NBA teams will be forced to make a lot of moves in the next two weeks, as teams pare down their preseason rosters to the 15-man regular season limit. Extra players must clear waivers by October 28th, making 4pm Central time on October 26th the deadline for teams to make their camp cuts. Nearly 100 players will be exiting NBA rosters, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors detailed yesterday.
Perhaps the most difficult decisions will be made in Phoenix, where the Suns have 16 fully guaranteed contracts. They’re the only team with more than 15 such deals, so unless they can find a trade partner soon, they’ll wind up owing a full season’s salary to a player they won’t be carrying. New GM Ryan McDonough also has Dionte Christmas on a partially guaranteed deal and James Nunnally on a make-good contract, further complicating matters. Christmas and McDonough have a history with the Celtics, and Nunnally was a sought-after camp invitee, so if the GM and president of basketball operations Lon Babby are tempted into keeping one or both of those players, multiple Suns with guaranteed deals could hit the road.
For the purposes of our poll, we’ll simply assume that the Suns will cut only one guaranteed contract. Which do you think is likeliest to go? We’ve included their 2012/13 salary figures via ShamSports to assist your choice. Leave a comment if you think someone you don’t see here is a better bet to end up on waivers. The other option here is a wild card — if you think the Suns can find a team willing to absorb one of their guaranteed contracts via trade and finalize the transaction by October 28th, they won’t have to cut any of their guaranteed guys.
Since LeBron James left Cleveland in free agency in 2010, the Cavaliers have won just 64 games in three seasons — that’s two fewer wins than LeBron’s Heat accumulated last season alone. But with a pair of No. 1 picks (Kyrie Irving, Anthony Bennett) on board, as well as an All-Star center (Andrew Bynum), there’s some optimism about the Cavs’ chances headed into the 2013/14 season.
In spite of the talent on the Cavs’ roster, however, there are plenty of concerns as well. Irving has missed time with injuries in each of his two NBA seasons, and he still doesn’t qualify as nearly the injury risk that Bynum does. Bennett, meanwhile, was the first overall pick among a class considered by draft experts to be the weakest in years. Throw in the fact that Anderson Varejao is coming off a lost season, and that the team will be relying on Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters to take major steps forward, and the question marks begin to add up.
With five legit contenders at the top of the Eastern Conference (or four, if you’re not bullish on the Knicks), there should be three playoff openings up for grabs in 2014. Many of the conference’s lottery teams, such as the Pistons, Raptors, and Wizards, will be looking to grab one of those spots, and 2013 playoff clubs like the Hawks and Bucks expect to return to the postseason.
If they stay healthy, the Cavaliers have as good a chance as any of those playoff hopefuls to earn a spot. But injuries are a real concern, and this is still a very young team. So what do you think? Will we see the Cavs return to the postseason next spring for the first time since 2010?
A little more than two months into the 2012/13 NBA season, I posed a question that would have seemed ridiculous last fall, asking Hoops Rumors readers whether the Lakers would make the playoffs. The No votes slightly outweighed the Yes votes at the time, but L.A. did eventually sneak into the postseason, only to be quickly dispatched by the Spurs.
Last season’s team featured a star-studded starting lineup and championship aspirations, while the expectations for this year’s squad have been scaled back significantly. The Lakers will be without Dwight Howard and Metta World Peace, who are now playing in Houston and New York respectively, and they’ll likely start the season without Kobe Bryant, who continues to recover from an Achilles injury.
The Lakers still have Steve Nash and Pau Gasol, and they retooled their roster with a few potential bargains like Chris Kaman, Wesley Johnson, Nick Young, and Jordan Farmar. But as the 2012/13 Mavericks will tell you, relying on veterans and players on one-year contracts isn’t necessarily a formula for a playoff team.
The road to the postseason in the Western Conference will be particularly tough this season, with a number of 2013 lottery teams having upgraded their respective rosters over the summer. In addition to obvious contenders like the Thunder, Spurs, Clippers, Rockets, Warriors, and Grizzlies, clubs like the Nuggets, Timberwolves, Trail Blazers, Pelicans, and Mavs will be vying for playoff berths.
ESPN.com projected in August that the Lakers would finish 12th in the West, a forecast that will surely motivate Kobe and the rest of the team this season. So what do you think? A year after an underachieving Lakers squad squeaked into the playoffs, will the 2013/14 Lakers overachieve and finish among the West’s top eight?
Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors this week ran down several notable veterans who remain without a deal as camps and the preseason begin. Since his report three days ago, we've already heard more about one of the vets he listed, as it appears representatives for Mickael Pietrus have contacted the Timberwolves, who are down a small forward in the wake of Chase Budinger's injury. Luke didn't mention DeShawn Stevenson, who also drew mention in that Wolves report, or Daniel Gibson, who's piqued the interest of the Nuggets.
