Detroit Pistons Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: Pistons, Embiid, Millsap

January 19th, 2015 at 2:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy has shown no hesitation to make major moves, as Josh Smith‘s release made clear, and Van Gundy also pulled off a trade last month, swapping Tony Mitchell for Anthony Tolliver. The Lakers have apparently inquired about Greg Monroe and Brandon Jennings and the Pistons are reportedly shopping Luigi Datome, but Van Gundy doesn’t sound like he wants to make a move with the team having won 11 of its past 13.

“I’m really, really happy with the guys we have here right now,” Van Gundy said. “I’m really, really happy with our culture and how guys are working. We’ve got the right things going for our future.”

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference as the Pistons clash with the first-place Hawks, who’ve won 12 in a row:

It’s believed that the Sixers would be content with 2014 No. 3 overall pick Joel Embiid missing the entire season, just as Nerlens Noel did last year after he went sixth overall, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Some inside the Sixers organization question Embiid’s work ethic, and the former Kansas big man has clashed with a member of the Sixers’ training staff, Pompey hears. A source tells Pompey that Embiid’s weight has ballooned to 300 pounds, but Embiid denied that to Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com.
Jeff Zillgitt and Sam Amick of USA Today imply that there’s mutual interest in a new deal this summer between the Hawks and soon-to-be free agent Paul Millsap. Atlanta was eyeing a longer deal than the two-year pact Millsap signed in 2013, but the power forward who turns 30 next month, wanted to engineer a shot at another payday not long into the future, Zillgitt hears (Twitter link).
A trade that would have sent Lance Stephenson to the Nets appeared close last week until the Nets grew skittish about him, but the Brooklyn native isn’t anxious to leave the Hornets, notes Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. “I want to be here,” Stephenson said. “I feel I can definitely help this squad… It’s really not up to me.”
Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, has been “sniffing around” the idea of making a run at purchasing the Nets, sources tell Robert Windrem of NetsDaily. She was part of a group that came up short in pursuit of the Clippers, as the NetsDaily scribe notes.

Multiple Teams Eyeing Damion James

January 18th, 2015 at 1:50pm CST by Charlie Adams

At least four teams are considering bringing aboard former Nets and Spurs forward Damion James, according to Shams Charania of RealGM, who identifies the Bulls, Pistons, Wizards, and Clippers among the teams with interest (Twitter link). The former 24th overall pick has put up impressive numbers for the Texas Legends of the D-League this season after failing to make Washington’s roster out of training camp.

James, 27, appeared in five contests for the Spurs last season. He signed a 10-day deal with San Antonio in April and inked a pact that covered the remainder of the season once his first contract was up. The 6’7″ Texas alum hasn’t been able to make much of an impact in the NBA after four strong years playing for the Longhorns.

An earlier report indicated that the Wizards have been keeping an eye on James. Washington’s roster stands at 14 players, one short of the league maximum, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the team ink James to a 10-day contract. He was reportedly a better bet to make the team than Rasual Butler out of training camp before the veteran guard impressed Washington brass.

Central Notes: Datome, Blatt, Noah

January 17th, 2015 at 5:17pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Pistons sent Gigi Datome to their D-League affiliate on Wednesday, an assignment the player wasn’t happy about, David Mayo of MLive writes. “You know what? Not really,” Detroit’s president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy said when asked if Datome was excited about the move. “There’s sort of a … he’s leaving the NBA, he’s a little older, he’s not a 21-year-old guy. So no, not really. But hopefully, when he gets down there to California, and gets practicing, and gets ready to play, and is getting ready for a game that he knows he’s going to get a chance to play in, hopefully he will get enthused about it.” Datome is reportedly on the trading block.

