Pacific Notes: Rondo, Butler, Barnes, Ezeli
Rajon Rondo has earned the complete trust of DeMarcus Cousins, which is no easy task, TNT’s David Aldridge writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Rondo, who’s on a one-year, $9.5MM contract, is “the most unselfish player I’ve ever played with,” Cousins told Aldridge. Rondo said to Aldridge that he signed with the Kings in part to mentor the center, adding that he’s wanted to play with Cousins for the past four or five years. It’s all cast against the backdrop of a Sacramento team that’s just two games out of a playoff spot, and the presence of Caron Butler has had much to do with the team’s improvement, Rondo contends. The Kings reportedly promised to trade Butler last month, but he’s still with the team. See more from the Pacific Division:
- Warriors assistant GM Kirk Lacob, the son of co-owner Joe Lacob, hinted at the team’s willingness to pay whatever it takes to re-sign Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli in restricted free agency this summer as he spoke in a recent radio appearance on 95.7 FM The Game’s “NBA This Week” show. Host Matt Steinmetz has the transcription. “Both those guys are a part of the core,” Lacob said in part. “Hopefully we’ll have this team for a number of years to come. If it costs a lot of money, it’s going to cost a lot of money. It probably will. A lot of our players have come up in free agency the last year or two and if they continue to perform we’re going to continue to pay them. We’re 34-2 [now 35-2], we’re trying to get a second championship here. There’s a lot of room for improvement of course, but there’s a lot of power to continuity.”
- Numbers suggest that Julius Randle is on track to have a career similar to that of Drew Gooden, a sign that he’s not on the path to stardom the Lakers hoped for him, writes Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com in an Insider-only piece co-authored with Chad Ford. D’Angelo Russell is the only one among the Lakers’ young players who has a strong chance to become an above-average starter, Pelton contends.
- The Lakers have recalled Tarik Black and Ryan Kelly from the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). They went down to the D-Fenders together on Friday. Black averaged 11.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in two D-League games this weekend, while Kelly posted averages of 26.0 points and 6.5 boards a night.
Nets Eye Monty Williams?
Former Pelicans coach and current Thunder assistant coach Monty Williams is among the names in contention for the freshly opened Nets vacancy, as NetsDaily has been told (Twitter link). Much of the attention has surrounded long-ago Nets coach John Calipari, but he reportedly wants a dual coach/executive role, and Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov said in a press conference today that he’d prefer to have a separate coach and GM. Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com heard that the Nets could consider St. John’s coach Chris Mullin, but it’s unclear whether his source was merely speculating.
Williams has quickly built a strong bond with soon-to-be free agent Kevin Durant since joining the Thunder staff in the offseason, which certainly won’t hurt the coach’s candidacy for any NBA vacancy. He’s also close with Anthony Davis, his former Pelicans player, but Davis just signed a five-year extension with New Orleans this past summer, shortly after the team canned Williams.
New Orleans experienced an 11-win improvement last year in its final season under Williams, going 45-37 and grabbing the final playoff spot in the Western Conference before falling to the Warriors in a first-round sweep. It was the first time New Orleans had gone to the playoffs since the 2010/11 season, Williams’ first year as coach, when the then-Hornets lost in six games to the Lakers. The New Orleans job is his only NBA head coaching gig to date, though he spent five seasons as a Trail Blazers assistant before he took it, and he’s also served as an assistant coach for Team USA.
Do you think Williams would make sense for the Nets? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Nets Notes: Johnson, Prokhorov, Calipari, Bargnani
Joe Johnson didn’t know about the Nets’ firing of Lionel Hollins until he found out about it on TV, Johnson said today to reporters, including Andy Vasquez of The Record (Twitter link). Still, no indications existed as of late Sunday that the former All-Star has any interest in a buyout from the team, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Owner Mikhail Prokhorov said today that he began to consider the firing of Hollins and reassignment of GM Billy King a month and a half ago, notes Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com, and Prokhorov added that when he finally made the call, it was a “very easy” decision, notes Andrew Keh of The New York Times. See more on the changes in Brooklyn:
- Prokhorov, who pledged a more active role with the Nets, said he plans to meet with every candidate for the team’s vacancies, as Brian Fleurantin of NetsDaily relays in within a transcript of the owner’s press conference today.
