O.J. Mayo Breaks Ankle, Out For Season
3:50pm: Mayo suffered a broken right ankle after he tripped descending the stairs at his home, the team relayed in its official announcement. Milwaukee’s statement also confirms that Mayo is indeed out for the remainder of the season.
3:04pm: O.J. Mayo has a broken leg and will miss the rest of the season, league sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The 28-year-old is on an expiring contract, so he’s poised to enter free agency this summer. The injury took place this week, according to Charania, though it’s unclear from the report which leg is broken.
The shooting guard’s injury is just the latest in a string that the Bucks have been struck with. Both Michael Carter-Williams and Steve Novak are lost for the season, Greivis Vasquez is out until at least March 25th with an ankle injury and John Henson is expected to miss at least another week with back woes. The Bucks have the regular season maximum of 15 players on their roster, but with four players expected to miss two weeks or more the team will be eligible to apply to the league for a hardship allowance, which would grant them a 16th roster spot if approved.
Mayo, who is earning $8MM in the final season of his current deal, appeared in 41 games this season and was averaging 7.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 26.6 minutes per night. His scoring average for 2015/16 is by far the lowest in his eight seasons in the league, with his shooting line on the season an anemic .371/.321/.775.
Pacific Notes: Cousins, Cauley-Stein, Sanders
The Kings have given DeMarcus Cousins a one-game suspension, the team announced, in the wake of his outburst toward coach George Karl during a timeout in Wednesday’s game. Cousins continued his tirade after the game, upset that Karl wasn’t defending him to refs, and Cousins jawed with GM Vlade Divac too, reports Chris Mannix of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). It was odd timing, as Karl told Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee after the game that he would undergo a minor procedure for cancer in his throat today. It’s the latest chapter in the up-and-down relationship between Cousins and Karl, and it costs the star big man $144,109, 1/110th of his salary for the season. Cousins, who’ll miss Friday’s game against the Magic, wasn’t the only Kings player upset with Karl on Wednesday, as we detail amid news from the Pacific Division:
- Kings rookie Willie Cauley-Stein found it difficult to accept Karl’s explanation for the decreased minutes he’s seen of late, as James Ham of CSN California relays. Karl told reporters not to overreact to Cauley-Stein’s minutes dip, saying he’ll see plenty of burn the rest of the season and pointing specifically to the matchups involved in Wednesday’s game, Ham notes. “That’s funny, that’s funny, kind of flimsy, [because] I can guard five positions, so that’s redundant, otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” Cauley-Stein said. “There should be no matchup problems ever. So that’s just an excuse I think. However, I’m not the coach.”
- Larry Sanders is living in Los Angeles and has Lakers season tickets, as he told Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. The 27-year-old center who walked away from the game last year said he can envision making a comeback but remains wary of the NBA grind and said he won’t return to the situation he was in before, Kennedy relays, a subtle hint that he wouldn’t consider returning to the Bucks. Sanders praised Magic coach Scott Skiles, who was the Bucks coach when he entered the NBA, Kennedy also notes. The former 15th overall pick recently told Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports that he plans to play in the NBA again but only after he tends to other opportunities.
- The Markieff Morris trade appears to have been beneficial for both the Suns and the Wizards, though much depends on where the top-nine protected pick that Washington owes Phoenix ends up in the draft order, observes Jeremy Cluff of the Arizona Republic.
George Karl Undergoes Cancer Treatment
2:18pm: Karl plans to return in time for Friday’s game, he tells Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). “It’s a simple procedure,” Karl said. “Almost done. I will be fine.”
12:57pm: Associate head coach Chad Iske, the lead assistant to Karl, would lead the team for Friday’s game if Karl isn’t available, according to James Ham of CSN California.
7:58am: George Karl will undergo a medical procedure today to treat cancer in his throat, he told Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. The 63-year-old who’s twice survived cancer will miss today’s practice, according to Jones, and it’s unclear when he’ll return to the team, which next plays Friday against the Magic. GM Vlade Divac said to Jones that the team won’t rush him back. Karl insists his condition is not serious, Jones notes. The team hasn’t named an interim replacement, though Corliss Williamson was reportedly poised to become interim coach in February, when the team nearly fired Karl.
