Minor Moves: Jerrett, Celtics, Johnson
The D-League season is underway, and with it will come a fast pace of assignments and recalls from NBA teams. We’ll be keeping track of those moves throughout the season in the post linked here and noting each transaction within our regular coverage. There are a pair of D-League notes and a move from overseas this afternoon amid our look at the latest news involving NBA players and minor league teams.
- The Thunder recalled Grant Jerrett from the D-League today, the team announced via press release, just hours after sending him down to their affiliate for a practice. Coach Scott Brooks explained that the Thunder have been engaging merely in film study and walkthroughs of late, so the team wanted to allow him to engage in a full practice as he continues to recover from left ankle surgery, as Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman details (All four Twitter links).
- The Celtics have assigned James Young and Dwight Powell the the Maine Red Claws, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. Young has appeared in two contests for Boston this season, averaging 1.7 points and 1.2 rebounds in nine minutes per game. Powell has seen less than a minute’s worth of regular season action after logging 1.7 PPG and 1.2 RPG in six preseason appearances.
- Heat camp invitee Chris Johnson is signing with China’s Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). Johnson is a three-year NBA veteran center who last saw regular season action with the Timberwolves in 2012/13. He’s not to be confused with swingman Chris Johnson, whom the Sixers waived this afternoon.
And-Ones: Love, Union, Sterling
Kevin Love earlier today dismissed a report linking him to the Lakers, and he also told reporters Friday that his offseason visit to Boston wasn’t a fact-finding mission to see if he’d like to play for the Celtics, notes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com.
“The fact is, my agent [Jeff Schwartz] is a big Red Sox fan,” Love said. “I’d been planning on that for a long time to come in and check out not only the city, but a Red Sox game and we had a great time and we plan on coming back. It’s tough because I wasn’t a free agent last summer. I have potential to be a free agent this summer or next. It’s just one of those things. It’s obviously a tremendous city. People love it here [in Boston]. Basketball and sports in general are huge here, but it’s been fantastic being a part of the Cavaliers now. We have a team that’s formidable, has a big presence and we see a lot of you guys [in the media] on a daily basis.”
Love makes it clear that he has affection for Boston, but that it doesn’t necessarily mean he wants to play there. Here’s more from around the league:
- Union executive director Michele Roberts explains why she doesn’t think eliminating maximum salaries would hurt the players who aren’t making the max in the full text of her interview with Pablo S. Torre of ESPN The Magazine. Snippets of their Q&A that ESPN released earlier this week caused a stir and prompted a response from commissioner Adam Silver. The full interview reveals that Roberts is having regular talks with Silver and that players have expressed their support for a team in Europe.
- Donald Sterling named Adam Silver, David Stern and former Clippers interim CEO Dick Parsons among 18 witnesses he may call to the stand in a trial to resolve his $1 billion federal lawsuit against the NBA, reports Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times. A recent court filing revealed that Sterling lawyer Maxwell Blecher had begun talks with the NBA about a possible dismissal of the suit, but Blecher has withdrawn from representing Sterling, Fenno writes. Blecher tells Fenno that he’s unaware if any such talks are currently proceeding.
- It’s “widely anticipated” that the NBA and the D-League will someday implement contracts that will allow players on NBA rosters to be paid D-League salaries while on D-League assignment, writes Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Currently, all players on D-League assignment continue to draw their NBA salaries, which are at least some 20 times greater than the maximum $25,500 D-League salary.
Warriors Notes: Nedovic, Jackson, D-League
Golden State has an open roster spot, but it doesn’t appear as though the Warriors are in a rush to fill it. They avoided what would have been a three-game losing streak with Thursday’s win over the Nets, yet six of their next eight games are on the road, including four in the Eastern Time Zone. While we wait to see if the team calls for reinforcements during that stretch, here more from by the Bay:
- The Warriors waived Nemanja Nedovic this week in part because they wanted to reap savings on his roughly $1.104MM guaranteed salary for this season, according to Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group, which suggests Golden State had set-off rights in mind. Those rights would allow the Warriors to avoid paying one half the difference between Nedovic’s new salary with Valencia of Spain and $816,482, which is the NBA minimum salary for a one-year veteran. It’s still unclear how much Nedovic will make on his Spanish deal.
