Atlantic Notes: Garnett, Lopez, ‘Melo, Sampson
The Raptors have a whopping 14-game lead in the Atlantic Division, leaving the intrigue for the bottom of the division. The Knicks and Sixers are tied for last place in the division and, as our Reverse Standings show, for the second spot in the draft lottery. The future is the focus for those teams, but time may be running short for another prominent name in the Atlantic, as we detail:
- Kevin Garnett says he’s “all in” with the Nets, and while he downplayed the idea of buying out his contract, he won’t rule it out, as Alex Raskin of The Wall Street Journal writes. “I don’t know what management is going to do,” Garnett said. “When my situation comes up, I’ll obviously give it some attention. Other than that, my attention is trying to get us on a winning streak, get us on a road where everybody’s playing together.”
- Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post believes JaVale McGee would be part of any Nets-Nuggets swap involving Brook Lopez, no matter the other parts involved.
- The “prevailing theory” is that Carmelo Anthony will sit out for the balance of the season once the All-Star break is over to rest his sore knee, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. For what it’s worth, the Knicks star won’t commit to playing in mid-March, Berman notes.
- The Sixers had considered sending JaKarr Sampson on D-League assignment a couple of weeks ago, but two strong defensive games led the team to move him into the starting lineup instead, coach Brett Brown said, as Max Rappaport of Sixers.com writes. Sampson, an undrafted rookie, is in the first year of a four-year contract that doesn’t include any guaranteed money beyond this season.
Western Notes: Grizzlies, Nuggets, Smith, Cooley
Sunday’s signing of JaMychal Green to a 10-day contract shows the Grizzlies aren’t afraid to gamble on inexpensive talent, as Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal reports in a subscription-only article. “You’re basically playing the odds that you find one that hits,” Memphis GM Chris Wallace said. “If none of them hits, it’s not skin off your back. It’s a free shot.” The 24-year-old Green hit the open market after the Spurs declined to sign him to a second 10-day contract last week. He received interest from the Knicks, Bulls, Bucks and Blazers before signing with Memphis. The Grizzlies cleared a roster spot when they decided not to offer Tyrus Thomas a second 10-day contract. Thomas will join the Grizzlies’ D-League affiliate in Iowa, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. (Twitter link).
There’s much more from the Western Conference:
- The Nuggets are showing fortitude by trying to make a deal for Nets center Brook Lopez, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. While there are roadblocks to getting a deal done, Dempsey feels that it’ll come down to how motivated the Nuggets are to acquire Lopez and not how desperate the Nets are to unload him.
- “Fed up” is how Ty Lawson described Nuggets coach Brian Shaw after Saturday’s 18-point loss to the Hornets, according to Nick Groke of The Denver Post. Groke believes Shaw’s job may be in jeopardy after a bad week that included a 69-point performance in Thursday’s loss to the Grizzlies. “You can tell his spirit is getting lower and lower,” Lawson said of his coach. “Just game in and game out, I guess we’re not executing the way we want to or according to the game plan.”
- Josh Smith admits he was shocked when the Pistons waived him in December, but he’s already grown comfortable with the Rockets and is high on the idea of re-signing with Houston this summer, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports details.
- Former Jazz camp invitee Jack Cooley is again drawing NBA interest, a source tells Gino Pilato of D-League Digest (Twitter link). The 23-year-old center, who was with the Jazz this past fall, pulled down 19 points in a recent game for Utah’s D-League affiliate, Pilato notes. It’s unclear if the Jazz are among those thinking of him for a spot on their NBA roster.
Chuck Myron and Zach Links contributed to this post.
Atlantic Notes: Nets, Garnett, Carmelo
The struggling Nets could use a return by Deron Williams, contends Reid Wallach of NetsDaily.com. Only the Knicks had a worse January offensively than Brooklyn, and Wallach argues that the point guard play of Jarrett Jack and Darius Morris is a big reason why. Williams, whose maximum contract runs through 2016/17, may not be the player he once was, but he could lead another late-season Nets run to the playoffs. Williams went through a full practice Sunday, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. (Twitter link). More from the Atlantic Division..
- Amid speculation that the Nets could buy him out, Kevin Garnett says that he’s not thinking much about that possibility. “When that road comes, I’ll cross it and I’ll deal with it,“Garnett said, according to Stefan Bondy of the Daily News. “A lot of things with family, situation and things, it’s not just convenient to get up and move, to change things. It’s not as convenient as it once was when I was younger. I have a lot more responsibilities and things to take into account.” In December it was reported that Garnett has been telling people that this will be his last season in the NBA. Meanwhile, one has to imagine that KG could get a call from Doc Rivers and the Clippers if he’s freed from his current deal.
