Chicago Bulls Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: Marble, Dragic, Brooks

March 4th, 2015 at 5:40pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Devyn Marble has suffered a detached retina in his left eye and is expected to miss four to six weeks of action, the Magic announced in a press release. The rookie has appeared in 16 games for Orlando, averaging 2.3 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 13.0 minutes per contest. Marble has also appeared in six games for the Erie BayHawks, the Magic’s D-League affiliate, logging 13.0 PPG and 5.2 RPG in 30.3 minutes per night.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

The Heat have assigned Zoran Dragic to the Sioux Falls Skyforce, their D-League affiliate, the team has announced. This will be Dragic’s first trek of the season to the D-League.
The play of offseason signee Aaron Brooks will be vital for the Bulls with all of the backcourt injuries the team has endured this season, Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com writes. “I shouldn’t overlook him,” said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. “He had a tough matchup and I thought he hit big shots for us. He’s a big shot maker in the fourth quarter. We’re asking him to do a lot and I think he’s more than capable.”
Khris Middleton is providing the Bucks with a level of stability at shooting guard that the team has lacked for some time, Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes. Middleton has become an important part of the team’s future and Milwaukee would like to re-sign him this summer when he will become a restricted free agent, Gardner notes.

Ray Allen Says He Won’t Play This Season

March 4th, 2015 at 1:46pm CST by Chuck Myron

Ray Allen will not play this season, as he says in a statement released through agent Jim Tanner and the Tandem Sports and Entertainment agency. He’s not ruling out a return for 2015/16 but adds that he’ll take rest of this season and the offseason ahead to decide about that, suggesting that it’ll again be a long wait before we know if, much less where, Allen will play again. The 39-year-old has languished as the most sought-after free agent since the start of training camp, though the Cavs, long the front-runner for the friend and former teammate of LeBron James, recently appeared to drop out of the running. They were one of of 14 teams who expressed serious interest, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).

“Over the past several months, I have taken a lot of time to deliberate what is best for me,” Allen said in the statement. “I’ve ultimately decided that I will not play this NBA season. I’m going to take the remainder of this season, as well as the upcoming off-season, to reassess my situation, spend time with my family and determine if I will play in the 2015/16 season.”

The Grizzlies, too, appeared no longer to be in the Allen sweepstakes as of this weekend, not long after executives around the league reportedly began losing faith that he’d sign. The Warriors, Wizards, Spurs, Heat and Hawks were keeping in touch with Allen’s camp as of early February, and Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers said at about that time that he’d recently spoken to him.

Just about every playoff-bound team reportedly reached out to Allen at some point this season. The Wizards were apparently the most aggressive suitor as of January, though LeBron visited Allen’s home in Miami to woo the sharpshooter while the four-time MVP was in town for rehabilitation.

The Bulls were another suitor, though a trip he made to Chicago earlier this season wasn’t basketball-related, Tanner said. Tanner batted down reports that indicated his intentions regarding one team or another all throughout the process that began when he became a free agent in July. Allen said over the summer that it would take a “perfect storm scenario” for him to play this season, and he pointed to a desire for a veteran coach and more than the minimum salary.

Allen was seemingly leaning toward retirement in late December, though he indicated during the middle of last season that he wasn’t planning to retire so soon. If he doesn’t return, he’ll walk away as the NBA’s all-time leader in three-pointers made and career earnings in excess of $184.356MM, according to Basketball-Reference.

Eastern Notes: Sixers, Anthony, Bulls

March 3rd, 2015 at 7:11pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Now that the Sixers have waived JaVale McGee, the team is paying a total of eight players this season who are no longer with the franchise, John Smallwood of The Philadelphia Daily News notes. Out of this group that includes Jared Cunningham, Eric Maynor, Ronny Turiaf, Marquis Teague, Chris Johnson, Jorge Gutierrez and Andrei Kirilenko, only McGee has actually appeared in a game for Philly this season, Smallwood adds. “One of the ways we are trying to build our team is to transact with other teams,” GM Sam Hinkie said, “to try to help other teams to solve their problems and help other teams with the issues they have as a way to try to build our future.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

New Kings coach George Karl said that if he had had Phil Jackson‘s job with the Knicks, he would make it a priority to pair Carmelo Anthony, his former player, with an elite point guard, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com writes. “I would go get a great point guard and then find some good big guys. I think you have a stud scorer [in Anthony] — get me a brain, get me a quarterback and then fill in the pieces with maybe second-tier big guys,” Karl said. “The efficiency of big men in this league, there’s only about five or six of them.”
Karl, who coached Anthony for parts of seven seasons in Denver, says that Anthony is at his best when paired with a strong point guard. Begley notes. “We had the most success when we had Andre Miller and/or Chauncey Billups — when we had a point guard that kind of orchestrated the rhythm of the offense,” Karl said. “And I just think, I’ve said for two years now, I think the NBA is a lot like the NFL. You get a quarterback and a good coach and you win games. And then the other pieces, you figure it out. I think Melo is still top three, top four, top five. I don’t know, some people put him in the top three. I personally wouldn’t put him in the top three. If he has a good orchestrator, he’s going to be a helluva scorer for you.”
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said that Chicago is still exploring its options regarding adding another player, Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com tweets. The Bulls currently have 14 players on their roster.

