And-Ones: Beal, Durant, Morris, Giles
Bradley Beal understands the advantage of the cap flexibility the Wizards retained when they didn’t sign him to an extension before Monday’s deadline, and he has no desire to play for any other team after his restricted free agency next summer, as he tells Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports. Beal thinks of himself as a max player but told Lee that he’ll accept whatever he deserves regardless of whether it’s the max. The Wizards reportedly intend to give him the max next summer.
“This is where I want to be. I’m not looking at any other teams. I’m not looking to go anywhere else. I believe in this team we have in this locker room. I’m a big cornerstone of this team, so I’m here. I want to be here. Hopefully, the front office knows that. I’m pretty sure that they know that,” Beal said.
See more on the Wizards amid the latest from around the NBA:
- The Wizards remain a legitimate threat to sign Kevin Durant in 2016, league sources tell Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. One executive from another team who spoke with Berger insists the maneuver the Wizards are executing with Beal to help facilitate that, similar to what the Pistons are doing with Andre Drummond, is against the rules.
- Marcus Morris made comments indicating that he’s ready to move past his feelings toward the trade that separated him from his brother, but as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press shows, he still has negative memories of his time with the Suns. “I felt disrespected the entire time I was in Phoenix,” Morris said. “I was playing well, but I still feel like I didn’t have a real opportunity to grow. Anytime a team trades you away like that, it’s a slap in the face. I still feel disrespected, and I feel like I want to disrespect them.”
- Top 2017 draft prospect Harry Giles suffered a “slight small tear” in his right ACL, a source told Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv, but it’s enough to knock him out for his senior year of high school this season, his father confirmed to Paul Biancardi of ESPN.com. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress moved the 6’10” power forward down from No. 1 to No. 2 in his 2017 mock draft, replacing him at the top with 6’8″ small forward Jayson Tatum, but Givony explained to Zagoria for a separate story that Giles has plenty of time to recover and regain the top spot.
2016 Free Agent Power Rankings
We’ll surely hear more about that in the months ahead, as well as talk about other names below. Here’s how the top 10 2016 free agents line up for now:
- Kevin Durant — It’s all gone well so far this season for Durant, who’s on pace for the third-highest scoring average of his career and is showing no ill effects from last season’s broken foot. So, for the first time since we began these rankings in the 2013/14 season, we have a new No. 1. The client of Leon Rose and Rich Kleiman visits his native Washington on Tuesday for the Thunder’s game against the Wizards, so he’ll have lots of questions to answer about his future. (Last ranking: 2)
- LeBron James (player option) — The Rich Paul client has no shortage of power with the Cavs, and his fall from the No. 1 spot on this list isn’t really any fault of his own, even as his scoring is at its lowest level since he was a rookie. James at No. 2 is simply a reflection of the nearly four-year age difference between him and Durant, who just turned 27. Four years is an eternity in an NBA player’s career, and with five straight trips to the Finals, James has endured far more wear and tear than most who are about to turn 31. (Last ranking: 1)
- Mike Conley — Conley, whose father is his agent, isn’t quite looking himself to start the season, but neither is the next player on this list, so we’ll keep the Grizzlies point guard at No. 3. The Nets are reportedly likely to make Conley their top free agent target this summer, but not many people think he’ll leave Memphis, with Marc Gasol having hinted that he’s one of those people. (Last ranking: 3)
- Dwight Howard (player option) — Howard made all 10 of his shots in Wednesday’s game, but aside from that, he hasn’t looked especially sharp, and he’s already taken one game off to preserve his creaky back. The Dan Fegan client isn’t planning the sort of fanfare that surrounded the end of his last contract, but while he remains one of the best centers in the game, he’s no longer the force he was when the drama surrounding his exit from the Magic began. (Last ranking: 4)
- Andre Drummond (restricted) — Drummond isn’t going anywhere, since the Pistons will have the power to match offers and owner Tom Gores regards him as a max player. If the Pistons hadn’t talked him out of an extension, he’d already be locked up for the long term. But he’s on this list as a testament to his growing value. (Last ranking: 5)
