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Poll: Best Fit For Pelicans Coaching Position?

May 29th, 2015 at 6:22pm CST by Eddie Scarito

With today’s announcement that Scott Skiles would be taking over as the new coach of the Magic, there are now currently three coaching vacancies in the NBA: the Bulls, the Nuggets, and the Pelicans. Two of those vacancies may already be filled, with the Bulls rumored to be nearing an arrangement with Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, and Denver reportedly leaning toward removing the interim tag from coach Melvin Hunt. This potentially leaves New Orleans as the lone vacancy still in play for a new head coach.

New Orleans has already interviewed a number of candidates, including Skiles, and more interviews could be on the horizon. I’ve listed below a number of candidates who have either already been interviewed, been mentioned in connection with the post, or who could emerge as candidates in the near future. Take a gander at the list and cast your vote for who you believe would be the best man to lead Anthony Davis and company next season and beyond…

  • Vinny Del Negro: The former coach of the Bulls and the Clippers interviewed with the Pelicans earlier this week. He owns a career regular season record of 210-184, and a playoff record of 10-19. Del Negro last coached during the 2012/13 season with the Clippers, leading the team to a record of 56-26 before being fired and subsequently replaced by Doc Rivers.
  • Jeff Van Gundy: The Pelicans interviewed Van Gundy on Tuesday, but the meeting was described as being very preliminary, with the two sides beginning to familiarize themselves with one another.  One potential obstacle in bringing Van Gundy on board could be his reported desire for an arrangement similar to the one that brother Stan Van Gundy has with the Pistons in which he coaches and runs the front office. His career regular season coaching record is 430-318, and is 44-44 during the postseason.
  • Alvin Gentry: The Warriors assistant interviewed with the franchise last week, and will reportedly get a second interview prior to the NBA Finals commencing. Gentry is a veteran of parts of 12 seasons as an NBA head coach with the Heat, Pistons, Clippers and Suns. His career regular season record is 335-370, and his postseason mark is 12-9. Gentry has reportedly drawn interest from the Nuggets and Magic, and was reportedly a front-runner for the Bulls spot, though it would appear that post is Hoiberg’s to lose.
  • Tom Thibodeau: Prior to his ouster in Chicago, Thibodeau had been mentioned as a possibility for the vacancy, though the Pelicans were reportedly reluctant to give up draft pick compensation in return for Thibs. With Thibodeau free to join any team without compensation, rumors regarding a Thibodeau-Pelicans pairing could heat up. It’s unclear if the negative comments the Bulls’ front office made regarding their former coach’s lack of communication skills, and the well-documented difficulties between he and Chicago’s front office, will lower Thibodeau’s stock around the league. Thibs’ regular season record stands at 255-139, and his playoff mark is 23-28.
  • Mark Jackson: Jackson’s name hasn’t been mentioned in conjunction with the Pelicans coaching position just yet, but the former Warriors coach could certainly become a candidate in the near future. While Jackson’s communication skills and ability to get along with other coaches and front office personnel came into question after his ouster in Golden State, his 121-109 regular season record should warrant him getting another NBA coaching opportunity at some point. It was reported that Jackson would meet with the approval of Davis, which certainly doesn’t hurt Jackson’s sales pitch for the job.
  • Michael Malone: Malone has been out of work since being fired by the Kings in December. The coach was reportedly let go because the franchise wanted a faster paced offense, and Malone is known as being a hard-nosed defensive coach. His 39-67 coaching record isn’t all that impressive, but he wasn’t working with a playoff-ready roster in the brutal Western Conference. Malone also reportedly had a good working relationship with center DeMarcus Cousins, who hasn’t cultivated a reputation of being easy to coach, which speaks voumes about Malone’s ability to relate to players. He is certainly a coach who should warrant another shot at a head coaching position, and New Orleans could be a solid match for both sides.
  • John Calipari: There were conflicting reports regarding Calipari’s potential interest in leaving Kentucky and returning to the NBA. While Calipari appears entrenched at Kentucky, the grind of recruiting, and desire to erase the sting of his 72-112 record while he was coaching the Nets, may nudge him back toward the pros. Plus, coaching Davis, a former player of his, wouldn’t be a bad way to start the next phase of Calipari’s coaching career.
Who Should Be The Next Pelicans Coach?
Tom Thibodeau 32.46% (186 votes)
Jeff Van Gundy 28.27% (162 votes)
Alvin Gentry 15.18% (87 votes)
Mark Jackson 8.55% (49 votes)
John Calipari 7.33% (42 votes)
Michael Malone 4.01% (23 votes)
Vinny Del Negro 2.09% (12 votes)
Someone Else 2.09% (12 votes)
Total Votes: 573
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Prospect Profile: Jahlil Okafor

May 29th, 2015 at 5:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Jahlil Okafor arrived in Durham with a huge set of expectations placed on his broad, young shoulders. He was the projected 2015 No. 1 overall pick by many experts prior to his first jump ball at Duke, and the 19-year-old certainly didn’t disappoint in his lone collegiate season. Okafor departs campus as a national champion, but not necessarily the top ranked player in this year’s crop of draftees.

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Okafor averaged 17.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.4 blocks in 30.1 minutes per contest across 38 games. His shooting numbers were .664/.000/.510. He earned Freshman of the Year honors from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and was a consensus first team All-American. Okafor led the ACC in PER (30.7), field goal percentage (.664), offensive rebounds (134), field goals made (279), and total points (657).

Despite all of his collegiate success, Okafor lost his grip on being the consensus top rated prospect as the season wore on. This wasn’t because Okafor failed to deliver on his promise or was viewed as any less of a franchise-type player at the next level. It was simply a result of Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns exceeding his preseason projections and rocketing up the prospect rankings. Towns is regarded as the better athlete and defender, and NBA personnel believe he has a higher upside than Okafor, which in turn explains the slight dip in the Duke big man’s positioning in many mock drafts.

Measuring a stout 6’11, 270 pounds, possessing a 7’5″ wingspan, and a 9’2.5″ standing reach, Okafor is a prototypical center who should be able to step into the NBA paint area and immediately make his presence felt during his rookie campaign. He also moves very well for his size and has excellent hands for a big man. Okafor should develop into an absolute monster after spending some time working on his strength and conditioning with NBA trainers and coaches. The 19-year-old is easily the most polished big man in this year’s crop of draft hopefuls.

The freshman did the bulk of his damage this season with his back to the basket, which is certainly becoming a rare skill in today’s game, where more and more big men try and make their living from the perimeter. Okafor has the size needed to establish deep post position and the strength to move players around inside the paint once he catches the ball, showing an incredibly rare combination of power, quickness and finesse, writes Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.

Okafor didn’t get many opportunities to work while facing the basket at Duke. This was more a factor of how college defenses operate in regard to spacing than the center not being able to operate off of the dribble or sink a mid-range jump shot. In fact, for his size, Okafor is an exceptional ball-handler who can get to the rack with aplomb, thanks to his superior footwork and ability to create something out of nothing. He is also devastating in the pick-and-roll as well as in transition. While he may not be quite as fast as Towns, Okafor certainly won’t be slowing down his teammates on the break anytime soon.

The big man is adept as utilizing shot-fakes and drew a foul on over 18% of his post-possessions, according to Synergy Sports Technology, Givony notes. However, Okafor didn’t maximize these opportunities, only sinking 51% of his shots from the charity stripe. Unless the “hack-a-Shaq” trend in the NBA is reduced through a rule change, a move the league has considered, Okafor may find himself riding the pine during the fourth quarters of close contests if his success rate doesn’t improve.

