Celtics Notes: Rondo, Bradley, Thornton
Although he is known for his passing, the Celtics are better when Rajon Rondo is shooting more, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. Boston has strung together three straight wins since coach Brad Stevens talked to Rondo last week about not being passive or being content with letting the game come to him. “When Rondo’s aggressive, I think our team is better,” said Jeff Green. “When he’s shooting open shots and also getting guys in transition, hitting them, that’s when we’re at our best.”
There’s more from Beantown:
- Brad Stevens told Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com that he likes the risk-taking attitude displayed by Avery Bradley late in Sunday’s win over the Wizards. With 19 seconds remaining on the shot clock and 37 seconds left in the game, Bradley hit a contested shot that gave Boston a two-possession lead. “I thought it was — fading a little bit into the corner, kind of off one foot — it wasn’t exactly how you draw it up, but, hey, maybe we should draw it up that way,” Stevens said. “I don’t know.”
- With free agency looming next summer, Marcus Thornton needs to make an impression, and Kyle Brasseur of ESPNBoston.com reports that he helped himself with an eight-point fourth quarter Sunday. The 27-year-old guard has been losing playing time to Phil Pressey in recent games, but given the chance in Sunday’s game, he responded with 21 points off the bench. “I’ve been through this before as a rookie so I know what it takes,” Thornton said. “When you’ve got positive teammates, it makes it that much easier too.”
- The Celtics team that won the 2008 NBA title may have been scattered throughout the league, but Brian Robb of Boston.com reports several players stay together through weekly texting sessions. Paul Pierce, who played his first game in Boston Sunday as a member of the Wizards, said he communicates regularly online with Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, Kevin Garnett, Glen Davis and Kendrick Perkins. Pierce also refused to close the door on a possible return to the Celtics one day. “If the opportunity presents itself, you know, maybe,” he said. “If there’s an opportunity, I would love to.”
Jazz Enter Andrei Kirilenko Trade Picture?
DECEMBER 5th, 6:24pm: Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link) reports that league sources have informed him that it is “very possible” the Jazz will acquire Kirilenko in exchange for Evans and Murry when the players are eligible to be dealt on December 15th. The Russian forward had returned to the Nets on December 1st after leaving the team to deal with an undisclosed family matter back in New York. This absence clouded the trade talk surrounding Kirilenko, since teams were unsure if he would be willing and able to report to them in the event of a deal.
4:22pm: A source tells the Nets Daily scribe that the Nets and the Jazz haven’t spoken about Kirilenko, and a second source also casts doubt on Stein’s report, Windrem also writes.
NOVEMBER 24th, 8:37am: One of the options in play for the Nets should they opt to trade Andrei Kirilenko would be swapping him to the Jazz for Toure’ Murry and Jeremy Evans, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Such a deal couldn’t take place until December 15th at the earliest, because Murry signed with Utah in the offseason. The Utah possibility advances the notion that the Sixers aren’t the only team in the mix for the 33-year-old Russian-born forward. Reports Friday indicated that preliminary talks had taken place between Brooklyn and Philadelphia, but little progress has taken place in those discussions, according to Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com.
Nets swingman Sergey Karasev was also a part of the conversation involving the Sixers, but Stein didn’t mention him with regard to the Jazz. The Russian ownership of the Nets is enamored with Karasev, who like Kirilenko hails from their country, writes Robert Windrem of Nets Daily. That’s a sentiment apparently shared by others around the league, as an NBA front office source suggested to Lynam that the Nets would probably be able receive a future first-round pick for Karasev, while another told her that Brooklyn was more likely to merit two future second-rounders for him. The Nets are on the lookout for draft picks and are unlikely to relinquish the ones they already have, particularly their first-round picks, according to Windrem, and teams are offering picks for Kirilenko, Windrem writes in a separate piece. The Cavs are reportedly sniffing around Kirilenko, but it’s not clear if they’re among those putting picks on the table.
Murry has been on D-League assignment since November 13th, averaging 14.5 points in 30.3 minutes per game for the Idaho Stampede. The second-year guard has yet to play in a game for Utah after spending last season with the Knicks and signing with the Jazz in the offseason for two years and $2MM, with only $250K of this year’s $1MM guaranteed. Evans, a combo forward, is in his fifth NBA season, all of which have been with the Jazz, and he has seen just 13 minutes of action across five appearances for Utah so far this year. He’s making nearly $1.795MM in fully guaranteed salary in the final season of a three-year contract.
