Western Notes: Rockets, Nash, Brooks
Rockets GM Daryl Morey is high on the athleticism and skill of trade acquisition Jordan Hamilton, as Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle observes. “He is really a highly-regarded prospect and hasn’t had a chance to emerge,” Morey said. “That is usually the kind of guy we do really well with, catch him before they get a chance and see them flourish with us.” Hamilton averaged 6.8 PPG and 3.4 RPG per game this season for the Nuggets and started 11 games.
More from out west:
- In the same article, Creech also details that Aaron Brooks calls his decision not to exercise his veto power on the trade that sent him to the Nuggets a “leap of faith.”
- The Rockets have recalled Isaiah Canaan from the RGV Vipers in the D-League, tweeted Jason Friedman of Rockets.com. Canaan has appeared in five games for the Rockets and averaged 1.2 PPG this season.
- The Warriors have announced the assignment of Ognjen Kuzmic to the Santa Cruz Warriors of the D-League. Kuzmic has averages of 6.1 PPG, 10.2 RPG and 21.4 MPG in nine games for Santa Cruz this season. He has appeared in 17 games for Golden State, and averaged 0.5 PPG, and 0.7 RPG.
- Steve Nash has only appeared in 10 games for the Lakers this season. With all his injury woes, GM Mitch Kupchak noted that “obviously it’s going to be a challenge” on whether Nash can return and stay on the court. The GM says that after the season it will be Nash’s decision on whether he returns for another year, and that it would be “unethical” for the team to influence him one way or another, writes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Because he’s played 10 games this season, Nash’s $9.7MM salary next season will remain on the Lakers’ books even if he is forced into medical retirement because of back issues.
- Sam Amick of USA Today details how the Warriors acquisition of Steve Blake will pay dividends come playoff time. Playoff success is especially vital to coach Mark Jackson who has only one year left on his contract and the pressure is believed to be building around him and the team to have a deep run, writes Amick.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Odds & Ends: Miller, Neal, Cavs, Warriors
In a radio appearance this morning with William Qualkinbush on WCCP-FM in Clemson, South Carolina, I praised the Pacers‘ acquisition of Evan Turner and deemed the inability of the Suns to find a taker for Emeka Okafor and his expiring contract a missed opportunity. There’s plenty more reaction to Thursday’s trade deadline amid our latest look around the NBA:
- The Nuggets are relieved to move on from the Andre Miller situation, writes Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post. For his part, GM Tim Connelly took the high road when discussing the 37-year-old guard. “There’s always going to be issues that pop up,” said Connelly. “There’s no villain here. Unfortunately what happened, happened. We have to have the full support of our coach. I think it’s important that everyone understands that is Brian (Shaw)‘s locker room. (Miller) was out of character. He’s a pro. I’m sure he’s excited to move on to D.C. and help that team make a playoff push.“
- Gary Neal didn’t see a whole lot of playing time with the Bucks and head coach Larry Drew acknowledged that the rapid progress of rookie Nate Wolters was partially responsible for that, writes Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel. Neal will now hope to see more burn with the Bobcats.
- GM David Griffin says the Cavs will “take a swing at someone” in an effort to fill the open roster spot that Thursday’s trade created, notes Bob Finnan of The News-Journal.
- The Warriors would have more interest in Earl Clark than Glen Davis, tweets Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group. Both hit waivers today and should become free agents on Sunday.
- The Hawks have recalled Jared Cunningham from the D-League, the team announced. The 24th overall pick in 2012 has made 22 appearances for the Bakersfield Jam this year and only five for Atlanta.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Odds & Ends: Durant, Brooks, Nuggets
With tax season approaching, Thunder star Kevin Durant is looking to get his house in order. Durant is suing his former accountant for $600K over what he says were mistakes on his previous taxes, according to the Associated Press. More from around the Association..
- Aaron Brooks could have blocked the trade sending him from the Rockets to the Nuggets but he had a change of heart late in the game, tweets Mark Berman of FOX 26. “I changed my mind after talking to [Denver exec] Jared Jeffries, the (Nuggets) GM and the coach,” said the guard. Brooks also says that the need for him to play in the final year of his deal motivated him to say yes, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
- Nuggets GM Tim Connelly offered a very rational take of today’s deal to acquire Jan Vesely from the Wizards. “It’s not often you get a chance to get a 30-game look at the sixth pick in the draft from a couple years ago,” said the GM, according to Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post (on Twitter).
- Center Hamed Haddadi inked a deal in Iran after finishing his season in China, tweets Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.
- Former Nets guard Tyshawn Taylor has signed in Puerto Rico, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Taylor was traded to the Pelicans earlier this year but was promptly cut loose.
- The Pelicans‘ inability to get back into the first-round of the 2014 draft at the deadline was disappointing, writes Jimmy Smith of the Times-Picayune.
Nuggets, Rockets Swap Hamilton, Brooks
The Nuggets announced that their deal sending Jordan Hamilton to Houston in exchange for Aaron Brooks is now official. It initially appeared Hamilton would be on his way to the Knicks, but it turns out he won’t have to travel quite as far.
Brooks, who had the option of declining the deal, fills Denver’s need for a point guard. Meanwhile, the swap makes it seven straight deadline in which Rockets GM Daryl Morey has swung a deal.
Brooks will likely see more playing time in Denver than he did in Houston, where he was stuck behind Patrick Beverley and Jeremy Lin. The Nuggets have been looking for a backup to Ty Lawson ever Andre Miller and coach Brian Shaw got in a public spat around New Year’s, prompting Denver to send Miller home. Denver agreed to trade Miller to the Wizards in a three-team arrangement today.
The Nuggets’ decision to send Hamilton to Houston instead of the Knicks appears to have stymied New York’s efforts to trade Beno Udrih, whom Denver would have received, since the Knicks had no other suitors left for the veteran point guard, Shams Charania of RealGM tweets. All the interest in Hamilton is somewhat surprising, though the 23-year-old has made 11 starts for a banged-up Denver team this year, averaging career highs in an assortment of categories in his first significant playing time after mostly riding the pine during his first two NBA seasons. The small forward is nonetheless shooting just 39%.
Hamilton and Brooks will both be unrestricted free agents at season’s end. Denver elected to decline its 2014/15 option on Hamilton’s rookie scale contract before the season. Hamilton is making about $1.17MM, while Brooks gets the minimum salary.
Zach Links contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Shams Charania of RealGM.com first tweeted news of the deal.
Wizards Acquire Andre Miller In Three-Team Deal
The Wizards have acquired disgruntled Nuggets guard Andre Miller in a three-team trade involving the Sixers. Washington gets Miller, the Nuggets receive Jan Vesely, and Philly receives Eric Maynor plus two second-round picks. The Sixers will receive the Nuggets’ 2016 second-round pick and the Pelicans’ 2015 second-round selection.
Miller, 37, is earning a $5MM salary and makes $4.625MM next year in the final year of his deal, but that’s only partially guaranteed for $2MM as long as he’s waived before July. Before his clash with Denver coach Brian Shaw, Miller was averaging 5.9 PPG and 3.3 APG in 19 minutes per contest. Heading into this season, Miller boasted career averages of 13.8 PPG and 7.1 APG in 33.4 minutes per game.
Maynor, the former VCU hero, now joins his fifth team in four years. Washington inked the guard to a two-year deal worth the bi-annual exception with a player option for year two over the summer.
Vesely, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2011 draft, has averaged just 3.5 PPG and 3.4 RPG over the course of his NBA career. Washington declined its $4.2MM option on the big man for the 2014/15 season so he’ll be a free agent after the season is through.
The future-minded 76ers now have a whopping nine second round picks in the second round of this year’s draft.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter) first reported that Miller was Washington-bound. Additional details came from CBSSports.com’s Ken Berger and Sam Amick of USA Today (both links go to Twitter).
JaVale McGee Out For Season
The Nuggets just can’t catch a break. JaVale McGee had surgery this morning to repair his fractured left tibia, the team announced. Nuggets GM Tim Connelly indicated in the release that the procedure is season-ending.
It’s just yet another difficult blow to the Nuggets, who also saw Danilo Gallinari and Nate Robinson go down with season-ending injuries. Ty Lawson has also struggled to stay healthy this season and Andre Miller‘s situation has been a further complication for the hard-luck 2013/14 Nuggets.
McGee, 26, has been out of action since November and saw just five games of action this season. The athletic big man averaged 9.1 PPG and 4.8 RPG last season for Denver.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Knicks, Nuggets Close To Udrih, Hamilton Deal
12:13pm: Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports puts the brakes on talks of a deal, reporting that the Nuggets are still considering several trades for Hamilton (Twitter link).
11:49am: The Nuggets have agreed to send Jordan Hamilton to the Knicks for Beno Udrih, having reached agreement on a deal that sends Andre Miller to Washington, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The Wizards were also targeting Udrih, but they landed Miller instead, opening the door for Udrih to go to Denver.
The deal came together from talks the Knicks and Nuggets had about an Iman Shumpert-for-Kenneth Faried swap. Denver resisted that deal, but was apparently more receptive to the swap of the smaller names.
Hamilton makes about $1.17MM this year, the third season of his rookie scale contract. The Nuggets declined his fourth-year option before the season, so he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Udrih is on a one-year deal for the minimum-salary.
Nuggets, Wizards In Serious Andre Miller Talks
11:35am: The Wizards and Nuggets are close to a deal involving Miller, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).
11:15am: The Nuggets and Wizards are engaged in “serious talks” about a deal that would send Andre Miller to Washington for Eric Maynor and Jan Vesely, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Wolves have fallen off the pace in the Miller sweepstakes, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities notes that they want to trade J.J. Barea to another team before taking on Miller (Twitter link).
There would probably need to be a third team involved, since the Nuggets don’t want to take Maynor, according to Marc J. Spears and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links).
The veteran guard left the club earlier this year and apparently has no interest in returning to them this season. The 37-year-old isn’t the player he once was, but he has proven to be one of the most durable players in the league. The guard is probably a bit overpaid at a $5MM salary and makes $4.625MM next year in the final year of his deal, but that’s only partially guaranteed for $2MM as long as he’s waived before July.
Wolves, Wizards In Lead For Andre Miller
The Wolves and Wizards are the favorites to land Andre Miller, though there’s nothing close yet, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. The Wolves would be Miller’s top choice, though that might not be a factor in Denver’s decision-making. The Nuggets have received mostly low-ball offers, given their clear desire to unload the veteran point guard, as Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post explains.
The Wizards have made no secret of their search for a backup point guard, and are reportedly offering Eric Maynor, Chris Singleton and Trevor Booker, among others. Denver would be short on point guards without Miller, and Washington appears to be competing with Denver for Beno Udrih. The Nuggets are in talks with the Knicks about a swap of Jordan Hamilton for Udrih, but that deal could depend on whether Denver can unload Miller.
The Timberwolves have been working multiple fronts as well, having engaged in talks with Memphis that appear to have reached a dead end. A report yesterday indicated that Minnesota preferred Jameer Nelson to Miller, but only if the Wolves could work a deal with the Grizzlies.
Wizards Show Interest In Udrih, Miller
THURSDAY. 8:20am: The Wizards have offered Maynor, Singleton and Trevor Booker, among others, in their search for a backup point guard, according to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Their interest in Udrih makes sense, since they offered him the same deal they wound up giving Maynor this past summer, Kennedy observes (Twitter links). Washington also made an identical offer to Mo Williams, Kennedy says, but he’s clearly not in the trade conversation.
FEBRUARY 19TH: The Wizards maintain their interest in Miller, tweets Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report, who suggests Chris Singleton and Eric Maynor as possible trade bait for the Nuggets. It’s not clear whether the Wizards are thinking of including those guys in a deal, or if Zwerling is merely speculating.
FEBRUARY 11TH: Multiple reports in the past few days have indicated Washington’s interest in acquiring a backup point guard, and one of their primary targets is Beno Udrih, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Washington also covets Andre Miller, Stein tweets, but the Wizards have been unable to find a workable deal with the Nuggets.
Udrih quickly backed away last month from a report that he asked the Knicks to trade him. Still, New York didn’t seem averse to the idea at the time, and apparently the Knicks wouldn’t have minded receiving a second-rounder in return for Udrih, whom they believed was siphoning playing time from Toure’ Murry. Udrih hasn’t played since January 24th, while Murry has made five appearances in that span.
Though Nuggets GM Tim Connelly says the team has nothing “definitive” in the works for Miller, the Timberwolves still have an eye on the point guard, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Similarly, the Kings continue to express interest in Miller, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. I predicted that offers for Miller would improve closer to the deadline when I examined his trade candidacy last month.
Washington has been going with minimum-salary signee Garrett Temple as the backup to John Wall instead of Eric Maynor, whom the club used its biannual exception to sign this past summer.