Western Rumors: Lin, Nuggets, Matthews
Jeremy Lin will start the remainder of the season but it probably won’t affect the Lakers’ decision whether to re-sign the veteran point guard, according to Bill Oram of the Orange County Register. Oram writes that many people around the league believe it’s a given that Lin, who will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, will sign elsewhere. Coach Byron Scott told Lakers beat reporters that the team’s draft choices will affect Lin’s chances of returning. “It’s just a matter of what happens in the draft and everything else that determines what we’re going to do with the free agent market,” Scott said.
In other news around the Western Conference:
- Interim coach Melvin Hunt has taken an upbeat approach to improve the Nuggets, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reports. Hunt has used positive reinforcement to inspire his players, a stark contrast to predecessor Brian Shaw, who often criticized players in his postgame press conferences, Kyler continues. Ty Lawson told Kyler that he appreciated the change in philosophy. “He is giving everybody confidence,” Lawson said. “He is a very upbeat person. I think he just wants everybody to succeed; you feel it when he walks into the room and when he talks to us. He has us all on the same page, that’s helping us out right now.”
- Wesley Matthews‘ season-ending Achilles injury has had a major impact on the Trail Blazers’ defense, Mike Richman of The Oregonian writes. Portland has gone 3-5 since Matthews suffered the injury and its defense has ranked 27th in defensive efficiency in those games, allowing 110.5 points per 100 possessions, Richman notes. The Blazers were No. 3 in that category up to that point, Richman adds. While all of the Blazers’ defensive problems cannot be attributed to Matthews’ absence, backcourt partner Damian Lillard tells Richman that he definitely sees a difference. “His ability to lock guys up defensively and kind of spark us at that end of the floor,” Lillard said of what the team is lacking. “His passion. Just the fire that he brought to our team is something that we definitely miss.”
- Jazz coach Quin Snyder is less concerned about making the playoffs than showing improvement the remainder of the season, Ryan McDonald of the Deseret News reports. Utah has made a late run but Snyder isn’t worried about wins and losses, McDonald adds. “I don’t think playoff awareness is necessarily going to improve our play as much as a focus on game to game, moment to moment,” Snyder said.
Central Notes: George, Bucks, Thibodeau
Pacers coach Frank Vogel insists that Paul George is not ready to play, Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star tweets. ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst reported on Friday that George could return within a week but Vogel told Buckner that’s not the case. “There’s a lot of layers to it,” Vogel said. “He’s not ready. He hasn’t reached our level of what we feel he’s ready to play.” In a separate tweet from Buckner, Vogel added that while George is cleared to practice, he’s not cleared to play, though that refuted what president of basketball operations Larry Bird indicated to ESPN.com’s Mike Mazzeo.
In other news around the Central Division:
- Trading Brandon Knight to the Suns has led to the Bucks’ recent struggles, according to Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. The deadline deal had an emotional impact on the team and hindered the team’s offense because replacement Michael Carter-Williams isn’t as proficient as Knight, in Aschburner’s assessment. Coach Jason Kidd did not view Knight as his long-term solution at the point and Knight’s status as a restricted free agent after the season contributed to the decision to deal him, Aschburner adds.
- Iowa State’s Fred Hoiberg could be a candidate for the Bulls head coaching job if they part ways with Tom Thibodeau after the season, Chad Ford of ESPN.com speculates. Thibodeau reportedly has a strained relationship with the team’s management and Ford considers Hoiberg the hottest college coach on the market. Hoiberg played in the league, worked in an NBA front office, and has a more laid-back demeanor than Thibodeau, Ford points out.
- The Cavs turned their season around by making trades for Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Timofey Mozgov, Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer opines. Cleveland started out 19-20 and GM David Griffin fixed its problems by shaking up the roster, which dramatically improved the team’s defense, Pluto adds.
Suns Sign A.J. Price To 10-Day Contract
SATURDAY, 6:44pm: The Price signing is official, tweets Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Price will be on the Suns’ active roster for tonight’s game in Houston.
FRIDAY, 5:34pm: The Suns will release Seth Curry and sign A.J. Price to a 10-day contract, a league source told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Price played for the Pacers and Cavaliers this season. He appeared in 10 games with Indiana, averaging 10.5 points, 2.7 assists and 19.3 minutes, before the club waived him in late November. Cleveland claimed him off waivers and he appeared in 11 games with the Cavs, averaging just 2.0 points, 1.2 assists and 7.9 minutes, until they waived him in early January.
The former University of Connecticut guard played 28 games for the Timberwolves last season. He played 57 games, including 22 starts, with the Wizards during the 2012-13 season.
Curry appeared in just two games with the Suns after signing a 10-day contract earlier this month. The younger brother of Warriors star Stephen Curry had been playing for the Magic’s D-League affiliate. His first tie to the Suns came when he joined the team for summer league action this past July. Curry averaged 23.5 points in 37.0 minutes per game with the Erie BayHawks before joining Phoenix.
