Draymond Green Blasts Double Standard In Treatment Of Players
The Cavaliers‘ decision to sit out Andre Drummond until they can find somewhere to trade him sparked a post-game speech from Warriors forward Draymond Green Monday night, writes Nick Friedell of ESPN. After Golden State defeated Cleveland, Green charged that a double standard exists in the league involving players who request a trade and teams that stop using players until they can be dealt.
“Because when James Harden asked for a trade, and essentially dogged it – no one’s going to fight back that James was dogging it his last days in Houston – but he was castrated for wanting to go to a different team,” Green said. “Everybody destroyed that man. And yet a team can come out and say, ‘Oh, we want to trade a guy,’ and then that guy has to go sit, and if he doesn’t stay professional, then he’s a cancer. And he’s not good in someone’s locker room, and he’s the issue.”
Drummond, who was in street clothes on the Cavaliers’ bench, talked to Green briefly before the game, although Green didn’t reveal the nature of their conversation. Another veteran in the same situation is Pistons’ forward Blake Griffin, who also won’t play again until his team finds a trade partner.
Green was fined $50K last season for saying on Turner Sports that he believed Suns guard Devin Booker should ask to be traded.
“And we’re seeing situations of Harrison Barnes getting pulled off the bench,” Green told reporters. “Or DeMarcus Cousins finding out he’s traded in an interview after the All-Star Game, and we continue to let this happen. But I got fined for stating my opinion on what I thought should happen with another player, but teams can come out and continue to say, ‘Oh, we’re trading guys, we’re not playing you.’ And yet we’re to stay professional.”
Green emphasized that players deserve to be treated with the same respect as team officials and called on the league to start protecting players from the “embarrassment” that can arise. He noted that players who are benched while they wait for a deal are expected to stay in shape and not complain publicly about their circumstances.
“As players, we’re told to, ‘Ah, no, you can’t say that, you can’t say this,'” Green said. “But teams can? It goes along the same lines of when everyone wants to say, ‘Ah, man, that young guy can’t figure it out.’ But no one wants to say the organization can’t figure it out. At some point, the players must be respected in these situations, and it’s ridiculous, and I’m sick of seeing it.”
Nets Waive Norvel Pelle, Sign Andre Roberson
1:03pm: The Roberson signing is official, the Nets announced in a press release.
6:16am: The Nets have waived center Norvel Pelle, opening up a spot on their 15-man roster, the team announced in a press release issued early on Tuesday morning.
With that newly-opened roster spot, Brooklyn will sign free agent forward Andre Roberson, who has agreed to a deal with the club, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link) initially reported that the Nets were “strongly considering” adding Roberson to replace Pelle.
Charania had said on Monday that the Nets mulled the possibility of signing Roberson last month before opting for veteran swingman Iman Shumpert instead. With so many non-guaranteed contracts at the back of their roster – including Pelle’s – the Nets ultimately decided to circle back to the former Thunder forward.
Roberson, who is limited on offense but has a reputation as a defensive stopper, returned last August during the NBA’s summer restart after having been on the shelf for two-and-a-half years due to knee issues. In his last full season, way back in 2016/17, he averaged 6.6 PPG and 5.1 RPG on .464/.245/.423 shooting and typically guarded opponents’ top perimeter threats.
Roberson’s defensive ability should be an asset on a Nets team that doesn’t lack offensive firepower, with Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving leading the way. Roberson and Durant were teammates for three years in Oklahoma City.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, Brooklyn will carry a modest $217,845 cap hit for Pelle’s 22-day stint with the club. The big man, who logged limited minutes in just three games for the Nets, will clear waivers on Thursday and will be free to sign with any team, assuming he goes unclaimed.
If Roberson signs a guaranteed contract or is retained beyond the salary guarantee deadline of February 24, he’ll have a full-season cap hit of $998,978, the prorated portion of the veteran’s minimum, per Marks. Once the signing is official, the Nets will once again have a full 15-man roster, though they could make additional adjustments before next Wednesday’s salary guarantee deadline.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Wednesday’s Mavs/Pistons Game Postponed
12:55pm: The game has officially been postponed, tweets Eric Woodyard of ESPN.
10:58am: The Pistons will have back-to-back games in Texas postponed this week, as their contest against the Mavericks in Dallas on Wednesday will no longer be played as scheduled, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
As Charania explains, this postponement is entirely unrelated to COVID-19 and is instead due to the weather-related state of emergency in Texas. Winter storms and unusually cold temperatures have hit the Dallas area and have caused massive blackouts in parts of the state.
The weather has also resulted in two postponements for the NHL’s Dallas Stars, who were initially scheduled to host the Nashville Predators on Monday and Tuesday.
The Pistons also had their Tuesday game in San Antonio postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak among the Spurs.
