Odds & Ends: Trades, Sullinger, Lou Williams, Beal
Odds & Ends: Raptors, Bobcats, Wroten
With the eighth, 37th, and 56th selections in this upcoming NBA Draft, the Raptors could potentially draft three rookies in addition to bringing last year's draft pick, Jonas Valanciunas, into the fold for next season. Stephen Brotherston of HoopsWorld spoke with GM Bryan Colangelo, who is looking to explore multiple scenarios with his second round picks. Colangelo admits that bringing in three rookies may not be the best scenario, and that he will consider packaging picks in order to move up the draft board or possibly make a second round selection with the intention of developing that prospect in Europe for a few years. Here's more of what we're hearing from around the league this evening, including an update of the Bobcats head coaching search.
Fournier Won’t Participate In Draft Combine
Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (via Twitter) confirmed that Evan Fournier will not participate in this year's NBA Draft combine (Fournier's agent, Bouna Ndiaye, first tweeted the news). The 19-year-old, 6'7'' wing player is currently rehabbing an ankle injury, but will still attend EuroCamp.
Fournier recently finished his second season in the Pro-A French League, averaging 14 PPG, 42.5% shooting, and 1.2 steals per game in 30 games. He is currently slotted to go #22 overall on the DraftExpress mock draft board.
Amick On Perry Jones III, Small Forwards, Plumlee
At 6'11'', 235 lbs, and the ability to play either forward position, potential-lottery pick Perry Jones III from Baylor stands out as one of the most intriguing prospects among this year's NBA Draft crop. Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated takes a closer look at Jones' draft stock, acknowledging that it can significantly change depending on the impression he makes in his upcoming workouts and interviews. Amick adds that Jones and his representatives aim to put an emphasis on his small forward skills during workouts in order to better market himself to talent evaluators. In an interview, Jones elaborated about his newfound confidence, his current training at UC Santa Barbara, and the belief that he was not properly utilized at Baylor.
Here are some more tidbits from Amick's article, including a brief rundown of this year's top small forward prospects, Miles Plumlee's workout in Minnesota, and a guard prospect from Vanderbilt to keep an eye out for…
Odds & Ends: O’Quinn, Gibbs, McRoberts
- HoopsWorld conducted interviews with draft prospects Kyle O'Quinn and Ashton Gibbs at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas. O'Quinn says that he'd like to immediately model his game after Kenneth Faried and Serge Ibaka and eventually develop into a LaMarcus Aldridge type of player. Gibbs talked about what he's currently trying to improve and how not being invited to the NBA Draft combine will motivate him to work harder and prove himself.
- Andy Kamenetzky of ESPN LA explains the C+ he gave Josh McRoberts for his 2011/12 report card.
- Jerome Solomon of UltimateRockets elaborates on the tough task that Rockets GM Daryl Morey has for this upcoming offseason, including the need to address Kyle Lowry's unhappiness with head coach Kevin McHale and the impending free agency of Goran Dragic.
- Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel reviews the draft record of Bucks GM John Hammond. Although Joe Alexander was not a successful pick, Hammond was able to come away with Brandon Jennings, Luc Mbah a Moute, and Larry Sanders to name a few.
- Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer provides an explanation of the Bobcats' position heading into Wednesday's draft lottery. Because Charlotte finished with the league's worst record, they have the best chance at the number one pick and will not fall lower than the fourth pick.
- Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News writes that Rodney Stuckey and Greg Monroe's development could hold the keys in eventually elevating the Pistons into contender status.
- Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer writes that the Cavaliers must try to follow the Spurs and Thunder's blueprint of success.
Orlando Targeting Spurs, Thunder Executives
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports that the Magic are looking at Thunder vice president and assistant general manager Troy Weaver as well as Spurs assistant general manager Dennis Lindsey as candidates for their vacant GM position. Rob Hennigan, another assistant GM of the Thunder, is also being targeted.
Wojnarowski says that Weaver is one of the league's elite young executives and has a strong record as a talent evaluator, most notably pushing hard for the team to draft Russell Westbrook higher than most draft boards had projected. Lindsey has been the assistant to RC Buford in San Antonio for the last five years after an 11-year-stint with the Rockets.
Magic CEO Alex Martins reportedly plans to allow his new GM to control the search for the team's next head coach.
Rohde On Sam Presti, Connection To Spurs
A few days ago we asked for your predictions on the Thunder-Spurs matchup, and about 31% of you voted that San Antonio would win the series in six games. Jenni Carlson of NewsOK feels confident enough to disagree that she's compiled a list of 18 reasons why the Thunder can beat the Spurs. Her colleague, John Rohde (also of NewsOK), decided to look at the interesting connections between the two teams as we wait for the start of the Western Conference Finals:
- Rohde revists Thunder general manager Sam Presti's humble beginnings as a video coordinator intern with the Spurs before becoming the assistant general manager after seven years with the team.
- Here's a complete breakdown of how the current rosters of both teams were built.
- Rohde gives a list of specific members of the Thunder organization (Nazr Mohammed, Maurice Cheeks, and Mark Bryant to name a few) and talks about their history and ties to the Spurs.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Tracy McGrady
Almost 10 years ago, then-Orlando Magic superstar Tracy McGrady heard the story of Iran Brown, a 13-year-old who had been the victim of a sniper attack in Maryland. Upon learning that he was Brown's favorite NBA player, Tracy reached out to the fan with gifts and the Magic eventually paid to bring the boy and his family to Orlando to watch the team play on Christmas Day. I can recall a segment on ESPN documenting a meeting between the two during a shootaround, in which McGrady told Brown that he would try to score 50 points for him. That day, after missing three games and still recuperating from a strained back, he would go on to score 46 in a win.
