Reaction To Markieff Morris Trade Demand
The Suns are in a tough spot in the wake of a trade demand from Markieff Morris that confirmed a report from last week that he wants out of Phoenix. The deal that sent twin Marcus Morris to the Pistons last month is at the root of the discontent, but when, or if, the Suns trade the remaining Morris brother remains to be seen. Here’s the latest reaction and fallout to the news:
- The Suns don’t intend to cave to Markieff’s trade demand, for now, but he’s told people close to him that he won’t talk to Suns front office officials and will respond only in one-word answers to coach Jeff Hornacek if he remains on the team, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. Markieff would like to play with the Rockets or Raptors but doesn’t really have a preference as long as he’s no longer playing for the Suns, Gambadoro adds.
- Marcus told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer that he was upset the Suns would trade him without his consent after he and his brother took what Marcus called pay cuts on their extensions last fall, but SB Nation’s Tom Ziller argues that Markieff was the only one who took less than he was worth. Even so, the Morrises had to know that the Suns would put the interests of the team above their desire to stay together, Ziller opines.
- Andrew Joseph of The Arizona Republic makes a similar argument and points to behavior from the twins, both on an off the court, that’s been less than endearing to the team and its fans as part of the reason why the Suns traded Marcus last month.
- Markieff can be maddening to those around him, but he’s not unpopular in the locker room, as recent comments from Archie Goodwin indicate, writes Paula Boivin of The Arizona Republic. It’s incumbent upon the Suns to see if they can reconcile with the talented power forward, and with a pattern of players showing discontent on their way out of Phoenix, including Goran Dragic‘s acrimonius exit this past February, the team must fix what appears to be a communication problem, Boivin posits.
Extension Candidate: Jonas Valanciunas
No one who’s a part of the Raptors core was as highly drafted as Jonas Valanciunas, the No. 5 pick from 2011. Toronto had to wait a year for the Lithuanian center while he continued to play overseas, but he’s quickly established himself as an NBA starter in the three seasons since. It’s convincing the Raptors that he can finish games that has proven troublesome for the 7-footer, who often sat on the bench in crunch time this past season, one in which he played a relatively meager 26.2 minutes per game despite starting in all 80 of his regular season appearances. The Raptors reportedly want an extension with him, and while that’s no surprise, GM Masai Ujiri surely has a ceiling for negotiations with a center who saw the floor for barely more than half the game.
Still, Ujiri called Valanciunas “a huge part of our team” at season’s end, adding that the way the team deployed the center this past season would be a “big discussion” he would have with coach Dwane Casey and his staff. Valanciunas appeared to stagnate this past season after a leap between his rookie and sophomore years, and that was a factor in the changes that ultimately took place to Casey’s staff, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported a few months ago. All of that would suggest that Ujiri feels Valanciunas is capable of playing more minutes and finishing more games than he did in 2014/15, which bodes well for the Leon Rose client as extension talks loom.
The problem lies on defense. The Raptors were a better defensive team when Valanciunas sat than when he played last season, by a measure of 1.6 points per 100 possessions, as NBA.com shows. He was a minus defender, according to Basketball-Reference’s Box Plus Minus. Those are serious issues for any NBA starting center, let alone one whom a team is considering for a long-term commitment. ESPN’s Real Plus Minus is kinder, ranking him as the 33rd-best defensive center, two spots behind fellow rookie scale extension candidate John Henson, whom other defensive metrics love, as I examined earlier. A ranking of No. 33 among centers is cold comfort, nonetheless. Casey’s forte is defense, but he’ll have to work some true wizardry to give the Raptors a championship-level defense any time soon unless Valanciunas can improve on that end.
Ujiri made moves to improve the team’s defense this past season, none more striking than his four-year, $58MM deal for three-and-D forward DeMarre Carroll. He also brought in Bismack Biyombo, a defensive specialist, to play as the backup to Valanciunas. Biyombo, who averaged only 4.8 points per game last season, would be the only logical alternative for Casey if he doesn’t want Valanciunas on the floor down the stretch, so unless the Raptors merely want to protect a lead, it seems likely that Valanciunas will be on the floor when the final horn sounds.