Here’s the latest from the Central Division:

Van Gundy was honest when he said that he had a few second thoughts about his decision to accept the job in Detroit when the Pistons began the season with a 5-23 record, Ethan Skolnick of Bleacher Report writes. “What I started doubting, quite honestly, at 5-23, was myself,” Van Gundy said. “After being out two years and being 5-23, I’d be lying if I tell you I wasn’t doubting myself as a coach. There’s no question, as a coach. I’ve never doubted our organization and what we’re doing and the ability we have down the road. Even at 5-23, I had confidence in everybody else in the organization but myself. Yes. That’s where it suffered.”
Bulls center Joakim Noah is still trying to regain his form after undergoing offseason knee surgery, a process that hasn’t gone as quickly or smoothly as the player had hoped, Doug Padilla of ESPNChicago.com writes.
David Blatt was hired by the Cavs with the reputation and track record of being a great coach, but he hasn’t quite lived up to that pedigree since taking over in Cleveland, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today writes. The large amount of roster turnover and the injuries the team has dealt with explain some of the team’s difficulties, notes Zillgitt. But other contributing factors to the Cavs’ struggles this season are that Blatt is an unknown around the league, his players haven’t quite bought into his system, and they may not trust enough in him yet, Zillgitt adds.

Western Notes: Miller, Bryant, Smith, Gasol

January 14th, 2015 at 9:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

After initially targeting Darius Miller for a 10-day contract, the Clippers changed their mind and inked Dahntay Jones the following day instead. The reason for the sudden shift in direction, according to Clippers president of basketball operations Doc Rivers, was that after watching Miller work out, Rivers wasn’t happy with the shape that he was in, Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter link). Rivers did leave open the possibility of Miller getting a 10-day deal later on in the season, Bolch adds.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

If the Lakers are completely out of playoff contention come March, a likely scenario with the team currently 10 games out of the final playoff spot in the brutally tough West, then Los Angeles might shut down Kobe Bryant for the remainder of the season, Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times reports.
Josh Smith is beginning to find his niche with the Rockets, and the team hopes that adding a potential difference maker without having to raid its core will pay off come playoff time, Michael Lee of The Washington Post writes. Smith also said that he views getting waived by Detroit as “a blessing” because he was given the chance to receive every dime owed him as well as upgrade to a contending team, Lee adds.
Grizzlies big man Marc Gasol will be one of the most sought after free agents next summer, and the veteran is playing the best basketball of his career at just the right time for him to cash in on it, Shaun Powell of NBA.com writes. Powell also examines a number of teams that could entice Gasol, should he choose to leave Memphis, including the Blazers, Hawks, Lakers, and Spurs.

Eastern Notes: Pistons, Harris, Miller

January 14th, 2015 at 7:56pm CST by Eddie Scarito

With the Pistons suddenly a mere two games behind the Nets for the eighth playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, the franchise’s approach to the upcoming trade deadline is changing with each victory, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. “Of course it does,” Detroit’s president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy said when asked whether the team’s winning ways have altered its trade outlook. “I think you make adjustments probably every week in that regard, in terms of looking at where you are, and where you want to be, and everything else. It doesn’t mean you won’t do anything but it certainly, if you’re continuing to play really well, it changes the way you look at it, yeah, no question.”

Here’s more from the East:

Van Gundy isn’t itching to make a move that could disrupt the Pistons‘ chemistry, Mayo adds, but he wouldn’t pass up the chance to add a high-character player who could add something to the team. “Look, we’re not where we want to eventually be,” Van Gundy said. “I love the way we’re playing now, and hopefully the rest of this year will go very well. But we’re not going to rest on that until we’re into contention. There’s a long way from 14-24 to being a contender and we’ve got to keep that goal in mind, and not get overly wrapped up in playing 10 good games here.“
There’s a split among executives around the league about whether the Magic would match a lucrative offer sheet for Tobias Harris this summer, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports.
Veteran point guard Andre Miller will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, but Miller says he has zero plans to retire and is looking to secure a multi-year deal with the Wizards if given the chance, Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders reports. “I would like to close it out here,” Miller told Greene. “I’m just enjoying this [success] and taking it one game at a time. Putting all my effort into practices and getting the most out of myself as far as being a team player. So I haven’t really thought about my contract situation. But of course I will continue to play next year barring any injuries. So let’s see what happens this summer.”

Blazers, Clippers Interested In Wilson Chandler

January 14th, 2015 at 1:36pm CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 1:36pm: The Blazers and Clippers are among many teams who have strong interest in acquiring Chandler, Dempsey reports, though coach Brian Shaw denies that the team is trying to trade either Chandler or Afflalo. Chandler says the Nuggets told him they wouldn’t trade him, Dempsey writes, echoing his earlier report, though the swingman doesn’t dismiss the possibility that the team would nonetheless deal him away. Shaw clarifies that while the team isn’t shopping anyone, the Nuggets won’t turn away offers of the sort that pried Mozgov loose. The Nuggets have been “flooded with inquiries” about nearly everyone on the team, Dempsey writes.

