Trade Candidate: Joakim Noah
Joakim Noah was the All-NBA First Team center and the Defensive Player of the Year in 2013/14, a season in which he finished fourth in MVP voting and embodied the scrapping spirit of former coach Tom Thibodeau‘s Bulls. It seemed at times that year as though he was simply willing his team to its 48 victories and the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, as Derrick Rose again missed most of the season. So, it’s striking to see where Noah is now. The Bulls have benched him and reportedly put him on the trade block, and he was averaging just 4.5 points per game, a career low, before spraining and suffering a “slight tear” in his left shoulder this week, an injury likely to keep him out for up to a month.
The downfall seemed to start with Chicago’s decision to sign Pau Gasol in the summer of 2014. Gasol made it clear during his time with the Lakers that he plays best as a center, not as a power forward, and that’s particularly true as the NBA moves increasingly toward small-ball. The addition of Gasol forced Noah, long entrenched as Chicago’s center, to change the way he played. The adjustment has been difficult, and the nagging injuries that have plagued Noah certainly haven’t helped. He remained in the starting lineup last season, but his scoring average dipped into the single digits for the first time in six years. His rebounding slipped to a six-year low, too.
It’s tough to measure whether Noah has sustained his defense, and as teams consider trading for him, making the right read on this will be critical. His defensive reputation took a hit last season, as he sunk to 12th in Defensive Player of the Year voting after winning the award in 2013/14. Still, his defensive impact on the Bulls was about the same in terms of the team’s defensive rating with him on the court versus off, according to NBA.com. Other advanced metrics say he was indeed a poorer defender in 2014/15 than he was in 2013/14, including Basketball-Reference’s Box Plus Minus, where his number went from 5.5 to 3.6, and ESPN’s Real Plus Minus, where he went from 3.92 to 2.21.
This season, the data sets disagree in the opposite direction. The team’s defensive rating with him on the court is worse than it is when he’s sitting, but he’s seen gains in Box Plus Minus and Real Plus Minus. The Real Plus Minus metric shows him as the league’s seventh-best defensive center.
Teams that invest heavily in proprietary data figure to have an edge, and few study the numbers the way the Mavs do. Dallas quite famously came up empty in its bid to acquire a marquee starting center this past summer, but the center the Mavs wound up with, Zaza Pachulia, is averaging a double-double and is 12th in Defensive Real Plus Minus this season, just five spots beneath Noah. The Mavs would surely hesitate to give up assets for Noah, whom they could simply sign in free agency this summer, particularly given Pachulia’s strong play.
The Rockets are another team heavy on analytics, and questions have swirled about Dwight Howard, who, like Noah, isn’t the player he once was. Noah would bring some leadership to a team that appears to sorely need it, but a Dwight-for-Noah swap is a far-fetched idea, at least without a third team involved. The Bulls would have to include an extra chunk of salary, since Noah is making just $13.4MM compared to Howard’s pay of more than $22.359MM, and the tandem of Howard and Gasol was already a failure for the Lakers. It would help if the Rockets sent the Bulls the wing players and shooting they’re reportedly after, but Houston isn’t trading James Harden, Trevor Ariza is shooting just 31.8% from behind the arc, and the other Rocket wings of note — Corey Brewer, Jason Terry and Marcus Thornton — would scarcely be enough to entice Chicago.
Another Southwest Division team would make a much more intriguing suitor. The Pelicans appear to be going nowhere fast, having fallen to 9-20 after an overtime loss to the Heat today. Eric Gordon, a career 38.0% 3-point shooter, might just fit the bill for the sort of perimeter upgrade the Bulls are apparently seeking. Ryan Anderson is an alternative who’d provide shooting from a different position and would ostensibly be a better fit next to Gasol than Noah is, though the Bulls have no shortage of frontcourt players. The Pelicans made a strong statement about their desire to have Anthony Davis at power forward instead of center when they signed ex-Bull Omer Asik to a five-year deal in the summer, but he’s struggled mightily this season. So has Noah, of course, but the Pelicans could experiment with a change of scenery, and if Noah doesn’t pan out, they don’t have to re-sign him. The same goes for either Gordon or Anderson with the Bulls, since they’re both poised for free agency, too. Still, the Pelicans don’t appear eager to trade Anderson, and chatter about Gordon has been quiet of late.