Some around the Kings have had concerns about the effect that Karl’s health has had on his ability to coach, USA Today’s Sam Amick reported in February, shortly after the team nearly fired him. Players have had difficulty hearing Karl’s voice during games, according to Amick. Karl missed the second half of the 2009/10 season to recover from throat and neck cancer while he was coach of the Nuggets. He suffered from prostate cancer in 2005.
DeMarcus Cousins was animated as he delivered an apparent tirade to Karl on the bench during Sacramento’s loss Wednesday to the Cavs, before Karl publicly revealed his cancer and presumably before Cousins knew about it. Cousins felt Karl wasn’t supporting the players enough, similar to complaints from other players that the coach isn’t exhibiting passion during games and doesn’t stand up for them, but by the next timeout, Cousins and Karl acted as though the blowup hadn’t taken place, according to Sean Cunningham of KXTV-TV in Sacramento (All four Twitter links).
And-Ones: Suns, Fisher, Satoransky, Bennett
Suns owner Robert Sarver said he’s committed to keeping GM Ryan McDonough for next season and optimistic about the team’s position for the future, in an extensive interview with Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Sarver referred to rookie Devin Booker as a potential face of the franchise and also expressed belief in fellow recent first-round picks Alex Len, T.J. Warren and Archie Goodwin. The owner maintains faith in disappointing offseason signee Tyson Chandler, believing that he’ll perform better next season, when he’ll be 34. Still, Sarver insisted that he’ll leave matters of player personnel to McDonough and company, even as he feels a responsibility to set the tone.
“My biggest regret is that, as a manager of people, I feel I let the organization down in terms of the culture,” Sarver said to Coro. “I didn’t put my hand print on that culture and maybe didn’t hold people as accountable as I should and really make sure we’re putting that together. But I’m starting to see some of that.”
Sarver also stumped for public funding of a new arena and pointed to a clause in the team’s lease at Talking Stick Resort Arena, its existing home, that would allow the Suns to leave in 2021, as Coro relays. See more from around the NBA, which has seen the last of referee Joey Crawford, as Steve Aschburner of NBA.com reports:
- Derek Fisher insists he didn’t lose his job as Knicks coach over character or integrity issues, as he writes in an essay for The Cauldron blog on SI.com. Fisher addressed his preseason encounter with Matt Barnes at the home of Barnes’ estranged wife, writing that he didn’t retaliate against Barnes during the incident and that he never had issues or much of a relationship with Barnes before that. Still, Fisher failed to address why he was in California and away from the Knicks when the episode took place, notes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Twitter link).
- It’s still possible for the Wizards to sign draft-and-stash prospect Tomas Satoransky this summer even in the wake of the four-year extension he signed with Barcelona of Spain, which doesn’t include an NBA out until 2017, a source tells Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post. The Wizards could buy out Satoransky’s contract before the extension kicks in, Castillo hears, adding that Washington would likely sign him to a two-year deal with a team option on the second season if the team brings him stateside.
- Luis Scola‘s professionalism is well-known around the league, and Anthony Bennett, cognizant his NBA career was teetering on the brink, sought out his advice not long before the Raptors waived the former No. 1 overall pick last week, team sources tell Doug Smith of the Toronto Star. The release of Bennett was an eye-opener, rookie Delon Wright said, as Smith also notes in his look at the roles of nonstars in the NBA.
Financial Impact Of Deadline, Buyouts: Atlantic
The effects of the trade deadline and buyout season are still being felt around the NBA as teams negotiate with new free agents and fill open roster spots. Hoops Rumors is taking a team-by-team look at the financial ramifications of all the movement. We examined the Southwest, Pacific, Central and Northwest divisions earlier, and we’ll continue with the Atlantic Division:
Boston Celtics
It became clear that the Celtics had no use for David Lee, and he didn’t want to spend another season lost on the bench, particularly with his free agency coming this summer. So, the sides engineered what’s been perhaps the most mutually beneficial divorce, at least in financial terms, of buyout season. Lee is averaging 19.6 minutes per game for the Mavericks on a deal that gives him $2,085,671, the prorated remainder of his new team’s room exception. It’s about five times more lucrative than what he could have earned on the standard prorated minimum deal that most players sign for this time of year.
