Wolves Notes: Saunders, Rose, Wiggins, Saric
One of Ryan Saunders’ first moves as Timberwolves head coach has been to expand the rotation, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Former coach Tom Thibodeau, who has long been criticized for relying too much on his starters, used a set rotation of nine players before being fired Sunday. Saunders has expanded that to 10 and has been substituting much earlier.
Saunders has also been trying out different combinations, such as Taj Gibson and Dario Saric, who only shared the floor for just one minute under Thibodeau.
“There definitely is (some adjusting to do),” Tyus Jones said after last night’s game. “And it’s still early. But until we’re all the way acclimated, we’ve got to let our energy be what we fall back on. We’ve got to be the team that is going to play the hardest night-in and night-out.”
There’s more news from Minnesota:
- In his first home game as head coach, Saunders received an enthusiastic reception from fans who used to loudly boo Thibodeau during pre-game introductions, notes Chip Scoggins of The Star-Tribune. One of the reasons behind the coaching change was that Thibodeau had become such an unpopular figure in the Twin Cities. Afterward, the players accepted blame for the loss and offered some advice to Saunders. “If anything I just tell him to be himself. Players will be able tell if he’s not being himself,” said Derrick Rose, whose connections with Thibodeau go back to Chicago. “We all respect him. That’s one thing that he has. He has our respect. That’s huge for a coach.”
- Saunders hopes to protect Rose by keeping his minutes to about 30 per game, according to Chris Hine of The Star-Tribune. The veteran guard, who returned to action Friday after missing six games with an injured ankle, saw his minutes fluctuate wildly under Thibodeau. Hines notes that every time Rose has topped 38 minutes this season, he either sat out the next game or couldn’t finish it because of injury.
- Andrew Wiggins is the Minnesota player most likely to benefit from the coaching change, according to Michael Rand of The Star-Tribune. He scored 40 points in Saunders’ first game in charge and had a 37% usage rate, far beyond his season average of 23.8%. Rand cites Saric and Jones as other players who should improve under Saunders.
Five Key Stories: 1/5/19 – 1/12/19
If you missed any of this past week’s biggest headlines from around the NBA, we’ve got you covered with our Week in Review. Below are some of the most noteworthy stories from the last seven days:
The Timberwolves fired 
Tom Thibodeau as head coach and president of basketball operations, naming Ryan Saunders and Scott Layden as the team’s interim head coach and head of basketball operations, respectively. In two and a half seasons with the Wolves, Thibodeau had a 96-107 regular season record, leading the club to the playoffs for the first time in 14 seasons last year. Ultimately, however, his decision to acquire Jimmy Butler and Butler’s eventual departure to Philadelphia after Thibodeau’s reluctance to trade him and standoff with ownership led to his ouster. His firing continues a trend of team’s moving away from having the same individual serve as head coach and president of basketball operations.
The Rockets traded guard Michael Carter-Williams and cash to the Bulls for a heavily protected second-round pick that is unlikely to ever convey. Carter-Williams, whose contract was not fully guaranteed, was waived by the Bulls before the January 7 deadline. The Bulls also waived MarShon Brooks before the deal was completed, as Chicago had a full 15-man roster. With both Brooks and Carter-Williams now out of the picture, the Bulls have an open roster spot. With the trade, the Rockets cut their luxury tax bill by over $2.5MM, while the Bulls obtained enough cash to cover the salaries payable to both Carter-Williams and Brooks.
The Cavaliers waived swingman Patrick McCaw less than a week after officially signing him to a two-year, $6MM contract. The contract was fully non-guaranteed, meaning the team had to part ways with the 25-year-old by January 7 in order to keep his entire $3MM salary off the books for the 2018/19 season. The move now allows McCaw to enter unrestricted free agency, but because of the roundabout way in which this happened, there is now speculation that the Cavs’ maneuver to get McCaw out of the Warriors’ control may have usurped the CBA. Accordingly, the NBA has launched a review and will speak with McCaw’s representatives.
The Grizzlies and Chandler Parsons have agreed for the veteran forward to leave the team indefinitely as the two sides work to structure a resolution on his future. Parsons has been frustrated with being a healthy scratch since returning from injury, and the Grizzlies apparently don’t see him being a part of the team’s future. Parsons was also upset about a potential G League assignment with no promise of a return to the active NBA roster. The two sides are working on finding a trade partner, but the Grizzlies, who are willing to take on a longer contract in return for Parsons, have not been willing to include a first-round draft pick in a trade.
