Atlantic Notes: Brand, Smith, Love, Wroten
It wasn’t initially clear whether the Sixers wanted Elton Brand as a player or for a non-playing role with the organization instead, but coach Brett Brown likes having the 17th-year veteran in uniform, as John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com relays. Brand became just the second Sixers player older than 27 when Philadelphia signed him Monday.
“Because you wouldn’t believe what goes on at halftime when a coaching staff is in another room,” Brown said, explaining the value of having a veteran presence on the playing roster. “And you wouldn’t believe what goes on on the bench when you’re down 20. And you wouldn’t believe what goes on in a player’s mind when it’s a two-point game with a minute and a half left and ‘Do they know their assignments?’”
See more on the Sixers amid the latest from the Atlantic Division:
- Brown said earlier in the season that he felt it necessary to bear the responsibility that would normally go to veteran players, and just as Brand takes that burden off the Sixers coach, the acquisition of Ish Smith makes Brown’s job easier, too. Fellow CSNPhilly.com scribe Jessica Camerato has the details. “It allows me to coach less, which is good. I mean it,” Brown said. “There’s nothing worse than sitting on the sideline feeling like you’ve got to run the whole game, calling the play every single [time] — that’s not how I see the game. So when you’re playing with that pace, as long as you feel like you’ve got the right people on the floor and the spacing is the way that you want, then you let the game flow. I feel like he brings that to me, for me.”
- The Celtics thought Kevin Love was legitimately interested in their organization, coach Brad Stevens, and the city of Boston before he chose to re-sign with the Cavs this past summer, Celtics team sources told MassLive’s Jay King. Isaiah Thomas, appearing on “The Vertical” podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (audio link via Twitter), said that he tried to recruit Love to the Celtics, “but I think he already had his mind made up,” Thomas said of his former AAU teammate.
- The Knicks reportedly have interest in Tony Wroten, but the former Sixers combo guard is unlikely to wind up in New York, and he’s looking for someplace where he feels he has a better opportunity to stay for the long term, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
Lakers Likely To Keep World Peace, Black, Huertas
The Lakers are likely to retain Metta World Peace, Tarik Black and Marcelo Huertas through Thursday, the final day the team can waive their non-guaranteed contracts before they become fully guaranteed, a source tells Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. The team has 12 other players on fully guaranteed deals, so locking in three more limits the club’s roster flexibility. The trio of non-guaranteed Lakers are on minimum-salary deals, though the cost of each to the team is different because of their varying levels of experience.
World Peace’s contract calls for a full-season salary of $1,499,187, since he’s a 15-year veteran, though the Lakers would be responsible for only $947,276 if they indeed keep him. Black, as a one-year vet, is scheduled to make $845,059 for the full season, while Huertas is drawing the rookie minimum of $525,093. They’ve already earned roughly 42% of their respective salaries by virtue of sticking on the roster as long as they have, and while the Lakers could end up paying no more than that percentage if they waive them, it appears they’ve decided against doing so.
The Lakers are fond of World Peace’s locker room mentorship, according to Bresnahan, who points out that his playing time in Tuesday’s blowout loss to the Warriors represented his first appearance after a string of 14 consecutive DNPs. Huertas, who’s seen somewhat more action even as he’s battled hamstring injuries, set a career high with nine points Tuesday, fellow Times scribe Eric Pincus notes (Twitter link).
The case of Black is slightly more complicated. He’s been on D-League assignment three times in the past month, and coach Byron Scott has turned more often to veteran Brandon Bass at his position.
“Brandon Bass is playing really well right now,” Scott said, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. “If he starts to slump, then I’ll turn to Tarik.”
The Lakers like Black’s energy, strength and positivity, but they want to see him work on his mid-range and post-up skills and become more of a physical presence inside, Medina notes. Still, it appears he’s done enough to secure his full-season salary. He, like Huertas and World Peace, is on a contract that expires at season’s end.
Do you think the Lakers should keep all three of their non-guaranteed players, or would they be better served to open a roster spot or two? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Nets Eye Andrey Vatutin To Replace King As GM?
WEDNESDAY, 8:25am: One insider was particularly direct in casting doubt on the idea of Vatutin joining the Nets as their GM this summer, calling it “BS,” NetsDaily tweets.
1:13pm: Team insiders who spoke with NetsDaily see Vatutin as an unlikely choice for GM (Twitter link).
