Houston Rockets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southwest Notes: Llull, Bertans, Gasol

March 28th, 2015 at 9:52pm CST by ChrisCrouse

GM Daryl Morey shot down the rumor that the Rockets are preparing to give draft-and-stash prospect Sergio Llull a contract for three years, totaling at least $17MM, calling it simply “not true” in an interview on Mad Radio, one of Houston’s local sports stations. Morey did say that the team may have interest in bringing the point guard aboard in the future. Houston acquired Llull’s rights from the Nuggets during the 2009 draft.

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

Spurs international prospect Davis Bertans tore his right ACL while playing for Laboral Kutxa of Spain’s Liga ACB, writes Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Bertans will likely miss at least six months of action. The small forward was the 42nd overall pick in the 2011 draft and San Antonio acquired his draft rights as part of the Kawhi Leonard trade.
Marc Gasol hasn’t ruled out leaving the Grizzlies and joining the Knicks, according to Fred Kerber of the New York Post. Kerber cautions that re-signing with Memphis seems to be the most likely option for Gasol, who has family ties to the city. The center reiterated that he isn’t concerned with his free agency at the moment. “I haven’t put any time in it,” Gasol said of his impending offseason decision. “The truth is, I haven’t put any time or any thought in that. It can have no impact right now. It can’t help me or my team. It’s not the time.”
James Harden is making a strong case to win the MVP award this season and he credits his familiarity in Houston as part of the reason that he is able to take his game to new heights, writes Kristie Rieken of the Associated Press. “[I’m] just more comfortable, knowing my teammates, being comfortable with myself on the court,” Harden said. “Knowing how to get shots, knowing how to get my teammates shots, and once I feel comfortable I can worry about doing other things.” The Arizona State product is in the second year of a five-year extension worth over $78MM, the maximum for a player with his level of experience.

And-Ones: Pistons, World Peace, Calderon

March 27th, 2015 at 10:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

There’s a chance that soon-to-be free agents Kyle Singler and Jonas Jerebko return to Detroit this summer, but it’s unlikely either winds up back with the Pistons, who traded them both away at the deadline, MLive’s David Mayo argues in his weekly mailbag. Mayo also figures Tayshaun Prince will leave in free agency while the team retains Anthony Tolliver on his partially guaranteed contract next season.

Here’s more from around the league:

Metta World Peace, 35, says that he won’t quit playing professionally until he’s 40 years old, Daniella Matar of NBA.com writes. The veteran recently inked a deal with Italy’s Pallacanestro Cantù for the remainder of the season. ”I always wanted to play in Europe for a long time,” World Peace said. ”They move the ball and they move bodies, and that’s what I like doing. I’m looking forward to playing team basketball and being smart as well as scoring. I can score but I’m excited about team basketball.”
With the season winding down a number of coaches could soon find themselves out of work. Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com runs down six top prospects who could be hired as replacements. Arnovitz’s list includes Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga, Arizona coach Sean Miller, and Spurs assistant Ime Udoka.
Knicks guard Jose Calderon is expected to be in a walking boot for another 10 days, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com tweets. Calderon still hopes to return to action this season, but he admitted that scenario was unlikely, Begley adds. The 33-year-old averaged 9.1 points and 4.7 assists while shooting a career-low 41.5% from the field for New York this season.
The Rockets announced that Donatas Motiejunas will be restricted from basketball activities for one to two weeks, and he’ll be reevaluated at that time. The forward is suffering from lower back issues. In 71 games this season, including 62 starts, the seven-footer is averaging 12.0 PPG, 5.9 RPG, and 1.8 APG in 28.7 minutes per contest.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Mullin, Capela, Nelson

March 27th, 2015 at 8:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Steve Lavin was fired as coach of St. John’s University today after five seasons on the job, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv reports. “A national search is underway for a candidate who possesses the characteristics to give our program an opportunity to successfully compete at the national level,” St. John’s AD Chris Monasch said. “We will be aggressive in our search for a coach who has a track record of success, understands all the requirements of running a high major basketball program in New York City, including the media demands within this market. We are seeking someone who embraces the St. John’s mission and tradition, including the ability to attract the top talent both nationally and internationally.”