When you think of "T-Mac" in his prime, he was as gifted and talented as anyone in the league and appeared to be able to do whatever he wanted on the court. A seven-time All-Star, two scoring titles, and two All-NBA team selections are all a part of a testament to his capabilities at his peak. Today, the 33-year-old is only a shell of what he used to be and has struggled to carve out a comfortable role since his days with the Rockets, having played for three teams in less than two years after being dealt from Houston.
After a tumultuous 2010-11 season with the Pistons, McGrady willingly chose to sign with the Atlanta Hawks for the veteran's minimum, but would later become frustrated with coach Larry Drew in February over a lack of playing time. While the two were eventually able to settle their differences, it would seem likely that the 14-year-veteran will try to seek another team that can give him a consistent role in their rotation if the opportunity presented itself.
This season, Tracy averaged 5.3 PPG, 2.9 APG, and shot 43.7% from the field in 16.1 MPG. In this year's playoffs, he averaged 4.2 PPG and 15.2 MPG. Those minute-per-game averages don't look too far-fetched, although McGrady had been unhappy with sporadic fluctuations in his playing time during the season. A microcosm of his inconsistent minutes are glaringly apparent in March, where he would play just two minutes against the Thunder after playing 26 the night before against the Bucks; 16 minutes against the Pistons and none against the Kings two days later; 9 minutes against the Wizards after playing 25 minutes against the Clippers two nights before. Coach Drew was able to quell some of McGrady's qualms about playing time by the start of the playoffs, and in an interview before their first-round opener against the Celtics, McGrady appeared to be happy:
"I’m excited about being a valuable part of this ball club. Yeah, I’m not that guy averaged 28, 29 points in the playoffs. But I’m still a valuable piece that comes off this bench. Considering it’s my first year ever coming off the bench, it’s a very uncomfortable role that I just wasn’t familiar with and didn’t really know how to approach it mentally. When you are playing inconsistent minutes . . . I’m not just built that way. That’s why I think over the last couple weeks I’ve been more comfortable is because my minutes have been consistent. That’s what it was all about. All I wanted was to have consistent minutes is to get me comfortable on the basketball games."
Although the days of playing above the rim and 50-point outbursts are long gone, I feel that McGrady can still be a decent contributor as a reserve player. His height at 6'8'' and ability to bring the ball up as a point guard in some instances can present matchup problems for other teams' second units. Also, being that he earned his reputation in the league as a scorer, I don't view him as a player who would shy away from being aggressive offensively in spot minutes. If he decides to leave Atlanta, McGrady could be a very interesting low-risk option for contending teams looking to add depth for the veteran's minimum.
Odds & Ends: Bird, Dwight, Kerr, Shaw
- According to a series of tweets by Mike Wells of the Indianapolis star, Pacers owner Herb Simon hopes that Larry Bird will continue to work with the franchise in some capacity if Bird decides to step down as president, and that no meeting has been arranged between the two yet.
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel believes that Dwight Howard must align himself with a winning team in order to repair his tarnished image and should therefore expand his list of preferred trade destinations. Also, Schmitz briefly discusses the idea of Steve Kerr and Brian Shaw joining the Magic as GM and head coach respectively. When recently asked about the GM vacancy, Kerr asserted that he is currently happy with his job as a TNT analyst, although the Magic are expected to still make inquiries. Shaw would accept the head coaching opportunity in a heartbeat, according to Schmitz.
- Stephen Brotherston of HoopsWorld presents a list of this year's top-shooting free agents. Ray Allen, Jason Terry, Steve Novak, and Randy Foye were listed as some of the top unrestricted free agents who displayed solid three-point shooting percentages along with a high volume of attempts this year.
- Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press writes that Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor is confident in the team's chances to make the playoffs next season. Taylor also said that the team is "going to try" the free agent market.
Odds & Ends: Mayo, Joe Johnson, Hawks
Here are some of tonight's miscellaneous links:
- Lang Greene of HoopsWorld had his weekly chat with fans tonight. Among the significant things I took from his exchange: O.J. Mayo will most likely leave Memphis since the Grizzlies do not want to exceed the luxury tax and that Joe Johnson won't likely be dealt anytime soon.
- Greene also took a look at what to expect from the Hawks this offseason. Aside from being committed to $61 MM in salaries with six roster spots to fill, the team could have some decisions to face with management and coaching as well. We reported earlier this week that current general manager Rick Sund has drawn interest from the Trail Blazers, and Greene thinks that his departure could also mean an end to Larry Drew's tenure with the team.
- Kevin Sherrington of SportsDay DFW answered some questions from fans today, including an explanation of why he'd choose Rick Carlisle over Phil Jackson.
- This Reuters article (via Simon Evans) examines Miami's struggles as a result of Chris Bosh's absence. The Heat players outside of Lebron and Wade were a combined 9-for-34, and Mario Chalmers was limited to 22 minutes because of foul trouble. Even with that in mind, the Heat don't appear to be fazed going into a road game against a confident Pacers team.