Atlantic Rumors: Kirilenko, Sixers, Nets, Knicks
Earlier reports have suggested that Andrei Kirilenko would be interested in playing again in February, once a family matter involving his wife is resolved, but it’s an iffy proposition whether Kirilenko will play at any point this season, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt hears (Twitter links). Sixers officials are trying to convince Kirilenko that he should remain with Philadelphia once the trade goes through, though he’s not pleased with the idea, as John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com hears (Twitter link). The Sixers, who see Kirilenko as a valuable asset whom they could flip at the February 19th trade deadline, according to Gonzalez, would ultimately have the power to keep Kirilenko on the roster this season no matter how he feels about it once the Nets trade is complete. However, it looks as though they’d prefer to give his roster spot to someone they could put on the court if Kirilenko’s not willing to play for them. There’s plenty more on the Kirilenko trade amid the latest from the Atlantic Division:
- The Nets have an agreement to sign a player to fill the roster vacancy that the Kirilenko trade is set to create, tweets Robert Windrem of NetsDaily . That advances an earlier report from Tim Bontemps of the New York Post, who heard the team had someone lined up for that opening (Twitter link). The identity of the soon-to-be signee is unknown, but it’s not an eye-catching name, according to the NetsDaily scribe.
- Brooklyn will be able to create a $3.3MM trade exception from the Kirilenko deal, a league source tells Windrem (Twitter link). The precise value of that exception will probably be $3,326,235, equivalent to Kirilenko’s salary, since the identical minimum salaries of Brandon Davies and Jorge Gutierrez would essentially cancel each other out, but that won’t be entirely clear until after the trade is official.
- Knicks teammates Carmelo Anthony and Tim Hardaway Jr. confirmed that they engaged in an argument during last week’s loss to the Nets, but they don’t think it’s emblematic of a rift between the two of them, as a report Wednesday portrayed it to be. Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com has the details.
- Anthony also denied that other players are holding him entirely responsible for the team’s struggles, and he also says that he and the other Knicks players don’t harbor doubts about the triangle offense, as Begley relays in the same piece.
Pistons Notes: Trades, Van Gundy, Meeks
The Pistons have lost 13 in a row, one shy of the franchise record, and teams have already begun to line up to court Greg Monroe in free agency this coming summer. Stan Van Gundy has pointed to a four-game break in the schedule between the 21st and 26th as a time for key decisions, and with most offseason signees set to become eligible for trades Monday, the tipping point for a shakeup doesn’t seem far off. Here’s the latest from Detroit:
- For the Pistons, “everything and everyone is on the table,” as Van Gundy said Tuesday to reporters, including Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, though it’s not clear whether he was referring to lineup changes or roster movement. In any case, Van Gundy was quick to add that there isn’t a single individual to blame for the team’s disastrous 3-19 start, Ellis notes.
- The Pistons coach/executive “took over the Titanic and it’s sinking even quicker,” Jeff Van Gundy said of his brother in an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio with Frank Isola and Mitch Lawrence, as MLive’s Josh Slagter transcribes. However, Stan Van Gundy made it clear that he doesn’t agree with his brother’s assessment, notes fellow MLive scribe David Mayo (Twitter link).
- Stan Van Gundy clings to the hope of making the playoffs this season, but if Jodie Meeks, the team’s most lucrative offseason signee, can’t light a spark when he returns from injury as soon as this week, the Pistons shouldn’t hesitate to change their approach, writes Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News.
Jazz Sign Patrick Christopher
1:13pm: The deal is official, the team announced. Utah didn’t cut anyone, so the roster is now at 15 players.
8:52am: The Jazz are set to bring aboard Grizzlies camp cut Patrick Christopher, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Utah has an open roster spot, so no corresponding move is required. It’s unclear just what sort of terms the shooting guard will see on his deal, or whether any salary will be guaranteed, but it’s likely a prorated minimum-salary arrangement, even though the Jazz have the capacity to give more.
Christopher, 26, has been with the Grizzlies’ D-League affiliate since shortly after Memphis waived his non-guaranteed NBA contract at the end of the preseason. It was the second straight year that Christopher had signed a deal for camp with an NBA team, though Chicago cut him on just the second day of camp in 2013 after having used his presence on the roster to facilitate the addition of others on Exhibit 9 contracts that limited the team’s liability in case of injury. He spent last season in the D-League, racking up 13.6 points in 33.5 minutes per game on sizzling 44.6% three-point shooting. Christopher has made only 39.0% of his attempts from behind the arc in a limited sample size of seven D-League games this year, but his scoring is up to 15.0 PPG in increased playing time of 36.4 MPG. He was a D-League All-Defensive Second Team selection last year, and before going undrafted in 2010, he was twice an All-Pac-10 First Team selection at the University of California.
