Community Shootaround: GMs On Hot Seat?
Each year typically brings multiple front office shake-ups around the NBA. In 2018, the Hornets, Pistons, Sixers, and Timberwolves all dispatched their respective heads of basketball operations. In 2017, even more teams brought in new management groups, including the Knicks, Clippers, Cavaliers, Bucks, and a handful of others.
So far in 2019, the rumor mill has been quiet when it comes to potential front office changes. However, with the end of the regular season less than two months away, it will likely just be a matter of time before we get word of a team or two going in a new direction.
Front office shake-ups aren’t always easy to predict — before a bizarre Twitter-related scandal surfaced last summer, Bryan Colangelo didn’t appear to be in any danger in Philadelphia, but just over a week after that story broke, he was gone. While a saga like that one is unlikely to be repeated, it’s possible we’ll get some surprising front office news this summer.
For now though, there are a few general managers or presidents of basketball operations who already might be on the hot seat.
Wizards president of basketball ops Ernie Grunfeld is one of those executives, as his club has failed to get past the second round of the playoffs at all during his lengthy tenure in Washington, and has taken a significant step back this season. John Wall‘s four-year, super-max deal, which will begin this July, looks like perhaps the worst contract in the NBA, and the Wizards aren’t exactly loaded with assets around Wall and backcourt mate Bradley Beal.
Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace and Pelicans GM Dell Demps have faced plenty of criticism in recent years as well. Memphis, bogged down by Chandler Parsons‘ overpriced contract and declining veteran assets, has struggled mightily in the last two seasons, and Demps’ issues navigating the Anthony Davis waters have been well documented — as have his issues building the roster around Davis over the last several years.
In Chicago, a few good moves from Bulls executives John Paxson and Gar Forman, such as drafting Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter, have helped mask some questionable decisions in free agency and on the trade market. But with the Bulls’ win total set to decline for a fourth straight year, fans are losing their patience with the Paxson/Forman duo.
As the 2018/19 approaches its home stretch, we want to get your thoughts on the front office situations around the league. Do you expect any or all of the executives we mentioned above to lose their jobs this spring? Do some deserve another chance? Are there any other GMs or presidents across the NBA that you believe should be replaced?
Jump into the comment section below to share your two cents!
Isaiah Thomas Set To Make Nuggets Debut
FEBRUARY 13: Thomas will return to the court and make his Nuggets debut on Wednesday, Wojnarowski confirms (via Twitter).
FEBRUARY 12: Isaiah Thomas could make his debut for the Nuggets as soon as Wednesday against Kings, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reports.
Thomas, who signed a one-year deal with Denver during the offseason, underwent a hip procedure last year and was only able to suit up for a total of 17 games last season.
The point guard participated in five-on-five drills today and a decision on his status for the Kings’ game is expected to be determined early on Wednesday.
Denver sits just 2.5 games behind the Warriors for the lead in the Western Conference. It’s unclear what kind of role Thomas is expected to play for the remainder of the season, but the club has enough depth in the backcourt to bring him along slowly.
Hornets Notes: Jordan, Kemba, Quiet Deadline
Michael Jordan‘s successes as a player and as a Nike ambassador outshine his track record as an NBA team owner, but the transaction that allowed Jordan to buy a majority stake in the Hornets was one of the best deals the six-time NBA champion ever made, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com.
As Windhorst details, despite a reported sale price of $275MM, Jordan put up just $30MM in cash to buy the then-Bobcats in 2010, in an arrangement the league likely wouldn’t approve today. Since then, Jordan has continued to purchase more shares in the franchise and now owns about 90% of the team. Forbes’ franchise valuations, released last Wednesday, suggest the Hornets are currently worth $1.25 billion.
While Charlotte isn’t a huge market and the Hornets haven’t had much postseason success since their inception, the NBA’s revenue sharing model has paid off in a big way for the club. According to Windhorst, league documents show that the organization received more than $130MM in revenue sharing money between 2012 and 2017.