TUESDAY, 11:22am: CSKA Moscow team president Andrey Vatutin is Mikhail Prokhorov’s “top choice” to become the GM of the Nets with Billy King‘s contract up at season’s end, sources tell Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net. Vatutin has ties to Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who used to own the Russian team. He worked under Prokhorov and former CSKA president Sergey Kushchenko, now a Nets board member and chief sports adviser to Prokhorov, as NetsDaily points out. The Nets pursued Vatutin for an assistant GM job in 2010, the year King became GM, but Vatutin turned them down, according to Barkas and NetsDaily.
It’s unclear whether Vatutin would decide to head to Brooklyn this time around, as Barkas details. The Eurohoops scribe suggests that Prokhorov has already offered the GM job to Vatutin, though Prokhorov complimented King’s job performance as recently as October. The owner at that point declined to address the matter of an extension for King, though Zach Lowe of ESPN.com heard “serious rumblings” in May that the Nets and King were close to an extension deal. NetsDaily poured cold water on the idea shortly thereafter, reporting that a source had said the Nets and King hadn’t engaged in any extension talks.
Brooklyn, at 10-24, has the NBA’s third-worst record and is without its first-round picks in 2016 and 2018, thanks to the 2013 trade King engineered that brought in Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Still, Prokhorov, who was the impetus for the team’s desire to make a splash upon its 2012 move from New Jersey to Brooklyn, said in April that he liked King’s “bold” approach to the roster. The Nets stuck by King when former coach Jason Kidd reportedly tried to usurp his power in 2014.
The Nets have nonetheless won only a single playoff series in the five full seasons since King came aboard. Brooklyn has a chance to open some $35MM in cap room for next season, but without draft picks or a winning roster, the team doesn’t appear to be a top free agent destination.
The 42-year-old Vatutin has been with CSKA Moscow since 2002 and became the organization’s CEO in 2007. The Russian powerhouse has collected a litany of championships since then, as Barkas details. The team is 14-1 in Russian league play and 9-2 in the Euroleague this season.
Sixers Waive Christian Wood
TUESDAY, 7:24pm: Upon clearing waivers, Wood is expected to join the Sixers’ D-League’s affiliate, the Delaware 87ers, a league source informed Adam Johnson of the D-League Digest (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 12:47pm: The move is official, the team announced via press release.
11:39am: The Sixers will release power forward Christian Wood to make room for Elton Brand, reports Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). Brand is poised to sign with the team today, as Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reported about an hour ago, and the Sixers, with 15 players on the roster, have to offload one of them to make way for Brand. Wood has a four-year deal for the minimum salary, but only $50K was guaranteed. He’s earned more than that $50K by sticking on the roster as long as he has, so the Sixers won’t owe him any more money if they cut him today.
It would be no surprise to see Wood go, as he’s seen only 13 minutes of action for Philadelphia since November 20th. The Sixers have assigned him to the D-League three times since then, and the team has yet to recall him from his most recent assignment, which began December 18th. The undrafted rookie from UNLV has averaged 3.6 points in 8.1 minutes per game in 14 appearances on the NBA level. His D-League numbers were much better, naturally, as he posted 15.4 points and 9.7 rebounds in 27.0 minutes per contest, but it appears they weren’t attractive enough to keep him on an NBA roster.
Philadelphia chose to retain Wood for opening night instead of shooting guard Scottie Wilbekin, in spite of Wilbekin’s $200K partial guarantee. Wood, one of the most well-regarded prospects to be passed over on draft night this year, reportedly struck a deal with the Rockets shortly after the draft, but that never materialized into a formal signing, allowing the Sixers to swoop in. Houston has an open roster spot, though the Rockets would have to wait for Wood to clear waivers to revisit the idea of adding him.
Do you think we’ll see Wood in the NBA again soon? Leave a comment to tell us.
Surgery Puts Season In Jeopardy For Joe Harris
7:17pm: Harris will miss two to three months, a league source tells Chris Haynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Northeast Ohio Media Group (Twitter link). That would bring him back shortly before the end of the regular season.
4:56pm: Cavaliers reserve shooting guard Joe Harris will undergo surgery to remove a bone in his right foot, and it’s unclear whether he’ll return to play this season, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The Cavs were reportedly seeking a second-round pick as they made Harris available in trade talk, as Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal reported last month, but the injury threatens to foil those efforts.
The news complicates Cleveland’s decision regarding Jared Cunningham, whose non-guaranteed contract becomes fully guaranteed if the team doesn’t waive him by the close of business on Thursday. Cunningham’s emergence and the team’s projected luxury tax bill were behind Cleveland’s interest in trading Harris, as Lloyd wrote. Dealing away Harris, who makes a fully guaranteed one-year veteran’s minimum salary of $845,059 this season, for no salary in return would help offset the cost of keeping Cunningham, whose full-season salary would cost the Cavs $947,276 plus a luxury tax hit of roughly four times that amount. Keeping Harris would entail a tax cost of about four times his salary, too, depending on other moves the team might make between now and the last day of the regular season, the date when the tax is accounted for.
