MSU’s Xavier Tillman Declares For 2020 Draft
Michigan State big man Xavier Tillman has announced he’ll test the 2020 NBA draft waters, declaring for the draft while retaining his college eligibility. Tillman made it official this afternoon in an Instagram message.
“With the support of my family and coaches, I have decided to test the waters and will enter my name in the 2020 NBA draft,” Tillman wrote. “It is important for me to gather as much information as possible before making this decision. Throughout the process I will be keeping my college eligibility.”
Tillman’s ability to gather information on his draft stock will be more limited than usual, given the way the coronavirus pandemic will interfere with the pre-draft process. However, the junior forward/center looks like a strong candidate to be drafted — he currently ranks 48th on ESPN’s big board.
In 2019/20, Tillman averaged a double-double for the Spartans, with 13.7 PPG and 10.3 RPG in 31 games (32.1 MPG). He also contributed 3.0 APG and an impressive 2.1 BPG.
Tillman becomes the latest addition to our running list of 2020’s early entrants.
Knicks Notes: Rose, Knox, Hiatus, Brazdeikis
Kentucky head coach John Calipari, who has a long-standing relationship with new Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose, said today on a conference call that he thinks Rose is the right man for the job in New York, per Scott Thompson and Ian Begley of SNY.tv. While Calipari acknowledged that changes within the organization might not happen overnight, he’s confident that Rose will do a “great job” and will eventually get the Knicks on the right path.
“He’s a gatherer,” Calipari said. “And I believe that’s what the Knicks need right now, a gather who can bring things together and make it a culture that players want to be in because they know, ‘This is about all of us.'”
Calipari also spoke at length about former Kentucky forward Kevin Knox, who has struggled thus far in his two NBA seasons. As Danny Abriano of SNY.tv relays, Calipari said he has seen “glimpses” from Knox at the NBA level and believes the 20-year-old is still going through an adjustment period.
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Here’s more on the Knicks:
- Mike Vornukov of The Athletic identifies six ways the Knicks will be affected by the NBA’s hiatus, including its impact on the team’s coaching search, draft prep, and free agency period. As Vornukov points out, the Knicks beating Atlanta in their last game before the break will cost them in the lottery standings if the regular season doesn’t resume.
- Ignas Brazdeikis, who only appeared in nine games for the Knicks as a rookie in 2019/20, would have gotten a chance at regular minutes down the stretch after the NBA G League season ended, sources tell Marc Berman of The New York Post. “That was the plan — join the team, get an opportunity,” one source told Berman. “The Knicks were happy with his development. He kept a real positive mentality, kept his head down and was excited about the opportunity.”
- Former NBA head coach Rick Pitino tells Steve Selby of The New York Post that he was shocked by Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant signing with Brooklyn without even meeting with the Knicks. “The Knicks today, it’s not like the old days, where everybody dreamed of playing at Madison Square Garden,” Pitino said. “… The Knick organization is going through difficult times, but hopefully they got the right leadership now and they’ll turn it around.”
Sixers Reverse Course On Reducing Employees’ Salaries
Sixers ownership has reversed course on a plan to reduce certain employees’ salaries, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
Full-time 76ers employees who earn at least $50K annually were informed on Monday that their salaries would be temporarily reduced by up to 20% as the NBA remains on hiatus, as Marc Stein of The New York Times details. Those employees were told that the new measures would apply to pay checks from April 15 through June 30, with health benefits and 401(k) plans unaffected, says Stein.
Sixers majority owner Josh Harris, whose Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment also owns the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, confirmed those plans in a statement today, but indicated they won’t be moving forward.
“Our commitment has been to do our best to keep all of our employees working through this very difficult situation. As part of an effort to do that we asked salaried employees to take a temporary 20% pay cut while preserving everyone’s full benefits — and keeping our 1,500 hourly workers paid throughout the regular season,” Harris said. “After listening to our staff and players, it’s clear that was the wrong decision. We have reversed it and will be paying these employees their full salaries.”
