Nuggets Actively Shopping Andre Miller
4:50pm: There’s a strong belief within the league that the Nuggets are looking to move Miller in the next 24-48 hours, tweets Wojnarowski.
4:49pm: The Kings have been proactive in talks for Miller, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).
12:53pm: The Warriors don’t intend to make a move for Miller, TNT’s David Aldridge writes in his weekly Morning Tip column at NBA.com.
8:25am: Despite formally rescinding his two-game suspension, the Nuggets are actively trying to trade Andre Miller, according to Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post. Miller has been excused from team activities for the last several days following a confrontation with head coach Brian Shaw, and his suspension was only lifted to allow him to continue receiving his salary.
While a report on Friday suggested that the Nuggets were probably still “a ways away” from moving Miller, and that a deal could happen closer to next month’s trade deadline, Dempsey says the veteran point guard “won’t be part of the Nuggets team much longer after he returns.”
Well before last week’s incident between Miller and Shaw, Grantland’s Zach Lowe wrote that rival teams expected Denver to trade Miller before the deadline. More recently, we’ve heard that the Warriors and Kings have some level of interest in the 37-year-old. I’d expect the teams that have been linked to Kyle Lowry, such as the Knicks, Nets, and Timberwolves, to at least kick the tires on Miller as well.
Miller, a 1999 lottery pick, is posting career-worst marks in several categories this year, including PPG (5.9), APG (3.3), and PER (14.0). Still, he’s only a year removed from a season in which he was arguably one of the league’s best backup point guards, averaging more than 26 minutes per game while playing all 82 contests.
Deveney’s Latest: Miller, Hawks, Iguodala
Sean Deveney’s latest piece for The Sporting News focuses on Andre Iguodala‘s impact on the Warriors, timed appropriately enough since Iggy’s three-pointer at the buzzer gave the W’s a one-point win over the Hawks tonight. He passes along a few other tidbits of note, and we’ll start with those:
- The Nuggets are “a ways away” from trading Andre Miller, a source tells Deveney, adding that a deal would probably come closer to the February 20th trade deadline. Presumably, Deveney isn’t suggesting that Miller will probably be traded and is instead referring to the timing of any deal that might involve the 37-year-old. The Nuggets rescinded Miller’s suspension today, though a source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that it was merely a gesture to allow Miller to receive his salary while he sits for two games (Twitter link).
- No moves that would help Atlanta’s front line are imminent, Deveney writes. The latest report we heard indicated that Hawks GM Danny Ferry was still deciding whether to pursue reinforcements in the wake of Al Horford‘s season-ending injury. The team apparently had talks with the Magic about Hedo Turkoglu before Orlando let go of the veteran small forward today.
- Deveney points out that Iguodala’s teams have a record of 142-89 (143-89 after tonight) over the past four years in games he plays, and 12-21 when he doesn’t. That was a reason why Golden State sought to acquire him this summer, Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob tells Deveney. “He is a winner,” Lacob said. “He knows how to win. Anyone you talked to about him, coaches or whoever it was, that was what they said.”
Nuggets Suspend Andre Miller
FRIDAY, 6:25pm: The Nuggets announced that they have rescinded Miller’s suspension. The veteran will return to the team on Monday, January 6th and will be excused from all team activities for personal reasons until then.
THURSDAY, 4:30pm: The Nuggets have suspended Andre Miller two games for conduct detrimental to the team, the club announced today in a press release. Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post, who first tweeted word of the suspension, noted in a story on last night’s game that Miller yelled at coach Brian Shaw about the disrespect he felt he was being shown by sitting.
Last night’s contest against the Sixers represented a low point for the Nuggets, who lost their eight straight game, and for Miller, who received the first DNP-CD of his long career. The veteran point guard has averaged just 19.0 minutes per game this season, by far his lowest mark since he entered the league in 1999.
While no reports yet have indicated that the Nuggets are shopping Miller, I have to imagine the team is at least weighing its options. Even before last night’s incident and the subsequent suspension, Grantland’s Zach Lowe wrote that rival teams expected Denver to trade Miller before the deadline.
Miller was the subject of a handful of trade rumors in the offseason as well, as the Nuggets’ front office and coaching staff underwent some turnover. While Lowe suggested last month that the team still “adores” Miller, it’s fair to wonder based on his current role in Denver if he was valued higher by the old regime than the new group.
Warriors, Kings Eyeing Andre Miller
Warriors and Kings executives are mulling the idea of trading for suspended Nuggets guard Andre Miller, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Denver nonetheless remains uninterested in dealing the 37-year-old, and the team intends to smooth over the issues that led to Miller’s punishment, Wojnarowski adds.
The Warriors are in the market for a backup point guard and have been talking to the Raptors for weeks about acquiring Kyle Lowry, sources tell Wojnarowski. The Knicks have also been persistent in their pursuit of Lowry, but the Raptors have become less willing to trade him in the wake of their recent success. Toronto hasn’t abandoned the idea of trading Lowry, but the team isn’t simply looking to unload him to the highest bidder, as Wojnarowski writes.
The Kings see Miller as a veteran mentor who could help Isaiah Thomas, and GM Pete D’Alessandro, a former Nuggets executive, is a longstanding admirer of Miller, Wojnarowski points out.
Miller makes $5MM this season, but next year’s $4.625MM salary is only guaranteed for $2MM, so he’d be easier to unload for a team that sours on him, wants to clear cap space, or both. It’s clear that the 15th-year veteran is slowing down. This season he’s seeing the fewest minutes per game of his career, and his points and assists per minute are also new lows.
Odds & Ends: Kidd, Parker, Dwight, Iguodala
Former Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy had a lot to say about the Nets, calling them “bush league” in a recent radio interview, but Jason Kidd took the high road rather than blasting him back. “I think we have one of the best owners and so I’m confident,” said Kidd, according to Andy Vasquez of the Bergen Record (Twitter links). “Everybody has their right to their opinion, but the guys in that locker room are fighting.” More from around the Association as we look ahead to 2014..
- Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com checked in with execs from around the league to draw up his top 30 for the June draft. Jabari Parker is in the top spot, followed by Andrew Wiggins and Julius Randle. The No. 4 spot doesn’t belong to Dante Exum or Marcus Smart – it instead belongs to Cameroonian center Joel Embiid.
- USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt gives us his best and worst free agent signings of this past offseason based on what he’s seen so far. Dwight Howard and Andre Iguodala are among those thriving in their new homes while things aren’t working out quite as well for Josh Smith and Andrew Bynum.
- D-League standout Willie Reed spoke with Dakota Schmidt of Ridiculous Upside about what he can bring to an NBA team.
- We don’t know much about this Nuggets team yet, writes Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post.
- The Pistons need to do some serious introspection with many futures and the direction of the franchise on the line, writes David Mayo of MLive.com.
- Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports has five NBA storylines to follow in the New Year.
Northwest Notes: Jazz, Garrett, Koufos, Jefferson
Today’s look at the Northwest Division..
- Jazz guards Diante Garrett and Ian Clark along with forward Mike Harris have January 10th -the date that non-guaranteed deals become guaranteed – circled on their calendars, writes Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune. Of the three, Garrett has logged the most serious minutes, though they’ve been in shorter supply of late.
- As he plies his craft with the Grizzlies, Kosta Koufos says he’s not thinking about what could have been with the Nuggets, writes Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post. “It’s a business,” Koufos said. “I understand that. It’s a new chapter in my life. I was very fortunate to be a Denver Nugget at the time. I enjoyed my experience there. At the same time, move on with a new team, the Memphis Grizzlies, and I’m here 100 percent to try to help them win games.” Koufos became the Nuggets’ starting center last year, averaging 8.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots per game. He has similar averages for the Grizzlies this season: 7.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots per contest.
- Al Jefferson also moved on from the Northwest Division this year. After anchoring the Jazz, Jefferson is now the veteran big man in Charlotte, writes Steve Luhm of The Salt Lake Tribune.
Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Thunder, Jazz
No division in the NBA is currently more tightly contested at the top than the Northwest, where the 23-5 Trail Blazers sit a half-game ahead of the 22-5 Thunder. A win by Oklahoma City tomorrow at Madison Square Garden would pull the team even with Portland, and would ensure that the Northwest co-leaders share the league’s best record with the Pacers. As we look forward to that contest and other Christmas Day action, let’s round up the latest out of the Northwest….
- Grantland’s Zach Lowe unveils his Western Conference power rankings, noting that opposing teams are keeping an eye on what the Nuggets want to do on the trade market.
- Lowe also figures the Clippers will upgrade their big man rotation at some point and writes that while the Thunder have what it takes to upgrade via trade, Oklahoma City has been “picky” about what moves it’s willing to make.
- Gordon Hayward‘s camp never asked for a max deal during failed extension negotiations with the Jazz this fall, Jody Genessy notes via Twitter.
- As Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune writes, not receiving much attention with the Jazz is nothing new for Ian Clark, who was also passed over by bigger college programs and didn’t hear his name called on draft night. Clark will have to remain on Utah’s roster beyond January 7th if he hopes to be guaranteed of his full-season salary for 2013/14.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Pacific Notes: Iguodala, Warriors, Bledsoe
Here’s tonight’s look at the Pacific Division as the Lakers face the Suns, the Kings take on the Pelicans, and Andre Iguodala faces his old team when his Warriors meet the Nuggets..
- Iguodala says he didn’t see the Nuggets contract offer over the summer as more lucrative than the Warriors deal because of the non-guaranteed portions, tweets Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post. The small forward inked a four-year, $48MM deal with Golden State in July while Denver reportedly made him a four-year, $52MM offer and also proposed five-year scenarios.
- The Eric Bledsoe trade that almost didn’t happen changed the future of the Suns, writes Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. “It was close [to falling through],” Suns president Lon Babby said. “But Eric is someone we had long pined for here, and we saw the opportunity. When we saw that we could formulate a scenario that would work for everyone, we really felt like we had to keep pushing for it and fortunately, it all worked out.”
- The Lakers have to be strong and not rush Kobe Bryant back this season, writes David Aldridge of NBA.com.
Odds & Ends: Hickson, Nets, Spurs, Granger
J.J. Hickson has rebounded from the ups and downs of off-court life, writes Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post. Hickson inked a three-year, $16.15MM deal – the full mid-level exception – with the Nuggets over the summer. More from around the league..
- Howard Beck of Bleacher Report (Twitter link) hears that it’s “highly doubtful” that the Nets will wind up using the Disabled Player’s Exception if they are granted it by the league. The Nets, of course, have lost Brook Lopez for the year.
- Now on assignment from the Spurs, Malcolm Thomas is still impressing in the D-League, writes Scott Rafferty of Ridiculous Upside. Thomas was averaging 33.5 points on 62.2% shooting from the floor in his memorable two game stint for the D-Fenders before being picked up by San Antonio. Now with the Austin Toros, Thomas isn’t putting up numbers that are quite as gaudy, but he’s still looking strong.
- Pacers president Larry Bird is less-than-thrilled with Danny Granger‘s work ethic during the offseason, writes Bob Kravitz of the Indy Star. “He doesn’t work hard enough (in the offseason),” Bird said. “He’s not a guy who’ll push himself to the brink like a lot of our guys do. He works hard but he doesn’t push himself. That’s why he starts slow every year and he just works his way back. Now this year, he’s been hurt, so it’s a different deal.“
- Jazz rookie Trey Burke spoke with Sekou Smith of NBA.com about dealing with expectations, patience, and what he learned from his time spent with Jazz legend John Stockton.
- David Alarcon of HoopsHype catches up with Italian prospect Alessandro Gentile. Gentile is pegged to go in the middle of the second round in DraftExpress‘ 2014 mock.
Odds & Ends: Exum, Southerland, Nuggets
The Rockets had been expected to move Omer Asik today, so it was a bit of a letdown when news broke that the team had shut down trade discussions involving the big center. Still, while Houston’s unofficial December 19th deadline may pass without an Asik trade, that doesn’t mean there are no other notes to pass along today. Here are a few items from around the league:
- Top prospect Dante Exum told Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com that he intends to set up visits to Indiana, North Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan, and Oregon. There’s a general belief that the Australian point guard will declare for the draft in 2014, but he has the option of attending an NCAA school and is still going through the recruiting process as well as meeting with NBA agents (Twitter links).
- A little more than a week after being released by the Bobcats, James Southerland has landed with the D-League’s Los Angeles D-Fenders, the team announced today (Twitter link). The Lakers‘ affiliate will hold Southerland’s D-League rights, but the former Syracuse forward will still be free to sign with any NBA team.
- Recent reports have suggested that Asik, Pau Gasol, and Zach Randolph are going nowhere for now, but Jabari Davis of HoopsWorld looks into the possibility of the trio of Western big men being moved by the deadline.
- UCLA’s Kyle Anderson is poised to enter the 2014 NBA draft and that stance likely won’t change between now and the spring, as his father tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. “There’s a chance that Kyle could play horrendous the rest of this year and be a second-round draft pick,” Kyle Anderson Sr. said. “That’s not going to change our strategy. We know that he just needs a chance to play for a team, and like all the teams he’s played for, he can help you win. His draft position is not a reason why he’s coming or staying. He’s coming out regardless. It has nothing to do with his draft position.”
- In his latest mailbag, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post discusses some Nuggets-related trade scenario.