NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 10/28/17
Here are the G League updates from around the league today:
- The Heat sent rookie guard Matt Williams to their affiliate in Sioux Falls, tweets Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel.
- The Jazz recalled Tony Bradley from the Salt Lake Stars, the team announced on its website. The rookie center hasn’t appeared in a game yet for Utah.
Bulls Notes: Dunn, Grant, Payne, Mirotic
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg declared an “open” competition for the starting point guard slot after tonight’s 32-point loss to the Thunder, tweets Nick Friedell of ESPN. Kris Dunn, who was acquired in an offseason trade with Minnesota, made his season debut after missing the first four games with a dislocated finger. Dunn fell on the finger, but Hoiberg said he was “fine” after the game.
Jerian Grant started his fifth straight game, but has been less than stellar as Chicago has compiled a 1-4 record. He was averaging 10.8 points and 7.3 assists coming into tonight, but was shooting 39.5% from the field and was just 1 of 10 from 3-point range. He missed all seven of his shots against OKC and finished with two points. Kay Felder, who was claimed off waivers earlier this month, is the third point guard.
There’s more news from Chicago:
- Cameron Payne could become another candidate for that starting spot when he returns from offseason foot surgery. The Bulls’ decision to pick up his option Friday indicates they still see him as part of the future, notes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Payne saw limited playing time after being acquired from the Thunder at February’s deadline. “The thing with Cam, obviously came in during the middle of the season,’’ Hoiberg said, “came at a tough time. The biggest thing we saw, especially in the playoff prep when he was playing the role of Isaiah Thomas, he really showed an ability to get downhill, spray the ball out.’’ The team doesn’t expect Payne back on the court before the start of 2018.
- Nikola Mirotic, who is still recovering from the damage caused by a punch from Bobby Portis, has been cleared for supervised activity at the team facility, but hasn’t started yet, tweets Vincent Goodwill of NBC Sports Chicago. Hoiberg said it may happen tomorrow or Monday.
- David Nwaba, who won a roster spot after being claimed off waivers in July, is making a case for more playing time, writes K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. The second-year guard is impressing teammates with his commitment to defense. “David is one of the best shot contesters I’ve played against,” said Justin Holiday. “Remember when he blocked [Kyle] Korver‘s shot? How many do you see block Korver’s shot?”
Clippers Notes: Griffin, Teodosic, Backcourt, Defense
Blake Griffin credits NBA legend Jerry West with influencing his decision to remain with the Clippers, writes Shams Charania of The Vertical. Griffin opted out of his contract over the summer, but elected to re-sign with L.A. before talking to any other teams. The new five-year deal, coupled with the trade of Chris Paul, makes Griffin the team’s clear on-court leader.
Griffin was “captivated” by West’s presence at a meeting just before the July 1 start of free agency, according to Charania. The Hall of Famer left the Warriors after last season and joined the Clippers as a special consultant.
“Jerry had a major voice to me, and he’s had an influence in coming and working on the culture here,” Griffin said. “This franchise had unfinished business, and I had unfinished business here. We had unfinished business together and I valued that. We laid it out there that no matter what was going on around us, both sides hadn’t accomplished what we set out for. I couldn’t abandon this now.”
There’s more Clippers news out of Los Angeles:
- Coach Doc Rivers offered a health update today on Milos Teodosic, saying he was able to ride a stationary bike but there’s no timetable for him to play again, tweets Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Teodosic is out indefinitely after leaving last Saturday’s game with a plantar fascia injury.
- Rivers is trying not to overtax his backcourt with the loss of Teodosic, relays Elliott Teaford of The Orange County Register. The Clippers have just three healthy, experienced guards currently available, and Rivers admits he has been asking them to do too much. “Too many minutes,” he said after this week’s win over Utah. “I didn’t like the minutes. That’ll change. It’s just got to expand it. What we’ve got to figure out is giving Patrick [Beverley] and Austin [Rivers] rest, playing Lou [Williams] and Sindarius [Thornwell], but making sure we have Blake or [Danilo Gallinari] with them.”
