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.
Eastern Notes: Marks, Johnson, Novak
New Nets GM Sean Marks reiterated the need for patience as he attempts to rebuild the franchise, noting the hasty approach is what led the team to its current state, NetsDaily relays. “It may be a little bit different from what we’ve done in the past here in Brooklyn,” Marks said in a video on the team’s website. “I have some empathy for the way they went about it in the past and said, look, ‘He’s committed to winning. He’s gone about it with a willingness to spend money and so forth.’ I’m not saying it’s the wrong way, but it didn’t work! So maybe this time, we’ll go about it in a little bit of a different way. We won’t skip any steps along the way.”
“Mr. [Mikhail] Prokhorov is committed to doing that and that’s what sold me in the interview. When he said, ‘Look, I want to win. I want to put this behind me. You make some of these decisions and you tell me what’s best.’ We talked about the process,” Marks continued. “We talked about this not being, look, in two weeks we’re not going to have a totally revamped organization. It’s going to take time. Its about bringing in the right people at the right time.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Joe Johnson is now a member of the Heat and back in the playoff hunt after signing with Miami, but despite the difficulties that the Nets endured the past few seasons, he still had good things to say about the organization as a whole, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com writes. “Obviously we had some ups and downs, but I think the good outweighed the bad for me,” Johnson said of his time with the Nets. “I think the changing of the GM and coach, it’s pretty tough but not really. I’ve been through quite a few coaches in my career in Brooklyn, so it was kind of second nature for me. But just losing, us playing hard and losing was probably the toughest part for me.”
- Steve Novak‘s deal with the Bucks is a minimum salary affair that runs just through the rest of the season, so Milwaukee retains a prorated portion of its room exception, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
- The Hawks have assigned Lamar Patterson to the NBA D-League, the team announced via press release. Patterson will report to the Canton Charge, the Cavs‘ affiliate, pursuant to the league’s flexible assignment rule.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Atlantic Notes: Thompson, Sixers, Prokhorov
The Sixers currently possess an open roster spot and a clear need for depth at the wing positions, but the team is no immediate rush to add a player unless he is the right fit, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes. “That’s been discussed for a while,” coach Brett Brown responded when asked when the team would add another player. “I think the thing that’s everybody’s aware of, especially now, is things will start to shake out a little bit more than right after the All-Star break.” The coach also noted that the front office planned to exercise patience when sifting through the ranks of available players, Pompey adds. “When somebody comes up that makes sense, we will do it,” Brown said. “We’re always looking. I think the thing that most stands out is we don’t feel like we have to bring in somebody just to bring in somebody. There has to be some level of cleansing as to why we’re doing it.”
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Jason Thompson said that he chose to sign with the Raptors over his other suitors because he felt a level of comfort with the organization and because he was familiar with a number of the players on the roster, Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca relays in a series of tweets. Coach Dwane Casey noted that Thompson isn’t expected to impact anyone’s minutes initially and referred to the veteran as an insurance policy, Lewenberg adds. Thompson is aware he may not see steady minutes in Toronto, something he appears fine with, telling Lewenberg, “I’m not trying to come in here and mess up a great thing. I just want to be apart of something and help, see how it goes.”
- Toronto cleared a roster spot for Thompson through the release of Anthony Bennett, a player who was in a difficult situation with little playing time available for him, as GM Masai Ujiri acknowledged and as Lewenberg tweets. The GM said Bennett’s playing time took a hit because the Raptors performed better than expected this season, starting power forward Luis Scola in particular, Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun relays (on Twitter).
- Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s personal net worth has taken a hit in recent years, going from an estimated $18 billion in 2011 down to $7.6 billion today, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com tweets. The reasons for Prokhorov’s dwindling finances include losses in the commodities market, Russian currency becoming devalued and U.S. restrictions on Russian-based businesses, NetsDaily notes (Twitter links).
Magic To Aggressively Target Chandler Parsons
The Magic loom as the most significant threat to the Mavericks to sign Chandler Parsons to a new contract this summer, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Parsons is a virtual lock to turn down his $16.023MM player option for next season with the salary cap moving sharply upward, and he’s expected to receive a maximum-salary contract, MacMahon writes. Sources who spoke with MacMahon anticipate an aggressive pursuit from Orlando and expect the Heat, Lakers, Nets, Knicks, Trail Blazers, Rockets and Nuggets to come after the 27-year-old, too. The Thunder, would also have interest if Kevin Durant bolts, MacMahon adds, pointing to the presence of Billy Donovan, Parsons’ college coach, in Oklahoma City.