Windhorst’s piece, which includes a look at how LeBron James wants to follow in Jordan’s footsteps when it comes to owning an NBA franchise, is worth checking out in full.
Here are a few more Hornets-related notes:
- In an interesting piece for USA Today, Jeff Zillgitt spoke to Hornets players and head coach James Borrego about what it’s like to have Jordan as the team’s owner. “It’s actually really cool,” Marvin Williams said of playing for Jordan. “It’s not like people think. For the most part from what I hear, most people think it’s a lot tougher playing for him than it really is. He’s the total opposite. … He just wants you to compete. That’s not a lot to ask. If you compete, he’s going to live with the wins and the losses.”
- After a fairly quiet trade deadline, Hornets president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak looked ahead to the rest of the season and the upcoming offseason in his comments to reporters, including Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. Kupchak believes Charlotte can make the playoffs and spoke in positive terms about the odds of re-signing Kemba Walker in the summer. “I’m optimistic and I’m hopeful, as I always have been, that Kemba starts his career in a Hornets uniform and ends it in one,” Kupchak said.
- In a post-trade-deadline mailbag for The Charlotte Observer, Bonnell answered questions on whether a quiet trade deadline would have an impact on Walker’s free agent decision, why the Hornets elected to claim Shelvin Mack off waivers using their open roster spot, and why Kupchak didn’t make any deals at the deadline.
Key Rest-Of-Season NBA Dates, Deadlines
The 2019 NBA trade deadline is now behind us, but it’s not the last notable date on the 2018/19 regular season calendar.
Here are a few more dates and deadlines to keep an eye out for over the next couple months:
February 28
- Last day for contract renegotiations
Players eligible for veteran contract extensions can continue to negotiate those deals through the rest of the league year. However, if a player wants to renegotiate his contract to receive a raise as part of an extension, as Robert Covington did last season, it must happen by the end of this month.
In order to renegotiate a contract, a team must have cap room. The only club with a path to cap room at this point is Dallas — the Mavericks could open up space by renouncing various exceptions, including their $21MM+ traded player exception. That’s unlikely to happen though, especially since their only extension-eligible players are J.J. Barea, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Dwight Powell.
March 1
- Last day a player can be waived by one team and remain eligible to appear in the postseason for another team.
This rule is often the source of confusion. A player who is released by a team doesn’t have to sign with a new team in order to be playoff-eligible this spring. He simply has to be waived by his team before the end of the day on March 1.
As long as he’s no longer under contract by 11:59 pm ET on March 1, a player could theoretically wait until the last day of the regular season to sign with a new club and still retain his postseason eligibility. But if he’s cut on March 2 instead, he loses that postseason eligibility.
March 11
- Last day to use a disabled player exception.
The Wizards were the only team with a sizeable disabled player exception on hand this season, and they used theirs to acquire Wesley Johnson from the Pelicans last week. That leaves the Mavericks and Grizzlies as the only clubs with DPEs left for 2018/19.
Those exceptions are both modest — Dallas’ is worth $1,855,425 and Memphis’ is worth $689,121. I wouldn’t expect either one to be used, since neither club is a contender. Plus, the Grizzlies just locked up Bruno Caboclo and their proximity to the luxury tax line will make them wary of adding anyone else for the rest of the season.
April 10
- Last day of the regular season.
- Last day players can sign contracts for 2018/19.
- Last day two-way contracts can be converted to standard NBA contracts.
- Luxury tax penalties calculated based on payroll as of this day.
While we typically don’t see a flurry of last-minute activity on April 10, teams around the NBA figure to be active leading up to this date.
Playoff clubs will typically make sure their rosters are fully stocked for the postseason. Even a team with tax concerns that has avoided carrying a full 15-man roster all season may consider filling that 15th spot on the last day of the season, since the prorated minimum-salary cap hit would be less than $10K and the accompanying tax penalty would be very modest.
