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Trade Candidate: Norris Cole

By | at January 30, 2015 3:45 pm

The Heat were hearing from no shortage of teams interested in trading for Norris Cole two days shy of last year’s trade deadline, but Miami issued a firm “no” to his suitors, as Shams Charania of RealGM reported then. It appears the point guard is again drawing a heavy volume of interest, but so much has changed in the past 11 and a half months.

NBA: Cleveland Cavaliers at Miami HeatCircumstances surrounding the Heat are certainly much different. LeBron James left town this summer, taking any reasonable shot at winning the championship with him. Cleveland is where James once more resides, and it’s also where Cole went to college. Cole hired Cleveland-based Rich Paul of Klutch Sports this summer, signing up with the same agent who represents James. A few months later, Cole and the Heat failed to come to terms on a rookie scale extension, setting him up for restricted free agency in the summer ahead.

It’d be a stretch to presume that Cole would have signed an extension if he were still with former agent Joel Bell or any representative other than Paul. Cole had ascended into the Heat’s starting lineup at the start of the season, but rookie scale extensions rarely happen for players who don’t have at least some measure of star potential, and Cole doesn’t fit the bill. Plus, the Heat have been wary of committing any money beyond next season, so they probably would have been reluctant to do an extension even with a player a step or two above Cole’s level.

The lack of an extension nonetheless seemed another sign that Cole isn’t a permanent fixture on South Beach, an idea further emphasized in the wake of a report around draft time that the Heat were dangling Cole in trade talk. Miami came away from the draft with No. 24 overall pick Shabazz Napier, a point guard who was a LeBron favorite. The Heat also re-signed Mario Chalmers later in the offseason, setting themselves up with depth at the point guard position that perhaps made Cole expendable. It hardly seemed that way earlier this season, when Cole became a starter, at times sharing the backcourt with Dwyane Wade, or Chalmers if Wade was injured. But the starting role didn’t last. Cole, who’d shot 34.9% from three-point range the previous season, saw that rate dip to just 24.6% in games he started. The Heat naturally struggled to win nearly as much as they did when James was around, but by Christmas, Cole was out of the starting lineup. His outside shot has only been worse since his benching. He’s connected on only 23.5% of his three-point attempts as a reserve for a team that no longer has the outside shooting it did during the LeBron era.

Cole was a healthy scratch Sunday against the Bulls, but he returned to play 25 minutes off the bench Tuesday in the absence of Wade, who might be out of action for a few weeks. Regardless, Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio reported earlier this month that Cole is once more on the block, writing that the 26-year-old “pretty much knows” the Heat want to trade him. That came shortly after Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote that Miami had made Cole part of a proposal to the Nets for Brook Lopez. Riley last week denied that he made such a proposal and insisted that the Heat haven’t offered any players to anyone. However, he did indicate that he would listen, and a couple of teams soon found themselves in need of a point guard.

The Hornets have Cole and Ramon Sessions on their radar, Wojnarowski reported Monday in the wake of an injury to Kemba Walker that will keep him out at least six weeks. The Pistons are looking into trading for Cole, too, now that Brandon Jennings is lost for the year, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group wrote Tuesday. Still, neither club appears anxious to give up much in return to plug their gaps, and both are competing with the Heat for playoff position in the Eastern Conference.

The prospect of trading Cole to the Pistons or the Hornets might be more palatable to Riley than trading him to Cleveland. The Cavs have never been linked to Cole as a legitimate trade suitor, though the Cavs are reportedly seeking a backup point guard as well. They had a brief flirtation with the idea of signing Jordan Farmar before backing off, and they’re among the clubs interested in signing Will Bynum once he makes it back from China, according to reports. The Cavs are more likely to sign a point guard than trade for one, Amico wrote, but the notion that Cleveland would seek to fill a need with a client of the agent who represents LeBron would certainly be a logical idea.

