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Central Notes: D. Smith, LeVert, Wade, Bulls

March 5th, 2021 at 2:04pm CST by Ben Stinar

Pistons guard Dennis Smith Jr., acquired in a trade with the Knicks on February 7, has shown flashes since that deal of the potential that made him a lottery pick in 2017. Smith has averaged 8.3 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 3.8 APG, and 1.3 SPG for Detroit, and had his best game on Wednesday, putting up a triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists in a win over the Raptors.

Smith and teammate Mason Plumlee were the first Pistons players to put triple-doubles in the same game in 57 years (link via Pistons.com). Before joining his new team, Smith had only played in three games for the Knicks this season and had requested to play in the G League.

Here’s more out of the Central Division:

  • Pacers guard Caris LeVert has progressed to doing practice drills, and 1-on-1 training, tweets Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. LeVert underwent surgery to remove a previously unknown kidney cancer in January after being traded to the Pacers in the four-team trade that sent James Harden to Brooklyn.
  • Cavaliers second-year forward Dean Wade, who recently had his 2020/21 salary guaranteed, has started in the last five games after no prior starts in his first 35 NBA games. Most recently, he had 17 points and six rebounds against the Pacers on Wednesday. “I never doubted myself,” Wade said, via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “Obviously, through the whole journey, every once in a while, you’re going to think, ‘Can I do it?’… “I’ve always believed in myself.”
  • Tension between a head coach and a GM has been a recurring theme for Jerry Reinsdorf‘s franchises over the years, but there doesn’t seem to be any drama between new Bulls president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and head coach Billy Donovan, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “I think he’s doing a great job,” Karnisovas said of Donovan. “I’ve watched all the media availabilities by him… And I think the one question that’s always coming up is, ‘When do they meet? When do they talk?’ We talk every day. We talk before every practice, we spend time during practices, talk after practices, before games, after games, so the communication is always there. I expected that, and more so, there’s no misunderstandings from my side or his side.” 
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Cavaliers Notes: Love, Dellavedova, Wade, Trade Deadline

February 28th, 2021 at 10:58am CST by Arthur Hill

Kevin Love‘s absence due to a high-grade strain in his right calf is expected to extend through the All-Star break, sources tell Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Love hasn’t played since December 27, when he aggravated an injury that he suffered in the preseason opener.

Love has shown progress in the past two weeks and went through another pre-game workout Saturday. A source described it as one of the veteran forward’s “best pre-game workouts” so far, even though he had to end it early because of a minor cramp in his lower leg. Love received treatment during the first half, then joined his teammates on the bench later in the game.

The Cavaliers have just two games remaining before the break, and team officials believe he would benefit from the extra nine days offs. They’re hoping to have him at 100% for the second half of the season. Love was able to participate in consecutive practices last week, but felt pain in his calf after the second one, according to sources. He has been limited to individual workouts since then.

There’s more from Cleveland:

  • While his playing status remains uncertain, Matthew Dellavedova has taken on an assistant coach’s role for the Cavs, Fedor notes in a separate story. Dellavedova was re-signed to be a mentor to the team’s young guards both on and off the court, but he hasn’t been able to play because of a concussion and an appendectomy. “Delly sees everything,” Darius Garland said. “When he sees someone open, he’ll tell you that in the timeout. ‘You missed that guy in the corner.’ He’s always reading the game, he’s gonna put people in different positions to get a win. Delly, he’s a winner. So whatever you do to win, he’s gonna do it. 
  • Second-year forward Dean Wade was concerned about whether or not he’d have his contract guaranteed this week and was shocked to learn that he was making his first NBA start Tuesday, writes Marla Ritenour of The Akron Beacon Journal. Wade has remained in the starting lineup as Cleveland has strung together three straight wins. “I didn’t really have time to sit and think about it at first, but after shootaround I was like, ‘Man.’ I usually take a pregame nap, but I was so excited I didn’t even sleep,” Wade said. “I just sat there twiddling my thumbs on my phone the whole time.”
  • The Cavaliers will be one of the few definite sellers heading into the trade deadline, ESPN’s Tim McMahon said this week in an appearance on Brian Windhorst’s podcast.
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Cavs Sign Brodric Thomas To Two-Way Contract

February 24th, 2021 at 9:45pm CST by Luke Adams

9:45pm: Cleveland has officially signed Thomas and waived Bolden, Russo tweets.

1:45pm: The Cavaliers are signing G League guard Brodric Thomas to a two-way contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Thomas had been on a two-way deal with Houston, but was cut earlier in the month to open up a spot for Ray Spalding. Thomas saw very limited minutes in four games for the Rockets, but has been a regular starter for the club’s NBAGL affiliate, averaging 16.4 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.0 APG, and 1.6 SPG in eight games (33.4 MPG) for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

Cleveland will waive two-way center Marques Bolden in order to make room for Thomas, sources tell Kelsey Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). Bolden has played 29 total minutes in six games for the Cavs this season and has also had a limited impact at the G League level, recording 6.3 PPG and 6.0 RPG in three games (17.0 MPG) for the Canton Charge.