- The owner also reiterated that he has no plans to sell the team, cited a desire for chemistry between the next GM and coach, and said, curiously, that, “I’m sure for the next season, we’ll be, I hope, [a] championship contender,” Fleurantin notes.
- Nets CEO Brett Yormark told WFAN radio today that he hasn’t spoken with John Calipari about rejoining the team “yet,” observes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). Yormark has reportedly wanted to make a strong pitch to Calipari, though the CEO is apparently not heavily involved in the team’s search.
- Italian team Olimpia Milano plans a run at Andrea Bargnani, a native of Italy, reports La Gazzetta dello Sport (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Milano would love to somehow acquire him by January 28th, when the Eurocup’s transfer window closes, but that’s highly unlikely, and a move during the summer, when Bargnani can opt out of his contract with the Nets, is more realistic, Carchia notes.
Latest On Pelicans Front Office
An increasing volume of chatter indicates that it’s “only a matter of time” before the Pelicans hire former Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars to run their front office, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Executive vice president of basketball operations Mickey Loomis, who also oversees the NFL’s Saints, has exerted greater control of the team lately in his role, which puts him above GM Dell Demps, but rival executives say that’s only temporary, with one exec calling him a football guy, not a basketball guy, according to Berger.
Dumars, a Louisiana native, has a close relationship with Pelicans owner Tom Benson, Berger notes. Loomis and other Pelicans officials reportedly met multiple times with Dumars in the fall of 2014, though the team said in May that it hadn’t had talks with Dumars about any potential job. Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders wrote shortly thereafter that people around the league had believed for a while that Dumars would eventually replace Loomis atop the Pelicans basketball hierarchy, and Zach Lowe of ESPN.com wrote in early May that Dumars was in play for a role that would place him above Demps in the organization. Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher said a year ago that Benson was eyeing Dumars as a possible future hire. Demps said this spring, on the day that the team fired coach Monty Williams, that Loomis had told him the rumors about Dumars were untrue.
The Pelicans are enduring a nightmare season after a rash of October injuries laid waste to many of new coach Alvin Gentry‘s plans. New Orleans is 11-25, though the team appears to be resisting the notion of trading soon-to-be free agent Ryan Anderson, despite reports of talks with the Suns that involved Anderson and Markieff Morris. The Pelicans, who have an open roster spot, reportedly expressed interest in trading for Solomon Hill, though that was more than a month ago. The team has since traded Ish Smith to the Sixers for a pair of second-round picks.
Dumars had high-profile hits and misses in his nearly 14-year tenure in charge of the Pistons, constructing the 2004 NBA champions and drafting Darko Milicic. He stepped down from atop the team’s front office in April 2014.
To find out more about Loomis and his future with the Saints, check out the rumors pages dedicated to Loomis and the Saints on our sister site, Pro Football Rumors, and follow @pfrumors on Twitter.
Trade Candidate: Kevin Martin
A cursory glance at Kevin Martin suggests he should be a more sought-after commodity than he is. After all, someone who scored 20 points per game the previous season, is under contract for just $7.085MM this season, has no existing injury problems and a solid locker room reputation sounds like quite a catch. Still, the availability of Martin on the trade market, which Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reported last month, doesn’t appear to have inspired executives from other teams to make any sort of mad rush for him. The 11th-year veteran’s high scoring last season came in just 39 games, and this year his points per game have dipped to 11.5, his fewest since the 2005/06 season, in large measure because a focus on youth in Minnesota has led interim coach Sam Mitchell to move him in and out of the starting lineup, and at times the rotation entirely.
The Kings are one of the teams that likes Martin, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities reported shortly after the news emerged that he’s on the block. They’ve called the Wolves about him, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders heard, and the Bulls and Grizzlies have looked into trading for him, too, Kyler added. However, the Grizzlies have resisted attempts from Minnesota for a swap of Martin for Courtney Lee, as USA Today’s Sam Amick detailed. Memphis doesn’t want to bite into its cap flexibility for next season, according to Amick, and that helps explain the team’s lack of a desire to swap Lee, a pending free agent, for Martin, who has a player option worth almost $7.378MM for 2016/17.
No one’s certain just what Martin will do with his option, Amick said, and while many teams will have gobs of cap space this summer, the option is still large enough to pose a problem, especially for teams that would like to be able to make a marquee addition. Martin has proven that he can score and shoot from long distance, but as his stint replacing James Harden in Oklahoma City revealed, he’s no substitute for a star.
The 6’7″ shooting guard was, at his peak, a versatile offensive threat, nailing 41.5% of his 3-pointers and attempting 10.3 free throws per game for the Kings in 2008/09, the season in which he averaged a career-high 24.6 points a night. He stopped getting to the line in 2011/12, when his free-throw rate fell from .528 the year before to .333, perhaps because of new foul-call rules introduced for that season. His free-throw rate hasn’t recovered since, though it’s experienced somewhat of an uptick this season, to .396. That’s perhaps because he’s taking fewer 3-pointers per shot attempt than in any year since he was a rookie.
Martin, who turns 33 on February 1st, has never been a defensive stopper, and the numbers suggest he’s sieve-like this season. He ranks as the 71st-best defensive shooting guard in ESPN’s Real Plus Minus metric, is a minus 3.4 in Basketball-Reference’s Defensive Box Plus Minus stat, and Minnesota’s defense, only the 20th most efficient in the league, is 2.5 points per 100 possessions worse when he’s on the floor compared to when he’s sitting, according to NBA.com.
It’s tough to understand why the Kings, just 27th in defensive efficiency, would have interest in a reunion, particularly since Sacramento would be helping a fellow bottom-half Western Conference team gain assets for the future. The Kings are understandably anxious to end their playoff drought, but Martin would go much better on a team with realistic aspirations of a deep playoff run, like the Bulls or the Grizzlies.
Chicago seems like a particularly strong fit. The Bulls are reportedly looking for an upgrade on the wing and believe they could use more shooting. Martin is a career 38.5% 3-point shooter, and while his accuracy is down slightly, to 37.2%, this season, he canned 40.5% of his shots from behind the arc during the previous three seasons. The question is what the Bulls would give up to get him. Chicago has a surplus of big men, but the Wolves are fairly deep up front too, with Karl-Anthony Towns, Gorgui Dieng and Nemanja Bjelica to go along with Kevin Garnett, who’s still starting. Minnesota signaled a desire to clear cap space, or at least achieve cost certainty, with its reported proposal of Martin for Lee, but the Timberwolves would have little reason to acquire trade candidate Joakim Noah and his expiring contract. The Bulls have an extra first-round pick coming their way courtesy of the Kings, so perhaps they could part with one of their own picks as the centerpiece of a package. However, Chicago would have to come up with at least $5.588MM in salary to add to a deal that swaps Martin for a pick, and that would either entail the potential deal-killers of the Bulls relinquishing a fairly valuable player, the Timberwolves taking back long-term salary, or both.
The Grizzlies would surely benefit from Martin’s shooting, too, though again, it’s tough to see an obvious solution to the question of whom or what they would send out in return. They’re below the tax threshold, but only by about $2MM, so while in theory they could send out as little as $4.657MM in salary straight up for Martin, they’d run over the tax line if they did so, and trade rules are different for tax teams. Outside of Lee and Mike Conley, whom they’re not trading, the expiring deal that might make the most sense for the Grizzlies to swap for Martin belongs to Jeff Green, who’s making $9.45MM this year. A Martin-for-Green deal would allow Memphis to trim salary and cut ties with a player who’s never quite fit in. Green is shooting a dreadful 26.7% from 3-point range this season and is only a 33.9% career 3-point shooter. The Timberwolves could move on from Green at season’s end, just as they could with Lee, or they could try to keep him around if he proves a better match for them than he has for the Grizzlies. Still, it’s unclear if either the Grizzlies or Minnesota has interest in such a trade.