- Al Horford — The new Bill Duffy client is averaging 18.0 points per contest through six games, and while it’s early, that’s more than he’s posted in any season except his injury-shortened 2013/14 campaign, when he only made 29 appearances. Horford will turn 30 in June, but he’s showing no signs of slowing down. (Last ranking: 6)
- Bradley Beal (restricted) — Beal, off to a strong start, is essentially in the same situation as Drummond is, since the Wizards reportedly intend to re-sign him for the max in the summer. Beal’s extension negotiation seemed like more of a roundabout affair than Drummond’s, but with Beal expressing his desire to remain in Washington, the Mark Bartelstein client seems willing to go along with the team’s plan to use its cap space before circling back to sign him. (Last ranking: 7)
- DeMar DeRozan (player option) — His three-point shot appears no better, but it hasn’t stopped the Raptors from winning all five of their games so far. The client of Aaron Goodwin is dishing out more assists than ever and appears on his way to a third straight season of scoring more than 20 points per game. The Raptors hedged against his ability to bolt with an extension for Terrence Ross this week. (Last ranking: 9)
- Harrison Barnes (restricted) — The former No. 7 overall pick called off extension talks with the Warriors, long after rejecting a four-year, $64MM offer and switching agents to Jeff Schwartz. Golden State seemed to prefer the extension route, and while they have control over where he plays next season, they don’t hold full sway over how much he’ll get. (Last ranking: Out of top 10)
- Dwyane Wade — The Leon Rose client who turns 34 in January is averaging the same 21.5 points and 4.8 assists through four games this season that he did last year. Those numbers translated to a one-year, $20MM deal for him this past summer, so that’s enough for him to hold off teammate Hassan Whiteside — if just barely — for now. (Last ranking: 10)
Dropped out: Joakim Noah (Last ranking: 8) — It’ll be tough for Noah to maximize his value now that he’s coming off the bench, and he hasn’t made the most of the playing time new Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg has given him, averaging just 2.0 points in 18.8 minutes per contest through five games so far.
The following three players can also hit free agency in 2016, but they’re far more likely to retire than leave their respective teams. So, we’re listing them here, in a special section of sorts, and in alphabetical order.
- Kobe Bryant
- Tim Duncan (player option)
- Dirk Nowitzki (player option)
Who are your top 10 2016 free agents? Leave a comment to give us your list.
Atlantic Notes: Fredette, Saric, Prokhorov, Celtics
- Draft-and-stash prospect Dario Saric wished he could have joined the Sixers this past offseason and confirmed to the Croatian outlet Vecernji list that he intends to sign with Philadelphia when his overseas contract allows him to this coming summer (translation via Matt Lombardo of NJ.com). Saric, the 12th pick of the 2014 draft, added that he’s in constant communication with Sixers officials.
- The NBA blocked Mikhail Prokhorov’s plan to borrow money against his share of the Nets to purchase the minority portion that Bruce Ratner owns because it would give the team more than $250MM in debt, sources told Josh Kosman and Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. NBA teams can’t borrow more than that amount without a waiver. So, Prokhorov and Ratner are attempting to restructure the deal that would give Prokhorov 100% of the team, the Post scribes write, and it’s still on track to be complete by year’s end, a league source tells NetsDaily.
- The Celtics recalled Jordan Mickey and James Young from the D-League, the team announced. They received some extra practice reps while with the farm team after the C’s assigned them Tuesday. Keep tabs on all this year’s D-League assignments and recalls with our tracker, which we’ll be updating throughout the season.
The Beat: Calvin Watkins On The Rockets
Nobody knows NBA teams better than beat writers, save for those who draw paychecks with an NBA owner’s signature on them. The reporters who are with the teams they cover every day gain an intimate knowledge of the players, coaches and executives they write about and develop sources who help them break news and stay on top of rumors.
We at Hoops Rumors will be chatting with beat writers from around the league and sharing their responses to give you a better perspective on how and why teams make some of their most significant moves. Last time, we spoke with Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News about the Lakers. Click here to see all the previous editions of this series.
Today, we gain insight on the Rockets from Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. You can follow Calvin on Twitter at @calvinwatkins, and check out his stories right here.
Hoops Rumors: Both Ty Lawson and Patrick Beverley are averaging fewer points and assists than they did last season on separate teams. It’s early, but is it too early for concern about whether they can successfully co-exist?