In addition to his scoring ability, Okafor is an excellent ball distributor and possesses an outstanding basketball IQ. He is adept at passing his way out of double-teams and has a knack for finding open teammates on the perimeter. Okafor is also a very effective offensive rebounder, pulling down 3.5 per game. Unfortunately, his board work isn’t as solid on the defensive end, where he averaged 6.5 per 40 minutes, one of the worst rates among the big men in this year’s draft, Givony writes. While I certainly expect Okafor to improve in this area once he gets to the NBA, it is an area of concern nevertheless.

While Okafor’s offensive skills draw raves, it is on the defensive end where the chinks in his armor begin to show. To put it bluntly, Okafor is not a good defender, and he will be taken advantage of on a nightly basis during his rookie season, and possibly beyond, if he doesn’t dedicate some serious practice time toward improving. Okafor does have the skill and frame to become a solid defender in the post, but he far too often appeared disinterested and nonchalant this year when his team wasn’t trying to score.

Okafor is adequate in one-on-one situations in the paint as a defender. It is when he is forced to rotate on pick-and-rolls, and when he is required to step out of the paint, that his flaws are truly exposed. This is going to be an issue in the pros, where teams will scheme to draw Okafor out of his comfort zone and force him to switch on defense. He won’t be able to stay in front of wing players, which will in turn leave his teammates exposed as opponents attack the rim.

Despite his defensive shortcomings, Okafor is as close to a sure thing as any team will find in this year’s NBA Draft. Both DraftExpress and ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) rank the big man as the No. 2 overall prospect behind Towns. While there is certainly a chance that Minnesota will snag him with the No. 1 overall pick this June, the more likely scenario has him ending up with the Lakers at No. 2. Whichever order he and Towns are selected, there is no doubt that the two will be compared to each other for the length of their respective careers. Okafor may be the more NBA-ready of the two bigs right now, but he’ll need to become a better defender and rebounder if he wishes to be on the more favorable end of any debates regarding who should have been selected with the top pick in the 2015 draft.

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Offseason Outlook: Indiana Pacers

May 29th, 2015 at 2:08pm CST by Chuck Myron

Guaranteed Contracts

Non-Guaranteed Contracts

  • None

Options

Restricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

Unrestricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

Draft Picks

  • 1st Round (11th overall)
  • 2nd Round (43rd overall)

Cap Outlook

  • Guaranteed Salary: $36,022,711
  • Non-Guaranteed Salary: $0
  • Options: $28,114,031
  • Cap Holds: $23,077,435
  • Total: $87,214,177

The Pacers could, with relative ease, bank on the returned health of Paul George to lift them back into contention for the Eastern Conference title in 2016 after a year’s absence. They probably wouldn’t have a hard time convincing the Hornets to return Lance Stephenson to Indiana, either, a move that would allow the Pacers to trot out the same starting five on opening night this fall as they did in the Eastern Conference Finals last year. It nonetheless appears as though the team has decided that the core that led the team to back-to-back conference finals appearances isn’t the group most capable of taking the Pacers where they want to go from here.

NBA: Indiana Pacers at Atlanta Hawks

Courtesy USA Today Sports Images

President of basketball operations Larry Bird dropped not-too-subtle hints at season’s end that he’d like Roy Hibbert to opt out, even refusing to rule out the idea of benching the two-time All-Star. Bird made it clear he wants to play at a faster pace and abandon the plodding approach in which the team has featured two traditional big men on the floor most of the time. Hibbert would have to give up more than $15.514MM to acquiesce to Bird’s wishes, and the David Falk client has given no indication that he’s about to do that. Hibbert would ostensibly become a trade candidate as soon as he picked up that option, though finding a taker for that sort of salary would be a challenge. The 28-year-old would have value to teams in need of a rim protector, but whether the value to any of them would be quantified by a monetary sum of greater than $15.514MM remains to be seen.

The Pacers seem somewhat more welcoming toward their other starting big man with an eight-figure player option for next season. The Pacers were open to the idea of trading David West for a first-rounder off and on during the season, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe heard, but the impending return of Paul for the stretch run and the open alley to a playoff berth ultimately led the team to stand pat, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com reported. Bird said he has a gut feeling that West will opt in. That would jibe with what sources told Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders at the trade deadline, when they said West was likely to do so. That would open the possibility that the Pacers could again entertain the idea of trading West, perhaps to the Raptors, who reportedly pursued West before the deadline. West averaged just 11.7 points per game this past season, his lowest scoring average in 10 years. The Pacers could try to offset his declining offensive production if they incorporate him as a small ball center in their new up-tempo attack, but if Indiana is anxious to take a different approach, moving on from West, a prototype of the traditional power forward, would make sense.

Luis Scola is a few months older than West, but he’s coming off a bounceback year statistically and the interest that Bird expressed in keeping him is mutual. Scola nonetheless referred to a “huge gap” when he spoke recently to Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports, presumably a reference to the deficit between what the George Bass client thinks he’s worth and what the Pacers are willing to pay. The guaranteed money on the books for the Pacers would come only about $3MM shy of the projected $67.1MM cap if Hibbert and West opt in, which would mean the team would almost certainly operate above the cap in that scenario, barring any trades that clear sizable chunks of salary.  So, Indiana would be free to use Scola’s Bird Rights for a deal that I’d speculate would be for no more than the equivalent of the $5.464MM non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception. If either Hibbert, West or both opt out, it gets trickier, since re-signing Scola almost certainly wouldn’t be Indiana’s first priority for the resulting cap flexibility, and the Pacers might have to renounce Scola’s rights to sign a more attractive free agent. There would be no rule against the Pacers re-signing Scola if they renounce him, but they’d be limited to either their leftover cap space or the $2.814MM room exception.

Chris Copeland, another ostensibly viable option at power forward, is also set for free agency this summer, and the Pacers can reserve the right to match all competing bids for him if they tender a qualifying offer of more than $3.9MM. The 31-year-old combo forward carries intrigue as a stretch four, but his three-point shooting fell off sharply, to 31.1% this season after he had made 42.0% his first two seasons in the league, and his playing time essentially vanished after mid-January. A frightening incident in which he was allegedly stabbed outside a New York City nightclub in April left him with multiple injuries and prematurely ended his season. It seemed unlikely that the Pacers would make the qualifying offer before he was hurt, and now, with questions about his health, it seems out of the question.

The Pacers seem much more enthusiastic about one of the players they signed to replace Stephenson than they do about any of their big men. Coach Frank Vogel said in March that the team’s plan all along was for a long-term partnership with Rodney Stuckey, whom the then-cash-strapped Pacers signed to a one-year deal for the minimum this past summer, and Bird singled out the combo guard for praise a few weeks later. In April, Bird stressed the importance of re-signing him and expressed optimism that it would happen. Stuckey would like to stay, though his Non-Bird rights only allow the Pacers to give him up to 120% of the minimum salary next season without using cap space or another exception. The longtime former Piston would seem a prime candidate for most if not all of the $5.464MM mid-level if Indiana stays over the cap this summer.

