Pistons Notes: Bradley, Drummond, Jackson
Avery Bradley, who was dealt to the Pistons in exchange for Marcus Morris over the summer, didn’t want to leave the Celtics, but he understands Boston’s decision to make the move, as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press relays.
“I understand what they did. I have no hard feelings at all. I ended up with a great situation and a great organization so I’m happy and they’re playing well,” Bradley said.
The shooting guard added that the team warned him that a trade was a strong possibility prior to making the transaction.
“There were [conversations] that me and [GM] Danny Ainge had, but when it does happen, it still catches you off guard a little bit destination-wise, where you end up,” Bradley said. “I know it’s part of the business so I respect their decision and I know that Danny is going to make the best decision for the Boston Celtics.”
The Celtics own the best record in the league at 18-4, but the Pistons sit just 3.5 games behind them for the Eastern Conference’s top spot after a pulling out a win on Monday in Beantown.
Here’s more from Detroit:
- Bradley will be a free agent after the season, though it’s “obvious” that both he and Pistons have interest in a long-term deal, Ellis adds in the same piece. “It’s been really good for me so far,” Bradley said. “We have a great group of guys, a great coaching staff that’s pushing us every day and I feel like we are going to continue to grow as a group.”
- Andre Drummond was seemingly available for the right price at last season’s trade deadline, but after improving his game this offseason, he is no longer on the table in trade talks, Rod Beard of The Detroit News writes.
- Executive/coach Stan Van Gundy believes the improvement is a result of Drummond putting in the necessary work and playing hard on a nightly basis, Beard passes along in the same piece. “There were never any doubts about his ability and he’s always been a good guy; the concern was whether he was going to play hard on a nightly basis,” Van Gundy said. “That was the question in my mind — and so far this year, it’s been a lot better.”
- If the Pistons are going to remain in the conference’s top tier, they’ll need Reggie Jackson to maintain his level of play, Matt Barresi of NBAMath contends. The point guard is shooting a career-high 38.4% from downtown and he’s averaging nearly one more assist per 36-minutes than he did last season.
Fantasy Hoops: Evans, KCP, Bledsoe, Lamb
Tyreke Evans is enjoying a resurgence in Memphis, fueled by his ability to stay on the court, his talent, and the Grizzlies presenting him with a prominent role off the bench. He ranks third on the team with a usage rate of 26.2 and his 17.9 points per game only trails Marc Gasol among those who call the FedExForum home.
Evans’ one-year, $3.3MM pact is one of the NBA’s best bargains from this past offseason and he’s providing just as much value to fantasy owners as he is to Memphis. In ESPN leagues, he was drafted on average with the No. 140 pick, meaning many fantasy owners either nabbed him in the last round of their draft or scooped him off waivers early on.
If we could assume good health, Evans would be a clear top-50 option going forward, and maybe even a top-40 player. Given his injury history though, his season-long value becomes less certain. That doesn’t mean you should necessarily sell high on him, but be aware of the risk and evaluate offers accordingly.
Here’s more fantasy analysis and notes:
- Consistency has always been an issue for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but it appears the Lakers‘ $18MM man has addressed some of his woes — he’s shooting a career-high from the field (42.5%) and from behind the arc (35.1%). While neither of those rates are otherworldly, they aren’t going to kill you as they have in the past. Caldwell-Pope is averaging 14.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals over his past 10 games and with his percentages coming in at a respectable level, his value rises for those playing in Roto leagues.
- It’s clear that Eric Bledsoe is going to continue to have a heavy role in Bucks‘ offense going forward. Since arriving in Milwaukee earlier this month, Bledsoe has a 27.6 usage rate, which puts him ahead of Paul George, Harrison Barnes, and Ben Simmons – among others – during that stretch.
- Nicolas Batum re-injured his elbow on Wednesday night and won’t play in Friday’s game against the Cavs. Jeremy Lamb, who will start for the Hornets at the three, should be in fantasy lineups both in daily and in season-long leagues for tonight’s tilt. Cleveland has given up the most points per game to opposing small forwards, allowing them to shoot 50% from the field, which is the worst mark in the league. In 12 starts this season, Lamb is averaging 16.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists per contest while shooting 45.7% from behind the arc.
Fantasy questions? Take to the comment section below or tweet me at @CW_Crouse.