Its size is helpful for the Celtics, too. Teams and players typically agree to waive the right of set off in buyout arrangements, but Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports indicates that didn’t take place here. So, according to the league’s formula for set off, the Celtics get to subtract half the difference between Lee’s new salary and the one-year veteran’s minimum from their remaining obligation to Lee. That’s $2,085,671 minus $845,059 divided by two, or $620,306. That, put together with the $458,575 Lee gave up in the buyout itself, means the Celtics reaped a $1,078,881 benefit from offloading a player who’d only appeared in three games since Christmas.
Boston used some of that savings on a 10-day contract for D-Leaguer Coty Clarke, but it only costs $30,888. They could re-sign him for the rest of the season and it would cost only $86,486, provided he’d take the rookie minimum, which would be expected.
Brooklyn Nets
It was no surprise to see the Nets fail to make a trade last month, since they hired a new GM just hours before the deadline in a strangely timed front office move reminiscent of when the Trail Blazers fired GM Kevin Pritchard just before the 2010 draft. New GM Sean Marks didn’t pull off a quick trade, but he swiftly struck a buyout with Andrea Bargnani and did the same with Joe Johnson shortly thereafter. The Bargnani negotiation was tricky because he had a player option for next season. He wound up forfeiting $323,599 of what had been a $1,362,897 salary for this season and $1,228,060 of his $1,551,659 player option. The combined total of what he gave up was equivalent to the original value of his option, meaning, in essence, he declined it. It’s not entirely clear why the sides didn’t simply arrange for Bargnani to have his full-season salary this year and wipe out the option year, a move that would have helped the Nets clear cap space for this summer’s free agents.
Regardless, Brooklyn added to its savings when Joe Johnson gave up an even $3MM, allowing the Nets to pocket $4,551,659, a savings that, added to the $16MM they reaped in their summer buyout with Deron Williams, underscored the sober financial decision-making of the Nets in the wake of their failed high-dollar ventures of years past. They spent a $99,418 pittance of that savings on two 10-day contracts for Sean Kilpatrick.
New York Knicks
The Knicks didn’t pull off a trade or buyout, but that didn’t stop them from making noise on the market the past couple of weeks. They invited all sorts of attention with their 10-day contract for Jimmer Fredette, but the former BYU’s enduring popularity from his college days does a much better job of explaining the hubbub than does the $55,722 the Knicks spent on his contract.
More interesting and impactful from a financial standpoint is the pending two-year deal with Tony Wroten. He’s been adamant about not signing a 10-day contract, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), which helps to explain his absence from the NBA since the Sixers waived him on Christmas Eve. So, too, do apparent concerns about his injury that make it highly unlikely he’d actually play in a game for the Knicks this season even if he does indeed sign. Thus, New York seems to be poised to spend the prorated minimum of about $200K simply for the privilege of an up-close look at him to help them decide whether to keep him for next season, when the deal reportedly wouldn’t include a fully guaranteed salary. It’s by no means a staggering outlay, but it’s nonetheless one more way a large-market team like the Knicks can throw its financial weight around.
Philadelphia 76ers
The Sixers irked other teams with some of their moves during their unconventional rebuilding project, so it’s worth wondering if a degree of schadenfreude existed in front offices around the league when Philly essentially became an innocent victim in the voided Donatas Motiejunas trade. The deal caused them to lose JaKarr Sampson for nothing when they waived him to accommodate the arrival of Joel Anthony via trade. Sampson signed with the Nuggets while the trade remained in limbo, a period when the Sixers couldn’t waive Anthony to reopen the roster spot that had been Sampson’s because it wasn’t clear whether they’d be getting Anthony in the first place.
They weren’t going to keep Anthony anyway, but losing the ability to take on his $2.5MM cap hit and draw closer to the salary floor left the Sixers at the mercy of the buyout market. The presence of Anthony’s salary wouldn’t have taken the Sixers all the way to the $63MM floor, but it would have brought them to just $130,651 short, an amount the team easily could have made up with a prorated minimum contract for a free agent who’d go into Anthony’s roster spot, preferably Sampson.
