Northwest Notes: Schroder, Timberwolves, Bol Bol
The possibility of Dennis Schroder getting traded by the Thunder will increase once the regular season begins, Brett Dawson of The Athletic opines. Schroder’s presence on the roster made more sense with a team built around stars Russell Westbrook and Paul George. Schroder is likely to get fewer minutes on a rebuilding club with two other natural point guards ahead of him, but once teams get a better look at their rosters and more free agents are eligible to be traded after December 15, Schroder could be on the move, Dawson adds.
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- The Timberwolves want their G League affiliate in Iowa to mimic what the parent club is doing, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes. Iowa coach Sam Newman-Beck will employ similar systems, both a motion offense and switching defense, to what Minnesota coach Ryan Saunders is running with the Timberwolves. “We want the players when they’re coming to Iowa or going to Minnesota to feel like it’s the same playbook, that there’s no change,” Newman-Beck said.
- Rookie center Bol Bol‘s two-way contract with the Nuggets runs for the maximum of two years, Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights tweets. He’ll receive $50K guarantees in each of those seasons. Denver’s lack of a G League affiliate complicate its plans for Bol’s development. However, the Nuggets have successfully utilized a number of teams for their two-way players in past seasons, according to Adam Johnson of 2Ways10Days.com.
- The Jazz are among the teams with official full 20-man rosters heading into training camp.
World Cup Notes: Walker, Gobert, Scola, Guduric
Chinese fans have embraced Kemba Walker and he’s enjoying the attention as the biggest star on Team USA in the FIBA World Cup, Brian Windhorst of ESPN reports. Many fans are wearing his jersey in the stands.
“To know you have fans in other places, especially me, it was very humbling,” Walker said. “It’s just a great feeling.”
While many stars passed on playing for their national teams this summer, Walker has looked forward to this opportunity for years.
“It’s special to be a part of this team,” Walker said. “I’ve been a part of USA Basketball for years, I was on a couple Select Teams where I didn’t get this far. I appreciate it.”
We have more World Cup news:
- Jazz center Rudy Gobert, who is representing France, is upset by FIBA’s drug testing procedure, Sportando relays. Gobert posted on Twitter that he was awaken after a late game to get tested. “No respect for the player’s recovery time,” he wrote in part.
- Former NBA forward Luis Scola has moved into second place on FIBA’s all-time World Cup scoring list, Sportando reports. The 39-year-old Scola trails only Brazilian legend Oscar Schmidt. He surpassed Australia’s Andrew Gaze during a game against Nigeria.
- Marko Guduric, who signed with the Grizzlies this summer, is averaging 10.5 PPG for Serbia through two games in the FIBA World Cup, David Cobb of the Memphis Commercial Appeal writes. The swingman inked a two-year, $5.3MM deal with Memphis after playing the last two seasons for Fenerbahçe in Turkey.
Western Notes: Miller, Howard, Warriors, Wiggins
The Pelicans will have a tough time replacing Darius Miller‘s skill set from the current list of replacements on the roster, as William Guillory of The Athletic details. Miller suffered a ruptured right Achilles tendon and is expected to miss the season.
Miller provides defensive length and the ability to guard either forward spot while spacing the floor offensively, Guillory notes. The Pelicans might give Josh Hart and E’Twaun Moore more minutes at the wing spot but their options at backup power forward are newcomer Nicolo Melli and Kenrich Williams, who is limited as a shooter and defender against quicker forwards.
The contract that Miller signed this offseason — two years and $14.25MM with the second year non-guaranteed — becomes a less attractive trade piece for the Pelicans, Guillory adds.
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- Dwight Howard will be a role player with the Lakers for the first time in his career if everything goes as planned. New coach Frank Vogel spoke of his plans for the veteran player, who signed with Los Angeles after passing through waivers, to Spectrum SportNet (hat tip to the Sporting News). “He’s going to serve a different role,” Vogel said. “It’s going to be more of a role-player type of role, as opposed to being the lead. He understands that. He’s excited about playing that type of role on this team and what we can accomplish as a group.”
- Ryan Atkinson has been named GM of the Warriors’ G League affiliate in Santa Cruz, according to a team press release. Atkinson, 34, had been the G League team’s assistant GM for the last three seasons. Previous GM Kent Lacob has been named the Warriors’ director of team development.
- The Timberwolves haven’t come close to trading Andrew Wiggins, mainly because they never received an offer that was worth serious consideration, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic reports. The Timberwolves are hoping he can come closer to realizing his potential, which would also boost his trade value. Getting Wiggins to make a bigger impact at both ends of the floor is also the best way for the team to become more of a factor in the Western Conference.
Pistons Notes: Jackson, Rose, Frazier, Griffin
The Pistons are suddenly very deep at point guard, as Keith Langlois of the team’s website notes. Their lack of depth at that spot was exposed in recent seasons by injuries to Reggie Jackson and Ish Smith.
