Atlantic Notes: Stevens, Brown, Smith, Fredette
The Celtics haven’t had any discussions about filling their open roster spot, coach Brad Stevens said Monday night, according to MassLive’s Jay King. Boston is in no rush to sign anyone to fill the vacancy created when team worked a buyout with David Lee, the coach added, but Stevens nonetheless has an idea of what he’d want in a 15th man.
“I think that we’ll continue to look for versatility,” Stevens said. “And we’ll continue to look for shooting if the right people become available, if we feel like it’s a great fit for our team or if we need them based on injuries or whatever the case may be.”
Boston is reportedly eyeing Reggie Evans, though that appears to be a long shot, at best, and he wouldn’t fit the criteria Stevens laid out, as King notes. See more from the Atlantic Division:
- Tony Brown knows he’s not going to win much as Nets interim coach, but he thinks that if he can make strides in developing the team’s young players, an effort he believes he can achieve in part through a faster tempo, it’ll help his case for his next job, as Brian Lewis of the New York Post relays. It’s unclear whether Brown has a legitimate chance at staying in the Nets head coaching gig beyond this season. “This is not just an audition for [new Nets GM] Sean [Marks]. A lot of teams are looking to see how I’m doing in this position. It’s a résumé-type deal here,” Brown said.
- Evaluating whether soon-to-be free agent Ish Smith is worth keeping as the starting point guard is one of the key tasks the Sixers face down the stretch of the season, argues Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News, who heard from one rival executive who doubts Smith is any sort of game-changing force.
- Knicks interim coach Kurt Rambis doesn’t seem enthusiastic about the team’s addition of Jimmer Fredette on a 10-day contract, observes Marc Berman of the New York Post.
Eastern Rumors: Frye, Evans, Fredette
Channing Frye realizes he may not get much playing time with the Cavaliers, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer reports. The power forward was acquired in a deadline deal and made his Cleveland debut Monday night, playing nine minutes. “I don’t think they need anything,” Frye told reporters prior to the game. “I think I’m just another option. I like to space the floor and I think I can give guys an opportunity not to get double-teamed. … I know there are All-Stars playing ahead of me so I’m going to have to earn my minutes whenever possible and just be ready.”
In other news around the Eastern Conference:
- Veteran power forward Reggie Evans will not be joining the Celtics, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com opines (Video link here). The Celtics were reportedly one of the teams interested in signing Evans, who has not played in the league this season. Blakely said that Celtics won’t be filling their open roster spot, created by the release of power forward David Lee, with the 35-year-old Evans. “If you’re thinking you’re going to get that guy, not going to happen,” Blakely said during the team’s pregame broadcast on Monday.
- Point guard Brandon Jennings admits he’s still not all the way back from the Achilles tendon tear that he suffered last January, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. Jennings, who will be an unrestricted free agent after this season, was traded to the Magic last week along with power forward Ersan Ilyasova while forward Tobias Harris was shipped to the Pistons. “My goal was to get back to that level again — and it still is,” Jennings told Robbins. “So, it’s been a challenging year. Coming off the bench, of course, has been challenging for me. It’s the first time I’ve done it in my career. But I took on the challenge. I’ve accepted it.” The Magic brought in the duo to provide some veteran help to a young nucleus as part of a playoff push, Robbins adds.
- Interim Knicks coach Kurt Rambis said shooting guard Jimmer Fredette will have to outplay someone over the next 10 days to stay on the roster, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN New York tweets. Fredette signed a 10-day contract on Monday and played two minutes in the Knicks’ loss to the Raptors on Monday night.
Pacific Notes: Green, Varejao, Dawson
Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers reportedly plans to try to re-sign Jeff Green this summer, and he’s glad to be reunited with his former Celtics player for several reasons. Rivers was effusive in his praise of Green to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com, calling him one of the best NBA people ever (Twitter link), and he’s also a fan of what the combo forward can do on the court, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee details.
“I really wanted more length,” Rivers said of his goals going into the trade deadline, according to Jones. “When you look at the teams we have to beat, we need to get longer, more athletic, and we need to increase our shooting. And I think with Jeff we did all three of those things. … I thought of all the things that were offered, he was the best available for us.”
