And-Ones: Perkins, Butler, Labissiere, Vesely
Players on the Cavaliers were furious when the team let Kendrick Perkins leave in free agency this summer and instead signed Sasha Kaun, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer said in an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” (video link; transcription via Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk). They valued Perkins for his emotional leadership and the role of enforcer that he played, even though he doesn’t offer much else on the court at this point in his career, as Haynes detailed. Perkins is averaging 11.3 minutes per game in 15 appearances for the Pelicans on a one-year deal this season. See more from around the NBA:
- The offer the Celtics reportedly made to the Bulls for Jimmy Butler left much to be desired from Chicago’s end, and the talks didn’t advance from there, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune hears (Twitter links).
- Former No. 1 draft prospect Skal Labissiere has continued to plummet in rankings, coming in only 19th in the latest mock draft from Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, notes Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. However, the University of Kentucky big man returned to the starting lineup Tuesday after a late-December benching and tallied 11 points and eight rebounds, numbers well above his averages of 6.4 points and 3.0 boards per game.
- Jan Vesely recently drew an offer from an NBA team for the equivalent of between $7.7MM and $8.8MM, according to an official from his Turkish team, Fenerbahce Ulker, notes Eurohoops.net. The official indicated that Fenerbahce wants to keep the former NBA sixth overall pick, and Vesely has no intention of leaving for an NBA team in the near future, tweets international journalist David Pick. Few NBA teams have the capacity to hand out contracts of that amount this late in the season, so I’d speculate that it was meant as an offer for the summer, when teams have much more to spend.
Atlantic Notes: Bennett, Fredette, Jackson
Anthony Bennett‘s camp thought the Raptors never gave him the opportunity to develop and feels coach Dwane Casey doesn’t trust young players, Sportsnet’s Michael Grange writes. GM Masai Ujiri acknowledged Bennett didn’t get as much of a chance in Toronto as the Raptors thought he would, and Casey admitted he probably could have done a better job of finding minutes for the former No. 1 overall pick, as Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun notes. Still, Grange contends minutes were available for Bennett had he shown he deserved them and believes that while Bennett went on four D-League assignments, he could have approached them more vigorously. See more from the Atlantic Division, with Bennett poised to come off waivers from Toronto at 4pm Central today:
- Jimmer Fredette is expected to rejoin the Knicks D-League affiliate now that his 10-day contract with New York is up, reports Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. The Knicks reportedly have no intention of re-signing the former BYU star to the NBA roster.
- Knicks team president Phil Jackson hasn’t given any indication that he wants to leave the team, interim coach Kurt Rambis said to reporters, including Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com (ESPN Now link).
- Nets GM Sean Marks insists owner Mikhail Prokhorov is on board with a slow rebuild, with Marks telling Brian Lewis of the New York Post that Prokhorov’s willingness to take a patient approach with the roster was clear while he was interviewing for the GM job. The owner reportedly believed as of a few weeks ago that the team could quickly return to contention this summer and said in January that, “I’m sure for the next season, we’ll be, I hope, [a] championship contender.”
- Marks also spoke of a desire to find players for next season via 10-day deals the rest of the way this year and said that while he’s open to hiring a coach who runs a system unfamiliar to him, he’ll insist on someone he already has a relationship with, as Lewis relays in the same piece.
- The Celtics assigned rookie R.J. Hunter to the D-League today, the team announced (Twitter link). That’s trip No. 3 for last year’s No. 28 pick.
Atlantic Notes: Butler, Stoudemire, Udrih
The Celtics, who were reportedly looking to make a big splash at this year’s trade deadline, held discussions with the Bulls about acquiring star swingman Jimmy Butler, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald writes. According to Bulpett’s source, the Celtics were willing to give up two first-round draft picks this year — the Nets‘ unprotected pick and Dallas’ first-rounder, which is top-seven protected, as part of a package for Butler. “This is not a case where Chicago was looking to trade Jimmy Butler,” a source involved in the talks told Bulpett. “That would be crazy. But if Boston calls, you have to look at those picks and some of the players they have and at least hear them out. Most times when teams call about your star, you can just dismiss it right away, but you have to think about it with [president of basketball operations Danny] Ainge and the Celtics right now. There’s a lot to go over there with possibilities.”
