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Paul Millsap Still Expected To Opt Out Of Contract

March 23rd, 2017 at 9:27am CST by Luke Adams

Hawks big man Paul Millsap will have the opportunity to opt out of his contract and explore the free agent market this summer, and according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (via Twitter), Millsap is expected to take advantage of that opportunity.

Schefter reports that Millsap is expected to turn down his player option for 2017/18, which echoes what we heard earlier this year from Schefter’s fellow ESPN.com scribe, Chris Haynes (Twitter link). In the wake of Haynes’ initial report, Hawks sources insisted that the four-time All-Star had yet to make a decision on his option, but barring a major injury between now and the offseason, it would be a shock to see him opt in. According to Schefter, while Millsap “loves” Atlanta and would like to remain with the team, he will consider all his options.

[RELATED: Five key 2017/18 player option decisions to watch]

Millsap is currently being nagged by knee soreness, but has had another strong year in Atlanta so far. In 65 games, Millsap has played a career-high 34.3 minutes per contest, contributing 18.1 PPG and 7.7 RPG for the Hawks, despite a career-low .443 FG%.

Although Millsap isn’t necessarily a lock to receive long-term, maximum-salary contract offers at age 32, he should do well in free agency. His 2017/18 player option is worth about $21.472MM, but he’ll easily top that figure on a multiyear deal as a free agent.

For their part, the Hawks put Millsap on the trade block earlier in the season, but later decided to pull him off the block and keep him. Just before the trade deadline, GM Wes Wilcox said that locking up the former second-round pick would be Atlanta’s top priority this offseason.

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Pacers Rumors: George, Stuckey, Henson, Hayward

March 21st, 2017 at 9:19am CST by Luke Adams

Although the Pacers engaged in Paul George trade talks prior to last month’s deadline with at least the Celtics, Hawks, Sixers, and Nuggets, the team never seemed serious about moving him, league sources tell ESPN’s Zach Lowe. The club’s desire to keep George in Indiana is a key theme in Lowe’s deep dive on the Pacers, with team president Larry Bird expressing a willingness to spend all he can to build a competitive roster around his star forward.

“I have a budget,” Bird said. “Whatever that budget is, I’ll spend it. Sometimes, we can’t go after max guys, or players we really think could help us, because of our budget.

“Paul wants to compete for a title,” Bird added. “We want Paul here. He has expressed that he wants to be here. That could change overnight. You never know. But whatever I can spend, I’m going to spend.”

Here’s more from Lowe on the Pacers:

  • Prior to the trade deadline, the Pacers explored the possibility of trading veteran guard Rodney Stuckey for a backup rim protector. According to Lowe, John Henson of the Bucks was one player Indiana was eyeing in such a deal.
  • A February report indicated that the Pacers had made their 2017 first-round pick available in trade discussions as they looked to fortify their roster around George. That pick ultimately didn’t change hands, but it will be on the block again in June, Bird confirms.
  • Sources tell Lowe that George would “love” to play with Gordon Hayward, who will likely become an unrestricted free agent this summer. However, as Lowe notes, the odds of Hayward signing with the Pacers probably aren’t great.
  • Here’s what George told Lowe about this year’s Pacers team: “This season has been a reality check. You think you are gonna be in those playoff battles, playing alongside those guys forever. You have to try and recapture that moment. And that moment for us was having a strong chemistry and identity. We don’t have one now. I’ve never been on a team without an identity — without a toughness identity.”
  • According to Lowe, GM Kevin Pritchard – Bird’s “top deputy” – is currently on a contract that will expire at season’s end. The Pacers will have to lock up Pritchard to a new deal soon or risk losing him to another club.
  • Whatever route Indiana takes this summer, a full-scale rebuild likely isn’t on the table. Lowe points out that the Pacers haven’t won fewer than 32 games or drafted higher than 10th in nearly three decades, with Bird saying of tanking, “We can’t do that around here.”
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NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 3/19/17

March 19th, 2017 at 4:38pm CST by Milo Taibi

Here are the D-League transactions for Sunday:

  • The Thunder recalled Josh Huestis from the Oklahoma City Blue, the team announced in a press release. Through 28 games with the Blue, Huestis has averaged 14 points and 6.3 rebounds over 32.1 MPG.
  • The Hawks recalled DeAndre’ Bembry from the Salt Lake City Stars, the team announced in a press release. Bembry, 22, has appeared in just one NBA game since February 27, predominantly getting experience in the D-League in his rookie season. With Kent Bazemore out at least one week with a bone bruise, Bembry may receive playing opportunities.
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Kent Bazemore Out At Least One Week With Bone Bruise

March 19th, 2017 at 4:01pm CST by Milo Taibi

Kent Bazemore exited last night’s game against the Blazers with a right knee contusion. After being evaluated this morning, Bazemore was shown to have suffered a right knee bone bruise. Bazemore will be treated and reevaluated in 7-10 days (Hawks press release).