Kirilenko makes more than $3.326MM in fully guaranteed salary this season on an expiring deal, so the structure of the possible Utah swap would be a money-saver for the Nets in raw salary as well as luxury tax. He makes about $531K more than Murry and Evans combined, and the Nets could save more if they cut Murry after they traded for him. Murry will have earned more than his $250K partial guarantee by December 15th, but the Nets could still save about $712K of his $1MM salary. Brooklyn would have to drop a player to accommodate such a deal with Utah, since they’re at the 15-man roster limit, as our roster counts show. It’s unclear if the Jazz, Kirilenko’s original team, would waive him after acquiring him as the Sixers would reportedly be likely to do.
And-Ones: Rookies, Nets, Cavs, Pelicans
The vaunted 2014 draft class hasn’t performed up to par quite yet, notes Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. K.J. McDaniels of the Sixers is the third-leading rookie scorer, as Amico points out, but he’s averaging only 10.2 points per game and was the 32nd overall pick. There’s plenty of time for others to fulfill their promise, but this year’s crop of first-year players isn’t exactly revolutionizing the game. Here’s more from around the NBA as the league gets set to tip off a four-game night:
- Nets GM Billy King told reporters that he’s considering “tweaks” to the roster as he works the phones, but he offered only a “we’ll see” when asked whether the team’s core of Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson was still viable. Devin Kharpertian of The Brooklyn Game has the details.
- Pelicans coach Monty Williams felt as though he’d given Darius Miller an opportunity to show what he can do after putting him in the starting lineup last week, but he admits that Patric Young still may have had the potential to help the team, observes Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune. The Pelicans waived both on Sunday.
- The Cavs have recalled Alex Kirk from the D-League, the team announced. The center had 16 points and six rebounds in 29 minutes for Cleveland’s affiliate Sunday on a one-day assignment.
Kirilenko Family Matter Clouds Trade Talk
12:13pm: The situation will probably keep him from traveling with the team for road games, Kirilenko told reporters, including Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, who notes that the family issue involves Kirilenko’s wife (Twitter link). Kirilenko also said that the matter won’t be resolved until early February, Vasquez notes (via Twitter).
11:48am: Nets GM Billy King confirmed today that Kirilenko has returned to practice, tweets Andy Vasquez of The Record.
MONDAY, 8:15am: Kirilenko is set to rejoin the Nets for practice today, a source tells Robert Windrem of NetsDaily (Twitter link). The forward has been absent from the team for more than a week, ostensibly to tend to the family issue.
SATURDAY, 1:56pm: Several contending teams that have inquired about trading for Nets forward Andrei Kirilenko were given the impression that Kirilenko’s desire to attend to an unspecified family matter in New York would make any deal impractical for the foreseeable future, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. The Cavs and Clippers are two franchises with needs on the perimeter who will wait and see if Brooklyn makes the 33-year-old Russian available as February’s trade deadline moves closer, or if Kirilenko and the Nets reach a buyout agreement before then, Wojnarowski adds.
Kirilenko left the team recently while the Nets were on a west coast trip to return to New York in order to deal with this family matter. With the veteran seemingly out of head coach Lionel Hollins‘ rotation prior to his departure from the team, Brooklyn has been looking for a trade partner who would be willing to take on the remaining balance of Kirilenko’s $3.3MM salary for this season, notes the Yahoo! scribe.
If the Nets were unable to find a contending team willing to acquire Kirilenko, then Brooklyn would likely need to package him along with future second round draft picks in order to find a rebuilding team with free cap space to rid themselves of the Russian, Wojnarowski adds. In that instance, Kirlilenko would likely be waived by the team acquiring him. The Sixers would certainly seem like a fit in this scenario, but Philadelphia has asked for too much draft compensation to close the deal with the Nets, Wojnarowski notes. Talks with Philadelphia are not completely dead, but no longer include Nets forward Sergey Karasev, Wojnarowski’s sources said. The Jazz were also said to be interested in acquiring Kirilenko, but there were conflicting reports regarding Utah’s involvement.
The Nets may be able to garner a better deal if they wait until February when contending teams would have a better handle on when Kirilenko would be able and willing to report to them, and this may remove the need for Brooklyn to part with any draft picks, Wojnarowski concludes.
And-Ones: Cavs, Knicks, Bogdanovic, Thunder
The Cavs‘ resurgence on defense started with the maturity of point guard Kyrie Irving, writes Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. “In order for our team to win, I have to be that guy on the defensive end,” Irving said. “You can only talk about it for so long. At one point it just has to be done.” Cleveland has won its last three contests by an average of 23.3 points per game. Amico argues that with offensive threats like Irving, LeBron James and Kevin Love, the team only needs to be above average defensively to sustain success.
Here’s more from around the Association:
- The stoic approach of Knicks head coach Derek Fisher has led players to take it upon themselves to voice their concerns, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. “No excuses at this point,’’ forward Amar’e Stoudemire said. “No more moral victories. We can’t say we’re still learning. We have to start to be more students of the game. We’re a team that’s only won four games all season. I know it’s 17 games, but this can’t be acceptable.” The Knicks currently sport the fourth worst record in the Eastern Conference and rank 25th in the league on offense with 94.2 points per game.
