Odds & Ends: Kaman, Fredette, Beverley
Chris Kaman, making $8MM this year as one of many Mavs on a one-year contract, told Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida that he wants to return to Dallas next year, but he isn't sure whether the team will have him. Kaman's preference is for long-term contracts (Sulia links). "Nobody wants to do a one-year deal," he said. "If anybody prefers, they would do a long-term deal if they felt comfortable in the situation. So everybody kind of is just trying together to be a team. I think sometimes that creeps in. 'I’m in this one-year deal, I better play good.' It’s not that it’s selfish but it’s just a lot of pressure for a player." The handful of players without fully guaranteed contracts who got the ax today probably wouldn't mind a one-year deal right now, but it's all relative in the NBA. Here's more from around the Association.
- DeMarcus Cousins isn't the only member of the Kings off-limits in trade talks, as USA Today's Sam Amick hears the team is not making Jimmer Fredette available, either.
- The final two seasons of Patrick Beverley's three-year contract with the Rockets are team options, reports Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
- The Rockets signed Greg Smith to a similar deal 11 months ago, and he's become a significant contributor off the bench this season, as Feigen examines.
- Mike James will sign his 10-day pact with the Mavs on Tuesday, according to Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com (Twitter link).
- Wolves GM David Kahn doesn't think the team's most pressing need is another big man, even with Kevin Love sidelined, and said he's having difficulty getting other GMs to engage in serious trade talk with the deadline still more than six weeks away. Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune has the details.
- The Wolves are still keeping an eye on Mickael Gelabale, but other teams may have stronger interest, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link).
- Chris Andersen's "ancillary issues" aren't a concern for the Heat, who will bring him in for a workout Tuesday, tweets Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Winderman is presumably referring to Andersen's legal troubles last year.
Trade Candidate: Derrick Williams
It has been a little more than 18 months since the Timberwolves took Derrick Williams second overall in the 2011 draft, but it appears the team is already close to cutting its losses on the 6'8" tweener forward. Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio wrote today that it would be surprising if Williams were still in Minnesota after the deadline, and it's certainly not the first time his name has been mentioned in connection with trades.
Williams figures to see more minutes while Kevin Love is out for "a number of weeks" after breaking his hand again. It may represent one more chance for Williams to show his worth to the Wolves, and an opportunity for Minnesota to showcase him for other teams. So far, we haven't seen much of the Arizona product on the floor, as he's averaged just 20.3 minutes per game for his career, and is seeing even less time this year than he did as a rookie. Agent Rob Pelinka, stopping short of a trade request, has "voiced his displeasure" about Williams' limited role on the team, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reported last month.
His lack of minutes persists despite more efficient play this season, as most of his per-36 minute numbers are up, and he's once more showing hints of the three-point accuracy he displayed in college, knocking down 38% of his attempts from behind the arc. His PER has jumped to 15.6 from 12.9 in 2011/12, indicating that he's performing at a slightly above-average level. Still, slightly above average is not the caliber of play anyone expects from someone drafted No. 2 overall.
That's why he's largely regarded as a secondary figure in the trade rumors he's been a part of. Though Wolves GM David Kahn denies having spoken to the Lakers since the summer, Minnesota has reportedly has been offering Williams and Nikola Pekovic to L.A. since last season in an effort to land Pau Gasol. The Wolves would like to make Williams the centerpiece of a deal for Anderson Varejao, but the Cavs predictably have little interest in that. He's been linked to the Magic as part of a J.J. Redick deal, but the Magic apparently aren't as high on Williams as other teams are.
It isn't clear which teams, if any, are willing to give Kahn and company what they want for Williams. He makes some sense as a stretch four in Mike D'Antoni's system with the Lakers, who might be more intrigued if the Wolves offered Williams in tandem with someone other than the ground-bound, soon-to-be free agent Pekovic, a poor fit with Dwight Howard. The Raptors may be open to parting with Andrea Bargnani for Williams and Pekovic, but I'm not sure Kahn would want to absorb Bargnani's eight-figure salary through 2015. The Suns figure to be an active participant in deadline deals and already traded for Wesley Johnson, another of Minnesota's highly drafted disappointments, but Phoenix appears set at power forward with Markieff Morris and Luis Scola's cap-friendly, post-amnesty deal.
