Marcus Morris Confirms Turning Down Three-Year Offer From Clippers
Marcus Morris verbally accepted a two-year, $20MM deal with the Spurs before opting to sign with the Knicks instead, but that deal with San Antonio isn’t the only contract he turned down this past summer. The forward confirmed that he turned down a three-year, $41MM deal from the Clippers in July, as Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic relays.
“It had nothing to do with me playing here (in L.A.),” Morris explained. “Personally, as a player, I felt as though I was worth more. I felt as though my time in the NBA, with the production I had throughout the years, I felt I was worth more than what they offered. That was just my opinion. As a player that’s what I was standing on.”
Morris inked a one-year, $15MM deal with New York and there’s chatter that the franchise would like to keep him long-term. Rival scouts and executives believe the Knicks could get a late first-round pick for Morris should they decide to deal him. Vorkunov speculates that the Clippers could be a team to watch out for if the franchise indicates it wants to move on.
Morris added he turned down Los Angeles’ offer, which was first reported last July, because he wanted to “bet” on himself.
“I came with the Knicks, I’d seen a great opportunity, I’d seen a great group of guys, and I wanted to bet on myself on an opportunity where I can showcase what I really can do and I thought that New York would be the perfect place for me to come,” Morris said.
While none of the subsequent offers Morris received came close to matching the overall value of the Clippers’ deal, he did at least secure a higher 2019/20 salary on his deal with the Knicks. He and agent Rich Paul parted ways after Morris’ eventful free agent period.
Cavaliers Plan To Retain John Beilein
1:06pm: Cleveland plans to have Beilein coach tonight’s game and stick with him going forward, Wojnarowski tweets. The coach met with Altman and gave an emotional apology to the team before today’s shootaround. Altman got a sense of how accepting the players were of the apology, Woj adds (via Twitter).
9:15am: The Cavaliers‘ season hasn’t exactly gone smoothly so far, and a comment made this week by head coach John Beilein didn’t help matters. Addressing players during a recent film session, Beilein said the team was no longer playing “like a bunch of thugs.” The coach acknowledged the misstep, claiming that he meant to say “slugs,” as in the team was playing too slow.
“I didn’t realize that I had said the word ‘thugs,’ but my staff told me later I did and so I must have said it,” Beilein told Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. “I meant to say slugs, as in slow-moving. We weren’t playing hard before, and now we were playing harder. I meant it as a compliment. That’s what I was trying to say. I’ve already talked to eight of my players tonight, and they are telling me that they understand.”
Multiple players declined to comment when Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reached out for comment, though he hears that feedback this morning was that the team is “OK.” Players understand the coach’s explanation and feel comfortable moving forward. Some players weren’t even aware that Beilein made the comments initially.
In addition to players, Beilein has also spoken to GM Koby Altman on the matter. Beilein, who spent over 40 years coaching in the college ranks, signed a five-year contract to be Cleveland’s coach this offseason. A report in December suggested that his coaching style was alienating some of the Cavs’ players.
The Cavs are 10-27 on the season and many of their veterans are available on the trade market, Woj notes.
Knicks May Not Be Sellers At Trade Deadline
Given the state of the Knicks, one would assume the team will look to trade away its veterans before the trade deadline and accumulate assets for the future. However, Ian Begley of SNY.tv hears that rival clubs are getting the impression that New York isn’t solely focused on being sellers and accumulating draft picks and young players.
Opposing front offices believe that the Knicks have veterans that could help round out a playoff team, both this season and in future years. Teams have previously expressed interest in Dennis Smith Jr., Marcus Morris, and Bobby Portis and Begley notes that the team has likely had conversations about other players as well.
What happens with Morris will be particularly interesting. The forward signed a one-year, $15MM contract with New York this offseason after spurning San Antonio, and the franchise believes he could have long-term value to the club. The Knicks have been impressed by his play and his leadership so far this season.
The organization is 10-27 on the season and is on its second coach of the campaign.
Cavaliers Sign Alfonzo McKinnie To 10-Day Deal
The Cavaliers have signed Alfonzo McKinnie to a 10-day contract, the team announces on its website.
