Western Notes: Rockets, Williams, Green
Houston may have lost to the Hawks Saturday night, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the newest Rockets, reports Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle. Corey Brewer and Alexey Shved left cellar-dwelling teams to join the Rockets in Friday’s three-team trade. They couldn’t play Saturday because all the players in the deal hadn’t undergone physicals in time, but they were happy to be in Houston. “In Minnesota we were the last seed and now I am with a team competing for the playoffs,” Brewer said, “so I am really excited to be here.”
There’s more from the Western Conference:
- Troy Daniels, who was shipped from Houston to the Timberwolves in the Brewer deal, has an unlikely new teammate, writes Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune. As a member of the Trail Blazers, Mo Williams tried to intimidate Daniels during their playoff series last spring. Now that they’re teammates, Williams downplays the incident. “It’s all in competition and it was all in fun on my part,” he said. “He really didn’t do anything to me. He just made a couple of shots and I was like, ‘Where did this kid come from?’ It was like, ‘Let me get in his head, being the veteran I am,’ and I got a lot of attention on me, which was good.”
- The Suns‘ Gerald Green has spent time in the D-League and been cut in China, so the soon-to-be free agent tells Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic he won’t be fazed by bad shooting nights. Green has been pulled from the last two games in the fourth quarter, but doesn’t plan to change anything. “If I’ve gotten to this point, nothing is going to make me not do what I need to do. I’m never going to stop because I had a bad game,” he said.
- Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy got a surprise visitor after Wednesday’s game with the Mavericks, writes Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. Dropping by was Jameer Nelson, who told his former coach how happy he was to be in Dallas. The next day, Nelson was shipped to Boston as part of the package for Rajon Rondo. “He’s not a guy who’s going to pout or hang his head or anything else,” Van Gundy said of Nelson’s transition to the Celtics. “Not only a good player, they got a great locker room voice and a great teammate.”
Rondo Trade Reaction: Cuban, Carlisle, Wright
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tells Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News that this week’s Rajon Rondo deal will be the team’s last major move for a while. “That’s the plan,” Cuban said, although with Rondo headed for free agency this summer and backcourt mate Monta Ellis eligible to opt out of his contract, more changes may be necessary. Coach Rick Carlisle expects Rondo to fit in right away. “He’s going to do great,” Carlisle said. “He’s really smart, picks things up quickly, so I don’t see a big adjustment period. He’s just got to get ready to compete with our guys.”
There’s more fallout from the Rondo trade:
- The Mavericks are indeed confident they can reach a long-term deal to keep Rondo in Dallas, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. “We wouldn’t give up picks if we didn’t think it was long term,” Cuban said. “We’re past the days of rent-a-player. We want him to be here for a long time.” The Mavericks owner plans to spend the rest of the season trying to convince his new guard that Dallas is the best spot for his basketball future.
- Defense and rebounding are the keys to Rondo’s transition to the Mavericks, opines Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. He notes that Rondo made the NBA’s All-Defensive Team four years in a row, but the last time was the 2011/12 season and his reputation in that area has slipped. MacMahon also argues that Rondo isn’t a perfect fit for Dallas’ league-best offense and that his poor three-point shooting will present spacing challenges.
- New Celtic Brandan Wright may have to fight harder for playing time in Boston than he did in Dallas, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. Although the 10-14 Celtics are less talented than the 19-8 Mavericks, one area where they have an advantage is frontcourt depth. “It’s hard to choose which of the four frontcourt players to keep in because they’re all being very productive,” said Celtics head coach Brad Stevens. His current four-man rotation consists of Jared Sullinger, Tyler Zeller, Kelly Olynyk and Brandon Bass. Wright is in the final season of a two-year, $10MM deal.
Eastern Notes: Rondo, Muscala, Cavs, Nelson
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said that lingering uncertainty about Rajon Rondo‘s future in Boston, along with the team’s inability to immediately surround him with impact players, contributed to his decision to trade him to the Mavs, Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com reports. “There was definitely uncertainty into what might happen [with Rondo as a free agent] this summer,” Ainge said. “That was a big factor. We liked the players that we got in the trade. But, listen, with his impending free agency, and the uncertainty of what might happen this summer, I think that gave us the impetus of wanting to do a deal.”
