Will The Heat Add To Their Roster?
In the latest edition of his mailbag, Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel broached the subject of Miami adding depth to their shaky roster. As one of Winderman’s readers pointed out, the Heat are within striking distance of a playoff spot, but are missing several players due to injury. What’s more, they’ve committed a roster spot to Udonis Haslem– a great clubhouse presence who isn’t an in-game contributor at this point in his career. In response, Winderman wrote:
“The Heat, for at least another week, not only won’t be able to dress the allowable 13 players, but like Sunday, will only be able to dress 11. Yes, I appreciate the ‘we have enough’ mentality that coaches such as Erik Spoelstra stress. But having enough does not mean having the maximum possible resources in a playoff race that will make every game count. Whether it is signing Carlos Boozer back from China or adding a defensive wing, you raise a legitimate point. This team is hemorrhaging roster spots, and if the mantra is to be all-hands-on-deck, then playing with a full deck would be the best place to start.”
Now tied with Detroit for the eighth seed of the Eastern Conference, the Heat enter a vital stretch of their season without Justise Winslow, Dion Waiters, or Josh McRoberts. While the team could pursue Lance Stephenson, whose second 10-day contract in Minnesota recently expired, he won’t be playoff eligible. Aside from reaching out to Boozer, Winderman lists Okaro White– who is “hardly getting off the bench lately”- as a potential source of production.
Atlantic Notes: Porzingis, Thomas, Poeltl
Second-year big man Kristaps Porzingis knew early on that the Knicks weren’t going to be a competitive team this season, citing a lack of chemistry and teamwork. Marc Berman of the New York Post wrote about the sophomore’s troubling realization as the franchise finds itself staring at a 27-42 record.
“I think it was pretty easy to tell from the inside that we’re not that good of a team,” Porzingis said of the Knicks. “We can win games based on our talent, but it’s not going to last long. [We needed] more work, attention to details, to keep growing as a team. A good team needs time to play together.”
The forward, whose averaged 18.0 points per game across 58 contests so far this season, acknowledged that the transition process can be difficult and that the Knicks did add several fresh faces like starting point guard Derrick Rose, but it was a disappointing year nonetheless.
“Of course, we all expected big things out of this year, but from the beginning it didn’t feel like — I felt we’d make big runs, but we weren’t there at that level where we wanted to be,” Porzingis said. “We can see now we’re not where we want it to be.”
- After a two-game hiatus, guard Isaiah Thomas is back in action for the Celtics, Chris Forsberg of ESPN tweets. The All-Star had been nursing a knee bruise. The 29.2 point-per-game scorer returns as the C’s sit 2.5 games back of the Cavaliers for the top seed in the East.
- Though sparsely used for the majority of his rookie campaign, first-year big man Jakob Poeltl is earning the trust of Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, Doug Smith of the Toronto Star writes. “Every time you put him in, he does something positive,” Casey said. “There’s that trust, not only with myself but with his teammates. He’s doing positive things, he plays with physicality.” Poeltl has averaged 16.8 minutes per game in his last five contests.
- Pressed to talk about the city of Los Angeles, Carmelo Anthony told the New York Post’s Marc Berman that he thinks L.A. is a relaxing place and that his family feels comfortable there. He also said, “Nah, don’t start, I haven’t thought about it,” though, so take it for what it’s worth. “I try not to think about it,” Anthony told the reporter. “Especially now when I’m still playing with the New York Knicks.“
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 3/20/17
Here are the D-League transactions from Monday:
- The Bulls have assigned guard Cameron Payne to their D-League affiliate, Nick Friedell of ESPN tweets. Payne has missed time this month with a sore foot, the same one that he had surgery on earlier in the season, and will look to ease into play with the Windy City Bulls. (Herb Gould of the Chicago Sun-Times has more on the decision)
- The Pistons have assigned rookie Henry Ellenson to their D-League affiliate, Keith Langlois of the team’s official website writes.
- The Grizzlies have assigned big man Deyonta Davis to the Iowa Energy, the team reports in a press release on its website. Davis has averaged 10.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in 18 matchups with the Iowa Energy already.
- The Warriors have recalled Kevon Looney from their D-League affiliate following his latest stint with the Santa Cruz Warriors, the team reports in a press release on its website.
- The Rockets have assigned Troy Williams to the D-League, the team reports in a press release relayed by Fox 26’s Mark Berman.
Wolves Sign Omri Casspi
March 20: The Wolves officially announced in a press release on Twitter that they’ve signed Casspi, though the exact terms have not yet been made available.
March 19: The Timberwolves are closing in on a deal with Omri Casspi, according to Marc Stein of ESPN (Twitter link). Casspi had been cleared to resume basketball activities last week, after suffering a right thumb injury.
Stein shed further light on the deal, reporting Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau met face-to-face with Casspi over dinner this weekend in New Orleans (article link). According to Stein, the Clippers, Celtics, and Grizzlies also showed interest in Casspi.
The Wolves have a need for Casspi, having lost Nemanja Bjelica for the season with a left foot injury. Like Bjelica, Casspi is known as a long-distance shooting specialist, shooting 36.9% on 3-pointers over the course of his career. While Casspi is playoff-eligible- having been released prior to the March 1 deadline- the Wolves face long odds to make the postseason. Thibodeau’s squad is 28-40, receiving 3% odds of making the playoffs according to Five Thirty Eight.
Casspi’s deal is expected to be finalized Monday, Stein reports.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 3/20/17
Got questions about possible trades, free agency, the draft, potential coaching or front office changes, the Collective Bargaining Agreement, or anything else NBA-related? Join us on Monday afternoons for our weekly live chat!
You can check out the transcript of today’s live chat right here.
Rockets Sign Troy Williams For Rest Of Season
March 20: According to Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports, the Rockets officially signed Williams for the rest of the 2016/17 campaign today.
March 18: The Rockets plan to sign Troy Williams for the remainder of the season when his current 10-day contract expires, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle.
The 6’7″ swingman hasn’t seen any action for Houston since signing that deal on March 10th. He was immediately assigned to the Rockets’ D-League affiliate in Rio Grande Valley, where he has averaged 18.5 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 53.2 % from the field (Twitter link).
A 22-year-old undrafted rookie out of Indiana, Williams won a roster spot with the Grizzlies in training camp. He appeared in 24 games for Memphis and started 13 before being waived in late January to open a roster spot for Toney Douglas. Williams averaged 5.3 points and 1.9 rebounds during his time with the Grizzlies.
Tyler Lydon To Enter NBA Draft
Syracuse forward Tyler Lydon intends to sign with an agent and enter his name in the 2017 NBA draft, according to Jon Rothstein of FanRag Sports. If Lydon formally hires an agent, he’ll forfeit the ability to withdraw his name from the draft pool later on and will forgo his remaining years of NCAA eligibility.
The sophomore is currently slated to fall in the 25-35 range, Rothstein writes, but could get a better understanding of what his personal forecast might look like after going through the NBA combine process prior to officially signing an agent.
Though his Orange squad fell in the second round of the NIT, he profiles as a solid 3-4 with good size and an ability to step out and hit the three. He shot .392 from beyond the arc in his second NCAA season.
Though much can change between now and the deadline to withdraw from the draft, Draft Express ranks the forward slightly higher than Rothstein at No. 23 in their latest mock. News of head coach Jim Boeheim returning to campus, however, could give the 20-year-old added incentive to go back for his junior season.
Magic GM Rob Hennigan’s Job In Jeopardy
After writing over the weekend that there has been chatter around the NBA about the possibility of Doc Rivers joining Orlando’s front office, Marc Stein of ESPN.com has another report today on Magic management. According to Stein, the Magic are giving “strong consideration” to replacing general manager Rob Hennigan, whose job is in danger.
[RELATED: Doc Rivers insists he has “no future” with Magic]
As Stein notes, Hennigan is under contract with the Magic for one more year, through the 2017/18 season. However, the GM currently “finds himself under as much pressure as any executive in the league,” per Stein.
The fact that Hennigan is on the hot seat doesn’t come as a real surprise. The GM himself acknowledged last month that criticism of him and Orlando’s front office was “warranted,” given the club’s performance this season. “Our fans, quite frankly, deserve to be upset and deserve to be frustrated,” Hennigan said at the time. “I think the proverbial hot seat comes with the territory.”
