Atlantic Notes: Randolph, Young, KG, Raptors
Shavlik Randolph doesn’t want to sign a non-guaranteed deal for next season, and he indicated in an interview with Jessica Camerato of Basketball Insiders that it was part of the reason the Celtics let him go Monday.
“As much as I would have loved to finish the season and playoff run with this team, I just wasn’t willing to commit to a non-guaranteed deal for next season,” Randolph said. “So they had to do what was best for them, which I completely understand.”
Randolph spoke with team officials Monday afternoon, according to Camerato. He was on an expiring contract and ineligible to sign an extension, so aside from giving a non-binding verbal promise that he would re-sign a non-guaranteed deal with the team this summer, it’s unclear what the team was proposing. Conceivably, the C’s could have waived him and signed him back once he cleared waivers to a deal for the rest of this season that included non-guaranteed salary for next season, but that would have been an unusual maneuver. In any case, there’s more on Randolph amid the latest from the Atlantic Division:
- Randolph also told Camerato that there remains a level of mutual interest between him and the Celtics, but he’s considering a return to China, where he’s played in the past, to help boost his stock for an eventual NBA return, as Camerato details.
- The Thaddeus Young/Kevin Garnett deadline trade didn’t come together quickly, as Nets GM Billy King had been working toward it all year, tweets Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
- Raptors GM Masai Ujiri and coach Dwane Casey will tinker with the roster, but between now and the end of the season, the team can’t fix its defensive flaws, opines Doug Smith of the Toronto Star. The Raps were on the verge of a teardown early last season, so considering that so little time has passed since then, the team is about as strong as it could be, Smith argues.
Protected 2015 Second-Rounders Up For Grabs
The regular season ends a week from Wednesday, and by now most of the playoff spots and non-lottery draft order have been decided. A team’s place in the draft order can mean a lot when there are protections attached to a pick that’s been sent out in a trade. There are two first-round picks that could change hands or stay put based on the final days of the regular season, as we chronicled last week, and there are also second-round picks still up in the air. The protection clauses attached to some of them are complex, so we’ll dive in and analyze each of the three cases individually:
- The Clippers owe their second-round pick to the Lakers if it falls from No. 51 through 55 and the Nuggets if it’s 56th through 60th. The Clips can’t finish with a record outside of the top 10 in the league, which they’d need to do to keep the pick. Still, whether it goes to the Lakers or the Nuggets is anybody’s guess. It would go to the Nuggets as it stands, but the Clippers are only a half-game better than the Spurs, with the Blazers and Cavs right behind them. So if any of those teams passes the Clippers, the pick goes to the Lakers.
- The Wizards owe their pick to the Celtics, but only if it falls from No. 50 to No. 60. Washington would pick 49th if the season ended today, but the Raptors are only one game better, and the Mavericks and Bulls are tied at one game above Toronto. So, while the Wizards could improve their playoff seeding, it could cost them their second-rounder. Washington’s obligation to the Celtics would end if the pick doesn’t convey this year, so it all comes down to the final games of the season.
- The Trail Blazers and Bulls will be giving up their second-rounders this year, but the teams that get those respective picks could switch places. The Magic get whichever pick is better, and the Cavaliers get the other one. Chances are that Chicago’s pick will be going to Orlando and Portland’s to Cleveland, since the Blazers have a four and a half game lead on Chicago. Still, the Bulls aren’t mathematically eliminated from passing the Blazers just yet.
RealGM was used in the creation of this post.
Celtics Sign Chris Babb, Waive Shavlik Randolph
The Celtics have signed Chris Babb to a multiyear contract and waived Shavlik Randolph, the team announced. Boston is immediately assigning Babb to the D-League, the statement adds. The C’s were carrying 15 players, so that’s why they needed to let someone go to bring Babb onto their roster. He’s been playing on a D-League contract with Boston’s affiliate, but even though he’ll continue to play for the Maine Red Claws, the Celtics have secured his NBA rights going into next season.
Randolph was set for unrestricted free agency this summer, so the move allows the C’s control over one extra player. Boston had given Randolph only 25 minutes total across five appearances since acquiring him in January as part of the Austin Rivers trade. It’s no surprise to see Randolph as the Celtic to go, since there were hints that he would have been the player released if the team had signed JaVale McGee, as the C’s were close to doing. Boston scheduled a meeting with Randolph when the McGee deal was close and canceled when it became clear a McGee signing wouldn’t take place, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reported last month.
Babb is a familiar face to the Celtics, who’ve had him on the NBA roster on multiple occasions the past two seasons. The shooting guard was with the C’s for training camp in 2013, and he saw brief regular season action last season after the C’s signed him to pair of 10-day contracts followed by a three-year deal. That three-year deal didn’t involve any guaranteed salary for the final two seasons, and Boston waived him just before training camp began this past fall. It’s possible that Babb once more has a contract for three or even four years, since the Celtics have a portion of their mid-level exception available, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
The 25-year-old Babb, who went undrafted out of Iowa State in 2013, has played 78 games for Boston’s D-League affiliate over the past two years, and he upped his offensive output from 12.0 points per game last season to 15.4 PPG this year, thanks in part to improved shooting. He’s lifted his shooting percentage from 38.1% to 43.2%, and he’s nailed 37.5% of his three-point attempts this year.
Kevon Looney Declares For Draft
MONDAY, 3:54pm: Looney will enter the draft, he and the school announced (hat tip to RealGM).
WEDNESDAY, 10:50am: UCLA freshman power forward Kevon Looney is planning to declare for this year’s draft and is close to an agreement with an agent, sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). He’s something of a polarizing prospect, having risen to No. 7 on Chad Ford’s ESPN.com rankings while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him 20th.
The 6’9″, 19-year old is a raw talent who nonetheless averaged 9.2 rebounds in 30.9 minutes per game this year. He scored 11.6 points a night and while he displayed an accurate touch from the outside, hitting 41.5% of his three-pointers, he did so on only 1.5 such attempts per game. His impressive ball-handling and passing skills, rare qualities for a big man, helped him to a No.9 ranking when Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors compiled our latest Draft Prospect Power Rankings.
Looney was the 11th-rated prospect in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index coming out of high school, but the gap between projections before this season was even wider than it is now, as Ford had him eighth during the preseason while Givony listed him at No. 45. He became UCLA’s most well-regarded NBA prospect this year, and while the Bruins were a controversial selection for the NCAA Tournament, Looney pulled down double-digit rebounds in UCLA’s first two tournament games to help the team advance to the Sweet 16.
Western Notes: Young, Green, Clarkson
The Lakers committed more money to Nick Young than to any other free agent last summer, but coach Byron Scott is threatening to reduce Young’s minutes if the team makes a more significant foray into free agency this year, as Mark Medina and Robert Morales of the Los Angeles Daily News write. Scott wants to see Young become less of a gunner when he returns from injury next season, but the swingman, who signed a four-year deal worth more than $21.326MM, feels as though Scott unfairly targets him for criticism. While we wait to see how that dynamic plays out, there’s more on the Lakers amid the latest from the Western Conference:
- Rookie Erick Green hasn’t seen much playing time for the Nuggets this season, and he realizes he has to seize the opportunity when he does, as he tells Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. The former second-round pick saw a career high of just 25 minutes Saturday, and his minimum salary for next season is non-guaranteed.
- That’s in stark contrast to Lakers rookie Jordan Clarkson, a fellow former second-rounder who’ll remain with the Lakers for next season, as coach Scott said directly on Saturday, tweets Mike Trudell of Lakers.com. Clarkson, who’s excelled as he’s made 33 starts, also has a non-guaranteed minimum salary for 2015/16.
- The Jazz have recalled Grant Jerrett from the D-League, the team announced. The power forward hasn’t put up impressive numbers while on assignment, averaging 13.5 points and 6.8 rebounds in 28.4 minutes per game across 19 appearances for both the Thunder and Jazz affiliates this season. He’s knocked down 41.2% of his three-pointers on his frequent D-League trips this year, but he’s only managed to make it into six NBA games.
Use Of Stretch Provision Continues To Grow
When we last looked at the way NBA teams were using the stretch provision, in early September, four players in a single week had just had their salaries spread as front offices rushed to beat a key deadline. That surpassed the total of three on whom the provision had ever been used since its inception following the 2011 lockout. Since that sudden surge, five more players have joined the list, including two who have the largest-ever stretched contracts.
No team had dared to spread more than $3.25MM when the regular season began. That changed dramatically when the Pistons stunningly decided in December to waive Josh Smith and defray the cost of the $27MM they owed him for 2015/16 and 2016/17 over a five-year period. They’ll pay him $5.4MM each year through 2019/20, since the provision calls for the salary to be spread in equal amounts over a length of time that’s double the number of years left on the deal, plus one. Detroit couldn’t keep the entirety of his $13.5MM for this season from sticking on its books, since the passage of the September 1st deadline prevented that. Still, the Pistons bought themselves some cap flexibility for the next two summers at the expense of the three to follow.
The Bucks followed with an even longer timetable for Larry Sanders, who still had three and a half years left on his contract when he and Milwaukee pulled off a buyout in February. The buyout left Sanders with only about $13.059MM of the $33MM he was supposed to see from 2015/16 through 2017/18, and the Bucks used the stretch provision to further minimize their obligation for those seasons. Milwaukee will have close to $1.866MM for Sanders on the books for a whopping seven years, a period that will carry all the way through 2021/22. Still, the Bucks won’t feel quite as much of a burden as they would have if there had been no buyout, which would have had them shelling out $11MM for the next three seasons, or if there had been a buyout but no stretch, which would have left $4.353MM cap hits each season through 2017/18.
Here’s a look at each use of the stretch provision since it came into being, listed in reverse chronological order. The month in which each use occurred is in parentheses, which helps illustrate just how much more frequently the provision has come into play within the past nine months. All salaries shown are the total amounts the teams stretched, and not the figures they’ll pay out each year. The salaries are rounded to the nearest $1K.
- Bucks, Larry Sanders (February 2015) — $13.059MM over seven years
- Clippers, Jordan Farmar (January 2015) — $1.533MM over three years
- Pistons, Josh Smith (December 2014) — $27MM over five years
- Mavericks, Gal Mekel (October 2014) — $947K over three years
- Pistons, Aaron Gray (October 2014) — $1.356MM over three years
- Kings, Wayne Ellington (August 2014) — $2.771MM over three years
- Grizzlies, Jamaal Franklin (August 2014) — $816K over five years
- Clippers, Carlos Delfino (August 2014) — $3.25MM over five years
- Clippers, Miroslav Raduljica (August 2014) — $1.5MM over five years
- Suns, Michael Beasley (September 2013) — $2.333MM over three years
- Grizzlies, Fab Melo (August 2013) — $1.311MM over three years
- Bulls, Richard Hamilton (July 2013) — $1MM over three years
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Eastern Notes: Dragic, Bargnani, Carter-Williams
All of the former NBA coaches and players who will be inducted this year into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame have Eastern Conference ties. Former Hawks, Sixers, Nets and Knicks center Dikembe Mutombo, one-time Nets coach John Calipari, former Knicks and Bullets power forward Spencer Haywood are going in, the Hall announced today, as Michael Marot of The Associated Press relays. Joining them are longtime Celtics point guard Jo Jo White and his coach, Tom Heinsohn, who was already in as a player. Louie Dampier, who played for the Spurs and most prominently with the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels, is also in this year’s Hall class, and while he doesn’t have a connection to any present-day Eastern team, San Antonio was in the East when he donned the silver-and-black. Here’s the latest on a few current-day notables from the East:
- Goran Dragic is almost certain to hit free agency this summer, but he made it clear he likes the idea of playing with Chris Bosh when the big man is expected to be healthy enough to hit the floor again next season, observes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Still, the Heat point guard cautioned that he hasn’t made up his mind about where he’ll sign, Winderman adds.
- The Knicks aren’t planning to commit any cap space to Andrea Bargnani next season and would prefer to re-sign him using the minimum-salary exception, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post, advancing his report from last month on the team’s openness to a new deal. Berman passes along comments from coach Derek Fisher indicating that he’d welcome the idea of having Bargnani back.
- There were rumors dating back to the summer that the Sixers were talking about trading Michael Carter-Williams, but the deadline deal that sent him to the Bucks took him by surprise, as he tells Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. “I didn’t know it was coming,” he said. “But I’m in a good situation now. I’m trying to move on from it. It’s good to be stable and have teammates for more than however time. It’s good to know that I’m going to be here growing with guys and knowing the chemistry, just to build on relationships. [Losing in Philadelphia] was tough, but Philly treated me great. I’ve got nothing really bad to say about them. I’m a Milwaukee Buck now and I hope I’m here for a while.”
The Beat: Chris Vivlamore On The Hawks
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. We began the series last time with Dan Woike, who covers the Clippers for the Orange County Register. Today, we hear from Hawks beat writer Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You can follow Chris on Twitter at @CVivlamoreAJC. Click here to check out his stories and here to see his blog at AJC.com.
Hoops Rumors: Are the Hawks as surprised by how well their season has gone as much as everyone else is, or did the organization feel as though this roster was capable of a giant leap?
- Chris Vivlamore: I’m not sure anyone saw such a dramatic leap this season but the Hawks thought they had a good team. They were third in the East last season before Al Horford got hurt and pushed the top-seeded Pacers to seven games in the playoffs, a series they probably should have won. With Horford back, they certainly thought they could be a contender in the Eastern Conference. Also, another season under Mike Budenholzer’s system — with nearly the entire roster back — was reason for heightened expectation.
Hoops Rumors: A healthy Horford has certainly helped, but aside from that, what’s been the most significant difference this season compared to last?