The Bulls face a stiff challenge to find a new home for Noah, who turns 31 in February. Trading Taj Gibson, whom they’ve also apparently made available, would probably be easier to pull off and reportedly net a greater return, but that could turn a position of strength into one of weakness if Noah and Gasol depart in free agency this summer, leaving Chicago with Nikola Mirotic and the untested Bobby Portis up front without a strong candidate to back them up. GM Gar Forman and executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson also have to be careful about removing a leader from a locker room that seems to have some troubling dynamics. Nevertheless, it appears from a basketball standpoint as though the Bulls have already moved on from Noah, so it makes sense for the Bulls to find a palatable offer and formally bid him adieu before the chance to recoup any assets at all for him vanishes.
What potential trades do you think would work for Noah and the Bulls? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Rookie Scale Contracts That Didn’t Run To Term
The fate of Tony Wroten‘s rookie scale contract hangs in the balance today and Saturday, the two days that NBA teams have to consider claiming that deal off waivers from the Sixers, who released him Thursday. Any team that submits a claim by 4:00pm Central time Saturday would be responsible for his $2,179,353 salary, but that team would have the ability to match competing bids for him in restricted free agency this summer. Few midseason signees warrant more than the minimum salary, so if Wroten clears waivers, he’s liable to come more cheaply. However, if he only signs for the rest of the season, he’d be set for unrestricted free agency, not restricted free agency.
In any case, Wroten, the 25th overall pick from 2012, would become the 11th first-round pick from that year whose rookie scale contract didn’t run to term if he clears waivers. Here’s a look at the others, a group that includes three lottery picks:
- Thomas Robinson (No. 5) — The Trail Blazers declined his fourth-year rookie scale option in October 2014. They later traded him to the Nuggets, who waived him, but the Sixers claimed him off waivers, so he remained on his rookie scale contract until the end of last season. He’s now on a two-year, minimum-salary deal with the Nets.
- Austin Rivers (No. 10) — The Pelicans declined his fourth-year rookie scale option in October 2014. They later traded him to the Celtics, who flipped him to the Clippers. Now he’s on a two-year, $6.455MM deal with the Clippers that pays him a salary this season that’s exactly what he would have made if the Pelicans had picked up his option.
- Kendall Marshall (No. 13) — The Wizards waived his rookie scale contract in October 2013 soon after they traded with the Suns for him. He’s now on a four-year, $8MM deal with the Sixers.
- Royce White (No. 16) — The Sixers waived his rookie scale contract in October 2013 a few months after acquiring him in a trade with the Rockets. He’s now out of the NBA.
- Fab Melo (No. 22) — The Grizzlies waived his rookie scale contract in August 2013 shortly after acquiring him via trade from the Celtics. He’s now out of the NBA.
- John Jenkins (No. 23) — The Hawks declined his fourth-year rookie scale option in October 2014. He’s now on a three-year, minimum-salary deal with the Mavericks.
- Jared Cunningham (No. 24) — The Hawks declined his third-year rookie scale option in October 2013 and waived his rookie scale contract in February 2014. He’s now on a one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Cavaliers.
- Arnett Moultrie (No. 27) — The Knicks waived his rookie scale contract in October 2014, shortly after acquiring him in a trade with the Sixers. He’s now out of the NBA.
- Perry Jones III (No. 28) — The Celtics waived his rookie scale contract in October 2015, a few months after acquiring him in a trade with the Thunder. He’s now out of the NBA.
