Western Notes: Kobe, Love, Baynes, Sessions
The Western Conference is a remarkable 68-27 against the Eastern Conference this year, though only eight Western teams have winning records as of today. The Nuggets, Kings and Pelicans are all outside the playoffs as it stands with .500 records, but those marks are better than only one team in the top eight in the East. While we wait to see how it shakes out with plenty of season left, here’s the latest from the West:
- Kobe Bryant says the idea that he’s impatient with the Lakers is off-base and praises the Buss family in a conversation with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Bryant doesn’t rule out playing past his current deal, which expires in the summer of 2016, Wojnarowski notes. The Yahoo! columnist also suggests that it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that Kevin Love would bolt the Cavs for the Lakers, in spite of his insistence otherwise, and that Bryant will join the Lakers’ pitch to recruit him. A recent report cast Bryant as a turn-off for such star free agents, but the dispatch, which indicated that Paul George signed his extension with the Pacers last year in part because he didn’t want to join Bryant on the Lakers, left George “mortified,” Wojnarowski writes.
- Aron Baynes is on pace to prove his one-year, $2.077MM deal a bargain for the Spurs as he improves offensively and contributes physical play in the absence of Tiago Splitter, opines Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News.
- Offseason signee Ramon Sessions has had an uneven start to his first season with the Kings and needs to improve or else he’ll risk losing his minutes to Ray McCallum, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes. “He’d [Sessions] be the first one to admit he hoped and wished he was playing better and at a more consistent level,” coach Michael Malone said. “He’s had some games where he’s played very well for us, he’s had some games where he hasn’t played as well, but I still believe in Ramon. I know what he is capable of doing. So I’m going to give him some opportunity to grow into that backup role and feel comfortable and confident in that role.”
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
Eastern Notes: Realignment, Love, Butler, Pistons
The Pacers, for all their woes, would make the playoffs if they began today, as Eastern Conference teams enjoy a much easier path to the postseason, but Mavs owner Mark Cuban isn’t the only one around the league pushing to change that. Discussion about realignment is just in “some infant stage” as it circulates among the NBA’s power brokers, Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes, but commissioner Adam Silver says the league is closely studying the issue. Suns owner Robert Sarver and Thunder brass are among those who’ve advocated the idea of simply taking the 16 best teams for the playoffs, Lowe reports. Those teams would stand to benefit from such a structure this year, and there’s concern around the league that self-interest will drive the debate, as Lowe also notes. While we wait to see whether momentum gathers for change, here’s the latest from the weaker conference:
- Kevin Love indicated his desire to remain in Cleveland for the long term shortly after the trade that brought him to the Cavs, and he reiterated his intention to do so in a radio appearance with Chris Mannix of SI.com and NBC Sports Radio, as “The Chris Mannix Show” Twitter account relays. Love can opt out of his contract at season’s end, but last month he batted down a rumor that he had interest in signing with the Lakers this coming summer.
- Rasual Butler has proven quite a find for the Wizards after having made the team out of camp on a non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary, as Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post examines after Butler’s game-high 23 points in Monday’s win against the Heat.
- Stan Van Gundy‘s failure to offload either Greg Monroe or Josh Smith in the summer stunted his ability to affect real changes for the Pistons, who are stuck between full-on rebuilding and trying to win now, opines Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News.
And-Ones: Jackson, Hamilton, Fisher, Cavs
Some have painted Thunder guard Reggie Jackson in a negative light due to his desire for a big contract, but he’s showing a team-first attitude, as Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman writes. “It’s a challenge that I’m looking forward to getting used to and hopefully we can be one of the best second units in the league,” said Jackson, who is headed back to the bench with Russell Westbrook back in the fold. Jackson is set for restricted free agency this summer after the two sides broke off extension talks in October, but he sounds like he’s more focused on winning than anything else. More from around the NBA..
- Justin Hamilton‘s partial guarantee on his one-year veteran’s minimum salary with the Heat increased from $408,241 to $612,362 today. Hamilton signed his deal late last season, but since then, the Heat have become more willing to dole out partial guarantees without the luxury tax bearing down on them as in years past, as Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel examines.
