And-Ones: NBA Draft, International Play, Oliver
The NBA Draft is seven months away but that doesn’t mean hoops writers can’t weigh in on what Sam Vecenie of The Athletic refers to as a year-round process. The scribe’s initial mock draft does a fine job weighing in on the biggest prospects on the draft radar while digging admirably deep for a comprehensive 60-pick projection.
Expected to fall in the No. 1 slot is the much-hyped Slovenian star, Luka Doncic. The Real Madrid swingman has shown a remarkable feel for the game at a young age and could make an impact for a team like the Bulls, who currently sit most likely to land that top spot come next June.
It’s after the first pick where Vecenie’s mock gets particularly interesting. The writer opts to put Arizona big man DeAndre Ayton in the No. 2 spot, ahead of the likes of Marvin Bagley III and Michael Porter Jr.
With analysis for each of the first 30 projections, the early look at the draft can’t be missed. Especially considering that he has college basketball’s biggest villain, Grayson Allen, falling directly into the laps of the world champion Warriors.
There’s more from around the league:
- The number of fringe NBA players who opt to sign overseas in international leagues following NBA training camps has dropped precipitously. Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype writes that the trend can be attributed to a depressed European economy and the leaps and bounds that the G League has made over the course of the past 10 years.
- The fifth edition of FIBA’s 3×3 World Cup will take place June 8-12, the governing body’s official site says. This year the competition will take place in the Philippines.
- A Rockets training camp invitee has been picked up by the G League affiliate of the Bucks. Chris Reichert of 2 Ways, 10 Days tweets that the Wisconsin Herd have claimed Cameron Oliver off waivers.
David Lee Announces Retirement
Two-time All-Star David Lee announced on his Instagram page that he has retired from the league.
The Knicks drafted Lee with the No. 30 overall pick in the 2005 draft and he spent five seasons with the franchise. New York dealt him to Golden State via sign-and-trade during the 2010 offseason in order to make room for Amar’e Stoudemire.
Lee started at power forward during his first four seasons as a Warrior. In 2014, he ceded his starting spot to Draymond Green and a year later, he was dealt to the Celtics. He didn’t carve out a meaningful role in Boston and the team found there wasn’t much of a trade market for a traditional low-post four. The Celtics then waived Lee and he spent the rest of the 2015/16 season with the Mavs.
Lee played for the Spurs last season, where he showcased his ability to produce as a role player. He saw 18.7 minutes per game in San Antonio and sported a player efficiency rating of 18.5.
He’ll end his career with a 19.1 player efficiency rating and averages of 13.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game.
Nuggets Notes: Murray, Nelson, Irving
The Nuggets were in discussions with the Suns about an Eric Bledsoe trade, but it appears their decision not to offer too much for a new starting point guard is paying dividends. Jamal Murray, who has been Denver’s starting point guard since the beginning of the season, is playing well and the team is encouraged by his development.
“I love the pace he’s playing with,” said coach Michael Malone after a recent game (via Christopher Dempsey of NBA.com). “He’s got to set the pace that we want to play at, he’s got to be aggressive and he’s got to play with confidence. And you’re seeing that a lot more consistently right now. He’s starting to become a consistent starting point guard in the NBA.”
The 2016 No. 7 overall pick spent much of his playing time at shooting guard during his rookie season, but this year, he’s seeing all of his minutes at the one.
Here’s more on the Nuggets:
- Denver had a deal in place to trade Jameer Nelson to a lottery team for a protected second-rounder prior to the season, though the team could “not stomach” sending the 35-year-old to a bad team, sources tell Zach Lowe of ESPN. The Nuggets ended up waiving Nelson, a move that allowed the vet to pick his own suitor.
- Malone would have liked to keep Nelson on the team, though he is supportive of the organization’s decision to let the veteran go, Lowe relays in the same piece. “It was tough to see Jameer go,” Malone says. “The players trusted him. I find value in veteran mentors. In our meetings, of course I brought up all the reasons it made sense to keep him. But you have to think big picture. It wasn’t like I was kicking and screaming. By the end, we were all on board.”
- The Nuggets had exploratory discussions with the Cavs about Kyrie Irving prior to them dealing away the point guard, though talks never got that far, per Lowe (same piece). The scribe notes that Murray, Wilson Chandler, and a lightly-protected first-rounder would have intrigued Cleveland, but Murray was never on the table.
Injury Notes: A. Davis, Thomas, Porzingis, Wall
Earlier today, we passed on the news that Sixers guard Markelle Fultz in making progress with his shoulder ailment. Here are a few more injury notes involving some of the NBA’s top players:
- Pelicans forward Anthony Davis has cleared the concussion protocol and is probable for Monday’s game, tweets Scott Kushner of The Advocate. Davis was diagnosed with a contusion of the orbit bone above his right eye after a collision the third quarter of Friday night’s contest. He was removed from the game and didn’t re-enter.
- Cavaliers guard Isaiah Thomas participated in some five-on-zero drills and worked on his shot today in practice, relays Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com (Twitter link).
- Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis has swelling in his elbow caused by bursitis, but says it isn’t the reason for his recent shooting problems, according to Ian Begley of ESPN (Twitter link). “At the end of last season, it was really swollen; it was really, really big,” he said of the elbow. “But it was never really bothering me. Now this season, kind of fell on it a couple of times. It wasn’t bothering me either. In Sacramento, I fell kind of on the side. It was a new spot. It was much more sensitive. Now I’m doing treatment. Today’s the day I’m almost back to normal. I almost don’t feel it at all anymore.”
- Wizards guard John Wall will miss today’s game with soreness in his left knee, tweets Candace Buckner of The Washington Post.
- Warriors forward Kevin Durant suffered a sprained ankle last night and will sit out today’s game in Brooklyn, tweets Warriors PR.
Sixers Say Markelle Fultz Is Making Progress
The Sixers announced some positive news on rookie guard Markelle Fultz, saying he is making progress from the ailments that have sidelined him since Oct. 23, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.
Team doctors say the soreness in Fultz’s right shoulder is dissipating and his muscle balance is improving. The team plans to re-evaluate him in two to three weeks to determine when he can return to action. That will be based on how his shoulder responds to training and treatment.
The top pick in this year’s draft, Fultz began to develop shoulder problems over the summer. He changed his shooting motion as a result and the results haven’t been pretty. He is shooting 33% from the field and 50% from the line during his first four NBA games.
Weekly Mailbag: 11/13/17 – 11/19/17
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.
Will the Bulls trade Nikola Mirotic in January? If so, what’s his value around the league? Personally I like his game, but if he’s not willing to play … Gotta receive something in return. — Hasun Rogers, via Twitter
The question stems from Mirotic’s refusal to forgive teammate Bobby Portis for their training camp skirmish that left Mirotic hospitalized with two broken facial bones. Representatives for Mirotic have told the Bulls he doesn’t want to be part of the team as long as Portis still is, which leaves the organization in an awkward position. Mirotic was expected to miss four to six weeks and it has been 31 days since the incident, so he should be cleared to return soon. Portis is playing well, averaging 14.6 points and 8.4 rebounds since returning from a suspension, making him unlikely to be dealt.
Executive VP John Paxson made his stance clear this week, telling reporters, “They are adults. This is our workplace. They’re both part of the team. I think it’s pretty simple.” If Mirotic won’t return with Portis still there, it could lead to a standoff with the team and an eventual suspension. He can’t be traded until January 15 due to the terms of the contract he signed in the offseason. As far as trade value, keep in mind that Mirotic was on the market all summer without receiving an offer, so Chicago shouldn’t expect much in return.
The Sacramento Kings had good crop of rookies drafted recently, plus veterans Zach Randolph and Vince Carter, but they seem to have regressed vastly this early season. What do you think is wrong with the team? — Greg Dizon
The main problem with the Kings is that they’re in the very early stages of a rebuilding project. It started with last year’s trade of DeMarcus Cousins, and this year’s draft class was the second step. De’Aaron Fox might be a future star, but he’s only 19 and still learning how to play in the NBA. Fellow first-rounder and fellow teenager Harry Giles won’t play until at least January because of his injury history.
It will be interesting to see how long Sacramento holds on to Randolph, Carter and George Hill, who were brought in to be mentors to the young talent. Carter has a one-year, $8MM deal, so he should be easy to move to a contender by the deadline. But Randolph is signed for one more season at nearly $11.7MM and Hill will make $19MM next season and a non-guaranteed $18MM in 2019/20, so they might both be with the Kings beyond this year.
Will the Knicks sign LeBron James? — Tyler Eisloeffel, via Twitter
Only LeBron knows what he’s planning for July, and he may need to see how things play out for the rest of the season before deciding. Staying with the Cavaliers and joining the Lakers are the two safest bets, but the Knicks could be a dark horse if they stay in the playoff race and Kristaps Porzingis remains an MVP candidate. New York projects to have about $32MM in cap space, although player options for Enes Kanter, Kyle O’Quinn and Ron Baker could bring that figure down. Let’s say that the Knicks’ chances to land LeBron were zero when Phil Jackson was around, and are a little bit higher now.
Florida Notes: Gay, Whiteside, Magic, Augustin
Rudy Gay might have been a better free agent target for the Heat than Kelly Olynyk, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. In response to a reader’s question, Winderman notes that Gay was rehabbing from his Achilles injury in Florida and expressed interest in coming to Miami before winding up in San Antonio. Gay got a little more than $17MM over two years, with about $8.8MM of that as a player option for next season. Olynyk received $46MM over four years from the Heat.
Gay would have given Miami a proven alternative at small forward when Rodney McGruder was lost to a left tibia stress fracture. The Heat couldn’t have known in July that McGruder would be unavailable, but Winderman says depth at that position would have been desirable if the plan all along was to move Justise Winslow to power forward. Gay is averaging 11.8 points and 5.3 rebounds through 16 games with the Spurs, while Olynyk is putting up 9.2 points and 5.5 boards in 15 games.
There’s more this morning from the Sunshine State:
- In the same piece, Winderman questions whether the Heat will be willing to make another max offer to Hassan Whiteside if he opts out of his current deal after next season. As small-ball continues to spread throughout the league, some teams are re-evaluating the worth of traditional centers. Whiteside will have an early-termination option on his salary of slightly more than $27MM for 2019/20.
- After being one of the league’s early-season surprises, the Magic already face a crossroads to their season after Saturday’s 40-point loss to the Jazz, writes Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando came out of the gate at 6-2, but is back at .500 after dropping four straight games. Coach Frank Vogel hinted that changes might be on the way and called last night’s performance “unacceptable,” a sentiment shared by many of the players. “I think we lost what made us good at the beginning of the season: playing together, having fun out there, enjoying the game,” Nikola Vucevic said. “Over-dribbling, over-trying to get stuff instead of just playing simple basketball, like we did earlier in the year, it just affects us little by little. It just takes away from our energy. It’s like it’s taking little bites [out of us]. By the end of the game, there was no energy left.”
- The Magic got some good news Saturday with the return of veteran guard D.J. Augustin. An important part of Orlando’s surprising early-season success, Augustin missed seven games with a hamstring injury. He was held scoreless in 17 minutes yesterday, but was averaging 8.3 points and 5.1 assists through his first eight games and shooting 39% from 3-point range.
L.A. Notes: Beverley, W. Johnson, Kuzma, Free Agency
Patrick Beverley is expected to return to the Clippers’ lineup Monday after missing five games with soreness in his right knee, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The injury-riddled team needs to get healthy soon, as it has dropped eight straight games and fallen to 5-10 after a 4-0 start. L.A. has been without its opening-night starting backcourt of Beverley and Milos Teodosic, who remains out indefinitely with a left plantar fascia injury.
Beverley was part of the package the Clippers received from Houston in this summer’s trade for Chris Paul. He was off to a strong start, averaging 12.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists through 10 games, along with elite-level defense.
There’s more this morning from Los Angeles:
- With Beverley, Teodosic and Danilo Gallinari all sidelined by injuries, the Clippers want more offensive production from Wesley Johnson, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Johnson, who has a player option for next season worth more than $6.1MM, is taking more than twice as many shots as last season at 5.5 per game, but is careful about not forcing things. “I just see how the game feels out and then just go like that,” he said. “But I think they want me to just go out there and just have an imprint on the game. Just go out there and junk it up, do whatever.”
- After being ignored for most of his basketball life, Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma has become one of the most celebrated rookies in the NBA, notes Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. Kuzma wasn’t invited to New York for the draft and he was a little-noticed part of the draft night trade that sent D’Angelo Russell to Brooklyn. “I felt like I had to sell myself everywhere,” Kuzma said of the pre-draft process. “Coming out of college, they kind of pegged me as a second-round to undrafted kind of guy. I didn’t really have that many options. Everybody was telling me to go back to school. Literally, everybody did. But I knew I was a lot better than everyone projected me to be. So going through the draft process I was on a mission, super focused. I had to come in every interview, every workout, and pretty much smash it.”
- Despite months of rumors and a plan to create enough cap room for two max offers, the Lakers shouldn’t be overly confident that LeBron James and Paul George will join them next summer, writes Mark Heisler of The Orange County Register.
Northwest Notes: Gibson, T. Jones, O’Neale, Lillard
Taj Gibson is justifying the Timberwolves‘ decision to give him a two-year, $28MM contract this summer, writes Britt Robson of The Athletic. Many questioned committing that much to Gibson when Minnesota had obvious needs at the wing and Gorgui Dieng already in place at power forward. Through the first month of the season, Gibson is logging a career high in minutes at 30.7 per game, while Dieng’s playing time has been cut to 15.4 per night from 32.4 a year ago.
“I talk to Gorgui every day. That’s my guy,” Gibson said. “He understands it too that you want to take care of yourself and be in this league a long time. It’s not about the minutes, it is about the production with the minutes you get. I tell him that you want that option where teams know you can start or come off the bench; that’s how you are a great teammate.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Tyus Jones is also finding minutes hard to come by off the Wolves‘ bench, but he is compensating by developing chemistry with center Karl-Anthony Towns, relays Kent Youngblood of The Star-Tribune. Jones, who recently had his fourth-year option picked up, has developed an effective two-man game with Towns. “We’ve known each other since high school,’’ Towns said. “We’ve had a great chemistry. And we play the same style of basketball.”
- Injuries have presented Jazz small forward Royce O’Neale with an unexpected chance for playing time, notes Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. Undrafted out of Baylor in 2015, O’Neale spent one season in Germany and another in Spain before getting a shot with Utah’s summer league team. He played a career-high 21 minutes in Friday’s loss to the Nets. “It felt good to play real minutes,” he said. “You never know when your name is going to be called, so I have to take advantage of the playing time when I get the chance. It’s just about going out and executing the work I put into practice every day.”
- Damian Lillard is coming to the defense of Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts, who is under fire for the team’s sluggish start, writes Mike Richman of The Oregonian. The heat was turned up after Friday’s loss to Sacramento, which prompted Lillard to respond to fans on Instagram. “Late game turnovers and not getting stops has nothing to do with a coach,” Lillard wrote. “Blame me then. This the NBA … we play 82 games and we’ve played 15 and won more than we’ve lost. Relax family.”
Anfernee Simons May Skip College, Enter Draft
Anfernee Simons, projected as a top 10 recruit in the high school class of 2018, is “strongly considering” bypassing college and entering the NBA draft, reports Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
Simons would be eligible because he is in the middle of a post-graduate year at IMG in Florida, which amounts to a fifth year of high school. The 6’4″ shooting guard graduated from high school last year, his prep school coach confirms, and will turn 19 in June, which meets the NBA’s qualifications for the draft.
“Some people have brought it to my attention,” Simons told ESPN. “As long as the opportunity is there, I will do it. I can see myself going to the NBA combine, if I have enough teams to actually invite me or recommend me for the combine and enough teams want to bring me for workouts. I really need to hit the weight room hard and get a little stronger.”
Currently listed as No. 8 in ESPN’s ranking of the top college prospects, Simons has already attracted the attention of several NBA teams. Six franchises sent scouts or executives to watch him at this weekend’s National Prep Showcase in Connecticut.
Givony doesn’t expect Simons to help a team right away, adding that anyone who selects him would be getting a long-term prospect. However, players in similar situations have been taken early before, with the Bucks’ Thon Maker a recent example, and someone might be willing to gamble on Simons if he decides in April to put his name in the draft.