The Jazz have only 12 fully guaranteed contracts on their roster. Toure’ Murry, who hasn’t played for Utah yet this season, has already earned more salary than his $250K partial guarantee, so he’s on a de facto non-guaranteed contract. It’s conceivable that the Jazz would let him go to sign Christopher and maintain an open roster spot, though there’s no indication that they’ll actually do so. Joe Ingles has a non-guaranteed pact, but he’s averaging 17.6 minutes per game as part of the Jazz’s rotation.
2015 Free Agent Power Rankings
Most NBA teams have played between 20 and 22 games so far this season, so we’ve hit the quarter pole of this year’s 82-game trek. It’s also been precisely a month since the inaugural edition of the Hoops Rumors 2015 Free Agent Power Rankings, so the time is right for an update. There’s been a bit of shuffling in the order, and the newest name on the list made no subtle impression to earn his way on it. Let’s break down this month’s rankings:
- LeBron James (player option) — The four-time MVP isn’t leaving Cleveland again, lest he be permanently cast in the villain’s role that fit him so poorly during his early days in Miami. But, his ability to hit the market and put pressure on the Cavs to continue to surround him with a roster capable of competing for championships defines “free agent power” and casts him at the top figure in this ranking. Last month: No. 1
- Kevin Love (player option) — The 26-year-old’s numbers are down, predictably, as more talented teammates than he’s ever had surround him in Cleveland, but he’s still an otherworldly talent. Love continues to insist that he has no plans of leaving the Cavs, though he said he’s talked in passing with Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony about playing together someday. He also called the Knicks “a great franchise to be a part of”, and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote this month that it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Love would end up on the Lakers next season. Last month: No. 2
- Marc Gasol — Re-signing Gasol is job one for the Grizzlies, according to GM Chris Wallace, and central to the team’s ability to do that will be the strength of its commitment to winning, Gasol says. That makes team’s 17-4 start an even more auspicious sign than it otherwise would be, and Gasol’s been a major catalyst, having upped his scoring average to 19.5 points per game, nearly five points better than his career high. All that success has the Knicks pessimistic about their chances to lure him to New York. Last month: No. 4
- LaMarcus Aldridge — New York reporters failed in their attempts to coax free agency chatter out of another logical Knicks target when the Blazers were in town recently, and while Knicks faithful may cling to the idea that Aldridge didn’t rule out leaving Portland, that seems a long shot. The Arn Tellem client said this past offseason that he intends to sign a new five-year deal with Portland this coming summer, and he spoke this month of his comfort with Portland and the Blazers. Last month: No. 3
- Jimmy Butler (restricted) — No soon-to-be free agent has lifted his stock during the first quarter of the NBA season as much as Butler has. The most significant flaws in his game last season were on offense , but he’s suddenly become Chicago’s leading scorer at 21.7 PPG, 8.6 PPG better than last year’s career high. Several executives around the league believe that the Happy Walters client will command the maximum salary if he keeps this up, though the Bulls seem poised to match any offers he receives. Last month: Unranked
- Kawhi Leonard (restricted) — The Spurs also appear ready to pounce should Leonard draw a maximum-salary offer sheet. The Brian Elfus client’s game is expanding again this year, as he’s seeing double-digit shot attempts per night for the first time, helping him to a career-best 14.8 PPG. He’s also putting up his best per-game marks in assists, rebounds and steals. Last month: No. 6
- Rajon Rondo — The ninth-year veteran has always struggled with his shot, but Rondo’s shooting percentage is down from every range outside of three feet from the basket, according to Basketball-Reference. He’s also scoring fewer than 10 points per game for the first time since he was a rookie. Still, Rondo is again leading the league in assists per game, and there appears to be mutual interest between Rondo and the Lakers, though Boston remains No. 1 on his list. A move to L.A. doesn’t appear the most likely outcome at this point, however, as the Celtics continue to value Rondo highly. Last month: No. 5