Here’s more out of the East:
- Ainge also discussed how difficult it was to trade away a player like Rondo, Forsberg adds. “It was hard. Yeah, it was very difficult to move Rajon,” Ainge said. “I know it’s a business in professional sports, but you really develop a lot of close relationships and I loved watching Rajon, I loved visiting with him, our one-on-one conversations were fun, entertaining, frustrating sometimes. And always a surprise. The guy was a very unique person. But watching him grow and watching him develop as a man and as a person and as a basketball player, I just enjoyed my interactions with him. It was an emotional time as we met last night. It was not an easy thing to do. But I believe it was the right thing to do.“
- The Hawks have recalled Mike Muscala from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the D-League, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Twitter link). This was Muscala’s second jaunt of the season to Fort Wayne, and in three D-League games, he has averaged 15 points and 9.7 rebounds.
- Cavs GM David Griffin considered trading for Corey Brewer, but decided that he wanted to hang on to Cleveland’s $5.3MM trade exception, Terry Pluto of The Northeast Ohio Media Group reports. Griffin has decided to wait instead, with his primary goal being to add a big man who can protect the rim and rebound, Pluto notes.
- The Celtics and Jameer Nelson have had preliminary discussions on his future role with the team and “what if” possibilities before the February trade deadline, but buyout negotiations have not taken place yet, Shams Charania of RealGM reports.
Western Notes: D-League, Daniels, Garcia
Prior to being waived by the Rockets yesterday, Francisco Garcia declined to be traded to the Wolves, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). There is still a possibility that Minnesota will claim Garcia off of waivers, Spears adds.
Here’s the latest from out west:
- The Wolves‘ acquisition of Troy Daniels in the trade for Corey Brewer nets them an effective outside shooter, something the team was lacking, Michael Rand of The Star Tribune writes. If Daniels can indeed fill that role, his team-friendly salary for this season and next will make him a steal, Rand opines.
- The Pelicans have recalled point guard Russ Smith from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA D-League, the team announced in a press release. In two D-League assignments this season, Smith has appeared in six games with Fort Wayne, averaging 16.5 points, 6.2 assists and 1.8 steals.
- Ricky Ledo has been recalled by the Mavs from the Texas Legends, their D-League affiliate, the team announced in a press release. This was Ledo’s fifth sojourn of the season to the D-League.
- The improved play of Darrell Arthur should benefit the Nuggets big man when he inks his next deal, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. Arthur is in the final season of a three-year contract worth $9MM, and will become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Judging by the high-volume of trade calls Denver has received about him this season, Arthur’s value on the open market will likely be high, Dempsey adds.
- For the fifth time this season, the Thunder have assigned Grant Jerrett to the Oklahoma City Blue, their D-League affiliate, the team announced.
Southwest Notes: Rondo, Stokes, Felton, Smith
During the press conference to officially welcome Rajon Rondo to Dallas, Mavs owner Mark Cuban indicated that the veteran point guard was acquired primarily to help the team’s defense, Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News relays. “We needed to be better defensively,” Cuban said. “I mean, teams were walking in and shooting better at the 3 than they were in the gym by themselves. So that had to change and stop. We didn’t have a lot of length at the point guard position, either. We needed to get a lot taller or a lot longer. Rajon’s the best of both. He’s not taller, but he’s so long that he’s as good as 6’4″ or 6’5″, so he can guard much bigger.”
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- With the acquisition of Rondo, Dallas still has four point guards on its roster, including Raymond Felton, who still hasn’t made his Mavs debut courtesy of his injured ankle. But coach Rick Carlisle says Felton is still a valuable member of the team, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News reports. “Ray’s working his butt off to get himself back to a point where we can activate him,” Carlisle said. “He’s getting closer. I don’t know if he’s quite there yet, but he’s getting closer. Listen he’s a valuable guy. He’s a starting caliber point guard in the NBA, so you got an extra guy like that on your team, that’s a strong position to be in, so you got to keep working. I’ve said all along we’re going to need him at some point.”
