Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 8/13/2022
The transcript of our weekly Saturday chat can be found here.
Please join Luke Adams for our next live chat on Tuesday at noon CT.
And-Ones: Bronny, Ataman, Teodosic, Instagram
A lot of high-profile college programs are pursuing Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, according to ESPN national recruiting director Paul Biancardi (Insider link).
There’s a “strong feeling” that Bronny James will go the college route next year, according to Biancardi, with UCLA, USC, Michigan, Oregon and Ohio State among the teams recruiting him. LeBron has said his dream is to finish his NBA career playing with his son, who will be draft-eligible in 2024.
We have more from around the international basketball world:
- The EuroLeague’s reigning coach of the year Ergin Ataman says it’s unlikely he’ll wind up as an NBA head coach, he indicated an interview with Turkish digital channel VOLE (hat tip to Eurohoops.net). “My goal to go to the NBA has decreasing chances because I see that the NBA is a different world,” he said. “… Their perspective of basketball head coaches in Europe is very different. No European coach has ever gone from Europe to the NBA as a head coach. There is no NBA history, zero.”
- Former NBA guard Milos Teodosic had an agreement in place with Serbia’s Crvena Zvevda but it was nixed by Virtus Bologna, according to Sportando. Crvena Zvezda president Nebojsa Covic made that assertion in a Pink TV interview. “I’ve spoken at length with Teodosic and we agreed on pretty much everything about him joining us,” he said. “It was Virtus who said no, because it would have made things difficult for the club and because their supporters are fond of Teodosic.”
- In the Instagram world, the NBA is much more popular than any other U.S. professional league. The NBA officially surpassed 70 million followers on Instagram, making it a top-10 most-followed brand on the platform, according to Alex Kennedy of Basketball News. The NBA has more followers than all the other major American sports leagues combined — the NFL (25 million), MLB (8.9 million) and NHL (5.5 million).
Bucks’ Hugo Besson To Play In France
Second-round pick Hugo Besson, acquired by the Bucks in a draft-night deal, will play for France’s Metropolitans 92 next season, the French team tweets.
The club currently plays in the LNB Pro A, the highest-tier level in French basketball.
The pick was originally owned by Phoenix but the Pacers held it entering draft night. They received cash for the pick and the Bucks took the 21-year-old guard for draft-and-stash purposes.
Besson was the last pick of the draft at No. 58 and had remained unsigned. He played for the New Zealand Breakers last season, averaging 13.9 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 2.3 RPG in 25 games.
He joined the Bucks’ Summer League team and averaged 2.5 PPG and 11.4 MPG in four games.
Atlantic Notes: Brunson, Grimes, Brown, Williams, Maxey
Who’s the best backcourt partner for Jalen Brunson on the current Knicks roster? According to analytics expert Joseph Gill in an interview with SNY TV’s Ian Begley, Quentin Grimes is the best fit alongside the high-priced free agent acquisition. Grimes is a legitimate threat to space the floor and he doesn’t turn the ball over very often. That makes him a better pairing with Brunson’s skill set than Evan Fournier, RJ Barrett or Immanuel Quickley, in Gill’s estimation.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- What would a Jaylen Brown extension look like? Keith Smith takes a deep dive into that subject in a Spotrac article. With two years left on his current contract, the Celtics wing is eligible to sign a three-year deal this offseason. He could wait until after next season and sign a Designated Veteran Extension or after the 2023/24 season and ink a Designated Veteran contract if he meets certain criteria. He could also sign with Boston or another team as a free agent in 2024.
- Grant Williams has communicated with Brown regarding the trade rumors involving the Nets and Kevin Durant and says Brown is handling it well, Matt John of Heavy.com relays. “I feel like JB is mature in his mindset, and he knows that. I talk to him, texted him, reach out of as often as I can,” Williams said. “It’s one of those things. It’s the league. It’s a business. It’s one of those things that you can’t be discouraged by because we love JB. It also shows how valuable he is.”
- Developing even greater offensive chemistry with Joel Embiid and getting selected to the All-Star team would be aspects of a best-case scenario for Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey in 2022/23, Kyle Neubeck of Phillyvoice.com writes. Not living up to increased expectations would be part of a worst-case scenario for Maxey next season.
And-Ones: Martin, Thabeet, Dragic, Season Prognoses
Free agent point guard Jeremiah Martin has signed on with Polish club WKS Slask Wroclaw, the team announced in a press release.
After going undrafted out of Memphis in 2019, Martin played for the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. He later joined the Nets and Cavaliers on two-way contracts. Across 18 NBA games, the 26-year-old averaged 4.8 PPG, 1.2 APG and 0.7 SPG for Brooklyn and Cleveland.
The 6’2″ guard last suited up for the New Zealand Breakers during the 2021/22 season. In 10 contests with the Breakers, Martin averaged 12.3 PPG on 39.5% shooting, plus 3.6 APG, 2.7 RPG and 1.1 SPG.
