Central Rumors: Irving, Martin, Rose
The leading story in the Central Division, and around the NBA, surrounds Kyrie Irving and his alleged discontent with the Cavaliers. It’s in the team’s best interests to mend fences with the star point guard, as multiple Cleveland-area writers have written, but the Cavs still wield most, if not all of the leverage. Irving would be a “raving lunatic” if he passed up a max extension from the team this summer, opines Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Here’s more on the Cavs and their Central Division rivals:
- The Bulls have no immediate plans to re-sign Cartier Martin, whose second 10-day contract expired this week, but Tom Thibodeau won’t rule out the idea of bringing him back later this season, notes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
- In the same piece, Thibodeau admits that Derrick Rose could begin practicing with the team later this season. The Bulls have maintained that Rose is out for the season, but Rose has left the door open for a return during the playoffs.
- Executives around the league believe the Cavs are hesitant to send No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett to the D-League because they think it would look like an admission of failure on their part, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com.
- With landing the No. 1 pick seemingly the best-case scenario for the Bucks this year, Matt Velazquez of the Journal Sentinel explains that it’s no panacea.
Odds & Ends: Durant, ‘Melo, Rockets
There are plenty of things to look forward to tonight in the NBA, including the announcement of the All-Star game reserves as well as the follow-up showdown between the Warriors and Clippers, whose Christmas Day match-up gave us a taste of how intriguing the playoff atmosphere in the Western Conference could be come April. Shortly after the 105-103 loss, Clippers forward Blake Griffin spoke about being ejected and didn’t seem too happy with Golden State:
“If you look at it, I didn’t do anything and I got thrown out of the game. It all boils down to they (referees) fell for it…To me, it’s cowardly basketball. I don’t know their intentions, but it worked…If I knew the answer I’d probably be in a different position. Tonight I got two technicals for nothing.”
Although Warriors coach Mark Jackson continues to insist that LAC-GSW isn’t a rivalry, Matt Moore of CBS Sports provides the evidence which suggests otherwise. In the meantime, here are some links to pass along from around the Association this afternoon:
- Kevin Durant‘s decision this summer to sign with Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports agency came from a desire to enhance his off-court marketing, and it had nothing to do with his feelings about Oklahoma City, sources tell Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
- An agent with ties to the Knicks tells Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling that he thinks Carmelo Anthony is “too Hollywood” to choose the Bulls in free agency and prefers New York or Los Angeles instead.
- Some executives around the league were put off by the public negotiating the Rockets did when Omer Asik was on the block, and other front-office types were annoyed with Houston’s boasts after the Dwight Howard signing, as Zwerling reports in the same piece.
- The Bulls would be “ecstatic” if Nikola Mirotic signed this summer for the mid-level exception, tweets Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. He’s almost certainly referring to the non-taxpayer’s mid-level, which would allow for a starting salary of $5.305MM.
- Marco Belinelli says the Bulls didn’t make an offer to re-sign him this past summer, and he finds that surprising, as Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com observes. The Bulls chose to sign Mike Dunleavy instead, reportedly because they felt he was a better fit with Derrick Rose.
- Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays a report from El Mundo Deportivo that China and Russia have decided to withdraw their bids from the FIFA World Cup Wild Card. Ryan Wosltat of the Toronto Sun (via Twitter) says that with those two teams out of the picture and Brazil, Greece, and Turkey locks for the tournament, then Canada should have a shot to make it as well.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Paxson On Rose, Cap Space, Deng, Trades
Derrick Rose has long maintained that he doesn’t like to recruit other players to Chicago, and Bulls executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson doesn’t think that stance puts the team at a disadvantage, as Paxson said on ESPN Chicago 1000’s “The Waddle & Silvy Show.” Paxson said he wouldn’t have been comfortable recruiting during his playing days, either. The sharpshooter-turned-executive had plenty more to say about the state of the Bulls, as we highlight via transcriptions from ESPNChicago.com and Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders:
On whether the team will try to clear room to ink a max-salary free agent this summer:
“Not necessarily, because we have other avenues. We still have some short-term contracts that can be used in deals and we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. It’s tough to play that game thinking that you’re just going to unload, unload, unload and try to have as much money [as possible]. Sometimes you can have too much, I guess.”
On the team’s motivation for trading Luol Deng:
“The reason for doing the Deng deal has been obvious, we’ve stated it a number of times. It doesn’t put us in a position right now to have max cap room this summer but it does give us the opportunity to have the ability to go out and pursue some guys and look at different avenues, whether it’s through trading players or trading for players.”
On his approach at the trade deadline next month:
“It’s a process. Now if somebody comes — we’ve got three weeks now until the trade deadline and there hasn’t really been any chatter at all from teams yet, but that’s often the case when you’re three weeks away — we’ll listen. But we’re still a team that has played pretty well, and we like a lot of our pieces and we’ll see where the year goes. People know that our guys don’t quit, our coach doesn’t quit and we don’t quit, and we’re just going to keep fighting away.”
