Central Notes: Sanders, Korver, Mirotic, Miles
The Cavaliers‘ plans for Larry Sanders remain uncertain after the recently signed big man played his first D-League game Saturday night, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Sanders had two points, a rebound and three blocks to go with five fouls for the Canton Charge. Afterward, Canton coach Nate Reinking refused to comment on Sanders’ future, calling the plans “classified.” The Cavaliers sent Sanders to the D-League to get used to playing again while they are on a four-game Western swing. The two minutes he played on Tuesday represented his first NBA action since the 2014/15 season. “Get my legs under me. Hopefully help this team win games and get back into basketball shape,” Sanders said of his goals with Canton. “Just defensive timing off a bit and trying to get into position, but it will come.”
There’s more from the Central Division:
- The expected return of Cavaliers guard Kyle Korver during the road trip may be delayed, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. Korver has missed the past six games with inflammation in his left foot, and he has already been ruled out for tonight’s contest with the Lakers. “There’s still something in there,” Korver said. “It’s getting better but it hasn’t come along like I’d hoped. I should’ve stopped playing on it a week and a half earlier. Now that I’m out, we might as well let it come all the way back, but it just hasn’t yet.”
- Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic is focused on a playoff push rather than his impending free agency, relays K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Mirotic, who has gone from inactive to the starting lineup in less than a week, knows that Chicago tried to trade him before last month’s deadline and that his time in the city may be over once the season ends. “There have been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of things I never lived in my life,” he said. “Who could see that? It’s crazy. But I know that I’ve been playing much better the last couple games.”
- Veteran swingman C.J. Miles could parlay his newfound starting role with the Pacers into a healthy raise this summer, writes Jordan J. Wilson of The Indianapolis Star. Miles has started every game since the All-Star break and is the team’s best 3-point shooter. After the season, he will have to decide whether to opt out of a nearly $4.8MM salary for next year.
Chandler Parsons To Have Season-Ending Surgery
Memphis forward Chandler Parsons will have season-ending knee surgery on Monday, tweets Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com.
The meniscectomy will be his third knee operation in three years and will come nearly a year after a procedure to fix his right knee last March (Twitter link). Wallace says the Grizzlies still have “high hopes and optimism” about Parsons’ future with the team (Twitter link).
Parsons was the focal point of the Grizzlies’ offseason, signing a four-year deal worth $94,438,523. But issues with both knees limited him to 34 games in which he averaged 6.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per night.
The latest setback came last week when he was diagnosed with a partial tear of the meniscus in his left knee.
Suns Sign Jarell Eddie To 10-Day Deal
MARCH 19, 12:34pm: The signing is official, according to a tweet from the Suns.
MARCH 18 8:56pm: The Suns will sign Jarell Eddie to a 10-day contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical. The 6’7″ forward is currently playing for the Bulls’ Windy City affiliate in the D-League.
Eddie, 24, has previous NBA experience with Washington, where he appeared in 26 games last season but averaged just 5.7 minutes per night. He went through training camp with the Wizards, but was waived in October just before the start of the season.
Eddie went undrafted out of Virginia Tech in 2014 and has spent most of his career in the D-League, playing for Austin as well as Windy City.
The Suns have been carrying an open roster spot since last month’s trade deadline, when they acquired and then waived Jared Sullinger and Mike Scott. Phoenix signed Ronnie Price to fill one of those openings, but left the other one vacant until now.
New York Notes: Rose, Jackson, Lin, McDaniels
NBA agents are forecasting a disappointing free agent market for Knicks guard Derrick Rose, with one calling him “the next [Rajon] Rondo,” relays Fred Kerber of The New York Post. New York is considered unlikely to try to re-sign Rose, who has been a disappointment since being acquired in a trade with the Bulls last summer. The unidentified agent who compared him to Rondo said Rose will probably get a short-term deal from a bad team worth about $15MM per year. Another expects him to take less money to join a better organization, probably $8MM to $10MM or $10MM to $12MM annually.
One positive for Rose this season has been health, as he has appeared in 60 of the Knicks’ 69 games and is on track for the most he has played since a devastating ACL tear in 2012. “I really believe I worked my butt off this summer to hold up,” Rose said. “I had aches and nagging injuries [in the past]. This year I didn’t have that. Every game, it’s a fatigue factor, but as far as how my body’s feeling, my body’s holding up pretty well.”
