Eastern Notes: Love, Bennett, Moultrie
Kevin Love today indicated his intention to stay with the Cavs beyond this season, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com observes, and Cavs GM David Griffin is confident that Love and LeBron James will stick together for years to come, notes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter link). Love and James can become free agents next summer, and Love said today that he hasn’t spoken about an extension with Cleveland, though that only stands to reason, since he can re-sign for more money if he waits until free agency.
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- There was confusion earlier this month about whether Anthony Bennett would go to the Sixers as part of the Kevin Love trade, but Sixers GM Sam Hinkie told reporters today that he never had any talks about acquiring the former No. 1 overall pick. Tom Moore of Calkins Media passes along the tidbit via Twitter. Bennett wound up with the Wolves instead.
- Arnett Moultrie‘s future with the Sixers is cloudy, but Hinkie indicated today that Philadelphia still wants to give him a chance even though the power forward has to prove his worth, as Moore observes (Twitter link). “Arnett was working really hard last week,” Hinkie said. “It’s been going fine. It’s a big summer for him. He’s got to show what he can do.” Last week, Chuck Myron cast the chances as remote that Philly will up his 2015/16 rookie scale contract option by the October 31st deadline.
- The two-year $550K offer that agent Tim Lotsos said Thanasis Antetokounmpo turned down from Cimberio Varese to instead join the Knicks D-League affiliate wasn’t quite so lucrative, as Guido Guida of La Gazzetta dello Sport hears (Twitter link). The gross amount wasn’t quite that much, and the net after taxes was only slightly more than $100K per year, Guida says. A source seconds Guida’s report to David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link).
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas Mulls Comeback With Cavs?
11:23am: Herb Rudoy, the agent for Ilgauskas, denies the rumor, telling Shams Charania of RealGM that his client is not considering a comeback (Twitter link).
9:13am: Zydrunas Ilgauskas is considering a comeback, according to Tony Rizzo of ESPN Cleveland, and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com suggests that the Cavs would consider signing the 39-year-old at midseason. Rizzo and Windhorst made their comments Monday on Rizzo’s “The Really Big Show” on ESPN Cleveland radio (audio link; move forward to the 0:48 mark).
Rizzo hears that Ilgauskas is contemplating a return as soon as training camp, but Windhorst doesn’t think the 15-year veteran plans on coming back until after the season has begun. The defensive shortcomings that stemmed from his lack of mobility in 2010/11, his final season in the NBA, would be difficult to overcome, though he’s otherwise fit enough to play in the NBA, Windhorst suggests.
In any case, the Cavs are likely to consider an array of veterans, including free agents who didn’t sign this past summer, those bought out during the season, and players who retired, like Ilgauskas, during the season, according to Windhorst. There’s a decent chance that Ray Allen, a Cavs target for much of the summer, will be among them, Windhorst says, pointing to the possibility that Allen envisions sitting out the start of the season and signing later.
It’s likely that the 15th player the Cavs carry at the beginning of the season will be on a non-guaranteed contract “or at least be very movable,” Windhorst says, adding that there’s a distinct possibility that the Cavs will maintain flexibility with another roster spot, too. Cleveland has 10 deals known to be fully guaranteed, and presumably Shawn Marion and second-round pick Dwight Powell will have fully guaranteed salaries, too. One of their partially guaranteed contracts belongs to Anderson Varejao, but Erik Murphy, Alex Kirk, John Lucas III, Malcolm Thomas are the players seemingly in contention for the final two places on the regular season roster.
Ilgauskas spent his final season with the Heat, but he otherwise spent his entire playing career with Cleveland. He rejoined the organization after he retired, when former GM Chris Grant hired him as a special assistant within the front office. Ilgauskas was a teammate of LeBron James for eight seasons, the longest anyone ever played with the four-time MVP.
Windhorst’s Latest: Love, Mozgov, Thompson
The Cavs were only willing to give up two of three assets they relinquished in the Kevin Love trade until owner Dan Gilbert met with Love earlier this summer in Las Vegas, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN said in his appearance Monday with Tom Rizzo on ESPN Cleveland radio (audio link). Cleveland switched gears after that meeting and decided to give up its entire package of Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and the 2015 first-round pick it had previously acquired from Miami, as Windhorst details. The ESPN scribe speculates that Gilbert probably emerged from having spoken with Love more confident that the superstar power forward would remain in Cleveland long-term, which led him to up the Cavs’ offer. Windhorst had plenty more to say on Rizzo’s “The Really Big Show,” and we already touched on the Zydrunas Ilgauskas news earlier today. We’ll share the rest of the highlights here:
- Cleveland’s acquisition of John Lucas III, Erik Murphy and Malcolm Thomas in last month’s trade with the Jazz was made with Timofey Mozgov in mind, according to Windhorst, who says the Cavs continue to try to pry the center from the Nuggets. The Cavs envisioned flipping some combination of those three for Mozgov, as Windhorst indicates. Still, the Nuggets are reluctant to give him up, Windhorst adds, even though the Cavs offered a first-round pick as part of a deal for him, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported a few weeks ago.
- The Cavs tried to acquire Alexey Shved in the Love trade, in part because of his connection to coach David Blatt from their time together on the Russian national team, Windhorst says. Shved went to the Sixers instead.
- Windhorst asserts that the Cavs will sign Tristan Thompson to a rookie scale extension, suggesting that it would make the power forward a trade asset. An extension would complicate any trade involving Thompson because of the Poison Pill Provision, however.
And-Ones: Drew, Antetokounmpo, D-League
Former Bucks coach Larry Drew was blindsided by his ouster from Milwaukee, telling Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he was taken aback by the process. New owners Marc Lasry and Wes Edens were already in discussions with Jason Kidd, who supplanted Drew on the bench, while he was participating in rookie Jabari Parker‘s introductory press conference.
“The whole Jabari thing, putting me in that position, I don’t think it was very professional. I wish it wouldn’t have happened that way, but it did,” said Drew, who is now an assistant with the Cavs. “It caught me in a position when I least expected it. But I know how these things work. I don’t have any hard feelings, any grudges against anybody.”
Here’s more from around the league:
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo‘s agent tells Marc Berman of the New York Post that the forward turned down a two-year, $550K offer to play in Italy in order to accept the $25K salary he will receive with the Knicks‘ D-League affiliate. Agent Tim Lotsos says the sacrifice was made because his client is eager to prove himself as NBA-ready. “To my surprise, he passed on it,” said Lotsos. “He’s very ambitious and determined to make the NBA. I didn’t try to force him. I wanted him to make his own decision.”
- A D-League expansion draft for returning player rights will take place on September 1, reports Gino Pilato of DLeagueDigest.com. The draft will supply the Knicks‘ new affiliate with a starting roster, and each existing team will protect up to 12 current D-League players that the Westchester Knicks can’t obtain.
- In the same piece, Pilato does a mock selection draft, projecting which players he sees each D-League team protecting and which players wind up in Westchester.
- Plenty of people believe rookie Cavs coach David Blatt will become one of the best coaches in the league, writes Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders in his look at rising coaching names. Brigham views Mike Budenholzer, Steve Clifford, Dave Joerger, and Jeff Hornacek as fellow up-and-comers in the NBA ranks.
- In a LeBron James-centric mailbag column, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel asserts that it was James’ contract preferences that led to the Cavs receiving draft picks from Miami in 2010 through a sign-and-trade, and that it was also his contract desires that prevented the Heat from receiving any picks when he returned to Cleveland this summer.
And-Ones: Barea, Bledsoe, Bonner, Beasley
The Cavs are probably better off for having lost LeBron James in 2010 than they would be if he had never gone to Miami since it gave them the chance to accumulate assets through rebuilding, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller argues. That helps explain why the Sixers, one of the other teams in the Kevin Love deal, are so aggressively stripping their roster, Ziller suggests. Still, Cleveland was remarkably lucky in the lottery, nabbing three No. 1 overall picks in four years, so it’s tough to say that another team can easily mimic the path of the Cavs. Here’s more from around the league:
- The only players on the Wolves who are off-limits for a trade are the ones who just came aboard in the Love deal, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune writes within a chat with readers. J.J. Barea remains on the block after the Wolves failed to convince the Sixers to take him on in the Love trade, Zgoda also writes.
- The Wolves like Eric Bledsoe quite a bit, but it’s tough to see a scenario in which they’d sign-and-trade for the Suns restricted free agent, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Phoenix reportedly made a last-ditch effort at a Bledsoe-for-Love swap, but Minnesota rejected that idea.
- Backcourt mate Goran Dragic is hopeful that Bledsoe will be back with the Suns next season, as he tells Erildas Budraitis of RealGM.
- Matt Bonner says there were several teams that inquired about him during his free agency this summer, but he let all of them know that he was waiting to see about a deal with the Spurs first, as he tells Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News. Bonner re-signed with the Spurs last month to a one-year deal for the minimum.
- The Heat let Michael Beasley know they wouldn’t rule out re-signing him, but that’s standard practice for the team, which hasn’t made any offer to the forward, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The Heat isn’t high on bringing him back for several reasons, Jackson hears.
Emeka Okafor Drawing Widespread Interest
MONDAY, 1:45pm: Teams had been taking a cautious approach in evaluating Okafor as of a few weeks ago, as J. Michael of CSNWashington says today, adding that the center has much to prove before doctors would declare him healthy (Twitter link). It’s unclear whether teams have become more optimistic since Michael last heard news on the center.
SUNDAY, 10:46pm: Emeka Okafor is in high demand even after missing all of 2013/14, writes Marc Stein of ESPN.com. In fact, roughly half of the league has registered interest this summer in the big man. Okafor is nonetheless unlikely to sign anywhere until midseason given the lingering effects of his neck injury, Stein also hears.
A number of teams, including contending clubs, would like to add the 31-year-old Okafor to their benches. The Cavs and Heat are among the teams to have checked in, according to Stein, echoing an earlier report from Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald that identified the Heat’s interest in the 10-year veteran.
Okafor suffered his injury in the preseason while with Washington last October and was dealt to the Suns shortly before opening night in the trade that brought Marcin Gortat to the Wizards. Okafor’s nearly $14.5MM expiring contract was linked in trade rumors to Pau Gasol and others, but the Suns never found a deal to their liking that would have allowed them to flip Okafor before his lucrative pact ran out.
Okafor was one of a handful of big men to reportedly audition for the Clippers earlier this month.
Eastern Notes: Heat, Cavs, Andersen
In light of all the roster additions the Cavs have made this summer, the only way this coming season can be gauged a success is if Cleveland wins a title, writes Chris Fedor of The Plain Dealer. More on LeBron James‘ current team as well as his former club..
- Chris Andersen says that he re-signed with the Heat, in part, because Miami feels like home to him, writes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. “It was definitely the loyalty from the fans and from the team,” said Andersen who signed a two-year, $10.3MM contract with the Heat last month. “That had a big part of it. And it’s matter of me ending my career in a place that I’d be happy at and am familiar with.”
- With the Heat trying to prove they can make the playoffs without LeBron James, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel doesn’t think that the younger players on the roster, such as Shabazz Napier, Justin Hamilton, or James Ennis, will see significant minutes this season.
- With Cleveland the prohibitive favorites to win the East, Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders looks at how the new-look Cavs stack up against the Western Conference contenders.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
And-Ones: Gilbert, Nowitzki, Parsons
Team USA’s roster is set, with every frontcourt player surviving the final cut. Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press reports on the decision-making that led to the big roster for international competition. Here’s more from around the league:
- Cavs owner Dan Gilbert tweeted well wishes to Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins, both of whom Cleveland dealt to the Wolves to acquire Kevin Love. “Wishing [Bennett and Wiggins] nothing but the best this season and beyond,” read Gilbert’s tweet. “Two class acts who both have bright futures in our league.”
- In an interview on 105.3 FM The Fan, Mavs owner Mark Cuban said that Dirk Nowitzki re-signed at a discount rate without the assurance that Dallas would net any particular free agent with the savings (transcription via The Dallas Morning News). “Dirk is the man. It wasn’t that type of conversation at all,” said Cuban. “Dirk and I sit and talk about all of this stuff. He knows the strategy, what we’re trying to do, why we’re doing it. He realizes that if he [hadn’t taken a discount] the chances of him being in a championship position weren’t nearly as good.”
- Cuban also said he isn’t concerned about Chandler Parsons‘ increasingly high-profile lifestyle after signing his huge contract. “Every guy who is good goes through that though because you go off your rookie contract and if you’re good, you’re getting paid,” said the Mavs owner. “I think it’s rare to find a guy who takes the money and is out. I think in Chandler’s case in talking to him, he wants to prove that he’s worth it. He’s working his butt off to do it. You never know until you know. It’s not like he was only good for one or two years, he was good for three years.”
Wolves Notes: Trade Reactions
Ben Golliver of SI.com grades out the Kevin Love blockbuster trade, giving the Wolves a lower score than either the Cavs or Sixers. Meanwhile, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun sees Minnesota as the clear victor of the trade, and Philadelphia the biggest loser. Plenty more will be written about the trade as the teams and players involved meet, exceed, or fall short of shifting expectations. Here’s a roundup of some early reactions:
- At the press conference addressing the trade (video link), Wolves president of basketball ops Flip Saunders said that he was prepared to enter the season without trading away Love if he hadn’t received an offer that would significantly benefit Minnesota.
- Saunders added that he believes the Wolves now have an exciting identity with the reconstructed roster. “We’ve all of a sudden become athletic, exciting and fast, instead of being maybe a little bit slower and more plodding,” said Saunders. Trade acquisition Andrew Wiggins pairs with fellow lottery pick Zach LaVine as two of the most elite athletes to be drafted in recent years.
- GM Milt Newton summed up how Minnesota was able to acquire such a large package for Love to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (Twitter link). “They realized we weren’t going to give him away,” said Newton.
- J.A. Adande of ESPN.com writes that the Wolves have escaped the dregs of NBA mediocrity with the Love deal, giving themselves a chance to build a stronger future than they might have had with Love in town.
- Since the Wolves aren’t likely to make the playoffs with Thaddeus Young replacing Love in the starting lineup this season, Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune thinks it was a mistake for Saunders to send the 2015 first-round draft pick they could have netted from the Cavs to the Sixers. Minnesota will likely still be rebuilding next season, and would be better served acquiring more young talent, surmises Souhan.
Eastern Rumors: Love, Cavs, Raptors
Cavs coach David Blatt is waiting to comment on Cleveland’s acquisition of Kevin Love until the star forward has passed his physical, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. The deal is official, but Blatt is apparently wary of counting on the most recent of his too-good-to-be-true roster additions until it’s cemented. Since being hired for the head coaching job on a 33-49 team, Blatt’s squad has ballooned with incoming talent including Love, LeBron James, Shawn Marion, and Mike Miller. Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- While the Cavs have already become a title contender, Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal thinks the team is well-positioned to accumulate even more talent in the coming years. Lloyd notes that Cleveland has retained most of its first-round draft picks, and also holds a trade asset in Brendan Haywood‘s contract.
- Tim Leiweke and Masai Ujiri insisted to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun that the Raptors won’t take a step back when Leiweke steps down as CEO on or before June 30 of next year. “[The next CEO] hopefully will not only be as supportive, but hopefully, better, smarter than I was in getting Masai the support he needs,” said Leiweke. “They should know the future of the Raptors is ultimately about Masai and they should feel extremely comfortable. My job was to find a good leader and I did. I will leave behind that great leader and he’s the guy who will take them to the next heights.”
- Ujiri acknowledged to Wolstat that Leiweke’s departure will affect him, despite his confidence in Toronto’s direction. “It’s unfortunate and it affects me because of my relationship with Tim. It affects me because of chemistry, of how we worked here,” Ujiri said. “It was phenomenal. It was great. We had ways of getting through everything, whether it was good or bad. Tim always figured out how to make it better for us.”