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Community Shootaround: Detroit Pistons

December 19th, 2016 at 10:11pm CST by Austin Kent

It’s no secret that things have gone south for the Pistons, and that concerning trend continued Monday night. Having just recently fallen below .500 on the heels of a rough week, the team has acknowledged that things needs to change. In fact, head coach Stan Van Gundy couldn’t have been more clear that something needs to give.

In a post-game scrum after Monday’s blowout loss at the hands of the Bulls, Van Gundy told reporters that he “guarantees he won’t be trotting out the same starting five” the next time out.

This isn’t the first time the Detroit bench boss has been critical of the team in the media, and the players themselves even held a private meeting to try to inspire some sort of positive development. As Dana Garauder wrote in an article last night, the Pistons have multiple options to try and help turn things around.

Should the team consider moving Reggie Jackson to the bench and starting Ish Smith in his place? It’s worth noting that Pistons.com editor Keith Langlois says Jon Leuer, not Smith, is the most likely player to join the starting lineup, though there’s nothing stopping Van Gundy from making more than one change to try to light a fire under his faltering club.

After making the playoffs in 2015/16, the Pistons were regarded as one of the up-and-coming contenders of the Eastern Conference. Fast forward to today and a much-needed players-only meeting has resulted in the team’s staring point guard refusing to put up a field goal attempt in the first quarter, an approach Van Gundy said wasn’t part of the game plan. That’s not a good sign.

“Team meeting my ass,” Van Gundy would go on to add Monday night. “I have nothing to say. [The game] was a disgusting performance. Unprofessional, humiliating, embarrassing.”

Do you think Van Gundy is in the right here? How would you handle the team’s downward spiral?

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Hoops Rumors Originals: 12/11/16 – 12/17/16

December 17th, 2016 at 10:19am CST by Austin Kent

An awful lot went down in the NBA this week. Here’s a look back at all of the original content and analysis published by the Hoops Rumors staff:

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Community Shootaround: Resting Healthy Players

December 16th, 2016 at 7:05pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement is expected to reduce the number of preseason games played by teams, adding a little extra time to the regular season and reducing the number of back-to-back games teams need to play throughout the season. While that will help cut back on players’ workloads, many coaches will still look for opportunities to keep their top players rested and healthy by making them healthy scratches in certain situations.

It’s a practice that was first popularized by Gregg Popovich, who often rested Tim Duncan and other key Spurs players during one half of back-to-backs, occasionally drawing the ire of the NBA if Duncan and co. happened to be scratched for a nationally televised game. Popovich and the Spurs once received a significant fine from the league for sending their stars home early, but since then, even as more teams have adopted the strategy, the NBA hasn’t responded by attempting to put a halt to it.

It’s easy to see both side of the argument. On one hand, the NBA’s top teams want to keep their best players fresh for the postseason, and don’t want to risk pushing them hard on a random week in the winter if it could jeopardize their availability at all for the spring. Those Spurs teams, led by Popovich, were often at their best in the postseason, and based on what we’ve seen from San Antonio and other clubs, it’s easy to make the case that the strategy is an effective one in the long term.

On the other hand, the NBA pays its bills in large part due to the money its fans are willing to pay to watch games in person and on television. Fans are less likely to tune in to a Cavaliers game if LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love are all sitting, as they were earlier this week against Memphis. And many fans who paid big money for tickets in the hopes of seeing those stars in person weren’t thrilled to see the JV team instead.

There’s no simple solution. While the NBA doesn’t want to alienate its fans, imposing any penalties on teams who rest healthy players may simply inspire those clubs to invent a short-term injury. Encouraging teams to rest players during home games instead of on the road is a possibility, but that won’t make everyone happy — some fans only get a chance to see their home team once or twice a year, and could still miss out on the opportunity to see their team’s stars.

What do you think? Is this an issue the NBA needs to address at all, or does it make more sense to simply let coaches manage their teams as they please, even if it leads to some grumbling from fans?

Jump into the comments section below to share your thoughts!

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Submit Your Questions For Hoops Rumors Mailbag

December 16th, 2016 at 4:57pm CST by Eddie Scarito

We at Hoops Rumors love interacting with our readers. This is why we provide an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in our weekly mailbag feature, which is posted each Sunday.