Stuckey averaged more points per game as a sixth man than he did as a starter, so if the Pacers want to keep him in the role he played best, they’ll have to settle on a starting shooting guard. Bird seems high on C.J. Miles, who scored a career-high 13.5 points per game this past season and was the 12th-best defender at the position according to ESPN’s Real Plus/Minus metric, though Basketball-Reference’s Box Plus/Minus counts him as a minus defender. It would be difficult for the Pacers to add starting-caliber talent through free agency if Hibbert and West opt in, so Miles is probably the guy unless the Pacers can work a trade. Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders wrote in February that the Raptors had considered dealing away Terrence Ross in the same report in which he identified Toronto as a suitor for West. Ross, as much of a shooting guard as he is a small forward, would fill Indiana’s starting two-guard spot while swinging to the three in small-ball sets, and exchanging a big man for a wing player would jibe with the team’s changing philosophy. Still, the Raptors maintain faith in Ross, their former eighth overall pick, and chances are he sticks in Toronto at least through the summer, as Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun wrote recently.

It would be challenging for the Pacers to come up with a player who could start at the two right away with the 11th pick, though Kentucky sharpshooter Devin Booker could make a strong case for himself. The Pacers would love to move up, according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com, though aside from Mario Hezonja, there aren’t really any shooting guards they could grab toward the top of the draft. It’s no secret that Bird is enamored with center Willie Cauley-Stein, not after the Kentucky center let slip that Bird considers him a “$100MM player,” and with his combination of strong defense and offensive rebounding, perhaps the Pacers view him as a potential replacement for Hibbert.

It was in many ways a lost year for Indiana, as the team had to navigate injuries to George, who missed all but six games, Hill, sidelined for nearly half the season, and others. The Pacers might have stood a chance to remain near the top of the Eastern Conference despite their failure to find common ground on contract proposals with Lance Stephenson last summer if they had been healthy, but once George went down, they had no shot. That they were still alive, and in control of their own destiny, for a playoff spot on the last night of the season was a remarkable accomplishment, but it seems Bird and company are convinced that a simple return to health wouldn’t be enough to lift them into true title contention. It would be fair to argue that the existing Pacers core stands as much chance as any in the East of keeping LeBron James from a sixth straight Finals appearance next season, but wisdom also lies in a bold approach rather than the hope that they catch the four-time MVP on four off nights out of seven.

Cap Footnotes

1 — Hibbert’s cap hold if he opts out would be the lesser of $23,271,047 and the NBA’s maximum salary for a player with seven years of experience. It would most likely be the latter.
2 — West’s cap hold would be $18,900,000 if he opts out.
3 — Whittington’s cap hold would be $845,059 if the Pacers elect not to tender a qualifying offer.
4 — See our glossary entry on cap holds for an explanation of why Bynum technically remains on the books.

The Basketball Insiders Salary Pages were used in the creation of this post.

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Offseason Outlook: Utah Jazz

May 29th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Guaranteed Contracts

Non-Guaranteed Contracts

Options

  • None

Restricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

  • Joe Ingles ($1,045,059) — $1,045,059 qualifying offer2

Unrestricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

Draft Picks

  • 1st Round (12th overall)
  • 2nd Round (42nd overall)
  • 2nd Round (54th overall)

Cap Outlook

  • Guaranteed Salary: $47,030,610
  • Non-Guaranteed Salary: $8,041,525
  • Options: $0
  • Cap Holds: $6,321,814
  • Total: $61,393,949

The Jazz appeared to be taking a step back at the trade deadline in February, when they gave into the trade demand of center Enes Kanter, to whom they committed the No. 3 overall pick in 2011, and dealt him to the Thunder for a protected first-rounder and other uninspiring assets. That Oklahoma City pick is for 2017, the draft that follows the first season after Kevin Durant‘s contract is set to expire, but the lottery protection on it extends through 2020, by which point it would turn into two second-rounders, according to RealGM. The pick will never come close to the value of the one the Jazz used on Kanter. Yet what happened after this year’s trade showed the Jazz need not lament a pick at the back end of the first round.

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Rudy Gobert, the 27th overall pick from 2013, took over the starting center job for the departed Kanter and quickly established himself as a game-changing defensive force. He garnered more votes for the NBA’s All-Defensive Teams than anyone who didn’t make the cut, which wasn’t shabby for a player who saw started fewer than half of his team’s games and saw only 21.9 minutes per night before the trade. The Jazz had the NBA’s fourth most porous defense before the All-Star break, when the trade went down, according to NBA.com point per possession data. After the break, they gave up the fewest points per possession by a long shot, as NBA.com also shows. That’s a stunning turnaround.

Utah would go 52-30 next season if it kept up its 19-11 post-trade pace, but the Jazz would be wise not get caught up in a 30-game sample size. The rest of the league will have a full offseason to study what Gobert and his teammates did so effectively down the stretch, and Jazz coach Quin Snyder will have to make counter-adjustments once the season starts. Some regression is to be expected, particularly if the Jazz don’t make a sudden push to engineer win-now moves this summer. That wouldn’t be in keeping with the team’s sharp focus on building from within under Dennis Lindsey, though Lindsey hasn’t encountered a juncture quite like this since the Jazz hired in him as their GM in August 2012. Most executives around the league thought, as Utah put the finishing touches on its second-half resurgence, that the Jazz would survey the trade market for their first-round pick this year, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe reported then.

The team’s ability to find Gobert so late in the first round of Lindsey’s initial draft as GM might dissuade the team from trading this year’s 12th overall pick, though the jury’s out on Trey Burke, Dante Exum and Rodney Hood, the three other first-rounders Lindsey’s come away with. Still, there may well be intriguing possibilities. Maybe the Pistons, committed as they are to re-signing Reggie Jackson, would be willing to part with Brandon Jennings for former University of Michigan standout Burke and the No. 12 pick. Perhaps the Nuggets would give up the disgrunted Ty Lawson for Exum and the No. 12 pick. Either move would solidify the point for Utah and allow the Jazz to trade uncertainty about whether Exum and Burke will deliver on their promise for a more well-known commodity, but there’s danger in giving up on either of them too soon. That’s particularly true with Exum, who’s still only 19 and who came into his rookie season this year with no college and precious little experience against other high-level talent.

Utah could keep the pick and venture bringing yet another highly drafted point guard onto the team with a selection of Cameron Payne, Jerian Grant or Tyus Jones, but there are other matters the Jazz can address. Alec Burks was the only member of the Jazz who saw regular playing time and hit more than 36.5% of his three-point attempts this past season, so Utah would do well to grab Kentucky sharpshooter Devin Booker if he’s still on the board at No. 12. Burks and Booker play the same position, but unless the Jazz select a point guard, they probably won’t plan on plugging anyone they draft into the starting lineup next season. The Jazz lack a backup center, so Utah could go with the high upside of Myles Turner from Texas or the familiar quantity of Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky.

Utah can also fill holes through free agency. The Jazz can clear up to roughly $16.6MM in cap room against a projected $67.1MM cap if they keep their first-rounder, enough to bid on a restricted free agent or a player entering unrestricted free agency early, like Greg Monroe or Wesley Matthews. Monroe probably wouldn’t have interest in Utah, where he’d compete for minutes against Gobert and Derrick Favors, but Matthews, who spent his rookie season with the Jazz, would be a more realistic possibility, particularly since he would come more cheaply. Such a move would give the Jazz two shooting guards coming off major injuries, and while Utah could afford to be patient as they heal and return to form, it would turn one of them into a highly paid reserve in the long run. The surprise four-year, $42MM extension to which the Jazz signed Burks this past fall is no mega deal, and it would be more palatable to have him as a reserve than it would be for the Jazz to bring in someone to play in front of the more well-compensated Hayward or Favors. Still, Hood played most of his minutes at shooting guard this past season, and there’s little call for the Jazz to spend at a position where they can get quality production on the cheap.