On the luxury tax and the perception of the Bulls as being cheap:
“I can tell you about what’s happened recently. We came into the season with a high payroll, in the tax for the second straight year. With Derrick’s injury and other things we made the decision to move Luol and get under the luxury tax this year to give us some flexibility for years going forward. From the business standpoint we felt it was the right thing to do and you have to think that way; it is just a reality of the business. You hear those things [about being cheap], but to feel like you have to go out and respond to everyone, you just end up chasing your tail and it’s really not worth it. I know we work for a terrific owner and an organization that is willing to spend; we just don’t want to spend foolishly, and I think 90 percent of the teams in this league think that way.”
Bulls Won’t Re-Sign Cartier Martin
Cartier Martin‘s second 10-day contract with the Bulls expired last night, and Chicago won’t re-sign him for the rest of the season, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.com. Teams are limited to handing out only a pair of 10-day deals to a player before they must decide whether to keep him for the season or part ways.
A report surfaced within an hour of the team’s announcement of Martin’s second 10-day contract that the Bulls hoped to re-sign the Andrew Vye client for the season, so it isn’t clear whether the decision not to do so came from Chicago or from Martin’s camp. The Bulls are perilously close to luxury tax territory, as I explained earlier this month, so perhaps Chicago grew skittish about committing the bulk of its remaining room beneath the tax threshold to the 29-year-old. Today’s news could be a boon for Mike James, whose first 10-day contract with the team expires after Friday night. The Bulls are at 13 players without Martin, and they can’t carry fewer than that for more than two weeks at a time.
Tom Thibodeau was supportive of Martin sticking around for the rest of the season, Charania tweets, so maybe this is another sign of disconnect between the Bulls coach and front office. Martin averaged just 2.5 points in 8.0 minutes per game over six appearances, though he made 62.5% of his field goal attempts in the small sample size.
Broussard’s Latest: Carmelo, Rondo, Love
Most of the executives to whom ESPN Insider’s Chris Broussard has spoken believe the Bulls will make a run at Carmelo Anthony this summer. Some are “completely convinced” Chicago will go after him, Broussard writes. A rival GM thinks the team’s confidence in Nikola Mirotic‘s ability will play heavily into the team’s decision regarding Anthony. A report in recent days indicated the Bulls are among the front runners for last year’s scoring champ. Broussard has plenty more in latest piece, and we’ll round it up here:
- Rajon Rondo quickly ended extension talks with the Celtics, and the discussions didn’t even get to the numbers stage, according to Broussard, who says the point guard wants to keep his options open as he seeks a payday and a winning situation. Rondo has expressed his commitment to Boston, but the Knicks, who remain interested in trading for him, view him as the perfect complement to Anthony.
- A GM tells Broussard that it’s “a 100% certainty” that Kevin Love will sign with the Lakers after next season. Most executives who’ve spoken to the ESPN.com scribe also believe the former UCLA star is headed for the purple-and-gold.
- The Lakers might be willing to overpay Eric Bledsoe to bring him aboard via restricted free agency this summer, a source tells Broussard. Suns owner Robert Sarver has indicated he’s willing to match any offer for the point guard, so it’d be a surprise if Bledsoe wound up back in L.A.
- If the Celtics, who are looking to clear cap room, can find takers for Gerald Wallace, Jeff Green and Avery Bradley, “they’re gone,” Broussard says. It’s not a surprise that GM Danny Ainge would be quick to unload Wallace, but his apparent enthusiasm for moving Green and Bradley is noteworthy.
- The Raptors had engaged in trade talk with other clubs about DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry before their run to the top of the Atlantic Division, but Toronto is no longer looking to move DeRozan, barring an substantial offer. Broussard hears the Raptors are not high enough on Lowry to offer him a sizable contract when he hits free agency this summer, but an opposing GM thinks Toronto will hang on to Lowry through the trade deadline because of fears about alienating the fan base.
- The Pacers will only trade Danny Granger if another team “blows them away” with an offer, Broussard writes.
- Broussard detects a strong sense around the league that the Pistons are eager to trade Josh Smith.
- The Sixers would be willing to take back a little bit of salary to acquire draft picks for their veterans, according to Broussard. I assume he’s referring to long-term salary commitments rather than players on expiring deals.
- The strong play of the Grizzlies has quieted chatter surrounding Zach Randolph, Broussard reports.
- The Heat are interested in Andrew Bynum, but they’re unwilling to pay him more than the minumum salary, an executive tells Broussard. Bynum is reportedly holding out for more than that.
