Draft Rumors: Mavs, P. Williams, Trades, Sixers
The Mavericks have made the No. 18 overall pick in this year’s draft available as they search for immediate help, according to Jeremy Woo of SI.com.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard that the Mavericks will likely be active in trade talks this offseason. A previous report suggested that Dallas would like to upgrade its roster prior to the 2020/21 season rather than waiting until 2021 to make a splash, once the team can open up some cap space.
The Mavericks don’t have a ton of expendable assets that would interest potential trade partners, having surrendered a pair of future first-round picks when they acquired Kristaps Porzingis in 2019. But the team does have the 18th and 31st picks in the 2020 draft, which will be of interest to teams looking to add young talent.
Here’s more from Woo on the draft:
- Expect Florida State big man Patrick Williams to be drafted ahead of his former college teammate Devin Vassell, says Woo. Williams’ “raw skill set” and potential upside are viewed favorably by teams, Woo adds.
- While it’s widely known that Golden State and Minnesota have interest in moving down in the draft, there are plenty of other lottery teams viewed as trade-candidates too. Woo says the Bulls (No. 4), Cavaliers (No. 5), Hawks (No. 6), and Suns (No. 10) are all worth keeping an eye on.
- The Sixers have five picks in this year’s draft, starting with No. 21, but probably aren’t “married” to any of them and are a strong candidate to be active on draft night, per Woo.
- Woo also confirms a pair of items that were previously reported by Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, writing that the Hornets have interest in Onyeka Okongwu and that teams expect Tyrell Terry to be drafted in the mid-to-late teens.
Stein’s Latest: Thunder, Morey, Rose
Spurs assistant coach Will Hardy, Bucks assistant Charles Lee, and Oklahoma City assistant Mark Daigneault are among the candidates who have received strong consideration for the Thunder‘s open head coaching position, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times.
The only one of nine teams making a head coaching change this year that has yet to finalize a new hire, the Thunder are conducting a lengthy, deliberate search for Billy Donovan‘s replacement. While one of the candidates mentioned above could ultimately land the job, Stein admits that he wouldn’t be shocked if Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti hires someone who has yet to be connected to the vacancy. That would be the “Prestian move,” Stein writes.
With the draft just two weeks away and training camps expected to open next month, it likely won’t be long before we get some clarity on OKC’s search.
Here are a few more items of interest from Stein’s latest newsletter for The New York Times:
- Industry sources estimate that Daryl Morey‘s salary on his new five-year contract with the Sixers is worth over $10MM per year, according to Stein, who adds that some people insist Morey’s new annual salary may even exceed $12MM. Morey had been planning to take a year off after leaving the Rockets this fall, but such an aggressive offer from Philadelphia would certainly have been a factor in his decision to change course.
- Another new head of basketball operations in the Atlantic, Knicks president Leon Rose, is said to have received an annual salary in the $8MM range, writes Stein.
- Stein’s newsletter also included a couple Rockets-related notes, which we passed along in an earlier roundup.
Rockets Notes: Lucas, Van Gundy, Harden, More
Although new Rockets general manager Rafael Stone opted for Stephen Silas over John Lucas as the team’s new head coach, Stone has been Lucas’ “biggest backer” within the organization in recent years, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times. Stone was a driving force in bringing Lucas back to coaching in 2016, when Houston hired him as its director of player development, says Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle.
The Rockets and Silas are working hard to keep Lucas on the team’s staff and to install him in a more prominent role, tweets Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston. A source tells Feigen that, as of Tuesday, the two sides were in “extensive talks” on a deal that would keep Lucas in Houston as a member of Silas’ staff. While no deal is in place yet, there’s optimism one could get done on Wednesday, Feigen notes.
Here’s more on the Rockets:
- Sources tell Marc Berman of The New York Post that Jeff Van Gundy “sent mixed vibes” regarding his interest in the Rockets’ job after interviewing with the team. Berman speculates that Van Gundy may have had concerns about the James Harden/Russell Westbrook fit or that he was just comfortable with his role as an analyst for ABC and ESPN.
