Northwest Notes: Nuggets’ D, Rose, Thunder
Despite scoring being at a near-all-time high early on this NBA season, one team has still been able to hold every one of its opponents to less than 100 points in each game played thus far – the Nuggets. And while one may not think of the up-and-coming Nuggets as a defensive juggernaut just yet, head coach Michael Malone is a defensive guy at his core, writes Christopher Dempsey of Nuggets.com.
Yes, it’s awfully early to make any long lasting conclusions about a team’s defensive prowess this season, but Malone is excited about the potential for this year’s team to be one of the best defensive teams to come along in Denver in a while. “This is the defense I dream about,” Malone said. “Ever since I got here.”
Asked why exactly it is his team is playing so well on the defensive side of the ball so far during the 2018/19 campaign, Malone lauded his team’s effort and want-to. “I would say just an overall buy-in and commitment. You can talk game plan and you can talk strategy but at the end of the day, for me, defense comes down to pride. Do you want to go out there and give it everything you have to defend?”
Additionally, Dempsey opines that adding defensive-minded players like Torrey Craig, Gary Harris, Paul Millsap and Mason Plumlee has helped the mentality around the team morph into a more defensive-oriented group.
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Timberwolves’ head coach Tom Thibodeau evidently thinks backup guard Derrick Rose still has a lot of gas left in the tank, despite a bevy of evidence to the contrary, telling Jace Frederick of the Pioneer Press that “as long as (Rose is) healthy, he’ll be one of the best players in the league.”
- The Thunder, praised as one of the best teams in the deep Western Conference to begin the season, have gotten off to a rocky, 0-3 start. Yet, as Erik Horne of The Oklahoman writes, there exists reason for optimism, with rookie Hamidou Diallo and newcomer Nerlens Noel both providing a spark off the bench in Sunday’s loss to the lowly Kings.
- In other Thunder news, Brett Dawson of The Athletic is reporting that guard Alex Abrines, who left Sunday’s game in the first half with a mouth contusion, and who will compete for Diallo and Terrance Ferguson for minutes until the return of Andre Roberson, is not expected to miss any additional time.
Five Key Stories: 10/13/18 – 10/20/18
In case you missed any of this week’s biggest NBA stories, we’ve got you covered with our Week in Review. Listed below are some of the most noteworthy stories from the last seven days.
The Pacers and center Myles Turner reached an agreement on a rookie scale contract extension worth $72MM over four seasons, with the deal potentially being worth up to $80MM with incentives. The contract will have flat cap hits of $18MM across four years, starting in 2019/20, and the deal has no team or player options. Turner, 22, averaged 12.7 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and 1.8 BPG in 65 games last season.
The Cavaliers and Larry Nance Jr. also agreed to a rookie scale contract extension, worth $44.8MM over four years. The contract will have annual declining values, with year one (2019/20) paying Nance $12.7MM and year four (2022/23) paying him only $9.6MM. Nance, 25, established new career highs last season, averaging 8.7 PPG and 6.8 RPG.
Justise Winslow signed a rookie scale contract extension as well, agreeing with the Heat on a three-year, $39MM extension, with the third-year including a team option. Winslow, the 10th overall pick in the 2015 draft, showed some improvement last season after starting his career relatively slow. He averaged 7.8 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 2.2 APG in 68 games last season.
The Clippers and Pelicans reached a trade agreement that sent Alexis Ajinca to Los Angeles and Wesley Johnson to New Orleans. The trade saves the Clippers about $840K in salary, the difference in the two players’ salaries. Ajinca, as well as 2017 second-round pick Jawun Evans, have since been waived. The Pelicans, meanwhile, hope to get something out of Johnson, who adds veteran depth at a position of need without sacrificing future cap flexibility.
The Wizards traded guard Jodie Meeks, who is currently serving a suspension, cash, and a second-round pick to the Bucks. The Bucks plan to waive Meeks, but have not yet done so. The cash received by Milwaukee will help cover Meeks’ 2018/19 salary, so the Bucks basically earned a second-round pick for paying the remainder of Meeks’ salary. For the Wizards, the move is to simply reduce their luxury tax bill. They received a heavily-protected second-rounder from the Bucks to complete the deal.
Here are 10 more notable NBA headlines from the last week:
- The Suns signed free agent guard Jamal Crawford, waiving Davon Reed to create the necessary roster spot.
- Reed was not a free agent long, signing a two-way deal with the Pacers. Indiana waived C.J. Wilcox to open up a two-way roster space.
- Richard Jefferson announced his retirement from basketball after 17 NBA seasons.
- Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen passed away from complications due to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
- The Sixers turned down a trade offer from the Suns for point guard T.J. McConnell.
- The Nuggets and head coach Michael Malone reached an agreement on a contract extension that locks Malone up through the 2020/21 season.
- After being waived by the Bucks, point guard Tim Frazier was claimed by the Pelicans, who waived Troy Williams to free up a roster spot.