- GMs who spoke to Broussard identified the following players as candidates to be traded before the deadline: Andre Miller, Jameer Nelson, Emeka Okafor, Kenneth Faried, Shawn Marion, Dion Waiters, Jarrett Jack, Francisco Garcia and Arron Afflalo.
Knicks Rumors: Carmelo, Aldrich, Murry, Tyler
The Knicks earned a measure of revenge Tuesday night for their 41-point loss to the Celtics earlier this season, turning the tables in a 26-point victory. Still, the Knicks are a half-game out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and mystery surrounds the matter of where Carmelo Anthony will play next season. There’s more on that amid the latest from Madison Square Garden.
- Anthony brushed off inquiries on Tuesday about a weekend report suggesting he’d like to join the Bulls, cutting off a reporter in the middle of a question that seemingly was to be about whether he’d ever considered playing in Chicago. Anthony did allow for a full question about whether he had a relationship with Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, but last year’s scoring champ replied that he didn’t, as Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times observes.
- The Knicks have assigned Cole Aldrich, Toure’ Murry and Jeremy Tyler to the D-League, the team announced via Twitter. All three will practice today with the Erie BayHawks, who are spending the next few days at the Knicks training facility. The Knicks plan to recall them tomorrow, the team also tweets.
- The BayHawks also spent a break in their schedule last season working at the facility, and that’s when New York assigned Amar’e Stoudemire, Chris Copeland and James White to join the BayHawks as they practiced, notes Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside. Schlosser didn’t count on the Knicks making similar assignments this year, but New York doesn’t play again until Thursday night, so it doesn’t sound like Aldrich, Murry or Tyler will miss any time for the big club.
Central Notes: Stephenson, Bulls
The Bulls have continued to win a surprising amount of games after trading Luol Deng to the Cavs. Taj Gibson told reporters, including K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune, he believes they can keep winning, even as they embark on a 6-game road trip against Western Conference opponents. Here are some other notes from the Central Division:
- While Lance Stephenson won’t hint much at his pending unrestricted free agency, his parents tell Mark Montieth of Pacers.com that they are optimistic he will stay with the Pacers. The guard, enjoying a breakout season, was told by team president Larry Bird that an extension was on the way. “I listened to Larry Bird (at the press conference to announce Paul George‘s long-term contract last summer) say, ‘Lance, you’ll be sitting here with your dad.’ That’s what we believe,” Stephenson’s father says. “Until otherwise, that’s the plan. Larry Bird said that and we bought into it. We believe it, Lance believes it.”
- Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf told WGN’s Rich King on Monday that the Bulls will sign Nikola Mirotic no later than the summer of 2015, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune transcribes. The Bulls own the rights to Mirotic, who is currently playing in Spain.
- Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders thinks that the Bulls would benefit from trading for Carmelo Anthony before the trade deadline. In a hypothetical trade package, Beer likes the idea of Chicago parting with Jimmy Butler, Carlos Boozer, Tony Snell, Kirk Hinrich and two draft picks to obtain Anthony, Iman Shumpert, and Raymond Felton. “A starting five of Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, Carmelo Anthony, Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah would be an awfully intriguing starting unit,” Beer explains. “Felton would serve as insurance for Rose, in case the former MVP has any hiccups in his return from injury. And once Rose is back and completely healthy, Felton would be a solid back-up point guard, and could also, at times, play alongside Rose in the same backcourt.”
NYC Notes: Carmelo, Bulls, Nets, Teletovic
As the Knicks and Lakers prepare to meet this afternoon much anticipation surrounds Carmelo Anthony‘s response to his 62-point performance Friday night. Having broken Kobe Bryant‘s Madison Square Garden point record, this matchup would have brought much more hype had Bryant been able to defend his recently broken record. Instead, Kobe sits at the end of the bench recovering from a knee injury. Bryant’s visit will not be all for naught as Marc Berman of the New York Post suspects he will spend this trip recruiting Anthony to sign with Los Angeles next summer. Berman can’t imagine Anthony having much interest in the Lakers while head coach Mike D’Antoni is still at the helm considering their differences lost D’Antoni his job in New York but “the Lakers have cap space and the Clippers and the Bulls — at the moment — don’t.”
Time will tell how effective a sales pitch Kobe makes today. In the meantime, some other notes around the Big Apple.
- As we pointed out yesterday, the Bulls are gaining traction as a destination spot for Carmelo this summer and are “much more in play than L.A.”. However, Chicago Tribune reporter K.C. Johnson cautions against those rumors as he believes Anthony in a Bulls jersey is an “extreme long shot”. Johnson points to the fact the Bulls could amnesty Carlos Boozer and still not be anywhere near the cap space needed to give Anthony the maximum contract he will be seeking. According to Johnson, the Bulls would have to also trade away either Taj Gibson or Mike Dunleavy and still hope Anthony will take a discount in order to join a coach and point guard he admires. Johnson does point out that a sign-and-trade involving Boozer and the Knicks could be more likely.
- Speaking of those Anthony-to-Bulls rumors, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times claims the Bulls aren’t letting those rumors distract them. Head coach Tom Thibodeau told Cowley “[the Bulls have] gotten used to [the media’s rumors].” Cowley adds that he doesn’t believe Anthony heading to the Bulls is impossible but “the Bulls would have to be willing to go back over the luxury-tax threshold they just escaped.” They would also have to amnesty Boozer, as Cowley reiterates.
- Turning our attention five miles south, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban relayed to Dwain Price of the Star-Telgram that he “had no doubts Jason Kidd would eventually get the Brooklyn Nets turned around.” Cuban has maintained his “great relationship” with his former point guard and believes Kidd’s close relationship with Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle “is paying dividends for the Nets right now.” Cuban believes Carlisle to be “one of the two or three best (coaches) in the game at in-game adjustments and play-calling, and I’m sure (Kidd) picked up more than a few pointers when he played for Rick.”
- Observing the Nets after beating Cuban’s Mavericks on Friday to improve to 9-1 of late, Beckley Mason of The New York Times believes the Nets have transformed since the beginning of this season, allowing them to exceed previous limitations. Mason attributes the Nets unique lineups, increase in defensive intensity, and ability for any player on the roster to take over each night as reasons for the sudden change in Brooklyn.
- Evidence of the ability of any Net to take over on a given night, Mirza Teletovic is “making the most of his chance,” as Lenn Robbins of BrooklynNets.com reports, after Teletovic scored a career-high 34 points against the Mavericks. Teletovic credits the Nets’ abundance of shooters as the reason “the guy from Europe [was left] open,” but Deron Williams believes Teletovic is “a competitor… making the most of [the opportunity].”
Hawks, Bucks Receive Disabled Player Exception
While no one wishes for season ending injuries, they have allowed the Hawks and Bucks to apply for the salary cap exception designed to help teams recover from their unplanned losses. In response to their applications, the NBA has granted both teams a disabled player exception reports Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Under the disabled player exception, a team can acquire a player for the lesser of 50% of the salary of the player they lost or the standard mid-level exception. We were aware Atlanta would likely be without Al Horford for the remainder of this season but it now appears the Bucks are giving up hope for Carlos Delfino to return this season from his foot injury.
Horford’s $12MM salary caused the league to grant the Hawks a disabled player exception worth the mid-level exception of $5.15MM. However, Delfino’s $3.25MM salary only allowed the Bucks to receive a disabled player exception worth $1.63MM.
The disabled player exception must be applied for before January 15th so it appears only the Hawks and Bucks will join the Nets as teams granted this exception this season. The Nets were granted an exception worth $5.15MM after losing Brook Lopez to a foot injury.
This also indicates the Bulls were not granted or did not apply for a disabled player exception due to the injury to Derrick Rose. The Bulls may not have applied for this exception due to the fact they have spent all season trying to avoid the luxury tax and signing a player under this exception would contradict those efforts.
Each of these teams has until March 10th to use its respective exception to sign one free agent for the rest of the season. Alternatively, each team may take until February 20th to trade for a player on an expiring contract that’s worth no more than the exception plus $100K.
Charles Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes (via Twitter) the Bucks roster is at the league maximum 15 players. If Milwaukee plans to use this exception their roster size will limit them to either trading for someone or cutting a player already on their roster. The Hawks are also at the league maximum but have to make a decision next Saturday whether they will sign James Nunnally for the rest of the season or reduce their roster to 14 players.
Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Melo, Nets
Carmelo Anthony‘s 62-point performance against the Bobcats last night sure was something to behold, right? Well, not if you’re former Knicks center turned Charlotte assistant coach Patrick Ewing. “I’m upset right now because we just lost,” Ewing told reporters, including Marc Berman of the New York Post. “I’m not talking. I have no comment on what happened.’’ He did offer some praise for ‘Melo, but when questions persisted about Anthony, Ewing got impatient, saying, “Man, I’m done.’,’ Man, it’s the morning, so we’re just getting started. Here’s a look at the Atlantic Division..
- With free agency looming, Anthony reminded everyone, and maybe even himself, why he came to New York, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Despite what could be a lost season for the Knicks, the star has been surprisingly reserved about lodging public complaints about the team.
- “Chicago is much more in play for [Anthony] than L.A.,” a source told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports in reference to the Knicks‘ star. The Bulls traded Luol Deng for draft picks and are leaning strongly toward using the amnesty provision on Carlos Boozer. They have the ability to create a maximum contract slot for Anthony, pairing him with Derrick Rose.
- Nets veterans Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are ready to return to Boston for the first time since the blockbuster deal, writes Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe.