D-League Formally Adds Bulls Affiliate For 2016/17
The D-League will expand to add a one-to-one affiliate of the Bulls for the 2016/17 season, the league and the Bulls formally announced via press release. The Bulls will own the team outright, running its basketball operations as well as the business side. The affiliate will be based at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. The team is the third that’s set to join the D-League for next season, when the minor league is poised to swell to 22 teams, all of which will be affiliated directly with an NBA parent club. The Hornets and Nets are the other NBA teams starting up their own D-League affiliates next season.
“We’re extremely excited for the valuable investment the Bulls are making by owning and operating an NBA D-League franchise,” Bulls executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson said in the team’s statement. “While it will ingrain our brand more deeply in the surrounding communities, it will also strengthen our team on the court. Our younger players will have a place close to home to grow and mature while playing within a developmental platform that is consistent with Bulls basketball.”
Formal news about a D-League team in Chicago has been expected since the team acknowledged its plans late last month, as Eric Peterson of the Daily Herald detailed. The team won local government approval in Hoffman Estates this week, though a lease agreement still must be finalized.
Still, the Bulls seemed an unlikely candidate to jump into the D-League game before news of their plans emerged. They haven’t made any D-League assignments since 2013, when they twice sent Marquis Teague to the affiliate they used to share with multiple other NBA teams. Before that, their last D-League assignment took place in 2010. The addition of the Bulls affiliate leaves the Hawks, Nuggets, Clippers, Bucks, Timberwolves, Pelicans, Trail Blazers and Wizards as the only NBA franchises without D-League teams that are either already in operation or in place for next season.
Sixers Lead NBA In Undrafted Players
The vast majority of teams in the NBA have at least one undrafted player, though most of them aren’t integral parts of the roster. Still, they can sometimes turn out to be highly productive in the NBA, as Wesley Matthews and Timofey Mozgov demonstrate. The lack of a draft pedigree didn’t hurt Matthews, who signed for the max with Dallas this past summer, and it probably won’t hinder Mozgov’s earning power as he shoots for a similar deal in free agency next summer.
Carrying an undrafted player into the regular season usually comes with fairly low risk and low reward, but when it works out, a team can end up with a steal. That’s one of the many trial-and-error propositions the Sixers are banking on amid their radical rebuild. They lead the NBA in undrafted players by a fairly wide margin, with six. The Hornets and Knicks are the only other teams with more than three.
One of those undrafted Sixers, Robert Covington, has already proven a commodity, having started 49 times last season while nailing 37.4% of his 3-point attempts. Phil Pressey and Hollis Thompson have also made strong cases that they belong in the NBA, and while it’s early, rookie T.J. McConnell is making teams regret passing on him in this year’s draft.
The list below includes every undrafted player and categorizes teams by the number of undrafted players they have on their rosters:
Six undrafted players:
- Sixers (Robert Covington, T.J. McConnell, Phil Pressey, JaKarr Sampson, Hollis Thompson, Christian Wood)
Four undrafted players:
- Hornets (Troy Daniels, Aaron Harrison, Jeremy Lin, Brian Roberts)
- Knicks (Lou Amundson, Jose Calderon, Langston Galloway, Lance Thomas)
Three undrafted players:
- Heat (Chris Andersen, Udonis Haslem, Tyler Johnson)
- Jazz (Joe Ingles, Chris Johnson, Elijah Millsap)
- Kings (Seth Curry, Duje Dukan, Eric Moreland)
- Mavericks (J.J. Barea, Wesley Matthews, Salah Mejri)
- Pistons (Joel Anthony, Aron Baynes, Anthony Tolliver)
- Trail Blazers (Cliff Alexander, Tim Frazier, Luis Montero)
- Wizards (Alan Anderson, Gary Neal, Garrett Temple)
Two undrafted players:
- Cavaliers (Matthew Dellavedova, Timofey Mozgov)
- Hawks (Kent Bazemore, Justin Holiday)