It’d also be reasonable to suspect that Riley has no desire to help James win a championship so soon after he left Miami, so perhaps the Cavs are focusing on other targets for good reason. In any case, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Riley try to swing a deal to reap some sort of return for Cole, given his expiring contract. The Heat have the right to match offers when he becomes a free agent this summer if they extend a qualifying offer, which will be worth close to $3.037MM assuming he doesn’t return to the starting lineup and trigger the starter criteria. Chances are that any team interested in Cole this summer knows that the Heat don’t want to commit money past next season, so a multiyear offer sheet might make it easy to pry him away.

There’s a market for Cole now, even as his shot has deserted him, and Riley and the Heat may not have a better chance to make the most of one of the remaining vestiges of their decorated LeBron era. Trading Cole to the Cavs or one of the other Eastern Conference playoff contenders might not be an exciting proposition, but unless the Heat can find a Western Conference team willing to give them a better return, Riley ought to swallow hard and make the move.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Trade Rumors App For iOS/Android

By | at January 30, 2015 8:59 am

The February 19th trade deadline is less than three weeks away, and doubt surrounds the job status of a pair of coaches. You can follow all of the latest news and rumors as the off-the-court action heats up with the new Trade Rumors app for iOS and Android devices!

The Trade Rumors app brings Hoops Rumors together with content from our sister sites, MLB Trade Rumors and Pro Football Rumors. You can easily scroll left to right and click on the image of the article you want to read. You can also filter your feeds to show only the top stories within that category, if you prefer.

Once you’re within a feed, you can swipe to read older or newer articles without going back to the home screen. You can easily share each article via Twitter, Facebook, email or text message.

The Trade Rumors app is highly customizable. You can add feeds for any of the 92 MLB, NBA, and NFL teams, as well as for any of the thousands of players in our archives, by using the settings icon on top for iOS and the pencil icon on top for Android. You can create a multi-sport experience tailored to your specific interests, or you can limit your app entirely to one sport by removing the others.

Best of all? The Trade Rumors app is free! Download it for iOS or Android and leave a review!

TradeRumors-Google-FeaturedImg

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Trade Candidate: Michael Carter-Williams

By | at January 28, 2015 7:58 pm

Usually, when players in the early years of their rookie deals find themselves in trade discussions, it’s typically because there’s a lack of production or the player is a poor fit on his team. Michael Carter-Williams doesn’t go into either of those categories but the Sixers aren’t operating like a typical NBA franchise. The team’s plans to obtain superstar-caliber players via high lottery picks are well-documented, and Philadelphia seems in no rush to assemble a winning team that doesn’t have a few of these sorts of players on it.

NBA: Toronto Raptors at Philadelphia 76ersIt’s unclear whether the Sixers view Carter-Williams as a rising superstar. Some team officials reportedly don’t view him as part of the club’s long-term plan. The point guard has impressed during his first season and a half, but there are major concerns about whether he can lead a contending team. Carter-Williams owns a .381/.250/.642 slash line this season, which ranks 71st, 71st, and 79th respectively among all point guards in the league. His shooting has been historically poor for a player getting starter’s minutes, and that kind of production can seriously hinder a team’s ability to win games.

Philadelphia is on a mission to win championships in the long run, but it’s going to take more than improved shooting from MCW to get there. While the team’s strategy to aim for superstars in order to win titles seems foolproof, only one team per year actually comes away with the Larry O’Brien trophy. Only once every few years does a team come away with a transcendent talent in the top of the draft. For every LeBron James or Anthony Davis, there are several players whose ceilings aren’t in that ballpark.

The Magic are a prime example of what can happen when a franchise accumulates high draft picks without obtaining a transcendent talent. Orlando had a top five pick in the last two drafts and traded up to get another top 10 pick last June. Those selections have netted the team Victor Oladipo, Aaron Gordon, and Elfrid Payton. Those are nice players and the Magic have a good nucleus, but they lack a game-changer who will keep them dispatched as a perennial contender. Without some good luck, Orlando won’t be able to grab a elite prospect in this year’s draft, and they won’t sniff the postseason this year, either. MCW isn’t that much better than most of the players on Orlando’s roster and the Sixers want to avoid being stuck with that fate.