- One key to the Clippers’ 4-0 start has been a significant improvement on defense, Turner writes in an L.A. Times story. The addition of Beverley, who was acquired from Houston in the Chris Paul trade, provides defensive pressure in the backcourt and shot-blocker DeAndre Jordan erases mistakes in the middle. “They want to play ‘D’, which is nice,” Rivers said. “I think they all are on the same page. We have DJ at the basket and Pat on the ball. That’s a great combination.”
Sixers Notes: Okafor, Johnson, Holmes, Anderson
Jahlil Okafor was a bad fit for the Sixers from the beginning, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia picked Okafor third in the 2015 draft despite already having centers Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel on the roster. There was never going to be enough playing time for all three big men, so Noel was traded to Dallas in February, and now Okafor appears to be on the way out.
The Sixers front office is working with representatives for the 21-year-old center to find a trade. He has put up two disappointing years in Philadelphia, playing a combined 101 games, and now has fallen out of the rotation. He has gotten into just one game this season.
Okafor’s injury history and poor defensive reputation are limiting the trade market. Coach Brett Brown can’t give him playing time to improve, Pompey notes, because the Sixers are under pressure to start winning and can’t afford to have a glaring liability on defense. That leaves Okafor glued to the bench while he waits for a deal.
There’s more tonight out of Philadelphia:
- Brown seems committed to free agent addition Amir Johnson as the backup center, relays Dan Devine of Yahoo Sports. The 30-year-old, who signed with Philadelphia over the summer after spending the last two years in Boston, is averaging 15 minutes per night. “I think it’s going to be Amir’s spot to lose,” Brown said. “… It’s always competitive, but the competitive nature has shifted toward Amir’s performance.”
- Richaun Holmes will make his season debut Friday, cutting further into the playing time at center, Pompey tweets. The third-year big man has been sidelined since the preseason with a fractured bone in his left wrist.
- Sixers swingman Justin Anderson is making his first return to Dallas tonight since the Mavericks shipped him out in the February trade for Noel, notes Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. Anderson got more minutes after arriving in Philadelphia and posted career-best numbers in scoring (8.5 points per game) and rebounds (4.0) over the final two months of last season. “Coming back to the place that drafted me, that kind of took me in, coddled me like a little baby of theirs, I grew a lot here,” Anderson said of the return to Dallas. “It was tough with the trade, but I think everything worked out for a reason. I’m in a great place. We’re onto something big.”
Heat Notes: Olynyk, Whiteside, Hayward, Williams
Free agent addition Kelly Olynyk has dropped 16 pounds and made changes to his game since coming to Miami, writes Manny Navarro of The Miami Herald. Olynyk believes the weight loss has made him more mobile, and he is tied for the early-season league lead in drawing charges.
“You’re trying to beat somebody to a spot, and if they’re going to go through you, then you got to go down,” Olynyk explained. “In this league and the way it’s played today, sometimes if you try to stand your ground and try to resist and you go into them, now they flop and now it’s your fault. So why take the risk? It’s a turnover, it’s your ball and now you’re going the other way.”
Olynyk’s four-year, $50MM deal includes a $1MM bonus if he plays 1,700 minutes this season, a figure he never reached in his four seasons with Boston.
There’s more news out of Miami:
- Starting center Hassan Whiteside began drills Friday with assistant coach Juwan Howard, but still isn’t ready for a full practice, Navarro adds in the same story. Whiteside has missed four straight games with a bone bruise in his left knee. The Heat prefer that their players participate in a full-contact practice before being cleared for games. “We’re going to be in constant communication as he rehabs and does treatment and starts to get back into the mix and that’s why we’re just continuing to say he’s day by day, because that’s what he is,” said coach Erik Spoelstra.
- If not for the season-ending injury to Gordon Hayward, tonight would have been the Heat’s first meeting with a player they tried hard to get in free agency, notes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Miami was among three finalists for Hayward, along with Boston and Utah, and waited through and waited four days before he announced his intention to join the Celtics. “We loved the meeting with Gordon,” Spoelstra said. “There’s a reason why we recruited him. And we thought it went well. You just never know how those things are going to play out.”
- Rookie guard Matt Williams, who was assigned to the G League today, only used up three of his allotted NBA days this week, Winderman tweets. Williams, who is limited to 45 days in his two-way contract, spent four games with the team before being demoted. The clock didn’t start until Monday when G League training camps opened, Thursday didn’t count because the Heat had an off day and Friday was considered a travel day as Williams headed for Sioux Falls. The 3-point specialist didn’t get into a game for Miami.
Pelicans Notes: Smith, Davis, Cousins, Holiday
The veterans minimum contract for Josh Smith, who formally signed with the Pelicans this afternoon after several days of waiting, will cost the team $13,156 per day, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. With a team salary slightly more than $122.7MM, New Orleans was roughly $1MM below the luxury tax before adding Smith. He is the latest veteran signing for a team that added Rajon Rondo and Tony Allen over the offseason, then reached a deal with Jameer Nelson after he was waived by the Nuggets.
“Being able to get this call, I feel like it was a second chance and a breath of fresh air,” Smith told Christian Boutwell of The Advocate. “I thank the New Orleans Pelicans organization for believing in me and giving me an opportunity to continue to do what I love to do.”
There’s more today out of New Orleans:
- The Pelicans’ complementary players have hampered the pairing of Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, writes Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. Although both big men are able to initiate the offense from the perimeter, the talent around them don’t shoot well enough to provide spacing, O’Connor adds. Ian Clark is the team’s best career 3-point shooter at 37.2%, and E’Twaun Moore, Nelson and Jrue Holiday are the only others above 36%. Front office sources tell O’Connor they don’t expect any significant roster changes from the Pelicans for the rest of the season, unless they fall far out of playoff contention by the deadline. He notes that the chances of Cousins signing with the Lakers when he hits free agency next summer remain very real.
- The Pelicans will need a playoff appearance to improve their chances of keeping Cousins, suggests Sam Amick of USA Today. Cousins has spent eight seasons in the league without reaching the postseason and will be more inclined to look elsewhere if he misses for a second straight year in New Orleans. Amick writes that Cousins is currently the star player most likely to change teams next summer.
- Holiday had his best game of the season Thursday in sparking a comeback in Sacramento, boosting the team’s hopes that he can handle his new backcourt role, writes William Guillory of The Times-Picayune. New Orleans is counting on Holiday to take on more of the scoring load, and he delivered 20 points in the win over the Kings. “Jrue was incredible,” Cousins said. “We’ve been pushing him to just be an aggressive guard at all times. I feel like no guard in this league can guard him one-on-one. He came out and he was aggressive and made some huge plays for us.”
Pelicans Sign Josh Smith
October 28, 4:51pm: The move is official, the Pelicans announced on their website. Smith will be available for tonight’s game against the Cavaliers.
October 28, 1:44pm: Smith will sign with the Pelicans Saturday after receiving a letter of clearance, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets. The letter was required because Smith last played overseas, Bobby Marks of ESPN notes.
October 26, 9:34pm: Smith is in town for the Kings-Pelicans game but didn’t end up signing a contract before the game as he had hoped, Marc Spears of The Undefeated tweets. It sounds as if the deal will be finalized on Friday.
October 26, 7:17pm: Smith has flown to Sacramento, hoping to sign a contract with the Pelicans before their matchup with the Kings at 9:30 CST, Marc Spears of The Undefeated tweets.
October 25, 5:51pm: Free agent forward Josh Smith plans to sign with the Pelicans, reports Shams Charania of the Vertical (via Twitter). According to Charania, a corresponding roster move won’t be necessary for New Orleans, since the team will be granted an extra roster spot via an injury hardship exception.
Smith, who will turn 32 in December, didn’t play in the NBA at all last season, last appearing in the league during the 2015/16 campaign. He played in 55 total games that year for the Clippers and Rockets, averaging 6.0 PPG and 3.5 RPG in 16.0 minutes per contest, with a career-worst .364 FG%.
In search of an NBA opportunity this year, Smith worked out for the Pelicans in late August. Although that audition didn’t lead to anything at the time, New Orleans is now circling back to the former first-round pick in an effort to add some depth to a roster hit hard by injuries.