Here are 11 more notable NBA headlines from the last week:
- The Knicks are making veterans available for trade as a part of the team’s youth movement and rebuilding plan.
- The Cavaliers signed point guard Cameron Payne to a 10-day contract less than a week after he was released by the Bulls as a consequence of their trade with the Grizzlies.
- The Wizards waived guard Ron Baker before his 2018/19 salary became guaranteed.
- The Raptors also waived guard Lorenzo Brown before his salary for this season could become guaranteed.
- The Suns signed veteran forward Quincy Acy to the first 10-day contract of the 2018/19 season.
- Big man DeMarcus Cousins is expected to make his debut with the Warriors on January 18.
- The Kings and Knicks have discussed a potential trade involving big men Enes Kanter and Zach Randolph.
- The Wizards are exploring a contract extension for guard Tomas Satoransky.
- In the midst of all the above-referenced drama surrounding McCaw, he signed a rest of the season contract with the Raptors.
- Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks underwent a procedure on a right toe injury and will miss the rest of the season.
- Mavericks guard J.J. Barea suffered a season-ending torn right Achilles tendon.
Lakers Notes: Playoffs, Walton, Ball, Ingram
In an NBA Insiders piece for ESPN, writers Kevin Arnovitz, Chris Herring, Brian Windhorst, Andre Snellings, and Kevin Pelton discuss the Lakers’ playoff chances with superstar LeBron James missing extended time with the groin injury he suffered on Christmas Day against the Warriors.
As one may expect, the consensus among the writers is that the Lakers will still probably make the playoffs, assuming James doesn’t suffer a setback during rehab and miss additional time beyond what was reasonably foreseen.
With approximately 40 games remaining, the general opinion from the ESPN scribes is that James will probably have to play somewhere around 30 to 35 of those games for the Lakers to feel safe about their playoff chances, meaning LeBron needs to be back relatively soon.
In addition to the playoff race, other topics discussed include the identity of the Lakers’ second-best player, whether the team should and/or will make a big trade before the deadline, and where the Lakers’ ceiling stacks up relative to other teams in the Western Conference. The entire article is worth a read.
There’s more from the purple and gold this afternoon:
- If the Lakers do miss the playoffs, it will be a “nightmare scenario” for the NBA and its “broken playoff format,” writes Ben Golliver of The Washington Post. The Lakers could potentially miss the postseason with 45 wins while the sixth, seventh, and eighth seeds in the Eastern Conference could all have losing records. Having one of its most popular franchises shut out of the playoffs while three teams in the East make the playoffs with inferior records could be the catalyst for change the NBA playoff system needs.
- Sam Amick of The Athletic sat down for an extensive one-one-one conversation with Luke Walton to discuss him working in his dream job as the head coach for the Lakers, the team’s much-needed win in Dallas earlier this week after his challenge to his young players to play with more passion, and the overall challenge of both coaching and playing without James.
- The Lakers continue to wait for both Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram to blossom into what a team ultimately expects of players taken No. 2 overall in the draft. But as Mark Heisler of the Orange County Register writes, time is running out. On July 1, the Lakers could potentially trade for the Pelicans’ Anthony Davis, one of the best players in the NBA. And if they do so, both Ball and Ingram may be going to the Big Easy unless they show their worth the rest of the season.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 1/5/19 – 1/12/19
Every week, the Hoops Rumors writing team creates original content to complement our news feed. Below are the original segments and features from the past seven days:
- With January 7 representing a key date for NBA players on non-guaranteed contracts, we broke down which of those players earned a full guarantee on their 2018/19 salaries.
- In his Weekly Mailbag, Arthur Hill answered readers’ questions regarding the difficulty the Knicks would have trading away Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courtney Lee, the future of Lauri Markkanen with the Bulls, and the best fit for Clippers forward Tobias Harris in free agency.
- In his Fantasy Hoops post, Chris Crouse takes a look at the fantasy value of the entire Nuggets rotation, from Nikola Jokic to Monte Morris, Malik Beasley, and Torrey Craig.
- We introduced our 2019 NBA 10-Day Contract Tracker, beginning with deals for Quincy Acy and Cameron Payne for the Suns and Cavaliers, respectively.
- In our NBA Trade Candidate Watch, we focused on the Atlantic Division for a third go-round.
- In this week’s Community Shootaround posts, we asked:
- How would you fill out your hypothetical awards ballot for the first half of the 2018/19 NBA season?
- What should the struggling Pistons do to get out of their slump – trade Andre Drummond, trade other players and draft picks, keep their roster intact, or something else?