Calvin Watkins: Too early right now. Lawson was being passive-aggressive in some situations until recently when James Harden told him to become more aggressive. Lawson just needs to find a comfort level within the offense and do what he normally does. Against Oklahoma City, Lawson had 11 assists and made six of 10 shots from the floor. When he’s playing aggressive, passing and taking open looks, he’s an excellent point guard to watch. Beverley’s numbers are going to go down just because he’s going to defer to Lawson when the duo is on the floor. There is one area that will increase, the number of 3-point attempts for Beverley. He will get more open looks because of Lawson and even to a certain degree what Harden is going to do, that’s become a passer. It’s too early to worry about them right now.
Hoops Rumors: Dwight Howard seemingly has a lot to prove this year after he missed half of last season with injury, especially since he can opt out next summer. Is he taking a different approach to this season?
Calvin Watkins: Howard isn’t going to participate in many back-to-backs, at least early in the season. The Rockets are taking a cautious approach with him because he had some back stiffness after the first preseason game. The Rockets don’t want to push Howard too much for fear they will lose him again. Remember he played in a career-low 41 games last season due to an assortment of injuries. I think Kevin McHale wants to use him more, especially in the early going, but as the season moves along, Howard will gain more minutes.
Hoops Rumors: Were you surprised at all that the Rockets didn’t sign either Terrence Jones or Donatas Motiejunas to extensions before the deadline Monday?
Calvin Watkins: Not really. I think the Rockets value both players but let’s be honest, Jones has endured too many health issues the last few years and while he’s very athletic and has tremendous upside, in just the last two seasons he’s had nerve damage to his leg, a collapsed lung, bruised ribs, a concussion and a lacerated eyelid. I don’t believe he’s injury-prone, but he’s got some bad luck. Motiejunas is coming off back surgery and like with Howard, the Rockets are being cautious. His return is uncertain but when he does play, he’s almost as talented as Jones. Rockets have to wait on the health of Motiejunas more than anything else before deciding on whether he’s worth a long-term deal. Having a back problem can be a dicey situation.
Hoops Rumors: Speaking of Motiejunas, his absence seems to have opened some minutes for Montrezl Harrell so far, though Sam Dekker has mostly been stuck on the bench. What does the team expect from the two rookies this season?
Calvin Watkins: Harrell is a surprise. He plays with hustle and he has some good post moves. The Rockets have been short-handed at the forward/center spot, so Harrell is getting his chance to play more. He needs to improve on his defensive rotations and that comes with more playing time. Dekker is just behind Trevor Ariza at small forward and is still trying to figure out how to get his own shot. He’s going to be awhile in terms of getting playing time.
Hoops Rumors: The Rockets re-signed K.J. McDaniels this summer, but he still isn’t seeing much playing time. What has to happen for that to change?
Calvin Watkins: Injuries. McDaniels is very talented, athletic, a little out of control, but has upside. Rockets have too many shooters ahead of him. If someone gets hurt, like Ariza, Harden or Corey Brewer, then you might see that change. For now, he’s stuck on the bench.
Hoops Rumors: The Rockets reportedly persuaded Brewer to decline his $4.905MM player option when they traded for him last year, and yet they re-signed him this summer to a deal with an average annual value of almost $7.807MM, a nearly $3MM difference. What did Brewer do that made such a positive impression on the team?
Calvin Watkins: McHale loves veteran players who play hard on both ends. That’s Brewer. The fact he’s won a title also gives him value in the Rockets locker room. He’s instant offense on the break off the bench and he’s a pretty good defender. Plus, he’s good friends with Lawson and that can only help the point guard in his growing process from the issues he endured in the last several months.
Nuggets Re-Sign Papanikolaou, Waive Green
11:42am: The moves are official, the team announced via press release.
10:10am: The Nuggets are waiving Erick Green to clear the way for the return of Kostas Papanikolaou, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports (Twitter link). Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post confirms the team is indeed expected to re-sign Papanikolaou, whom Denver cut before the season (Twitter link). The Nuggets are thin in the frontcourt with injuries to Wilson Chandler, Jusuf Nurkic, Joffrey Lauvergne and Nikola Jokic, as Wojnarowski and Dempsey point out (Twitter link), so Papanikolaou, a 6’8″ combo forward, can shore up that part of the team. Green, a point guard, was on a deal partially guaranteed for $100K, so the Nuggets will owe him that amount if he clears waivers.
