Carlos Morais To Play In Angola
Raptors training camp invitee Carlos Morais will play for Recreativo Libolo in his native Angola, agent Adão Costa tells Angola’s Radio 5, according to Desporto (translation via Sportando). The deal is for two years, Costa said, though it’s not clear whether it includes an NBA out.
The 6’3″ guard appeared in three preseason games for Toronto and scored six points in a total of 21 minutes before the Raptors cut him prior to the start of the regular season. NBA teams passed him over when he was eligible for the draft in 2007, and Morais had never played in an NBA summer league, so it was surprising to see the Raptors bring him to camp. He led Angola to the gold medal in the FIBA Africa Championship this past summer.
It may not have worked out with Morais this fall, but his presence on the Raptors camp roster could signal a willingness on the part of Nigerian-born GM Masai Ujiri to tap the African market for talent. Morais played for Petroleos in Angola last season, as our International Player Movement Tracker shows.
Knicks Want To Trade For Rajon Rondo
Knicks management is confident it can attract the stars necessary to pull the team out of its malaise, and its first target will be Rajon Rondo, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The Knicks hope Rondo will become discontent with the Celtics and attempt to force them to trade him to New York sometime between now and 2015, when his contract ends. If they come up short on trading for Rondo, the Knicks think they’ll sign him in free agency or land one or two of the following potential 2015 free agents: LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Roy Hibbert, Kevin Love and Tony Parker.
The notion of Rondo joining the Knicks isn’t new, since the point guard’s high school coach claimed earlier this month that fellow former pupil Carmelo Anthony has been trying to recruit Rondo. Anthony pointed out that any such talk could constitute tampering, and both he and Rondo denied that they were discussing the idea of teaming up. It’s not clear how the Knicks could sell Rondo on the notion of pushing for a trade to New York, as Anthony did in 2011, without violating tampering rules. Still, much of the Knicks’ confidence in their future comes from the built-in lure of star-making capital New York, Windhorst writes.
Anthony could leave in free agency himself this summer, and there’s talk that the Knicks may attempt to trade him by the upcoming February 20th deadline if they don’t feel as though they can retain him. Windhorst seems to suggest there’s little chance of that happening, given how certain the Knicks seem about the road ahead. An executive from another team says the Knicks expect to re-sign Anthony and have another star player with him in a year’s time, adding that, “They’re so sure about it you’d think they already know what will happen.”
The same attitude explains why Mike Woodson is still coaching the team, according to Windhorst. The Knicks don’t feel there’s an adequate replacement available during the season, but plenty of intriguing candidates may exist in the summer, Windhorst writes. Having traded their potential lottery pick for 2014, the Knicks may be better off trying to make the playoffs this year with Woodson as coach, the ESPN scribe opines.
Rockets Notes: Rosas, Howard, Canaan
The Rockets are in sixth place in the Western Conference after last night’s loss to the rival Mavericks, but Houston is regaining an asset it lost to Dallas in the offseason, as we detail:
- Former Mavs GM Gersson Rosas is rejoining the Rockets front office, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. He’ll serve as executive vice president of basketball operations under GM Daryl Morey. Rosas worked nine years within the Rockets organization before departing this summer for Dallas, where he spent only a few months before leaving amid confusion over his role.
- Mike D’Antoni has presided over plenty of tough breaks in his time with the Lakers, but he doesn’t think there was any more the team could have done to persuade Dwight Howard to pick L.A. over the Rockets. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports has the details.
- Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle catches up with Isaiah Canaan, whose lengthy D-League assignment finally ended with a recall to the Rockets, paving the way for his NBA debut.
Grizzlies Propose Bayless-Meeks Deal To Lakers
The Grizzlies are “clearly looking to shake up their roster,” writes Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher, who hears from a Lakers source that Memphis offered Jerryd Bayless in return for Jodie Meeks. Such a trade wouldn’t work under the NBA’s salary-matching rules, which would require the Lakers to put additional outgoing salary into the deal to come closer to the $3.135MM Bayless makes this season. Still, the proposal appears to indicate changes could be on the way for the disappointing 12-15 Grizzlies.
Memphis has added James Johnson and Seth Curry in recent days to bolster an injury-depleted roster that’s enduring the long-term absences of Marc Gasol and Quincy Pondexter. It appears the Grizzlies have no interest in a rumored trade that would send Zach Randolph to the Pelicans, Bucher says, though a report yesterday indicated that Memphis might be willing to move Randolph for the right offer.
The Lakers have had their own share of injury troubles, particularly among their point guards, and adding Bayless would help them shore up that position. He’s also a free agent after this season, so he wouldn’t clog up L.A.’s cap space this summer. Still, it doesn’t sound as though the Grizzlies’ proposal has gained any traction.
Blazers, Bulls Talked Aldridge, Noah Swap
There were conflicting reports this summer about whether LaMarcus Aldridge wanted to be traded, but Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher hears that there was a deal in the works that would have sent him to the Bulls for Joakim Noah. It’s not clear how close the deal came to happening or whether it was the Blazers or Bulls who initiated the talks, but Portland indeed made Aldridge available in the offseason, Bucher writes.
Rumors about Aldridge have become less frequent since the start of the season as his career-best performance has helped the Blazers to a 23-5 record that has them atop the Western Conference. He’s averaging 23.1 points and 11.0 rebounds a game, both career highs, and his 22.7 PER matches his best mark from his seven previous NBA seasons.
The Bulls drafted Aldridge second overall in 2006, but sent him to Portland in a regrettable draft-night deal that brought in a package of Tyrus Thomas and little else. Chicago might have brought Aldridge back this summer, but it would have cost the Bulls an All-Star of their own in Noah. It’s not clear if there were other players in the discussion, but a one-for-one swap of Aldridge and Noah wouldn’t have worked under salary-matching rules, since it would have added too much to Chicago’s payroll.
I’d be quite surprised if the Blazers revisited Aldridge talks with the Bulls or any other team, given Portland’s fast start, so it seems the scenario will remain a “what if?” proposition.
Grizzlies Sign Seth Curry
TUESDAY, 12:16pm: The Grizzlies have officially announced the move, via press release.
SUNDAY, 7:59am: The Grizzlies are set to add guard Seth Curry, tweets Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. Curry will arrive in Memphis on Monday for a physical and a workout before the team makes the signing official, according to Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal (Twitter links). The move would bring the Grizzlies roster to the 15-player maximum.
Curry performed well earlier this month in an audition with the Grizzlies, but it’s still somewhat surprising to see that the club is expected to sign him, since a report indicated that Memphis had shifted gears after setting up its auditions for Curry and others. The Grizzlies had apparently begun focusing on long-term replacements for Quincy Pondexter, who’s out for the season, but perhaps they circled back to Curry after finding no better fit on the market.
The deal figures to be for the minimum salary. There are only a couple of weeks left before the January 10th leaguewide guarantee date, so if the arrangement doesn’t include a full guarantee, the Grizzlies won’t have long to evaluate Curry before they must decide on picking up his salary for the entire season.
Curry, 23, went undrafted out of Duke this past June and spent training camp this fall with older brother Stephen Curry and the Warriors. He’s been playing with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the D-League since then, averaging 21.3 points and 7.8 assists in 12 games.
Pacers Rumors: Hill, Granger, Stephenson
The Pacers are off until Saturday after last night’s blowout win over the Nets, but many of the team’s players take it as a slight that the NBA excluded them from the Christmas Day games, observes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Indiana would certainly be a welcome addition to a holiday schedule that doesn’t look quite as star-studded as it did when the season began. Here’s more on the Pacers:
- A rumored trade would send Danny Granger and George Hill to the Celtics for Rajon Rondo, but Hill’s agent, Michael Whitaker, tells Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star there isn’t much to the idea. Whitaker hasn’t spoken with any team about a trade involving Hill this season, he says. Hill isn’t paying much attention to the rumor either, Buckner observes.
- Lance Stephenson last night reiterated his desire to re-sign with the Pacers to reporters, including Harvey Araton of The New York Times. “This is a great team — I’d love to stay,” Stephenson said.
- Josh Newman of SNY.tv wonders if Stephenson could be an All-Star this season, and gauges the ability of the Pacers to re-sign the emerging talent.
