Northwest Notes: Porter, J. Green, Hood, Towns
Michael Porter Jr. is confident that he’s ready to be the third star the Nuggets are looking for, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Porter got uneven playing time at the beginning of last season, but injuries gave him a chance to be a starter and he became a star at Disney World, earning a spot on the All-Seeding Games second team.
Denver is counting on a strong second season from Porter after losing Jerami Grant and Torrey Craig in free agency. That leaves a huge hole at the wing spots, and Porter is ready to build on what he has learned.
“I kind of saw everything last year,” he said. “We played LeBron (James) in the playoffs, I played against Kawhi (Leonard), Paul George, all the best players at my position. So I feel like I have some experience now going into this season that I didn’t have last year in my first year playing. I went from DNPs to starting on a Western Conference finals team in the playoffs. I learned a lot in one year and looking to carry that over to this year. I want to make a really big jump. I’ve been working really hard in all the areas that I saw that I need to get better in the playoffs. I’m excited and I feel like I’m ready.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Nuggets players are excited about the addition of free agent forward JaMychal Green, according to Alex Labidou of NBA.com. Denver was looking to add toughness, which Green has displayed by establishing a presence in the league after going undrafted in 2012. “I’m just glad he’s on our team. He’s one of those power forwards you hate to go up against,” Paul Millsap said. “He’s a guy I’ve battled against for many years. He’s always had an attitude to be relentless and to win.”
- Trail Blazers swingman Rodney Hood is ready for a fresh start after a year filled with personal tragedy and recovery from an Achilles tear he suffered last December, notes Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian. Hood is close to being cleared for five-on-five play and is expected to back up new additions Robert Covington and Derrick Jones Jr.
- Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns is heading into a new season with the pain of losing his mother and six other loved ones to COVID-19 still fresh on his mind, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Towns talked about the difficulty of focusing on basketball in the midst of so much tragedy. “I play this game more because I just love watching my family members seeing me play a game I was very good and successful at,” he said. “It always brought a smile for me when I saw my mom at the baseline and in the stands and stuff and having a good time watching me play. It’s going to be hard to play. It’s going to be difficult to say that this is therapy. I don’t think this will ever be therapy again for me. But it gives me a chance to relive good memories I had. I guess that’s the only therapy I’m going to get from it. It’s not going to really help me emotionally or anything.”
Buddy Hield: “No Regrets” About Speaking Out
Kings guard Buddy Hield didn’t have any second thoughts about going public with his displeasure over his situation last year and doesn’t believe his relationship with head coach Luke Walton needs to be fixed, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
“I have no regrets,” Hield said today during a Zoom session with the media. “There’s nothing to be worked on. I never had a problem with nobody here, so everything that was being heard, it wasn’t put out by me. I love everybody here in this franchise and this organization, so I don’t regret nothing I said. I’m going to keep it 100.”
Hield’s unhappiness first emerged when Walton began leaving him on the bench in the fourth quarter of some close games, and it got worse when he was removed from the starting lineup in January. Hield contributed as Sacramento won 13 out of 20 games prior to the shutdown, but he remained upset about how Walton was using him.
The departure of Bogdan Bogdanovic, who signed an offer sheet with Atlanta that the Kings didn’t match, may open the door for Hield to become a starter again. However, Walton wasn’t ready to commit to that as training camp began.
“Even last season, Buddy started more than half of the season, and when he didn’t start, he played a huge role for us coming off the bench and being a dynamic 20-point-a-night scorer,” Walton said. “Every decision is always based on what I feel is best for the group and best for the team, and with this training camp, this is part of what we have to see. What do we have? What groups are playing well together? Who complements who? And at the end of the day, every decision that gets made will come down to what I feel as the head coach is best for this team and giving us the best chance of winning.”
Hield responded to Walton’s statement by saying he’s ready to earn a starting role and will do anything the coaching staff asks of him.
“I always love competing and it doesn’t matter,” Hield said. “That’s not my job. I don’t control that. The head coach controls that. They brought me here to play basketball and win basketball games, so whatever they need me for, I’m going to do it and try to compete at the highest (level) I can.”
Doc Rivers Urged Austin Not To Sign With Sixers
The Sixers were interested in signing free agent guard Austin Rivers before his father, new Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers, decided a reunion wouldn’t be in anyone’s best interest, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Rivers coached his son for three and a half years with the Clippers and thought it was best that Austin remain independent.
“He was high on Philly’s list before I took the job,’’ Doc Rivers said. “It was one of the guards they wanted. When I took the job, I said, ‘You don’t want that. You got too many other things we have to deal with.’ For Austin it’s better. He’s his own player. Unfortunately for him, me being the dad, he’s just an easy guy to target. I have felt since the separation, it’s been really good for him.’’
