectively shoot spot-up jumpers from long range, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer hears. Cavs higher-ups want that three-and-D wing to back up Iman Shumpert, concerned that the way Shumpert plays will again leave him injured, just as he was to start the season with a wrist issue that cost him the team’s first 21 games, Haynes reports.
The Suns have made Morris “very available” for a trade, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote last month, amid a losing season, a benching, and a back-and-forth that included a summer trade demand, a media day backtracking, and a suspension for throwing a towel at coach Jeff Hornacek. Cavs players nonetheless think he’d be solid if veteran voices LeBron James, Richard Jefferson and James Jones were in his ear, according to Haynes. However, the Cavs brass is worried Morris would upset team chemistry, Haynes hears. The players also like the idea of adding Morris as insurance behind Kevin Love, Haynes writes. Love, like Shumpert, has had trouble with injuries in the past.
The Cavs have an open roster spot after trading Joe Harris to the Magic this week, a move that helped reduce Cleveland’s massive projected tax bill. The team is nonetheless in line to shell out about $170MM between payroll and taxes, and trading for Morris and his $8MM salary using its $10,522,500 trade exception would send that figure about $25MM higher, putting the Cavs in position to break the record of the 2013/14 Nets, who laid out more than $193MM, for the most money spent in a single season. The alternative would be to send matching salary to Phoenix, but either way, the Suns would likely want assets the Cavs simply don’t have, Haynes posits. The Suns are reportedly looking for young players or draft picks in exchange for Morris, and the Cavs have unloaded many such assets since going into win-now mode upon LeBron’s 2014 return.
Three-and-D wing players are tough to find on the trade market. The Suns have rugged defender P.J. Tucker, a career 35.5% 3-point shooter, but they’ve given no indication that they’re prepared to deal him yet.
Which do you think the Cavs need more, a three-and-D wing or Morris? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Nate Robinson To Audition For Chinese Team
FRIDAY, 9:37am: The Flying Tigers won’t be signing Robinson, Pick hears (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 8:46am: Nate Robinson will work out soon for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, as sources tell Nick Bedard of Basketball Buddha and as international journalist David Pick confirms (Twitter link). The three-time NBA slam dunk champ has been on the market since clearing waivers from the Pelicans, who surprisingly waived him two days after he started for the team on opening night. It’s unclear what sort of deal it would take for Xinjiang to land the Aaron Goodwin client, though with the team tied for first place, a signing for the rest of the normally brief Chinese season is liable to keep Robinson off the market until late March if the Flying Tigers make the finals.
The 31-year-old Robinson has yet to play professionally overseas, having appeared in the NBA each season since he was the 21st overall pick in 2005. An injury helped keep him from finishing the season in the NBA last year, when the Clippers decided against re-signing him after his pair of 10-day contracts expired. Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said his team preferred Toney Douglas, whom New Orleans signed the day after Robinson’s October release.
The Flying Tigers have former NBA big man Andray Blatche in the midst of a three-year deal. They also have ex-Lakers player Andrew Goudelock, who’s been playing well, but both Bedard and Pick speculate that he would be the one to go should the team sign Robinson (Twitter link).
Atlantic Notes: DeRozan, Hollins, Mills, ‘Melo
DeMar DeRozan has made no secret of his affection for Toronto, and he tells Michael Lee of The Washington Post that just because the Raptors have a history of star players leaving doesn’t mean he’ll follow suit. DeRozan is poised to turn down his player option worth only slightly more than $10MM and hit free agency this summer.
“One thing I never did was look at anybody else, what they did or what they followed, honestly,” DeRozan said to Lee. “I always stuck to what I believe in and what I’m comfortable with. If I see a hundred people walking left, that don’t necessarily mean I’m going to walk left. I may see this clear path and want to stay right.”
See more from the Atlantic Division:
- Nets higher-ups were angry about the way former coach Lionel Hollins would pin blame on his players, sources tell Brian Lewis of the New York Post, and several sources who spoke with Andy Vasquez of The Record couldn’t identify a single player on the team who was fond of Hollins. Many players thought the coach talked down to them and found it hard to respect him because of that, Vasquez writes.
- Knicks GM Steve Mills is very much involved with player personnel in his role under team president Phil Jackson, as agents tell Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that Mills is the go-to guy when they talk to someone from the Knicks. James Dolan has done little meddling with Jackson around, and the team hasn’t had substantive talks regarding a Carmelo Anthony trade this year, Deveney adds.
- Nerlens Noel has long been a fan of Ish Smith, but the point guard has helped Jahlil Okafor‘s offensive game, too, observes Keith Bodner of Philadelphia magazine. The No. 3 overall pick has put up impressive numbers, albeit in a small sample size, since the Sixers traded for Smith on December 24th, as Bodner examines.