The Sixers took a pass when Beno Udrih and his $2,170,465 salary were on waivers, as that would have left them $460,186 shy of the floor, a gap larger than they could make up with a prorated minimum-salary deal for someone else. Phoenix’s decision to waive Sonny Weems was a stroke of luck for the Sixers, who pounced with a claim on him and his $2.814MM salary. That put the Sixers over the salary floor. They’re obligated to pay Weems only a fraction of his $2.814MM, since the Suns already gave him the majority of his paychecks, even though his entire salary counts toward the floor.
The timing wasn’t perfect, since the Sixers had just signed Christian Wood to a 10-day contract worth $30,888 three days prior to the claim. So they had to waive a rookie they’re clearly fond of for a second time this season and eat the entire 10-day salary. Still, they avoided shelling out $2,599,763, which was the amount of the team’s shortfall beneath the cap before Weems claim, at the cost of just $660K, which is the amount of Weems’ salary that the Sixers will pay, according to Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors entered the deadline and buyout season on a roll, so it’s no surprise they were relatively inactive. The release of Anthony Bennett had more of a historical impact than a financial one given his status as the No. 1 overall pick less than three years ago. Bennett remains unsigned and seems unlikely to make more than a prorated minimum salary if he does join another NBA team, so his $947,276 salary remains glued to Toronto’s books with little hope of a set off. The Raptors added the prorated minimum of $245,177 for Jason Thompson, who’ll receive an additional $83,778 from the league because he is a seven-year veteran, but they’re still more than $2MM shy of the tax line. The team owes neither Thompson nor Bennett any money beyond the end of the season, so the Raptors haven’t meddled with their long-term flexibility.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Grizzlies Fear Mario Chalmers Tore Achilles
11:07am: The team will try to get two roster spots on top of the one for Weber, with an eye on adding both a guard and a big man, according to Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal (Twitter links). That indicates Memphis is seeking permission to carry 18 players, three over the regular season limit. Herrington also suggests the Grizzlies might weigh the merits of waiving Chalmers if he’s done for the season, thus forfeiting his Bird rights, though it’s unclear if they’re considering such a move. Weber signed Wednesday, according to RealGM, though the team has made no announcement, and it’s not entirely clear whether he’s indeed under contract.
9:52am: The Grizzlies are worried that an MRI will show that Mario Chalmers tore his Achilles tendon during Wednesday’s game, reports Zach Lowe of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Chalmers mouthed the words, “I heard it pop,” as he was helped off the floor during the third quarter, according to Chris Mannix of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). He didn’t return to the game and later left the locker room in a wheelchair, notes Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal.
A torn Achilles would obviously be devastating for Chalmers, whose contract expires at the end of the season, and it would add to a litany of injuries that have already prompted the Grizzlies to apply for a 16th roster spot. The team plans to sign point guard Briante Weber if the league allows the team an extra man via the hardship exception. It’s conceivable that Memphis could get clearance for a 17th player, since the team applied for the roster spot before Chalmers went down.
Marc Gasol is done for the season, while Jordan Adams, Chris Andersen, Mike Conley, Zach Randolph and Brandan Wright are all out for indefinite periods with maladies of some kind. Memphis would need four players likely to miss two weeks or more to receive clearance to add a 16th man. A fifth such injury would allow for a 17th man.
The Grizzlies have the fortune of largely being locked into their playoff seeding, since they’re four games in the loss column behind the fourth-place Clippers and five up on the sixth-place Trail Blazers. Still, the loss of Chalmers for the rest of the season would significantly weaken their bench for the playoffs.
Chris Bosh ‘Positive’ He’ll Return This Season
10:44am: The Heat won’t clear Bosh if there’s any risk at all to his health, as Ethan Skolnick of the Miami Herald hears (Twitter link). The statement Bosh released today came from a public relations firm that also represents Dwyane Wade and not from the Heat, Skolnick notes (Twitter links). The team has been prepared to make a statement for four weeks but has left the matter to Bosh, Skolnick adds.