- Lakers (Tarik Black, Marcelo Huertas)
- Magic (Dewayne Dedmon, C.J. Watson)
- Nets (Willie Reed, Donald Sloan)
- Pelicans (Alonzo Gee, Ish Smith)
- Spurs (Boban Marjanovic, Jonathon Simmons)
- Suns (Ronnie Price, Mirza Teletovic)
- Warriors (Ian Clark, James Michael McAdoo)
One undrafted player:
- Bucks (Chris Copeland)
- Bulls (Cristiano Felicio)
- Clippers (Pablo Prigioni)
- Grizzlies (JaMychal Green)
- Pacers (Shayne Whittington)
- Thunder (Anthony Morrow)
- Timberwolves (Damjan Rudez)
No undrafted players:
- Celtics
- Nuggets
- Rockets
- Raptors
Kings Notes: Karl, Iske, Divac, Cousins
George Karl must return to his usual frenetic self to be successful as coach of the Kings, argues Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee, citing questions over how much the 64-year-old cancer survivor has left as the “overriding concern” within Kings ownership and the front office. Team officials and close friends of Karl have noticed his energy level has dipped since the start of the season, even though he insists otherwise, Voisin writes. People from inside and outside the organization have noticed lead assistant Chad Iske bearing heavy responsibility, tweets Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. See more on the Kings, who’ll try to snap a six-game losing streak tonight against the Pistons:
- Some Kings players are pining for the defensive focus that former coach Michael Malone brought and have concerns about Karl’s defensive schemes, according to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. However, the players aren’t always defending with effort, Jones believes, citing a comment from Karl about “lazy” defense at times. “I never said they don’t like the system,” vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac said of the players. “They just didn’t buy in, yet.”
- Divac said he called Tuesday’s team meeting, Jones notes in the same story. DeMarcus Cousins originally indicated it would be a players-only affair, though Omri Casspi said Cousins did share a text message with the players that reiterated his commitment to the team, as Jones relays. “[Cousins] was the one to send out a text to the players [Monday] night about how he cares about the team, wants to win and he feels like he has the right pieces here,” Casspi said. “So we’ve all got to step up.”
- The team’s mood was remarkably lighter Tuesday following the meeting than it was in the locker room after Monday’s game, observes James Ham of CSNBayArea.com. “All problems are fixable,” Caron Butler said. “They all are. If they weren’t fixable, I don’t think I would be over here sitting, talking to you guys.”
- The continued failure of the Kings to build a successful team around Cousins makes it worth pondering if Sacramento would be better off trading him and starting over, even though he’s a foundational star, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller opines.
Mavs/Clippers Notes: DeAndre Jordan’s Dallas Visit
DeAndre Jordan knew when his Clippers teammates paid a visit to him in July that his second thoughts about committing to the Mavericks were about to escalate, writes Dan Woike of the Orange County Register.
“When the Clippers came to my house,” Jordan said, “I was like ‘Oh [expletive]. This is going to be bad.’”
It wound up being good for the Clippers, but it was the Mavericks who absorbed the worst of it, with their offseason plans in shambles following Jordan’s decision to vacate his deal with them. Jordan will play in Dallas tonight, but in a Clippers uniform as the Mavs play host to his L.A. team. See more on the grudge match stemming from one of the offseason’s most engaging stories:
- It’s not that Jordan turned his back on the Mavericks, but instead the way he went about it that Dirk Nowitzki found untoward, note Tim MacMahon and Justin Verrier of ESPNDallas.com. “We’ve all changed our mind before,” Nowitzki said. “I think the franchise and the fans were not happy with the way he went about it — not responding to [owner Mark Cuban] and [Chandler] Parsons anymore and kind of put-the-head-in-the-sand strategy, instead of being upfront and saying, ‘Hey, I changed my mind,’ and just being honest about it. I think that’s what rubbed people the wrong way, but it’s over.
- Mark Cuban saved all the text messages that Jordan sent him during the saga, including one in which he told the Mavs owner that he was on a date when he was actually with Blake Griffin, observes Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times. “Some day I’ll let you read all the texts and we’ll get into it and we’ll talk about it, but now is not the right time,” Cuban said to Bolch (Twitter link).
- Jordan’s flip-flop wasn’t altogether shocking for his Clippers teammates, who are familiar with his impulsiveness and indecisive nature, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com told the Dallas Morning News in an interview. Shelburne believes Jordan didn’t want to be the pre-eminent star in Dallas and instead simply sought better treatment and appreciation from the Clippers.
- Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News suggests Jordan took the easy way out, declining the chance to embrace the mantle of leadership and the work that comes with it.
Offseason In Review: Boston Celtics
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
- Jae Crowder: Five years, $35MM. Signed via Bird rights.
- Jonas Jerebko: Two years, $10MM. Signed via Bird rights. Second year is non-guaranteed.
- Amir Johnson: Two years, $24MM. Signed via cap room. Second year is non-guaranteed.
Extensions
- None
Trades
- Acquired David Lee from the Warriors in exchange for Chris Babb and Gerald Wallace.
- Acquired Zoran Dragic, Miami’s 2020 second-round pick, and cash from the Heat in exchange for Boston’s unprotected 2019 second-round pick. Dragic was subsequently waived.
- Acquired Perry Jones III, Detroit’s 2019 second-round pick, and cash from the Thunder in exchange for Boston’s unprotected 2018 second-round pick. Jones was subsequently waived.
Waiver Claims
- None
Draft Picks
- Terry Rozier (Round 1, 16th overall). Signed via rookie exception to rookie scale contract.
- R.J. Hunter (Round 1, 28th overall). Signed via rookie exception to rookie scale contract.
- Jordan Mickey (Round 2, 33rd overall). Signed via cap room to a four-year, $5MM deal. The first two years are fully guaranteed, while the final two years are non-guaranteed. The final season is also a team option.
- Marcus Thornton (Round 2, 45th overall). Signed one-year pact with the Sydney Kings of Australia’s National Basketball League.
Camp Invitees
- Coty Clarke — Waived.
- Malcolm Miller — Waived.
- Levi Randolph — Waived.
- Corey Walden — Waived.
Departing Players
Rookie Contract Option Decisions
- Kelly Olynyk (fourth year, $3,094,013) — Exercised.
- Marcus Smart (third year, $3,578,880) — Exercised.
- James Young (third year, $1,825,200) — Exercised.
Going into the summer, the Celtics might have been delighted to know that they would trade for a two-time All-Star who’d twice averaged more than 20 points per game and eclipsed 10 rebounds per game on four occasions. The revelation that the player is David Lee, who hasn’t accomplished any of those feats since the 2012/13 season, would temper that feeling. Lee has been a consistently productive player over an extended period of time in the NBA, make no mistake. He averaged 18.2 points and 10.7 rebounds per game over a six-season span from 2008/09 to 2013/14. Still, his performance in last year’s Finals notwithstanding, his game is a poor stylistic fit for the modern NBA, as he’s neither a floor-stretcher nor a rim-protector, and he suddenly found himself dropped from the starting lineup and the rotation entirely with the Warriors last season.
The early results of his Celtics tenure are telling, as the team appears to regard him as just one of five big men jockeying for playing time in an overcrowded frontcourt. He’s started in only half of the Celtics games and is averaging 18.5 minutes per contest. Only his contract, which pays him nearly $15.5MM this season, would suggest that he’s still a featured player.
Yet it’s Lee’s contract that’s part of his appeal for Boston. His pay doesn’t match his production, undoubtedly, but he represents an extra cost of only $4.4MM over Gerald Wallace, whom the Celtics offloaded in the Lee trade and who was decidedly less productive last season than even a diminished Lee has been so far this year, as Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe pointed out to us. Lee’s also in the final year of contract, meaning the team has a season to evaluate his value within its system and set his price accordingly when he hits free agency in 2016. At worst, he departs, and the Celtics pocket the cap space.