- The Hawks were among a group of interested teams otherwise composed of the Spurs, Thunder and Mavericks that fell short to the Warriors in the competition for Anderson Varejao, his agency says, according to Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group (on Twitter). The Relativity Sports client is reportedly poised to sign with Golden State, which already released Jason Thompson to clear a roster spot.
- The Clippers decided to sign power forward Alex Stepheson to a 10-day contract when the market didn’t bear a defensive guard, Rivers said, according to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times.
- Branden Dawson, last year’s 56th overall pick, is headed to the D-League affiliate of the Magic on assignment from the Clippers, as the Clippers announced via press release. It’s the fourth time Dawson has gone to the D-League, and the Grand Rapids Drive are the third D-League team to have taken him in. The Clips are without their own affiliate.
- Kings affiliate player Vince Hunter left Sacramento’s D-League team to sign with Panathinaikos of Greece, the European club announced (Twitter link; translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The Kings affiliate received a $45K buyout as part of the move, according to international journalist David Pick (on Twitter).
Heat, Rockets, Celtics Eye Reggie Evans
The Heat, Rockets and Celtics have expressed interest in free agent rebounding specialist Reggie Evans, reports Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). Evans, 35, has been out of the NBA since his contract with the Kings expired this past summer.
Miami has two open roster spot but is at a disadvantage, since it can’t sign a player before March 6th without creeping back above the luxury tax line. Houston is also poised to open two roster spots, but the Rockets are in limbo as they await more medical exams from the Pistons on Donatas Motiejunas, and the possibility exists that Detroit will void its trade with Houston. The Celtics have only one open roster spot but no mitigating concerns of the sort the Heat and Rockets are dealing with.
Evans, a 13-year veteran, averaged 3.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in 16.3 minutes across 47 appearances last season. That translates to 14.1 rebounds per 36 minutes, a rate even better than his career 13.3 per-minute mark in that category. He would seemingly be of greatest benefit to the Rockets among the trio of teams Hamilton invokes, since Houston is 24th in rebounding rate, according to NBA.com. The Celtics are 20th while the Heat are ninth, though the uncertain health of Chris Bosh clouds their interior rotation.
Atlantic Notes: Okafor, Knicks, Nets
- Nets interim coach Tony Brown believes the decision to part ways with Andrea Bargnani in what is believed to be a buyout deal was best for both parties, Brian Lewis of the New York Post tweets.
- The Knicks, who did not improve their point guard situation before Thursday’s deadline, hope rookie Jerian Grant, who has been inconsistent, can improve his play, Al Iannazzone of Newsday writes. Grant is averaging 4.7 points and 2.4 assists per game.
- With Kelly Olynyk dealing with a right shoulder injury and David Lee gone, there is a decent chance Celtics rookie Jordan Mickey will receive some playing time sooner rather than later, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com details. Mickey has spent the majority of this season in the D-League.
- The vibe around the Nets is a lot more positive recently after Brooklyn hired Sean Marks as its new GM and moved into a new training facility, Lewis writes. “Definitely. It’s almost like it’s a new situation,” Joe Johnson said. “We have this great practice facility. We’ve got everything pretty much at our disposal. Guys come back with a great attitude since the break. You just want to try to finish strong and try to develop some type of chemistry with players that we have here. Just keep improving as a team, individually and see what happens.’’ Marks will spend the second half of the season evaluating the entire organization, per Lewis, and it will be interesting to see what becomes of Brown if Brooklyn continues its positive trend.
Celtics Waive David Lee, Mavs Poised To Sign
SATURDAY, 10:17am: The Mavs are expected to sign Lee via the room exception once he clears waivers, Charania tweets.
4:20pm: The two sides agreed to a buyout and Lee is expected to sign with a new team once he clears waivers, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe tweets.
FRIDAY, 4:18pm: The Celtics have officially waived power forward David Lee, the team announced. The veteran was reportedly set to work out a buyout arrangement with the team, which is presumably the case, though no mention of an agreement was made, nor how much salary Lee gave up to facilitate his release. The Mavericks are the frontrunners to sign Lee once he clears waivers, Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports tweets. Lee clearing waivers is a virtual certainty since no team currently has the free cap space to absorb his $15.5MM salary. Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com reported buyout talks between the two parties.