10:17am: Chris Bosh has expressed his intention to return to play this season in a statement he released to media, according to Sports Illustrated (Twitter link). The Heat star said he’s no longer suffering from blood clots and that he continues to work with doctors.
“I remain positive that I will be able to return this season,” Bosh said in part (see the full statement here).
The Heat were reportedly pressuring Bosh to sit out the rest of the season, as Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reported, though a team source who spoke with Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post denied that. Bosh’s maximum-salary contract calls for him to make more than $75.868MM over three seasons after this one, a massive investment for the team. He missed the second half of last season with blood clots in his lungs, but the problem this year was reportedly confined to his left calf.
Bosh has apparently held out hope of playing this season from the beginning of the issue last month, and he’s conveyed positive signals via social media even as he hasn’t spoken with reporters and the team has given little information about his health. He hasn’t played since February 9th, the Heat’s last game before the All-Star break, and he was a late scratch for the All-Star Game because of the clotting.
The return of Bosh would be a major boost to the Heat, who’ve gone 5-1 since buyout-market signee Joe Johnson made his debut February 28th. A lineup with both Bosh and Johnson would ostensibly make the Heat formidable contenders for the Eastern Conference title.
Atlantic Notes: Wroten, Okafor, Rondo, Powell
The Knicks apparently held reservations in the recent past about Tony Wroten‘s gambling style of defense, but sources tell Marc Berman of the New York Post they see him as a good defender who’s aggressive in the passing lanes. Wroten, who remains unsigned, is reportedly unlikely to see action for the Knicks this season even if he and the team do finalize a reported two-year agreement, but interim coach Kurt Rambis sees merit in adding him, as Berman relays.
“If he’s not healthy to play, we can evaluate him over summer,” Rambis said. “We see potential in him. Now we have his rights. He’s a penetrating guard. He was somebody who can really break down defenses and attack the basket, but I haven’t seen him play in a while. [There are] a lot of management reasons to do something like that, that still holds value to the team, even if he’s not actively playing the rest of the year. It’s a management and medical decision right now.”
See more on the Knicks and other teams from the Atlantic Division:
- Sixers coach Brett Brown didn’t rule out the idea that Jahlil Okafor will miss the rest of the season because of lingering soreness in his right knee, though he strongly cautioned that no such decision has been made, as Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer relays. The No. 3 overall pick from last year’s draft underwent a CAT scan Tuesday and hasn’t played since February 28th.
- Carmelo Anthony sees soon-to-be free agent Rajon Rondo as an ideal fit for the triangle offense, but Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News argues that Rondo would be a poor free agent choice for the Knicks, citing his lack of shooting, questions about whether he’s truly an elite player and frequent involvement in controversy.
- Norman Powell has proven a steal at the No. 46 pick last year, contends Mike Ganter of The National Post. Minutes have been inconsistent for the Raptors small forward, but he’s nonetheless getting some significant playing time and making a contribution to the Eastern Conference’s second-place team, as Ganter details.
Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 3/8/16
Friends of Rockets center Dwight Howard have indicated that the big man would have interest in joining the Knicks this offseason if he, as expected, turns down his player option in search of a more lucrative max deal. It’s unclear whether or not the Knicks have mutual interest in Howard, and it also remains to be seen just how highly he regards the franchise compared to other potential free agent destinations. Bucks broadcaster Gus Johnson relayed that Howard told him he likes Milwaukee and wanted to join the Bucks at the trade deadline. Discussions between Milwaukee and Houston reportedly hit an impasse because Howard wouldn’t agree to opt in for 2016/17.
The Knicks have approximately $55MM in guaranteed salary committed for next season against a salary cap projected to be set between $90MM and $95MM, though that amount doesn’t include player options for Arron Afflalo and Derrick Williams. New York wouldn’t have the needed cap space to pay Howard his max of some $30MM for next season if both Afflalo and Williams opt in. Also complicating matters on the Howard front for the Knicks is the presence of Robin Lopez, who inked a four year, $54MM pact with the team this past offseason. Lopez set to earn $13,219,250 in 2016/17, and that would be a cap-crippling amount for the Knicks if they were unable to find a taker for him on the trade market. Howard and Lopez wouldn’t mesh very well on offense, and playing them alongside one another in a “twin towers” lineup would likely prove disastrous.