The 23-year-old has shown he’s capable of getting better in other regards. His PER vaulted from 16.1 in 2013/14 to a strong 20.6 this past season, a sign that he made the most of his time on the floor. Indeed, Valanciunas scored more points per game in fewer minutes and on slightly fewer shots. He made a career-best 57.2% of his attempts from the floor, upping the percentage of his shots that came at point-blank range, as Basketball-Reference shows. He’s also become a better rebounder, having averaged nearly 12 rebounds per 36 minutes this past season after he started out at just 9.0 in the per-36 category as a rookie.
Next year’s free agent class is relatively thin after the top few names, but the available centers are fairly intriguing. Andre Drummond seems destined to either receive an extension from the Pistons or re-sign next summer, but Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol can opt out. Former Florida teammates Al Horford and Joakim Noah figure to be highly sought-after, as does Al Jefferson. Hassan Whiteside will have no shortage of suitors if he duplicates his breakthrough year for the Heat, and Roy Hibbert can vault himself into the upper tier with a bounceback season for the Lakers. Teams will have serious money to throw around, with the salary cap set to surge to $89MM, but Valanciunas will have competition for it.
The Raptors can go in several different directions. They only have about $42MM in salary commitments for 2016/17 as it stands, though that figure will almost certainly rise to approximately $45.5MM when Toronto picks up its team options on Lucas Nogueira and Bruno Caboclo. Early word indicates that DeMar DeRozan will opt out, and Terrence Ross, like Valanciunas, can hit restricted free agency if he doesn’t receive an extension. Re-signing DeRozan, Ross and Valanciunas at market value would likely leave the team without the capacity to chase top-tier free agents next summer, when Toronto native Tristan Thompson would be an unrestricted free agent if he signs his qualifying offer.
I speculated in our Raptors offseason outlook that Valanciunas and Rose would ask for $12MM salaries that would put him in line with what Nikola Vucevic, another defensively challenged starting center, received on his extension from the Magic last year. The spending in this summer’s free agent market, including a max deal of more than $17.5MM a year for defensive sieve Enes Kanter and Ujiri’s commitment of a $14.5MM average annual value to Carroll, suggests that $12MM is too low a starting point. The Valanciunas camp will probably ask for at least as much as Carroll received, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the center ultimately end up with $13-14MM a year, numbers that look high but are well beneath the projected $20.4MM max for players with his level of experience.
That may end up a bargain if Casey and new assistants Rex Kalamian, Andy Greer and Jerry Stackhouse turn Valanciunas into a credible defender and continue his offensive development. Ujiri appears to have no shortage of faith that Valanciunas will improve and seems to view him as a cornerstone for the future. That’s probably enough motivation for Toronto to make an offer lucrative enough to get a deal done this fall.
How much do you think Valanciunas should make per year on his next deal? Leave a comment to tell us.
Zoran Dragic To Play In Russia
Zoran Dragic has signed a two-year deal with Khimki of Russia, the team announced (Twitter link; translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Dragic cleared waivers from the Celtics on Wednesday following his Monday release. It’s no surprise to see the native of Slovenia return to overseas ball, as his camp pushed the Celtics to let go of him when they did so that he could sign with a European team that would give him minutes, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported this week. The Celtics reportedly intended to unload him somehow, though it appeared as though they were waiting to see if another NBA team would take him in a trade.
The Celtics stand to benefit to some degree if Dragic’s deal calls for a salary of more than the NBA one-year veteran’s minimum of $845,059, since that would allow them to invoke set-off rights to defray the $1.5MM they owe him. In any case, it’s a quick end to Dragic’s NBA excursion, one in which he saw just 4.7 minutes per game in 16 total appearances split between the Suns, who originally signed him a year ago, and the Heat, to whom Phoenix traded him along with his brother, Goran Dragic. Miami flipped him to Boston in a salary-clearing move last month.
Zoran nonetheless faces competition for playing time with Khimki, which bestowed a deal upon fellow former NBA guard Alexey Shved that reportedly makes him the highest-paid player in Europe. The team also has Mavs draft rights held player Petteri Koponen in the backcourt, as Carchia points out.
