Boston Celtics Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Atlantic Notes: Stoudemire, Jackson, Livingston

March 20th, 2014 at 9:35pm CST by Charlie Adams

The Knicks are riding the second-longest winning streak in the NBA at seven games, and the resurgence of Amar’e Stoudemire has been instrumental in their recent success. Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report sat down with Stoudemire and spoke about the big man’s tenure in New York. Stoudemire touches on why he was initially excited to play for the Knicks and reveals he’s interested in taking on a front office role for the team someday. Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

In a piece for Basketball Insiders, Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times runs down the 2014 cap situation for each team in the Atlantic Division. The Celtics, Knicks, and Nets are likely to remain over the cap this offseason, while the Raptors and Sixers will probably have the chance to slip underneath.
New Knicks president Phil Jackson is likely to be a big draw for free agents, but Jeanie Buss doesn’t think he’ll be able to match the allure that the Lakers franchise has, write Pincus and fellow LA Times scribe Mike Bresnahan. “I think the Lakers are a legacy franchise,” Buss told ESPN 710. “Players know when they come here this is the ultimate platform… I’m not worried about that in any way, shape or form.”
Five analysts discuss Jackson’s hiring in a USA Today piece. Most of them don’t think bringing in Jackson will win the Knicks a championship, but the consensus is that it ultimately won’t harm the Zen Master’s legacy.
Shaun Livingston was able to recover from a gruesome injury and become a key piece in the Nets’ rotation this season. Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today elaborates on the point guard’s career.

Eastern Rumors: ‘Melo, Billups, Allen, Heat

March 20th, 2014 at 3:34pm CST by Chuck Myron

Carmelo Anthony is full of optimism about what Phil Jackson can do for the Knicks, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com observes. ‘Melo is similarly enthusiastic about what he can learn from Jackson and is glad that the Zen Master wants him to stick around beyond this season.

“I was hoping that I would be part of the future plans,” Anthony said. “I never once said that I wanted to leave New York or anything like that. The only thing I said was I’m going to dabble and try the free agency out, that I was going to opt out and become a free agent. … I’m excited about the opportunity to hopefully work with Phil.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Chauncey Billups says he won’t necessarily retire at the end of the season, but teams have already gauged his interest in joining their front offices, Billups told reporters, including Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News. It’s unclear if the Pistons are one of those clubs, but Billups said he’d consider them if they offered a position. The 37-year-old would like to become a basketball executive at some point, adds Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post, who notes that Billups and Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars are close.
Ray Allen, a free agent at season’s end, still has affection for Boston, and he’d like to see the Celtics retire his number, writes Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.
The Heat have assigned Justin Hamilton to the D-League, the team announced. The center will play in two games for the Sioux Falls Skyforce and return to the Heat after Saturday’s contest, according to Miami’s release.

Avery Bradley, Celtics Maintain Mutual Interest

March 20th, 2014 at 12:10pm CST by Chuck Myron

Avery Bradley reportedly turned down a four-year, $24MM extension offer from the Celtics this past summer, but shortly thereafter, he and Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge made it clear that they want to continue their partnership. Bradley hasn’t altered his position as his restricted free agency draws near, observes Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com, and neither has Ainge, as Rohrbach notes via Twitter. Bradley says he relishes the opportunity to play alongside Rajon Rondo and wants to keep doing so.

“I would love it,” Bradley said. “I would love to play for Boston, and I would love to play with Rondo, so I wouldn’t mind it at all. I’m pretty sure any guard in the NBA would love to play with Rondo.”

Rondo was something of a trade candidate before the deadline this season, though Ainge made it clear that it would take a monumental offer to pry the point guard from Boston. There’s been plenty of speculation that the Celtics could be more inclined to trade Rondo as time goes by, since he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2015. Rondo has nonetheless said he wouldn’t mind spending the next decade in Boston, so he certainly doesn’t appear anxious to leave.

A report before the deadline pegged Bradley as a trade candidate, too, suggesting that the Celtics would send him out if they could only find a taker for him. There was little other chatter indicating the C’s would do so, and the 23-year-old defensive stalwart remains in Boston.

Ainge says now that he has “every intention” of having Bradley with the team in the future. Bradley was apparently seeking $8MM a year when he turned down the extension offer, and Rohrbach believes the $2MM gap in annual salaries shouldn’t be difficult to bridge this summer.

Ainge and company reportedly eyed Iman Shumpert last summer, but they lost interest in him as Bradley continued to develop this season. Several NBA executives believed in December that Bradley would wind up with a four-year deal in the neighborhood of $30MM, which suggests that the Celtics might be the ones who’ll have to budge the most when they resume negotiations with Mitchell Butler, Bradley’s agent. Bradley has continued to help his case since then, having put up a career-high 14.3 points per contest this season as he’s become a significant part of Boston’s offense. The former Texas Longhorn has also pushed his rebounds per game to a new high of 3.8, which isn’t shabby, considering he’s only 6’2″.

And-Ones: Jeanie, Celtics, LeBron

March 18th, 2014 at 10:16pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Lakers president Jeanie Buss appeared on TWC Sports Net in Los Angeles tonight, addressing today’s most popular topic: “it was clear that (Phil Jackson) wanted to go back to work, but there was no role for him with the Lakers…He was not offered an official position… There (was) no role in the front office for him.”

As Jackson’s fiancee, Buss said that she recently met with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to discuss a potential conflict of interest now that Phil is running the front office in New York. With regard to the Buss family’s ownership of the Lakers, Jeanie asserted that they aren’t going anywhere soon: “This is the family business and the family is going to own the team for as long as the family is together” (All Twitter links via ESPN LA’s Ramona Shelburne).

Here are more of tonight’s miscellaneous news and notes:

Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck recently hinted at major roster changes this summer, telling Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe that there could be “fireworks” this June, as Holmes notes within a story on the challenges of playing for a team with so much uncertainty,
LeBron James sidestepped a question about a potential return to the Cavaliers earlier tonight: “For me to take my mind somewhere else when I know what’s on its way [postseason] is almost impossible” (Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel via Twitter). Tonight marked LeBron’s final appearance in Cleveland before he can opt out this summer, and the Heat superstar didn’t count anything out: “Only time will tell” (Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio relayed on Twitter).
Though Mark Jackson has been a target for ridicule in Golden State, the missteps of Warriors owner Joe Lacob and GM Bob Myers can’t be ignored either, writes Ric Bucher of the Bleacher Report.
Bucher adds that it was Lacob who made the call to amnesty Charlie Bell‘s $4MM contract so the team could pursue then-free agent Tyson Chandler, who never planned on playing for the Warriors. Additionally, top management – whether intentional or not – provided the grist which brought forth questions about Jackson’s job security this year, specifically when Lacob expressed disappointment about certain losses and Myers suggested that Jackson has been given all he needs to succeed. The team is currently sixth in the Western Conference and holds just a three-and-a-half-game lead over the ninth-seeded Suns.

Lowe’s Latest: Draft Lottery, Wheel, Cuban

March 18th, 2014 at 9:17am CST by Chuck Myron

The current draft lottery system probably won’t last much longer, writes Grantland’s Zach Lowe, who examines a variety of proposals for changing the system. Perhaps at the root of much of the desire for change is what Lowe identifies as a growing contingent of owners and GMs whose only goal is to win titles, rather than maintaining competitive teams. Lowe goes over several ideas for changing the lottery, and we’ll highlight the ones that appear to be the subject of serious discussion around the league:

Celtics assistant GM Mike Zarren has come up with a new version of his wheel proposal, Lowe reveals. Zarren suggests that randomly selected teams go into “buckets” with picks grouped one through six, 25 through 30, and so forth, with a mini-lottery within each bucket to determine the precise pick that each team ends up with.
There is serious concern around the league that the wheel will make it difficult for moribund teams to improve. Lowe doesn’t specify which version of the wheel he’s referring to, but I assume the worry is over the original wheel proposal.
People around the league like the idea of an unweighted lottery system in which each non-playoff team has an equal shot at the No. 1 pick.
There’s also discussion about the idea of expanding the lottery to include the bottom 22 teams, and guaranteeing high picks to some of the bottom four playoff teams in each conference.
Many executives like the idea of factoring a team’s record over the last three seasons into the lottery. Mavs owner Mark Cuban is a proponent of giving the lottery team with the best record the greatest chance of winning the top pick, though he thinks it should be less than the 25% chance that the team with the worst record has of winning the lottery under the current system.
Cuban and others are also high on the idea of having a random draw determine every lottery pick, rather than just the top three picks, as is the case now.