Rivers reached a three-year, $10MM agreement with the Knicks and was acquired from the Rockets in a sign-and-trade deal. That came after he turned down a player option with Houston that would have paid him the veteran’s minimum of $2.4MM.
Doc Rivers, who played for the Knicks in the 1990s, stayed with Austin during free agency and explained the benefits of playing in New York City.
“I kept telling him, ‘New York is a great place,’’’ Doc Rivers said. “I had a great experience there. That’s what I shared with him. It’s a tough city — in a positive way. He said, ‘What do you mean by that?’ I said, ‘It’s similar to Boston and Philly. Their fans are real. They want you to play hard, give you everything you can and play like a team.’ I told him, ‘The Knicks fans are still Red Holzman’s Knicks fans. They remember how that basketball was played. They want team basketball, hard-nosed, tough basketball.’”
Berman notes that the Knicks tried to attract Austin when he was a free agent in 2015, including a dinner with former team president Phil Jackson, but Doc Rivers convinced the Clippers to give him a contract that was a year longer than New York’s offer.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who served on Rivers’ coaching staff in Boston, is among the beneficiaries of Austin choosing New York this time. He spoke to Doc Rivers about his son before the deal was reached.
“Tom just likes competitive players — always has,’’ Doc Rivers said. “We’re very similar — give us 12 competitors, we’ll figure it out. Whenever we talked about Austin — and we will a lot less now — Thibs loves competitors.’’
Russell Westbrook Declines To Discuss Trade Request
Addressing the media for the first time since joining the Wizards, Russell Westbrook refused to confirm that he asked the Rockets for a trade, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
“I’m here in Washington,” Westbrook replied when asked if he wanted to be traded. “Happy about where I’m at and understanding that this is a new journey for me and understanding how important it is to focus on where I’m at, focus on the team, focus on the organization, the community, the people here.”
Westbrook joined his third team in 17 months this week when Washington acquired him in exchange for John Wall and a future first-round pick. He had mixed results during his year in Houston after being brought in to form an all-MVP backcourt with his long-time friend, James Harden.
Westbrook averaged 27.2 points per game, his best scoring numbers in four years, and was a third-team All-NBA selection. However, his poor outside shooting was an issue throughout the season and he struggled in the playoffs after suffering a quad injury during the restart.
A few weeks after the Rockets were eliminated in the second round, stories emerged that Westbrook and Harden had both asked to be traded. Although he didn’t comment on his relationship with his former teammate, Westbrook told reporters that his methods of motivating himself on the court often cause him to be misunderstood, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
“The way I play the game kind of misconstrues people of who I am as a person, who I am and what I believe in and what I stand for,” Westbrook said. “Obviously, how I play and off the floor are two different people. When I am on the floor, I don’t have any friends, I am not trying to be friendly. … I ain’t got time to try to shake hands and do all that. I don’t have time for it, and I am never changing that.”
Westbrook has played alongside All-Star teammates throughout his career and he’s looking forward to teaming up with Bradley Beal as part of what could become the league’s highest-scoring backcourt. Beal told reporters Friday that he isn’t worried that his new teammate will be “trying to run the show and just do everything by himself,” and Westbrook agrees that they can mesh their talents without conflict.
“I’m super excited about it,” Westbrook said. “Brad is a superstar talent. … My job is to come in and continue to uplift and push him to be better. That is all I am here for. I am happy to be his counterpart and try to make it easier for him.”
Tristan Thompson To Miss Most Of Camp
Free agent addition Tristan Thompson will be sidelined for most of Celtics‘ training camp due to a strained hamstring, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Coach Brad Stevens is still optimistic that Thompson can be ready for the regular season opener December 23 against the Bucks.
The Celtics signed Thompson to a two-year, $19MM contract to help bolster their frontline. They revealed earlier this week that he suffered a minor injury to his hamstring during an offseason workout.
Thompson, 29, spent the first nine seasons of his career in Cleveland, where he made four trips to the NBA Finals. He became a free agent after averaging a career-best 12.0 points per game last season.
Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey Signs Rookie Contract
The Sixers have signed first-round pick Tyrese Maxey, the team announced in a press release. A 6’3″ guard out of Kentucky, Maxey was the 21st overall selection in last month’s draft.
Terms of the deal were not released, but as a first-round pick Maxey is eligible to earn up to 120% of the rookie scale, which would be $2,478,840 for the upcoming season.
Maxey played one season for the Wildcats, earning a spot on the All-SEC Second Team and the SEC All-Freshman Team. He averaged 14.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 31 games.
