Sasha Pavlovic Signs To Play In Serbia
Sasha Pavlovic has signed with Partizan Belgrade, the team announced (translation via Sportando on Twitter). Novosti.rs first reported news of the agreement this weekend. The 30-year-old shooting guard has spent each of the past 10 seasons in the NBA, including last season with the Blazers. He didn’t attend camp with an NBA team this fall, and today’s announcement makes it unlikely he’ll play in an 11th straight NBA season.
Portland waived the Dan Fegan client over the summer a year after acquiring him in a sign-and-trade deal. He averaged 2.6 points in 13.5 minutes per game last season. In spite of his longevity in the NBA, he’s never averaged double-figures in points or started more than 45 games in a single season.
Pavlovic will likely serve as a mentor for Bogdan Bogdanovic, another Partizan Belgrade shooting guard. Bogdanovic is one of the top overseas prospects for the 2014 draft, checking in at No. 31 on the DraftExpress rankings and No. 52 at ESPN Insider.
Trade Candidate: Arron Afflalo
Arron Afflalo seemed in position for a starring role when he arrived in Orlando via the Dwight Howard trade in 2012. He endured a poor shooting season and failed to become the Magic’s clear No. 1 option last year, but now he’s finally broken out. The 28-year-old has lifted nearly every phase of his game, averaging 19.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per contest this year, all career highs. He’s making 42.7% of his three-pointers, and his PER of 17.6 is his first of more than 14.7. All those numbers add up to an indication that he’s finally living up to the five-year, $38MM deal the Nuggets gave him in 2011.
He’s worth more than the $7.5MM salary he’s set to receive through the 2015/16 season if he can maintain his production. He shot better than 40% from three-point range in three of his previous six seasons in the league, so his touch isn’t likely to go away, in spite of last year’s 30.0% long-range accuracy. He’s seeing 14.9 shot attempts per game, only 0.8 more than he took last season, when he scored 16.5 PPG. His assist numbers have steadily climbed over the last five years, though his increased rebounding could merely be a product of needing to muck in for a Magic team that’s declined from 14th in the league in rebounding percentage last year to 25th this time around, per NBA.com.
In any case, it seems like Afflalo, still on the right side of 30 years old, is primed to continue to play at or near the level that made him a candidate for the All-Star team this year. He’s putting up his numbers on the second-worst team in the league, but he’s doing so efficiently, suggesting that his stats aren’t simply a product of his surroundings.
GMs around the league reportedly think there’s a strong chance those surroundings will change soon. Afflalo is perhaps among the most valuable trade assets on the market, according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com. The Magic are nonetheless batting down offers, making it difficult to ascertain just how highly they value him, as Ford wrote in this week’s chat. Teams have held the belief that they can indeed persuade Orlando to trade Afflalo, but GM Rob Hennigan is driving a hard bargain.
The Magic and Clippers talked about proposals involving Afflalo and Eric Bledsoe before L.A. dealt Bledsoe to the Suns, and maybe Hennigan regrets missing out on Bledsoe, who’s blossomed into a star for Phoenix in his first season as a full-time starter. It’s unlikely he’ll be able to land an up-and-coming talent quite like that for Afflalo now, unless that sort of player comes as a future draft pick. The Magic already have three extra first-rounders headed their way in the next several years, so relinquishing their leading scorer for yet another might not be appealing.
Perhaps Hennigan could find another undervalued young player as he did last year with Tobias Harris, who edged out Afflalo for the Magic scoring lead last season after coming over from the Bucks. Hennigan dealt away J.J. Redick in that trade, months before Redick signed with the Clippers for four years and $27.755MM, so the Magic know how to find value for a well-regarded shooting guard. Perhaps there’s another deal to be had with the Bucks, who could use the infusion of a fringe All-Star entering his prime if they hope to return to the playoffs next season. Still, Milwaukee appears to be hanging on to its young players this time around, and unless its stance on buy-low candidate Larry Sanders changes, Hennigan will have to look elsewhere.
The Cavs are in free-fall, and while many of their recent first-round picks have underperformed, maybe interim GM David Griffin will be willing to swap one or more of them if the team is still intent on making the playoffs this year. Cavs owner Dan Gilbert is high on Dion Waiters in spite of the trade rumors that surrounded the former No. 4 overall pick this year, but if the Cavs can turn him into Afflalo, it would give Cleveland an upgrade, at least for the time being. If Hennigan could convince Griffin to throw in Anthony Bennett, the Magic would have the top two picks from the 2013 draft.