Sarver, McDonough On Suns, Rebuilding
The Suns are 17-10 and perhaps the most surprising team in the NBA two months into the season. The winning comes on the heels of GM Ryan McDonough‘s mission to “clean up the nonsense, frankly, that had gone on here in years past,” as he tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The GM and owner Robert Sarver share plenty of thoughts on the turnaround and what might come next with Wojnarowski, and we’ll pass along the highlights here:
Sarver on his reluctance to embrace rebuilding:
“For all successful people in business, I think that the notion of taking a step back to take a step forward is a foreign concept. You simply don’t say, ‘We’re going to go backward for a couple years,’ in business. But pro sports – especially the NBA – is different, and it’s set up to do just that. I had a hard time stomaching the idea of rebuilding, and spent a couple of years trying to patch together a way that we could still capitalize on Steve [Nash]‘s ability. I was a couple of years too late in really facing the music.”
Sarver on the hiring criteria for McDonough and coach Jeff Hornacek:
“I needed to get a team with a GM and a coach who would have a good working relationship. We had problems with Steve [Kerr] and Mike [D’Antoni], with Alvin [Gentry] and Lance [Blanks]. It puts too much stress on the team.”
McDonough on his approach this season:
“To have a season where everything goes wrong and you’re just hoping for the pingpong balls to bounce your way – and then hope you draft the right guy, who then turns into a great player – that’s not something I’m comfortable doing and Jeff, [Suns president of basketball operations] Lon [Babby] and ownership wanted no part of it. We can keep drafting and adding to our talent, or we have six first-round picks over the next two years and could accelerate the process using picks and our cap space to trade for a star player.”
McDonough on free agent signings next summer:
“We have max cap space next summer and we will be chasing the top guys. But if we don’t get them, it won’t be the end of the world. Then, we will hope to draft well and put together a group that might take a little longer to get to a contending level, but will have a longer timeline together.”
Clippers Emerge As Possible Carmelo Suitor
Many around the Knicks doubt that Carmelo Anthony will re-sign with the team this summer, and they believe the Clippers are the team most likely to land last year’s scoring champion, according to HoopsWorld’s Steve Kyler. Those same sources suggest the Knicks may try to trade Anthony to the Clippers before the February 20th deadline, Kyler writes.
It’s unclear whether that sort of talk is coming from Knicks management, players, or others around the team. Kyler also suggests that the Knicks would be reluctant to make Anthony a max offer in the summer, which would erode the team’s built-in financial advantage for re-signing its own player.
Anthony has made it clear he intends to exercise the early termination option on his deal and test free agency this summer, but it’s not a given that he would do so if he’s traded this season, Kyler says. The Clippers or another team could attempt to see if Anthony is willing to waive his option before agreeing to any trade.
Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling recently posed the idea of a Clippers/Knicks swap centered on Anthony and Blake Griffin to league executives, and it would probably take a star-laden package for the Knicks to pull the trigger on any trade. Such a move also require plenty of salary going to New York, since Anthony is making nearly $21.4MM this year. That figure alone would make any swap difficult, and it doesn’t sound like the Knicks are actively talking to teams about trading him, so the idea seems far-fetched, at least for now.
Amico’s Latest: Lowry, Dragic, Cavs
Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio leads his latest piece with news about the Bucks making Larry Sanders available in trades, but he passes along plenty more pre-Christmas rumors. Let’s dive in:
- Amico identifies the Magic and Pelicans as potential Kyle Lowry suitors and hears from one league executive who says he’d be shocked if the Raptors don’t deal the point guard by the deadline.
- A report yesterday suggested Goran Dragic is the Suns player most likely to be dealt, but Amico hears that while the Suns would listen to offers, they aren’t looking to trade him.
- The Cavs have been aggressive in their search for “an impact player” on the trade market recently, but they’re not willing to give up Dion Waiters or Tristan Thompson to do so, according to Amico. The team might become more willing to include those players in trades at a later point, Amico speculates.
- Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro is still talking to other teams about moves that would improve his club, Amico writes, which jibes with earlier reports that suggest Sacramento remains in trade mode.
- Draft prospect P.J. Hairston could soon wind up in the D-League. The University of North Carolina recently dismissed the swingman, but many around the league think he might head to the D-League to help his draft stock. He’s currently No. 32 on the DraftExpress Top 100 Prospects list.