Odds & Ends: Hayward, Jazz, Nash
While the Jazz and Gordon Hayward fell short of agreeing on a contract extension last week, both Hayward and the franchise are still interested in getting something done eventually. Hayward told Jody Genessy of the Deseret News: “(Not reaching an agreement) in no way changes the way I feel about Utah at all…I love being here. I love playing for them…Hopefully (an extension) will get worked out next summer.”
Utah GM Dennis Lindsey had this to say about Hayward’s agent Mark Bartelstein and future negotiations: “Mark’s been one of the best agents in the business because he negotiates hard. He was fair. He played by the rules. He’ll continue to play by the rules. We’ll be fair as well, and we’ll come back and start talking in July…Just because (Hayward) said no to our last offer, his character hasn’t changed. He is an outstanding person…He’s someone we can see being in a Utah Jazz jersey until he retires. That’s our hope. We think we’re great fits.”
We have a handful of miscellaneous news and notes to pass along tonight, and you can read them below:
- ESPN LA’s Arash Markazi weighed in on some of the rumblings which suggest that Steve Nash could eventually wind up in Toronto, saying that a deal between the Raptors and Lakers makes sense but isn’t sure if something gets done. Markazi opines that L.A. would like to clear Nash’s salary off their books while the Raptors would enjoy increased ticket sales by bringing the Canadian legend back to his home country (All Twitter links).
- Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld tweeted a list of players who may be traded this season, including: Omer Asik, Jameer Nelson, Arron Afflalo, Glen Davis, Evan Turner, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Bass, and Gerald Wallace.
- Kennedy also shared what 76ers rookie Michael Carter-Williams told him about his chances on winning the Rookie of the Year Award: “I think I have a pretty good chance at it. I’m just going to go out there, play my game and hope for the best” (Twitter link).
- Entering tonight’s game with a record of 1-2 before their win against the Wizards, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade acknowledged that some minor chemistry issues are affecting the team (Michael Wallace of ESPN.com). More specifically, Wade had this to say: “Let me give you an example…If you’re in a relationship with a woman for a long time, you start getting comfortable. You stop doing the little things that you should do, that you did in the beginning. It’s just like a relationship. We got a little comfortable. Now we have to get back on that edge a little bit.”
- Al Iannazzone of Newsday writes that Knicks forwards Amar’e Stoudemire and Kenyon Martin will have their own individualized schedules as far as playing or sitting out games, a decision meant to preserve the health of both in the long run.
- Mavericks point man Jose Calderon appears to be regaining his groove after a sluggish start to the season, writes Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram.
Grant Jerrett Tops Field Of D-League Draftees
The Thunder’s D-League affiliate used the No. 1 overall pick in tonight’s D-League draft on Grant Jerrett, allowing the Thunder to closely monitor a player whose NBA rights also belong to them. Oklahoma City traded for Jerrett shortly after the Blazers took him 40th overall in June’s NBA draft. A report in September indicated Jerrett had signed with the Thunder-owned Tulsa 66ers, but as I pointed out at the time, he’d have to enter the D-League draft rather than sign with Tulsa outright. The 66ers pulled off a trade yesterday to acquire the No. 1 pick in the D-League draft, positioning themselves to secure Jerrett’s D-League rights.
The Pelicans didn’t do the same with the second-rounder they picked up in the Jrue Holiday/Nerlens Noel trade. Pierre Jackson, the 42nd overall pick in the NBA draft, went fourth overall in the D-League draft to the Idaho Stampede, the affiliate of the Blazers.
The Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the one-to-one affiliate of the Rockets, took four-year NBA vet James Johnson second overall tonight, while Quincy Douby, who has three years of NBA experience, went at No. 3 to the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the affiliate of the Heat. The Texas Legends, who are affiliated with the Mavs, rounded out the top five with their selection of C.J. Aiken, who was in an NBA camp with the Kings last month after leaving St. Joseph’s in the spring.
Ricky Davis was perhaps the most well-known figure selected, as the Erie BayHawks, the affiliate of the Knicks, drafted him in the sixth round, signaling that the Knicks liked what they saw when the 34-year-old worked out for them in September. Other notable picks include former Magic and Thunder swingman DeAndre Liggins, who went to the Skyforce at seventh overall. Thanasis Antetokounmpo, the brother of Bucks rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo, went at No. 9 to the Delaware 87ers. Check out the entire list of draftees right here.