- According to Berman, some Rockets players were pulling for Lucas to get the team’s head coaching job. Marc Stein, meanwhile, says Harden’s top two endorsements for Lucas and Tyronn Lue. Rival teams are wondering if Harden is at all perturbed by the club’s eventual hire and whether the Rockets will become open to trading their superstar guard, Stein adds. Based on other recent reports, it sounds like that’s not an option Houston will consider this offseason.
- In a pair of stories for The Athletic, Kelly Iko and John Hollinger evaluated a series of hypothetical trades involving the Rockets.
Pelicans Discussing Jrue Holiday In Trade Talks
The Pelicans are “openly discussing” Jrue Holiday in trade talks, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that several contending teams are pursuing the veteran guard.
Holiday, 30, is coming off a 2019/20 season in which he averaged 19.1 PPG, 6.7 APG, 4.8 RPG, and 1.6 SPG with a shooting line of .455/.353/.709 in 61 games (34.7 MPG) for the Pelicans. Although he didn’t earn a spot on one of this season’s All-Defensive teams, he has done so twice in the past and is widely considered one of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders.
Holiday’s contract with New Orleans will pay him $26.2MM in 2020/21 and includes a $27.1MM player option for ’21/22. That means he can reach free agency a year from now, putting some pressure on the Pelicans to decide soon whether he’s part of the team’s long-term plans or if it makes sense to see what they can get for him on the trade market rather than risk losing him for nothing in 2021.
If the Pelicans are serious about moving Holiday, he should immediately become one of the league’s most intriguing offseason targets for contending teams. A recent report indicated that about 10 teams had already inquired on the former All-Star, with the Nuggets expected to be among his most aggressive suitors. I’d expect the Nets, Mavericks, Heat, Timberwolves, and several others to have interest as well, though some of those clubs are better equipped than others to put together an appealing package.
Presumably, if the Pelicans look to deal, they’ll be seeking players whose developmental timelines match up with those of franchise cornerstones Brandon Ingram (23 years old) and Zion Williamson (20).
Technically, no trades can be completed yet, as the NBA’s transaction moratorium remains in place. But there’s nothing stopping teams from engaging in discussions now and even reaching tentative agreements on deals that could be finalized once that moratorium is lifted.
Pacific Notes: Childs, Crowder, Heckmann, Wiseman
The Lakers and Clippers have interviewed power forward prospect Yoeli Childs, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN tweets. The 6-8 BYU big man averaged 22.2 PPG and 9.0 RPG and made 48.9% of his 3-point attempts. Childs is ranked No. 91 on the latest ESPN big board but he could move into second-round consideration. The Clippers have the No. 57 pick while the Lakers would have to trade into the second round.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Heat forward Jae Crowder is the most realistic free agent wing option for the Clippers, who could use another 3-and-D player, Jovan Buha of The Athletic opines. If the Clippers strike out on Crowder, there’s a dropoff among wings they could pursue with their mid-level exception. That second-tier group includes the likes of Wesley Matthews, Derrick Jones and Kent Bazemore, among others.
- Suns co-owner Richard “Dick” Heckmann died Saturday in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Jeremy Cluff of the Arizona Republic reports. “Dick’s philanthropic spirit coupled with his sharp business acumen was what separated him from the pack,” Suns managing partner Robert Sarver said in a statement. Heckmann, 76, was suffering from a variety of ailments.
- A majority of mock drafts have center James Wiseman going to the Warriors with the No. 2 pick, the team’s website notes. Guard Anthony Edwards and forward Deni Avdija are the other strong possibilities, with only two of 24 mock drafts believing guard LaMelo Ball will be Golden State’s selection.
Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Knicks, Wood, Nets
Ahead of the NBA draft, many top Raptors front office executives have temporarily relocated to Los Angeles, which is a fairly central locale for prospects and their agents, Josh Lewenberg of TSN reports. Because agents, many of whom are located on the West Coast generally and in L.A. specifically, are holding individual workouts for their player clients ahead of the draft, an L.A. residency made the most sense to Toronto brass.
The Raptors brain trust gathered in L.A. includes team president Masai Ujiri, GM Bobby Webster, assistant GM Dan Tolzman, and director of global scouting Patrick Engelbrecht. “You are just focusing more on skill set and conditioning and their level of preparation for that moment [in an individual workout,” Engelbrecht said. “But in terms of competitive nature, who is going to push through a drill, who is going to out-compete somebody else, yeah, those are things you are just not going to have a chance to see and you are going to have to rely more on your past scouting and in-game scouting you have done throughout the year.”
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Engelbrecht highlighted the fact that he logged significant time assessing international prospects before the pandemic, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet. “I spent the entire month of January and half of February out of the U.S.,” Engelbrecht said during a Monday conference call. “It seems like right when the basketball world or the world shut down, I just had a fresh look at all those targets, all those prospects.”
- After a breakout season with the Pistons, free agent power forward Christian Wood is expected to be a top free agent target for the Knicks, per Ian Begley of SNY. When he became a full-time starter following the trade of Andre Drummond to the Cavaliers, Wood sported a stat line of 23 PPG and 10 RPG, while connecting on 40% of his attempts from behind the three-point line.
- As we relayed in a prior story, the Nets have officially announced their revamped coaching staff. Assistant coaches Mike D’Antoni and Ime Udoka and player development coach Amar’e Stoudemire are new hires for first-time head coach Steve Nash. They will be joined by 2019/20 holdovers Jacque Vaughn, Adam Harrington, Jordan Ott, and Tiago Splitter as assistant coaches, plus player development coordinator Ryan Forehan-Kelly.
Southeast Notes: Magic, Hornets, Wizards, Heat
The Magic have plenty of decisions to make this offseason as the team continues to build its roster. In a new mailbag, The Athletic’s Josh Robbins reflects on how the team may look to improve its personnel.
Robbins notes that finding shooters has not been a priority in the draft for Magic president of basketball Operations Jeff Weltman and general manager John Hammond, who in recent drafts have focused instead on adding athletic, lengthy prospects.
If the Magic plan to build around point guard Markelle Fultz, Robbins opines that it would behoove the team to at least look for a shooter in 2020 free agency. Robbins also stresses the import of trades to the Magic’s offseason.
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
- As the Hornets look to grab a blue-chip prospect in this month’s NBA draft, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer considers what sort of trade package could enable Charlotte to move up from the third pick in the draft.
- With the ninth pick in the 2020 draft, the Wizards will have plenty of options at point guard. Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington and other Wizards analysts wonder if, with former All-Star John Wall on the roster, Washington should consider a player at that position, or if it would be better served looking to shore up its roster elsewhere. Wall has not played in an NBA game since December 26, 2018.
- As we previously relayed, the Heat are doing their due diligence ahead of the November draft. The team has the No. 20 pick this year, and has extended in-person workout invitations to Texas Tech guard Jahmi’us Ramsey and Kentucky guard Immanuel Quickley.
NBPA To Vote On December Start Thursday Or Friday
The National Basketball Players Association is planning to hold a vote on Thursday night or Friday morning on the league’s proposal to start next season on December 22, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports.
The NBPA, led by executive director Michele Roberts, started holding conference calls with players from each team on Monday and that process will go through Thursday morning. The tone of those calls gave the impression the season is likely to start before Christmas, Charania adds. In that instance, a 72-game season would be held.
The alternative start date is Martin Luther King Day on January 18 with a 60-game regular season. Previous reports suggested the league might limit the season to 50 games if it started in mid-January.
Sources communicated to Charania that NBA players feel the December 22 league start will happen. The NBA has projected that teams and players could suffer significant financial losses with a January start. The week of Christmas traditionally produces ample revenue, numbering in the hundreds of millions of dollars, for the league.
The league predicted that its television network partners may want to renegotiate their lucrative NBA contracts should Christmas games be skipped this season. Under either restart date, the NBA would reduce travel between arenas by 25% to minimize COVID-19 risk, and there would be a six-day All-Star Break. Also, a play-in tournament for the seventh through tenth seeds in both conferences would transpire.
Both the league and the NBPA are targeting a $109MM salary cap and a $132MM luxury tax. The two sides differ when it comes to how they feel the cap and tax should evolve beyond the 2020/21 season, however. The NBA would like to keep a flat tax and cap over the next few years, while the NBPA would prefer an annual increase, sources tell Charania.
If the two sides agree to a 72-game season tipping off on December 22, there would be 14 back-to-back games per team. The regular season would conclude around May 16, and the NBA Finals would finish at the end of July.
Were the NBA to embark upon a 60-game regular season on January 18, each team would have to deal with 12 back-to-back games. The regular season would resolve in June, and the NBA Finals would wrap up around the end of August.
Alex Kirschenbaum contributed to this report.
And-Ones: Free Agents, Jersey Ads, Bubble, Europe
John Hollinger of The Athletic, who invented the PER stat during his time at ESPN, has developed a new metric called BORD$ that estimates a player’s salary value for the upcoming season. After providing an in-depth explanation of how exactly the BORD$ formula works, Hollinger has applied it to this year’s class of free agent point guards and shooting guards in an attempt to determine which players warrant the biggest investments.
Hollinger’s point guard list doesn’t include a ton of surprises — Fred VanVleet is easily the most valuable free agent at the position, with Mike Conley and Goran Dragic topping the next two tiers. Shabazz Napier, Trey Burke, and Jordan McLaughlin are among the point guards whose projections are higher than you might expect.
Applied to this year’s free agent shooting guards, the results from Hollinger’s metric are more eyebrow-raising. Grizzlies RFA-to-be De’Anthony Melton is considered the top free agent at the position by BORD$, ahead of Bogdan Bogdanovic and Evan Fournier. A pair of Bulls guards, Kris Dunn and Shaquille Harrison, also rank in Hollinger’s top seven FA shooting guards due to their defensive prowess.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- As the NBA considers potential new revenue streams to help offset the losses generated by the coronavirus pandemic, allowing a second advertisement patch on game jerseys is one idea being weighed, according to John Lombardo of SportsBusiness Journal.
- David Aldridge of The Athletic takes an in-depth look at the lessons learned from the NBA’s summer bubble experiment and the takeaways that could carry over to the 2020/21 season. As Aldridge observes, while players and coaches aren’t eager to re-enter a bubble next year, the fact that it worked so well this time around will go a long way toward convincing them it’s worth doing again, if need be — even if it’s just for a short period in the postseason, like Major League Baseball did.
- The coronavirus pandemic has continued to wreak havoc on European basketball leagues that have begun their 2020/21 seasons, as Ken Maguire of The Associated Press writes. Only half of the EuroLeague’s 18 clubs have played a full six-game schedule so far this season, as COVID-19 outbreaks have caused several last-minute postponements.
Northwest Notes: Jazz, Timberwolves, Nuggets
The sale agreement that will transfer controlling interest of the Jazz from the Miller family to Ryan Smith is a “seismic change” for the franchise, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. However, it remains to be seen whether the average fan will notice the impact of the change in team ownership.
As Jones points out, the coming offseason will be a good early test to see how Smith intends to run the team. Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert are both eligible for extensions, while Jordan Clarkson is a free agent and the Jazz would also like to fortify their roster with another solid rotation player, if possible.
Re-signing Clarkson and using the mid-level exception on an outside free agent may put Utah into tax territory, which is something the Miller family generally avoided — but if the Jazz are willing to go into the tax in Smith’s first year at the helm, it would bode well for his willingness to spend going forward.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- The sale price for the Jazz ($1.66 billion) should be encouraging to Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, who is exploring the sale of his own franchise. However, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst observes in an appearance on Darren Wolfson The Scoop podcast (audio clip), Taylor hasn’t wavered from his stance that any buyer must keep the team in Minnesota, which will limit his ability to maximize the value of the team in any sale.
- The Timberwolves finished the 2019/20 season just slightly over the tax line as a result of their deadline trade, a source confirms to Dane Moore of News Talk 830 WCCO (Twitter link). However, as Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic tweets, president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas is confident the team will stay out of the tax in 2020/21, reducing the likelihood of repeater penalties down the road.
- The Nuggets are fairly set at point guard with Jamal Murray and Monte Morris under contract, but they shouldn’t rule out the possibility of drafting another one at No. 22 if certain prospect – such as Cole Anthony – are still on the board, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post.