- Mark Jackson‘s tenure as Warriors coach ended acrimoniously this spring, but co-owner Joe Lacob doesn’t regret having hired him in 2011, as Lacob tells Bay Area News Group columnist Marcus Thompson. “Mark Jackson was a great hire,” Lacob said. “I know it’s hard for people to understand how we can change coaches when a coach won 51 games. But you have to look at it from our perspective: he did his job. I’m proud of the fact that we had Mark Jackson as a coach. And I like Mark Jackson, as a person and as a coach. It’s just that I felt, we felt, we needed to go to the next stage, and we felt if we do it in a different way, it would be better.”
- Justin Holiday and Ognjen Kuzmic are headed on D-League assignment, the Warriors announced. Golden State frequently sent Kuzmic to the Santa Cruz Warriors last year, when he appeared in 28 D-League games and only 20 NBA contests.
Clippers Eye World Peace For Late-Season Deal?
FRIDAY, 2:05pm: Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers didn’t give the impression that he has interest in World Peace while speaking with reporters today, notes Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter links).
WEDNESDAY, 11:27am: The Clippers have been monitoring Metta World Peace for a while, Marc Stein of ESPN.com said this morning on SportsCenter (video link), following up on a tweet from Daniel Artest, World Peace’s brother, who said Tuesday that the Clippers have interest. World Peace, who signed a one-year deal in the offseason with China’s Sichuan Blue Whales, wouldn’t come back to the NBA until the Blue Whales season is over, as Stein points out, but Sichuan’s final regular season game is February 1st. That would leave plenty of time for World Peace to return to the NBA before the end of its regular season in April, barring a long playoff run for his Chinese club, and World Peace said recently that he plans to return to the NBA as soon as later this season.
The Marc Cornstein client worked out at the Clippers facility over the summer, Stein notes, and World Peace reportedly sought deals with the Knicks, Lakers and Clippers this past offseason. The Knicks considered the possibility, and while it’s not clear if either the Lakers or Clippers did, World Peace said this month that he’d “rather play in Angola” than sign with the Knicks or Lakers upon his return from China.
World Peace is off to a strong start in his first Chinese season after 15 years in the NBA, averaging 22.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in about 31 minutes per game across four appearances. His last NBA game was with the Knicks in February shortly before he asked for and was granted his release from the team amid a sharp decline in playing time. He averaged just 13.4 minutes per game last season after receiving 33.7 MPG the year before with the Lakers.
The Clippers are in danger of paying the luxury tax and they’re also not far beneath their $80.829MM hard cap for this season, as Stein mentions, so they’ll have to be particularly judicious with any additions they make. They’re also limited to handing out the minimum salary to free agents, but the minimum prorates throughout the season, meaning that if World Peace were to join the team for the stretch run, his deal would give him less than $1MM.
Poll: Which 2015 FA Is Most Likely To Depart?
The 10 players atop the Hoops Rumors 2015 Free Agent Power Rankings comprise a star-studded list, but not all of them will change teams between now and next season. Only two of the 10 free agents on the final edition of last year’s Power Rankings changed teams. It’s indicative of the extra power that incumbent teams have to retain their star talent under the collective bargaining agreement, but it didn’t help the Heat, who lost LeBron James to the Cavs. Conservely, the Cavs saw Luol Deng sign with the Heat, but that’s a trade-off any team would make.
The idea of James leaving the Cavs again, and so soon after returning, seems a bit far-fetched, so we won’t include him among the options in this poll. Kevin Love has indicated his intent to remain with the Cavs, too, and he denied a report that he’s interested in signing with the Lakers. LaMarcus Aldridge also seems like a solid bet to return to his team, having repeated his desire to re-sign on a long-term deal, but his hometown Mavs are apparently eyeing him, and his relationship with the Blazers appeared to be on rocky ground up until last year.
Marc Gasol is a slick-passing defense anchor of a center who has an aging team around him, and brother Pau Gasol isn’t ruling out the idea that Marc would join the Knicks. Still, the younger Gasol has close ties to Memphis and appears content there. Rumors swirl nearly constantly around Rajon Rondo, but he hasn’t stopped singing Boston’s praises. The Spurs appear poised to match any offer for Kawhi Leonard, but after they passed on a max extension for the reigning Finals MVP last month, it’s fair to wonder whether a rival team will force them to decide whether to match a max offer sheet for him next summer.
Al Jefferson‘s value may never be higher after this season in Charlotte, and if he opts out, he’ll presumably have his choice of destinations. The same may be true of Goran Dragic, but the Suns will push to retain him, and they’ve already signed brother Zoran Dragic through 2015/16.
Greg Monroe and the Pistons haven’t ruled out a new deal this summer, but this past offseason he resisted any scenario that would tie him to the Pistons for the long term. DeAndre Jordan is fond of Doc Rivers, but the big man’s best days still seem to be ahead of him as he awaits his 27th birthday in July, the month when NBA teams traditionally shower cash on promising starting centers.
Last year’s 8 for 10 retention rate might be on par with what we’ll see this summer, but it would nonetheless be surprising to see all 10 top free agents re-sign with their current teams. Tell us which free agent you think is most likely to leave his team next summer, and leave a comment to let us know why you made your choice.
Eastern Notes: Labor, J.R. Smith, Butler, Cavs
The collective bargaining agreement is in place at least until 2017, but LeBron James wants to see constructive labor negotiations start sooner rather than later in the wake of sharp remarks this week from union executive director Michele Roberts and commissioner Adam Silver. Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group has the details.
“At some point we would like to start conversations, because you don’t want to get to a point to where the deadline happens and now we’re scrambling,” James said. “Our game is too good, it’s too popular, everyone loves our game all across the world and we don’t want to get to a point where there’s another lockout.”
While we wait to see if LeBron can help bring the sides to the table, here’s the latest on his rivals from the Eastern Conference:
- The Knicks continue to have internal discussions about ways to trade J.R. Smith, just as they have since July, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. A report early this month indicated that New York and the Pacers had engaged in talks about a Smith trade, and while a follow-up cast doubt on that notion, the most recent dispatch indicates that the Pacers do have interest in the volatile shooting guard.
- An anonymous executive suggests to fellow ESPNNewYork.com scribe Ian O’Connor that Smith continues to be a viable trade asset in the proper circumstances. “J.R. has had a lot of issues but he can be a big-time scorer when he’s doing the right things,” the executive said. “There’s always a team out there willing to take a chance on somebody if they feel he can put them over the top, and there’s no doubt J.R. can play. People are going to be concerned about chemistry issues in the locker room, so it would have to be a strong leadership and coaching staff that take him in.”
- Randy Wittman was the driving force behind the Wizards‘ decision to sign Rasual Butler, as the coach prevailed upon the team to invite the 35-year-old to camp, according to J. Michael of CSNWashington.com, who writes in his mailbag column. The move has paid off, as Butler made the opening-night roster and is averaging 8.8 points in 17.6 minutes per game.
- The Cavs have assigned rookie Alex Kirk to the D-League, the team announced. Kirk has only seen three minutes of regular season action thus far for Cleveland.
Kevin Love Continues To Eye Lakers?
FRIDAY, 11:16am: Love threw cold water on Smith’s report in response to a question from Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group (Twitter link). In his apparent denial, the power forward referenced a recent controversy over a hand gesture that he and Kyrie Irving made in a game recently that some thought was a reference to marijuana use. “Whatever we were doing with our hands is about as true as me going to the Lakers next year,” Love said to Haynes.
MONDAY, 12:14pm: Kevin Love made it clear that he wanted to play with LeBron James and the Cavs this past offseason before the trade that sent him to Cleveland, but “indications are” that he’ll consider opting out and that he still has interest in playing for the Lakers, according to Sam Smith of Bulls.com. Love possesses a $16.744MM player option for next season, but he’d stand to make significantly more on a new maximum-salary deal if he were to opt out.
Reports last season previously connected Love to the Lakers, who seemed the front-runners to land him one way or another as of the February trade deadline, though Love downplayed such talk. Still, Love played collegiately at UCLA, as Smith points out, and the Lakers, like many teams, have had interest in the sharpshooting power forward for quite some time.
The Cavs will have Love’s Bird rights come next summer, and while the Lakers couldn’t give him a fifth year or 7.5% raises the way Cleveland could, the purple-and-gold are still poised to have enough cap room to give Love a four-year max deal with 4.5% raises. The fifth year wouldn’t necessarily be attractive to the Jeff Schwartz client, since a short-term contract would allow him to re-enter free agency after the salary cap and maximum salaries jump because of the league’s new $24 billion TV deal, set to kick in for 2016/17.
Love indicated his intention to remain with Cleveland long-term shortly after the August trade that brought him from the Wolves. He said that a desire to win motivated him to push for the swap, and the Lakers, who won their first game of the season Sunday night, appear a ways from contention. He emphasized to reporters during the preseason that playing for a winner means more to him than performing in a large market.
Kevin Garnett Admits Interest In Buying Wolves
Kevin Garnett is in rarefied air as one of just four players ever to have a 20-year NBA playing career, but he’d also like to join an even more exclusive club of players who’ve taken control of NBA franchises. Garnett told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that he wants to buy the Timberwolves, whom current owner Glen Taylor has said he’d eventually like to sell. It’s the first public admission of the desire from the 38-year-old, though the idea has been the subject of chatter around Minnesota for a while, notes Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link).
“I want to buy the Timberwolves. Put a group together and perhaps some day try to buy the team. That’s what I want,” Garnett said.
Garnett, 38, would have to retire as a player first, and he said before this season that he won’t rule out continuing his career into 2015/16. His contract with the Nets expires at season’s end, but he wouldn’t comment when Spears asked whether he’d like to play for the Wolves or for former coach Doc Rivers and the Clippers next season. Still, Garnett said to Spears that the Wolves are his target for ownership based on his ties to the franchise, for which he played his first 12 NBA seasons, and the presence of Flip Saunders, who is the team’s coach and president of basketball operations and also holds a minority ownership share.
NBA salaries have given Garnett more than $315MM over the course of his career, according to Basketball-Reference, though that doesn’t include the $12MM coming his way this season or any income he’s earned through endorsements. Forbes.com affixed a $430MM valutation to the franchise this spring, and that number has no doubt escalated after the $550MM sale of the Bucks and Steve Ballmer’s $2 billion purchase of the Clippers. Still, Garnett acknowledged that he would team with other investors, though it’s unknown whether he’d be willing to take a back seat to another partner who’d want to become the controlling owner.
Taylor has said he’s looking for someone to purchase a minority stake in the team who could eventually take over the majority interest from him, though he’s been resolute that any new owner commit to keeping the team in Minnesota, as Spears notes.
Atlantic Notes: Rondo, Livingston, Knicks
A plurality of Hoops Rumors readers said that they thought the Sixers would win between 10 and 15 games when we asked earlier this week, but it’s worth wondering whether the “Less than 10” wins option might have garnered a few more votes if the poll had appeared this morning. The season debut of Michael Carter-Williams Thursday was a 53-point loss to the Mavericks as the pain continues in Philadelphia. Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- An Eastern Conference executive isn’t sold on Rajon Rondo‘s worthiness of a maximum-salary contract and believes the point guard’s impending free agency is a drag on his trade value, as the exec tells Chris Mannix of SI.com.
- The Nets and Shaun Livingston had mutual interest heading into the offseason, but he made it a priority to seek as lucrative a contract as possible after he missed out on higher paydays earlier in his career, as Tim Bontemps of the New York Post details. The Nets could only offer the mini mid-level, and Livingston exceeded those salaries in his new contract with the Warriors. “At the end of the day, everything I’ve been through as a player in this league, was about putting myself in the best position, one, to win, and also to get the value as a player, your market value,” Livingston said. “I think that was my case last [summer].”
- The mere presence of Phil Jackson boosts the public perception of the struggling Knicks, who can sell hope based on the championship coaching experience of the newly minted executive, opines Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News.
Western Notes: Spurs, Centers, Suns, Jazz
Kobe Bryant hasn’t been nearly as willing to sacrifice money for the betterment of his team the way Tim Duncan has. Still, with the Lakers raking in $100.1MM in basketball-related revenue last season, an amount that far outstrips any other team in the league, USA Today’s Sam Amick argues that Bryant is simply more valuable to his team, in a financial sense, than Duncan is to the Spurs. San Antonio netted $26.1MM from their basketball operations last season, a source tells Amick. Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Big men still command attention on the market even in an era of small-ball, and next summer’s free agent class figures to see plenty of centers garner top dollar, as Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com examines in an Insider-only piece. The majority of the bigs he spotlights are on Western Conference teams, including Marc Gasol, Omer Asik, Robin Lopez and Tyson Chandler.
- The Suns have assigned 2014 first-round picks Tyler Ennis and T.J. Warren to the D-League, the team announced (on Twitter). Suns coach Jeff Hornacek indicated that the rookies won’t stay with the Bakersfield Jam for long, and it’s likely they return to the big club in time for an East Coast road trip that begins Monday in Boston, according to Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic (Twitter links).
- Toure’ Murry is headed on D-League assignment from the Jazz, the team announced. Murry has yet to appear in a game for Utah after signing as a free agent this past summer. We’ll be keeping track of D-League assignments and recalls throughout this season in this post.