Boston attempted to find a taker for Lee prior to Thursday’s trade deadline, but the power forward reportedly had “no value” around the league, even though his expiring deal presented an opportunity for cap relief this summer to any team acquiring him. “Everything doesn’t always work out the way you want it to,” Lee said. “I’m just disappointed from the fact that I wanted to come here and make a major impact. And that didn’t happen for one reason or another. The last two places I had been before I may have been able to make that impact. It is what it is.”
Lee had also relayed that he had no animosity toward the Celtics over his lack of playing time. “I’ve kind of seen the writing on the wall with what’s going on the last month,” Lee continued. “But once again, this is a business. We all know that. I want to be in a place where I’m successful and where I’m wanted. The Celtics are a great group of people here. I have absolutely zero negative things to say about my coaching staff and teammates, who, obviously as you know, I get along well with. So we’ll just see how things develop over the next 24 or 48 hours here, but it’s looking like something’s most likely going to happen [with the buyout].”
Lee, who has not played since January 10th, has appeared in 30 games for Boston this season and is averaging 7.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 15.7 minutes of action per contest.
Atlantic Notes: Okafor, Marks, Frazier
The Celtics came close to pulling off a significant trade involving the Nets‘ 2016 first round pick prior to Thursday’s trade deadline, but the other team pulled out at the last minute, team executive Danny Ainge relayed in a radio appearance on the “Toucher & Rich” show (h/t Dan Feldman of NBCSports.com). “We were very close,” Ainge said. “One story I can probably share with you is – I can’t tell you the team or the name – but it was very close. It was something we had been deliberating on for two days straight. The other team was doing that. And we were wrapping ourselves around a big package to do a deal. And at the very last minute, they just said they did not want to do it. They just backed out. So, it was a deal that was talked about, thought about. And that was probably the closest that we came. We were willing to do one deal, and it just didn’t happen. Both teams weren’t ready to go. And it was a really, tough close deal. And it was certainly not a no-brainer. There was risk on both sides’ part. But at the end of the day, both teams were not ready to do it.”
Though Ainge declined to name both the player and the team he was referring to in the radio spot, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald hears that the talks centered around Sixers rookie center Jahlil Okafor. While fans of both Boston and Philadelphia are left to ponder what might have been if that trade had been consummated, here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- New GM Sean Marks‘ contract with the Nets is a four-year deal that will pay him in excess of $9MM over that span, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).
- The Knicks considered signing point guard Tim Frazier, whom the Blazers waived Thursday, but New York instead decided on D-League shooting guard Jimmer Fredette, whom they plan to ink to a 10-day deal, Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal relays (via Twitter).
- The Sixers parted ways with JaKarr Sampson on Thursday, but the second-year player had all good things to say about his former team despite being waived, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes, having earlier reported that the Sixers want to re-sign him if he clears waivers. “I don’t have anything negative to say about Philly,” Sampson said. “I feel like a lot of people in my situation might have something negative to say about Philly, like a ‘why-me’ type of thing. But I don’t have anything negative to say about the organization. I love those guys. They showed me a lot of love since I’ve been there. The fan base and everything … are great people. Even though we were losing, they still showed us love because we played hard.”
And-Ones: Marks, Foye, Lee
Thunder GM Sam Presti referred to the trade with Denver that netted the team Randy Foye, as well as saved the team approximately $9.8MM in cap commitments, as “smart business,” Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman relays (Twitter link). “The roster spot clearly gives us some flexibility to survey other opportunities to improve,” Presti said. “Then financially, that obviously wasn’t the intent of the deal, but because of the presence of Dakari Johnson, Semaj Christon and Alex Abrines in the drafts that we’ve had previously, we feel pretty good about those guys. So the draft choices in this particular draft were more valuable to Denver. And the money that we were able to save, the way that we’ve operated here, that allows us to reinvest in the team and clearly our team is going to become more and more expensive.”