There’s more today out of the Big Apple:
- Most of the current Knicks aren’t comfortable in the triangle offense and would like to see the team abandon it, writes Ian Begley of ESPN.com. They believe the tight spacing makes it difficult to drive to the basket and say the offense results in a lot of contested shots. If team president Phil Jackson insists on running the triangle, he might have to overhaul the roster to make it work. There are also concerns that the young players who are learning the triangle will have to make a huge adjustment when Jackson leaves.
- The Nets are finally enjoying the benefits of teaming Jeremy Lin with Brook Lopez, relays Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Brooklyn was expecting the combination to be the core of the team after signing Lin last July, but injuries wiped out a major part of his season. The Nets are 7-11 with Lopez and Lin in the lineup together, but just 6-44 otherwise. “That growth is absolutely there, and I think it’s going to get exponentially better,’’ Lopez said. “That’s team-wise as well. When you really look at our situation, I don’t think we’ve all been out there at the same time. We’ve got some new guys who are coming in. They don’t know all the plays, they’re just getting thrown in the fire in the heat of the moment, but they’re producing. That bodes well for our future.”
- Nets coach Kenny Atkinson has been happy with the play of K.J. McDaniels, who was acquired from Houston at the deadline, tweets NetsDaily.com. “He’s given us some quality minutes,” Atkinson said. “He’s a smart player, he can stretch the floor. I like his IQ and spirit.”
Weekly Mailbag: 3/13/17 – 3/19/17
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:
Who do you think will be awarded the NBA Coach of the Year? Mike D’Antoni of the Rockets, Scott Brooks of the Wizards, Gregg Popovich of the Spurs or who else? — Greg Dizon
For several months, D’Antoni seemed to have the award locked up after taking a dysfunctional team that barely made the playoffs last year and turning it into one of the powers in the West. Putting James Harden into the Steve Nash role and surrounding him with shooters has been a brilliant move as Harden has become the league leader in assists. However, the recent surge by the Wizards, who are now in contention for the top spot in the East, at least creates an interesting race. Some other deserving candidates who will probably get overshadowed by D’Antoni and Brooks are Billy Donovan in Oklahoma City, Erik Spoelstra in Miami, Brad Stevens in Boston and Rick Carlisle in Dallas.
Mavs Sign Jarrod Uthoff To Second 10-Day Deal
MARCH 19: The Mavericks have officially re-signed Uthoff to another 10-day contract, the team announced in a press release.
MARCH 18: The Mavericks intend to sign big man Jarrod Uthoff to a second 10-day deal, Marc Stein of ESPN tweets.
The 23-year-old forward saw limited action during his first deal, playing limited minutes just twice earlier in the week. He last took the court in Dallas’ Monday evening loss to the Raptors on March 13.
Given that the Mavs are currently in the hunt for the final postseason berth in the Western Conference, it’s unclear if Uthoff will see more than the 2.5 minutes per game he saw the first time around, but even if they don’t aggressively audition the undrafted rookie, the franchise will benefit from the added depth on the roster.
Mavs Sign Manny Harris To New 10-Day Deal
MARCH 19: Harris’ second 10-day deal with the Mavs is now official, per a press release from the team.
MARCH 18: The Mavericks intend to bring journeyman guard Manny Harris back for a second 10-day contract, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.
The guard saw 7.0 minutes per game in three tastes of action for the playoff hopeful Mavs his first time through.
Considering that the franchise is in the thick of a playoff hunt, it’s unclear how much action the 27-year-old will see in his second deal but he saw 16 minutes in Friday night’s loss to the Sixers.
Hornets Sign Weber To Two-Year Deal
MARCH 19, 10:25am: The deal is official, according to a tweet from the team.
MARCH 18, 1:01pm: The Hornets and Briante Weber agreed on a two-year deal, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweeted Friday. That puts the undrafted 24-year-old in position to back up Kemba Walker for the remainder of the 2016/17 campaign.
Though the exact terms of the deal haven’t been announced, even if the second year of the contract isn’t guaranteed Weber appears in line to get more than enough of an opportunity to prove his worth over course of the season’s final month.
Weber has done relatively little across stops with the Warriors and Hornets this season but has only played more than a handful of minutes twice all year. Now that the struggling Hornets have started to come to terms with the fact that their playoff hopes are fading, that could change.