Atlantic Notes: Ledo, Nets, Larranaga
Ricky Ledo could be a steal for the Knicks, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told Marc Berman of the New York Post. Ledo signed a 10-day contract with New York on Thursday because of injuries to shooting guards Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cleanthony Early. The Mavs waived Ledo last month so they could sign Amar’e Stoudemire, who agreed to a buyout with New York. He was playing with the Texas Legends, the D-League affiliate of the Mavs, before the Knicks signed him. “He is incredibly talented,” Cuban stated to Berman via email. “Because we are trying to compete for a championship, we really weren’t in a position to give him minutes to help his development. I think with playing time he will get better and better and could be a steal for the Knicks.’’
In other news around the Atlantic Division:
- The Nets‘ future looks bleak regardless of whether they make the playoffs this season, Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com opines. The Nets don’t have total control over their own first-round pick until 2019 and even with ample cap space in the summer of 2016, Mazzeo doubts the Nets can attract impact free agents. The team has a leadership void and veteran players like Deron Williams and Joe Johnson with big contracts that are difficult to move, Mazzeo adds, plus GM Billy King is entering the final year of his contract.
- The Nets were influential in the move that 2014 59th overall pick Xavier Thames made to join the D-League after he’d run into problems with his Spanish team, as Thames told Scott Kaplan and B.R. Smith of San Diego’s Mighty 1090 AM Radio (audio link), and as Robert Windrem of NetsDaily transcribes. Brooklyn acquired the shooting guard’s NBA rights on draft night in a trade with the Raptors.
- Celtics assistant coach Jay Larranaga has declined to be part of George Mason University’s search for a new head coach, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
And-Ones: Lottery, Monroe, Harris
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said changes to the draft lottery favored by the majority of teams will likely be postponed because the NBA Players Association recently turned down the league’s smoothing proposal regarding salary-cap increases, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports. The dramatic increase in the salary cap from $63MM to an estimated $90MM during the summer of 2016 makes changes to the lottery system unfeasible, Silver told Houston-based reporters on Thursday. “What I am hearing from some of the general managers in the league is that because it’s unclear how the cap will operate with a massive amount of cap room in ’16 and ’17 and potentially in the year after that it may be premature to change the lottery until we have a better understanding of what the changed behavior will be, so it’s something we are going to continue to look at,” Silver said.
In other news around the league:
- The Pistons are unlikely to sign and trade Greg Monroe this summer, David Mayo of MLive.com opines. Mayo doubts that any team interested in signing Monroe, who becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, would give up anything of value for him. The Pistons would probably have to take back a bad contract to execute such a deal, which makes it unwise for them to make such a move, Mayo continues. The only party who would truly benefit from a sign-and-trade deal would be Monroe, who could get a bigger contract without having to return to Detroit, Mayo concludes.
- Dirk Nowitzki is averaging 20.3 points on 52.4% shooting from the field for the Mavericks over the last three games and a less taxing schedule is the primary reason for the veteran forward’s recent outburst, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Nowitzki said to the team’s beat writers that longer stretches in-between games has made him feel fresher, “Going into the break, I think we had the most games in the league,” Nowitzki said. “Then coming out of the break, we had the shortest break and then we had five games in seven days. A brutal stretch for us, but finally it slowed down a little bit. It allowed us to get a little healthy, mix in some good rest with good work. I think it helped us and helped me.”
- The Cavaliers assigned guard Joe Harris to their D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, Cleveland GM David Griffin announced Friday on the team’s official website. Harris has appeared in 47 games with the Cavs this season, averaging 2.5 points in 9.2 minutes per game. He has played in seven games for the Charge, averaging 17.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 32.3 minutes per game.
Eastern Notes: Cavs, Knicks, Sixers
Cavs first-year coach David Blatt believes that finishing second in the Eastern Division is a worthy goal the remainder of the regular season, according to Chris Fedor of Northeast Ohio Media Group. Cleveland’s relative lack of playoff experience, other than LeBron James, makes homecourt advantage even more essential, the story continues. The Cavs have not lost a home game since January 7th. Blatt may still rest some of his top players at times but not if it costs the team in seeding, Fedor adds. “I’d like us to finish as high as possible because there’s value in that,” Blatt said to the team’s beat reporters. “We’re going to come out and try to win every game regardless of who we are putting on the floor. If we see the need and we have the ability to rest someone we may do that too. We’re not going to lose sight of the fact that we’re going to compete every single game and not give anything away.”
In other news around the Eastern Conference:
- Knicks first-year coach Derek Fisher says the most frustration he’s experienced this season is trying to instruct and lead players from the sidelines rather than on the court, Fred Kerber of the New York Post reports. “A lot of times, you see things in them that they’re still trying to discover in themselves,” Fisher said. “Being a guy that was just in that position a year ago at this date, there are a lot of things I can relate to and I can offer.”
- The Sixers are winning too much for their own good and need to stay among the top four in the draft to get an impact player, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer opines. Philadelphia, which currently owns the third-worst record in the league, has won three of its last six. It plays the Knicks, who are tied for the worst record, and Lakers, who have the fourth-worst record, this weekend. Pompey notes that Jahlil Okafor, Emmanuel Mudiay, Karl Anthony-Towns and D’Angelo Russell are generally considered by most NBA scouts as the only sure things in the draft. You can track all of the teams in the hunt for the No. 1 overall pick by visiting our Reverse Standings page.
- Miles Plumlee is making the most of his extended playing time with the Bucks, writes Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel. The team likes what the 6’11” center has brought to the court since coming to Milwaukee in a deal with the Suns at the deadline. “I think his athletic ability, his ability to set screens and run the floor [was impressive],” coach Jason Kidd said. “The big thing is rebounding the ball, and he had 11 rebounds in 18 minutes. We have to get him more time on the floor.”
Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
Sean Kilpatrick Signs 10-Day With Timberwolves
Sean Kilpatrick has been signed to a 10-day contract by the Timberwolves, the team’s public relations staff tweets. Minnesota had a full roster but was granted an NBA hardship exception for a 16th roster spot in order to add Kilpatrick, the tweet adds. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities reported the deal minutes before the announcement (Twitter link).
The Timberwolves applied for the hardship exception after a dealing with a number of injuries. Shabazz Muhammad required season-ending finger surgery last month and Robbie Hummel and Anthony Bennett have also been out for an extended period. The deadline to apply for a disabled player exception expired in January, so Minnesota did not receive any extra salary flexibility to replace the second-year swingman.
Kilpatrick, an undrafted rookie guard out of Cincinnati, was playing for the D-League’s Delaware 87ers and could give the Timberwolves a perimeter boost. He was averaging 15.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals for the 87ers in a 20-game stint while shooting 48.7% from the field and 42.1% on 3-point attempts. Kilpatrick told HoopsRumors.com during the draft process that he could defend as well as score.
Kilpatrick passed through two other organizations before the Timberwolves signed him. He was on the Sixers’ summer-league team, then was signed by the Warriors during training camp. He was released before the start of the season and hooked on with Golden State’s D-League affiliate in Santa Cruz, where he remained until he was traded to the 87ers in January.
Scott Wants Jabari Brown For Another 10 Days
Lakers coach Byron Scott wants the club to sign Jabari Brown to another 10-day contract, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News reports. Brown’s first 10-day deal expires after the Lakers play the Jazz on Thursday. Scott plans to meet with GM Mitch Kupchak after the game to discuss Brown’s status. “Right now, I’d like to keep him for another 10 days and see how it goes,” Scott said to the team’s beat reporters. “I think he’s improved from what we had in the summer time to this time right now.”
Aiding Brown’s cause is that Nick Young remains sidelined for at least for another week because of a small fracture in his left knee. Brown, an undrafted rookie shooting guard out of Missouri, has averaged 7.0 points on 60% shooting from the field while playing in three games. Scott says Brown needs to be physical and attack the basket while improving his ballhandling and pick-and-roll defense to stay in the league, the story adds.
Brown was on the Lakers’ NBA roster during the preseason after signing a non-guaranteed training camp deal, but he played only nine minutes total during the preseason and failed to make it to opening night. Scott has given him a longer look since he signed the 10-day contract, as Brown has averaged 20.0 minutes per game. The Lakers retained his D-League rights after training camp and Brown earned his way into the NBA by averaging 24.4 points in 34.9 minutes per game for the L.A. D-Fenders.
Hawks Sign Austin Daye To 10-Day Contract
SUNDAY, 12:07pm: The signing is official, according to the team’s Twitter feed.
SATURDAY, 12:31pm: Austin Daye will sign a 10-day contract with the Hawks, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports. The Hawks needed depth at the forward position after Mike Scott broke the big toe on his left foot this week. Daye was playing for the team’s D-League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks, where he averaged 16.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in 10 games.
Daye was waived in January by the Spurs after appearing in 26 games this season, averaging 4.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in those contests. Daye, a first-round pick by the Pistons in 2009, has also played for the Grizzlies and Raptors over the past three seasons. Daye can play either forward spot and gives the Hawks another 3-point threat. He’s a 35.2% shooter from long range over his career.
Scott, who was averaging 7.5 points and 2.7 rebounds, is out indefinitely, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The club decided not to re-sign guard Jarell Eddie to a second 10-day contract on Saturday because of Scott’s injury.
Bucks Likely To Re-Sign Chris Johnson
Bucks coach Jason Kidd expects the team to sign Chris Johnson to a second 10-day contract after the first one expires on Sunday, Charles Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets. Johnson has received steady playing time over the last four games, averaging 4.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 19.5 minutes.
Johnson has given Kidd another option at the wing positions with Jerryd Bayless and O.J. Mayo nursing injuries. Bayless has missed two games with an ankle sprain while Mayo has been sidelined seven of the last nine games because of a hamstring issue. Milwaukee was already depleted at small forward by the season-ending injury to Jabari Parker in December.
Johnson has bounced around several organizations this season. He spent training camp with the Celtics, who released him just before opening night. He was claimed off waivers by the Sixers and appeared in nine games with them, including two starts, before he was waived again. The Rockets’ D-League affiliate picked him up in December and the Jazz signed him to a 10-day contract in late January. Johnson played two games for Utah but he didn’t receive a second 10-day deal from them.