It’s possible that Lauvergne and Jokic will play tonight, according to Dempsey (Twitter link), so the Nuggets don’t qualify for a hardship provision of a 16th roster spot, which would require them to have four players who are expected to be sidelined for at least two weeks. Thus, Denver, which has been carrying the maximum 15 players, has to drop a player in order to add one.
Papanikolaou, a 25-year-old native of Greece, averaged 4.2 points and 2.7 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game across 43 appearances with the Rockets last season, his first in the NBA. He didn’t live up to his contract, worth more than $9MM over two years, and they traded him to the Nuggets in the Ty Lawson deal. Denver released Papanikolaou before his nearly $4.798MM salary for this season would have become guaranteed, and that was no surprise after he averaged just 1.8 points per game for the Greek national team at this summer’s Eurobasket tournament.
It’s a quick turn of fortunes for Green, whom the Nuggets kept instead of Nick Johnson when they had to trim their roster at the end of the preseason. Johnson, another player who came to Denver in the Lawson trade, had $1.825MM worth of guaranteed salary remaining over two seasons on his contract. Still, Green, the 46th pick in the 2013 draft, had yet to score in only about seven minutes of action so far this season.
Do you think the Nuggets are making a wise move? Leave a comment to let us know.
Pacific Notes: Kerr, Crawford, Teletovic, Lakers
One Warriors player told ESPN’s J.A. Adande he wouldn’t be surprised if Steve Kerr is out until after the All-Star break, as Adande passed along as the sideline reporter for the network’s coverage of Golden State’s win Wednesday over the Clippers (transcription via James Herbert of CBSSports.com). Kerr told Adande that he’s still dealing with headaches and remains heavily medicated as he tries to recover from back surgery. The Warriors haven’t missed a beat under interim coach Luke Walton, who’s steered the team to a 5-0 record and dominant performances. See more from the Pacific:
- Jamal Crawford is seeing decreased minutes this season as expected, but he’s still OK with that, observes Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. Crawford, a subject of trade rumors this summer with the Heat, Cavs and Knicks reportedly having shown interest, wasn’t present when many of the Clippers traveled to persuade DeAndre Jordan to renege on his decision to bolt to the Mavericks, and when asked why, he said, “I can’t answer that,” according to Bresnahan. However, Crawford did allude to a pro-am tournament that he hosted the same day, Bresnahan points out.
- Offseason signees Sonny Weems and Mirza Teletovic have underwhelming numbers thus far for the Suns, observes Zach Buchanan of the Arizona Republic. Weems feels his defense and decisions have been solid even though he’s yet to score much, while Teletovic thinks a lack of playing time has affected his 3-point accuracy, which is at 25% for the season after Wednesday’s game. “You can’t expect me to come in and score three threes in two minutes,” Teletovic said prior to Wednesday’s game, as Buchanan relays. “It’s tough. You’re not in rhythm. Obviously coming in in the fourth quarter and stuff like that is really tough. I’m trying, but I’m still working.”
- The Lakers are hoping they can balance winning with player development this season, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News told us for a recent edition of The Beat, and coach Byron Scott acknowledges that it’s his job to do both, as Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com relays. The 0-4 Lakers start a five-game road trip Friday at the Nets. “I’m not always thinking about necessarily developing them,” Scott said of his young players. “I’m always thinking about trying to win. I’m always thinking about trying to win. The development part comes secondary to that, but in practice and everything is where you really work on the development part.”
Southeast Notes: Hawes, Lamb, Napier, Chalmers
- Al Jefferson doesn’t understand why the Thunder buried Jeremy Lamb on the bench before the trade that brought him to Charlotte this summer, citing his scoring ability and basketball IQ, and coach Steve Clifford has been impressed, too, notes Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer. The Hornets committed a three-year, $21MM extension to the former lottery pick this week. “The thing he possesses is size and skill,” Clifford said. “He can really shoot. I think he’s capable of shooting 40% from three. But this is what I didn’t really understand. He’s better off the dribble than I thought. And he can really pass.”
