Central Notes: Monroe, Gibson, Rose, Jennings
The Bucks handed the Warriors their first loss of the season on Saturday night and offseason addition Greg Monroe was a key component to the team’s success. Monroe scored 28 points while adding 11 rebounds, five assists in 35.5 minutes of action. Monroe was expected to take Milwaukee to the next level, but the team has struggled up to this point, especially on the defensive end. The team now sits at 10-15, good for last in the Central Division, but the all-around effort during the win may serve as a momentum builder for the rest of season.
Here’s a look at a few of Milwaukee’s Central Division foes:
- Taj Gibson is playing well in the starting lineup and he is too valuable for the Bulls to trade him away, Sam Smith of NBA.com opines in his latest mailbag. Smith cautions while it may seem like Chicago has a glut of big men and could easily make a trade, the threat of losing Joakim Noah, who will be a free agent at the end of the season, and Pau Gasol, who will likely opt out of his current deal, makes keeping Gibson on the team imperative.
- Smith, in the same piece, believes a Derrick Rose trade is highly unlikely. The Bulls currently have no intention of trading Rose and even if they did, getting value back for a player with as much injury history as the point guard has will be difficult, the scribe adds.
- Brandon Jennings will be a free agent at season’s end, but the point guard is just focusing on playing at a high level as he returns from a torn left Achilles tendon, Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press writes. “If I don’t come back the way I was last year, I’m going to be very upset with myself,” Jennings tells Ellis. “I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself first right now. I’m not thinking about re-signing here, not re-signing here. I’m just thinking about getting back on the court and taking care of business.” Jennings was the subject of trade rumors before the injury and once he returns to the court, those kind of talks will likely resurface again. Dana Guaruder of Hoops Rumors examined the chances of a Jennings deal in his Trade Candidate piece and speculated that the Nets and Knicks would be good fits if the Pistons decide to ship out the 26-year-old.
Pacific Notes: Chandler, Casspi, Lakers
Tyson Chandler hasn’t played in nearly three weeks because of a hamstring injury, but the veteran is taking an optimistic view to the time off and he believes his time on the sideline will help him gel with his new team once he is able to return, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic writes.
“Everything happens for a reason sometimes and the injury gave me a different perspective,” Chandler said. “A lot of times, when you’re in the mix, you can’t pinpoint what’s going on because everything is going so fast and you’re out there too. Being out and watching Alex [Len], I see things. I see a lot of areas where we can improve.”
Chandler joined the Suns last summer, signing a four year, $52MM deal to be the team’s starting center. Here’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- Omri Casspi re-signed with the Kings on a two, year $6MM deal last summer, but the money was not the main reason he returned, as he tell Rob Mahoney of SI.com. “No. 1, I just like Sacramento. It’s the team that drafted me, and I just felt a good energy around the team and the fans and everything that was going on,” Casspi said. “I feel like it’s really a second home for me outside of my country, outside of Israel. And number two, when Coach [George] Karl stayed and signed a long-term deal, I felt like we had the right base to start winning games this year. DeMarcus is our go-to guy and he’s our star. It’s been a drought in Sacramento. I want to be a part of a winning situation and a team that’s building toward an NBA championship. I feel like we’ve got the right pieces, the right coach, and the right system in place. Now it’s about us coming together to start winning games.”
- Sacramento has had more than its share of turnover in the front office in recent years, but Casspi believes the right people are in place now and he is a fan of what the front office did this offseason, as he tells Mahoney in the same piece. “Now we have a new GM in place. We need to get some stability from the top, and I feel like now we have everything in place. Vlade’s running the show and has a good team with him. I feel like he’s doing all he can to make this team successful. You bring in the right pieces, the right players — players that have been in winning situations — and you can have a winning culture. But right now we’re building it, and I think Vlade is the guy that it starts with. He brought in Rajon [Rondo], who won a championship, Kosta [Koufos] being in Memphis a few years and Denver where he won a lot of games, Marco [Belinelli] won in San Antonio. So you bring in the right pieces and you start building a winning culture, a winning mentality. That’s how you really go back to where the Kings need to be.”
- The Lakers are just 3-20 on the season, but Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders believes the win-loss record isn’t the only reason Byron Scott is failing as a coach. Blancarte cites Scott’s choice for the rotation, which has given heavy minutes to veteran players, and his tendency to bench youngsters, like D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle, for mistakes they make in games rather than letting them play through their mistakes as reason for the pessimism.
Offseason In Review: Utah Jazz
Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees and more will be covered as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.