Have a question regarding player movement, free agent rumors, the salary cap, the NBA draft, or the top storylines of the week? You can e-mail them here: hoopsrumorsmailbag@gmail.com. Feel free to send emails throughout the week, but please be mindful that we may receive a sizable number of questions and likely won’t get to all of them.

If you missed out on any past mailbags and would like to catch up, you can view the full archives here.

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Community Shootaround: Craig Sager

December 15th, 2016 at 5:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The NBA world has been deeply affected by the news of the passing of longtime TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager. His brave and prolonged battle with cancer made him an inspiration to many people, whether or not they were fans of the NBA.

Sager went through great lengths to continue his broadcast duties, even driving long distances or flying across the country after undergoing chemotherapy treatments. His speech at the ESPYs this summer, which was as powerful as the 1993 speech made by cancer-stricken former college basketball coach Jim Valvano, will never be forgotten.

Sager had a long and distinguished career as a television and radio reporter. He was the young reporter running onto the field in 1974 after Hank Aaron hit his historic long ball and became the all-time home run king. Sager covered a wide variety of sports during his long and distinguished career but he’ll be remembered the most for his work on NBA broadcasts.

He always took his job seriously, though his attire was often comical. He never seemed to wear the same outfit or sports coat twice, and every one seemed wilder and more outrageous than the previous one.

His in-game interviews with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich were remembered for Popovich’s brief, and often terse, responses. But no one was more supportive of Sager than Pops when Sager’s illness was revealed.

Players, coaches and fans showed their love and support the last few years when they saw Sager. Unfortunately, we’ll never again have the pleasure of seeing Sager doing an interview or giving us an update on an injury or in-game strategy.

This leads us to our question of the day: What will you remember most about Craig Sager?

Jump into the comments section below and share you memories of one of the NBA’s best all-time reporters.

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More Than 120 Players Become Trade-Eligible

December 15th, 2016 at 9:01am CST by Luke Adams

December 15 was a key date this year on the NBA calendar for two reasons. It represented the deadline for either the NBA and the players’ union to opt out of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, but that date was ultimately pushed back after the two sides reached a tentative agreement on a new CBA on Wednesday night. The league and the NBPA will now have until January 13 to ratify the new CBA.

Today is still important for a second reason though — it represents the date that more than a quarter of the players in the NBA become eligible to be traded by their respective teams. By our count, 124 players who signed contracts during the offseason fall into this group. Cap expert Albert Nahmad (Twitter link) has the same figure, while The Vertical’s cap guru Bobby Marks (Twitter link) says there are 125. Either way, a significant chunk of the NBA’s players can now be dealt.

The NBA’s rules call for recently-signed players to become trade-eligible three months after they finalized their deals, or on December 15, whichever comes later. That means that players who signed their contracts after September 15 still can’t be traded. There are also certain rules that restrict some players who meet specific criteria from being dealt in January 15. For the most part though, December 15 is the date on which NBA trade season unofficially opens.

[RELATED: Players who become trade-eligible on January 15]

[RELATED: Other players who can’t be traded until specific dates]

Of course, just because teams have more options for trades now, that doesn’t mean we’ll see a flurry of moves right away. As Marks writes at The Vertical, clubs typically know that an offer on the table now will still be available to them in a month or two. And many teams aren’t ready to shake things up.

Still, in the past couple years, teams have been somewhat active in the days following December 15. In 2014 and 2015, four total trades were consummated between December 15 and Christmas Day, including the Mavericks acquiring Rajon Rondo from the Celtics on December 18, 2014. In each season, only one in-season trade has been finalized prior to December 15.

[RELATED: 2014/15 NBA Trades]

[RELATED: 2015/16 NBA Trades]

Not every team will be impacted significantly by today’s newly trade-eligible group. The Thunder, for instance, have no players affected, since none of their offseason free agent signees remain with the club. On the other hand, a team like Miami will see more than half of its players become eligible to be dealt, substantially increasing the club’s trade opportunities.

