Central Rumors: Motiejunas, Novak, Love
Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy doesn’t regret making the trade deadline acquisition of Rockets power forward Donatas Motiejunas, even though the team voided the three-team deal on Monday because of concerns over Motiejunas’ health, David Mayo of MLive.com reports. Motiejunas, who underwent back surgery after last season, failed physical exams conducted in New York and Detroit, Mayo continues. “I would do it over again, if it were out there,” Van Gundy told the team’s beat reporters. “We did our due diligence and just thought there was too much risk.” The Pistons have an open roster spot and will comb through the waiver wire, as well as consider D-League prospects, to add depth at power forward. The club is thin at that position with Anthony Tolliver sidelined by a knee injury expected to keep him out two to four weeks, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com (Twitter link).
In other news around the Central Division:
- Van Gundy told Langlois that the Pistons and Rockets couldn’t change the parameters of the protected first-round pick Detroit would have traded to Houston because the trade deadline had expired (Twitter link). That contradicts an earlier tweet from The Vertical’s front office expert Bobby Marks that indicated protections on the pick could have been changed.
- Veteran shooting guard Steve Novak is thrilled the Bucks wanted him because they are his hometown team, Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. Novak was traded last week by the Thunder to the Nuggets, who promptly released him as part of a buyout agreement. Milwaukee was looking for 3-point shooting off the bench and signed Novak, who attended Marquette, on Monday. “I always dreamed of playing for the Bucks, but at this point I didn’t know if it was something that would ever happen,” Novak told Gardner. “I think we were lucky enough that Denver said they would do a buyout and Milwaukee called and said they had interest. It was a phone call I wasn’t sure I’d ever get but I was pretty pumped.”
- Kevin Love would rather be the third option on a championship team than the star of a lesser team, Steve Aschburner of NBA.com writes. The Cavaliers power forward has gotten used to hearing his name in trade rumors, as Aschburner details, but Love refutes the notion that he’d rather be posting bigger stats as another team’s No. 1 option. “All things considered, I’ve always said if I could win, be happy and get paid, that was kind of it,” Love told Aschburner.
And-Ones: Morris Twins, Gerald Green, Hardaway
Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris thought their close relationship with Suns owner Robert Sarver, which included invitations to Sarver’s home to work out on his basketball court, would ensure advance warning of the trade that sent Marcus to the Pistons, the twins told Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher. It’s not simply a matter of the trade having separated them, Marcus insists, saying to Bucher that he also would have pulled off the deal that sent him to the Pistons if he thought, as the Suns did, that it would give them a better shot at LaMarcus Aldridge.
“Everybody thinking that we’re upset because we don’t get to play with each other,” Marcus said. “Kieff can’t deal with adversity? We’re from north Philadelphia. This isn’t adversity. This is betrayal.”
The Magic offered Channing Frye for Markieff shortly after the deal that sent Marcus to the Pistons this summer, a league source told Bucher, and the Cavaliers and Bulls were interested in Markieff, too, Bucher hears, also confirming an earlier report that the Pistons held interest in reuniting the brothers. Bucher indicates that the twins were closer with former Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby than with Suns GM Ryan McDonough, suggesting that that the reduction in Babby’s role played a part in the end of the run for the Morrises in Phoenix. See more from around the NBA:
- Gerald Green said to Bucher for the same piece that the Suns told him they would re-sign him this past summer but never called his agent back. The Kenton Edelin client instead signed with the Heat, telling Bucher that he holds the Heat organization in a much higher regard than the Suns.
- Some Knicks players thought the offseason trade that sent away Tim Hardaway Jr. came about because the organization wanted to avoid an odd dynamic in the locker room between Hardaway and then-coach Derek Fisher, who are rumored to have been involved with the same woman, writes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.
- Shelvin Mack recorded season highs in minutes, points and assists Sunday in his debut for the Jazz, notes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. Quin Snyder‘s familiarity with and endorsement of the point guard and a rave review from former Hawks GM Danny Ferry helped convince the Jazz to trade for Mack on Thursday, as Genessy details in a separate piece.
Pistons, NBA Void Donatas Motiejunas Trade
3:06pm: The Pistons confirmed the voiding of the trade, via press release.
“Standard with all trades, medical clearance on all players involved is required for completion. Medical clearance was not given on all players and the trade is being rescinded,” Bower said in Detroit’s statement. “In view of privacy considerations relating to medical information, we will have no further comment.”
1:15pm: The Pistons and the NBA are in the process of voiding the three-team Donatas Motiejunas trade, sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The power forward didn’t pass Detroit’s physical, The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski notes (on Twitter), so the deal between the Pistons, Rockets and Sixers is off. Motiejunas, Marcus Thornton and Denver’s 2017 second-round pick will return to the Rockets, the Pistons will get back Joel Anthony and their top-eight protected 2016 first-round pick, while the Sixers will once more have the rights draft-and-stash player Chukwudiebere “Chu” Maduabum. The Sixers released JaKarr Sampson to facilitate the trade, but they won’t get him back, since he’s agreed to a two-year deal with the Nuggets.
Houston had slipped beneath the luxury tax line with the trade, according to The Vertical’s Bobby Marks, so today’s news has negative financial consequences for the Rockets, who are again in line to be taxpayers. The threat that the trade might fall apart grew over the weekend when the Pistons asked for and received an extra 24 hours to examine Motiejunas, who has dealt with lingering back trouble after undergoing surgery in April. The 25-year-old has appeared in only 14 games this season.
The Pistons had latitude to seek a change to the terms of the trade, including the protection attached to the first-rounder that was to go to Houston, according to Marks (Twitter link), but instead it appears they’ve decided, with the NBA’s blessing, to nix it altogether. Rescinding the trade will leave the Pistons and Sixers with one open roster spot apiece while the Rockets will go from two open roster spots to a full 15-man roster. Houston was reportedly among the teams interested in signing veteran rebounder Reggie Evans but now would have to cut somebody to do so.
Teams typically have 72 hours to administer physicals to the players they receive via trade, so it’s possible for deals to fall apart even after clubs formally announce them, even though it’s rare. The Thunder’s doctors didn’t like what they saw when they evaluated Tyson Chandler in 2009, leading the NBA to void Oklahoma City’s trade with the Hornets that year. Pistons GM Jeff Bower was the Hornets GM then, so he’s now seen voided trades from opposite perspectives.
The death of the trade is a boost to Anthony’s job prospects, since the Sixers were reportedly poised to waive him once the deal was ratified. Still, it’s perhaps a financial loss for him, since he could have latched on elsewhere for a salary that would have gone on top of the $2.5MM he’s seeing this year on his existing contract.
Conversely, it can’t help the earning potential for Motiejunas, who’s set for restricted free agency in the summer. It was a lock that either Motiejunas or fellow soon-to-be restricted free agent Terrence Jones would leave the Rockets this summer, as Zach Lowe of ESPN.com wrote before the trade agreement last week.
The voiding of the trade scraps the pair of trade exceptions, worth $2,288,205 and $947,276, respectively, that the Rockets were able to create. It also kills off a $211,795 trade exception for the Pistons, though that one would have been virtually unusable anyway.
Which team do you think suffers the most because the trade is getting voided? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Central Notes: Turner, Frye, Van Gundy
The Pacers have climbed to fifth place in the Eastern Conference and just how far they go this season rests heavily on how quickly and profoundly Myles Turner continues to develop, coach Frank Vogel told Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star. Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, who took Stanley Johnson at No. 8, three spots before the Pacers drafted Turner, thinks Indiana’s rookie big man looks like a steal, Buckner notes.
“You would have to say fairly that he’s one of the most, if not the most, surprising players in the draft,” Van Gundy said. “I think everybody pretty much knew he was going to be a good player, but I think a lot of people thought it would take more time than this and he’s playing very well.”
Van Gundy had more to say about his own team, as we pass along amid news from the Central Division, where the Pistons aren’t the only ones liable to veto a trade:
- The Cavaliers are being more cautious than usual as they put Channing Frye through a medical evaluation, cognizant of the heart condition that knocked him out for all of the 2012/13 season, multiple sources told Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, but the Cavs aren’t concerned, a source tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link). Cleveland has until Tuesday to finish examining Frye before the trade with the Magic is ratified. The swap is separate from the one in which the Cavs dealt away Anderson Varejao.
- The Pistons aren’t a top free agency destination, and Van Gundy knows it, which is why he’s willing to pay a premium for talent via trade, as he told TNT’s David Aldridge for the NBA.com Morning Tip. “I think for us, quite honestly, you’ve got to know who you are and where you are,” Van Gundy said. “We knew when we came, or had a pretty good idea when we came, our chances were the draft, which you only get one or two a year, and trades were going to be better for us. Especially in a summer where basically everybody is going to have money. We’re not at the point yet — we haven’t won enough yet, established enough yet, quite honestly — where we’re going to be at the top of the [free agent] list. So we’re going to end up overpaying for lesser players, is where we thought we’d be. And we got a chance to get really good players in trades. It fit exactly what we thought was the best path for us and the best strategy for us.”
- Van Gundy deflected credit for the team’s trades to GM Jeff Bower and others in the Pistons front office, suggesting that he essentially just rubber-stamps the deals that Bower and company put together, as Aldridge and MLive’s Aaron McMann detail.
Eastern Notes: Morris, Magic, Pistons
The Magic could create $45MM in cap space for this summer if Orlando makes a series of moves that include waiving Ersan Ilyasova by July 1st and renouncing the free-agent cap holds on Dewayne Dedmon, Brandon Jennings, Andrew Nicholson and Jason Smith, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel details. The Magic like Ilyasova and Jennings, however, according to Robbins, so it is not a certainty that the team won’t retain them beyond this season.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- The Pistons have until 6pm Eastern on Monday to further evaluate Donatas Motiejunas’ back condition after the league granted their request for a 24-hour extension of the typical 72-hour post-trade window, Detroit coach/executive Stan Van Gundy confirmed to reporters, including Keith Langlois of NBA.com (Twitter link).
- The Wizards acquired Markeiff Morris on Thursday because of his versatility and toughness, Washington president Ernie Grunfeld told J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic. Grunfeld also confirmed an earlier report from Michael that by acquiring Morris, the amount the Wizards can offer under the Disabled Player Exception they still have from waiving Martell Webster has dropped, lest the Wizards pass the luxury tax threshold. After this deal with Morris, the most the Wizards can offer through the DPE to a free agent without going over the tax is just slightly more than $1MM, according to Michael. “We feel like we needed a jolt at this time,” Grunfeld told Michael in reference to the addition of Morris.
- Jeff Teague and Al Horford are the only remaining Hawks from Kirk Hinrich’s first tenure with the team, and both players are glad to see Hinrich return, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution relays.
Central Notes: Pistons, Cavs, Bulls
The Pistons have asked for a 24-hour extension of the typical 72-hour trade window to further evaluate Donatas Motiejunas’ back condition, Detroit coach/executive Stan Van Gundy told reporters, including Keith Langlois of NBA.com (Twitter link). There is a chance that the trade could be voided, but Rod Beard of the Detroit News tweets the possibility of that is “small.” The Pistons’ request has not been approved yet, as David Mayo of MLive points out (on Twitter). The 72-hour window would end tonight and the extension would push that deadline to Monday night. The Pistons acquired Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton from the Rockets as part of a three-team trade Thursday involving the Sixers, despite acknowledging the risk that came with adding Motiejunas because of his persistent back issues. The Pistons have consulted with a back specialist in addition to several doctors, which has contributed to the delay, Beard tweets.
Here’s more from around the Central Division:
- The Bulls are currently the front-runners to re-sign Pau Gasol this summer, but the way Chicago finishes the season will hold weight, and the center revealed the coaching change from Tom Thibodeau to Fred Hoiberg will also factor into his decision, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times relays.
- The Cavs should have retained Anderson Varejao because of his selfless attitude and willingness to accept a diminished role in a quest toward a championship, Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer opines. The Cavs acquired Channing Frye and traded Varejao to the Trail Blazers in a deal that was officially structured as two separate trades. The Blazers then waived Varejao. Haynes wonders if adding Frye significantly improves the Cavs and if his presence was worth moving Varejao, who has played his entire 13-year career in Cleveland.
- LeBron James was not consulted by the Cavs front office before Varejao was moved, according to Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. James has referred to Varejao as one of his favorite teammates, as Vardon notes.
Pistons Notes: Harris, Motiejunas, Van Gundy
Executive/coach Stan Van Gundy believes that the addition of Tobias Harris was better than any player the Pistons could have acquired on the free agent market this summer based on the 23-year-old’s talent and contract, John Niyo of The Detroit News writes.
“You’ve got to know who you are,” Van Gundy said. “We’re not at the position yet that with 30 teams having money that we’re gonna be at the top of everybody’s list that’s on the free agent market. So to be able to get good young players who are locked in is the ideal for us.”
The team considered an offer sheet for Harris last July, but since the Magic seemed inclined to match any offer, Detroit didn’t want to tie up its cap space for no reason. The Pistons decided to pursue DeMarre Carroll and Danny Green instead, but they struck out on both with Carroll signing in Toronto and Green re-signing in San Antonio.
Here’s more from Detroit:
- Pistons owner Tom Gores understood Donatas Motiejunas‘ back issues and the risk that came with acquiring him, but despite this, he gave Van Gundy the green light to make the deal, Rod Beard of The Detriot News writes. “It’s a calculated risk,” Van Gundy said. “A little more risk, maybe, than some of the other deals we’ve had, but with a very high reward.”
- GM Jeff Bower believes Brandon Jennings is going to examine his options in free agency this summer, something that played a factor in dealing him away, Keith Langlois of NBA.com relays. Bower added that Harris’ contract certainty played a role in the deal as well. Harris will make $16MM this season, $17.2MM during the 2016/17 season, $16MM in 2017/18 and $14.8MM in the final year of the deal.
Central Notes: Gasol, Bryant, Frye, Pistons
The final third of the season will influence Pau Gasol‘s decision on whether to stay with the Bulls, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. The 35-year-old plans to opt out this summer, passing up $7,769,520 next season to take a shot at free agency. His future will largely be affected by how the injury-plagued Bulls perform in the crowded Eastern Conference race for playoff spots. “How these games play out will give me information of how I want to … or how my decision will be influenced for sure,’’ Gasol said. “How we handle this situation and if we’re able to overcome it, get more together and united and stronger or we give up or are content with it. Because that tells a lot, it tells you a lot about the character of a team and the people you are around.’’
There’s more news from the Central Division:
- Kobe Bryant, who will play his final game in Chicago Sunday, came close to joining the Bulls in 2004, according to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. In the wake of the Lakers’ loss in the NBA Finals, and with relationships strained with coach Phil Jackson and teammate Shaquille O’Neal, Bryant wanted to use his free agency to get out of Los Angeles. He held a secret meeting with Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and executive John Paxson and strategized about how to get a sign-and-trade deal done with the Lakers. However, a few days later O’Neal asked for a trade, and Bryant spent 12 more years in L.A.
- Channing Frye still hasn’t been cleared to play for Cleveland, but the organization isn’t concerned about his status, writes Tom Withers of The Associated Press. Frye, who was obtained from Orlando in a trade on Thursday, went through more medical exams today and did not accompany the Cavaliers on their trip to Oklahoma City. Coach Tyronn Lue said the franchise has “no concern at all” about Frye, who sat out the 2012/13 season with a heart condition.
- The Pistons created a minuscule $211,795 trade exception equivalent to the difference between Joel Anthony‘s $2.5MM salary and the $2,288,205 salary for Donatas Motiejunas as a result of their trade Thursday, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). Detroit took Marcus Thornton‘s salary into the minimum-salary exception.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Eastern Notes: Morris, Frye, Varejao
Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said he had no clue that Markieff Morris‘ situation in Phoenix would take the turn that it did when he acquired his twin Marcus Morris this past offseason, writes Ben Standig of CSNMidAtlantic.com. “I didn’t have any idea,” Van Gundy said. “We just knew that we liked Marcus. He was a good player, a professional guy, hard worker. We never had any problems from our end with it. I mean, Marcus was upset when it happened, upset at Phoenix, but it never had any effect on what we were doing in Detroit. He was a real professional.”
Markieff intends to approach his new situation with the Wizards the same way, Standing adds. He already has the support of Marcin Gortat and Jared Dudley, both of whom relayed positive things about Morris, the scribe notes. “You know, it’s just guys that actually know me, and not on the outside looking in,” Morris said. “Guys that I’ve actually played with and been in the locker room with. Things happen. It’s in my past. All I can do is move forward and learn from it. I’m happy to do it. And getting compliments from those guys means a lot. We’re good friends, we keep in touch. They know me as a person.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- The Cavaliers were able to land Channing Frye on Thursday despite having less in the way of assets to offer Orlando than the Clippers, who were also interested in the stretch-four, Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal notes. Los Angeles backed away from Frye because of the two years and approximately $15MM remaining on his deal, a contract that Cleveland instead views as an asset with the cap set to jump this offseason, Lloyd adds.
- The Hawks would be wise to consider signing center Anderson Varejao, whom Portland waived after acquiring him from the Cavaliers, Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders opines. Atlanta needs a backup center with Tiago Splitter lost for the remainder of the season, and inking Varejao would carry little risk and wouldn’t impact the franchise’s cap flexibility heading into the offseason, Greene notes.
- Despite a somewhat slow start to his NBA career, Hornets coach Steve Clifford believes Frank Kaminsky will become a solid starter in the league thanks to how hard he works off the court, Gary D’Amato of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relays. “He has an NBA game right now,” said Clifford. “His biggest issue is he’s physically not strong enough to play every night against the starters. He’s worked hard in the weight room. I think in another year you’ll see him take off because of his work ethic.” The 2015 No. 9 overall pick has appeared in 53 games this season and is averaging 7.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 21.5 minutes per night.
Pistons Notes: Van Gundy, Motiejunas, Harris
Stan Van Gundy acknowledges the trade for Donatas Motiejunas carries more risk than other moves given his persistent back trouble and status as a soon-to-be restricted free agent, but he feels the chance of a high reward is worth it, as the Pistons coach/executive said Thursday following the trade deadline (transcription via Pistons.com). Motiejunas will have to pass a physical to validate the trade, notes Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, but Van Gundy said the team believes the back issue is minor, Ellis also relays (Twitter links).
“He’s been a guy that’s been very, very high on our list for a long time,” Van Gundy said, according to the team site. “When our scouts get together and do their thing, that’s what happened at the trade deadline. Both he and Tobias [Harris] have been very, very high on our list. It just happened to be a situation with Tobias where it didn’t work out in the summer because we couldn’t pursue him because of the restricted free agent thing. And Donatas was then just coming off the injury or just had the injury.”
Van Gundy added that “we would have laughed, quite honestly” if someone told him and his staff two weeks ago that they could land both Motiejunas and Harris. See more from the Motor City.
- The Kings were the only “real” suitor for Harris in free agency this past summer, writes Zach Lowe of ESPN.com, though GM Jeff Bower acknowledged the Pistons had interest in signing Harris, tweets Rod Beard of The Detroit News.
- Motiejunas comes with some promise for the future if the Pistons re-sign him, but Thursday’s trade was more about the short term than the acquisition of Harris was, Beard contends. Still, the combination of the moves show the team’s focus on positioning itself for the future, according to Beard.
- The Motiejunas swap wasn’t that much of a risk for the Pistons, who dealt from a position of strength that the Harris trade had given them, MLive’s David Mayo argues. The ability to snag Harris without giving up a first-rounder empowered Detroit to spend that first-rounder in Thursday’s trade, Mayo writes.