Spurs Waive Daye, Sign Green To 10-Day Deal
SUNDAY, 10:10am: The Spurs have officially signed Green to a 10-day contract, the team announced in a press release.
SATURDAY, 1:07pm: The Spurs have officially waived Daye, the team has announced.
11:10am: The Spurs will waive Austin Daye in order to clear a roster spot for JaMychal Green, who they will ink to a 10-day contract, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). Green had also reportedly garnered interest from the Bulls, Knicks, and Grizzlies. San Antonio currently has the league maximum 15 players on its roster.
Green, 24, is averaging 23.0 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists this season for the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s D-League affiliate. The 6’9″ forward was in training camp with the Spurs, but was waived on October 25th as the team pared down its training camp roster.
The 26-year-old Daye has appeared in 26 games for the Spurs this season, including four as a starter. He has averaged 4.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and has a slash line of .351/.339/1.000. Daye is in the final year of his contract, and San Antonio will be on the hook for the remainder of his $1,063,384 salary that he is owed for the season, barring the unlikely event that another team claims him off waivers.
Central Notes: Datome, Blatt, Noah
The Pistons sent Gigi Datome to their D-League affiliate on Wednesday, an assignment the player wasn’t happy about, David Mayo of MLive writes. “You know what? Not really,” Detroit’s president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy said when asked if Datome was excited about the move. “There’s sort of a … he’s leaving the NBA, he’s a little older, he’s not a 21-year-old guy. So no, not really. But hopefully, when he gets down there to California, and gets practicing, and gets ready to play, and is getting ready for a game that he knows he’s going to get a chance to play in, hopefully he will get enthused about it.” Datome is reportedly on the trading block.
Here’s the latest from the Central Division:
- Van Gundy was honest when he said that he had a few second thoughts about his decision to accept the job in Detroit when the Pistons began the season with a 5-23 record, Ethan Skolnick of Bleacher Report writes. “What I started doubting, quite honestly, at 5-23, was myself,” Van Gundy said. “After being out two years and being 5-23, I’d be lying if I tell you I wasn’t doubting myself as a coach. There’s no question, as a coach. I’ve never doubted our organization and what we’re doing and the ability we have down the road. Even at 5-23, I had confidence in everybody else in the organization but myself. Yes. That’s where it suffered.”
- Bulls center Joakim Noah is still trying to regain his form after undergoing offseason knee surgery, a process that hasn’t gone as quickly or smoothly as the player had hoped, Doug Padilla of ESPNChicago.com writes.
- David Blatt was hired by the Cavs with the reputation and track record of being a great coach, but he hasn’t quite lived up to that pedigree since taking over in Cleveland, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today writes. The large amount of roster turnover and the injuries the team has dealt with explain some of the team’s difficulties, notes Zillgitt. But other contributing factors to the Cavs’ struggles this season are that Blatt is an unknown around the league, his players haven’t quite bought into his system, and they may not trust enough in him yet, Zillgitt adds.
Atlantic Notes: Green, Ainge, Knicks
JaMychal Green, who plays for the Austin Toros, San Antonio’s D-League affiliate, is garnering interest from the Knicks, Spurs, and Bulls for a possible 10-day contract, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). Green was in training camp with San Antonio this year. Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- The Celtics could end up with as many as four first-rounders in the 2015 NBA draft, depending on how the protections attached to some of the picks shake out. In an interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub (hat tip to Ben Rohrbach of WEEI 93.7 FM), Boston’s president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said of the upcoming draft, “It’s a decent draft, not spectacular.“
- Ainge, who has been stockpiling future picks in the deals he has made for Rajon Rondo, Jeff Green, and Austin Rivers, added, “In a perfect world, I would like to trade picks for proven, quality players. That’s a perfect world,” Rohrbach tweets.
- Explaining why he has acquired so many future draft picks in his various deals this season if his preference was for proven players, Ainge said that it is difficult to obtain superstar talent outside of the draft in today’s NBA, Rohrbach relays (Twitter link).
- The Knicks need to break the franchise’s pattern of sacrificing the future for the present, Christopher Reina of RealGM opines. One change that Reina posits could help is for Phil Jackson to hire a workaholic GM who would continue to tear down the roster and concentrate on accumulating assets, not salary cap space.