Nuggets Likely To Target D’Antoni, Gentry, Others

March 3rd, 2015 at 3:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:38pm: Denver is expected to make former Bulls and Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro a candidate for the job, and according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, who also hears mention of ex-Kings coach Michael Malone. Berger hints that’s true of Pelicans assistant Bryan Gates, Pacers assistant Nate McMillan and Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga, too, though that’s not entirely clear. In any case, the Nuggets will likely give Gentry “heavy consideration,” Berger writes.

1:10pm: The Nuggets have yet to any consider long-term candidates, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

1:01pm: Former Warriors coach Mark Jackson, current Warriors assistant coach Alvin Gentry and Bulls assistant Adrian Griffin are believed to be likely candidates to replace the fired Brian Shaw as Nuggets head coach, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick. One-time Mavs and Nets coach Avery Johnson and former Nuggets, Suns, Knicks and Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni are other likely candidates, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com, and a source who knows D’Antoni’s thinking told Amick that he would certainly be interested in the job. Still, the Nuggets indicated when they announced Shaw’s firing that Melvin Hunt would remain as interim coach through season’s end and that they would begin a search for a more permanent replacement after that. Sources confirm to Stein that the Nuggets will take a “long-term view” on their search (Twitter link).

D’Antoni recently suggested in a radio appearance with Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck and Ethan Skolnick that he had interest in returning to coach in the NBA (Twitlonger link; Twitter link). That was before Shaw’s firing, Beck cautions (on Twitter). D’Antoni resigned as Lakers coach last spring, and he got his start as an NBA coach with the 1999 Nuggets.

Jackson also coached as recently as last season, though his three-year Warriors stint is his only head coaching experience. Still, his name was linked to both the Magic and Kings openings earlier this season. Gentry has spent parts of 12 seasons as an NBA head coach, the last coming in 2012/13 with the Suns. That was Johnson’s last year of coaching, too, though he was only in charge of the Nets for the first 28 games that season. Johnson had more success in Dallas, where he took the team to the 2006 NBA Finals and won 67 games in 2006/07. Griffin has so far only served as an assistant coach with the Bucks and Bulls since the 2008/09 season, but Chicago promoted him before this season to lead assistant.

Kyler’s Latest: Love, Monroe, Gasol, Leonard

March 3rd, 2015 at 10:58am CST by Chuck Myron

The trade deadline is in the past and the focus is shifting to the draft and this year’s class of free agents. Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders takes a broad look at free agency for the summer ahead, passing along a number of noteworthy tidbits from his conversations around the league. His entire NBA AM piece is worth a read as he examines the outlook for several teams, and we’ll hit the highlights here:

The Celtics are planning to target marquee free agents this summer, with Kevin Love atop their list, followed by Greg Monroe, Kyler writes. Marc Gasol and restricted free agents Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler are others in Boston’s sights, sources tell Kyler. It appears the Celtics will look to re-sign Brandon Bass to a salary lower than the $6.9MM he’s making this season, Kyler suggests, also indicating a likelihood that the Celtics renounce Jonas Jerebko‘s rights. That wouldn’t preclude a new deal with Jerebko, something that Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reported earlier that the Celtics would like, though it does indicate that the C’s aim to open cap space. That’s a path of questionable merit, as I examined.
There’s a “sense” that the Sixers will make a play for Monroe, too, as well as Butler, Tobias Harris and Reggie Jackson, according to Kyler.
Monroe, Love and Rajon Rondo are at least willing to meet with the Lakers this summer, Kyler hears, though Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge are long shots for the team, the Basketball Insiders scribe cautions. Still, chatter is connecting the Lakers to just about every would-be free agent, including Jackson and Brandon Knight.
It’s unlikely that Rondo gets a full maximum-salary deal in free agency this summer, league sources tell Kyler, who surmises that teams would float short-term max offers instead. A full max from the Mavs would entail a five-year deal with 7.5% raises, while other teams can offer four years and 4.5% raises.
Sources also tell Kyler that they believe Monta Ellis will opt out this summer, which is no surprise given his level of play and the $8.72MM value of his player option.
Kyler also gets the sense that Paul Millsap is content with the Hawks and would like to stay for the long term, though it appears Atlanta is eyeing an upgrade at DeMarre Carroll‘s small forward position.
The Spurs will make Gasol their top free agent priority this summer, Kyler writes, though the team will have trouble signing him if Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili return at salaries comparable to the ones they’re making. In any case, San Antonio was believed to be the team with the most interest in Monroe last summer, Kyler adds.

