Western Notes: Bass, Watson, Lee
Lakers big man Brandon Bass is unsure if he’ll exercise his player option worth $3,135MM for 2016/17, but he did note that he’s enjoyed acting as a mentor to the team’s younger players, relays Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Bass told Medina. “I’m a special type of player and person to be around this type of group. I think I can help develop these young guys. I want them to be successful. I would love to see them grow and would love it to be here. But you never know what happens.”
Coach Byron Scott was effusive in his praise for the veteran, telling Medina, “I love Brandon Bass. I love his work ethic. I love his professionalism. I love his attitude. I love that you know when you put him in the game, you know what you’re going to get.” The 30-year-old has made 60 appearances for the Lakers this season and is averaging 7.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per outing.
Here’s the latest from out west:
- Suns interim coach Earl Watson credits his time spent in the Spurs organization as a D-League assistant with preparing him for the challenge of leading Phoenix, Mike Sorensen of The Deseret News writes. Watson also offered thanks to San Antonio assistant GM Scott Layden, who provided him with his first coaching opportunity, Sorensen adds. “Coach Layden is why I ended up in San Antonio,” Watson said. “It’s amazing how people you meet along the way, how they give you opportunities later in life and it can turn out to be the greatest opportunity ever. If I don’t go to San Antonio with coach Layden I don’t know if I become a coach that quickly. I learned a lot in San Antonio from coach Layden bringing me in.”
- David Lee appears rejuvenated now that he’s a member of the Mavs and is receiving regular playing time, Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group writes. The 32-year-old is averaging 11.9 points and 8.3 rebounds in 12 appearances for Dallas. Lee is under contract for next season, though his $2,502,805 is non-guaranteed.
- The Trail Blazers have benefited from the presence of Gerald Henderson, who has not only added some scoring pop off the team’s bench but has also emerged as one of the team’s most vocal leaders, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com writes. “He is one of those guys when it really gets tough out there, he’s one of those guys you know you can count on,” point guard Damian Lillard said of Henderson. “When the game gets a little rough, the other team gets going a little bit and you are up against it, some guys get quiet. Some guys shy away from it. But he got louder in the huddle.’’ Henderson will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
Northwest Notes: Durant, Jones, Mack
Thunder small forward Kevin Durant, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, understands that every comment he makes regarding other NBA cities will be magnified, but he doesn’t feel that he needs to censor his opinions, Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman writes. “I love being in Philly, too,” Durant said, addressing reaction to what he said this week about Boston. “If you ask me about a city, I like being there. I’m not going to say anything bad about it. That’s how I am. I’m not going to watch what I say. Because I know how I’m saying it and my intentions in saying it. People are going to pick and choose what they want to write and I can’t control that. But I can control what I say. And I’m not going to hold my tongue or answer things differently or walk on eggshells because I don’t want stuff written about me. I’m just gonna be who I am. Of course people are going to say stuff. I like playing in Boston, like the city, it’s a cool city, they ran with that one. But I know how it is. It’s all good.”
Here’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Timberwolves rookie point guard Tyus Jones has shown marked improvement in his 3-point shooting this season after numerous scouts had expressed concern over his shooting range during the predraft process last season, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune writes. “I’m confident in myself, confident in my game and it’s something I’ve always prided myself on,” Jones responded when asked if his success has surprised him. “That’s something you have to focus on, especially running the second unit. You want to come in and be sure we’re efficient. That’s what I’m trying to do.” The 19-year-old has connected on 42.4% of his shots from beyond the arc on the year.
- The acquisition of point guard Shelvin Mack has paid off for the Jazz, who have benefited from his consistency and leadership since he arrived from Atlanta, Jody Genessy of The Deseret News writes. “He is a smart player. That is one of the reasons that we traded for him,” coach Quin Snyder said. “I think it’s really a familiarity and comfort level. We know how much we need each other as a group and we’ve got good unselfish guys that support each other. They have probably made that easier for him and I think that he certainly understands that it can help the group and help him impact the group in a positive way.”
Hoops Rumors Originals 3/13/16-3/19/16
Here’s a look back at the original analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this past week…
- Zach Links highlighted some of the better basketball blogs around in his weekly installment of Hoops Links.
- Chuck Myron ran down the likelihood of player options being exercised this summer for players in the Eastern Conference.
- I ran down the updated 2015/16 salary cap numbers for the Heat, Lakers, Pacers, Grizzlies, Bucks and Timberwolves.
- We ran down how many players have appeared in regular season contests for each team in 2015/16.
- If you missed any of our daily reader-driven discussions, be sure to check out the Community Shootaround archives.
- Here’s how you can follow Hoops Rumors on social media and RSS feeds.
- We ran down where teams without their own D-League affiliates have assigned players this season.
- Chuck looked at the financial impact of the trade deadline and buyout market moves for teams of the Southeast Division.
- You can keep track of where your favorite team stands in relation to the 2016 NBA draft lottery with our reverse standings tracker.
- Chuck ran down the list of players the Suns have inked to 10-day contracts this season and showed what became of them after they departed Phoenix.
- We reviewed our commenting policy. Play nice everyone.
- Here’s how you can follow specific players on Hoops Rumors.
2015/16 Salary Cap Update: New Orleans Pelicans
The NBA’s salary cap for 2015/16 is set at $70MM, which is good for an 11% increase from last season, and the luxury tax line is fixed at $84.74MM. With the February 18th cutoff date for trades and the de facto deadline of March 1st for buyouts now past, we at Hoops Rumors are in the process of updating the salary cap commitments for each NBA franchise for the 2015/16 campaign. Here’s the cap breakdown for the New Orleans Pelicans, whose regular season roster can be viewed here:
- 2015/16 Salary Cap= $70,000,000
- 2015/16 Luxury Tax Line= $84,740,000
- Fully Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $81,067,841*
- Remaining Cap Room= -$11,067,841
- Amount Below Luxury Tax Line= $3,672,159
*Note: This amount includes the $44,094 in salary paid to Nate Robinson, the $845,059 owed to Jarnell Stokes and the $71,677 due Jimmer Fredette, all of whom were waived by the team.
Cap Exceptions Available:
- Mid-Level Exception= $488,482
- Bi-Annual Exception= $1,358,894
- Trade Exception= $102,217 (Ish Smith. Expires December 24th, 2016)
Cash Available to Send Out In Trades= $3,400,000
Cash Available to Receive Via Trade= $2,678,700
Note: Despite the trade deadline having passed, the NBA season technically doesn’t end until June 30th. Teams are able to again make trades upon the completion of the regular season or when/if they are eliminated from the playoffs, whichever comes later. So these cash limits still apply.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Week In Review 3/13/16-3/19/16
The NBA and National Basketball Players Association reached an agreement this week that will shorten the free agent moratorium to five days. This year’s free agency moratorium will last from July 1st-6th. Free agent contracts can now be signed much sooner after verbal agreements are reached as a result of the accord.
The moratorium was to run through July 11th for this summer and next prior to Thursday’s agreement, so this speeds up the free agency process by nearly a week. The moratorium period gives the NBA a chance to audit its finances, project next season’s revenue and set salary cap levels. Those salary cap levels determine crucial financial items such as maximum and minimum player salaries, the luxury tax threshold, and signing tools such as the mid-level exception.
Last offseason’s moratorium lasted until July 9th. Controversy arose over DeAndre Jordan‘s late switch during his unrestricted free agency. Jordan made a verbal agreement with the Mavericks, then changed his mind and remained with the Clippers, thanks in part to some heavy lobbying from his Los Angeles teammates. A shorter free agency period will make it more difficult for such flip-flops to take place once a verbal agreement is reached.
Here’s more from the week that was…
Signings
- Nate Robinson agreed to a deal with Israel’s Hapoel Tel Aviv.
- The Nuggets signed Axel Toupane to a second 10-day contract.
- The Timberwolves signed Greg Smith to a second 10-day contract.
- The Grizzlies signed Ray McCallum to a 10-day deal.
- The Grizzlies signed Alex Stepheson to a 10-day contract.
- The Grizzlies signed Xavier Munford to a 10-day deal.
- The Bucks signed Jared Cunningham to a 10-day deal.
- The Clippers signed Jeff Ayres for the remainder of the season.
- The Pelicans signed Tim Frazier to a 10-day deal.
- The Knicks signed Tony Wroten to multiyear contract.
- The Nets signed Henry Sims to a 10-day contract.
- The Pistons signed Lorenzo Brown to a 10-day contract.
- The Celtics signed Coty Clarke to a second 10-day deal.
- The Suns signed Alan Williams to a multiyear contract.
You can stay up to date on all the 10-day deals handed out with our 10-day contract tracker.
Miscellaneous News
- Clippers rookie Branden Dawson was arrested on felony domestic violence charges.
- Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley is expected to miss three to four weeks of action due to Achilles tendinitis.
- Mavericks small forward Jeremy Evans underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder and will miss the remainder of the 2015/16 campaign as a result.
- Seton Hall shooting guard Isaiah Whitehead reportedly intends to enter the 2016 NBA Draft.
D-League News
- Christian Wood returned to the D-League affiliate of the Sixers following the early termination of his 10-day contract.
- The Raptors‘ D-League affiliate announced that Ronald Roberts Jr. will miss the rest of the season with a right knee injury.
You can stay up to date on all the D-League assignments and recalls for the season here.
Nets Ink Sean Kilpatrick To Multiyear Deal
The Nets have signed Sean Kilpatrick to a multiyear deal, the team announced via press release. The exact length and terms of the pact were not announced by the team, though Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports previously reported that the arrangement included a guarantee for next season. It’s unclear if that guarantee is for the player’s full salary or if it is merely a partial guarantee. Brooklyn now has 15 players on its roster, including Henry Sims, whose 10-day deal runs through next weekend.
The combo guard performed extremely well for Brooklyn during his two 10-day pacts and this multiyear deal is a fitting reward for his strong outings. Kilpatrick has appeared in nine games with the Nets, averaging 11.9 points while shooting 49.3% from the field and 47.1% from three-point range in 19.1 minutes per contest. The 26-year-old has scored in double figures six times, including each of the last four games. In 21 career NBA games split between Brooklyn, Denver and Minnesota, Kilpatrick has averaged 7.4 points and 1.2 rebounds in 15.5 minutes of action per appearance.
The signing of Kilpatrick for next season shouldn’t impact the team’s available cap space significantly, considering it is most likely a minimum salary arrangement, though that is merely my speculation. The Nets had $45,702,813 in salary committed for 2016/17 prior to inking Kilpatrick. With the salary cap set to jump to the $90MM-$95MM range, Brooklyn will still have plenty of room to chase free agents this offseason.
Download The Trade Rumors App Today
If you enjoy this website on your smartphone or tablet, you’ve got to download our free Trade Rumors app!
Trade Rumors, available for iOS and Android, is the best way to consume our content on a mobile device. Here’s what it delivers, all for free:
- All the articles from Hoops Rumors, MLB Trade Rumors, and Pro Football Rumors, in an easy-to-navigate, eye-catching format. Swipe through stories to quickly consume all the news and rumors from our three sites. Not into all three sports? No problem – any sport can be easily removed.
- Customize what you see. You can create feeds for any team or player across any of our sites.
- Notifications! For any team or player, you can set up push notifications to ensure you always get breaking news instantly. Notifications can also be set up at the sport level.
- Commenting! You can now read and contribute comments on the app seamlessly.
- Customer service! If you find a bug, we’ll fix it. If you have a feature request, we’ll consider it. The app is continually evolving and improving.
- Did I mention Trade Rumors is a FREE app? What do you have to lose? Download now!
Heat Notes: Deng, Whiteside, Haslem
Veteran big man Udonis Haslem is averaging a career-low 7.6 minutes per contest this season and is viewed as more of a mentor than a part of the team’s regular rotation, a role he is trying to embrace, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel relays. “I’ve had so many different roles in my career,” Haslem said. “I’ve been a starter. I’ve been a sixth man. And now my role is coming to the point of where I’m more of a mentor, I’m more of a leader off the floor. But it’s still a job. It’s still something that I have to do my best at. It’s still something that I’ve got to put effort into. It’s still something that I’ve got to master. It’s still something that challenges me every game.”
“I want to be out there in the fight,” Haslem continued. “But if I’m not in the fight, then I have to do the best job that I can on the outside looking in. So that means pointing out things that I see on the floor, keeping the guys encouraged, being an extension of the coaches to some extent. And just still making sure guys do things the way that we do things. It’s a constant battle with myself because I’m such a competitor. I want to be on the floor. And it’s not like I’m old and broke down. I can still play. But I understand that there has to be room for these new guys. They have to blossom and they have to flourish and the only they’re going to do that is to get out there and play and get the experience. So, for that to happen, somebody has to step to the side.”
Here’s more regarding the Heat:
- Combo forward Luol Deng, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, indicated that his priority when signing his next contract is to play for a winning organization and to not be a part of any rebuilding effort, as he told Sam Amick and Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today on their podcast (Audio link). Deng praised the Heat organization, referring to it as “first class,” and also lauded the team’s up-tempo offense, as the duo relayed. But despite Deng’s happiness with the team as well as his move to power forward, he told the USA Today writers that he fully intends to explore his options on the open market this summer. The 30-year-old has appeared in 61 games this season and is averaging 12.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 32.1 minutes per night. Deng is earning $10,151,612 in the final season of his contract.
- The Heat owe much of their second-half success to the improved play of the team’s reserves, Ethan J. Skolnick of The Miami Herald notes. Since moving center Hassan Whiteside into a reserve role, Miami has improved its bench output from last in the league with an average of 25.5 points in 17.5 minutes per game to ninth with 37.1 points in 18.8 minutes of action per contest, the scribe relays.
Southwest Notes: Howard, Allen, Matthews
Rockets center Dwight Howard isn’t concerned about the perception that he’s following in the footsteps of Shaquille O’Neal once again with his selection of Perry Rogers as his new agent, Sam Amick of USA Today writes. “[O’Neal] reached out to me [weeks ago] and felt like this could be something that could really help me in my future,” Howard said. “We talked, more so about basketball. And then we started talking about agents and all that stuff. He said, ‘Hey, I’ve got somebody who really helped change my life and really sculptured the Shaq that you see today.’ He introduced me to Perry. Perry came down to Houston. We had a really good conversation. It was a decision I made on my own. That’s why I liked it, because I decided to make it. There wasn’t anybody who was around, anybody who could say, ‘Yo, what do you think?’ I went with what I felt was right [for] me.”
As for any potential criticism he may receive regarding the agent switch, Howard told Amick, “People are always going to have something to say about anything that we do, but I did it because this guy has no other clients, so he can focus on me solely,” Howard said of Rogers. “That’s one thing that I think is very important. When you can simplify a lot of things and focus on a couple areas of your life, it just makes everything in your life easier. I just felt like it was a great situation. At the end of the day, I can decide whether I’m going to stay long-term, or whatever it may be, with him, but for right now I think this is somebody who can really help me grow on the business side and on the court.” The Rockets center is expected to turn down a player option of more than $23.282MM and test the free agent market this summer.
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Grizzlies swingman Tony Allen is still adjusting to being called upon as a primary option on offense after being utilized as a role player throughout his career, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal relays. “It’s definitely a new role for me,” Allen said. “I haven’t been in that mindset of trying to score. I’m normally the receiver from Mike Conley or Marc Gasol or Z-Bo [Zach Randolph]. Now, I’m just being aggressive and trying to be a playmaker. It drains you. It takes a lot of energy. But I’m just trying to adapt.“
- Wesley Matthews hasn’t lived up to his status as the Mavericks‘ highest paid player this season, but the swingman isn’t shying away from his responsibility as a team leader, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News writes. Matthews noted that he and his teammates have been letting their frustrations on offense lessen their defensive intensity, something that needs to change if Dallas wants a shot at making the playoffs. “It’s not about X’s and O’s,” Matthews said. “It’s not about this [stats] any more. We’re a .500 team. We deserve to be a .500 team, and we’re at that crossroads — where do we want to go, what do we want to do about it. It’s heart. It’s competing. It’s ‘I don’t want to be done April [13th].’ We all got to wear it on our sleeves. It’s our pride. It’s, ‘I’m going to get this ball before you.’ And if you make this shot, it’s going to be one of the toughest shots you made all season.“
Atlantic Notes: Walton, Durant, Okafor
Knicks interim coach Kurt Rambis offered his praise for the job Luke Walton did with the Warriors while coach Steve Kerr was away from the team recovering from back surgery, Marc Berman of The New York Post relays. Rambis noted that while Walton didn’t need to change much in order for Golden State to remain successful, the team did embrace Walton’s unselfish style of play, Berman adds. “He just continued to perpetuate what was going on,’’ Rambis said of Walton. “It’s not like he changed anything. He continued to allow the team to play the way they’re playing and [have] been successful with. It’s difficult to coach any team, even a good team. You got to keep them motivated and challenged. Every team that plays Golden State, you’re going to see their best. It’s tough as defending champions to meet that challenge night in and night out. When you think of unselfish play and teamwork, they epitomize it.”
While Rambis appears to be team president Phil Jackson‘s top choice to coach the Knicks next season, Walton is reportedly on the team’s short list of potential candidates. Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Pending unrestricted free agent Kevin Durant downplayed the warm reception he received Wednesday from Celtics fans, who were chanting for the small forward to sign with Boston this summer, Charles Curtis of USA Today relays. “I just didn’t think about it, to be honest,” Durant said. “I was more focused on the team. I was definitely looking forward to this today. So, it’s a lot that was going through my mind that was more important.” Prior to arriving in Boston, Durant noted that he enjoyed visiting the city and praised its family atmosphere.
- With Jahlil Okafor‘s rookie season officially over due to injury, questions still remain as to whether or not he and Nerlens Noel can co-exist on the court. When asked to grade the duo, Sixers coach Brett Brown noted that the pairing wasn’t entirely successful, though they did show some improvement as the season wore on, Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com relays. “With sometimes the excitement of [an] A, no doubt,” Brown said. “Sometimes the disappointment of [an] F. It’s not anybody’s fault. We all have talked about it and I believe everybody here understands how difficult [it is] taking two [centers] that are 20 and letting them figure out NBA transition defense and matchups and the punishments. And the plus-minus in our defense [with Okafor and Noel playing together] reflects that opinion. It was terrible. We went from terrible to poor over the course of time. We improved in that direction. At times it was good. So it was erratic.“