Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 8/27/2024
Hoops Rumors hosted a live chat today at 11 a.m. Central time (noon Eastern). Click here to read the transcript.
Alex Caruso Discusses Expectations For Thunder
After spending the last three years in Chicago, Alex Caruso is facing much higher expectations as he prepares for training camp with the Thunder. Oklahoma City, the top seed in the West last season, upgraded this summer by acquiring Caruso, an elite perimeter defender, in a trade with the Bulls and signing free agent center Isaiah Hartenstein.
Caruso, who played four seasons at Texas A&M, talked about the outlook for his new team in an interview this week with TexAgs Radio.
“I think that the Thunder’s success last year speaks for itself,” he said. “Being first in the West is a tall task because of the buzzsaw and how much talent is in the Western Conference. It is weird now because we added some pieces in the offseason and re-signed some of the young guys. Isaiah Harteinstein and I are phenomenal basketball players who can fit really well within the team. Looking at it on paper, we do a lot of stuff that those guys need that will help us be successful.”
After going undrafted in 2016, Caruso got his first NBA opportunity with the Thunder, signing a training camp contract that fall. He was waived before the start of the season and joined the G League’s Oklahoma City Blue, where he played for current Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault.
Caruso is thrilled to be reuniting with Daigneault as an NBA veteran.
“We have a great relationship,” he said. “I know what to expect out of him and he knows how to coach and push me. If there was one word to describe it, just excited.”
Caruso’s career began to take off when he joined the Lakers on a two-way contract in 2017. He appeared in 37 games as a rookie and gradually worked his way into a rotation role.
He credits LeBron James, who signed in L.A. a year later, with helping to build his confidence and convincing him that he could be a productive NBA player.
“Coming from someone of that stature, someone who is that smart and skilled and the face of the NBA, and arguably the greatest of all time, that means a lot,” Caruso said. “It gave me the confidence in myself to believe that what I was doing was right. It helped me believe that what I was good at could contribute and be a deciding factor in NBA games. All I ever wanted was to be out there at the end of the game and have a chance to win.”
Caruso returned to College Station to host a golf tournament that will help set up his new foundation. The idea of being an established NBA player and having his own charitable organization seemed far away when he played for the Aggies.
“There is so much I want to do to give back,” Caruso said. “I am learning as I go, just figuring out the best way to set up for success so people can benefit from it and help it grow.”
And-Ones: Nash, Petrovic, Campazzo, Olympics
Steve Nash isn’t looking to return to coaching after his experience in Brooklyn, writes Mindaugas Bertys of BasketNews. Nash was somewhat of a surprising hire when the Nets tabbed him to be their head coach in 2020, overseeing a team that expected to contend for a title with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. He compiled a 94-67 record in a little more than two years, but parted ways with the organization early in the 2022/23 season after the team got off to a 2-5 start.
“Coaching was a great experience for me and my family. I didn’t want to be a career coach. I just wanted to help that project,” Nash said during an appearance Saturday at Goran Dragic‘s farewell game. “I don’t feel like coaching is necessarily in my future. I’m very focused at this time on having as big an impact on my kids as possible.”
With five children, Nash told reporters that his duties as a father are his top priority. He compared the experience to being an “Uber driver,” but added that he hasn’t fully removed himself from basketball.
“At this stage of my life, it has been really rewarding,” Nash said. “That’s really where my focus is, but there are always projects, affiliations and partnerships, and things that are interesting, so I always have something going on.”
There’s more from around the basketball world:
- Several current and former NBA players will take part in an exhibition game to honor the memory of Drazen Petrovic, per Johnny Askounis of EuroHoops. The event will take place September 5 in Zagreb to celebrate the legacy of the Croatian star, who was one of the first European players to make an impact in the NBA before he died in an auto accident in 1993. Bojan Bogdanovic, Dario Saric, Ivica Zubac, Damjan Rudez and Gordan Giricek are among the players scheduled to participate.
- Facundo Campazzo, who spent three seasons with Denver and Dallas, talked to BasketNews about the differences between the NBA and international basketball and shared some advice he got from Nikola Jokic when he joined the Nuggets in 2020. “He came up to me and said, ‘Forget about everything you learned in FIBA basketball all these years. This is a different sport’ — and it was just like that,” Campazzo recalled. “It’s another way of facing the season, another way of practicing, of playing — also because the rules are different, the game is played in a different way. In fact, Jokic was the point guard. So I had to reinvent my way of playing, but he helped me a lot, it makes you a better player.”
- Netflix will air a documentary series next year focusing on the 2024 Olympic basketball competition, according to BasketNews. The IOC granted unlimited access to camera crews throughout the qualification process and the games in France.
EuroLeague May Be An Option For Robin Lopez
Free agent Robin Lopez is willing to consider playing in Europe if he doesn’t get an offer from an NBA team, writes Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops. The 36-year-old center has been on the open market since the Kings acquired and waived him at last season’s trade deadline.
“I’d absolutely consider it,” Lopez responded when asked about the possibility of joining the EuroLeague. “I know how passionate the fans are and how high the level of basketball is.”
