Odds & Ends: Pacers, Orton, Warriors, T-Wolves
If the Rockets beat the Hornets on Thursday, it will mark their third consecutive season of missing the playoffs while finishing with a winning record, tweets John Schuhmann of NBA.com. Let the pain of that fact sink in as we take a look around the league to catch up on the latest news and happenings.
- Now that the Pacers have clinched the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, head coach Frank Vogel needs to figure out which players he needs to rest before likely facing the Magic in the first round, writes Conrad Brunner of Pacers.com.
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel says Magic rookie Daniel Orton has taken the criticism he received from head coach Stan Van Gundy in stride as he knows he has a long way to go to becoming a contributing NBA player.
- Being out of the playoff race has allowed the Warriors to experiment with different lineups and provide extensive minutes to the team's rookies, reports the Associated Press (link via the San Jose Mercury News).
- Ray Richardson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports Luke Ridnour has joined Kevin Love on the list of Timberwolves starters who are being shut down for the remainder of the season.
- Monday night's game against the Sixers marks the Nets' final game in New Jersey after 35 mostly forgettable seasons, reports the Associated Press (link via NBA.com). The team will move to Brooklyn for the 2012/2013 season where they will play in the brand-new Barclays Arena.
- Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com says Sixers head coach Doug Collins wants his team to take care of business against the Nets on Monday so they no longer have to worry about the Bucks sneaking into the playoff picture.
Eastern Notes: Knicks, Nets, Magic
With the Bulls' win over a listless Mavericks squad putting Chicago in position to secure the Eastern Conference's top seed with one more victory or a Heat loss, we'll check in with the rest of the conference to catch up on the latest stories and headlines.
- Howard Beck of The New York Times says Knicks interim general manager Glen Grunwald deserves some recognition for the way he has rebuilt the roster, perhaps even the NBA Executive of the Year award. Grunwald made the Knicks more defensively viable with the addition of Tyson Chandler, created buzz and excitement through the stellar play of Jeremy Lin and took a risk in J.R. Smith, who has become a solid contributor off the bench as the team's sixth man, among other key moves. Unfortunately for Grunwald, the award typically goes to an executive on a team near the top of their respective conference, not one struggling just to sneak into the playoffs in the season's final weeks.
- The Nets have many decisions to consider in terms of free agency, the draft and their coaching staff as they head across the Hudson River to Brooklyn, writes HoopsWorld's Alex Raskin. After unsuccessful attempts to acquire talent like LeBron James and Nene, the Nets may look to keep their current roster together and hope to get incredibly lucky during the draft by landing a top-3 pick (otherwise it goes to the Blazers). With regard to Nets head coach Avery Johnson's future, Raskin believes it would be incredibly unfair to judge his performance thus far solely on his record as he should be afforded at least one more opportunity to prove his mettle.
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reports the Magic are rallying around each other in the wake of Dwight Howard's season-ending injury. Glen Davis has emerged as one of the team's emotional leaders and has brought the locker room closer together as the team has adopted the grammatically-flawed phrase "We all we got." "We can't worry about the media. We can't worry about what's going on. We've got to understand 'all for one, one for all.' That motto and just that saying just puts us in a mind frame of just brotherhood."
Nets Rumors: Humphries, Free Agency, Green
The Nets should be one of the most intriguing teams this offseason, as they look ahead to plenty of cap room, their move to Brooklyn, and the looming spectre of a potential Dwight Howard trade. Here's the latest from the team's final days in New Jersey:
- Power forward Kris Humphries is averaging career highs in virtually every major category, and Colin Stephenson of the Star Ledger checks in with the consistent double-double threat who's drawing the admiration of his teammates ahead of his impending free agency.
- The Nets won't wait around for the Dwight Howard saga to be resolved, says Fred Kerber of the New York Post, who examines the team's plans this summer. He reiterates an earlier report that the team may look elsewhere at the power forward position despite Humphries' improvement this year.
- Gerald Green's resurgence this season after a two-year absence from the league is quite a comeback story. Still, it's not as impressive as his ability to make the NBA at all after having half the ring finger on his shooting hand amputated following a freak accident while dunking as a sixth-grader, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News writes. Earlier this week, we heard that Green would be willing to give the Nets a hometown discount in free agency this summer.
