Western Rumors: Thunder, Young, Booker, Nuggets
Rookie Domantas Sabonis appears to be the early leader for the Thunder’s starting power forward position over veteran Ersan Ilyasova, Erik Horne of The Oklahoman reports. Sabonis passed and shot the ball well in the Thunder’s preseason games in Spain last week, Horne continues. He’s also shown unusual maturity for his age, Horne adds. “In terms of defensively where he’s supposed to be, remembering plays, doing his job, being in the right spots, the right positions, (being) a competitive guy, he’s reliable,” coach Billy Donovan told Horne. “Really reliable.”
In other news around the Western Conference:
- Lakers swingman Nick Young appreciates the way new coach Luke Walton has delivered his message of getting Young to improve defensively, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News writes. Young often bristled at the way former coach Byron Scott criticized him publicly, Medina notes, but Walton has tried a more positive approach. “You have a coach that is telling you to shoot the ball and has confidence in you,” Young told Medina. “All he wants you to do is play defense and do whatever you want on offense. That gives yourself a lot of confidence.”
- Suns coach Earl Watson believes shooting guard Devin Booker is a star in the making, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic relays. Booker lit up the Trail Blazers for 34 points in three quarters this preseason and Watson marvels at his scoring ability, Coro continues. “He scored every way possible, so you like everything that he did,” Watson told Coro. “You can tell 19 years of age and his maturity and patience in the half-court and the way he can score is very unique. I’m not sure there’s a lot of people his age or a lot of people in the NBA who can do that.”
- Jusuf Nurkic has been so impressive this preseason that he is practically forcing Nuggets coach Michael Malone to name him the opening-night starter at center, according to Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post. Nurkic has played with determination in the preseason, Dempsey notes, while averaging 18.0 points and 13.3 rebounds. If Nurkic continues to play this way, Malone’s biggest decision will be to choose between Nikola Jokic and Kenneth Faried as the starting power forward, Dempsey adds.
Eastern Notes: Knicks, Pistons, LeVert, Green
Knicks team president Phil Jackson believes the acquistions of point guard Derrick Rose and center Joakim Noah poses “minimal risk and a great reward,” according to Ian Begley of ESPN.com. Jackson made that comment during a podcast with Shaquille O’Neal. Rose was acquired in a trade with the Bulls, while Noah signed a four-year, $72MM contract as a free agent. “Both of them, I think, have some career left, even though they’ve had injuries, and it’s what they call risk-reward,” Jackson said to O’Neal. “What was the risk and what was the reward? And I felt it was a minimal risk and a great reward if we were able to put together a good team.”
In other developments around the Eastern Conference:
- Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy does not plan to carry both Lorenzo Brown and Ray McCallum on his opening-day roster, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com reports. Brown and McCallum are locked in a training-camp battle to back up point guard Ish Smith with starter Reggie Jackson sidelined the first month of the season by knee tendinitis. Neither one has a guaranteed contract. “It’s not going to be an easy decision,” Van Gundy told Langlois. “The way we’d love to start the year is to have them both because you want three point guards. But to do that, we’d actually have to cut somebody on a guaranteed contract. I don’t foresee that.”
- Caris LeVert has been a limited participant in training camp as the rookie guard continues to progress from the foot injuries that cut short his final season at the University of Michigan, Cory Wright of BrooklynNets.com reports. New Nets coach Kenny Atkinson is still unsure when LeVert, the 20th overall pick in this year’s draft, will be able to go without any restrictions, Wright adds.
- Jeff Green‘s ties to the Magic’s front office and the trade that brought Serge Ibaka to Orlando made it an easy decision for him to sign with the franchise, John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com writes. The well-traveled small forward signed a one-year, $15MM contract with the Magic after agreeing to the deal on the first day of free agency. “I knew (assistant GM) Scott (Perry) and (GM) Rob (Hennigan), too, from OKC,” Green told Denton. “I saw that the Magic had traded for Serge on draft day and I had played with Serge already. … I knew this would be a great situation.”