- The Grizzlies have re-assigned Jarnell Stokes to the Iowa Energy, the franchise’s D-League affiliate, the team announced. The 20-year-old has posted totals of 20 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks in 35 minutes over nine games with Memphis this season. This will be Stokes’ third sojourn of the season to Iowa.
- Dealing Brandan Wright to the Celtics as part of the Rondo trade has left the Mavs thin in the frontcourt. One possibility is for Dallas to sign free agent Jermaine O’Neal, and the Mavs are reportedly the front-runners for the big man’s services should he decide to play this season. But another option to replace Wright may already be on Dallas’ roster in the 6’10” form of Greg Smith, Sefko writes in a separate piece. “Greg Smith has been sitting here waiting for an opportunity,” Carlisle said. “So he steps up into the picture. He’s worked hard and he’ll get a chance. We need him at this point. Beyond that, we’ll keep our eyes open around the league for opportunities if there are some. We now have an open roster spot so as time goes forward, we’ll see what’s what.”
Southwest Notes: Rockets, Rondo, Mekel, Conley
The Rockets were runners-up in the Rajon Rondo sweepstakes, but they’re set to land Corey Brewer, whom they’d reportedly been targeting for a while. Brewer is excited to reunite with Rockets coach Kevin McHale, who was behind Minnesota’s decision to draft Brewer seventh overall in 2007, as the swingman tells Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. Still, Brewer made it clear wasn’t anxious to leave the Wolves and never asked for or wanted a trade, Zgoda tweets, which seems to conflict with an ESPN.com report indicating that he had requested that the Wolves send him to a contending team.
“Kind of mixed emotions just because I really love Minnesota,” Brewer said to Zgoda. “People don’t understand how much I love Minnesota. I wanted to end my career here. That’s why I signed back here. I thought it’d be possible, but I understand we’re going young. It’s going to be a few years, but the Wolves have great, young talent.”
Brewer, who has a $4.905MM player option for next season, can hit free agency this summer. Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- New Mavs point guard Rajon Rondo wanted out of Boston, friend and former teammate Kendrick Perkins says, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports notes via Twitter. Rondo made several public statements indicating his fondness for the Celtics prior to the trade.
- It’s unclear whether Brewer waived his player option as part of the Rockets deal, but Chase Budinger indicated that he wouldn’t do so with his $5MM player option when the Rockets gauged whether he would, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities hears (Twitter link).
- Troy Daniels is disappointed that he’s leaving the Rockets as part of the Brewer trade agreement, he tells Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston, though he added that he’s hopeful that he’ll see more playing time in Minnesota than he has in Houston.
- Pelicans coach Monty Williams confirmed that the team isn’t ruling out a new deal with Gal Mekel, whom New Orleans waived earlier today, observes Nakia Hogan of The Times-Picayune (Twitter link). That jibes with this morning’s report from David Pick of Eurobasket.com that the Pelicans hope Mekel clears waivers.
- Mike Conley is a bargain for the Grizzlies, making just slightly more than $8.694MM this year on a contract that expires after next season, and an Eastern Conference executive tells Chris Mannix of SI.com that the point guard would garner at least $14MM annually on the open market.
How The Rajon Rondo Trade Worked Financially
The Celtics, at least on the surface, didn’t reap a package for Rajon Rondo that at all resembles what the Timberwolves received for Kevin Love this past summer. Rondo, who’s two and a half years older and nine inches shorter than Love and is averaging only 8.3 points per game, isn’t quite the sort of player that Love had proven to be when Minnesota relinquished him, but the Celtics surely wanted more for him than Dallas gave up. Boston was reportedly seeking as many as three first-round picks for Rondo at times over the past year or so, but the C’s reaped only one, and the deal weakened their cap flexibility for next season, since Jameer Nelson holds a player option worth $2.855MM for 2015/16.
Still, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge deftly crafted a trade that allowed him to use as many as three trade exceptions to create a new $12,909,090 trade exception that instantly becomes the league’s largest. Ainge and his staff took Brandan Wright‘s $5MM salary into the $5,285,816 trade exception that they created in their Keith Bogans trade and Nelson’s $2.732MM salary for this season into the trade exception left over from the deal that sent Joel Anthony away, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders points out. They folded Jae Crowder‘s $915,243 salary into either the remainder of the Anthony exception or the $1,334,092 that was left over from the original $4.25MM exception they created when they gave up Kris Humphries in a sign-and-trade with the Wizards this past summer, Pincus also notes.