- Marquis Teague (No. 29) — The Sixers waived his rookie scale contract in October 2014, shortly after acquiring him in a trade with the Nets. He’s now out of the NBA.
The other 2012 first-rounders are either in the final seasons of their rookie scale contracts or signed extensions this past offseason.
Ish Smith Trade Fallout: Noel, D’Antoni, Holiday
The Sixers had interest in re-signing Ish Smith this past summer before he signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Wizards in September, according to Tom Moore of Calkins Media. Smith also drew offers of guaranteed money from teams, Calkins writes, indicating that the Sixers were one of them. The deal that Smith inked with Washington is the one he’s still on, since the Pelicans claimed him off waivers in October before trading him to the Sixers on Thursday. See more in the aftermath of the Christmas Eve trade between Philadelphia and New Orleans:
- Nerlens Noel loved playing with Smith last year, so the move will likely please the big man, Moore notes (on Twitter). Noel becomes eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer.
- New Sixers lead assistant coach Mike D’Antoni is also a fan of Smith and wanted Philadelphia to acquire him, sources told John Reid of The Times Picayune. D’Antoni has a reputation for lifting the performance of point guards, and Smith is set for free agency at season’s end.
- New Orleans plans to keep Jrue Holiday coming off the bench when his minutes restriction is lifted next week, but the team still didn’t envision giving Smith adequate time in the rotation, Reid writes in the same piece.
- The Pelicans created a trade exception equal to Smith’s $947,276 salary, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). The exception can help the Pelicans absorb a long-term minimum salary deal they might otherwise be unable to match salaries for, as I explained.
Pelicans Trade Ish Smith To Sixers
4:04pm: The trade is official, the Pelicans announced on their website and the Sixers announced via press release. Philadelphia released Tony Wroten to accommodate the move, as we detail here.
3:16pm: The Sixers are on the verge of acquiring Ish Smith from the Pelicans, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Philly will send two future second-round picks to New Orleans in exchange for Smith, a source said to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). Smith spent the second half of last season with Philadelphia and thrived there, but the Sixers didn’t re-sign him in free agency this past summer. Philadelphia has a full 15-man roster, so it would have to make a corresponding move if Smith came in and nobody went out in the trade.
Smith proved valuable early this season for the Pelicans, who claimed him off waivers from the Wizards shortly before opening night. The 27-year-old averaged 8.3 assists against 2.1 turnovers through the first 16 games of the season. However, his playing time has dwindled since the return of backup point guard Norris Cole from injury, as Smith has played less than 10 minutes in four of the Pelicans’ last five games.
The timing of the move for Philadelphia is somewhat odd, since point guards Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten recently made their season debuts after recovering from injuries. The Sixers also have Isaiah Canaan and rookie T.J. McConnell at the position.
It’s the first move of consequence for the Sixers since Jerry Colangelo became chairman of basketball operations, and it represents a departure of sorts from GM Sam Hinkie‘s philosophy, since Hinkie was notorious for stockpiling second-rounders. Smith is just the second player on the team who’s older than 25, but though he has five years of NBA experience, he doesn’t quite fit the profile of the sort of long-tenured veteran the Sixers have been rumored to be seeking. Smith doesn’t figure to markedly change the direction of the Sixers, who at 1-30 are the first team ever to win just a single game in their first 31 outings.
Smith isn’t a lavish expenditure for Philadelphia, either. His contract is non-guaranteed for the minimum salary and covers only one season. He agreed to those terms with the Wizards before the start of training camp, joining Washington even though he faced long odds to make the opening night roster. The Wizards cut him, as expected, in late October, allowing the Pelicans to scoop him up. Smith was briefly with New Orleans last season, when the Pelicans acquired him in a deadline-day trade from the Thunder, but the Pelicans waived him immediately after that deal, and Philadelphia claimed him shortly thereafter. Smith averaged 12.0 points, 6.1 assists and 2.8 turnovers in 27.1 minutes per game across 25 appearances for the Sixers last year.