President of basketball operations Danny Ainge pursued the same idea with the free agent signings of Amir Johnson and Jonas Jerebko, neither of whom has guaranteed salary beyond this season despite contracts that call for them to make $12MM and $5MM this year, respectively. Boston opened cap space for the first time since 1997, but with no marquee acquisition in the cards, the Celtics essentially rolled it over to next year, retaining their copious flexibility and at least some of their trade assets.
Still, the Celtics elected to sacrifice a bundle of trade exceptions when they dipped beneath the cap, including an exception worth about $12.9MM from the Rajon Rondo deal and another of about $7.7MM that was a vestige of the trade that sent Tayshaun Prince to the Pistons. They could have executed the Lee trade as an over-the-cap team, since the salaries were within the allowed matching range. It would have been much more difficult, if not impossible, to acquire Johnson without burning the Rondo exception one way or another, but if they simply absorbed Johnson using the Rondo exception in a sign-and-trade, they probably could have kept the Prince exception to use during the season.
Regardless, the Celtics still have as many as three extra first-round picks coming their way in 2016, the right to swap first-rounders with the Nets in 2017, and two additional extra first-round picks beyond that. It’s a haul that represents trade fodder, and Ainge already reportedly tried to deal some of them as part of offers that would have sent a whopping four first-round picks to either the Hornets or the Heat. Ainge was evidently targeting Justise Winslow in this year’s draft, but with those offers rejected, the Celtics pulled a surprise at pick No. 16, taking Terry Rozier. Boston went with more conventional choices at picks Nos. 28 and 33, drafting R.J. Hunter and Jordan Mickey, respectively.
Hunter appears the most likely of the three to receive significant playing time this season, as Brian Robb of ESPN TrueHoop’s Celtics Hub suggested to us and as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com has written, though none have cracked the rotation yet, and Mickey is in the D-League on his second assignment of the year. Mickey’s D-League time seems partly a product of the frontcourt overcrowding, while Rozier plays at the same position as Marcus Smart and Isaiah Thomas. This year’s draft additions seem to underscore the idea that the Celtics are still stockpiling talent to bolster their chances for a trade and not giving too much thought to how that talent fits in with the existing roster construction.
Jae Crowder appears to be the exception to that rule. He was one of 13 free agents around the NBA to sign a five-year deal this past offseason, and while his $35MM take was the second least lucrative among them, it’s clear the Celtics see him as a complementary player who can fit with the team as it moves into what it hopes is a future in which it returns to title contention. It’s a testament to what Ainge was able to reap in the Rondo trade last year, since Rondo has already moved on from the Mavericks and clearly looked like he had gone into decline once he arrived in Dallas.
Ainge continued to make swaps this past summer, though not quite at the dizzying pace that saw him pull off 11 deals during the 2014/15 season. The Lee trade was the most prominent among this summer’s Celtics trade, but Boston picked up second-rounders in swaps that brought in Zoran Dragic and Perry Jones III, both of whom subsequently hit waivers. The Celtics couldn’t find a taker for Jones before he became a casualty of preseason cuts, but they received $1.5MM cash from the Thunder to largely offset his salary of more than $2.038MM.
The Celtics remain in flux even as they have a shot at back-to-back playoff berths. They still don’t have the sort of star that’s almost always necessary for title contention, but they have a skilled coach, lots of trade assets and a front office chief not afraid to take risks. Boston’s offseason was far from perfect, and Ainge may well have been better served staying above the cap and holding on to the team’s trade exceptions, but the Celtics still have loads of cap flexibility for next season. They have only about $34MM in guaranteed salary against a salary cap many around the league think will surge to $95MM, thanks in part to their decision not to do extensions with either Tyler Zeller or Jared Sullinger. They also remain in play to make a game-changing trade. That’s ultimately the point of just about every move Boston is making.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post. The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of it.