Now that Maxey is officially under contract, there are no outstanding rookie deals still to be completed for 2020 first-round picks. Twenty-nine of those 30 players have signed their first NBA contracts, with the 30th player – Leandro Bolmaro – remaining in Barcelona for the 2020/21 season.
Celtics Notes: Walker, Hayward, Williams, Thompson
Kemba Walker, who will miss the start of the season as he rehabs an injured left knee, won’t attempt to return until he’s confident that the knee is 100%, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. The Celtics support that decision and don’t plan to give any updates on Walker’s availability until the first week in January. Coach Brad Stevens said he will gradually increase Walker’s playing time when he does return, similar to how he was handled during the restart in Orlando.
Walker visited two specialists after the Celtics were eliminated from the playoffs. They decided to give him a stem cell injection in the knee and set up a 12-week strengthening program that Walker began in early October and will finish in January.
“There’s no rush. There’s no rush on my end,” he said. “I’m coming back when I need to come back and when I’m feeling good to play. So that’s it. … I want to be at my best. The last time in the playoffs, I wasn’t at my best, and that sucked. I don’t want to be that way no more.”
There’s more from Boston:
- Walker understands that Gordon Hayward‘s decision to sign with the Hornets is part of the business side of the game and he’s not upset about losing a teammate, Bontemps adds in the same piece. Hayward opted out of his contract with the Celtics for the upcoming season and got $120MM over four years to join Walker’s former team. “I spoke to him during the process, and I’m happy for him,” Walker said. “… He’s going to have a great time in Charlotte. It’s a great place to be. It’s a great city, great fans. They love basketball. They’re going to love Gordon. He’s a great player. He’s going to bring joy to that organization.”
- Among the Celtics’ young players, Grant Williams has the best chance to make an impact this season, according to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. Boston was 21-5 last season when Williams played at least 17 minutes, and he provided an encouraging shooting display in Orlando, making 10 of 17 from three-point range. With Hayward gone, Williams could be in contention for a starting role, Forsberg adds.
- Tristan Thompson believes his performance against Boston over the years prompted the team’s interest, tweets Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. “Coach always told me, usually the team that you have a lot of success against or beat up against a lot of years in the playoffs, they usually want you to join their side when you’re available or when you become a free agent,” Thompson said.
- Jeff Teague‘s new contract with Boston is for the veteran’s minimum, according to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (Twitter link).
Rockets Trade Westbrook To Wizards For Wall, First-Round Pick
8:04pm: The trade is now official, the Rockets announced in a press release.
6:58pm: The Rockets and Wizards have agreed to swap star point guards, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who reports that John Wall is headed to Houston in exchange for Russell Westbrook.
The Rockets will also receive a first-round pick, per Woj. Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that it’ll be Washington’s protected 2023 first-rounder and will be lottery-protected. Those protections will gradually decrease each year, and if it hasn’t changed hands by 2026, it’ll become two second-rounders, says Charania.
The deal involves two players on super-max extensions, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). Westbrook will make $41.4MM and $44.2MM over the next two seasons with a player option in 2022/23 for $47.1MM. Wall is due $41.3MM and $44.3MM in the next two years, followed by a $47.4MM player option. His contract also includes a 15% trade bonus that will be voided because his salary is more than the league maximum for the upcoming season, Marks adds (Twitter link).
Both players issued trade requests to their respective teams in the past month. Westbrook’s was reported November 11 after he told Rockets officials he has been “uneasy about the team’s accountability and culture.” He expressed a desire to join an organization where he will once again be the lead playmaker, which presumably will happen in Washington.
Wall’s request came a little more than a week later, after news leaked that the Wizards had spoken to the Rockets about a possible swap for Westbrook. General manager Tommy Sheppard responded by saying the team had no plans to trade Wall.
Up until today, Sheppard and Rockets general manager Rafael Stone hadn’t discussed a potential Westbrook/Wall trade since October, sources tell Wojnarowski. However, the two GMs revisited the idea and had worked out a deal within hours, according to Woj.
In Washington, Westbrook will be reunited with Scott Brooks, who was his head coach with the Thunder from his rookie season until 2015. Brooks has always been a huge fan of Westbrook and they remain close friends, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic. Westbrook is also close with Wizards assistant Robert Pack from their time together in OKC, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link).
Westbrook, 32, spent one season in Houston after being traded there last summer. He averaged 27.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.0 assists in 57 games, but his poor outside shooting was an issue for a team that places a heavy emphasis on the three-pointer. Westbrook shot just 25.8% from long range during the season and 24.2% in the playoffs.
In Houston, Wall will join forces with former college teammate DeMarcus Cousins, who officially signed with the Rockets on Tuesday. Wall was sidelined last season with an Achilles tear and hasn’t played at all since December of 2018. The 30-year-old was the top pick in the 2010 draft and has spent the past 10 seasons in Washington.