- After being waived and clearing waivers, Williams signed a two-way deal with the Kings.
- Paul George claims had it not been for his trade to the Thunder, he would be on the Lakers’ roster this season.
- Beginning next year, the G League is creating a new “professional path” as an alternative to the one-and-done route in college basketball.
2018 NBA G League Draft Recap
The Jazz’ G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, selected five-year NBA veteran Willie Reed with the No. 1 overall selection in this year’s G League draft. Reed, 28, has played for the Nets, Heat, Clippers, and Pistons, holding career averages of 4.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game in 152 career contests. Some other notable selections include:
- No. 2 overall – Greensboro Swarm – Chinanu Onuaku
- No. 9 overall – Delaware Blue Coats – Hakim Warrick
- No. 107 overall – Austin Spurs – DeJuan Blair
Onuaku, 21, was just recently waived by the Trail Blazers. He was selected in the second round of the 2016 NBA Draft, and has extensive G League experience, playing in 83 total games for the Rockets’ G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers the past two seasons.
Warrick, 36, last played in the NBA during the 2012-13 season with the Charlotte Bobcats, where he appeared in 27 games and scored 7.0 PPG. In 526 career games, the Syracuse product averaged 9.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Last season, the veteran played with Ironi Nahariya of the Israeli Premier League.
Blair, 29, last played in the NBA during the 2015-16 season with the Wizards, where he appeared in 29 games and averaged only 7.5 minutes per contest. In 424 career games, the big man averaged 6.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Blair most recently played professionally for San Lorenzo de Almagro in Argentina.
The full results of all four rounds of this year’s G League draft can be viewed here.
Celtics, Raptors To Rest Hayward, Leonard
As we noted this morning, the Lakers plan to be cautious with LeBron James‘ minutes this season. Evidently following suit, the Celtics have announced that Gordon Hayward (link) will sit out tonight’s games against the Knicks. Additionally, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports that the Raptors will rest Kawhi Leonard against the Wizards.
Per the Celtics, Hayward is out due to “left ankle recovery.” Of course, Hayward infamously broke his left ankle/leg in last season’s season opener in Cleveland. He missed the entire 2017/18 season and has experienced some obstacles and difficulties in returning from that devastating injury. Moreover, head coach Brad Stevens already indicated a minutes restriction may occur early on this season and tonight’s game is a back-to back.
As for Leonard, the Raptors are also playing a back-to-back tonight, having defeated Hayward’s Celtics last night, 113-101. His absence is being attributed to rest, but he also experienced a quadriceps injury last season, limiting him to nine games during the 2017/18 season, so it will be interesting to see how Toronto handles his minutes moving forward. Neither player is expected to miss extended time.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 10/13/18 – 10/20/18
Every week, our writing team at Hoops Rumors creates original content to complement our news feed. Below are the original segments and features from the past seven days:
- Our writing team took a stab at their 2018/19 NBA Predictions, with the majority of us having LeBron James winning another MVP award.
- We continued our 2018 Offseason in Review with the following franchises:
- Luke Adams took a look at which NBA teams had the most and least roster continuity from last season.
- We continued and finished our 2018/19 Over/Unders series with the Southeast Division and the Northwest Division. We also provided a summary of our Over/Unders series.
- With the passing of this year’s annual deadline for rookie scale contract extensions, Luke Adams recapped which players received extensions.
- Chris Crouse wrote about five early storylines to watch regarding your fantasy basketball team.
- In our one Community Shootaround post, we asked:
- What was your first impression of the new-look Lakers?
- We listed some important in-season NBA dates for the 2018/19 season.
- Luke Adams analyzed some unique trade eligibility dates for players this season.
- We listed the NBA teams who still have open roster spots this season.
Kings Release Kalin Lucas, Cameron Reynolds
The Kings announced today that they have waived guards Cameron Reynolds and Kalin Lucas, per an official media release. Sacramento’s roster now stands at 15 players on standard contracts and one player on a two-way contract, Wenyen Gabriel.
Reynolds, 23, appeared in four preseason games for the Kings, averaging nine minutes per contest. The Tulane product was also a member of the Kings’ Summer League squads in the Sacramento and Las Vegas leagues in July. As we relayed back in September, Reynolds will be joining the Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s G League affiliate, so his release comes as no surprise.
Lucas, 29, also averaged nine minutes per game with the Kings this preseason. The Michigan State product has an NBA season under his belt, appearing in one game for the Grizzlies back during the 2014-15 season. He may join Reynolds in Stockton now that he’s been waived.
Clippers Waive Jamel Artis
Only a few days after signing him, the Clippers have waived recently-signed swingman Jamel Artis, per an official release from the team.
As we wrote when the signing was reported a few days ago, the timing of Artis’ signing seemed odd because it came when the team was reportedly seeking out trades to get rid of players.
That odd timing now makes sense, with the Clippers having signed him likely just to keep him with their G League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers.