Though Smith signed with the Wizards this offseason, the Pistons have plenty of options beyond Jackson during the upcoming season. They signed free agents Derrick Rose and Tim Frazier and drafted Jordan Bone, who was signed to a two-way contract, in the second round. Bruce Brown and Langston Galloway can also run the offense.
It’s the best combination of players they’ve had at that spot since Chauncey Billups was a perennial All-Star and Lindsey Hunter backed him up, Langlois opines.
We have more from the Central Division:
- Jackson seriously considered retirement due to knee and ankle injuries prior to last season, when he played in every game, Rod Beard of the Detroit News reports. “I was just getting injured too much and I had hit basketball depression and it was a point in time that I really didn’t want to deal with the game anymore,” Jackson told Beard. “It was more the injuries that started to have that (retirement) thought creep in my head.” Arnie Kander, the team’s former strength and conditioning coach who was hired as a consultant prior to last season, devised a plan that helped Jackson overcome his issues.
- Jackson has no doubt that he can mesh his skills with Rose when they play together, Beard writes in the same story. “I’ll have more of a chance to play with Derrick on the ball and off. I’m better at catch-and-shoot,” Jackson said. “The layout of the team is complementary to each other. All the pieces work really well and it’s ideal for my game, how we mesh.”
- The additions of Frazier and power forward Markieff Morris give coach Dwane Casey a greater opportunity to rest Blake Griffin and Rose, Langlois writes in a separate story. Griffin only sat out three games for rest purposes last season as the Pistons relied heavily on the All-Star to make the playoffs. But with 13 back-to-backs this year, the Pistons will likely limit both Griffin and the oft-injured Rose to fewer than 70 games apiece, Langlois adds.
Jaylen Brown’s Stock On The Rise
Recent developments have boosted the stock of Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown, as Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston points out.
An already watered down free agent class for next summer took another hit when the Nets signed Caris LeVert to an extension on Monday. Brown will be a restricted free agent if, as anticipated, the Celtics extend a $8,573,696 qualifying offer after the upcoming season.
They can try to reach a rookie scale extension agreement with Brown prior to 2019/20’s opening night, though the price tag would likely be significantly higher than the three-year, $52.5MM offer that LeVert accepted. As Forsberg notes, Brown is two years younger and doesn’t have an injury history, unlike LeVert.
Brown has also excelled with Team USA during exhibitions prior to the FIBA World Cup. He’s averaging nearly 12 points a game while shooting 71.4% from the field. He’s third on the team in scoring behind Kemba Walker and Donovan Mitchell.
Brown had already shown a knack for increasing his production when the stakes are high. In the NBA playoffs the past two seasons, Brown averaged 18.0 PPG and 4.8 RPG in 2017/18 and 13.9 PPG and 5.8 RPG in 2018/19.
If Brown has a solid season in 2019/20, he might get a giant offer sheet from a team that views him as a major piece to their puzzle. The Celtics would then have to decide whether to match it, having already invested heavily in Walker and knowing Jayson Tatum‘s potential free agency is just around the corner.
Since the price tag on Brown is probably already high, there isn’t much risk for the Celtics to allow Brown to test restricted free agency, Forsberg adds.
Dwight Howard Signs With Lakers
6:23pm: The Lakers have issued a press release to announce the signing, Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times tweets. The club also confirmed that Aric Holman has been waived.
4:46pm: After clearing waivers, Dwight Howard is officially signing his contract with the Lakers, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
It’s a $2,564,753 veteran’s minimum deal, but Howard’s contract doesn’t have any salary protection, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). He’ll earn $14,490 for every day he’s on the roster, with the clock starting on October 21.
An Exhibit 9 clause will likely be inserted into Howard’s summer contract, in which the team would only be on the hook for $6K if Howard is injured and waived before the regular season, Marks adds (Twitter link).
The Grizzlies waived Howard after reaching a buyout agreement with the veteran center last week. Howard pledged to sign with the Lakers prior to the buyout.
Howard had several meetings with the Lakers, who noted that he had lost weight. Howard also demonstrated that his back was healthy after he only played nine games with the Wizards last season.
The Lakers will have to make a corresponding move, since they already have a full 20-man training camp roster.
Lakers Waive Forward Aric Holman
The Lakers are waiving forward Aric Holman to open up a roster spot for Dwight Howard, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets.
The Lakers had a full 20-man training camp roster prior to the addition of Howard and needed to make a corresponding move.
Holman was signed to an Exhibit 10 deal last month. He went undrafted and spent his college days at Mississippi State. The power forward blocked at least two shots in 61 of his 124 collegiate games. He averaged 9.5 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 1.6 BPG with a .473/.429/.701 shooting line in his senior year.
