Warriors Notes: Rookies, Roster, Iguodala, Summer League
The Warriors selected Patrick Baldwin Jr. with their first-round pick (No. 28) in a gamble on his upside, and he’ll bring a familiar, appreciated mentality to Golden State, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
As Poole details, Baldwin was a five-star recruit entering college, but was limited to just 11 games for Wisconsin-Milwaukee due to a serious ankle injury, which had some questioning his toughness. The young forward insists that isn’t an issue.
“There’s never a point where if I feel like I’m healthy that I feel like I should sit out,” Baldwin told NBC Sports Bay Area. “I know that’s contrary to popular belief with some people. If I’m healthy, I’m playing, but at some points I was pushing through it. But if there was a sliver of a chance I could play for my team and compete, I’m going out there to play.”
Baldwin averaged 12.1 points and 5.8 rebounds in 28.5 minutes per contest as a freshman last season, but his shooting line of .344/.266/.743 was dreadful. He also tested extremely poorly at the combine last month, Poole notes, recording just a 26.5 inch maximum vertical leap, one of the worst marks in the last 10 years.
“I’m a better athlete than I showed that day,” Baldwin told Poole. “I’m a firm believer in that. I know I’ve got to come out here and really show that’s not an issue. That’s all you can do. You can’t sit and talk about it. You’ve got to do it.”
President of basketball operations Bob Myers recently said that Baldwin still needs to be medically cleared for Summer League action, so it sounds like the ankle might still be an issue (Twitter link via Anthony Slater of The Athletic).
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Myers also touched on the team’s second-round selections, per Slater. Golden State expects to have Ryan Rollins on the 15-man roster, but might draft-and-stash Gui Santos. The Warriors traded up to acquire Rollins at No. 44, while the Brazilian forward Santos was the team’s own pick at No. 55.
- Tim Kawakami of The Athletic provides a player-by-player breakdown of the team’s roster following the draft. Myers said drafting young players is desirable in part because they’re so difficult to obtain in free agency. “It’s easier to get some of the older players, we think, in free agency, than young players. Young players are probably the most in demand in free agency. Obviously trading for them is extremely difficult. So that’s why we draft some guys like that,” he said as part of a larger quote.
- Andre Iguodala has earned “player-emeritus status” with the Warriors, Monte Poole states in a separate article. Iguodala is undecided on whether or not he’s going to retire, but the team would be “thrilled” to have him back. Poole argues that Iguodala’s off-court impact is incredibly valuable to Golden State and the team should keep him as long as he wants to stick around, like what Miami does with Udonis Haslem.
- The Warriors expect James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody to all participate in Summer League, according to Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area, who says the trio has a big opportunity to improve this offseason. Wiseman, of course, missed all of last season after multiple setbacks from a couple of knee surgeries.
Pacers To Sign Eli Brooks To Exhibit 10 Deal
Undrafted rookie Eli Brooks is signing an Exhibit 10 deal with the Pacers, his father tells Andrew Kahn of MLive.com. Brooks will also compete in Summer League for Indiana, Kahn adds.
Brooks, a 6’1″ guard, appeared in 34 games (36 MPG) as a fifth-year senior last season, averaging 12.8 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 2.9 APG and 1.2 SPG on .444/.394/.877 shooting. According to Kahn, Brooks is the Wolverines’ all-time leader in wins and was team captain in his final two seasons.
Exhibit 10 deals, which are non-guaranteed, can be converted into two-way contracts before the regular season begins and also make a player eligible for a bonus of up to $50K if he’s waived and then joins his team’s G League affiliate.
Southeast Notes: Clifford, Hornets, Davis, Heat
Steve Clifford, who is now embarking on a second stint with the Hornets, signed a three-year contract with a team option in the final year, sources tell Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. Clifford will earn $4MM in each of the next two seasons, Boone adds.
In case you missed it, you can find our full story on Clifford’s hiring right here.
Here’s more from the Southeast:
- Hiring Clifford for a second time is just wild enough to work, argues Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer. The Hornets made the playoffs twice in Clifford’s first five-year stint with the team, and in 10 years prior and four years since, the team has only made the postseason one time, says Fowler, who notes that Clifford’s work ethic, professionalism and honesty are all admirable traits. According to Fowler, Clifford “always had a good relationship” with owner Michael Jordan, and he didn’t burn any bridges when he was fired in 2018, leading to the unexpected possibility of bringing him back.
