Northwest Notes: Rubio, Love, Nuggets, Crabbe
With the Timberwolves’ loss to Memphis last night, Minnesota appears to be all but officially eliminated from playoff contention. Hollinger’s Playoff Odds at ESPN.com now have the team making the postseason 0% of the time in 5,000 simulations of 2013/14’s remaining schedule. Here’s more on the Wolves and the rest of the NBA’s Northwest Division:
- Ricky Rubio wants to remain in Minnesota, but he also wants to take part in the playoffs, as he tells Nacho Albarran of As.com (translation via HoopsHype). Rubio, who’ll become eligible to sign an extension in the offseason, predicts that 2015 free agent Kevin Love will stay with the Timberwolves.
- The Nuggets are another Northwest club set to miss the postseason, but coach Brian Shaw is excited for what his squad will be capable of next season now that they understand the system he’s putting in place, writes Jeff Caplan of NBA.com. “Everybody now has an understanding of exactly what I expect of them, how we want to play and what we want to do going forward,” said Shaw. “I’ve said that this is going to be a year of discovery to really understand what it is that we have to work with“
- The Blazers have assigned Allen Crabbe to the D-League, the team announced. It will be Crabbe’s second such assignment this season. The rookie has averaged 2.1 points in a meager 5.1 minutes per contest this season for Portland, but he’ll be in line to see more playing time for the D-League’s Idaho Stampede.
- Gordon Monson of the Salt Lake Tribune thinks that Jazz fans should blame coach Tyrone Corbin for Utah’s lack of overall enthusiasm in recent weeks. The club has won just four of its last 19 games and figures to finish the season near the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Eastern Notes: Plumlee, Heat, Miller
Brook Lopez recently underwent ankle surgery while sitting out the year for a foot injury, and Kevin Garnett is sidelined for at least a few more games due to back spasms. The Nets frontcourt woes have been alleviated by rookie Mason Plumlee‘s performance at center, writes Stefan Bondy of New York Daily News. “He’s growing each time he takes the floor,” coach Jason Kidd told Bondy. “The more minutes he gets, the better he gets. It’s fun to watch. Mason is a big part of our success right now.” Here’s more from around the East:
- Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel doesn’t think the Heat‘s choice to trade away Roger Mason Jr. has worked out well for the roster. The opened spot was recently filled by Justin Hamilton, but Winderman wonders if the Heat had their eye on a veteran player that didn’t pan out when they sent Mason to the Kings.
- Wizards point guard Andre Miller spoke to Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post some more about his falling out with the Nuggets. He maintains that he was unfairly portrayed to the media, and says he was surprised at how long of a process it was for him to get moved. “Yeah, I sat out for a while. But I had some time to reflect on what happened and was pretty much told to keep my mouth closed. I just worked out and tried to keep myself ready for whatever happens,” said Miller.
- Willis Reed says the Knicks “won the lottery” by getting Phil Jackson to come take over their front office, he tells Fred Kerber of The New York Post. Reed was pessimistic about New York’s chances to sign Jackson considering his connections to the Lakers organization, but is happy they did.
- Tom Moore of The Burlington County Times asked Sixers coach Brett Brown whether second year guard Tony Wroten can overcome some of his decision making deficiencies and earn a long term place with the team. “I don’t know. It’s his development. We talk to him and show him. We try to teach him. He has shown subtle signs of improvement. But the magic word or coaching trick to have him not do that entirely — I do not know,” said Brown. Philadelphia holds a $2.2MM team option for Wroten’s 2015/16 season.
J.J. Hickson Out For Season
J.J. Hickson is out for the year after tearing his ACL last night against the Mavericks, per a team release. The five-year veteran has averaged 11.8 points and 9.2 rebounds for the Nuggets this season, serving as Denver’s starting center in a majority of their games. Hickson is in the first year of a three-year, $16MM contract.
The Nuggets already have the maximum of 15 guaranteed roster spots filled, so they won’t be adding any players to plug into the rotation. The absence of Hickson will open up significant playing time for Jan Vesely, whom the Nuggets acquired from the Wizards at the trade deadline as part of the Andre Miller three-team deal. Aaron J. Lopez of Nuggets.com writes that coach Brian Shaw was already planning to give Vesely a closer look as the season winds down, but a thinner frontcourt will ensure that happens.
Vesely has been a disappointment for most of his career after being taken as the sixth overall selection in the 2011 draft by the Wizards. He’s shooting .488 from the field and a dismal .279 from the free throw stripe, percentages that have dropped each year in his career. Vesely’s athleticism has never been in question, but his raw ability has remained unpolished to this point.
Northwest Notes: Westbrook, Nuggets, Jazz
Kevin Durant likely regained the lead for the MVP last night, leading the Thunder to a double-OT victory over the Raptors by hitting a game-winning three that put him over 50 points for the second time this season. It wasn’t all good news for Oklahoma City, though, as Russell Westbrook had to leave the game after a collision with Kyle Lowry against the same knee he’s had three recent surgeries on. Here are some notes from the Northwest Division:
- After the game, Westbrook was positive, telling reporters including Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman that he felt no pain and doesn’t expect to miss time. Westbrook first hurt the knee in the first round of last year’s playoffs. He played through that game and expressed similar optimism before being ruled out for the postseason. Last night’s injury was officially ruled a sprained knee, and he will be re-evaluated today.
