Celtics Rumors: Bass, Prince, Thornton, Trades
The Celtics have swung a league–leading nine trades so far this season, but word around the league is that Boston’s front office is interested in reshaping its roster even further, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald details. Of the pieces the C’s would be willing to move, Tayshaun Prince carries the most value, Bulpett hears from one executive. However, Bulpett also relays that teams are hesitant to part with a second-rounder in exchange for the 34-year-old, believing Boston and Prince will reach a buyout if no deal is made, allowing for an opportunity to sign the veteran forward without losing a pick.
We’ll wait to see if the Celtics continue to make moves with the future in mind as the trade deadline approaches. For now let’s round up all of the latest rumblings from coming out of Boston..
- Brandon Bass has been included in trade discussions since the early going of the season, a source tells Bulpett for the same piece, but in spite of the big man’s solid play this year, teams are potentially turned off by the less-than-stellar numbers he amassed before arriving in Boston. “It’s crazy,” the source said to Bulpett. “People have seen how well he’s played in Boston, but it’s as if they’ve backed off him because of how he played in Dallas or Orlando. I don’t get it. We don’t have a need for him right now, but whoever gets him is going to like what he can do, even if it’s just in limited minutes.”
- Although Marcus Thornton has put up efficient numbers for the C’s in his limited minutes on the floor this season, Bulpett passes along in the same story that teams haven’t shown a desire or willingness to take on his expiring deal worth $8.6MM.
- Coach Brad Stevens isn’t necessarily opposed to all the player movement his team has experienced so far this year, but he admits it’s difficult to form cohesion when there are so many moving parts. A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com has the details.
Timberwolves, Pistons Eye Lorenzo Brown
9:32am: The Wolves plan to sign Brown to a 10-day deal this week, probably in advance of Wednesday’s game against the Celtics, according to Stein (on Twitter). It’s not entirely clear whether there’s an agreement between Minnesota and the point guard or if Detroit remains in the equation, but it seems the situation is fast-moving. The Wolves can terminate their contract with Raduljica early, though they’d still be on the hook for the full 10 days’ worth of salary to him.
TUESDAY, 9:23am: The Timberwolves have Brown in their sights, too, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who says Minnesota is envisioning a 10-day deal. The Wolves are still without Ricky Rubio, though their most recent loss came at small forward, where Robbie Hummel is out for four to six weeks with a broken hand. Minnesota, which originally drafted Brown and brought him to camp in 2013, has 15 players on its roster, though Miroslav Raduljica is on a 10-day contract that expires at the end of Wednesday. Flip Saunders and company inquired about Brady Heslip recently, according to Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500 Twin Cities (Twitter link), but Heslip struck a deal to play in Bosnia. Even though Brown is with the affiliate of the Pistons, he’s free to sign with any NBA team.
SUNDAY, 2:03pm: The Pistons are “strongly considering” signing Lorenzo Brown, according to Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Detroit fears that starting point guard Brandon Jennings might be out for the rest of the year, so bringing aboard Brown would help supplement the club’s backcourt depth. The Pistons’ roster stands at 14 players, so no corresponding move would be needed to accommodate a potential signing.
Charania doesn’t specify what sort of contract that the Pistons are considering offering Brown, and although it could be just a 10-day deal, it wouldn’t be surprising for Detroit to ink the former second-round pick to a deal that covers the remainder of the season. Jennings tweeted “6/9 months” this morning, presumably implying he would be sidelined for the remaining portion of the 2014/15 season.
Brown, 24, spent training camp with the Pistons after playing 26 games for the Sixers last season. In 18 D-League games for the Grand Rapids Drive this year, Brown has scored 16.8 points per night and shot an impressive 50.4% from the floor.
And-Ones: Dragic, Whiteside, World Peace, Kobe
Goran Dragic reportedly feels better about his situation with Phoenix now than he did during the 2013/14 campaign, but he admits that there’s no guarantee he’ll return to the Suns once he becomes a free agent this summer, as he tells Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. “Every team in the NBA is an option to me, because it is a privilege to play for any team in the NBA,” Dragic said. “When the time comes I’m going to sit down with my family and my agent and try to make the best decision for myself.” We’ll round up more from around the NBA below:
- Hassan Whiteside is opening eyes with the Heat, having posted a triple-double today with 14 points, 13 boards, and 12 blocks. The Knicks had some interest in the big man last year but eventually signed Lamar Odom instead, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.
- Metta World Peace‘s stint in China has come to an end, as the veteran forward passed along on Twitter. The Clippers were rumored to have interest in inking World Peace to a late season deal.