- Johnny Davis, the 10th pick of the draft by the Wizards, hopes to make a lasting impact in the NBA, writes Austen Tealer of WashingtonWizards.com. “I want to leave a legacy of being a great teammate and a winner, that’s the main goal,” Davis said. “I want to win an NBA championship whenever I can.” For his short-term goals, Davis hopes to become a regular part of the rotation and help the club make the playoffs, per Tealer.
- Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald considers possible fallback options if the Heat can’t re-sign forward P.J. Tucker. Taurean Prince, Thaddeus Young and T.J. Warren are a few free agents on Jackson’s list, among others. Tucker is declining his $7.35MM player option to be come an unrestricted free agent, and he’s said to have several suitors outside of Miami.
Hornets Hire Steve Clifford As Head Coach
6:27pm: The Hornets have officially named Clifford their head coach, per a team press release.
“We are pleased to welcome Steve back to our franchise,” said Kupchak. “We believe that his previous experience and coaching philosophy make him the best coach for our team. Steve has a proven track record of improving defenses and is detail oriented. He has a history of maximizing players’ talent and working with them to develop and expand their skill sets. Steve is committed to playing with the same offensive pace that our fans are accustomed to seeing the last few years. We are confident that he will be able to help our young players continue to grow as we look to take the next step as a team.”
4:33pm: The Hornets are hiring Steve Clifford to be their head coach for a second time, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Marc Stein reported yesterday morning that Clifford had unexpectedly emerged as a serious candidate to replace James Borrego, who was fired after the team lost in the play-in tournament for the second consecutive season. Roderick Boone and Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer reported this morning that Clifford met with GM Mitch Kupchak and owner Michael Jordan earlier this week.
Clifford will receive a “multi-year” contract, Boone tweets.
The Hornets were reportedly looking for a veteran head coach who could help improve the team’s defense, and Clifford has a long-held reputation as one of the better defensive tacticians in the league. Across his eight seasons as a head coach, Clifford’s clubs were top 10 in defensive rating five times.
Clifford, 60, previously coached the Hornets from 2013-18, compiling an overall record of 196-214. He took the club to the postseason in 2014 and 2016 — those are Charlotte’s only playoff appearances since 2010.
After his stint with the Hornets, Clifford was hired by Orlando to be their head coach, accumulating a 96-131 record from 2018-2021, including a couple of postseason trips in his first two seasons. His overall record with the Magic is a little deceptive, as Orlando pivoted into a full rebuild in his final season, when the team went 21-51.
Clifford was a long-time assistant prior to becoming a head coach, with stops in New York, Houston, Orlando and Los Angeles from 2000-2013. He was a consultant with the Nets last season.
Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson, formerly the head coach of the Nets, had previously reached an agreement to become the Hornets’ new coach, but backed out of the deal and never signed the contract, thus re-starting the club’s coaching search.
Mike D’Antoni, who was said to be meeting with Jordan this week, was reportedly a finalist during both searches. There were conflicting reports on whether Terry Stotts was also a finalist before the team reached a deal with Atkinson — Stein wrote that D’Antoni was the “only other known finalist” at that point, but other outlets suggested he was still in the mix late in the process.
Timberwolves, Phillip Wheeler Agree To Exhibit 10 Deal
The Timberwolves are signing Phillip Wheeler to an Exhibit 10 deal, his agent Jerry Dianis tells ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (via Twitter).
Wheeler will play for the Puerto Rican national team next week and plans to join Minnesota for Summer League action next month, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
In 28 games (30.6 MPG) with Piratas de Quebradillas of the Puerto Rican BSN league, the forward holds averages of 17.3 PPG, 5.9 RPG and 1.3 SPG on .513/.345/.717 shooting (hat tip to RealGM). The 20-year-old went to Ranney High School in New Jersey and had a brief stint with the Ciudad de Mexico Capitanes during the G League’s Showcase Cup last fall.
Exhibit 10 deals, which are non-guaranteed, can be converted into two-way contracts before the regular season begins and also make a player eligible for a bonus of up to $50K if he’s waived and then joins his team’s G League affiliate.
Grizzlies Trade De’Anthony Melton To Sixers For Roddy, Green
JUNE 24: The deal is now official, both teams announced in press releases.
JUNE 23: The Grizzlies and Sixers have agreed to a trade that will send the No. 23 pick in this year’s draft to Memphis and guard De’Anthony Melton to Philadelphia, a source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Danny Green is also headed to the Grizzlies in the swap, tweets Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Colorado State’s David Roddy will be Memphis’ pick at No. 23. Roddy had an excellent junior season for the Rams, averaging 19.2 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.2 SPG and 1.1 BPG on .571/.438/.691 shooting in 31 games (32.9 MPG).
In order for the trade to work, Green’s non-guaranteed contract will have to be partially guaranteed to at least $6.52MM for salary matching purposes, Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype tweets. Melton will earn $8.25MM next season and his $8MM salary in 2023/24 is partially guaranteed at $1.5MM.
As John Hollinger of The Athletic observes (via Twitter), the Sixers would lose the full mid-level exception with the deal unless they’re able to dump salary in subsequent moves, which could take them out of the running for P.J. Tucker, who is an unrestricted free agent after declining his player option.
Trading a guard in Melton and drafting a couple of forwards in Jake LaRavia and Roddy seems to indicate that Memphis wants to re-sign free agent Tyus Jones, who is one of the top point guards on the market. Jones has led the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio for four straight seasons and set career highs in PPG (8.7) and 3PT% (.390) in 2021/22.
It was reported multiple times in the past couple weeks that the Sixers were dangling the No. 23 pick and Green’s expiring, non-guaranteed deal in an effort to add a win-now veteran, and they were able to acquire a talented young player in Melton, who had reportedly drawn considerable interest around the league.
Melton, 24, is a strong, versatile defender capable of playing both guard positions. In 73 regular season games this past season (22.7 MPG), he averaged 10.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.7 APG and 1.4 SPG on .404/.374/.750 shooting. He’s extension-eligible this offseason, although the Sixers might hold off on that decision.
Bucks Signing Iverson Molinar
The Bucks are signing Iverson Molinar, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
In 34 games (34.1 MPG) as a junior for Mississippi State last season, the Panamanian guard averaged 17.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 3.6 APG and 1.2 SPG on .454/.252/.868 shooting. For his efforts, he earned a berth on the All-SEC First Team.
Molinar is ranked 29th on ESPN’s list of the top undrafted rookies, and was the 85th-ranked prospect heading into the draft.
The terms of Molinar’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.
Rockets Trade Christian Wood To Mavericks
JUNE 24: The trade is now official, the Mavericks announced in the early hours of Friday morning. Wood has officially landed in Dallas in exchange for Marjanovic, Brown, Burke, Chriss, and the draft rights to No. 26 overall pick Wendell Moore. Houston is flipping Moore to Minnesota in a separate deal.
JUNE 15: The Rockets are trading Christian Wood to the Mavericks in exchange for the No. 26 overall pick of the 2022 draft, Boban Marjanovic, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
All five players are on expiring contracts in 2022/23, with the four Mavs players being sent out for salary-matching purposes. Wood will earn $14.3MM next season.
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, the trade can’t be officially completed until draft night, which is June 23, because the Mavs owe a protected first-round pick to the Knicks in 2023. Six months after the trade is completed, Wood will be eligible to sign a contract extension worth up to $77MM over four years, says Marks.
Burke holds a $3.3MM player option for ’22/23 and will need to exercise the option in order for the trade to work, Marks notes (via Twitter), adding that rosters expanding to 20 in the offseason will allow the Rockets to take back four players in exchange for one. Burke will receive a trade bonus of $247,500 from Dallas as part of the deal, Marks relays in another tweet.
Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report indicated on Tuesday that the Mavericks were looking to trade their only draft pick, and they found a match in the rebuilding Rockets, who now control three first-round picks: Nos. 3, 17 and 26. The Rockets have multiple options to explore ahead of the draft. If they want to package Nos. 17 and 26 to move up a bit, they likely could.
The 26-year-old Wood is a very solid return for Dallas, even if he comes with some character concerns. The talented big man averaged 19.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 block in 109 games for Houston the past two seasons, posting a shooting line of .507/.384/.626.
The move definitely comes with risks for the Mavs, because Wood is a subpar defensive player and can be quite inconsistent, especially from an effort standpoint, from game-to-game. However, he’s on an expiring contract, which limits the risk, and is theoretically in a good situation with star Luka Doncic.
Mavs GM Nico Harrison said the team would be looking to acquire a quality big man who could provide rebounding and rim protection after the team lost in the Western Conference Finals. Wood fulfills the first criteria — he’s a good rebounder — but falls a bit short on the second, as he isn’t much of a deterrent at the basket.
According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link), the Rockets wanted to move Wood in order to create more playing time for Alperen Sengun, who was a rookie this past season, and the No. 3 pick, who will likely be another big man. They’ll get a look at some veterans on expiring deals, but obviously the main appeal was the No. 26 pick and no long-term salary.
Chriss, who will make $2.19MM next season, underwent knee surgery on Wednesday and will be sidelined while rehabbing for the next couple months, sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
Community Shootaround: Draft Winners/Losers
The 2022 NBA draft is officially complete, and it was certainly an eventful night. The first big surprise came right off the bat, when the Magic made Duke big man Paolo Banchero the No. 1 overall pick.
Virtually all reporting leading up to draft night had Auburn forward Jabari Smith as the favorite to go first, with ESPN’s Jonathan Givony suggesting earlier this week that it would be a major surprise to most teams around the NBA if Smith wasn’t Orlando’s pick.
Since Smith unexpectedly fell to the Rockets with the No. 3 pick, and they were able to pick up a couple of highly regarded prospects in Tari Eason and TyTy Washington at Nos. 17 and 29 in addition to a couple of future second-rounders, they seem like one of the clear winners tonight. Smith and Eason, in particular, are long, versatile defenders who should immediately improve Houston’s 29th ranked defense, and a core of Kevin Porter Jr., Jalen Green, Eason, Smith, and Alperen Sengun sounds pretty intriguing on paper.
The Thunder used a small portion of their war chest of future draft picks to acquire a third lottery pick, used on French forward Ousmane Dieng with the No. 11 pick (via the Knicks). In addition to Dieng, the Oklahoma City snagged Chet Holmgren at No. 2, Jalen Williams at No. 12, and Jaylin Williams at No. 34 (that definitely won’t be confusing).
The Pistons were able to take Jaden Ivey at No. 5, widely regarded as the top guard prospect in the draft, and added a second lottery pick (No. 13 via the Hornets) in Jalen Duren. The Grizzlies and Timberwolves were both very active during the draft as well, maneuvering up and down to select their preferred targets.
Despite rumors that they were interested in moving into the draft, both the Suns and the Jazz left the draft the same way they entered it, with no draft picks. The Sixers traded out of the draft, but landed 24-year-old De’Anthony Melton from Memphis for the No. 23 pick and Danny Green.
There will be a flurry of undrafted free agent signings in the coming hours and days, but we’d like to take a break from transactions for a moment to solicit your opinions on the draft’s winners and losers. Which teams do you think did the best? Which did the worst? Head to the comments section and share your thoughts!
Grizzlies Acquire Kennedy Chandler From Spurs
JUNE 24: The trade is now official, the Spurs announced in a press release. The Grizzlies have also announced the deal, indicating in their press release that they’re sending the Lakers’ 2024 second-round pick to San Antonio.
JUNE 23: The Grizzlies are acquiring Tennessee guard Kennedy Chandler, the No. 38 pick, from the Spurs, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter) that the Spurs will receive a future second-rounder and cash in exchange for the No. 38 pick.
Chandler was ranked No. 20 on ESPN’s big board prior to the draft, so he appears to be a solid value pick for the Grizzlies in the second round. The Memphis native averaged 13.9 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 4.7 APG and 2.2 SPG on .464/.383/.606 shooting in 34 games (30.8 MPG) as a freshman this season.
Chandler’s local ties likely played a factor in Memphis’ decision to trade for him, as the team had plenty of opportunities to scout him. Although he’s just 6’0″, likely causing his draft stock to fall, Chandler is an excellent athlete and a strong defender. He’s a true point guard, capable of distributing and getting to his spots at a high level.
The Grizzlies are trading De’Anthony Melton to the Sixers, so they had a hole to fill in the backcourt depth chart. It will be interesting to see if the decision to acquire Chandler has an impact on the impending free agency of backup point guard Tyus Jones.