There’s more from around the basketball world:
- Veteran free agent center Hasheem Thabeet is expected to play with a team in the Chinese Basketball Association this season, Thabeet’s agent Jerry Dianis informed Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Scotto writes that the big man is fielding interest from several Chinese clubs, including the Fujian Xunxing Sturgeons and the Jilin Northeast Tigers. The 7’3″ center, 35, was selected with the No. 2 pick out of Connecticut in 2009. In five NBA seasons, the big man averaged 2.2 PPG, 2.7 RPG and 0.8 BPG across 224 contests. Thabeet has since logged time with the Grand Rapids Drive and Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA G League. He has also played overseas for teams in Japan and Taiwan.
- Bulls point guard Goran Dragic spoke with Semih Tuna of Eurohoops about his return to EuroBasket competition this summer for the first time in five years. “Returning to the national team after five years is an incredible feeling,” Dragic said. “Of course, I’m older now, I’m 36 years old. I was fresher back then, but I still enjoy playing basketball. That’s why I’m happy to be back.”
- A panel of ESPN writers is making some predictions for the league ahead of the start of the 2022/23 NBA season. The group votes on landing spots for Kevin Durant and Donovan Mitchell this season, which teams are most likely to enjoy bounce-back seasons, which teams are most likely to fall into total chaos, and more.
Kings Sign Sam Merrill
9:00pm: The signing is now official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
4:39pm: The Kings are set to sign free agent shooting guard Sam Merrill, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
Tony Jones of The Athletic reveals (via Twitter) that Merrill is signing a non-guaranteed two-year contract, meaning Merrill will be competing to join the team’s eventual 15-man roster in training camp. Sacramento currently has just 12 players inked to fully guaranteed deals, per our roster tracker.
Earlier this summer, Chima Moneke and Matthew Dellavedova were both also signed to non-guaranteed deals with a chance to make the opening night roster. Moneke’s contract includes a $250K partial guarantee.
The 6’4″ Merrill was selected with the final pick in the 2020 NBA draft out of Utah State by the Pelicans, then was dealt to the Bucks. He played in 30 games for the eventual champs, averaging 3.0 PPG and 1.0 RPG in 7.8 MPG during the regular season. During that rookie season, Merrill connected on 44.4% of his field goal attempts and 44.7% of his 1.6 triples a night.
The Bucks traded him to the Grizzlies during the 2021 offseason. He appeared in just six games for Memphis, averaging 9.7 MPG. The 26-year-old averaged 22.5 PPG, 5.5 APG and 5.5 RPG in two contests for the Grizzlies’ NBAGL affiliate, the Memphis Hustle.
Adding Merrill gives the Kings another potential long-distance shooting option as the team continues to retool its roster around its core of De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, Keegan Murray and Davion Mitchell.
Pacific Notes: James, Spencer, Kings, Jones
As the Lakers regroup from a miserable 2021/22 season, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer wonders if aging superstar forward LeBron James would benefit from taking a page out of Kevin Durant‘s book and requesting a trade away from Los Angeles on his current expiring deal.
O’Connor writes that, if the Lakers are unable to trade for James’s old running mate Kyrie Irving, the team could consider trying to trade for Pacers veterans Myles Turner and Buddy Hield or Jazz guards Patrick Beverley and Jordan Clarkson. O’Connor opines that James should wait to sign an extension with Los Angeles until next summer, after seeing what moves Los Angeles makes to try to return to title contention.
Later, O’Connor reviews potential landing destinations for James should he (hypothetically) demand to be traded, including the Suns, the Knicks, the Trail Blazers, and a few familiar locales.
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- In an interview with Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle, Warriors training camp invitee Pat Spencer discussed his decision to move on from a decorated four-year lacrosse career at Loyola University Maryland. The 6’3″ guard subsequently played a season of NCAA basketball as a graduate-transfer student at Northwestern for the 2019/20 season. Following his tenure as a Wildcat, Spencer played in Germany and with the Wizards’ NBAGL affiliate the Capital City Go-Go. “I can’t really articulate what I love so much about basketball,” Spencer said. “It’s always been my first love, with lacrosse a close second.”
- Sleep Train Arena, the former home court of the Kings for 28 seasons, is being demolished to make way for a new 730,000-square foot hospital, plus 3,000 new residences, a theater, shops and trails, per Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee. Sacramento moved to the newly-constructed Golden 1 Center in 2016, as a condition of the club’s sale to majority owner Vivek Ranadive in 2013.
- The specter of a possible Suns trade for Kevin Durant could linger through the start of the regular season. Greg Moore of the Arizona Republic thinks Phoenix president James Jones should determine a definitive deadline when he will stop considering a trade for Durant, to avoid having that uncertainty linger for several more months.
Southwest Notes: Pelicans, Ntilikina, Green
Following an exciting, albeit brief, postseason run this spring, the Pelicans face an intriguing 2022/23. The team expects to get 2021 All-Star forward Zion Williamson back from the foot injury that kept him sidelined last year, and hopes to build on the chemistry its players exhibited in their hard-fought six-game playoff loss to the Suns.