The measures, which have now been nixed, wouldn’t have affected any players. They also wouldn’t have applied to employees on contracts, including members of the coaching staff or certain front office executives, Stein notes. Only “at-will” employees would have been required to accept the salary reductions, Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter).
However, according to Stein, some additional members of the organization had been asked to participate in the rollbacks as well — Sixers GM Elton Brand was among those who had agreed to take a temporary pay cut. Wojnarowski tweets that coaches and executives whose salaries couldn’t be unilaterally cut were initially given until Thursday to agree to a salary reduction of 20%. Per Woj, many were reluctant to give back that money, particularly since their employment situations beyond this summer are uncertain.
As Wojnarowski tweets, other team owners were keeping an eye on the situation in Philadelphia. Those owners were weighing their own desire to save money against the potential PR backlash that such a move would generate. Presumably, based on the negative PR the 76ers faced and the quick reversal that followed, no other teams will immediately enact similar plans.
Sixers part-owner Michael Rubin actually contributed to that PR backlash that helped push the club to change its plans — Shams Charania of Stadium (video link) reports that Rubin wasn’t believed to be part of the decision to reduce employees’ salaries and was said to be “upset” and “outraged” by it.
Meanwhile, before the 76ers’ change of heart, star center Joel Embiid announced that he’s pledging $500K to COVID-19 medical relief efforts in the community and that he was committed to helping Sixers employees who would suffer financial hardship in light of the team’s salary reductions (Twitter link via Ramona Shelburne of ESPN). With the Sixers no longer planning to reduce employees’ salary, Embiid’s financial commitment beyond that $500K for coronavirus purposes no longer appears necessary.
Tyrese Haliburton Entering 2020 NBA Draft
Another potential top-10 pick has confirmed he’s entering his name in the 2020 NBA draft, with Iowa State’s Tyrese Haliburton declaring his intent to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Adrian Wojnarowski.
Haliburton, a 6’5″ point guard, averaged just 6.8 PPG and 3.6 APG as a freshman in 2018/19. However, he enjoyed a breakout sophomore year in 2019/20, recording 15.2 PPG, 6.5 APG, 5.9 RPG, and 2.5 SPG on .504/.419/.822 shooting in 22 games (36.7 MPG).
Currently, Haliburton ranks seventh overall on ESPN’s big board, including second among point guards, behind only LaMelo Ball. In his scouting report, ESPN draft guru Mike Schmitz praises Haliburton’s shooting touch and basketball IQ, while cautioning that the youngster’s shot creation could use some work and his light frame makes him inclined to avoid contact.
Haliburton, who had his sophomore season cut short due to a fractured wrist, impressed NBA scouts last summer when he helped lead Team USA to a gold medal at the FIBA U-19 World Cup, Givony and Wojnarowski observe.
Our running list of early entrants for the 2020 draft can be found right here.
Kira Lewis, Tyler Bey Among Prospects Testing Draft Waters
Alabama guards Kira Lewis and John Petty will enter the 2020 NBA draft and will go through the pre-draft process before deciding whether to keep their names in this year’s pool, coach Nate Oats said today, per Charlie Potter of 247Sports (Twitter link).
“We’re planning on possibly not having either of them back,” Oats said of Lewis and Petty.
Lewis, a sophomore point guard who ranks 25th overall on ESPN’s big board, averaged a team-high 18.5 PPG to go along with 5.2 APG, 4.8 RPG, and 1.8 SPG in 31 games (37.6 MPG) in 2019/20.
Petty, the Crimson Tide’s starting shooting guard, recorded 14.6 PPG and 6.6 RPG with an impressive .440 3PT% in 29 games (33.5 MPG) as a junior. He ranks 56th on ESPN’s top-100 list.
