Mavs Notes: Jordan, Lee, Pachulia, Parsons
DeAndre Jordan initially committed to Dallas in part because he sought a larger offensive role, and while he’s averaging as many field goal attempts this season as he did last year, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle believes the Clippers are getting him more involved than in years past, notes Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times. Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers agrees.
“He does have a pretty big offensive role and people don’t get that per se,” Rivers said. “I think everything in this day and time is the exact number of points, that’s all people look at instead of who creates offense.”
For what it’s worth, Jordan is averaging 12.4 points per game, a career high and nearly a point better than last season. He padded that average Monday, deepening the Mavs’ wounds, as we detail:
- The Mavs have failed to deliver more than a mediocre cast around Dirk Nowitzki the past four years, and the Clippers, with erstwhile Mavs targets Jordan and Chris Paul, showcase the Mavs’ free agent failures, opines Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Jordan’s 23 points and 20 rebounds in L.A.’s win Monday at Dallas served as a painful reminder for Chandler Parsons, as MacMahon chronicles (ESPN Now link). “It’s frustrating,” Parsons said. “I still think he would have been much better here, but he’s having a good year and he’s on a very good team that’s going to make a run, so you can’t blame him for that. He didn’t do anything illegal, and he’s playing well.”
- David Lee has made a strong impression so far in his stint with the Mavericks, but Carlisle is committed to keeping Zaza Pachulia as his starter at center, observes Reece Waddell of the Dallas Morning News. Pachulia, whom the Mavs acquired as a fallback option after Jordan flip–flopped, is headed to free agency this coming summer, while Lee has a non-guaranteed salary for next season worth $2,502,805, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.
- Parsons is the best player on the Mavs right now as he heads toward free agency, contends Michael Pina of RealGM, who speculates on potential fits for the 27-year-old who looms as an intriguing plan B for teams that fall short in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes.
Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 3/7/16
The Warriors have a chance to do something unprecedented before this season’s playoffs begin. With an almost unfathomable 55-6 record, Golden State can take its place in NBA lore by breaking the 1995/96 Bulls’ record for most wins during the regular season.
A stunning loss to the Lakers on Sunday has placed their run toward history in some jeopardy, but the Warriors have shown the ability to bounce back from their most recent losses. They reeled off 11 consecutive victories after the Pistons blew them out in January, and they collected seven straight wins after a 32-point loss to the Trail Blazers coming out of the All-Star break.
Thus, that 72-10 benchmark still seems attainable, considering the Warriors are invincible at home and pretty close to that on the road. They’ve also been blessed by good health this season. Like any team, they’ve got some minor aches and pains — reigning Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry recently sat out a game with an ankle sprain — but they have all their major pieces available heading into the final 21 games of the season.
The schedule also works in the Warriors’ favor. They begin a stretch of six home games tonight, mostly against teams out of the playoff picture. They also play nine of their last 12 games at home.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr realizes the record is well within the team’s grasp, but he has other priorities. As Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports recently reported, Kerr plans to rest some of his regulars at times during the remainder of the season.
“Resting, that will take precedence,” Kerr told Spears. “We will rest guys if they need it before we will go for any kind of streak or record, that’s for sure.”
While winning back-to-back championships must be the priority for the Warriors, Kerr’s sentiment can’t be good news for the league. A sustained run toward the record would rank as the No. 1 sports story over the next five weeks, even superseding the start of the baseball season and NFL free agency.
Moreover, the Warriors have won so many games by wide margins, their starters haven’t logged a lot of minutes. None of their players is in the top 20 in minutes played and only one, power forward Draymond Green (34.4 per game) cracks the top 30.
Kerr could take another approach, such as limiting the regulars’ minutes even more rather than holding them out of games. It would be a shame if the Warriors fail to break the record because some of their best players were wearing street clothes.
This leads us to our question of the day: Will the Warriors match or surpass the Bulls’ 1995/96 NBA record of 72 regular-season victories?
Please take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the subject. We look forward to what you have to say.
