Atlantic Notes: Isiah, King, Sixers, Raptors
Knicks owner James Dolan doesn’t hide his affection for Isiah Thomas, but he can’t envision a scenario in which he ever hires him for the Knicks again, telling Bryant Gumbel of HBO’s Real Sports that he doesn’t think fans in New York would give him a fair chance, as Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News relays (Twitter link). Thomas, to whom Gumbel also spoke, ruled out coaching the Knicks again, but didn’t say he wouldn’t seek a front office position with the team, Bondy notes. See more from around the Atlantic Division:
- Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov complimented the job performance of GM Billy King in an interview with NetsDaily, but he wouldn’t address the matter of whether he’ll give King an extension. King is in the final year of his deal and conflicting reports emerged in May about whether he and the team were close to an extension.
- Brett Brown has said the Sixers plan to keep only three point guards for opening night, but with top options Tony Wroten and Kendall Marshall injured and T.J. McConnell closing in on a regular season spot, Brown suggests the team could keep more because of their ability to slide to shooting guard, observes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “You know you look at [Scottie] Wilbekin … and say he’s a two-guard,” Brown said. “He can shoot, and that’s true. I can look at Isaiah [Canaan] and say he’s not always a point guard. Let him go be, pick him, Lou Williams. He’s a barrel-chested scorer.”
- The Raptors had mixed results with two point guards on the floor at the same time last season, but with Cory Joseph having replaced Williams and Greivis Vasquez, coach Dwane Casey is more optimistic about such lineups, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca examines. “The problem last year going small wasn’t Kyle [Lowry], it was the other small guys with him,” Casey said. “Now we have speed and quickness with Kyle, we have toughness with Kyle defensively so you don’t get burned as much defensively when you do go small.”
Bucks Waive Gutierrez, Landry, Powell
The Bucks have waived Jorge Gutierrez, Marcus Landry and Josh Powell, the team announced, taking the roster down to the 15-man regular season maximum. The trio had non-guaranteed contracts while the other 15 Bucks are on fully guaranteed deals, so today’s moves come as no surprise. Damien Inglis and Johnny O’Bryant, both high second-round picks from 2014, were the Bucks players with the smallest guarantees, each promised less than $1MM, but their places on the roster appear safe for now.
Gutierrez was a holdover from last season, having joined the team on a pair of 10-day contracts that led to a multiyear deal. The 26-year-old former Nets point guard dished out 11 assists against only three turnovers in about 47 minutes of preseason action, totaling 12 points along the way, but it wasn’t enough for him to stick.
Landry, 29, was attempting an NBA comeback after last having seen regular season action during 2009/10 with the Knicks and Celtics. A native of Milwaukee, the combo forward averaged 2.5 points in 10.5 minutes per game during his four preseason appearances and looked sharp in practice, according to Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times (Twitter link).
Powell was also trying to revive his NBA playing career after spending last season as a player development coach with the Rockets. The 32-year-old former Lakers power forward has appeared in only one regular season game since the 2010/11 season. He went scoreless in about 23 minutes total over four preseason games with the Bucks.
Suns, Hornets, Blazers Interested In Ryan Boatright
The Suns, Hornets and Blazers are interested in Ryan Boatright, whom the Nets waived Tuesday, and it’s possible that Brooklyn circles back to him later this season, reports Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net. The undrafted point guard from Connecticut performed well during limited preseason time, averaging 4.2 points, 3.8 assists and 1.0 turnover in 13.9 minutes per game, but Donald Sloan outplayed him for the third point guard job on the Nets. Any NBA team could claim Boatright off waivers, so long as the team is willing to assume responsibility for his $75K partial guarantee. Teams could opt to see if he clears waivers if they want him on a non-guaranteed contract.