- The Pelicans’ rebuilding plan is one that Sixers GM Sam Hinkie hopes to emulate, Mike Sielski of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. The Pelicans accumulated assets, similar to what Hinkie is doing, and used them to acquire players like Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans through trades. While it can be argued that mimicking New Orleans, with its 19-19 record, isn’t necessarily shooting for the moon, if the Pelicans were in the East, they would currently occupy the sixth playoff seed.
Central Notes: Haywood, Martin, Bulls
There are a number of executives around the league who believe that the Cavaliers aren’t finished reworking their roster, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). Cleveland is most likely going to try and trade center Brendan Haywood, whose $10.5MM contract for the 2015/16 season is non-guaranteed, Kennedy notes.
Here’s more out of the Central Division:
- Cleveland’s salary cap outlook has changed markedly with all of its recent additions, and Nate Duncan of Basketball Insiders took an in-depth look at how the Cavs‘ finances and cap space were altered by these deals. Duncan also notes that Haywood’s contract could be used as a trade piece, but adds that Cleveland would likely have to add another asset as a sweetener in any deal, something its previous deals have left in short supply.
- Bucks coach Jason Kidd doesn’t think it will take long for Kenyon Martin, who was recently inked to a 10-day contract, to acclimate to his new team, Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel writes. “Just in shootaround, you could see the difference in his voice, helping guys out,” Kidd said. “We want to put him in a good position so if the game presents itself where he can get a couple minutes, yes. He’s not shy, so that helps for these young guys understanding what it takes to win.”
- The Bucks would like to keep Martin for the remainder of the season, Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times reports (Twitter link). Teams can ink players to a maximum of two 10-day contracts per season before they either have to release them or sign them to a guaranteed contract that covers the rest of the season.
- One issue that the Bulls still need to address is finding a reliable backup for swingman Jimmy Butler, Steve Aschburner of NBA.com writes.
- The Pistons‘ sudden winning ways have altered the team’s immediate plans to give rookie Spencer Dinwiddie more NBA playing time, Keith Langlois of NBA.com writes. “They’re playing really well,” coach Stan Van Gundy said. “We’ve had to change our approach from early in the year. That was a change in approach at 5 and 23. So right now, that whole thing with Spencer has to be on hold right because of how well we’re playing. You’re always adjusting within a game and within a season. This has been sort of a crazy first half of the season, in terms of you lose 13 in a row, then you win seven in a row. It’s sort of hard to wrap your head around, quite honestly.“
Eastern Notes: Wroten, Taylor, Butler
CSNPhilly.com’s John Gonzalez took an in-depth look at the potential trade value of Tony Wroten, who was rumored to be the subject of trade discussions between the Clippers and the Sixers earlier this week. A pair of league executives told Gonzalez that Wroten could possibly net GM Sam Hinkie two second-rounders, and another said that it would be difficult to get fair value for Wroten, so it would be wiser to hang on to the guard. Philadelphia currently owns a whopping 15 second round draft picks between now and 2020.
Here’s more from the East:
- The Hornets have recalled Jeffery Taylor from the Austin Spurs of the NBA D-League, the team has announced. In four games with the Spurs he averaged 11.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 26.2 minutes per contest. This was Taylor’s initial jaunt of the season to the D-League.
- Rasual Butler had the remainder of his contract guaranteed for the season when he remained on the Wizards’ roster past Wednesday’s deadline. The veteran swingman’s play has made him an integral part of Washington’s rotation, and Butler also has a fan in Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post writes. Thibodeau, who briefly coached Butler in Chicago, said of his former player, “I think it’s the perfect fit for him and he’s a great pro. He’s a guy who plays year-round and stays in great shape. And I think when you look at what John Wall does and you look at what Andre Miller does, he’s the perfect fit because he creates space and his career says how well he can shoot the three. But to be doing it at this stage of his career is a real credit to him. But we always felt strongly about his professionalism, his attitude, how much he loved he game. And the shooting part, that’s never going to go away.”
- Despite all of the Knicks‘ struggles this season, first year coach Derek Fisher‘s confidence hasn’t wavered, and he believes this turbulent campaign will help him become a better coach, Al Iannazzone of Newsday writes.
Bulls Plan Max Offer For Jimmy Butler
The Bulls fully expect to re-sign Jimmy Butler to a new maximum-salary deal in the summer, and they accept that the contract would put the club in position to pay the luxury tax, reports David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune. Bulls officials are planning a “proactive approach” to have Butler put pen to paper with them before he entertains offers from other clubs in restricted free agency, according to Haugh. Butler will be eligible for a starting salary worth about 25% of next season’s salary cap, unless he wins the MVP and triggers the Derrick Rose Rule, which would allow him about 30% of the cap. The latest league projection indicates that the 25% max will come in at $15.5MM, though that figure won’t be set in stone until July.