Statistics are current through Friday morning. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Central Notes: Cavs, Zipser, Maker
The injuries are piling up for the Cavaliers, with Iman Shumpert, Tristan Thompson, and Derrick Rose all currently sidelined. The team is also waiting on Isaiah Thomas, who is recovering from offseason surgery, to make his debut.
LeBron James, who enters Tuesday’s slate of games as the league’s leader in minutes played, believes the franchise has the depth to overcome the injury woes.
“It’s good to know that we have depth,” James said (via Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com). “It’s very difficult and it’s very challenging not only on the guys that’s on the court but on the coaching staff, trying to figure out. Sometimes you get a rhythm and then another guy goes down, so, that’s what we’re here for. We have the depth to be able to try to bandage it up until we can all become full.”
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Coach Fred Hoiberg said Paul Zipser, who only saw one minute of action over the Bulls‘ last two games, is “staying positive,” Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times relays. Zipser is under contract through the 2018/19 season, though his salary next season is non-guaranteed.
- Kevin Garnett recently visited the Bucks to work with some of their young talents and came away with a spectacular impression of Thon Maker, as he tells Jonathan Abrams of Bleacher Report. “Thon Maker reminds me a lot of myself. He loves the game. He’s a young, exuberant athlete who has a lot of tools,” KG said. “Thon is going to be the MVP of the league one day. Mark it down. He has the bones. He has the appetite to be able to chase something like that.”
Suns Notes: Bledsoe, McDonough, Centers
Eric Bledsoe will return to Phoenix on Wednesday for the first time since the team traded him to the Bucks, but the point guard is downplaying the events, calling it “just another game.”
“It’s just another game,” Bledsoe said (via ESPN’s Nick Friedell). “Another game we just got to win. We got to win this game, get above .500, build off that.”
Bledsoe wouldn’t comment on the “hair salon” incident or on Suns‘ management when asked if he wished either party had handled things differently leading up to his departure.
“I’m at this point now,” Bledsoe said. “I’m on another team focused on what we can build here. So I ain’t focused on that.”
Here’s more from Phoenix:
- The Suns waited too long to trade Bledsoe, RealGM’s Danny Leroux contends, suggesting that the team should have dealt him before last season’s trade deadline. The scribe argues that the number of teams in playoff contention at the time, combined with Bledsoe’s age and reasonable contract, made February 2017 the right time to move him.
- Greg Moore of the Arizona Republic believes that GM Ryan McDonough can turn things around for the franchise, though it will take some time. The Suns are expected to be one of only a few teams with substantial cap room this summer and while Moore is hopeful that someone like LeBron James or DeMarcus Cousins decides to come to the team, he envisions Phoenix landing a player in the tier below them. He names DeAndre Jordan, Aaron Gordon, and Marcus Smart as possibilities.
- Tyson Chandler is expected to be back in the lineup on Wednesday after missing the last three games with an illness, Moore writes in a separate piece. Coach Jay Triano said he isn’t sure how he’ll handle the center rotation, with Greg Monroe, Alex Len and Chandler all vying for minutes. “I haven’t even thought about it,” Triano said. “I’ve got a couple of days to figure out the rotations.”
- The Northern Arizona Suns, the team’s G League affiliate, have added Earl Barron and Nick Friedman as assistant coaches, Chris Reichert of The Step Back reports (Twitter link). The club has also promoted Tyler Gatlin to associate head coach.
Paul Millsap To Undergo Wrist Surgery, Miss 2-3 Months
Paul Millsap will undergo surgery on his left wrist and he’ll be sidelined indefinitely as he recovers, Sham Charania of The Vertical reports (Twitter link). The power forward injured his wrist on Sunday against the Lakers.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link) hears that the surgery is to repair a torn ligament in the wrist and the power forward could be sidelined for the next three months.
Millsap signed a three-year, $90MM deal with the Nuggets this past offseason and he got off to slow start with the club, as I detailed in a recent edition of Fantasy Hoops. However, he was starting to look more comfortable in his new offense prior to leaving the game on Sunday.
Denver has morphed into a respectable team on the defensive end this season and Millsap’s presence is a major reason why. The Nuggets currently rank 17th in the league in defensive rating, a season after finishing with the second-worst mark in the league (Lakers).
Kenneth Faried got the start at power forward against the Kings on Monday, but it’s unclear if he’ll remain as involved after a poor showing. Faried was relegated to the bench after just 19 minutes of action where he made just one of seven shots.
NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 11/19/17
Here are Sunday’s G League assignment and recalls from around the NBA:
8:30pm:
- The Cavaliers assigned center Ante Zizic to their G League affiliate, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com writes. The big man has seen limited action for the big league club this season.
5:02pm:
- The Lakers have recalled Ivica Zubac and Josh Hart from South Bay Lakers, Mike Bresnahan of Spectrum Sportsnet tweets. In his latest two-game stint with Los Angeles’ G-League affiliate, Zubac averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds per contest.
- The Knicks have assigned Damyean Dotson to their G-League affiliate, the Westchester Knicks, per the team’s Twitter feed.
- The Heat have recalled Derrick Walton Jr. from their G-League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the team announces via press release. Walton will continue to shuffle back and forth between the two clubs, as he’s on a newly established two-way deal.
- The Hawks have recalled Nicolas Brussino, Tyler Dorsey, and Miles Plumlee, from the team’s G League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks, according to a team press release.
David Lee Announces Retirement
Two-time All-Star David Lee announced on his Instagram page that he has retired from the league.
The Knicks drafted Lee with the No. 30 overall pick in the 2005 draft and he spent five seasons with the franchise. New York dealt him to Golden State via sign-and-trade during the 2010 offseason in order to make room for Amar’e Stoudemire.
Lee started at power forward during his first four seasons as a Warrior. In 2014, he ceded his starting spot to Draymond Green and a year later, he was dealt to the Celtics. He didn’t carve out a meaningful role in Boston and the team found there wasn’t much of a trade market for a traditional low-post four. The Celtics then waived Lee and he spent the rest of the 2015/16 season with the Mavs.
Lee played for the Spurs last season, where he showcased his ability to produce as a role player. He saw 18.7 minutes per game in San Antonio and sported a player efficiency rating of 18.5.
He’ll end his career with a 19.1 player efficiency rating and averages of 13.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game.
Nuggets Notes: Murray, Nelson, Irving
The Nuggets were in discussions with the Suns about an Eric Bledsoe trade, but it appears their decision not to offer too much for a new starting point guard is paying dividends. Jamal Murray, who has been Denver’s starting point guard since the beginning of the season, is playing well and the team is encouraged by his development.
“I love the pace he’s playing with,” said coach Michael Malone after a recent game (via Christopher Dempsey of NBA.com). “He’s got to set the pace that we want to play at, he’s got to be aggressive and he’s got to play with confidence. And you’re seeing that a lot more consistently right now. He’s starting to become a consistent starting point guard in the NBA.”
The 2016 No. 7 overall pick spent much of his playing time at shooting guard during his rookie season, but this year, he’s seeing all of his minutes at the one.
Here’s more on the Nuggets:
- Denver had a deal in place to trade Jameer Nelson to a lottery team for a protected second-rounder prior to the season, though the team could “not stomach” sending the 35-year-old to a bad team, sources tell Zach Lowe of ESPN. The Nuggets ended up waiving Nelson, a move that allowed the vet to pick his own suitor.
- Malone would have liked to keep Nelson on the team, though he is supportive of the organization’s decision to let the veteran go, Lowe relays in the same piece. “It was tough to see Jameer go,” Malone says. “The players trusted him. I find value in veteran mentors. In our meetings, of course I brought up all the reasons it made sense to keep him. But you have to think big picture. It wasn’t like I was kicking and screaming. By the end, we were all on board.”
- The Nuggets had exploratory discussions with the Cavs about Kyrie Irving prior to them dealing away the point guard, though talks never got that far, per Lowe (same piece). The scribe notes that Murray, Wilson Chandler, and a lightly-protected first-rounder would have intrigued Cleveland, but Murray was never on the table.
Fantasy Hoops: Big-Money Free Agents
Compared to the spending spree summers of 2015 and 2016, this past offseason was a mild showing for players cashing in on major contracts. Yet, quite a few players received deals that appeared above the market rate at the time. Let’s examine how some of the players who signed bloated free agent contracts are performing early on and assess their fantasy value going forward:
Otto Porter Jr., Wizards (four years, $106MM):
Does Simon Helberg warrant $26.5MM per year? In a vacuum, probably not. But in his current environment, the figure is much more understandable. Hollywood’s third-highest-paid TV actor, who stars in The Big Bang Theory, doesn’t carry the mega-successful sitcom, but his efficiency and excellent chemistry with the show’s stars (the industry’s two highest-paid actors) allow him to thrive in his role.
