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Author: Chuck Myron

Most Frequently Traded Draft-And-Stash Players

By | at January 26, 2016 11:04 am

The trade that sent Josh Smith from the Clippers to the Rockets on Friday didn’t include anyone else currently in the NBA, but it did involve two draft-and-stash players. Maarty Leunen went from the Rockets to the Clippers, while Sergei Lishouk went from the Clippers to the Rockets in the deal, which marked the third time Houston has traded for Lishouk’s rights. It’s six trades overall for the 49th overall pick from the 2004 draft, and still zero NBA games played, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle pointed out (Twitter links). The Ukrainian native has played internationally all the while, as he continues to toil for Murcia of Spain.

Georgios Printezis is the only other draft-and-stash player whose rights currently belong to an NBA team who has been traded more often than Lishouk has, but plenty of others have been dealt more than once. More than a dozen other draft-and-stash players have seen their NBA rights traded traded multiple times and, by definition, they’ve yet to sign a contract with any NBA team. Edin Bavcic, the 56th overall pick from 2006, comes closest. He’s been traded four times, most recently in the 2014 trade that sent his rights to the Cavaliers in a deal that allowed Cleveland to clear the cap space necessary for the return of LeBron James. So, these players, while obscure, aren’t inconsequential.

Here’s a look at every current draft-and-stash player whose rights have been traded more than once:

SEVEN TRADES

Georgios Printezis (2007, 58th overall)

  • Spurs to Raptors
  • Raptors to Mavericks
  • Mavericks to Knicks
  • Knicks to Trail Blazers
  • Trail Blazers to Thunder
  • Thunder to Hawks
  • Hawks to Spurs

SIX TRADES

Sergei Lishouk (2004, 49th overall)

  • Grizzlies to Rockets
  • Rockets to Lakers
  • Lakers to Rockets
  • Rockets to Sixers
  • Sixers to Clippers
  • Clippers to Rockets

FOUR TRADES

Edin Bavcic (2006, 56th overall)

  • Raptors to Sixers
  • Sixers to Pelicans
  • Pelicans to Nets
  • Nets to Cavaliers

THREE TRADES

Cenk Akyol (2005, 59th overall)

  • Hawks to Clippers
  • Clippers to Sixers
  • Sixers to Nuggets

Albert Miralles (2004, 39th overall)

  • Raptors to Heat
  • Heat to Celtics
  • Celtics to Bucks

Emir Preldzic (2009, 57th overall)

  • Suns to Cavaliers
  • Cavaliers to Wizards
  • Wizards to Mavericks

TWO TRADES

Semaj Christon (2014, 55th overall)

  • Heat to Hornets
  • Hornets to Thunder

Tadija Dragicevic (2008, 53rd overall)

  • Jazz to Mavericks
  • Mavericks to Bulls

Roberto Duenas (1997, 57th overall)

  • Bulls to Pelicans
  • Pelicans to Heat

Lior Eliyahu (2006, 44th overall)

  • Magic to Rockets
  • Rockets to Timberwolves

Petteri Koponen (2007, 30th overall)

  • Sixers to Trail Blazers
  • Trail Blazers to Mavericks

Chukwudiebere Maduabum (2011, 56th overall)

  • Lakers to Nuggets
  • Nuggets to Sixers

Milovan Rakovic (2007, 60th overall)

  • Mavericks to Magic
  • Magic to Bulls

Sofoklis Schortsanitis (2003, 34th overall)

  • Clippers to Hawks
  • Hawks to Thunder

Latavious Williams (2010, 48th overall)

  • Heat to Thunder
  • Thunder to Pelicans

RealGM was used in the creation of this post.

3 comments Hoops Rumors Originals Uncategorized

Northwest Notes: Hayward, Durant, Plumlee, Davis

By | at January 26, 2016 9:47 am

The Jazz are “poking around” the market for a point guard, several league sources tell Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. It’s not entirely clear if such efforts are related to the team’s reported 10-day deal with Erick Green, though it would seem given the timing of that agreement, so soon after Raul Neto suffered a concussion Monday, that the team had already been looking. The Heat reportedly rebuffed Utah when it tried to engage them in Mario Chalmers trade talks over the offseason, but the Jazz’s interest in Chalmers was minimal, according to Lowe. The ESPN scribe speculates about other options, including Jrue Holiday, whose leg issues leave teams “petrified” and whom the Pelicans are reluctant to deal, anyway, Lowe reports. Lowe also believes Jeff Teague would be a fit for Utah, but reports that the Hawks have had “major trust issues” with backup Dennis Schröder and are focused on contending this season. In any case, the Jazz appear reluctant to pilfer from their store of future picks, which includes the Warriors unprotected 2017 first-rounder as the relative cost of rookie scale contracts becomes cheaper amid the rapid salary cap escalation, Lowe writes.

“Picks are that much more valuable,” GM Dennis Lindsey said to Lowe.

See more from Utah:

  • The impending financial realities threaten the core of the Jazz, as Lowe details in the same piece, and Gordon Hayward, who can opt out after next season, acknowledged to Lowe that they cast a shadow on his future. “I’m constantly thinking about that,” Hayward said. “Contracts are so short now. A lot of our guys are on their rookie deals, and they’ll come up for extensions. It all might determine whether or not I stay in Utah.”
  • The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater examines the surprising lack of legitimate rumors about Kevin Durant‘s impending free agency, writing that the idea of the Thunder star signing a deal that would allow him to opt out after just one season “has gained traction.” It’s not clear whether that idea is growing on Durant himself or if more people are simply realizing that it would likely represent the most lucrative path for the former MVP. That would allow him to take advantage of a projected $108MM cap for the summer of 2017 and a higher maximum-salary tier, since he’d be a 10-year veteran.
  • The playmaking ability of Trail Blazers offseason acquisitions Mason Plumlee and Ed Davis has helped alleviate the pressure from incumbent guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, as Mike Richman of The Oregonian examines. Plumlee will be eligible for a rookie scale extension in the offseason.
2 comments Atlanta Hawks Golden State Warriors Miami Heat New Orleans Pelicans Oklahoma City Thunder Portland Trail Blazers Salary Cap Utah Jazz

Northwest Notes: Roberson, Gallinari, Onuaku

By | at January 25, 2016 5:30 pm

Andre Roberson will miss at least three weeks with a right knee sprain, The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater reports, and because of the timing of the All-Star break, it means he’s not expected to play again until February 19th at the earliest. The Thunder will seek to find ways to mitigate the loss of Roberson’s defensive prowess in the meantime, with Kyle Singler seemingly his most likely replacement in the starting lineup, Slater writes. The trade deadline is February 18th, one day before Roberson would return. See more from the Northwest Division:

1 comment Denver Nuggets Minnesota Timberwolves NBA G League Oklahoma City Thunder Orlando Magic

Unprotected First-Rounders Set To Change Hands

By | at January 25, 2016 4:15 pm

Almost every draft pick that’s traded in the NBA these days involves some sort of protection, but for a noteworthy few. Some of those protected picks can still end up becoming the No. 1 overall selection, as the protection in many cases expires after a pick doesn’t convey for a number of years. Pick swaps, another common pick-trading element, also often allow for a team to end up with someone else’s No. 1 overall draft choice. However, trades that involve a straight, unprotected first-round pick are exceedingly rare.

Only four unprotected selections are currently among the dozens of first-rounders that teams owe between now and the 2022 draft, the latest for which teams are currently allowed to trade picks. The Nets gave up two unprotected first-rounders, as well as the swap rights to two others, in the July 12th, 2013 Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce blockbuster, as Brooklyn fans are ruefully aware. The Nets hold the third position in the lottery as it stands today, meaning a reasonable chance exists that the Nets will have made the ultimate draft sacrifice and be forced to give up the first overall selection. Regardless of where the pick ends up, it seems poised to cost Brooklyn a player of significance who could otherwise have lowered the value of the team’s 2018 first-rounder, which Boston is also getting without protection. The Nets have limited means of improving their on-court product between now and the 2018 draft, so the Celtics are in remarkably strong position, aided also by the right to swap 2017 first-rounders. Here’s a full look at what the teams exchanged in 2013, with the unprotected picks in bold:

Brooklyn wasn’t the only team to give up a pair of unprotected first-round picks via trade in the summer of 2013. On July 10th, 2013, two days before the Nets-Celtics deal became official, the Warriors did the same. The consequences aren’t as severe as the fate that has befallen the Nets, at least with the first of Golden State’s two unprotected first-rounders changing hands. Granted, the Warriors would probably benefit from having Rodney Hood, who’s been unusually productive for a 23rd overall pick, but if Golden State could have a do-over, it would still no doubt have swung the deal to acquire 2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala. It remains to be seen where the 2017 unprotected first-rounder in this deal will fall, but it’s unlikely to be very high, barring an unlikely Warriors collapse in the next 18 months. Here’s how the trade, which was a three-team with Denver, shook out. Note that all of the many second-round picks changing hands were without protection, too:

  • Warriors get Andre Iguodala (sign-and-trade from Nuggets) and Kevin Murphy (from Jazz).
  • Nuggets get Randy Foye (sign-and-trade from Jazz) and Golden State’s 2018 second-round pick.
  • Jazz get Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson, Brandon Rush, Golden State’s 2014 first-round pick (Rodney Hood), Golden State’s 2017 first-round pick, Golden State’s 2016 second-round pick, Golden State’s 2017 second-round pick, Denver’s 2018 second-round pick, and cash (from Warriors).

The Heat attached only top-seven protection to the 2017 first-rounder they gave to Phoenix in the February 19th, 2015 Goran Dragic trade, and they also relinquished the potential gem of their 2021 unprotected first-round pick. It’s too far in the future to predict with any accuracy whether that pick will resemble the ones that Brooklyn is giving up or merely the late-round selections Golden State is relinquishing. Still, it’s a disconcerting situation for the Heat to have seen Dragic underwhelm so far this season, considering not only his five-year, $85MM contract but also the draft assets Miami gave up. Here’s the full scope of the deal:

The RealGM traded draft pick database was used in the creation of this post.

3 comments Hoops Rumors Originals

Eastern Notes: Brown, Jackson, Jennings, Kidd

By | at January 25, 2016 3:05 pm

Brett Brown has made it clear in his comments to the media that he’d like for the Sixers to either stand pat or make a move that upgrades the current roster instead of one akin to last season’s Michael Carter-Williams trade, but he recognizes that it’s not his call, observes Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News. Brown wouldn’t rule out anything when asked if he thought the roster wouldn’t be changing as much this season as it did last year.

“I’m not confident to say anything, truly,” Brown said. “That’s not because I don’t know. It’s not because I’m afraid of it. It’s because I truly feel like we’re all going to step back. From Day 1, it’s been very, very collaborative. I think that as an organization, with Jerry [Colangelo] coming into it, there’s another voice. I think that we all recognize wholeheartedly that we’re ready to move on. We want to keep moving forward where we’re not always in flux. We want some solidarity. We want some balance to what we’re doing. I can only offer that. But to stamp off on anything of certainty, I can’t do that.”

See more from the Eastern Conference:

  • The idea of playing Reggie Jackson and soon-to-be free agent Brandon Jennings alongside one another in the backcourt is in the back, not the front, of Stan Van Gundy’s mind, the Pistons coach said, according to MLive’s David Mayo, and it doesn’t appear as though it’s a high priority, as Mayo details.
  • Bucks coach Jason Kidd returned to practice Monday and plans to coach the team in Tuesday’s game, but he acknowledged that a blood-clot risk may keep him from traveling with Milwaukee on its three-game Western road trip next week, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  • The banged-up Heat haven’t reached their potential, but Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel believes the team can still find a better way to use the talent on the roster before changing it.
1 comment Detroit Pistons Miami Heat Milwaukee Bucks Philadelphia 76ers

David Blatt Top Priority In Nets Coaching Search?

By | at January 25, 2016 1:40 pm

David Blatt is “priority one” for the Nets as they seek a new head coach, a source told Russia’s TASS news agency, which identifies the fired Cavs coach as one of the leading candidates for the Brooklyn coaching vacancy. Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders first reported that the Nets are interested in Blatt, though Fred Kerber of the New York Post this weekend referred instead to Tom Thibodeau, reportedly an object of strong interest from the team, as Brooklyn’s probable top target. Regardless, owner Mikhail Prokhorov reportedly wants to hire a GM before he hires a coach, and the team’s goal is apparently to have a GM in place before the February 18th trade deadline.