- Knicks star Carmelo Anthony can only be so patient with the team’s rebuilding process. “The time is now ….I don’t think we can wait. Not just for my sake, just in general,” Anthony said, according to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (on Twitter).
- On Saturday, Jared Sullinger said that Celtics coach Brad Stevens has asked him to take more shots and to take shots off of different actions since Boston’s stretch of trades, according to the team’s official Twitter.
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
Mannix’s Latest: Allen, Lopez, Nuggets, Thunder
People around the league increasingly believe that Ray Allen already knows the team he would like to play for this season, and that he’s simply deciding whether he wants to play at all, Chris Mannix of SI.com writes. Allen has hinted within the past two weeks that he’s coming back to the NBA, but another more recent report indicated that he’s enjoying time with his family. Mannix has a ton of noteworthy items in his latest weekly column, many of them with a Thunder-centric theme, and we’ll hit the highlights here.
- The Nuggets are still trying to pry Brook Lopez from the Nets with a package centered on JaVale McGee, according to Mannix. Still, Denver doesn’t want to put Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried, Jusuf Nurkic or Wilson Chandler into any deal, Mannix cautions.
- The Thunder are willing to go deep into the luxury tax this season to acquire Lopez, the SI.com scribe writes. Oklahoma City is unwilling to give up any of its top present-day talent, nor will the team make a move that damages its future as the Thunder look for trade partners who are “desperate,” an opposing GM tells Mannix.
- Reggie Jackson turned down an extension offer from Oklahoma City that would have made him the most highly paid backup in the NBA, a source tells Mannix. Just what sort of salary that would have meant is unclear, since Amar’e Stoudemire has made more appearances off the bench than he has starts on a deal that gives him in excess of $23.4MM this season. Some teams believed at the beginning of the season that there was a decent chance that Jackson would command offers of between $13MM and $14MM in restricted free agency this summer, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote in October.
- Several executives from around the NBA believe it’s conceivable that a five-year max deal for Kevin Durant will be worth some $200MM when he hits free agency in 2016, according to Mannix. Durant will be eligible for a max worth about 35% of the salary cap as a 10-year veteran that summer. Those execs also believe that Durant likes playing in Oklahoma City, as he’s said, Mannix writes.
- Markieff Morris believes he and brother Marcus Morris might have made more money in restricted free agency this summer if they hadn’t signed extensions with the Suns, but Markieff can’t envision ever playing without his twin again, as he tells Mannix.
Wolves Try To Honor Budinger’s Trade Request
Chase Budinger‘s representatives have let the Timberwolves know that he’d like to play elsewhere, and the Wolves have been trying to trade him to teams around the league, reports Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Budinger isn’t demanding a trade, sources caution to Deveney, but in any case, there’s “almost zero chance” the Wolves find a taker for Budinger or any other players before the deadline, a source tells Deveney. That’s because of the financial commitments that extend beyond the season for Budinger, Kevin Martin and Thaddeus Young, Deveney writes, adding that it’s nonetheless likely that the Wolves will trade Budinger after the season, when his contract will be easier to swallow.
Timberwolves coach/executive Flip Saunders denied that the team was shopping Budinger in October amid a flurry of rumors. There were conflicting reports about whether the Rockets had interest at that point, but regardless, Houston’s acquisition of Corey Brewer from the Wolves last month eliminated the team’s need for Budinger, according to Deveney. The Sporting News scribe reported in October that the Blazers had some interest, but Deveney says now that no substantive talks ever took place with Portland. The Pacers also apparently had interest before the season, and the Pistons reportedly inquired about the sixth-year small forward around that same time, with Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities pegging Detroit as the “team to watch” regarding Budinger in October.
Budinger, 26, is averaging career lows in points per game, minutes per game and shooting percentage. The BDA Sports Management client is making $5MM this season with an identical $5MM player option for next season. Young, about whom the Wolves and Nets have reportedly spoken, has a salary of almost $9.411MM this year and a player option of close to $9.972MM for 2015/16. Martin is making nearly $6.793MM this year, and his contract runs through 2016/17, which is a player option year.
Eastern Notes: Olynyk, Knicks, Wade, Nets
The date when the Celtics can expect Kelly Olynyk to return to action is still in question after the center’s most recent round of medical tests, Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com writes. “It’s tough with something like an ankle, everyone is different,” said Olynyk. “It could be a week, it could be three weeks, it could be a month — you never know. I’m just trying to get better and evaluate it each day, and take the next step whenever it’s deemed necessary.” Olynyk was initially expected to miss a month of action.