Signings
- Treveon Graham: Three years, $2.414MM. Signed via minimum salary exception. First year partially guaranteed for $75K. Second and third years are non-guaranteed. Waived.
- Joe Ingles: Two years, $4.5MM. Signed via cap room.
- J.J. O’Brien: Three years, $2.414MM. Signed via cap room. First year partially guaranteed for $75K. Second and third years are non-guaranteed. Waived.
- Jeff Withey: Two years, $1.963MM. Signed via minimum salary exception. First year partially guaranteed for $200K.
Extensions
- None
Trades
- Acquired $1.5MM from the Trail Blazers in exchange for the draft rights to Daniel Diez, the 2015 No. 54 overall pick.
Waiver Claims
- Phil Pressey: Claimed from Trail Blazers. One year, $947K remaining. Non-guaranteed. Subsequently waived.
Draft Picks
- Trey Lyles (Round 1, 12th overall). Signed via rookie exception to rookie scale contract.
- Tibor Pleiss (Round 2, 2010, 31st overall). Signed via cap room for three years, $9MM. Third year is partially guaranteed for $500K.
- Olivier Hanlan (Round 2, 42nd overall). Signed overseas.
- Raul Neto (Round 2, 2013, 47th overall). Signed via cap room for three years, $2.9MM. Third year is non-guaranteed.
Camp Invitees
- Eric Atkins — Waived.
- E.J. Singler — Waived.
Departing Players
Rookie Contract Option Decisions
- Trey Burke (fourth year, $3,386,598) — Exercised.
- Dante Exum (third year, $3,940,320) — Exercised.
- Rudy Gobert (fourth year, $2,121,287) — Exercised.
- Rodney Hood, Jazz (third year, $1,406,520) — Exercised.
The Jazz began to look like a real contender over the second half of last season and one strategy entering the 2015 offseason would have been to make a major acquisition to take the team to the next level. However, Utah wasn’t going to take any shortcuts. Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations Kevin O’Connor and GM Dennis Lindsey have built the team’s foundation over the past several years and this summer was about supplementing the young core that the executive tamdem had already assembled.
The seeds of this team’s success were planted nearly five years ago when Utah traded Deron Williams to the Nets. In retrospect, the trade was an outstanding sell-high moment for the franchise and it provided an important building block for the future. Derrick Favors was the prize of the trade and he has developed into a force on both ends of the floor. The other pieces in the trade didn’t produce any significant building blocks, although one piece indirectly shaped the franchise going forward.
Enes Kanter, whom the Jazz took with the Nets’ first round pick in 2011, showed some promise with Utah, but after three and a half seasons, the Jazz gave up on the Kanter-Favors pairing and shipped Kanter to Oklahoma City. In return, the Jazz netted a few picks and the rights to Tibor Pleiss, whom the team signed to a three year, $9MM deal this offseason. Pleiss wasn’t expected to soak up major minutes, but he gives the team frontcourt depth in case of injuries.
The real value of the Kanter trade came in the form of minutes for Rudy Gobert, whose sudden emergence, as Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune told Hoops Rumors, no one saw coming. Once coach Quin Snyder inserted Gobert into the starting lineup, the team’s defense really started to hum. The success carried over this season, as Utah ranks third in the league in points allowed per game. Gobert is sixth in the league in rebounds thus far in the season with 10.8 per contest and second in the league in blocks with 2.77 per game.
The Jazz added another athletic big man when they used the No. 12 overall pick on Trey Lyles. The 6’10” Lyles, a power forward, often played out of position as a small forward at Kentucky, but the experience allowed him to develop a perimeter game, as Arthur Hill of Hoops Rumors detailed in his Prospect Profile. The 20-year-old has the length and frame to play both power forward and center and Snyder has given him run at the four and the five this season. He hasn’t seen many offensive opportunities thus far, scoring only 2.1 points in 8.5 minutes per game. The team isn’t really counting on him for production this season, as he’s viewed as more of a long-term project.
Utah was counting on Dante Exum to take the next step in his game, but the Australian tore the ACL in his left knee late in the summer and isn’t expected to play during the 2015/16 campaign. The Jazz didn’t respond to the Exum news with a major transaction, even though they had the cap room — nearly $7.27MM — to make a substantial offer to a free agent. Instead, they increased the roles of the players who were already in house. The Jazz inserted Raul Neto, who signed a three-year, $2.9MM deal with the team earlier in the offseason, into the starting lineup and he has impressed in 18.0 minutes per game this season. Neto is snatching 1.2 steals per game and the only point guard who ranks ahead of him in ESPN’s Real Defensive Plus/Minus is Kyle Lowry. Trey Burke is getting 21.5 minutes per game, but he’s improved since last season, shooting 44.9% from behind the arc while sporting a player efficiency rating of 15.8.