An eventful 2016 offseason saw the Magic trade for Serge Ibaka, then sign Bismack Biyombo, D.J. Augustin, and Jeff Green in free agency. The franchise had playoff aspirations to start the year, but lost its opener to the Heat, and never got back above .500. Orlando’s spot in the lottery prompted the team to flip Ibaka to the Raptors before the trade deadline, and Hennigan and the front office were widely criticized for giving up far more for Ibaka last summer than they got back for him in February.
This will be the fifth straight season that the Magic finish with a losing record, dating back to 2012/13, Hennigan’s first year at the helm. Since Hennigan was hired as Orlando’s GM, the team has a 128-270 record (.322). The club has employed four different head coaches during that time, never winning more than 35 games in a season or earning a spot in the playoffs.
Steve Kerr Disputes Report Of Warriors’ Anger Toward OKC
A report from Chris Haynes of ESPN.com late on Sunday night suggested that members of the Warriors’ organization were “furious” and “bewildered” by the Thunder’s treatment of Kevin Durant leading up to Durant’s Oklahoma City return last month. According to Haynes, the Warriors felt that the Thunder’s decision not to more publicly address Durant’s return and thank him for his time in OKC – either through the media or via the in-game operations staff – played a part in creating an “unsettling, hostile atmosphere” during the Warriors’ visit to OKC in February.
Asked today about that ESPN report, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr disputed the idea that the franchise was upset or displeased by Thunder management or ownership for their handling of the Durant situation, as Anthony Slater of The San Jose Mercury News details.
“I don’t agree,” Kerr said. “Sam Presti’s a friend of mine. I know Clay Bennett. It’s a class organization all the way, so I don’t really pay any attention to a story like that unless there’s an actual name name that’s put on it. I assume it’s just sources. Is it ‘sources’? I don’t know who that is. It’s nobody with the Warriors. We have great respect for them. Sam’s been a friend of mine forever. They’re first-class, so I don’t know where that comes from.”
The Warriors will make their second trip to Oklahoma City tonight to play the Thunder, and Durant won’t be active this time around, as he continues to rehab his troublesome knee. Still, even with Durant and Russell Westbrook not going head-to-head on the court, there will certainly be no love lost between the two teams — Chesapeake Arena figures to be an especially hostile environment for the Warriors in the wake of Haynes’ latest report.
Poll: No. 8 Seed In Western Conference
For most of the 2016/17 season, seven Western Conference teams have comfortably held postseason positions. The Warriors and Spurs have led the pack, followed by the Rockets, with the Jazz, Clippers, Thunder, and Grizzlies rounding out the top seven. The order those teams finish in has yet to be determined, but none of them are in danger of losing their playoff spots.
That leaves just one open spot for Western Conference teams vying for playoff contention, and the battle for the No. 8 seed has been an interesting one. With one or two exceptions, virtually every team in the bottom of the Western standings has been viewed as a viable candidate for that final postseason spot at some point since October — even the last-place Lakers created a little buzz when they opened the season with a 10-10 record before falling off significantly.
At this point, two teams look like top contenders for that No. 8 seed, and those two clubs actually completed a trade with one another just last month. The Nuggets and Trail Blazers swapped Mason Plumlee for Jusuf Nurkic in February, and those players have thrived with their new teams, helping to position them for a run at the West’s No. 8 seed. Both teams have been among the NBA’s best so far in March — Denver currently holds a one game lead over Portland with 13 to play, but the Blazers have won three games in a row and have a favorable schedule down the stretch.
Ultimately, it might not matter much which team claims the No. 8 spot — neither the Nuggets nor the Blazers is a serious threat to upset the top-ranked Warriors (or Spurs). Still, either club could at least make things a little interesting in round one as a frisky underdog, given how well they’ve been playing as of late.
What do you think? Will it be the Nuggets or the Blazers in that No. 8 spot at the end of the regular season? Or will another Western team – such as the Mavericks, Pelicans, or Timberwolves – sneak into that final spot with a hot streak in the season’s final weeks?
Which team will claim the No. 8 seed in the West?
-
Portland Trail Blazers 45% (452)
-
Denver Nuggets 35% (354)
-
Another team 19% (195)
Total votes: 1,001
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.