Harris hasn’t appeared in a game for Cleveland since November 23rd, though he last played December 19th in the D-League while on an assignment that ended the next day. The Cavs picked him 33rd overall in the 2014 draft, but that was shortly before LeBron James announced his decision to return to the franchise, putting Cleveland in a win-now mode that hasn’t afforded Harris much opportunity at the NBA level. He’s become even more of an afterthought this season, as he’s logged only 15 total NBA minutes so far in 2015/16 after averaging 9.1 minutes per night across 51 games during his rookie campaign. The 24-year-old has posted 16.4 points in 33.1 minutes per game for the D-League Canton Charge this year. The Cavs have used his D-League time to showcase him for other NBA teams, according to Lloyd.
Eastern Notes: DeRozan, Nets, Jefferson, Curry
Coach Dwane Casey isn’t quite sure why DeMar DeRozan has been playing better of late, but the Raptors nonetheless believe his improved shooting and overall play are sustainable, based on an uptick that dates back to this past March, observes Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. DeRozan has a player option worth slightly more than $10MM for next season, but it seems a near-certainty that he’ll decline it and hit free agency in the summer. See more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Nets CEO Brett Yormark spoke about the need for the team to play better in an interview with Crain’s New York Business, and while his remarks weren’t particularly substantive, they demonstrate a continued increase in Yormark’s basketball chatter, NetsDaily points out (Twitter link). Yormark, if given basketball decision-making power, would like to offer “everything under the sun” to bring John Calipari back to the Nets, as Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post wrote in a chat last week (hat tip to Sam Amico of Amico Hoops). However, owner Mikhail Prokhorov wants to make CSKA Moscow team president Andrey Vatutin the next Brooklyn GM, with current GM Billy King‘s contract up after the season, as Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net reported earlier today.
- Al Jefferson‘s history of injuries juxtaposed against a rising salary cap suggest that the Hornets face a difficult choice as they ponder whether to re-sign him in free agency this summer, writes Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders.
- Stephen Curry has no shortage of affection for Charlotte, where he grew up, but a multitude of reasons that extend even beyond his idyllic basketball situation with the Warriors convince Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer that Curry won’t give the Hornets a second thought when he hits free agency in 2017.
Bucks, Carlos Boozer Have Second Meeting
The Bucks and Carlos Boozer met again recently, following up on the visit Boozer reportedly had with GM John Hammond and coach Jason Kidd in mid-December, sources told Sam Amico of Amico Hoops. Milwaukee has apparently backed off its interest in trading for Caron Butler, but it seems as though the team remains in the market for a veteran. Boozer has languished in free agency since the summer, despite reports that a litany of NBA teams were eyeing him over the offseason.
Kidd, who’s calling the shots on player personnel for the Bucks, as Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times told us, took a leave of absence to undergo hip surgery shortly after the first meeting with Boozer. It’s unclear how much input he has on the team’s decision-making while he’s away, though interim coach Joe Prunty said recently that he and his staff were in close contact with Kidd. The Bucks have continued to falter since Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reported the original meeting with Boozer on December 17th, going 4-5 since that date. Milwaukee is 14-22 and five and a half games out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Bucks are without much roster flexibility, since they have 15 fully guaranteed contracts, though they have a $1.664MM sliver of the mid-level exception left over if Boozer, a 13-year veteran, demands more than the minimum salary, which for him would be $1,499,187. The Clippers, Knicks, Rockets, Mavericks, Spurs, Raptors, Pelicans, Nuggets, Nets, Lakers and Heat all reportedly had interest in the offseason.
Pistons Notes: Jennings, Jackson, Dinwiddie
Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy can envision the team re-signing Brandon Jennings if they can agree on a price and a role for the point guard, as Van Gundy explained to reporters today, including MLive’s David Mayo. Jennings confirmed that he and Van Gundy have spoken about the idea of a new contract when Jennings hits free agency in the summer, notes Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter link).
“We have had talks about this year, and he knows that I’m not looking at this — I’m not — as just a this-year thing,” Van Gundy said, according to Mayo. “Obviously, a lot of that would come down to whether the role would meet his expectations, whether the money would meet his expectations, there’s a lot of things that go into it. But I’m a big Brandon fan. I like Brandon. I’m a big Reggie [Jackson] fan, too. And I think, at times, they could operate very well together. We’ll just have to see where it goes.”
