Bucher’s Latest: Griffin, Anthony, Lowry
A majority of the league believes Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan don’t fit together, and Jordan’s improvement has made Griffin the more obvious trade candidate, according to Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report. The consensus is that the Clippers need a big man who can shoot, and even Chris Paul wishes Griffin were more like former teammate David West, sources tell Bucher. A general manager who possesses the sort of power forward who might mesh better with Jordan said to Bucher that the Clippers haven’t contacted his team and added that he hasn’t heard that the Clippers are shopping Griffin at all. The GM thinks owner Donald Sterling would never agree to such a deal, though Bucher hears from a Clippers source confident that Doc Rivers will talk him into it before the trade deadline. Bucher has more on the Clippers and scuttlebutt around the league, as we detail:
- Bucher suggests that if the Clippers were to trade for Carmelo Anthony, there’d be no certainty that they could re-sign him.
- The Warriors decided against trading for Kyle Lowry over concerns about how he’d fit into their locker room. The Raptors have upped their asking price for Lowry in the meantime, and executives around the league aren’t sure whether Lowry, Andre Miller or Kirk Hinrich is the best oversized point guard who might be available.
- Several GMs believe the Bulls will trade Mike Dunleavy for a draft pick, with Chicago setting its sights on a retool for next season. The Rockets are reportedly targeting Dunleavy, and Bucher shares insight from a rival executive on why Houston might be inclined to deal for him.
Pacific Notes: Gasol, Gay, Thompson
The fear of negative feedback from fans persuaded the Lakers not to trade Pau Gasol to the Cavaliers unless the deal involved a scorer, center or point guard in exchange, sources tell Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. Andrew Bynum was involved in those talks, but presumably the Lakers felt they needed a more viable option at center. The Lakers are holding out for valuable assets in a Gasol trade, but that may be an unrealistic goal. Here’s more on Gasol and others from the Pacific Division:
- Lee Jenkins of SI.com thinks the time is now for the Lakers to finally trade Gasol, since his presence only hinders the team’s lottery chances at this point. Jenkins thinks a trade would also benefit Gasol.
- Rudy Gay‘s success with the Kings means it’s no longer a given that he’ll decide this summer to opt in for the final season of his contract, according to SB Nation’s Tom Ziller, who points out that a lower usage rate has been part of Gay’s improvement.
- Mark Deeks of ShamSports, writing for the Score, thinks Jason Thompson would be a much better fit on another team than he is on the Kings. Deeks urges the Kings to go ahead and trade the power forward, whom they’ve already put on the market.
- Scott Machado is set to join the D-League affiliate of the Warriors today, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The point guard spent camp with the Jazz after appearing in five playoff games for the Warriors last season.
Warriors Rumors: Dedmon, Barnes, Thompson
The Warriors were interested in re-signing center Dewayne Dedmon before he agreed to his 10-day contract with the Sixers, but they’re keeping their final roster spot open for a backup point guard, USA Today’s Sam Amick tweets. It’s a safe bet the Warriors will acquire a new backup point man in the next month or so, according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe, who has plenty more from Golden State, as we detail:
- Harrison Barnes and Klay Thompson are drawing trade interest from teams across the league, and Barnes hasn’t lived up to the high standard the Warriors set for him this season, Lowe writes. Still, GM Bob Myers seems reluctant to deal either cornerstone player. “We like our core,” Myers said. “We believe in our core, and we believe they will get better.”
- David Lee, in the midst of a $79.5MM contract that runs through 2015/16, is a frequent target of critics, but Myers isn’t one of them. “Our starting lineup is off the charts in terms of points and points allowed per possession,” Myers told Lowe. “And to assume you can replace someone who is a part of that — well, you don’t just replace someone like that. A lot of his detractors have been proven patently wrong, and they should admit they jumped the gun.”
- Lowe suggests that if the Warriors want to find a significant upgrade at the point behind starter Stephen Curry, it might mean parting with Barnes, Thompson or their 2019 first-round draft pick, the earliest first-rounder they can relinquish per the Stepien Rule. Tellingly, Lowe doesn’t mention Toney Douglas, whom the W’s signed this summer to a one-year, $1.6MM deal to fill the role of backup point guard. He appears to have dropped out of the team’s rotation.