The Mavs realize they’ll need to once more put on a recruiting effort for the versatile small forward they signed to a loaded offer sheet in 2014, but they nonetheless appear to be the favorites for him again this summer, according to MacMahon. That’s because of the loyalty he feels toward owner Mark Cuban and teammate Dirk Nowitzki, as well as the fondness Parsons has for Rick Carlisle, having advocated for the five-year extension the team gave the coach earlier this season, the ESPN scribe writes. The relationship between Parsons and Carlisle is nuanced, MacMahon explains, with Parsons wary of whether Carlisle fully trusts him on the court, but Carlisle this week referred to Parsons as “a franchise-caliber player in the making” in a message to MacMahon.
The Magic opened enough cap flexibility in trades last month to sign two players to max contracts this summer, with only about $36MM in guaranteed salary on next season’s books against a projected $90MM cap. Orlando and soon-to-be free agent Al Horford reportedly have mutual interest, and Horford went to the University of Florida, just as Parsons did.
Parsons is in his fifth season, so he’ll be eligible for the lowest of the three maximum salary tiers, likely with a starting salary approaching $21MM. The Mavs will have only his Early Bird rights this summer, though they’ll function essentially as full Bird rights would for Parsons because his projected max is within 175% of his nearly $15.362MM salary for this season. The only difference will be that the Mavs can only offer four years instead of the five that they could with full Bird rights. Dallas will still have the opportunity to give him 7.5% raises instead of the 4.5% that the Magic and others will be limited to. That would mean a difference of some $4MM over the life of a four-year deal. Still, Parsons will value comfort and on-court opportunity over money as he decides where to sign, sources familiar with his thinking tell MacMahon.
In any case, the Mavericks appear committed to doing what they can to keep Parsons. Cuban indicated as much about a month ago to MacMahon, referring to Parsons and Wesley Matthews as a “crushing tandem on the wing.”
Nets Sign Sean Kilpatrick To 10-Day Pact
SUNDAY, 1:54pm: The Nets have officially signed Kilpatrick to a 10-day contract, the team announced via press release.
FRIDAY, 3:36pm: The Nets are expected to sign former Timberwolves and Nuggets shooting guard Sean Kilpatrick, reports Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (Twitter link). Brooklyn opened two roster spots in buyout deals with Joe Johnson and Andrea Bargnani this week, so the team doesn’t need to make a corresponding move. It’s unclear whether the signing would be a 10-day arrangement or cover the rest of the season.
The 26-year-old Kilpatrick has been putting up impressive numbers for the D-League affiliate of the Sixers this year. He’s averaging 26.4 points in 38.4 minutes per game with 42.6% 3-point shooting in 28 appearances.
Kilpatrick has seen extremely limited action in the NBA thus far in his career, having made a total of 12 appearances over parts of two seasons. His NBA numbers are 4.1 points, 1.0 rebounds and 0.6 assists to accompany a slash line of .366/.267/.917.
Heat Sign Joe Johnson
5:55pm: The move is official, the team announced.
5:32pm: Joe Johnson, who reached a buyout agreement with the Nets on Thursday, will sign with Miami, tweets Heat managing general partner Micky Arison. Johnson cleared waivers this afternoon, and Arison’s tweet indicates that he will be available for Sunday night’s game with the Knicks.
On Friday, the Heat emerged as the favorite to sign Johnson after initial speculation that he might go to Cleveland. Miami has two open roster spots, so no move would be necessary to add Johnson. However, the signing will push the Heat back over the luxury tax line. Miami dipped below the line with moves at the trade deadline, but left itself unable to sign any player at any salary before March 6th without crossing the line again. The Heat will pay repeat-offender tax penalties of at least $2.50 for every dollar they’re over the tax line on the final day of the regular season.
Johnson averaged 11.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 57 games with Brooklyn this season. The Heat will be his fifth franchise in a 15-year NBA career.
The move has the enthusiastic support of veteran guard Dwyane Wade, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “To put somebody on the floor that can shoot the ball, can score in different areas of the floor and make plays, just adds to what we’re trying to do,” Wade said. “Joe is a friend of mine. I tried to do my best to paint the picture that this is a good place to be, and the decision from there is his. Make sure he sees my name in his in-box a lot. He made the decision what’s best for them… Open arms in Miami for him.”