- Bojan Bogdanovic is adjusting to playing in the NBA and Nets coach Lionel Hollins is confident he will improve over the season, writes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. “Sounds like a rookie,” Hollins said. “He’s more comfortable playing in Brooklyn, more comfortable playing in front of the home crowd, and when you go on the road it’s new. Every arena he walks into his new, and it’s just part of the growing process. He’ll get better.” Bogdanovic is shooting 41.9% from the field in 14 games for the Nets this season.
- The Thunder have assigned Grant Jerrett and Mitch McGary to their D-League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, according to the team’s twitter feed. Jerrett scored three points during nine minutes in his only game for the team this season. McGary, a first round pick from the 2014 draft, has not yet seen the court for the Thunder. Both players will play Sunday for the OKC Blue.
Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Kirilenko, Karasev
The Celtics are struggling this season and are trying to maximize the talent that they have on their roster, but Boston is a team filled with complementary players and is badly in need of a star, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald opines. The coaching staff’s primary focus right now is to try and get the most from the players they currently have, notes Bulpett. “I think that’s the only way for me to look at it, and that’s the only way to do my job to the best of my ability — coach the guys that are available, coach the guys that are here as well as we possibly can,” head coach Brad Stevens said. “And I think we’re getting closer, as far as playing to our standards more often than not. There’s a reason we’ve been right there, and that’s because we’ve been playing pretty well. The key is now can we get a little bit better, so that we’re better than right there.”
Here’s the latest from the Atlantic Division:
- In an interview with Russian media, Cavs coach David Blatt relayed that he was a big fan of Nets forward Andrei Kirilenko, whom he coached when both were members of Team Russia, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily reports. “It is unfortunate that Andrei Kirilenko is not playing, because, from my point of view, he is the greatest Russian basketball player of all time,” Blatt said. “He did so much for Russian basketball and for me personally, and I very much support him.“
- When asked about the possibility of the Cavs obtaining Kirilenko via a trade, Blatt said, “In the NBA, there are very strict rules that prohibit coaches from commenting on such things about players on other teams. So in this respect, I will not say anything.”
- Sergey Karasev‘s father, Vasily, spoke about his son’s frustration with his lack of playing time with the Nets in an interview with Timur Rostomov of Sport-Express (translation via the same NetsDaily piece). The elder Karasev said, “One season in the NBA has already passed on the bench, and now, that Sergey is 21 years [old], it’s imperative that he play, not sit. He understands this and is frustrated. He is not interested in salary. He just wants to get on the court, to grow and develop. As I understand it, the coach of Brooklyn, Lionel Hollins, does not see him in the lineup, so it’s difficult for Sergey to influence the situation. He needs to be patient.”
Eastern Notes: Whiteside, Anthony, Williams
After nearly being out of the league, Heat forward Shawne Williams is making the most out of the playing time that he’s earned this season, Shandel Richardson of The Sun Sentinel writes. “Man, one thing I noticed about being in this league is you can never be too comfortable,” Williams said. “I’m kind of always on edge. This business is a tricky business. I’ve learned from a lot of stuff that I’ve been through and a lot of stuff that I have been in to never be comfortable. I’m never satisfied. I’m going to stay hungry.” Through Miami’s first 15 games Williams is averaging 10.5 points and draining 50.7% of his three-point shots.
Here’s more from the east:
- Hassan Whiteside’s two-year deal with the Heat includes a partial guarantee of $100K for this season, but the second year includes no guaranteed salary, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link).
- If the Knicks aren’t careful in managing Carmelo Anthony‘s back spasms, they could put their star at risk for further back issues later in the season, Ian Begeley of ESPNNewYork.com writes. “He [Anthony] can wind up battling this all season if it’s not shut down appropriately to let him heal up,” Dr. Neil Roth, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine told Begley.
- The Nets haven’t notched a victory against a team with a winning record this season, notes Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. “I look at a win as a win,” head coach Lionel Hollins said. “The quality wins are the ones you get on the road. It’s nice to beat good teams, but we have to get to that level where we are consistently able to beat good teams. So we’re just taking wins where we can. That’s what it’s about — trying to win and get in the playoffs, and then when you get there, trying to hopefully get a matchup that favors you.”
Western Notes: Dragic, Silver, Nash, Johnson
Goran Dragic may have a lot of influence in Phoenix, but he tells Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders that he didn’t use that power to get the Suns to sign his brother. Zoran Dragic inked a two-year guaranteed deal in September.