The Thunder, Spurs and Heat are other teams capable of deep playoff runs that have made a below-average number of 3-pointers this season, though it certainly hasn’t hurt San Antonio much to this point. Oklahoma City probably isn’t anxious to relive its one-season experiment with Martin. Miami could help reduce its tax bill with a swap of Luol Deng for Martin, which would work under the salary-matching rules, but the Heat would surely be loath to compromise their 2016/17 cap flexibility in any way, so it’s tough to see them dealing an expiring contract like Deng’s for Martin.
It seems as though the Timberwolves are ready to move on from Martin, but finding a deal that works will likely be difficult. Such is the nature of having a one-dimensional player on the wrong side of 30. Still, Martin remains a credible threat from behind the arc, and 3-point shooting has never been in higher demand, so if the Timberwolves aren’t too picky and show a willingness to take back some salary for 2016/17, they’ll probably find the trade partner necessary for GM Milt Newton to make his first swap in charge of the team’s player personnel.
Where do you think Martin will be playing after the trade deadline? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Latest On Nets, John Calipari
University of Kentucky coach John Calipari is the primary target of the Nets, who fired coach Lionel Hollins and reassigned GM Billy King on Sunday, several sources close to Calipari and the team told Frank Isola of the New York Daily News late Sunday. However, Calipari took to Twitter this morning to brush off that and other rumors connecting him to the Nets, writing, “You may have heard me say this before: I absolutely have the best coaching job in sports and I plan on being at Kentucky for a long time. I am not negotiating with ANYBODY. My total focus is on this team and winning the next game” (Twitter links). Calipari later said during a conference call that he appreciates the Kentucky job and is “humbled” to be in it, note Josh Newman and Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
The remark about negotiation seemed to be in response to an overnight report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, who heard from league sources who say Calipari has told the Nets, as well as the Kings, that it would take an offer of at least 10 years and $120MM. He’d also demand that he be head coach and have complete control of the front office, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com confirms. Prokhorov today indicated that he’d prefer a separate coach and GM. Assistant GM Frank Zanin is running the front office for the time being and assistant coach Tony Brown is the interim head coach.
Nets CEO Brett Yormark is reportedly prepared to give Calipari whatever he wants, but while he appears to have more influence than in the past, he’s not seen as a major contributor to the decision-making on the next Nets front office chief, according to Windhorst. People who have spoken to the Nets recently instead believe Nets chairman Dmitry Razumov and Irina Pavlova, president of Prokhorov’s ONEXIM Sports and Entertainment holding company and liaison between the owner and team management, will run the search for a new GM and coach, Windhorst hears. A belief is growing across the league that Nets board member Sergey Kushchenko increasingly has Prokhorov’s ear, according to Windhorst. Prokhorov said today that he’ll spend more time than usual in the U.S. while searching for a new GM and coach and told commissioner Adam Silver that he and Razumov intend to take a more hands-on approach during the transition and going forward, as Silver told Harvey Araton of The New York Times.
King, whom the Nets will reassign within the organization, won’t be directly involved in the club’s search for a GM, in spite of reports to the contrary, though he can offer suggestions “as a friend,” Prokhorov said today, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com. The ex-GM has a close relationship with Razumov, as Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com points out, though the organization views the 2013 trade to acquire Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett that happened on King’s watch as a “massive mistake,” Mazzeo writes. The ESPNNewYork.com scribe also intimates that King’s fallout with former Nets coach Jason Kidd prompted the GM not to re-sign Pierce, who shares agent Jeff Schwartz with Kidd.
The $120MM is figure that Calipari is reportedly seeking is up somewhat from the $11MM-plus that Calipari told minority owners of the Kings that he wanted this summer, as Wojnarowski also reports. The Cavs offered 10 years and $80MM in 2014, but he turned that down, Wojnarowski adds. Calipari receives nearly annual extensions from Kentucky, having signed one this past spring worth $54MM plus bonuses, Windhorst notes. Calipari’s previous coaching relationships with several prominent future free agents represent his allure to NBA teams, but some people close to his former Kentucky players say they’re reluctant to again endure the coach’s caustic style, according to Wojnarowski. Some around Calipari would prefer he join the Kings rather than the Nets, who have more limited maneuverability to improve, Wojnarowski also writes.