Kevin Love, when healthy, has a stranglehold on the power forward position in Minnesota, so if Williams has any future with the team, it will be at small forward. For now, he's blocked there by Andrei Kirilenko, who has a $10.2MM player option for next season. If he exercises it, there's little chance Williams would become a starter until 2014/15 at the earliest, and by then the deadline for the Wolves to decide whether to extend his rookie deal will have already passed. Even if Williams shows a degree of improvement while Love is out, Minnesota is probably better off trading him, unless he suddenly turns into a nightly 20 and 10 threat over the next few weeks. Williams' value decreases when he idles on the bench, so as long as there's a reasonable offer on the table when Love returns, the Wolves should take it.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Cousins, Virginia Beach
Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard both deny a report that they engaged in a "heated exchange" after a loss last week, notes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. They and coach Mike D'Antoni had some fun with it, though, posing for a photo of a mock duel between the two superstars that Bryant posted on his new Twitter account. It might be considered gallows humor for the Lakers, who sit at 15-18, but at least they're a step up from the Kings, who are 13-21 and have endured their share of reports about locker room dissent, too. Here's the latest on a pair of intriguing, if not winning, teams.
- Dan Fegan, the new agent for DeMarcus Cousins, met with Kings GM Geoff Petrie today, but Fegan didn't ask that his client be traded, USA Today's Sam Amick reports (Twitter links). The Kings continue to insist they're not interested in any Cousins swap.
- Today was the deadline that Virginia Beach mayor Will Sessoms set for securing an arena deal, but an announcement of whether the funding has been secured won't come until tomorrow, writes Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee. The mid-Atlantic city is rumored to be in pursuit of the Kings.
- Despite a rash of injuries to their big men, the Lakers have no immediate plans for the roster spot they opened up by waiving Darius Johnson-Odom today, tweets HoopsWorld's Steve Kyler, who points out the free space gives them added flexibility in case they make a trade down the line.
- Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com poses five key questions for the Lakers, and believes that if the team isn't right around .500 come February, there will be significant changes to the roster.
- Zach Lowe of Grantland.com ponders the implications of the once-unthinkable prospect of the Lakers missing the playoffs this year.
Sixers Considered Trading For Eric Maynor
The Sixers have explored a trade for Thunder reserve point guard Eric Maynor, a source tells John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). The Sixers are expected to re-sign Maalik Wayns to a 10-day contract tomorrow after waiving him and his partially guaranteed contract yesterday, but have reportedly been seeking an upgrade at backup point guard, where Wayns and Royal Ivey have both seen time.
"We need to see if we can find maybe another guy who can come in and play pick-and-roll and do some things for us when (starter) Jrue (Holiday) is off the floor," coach Doug Collins said, as Mitchell documents. "We really take a hit when Jrue is off the floor because we don’t have the personnel to do it with the (second) unit."
Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com noted that Collins is also looking for a point guard who can better defend the pick-and-roll. It's not clear exactly when the Sixers looked into Maynor, or whether they continue to entertain the possibility.
Maynor played only nine games last season before tearing his ACL, and since his return this year, he has struggled to regain his role as the primary backup to Russell Westbrook, as the Thunder have been going with Reggie Jackson in that role of late. Oklahoma City passed on an extension for Maynor before the season, so he's scheduled to hit restricted free agency in the summer. For his career, the former 20th overall pick has averaged 4.3 points and 2.9 assists in 14.7 minutes per game.
Atlantic Rumors: Draft Picks, Lopez, Rasheed
The Celtics have won the Atlantic Division the last five years, but they find themselves seven games back of the first-place Knicks entering the night. They have a chance to make up some of that deficit as they travel to Madison Square Garden this evening, but they'll have to do so without Rajon Rondo, who was suspended for one game after bumping an official in Atlanta last night and failing to cooperate with the league's investigation. Hawks GM Danny Ferry was perhaps a little too eager to help the investigation along, however, having drawn a $15K fine from the league, apparently for handing referees a DVD of the incident after the game, as Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution details. We have more on Ferry's interaction with another Atlantic Division club right here.
- A source confirmed to NetsDaily that RealGM.com accurately lists a previously unreported detail of last summer's Joe Johnson trade. The Hawks received the right to swap first-round picks with the Nets in both 2014 and 2015.
