Wolves Rumors: Love, Derrick Williams, Roy
Ricky Rubio wasn't in the starting lineup and played only 18 minutes last night, but that he played at all is joyous news for the Wolves. The team welcomed him back for his first action since March, when he tore two ligaments in his left knee. Rubio shot just 1-for-4 from the field, but dished out nine assists against only two turnovers, and helped spark a comeback win after Minnesota endured an early deficit against the Mavs. His return isn't the only story of note from the Twin Cities, and we've got the latest here.
- Kevin Love's name has surfaced in trade rumors following his comments critical of the Wolves organization this week, but Minnesota has no intention of trading its All-Star power forward, tweets Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio.
- While agreeing with Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer that the Cavs likely aren't interested in Derrick Williams, Bob Finnan of The News-Herald believes the disappointing second-year forward would "have to be the center of any proposal" the Wolves might offer Cleveland in exchange for Anderson Varejao.
- The idea of retirement might have crossed Brandon Roy's mind following his latest knee surgery, but Roy should be back in the Wolves lineup in a week and a half, according to Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter link).
D-League Moves: Freeland, Claver, Jones
As news comes in about D-League assignments and recalls today, we'll track it here, with the latest news at the top. Keep tabs on all of this year's D-League assignments and recalls by bookmarking our updated list.
- The Blazers have recalled Joel Freeland and Victor Claver from the Idaho Stampede, the Blazers announced via Twitter. They were sent down Friday, prompting Freeland's agent to express displeasure with the move. Blazers GM Neil Olshey responded by saying both Freeland and Claver indicated to him that they were enthusiastic about the opportunity for playing time, and both saw heavy minutes the last two nights for the Stampede. The Oregonian's Joe Freeman reported last night that the recalls were expected to take place (Twitter link).
- The Rockets have recalled rookie Terrence Jones from the D-League, the team announced. Jones was sent down to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Friday, but didn't appear in Saturday's game. He'll be active for Houston's game against Toronto today, according to the Rockets. The Rockets sent fellow rookie Donatas Motiejunas down on Friday along with Jones, but Motiejunas remains at Rio Grande Valley, as does Scott Machado, who's been there since his assignment on November 30th.
Latest On Andrew Bynum
The Lakers' visit to Philadelphia highlights a four-game Sunday slate in the NBA, and it puts the spotlight back on the most significant trade of 2012, which put Andrew Bynum on the Sixers and Dwight Howard in L.A. Of course, Bynum has yet to make his debut for Philly, and that's made the four-team megadeal difficult to assess so far. On Thursday, Bynum will get an MRI on his knees that will help determine his path to recovery, and as we await those results, here's the latest on the missing 7-footer.
- John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer hears there's no question Bynum will play at some point this season, and argues that the Sixers benefitted from the trade even if Bynum plays only briefly before departing as a free agent this summer. The cap space they'd have if he signs elsewhere would be enough to attract a significant free agent, Mitchell writes, contending that even if they acquired Bynum knowing the severity of his knee issues, the trade was still worthwhile because of the cap flexibility it gives them.
- If Bynum doesn't play this season, the Sixers "most certainly will not sign him," according to Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News, who points to the improvement of Jrue Holiday, Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner as reasons the team can be optimstic about the future.
- Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak said the team wasn't concerned about Bynum's history of knee trouble heading into this past offseason, and was prepared to move forward with him until the opportunity to acquire Howard arose. Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News has the details.
Isaiah Thomas Seeks Clarity About Role With Kings
With offseason signee Aaron Brooks firmly entrenched as the starting point guard for the Kings, coach Keith Smart has been going back and forth between second-year men Jimmer Fredette and Isaiah Thomas as the backup at that position. The time share has frustrated Thomas, who finished his surprising rookie campaign as the starter and started the first eight games of this season as well, and he's expressed a desire for a better idea of when he'll be playing, as Matt Kawahara of the Sacramento Bee details.
