Rival GMs View Celtics As Top Threat To Acquire Westbrook
- Although there’s no indication yet that the Thunder are exploring a Russell Westbrook trade, rival general managers think GM Sam Presti will do so sooner rather than later if he suspects that Westbrook is leaning toward leaving as a free agent next summer, says Howard Beck of Bleacher Report (video link). According to Beck, many of those rival GMs believe that the Celtics are the most likely landing spot for Westbrook if Oklahoma City does pursue a trade.
- Celtics first-rounder Ante Zizic is headed back to Cibona Zagreb, his team in Croatia, tweets international basketball journalist David Pick. Boston GM Danny Ainge had previously confirmed that Zizic, who reportedly received some interest from other European clubs, would remain overseas for the 2016/17 season.
Sullinger Accepts Blame For His Struggles With Celtics
Jared Sullinger‘s struggles with his weight and conditioning were the main reasons the Celtics allowed the forward to depart as a free agent after rescinding their qualifying offer to him, Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald writes. The big man accepts that he was at fault, according to David Falk, his agent, Murphy notes. “Jared understands that if he had controlled his situation better, his options would have been better,” Falk said. “What happened the last two weeks has been major wake-up call for him. He’s in the gym twice a day. He knows what he has to do. Jared acknowledges that he put himself in this situation, and he has to get himself out of it”
- Isaiah Thomas‘ deal with the Celtics is an extremely team friendly one given the contracts handed out this summer, a fact that hasn’t escaped the point guard, who says he intends to cash in when he hits free agency in 2018, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes. “They better bring out the Brinks truck,” quipped Thomas. “They’re paying everybody else. I gotta get something. I’m trying not to worry about it. It’s out there. I’m just being myself and play and hopefully that takes care of everything else.“
Terry Rozier Angling For More Playing Time
The Raptors got themselves a bargain in ex-Celtics power forward Jared Sullinger, even though he’s not an ideal fit, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun opines. Sullinger agreed to a one-year deal with Toronto on Monday after Boston renounced his rights. He’s not an ideal partner for either Jonas Valanciunas or Jakob Poeltl because of his lack of foot speed but he’ll contribute with his rebounding and low-post game, Wolstat continues. Sullinger will be motivated to have a productive season in order to get a big payday next summer, Wolstat adds, noting that approach worked last season for Bismack Biyombo.
- Sixers big man Jahlil Okafor denied via his Twitter account that he’s angry that they shopped him this offseason, according to CSNNE.com report. Okafor responded to a story by Tom Moore of the Bucks County Courier Times that he and his handlers were upset that Sixers GM Bryan Colangelo listened to offers for the second-year power forward. Okafor called the story “fraudulent” and declared that “I love where I am.” The Celtics, who made a big free-agent splash by signing Al Horford, could still try to deal for Okafor this summer, CSNNE.com adds.
- Celtics guard Terry Rozier has positioned himself for more playing time with his postseason play and summer-league performances, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. Rozier could help fill the void left by Evan Turner, who agreed to a four-year deal with the Trail Blazers, and even take some minutes from starting point guard Isaiah Thomas, Blakely adds. The 6’2” Rozier averaged 1.8 points in 39 regular-season games as a rookie, then averaged 4.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 19.8 minutes during the playoffs.
Stevens Thinks Change Of Scenery Will Benefit Sullinger
The Celtics‘ addition of Al Horford via free agency led to the team renounce its qualifying offer to Jared Sullinger, making him an unrestricted free agency and all but closing the door on a return to Boston for the big man. Head coach Brad Stevens is sad to see Sullinger go, but hopes the split will benefit both parties, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com relays. “I think Jared’s a really good player, and I think Jared will continue to be a really good player,” Stevens said. “Obviously when we got Al, that made us make hard decisions. And the thing that stinks about that is having to move on and move forward, both for him and us. But he’ll do great. Jared’s one of the more talented guys being able to get the ball off the glass, and he’s got a beautiful touch and he’s a good guy, and so I think he’ll do well. I’m hopeful this move will benefit him as well, and I think it will. We’ll see where he lands, but I know there’s a lot of interest in him based on how my phone’s been ringing and everybody else’s, so I’m sure he’ll land where he wants to and do exceptionally well.”
Atlantic Notes: Kuzminskas, Lin, Sullinger
The Knicks are hoping Lithuanian small forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas can help fill the void left by losing Derrick Williams to Miami, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Kuzminskas signed with New York Saturday, choosing the Knicks over the Lakers and Hawks. The 6’9″ small forward played in the Spanish League this season and has been compared with Danilo Gallinari. “We felt like we needed an agile, mobile 3 that had some ability to shoot distance and spread the court,’’ said team president Phil Jackson. “It may take him an adjustment to NBA play — we understand. It gives us another opportunity to play smaller, quicker with a wide extension of spacing.” The Knicks gave Kuzminskas a two-year deal, using almost all of their $2.9MM room exception for 2016/17. A source told Berman that Jackson hopes to add shooting guard Sasha Vujacic to the roster, along with a “cheap” veteran big man.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Reuniting with former mentor and current Nets coach Kenny Atkinson and getting a chance to be the leader of a rebuilding franchise led Jeremy Lin to Brooklyn, Brian Lewis of the New York Post details.
- Sergio Rodriguez will miss Tuesday’s game with his Spanish team to finalize a deal with the Sixers, according to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. He agreed to a one-year, $8MM contract with Philadelphia last week.
- Considering the Celtics added Al Horford, it’s best for Jared Sullinger that the power forward is now an unrestricted free agent because of an expected lack of playing time in Boston, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Sullinger land a one or two-year deal worth $6MM per season, Blakely adds.
Celtics Notes: McHale, Thomas, Durant, Horford
Immediately after he was fired as coach of the Rockets in November, Kevin McHale received a job offer from the Celtics, according to Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. He hasn’t joined the organization yet, but McHale appreciates the gesture from president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, his former teammate. “Danny and I are very good friends,” McHale said, “and once he heard about it, he basically called up and said what a bunch of BS it was, first of all. He said, ‘I feel bad for you.’ Then he said, ‘Any job you want up here, you just let me know.’” One exception, of course, was head coach Brad Stevens‘ job.
“Danny said, ‘You want to help the big guys? You just want to come in and see where it fits? You just tell me,” McHale continued. “Whatever you want to do, you let me know and we’ll make it work.’” McHale, who still had two years left on his Rockets contract, did some television work this season, but is not in a hurry to get back into coaching or front office position.
There’s more news out of Boston:
- Point guard Isaiah Thomas was unhappy that Boston missed out on Kevin Durant, but he believes the Celitcs made their best effort to attract him, relays A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE. Boston was among five teams that met with Durant last weekend in the Hamptons, and Thomas was part of the Celtics’ contingent. “I walked out thinking we had a chance at him,” he said. “But I didn’t think he was going to go to the Warriors; I definitely didn’t think that. But leaving that meeting, I had a sense he was leaving OKC.”
- Thomas can finally reveal the name of the player who asked him during this season’s All-Star break what it was like to play in Boston, writes Mark D’Amico of Celtics.com. It was Al Horford, who signed a four-year, $113MM contract with the Celtics. “I wrapped that one up, I just didn’t want to say anything,” Thomas said. “I knew he was coming to Boston for sure.”
- Thomas has offered to be a recruiter to help Ainge add some more talent, relays Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com. Thomas said he knows a few players who would like to join the Celtics and named one veteran who he believes would help the club. “I know there is an old guy out there named Jason Terry — he can still hit some shots,” Thomas said. “That’s my old head. I know there’s some shooters out there that can put the ball in the basket and hopefully we can get our hands on them.” Terry, 38, is a free agent after spending the past two seasons in Houston. He played for the Celtics during the 2012/13 season.
Celtics Renounce QO For Jared Sullinger
The Celtics have decided to renounce their $4,433,683 qualifying offer for Jared Sullinger, tweets Kevin O’Connor of SB Nation. The news first appeared on the NBA’s transaction wire, and a source confirmed it to O’Connor.
The move, which also affects Sullinger’s exception rights, means he will go from being a restricted free agent to an unrestricted one. Boston had limited playing time to offer the 6’9″ power forward after signing Al Horford in free agency and allowing Amir Johnson‘s $12MM deal to become guaranteed for next season.
Sources at summer league games told A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE that the market has slowed considerably for restricted free agent big men. Teams are reluctant to tie up their cap space for three days while waiting to see if the player’s team will match an offer.
It is uncertain whether the Celtics’ move will help Sullinger get an offer more quickly. He started 73 games for Boston last season and was the team’s leading rebounder with 8.3 per night, but he has faced questions about his conditioning throughout his four years in the NBA.
Celtics Sign Al Horford
JULY 8: The Celtics have officially announced the signing of Horford, who says in a statement that he’s “extremely excited” to be heading to Boston.
JULY 2: The Celtics plan to sign Al Horford to a four-year, $113MM deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Horford, on his verified account, changed his avatar to the Celtics’ logo and tweeted, “Celtics Pride,” in an unsubtle way of announcing the agreement.
The signing is a coup for the Celtics, who have not landed a free agent in his prime in quite some time, as Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe relays. The decision is also somewhat surprising, given that the Hawks appeared to have momentum to re-sign the veteran, according to Wojnarowksi, who just minutes prior reported the Celtics figured Horford would stay in Atlanta. Alas, the Hawks and Horford were $6MM apart on a deal, Wojnarowski tweets.
Interestingly, there was also a time when Horford preferred to sign with the Wizards, per Wojnarowski. What’s more, the Thunder pitched to Horford, but he turned them down because there was no assurance that Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook would be there long-term, Wojnarowski tweets. Horford also reportedly had some level of interest from the Lakers, Magic, Pistons, and Nets, but those teams were never serious suitors for the veteran big man.
In Horford, the Celtics now have one of the better big men in the league. The longtime Hawk leaves the franchise he joined as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2007 draft, and the city in which developed into a four-time All-Star. Horford appeared in all 82 regular season games for Atlanta this past season, averaging 15.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 32.1 minutes per night. His shooting line was .505/.344/.798.
We ranked Horford as this year’s No. 3 free agent, behind only Durant and LeBron James. This is turning out to be a big weekend for Boston, which hosted Durant Saturday and still as the cap flexibility to land the superstar, as Bobby Marks of The Vertical points out on Twitter.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
And-Ones: Zubac, Sanders, Zizic
The Lakers have officially signed center Ivica Zubac to his first NBA contract, the team announced. The 19-year-old was the No. 32 overall pick in this year’s draft after spending last season with Mega Leks, where he averaged 10.9 points and 5.1 rebounds as the team made the Serbian League semi-finals.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Celtics have informed Amir Johnson and Jonas Jerebko that they won’t be waived in advance of their contracts becoming fully guaranteed for next season, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com tweets. Johnson is set to earn $12MM in 2016/17 and Jerebko will make $5MM.
- Celtics team president Danny Ainge said that No. 23 overall pick Ante Zizic will remain overseas next season, adding that no decision has been made regarding No. 16 overall pick Guerschon Yabusele, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com relays (on Twitter).
- Blazers executive Neil Olshey noted this free agent class was light on players who could be considered starters on contending teams, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com relays (via Twitter). “We thought it was a fairly thin market for impact level players, guys capable of starting on a playoff caliber team,” Olshey said.
- Former NBA player Larry Sanders has been working out in California and several teams have shown interest in him, Alex Kennedy of Basketball nsiders tweets. The big man remains open to the idea of an NBA comeback, Kennedy adds. The 27-year-old last played in the NBA during the 2014/15 season.
Danny Ainge Talks Durant, Trades, Offseason
The offseason has been a little up and down for the Celtics, who failed to make a big draft-day trade and didn’t land top free agent target Kevin Durant, but still got a prospect they really like with the No. 3 overall pick (Jaylen Brown) and secured a contract agreement with another top free agent (Al Horford).
General manager Danny Ainge spoke to Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald about the team’s pursuit of Durant and the rest of the summer so far, and made a few interesting comments. The entire piece is worth reading for C’s fans, but here are a few highlights from the discussion:
Ainge on whether he felt the Celtics had a legit chance to sign Durant:
“In a situation like that, you never really know. I didn’t really feel like we had a great chance, but I thought we had SOME chance. And then after we met with them, I felt like we had a real chance.
“I felt there for about 48 hours that we had a legitimate chance. It seemed like a really good fit. It seemed like a really good option for him, and it just wasn’t meant to be. He had other good options, too, but I did allow myself to get really excited for that 48-hour period, and it just didn’t happen.”
On Boston’s presentation to Durant:
“We felt like [the basketball fit] was the most important part of the whole presentation — who he’d play with and how he’d be utilized. He had some good questions about that and about his role — how he would play, how we would use him. I think we did a great job of explaining and making a great presentation, and I think it was tempting for him. I think he is very, very excited about Boston and the history, the Celtics, all of that. I think he loved what Brad [Stevens] had to say. I think he was impressed with Brad’s preparation, and we had a really good feeling about it.”
On whether pulling the trigger on another trade offer would have helped Boston land Durant:
“You know, I thought about that before and I’ve thought about that after, and I really don’t think so — shy of a couple of moves that I couldn’t do. But in deals that we could have done that we refused to do, I don’t think that would have mattered for this. I think that KD really likes our players.
“Under any circumstances, we weren’t going to be able to produce Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.”
On the team’s summer so far, and the outlook going forward:
“You know, we didn’t probably have as many transactions as we wanted. We had offers for the third pick in the draft and some of our young players in this process, and we just didn’t want to do it. We just thought it was too much. We like those things too much, so we’re going to move forward, and we’re excited about the direction that we’re headed.
“When you do major moves, they almost always happen out of nowhere. … We’re continuing to look and talk, and, I mean, look at how fast Chicago has changed. That’s just sort of the way it works.”