By trading Carter-Williams, the Sixers can dwell in the very bottom of the league’s cellar and prolong their rebuilding project, thus increasing the chances of obtaining a transcendent talent. The team plan appears to be lather, rinse, repeat until that special talent becomes available or ownership decides it wants to put a competent team on the floor. There has never been an ownership group willing to oversee this kind of rebuild in NBA history, but as long as attendance in Philadelphia continues to show a slight year over year rise, I would suspect that executives stay on course with the franchise’s current plan.

Finding the right trade partner could be a tricky obstacle, because Philly is apparently holding out for a high return. There were rumors that the Lakers were interested in giving up the No. 7 overall pick in last summer’s draft as well as Steve Nash’s expiring contract for Carter-Williams and Thaddeus Young. The Sixers didn’t believe that was enough for the reigning Rookie of the Year and they might be hard pressed to find a team with a better offer.  MCW’s value comes from his play being worth more than his contract during the next few seasons. The point guard will make roughly $2.3MM this season and slightly less than $5.6MM combined over the next two years.

Production at that cost is a real asset in the NBA, but most of the teams that are set to have the sort of high draft pick that Philly covets, like the Wolves and the Celtics, won’t be inclined to trade those picks. They’re pursuing their own rebuilding efforts that most likely won’t come to fruition over the next two years. Teams that are pressing harder to win now, like the Knicks and the Lakers, don’t have the enough desirable assets to spare in order to make a trade worthwhile for both parties. Carter-Williams would be a great fit on a few contending teams, including the Clippers or Cavs. These teams would love the opportunity to upgrade their backup point guard situations with starter talent without paying a starter’s contract.  However, these teams probably lack the willingness to give up assets that the Sixers would demand.

A franchise with the right elements to be a trade partner for Carter-Williams might be the Kings. They are currently eighth overall in our Reverse Standings, meaning if the season ended today, they would likely have a top 10 pick. They also have an owner who wants to win now, and while the team hasn’t traded any top draft picks during its quest to contend, no player whom Sacramento acquired over the last several years possesses quite the trade value that Carter-Williams has. Rudy Gay might be a better player but because of his oversized contract, the Kings only had to give up multiple role players to acquire him. Carter-Williams’ contract is very team friendly and I would speculate that it would take the Kings dangling their 2015 first-round pick plus someone like Derrick Williams, who apparently is on the trade block, to intrigue the Sixers.

Indiana makes another logical destination for the point guard. The Pacers may not be in position to qualify for the playoffs this season, but with a healthy Paul George on the court next year, the team will be a contender again. The Pacers currently have the sixth worst record, and without some luck, they will not have a top-five draft pick. History suggests that players who are drafted outside the top five are much less likely to become star-caliber players than those who are drafted in the top five. With the Pacers’ current situation, they might be more inclined to trade their pick for an established, above-average talent rather than gambling for a star and ending up without a player who can contribute.

The Sixers are more than willing to gamble on obtaining a superstar. Carter-Williams has established that he belongs in an NBA rotation and he can contribute right now if put in the right situation. Many teams could use an above-average player, but it’s easier for those would-be trade partners of the Sixers to find those players than it is for them to find superstars. MCW could certainly improve his shooting and start showing more consistent flashes of being a star player, similar to how Jason Kidd improved as his career progressed. Yet if the Sixers don’t believe that is going to happen, now is the time to deal Carter-Williams, while his trade value remains at its highest.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

5 comments Hoops Rumors Originals Philadelphia 76ers Trade Candidate

Team Facebook/Twitter/RSS

By | at January 28, 2015 10:00 am

If you want to keep tabs on all the stories and updates at Hoops Rumors, you can follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or subscribe to our feed through your RSS reader of choice. If you prefer to receive only news about your favorite NBA team, we still have you covered. You can even get updates only when teams make a move with our Transactions-only Twitter and RSS feed. Below are links to our Facebook, Twitter, and RSS pages and feeds for all 30 teams.