Many people around the league “believe there is more smoke than fire” when it comes to the idea of Calipari returning to the NBA, but his failed tenure with the Nets in the late 1990s is his greatest regret in basketball, sources tell Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
Assistant GM Frank Zanin To Run Nets Front Office
Assistant GM Frank Zanin is in charge of the Brooklyn front office in the wake of the team’s removal of Billy King from the GM role, owner Mikhail Prokhorov said in a press conference today, notes Andy Vasquez of The Record (Twitter link). The owner said he’ll be in contact with Zanin every day if necessary, as NetsDaily relays (on Twitter). Prokhorov will continue to search for a permanent front office chief, as well as a new coach, and said he will spend more time in the U.S. rather than his home in Russia as he does so, though he cautioned that he’s in no hurry to fill the team’s vacancies, according to TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link).
The February 18th trade deadline is less than six weeks away, so Zanin will be busy. He’s a discipline of King’s, having gotten his start in the NBA as a video intern with the Sixers while King was the GM of that team. He later served as video coordinator, scout and assistant coach for Philadelphia before rejoining King in Brooklyn. He became one of two assistant GMs in 2013/14, and this season served as the club’s sole assistant GM after the team elected not to retain Bobby Marks.
Prokhorov said he has no plans to hire CSKA Moscow team president Andrey Vatutin, who had been rumored as his top choice to replace King, tweets Brian Lewis of the New York Post. The owner also indicated a preference for a separate GM and coach, which would seem to cast doubt on the idea of the team hiring John Calipari, another rumored candidate, observes Chris Mannix of SI.com (on Twitter). Still, Prokhorov declined to address the notion of Calipari’s candidacy, aside from calling him a “great coach,” as Lewis relays (Twitter link).
Southeast Notes: Kidd-Gilchrist, Fournier, Heat
The Hornets decided in the offseason to emphasize offense at the expense of defense as they made their personnel moves, and Charlotte has indeed taken a step back on the defensive end, as Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer examines. Part of that has to do with the absence of prime defender Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, but his return, which he’s promised to make before season’s end, won’t solve all of the club’s defensive problems, Bonnell writes. Nonetheless, the Observer scribe wouldn’t be surprised if the former No. 2 overall pick is playing within a month’s time. See more from the Southeast Division:
- The Magic aren’t entirely sure about keeping Evan Fournier in restricted free agency this summer, writes Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. It’s expected they’ll at least look into other options before recommitting to him, just as with the team’s courtship of Paul Millsap that preceded the Tobias Harris re-signing this past summer, according to Kyler. In any case, the team’s use of Fournier at shooting guard instead of Victor Oladipo doesn’t signal that the franchise has lost faith in the former No. 2 overall pick and instead shows that the team is adjusting the way it’s developing young players as it focuses more on the present, Kyler explains.
- Soon-to-be free agent Hassan Whiteside‘s style of play, personality and general way of going about his business is “not congruent” with the way of the Heat, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com opined on a recent edition of “The Lowe Post” podcast with ESPN colleague Zach Lowe (audio link; transcription via RealGM).
- Wizards draft-and-stash prospect Tomas Satoransky has a deal on a four-year extension with Barcelona of Spain that includes NBA outs, according to international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). He’s put pen to paper, Pick reports, though Javier Maestro of Encestando counters that he hasn’t officially signed it yet (translation via HoopsHype). In any case, Satoransky is in no hurry to come to the NBA, Maestro writes.
Seven Offseason Signees Still Yet To Debut
Seven players who signed contracts with NBA teams this past summer have still yet to take the floor for their teams during the regular season this year, even as we near the midway point. It’s not uncommon for players to miss time because of injury, but it’s especially frustrating for teams and their fans when recent signees aren’t producing any on-court dividends. Still, for a few teams, encouraging news has surfaced.
