Atlantic Rumors: Felton, Lin, DeRozan, Lee
The Knicks lost their status as the league's only unbeaten last night, and they could be another loss away from falling out of first place, as the Nets are a game behind and the Celtics, winners in a matinee against the Raptors this afternoon, lurk a game and a half behind. The standings can change quickly in the first month of the season, and while we wait to see whether the early returns on New York were accurate, here's more on the Knicks and their Atlantic Division rivals.
- Raymond Felton has earned the respect of all his Knicks teammates, something predecessor Jeremy Lin failed to do, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. A return to New York, where the point guard has played his best, was Felton's first choice in free agency this summer, agent Tony Dutt tells Berman. "Raymond was born to be a Knick," Dutt said.
- DeMar DeRozan's lucrative extension drew criticism, but Celtics coach Doc Rivers sees plenty of value in the fourth-year swingman, notes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com.
- Courtney Lee, a career 38.6% three-point shooter, is just 3-for-16 in his first 10 games with the Celtics. Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe discusses Lee's struggles adjusting to his new team.
- Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside wonders if the Celtics' use of their D-League affiliate could lead more teams to think of the D-League as a tool for long-term development rather than simply a way to bring along fill-ins.
Western Notes: Grizzlies, Harden, Kings, Carroll
The Grizzlies staked their claim to a place among the NBA's elite teams this week with wins over the Heat, Thunder and previously unbeaten Knicks. That has the USA Today, and no doubt others, wondering if Memphis is the best team in the league. It's probably premature to anoint them as such after just eight games, but with Zach Randolph looking fully healthy again, they're certainly a squad worth keeping an eye on. Here's the latest on a few teams trying to catch up to them in the Western Conference standings.
- Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game offers a contrasting take on the notion that James Harden only had an hour to decide on the Thunder's extension offer, writing that both Harden and his agent, Rob Pelinka, had been aware for four months that Oklahoma City was not going to give Harden the max (Sulia link).
- Zach Harper of CBSSports.com details the woes of the 2-7 Kings, but Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee hears the team isn't planning on making any major moves and intends to hold on to Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins and Jimmer Fredette for the time being (Twitter link).
- Jazz forward DeMarre Carroll, who's on an expiring contract and hadn't seen meaningful minutes for two weeks, told his agent, "I didn't work this hard to be out of the rotation," as Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune documents. His work paid off last night, when he went 6 for 6 and put up 17 points and five rebounds in close to 23 minutes.
- New Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said his faith in his offensive system was reinforced by the time he spent coaching Jeremy Lin with the Knicks, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
Players Who Can Veto Trades
When you think of players vetoing trades, you probably think of a guy who has a no-trade clause. In the NBA, however, a greater number of players have the ability to veto trades for reasons other than a standard no-trade clause.
The CBA stipulates that players who accept a qualifying offer or sign for a one-year contract that would allow them to have early Bird or full Bird rights at the end of the deal can veto trades as they see fit. If one of these players consents to a trade, he would only have non-Bird rights, giving him plenty of incentive to use his veto power. Players who sign an offer sheet, only to have it matched by their original team, can also veto a trade for one year after they sign.
Below is a list of the players with veto power in 2012/13, including the only four in the league to have negotiated no-trade clauses in their contracts, a privilege reserved only for long-tenured superstars, as you can see. The players listed under the last two categories would give up either early or full Bird rights if they consent to a trade. If there are any omissions from this list, please let us know in the comments.
No-trade clauses
- Kobe Bryant, Lakers
- Tim Duncan, Spurs
- Kevin Garnett, Celtics
- Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks
Players whose offer sheets were matched
- Nicolas Batum, Blazers
- Eric Gordon, Hornets
Players accepting qualifying offers
- Ivan Johnson, Hawks (early Bird)
- Devin Ebanks, Lakers
- Darius Morris, Lakers (early Bird)
- Luke Harangody, Cavs
Players re-signing for one year
- Chris Wilcox, Celtics (early Bird)
- Keith Bogans, Nets (early Bird)
- Terrel Harris, Heat (early Bird)
- J.J. Hickson, Blazers
- Aaron Gray, Raptors (early Bird)
- Cartier Martin, Wizards (early Bird)
- Brandon Rush, Warriors
- Chauncey Billups, Clippers
- J.R. Smith, Knicks (early Bird)
- Boris Diaw, Spurs (early Bird)
- Patrick Mills, Spurs (early Bird)
- Alan Anderson, Raptors (early Bird)
ShamSports and Larry Coon's NBA Salary Cap FAQ were used in the creation of this post.