Atlantic

Central

Southeast

Southwest

Northwest

Pacific

Transactions only: Twitter / RSS

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Trade Candidate: Arron Afflalo

By | at January 26, 2015 3:59 pm

Arron Afflalo has long maintained solid production that lacks sizzle, and he’s been one of the NBA’s most reasonably priced players for most of the time that he’s been on the five-year, $38MM deal he signed with the Nuggets shortly after the lockout. He’s the sort of guy teams like to have around but wouldn’t mind parting with for the right return in the right circumstances. So, it’s not altogether surprising that he’s ping-ponged from the Nuggets to the Magic and back to the Nuggets while the contract’s been in effect, nor is it a shock to see reports that Denver is open to dealing him and that multiple teams have called the Nuggets about trading for him.

NBA: Orlando Magic at Denver NuggetsThe end of Afflalo’s contract is in sight, as Afflalo holds a $7.5MM player option for next season, the final year of the deal. He sounded this past summer as though he intended to turn down the option and hit free agency at the end of this season, as Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post observed. Any team interested in trading for him will surely try to suss out his feelings about that option now. It wouldn’t be altogether difficult to find a replacement of Afflalo’s caliber were he to opt out and sign elsewhere, but if a team goes in believing he’ll come off the books this summer and he doesn’t, that extra $7.5MM could be crippling to a front office’s plans. The Hornets, one of the teams that Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com identified as a suitor for the 29-year-old shooting guard, already have uncertainties in the form of Al Jefferson‘s $13.5MM player option and a $6MM player option for Gerald Henderson. They’d have roughly $20MM in cap flexibility against a projected $66.5MM cap if both opt out, and virtually no cap flexibility if they both opt in. Trading for Afflalo would set Charlotte up for a worst-case scenario in which Henderson and Afflalo opt in and Jefferson opts out, leaving the team without the financial wherewithal to replace Jefferson if he signs elsewhere.

The Heat, another team Shelburne says has called about Afflalo, find themselves in a similar position with about $41.2MM in commitments, not including more than $28MM in player options for Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng and Danny Granger. Still, Miami’s primary focus is the summer of 2016, when Afflalo’s deal will be done regardless. The Clippers are also in the hunt, according to the ESPNLosAngeles.com scribe, but they have little chance of opening up any significant cap room in the offseason ahead, though Afflalo’s option would carry potential luxury tax consequences, particularly since the Clips are in line to pay the tax for the second year in a row this season. Another taxpaying year in 2015/16 would set the team up to pay the dreaded repeat-offender tax penalties that would test even Steve Ballmer’s deep pockets.

Afflalo’s play on the court makes him an intriguing option for a contender looking for a short-term upgrade on the wing. His scoring is off, predictably, on the Nuggets this year after the rebuilding Magic featured him in their offense the previous two seasons. His 15.2 points per game are identical to his scoring average from his last season in Denver, before the Nuggets sent him out in the 2012 Dwight Howard–Andrew Bynum–Andre Iguodala four-team blockbuster. More disconcerting is his three-point shooting. He’s taking more three-pointers than ever, despite his accuracy having fallen off last year’s 42.7% clip. He’s at 34.0% this season, below his 38.6% career rate. That suggests an uptick is in order for the second half of the season, particularly if he’s playing on a contender with better pieces to surround him than the Nuggets possess. Still, his increased emphasis on the three-point shot has cut his free-throw attempts to 3.1 per game, his fewest in four years, indicating that he’s more hesitant to drive and create contact.

John Hollinger’s PER metric has never been kind to Afflalo, who last year managed a number better than 15.0, the mark of an average player, for the first time. His PER has dropped from 16.0 this season to this year’s 12.1, a number beneath even his modest career 12.8 PER. Still, that doesn’t tell the whole story. The Nuggets are 4.5 points per 100 possessions better on offense with Afflalo in the lineup compared to when he sits, per NBA.com, and only 0.6 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the floor. That net rating of 3.9 is almost equivalent to the distance of 4.0 between the Nuggets and Cavs in net rating this season, NBA.com shows.