- With Derek Fisher at the helm, the Knicks have struggled in close games even more this season than they did last season under Mike Woodson, writes Chris Herring of the Wall Street Journal. Of New York’s 18 games thus far, a league-high 11 have been separated by five points or fewer entering the final five minutes of play. The Knicks have gone 2-9 in those games.
- Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio doesn’t understand why the Cavs waived Will Cherry and re-signed guard A.J. Price just weeks after doing the reverse. Still, he trusts Cleveland’s judgement and admits that the third point guard role isn’t a terribly crucial one.
Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
And-Ones: Rookies, Nets, Cavs, Pelicans
The vaunted 2014 draft class hasn’t performed up to par quite yet, notes Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. K.J. McDaniels of the Sixers is the third-leading rookie scorer, as Amico points out, but he’s averaging only 10.2 points per game and was the 32nd overall pick. There’s plenty of time for others to fulfill their promise, but this year’s crop of first-year players isn’t exactly revolutionizing the game. Here’s more from around the NBA as the league gets set to tip off a four-game night:
- Nets GM Billy King told reporters that he’s considering “tweaks” to the roster as he works the phones, but he offered only a “we’ll see” when asked whether the team’s core of Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson was still viable. Devin Kharpertian of The Brooklyn Game has the details.
- Pelicans coach Monty Williams felt as though he’d given Darius Miller an opportunity to show what he can do after putting him in the starting lineup last week, but he admits that Patric Young still may have had the potential to help the team, observes Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune. The Pelicans waived both on Sunday.
- The Cavs have recalled Alex Kirk from the D-League, the team announced. The center had 16 points and six rebounds in 29 minutes for Cleveland’s affiliate Sunday on a one-day assignment.
Kirilenko Family Matter Clouds Trade Talk
12:13pm: The situation will probably keep him from traveling with the team for road games, Kirilenko told reporters, including Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, who notes that the family issue involves Kirilenko’s wife (Twitter link). Kirilenko also said that the matter won’t be resolved until early February, Vasquez notes (via Twitter).
11:48am: Nets GM Billy King confirmed today that Kirilenko has returned to practice, tweets Andy Vasquez of The Record.
MONDAY, 8:15am: Kirilenko is set to rejoin the Nets for practice today, a source tells Robert Windrem of NetsDaily (Twitter link). The forward has been absent from the team for more than a week, ostensibly to tend to the family issue.
SATURDAY, 1:56pm: Several contending teams that have inquired about trading for Nets forward Andrei Kirilenko were given the impression that Kirilenko’s desire to attend to an unspecified family matter in New York would make any deal impractical for the foreseeable future, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. The Cavs and Clippers are two franchises with needs on the perimeter who will wait and see if Brooklyn makes the 33-year-old Russian available as February’s trade deadline moves closer, or if Kirilenko and the Nets reach a buyout agreement before then, Wojnarowski adds.
Kirilenko left the team recently while the Nets were on a west coast trip to return to New York in order to deal with this family matter. With the veteran seemingly out of head coach Lionel Hollins‘ rotation prior to his departure from the team, Brooklyn has been looking for a trade partner who would be willing to take on the remaining balance of Kirilenko’s $3.3MM salary for this season, notes the Yahoo! scribe.
If the Nets were unable to find a contending team willing to acquire Kirilenko, then Brooklyn would likely need to package him along with future second round draft picks in order to find a rebuilding team with free cap space to rid themselves of the Russian, Wojnarowski adds. In that instance, Kirlilenko would likely be waived by the team acquiring him. The Sixers would certainly seem like a fit in this scenario, but Philadelphia has asked for too much draft compensation to close the deal with the Nets, Wojnarowski notes. Talks with Philadelphia are not completely dead, but no longer include Nets forward Sergey Karasev, Wojnarowski’s sources said. The Jazz were also said to be interested in acquiring Kirilenko, but there were conflicting reports regarding Utah’s involvement.
The Nets may be able to garner a better deal if they wait until February when contending teams would have a better handle on when Kirilenko would be able and willing to report to them, and this may remove the need for Brooklyn to part with any draft picks, Wojnarowski concludes.
And-Ones: Wallace, Kirk, Pistons, Draft
Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace is glad to be back in the driver’s seat, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald writes. “I basically stepped aside. No one told me to step back,” Wallace explained. “My role was reduced, but I intentionally stepped back from the players and the coaches. I did not want to be seen as someone that was a meddler last year. I went to games, but I did not interact with the players or coaches during that time. I stayed involved in the game. I was watching the college game closely and the NBA game and attending games at both levels, because I planned on getting back. I didn’t know it was going to be here.” More from around the NBA..
- The Cavs announced that they have assigned center Alex Kirk to their D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge. Kirk averaged 23.7 PPG and 9.7 RPG in three games for the Charge this season. He has also appeared in three games for the Cavs this season.
- The Pistons recalled Tony Mitchell from the Grand Rapids Drive of the D-League, according to the RealGM transactions log.
- If the draft was tomorrow, Kansas guard/forward Kelly Oubre might not be a top pick, tweets Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress. Oubre has been seeing limited minutes so far for the Jayhawks, but there’s still plenty of season ahead for the frosh. He’s currently rated No. 5 in DraftExpress’ 2015 mock.
Cavs Claim A.J. Price, Waive Will Cherry
6:14pm: The Cavs made it official with a press release.
4:32pm: This time, it’s Price displacing Cherry from the Cavs’ roster. The Cavs have waived Cherry, according to Chris B. Haynes of Cleveland.com (via Twitter).
Cherry, 24 in February, appeared in eight games and played a total of 69 minutes for the Cavs this season. In that limited time, he averaged 1.9 PPG and 1.0 APG. Cherry signed a two-year, non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary with Cleveland just weeks ago.
The guard averaged 12.8 PPG and 4.0 RPG while logging 25.3 minutes per contest in five games for the Cavs Summer League team in Las Vegas. Cherry also played for the Cavs’ D-League affiliate last season, when he provided 11.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 4.5 APG in 30.4 MPG.
4:27pm: The Cavs have claimed A.J. Price off waivers, a league source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). The guard was let go by the Pacers last week.
It’s a return to Cleveland for Price, who opened the season on the Cavs roster only to be let go within the first week of the regular season in favor of Will Cherry. The 28-year-old performed well in his brief 10-game stint with the Pacers, averaging 10.5 points, 2.7 assists and 1.0 turnover in 19.3 minutes per contest.
Even though Price played well, someone had to go in Indiana as the team’s hardship provision for a 16th roster spot had expired. Pacers coach Frank Vogel was complimentary of Price and said that he’s deserving of an NBA roster spot somewhere. The Excel Sports Management client has acknowledged that going overseas could be a possibility for him, but he’s undoubtedly happy to stay in the Association.
Central Notes: Bulls, Noah, West, James
The Bulls believe in their starting five, writes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com, but they’re hoping to see it together more often. Injuries have limited Chicago’s starting unit of Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah, Mike Dunleavy and Pau Gasol to four games together this season. “It’s kind of frustrating a little bit because we know how good we can be,” Rose said. “And we know that it’s a long season. And we’re just trying to stay consistent with everything that we’re doing knowing that we have a pretty, pretty good team. Right now defensively, we’re not where we want to be.”
There’s other news from the Central Division:
- A key component of that starting unit may be Joakim Noah putting injury woes behind him, according to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. A surgically repaired left knee forced him to miss Tuesday’s game in Denver, but he bounced back with 15 points and 14 rebounds Friday in Boston. “There’s no question in my mind — 100% — that I can get to where I want to be physically this season,” Noah said. “I have to be positive. I know how far I’ve come in just the last month.”
- David West has changed his attitude about the new-look Pacers, writes Mike Montieth of Pacers,com. With Paul George missing the season with a broken leg and Lance Stephenson gone through free agency, West seemed down on Indiana’s situation during media day. But the 34-year-old forward, who missed the season’s first 15 games while rehabbing a sprained ankle, had a different outlook on his teammates after returning to the court Friday. “These guys compete and play hard, and they do that at a very high level,” he said. “They’ve won some tough road games by being competitive and engaged and having a fight about them, which is one of the reasons I was anxious to get back out there.” West has a player option next season worth $12.6MM.
- His teammates aren’t the only ones missing Paul George, writes Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. The Cavaliers‘ LeBron James regrets that he won’t have any epic matchups with George this year. “Us competing against each other the last few years throughout the second round and Eastern Conference Finals and things of that nature definitely has helped it,” James said of the rivalry. “So it’s mutual respect, but I’ve always respected him, just him as a person.”
Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Kirilenko, Karasev
The Celtics are struggling this season and are trying to maximize the talent that they have on their roster, but Boston is a team filled with complementary players and is badly in need of a star, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald opines. The coaching staff’s primary focus right now is to try and get the most from the players they currently have, notes Bulpett. “I think that’s the only way for me to look at it, and that’s the only way to do my job to the best of my ability — coach the guys that are available, coach the guys that are here as well as we possibly can,” head coach Brad Stevens said. “And I think we’re getting closer, as far as playing to our standards more often than not. There’s a reason we’ve been right there, and that’s because we’ve been playing pretty well. The key is now can we get a little bit better, so that we’re better than right there.”
Here’s the latest from the Atlantic Division:
- In an interview with Russian media, Cavs coach David Blatt relayed that he was a big fan of Nets forward Andrei Kirilenko, whom he coached when both were members of Team Russia, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily reports. “It is unfortunate that Andrei Kirilenko is not playing, because, from my point of view, he is the greatest Russian basketball player of all time,” Blatt said. “He did so much for Russian basketball and for me personally, and I very much support him.“
- When asked about the possibility of the Cavs obtaining Kirilenko via a trade, Blatt said, “In the NBA, there are very strict rules that prohibit coaches from commenting on such things about players on other teams. So in this respect, I will not say anything.”
- Sergey Karasev‘s father, Vasily, spoke about his son’s frustration with his lack of playing time with the Nets in an interview with Timur Rostomov of Sport-Express (translation via the same NetsDaily piece). The elder Karasev said, “One season in the NBA has already passed on the bench, and now, that Sergey is 21 years [old], it’s imperative that he play, not sit. He understands this and is frustrated. He is not interested in salary. He just wants to get on the court, to grow and develop. As I understand it, the coach of Brooklyn, Lionel Hollins, does not see him in the lineup, so it’s difficult for Sergey to influence the situation. He needs to be patient.”
And-Ones: Labor, Mudiay, Prospects, Cobbs
The sharp exchange between Adam Silver and Michele Roberts of late has seemingly served as indication that a work stoppage is on the way in 2017, but Roberts is optimistic that the sides will be able to settle their differences, as she explains to Chris Mannix of SI.com.
“But of course I think it’s avoidable,” Roberts said of a work stoppage. “Does anyone really expect Adam and I will sing kumbaya every day? We’re grown ups. He has a constituency, and I do. We disagree. But that’s the world. You know what we do agree on? We don’t want a work stoppage. Neither one of us wants to see that happen. We have said it to each other. We have said it out loud. Our teams are all smart, we all have the same goals and we should be able to sit down and avoid it. I’d be surprised, frankly, if we had one, but I’m ready if we do.”
While NBA fans hope that Roberts is right about that, here’s the latest from around the league:
- About half of the league’s teams plan to send either scouts, executives or both to China to check out highly touted draft prospect Emmanuel Mudiay, and teams are calling almost daily for information about the point guard, a source tells Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling (Twitter link). Mudiay, who signed with China’s Guangdong Southern Tigers rather than attend SMU for what would have been his freshman season this year, is No. 2 in the rankings of both Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
- Errick McCollum, who worked out for the Cavs, Kings and Rockets this summer, is one of several overseas prospects who are making a mark after having gone undrafted, as David Pick examines for Basketball Insiders.
- German club VEF Riga has let go of Hornets camp invitee Justin Cobbs after what amounted to a one-month tryout, the team announced (Twitter link; translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Cobbs signed with Riga earlier this month shortly after the Hornets released him in advance of opening night. The 23-year-old point guard averaged just 2.0 points in 13.7 minutes per game across seven overseas appearances.