Who do you think stands a better chance of playing in the NBA again, Dragic or Shved? Leave a comment to tell us.
Atlantic Notes: Randolph, ‘Melo, Nets, Dawkins
9:08am: The total value of Randolph’s deal is only $4.5MM, and it includes no NBA outs, according to overseas journalist David Pick (Twitter link). The third season is a team option, Pick adds.
8:59am: Shavlik Randolph is set to earn at least $7MM over three years on his new deal with the Liaoning Flying Leopards of China, one that’s second only to Andray Blatche‘s three-year $7.5MM contract on the list of the most lucrative pacts in Chinese Basketball Association history, reports Jessica Camerato of Basketball Insiders (All Twitter links). The value of Randolph’s arrangement could swell to $8MM if he triggers bonuses, according to Camerato. Unlike Blatche’s deal, it includes an NBA out after each season, and Randolph, who saw his last NBA action as a member of the Celtics this past season, hopes to again return to the NBA this spring at the end of the abbreviated Chinese season, Camerato adds. Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- Part of Carmelo Anthony‘s willingness to stick up for Knicks team president Phil Jackson includes the understanding that ‘Melo’s friends aren’t off-limits for a trade, as was the case in the January deal that sent Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith to the Cavs, observes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. “On one side,” Anthony said, “guys that we got rid of were close to me and my friends, and on the flip side of that, it’s a business at the end of the day. So I think he had to do that in order to put us in the position we’re in right now from a business standpoint. From a friendship standpoint, if those are my guys, if those are my friends, I’m going to always feel some type of way about losing guys that I played with that I formed a bond with. But I know this is a business and I know he had to do what he had to do to put us in this position.”
- The Nets are carrying a lot more partially guaranteed money than they used to, as NetsDaily examines. The difference between the partial guarantees for five Nets players and their full salaries comes to more than $3.4MM, as NetsDaily notes.
- Former Celtics 10-day signee Andre Dawkins has inked with Italy’s Auxilium CUS Torino, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Dawkins signed a pair of 10-day pacts with Boston this past season, though he only appeared in games for the team’s D-League affiliate.
Celtics, Levi Randolph Agree To Camp Deal
AUGUST 12TH, 4:35pm: The pact is indeed for the minimum salary and Randolph will receive a partial guarantee worth $25k, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
JULY 23RD, 10:41am: The Celtics will sign undrafted shooting guard Levi Randolph for training camp after the former University of Alabama standout accepted their offer, a source told Matt Zenitz of AL.com. Multiple overseas teams made offers, too, Zenitz writes, with Italy’s Vuelle Pesaro apparently the latest, as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports. Boston has the flexibility to use cap space, so while it would seem unlikely that the 6’4″ Randolph will sign for more than the minimum salary, it’s possible that his contract will cover as many as four years. It’s unclear if any partially guaranteed money is involved, as is sometimes the case with camp invitees.
Randolph worked out for the Celtics prior to the draft, but he wasn’t a strong candidate to hear his name called on draft night, with Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranking him the 101st-best prospect and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress listing him only as the 48th-best senior in this year’s class. The 22-year-old, who turns 23 in October, split summer league between the Thunder and Jazz, averaging 4.8 points in 20.5 minutes per game with 2 for 15 three-point shooting in 10 total appearances.
The worst-case scenario for Randolph involves him ending up in the D-League, Zenitz’s source said, so it appears he’s willing to go that route rather than play overseas should the Celtics cut him at the end of the preseason. Boston has a one-to-one D-League affiliate, so the C’s can retain his D-League rights should he fail to make the opening-night NBA roster. That seems the most likely scenario, with Boston already poised to carry 16 guaranteed contracts.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript
4:03pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.
3:00pm: Markieff Morris made it clear Tuesday that he doesn’t want to play for the Suns anymore, so it looks like Phoenix has a move to make before the start of training camp at the end of next month. The onus is on GM Ryan McDonough, now the clear-cut leader of the front office, to either engineer a reconciliation, which seems like a long shot, or pull off a trade that minimizes the damage. It’s already been an active summer in Phoenix, where the Suns are anxious to return to the playoffs, as Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic examined in depth as part of an interview with Hoops Rumors earlier this week, and it seems like it’ll stay busy.
