Western Notes: Howard, Kobe, Robinson, Blazers
Lakers co-owner Jeanie Buss believes her team let Dwight Howard down during his year there, wants Kobe Bryant to continue playing after his contract expires in 2016, and also tells USA Today’s Sam Amick that the organization is functioning more smoothly with Phil Jackson off to New York:
“I think it is trying to find how we’re going to operate together. I believe that Phil was a source of conflict between me and my brother and Mitch, I guess, as well. And now that Phil, as of six months ago, is now off the market and has a job – isn’t in the wings – that source of conflict is removed. And I think that the way we operate is becoming more clear. I’m satisfied with everybody’s role, and now we just need everybody to step up and do what is required of them. For me, that means stepping up and talking about the organization and being the face of the organization and establishing the clear lines of authority and transparency and, ultimately, accountability, which lies on my shoulders.”
Buss adds that fellow co-owner and brother Jim Buss, along with GM Mitch Kupchak, have assured her that the team will make progress in win column each season in the coming years. More from the West..
- Although the Blazers declined to pick up his team option of $4.7MM for the 2015/16 season, Thomas Robinson expressed his desire to remain in Portland, writes Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. “I don’t think that worry should be even close. I want to stay thinking positive and that’s what I’m going to continue to do. Hopefully toward the end of the summer, the Blazers have a different mindset and they want to bring me back, because I want to be a part of this team. Something special is happening here. I want to be a part of it,” Robinson said.
- Howard says he didn’t bolt from the Lakers because of Kobe, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes. “I didn’t leave L.A. because I was afraid of Kobe Bryant,” Howard said. “I went to a good situation for myself. I can’t change people’s opinions, but I did what I had to do for myself.”
- The Lakers expect big things out of offseason acquisition Carlos Boozer, an assistant coach tells Ryan Primeaux of Lakers.com. “He’s a double-double virtually every night when he’s on his game. He provides leadership. He provides a constant, consistent low-post game, and the ability to step away from the basket and keep defenses honest. So he will definitely provide stability for us in the bigs department,” the unnamed coach told Primeaux.
Chuck Myron and Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Thomas, Outlaw, Melo
Outgoing Raptors executive Tim Leiweke is in talks with Irving Azoff, a confidant of Knicks owner James Dolan, about a deal that would see them have a stake in assets that are currently part of the Madison Square Garden company, reports Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg.com. MSG, which owns the Knicks, is considering splitting into a pair of companies, as Soshnick details, though Soshnick doesn’t indicate whether there’s a role for Leiweke on the Knicks under consideration. Leiweke, who’s leaving his job with the company that owns the Raptors by the end of June or as soon as a replacement is found, said he doesn’t think the company is close to finding it’s next chief executive. More from the Atlantic Division..
- Malcolm Thomas got a fairly substantial contract guarantee of $474K for this season on his four-year, minimum-salary deal with the Sixers, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). Thomas, we learned yesterday, was getting set to play in China before Philly reached out to him over the weekend. The rest of his contract with the Sixers is non-guaranteed, as Pincus shows on the team’s Basketball Insiders salary page.
- The Knicks received a $1,863,840 trade exception when they traded Travis Outlaw to the Sixers, tweets Pincus. That’s equivalent to the difference between the salaries for Outlaw and Arnett Moultrie, whom the Knicks acquired and immediately waived.
- Carmelo Anthony is preaching patience when it comes to the Knicks, who had a 37-win season, traded Tyson Chandler, and have a first-year head coach, writes Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. “It’s a work in progress now. It’s going to be a work in progress until the end of the season,” Anthony said. “We’re not looking for nothing easy, but we know it’s a work in progress. We have a chance to create something here, and we’re excited about it.”
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Josh Powell Considering Retirement
After being waived by the Rockets last week, forward Josh Powell is considering retirement and a move to coaching, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes. Powell has remained with Houston to try his hand at coaching and if he hangs up his sneakers, he could officially join the staff as a player development coach with a focus on the big men.
“It just fell into place,” Powell said. “I don’t ever question what God has in store. One door closes and another one opens. Coach (Kevin McHale) is being patient with me. Everyone has been real helpful in helping me through the transition process. I look forward to a new chapter and an exciting opportunity.”
Powell, a veteran of seven NBA seasons (counting his brief time with Houston last season), has career averages of 3.9 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 12.6 minutes per contest. He has spent time with the Mavs, Pacers, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, Hawks, and Rockets since his debut in 2005/06.
Rockets GM Daryl Morey spoke highly of Powell and said that he would make a “fantastic coach if he chooses to go that route,” according to Feigen.
Bucks Guarantee Contract Of Kendall Marshall
The Bucks had until January to make the call, but the Bucks have decided to guarantee the contract of guard Kendall Marshall, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. Marshall’s contract was a non-guaranteed pact, but he’s now guaranteed to earn $915K for the season.
Marshall has impressed in training camp and figures to be the first point guard off of the bench this year. New head coach Jason Kidd knows a thing or two about the point guard position and the organization is clearly high on the 23-year-old.
The Bucks claimed Marshall over the summer shortly after he was waived by the Lakers in a cap clearing move. The UNC product never hit his stride with the Suns, but he revived his career last season when he averaged 8.0 PPG, 2.9 RPG, and 8.8 APG while playing 29 minutes per game for the Lakers.
Wolves Waive J.J. Barea, Mavs Plan To Sign Him
MONDAY, 1:59pm: The Wolves have waived Barea, the team announced (Twitter link). It’s unclear if he agreed to give up any salary in a buyout arrangement or if it was a straight release.
SUNDAY, 3:55pm: The Wolves are finalizing a buyout with J.J. Barea, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The buyout will be completed before Monday’s 4pm CT roster cutdown deadline, putting Minnesota at the 15-man maximum.
With a logjam of guards in Minnesota, there has been speculation this offseason that the Wolves would buy Barea out of the final year of his contract or trade him. Coach/president Flip Saunders insisted in late September that there was a role for Barea in Minnesota, noting that his camp performance last summer was the best of anyone on the team. Still, with a glut of backcourt options, including free agent pickup Mo Williams, it was clear that Barea could get more burn elsewhere.
The Mavericks are planning on signing Barea once he clears waivers, according to Stein, and the guard wants to return to Dallas. The Mavs’ roster is currently full with the regular season maximum 15 players, so bringing Barea aboard would require another roster move. The guard should clear as he carries a $4.5MM cap number for 2014/15. Stein suggests that Dallas could clear a spot by trading or releasing guard Gal Mekel or big man Greg Smith.
If the Barea-Dallas reunion falls through, there should be plenty of other clubs with interest. The Lakers immediately come to mind as a club that could go for Barea in the wake of Steve Nash‘s season-ending injury.
Earlier today, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link) heard that the feeling around the league was that Barea would wind up with the Mavs. Barea could be the second member of the Mavs’ 2011 championship team to return to Dallas this offseason, following big man Tyson Chandler.
Hoops Links: Kobe, Stauskas, Ellis
On this date in 1976, the Pacers won their first NBA game with a 120-90 home victory over Seattle. The Pacers entered the league from the ABA, of course, along with the Spurs, Nuggets, and Nets.
Got a great basketball blog post that you want to see featured on Hoops Rumors? Send it to Zach at HoopsLinks@gmail.com. Here’s this week’s look around the basketball blogosphere…
- Fantasy Basketball Money Leagues wonders how many years Kobe Bryant has left.
- The Fanhood talks Nik Stauskas and race.
- Mavs Moneyball explains why Monta Ellis may pick up his player option.
- Rip City Project wonders if Chris Kaman can keep this up.
- Indy Cornrows says the Pacers might be glad that lottery reform didn’t go through.
- At The Hive previews Lance Stephenson‘s first year in Charlotte.
Please send submissions for Hoops Links to Zach at HoopsLinks@gmail.com.
Hoops Rumors Originals
A look back at the original analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this week..
- Chuck Myron reflected on some of the notable preseason trades of the last few years.
- If you missed out on this week’s chat, check out the transcript here.
- We featured the best of your comments in Hoops Rumors Featured Feedback.