And-Ones: Weems, Mirotic, Augustin
The Sixers acquired swingman Sonny Weems to reach the salary floor but they plan to take a hard look at him, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The Sixers claimed Weems from the Suns on Monday, allowing them to reach the minimum team salary requirement for the season since they’ll get credit for his full $2.814MM salary, even though they’ll only have to pay less than $700K, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders points out (Twitter link). The Sixers made similar moves to reach the floor last season, including a claim of power forward Thomas Robinson, whom they did not re-sign, Pompey notes. Weems may be a different case. Robert Covington, Nik Stauskas and Hollis Thompson are the only true wing players on the roster, and thus Weems should get some opportunities to play, Pompey adds. A league source conceded to Pompey that it looks unseemly for the Sixers to work the system to meet the salary floor two years in a row but argued that the team has a legitimate need for a wing player that Weems can fulfill.
In other news around the league:
- Bulls power forward Nikola Mirotic has to prove he’s part of their future, now that he’s returned from an appendectomy, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times opines. He endured major growing pains during his second season with the team prior to the injury and he now has to work his way back into shape and be productive, Cowley continues. “You can’t play scared that if you get hit, something may happen, or you’ll have a setback,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg told Cowley and other members of the Chicago media. “You just have to go out there and react and play. I think it was big step for Niko. Now it’s a matter of getting his lungs in shape and getting his wind back.’
- Point guard D.J. Augustin has revived his career with the Nuggets, Erik Horne of The Oklahoman writes. Augustin averaged 12.8 points and shot 54.3% on 3-point attempts in his first nine games with Denver after he was acquired in a trade deadline deal from the Thunder. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City has averaged 16.4 turnovers, fourth-most in the league, since the trade, Horne notes.
- The Warriors recalled power forward Kevon Looney from their D-League affiliate, as the Santa Cruz Warriors tweet.
- The Thunder assigned forwards Josh Huestis and Mitch McGary to their D-League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, according to the team’s website. Huestis has already appeared in 16 D-League games this season, while McGary has played 17 games with the Blue.
Prospect Profile: Denzel Valentine
OVERVIEW: Denzel Valentine has steadily built his legacy — and his draft profile — during his four seasons at Michigan State. The versatile swingman — listed at 6’5” by ESPN.com and 6’6” by DraftExpress — was a valuable role player for the Spartans during his first two seasons, then exploded onto the national landscape during last year’s NCAA Tournament as a junior. He led the Spartans to an unlikely run to the Final Four, then upped the ante this winter with a spectacular senior season. He’s on pace to become the first player since assists became an official NCAA stat in 1983/84 to average at least 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. His development is reminiscent of two recent Big Ten stars, former Spartan Draymond Green and Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky.
STRENGTHS: The attribute that becomes readily apparent when watching Valentine play is his uncanny knack to make the right read and find the open man. That makes him an outstanding initiator on pick-and-rolls, an extremely valuable skill in the NBA game. Valentine became the Spartans’ de facto point guard early in his senior season and he’s thrived in that role, with his assist average jumping from 4.3 last season to 7.5, while his turnovers have barely increased (2.6 to 2.4) despite having the ball in his hands so often. His creativity off the dribble opens up high-percentage shots for teammates as the defense collapses around him. His shooting stroke is also an asset. Valentine has a very compact stroke, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress points out, with deep range and multiple release points. He’s adept at shooting off screens, with his feet set, or off the dribble, Givony adds. Currently, he’s shooting 47.1% from the field while averaging 14.5 shots per game and an outstanding 45.4% on 3-point attempts. Valentine also does a superior job of getting into position for rebounds, averaging at least 6.0 per game in his last three college seasons.
