Pacific Notes: Green, Kings, Black
Draymond Green, who re-signed with the Warriors this past summer for five years and $82MM, drew some high praise from LeBron James, Joe Vardon of Northeast Ohio Media Group relays. Green, who leads the league with eight triple-doubles this season, often takes the assignment of guarding James later in games, as Vardon points out.
“I knew one thing: Whatever team got him was going to get a very smart, complete guy,” James said. “Any guy who is able to get a triple-double in the college game, that means a lot. Not many possessions and the game isn’t that well-rounded in college. He did it multiple times in East Lansing and for the most part if he comes from under [Michigan State coach Tom Izzo] you’re going to have some basketball IQ. He has all the intangibles.”
Here’s more on the Pacific Division:
- The Kings are hoping their roster can continue to improve while they explore options to add another defender, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee reports. Clippers forward Luc Mbah a Moute, whom the Kings voided their contract with over the summer after a failed physical, has all the traits Sacramento is looking for, Jones adds. “Every team likes his intangibles,” Kings coach George Karl said. “He’s not a stat guy; he’s a low-maintenance offensive guy, so you don’t have to run anything for him and he’s happy.”
- While Lakers coach Byron Scott seems unsatisfied with the development of Tarik Black, Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff wishes Houston still had the center on its roster, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle details. Scott said Black has been “OK” and has not provided an impact off the bench. The Rockets waived Black last season. “We loved him,” Bickerstaff said. “We wanted to keep him around. We had to make a move for a roster spot [to sign Josh Smith.] He was kind of a casualty of that. He’s a heck of a player, brings great energy. Defensively, he communicates. He’s good in the pick-and-roll. He’ll rebound the ball. Doesn’t back down from anybody. Accepts all challenges from all comers. We love him.”
Rockets Notes: Howard, Lawson, Bickerstaff
Rockets GM Daryl Morey told reporters there is no way Houston will be able to make a solid playoff push this year without Dwight Howard when asked about Howard’s future in Houston as the trade deadline approaches, Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle relays. The Rockets are currently seventh in the Western Conference with a 21-20 record. Howard was the subject of trade rumors last month, but he has on multiple occasions denied a report that he’s upset with playing a secondary role to James Harden. The Rockets expect Howard to opt out and hit free agency this summer.
Here are some more highlights from the interview session with Morey and notes regarding the Rockets:
- Ty Lawson has played significantly better as of late and Morey believes the point guard still has tremendous upside, Smith details in the same interview transcription. “We know he’s capable of a very high level of play,” Morey said. “He’s done it every year he’s been in the league. … At times the fit on our roster has been challenging for him and us. But I feel like [interim coach] J.B. [Bickerstaff] has been working through that.”
- Speaking of Bickerstaff, Morey, in the same interview, applauded the work the interim coach has done in guiding the Rockets, but was noncommittal about Bickerstaff’s future beyond this season. “When the season ends, we’re obviously going to have a tough decision,” Morey said. “And he’s very good – he’ll have a tough decision, too. How well he’s done has put a spotlight on him.”
- The Rockets are 17-13 under Bickerstaff and the 36-year-old is starting to feel more comfortable in his interim role, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune writes. “It’s not about me,” Bickerstaff said. “It’s about what’s best for those guys in that locker room. You have to put personal issues aside and go get a job done. It’s about being a teammate, sacrificing for others and doing things you might not normally do. Figuring out the job, leading a group of guys who have high expectations for themselves and getting the most out of them, that’s most important.”
And Ones: Papanikolaou, Clark, Inglis, RFAs
Kostas Papanikolaou, whom the Nuggets waived last week, will return to Olympiacos in Greece, according to Sport24 (translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Papanikolaou, who won two Euroleague titles during his last stint with Olympiacos, will sign a contract that runs through June 2019. He was released twice this season by Denver, most recently on January 8th, just before the remainder of his veteran’s minimum salary of $845,059 would have been guaranteed for the season. Papanikolaou also played for the Rockets during his season and a half in the NBA, averaging 3.6 points in 69 games with the two franchises. The 6’8″ forward was sent to Denver in the July 20th trade that brought Ty Lawson to Houston.
There’s more from around the basketball world:
- Former lottery pick Earl Clark, who is playing in the D-League while hoping to earn a 10-day contract, was part of a trade Saturday, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Clark was sent from the Suns‘ Bakersfield affiliate to the Sixers‘ Delaware affiliate in exchange for a second-round D-League draft pick. The 27-year-old, who played 10 games with the Nets last season, hopes the move will give him a fresh start in his quest to return to the NBA. “It’s a grind,” Clark said of the D-League. “It’s definitely different from any other league. I just felt like [the NBA] was within my reach if I came down here and played well. I believe in my talent. I told myself I’m going to give myself another year to make this NBA thing work.”