In a new mailbag, Will Guillory of The Athletic addresses questions about the team’s willingness to add 33-year-old All-Star forward Kevin Durant in a trade package centered around draft picks and young star forward Brandon Ingram; guard CJ McCollum‘s standing as a scorer in the NBA; the breakout potential of second-year small forward Trey Murphy III; and more.
There’s more out of the Southwest Division:
- Mavericks reserve guard Frank Ntilikina will not suit up for France in this year’s World Cup qualifiers or EuroBasket competition due to a lingering injury, per a statement from the French Federation of Basketball. Ntilikina showed off his defensive upside during his first season with Dallas, though he boasted relatively modest offensive numbers of 4.1 PPG, 1.4 RPG and 1.2 APG across 58 games.
- In a conversation with Andrei Felix of CNN Philippines (YouTube video link) young Rockets shooting guard Jalen Green spoke about the skills he’s been focused on developing during the 2022 offseason. Alykhan Bijani of The Athletic supplied the transcript (Twitter link). “I’ve been working on decision-making, tightening up my handle, and knowing what shots I want to get on the floor,” Green said. “Getting comfortable getting to my spots and just rising up. Catch-and-shoot.” He also preached patience to Houston fans hoping for a return to deep postseason runs. “We’re working,” Green continued. “We’re in the lab. We’re going to make sure this happens as soon as possible.” The second pick in the 2021 draft out of the G League Ignite, Green made the All-Rookie First Team while averaging 17.3 PPG, 3.4 RPG and 2.6 APG for a rebuilding 20-62 Rockets club.
- In case you missed it, the Rockets agreed to sign veteran center Willie Cauley-Stein to a one-year deal, with a chance to compete for a roster spot in training camp.
Eastern Notes: Pistons, D. Green, Celtics, Sixers
An Eastern Conference executive who spoke to Sean Deveney of Heavy.com believes the Pistons are a team to watch if Draymond Green doesn’t sign an extension with the Warriors before he becomes eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2023. Green was born and raised in Saginaw, Michigan, attended Michigan State, and grew up rooting for the Pistons, who have long had interest in acquiring him, according to the executive.
“(Pistons owner Tom) Gores is a Michigan State guy, and they wanted to give Draymond an offer sheet when he was a free agent (in 2015), but by then, the Warriors were going to match any offer,” the executive told Heavy.com. “So they just have not had the chance. If they can show some improvement this year with their young guys, they could get themselves in the mix.”
The idea of Green playing a mentor role on a young Pistons team is an intriguing one, and the combination of his local connection, Detroit’s projected 2023 cap room, and the rising cost of the Warriors’ roster make it a possibility worth considering. But for now, this feels more like idle speculation by a rival executive than anything concrete.
If Green and the Warriors are far apart in contract talks and he seriously considers leaving in 2023, Detroit could certainly emerge as an option, but there’s no reason at this point to think that Golden State won’t make every effort to lock up one of the cornerstones of its recent dynasty.
Here are a few more notes from around the East:
- In a separate story for Heavy.com, Sean Deveney spoke to a pair of assistant coaches about veterans the Celtics could theoretically target with one of their trade exceptions if they want to fortify their frontcourt. Alex Len, Tony Bradley, and Marquese Chriss are among the names mentioned, though I suspect the team may simply fill that spot on the depth chart with a minimum-salary signing.
- Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com considers the best- and worst-case scenarios for newly-signed Sixers forward P.J. Tucker, noting that the veteran’s age (37) increases the risk of a decline in his performance.
- Addressing recent rumors linking Kevin Durant to the Sixers, David Murphy of The Philadelphia Inquirer says the team needs to answer two important questions: Do the 76ers have the assets necessary to acquire Durant? And if so, would it make sense to cash all of them in for the two-time Finals MVP?
Timberwolves To Hire Joe Connelly As Director Of Scouting
After Tim Connelly left Denver for Minnesota to become the Timberwolves’ president of basketball operations earlier this year, his brother Joe Connelly will make the same move, according to Mike Singer of The Denver Post, who reports (via Twitter) that Joe will become the Wolves’ director of scouting.
Joe Connelly has spent the last few years with the Nuggets, working in a player development role and in the organization’s scouting department. His most recent title in Denver was director of pro personnel. According to Singer (Twitter link), Joe was a major advocate for Bones Hyland leading up to last year’s draft — the Nuggets ultimately selected Hyland with the No. 26 pick.
Tim Connelly is continuing to reshape Minnesota’s front office after changing teams within the Northwest Division this spring, and this isn’t the first of his recent moves that involves an executive heading from the Nuggets to the Timberwolves. Singer reported on Thursday that former Nuggets scouting coordinator Jon Wallace is becoming the Wolves’ director of player personnel and G League general manager.
Dell Demps, Matt Lloyd, and Steve Senior are among the other veteran executives who have joined the Timberwolves’ front office this offseason, while assistant GM Joe Branch is moving on from the team.