Blatt has also been linked to the Lakers and Timberwolves, but those teams appear committed to Byron Scott and Sam Mitchell, respectively, through at least the end of the season. Tony Brown has been serving as the interim coach of the Nets since the team canned Lionel Hollins earlier this month. TASS correctly predicted, after one of its reporters spent time in Brooklyn with Nets management, that the team would fire Hollins once it found a replacement for him, though the Nets denied the story, as NetsDaily points out. Prokhorov, like TASS, is from Russia, and Blatt used to coach the Russian national team, which has received significant financial backing from Prokhorov in the past, as NetsDaily also notes.

Earlier reports have linked the Nets to Luke Walton, John Calipari, Monty Williams and, more loosely, Chris Mullin, but Mikhail Prokhorov has so far reportedly balked at Calipari’s price tag. The owner has also expressed a preference for a separate GM and coach, which runs counter to the dual role that the Kentucky coach would apparently seek.

2 comments Brooklyn Nets Cleveland Cavaliers Newsstand

Central Notes: Blatt, LeBron, Dunleavy, Boatright

By | at January 25, 2016 1:04 pm

David Blatt‘s camp believes that LeBron James was the sole catalyst for the Cavs coaching change, and the belief is much more than simply a fringe theory among people around the league, reports TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip for NBA.com. Still, plenty of other reasons for Blatt’s dismissal exist, including the team’s poor performance against top Western Conference contenders and the need for immediate results, that suggest that the team isn’t simply serving LeBron’s wishes, Aldridge contends. Regardless, the Cavs cast Blatt back onto the job market, and while the Timberwolves have been linked to Blatt, the team has no intention of pursuing him for a job on interim coach Sam Mitchell‘s staff, league sources tell Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Twitter link). See more from the Central Division:

  • Mike Dunleavy is targeting a return sometime next month from the back injury that’s kept him out all season so far, notes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. He’s essentially at the same point in his recovery that he was before suffering a setback in late November, but he’s more confident this time that he’ll be able to take the final steps toward getting back to game action for the Bulls, according to Johnson.
  • Ryan Boatright impressed with the Nets during the preseason, but he didn’t carry that level of performance over to his tenure with the D-League affiliate of the Pistons, which waived him last week. Boatright is now poised to sign with Orlandina of Italy, La Gazzetta dello Sport reports, according to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia. The Pistons briefly had Boatright on their NBA roster on the fall, a maneuver designed to secure his D-League rights.
  • The Pacers have recalled Shayne Whittington from the D-League, the team announced. He’s played in just two games at the NBA level this season but has appeared in 19 contests for Indiana’s D-League affiliate after re-signing with the Pacers this past summer.
1 comment Brooklyn Nets Cleveland Cavaliers Detroit Pistons Indiana Pacers Minnesota Timberwolves NBA G League

Grizzlies Notes: Chalmers, Barnes, Carter, Martin

By | at January 25, 2016 11:50 am

The Grizzlies are just 25-20, but GM Chris Wallace said he feels “optimistic and bullish” about the team and doesn’t feel compelled to make a deal as the trade deadline approaches, according to Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal. The No. 1 priority in free agency this summer for Memphis is re-signing Mike Conley, Wallace confirmed, but the Grizzlies aren’t planning an no-holds-barred attempt to win this season at the expense of the long term, as Tillery details.

“We are not going to do anything — even if it gives us a bump — that will significantly compromise us in the future,” Wallace said. “Part of watching your cap is watching the back end of your roster. We made a decision to fill up the back end of the roster with an eye on the future.”

Wallace praised recent trade acquisitions Mario Chalmers and Matt Barnes, calling Chalmers “best backup point guard we’ve had in the nine years I’ve been here,” Tillery notes. Both are set for free agency at season’s end. See more from Memphis:

  • The current Grizzlies roster might be flawed, but it still may be too expensive for the team to maintain, contends Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal as he takes a broad look at the cap situation for the franchise and the moves that it’ll be able to make financially. Still, don’t expect the Grizzlies to move toward a serious rebuild, Herrington writes.
  • Herrington suggests the team will “almost certainly” use the stretch provision to waive Vince Carter this summer, since the sides essentially agreed to a two-year deal in 2014 that they structured as a three-year contract only to reduce the tax burden for Memphis in the first year, Herrington explains. Carter’s salary is partially guaranteed for $2MM, so the stretch provision would break that into three equal parts each season through 2018/19.
  • Grizzlies camp cut Lazeric Jones has signed with Pinar Karsiyaka of Turkey, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Ismail Senol of Turkey’s NTV Spor first reported the move (Twitter link; translation again via Carchia). Jones had been playing with the Grizzlies D-League affiliate in Iowa as an affiliate player.
  • The Grizzlies have assigned Jarell Martin to the D-League, the team announced. It’s D-League assignment No. 4 on the season for the rookie who missed the first two months of 2015/16 recovering from a broken foot.
1 comment Memphis Grizzlies NBA G League

Trends Involving Three-Team, Four-Team Trades

By | at January 25, 2016 10:30 am

The volume of trades in the NBA has been relatively light so far this season, with only four moves having taken place since opening night. None of the trades that have taken place since July 1st, the official start of the 2015/16 season, have involved more than two teams, either. That’s in sharp contrast to 2014/15, when 10 three-teamers took place, more than any season to date in the 2010s.

Still, the 2014/15 season was the second in a row that passed without a four-team trade. The last four-teamer was the blockbuster August 2012 deal that sent Dwight Howard from the Magic to the Lakers, with the Sixers and Nuggets involved as well. That one didn’t turn out all that well for any of the four teams, as the Lakers seriously underwhelmed the following season, the Sixers were never able to put Andrew Bynum on the floor, the Nuggets only had one season with Andre Iguodala and the Magic still haven’t reached the playoffs in the wake of the deal.

It would probably be a stretch to say that’s the reason no four-team trade has taken place since, though identifying a clear-cut explanation is difficult. The long-term effects of the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, which imposed greater tax risk for teams and made it more difficult for taxpayers to match salaries and engineer sign-and-trades, probably has to do with it, and the rising salary cap may well play a role, too. The NBA recently placed a greater emphasis on making sure trades involving three or more teams feature a legitimate exchange between all of the teams, and not just a draft pick that has little chance of being conveyed or a draft-and-stash prospect who’s almost certain never to play in the NBA. Still, none of this had a chilling effect on the number of three-team trades last season.

In any case, here’s a look at the number of three- and four-team trades since the 2010/11 season. For more details on each transaction, click the team names.

2015/16

  • Three-team trades: 0
  • Four-team trades: 0

2014/15

2013/14

2012/13

2011/12

2010/11

0 comments Hoops Rumors Originals

Eastern Notes: Thibodeau, Allen, Durant, Sixers

By | at January 25, 2016 9:28 am

The Cavs would have given strong consideration to hiring Tom Thibodeau if they’d made a coaching change this past summer, a league source told Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com, but now, management has faith in Tyronn Lue, McMenamin writes. They’ve seen him manage to remain loyal to David Blatt while developing relationships of his own with the team’s stars, and they’re confident that Lue will command a level of effort from the team that they believe wasn’t always present under Blatt, McMenamin adds. See more from the Eastern Conference:

  • The Heat have had a standing offer to Ray Allen since the 2014 offseason, but he remains unmoved and that’s no surprise, given his frustration with the team during the 2013/14 season, his last one in Miami and last to date in the NBA, writes Ethan Skolnick of the Miami Herald. All of the former teammates and other acquaintances of Allen’s to whom Skolnick has spoken expect him to remain out of the game, though Allen said this past summer that he had no plans to officially retire.
  • Agents from around the league insist that the Nets are “in the mix” for soon-to-be free agent Kevin Durant, even though they look like long shots, writes Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com. Durant’s free agency, expected to be one of the major storylines of the 2015/16, has largely been a backburner issue in large measure because Durant has spoken little about it and has rarely given any indication that he wants to leave the Thunder.
  • Meddling from owners who aren’t basketball personnel experts is most damaging when it affects draft decisions, which is why a report that Sixers ownership was worried about how fans would react to Kristaps Porzingis and pushed the team to draft someone else instead is troublesome, contends Derek Bodner of Philadelphia magazine. Sixers CEO Scott O’Neil says the report isn’t true, however (Twitter link).
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