Alan Anderson was on the floor shooting 3-pointers while the Wizards practiced Thursday, a sign of progress as he continues to recover from a pair of left ankle surgeries, notes Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post (Twitter link). The Warriors sent rookie Kevon Looney on a D-League rehab assignment Monday as he makes his way back from August hip surgery. Nets first-round pick Chris McCullough recently began practicing with teammates on a limited basis.
Injury isn’t always the reason why signees don’t play. Josh Huestis is healthy, but he still hasn’t seen any playing time this season for the Thunder, who’ve kept him on D-League assignment much of the year. It’s essentially an extension of last season, when the Thunder stashed him in the D-League, though this time around he’s drawing an NBA salary. His numbers at the D-League level don’t suggest he’ll give the Thunder much return on their investment any time soon, as Nate Duncan of Sports Illustrated’s “The Cauldron” blog notes via Twitter.
Pacers rookie Rakeem Christmas has also been healthy and has played on D-League assignment, but while his numbers haven’t been eye-popping, he’s averaging a fairly proficient 16.0 points and 7.8 rebounds in 32.6 minutes per game. He’s also a second-round pick in his first pro season, unlike Huestis, who’s in his second season after having been a first-round pick in 2014. Undrafted Kings signee Duje Dukan has also played in the D-League but not the NBA, but he’s suffered a tibial bone contusion that will cost him a few weeks.
Here’s a look at the 2015 offseason signees who’ve yet to make their debuts this season, with their respective contract information in parentheses:
- Alan Anderson, Wizards (one year, $4MM)
- Rakeem Christmas, Pacers (four years, $4.3MM)
- Duje Dukan, Kings (two years, $1,399,729)
- Mike Dunleavy, Bulls (three years, $14,512,500)
- Josh Huestis, Thunder (four years, $5,817,886)
- Kevon Looney, Warriors (four years, $5,775,721)
- Chris McCullough, Nets (four years, $5,817,886)
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Cavs Notes: Cunningham, Harris, LeBron, Love
The Cavaliers thought when the regular season began that they’d waive Jared Cunningham by Thursday, the final day they could release him without paying his full-season salary, but they made up their minds weeks ago to retain him, a source told Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Still, the recent injury to Joe Harris posed an issue, Lloyd writes. The team would still like to somehow open a roster spot in advance of the trade deadline to provide flexibility for the post-deadline buyout market, Lloyd adds, suggesting that trading Harris, as the team has tried to do for weeks, is the only viable way of accomplishing that. The Cavs dodged a bullet today when Mo Williams said that he won’t require surgery on a partially torn ligament in his right thumb and that he’ll play through the injury as it heals over the next six weeks, tweets Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. See more on the Cavs:
- LeBron James didn’t mention Andrew Wiggins in his summer 2014 Sports Illustrated essay announcing the four-time MVP’s return to Cleveland because he simply wasn’t familiar with him, James recently told Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports. Many speculated that the omission was a signal that James wanted the Cavs to trade Wiggins for Kevin Love, a move the team ultimately made. “I didn’t know the kid, really,” James said of Wiggins. “I knew Dion [Waiters]. I knew Kyrie [Irving]. I knew Tristan [Thompson]. I knew all the guys that I was playing with before. I didn’t know the kid, so it wasn’t no big issue to me.”
- Wiggins isn’t bitter, telling Lee in the same piece that the trade “put me in a better place.”
- The max contract that Kevin Love signed this summer “gave me that little extra edge and push” to recover from the shoulder injury he suffered in the playoffs, Love said to Lee. The power forward’s primary desire in free agency was to remain in a winning situation, as he explained to James. “When I talked to him this summer and when he went over what he wanted, what he needed, the most important thing that came out of it was, ‘I just want to win. And I want to win at a high level because I went through too many losing seasons in Minnesota,’” James said to Lee. “And I said, ‘If that’s the case, we can figure out all that other stuff. If you want to win, we can figure out all that other stuff.’ And he’s been unbelievable from that point on.”