Denver Nuggets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Beck’s Latest: Kings, Knicks, Suns, Nets, Rockets

December 15th, 2014 at 2:57pm CST by Chuck Myron

There will be chatter aplenty between now and the February 19th trade deadline, but not all of it will truly constitute trade rumors, as Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck cautions. However, when multiple voices speak in unison, there’s usually a grain of truth involved, and Beck has plenty of tidbits he’s heard from a variety of sources around the league. We already passed along the news that the Pistons are putting Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings on the block, but that’s not the only item of note. We’ll pass along the rest of the highlights here and encourage you to read Beck’s full piece for more:

The Kings head coaching job is George Karl‘s if he wants it, as both Beck and Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee hear (Twitter links). Alvin Gentry and Mark Jackson are also “prime candidates,” according to Beck, though it’s not clear if the Kings are targeting either of them. Karl said to Tom Byrne of SiriusXM NBA Radio today that, “If they’re interested in me, I’m interested in them (Twitter link). Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first identified Karl as the front-runner for the job, which Tyrone Corbin is expected to assume on an interim basis.
Executives around the league tell Beck that the Knicks are making all of their players except for Carmelo Anthony available, as Beck writes in his piece. A similar scenario is in place for New Orleans, where the Pelicans are open to trading everyone outside of Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Omer Asik and Ryan Anderson, Beck hears.
Many executives expect the Suns to trade one of Eric Bledsoe, Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas, according to Beck.
The Nets would probably only move one or two of Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson, team sources tell Beck. The Rockets asked Brooklyn about Andrei Kirilenko before the Nets traded him to the Sixers last week, Beck also hears.
There’s conflicting intel on the Nuggets, whom many executives view as top candidates to become sellers, while one Western Conference exec tells Beck that the Nuggets like their team and aren’t inclined to move anybody. In any case, there’s plenty of interest in Wilson Chandler and Timofey Mozgov, executives have said to Beck.
Many executives and scouts identified Thaddeus Young, Mo Williams and David Lee among likely trade candidates, Beck writes.

Western Notes: Kings, Thomas, McGee, Grizzlies

December 15th, 2014 at 11:30am CST by Chuck Myron

Improvements in the performance and temperament of DeMarcus Cousins and a flawed roster unfit for the style Kings management wants to play are among the reasons SB Nation’s Tom Ziller believes the Kings erred in their apparent decision to fire coach Michael Malone. Cousins was one of Malone’s most enthusiastic supporters, notes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link). Carl Landry has had high praise for Malone, too, according to Jones, who adds that Malone’s players have almost universally held the coach in high esteem (Twitter links). While we wait to see what happens next in Sacramento, here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Isaiah Thomas has fired agent Andy Miller of ASM Sports for reasons both personal and professional, sources tell Darren Heitner of the Sports Agent Blog (Twitter link). The agency confirmed the move, as Heitner notes via Twitter. The Suns guard intends to pick a new agent before the holidays, Heitner adds. Miller negotiated a new four-year, $27MM deal this summer for Thomas, the last pick in the 2011 draft.
JaVale McGee will miss a “significant” amount of time after aggravating a muscle near the tibia in which he suffered a stress fracture that kept him out most of last season, Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said Sunday to reporters, including Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post. “I heard six weeks at one point,” Shaw said. “I don’t know. I don’t think he’s anywhere close to coming back right now.”
Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger downplayed the notion that the team would make changes in spite of rumors indicating that the Cavs have their eyes on Tayshaun Prince and Kosta Koufos, as Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal writes. The Grizzlies are reportedly interested in Ray Allen, though there’s no indication that he would consider signing with Memphis, Tillery points out.

Western Notes: Edwin, Bjelica, Christopher, Kerr

December 13th, 2014 at 8:44am CST by Eddie Scarito

Through the first eight games of the D-League season Fuquan Edwin has averaged 17 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game, and according to a representative for Edwin, these numbers are garnering him interest from the NBA, Chris Reichert of Ridiculous Upside writes. Edwin’s representative told Reichert, “Three teams proactively called in the last three days regarding Fuquan, and several others have inquired with preliminary interest.” Edwin was in training camp with the Spurs this year prior to being waived.