The Celtics are concerned that they will have too many young players on the roster if they retain all their acquired picks, so it is highly likely the team will be active leading up to the draft in its attempts to acquire a star-caliber player, Bulpett adds. “The term I’ve heard with Danny is that he’s looking for a ‘difference maker,’” a league source told the Herald scribe. “He’s definitely willing to pay you for the right guy, but he wants someone who can move them to the next level.” Ainge also checked in with the Pacers regarding Paul George prior to the deadline, Bulpett relays.
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Amar’e Stoudemire denies that he was talking about former Knicks teammate Carmelo Anthony the other night when he made some pointed comments about his former team, Al Iannazzone of Newsday relays. The big man called Anthony on Sunday to clear the air, Iannazzone notes. “I never mentioned his name once,” Stoudemire told reporters, in reference to his comments. “We’re close friends, family. Our wives are very close friends. He knows I wasn’t talking about him.” When asked about his chat with Stoudemire, Anthony said, “I don’t really want to waste any time on that. What’s understood don’t need to be spoken upon.”
- Beno Udrih cleared waivers from the Heat today, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link), meaning the Sixers passed on the chance to add him and draw closer to the $63MM salary floor. The Sixers currently have $60,369,349 in guaranteed salary on the books for 2015/16, which is $2,630,651 below the minimum team payroll. Claiming Udrih’s $2,170,465 salary would have brought Philadelphia to within a couple of minimum-salary contracts of the mark, and it would have come at the actual cost of only a fraction of Udrih’s salary, since the Heat have already given him most of his paychecks for the year. The result of Udrih clearing waivers is potentially more damaging to the Heat, who’d reportedly eyed Marcus Thornton and others but can’t sign anyone until April 6th without again going into tax territory, notes salary cap expert Albert Nahmad (on Twitter). It’s more likely the Heat would wait to sign someone until April 7th so they could fill their second open roster spot on the final day of the regular season, tweets Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Knicks Consider Tim Frazier, Ray McCallum
The Knicks are thinking about signing either Tim Frazier or Ray McCallum to a 10-day contract, reports Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter links). Each is considered a more likely candidate than Tony Wroten, with whom the Knicks met recently, Isola adds. Marc Berman of the New York Post earlier wrote that the team was eyeing McCallum, who comes off waivers from the Spurs at 4pm Central today, while The Wall Street Journal’s Chris Herring reported last month that the Knicks considered Frazier before signing Jimmer Fredette instead. New York reportedly has no plans to re-sign Fredette after his 10-day contract expires tonight.
Frazier rejoined the D-League affiliate of the Celtics last week after clearing waivers from the Trail Blazers, who cut him to accommodate their deadline-day trades. Blazers GM Neil Olshey said he told Frazier he’d be interested in re-signing him if the team was unable to add another point guard, though Portland acquired point guard Brian Roberts in one of its deadline swaps.
The 25-year-old Frazier saw just 7.8 minutes per game in 35 appearances for the Blazers this season, though he put up an impressive 5.5 assists in 21.7 minutes per game across 11 contests with the Sixers last year. Similarly, McCallum was buried on San Antonio’s bench before his release from the Spurs but made 30 starts for the Kings last season.
And-Ones: Oden, Sampson, Lee
Mavs power forward David Lee struggled to get into shape this season following the Warriors‘ NBA title run of last season and turned some heads when he said that he finally committed himself to getting fit when he fell out of the Celtics‘ rotation in preparation for joining another team, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com writes. Despite the negative implications of Lee’s remarks, Boston coach Brad Stevens isn’t upset with his former player, Forsberg notes. “I don’t know if that is semantics or how he meant to say it,” Stevens said. “I think the biggest thing that he was probably saying there was that, when you’re not playing, you have to find other ways to stay ready. And maybe I’m wrong. But I think that he certainly took [to his] diet, he worked out hard — he worked out hard enough that if he would have played, he would have been gassed in the games. Sometimes you can’t do that if you’re going to be playing 15 minutes per night. He was going two or three times hard per day during that stretch. So, no, I wasn’t frustrated by it. In fact it set a pretty good example for the other guys that weren’t playing.”