One candidate already being mentioned as a possibility to replace Lavin is Kings adviser Chris Mullin, Zagoria notes. St. John’s has already expressed interest in the former player, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). “He’s the most famous person in the school history, he’s going to have a decided edge on whatever name comes up,” a source told Zagoria. “Whether he takes it or not, I don’t know. At one point there was mutual interest but that guy’s got a pretty good [expletive] life.”

Here’s more out of the Western Conference:

The Rockets have recalled rookie Clint Capela from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. Capela has averaged 16.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks in 37 D-League contests this season.
Point guard Petteri Koponen‘s contract with the Russian team Khimki contains NBA out provisions, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando tweets. David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link) confirms that Koponen’s pact includes an NBA out clause that can be exercised as early as this summer. The 26-year old was originally selected with the No. 30 overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft by the Sixers and his rights are now held by the Mavericks.
Jameer Nelson likes the situation that he has with the Nuggets, but the veteran isn’t sure if he will exercise his $2,854,940 player option this summer and remain in Denver, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders writes. “I wouldn’t mind staying here,” Nelson said. “I’m not ready to make that decision just yet. I’ll make that decision with my agency and my family first and foremost when the time comes.”

Rockets Prep $17MM+ Offer For Sergio Llull

March 26th, 2015 at 8:30am CST by Chuck Myron

The Rockets are willing to give draft-and-stash point guard Sergio Llull a three-year deal worth a total of at least $17MM, according to Javier Maestro of Encestando.es (translation via HoopsHype). Such an offer would add up to the rough equivalent of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception. Presumably, the team’s interest in Llull is for next season, since Houston is limited to offering only the minimum salary for the balance of 2014/15. The 27-year-old is under contract with Real Madrid of Spain until 2019, as Mark Porcaro shows on our Draft Rights Held Players database, but apparently there are ways for him to get out of the deal via buyout.

Llull seemed disinterested in playing in the NBA as of a year ago, when Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote that Houston believed the mainstay of the powerful Spanish national team could become an NBA rotation player. The Rockets acquired Llull’s NBA rights on draft night in 2009, shortly after the Nuggets took him 34th overall. He said two years ago that he was thinking about heading to the NBA at some point but spoke of unfinished business with Real Madrid. He’s averaged 10.5 points, 4.0 assists and 1.0 turnovers in 25.4 minutes per game for the club this season.

The only point guard under contract for the Rockets next year is Pablo Prigioni, who has a partially guaranteed deal, as we noted Wednesday night. Houston has nearly $54.5MM in guaranteed salary for next season, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders shows, against a salary cap that’s projected to come in at $67.4MM and an estimated $81MM tax threshold. Patrick Beverley, whose wrist injury has a decent chance of knocking him out for the rest of this season, is set to hit restricted free agency, and the Rockets have long been linked to soon-to-be free agent point guard Goran Dragic.

And-Ones: Beverley, Woodson, Terry

March 25th, 2015 at 10:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Patrick Beverley‘s injured wrist is still being evaluated and the player will miss at least ten days, and potentially the remainder of the Rockets‘ season if he requires surgery, Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle writes. “He is going to meet more people today and get a final determination as to what is going to happen,” coach Kevin McHale said. “There probably won’t be any major decisions made for a week-10 days, see what happens.” Beverly has been diagnosed with a torn ligament, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.

Here’s more from around the league:

Former Knicks coach and current Clippers assistant Mike Woodson says that he absolutely wants to be an NBA head coach again, Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times relays (Twitter link).
Woodson also said that if he had been retained as Knicks coach he would have pushed for the team to hold onto Tyson Chandler and to keep the veteran core together another season, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com tweets.
With the loss of Beverely, the Rockets will need Jason Terry to step up his game if the team is to stay afloat in the Western Conference, Creech writes in a separate article. “I am looking to turn up my aggression offensively,” Terry said. “It’s something I haven’t been doing all season. You have seen a spark once or twice, like in Atlanta, maybe the Milwaukee game, but at this age it’s hard to do that all the time, but in these last two weeks before the playoffs, I am going to turn up my aggression very high and try to get a rhythm and consistency on the offensive end of the floor.”