Lopez signed with the Bucks last summer to give them another big man off the bench and to join forces with his twin brother Brook Lopez. He saw limited playing time in 16 games before Milwaukee shipped him to Sacramento along with cash considerations on February 8 to open a roster spot and reduce its tax bill. The Kings released him the same day.
Lopez has turned into a journeyman late in his career, changing teams every offseason since 2019. He has played for nine teams since being selected with the 15th pick in the 2008 draft and has career averages of 8.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in 992 games.
Lopez spoke to reporters Saturday after participating in Goran Dragic‘s farewell game in Slovenia. They both started their NBA careers in Phoenix in 2008.
“We were rookies together, and he was somebody I could look to because he had been a professional before in Europe,” Lopez said. “Gogi was somebody I could always look up to and model myself after.”
After watching Dragic close out his career, Lopez acknowledged that retirement may not be far away for him as well.
“If it happens, it happens,” he said. “I’ve had a great career so far, not as good as Goran’s, but I’m thankful for everything I’ve been given.”
Chris Bosh Returns To Court In Goran Dragic’s Farewell Game
Chris Bosh played competitive basketball today for the first time in eight years, making a brief appearance during Goran Dragic‘s retirement game to honor his former teammate. The Hall of Famer starred for Toronto and Miami during 13 NBA seasons before a blood clot issue brought his career to a premature end. After logging a couple of minutes in Saturday’s contest, Bosh spoke to Mindaugas Bertys of BasketNews about the medical condition that forced him to retire.
“It was very tough,” Bosh said. “It was the death of my career, to be honest. Any time dealing with loss and death and stuff like that, you go through grief. I had to do that for a few years. I got over it. I believe it made me stronger. It made me focus on being more of a father.”
Bosh and Dragic spent a season and a half as teammates with the Heat after Dragic was acquired at the 2015 trade deadline. Bosh won two championships in Miami and played in four NBA Finals after signing there along with LeBron James in the summer of 2010.
Bosh is an 11-time All-Star who averaged 19.2 points and 8.5 rebounds in 893 career games. He was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.
Although Bosh would have preferred to play longer, he told Bertys that he has positive memories about his NBA career.
“It all went good,” he said. “A couple of championships. Got to meet some great people, have some great teammates, great stories, great locker rooms. I’m a lucky guy.”
Bosh revealed that he had an opportunity to play in Europe after the NBA refused to give him medical clearance, per Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops. However, he decided it was best to end his career and not take any health risks.
“I wasn’t in a position where I wanted to up and move my family. I had babies at the time,” Bosh said. “I took it as a sign and continued to move on. But I had a couple of offers. It wasn’t Greece. Spain, France. In the EuroLeague.”
Dragic’s team prevailed as he thrilled the Slovenian crowd with 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, Milanti adds in a separate story. The star-studded contest featured Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Luis Scola, Dirk Nowitzki, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Steve Nash.
There was also a one-on-one game between Dragic and his brother Zoran with their parents serving as referee and scorekeeper.
Northwest Notes: Holmgren, Giddey, Caruso, Dieng, Malone, Kessler
Appearing on Podcast P With Paul George (video link), Thunder big man Chet Holmgren admitted being “hurt” when he heard about the June trade that sent Josh Giddey to the Bulls in exchange for Alex Caruso. Holmgren and Giddey were high lottery picks by Oklahoma City in back-to-back years, and they were expecting to be part of the team’s long-term foundation.
“I was (expletive) hurt when I saw that Giddey wouldn’t be on our team anymore,” Holmgren said. “We all rock with him. That’s our dog, still is. He’s gonna go do great things in Chicago, so we’re excited for him and we’re also excited to have AC on our team now, too. Like you said, great defender, he makes shots, he always makes winning plays, makes the right plays. That’s the type of dude you want to play with.”
Caruso, considered one of the league’s best perimeter defenders, joins a Thunder team that’s already proficient on that end of the court. Giddey may thrive once he’s given a chance to run the Bulls’ offense, but he struggled in the playoffs last season and was pulled from the starting lineup in the second-round series against Dallas due to concerns about his defense and outside shooting.
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- After two developmental years, Ousmane Dieng is hoping to earn a spot in the Thunder‘s rotation in 2024/25, writes Nick Crain of Forbes. The organization viewed Dieng as a project when it traded for him during the 2022 draft. He has appeared in just 72 NBA games since then, but has shown improvement in the G League and is fresh off winning MVP honors in the title game. Crain notes that because Dieng has perimeter skills to go with his 6’10” frame, he’s versatile enough to contribute to the Thunder at a variety of positions.
- Coach Michael Malone and the Nuggets‘ front office haven’t been on the same page in recent years when it comes to roster moves, sources tell David Thorpe of TrueHoop. Thorpe has been hearing for two seasons about a “disconnect” as the organization has lost Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope from its 2023 championship roster. Malone has been left with a collection of young players to try to fill their roles.
- Walker Kessler doesn’t seem to be part of the long-term future for the Jazz, opines Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. Sources confirm to Pincus that Utah has explored trades involving Kessler, including discussions with the Knicks in July. If the 23-year-old center remains on the roster, the Jazz will have to decide this fall whether to pick up his $4.9MM option for the 2025/26 season. Pincus’ comments are included in a proposed three-team trade involving the Pelicans and Nets that would send Brandon Ingram to Utah.