Meanwhile, lottery-bound teams will often fill their rosters by taking a flier on a prospect or two, signing them to contracts that include little to no guaranteed money for 2019/20. That way, they can hang onto them for next season if they want, or cut bait during the offseason without any real impact to their cap for next season.
April 12
- Playoff rosters set (2:00pm CT).
The NBA postseason gets underway on April 13 this season, so the 16 teams in the playoffs will have to make sure their rosters are set a day before that.
Southwest Notes: Pelicans, Davis, Grizzlies, Mavs
While Anthony Davis is back on the court for the Pelicans after last week’s trade deadline drama, things don’t look quite right in New Orleans. On Tuesday night, the Pelicans were run off their home court by the Magic, suffering a 118-88 loss to a team outside the playoff picture in the East.
“We sucked,” Davis said after the game, per Brett Martel of The Associated Press. “Nobody was interested in playing, is what it looked like.”
It certainly seems possible that Davis’ trade request and all the speculation about his future continues to impact the Pelicans’ performance on the floor. Head coach Alvin Gentry was in no mood to have that discussion though, as Martel relays.
“What we’re trying to do is just move on from it. We need to bury it,” Gentry said of Davis’ decision to request a trade. “Whatever our new normal is, we want to get back to that and put all the other stuff behind us and just start playing and trying to win basketball games, and trying to compete and try to get our young players better. That’s all I want to do. That’s it. And I’m not going to talk about it anymore. I’m done talking about it.”
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- In a column for The Advocate, Scott Kushner argues that the Davis saga – particularly his return to the court – has been a “prolonged, smug jab at the intelligence of Pelicans fans.” In Kushner’s view, the Pelicans and Davis are no longer invested in one another, and the team should either stand up to the NBA by benching Davis or have someone from management or ownership publicly address the situation.
- Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley appeared likely to be traded leading up to last week’s deadline, and admitted that he had trouble sleeping and checked his phone “a thousand times,” as Royce Young of ESPN.com details. Conley, who described Thursday as a long, emotional, and difficult day, has been fairly quiet on the court since the deadline, scoring 11 points on Saturday and then missing Tuesday’s game with an illness.
- In advance of Jonas Valanciunas‘ debut with the Grizzlies on Tuesday, David Cobb of The Memphis Commercial Appeal explored how the team’s newest big man would fit in. The plan is for Valanciunas to come off the bench behind Ivan Rabb, but if he keeps playing like he did last night (23 points and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes), that plan may be short-lived.
- During a radio appearance on KESN-FM 103.3 ESPN in Dallas, Bobby Marks examined how the Mavericks might use their cap room this summer after moving Harrison Barnes, suggesting that Nikola Vucevic will be among Dallas’ top targets (link via The Dallas Morning News). The Mavs’ interest in Vucevic was previously reported.
Grizzlies Sign Bruno Caboclo To Multiyear Deal
9:09am: Caboclo’s new deal with the Grizzlies is now official, according to the NBA’s transactions log.
7:56am: Bruno Caboclo‘s second 10-day contract with the Grizzlies expired overnight, but the team won’t be letting him get away, per reports from Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian and Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com (Twitter links). According to Herrington and Wallace, Memphis is signing Caboclo to a rest-of-season contract that will also include a salary for 2019/20.
The 20th overall pick in the 2014 draft, Caboclo never developed into a rotation piece for Toronto and didn’t play much for Sacramento last season after the Raptors traded him to the Kings in a deadline deal. However, he has earned regular playing time during his 20-day, 10-game stint with the Grizzlies so far, averaging 6.1 PPG and 3.2 RPG in 21.1 minutes per contest.
While Caboclo has continued to struggled with his shot (.333 FG%, .250 3PT%) in Memphis, the club’s coaching staff has been intrigued by his “size, length, defensive instincts, and offensive potential,” tweets Wallace. The Grizzlies view him as an asset and want to continue working on developing his game.