The fact that this postponement doesn’t have anything to do with the coronavirus is a silver lining for the NBA, but it’s still another game in a long line of them that will need to be made up at some point later in the season. The league has now postponed over 30 regular season games in 2020/21.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 2/16/2021
We’re still over a month away from the March 25 trade deadline, but with two veteran big men – Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond – being very publicly made available this week by the Pistons and Cavaliers, respectively, it appears there will be no shortage of trade candidates to talk about in the coming weeks.
With that in mind, we’ve brought back our weekly live chats at Hoops Rumors to discuss all the latest news and rumors in the NBA world. Those chats will take place each Tuesday at 12:00 pm central time (1 pm ET).
Today’s chat transcript can be found right here.
Knicks Notes: Randle, Ntilikina, Collins, Drummond, Robinson
Julius Randle is in the midst of his best season since entering the NBA, punctuating that point on Monday as he led the Knicks to a win over the Hawks by pouring in 44 points to go along with nine rebounds and five assists. After the game, Randle’s teammates made it clear that they believe he deserves All-Star recognition for his performance this season.
“It’s hard not to put him in the game,” RJ Barrett said, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. “What else does he have to do? The man is an All-Star.”
So far this season, Randle is averaging career highs in points per game (23.1), rebounds (11.0), assists (5.6), and three-point percentage (40.6%), among other categories. And while he has posted strong box-score numbers in the past, this version of Randle is making a greater “impact on winning,” according to head coach Tom Thibodeau.
“I think he’s making other people better,” Thibodeau said. “He’s played an all-around game. Strong on both sides of the ball. He’s played an unselfish game. He’s doing it in a number of different ways. Playing multiple positions. He’s a point forward, he’s a forward, he’s a center. He’s doing it all. The most important thing is the impact he’s having on winning. Hopefully it’ll be recognized.”
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- After missing the last week due to the NBA’s coronavirus contact tracing protocols, Frank Ntilikina has been cleared and is expected to join the Knicks for Wednesday’s game in Orlando, tweets Vorkunov.
- The Knicks have yet to inquire on John Collins, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post, who says NBA executives believe the Hawks are unlikely to trade the big man unless they receive a “whopping” offer.
- Cavaliers center Andre Drummond, who is expected to be traded in the coming weeks, would consider the Knicks a “good landing spot,” Berman writes in the same story.
- A weekend report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski indicated that Mitchell Robinson would undergo surgery on his fractured right hand, but the injured center is getting one more consultation on Tuesday before making a final decision on that procedure, says Berman.
Atlantic Notes: Simmons, Sixers, Raptors, Nets, Perry
The Sixers became the latest victim of a scorching-hot Jazz team on Monday night, but the play of Ben Simmons, who lined up at center in place of late scratch Joel Embiid, was extremely encouraging, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN details. Simmons scored a career-high 42 points to go along with 12 assists and nine rebounds, and acknowledged after the game that he was playing as aggressively on offense as he has since entering the league.
“There’s nights where I feel like I am dominant, but it may not look like a 40-point game,” Simmons said. “I might have a triple-double and we might win by 20, whatever the case is. It might be on defense. (But) yeah, I definitely had to pick up the slack with Joel out.”
The Sixers will need that version of Simmons to show up more often – especially when Embiid is active – if they want to be a legit championship contender this season, Bontemps notes.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- The Sixers are said to be in the market for a point guard, but David Murphy of The Philadelphia Inquirer believes the team would be better off targeting a three-and-D wing who can play solid defense against opposing guards.
- While he acknowledges that including Norman Powell in a trade for a center may be a necessary move, Doug Smith of The Toronto Star contends that Andre Drummond is not the answer for the Raptors. Toronto was said on Monday to be engaged in trade discussions with the Cavaliers about the veteran center.
- Although Kevin Durant wasn’t active for it, the Nets‘ win over Sacramento on Monday – in which James Harden and Kyrie Irving combined for 69 points, 17 assists, and 15 three-pointers – was “the vision” for how the team should be performing, according to Harden. Malika Andrews of ESPN has the story and the quotes.
- After learning in practice from the Nets‘ veteran stars earlier in the season, rookie Reggie Perry is now looking to make the most of his experience in the G League bubble with Long Island, writes Alex Schiffer of The Athletic. Perry, who has averaged 19.0 PPG and 10.0 RPG through four NBAGL games, will return to Brooklyn once the G League season ends next month.
Multiple Spurs, Hornets Games Postponed After Four Spurs Test Positive
Four Spurs players have tested positive for the coronavirus and the team’s next three games will be postponed, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The Hornets, who faced San Antonio on Sunday, will enter the NBA’s contact tracing protocols and will have their next two games postponed as well, per Wojnarowski.
The NBA has issued a press release confirming Woj’s report and noting that additional contact tracing is required for players on both teams’ rosters.
The Spurs already had their Tuesday game vs. the Pistons postponed after one positive COVID-19 test was confirmed, so they’ll have a total of four games pushed back in the next week. That includes Wednesday’s contest in Cleveland vs. the Cavaliers, Saturday’s game in New York vs. the Knicks, and next Monday’s game in Indiana vs. the Pacers.
If possible, San Antonio would resume its schedule next Wednesday in Oklahoma City against the Thunder. For the time being, the Spurs remain quarantined in Charlotte, where they’ve been since Sunday, tweets Wojnarowski.
As for the Hornets, they’ll have home games against the Bulls on Wednesday and the Nuggets on Friday postponed. If further testing and contact tracing doesn’t reveal any positive tests on the roster, the team could be cleared to host the Warriors on Saturday.
A total of 29 NBA regular season games have now been unexpectedly postponed due to the coronavirus, as our tracker shows. A 30th game was pushed back to the second half to accommodate another rescheduled game.
Jarrett Allen, Kendrick Nunn Meet Starter Criteria
Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen and Heat guard Kendrick Nunn both met the starter criteria as a result of being included in their respective teams’ starting lineups on Monday night.
The starter criteria applies to players who will be eligible for restricted free agency at season’s end. Typically, a player is required to start a total of 82 games during the two seasons prior to his free agency to meet the criteria, but that threshold has been adjusted and varies from player to player this year, since each of the last two NBA seasons have been shortened.
Based on the number of games their teams played prior to the hiatus last season, Allen needed a total of 68 starts over two seasons (not counting the summer bubble), while Nunn required 69. Allen had 58 pre-hiatus starts last season and recorded his 10th of this season on Monday, while Nunn had 62 last season and now has seven this year.
In order to make a player a restricted free agent, a team must issue him a qualifying offer, which is essentially a guaranteed one-year contract offer that gives the team the right of first refusal on a rival offer sheet. Meeting the starter criteria makes a player eligible for a larger qualifying offer than he would have been if he’d fallen short of that criteria.
By meeting the starter criteria, Allen boosts the value of his qualifying offer from $5,661,538 to $7,705,447, while Nunn’s QO increases from $2,122,822 to $4,736,102, the same figure that applies to his teammate Duncan Robinson.
Of course, a team has the option of forgoing a qualifying offer and making a player an unrestricted free agent rather than an RFA, but that seems unlikely to happen for Nunn and extremely unlikely for Allen, who is expected to be Cleveland’s long-term center.
Allen and Nunn are the fourth and fifth RFAs-to-be to meet the starter criteria this season, joining Robinson, Lonzo Ball, and Devonte’ Graham. Barring an injury or another unexpected development, Hawks big man John Collins, who needs just two more starts, will be the next to reach that threshold.
Ryan Broekhoff Signs With Australian Team
Former Mavericks wing Ryan Broekhoff has returned to his home country to resume his career. Broekhoff has signed with the South East Melbourne Phoenix, Hoops Rumors’ JD Shaw tweets.
Broekhoff spent most of the last two seasons with the Mavericks, averaging 4.0 PPG in 10.7 MPG over 59 career games. He was waived last February when Dallas signed Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
The 30-year-old signed with the Sixers prior to the summer restart but bowed out after his wife contracted the coronavirus. He participated in Philadelphia’s training camp prior to this season but was released in mid-December.
Broekhoff spent the first few years of his career with Besiktas in Turkey and Lokomotiv Kuban in Russia.
Community Shootaround: Griffin, Drummond
Just two years ago, Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond were the stars on a Pistons team that made the playoffs.
Griffin carried Detroit that season, averaging 24.5 PPG, 7.5 RPG and 5.4 APG, while his frontcourt partner averaged 17.3 PPG and a league-best 15.6 RPG.
Their careers remain on a parallel course but in a different way – both players have mutually agreed with their teams to sit out until a trade or a buyout can be arranged.
Griffin’s presence on the roster became an awkward situation for the Pistons, who are in full rebuild mode. Ideally, they’ll find a playoff contender willing to take Griffin off their hands. It will be an extremely tough sell, considering Griffin has lost his explosion after multiple knee surgeries and his max contract runs through next season, including a $39MM player option.
Most likely, the Pistons and Griffin will agree to a buyout and allow Griffin to hook onto a team that needs help at power forward.
Detroit practically gave Drummond away to the Cavaliers last season, rather than risk having him opt it and hamstring its rebuilding efforts.
Drummond will be headed to unrestricted free agency this offseason, making him somewhat easier to trade than Griffin.
When Cleveland acquired Jarrett Allen in the James Harden multi-team blockbuster, the four-time rebounding champion became a very expendable part. The key will be matching up salaries comparable to the $28.75MM that Drummond is making this season.
That brings us to our topic of the day: Where do you think Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond will wind up playing the remainder of the season?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in. We look forward to your input.