While the Rockets have now moved on from Westbrook, they don’t believe that James Harden – who also reportedly wants to be traded – will be moved before opening night, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN. According to MacMahon, Houston recognized that the market for Westbrook was limited, but would seek a “king’s ransom” in any Harden deal.
Meanwhile, in D.C., Bradley Beal has been the subject of frequent trade speculation for the last year or two, but the Wizards have insisted both publicly and privately that he won’t be dealt, and Beal hasn’t expressed any interest in a move. That stance seems unlikely to change before he gets a chance to assess his fit alongside Westbrook over the course of the ’20/21 season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Luke Adams contributed to this story.
Knicks Notes: Payton, Smith Jr., Noel, Toppin
Even though he became a free agent when the Knicks turned down his $8MM option, Elfrid Payton was confident he would be returning to New York, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Speaking to reporters today via a Zoom call, Payton indicated that he never seriously considered any other team.
“From the beginning we always had intentions of me coming back, so I wasn’t really I guess worried,’’ he said.
Payton was part of a maligned trio of point guards, along with Frank Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr., who shared time at the position last season. After listening to offseason speculation that the team would find a replacement through the draft or free agency, Payton believes all three will approach the season with something to prove.
“I feel like we’ve been counted out,’’ he said. “So just go out there and compete and show what we can do. That’s definitely something we want to use as motivation, as if we didn’t already have enough. But that’s definitely something we’ve spoken about in the locker room, even in these short days that we’ve been together.”
There’s more Knicks news to pass along:
- Smith is looking forward to a fresh start after a difficult 2019/20 season that began with the death of his stepmother, Berman adds in the same piece. Injuries and poor play limited him to just 34 games and a career-low 15.8 minutes per night. “I would say just understanding that nothing happens to you, it happens for you,’’ Smith said. “And I had to go through a lot of different things mentally — not even physically — mentally I had to go through a lot of different things to kind of understand that. But smooth waters never made (skilled) sailors, so I take it all in stride, and I’m going to keep getting better.’’
- Mitchell Robinson may be the team’s center of the future, but he’ll have to compete with free agent addition Nerlens Noel for the starting spot, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Regardless of how playing time shakes out, Noel expects to adopt a teaching role. “I just want to mentor him any way possible,” he said. “Whatever position we play throughout the season will play itself out. I want to be a big brother to him and give him a lot of advice throughout the season.”
- Lottery pick Obi Toppin is already impressing teammates with his athletic gifts, writes Ian Begley of SNY.TV. The rookie forward has been setting franchise records in agility, conditioning and athleticism drills.
Bulls Notes: Karnisovas, Vonleh, Temple, Donovan
Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas didn’t make sweeping changes during his first offseason running the Bulls, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports. Thirteen of the 15 players who finished last season on Chicago’s roster are back for training camp.
Karnisovas has a philosophy that emphasizes building through the draft and player development, Johnson adds. He is also holding onto the $25-$30MM in cap space the Bulls project to have for next summer’s talented class of free agents.
“We were pretty happy with the roster that we had,” Karnisovas explained in a session with reporters. “We didn’t have a lot of wiggle room to work with. We added players that are versatile. We added some leadership, experience to the roster we already had and that was the mentality. And also preserving cap room for next summer and using this season to look at our roster and evaluate and see what the long-term goals will be following this season.”
There’s more from Chicago:
- Noah Vonleh was briefly in Denver with Karnisovas last season and could be a threat to earn a roster spot, Johnson states in the same story. Vonleh signed a non-guaranteed deal, and Karnisovas said he is “going to compete in training camp.” That may mean the Bulls are willing to waive a guaranteed contract such as Cristiano Felicio ($7,529,020) or Luke Kornet ($2.25MM).
- Free agent Garrett Temple, who was the team’s only free agent addition with a guaranteed contract, was added for his “versatility, experience, leadership. Those would be my three things on Garrett.” Karnisovas tells Johnson (Twitter link). He also said the organization will “make every effort” to work out an extension with Lauri Markkanen (Twitter link). Markkanen expressed strong interest in a new deal earlier in the week.
- Bulls players have already noticed a different atmosphere with Billy Donovan taking over for Jim Boylen as head coach, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. Zach LaVine, who had numerous run-ins with Boylen during their time together, was among the players who commented on the change. “They’re showing their faces,” LaVine said of the new coaching staff. “I see them every morning. I get here around 8 o’clock and they’re already in the gym. They’re on the court with you. They’re talking to you about not just basketball, but personal life things. What things do you like to run? What don’t you like? They want you to be upfront. They’re willing to change and hear players’ opinions, so that’s something that’s been different than in the past.”