Cleveland released the wing earlier this week, as his salary for 2019/20 was set to become guaranteed, but there were rumblings that he could be back on a 10-day deal. The team also released Tyler Cook before the salary guarantee deadline.
In 23 games for the Cavs, McKinnie has averaged just 2.7 points in 11.0 minutes per game. He’s shooting 35.3% from the field, including 28.6% from deep.
Cleveland now has 14 players on the roster.
Sixers Have Interest In Robert Covington, Other Players
The Sixers are parsing the trade market for reinforcements who can shoot the ball. According to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, Philadelphia has expressed interest in several role players, including Malik Beasley, Glenn Robinson III, Davis Bertans, E’Twaun Moore, and Andre Iguodala. O’Connor adds that the team has also inquired on Robert Covington, whom the team dealt away in the Jimmy Butler deal last season.
Most of those names, including Covington, are truly available. The price for Minnesota’s wing is expected to be high and with Philadelphia void of shiny assets, GM Elton Brand will have to get creative if he is going to bring back Sam Hinkie’s former gem.
Zhaire Smith is the young prospect the team is most willing to part with. Rivals teams have more interest in Matisse Thybulle, though Philadelphia is reluctant to deal the No. 20 overall pick. The franchise owns all of its own draft picks starting in the 2021 draft, so the Sixers could attempt to sweeten any deal with a future asset.
Other names on that list could be more obtainable than RoCo. It’ll be tough to pry Bertans from Washington, as the team can envision him as a long-term piece, but Iguodala, Moore, and Robinson are in obvious selling situations. Denver won’t be a seller at the trade deadline, but with a deep rotation and Beasley’s impending restricted free agency, the franchise is smartly assessing the market for the shooting guard.
Here’s more on Philadelphia.
- O’Connor contends that the Sixers should consider making a bigger move for Chris Paul, swapping either Tobias Harris or Al Horford and additional salary for the 34-year-old point guard. However, the scribe hears that Harris and Horford, each of whom signed long-term deals this offseason, aren’t any more tradeable than CP3.
- Trading Simmons doesn’t appear likely, in part because it would mean “putting all your superstar eggs in the Embiid basket,” and the big man has had a shaky injury history. O’ Connor wonders if Simmons would be the one the team decides to build around if forced to choose between the two.
- Big changes will likely come with an early exit in the playoffs, though many around the game believe it would be Brett Brown who takes the fall in that scenario. There were rumblings that former team president Bryan Colangelo was planning to fire Brown and replace him with Villanova coach Jay Wright, but that was before Twittergate. Still, O’Connor hears from multiple sources that Brown didn’t have the best relationship with the locker room last season.
Central Notes: Doumbouya, WCJ, Turner, Love
Rookie Sekou Doumbouya is working to prove he can be a reliable player for the Pistons and the team is giving him that opportunity.
“What do they say in the Baptist church when you get baptized? ‘Hallelujah.’” Casey said (via Rod Beard of The Detroit News). “OK, so go ahead, put him in the water. He’s in the water and he’s getting baptized with three of the top players in our league, Draymond [Green] and Kawhi [Leonard], and [LeBron] James, so he’s seeing the best he’s going to see right now.”
The No. 15 overall pick has taken on the responsibility of guarding the opposition’s best player on many occasions this season. With Blake Griffin sidelined for the foreseeable future, Doumbouya will have more opportunities to grow.
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Wendell Carter Jr. is dealing with an ankle injury and while the big man believes it’s just a sprain, he’ll undergo an MRI on Thursday, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports relays on Twitter. Carter was originally scheduled to have the MRI on Tuesday but it’ll wait until the Bulls return home from their road trip.
- J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star details how Pacers big man Myles Turner has turned his season around. Turning off social media has been a major plus for Turner. “For someone in my position, it can be toxic at times. You start hearing stuff, hearing your name pop up in certain places. You can’t pay it any mind. You got to be comfortable in your own skin,” he said.
- ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (video link) doesn’t believe Kevin Love‘s relationship with GM Koby Altman is all that great. The two recently had a heated exchange and Love has acknowledged that his behavior was childlike, though he insists he and Altman are on good terms and says their supposed altercation was overblown.
NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 1/8/20
Here are Wednesday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Pacers have recalled Goga Bitadze and Alize Johnson from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the team announced on Twitter. Both players were sent down to the G League on Tuesday.
- The Clippers have recalled Terance Mann, Mfiondu Kabengele and Jerome Robinson from the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, according to the club. The trio was sent down to the G League on Tuesday as well.
Skal Labissiere To Miss At Least Four Weeks
The Trail Blazers’ thin frontcourt has taken another hit. Skal Labissiere underwent a pair of MRIs, which revealed a left knee articular cartilage lesion. The injury will put the big man out of action for at least four weeks, according to the team’s website.
Labissiere suffered the injury during the team’s December 28 contest against the Lakers. He will be re-evaluated in early February.
The big man was eligible to sign a rookie-scale extension with the Blazers prior to the season but didn’t come to terms with the club. He is averaging 5.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists on 55.1% shooting this season.
Portland is already without injured big men Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins, so Hassan Whiteside will be leaned on for heavy minutes at center, while Carmelo Anthony, Mario Hezonja, and Anthony Tolliver will be among those who fill out the frontcourt rotation.
Jalen Rose Aspires To Co-Own Pistons
Detroit native Jalen Rose has ambitions to join the Pistons‘ ownership group sometime in the future, as he told Richard Deitsch on his podcast (h/t Matt Schoch of The Detroit News).
“I would love to be a minority owner with the Detroit Pistons,” Rose said. “I feel like there’s a wealth of things that I could bring to the table.”
The Pistons are approximately worth $1.27 billion, according to the latest Forbes’ valuation. Tom Gores originally bought a 51% stake in the team for $325MM back in 2011 before buying the remainder of the franchise in 2015.
The Pistons have since opened a new arena in downtown Detroit, a development that earned Rose’s approval.
“I applaud him bringing the team downtown,” Rose said. “That’s something that’d stood out to me.”
Rose also mentioned that he could have an interest in coaching in the future either at the collegiate or professional level. Still, he’s not ready to quit his day job, as he loves ESPN.
“If they’ll have me, I’ll do this until I’m Hubie Brown’s age,” Rose said of his fellow ESPN analyst, who is 86 years old.
Wizards Notes: Culture, Bryant, Smith, Mathews
The culture in Washington has changed dramatically from last season and Ish Smith believes the team the Wizards could be on a similar path to the one the Nets are on, as he told Hoops Rumors and other media in attendance after the team’s recent win over the Celtics.
“Brooklyn, I thought, did a great job of it last year. They’ve been doing a great job over the last two years – they haven’t had any true superstars, but now they do,” Smith said. “They’ve just been playing hard and guys have emerged out of nowhere.
“You look at Joe Harris; Joe Harris wasn’t a household name, now he is one. Spencer Dinwiddie, I can go down the line, all of those guys who played really, really well and held down the fort – and they made it to the playoffs last year. Obviously, D’Angelo [Russell] was a household name and everybody knew who he was, but I thought Brooklyn had laid that [foundation] down. We’re just trying to play hard, try to play smarter. We’re embodying who Coach [Scott] Brooks is. Coach Brooks is a fighter and that’s who he was his whole career. I think we’re doing a great job of doing that these last few games.”
The Wizards have had a stockpile of injuries and players without much brand recognition have stepped up. Here’s more on the unique squad out of Washington:
- The front office would like to promote Anzejs Pasecniks, who is on a two-way deal, to the 15-man roster, though good luck guessing which player would be waived if that happens. Gary Payton II‘s contract for the season became fully guaranteed on Tuesday, which makes the Wizards roster 15-for-15 in guaranteed contracts.
- Thomas Bryant could make his return to the court this weekend. The Wizards play the Hawks on Friday and the Jazz on Sunday.
- Wizards guard Jordan McRae spoke about how Smith, has impacted the club “Ish [Smith] is doing what Ish does. We’ve been going through droughts where we can’t score. Him being the point guard, him being the leader that he is, he’s taken it upon himself,” McRae said. We recently detailed how Smith is channeling his inner Steve Nash for the Wizards.
- Brook said there is no update on Garrison Mathews, who is dealing with an ankle sprain, Fred Katz of The Athletic relays on Twitter.