A bid for Patrick Beverley would give the Jazz the potential to become a frightening defensive team, while an offer sheet for Brandon Knight would afford Utah the chance to add scoring punch. The Rockets and Suns nonetheless appear to want their respective point guards back, so the legitimate threat of the match looms for each restricted free agent. Utah could instead spend on its bench, as it did last summer when it signed Trevor Booker to a healthy-sized deal that the Jazz can essentially escape after one season if they want. Booker’s partially guaranteed contract gives the Jazz the flexibility to keep him on the roster while seeing if there’s anyone on whom they’d rather spend his full $4.775MM salary, and either cutting him for the paltry cost of $250K if so or keeping him around if not. The Jazz can similarly sit on the non-guaranteed deals of Chris Johnson, Jack Cooley, Bryce Cotton and Elijah Millsap and wait to see how the market develops, and they can use some combination of those four and Booker as trade ballast if necessary.

That option doesn’t exist with Jeremy Evans, who’s finally hitting unrestricted free agency after five seasons of sticking on the Jazz roster despite failing to stay in the rotation for any long periods of time, with the exception of his 18.3 minutes per game in 2013/14. His minutes regressed this past season, so it seems that Utah is much more likely to retain its other free agent. The Clippers planned to re-sign Joe Ingles after they released him shortly before opening night, but the Jazz snatched his non-guaranteed minimum salary contract off waivers. The Clippers, in need of cheap bench help, could only watch as he validated the fanfare that had seven or eight NBA teams in pursuit of him this past summer, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported then. The 27-year-old small forward started 32 games, and while he doesn’t figure to start much going forward, there’s mutual interest in a return, as Gordon Monson of The Salt Lake Tribune reported, and the Jazz can match all offers. A deal somewhere between the three years and $7.3MM that Hawks gave Shelvin Mack and the three years and $10MM they shelled out to Mike Scott makes sense. Both Mack and Scott were restricted free agents last summer, and Hawks GM Danny Ferry, like Lindsey, is a Spurs disciple.

The Jazz are on the rise, but just how far and how quickly they continue to ascend remains to be seen. Kanter was an exception for a front office that’s made a habit of paying to retain its young talent in recent years, and that was as much Kanter’s choice as it was the Jazz’s. Still, no emerging talent on the roster will command eight figures this offseason, and with the salary cap surge coming in 2016, Utah has a chance this summer to use cap space on more seasoned help without compromising its ability to retain its young core. Take advantage of that opportunity, and that 52-30 record for next season is certainly within Utah’s reach.

Cap Footnotes

1 — Booker’s salary is partially guaranteed for $250,000.
2 — The cap hold for Ingles would be $845,059 if the Jazz elect not to tender a qualifying offer.

The Basketball Insiders Salary Pages were used in the creation of this post. 

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Draft History: Dell Demps

May 28th, 2015 at 7:10pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The 2015 NBA draft is just under a month away, and for teams that aren’t still participating in the NBA playoffs, the focus is on using that event to build toward a better future. Now that the NBA Draft lottery is complete, the speculation can truly begin as to which player each franchise will pin its hopes on for the future. Of course, having one of the top selections in any draft doesn’t guarantee that a team will snag a future All-Star. Team executives and scouts still have the difficult task of making the correct call with their picks.

With this in mind we at Hoops Rumors will be taking a look back at the draft history of the primary basketball executive for each NBA team. Their names, reputations, and possibly employment will be on the line as a result of the decisions to come on June 25th, and we’ll be examining what they’ve done in previous years in charge of a club’s front office. Note that many of them have played other sorts of roles within a team’s executive structure, but this won’t take that into account. We’ll continue onward with a look back at the calls made by Pelicans GM Dell Demps.

Pelicans (July 2010-Present)

2011 Draft

  • No first-rounder. Pick No. 19 overall (Tobias Harris) owned by the Bucks).
  • Traded the No. 45 overall pick (Josh Harrellson) to the Knicks for cash.

Players passed over or available at draft slot: Harris (No. 19), Kenneth Faried (No. 22), Nikola Mirotic (No. 23), Reggie Jackson (No. 24), Jimmy Butler (No. 30), Chandler Parsons (No. 38), and Isaiah Thomas (No. 60).

2012 Draft

  • No. 1 Overall — Anthony Davis: 199 games, 19.7 PPG, 9.5 RPG, and 2.5 BPG. .525/.111/.789.
  • No. 10 Overall — Austin Rivers: 206 games, 7.0 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 2.1 APG. .397/.326/.624.
  • No. 46 Overall — Darius Miller: 102 games, 3.1 PPG, 1.3 RPG, and 0.9 APG. .420/.351/.841.

Players passed over or available at draft slot: Bradley Beal (No. 3), Damian Lillard (No. 6), Andre Drummond (No. 9), Draymond Green (No. 35), and Khris Middleton (No. 39).

2013 Draft

  • *No. 6 Overall — Nerlens Noel. Noel was later dealt along with a 2014 first round pick to the Sixers in exchange for Jrue Holiday and the rights to the No. 42 overall pick (Pierre Jackson).
  • No second-rounder. Pick No. 35 overall (Glen Rice Jr.) owned by Wizards.

Players passed over or available at draft slot: Noel (No. 6), Michael Carter-Williams (No. 11), Kelly Olynyk (No. 13), Giannis Antetokounmpo (No. 15), Mason Plumlee (No. 22), and Rudy Gobert (No. 27).

2014 Draft

  •  No first-rounder. No. 10 overall pick (Elfrid Payton) owned by the Magic.
  • No second-rounder. No. 40 overall pick (Glenn Robinson III) owned by the Timberwolves.

Players passed over or available at draft slot: Payton (No. 10), Zach LaVine (No. 13), K.J. McDaniels (No. 32), and Jordan Clarkson (No. 46).

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Offseason Outlook: Phoenix Suns

May 27th, 2015 at 11:56am CST by Chuck Myron

Guaranteed Contracts

Non-Guaranteed Contracts

Options

Restricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

Unrestricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

Draft Picks

  • 1st Round (13th overall)
  • 2nd Round (44th overall)

Cap Outlook

  • Guaranteed Salary: $41,038,578
  • Non-Guaranteed Salary: $947,276
  • Options: $2,170,465
  • Cap Holds: $40,617,769
  • Total: $84,774,088

The regression of the Suns this past season was easy to see coming, in some respects. Phoenix’s 2013/14 squad overachieved markedly after it appeared bound for the dregs of the Western Conference, particularly after the Marcin Gortat trade. The Suns took a risk in the offseason, loading up the backcourt with a four-year sign-and-trade deal for Isaiah Thomas and finally, after a protracted negotiation, a five-year contract for Eric Bledsoe. Both moves came in spite of the presence of Goran Dragic, who was entering the final season of his deal before a player option, and in spite of the team’s decision to draft Tyler Ennis 18th overall. It shouldn’t have been a shock when Dragic made it clear he wouldn’t re-sign and that it would be in Phoenix’s best interest to trade him.

Courtesy USA Today Sports Images

Courtesy USA Today Sports Images

It was nonetheless surprising to see the Suns not only accommodate Dragic but also, in separate deals, ship out Thomas and Ennis, too. They took in Brandon Knight, but he’s set for a fat raise in restricted free agency this summer, unlike Thomas or Ennis, neither of whom can elect free agency until 2018. Knight is probably a more valuable player than either of them, but it’s almost certain that he’ll command more than the two of them will make put together next season. The Suns laid a lot on the line to acquire Knight and it would be unseemly for the team to just let him walk away in free agency after he made it into only 11 games post-trade, as I argued when I looked at Knight’s free agent stock. The position that Phoenix seems to be in strengthens the leverage that agent Arn Tellem has. Several GMs told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops during the season that Knight would be worth $12MM a year, and it would take only one GM to drive his price even higher than that.

At least Knight appears uninterested in subjecting Phoenix to the protracted drama that played out prior to the Bledsoe signing last year, and Knight also told the Suns that he doesn’t mind playing with Bledsoe, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic wrote. The interest in a new deal between the Suns and Knight is mutual, though there are no guarantees. The Suns would be able to clear maximum-level cap room if they don’t bring back Knight, and GM Ryan McDonough said as the season ended that the team would be aggressive in pursuit of a star. McDonough has made it clear that he thinks highly of Knight, but if the price isn’t right, there are other options. The weather is indeed warm in Phoenix, but it remains to be seen whether there would be enough on the roster without Knight there to attract top-tier free agents to a team that just finished 39-43 and in 10th place in the Western Conference. The Suns, devoid of all but Bledsoe from their once-crowded stable of point guards, would need more than just the insertion of a star to truly contend.

A steal at No. 13 in the draft wouldn’t necessarily help this summer, but it would better Phoenix’s chances in the coming free agent frenzy of 2016. Kansas small forward Kelly Oubre has high upside and would help give the Suns more punch on the wing if he pans out. Kentucky shooting guard Devin Booker, if he’s available, would give the Suns the dead-eye three-point threat they lack after a season in which they finished 20th in three-point percentage. Texas center Myles Turner would probably be worth the gamble here, while Will Sammon of Hoops Rumors suggests the Suns as the best fit for Frank Kaminsky in his profile of the Wisconsin center. Both would serve as alternatives in case Alex Len doesn’t live up to having been the No. 5 overall pick in 2013. Our Eddie Scarito suggests another small forward, Arizona’s Stanley Johnson, in the Hoops Rumors Mock Draft, and he’d surely be a local favorite.

Phoenix will probably use free agency to address whatever need it doesn’t take care of in the draft. The Suns could wait to re-sign Knight and keep his cap hold at nearly $8.9MM to lend themselves greater flexibility, though that would be tricky with the threat of an offer sheet from another team looming. The Suns, with their existing guaranteed salaries, would have close to $55.9MM on the cap with a new deal for Knight at a starting salary of $12MM, the cap hold for the 13th pick, and a pair of roster charges for open roster spots if Phoenix were to strip down and renounce its other free agents. That figure would rise to about $58MM if Danny Granger opts in.  That’s $9.1MM away from the league’s $67.1MM cap projection, well shy of max-level flexbility, but fodder enough for some intriguing additions.

Danny Green could swing to small forward and would shore up Phoenix’s long-range game, though it may well require most, if not all, of that $9.1MM to snag him. Mike Dunleavy would be a cheaper option who could do the same if the Suns can tempt him away from the Bulls. Amar’e Stoudemire had an “extremely high” interest in rejoining the Suns before he signed instead with the Mavs after his buyout from the Knicks, so he seems obtainable for depth inside. Still, Phoenix and Brandan Wright have mutual interest, according to Coro, though Wright’s bloated cap hold of $9.5MM makes him a candidate to be renounced. That doesn’t mean that the Suns wouldn’t re-sign him, but rather that Phoenix would be more likely to do so via cap room or an exception instead of his Bird rights.

Kevin Bradbury, the agent for Gerald Green, offered a few vitriolic remarks in response to Jeff Hornacek’s criticism of Green’s defense, and the swingman at the time was unsure if the Suns wanted to re-sign him after a year in which his minutes dipped sharply. Green said at season’s end that he had a conversation with president of basketball operations Lon Babby that left him optimistic that the Suns want to bring him back, so he, like Wright, may well eat up roster room and salary that would otherwise go to outside free agents. Green’s $6.65MM cap hold isn’t as large as Wright’s, but it’s quite conceivable the Suns renounce Green, too, and circle back to try to re-sign him at a smaller number. There would also be value in keeping those cap holds and operating above the cap. Staying above the cap would give the Suns access to the $5.464MM mid-level instead of the $2.814MM room exception, and since the Suns have a $5.5MM trade exception, they could in essence have two mid-level exceptions. They couldn’t use the trade exception to sign anyone outright, but they could use it to acquire a player via sign-and-trade, floating an offer of a heavily protected second-round pick or a longshot draft-and-stash prospect at a team that’s going to lose its free agent anyway.

Whomever the Suns sign won’t move the needle much if they re-sign Knight at market value, so trades are the primary vehicle for Babby, McDonough and company to make a significant upgrade. The trade exception wouldn’t be enough to acquire a marquee player, but it could help the Suns facilitate a multiplayer deal involving a star. The trade market is nonetheless so far devoid of stars, particularly since DeMarcus Cousins seems off-limits. Roy Hibbert, if he opts in, and Lance Stephenson, Hibbert’s former Pacers teammate, might be among the most noteworthy names in play via trade. Stephenson’s recalcitrance would be a difficult sell to a front office that made its standards for personal and professional conduct clear in the press release announcing Michael Beasley‘s departure from the team two years ago. Hibbert could lift a middle-of-the-pack Suns defense as ranked by NBA.com points per possession data, but the Suns may not be enthusiastic about trying to accommodate his more than $15.514MM salary with Len still developing.

The Suns seemed on the cusp of jumping into the Western Conference elite a year ago, but that would have required a lot to break their way. Phoenix instead took a step back this season, but the team is still better off than where it seemed to be at the beginning of 2013/14. The realistic goals this summer involve hanging on to Knight at a price that’s a cut below the max, making marginal upgrades to weak spots on the roster, and maintaining flexibility for the whirlwind summer of 2016, when the salary cap zooms skyward. Accomplish all of that, and the Suns will have a realistic shot to become a title contender by opening night in 2016.

Cap Footnotes

1 — The Suns waived Beasley in September 2013 and used the stretch provision to spread his remaining guaranteed salary over the next three seasons.
2 — McNeal’s salary becomes fully guaranteed if he remains under contract through July 21st.
3 — The cap hold for Granger would be $2,492,400 if he opts out.

The Basketball Insiders Salary Pages were used in the creation of this post.

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2014/15 D-League Usage Reports

May 26th, 2015 at 7:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The relationship between the NBA and the D-League continues to grow, and 17 NBA franchises currently have one-to-one D-League affiliates amongst the 18 D-League teams. The remaining 13 NBA teams shared the Fort Wayne Mad Ants this season. We at Hoops Rumors recapped each team’s use of the D-League this past campaign, looking at assignments and recalls as well as the players signed out of the D-League. Here is each team’s listing organized by division:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic Division

Central Division

Southeast Division

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Northwest Division

Pacific Division

Southwest Division

Note: Teams marked with an asterisk did not make any assignments to the D-League this season.

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Offseason Outlook: Detroit Pistons

May 25th, 2015 at 7:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

Guaranteed Contracts

Non-Guaranteed Contracts

Options

Restricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

Unrestricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

Draft Picks

  • 1st Round (8th overall)
  • 2nd Round (38th overall)

Cap Outlook

  • Guaranteed Salary: $27,875,456
  • Non-Guaranteed Salary: $9,437,494
  • Options: $1,270,964
  • Cap Holds: $32,509,251
  • Total: $71,093,165

Guarded optimism characterizes the vibe around the Pistons as Stan Van Gundy heads into his second offseason as the team’s coach and president of basketball operations. Armed with ample salary cap space and a lottery pick, Van Gundy has the elements in place to finally get the Pistons out of their cycle of misery. They haven’t made the playoffs in six seasons, the longest drought for any team in the watered-down Eastern Conference. It’s a shocking state of affairs for a franchise that not long ago reached the conference finals six consecutive seasons.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Van Gundy had never missed the playoffs while coaching a full season during his career until the PIstons’ rollercoaster 32-50 campaign in 2014/15. He’s intent upon turning things around quickly and has the full backing, emotionally and financially, of owner Tom Gores to make that happen. Much of that is predicated on free agency, with two of the Pistons’ starters heading into the market in July.

Greg Monroe took the unusual step of signing the team’s qualifying offer last season as a restricted free agent, giving him the opportunity to explore his options as an unrestricted free agent this summer. Van Gundy has repeatedly stated his desire to retain Monroe, though many NBA observers expect the 6’11” power forward to wind up in New York or another city. Monroe and agent David Falk have not ruled out the Pistons but it’s unlikely they’ll break the bank to keep him. The financial flexibility and the draft pick provide other options for the Pistons to replace Monroe, a solid, low-post scorer and rebounder. Monroe has his shortcomings — he cannot stretch the floor offensively and he struggles to guard quicker players at his position.

In contrast to Monroe’s situation, the Pistons anticipate re-signing restricted free agent Reggie Jackson as their starting point guard. Van Gundy made a bold trade-deadline move by acquiring Jackson from Oklahoma City and immediately installing the Thunder backup as his floor leader. Thrilled at the opportunity, Jackson struggled in the early going as the Pistons fell out of the playoff picture but he emerged as an offensive force once he settled in. Jackson averaged 19.9 points and 10.9 assists during the last 16 games of the season.

Several other teams were in the bidding for Jackson at the trade deadline and a substantial offer sheet could come his way. But the Pistons are prepared to match any offer and Jackson has given every indication he’s staying, going so far as to organize offseason workouts with his current teammates.

Money will not be an issue. The Pistons have about $27.9MM guaranteed to five players, plus a cap hold of approximately $2.4MM for their draft pick. Factoring in roster charges for the minimum 12 roster spots, the Pistons could have as much as $33.6MM to spend with the current projected cap of $67.1MM. Even if they retain Jackson and Monroe, they should still have enough cash left over to pursue another quality free agent.

The most pressing need for Detroit is a reliable outside shooter and solid defender at small forward. It finished the season with aging veterans Tayshaun Prince and Caron Butler at that spot. Prince, an unrestricted free agent, will likely pursue opportunities with contending teams. The team holds a $4.5MM option on Butler’s contract and will probably release him back into the free agent market. The Pistons will also require a starting power forward if Monroe walks.

The No. 8 overall pick in this year’s draft offers a way to fill one of those holes. The draft is chock full of forwards that could be available when the Pistons select, including Justise Winslow, Stanley Johnson, Mario Hezonja, Kristaps Porzingis, Frank Kaminsky, Myles Turner, Trey Lyles and Sam Dekker. With backup center Joel Anthony entering unrestricted free agency, the Pistons could also shift gears and choose Willie Cauley-Stein if he’s available. That would give them a dynamic backup to franchise player Andre Drummond.

A lottery pick alone won’t resolve their issues. They must sign a top-level free agent or make a blockbuster deal to get a difference-maker at one of the forward spots. Unfortunately, many of the big names in free agency — Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, Khris Middleton — are restricted and will almost certainly be retained by their current teams. Stars like LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Love (if he opts out) are unlikely to seriously consider a non-contender like the Pistons.

More realistic targets would be the unrestricted Hawks duo of DeMarre Carroll and Paul Millsap, Magic restricted free agent Tobias Harris and the Nets’ Thaddeus Young (if he exercises his early termination option). If that fails, Van Gundy will have to find a trade partner and use the cap space to absorb a big contract.

Upgrading the talent is not the only issue confronting the Pistons this offseason. They would like to lock up Drummond before he becomes a restricted free agent next summer. Gores considers him a max player, so that will not be a sticking point. If they keep Jackson, they’ll have to figure out what to do with former starter Brandon Jennings, who is recovering from a torn Achilles tendon. Would Jennings accept a backup role at this stage of his career? It would make sense to move Jennings and his approximate $8.34MM expiring contract, but it will be tough to do that until he proves he’s still got the same explosion in his first step.

A smaller issue is the status of backup power forward Anthony Tolliver, who has a partially guaranteed $3MM contract for 2015-16. Tolliver, another midseason acquisition, impressed Van Gundy with his play and professionalism and will likely remain as the main reserve at power forward.

Last summer, Van Gundy was preoccupied with evaluating his roster and assembling a staff. He took a conservative approach to free agency — his main acquisition was shooting guard Jodie Meeks, who was signed away from the Lakers for a three-year, $18.81MM deal. He didn’t have a first-round pick because the Pistons had to convey it to the Hornets to fulfill a two-year-old trade obligation. Van Gundy can contemplate bigger moves in his second offseason without all those distractions and concerns. If the Pistons do not enter training camp with an improved roster, it won’t be for lack of trying.

Cap Footnotes

1 — The Pistons waived Smith in December and used the stretch provision to spread his remaining guaranteed salary over the next five seasons.
2 — The Pistons waived Gray in October and used the stretch provision to spread his remaining guaranteed salary over the next three seasons.
3 — Tolliver’s salary is partially guaranteed for $400K.
4 — Miller’s salary would be partially guaranteed for $50K if he remains under contract through July 15th, $100K if he remains under contract through the date of the team’s first regular season game, and $125K if he remains under contract through November 15th.
5 — The cap hold for Martin would be $947,276 if he opts out.

The Basketball Insiders Salary Pages were used in the creation of this post. Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.

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Offseason Outlook: Oklahoma City Thunder

May 25th, 2015 at 4:12pm CST by Chuck Myron

Guaranteed Contracts

Non-Guaranteed Contracts

  • None

Options

  • None

Restricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

  • Enes Kanter ($11,389,348) — $7,471,412 qualifying offer
  • Kyle Singler ($2,725,003) — $2,725,003 qualifying offer1

Unrestricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

  • None

Other Cap Holds

  • No. 14 pick ($1,684,600)
  • (Josh Huestis $950,200)2
  • (Derek Fisher $947,276)3

Draft Picks

  • 1st Round (14th overall)
  • 2nd Round (48th overall)

Cap Outlook

  • Guaranteed Salary: $78,260,713
  • Non-Guaranteed Salary: $0
  • Options: $0
  • Cap Holds: $17,696,427
  • Total: $95,957,140

The last day of Kevin Durant‘s contract is still more than a year off, but the Thunder brass has been dropping hints for months that it already feels the pressure. The calendar year of 2015 has been the most tumultuous for the Oklahoma City organization since the James Harden trade in 2012. The team dealt away Reggie Jackson and two future first-round picks in trades that brought back Enes Kanter and Dion Waiters, among others, and took the team over the luxury tax threshold. The Thunder replaced coach Scott Brooks after nearly seven seasons with NBA coaching neophyte Billy Donovan. And injuries that cost Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and others significant time left the team out of the playoffs for the first time since the franchise’s first season in Oklahoma City.

