Pistons, Magic Talk Harris, Jennings, Ilyasova Deal
The Pistons and Magic have spoken about a potential trade that would send Tobias Harris to Detroit for Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova, sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter links). The sides are progressing, USA Today’s Sam Amick hears, adding that while no deal is done, it seems likely to happen (on Twitter). It would represent a nearly even exchange of salaries for this season, with Harris’ $16MM going to the Pistons and $16,244,497 headed to Orlando, but a long-term cost savings for the Magic, since Jennings is on an expiring deal and Ilyasova is guaranteed only $400K for next season. Harris signed a four-year, $64MM deal this past summer.
Central Notes: Bucks, Pistons, Pacers
“I don’t know if we have any action going on, so there shouldn’t be anybody worried about the rumors if it entails the Milwaukee Bucks,” Kidd said. “This is our team. As a professional athlete, the small print says there could be a trade at some point in your career. Sometimes expected, sometimes not. You have to be able to handle that. But right now, this is our team. There’s no one coming in and there’s no one leaving.”
Here’s more from around the Central Division:
- Acquiring Ryan Anderson from the Pelicans at the deadline would make sense for the Pistons, but the power forward wouldn’t be enough of an upgrade to discard Ersan Ilyasova, which would likely be the result if Detroit wanted to re-sign Anderson in the summer, David Mayo of MLive writes. Adding Anderson, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, would help stabilize the one unsecured position for the Pistons, Mayo adds. It would likely take point guard Brandon Jennings, who is presumably headed out of Detroit via free agency, to land Anderson, Mayo writes. On the other hand, the idea that Jennings automatically is gone in free agency is premature because many teams have point guards locked up, as Mayo points out.
- Ian Mahinmi, who is in the final year of his contract with the Pacers, has dealt with a variety of injuries this season, his first as a full-time starter with an increased workload, and he’s looking to prepare his body for the second half, Nate Taylor of the Indianapolis Star details.
Central Notes: Lue, Dinwiddie, Bayless
New Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue, who is a student of Phil Jackson‘s coaching style, has no qualms about taking LeBron James to task for any mistakes, a practice that has been well-received by James thus far, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com writes. “The thing with Phil is he did all of his coaching in practice,” Lue said. “He always held Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal more accountable than anyone else on the team. It always starts at the top and trickles down to the bottom. If you can get the respect of your best players, everyone else will fall in line. That was the biggest thing with Phil, like, in a game he’d let you figure it out and let you play, but in practice he’s coaching.”
As for James’ response to Lue’s methods, the coach told McMenamin, “It’s been good, so far. He understands what we’ve got to do to get to the point we want to get to. It’s not personal. It’s just teaching and correcting. If I can teach and correct him, like I said, other guys will follow in line. We can’t be afraid to do that and hold him accountable.”
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Pacers coach Frank Vogel expects the team’s roster to remain untouched through the trade deadline, as he said Wednesday, according to Scott Agness of VigiliantSports (Twitter link).
- Spencer Dinwiddie will be with the Pistons after the All-Star break instead of on D-League assignment, coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said, according to Rod Beard of The Detroit News (Twitter links). Dinwiddie said last month that GM Jeff Bower told him he’d be in the D-League the rest of the season. The Pistons recalled Dinwiddie on Tuesday, but that was so their doctors could look at his sprained ankle.“We’ll weigh what’s best for him and what’s best for us. Initially, we’ll bring him back. I’d like to see him now,” Van Gundy said.
- Bulls power forward Taj Gibson believes this year’s Chicago squad has more talent than the one that made it to the 2011 Conference Finals but doesn’t play hard for each other the way the 2010/11 team did, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune tweets.
- The Bucks coaching staff is pleased with the improvement combo guard Jerryd Bayless has demonstrated shooting the ball from beyond the 3-point line, Matt Velazquez of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes. “He has worked extremely hard at it and put a lot of time into it,” coach Jason Kidd said. “He is not short on confidence, so right now he is shooting the three at a very high level.” Bayless, who is earning $3MM this season, will become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Raptors Highly Interested In Ryan Anderson
The Raptors have high interest in Ryan Anderson as the trade deadline approaches, reports Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). Toronto joins a handful of teams apparently eyeing the soon-to-be free agent for a trade, as well as the Pistons, who’ve reportedly been looking at him but only as a potential offseason signee. The Raptors are seeking power forwards, with Thaddeus Young, Kenneth Faried and Markieff Morris among the names on their radar, according to multiple reports. Toronto has engaged in exploratory discussions about those three as well as P.J. Tucker, another object of their interest, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, though it’s not entirely clear whether those are internal or external talks.
