And-Ones: Grant, LaVine, D-League
Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak said during a live chat on Lakers.com (h/t to Eric Pincus of The Los Angeles Times) that the team has no immediate plans to make any trades. “The trade deadline’s not for a couple of months. We’ll sit and monitor our team — make calls, take calls, see where where we are a month from now,” Kupchak said. “If something comes up that we think will help us down the road, we’ll look at it.” Here’s more from around the league:
- Knicks coach Derek Fisher doesn’t want rookie point guard Jerian Grant to take his first game not in the Knicks lineup to heart, and says that learning to deal with adversity will be good for the young player, Fred Kerber of The New York Post writes. “For your entire career there are going to be [these] ups and downs that can break you or make you,” Fisher said. “When the opportunity comes back around, you capitalize, and that shows a level of professionalism and sustainability that as a young player you have to develop. So there isn’t anything he’s doing wrong, it’s just night to night I’m going with what fits best.”
- Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell wants to get Zach LaVine more minutes but he is finding it difficult because of the team’s depth at the position, Kent Youngblood of The Star Tribune writes. “We have Kevin Martin, who has to play,” Mitchell said regarding the calls for LaVine to have an increased role. “We have Shabazz Muhammad, who has to play. And so, I understand when everybody is sitting there and tweeting and blogging about it. But come put my shoes on. It doesn’t work like that. We have a team. We have a cohesive locker room. And we have to keep it that way. Eventually, all this stuff gets worked out. Until it gets worked out, it’s my job to manage the minutes, manage the egos and keep everyone playing at as high a level as possible.”
- The Thunder have assigned Josh Huestis and Cameron Payne to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Huestis’ sixth stint with the Blue on the season and Payne’s second.
Greivis Vasquez To Miss Three Months?
Greivis Vasquez underwent surgery today to remove a bone spur and loose bodies from his right ankle, the Bucks announced. Milwaukee hasn’t officially announced a timetable for Vasquez’s return, but coach Jason Kidd indicated that the veteran would be out of commission for at least three to four months, the Associated Press relays. Milwaukee currently possesses the league maximum of 15 players on its roster, meaning a corresponding move would need to be made in order to add backcourt depth, if the team so desired.
Kidd hasn’t shut the door on Vasquez returning to the court this season, saying, “He’s going to compete, hurt or healthy. He tried and did everything he could, but it just didn’t work out, so the next step was to have surgery. The next step for him is to have a speedy recovery, get ready for free agency and then go from there. We’re not going to rule him out for the season, but we’ll see.”
The 28-year-old is earning $6.6MM this year and is due to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. In 16 appearances for the Bucks in 2015/16, Vasquez is averaging 7.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 22.6 minutes per contest. His slash line is .348/.259/.880.
2016/17 Salary Cap Projection: Thunder
The NBA’s salary cap for 2015/16 has been set at $70MM, which is an 11% increase from last season, and the luxury tax line is fixed at $84.74MM. The last cap projection from the league prior to the official numbers being announced had been $67.1MM, and the projection for the tax line had been $81.6MM. Many league executives and agents believe that the salary cap will escalate to a whopping $95MM for 2016/17, a higher figure than the league’s last projection of $89MM. This significant bump is a result of the league’s new $24 billion TV deal that kicks in just in time for next season.
The increase in the salary cap will almost assuredly set off a flurry of activity in the free agent market next summer, and it will also make it easier than ever for teams to deal away their higher-priced stars. Prudent executives are acutely aware of exactly how much cap room they have to play with, not just for the current campaign, but for next season and beyond as well. While the exact amount of 2016/17’s salary cap won’t be announced until next summer, it always pays to know just how much salary is on the books for each franchise. With this in mind, we at Hoops Rumors will be breaking down the projected 2016/17 financial commitments for each franchise, and we’ll continue onward with a look at the Oklahoma City Thunder:
- Fully Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $65,906,301
- Partially Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $0
- Non Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $3,488,000
- Total Projected Salary Cap Commitments: $69,394,301
If the salary cap were to fall in line with the projection of $89MM, Oklahoma City would have approximately $19,605,699 in cap space, or $25,605,699 if the cap were to be set at the higher mark of $95MM. Again, these are merely predictions until the exact cap amounts are announced, and they are not meant to illustrate the exact amount that the team will have available to spend this coming offseason.
Oklahoma City will also need to make a decision regarding Dion Waiters, who is eligible to become a restricted free agent next summer. If the Thunder wish to retain the right to match any offer sheet the player were to receive the team would need to submit a qualifying offer worth $6,777,589. That number would merely be a placeholder until Waiters either inked a new deal or signed his qualifying offer, which would then set him up for unrestricted free agency the following offseason.
Trades and long-term free agent signings made during the season will also have a significant impact on the figures above, and we’ll be updating these posts to reflect the new numbers after any signings and trades have been made official.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Eastern Notes: Okafor, Stokes, Jennings
Sixers rookie center Jahlil Okafor has already experienced various off–court incidents, but he and the team look at them as an opportunity for growth, Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune writes. “Those of us who know him or get a chance to talk to him, all you have to do is look at him and let him interact and you see there’s goodness in him,” coach Brett Brown said. “He’s a good guy. The situation that happened was unfortunate. He was ashamed, he was embarrassed. That seems like a distant memory.”
“I’m sure there are scars, but raising anybody in the NBA, let alone somebody that has a profile like he has at 19 years old, there are challenges all over the place,” Brown continued. “In a twisted way, I hope we look back at that experience — all of us, from a program’s perspective, from his perspective — and it toughens him up, it hardens him, it teaches him a real hard life lesson. We’re with him. I am personally with him. I’m very fond of him.”
Here’s more from the East:
- The Pistons have not discussed any potential trades regarding injured point guard Brandon Jennings, Aaron McMann of MLive.com relays. “We haven’t one talk with anybody about him,” coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said. “I just think that people assume that with Reggie Jackson here and the way Brandon played last year, I think people just make that assumption. He’s no more or less available than anybody else we have. Until he’s back on the court and playing, there’s nothing to even talk about. My preference is, that when he’s fully healthy, he’s able to help us. That’s my preference. I’ve even talked to him about a vision going forward where he helps us even beyond this. But right now, we’re just trying to get him back.”
- Bulls center Joakim Noah‘s minutes have been down this season, though according to coach Fred Hoiberg, that is more a product of the team’s frontcourt depth than a decline in the big man’s performance, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune relays. “That’s the luxury, slash, problem we have with our bigs,” Hoiberg said. “It’s not always going to be the same guy. Taj Gibson finished the last game with Pau Gasol. Nikola Mirotic has finished a lot of games for us. And it was Jo [Saturday]. That’s what we have. We’ve got the depth to play different lineups and go with the guy that’s getting the job done.“
- The Heat have recalled power forward Jarnell Stokes from their D-League affiliate in Sioux Falls, the team announced. Stokes has appeared in seven games during his two stints with the Skyforce, averaging 18.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.29 steals, 1.14 blocks in 29.0 minutes per contest.
Jerome Jordan To Play In China
Free agent center Jerome Jordan has signed with Jiangsu Tongxi of the Chinese Basketball Association, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter link). The length and terms of the deal are not known, nor if it includes an NBA out clause. If his pact does not include such a clause, Jordan would be eligible to join an NBA team in the spring after the Chinese season ended.
The 29-year-old Jordan appeared in 44 contests for the Nets last season, averaging 3.1 points and 2.4 rebounds in 8.7 minutes per game. His slash line was .532/.000/.864. Jordan wasn’t extended a qualifying offer by Brooklyn and became an unrestricted free agent as a result. The center had signed a one-year non-guaranteed deal with the team that included a partial guarantee of $100K only if he remained under contract through October 25th, 2014, but he stuck on the Nets all season, earning a full $816,482 salary.
Jordan was in training camp with the Pelicans this year, but New Orleans parted ways with him and his non-guaranteed minimum salary arrangement.
Sixers To Hire D’Antoni As Associate Head Coach?
MONDAY, 11:58am: The Sixers plan to have D’Antoni join their staff within the next few weeks, writes TNT’s David Aldridge in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.
SUNDAY, 2:47pm: The Sixers confirmed that they are talking to D’Antoni about joining the team as an associate head coach, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
SATURDAY, 8:39am: The Sixers and Mike D’Antoni are involved in discussions that could see the former NBA head coach join coach Brett Brown‘s staff as associate head coach, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. New team executive Jerry Colangelo and Brown have been speaking with D’Antoni about a role with the team that could begin later this month, Wojnarowski adds.
The move to hire D’Antoni, who has a longstanding relationship with Colangelo that includes time spent together with the Suns as well as USA Basketball, shows that the new executive is beginning to impose his influence on the franchise immediately, as the Yahoo scribe notes. The offseason departure of top assistant Chad Iske to the Kings left the concern that Brown needed to add more experience to his staff, Wojnarowski relays. The addition of the offensive-minded D’Antoni would certainly accomplish that, though how much of a difference he could make with the point guard situation in Philly so unsettled is debatable.
In many circumstances the move by a new executive to bring in one his former coaches would be a concern for the current head man. The team certainly alleviated many of those worries with the announcement on Friday that Brown and the team had agreed to a two-year contract extension. “Brett has been everything we anticipated – and more – both as a basketball coach and a partner in building this program,” GM Sam Hinkie said in the team’s official statement. “His tireless work ethic, his daily desire to consistently improve, and his resiliency line up with our core values as an organization. It was not difficult to come to the decision to formally say we want to work with Brett Brown even longer.”
D’Antoni has been a head coach for the Nuggets, Suns, Knicks and Lakers, and he owns a career regular season mark of 455-426. He has a career postseason record of 26-33, and has twice made it to the Western Conference Finals, both with Phoenix. With D’Antoni desiring another head coaching position in the league, returning to an NBA bench could serve to increase his marketability, Wojnarowski writes. If D’Antoni can do for T.J. McConnell‘s career what he did for Jeremy Lin‘s when the duo were paired up in New York, he would certainly make a strong argument for another shot at leading a team, though that is merely my speculation, of course.
2016/17 Salary Cap Projection: New York Knicks
The NBA’s salary cap for 2015/16 has been set at $70MM, which is an 11% increase from last season, and the luxury tax line is fixed at $84.74MM. The last cap projection from the league prior to the official numbers being announced had been $67.1MM, and the projection for the tax line had been $81.6MM. Many league executives and agents believe that the salary cap will escalate to a whopping $95MM for 2016/17, a higher figure than the league’s last projection of $89MM. This significant bump is a result of the league’s new $24 billion TV deal that kicks in just in time for next season.
The increase in the salary cap will almost assuredly set off a flurry of activity in the free agent market next summer, and it will also make it easier than ever for teams to deal away their higher-priced stars. Prudent executives are acutely aware of exactly how much cap room they have to play with, not just for the current campaign, but for next season and beyond as well. While the exact amount of 2016/17’s salary cap won’t be announced until next summer, it always pays to know just how much salary is on the books for each franchise. With this in mind, we at Hoops Rumors will be breaking down the projected 2016/17 financial commitments for each franchise, and we’ll continue onward with a look at the New York Knicks:
- Fully Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $67,964,567*
- Partially Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $0
- Non Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $0
- Total Projected Salary Cap Commitments: $67,964,567
*Note: This amount includes Arron Afflalo‘s player option worth $8,000,000 and Derrick Williams‘ player option, which is worth $4,598,000.
If the salary cap were to fall in line with the projection of $89MM, New York would have approximately $21,035,433 in cap space, or $27,035,433 if the cap were to be set at the higher mark of $95MM. Again, these are merely predictions until the exact cap amounts are announced, and they are not meant to illustrate the exact amount that the team will have available to spend this coming offseason.
New York will also need to make decisions regarding Cleanthony Early and Langston Galloway, both of whom are eligible to become restricted free agents next summer. If the Knicks wish to retain the right to match any offer sheets the two players were to receive the team would need to submit qualifying offers to both, with Early’s being worth $1,180,431 and $1,180,431 for Galloway. Galloway could bump his figure up to $2,725,003 if his playing time remains steady, as Hoops Rumors’ Chuck Myron noted. Those numbers would merely be placeholders until the players either inked new deals or signed their qualifying offers, which would then set them up for unrestricted free agency the following offseason.
Trades and long-term free agent signings made during the season will also have a significant impact on the figures above, and we’ll be updating these posts to reflect the new numbers after any signings and trades have been made official.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Western Notes: Curry, Evans, Lakers
The four-year, $44MM contract extension that Stephen Curry signed with the Warriors back in 2012 is one of the most team-friendly deals in NBA history, something that Curry admits he had to make peace with, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports writes. “I had to make a conscious decision and remind myself over and over [to let it go],” Curry told Wojnarowski. “I could’ve had a different perspective and said, ‘I want to get everything that I could get, wait it out, test free agency that next year – and who knows what would’ve happened? But for me, a $44MM contract was plenty for me to be able to provide for my family. When I made a decision to sign an extension, I told myself that was the right decision for the moment. After three years, I’ve still got to remind myself every day. Number one, there’s nothing I can do about it. There’s no point to moaning and complaining and trying to change something that really can’t be changed.”
“I have thought about it occasionally, and understand that, for me, talking to the people in my camp, everything does happen for a reason,” Curry continued. “I’ve tried to just be appreciative of what I have. Obviously a lot of other things have happened off the court that have helped the situation, Under Armour, other sponsors. On the back end, when this is all said and done, things will come around the right way. It’s nice to know that I got a championship out of it, an MVP season out of it, and hopefully setting up for something better down the line.”
Here’s more from the West:
- Byron Scott says that the Lakers learned from their failed recruitment of LaMarcus Aldridge this past offseason, and will adjust the focus of their future free agent presentations, writes Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com. “I think we looked at it more as a business presentation. It wasn’t basketball, and that’s probably where we made our mistake,” Scott told Holmes regarding the team’s meeting with Aldridge. “Most of these guys want to know the basketball part of it,” Scott continued. “We’ll change that part as far as most of the meeting, 75 percent of it or more, will be about the basketball part and then the other part will be a little bit about the business part. I think we found from a great player that he was more interested in the basketball on-the-court stuff than anything else.“
- The Mavericks recalled Justin Anderson, Jeremy Evans and Salah Mejri from the Texas Legends today, the team announced via a press release. Both Anderson and Mejri were re-assigned to Dallas’ affiliate after practicing with the team, the Mavs relayed via a second release.
- Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said that Evans requested to be assigned to the D-League to aid him in getting more comfortable playing on the perimeter, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com relays (via Twitter). The Mavs needed the consent of Evans and the players union to send him to the D-League since he has more than two years of experience.
Hoops Rumors Originals 12/6/15-12/12/15
Here’s a look back at the original analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this past week…
- If you missed the week’s live chat, you can view the transcript here.
- As a part of our continuing series, “The Beat,” Chuck Myron interviewed Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area.
- Zach Links highlighted some of the better basketball blogs around in his weekly installment of Hoops Links.
- If you missed any of our daily reader-driven discussions, be sure to check out the Community Shootaround archives.
- Dana Gauruder examined the Pistons’ Brandon Jennings as a trade candidate.
- Chuck broke down teams’ records since last February’s trade deadline.
- We looked at players who are on pace to have adjustments made to their qualifying offer amounts.
- Here’s how you can follow Hoops Rumors on social media and RSS feeds.
- Chuck looked at trade partners who made multiple deals with each other in the past calendar year.
- I looked at the 2016/17 projected salary cap numbers for the Pacers, Clippers, Lakers, Grizzlies, Bucks, Wolves and Pelicans.
- Chuck ran down the list of players who will be eligible to be traded starting on December 15th.
- We answered reader questions in our Weekly Mailbag.
- You can keep track of where your favorite team currently stands in relation to the 2016 NBA Draft lottery with our reverse standings tracker.
- We reviewed our commenting policy. Play nice everyone.
- Chuck ran down the players who, along with the union, have given their consent to D-League assignments since 2013/14, the season the rule was adjusted.
- Here’s how you can follow specific players on Hoops Rumors.
Atlantic Notes: Hollins, Stevens, Lopez
Nets coach Lionel Hollins seemingly turned a compliment Stephen Curry gave point guard Jarrett Jack into a negative, Fred Kerber of The New York Post writes. Responding to Curry’s praise of Jack’s vocal leadership when the two were teammates in Golden State, Hollins said, “Did Stephen Curry say it? When Stephen Curry speaks, everybody listens … so it must be right. I see the same thing. Here’s the deal. Too much is made of leadership. Everybody should be a leader on the court.”
“Leadership comes by you going out there and doing your job to the best of your ability as hard as you can consistently. You do that, people are going to follow you. Then the great players lead by their ability to score the ball, and people follow them because they know that they can help them win,” Hollins continued. “The worst kind of leadership is that ‘Rah-rah, come on, everybody.’ To me, that’s just annoying people. I think leadership is like, ‘OK, somebody’s missed two or three, don’t worry about it, I got you, I’m going to come back to you again.’”
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- The strong play of Knicks rookie big man Kristaps Porzingis may force coach Derek Fisher to shift center Robin Lopez to the bench, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. Lopez, who has struggled this season after signing a four-year, $54MM deal this past summer, notes his slow start is due to adjusting to the triangle offense, Berman notes. “Defensively, that’s been pretty consistent,’’ Lopez said. “I’ve always been able to fall back on that. Offensively I’m trying to figure things out. How much I’m expected to score? What am I expected to do when I catch the ball in the post? Now I’m getting more comfortable, starting to realize what the role is.’’
- Brad Stevens has molded the Celtics into one of the NBA’s toughest defensive teams despite the lack of a true rim-protector, Brett Koremenos of RealGM writes in his analysis of the team’s improvement.