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Cavs Notes: Mozgov, Waiters, Shumpert

January 6th, 2015 at 7:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Cavs aren’t receiving a “flat no” when they ask the Nuggets about trading for Timofey Mozgov, as Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio hears. Cleveland picked up an asset for the future in the form of the Thunder’s protected 2015 first-round in Monday’s trade, and the Nuggets are reportedly drawing closer to the realization that they won’t make the playoffs this year.

Here’s more out of Cleveland:

  • Dion Waiters was displeased with what he construed as favoritism from Cavs brass toward Kyrie Irving, Amico reports in the same piece.
  • Iman Shumpert is the player that will benefit the Cavaliers the most from last night’s trade, but his durability remains a question, Terry Pluto of The Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. Pluto also declares Cleveland the clear winner in this trade, considering that it netted Shumpert, J.R. Smith, and a first-rounder, while not giving up that much in return.
  • Despite their newly acquired personnel, the Cavs haven’t changed all that much, Tom Ziller of SB Nation writes. Shumpert’s reputation as a defender may be inflated, Smith’s volatility could become an issue, and the team did nothing to address its primary weakness–interior defense, Ziller opines.
  • Waiters didn’t fit with the Cavs’ new, more accomplished and urgent core, and the team dealt him to acquire depth, perimeter defense, and future flexibility, Ethan Skolnick of Bleacher Report writes. The third-year guard wasn’t ready at his age, and at this stage of his career, to make the sacrifices to his game that the team required of him, and his style of play didn’t mesh well with the role the Cavs had placed him in, Skolnick adds.
  • Entering Monday night’s game, the Cavaliers didn’t have the roster of a team that could contend for an NBA championship, and the Waiters trade didn’t do much to change that, Michael Lee of The Washington Post writes. Until Cleveland acquires a rim protector, its fortunes aren’t likely to change despite the newly acquired players.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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Knicks Notes: Jackson, Anthony, Murry

January 6th, 2015 at 5:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Team president Phil Jackson demanded a five-year deal and a promise that owner James Dolan wouldn’t meddle before the Zen Master agreed to join the Knicks this past spring, and that’s looking like a wise bargain from Jackson’s end, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News believes. Jackson has the leeway necessary for the tear-down he’s undertaking, one that’s necessary for the Knicks to once again contend for titles, Deveney opines.

Here’s the latest out of NYC:

  • The removal of talent surrounding Carmelo Anthony makes it more likely that the Knicks will have Anthony miss the rest of the season so he can rehabilitate his sore knee, argues Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal.
  • While the return that the Knicks received for dealing away J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert was underwhelming, Jackson made the deal because he and his staff feared that if the Cavaliers got hot as a team, they would potentially lose interest in acquiring those players, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. Jackson was also afraid that if Smith’s injury lingered, then he would become untradeable, Berman also notes.
  • Jackson’s first season as team president will be remembered for all the cap room that he cleared, but his true test as an executive will be how he puts it to use this coming summer, Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post writes.
  • The Knicks’ trade of Smith and Shumpert signifies that the franchise is working toward the future once again, instead of angling for a playoff berth, Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press writes. This feels like a repeat of what transpired six years ago, when the Knicks traded Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford to set themselves up for a shot at LeBron James in the summer of 2010, a plan that backfired, Mahoney adds.
  • Toure’ Murry is entering the D-League, and the Knicks‘ affiliate is likely to claim him via the waiver process, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Murry, who was recently waived by the Jazz, appeared in 51 games for New York during the 2013/14 campaign, averaging 2.7 points and 1.0 assist in 7.3 minutes per contest.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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Lowe On Cap, Raptors, Nuggets, Cavs, Love

January 6th, 2015 at 2:18pm CST by Chuck Myron

Most league executives assume the salary cap will surge to around $90MM for the 2016/17 season, though they’re preparing for any eventuality, Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes. The cap’s at $63.065MM this year, so that means teams are in line for nearly 30% more spending power within the next two years, thanks to the NBA’s new $24 billion TV deal. Lowe has much more from around the league as teams peer into an uncertain future:

  • Raptors GM Masai Ujiri won’t say whether he’ll trade a first-round draft pick for someone who could help the team this season, but Ujiri tells Lowe that he “won’t make decisions that are going to shorten our growth and help us only this year.”
  • The Nuggets, Ujiri’s old team, appear to be closing in on the realization that the playoffs are out of reach, several league sources said to Lowe. That suggests that current Nuggets GM Tim Connelly is about to change his approach to the team’s roster this season, though that’s my own inference.
  • Chances are the Cavs will send a first-round pick out in a trade that brings back a center this season, Lowe writes in a separate piece. Cleveland maintains “serious off-and-on talks” with the Nuggets and Grizzlies about Timofey Mozgov and Kosta Koufos, respectively, according to Lowe.
  • Kevin Love has insisted on multiple occasions that he’s committed to the Cavs for the long term, but the Grantland scribe believes the All-Star power forward will undoubtedly survey the market in free agency this summer if conditions don’t improve in Cleveland. Love, who has a player option worth more than $16.744MM for 2015/16, is taking fewer shots this season than in any year since he became a full-time starter in 2010/11.
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How Monday’s Trade Worked Financially

January 6th, 2015 at 10:41am CST by Chuck Myron

The teams involved in Monday’s three-way swap had divergent motives, as is so often the case in trades. The Thunder secured a scorer in Dion Waiters to help their title push. The Cavs, another title contender, gave up that scorer to shore up their defense. The Knicks took part in the deal seemingly with next year in mind, receiving only minimum-salary players in return for a pair of key perimeter players.

Each team accomplished those ends using different financial means. The simplest transaction was the Thunder’s. They possessed a $4.15MM trade exception as a vestige of Thabo Sefolosha, as our list of outstanding trade exceptions shows. GM Sam Presti created that exception when he convinced the Hawks to make their signing of Sefolosha this past summer a sign-and-trade rather than an outright signing. It was a move that appeared to have no real benefit to the Hawks, other than to create goodwill, and it’s clear after Monday’s trade that Presti owes Atlanta a favor. Waiters, who makes $4.062MM this season, fits neatly within that Sefolosha exception. Oklahoma City didn’t relinquish any players other than the minimum-salaried Lance Thomas to make the deal happen, as the team would have had to do if not for the exception.

The Knicks had a trio of exceptions to make the trade work on their end, but those weren’t exceptions that team president Phil Jackson or GM Steve Mills created. Instead, they used three different instances of the minimum-salary exception to absorb Thomas, Lou Amundson and Alex Kirk. The minimum-salary exception is a renewable resource of sorts. A capped-out team can use it as many times as it wants to sign players, trade for them, or claim them off waivers, as long as that team didn’t trigger a hard cap. The Knicks have no hard cap, and so they were free to employ the exception as they saw fit. In so doing, they’re allowed to create two new trade exceptions that are significantly more valuable than the minimum-salary exception. Offloading J.R. Smith lets New York come away with a trade exception equivalent to his $5,982,375 salary and another trade exception equal to the $2,616,975 salary for Iman Shumpert.

There’s a different salary figure for Smith as it pertains to the Cavs. Smith has a 15% trade kicker on his contract. Now that he’s been traded, that provides him with a bonus equivalent to 15% of the remaining value of his deal, excluding next year’s salary, since Smith has a player option for next season, and player options don’t count for trade kickers. Monday was the 70th day of the NBA’s 170-day regular season, so the prorated bonus works out to about $533K, making his new salary for this season come to about $6.516MM. Smith inked his deal after the existing collective bargaining agreement came into being, so the Knicks have to pay the bonus that Smith receives for having been traded. However, the salary for Smith that was on the books prior to the trade is the one that counts as outgoing salary in the trade from New York’s perspective, limiting the value of the new trade exception the Knicks can create. Conversely, Cleveland had to make the salaries match based on Smith’s new, bonus-enhanced salary.

The combined salaries of Smith and Shumpert were too much for the Cavs to absorb if they only gave up Waiters, Amundson and Kirk and didn’t use any exceptions. Cleveland has been holding onto a $5,285,816 trade exception left over from Keith Bogans since September, but the team recently gained another exception of similar value. The league granted the Cavs a disabled player exception worth $4,852,273 to compensate for the season-ending injury to Anderson Varejao. That disabled player exception expires March 10th. The Bogans trade exception doesn’t expire until September 27th. So, it makes sense that Cavs GM David Griffin used the asset that would disappear first, and that’s what they’ve done here, as Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal confirms they’ve used the Varejao disabled player exception (Twitter link).

That exception wouldn’t work for Smith, since Smith’s not on an expiring contract, and disabled player exceptions only work for deals that don’t extend beyond a single season. Smith’s salary, both before and after the trade kicker, was too large for either the Varejao disabled player exception or the Bogans trade exception, anyway. Shumpert’s deal, set to come off the books at season’s end, fits the bill in terms of length, and his $2,616,975 salary works in terms of value. That leaves Cleveland to match Smith’s trade-kicker-enhanced salary, a task the team can accomplish by combining Waiters’ $4.062MM pay with Kirk’s $507,336 minimum salary and Amundson’s $915,243 cap hold. Smith’s salary is within 125% plus $100K of the combined salaries for Waiters, Kirk and Amundson, so it’s kosher under the salary matching rules for taxpaying teams, which apply to the Cavs since they slipped over the tax line in the deal.

Amundson’s salary is more than $1.3MM this year as an eight-year veteran, but the Cavs were only responsible for the equivalent of the two-year veteran’s minimum salary of $915,243, since he’s on a one-year minimum-salary contract. The league picks up the bill for the rest. For the most part, the league’s help with veteran’s minimum contracts benefits teams, but in this case, it combines with Smith’s trade kicker to prevent the Cavs from creating a trade exception equivalent to Kirk’s salary. If Smith didn’t have the trade kicker, or if Cleveland could plug Amundson’s full salary into the matching math, Amundson and Waiters alone would be enough to match for Smith, allowing the team to come up with an exception for Kirk. Still, trade exceptions equivalent to the rookie minimum salary are rarely useful, so the Cavs don’t miss out on too much.

Teams have choices when it comes to creating and using trade exceptions, so aside from the news that Lloyd reported, there’s no confirmation that the paths I’ve explained here are the ones the teams took. However, these are the most logical scenarios, and in many cases, as with the Thunder, they represent the only way Monday’s transaction could have taken place within the bounds of the collective bargaining agreement. The move leaves plenty of loose ends, especially as far as the Cavs and Thunder are concerned, since it appears to have brought both teams above the $76.829MM tax threshold. Teams aren’t subject to the tax unless they’re above that line on the final day of the regular season, so that suggests more moves are on their way for Cleveland and Oklahoma City.

The Knicks remain above the tax, but they, too, have set the seeds for more trades. The removal of the threat that Smith would exercise his nearly $6.4MM player option for next season gives the team additional flexibility, and the ability to create two new trade exceptions allows the team added means to put that flexibility to use.

Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and the Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

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Fallout From Cavs-Thunder-Knicks Trade

January 6th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Monday night’s three-team trade brought about significant changes to a title contender in each conference and was seemingly a signal that the Knicks are focused more on the future than the present. We’ll look at the ripple effects of the move as they’re felt in Cleveland, Oklahoma City, and New York.

  • The Knicks plan to waive two of the three players they acquired in the trade, and Lance Thomas is the most likely among that trio to be kept, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. The Knicks would look to fill the open roster spots that would create, coach Derek Fisher said, according to Newsday’s Al Iannazzone. “I don’t think this in any way signals the end of our transition process,” Fisher said. “I think our front office will continue to look at what we can do to replace a couple of these guys, but also how we’re going to build our roster going forward in the short term and the long term. I think Phil [Jackson] is continuing to look at how we transition as we change the culture of the New York Knicks.”
  • The Cavs kept LeBron James informed about the move, and he understands it as a transaction necessary for the team, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group hears. The relationship between James and J.R. Smith, who’s spent summers training with James in the past, is solid, Haynes also reports.
  • Kevin Durant is excited about the addition of Dion Waiters to the Thunder and said that he doesn’t think the shooting guard has felt “wanted” the past couple of years, notes Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman (Twitter link). Durant is intent on changing that. “I’m not saying he’s James [Harden]‘s replacement, we’re far past that,” Durant said. “But yeah, he can play, can come off the bench for us and score and make plays. He’s a really good player, man. A lot of people take him for granted, I think. Because he’s been around and you hear different things about him that’s not true. But he can play basketball. So he just needs to come out here and be himself, be aggressive and make plays.”
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And-Ones: Waiters, Lakers, Lopez, Thunder

January 5th, 2015 at 10:57pm CST by Zachary Links

The Thunder landed Dion Waiters earlier tonight, but the Lakers previously made a run at him, Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com tweets.  However, the Cavs weren’t just looking for a straight salary dump and Shumpert is more valuable than Robert Sacre, who the Lakers would have included.  Here’s more from around the Association..

  • The Nets and Thunder recently discussed a deal that would have involved Brook Lopez, Kendrick Perkins (and his expiring contract), Perry Jones, and Lance Thomas, but the Nets decided to stand pat as they liked what they were seeing, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com.
  • The Rajon Rondo deal is looking pretty good for the Mavericks so far, writes Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram.  Center Tyson Chandler and coach Rick Carlisle are among those over the moon with what Rondo has done in Dallas.  The Mavs have won six of their last eight games, including their last five.
  • Sometimes, the best move is standing pat.  The Warriors held on to budding star Klay Thompson rather than using him to get Kevin Love and that looks like a smart decision right now, as Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press writes.  Many were surprised at the Warriors’ decision, but it’s one that had the full support of coach Steve Kerr.”For me as a new coach, what I saw was maybe the best backcourt in the NBA and a chance to keep the group together,” Kerr said. “And that’s pretty powerful, especially when you know you’re already pretty good.”
  • Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders won’t rush to judge Bucks center Larry Sanders.  While speculation flies about his situation, Koutroupis notes that Sanders has worked hard at his craft and has even independently trained in the offseason to work on some lagging aspects of his game.  Earlier tonight, agent Happy Walters denied the report indicating that his client wants to walk away from basketball, so it will be very interesting to hear from Sanders himself.
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Cavs, Knicks, Thunder Complete Three-Way Deal

January 5th, 2015 at 9:56pm CST by Zachary Links

9:56pm: The Thunder, Cavs, and Knicks all announced the deal via press release.

“Dion Waiters is a player that we’ve tracked and liked since his time at Syracuse, in the NBA, and with USA Basketball. Dion provides another proven scorer that positively impacts our roster and adds depth and flexibility,” said Presti in OKC’s release. “We have a lot of respect for his toughness and competitiveness, and believe that he is a physical playmaker who will enhance the versatility of our team. We are excited to welcome Dion to Oklahoma City and the Thunder organization.”

The Thunder’s draft pick being conveyed is protected 1-18 in 2015 and 1-15 in 2016 and 2017, respectively, according to the release from the Thunder.  Should the pick not convey during this period, Oklahoma City would send the Cavs its second round draft picks in 2018 and 2019.

The Knicks’ release also makes it official that Dalembert has been waived.

8:26pm: The Knicks will receive Thomas, Amundson, and Kirk in the deal but will only keep Thomas, according to Howard Beck of Bleacher Report (via Twitter).  The Knicks will also waive Dalembert.

The Cavs are sending their 2019 second-round pick to the Knicks, sources tell Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein of ESPN.com.  The duo hears that team officials spoke with LeBron James about his willingness to play alongside Smith before executing the deal.

Even though the deal weakens the Knicks in the short-term, Beck (link) hears that the Knicks are not giving up on the season.  The Knicks plan on making more moves between now and the February trade deadline.

At present, it appears that the deal will have Waiters going to the Thunder, Shumpert and Smith going to the Cavs, and Thomas, Amundson, and Kirk going to the Knicks.  In addition, the Cavs will receive a future first-round pick from the Thunder and the Knicks will get the Cavs’ 2019 second-round choice.

Waiters has been the subject of trade talks for some time and the Cavs were reportedly telling teams around the league that they’d be willing to part with him. Cleveland wanted Grizzlies big man Kosta Koufos, who would fit the bill as the “difference-making center” they were after, but they have found another deal in this proposed three-way swap.  Waiters, 23, has averaged 10.5 PPG, 2.2 RPG, and 1.7 RPG – all career lows – through 33 games this season.  The former No. 4 overall pick was reportedly being shopped in August as well, but the Cavs couldn’t find a suitable deal.  Waiters might not be the most complete player in the NBA, but he is a scoring threat and should add lots of punch for OKC off of the bench.

The Knicks wanted to trade Smith more than anyone else, according to a December report from ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard.  In fact, the Knicks have been huddling up internally for some time to figure out how they could move the polarizing guard.  There hasn’t been much trade buzz surrounding Smith in recent weeks, but the Knicks were able to find a taker in tonight’s three-team blockbuster.  The 29-year-old New Jersey native is averaging 10.9 PPG, 3.4 APG, and 2.4 RPG this season.  The scoring output is his lowest since his sophomore season in 2005/06.  His PER rating of 11.7 – a career low – tells a more complete story of his struggles this season.  Thanks to his 15% trade kicker, Smith will collect on something of a belated Christmas bonus.

Shumpert, 24, has been a mainstay on Hoops Rumors and on the back pages of the New York tabloids for the last two seasons.  The Knicks might not have been intent on moving Shumpert, but by including him they were able to move both his salary and Smith’s without taking much back.  The combo guard is averaging 9.3 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 3.3 APG in 26 minutes per contest this season.  Shump is also headed towards restricted free agency this offseason and the Knicks, ostensibly, weren’t going to make a big play to retain him.

The Knicks didn’t add much in terms of assets, but they have greatly improved their financial situation by moving Smith’s substantial contract.  The guard is making nearly $6MM this season and he holds a player option worth nearly $6.4MM for 2015/16.  It’s possible that the shooting guard could turn down the option in order to seek a more lucrative multi-year deal, but that’s not a risk that Phil Jackson & Co. were willing to take.  Beyond the financial benefit of moving Smith’s deal, the Knicks are also moving a player who might not be a wonderful locker room presence.

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Cavs Still In Pursuit Of Center

January 5th, 2015 at 9:52pm CST by Zachary Links

Last month, it was reported that the Cavs were looking to move Dion Waiters for a “difference-making center“.  They didn’t get that center in tonight’s three-team deal involving Waiters, but that doesn’t mean they’ve given up on finding a five that can make an impact.  Sources tell Sam Amico of FOX Sports (on Twitter) that the Cavs plan on using the first-round choice from the Thunder as a part of a different trade for a big man.

No deal is imminent, Amico adds, but the Cavs are certainly looking.  Cleveland remains interested in Nuggets center Timofey Mozgov and Grizzlies forward/center Kosta Koufos (link).  Still, Denver remains reluctant to part with Mozgov, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).

It’s not clear what it would take for the Cavs to land Koufos, though he hasn’t been a major part of the gameplan in Memphis over the last two seasons.  Koufos started 81 games and averaged 22.4 minutes per contest for the Nuggets in 2012/13 and saw that playing time cut to 16.9 MPG in his first season with the Grizzlies.  That figure is down to 15.4 minutes per contest this season, though there has been a slight uptick in recent weeks.

The Cavs tried over a period of months to pry Mozgov away from Denver but Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio reported in late December that there wasn’t much in the way of recent talks.  It’s possible that the Cavs’ newly-acquired first round choice could help reignite that chatter, however.

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Knicks To Waive Samuel Dalembert?

January 5th, 2015 at 4:45pm CST by Eddie Scarito

4:45pm: The Knicks are actively trying to trade Dalembert prior to Wednesday to avoid facing the decision to retain or waive him on that day, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).

8:48am: With the Knicks’ season in a seemingly hopeless freefall, having lost 11 games in a row, and their record currently sitting at a dismal 5-31 overall, the team is considering numerous options for altering its roster. One change that could happen by this Wednesday is the team possibly waiving center Samuel Dalembert, Marc Berman of The New York Post reports.

This coming Saturday, January 10th, is the NBA’s leaguewide contract guarantee date. All players with non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts still on team rosters on that date will have the remainder of their salaries guaranteed for the season. But in order for any franchise to clear undesirable or unwanted contracts off of its books, players will need to clear waivers in advance of this deadline. This means that any players, including Dalembert, would need to be placed on waivers by no later than 4:00pm Central time this Wednesday, January 7th. This would allow the requisite two days that players remain on waivers to pass prior to Saturday’s deadline.

The reason that Dalembert’s name has come up as a possibility to be waived is that only $1.98MM of his $4.05MM contract is guaranteed, Berman notes. So New York can save itself a cool $2.07MM by releasing the big man prior to the cutoff date. Waiving Dalembert would open up a roster spot for the Knicks to add a younger D-League player or sign a veteran who was waived by another team, Berman adds. One such player that the Knicks are possibly looking to sign to a 10-day contract is D-League point guard Langston Galloway, though New York is already painfully thin in the frontcourt, something releasing Dalembert and signing Galloway would not rectify.

New York is considering every option currently, Berman reports, which means that the Knicks could retain Dalembert and try to acquire an asset by trading him to a club looking to add a defensive big man for a playoff push, the New York Post scribe adds. There are numerous teams that are desperate to add a rim protecting big man, including Cleveland, Dallas, and Miami, though I’m merely speculating on their potential interest in Dalembert.

Dalembert certainly hasn’t been setting the league on fire with his performance for the Knicks, who were hoping that he could help replace the defensive presence of Tyson Chandler, whom the Knicks traded to Dallas prior to the season, in a deal which netted them Dalembert. In 32 appearances, including 21 as a starter, Dalembert has averaged an underwhelming 4.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in 17.0 minutes per game. He hasn’t fit well into the triangle offense that the Knicks are attempting to implement, though judging by the team’s record, he’s hardly the only one.

For his part, Dalembert is currently in the dark about what the Knicks’ plans for him are, Berman notes. “Maybe you know more than me,’’ Dalembert said. “I love it here. I love the team we have. Unfortunately we’re going through what we’re going through right now. It’s a great organization. I would love for my career to finish here, but it’s business. A lot of times it’s beyond your control. I’ll still see how it goes and enjoy the time.’’

Team president Phil Jackson could soon decide the best thing for the Knicks’ long-term future is playing their younger players, which could also affect Amar’e Stoudemire ’s status, Berman also notes. Stoudemire missed his fifth straight game on Sunday night, and he could also eventually be waived to open up a roster spot, Berman opines. There is no immediate deadline to do so for Stoudemire, since the remainder of his $23,410,968 salary for this season is fully-guaranteed, though March 1st is the final date that players can be waived and be eligible to play in the postseason for another team.

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Southwest Notes: O’Neal, Howard, Gordon

January 5th, 2015 at 2:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Veteran center Jermaine O’Neal may be one step closer to making a comeback and playing this season, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com writes. O’Neal posted pictures on Instagram of himself getting treatment on his knees in Germany, which is a strong indication that he’s planning to return to the NBA this season, MacMahon opines. The Mavs are reportedly the front-runners to ink O’Neal after their acquisition of Rajon Rondo, but O’Neal is also a potential target for the Warriors and Cavaliers as well.

Here’s more out of the Southwest Division:

  • Rockets big man Dwight Howard doesn’t look like the same player this season, according to Pau Gasol, his former teammate with the Lakers, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle writes. Gasol opined that Howard seems to have a reduced role in Houston’s offense this season, and doesn’t have the aggressiveness he displayed while the two were both playing for Los Angeles. “I haven’t really kept an eye on him,” Gasol said. “I think the team has more weapons now. We’ll see. I watched a couple games of him. He doesn’t seem to be as aggressive in the post or get as many touches as he used to be maybe, but he’s always a big factor in the games. He’s capable of having huge nights.”
  • Pelicans guard Eric Gordon practiced for the first time since tearing his labrum back in November, and he is expected to play in tonight’s contest against the Wizards, RealGM.com reports. Gordon has missed New Orleans’ last 21 games due to his injury.
  • Tyson Chandler marvels at the job that Mark Cuban has done in turning the Mavs from a laughingstock into one of the best organizations in the NBA during the 15 years that he’s owned the team, Dwain Price of The Star-Telegram writes. “To take this business where he’s taken it in 15 years, I think if you start any business and you look up and 15 years you’ve grown and had as much success as this business has, any businessman would be happy with the success,’’ Chandler said. “I think he’s one of the best, if not the best, owner in the league as far as his innovation and what he’s brought to the game. The excitement, the in-arena things that he brings, always keeping the fans engaged. He puts on a helluva show.’’
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