- The Trade Rumors App is finally here! Download the app today to get up-to-the-second updates from Hoops Rumors, MLBTradeRumors, and Pro Football Rumors.
Pistons Release Aaron Gray
5:48pm: Detroit has officially waived Gray, the team has announced.
4:39pm: The Pistons will release Aaron Gray to get down to a 15-man roster, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). Gray signed a two-year deal with Detroit in August that included a player option on the final season. The deal was guaranteed for the minimum salary in both years so the Pistons will be on the hook for both seasons, presuming he clears waivers.
With a 16-man roster, the Pistons were put in a position in which they had to either cut or trade a player, with Gray, Tony Mitchell, and Luigi Datome seemingly the likeliest candidates to hit the waiver wire. With all 16 players on guaranteed deals, Detroit had to eat someone’s salary no matter what if it couldn’t find a trade partner. As David Mayo of MLive.com wrote earlier this month, Stan Van Gundy has been high on Mitchell, even though he would have been the most painless cut with a $816K salary.
“He works in the weight room,” Van Gundy said of Mitchell. “He works on his game out here. He simply has a lot to learn and he has to play the game smarter. He picks up some bad fouls. He has some wild turnovers, things like that. But his effort is not a problem at all, either in games or trying to work on his game. We’ve been very, very pleased with that. And he’s a great athlete.”
Gray, a former Pittsburgh standout, averaged 1.8 PPG and 3.0 RPG across 36 games for the Raptors and Kings last season.
Central Notes: Melo, Amundson, Pistons
Knicks star Carmelo Anthony wasn’t surprised to learn that his squad would be opening the season against the Bulls, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. Meanwhile, he says that his offseason flirtation with Chicago has given him insight into their team. “I have a lot of insight [into that team],’’ Anthony said. “I can’t express that right now. I have a better understanding what they’re about. The organization, the players, Coach Thibs, the front-office ownership. [Thibodeau’s] knowledge of the game and what he brings to the game, his excitement and enthusiasm. It doesn’t get better than that. … I give them a lot of credit. They were very impressive.” More from the Central Division..
- Lou Amundson is likely to secure a regular season roster spot, writes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. The center position could be the one spot in the Cavs lineup to have minutes available due to Anderson Varejao‘s injury history and a lack of proven options behind him.
- Turning the Pistons into a playoff caliber team starts with coach and GM Stan Van Gundy, opines David Mayo of MLive.com. Van Gundy understands the process of building a successful team having turned franchises around in Miami and Orlando. “There are habits to change,” he said. “When you’ve lost for a long time, you get into losing habits. Nobody wants to lose and a lot of times guys don’t even realize the habits they’ve fallen into because they’re still NBA players and they’re playing well. I think they want to change. It just has to be more consistent.”
- Former Bucks forward Chris Wright has joined PGE Turow Zgorzelec of Poland, according to agent Misko Raznatovic (on Twitter, h/t to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando).
Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
Week In Review: 10/20/14 – 10/26/14
Here’s a look back at the (busy) week that was..
- Steve Nash will miss all of 2014/15 due to recurring nerve damage in his back. The Lakers will apply for the Disabled Player Exception.
- In a surprise turn, the league voted against lottery reform.
- The Warriors and Klay Thompson still have a bridge to cross. Thompson’s camp wants a max level deal and the Warriors don’t want to go that high.
- The Nets traded Marquis Teague and a 2019 second-round pick to the Sixers for Casper Ware, who they waived soon after. Philly will receive the more favorable of Milwaukee’s and Sacramento’s second-round picks in 2019.
- There’s a big gap between the Bulls and Jimmy Butler as they discuss an extension.
- The Pelicans exercised their fourth year team option for Anthony Davis.
- The Cavaliers exercised their fourth-year contract option on Dion Waiters.
- The Magic exercised their team options on Victor Oladipo, Evan Fournier, Maurice Harkless, and Andrew Nicholson.
- Tobias Harris isn’t planning to sign an extension with the Magic before the deadline.
- The Celtics could waive Will Bynum.
- The Wizards added John Lucas III and later waived him.