Per Jerry Stephens of Fan Sided’s Swarm and Sting blog, head coach Steve Clifford is open to slotting Weber ahead of Brian Roberts and the injured Ramon Sessions on the depth chart providing a slightly larger sample size for the guard to prove that there is legitimate value behind his impressive D-League statistics.
Weber averaged 16.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game in 31 contests for the Sioux Falls Skyforce this season.
Heat Notes: Free Agents, Waiters, Wade, T. Johnson
The surprising Heat may be able to keep this year’s team together and still have cap room to be players on the free agent market, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. With team president Pat Riley saying at the All-Star break that he would use the rest of the season to evaluate which players will be kept, Jackson assesses the situation for several impending free agents:
- James Johnson should get at least $10MM annually after his best NBA season, and possibly a contract similar to Evan Turner‘s at $70MM over four years. Johnson loves the team and the city, and the organization wants to bring him back.
- Dion Waiters is also enjoying a breakthrough season and wants to sign a long-term deal with the Heat. But if Dwyane Wade stays in Chicago, there will be little competition at the shooting guard position in free agency and Waiters could get an offer of $14MM per year or more.
- Wayne Ellington‘s $6.3MM deal for next season doesn’t need to be guaranteed until July 7th, the first day after the moratorium is lifted. The Heat will know where they stand with free agents before making that decision.
- Willie Reed can opt out of hiss $1.5MM deal, and Miami may need to use part or all of its $4.3MM room exception to keep him.
- The Heat have Bird rights on Luke Babbitt, so if he re-signs he will only count $1.47MM against the cap regardless of his salary.
If Chris Bosh is cleared off the cap as expected, Miami will have about $41MM in available space, with three small cap holds. If the Heat elect to keep Ellington and Babbitt, while using the room exception for Reed, that figure will be closer to $33MM. Jackson expects Riley to use that money to chase top-level free agents before committing to any of his current players.
There’s more today out of Miami:
- The Heat aren’t sure when Waiters will return from a sprained ankle he suffered Friday, Jackson writes in a separate story. Waiters was on crutches after the game and has been ruled out for today’s contest with Portland. Coach Erik Spoelstra said it’s too early to talk about when Waiters might play again. “He’s young. He heals fast,” Spoelstra said. “He healed very fast from the last one and he rolled that one all the way over. There’s no way to really tell until we get through this process. We’ll see how he feels after this weekend.”
- Wade is turning aside questions about free agency, but Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel envisions a scenario where the veteran guard could return to Miami next season. If Wade opts out of his $23.8MM deal, Miami could create additional cap room by trading Tyler Johnson, possibly to the Nets, who made the four-year, $50MM offer that the Heat elected to match.
League Unhappy With Cavaliers For Resting Stars
Cavaliers GM David Griffin got a call from the league office shortly after the team announced its decision to rest three stars for Saturday’s nationally televised game, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com.
LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were all held out of the contest with the Clippers, which was shown in prime time on ABC. The Cavs made the move because they are facing a back-to-back situation with a game tonight in Los Angeles against the Lakers.
It was the second straight game that the network was missing star power, as the Warriors rested Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala last week, while the Spurs were missing Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge for medical reasons.
Griffin said an NBA representative called him “seven minutes after it was announced” to express displeasure with the decision (Twitter link).
The game turned into a rout early as Los Angeles pulled away for a 108-78 victory on a night where ABC was competing with the NCAA Tournament for the attention of basketball fans. The network’s broadcasting crew ripped the Cavaliers throughout, with Mark Jackson calling the mismatch “an absolute joke” and Jeff Van Gundy labeling it “a prosecutable offense.”
Shelburne passed along Griffin’s explanation in a series of tweets:
- “The decision made itself. Kyrie left the last game with a knee injury so we weren’t going to have him play both games of a [back-to-back].” (Twitter link).
- “Kevin Love is rehabbing from knee surgery so he’s not going to play both ends of a back to back.” (Twitter link).
- “[Kyle] Korver is legitimately injured so u pick the game ur going to be the most competitive in and that’s the one Bron needs to play in” (Twitter link).
- “I can’t make [Bron] drag himself through this tonight by himself and then have everybody else play tomorrow and still not win.” (Twitter link).
Griffin added that he sympathizes with the league, but injuries dictated the Cavaliers’ actions (Twitter link). When asked about the $24B in television rights being paid by ABC, ESPN and TNT, he responded, “Yeah, and they’re paying me to win a championship.” (Twitter link).