- Al Jefferson (player option) — The Hornets are off to a dreadful start, and much of the blame has fallen at the feet of Lance Stephenson, the team’s latest marquee free agent acquisition. But Jefferson’s numbers are down, and particularly his rebounding, as he’s grabbing just 7.8 boards per night after pulling down 10.8 RPG last year. The memory of his franchise-changing season last year will linger for quite some time, but with his 30th birthday looming next month, there’s cause for concern. Last month: No. 7
- Greg Monroe — It’s even uglier in Detroit than it’s been in Charlotte so far this season, but Monroe has soldiered on, with most of his per-36-minute marks holding steady even as he sees slightly fewer minutes in a crowded Pistons frontcourt. He’ll have a chance to be an unquestioned starter elsewhere next season, and the Hawks and Knicks are ready to pursue him. He’s also playfully spoken of playing with Celtics forward Jeff Green, though it’d be tough for him to land with Boston if Rondo is still there, and Atlanta would be an odd fit unless soon-to-be free agent Paul Millsap doesn’t re-sign. Last month: No. 9
- Goran Dragic (player option) — It’s no shock that Dragic hasn’t produced quite the way he did last season, and not just because 2013/14 was a career year. The backcourt logjam in Phoenix has reduced Dragic’s minutes and taken away some of his shot attempts, and his efficiency during his time on the floor, as measured by his PER, has returned to the level he displayed in 2012/13. Eric Bledsoe was injured much of last season and Isaiah Thomas was in Sacramento, so Dragic had free reign. The Suns will face pressure to convince him that sacrificing that to work for the greater collective is truly the choice he should make come July. Last month: No. 8
Dropped out: DeAndre Jordan (Last month: No. 10)
Knicks Rumors: Smith, Fisher, ‘Melo, Hardaway
J.R. Smith is the Knicks player whom the team would most like to trade, sources tell Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. That’s unsurprising, since the Knicks had reportedly been having internal discussions over a period of several months about how to trade the swingman. The Pacers have been the team most recently linked to Smith, but there haven’t been new developments on that front for a few weeks. Broussard has more on what appears to be rampant dysfunction inside the 4-19 Knicks, as we detail amid the latest on the blue-and-orange:
- Knicks players are frustrated with coach Derek Fisher‘s reliance on the triangle offense, his defensive scheme, and his stoic demeanor on the sidelines, Broussard hears. Fisher recently expressed that he felt that his players had doubts about the triangle, while team president Phil Jackson pointed to a lack of discipline and order and a resistance to culture change among the players.
- There’s a general sense of discord within the locker room, with Carmelo Anthony a frequent target of complaints from teammates, sources tell Broussard. Anthony and Tim Hardaway Jr. are particularly at odds, and Anthony threatened to fight Hardaway at one point, though no physical confrontations have taken place, Broussard hears.
- Jackson chalked up the reason the Knicks have lost several close games to what he called a “loser’s mentality,” but Anthony doesn’t see it like that, as Marc Berman of the New York Post relays. “Losing mentality, a lot of people will try to decipher that in their own different way,’’ Anthony said Tuesday, before the Knicks lost again, to the Pelicans. “You ask 10 people, you get 10 different opinions on what that really means. I know we don’t have a losing mentality.’’
L.A. Notes: Kobe, Dudley, Rivers, Wohl
Both Los Angeles teams enter their next games having come off wins, with the Clippers having dusted off their eighth straight on Monday against the Suns and the Lakers topping the Kings on Tuesday. Still, the dichotomy between the two Staples Center tenants couldn’t be more stark. Here’s the latest from L.A.
- A source close to Kobe Bryant says the Lakers star was “adamant” this past offseason about retiring in the summer of 2016, reports Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Bryant hasn’t publicly ruled out the idea of playing beyond next season, even as he’s signaled that he has no plans to do so.
- The Lakers would be hard-pressed to build a championship-level team before the time that Bryant is poised to walk away, but the Black Mamba believes there’s a decent chance that the team’s fortunes will change in a hurry, as he tells Michael Lee of The Washington Post. “I’ve been in this situation before. I don’t fret about it. I don’t think nothing about it,” Bryant said. “I’ve seen, where it seems like this organization is in dire straits and then all of a sudden, we make a couple of moves, make a couple of trades and boom, we’re right back in it. So I just stay patient.”
- The Bucks didn’t make the best offer to the Clippers for Jared Dudley and the first-round pick that the Clips wound up trading to Milwaukee this summer, but Doc Rivers and his staff felt they had to act quickly, multiple sources suggested to Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com. Arnovitz’s insider-only piece delves into the front office dynamics for the Clippers, where executives and agents rely on GM Dave Wohl as a conduit to Rivers, Arnovitz hears.
Earl Clark Signs Deal With Chinese Team
9:36pm: The team that Clark is signing with is the Shandong Lions, Marc Stein of ESPNLosAngeles reports.
6:31pm: Clark has indeed signed a deal with a still unnamed Chinese team, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News reports (Twitter link).
2:15pm: Earl Clark is nearing a lucrative deal to play in China, reports Stein (Twitter link). The identity of the Chinese team isn’t immediately clear. A report late last month indicated that the Lakers would sign the free agent forward, but no such move has happened yet, though the Lakers remain interested, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com wrote earlier today in a pair of tweets. Shelburne indicated that the Lakers were evaluating whether to sign Clark, a member of their D-League team, or someone else with a 16th roster spot the league granted via hardship last month. However, that hardship exception has expired, as Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. The Lakers can apply to the league for another hardship if they wish, though it appeared Sunday that the team didn’t plan to do so, according to Bresnahan.
Clark has been with the Rockets D-League affiliate since the start of the regular season, putting up 26.2 points and 8.0 rebounds with 33.3% three-point shooting in 34.3 minutes per game. The veteran of five NBA seasons was briefly with Houston’s big club during the preseason after the Rockets claimed him off waivers from the Grizzlies, who’d signed him to a non-guaranteed deal for training camp.
The 26-year-old began last season as a starter for the Cavs after signing a two-year, $8.5MM deal following a strong performance with the Lakers in 2012/13, but he failed to continue that level of play, and Cleveland sent him to the Sixers at the trade deadline. Philadelphia waived him, and since he completed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Knicks late last season, the former 14th overall pick has yet to play in a NBA regular season game.
Nets, Sixers Revisit Andrei Kirilenko Talks
3:47pm: It could be months before Kirilenko will be prepared to sign a deal with another team should the Nets trade him and the Sixers waive him, Wojnarowski writes in a full story. The Nets would probably receive a player on a non-guaranteed contract if they and the Sixers were to agree to a trade, though that remains a matter of discussion, the Yahoo! Scribe adds. Wojnarowski implies that the Nets are the team that’s making the harder push to complete the deal, though that’s just my interpretation.
2:55pm: The Nets and Sixers are again trying to come to terms on a deal that would send Andrei Kirilenko to Philadelphia, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The Nets would give up a second-round pick as a sweetener, Wojnarowski says in a second tweet, though it’s unclear what Philly would relinquish. The Sixers would waive Kirilenko and his guaranteed salary, worth more than $3.3MM, if they were to acquire him, Wojnarowski adds, mirroring last month’s report from Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com, who originally reported the talks. Such an exchange would save Brooklyn nearly $12MM in salary and tax payments, assuming the Nets don’t take a guaranteed salary back in return, Wojnarowski notes (Twitter link).
A family matter involving Kirilenko’s wife was to have made any deal unlikely until the February trade deadline drew closer, as Wojnarowski reported a little more than a week ago. However, Wojnarowski’s latest dispatch and another recent rumor dredging up talk that the Jazz were in play for the 33-year-old seem to indicate that there’s momentum for a deal to happen soon. The discussions with Philadelphia, which Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com originally reported last month, represent Brooklyn’s only deal in the works at the moment, Wojnarowski adds. That’s in spite of the Jazz rumor and today’s report indicating that the Nets are willing to trade Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson.
Talks between the club never truly appeared to cease, as Wojnarowski wrote earlier this month, though it appeared at that point that they no longer involved Sergey Karasev, who was involved in the discussions that Youngmisuk reported in November. Reports have indicated that the Cavs and Clippers also hold interest in Kirilenko. He received limited playing time early in the season and hasn’t appeared in a game since November 13th, though he’s returned to practice with the club after an absence of a few days, apparently to deal with the family issue. He doesn’t join the team for road trips, however. The Nets have reportedly been seeking a defensive-minded wing player for a while, so it’s somewhat odd that they would be anxious to unload Kirilenko, who’s made his mark primarily on the defensive end over the course of his career.
Nets Willing To Trade Williams, Lopez, Johnson
3:39pm: Brooklyn has been “very active” in making calls, an executive from an opposing team tells Fred Kerber of the New York Post, adding that he thinks Brooklyn is ready to make a move but that he hasn’t heard that the Nets are close to any deals. Kerber passed along the exec’s remarks within a story on Williams, Lopez and Johnson, so presumably that exec was talking about the team’s calls about those three players and not Andrei Kirilenko, who’s reportedly the subject of renewed chatter with the Sixers.
3:20pm: The Nets are initiating talks with teams about the trio as well as listening when other teams bring them up, Wallach hears (Twitter link).
2:22pm: It isn’t really a new development that the Nets are making Williams, Lopez and Johnson available, a source with ties to the Nets tells Reed Wallach of Nets Daily (Twitter link). Brooklyn has been hard at work seeking a defensive-minded wing player for some time, USA Today’s Sam Amick reports (on Twitter), though it’s unclear if that pursuit is related to the Williams-Lopez-Johnson talks.
1:29pm: The Nets have had “exploratory” conversations with multiple teams about the highly paid triumvirate, though they aren’t merely looking to dump salary and want to remain a playoff team whether or not they make any moves, Stein and Youngmisuk write in a full story. It’s unclear whether Brooklyn would insist on a talent upgrade or whether the team is looking for a lateral move in that regard that would still allow it to cut costs. The Nets would have a tough time unloading any more than one of Williams, Lopez and Johnson in a single deal, given their hefty salaries, so if two or more of them leave Brooklyn, it would likely happen via separate transactions, according to the ESPN scribes.
1:15pm: The Nets are making Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson available in trade talk, report Marc Stein and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com (Twitter link). It’s unclear which teams the Nets have spoken to or just how aggressively Nets GM Billy King is looking for deals. King said recently that he was considering “tweaks” to the roster, but he offered only a “We’ll see” when asked about the long-term viability of the Williams-Lopez-Johnson core.
A report from Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck in May indicated that the Nets wouldn’t rule out the idea of trading Williams, who’s making more than $19.754MM this season. Chris Broussard of ESPN.com reported in June that Brooklyn would be more open to trading Williams than Johnson if the Nets could somehow have wedged their way into last summer’s LeBron James sweepstakes. Johnson is on the books this year at nearly $23.181MM, a team high. Still, there were no reports suggesting the Nets were in talks about Williams, much less Johnson or Lopez. Williams and Lopez have 15% trade kickers on their respective deals that the Nets would be responsible for paying should they trade them, but there’s no such clause in Johnson’s contract.
The trio, Brooklyn’s three highest paid players, makes more than $58.654MM combined this season, and each is under contract for 2015/16 at even more than he’s making this year, though Lopez holds a player option. The Nets are just 8-11 and in eighth place in the Eastern Conference after Monday’s blowout loss to the Cavs, and Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov vowed this past summer to cut spending so that the team dodges the luxury tax in 2015/16. The Nets already have more than $76.756MM in guaranteed salary and player options on their books for next season, close to this year’s $76.829MM tax threshold, though the tax line is expected to increase by several million dollars for 2015/16.
Clippers, Heat Showed Interest In Corey Brewer
The Clippers and Heat were among the teams that expressed interest in Corey Brewer when the Wolves were reportedly in active discussions last month about trading the swingman, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt tweets. It’s unclear whether those teams continue to eye Brewer. The Rockets and Cavs were apparently the most serious suitors, and Houston emerged as the team most likely to acquire the 28-year-old former No. 7 overall pick before talks appeared to die down.
Wolves coach/executive Flip Saunders suggested last month that Brewer was too valuable for his injury-wracked team to trade, and Brewer rumors largely ceased from that point on. Saunders hinted today that the team has gone into rebuilding mode because of the injuries, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (Twitter links), though it’s unclear if that changes the dynamic involving Brewer. The Happy Walters client makes $4.703MM this season and has a player option worth $4.703MM for next season that teams interested in trading for him would strongly prefer him to waive, as Zillgitt reported last month.
The Clippers, who also apparently have some level of interest in Andrei Kirilenko, would have to be careful to match salaries with the Wolves, since they’re perilously close to their hard cap. The Heat have greater flexibility, though they’re roughly $4MM shy of the luxury tax line. Brewer’s numbers have been off this season, as I examined Monday when I looked at his trade candidacy, though I urged Saunders to move quickly toward a deal if interest remains strong.