- While former Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri, now guiding the Raptors, is routinely mentioned as one of the best executives in the league, Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post says that Ujiri is responsible for one of the worst trades in Denver’s history. Sending away Arron Afflalo and a first-round pick for one year of Andre Iguodala set the franchise back in Kiszla’s eyes.
- The Jazz will be joining the Las Vegas Summer League this year and leaving the Orlando league, per Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal (H/T Jody Genessy of The Deseret News). The team decided to switch leagues because the logistics of conducting team activities on the East Coast can be challenging and limiting.
Draft Rumors: Parker, Wiggins, Nuggets
Jabari Parker called his college career “incomplete” after Duke’s upset loss in the NCAA tournament Friday, and the Blue Devils’ early exit could affect his decision about whether to enter the draft this year, he tells Andy Katz of ESPN (Twitter link). Scouts had held the belief that Parker was leaning toward declaring for the draft, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Here are more draft rumors:
- Sean Highkin of USA Today doesn’t think Parker will skip the draft based on his disappointing tournament. Highkin says the farthest Parker could fall is to the third overall pick, so the small forward has more certainty of his selection (and payday) than players like Marcus Smart or Jared Sullinger had when deciding to return to school for another year.
- Chad Ford and Kevin Pelton of ESPN Insider [subscription only] offer some analysis of Andrew Wiggins‘ upside, using both scouting information and advanced metrics. Both Ford and Pelton see Wiggins as a potential Paul George-type player.
- Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post thinks that Gary Harris, Nik Stauskas, and James Young are three players who would make sense for the Nuggets to draft this year. Kiszla notes that the Knicks‘ recent winning streak has hurt the Nuggets’ odds of landing a high lottery pick. The Nuggets will have the better of their own pick and New York’s pick.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Eastern Notes: Vasquez, Miller, Stoudemire
Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune details the close relationship between Pelicans coach Monty Williams and Raptors point guard Greivis Vasquez, who played for New Orleans last season. The trade that split up the pairing last summer stung Vasquez, who’ll be a restricted free agent at season’s end. “It hurt,” Vasquez said. “It really touched me a little bit. I was close not only with Coach Monty, but I was close with (assistant) Fred Vinson, all the coaching staff, the guys, messing around with Austin Rivers, Chief (Al-Farouq Aminu), Anthony Davis . . . . it was hard for me to let it go. But it’s part of the business.”
More from the east:
- The Wizards‘ Andre Miller says the Nuggets unfairly portrayed him as the bad guy, writes Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. When Miller’s streak of playing in 239 consecutive games ended with the first “Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision” of his career, Miller screamed at coach Brian Shaw. The Nuggets suspended him for two games without pay after the incident before excusing him from team activities with pay until the trade to the Wizards. Miller said,”They gave me an opportunity to represent Denver. I tried to do that the right way, but I was looked at as the bad guy, a disgruntled player. [The Nuggets said] I was complaining about minutes and that was never the issue. They made it look that way, and that I was upset. I understand that they have to protect themselves as an organization, but don’t blast the player.“
- Sixers coach Brett Brown said the team will pick the best player available in the upcoming draft, and not for need, writes Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com. Brown does not think need should influence who a team select in the NBA draft, and cites the example of the Spurs drafting Tim Duncan despite having David Robinson already, writes Lynam.
- Amar’e Stoudemire says that it was his idea for the Knicks to trade for Carmelo Anthony, writes Brian Spurlock of USA Today. In an interview with Bleacher Report Stoudemire said, “I also knew that I needed a star teammate, and that’s something I talked to Mr. Dolan about when I signed. I mentioned a few players to Mr. Dolan who would be fun to play with, and Melo was one of them. Mr. Dolan and I talked about, ‘Which players in the near future are going to be available?’ Then we said, ‘Let’s make the move and try to trade for ‘Melo.’ That’s how things first started with the Knicks going after Carmelo Anthony.”
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Lakers, Faried, Butler, Ledo
After Kobe Bryant‘s news conference on Wednesday, the Lakers may have to abandon any strategy not aimed at an immediate turnaround, writes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. Pincus has an intricate plan in mind for the purple-and-gold that entails trading their 2014 first rounder for Kevin Love, waiving Steve Nash, re-signing Pau Gasol and much more, all designed at arming the aging Bryant with running mates capable of staging one last run at a title.
Let’s take a look at what is going on elsewhere in the Western Conference:
- Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried is happy that the trade speculation is behind him, writes Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Faried is having an impressive March, scoring 21.1 points per game and grabbing 10.1 rebounds on 64.5% shooting from the field. Teammate Ty Lawson also believes that the trade talk was hurting his play somewhat, noting that he has been more aggressive since the trade deadline came and went.
- Thunder trainer Joe Sharpe had a lot to do with Caron Butler‘s decision to sign with Oklahoma City this season, Jeff Caplan of NBA.com writes. Sharpe held a similar position at UConn when Butler was there.
- While we pointed out a pair of D-League success stories earlier tonight, Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram opines (via Twitter) that Ricky Ledo may have become a high lottery pick with the proper collegiate seasoning. Ledo, who has bounced between the Mavericks and the Texas Legends in his rookie season, attended Providence College though he never played for the Friars. He was selected 43rd overall by the Bucks last June.
Western Notes: Kobe, Thomas, Hayward
Kobe Bryant didn’t hold back during the press conference that followed today’s official announcement that he’s done for the year. He said he has “not one lick” of patience for suffering through another losing season in 2014/15. With Phil Jackson agreeing to take a front office job with the Knicks, Bryant finds it difficult to understand why the Lakers haven’t hired him back, and he called upon co-owners Jim and Jeanie Buss to resolve their differences. He also wants to be in the loop on the team’s moves and expressed his frustration with the trade of Steve Blake. “I just want to get a phone call when somebody gets traded,” Bryant said (Twitter links via Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com, Beto Duran of ESPN radio Los Angeles, and Bill Oram of the Orange County Register).
There’s more Lakers-related news as we examine the latest from the Western Conference:
- Soon-to-be restricted free agent Isaiah Thomas admits to SB Nation’s James Herbert that he grew up a fan of the Lakers and still likes the team. The Kings point guard calls Bryant his favorite player.
- Gordon Hayward largely stayed out of negotiations between agent Mark Bartelstein and the Jazz on a possible extension this past fall, and he plans to be similarly scarce as Bartelstein talks with clubs this summer, when Hayward will be a restricted free agent. Grantland’s Zach Lowe has more from his interview with the former Butler star, who expresses his fondness for the small-town feel of Salt Lake City.
- A report last month suggested the Nuggets don’t plan to give Kenneth Faried a major payday when he’s up for an extension in the offseason, but the power forward’s improved play will make the team think twice, writes Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post.
And-Ones: Kobe, Lakers, Woodson
The Lakers are expected to officially declare Kobe Bryant out for the rest of the 2013/14 season, as per Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report. The 35-year-old guard is still dealing with discomfort after fracturing the tibial plateau in his left knee back in December. Ding adds that while the superstar guard has expressed hope in the team significantly re-tooling this summer via free agency, all signs point to the front office planning accordingly to have cap flexibility for the summer of 2015.
You can find more of tonight’s noteworthy links below:
- With Kobe, Steve Nash, and Robert Sacre presently listed as the only guaranteed contracts for next season, Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times looks at the rest of the current roster to determine who has the best chance of sticking around after this year.
- Mike Woodson‘s reported mistrust of Steve Mills partially stems from the Knicks executive’s presence in coaches meetings, practices, and road trips for large chunks of the season, writes Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. According to Kyler, Woodson’s camp viewed it as meddling in the process and casting doubt on the coach’s job from the start.
- Marco Belinelli doesn’t hold a grudge against the Bulls for declining to make him an offer this past summer, but his first choice would have been to re-sign with the Bulls, in spite of Tom Thibodeau’s efforts to convince the team to do so. Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News has the details, noting that when Gregg Popovich called Thibodeau for a recommendation, Thibs gave the shooting guard an endorsement.
- Paul Millsap says he didn’t go “kicking and screaming” from the Jazz when they parted ways over the summer, adding that he respected the team’s decision not to pursue re-signing him, as Brad Rock of the Deseret News observes.
- J.J. Hickson has hired Muhammad Abdur-Rahim and Aaron Goodwin of Goodwin Sports Management as his new agents, reports Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (Twitter link). They replace Andy Miller of ASM Sports, whom the Nuggets big man jettisoned earlier this season.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
D-League Notes: Timberwolves, Trades
While the NBA’s trade deadline passed over two weeks ago, the D-League’s window for trading players between teams closed today. While deals between D-League teams don’t affect NBA player rights, they can still have an impact on which NBA teams and development staffs get the closest look at prospects at that level. Here are some notes from the D-League, including today’s deadline deals:
- The Timberwolves are looking at owning their own D-League team, a source tells Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Wolfson says the Iowa Energy, who currently serve as an affiliate for the Timberwolves, Nuggets, Bulls, Pelicans, and Wizards, are open to a singular partnership with Minnesota.
- Sources tell Gino Pilato of D-League Digest that a multi-team trade sent William Buford to the Canton Charge, Vander Blue to the Idaho Stampede, and Richard Howell‘s returning player rights for next year to the Santa Cruz Warriors, among other D-League draft considerations.
- In the same post, Pilato passes along a trade sending Santa Cruz’s Dominic McGuire to the Tulsa 66ers in exchange for Dominic Sutton‘s returning player rights.
- Pilato reports one final deal between the Charge and the Delaware 87ers. Kyrylo Fesenko was sent to Canton in a trade that also saw the teams swap second round draft picks.