Artis, who spent the 2017-18 campaign on a two-way contract with the Magic, averaged 5.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists across 18.6 minutes per game last season.
Five Key Stories: 10/6/18 – 10/13/18
In case you missed any of this week’s biggest NBA stories, we’ve got you covered with our Week in Review. Listed below are some of the most noteworthy stories from the last seven days.
The Suns fired general manager Ryan McDonough, with vice president of basketball operations James Jones and assistant general manager Trevor Bukstein taking over GM duties on an interim basis. With the unusual timing of the move, it appears as though ownership hasn’t necessarily been thrilled with the club’s offseason moves. Phoenix has struggled to acquire a starting-caliber point guard and that may have led to ownership’s frustration, especially considering the logjam they had at the position not too long ago.
Spurs’ starting point guard and thought-to-be potential breakout star Dejounte Murray suffered a torn ACL in his right knee and will likely miss the 2018/19 season. With Murray sidelined, the Spurs figure to lean more heavily on Patty Mills, with newcomer and All-Star DeMar DeRozan to also assume some more ball-handling duties.
Jimmy Butler returned to Minnesota and met with head coach Tom Thibodeau, where he reiterated his request to be traded. Clearly upset about the lack of traction on a trade agreement, Butler decided to take it out on the Wolves, screaming at front office executives and teammates alike before doing an exclusive interview for ESPN. Despite all that, Butler will likely remain on the Wolves to begin the season.
The Heat and forward Justise Winslow have agreed to a three-year, $39MM rookie scale contract extension. The extension includes a third-year team option. Winslow becomes the third player from the 2015 rookie class to secure an extension after Devin Booker and Karl-Anthony Towns. The Heat will now have approximately $133MM in salary commitments for the 2019/20 season, so they’ll have to make some moves to avoid paying luxury tax penalties in the future.
The Knicks have officially waived center Joakim Noah, deciding to utilize the stretch provision on his contract after failing to reach a buyout agreement. The Knicks will incur an $18.5M cap hit this season for Noah, which could be reduced by $522,252 if the center signs a guaranteed minimum salary contract elsewhere. For the next 3 seasons (2019-20 to 2021-22), the Knicks will be charged $6.4M per season.
Here are 10 more notable NBA headlines from the last week:
- In other Spurs‘ injury news, rookie first-round pick Lonnie Walker IV underwent surgery to repair a right medial meniscus tear and will miss approximately 6 to 8 weeks.
- Kelly Oubre and the Wizards are unlikely to agree to terms on a rookie scale contract extension.
- The Suns are leaning toward promoting James Jones to head of basketball operations.
- If the Rockets are to successfully trade for Butler, they’ll likely need to trade both Eric Gordon and P.J. Tucker.
- The Suns have applied for a disabled player exception for veteran forward Darrell Arthur.
- The Clippers are exploring trades to clear their roster logjam before the beginning of the regular season.
- Mavericks‘ forward Dirk Nowitzki will not be back from his ankle injury in time for the beginning of the regular season.
- In yet more poor news for the Spurs, guard Derrick White suffered a heel injury and will be sidelined for six to eight weeks.
- Terry Rozier and the Celtics are also unlikely to agree to terms on a rookie scale contract extension.
- The Pelicans waived point guard Jarrett Jack in a somewhat surprising last-minute roster decision.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Trail Blazers Cut Payton, Oliver, Onuaku
The Trail Blazers have waived Gary Payton II, Cameron Oliver and Chinanu Onuaku, according to an official release from the team. The news was first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. All three players were on fully non-guaranteed contracts, so Portland won’t be on the hook for any money.
With the moves, the Trail Blazers have lowered their roster count to 15 players in anticipation of the upcoming regular season. Portland could have kept one or two of Payton, Oliver, and/or Onuaku as two-way players, but with no G League affiliate, the team decided not to go that route.
Payton, 25, is the son of NBA Hall-of-Famer Gary Payton. He has seen a little NBA action over the last two seasons with the Lakers and Bucks, but spent most of his time in the G League.
Oliver, 22, signed a training camp contract with the Rockets after going undrafted in 2017, but was waived before the regular season. He averaged 10.8 PPG and 7.1 RPG in 39 total G League games last season.
Onuaku, 21, was selected in the second-round of the 2016 NBA Draft, but has only appeared in six NBA regular season games in his first two NBA seasons. Like Payton and Oliver, he has extensive G League experience, playing in 83 total games for the Rockets’ G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers the past two seasons.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 10/6/18 – 10/13/18
Every week, the writing team here at Hoops Rumors creates original content to complement our news feed. Below are our segments and features from the past seven days:
- We continued our 2018 Offseason in Review, and analyzed the following teams:
- We began our 2018/19 Over/Unders series, beginning with the following divisions:
- Chris Crouse gave you his Top-150 preseason fantasy basketball rankings.
- In our one Community Shootaround post, we asked:
- What does the future hold for Kevin Durant?
- Luke Adams took a look at some end-of-summer/beginning-of-season deadlines.