- Kobe Bryant spoke and said he would be a major part of the Lakers’ recruiting efforts this upcoming summer, observes Michael Lee of the Washington Post. “It’s a pretty simple message. It’s the best organization in the world, best brand in the world,” Bryant said of the Lakers. “We win championships. That’s what we do. It would be much more than … X’s and O’s and style of play, things of that nature. There’s no place like winning in Los Angeles, man.”
- Jonathan Givony of Draft Express released his latest prospect rankings, with Jahlil Okafor unsurprisingly still topping out the list.
D-League Notes: Harris, Green, Capela
A report earlier today indicated that the Pistons are mulling the prospect of signing D-League standout Lorenzo Brown. While we wait to see if Detroit makes a move to supplement its ailing backcourt, let’s round up the latest news pertaining to the D-League..
- The Cavs recalled Joe Harris from the D-League this morning, the team announced. This was the rookie guard’s second stint with the Canton Charge this season, though he’s still yet actually log any minutes with Cleveland’s minor league club.
- Erick Green‘s trip to the D-League has come to an end, as the Nuggets announced that the rookie guard has been recalled to the NBA. Green performed well with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, averaging 21 points per game across a pair of contests.
- The Rockets recalled Clint Capela from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the D-League, the team announced via Twitter. Capela, the 25th overall pick in last June’s draft, averaged 14.9 points and 8.7 boards across 18 games for Houston’s minor league affiliate.
Jazz Sign Elijah Millsap To Three-Year Deal
SUNDAY: The Jazz have officially signed Millsap, the team announced.
SATURDAY: The Jazz and Elijah Millsap have agreed to a three-year deal, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter). While Charania doesn’t disclose financial details, he does add that the final two years of the deal are team options, although that might simply mean they’re non-guaranteed. Utah has about $4.8MM in cap space.
Millsap’s second 10-day contract with the Jazz was set to expire at day’s end tomorrow, and in order for Utah to keep the Hazan Sports Management client around, they needed to come to terms on a deal that covered at least the rest of this season since teams can only hand out two 10-day pacts per player each season. Clearly, Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey was impressed with Millsap’s performance this year, so much so that he’s extended him a multi-year offer.
Utah’s roster will stand at the league-maximum 15 players once Millsap signs his contract, but Elliot Williams is with the club on a 10-day contract set to expire January 27th. Millsap, the younger brother of Paul Millsap, spoke with Hoops Rumors’ Zach Links prior to the start of the 2014/15 season. The 27-year-old swingman went undrafted out of the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2010 and has spent the last four seasons prior to 2014/15 in the D-League.
Southwest Notes: Rockets, Terry, Mavericks
What are the Rockets‘ chances of luring free-agent-to-be Goran Dragic? As good as anyone’s, the Suns’ guard tells Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “Every team in the NBA is an option to me, because it is a privilege to play for any team in the NBA,” Dragic said. “When the time comes I’m going to sit down with my family and my agent and try to make the best decision for myself.” Dragic, who is expected to opt out of a $7.5MM player option and become an unrestricted free agent this summer, insists he has no resentment toward the Rockets for letting him go in 2012.
There’s much more from the Southwest Division:
- At age 37, Rockets guard Jason Terry has no thoughts of retirement, Feigen reports. “I think I can play until the age 40,” Terry said. “That’s my goal, something that I set out to do when I first came into the league. My idol is Gary Payton. He played 20 years. Hopefully I can do the same.” Terry is making nearly $6MM this season and will become a free agent in July.
- The uncertainty currently surrounding the Pelicans‘ ownership is just the latest example of the instability that has plagued the franchise, Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune writes. The intra-family dispute regarding who will be in charge of the team could potentially scare off prospective free agents from signing long-term deals, Smith opines. With the franchise bereft of draft choices for the immediate future, New Orleans’ growth as a team could be severely hampered as a result, Smith adds.
- Forbes valued the Mavericks franchise at $1.15 billion, good for 10th highest of any NBA team, but Mark Cuban thinks the figure is off by “about 150%,” as Corbett Smith of the Dallas Morning News details. Still, Cuban adds that any valuation is irrelevant since the team isn’t for sale.
- Cuban said former Maverick Shawn Marion can have a job with the team when his playing days are over, Smith reports in a separate story. Marion, now with the Cavaliers, said Wednesday he will retire when this season is over.
Charlie Adams contributed to this report.
Cavs Notes: Mozgov, Smith, Blatt, Waiters
David Griffin‘s pursuit of Timofey Mozgov began just weeks after becoming the Cavs’ GM, and LeBron James told Cleveland’s front office late in the summer to swing a deal for the 28-year-old Russian if at all possible, as Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer details. Mozgov has quickly developed a close relationship with James, observes Pluto, who also notes that the big man’s arrival has benefited David Blatt by providing the first-year NBA coach a player who he’s had experience coaching in the past. There’s more from Pluto below amid our latest look at what’s happening in Cleveland..