Porter is Washington’s Simon Helberg. The combo forward has evolved since being drafted with the No. 3 overall pick, developing from a high-risk, high-reward 3-and-D prospect to someone who can not only play that role but also is dangerous enough to lead his own sets and take the pressure off of John Wall and Bradley Beal. The Wizards look like legitimate threats to make the Eastern Conference Finals and Porter’s versatility and next-level efficiency (shooting 50% from downtown this season; 57.6% from the field) are major reasons why.
The Nets saw Porter’s talent and potential and wanted to give him his own show in Brooklyn, but the Wizards matched the offer sheet and kept him as a secondary option. Could he succeed as the lead star of the team? Perhaps. Porter, like Helberg (36 years old), is relatively young and could eventually grow into someone capable of carrying a majority share of the load. However, in both cases, the best shot at landing near the top of standings is to remain in their current situations.
Fantasy owners don’t need Porter to take on a bigger role to appreciate his production. His contributions across multiple categories make him a top-20 player in Roto leagues, and while some may be tempted to sell high on Porter given the likelihood that his stats will decline to some extent, it’s best to resist that urge.
The Georgetown product might have the highest fantasy-value-to-star-status ratio in the league, meaning many owners may not appropriately evaluate his worth. Unless you can land a clear upgrade (Paul George, Marc Gasol, Joel Embiid), keep Porter on your squad and enjoy the production.
In ESPN leagues, Porter was selected on average with the No. 44 overall pick. If you nabbed him near that spot, you, like the Wizards, can enjoy an excellent return on your investment.
Tim Hardaway Jr., Knicks (four years, $72MM):
New York’s prized offseason addition has been very busy early on, especially from behind the arc. Only three players (Eric Gordon, James Harden, and Stephen Curry) are taking more three-pointers than Hardaway’s 7.9 per game.
Hardaway is only shooting 30.9% on those attempts. However, while those in Roto leagues may worry about his field goal percentage, the volume – combined with his ability to contribute in other categories – should alleviate those concerns. The 25-year-old is pulling down 4.4 rebounds, dishing out 3.1 assists, and snatching over a steal per game. Value him above players like Will Barton, Dennis Smith Jr., and Lonzo Ball.
Paul Millsap, Nuggets (three years, $90MM):
The Nuggets, though still wildly inconsistent, appear to be a playoff team, something fueled by Millsap’s contributions on the defensive end. However, the power forward has taken a step back on the offensive end and it’s hurt his fantasy stock early on.
Those who drafted Millsap in ESPN leagues took him on average with the No. 36 overall pick and he simply has not produced value from that spot so far this season. His value has fallen more in points leagues than in Roto, though he is still usable in both.
Millsap has never been a master at any one statistical category, but rather a steady force in many. His decline in per-game points (15.7; lowest mark since 2012/13 in Utah), rebounds (4.8; fewest since the 2009/10 season) and assists (2.8; fewest since 2012/13) are discouraging, but he’s just one of nine players averaging at least a block and a steal per contest. He won’t kill you in the percentage categories and he’ll remain his normal self from beyond the arc.
Millsap’s versatile stat line makes him a high-floor player and that will help to mitigate the loss in value from his draft-day price. He could actually be a buy-low target if someone in your league is over-projecting his decline.
Remember, staying active and exploring all opportunities in trades is a key part of fantasy leagues and that means not turning away from players who appear to be on the downswing. If you can properly evaluate, you can get an edge in trade discussions and Millsap’s perceived decline may present you with a chance to win a deal.
Fantasy questions? Take to the comment section below or tweet me at @CW_Crouse.
Statistics are current through Friday morning. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Mavericks Exploring Upgrade Opportunities
The Mavericks entered the day with the worst record in the league and the franchise is looking to make improvements. Coach Rick Carlisle alluded to the team’s unbalanced roster being a primary reason for the poor start and he indicated that the team is in the market for anybody who can help them, as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News relays in a series of tweets.
“It’s almost like we went to Costco and got a forklift full of centers.“ Carlisle said.
Dallas has five centers on the roster, including Nerlens Noel, who has seen just seven minutes of action over his last three games. Dirk Nowitzki playing the majority of his minutes at the five this season only compounds the issues and it’s easy to envision the team making a move.
The Mavs are closely monitoring the G League and the waiver wire, though the combination of lackluster available options and a full roster may delay any movement. Sefko notes that the team may have to wait on bringing in significant talent until December 15 —the date when many offseason signees become eligible to be included in deals.