Heat Rumors: Stokes, Johnson, Whiteside
Jarnell Stokes, who was traded from Miami to New Orleans at the deadline and then waived by the Pelicans, has rejoined the Heat’s D-League affiliate, tweets Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor. Despite the trade, Sioux Falls retained the rights to Stokes under a D-League provision because he appeared in more than 10 games for the Skyforce this season. (Twitter link). The 6’9″ center/power forward has played five games for Miami, scoring 7 points in 14 minutes. Stokes is not eligible to rejoin the Heat this season, notes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel, as traded players cannot go back to the team that dealt them away.
There’s more news out of Miami:
- Tyler Johnson, who hasn’t played since undergoing surgery on his left shoulder February 3rd, hopes to be back on the court by the end of the season, Winderman writes in the same story. The Heat haven’t set a timetable for the backup guard’s return, which was initially estimated at three months. However, Johnson is encouraged by how much he has recovered so far. “I feel like I’m progressing really well,” Johnson said. “I’m going to shoot to get back. Even if it was possible, it would probably be in April.”
- Former Net Joe Johnson, who is rumored to be signing with Miami this weekend, is the best talent available in this year’s buyout market, according to Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. Johnson, who was waived by Brooklyn on Thursday after agreeing to a buyout, has been a durable player who was the focus of the offense with both the Nets and Hawks, Bontemps writes.
- One way for free-agent-to-be Hassan Whiteside to increase his value is to improve his free-throw shooting, and Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post suggests he is doing that. The 7’0″ center recently changed his approach at the line and is hitting 67.9 percent over his last six games. He averages 53 percent for his career and 56.4 percent for the season. “You know that feeling when you get under the covers in the bed and you snuggle up? You know that comfortable feeling?” Whiteside said in explaining his improved performance. “I feel that. I feel comfortable.”
Atlantic Notes: Rambis, Stevens, Prokhorov
Knicks interim coach Kurt Rambis referred to his team as immature and has changed his squad’s practice routine to include more team-oriented activities to help improve cohesiveness, Frank Isola of The New York Daily News writes. “Even though we got some older veteran ballplayers on our team, this is a relatively new team,” Rambis said. “I use the word immature but I don’t mean not having the maturity as individuals but just the growth process and how long these guys have been together and know how to work off of each other and help each other. They are not connected that way yet. You don’t get enough of it just by playing games. We got to be out there on the court so that they can actually work on timing and talk about timing and ‘Hey this is what I was thinking, what were you thinking on that play?’ so they get better communication, so they have an understanding out there.”
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- While the Knicks may not have as much talent as the teams they are chasing in the standings, Rambis believes improved team chemistry can help bridge some of that gap, Isola adds in the same piece. “They got to think like winners and believe like they are winners,” Rambis said. “I agree with you. We have talented guys on this ball club, but talent is not enough. This talent has got to play together. When this talent is combined with the unity that you have to have out there on the court, then we will be fine. When we are doing it right, we are playing really well. But we can’t just sustain or maintain it.”
- One of the Celtics‘ strongest franchise assets is coach Brad Stevens, who has quickly developed into one of the league’s best coaches, Ben Dowsett of Basketball Insiders notes. “I think that’s all overblown with me,” Stevens said of his growing reputation as a high-IQ leader. “I don’t think I have anything to do with that. I think we’ve got really good players that are really smart players. They [were] high-IQ players long before they got here. You look for high-IQ players, and savvy players, period. Because it’s a long year, you see a lot of situations – you have to change on the fly, you have to tweak on a dime.”
- New Nets GM Sean Marks said team owner Mikhail Prokhorov understands the rebuilding process won’t be a quick fix and the Russian billionaire will exercise more patience going forward, NetsDaily relays. “I think he understands now that there’s not a quick fix all the time,” Marks told Evan Roberts of WFAN. “And there’s processes you have to go through and when you skip steps, you potentially wind up paying a lot of money, and it doesn’t work out all the time.”
Heat Favorites For Joe Johnson, Cavs Long Shots
1:40pm: The Heat expect they’ll sign Johnson this weekend, sources tell Zach Lowe of ESPN.com (Twitter link). He clears waivers Saturday. So, it appears Miami is poised to cross back into tax territory.
1:25pm: Miami is “far and away the most likely” destination for Johnson, but he’s yet to make up his mind, a league source said to Zagoria (Twitter link).
12:02pm: The Cavaliers have become long shots for Johnson, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt hears (Twitter link).