D-League Moves: Fesenko, Hairston, Nedovic
The Sixers recalled Lorenzo Brown from the D-League this morning, about 24 hours after assigning him to the Delaware 87ers, and that was just the first of several notable D-League transactions today. Let’s round up a few more….
- Former NBA veteran Kyrylo Fesenko has been claimed by those Delaware 87ers, the team announced (Twitter link). Fesenko hasn’t played in the NBA since appearing in a few games with the Pacers in 2011/12, having caught on with multiple teams overseas since then. Gino Pilato of D-League Digest first reported last weekend that the ex-Jazz center had entered the D-League player pool.
- Former North Carolina guard P.J. Hairston has filed the paperwork to join the D-League, as he tells Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. Hairston’s NCAA basketball career ended when UNC decided not to seek his reinstatement following an investigation into potential rule violations. Hairston will be eligible for the 2014 draft, so no NBA teams will be able to call him up this season.
- The Warriors have recalled Nemanja Nedovic from the Santa Cruz Warriors, according to a press release from Golden State. Nedovic, on his fourth assignment of the season, was sent to Santa Cruz nearly two weeks ago, but didn’t play much this time around after tweaking his hamstring last weekend.
- Andre Roberson will head to the Tulsa 66ers on his second D-League assignment of the season, the Thunder announced today in a release. The assignment comes on the heels of perhaps the strongest showing of Roberson’s young NBA career — he scored five points and grabbed six boards in Denver last night.
- The Grizzlies have re-assigned Jamaal Franklin to the D-League, the team announced today in a press release. Franklin played one game for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants during his last assignment, recording 15 points and four steals.
Central Links: Bennett, Rose, Bulls, Bucks
The Bulls won their first game since trading Luol Deng, beating the Suns 92-87 last night, but the victory, Chicago’s third straight, didn’t pull the club any closer to the division-leading Pacers, who also won their third in a row. Indiana’s 13-game lead in the Central is by far the biggest margin between any division leader and second-place team in the NBA. Let’s round up a few items from out of that Central Division:
- Ken Berger of CBSSports.com wonders why the Cavaliers have yet to assign No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett to the D-League to help him develop, a topic which has been discussed among executives at this week’s D-League Showcase in Reno.
- Derrick Rose and his camp don’t have a leg to stand on if they’re unhappy with the Bulls‘ decision to trade Deng, writes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. Publicly, team management has indicated that Rose has shown no indication of being upset with the Bulls’ direction, despite whispers that the star point guard wouldn’t be on board with a rebuilding period.
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel is skeptical that the Bulls will be a serious candidate to land LeBron James this summer, but acknowledges that Chicago will likely be linked to many players leading up to free agency.
- Klay Thompson tells Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times (Twitter link) that he thought there was a 90% chance he’d end up being drafted by the Bucks back in 2011.
Grizzlies Opt Not To Re-Sign Seth Curry
Seth Curry lasted less than two weeks on the Grizzlies’ roster after being signed in December, his non-guaranteed contract having been waived before yesterday’s guarantee deadline. While Memphis had been considering bringing Curry back on a 10-day contract, the team has opted to pass for now, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who says Curry will rejoin the D-League’s Santa Cruz Warriors (Twitter link).
Curry, the younger brother of Stephen Curry, appeared briefly in just one game for the Grizzlies, but put up excellent numbers for Santa Cruz earlier this season, averaging 21.3 PPG and 7.8 APG in 12 contests. While Golden State’s affiliate holds his D-League rights, Curry remains free to sign with any NBA team that offers him a deal, and I expect it won’t be long before another club takes a 10-day flier on the 23-year-old.
As for the Grizzlies, it sounds like they were seriously considering bringing Curry back after releasing him over the weekend. Wojnarowski tweets that the club had Curry wait in town for three days after cutting him, only to eventually inform him that he wouldn’t be re-signed. As our updated list of roster counts shows, the Grizzlies have one open spot on their roster.
Possible 10-Day Contracts From The D-League
With the D-League Showcase under way in Reno, more league attention has been turned the direction of the young players outside the NBA. The Showcase alone is not the reason for the shift in focus. All of the players on NBA rosters are now guaranteed salaries for the remainder of the season, and teams are now able to sign players to 10-day contracts. Below are a few of the players that have already drawn attention around the league.
