James Harden “In Catch-Up Mode,” Doesn’t Address Trade Request
James Harden didn’t discuss his trade request today during his first meeting with the media since the Rockets opened training camp, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
Harden admits he’s “in catch-up mode” after after reporting to camp late, then having to undergo six COVID-19 tests before being cleared to practice with his teammates. Harden was seen at parties in Atlanta and Las Vegas while other players reported for individual workouts and coronavirus testing, but he told reporters that he had his personal trainers with him during those trips.
“I can only focus on right now, and for me, the best James Harden is making sure I’m in shape,” Harden said. “Like I said, I hadn’t even had an opportunity to play 5-on-5. Individual workouts, when you do individual basketball training, is great, but as every NBA player can agree, there’s nothing like 5-on-5 training, the physicality, making reads and things like that. Yesterday for my first time being out there (in a preseason game), I felt good, and that’s exciting.”
Harden sidestepped questions about his demand to be moved, which has overshadowed everything else about the offseason in Houston. Brooklyn is reportedly his first choice, but he has expanded that list to include Philadelphia, Miami and Milwaukee. A report earlier this week indicated Harden hasn’t changed his mind about his desire to leave the Rockets.
Harden says the possibility of a trade hasn’t been brought up by teammates since he arrived at camp last week.
“Since I’ve been here, nothing has been said about it,” Harden said. “Everybody in the locker room and the coaching staff has been focused on ramping up and preparing for the season. That’s all that matters.”
That’s a strategy adopted by coaches and players, who are determined to focus on winning games and trying to stay away from any distractions, according to MacMahon. DeMarcus Cousins, who is in his first season playing with Harden, says there’s a difference between basketball and business.
“You can only respect a guy for doing whatever he feel is best for him, his personal life and his career,” Cousins said. “So, no, honestly, I haven’t (tried to convince Harden to commit to the Rockets), and I don’t really feel like that’s my place. That’s a decision he has to make for himself.”
Although there have been reports that Harden wasn’t happy with the Rockets’ decision to hire Stephen Silas, Harden was complimentary toward his new head coach at today’s press conference. Silas has said repeatedly that he will keep his focus on coaching and let the front office determine whether to trade Harden.
2020/21 NBA Over/Unders: Central Division
The 2020/21 NBA regular season will get underway on December 22, so it’s time to start getting serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign.
With the help of the lines from a handful of sports betting sites, including Bovada and BetOnline, we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division. In a series of team-by-team polls, you’ll get the chance to weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.
Of course, there are plenty of wild cards to take into account this season. For one, teams are scheduled to play 72 games instead of 82, so if you’re picking a team to win 41 games, you’re not just expecting them to be a .500 club — you’re projecting them to finish 10 games above .500. For each team’s over/under below, we’ve noted the record they’d have to achieve to finish “over” their projection, as a reminder.
It’s also worth noting that the coronavirus pandemic could cause some games to be canceled in 2020/21. We don’t want you to have to take possible cancellations into account when making your picks though, so don’t let that stop you from taking the “over.” If a team has a couple games canceled, we’ll adjust their over/under figure downward, so you’re essentially just projecting that team’s winning percentage.
We’ll turn today to the Central…
Milwaukee Bucks
- 2019/20 record: 56-17
- Over/under for 2020/21: 51.5 wins (52-20)
- Major offseason moves:
How many games will the Bucks win in 2020/21?
-
Over 51.5 74% (542)
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Under 51.5 26% (193)
Total votes: 735
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Bucks poll.
Indiana Pacers
- 2019/20 record: 45-28
- Over/under for 2020/21: 39.5 wins (40-32)
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Kelan Martin, Jalen Lecque
- Lost: T.J. Leaf, Alize Johnson
How many games will the Pacers win in 2020/21?
-
Over 39.5 58% (350)
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Under 39.5 42% (255)
Total votes: 605
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Pacers poll.
Chicago Bulls
- 2019/20 record: 22-43
- Over/under for 2020/21: 29.5 wins (30-42)
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Patrick Williams, Garrett Temple
- Lost: Kris Dunn, Shaquille Harrison
How many games will the Bulls win in 2020/21?
-
Under 29.5 62% (409)
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Over 29.5 38% (255)
Total votes: 664
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Bulls poll.
Cleveland Cavaliers
- 2019/20 record: 19-46
- Over/under for 2020/21: 23.5 wins (24-48)
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Isaac Okoro, JaVale McGee, Damyean Dotson
- Lost: Tristan Thompson, Jordan Bell, Alfonzo McKinnie, Ante Zizic
How many games will the Cavaliers win in 2020/21?
-
Under 23.5 68% (423)
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Over 23.5 32% (195)
Total votes: 618
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Cavaliers poll.
Detroit Pistons
- 2019/20 record: 20-46
- Over/under for 2020/21: 22.5 wins (23-49)
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Jerami Grant, Delon Wright, Mason Plumlee, Josh Jackson, Killian Hayes, Isaiah Stewart, Saddiq Bey, Jahlil Okafor, Wayne Ellington, Dzanan Musa, Deividas Sirvydis, Rodney McGruder
- Lost: Christian Wood, Luke Kennard, Langston Galloway, Bruce Brown, Khyri Thomas, Brandon Knight, John Henson, Tony Snell, Thon Maker, Jordan McRae, Justin Patton
How many games will the Pistons win in 2020/21?
-
Over 22.5 54% (340)
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Under 22.5 46% (291)
Total votes: 631
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Pistons poll.
Previous voting results:
- Boston Celtics (45.5 wins): Over (66.3%)
- Brooklyn Nets (45.5 wins): Over (58.6%)
- Philadelphia 76ers (44.5 wins): Over (57.4%)
- Toronto Raptors (42.5 wins): Over (54.7%)
- New York Knicks (22.5 wins): Under (59.5%)
- Denver Nuggets (44.5 wins): Over (69.7%)
- Utah Jazz (42.5 wins): Over (59.9%)
- Portland Trail Blazers (41.5 wins): Over (70.1%)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (29.5 wins): Under (50.3%)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (22.5 wins): Under (64.4%)
Nets Sign Elie Okobo, Kaiser Gates To Exhibit 10 Deals
The Nets have filled the two open spots on their 20-man training camp roster, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed free agent guard Elie Okobo and forward Kaiser Gates. Both players received Exhibit 10 deals, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link).
Okobo’s agreement with Brooklyn was previously reported. The 31st overall pick in the 2018 draft, he spent two years in Phoenix, appearing in a total of 108 games. He averaged 4.8 PPG and 2.2 APG in 15.5 minutes per contest during those two seasons, but became expendable this offseason. The Suns released him last month before his 2020/21 salary became guaranteed.
Gates, meanwhile, has spent most of the last two seasons in the G League, first with the Windy City Bulls, then last season with the Maine Red Claws. He recorded 12.2 PPG and 7.2 RPG on .403/.331/.694 shooting in 36 games (32.6 MPG) for Boston’s NBAGL affiliate in 2019/20. If the Nets want him to play for their G League team this season, Long Island will need to acquire his rights.
Brooklyn’s 20-man roster now consists of 14 players on guaranteed contracts, plus two-way player Jeremiah Martin and five players without guarantees (Okobo, Gates, Chris Chiozza, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, and Reggie Perry). Okobo and Gates will likely be among the players cut when the Nets set their roster for the regular season in the coming days.
Hornets’ Gordon Hayward Sustains Broken Finger
New Hornets forward Gordon Hayward has suffered an avulsion fracture of his right fifth metacarpal, the team announced today in a press release. In layman’s terms, Hayward broke the bone at the base of his pinky finger, sustaining the injury during Charlotte’s preseason game vs. Toronto on Monday.
According to the Hornets, the injury will sideline Hayward for the club’s preseason contest on Thursday against Orlando. After that, he’ll be considered day-to-day.
While it seems Hayward hasn’t shed his bad injury luck since moving from Boston to Charlotte, this injury doesn’t sound as serious as many of the health issues he dealt with as a Celtic.
According to Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer, the Hornets don’t believe Hayward will require surgery — the expectation is that he’ll be able to return to action when he feels he can comfortably manage the pain and perform effectively.
The Hornets’ regular season schedule gets underway next Wednesday in Cleveland.
Magic Exercise 2021/22 Option On Mohamed Bamba
The Magic have exercised their fourth-year team option on center Mohamed Bamba‘s rookie scale contract, the team announced today in a press release.
Bamba’s $5.97MM salary for the coming season had already been fully guaranteed. Today’s move will ensure that his $7.57MM salary for the 2021/22 campaign is guaranteed as well. He’s now on track to become eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2021 offseason — if he doesn’t sign a new deal then, he’d head to restricted free agency in ’22.
Bamba, 22, missed time in each of his two NBA seasons due to health issues. Most recently, he was sidelined for the summer restart after contracting COVID-19.
Although he says he’s no longer dealing with any coronavirus symptoms or after-effects, he’s still working on getting his conditioning back to 100%. He was cleared today to participate in full-contact work, tweets Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel.
In his 109 NBA regular season games so far, Bamba has averaged 5.7 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 1.4 BPG in 15.1 minutes per contest.
Our tracker for 2021/22 rookie scale option decisions can be found right here.
Grizzlies Sign Shaq Buchanan, Waive Two Players
2:38pm: The Grizzlies have now officially signed Buchanan and cut Vital, according to a second press release from the team. Buchanan currently occupies the 20th spot on Memphis’ roster, while Vital and Smith are both on waivers.
1:48pm: The Grizzlies continue to shuffle players in and out of the spots at the back of their roster, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed free agent guard Christian Vital, waiving guard Zhaire Smith to create room on the 20-man squad.
Vital, who spent his college career at UConn, averaging 16.4 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 2.5 SPG in 31 games (32.2 MPG) as a senior in 2019/20. He went undrafted last month, and now looks like a strong candidate to end up with the Memphis Hustle, the Grizzlies’ G League affiliate. The same is true of Smith, who had just signed with the Grizzlies on Tuesday.
It’s not uncommon to see players being released a day or two after they’re signed at this time of year. Signing a player to an Exhibit 10 contract and then cutting him allows an NBA team to secure the player’s G League affiliate rights if they don’t already belong to another NBAGL club, or to line up a $50K bonus for returning-rights players.
It appears that 6’3″ guard Shaq Buchanan will be one of the Hustle’s returning-rights players. After spending his rookie season with Memphis’ G League team last season, averaging 11.1 PPG and 4.8 RPG in 33 games (22.4 MPG), Buchanan has signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Grizzlies again this year, agent Josh Goodwin tells JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors (Twitter link).
After swapping out Smith for Vital, the Grizzlies have a full 20-man roster, so they’ll need to waive another player in order to officially announce the Buchanan signing. Ahmad Caver and Bennie Boatwright are the most obvious candidates to be cut, but we’ll await official word from the club.
Rockets Cut Jerian Grant, Kenny Wooten, Trevelin Queen
The Rockets have released three players, announcing today that guard Jerian Grant, forward Kenny Wooten, and forward Trevelin Queen have been placed on waivers (Twitter link via Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle).
Houston had a full 20-man roster and had to make cuts in advance of the regular season, but a couple of these moves are still noteworthy.
Grant, for instance, looked like a candidate to make the regular season roster following Chris Clemons‘ season-ending Achilles tear. With Clemons injured and Grant no longer on the roster, the Rockets lack an obvious backup for starting point guard John Wall. Houston will carry a $50K cap hit after waiving Grant, since he had a small partial guarantee.
Wooten, meanwhile, was on a two-way contract, so waiving him will open up one of the Rockets’ two-way slots, alongside rookie Mason Jones. My guess is that Houston intends to sign a point guard using that newly-created two-way opening, but we’ll have to wait to see what the team has in mind.
Queen, meanwhile, was a training camp invitee whose release was anticipated. He’ll be a candidate to join Houston’s G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, if the team participates in the revamped 2020/21 NBAGL season.
The Rockets are now carrying 17 players, including one on a two-way contract. The team has very little wiggle room below the hard cap and will likely start the season with 14 players on standard contracts along with a pair of two-way players, so additional roster moves are around the corner.
Rockets’ Clemons Suffers Torn Achilles, Out For Season
DECEMBER 16: An MRI confirmed that Clemons has torn his Achilles tendon, according to Charania, who reports (via Twitter) that the second-year guard will undergo season-ending surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.
DECEMBER 15: Rockets guard Chris Clemons left the team’s preseason game on Tuesday night in a wheelchair after suffering a right lower leg injury. The initial diagnosis for Clemons is a torn right Achilles tendon, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who says the team will conduct an MRI on Wednesday to confirm.
Assuming the initial diagnosis holds up, it’s a brutal blow for Clemons, who flashed some upside as a rookie in Houston last season. He averaged 4.9 PPG on .401/.346/.909 shooting in 33 games (8.8 MPG) and may have been in line for an increased role in 2020/21. However, if his Achilles is torn, he’ll almost certainly be ruled out for the season.
The Rockets don’t have a ton of depth at point guard behind starter John Wall – who is coming off a torn Achilles himself – and might have to address the position at some point if Clemons is out for the season.
Houston could take a look at the free agent market — as we detailed earlier today, Shabazz Napier is among the notable veteran point guards who remains unsigned. However, the Rockets don’t have much wiggle room below their hard cap, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), so adding a free agent probably isn’t a viable option for the time being.
Although Clemons’ contract for 2020/21 had been non-guaranteed, he’ll now be paid his minimum salary until he’s healthy or until the end of the season (whichever comes first).
Hawks Owner Would “Love To See” John Collins In Atlanta Long-Term
Hawks big man John Collins is entering the final year of his rookie contract and is on track to become a restricted free agent in 2021 if he and the team don’t work out an extension by Monday’s deadline. While it remains to be seen whether the two sides will finalize a new deal in the coming days, team owner Tony Ressler is among those hoping that Collins remains in Atlanta for years to come, writes Chris Kirschner of The Athletic.
“I would love to see John with the Atlanta Hawks for an extended period of time,” Ressler said. “John’s a really good young player and a really good kid. I hope we can figure out a very fair and reasonable contract for him. I know (general manager) Travis (Schlenk) is very focused on keeping John Collins with the Atlanta Hawks.”
Schlenk and the Hawks are known to have talked to Collins’ camp about a potential extension, and I’d imagine those discussions will continue either until an agreement is reached or until Monday’s deadline passes. Both the Hawks and Collins have said they’d like to reach an agreement, and the club isn’t preserving cap space for 2021, so it will be interesting to see if the two sides can find common ground.
Collins stated back in the spring that he believes he’s a candidate for a maximum-salary contract, but there’s “zero indication” that the Hawks are willing to go that high at this point, as Kirschner writes. Although Collins put up big numbers (21.6 PPG, 10.1 RPG) in 41 games last season, he has to establish himself as a franchise cornerstone on the level of Jayson Tatum, Bam Adebayo, or Donovan Mitchell, who each signed max rookie extensions earlier in the offseason.
[RELATED: 2020/21 NBA Contract Extension Tracker]
If Atlanta is going to lock up Collins in the coming days, it will have to be at a somewhat discounted price, according to Kirschner — Ressler’s comment about negotiating a “fair and reasonable” deal reflects that stance. If they feel as if Collins’ asking price is too high, the Hawks can simply evaluate the 23-year-old’s performance over the course of the 2020/21 season and make a decision when he reaches restricted free agency.
Collins is one of 20 players still eligible to sign a rookie scale extension by Monday. Here’s the full list.
Heat Waive Breein Tyree, Paul Eboua
The Heat have parted with a pair of training camp invitees, announcing today (via Twitter) that they’ve waived guard Breein Tyree and forward Paul Eboua. Both players, who were on non-guaranteed contracts, will become unrestricted free agents on Friday, assuming they clear waivers.
Tyree, who spent all four years of his college career at Mississippi, averaged 19.7 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 2.5 APG on .427/.360/.822 shooting in 31 games (34.6 MPG) as a senior in 2019/20.
Eboua, previously a member of Italian club Victoria Libertas, declared for the draft as an early entrant in the spring. Agent Rade Filipovich, who referred to Eboua as “the best athlete in the draft,” told Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald last month that a number of teams expressed interest in his client before he chose the Heat.
Tyree and Eboua had been in the running for one of Miami’s two-way contracts. Now that they’re out of the mix, Max Strus and B.J. Johnson are the remaining candidates to fill the club’s second two-way slot alongside Gabe Vincent. One of those players will have to be cut before next Monday to get the Heat down to 17 players (15 standard contracts and two two-way deals) for the regular season.
In a normal season, Tyree and Eboua would be candidates to join the Sioux Falls Skyforce as G League affiliate players. However, the Skyforce are among the teams expected to opt out of the NBAGL’s proposed Atlanta bubble, as our JD Shaw reported earlier this month.