The exact details of Caboclo’s new contract aren’t known, but the Grizzlies don’t have their mid-level or bi-annual exceptions available, so it’ll be a minimum salary deal, and the second year seems unlikely to be fully guaranteed. The prorated cap charge for this season will be approximately $487K, assuming the deal is officially finalized today.
Caboclo will continue to fill the 15th and final spot on Memphis’ roster, meaning the Grizzlies would have to release someone with a guaranteed contract if they want to add any other new players down the stretch.
As our 10-day tracker shows, Caboclo will become the first player this season to parlay a pair of 10-day deal into a rest-of-season contract with that same team.
Harrison Barnes Eager To Help Kings Make First Postseason Appearance Since 2006
Harrison Barnes, who arrived in Sacramento at the trade deadline, made his league debut in 2012 and since that time, he has appeared in 64 playoff games. He was in eighth grade when the Kings last made a postseason appearance, but he’s eager to help the franchise get over its 13-year drought.
“To be a part of this, to see it up close – talking with the coaches, talking with the players – it’s exciting just to see the hunger they have to win,” Barnes said (via Alex Kramers of NBA.com).
Barnes won a championship in Golden State before migrating to Dallas. He’s the only player on the roster with a ring. Outside of Alec Burks, who was also acquired at the deadline, and Nemanja Bjelica, no other Kings rotation player has postseason experience.
“[The key is] trying to develop everyday habits that put you in a position to have the right preparation,” Barnes said. “When you’re winning games, and you’re part of something bigger than yourself, I think that’s what makes everybody excited about being a part of it, excited about coming to work every day, excited about putting the work in and sacrificing for the guy next to you. The opportunity to play in the postseason, the opportunity to advance and go further, that’s I think what this group has. I think that’s what’s special, especially with a young group that kind of understands it right now.”
The 26-year-old saw himself fitting in with the team before he made his debut in Sacramento.
“The style they play is fast and free, with [De’Aaron Fox] leading the charge [and] pushing it up the floor,” he said. “Play fast, play free, move the ball, compete defensively, and hopefully, [I] can give a boost to a team that’s right there.”
Barnes’ ability to split time between the three and the four gives the Kings lineup options that they didn’t have before the trade.
“He’s a versatile player,” Joerger said of the North Carolina product. “He’s a little bit of an [isolation] player. He’s improved his jump shot on the perimeter. Heck of a quality guy. I think he’ll pick up stuff quick. I can move him around and play chess a little bit with him and find matchups and do different things offensively.”
Los Angeles Notes: Davis, Lakers, Clippers
The Lakers weren’t able to get very far in talks with the Pelicans for Anthony Davis and team president Magic Johnson hinted that the team won’t prioritize a blockbuster trade this offseason, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com relays.
“That’s not going to change our plans this summer,” Johnson said of being unable to trade for Davis at the deadline. “It’s a great [free-agency] class, and we just want to get one of them.”
If the Lakers sign a maximum salary free agent this summer, they are unlikely to land Davis as a free agent during the following offseason, Windhorst explains. It would be difficult for the team to add maximum salary players in back-to-back offseasons with LeBron James‘ max deal also on the books.
Here’s more from Los Angeles:
- The most realistic path to finding a Davis-to-the-Lakers trade may involve a third team, Windhorst contends in the same piece. The Pelicans appeared uninterested in the Lakers’ young prospects at the deadline. However, Los Angeles’ prospects have value around the league and the franchise could ship them to another team this summer in order to build a package the Pelicans would prefer.
- The Clippers turned over a third of their roster at the trade deadline, but the team’s “tough guy” culture will remain unchanged, as Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times relays. Coach Doc Rivers said the team doesn’t “want any guy that’s not really ready for warfare because for us to make it [to the postseason], it’s going to be hard.”
- Rivers, who was previously more involved in the Clippers’ front office, was surprised that the two Los Angeles teams agreed to a trade. Rivers said past negotiations with the Lakers have been one-sided, as Greif passes along in the same piece. “I didn’t know we were doing business again because we have tried and it just has been no conversations [with the Lakers],” Rivers said. “It was good they wanted conversations.”