- The Bucks have sent Damien Inglis to the D-League, the team announced Saturday. Because Milwaukee doesn’t have a direct affiliate, Inglis will be assigned to the Westchester Knicks. He played for the Canton Charge during an earlier trip to the D-League.
- Chasing restricted free agents is a risky way to pursue talent, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The danger is that while teams wait for other organizations to decide whether to match an offer, top talent could be signing elsewhere. Prominent RFAs this summer will include Andre Drummond, Harrison Barnes, Bradley Beal, Festus Ezeli, Allen Crabbe and Evan Fournier.
Western Notes: Gay, Price, Brown, Williams
The Kings and Pelicans are continuing trade talks focused on Rudy Gay, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. The latest report is that Sacramento is refusing to accept New Orleans’ offer of Eric Gordon and Alonzo Gee. The Pelicans reportedly turned down an offer of Gay for Ryan Anderson earlier this week. In November, Gay signed a three-year, $40MM extension with the Kings, with a player option on the final season in 2017/18. Gordon is making more than $15.5MM in the final year of his contract, while Gee inked a two-year, $2.75MM free agent deal with the Pelicans in July.
There’s more tonight from the Western Conference:
- The Suns‘ Ronnie Price won’t be able to resume basketball activities for at least three weeks after having surgery on his right big toe, tweets Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Surgeons had to remove “loose bodies” from the toe. The veteran guard has appeared in 34 games this season.
- The 10-day contracts signed by the Suns‘ Lorenzo Brown and the Grizzlies‘ Elliot Williams will both expire on Sunday, tweets former Nets executive Bobby Marks. He notes that both teams will have the option of offering a second 10-day contract.
- The Rockets have recalled K.J. McDaniels from their Rio Grande Valley affiliate in the D-League, the team tweeted today. McDaniels has appeared in just 11 games with Houston after signing a three-year, $10MM deal in the offseason.
Southwest Notes: Brewer, Barnes, Williams
More than two dozen players became eligible to be traded today, and among them is Corey Brewer, about whom the Rockets and Suns reportedly had serious discussions as they entertained a swap that would also include Terrence Jones going to Phoenix for Markieff Morris. Still, Suns GM Ryan McDonough denied that any deal was prearranged or pending as he spoke Wednesday on the “Burns & Gambo” show on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, as Kellan Olson of ArizonaSports.com transcribes. McDonough predicted lots of activity between now and the February 18th trade deadline and promised he’ll take an aggressive approach, though he said he can envision Morris remaining with Phoenix through the end of the season, adding that the Suns are “under no pressure to do anything immediately.” While we wait to see what happens on that front, there’s more on the Rockets and other Southwest Division teams:
- Improved defense, better 3-point shooting and the presence of Patrick Beverley in the starting lineup instead of Ty Lawson have sparked the Rockets to improved play, as Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com details, but GM Daryl Morey isn’t satisfied. “I’m worried given our goals,” Morey said, according to Watkins. “We still have a lot of improvement to do and we’re working towards that.”
- The performance Matt Barnes has put on for the Grizzlies lately makes it clear his controversial October encounter with Knicks coach Derek Fisher isn’t a distraction to the team and that he’s been one of the most valuable Grizzlies on the court, writes Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal. The 35-year-old has maintained his high level of defensive play all season, and more recently he’s begun to regain his usual shooting touch, Tillery notes. Barnes delivered pithy comments to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, saying, “I don’t talk to snakes” when asked if he’ll speak to Fisher while the Knicks are in Memphis for Saturday’s game. Barnes sent threatening text messages to Fisher in the weeks preceding Barnes’ alleged physical attack on Fisher at the home of Barnes’ estranged wife, a source told Marc Berman of the New York Post.
- A pair of small trade exceptions expired for Southwest Division teams this week, vestiges of the three-team trade that sent Jeff Green to the Grizzlies. The Pelicans allowed their $507,336 Russ Smith trade exception to lapse, while the Grizzlies didn’t find a use for the $396,068 leftover scrap of the Quincy Pondexter trade exception. Memphis used most of that Pondexter exception, originally valued at $3,146,068, to take in Luke Ridnour, whom the Grizzlies promptly flipped for Barnes.
- Chris Herrington of The Commericial Appeal doesn’t think the Grizzlies will issue a second 10-day contract to Elliot Williams, whose existing 10-day deal expires at the end of Sunday (Twitter link).
Western Notes: Plumlee, Jones, Garnett
The Pelicans‘ season has not gone as planned and the team has begun exploring its options in the trade market, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports relays. In addition to power forward Ryan Anderson, whom New Orleans has reportedly been listening to offers about, the team has also discussed various trade scenarios involving swingmen Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon, the Yahoo scribe notes. Gordon, who is earning approximately $15.5MM this season, is in the final year of his contract, but Evans’ deal still has one more season on the books valued at $10.2MM. Here’s more from out West:
- Blazers big man Mason Plumlee is still trying to make his case that he has what it takes to be a special player, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com writes. “I’m at a point right now where I still very much feel like I’m trying to prove myself in this league,’’ said Plumlee. “I think there are a lot of guys who think they can hang around because they are big or athletic, but I really want to thrive, I really want to be somebody in the NBA. And I don’t think that’s proven yet.’’ Plumlee points to Warriors forward Draymond Green as an example of a player who wasn’t satisfied with merely making it into the NBA, which is the path he wishes to take, Quick adds. “You look at Draymond: a late draft pick, could have been satisfied with establishing himself in the league,’’ Plumlee continued. “But now, he’s doing special things, becoming a special player. So I ask myself: Do I want to just be a player in the NBA, or do I want to excel and be special?’’
- Rockets combo forward Terrence Jones has turned a corner as a player and may be on his way to fulfilling some of the promise that made him the No. 18 overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com writes. “The talent is there with Terrence,” interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We need to get to a point where it’s there every night and we can depend on Terrence because he’s a big part of what we do. He’s a big part of our big rotation up front — he, Clint [Capela] and Dwight [Howard] right now get all the minutes at the big spots for us. This is the type of performance that he had tonight and [Tuesday, when he scored 20 points] that he’s capable of. We just need him to string those performances together.”
- Kevin Garnett is only averaging 14.9 minutes per night for the Wolves, but the veteran has been remarkably efficient during his limited time on the court and his leadership has proven to be a great resource to the team, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune writes. “He’s still very valuable to what we’re trying to do,” interim coach Sam Mitchell said of Garnett. “Those 10 minutes that he plays, he sets the tone. It’s 10 minutes our young guys get a chance to see one of the greatest defenders ever play. They get a chance to play with him. They’re learning experience, whether KG is on the floor for 10 minutes or 17 minutes. It’s invaluable.”
Scotto’s Latest: Anderson, Gay, Morris, Motiejunas
The Pelicans rejected a trade proposal from the Kings of Ryan Anderson for Rudy Gay, league sources told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, a signal that Sacramento is making Gay available. New Orleans has reportedly been listening to offers about Anderson but not shopping him, and coach Alvin Gentry has said it’s unlikely the Pelicans trade him this season. A straight-up exchange of Anderson for Gay trade would move the Pelicans to within $1MM of the luxury tax threshold, so it’s not surprising New Orleans said no. Scotto heard more about Anderson and several other trade candidates, as we’ll summarize here:
- The Pistons are expected to pursue Anderson in free agency, league sources told Scotto. Stan Van Gundy said in October that Anderson, incumbent Pistons power forward Ersan Ilyasova and Kevin Love are in a class by themselves among those who combine effective rebounding and 3-point shooting.
- The Suns, who reportedly engaged in talks with the Pelicans about a swap of Markieff Morris for Anderson, now prefer young players or draft picks in exchange for Morris, Scotto’s league sources say.
- The Clippers are making Josh Smith available for a trade, according to Scotto, essentially a reprise of earlier this season, when Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports reported the Clips had gauged interest in him. Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers denied that earlier report, however.
- The Rockets have taken Donatas Motiejunas off the trade market, but Terrence Jones remains available, Scotto reports. Houston earlier had talks with Phoenix about a swap of Jones and Corey Brewer for Morris, as Scotto revealed, and those discussions were serious, Marc Stein of ESPN.com later added. Brewer becomes eligible to be traded Friday.
- Scotto adds the Mavericks to list of teams with interest in trading for Timberwolves shooting guard Kevin Martin.
And-Ones: Morey, Smith, Prigioni
The Rockets have improved as of late, but the franchise still views the current campaign as a disappointment and GM Daryl Morey believes the team needs to demonstrate more consistency on both sides of the court moving forward, Neil Greenberg of The Washington Post writes. “We’re just volatile,” said Morey. “We’re not very consistent. That’s something we need to keep improving on. We aren’t as good as we need to be on both sides of the ball. Defense is the bigger area we need to improve on, in all facets, especially transition-D and defensive rebounding. Offense – we’ve had better moments lately but we have had long stretches of droughts. A lot of what we were able to do was have our defense turn into offense last year and that has been less prevalent this year.”
