Central Notes: Bucks, Bulls, Datome, Cavaliers
Howard Beck of Bleacher Reports writes that Monta Ellis looks like a “changed man” this season in Dallas, and Ellis acknowledges as much, telling Beck that he was frustrated last year with the Bucks:
“I think I got into a dark place where I wasn’t myself… Some games I’d come and I could be motivated to play. And some games, it was hard, because of the type of players I was around.”
Milwaukee is playing even worse now, and as Jim Paschke noted this morning (via Twitter), half of the club’s remaining games are against Western Conference teams. That might be a blessing in disguise, since it should mean the Bucks have a good shot at the number one overall pick in the draft come June. Here are some more tidbits out of the Central Division:
- The Bulls have struggled without Derrick Rose, and there have been plenty of rumbles about the club making a big move to stir things up in Chicago. Joe Cowley from the Chicago Sun-Times dissects the team’s roster and reveals the players he believes to be the most valuable on the trade market, as well as the ones he figures would be the hardest to move.
- Luigi Datome has played relatively well in the limited action he’s seen for the Pistons so far this season, and the former Italian League star figures to see an increase in minutes, reports Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. The Pistons signed the 26-year-old small forward to a two-year, $3.5MM contract this past offseason.
- Another offseason acquisition, Andrew Bynum, has been inconsistent and flat out bad at times this season for the Cavaliers. Coming off of a game where he shot 0-11 from the floor, Bob Finnan of the News-Herald believes Bynum to be one of the biggest reasons for Cleveland’s struggles. He suggests that the club relies too much on the banged up center to generate offense.
Luke Adams contributed to this post
Blazers, Bulls Talked Aldridge, Noah Swap
There were conflicting reports this summer about whether LaMarcus Aldridge wanted to be traded, but Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher hears that there was a deal in the works that would have sent him to the Bulls for Joakim Noah. It’s not clear how close the deal came to happening or whether it was the Blazers or Bulls who initiated the talks, but Portland indeed made Aldridge available in the offseason, Bucher writes.
Rumors about Aldridge have become less frequent since the start of the season as his career-best performance has helped the Blazers to a 23-5 record that has them atop the Western Conference. He’s averaging 23.1 points and 11.0 rebounds a game, both career highs, and his 22.7 PER matches his best mark from his seven previous NBA seasons.
The Bulls drafted Aldridge second overall in 2006, but sent him to Portland in a regrettable draft-night deal that brought in a package of Tyrus Thomas and little else. Chicago might have brought Aldridge back this summer, but it would have cost the Bulls an All-Star of their own in Noah. It’s not clear if there were other players in the discussion, but a one-for-one swap of Aldridge and Noah wouldn’t have worked under salary-matching rules, since it would have added too much to Chicago’s payroll.
I’d be quite surprised if the Blazers revisited Aldridge talks with the Bulls or any other team, given Portland’s fast start, so it seems the scenario will remain a “what if?” proposition.
Bulls Rumors: Trades, Deng, Mirotic
The Bulls will kick off a full day of NBA action on Wednesday by facing the Nets in Brooklyn, but the matchup won’t be the marquee contest that the NBA was expecting and hoping for when it was scheduled for Christmas Day. The two teams have combined to go 19-33 and both currently fall outside of the East’s playoff picture. As we look forward to seeing whether either underachieving club will impress on Wednesday, let’s round up a few Bulls-related items….
- We passed along several updates from Chad Ford’s Monday chat earlier this afternoon, but Ford also tucked one notable tidbit in his weekly Tank Rank piece at ESPN.com (Insider link). According to Ford, while the Bulls don’t want to trade Luol Deng, the team also isn’t exploring any trades that would improve the team in the short-term.
- Given the lack of realistic upgrades available in the summer of 2014, Joel Brigham of HoopsWorld thinks it’s inevitable that Deng ends up re-signing with the Bulls when his current deal expires.
- The Bulls are reportedly intent on bringing Nikola Mirotic stateside in 2014, but his current club in Spain doesn’t sound totally on board with that plan. According to a Marca.com report (translation via HoopsHype), Real Madrid is already trying to extend Mirotic’s contract, which runs through 2016.
Central Notes: Pacers, Varejao, Deng
The Pacers aren’t looking for Danny Granger trades, but they wouldn’t be averse to such a move if they came across the right deal, as we passed along yesterday. Team president Larry Bird can envision re-signing both Granger and Lance Stephenson in free agency this summer, as Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star noted in his piece, but that could be a tight squeeze unless owner Herb Simon relents on his no-tax pledge, a change of heart Bird seems to hope for. Here’s more on the teams looking up at the first-place Pacers in the Central Division standings:
- The Cavs would have had to relinquish either Anderson Varejao or a first-round pick to acquire Jeff Green if they had acted as a facilitator in a rumored three-way trade, and that’s a price they were unwilling to pay, as Bob Finnan of The News-Herald notes in his weekly column. Finnan also suggests that Asik’s agent, Arn Tellem, wouldn’t have been on board with any trade that sent Omer Asik to Cleveland, where he would back up Andrew Bynum.
- Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com is convinced the Bulls will trade Luol Deng before the deadline if the right offer comes along, in spite of a report that the team is determined not to deal him. Still, Friedell admits Deng’s $14.275MM salary makes him tough to fit into a swap.
- The Bulls are giving recent signee D.J. Augustin heavy minutes, and that indicates that the team will keep him around as the backup point guard this season, Friedell writes in a separate piece.
- Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer checks in with Giannis Antetokounmpo, who’s emerging as a contributor for the Bucks just months after Milwaukee used the 15th overall pick on the then-18-year-old small forward.
- Schmitt Boyer talks trades and other Cavs-related topics in her latest mailbag column.
Bulls Determined Not To Trade Luol Deng
10:14pm: The Bulls prefer to keep Deng past the trade deadline and try to work out a fair deal on a new contract in the summer, but it’s “misleading” to suggest the team wouldn’t accept any trade offer, writes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. Johnson spoke with an executive from another team who interprets the notion that the Bulls are determined not to trade Deng as a signal that Chicago has been getting lowball offers. The Bulls haven’t initiated any talks, but they’ve fielded calls from front offices inquiring whether they’re anxious to move Deng for financial reasons. The answer the Bulls have given to those questions has been a “no.”
8:48am: NBA teams have been inquiring about Luol Deng‘s availability recently, as the Bulls have lost 13 of 16 games and slipped to 9-16. However, according to ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst, the Bulls are “determined” not to trade Deng. Windhorst reports that the Bulls are confident they can re-sign Deng next summer, despite not reaching an extension agreement with him earlier this year.
Given the Bulls’ spot in the standings, the absence of Derrick Rose for a second straight season, and the team’s looming luxury tax bill, league executives felt the Bulls would be interested in offloading some salary prior to the trade deadline, writes Windhorst. But it seems, with two months to go before that deadline arrives, that moving Deng isn’t in the club’s plans.
We heard yesterday that the Bulls weren’t actively shopping Deng, despite the fact that the odds of a contract extension appeared to be “almost nil.” The two sides were about $5-6MM per year apart in contract talks, according to that report, and it sounded as if Deng was bracing for the possibility of a trade. Of course, the 28-year-old is considered one of Tom Thibodeau‘s favorite players, so any deal would open up a new can of worms between the franchise and its head coach.
Deng has played as well as ever so far this season, averaging a career-high 19.6 PPG and 4.1 APG to go along with 7.0 RPG and a 17.8 PER. The veteran small forward is earning about $14.28MM in the final season of a six-year contract.
Latest On Luol Deng
The Bulls have won just three of their last 15 games, and will face another tough challenge tonight, as they play the Thunder in Oklahoma City. Chicago’s continued struggles could increase the odds of a Luol Deng trade, but according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, GM Gar Forman has not been making calls about Deng. However, he has fielded a few inquiries from other teams.
As the Bulls continue to weigh their options when it comes to moving Deng, the likelihood of a contract extension for the All-Star forward is “almost nil,” according to Cowley, who says the two sides are about $5-6MM per year apart. That’s a significant gap, but it’s not totally surprising. Deng will probably be looking for a deal in line with his current salary of $14MM, while the Bulls would likely prefer to reduce his annual salary to something closer to $10MM, to maintain enough flexibility to sign Nikola Mirotic next summer.
Cowley writes that the scenario in which the Bulls trade Deng becomes more realistic as long as the team’s slide continues, and the 28-year-old sounds like he has braced himself for that possibility.
“I’m mature enough to understand that I can’t worry about things I can’t control,” Deng said. “If I wake up tomorrow, they call me and they tell me otherwise, then that’s what it is. I can’t control that. That’s their job, and they’ve got to do their job. That’s a decision they have to make on what they feel is best for the team.”
Eastern Notes: Bulls, Waiters, Nene, Pistons
After losing in Indiana last Tuesday, the Heat will get another shot at the Pacers tonight, this time in Miami. As we look forward to the evening’s showdown between the only two Eastern teams that look like title contenders, let’s round up a few notes from around the conference….
- The Bulls are considering their options with Marquis Teague and D.J. Augustin, and could ultimately end up trading the former or waiving the latter. If that happens, the team may re-sign the recently waived Mike James, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (Twitter link).
- Dion Waiters moved quickly to shoot down yesterday’s report that he wanted to be traded from the Cavs to the 76ers, and Michael Kaskey-Blomain of the Philadelphia Inquirer hears from a source that the Sixers are unlikely to land Waiters anyway.
- Addressing the trade rumors surrounding Waiters and Anderson Varejao, Cavaliers coach Mike Brown suggested those reports were laughable, tweets Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio.
- While he has said in the past that he may retire before the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, Wizards big man Nene acknowledged in a Q&A with Grantland’s Zach Lowe that he’d be open to playing beyond that date, health permitting.
- Keith Langlois of Pistons.com fields Pistons-related questions from readers in his latest mailbag, including inquiries on the futures of Greg Monroe and Rodney Stuckey in Detroit.
Odds & Ends: Asik, Gasol, Wolves, Mirotic
With December 15th in our rearview and the trade deadline two months ahead of us, things should start to heat up quickly, as our Luke Adams noted in his Trade Season Primer. Here are some trade-related rumors as well as some odds and ends from around the league on Tuesday night:
- With two days remaining until the Rockets self-imposed December 19th deadline, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets that there is a consensus expectation that Omer Asik will be moved in a three-team deal in which he ends up in Boston or Philly.
- Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports adds the Cavs and the Hawks to Stein’s list and says that there is a fifth mystery team in the mix for the center’s services. (Twitter links)
- Meanwhile, Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld tweets that he is hearing that an Asik deal may go down on Wednesday, though he cautions that nothing is definite.
- Kennedy also writes about the possibility of the Lakers finally pulling the trigger on a deal to send the disgruntled Pau Gasol out of Los Angeles, opining that while the team has overvalued the Spaniard in the past, the combination of his contract, his struggles this season and his issues with Mike D’Antoni may finally be enough for the Lakers to move him.
- As Tim Faklis of Canis Hoopus writes, the Timberwolves don’t have the assets to complete another significant trade this season. Faklis concludes that any deal could only involve some combination of Dante Cunningham, Luc Mbah a Moute, Alexey Shved and/or Shabazz Muhammad. Referencing Faklis’ story, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets that the Wolves are limited in their flexibility and that he is told to expect “status quo” in Minnesota for now.
- We know that not only have the Bulls met with Nikola Mirotic, but that they’re aggressively trying to bring him over from Spain for next season. Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago tweets that the Bulls “love” Mirotic and that if they get him stateside this summer that it should be considered their big offseason move. To put that into context, Friedell adds that the Bulls consider Mirotic more valuable than the top-10 protected first round pick of the Bobcats that they own. (Twitter links)
Latest On Dion Waiters
In the latest addition to the Dion Waiters saga, Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report reports that the Cavaliers guard “wants out” of Cleveland and that the Sixers and the Bulls have emerged as his top two suitors, with Waiters preferring his hometown presumably in hopes of being the go-to guy in Philly. Zwerling, who has been dialed into the situation, cites a source close to Waiters who adds that the guard is unhappy coming off the bench and playing second fiddle to Kyrie Irving. Zwerling speculates that Evan Turner of the Sixers or Luol Deng of the Bulls could be dangled for Waiters, opining that both potential destinations are good fits for the shoot-first guard out of Syracuse.
With the Cavaliers hosting Portland tonight, reporters were able to catch up with Waiters in the locker room prior to the game. Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio writes that Waiters reiterated that he is happy in Cleveland and that he denied expressing any desire to be traded. Waiters, who said he is growing tired of being the center of trade speculation, again made comments that imply he thinks the media is reaching with these reports. This is a tough one to call right now, as we have conflicting reports as to whether or not Waiters is happy in Cleveland as well as whether or not the Cavs are shopping him.
Bulls Notes: Waiters, Mirotic, James
Unsurprisingly, the Bulls have struggled without their star player, losing eight of 11 games since Derrick Rose suffered a meniscus injury that figures to end his season. Chicago came into tonight’s game against the Magic with a 9-13 record, which, believe it or not, would be good enough for a playoff spot in the East if the season had ended yesterday. Here’s the latest on the Bulls:
- Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report (Twitter link) is hearing chatter about the possibility of the Bulls or Sixers landing Dion Waiters from the Cavs.
- Sources close to the situation tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com that the Bulls are doing everything they can on the buyout front to be able to bring Nikola Mirotic to the NBA next season. We learned earlier this week that Chicago, which holds Mirotic’s draft rights from 2011, met with the Real Madrid forward with the hope of bringing him stateside. Now, Stein wonders if the Bulls, after cutting Mike James today, will see their forward-thinking plan through and move Luol Deng and/or Carlos Boozer before the deadline.
- Speaking of James, Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside wonders if the veteran guard might return to the D-League to audition for NBA teams again.
- The Bulls held steady at No. 10 in Chad Ford’s latest Tank Rank piece at ESPN.com (Insider link), with Ford writing that coach Tom Thibodeau would “throw a fit” if the Bulls started trading players like Deng and Boozer.
Zach Links contributed to this post.