"Wouldn't you?" Thomas replied when asked whether he'd like more clarity on his role. "I would. But I mean, that's coach's decision, and I'm a team guy, so I just go with whatever he chooses. I mean, I'll always know I'm going to stay ready, no matter what."
Thomas said he doesn't understand why Smart decided to split his minutes with Fredette, but Smart said he's doing so in part because he feels both players need to play in order to improve. While Thomas, the last pick in the 2011 draft, assumed a prominent role last year, 10th overall pick Fredette saw fewer than 20 minutes a game as a reserve.
Appearances and minutes are especially important to Thomas, given the stipulations in his contract. His minimum-salary deal for next year will be non-guaranteed if he doesn't average 15 or more minutes per game in the 50 contests in which he plays the most minutes this season, according to ShamSports. Failure to appear in at least 50 games is another trigger that would make the contract non-guaranteed next season.
Thomas might actually want to root for less playing time to make his deal non-guaranteed and prompt the Kings to waive him in the offseason, when he could bank on his performance from 2011/12 to find a deal for better than the minimum. That would be shortsighted, though, since he'd be in line for a much more lucrative contract in the summer of 2014 if he can improve upon last year's performance.
Bucher On Jennings, Evans, Varejao, Gasol
With a few exceptions, yesterday was the day free agents signed this offseason became eligible to be included in trades, so rumors will no doubt begin to intensify. Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game shares a few dispatches via Sulia, and we'll round them up here.
- Of the two most prominent names headed for restricted free agency next summer, Brandon Jennings has a better chance of being traded this year than Tyreke Evans. The Bucks are cognizant that several teams are "quietly assessing" Jennings to gauge his worth, though Bucher has been given no indication the team is looking to trade him at the moment.
- The Kings, who'll have the ability to match offers to Evans, are content to sit back and wait for another team to set his value on the market. Sacramento is reluctant to let go of Evans' talent even though it's still unclear what position he plays best.
- Among prominent veteran trade candidates like Pau Gasol, Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon, Anderson Varejao is the only one with a significant chance of being dealt soon. Gasol isn't going anywhere right now because of the promise the Lakers made to Steve Nash that he and Gasol would get to play together.
Central Notes: Varejao, Derrick Williams, Belinelli
All five Central Division squads are in action tonight, and three of them face stiff tests. The Bulls take on the Nets, the Bucks play host to the red-hot Clippers, and the Cavs visit the Knicks, who are unbeaten at Madison Square Garden. There's plenty of action off the court as well, and here's the latest on Central squads.
- While she acknowledges she's in the minority, Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer doesn't think the Cavs will trade Anderson Varejao, arguing that he's the team's best player and that it might take several years to develop a young replacement who could equal his production.
- In the same Q&A with readers, Schmitt Boyer says she also doesn't think the Cavs will go after Timberwolves forward Derrick Williams.
- Bulls offseason signee Marco Belinelli said he had perhaps the toughest training camp of his life as he struggled to adjust to a new system and a new team, but now he's averaging 19.0 points per game over his last five contests after stepping into the starting lineup for the injured Richard Hamilton. HoopsWorld's Joel Brigham has more.
- In that piece, Brigham also looks at several who could be in line for their first All-Star appearance this season, and Central Division players are well represented. Varejao and Kyrie Irving of the Cavs, Joakim Noah of the Bulls and Brandon Jennings of the Bucks are on the list.
- Pistons GM Joe Dumars has been high on Andre Drummond ever since a pre-draft meeting in which Drummond gave Dumars direct answers to questions about his energy and willingness to play hard, two areas of doubt that had caused other GMs to pass on him. Keith Langlois of Pistons.com has the details.
Atlantic Rumors: Lin, Toney, Bargnani, Turner
Linsanity will be back in New York this week, if only for a few hours on Monday when the Rockets pay their lone visit of the season to the Knicks. Jeremy Lin knows the game will be special, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes. "It will be wild," said Lin, whose Rockets also travel to Toronto for a matinee Sunday versus the Raptors, who have a large Asian fan base. "It will be fun. I don’t really know what will happen exactly. We’re going to go out there as a team. It’s not about me or any individual. I’m going to go out there and try to play as hard as I can, have some fun. Whatever the crowds are like, I’m sure there will be a lot of energy."
Here are a couple more blasts from the Knicks' past and other notes from around the Atlantic.
- Lin isn't the only former Knicks point guard on the Rockets this year, and Toney Douglas, who came to Houston from New York as part of the Marcus Camby sign-and-trade this summer, will return to Madison Square Garden on a roll, Feigen notes.
- Andrea Bargnani angrily denied the comments he was reported to have made to an Italian journalist, particulary his supposed assertion that the Raptors are the worst team in the league, as Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun notes (Sulia link). Bargnani told Raptors beat writers today that what he said in reference to the team's play was, "Nobody is satisfied. Not me, not DeMar, not coach, nobody."
- The Italian reporter, Davide Chinellato of Gazzetta.it, is standing by his story, and says he has a recording of what Bargnani said (Twitter link; hat tip to Sportando's Emiliano Carchia).
- Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com posits that Evan Turner has become the best player from the 2010 draft. While that's probably open to debate, Lynam points to Turner's three-point shooting, which has jumped from 22.4% last year to 47.5% this season, and his ability to step in at point guard, as he did last night for the injured Jrue Holiday.
- In a Q&A with Joe Brescia of The New York Times, Patrick Ewing reiterated his desire to become an NBA head coach and said his son, Patrick Ewing Jr., has his eyes set on a return to the NBA as he plays in Germany for Telekom Baskets Bonn. The younger Ewing got a cup of coffee in the Association with the Hornets in 2010/11.
Lawrence On Horford, Dwight, Thibodeau, Paul
Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News examines the fast starts of the Knicks, Warriors, and Hawks, but believes the script could have been drastically different for Atlanta this season. Here's a roundup of a few rumors he's sharing.
- The Hawks offered up Al Horford as part of a strong push to acquire Dwight Howard in August, according to Lawrence, who notes the Hawks will have enough cap flexibility to pursue the Atlanta native when he becomes an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.
- Tom Thibodeau and Bulls management are waging a "cold war" over the coach's heavy minutes for his starters this season, Lawrence hears. Thibodeau offered his side of the argument to reporters yesterday, as Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago documented.
- Chris Paul, a free agent next summer, had been privately griping about Blake Griffin's play, but has ceased doing so amid an eight-game winning streak for the Clippers, Lawrence writes.
Players Who Can’t Be Traded Until January 15th
Today is the day that most general managers in the NBA have been waiting for. December 15th is when most free agents signed over the summer become eligible to be traded, enabling teams dissatisfied with their offseasons to start making adjustments. This applies to players who re-signed with their teams, as well as restricted free agents who inked offer sheets with another team but had the offer sheets matched by their original team.
A few of the players signed this offseason have to wait a little bit longer. Anyone who signed after September 15th still isn't allowed to be traded, since it hasn't yet been three months after they signed. That includes training camp invitees who made their teams, like Rasheed Wallace and DeQuan Jones, and early season pickups, such as Josh Howard and Shaun Livingston. Players signed after November 21st this season can't be traded at all, since their three-month waiting period expires after the February 21st trade deadline.
There's another group that will become available to be traded January 15th. If a team that's over the cap re-signs a player using Bird rights or Early Bird rights and gives him a raise of better than 20%, and the player had been making more than the minimum salary, the team can't trade that player until January 15th or three months after the signing, whichever is later.
With an assist from Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links) and the ESPN.com Trade Machine, here's a list of players who will become eligible to be traded January 15th:
- Darrell Arthur, Grizzlies
- Nicolas Batum, Blazers
- Brandon Bass, Celtics
- Chauncey Billups, Clippers
- Jeremy Evans, Jazz
- Eric Gordon, Hornets
- Danny Green, Spurs
- Jeff Green, Celtics
- Roy Hibbert, Pacers
- George Hill, Pacers
- Jordan Hill, Lakers
- Kris Humphries, Nets
- Ersan Ilyasova, Bucks
- Brook Lopez, Nets
- JaVale McGee, Nuggets
- Brandon Rush, Warriors
- Marreese Speights, Grizzlies
- Jason Thompson, Kings
Here's a list of training camp invitees and early season signees who'll be eligible to be traded later on this season, along with the earliest date they can be included in trades.
- Ben Hansbrough, Pacers, December 17th
- Josh Harrellson, Heat, December 17th
- Earl Barron, Wizards, December 19th
- Louis Amundson, Timberwolves, December 24th
- Anthony Tolliver, Hawks, December 25th
- Damien Wilkins, Sixers, December 27th
- Diante Garrett, Suns, December 28th
- Luke Zeller, Suns, December 28th
- DeQuan Jones, Magic, December 29th
- Rasheed Wallace, Knicks, January 3rd
- Leandro Barbosa, Celtics, January 18th
- Daniel Orton, Thunder, January 31st
- Josh Howard, Timberwolves, February 15th
- Shaun Livingston, Wizards, February 15th
A few notes:
- Spears lists Lavoy Allen and Steve Novak as being ineligible to be traded until January 15th, but I think those guys are eligible to be traded as of today, because they made the minimum salary last season.
- Chauncey Billups isn't on Spears' list, but he's included on the ESPN Trade Machine list, and I think ESPN is right, unless there's a rule I don't know about regarding players who were amnestied, as Billups was before the 2011/12 season.
- Earlier, I thought Ryan Anderson wouldn't be eligible to be traded until January 15th, since the Magic, who technically signed him as part of the sign-and-trade that sent him to the Hornets, were over the cap. However, Grantland's Zach Lowe confirmed that he's eligible as of today, because the Hornets were under the cap when the deal went down.
Larry Coon's NBA Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
Odds & Ends: Wizards, Ebanks, Nets, Celtics
Wizards owner Ted Leonsis used his personal blog to address a report this week by Michael Lee of The Washington Post that the Wizards turned down a trade for James Harden. Leonsis denies that finances were a factor in the team's decision, and points out the trade wouldn't have put the team over the luxury tax. However, Lee didn't write that the trade would make Washington a taxpayer, surmising instead that the team would eventually have to pay the tax if it wanted to keep Harden, John Wall and the rest of its post-trade core together. Here's who else is making news on an 11-game night in the NBA.
- Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times thinks Devin Ebanks might not be with the Lakers much longer, though he points out that he's one of a handful of players who can veto trades this season (Sulia link).
- More than half of the players on the Nets roster become eligible to be traded tomorrow, but Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News tweets that the team isn't planning any moves.
- Sports Illustrated's Ian Thomsen isn't high on the Celtics, but he doesn't foresee the team making changes in an effort to win a title this season, he tells CSNNE's Sports Tonight (link via CSNNE.com).
- This year's class of college sophomore draft prospects is especially deep, writes Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider only). Centers Cody Zeller and Alex Len, two potential No. 1 overall picks, sit atop Ford's ranking of the top 10 sophomores.
- Eddie Johnson of HoopsHype points to the shortcomings of Eric Maynor this season and speculates that the Thunder may look to add another point guard to back up Russell Westbrook.
- Pacers rookie guard Orlando Johnson would have been sent down this weekend for his second D-League assignment if not for Lance Stephenson's right ankle injury, notes Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star.
- After passing along a pair of reports that linked Carlos Arroyo to teams in Italy and Turkey, Sportando's Emiliano Carchia believes the nine-year NBA vet is down to a single option overseas. Arroyo last played in the Association in 2010/11, splitting the season between the Heat and Celtics.