Fallout From/Reaction To Mario Chalmers Trade
The Grizzlies almost traded Jarnell Stokes to the Knicks to open a roster spot before the start of the regular season, according to The Commercial Appeal. Instead, Memphis included him in Tuesday’s trade with Miami, the earliest November swap since 2008, which sent Stokes and Beno Udrih to the Heat for Mario Chalmers and James Ennis. People within the Grizzlies organization believe that the shooting and playmaking ability Chalmers has gives the team an opportunity to see how he functions sharing the court with Mike Conley in two point guard sets that would have Conley playing off the ball, the Commercial Appeal report says.
“We just felt that this was a chance to get a guy in Mario Chalmers who is an upgrade as a 3-point shooter, particularly in the playoffs. And you get a little younger,” Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace said. “He’s been in the top 10 in steals percentage. He’s not afraid to step up and take the big shot. It’s an opportunity we had to take. It’s also an opportunity to take a look at a young, athletic guy in James Ennis.”
See more on the trade:
- Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal doesn’t see Chalmers as a shooting upgrade over Udrih, but Chalmers is a better defender a theoretically a better fit with the Grizzlies bench, Herrington opines.
- The Heat were reportedly seeking the involvement of a third team before the trade became official, and the Sixers were in play to fill that role, but the sides couldn’t work out a way to make it work, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt tweets. A Heat spokesperson denied that a search for a third team held up the trade call with the league, and team president Pat Riley said he wasn’t looking to channel Udrih and Stokes to another team, as Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald notes (Twitter link). Coach Erik Spoelstra answered affirmatively when asked if Udrih and Stokes will be staying with the team, Navarro tweets. “We’re not actively pursuing anything else other than what we have today,” Riley said, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.
- The move wasn’t primarily about finances, Riley insisted, adding that he doesn’t think the Heat would ever trade a player they thought could help them win a title merely to save money, as Navarro chronicles.
Grizzlies Acquire Mario Chalmers
5:10pm: The trade is official, the Heat and Grizzlies have announced, though no mention was made of a second-rounder changing hands in the deal. “This is a tough day for myself and the organization in trading Mario Chalmers and James Ennis,” said Heat president Pat Riley. “Mario was a part of two championships with us and Ennis is a solid young player, but it is part of the business and it was a move necessary to make because of our crowded backcourt. We feel that it is in the best interest of Mario and we want him to be successful and be a part of a good team. We wish them nothing but the best. We would also like to welcome Beno Udrih, an accomplished veteran and someone that has playoff and championship experience, and the addition of Jarnell Stokes, a young player that we would like to develop.”
4:04pm: The Heat don’t see either Udrih or Stokes as long-term pieces, but they’d still execute the two-team trade with the Grizzlies if they can’t find a third team, Stein writes. The ESPN scribe also invokes Andersen’s name, suggesting that he remains available.
2:57pm: The Heat are looking for a third team willing to take Udrih, Stokes or both, and that’s keeping the deal with the Grizzlies from becoming official, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Miami has the option of simply pulling off the two-teamer with Memphis, but the Heat would prefer to include a third team, Stein adds.
12:27pm: The Grizzlies and Heat are have agreed to a deal that will send Mario Chalmers and James Ennis to Memphis for Beno Udrih, Jarnell Stokes and a second-round pick, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). Wojnarowski’s full story indicates Miami is receiving a second-round pick from Memphis, too, but it makes no mention of, who was in Wojnarowski’s Twitter report, which didn’t include the second-rounder. In any case, the teams are preparing for a trade call with the league office today, Wojnarowski notes. Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported a week ago that the sides had talked about a potential trade involving Chalmers, and a few days later Stein wrote about growing concern within the Grizzlies organization amid a slow start. Memphis, at 3-4, next plays Wednesday at home against the Warriors.
The move is a cost-cutter for the Heat, who give up the $4.3MM salary of Chalmers in exchange for Udrih and his pay of $2.17MM, which is only a little more than half of what Chalmers makes. Stokes and Ennis are have identical one-year veteran’s minimum salaries, though Stokes has a full guarantee while Ennis has a partial guarantee of only about $254K, since he and the Heat reworked the terms of his contract before the start of the regular season. Memphis will likely use part of its $967,500 trade exception left over from the offseason Jon Leuer deal to absorb the $845,059 that Stokes makes and offset the unbalanced exchange of salaries, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter).