“I’d be willing to go out on a limb and say that anybody on our team and everybody on our team, if there were an offer that was too good to pass up, everybody would be expendable,” Shaw said. “If Phil Jackson came out of retirement and said he wanted to come coach the Denver Nuggets, I’m expendable. You know what I mean? It is what it is. We all have had to deal with it at some point in our careers. They’ll be fine.”

TUESDAY, 9:30am: The Nuggets are aggressively shopping Wilson Chandler in a future-focused pursuit of assets, TNT’s David Aldridge reports (Twitter link). It appears there’s plenty of interest from other teams in the eighth-year veteran, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com reported Monday that the Nuggets were receiving numerous calls about Chandler as well as Arron Afflalo. Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post also heard last month that the team had fielded multiple inquiries about Chandler, though he added that the Nuggets had told the 29-year-old that they preferred to keep him. That was before the team traded Timofey Mozgov last week in a deal that brought back two first-round picks.

The Thunder reportedly checked on Denver’s willingness to part with Chandler, according to a report from Chris Mannix of SI.com a month ago, though a trade last week may have changed the equation for Oklahoma City, too, since the Thunder have acquired Dion Waiters. Chandler wanted to play for the Pistons in the past, Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press tweets, though it’s unclear if that’s the case now. The swingman is making nearly $6.758MM this season, but next season’s salary of almost $7.172MM is only guaranteed for $2MM, putting him on an expiring contract of sorts.

Denver had been drawing closer to the realization that the playoffs are most likely out of reach, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe wrote last week, but the team has won four in a row. Still, the Nuggets are 17-20, three and a half games behind the Suns for eighth place in the Western Conference. A Chandler trade could help Denver escape mediocrity, as I wrote when I examined his trade candidacy.

Pistons Shop Gigi Datome

January 14th, 2015 at 12:33pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pistons are seeking a trade partner who’ll take on Gigi Datome, reports Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). The second-year small forward has appeared in only one game for Detroit this season, and the Pistons sent him to the D-League today along with Spencer Dinwiddie, the team announced (on Twitter). Datome is making $1.75MM this season in the final year of a two-year deal he signed with former Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars.

Detroit gave the Italian sharpshooter limited playing time as a rookie, but though he averaged only 7.0 minutes per contest, he appeared in 34 games even as he struggled with his normally reliable outside shot, going 7 for 39 from behind the arc. New coach/executive Stan Van Gundy hasn’t afforded him more than a 12-minute appearance in a loss to the Lakers in early December.

Datome went undrafted in 2009, but after developing overseas, the Grizzlies, Celtics, Bucks, Rockets, Suns and Spurs were among the teams to show interest in him before he signed with the Pistons, and former Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo apparently scouted him, too. The Pistons reportedly viewed the Heat as the most significant threat to sign him. Datome said the Pistons didn’t make him the most lucrative offer but that he inked with them because he felt they’d give him the best opportunity to play, which seems like a miscalculation at this point.

Lakers Ask Pistons About Monroe, Jennings

January 12th, 2015 at 5:52pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Lakers have asked the Pistons about Greg Monroe and Brandon Jennings in the past month, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link). They also inquired about Dion Waiters, Shelburne adds, presumably indicating that the Lakers contacted Cleveland before the Cavs shipped him to Oklahoma City a week ago.

Monroe has a de facto no-trade clause because he signed his qualifying offer from the Pistons this past offseason, and he and agent David Falk have let it be known they don’t want a trade this year. The big man would forfeit his Bird rights if he were to approve a trade, but the Lakers, with only about $35.1MM in cap flexibility for 2015/16, are set to have enough cap flexibility to sign him using cap space. The Lakers were reportedly uninterested in signing Monroe this past summer.

There have been conflicting reports about whether the Pistons were shopping Jennings, though the most recent dispatch indicates that Detroit is at least open to the idea of letting him go. Jennings makes $8MM this year and nearly $8.345MM in 2015/16, but his contract comes off the books in advance of the heavily anticipated summer of 2016, when the salary cap is set to surge. Monroe’s qualifying offer gives him almost $5.48MM this season, a bargain price, but he’s due for a significant raise in unrestricted free agency this coming summer.

