Avery Bradley Hires Rob Pelinka As New Agent
Avery Bradley has hired Landmark Sports agent Rob Pelinka, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The Celtics combo guard had been with former NBA player Mitchell Butler of the Vanguard Sports Group and Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports. The move appears to have more to do with Bradley’s off-court career than his playing contract, since he isn’t scheduled to hit free agency again until 2018 after signing a four-year, $32MM deal with Boston in the summer of 2014.
The 25-year-old is averaging a career high 32.5 minutes per game this season, his sixth in the NBA, though he’s running slightly behind his career-best average of 14.9 points per game, which he delivered the season before he signed his contract. He’s made his reputation as a stout defender, though some numbers don’t back that up this season. ESPN’s Real Plus Minus categorizes Bradley as a point guard and places him as the 40th-best defender at that position, while he’s the 64th-best guard overall in Basketball-Reference’s Defensive Box Plus Minus metric.
Pelinka boasts a star-studded list of clients that includes James Harden, the soon-to-retire Kobe Bryant, 2016 free agent Eric Gordon, and Finals MVP Andre Iguodala. Preliminary projections show the salary cap shrinking from $108MM in 2017/18 to $100MM in 2018/19, so Bradley is poised to enter a relatively tough market. Much can change between now and then, however. The Celtics continue to look for a star, so Bradley, like just about everyone else on the roster, isn’t immune from inclusion in a trade.
Atlantic Notes: Nets, Sullinger, DeRozan, Colangelo
The Nets don’t have enough dissenters within the organization to offset the prevailing opinion, leading the team to make too many ill-advised decisions, as NetsDaily argues. The team hired few people in recent years without some sort of connection to former GM Billy King, and the recent consolidation of ownership that gave Mikhail Prokhorov 100% of the team doesn’t help, NetsDaily adds. Those at the top of the chain of command for the Nets were generally the ones most convinced within the organization that the team would be competitive this season, NetsDaily tweets. Brooklyn is 11-31, which is the league’s third-worst record. See more from the Atlantic Division:
- Jared Sullinger triggered the starter criteria on Monday to increase the value of his qualifying offer from $3,270,004 to $4,433,683, as Bobby Marks of “The Vertical” on Yahoo Sports points out (Twitter link). Monday’s start for Sullinger was his 82nd over the past two seasons, meaning he’ll average at least 41 over that span, enough to bring the starter criteria into play. The Celtics now have to tender that higher qualifying offer to retain the right to match competing bids for him in free agency this summer.
- DeMar DeRozan is a fan of former Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo, to whom the Nets are apparently giving strong consideration as they search for their next GM, notes Brian Lewis of the New York Post. DeRozan has made it clear he prefers to stay with the Raptors, though the Nets had reportedly been expected to make him one of their primary offseason targets, at least before they removed King from the GM role. “[Colangelo] gave me the opportunity of a lifetime, you know? And I credit a lot of my success to him,” DeRozan said Monday, as Lewis relays. “[He’s] one of those stand-up honest guys. [He’ll] work extremely hard, and wants the best for whatever organization and players that he’s working for.’’
- Kristaps Porzingis has the potential to become the sort of player whom marquee free agents want to play with, and that changes the timeline for the Knicks to return to contention, argues Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders. Instead of going for broke this summer to find someone to pair with an aging Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks can afford to wait until 2017, when a much better free agent crop of point guards will be on the market, as Beer details.
Trade Candidate Series
The February 18th trade deadline is fast approaching. Plenty of movement should take place between now and then, and Hoops Rumors is taking an in-depth look at players who seem like decent bets to change teams. These aren’t players who necessarily will be traded by the deadline, but there’s a distinct possibility that their teams will at least listen to offers if not actively shop them in the coming weeks.
Our Trade Candidate pieces explore why a trade might happen, the likelihood of a deal going down, and potential suitors, along with other relevant details. Last season, we profiled Goran Dragic, Reggie Jackson, Arron Afflalo, Michael Carter-Williams, Jeff Green, Thaddeus Young and Norris Cole, all of whom were traded before the deadline, along with Lance Stephenson and Nik Stauskas, who were eventually traded over the summer.
A complete list of the players we’ve examined so far during the 2015/16 season is below, in alphabetical order. This list can be found in our right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features” and will continue to be updated until the deadline.
Suns Sign Lorenzo Brown To Second 10-Day Deal
The Suns signed point guard Lorenzo Brown to a second 10-day contract Monday, the team announced (Twitter link). That’s no shock, as the Suns are thin at his position with Eric Bledsoe out for the year with a torn meniscus and Ronnie Price sidelined for three weeks because of toe surgery, leaving Brandon Knight the only healthy point guard on the roster once Brown’s first 10-day contract expired Sunday.
The 25-year-old Brown has seen action in three games for Phoenix, posting 4.3 points in 11.3 minutes per contest. His assist-to-turnover ratio has been poor, as he has six assists against seven turnovers. That’s in contrast to his time with the Timberwolves last season, when he averaged 3.1 assists and 1.0 turnovers per game.
Phoenix has five games on its schedule over the 10-day period that Brown’s latest contract encompasses. The Suns will be faced with a decision about whether to keep Brown for the season or let him go after that, since a player can only sign two 10-day contracts with any one team. Price’s timetable means he’ll still be at least a week a way from returning when Brown’s deal will have run to term. Phoenix nonetheless has plenty of flexibility, with only 13 players on contracts that carry through season’s end.
Eastern Notes: Cavs, Sixers, Larkin, Pistons
The Warriors have young stars and younger players in position to develop, but they already appear to be a step ahead of the Cavaliers, as Monday’s blowout win and last year’s Finals demonstrate, observes Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. Cleveland has to be concerned, with 31-year-old LeBron James showing signs of exiting his prime and Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love combining for just 11 points Monday, especially since the Cavs don’t appear to have a lot of ways to improve their roster aside from drastic moves, Bontemps opines. The Cavs have a deep bench, but the status quo isn’t working, contends Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal. James chalks it up to inexperience for Irving and Love, and the four-time MVP said “young guys” on the team are putting too much stock in what they read about themselves, according to Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group.
“We’ve got some inexperienced guys that haven’t played enough meaningful basketball games where they can fall back on,” James said. “When it gets a little tough sometimes, it’s not like they can kind of fall back on previous experiences to try and help them get through it.”
See more from the Eastern Conference:
- Sixers ownership was worried last summer that drafting Kristaps Porzingis, who was largely shrouded in mystery at the time, would have alienated fans amid GM Sam Hinkie‘s slow rebuilding process, so they wanted the team to draft one of Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell or Jahlil Okafor with the No. 3 pick, sources have indicated to Marc Berman of the New York Post. Philadelphia took Okafor, of course.
- Nets offseason signee Shane Larkin was experiencing a breakthrough year, but he’s slumped this month and has lost his starting job to journeyman Donald Sloan, notes Brian Lewis of the New York Post. Interim coach Tony Brown cautioned that the team isn’t “down on” Larkin, however.
- MLive’s midseason grades for the Pistons range from an A-minus for soon-to-be restricted free agent Andre Drummond to a D for Reggie Bullock. That’s even though the team privately wishes Drummond played harder, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. The Pistons picked up Bullock’s team option for next season after his strong play in October, which Bullock has failed to carry over into the regular season. Stan Van Gundy and his coaching and front office staffs received a B-plus.
D-League Assignments Via Unaffiliated NBA Teams
The D-League appears well on its way to having one affiliate for each of the 30 NBA teams, with 19 D-League teams in operation this year and the Hornets, Nets and Bulls all having formally announced the addition of one-to-one affiliates for next season. Still, the D-League isn’t there yet, and an awkward situation exists in the meantime for NBA teams without one-to-one affiliates who’d like to send players on D-League assignment. This is the first season in which no D-League team is a shared affiliate, meaning that NBA franchises that used shared affiliates to send players to the D-League in the past now have to use some other NBA team’s one-to-one D-League partner.
It’s no shock to see the Hawks sending players to the affiliate of the Spurs, given the close ties between the organizations. Atlanta has sent three players to the Austin Spurs this season. The Hawks also sent players to Austin last year, when the policy of having NBA teams make assignments to another franchise’s one-to-one affiliate first came into use as a means to prevent crowding on the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, who were the last shared D-League affiliate before the Pacers took them over this season.
Other connections are also at play. Suns GM Ryan McDonough and Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers worked together on the Celtics, so that helps explain why the Clippers have sent two players to Phoenix’s affiliate this year. The Clippers have also sent former Michigan State mainstay Branden Dawson to the Grand Rapids Drive, the Michigan-based affiliate of the Pistons.
The affiliate of the Cavaliers has taken assignments from more NBA teams than any other D-League club, accepting players from the Bulls, Hawks, Bucks and Clippers. Thus, the Cleveland organization has had a close look at some developing talent from around the league, perhaps giving the Cavs a subtle edge for the future.
The process isn’t exactly straightforward for NBA teams without affiliates to find a team for their assignments. NBA teams making assignments to another franchise’s affiliate must notify the D-League of their intention to assign a player, and the league reports back to the team after identifying the affiliates willing to take the player. The NBA team has its pick if multiple D-League clubs volunteer, but if no D-League team raises its hand, the D-League picks an affiliate at random. Rivers made it clear that the Clippers do some advance work, calling around to identify teams that want to receive the assignment, presumably before the D-League gets involved.
It requires some extra effort, but NBA teams without affiliates have nonetheless made several assignments this season. Here’s a look at each of them, sorted by the affiliates that have taken them on, with an assist from the D-League assignment/recall log that Eddie Scarito compiles for Hoops Rumors. Note that some players appear more than once, since their NBA teams have assigned them to multiple D-League clubs:
Austin Spurs (San Antonio Spurs affiliate)
- Cameron Bairstow, Bulls
- Tim Hardaway, Hawks
- Lamar Patterson, Hawks
- Edy Tavares, Hawks
Canton Charge (Cleveland Cavaliers affiliate)
- Cristiano Felicio, Bulls
- Tim Hardaway, Hawks
- Damien Inglis, Bucks
- Edy Tavares, Hawks
- C.J. Wilcox, Clippers
Bakersfield Jam (Phoenix Suns affiliate)
- Branden Dawson, Clippers
- C.J. Wilcox, Clippers
Grand Rapids Drive (Detroit Pistons affiliate)
- Branden Dawson, Clippers
Westchester Knicks (New York Knicks affiliate)
- Damien Inglis, Bucks
Idaho Stampede (Utah Jazz affiliate)
- Tyus Jones, Timberwolves
Atlantic Notes: Ainge, Colangelo, Calipari, Jackson
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge talks weekly with Suns GM Ryan McDonough, as McDonough tells Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe, and it’s clear that the pair maintain a strong relationship from their days in the Celtics front office. Boston and Phoenix hooked up on three trades last season.
“We worked together for a number of years and those guys have become some of my best friends,” McDonough said to Washburn about the Celtics brass. “Sometimes the calls are trade-related, sometimes the calls are social. I have a great relationship with those guys. I appreciate everything that Danny, [owners] Steve [Pagliuca], and Wyc [Grousbeck] did for my career, and regardless where I am the Celtics will always be my second-favorite team.”
See more from the Atlantic Division:
- It’s obvious that Sixers chairman of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo is doing all the major decision-making now instead of GM Sam Hinkie, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, who wonders whether Hinkie will get credit should the team become successful in the near future.
- A league source suggested to Fred Kerber of the New York Post that John Calipari will become a more appealing option to the Nets the longer they search for a GM and coach. The team isn’t seriously considering Calipari at this point, as Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck said Friday. Kerber also names team chairman Dmitry Razumov, board member Sergey Kushchenko, CEO Brett Yormark and Prokhorov’s holding company president Irina Pavlova as members of the team’s search committee. That adds further confusion to an existing set of conflicting reports about who’s conducting the search.
- Kristaps Porzingis unsurprisingly gets an A-plus in the midseason grades that Marc Berman of the New York Post hands out for the Knicks, but team president Phil Jackson receives only a C-minus, even though his decision to draft Porzingis has worked out. A record around .500 won’t cut it, and some of the team’s signings, including the addition of Kevin Seraphin that coach Derek Fisher lobbied for, have been duds, Berman opines, justifying the low grade for Jackson.
Enes Kanter Splits With Agent Max Ergul
Enes Kanter has left agent Max Ergul, who helped the Thunder center land a maximum-salary offer sheet this past summer, as USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt hears (Twitter link). Kanter is Ergul’s only NBA client. It’s uncertain whom Kanter will hire to replace him, though Ergul will continue to receive his commission on the deal. Standard commission would give him a 4% cut of Kanter’s $70,060,025 contract.
The Thunder matched the offer sheet that Portland gave Kanter, keeping the center they traded for at the deadline last February. The big man made it clear shortly before the swap that he wanted the Jazz to deal him away, though Ergul denied a report that he had been asking the Jazz to trade his client for years.
In any case, Utah has flourished since the departure of Kanter freed up more playing time for Rudy Gobert. The Thunder have done well, too, compiling a record of 28-12 this season, fourth-best in the NBA. Kanter is seeing only 20.1 minutes per game in 2015/16, down drastically from the 31.1 minutes per contest he saw down the stretch with Oklahoma City last year.
Southwest Notes: Brewer, Barnes, Williams
More than two dozen players became eligible to be traded today, and among them is Corey Brewer, about whom the Rockets and Suns reportedly had serious discussions as they entertained a swap that would also include Terrence Jones going to Phoenix for Markieff Morris. Still, Suns GM Ryan McDonough denied that any deal was prearranged or pending as he spoke Wednesday on the “Burns & Gambo” show on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, as Kellan Olson of ArizonaSports.com transcribes. McDonough predicted lots of activity between now and the February 18th trade deadline and promised he’ll take an aggressive approach, though he said he can envision Morris remaining with Phoenix through the end of the season, adding that the Suns are “under no pressure to do anything immediately.” While we wait to see what happens on that front, there’s more on the Rockets and other Southwest Division teams:
- Improved defense, better 3-point shooting and the presence of Patrick Beverley in the starting lineup instead of Ty Lawson have sparked the Rockets to improved play, as Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com details, but GM Daryl Morey isn’t satisfied. “I’m worried given our goals,” Morey said, according to Watkins. “We still have a lot of improvement to do and we’re working towards that.”
- The performance Matt Barnes has put on for the Grizzlies lately makes it clear his controversial October encounter with Knicks coach Derek Fisher isn’t a distraction to the team and that he’s been one of the most valuable Grizzlies on the court, writes Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal. The 35-year-old has maintained his high level of defensive play all season, and more recently he’s begun to regain his usual shooting touch, Tillery notes. Barnes delivered pithy comments to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, saying, “I don’t talk to snakes” when asked if he’ll speak to Fisher while the Knicks are in Memphis for Saturday’s game. Barnes sent threatening text messages to Fisher in the weeks preceding Barnes’ alleged physical attack on Fisher at the home of Barnes’ estranged wife, a source told Marc Berman of the New York Post.
- A pair of small trade exceptions expired for Southwest Division teams this week, vestiges of the three-team trade that sent Jeff Green to the Grizzlies. The Pelicans allowed their $507,336 Russ Smith trade exception to lapse, while the Grizzlies didn’t find a use for the $396,068 leftover scrap of the Quincy Pondexter trade exception. Memphis used most of that Pondexter exception, originally valued at $3,146,068, to take in Luke Ridnour, whom the Grizzlies promptly flipped for Barnes.