After officially completing those two transactions, the Cavs will once again have a 16-man roster, with 14 players on standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals. Dean Wade is the lone player on the standard roster without a fully guaranteed contract, but Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link) hears the club has no plans to waive Wade before today’s salary guarantee deadline.

Lamar Stevens, the Cavs’ other two-way player, has recently emerged as a regular part of the club’s rotation, and a source tells Fedor that Cleveland will likely consider converting Stevens’ contract to a standard contract at some point. However, the fact that the Cavs are clearing space for Thomas by waiving Bolden rather than promoting Stevens to fill the open spot on the 15-man roster suggests that’s a decision that will be made later in the season.

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Cavs Place Randolph, Matthews, Mooney On Waivers

December 19th, 2020 at 12:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Cavaliers have waived guards Levi Randolph, Charles Matthews and Matt Mooney, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets.

The most significant cut is Mooney, since he was on a two-way deal. That opens up a two-way slot, with the other occupied by Lamar Stevens.

The moves leave Cleveland with 16 players on the official roster, one over the limit. Big men Marques Bolden and Dean Wade are candidates for the two-way contract, though Wade would have to go through waivers before he could sign that deal.

Randolph was signed to an Exhibit 10 deal last month. He’ll likely wind up with their G League team, the Canton Charge.

Randolph, 28, has been trying to break into the NBA since graduating from Alabama in 2015. He has been part of Cleveland’s training camp the past two seasons and signed a two-way contract in January, but was waived six days later. Randolph led the Charge in scoring last year at 16.9 PPG.

Matthews was also on an Exhibit 10 contract. He spent one season at Kentucky in 2015/16 before transferring to Michigan, where he played for two seasons. Matthews declared early for the draft in 2019, but tore his ACL during a team workout.

Mooney signed a two-way contract with the Cavs last January after going undrafted in 2019. He made four brief appearances with Cleveland last season and saw action in 42 G League games, averaging 13.1 PPG and 5.1 APG in 31.2 MPG.

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Cavs Sign Jordan Bell, Dean Wade To Multiyear Deals

June 30th, 2020 at 9:07am CST by Luke Adams

JUNE 30: The Cavaliers have officially signed Bell and Wade to multiyear contracts, the team confirmed today in a press release. We passed along more details on Bell’s two-year deal and Wade’s four-year pact right here.

JUNE 29: The Cavaliers are filling the two openings on their 15-man roster with a pair of big men. The club has agreed to a multiyear contract with forward/center Jordan Bell, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link), and is signing two-way player Dean Wade to a multiyear deal, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Bell, a former Warriors rotation player, signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Timberwolves last summer, but didn’t establish himself as a reliable rotation player in Minnesota, averaging 3.1 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 27 games (8.7 MPG).

Prior to the trade deadline, Bell was sent to Houston in the four-team Clint Capela trade, then was flipped to Memphis in exchange for Bruno Caboclo. The Grizzlies subsequently released Bell, who joined the Wizards’ G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go. However, the NBA and G League seasons were suspended just one day later, so Bell didn’t see any action for the Go-Go.

Wade, meanwhile, spent his rookie season on a two-way deal with the Cavs after going undrafted out of Kansas State a year ago. The power forward appeared in just 12 games for Cleveland, spending most of the season with the Canton Charge, where he averaged 14.2 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.3 APG, and 1.4 BPG with a .461/.399/.847 shooting line in 30 G League games (31.1 MPG).

Bell got a two-year contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Wade’s new deal is a four-year pact with a $375K first-year salary, followed by three non-guaranteed seasons, tweets Fedor. The two signings won’t take the Cavaliers above the luxury tax threshold, sources tell Fedor.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), since Bell was waived after March 1, he wasn’t eligible to play in the postseason this summer, but that obviously wasn’t a concern for the Cavs.

Meanwhile, because only the 22 teams participating in the NBA’s restart are eligible to sign substitute two-way players this week, Cleveland can’t sign a free agent to fill Wade’s vacated two-way slot.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Wizards Notes: Restart, Schofield, Wall, Wade

June 29th, 2020 at 7:11pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard vows that the team is focused on making the playoffs despite key players missing the restart in Orlando, Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets.

“Certainly, we’re going there to win games,” he said. “We’re trying to make the playoffs. That’s 100 percent our goal.”

There has been speculation that Wizards would treat their eight “seeding” games as a de facto Summer League. Forward Davis Bertans, a free agent after the season, has chosen to sit out. Star guard John Wall will wait until next season to return from his Achilles injury. Washington trails Brooklyn by six games and Orlando by 5.5 games and needs to pull within four games of one of those teams to force a play-in round for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

We have more on the Wizards:

  • Rookie Admiral Schofield is expected to have an expanded role in Orlando with Bertans choosing not to play, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington tweets. “There’s going to be an opportunity at some point for Admiral to show what he can do,” Sheppard said. Schofield has appeared in 27 games, averaging 3.1 PPG in 10.9 MPG.
  • Wall will stay in Miami while the Wizards are in Orlando to work with some coaches that won’t be in the bubble, David Aldridge of The Athletic tweets. The lack of practices during the stoppage of play cost Wall the basketball ramp-up timing he’d been gaining in workouts, according to Sheppard.
  • Washington had some interest in signing power forward Dean Wade, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Wade agreed to a four-year contract with Cleveland on Monday.
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Cavs Notes: Wade, Bell, Trier, Drummond

June 29th, 2020 at 4:06pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers, who agreed to new deals with Dean Wade and Jordan Bell today, are using a portion of their mid-level exception to sign Wade to a four-year contract, as Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com details. Wade gets a first-year salary of $375K, well above the prorated minimum, in exchange for two non-guaranteed seasons and a team option in 2022/23 (Twitter link).

As for Bell, it appears he’ll be signed using the Cavs’ mid-level exception as well, allowing the team to give him $250K for remainder of the season. However, his contract is a short-term arrangement — it’s a two-year deal with a non-guaranteed minimum salary for 2020/21, Fedor notes.

Here’s more out of Cleveland:

  • The Cavaliers explored the possibility of signing Allonzo Trier when he cleared waivers on Sunday, but the former Knicks guard was seeking more money and a different contract structure than what the club wanted to offer, according to Fedor. Additionally, Fedor adds that some members of the basketball operations department questioned Trier’s fit alongside guards like Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, and Kevin Porter.
  • While Andre Drummond has long been considered a lock to opt into the final year of his contract, it remains to be seen whether he and the Cavaliers might work out a longer-term deal. Sources tell Fedor that both sides have shown some interest in a contract extension. However, both the Cavs and Drummond may want to take some time to consider their options — especially if Cleveland ends up using its lottery pick on a big man.
  • Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff intends to make at least one addition to his coaching staff, though it might not happen until later in the year, says Fedor.
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Cavs Claim Tyler Cook From Nuggets

October 18th, 2019 at 4:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Cavaliers have claimed rookie forward Tyler Cook off waivers, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets.

Cook was on a two-way deal with the Nuggets before Denver cut ties with him on Wednesday. The Cavaliers will now decide by Saturday afternoon whether to retain Cook or training camp invitee Marques Bolden with their second two-way contract, according to Fedor. Power forward Dean Wade has the other two-way contract.

Cook entered the draft this spring after his junior year at Iowa, where he averaged 14.5 PPG, 7.6 RPG, and 2.4 APG in 33 games (30.8 MPG) last season while shooting 51.9% from the field. After recovering from a high ankle sprain suffered during a pre-draft workout, the 22-year-old joined Denver for Summer League action and then for training camp, playing limited minutes in two preseason games.

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Cavs Sign Dean Wade To Two-Way Contract

July 2nd, 2019 at 2:40pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 2: The Cavaliers have formally signed Wade to his two-way deal, per RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions.

JUNE 21: The Cavaliers have reached an agreement to sign undrafted rookie free agent Dean Wade to a two-way contract, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).

Wade, a 6’10” forward, has the ability to stretch the floor, having knocked down 38.6% of his three-point attempts over the course of four college seasons. The Kansas State standout recorded 12.9 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 2.8 APG in 25 games during his senior year.

A foot injury sidelined Wade at the end of his college career, keeping him out of action for the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments. However, he recently told Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype that he’s “100% healthy.”

The Cavaliers have also agreed to a deal with Duke big man Marques Bolden, a source tells Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Kennedy’s tweet doesn’t offer any further details, so it’s not entirely clear if Bolden is just joining Cleveland for Summer League or if he’ll get a spot on the team’s 20-man offseason roster.

Bolden played a part-time role for the Blue Devils in 2018/19, averaging 5.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 1.7 BPG in 35 games (19.0 MPG) as a junior.

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Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Wade, Raptors, Workouts

June 11th, 2019 at 8:41pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Celtics own three of the first 22 selections in the NBA draft and we reported last month that the team was expected to shop at least one of those picks. It appears that Boston has begun making calls with Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders connecting Houston as a potential trade partner for the franchise.

Boston has interest in Clint Capela, though the big man is not the organization’s top priority. As we wait to see if Capela is shipped to Boston or if Danny Ainge‘s squad unloads a first-rounder elsewhere, let’s take a look at some draft notes from the Atlantic Division:

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