Rockets Notes: Gordon, Zhou, Anderson
James Harden and Trevor Ariza were both heavily involved in recruiting Eric Gordon, as the shooting guard writes for The Players’ Tribune. Both players called Gordon nearly every day leading up to free agency, explaining to him that he was the missing piece while talking about how unstoppable the offense would be and how successful the Rockets could be in the postseason if he decided to come to Houston. Gordon ended up signing a four-year. $53MM deal with the team last summer.
Here’s more from Houston as the team gets ready for its round two matchup with the Spurs:
- Gordon said that neither Harden nor Ariza had mentioned coming off the bench during any of their offseason phones calls, Gordon writes in the same piece. That revelation came 11 games into this season when coach Mike D’Antoni told him that he would come off the bench. “Bam. No leading into the conversation. No softening the blow. Just like that, I’d lost my starting spot,” Gordon writes. The shooting guard has embraced his role off the bench and he’s a top candidate for the Sixth Man of the Year award.
- Zhou Qi, who was the No. 43 overall pick in the 2016 draft, will begin training with the Rockets with the hope of joining the NBA club next season, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle relays. “We are looking forward to sitting down and talking and seeing what might happen in the future. His dream is to one day play in the NBA. Right now, we are focused on training,” Zhou’s agent said.
- Ryan Anderson, who signed a four-year, $80MM deal with the Rockets last offseason, is excited to advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since the 2009/10 season, as Feigen writes in a separate piece. “Series one went by quick. This season went by quick. But it feels like this group has been together a whole lot longer than it had because we enjoy being around each other. It’s been a fun year,” Anderson said.
Weekly Mailbag: 4/24/17 – 4/30/17
We have an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in this, our weekly mailbag feature. Have a question regarding player movement, the salary cap or the NBA draft? Drop us a line at HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com. Here are this week’s inquiries:
What is the likelihood Blake Griffin is gone if Clippers get bounced, and what team has a shot of landing him? — Bleedingreenbetty via Twitter
Clippers management keeps saying it wants to keep the team together regardless of cost, but the price of retaining Griffin, Chris Paul and J.J. Redick would be enormous. L.A. would be about $11MM over the cap next season if Paul and Griffin both opt in, which won’t happen, but would mean $24.27MM for Paul and $21.37MM for Griffin. There are rumors that a five-year, $200MM deal is ready for Paul to sign when the playoffs end, which would bump his salary up to around $40MM for the first season. It’s hard to see how they can afford a similar deal for Griffin, especially when luxury taxes and the repeater tax are added. It would be a huge financial commitment, even for a title contender, and the Clippers have never even reached the conference finals. Any contender with cap room (the Celtics, for instance) would have interest in Griffin, who might benefit from a change of scenery.
Are the Pelicans still considering firing Alvin Gentry? — Michah, via Twitter
A report this morning said the team is still evaluating Gentry and GM Dell Demps. Logically, it seems like both should get at least one more season to see how the Anthony Davis–DeMarcus Cousins combination works out. They’ve only been together since the All-Star break and haven’t really had time to mesh. Give Demps an offseason to find some shooters to surround them and give Gentry at least half a season to make it work on the court. If they aren’t a playoff contender in January or February, then start handing out pink slips.
Does it make sense for Greg Monroe to opt out of his contract with the Bucks? He had a good year off the bench and is still only 26 years old, but it’s hard to imagine him topping $17.9MM for next year as a free agent. — Oscar, via Twitter
In a different era, Monroe could safely opt out, knowing that teams would be lined up to offer him a huge payday. But his old-style post game doesn’t fit the direction that the league or the Bucks are headed. Monroe averaged 11.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game this season, numbers that increase to 18.8 and 10.5 when projected to 36 minutes. But he was used exclusively as a reserve and played just 22.5 minutes per night, less than half the game. Milwaukee would love to get Monroe’s $17.9MM salary off its books for next year, but he will probably take the safe road and opt in.
Nuggets’ Will Barton To Refuse Extension
Nuggets swingman Will Barton will turn down a contract extension and become an unrestricted free agent in 2018, reports Chris Haynes of ESPN.com.
At age 26, Barton has blossomed into one of the league’s top sixth men, averaging 13.7 points per night and shooting 37% from 3-point range in 60 games this year. He will make a little more than $3.53MM in 2017/18 in the final season of a three-year contract.
The Nuggets expected Barton to test free agency and try to land a big contract in the prime of his career, Haynes adds.
The new collective bargaining agreement allows players on three-year deals to receive extensions starting on the second anniversary of the signing. Barton could have gotten a new deal starting at either 120% of his salary for 2017/18 or the average salary for next season, which is projected at about $9MM. Given 8% annual increases, Barton’s extension would have been valued at about $39MM over four years.
Haynes notes that Barton could be looking at much more, considering the contracts that were handed out to similar players last summer. The Trail Blazers matched a four-year, $75MM offer for Allen Crabbe and gave Evan Turner $70MM over four seasons. The Hawks re-signed Kent Bazemore for four years at $70MM. Barton has outscored each of them over the past two seasons.
Wizards Notes: Horford, Mahinmi, Smith, BIG3
Boston’s Al Horford could have been in the visiting locker room as the Eastern Conference semifinals get under way this afternoon, writes J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic. Before signing a four-year, $113MM deal with the Celtics last summer, Horford narrowed his list to three finalists that also included the Wizards and Rockets. Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld and VP of basketball operations Tommy Sheppard flew to Atlanta to make a personalized pitch to Horford. Point guard John Wall also joined in the recruiting process.
“Me and him had a great conversation,” Wall recalled. “He told me it was down to [us], them and I think Houston. He made his final decision after that, you’ve got to move on. It would’ve been great to have him on our team, but he’s with the Celtics. They had a great season this year. He had a heck of a season and we’re competing against him now so all that texting, all we had is out the window.”
There’s more today out of Washington:
- The Wizards have announced that back-up center Ian Mahinmi won’t be available for today’s game (Twitter link). That isn’t suprising, Michael tweets, because Mahinmi hasn’t gone through a full practice since straining his left calf two weeks ago. He has ramped up his individual workouts over the past week, but isn’t ready for game action. Mahinmi played just 31 regular season games after signing a four-year, $64MM deal last offseason, as knee problems limited him to just five games before the All-Star break.
- There’s better news about reserve big man Jason Smith, tweets Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. Coach Scott Brooks said Smith will be ready for today’s game. He has been dealing with a left calf strain, but played 11 minutes in Friday’s closeout game against the Hawks.
- Four former Wizards players are hoping to be part of the BIG3 league this summer, relays CSNMidAtlantic. Etan Thomas tweeted Saturday that he was at the league’s draft combine along with DeShawn Stevenson, Kwame Brown and Michael Ruffin. The new league, which features three-on-three competition among former NBA players, will hold its draft today in Las Vegas.
Vince Carter Wants To Play Two More Seasons
At age 40, Vince Carter believes he still has two more years left in the NBA, according to Real GM.
Carter remained productive in his 19th professional season, averaging 8.0 points in 73 games with the Grizzlies. He started all six playoff games against the Spurs and played 32.5 minutes per night.
“I said to myself ‘I want to play 15 years’. I don’t know where I got that from,” Carter said. “And then I got to 15 years and I kept going. I never capped it, but at the same time I’ve had a lot of players remind me of things I’ve said. I’m still saying ‘two more years and I’m done.'”
Carter will be a free agent after making a little more than $4.26MM this year. He came into camp with only a $2MM guarantee, but managed to stay on Memphis’ roster the entire season.
The Grizzlies haven’t indicated whether they plan to bring Carter back, and the team faces difficult decisions with Zach Randolph, Tony Allen and JaMychal Green also headed toward free agency. With big contracts for Mike Conley, Chandler Parsons and Marc Gasol already in place, Memphis enters the offseason with only about $6MM in cap room.
But Carter insists that he will be ready if he does return to the Grizzlies, saying, “I could play three more rounds of basketball right now.”
Warriors Notes: Fraser, Kerr, Barnes, Livingston
Having to get by without Steve Kerr for the first 43 games of last season has made the transition easier this year, assistant coach Bruce Fraser tells Tim Kawakami of The San Jose Mercury News. Ongoing complications from Kerr’s 2015 back surgery forced him to miss Games 3 and 4 of the Trail Blazers series and have put his availability in question for the next round and beyond. Former NBA coach Mike Brown has taken over the team on an interim basis and “has been really good with letting our culture stay intact,” Fraser said.
Fraser adds that helping Kerr get healthy is the organization’s primary concern. “I used to ask him a lot at the beginning how he was doing and I could tell after a while he just didn’t like that question,” Fraser said. “He hides it from everyone. I’m no different. But he also doesn’t want you to feel sorry for him. He doesn’t want it to be a crutch for himself or a hindrance to the team or us. He learned how to manage it pretty well. So he was really good with it all–some moments better than others. It just got worse. We just need to get him back.”
There’s more Warriors news this morning:
- Brown brings a different tone to Golden State’s huddles, but he is maintaining the same philosophies that Kerr employs, Kevin Durant says in the same piece. “They’re two different voices, two different personalities,” Durant said. “They work well with each other and they learn from each other I can tell. But we play a certain way and we’ve been playing that way the whole season. It’s not like coach Brown is coming in trying to change anything up. He’s coaching us within the flow of the game and whatever he sees he’s going to help us out.”
- The Warriors are hoping to have Matt Barnes and Shaun Livingston available when their second-round series starts Tuesday, relays the Associated Press. Barnes, who has been out since April 8th with a foot injury, has been upgraded to probable for Game 1. Livingston remains questionable with a sprained finger on his right hand that he suffered in the opener against Portland. Durant is expected to play without the minutes restriction that was imposed when he returned from a strained left calf for Game 4 against the Blazers.
- Center Zaza Pachulia talks the experience of being surrounded by mega-stars in the “Warriors Plus-Minus” podcast with Kawakami.
Pelicans Still Evaluating Gentry, Demps
Coach Alvin Gentry and GM Dell Demps remain on “day-to-day” status in New Orleans, and there’s not a set deadline for the organization to make a decision about their future, writes Scott Kushner for The Advocate.
The choice will be made by owner Tom Benson and senior VP of basketball operations Mickey Loomis, who are weighing a number of factors in deciding whether to keep both men. The Pelicans would seemingly want to have the issue addressed well before the June 22nd draft and the July 1st start of free agency, but Kushner notes that seven years ago, Demps was hired on July 20th.
Demps has held the job through three ownership groups, producing mixed results. Under his reign, the team has a 237-321 record with playoff appearances in 2011 and 2015. Demps drafted Anthony Davis in 2012 and got him to agree to an extension through 2021. He also swung a huge deal for DeMarcus Cousins at this year’s All-Star break, which may buy Demps some time in his position if the franchise waits to see how the Davis-Cousins pairing pans out.
“We certainly saw an uptick in the energy around the team since [Cousins] got here,” team president Dennis Lauscha said last month. “We’ve seen a big uptick in renewals, and we’ve seen an uptick in sponsorships already. Listen, he’s been great for the organization. He’s a great guy, and he’s already volunteered to do community stuff. We love having him as a part of our organization.”
However, Demps also has several prominent mistakes on his record, such as giving Omer Asik $58MM over five years in 2015 and giving up five of the team’s last six draft picks in deals for veterans.
“I walk in here every day excited about my job,” Demps said after the season ended. “I don’t ever feel the pressure or anything like that. Right now, we’re in evaluation mode. We’re going to sit back and meet with Alvin. We’re going to sit back and go over the whole season. I think we’ve had a lot of challenges this year. But I do like the direction and path that we’re headed [on].”
Week In Review: 4/22/17 – 4/29/17
The playoff picture is clearing up as the offseason arrived for seven teams earlier than they expected. Here are this week’s stories that played out against the backdrop of the postseason.
Transactions
- Larry Bird is stepping down as president of the Pacers.
- The Pelicans‘ Dante Cunningham declined his player option.
- The Hawks‘ Paul Millsap discussed his intention to opt out.
- Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey confirmed that Festus Ezeli won’t return next season.
- Stephon Marbury left his Chinese Basketball Association team in Beijing.
- Andrea Bargnani parted ways with his Spanish team.
Injuries
- Lingering health problems from his 2015 back surgeries forced Warriors coach Steve Kerr to miss the final two games of the series with the Trail Blazers, and he remains out indefinitely.
- Golden State’s Kevin Durant was held out of Game 3 with a calf injury.
- Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic was able to bounce back from a fracture in his leg and play in Games 3 and 4.
- Jazz center Rudy Gobert overcame a knee injury and returned to the series with the Clippers in Game 4.
- Clippers guard Austin Rivers returned for Game 5 on a minutes restriction.
News
- Duke point guard Frank Jackson declared for the NBA draft, but hasn’t hired an agent.
- The Bulls’ Rajon Rondo and the Rockets‘ Patrick Beverley were each fined $25K for their actions in playoff games.
- Joel Berry, Theo Pinson and Tony Bradley of North Carolina elected to test the draft waters.
- French point guard Frank Ntilikina declared for the draft.
- Bam Adebayo of Kentucky and Jaylen Johnson of Louisville hired agents and will stay in the draft.
- Kristaps Porzingis says he wants to stay with the Knicks.
- Pat Riley wants one more title with the Heat before retirement.
- The Pelicans trimmed their list of possible D-League affiliates to six cities.
- The D-League announced its all-league teams.
- The NBA confirmed 182 early entrants for this year’s draft.
- Shabazz Muhammad hired a new agent.
- Rockets owner Leslie Alexander was fined $100K for confronting an official during a playoff game.
- The Nuggets announced surgery for rookie guardd Jamal Murray.
- The Knicks will send assistant Joshua Longstaff to Latvia to monitor Porzingis as he plays for the national team.
- Russell Westbrook expressed a desire to remain in Oklahoma City.
- The Raptors‘ affiliate won the D-League championship.
Rumors
- A teammate says Paul George has talked openly about joining the Lakers.
- Draft-and-stash prospect Zhou Qi hopes to join the Rockets next season.
- Kevin McHale is among the candidates to be the next president of the Magic.
- Orlando plans to offer the president’s post to Cavaliers GM David Griffin.
Indiana’s Thomas Bryant To Remain In Draft
Thomas Bryant, a sophomore center from Indiana, will sign with an agent and remain in the NBA draft, according to Evan Daniels of Scout.com.
The 6’10” Bryant declared for the draft April 11th, but wasn’t sure until now whether he planned to stay in. He informed new Hoosiers coach Archie Miller of his intentions today, Daniels reports.
Bryant is ranked 42nd on the DraftExpress list of Top 100 prospects and 45th by Chad Ford of ESPN.com. He averaged 12.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots per game this season.
Bryant was among the players invited to the draft combine next month in Chicago.
Invitations Issued For May Draft Combine
Earlier today, we passed on Lonzo Ball‘s decision to skip the draft combine, which will be held May 9-14 in Chicago. The UCLA point guard, who is expected to be among the first three players selected, may not be there, but Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com has compiled a list of known invitees.
Alphabetically, they are:
Bam Adebayo, Kentucky
Rawle Alkins, Arizona*
Jarrett Allen, Texas
Kadeem Allen, Arizona
Ike Anigbogu, UCLA
OG Anunoby, Indiana
Dwayne Bacon, Florida State
Lonzo Ball, UCLA
Jordan Bell, Oregon
Jaron Blossomgame, Clemson
Tony Bradley, North Carolina*
Isaiah Briscoe, Kentucky
Dillon Brooks, Oregon
Thomas Bryant, Indiana*
John Collins, Wake Forest
Zach Collins, Gonzaga
Hamidou Diallo, Kentucky*
Tyler Dorsey, Oregon
Damyean Dotson, Houston
P.J. Dozier, South Carolina
Jawun Evans, Oklahoma State
De’Aaron Fox, Kentucky
Markelle Fultz, Washington
Harry Giles, Duke
Josh Hart, Villanova
Isaiah Hicks, North Carolina
Jonathan Isaac, Florida State
Wesley Iwundu, Kansas State
Frank Jackson, Duke*
Josh Jackson, Kansas
Justin Jackson, Maryland*
Justin Jackson, North Carolina
Andrew Jones, Texas*
Luke Kennard, Duke
Kyle Kuzma, Utah*
T.J. Leaf, UCLA
Tyler Lydon, Syracuse
Lauri Markkanen, Arizona
Frank Mason, Kansas
Kennedy Meeks, North Carolina
Eric Mika, BYU*
Donovan Mitchell, Louisville*
Monte Morris, Iowa State
Malik Monk, Kentucky
Johnathan Motley, Baylor*
Semi Ojeleye, SMU*
Cam Oliver, Nevada*
Justin Patton, Creighton
Davon Reed, Miami
Devin Robinson, Florida
Kobi Simmons, Arizona
Dennis Smith Jr., N.C. State
Edmond Sumner, Xavier
Caleb Swanigan, Purdue*
Jayson Tatum, Duke
Sindarius Thornwell, South Carolina
Melo Trimble, Maryland
Moritz Wagner, Michigan*
Thomas Welsh, UCLA
Derrick White, Colorado
Nigel Williams-Goss, Gonzaga
D.J. Wilson, Michigan*
Omer Yurtseven, NC State*
*-participating in five-on-five action
Alternates, according to Goodman, are Deng Adel of Louisville, Chris Boucher of Oregon,
Trevon Bluiett of Xavier, L.J. Peak of Georgetown and Derrick Walton of Michigan.
The annual event gives potential draftees an opportunity to work out for teams, conduct interviews and undergo medical tests. Players have until May 24th to withdraw from the draft if they don’t like what they hear at the combine.