Some described the negotiations between Butler and the Bulls this past fall as contentious, according to Haugh, but Butler made it clear in his remarks after passing on an extension offer that reportedly would have entailed $11MM salaries that he’s intent on a long-term future in Chicago. The 25-year-old swingman has since embarked on a career year, but fellow Tribune scribe K.C. Johnson wrote in December that it would be surprising if the Bulls didn’t match any offer that Butler was to receive this summer, seemingly indicating the team’s willingness to pay the max one way or another.
Several executives from around the NBA told Sean Deveney of The Sporting News last month that they believed that Butler would command the max if he kept up his strong start to the season. Butler continues to showcase remarkable gains on the offensive end, averaging 21.7 points per game and 47.8% shooting after putting up 13.1 PPG and 39.7% shooting last season. Butler and agent Happy Walters asked for $14MM a year in extension talks but would have been willing to settle for between $12.5 and $13MM, according to Deveney, so it’s becoming clear that Chicago cost itself when the sides didn’t close a deal.
The former 30th overall pick went from unranked in the first edition of the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings, published shortly after the season began, to No. 5 on the latest list, which came out about a month ago. He’s maintained the strong defense that’s long been his hallmark and put up a 22.3 PER that’s the 14th-best mark in the league, according to Basketball-Reference.
Chicago already has nearly $60.2MM in commitments for seven players next season, not counting a player option of almost $2.855MM for Kirk Hinrich. The luxury tax line is projected to come in around $81MM, as Deveney also wrote, so while it seems conceivable that the Bulls could avoid becoming a taxpayer, it would be difficult. The Bulls have been eyeing a lucrative commitment to Butler since the Luol Deng trade a year ago, Haugh writes, noting that the swap helped the team avoid the tax last season and this season, which would have set up Chicago for repeat-offender tax penalties.
And-Ones: Cauley-Stein, Warriors, Rondo
Kentucky center Willie Cauley-Stein could be climbing his way into top five of the 2015 Draft, Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders writes. Cauley-Stein has been projected as a mid-to-late first round pick in the last two years but each time opted to stay in school for more seasoning. It seemed unlikely that he could boost his stock further, but he has done just that this season. DraftExpress currently has the junior at No. 4 in their 2015 mock draft. More from around the league..
- The Warriors announced that they have recalled center Ognjen Kuzmic from their D-League affiliate in Santa Cruz. Kuzmic recorded six points, eight rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block in last night’s 98-83 victory over the Canton Charge. The brief trip was Kuzmic’s third assignment of the year.
- Since the Rajon Rondo deal, the Celtics have seen a significant dip in rebounding, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. Prior to the trade, Boston was ranked eleventh in the league in rebounding with 44.2 per game. In the eight games since, the C’s are down to 41.9 rebounds, which ranks 21st in the league.
- Trade season is fast approaching and EJ Ayala of Basketball Insiders looked at six players to keep an eye on over the next several weeks. Nets guard Deron Williams, who has been bumped from the starting lineup in favor of Jarrett Jack, tops the list.
- The Bulls‘ 2011 draft is shaping up to be one of the most influential in franchise history, writes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. The 2011 draft brought the Bulls both Nikola Mirotic and Jimmy Butler, two players who are pillars of their current squad.
Eastern Notes: Sixers, Bosh, Mirotic, Hawks
The Sixers have played as well as expected this season and Tom Moore of Calkins Media wonders if Joel Embiid is the only star-caliber player on the roster. He admits that Michael Carter-Williams, Nerlens Noel and even Tony Wroten are serviceable NBA players, but none are likely to lead a team deep into the playoffs. At 4-27, Philadelphia currently owns the worst record in the league, which would guarantee the team a top four draft pick. You can follow our reverse standings to see which teams have the inside track to the top picks in the 2015 draft.
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Chris Bosh didn’t foresee the Heat struggling this season but believes he can lead the team into the playoffs, writes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. “I wanted to see if I [was] able [to] have that increased role and still be successful. It’s out there in front of me and it’s out in front of this team. I just have to make sure I do my part in making sure we don’t lose track of what’s important,” Bosh said. The 11-year veteran has missed eight games this season due to injury and Miami is 11-14 with him in the lineup.
- Bulls fans can thank the sign-and-trade that sent Carlos Boozer to the Bulls for having Nikola Mirotic on the team, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune explains. The Jazz agreed to send a second-round pick to Chicago for allowing them to make Boozer’s departure a sign-and-trade. Then, the Bulls parlayed that second-rounder into the draft rights of Mirotic during the 2011 draft.
- The uncertainty surrounding the ownership of the Hawks hasn’t impacted the team on the court this season, writes Shaun Powell of NBA.com. The current owners of the Hawks have agreed to sell 100% of the team. Meanwhile, on the court, Atlanta sits atop the Eastern Conference with a record of 25-8.
Eastern Notes: Butler, Pistons, Bass, Woodson
Jimmy Butler is keeping up his stellar play, and as he seems poised to cash in during restricted free agency in the summer ahead, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau made it clear on Monday that the team remains committed to keeping him, as Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com writes.
“I think all of us that have been around him know who Jimmy is and we all value who he is,” Thibodeau said. “Those are business decisions that he [and] his agent have to make. Our organization feels very strongly about him. We want him here for a long time so that’ll all take care of itself in the end.”
While we wait to see how it works out for Butler, who went from unranked to the No. 5 position in the latest Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings, here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- The offers the Kings made to the Pistons for Josh Smith weren’t as clear-cut as they’ve been reported, sources have told MLive’s David Mayo. Van Gundy blundered when he gave Smith too much responsibility in the team’s offense, opines Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News, and that he didn’t alter that even as he was mulling the idea of waiving Smith throughout the month of December is even more perplexing, Mayo believes.
- Brandon Bass let it be known that he has no desire to follow Rajon Rondo out of Boston, saying he isn’t “into looking and searching for a team to go to win a championship,” observes Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. Bass, on an expiring contract worth $6.9MM this season, nonetheless remains an intriguing trade chip for the Celtics if they wish to move him. His playing time has dipped significantly since the acquisition of Brandan Wright in the Rondo trade, notes Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.
- Mike Woodson called his time coaching the Knicks a “wonderful experience” as he spoke Monday to reporters, including Marc Berman of the New York Post. Woodson, now a Clippers assistant coach, said he was intent on taking this season off until Doc Rivers, a friend, prevailed on him to join his staff, as Berman also notes.
And-Ones: Pistons, Heslip, Clippers, Bulls, Cavs
Pistons coach president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy made it a priority to dedicate an unusual amount of manpower to pro scouting, as Keith Langlois of Pistons.com details. The ability to prepare has Van Gundy more comfortable about the team’s prospects in free agency this coming summer as opposed to this past offseason, when he was new on the job, Langlois notes.
“You don’t want to make a mistake in the draft, but the way it’s set up now, if you make a mistake in the draft at least it’s low cost,” Van Gundy said. If you’re going to go out and spend $14MM a year, $15MM a year on a guy and you make a mistake, now you’re really hurting. So I just want to weight [pro scouting] a little bit more.”
It’ll be interesting to see how that emphasis plays out with the Pistons poised for a high draft pick in 2015. Here’s more from around the league.
- Timberwolves camp cut and D-League leading scorer Brady Heslip will sign with Banvit of Turkey, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). Heslip, who’s been playing for Sacramento’s affiliate, had drawn interest from the Clippers, according to Gino Pilato of D-League Digest (on Twitter). The Kings were reportedly giving him strong consideration for a spot on their NBA roster before they fired coach Michael Malone.
- Clippers players aren’t getting along, a source close to the team tells TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. The Clips, who have title aspirations, are 20-11 and in sixth place in the Western Conference.
- Tom Thibodeau pushed the Bulls to sign Aaron Brooks this past summer as he worried that Derrick Rose would struggle at the start of the season, Aldridge writes in the same piece. Rose hasn’t quite looked his former MVP self, averaging 18.1 points and 4.8 assists and missing 10 of the team’s 30 games, while Brooks has performed capably as a backup, putting up 11.3 PPG and 3.3 APG in 20.3 minutes per night.
- There’s little doubt around the league that David Blatt can coach, but the question was always about whether the Cavs would accept his coaching, and it appears they haven’t been doing so, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com believes (All Twitter links). Stein wonders whether the players, and LeBron James in particular, have given Blatt a fair chance.