The play of Burke and Neto will be crucial this season, but the development of Alec Burks, who missed most of last season with a shoulder injury, will be key to the team’s success as well. Snyder has used Burks off the bench and at times as a de facto point guard this season and the Colorado product has meshed well with fellow wings Gordon Hayward, Joe Ingles and Rodney Hood. Burks is only dishing out 2.0 assists per game, but he’s scoring 15.1 points per game and shooting 39.5% from 3-point range, with a player efficiency rating of 16.2. If Burks can continue to progress on the defensive end and demonstrate that he can be proficient at both backcourt positions, his four-year, $42MM extension from the fall of 2014 will start to look like a bargain and the team will have serious sleeper potential.
The Jazz want to develop their core. They’re counting on Hayward, Hood, Burks, Favors and Gobert to take the next step together and form a contender in a loaded Western Conference. Development takes time. The franchise could have tried to accelerate the process this past summer by signing a few veterans or trading for an established talent. However, that’s not the front office’s current objective and a quiet offseason sounds like it was a solid plan for an up-and-coming team.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post. The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of it.
And-Ones: Dunleavy, Mekel, D-League
Bulls small forward Mike Dunleavy Jr., who underwent back surgery in September, suffered a “setback” and his timetable for a return to the court is unclear, coach Fred Hoiberg told reporters, including Nick Friedell of ESPN.com. Dunleavy re-signed with Chicago during the summer. Hoiberg, per Friedell, said there isn’t concern at this time that Dunleavy will have to miss the entire season or have another procedure on his back.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Former Mavericks and Pelicans point guard Gal Mekel has signed with European power-agent Misko Raznatovic, International Journalist David Pick tweets.
- The Knicks have assigned Cleanthony Early to their D-League affiliate, the Westchester Knicks, according to the team’s Twitter feed. Early has only seen 24 minutes of NBA action this season.
- The Cavs have recalled Joe Harris from the Canton Charge, the team’s D-League affiliate, according to a team press release. Harris appeared in three games during his latest stint, averaging 22.7 points in 36.9 minutes per game.
- Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders takes a look at the league’s landscape so far this season and the Hawks are among his underachievers. Greene believes one major reason for the disappointing start is that Atlanta still hasn’t found an adequate replacement for DeMarre Carroll.
Will Joseph contributed to this post.
Texas Notes: Matthews, Bickerstaff, Durant
Over the past few seasons, offense has been a major element in the Mavs‘ identity, but new addition Wes Matthews is helping to change the team’s perception, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News writes. “We’ve had a spike in our defensive numbers,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “[Matthews] has been a significant part of that.”
Carlisle has had Matthews guard the opposing team’s best wing player on a nightly basis, but the shooting guard has also been asked to cover opposing big men at times. The 29-year-old’s versatility hasn’t gone unnoticed by his new teammates. “Wes is our go-to guy on defense,” said Dirk Nowitzki. “He can guard multiple positions. He’s just a fighter. We’ll live with him on the opposing best player all day.”
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff is making bold moves, like pairing Clint Capela and Dwight Howard in the starting lineup, and the team is embracing the changes, Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle writes. “I just want to win,” Howard said. “The coaching staff is putting together the right guys with each other to make that happen.”
- The Rockets will no doubt attempt to bring Kevin Durant aboard next summer, but with the current state of the franchise, Fran Blinebury of NBA.com wonders if Houston has any chance of landing the former MVP. Blinebury believes that if Durant is going to join the team, Bickerstaff needs to first mend the dysfunctional relationship between Howard and James Harden.
Atlantic Notes: Okafor, Sullinger, Fisher
Jahlil Okafor was pulled over for driving 108 mph roughly three weeks ago, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Okafor was previously involved in two separate nightclub incidents, one in Boston and the other in Philadelphia. Coach Brett Brown addressed the latest news earlier this morning, as Pompey passes along (video via Twitter). “No differently than what we spoke about with the incident in Boston,” Brown said. “It’s part of our responsibility to help him.”
