Injury Updates On Ben Simmons, Cameron Payne
First overall pick Ben Simmons underwent successful surgery to repair an acute Jones fracture on the fifth metatarsal of his right foot, the Sixers announced today in a press release. Word of Simmons’ foot injury first broke on Friday, with reports over the weekend suggesting the forward was likely to undergo surgery.
Within their announcement today, the Sixers didn’t provide a timetable for Simmons’ recovery and potential return, suggesting that additional information will “be provided as available and when appropriate.” However, reports have indicated that the 20-year-old will likely be sidelined for three months, and there are whispers that agent Rich Paul may want his client to sit out the entire season to be safe.
Meanwhile, another young prospect with a foot injury, Thunder guard Cameron Payne, won’t go under the knife. According to Royce Young of ESPN.com (Twitter links), the Thunder will have Payne sit for six to eight weeks before being re-evaluated. though surgery could still be an option if the bone isn’t healing properly.
Payne underwent Jones fracture surgery to his right foot in July but recovered quickly and was cleared to practice when training camp opened. He went through full contact during Oklahoma City’s first two days of practice before suffering another foot fracture during a scrimmage last Tuesday.
Bulls Waive Vince Hunter
The Bulls have reduced their preseason roster to 18 players, the team announced today in a press release. According to the club, forward Vince Hunter has been released. Assuming he clears waivers, he’ll become a free agent later this week.
Hunter, 22, went undrafted in 2015 after a 2014/15 season in which he averaged 14.9 PPG and 9.2 RPG for UTEP. He was in camp last fall with the Kings, but didn’t make Sacramento’s regular-season roster. Hunter did spend a good chunk of last season with the Kings’ D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, in addition to playing for Greek team Panathinaikos, before signing with the Bulls for training camp. He was one of five players who didn’t see the floor during Chicago’s preseason game against the Bucks on Monday.
Hunter had been on a non-guaranteed summer contract, so the Bulls won’t be on the hook for any money on their cap after cutting him loose.
We’ll see if the Bulls opt to bring aboard any players to fill the two openings currently on the roster, but for the time being, the team is carrying 13 players on guaranteed salaries, with five more players battling for a spot on the regular-season roster.
Atlantic Notes: Rose, Yabusele, Celtics, Sixers
The federal civil trial involving Knicks point guard Derrick Rose gets underway today, and Adrienne Lawrence of ESPN’s Outside The Lines has the details on what to expect from the case. As Lawrence writes, the trial is expected to take about eight to 10 business days, which would put it on track to be finished before the NBA’s regular season, though it could be delayed or shortened for various reasons.
Rose is currently with the Knicks as they prepare to play a preseason game against Houston, but he’ll head to Los Angeles for the trial tomorrow, per Marc Berman of The New York Post (Twitter links). The veteran guard said today that he may have to miss a practice or two, and he doesn’t anticipate reaching a settlement with his accuser, according to Berman.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic division:
- Guerschon Yabusele, the 16th overall pick in this year’s draft, will play overseas this season rather than joining the Celtics right away, but he got some action stateside this week, as his Shanghai Sharks faced the Rockets in Houston. As Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe details, the Sharks signed Yabusele to a one-year contract that can be worth up to $1.5MM with bonuses, and sold him and the Celtics on their advanced training and sports medicine program. Once the season begins, the Chinese club will send weekly reports to Boston updating the C’s on Yabusele’s performance and his fitness.
- As he prepares to enter his second NBA season, point guard Terry Rozier talks to Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net about vying for minutes in a crowded Celtics backcourt.
- Although the team isn’t viewed as a strong playoff contender, there was an air of excitement surrounding the Sixers this summer, which has been dulled in the wake of Ben Simmons‘ foot injury, writes Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Daily News.
Players Who Can Veto Trades
No-trade clauses are rare in the NBA, and they became even rarer this offseason, when several players with those clauses in their contracts either called it a career or signed new deals. Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett, who all opted for retirement, had no-trade clauses last season, and so did Dwyane Wade, who doesn’t have the same protection on his new contract with the Bulls.
Nonethless, while the list of players with explicit no-trade clauses may be dwindling, there are still several players each year who have the ability to veto trades. A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract – or a two-year contract with an option clause – is given no-trade protection, and so is a player who signs an offer sheet and has that offer matched by his previous team. Players who accept qualifying offers after their rookie deals expire can also block deals, though no restricted free agents signed their QOs this year.
Taking into account that list of criteria, here are the players who must give their consent if their teams want to trade them during the 2016/17 league year:
No-trade clauses
- Carmelo Anthony (Knicks)
- LeBron James (Cavaliers): Received no-trade clause on his new contract with Cavs.
- Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks)
Players whose offer sheets were matched
- Allen Crabbe (Trail Blazers)
- Tyler Johnson (Heat)
Players accepting qualifying offers
- None
Players re-signing for one year (or two years including an option)
- Lou Amundson (Knicks) (waived)
- Elton Brand (Sixers) (retired)
- Ian Clark (Warriors)
- Alonzo Gee (Pelicans) (waived)
- Manu Ginobili (Spurs)
- Udonis Haslem (Heat)
- Kris Humphries (Hawks)
- Dahntay Jones (Cavaliers) (waived)
- James Jones (Cavaliers)
- James Michael McAdoo (Warriors)
- Steve Novak (Bucks)
- Marcus Thornton (Wizards)
- Beno Udrih (Pistons)
- Anderson Varejao (Warriors)
- Sasha Vujacic (Knicks)
- Metta World Peace (Lakers)
Information from Basketball Insiders and Yahoo! Sports was used in the creation of this post.
Hoops Rumors 2016 Free Agent Tracker
The NBA preseason is underway, which means most teams are done with their free agent signings for the offseason. A few teams, like the Cavaliers, who signed Toney Douglas on Monday, are still making minor additions to improve depth, and notable players like J.R. Smith and Donatas Motiejunas remain unsigned. For the most part though, teams will be making far more more subtractions than additions in the coming weeks.
With the regular season fast approaching, Hoops Rumors is here to help you keep track of which players have landed with which teams this offseason. To this end, we present our Free Agent Tracker, a feature we’ve had each year since our inception in 2012. Using our tracker, you can quickly look up deals, sorting by team, position, free agent type, and a handful of other variables.
A few notes on the tracker:
- Some of the information you’ll find in the tracker will reflect reported contract agreements, rather than finalized deals. As signings become official, we’ll continue to update and modify the data as needed.
- When the years and dollars for a contract haven’t yet been confirmed, our data will be based on what’s been reported to date, so in some cases those amounts will be approximations rather than official figures. Salaries aren’t necessarily fully guaranteed either.
- Some players whose signings are noted in the tracker are no longer with that team. For instance, the Cavs waived Eric Moreland this week, but his deal, signed earlier in the offseason, still shows up in our tracker.
- A restricted free agent who signs an offer sheet will be listed under the team that extended the offer sheet, but note that those signings won’t be official unless the player’s original team declines to match within the three-day period to do so. If the original team matches, we’ll update the tracker to show that the player is back with that team.
Our 2016 Free Agent Tracker can be found anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features,” and it’s also under the “Tools” menu atop the site. It will be updated throughout the offseason, so be sure to check back for the latest info. If you have any corrections, please let us know right here.
Eastern Notes: Moreland, Schroder, Young
The Cavs waived Eric Moreland earlier today to make room to sign Toney Douglas. The forward isn’t upset with the move since he’s still recovering from a foot injury he suffered last season and isn’t quite ready to return to action, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com notes. “I feel it is in my best interest for me to take my time to make sure I am 100 percent healthy,” Moreland told Goodman. “I feel really good and think I am close to being game ready but with the setback I have already been through, I want be extra cautious with my return and do everything I can to make sure I my foot has completely healed.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Hawks point guard Dennis Schroder returned to practice on Monday after resting a sore ankle for the past several days, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution relays. “The trainers told me to relax a little bit and not put pressure on it,” Schroder said. “In training camp it was hurting a little bit. It was bothering me so they said take off. I took off Friday, Saturday and Sunday and today was the first time practicing again. I could run up and down the floor. Now, I’m healthy.”
- Hornets coach Steve Clifford is thrilled that Marvin Williams re-signed with the team this offseason, because of the forward’s versatile skillset and leadership, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer writes. “To me, he’s such a winning player. He totally fits what this league is all about,” Clifford said. “He’s a stretch 4, so he creates space [with his 3-point shooting]. Defensively, he can guard the smaller 4s who shoot 3s and drive the ball, and the bigger 4s who post it. There aren’t many guys who can do that.”
- Swingman James Young is one of the players on the bubble to make the Celtics‘ roster this season. One of the things making the coaching staff’s decision difficult is the fact that Young hasn’t seen much regular season action, making it difficult to judge his true fit within Boston’s system, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes.
Atlantic Notes: Simmons, McCullough, Noah
The Sixers are still coming to terms with the injury to No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons, who is expected to undergo surgery in the near future due to a broken foot he suffered during practice last week, Aaron Carter of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Dealing with injuries is nothing new to the team as of late, coach Brett Brown noted. “There is nobody, sadly, that’s had more experience dealing with injured draft picks than we have,” Brown said. “So over the course of time, you learn how to best deal with it. There needs to be, there has been, and we’ll get better this time, a holistic approach to the person. There needs to be understanding that there’s an opportunity to educate [Simmons] in the film room, watching different NBA players and teaching him. There might be an opportunity where we sit him in a chair and remake his shot, rebuild his shot, and really spend time with the fundamentals of his shot.”
The loss of Simmons will open up a larger opportunity for rookie forward Dario Saric, Carter adds. “That’s where my head goes to first,” Brown said. “Dario will have more opportunities, responsibilities. I think how we rotate this group now will change. We will learn a lot. The preseason’s really going to be good for us in that regard.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- The Nets need to replace Thaddeus Young, who was the starter at power forward last season, and if he has a solid preseason, it may be with 2015 first-rounder Chris McCullough, Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily notes. “That’s a spot that’s open,” coach Kenny Atkinson said of the four spot, adding that the Brooklyn has ‘versatile bigs’ in guys like McCullough, Luis Scola, Justin Hamilton and Anthony Bennett. McCullough, 21, only appeared in 24 games in 2015/16, missing the beginning of the season as he recovered from a torn Achilles he suffered in college.
- Knicks center Joakim Noah is nursing a minor hamstring injury and is likely to sit out Tuesday’s preseason opener against the Celtics as a precautionary measure, Ebenezer Samuel of The New York Daily News relays. The big man did not practice today as a result of the malady, the scribe adds.
- Shooting guard Avery Bradley wants to be known as the best defender in the NBA and understands that for him to garner that honor, his Celtics teammates will also have to up their play on the defensive end, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com relays.
Western Notes: Knight, Diop, Douglas
Suns coach Earl Watson has already named his starting lineup for the regular season and second-year player Devin Booker received the nod at shooting guard, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic reports. This means that Brandon Knight will shift into the sixth man role, Coro adds. “That’s the starting lineup for the season,” Watson said. “We’re not wasting time. We’re not lingering with inner-competition. Brandon Knight is not a bench player. He’s a starter in this league. He’s sacrificed the most for our group. He took it like the pro he is because he understands the opportunity that we have to be special. Do players like coming off the bench? No, and we embrace that. That’s the inner-competitive nature that we need.”
“I knew at one point in my career I’d be a starter,” Booker told Coro. “I didn’t know it’d be this soon but I have put in that work to be one.” Here’s more from out West:
- The Pelicans waived Chris Copeland earlier today in an effort to free up more minutes for players who are on the bubble to make the team’s regular season roster, according to coach Alvin Gentry, Scott Kushner of The New Orleans Advocate relays. New Orleans had two healthy scratches, Robert Sacre and Alonzo Gee, in its preseason opening victory over the Mavericks on Saturday, the scribe notes.
- The Jazz have hired former NBA player DeSagana Diop as a coaching associate, the team announced. As a coaching associate, Diop will assist the Jazz coaching staff in a variety of capacities including work on the court during practices and individual player workouts, video editing and analysis, and other team preparation, according to the press release.