- Brook Lopez isn't concerned about the idea he'd be included in a trade for Dwight Howard if the Lakers can't get their act together, as Colin Stephenson of the Star-Ledger documents.
- It appears as though Rasheed Wallace has survived today's deadline and will have his contract guaranteed for the rest of the season, as expected, and his renaissance with the Knicks this season is no surprise to Celtics coach Doc Rivers. Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv notes that Rivers thinks Wallace shouldn't have retired after his lone season with the Celtics in 2009/10.
Hornets Sign Donald Sloan
MONDAY, 10:08am: The Hornets have signed Sloan to a 10-day contract, according to Jimmy Smith of the New Orleans Times-Picayune (via Twitter).
SUNDAY, 8:25am: Former Cavs point guard Donald Sloan is on his way back to the NBA after a brief D-League stint, as Sportando's Emiliano Carchia tweets, and Marc Stein of ESPN.com fills in the blank with the news that the Hornets are the team set to sign him (Twitter link). If the Hornets wait until Monday to make the signing official, it could be a 10-day contract for Sloan, who got a pair of 10-day deals from New Orleans last season. Otherwise, the 6'3" Texas A&M product is likely in line for a minimum-salary contract for the rest of the season.
The Cavs released Sloan on Christmas when they claimed Shaun Livingston off waivers, and Sloan made his debut Friday with the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the D-League. He posted back-to-back 22-point games with the Skyforce this weekend, and also put up 10 rebounds and seven assists in last night's contest. The 24-year-old averaged 4.1 points and 1.9 assists in 12.9 minutes per game for the Cavs this year, but lost the job of Kyrie Irving's primary backup to Jeremy Pargo. His numbers were down from last year, when he split the season between the Hawks, Hornets and Cavs, notching 5.5 PPG and 3.2 APG in 20.3 MPG.
The Hornets, at the minimum 13 players after waiving Dominic McGuire on Friday, have been going with two point guards in Greivis Vasquez and backup Brian Roberts. It's unclear whether the addition of Sloan is meant to provide more depth or signals the end in New Orleans for Roberts and his non-guaranteed contract. The Hornets would have to place Roberts on waivers today or Monday to avoid guaranteeing his minimum-salary deal for the rest of the season.
The addition of Sloan, another point guard, runs counter to the indication given this weekend by coach Monty Williams, who said the team wanted to have flexibility to add another small forward. Nonetheless, New Orleans would still have an additional roster spot available even they don't release anyone when Sloan comes aboard.
Cavs Waive Samardo Samuels, Nets And Thunder Interested?
3:49pm: Sam Amico of FoxSportsOhio.com reports that the Brooklyn Nets and Oklahoma City Thunder may have interest in signing Samuels.
12:14pm: The Cavs have waived power forward Samardo Samuels, the team announced. The team had until Monday to place him on waivers in order to avoid paying his minimum-salary contract for the rest of the season. The move leaves the Cavs with 14 players, 11 of whom are on fully guaranteed deals. Daniel Gibson's contract is partially guaranteed for $2.49MM, while Shaun Livingston and Kevin Jones are without any guarantee.
Samuels' deal included a partial guarantee of $200K, but since he's already earned more than that amount this season, Cleveland doesn't owe him any more money. He was in the final season of a three-year pact he signed with the team after going undrafted in 2010 out of Louisville. The 6'9" native of Jamaica averaged 5.9 points and 3.4 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game for his career, but his numbers have steadily declined since his rookie season. This year, he's down to 3.2PPG, 1.2RPG and 10.9MPG.
Samuels was caught up in a minutes crunch at his position, where he was competing with Jones, Luke Walton and Jon Leuer for playing time behind starter Tristan Thompson. If they want to give him another shot without committing to him for the entire season, the Cavs could opt to bring him back on a 10-day contract, which can be signed starting Monday.
Central Rumors: Cavs, Jackson, Drummond, Cook
Bob Finnan of The News-Herald blames Cavs GM Chris Grant and coach Byron Scott for the team's struggles this season, and calls on the team to take a more aggressive approach and pull the trigger on a deal for a "good, young piece" at the trade deadline if someone like that is available. The Cavs should carry that aggression into free agency, Finnan believes, and use their cap space for better assets than they've pursued recently. Finnan has more on the team, which we'll round up along with other notes from their Central Division rivals.