Here’s more from the East:
- With Lance Thomas and Louis Amundson set to join New York for the remainder of the season, this will limit the team’s ability to make roster roster moves for the rest of the campaign, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com writes. The Knicks will probably need to try and find a taker for Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon or to reach a buyout arrangement with Amar’e Stoudemire, in order for the team to be able to add any new faces to its roster, Begley adds.
- Amundson is thankful that the Knicks have signed him for the rest of the season, Marc Berman of The New York Post notes (Twitter link). The big man wasn’t sure if he would be on an NBA roster after being waived by New York earlier this month, Berman adds.
- Dwyane Wade told reporters today that he would likely miss a minimum of two or three weeks due to his injured hamstring, Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald reports. “I won’t be seeing y’all for a little while, so take a good look at this face,” the Heat star guard said. “You can’t put a time on it. You can’t look at the hamstring and say you’re going to be out this amount of games. Like many muscle strains, you’ve got to go day-by-day.”
- The Nets are hoping to have their own D-League team within the next two seasons, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily writes. Brooklyn would likely buy the rights to an expansion team and place it in the New York area, similar to what the Knicks did with their Westchester affiliate this season, Windrem notes.
Atlantic Notes: Bargnani, Galloway, Ross, Nets
The idea of waiving Andrea Bargnani looks like it’s off the table for the Knicks until the trade deadline, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Knicks are reportedly shopping the former No. 1 overall pick who’s missed all but two games this season because of injury, but finding a trade partner will be difficult, as Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors examined last week. There’s more on the Knicks amid the latest from the Atlantic Division:
- The Knicks are trying to find use for the trade exceptions they picked up when they sent J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cavs earlier this month, according to Berman, who writes in the same piece. The Smith exception is worth more than $5.982MM and the Shumpert exception nearly $2.617MM, but they don’t expire until January 5th, 2016.
- Langston Galloway is assured of $275K for next season if he remains on the Knicks roster July 1st, and “well more” than half of his $845,059 salary for 2015/16 would be guaranteed if he’s still under contract at the start of training camp, Berman hears.
- Raptors coach Dwane Casey‘s decision to bench Terrence Ross isn’t a harbinger of a trade, as league sources tell Sean Deveney of The Sporting News the team isn’t making it any easier to deal for the former eighth overall pick.
- Mirza Teletovic is set for discharge from a Los Angeles hospital today, and Nets team doctor Michael Farber expects him to make a full recovery from the multiple blood clots in his lungs discovered shortly after a game against the Clippers last week, the team announced. Teletovic, due for restricted free agency this summer, is out for the year thanks to the blood thinners he’s taking to treat the issue.
Nets Ownership Ups Scrutiny Of Lionel Hollins?
WEDNESDAY, 10:33am: Hollins didn’t seem to worried about his job when he answered a question from Newsday’s Roderick Boone about the report (Twitter links).
“Why wouldn’t the team be evaluating me? Now if you are talking about evaluating me like I’m doing something bad and all that … ,” Hollins said. “Whoever wrote the article, it’s his opinion. All I can do is coach.”
6:41pm: The Nets aren’t looking to fire Hollins, a source tells Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Twitter link), asserting that Stein and Youngmisuk’s report is “totally false.”
MONDAY, 4:46pm: Nets officials are taking a close took at the job performance of coach Lionel Hollins amid concern about the team’s recent slide, report Marc Stein and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com. Tension between Hollins and some of his players is escalating, Stein and Youngmisuk hear, and sources tell Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com for the same story that Hollins’ public criticism of his players has upset people at the ownership level of the club. Principal owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who owns 80% of the franchise, is reportedly looking to sell his interest in the team while trade talk swirls around Joe Johnson, Deron Williams and Brook Lopez, Brooklyn’s three most highly paid players.
The Nets last week became the fifth team in NBA history to lose consecutive games by 35 or more, as Stein and Youngmisuk point out, and Brooklyn has fallen a half-game behind Charlotte for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Hollins is in just the first season of a four-year deal to coach the team, and according to the ESPN scribes, the contract would be worth more than $20MM if Hollins triggers incentives and if the team exercises a fourth-year option. However, it seems that Hollins’ approach, featuring a healthy does of brutal honesty, is quickly wearing thin on some within the Nets.