- Toney Douglas, who signed with the Cavaliers earlier today, also drew interest from the Nuggets and the Suns, Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net relays (via Twitter).
Ben Simmons’ Agent Wants Him To Sit Out Season?
No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons is expected to miss at least three months of action due to his broken right foot, which will likely require surgery to correct. But if Simmons’ agent, Rich Paul, has anything to say about it, the forward won’t see the court again this season, Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Daily News relayed today during an appearance on Philly’s 97.5 FM.
Speaking to 97.5’s Mike Missanelli, Cooney said, “I just got off the phone with somebody who I really trust in the NBA, and he’s like there’s no way his agent is going to let him play this year. That’s an injury that you don’t mess around with, and he thinks he’s going to keep him off his feet all year.”
While it isn’t Paul’s decision to make regarding whether or not Simmons plays or not this season, any schism between the player’s camp and the organization would not be a productive way to begin their long-term relationship. However, if the team did make the determination to play it safe and shelve Simmons for 2016/17, it would be the same strategy the team used for Nerlens Noel and twice for Joel Embiid.
It would also help ensure that Simmons is fully recovered before making his NBA debut. An X-ray taken revealed that Simmons has a Zone 2 fracture, which is more commonly called a Jones fracture. With that type of break comes a greater chance of another fracture occurring. Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer compared Simmons’ situation to that of Oklahoma City guard Cameron Payne, who had surgery on a Jones fracture July 25th, then got hurt again last week during training camp, breaking the fifth metatarsal in his right foot. A similar injury cost Kevin Durant most of the 2014/15 season.
While it can be argued that the Sixers wouldn’t make the playoffs even with a healthy Simmons, there are other issues at play, Dan Feldman of NBCSports.com notes. There were questions regarding Simmons’ attitude during his lone season at LSU, with the player being accused of not giving his all during the Tigers’ disappointing season. Attempting to force the team’s hand if he is medically cleared to play by team doctors wouldn’t help change perceptions regarding Simmons’ drive and work ethic, Feldman adds.
What do you think? Should the Sixers play it safe and keep Simmons on the shelf for the entire season in an attempt to prevent further injury, even if he’s given the OK to return by his doctors? Or do you think he should return to action if medically cleared during the 2016/17 campaign? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.
Offseason In Review: Philadelphia 76ers
Over the next several weeks, Hoops Rumors will be breaking down the 2016 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2016/17 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Philadelphia 76ers.
Free agent signings:
- Jerryd Bayless: Three years, $27MM.
- Gerald Henderson: Two years, $18MM. Second year non-guaranteed.
- Sergio Rodriguez: One year, $8MM.
- Elton Brand: One year, minimum salary. Partially guaranteed for $1MM.
Draft-and-stash signings:
- Dario Saric: Four years, rookie contract.
Camp invitees:
- Cat Barber: Two years, minimum salary ($50K guaranteed)
- Shawn Long: Two years, minimum salary ($65K guaranteed)
- Brandon Paul: Two years, minimum salary ($155K guaranteed)
- James Webb III: Two years, minimum salary (no guarantee)
Trades:
- Acquired Sasha Kaun and cash from the Cavaliers in exchange for the draft rights to Chu Chu Maduabum. Subsequently waived Kaun.
- Acquired Tibor Pleiss, cash, and two 2017 second-round picks (best and worst of Jazz, Knicks, Pistons, and Warriors picks) from the Jazz in exchange for Kendall Marshall. Subsequently waived Pleiss.
Draft picks:
- 1-1: Ben Simmons. Signed to rookie contract.
- 1-24: Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. Signed to rookie contract.
- 1-26: Furkan Korkmaz. Will play overseas.
Departing players:
Other offseason news:
- Nerlens Noel eligible for contract extension until October 31. Noel also called Sixers’ logjam at center “silly,” expressing surprise that no one has been traded.
- Joel Embiid declared himself healthy.
Check out our salary cap snapshot for the Philadelphia 76ers right here.
The 2016 offseason brought optimism to the city of Philadelphia. The Sixers won the NBA lottery and landed the franchise player they had been patiently waiting for. Now, after a three-year tanking spree in which the team won just 47 games, it will take a step forward in its quest to move up the standings and become a true title contender.
The Sixers will go as far as Ben Simmons will take them and he has the potential to achieve great things with this team. Simmons had an excellent Summer League and was the favorite to win the rookie of the year award before he fractured a bone in his right foot last week.
The city is numb to terrible basketball news, with Simmons’ injury representing the latest instance of a top draft pick being unable to take the court to begin his first NBA season. Nerlens Noel missed his rookie campaign because of a knee injury and Joel Embiid missed his first two seasons with a foot injury. “There is nobody, sadly, that’s had more experience dealing with injured draft picks than we have.” coach Brett Brown said to Comcast Sportsnet. “Over the course of time, you learn how to best deal with it. I have seen this every year I’ve been here.”
Simmons will likely undergo surgery and he is expected to miss three months of action following the procedure. Still, the team remains optimistic, as there is chatter about how Simmons’ extended absence will allow him to sit in a chair and re-make his jumpshot (hat tip to Jessica Camerato of CSN Philly).
The loss of Simmons will open up playing time for Dario Saric, as well as allow Joel Embiid to get more run at the power forward position. Embiid declared himself healthy toward the end of the summer and he has looked explosive in many of the videos of him working out, which he released on his Twitter feed. Like Simmons, Embiid has the potential to be the team’s franchise player. He could become one of the league’s best bigs or he could continue to struggle to stay on the court — no outcome would be particularly surprising for the Cameroon native.
Over the long term, Embiid should play center. However, he’ll likely spend much of his rookie campaign playing the four so the team can evaluate how he meshes as a frontcourt partner with either Jahlil Okafor or Noel. The team already knows the Noel-Okafor pairing doesn’t work. It was disastrous last season, as Philadelphia was outscored by 18.7 points per 100 possessions when the duo shared the floor together. That figure was the worst in the league for any pair of teammates that didn’t include Roy Hibbert (the Hibbert-Kobe Bryant combination was the worst in the league, followed by the Hibbert-Julius Randle combo).
There was speculation all summer suggesting Philadelphia would move one of its centers in a deal, but nothing materialized, which leaves a logjam at the center position. In the days leading up to training camp, Noel called the logjam “silly” and added that he doesn’t see “any way of it working.” While Noel didn’t demand a trade, I’ll speculate that he’s the player the Sixers will ship out, should they make a deal. With all three centers on their rookie deals, Philadelphia doesn’t necessarily have to make a trade right now, though Noel is currently eligible for an extension. President of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo insisted that the team isn’t in a rush to make any moves and it’s likely the the health of Embiid will dictate if and when a deal is made.
The atmosphere surrounding the team will be a little different this year after Colangelo added several veterans, something that pleases coach Brown. New addition Sergio Rodriguez, who has 10 years of professional basketball experience, has impressed the head coach thus far in camp. “He just has a real gift for understanding especially offensive tempo,” Brown said. Rodriguez will compete with new addition Jerryd Bayless for the team’s starting point guard position, but both players will see plenty of minutes and how they run the offense will be paramount to the development of the team’s young frontcourt.
The addition of a few veterans helps ensure that Brown will have a full rotation of NBA-caliber players at his disposal, something that the franchise hasn’t had for a few seasons. While those acquisitions are nice, they won’t help the team drastically improve in the win column. Philadelphia could have gambled on young talent with much more upside in free agency — Harrison Barnes was a feasible option, as I discussed in the team’s Offseason Outlook. Instead, Colangelo resisted throwing huge sums of money at non-stars, resulting in a conservative summer overall for the new administration.
The 2015/16 Sixers lost 39 games by 10 points or more and only managed to win a total of 10 games. The Colangelo administration responded to the historic campaign with an impressive, meticulous offseason that started with the drafting of Simmons. This season, Philly will likely be on the losing end of blowouts less often, and the club should be able to bring home somewhere between 20 and 30 wins. It may be a modest step forward, but the team looks to have a bright future, with a more defined direction than in previous years.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.