Phoenix is also one of the teams Amico hears is eyeing Jimmer Fredette, though the Suns are already down to 15 players. The Hornets have 14 fully guaranteed salaries, but recent addition Damien Wilkins appears to have a clear shot at the last spot on the opening night roster. Portland appears to have a much more open competition, with only 12 fully guaranteed deals.
Boatright helped Connecticut to the national championship in 2014. He spoke with Zach Links of Hoops Rumors before the draft in June, telling Zach that he’d heard from agent Aaron Goodwin that the Blazers, Nets and Clippers had strong interest.
Jazz, Hawks, Suns, Knicks Eye Jimmer Fredette
The Jazz, Hawks, Suns and Knicks are teams with some level of interest in Jimmer Fredette, as Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net hears. The Spurs are set to waive Fredette today, as Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reported. Any of those teams could claim his one-year, minimum-salary contract off waivers, though they’d have to assume responsibility for his $507,711 partial guarantee if they did. They could negotiate a contract without a guarantee if he clears waivers.
A return to Utah would be a homecoming of sorts for the former BYU star. The Jazz are already down to 15 players, but three of them are without full guarantees on their deals, so the team has flexibility. Phoenix is in a similar spot, with 15 players, including two with non-guaranteed contracts. The Hawks have 13 full guarantees, but Mike Muscala seems like a “lock” for the regular season roster, and former second-round pick Lamar Patterson, who’s seen plenty of preseason playing time, has a partially guaranteed deal. The Knicks have 13 full guarantees, but Langston Galloway appears secure for the 14th spot, and like Atlanta, they have a former second-round pick in Thanasis Antetokounmpo competing for spot No. 15.
Of course, Fredette is a former lottery pick, having gone 10th overall to the Kings in 2011. Still, he didn’t make too much impact in his rookie season, and his numbers have declined since. He shot only 18.8% from three-point range last season with the Pelicans and didn’t make a three-pointer in the preseason this month for the Spurs.
Do you think the Jazz, Hawks, Suns or Knicks make sense for Fredette? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
And-Ones: Popovich, Stephenson, Schröder
NBA coaches would like to see one of their own succeed Mike Krzyzewski as Team USA coach after he steps away following the 2016 Olympics, and Gregg Popovich is the No. 1 choice for that gig, a coaching source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Rick Carlisle appears to have a shot, too, and University of Kentucky coach John Calipari has a strong desire for the job, Berger also hears. See more from around basketball:
- Lance Stephenson first targeted his hometown Nets when he found out the Hornets were exploring the idea of trading him last season, but he’s excited about his opportunity with the Clippers, as he tells Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.
- Dennis Schröder‘s rookie scale contract runs through 2016/17, and he likes playing in Atlanta, but he tells Sport Bild magazine that he wants to start and will look elsewhere if the Hawks don’t give him an opportunity, as Sport1.de relays (hat tip to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia, and special thanks to Alan Maimon for the translation). “My goal is the starting job,” Schröder said. “If there’s no progress next season, then I’ll have to talk to my people and explore other possibilities.”
- Players on NBA rosters last season have begun receiving checks related to a leaguewide salary shortfall, reports Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. The NBA is obligated to distribute $57,298,826, the difference between total team salaries and the 50.39% of basketball-related income that the collective bargaining agreement mandates the players are entitled to. So, players who were on a team’s active or inactive list for 41 or more games get $124,023, while those on one of those lists for 20-40 games see $62,011, and players on one of those lists for one to 19 games receive $31,005, as Zillgitt details.
- Amerileague president Jonathan Jordan has resigned and some agents have their expressed their doubts about the viability of the startup minor league, as Adam Johnson of D-League Digest details in a pair of pieces. Marcus Bass, the league’s director of basketball operations, tells Johnson that concerns are “getting a little overblown,” pledged to maintain a consistent flow of information, and said the league’s draft will go forward as planned Thursday.
Quincy Miller Signs To Play In Serbia
WEDNESDAY, 7:48am: The deal is official, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia).