“To be honest I never mentioned my brother (to GM Ryan McDonough),” Goran said. “This summer when we played the World Cup, Ryan was in Barcelona and he called me. He wanted to take me to dinner and asked if I could bring my brother, so I didn’t know anything. I thought he was being polite. When we went to the restaurant he started asking questions to Zoran and I was like, what is going on? Then I heard all the rumors coming out on the Internet, and I started thinking maybe this could happen.”
There’s more news from the Western Conference:
- Commissioner Adam Silver discussed his decision-making regarding former Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s ouster and identified a harder salary cap as the first change he would make happen if he could do so unilaterally as he spoke with Chuck Klosterman for GQ.com. “I still think it’s unhealthy for the league when a team like Brooklyn goes out and pays an exorbitant luxury tax in order to give themselves a better chance to win,” Silver said. “From a league-office standpoint, the ideal league would be for all thirty teams to compete based on the skill of their management and players, as opposed to one team paying more to get better talent. So creating a more even system would be at the top of my list.”
- Steve Nash may be out for the season, but the Lakers are hoping he can help them in another way, writes Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report. He says L.A. is hoping future free agents — specifically the Thunder’s Kevin Durant — notice the loyalty the Lakers displayed by not stretching Nash’s contract or trying to get him to accept a reduced buyout.
- The Rockets recalled Nick Johnson from Rio Grand Valley of the D-League, the team announced. Johnson, the 42nd pick in this year’s NBA draft, has seen little action for Houston, with just two points and one rebound in 11 minutes of court time.
And-Ones: Thompson, AK-47, Nets, Mirotic
After agreeing to an extension with the Warriors last month, Klay Thompson got some words of wisdom from his father, reports Billy Witz of The New York Times. “I told him, with a contract extension like that comes a lot of responsibility,” said Mychal Thompson, a former overall No. 1 draft pick and now part of the Lakers broadcast team. “Now you have to prove to people that you’re underpaid. That means showing up every night and playing at the highest level. Now you have to prove that you’re worth that.” More from around the NBA..
- The Warriors gambled by holding on to Thompson instead of trading for Kevin Love. Right now, it looks like that gamble is paying off, writes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. Meanwhile, Thompson was happy to get an extension done. “It was great,” Thompson said. “It was a big relief, but it was cool to see just how much the Warriors believe in me, and believe I’m a building block. It makes me want to go out there and play hard every day.”
- There are “hints out there” that the market for Nets forward Andrei Kirilenko may be broader than reported, both in terms of teams interested and what Brooklyn could get in return, according to Robert Windrem of Nets Daily.
- Nets guard Deron Williams wishes his team had the same approach to team building as the Spurs, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. “[San Antonio] is a team you envy, because they’ve had a system, they’ve had a coach and pretty much the same group of guys for a long time,” Williams said of the Spurs.
- Sam Smith of NBA.com is impressed with the play of Bulls rookie Nikola Mirotic. Mirotic is a tremendous shooter at 6’10” and also boasts the ability to pass off the dribble.
- Comparisons to James Harden might be a bit much, but basketball people are high on Duke star Justise Winslow, writes Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. “Top ten,” one veteran NBA scout told Zagoria “He is getting better, a little more experienced and he will slow down a little and soften his shot and watch out.”
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Cavaliers Notes: Kirilenko, James, Blatt
In need of an athletic defender on the wing, the Cavaliers are keeping an eye on Andrei Kirilenko‘s situation with the Nets, reports Chris Haynes of Northeast Ohio Media Group. Kirilenko was rumored this week to be involved in a possible trade to the Sixers, who are expected to waive him if the deal goes through. He is making more than $3.3MM this season and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. Here’s more from Cleveland:
- LeBron James told Joe Vardon of Northeast Ohio Media Group he is accepting blame for the Cavaliers‘ slow start, and that was before Saturday’s 17-point loss to the Raptors. “I can sustain my effort as well, as close to 48 minutes as possible, and the guys that feed off me,” James said. “I’ve been kind of waiting around a little bit to see what may happen, sometimes it’s been good, sometimes it hasn’t been good.” James was expected to make the Cavs instant contenders after he left the Heat to join the team as a free agent during the summer, but Cleveland has struggled to a 5-7 start.
- James also took a hit from Chris Fedor of Northeast Ohio Media Media Group, who said the best player in the NBA hasn’t performed like it during the Cavaliers‘ four-game losing streak. Fedor faults James for poor play and bad body language and says as team leader James needs to set a better example for his impressionable teammates.
- Saturday night’s collapse offered more proof that the Cavaliers are “fragile,” opines Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. That was James’ assessment of the team, and Amico wholeheartedly agrees, pointing out the inexperience of rookie head coach David Blatt, a weak bench that was outscored 51-19 by the Raptors’ reserves and a consistently poor defensive effort.