It’d be far-fetched to suggest that Afflalo could turn a mediocre team into a contender, but he could help the Hornets and Heat make the playoffs and perhaps push the Clippers over the top in the Western Conference title race. Much depends on what cost Nuggets GM Tim Connelly would demand in return. Connelly reaped two first-round picks when they relinquished Timofey Mozgov, so he could be excused for setting a high price. Teams have nearly sworn off trading first-round picks in-season the past two years, but this year, they’re changing hands with more frequency.

Afflalo came cheaply this summer, when Denver sent little-used Evan Fournier and a late second-round pick to Orlando for him, and while Fournier has blossomed with the Magic, the trade looked quite favorable for Connelly at the time. It isn’t just Fournier’s play that’s haunting Connelly now; other GMs will surely wonder why he might ask for more in return for Afflalo than he got, particularly if the shooting guard’s numbers are down this year. Still, desperation drives deals, as Connelly surely knows from Cleveland’s desire for Mozgov, and as the trade deadline approaches and playoff races become more well-defined, Afflalo’s price will surely escalate. It’d still be difficult for the Nuggets to come away with another first-rounder here, but if they can find a younger replacement with the promise of someday playing at or near Fournier’s level, Denver would be wise to bite.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Midseason D-League Assignment Trends

By | at January 26, 2015 1:59 pm

The Celtics have been busy shaking up their roster this season, pulling off five trades in the space of less than a month. They’ve also made more frequent use of D-League assignments than any other NBA team this year, sending players to their affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, a league-high 15 times. James Young, the 17th overall pick in 2014, has gone back and forth to Maine eight times.

Roughly midway through the NBA season, a few key trends are developing that show how NBA teams are taking advantage, or in some cases, not taking advantage, of their ability to send players on their NBA rosters to the D-League. NBA front offices have varying opinions on just how effective D-League assignments are for player development. The sort of players an NBA team has on its roster and what the team wants to accomplish in a season also play significantly into the frequency of assignments.

Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors maintains our log of D-League recalls and assignments. Here are a few points we can glean from the data therein:

Most D-League assignments, team

  • Celtics, 15
  • Thunder, 11
  • Grizzlies, 9
  • Hawks, 9
  • Mavericks, 9

Most D-League assignments, player

Players who’ve been on D-League assignments from two different NBA teams

— The Celtics assigned Andre Dawkins to the D-League immediately upon signing him to a 10-day contract.

Longest D-League assignment

— The Wizards kept Rice on D-League assignment for most of the season, a stint that didn’t end until the day the team waived him.

Players assigned to D-League affiliate of another NBA team

— The NBA and the D-League set up a process this year by which the 13 NBA partners of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the only remaining D-League club without a one-to-one NBA affiliation, may assign players to another NBA team’s affiliate if the Mad Ants have a full roster.

Teams that haven’t assigned a player to the D-League

  • Bucks
  • Bulls
  • Knicks
  • Pacers
  • Timberwolves
  • Trail Blazers

— Not surprisingly, five out of the six teams here are without one-to-one D-League affiliates. The only one that has its own affiliate among those on the list is the Knicks.

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Draft Rights Held Players

By | at January 26, 2015 10:14 am

Each year around draft time you’ll hear the term draft-and-stash being tossed around in regard to international players and late second-round picks, but what happens to these players? It seems like the majority of them stay overseas and never make it to the NBA. The truth is the very best of these players are honing their skills in some of the best leagues around the world. The remainder become trade assets for the teams holding their rights.

This season we have seen five such players join the league after having been stashed overseas. The most recent was Furkan Aldemir, who joined the 76ers last month nearly two and a half years after he was drafted. Others, like Chicago’s Nikola Mirotic and Brooklyn’s Bojan Bogdanovic, have made strong impressions in their rookie seasons. Kostas Papanikolaou and Lucas Nogueira, in Houston and Toronto respectively, also have debuted this season after playing last season abroad. All five players have plenty of skill and potential to boot and all have something else in common. Every one of those five players was drafted by a different team and their rights were traded elsewhere.

