Rockets Notes: Gordon, Eason, Christopher, Porter Jr.
The Rockets continue to value Eric Gordon very highly and despite several teams inquiring about his availability, including the Sixers, Heat, Bucks, Suns and Lakers, Houston has not shopped the veteran guard and has turned down trade offers for his services, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle.
Gordon has been working out with his young teammates in preparation for next season and is taking a wait-and-see approach to his future with the franchise.
“I know how the business works,” Gordon said, per Feigen. “I don’t know what is going to happen. All I can worry about is how I play basketball, and I’ll see what happens. Anything can happen in this business.”
Gordon’s brother, Eron Gordon, who went undrafted out of Valparaiso, is a member of Houston’s Summer League squad and said it’s a “special” opportunity.
“It’s definitely pretty special. It’s pretty special for my family. Not too many times in the world two brothers play on a major, professional sports team. So, it’s definitely a special moment for the Gordon family,” Eron said.
As Feigen notes, Eron is very unlikely to make the NBA club, but the Rockets value both brothers’ professionalism, which is why he was given a chance.
“His being on a roster definitely means a lot to me,” Eric said. “As soon as he starts playing, he’ll figure it out.”
Here’s more on the Rockets:
- First-rounder Tari Eason, the No. 17 pick of last month’s draft, has produced solid results during Summer League and looks like he could be a quality contributor for the Rockets, according to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports. “Everything that I bring here I think translates to an NBA court. I don’t think I’m playing out of myself, doing too much,” Eason said. “I think that my ability to space the floor, rebound, defend, and knock down an open three are all things that I’ve tried to showcase to the people that I could do here, and I think all those things would translate.” Eason put up 22 points and 10 rebounds in his latest outing.
- Second-year guard Josh Christopher is still trying to find the right balance between being aggressive and playing under control, Feigen writes in another story for The Houston Chronicle. Christopher has an innate ability to attack the paint, but he’s still working on making good decisions and proper reads instead of relying on talent alone, Feigen notes.
- Kevin Porter Jr. believes the team’s rookies will help bring a defensive identity Houston has lacked the past couple of seasons, as Feigen relays. “Oh man, I think we’re shaping up good,” Porter said. “Watching these past games in the summer league, I’ve been paying attention to the defensive end. We look like we have the pieces to be a phenomenal defensive team. We already know what we can do on the offensive end so we’re not much worried about that. Defensively, that’s what I’ve been focusing on. I’m excited.” The Rockets ranked 27th in defensive rating in 2020/21 and 29th last season, so there’s certainly room for improvement on that end.
Trade Breakdown: Christian Wood To Mavericks
This is the first in our series breaking down the major trades of the 2022 offseason. As opposed to giving out grades, this series will explore why the teams were motivated to make the moves. We’re starting with a pre-draft deal between the Mavericks and Rockets…
Most of the immediate reaction to the Rockets sending Christian Wood to the Mavericks in exchange for the 26th pick, Boban Marjanovic, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss was surprise at Wood’s relatively low value, resulting a general sense that the Mavericks got a steal.
So why did the Rockets move Wood for a late first-rounder (the Rockets later flipped the pick for the 29th selection – used on TyTy Washington — and a couple of second-rounders from the Wolves) and four expiring contracts? After all, the talented big man averaged 19.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 block in 109 games (31.4 minutes) for Houston the past two seasons, posting a shooting line of .507/.384/.626.
The first part of the answer is easy: After finishing with the worst record in the league for the second straight season, Houston landed the third overall pick in the draft. The Rockets knew that one of Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren or Jabari Smith (whom they ultimately selected) would be available at that spot, so they needed to move Wood to clear a minutes logjam in the frontcourt for the incoming rookie and second-year big man Alperen Sengun.
Wood is too good to not play, and having him come off the bench in place of rookie and a second-year player doesn’t make sense for either side – Wood would be unhappy, and you don’t get optimal value by not showcasing a player you’re looking to deal. Wood is also on expiring contract of his own ($14.3MM), turns 27 before the season, and wasn’t in the team’s long-term plans, so all of those things hurt Houston’s negotiating leverage.
It’s also fair to question, to some extent, how much impact Wood actually had on winning in his tenure with the Rockets, considering the team finished with the worst record in the league two years in a row. Obviously, not all of that is on him, yet last season the team had a better net rating when he was off the court (-8.4) than on it (-9.6).
Rockets GM Rafael Stone is smart. All NBA front offices are led by intelligent people. The rest of the league knew that Houston needed to clear minutes in the frontcourt, and considering Wood has outperformed his three-year, $41MM deal, whichever team acquired him also knew it would have to pay him handsomely to keep him around – Wood will be eligible to sign a contract extension worth up to $77MM over four years at the end of December, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks reported at the time of the trade.
Thus, his market value turned out to be the 26th pick and four expiring contracts that range between $2.2MM and $3.5MM. The expiring deals were key for the Rockets, because they project to have a ton of cap space in 2023, and Houston is a large market that could feasibly attract free agents with its young, talented core (the fact that Texas has no state income tax also helps a selling point).
I’m skeptical that any of Marjanovic, Burke, Brown or Chriss have positive value on the trade market, and there’s a good chance most of them won’t be on Houston’s roster before the regular season begins, which is why I refer to them collectively as expiring contracts. The team currently has 18 players on standard deals and that number needs to be cut to 15 by October. If any of those players remain on the roster, it will probably be due to their off-court impact as much as what they can do on the court, because the Rockets are in the midst of a rebuild and won’t be prioritizing minutes for veterans.
Still, clearing frontcourt playing time, not having to worry about paying Wood in the future, and acquiring a young player with the potential to be under team control for up to nine years (four years of rookie scale contract plus up to five more via extension or as a restricted free agent) were all appealing reasons to trade Wood, despite how productive he was for Houston.
The Mavericks’ motivation to make the deal was relatively straightforward. Dallas reached the Western Conference Finals last season and entered the offseason with a clear goal in mind of improving the frontcourt, and Wood instantly becomes the most dynamic pick-and-roll partner Luka Doncic has ever been paired with.
There’s no denying Wood is a talented player. Only nine players averaged at least 17 points and 10 rebounds last season: Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Domantas Sabonis, Jonas Valanciunas, Nikola Vucevic, Deandre Ayton, Bam Adebayo and Wood.
Out of all those MVP winners and All-Stars, Wood had the highest three-point percentage at 39%. He also shot 67% at the rim, which was in the 79th percentile of all players last season, per DunksAndThrees.com.
The Mavs struggled mightily with rebounding the ball last season. They finished 24th in the league in rebounding during the regular season and were significantly outrebounded in each postseason series they played: -7.1 rebounds per game vs. Utah, -7.7 vs. Phoenix and -11.4 vs. Golden State. Wood was in the 97th percentile for defensive rebounding percentage (30%) last season, per DunksAndThrees.
There are also multiple counterarguments that show the Rockets were a much better team when Wood was on the court than off during his tenure.
Despite the aforementioned net rating differential, Houston was 19-49 when he played last season and 1-13 when he didn’t, and 12-29 when he played in ‘20/21 vs. 5-24 when he didn’t. The Rockets were also substantially better when he was on the court (-4.0) in ’20/21 compared to off it (-10.5).
The four players the Mavs sent to the Rockets had minimal on-court value last season, and none were in the rotation in the playoffs. In addition to clearing four roster spots (five-for-one including the first-rounder), Dallas is essentially betting that Wood will outperform a player entering his rookie season, which is a pretty safe gamble.
The risks for the Mavericks stem from the fact that Wood is a poor defensive player, primarily played center with Houston and will reportedly be sliding down to power forward to accommodate new frontcourt partner JaVale McGee, and is on an expiring deal. Dallas will hold Wood’s Bird rights if the two sides are unable to reach an in-season extension, but he won’t come cheap. That factor shouldn’t be overlooked for a team that could face the repeater tax in ’23/24.
It’s unclear how pairing Wood and McGee together in the starting lineup will impact the team’s spacing, but it does seem like it might mitigate Wood’s effectiveness in the pick-and-roll to some extent. McGee figures to be a primary roll man considering Wood’s ability to shoot from distance, but Wood is capable of much more than being just a spot-up shooter.
That’s not to say they’ll always share the court together, and the Mavs will certainly be an improved rebounding team and have more rim protection, but Wood is a major downgrade compared to Maxi Kleber defensively, even if he’s a hugely more impactful offensive player.
Since he’s entering his age-27 season, Wood is theoretically entering his prime, which is a better fit for the Mavericks’ timeline, as they’re trying to be as competitive as possible for the foreseeable future. The fact that they lost a cost-controlled asset in the 26th pick does hurt from a long-term financial perspective, but Wood is virtually certain to make a bigger impact right now, making it a worthwhile risk.
Magic Sign Second-Rounder Caleb Houstan
The Magic have signed wing Caleb Houstan, the 32nd pick of last month’s draft, the team announced (via Twitter).
Houstan, 19, was a five-star recruit out of high school and a projected lottery pick entering college. However, he struggled a bit in his lone season with Michigan, averaging 10.1 PPG, 4 RPG and 1.4 APG on .384/.355/.783 shooting in 34 games (32 MPG), causing his draft stock to slide.
In an unusual move, Houstan was one of the only players to decline an invitation to this year’s draft combine, leading to speculation that he might have received a first-round promise. He wound up being the second pick of the second round instead.
The terms of Houstan’s deal were not disclosed, but if the Magic wanted to sign him to a three- or four-year deal, they would have to use part of their mid-level exception to do so, like the Grizzlies did with Kennedy Chandler and the Thunder did with Jaylin Williams.
Pacific Notes: Wall, DiVincenzo, Lakers, Saric
In his first public comments since joining the Clippers as a free agent, John Wall said he’s looking forward to playing on such a talented roster, as Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN relays.
“I don’t have to do it every night, I don’t have to be Batman every night for us to win,” Wall said on Saturday at the Las Vegas Summer League. “That’s the ultimate goal for me is [at] this part of my career, I don’t want to have to be the Batman every night to try to win. On our team that we have, I think anyone can be Batman.”
Wall also said he never seriously considered joining another team besides the Clippers, according to Youngmisuk.
“I really didn’t care about all the other teams,” Wall said of his other potential suitors. “The other teams are great, and I’m glad teams wanted to come after me, but I kind of looked at the picture of like, where can I go [where] I don’t have to be the John Wall from 2016 and have to carry the load and do all those [things] and have the pressure on me. I think [LA] was missing a piece of having a point guard, and it’s a great situation for me to be there.”
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Recruitment calls from Stephen Curry and Draymond Green helped Donte DiVincenzo land on the Warriors as his free agent destination, writes Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. “Once I had the conversation with Steph and Draymond, everything kind of slowed down for me a little bit because I got away from the numbers, the dollar signs and everything,” DiVincenzo said. “I was more so focused on what is best for Donte and what is best for me going forward. With that culture and environment, it’s something that I want to be a part of and it’s something of who I am. I don’t have to change who I am. I can just totally fit in and become a Warrior.” DiVincenzo signed a two-year deal with Golden State with a player option in the second season. He reportedly had offers for more money, but the ability to join a contender and possibly build up his value next season appealed to the 25-year-old.
- Lakers head coach Darvin Ham recently expressed confidence in his coaching staff’s ability to get the most out of the team’s newly-signed free agents, per Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group. “There’s various circumstances as to why people have a dip in shooting,” Ham said. “Sometimes it’s injury-related, sometimes it’s minutes, who you’re out on the floor with, how many touches. So only thing we’re worried about is what we’re doing going forward, and we feel we’ve got a good group – a good young group of free agents that’s gonna come in and make an impact.” The Lakers have added Lonnie Walker, Troy Brown Jr., Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones and Thomas Bryant thus far in free agency, prioritizing youth and athleticism over older veterans.
- Suns big man Dario Saric, who missed the entire 2021/22 season after suffering a torn right ACL in the 2021 Finals and underwent arthroscopic surgery in May to repair a torn meniscus in the same knee, recently gave a positive update on his status, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Saric just started doing contact work with coaches and hopes to play a couple of games with the Croatian national team prior to training camp. “I’m feeling good, I’m feeling really good,” said Saric. “I’m moving better, moving faster. I was one year out of basketball. I’ve had time to settle my mind to really dive into this extra positive. Working to be as best as I can.”
Sixers Sign Michael Foster Jr.
The Sixers have signed undrafted rookie Michael Foster Jr., the team announced today in a press release.
Shams Charania of The Athletic indicated last month that Foster was heading to Philadelphia, so the news was expected. He’s currently a member of the Sixers’ Summer League squad.
Foster, a forward who played for the G League Ignite in 2021/22, is the No. 3 prospect on ESPN’s list of undrafted rookies. The former five-star recruit recorded 14.8 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 2.0 APG, and 1.9 BPG in 13 games (29.8 MPG) for the Ignite.
The terms of Foster’s agreement are unclear, but if it’s an Exhibit 10 deal, it’ll be a non-guaranteed, minimum-salary contract that could be converted into a two-way deal before the regular season begins. A player on an Exhibit 10 contract is also eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he’s waived and then becomes an affiliate player for his team’s G League squad.
Trevor Keels Signs Two-Way Contract With Knicks
Trevor Keels, the 42nd pick of last month’s draft, has signed a two-way contract with the Knicks, the team announced (via Twitter).
The news was anticipated, as Ian Begley of SNY.tv reported last month that Keels was likely to receive a two-way contract once Jericho Sims was promoted to a standard deal, which occurred yesterday. New York’s two-way slots are now full, with Feron Hunt occupying the other.
Keels was one of the youngest players in the draft at just 18 years old and won’t turn 19 until late next month. He spent a single college season at Duke, averaging 11.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals in 36 games (30.2 minutes per contest).
At 6’4″ and 221 pounds, Keels is a combo guard, with some scouts questioning his conditioning, which may have impacted his draft status. He was considered a fringe first-round pick but ultimately fell to the middle of the second round.
Another knock against Keels was his efficiency, as he posted a .419/.312/.670 shooting line with the Blue Devils. That has carried over to Summer League action thus far, with Keels shooting just 3-18 through a couple of games.
However, Keels is young, physically strong, and considered a versatile player on both ends of the court, with a knack for making good decisions. He was also a highly-touted prospect entering college and was the third-leading scorer on a stacked Duke team that reached the Final Four of the NCAA tournament.
If Keels remains on a two-way deal for all of 2022/23, he’ll earn about $509K, be limited to 50 games in the regular season and ineligible for the postseason. He will need to be promoted to a standard contract at some in order to be playoff-eligible.
Sixers Notes: House, Petrusev, Winston, Springer
The Sixers recently signed forward Danuel House as a free agent, giving him all of their bi-annual exception worth $8.4MM over two years, including a player option in the second season. With that in mind, Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com explores what House can bring to Philadelphia’s roster.
As Neubeck details, most of House’s offensive value lies in his ability to hit outside shots, which he’s done inconsistently to this point in his career. Since he’s more of a ceiling-raiser rather than a floor-raiser, House tends to shoot much better when he doesn’t have to create for himself, which could portend well for the Sixers, since he’ll be reunited with James Harden.
For example, in 16 games with the rebuilding Rockets last season, House shot just 29.4% from three-point range, but that figure jumped up to 41.5% in 25 games with Utah. Overall, he holds a career mark of 36.6% from deep, which is definitely respectable (for context, the league average was 35.4% in 2021/22 and 36.7% in ’20/21).
The other side of the ball is where House has made most of his impact, Neubeck writes. The Jazz were significantly better defensively when House was on the court and he’s shown to be capable of guarding multiple positions, as well as playing multiple schemes.
Ultimately, Neubeck believes that if House can find consistency, he’ll have a good chance to outperform his contract and help the Sixers.
Here’s more on the Sixers:
- Filip Petrusev has a strong desire to transition to the NBA, but there might not be room on the roster in ’22/23, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I think every player wants to come as soon as possible,” Petrusev said. “I wanted to come last year, if you asked me. Yeah, for sure, whenever the time is, I’ll be ready.” Philadelphia selected the Serbian big man with the 50th pick of the 2021 draft and then stashed him overseas last season. He said he plans to keep signing one-year deals in Europe to ensure he’s available every offseason if things don’t work out this summer, per Pompey.
- Cassius Winston, the 53rd pick of the 2020 draft out of Michigan State, struggled to make an impact during his first couple of seasons in the NBA, both of which were played on two-way contracts with the Wizards. League rules prevent players from staying on two-way deals with the same team for more than two seasons, and the Wizards weren’t interested in converting him to a standard deal, so he’s trying to make the most of his opportunity with Philadelphia’s Summer League squad, as Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer relays (subscriber link). “It happens,” Winston said of the end of his time with the Wizards. “I feel like I had a really good season last year. I feel like they thought so, too. It’s just some things just don’t work out that way. Now I’m back in an opportunity where I get to go out here and just find a good organization, find a good team — somebody who believes in me, somebody who trusts me to throw me out there. That’s what I’m here for.”
- In another story for PhillyVoice.com, Neubeck shares his Summer League observations thus far. According to Neubeck, 2021 first-rounder Jaden Springer has looked rough around the edges and hasn’t shown he’s capable of masking his weaknesses of dribbling and driving, so he’s going to have to improve his shot to have a chance to get minutes going forward. Springer only appeared in two games for a total of six minutes as a rookie last season, spending most of his time in the G League, where he shot just 24.1% from deep in 20 regular season games with the Delaware Blue Coats, Philadelphia’s affiliate.
Nets Re-Sign Nic Claxton, Patty Mills
JULY 10: The Nets have announced in a press release that they have officially re-signed Mills.
JULY 7: The Nets have officially re-signed Claxton, the team announced in a press release.
JUNE 30: The Nets are re-signing a pair of key rotation players from their 2021/22 squad, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter links), who reports that center Nic Claxton is receiving a two-year, $20MM contract, while guard Patty Mills gets a two-year, $14.5MM deal.
Brooklyn had Claxton’s Bird Rights and won’t need to use another cap exception to sign him. Mills’ deal appears to be the maximum amount he can receive on a Non-Bird deal, as Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype tweets.
Claxton, 23, was 31st pick of the 2019 draft after two collegiate seasons at Georgia. Injuries have played him throughout his three NBA seasons, but he’s shown to be a switchable, versatile defender when healthy. Brooklyn issued him a qualifying offer a couple of days ago, making him a restricted free agent.
In 47 games last season, including 19 starts (20.7 MPG), Claxton averaged 8.7 PPG, 5.6 RPG and 1.1 BPG while shooting 67.4% from the floor and 58.1% from the free-throw line. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer previously reported that Claxton was likely to return to Brooklyn.
Mills, 33, had a solid first season with Brooklyn in ’21/22, averaging 11.4 PPG, 1.9 RPG and 2.3 APG on .408/.400/.814 shooting in 81 regular season games (48 starts, 29 MPG). He averaged career-highs in three-point makes and attempts, with 2.8 and 7.0, respectively.
Mills has played 13 seasons in the league, spending his first couple of seasons with Portland before a 10-year run with the Spurs that included an NBA Championship in 2014. The veteran guard also led the Australian national team to a Bronze Medal at the Tokyo Olympics last summer.
Wojnarowski and Brian Lewis of The New York Post said last night that Mills hadn’t ruled out a return to the Nets after declining his player option to become a free agent. Mills isn’t quite as quick as he once was and is limited defensively despite giving solid effort, but he holds a career three-point percentage of 38.9%, which is always valuable.
Damian Lillard Signs Two-Year Extension With Blazers
JULY 9: Lillard’s extension is now official, the Trail Blazers announced in a press release.
“Damian Lillard is the greatest player in franchise history and an all-time NBA talent,” general manager Joe Cronin said. “In signing this contract extension, Damian continues his commitment to the city of Portland and the organization. We look forward to his continued excellence here with the Trail Blazers for many years to come.”
JULY 8: Damian Lillard is signing a two year, maximum-salary extension with the Trail Blazers, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Multiple other reporters confirmed the news, including Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter links), and ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter links).
According to Spears, Lillard is expected to put pen to paper tomorrow evening in Las Vegas, where Summer League is currently taking place. As part of the extension, Lillard will pick up the player option he held for 2024/25, says Marks.
As Marks relays, Lillard’s new deal contains a player option for ’26/27, so he’ll be under contract for at least four more seasons, with a player option in the fifth year. Lillard turns 32 next week, so the extension will carry through at least his age-35 season.
Although several reports state that Lillard’s deal will be worth $120MM, those are estimates based on the salary cap increasing significantly over time.
Lillard will get at least a 5% raise on his ’24/25 salary ($48,787,676), so the extension will be worth no less than $106.55MM. His maximum possible raise is 20%, in which case the extension would be worth $121.78MM. But the salary cap would have to be $167.3MM for him to get that full 20% raise, which would represent a huge year-over-year increase — this season’s cap is $123,655,000 cap.
Lillard struggled with injuries last season, appearing in just 29 games (36.4 MPG) with averages of 24.0 PPG, 4.1 RPG and 7.3 APG on .402/.324/.878 shooting. Both his field goal percentage and three-point percentage were career-lows, so clearly the abdominal injury – which required surgery and shut down his season prematurely – was hampering his on-court production.
Prior to his injury struggles in ’21/22, Lillard had been a stalwart performer for Portland, rarely missing games and averaging at least 35.5 MPG in each of his 10 seasons. Lillard has been named to both the All-Star team and All-NBA teams six times apiece during his career, which has been spent entirely with the Blazers.
Sam Amick of The Athletic wrote last week that Lillard still needed to be convinced that the Blazers were intent on competing after a disappointing season saw them finish 27-55 and miss out on the postseason for the first time since 2014. Reconstructing the roster by drafting Shaedon Sharpe, trading for Jerami Grant, signing free agent Gary Payton II, as well as re-signing Jusuf Nurkic and Anfernee Simons evidently was enough for Lillard to once again show his commitment to the only franchise he’s ever known.
Lakers Sign Second-Rounder Max Christie
The Lakers have signed Max Christie, the 35th pick of last month’s draft, according to Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group (Twitter link). The Lakers drafted him after acquiring the 35th pick from the Magic in exchange for a 2028 second-rounder and cash.
Christie was a highly-touted prospect entering college last season, but he struggled a bit in his freshman season for Michigan State, averaging 9.3 PPG, 3.5 RPG and 1.5 APG on .382/.317/.824 shooting in 35 games (30.8 MPG). With the caveat that it’s Summer League (therefore disorganized), in three contests (22.7 MPG) at the California Classic in San Francisco, Christie averaged 6 PPG, 7.7 RPG and 2 APG while shooting 25% from the floor.
Still, Los Angeles’ front office is high on the 19-year-old, with GM Rob Pelinka calling him a “consensus” choice with the team’s lone draft pick.
The terms of Christie’s deal were not disclosed, but the Lakers used their taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Lonnie Walker and are now limited to minimum-salary deals, so a two-year, minimum contract seems likely.
Considering he’s only 19 and the Lakers are trying to contend, Christie will probably spend a good amount of time in the G League this season with L.A.’s affiliate, South Bay.
The Lakers have undergone a roster overhaul of their role players in free agency thus far after going 33-49 and missing out on the postseason in 2021/22, reportedly prioritizing speed, defense and shooting with the signings of Lonnie Walker, Troy Brown Jr., Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones and Thomas Bryant.