- We've heard before that the Cavs and Wolves have had brief discussion about an Anderson Varejao trade, and Finnan confirms those talks, speculating that Minnesota would probably want to include Derrick Williams, a potential deal-breaker. Finnan believes the Cavs may have interest in taking back Nikola Pekovic instead.
- There's been little talk of Scott's job security this season, but if the losing continues, Finnan doesn't foresee that immunity lasting into 2013/14.
- Former Bucks swingman Stephen Jackson said he spoke with GM John Hammond about a contract extension during his time in Milwaukee, but never took a confrontational tone, as Jackson told Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times. Jackson expressed respect for Hammond and said he can envision working for him someday, though I'd guess he's referring to a front-office role rather than a return to the Bucks as a player. Jackson said Hammond was the only person from the Bucks organization he still spoke to, and balked at the suggestion that he'd reached out to coach Scott Skiles, with whom he feuded last season.
- Andre Drummond has improved as the season has gone on, but he's content with the Pistons' plan to bring him along slowly, MLive's David Mayo observes.
- Mayo and fellow MLive scribe Brendan Savage debate who got the better of Detroit's offseason trade with the Bobcats that swapped Ben Gordon for Corey Maggette.
- Scott Powers of ESPNChicago.com writes that Daequan Cook understands that he must earn playing time with the Bulls after signing in Chicago this morning.
Lakers Rumors: Dwight Howard, Trades, Pau Gasol
The Nuggets, whom the Lakers face tonight, possess what L.A. couldn't have imagined wanting when the season began: the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Still, the 15-17 Lakers wouldn't mind trading places with Denver, which is 19-16 and two and a half games in front of L.A. for eighth place in the West. While we continue to await a turnaround for the purple and gold, here's more on the Lakers.
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel implores Dwight Howard to commit to the Lakers rather than further tarnish his image with more waffling about his next destination. Schmitz, who believes the extra year the Lakers can add to his deal will ultimately motivate Howard to stay, thinks the Mavericks could be in play for him this summer, but isn't sold on the idea that the big man would consider the Hawks.
- "It seems inevitable" the Lakers will make a trade, tweets HoopsWorld's Steve Kyler. Still, no Pau Gasol deal is jumping out there for the team, as all the offers for Gasol that Kyler has heard would represent a downgrade for L.A. (Twitter links). In any case, the team isn't as panicked as the media portrays, Kyler tweets.
- Kyler believes the Raptors and Rockets are the teams most willing to make a worthwhile offer for Gasol, with the Celtics a close third.
- Kobe Bryant tells Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times that the Lakers would be best served by having the ball in the hands of Gasol and Steve Nash.
Odds & Ends: Cavs, Gay, Ibaka, Cuban, Pachulia
Sunday's NBA action has already begun with a matinee between the Thunder and Raptors. It could be an even more active day off the court, as teams must make decisions on players with non-guaranteed contracts by the end of tomorrow. Here's the latest from around the Association.
- The Cavs won't rush to fill the open roster spot they'll have once Samardo Samuels clears waivers, tweets Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal.
- While the Grizzlies have made it known that Rudy Gay might be available in a trade, Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld doesn't think the team is in any hurry to pull the trigger, and may wait for a better deal at draft time (Twitter links).
- Serge Ibaka's four-year, $49MM extension doesn't kick in until next season, but he's already rewarding the Thunder with improved play, as Jeff Latzke of The Associated Press examines (link via the National Post).
- Mark Cuban, who is once more complaining about officiating, thought about selling the Mavs after they lost the 2006 NBA Finals, but now he wants to keep the team in his family for generations to come, notes Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News.
- Zaza Pachulia is pulling down more rebounds per 36 minutes than he ever has, but he isn't giving much thought to his unrestricted free agency this summer, as HoopsWorld's Lang Greene chronicles.
- Fellow HoopsWorld scribe Tommy Beer categorizes the league's best bargains at multiple price points.
- K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune details the twists and turns of Patrick Beverley's life that have led him to the verge of a deal with the Rockets.
- Ryan Ripley of Ridiculous Upside argues that Ron Howard deserves to be listed among the top prospects in the D-League.