Nets Re-Sign Armon Johnson
The Nets have re-signed Armon Johnson for the rest of the season following the expiration of his 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release.
After appearing in just a single game for the Blazers earlier this season, Johnson was waived to clear a spot on the roster for Joel Przybilla. The 23-year-old guard has received a shot at more playing time with the Nets, averaging 4.4 PPG on 58.8% shooting in five contests (8.8 MPG).
As our 10-day contract tracker shows, Johnson joins Gerald Green as the only other Net to be signed to a rest-of-season deal following a 10-day contract this year. New Jersey has signed a total of five players to at least one 10-day deal.
Celtics Rumors: Allen, Pierce, Mayo
The Celtics clinched their fifth straight Atlantic Division crown last night, but it was no ordinary division title for the Big Three, writes Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com, who notes that the team was two games under .500 at the All-Star break.
Even as the Celtics locked up the Atlantic, the latest updates out of Boston revolved around yesterday's report about failed deadline deals involving Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Let's round up a few of them….
- Doc Rivers appeared on WEEI's Dennis & Callahan Show and addressed the Allen and Pierce rumors, writes Alex Speier of WEEI.com. The Celtics coach confirmed that the Allen trade was close, though he says it was GM Danny Ainge that called the veteran guard about the deal.
- Rivers on the failed Pierce-to-the-Nets trade: "That wasn't close at all. That had no chance."
- Allen deserved better treatment from the Celtics, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. Washburn says Allen's demeanor has changed over the last few weeks, and that the likelihood of the sharpshooter returning to Boston next season may have diminished.
- According to Donny Marshall on CSNNE, O.J. Mayo didn't have much interest in becoming a Celtic, and the Nets turned down the proposal involving Pierce.
Gerald Green Would Give Nets Hometown Discount
Gerald Green reiterated Wednesday that he'd like to re-sign with the Nets this summer, reports Fred Kerber of the New York Post. Green even indicated he'd be willing to come back at a discounted price to the team that signed him out of the D-League earlier this season.
"Most definitely I would," Green said, when asked if he'd take less money to remain a Net. "I’m about loyalty and this team was the first team to pick me up for the year. They gave me an opportunity.
"I have a strong feeling I’m going to be with the Nets," Green added. "I don’t feel like I’m going to be anywhere else. I know I’m not getting any feedback now from anybody. I can’t. Can’t talk to anybody. So I have a strong feeling about here. They want me here I want to be here. It’s not like I have to weigh my options. I really don’t have any options."
Green has said before that he hopes and expects to remain a Net past this season, though I don't think he's right when he says he doesn't have options. His play this season has certainly attracted attention, and I imagine plenty of teams besides the Nets will inquire on him this summer — the Lakers, for instance, are thought to have interest.
The Nets are expected to have a good chunk of cap space this summer, especially if Deron Williams ends up signing elsewhere. If New Jersey can bring back Green, a Houston native, on a "hometown" discount, the team would retain its flexibility to pursue other marquee free agents.
Celtics Nearly Traded Ray Allen To Grizzlies
Although the Celtics ended up standing pat at last month's trade deadline, the team was close to making one or two blockbuster moves and breaking up its Big Three, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
According to Wojnarowski, Ray Allen received a phone call from Celtics coach Doc Rivers, telling him he'd been traded to the Grizzlies for a package that included O.J. Mayo and a draft pick. However, shortly after the call, Allen received word that the deal had fallen apart.
The Celtics also had serious discussions with the Nets about a deal that would've sent Paul Pierce to New Jersey in exchange for Mehmet Okur and a lottery pick, says Wojnarowski. Grantland's Bill Simmons wrote of those talks last week, noting that the Nets eventually elected to acquire Gerald Wallace from Portland for a similar package (one which also included Shawne Williams).
While the Celtics have played their best basketball of the season since the deadline and are a popular choice to upset the Bulls or Heat in the Eastern playoffs, the team's failed trades are interesting to consider. Had they made those deals, Boston would be heading into the summer armed with three first-round picks and even more cap flexibility, without Pierce on next year's books. We'll see if the Celtics' Big Three has one more run left to reward GM Danny Ainge's deadline decision to stand pat.