- Shabazz Napier doesn’t see much meaning behind the show of enthusiasm that LeBron James showed for his game before the 2014 draft, and he thinks his year with the veteran-laden Heat will help him as he adjusts to the Magic following an offseason trade, as he tells Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders.
- The question for the Heat as they reportedly ponder trading Mario Chalmers is whether they see themselves as title contenders this season or think it wise to take a step back in the short term, avoid the tax and better align themselves for a run in the future, opines Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.
Sixers Sign Phil Pressey
6:22pm: The signing is official, the Sixers announced in a press release.
1:31pm: The Sixers will sign point guard Phil Pressey using a hardship provision for a 16th roster spot, a source tells Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News (Twitter link). Coach Brett Brown expressed a preference for the team to add a point guard as he spoke with reporters today, notes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Big man Furkan Aldemir was reportedly a likely addition, but he’s close to signing a deal to play in Turkey. The Sixers qualify to petition the league for the right to add a 16th player, one more than the regular season limit, because Joel Embiid, Carl Landry, Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten are all expected to miss at least the next two weeks. Robert Covington, who aggravated a sprained right MCL in practice Tuesday, will also likely miss the next two weeks, Pompey wrote today in a separate piece.
Pressey, 24, had just joined the roster of the Idaho Stampede, the the Jazz’s D-League team, after Utah had designated him as an affiliate player. Thus, Pressey is poised to become the first D-League call-up of the year, notes Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (on Twitter). The Jazz briefly had him on their NBA roster after snagging him off waivers from the Trail Blazers, for whom he played in training camp. Pressey lost a training camp battle for the third point guard job in Portland to Tim Frazier, a former Sixers point guard.
The Celtics, who released Pressey this summer, remain the only NBA team for which he’s ever seen regular season action. He impressed as a rookie in 2013/14, posting a 3.2-to-1.2 assists-to-turnovers ratio in 15.1 minutes per game for Boston.
Hardship provisions had been rare before last season, when the league granted them to a handful of injury-hit teams. The Sixers will have a 10-day window to keep a 16-man roster before they must reapply to the NBA. They can keep Pressey if they wish once their other players return to health and the extra roster spot is no longer available to them, but they would have to offload someone else to do it. The Sixers nonetheless have a wealth of cap flexibility, with only 10 fully guaranteed deals among the 15 players already on the roster. The team is also about $4MM below the league’s $63MM minimum team salary.
Do you think Pressey is the right pickup for the Sixers? Leave a comment to let us know.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript
4:04pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.
3:00pm: The season is barely a week old, but already a fairly significant trade rumor has landed, with the Grizzlies reportedly having talked about acquiring Mario Chalmers from the Heat. It came after Memphis suffered a 50-point loss to the Warriors, who haven’t broken stride even as they failed to reach an extension with either Harrison Barnes or Festus Ezeli. Nearly two-thirds of the players eligible for rookie scale extensions didn’t end up with one, but the Raptors and Hornets doubled up, adding extensions for Terrence Ross and Jeremy Lamb, respectively, after having extended Jonas Valanciunas and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist over the summer.
Atlantic Notes: Robinson, McConnell, Sullinger
- Sixers rookie T.J. McConnell‘s 12 assists Monday against the Cavs were more than he had in any college game, notes Brian Seltzer of Sixers.com, who chronicles the surprising impact of the point guard who made the team out of camp on a deal with only a $100K partial guarantee.
- Sixers coach Brett Brown is high on McConnell in spite of his desire for another point guard, as Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays, which has reportedly led the team to strike a deal with Phil Pressey. “We’ve unearthed something in T.J., that’s just a real pusher point guard, a pass-first point guard,” Brown added. “So I feel like what this team needs to protect ourselves as much as anything is another point guard.”
- Jared Sullinger made statements indicating that he felt counted out after the Celtics failed to sign him to an extension before Monday’s deadline, but the former 21st overall pick isn’t disappointed, as A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com clarifies. “It’s part of the business,” Sullinger said. “My main objective is to focus on this basketball team, and try to make us better. That’s just the main focus going into this year. It’s not about extensions.”