We can chat about Morris, the Suns, and the other 29 teams in today’s chat, so click here to join!
Western Notes: Cousins, Karl, Davis, Williams
Rumors about turmoil between DeMarcus Cousins and Kings coach George Karl were overblown, Cousins insisted Tuesday, as Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee observes. The snake and grass emojis that the All-Star tweeted earlier this summer, shortly after the report that Karl wanted to trade him, seemed to indicate otherwise, but it appears their relationship has improved since then.
“There were some things that had to be ironed out,” Cousins said, “but at the same time, I wouldn’t make it as big as it was made out to be. Me and him [Karl] are on the same page, working on our relationship, and getting better every day. That’s all that matters. Things are a lot better. We’re trying to understand each other better. We’re going to make things happen, positive things happen.”
See more from the Western Conference:
- Former Pelicans coach Monty Williams still won’t express dismay over his firing earlier in the offseason, even though it separated him from Anthony Davis, the New Orleans star with whom he shares an uncanny bond, writes Jimmy Smith of The Times Picayune. Williams, now a Thunder assistant, still talks with Davis but insists that he’s careful to leave most of the tutelage to new Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry, Smith notes. Still, Williams makes it clear that he’ll always be friends with Davis, according to Smith.
- The Clippers roster is built to win in the playoffs more so than any other among Western Conference teams, according to metrics that Bradford Doolittle of ESPN.com put together for an Insider-only piece. That’s thanks to the addition of depth to the team’s star core, Doolittle writes. The Lance Stephenson trade and the signings of Paul Pierce, Josh Smith and others bolstered the strong but thin existing group.
- Warriors GM Bob Myers may be the reigning Executive of the Year, but Spurs GM R.C. Buford, who won the award in 2014, is still the league’s top front office boss, opines Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders. That’s not surprising given San Antonio’s free agent haul, which includes LaMarcus Aldridge and a minimum-salary deal for David West.
And-Ones: Bucks, Oden, McRoberts, Nets
A new arena for the Bucks moved one step closer to reality today, when Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed a bill that calls for $250MM of public financing, write Mary Spicuzza And Jason Stein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Walker has long backed the arena project and said when the bill emerged from the state legislature late last month that he’d sign it. The team must still arrange for a land sale with Milwaukee County and receive approval for construction from the Milwaukee Common Council, Spicuzza and Stein note, but Bucks executives have said that can take place between now and the fall. Groundbreaking must take place soon for the team to stay on schedule to meet a league-imposed deadline, lest the league seize the franchise from its owners and move it elsewhere, but today’s news indicates that the Bucks remain on track to stay in Milwaukee. Here’s more from around the league:
- Former No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden will take part in a weeklong workout later this month for Jiangsu Kentier of the Chinese Basketball Association, the Altius Culture agency tweets. It’ll constitute an audition for the team, the agency indicates. He reportedly drew eyes from the Mavs, Hornets and Grizzlies early in the summer.
- Josh McRoberts had a frustrating, injury-riddled year for the Heat last season after his breakout campaign for Charlotte in 2013/14, and the subtraction of his nearly $5.544MM salary would go a long way toward preventing the Heat from paying repeater tax penalties this season. Still, he’s eager to return to playing in Miami, as he tells Kyle Neddenriep of his hometown Indianapolis Star. “I feel confident and comfortable going back there,” McRoberts said. “I kind of saw how things were last year. I’m excited to be back and part of the team because when you’re hurt, you are kind of isolated on your own. You’re not practicing and playing in games with them every day. I’ve worked with the coaches throughout the summer different times and feel good about the direction we’re headed.”
- Nets majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov agreed to push back today’s deadline for minority owner Bruce Ratner to pay back his company’s debts to Prokhorov’s company, reports Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg.com (Twitter links). Ratner’s group now has until September 8th to pay or let their 20% share become 8%, with Prokhorov’s group taking over the other 12%.
Players Cash In After Turning Down Options
The 15 free agents who turned down player or early terminations this year knew what they were doing, by and large. A dozen of them wound up with deals that give them better average annual value than they would have made on their respective option years. No one made out better than Goran Dragic, who decided against a $7.5MM option and wound up with a five-year deal worth more than $85MM instead, a leap of greater than $9.5MM per year.
Still, two players took a financial hit when they opted out. David West‘s was largely voluntary, as he signed a two-year deal for the minimum salary, well beneath his market value, not long after turning down $12.6MM for next year from the Pacers. Paul Pierce turned a player option on his full mid-level deal with the Wizards into a cheaper taxpayer’s mid-level contract with the Clippers.
One case still remains open, but chances seem better that Smith joins West and Pierce among those taking pay cuts than the 12 who cashed in. Smith could have had nearly $6.4MM from the Cavs for next season, but he elected free agency instead, and Cleveland, the only title contender with the capacity to sign him outright for the value of his option or greater, is reportedly letting a dwindling market dictate his price.
Below are the 12 players who signed contracts that are more lucrative on a yearly basis than the options they turned down, ranked by increase in average annual value:
- Goran Dragic — turned down $7.5MM, signed for five years, $85,002,250 ($17,000,450 average annual value).
- Al-Farouq Aminu — turned down $1,100,602, signed for four years, $30MM ($7.5MM average annual value).
- Kevin Love — turned down $16,744,218, signed for five years, $113,211,750 ($22,642,350 average annual value).
- Ed Davis — turned down $1,100,602, signed for three years, $20MM ($6,666,667 average annual value).
- Brook Lopez — turned down $16,744,218, signed for three years, $63,497,025 ($21,165,675 average annual value).
- Dwyane Wade — turned down $16.125MM, signed for one year, $20MM.
- Alan Anderson — turned down $1,333,484, signed for one year, $4MM.
- Thaddeus Young — turned down $10,221,739, signed for four years, $50MM ($12.5MM average annual value).
- Monta Ellis — turned down $8.72MM, signed for four years, $43.981MM ($10,995,250 average annual value).
- LeBron James — turned down $21,573,398, signed for two years, $46,974,673 ($23,487,337 average annual value).
- Jameer Nelson — turned down $2,854,940, signed for three years, $13,621,575 ($4,540,525 average annual value).
- Arron Afflalo — turned down $7.75MM, signed for two years, $16MM ($8MM average annual value).
Here are three players who opted out and either wound up taking pay cuts or remain in free agency:
- David West — turned down $12.6MM, signed for two years, $3,050,846 ($1,525,423 average annual value).
- Paul Pierce — turned down $5,543,725, signed for three years, $10,583,760 ($3,527,920 average annual value).
- J.R. Smith — turned down $6,399,750.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Aside from West’s minimum-salary deal, which signing listed here surprised you the most? Leave a comment to tell us.
Lakers Work Out Ricky Ledo
Former Knicks and Mavericks shooting guard Ricky Ledo was among the free agents who worked out this week for the Lakers, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Sean Kilpatrick, Toure’ Murry, Bobby Brown, Eric Moreland and D.J. Kennedy were the other names that surfaced for the group workout, which was to have taken place on Monday, according to multiple reports (All five links right here).
Ledo has been a free agent since clearing waivers from the Knicks, who released him last month shortly before his salary for the coming season would have become partially guaranteed for $100K. The 43rd pick from the 2013 draft performed well in his 12-game stint with New York late last season, averaging 7.4 points in 19.4 minutes per contest and hitting 10 of 24 total three-point attempts. Still, Ledo, who turns 23 next month, has appeared in more than twice as many D-League games as he has NBA games during his two-year pro career.
The Lakers have 16 players with either signed contracts or verbal agreements to join the team, but only 12 of those deals include fully guaranteed salary for the coming season. The $2.814MM room exception is available to the team, but the minimum appears more likely for Ledo and the other workout participants should any of them end up signing.
Do you think Ledo will end up on an NBA roster this year? Leave a comment to let us know.