Usually, if a player doesn’t come over within two years of having been drafted, he will never make the leap. Mirotic and Bogdanovic are two exceptions to the rule, as both joined their teams three years later, but both were highly regarded prospects to begin with. Only five other such cases exist in the last 10 drafts, with Joel Freeland (six years later) standing as the only player to stay overseas longer than three years after he was drafted and still make the NBA jump. From 2005-2012, there were 90 international players drafted who played their predraft seasons overseas. Fifty-five of them, or 61.1%, have made their NBA debuts. Twenty-nine of those players were first-round picks, and all except for Fran Vazquez (the 11th pick in 2005) and Petteri Koponen (the 30th pick in 2007) have played in the NBA at some point.  That’s a 93.1% success rate!  That also means the success rate for second-round picks is just 45.9% (28 of 61).  It’s even grimmer if we take just the second half of the second round (picks 46-60), wherein just 13 of 36, or 36.1%, of players have worn a NBA jersey.

While not all players pan out the way teams expect them to, they at worst become tradeable assets for teams that don’t want to part with a future second-round pick.  Each team must give up something in a trade, which is why you will see a lot of top-55 protected second-round picks moving around the league.  Older draft rights held players who clearly will never come over to the NBA are essentially the same, for all intents and purposes.  One recent example is 2004 draft pick Serhiy Lishchuk.  At the beginning of the season, Lishchuk’s draft rights were held by Houston.  On December 19th, Houston took part in a 3-team trade that netted them Corey Brewer.  In that deal, Houston sent out a combination of three future second-round picks to Minnesota and Philadelphia.  Instead of sending a fourth pick, Houston sent Lishchuk’s rights to Philly.  About two weeks later, Philly acquired Jared Cunningham from the Clippers with the sole intention of waiving his contract.  Not wanting to part with an asset of any value (even top-55 protected picks can end up being conveyed), the sole asset that the Sixers sent out was the rights to Lishchuk.

So, with all that being said, here’s the list of all current players who still have their draft rights held by a NBA team:

Updated 8-15-15

Atlanta Hawks

  • Dimitrios Agravanis
    • Drafted 59th overall in the 2015 draft by Atlanta
    • PF, 6-10/230, 20 years old from Greece
    • Currently playing in Greece for Olympiacos
    • Under contract until 2018
  • Marcus Eriksson
    • Drafted 50th overall in the 2015 draft by Atlanta
    • SG, 6-5/195, 21 years old from Sweden
    • Currently playing in Spain for Barcelona
    • Under contract until 2018
  • Sergii Gladyr
    • Drafted 49th overall in the 2009 draft by Atlanta
    • G/F, 6-5/190, 25 years old from Ukraine
    • Currently playing in Turkey for Istanbul BB
    • Under contract until 2016
  • Alain Digbeu
    • Drafted 50th overall in the 1997 draft by Atlanta
    • SG, 6-6/220, 39 years old from France
    • Retired in 2011

Read more

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Hoops Rumors Originals

By | at January 25, 2015 10:30 pm

A look at the original analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this week…

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Hoops Rumors Features

By | at January 24, 2015 2:50 pm

Hoops Rumors has a wealth of available resources readily at your disposal. From the most casual basketball fan to the hard-core salary cap aficionado, we have something for everyone to enjoy and delve into. We have you covered if you want to track the latest trades, browse all 30 team rosters, and find easy-to-read articles that explain the nuances of the collective bargaining agreement.

Here are some of the resources available at a glance:

  • Check out our Expanded Roster Counts for each team’s current roster, as well as the contract status for each player.
  • You can keep up with the players who are eligible for restricted or unrestricted free agency after the 2014/15 season here, as well as those who are eligible after the 2015/16 season here.
  • Want to know the key days on the calendar for NBA player movement between now and the end of the 2014/15 regular season? You can find them here.
  • If you are curious where your favorite team stands in regard to the draft lottery, check out our 2014/15 Reverse Standings.
  • As for the players these teams may be selecting in June’s NBA draft, check out the Hoops Rumors 2015 NBA Draft Prospect Power Rankings, which are updated monthly.
  • Stay up to date on all of the NBA wheelings and dealings with our trade tracker.
  • We also keep track of all of the trade exceptions that are created as a result of these deals here.
  • See which D-League teams are affiliated with each NBA franchise by going to the full list here.
  • We keep track of all of the NBA D-League player assignments and recalls right here.
  • You can keep track of all the players inked to 10-day deals from the 2006/07 season through today by going to our 10-Day Contract Tracker.
  • Our Agency Database tells you the representation for all of your favorite players, and you can sort by team and agency.
  • Each week we answer readers’ questions in Hoops Rumors’ Weekly Mailbag. You can submit your queries to HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com.
  • If you want to know more about the nuances of the salary cap or some of the more complicated NBA roster rules, check out the Hoops Rumors Glossary.
  • Stay up to the minute on all of the breaking news and original content that we feature here at Hoops Rumors by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook, as well as Google+.
  • Every Sunday we feature some of the best content from basketball blogs in our Hoops Links series.
  • On Wednesdays at 3:00pm CT, Chuck Myron answers reader questions in a live chat. You can check out transcripts of our past discussions here.
  • Several NBA teams can pay no more than the minimum salary to any free agent signee. Our updated list identifies these clubs.
  • We’re tracking each team’s use of the amnesty clause. Our complete table shows which clubs have used the provision and which still have it available.
  • Our list of outstanding traded player exceptions is updated whenever a trade exception is created, used or expires.
  • In our ongoing Trade Retrospective series, we look back at past trades to see how they turned out for all of the teams involved.
  • We give you a turn in the spotlight when we showcase the best reader comments with our Hoops Rumors Featured Feedback posts.
  • If you’re looking to catch up, our Week in Review posts compile the top news and rumors from the past seven days, while our Hoops Rumors Originals posts recap the site’s original content for the week. Both roundups are published every Sunday.
  • Want to keep up to date on all the rumors, signings, trades, and roster moves for all of your favorite baseball, football, and basketball teams? Download the free Trade Rumors app for iOS and Android devices. The Trade Rumors app is highly customizable. You can add feeds for any of the 92 MLB, NBA, and NFL teams, as well as for any of the thousands of players in our archives, by using the settings icon up top for iOS and the pencil icon up top for Android. You can create a multi-sport experience tailored to your specific interests, or you can limit your app entirely to one sport by removing the others.
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Hoops Rumors Weekly Mailbag 1/18/15-1/24/15

By | at January 24, 2015 11:44 am

In addition to our weekly chat, which Chuck Myron facilitates every Wednesday, we have added a second 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 me a line at HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com or @EddieScarito on Twitter. Now for this week’s inquiries:

“If the Knicks win the lottery this year and have the No. 1 pick, who would they choose out of Emmanuel Mudiay, Karl-Anthony Towns, or Jahlil Okafor? — Mathias

This will be an interesting draft for the Knicks, since it will be Phil Jackson‘s first after a full season as an executive, and he doesn’t have any track record to draw from for reference as to what he might do. Having stated that caveat, I don’t see how New York could pass on Okafor, who is by far the top talent in this draft class. The only way I can see Okafor slipping out of the top slot is if he suffers an injury between now and when his predraft workouts occur. The only other factor that could change Jackson’s focus, possibly to Mudiay, is if Jackson somehow gets the indication that Marc Gasol wants to come to New York via free agency. But that’s an extremely unlikely scenario.

“With all of the trade talk surrounding Michael Carter-Williams, wouldn’t the Sixers be more inclined to trade K.J. McDaniels first? After all, GM Sam Hinkie slipped up in the contract process with McDaniels following the draft. Why not move him and get a return before he can walk?” — Pete D.

I agree with you that Hinkie probably made an error in not signing McDaniels to more than a one-year deal. That kid is a keeper. But it’s for just that reason that I don’t see Philly dealing McDaniels unless the team is absolutely blown away by an offer. But Philadelphia isn’t likely to garner much for what could potentially be just a few months’ rental of McDaniels. Teams will likely be wary of what it might cost them to retain him when he hits restricted free agency this summer. This would likely knock down any potential return that Philadelphia might receive for McDaniels. So I think that Hinkie should, and will, hold onto him, and then do his best to sign McDaniels to a long-term contract this summer. So while he’ll end up costing the Sixers more than if they had simply offered him a guaranteed deal from the start, I think McDaniels is too strong of an asset to give up on this season. Plus, Philly will have ample cap space to match whatever offer sheets McDaniels would garner, within the bounds of the Gilbert Arenas provision and as long as a team doesn’t throw a Chandler Parsons-like contract offer at McDaniels (not very likely). If McDaniels does sign a bloated offer sheet, Philly will just have to swallow hard and let him go.