Waiters is on a rookie scale contract and will be extension-eligible this summer before the deal runs out after next season. Still, it seems unlikely the Thunder would part with him so quickly after his acquisition. The Pistons, 8-1 since waiving Josh Smith, probably aren’t inclined to make a move right now, either, but the interest from the Lakers signals that L.A. isn’t content to languish at the bottom of the standings to protect its draft position. The team owes its first-round draft pick to the Suns if it doesn’t fall within the top five selections, and the Lakers are currently fourth in the Reverse Standings.

And-Ones: Drummond, Monroe, Prince

January 12th, 2015 at 1:18pm CST by Chuck Myron

The idea of waiving Josh Smith didn’t catch Pistons owner Tom Gores off guard when coach/executive Stan Van Gundy presented it to him, given the frequent communication Gores and Van Gundy share, as TNT’s David Aldridge writes within his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.

“We didn’t really toy around with it,” Gores said. “We knew that’s what we wanted to do. We could have negotiated for more. We just said we don’t think this is the best thing to do. And after the decision was made, I think, early that morning, Stan met right away with Josh.”

Aldridge has more on the Pistons, who are up to 8-1 since parting with Smith, as we detail amid the latest from around the league:

There have been whispers about Andre Drummond‘s level of contentment in Detroit over the past year or so, Aldridge writes in the same piece. The Pistons center will be up for a rookie scale extension this summer.
Gores isn’t giving up on the notion of a long-term future for Greg Monroe in Detroit, as the Pistons owner tells Aldridge. Monroe will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. “We’ve always wanted Greg. We weren’t able to make the deal in the summer, but we always have,” Gores said. “He, by the way, has great character. He’s a true professional. Even though we weren’t able to make the deal, he’s been there every day. Given the new culture with Stan, I think we have a great shot with Greg. Of course, it’ll be his choice.”
A buyout deal involving Tayshaun Prince and the Celtics is a possibility, but not a foregone conclusion, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com, who adds that Prince and Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge will discuss the veteran forward’s situation.
The Thunder recalled Grant Jerrett from the D-League, the team announced Sunday (on Twitter). Jerrett averaged 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in two D-League games on his weekend assignment, the sixth time Thunder sent him down this season.
The Rockets assigned Isaiah Canaan to the D-League on Sunday, the team announced (Twitter link). It’s the first trip to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers this season for Canaan, who’s averaged 15.6 minutes per game in 23 appearances for Houston this year.

Southwest Notes: Green, Wright, Shved, Spurs

January 10th, 2015 at 9:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jeff Green is a worthwhile gamble for the Grizzlies, claims Geoff Calkins of the Commercial Appeal. Memphis is expected to acquire Green from the Celtics in a three-team deal that’s on track to become official when the NBA office reopens Monday. Citing an unidentified scout who calls Green a “a high-end complementary player,” Calkins contends that’s just what the Grizzlies need to match up with the elite teams in the West. “If the trade does happen, getting a guy like [Green] would obviously help us, and we all know that,” said Memphis guard Mike Conley. “We’re trying to keep up just as much as everyone else.”

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

The Mavericks could regret their decision to part with Brandan Wright, opines Tom Ziller of SB Nation. The young center was sent to Boston as part of the Rajon Rondo deal, but on Friday the Celtics shipped him to the Suns. Not only does that strengthen a potential playoff foe for the Mavericks, it puts him in a winning environment and makes him less likely to return to Dallas when he becomes a free agent in July.
Alexey Shved, who came to the Rockets in a December 19th trade involving the Wolves and Sixers, returned from a left ankle sprain Saturday and should get some playing time, reports Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle. Coach Kevin McHale is already a fan of the Russian guard. “He has great vision, he has great height, he really drives to pass,” McHale said. “He is a pass-first guy. We will try to find a way to fit him into our rotation.”
Stan Van Gundy is looking to the Spurs as a model as he tries to build a winner in Detroit, reports David Mayo of MLive. The Pistons’ coach/president has long been a fan of the way the defending champs conduct their business. “There’s all kinds of things that you can learn from this organization,” Van Gundy said. “The hard thing is trying to actually execute and do what they’ve done. It’s not like they’ve got a secret formula that no one else can follow. They’ve just done it better than everybody else.”