New Orleans appears poised to open a roster spot if the deal goes through as reported so far. Cole, Jrue Holiday, Toney Douglas and Tyreke Evans are all around to man the point guard position. The move would appear to be a positive development for Douglas, whose contract isn’t fully guaranteed.
Which team do you think is getting the better end of this deal? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Atlantic Notes: Lopez, Landry, Zeller
The emergence of rookie Kristaps Porzingis clouds the future of Knicks offseason signee Robin Lopez, surmises Marc Berman of the New York Post, who earlier reported that the team is thinking about taking Lopez out of the starting five. He’s played 20 minutes or fewer in seven of his last nine games, though he’s shown hints of more efficient play and says he’s beginning to get a handle on the triangle offense, as Berman relays.
“I’m starting to see the opportunities,’’ Lopez said. “I’m starting to see when I’m supposed to look for me — on the block. When I’m supposed look for the pick and roll, where the cuts are going to be. I know it will get better. I’m getting a better idea of what I’m supposed to do offensively.’’
See more on the Knicks and the rest of the Atlantic Division:
- The Cavs are in first place in the Eastern Conference with J.R. Smith and a now-healthy Iman Shumpert, but the Knicks have seen strong play from Lance Thomas, and coach Derek Fisher doesn’t regret New York’s participation in last January’s three-way trade with Cleveland and Oklahoma City. Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News has the details. “Seems like both for J.R. and Shump it’s worked out well. They seem happy,” Fisher said Tuesday. “We like our team as it is at this point.”
- Sixers offseason trade acquisition Carl Landry, the only player on the team older than 25, made his season debut Wednesday after a wrist injury cost him the first two months of the season, and he’s embracing a leadership role, observes Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News. The team has been in the market for additional veteran influences of late.
- Tyler Zeller was an extension candidate this past summer, but the Celtics were reportedly interested in a deal only if it would come at a discount to them, and that hesitancy seems wise now that the center is averaging only 8.5 minutes a game. Still, the soon-to-be free agent posted a season-high 14 points Monday, and his lack of complaints about fluctuating minutes reveals a value, coach Brad Stevens contends, as A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNBoston.com notes. The Celtics organization is “even more endeared” to Zeller because of the way he’s handled the situation, Stevens said, according to Blakely.
Latest On Markieff Morris
1:43pm: Morris issued an apology via Twitter (hat tip to Coro).
“My frustration got the best of me last night,” Morris wrote. “It won’t happen again. I apologize to Jeff. My teammates told me I hit coach with the towel. In no way was that towel intended for him. I just want to help my team win so much. That’s my focus moving forward.”
1:26pm: The Suns have confirmed the suspension (Twitter link), citing “conduct detrimental to the team.” Morris will miss games against the Sixers and Cavs.
1:05am: The trade value of Markieff Morris is such that teams are asking the Suns to attach another player or asset to him in any proposal, tweets Zach Lowe of ESPN.com, using Archie Goodwin‘s name as an example of the sort of add-on other teams want. The Wednesday towel-toss that marked the latest chapter in a back-and-forth relationship between Morris and the Suns has prompted the team to issue an unpaid two-game suspension, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports. It’ll cost him $145,455 out of his $8MM salary, Charania notes. Morris threw a towel in the direction of coach Jeff Hornacek, who tossed it back as the pair engaged in an argument during Wednesday’s game, though Morris told teammates he didn’t mean for the towel, which connected with Hornacek’s leg, to hit the coach, Charania hears.
The Suns are unlikely to agree to give up value on top of Morris in a trade, Lowe says, though the power forward is “very available” on the trade market, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported last week, when he added that talks with the Rockets about trading Morris to Houston, which Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops originally revealed, have been serious. It’s unclear whether the Rockets or another Morris suitor, like the Pelicans, have spoken to the Suns about Goodwin or if Lowe was merely using him as a hypothetical. Goodwin, making about $1.16MM in year three of his rookie scale contract, has only played 41 total minutes in December.
Phoenix has lost three in a row and six of eight, and the Suns are four games in the loss column behind eighth place in the Western Conference. Morris, who backed off a summer trade demand when he showed up at training camp, lost his starting job earlier this month and disappeared from the rotation entirely before re-emerging to average 16.3 minutes per game over Phoenix’s last four contests. All of the Suns players were present for practice today except Morris, who deflected a question last week about whether he wanted to be traded, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link).
What do you think the Suns can reasonably get in exchange for Morris? Leave a comment to share your ideas.
Tomislav Zubčić Joins Thunder D-League Team
DECEMBER 24TH, 1:04pm: The move is official, the D-League team announced (another hat tip to Reichert).
DECEMBER 4TH, 11:02am: Draft-and-stash prospect Tomislav Zubčić will sign with the D-League affiliate of the Thunder, according to Vedran Modrić of the Eurohopes scouting service (Twitter link; hat tip to Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor). Oklahoma City acquired the NBA rights to Zubčić, the 56th overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft, when they sent Luke Ridnour to Toronto in a late June trade this year. The 25-year-old Zubčić left KK Cedevita in his native Croatia shortly after the start of the season.
Zubčić, who’s 6’11”, plays both forward positions, is a proficient corner 3-point shooter and performs well in transition, but he lacks the strength to put up much of a fight for rebounds inside, Modrić observes (Twitter links). He had a fairly limited role for Cedevita last season, averaging 7.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per game, and he shot 39.8% from behind the arc.
He’ll be perhaps the most high-profile European player to come stateside directly via the D-League, Modrić posits. It’s a move that takes advantage of a rule put into place last season that allows NBA teams to allocate draft picks directly to their D-League affiliates. In previous years, Zubčić would have been subject to D-League waivers, and any NBA team’s affiliate could have grabbed him. The Thunder have frequently used the rule to their advantage, funneling 2014 draft picks Josh Huestis and Semaj Christon to their D-League team, and they did the same with Dakari Johnson, whom they drafted 48th overall this year.
The Thunder have 15 fully guaranteed contracts on their NBA roster, so it appears that unlikely Oklahoma City will be bringing Zubčić to the NBA in the near future, barring another roster move.
The Beat: James Ham On The Kings
Nobody knows NBA teams better than beat writers, save for those who draw paychecks with an NBA owner’s signature on them. The reporters who are with the teams they cover every day gain an intimate knowledge of the players, coaches and executives they write about and develop sources who help them break news and stay on top of rumors.
We at Hoops Rumors will be chatting with beat writers from around the league and sharing their responses to give you a better perspective on how and why teams make some of their most significant moves. Last time, we spoke with Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post about the Heat. Click here to see all the previous editions of this series.
Today, we gain insight on the Kings from James Ham of CSN California and CSNBayArea.com. You can follow James on Twitter at @James_Ham, on Facebook at facebook.com/JamesHamKings and on Instagram at instagram.com/james_ham15/. Check out his stories here.
Hoops Rumors: From DeMarcus Cousins trade rumors to the recent team meeting to reports of frustration with George Karl, the Kings organization has a reputation for turmoil. Are Vivek Ranadivé and Vlade Divac learning any lessons from all this about how to keep situations from getting out of hand?
James Ham: Ranadivé has had to learn on the fly over his two-plus years running the Kings. It hasn’t always been easy. He makes plenty of mistakes, but hopefully he has learned from them.
The addition of Divac has brought a calm to the franchise. From the outside looking in, Sacramento is chaotic and dysfunctional. But the issues are being worked through and Divac is making the best of a situation that very few general managers would even attempt to take on.
Divac has developed a tight bond with Cousins. There is trust between the two big men, which isn’t an easy thing to accomplish when it comes to the Kings All-Star center. The gamble Divac made of bringing in Rajon Rondo has given Cousins a mentor.