Stevens also acknowledged the difficult spot Lee was placed in with him not being in the team’s regular rotation, Forberg writes. “That was hard. That was really hard. And it was harder on [Lee] than anybody else, but we talked about it a lot,” Stevens said. “We didn’t have hardly any injuries with our bigs and we had a lot of bigs that, especially at the end of games, were going to be relatively the same position. And so it put a lot of guys on the bench. And it was different guys at different times. To his credit, when we eventually settled on playing others, he handled it really well. Kudos to him. I’m happy he’s doing well.”
Here’s more from around the league:
- Former NBA top pick Greg Oden was released by the Jiangsu Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association recently, but he appreciates the opportunity that the club gave him, Joshua Bateman of USA Today writes. “It was a great opportunity for me to come and just play basketball, which I haven’t been able to do for awhile,” Oden said. “They got me playing. For me, that’s all I can say. I’ve had a lot of years where I actually just couldn’t play and this year I’m actually able to be out there on the court and play 25 minutes when I never thought I would see over 20 minutes in a game. And I’m playing three games a week. For me, that’s just something I didn’t even think I would ever be able to do.”
- Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) has released his latest mock draft and his current top three players are Ben Simmons of LSU, Duke’s Brandon Ingram and Croatian big man Dragan Bender.
- JaKarr Sampson‘s contract with the Nuggets doesn’t contain any guaranteed salary beyond this season, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reveals (Twitter link), resolving earlier reports that conflicted. It’s a two-year pact for the minimum salary.
- Joe Johnson gave back exactly $3MM in his buyout from the Nets, reports Pincus relays (Twitter link).
- Kris Humphries agreed to forfeit precisely $1MM as part of his buyout with the Suns, Pincus also notes (Twitter links)
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Atlantic Notes: Hinkie, Horford, Fredette
One source told Tom Moore of Calkins Media that he believes the Sixers will hire someone new to run day-to-day basketball operations under chairman of basketball ops Jerry Colangelo, bumping GM Sam Hinkie into an analytics-only role, perhaps before the regular season is over. Moore speculates that the new day-to-day front office voice might be Bryan Colangelo, Jerry’s son, and the scribe hears conflicting rumors of whether or not Danny Ferry is a candidate to join the Sixers. Jerry Colangelo recently expressed interest in adding to the team’s front office. While we wait to see the fate of “The Process” in Philly, see more from the Atlantic Division:
- Part of the reason why the Celtics didn’t make the sort of overwhelming trade offer for Al Horford that the Hawks were reportedly looking for is that the C’s feel they have a legitimate chance to sign him in free agency this summer, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports says in a video report. Chris Mannix of The Vertical earlier identified Atlanta’s interest in the big man.
- The Knicks are keeping an eye on the players that hit waivers as Tuesday’s de facto buyout deadline nears, with a specific interest in younger players, coach Kurt Rambis said today, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Tuesday is the last day players can hit waivers while retaining postseason eligibility. Rambis praised Jimmer Fredette and suggested he’s open to seeing him return on a second 10-day deal, notes Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (on Twitter), but the coach said that decision rests with management and acknowledged it will be tough for Fredette to see minutes. He’s only played two minutes so far on the 10-day deal that expires after Wednesday.
- The Celtics have recalled James Young from the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). He averaged 10.7 points and 4.7 rebounds in three games on his latest D-League stint, which began Thursday.