Here’s more from around the league:
- Ish Smith has performed exceptionally well since being acquired by the Sixers, who are his ninth NBA team in five seasons. While the point guard isn’t sure why he has been unable to stick with one team, he does believe all the movement has made him a better player, Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Daily News writes. “You might have to make that phone call to all those GMs, don’t ask me,” Smith responded, when asked why he thinks he has been on the move so often. “I just think it’s part of the process. Everybody has their story. I thank God for what I went through. It’s made me who I am. I wouldn’t want it any other way. When I went through the process, I didn’t understand it. Was it frustrating? Absolutely. But you just have to trust the process. Not everybody is a lottery pick who plays for the same team for 13 years. My story couldn’t be that. Is that the easy way or is that the ideal way? Absolutely. But that’s not my story.“
- Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers has been impressed with the intangibles that veteran point guard Pablo Prigioni has brought to the team, Robert Morales of The Long Beach Post-Telegram writes. “He’s been great,” Rivers said of Prigioni. “He’s just been solid. He runs the team and that’s so important. I think if you just looked at him, or looked at his numbers, you wouldn’t be that impressed. He goes yesterday without a shot, he goes games without shots; he has assists. But he just knows how to play. He gives that second unit more craftiness.”
Western Notes: Karl, Davis, Cotton
Kings coach George Karl admits that the comment he made at the end of last season that any player on the roster was tradeable didn’t get his relationship with DeMarcus Cousins off to a great start, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. “I just can’t stand summer talk,” Karl said. “I mean, free agency, all the money, teams think they saved their organization by signing this guy or making this trade. You have all these obnoxious predictions and it doesn’t mean anything. We got off into that trade innuendo, and I think it hurt Cuz [Cousins]. And I think I made a mistake in making the comment that no player is untradeable. That’s something I might believe, but I shouldn’t have said it. So everything kind of snowballed in the wrong way at the end of last year.”
“My belief was, I never, ever thought I was not going to coach Cuz this year,” Karl continued. “Did you have philosophical discussions? We talk about everything. We meet for 2-3 hours every day and talk about every scenario in the world. And I think Cuz worked his tail off this summer. [Team executive] Vlade [Divac] and I got together with Cuz in the summertime. Vlade’s done a good job of being a good bridge between he and I.”
Here’s more from out West:
- Baron Davis, who agreed to join the NBA D-League earlier today, worked out for the Mavericks last Saturday when the team was in Los Angeles, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), but coach Rick Carlisle laughed off the report, as SB Nation’s Tim Cato relays (on Twitter).
- Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff continues to learn while on the job, something that is vital if he hopes to remain in the position on a long-term basis, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com writes. “Every day you learn something,” Bickerstaff said. “That’s the same as assistant coach and the same as a head coach. You should continue to learn. You watch so much basketball you should see something somewhere from somebody different all the time. I hope I continue to learn. If I don’t then I know everything.“
- Bryce Cotton, whom the Suns waived prior to the leaguewide contract guarantee date, has rejoined the Austin Spurs in the NBA D-League, tweets Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor.
And-Ones: Harrell, Rockets, Young
Rookie Montrezl Harrell has the ability to give the Rockets a boost in the rebounding department, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle writes. “We need to rebound,” interm coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Montrezl is a guy who is going to bring energy, he’s going to bring toughness, he’s going to bring grit. If he doesn’t get [the rebound], his guy sure as heck isn’t going to get it.”
The decision the Rockets made to sign Harrell to a three-year deal came with consequences, as Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors detailed in the offseason. Houston had to use its mid-level exception, which meant the team would be hard-capped and unable to carry a payroll of more than $88.74MM at any point during the 2015/16 campaign. The franchise currently has $87.26MM in guaranteed salary on the books this season, leaving little room should the Rockets look to add another player.
The rookie hasn’t been a factor in many games this season, but if he can become a contributor, it’ll make the decision to sign him for the long term look more favorable for the team and it should help the 18-19 Rockets climb the playoff ladder in the Western Conference. Here’s more from around the league:
- Harrell credits the Rockets‘ one-on-one affiliation with the D-League for allowing him to stay ready just in case his number is called, Feigen writes in a separate piece. “When I feel like I’m going through a stretch, a couple games, where I’m not running plays, I asked to go down,” Harrell said. “It’s about getting in that in-game situation, playing running plays, getting the in-game experience with the refs calling fouls. I know by going down, we’re running the same exact things we’re running here so it’s going to help me.”
- Thaddeus Young is having one of his best seasons as a pro in the first year of a four-year, $50MM deal, but the power forward is focusing on helping the Nets improve rather than his stats this season, Fred Kerber of The New York Post writes. “My biggest thing is I just want to win basketball games, and that’s how I’ve been throughout the course of my career, just trying to win as many games as possible to help put my team in a position to where we can be successful. Obviously it’s not happening this year, but no matter what, I’m still going to go hard, 110 %,” Young said. The Georgia Tech product is averaging 15.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game while shooting 51.9% from the field and sporting a 19.1 player efficiency rating this season.