Odds & Ends: Grizzlies, Raptors, White, Thunder
Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun proposes a trade that would send Zach Randolph and Tony Wroten to the Raptors for Andrea Bargnani, Aaron Gray and a second-round pick. Wolstat wonders if the new Grizzlies owners will try to shed salary before the season to avoid paying luxury tax. Memphis is about $4MM above the tax line (Twitter links). I'm skeptical about this one, since trading the team's best player wouldn't exactly make Robert Pera and company the most popular people in Memphis, especially considering the Grizzlies are off to a hot start. While we wait to find out whether any such deal materializes this season, here are a few notes from around the Association.
- High-level union officials are discussing whether they can make a credible case that the Rockets shouldn't be fining Royce White for his absences, but White's criticism of the team on Twitter makes the union's job more difficult, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.
- Kevin Martin isn't half the player James Harden is, opines Jarrod Rudolph of RealGM.com, who counts the deal as a mistake for the Thunder based on early results. (Twitter link).
- Magic Johnson wanted Phil Jackson to coach the Lakers, and he lays the blame on executive vice president Jim Buss for what he believes is a mistake, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com observes. "I love (owner) Dr. (Jerry) Buss," Johnson said on ESPN's NBA Countdown show. "I don't believe in Jim Buss."
- Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times, conversely, is confident the decision to hire Mike D'Antoni came from Jerry Buss. Dwyre concludes D'Antoni must have been the Lakers' No. 1 choice all along, speculating that the team didn't want to embarrass agent Warren LeGarie by making it look like they had D'Antoni, his client, already lined up to replace Mike Brown, also LeGarie's client, when Brown was fired.
Eastern Notes: Lopez, J.R. Smith, Wall, Harkless
It was a successful night for a pair of teams at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, as the Pistons blew out the Sixers en route to their first win after an 0-8 start, while the Bobcats dropped the Wolves for their third win in a row, moving to 4-3. The Wizards failed to join that group, and are the NBA's lone remaining winless team after losing to the Mavericks tonight. There's more on Washington and other news from the East right here.
- After committing to Brook Lopez this summer, the Nets have raised their expectations of the fifth-year center, according to USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt, who says the team signed Reggie Evans and Andray Blatche so they could help Lopez improve.
- J.R. Smith said in training camp he wanted to start at shooting guard, but now he says he's "loving" his role as sixth man for the unbeaten Knicks, for whom he's off to a hot start, observes Nate Taylor of The New York Times.
- As the 0-7 Wizards search in vain for their first win, the frustration is mounting for John Wall, who's without a timetable for a return from a stress fracture in his right knee, writes Jeff Caplan of NBA.com. Wall will be eligible for an extension to his rookie-scale contract next summer.
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel says rookie Maurice Harkless, who missed preseason while recovering from sports hernia surgery, is already starting to show his worth a week after his debut for the Magic.
- Hedo Turkoglu had hoped to be back from his broken left hand about two weeks from now, but after doctors had to put the hand back in a cast today, he could be out for another month, reports John Denton of Magic.com.
- Richard Hamilton, whose $5MM deal for next season is only guaranteed for $1MM, could be a free agent next summer, but he's okay with Tom Thibodeau's plans to limit his minutes to keep him healthy, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune notes.
- The Celtics are considering a D-League rehab stint for Avery Bradley once he's healthy, tweets A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com.
Al Jefferson Hints At Return To Celtics
10:00pm: Jefferson responded to the reports that he would consider signing with the Celtics, reiterating that the Jazz are his first choice, saying, "The only way I won't be there is they don't want me there," reports Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter links).
6:58pm: Al Jefferson is a free agent next summer and said he'd love to stay with the Jazz, but expressed a willingness to return to the Celtics, for whom he played the first three seasons of his career, writes Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com.