And-Ones: Durant, Harden, Most Improved, Hawks
Kevin Durant has a shot at the largest contract in league history when his free agency officially arrives this summer, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Durant will have plenty of options to choose from, starting with the Thunder, who would love to keep him and Russell Westbrook together through the prime of their careers. The Warriors are believed to be the front-runners if Durant decides to leave Oklahoma City, and his hometown Wizards will surely be calling, along with the Lakers, who will need a star to replace Kobe Bryant. Or Durant could sign a one-year deal with OKC, maximize his earning power as a 10-year veteran and put off the larger decision until 2017. “Everybody’s going to ask me, so of course I’m going to have to think about it now,” Durant said. “To tell you one thing, it’s great to feel wanted, I guess.”
There’s more news from around the world of basketball:
- James Harden says he feels unfairly targeted for the bad situation in Houston, Washburn writes in the same piece, particularly the rumored rifts with Rockets center Dwight Howard and former coach Kevin McHale. “All the time,” Harden said when asked if he feels he’s being singled out over team disunity, “but I don’t really pay attention to it. I can’t focus on negativity because that drains you. I focus on what I can do, what I can control, and go out there and just compete at a high level.”
- The Blazers‘ C.J. McCollum is almost certain to win this season’s Most Improved Player award, according to Eric Saar of Basketball Insiders. McCollum, who’ll be up for a rookie scale extension this summer, has become a full-time starter and has raised his scoring average from 6.8 points a game last year to 21.1 points this season. Saar’s other candidates for the award are the Warriors‘ Draymond Green, the Celtics‘ Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder and the Raptors‘ Kyle Lowry.
- The Hawks have recalled center Edy Tavares and guard/forward Lamar Patterson from the Austin Spurs of the D-League, the team announced today. Tavares has averaged 10.1 points and 9.6 rebounds in 14 D-League games, while Patterson’s averages are 15.6 points, 5.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds in seven games with Austin.
- Chris Douglas-Roberts, whom the Pelicans cut in training camp, will be rejoining the D-League’s Texas Legends, who are the affiliate of the Mavericks, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
Atlantic Notes: Stoudemire, Sullinger, Lee
The Heat’s Amar’e Stoudemire sounded like he had some harsh words for former teammate Carmelo Anthony and Knicks management before tonight’s game, relays Marc Berman of The New York Post. Stoudemire spent four and a half seasons in New York before agreeing to a buyout last February. He didn’t mention Anthony by name but implied that ‘Melo was extremely jealous during the brief “Lin-sanity” period that turned Jeremy Lin into a star in 2012. “A lot of times you got to enjoy somebody else’s success,” Stoudemire said. “That wasn’t the case for us during that stretch. You got to enjoy that and let that player enjoy himself and cherish those moments. He was becoming a star and I didn’t think everyone was pleased with that.’’
Stoudemire also said not everybody was on board with the triangle offense that Phil Jackson instituted when he became team president in 2014. “I truly bought into it,’’ Stoudemire said. “Maybe three-quarters of the team thought it was great. But if you don’t have a full team that buys into a system, it’s never going to pan out.’’
There’s more tonight from the Atlantic Division:
- Jared Sullinger may be making himself too expensive for the Celtics to keep with his recent rebounding spree, writes Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com. Sullinger has posted double-doubles in five of his last seven games and has risen into the league’s top 10 in percentage of defensive rebounds collected. Sullinger will be a restricted free agent this summer, and while Boston would likely want to keep him for the $4.4MM qualifying offer, his price could rise much higher, Forsberg writes. One advantage the Celtics will have is Sullinger’s fondness for Boston. “When you play for the greatest franchise in the NBA and you see all those banners and all the fans, you don’t want to leave that place because it’s a special place in your heart,” Sullinger said recently. “It’s the first team I’ve played for in the NBA — hopefully it’ll be my last.”
- Kelly Olynyk‘s talents made David Lee expendable in Boston, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Olynyk can play both center and power forward and he has 3-point range to stretch the floor. Lee agreed to a buyout with the Celtics and hit waivers February 19th.
- The Raptors have recalled Bruno Caboclo from their D-League affiliate, the team announced via Twitter. Caboclo has appeared in three games with Toronto this season.
Celtics Notes: Mickey, Olynyk, Winslow, Thornton
Celtics rookie Jordan Mickey doesn’t regret leaving LSU early and missing a chance to play with freshman sensation Ben Simmons, writes Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. The move worked out well for Mickey, who was drafted 33rd overall last summer and received a four-year contract with the first two seasons guaranteed at a combined total of nearly $2.4MM. Mickey has spent most of this season with Boston’s D-League affiliate in Maine, but remains convinced that he made the right choice. “I have no regrets,” he said. “I feel I made the best decision for myself and my family. I’m in a pretty good situation, I would say.”
There’s more news out of Boston:
- Kelly Olynyk is making progress in returning from his right shoulder sprain, but his timeline hasn’t changed, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE. Olynyk was injured in a February 10th game and is projected to return in early March. “Taking a couple losses on that West coast trip, it’s tough; sitting in the back watching where you know you can help and want to be out there helping,” Olynyk said. “You have to do what you can to get back as quickly as possible.”
- The Celtics got another up-close look Saturday at Miami’s Justise Winslow, a player they coveted on draft night, Blakely writes in a separate story. Boston offered a package of picks to Charlotte for the ninth selection in the draft, but the Hornets opted to take Frank Kaminsky and Winslow fell to the Heat, who also reportedly turned down an offer from Boston, with the 10th pick. “It doesn’t mean anything until possibly being a free agent or anything,” Winslow said of the Celtics’ interest. “It’s just business, just like it is with the other 28 NBA teams.”
- Marcus Thornton, the 45th pick in last summer’s draft, is back from Australia and has joined the Celtics’ D-League affiliate, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Boston intended for Thornton to spend a season overseas, which led him to sign with the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League. “I think it was a good experience,” said his father, Wayne Thornton. “The team had some of their own issues, but overall it was a good experience for him.”
Eastern Notes: Sullinger, Thornton, Moore
Jared Sullinger is in line to become a restricted free agent this offseason provided the Celtics submit a qualifying offer worth $4,433,683, but the big man would prefer to remain in Boston for the long-term instead of heading elsewhere, Mike Petraglia of WEEI 93.7FM writes. “Most definitely. Most definitely. My oldest brother always told me that the worst thing to happen to me sometimes is change and that I don’t handle change well. I strongly disagree,” Sullinger said, responding to a question regarding his desire to remain in Boston. “Sometimes, you just don’t want to change the scenery. When you play for the greatest franchise in the NBA and you see all those banners and all the fans come at you, you don’t want to leave that place because you know it’s a special place in your heart. It’s the first team I played for in the NBA and hopefully it’ll be the last.”
The power forward has enjoyed flying under the radar this season thanks to the attention All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas has received, Petraglia adds. “It’s a lot of fun, it’s a lot of fun. Growing up, I wasn’t really a high-profile guy,” Sullinger relayed. “Going into middle school, especially entering high school, and I kind of came out of nowhere and came into my own. My main thing was just to win. When they see you win, they see all the big-time games. That’s what I was told, especially in the AAU. Playing in the AAU, the more you win, the more you play against high-profile that get to this level, and the more you get exposure. The more you win, it just takes care of itself. As long as you focus on winning, the outcome is always greater.”
Here’s the latest from the Eastern Conference:
- Despite Marcus Thornton being part of the nixed trade for Donatas Motiejunas, the Pistons likely won’t have any interest in signing him now that the Rockets have waived him, Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press notes (on Twitter). According to Ellis, Thornton was just “trade filler” and Detroit had no plans to use him in the rotation.
- The Hawks were extremely interested in signing center Anderson Varejao after the Blazers waived him, but the veteran chose to head west and join the Warriors instead, Vivlamore tweets.
- After languishing on Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg‘s bench early in the season, E’Twaun Moore has flourished since being moved into a starter’s role, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune writes. “I’ve always been confident,” Moore said. “I know I’m capable of playing well. It’s not really a surprise. And I don’t think it’s a surprise to my teammates either. They see how hard I work and they’ve got faith in me. It’s no big deal to me.“