Draft Rumors: Gordon, Parker, Wiggins

March 17th, 2014 at 1:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

Chad Ford of ESPN.com has used his insider-only “Tank Rank” column to pass along rumors connected the plans that teams have for this season, but this week’s edition is all about how clubs view the top prospects for the draft. We’ll pass along the highlights from Ford here:

The Celtics and Jazz are high on Arizona power forward Aaron Gordon, according to Ford.
Ford consistently hears that the Pistons would draft Jabari Parker No. 1 overall if they scored the No. 1 overall pick. That seems to assume that Joe Dumars would still be in charge of the team’s basketball operations, which isn’t a given.
The Pelicans believe Parker would be the “perfect fit” for them, Ford writes.
The Cavs envision using Andrew Wiggins, a small forward, as a shooting guard next to Kyrie Irving if they’re able to land the Kansas star, Ford suggests.
If the Magic wind up with the No. 1 overall pick, they’d probably use it on Wiggins, Ford writes, identifying Dante Exum and Marcus Smart as others the team will likely target.
The Lakers appear to have Joel Embiid, Wiggins, and Exum as their top three prospects, according to Ford, who pegs Parker fourth and Julius Randle fifth on L.A.’s board.

Atlantic Notes: Jackson, Brown, Green

March 16th, 2014 at 7:08pm CST by Zachary Links

Earlier today, the Sixers dropped guard Eric Maynor in order to sign forward James Nunnally to a 10-day deal. More from the Atlantic..

Phil Jackson knows what it takes to win, but Keith Schlosser of Knicks Journal wonders if he should be credited with building the teams that he has previously coached. Carmelo Anthony recently praised the Hall Of Famer as rumors swirled that he was Knicks-bound, but Schlosser wonders if he can do enough to live up to those expectations.
Sixers coach Brett Brown told reporters, including Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com, that a true rebuild takes time. “That is the en vogue angle,” Brown said. “I think if you ask Kevin Durant about the 20-win season he had, he seems to be doing just fine. I think when you look at those teams that have had a chance to rebuild, losing is a long-gone memory. To truly rebuild and grow something is going to take three to five years. That is just the way it goes. It is too talented a league and too well-coached. The experiences we are going through now will be distant memories when these guys start getting older. They will find positives in this season and Michael Carter-Williams will be better for it.”
In today’s column, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe catches up with Gerald Green, who seems to have found a home with the Suns. “When you go places in life that you think you’ll never go, you change a little bit,” the former Celtics draft pick said. “You mature a lot faster. I knew something had to change. It either was going to be me or I wasn’t going to be back in the league. That made it an easy decision for me to change. Two years ago, I was nowhere to be found. Now I’m older, more mature, understand that this is not a hobby, this is a job.”

Eastern Rumors: Cavs, Jackson, Brown, Rondo

March 15th, 2014 at 5:07pm CST by Charlie Adams

Here’s the latest slate of rumors out of the NBA’s Eastern Conference..