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- The pairing of Okafor and Nerlens Noel hasn’t been successful this season, as the team is scoring just 90.2 points per 100 possessions with Okafor and Noel on the floor together. Despite this, the team isn’t giving up hope that the pairing can work, Pompey writes in a separate piece. “That’s the challenge of growing two players together that are 19 and 21 years old,” Brown said. “We are only 17 games in. It’s a C, and we have to bring it up to a B-plus in the not-too-distant future.”
- Through 16 games, Jared Sullinger has grabbed 20.7 % of available rebounds while on the floor, which is good for seventh in the league and coach Brad Stevens believes Sullinger’s success can be attributed to the big man’s awareness, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com writes. “I think, positionally, he’s probably better defensively and that’s probably put him in a position to better rebound,” Stevens said. “As you get more aware, you get more experience, those things slow down for you about where you should be, and once you’re where you should be, talent takes over. And he’s in good defensive position often.” Sullinger will be a restricted free agent after the season.
- Derek Fisher will coach his 100th game for the Knicks today and Marc Berman of the New York Post examines how the former player has progressed on the sideline.
Pacific Notes: Rondo, Stephenson, Barnes
The Kings seem to have finally settled on a rotation and Rajon Rondo, who agreed to a one-year deal worth $9.5MM with Sacramento this offseason, is a major part of it, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee writes. Rondo is averaging 40.6 minutes per game over his last 12, but the point guard isn’t concerned about his extended minutes. “The more you’re out there, the more of a rhythm you get in to. So I have no complaints,” Rondo said.
- Lance Stephenson has seen his minutes fluctuate since becoming a Clipper, but 25-year-old is winning over his new teammates on and off the court, Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link) passes along. “I love Lance,” Blake Griffin said. “He has a great spirit and I think he wants to be great, he wants to help and wants to be a great teammate.”
- Harrison Barnes sprained his left ankle during Friday’s win over the Suns and there is no timetable for his return, the Bay Area News Group reports. Interim coach Luke Walton provided insight on how the team will approach the forward’s recovery. “It’s all speculation. It could be a few weeks. It could be a week,” Walton said. “We’re not going to rush him back because we want to be healthy for later in the season and we don’t want lingering injures, so we’ll have him take his time.” Barnes will be a restricted free agent after the season.
Eastern Notes: Pistons, Hornets, Celtics
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has made strides on the defensive end and his team is taking notice, Rod Beard of The Detroit News writes. “Phenomenal. That kid is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league — KCP locks up,” teammate Reggie Jackson said. “It’s not a fluke. What KCP does on defense night in and night out is not a fluke.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Steve Clifford, who recently agreed to an extension with the Hornets, believes he is lucky to work for Michael Jordan because Jordan has perspective that most owners do not, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com writes. “There are things that we do that I feel we’ve improved on because of input I’ve gotten from him. But he’s great,” Clifford said. “I think he may be the easiest owner to work for, and because he has a feel for what four [games] in five nights is, what five in seven nights is, I could give you five or six examples of situations where things have gone badly, where he — because he played — he’ll call and be much more reassuring than, ‘Why did we play so poorly?'”
- With Marcus Smart expected to miss a couple weeks, rookie Terry Rozier could see an increased role, A.Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes. “He’s a guy that I have faith to put in,” coach Brad Stevens said. The Celtics have excellent depth on their roster, but if Rozier can prove he belongs in the rotation, the team could look to trade one of its veterans to open up minutes for the Louisville product, although that is merely my speculation.
Offseason In Review: Philadelphia 76ers
Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees and more will be covered as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.
Signings
- Pierre Jackson: Four years, $3.727MM. Signed via cap room. First year is fully guaranteed, remaining three years are non-guaranteed. Includes a team option for the final year. Subsequently waived.
- Kendall Marshall: Four years, $8MM. Signed via cap room. First year is fully guaranteed, remaining three years are non-guaranteed.
- T.J. McConnell: Four years, $3.503MM. Signed via cap room. First year is partially guaranteed for $100K, remaining three years are non-guaranteed. Includes a team option for the final year.
- Scottie Wilbekin: Four years, $3.503MM. Signed via cap room. First year is partially guaranteed for $200K, remaining three years are non-guaranteed. Includes a team option for the final year.
- Christian Wood: Four years, $3.503MM. Signed via cap room. First year is partially guaranteed for $50K, remaining three years are non-guaranteed. Includes a team option for the final year.
Extensions
- None
Trades
- Acquired Nik Stauskas, Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, Sacramento’s 2018 first-round pick and the right to swap first-rounders in 2016 and 2017 from the Kings in exchange for the rights to Arturas Gudaitis and Luka Mitrovic, the 47th and 60th picks, respectively, in this year’s NBA draft.
