Eastern Notes: Bazemore, Howard, George
In a solid piece by Howard Megdal of Slam Magazine, the scribe examines the rise of Hawks swingman Kent Bazemore from an undrafted free agent to the player he is today. Discussing the success the team has enjoyed with Bazemore, coach/executive Mike Budenholzer said, “We knew when we signed Kent, and were able to add him to our program, that he was an elite defender, and an elite competitor. So I think defense and that competitiveness was there from day one. And we felt like he could grow and mature offensively. He’s been doing that. The first year was off the bench, the second year as a starter, and the third year, hopefully, he’ll continue to grow. He’s a great worker, he’s got a great heart. He’s the type of guy we want to work with.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Pacers forward Paul George will sit out tonight’s contest against Suns due to persistent soreness in his left ankle, Nate Taylor of The Indianapolis Star reports (Twitter links). George, who was unable to participate in the team’s practice today, is set to undergo an MRI on Saturday, Taylor adds. The 26-year-old is averaging 21.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 34.7 minutes per outing this season.
- Chris Mannix of The Vertical weighed in on how the offseason signing of Dwight Howard has made the Hawks a better team. The big man has Atlanta among the top five in the league in offensive rebounding after finishing the 2015/16 campaign dead last in that department, Mannix adds. A number of scouts around the NBA believe Howard is looking the best that he has since departing Orlando, Mannix notes. “He’s as active as I’ve seen him in years,” a scout told Mannix regarding Howard. “With him there, everyone is playing up and aggressive on the ball.”
- After starting the season on the inactive list, guard Jerian Grant is emerging as a vital piece in the Bulls‘ rotation, writes Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com. The player said his time on the sidelines motivated him to improve his game, Goodwill adds. “When you’re inactive you feel like you’re the last guy on the team,” said Grant. “Everybody else is out there suited up, so I wanted to prove to myself, to everybody out there that I’m not the last guy. I’m a guy that can contribute to this team.”
Submit Your Questions For Hoops Rumors Mailbag
We at Hoops Rumors love interacting with our readers. This is why we provide an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in our weekly mailbag feature, which is posted each Sunday.
Have a question regarding player movement, free agent rumors, the salary cap, the NBA draft, or the top storylines of the week? You can e-mail them here: hoopsrumorsmailbag@gmail.com. Feel free to send emails throughout the week, but please be mindful that we may receive a sizable number of questions and might not get to all of them.
If you missed out on any past mailbags and would like to catch up, you can view the full archives here.
Western Notes: Parsons, Sterling, Gibson
Chandler Parsons returns to Dallas tonight, which will be his first visit since departing the Mavericks as a free agent this summer, and while the forward expects to be booed, he believes fan anger is misplaced, Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com relays. “Houston, I get it. I said some stupid stuff on the way out of Houston [after three seasons],” Parsons told MacMahon. “Dallas, I don’t understand. It’s like getting mad at somebody for getting in a car wreck and breaking their arm. Like, how in the world can you be mad at somebody for getting hurt? It makes no sense. That’s just so wrong to get mad at somebody for getting hurt, like they want to go through the rehab, want to go through the pain, want to go through the misery of not playing. I can never understand that aspect of it. So when it comes to Dallas, you’re going to get mad at me because Dirk Nowitzki decided to take less money to bring in a really good player and then unfortunately he gets hurt? That’s why you’re mad? Sure, boo.”
While he maintains that his first choice was to remain in Dallas, Parsons is happy with his new team in Memphis, MacMahon adds. “I think it’s a perfect situation for me,” said Parsons. “I see so much potential that I can add to this team. It just kind of solidifies that I made the right decision.” Here’s more from out West:
- Former Clippers owner Donald Sterling has reached a settlement with the NBA in his lawsuit over the $2 billion sale of the team to Steve Ballmer, Nathan Fenno of The Los Angeles Times reports. The suit was filed back in 2014 and alleged that the NBA, commissioner Adam Silver and others engaged in a wide-ranging conspiracy to remove him as owner of the team, Fenno adds. The details and value of the settlement were not released to the media.
- Jonathan Gibson, who signed with the Mavericks earlier today, turned down offers to play in China while he awaited an NBA opportunity to materialize, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com tweets.
- The Nuggets can’t afford to be patient with the disappointing play of Emmanuel Mudiay for much longer if the team hopes to show improvement in the win column this season, Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post writes. “Let’s be honest, if there’s a situation where [Mudiay] is not playing well, or anybody else is not playing well, we have the depth to make changes,” coach Michael Malone said. “We want to win games. A big part of last year was culture and development. This year … if we’re healthy, we feel it needs to be about winning, as well, to get our fans back and to feel good about the direction we’re heading in.”
Atlantic Notes: Lin, Hornacek, Celtics
The Nets signing of Jeremy Lin this offseason has led to improvement on the court as well as off in garnering increased fan support, Brian Lewis of The New York Post writes. “Fans seem to be very accepting, and not only accepting but are encouraged by the new culture, the grit with which the team plays and the hustle. And it’s leading to increased sales,’’ Brett Yormark, the CEO of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, told Lewis. “They see the vision, see where this thing is going, and they’re happy with that direction.”
“That’s creating the groundswell. It’s not where it needs to be, but the sales numbers indicate it’s heading in the right direction,’’ Yormark continued. “We’re making real good progress. The culture [GM] Sean Marks and [coach] Kenny Atkinson brought started to resonate and we’re seeing it. And the team is validating that. You can see the team has bought in and is playing each game with commitment. And the fans are enjoying it.”
Here’s more from out of the Atlantic Division:
- A number of in-season adjustments made by Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek are paying off for the club, notes Marc Berman of The New York Post. The scribe notes that the team’s defensive focus has been much improved since assistant coach Kurt Rambis was placed in charge of the defense and increasing Kristaps Porzingis‘ role on offense has made the team much tougher to defend.
- Despite missing out on signing Kevin Durant this past offseason, the Celtics feel that the fact that the forward strongly considered joining the franchise speaks to the progress and growth of the team, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald relays. When asked what Durant’s willingness to consider Boston meant, coach Brad Stevens said, “Hopefully it spoke to the fact that the progress is obvious, especially to those who are in it and studying it and evaluating it every day. To be candid, I’d just kind of prefer not to rehash all the recruiting part of it. But what I enjoy is thinking about how people best fit into our situation and how to explain that. The thing that I’m excited about from a general standpoint is that people see the progress and it’s appealing. It doesn’t mean everybody’s going to choose to be here, but, like, Al chose to be here because he saw the progress and it was appealing — on top of the tradition, the fans and everything else. I think you’ve got to have all that. You’ve got to have all that for it to be appealing.”
- Knicks point guard Derrick Rose says he isn’t concerned about the appeal that was filed by the woman who accused the player and his friends of raping her, Berman writes in a separate piece. “I didn’t know about the appeal,’’ Rose said . “I’ll let my legal team deal with it. I didn’t expect to be sued in the first place but I’ll let my legal team deal with it.’’
Pacific Notes: Deng, Casspi, Bender
Lakers offseason signee Luol Deng has struggled so far this season, but the forward’s shooting and scoring woes don’t worry coach Luke Walton, Mark Medina of The Orange County Register relays. “Everyone is going to get different amounts of shots from different areas each night. It is harder in that sense to know when your shots are coming,” Walton said. “But he’s a professional, in the gym and working every day before practice and staying afterwards getting treatment. I’m not concerned with him starting to knock down his shot again.”
No matter what the stat sheet says regarding Deng, his leadership and professionalism are qualities that Walton is benefiting from on a daily basis, Medina writes. Deng’s former coach, Tom Thibodeau, also raved about the forward’s intangibles, telling the scribe, “The best leadership is really the things that you do. Often times guys will say all the right things and do none of them. Luol is not overly vocal, but when there’s something important to be said, he’ll say it.”
Here’s more from out of the Pacific Division:
- Kings forward Omri Casspi, who has been mentioned in recent trade rumors, has a meeting scheduled for today with team executive Vlade Divac, Sean Cunningham of ABC 10 reports (via Twitter). Casspi, 28, has seen his playing time cut dramatically under new coach Dave Joerger, but he believes that he can help the team win, Cunningham adds.
- Suns rookie Dragan Bender‘s offensive skills are his calling card, but the young big man understands that it is his defensive development that will determine his playing time, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic writes. “I learned the hard way,” Bender said. “I came to a big club [Maccabi Tel Aviv] and thought I didn’t need to play defense because of the shooting ability and everything. But once the coach puts you on the bench and freezes you for a couple games, you realize as a young guy you have to come inside and play defense and bring the energy. Defense is just a will. It’s just a matter if you want to play it or not. You have to follow the coaches’ instructions about how you’re going to defend those teams. It doesn’t matter if you’re weak or have less muscles than those guys, you just have to fight with them for better position and get them out of there.”
Pat Riley On: Whiteside, Wade, Rebuilding
With the departure of Dwyane Wade this past offseason and Chris Bosh‘s medical issues keeping him off the court, the Heat find themselves in the midst of a rebuild. The man heading up this effort, team president Pat Riley, sat down with David Aldridge of NBA.com to discuss a number of topics. The entire piece is certainly worthy of a look, but here are some of the highlights:
On what kinds of characteristics he looks for in players when beginning the process of rebuilding:
“Well, right now, it’s talent. It’s not the same level of talent that we saw in Dwyane or Caron Butler, what we saw in Alonzo Mourning when we traded for ‘Zo. It’s the raw talent that we can find. So talent is still, always and will forever be at the top of the list. So we feel that with Hassan Whiteside, and with Justise Winslow, Tyler Johnson and Josh Richardson, and some of the new guys who we got this summer, four or five of those young guys can create a nucleus. We have a pick this year. I have intentions, if it’s possible, to try and get another pick. And then we will have room. And so from that standpoint, you start making a plan and formulating what it looks like down the road, but you’re going to have to get some breakthroughs — from Hassan, from Justise, from Tyler, from Josh. And then you’ll see where you go from there…”
On what he saw in Hassan Whiteside that made him believe the center was worth signing and developing:
“We almost drafted him. Chet [Kammerer, the Heat’s vice president of player personnel] and I were in Dallas, at Southern Methodist, watching him play down there [for Marshall]. They had him stand in the lane with his arms out, and they were playing the zone, so you never could really tell or not if he could play man to man or any kind of offensive moves. That’s when we drafted, just ahead of Sacramento, the kid from Texas — Dexter Pittman was drafted just ahead of him. To make a long story short, we had a history with Hassan because we really liked him. And we scouted him and we looked at him and we followed him. So when he came back after his sojourn around the world, and went to the NBDL and put up those numbers, and we brought him in, then we sent him back. And when we sent him back he had 40 and 28, or whatever it was. We said ‘get him back here.’ But then there was this one-day contract he signed with Memphis, because they didn’t have enough players. They said they were going to waive him the next day. And I said, ‘we lost him.’ When he signed with them, I said, we’ve lost this guy. But they cut him. And we picked him up and signed him.”
On if he had any hesitation in re-signing Whiteside to a max deal this offseason:
“No, there was no trepidation. When you look at how the game is played now, when you look at how it has evolved and how it’s played, he’s the perfect center. As a matter of fact, give me one team in the league that runs its offense through its center. There isn’t one. But there are a lot of centers that are mobile, that can leap, that are long, that are good in pick and roll. There’s a verticality to their game. They can catch it above the rim. They’re good defensive players. They can block shots. They can defensive rebound. I’m telling you, within a year, we’re going to be running a lot of offense through this guy. He’s never had that kind of pressure on him … These [superstar] guys, you went through them seven or eight possessions in a row. It didn’t make any difference. You knew you were going to get a shot. You would get one through them, or you were going to get one on the other side of the court because of the double team. But there’s a real focus on how to play the game when you’re going to see these kinds of defenses. He’s not ready for that yet, but also, that’s not the game we need him for right now.”
On Dwyane Wade‘s departure and his regrets over the guard leaving Miami:
“The one thing that we always wanted to do for Dwyane, and it probably was a mistake, was that we always wanted to try to get him another guy to help him win, to help him enjoy the end of his career. But we also knew that we were going to have to ask him to sacrifice. So we always tried to slide another guy in for him, and at the same time letting him know — really, without letting him know, because he was a partner — he was going to get his, whatever it was over the next four or five years that he played. One of the greatest feelings I ever had was one time when Magic called me on the phone, right after he retired. And he said, ‘guess what? I’m an owner … Dr. Buss let me buy some equity in the Lakers.’ That’s sort of what you envision and what you think can happen along the way, and I think that’s how we always sort of looked at Dwyane.
If we ever had to do it again, when LeBron James left [in 2014], we should have given Chris Bosh the max, and Dwyane the max. And that was it. Instead of trying to say to Dwayne, I want to get another guy for you, but you have to sacrifice. And that was wrong. I should have given him — we should have given him — that then. Now, that’s a big second guess. But that’s on me. If I could have pushed that, and I could have pushed that. But I didn’t. I said we need to get more talent for him. But somebody was going to sacrifice. Like I said before, it doesn’t matter what happens to you, it’s how you deal with it. And we’re dealing with it. He’s dealing with it.“
Hoops Rumors Originals: 11/6/16-11/12/16
Here’s a look back at the original content and analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this past week.
- We ran down all the players who have incentive bonuses in their contracts for 2016/17.
- Will Joseph highlighted some of the better basketball blogs around in his weekly installment of Hoops Links.
- Luke Adams ran down some current NBA free agents to keep an eye on.
- Here are the key dates to mark on your calendars for the 2016/17 season.
- In a reader poll we asked you to vote on who will lead the NBA in scoring this season.
- Luke examined five veteran extension candidates to keep an eye on this season.
- We looked at the dead money on the books for each of the Central Division’s teams.
- Arthur Hill answered reader questions in our Weekly Mailbag. Here’s how you can submit your own questions for our mailbag feature.
- Here’s where we track all the trades that occur during the season.
- In our Community Shootarounds this week we discussed:
- The Lakers’ playoff chances this season.
- Which players and teams have impressed or disappointed you the most?
- Should the Pelicans consider trading Anthony Davis?
- If you haven’t already, be sure to download the Trade Rumors app for your iOS or Android device.
Week In Review: 11/6/16-11/12/16
With the regular season entering its third week, here’s a look back at all the notable news and events from around the NBA this past seven days:
Waivers
- The Pelicans waived Lance Stephenson.
- The Kings waived Jordan Farmar.
- The Nets waived Greivis Vasquez.
Signings/Agreements
- The Pelicans signed Archie Goodwin.
- The Nets re-signed Yogi Ferrell.
News/Rumors
- Jazz big man Boris Diaw is expected to miss about two weeks with a contusion on his right leg.
- Heat big man Chris Bosh signed with Rob Pelinka of Landmark Sports Agency.
- Thunder forward Josh Huestis signed with Andy Miller of ASM Sports.
- Longtime NBA forward Josh Smith is joining the Sichuan Whales in China.
- The Knicks put assistant coach – and former interim head coach – Kurt Rambis in charge of their defense.
- Former Relativity Sports executives Happy Walters and Josh Swartz launched a new venture, Catalyst Sports & Media, an agency that will focus on representing athletes who play basketball, soccer and esports.
Al-Farouq Aminu Out Indefinitely
Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu will be sidelined for at least a “couple of weeks” due to a calf injury, Casey Holdahl of NBA.com reports. Coach Terry Stotts told members of the media that Aminu would be “reevaluated in a couple weeks,” which means that the 6’9″ forward will be in street clothes for the rest of the month, if not longer.
The 26-year-old suffered a left calf strain during Portland’s victory versus the Suns on November 8th. Aminu did not play in the Blazers’ loss to the Clippers on Wednesday, with Noah Vonleh getting the start in his place. The loss of Aminu certainly places additional strain on the team’s frontcourt depth, with Festus Ezeli already out until December with knee woes.
Aminu, who is earning $7,680,965 this season, has appeared in eight games thus far, averaging 6.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.5 steals in 26.1 minutes per outing. His shooting line is .279/.250/.533.
Submit Your Questions For Hoops Rumors Mailbag
We at Hoops Rumors love interacting with our readers. This is why we provide an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in our weekly mailbag feature, which is posted each Sunday.
Have a question regarding player movement, free agent rumors, the salary cap, the NBA draft, or the top storylines of the week? You can e-mail them here: hoopsrumorsmailbag@gmail.com. Feel free to send emails throughout the week, but please be mindful that we may receive a sizable number of questions and might not get to all of them.
If you missed out on any past mailbags and would like to catch up, you can view the full archives here.