We’ve previously broken down the full list of players who will become eligible today, but we’ll pass along those names once more, right here:

Atlanta Hawks

Boston Celtics

Read more

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Fantasy Hoops: Grizzlies, Wolves, Hawks

December 13th, 2016 at 11:01pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The 2016/17 campaign is entering its eighth week and Hoops Rumors is examining the fantasy basketball landscape in order to help you dominate the competition.  Check back weekly for more fantasy basketball analysis.

The Grizzlies Keep Grinding

Memphis underwent drastic changes during the offseason with an eye on playing faster. The team brought in several athletic wings and moved Zach Randolph to the bench. David Fizdale‘s arrival in Memphis was supposedly going to change the basketball culture, transitioning the team to a style of play that fits in with the modern NBA.

The Grizzlies are again winning games this season, but it’s not because of a change in style of play. It’s because the team is reverting to its old identity. One of the keys to the Grizzlies’ success is their suffocating defense, as they showcased in their blowout win over the Warriors on Saturday night. Memphis leads the league in defensive efficiency and entering Tuesday’s contests, the team was tied for the league lead in opponent field goal percentage, allowing just 43.1 % of opposing shots to hit the bottom of the net.

The team’s slow, methodical style of play helps the defense arrive at these outstanding metrics. Entering Tuesday, Memphis’ pace factor is 95.7, which is identical to its factor last season. As a result, opposing teams are seeing less offensive opportunity against the Grizzlies than they are against most other teams.

Opposing centers are having a particularly hard time against the team this season, something that comes at no surprise given Marc Gasol‘s defensive ability. Memphis is allowing just 14.1 points to opposing centers, a figure which leads the league, according to Rotowire. Opposing centers are only making 45.4% of their shots, which ranks second in the league, and Memphis is causing opposing centers to turn the ball over 3.7 times per contest (only the Rockets and Suns cause more turnovers to the position).

With a different version of their grit and grind team, the Grizzlies are thriving yet again this season. Despite all the injuries, the team remains a defensive force; one to avoid in fantasy basketball match-ups.

Here’s more fantasy analysis from around the league:

  • The Grizzlies are utilizing Gasol more than ever this season, as his career high 26.9 usage rate indicates. He’s averaging career highs in points (19.9) and assists (4.1) per game and he’s added the 3-ball to his arsenal, knocking down 1.6 shots per game from behind the arc. Those are great numbers, but his play while Conley has been out has been even more remarkable. Over his last six games (contests in which Conley has been sidelined), he took control of the offense, averaging 25.5 points and 5.3 assists per game, while shooting 50.9% from the field. He’ll likely maintain this role while Conley misses games, so he’ll be even more valuable to fantasy owners over the next several weeks.
  • Ricky Rubio, whom Dana Gauruder of Hoops Rumors profiled as a trade candidate, remains a plus defender, per ESPN’s Real Plus/Minus, but he hasn’t been as effective on that end of the floor as he’s been in the past. In fact, the Wolves haven’t defended opposing point guards very well lately. Minnesota has allowed the most points to the position over the last ten games and opposing point guards are shooting 49.8% from the field during that span, a figure that ranks fourth worst in the league.
  • The Hawks are having their own issues guarding opposing point guards. Over the last ten games, Atlanta has been an excellent match-up, allowing the most rebounds, the second-most points, and the seventh-most assists per game to the position.
  • Last week, we discussed Jeremy Lin‘s potential fantasy impact. On Monday, Lin returned to the court and had a solid game, notching 10 points and seven assists in 20 minutes of action. He’ll likely remain on a minute count, but it won’t be long until he regains the Nets’ starting point guard spot. He’s still available in over 40% of ESPN leagues; Pick him up if he’s available in yours.
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Community Shootaround: Orlando Magic

December 12th, 2016 at 10:22pm CST by Austin Kent

The Magic made several moves over the course of the offseason suggesting they were hopeful to compete for a playoff bid as early as this season. Five games below .500 mid-way through December, however, it’s clear that they may still have some work to do.

With December 15th fast approaching – the first day that offseason free agent signings are eligible to be traded – speculation has picked up that the club could make a move to add more offense. As discussed earlier this month, the Magic rank 29th in points per possession and could benefit from the addition of a scorer or two.

If a deal is in the cards for Orlando, could Mario Hezonja be a part of the outgoing package as implied by implied by Marc Stein? The club also holds a handful of expiring contracts that could similarly appeal to teams looking to make something happen, including summer acquisitions Serge Ibaka and Jeff Green.

Additionally, let’s not forget the criticism the franchise’s front office faced when they added Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo to a reasonably healthy front court that already included Nikola Vucevic.

Does something have to give if the Magic hope to turn things around?

Weigh in for yourself in the comment section below!

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Weekly Mailbag: 12/5/16 – 12/11/16

December 11th, 2016 at 11:40am CST by Arthur Hill

We have an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in this, our weekly mailbag feature. Have a question regarding player movement, the salary cap or the NBA draft? Drop us a line at HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com. Here are this week’s inquiries:

With the Indiana Pacers really struggling despite having a talented team, what are the chances of Monta Ellis being traded? He is having an awful season, but he is also not getting the ball. — Matthew Cho

The Pacers are off to a disappointing 12-12 start and Ellis has been a major reason why. He is averaging just 9.7 points per game, the lowest since his rookie season, and is taking about half the number of shots he did in Dallas two years ago. With Rodney Stuckey, C.J. Miles and Glenn Robinson III as wing options, Indiana would be fine if Ellis were no longer on the roster. The key is finding a team that still believes in the 31-year-old, who still has two more seasons and nearly $23MM left on the free agent contract he signed with the Pacers in 2015. The Magic, with former Indiana coach Frank Vogel, have been mentioned as a possibility, but no trade talks have been reported between the teams.

Where do you think is the next destination is for Bobby Brown, who was recently released by the Rockets? — Eugene Ahn

Brown was the roster casualty when Houston matched the Nets’ offer sheet for Donatas Motiejunas. If the 32-year-old guard wants to keep playing, he will probably have to do it overseas. He has been in the Euroleague, China and Japan in recent years and could probably find another opportunity in any of those places. Brown overcame long odds when he earned a roster spot with the Rockets after six seasons out of the NBA. However, he appeared in just six games and created a minor international incident when he signed his name on the Great Wall of China.

Of the European and Chinese players whose draft rights are held, who is most likely to come over? Alessandro Gentile seemed to be close to signing with Houston until they hired Mike D’Antoni, and Bogdan Bogdanovic seems to be on the rise in Turkey. Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin were drafted last year, but only Qi has seemed to have met with the team that drafted him. Also, would it be worth the Spurs trading for the rights to Bogdanovic to replace Manu Ginobili when he calls time? — Chris Hawkins

It would probably be hard to pry Bogdanovic away from the Kings, who are extremely high on him after acquiring his rights in a draft day trade. At 24, the 6’6″ shooting guard is one of the top players in the Euroleague and was a star on the Serbian national team. He is expected to come to the NBA next season, and will almost certainly be in a Kings uniform. It’s always a guessing game to try and figure out which overseas players are ready for the NBA, but it’s a good idea to keep an eye on first-round picks and monitor their progress.

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Hoops Rumors Originals: 12/3/16 – 12/10/16

December 10th, 2016 at 12:46pm CST by Luke Adams

Here’s a look back at the original content and analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this past week:

  • Dana Gauruder provided an extensive primer for Ricky Rubio‘s trade candidacy, explaining why the Timberwolves might consider a deal and which teams could be a fit.
  • When Donatas Motiejunas was engaged in a standoff with the Rockets, I broke down five ways I could see the situation playing out. Ultimately, it was scenario number four that won out.
  • In a new feature, Chris Crouse identified some players worth picking up or targeting in fantasy basketball, with a focus on players in new roles or on new teams.
  • I took a closer look at the teams that have used D-League assignments the most so far this year, and the players that have frequently been shuttled up and down as a result.
  • Will Joseph highlighted a handful of interesting basketball blog posts in the latest installment of his weekly Hoops Links feature.
  • Arthur Hill answered reader questions in our Weekly Mailbag. Here’s how you can submit your own questions for our mailbag feature.
  • We had a handful of Community Shootaround discussions this week, on the following topics:
  • Be sure to keep tabs on our 2016/17 NBA Reverse Standings feature, which is updated daily to reflect the previous night’s results.
  • Here’s a rundown of a number of the site’s notable features.
  • If you haven’t already, be sure to download the Trade Rumors app for your iOS or Android device.
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