- Chris Herrington of The Commericial Appeal doesn’t think the Grizzlies will issue a second 10-day contract to Elliot Williams, whose existing 10-day deal expires at the end of Sunday (Twitter link).
Traded 2016 First-Round Pick Exchange Scenarios
The trade deadline is a month from Monday, and with draft picks always serving as key trade chips, executives are keeping a close eye on whether the protected picks they either owe to, or are owed from, previous transactions will change hands. For instance, the Celtics and the Sixers could each have as many as four first-round picks this year, depending on where other teams finish this season, so Boston and Philly are no doubt monitoring those teams closely to determine what sort of assets they can offer in trade talks. A draft pick can be traded an unlimited number of times, and traded picks often end up traded again.
We’ve been keeping tabs on the different scenarios involving the protections attached to 2016 first-round picks that have already been traded, first examining them in August and again on December 1st. Plenty has changed in the last month and a half, and the likelihood of some outcomes is different than when we last checked.
So, we’ll again break down every scenario here, with an assist from our Round-by-Round Traded Picks Register, which Mark Porcaro compiles, and RealGM’s comprehensive database, as well as our Reverse Standings, which are updated daily. The simple explanation for the likelihood of each pick exchange is in bold, with details to follow:
- Nets to Celtics (unprotected) — 100% certain to happen
- Cavaliers to Suns (top-10 protected) — Overwhelmingly likely to happen: The Cavs lost a tough one to the Spurs last night, and a relatively slim eight-game margin separates Cleveland from the ninth-place Celtics in the Eastern Conference, but let’s not kid ourselves; the Cavs will make the playoffs and this pick is going to Phoenix.
- Mavericks to Celtics (top-7 protected) — Likely to happen: The Mavericks, at 22-18, have been one of the most pleasant surprises of the year, and while enough season remains and enough firepower exists in the Western Conference to conceivably knock them out of the playoffs, it looks like they’re going to the postseason and giving up their pick.
- Heat to Warriors (Golden State gets Miami’s pick if it falls outside the top 10 and comes after Golden State’s pick and Oklahoma City’s pick) — Unlikely to happen: A complicated set of scenarios surround this exchange, but essentially, the Heat would have to finish with a better record than the Warriors as well as the Thunder. Miami is five and a half games behind Oklahoma City and the Warriors are virtually untouchable, so this scenario is a long shot at best.
- Heat to Sixers (Philadelphia gets Miami’s pick if it falls outside the top 10 and comes before either Golden State’s pick or Oklahoma City’s pick) — Toss up (flipped from likely to happen last time): This would-be swap is a corollary to the long-shot Heat/Warriors possibility described above. Assuming that above scenario doesn’t happen, Miami’s pick is going to Philly if the Heat make the playoffs. Miami seems like a strong bet for the postseason, but with only two games separating them from ninth-place Boston, that’s no certainty.
- Thunder to Warriors (Golden State gets Oklahoma City’s pick if it falls outside the top 15 and comes after Miami’s pick and Golden State’s pick) — Unlikely to happen: This is another one related to the Heat/Warriors exchange above. The Thunder would have to catch the Warriors for that to happen, and Golden State has a nine-game lead on Oklahoma City.
- Thunder to Sixers (Philadelphia gets Miami’s pick if it falls outside the top 15 and comes before either Golden State’s pick or Oklahoma City’s pick) — Likely to happen: If the Thunder don’t send their pick to the Warriors, and it seems they won’t, they’re probably sending the pick to Philly. Oklahoma City, at 28-12, would have to miss the playoffs — or make the playoffs with the worst record among postseason teams — to keep the pick.
