Blazers Sign Grant Jerrett
AUGUST 17th: The signing is official, the team announced via press release.
AUGUST 16th: The Trail Blazers have agreed to a deal with unrestricted free agent Grant Jerrett, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (via Twitter). The scribe classifies it as a training camp pact, so it’s almost assuredly for the league minimum and likely includes little or no guaranteed salary.
Portland currently has 16 players on its roster, including 14 with fully guaranteed deals. So, unless Jerrett truly impresses the coaching staff during the preseason, he’s likely ticketed for the D-League to begin the year.
Jerrett last appeared in an NBA regular season contest during the 2014/15 campaign, when he played in a combined eight games for the Jazz and the Thunder. The power forward averaged 2.0 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.4 minutes while shooting .269/.067/1.000.
Paul Pierce Plans To Play This Season
Paul Pierce is planning to put off retirement and play for the Clippers during the 2016/17 season, multiple sources tell Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Daily News. Woike notes that Pierce has been conflicted with his decision all summer and cautions that another change is possible.
Pierce signed a three-year deal worth roughly $10MM last offseason. It was never his intention to play the entire deal out in Los Angeles.“I don’t have much basketball left — whether it’ll be this year or another year. To come home and play in front of family and friends and possibly win a championship, it’s like a dream come true,” Pierce said last year. “If we win this year, win a championship, I’ll probably be done with basketball to be honest.”
He struggled to make a major impact during his first year in Los Angeles, averaging just 6.1 points per game. The veteran said he didn’t want to make an emotional decision after the Clippers lost in the first round to the Blazers, but added at the time that “every heartbreak makes you want to come back.”
Community Shootaround: Ricky Rubio
Earlier today, it was reported that the Wolves may deal Ricky Rubio with Sacramento lurking as a possible destination. Minnesota drafted Kris Dunn with the No. 5 overall pick and he looked the part of a starting caliber point guard during his time in Vegas this summer. With Tyus Jones also in the fold, the team could afford to swap out a point guard for a player at another position.
Adding Rudy Gay may be a possibility in a trade with the Kings. Sacramento lost Rajon Rondo in free agency and Darren Collison, the team’s current starting point guard, faces domestic violence charges and will likely be suspended for some portion of the 2016/17 season. Even if Collison avoids missing games, Rubio would serve as an upgrade in the starting lineup.Read more
Northwest Notes: Rubio, Morrow, Price, Malone
Ricky Rubio will start the season with the Timberwolves, but may be in Sacramento before it ends, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News in Minneapolis. Speaking on an ESPN podcast, Wolfson said the Kings are a team to watch if Minnesota decides to part ways with the Spanish point guard. Trade speculation involving Rubio intensified when the Wolves drafted Kris Dunn of Providence with the No. 5 pick, after adding Tyus Jones through the draft last year. Rubio has three seasons and more than $42MM left on his contract. There has been talk that the Wolves and Kings might agree on a swap involving Rubio and swingman Rudy Gay.
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Thunder shooting guard Anthony Morrow said he understands Kevin Durant‘s decision to leave Oklahoma City to join the Warriors, relays Erik Horne of The Oklahoman. Some teammates have reacted angrily over Durant’s move, but Morrow, in a recent appearance on Sirius XM NBA radio, said he never had any feelings of betrayal. “It’s business,” Morrow said. “It’s basketball. That’s that man’s career. That’s that man’s life and he made his own decision as a man. Hate it or love it, he made his decision.”
- The Thunder used cap space, not their room exception, to sign veteran point guard Ronnie Price, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Oklahoma City still has $2.3MM remaining under the cap, along with its room exception.
- Nuggets coach Michael Malone doesn’t admit to harboring bitterness over his firing by Sacramento, but USA Today’s A.J. Neuharth-Keusch writes that he has cut the Kings’ dominant color out of his wardrobe. “I have not [worn purple since the firing],” Malone said during an appearance on an ESPN podcast. “And what I really love about that is I haven’t, it’s my wife’s favorite color, she hasn’t, and my daughters haven’t. It’s almost become taboo, forbidden in our household.”
Southeast Notes: Spoelstra, Ibaka, Splitter
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra made no mention of Chris Bosh in two video messages posted today on the team’s website, relays Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. The status of the veteran big man remains uncertain after his past two seasons were cut short because of blood clots. Spoelstra singled out Hassan Whiteside, Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow and Tyler Johnson as defensive leaders who will define the team in the post-Dwyane Wade era. “You learn pretty quickly in this league that your roster is going to change,” Spoelstra said, “sometimes your staff changes. Expectations change. It’s like that every year. Just when you get comfortable, it will change. This is a new challenge. We’re embracing the change. We’re excited about the future, excited about the guys we have on our team. You also have to have the right kind of players.” Owner Micky Arison named Bosh as part of the Heat’s future in a recent letter to Miami fans.
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- The Magic can offer an extension to newly acquired power forward Serge Ibaka, writes Bobby Marks of The Vertical. Ibaka, whom Orlando picked up in a draft-night deal with the Thunder, is about to enter the last season of a four-year, $49MM extension he received from Oklahoma City. Ibaka would be limited to a 4.5% raise from his $12.2MM salary in the first year of an extension because the Magic are over the salary cap, Marks notes, and because he has been traded in the past six months Ibaka can only have two years added to his contract.
- Tiago Splitter believes the Hawks will be a much better defensive team with Dwight Howard replacing Al Horford at center, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He also cited an improvement in defense at point guard, where Dennis Schroder is taking over for the traded Jeff Teague. “[Howard] is a little bit more of a defensive player than Al, more rebounds, more physical presence on the court,” Splitter said. “That is going to change our team. … Dennis, he is also a great defender. He’s a better defender than Jeff. He will pressure the point guard the whole court.” Splitter, who had hip surgery in February and was limited to 36 games last season, also figures to improve the defense with his return to the lineup.
- The Hawks hired Richard Midgley as their west coast scout, Vivlamore writes in a separate story. Midgley has been a coach at Modesto Christian High School in California for the past two seasons.
Pistons Notes: Smith, Baynes, Leuer
Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy is extremely pleased with the offseason the team has had, noting that he includes the mid-season trade to acquire Tobias Harris in his assessment, Keith Langlois of NBA.com writes. “People forget that over half of the potential cap space was used on Tobias Harris during the year,” Van Gundy said. “So you really have to look, even though we did it at the trade deadline, that was a cap space move that allowed us going forward to do it and still be able to acquire other guys. So I throw Tobias into that. When you look at him in that group, to me it’s definitely an A [grade].”
Van Gundy also noted that signing restricted free agent Boban Marjanovic was an “outside the box move,” especially in a league that is more geared toward small-ball these days, Langlois relays. It is also one that protects the team in the event that Aron Baynes departs as a free agent after this season, the scribe adds. “We’ve probably got more true centers than anybody in a league that’s going away from true centers, but looking at Aron’s situation – and the part that people understand is he’ll opt out, probably, based on the salaries we saw this year – and the part they don’t understand is if he opts out and because he’s only been here two years, we’re limited in how far we can go in our offer,” Van Gundy said. “It wasn’t a matter of you don’t want to pay him or you don’t think he’s worth it. It’s that we’re limited.”
Here’s more out of Motown:
- The addition of Jon Leuer as a reserve power forward is expected to help Detroit match up better against taller, more athletic frontcourts, Van Gundy told Langlois. “We wanted to add more size at that spot but not give up athleticism, not give up shooting, and Jon Leuer was really the only guy out there that we thought fit everything that we wanted in that spot,” said Van Gundy. “Shot 38% from three, 6’11”. He’s a very good athlete with great quickness. He’s a guy we had our eye on for a couple of years and we just thought would be a really good fit to what we wanted.”
- The Pistons inked Ish Smith in part because of his experience as a starter, as well as the intangibles he brings with him to the gym every day, Langlois writes in a separate piece. “It did matter,” Van Gundy said of Smith’s success as a starter with the 76ers last season. “What you want with all of your backups, one of the things you ask is can those guys start. You can’t look at somebody and say he’s OK as a 16-, 18-minute a game guy because it can quickly become more than that. The fact he has that experience and did well, yeah, that’s a big thing. I feel like certainly with what would at least appear to be our first four guys off the bench, all of ’em are capable of starting.”
Poll: 2005 NBA Draft Take Two (Pick No. 13)
We’re in the process of revisiting the 2005 NBA Draft, which is the year that the Bucks nabbed big man Andrew Bogut with the No. 1 overall pick. That year’s draft class is generally viewed as one of the weaker ones in recent memory, though, there were quite a few second-rounders that year (Ersan Ilyasova, Monta Ellis, Lou Williams, Amir Johnson and Marcin Gortat) who have gone on to have very solid NBA careers.
We’ve been posting a series of reader polls that ask you to vote on the player whom you believe should have been selected with each pick. We’ll continue onward with the Bobcats/Hornets, who held the No. 13 pick that season. Readers, you are now on the clock! Cast your vote for Charlotte’s pick and check back Wednesday for the results, as well as for your chance to vote for whom the Timberwolves should have taken at No. 14. But don’t limit yourself to a simple button click. Take to the comments section below and share your thoughts on the pick and why you voted the way that you did. Also, if I fail to list a player who you think should be selected, feel free to post that in the comments section and I’ll be certain to tally those votes as well.
Note: Believe it or not, we do read your feedback and always do our best to give our readers what they ask for. I’ve had a number of messages from folks not all that excited about the remaining prospects in this draft class. So…I’m posting another poll in this post to gauge what is most preferable. Vote below on whether or not to finish the first round of this draft or switch to a different draft. If the consensus is to switch, the choices are:
- 1996 — the year of Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury and Steve Nash.
- 1984 — the year of Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and John Stockton.
- 2008 — the year of Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love and Brook Lopez.
Selections
- Bucks — Chris Paul [Actual Pick — Andrew Bogut]
- Hawks — Deron Williams [Actual Pick — Marvin Williams]
- Jazz — Monta Ellis [Actual Pick — Deron Williams]
- Hornets/Pelicans — Andrew Bogut [Actual Pick — Chris Paul]
- Bobcats/Hornets — Danny Granger [Actual Pick — Raymond Felton]
- Trail Blazers — David Lee [Actual Pick — Martell Webster]
- Raptors — Andrew Bynum [Actual Pick — Charlie Villanueva]
- Knicks — Marcin Gortat [Actual Pick — Channing Frye]
- Warriors — Lou Williams [Actual Pick — Ike Diogu]
- Lakers — Marvin Williams [Actual Pick — Andrew Bynum]
- Magic — Channing Frye [Actual Pick — Fran Vazquez]
- Clippers — Amir Johnson [Actual Pick — Yaroslav Korolev]
- Bobcats/Hornets — ?? [Actual Pick — Sean May]
If you’re a Trade Rumors app user, click here.
If you’re a Trade Rumors app user, click here.
Western Notes: Young, Neto, Teodosic, Koponen
Nick Young is ready to end the feud with Lakers teammate D’Angelo Russell that resulted in the rookie being ostracized last season, relays Mark Medina of The Orange County Register. The dispute started when Russell secretly recorded Young talking about being unfaithful to his former fiancee, a clip that was later posted to social media. “It’s been so long, so it’s kind of old,” Young said. “We’ll be able to work it out. We’ve already been working it out. I can’t be mad forever.”
Young, who shot a career-low 34% from the field last season, may not be back with the Lakers, as there have been rumors that the team might buy out the final two years and $11MM left on his contract. If he does return, he’s looking forward to a chance to play for new head coach Luke Walton, who was hired over the offseason to replace Byron Scott. “Luke is a big-time coach and came from a championship team,” he said. “I think I have the tools that we can use as a shooter.”
There’s more news tonight from the Western Conference:
- The Olympics have given Jazz point guard Raul Neto a chance to connect with new teammate Boris Diaw, writes Amy Donaldson of The Deseret News. Utah acquired Diaw, who plays for the French team, in a July trade with the Spurs to provide veteran help off the bench. “I’ve talked to Boris in the [athlete’s] village,” said Neto, who hails from the host country of Brazil. “He’s a really nice guy. [Leandro] Barbosa played with him in Phoenix, and he say only good things about him. I think we have a great team, some nice guys joined our team, and we expect [to] do better [this] season.”
- The Grizzlies offered Serbian star Milos Teodosic more than $5MM in 2013, tweets international basketball writer David Pick. Teodosic’s agent, Nick Lotsos, said his client chose CSKA Moscow over Memphis.
- Finnish point guard Petteri Koponen, whose draft rights have been held by the Mavericks since 2011, is close to reaching a deal with Barcelona, Pick tweets.
Community Shootaround: Team USA
Kevin Durant says, “We’ve got to figure out how we can be better.”
“There’s no letting up in this kind of a tournament,” Klay Thompson warned after Sunday’s narrow win over France. “We gave them too many good looks around the basket and got complacent on defense.
“These international guys really know how to move and really know how to cut,” explains Paul George. “It’s more about how they’re running their offense. It’s wearing us down.”
These aren’t the type of quotes that American fans expected to be reading as group play wrapped up in the Summer Olympics. After a series of blowouts in their exhibition schedule followed by convincing wins over China and Nigeria in their first two Olympic contests, the Americans seemed on their way to an easy gold medal.
But a tough and experienced Australian team gave them their first test last Wednesday. Team USA trailed by five points at halftime and was challenged throughout the game before pulling away late in a 98-88 victory. Serbia provided another crack in the Americans’ invincibility Friday night, falling 94-91 as Bogdan Bogdanovic‘s last-second 3-pointer bounced off the rim. The U.S. improved to 5-0 Sunday with an unimpressive three-point win over a French team that played without Tony Parker.
There are many theories about what has gone wrong in Rio, ranging from shot distribution to defensive breakdowns to faulty player rotations. But it’s also possible that the American team was overrated heading into this tournament and the rest of the world was underrated. Nearly all of these teams have been playing together for years and understand the finer points of international competition.
Regardless of how they got here, the Americans are unbeaten and head into the medal round as the top seed from Group A. Depending on the results of tonight’s contest between Lithuania and Croatia, the U.S. will face either Argentina or the Croatians in the quarterfinals. They will be a heavy favorite no matter who the opponent is and they are still the most likely team in Rio to come home with the gold medal.
That brings us to tonight’s question: Will the United States get the three wins it needs to capture gold or is there a team that will give the Americans their first Olympic loss since 2004? Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the topic. We look forward to what you have to say.
Extension Candidate: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Of all the teams with rookie extension decisions to make this offseason, the easiest one belongs to the Bucks.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has developed into a team leader during his first three years in Milwaukee, averaging 16.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists last season. At age 21, the Greek star is seen as the future of the franchise, which is trying to build a contending team around a core of young, versatile athletes.
That process starts with Antetokounmpo, who has emerged as one of the best young players in the league and is considered to be a future All-Star and possibly an MVP candidate one day.
Jared Dudley, who spent the 2014/15 season with the Bucks, talked about the development of Antetokounmpo during a recent appearance on a podcast with ESPN’s Zach Lowe. Dudley had a first-hand view as Antetokounmpo began to evolve from a rookie to a legitimate NBA star.
“It’s Giannis’ team,” Dudley said. “You’re only going to go as far as him. Once Jabari [Parker] takes that next step — he was a lot better second half than he was first — but as of right now, people have to know this is Giannis’ team. You fall in line to try to make people better around him.
“If you see [coach Jason Kidd], he was strict on Giannis when I was there. He was on Giannis more than anybody, because he knew. And now he’s given Giannis the keys.”
“The keys” came via a decision to run the offense through Antetokounmpo after a mid-season injury to Michael Carter-Williams. After the point guard went down with a torn labrum in his left hip that required season-ending surgery, Antetokounmpo took over that position and flashed frightening glimpses of what he can do as a creator.
Once he became the main ball handler after the All-Star break, Antetokounmpo posted averages of 18.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.9 blocks, and the Bucks’ offensive efficiency increased by 2.2 points per game. Opposing defenses scrambled to find a way to deal with a speedy 6’11” point guard who has impeccable court vision and elite leaping ability.
Kidd explained the move in a post on his website, saying it was something he had been considering since training camp, but he felt more freedom to experiment once the Bucks slid out of the playoff race. Kidd said Antetokounmpo still has a lot to learn about his new position, but the switch provides a better showcase for his athleticism and creativity.
“It got him in the open court, which highlights his natural abilities,” Kidd wrote. “One of his strengths is being able to find guys, and he did a really good job with that. Being able to see the floor the way that he does makes the game easy. It makes it exciting for his teammates because they all know they have a chance of getting the ball. Being as tall as he is, he has so many natural advantages. His skill set — to be able get into the paint and finish — puts a lot of pressure on a defense.
“There are still plenty of things he has to learn, and hopefully, as a point guard myself, I can help him understand game management—the importance of time and score, and just the little things it takes to be a good point guard. … He’s a competitor. He wants to win and he wants to be great. It’s just a matter of time before he’s an All-Star on a consistent basis.”
That’s why the Bucks would like to get an extension with Antetokounmpo wrapped up as quickly as possible. They face an October 31st deadline to finalize a new deal that would prevent him from becoming a restricted free agent next summer.
Antetokounmpo is eligible for a five-year extension that would pay him approximately $138MM, and both he and the team have expressed a desire to get a deal done. In an interview shortly after last season ended, Antetokounmpo told Gary D’Amato of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that he believes his long-term future is in Milwaukee. “That was what everyone’s been working for, for them to extend me,” Antetokounmpo said. “Hopefully, I stay here 20 years and I get my Greek Freak Day like Kobe [Bryant].”
One reason the deal hasn’t been signed already is that Antetokounmpo has been spending the summer completing his obligation to the Greek army. All Greek men who live permanently overseas are required to prove three months of service to the military, and Giannis and his brother Thanassis have been working at an armor training center near Athens.
Once Antetokounmpo’s military training is complete, the extension will be a high priority for Milwaukee before training camp opens. The Bucks know what they have in Antetokounmpo. He earned the “Greek Freak” nickname because of his 7’4″ wingspan, his elite athleticism and a breathtaking ability to go from one end of the court to the other in four dribbles or fewer. He’s the cornerstone of what the Bucks are trying to build, and the idea of him spending 20 years in Milwaukee seems very possible.
Jeff Hanisch / USA TODAY Sports Images