As crazy as it may seem, the Kings are in a much better place than most media reports would have you believe. With the backing of Ranadivé, Divac is giving the Rondo/Cousins pairing a real chance to succeed before buying into any narratives concocted from the outside. It may not be a perfect situation, but when you are an NBA outpost, you do what you can to build a winner.
Hoops Rumors: Caron Butler seems like he’s played an important role in the locker room this season, but now the Kings have reportedly promised to trade him so he can see more playing time. If that’s true, who’s next in line to inherit that leadership capacity?
James Ham: It sounds like the Kings will take care of Butler and find a better spot for him to finish out his career. While Butler has been a veteran presence, the Kings have plenty of other experienced players to turn to.
Rondo has quickly risen to the top of the team’s leadership hierarchy. Butler will be missed, but there is a large group of players on this team that are extremely close to one another. Divac added plenty of seasoned winners to the roster.
Hoops Rumors: Recent controversy aside, Rondo has looked so much better this season than he did last year. What’s made the difference for him?
James Ham: There are a couple of reasons for Rondo’s success. First and foremost, he is completely healthy for the first time in a while. You can see that he has his explosive first step back.
Rondo missed training camp the previous two seasons due to injury. When he showed up in San Diego for day one of Kings camp he instantly began to put his personal stamp on the team. That may make some cringe, but the Kings were looking for a floor general and Rondo is a coach both on and off the floor.
There is no question that Rondo has a big personality. When he was traded to Dallas mid-season last year, it didn’t work. He was surrounded by too many veterans. They were already a winning club and they weren’t looking for a leader as much as they were looking for a lead guard.
Rondo is getting a fresh start in Sacramento. For better or worse, this is his team. He has made mistakes, but he has also been a star on plenty of nights.
Hoops Rumors: We haven’t seen too much of Willie Cauley-Stein and Cousins on the court together, thanks to injuries that have kept them both out at different times. Still, how have they meshed when Karl has put them both on the floor at the same time?
James Ham: Cauley-Stein has a ton to learn about the pro game. He is a quick study, but the Kings have had to start from scratch with him. He had very little exposure to the weight room and according to him, he had never really studied film before being drafted to the Kings.
Injuries have kept these two from playing together for much of the season and that will likely continue with Cauley-Stein’s finger injury. This should be a good long-term fit, but the early returns are not great.
Cauley-Stein knows to stay out of Cousins’ way on the floor. On the defensive end he is active when healthy, but he needs to add strength to compete against NBA regulars.
Hoops Rumors: Speaking of tandems, can Rondo and Darren Collison effectively share the floor, and if not, what can the Kings do about it?
James Ham: This is a tough question. On paper, this should work. Collison spent plenty of time playing off the ball with Chris Paul in Los Angeles, but the transition to working with Rondo is an advanced statistics nightmare.
We have seen some developments on this front over the last week or so, but it is a work in progress. Last season, Collison was the man. This season, Rondo is garnering all the acclaim. The Kings need both players to succeed, especially with Karl’s penchant for running dual point guards.
Long term, I think it works. Collison’s early injury forced Rondo into 48-minute-a-night duty. The team became overly reliant on his style of play and when Collison returned from injury, he tried to fit in instead of being himself.
We are starting to see Collison come in and change the pace when he is leading the team and find his spots when Rondo is in charge. It’s a tough transition, but Collison is a quality NBA guard and a very good locker room guy. Chemistry may take a little more time, but this is an important combination for the Kings.
Hoops Rumors: Ben McLemore has looked sharp on occasion, and he’s shooting a higher percentage on 3-pointers, but his minutes, and thus many of his other numbers, are down this season from last year. What has to happen for him to start seeing more playing time and live up to his billing as last year’s No. 7 overall pick?
James Ham: McLemore is in a tough spot. For his first two seasons, the Kings were rudderless and he was given every opportunity to play major minutes. Maybe he wasn’t handled properly during this stretch, but now he is on a completely different team.
The Kings added 10 new faces during the offseason, including three guards. The addition of Rondo has pushed Collison to take time at the two. Marco Belinelli is a seasoned pro with an elite skill and he too needs time.
Karl has tried plenty of three guard sets against smaller clubs, but McLemore’s inconsistency has hurt him. He’s still only 22 years old, but he now finds himself on a veteran-laden team. He has to produce. There are no nights off or bad stretches of inefficient ball. If he wants to play, he has to develop as a defender, a playmaker and continue to play aggressively.
McLemore is a great kid and an extremely hard worker, but he’s fighting for minutes against players with years of experience both in the regular season and in the playoffs. The Kings are dedicated to his development, but they have made a commitment to winning as well. It is up to him show that he can help this team on a consistent basis. If not, Karl has plenty of other options.
Mavs Notes: Nowitzki, Carlisle, Williams, Famous
Dirk Nowitzki left the door open last month to playing beyond his existing contract, which runs through next season, and he more recently told Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com that he values the idea of playing a 20th season with the Mavs, which would entail re-signing in 2017. Nowitzki has a player option worth about $8.692MM for next season and told USA Today’s Sam Amick in November that, “I’m going to definitely ride this contract out.”
“Yeah, I think 20 years is special, especially with one franchise,” Nowitzki said to MacMahon. “So that would mean I at least have to play one more [season after this contract expires], but I think that’s something I worry about later. I don’t want to look too far ahead because the end is near. I don’t want to look too far ahead.”
Nowitzki passed Shaquille O’Neal on Wednesday for sixth place on the NBA’s list of all-time scoring leaders. See more from Dallas:
- Mavs coach Rick Carlisle backed off Wednesday from comments he made Tuesday that suggested he’d push for roster changes if the team didn’t improve its effort, expressing his affection for the players and quipping, “I fly off half-cocked about every other day,” MacMahon observes in a separate piece. Owner Mark Cuban likes the roster and said to MacMahon that he doesn’t see a need for significant change, though he admitted inconsistent effort and energy have been problems. “Oh, it’s 100% about pressing buttons,” Cuban said about Carlisle’s Tuesday remarks. “The one thing you know about us, if we’re actually going to make a trade, nobody knows about it. And they were buttons that needed to be pressed, so I agree wholeheartedly with him.”
- Deron Williams wound up with the better end of the buyout that halted his Nets tenure, posits Andy Vasquez of The Record, who points to Brooklyn’s significant decline in offensive efficiency without the point guard and Williams’ contentment in Dallas. “I feel a lot better,” said Williams, who has a player option worth about $5.621MM for next season. “My mindset’s a lot better. I’m happy in Dallas, happy where I am right now, and enjoy playing with this team.”
- Jarrid Famous, who was with the Mavericks for the preseason, has signed with Yulon Luxgen in Taiwan, according to Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi. He had been playing with Fujian of China since shortly after Dallas waived his partially guaranteed contract prior to opening night.
Every Christmas Day Transaction In NBA History
The NBA has long played games on Christmas, but roster moves on December 25th have only recently started happening with any sort of regularity. At least one move has taken place on three of the past four Christmases, but before that, only three transactions are known to have taken place on December 25th in any year since the NBA began in 1949.
The start of the recent Christmas moves coincided with opening day of the lockout-shortened 2011/12 season. Teams usually don’t make roster moves on opening day, but given the mad scramble that took place as the NBA hustled to start its season that year following the ratification of the collective bargaining agreement, it shouldn’t have been a surprise when the Rockets waived Jeremy Lin and Charlotte claimed Cory Higgins off waivers from the Nuggets on December 25th, 2011. Higgins is the son of Rod Higgins, who was then Charlotte’s president of basketball operations, so even though it had been 30 years since anyone pulled off a transaction on Christmas, this move in particular was no shocker.
