Southwest Notes: Diaw, Ajinca, Williams
There is news coming out of the Southwest Division that doesn’t involve Omer Asik, believe it or not. Houston’s effort to trade its backup center has dominated headlines for the past few days, and will likely continue to do so until the Rockets strike a deal. In the meantime, here’s the latest from elsewhere in the Southwest:
- Boris Diaw tells Shams Charania of RealGM.com that it was an easy decision to exercise his more than $4.7MM player option to return to the Spurs this summer. “In the Finals, we were so close,” Diaw said. “I wanted to go again and come back with this team. It’s been a great season this year, and we play a good style of basketball and we’ll get another shot together.”
- The Bobcats, Mavs and Raptors didn’t make the proper investment of time and effort into Alexis Ajinca‘s development during his first stint in the NBA, as Mark Deeks of ShamSports opines in a piece for the Score. That’s left the Pelicans in a position to benefit now that Ajinca is headed to New Orleans, Deeks writes, comparing it to the Spurs‘ acquisition of Aron Baynes last season.
- Reggie Williams is set to join the D-League, according to Gino Pilato of D-League Digest. The four-year NBA veteran is on the Rockets‘ books for about $474K after Houston cut him in a numbers crunch before the start of the regular season. He was among those scheduled to work out for the Grizzlies recently before the team switched gears.
Lakers Not Open To Pau Gasol Trade
The Lakers aren’t interested in trading Pau Gasol for now, having been encouraged by Gasol’s play in the last three games and his fence-mending efforts with coach Mike D’Antoni, who criticized his performance, report Ramona Shelburne and Marc Stein of ESPNLosAngeles.com. The Lakers have reportedly fielded offers for Gasol, and they engaged in exploratory talks with several teams, according to Shelburne and Stein, but they didn’t get too far.
The Rockets are one of the teams the Lakers spoke to about Gasol, but those talks never got serious, the ESPN scribes say. Stein thinks that the Lakers might be better off trading Gasol for Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin, but says such a deal would likely have to involve a third team and cautions that such talk is merely speculation (Twitter link).
The Lakers remain interested in Tyson Chandler and they’ve made exploratory calls on Iman Shumpert, but it doesn’t sound like the Knicks are biting. Gasol is set to hit free agency at season’s end, and the Lakers are apparently open to re-signing him.
Lakers Aren’t Seeking Point Guard
The Lakers have been playing without a true point guard for the past week, and despite discouraging news on Jordan Farmar today, the team remains hesitant to make a roster move, reports Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Farmar will be out at least another week as he continues to mend a torn left hamstring, according to Mike Trudell of Lakers.com (Twitter link).
Farmar had been optimistic about returning as early as Friday, but an examination today wasn’t as promising as he’d hoped, and it’s unlikely he’ll return until after Christmas, Medina notes. Steve Nash is still out, and Steve Blake won’t be back for at least five more weeks, leaving the point guard position to Kobe Bryant, Xavier Henry and Nick Young.
The Lakers are a tax team, but they have plenty of flexibility, with an open roster spot and three players on non-guaranteed contracts. Still, the Lakers don’t expect to add anyone via signing or a trade. GM Mitch Kupchak last week acknowledged interest in Leandro Barbosa, Chris Duhon and Darius Morris, but Kupchak said then that he didn’t expect there was anyone worth signing. Other recent rumors suggest the team could be involved in trades to address other parts of the roster, as the Lakers are apparently fielding offers for Pau Gasol and have spoken to the Knicks about Tyson Chandler and Iman Shumpert.
Odds & Ends: Gasol, Knicks, Clippers
It seems high trading season has begun early this year, as this week has featured another Rudy Gay swap, plenty of rumors about Omer Asik and Kyle Lowry, and a flurry of roster moves. Sunday is December 15th, the day many players become eligible for inclusion in trades, so the week ahead doesn’t figure to be any slower. Here’s more from a busy Association:
- Kobe Bryant dismisses the notion that Pau Gasol and Mike D’Antoni are at odds, as Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com notes via Twitter. “That’s every year,” Bryant said. “They’re like an old couple. That’s every year. It’s not really anything new. It’s not a big deal.” Of course, D’Antoni and Gasol have only been together since last season.
- Every part of the Knicks franchise is in “complete chaos,” says Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). New York lost to the Celtics tonight for the second time in six days, but in contrast to Sunday’s 41-point blowout, this time it was only by four.
- Ongoing negotiations for a local TV deal helped motivate the Clippers to spend on Chris Paul and Doc Rivers, according to Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling.
- Many around the league see Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg as the top candidate for an NBA head coaching job among those currently leading college teams, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.
- HoopsWorld’s Nate Duncan tries to identify the players who’ll stick around for the long-term on the Suns, Jazz and Kings as each team rebuilds.
Warriors Notes: O’Neal, Armstrong, Douglas
Wednesday’s come-from-behind win against the Mavericks was a boost for the Warriors, who would have fallen to within a game of .500 had they lost. Golden State instead entered tonight at 13-10 and tied with Dallas for eighth place in the Western Conference, but the Warriors didn’t envision merely scrapping for a playoff spot this season. Injuries have played a role in the slow start, but it looks like the team has at least considered shaking up the roster with a trade, as witnessed by the team’s rumored interest in Kyle Lowry. It sounds like Lowry won’t wind up in a Warriors uniform, but Golden State will nonetheless be a team to watch if its struggles continue. Here’s more on the W’s:
- Jermaine O’Neal had surgery today on a torn ligament in his right wrist, but he took to Twitter to insist that he will return at some point this season (hat tip to The Associated Press). GM Bob Myers says O’Neal will probably miss about two months, according to 95.7 The Game (Twitter link). A report yesterday indicated it was likely that O’Neal was done for the year.
- Coach Mark Jackson explained to reporters, including Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group, why the team chose to sign Hilton Armstrong this week rather than bring back Dewayne Dedmon to fill its need for a backup center. “Just overall we thought we needed a guy that was more game ready today, not to say that Dewayne isn’t, but this is no time for us to experiment. We needed a proven guy off the bench,” Jackson said.
- Amid the rumors linking Golden State to Lowry, Jackson also said the team still believes in backup point guard Toney Douglas, as Kawakami also notes in his piece.
- The best outcome for David Lee and the Warriors isn’t a trade that would ship him out of town, but a return to the All-Star form the power forward exhibited last season, opines fellow Bay Area News Group scribe Marcus Thompson.
Poll: Should Suns Deal Picks For Immediate Help?
The Suns entered the season seemingly destined for the bottom of the Western Conference after an offseason in which they traded away veterans and signed only one player who made their opening night roster. Phoenix used their swaps to stockpile draft picks, and the team could end up with as many as four first-rounders for the deep and star-studded 2014 class.
Phoenix has nevertheless managed to jump out to a 12-9 start this year, and that’s apparently enough to prompt GM Ryan McDonough to change gears. He revealed to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com that the team is shopping its first-round picks as it looks for an established star.
It’s an abrupt philosophical shift, especially considering we’re only a quarter of the way into the season. A 12-9 record would give the Suns the third seed in the Eastern Conference if the playoffs started today, but they’re only the seventh-best team in the West, clinging to a one-game lead for a postseason berth. A losing streak of any significant length could bury Phoenix’s playoff hopes.
Of course, the Suns didn’t seem to have much hope of making the playoffs when the season started. McDonough has only been on the job since this past summer, and the team has appeared destined for a lengthy rebuilding process. The draft is not a panacea, and McDonough suggests that he would be reluctant to bring four highly drafted rookies to the team all at once, but mortgaging the future for the present might not be the best idea for a roster that looked depleted when the season began.
Let us know if you think it’s time for the Suns to pivot toward trying to win this season at the expense of seasons to come. Feel free to elaborate on your thoughts in the comments.
Knicks Links: Anthony, Griffin, Aldridge
The Knicks have won three out of the first five contests in a nine-game stretch against Eastern Conference opponents. The run doesn’t include any meetings with the Pacers or Heat, so it’s a chance for New York to start its climb out of the Atlantic Division cellar, and for coach Mike Woodson to shush speculation about his job security. Here’s the latest on the Knicks:
- Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling proposes a swap centered on Carmelo Anthony and Blake Griffin and shares insight from sources close to the Clippers and Knicks about the idea. Zwerling also hears that the Knicks wanted to pursue LaMarcus Aldridge this summer but the Creative Artists Agency goaded them into trading instead for Andrea Bargnani, one of their clients.
- The only way Knicks owner James Dolan would agree to an Anthony-Griffin swap is if Anthony tells him he’s signing elsewhere in free agency this summer, tweets Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.
- Metta World Peace tells reporters, including Marc Berman of the New York Post, that he signed with the Knicks with the intention of winning a title in New York (Sulia link). The veteran forward says the Raptors would gain a “championship mentality” if the Knicks throw him in a Kyle Lowry trade, as has been rumored.
Suns Willing To Trade 2014 Picks For Star
The unexpected success the Suns have enjoyed this year has prompted them to let other front offices know they’re willing to give up one or more of their four potential 2014 first-round picks in return for a star who can help them win now, reports Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. The team might not wait until the deadline to do a deal, GM Ryan McDonough tells Howard-Cooper (Twitter link). Phoenix is 12-9 and tied in the loss column with the Clippers for first place in the Pacific Division.
“I think one of the things that’s important for people to realize is that we may not draft four players even if we have four picks,” McDonough said. “Our preference would probably be to maybe package a few of them. We’re obviously all looking for stars and we feel like we can put together a package as good, if not better, than any other team in the league if and when a star becomes available. That’s kind of generally what we’ve wanted to do, not only with our draft-pick situation but also with the cap space that we’ve acquired.”
The Suns could receive first-round picks from the Timberwolves, Wizards and Pacers for 2014, depending on where those selections wind up in the order. Phoenix is currently in line for all but Minnesota’s pick, as our Reverse Standings show. Still, that would leave the Suns without a lottery pick, and Phoenix’s own selection would be at No. 22.
Phoenix also has a 2015 first-rounder from the Lakers, and any of the first-round picks that other teams owe the Suns for 2014 would roll over to 2015 if they’re not conveyed this coming spring.
The Suns would almost certainly want attach protection to their own 2014 pick if they were to trade it, Howard-Cooper writes, with the level of star they’d be able to acquire in a swap determining the sort of protection the pick would carry.
Amick’s Latest: Randolph, Anderson, Asik
We already passed along news about Kyle Lowry from Sam Amick’s latest NBA A to Z post, but the USA Today scribe included plenty more from around the league amid a busy week of trade talks. We’ll hit the highlights here:
- Amick hears strong denials from sources close to the Grizzlies and Pelicans about a rumored swap of Zach Randolph for Ryan Anderson. Neither team has discussed the deal, according to Amick. The chatter nonetheless irked Randolph, as he tells Fran Blinebury of NBA.com. “But yeah, it bothers me,” Randolph said in part. “It hurts a little bit. I can’t deny that. But it goes to show you that there ain’t no loyalty in this game. It seems like you only get loyalty in certain organizations. You see it in winning organizations like the Spurs, the Lakers, the Heat.”
- The Pelicans and Bucks are no longer a part of trade discussions for Omer Asik, according to Amick. That’s no surprise for New Orleans, which has been reluctant to acquiesce to the Rockets‘ demands for Anderson, and Milwaukee always seemed to be on the fringe of the Asik picture.
- The Clippers filled their final roster spot when they signed Stephen Jackson this week, but Lamar Odom remains in the team’s plans, Amick says. Odom appears to be a few weeks shy of being ready to play, and the team’s injuries prompted the Clippers to act swiftly.
- Seth Curry went through his scheduled workout with the Grizzlies, and he shot well, but Memphis isn’t expected to add him or the other three guards they were set to audition earlier this week, Amick writes. The Grizzlies have indeed changed their priorities in light of Quincy Pondexter‘s season-ending injury, as Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported Thursday.
Latest On Kyle Lowry
8:36pm: According to Wojnarowski, Knicks owner James Dolan is sensitive to the public perception that GM Masai Ujiri “bamboozled” him in the Carmelo Anthony trade, and the chance of getting criticized for giving up too much in a deal for Lowry has become a hurdle in these talks. Toronto is said to be discussing deals for Lowry with an ever-growing list of teams.
Wojnarwoski adds that New York doesn’t want to include either Shumpert or Hardaway Jr. in discussions (they reportedly refused a proposal involving the former along with Felton), and without Shumpert or a draft pick going to Toronto, there isn’t any traction to a deal. Also, the Knicks are believed to still be hesitant about trading a future first round draft choice to the Raptors, and there seems to be doubt over how long they’ll keep that option on the table.
As for the Nets’ interest, Wojnarowski says the team isn’t willing to include either a 2020 first-round pick or one of its young players – including Mason Plumlee – in a trade package.
4:03pm: Toronto is insisting on a first-rounder from the Knicks in part because taking on Felton would leave the Raptors with more long-term money, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Felton’s deal runs through 2015/16, which is a player option year, while Lowry is on an expiring contract. The Knicks would like to save Iman Shumpert and Tim Hardaway Jr. for another deal, Stein adds (Twitter links). The Raptors are seeking two out of three assets from the Knicks: Shumpert, Hardaway, or a first-rounder, Stein tweets.
3:46pm: The Knicks are refusing to give up a first-round pick, and that’s gumming up the talks between the two teams, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com.
3:24pm: The Nets represent the strongest competition to the Knicks for Kyle Lowry among an “ever-growing list of teams” going after the Raptors point guard, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. New York’s latest offer includes Metta World Peace and a 2018 first-round draft pick to go with Raymond Felton, according to Wojnarowski, who indicates that the Knicks are wavering on their willingness to include the pick.
The Raptors are reportedly asking for a quality young player or a first-round pick, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com, who says the price could be too high for Brooklyn’s tastes (Twitter link). Still, Brooklyn’s interest is legitimate, Mannix writes, and Wojnarowski hears the Raptors are investigating Bojan Bogdanovic, a former second-round pick whose rights the Nets hold.
Lowry is apparently interested in heading to New York, and Wojnarowski says he’s spent most of the season hoping for a trade out of Toronto. The Warriors are another team with interest in Lowry, but the odds that the Warriors land him are “very very slim,” according to Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group, who doesn’t think Golden State has much to offer the Raptors (Twitter links). Lowry has fans in the Timberwolves front office, but the team doesn’t have enough assets or financial flexibility, and isn’t in the mix for the point guard, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (on Twitter).
The Knicks can’t trade World Peace until Sunday, since he signed a contract this past offseason. The Raptors would probably buy him out of his two-year, approximately $3.5MM deal if they traded for him, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.