Jimmy Butler Out Up To Six Weeks

March 2nd, 2015 at 1:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

Jimmy Butler will miss up to six weeks because of a left elbow injury, the team announced. Chicago’s estimated three-to-six-week timetable is lengthier on the back end than the three to four weeks that Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports originally reported earlier today. The regular season ends six weeks from Wednesday. There’s a chance he’s back before three weeks, a source cautions to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, who nonetheless indicates his absence will not be much briefer (Twitter link). The team refers to the malady as an ulnar ligament sprain and small bone impaction injury.

Chicago is carrying 14 players, one fewer than the 15-man limit, but the team abandoned plans to fill that open roster spot once GM Gar Forman announced Friday that the Bulls expected Derrick Rose to miss only four to six weeks with his latest knee injury. The Bulls reportedly had initial conversations with point guards Nate Robinson, Mike James and Jannero Pargo last week while they were thinking about adding to the team to compensate for Rose’s absence.

Taj Gibson is also out until at least mid-March. The Bulls would need another player to go down for an extended period of time before they would qualify for a 16th roster spot via hardship, but given their reluctance to use the 15th spot, it appears unlikely they’d apply for that provision unless under extreme duress. Coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters today in the wake of the news on Butler that the team already has enough help on its roster, as Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com notes (Twitter link). Still, the Bulls, who are limited to giving free agents only the minimum salary, have no pressing tax concerns as they did at this time last year, so tacking additional salary onto the payroll wouldn’t carry extra costs.

The Bulls have reportedly been planning to make Butler, set for restricted free agency this summer, a maximum-salary offer come July. He’s the team’s leading scorer at 20.2 points per game on a league-high 38.9 minutes per contest.

And-Ones: Butler, Bulls, Dragic, Muscala

March 1st, 2015 at 10:45pm CST by Zachary Links

Jimmy Butler is headed for an MRI exam on Monday after leaving the Bulls‘ game on Sunday in the third quarter with a hyperextended left elbow, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune writes. From that point, the Bulls should find out how much time Butler will miss, if any. Here’s more from around the Association..

Johnson also notes that ESPN analyst and former head coach Jeff Van Gundy continued his spat with Bulls management during Sunday’s telecast of Bulls-Clippers. Van Gundy went out of his way to mention executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson‘s trade of LaMarcus Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas.
For the Heat, the question that should be asked of Goran Dragic is not whether he is a good player, but whether he is the kind of player that can put them ahead of the Eastern Conference’s elite like the Cavs, Bulls, and Hawks in the long-term, Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders writes. In a league where there are plenty of capable point guards, one could make the case that the only ones with max salaries should be the ones that are either the final piece to a championship or an MVP-caliber performer. In Hamilton’s estimation, Dragic is neither.
The Hawks announced that they have assigned forward/center Mike Muscala to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the D-League. In five games with Fort Wayne this season, Muscala has averaged 14.4 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 1.6 APG, and 1.2 BPG. He has appeared in 20 games for the Hawks this season with averages of 3.6 PPG and 2.1 RPG in 8.4 minutes per contest. On Saturday night, he tallied four blocks against the Heat.

Central Notes: Monroe, Pistons, Rose

March 1st, 2015 at 8:42pm CST by Zachary Links

After getting kicked below the belt by James Harden, LeBron James is predictably none too pleased with the Rockets guard. “Obviously that’s not a basketball play,” the Cavs star said, according to Joe Vardon of The Plain Dealer. “Obviously the league will probably take a look at it. I have no idea why he would do that, but you know, just two competitors trying to go at it and he won this one.” Ultimately, it was the Rockets that won the game, 105-103 in overtime. Here’s more from the Central Division..

When asked if client Greg Monroe will consider the Pistons in free agency, agent David Falk responded, “absolutely, absolutely,” David Mayo of MLive.com writes. Meanwhile, he says that he hasn’t talked free agency with Monroe and only knows that finding the best fit will be the highest consideration. “Only the media discuss this kind of stuff during the season,” he said. “I don’t ever sit down game to game and take his temperature. It’s like the playoffs — the only thing that matters is where is his head at on July 1? We’ve got a long ways to go before we get there. It’s all speculation and he can change his mind 20 times between now and then. So I leave him alone. There’ll be a time for discussion and that time is not now.”
Pistons coach/exec Stan Van Gundy believes in stats and wants to beef up the team’s analytics staff, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. The Pistons were represented by four front-office members at the weekend’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference and SVG was a guest in previous years when he was between coaching jobs.
Just one day after having a meniscectomy to repair a torn medial meniscus in his right knee, Derrick Rose was back at the Bulls‘ training facility on Saturday beginning his rehab process, Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com writes. Rose is expected back on the floor within four-to-six weeks.

Derrick Rose To Miss Four To Six Weeks

February 27th, 2015 at 12:14pm CST by Eddie Scarito

1:14pm: Rose is “absolutely on board” with playing again this season, as Johnson hears from a source close to the point guard.

10:49am: Rose will be back on the practice floor in “another week,” Forman added, according to Friedell (Twitter link). The regular season ends in less than seven weeks.

FRIDAY, 10:33am: Bulls GM Gar Forman said Rose should be back in four to six weeks after surgery today that Forman deemed a minor procedure, tweets Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com.

THURSDAY, 3:54pm: Rose is scheduled to undergo surgery on Friday, the team announced in a press release. A timetable for Rose’s return to action will be determined after the procedure is completed. The oft-injured point guard is having his meniscus removed rather than repaired, which should allow for a shorter rehab period.

10:35pm: The belief is that this tear isn’t as extensive as the one that Rose suffered back in November of 2013 on the same knee, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune tweets.

TUESDAY, 9:50pm: Derrick Rose has suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee and will require surgery, the Bulls have announced in a press release. The injury was confirmed by an MRI administered earlier today. This is the same knee that Rose suffered a tear in last season, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com relays (Twitter link). The point guard will require surgery after which a timeline for Rose’s return will be announced by the team.

This is now the third major knee injury that Rose has suffered during his NBA career. He tore the ACL in his left knee during the first game of the 2011/12 playoffs, and required surgery to repair the damage. Rose would go on to miss the entire 2012/13 campaign as he worked his way back from the injury. The 26-year-old made his return to the court during the 2013/14 season, but surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee limited Rose to just 10 appearances that season. All told, Rose has only appeared in a total of 95 contests since the beginning of the 2011/12 campaign.

In 46 appearances this season Rose has averaged 18.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in 31.0 minutes per game. Rose’s career numbers through 335 appearances are 20.5 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 6.5 APG. His career slash line is .453/.306/.815.

Bulls Eye Mike James, Jannero Pargo

February 27th, 2015 at 11:40am CST by Chuck Myron

11:40am: Chicago no longer plans to fill its open roster spot in the wake of GM Gar Forman‘s declaration today that the team expects Rose back in four to six weeks, Johnson tweets.

9:54am: The Bulls have had preliminary conversations with the representatives for Mike James and Jannero Pargo, league sources tell K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. That’s in addition to exploratory talks with team has held with Nate Robinson, which Shams Charania of RealGM reported earlier this week and which Johnson confirms. Chicago is likely to fill its open roster spot regardless of the timetable for Derrick Rose‘s recovery from his torn meniscus, Johnson writes, though the team won’t necessarily sign a guard, sources told the Tribune scribe. Johnson indicated Thursday that the team’s decision regarding that 15th roster spot would hinge on whether Rose is out for the season.

There’s “considerable optimism” that the tear in Rose’s right meniscus is small, Johnson has heard. If that’s the case and only a small part of the meniscus is trimmed during surgery today, the likely timetable “could” be three to six weeks, according to Johnson. Still, a quick return entails Rose coming back to on-court activity but not necessarily to games, Johnson cautions (Twitter link).

James is certainly no stranger to the Bulls, having signed seven different contracts with the team since January 2012. The 39-year-old point guard is averaging 15.0 points, 6.4 assists and 3.4 turnovers in 33.1 minutes per game for the Mavericks D-League affiliate. James, a client of Bernie Lee, is only two years removed from having finished the season as the starting point guard for the big club in Dallas.

Pargo is another former Bull, having signed with Chicago on five previous occasions, though the Mark Bartelstein client’s last action for the team took place in 2009/10. His health is a question mark, and Hornets coach Steve Clifford said at the beginning of the month that he wasn’t close to being able to play, citing that as the reason Charlotte cut him loose to ink Elliot Williams to a 10-day contract instead in the wake of Kemba Walker‘s injury. The Hornets apparently weren’t ruling out a reunion with Pargo, but that was before the team let go of Elliot Williams to trade for Mo Williams.

The Bulls only have the prorated minimum salary to offer. Still, they’re nowhere close to the luxury tax threshold as they were last year, so they have some financial flexibility.