- Ike Diogu is playing well at the D-League Showcase and league sources say he could draw interest from Lakers, Clippers, Thunder and Pelicans, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter links).
- James Nunnally of the Bakersfield Jam is a D-League call-up candidate and has had meetings with the Cavs, Bulls, and Thunder at the D-League showcase in Reno, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. Amick later tweeted the Hawks are also a team interested in Nunnally.
- James Southerland has met with at least three teams this week, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com. He has played one game with the Bobcats and spent the summer with the 76ers and Warriors.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Players Whose Contracts Will Be Guaranteed
As we outlined earlier today, players on non-guaranteed contracts who aren’t released by 4:00pm central time will have their full 2013/14 salaries guaranteed. We’ll be keeping tabs in this post on players who have been informed they’ll remain on their respective teams’ rosters, with new updates added to the top of the list throughout the afternoon:
- Barring an unexpected development, the Pacers will guarantee Rasual Butler‘s contract today, tweets Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star.
Earlier updates:
- The Timberwolves don’t intend to make any roster moves today, which means the contracts for A.J. Price and Robbie Hummel should become guaranteed, tweets Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune.
- As anticipated, the Lakers plan to keep Ryan Kelly, Xavier Henry, and Kendall Marshall, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (via Twitter).
- Ronnie Brewer‘s contract will be guaranteed for the remainder of the season by the Rockets, says Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter).
- The Bobcats will retain Jeff Adrien beyond today, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
- Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com reports (via Twitter) that Chris Douglas-Roberts‘ contract will become guaranteed, as the Bobcats won’t cut him today.
- Kent Bazemore is also safe, with the Warriors informing him he’ll remain on the roster, tweets Haynes.
- The Spurs have informed Malcolm Thomas that he won’t be waived, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
Kirk Hinrich Drawing Interest From Warriors
The Bulls likely aren’t done dealing after sending Luol Deng to Cleveland, as we heard earlier today from Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio (Twitter link), and it appears that Kirk Hinrich could be the next expiring veteran contract on the block. According to Sam Amick of USA Today, Hinrich is receiving interest around the league, with the Warriors having shown “serious interest” even before the Deng trade.
The Warriors have been linked to multiple point guards in recent weeks, including Kyle Lowry and Andre Miller. For now, Andre Iguodala has assumed some point guard duties, and Toney Douglas sees a handful of minutes, but the team continues to look for a solid backup behind Stephen Curry, according to Amick.
Hinrich, 33, has taken on a larger role in Chicago following Derrick Rose‘s second consecutive season-ending injury, but is probably better suited to come off the bench. Playing 30.7 minutes per game this season, his highest average in three years, Hinrich has shot a career-low 34.0% from the floor and posted a 9.3 PER, the second-worst mark of his career.
Hinrich is earning about $4.06MM this season, which could make him a nice fit for the Warriors’ $4MM trade exception — teams are allowed to take back an additional $100K when they use TPEs, so Hinrich would barely fit into that exception. Acquiring the Bulls guard without sending out any salary would push the Warriors right up against the tax line, however, so the team may prefer to move a player or two in any deal.
Longtime NBA writer Peter Vecsey first suggested this afternoon (via Twitter) that Hinrich could be available, with the Warriors potentially in the mix.
Andre Miller Rumors: Tuesday
It’s been nearly 24 hours since we heard that the Nuggets were looking to move Andre Miller within the next 48 hours, and while there’s no deal yet, there are a few updates on the Miller front. Let’s round them up:
- The Nuggets have been telling teams at the D-League Showcase in Reno that they plan to trade Miller by the end of the week, says Sam Amick of USA Today, who adds that the Warriors remain in play for the 37-year-old.
Earlier updates:
- The Nuggets continue to talk to teams and work toward a Miller trade, according to Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post, who tweets that nothing is imminent.
- It sounds as if one team the Nuggets have spoken to is Minnesota. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities reports (via Twitter) that the Nuggets and Timberwolves have had a “back and forth” about the veteran point guard. Wolfson also notes that current Nuggets GM Tim Connelly worked with Wolves president Flip Saunders and GM Milt Newton in Washington, so there’s some history there.
- Reiterating what we heard yesterday from Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, Marc Berman of the New York Post says the Knicks aren’t pursuing Miller.