Currently, the Pelicans are without Solomon Hill, Rajon Rondo, Omer Asik, Frank Jackson, and Alexis Ajinca. Anthony Davis is also banged up for New Orleans — an MRI on his injured knee reportedly showed no structural damage, but that doesn’t mean that he’ll be able to get back on the court right away.
The Pelicans are eligible for a hardship exception because they have four or more players who have missed at least three consecutive games apiece due to injury or illness. As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), Smith qualifies for that 16th spot on the roster because he’s signing a non-guaranteed deal. With Smith set to join a group that already includes Rondo, DeMarcus Cousins, and Tony Allen, the Pelicans’ roster will feature some of the NBA’s most interesting personalities.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Rockets Waive Isaiah Canaan
The Rockets have waived Isaiah Canaan just four days after he signed with the team, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle.
The 26-year-old guard got into just one game and saw four minutes of action before being let go. Although the Rockets are short-handed because of injuries, Canaan didn’t play in Friday’s game at Charlotte, Feigen notes, with Bobby Brown being used as the backup point guard.
Houston will incur a $53K cap hit for Canaan, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). The move brings the Rockets’ roster back down to 14 players.
This is the second time Canaan has been waived in the past two weeks. He spent the preseason with the Thunder, but didn’t survive the final roster cut.
Northwest Notes: Wolves D, Nuggets O, Thunder Flight
Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau has a long-standing reputation as a defensive guru but his team has played poorly at that end in the early going this season, as Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders points out. The team ranks last in defensive efficiency and star players Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins have been particularly ineffective, Blancarte continues. Towns admitted to reporters this week he isn’t getting the job done. “I’ve just got to be better all around, everywhere,” Towns said. “I’m not my best right now. I’m not, and it hurts. So I’ve got to go back to the drawing board and find a way to play better.”
In other developments around the Northwest Division:
- The Nuggets’ offense is off to a slow start with the team playing bigger lineups more often, Gina Mizell of The Denver Post notes. Coach Michael Malone is surprised by the team’s struggles, as he told Mizell and other media members. “It seems like we’re working so (dang) hard for everything we get in the halfcourt,” Malone said. “And then when we do generate a wide-open shot, we’re not making those and we’re not finishing at the rim the way we need to be.” Early shooting struggles by point guard Jamal Murray and small forward Wilson Chandler have also contributed to the offensive woes, Mizell adds.
- The Thunder’s chartered plane to Chicago Friday night was damaged during the flight but the team arrived safely. The nose of the plane suffered damaged and Delta Airlines said it was likely caused by colliding with a bird, according to an Associated Press report. The team was traveling from Minnesota, where it lost to the Timberwolves in the front end of a back-to-end.
- The Timberwolves have hired former Rockets player Rafer Alston as a scout, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic tweets. Alston’s NBA playing career ended in 2010.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 10/21/17 – 10/28/17
Every week, the Hoops Rumors writing team creates original content to complement our news feed. Here are our segments and features from the past seven days:
- Our Offseason in Review series, which sees us looking back at the biggest stories and roster moves of each team’s summer, continued this week with breakdowns of the following clubs:
- We took a closer look at what the Bulls might do next to resolve the ongoing Nikola Mirotic–Bobby Portis saga.
- The deadline for teams to exercise their options on rookie scale contracts is Tuesday, October 31. We listed the significant players whose option decisions remain up in the air.
- There are many notable names on G League rosters. We took a closer look at those players.
- The dates when recently-signed free agents are eligible to be traded vary a great deal. We listed those dates here.
- Will the Pistons blow up their roster in the near future? That’s one of the questions Arthur Hill tackled in his weekly mailbag.
- Mike James is a point guard that fantasy players should consider when filling out their lineups. Chris Crouse explained why in his weekly fantasy column.
- We asked in our Community Shootarounds which available free agent is most deserving of a contract, which team would be the best fit for Eric Bledsoe, and whether the Celtics remain one of the East’s top two teams despite the loss of Gordon Hayward.
- Our 2017 Free Agent Tracker rounds up all of the free agent signings that took place in the 2017 offseason, meaning it won’t be updated going forward. You can still use it to revisit all of the signings from the last four months.