Danilo Gallinari Seeking One Last NBA Opportunity
Danilo Gallinari is hoping for one more NBA season before he retires. The 36-year-old forward, who spent time with three teams last season, discussed his basketball future in an interview with Italian news outlet La Repubblica (translation via BasketNews).
“A return to Italy? Not yet,” Gallinari responded when asked about the possibility of joining the EuroLeague. “There is still time for [me in] the market, anything can happen at any time. Miami? It’s not my time yet, there are other free agents and we’ll decide later. It could be anywhere, as long as it’s a competitive franchise.”
Gallinari was viewed as a major free agent addition when he signed with Boston two years ago. However, a torn ACL prevented him from playing during the 2022/23 season and the Celtics decided to move on from him last summer, sending him to Washington as part of the three-team deal for Kristaps Porzingis.
Gallinari appeared in 26 games for the Wizards before traded to Detroit in January. He played six games for the Pistons and was waived shortly after the trade deadline. He signed with the Bucks in mid-February, but had a limited role, averaging just 9.1 minutes per night in 17 games. Overall, Gallinari got into 49 games during the season, scoring a career-low 5.7 PPG while shooting 43.7% from the field and 32.3% from three-point range.
He continued playing after the season ended, earning MVP honors in the Trentino Basketball Cup with the Italian national team. He is currently training with Treviglio in Italy and is likely headed for his final season as an active player, whether it happens in the NBA or elsewhere.
Gallinari said in the interview that once he’s retired, he would like to become a front office executive, hopefully with an NBA team.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 8/20/2024
Hoops Rumors hosted a live chat today at 11 a.m. Central time (noon Eastern). Click here to read the transcript.
Raptors Sign Jared Rhoden To Exhibit 10 Contract
The Raptors have signed free agent guard Jared Rhoden, the team announced (via Twitter).
It’s an Exhibit 10 deal, a source tells Blake Murphy of Sportsnet (Twitter link), which means Rhoden will be invited to camp with no assurances of earning a roster spot or a two-way contract. He can receive a bonus worth up to $77.5K if he’s waived and spends at least 60 days with Toronto’s G League affiliate.
Rhoden, 24, played the past two years on two-way contracts with the Pistons, appearing in 31 total games. Last season he averaged 4.9 points and 1.9 rebounds in 17 games while shooting 50% from the field and 38.7% from three-point range.
A former standout at Seton Hall, Rhoden signed with the Trail Blazers after going undrafted in 2022. He was waived before the start of the season and claimed by the Hawks, who waived him the next day.
Toronto has now reached the training camp limit of 21 players, Murphy adds (Twitter link). That total breaks down to 14 guaranteed contracts, Bruno Fernando‘s non-guaranteed deal, three two-way players and three with Exhibit 10 contracts. That includes Quincy Guerrier, whose Exhibit 10 deal has been reported, but not confirmed by the Raptors. Murphy notes that the team has plenty of room below the tax line to make in-season roster moves.
Atlantic Notes: Yabusele, T. Jones, Randle, Brown
The roughly $2MM salary that Guerschon Yabusele will receive from the Sixers is less than his $2.5MM buyout with Real Madrid, but there’s another important financial consideration behind his decision to return to the NBA, according to BasketNews. Yabusele played two seasons with Boston after being selected with the 16th pick in the 2016 draft. Appearing in just one game this season will give him three years of NBA service, which makes him eligible for a pension and other benefits.
Under the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, eligible players receive $1,001.47 per month for each year they spent in the league, up to a maximum of 10 years. If he leaves the NBA after his third season, Yabusele will begin receiving $36,052.92 each year after his 62nd birthday. Life insurance, disability insurance and dental, vision, and prescription drug insurance are also available for players who qualify.
It’s also unlikely that Yabusele will face financial hardship due to his buyout, BasketNews adds. NBA rules allow the Sixers to contribute $850K of that amount, and it has become common for teams to let players pay off the rest in installments, as Gabriel Deck and Facundo Campazzo recently did when they left their teams.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Before signing with the Suns, Tyus Jones considered an offer from the Knicks worth about $10MM over two years, Ian Begley of SNY states in a mailbag column. Begley hears that Jones received at least one other offer that was significantly higher, and there were also sign-and-trade scenarios and the option to re-sign with Washington that would have paid him more than the minimum deal he accepted from Phoenix. However, Jones wanted to be starter on a contending team, and no one else in the market was able to offer him that chance.
- Neither the Knicks nor Julius Randle appear to be in a hurry to reach an extension, Begley adds in the same piece. Randle became eligible for a new deal on August 3, but the two sides have until June 30 to hammer out an agreement. Begley notes that Randle is excited about the changes the team made this summer, specifically the addition of Mikal Bridges, and he’s looking forward to returning healthy for the start of camp.
- On his social media account, Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown shared photos of intense underwater workouts over the weekend, relays Nick Goss of NBC Sports Boston.