Miami is set to remove about $6MM from its potential luxury tax bill with the trade, according to Wojnarowski, though the tax isn’t calculated until the final day of the regular season. The Heat would still be in line to pay repeat-offender tax penalties in the wake of today’s deal, and many of the same offseason rumors that raised the idea of a Chalmers trade also made mention of Chris Andersen, who could be the next to go, as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel speculates (Twitter link).
Memphis hasn’t been pleased with the play of its bench and hopes that Chalmers will be an upgrade behind starting point guard Mike Conley, league sources told Wojnarowski. Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal had heard from some people, ostensibly around the Grizzlies, who quietly expressed disappointment with what they perceived to be Udrih’s lack of conditioning, athleticism and defense, and the team wasn’t ready to turn the backup job over to third-stringer Russ Smith, Tillery also wrote.
A desire to avoid the tax plus confidence in Tyler Johnson and Gerald Green helped prompt the Heat to make the move, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link), though Green remains away from the team following his hospitalization last week. Green is out of the hospital and is reportedly expected to return to the team soon, however. In any case, the acquisition of Udrih gives the team an experienced backup at the point as it attempts to regain its status among the Eastern Conference elite, even with the concerns about Udrih from Memphis. Of course, no guarantee exists that the team won’t flip Udrih to further its efforts to dodge the tax, tweets Ethan Skolnick of the Miami Herald.
Chalmers first became a trade candidate in June, when Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com reported that the Heat were shopping him and Andersen to try to clear room for a new deal with Dwyane Wade. Team president Pat Riley denied that, ESPN’s Zach Lowe heard in July that Chalmers and Andersen could be had “for nothing” in return, which speaks to the idea that the Heat wanted their salaries off the books. Miami had apparently backed away, at least temporarily, from the idea of a Chalmers trade by late August, but at that point they wouldn’t rule out a deal as soon as October, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported.
The Grizzlies have to renounce cap holds for unsigned free agents from years past who didn’t return to the NBA, notes former Nets executive Bobby Marks (All Twitter links). The cap holds they’re renouncing are the ones for Gilbert Arenas, Leon Powe, Stephen Hunter and Marcus D. Williams, according to Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal (Twitter link). That’s because those cap holds technically put the Grizzlies over the tax line, which would mean they could only take in 125% plus $100K of what they sent out — not enough to accommodate this deal, as Marks explains. Renouncing the cap holds would up that limit to 150% plus $100K, which allows the trade to take place, Marks notes.
Which team do you think is getting the better end of this deal? Leave a comment to let us know.
Pacific Notes: Karl, Divac, Upshaw, Kerr
DeMarcus Cousins spoke Monday night of the Kings holding a players-only meeting, but the confab, which took place today, also apparently included coaches and front office chief Vlade Divac, who termed it a productive affair, observes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter links). Caron Butler said the team is behind coach George Karl, tweets Sean Cunningham of KXTV-TV.
“We addressed some issues and the most important thing is we are on the same page,” Divac said, according to Jones.
While we wait to see if the meeting helps Sacramento end a six-game losing streak or simply leads to more drama, see more from the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers worked out Kristaps Porzingis but ultimately passed on him with the No. 2 pick, though coach Byron Scott didn’t expect him to be as productive as he has been so soon for the Knicks, who drafted him fourth, notes Marc Berman of the New York Post. “From what we saw, he was able to shoot it from 3-point range pretty easily,” Scott said. “He’s a young kid that in the workouts we had, really didn’t show any fear. Just thought it was going to take him some time [to develop]. Obviously, we were probably a little wrong about that because he’s playing pretty well right now.”
- Robert Upshaw said he knew from the start of his deal to join the Lakers that the team would waive him, as the Lakers ultimately did before opening night, but he’s confident he’ll receive another NBA contract this season and isn’t considering a jump overseas, as he told Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). The undrafted big man is with the Lakers D-League team as an affiliate player.
- Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group tosses out some predictions for the rest of the Warriors season, suggesting that if coach Steve Kerr doesn’t make it back by around March 1st, it would be tough to envision him jumping back in so close to the postseason. Still, Kawakami speculates that such a lengthy absence is unlikely.
Atlantic Notes: Jerebko, Brown, ‘Melo, Scola
Jonas Jerebko‘s defense and versatility are benefiting the Celtics even though his minutes are down from last season, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com examines. The Celtics re-signed Jerebko this summer on a two-year, $10MM deal.
“If you’ve got guys that can guard multiple positions, especially that can swing from the perimeter to the bigs, and vice versa, it’s huge,” coach Brad Stevens said. “Especially the way the game is being played with so many skilled 4s and so many shooting bigs.”
See more from the Atlantic Division:
- Sixers coach Brett Brown came from a Spurs team that seamlessly adapted to the small-ball era, but with Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel on Philadelphia’s roster, and Joel Embiid if he ever returns to health, Brown believes the Sixers can win with multiple bigs, as Ian Thomsen of NBA.com details. “I think it is relevant,” Brown said of the rise of small-ball. “But trends don’t necessarily mean that’s the correct path with respective teams. The path that Golden State went on catered to their strengths first. For me it always gets down to, how do you get your best players on the court? The trend we’re talking about with small ball is true, but I don’t see it being the answer, that it’s the only way.”
- Carmelo Anthony‘s increased assist production is an indication that of his faith in the roster that Knicks team president Phil Jackson built around him, posits Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com.
- Luis Scola‘s addition of a corner 3-pointer to his game is setting him apart from Patrick Patterson, whom Scola beat out for the starting power forward job on the Raptors, observes Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.
November Trades Rare Over Past Decade
The NBA experienced a high volume of trades last season, but none of them took place during the first full month of the regular season. The trade that the Heat and Grizzlies have agreed to make that will send Mario Chalmers to Memphis is poised to become just the fifth November trade since 2009, as former Nets executive Bobby Marks points out (Twitter link). If it becomes official within the next two days, it would also be the earliest November trade since the Nuggets shipped Allen Iverson to the Pistons for a package that included Chauncey Billups on November 3rd, 2008.
Much of the lack of movement is because most of the players who sign during the offseason aren’t eligible to be traded until December 15th. The shorter contracts put in place under the 2011 collective bargaining agreement that give more players a chance to hit free agency each summer means even fewer players are eligible for inclusion in trades this early in the season. Before that agreement, the 2011 lockout wiped out all games and would-be player movement in November that year, further shortening the list below.
Most of the recent November trades resemble the Chalmers swap, which doesn’t feature a star changing teams, but the Iverson-Billups deal wasn’t the only one that broke that mold. The Knicks shipped out Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford in separate trades on November 21st, 2008, and notable names like Trevor Ariza, Stephen Jackson and Peja Stojakovic have also changed addresses early in the season. Here’s the complete list of trades that have taken place in November over the last 10 years:
- November 26th, 2013: Timberwolves trade Derrick Williams to Kings for Luc Mbah a Moute.
- November 13th, 2012: Bobcats trade Matt Carroll to Hornets for Hakim Warrick.
- November, 20th, 2010: Hornets trade Peja Stojakovic and Jerryd Bayless to Raptors for Jarrett Jack, David Andersen and Marcus Banks.
- November 16th, 2009: Warriors trade Stephen Jackson and Acie Law to Bobcats for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic.
- November 21st, 2008: Knicks trade Zach Randolph and Mardy Collins to Clippers for Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley.
- November 21st, 2008: Knicks trade Jamal Crawford to Warriors for Al Harrington.
- November 3rd, 2008: Nuggets trade Allen Iverson to Pistons for Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb.
- November 20th, 2007: Magic trade Trevor Ariza to Lakers for Brian Cook and Maurice Evans.