He averaged 4.5 PPG and 3.8 RPG in 15.8 MPG in four appearances with the Lakers in the Las Vegas summer league.
And-Ones: Loyd, MVP Race, Bucks, Sterling
Guard Jordan Loyd views his upcoming season in the EuroLeague as an opportunity to showcase his talents before returning to the NBA, Blake Murphy of The Athletic reports. Loyd played on a two-way contract with the Raptors last season and feared he’d get stuck on a similar deal if he stayed in Toronto. The Raptors waived him after he agreed to a one-year contract with Valencia Basket.
“This year, I have a one-year deal, and then try to get back to the league, man. I think it’s gonna help me, honestly,” he said. “I look at it as a year to better myself and to get back to the league. I feel like I am an NBA player, but I’m not naive enough to sit there and let great opportunities pass me by overseas.”
We have more from the basketball world:
- The Most Valuable Player race for the upcoming NBA season looks wide open, according to a panel of ESPN experts. While reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is favored to win it again, former MVPs Stephen Curry and LeBron James as well as Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic and Kawhi Leonard are all logical candidates for the top individual award.
- The Bucks’ biggest challenge will be handling the pressure of high expectations, Malika Andrews of ESPN writes. Not only will they have a target on their backs but it will be a pivotal season in terms of whether they can retain Antetokounmpo long-term. A group of ESPN writers examines the strengths and biggest question marks looming over seven contenders.
- ESPN took a deep dive into the saga of former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was forced to sell the team after making racially insensitive statements. Perhaps the most eye-opening revelation by ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne was that the league nearly shut down during the 2014 playoffs until commissioner Adam Silver took swift and bold action. “I was all-in. Like shut down the whole season,” then-Warriors forward Andre Iguodala said. “Maybe that was too far, but as far as that game that day, you can reschedule it, you gotta sort this thing out, because there’s some deep-rooted stuff with him that had to be addressed.”
Southwest Notes: Howard, Ledbetter, Finney-Smith, Parker
Waiving Dwight Howard would be the most likely scenario for the Grizzlies, Chris Herrington of the Daily Memphian writes. Howard is reportedly working out for the Lakers this week as Memphis looks to move the veteran center. Best case scenario for the Grizzlies would be a buyout agreement with Howard, who is owed $5.6MM. Using the stretch provision is unlikely since the team could have significant cap space next summer and probably wouldn’t want to add dead money to the bottom line.
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- The Spurs have offered guard Jeff Ledbetter an Exhibit 10 deal, according to Nicola Lupo of Sportando (Twitter link). Ledbetter is interested but is also mulling other options in Europe, Lupo adds. Ledbetter averaged 15.8 PPG in five Las Vegas summer league games for San Antonio. Ledbetter, 31, averaged 13.6 PPG and 3.9 APG in 19 games with the G League’s Austin Spurs last season.
- Dorian Finney-Smith is a candidate to start at small forward for the Mavericks, Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News writes. He’ll complete with Justin Jackson and Tim Hardaway Jr. for starting time at that spot. Dallas re-signed Finney-Smith this summer on a three-year, $12MM pact.
- The Spurs will retire Tony Parker‘s No. 9 jersey in a November 11 ceremony, according to a team press release. Parker finished his career with the Hornets after playing 17 seasons with San Antonio.
Community Shootaround: Nets’ Outlook
There’s plenty of excitement in Brooklyn these days after the Nets signed two top free agents, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant (though technically Durant came in a sign-and-trade with the Warriors).
The only thing putting a damper on that excitement is Durant’s Achilles injury. While Durant is making good progress rehabbing the ruptured tendon, it’s unlikely he’ll play in the upcoming season.
The Nets essentially swapped out point guards with the more accomplished Irving replacing D’Angelo Russell, who wound up with Golden State. The team added another veteran free agent, DeAndre Jordan, though the Nets already had a promising young center in Jarrett Allen.
That could lead to some playing time issues for coach Kenny Atkinson. Several other players have blossomed under Atkinson’s tutelage in recent seasons, including Caris LeVert, Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie. Forward Taurean Prince was acquired in a trade with the Hawks, who were a willing partner in a salary dump involving Allen Crabbe in order to acquire other assets. Forward Rodions Kurucs could make a major step forward in his second season if he improves his long-range stroke.
By all accounts, the oft-moody Irving is embracing a leadership role with his new team.
How all those pieces will fit while the franchise waits for the 2020/21 season, when Durant should be back to full strength, remains to be seen. Brooklyn reached the playoffs last season but got knocked out by the more talented Sixers, 4-1, in the opening round. Good chemistry played a role in its regular-season success but this is a different mix.
That leads us to our question of the day: Will the Nets make the playoffs again this upcoming season? If so, how deep of a postseason run can they make?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.