FRIDAY, 11:56am: Miami has pulled into the lead for Johnson, reports Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link), as the longtime starter believes he’d see a more significant role with the Heat than with others, ESPN’s Chris Broussard says (Twitter link). Heat president Pat Riley expressed at least some level of openness Thursday to re-entering tax territory, though he spoke specifically about the team’s lack of point guards.
THURSDAY, 4:20pm: The Cavaliers are confident that they’re the favorites to land Joe Johnson now that he’s worked a buyout with the Nets, but the Hawks, in whom Johnson also reportedly holds interest, plan a concerted effort to lure him back to Atlanta, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (All Twitter links). The Heat are also among the teams he’s strongly considering, with the Celtics and Thunder close behind the trio of Cleveland, Atlanta and Miami, sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). Johnson appears likely to wait a couple of days before making a decision, Stein adds. He’ll be on waivers until Saturday at 4:00pm Central time, at which point he’ll most assuredly become a free agent, since no team has the cap room or an exception large enough to claim his salary of almost $24.895MM. Johnson will give back approximately $3MM of that figure as part of the buyout deal once he clears waivers, Nets GM Sean Marks said today in an appearance on The Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York radio, notes Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link).
Johnson was reportedly planning to sign with the Cavs, but the Hawks have a financial edge, since Atlanta can offer a prorated portion of the room exception now worth about $2MM. Cleveland is limited to the prorated minimum salary, which would give Johnson approximately $400K. The cost of signing Johnson would nonetheless be greater to the Cavs than it would be to the Hawks because of Cleveland’s position as a luxury tax team. The 15th-year veteran would represent an investment of between $1.2MM and $1.3MM in combined salary and taxes for the Cavs.
Miami is in a tough position, since the Heat would slip over the tax line if they signed Johnson to any more than the minimum salary at any time before March 6th. The Heat would pay repeat-offender tax penalties of at least $2.50 for every dollar they’re over the tax line on the final day of the regular season. The Celtics, Rockets, Thunder and Raptors are all among those pursuing Johnson, according to Stein, and the Thunder have the most to give Johnson with about $2.4MM remaining on their prorated taxpayer’s mid-level exception.
The Nets clearly aren’t in the picture for Johnson at this point, but he wouldn’t dismiss the idea of re-signing with them in the summer, as he said before the buyout, and Marks didn’t rule out the possibility as he spoke on the radio today, Mazzeo tweets. “You never know what’s going to happen,” Marks said. Still, Johnson has also said he places a premium on winning, a remark that’s an auspicious sign for the Cavs in their competition with the Hawks and Heat and casts doubt on the idea of a summer reunion with Brooklyn.
Eastern Notes: Stevens, Anthony, Splitter
Celtics coach Brad Stevens declined to comment about whether the team had any interest in pursuing Joe Johnson, who was waived by the Nets earlier today as part of a buyout arrangement, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com notes (ESPN Now link). The coach did specify what type of player Boston would be looking for to fill its open roster spot, saying, “I think versatility is huge. Certainly shooting’s a big deal. All those things come into play. Obviously, with Kelly [Olynyk] out, interior help is something that you’d have to consider, but hopefully he’s not out too long and I think the versatility stands out more than anything else.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis doesn’t want to lose Carmelo Anthony as a teammate and looks at the veteran scorer as a role model, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv relays. Several teams apparently think that if the Knicks don’t make significant progress in their rebuilding project by mid-July, Anthony would be willing to approve a trade. “Oh well, obviously I wouldn’t want to lose him,” Porzingis said regarding ‘Melo. “He is who he is on our team. He’s special and we need him to do big things in the future, especially for me. I love playing alongside him so that would obviously not be something that I want.“
- Hawks center Tiago Splitter underwent successful surgery today to repair damage to his right hip, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution relays. Splitter will miss the remainder of the season as a result of the injury and subsequent surgery.
- Bucks big man Greg Monroe has been coming off the bench lately for the team, which isn’t necessarily what he had in mind when he inked a maximum salary deal with the team this past summer, Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times writes. When asked if he regretted signing with Milwaukee, Monroe said, “It’s not something they had planned when I was coming here. So, no, I can’t answer that question because it wasn’t something that was planned all along.’’ The big man also admitted that he heard the trade chatter involving him but wasn’t fazed, Woelfel adds. “I didn’t get bothered by it. I’ve been in the league awhile; I’ve been in free agency and reports came out then and I know they were totally false. And these situations are basically the same, so I was sure it was all speculation.’’
- The Celtics have assigned swingman James Young to the Maine Red Claws, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Young’s eighth jaunt of the season to Maine.