The trick in identifying undervalued assets is you have to see what others don’t. If Hennigan feels confident about a player on another team who would be available, he could put his skills of talent evaluation on full display, but the safer, and seemingly more likely, choice is to keep Afflalo through the deadline. There’s no urgency to trade him, since the Magic aren’t going anywhere this season and he’s not on an expiring deal. Removing him from the roster in exchange for a developing player or two would weaken the Magic in the short term and give them a better shot at the No. 1 overall pick in June, but they aren’t having trouble losing games. The idea is not to carry those losing ways into the future, so Hennigan need not overplay his hand with Afflalo, an asset on the rise.
Northwest Rumors: Blazers, Gallinari, ‘Melo
After the injured Russell Westbrook played his last game, the Thunder were tied with the Blazers atop the Northwest Division at 23-5. Since then, Oklahoma City has opened a four-game lead, even though Portland has been largely healthy. While the Blazers defense could use a boost if they’re to catch the Thunder, it’ll have to come from within, since coach Terry Stotts doesn’t expect the team will make any changes at the deadline, as he tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Here’s more from the Northwest:
- Danilo Gallinari tells Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post that he thinks he could have played on his surgically repaired left knee this season, but he says it wasn’t fully healed and he feared he’d shorten his career if he tried it out. He instead opted for another surgery that sidelines him for the season, but he expects to be ready for camp this fall.
- There’s no consensus around the league about who got the better end of the Carmelo Anthony trade nearly three years later, observes Fred Kerber of the New York Post. Some are withholding judgment until after the season, when the draft choice New York still owes the Nuggets could become this year’s No. 1 overall pick.
- The Thunder have assigned Andre Roberson to the D-League, the team announced. That makes it a half-dozen trips to the Tulsa 66ers for the rookie power forward, who’s still managed to start four games for the big club.
Luol Deng Unlikely To Re-Sign With Cavs
There’s little chance, if any, that Luol Deng will choose to re-sign with the Cavs in free agency this summer, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who passes along the news in a piece on Anthony Bennett‘s development. Deng praised the Cleveland organization in January, when he said he was “more than open” to signing an extension, and he even encouraged LeBron James to sign with the club, but it appears he’s soured on the team since. Deng reportedly told a close friend of his displeasure with the Cavs, who’ve seemingly been a hub of unrest all season.
Agent Herb Rudoy held off on extension talks in the days after Deng came to the Cavs via trade last month, though there were rumors that Rudoy would seek salaries of more than $13.5MM a year for Deng. Rudoy and Deng quickly rejected a three-year, $30MM extension offer from the Bulls shortly before the trade. The soon-to-be 29-year-old Deng figures to be a sought-after commodity on the market this summer if he doesn’t sign an extension, and it seems most likely that he’ll become a free agent.
The Cavs will have his Bird Rights, meaning they can sign him to a five-year deal with slightly higher raises than the four-year contract he could get from another team. Cleveland might be reluctant to commit major money for five seasons to a player with whom the team has gone 4-10 so far, so it remains to be seen how much of a financial advantage the Cavs will possess. Just who would negotiate for the team is also a question mark, since it’s uncertain whether interim GM David Griffin will keep his job through the summer.
Central Notes: Bynum, Cavs, Bulls
Cavs owner Dan Gilbert spoke about the need for a “cultural and environmental change” Thursday after dismissing ex-GM Chris Grant, and comments that Andrew Bynum made Friday to reporters, including Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star, seem to back that up.
“It wasn’t that it didn’t work (in Cleveland),” Bynum said, “it’s just the atmosphere over there wasn’t the one that kind of promoted positive energy in wanting to come in and really — it was just tough at the end of the day.”
There’s more on Bynum’s former team amid our look at the Central:
- Cavs owner Dan Gilbert says his team has what it needs to be successful, but he nonetheless believes the club will be active at the trade deadline, observes Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer. Gilbert wouldn’t say whether the team will be a buyer or a seller.
- Sam Smith of Bulls.com answers reader questions, explaining why trading Taj Gibson to help the Bulls clear the necessary cap room to sign Carmelo Anthony would be an unnecessary risk.
- Earlier today, we passed along news that the Bucks are rejecting trade offers for Larry Sanders and the latest on the Cavs.
Knicks Consider Firing Woodson Before Deadline
FRIDAY, 1:10pm: Woodson and several assistants expect to be fired before the All-Star break, sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops.com. Still, Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck hears from sources who the believe the team will let Woodson finish the season.
WEDNESDAY, 8:29am: Knicks coach Mike Woodson has seemingly been on unsteady ground much of the season, and with losses and internal criticism mounting, there’s a chance the team will dismiss Woodson before the February 20th trade deadline, a source tells Steve Popper of The Bergen Record. The Knicks hit a new low with a loss to the league-worst Bucks on Monday, and Amar’e Stoudemire is the latest to question the coach’s decision-making.
Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler have also voiced displeasure with some of Woodson’s on-court moves. Owner James Dolan gave Woodson a vote of confidence in November, but that pronouncement didn’t seem to have much staying power, and by December upper management was evaluating him on a game-by-game basis. Woodson helped draw himself back from the brink with a win over the Bucks that month, but it sounds like Monday’s loss has pushed the coach back in the other direction.
The Knicks are in tenth place in the Eastern Conference at 19-29, two games out of the final playoff spot, and they have little reason to be content with entering the draft lottery, since they traded their 2014 first-round pick in the deal to acquire Anthony. A rumor earlier this season suggested assistant GM Allan Houston might be in line to take over for Woodson if the team changes coaches. Multiple reports have linked the Knicks to Tom Thibodeau, but that seems a long shot, and Thibodeau almost certainly wouldn’t leave the Bulls for New York until after the season.
Ray Allen Not Planning To Retire This Summer
A little more than a year ago, Ray Allen told Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times that he was thinking about retiring at the end of last season. The 18th-year veteran won’t rule it out for this summer, but he says stepping away from the game isn’t his plan, as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel observes.
“At this point, I love how my body feels,” Allen said. “It’s 18 years for me. I love what I’ve done and how I’ve continued to feel.”
Allen, 38, is in the final season of a two-year deal. He could have opted out of the pact last summer in search of a multiyear contract, but he didn’t want to think beyond the 2013/14 season.
“I was like, ‘Let’s try it again and we’ll deal with that issue then,’ because nothing’s more important than the present,” Allen said. “And that’s the one thing I learned early in my career, is always be in the moment.”
The sharpshooter will make a final decision this summer about playing in 2014/15, but he says his desire to keep playing has much to do with his affection for working with his Heat teammates, calling his time in Miami the most fun he’s had in his career. It’ll be a pivotal summer for the Heat, with only Norris Cole on a guaranteed contract for next season. Each of the team’s three superstars can opt for free agency, Shane Battier is likely to retire, and Winderman suggests Rashard Lewis, James Jones and perhaps Udonis Haslem are nearing the end, too.
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Cavs Rumors: Jackson, Karl, Griffin, Brown
The Cavs are eyeing Phil Jackson and George Karl, but they’d like to see interim GM David Griffin and coach Mike Brown step up and keep their jobs, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio (Twitter links). Ostensibly, Jackson, who’s said he’s done with coaching, would be a candidate for the GM job, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com suggested Thursday, while Karl would be sought for a return to the Cavs bench, where he served as coach in the 1980s. In any case, the final three months of the season are an on-the-job audition for Griffin and the “last chance saloon” for Brown, Amico writes. Here’s more on the Cavs, a day after they fired GM Chris Grant:
- Dan Gilbert’s assertion Thursday that the Cavs have what they need to be successful prompts Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal wonder why Grant took the fall for the team’s woes.
- The time to fire Grant was this past spring, not two weeks before the trade deadline, argues fellow Beacon scribe Marla Ridenour, who thinks Gilbert should shoulder responsibility for the franchise’s shortcomings.
- Grant didn’t put up results in his time in Cleveland, but the team’s playoff aspirations for this season were misplaced, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller writes.
- Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group centers his proposal for upgrading the Warriors on a pair of trade ideas involving the Cavaliers. Cleveland is in much the same desperate position Golden State was a few years ago when it acquired David Lee, Kawakami believes, suggesting Lee could serve the Cavs in a similar role as a bridge to more successful times.
Bucks Turning Away Suitors For Larry Sanders
The Bucks are rebuffing trade inquiries about Larry Sanders out of fear that they would be selling low, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Stein nonetheless senses there’s a chance the team’s stance could change before the trade deadline. Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio reported late last month that the Bucks remained “very open” to trading Sanders, following up on his initial report in December, so the notion of his availability appears fluid.
The Poison Pill Provision would complicate any potential Sanders trade. He signed a four-year, $44MM rookie scale extension with the Bucks this past offseason, but it doesn’t kick in until next season. He makes $3.05MM this season, which would count as outgoing salary for the Bucks if they traded him, but his incoming salary figure for another team would count as $7.027MM, the average between his current payday and the average annual value of his extension.
Fellow ESPN scribe Chad Ford wrote this week in an Insider piece that the Bucks are looking for a first-rounder or a young player in deals for their veterans, but it sounds like they’re hesitant to give up too soon on Sanders, who’s in just his fourth season. Stein suggests the team is focused on building around Giannis Antetokounmpo and, to a lesser extent, John Henson, though it sounds like Sanders remains a part of Milwaukee’s plans, at least for now.