Eastern Notes: Porter, Fultz, Pacers
The Bulls acquired Otto Porter Jr. from the Wizards in exchange for Bobby Portis and Jabari Parker and coach Jim Boylen is happy with the transaction.
“He’s just a basketball player. That’s what we needed, that’s what we got,” Boylen said (via Mark Strotman of NBC Sports). “What that means is you can throw him out there and he can get somebody else going, he can get himself going, he can make shots off the move.
“I think he showed the whole thing tonight. He showed a lot of versatility. I’m really thankful he’s a Bull.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Magic coach Steve Clifford is using some his downtime to watch game tape of Markelle Fultz and analyze the point guard’s play, John Denton of NBA.com relays. Denton notes that Fultz will likely work with assistants Bruce Kreutzer and Steve Hetzel, two coaches whom Kemba Walker has previously credited with helping to improve his shot.
- While Clifford can understand how a change of scenery may help Fultz, the coach believes Fultz’s jump shot will ultimately determine his success with the Magic, as Denton passes along in the same piece. “How you fit with your teammates is a big deal, and the best players can play with anybody in any system,’’ Clifford said. “To me, if you want to say a different city, new start, different teammates, things like that [might help Fultz]. But, to be frank, the issue has been [Fultz’s] shoulder and his shooting and if you’re not a range shooter, you’re not going to be a good pick-and-roll player. With that part, we’ll see.’’
- Pacers forward Thaddeus Young was thrilled when he learned that the team was pursuing Bojan Bogdanovic in free agency in 2017, J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star writes. “I said Bogey is a walking bucket. He can score in different ways that people don’t even know,” said Young, who previously played alongside Bogdanovic in Brooklyn. “I learned a lot about Bogey. I’ll play any day with Bogey on any team.”
Pau Gasol Denies Requesting Trade From Spurs
Whispers that the Spurs were making Pau Gasol available in trades prior to the deadline circulated and it’s possible that the big man had requested the team search for a suitor. Last week, an ESPN Deportes report suggested as much, but Gasol disputed that rumor today.
“What’s the source?” Gasol said of rumors of him requesting a trade (via Tom Orsborn of My San Antonio). “What’s the validity of that story? I don’t know. I didn’t request to be traded.”
The report did not cite a source, instead simply stating (translation from Spanish) that Gasol had asked the team for a trade. The 38-year-old did admit that the current situation is not what he expected it would be.
“I think people understand or can figure out that my situation is not what was expected for me,” Gasol said when speaking with the local media today. “My only wish and desire is to be able to contribute to the team and be able to be on the floor and do what I am supposed to do and do what I signed here to do, and kind of live up to what I am paid for.”
The Spurs re-signed the Spaniard to a three-year, $48MM deal back in the summer of 2017 with visions of continuing the Gasol-LaMarcus Aldridge pairing. However, this season, Gasol has struggled to find a consistent role. In his 26 games played, he has played no more than nine minutes in 10 of them, while seeing 20 minutes or more on just three occasions.
Only $6.7MM of Gasol’s roughly $16MM salary for the 2019/20 campaign is guaranteed and Orsborn writes that the Spurs have looked at ways to “rid themselves” of what’s left on the big man’s deal. Could that be via a buyout? Gasol was asked about the possibility.
“There are a lot of rumors, a lot of stories,” he said. “Who knows where that comes from. It would be great if people say, ‘Hey, this person has said this.’ OK, then let’s talk to this person…But I don’t know. It didn’t come from me. So ask whoever that source or that outlet found that information. Go ask them. I think that’s just fair. Or ask management, right?”
Gasol believes he can still contribute. “I love this game,” he said. “I love what I do. I work hard to be able to do what I do, and I want to continue to do it. I know I may not be in my prime, but I think I can still contribute at a very high level and be an important impact for my team and make my team better.”