Sixers Notes: Covington, Rodriguez, Saric
Small forward Robert Covington should get plenty of scoring opportunities with the presence of center Joel Embiid this season, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Embiid’s ability to draw double teams in the post could often leave Covington open beyond the 3-point arc, where he’s made 40% of his attempts this preseason. He’s also intent upon gaining a reputation as a strong defender, Pompey adds. “I’m going to keep growing as a defender, becoming a two-way player,” Covington told Pompey.
In other preseason news involving the Sixers:
- In the same article, Pompey notes that point guard T.J. McConnell has been looking more for his shot, McConnell is averaging 10 points and 4.6 assists while shooting 50% during the first three preseason games.
- Veteran point guard Sergio Rodriguez, who is playing in the NBA for the first time since 2010, has already endeared himself to the team’s big men, Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The longtime Euro star had 15 points, eight assists and no turnovers in 27 minutes against the Cavaliers on Saturday. “He’s really helpful,” Embiid told Cooney. “When we play, he always talks to me and tells me where I need to be and how to get position.” Rodriguez, who has an $8MM contract this season, is currently backing up McConnell with Jerryd Bayless sidelined by a wrist injury.
- Coach Brett Brown plans to limit forward Dario Saric‘s minutes during the preseason, Brian Seltzer of Sixers.com relays. Saric has gotten very little time off since last October, when he played in Europe. Saric was also a key member of Croatia’s Olympic team in Rio this summer. Saric played well in the team’s first two preseason games before shooting 1-for-7 from the field against the Cavaliers. Brown is planning to sit him for the team’s next game on Tuesday. “I sense sometimes that he is sore, and I just want to be mindful of that,” Brown told Seltzer.
Atlantic Rumors: Celtics, Young, Bayless, Raptors
- Thaddeus Young was misled by the Nets prior to be shipped to the Pacers in a draft-day trade, Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders writes. The veteran power forward was told he was part of the team’s plans, then shortly afterward got dealt. “Initially when the summer had started, I was told by Brooklyn that they were looking toward the future and that it was going to take some time, and I was going to be around for it,” Young told Brigham. “Then, all of a sudden you’re hearing that you’re being shopped.”
- Point guard Jerryd Bayless could miss the start of the season because of a wrist injury, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets. The Sixers signed Bayless, an unrestricted free agent, to a three-year, $27MM contract to solidify their point guard spot.
- Raptors coach Dwane Casey is already showing signs of frustration with his team three games into the preseason, Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun reports. Casey believes the team’s defense, in particular, has been shabby. “We are way behind defensively, way behind on both ends of the floor,” he told Ganter and other members of the media.
Western Notes: Felton, Gee, Mavs, Blazers
Raymond Felton is emerging as the Clippers’ primary backup to point guard Chris Paul, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times reports. Even though the club re-signed Austin Rivers on a three-year, $35.5MM deal, the Clippers like the way Felton controls the offense. Felton was signed to the veteran’s minimum in late July. “I just liked his toughness,” coach Doc Rivers said. “Every coach you talked to loved him. They said he was great in the locker room.”
- Alonzo Gee‘s guaranteed contract doesn’t mean he has a guaranteed spot on the Pelicans’ roster, according to John Reid of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Gee, 29, could be the odd man out if Lance Stephenson secures a spot on the opening day roster, Reid continues. Gee signed for the veteran’s minimum this season, while Stephenson has a partially-guaranteed $1.2MM contract. Gee barely played during the first two preseason games, Reid notes, and Stephenson’s ability to play both guard positions, plus small forward, works in his favor. Gee, 29, appeared in 73 games with New Orleans last season, including 38 starts.
- Argentinian small forward Nicolas Brussino has improved his prospects of making the Mavs’ 15-man roster, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com writes. Brussino, who signed a partially-guaranteed three-year contract this summer, scored 13 points in 23 minutes against the Pelicans in the preseason opener. The fact that Brussino has enrolled in English-speaking classes is another sign that the team is serious about keeping him, Sneed adds.
- Trail Blazers center Mason Plumlee spent most of his summer working on his jump shot form, Cody Sharrett of Blazers.com reports. Plumlee finished third on the team in assists last season but rarely looked for his shot. He averaged 6.3 shot attempts despite starting every game. “He was important to us last year,” coach Terry Stotts told Sharrett. “His ability to be a playmaker will not be diminished. You can’t have too many playmakers on the court. The more guys that can dribble, pass and shoot, it just makes you a better team offensively.”
Eastern Notes: Bulls, Morris, Cavs, Heat
- Wizards power forward Markieff Morris focused this summer on improving his 3-point shot, Candace Buckner of the Washington Post reports. Morris has averaged 32.3% from long range during his career and made 31.6% of his 3-point attempts after he was dealt from the Suns to Washington during last season’s trade deadline. Morris attempted more mid-range shots (265) than any other area on the floor, Buckner notes, but Morris wants to make the 3-point shot a bigger part of his game. “It’s kind of like you have no choice now with the way the league is,” Morris told Buckner. “You got to be able to make that shot at the four. I’ve been working all summer trying to get better at it, continuing to get better at it.”
- Journeyman Toney Douglas is confident he’ll win the backup point guard job with the Cavaliers despite coming to camp with a non-guaranteed contract, Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net writes. Douglas, who played 61 games for the Pelicans last season, joined Cleveland this week and is competing mainly with rookie Kay Felder for that spot. “I’m a veteran player,” he told Amico. “I can play defense, lock up, hit open shots, run the offense and find guys when they’re open. I can do all that.”
- The Heat face a tough decision on point guard Briante Weber, according to Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders. Though Weber has only played in seven NBA games, he has shown enough upside that it will be difficult for the Heat to keep him off the opening-day roster, Taylor continues. Weber also has a partially-guaranteed contract, but veteran Beno Udrih looms as the main backup point man and Josh Richardson should return during the first month of the season from his knee injury, Taylor notes. If Weber is let go, another team would snatch him up quickly, Taylor adds.
Offseason In Review: Utah Jazz
Over the next several weeks, Hoops Rumors will be breaking down the 2016 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2016/17 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Utah Jazz.
Free agent signings:
- Joe Johnson: Two years, $21.505MM.
Camp invitees:
- Eric Dawson: One year, minimum salary (summer contract)
- Quincy Ford: Three years, minimum salary ($75K guaranteed)
- Henry Sims: One year, minimum salary ($75K guaranteed)
Trades:
- Acquired George Hill from the Pacers in a three-team trade in exchange for the draft rights to Taurean Prince (No. 12 pick; to Hawks).
- Acquired the draft rights to Marcus Paige (No. 55 pick) and cash ($3MM) from the Nets in exchange for the draft rights to Isaiah Whitehead (No. 42 pick).
- Acquired Wizards’ 2021 second-round pick from the Wizards in exchange for Trey Burke.
- Acquired Boris Diaw, Spurs’ 2022 second-round pick, and cash from the Spurs in exchange for the draft rights to Olivier Hanlan.
- Acquired Kendall Marshall from the Sixers in exchange for Tibor Pleiss, cash, and two 2017 second-round picks (best and worst of Jazz, Knicks, Pistons, and Warriors picks). Subsequently waived Marshall.
Draft picks:
- 2-52: Joel Bolomboy. Signed for three years, $2.556MM. Second year partially guaranteed. Third year non-guaranteed.
- 2-55: Marcus Paige. Signed for two years, minimum salary. First year partially guaranteed. Second year non-guaranteed.
- 2-60: Tyrone Wallace. Has not signed.
Departing players:
Other offseason news:
- Derrick Favors eligible for contract extension and renegotiation as of October 19. Rudy Gobert eligible for contract extension until October 31.
Check out our salary cap snapshot for the Utah Jazz right here.
The mantra around the Utah Jazz franchise this summer came down to these two words: Get older. While teams with aging rosters often spend their offseasons trying to acquire younger talent, the Jazz felt they needed to find playoff-tested veterans to fortify their youthful roster and rescue them from their cycle of mediocrity. The Jazz have won anywhere from 36 to 43 games in five of the last six seasons with only one playoff appearance during that span.
Enter the 30-something brigade. By the time the Jazz finished reshaping their roster, they had a trio of well-established, grizzled veterans to help guide the franchise to greater success — 35-year-old Joe Johnson, 34-year-old Boris Diaw and 30-year-old George Hill.
The first order of business, however, was to make a commitment to their coach. The Jazz have finished with a losing records during Quin Snyder’s first two seasons but the front office believes it has the right man patrolling the bench. Snyder agreed in May to a long-term extension, reportedly through the 2020/21 season. That not only gives him job security but also greater authority with the players, who know he’s going to be charge for awhile.
With that out of the way, the Jazz made a bold move on draft night, agreeing to ship their lottery pick to the Hawks and acquire Hill from the Pacers in a three-team deal. This filled a huge void for the Jazz, who were caught flat-footed when projected starting point guard Dante Exum tore his ACL and missed all of last season. Utah was stuck with the unimposing duo of disappointing lottery pick Trey Burke and Raul Neto running the show, until Shelvin Mack stabilized things to a degree after he was acquired from the Hawks in February.
Even so, Utah finished 28th in both points scored and assists. Hill should help move those numbers forward.
Hill was often used off the ball in Indiana last season as his PER fell from a career-high 21.52 to 13.22. While not a prototypical point man, Hill is a solid distributor, an above-average 3-point threat and an excellent defender with a large wingspan for a player his size. The Jazz couldn’t count on Exum coming all the way back from his knee injury and stepping right into the lineup. Ideally, Exum will eventually reclaim the starting role with Hill guiding the improved second unit.
As it turned out, Hill was the least experienced of the major acquisitions the Jazz made this offseason. They were quite busy in July, starting with the trade for Diaw. They dealt the rights to Olivier Hanlan to the Spurs for Diaw and a future second-rounder. Diaw has been a durable and consistent backup big man for a perennial contender over the past four seasons, appearing in at least 75 games each of those campaigns. He averaged 6.4 points and 3.1 rebounds in 18.2 minutes last season and gives the Jazz a quality backup to center Rudy Gobert, who missed 21 games last season due to injury.
The Jazz took a low-key approach to the free agent market, opting to preserve their cash with looming decisions on some of their top players. The only notable move they made was to sign Johnson to a two-year, $21.5MM deal. Johnson will have to transition to an unfamiliar role as a second-unit player. He has started every game in which he has appeared since the 2004/05 season, but he’ll primarily served as Gordon Hayward‘s backup at small forward. Johnson figures to be the No. 1 scoring option among the reserves and a mismatch for most second-unit forwards around the league.
With Hill in place, the Jazz had no need for Burke and they found a taker in the Wizards, who only needed to give up a future second-rounder for him. Mack made enough of an impression to have his modest $2.4MM salary guaranteed for this season.
There were some other housekeeping items, such as signing a couple of second-round picks to partial guarantees, but the Jazz still have up to $14.7MM in salary-cap space. That could give them flexibility to make some in-season moves, depending upon how it unfolds. They have also positioned themselves to restructure the contract of power forward Derrick Favors. An extension candidate as we detailed this summer, Favors is signed through next season. An extension agreement must be reached by the 19th of this month, if both sides opt to go in that direction.
The extension deadline for Gobert, who is still on his rookie contract, arrives at the end of the month. While Gobert has expressed an interest in signing an extension, there haven’t been any major rumbles that the sides are close to a deal. If the deadline passes, Gobert will become a restricted free agent next summer.
Perhaps the most intriguing issue is what the Jazz have in mind for Hayward. It’s a slam dunk that Hayward will opt out of the final year of his contract and enter the market next summer as an unrestricted free agent. If the Jazz have concerned about retaining Hayward, or if they are reluctant to commit a massive amount of money to him as their franchise player, he could be dealt. That’s an unlikely scenario, but if Utah underperforms during the first half of the season, it’s something the franchise would have to seriously consider.
On paper, the Jazz look like an improved team that should make the playoffs if their main cogs can stay healthy. They have better depth and leadership with the additions they have made, combined with a quality youthful core. With this roster, another finish around the .500 mark would be a disappointment.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of Russ Isabella / USA Today Sports Images.
Suns To Seek Trade Partner For Brandon Knight?
If the Suns have interest in moving point guard Brandon Knight, a strong start would help create a “palatable” market for him, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN.com (Links here). Knight, who has four years and approximately $57MM remaining on his contract, has become a backup behind Eric Bledsoe and shooting guard Devin Booker.
The Suns’ current blueprint has Knight, who is not a classic point guard, transitioning into a Jamal Crawford, instant-offense type of role player. That wasn’t the original plan when they gave up a protected first-round pick they possessed from the Lakers and forwarded it to the Sixers, Lowe points out. There isn’t much of a market for Knight now, but that could change if he plays well early on, due to the lack of quality wings around the league, Lowe adds. The club is not interested in moving Bledsoe, sources told Lowe.
In other tidbits offered by Lowe in his two-part article:
- The next Collective Bargaining Agreement will likely tweak the Gilbert Arenas provision, so that matching teams can distribute salary more evenly across the length of certain contracts. Lowe uses the example of Heat guard Tyler Johnson, whose offer sheet from the Nets this summer jumped his salary from under $6MM during the first two years of the contact to $19.245MM in each of the final two years of the four-year offer. Under the current agreement, the team making the offer could use the average salary of the contract to count against its cap, while the matching team has to go with the actual salary figures for each season.
- The Kings are actively involved in trade discussions and since Darren Collison is suspended for the first eight games, they could make a deal for a point guard during training camp, possible as part of a larger package.
- The Bucks are seeking help at the wing positions and a swap with the Kings for shooting guard Ben McLemore – a projected backup with the addition of Arron Afflalo — is a possibility. Milwaukee would like to move either center Greg Monroe or point guard Michael Carter-Williams under the right circumstances, according to Lowe’s sources.
Rockets Sign P.J. Hairston
SEPTEMBER 30th: The signing is official, the team announced.
SEPTEMBER 29th: P.J. Hairston will join the Rockets on a training camp deal, Adrian Wojnarowksi of The Vertical tweets. Houston will hold his D-League rights, Wojnarowski adds.
A 2014 first-round pick, the 6’6” small forward played for both the Grizzlies and Hornets last season. He was acquired by the Grizzlies in a deadline deal in which guard Courtney Lee landed in Charlotte.
He started half of the 18 games he played for Memphis last season, averaging 6.9 points and 2.6 rebounds in 20.8 minutes. He started 43 of the 48 games he played for Charlotte, averaging 6.0 points and 2.7 rebounds in 19.5 minutes. Hairston has shot just 34.3% from the field in 111 career game.
Hairston recently worked out for the Nets and Pacers before the Rockets offered him a deal. He also attended the Lakers’ mini-camp for free agents in August.
Training Camp Depth Charts
There has been a flurry of activity in recent weeks, as teams finalized their rosters heading into training camp. With so much happening around the league, it can be difficult to keep track of where everybody landed.
No worries, we’ve made it simple to find out all that information. Jason Martinez of RosterResource.com constantly updates all the player movement, so that you know who’s on the roster of your favorite team — along with the rest of the teams in the league. You can find the latest training camp depth charts by clicking here.
You can also go to RosterResource.com to find out what every player’s salary is for the upcoming season and how he was acquired by his current team, as well as plenty of draft-related information.