- Midway through the season, Luke Adams took a look at the unique roster situations for five teams – the Wizards, Suns, Trail Blazers, Knicks, and Pelicans.
- Our Free Agent Stock Watch series highlighted the Southwest Division.
Budenholzer Hopeful Antetokounmpo’s Injuries ‘Nothing Too Serious’
The Bucks were shorthanded on Friday night as superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo missed the team’s 113-106 loss to the Wizards due to right quadriceps soreness and a left hip contusion, per The Associated Press.
The 24-year-old suffered the injuries a few games prior, which caused him to miss his third game of the season, per head coach Mike Budenholzer.
“Hopefully, it’s nothing too serious,” he said. “He got hit a few games ago and kind of been managing it.”
The Greek Freak has put himself into early MVP discussions. Through 38 games this season, Antetokounmpo is averaging 26.6 PPG, 12.8 RPG and 6.0 APG. His performance has put Milwaukee into the class of the Eastern Conference as their 29-12 record has them 1.5 games behind the Raptors for first place.
Atlantic Notes: Porzingis, Kurucs, McCaw, Tsai
Kristaps Porzingis has missed nearly an entire calendar year since he suffered a torn ACL but his recovery is going well, Newsday’s Steve Popper writes. The Latvian is expected to miss the Knicks‘ four-day trip to London next week when the team faces the Wizards, but Porzingis’ recent practices have been encouraging.
“I don’t see a drop,” head coach David Fizdale said. “That I don’t see. I haven’t seen him move in a way that makes me go “uh-oh.” I think we’re going about it the right way. His body looks great. He looks strong, he’s defined. It’s just a matter of time, and when we get him, we’ll be happy.”
As we relayed on Friday, Porzingis has passed the point of meeting the starter criteria for restricted free agency this summer. Thus, the Knicks’ qualifying offer drops from $7.5MM to $4.5MM. His cap hold will be $17.1MM and he will qualify for a $158MM contract over five years with a starting salary set at $27.25MM.
The Knicks, currently 10-32 in the Eastern Conference, are setting themselves up for a top-five draft pick this summer. A healthy Porzingis would go a long way to helping New York compete next season.
Check out more Atlantic Division notes:
- Fellow Latvian Rodions Kurucs has fared well for the Nets after being selected 40th overall in the second round this past summer. Kurucs has been solid on both sides of the ball and eclipsed both his and the team’s expectations, Chris Milholen and Net Income of NetsDaily write.
- Patrick McCaw‘s first few months of the season have been eventful. He sat out the start of the year as he looked to maximize his earnings from the Warriors as an RFA, then signed an offer sheet with Cleveland. However, days later, the Cavaliers waived him. After signing with the Raptors, he’s thrilled with the new opportunity, Laura Armstrong of The Toronto Star writes.
- Nets minority owner Joseph Tsai is reportedly close to acquiring the WNBA’s New York Liberty, the AP’s Doug Fienberg reports. Tsai purchased 49% of the Nets in April 2018 and the James Dolan-owned Liberty — which were placed for sale in November 2017 — are close to being added to his portfolio.
Free Agent Stock Watch 2019: Southwest Division
Every week, Hoops Rumors takes a closer look at players who will be free agents or could become free agents next offseason. We examine if their stock is rising or falling due to performance and other factors. This week, we turn our attention to the Southwest Division:
DeAndre Jordan, Mavericks, 30, C (Up) – Signed to a one-year, $24.1MM deal in 2018
Jordan has pretty much done his usual thing in his first season with Dallas, ranking second in the league in rebounding and anchoring the defense. One troubling development is his penchant for turnovers — he’s averaging a career-worst 2.4 per game. The one other surprising development is a plus — the career 45.9% free throw shooter has drained 70.3% of his attempts. The always durable Jordan has also answered the bell every game. Early concerns about about “selfish” play have somewhat dissipated. Dallas may not re-sign him but someone will give him another big contract this summer.
Austin Rivers, Rockets, 26, SG (Up) – Signed to a one-year, $1.15MM deal in 2018
The above salary number doesn’t reflect what Rivers is actually making this season, as the Suns bought out his contract after he was traded from the Wizards. He had a $12.6MM salary in the final year of a four-season contract and only gave back $650K. The decision to hook on with the Rockets after he cleared waivers has been good for both parties. With Chris Paul sidelined, Rivers has averaged 12.3 PPG and 3.1 APG in 38.5 MPG in his first eight outings with a championship contender. Still in his prime, Rivers should be able to land a multi-year deal this summer.
