Ray Allen Leaning Toward Retirement
Sought-after free agent shooting guard Ray Allen is leaning toward retirement, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com told ESPN Cleveland radio host Jason Gibbs on Friday (Twitter link; audio link). It would be a disappointment to several teams if the 39-year-old were to retire, and particularly to the Cavs, who have seemingly been the front-runners to land him since the summer even as Allen and agent Jim Tanner repeatedly insisted that no decision had been made. The Clippers, Grizzlies and Warriors were the most recent teams to jump in the fray for him, while Cleveland was among a group that maintained interest as of late last month that also included the Wizards, Bulls and Spurs.
Allen spent last season with the Heat, but he’s seemingly ruled out the idea of returning to play in Miami. The league’s all-time leading three-point shot maker appeared to show his age last year, averaging 9.6 points per game, the first time he put up fewer than 10 PPG in his 18 NBA seasons. The career 40.0% three-point shooter connected on just 37.5% of his attempts from behind the arc in 2013/14. Still, that rate put Allen among the better outside shooters, and his experience as a two-time champion gives him extra value to contenders. He indicated a strong preference for playing for more than the minimum salary this summer, and since many teams, including the Cavs, can pay him no more than that, it’s quite possible that’s a factor in his decision-making. A prorated minimum-salary contract would give Allen the lowest salary of his career, one in which he’s accumulated more than $184MM in earnings, as Basketball-Reference shows.
The 10-time All-Star has enjoyed a decorated career that’s likely Hall-of-Fame worthy regardless of whether he comes back to pad his total of 2,973 three-pointers, more than 400 more than the next player on the list and more than 900 more than Jason Terry, the active leader in that category. Still, he was much more than just a spot-up shooter, averaging 21.8 PPG or better eight times, including 2006/07, when he put up a career-high 26.4 PPG for the SuperSonics. That was the season before a trade sent him to Boston, where he earned his first championship. He left the Celtics in somewhat acrimonious fashion in 2012 to join the Heat, and he picked up title No. 2 in Miami. He didn’t make it to the Finals with either Seattle or his original team, the Bucks, but he was on a Milwaukee team that fell in a seven-game Eastern Conference Finals in 2001.
Eastern Notes: Williams, Marble, Tolliver
Nets point guard Deron Williams returned to action today but didn’t start the game out on the court. Williams said that he’s fine with coming off of the bench as long as the starters play well, Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com writes. “I’m all for the team. It doesn’t really matter to me,” said Williams. “I’m still trying to get my rhythm back and obviously I’m on a minutes restriction right now, so I’m all for it.” Williams has been the subject of trade rumors involving the Kings recently, but he did not want to address the subject, saying, “When a trade is final, then I’ll talk to y’all about trade rumors. How about that? When a trade happens I’ll talk about trade rumors because then it’ll actually be a trade.”
Here’s more from the East:
- The Magic have assigned rookie Devyn Marble to the D-League, the team announced. Marble will join the Erie BayHawks after appearing in just five minutes of action for Orlando all season.
- Cavs big man Anderson Varejao underwent successful surgery to repair his torn left Achilles tendon today, the team has announced. Varejao is expected to miss the remainder of the season.
- Stan Van Gundy called the Pistons’ acquisition of Anthony Tolliver a “no-brainer” and labeled the veteran sharpshooter as a “solid pro with a very good contract,” notes Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.
Charlie Adams contributed to this post.
Lakers Notes: Sacre, Bryant, Gasol
The Cavaliers had talks with the Lakers this summer about the availability of center Robert Sacre, according to Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). He adds that there have been no recent trade discussions between the teams, although Cleveland’s need for frontcourt help increased this week with the announcement that Anderson Varejao will miss the rest of the season with an Achilles tear.
There’s other news from Los Angeles:
- Concerns about Kobe Bryant‘s health are worsening, tweets Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times. “My knees are sore… [both] my Achilles are sore,” the Lakers guard said Thursday. “Metatarsals are tight. Back’s tight. I just need to kind of hit the reset button.” Bryant sat out L.A.’s Christmas Day loss to the Bulls as well as Tuesday’s game with Golden State. The 36-year-old is making $23.5MM this year and is on the books for $25MM next season.
- Coach Byron Scott said only “idiots” would suggest that the Lakers are a better team without Bryant, reports Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. “We have one great game without Kobe and everybody thinks now we’re a better team or something like that,” Scott said, referring to Tuesday’s win over the Warriors. “… But as far as all that [analytical] stuff goes, you know what? If I had my choice, I’d rather have him on the court for 48 minutes every time we played. I know we’d have a better chance to win.” Scott said Bryant could be out of action for up to a week.
- The Bulls’ Pau Gasol said it was an emotional experience facing his former team Thursday, although Bryant’s absence took some of the drama away, reports Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News. Gasol spent six and a half seasons in Los Angeles and won two NBA titles before signing a three-year, $22.35MM deal with Chicago over the summer.
Central Notes: James, Boozer, Jerebko
The Cavaliers felt the absence of Anderson Varejao in Thursday’s loss to the Heat, writes Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. In its first game since the announcement that Varejao would miss the rest of the season with a torn Achilles tendon, Cleveland suffered a 10-point loss. Vardon noted the Cavs were late on defensive rotations and were slow getting to the kind of loose balls that Varejao typically chases down. “Guys just have to step up and do a little bit more than what they’ve been doing before,” said LeBron James, “but you can’t replace him.”
There’s more from the Central Division:
- The Heat’s Dwyane Wade continues to defend James’ decision to leave Miami, telling Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that a different standard exists for players and teams. “It’s tough in this league,” Wade said. “When a player makes a decision, and however you make it, there is always backlash. But when an organization makes it, it’s the right thing for an organization to do. And it’s fine. Josh Smith just got cut. It was the right thing for the Pistons to do. It’s fine. LeBron James or players make decisions in free agency, then it becomes a different situation.”
- Another player who didn’t have a happy homecoming Thursday was Carlos Boozer, reports Jon Greenberg of ESPNChicago.com. The Lakers’ forward returned to Chicago for the first time since being amnestied by the Bulls over the summer. Despite an unfriendly reception — Boozer was booed repeatedly by the Chicago crowd — Boozer still has a fondness for the Windy City. “This is like a second home for me,” he said. “I know everybody here. We became like a family over the years.”
- Jonas Jerebko could benefit from all the turmoil in Detroit this week, according to Brendan Savage of MLive. The veteran Pistons’ forward, whose contract expires at season’s end, sees an opportunity to pick up more playing time after the release of Smith. “Obviously, with a 4 man gone — I see myself as a 4 man — a lot more minutes open up in practice and in games,” Jerebko said. “I feel like I’m ready to take that step and I’m ready to go in there and battle for them.
And-Ones: Selby, Cavs, Knicks, Rockets
Josh Selby, a 2011 second round draft pick of the Grizzlies, nearly quit the game as he bounced between playing overseas and the NBA D-League, David Pick of Basketball Insiders writes. Selby is currently trying to catch the eyes of NBA scouts while playing over in Israel, though Selby said that no NBA teams have been in contact with him this season, Pick notes. “I want to help my team reach the playoffs and take them as far as possible,” Selby said. “As long as I take care of business and win here, the NBA will come find me.”
Here’s more from around the league and abroad:
- Joe Alexander has officially inked a deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv, the team announced (translation by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Alexander had a $45K buyout amount on his D-League contract with the Santa Cruz Warriors, Gino Pilato of D-League Digest reports (Twitter link).
- The Cavs are performing their due diligence on available options, but are in no rush to replace the injured Anderson Varejao, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). Cleveland is intrigued by the possibilities of playing “small ball,” Spears adds.
- Knicks president Phil Jackson took to Twitter yesterday to promise fans that 2015 would hold better things for New York than 2014 has. But the Knicks’ star player, Carmelo Anthony, noted that Jackson doesn’t have much time to make the necessary changes before the year ends to ensure that statement comes true, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com writes. Anthony is also growing increasingly frustrated with the team’s lack of consistency and progress, Begley adds. “We have spurts throughout the course of the game where we are showing something, showing that we’re getting it and we’re focused and we have the energy to go out and do it,” Anthony said. “But there are times where we show that we’re not even out there on the basketball court. We gotta start trying to put a whole game together.”
- The Rockets hope to open up a roster spot for Josh Smith by completing a trade by Friday rather than waiving a player, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Houston is currently pursuing various deals to try to make this happen, Stein notes. The Rockets are reportedly willing to trade Isaiah Canaan, Joey Dorsey, Tarik Black, Nick Johnson and Clint Capela.
Central Notes: Martin, Butler, Knight, Love
We at Hoops Rumors want to wish all of our readers and their families a merry Christmas and a happy holiday season! While we wait for an exciting day of NBA action to tip off, let’s round up the latest from the Central Division:
- The Cavs were struck with terrible news yesterday when they learned that Anderson Varejao would be sidelined for the remainder of the season with a torn Achilles. In wake of the injury, one free agent big man, Kenyon Martin, admitted he’d be interested in joining Cleveland if the team wanted to bring him aboard, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). “I’m definitely interested,” said the 36-year-old veteran. “I believe I can immediately help in that system. I’m healthy and ready to play now.” Signing Martin could help bolster their depth in the frontcourt, but the title-hopeful Cavs seem more likely to trade for a starting caliber center than to ink Martin.
- Restricted free agent in waiting Jimmy Butler won’t call himself a star, but Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders writes that a lot of other people around the league are willing to say it for him. Butler’s career year has come on the heels of his decision to turn down a contract extension that would have paid him $11MM per season over the next four years, and although he’s has expressed a desire to stay with the Bulls, it will now likely cost the Chicago a lot more than that figure to keep Butler around after his stellar start to the year.
- The Bucks‘ Brandon Knight is another soon-to-be restricted free agent who is making the most of his opportunity, argues John Zitzler of Basketball Insiders. Knight, the only Milwaukee player to start all 28 games, is averaging 17.5 points, 5.4 assists and 1.3 steals per contest. Knight has indicated a desire to stay with the Bucks, and Milwaukee can match any offer made to the 23-year-old this summer, but Zitzler speculates that the guard could get an offer of more than $12MM annually, similar to deals Kemba Walker and Kyle Lowry signed.
- Flip Saunders is doing his best to move on from the Kevin Love fiasco and isn’t interested in talking about it anymore, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group observes. Before Tuesday’s Wolves-Cavs game, Saunders went out of his way to avoid mentioning Love by name, except for commenting, “From the league, I’m at liberty not really to talk about Kevin Love. So I can’t talk about him.” However, there is no such policy in place by the league, as Haynes points out, and Saunders openly discussed the Love deal as recently as Monday.
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
Central Notes: Cavaliers, Smith, Pistons
Jermaine O’Neal confirms he has heard from the Cavaliers, but tells Chris Haynes of Northeast Ohio Media Group that he will need two to three weeks to get ready. O’Neal will decide soon if he wants to retire or return to the NBA for a 19th season. He said he has spoken to a few teams personally, but Cleveland isn’t among them. The Cavaliers are in the market for a big man after a season-ending injury to Anderson Varejao.
There’s more from the Central Division:
- The Pistons gave Josh Smith a gift beyond the chance to play for a contender when they waived him Monday, according to Jonathan Nehring of Taxaball.com. Smith can also realize a tax savings estimated at $1.3MM. Athletes are required to pay state and local income tax for each game they play. Smith won’t play any more games for the Pistons, so his salary from them — the remainder of $13.5MM for the rest of this season and $27MM stretched over the next five years — is free from that tax. If, as rumored, he signs with the Rockets for their $2.077MM biannual exception, state and local taxes for the games he plays will be applied to that salary.
- Stan Van Gundy deserves criticism for not resolving the Smith situation sooner, opines Michael Lee of The Washington Post. He notes that the Kings were interested in trading for Smith last summer, and offered various packages that included Jason Thompson and either Derrick Williams or Carl Landry. Van Gundy, Detroit’s coach and president of basketball operations, reportedly didn’t like the deals and elected to keep Smith. That led to Monday’s release, which an unidentified general manager termed as “reckless.”
- Getting rid of Smith was the first of many problems that have to be addressed in Detroit, writes Vince Ellis of USA Today. He notes that the Pistons rank 24th in defensive efficiency and are struggling to score. Van Gundy was alarmed with Smith’s usage rate, which ranked 30th in the NBA. “We ran a lot of stuff through him and, clearly, if you want other people to have more offensive opportunities, you would have to take some away from him,” the coach said. “I didn’t think that would be good for him; I didn’t think he would be happy with that, so I think it’s easier moving forward this way.”
Heat Rumors: LeBron, Cavs, Wade
The Cavs and Heat both go into Thursday’s LeBron James reunion game in Miami on rather profound down notes. The Heat lost Tuesday to the lowly Sixers, while the Cavs learned today that Anderson Varejao has a torn Achilles tendon and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Still, Miami would probably trade the position it’s in for Cleveland’s troubles. Here’s more on the after-effects still rippling from James’ decision to leave the Heat:
- What bothers people within the Heat who believe that James knew he would return to Cleveland well before he met with Pat Riley in July was that James’ failure to let Miami’s brass know his choice hurt the team in free agency, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald hears. James publicly announced his decision on July 11th, after many prominent free agents had committed to sign or had narrowed their options. Those Heat insiders think James’ chief concern was how his decision-making process would play from a public relations standpoint and question whether James wanted more say in personnel decisions and more accommodations for his friends, Jackson writes.
- The Cavs hired Randy Mims, James’ personal assistant, this season, but they complained to the league when the Heat attempted to hire him shortly after James signed with Miami four years ago, claiming it would circumvent the salary cap, a league source tells Jackson.
- Dwyane Wade has no hard feelings, and he told reporters today that James made the right decision when he returned to Cleveland, adding that he didn’t attempt to prevail upon the four-time MVP to stay in Miami. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports and Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post relay Wade’s thoughts in a pair of tweets.
Anderson Varejao Suffers Torn Achilles
Tests revealed that Anderson Varejao has suffered a torn Achilles tendon, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The injury to his left leg is indeed expected to knock him out for the rest of the season, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets. All signs were pointing to the injury having been a torn Achilles, as Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio heard shortly before the news broke (Twitter link). An MRI this morning revealed the tear, as Wojnarowski notes in a full story. The 32-year-old couldn’t put any weight on the leg when he exited Tuesday’s game after the injury occured.
It’s a tough blow for the Cavs, who guaranteed his nearly $9.705MM salary for this season when they signed him to a three-year extension in the fall. Cleveland can apply to the NBA for a disabled player exception worth 50% of his salary, or more than $4.582MM. The Cavs had inquired about the possibility of signing Josh Smith before Varejao went down, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group (Twitter link), but that was chiefly a matter of the team doing its due diligence, Haynes cautions. The Knicks are making Samuel Dalembert available, according to Wojnarowski, but his acquisition would be a “last resort” for the Cavs, Wojnarowski tweets.
Cleveland has been in talks with the Celtics in recent days about Boston’s willingness to participate in a trade as a third team, as Windhorst and ESPN colleague Marc Stein wrote overnight. The Cavs have long been looking for a rim-protector, and they appear poised to intensify that search now that they’ll be without their only starting-caliber center.
Cavs, Celtics Discuss Three-Team Trade Ideas
9:28am: Varejao’s injury “does not look good at all,” a source close to the big man told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
8:47am: The Cavaliers have spoken with the Celtics over the past few days about three-team trade scenarios as Cleveland continues to seek an inside player, report Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The Cavs’ enduring quest to add to their front line will likely intensify if an MRI Wednesday reveals a torn Achilles for Anderson Varejao, a potential outcome that has Cleveland’s brass worried after he left Tuesday’s game and was unable to put any weight on his left leg, Windhorst and Stein write.
The Cavs have been looking to add a center, and specifically one who can provide rim protection, since a summer pursuit of Timofey Mozgov. Still, it’s apparently been a while since Cleveland and Denver have discussed him, and Kosta Koufos has seemingly been a more recent target. The Grizzlies have “kicked around” the idea of relinquishing Koufos, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe wrote Tuesday, but the Cavs would reportedly have competition from the Kings, if not others, for the Memphis backup center. Koufos has an expiring contract worth $3MM this year that would fit into Cleveland’s nearly $5.286MM trade exception, just as Mozgov’s salary would, one of the reasons that the team sought them both, according to Windhorst and Stein.
Boston stands to net as many as 11 extra draft picks from 2015 through 2018 thanks to previous transactions, so they have plenty of assets to facilitate a swap. The Celtics have been aggressive recently in attempts to stockpile draft picks, Windhorst and Stein write, though it’s unclear if Boston continues to take that approach or if that’s a reference to their efforts prior to the Rajon Rondo trade, a deal in which they acquired two picks. The C’s also have frontcourt depth, bolstered by the acquisition of Brandan Wright in the Rondo trade, as the ESPN scribes point out. Wright’s $5MM salary would fit within the trade exception, which would make it somewhat easier for him to be traded, since Boston can’t aggregate his salary in a trade until February 19th, the day of the trade deadline. However, it’s unknown whether Wright’s name has come up in discussions between Cleveland and Boston. The teams appear to be talking about a three-team trade in which the Celtics would act as a facilitator, according to Windhorst and Stein, so that would seemingly indicate that Cleveland’s primary targets are not on the C’s.
The loss of Varejao to a torn Achilles, almost certainly a season-ending injury, would be devastating for the title-contending Cavs, who guaranteed Varejao’s salary of nearly $9.705MM this season when they signed him to an extension in October. He’s been the starter at center for Cleveland, which doesn’t possess another starting-caliber center on its roster.