Its unclear which path they took with Crowder, since there are benefits to both. Using the Anthony exception for Crowder preserves the $1,334,092 still on the Humphries exception, a larger amount than they’d have if they used the Humphries exception and left the Anthony exception at $1.068MM. But that’s not much of a difference, and the Anthony exception expires nearly three months later than the Humphries one does. Whichever exception Crowder’s salary went into would be reduced to an amount that’s less than the full-season minimum salary for a rookie, making it largely unusable.
The Rondo trade also allows the Celtics to create a $507,336 exception for Dwight Powell. That exception, equivalent to the rookie minimum salary, is only slightly more useful than whatever remains of the exception that Crowder’s salary went into. It’s nonetheless difficult to rule out much when it comes to Ainge and the use of trade exceptions, as this deal demonstrates. The trades that created the Humphries, Anthony and Bogans exceptions all took place within the last five months. Those transactions seemed to matter little at the time, since none of them netted the Celtics a player who remains on the roster, but collectively they gave Ainge the ammunition needed to enhance the Rondo deal. By contrast, the Mavs didn’t possess any trade exceptions entering the deal, and they needed to use all of their outgoing salaries to make the matching math work so they could absorb Rondo’s salary.
The first-round pick headed from Dallas to Boston, which will probably end up coming in the latter half of the 2016 first-round, given the protections attached to it and the Mavs’ prospects for success, isn’t necessarily the best asset that the Celtics acquired in the deal. Instead, the Celtics can use their trade exception to acquire a player or group of players who make as much as $13,009,090, or $100K more than Rondo’s salary for this season, anytime between now and next December, without sending out matching salary in return. It’d be difficult for Boston to pull that off now, since the team is still about $7MM shy of the luxury tax line, but the Celtics will have more leeway come the offseason. Indeed, the Rondo trade gives the C’s a little more breathing room beneath the tax threshold for now, since they were only about $2MM shy of it prior to the deal.
There are no guarantees that teams will be able to use trade exceptions at all, much less to use them to net star players. Still, they give teams power to make maneuvers they otherwise couldn’t. For now, that’s the greatest benefit the Celtics have reaped from parting with their point guard.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Mavs Front-Runners To Sign Jermaine O’Neal
DECEMBER 19TH: Dallas has an “undeniable edge” in the competition to sign O’Neal, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). The Mavs’ acquisition of Rajon Rondo has intensified O’Neal’s interest in joining the team, Stein indicates, noting that the 36-year-old O’Neal lives in the Dallas area and has long hoped to play close to his home. Dallas has an open roster spot following Thursday’s trade, one that left the club thin at center.
DECEMBER 12TH: Free agent Jermaine O’Neal has been has been weighing his options on whether to return to the court this season or simply call it a career, in a situation similar to that of Ray Allen. Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link) reports that O’Neal is likely to make his decision in January. If O’Neal does indeed decide to return to the hardwood for his 19th season in the league, he’ll have no shortage of suitors, Stein reports in a separate tweet. According to Stein, numerous contending teams would be interested in adding O’Neal to their rosters, including the Warriors, Cavs, Clippers, and Mavericks.
O’Neal had a solid season in Golden State last year, averaging 7.9 points and 5.5 rebounds in a little over 20 minutes per contest, which was good for a respectable 15.3 PER rating. His career averages are 13.2 PPG, 7.2 RPG, and 1.8 BPG.
Golden State would seemingly have a leg up on the competition for O’Neal’s services, since the team has been in regular contact with O’Neal since the 2013/14 campaign came to a close. Although, back in September, GM Bob Myers intimated that his team would be content to stick with Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli, and Ognjen Kuzmic at the pivot. But with Golden State out to a blistering 19-2 start to the season, which is tops in the NBA, returning to Oakland would seemingly be more appealing than ever for O’Neal. It would also be a wise move on the franchise’s part given Bogut’s injury history. Golden State also happens to have an available roster slot, so the team wouldn’t need to release a player to accommodate signing O’Neal.
Out of the rest of the contending teams mentioned in Stein’s tweet, Cleveland could also be an intriguing proposition for O’Neal, though the Cavs would need to release a player to be able to sign him. With the Cavs gunning for a title this season, as well as badly needing interior help, O’Neal may look at the easier path to the NBA Finals in the East as a viable alternative to returning to Golden State.
Rajon Rondo Trade Fallout/Reaction
The Rajon Rondo trade stands to have an immediate effect on the Western Conference playoff race as well as the long-term future of the Celtics, who for many years were an Eastern Conference contender with Rondo. We’ll be rounding up the news still trickling out about the blockbuster trade throughout the day, with any new items added to the top:
- There’s no shortage of confidence among Mavs officials that they can re-sign Rondo, a source tells Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com, who adds that obtaining Rondo will make it easier for the club to reach a new deal with soon-to-be free agent Tyson Chandler (Twitter link).
- The Lakers planned a final offer of Steve Nash, the protected 2015 first-rounder that the Rockets owe the Lakers, and a second-round pick, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports.
- The Celtics were asking for as many as three first-rounders for Rondo at times in the past year or so, multiple league sources tell Lowe for the same piece.
- Brooklyn was also in the mix for Rondo, but the Nets simply couldn’t make a deal work, a league source tells Robert Windrem of NetsDaily (Twitter link).
8:59am update:
- Rondo spoke publicly about his fondness for Boston even in the hours before the trade, but privately the soon-to-be free agent was torn between remaining with the Celtics and joining a contender, a source tells Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald (Twitter link). Still, Rondo didn’t tell the Celtics about the way he felt, Murphy adds in a second tweet.
- The Celtics had decided that it would have been nearly impossible to compete this coming summer with other teams that could offer Rondo a better chance to win, sources tell Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. The C’s weren’t sure they wanted to engage in a bidding war for a player who turns 30 in the middle of next season, Bulpett adds.
- The desire to complete a deal in advance of two months prior to the trade deadline, giving the teams the power to flip their incoming players in a deal that aggregates their salaries this season, wasn’t a major factor in the timing of the deal, Bulpett also hears. The Celtics were convinced that the offers would get no better and might worsen if they waited, and they didn’t see any better offers earlier in the process, either, sources tell Bulpett.
- The Knicks couldn’t have relinquished a first-round pick that would have gone to the Celtics any sooner than 2018, and that’s largely what torpedoed any chance New York might have had of trading for Rondo, as Mark Berman of the New York Post hears. Still, Knicks brass is divided on how well Rondo would fit within the triangle offense, Berman adds.
Western Notes: Craft, Gasol, Ledo
NBA executives are growing increasingly intrigued with guard Aaron Craft, who is currently playing in the D-League for the Santa Cruz Warriors, Golden State’s affiliate, Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio reports (Twitter link). Craft was in training camp with the Warriors this season, and was considering a contract offer from Partizan Belgrade of the Serbian League back in November, but he chose to remain with Santa Cruz rather than head overseas.
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- The Spurs seem poised to chase Marc Gasol in free agency this coming summer, but there’s little call for them to go after a replacement for Tim Duncan when Duncan continues to demonstrate that he can still play at a high level, opines Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News.
- The Mavericks have assigned Ricky Ledo to the Texas Legends, their D-League affiliate, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com reports (Twitter link). This is Ledo’s fifth excursion of the season to the D-League.
- Mavs owner Mark Cuban believes the most difficult choice a team owner has to make is selecting a head coach, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News writes. Cuban said there are different kinds of coaches for different kinds of jobs, including jobs that may inherently not be long-term fits, Sefko adds. “What do you expect [from coaches], and are they living up to it?” Cuban said. “Is it wins and losses or player development? How many coaches do you know that they knew the team was going to be down [before taking the job]? We’ve all heard about coaches who were brought in and were there to take the beating until they turn things around. You hear about that all the time. I haven’t been in that position, fortunately. And it takes one type of coach rather than another.”
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.