Meanwhile, a pair of Colorado juniors will also test the draft waters, according to head coach Tad Boyle, who says that Tyler Bey and McKinley Wright will go through the process, per Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link). A report earlier this month indicated Bey and Wright were expected to enter their names in the 2020 draft.
Bey, the No. 36 prospect on ESPN’s big board, posted 13.8 PPG and 9.0 RPG with 1.5 SPG and 1.2 BPG in 31 games (29.0 MPG) in 2019/20. The forward also showed a slightly increased willingness to let it fly from beyond the arc, making 13-of-31 (41.9%) of his three-point attempts.
As for Wright, he was the Buffaloes’ leading scorer with 14.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 5.0 APG. However, the junior guard doesn’t show up on ESPN’s list of 2020’s top 100 prospects.
While all four Alabama and Colorado underclassmen will go through the pre-draft process, it’s not clear yet what that process will actually entail, with the combine and individual workouts in jeopardy and this year’s draft calendar up in the air.
And-Ones: P. Gasol, Draft, Barkley, 2K League
Veteran NBA big man Pau Gasol talked a couple times in February about the possibility of suiting up for the 2020 Olympics and potentially making an NBA comeback next season. However, with the Olympics being pushed back to 2021 and the NBA currently in a state of flux, Gasol’s comeback efforts are up in the air too.
Speaking to Spanish outlet El Pais, Gasol acknowledged that retirement is an option he continues to consider, given the current global basketball situation and his own recovery from a foot injury.
“With this recovery process and the injury that I have been dealing with for more than a year, it’s undoubtedly inevitable to think about retirement,” Gasol said, per Keith Smith of NBC Sports. “Also, taking into account that I will be 40 years old in a few months. So, it’s definitely on my mind.”
Gasol says he’s focusing on the Gasol Foundation and his other off-court projects for the time being, while he continues to recover. A decision on his next professional step will come at a later date, according to the 39-year-old Spaniard, who adds that right now “the priority is to overcome this pandemic.”
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- The NCAA intends to work with the NBA to adapt to any changes to the 2020 draft calendar, NCAA senior VP of basketball Dan Gavitt said on Monday (Twitter link via Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports). For now, with the draft still tentatively scheduled for June 25, NCAA early entrants have until the end of the day on April 26 to declare for the draft, and can withdraw at any time up until June 3 while maintaining their college eligibility.
- Former NBA star and current TNT analyst Charles Barkley announced on Monday that he tested negative for COVID-19, as Marc Stein of The New York Times relays (via Twitter). Barkley was tested earlier in March after exhibiting some possible coronavirus symptoms.
- Starting this Friday, the NBA 2K League will be hosting a completely online tournament called the Three For All Showdown, which will give fans, influencers, and top female 2K players an opportunity to challenge NBA 2K League teams. Arda Ocal of ESPN has the details on the tournament, which was created in response to the 2K League postponing its season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tokyo Olympics Officially Postponed To 2021
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics have officially been postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee announced this morning in a joint statement.
The exact dates for the rescheduled event haven’t yet been determined. Today’s announcement indicated that the Olympics will happen at “a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021.” Given that these are the Summer Games, pushing them back by about a full year seems like the most probable outcome. They were previously scheduled to begin on July 24, 2020.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday that he had asked IOC president Thomas Bach for a one-year delay and he agreed “100%,” per Motoko Rich, Matt Futterman, and Tariq Panja of The New York Times. The formal announcement comes less than 24 hours after IOC member Dick Pound said in an interview that the Tokyo Games would be postponed.
As noted in the New York Times report and in a story by Nancy Armour and Tom Schad of USA Today, postponing the 2020 Olympics will be a massive undertaking with a series of logistical challenges, including adjusting TV broadcasting deals, working around world championship events in certain sports, and dealing with venue and hotel availability.