Ivan Rabb, Grizzlies, 21, PF (Down) – Signed to a two-year, $2.3MM deal in 2017
An early second-rounder in 2017, Rabb has been a force in a handful of G League games, averaging 23.4 PPG and 10.2 RPG. That hasn’t translated into NBA playing time. He hasn’t played meaningful minutes in 14 games with the Grizzlies. Interior defensive issues and the lack of 3-point shot are the main reason why the athletic big man hasn’t carved out a role. Unless they’re convinced he can improve those areas, the Grizzlies will likely cut ties with him after the season.
Darius Miller, Pelicans, 28, SF (Down) — Signed to a two-year, $4.3MM deal in 2017
Miller receives lots of playing time but his offensive contributions boil down to an occasional 3-point attempt. To be fair, Miller is the No. 5 option when he’s on the floor and he’s an above-average long-range shooter (38.7 percent). His defensive metrics are subpar, which partially explains his paltry 8.42 PER, so the 3-and-D tag doesn’t necessarily fit. Miller’s 3-point shooting could be enough to land him a veteran’s minimum deal or something slightly higher next summer but there’s no big payday ahead.
Quincy Pondexter, Spurs, 30, SF (Down)– Signed to a one-year, $2.16MM deal in 2018
Pondexter remained on the roster past January 10th, fully guaranteeing his salary for this season. Pondexter, whose career has been sidetracked by knee injuries, has been praised as a positive locker room influence but he hasn’t contributed much on the court. He’s appeared in 31 games but averaged just 5.9 MPG with a majority of his playing time coming in blowouts. Pondexter will likely struggle to find another veteran’s minimum deal in the summer.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Community Shootaround: Pistons Moves
Following a quick start, the Pistons have been one of the league’s biggest disappointments. They were 13-7 after 20 games but have nosedived since early December, dropping 16 of their last 20 games.
Their defense has been atrociously recently, as they got blown out by the LeBron-less Lakers on Wednesday and the Kings on Thursday.
NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 1/11/19
Here are Friday’s NBA G League assignments and recalls from across the league:
- The Magic have assigned rookie shooting guard Melvin Frazier Jr. to Lakeland, the team’s PR department tweets. He’s made three cameos with the Magic this season. The second-round pick averaging 12.2 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 1.8 APG in 10 outings with Lakeland.
- The Wizards recalled rookie forward Troy Brown from the Capital City Go Go, their team’s PR department tweets. The 15th overall pick has seen action in 21 games with Washington this season. He’s averaging 17.4 PPG, 6.1 RPG and 4.0 APG in seven G League games.
Eastern Notes: Pistons, Morris, Wood, Sixers
The Pistons’ top brass is expected to meet in Los Angeles today to discuss ways to improve the team, Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press reports. Owner Tom Gores, coach Dwane Casey, senior adviser Ed Stefanski and vice chairman Arn Tellem will discuss how to revive the playoff hopes of the floundering team and provide star forward Blake Griffin with a better supporting cast. Detroit got off to a 13-7 start but has lost 16 of its last 20 games. A point guard and a wing player capable of creating offense top the wish list but the team’s cap situation makes it difficult to swing a deal, Ellis continues. The roster is littered with bad contracts and injury-prone players and the team is just under the luxury tax line, Ellis adds.
We have more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Tempers flared between Celtics players Marcus Morris and Jaylen Brown during a second-quarter timeout on Thursday but GM Danny Ainge is downplaying the incident. The duo exchanged words and Morris, who apparently told Brown to play harder, shoved the swingman before Marcus Smart separated them, according to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. Ainge told Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe the altercation was no big deal. “It’s two good kids that are competitive,” he said. “They both want the same thing. Emotions happen in games, and I’m not worried about it.”
- Bucks big man Christian Wood is relieved that the team guaranteed his salary for the remainder of the season, Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes. His $1,512,601 salary became guaranteed on Thursday. He has a $1,645,357 non-guaranteed salary for next season. The 6’10” Wood has appeared in six games with Milwaukee while biding most of his time in the G League. “It’s real nice,” Wood said. “I talked to (GM) Jon (Horst) before the deadline passed and he said my time is going to come, I’ve just got to keep working, keep staying with the program and keep doing everything I’m supposed to do. He thinks I’m a good fit for this team.”
- The 76ers named Annelie Schmittel as the team’s VP of player development, according to a team press release. She will be responsible for creating, managing and overseeing the holistic development and implementation of programs that support professional and personal growth of players, staff and families. She spent the last three seasons with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders.