Steven Adams A Possible Hawks Trade Target
A Hawks team source tells The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner that Thunder center Steven Adams has been “discussed” by Atlanta as a possible candidate for a deal.
Adams, currently in the third year of a four-year, $100MM deal, is owed $25.8MM this season and $27.5MM in 2020/21. The summer of 2021 is considered the next major free agent class, and Adams’ deal will expire in time to keep the Hawks’ coffers relatively clear.
Adams, a 6’11”, 265-pound bruiser known for his defensive moxie, would serve as a major positional upgrade for the struggling Hawks. He is currently one of the key pieces keeping the 14-14 Oklahoma City in the playoff hunt. They are presently the seventh seed in the West. Adams holds season averages of 11.1 PPG, 9.6 RPG, and 1.1 BPG in 25 games.
The 6-24 Hawks have been exploring various current roster options as their starting center. Former Warrior Damian Jones has started 19 of the Hawks’ 30 games thus far, but was a DNP in the Hawks’ most recent contest last night. Jones is on the last year of his initial four-year, $6.1MM rookie contract. The Hawks could make him a qualifying offer this season, but Kirschner is dubious that will transpire.
Rookie Bruno Fernando has started the Hawks’ last two games, both losses. Veteran Alex Len, an unrestricted free agent in 2020, has started nine. The 26 year-old Maryland alum, drafted No. 5 in 2013 by the Suns, is earning $4.2MM this season. Fernando is the Hawks’ only current center under contract beyond this season.
Southeast Notes: Magic, Silva, Charlotte, Wizards
Never fear, Magic fans. Orlando may be slumping now, but the team navigated its way back from an identical three-game slide last December, as The Athletic’s Josh Robbins observes.
Though the Magic’s shooting and defense are declining at present, Robbins opines that this too shall pass. Last season, a two-game win streak in Mexico City immediately following three demoralizing blowout losses seemed to galvanize the team.
After the losing streak dropped the Magic to a 12-15, they rallied back to finish the season with a 42-40 overall record and the No. 7 seed in the East. This year, their 12-17 record currently has them clinging to the No. 8 seed by percentage points over the 13-19 Hornets.
Magic power forward Jonathan Isaac preached optimism, too. “We’re the same team [as last year], with the same guys plus a couple of guys that make us better,” Isaac observed. “So the same guys that had that heart and that mindset last year are the same guys that are on this team. All we can do is look forward.”
There’s more from the Southeast:
- Ira Winderman of the Florida Sun Sentinel wonders if rookie Heat power forward Chris Silva, currently on a two-way contract with the team, would benefit from time logged in the G League, where he would presumably receive more consistent playing time than he does with the Heat. Meyers Leonard, Derrick Jones and Kelly Olynyk are all ahead of Silva in coach Erik Spoelstra‘s rotation.
- The 13-19 Hornets are 4-3 over their last seven contests, and their improving defensive development is a big component of that, according to Sam Perley of Hornets.com (they were 4-2 in their last six games at the time of Perley’s article, but lost last night). Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer also notes that Hornets players are buying in to a directive from coach James Borrego requesting they prioritize defensive effort.
- The current Wizards lineup is depleted beyond All-Star Bradley Beal, as Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington details. Second-leading scorer Davis Bertans, third-leading scorer Rui Hachimura and fourth-leading scorer Thomas Bryant are all unavailable with ailments. Fifth-leading scorer Isaiah Thomas awaits discipline after an altercation with two fans in Philadelphia.
Community Shootaround: NBA’s Proposed Schedule Changes
The NBA’s traditional national broadcast ratings are down 15% this season. There are other ways to measure interest in this most modern of sports, but that hasn’t stopped the NBA from pitching some drastic schemes to drum up viewer and player interest in the league prior to the playoffs. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is an innovative thinker, and he deserves credit for striving towards some intriguing big-picture adjustments.
Hoops Rumors detailed yesterday that the NBA has now sent all 30 teams the league’s proposed scheduling changes for the 2021/22 season, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Charania’s Athletic colleague Michael Lee thinks that all the chatter about free agency, trades, and interpersonal drama that has made the NBA a year-round entertainment has also served to dilute interest in the on-court product. This writer respectfully disagrees with that assessment. Interest in every behind-the-scenes aspect of the NBA is a great way to keep basketball in casual sports fans’ thoughts even during the summer, traditionally a time for baseball to get more shine.
The metrics for measuring engagement need to change, and the NBA needs to figure out how to monetize interest and viewership across 21st century platforms. The cord-cutting revolution is real, and it may have come to the NBA, as reflected in the ratings trouble.
For the changes to be implemented in the 2021/22 season, at least 23 of the 30 teams and the players’ union would need to approve the changes at their April 2020 NBA Board of Governors meeting, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. A November piece from Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe first unpacked these new concepts.
Let’s tackle each big item.
The Regular Season Game Count Change
- The league’s schedule, outside of the in-season tournament (see below), would be reduced from 82 to 78 games.
The In-Season Tournament
- The NBA’s proposed in-season tournament would begin with pool play as part of the regular-season schedule. Each team would play four home and four road games during pool play.
- Pool-play records would determine the six divisional winners. Two wild card teams would be decided by the next-best records in pool play.
- These eight teams would advance to an eight-team, single-elimination tournament.
- The tournament’s quarterfinals would be played at the home market of the teams with the better record. The semifinals and finals would be played at a team-neutral location.
- The tournament champion would be the team that wins all three of its knockout-round bouts.
- Each of that champion team’s players would receive $1MM. The champion team’s coaching staff would receive a $1.5MM bonus.
The Postseason Changes
- There would be a postseason play-in qualifying tournament for the No. 7 and No. 8 playoff seeds. The six teams with the best records in each conference would experience no change in qualifying.
- The four final playoff teams, regardless of conference, would be re-seeded based on regular-season record. Woj and Lowe’s article noted that the WNBA has been reseeding its final four matchups for years.
- According to the earlier Woj and Lowe piece, the play-in tournament would comprise two four-team tournaments in each conference, with the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th seeds competing.
- The seventh seed would play at home against the eighth seed in a single game contest. The winner of that single game would net the seventh spot in the playoffs.
- The 10th seed would play at the home arena of the ninth seed in a single game matchup. The winner of this game would compete with the loser of the 7-vs.-8 game for the final playoff seed. Thus, the seventh and eighth seed would have two opportunities to make the big dance, whereas the ninth and 10th seeds would effectively play two single-elimination games to punch their tickets.
In this fan’s opinion, creating a mandated elimination-style postseason play-in tournament, with extra accommodation being awarded to the seventh and eighth seeds, is a great way to keep the early goings of the playoffs interesting. The play-in tournament, however, feels wholly superfluous as currently constructed. Reducing the regular season to 78 games and enacting the play-in tournament would both be fun new wrinkles for 2021/22.
What do you think? Which of these policies (or which parts of these policies) should the NBA enact?
Head to the comment section below!
Central Notes: Sexton, Dunn, Brown, Holiday
Second-year Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton is keenly aware of his Twitter critics, who often attack his court vision and passing acumen. He is taking a promisingly levelheaded approach to fan appraisals, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
“If there was no criticism then what can you work on and what can you get better at? That’s just like any job,” Sexton noted. “So, whatever they say I can’t do I’m going to do it.” The No. 8 pick in 2018, voted a second-team All Rookie for the 2018/19 season, has averaged 17.6 PPG, 3.0 RPG and 2.4 APG this season for the Cavaliers.
Sexton has been adjusting to a new system in Cleveland under new Cavs head coach John Beilein. He has been moved from his pure point guard position last season to a universe of shared ball-handling duties, where he splits lead guard responsibilities with new backcourt mate Darius Garland.
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- Mark Schanowski of NBC Sports Chicago takes a look at Kris Dunn‘s development in his new role as the Bulls‘ lead perimeter defender. The 6’3″, long-limbed No. 5 pick in the 2016 NBA draft struggled as Chicago’s starting point guard last season. Injuries to Otto Porter and Chandler Hutchison compelled coach Jim Boylen to enlist Dunn’s services as spot starting small forward in their absence. Dunn, a 2020 restricted free agent, has been hyper-efficient, and is currently leading the league in total steals with 58.
- During a recent roundtable conversation at Racine Correctional Institution, Bucks swingman Sterling Brown discussed his ongoing lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee. “They tried to get me to settle for it. I feel like it was just a slap in the face,” Brown told ESPN reporter Eric Woodyard. “The money is not the biggest concern. It’s not a priority for me.” Brown alleges that Milwaukee police officers were racially profiling him and employing excessive force by tasing him for a January 2018 parking violation.
- Pacers wing Justin Holiday, signed to the team’s room exception with a one-year, $4.8MM contract this summer, has been enjoying a solid season thus far with his seventh NBA team, as the Indianapolis Star’s J. Michael observes. “I never understood why (I didn’t stick) because teams that have actually had me know what I can do,” Holiday said. He is shooting 37.7% from deep this season.
Poll: The West’s Last Two Playoff Spots
In an epic new piece published yesterday, The Athletic’s John Hollinger takes a look at the nine middling NBA teams vying for the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference. Hollinger notes that the West used to be mighty across all eight of its playoff teams. It’s taken 45.4 wins on average for a team to make the playoffs since 2000.
A team with a losing record has not made the cut since 1997; all nine teams in the bottom of the West have losing records at this point in 2019/20. Last season’s eighth seed, the Clippers, won 48 games.
Hollinger feels that, while the 6-24 Warriors and 10-19 Grizzlies could each make theoretical runs for the final two playoff spots, it is not in their best interests to do so. Hollinger expects Memphis to instead gauge the trade market for its attractive expiring veteran contracts (Andre Iguodala, Jae Crowder and Solomon Hill).
Hollinger also dismisses the 7-23 Pelicans as being much of a contender for the final two playoff spots in the West, observing that reaching just 38 wins would be a fairly Herculean task for a team that just lost a staggering 13 games in a row. The team would have to win 62% of its remaining games to reach even that benchmark. With Zion Williamson still in street clothes for the indefinite future, New Orleans may be best served moving off some of its best veterans (Jrue Holiday, J.J. Redick and Derrick Favors) and throwing in the towel.
The Spurs and Timberwolves have nursed eight- and nine-game losing streaks of their own (and Minnesota may yet add to its streak). San Antonio’s two $20MM+, 30+ ex-All Stars, LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan, may be difficult to trade thanks to their performances this year. Minnesota three-and-D specialist Robert Covington could be a terrific trade attribute, on just the second year of a very reasonable four-year, $62MM deal.
After being the darlings of the NBA’s first month, the Suns have lost five straight games. The Kings kicked off their season with five consecutive defeats of their own. Hollinger considers Phoenix candidates to make a trade with an eye towards roster improvement this season, while he thinks the Kings need to see how former top draft picks De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley III, who have missed most of the year with injuries, will help goose the team’s lackadaisical offense.
The Trail Blazers at present are $12MM into the NBA’s luxury tax, and Hollinger expects them to move one of their several expiring contracts and/or future draft picks to either (a) get under the tax threshold, (b) improve the team, or (c) both. With All-NBA point guard Damian Lillard still operating at the peak of his powers, shooting guard CJ McCollum providing steady offense, and injured center Jusuf Nurkic expected back at some point this season, the Blazers may have enough talent to sneak into the playoffs even with a cheaper supporting cast.
Hollinger accurately points out that the No. 7-seeded Thunder, fronted by several veterans GM Sam Presti would love to offload, are currently the class of this underwhelming crop. Though Hollinger is confident Danilo Gallinari, Chris Paul (having a potential All Star season if he stays healthy), and Dennis Schroder could be had for the right price. Steven Adams is not mentioned, but the same holds true for Oklahoma City’s $25.8MM center.
To this writer, the Trail Blazers and Suns feel like the teams with the right combination of talent and desire to be left standing when the dust settles. The Timberwolves and Thunder will be hard-pressed to not offload at least one of their more crucial starters. The Kings’ trade flexibility has been doomed by the four-year, $85MM summer contract they awarded to Harrison Barnes, who will never be an All-Star.
Which teams do you think will make the cut for these final two playoff spots in the West? Vote below in our poll, then head to the comment section to share your thoughts!
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
Heat Notes: Culture, Wade, Butler, Jones
Michael Lee of The Athletic takes a look at the infamous Heat culture that has Miami off to a red-hot 21-8 start this season, surprising many. The Heat are the No. 3 seed in the East. Their mix of savvy veterans like Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic and fast-developing youth has been stellar. The roster is decorated with diverse players sporting the ability to switch across multiple positions and handle the rock.
17-year Heat lifer Udonis Haslem credits Miami’s front office, captained by team president Pat Riley, with putting together their impressive depth. “They do a great job of digging down and getting these diamonds in the rough,” Haslem raved. “You know it’s not always draft picks. It’s not always free agency. Sometimes, it’s getting your hands dirty, getting in the mud and going to the G League, picking up a guy that’s been waived from another team, doing your homework, getting an undrafted [player].”
Here’s more out of Miami:
- Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald unpacks an extensive recent Dwyane Wade conversation with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes on their new Showtime video podcast All The Smoke. Wade touched on the Heat’s recent drama with oft-suspended wing Dion Waiters. “It’s unfortunate what’s going on with him,” Wade told Barnes and Jackson. “The kid loves to hoop. What we’re seeing right now is now that the game was taken away from him, he doesn’t know how to deal with it.” Wade also discussed a desire to return to the Heat one day in an organizational capacity. “I would love to migrate back to the organization as I figure out what my life is going to be about and continue to give back to that city as they gave to me for so many years,” he said during the podcast.
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel observes that 30 year-old Jimmy Butler‘s “odometer” as an All-NBA talent puts the current Heat in conflict with their supposed 2021 free agency plan. The team only has $60MM committed to their books during a summer when talents like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Bradley Beal, Victor Oladipo, Jrue Holiday, and, yes, LeBron James could all become available.
- The return of Goran Dragic to the Heat’s bench unit could serve as a boon for developing small forward Derrick Jones, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald details. “Goran gets downhill, makes my guy guard him and he just puts the ball in the air and lets me do the rest,” Jones observed. The athletic fourth-year swingman has been one of the team’s best wing defenders in limited minutes, and has now developed an outside shooting game, averaging 34.6% from deep this season. When guard Justise Winslow returns to the lineup from his back injury, Jackson opines that coach Erik Spoelstra should expand his rotation to 10 players to accommodate the improving Jones.
Southwest Notes: DeRozan, Brooks, Favors, Mavericks
The Spurs are off to a rough start this season. San Antonio currently sits at the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference with an 11-16 record. Head coach Gregg Popovich has been searching for answers all over the roster lately. This has included shaking up some rotational minutes.
During a tilt against Houston on December 16, Popovich pulled starting shoot guard DeMar DeRozan, the team’s highest earner with a $27.7MM salary this season, with 4:46 left in the game and the Spurs down 101-97. San Antonio had led by as many as 25 points in the first half. Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News notes that DeRozan’s disengaged body language while languishing during the eventual 109-107 loss on the bench was criticized.
Following the criticism, power forward Rudy Gay defended DeRozan’s reaction to the late-game benching, calling the two-time All-NBA selection a “competitor.” DeRozan did stay on the court late to help seal the Spurs’ subsequent game, a 118-105 defeat of the Nets on Thursday. Popovich substituted all starters with 47 seconds left and the victory sewn up.
There’s more out of the Southwest:
- In his latest mailbag column, The Daily Memphian’s Chris Herrington touches on Dillon Brooks‘ value as a 2020 restricted free agent. Brooks, the 45th pick in the 2017 draft, has been solid in his third NBA season thus far. He has shown his mettle as a long-range shooter for the Grizzlies, connecting on 37.1% of his 4.9 three-point attempts a game this year. He can also defend at a position of need — albeit while getting into foul trouble. Herrington considers Brooks’ best fit on a playoff team to be as a bench scorer. Herrington hopes that Memphis waits out the market for Brooks, and exercises caution if offers from other teams venture significantly beyond the mid-level exception ($9.8MM annually).
- ESPN’s Andrew Lopez (Twitter link) reports that Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry has lifted the team’s minutes restriction on starting center Derrick Favors. Gentry anticipates Favors playing 25-27 minutes. He has averaged 20.9 minutes a night in 14 games this season.
- The Mavericks showed off their roster depth beyond starry headliners Luka Doncic (still out with an injury) and Kristaps Porzingis in a 117-98 road win over the Sixers last night. To be fair, Porzingis scored 22 points, pulled down 18 rebounds, and blocked three opponents’ shots. Still, Tim McMahon of ESPN notes that Tim Hardaway, Seth Curry, and even Ryan Broekhoff have had clutch moments for Dallas so far. “We have so many different weapons and so many different guys that can come in,” Porzingis noted after the victory. “I almost feel bad because we have so many guys that can come in, and sometimes they don’t get the opportunity.”
Celtics Notes: Kemba, Stevens, Injuries, Tacko
New Celtics point guard Kemba Walker is excited to see what his team can achieve on the court when they reach full health. Currently, injuries to Gordon Hayward, Marcus Smart, Robert Williams and Vincent Poirier are precluding Walker — and fans — from bearing witness to what that could look like.
“Man, we haven’t had our full roster yet,” Walker lamented, according to NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg. “I can’t wait for it. It’s been unfortunate. But when we do …” Their 19-7 record slots the Celtics at the No. 2 seed in the East, by percentage points over the Heat.