It remains to be seen how the postponement will affect the basketball portion of the Olympics. It’s safe to say that the qualifying tournaments scheduled to take place this June to determine the last four teams in the men’s tournament will also be pushed back. But with the new dates undetermined and the calendars for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 NBA seasons also up in the air, there’s no guarantee that NBA players will be free to participate in those qualifying tournaments — or even in the Olympics themselves.
Community Shootaround: Hypothetical MVP Ballot
Before the 2019/20 NBA season was postponed, LeBron James seemed to be building some momentum in an MVP race that Giannis Antetokounmpo had dominated for much of the year.
James had just led the Lakers to signature wins over the Bucks and Clippers, the two top threats to the Lakers’ title hopes. At the same time, a knee injury sustained in that Bucks/Lakers showdown had sidelined Antetokounmpo for the two games leading up to the stoppage.
With the NBA now in an indefinite hiatus, the MVP race has been put on hold. In fact, it’s possible it might be over altogether. While team owners and players alike want to resume the season, it’s not clear if or when that will happen. And if it does resume, the rest of regular season figures to be significantly reduced or perhaps even excised entirely in order to quickly advance to the playoffs.
With that in mind, we want to get your hypothetical MVP ballot for the 2019/20 NBA season. Do you have Giannis or LeBron in the top spot? How would you fill out the rest of your top five?
Dan Devine of The Ringer tried his hand at putting together a ballot, picking Antetokounmpo as his MVP, followed by James, Rockets star James Harden, LeBron’s teammate Anthony Davis, and reigning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard. Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald had the same top three (Giannis, LeBron, and Harden) on his unofficial MVP ballot, as did ESPN’s panel of voters.
ESPN’s straw poll respondents had Leonard and Davis in their top six as well, but were more bullish than Devine on Mavericks star Luka Doncic, who finished fourth. Thunder guard Chris Paul, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, and Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard rounded out ESPN’s top 10, with Jayson Tatum (Celtics) and Bradley Beal (Wizards) each receiving a lone down-ballot vote as well.
What do you think? How would you fill out your five-man MVP ballot based on what we’ve seen so far?
Head to the comment section below to share your list and your reasoning!
Nets Notes: Head Coach, Allen, Kyrie, Durant
Asked today during an ESPN Radio appearance about the two NBA head coaching jobs in New York, former coach and current analyst Stan Van Gundy said there’s “no question” that the Nets‘ position is more favorable than the Knicks‘ opening, as Brian Lewis of The New York Post writes.
“Of the two, the Nets are the better job. There’s no question about that right now,” Van Gundy said. “The organization has been more stable. They’ve won more games. They have more talent.”
While the Knicks project to have a good deal of cap flexibility going forward and have some promising young players like RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson, the Nets should have stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving healthy for the start of next season, with a talented supporting cast that includes Caris LeVert, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Joe Harris.
Both teams will be in the market for new head coaches after the season, with Mike Miller and Jacque Vaughn holding the jobs in the interim after having replaced David Fizdale and Kenny Atkinson, respectively.
Here’s more on the Nets:
- In the wake of Atkinson’s departure and DeAndre Jordan‘s ascension to the starting lineup, Jarrett Allen‘s long-term outlook in Brooklyn has never been cloudier, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. The Nets’ handling of Allen raises the question of whether the young center could become an offseason trade piece, Lewis writes.
- Kyrie Irving announced today on Instagram that he’s donating $323K to Feeding America amidst the COVID-19 crisis and is working to distribute 250,000 meals across the New York area. As Howard Beck of Bleacher Report tweets, Irving chose that specific donation amount of $323K to reflect his birthday (March 23) and as a nod to Kobe Bryant (the sum of the digits is 8).
- Appearing on Friday on NBC Sports Washington’s Wizards Talk podcast, Kevin Durant‘s good friend Quinn Cook provided a positive update on Durant, who tested positive for the coronavirus last week. “He’s just encouraging social distancing, staying inside and don’t expose others,” Cook said. “For him to step up to the plate and use his platform to spread awareness, it’s brave. That’s the kind of guy he is. He’s fine. He’s doing great.”
Hoops Rumors Glossary: Bird Rights
The Bird exception, named after Larry Bird, is a rule included in the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement that allows teams to go over the salary cap to re-sign their own players. A player who qualifies for the Bird exception, formally referred to as a Qualifying Veteran Free Agent, is said to have “Bird rights.”
The most basic way for a player to earn Bird rights is to play for the same team for at least three seasons, either on a multiyear deal or separate one-year contracts. Still, there are other criteria. A player retains his Bird rights in the following scenarios:
He changes teams via trade. For instance, the Cavaliers would hold Andre Drummond‘s Bird rights if he opts for free agency this offseason, despite just acquiring him in February. His Bird clock didn’t reset when he was traded from the Pistons to Cleveland.- He finishes a third season with a team after having only signed for a partial season with the club in the first year. Patrick McCaw finished the 2018/19 season on a contract with the Raptors, then re-signed with Toronto on a two-year deal in the summer of 2019. When that contract expires, McCaw will have full Bird rights because of the partial season he spent with the Raptors last year, which started his Bird clock.
- He signed for a full season in year one or two but the team waived him, he cleared waivers, and didn’t sign with another team before re-signing with the club and remaining under contract through a third season. This one’s a little confusing, but let’s use DeMarcus Cousins as an example. Partway through his one-year contract with the Lakers, Cousins was waived last month and has yet to join a new team. If the Lakers were to re-sign Cousins to a two-year contract in the offseason, without him joining a new team in the interim, they’d have his full Bird rights at the end of that deal.
A player sees the clock on his Bird rights reset to zero in the following scenarios:
- He changes teams via free agency.
- He is waived and is not claimed on waivers (except as in scenario No. 3 above).
- His rights are renounced by his team. However, his Bird clock resumes where it left off if he re-signs with that team without having signed with another NBA team. For example, Mike Scott had his rights renounced by the Sixers last July, as Philadelphia attempted to gain cap flexibility. Scott eventually signed a new two-year deal with the 76ers and will have full Bird rights at the end of it.
- He is selected in an expansion draft.
If a player who would have been in line for Bird rights at the end of the season is waived and claimed off waivers, he would retain only Early Bird rights. Meanwhile, a player with Bird rights who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract (or a one-year deal with a second-year option) would lose his Bird rights if he’s traded. As such, he receives the ability to veto trades so he can avoid that scenario.
[RELATED: Players with the ability to veto trades in 2019/20]
When a player earns Bird rights, he’s eligible to re-sign with his team on a maximum-salary contract for up to five years with 8% annual raises when he becomes a free agent, regardless of how much cap room the team has. The maximum salary will vary for each player depending on how long he has been in the league, but regardless of the amount, a team can exceed the salary cap to complete the deal.
A team with a Bird free agent is assigned a “free agent amount” or cap hold worth either 190% of his previous salary (for a player with a below-average salary) or 150% of his previous salary (for an above-average salary), up to the maximum salary amount. For players coming off rookie scale contracts, the amounts of those cap holds are 300% and 250%, respectively.
The Pelicans, for instance, will have a cap hold worth $21,796,456 for Brandon Ingram on their 2020/21 books — 300% of his $7,265,485 salary for 2019/20. New Orleans could renounce Ingram and clear an extra $21MM+ in cap space, but the Pelicans would lose the ability to re-sign him using Bird rights in that scenario, which would force them to use either cap room or a different cap exception to re-sign him. As such, the club figures to keep that cap hold on its books until Ingram is officially re-signed.
Ultimately, the Bird exception was designed to allow teams to keep their best players. The CBA ensures that teams are always able to re-sign them to contracts up to the maximum salary, assuming the player is interested in returning and his team is willing to go over the cap.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.
Earlier versions of this post were published in previous years by Luke Adams and Chuck Myron. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.