Jennings told Ellis earlier this season that he and Pistons owner Tom Gores had engaged in “a father-son type” chat that appeared to point to a strong relationship between the franchise and the seventh-year veteran who said earlier this week he’d like to stay in Detroit at least through season’s end. See more on the point guards in the Motor City:
- Jennings is helping transform the Pistons bench from a drag on the team into a strong second unit, as Ellis examines.
- Jackson has experienced ups and downs this season, but on the whole, he’s beginning to justify Van Gundy’s assertion that his much-pilloried five-year, $80MM contract would ultimately look like a bargain, writes Rod Beard of the Detroit News. “You have a lot of opportunities, but you’re the guy who’s going to be criticized a lot because you’re expected to do a lot more than other people,” Van Gundy said. “He’s handled it very well. And he understands and accepts the responsibility and knows there is going to be some good and bad — and he moves on pretty well.”
- The Pistons will likely send Spencer Dinwiddie on D-League assignment for this week’s D-League showcase, but Darrun Hilliard and Reggie Bullock will probably stay with the NBA club, Van Gundy told reporters, including Ellis (Twitter link).
Jazz Release Elijah Millsap
2:11pm: The move is official, the team announced.
2:06pm: The Jazz have told Elijah Millsap that they’re waiving him, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports. Charania indicates that the team has already released his non-guaranteed contract, though Utah has yet to make an official announcement. His minimum-salary pact would become fully guaranteed if not waived by the close of business Thursday, and it would also be guaranteed if another team claims him off waivers and keeps him after that date. Several other clubs are expected to have interest in the 6’6″ swingman, according to Charania. Millsap is in the second season of a three-year deal, so only a limited number of teams can snag him off waivers, unlike players signed to two-year minimum contracts.
The move, once official, will bring Utah down to 14 players, one under the limit. Chris Johnson also has a non-guaranteed contract, and while Jeff Withey has a partial guarantee of $200K, he’s already earned more than that by virtue of sticking on the roster as long as he has. That means Utah can waive Withey and avoid further financial obligation, just as with Johnson and Millsap.
Millsap, a younger brother of former Jazz power forward Paul Millsap, joined Utah on a 10-day contract almost a year ago to the day. Once that expired, he signed another 10-day deal and finally the three-year pact as the Jazz turned him into a rotation mainstay last season. That changed this year, as his 19.7 minutes per game from 2014/15 dwindled to 8.7 in 2015/16. He shot just 28.2% in 173 attempts from the floor this season, so it appears the team concluded his defensive prowess couldn’t make up for his offensive shortcomings. The 28-year-old client of Brendrick DeAngelo Simmons and Daniel Hazan has been to training camp with the Lakers, Thunder and Bucks in the past since going undrafted out of UAB in 2010, and he spoke with Zach Links of Hoops Rumors in September 2014 about his journey to the NBA.
The Jazz gave out more 10-day contracts than any other NBA team last season, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them use Millsap’s roster spot to again cycle through players on those short-term deals. Millsap would be eligible to re-sign with Utah if he clears waivers, though that would seem unlikely.
Can you envision another NBA team as a better fit for Millsap? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
DeAndre Daniels Joining Raptors D-League Team
The D-League affiliate of the Raptors has acquired DeAndre Daniels, whom Toronto selected 37th overall in the 2014 NBA Draft, a source tells Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (Twitter link). NBA teams are allowed to bring draftees directly onto the rosters of their D-League teams without them being subject to the D-League’s waiver system. The small forward from the University of Connecticut spent last season, when the Raptors didn’t have a one-to-one D-League affiliate, playing for the Perth Wildcats in Australia.
The Raptors weren’t ruling out the idea of adding Daniels to the NBA roster for this season, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca reported in June, but the small forward has instead remained unsigned since suffering a Jones fracture in his right foot during preparations for summer league in July. His numbers in Australia last season weren’t overwhelming, as he averaged 14.8 points and 7.7 rebounds in 30.7 minutes per game with 34.1% 3-point shooting.
Toronto is also adding four-year NBA veteran center Greg Smith to its D-League roster, as Reichert also reports and as we detail here. Daniels, who turns 24 in April, isn’t allowed to sign with any NBA team other than the Raptors, unlike Smith and most of his soon-to-be D-League teammates, since Toronto still owns his NBA draft rights. The Raptors don’t have much flexibility on their NBA roster, with 15 fully guaranteed contracts, so it appears Daniels has a lengthy D-League stay ahead of him.