- The Cavs’ front office had concerns about J.R. Smith‘s past legal troubles, but the team elected to pull the trigger on the deal to bring him to Cleveland after LeBron and Kyrie Irving, two players who knew Smith, urged Griffin and company to complete the trade, according to Pluto.
- Prior to the acquisition of Smith and Iman Shumpert, there were serious concerns about the Cavs’ lack of depth within Cleveland’s locker room, as one anonymous player tells Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. One more player told Haynes that the issue was never a collective lack of faith in Blatt, who was rumored to have lost the attention of his players.
- LeBron hasn’t reached out to Dion Waiters since the third-year guard was shipped to Oklahoma City, but Waiters doesn’t appear to be devastated by the lack of communication, as Haynes passes along in another piece. “Man, he had his chance to reach out,” Waiters told Haynes. “I’m not losing any sleep… Both teams are doing great. [We’re both winning]. Everybody seems at ease now and that’s what it’s about.“
Wolves Sign Raduljica To Second 10-Day Pact
MONDAY, 11:13pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
SUNDAY, 2:08pm: The Wolves have signed Miroslav Raduljica to a second 10-day contract, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter), although there’s been no official announcement from the team yet. The big man from Serbia inked his first 10-day deal with Minnesota on January 8th, so he became a free agent when that contract expired at the end of Saturday.
It’s no surprise that the injury-riddled Wolves are electing to bring back Raduljica, since the club is without starting center Nikola Pekovic, and reserve big man Ronny Turiaf went down for the remainder of the season with an injury shortly before the team shipped him off to Philadelphia in the Corey Brewer trade.
Raduljica has appeared in three contests for Minnesota, tallying just 19 total minutes. His best game came against his former team, the Bucks, where he put up four points and nabbed a pair of rebounds in just eight and a half minutes on the floor. If the Wolves want to retain Raduljica after his second 10-day deal expires, they’ll need to ink him for the rest of the season since a player can only sign a pair of 10-day contracts for a team in a given season.
Suns Actively Shopping Miles Plumlee
6:32pm: Phoenix is believed to be looking for at least one first-round pick for Plumlee, and agent Mark Bartelstein is working together with the team to find a trade partner, Stein writes in a full story. That’d be quite a high return for a player who’s slipping out of his team’s rotation, but the two first-round draft picks that the Nuggets acquired for Timofey Mozgov appears to have inflated the market for big men.
6:24pm: The Suns are actively shopping Miles Plumlee, a league source tells Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Stein doesn’t provide any indication that Phoenix has found a team interested in acquiring Plumlee, but it’s fair to infer there would be a club who wouldn’t mind acquiring the third-year big man out of Duke who’s making just $3,279,174 combined over this season and the next one.
Plumlee has appeared in each of the Suns’ games this year after playing in all but two last season. He’s put in an impressive 56.2% of the shots he’s taken this year, but his 13.2 PER ranks below the league average. Already 26 years old, Plumlee is not brimming with superstar upside, but he’s definitely capable of providing solid minutes off the bench for a contender in need of a backup big man.
The former 26th overall pick has seen his playing time cut in his last three games, averaging just 7.4 minutes per night over that trio of contests. His seemingly decreased role in Phoenix’s rotation appears to be an ominous sign when juxtaposed with Stein’s report, as the club has given the recently acquired Brandan Wright a greater amount of burn just as Plumlee’s minutes have dipped.
Celtics Waive Chris Douglas-Roberts
The Celtics have waived the recently acquired Chris Douglas-Roberts, the team announced, shortly after Boston president of basketball operations Danny Ainge broke the news to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald (Twitter link). CD-R came to the C’s on Thursday in the trade that shipped Austin Rivers to the Clippers. Fellow Herald scribe Mark Murphy reported at the time of the deal that Boston was likely to cut ties with the 28-year-old swingman.
Douglas-Roberts signed with the Clippers last summer after a solid 2013/14 season with the then-Bobcats, with whom he shot a career-high 38.6% from beyond the three-point arc. The former University of Memphis standout failed to crack the regular rotation in Los Angeles, however, as he averaged a career-low 8.6 minutes per night playing for the Clippers. It was reported that chemistry issues led L.A. to cut ties with Douglas-Roberts, but the six-year veteran denies that he was a negative presence in the locker room.
Unless Douglas-Roberts is claimed off of waivers by another club, the Celtics will be on the hook to pay the remainder of the $915,243 that he’s owed by the team this season. Even though he’s set to make slightly more than that figure this year, the league covers the additional amount owed to veterans of more than two seasons on minimum salary deals. The Celtics roster now stands at 14 players, one short of the league maximum.