Anderson is making $8.5MM this season, and the Raptors, who are over the cap and without a trade exception, would have to match for that salary to trade for him, a complicated task given the construction of Toronto’s roster, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca has pointed out. Toronto has an extra pick in each of the next two drafts to offer, and GM Masai Ujiri has signaled an intent to eventually trade at least one of those, but any deal would have to involve more than just draft assets going to New Orleans.
Conflicting reports have emerged about the likelihood of an Anderson trade this season, though more of them indicate that he’s not the likeliest trade candidate on the New Orleans roster than the other way around. New Orleans reportedly made Anderson available earlier this season, but the team wasn’t anxious to trade him, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported, adding Wednesday that the Wizards have asked about him. The Rockets “kicked the tires” on Anderson earlier this season, Kyler also reported. New Orleans apparently had talks with the Suns that involved Anderson, while differing reports paint an unclear picture of whether the Pelicans turned down an offer from the Kings of Rudy Gay for Anderson.
The subject of the Raptors and power forwards was the topic for our Community Shootaround on Wednesday.
Latest On Markieff Morris
Markieff Morris, Archie Goodwin and interim coach Earl Watson all brushed off an incident during a timeout in Phoenix’s loss Wednesday to the Warriors when Morris shoved Goodwin and teammates had to separate them, as Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic details. It’s not the first confrontation involving Morris to take place on the Suns bench this season, and while the towel he tossed in former coach Jeff Hornacek‘s direction in the midst of a December game resulted in a two-game suspension for the power forward, other teams don’t find it concerning, reports Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports.
“We have to control our emotions,” Watson said, according to Coro. “Other than that, those two are really close. The team is not split. Those two are the closest on the team. They have a bond, a unique relationship. As we’ve seen, unique relationships can lead to something else throughout the league.”
Executives acknowledge that emotions run high and boil over at times during the heat of competition and most say the extra scrutiny surrounding Morris this year magnified the negative public perception of the towel toss, according to Marks. Nevertheless, if such outbursts become common, they could still hurt his trade value, Marks concedes. See more on one of the season’s most significant trade candidates:
- Teams with interest in trading for Morris have wondered if the breakdown in communication between the Suns, Morris and his brother Marcus Morris this summer is a harbinger of similar problems they’d have if they traded for Markieff, as Marks details in the same piece. Those teams have looked into the relationship between Marcus and the Pistons and found no issues, Marks adds.
- Markieff Morris said after Wednesday’s game that he didn’t regret having shoved Goodwin, notes Paula Boivin of The Arizona Republic. The way that Morris and the rest of the team have responded to the incident is baffling, Boivin contends, believing that Morris’ behavior puts the team in a tough position.
- Morris praised Watson for sticking with him, as Boivin relays in the same column, and the coach has been complimentary of Morris since taking over for Hornacek, as his comments before Wednesday game illustrate. “Everybody thought Markieff would be the toughest challenge,” Watson said, according to Coro (Twitter link). “He’s been the easiest challenge.”
And-Ones: Silver, Martin, Motiejunas
Commissioner Adam Silver says that he loves the parity that exists in the NBA right now and believes it is good that smaller market teams are able to compete with larger ones for free agents, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today relays. “What we’re seeing now is that players are moving to markets that have cap room and players are moving to markets where they see opportunities to play,” Silver said. “It’s not a function of market size these days. It’s a function of the management of the team and the opportunity in that market. That’s what you want for a league.”
Silver is concerned at how this summer’s anticipated cap spike will change the league’s dynamic, Zillgitt notes. “It will be disruptive and having been around the league for a long time, I only know it’s going to be disruptive in ways that we can’t even predict,” Silver said. “It’s not the way we modeled the CBA going into the last collective-bargaining agreement. We thought we would have more regular increases from year to year [in the salary cap]. You like to have a system where planning is rewarded and management is rewarded. Now, with all this unexpected cap room, teams that should not have had that kind of room [to spend] of course will have it.”