- Acquired Gerald Wallace, cash, and the right to swap the lesser of the 2016 first-round picks coming their way from the Heat and the Thunder for Golden State’s 2016 first-round pick from the Warriors in exchange for Thompson. Wallace was subsequently waived.
- Acquired cash and New York’s second round picks in 2020 and 2021 from the Knicks in exchange for the draft rights to Guillermo Hernangomez, the No. 35 overall pick in this year’s draft.
Waiver Claims
- None
Draft Picks
- Jahlil Okafor (Round 1, 3rd overall). Signed via rookie scale exception to rookie scale contract.
- Richaun Holmes (Round 2, 37th overall). Signed via cap room for four years, $4.203MM. Final two years are non-guaranteed. Final season is a team option.
- Arturas Gudaitis (Round 2, 47th overall). Traded to Sacramento. Signed overseas.
- J.P. Tokoto (Round 2, 58th overall). Signed via minimum-salary exception to a one-year, non-guaranteed, $525K deal. Waived.
- Luka Mitrovic (Round 2, 60th overall). Traded to Sacramento. Extended overseas contract.
- Jordan McRae (2014, Round 2, 58th overall). Signed via minimum-salary exception to a one-year, non-guaranteed, $525K deal. Waived.
Camp Invitees
Departing Players
- Luc Mbah a Moute
- Jason Richardson
- Thomas Robinson
- Glenn Robinson III
- Henry Sims
- Ish Smith
- Jason Thompson
- Gerald Wallace
Rookie Contract Option Decisions
- Joel Embiid (third year, $4,826,160) — Exercised.
- Nerlens Noel (fourth year, $4,384,490) — Exercised.
- Nik Stauskas (third year, $2,993,040) — Exercised.
“Two years away from being two years away.” That was ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla’s infamous analysis of Brazilian prospect Bruno Caboclo during the 2014 draft. That’s also an accurate timeline of when the Sixers can reasonably expect to be contenders for the playoffs in the Eastern Conference again. The Sam Hinkie regime envisions putting a perennial championship contender on the floor, and while you can start to see some of the pieces coming together, it’s starting to look like the plan may take longer than initially expected.
The team suffered a major setback in its quest toward a championship when it found out that center Joel Embiid, who was taken No. 3 overall in that same 2014 draft, needed a second surgery on his right foot and would most likely miss the entire 2015/16 campaign. The news didn’t get any better from there. Embiid reportedly put off surgery this summer to party and play basketball in Las Vegas and rumors swirled that the team has been frustrated with his attitude and insubordination. Hinkie apparently expressed his desire for Embiid to be more focused on his rehab, and the center’s diet and conditioning have reportedly worried the team as well. Some of the club’s minority owners are reportedly losing patience with Hinkie, but despite this and the Embiid setback, majority owner Josh Harris remains firmly in Hinkie’s corner.
When you examine Philadelphia’s transactions this summer, you can see why. Hinkie fleeced the Kings for a first-round pick in 2018 and the rights to swap picks in 2016 and 2017 when he acquired Jason Thompson, Carl Landry and 2014 No. 8 overall pick Nik Stauskas. The team then dealt Thompson to the Warriors for Gerald Wallace, who was waived later on in the summer, and snagged a pick swap in the process.
After the trade, Jake Fischer of SI Now reported that the Sixers were looking to move Landry, who is set to make $13MM over the remaining two years of his deal, and that if the team couldn’t find a trade partner, they would look to reach a buyout or waive him outright. Hinkie has since indicated that the team intends to keep him, citing the importance of his veteran voice on the team. The 31-year-old is still recovering from his offseason surgery and is expected to be out until 2016, but when the veteran does return to the court, he’ll be the team’s most experienced player by far.
Stauskas, whose option for the 2016/17 campaign the team picked up last month, has seen court time and the results have varied. During his first two games in Philly, he shot 41.7% from behind the arc, but he has only made just over 26.0% of his 3-pointers since and his player efficiency rating for the year sits lowly at 8.6. Still, he has improved since his dreadful rookie campaign and the coaching staff intends to give him the minutes to allow him to develop. The backcourt mate of “Sauce Castillo” was supposed to be Kendall Marshall, whom the team signed to a four-year, $8MM deal, but the 24-year-old Marshall is still recovering from a knee injury and hasn’t been able to suit up yet. Marshall has shown glimpses of the ability to be a starting-caliber point guard and Hinkie deserves recognition for the move, as the team will be paying somebody who has proven he belongs in the league less than the No.17 overall pick in the 2015 draft is set to earn over the the next four years.