"This is my first home," he said of Boston, where the Jazz are playing tonight. "This will always be my home away from home. (Celtics president) Danny Ainge gave me a chance when nobody else did. If that situation were to happen, I’d love to do that again. But right now, like I said, it’s all about taking care of business and finishing out the season right."
Jefferson spoke highly of the Jazz organization as well, and said it reminds him of the Celtics. The 6'10" 27-year-old figures to be one of the most highly sought-after big men on the market in the offseason. It would be difficult to envision Boston, which has about $70MM in commitments next season, including Paul Pierce's $15.3MM player option, having anywhere near enough room to sign him outright. Ainge could engineer some kind of sign-and-trade or another swap that frees up cap space, but it's likely Jefferson won't be back in green anytime soon, barring a Celtics collapse this season that prods Ainge into significant changes.
Still, it seems the affection is mutual, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston notes Celtics coach Doc Rivers had dinner with Jefferson when the Jazz and Celtics played last season.
"He just keeps getting better and better," Rivers said. "The thing I thought I’d never say about Al, he’s becoming a better passer. And I’ve very happy about that for him. He just keeps working on his game. He hit that one little stretch where, he had lost a lot, you could see he’s fought through that now. Making that playoff run, and he was a big part of it last year, has kind of re-stoked him and that’s good. He’s a heck of a guy."
2012/13 Trades
The James Harden trade was finalized a day before the 2012/13 season began, but since it came almost three months after the Dwight Howard/Andrew Bynum deal went down, it makes sense to classify it as the first of the 2012/13 in-season trades. The Bobcats and Hornets pulled off another swap yesterday, and now that we have multiple trades, we'll list them here in a post you can bookmark and reference throughout the season, along with our recap of the trades from this past offseason. For up-to-the-minute news on trades as well as other roster moves, like signings, cuts and coaching changes, follow our transactions-only feeds via RSS and Twitter.
- The Bucks get J.J. Redick, Gustavo Ayon, and Ish Smith.
- The Magic get Beno Udrih, Tobias Harris, and Doron Lamb.
- The Celtics get Jordan Crawford.
- The Wizards get Leandro Barbosa and Jason Collins.
- The Trail Blazers get Eric Maynor.
- The Thunder get the rights to Giorgio Printezis.
- The Thunder get Ronnie Brewer.
- The Knicks get the Thunder's 2014 second-round pick.
- The Magic get Hakim Warrick and cash.
- The Bobcats get Josh McRoberts.
- The Mavericks get Anthony Morrow.
- The Hawks get Dahntay Jones.
- The Raptors get Sebastian Telfair.
- The Suns get Hamed Haddadi and a 2014 second-round pick.
- The Grizzlies get Dexter Pittman, the Heat's 2013 second-round pick, and cash.
- The Heat get the rights to Ricky Sanchez.
- The 76ers get Charles Jenkins and cash.
- The Warriors get a future second-round pick.
- The Hawks get Jeremy Tyler and cash.
- The Warriors get a future second-round pick.
- The Rockets get Thomas Robinson, Francisco Garcia, and Tyler Honeycutt.
- The Kings get Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich, Toney Douglas, and $1MM in cash.
- The Suns get Marcus Morris.
- The Rockets get the Suns' 2013 second-round pick.
- The Raptors get Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi.
- The Grizzlies get Tayshaun Prince, Ed Davis, Austin Daye, the Raptors' 2013 second-round pick and cash.
- The Pistons get Jose Calderon.
- The Cavaliers get Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington, Josh Selby, and the Grizzlies' 2015 first-round pick.
- The Grizzlies get Jon Leuer.
- The Bobcats get Hakim Warrick.
- The Hornets get Matt Carroll.
- The Rockets get James Harden, Daequan Cook, Cole Aldrich and Lazar Hayward.
- The Thunder get Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, the Mavericks' 2013 first-round pick, the Raptors' 2013 first-round pick and the Bobcats' 2013 second-round pick.
Latest On Potential T-Wolves Moves
We've heard a lot of rumors about possible acquisitions for the Timberwolves in light of the team's rash of injuries, and GM David Kahn addressed the talk following a meeting about potential moves today with coach Rick Adelman, reports Ray Richardson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Though we heard earlier that a trade could be in the works, Kahn believes that if the team is to make a move, it would most likely be a free agent signing. Kahn said "there are some names out there" the team would consider, most likely a shooting guard or small forward. Still, Kahn said nothing's on the immediate horizon.
"It's not feasible to do anything right now," Kahn said. "It's harder this time of the season to get a player. Certain players can't be traded until after December 15 if they signed in the summer."
Players who signed as free agents or signed offer sheets that were matched by their teams can't be traded for three months after the transaction took place, or December 15, whichever is later. Reports have linked free agents Mickael Pietrus and Josh Howard to Minnesota in the past week. The Wolves have a full roster, at 15 players, though Will Conroy's contract is partially guaranteed for $100K.
Richardson points out the Wolves are one player short of having enough to qualify for a roster hardship that would allow them to bring on a 16th player. In Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and Chase Budinger, the team has three players who will miss at least two weeks of action. They'd need a fourth to get a 16th player on the roster.
As for Love, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune notes that he's targeting a return in early December from his broken right hand (Twitter links). That would make for an absence of about six to eight weeks, on the long side of the initial projection.
Western Rumors: Spurs, Wolves, Pekovic
While it's not uncommon for several members of a team to butter up an opponent before a game, Knicks coach Mike Woodson delivered a theory on the success of the Spurs in advance of their matchup on Friday, as Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express News documents. "So when young guys or any new player comes on their team, they have to buy in because those banners are up there for a reason," Woodson said. "So I think the transition for a lot of the players that come here is easier." The praise of San Antonio seems warranted as they sit on top of the Western Conference at 7-1. Here's the latest on a few of the teams trying to knock them off that pedestal.
- An agent who is trying to get his player on the Wolves believes the team is trying to make some kind of trade, Darren Wolfson reveals via Twitter. Minnesota is looking for help on the perimeter, and Hoops Rumors readers have so far identified them as the team most in need of a new wing player.
- HoopsWorld's Bill Ingram calls Nikola Pekovic "the best young traditional center in the NBA," and details his growth as a player as he takes on double-teams with so many of his Wolves teammates out with injury.
- Phil Jackson's desire for significant organizational power was the stumbling block that kept him from becoming coach of the Lakers, just as it prevented the Knicks from pursuing him last spring, writes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.
- The Lakers put Mike D'Antoni in a no-win situation by reaching out to Jackson, thus forcing D'Antoni to deal with being seen as Plan B in addition to the heightened expectations that already surround the team, opines Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.
- Deveney, in his wide-ranging piece, also questions the bargaining power of Royce White while noting the success of several other 2012 draftees.
- Matt Moore of CBSSports.com has been supportive of White in the past, since they suffer from the same anxiety problems, but now Moore takes the rookie to task for his playing-time demands and Twitter outbursts.
Royce White ‘Not Available’ For Rockets
11:54am: White responded to Feigen's column (linked below) on his Twitter account, suggesting in a series of tweets that not all of the info was accurate, and that he has spoken to the therapist appointed by the Rockets.
WEDNESDAY, 10:07am: Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle has the latest details on the gulf between the Rockets and White, reporting that the rookie is being fined by the team for each day he remains away from the club or fails to attend sessions with a therapist arranged by the Rockets.
According to Feigen, White and the Rockets are at odds over his playing time, with the team saying that other players have earned minutes over him, while White believes he hasn't been given the opportunity to show he could earn a place in the rotation.
In spite of the situation, the Rockets have no plans to trade or release White, says Feigen.
TUESDAY, 9:41pm: White says via Twitter that he's "most definitely not AWOL" and that his problem with the Rockets goes back long before the D-League assignment (Twitter links; hat tip to Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld).
8:32pm: White released a statement criticizing the team's handling of his anxiety. According to TNT's David Aldridge, he said the team has been "inconsistent" in sticking to their agreement to accomodate his disorders, and says the lack of support will make him unhealthy, "and that is not a consequence that I am willing to accept to play any sport" (Twitter links). Mark Berman of Fox 26 recounted the statement via a lengthy Twitter burst.
"In hindsight, perhaps it was not a good idea to be open and honest about my anxiety disorder, due to the current situations at hand that involve the nature of actions from the Houston Rockets," White said, adding that the team is aware of the reason for his absence.