WEAKNESSES: Valentine does not have a defined position as he heads to the next level. ESPN lists him as an undersized small forward. His size and outside shooting ability would suggest he’ll be a shooting guard in the pros, while his passing prowess and floor leadership could make him an oversized point guard. The biggest knock on Valentine, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com examines, is his lack of elite athleticism. Valentine’s defensive intensity has improved throughout his college days, but he could have issues covering players with better foot speed because of his lack of lateral quickness. If his NBA coach utilizes him as a point forward, he’ll be mismatched at the other end and vulnerable to postups by bigger, stronger players. Another concern, as Givony notes, is that Valentine may have trouble finishing in the lane because of his lack of explosiveness. He often relies on his body to create space in halfcourt situations and tends to shoot difficult floaters when the lane closes up and he doesn’t have an outlet.
PROJECTED DRAFT RANGE: Valentine has some work to do during postseason evaluations to become a lottery pick. He’s currently ranked No. 22 on Chad Ford’s latest ESPN.com Big Board, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress pegs him at No. 18, so he’s projected as a mid-to-low first-rounder. ESPN lists him as the No. 4 small forward — though it’s a stretch to say he’ll play that position in the NBA — and No. 4 among players that DraftExpress lists primarily as shooting guards.
RISE/FALL: Valentine’s all-around game and maturity could help his draft status. He should be able to step into a team’s rotation, if not a starting role, in his first season. Scouts and front-office personnel will also be impressed by Valentine’s ability to raise his level of play against tough competition. He was the Spartans’ best player during their Final Four run last season, and early this season he lit up Kansas, the nation’s top-ranked team entering conference tournament play, with 29 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists. Valentine is arguably the best and most polished passer in the draft, ahead of even the point guard prospects, and he has a well-above average jump shot to complement his distribution skills. The biggest thing he’ll have to prove is that he won’t be a major defensive liability. His instincts and basketball IQ can help him overcome that to an extent, but he’ll have to show he won’t consistently get beaten off the dribble. His below-average athleticism will keep him out of the Top 10, but it’s quite conceivable he’ll end up as a late lottery selection.
FIT: There are plenty of teams that could use another offensive facilitator and shooter at the wing spots. He’d be a nice fit for the Heat, as a backup or even eventual replacement for Dwyane Wade. The Hawks could certainly use a boost in that area, and he would seem to be an ideal fit for the Knicks’ triangle with his ability to read, react and shoot. He’d also be a nice offensive fit for half-court reliant Western Conference clubs like the Mavericks, Grizzlies and Jazz.
FINAL TAKE: Michigan State coach Tom Izzo doesn’t hide his affection for Valentine. As he recently told the assembled media, including Hoops Rumors, “I don’t know many guys that have improved in every aspect of the game like he has. He’s the closest thing to a player/coach that you could have.” I suspect Valentine’s NBA coaches will have similar feelings about him. He may not be a star in the NBA, but he should emerge as a rock solid starter who will have a better career than several of the players picked ahead of him.
Eastern Notes: Anthony, Lawson, Carter-Williams
- Ty Lawson‘s relationships with Pacers star forward Paul George and point guard George Hill, along with the team’s uptempo style, convinced him to sign with Indiana following his buyout agreement with the Rockets, according to Nate Taylor of the Indianapolis Star. Pacers coach Frank Vogel views the remainder of the regular season as an audition for the veteran point guard, both for this season and his impending free agency, Taylor adds in a tweet. Vogel spoke with Lawson’s former Nuggets coach and ex-Pacers assistant Brian Shaw before the signing and that helped sway Vogel that Lawson deserved a clean slate, Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star reports (Twitter links here).
- Bucks point guard Michael Carter-Williams tried to play through his hip injury but it reached the point where it needed to be addressed, Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press tweets. A source told Krawczynski that Carter-Williams felt discomfort since late December and doctors finally determined that season-ending surgery was required, he added in a separate tweet.
- The Celtics recalled rookie shooting guard R.J. Hunter from the D-League’s Maine Red Claws, the team tweets. The late first-round pick has appeared in 28 games with Boston this season.
Sixers Claim Sonny Weems, Release Christian Wood
5:06pm: The moves have taken place, the Sixers announced via press release.
3:40pm: Philly is claiming Weems to have a look at him, tweets Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, suggesting that the team plans to keep him around, at least for a while.