- Warriors to Sixers (Philadelphia gets Golden State’s pick if it comes before either Miami’s pick or Oklahoma City’s pick, as long as Miami’s pick falls outside the top 10 and Oklahoma City’s pick falls outside the top 15) — Unlikely to happen: The final of this string of five possible outcomes depends on whether the Thunder or the Heat can catch the Warriors. It doesn’t seem anyone can, so this pick probably stays put.
- Rockets to Nuggets (top-14 protected) — Likely to happen (flipped from toss-up last time): This pick comes down to whether or not Houston makes the playoffs, and while the team’s four and a half game lead on ninth-place is by no means safe, it’s large enough, and the Rockets are talented enough, to move this into the likely category.
- Lakers to Sixers (top-3 protected) — Toss-up: The Lakers are three and a half games worse than the Timberwolves, who are in the No. 4 spot in the lottery, but, ironically, the team that finishes with the second-worst record in the league has a better chance of picking at No. 4 than the team that finishes with the fourth-worst record. All that is to say that the fate of this pick will probably be determined on the night of the lottery.
- Grizzlies to Nuggets (Denver gets the Memphis pick if it falls anywhere from No. 6 to No. 14) — Unlikely to happen: This one is quite similar to the Rockets-to-Nuggets exchange. Memphis, thanks to its win Thursday against the Pistons, has a five-game lead over the Trail Blazers and Kings, who are in a virtual tie for ninth in the Western Conference. The Grizzlies should hold on to a playoff spot, but they’re not quite shoo-ins.
- Timberwolves to Celtics (top-12 protected) — Unlikely to happen (flipped from toss-up last time): The Wolves were just a game below .500 when we last looked at these scenarios, but they’re 12-28 now. They could always make a surge, and they’re only seven and a half games behind Washington, the 12th-worst team in the league, but this pick is unlikely to end up in Boston.
- Knicks to Nuggets (Denver gets the better pick of its own and New York’s) —Toss-up: The Knicks have the edge to finish with a superior record, which would mean their pick wouldn’t be going to Denver, but they’re only ahead by three in the loss column, so we can’t make any conclusions yet.
- Knicks to Raptors (Toronto gets New York’s pick if it comes after Denver’s pick) —Toss-up: The Raptors will end up with whichever pick the Nuggets don’t take in the pick swap described immediately above, so with little separation between Denver and New York, this one is just as hard to call.
- Nuggets to Raptors (Toronto gets the Denver’s pick if it comes after New York’s pick) — Toss-up: See the explanation for the last two picks.
- Trail Blazers to Nuggets (top-14 protected) — Toss-up (Flipped from unlikely to happen last time): Few have noticed, but Terry Stotts is delivering one of the best coaching performances in the NBA this season, leading a team that didn’t sign any of its own free agents into a virtual tie with the Kings for ninth place in the Western Conference, just one game behind the Jazz for the last playoff spot. Thus, it’s too early to tell about this pick, which depends on whether the Blazers make the playoffs.
- Kings to Bulls (top-10 protected) — Toss-up: Sacramento is right there for a playoff spot, virtually tied with the Trail Blazers and one game behind eighth-place Utah, but the Kings nonetheless have the ninth-worst record in the league, and if the pick ends up at No. 9, Chicago doesn’t get it. It’s tough to tell how this will turn out.
- Kings to Sixers (Philadelphia gets the better of Sacramento’s pick and its own if Sacramento’s pick falls inside the top 10) — Unlikely to happen: The Sixers are playing better since hiring Jerry Colangelo, but they’re 13 games behind the Kings. They’d have to at least make a significant bite into that gap if this scenario were to become remotely likely. Still, the Kings could always beat the odds and win a top-three pick in the lottery, triggering this swap, so we don’t know for sure about this one.
- Sixers to Kings (Sacramento gets the inferior of its own pick and Philadelphia’s pick if its own pick falls inside the top 10) — Unlikely to happen: Since Philadelphia probably doesn’t end up with Sacramento’s pick, the Sixers probably won’t be sending their pick to the Kings.
We looked at traded 2016 second-round pick exchange scenarios last month.