2015/16 Salary Commitments: Rockets

March 25th, 2015 at 5:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

With the NBA trade deadline passed, teams are focusing on locking down playoff spots or vying for a better chance in the draft lottery. Outside of the players who are added on 10-day deals, or those lucky enough to turn those auditions into long-term contracts, teams’ rosters are relatively set for the remainder of the season.

We at Hoops Rumors are in the process of taking a look ahead at each franchise’s salary cap situation heading into the summer, and the free agent frenzy that occurs every offseason. While the exact amount of the 2015/16 salary cap won’t be announced until July, the cap is projected to come in somewhere around $67.4MM, with the luxury tax threshold projected at approximately $81MM. This year’s $63.065MM cap represented an increase of 7.7% over 2013/14, which was well above the league’s projected annual increase of 4.5%.

We’ll continue onward by taking a look at the Rockets’ cap outlook for 2015/16…

Here are the players with guaranteed contracts:

Trevor Ariza — $8,193,030
Clint Capela — $1,242,720
Joey Dorsey — $1,015,421
James Harden — $15,756,438
Dwight Howard — $22,359,364
Nick Johnson — $845,059
Terrence Jones — $2,489,530
Donatas Motiejunas — $2,288,205

Here are the players with non-guaranteed contracts:

Pablo Prigioni — $1,734,572 ($290K Guaranteed)

Players with options:

Kostas Papanikolaou (Team Option) — $4,797,664

The Rockets’ Cap Summary for 2015/16:

Guaranteed Salary: $54,479,767
Options/Non-Guaranteed Salary: $6,242,236
Total: $60,722,003

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

Southwest Notes: Williams, Gentile, Mills

March 25th, 2015 at 1:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

Dwight Howard will start against the Pelicans tonight in his first game since January 23rd, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. That’ll be a boost for Houston as it looks to climb from the third seed in the Western Conference. Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

The Pelicans have decided against signing Elliot Williams for the remainder of the season, tweets John Reid of The Times-Picayune. New Orleans signaled that choice when it signed Toney Douglas to a deal for the balance of 2014/15 on Tuesday, the day after the team’s second 10-day contract with Williams expired.
Rockets draft-and-stash prospect Alessandro Gentile doesn’t have an NBA escape clause for 2015 in his contract with Italy’s EA7 Milano, and the deal doesn’t include a buyout provision, either, a source tells HoopsHype. That runs counter to comments EA7 teammate Daniel Hackett made on SkySport television indicating that Gentile has decided to play for the Rockets next season, as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia notes. Gentile said recently that he’s increasingly intrigued with the NBA and that the Rockets had been in close contact. The small forward is under contract through 2017, as Mark Porcaro shows on our Draft Rights Held Players database.
Patty Mills had a shoulder injury that would sideline him for the first two months of the season when the Spurs re-signed him this summer to a three-year, $11MM deal, but Spurs president/coach Gregg Popovich had no reservations about the move. Alexander Wolff of Sports Illustrated has the details in a story that looks at Mills’ heritage and the homage the Spurs have paid to it. “It wasn’t even a question,” Popovich said of the deal. “Obviously he can shoot the basketball and has a lot of energy. But he’s beloved on this team for his enthusiasm, his kindness, his understated gravitas. As long as I’m here, he’s going to be here. Unless we can’t afford him.”
The Spurs top ESPN Insider’s Front Office rankings for a second straight year. The synergy between Popovich, GM R.C. Buford and owner Peter Holt, balance between the future and the present, and structuring of player contracts that include salary declines instead of raises help the Spurs stand out, as Chad Ford and Amin Elhassan opine in a separate Insider story.
We rounded up the latest on the Mavs earlier today.

And-Ones: Draft, McRoberts, Beverley

March 24th, 2015 at 10:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Josh McRoberts is traveling with the Heat for the first time since tearing the meniscus in his right knee in early December, Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post writes. “He’s progressing very well, but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves right now and I wouldn’t look too much into this road trip,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s really to help him with his spirits being around the team, and we’re enjoying that, but the larger picture is he’s going to be able to do more work with our training staff. The last couple road trips we left him back there to work with our trainers, but we’ve had so many injuries that we need our full staff here right now. That means Josh has to come with us. But he will not be working with the basketball coaches, not yet.”