2:31pm: The Sixers plan to claim Sonny Weems off waivers from the Suns today and release Christian Wood from his 10-day contract, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The move appears to be geared toward lifting Philadelphia’s team salary, currently at about $60.4MM, to the league minimum of $63MM. Weems makes $2.814MM, which would push the Sixers over the salary floor by about $200K. However, Weems is only due a few more paychecks that will total about $660K, notes Bobby Marks of The Vertical (Twitter link). So, even though Weems’ full salary would hit Philly’s cap, the Sixers would only pay him a fraction of that amount. Philadelphia would have had to shell out the difference between its team salary and the salary floor to the players on its roster if it hadn’t made up the gap by the last day of the regular season.
A claim would help the Suns, too, since it would save them from having to pay the remaining $660K obligation to Weems and erase his entire salary from their cap. Phoenix would be just barely above the cap if Philly indeed comes away with the swingman.
Wood signed a 10-day contract just this past Friday, but the Sixers will owe him the full $30,888 value of the deal regardless of whether he remains on the roster. He would immediately become a free agent once the Sixers release him, since 10-day contracts don’t go on waivers. This would be the second time this season that Philadelphia has relinquished Wood, who hit waivers in January when the team decided to sign Elton Brand.
It’s unclear whether the Sixers intend to keep Weems, since they’ve often quickly waived players after taking on their salaries in the past. His contract includes a non-guaranteed salary of nearly $2.941MM for next season, so his contract could help serve as ballast for offseason trades even if the Sixers don’t envision a future with him. The 29-year-old was in and out of the Phoenix rotation this season, averaging 11.7 minutes per game in his return to the NBA after four years playing overseas. In any case, it’s no surprise to see Philadelphia in line to claim him, as Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors speculated this weekend that such a move would take place.
Southeast Notes: Dragic, Satoransky, Dedmon
Goran Dragic is pleased with the Heat‘s shift to more of an up-tempo attack in the wake of Chris Bosh‘s latest blood-clot issues, though he believes the team would have resolved its issues even if Bosh were healthy, as Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald examines. The point guard’s improved play amid the faster pace has made it far less likely the team seeks to trade him and pursues Mike Conley to replace him this summer, The Herald’s Barry Jackson posits. The Heat aren’t better simply because Bosh isn’t there, Jackson cautions, writing that they nonetheless must figure out why they didn’t play better with Bosh in the lineup. See more from the Southeast Division:
- Wizards draft-and-stash prospect Tomas Satoransky has signed a four-year extension with Barcelona of Spain, the team announced (Twitter link). It’ll keep him from the NBA until 2017, as international journalist David Pick reports the deal includes NBA outs for each year from then on (Twitter link). Rumors of such a deal have been around since January, though a report in August indicated that the Wizards expected they’d be able to sign him in the summer of 2016, which evidently won’t happen.
- The Wizards aren’t enamored with analytics, and coach Randy Wittman has a particular lack of fondness for them, but their traditional approach isn’t hurting them, argues Quinten Rosborough of SB Nation’s Bullets Forever. Owner Ted Leonsis has the coach’s back in this regard, Rosborough notes.
- The Magic have recalled Dewayne Dedmon from the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). The big man had asked for the assignment so he could get some playing time, notes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (on Twitter).
Grizzlies Eye Jeff Ayres, Others
4:11pm: Andersen is out for at least another three to five days, and Mike Conley is also set to miss that amount of time with a sore left foot, the Grizzlies announced.
1:05pm: The Grizzlies are looking for depth amid a rash of injuries, with recent Clippers 10-day signee Jeff Ayres among their big man targets, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Memphis is without Marc Gasol for the rest of the year and backup center Brandan Wright is liable to miss another seven weeks, which would finish him for the season. Fellow big man Chris Andersen is dealing with a shoulder issue that has him questionable to play tonight while Tony Allen and Jordan Adams are out indefinitely with knee injuries.