- Chris Vivlamore: The most significant differences from last season were the additions of Thabo Sefolosha and Kent Bazemore and the incredible progress of Dennis Schröder from his rookie season. Not much was made of the acquisitions of Sefolosha and Bazemore during the summer. However, they added much needed depth – especially at the wing behind DeMarre Carroll. That has led to an improved defense, which is really the staple of Budenholzer’s system. Too often last season, the Hawks would falter without Carroll in the lineup or as he tired from guarding the opposition’s top non-frontcourt threat. Sefolosha and Bazemore firm up the defense and allow the Hawks to come at an opposing star player in waves. Schröder has turned into a legitimate point guard in the NBA, which is a major step from last season. He continues to use his speed to get in the paint and either finish at the rim or kick to an outside shooter. He has also improved his outside shot, which can be a threat.
Hoops Rumors: The Adreian Payne trade seemed like a curious one. He hadn’t played much at all, but he’s a 15th overall pick and he wasn’t even around for a full season. What was the team hoping to accomplish with that deal, and were you surprised that the Hawks would give up an asset like that with so much uncertainty surrounding the front office?
- Chris Vivlamore: While the Payne trade was surprising, the thought process inside the organization was to free up a roster spot as Payne was stuck behind several others at the forward/center spot. He had Paul Millsap, Pero Antic, Elton Brand, Mike Muscala and even Mike Scott ahead of him. They ended up getting another first-round pick for him. I don’t believe the “uncertainty” around the front office had any impact on the deal.
Hoops Rumors: Budenholzer is acting as GM in place of Danny Ferry, but how much has the coach leaned on assistant GMs Wes Wilcox and Scott Wilkinson, senior adviser Rick Sund, and others in that front office? Who has the most prominent voice aside from Budenholzer?
- Chris Vivlamore: The front office continues to work much the same as it did with Ferry. It’s a group effort with Wilcox and the basketball operations staff doing all the same work. They all meet and hash out decisions that need to be made — not unlike it works with the Spurs — to arrive at a consensus. Ultimately, Budenholzer has the final say. Even when Ferry was involved, the organization used the team approach for player personnel decisions and other matters. In that regard, not much has changed.
Hoops Rumors: It’s tough to gauge where the roster is headed with Ferry in limbo and the ownership situation still up in the air. That said, do you get a sense from Millsap and Carroll that, all things being equal, they’d like to stick around if the money is right?
- Chris Vivlamore: The process really hasn’t even begun for Millsap and Carroll as they must go to free agency. I believe there will be plenty of suitors for both and each will get a significant salary increase when it’s all said and done. They have both earned a raise with their play. Quite frankly, they are bargains for what they have produced on the court. I think the Hawks want them back and are prepared to pay each. I think the players want to come back based on the success of the team and their increased roles in Atlanta. However, once teams start making offers you never really know what will happen.
Hoops Rumors: It doesn’t seem as though there’s been a shortage of potential bidders for the team, but you wrote that the sale process could drag on into June. Why do you think it’s taking so long?
- Chris Vivlamore: I wish I had a good answer for this question. I can just say with an organization that is so structured with different groups and individuals — who are so divided — that the smallest of details take forever to complete. The process of selling the franchise and arena is a huge undertaking to get every group on the same page – or at least in enough agreement to move forward.
Draft Notes: Towns, Okafor, Winslow, Simmons
Tonight’s NCAA championship won’t offer the epic matchup between Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor that would have taken place if Wisconsin hadn’t beaten Kentucky on Saturday, but Towns and Okafor still have a score to settle when it comes to the No. 1 overall pick. The centers are the leading candidates, and it seems as if it’s a close call among NBA executives and scouts. The same is true among SI.com’s panel of experts, who narrowly favor Towns. However, it’ll be Okafor with a chance to make a statement on a grand stage tonight. Here’s more on the draft:
- Scouts have compared Okafor to Al Jefferson and, less optimistically, Carlos Boozer, Pete Thamel of SI.com writes, calling Towns a less perimeter-oriented LaMarcus Aldridge.
- Duke small forward Justise Winslow would be in the running to become the No. 1 overall pick if not for the presence of Towns and Okafor, as one Eastern Conference GM tells Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, praising the freshman’s versatility and upside. Winslow will go head-to-head tonight against Wisconsin’s Sam Dekker, another fast riser during the NCAA Tournament, as Scotto details, echoing an earlier dispatch from Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
- Combo forward Ben Simmons made an impression on NBA personnel like no one else during practices for the McDonald’s All American Game last week, as Chris Mannix of SI.com chronicles. One NBA GM called Simmons, a 2016 draft prospect, “an absolute stud,” Mannix relays. Simmons is No. 2 behind small forward Jaylen Brown on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress 2016 mock draft.
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