The Hawks will have to make do without Bazemore or Paul Millsap, who will miss Atlanta’s next two games with left knee soreness, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta currently occupies the fifth seed of the Eastern Conference, staked to a 1.5 game lead over the Pacers.

It’s been an up-and-down season for Bazemore, who signed a four-year, $70MM contract before 2016/17. Bazemore’s shooting percentage dropped nearly four points from his 2015/16 campaign, at one point averaging 7.8 points over a 17-game stretch.

The Hawks are likely to recall DeAndre’ Bembry in Bazemore’s absence, Vivlamore reports (Twitter link),

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Calderon Making A Difference For Hawks

March 18th, 2017 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill
  • Jose Calderon has made an immediate impact since joining the Hawks, according to KL Chouinard of NBA.com. The veteran point guard has provided scoring, playmaking and leadership as Atlanta won three of its first four games after claiming him off waivers. “Sometimes when you get to this time of the season, the problem is that you don’t have the practice time,” Calderon said. “So it’s kind of like my practice being out there [in games]. It’s a little bit more difficult because you don’t want to make mistakes. You’re still learning what your teammates are used to doing.” 
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Dwight Howard Discusses Failed Magic/Nets Trade, Wants To Play 20 Seasons

March 17th, 2017 at 9:01am CST by Luke Adams

Dwight Howard signed a three-year, $70MM deal with the Hawks last summer that represented a homecoming for the Atlanta native. As Howard explains to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, the possibility of playing for his hometown Hawks was an idea that long intrigued him. However, even though Atlanta “has always been special” for the 31-year-old, he feels as if he wasn’t ready earlier in his career and the timing was never right until 2016.

As his first season with the Hawks nears its end, Howard also opened up about several stops in his past, explaining how things went wrong during his time in Orlando and Houston. Spears’ conversation with D12 is worth checking out in full, but here are a few highlights from the interview:

On the chaos and drama that followed him from Orlando to L.A. to Houston:

“After the situation in Orlando, I never really came out and said my side of the story about what was going on there while I was there and the reasons for me wanting to leave. After that, people just decided that, ‘He’s not going to talk about it, so we might as well come up with a narrative and what we think went on in L.A. and what went on with Kobe [Bryant] and what we think happened with James [Harden].’

“I never had a personal vendetta with either one of those guys. People took it as me having a problem with them being on a team with another superstar. … I’ve never been the one to say, ‘OK, I want to talk about this because it was an issue with me.’ But everyone else kind of made it a storyline. And here in Atlanta, there is no storyline.”

On what happened during his final year in Orlando:

“There were a lot of different things that happened in Orlando that people never talked about. Before the season even started during the lockout, I asked them privately, I even talked to [teammate] Jameer [Nelson] and [then-GM] Otis [Smith] and I said, ‘Hey, I just want a change in my life. It has nothing to do with [then-coach] Stan Van Gundy. This has nothing to do with the players here in Orlando. It has nothing to do with Orlando itself.’ I just felt I was too comfortable and I wanted more for myself and more for basketball.

“It had nothing to do with the team. They said they were going to try to move me. I thought it was going to happen. They came in and said, ‘We’re going to trade you.’ They shook my hand and said, ‘God bless you. You were here for eight years and you did a great job.’ They asked me to go shake my teammates’ hands. I went and shook their hands and told them that the team was going to trade me. I woke up the next day and they said, ‘We’re not going to trade you.’

“This was right after the [2011] lockout. I was supposed to get traded right before training camp. I had asked them to trade me to Brooklyn and I thought that was going to happen. They decided they weren’t going to trade me and that was when all hell broke loose.”

On his time in Houston:

“I don’t think it ended the way it should have. I thought in my time in Houston we did some really good things. For us to go to the Western Conference finals after not being there for 20 years, that’s a great accomplishment because nobody expected us to do that. The issues they say happened between me and James were small communication issues. Instead of us coming together and talking about it, we allowed other people to do talking. The lines of communication were twisted.”

On how long he wants to play in the NBA, and whether he wants to finish his career with the Hawks:

“I want to get to 20 years. Now I’m at 13. … I would love to [play all those years in Atlanta]. I just got a nice place out in the country. I don’t want to leave it for eight months out of the year and just see it for three. I would love to.”

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Hawks' Point Guard Rotation Still Not Set

March 15th, 2017 at 10:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Hawks haven’t settled on their point guard rotation for the rest of the season, according to Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Jose Calderon, who was claimed off waivers earlier this month, has been the backup to Dennis Schroder in the past four games, but that doesn’t mean the job is his to keep. Coach Mike Budenholzer said Malcolm Delaney, who had the role before Calderon arrived, will also be part of the mix. “No doubt that Jose has been great,” Budenholzer said. “Jose is so positive and talking and in Dennis’ face, in everybody’s face. He’s like wow. To have both of those guys, I wouldn’t under-sell what Malcolm does. I think he’s been real good next to Dennis.”

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NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 3/14/17

March 14th, 2017 at 10:12pm CST by Milo Taibi

Here are Tuesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

10:12 pm: 

  • The Cavaliers have assigned Larry Sanders to the Canton Charge, according to the D-League Digest (Twitter link). Cleveland signed Sanders on Monday.
  • The Hawks have assigned DeAndre’ Bembry to the Salt Lake City Stars, according to the team’s website. Atlanta doesn’t have its own D-League affiliate, so the rookie will play for Utah’s affiliate, per the league’s flex assignment rule.

5:32pm:

3:58pm:

  • The Clippers announced they have recalled Brice Johnson from the Salt Lake City Stars (press release). Johnson, the 25th overall pick in the 2016 draft, has largely been inactive this season due to a herniated disk in his back.
  • The Pistons have recalled Henry Ellenson from the D-League, according to the team.
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Early Decision Dates For 2017/18 Player Options

March 10th, 2017 at 9:47am CST by Luke Adams

By default, NBA players who hold player options for the following season generally don’t have to make an official decision on those options until June 29, just two days before the new league year gets underway. However, that date can be altered on a contract-by-contract basis, which is why many of the 25 players who have player options or early termination options for 2017/18 will be making their decisions prior to June 29 this year.

Several of those player option decisions are due either on a specific date or a certain number of days following a team’s final regular season game. For instance, Rudy Gay‘s player option calls for him to make a decision either on June 10, or five days after the Kings’ last game — whichever comes later. Kyle Lowry, meanwhile, has to make a decision on his player option by June 19, or within seven days of the Raptors’ last game — whichever comes earlier.

Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders has done an excellent job keeping tabs on these early player option decision dates, so we’ll use his data to break down the schedule of upcoming decision dates. If a player who holds a 2017/18 player option isn’t listed here, that means his decision is due on June 29, or his decision date hasn’t been reported.

Here’s the list of early decision dates for 2017/18 player options:

Potentially dependent on when team’s season ends:

  • June 10 (or five days after team’s last game): Rudy Gay (Kings)
  • June 19 (or seven days after team’s last game): Kyle Lowry (Raptors)
  • June 20 (or two days after team’s last game): Aron Baynes (Pistons), C.J. Miles (Pacers)

The rest:

For details on how much these player options are worth, check out our list of 2017 free agents by position or by team.

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Budenholzer, Schroder Meet Following Monday Benching

March 9th, 2017 at 12:47pm CST by Luke Adams

Two days after Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer benched Dennis Schroder for most of the second half against Golden State, the two men met on Wednesday to discuss the incident and move forward, writes Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

“He was very good,” Budenholzer said of Schroder, the Hawks’ starting point guard. “He and I communicating and understanding what is important. Really, he came in understanding what is important. Things happen in our league. Things happen in games. It’s part of our growth as a team, my growth as a coach, his growth as a player.”

Vivlamore notes that Schroder has gotten under the skin of some of his teammates at times, adding that a source familiar with the situation said Paul Millsap had “sharp words” for the young guard after Monday’s game. However, speaking to reporters, Millsap acknowledged that Schroder is still learning and improving, and said Monday’s incident won’t be a distraction for the Hawks going forward.

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