The Cavaliers were interested in hiring Phil Jackson in some capacity, writes Bob Finnan of the Morning Journal. However, the Knicks moved in quickly and signed him before they could act.
In the same piece, Finnan notes that Mike Brown has had to alter his coaching style to accommodate to a young and inexperienced Cavaliers team this season. Still, Brown is on the hot seat and might find himself out of the job in Cleveland, Finnan suggests.
Charley Rosen of HoopsHype runs down the Knicks‘ roster and explores the likelihood that each player has of being retained by Jackson. Rosen notes many of the players on the team don’t appear to be fits for Jackson’s system.
Rajon Rondo has consistently been the topic of trade rumors, but Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck recently spoke out and said that Rondo will continue to be the leader of the franchise going forward. Grousbeck’s words mean a lot to Rondo, reports Mike Petraglia of WEEI. “It means a lot, especially coming from the head guy,” Rondo said. “With all the rumors swirling, the criticism that I was having throughout the past couple weeks, he stuck his neck out. He didn’t have to say anything, but he did.”

Atlantic Notes: Moultrie, Sixers, Rondo

March 14th, 2014 at 10:23pm CST by Cray Allred

Here’s the latest from Atlantic Division that doesn’t involve Phil Jackson and the Knicks:

Evan Turner told reporters. including Michael Kaskey-Blomain of Philly.com, that he has no animosity toward the Sixers, who traded him away to the Pacers at the trade deadline.
Turner was surprised that the Sixers traded him and Lavoy Allen for just a second-round draft pick and the now-bought out contract of Danny Granger but said he’s confident Sixers GM Sam Hinkie has something “up his sleeve.” Turner said it takes guts to commit to rebuild in a city like Philadelphia, per Tom Moore of Calkins Media (Twitter links).
The Sixers are sending Arnett Moultrie to the D-League, a league source tells Moore (Twitter link).
Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck tells Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe he wants Rajon Rondo to stay with Boston beyond his current contract. “I love the guy. I love his championship ring when he was the young kid. I love his growth.” said Grousbeck. “It reminds me of Paul Pierce. Growing from the moments in his younger days and making progress toward being an all-time Celtic and a leader. I am always hopeful that a guy like that is going to stay around.”
Rondo appreciated Grousbeck’s comments, he tells Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe (All Twitter links). “It means a lot, especially coming from the head guy,” said Rondo. “With all the rumors swirling, the criticism that I was having throughout the past couple weeks, he stuck his neck out. (Wyc) didn’t have to say anything, but he did. I’ve talked to Wyc since then. Everything is what it’s supposed to be.”
Jerryd Bayless echoes Grousbeck’s appreciation of Rondo, and writes on his personal blog that he hopes to play with him as Celtics teammates beyond this season (H/T Alex Kennedy). “It seems like transitioning to being the team leader has come pretty naturally for Rondo,” Bayless writes. “I think he has been preparing for it for a long time, and it shows. He’s a great leader, I’ve had a great time being able to get to know him in the last couple months, and hopefully, we can grow as teammates for a long time.” Bayless will be a free agent after this season.
Recent Suns acquisition Shavlik Randolph told Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com that he was shocked and disappointed when the Celtics released him last summer, but he understands Boston’s decision (Twitter links).

Atlantic Notes: Jackson, Varnado, Ainge

March 13th, 2014 at 12:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

Early-season fear that the Atlantic Division champion wouldn’t deserve its automatic high seeding in the playoffs has subsided, with the Raptors holding the third-best record in the Eastern Conference. The fast-charging Nets are three games back, but the most compelling stories out of the Atlantic seem to come from the teams that are below .500. Here’s news on the Knicks, Sixers and Celtics:

A source tells Frank Isola of the New York Daily News that Phil Jackson plans to live “in New York 35% of the time and make it look like 50%” (Twitter link). In contrast, Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck hears from Jackson confidants who say he wouldn’t be taking the Knicks job if he didn’t intend to move to the Big Apple.
Analytics fascinate Jackson, who’ll probably further the use of advanced metrics in a Knicks front office that’s been slow to adopt them, Beck writes in the same piece.
Sixers coach Brett Brown is enamored with Jarvis Varnado, and it’s because of his defense, observes Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News. The Sixers, who signed Varnado on Wednesday to a multiyear contract, give up the third most points per possession in the league, according to NBA.com.
Pacers coach Frank Vogel believes the Celtics provide the right environment for friend Brad Stevens. Vogel is particularly high on president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, saying he’s “at the top of that list” of executives a coach would want to work for. Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald has the details.