Poll: Will The Nets Land A First-Round Pick?
As they prepare to move from New Jersey to Brooklyn this summer, the Nets are in an interesting situation. With cap space to spare, the team will be looking to retain potential free agents like Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, and Gerald Wallace. How much room the team has to re-sign its own players and pursue other free agents will depend on its luck in the coming weeks though.
The Nets have a chance to land two picks in the top 20 of what's expected to be a deep draft. However, there's also a possibility that the Nets end up with zero first-rounders. New Jersey's own pick is ticketed for Portland if it doesn't end up in the top three, while the Rockets' first-rounder will only be sent to the Nets if it's not in the top 14.
As Hoops Rumors' tentative draft order shows, the Nets are currently tied with the league's sixth-worst record, and the Rockets are tied with the Suns for the eighth seed in the West. Our order, which doesn't account for tiebreakers, actually shows the 32-29 Rockets at 17th overall, but the 32-29 Suns hold the playoff tiebreaker, moving the Rockets up to 14th. So if the season ended today and everything held to form, the Nets wouldn't own a first-round pick.
With just a handful of games left in the season, how do you see the Nets' draft prospects lining up? Will New Jersey luck out and jump into the top three with its own pick? Will the Rockets edge out the Suns and Jazz to earn a postseason spot, handing their pick to the Nets? How many first-rounders do you think the Nets will hold when June arrives?
How Many First-Round Picks Will The Nets Land?
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Neither pick 38% (106)
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Only the Rockets' pick 31% (87)
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Their own pick and the Rockets' pick 19% (54)
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Only their own pick 12% (34)
Total votes: 281
Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Knicks, Williams, Iguodala
With a four-game lead heading into the night, it looks like the Celtics will take the Atlantic Division crown this year, completing a dramatic second-half comeback and leaving the Sixers, who led for most of the season, to fight with the Knicks for the last two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. Of those three teams, only the Sixers are in action tonight, taking on the Magic. There's plenty going on off the court, though, so let's check in with the news from the Eastern seaboard:
- Howard Beck of The New York Times recounts the whirlwind of moves and near-moves that the Celtics and Knicks have endured since they met to open the season.
- Deron Williams can go anywhere he wants this summer as an unrestricted free agent, but he'll be spending part of his time working out with Nets teammate DeShawn Stevenson in New Jersey, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
- John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer believes the Sixers will "work tirelessly" to move Andre Iguodala this summer (Twitter link). That will be a challenge, considering he has a total of $30.623MM left on his contract for two more seasons after this one. Iguodala has an early termination option in the final year of the deal, but it's doubtful he'd turn down the $15.9MM he'd earn that season.
- The Nets get the Rockets' first-round pick this year as long as it's not in the lottery. With Houston teetering on the edge of the Western Conference playoff race, Tim Bontemps of the New York Post takes a look at the chances the Nets will hang on to the selection. For a continuously updated look at the probable draft order, bookmark our draft order tracker.
- Frank Zicarelli of the Toronto Sun looks back at the nearly two years since Mikhail Prokhorov was approved as the Nets owner, and sees no progress toward the championship the Russian billionaire vowed the team would win within five years.
Odds & Ends: Boykins, Sixers, Frank, Heat
Let's catch up on the latest news and happenings from around the league as Sunday's afternoon action gets underway…
- Mark Berman of FOX 26 Sports reports the Rockets have signed Earl Boykins for the remainder of the season.
- The Sixers have reached the do-or-die moment of the season where they are fighting for their playoff lives, writes John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
- Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press says Pistons head coach Lawrence Frank is excited for his young players to have the opportunity to further their leadership skills during the NBA Summer League.
- Changes may be coming for the Heat depending on how the team does during the playoffs, suggests Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
- According to an official press release from the Cavs, the team has assigned Luke Harangody to the Canton Charge of the D-League after appearing in Saturday night's victory over the Wizards.
- There was no way NBA commissioner David Stern was going to let the city of New Orleans lose another professional basketball team, writes Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune.
- Frank DiGiacomo of the New York Daily News says Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov fully supports forward Kris Humphries as the Russian billionaire ripped rapper Kanye West for stating in a song that he could get Nets minority owner Jay-Z to cut Humphries from the team.