Lin was not yet the household name he would become a few weeks later after the Knicks picked him up, so his release didn’t cause much of a stir, even given its holiday timing, though some records contend that it took place on Christmas Eve, not Christmas. A Houston Chronicle report indicates that the Rockets waived Lin on the night of December 24th, 2011, and Basketball-Reference and Pro Sports Transactions reflect the same date. However, the RealGM transactions log shows December 25th, and that jibes with a reference that Marc Stein of ESPN.com made to it when he wrote about the Knicks claiming Lin off waivers on December 27th. NBA waivers entail a two-day waiting period, and RealGM, Pro Sports Tranactions and Basketball-Reference are all in agreement that the Knicks acquired Lin on the 27th (Basketball-Reference shows Lin as having signed as a free agent that day, though that appears to be incorrect.) So, Lin’s release goes down as a Christmas move.
Lots more activity happened a year later. The Wizards made a pair of signings on December 25, 2012, adding Garrett Temple and Shelvin Mack, two days after opening a pair of roster spots with their release of Earl Barron and Shaun Livingston, and one day before their December 26th game against the Cavaliers. Cleveland also made a pair of moves on December 25th that year, influenced by the timing of Washington’s decision to cut Livingston. Players are on waivers for two days regardless of whether those are business days or not, meaning that on Christmas, Livingston would either clear waivers or go to a team that submitted a claim. The Cavs pounced on him, putting in a claim and waiving Donald Sloan to make room. For Sloan, the Christmas release was an icy winter’s greeting, though he landed on his feet, signing with New Orleans shortly after the new year.
NBA teams haven’t changed the compositions of their rosters on Christmas either of the past two years, but the Suns and Raptors made D-League assignments on December 25th last year. They were the first D-League assignments ever to take place on Christmas, but given the growing number of one-to-one affiliates, they probably won’t be the last.
Just as with Lin, the historical record differs on a Christmastime move that involved another well-known name. The Cincinnati Royals, the forebears of today’s Sacramento Kings, traded former All-Star Game MVP Adrian Smith to the Warriors in 1969 for a 1970 second-round pick that the Royals used to select future Hall-of-Famer Nate “Tiny” Archibald. RealGM shows that transaction as having taken place on December 26th, 1969, but Basketball-Reference and Pro Sports Transactions list it on December 25th that year. A UPI account that appeared in multiple newspapers says it took place on a Thursday, and Christmas fell on Thursday that year. Since that trade happened much longer ago than the Lin waiver, it’s more difficult to say with any degree of certainty when the move actually took place, so we’ll list it with an asterisk, unlike with Lin, as it seems fairly clear he was released on Christmas.
Whenever it happened, the Smith-Archibald trade was a boon for the Royals, who moved to Kansas City in 1972, right before Archibald became the only player ever to lead the NBA in points and assists per game in a single season. Smith only played 66 games for the Warriors before moving on to the ABA. The Warriors captured the NBA title in 1975, but if they had hung on to the pick they traded for Smith and used it on Archibald, they’d have had a decent chance to win more championships.
In any case, Christmas transactions are rare but not as rare as they used to be. Here’s a look at them all:
2014
- The Suns assigned Tyler Ennis, Archie Goodwin and T.J. Warren to the D-League.
- The Raptors assigned Bruno Caboclo to the D-League.
2012
- The Cavaliers waived Donald Sloan and claimed Shaun Livingston off waivers.
- The Wizards signed Shelvin Mack and Garrett Temple.
2011
- The Rockets waived Jeremy Lin.
- The Bobcats claimed Cory Higgins.
1981
- The Pacers signed Raymond Townsend.
1977
- The Rockets signed Alonzo Bradley.
1969
- *-The Royals traded Adrian Smith to the Warriors for a 1970 second-round pick (Nate Archibald).
* — Whether this trade happened on Christmas 1969 or the day after is a matter of historical dispute (see introduction).