Mar 16, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter (34) during the game against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Still, the summer ahead allows GM Sam Presti to take a breath, if he chooses. Durant’s broken right foot is healing, the trades the team made during the season strengthened the team’s supporting cast, and no one on the roster can elect unrestricted free agency this year. Presti could have the same 15 players who ended the season on the roster back for opening night of the 2015/16 season if he wants to. It seems more likely there will be at least a slight degree of turnover, if for no reason other than the presence of this year’s No. 14 overall pick in the team’s quiver.

The Thunder aren’t a typical lottery team, so they’re as apt as any to value prospects who are ready to contribute immediately. So, raw talents like Texas center Myles Turner and Kansas small forward Kelly Oubre, both of whom have decent chances to be available when the 14th pick comes around, don’t appear to be fits for Oklahoma City. Arizona small forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is a more tempting possibility as a defensive-minded complement to Waiters if the Thunder is confident that Hollis-Jefferson can swing over to shooting guard. Still, neither Waiters nor Hollis-Jefferson is a strong three-point shooter, so that would invite defenders to clog the lane for Durant and Westbrook. Kentucky two-guard Devin Booker would give the team plenty of outside shooting, but he’ll probably go off the board a few picks before the Thunder would have a chance to grab him.

Perhaps the choice who makes the most sense is Notre Dame point guard Jerian Grant. He was a passable three-point shooter in college, knocking down 35.7% of his attempts in his first three years before he slumped to 31.6% this year. Moreover, he’s an NBA-ready point guard with four years of college under his belt who can score, as his 17.1 points per game across his junior and senior seasons demonstrates. The Thunder are set at backup point guard with D.J. Augustin, but Grant, at 6’5″ with a 6’7.5″ wingspan, would be a fit alongside Westbrook in two point guard sets. Our Eddie Scarito has the Thunder going with another point guard, Murray State sophomore Cameron Payne, in the Hoops Rumors Mock Draft.

The Thunder’s decision about whom to draft may well involve more work than the one surrounding their most notable free agent. Presti has made it obvious that he wants to retain Kanter, and so it appears Oklahoma City is willing to pay a premium to make it happen. A max offer from another team would probably make Presti think twice, but it still seems likely that the Thunder would match to keep a center who put up 18.7 points and 11.0 rebounds in just 31.1 minutes per game across 26 appearances after the trade that brought him to Oklahoma City. That’s a small sample size, and his defensive shortcomings are profound. Still, offensive production like that at the center position has long made front office personnel salivate. The Thunder would probably target a deal like the four-year, $48MM extension the Magic signed this past fall with Nikola Vucevic, who similarly excels at scoring and rebounding while playing subpar defense. Vucevic hadn’t displayed the knack for scoring before this season that his fellow native of Switzerland did in his time with the Thunder, so that may be the difference that ultimately drives up Kanter’s value.

The Thunder have reason to match even a max offer since, with commitments for next season that already take them well past the projected $67.1MM salary cap, they wouldn’t have means to replace Kanter with another comparable free agent, as The Oklahoman’s Darnell Mayberry recently noted. The same logic applies to Kyle Singler, Mayberry argued, though surely Singler won’t be drawing interest for the max. A logical limit, probably somewhere around the equivalent of the $5.464MM non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception, surely exists to the Thunder’s willingness to pay Singler to return. Even that would probably be too much for a player who Basketball-Reference’s Box Plus/Minus and ESPN’s Real Plus/Minus indicate is a minus on both ends of the floor. He’s nonetheless done enough to stick on the court as a rotation player and occasional starter during his three NBA seasons, and he has value as a floor spacer, but that duty could fall to Steve Novak if Singler receives an offer from elsewhere that the Thunder feel compelled to pass on.

Still, the Thunder would like to re-sign Singler, and that makes it tougher to envision the team finding room on the roster to sign Josh Huestis, last year’s first round pick, whom the Thunder stashed in the D-League as part of an unprecedented arrangement.  Huestis isn’t making a fuss about the idea of staying with the Thunder’s D-League affiliate for one more year, and even if he did, he’d have little leverage. The worst-case scenario for the Thunder is that he leaves their D-League team for a more lucrative deal overseas and develops there, but Oklahoma City can control his NBA rights in perpetuity if it wants to.

If Huestis does sign with the Thunder this summer, that will almost certainly require the Thunder to trade one of their 13 players with fully guaranteed salaries for next season. A majority of Hoops Rumors readers who voted in a recent poll said the Thunder need major changes around Durant if they’re to win a title next season, but making moves that significantly upgrade the team is easier said than done. Westbrook would presumably be untouchable, but the Thunder could gauge the market for what it would bear in a sign-and-trade involving Kanter, to see if other teams still believe Waiters can live up to having been a No. 4 overall pick, or even to see what Ibaka would fetch. Some combination of those three would make a pretty tempting offer for a star if one became available, but no marquee names seem to be on the block at this point.

A smaller-scale trade is much more likely, though Waiters, who struggles on defense and with his outside shot, bears watching if there is indeed a team still enamored with his potential. Possible trade candidates include Mitch McGary, who was effective in the meager playing time he saw, especially on the boards. In spite of McGary’s 16.6 PER this past season, the Thunder would have difficulty finding more playing time for him this coming season if they re-sign Kanter. There’d be little use for Novak, especially if Singler returns, but Novak remains a dead-eye three-point shooter who’s going into the final year of his contract. Perry Jones III has barely seen playing time over his three years with Oklahoma City, but he’s a former first-round pick, and he, too, is entering a contract year.

Jones, along with Lamb and Waiters, is one of three members of the Thunder up for rookie scale extensions this offseason, but only Waiters will likely merit any consideration for one. That’s still a tricky proposition for Oklahoma City, which doesn’t know whether it will still be building around Durant come 2016/17, the season that an extension for Waiters would kick in. Committing money for Waiters would stand to complicate matters if Durant leaves and the Thunder are trying to retool. Waiters’ trade value is probably as low as it has been since he entered the league, so the Thunder could get a discount if they’re high on his potential, but Waiters may well hesitate to bet against himself like that.

Presti has to think about a future without Durant even as he does everything in his power to keep the four-time scoring champ. The team’s moves of the past several months signal his thinking along that dual track, as the talent he’s added has chiefly been younger and still developing, as Kanter exemplifies. The big man can boost the team’s title chances for next season and help in the long run, with or without Durant, if the Thunder re-sign him this summer. The stakes are incredibly high for the Thunder next season, but barring the emergence of a superstar trade candidate on another team, they’ve done just about all they can to set themselves up for success while still preparing for the worst.

Cap Footnotes

1 — The cap hold for Singler would be $2,071,000 if the Thunder elect not to tender a qualifying offer.
2 — The team may remove the cap hold for Huestis, the 29th pick in the 2014 draft, if both sides agree in writing that they will not sign a deal during the 2015/16 season.
3 — See our glossary entry on cap holds for an explanation why Fisher technically remains on the books.