There’s little doubt that Howard is the superior player of the pair based on the statistical track records of both big men, but it is highly debatable that Howard is worth close to $30MM a season at this stage of his career. For the record, I say he absolutely does not warrant that sum annually, even if the cap does jump to almost $95MM. Even at his peak, I would have hesitated to pony up that amount, but with Howard’s advancing age, balky knee and back, doing so would be a huge gamble that would likely end in disappointment for the Knicks franchise and its fans. Pairing Howard with Carmelo Anthony would create an interesting tandem, but unless the Knicks add a competent point guard to the mix, the team would be unlikely to contend for a title, regardless of whether or not Anthony and Howard remain healthy.
This brings me to the topic of the day and the part where I turn this debate over to you, the readers. Today’s question is, Should the Knicks look to sign Dwight Howard this offseason?
New York has had difficulties luring star players in recent years, so there is no guarantee that Howard would jump at the chance to play in Madison Square Garden. The big man has also reportedly had issues with his diminished role on offense with the Rockets, as well as with teammate James Harden. While Anthony doesn’t dominate the ball nearly as much as Harden does, he is still a volume shooter and Howard may not want to share the spotlight alongside ‘Melo or Kristaps Porzingis, who might end up being the team’s starting center in the near future. One thing potentially working in the Knicks’ favor is that there may not be many suitors willing to sign Howard to a max deal, so New York could become an appealing option if it were to bid on him.
But what say you? Should the Knicks make a push to ink Howard no matter the cost, or are his age, injury concerns and potential cap hit deal-breakers for you? Take to the comments section to share your thoughts and opinions on the matter. We look forward to what you have to say.
And-Ones: Ajinca, Dawson, Lawson
Pelicans center Alexis Ajinca, who is dealing with a fractured sternum he suffered on March 2nd, hopes to return to action this season, but he is still experiencing significant discomfort, Jim Eichenhofer of NBA.com writes. “It’s still painful,” Ajinca said. “I’m still trying to catch my breath sometimes. But it’s getting better. I started shooting. I’m hoping to come back soon, but I’m still dealing with the pain, so we’ll see how far I have till I come back.”
Ajinca wants to help out his injury-depleted team by returning to the court, but he also needs to weigh his desire to play versus long-term health concerns, Eichenhofer relays. “I’m trying to come back, because sitting on the side is not really my thing. I don’t like doing that,” Ajinca said. “I’m trying to come back before the end of the season. But on the other hand, I’m also trying to be healthy and not jeopardizing my health if I’m coming back too early. I hope I can come back soon and have a pad on [the injury to protect it]. Hopefully it won’t be too painful if I get hit again.” The big man is in the first year of the four-year, $20.2MM deal he inked last July.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Clippers rookie Branden Dawson has spent the bulk of his rookie season in the D-League, only making three NBA appearances on the campaign, but the small forward believes this will help his development in the long run, Rowan Kavner of NBA.com writes. “Just a better opportunity and just playing more,” Dawson said about his D-League time. “The first time I went down, when I went to Bakersfield, it was different. I didn’t know what to expect going down for the first time. Now, I’m a lot more confident and I’m playing more. The main thing is to get better. The reason why guys go down is to get better. The first two times, I learned a lot from the coaches I played with, the different programs. The main thing is to just come down and get better.”
- A number of teams had interest in point guard Ty Lawson after he reached a buyout agreement with the Rockets, including the Bucks and the Jazz, Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports tweets. Lawson subsequently signed with the Pacers because he wanted to catch on with a new team quickly and he believed Indiana was a perfect fit for his skills, Agness adds.
- Shelvin Mack has impressed the Jazz with his solid play since arriving in a trade deadline deal from Atlanta, and he’s provided the stability the team sought after losing starter Dante Exum for the year with a torn ACL in his left knee, Jody Genessy of The Deseret News writes. “I think he’s making a good transition,” coach Quin Snyder said. “A lot of that is a compliment to Bud [Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer] and his staff and their team … and to him, of course.”