There’s more out of TD Garden:
- Former Celtic Kendrick Perkins, the starting center on the squad’s last title team in 2008, has picked Boston head coach Brad Stevens as a frontrunner for 2020 NBA Coach of the Year honors, as NBC Sports Boston’s Justin Leger documents. Perkins singled out Stevens’ “next man up” ethos in the wake of Boston’s myriad injuries thus far. Granted, Perkins achieved his biggest career success in Boston, but he also has three former head coaches elsewhere in the league: Doc Rivers on the Clippers, Alvin Gentry on the Pelicans, and Scott Brooks on the Wizards. Perkins’ former Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue is the lead assistant coach on Rivers’ staff.
- 7’5″ two-way rookie center Tacko Fall‘s regular season home debut last night offered an interesting look into the team’s dynamic chemistry, NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg notes. Fall is averaging 4.5 points and 2.5 rebounds across his first two NBA games.
- The latest injury update on Gordon Hayward is significantly more promising than Marcus Smart‘s current status. Coach Brad Stevens doubts Hayward’s lingering foot injury will be a long-term issue, and an MRI taken Thursday showed no structural damage. Smart, meanwhile, has missed the past four games with an eye infection. Stevens revealed a troubling anecdote from his medical staff. “The last report I got (from the training staff), they didn’t think they’ve seen one this bad,” Stevens said, according to NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg.
Raptors Notes: Powell, Boucher, Gasol, Siakam
Raptors shooting guard Norman Powell has been playing some of the best basketball of his NBA career during his fifth NBA season, as Toronto Star reporter Doug Smith details.
Powell, in the second year of a four-year, $42MM extension with the team, also stands as one of the only Toronto players on a long-term deal. Before tonight’s win against the Pistons, Powell had been averaging career bests in points (14.6 PPG), rebounds (3.9 RPG), minutes (28.7), and field goal percentage (49.8%).
“I’m just being able to read what the defense is doing,” Powell observed. “How they’re playing, where their bigs are at, whether it is a finish or a kick-out or a drop-off to the bigs, just … being aggressive.”
There’s more out of Canada:
- In another piece, The Toronto Star’s Doug Smith notes that the play of emerging Raptors forward Chris Boucher has earned the Oregon alum more rotation minutes this season. A solid shot-blocker with good shooting range, the 6’9″ third year player has given head coach Nick Nurse reason to ponder making some lineup adjustments. “It’s not an easy thing to figure out,” Nurse allowed. “If you say you want to give someone more minutes that means you are taking some away from somebody else, and I don’t really know who that is right now.”
- The Raptors’ latest victory may have come at a cost. Starters Powell and center Marc Gasol both suffered injuries, and will be reassessed in Toronto tomorrow. Blake Murphy of The Athletic reports that Gasol left the game with a strained left hamstring and Powell hurt his left shoulder on a Blake Griffin screen. Powell missed 21 games last season with a left shoulder subluxation against a Rudy Gobert screen.
- Rod Beard of The Detroit News reports that Pistons head coach Dwane Casey did not anticipate Pascal Siakam‘s improvement from defensive role player to, now, one of the league’s best two-players. “I didn’t see that he would be a superstar and he is a superstar in our league right now,” Casey noted. “He started 38 games in his first year… Shooting was his last resort; it was his last offensive option.” The fourth-year forward is averaging 25.0 PPG, 8.2 RPG, and 3.6 APG for the 19-8 Raptors.
NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 12/18/19
Here are Wednesday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Hornets have sent rookie forward Caleb Martin to the Greensboro Swarm, according to Charlotte’s official site. The 6’5″ 24 year-old has played in five games for Charlotte.
- The Rockets have recalled center Isaiah Hartenstein from their G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, according to Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston (via Twitter). The second-year big man has played in nine games for Houston this season.
- The Clippers have recalled center Mfiondu Kabengele from the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, per the team. The 2019 No. 27 pick, nephew to Hall of Fame big man Dikembe Mutombo, has appeared in nine games for Los Angeles thus far.
- The Nuggets have assigned forward Jarred Vanderbilt to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the team tweets.
- The Kings tweet that they have assigned rookie power forward Wenyen Gabriel to their Stockton G League affiliate. Gabriel has played in seven games for Sacramento this year.
- The Wizards have recalled rookie point guard Justin Robinson from the Capital City Go-Go in time for tonight’s Bulls game, the team tweets. He did not log hardwood time. Robinson has played in six games for Washington this season.