Hornets Notes: Biyombo, Bacon, Kaminsky
Bismack Biyombo‘s four-year, $68MM contract has been viewed for years as an albatross, but as that deal nears its end, the Hornets aren’t simply waiting for it to expire. In a regular role off the bench this season, the veteran center has played some of the best ball of his career, averaging a career-best 7.8 PPG with 4.0 RPG in just 16.2 MPG.
While Biyombo won’t get another contract like the one he signed in 2016, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer doesn’t believe a new deal with the Hornets is out of the realm of possibility. On a more modest salary, the 27-year-old big man could be a fit as a rim-protecting center off the bench, and it sounds like he’s open to the idea of remaining in Charlotte beyond the 2019/20 season.
“I love it here. This is my home — I started here,” Biymobo said. “Seeing the organization move in the right direction, seeing guys succeed (matters).”
Here’s more on the Hornets:
- Dwayne Bacon has had an up-and-down season so far, having fallen out of the starting lineup – and the rotation – since the Hornets’ first 10 games. However, the young shooting guard, who can be a restricted free agent at season’s end, is staying positive as he looks to earn another opportunity, Bonnell writes for The Charlotte Observer. “I think I have the perfect mindset to play 15 years in the NBA, because I can accept every obstacle and I’m always going to be ready. I don’t come with ego,” Bacon said. “I’m the same guy every day: I smile like I just scored 30 points. When you have an ego in this sport, you won’t get far. If I came in here all mad, thinking ‘Oh, you guys are playing and I’m not,’ that’s just selfish of me. I know this is going to come around.”
- In another article for The Charlotte Observer, Bonnell explores what we’ve learned about the Hornets based on the first quarter of the club’s season.
- After spending his first four NBA seasons with the Hornets, Frank Kaminsky is uncertain about how to feel playing against his old team as a member of the Suns tonight, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. The former lottery pick said he would try to treat it like just “another game” but admitted it was a new experience for him.
Latest On De’Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley III
Two Kings starters, De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley III, are making progress in their recoveries from injuries, but neither player is ready to return to action, the team announced today in a press release.
Fox, who has been sidelined since sustaining a left ankle sprain on November 11, has resumed on-court basketball activities, but isn’t taking contact. According to the team, he’ll remain in Sacramento during the club’s upcoming four-game road trip – which begins in Portland on Thursday – and will be re-evaluated in about two or three weeks.
The Kings have tread water without Fox, winning five of the nine games he has missed. The team will have to continue to do so if it hopes to remain in the playoff hunt in the West. Even if the star point guard is ready to return in three weeks, he’d miss another 11 games.
Meanwhile, Bagley – out since opening night due to a broken right thumb – will be re-evaluated at the end of this week, per the team. The Kings’ initial October announcement on Bagley after he suffered the injury called for a recovery timeline of approximately four-to-six weeks — this Thursday will represent the six-week mark.
With Fox and Bagley on the shelf, Cory Joseph, Richaun Holmes, and Nemanja Bjelica are among the players who have received bumps in minutes. Holmes (+3.8 net rating) has been particularly effective, so it will be interesting to see how his role is adjusted once Bagley is good to go.
Pistons Notes: Griffin, Wood, Doumbouya
Following the Pistons‘ 110-107 loss to the Hornets on Friday, star forward Blake Griffin called out the team for its lack of “fight,” as Chris McCoskey of The Detroit News relays.
“I think it’s really light in here after a win,” Griffin said. “To me, it seems like we love the victory but we don’t like the fight. You’re not going to win games like that.”
Head coach Dwane Casey had no problem with that harsh criticism from his star player, and in fact agreed with much of it, according to McCoskey, who notes that Casey said the Pistons weren’t putting enough effort into the “little things” necessary to win games.
“Paying attention to detail in offensive situations, paying attention to detail in defensive situations — Blake is exactly right,” Casey said. “These are the things we aren’t doing that can cost you a game. … Everybody remembers the last couple of plays. But you go through a game, you realize the things, the attention to detail, all the ‘I forgots,’ and ‘My bads,’ those add up.”
With those comments from their head coach and star player fresh in their minds, the Pistons had an impressive bounce-back showing at home on Sunday, blowing out the Spurs by 34 points.
Here’s more out of Detroit:
- Christian Wood scored a career-high 28 points on 11-of-14 shooting in just 22 minutes vs. San Antonio, and hopes to parlay performances like that one into more consistent production, writes Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Wood, who is on a partially guaranteed contract, is aware that he’s essentially in an ongoing job audition. “All 30 teams are watching me, so every time I play I try to be relentless,” the young forward said on Sunday. “I try to come with energy and I try to give you everything I’ve got.”
- Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press takes an interesting and in-depth look into Sekou Doumbouya‘s background, the Pistons’ plan for developing the NBA’s youngest player, and when the rookie forward might be ready to consistently contribute at the NBA level.
- To keep tabs on all of our Pistons updates, be sure to check out their team page right here.
NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 12/1/19
Here are Sunday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Clippers assigned Derrick Walton Jr. to the G League, then recalled both Walton and rookie center Mfiondu Kabengele later in the day, according to the team. Both players suited up for the Agua Caliente Clippers on Sunday, with Kabengele posting 15 points and 19 rebounds, though he shot just 6-of-17 in a loss to Santa Cruz.
- The Pistons recalled rookie forward Sekou Doumbouya from Grand Rapids on Sunday, tweets Rod Beard of The Detroit News. Doumbouya saw a little garbage-time action in Detroit’s blowout win over San Antonio, scoring four points in less than three minutes.
- The Timberwolves recalled rookie center Naz Reid from the G League on Sunday, per a team release.
- After scoring 18 points in 18 minutes for the Northern Arizona Suns on Saturday, Ty Jerome was recalled to the NBA by the Suns, the team announced (via Twitter). Jerome, coming off an ankle injury, has yet to make his NBA debut.
- The Kings recalled third-year forward Caleb Swanigan from the G League on Sunday, according to the club (Twitter link).
- The Jazz sent forward Juwan Morgan and guard Miye Oni to the Salt Lake City Stars on Sunday, the team announced in a press release. Presumably, both players will suit up for Utah’s G League affiliate on Monday vs. Grand Rapids.
Western Notes: O’Neale, Dirk, McLemore, Baynes
Royce O’Neale, who is the Jazz‘s most trusted perimeter defender, is aiming this season to improve the accuracy and volume of his three-point shot on the other end of the court.
As Aaron Falk of UtahJazz.com details, O’Neale three-point percentage is up to a career-best 47.9% this season, but he’s attempting just 3.1 per 36 minutes, the lowest rate of his career. That’s prompting his teammates and Jazz coaches to encourage him to look more for his shot.
“You have to shoot it,” Jazz point guard Mike Conley said. “I’m trying my best to tell him to shoot it every time. I get mad [when he doesn’t].”
It’s a big year for O’Neale, who will be eligible for restricted free agency during the summer of 2020. If he can continue to prove that he’s a reliable, consistent three-and-D option, the 26-year-old should be in line for a nice payday when his minimum-salary deal expires, whether or not he remains with the Jazz.
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Just in case there was any doubt, longtime Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki confirmed that he won’t be following in the footsteps of fellow Dallas athlete Jason Witten by coming out of retirement after a year (Twitter link via Mark Medina of USA Today). “Oh man. I wish,” said Nowitzki, who attended the Mavs’ Sunday win over the Lakers. “But my foot is not great. My health is not there anymore where it needs to be to compete and go up and down every day.“
- Ben McLemore, one of three Rockets players without a fully guaranteed 2019/20 salary, has taken on a crucial rotation role as of late, starting five of the club’s last nine games. While McLemore has been significantly better as a starter, he’s confident that his numbers as a reserve will come around if he returns to a full-time bench role. “It’s about keeping my game simple, especially with this team,” McLemore said, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “I’m trying to do the best I can each and every night and be consistent. Things will shake out for me soon.”
- Offseason acquisition Aron Baynes, who returned to the Suns‘ lineup on Friday after missing five games due to a hip injury, has quickly become a veteran leader and a major on-court contributor for his new team, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.
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Shane Larkin Building Strong Overseas Resume
After being selected with the 18th overall pick in the 2013 draft, former Miami Hurricanes guard Shane Larkin posted modest numbers in the NBA for four seasons, spending time with four teams – the Mavericks, Knicks, Nets, and Celtics – during that stretch. Most recently, he appeared in 54 games for the 2017/18 C’s, averaging 4.3 PPG and 1.8 APG in a part-time role (14.4 MPG).
Following his one year in Boston, Larkin headed overseas to play for Turkish club Anadolu Efes Istanbul. And in contrast to his fairly pedestrian NBA production, the 27-year-old point guard has been putting up increasingly eyebrow-raising stats in the EuroLeague.
As Jonathan Givony of ESPN tweets, Larkin’s most recent achievement came on Friday, when he broke the EuroLeague’s single-game scoring record by racking up 49 points in 31 minutes on just 19 field goal attempts. Larkin’s 10-for-12 performance on three-pointers in that blowout win over Bayern Munich is further evidence of his improved shooting, according to Givony, who notes that the former first-round pick has also been “living at the free throw line” in Europe.
Through 10 EuroLeague contests this season, Larkin is the league’s leading scorer with 22.0 PPG. His shooting line is a scorching .512/.508/.871, and he’s going to the free throw line seven times per game.
Larkin’s strong EuroLeague play didn’t just begin this season. When Anadolu Efes earned a spot in last season’s EuroLeague Final Four, he led the team to the final with a 30-point showing in the semis, then scored a record-breaking 29 points in the championship game, though his team lost to CSKA Moscow. His 59 points in a EuroLeague Final Four marked the highest total since 1994.
Larkin’s current contract with Anadolu Efes runs through the 2020/21 season, but it reportedly features an NBA opt-out during the summer of 2020, so the veteran point guard could return stateside next year he gets an offer he likes. According to a EuroHoops report, he received at least a couple NBA offers last offseason, but they wouldn’t have provided the sort of role he sought.
With Larkin showing he deserves another shot in the NBA, it will be interesting to see which teams might pursue him next summer, and whether or not he’ll even want to return. He’s currently one of the highest-paid players in Europe and is the star of one of the EuroLeague’s best teams (Anadolu Efes is 9-2 so far this season). In other words, it will likely take more than a small bench role on a minimum-salary deal to lure him back.
Community Shootaround: Biggest Early-Season Disappointments
After praising some of the NBA’s most pleasant surprises of the 2019/20 season so far on Thursday, we’re headed to the other end of the spectrum today. For every team that has exceeded its expectations early on in ’19/20, there’s one that has failed to meet expectations — in some cases, in dramatic fashion.
In the Western Conference, for instance, the Trail Blazers and Spurs entered the season viewed as good bets to make the playoffs. That could certainly still happen, but each team has dug itself an early hole over the last several weeks — Portland is 7-12, while San Antonio is just 6-13. The Blazers can at least blame injuries to some extent, as they’re missing two key big men, Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins, but neither team can be pleased with its results so far.
Elsewhere in the West, it’s been a disappointing 20 games in Golden State, though that can blamed more on bad luck than poor play. Already missing Klay Thompson, the Warriors have been without Stephen Curry and Kevon Looney for virtually all of the season, with D’Angelo Russell and Draymond Green also missing time due to injuries. The Dubs didn’t look great even when the roster was mostly healthy, but their injury woes have made them the NBA’s worst team, at 4-16.
In the East, the Sixers and Nets have had their ups and downs, but are still 13-6 and 10-9, respectively, so it’s hard to view their seasons as disappointments. The same can’t be said for the 6-13 Bulls and Pistons. Neither team is all that far off the playoff pace in the East, considering the 8-12 Hornets hold the No. 8 seed, but Chicago and Detroit hoped to push for records of .500 or better this season. That seems like a long shot now.
Things have been even uglier for the Knicks, who made win-now moves in the offseason in the hopes of getting into the playoff mix. It hasn’t worked out that way so far, as New York sits at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with a 4-15 mark and has shown few reasons to believe a postseason push is around the corner.
Outside of this season’s underachievers, there have been plenty of injury-related disappointments. We still haven’t seen much-hyped No. 1 pick Zion Williamson make his NBA regular-season debut, and stars like Curry, Gordon Hayward, and De’Aaron Fox have joined the likes of Thompson and Kevin Durant on the long-term injury list. A shoulder injury also prevented Kyrie Irving from making his return to Boston this week, which was undoubtedly a disappointment for the Celtics fans who bought tickets hoping to… uh, welcome Kyrie back.
We want to hear your thoughts. Which teams, players, or injuries have you been most disappointed by so far this season? Do you expect some of those underachieving clubs to turn things around, or should most of them prepare for more of the same?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in!
NBA Trade Candidate Watch: Southeast Division
Over the course of the 2019/20 NBA season, up until February’s trade deadline, we’re keeping an eye on potential trade candidates from around the NBA, monitoring their value and exploring the likelihood that they’ll be moved. Each of these looks at possible trade candidates focuses on a specific division, as we zero in on three players from that division.
We’re still more than two weeks away from December 15, the date when most of this past offseason’s free agent signees become trade-eligible, so the NBA’s 2019/20 trade season hasn’t really begun yet. But with the regular season nearing the one-quarter mark, we’re getting a better sense of which teams might be buyers and which non-contenders will end up being sellers.
Having gone through all six divisions once as we examine potential trade candidates, we’re starting our second go-round today. Here are three more possible trade candidates from out of the Southeast:
Davis Bertans, PF
Washington Wizards
$7MM cap hit; UFA in 2020
Bertans, who would likely still be a Spur if Marcus Morris had never agreed to sign with San Antonio over the summer, has played a crucial role in helping the Wizards post some of the NBA’s best offensive numbers. One of the most dangerous frontcourt shooters in the league, Bertans is making a career-high 44.3% of his three-pointers on 7.6 attempts per game and has increased his scoring average off the bench to 13.3 PPG.
The Wizards might try to lock up Bertans long-term, but the 27-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, giving the club little leverage in contract talks. If Washington falls out of the playoff hunt in the East, Bertans will be one of the team’s best trade chips, based on his affordable cap hit ($7MM), his expiring contract, and his ability to provide instant offense.
One scout who spoke to ESPN’s Bobby Marks earlier this month suggested that it wouldn’t be a surprise if there’s a team willing to surrender a late first-round pick for Bertans at the trade deadline.
Jabari Parker, PF
Atlanta Hawks
$6.5MM cap hit; $6.5MM player option for 2020/21
Like the Wizards, the Hawks probably won’t shift into selling mode until their playoff hopes are all but extinguished. And it may take a while for that to happen in an Eastern Conference where the 8-12 Hornets currently hold onto the No. 8 seed.
Still, at 4-15, the Hawks are already 3.5 games out of the postseason picture, so unless they start winning some games soon, they’ll have to consider shopping some veteran players. Although Parker is only 24, the sixth-year forward qualifies as one such veteran.
With 17.8 PPG on 51.8% shooting through 18 games (28.1 MPG), Parker has been the Hawks’ best scorer not named Trae Young this season. And it’s not as if he’s been putting up numbers against second-stringers — he has been a starter since John Collins was hit with a 25-game suspension early in the season.
With a $6.5MM player option for the 2020/21 season, Parker could be a one-and-done in Atlanta, so if a team in need of frontcourt scoring wants to make a play for him before the deadline, the Hawks would be wise to listen.
Aaron Gordon, F
Orlando Magic
$19.9MM cap hit; descending guaranteed salaries through 2021/22
By all accounts, Gordon isn’t a trade candidate right now. Shams Charania of The Athletic reported two weeks ago that teams were monitoring the former No. 4 overall pick in case he becomes available, but said that Orlando has shown no interest in such a move.
Still, the Magic (7-11) have been disappointing so far and their offense has been disastrous. Jonathan Isaac, not exactly a dynamic scorer himself, nonetheless looks like a franchise cornerstone due to his versatility, defensive ability, and upside, and Sean Deveney of Forbes recently suggested there may be some concern within the organization about the long-term fit of an Isaac/Gordon frontcourt.
Gordon is just 24 years old and still has intriguing potential, despite his lack of improvement so far this season. He also has a contract that declines in value each year, eventually dipping to $16.4MM in 2021/22. That makes him a valuable trade chip.
I think the Magic front office will be patient in giving the current group every opportunity to make things work, and a trade for scoring help wouldn’t necessarily have to include Gordon. But moving the young forward is a possibility the team should at least consider if its struggles continue.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 11/29/19
Here are Friday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Hornets assigned rookie forward Cody Martin to the G League today, the team announced in a press release. Suiting up for the Greensboro Swarm for the first time against the Capital City Go-Go, Martin recorded 11 points, eight rebounds, and six assists in a 108-94 win.
- The Bucks sent former lottery pick Dragan Bender to the Wisconsin Herd for Friday’s game against Erie, according to the team (Twitter link). Bender has logged just two minutes for Milwaukee this season, but is becoming a fixture for the Herd, having averaged 21.5 PPG and 9.8 RPG in four games entering tonight’s contest.
- The Suns re-assigned rookie guard Ty Jerome to the G League for Friday’s contest vs. Sioux Falls, tweets Gina Mizell of The Athletic. Jerome, who is recovering from an ankle sprain, has yet to make his NBA regular-season debut.
- Forwards Wenyen Gabriel and Caleb Swanigan were assigned to the G League by the Kings, the team announced in a press release. The duo will play tonight for the Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s NBAGL affiliate.
- Former first-round center Justin Patton continues to bounce back and forth between the NBA and the G League, having been sent to the Oklahoma City Blue today by the Thunder, per a team release. It’s the fifth NBAGL assignment this month for Patton.