Both the National Basketball Players Association and the league can opt out of the current CBA by December 15th, and Silver noted, “clearly we’re operating under the premise that if we can’t get a new deal negotiated by then, they are likely to opt out. That puts a lot of pressure on both sides to work over the next 10 months, which is a long time, to get an extension done,” the USA Today scribe adds. Here’s more from around the league:
- The Grizzlies have recalled power forward Jarell Martin from their D-League affiliate, the team announced. Martin has averaged 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds in 30.6 minutes in seven games during his five assignments to Iowa this season.
- The Pistons have recalled Spencer Dinwiddie from their D-League affiliate, Keith Langlois of NBA.com tweets. The move was made so Detroit’s team doctors could examine the point guard’s sprained ankle, Langlois adds.
- The Rockets have recalled swingman K.J. McDaniels and power forward Donatas Motiejunas from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, their D-League affiliate, the team announced.
Pacers Offer George Hill For Jeff Teague
The Pacers have inquired with the Hawks about trading for Jeff Teague, proposing a swap involving George Hill, while the Magic also loom as a potential suitor for Teague, sources told Kevin Arnovitz and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. It’s unclear how receptive Atlanta has been to the Pacers idea, nor what the Magic would be willing to give, though Orlando has reportedly become at least somewhat willing to trade Tobias Harris and is on the lookout for veterans. The Hawks wouldn’t be seeking a sell-off if they decide to make moves before the deadline and instead would look for deals that bring back younger players who provide equal value for the present, sources close to the team tell the ESPN scribes. Hill, 29, is two years older than Teague, though Hill has played off the ball in the past, which would ostensibly make him a better fit next to emerging Hawks point guard Dennis Schröder.
The Hawks are meanwhile thinking “long and hard” about their future with Al Horford, who’s poised for unrestricted free agency this summer. The prospect of a five-year max deal, which would pay a 34-year-old Horford an estimated $32.7MM in the final season, is giving the Hawks pause, sources said to Arnovitz and Windhorst. The Celtics have reportedly gauged Atlanta’s interest in trading both Horford and Teague, while the Pistons have been linked to Horford. Arnovitz and Windhorst write that several teams would “potentially” show interest in Horford if the Hawks put him on the block, and in the next sentence they name the Celtics, Nuggets and Magic as the teams that have been the most aggressive in efforts to land a “veteran difference maker.” It’s thus unclear if Denver and Orlando are indeed mulling runs at Horford.
Complicating the idea of a Horford trade is an injury to center Tiago Splitter. The former Spur is considering surgery on a lingering hip ailment and will be out for an “extended period” even if he doesn’t have a procedure, Arnovitz and Windhorst write. Plus, Hawks coach/executive Mike Budenholzer views Horford and Kyle Korver as locker room mainstays, the ESPN scribes note. The Cavs are fond of Korver, as Windhorst said in a radio appearance earlier today, but he isn’t the likeliest among the Hawks to end up in a trade, Arnovitz and Windhorst write.
More Fallout From The Derek Fisher Firing
The firing of Derek Fisher may not be the last major move the Knicks make before the February 18th trade deadline, writes Ian Begley of ESPN.com. League sources told Begley that members of the New York front office talked to the Hawks last month about point guards Jeff Teague and Dennis Schröder, but little progress was made because Atlanta didn’t like what the Knicks had to offer. That advances earlier dispatches about the Knicks and Teague, but the inclusion of Schröder is a previously unreported part of the story. Begley also hears that the Knicks have been keeping an eye on Pistons reserve point guard Brandon Jennings. With New York dropping nine of its last 10 games and in danger of sliding out of the Eastern Conference playoff race, team president Phil Jackson hopes to shake up the roster. Two players almost certain to stay put are Carmelo Anthony and rookie Kristaps Porzingis. “I think it is a known fact that Carmelo has a no-trade [clause],” Jackson said. “And we like Kris. Everybody likes Kris. There’s not too many people that ever would say that I would trade [Kristaps].”
There’s more from a news-filled day in New York:
- Ex-Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, who served eight seasons as an assistant in New York, makes no secret of how badly he wants the Knicks job, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Thibodeau “would walk here” to coach the Knicks, a source told Zagoria, echoing what Ian O’Connor of ESPNNewYork.com heard earlier. Jackson was non-committal about Thibodeau, saying, “I respect Tom as a coach, he’s a really good coach. But I’m not out soliciting coaches right now.”
- A lack of development and a feeling of stagnation doomed Fisher, writes Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. At 23-31, the Knicks have already surpassed their 17-win season of a year ago, but the front office believed the team wasn’t progressing as it should. Marks expects Jackson to pick a coach from his pool of former players and current assistants, but notes Luke Walton is the only member of that group to have success as a head coach.
- The pairing of Fisher and Jackson never had a chance to work, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. He contends Jackson didn’t really believe in Fisher as a head coach, and Fisher, who moved straight to the job from the playing floor, was never committed to coaching. The Knicks were counting on hiring Steve Kerr in 2014, Deveney recalls, believing that Stan Van Gundy would wind up in Golden State. Fisher became a fallback plan when that unraveled.
Central Notes: Pistons, Bucks, Bulls
The Pistons seem less likely to make any sort of move before this year’s trade deadline for a variety of reasons that Keith Langlois of Pistons.com runs down. One of the main reasons why Langlois expects the Pistons to be quiet is because of the amount of moves executive/coach Stan Van Gundy made last year that have seemingly positioned the franchise to compete for the foreseeable future. What’s more, as Langlois writes, Van Gundy is fond of this team and there is not even an injury at this time that warrants Detroit making a move.
“I think we’re at the point that it would have to be anything that we would view as almost a no-brainer, a major upgrade,” Van Gundy said. “We’re not going to make any moves that would be lateral and we’re not going to move things we consider assets for guys on expiring contracts to just try to chase it for one year and then lose a guy. We’re still in the building phase and we’re going to protect our assets going forward.”
Here is more out of the Central Division:
- The Bucks have not had enough time to evaluate their current starting five, so it is unclear if they will add to their bench or make a bolder move as the trade deadline draws near, of the Journal Sentinel details. The Bucks employed a new starting group this season of Greg Monroe, Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker and Michael Carter-Williams. The Bucks are an interesting team because they made moves in the summer with the hopes of making it to the playoffs, but are 20-32. Milwaukee, as a midmarket team, must use the draft and trades wisely to build a consistent winner, Gardner writes.
- Mike Dunleavy Jr., 35, made his season debut Saturday for the Bulls and scored five points in 14 minutes. Dunleavy signed a three-year, $14.5MM contract last summer with the final year non-guaranteed. “A little late to the party, but good to be back,” Dunleavy said, per Nick Friedell of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link). “I felt quite honestly like I hadn’t played in eight months, but got a little better rhythm in the second half. And just testing out my hops again with that dunk.”
And-Ones: Trades, Clarkson, Pistons
The lack of enticing free agent options at the point guard position in the upcoming offseason should heat up the trade market prior to the deadline, Tom Ziller of SB Nation opines. Aside from Mike Conley, there isn’t another star-level point guard set to hit free agency this summer. Brandon Jennings and Rajon Rondo will be free agents and Deron Williams could join them if he turns down his player option after the season. Beyond those four players, there arguably isn’t another starting-caliber point guard on the market.
Ziller speculates that as many as seven teams, including the Knicks and Nets, could attempt to join in on the Jeff Teague sweepstakes. The scribe also names Darren Collison as a player to watch on the trade market, especially if the Kings get a sense that Rondo will re-sign with the team.
We’re 11 days from the trade deadline. As we wait to see what deals unfold, check out some notes from around the league:
- Jordan Clarkson has mostly played the two for the Lakers this year, but his past experience running the point makes Ziller, as he writes in the same piece, wonder whether another team will throw a substantial offer at him and look to make the 23-year-old a starting point guard. Clarkson will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, but he’s subject to the Gilbert Arenas Provision.
- It might be worthwhile for the Pistons to trade away their 2016 first round pick in exchange for bench help, Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports opines in a piece that examines all of the team’s trade assets. Detroit is clinging to the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with a record of 27-25, which, if the season ended today, would give the team the No. 17 overall selection in the upcoming draft, as our Reverse Standings indicate.
- The Heat have recalled Jarnell Stokes from the Sioux Falls Skyforce, their D-League affiliate, according to the team’s website. Stokes has averaged 20.6 points and 10.2 rebounds per game in five stints with the Skyforce this season.