- The Celtics will exercise their team options to keep Tyler Zeller, Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk on their rookie scale contracts through 2015/16.
- The Knicks may or may not be picking up Shane Larkin‘s option.
- The Jazz exercised their third-year team options for Trey Burke and Rudy Gobert.
- The Sixers waived Drew Gordon, Malcolm Lee, and Ronald Roberts Jr.
- Jeremy Tyler is headed to China. The Lakers waived him so that he could pursue the deal.
- The Mavs signed and waived Renaldo Balkman on Saturday in an effort to secure his D-League rights.
- The Nuggets waived Quincy Miller, Marcus Williams, and Jerrelle Benimon.
- The Sixers will sign Malcolm Thomas.
- The Grizzlies waived Earl Clark and Hassan Whiteside. Clark was later claimed by Houston.
- The Rockets waived Clark and Akeem Richmond, shortly after claiming and signing each. Geron Johnson and Akil Mitchell were also waived and Josh Powell was let go.
- The Heat waived Khem Birch along with Larry Drew II, Tyler Johnson and Shawn Jones. Drew was signed earlier in the week.
- The Celtics waived Jarell Eddie, days after claiming him off waivers.
- The Knicks will waive forward Travis Outlaw and that’s probably a sign that Travis Wear will make the team.
- The Hawks waived Eddie and Dexter Pittman on Tuesday.
- The Clippers waived Joe Ingles.
- The Knicks waived Langston Galloway and Jordan Vandenberg.
- The Grizzlies waived guard Patrick Christopher.
- The Pistons have picked up their 2015/16 team options on Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
- The Pistons waived Hasheem Thabeet, Brian Cook, Lorenzo Brown and Josh Bostic.
- The Celtics waived Rodney McGruder, Erik Murphy, Tim Frazier, and Christian Watford.
- Dee Bost is going to Italy.
- The Spurs signed Robert Vaden and Fuquan Edwin, then waived them along with JaMychal Green.
- The Mavs released point guard Yuki Togashi.
- The Mavs waived swingman Eric Griffin.
- The Magic waived Kadeem Batts, Drew Crawford, Seth Curry, and Peyton Siva.
- The Grizzlies waived Kalin Lucas.
- The Nets exercised their team options to keep Mason Plumlee and Sergey Karasev on their rookie scale contracts through 2015/16.
- The Lakers said farewell to Jabari Brown and Roscoe Smith.
- The Wolves waived center Kyrylo Fesenko.
- Jamil Wilson is set to sign with the Bakersfield Jam of the D-League.
- The Jazz waived Brock Motum.
- The Hornets waived Justin Cobbs.
- The Pacers waived C.J. Fair, Arinze Onuaku, Chris Singleton and Adonis Thomas.
- The Mavs waived Bernard James, Ivan Johnson, and Doron Lamb.
- The Wolves cut Brady Heslip.
- The Kings released Trey Johnson.
- The Wizards waived Rasual Butler, Damion James, and Xavier Silas.
- The Hornets waived big men Dallas Lauderdale and Brian Qvale.
- The Jazz waived Dahntay Jones and Jack Cooley.
- The Thunder waived camp invitees Michael Jenkins, Richard Solomon and Talib Zanna.
- The Pelicans waived Kevin Jones and D.J. Stephens.
- The Cavs waived Shane Edwards.
- The Thunder exercised their options on Steven Adams, Andre Roberson, Perry Jones III, and Jeremy Lamb.
- The Suns waived Earl Barron.
- The Blazers waived Diante Garrett and Darius Morris.
- The Raptors waived Will Cherry and Jordan Hamilton.
- The Nets waived power forward Willie Reed.
- The Warriors waived Aaron Craft, Jason Kapono, Sean Kilpatrick, James Michael McAdoo, and Mitchell Watt. Kilpatrick was signed earlier in the week.
- The Knicks waived center D.J. Mbenga and power forward Orlando Sanchez.
- The Knicks signed center Jordan Vandenberg.
- The Spurs waived Josh Davis and Bryce Cotton.
- The Lakers waived Keith Appling.