The Basketball Insiders Salary Pages were used in the creation of this post.

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Update On Prominent Draft-And-Stash Prospects

May 25th, 2015 at 1:28pm CST by Mark Porcaro

The NBA Finals are nearly upon us and full attention is soon to turn to the NBA draft.  There are sure to be many players drafted who will continue their careers overseas as they develop more with the hopes of joining an NBA team in the coming years.  Meanwhile, what about those past draft picks?  Who might be ready to come over next season and potentially lock down an NBA roster spot?  Let’s take a look at 10 recent first-round and high second-round picks, how their seasons are going and what kind of chance they have of being in the NBA next year.

Alex Abrines (G/F) — 2013 pick No. 32: Rights owned by the Thunder

Abrines dramatically improved his shooting this season for Barcelona of Spain. The 21-year old has put up 48-48-94 splits during ACB play.  He’s hit 52 of 109 three-point attempts this season over 26 games.  However, during Euroleague play, he was just 29 of 85 (34.1%) from deep.  He was named to the ACB All Young Players Team for the second consecutive season and is clearly a rising star in the top European domestic league.  It’s all great news for OKC except for one small problem:  Abrines signed a four-year contract extension last week that could keep him in Spain until 2019.  The silver lining is that his contract includes NBA buyouts after each season.  It’s likely we won’t see Abrines in the NBA for another season or two as he should get a much bigger role in Barcelona’s rotation next year, but rest assured he has a very bright future that will include the NBA at some point.

Nemanja Bjelica (F) — 2010 pick No. 35: Rights owned by the Timberwolves

Bjelica had a career year for Fenerbahce of Turkey, leading his team to the Euroleague Final 4 and being named Euroleague MVP.  At 27 years old, this might be the time for Bjelica to make the NBA jump after being rumored to do so over the past couple of seasons.  He’s a skilled combo forward who’s a solid rebounder (8.2 in 26 minutes per game across all leagues) with three-point range (46.4% in Turkish TBL play).  Bjelica has one more year on his contract but it’s hard to believe he could improve his stock any further, and he could very likely be a solid rotation piece on the rebuilding Timberwolves next year.  The timing is right, but it might come down to whether or not the price is right.

Bogdan Bogdanovic (SG) — 2014 pick No. 27: Rights owned by the Suns

Bogdanovic is a teammate of Bjelica’s with Fenerbahce and has also been integral to their success this season.  He signed a four-year deal with the Turkish team this year after spending the last few seasons with Partizan.  He has dramatically improved his three-point shot to the tune of 43.1% in TBL play and was named Euroleague Rising Star for the second consecutive season.  His contract includes NBA outs starting in 2016 and upon being drafted he was expected to stay in Europe until then.  However, given his continued success, it’s quite possible that the Suns make a run at him this offseason and at least see how much it would cost to buy him out early.

DeAndre Daniels (SF) — 2014 pick No. 37: Rights owned by the Raptors

Fresh off a national championship with Connecticut, Daniels moved to Australia and joined the Perth Wildcats.  He missed three weeks early in the season with an elbow injury but returned to help his team reach the playoffs.  He put up 14.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest, but his shooting numbers left much to be desired.  Daniels is an excellent summer league candidate who will need to show that his shooting woes were mostly a result of the elbow injury.  If he can prove himself there, he could become a cheap reinforcement for the Raptors next season.

Josh Huestis (SF) — 2014 pick No. 29: Rights owned by the Thunder

The Stanford grad is best known for being the 29th overall pick because he agreed to spend the season in the D-League, a fact that sparked great controversy after the draft.  The OKC Blue were said to be molding him into a “3 and D” type player and while the defense was there, the three-point shooting (31.6%) has been slower to come along.  Huestis will undoubtedly join the Thunder’s summer league team but will likely have a tough time finding an open roster spot with OKC as the Thunder already have 13 players under contract for next season. Plus, there are restricted free agents Enes Kanter and Kyle Singler to consider, and that forthcoming lottery pick.

Livio Jean-Charles (F) — 2013 pick No. 28: Rights owned by the Spurs

Jean-Charles is a raw forward who plays for ASVEL Villeurbanne, the French team owned by Spurs point guard Tony Parker.  He missed the entire 2013/14 season after undergoing knee surgery and returned this year to mixed results.  He played limited minutes off the bench and didn’t shoot particularly well in the process.   He has no three-point range for someone who’s supposed to be a combo forward, which would seem to limit his NBA potential, given his skinny frame.  He should get a look at summer league, but it’s likely that he’ll return to France for at least another season.

Nikola Jokic (F/C) — 2014 pick No. 41: Rights owned by the Nuggets

Jokic is a 6’11”, 250-pound brute who managed to dominate the very tough Adriatic League while leading a team basically filled with young prospects. He finished with 15.4 points and 9.3 rebounds per game for Serbia’s KK Mega Vizura en route to winning MVP honors at just 20 years old.  There have been rumors throughout the season that the Nuggets are already working on a deal to sign the Serbian prospect prior to summer league.  He could eventually form quite the frontcourt tandem with rising star Jusuf Nurkic.

Tibor Pleiss (C) — 2010 pick No. 31: Rights owned by the Jazz

Pleiss is a 7’2″ monster in the middle who played this past season as a teammate of Alex Abrines with Barcelona of Spain.  Pleiss left a starting role with Spain’s Laboral Kutxa to come off the bench and so his numbers aren’t a very fair reflection of his talents.  In ACB play, he shot 65% from the field and 88% from the free throw line.  He was acquired by Utah from Oklahoma City in the Kanter trade and there were rumors shortly thereafter that the Jazz were trying to buy him out of his contract.  It’s safe to say that he has a place in the Jazz’s future, though the apparent mutual dissatisfaction between Pleiss and Barcelona that reportedly fueled talks between Utah and Pleiss earlier this year is rumored to have resulted in a different outcome. Barcelona is expected to convey him to Germany’s Bayern Munich, according to Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net.

Dario Saric (PF) — 2014 pick No. 12: Rights owned by the 76ers

Saric moved from Cibona of Croatia to Turkey’s Anadolu Efes this season and is averaging 10.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 24.2 minutes per game over 54 contests.  He was named Euroleague MVP of the Month in November while also picking up his second consecutive FIBA Europe Young Men’s Player of the Year Award.  Saric’s contract doesn’t have a NBA out until 2016, but the Sixers have been in constant contact with him, and he won’t dismiss the idea that he might play for Philadelphia next season.  His past has been riddled with contract controversy, so it would be quite a feat for Philly to make that happen.  Even so, Saric is improving rapidly and, whether he comes over in 2015 or 2016, he figures to be a big piece of the 76ers’ future.

Tomas Satoransky (G) — 2012 pick No. 32: Rights owned by the Wizards

Satoransky is a 6’7″ combo guard and yet another player for Barcelona.  Last summer, Satoransky refused to play in summer league for the Wizards unless the team signed him to the regular roster. He failed to receive the money he sought from Washington and signed for two years with Barcelona instead. He excelled this season, with shooting splits of 58-49-81, and he has the ability to fill up the stat sheet.  It’ll be interesting to see if he’ll change his tune and join Washington this summer, but regardless, he’s just 23 and another year with one of the top international teams will only aid his improvement.

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