Still, the seven free agents Luke examined are among the most intriguing names on the market, and with injuries already a factor for some teams, it would be surprising if all of them go the entire season without another NBA contract. We'll add Stevenson and Gibson to the mix as we ask which free agent is most likely to sign with a team at some point in 2013/14. If you feel like there's another veteran who's a more likely signee than anyone in the group listed here, let us know in the comments.
Read moreThe Knicks pulled off a surprise this week, removing Glen Grunwald from the GM position and giving that job, as well as the title of team president, to former Madison Square Garden boss Steve Mills. The move inspired a stream of reaction that prompted us to use multiple posts to round it all up, and much of the chatter paints the Knicks in a negative light. Mills is inexperienced in player personnel matters, while Grunwald acquired Tyson Chandler and J.R. Smith, helping to construct the roster that this spring gave the Knicks their first division title since 1994, and their first 50-win season since 2000.
Mills seems to possess a superior personal appeal with players, and, as Howard Beck of Bleacher Report wrote today, his connections to the Creative Artists Agency surely endear him to a Knicks franchise that's full of CAA clients. His backers include commissioner David Stern and former Knicks president Donnie Walsh, as Marc Berman of the New York Post points out.
So, would the Knicks have been better off keeping their architect from the past two seasons, or did they make the right move to bring in a new GM? Let us know with your vote, and share more of your thoughts on the changes in New York in the comments.
Read moreEarlier today we asked your thoughts on whether Paul George or John Wall was more deserving of a max contract. Now we're asking which extension candidate you believe will re-sign with his respective team first:
We presented Hoops Rumors readers yesterday with a variety of values for a contract extension between the Pacers and Paul George, and asked which was the most likely result. More voters chose the five-year maximum-salary option than any other scenario. Such a deal would put him on par with John Wall, who maxed out with the Wizards in July.
George had a breakout season last year and led the Pacers to within a game of the NBA Finals. Wall has never made the playoffs and only played 49 games last season after injury delayed his start, but he finished strong and clearly won over Wizards ownership. Their basic statistics are rather similar. George averaged 17.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists last season, while Wall put up 18.5 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 7.6 APG. George had the greater defensive impact for his team in terms of points allowed per 100 possessions, while Wall's 20.8 PER displays significantly more efficiency than George 16.8 PER.
Wall's already got his five-year max deal, and George is perhaps soon to follow. Regardless of how much George winds up with, do you think he's more deserving of the max than Wall is? Let us know with a vote, and share more on the subject in the comments.
While there were a few rumors linking Paul George to the Lakers earlier this offseason, that always seemed to be wishful thinking on the part of L.A. fans, rather than a realistic scenario. Even if he were to hit the open market next summer, George would be a restricted free agent, meaning the Pacers could match any offer sheet he signs. And with Danny Granger's big contract set to come off the books in 2014, there's no reason why Indiana wouldn't have matched any offer for George.
However, it looks like it won't even come to that. George recently indicated that he plans to ink a new long-term extension with the Pacers before the season begins. The two sides are still negotiating, but they appear on track to get something done before the Halloween deadline.
The question now becomes what sort of deal George will sign. The rising star was named the league's Most Improved Player this past spring, and at age 23, there's still plenty of room for further growth. I'd be a little surprised if he ever won an MVP award, but when we posed that question in a June poll, over 38% of the respondents said they believe he'll earn that honor at some point — those results at least show that it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility.
In other words, in a league where Eric Gordon receives a maximum-salary contract offer coming off an injury-plagued season, there's little doubt that George would receive the same sort of offer as a free agent. But will the small-market Pacers be willing to guarantee him that much money ahead of free agency? If so, you might assume the two sides would've already finalized an agreement. After all, it didn't take long for John Wall to ink his maximum-salary extension with the Wizards. A year ago, Blake Griffin signed his max deal with the Clippers as soon as free agency opened, and James Harden finalized his own max extension with the Rockets immediately after the team acquired him.
Of course, money likely won't be the only sticking point in contract talks. The Pacers will also have the option of offering George a five-year extension, making him the franchise's designated player. As we explain in our glossary entry on designated players, that means the team couldn't give a five-year rookie-scale extension to another player during the duration of George's new contract.
At this point, there are no candidates for that designated player tag on the Pacers' roster besides George, unless Solomon Hill is a lot better than we think. So my guess is that Indiana gives George that fifth year, and he compromises by agreeing to sign for a little less than the max — perhaps something in the five-year, $70MM range gets it done.
As we wait to see what sort of compromises the two sides are willing to make, let's get your thoughts. Where do you think George and the Pacers will eventually land?