“Who is more likely to change teams as a free agent this summer — LaMarcus Aldridge or Marc Gasol?”  — Steve-O

My honest answer would be neither, but that would be cheating! If I had to pick, I would choose Aldridge as the player more likely to change zip codes and uniforms. Gasol essentially grew up in Memphis, having attended high school there while Pau Gasol was playing for the Grizzlies. Memphis has a solid team that can offer him the most money, and the younger Gasol isn’t a headline chaser, so moving to a major market would likely hold little appeal. Sure, the Spurs may be an intriguing possibility, given how stellar that organization is. But San Antonio’s core won’t be around for too much longer. So why would Gasol risk heading into a potential rebuilding situation when Memphis will remain a contender over the next few seasons?

As for Aldridge, he’s also unlikely to leave his current team, since the Blazers are also a solid franchise and have a talented roster. Plus, Portland could offer Aldridge nearly $30MM more than any other competing team over the life of any deal. But Aldridge is from Texas, and all three teams in the Lone Star state would likely love to add Aldridge to their rosters. But to do so all three teams would need to clear cap space to add him, or in San Antonio’s case, have Tim Duncan and/or Manu Ginobili retire. I would be stunned if Gasol ended up leaving Memphis. Conversely, I wouldn’t be completely shocked if Aldridge changed teams, but it’s still a long shot.

“Is Langston Galloway for real, and is he a big part of the Knicks next season?” — NYCKingpin

I assure you, Langston Galloway exists! But seriously now. Yes, I think he’s an intriguing prospect whom the Knicks should sign for the remainder of the season when his second 10-day deal expires. I also think he’s a keeper for next season as well. From what Galloway has shown thus far, he can be quite a useful rotation piece in the future. Is he a starting-level player on a playoff team? To that I would say probably not. But he can absolutely develop into a valuable bench player on winning team. But I would temper your expectations a bit. It’s too small a sample size to accurately judge his true worth just yet. Sure, he’s putting up decent numbers, but they’re on a dreadful Knicks squad. Competing teams don’t really bring their A-game when playing against New York this season, which is also something to keep in mind when looking at Galloway’s performances. But Galloway has been the best 10-day signee in the league thus far. So at least the Knicks have accomplished something this season!

“Who is the most intriguing free agent in your opinion this summer?” — Kyle M.

For my money it’s the Warriors’ Draymond Green. The 24-year-old will become a restricted free agent at the end of the season, so Golden State will have the opportunity to match any offer sheets that Green receives. And Green should get a few lucrative offers thrown his way with how well he is performing this season. While Green won’t be the biggest name on the market, he is the one with the most potential to end up being overpaid, since an extremely player-friendly deal is what it will likely take to discourage Golden State from matching another team’s offer sheet. But Green also has as much upside as any player who will be hitting free agency this summer, which is a huge draw.

I simply love Green’s combination of athleticism, hustle, defensive ability, and raw talent. Green’s youth is also a tremendous asset to prospective bidders since his next contract will cover his prime production seasons. Green also has the ability to blossom into a star on a team where the ball isn’t dominated by Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. My only concerns regarding Green is if his breakout season is simply a product of Golden State’s system, and how much his stats have benefited from playing alongside two All-Star caliber players in Curry and Thompson. But out of all of the second-tier free agent players that will be on the market this summer, Green is the one that I would say has the most potential to be a franchise changer.

That’s all the space that I have for this week. Thanks to all those who sent in their questions. I’ll be back next Saturday to answer a whole new batch. So fire away and keep filling up my inbox with your inquiries.

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