Hollins got along quite well with Mike Conley and Zach Randolph in his last job as coach of the Grizzlies, according to Stein and Youngmisuk. However, Hollins failed to see eye-to-eye with a new management team at the end of his tenure with Memphis, which let him go in 2013 even though he had just led the franchise to the only conference finals appearance in its history. The 61-year-old is 232-227 in parts of eight seasons as an NBA head coach, including this year’s 18-26 mark with the Nets. Prokhorov and his advisers ultimately decided to keep former coach Jason Kidd for the duration of last season after entertaining the idea of letting him go, as Stein and Youngmisuk note. Kidd and the club eventually had an acrimonious split in the summer, clearing the way for Hollins to come aboard.
Bucks Sign Jorge Gutierrez To 10-Day Deal
10:19am: The deal is official, the Bucks announced. Milwaukee makes no reference to a corresponding move in its statement, so it appears that they indeed moved Sanders to the suspended list to create room to carry 16 players.
WEDNESDAY, 9:43am: Milwaukee will take Gutierrez into a roster vacancy the team can create by moving Sanders to the suspended list, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (All Twitter links). Sanders served the fifth game of his league-imposed suspension Tuesday, so the Bucks are allowed to move him to the suspended list.
TUESDAY, 11:53pm: The Bucks intend to sign Jorge Gutierrez to a 10-day contract in the near future, Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link) reports. The Bucks currently have 15 players on their roster, including Kenyon Martin, whose second 10-day contract is set to expire this week. Martin is expected to be signed by Milwaukee to a deal that covers remainder of the season by the end of this week. If the veteran is signed as expected, this will require the team to waive or release a player in order to add Gutierrez to its roster.
The need for a point guard arose when Kendall Marshall was lost for the remainder of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Their sudden shortage at the one spot could potentially make the Bucks regret their decision to waive Nate Wolters in order to add Martin to the team. Wolters has signed two consecutive 10-day deals with New Orleans since being released by the Bucks. Center Larry Sanders is also currently serving a drug-related suspension that will last a minimum of 10 games, further adding to Milwaukee’s roster woes.
Gutierrez has been playing in the D-League for the Canton Charge, the Cavs’ affiliate. He opted to enter the D-League after being waived by the Sixers earlier in the season. This was shortly after Philadelphia had acquired him from the Nets in the deal for Andrei Kirilenko. In 10 NBA appearances with Brooklyn this season, Gutierrez has averaged 1.6 points in 4.4 minutes per game.
In six D-League appearances with Canton this season, Gutierrez has averaged 15.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.0 assists in 35.6 minutes per contest. His slash line is .456/.143/.621.
Nets, Hornets Discuss Joe Johnson
10:12pm: A source tells Alex Raskin of The Wall Street Journal that the conversations between the Nets and Hornets have ceased. Still, the door remains open for the talks to pick back up closer to the deadline, and Charlotte has spoken to Brooklyn about Stephenson at least three times, Raskin hears.
MONDAY, 4:15pm: The Johnson talks date back to the three-way negotiations Brooklyn and Charlotte had earlier this month with Oklahoma City about Lopez, and no deal is imminent, a source tells Marc Stein and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com.
SUNDAY, 7:51pm: The talks are somewhere in between exploratory and serious, according to Michael A. Scotto of Sheridan Hoops (on Twitter). The Nets could also part with a smaller piece in the deal, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com (on Twitter).
7:45pm: The Nets and Hornets have restarted their trade talks, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. This time, the discussions are focused on Brooklyn guard Joe Johnson.
The two sides are discussing a larger package that would likely include guards Lance Stephenson and Gerald Henderson and forward Marvin Williams. The Nets have been linked to Stephenson in the past. A recent report indicated that they didn’t have much interest in the guard, but it would seem that they do in fact have an eye on him.
Hornets owner Michael Jordan has been intrigued with the possibility of acquiring Johnson, who has struggled recently with tendinitis. The Nets, meanwhile, would like to unload the 33-year-old’s lucrative contract. Johnson is set to make $23.1MM this season and $24.9MM in 2015/16, his walk year.
At the end of the day, the Nets wouldn’t appear to be saving a ton of money with this deal as Stephenson, Henderson, and Williams also have undesirable deals. Stephenson is making $9MM this season and $9MM in 2015/16. Henderson is earning $6MM this year with a $6MM player option for 2015/16. Williams, meanwhile, is scheduled to make $7MM in both 2014/15 and 2015/16.
The Nets revamp could also extend beyond Johnson as they explore deals for big man Brook Lopez. Wojnarowski hears that the Nuggets, who have long been connected to Lopez, remain an interested trade partner.
Johnson, 33, has been averaging 15.5 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 3.7 APG per game. His PER of 14.3 is well below his career average of 16.1. Overall, the numbers show that he hasn’t been as efficient in his three years in black and white as he was with the Hawks.