Some D-League clubs were involved in draft day trades. The Santa Cruz Warriors came into the draft already stocked with Stephen Curry‘s brother Seth Curry, whose D-League rights Golden State had protected after cutting him at the end of camp. Santa Cruz swapped a second-round pick for Mychel Thompson, brother of Golden State sharpshooter Klay Thompson, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports writes, giving the Warriors’ affiliate their own version of the big club’s “Splash Brothers” duo.
Players with prior D-League experience who were cut from NBA camps can re-enter the D-League and go back to their old teams without entering the draft. That’s what James Nunnally, fresh off a camp appearance with the Suns, has decided to do, as he’ll return to the Bakersfield Jam, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.com. The Suns are one of five NBA teams affiliated with the Jam, as our list of NBA/D-League affiliations shows.
Odds & Ends: Mavs, D-League, Collins, Dragic
Dirk Nowitzki publicly questioned Mark Cuban‘s approach to retooling the Mavericks back in January, and the team struck out on its top target again this summer when Dwight Howard decided to join the Rockets. But Nowitzki tells Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com that he’s pleased with the roster Cuban and Donnie Nelson put together this offseason, and he’s encouraged by the club’s direction.
“I think as a franchise, we’ve moved on,” Nowitzki said of the failed attempts to recruit star free agents. “We didn’t go for the whole cap space deal again, like we did last year, so I was obviously pleased to see that.”
Here are a few more Friday afternoon odds and ends:
- With the D-League draft set to get underway at 6:00pm CT tonight, the Iowa Energy traded the third overall pick as part of a deal with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Heat camp invitee and NBA champion Jarvis Varnado headed to Iowa in the move, as Keith Schlosser writes at Ridiculous Upside.
- One player who won’t be playing on a D-League squad anytime soon is free agent big man Jason Collins, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein. Stein hears from a source that Collins isn’t considering playing overseas or in the D-League, since he still believes he’s an NBA player and prefers to continue his workout regimen at home in Los Angeles.
- In a separate ESPN.com story, Stein writes that the Suns are comfortable with Eric Bledsoe heading into free agency next summer. However, it sounds like Phoenix hasn’t ruled out the possibility of facilitating a sign-and-trade involving Bledsoe in July if he gets too pricey, so the team likely won’t shop Goran Dragic for now.
- John Jenkins tells Lang Greene of HoopsWorld it “feels great” that the Hawks elected to exercise his third-year option for 2014/15 yesterday.
- $14MM over four years is a reasonable price for Quincy Pondexter, but he’ll have to continue to develop for his new contract to be a good investment for the Grizzlies, says Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com.
- DeShawn Sims, who was in camp with the Celtics in October, has signed with Galil Gilboa in Israel, agent Mike Silverman tells Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
- Since being released by the Rockets, Tim Ohlbrecht has remained in the U.S. in hopes of landing another NBA job, but continues to consider overseas offers, according to Schlosser at Ridiculous Upside.
Odds & Ends: Asik, Howard, Irving, Jack, Sixers
The 11 pm CT deadline for extensions and team options for players still on their rookie contracts should steal most of the headlines tonight, but let’s look at some of the other buzz from around the league:
- Rockets officials “continue to privately insist” that Omer Asik won’t be available via trade this season if he and Dwight Howard can be productive alongside one another in the Houston frontcourt, reports ESPN.com’s Marc Stein.
- Speaking of Howard, Mark Cuban says the Houston center made “a mistake in judgement” by joining the Rockets over his Mavericks, writes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News, who pulls several other interesting quotes from Cuban and Mavs coach Rick Carlisle about how the team is faring with their “Plan B.”
- Meanwhile, Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram tweets that Cuban believes Howard had already decided on Houston as his destination before he sat down with the Mavericks last summer.
- While the Cavaliers can’t offer star point guard Kyrie Irving an extension until next summer, the strong relationship between Irving and owner Dan Gilbert should reassure Clevelanders still sore over losing LeBron James, writes Jodie Valade of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
- Valade also writes that, while the Andrew Bynum addition received most of the headlines, it is Jarrett Jack who will have the biggest impact among the new faces in Cleveland this season.
- Sixers advanced scout and former assistant Ron Oliver won’t return for a third season with the team, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (via Twitter).
Odds & Ends: Hayward, Mavs, Kings, Knicks
The season is just two days old, but we may already have seen its most surprising result. The Sixers pulled off a stunning victory against Heat tonight — not too shabby for a team that’s still about $5MM shy of the minimum team salary, as HoopsWorld’s Eric Pincus notes in his look at teams with cap space remaining. Here’s more from a busy 14-game night:
- The Jazz remain in talks with Gordon Hayward about an extension, with just one day left before the deadline for him to sign one, writes Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune.
- Mark Cuban doesn’t intend to replace former Mavs GM Gersson Rosas, who resigned yesterday, reports Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com.
- On “David Stern Day” in Sacramento, the commissioner weighed in on the NBA’s approval of the Kings‘ new ownership group instead of Seattle’s bid for the franchise, as Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com shares via Twitter. “… The owners did the right thing. They had a vote to cast and they cast it in favor of Sacramento,” Stern said.
- Marc Berman of the New York Post hears from a source who says too much was made out of a report earlier today that said owner James Dolan expects the Knicks to win the title this season. Dolan was merely attempting to express his confidence in the team’s players, the source tells Berman.
- Knicks GM Steve Mills isn’t looking to hire any more people to work under him in the team’s front office, but he does intend to restructure some of the roles of his existing staff, as Berman passes along in the same piece.
- Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com points to Spurs second-round pick Deshaun Thomas as an example of why the NCAA need not allow early draft entrants back on their college teams if they don’t make an NBA roster. The agent for Thomas says he’ll make $150K on his contract with JSF Nanterre in France this season, Parrish notes.
Western Notes: Westbrook, Kobe, Carney, Rosas
There’s some auspicious news for the Thunder on opening night, as it appears Russell Westbrook could be back as early as two weeks from now, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Thunder originally projected he’d miss at least the first month of the season. Here’s more from the West:
- Kobe Bryant addressed extension talks with the Lakers during a Q-and-A session with Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, indicating that discussions have yet to begin but will soon. Lakers co-owner Jim Buss said last week that negotiations had already begun.
- Bryant also told Spears that he hasn’t spoken to Carmelo Anthony about free agency next summer. A recent report suggested Anthony would be open to a recruiting pitch.
- Rodney Carney, fresh off a camp stint with the Pelicans, has signed to play in Puerto Rico with Capitanes de Arecibo, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports.
- It appears philosophical differences were at the root of Gersson Rosas‘ decision to resign as Mavs GM today, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, while Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram hears the Mavs shared the concerns Rosas had about the fit.
- Jazz CEO Greg Miller says he’s OK with the front office’s plan to endure a rough season this year as long as it helps move the team toward a title down the road, as Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune examines.
- Wolves camp invitee Othyus Jeffers is set to join the team’s D-League affiliate, while second-round pick Lorenzo Brown, whom the team also cut last week, will not, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link).
Gersson Rosas Resigns As Mavs GM
6:30pm: The Mavs sent out a press release confirming that Rosas would no longer be with the organization, and it includes a statement from Rosas, who says the decision was entirely his.
“I made the personal decision to resign as general manager of the Dallas Mavericks after determining that the position was not the best fit for me at this point in my career,” Rosas said. “The decision was made solely by me, as I firmly believe this change is in my best interest.
Rosas added that Cuban asked him to reconsider the decision, but he ultimately turned the owner down. Rosas said he and Cuban “part as friends.”
3:34pm: According to Stein (Twitter links), Rosas wanted to head basketball operations in Dallas, whereas he was brought in to provide new ideas in a supplementary role.
1:56pm: General manager Gersson Rosas‘ stint in Dallas has come to a premature end, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who reports (via Twitter) that the two sides have parted ways. The Mavericks only hired him away from the Rockets about three months ago, but Stein tweets that questions about Rosas’ fit in Dallas were raised almost immediately upon his arrival.
Rosas spent the last nine years with the Rockets, steadily rising through the organization during that stretch. He has also served as the GM for Houston’s D-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, helping to lead the squad to a pair of D-League titles in recent years. He was reportedly coveted by the Nuggets and Spurs before he agreed to join the Mavs’ front office.
While Rosas’ departure will alter the structure of the Mavs’ front office, it shouldn’t have a significant impact on the team’s basketball decisions, since owner Mark Cuban and president Donnie Nelson continue to have the final say.
Mavericks Notes: Calderon, Nowitzki, Dalembert
The Mavericks made some surprising news today, parting ways with GM Gersson Rosas, who apparently wanted more power over the team’s player personnel than the team was willing to give him. Rosas might not have been the proper fit in Dallas, but he figures to be a hot name in front office circles now that he’s back on the market. The Spurs were reportedly after him before he took the Mavs job, and Rosas drew mention as a possible candidate for the Nuggets GM opening this summer. Here’s more on the team he leaves behind:
- The Mavs feel Jose Calderon is the caliber of point guard they’ll need when they return to contention, writes Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, who wonders how long it will take the club to get back to the top. Calderon fit the bill this summer as Dallas prioritized finding a ball-handler who didn’t commit too many turnovers, as Price examines.
- Dirk Nowitzki will be 36 when he hits free agency in July, but Mavs owner Mark Cuban doesn’t think he’s close to the end of his career, Price notes in the same piece. “He’s disciplined enough that I think he sees guys like Ray Allen and others who are going later and later and later,” Cuban said. “So who knows? I won’t put a limit on him.”
- Rick Carlisle identified Samuel Dalembert as the player who improved most from the start of training camp to the end, observes Jeff Caplan of NBA.com, who writes that the Mavs’ playoff hopes hinge on the performance of the 6’11” free agent signee.
- The Mavericks haven’t given Carlisle much to work with in the seasons since he guided the team to a championship, but he tells Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News that he’s prepared to stick it out “for the long haul” in Dallas.
Odds & Ends: Tinsley, Durant, 76ers, Bogut
Only three players who remained unsigned this month started more games for their team last year than the 32 that Jamaal Tinsley started for the Jazz, who finally re-signed him to a minimum-salary contract this week. The point guard still didn’t get anxious as he stayed at home without a contract this fall.
“Not at all,” Tinsley said to Steve Luhm of The Salt Lake Tribune. “I’ve been through way tougher things in my life than this. I’m blessed to get the opportunity to play basketball. I’d do this for free. I’ve been running up and down the court the last four (or) five months without a job. … So it wasn’t frustrating.”
Here’s more from around the league:
- Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote this week that the Thunder “would be wise not to relax” about Durant’s willingness to remain in OKC when his contract ends in 2016, and Durant tells Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman that he’s not sure what his future holds.
- Thaddeus Young hopes he remains with the Sixers, the only NBA team he’s ever played for, but he understands the team is in flux and could trade him or teammates Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes this season, as Tom Moore of The Intelligencer observes. “There definitely is some talk,” Young said. “At the end of the day, it’s a business. If they see fit to trade one of us, two of us or all three of us, we have to pack up and go. It’s still a job. We have to remain calm and we can’t be mad.”
- Whether or not Young stays, the Sixers roster will almost certainly change during the season, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. GM Sam Hinkie acknowledges that plenty of work remains to turn the team into an elite organization.
- Kevin Pelton figures Andrew Bogut will be healthy for most of the three years of his extension, but he still thinks the Warriors absorb more financial risk than Bogut does, arguing in an Insider piece for ESPN.com that the team should have waited until he hit free agency to do a deal.
- Pelton mentions the Mavericks as a potential suitor for Bogut had he become a free agent, and Warriors brass indeed perceived the Mavs as a threat, just as they saw the Bobcats as a rival for Stephen Curry, tweets Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group.
Western Notes: Brown, Green, Morey, Ebanks
Shannon Brown remains on the Wizards roster for now following last night’s trade, though the team is expected to let him go. He isn’t a lock to clear waivers, but if he does, HoopsWorld’s Steve Kyler hears he’d like to sign with the Lakers (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets that several teams are interested, and Brown has yet to make up his mind. Fellow ESPN.com scribe Ramona Shelburne isn’t sure the Lakers will be too inclined to pick up Brown, since they already have 15 players under contract (Twitter link). Here’s more from the West:
- After being bounced among seven NBA teams and two international stops by age 27, Gerald Green is OK with waiting for his turn to get minutes in the Suns‘ rotation, writes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Green, who came to Phoenix in the Luis Scola deal, is one of three small forwards on the team, but he should see more time at two-guard now that Brown is elsewhere.
- Rockets GM Daryl Morey paid no attention to rumors that his job was on the line in recent years, writes Sam Amick of USA Today. “I heard second hand those rumblings, and it never made sense to me,” Morey said. “Maybe because I knew Mr. Alexander had a lot of faith in what we were doing and was really an architect in a lot of the strategy, so we were executing on a plan and the owner knew it. I think that, yeah, if we hadn’t been able to turn the corner like we hoped, then at some point he probably says, ‘Hey, I’ve got to change horses,’ and that’s fine. That’s his right. I wouldn’t have been bothered. But he had a lot of belief in us, and I don’t forget that.”
- Former Lakers forward Devin Ebanks was among the players the Mavs cut this week, and he has committed to play with the the Texas Legends, the D-League affiliate of Dallas, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (Twitter link).
- Bob Myers was an agent before he became GM of the Warriors, and that experience shows in his masterful negotiations on extensions for Andrew Bogut and Stephen Curry, writes Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group. We had plenty more on Bogut’s extension in a post earlier today.
Zach Links contributed to this post.