Once he returns, Marshall may not get as many minutes as expected due to the presence of T.J. McConnell. The undrafted point guard out of Arizona has been a pleasant surprise this season and his contract, which will pay him roughly $3.5MM over the next four seasons, looks like one of the best bargains in the league, as Chuck Myron noted in a recent edition of the Hoops Rumors Weekly Mailbag. McConnell has been ravenous on the defensive end, frustrating opposing guards and making the hustle plays that you’d like to see every professional athlete at least go for. He’s averaging 5.1 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 0.4 blocks per game. He’s also dishing out 6.4 assists per contest and making nearly every team second guess its decision not to draft him.
The Sixers had mixed results with their selections in the 2015 draft. Second-rounder Richaun Holmes, who told Zach Links of Hoops Rumors prior to the draft that he thought he had a chance to be a first-rounder, looks like an NBA player, and he has impressed in limited minutes thus far. The team’s other second-round picks either had their rights traded away or have been waived.
The gem of the Sixers’ draft is Jahlil Okafor. Many of the team’s young players are projects, but this center came preassembled with the footwork of a seasoned veteran and an offensive game that allows him to contribute right away. He’s averaging 17.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game and although he isn’t a great defender, he’s shown some nice defensive awareness, blocking 1.6 shots per contest. The 19-year-old has legitimate All-Star potential, but a peril with Okafor may be his ceiling. He doesn’t project to be the type of player who will dominate games and single-handedly elevate the team to real contender status, especially if he can’t transform himself into a tenacious rim protector.
The issue with drafting the center, as I discussed in the team’s offseason outlook, is the redundancies on the team, as the only other player who definitively belongs in a playoff contender’s rotation also plays the same position. Nerlens Noel is playing nearly two-thirds of his time this season at the four and he’s been excellent on the defensive end, masterfully denying passing lanes and smothering opposing power forwards inside the paint and on the perimeter. However, the experiment with Noel at the four will come to an end eventually, as he simply doesn’t possess the offensive skills to play the position. Concerns over the fit are prompting the team to ponder a change. Coach Brett Brown is thinking about playing Okafor at the four, but he’s obviously a center long-term, so playing him out of position carries the risk of stunting his growth.
Philadelphia doesn’t have all the answers right now and nearly all the pieces to the championship puzzle aren’t currently on the roster. The hope for the Sixers is that the bounty of draft picks they’ve acquired, along with team’s own lottery selections, will produce at least one true game-changer over the next few seasons. This offseason wasn’t about winning games; the team isn’t there yet. The Sixers still need to acquire that franchise player, and even if they get him, it’ll take a few years to start winning. Anthony Davis didn’t even make the playoffs until his third season. Same with Kevin Durant and LeBron James. Maybe the pingpong balls will land Philly’s way at the end of the season and the team lands a potential star like Ben Simmons. It’s still going to be a few years before the Sixers sniff the playoffs, let alone the finals, and by the time that happens, James’ reign over the Eastern Conference may be over, we will most likely have a new collective bargaining agreement, and the league’s landscape should look dramatically different. Hinkie, Harris and the rest of the club’s management know this and the team is simply remaining flexible with its roster until it’s time to strike.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post. The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of it.
Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 11/21/15
The Kings have been derailed with injuries, but the team has had some bright spots with the play of Rajon Rondo topping that list. Entering Saturday, no one in the league had more assists per game than the Kentucky product. The point guard also has four triple-doubles in just 13 games, which also leads the NBA.
Rondo signed a one-year, $9.5MM deal with Sacramento after it appeared interest in him was dwindling. His contract is being lauded as one of the best bargains in the NBA in the wake of his hot start, as 17 point guards have a higher salary this season than the 29-year-old Rondo. That includes Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight, who both play the point at times, but often share the backcourt as well.
Rondo needs to have a strong 2015/16 season in order to rehabilitate his value after a failing to live up to expectations upon arriving in Dallas via trade last season. He’s trending in the right direction and if he continues his level of production, he will likely see a hefty raise on his current salary.
That leads us to tonight’s topic: What kind of offers will Rondo receive when he hits the open market next summer and do you think he stays with Sacramento or signs a pact with another team?
Take to the comments section below to voice your thoughts and opinions, as well as to provide us with your best predictions. We look forward to what you have to say.