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Bucks didn’t make a deal prior to Thursday’s trade deadline and a big reason was that the team considers Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker to be virtually untouchable, Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel writes. One of the duo would likely have had to be included in any swap for a big-name player, which was a non-starter as far as the franchise was concerned, notes Gardner. “Those guys are vault guys,” coach Jason Kidd said. “They’re in the vault. You don’t start a conversation with Jabari or Giannis. There’s no conversation to be had, right. So word gets around that those guys are untradeable.“
- The Celtics came close to dealing David Lee, who was waived earlier today, and viewed his expiring contract as a means to work a swap for a marquee player at the trade deadline, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes. “We almost had trades a few times, or thought there was a possibility,” team executive Danny Ainge said. “His [Lee] contract was a good way for us to get into a lot of the conversations we had.“
- Dmitry Razumov, the chairman of the Nets‘ board of directors, indicated that new GM Sean Marks will guide the team’s search for a new head coach but team ownership will also have input in the process, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com relays (ESPN NOW link). The team is likely to strongly consider San Antonio assistant coach Ettore Messina for the vacant slot, Frank Isola of The New York Daily News opined when Marks’ hiring was first announced.
- The Blazers sent $75K to the Heat in exchange for point guard Brian Roberts, which is the minimum allowable amount per league rules, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
Atlantic Notes: Sampson, Embiid, Olynyk
Sixers coach Brett Brown would like for the team to re-sign JaKarr Sampson, whom Philadelphia waived Thursday to accommodate its three-way trade with the Pistons and Rockets, but the coach isn’t confident that Sampson will clear waivers, notes Jessica Camerato of CSN Philly (Twitter link). That jibes with a report from Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, who heard from a source that the Sixers want to re-sign the small forward. GM Sam Hinkie referred to a new deal with Sampson as a possibility but also acknowledged the chance that another team claims him, as Tom Moore of Calkins Media relays (on Twitter).
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- The Knicks failed to upgrade their roster at this year’s trade deadline and one major reason for the franchise standing pat was team president Phil Jackson‘s refusal to part with New York’s 2018 first round pick in order to facilitate a trade, Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News relays.
- The amount of time and resources that the Sixers have devoted to Joel Embiid‘s health and recovery demonstrate how important the young center is to the organization’s future plans, Brian Seltzer of NBA.com writes. “We’re obviously excited about him, and have always been excited about him, because he has rare gifts and he has a real chance to have a fantastic NBA career,” said Hinkie of Embiid. “He’s doing great on all of the things that matter for him, which is, how do you focus on every day to try and get better? We expect maybe in the last several weeks of the season, he might be more fully integrated into the team and traveling with the team and at all of our games and the like. Then, he’ll have a long summer in front of him where his rehab will continue. So far, so good. He’s done a great job. He’s been super professional.”
- The Raptors will keep an eye on the waiver wire for roster upgrades but the team isn’t expected to make a move, Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca relays (via Twitter). Toronto was reportedly looking to upgrade its power forward spot leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline.
- Celtics center Kelly Olynyk could be out of action for up to a month as he deals with an injured right shoulder, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com relays. “It’s a little bit of separation, maybe,” Olynyk said regarding his shoulder. “Rest, recovery, treatments … it should be all right.” The big man was originally projected to miss two weeks with the malady, Blakely notes.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Celtics, David Lee To Discuss Buyout
The Celtics and power forward David Lee will meet to discuss a potential buyout arrangement within the next two days, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com relays. Boston attempted to find a taker for Lee prior to today’s trade deadline, but Lee reportedly had “no value” around the league, even though his expiring deal worth $15.5MM presented an opportunity for cap relief this summer, as Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald noted.
Lee was quick to stress that he has no animosity toward the Celtics over his lack of playing time, Forsberg adds. “I’ve kind of seen the writing on the wall with what’s going on the last month,” said Lee. “But once again, this is a business. We all know that. I want to be in a place where I’m successful and where I’m wanted. The Celtics are a great group of people here. I have absolutely zero negative things to say about my coaching staff and teammates, who, obviously as you know, I get along well with. So we’ll just see how things develop over the next 24 or 48 hours here, but it’s looking like something’s most likely going to happen [with the buyout].”
“Everything doesn’t always work out the way you want it to,” Lee continued. “I’m just disappointed from the fact that I wanted to come here and make a major impact. And that didn’t happen for one reason or another. The last two places I had been before I may have been able to make that impact. It is what it is.” Lee, who has not played since January 10th, has appeared in 30 games for Boston this season and is averaging 7.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 15.7 minutes of action per contest.