Memphis doesn’t have an open roster spot, but if doctors determine four or more players are likely to miss two weeks or more, the team could apply to the NBA for a hardship provision to sign a 16th man. Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal suggests that’s precisely what the Grizzlies have in mind (Twitter link).
Ayres, formerly known as Jeff Pendergraph, scored six points and pulled down three rebounds in 14 minutes total minutes over five appearances with the Clippers on a pair of 10-day contracts earlier this year. The 28-year-old has otherwise been out of the NBA this season following the expiration of a two-year deal with the Spurs. The sixth-year NBA veteran has spent most of his time this year in the D-League, recently having joined the D-League affiliate of the Lakers following a trade that took him from the Jazz affiliate, which picked him first overall in this year’s D-League draft.
Cavs Notes: Shumpert, Johnson, Lue
The Cavaliers privately deny that they were making Iman Shumpert available in trade talk before the deadline last month, but some in the organization think he might be doing too much to justify the four-year, $40MM contract he signed last summer, reports Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. The fifth-year swingman is averaging career lows in points and field goal percentage since returning in December from a preseason wrist injury, and he often turns the ball over when he tries to drive to the hoop, Lloyd writes.
“His biggest thing for us is defending the best player every single night,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “His shot is going to come and go. Some games, he’s going to get six or seven shots, some games he gets two shots. I’m not really worried about his shots and his scoring. He just has to step up and shoot them with confidence. But for the most part, for Shump and for us, his value is every single night guarding the best player, which he’s done a great job of.”
See more on the Eastern Conference leaders:
- Some Cavs players were convinced that Joe Johnson would sign with the team and were already talking about the sort of lineup they could play with him on the roster, Lloyd writes in a separate piece. Johnson instead signed with the Heat after earlier reports that he envisioned joining the Cavs.
- Tremendous weight is on Lue’s shoulders as he navigates his first NBA head coaching job and deals with immediate expectations of a title, but he’s keeping perspective, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com examines. “I want to win and I know I’m supposed to win, but I think the biggest thing for me is I have to do the best job I can do, but then also enjoy it,” Lue said. “I just can’t put the pressure on of winning a championship, winning a championship, because then I’d never be able to sleep.”
- The “word is” the Cavs signed Sasha Kaun last summer to give since-deposed coach David Blatt an ally in the locker room, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Haynes reported last week that Cavs players were angry that the team decided against re-signing Kendrick Perkins to instead do the deal with Kaun. Perkins played the role of enforcer for Cleveland last season, and LeBron James and Kyrie Irving say having someone to fill that gritty capacity is vital, Haynes notes. Still, it’s “laughable” to suggest that Cavs players don’t think they have enough to win the championship as is, McMenamin opines.
Michael Carter Williams Out For Rest Of Season
Michael Carter-Williams will miss the rest of the season and undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left hip, the team announced. The injury damages whatever hopes of a postseason still exist for Milwaukee, which is in 12th place in the Eastern Conference and six games back of the last playoff spot. It’ll take the point guard three months to recover, according to the team.
It’s uncertain whether Carter-Williams will play again for the Bucks at all, since he was in multiple trade rumors before last month’s deadline. Coach Jason Kidd benched the former Rookie of the Year and marquee offseason signee Greg Monroe early last month, and Carter-Williams hasn’t played at all since February 27th because of patella tendinitis and his hip.
It’s much too late for the Bucks to apply for a disabled player exception, since the deadline for those is January 15th, but the hardship provision could be in play. The hardship would give the Bucks the opportunity to sign an extra player even though they’re at the 15-man roster limit. Milwaukee is also without Steve Novak for the rest of the season, and it’s uncertain when either John Henson, who’s been out since January, and Greivis Vasquez, who hasn’t played since November, will return. A team can apply for a hardship exception if it has four players expected to miss at least two weeks.
The injury robs Carter-Williams of a chance to make a final impression before he enters an offseason in which he becomes eligible for a rookie scale extension. He’s averaging career lows in points, shot attempts, assists and minutes per game, depressing his market value.