TUESDAY, 4:01pm: Nets camp cut Quincy Miller has signed with the Serbian team Red Star Belgrade, aka Crvena Zvezda, according to international journalist David Pick (Twitter link), who confirms an earlier tweet from scout Vedran Modrić, who said the small forward would join the team (Twitter link). The deal is contingent on Miller clearing waivers from Brooklyn, which released the 22-year-old just this afternoon.
Miller, the 38th overall pick from 2012, split last season between the Kings and Pistons, who traded him to the Nets this past summer. He was a highly regarded prospect coming out of high school in 2011, when he was No. 5 in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index, right behind Bradley Beal. Injury has curtailed much of that promise since.
He’s nonetheless spent at least part of each of his three seasons as a pro on an NBA roster. It’s unclear if Miller’s deal with Red Star has any mechanism that would allow him to make it four NBA stints in four years. He grabbed six points and eight rebounds in about 30 minutes total during the preseason with the Nets.
Do you think Miller is worthy of a regular season roster spot on an NBA team? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Celtics Waive Clarke, Miller, Randolph
4:12pm: All three players have officially been released, the Celtics announced.
3:07pm: The Celtics will waive Coty Clarke, Malcolm Miller and Levi Randolph today, according to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald (Twitter link). Corey Walden, the team’s other camp invitee, will remain for the time being, but all are expected to end up signing with Boston’s D-League affiliate, Bulpett says. Miller, Randolph and Walden have matching $25K guarantees, while Clarke is on a non-guaranteed contract. The release of Clarke, Miller and Randolph will take Boston down to 17 players, 16 of whom have fully guaranteed deals, as our roster count shows.
Clarke, a 23-year-old combo forward, and Miller, a 22-year-old small forward, went scoreless in preseason cameos that encompassed less than a minute of playing time, while the 23-year-old Randolph, a shooting guard, managed three points in slightly more time on the court. The Celtics also got a look at Miller on their summer league team in July, when he averaged 4.0 points in 12.1 minutes across seven appearances.
More pressing for the Celtics is their decision regarding the final preseason cut, which will involve letting go of a full season’s salary unless they work a trade. Perry Jones III has appeared to be most at risk for a release among the 16 Celtics with full guarantees, as Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe said to Hoops Rumors last month, but Jones has drawn praise from Celtics coach Brad Stevens and others.
Who do you think should be the final cut for the Celtics? Leave a comment to let us know.
Lakers Notes: Buss, Upshaw, Frazier, Roster
Lakers executive vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss admits his pitches to free agents in recent years have lacked oomph because he couldn’t promise them immediate success, but he’s confident he has the core in place now to change that, as he explains to Sam Amick of USA Today. Buss is particularly high on No. 2 pick D’Angelo Russell, Amick notes.
“I think we’ve done a great job [rebuilding],” Buss said. “Yeah, I think we’re in dynamite position. Not good position – dynamite. I think we’ve turned the corner. I don’t know if you discount that terminology, ‘turn the corner.’ But when you’re headed down the wrong road, and you can finally get off that road and turn the corner, that’s huge in my opinion.”
Buss set a timeline for turning the Lakers around that his sister Jeanie, the team’s primary owner, interprets as a mandate to get to the Western Conference Finals by 2017, and he believes the team is ahead of schedule and just needs to land a major free agent this summer, as Amick details. See more on Buss and the Lakers:
- Warriors consultant Jerry West thinks the criticism of Buss is off-base, as he tells Amick for the same story. “He’s really smart … but he’s the easiest target there is,” West said of Buss. “And I will tell you, it’s grossly unfair sometimes. Grossly unfair. It’s almost like they want him to be a reincarnation of his dad, but he can’t.”