Here’s more from out west:

Serbian forward Nemanja Bjelica, whom the Wolves own the draft rights to, could be looking at making the jump to the NBA either next season, or in 2016/17, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune reports (Twitter link). The 2010 second-rounder had inked a deal with the Wasserman Media group back in September.
Patrick Christopher, who was recently signed by the Jazz, credits his time overseas for allowing him to pursue his dream of making it to the NBA via the D-League, Jody Genessy of The Deseret News writes. “I got some experience over there [Europe]. I was able to put a few coins away and give myself an opportunity,” Christopher said. “Because when you play in the D-League, it’s somewhat of a sacrifice. That’s why you do take that opportunity, and it’s paid off.”
Steve Kerr had a difficult task ahead of him in taking over as coach for Mark Jackson, who was very popular with the Warriors‘ players, Marcus Thompson II of The San Jose Mercury News writes. Kerr’s first move upon being hired was to reach out to the team’s star, Stephen Curry, who was one of Jackson’s most fervent supporters, Thompson notes. When asked how Kerr won him over, Curry said, “How he’s handled the whole situation. He understood the fragileness of that whole transition. He was never arrogant, never saying ‘I’m the best coach in the world, and I’ll take you guys to the promise land.'”
With Wilson Chandler off to a solid start to the season, Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari is finding playing time difficult to come by thus far, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “I think he’d [Gallinari] be the first one to say it’s tough for him because he’s used to playing the role that he’s always played,” coach Brian Shaw said. “The guy was out 19 months. He understands that if Wilson wasn’t playing as well as he is playing at that position, then maybe I’d let him out there and try to play through it a little bit more. But Wilson is playing well, and he’s not, so that’s why Wilson is out there.”

Thunder Ask Nuggets About Wilson Chandler

December 12th, 2014 at 10:07am CST by Chuck Myron

The Thunder have checked on Denver’s willingness to part with Wilson Chandler, as Chris Mannix of SI.com reports amid his weekly notebook column. Chandler is making almost $6.758MM this year in the next-to-last season of his contract, and only $2MM of his nearly $7.172MM salary for 2015/16 is guaranteed. It’s unclear what Oklahoma City would be willing to give up in return, but the Thunder would have to relinquish some salary to acquire Chandler, since they don’t have a trade exception large enough to accommodate him and they’re only about $1MM shy of the luxury tax threshold.

A report in July indicated that the Nuggets were thinking of trading either Chandler, JaVale McGee or both, and Denver apparently put Chandler in a pair of trade proposals to Minnesota for Kevin Love before Love wound up in Cleveland. Chandler, 27, is performing slightly above his career averages this season as he puts up 14.7 points and 6.3 rebounds in 30.3 minutes per game with 38.3% three-point shooting. He’s starting at small forward in front of Danilo Gallinari for a deep but mediocre Nuggets team that’s gone just 10-12 but is 8-5 after a 2-7 start. Denver is about $3MM shy of the tax line.

The Thunder are climbing out of an early-season hole that resulted from injuries to Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and a host of others. They’ve won six of their last seven games to improve to 9-13, a mark that’s just two games back in the loss column from the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Western Notes: Thompson, Hill, McGee, Davis

December 11th, 2014 at 7:25pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Klay Thompson didn’t feel the need to test the free agent market, nor to entertain the idea of going to another team where he didn’t have to share the spotlight with another player, like he does now with Stephen Curry on the Warriors, Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com writes. “Why go somewhere else and start over when you get a huge contract with one of the best teams in the NBA?” Thompson said. “I think only an idiot would turn that down. I love it here. Love my teammates, the organization, especially the fans, and I never really wanted to go anywhere else.” Thompson inked a maximum salary extension with Golden State in October.

Here’s more from the West:

The two-year, $18MM deal the Lakers gave Jordan Hill this summer drew some head-scratches from executives around the league, but Hill is now the player that Los Angeles gets the most trade inquiries about, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News reports. Hill had heard all the chatter about him not being worthy of his contract, but shrugged it off, notes Deveney. “I heard all that, but I didn’t pay any attention,” Hill said. “I knew I had the skills to do it, I just needed the minutes. With [Mike] D’Antoni, it was hard for me to find the minutes. He wanted me to do the things he wanted me to do to get the minutes. I couldn’t really do what I wanted to do, to play the way I know I could play. So, things happened and now it’s a whole new year. Now, I am one of the main focal points of the team, so I can go out there and do what I am capable of doing.”
The Nuggets have received very little return on their four-year, $44MM investment in JaVale McGee, and the big man would garner little on the trade market thanks to his bloated contract and injury history, Shaun Powell of NBA.com writes. This is the peril of paying big men large salaries, Powell adds. The scribe also ran down a number of other deals handed out to centers that also haven’t worked out well for the teams writing the checks.
There has been some criticism about how the Pelicans are eschewing the draft in an attempt to build an immediate contender around Anthony Davis so he won’t leave as a free agent when he is eligible, Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM writes. Tjarks doesn’t believe New Orleans needs to worry, and despite a glaring weakness at small forward, the franchise should be able to retain Davis.

Southeast Notes: Hawks, Bosh, Heat

December 10th, 2014 at 6:26pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Hawks and Philips Arena have named Nzinga Shaw as the organization’s new Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer (CDIO), the team announced. Shaw will be responsible for developing and embedding diversity and inclusion best practices throughout the organization. “I am excited to be a member of the Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena organization at such a pivotal time. My goal as the CDIO is to help our organization rebuild trust and partnership in the Atlanta community, emphasizing civility, sportsmanship, and human decency in an effort to ensure that everyone can be a fan of the team, attend home games, and so that we can serve as a model for inclusion in the NBA,” Shaw said. “More specifically, I will lead the charge of creating a strategic framework to help shift the culture so that we can create greater inclusion and engagement with all of our fans and stakeholders.”

Here’s more from the Southeast Division:

In an interview with Grantland’s Zach Lowe, Chris Bosh discussed a number of topics, including the teams that were courting him before he decided to re-sign with the Heat. When Bosh was asked if the offers he received from the Rockets, Suns, Lakers, and Nuggets had interested him, Bosh said, “It was just interesting to be wanted, after all that time of bashing, bashing, bashing. You kind of bask in it just a little bit. Like, ‘Hey, I’m still valuable. I can still play this game.'”
When Bosh was asked by Lowe about whether any other team besides Houston truly tempted him to sign with them, Bosh replied, “Yeah. They make you think for a minute. But I was interested in staying put. But at the time, it’s like, OK, wow. I never imagined this. You just think about it. But for the most part, I was focused on staying with Miami.”
With the Heat now third-worst in the NBA in field-goal percentage defense, some outsiders have questioned coach Erik Spoelstra’s defensive philosophy, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald writes. But one Miami player said privately that a huge problem is the inability of the team’s wing players (guards especially) to consistently prevent penetration, which then exposes the team’s lack of size on the interior. This defensive weakness on the wing is the primary reason that the Heat have been mentioned as being interested in acquiring Corey Brewer from the Wolves, who is known as a strong perimeter defender.

Northwest Notes: Faried, Pekovic, Nuggets

December 9th, 2014 at 5:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kenneth Faried has had a rough start to the season, something that Nuggets coach Brian Shaw chalks up to inconsistent energy and play on the part of the forward, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “It’s really hard to say,” Shaw said. “Obviously, he’s disappointed in the way he’s played up to this point. There hasn’t been a level of consistency. One of the things that I try to remind him all the time is what made him, got him to this level, got him paid recently, is the fact that he’s always brought energy and always rebounded the ball. When you look at his stats up to this point, is the energy always there? I wouldn’t say that it consistently has been. But even before that, is he rebounding the ball the way he is known for rebounding the ball? He’s not doing that either. So no matter what happens, you get back to the basics of what got you here. And I think that’s what he has to do.”

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

Shaw also relayed that Faried’s four-year, $50MM extension that the player signed back in October may also be a factor in Faried’s struggles, Dempsey adds. “He’s [Faried] been a little bit beat-up and a little bit sore,” Shaw said. “But what comes when you have the kind of summer that he had, and you get paid for that, there’s a certain responsibility and expectation that go along with that, too. And there’s an adjustment period. Now there’s other guys around the league that maybe think that ‘If I was playing maybe he wouldn’t be on the US team’ or ‘If he’s making this much money, let me show him what I’m worth.’ And that’s all part of it, too. Now, you become the hunted instead of the hunter, and you have to adjust for that and brace for that.“
Wolves center Nikola Pekovic aggravated his injured ankle while running as a part of his rehab and will most likely be out another month, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune reports (Twitter link). Injured point guard Ricky Rubio is also unlikely to make his return to action until January, Zgoda adds.
Pekovic’s coach Flip Saunders hinted at the possibility that the big man could see a stint in the NBA D-League prior to returning to action for the Wolves, Andy Greder of The Saint Paul Pioneer Press reports (Twitter link).

Nuggets Looking To Add Point Guard?

December 8th, 2014 at 8:35pm CST by Alex Lee

With reserve guards Randy Foye and Nate Robinson still nursing injuries, Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw said today the team might be in the market for point guard help, writes Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post. Foye is dealing with a quad tear and won’t be back for several weeks while Robinson is day-to-day with a bruised spine.

“Especially with Nate and Randy out, we don’t have another guy to get us into our offense and run things for us,” Shaw said. “So, that’s something as an organization that we’re going to have to think about – having another point guard or adding another point guard or something to our roster where, because if anything happens to Ty [Lawson], we’re in trouble. It’s as simple as that.”

Lawson has been forced to play 40 minutes per night in December heading into tonight’s contest in Toronto, which is up from the 35.8 average he racked up in November. Like many of the Nuggets, the sixth-year point guard has bounced back after a shaky start, and he has tallied double-digit assists in eight straight games. Nevertheless, it’s easy to wonder how long Lawson can hold up under this level of usage.

As Dempsey points out, the Nuggets dealt with point guard issues last season when Lawson went down and backup Andre Miller was suspended. While the team has since added rookie ballhandlers Gary Harris and Erick Green and is generally considered to boast a deep roster, it’s conceivable to think last year’s difficult experience might influence them to consider adding depth in the backcourt. As our 2014/15 Expanded Roster Counts show, Green is the only of the 15 Nuggets players without a fully guaranteed deal.

Northwest Notes: Jackson, Nuggets, LaVine

December 7th, 2014 at 11:56am CST by Arthur Hill

The Thunder’s Reggie Jackson will be a restricted free agent next summer, but he tells Marc Narducci of HoopsHype that he is trying not to look ahead. “My faith in God is that I try not to think about tomorrow and all I try to do is focus on today,” Jackson said. “Do as much today as possible. Tomorrow there is no guarantee so I am not worried about it.” Jackson, who figures to be highly sought after on the free agent market, said he enjoys playing with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

The Thunder recalled Mitch McGary from the D-League, the team announced in a press release. McGary is averaging 16.3 points and 8.0 rebounds in four games with the Oklahoma City Blue.
The Nuggets are playing much better after their 1-6 start, but they need more improvement before they can think about the playoffs, opines Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Dempsey estimates it might take 50 wins to ensure a playoff spot in the Western Conference, something that could be out of reach for the 9-10 Nuggets.
Denver’s depth isn’t all positive, according to Adi Joseph of USA Today. With 12 players all in their primes and with a history of being starters, Nuggets coach Brian Shaw faces difficult decisions regarding playing time. “It’s not a bad thing to have a deep team, but sometimes it kind of leaves things up in the air for players,” said Kenneth Faried. “You really don’t have time to feel the game out. You got to get going right away or someone else will take your place.”
Learning through mistakes is part of life for any NBA rookie, including the Timberwolves‘ Zach LaVine, writes Kent Youngblood of The Star-Tribune, LaVine had a crucial defensive lapse Friday that allowed the Rockets’ Nick Johnson to score a game-winning layup. “You gain a lot of experience about what not to do down the stretch,” LaVine said. “It was a tough one, that loss. But we have to keep battling.”

Western Notes: Kerr, Nuggets, Spurs, Clarkson

December 6th, 2014 at 7:42pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Sacrifice is a key component to the Warriors‘ success, according to head coach Steve Kerr, writes Sam Smith of Bulls.com. Andre Iguodala has arguably sacrificed the most for the team by taking a reduced role as the team’s sixth man off the bench. “It’s a good fit, but not something Andre is thrilled about. The fact he has accepted it and sacrificed has kind of set the tone for our team. They look at him and see an All-Star and Olympian and guy who’s been around the league and willing to step back; that’s pretty powerful,” said Kerr. Smith notes that Kerr set the example for sacrificing by signing for less money than the team offered because as a rookie coach he believed he didn’t warrant the same level of pay as accomplished veteran coaches.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

The Nuggets have one of the deepest rosters in the league but their depth can be viewed as a blessing and a curse, writes Adi Joseph of USA Today. Point guard Ty Lawson is the only player on the team averaging more than 31 minutes per game. While a decrease in playing time may not sit well with some players, USA gold medalist Kenneth Faried understands the team’s situation. “There’s a whole bunch of competition for minutes,” Faried said. “Everybody on this team either has been a starter or has played on a team where they were the man. It’s kind of like coming from college to the NBA. That’s what this team feels like. Everybody wants to play. Everybody wants to get minutes. But it’s tough right now.”
The Spurs are both new age because of their rich blend of international cultures and old school because they have retained their core players in a way that predates free agency, writes Harvey Araton of The New York Times. Head coach Gregg Popovich credits the team’s environment as reason for the unprecedented continuity. “All these guys, the core guys, they’ve made less money in San Antonio than counterparts all across the league–people who will say they gave up this,” Popovich said. “But these guys have given up real money with every new contract to stay together. These guys care about quality of life, and it falls into the way they play.”
Jordan Clarkson has been re-assigned to the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the D-League affiliate of the Lakers, the team announced (Twitter link). This will be the third appearance in the D-League for Clarkson this season.