- Issues surrounding Robert Upshaw “that go beyond talent” proved too worrisome for the Lakers, who waived the big man today, tweets Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times, though whatever the issues are, they aren’t outrageous, Pincus cautions. Coach Byron Scott cited a “big-time learning curve on both ends” for Upshaw, according to Times colleague Mike Bresnahan (Twitter link). In any case, Scott said the Lakers hope Upshaw and Michael Frazier, whom they also cut today, clear waivers and sign with the team’s D-League affiliate, notes Bill Oram of the Orange County Register (on Twitter).
- Both Bresnahan and Oram speculate that Metta World Peace and Jabari Brown are on the bubble for the last regular season roster spot on the Lakers, with Bresnahan suggesting that World Peace has a slight lead (Twitter links).
Lakers Waive Robert Upshaw, Michael Frazier
The Lakers have waived Robert Upshaw and Michael Frazier to drop their roster to 17 players, the team announced. Upshaw, a troubled but intriguing prospect, has a $35K partial guarantee while Frazier is assured of $50K. The Lakers will be responsible for those amounts if they clear waivers. The team still has 12 fully guaranteed contracts plus five more without full guarantees, so more decisions await before the team has to cut down to 15 players for opening night.
It appeared Upshaw would sign with the Lakers much sooner than he did this past offseason as he continued to deal with personal matters. Both Fresno State and Washington dismissed the now 21-year-old center as he dealt with substance abuse issues, and he went undrafted this past June in spite of talent that would suggest he would have merited a pick. He struggled on offense, as Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times points out (Twitter link), averaging just 2.5 points in 14.1 points per game across four preseason appearances, laying to rest speculation that he would beat out Robert Sacre, who has a fully guaranteed salary, for a regular season roster spot.
Frazier, 21, also struggled to score in his four preseason games, posting 2.0 PPG in 13.4 MPG. The shooting guard went undrafted out of Florida this year, though he was the 55th-best prospect, according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
Tarik Black, Jabari Brown, Marcelo Huertas and Metta World Peace are still with the Lakers on non-guaranteed deals, while Jonathan Holmes has a partial guarantee worth $100K. Holmes dislocated his right shoulder during Monday’s game, and he’ll be immobilized for the next couple of weeks, according to Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. The partial guarantee covers about a month’s worth of games, but if he’s still unable to play after that, the Lakers will have to shell out more of his salary until he’s able to play, regardless of whether they waive him, as Pincus explains.
Who do you think the Lakers should keep for opening night? Leave a comment to let us know.
Nets Release Boatright, Miller, Daniels
The Nets have waived point guard Ryan Boatright, small forward Quincy Miller and center Chris Daniels, the team announced via press release. The moves take Brooklyn’s roster down to 17 players, including 13 with full guarantees. Boatright’s contract includes a partial guarantee of $75K and Miller’s has a $50K partial guarantee, while the salary for Daniels is non-guaranteed, so Brooklyn stands to be eat $125K in salary, barring waiver claims.
Boatight, 22, reached a two-year, minimum-salary agreement with Brooklyn shortly after he went undrafted out of Connecticut this year. He averaged 4.2 points, 3.8 assists and 1.0 turnover in 13.9 minutes per game, numbers that aren’t shabby but nonetheless inferior to those that free agent signee Donald Sloan put up, so it appears Sloan has won the third point guard job for the team.
The 22-year-old Miller came from the Pistons in the Steve Blake trade. He played in as many preseason games this fall as he did regular season games for the Pistons last season, scoring six points in nearly 30 total minutes of preseason play.
Daniels, who’s played in China the last two seasons, scored effectively for the Nets, averaging 7.4 points in 13.0 minutes per game, but despite injury concerns for fellow Nets big men Andrea Bargnani and Willie Reed, it wasn’t enough to save the 31-year-old’s job.
Reed and Sloan have partial guarantees of $500K and $50K, respectively, while Justin Harper and Dahntay Jones are on non-guaranteed contracts. Those four players are ostensibly competing for two regular season spots.
Who do you think the Nets will keep for opening night? Leave a comment to weigh in.