When asked about the possibility of McRoberts returning to action this season, Spoelstra said, “He’s still not working with coaches. Everything is with trainers right now. I check in with him every single day. Most of the work is in the training room and the weight room. I’m not thinking about him playing this year.”

Here’s more from around the league:

The Rockets will learn on Wednesday if Patrick Beverley will need season-ending surgery on his injured wrist, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter links). The guard is waiting for doctors to inform him if continued play will risk further ligament damage before making his final decision, Spears adds.
The Wizards and the Nets are both interested in one-to-one affiliations with D-League teams, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today tweets. Both franchises currently share the Fort Wayne Mad Ants with the 11 other NBA teams also without one-to-one affiliations.
LSU sophomore forward Jordan Mickey is leaning toward entering the 2015 NBA draft, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Mickey averaged 15.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game for the Tigers this season. The 6’8″ big man is currently ranked as the No. 81 prospect by DraftExpress.
Sean Deveney of The Sporting News looked at 10 players whose performances in the NCAA Tournament improved their NBA draft stock. Deveney’s list includes Justise Winslow (Duke), Terry Rozier (Louisville), Jerian Grant (Notre Dame), and Jakob Poeltl (Utah).

Southwest Notes: Smith, Howard, Mavs

March 24th, 2015 at 7:49pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The rash of injuries that have befallen the Rockets could force the team to push injured center Dwight Howard to return to action sooner than anticipated, Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle writes. “We are so down on bodies and we don’t have a lot of practice time,” coach Kevin McHale said. “We might have to start throwing him out there and letting him get some minutes in the game, whether he starts out 15-20 minutes and getting game time. But he has to start playing here pretty soon because otherwise the season is just going to go by and you can’t wait for the playoffs to come back, so we’ll see.” Howard has been out since early February with an injured right knee.

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

The Grizzlies re-assigned Russ Smith to the Iowa Energy, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This is the sixth trek of the season to the D-League for Smith.
Monta Ellis and Rajon Rondo don’t appear to be a good backcourt pairing for the Mavs, which is something that the team will need to consider this summer, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News writes. Rondo is set to become an unrestricted free agent and Ellis has a player option worth $8.72MM that he can opt out of.
Marc Gasol sounds like a player who is intent on remaining with the Grizzlies, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal (subscription required) writes. “I don’t know what factors are going to play into my decision. But you can’t change the past,” Gasol said. “You can’t change where I’ve been for the majority of my life as an adult. My family has been tied to the franchise since the franchise has been in Memphis. You can’t change that. I don’t know what the future holds but I know what the past and the present is. That’s pretty clear.” Gasol will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

JaVale McGee Backs Off Player Option Demand

March 23rd, 2015 at 12:09pm CST by Chuck Myron

JaVale McGee now prefers a deal that carries only through the end of the season, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, who writes in his weekly power rankings. That indicates a turnabout from earlier this month, when he was reportedly seeking a player option for 2015/16 on any deal. That was apparently at the root of failed negotiations with the Celtics, who wanted a team option. Most of the contending teams reportedly inquired about the B.J. Armstrong client earlier this month, and, as Spears reports today, McGee still wants to play for a postseason contender.

It’s unclear if the lack of an insistence on a player option will spark a renewed interest, as chatter about the 27-year-old has slowed considerably after a brief period in which he seemed a prime target following his release from the Sixers. The Mavs were “seriously interested” a few weeks ago, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported then, but Spears reported last week that they were no longer in pursuit. The Rockets, Raptors and Heat also appeared to be teams in the mix for McGee at the time of the strong interest from Dallas, but even at that point, there was “no way” the Raptors would cross the tax line to sign him, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.

While Houston, Miami and Toronto likely wouldn’t go over the tax threshold for this season with a multiyear arrangement for the minimum salary, a one-year deal reduces McGee’s cost if he signs for the minimum. That’s because the league would cover the difference between the two-year veteran’s minimum and the minimum for a six-year veteran like McGee if the contract only covered a single season. It would mean a savings of $32,533 for this season for a team that signs him to a one-year minimum deal instead of a two-year minimum deal, and it would come with the cost certainty of knowing that McGee couldn’t force the team to pay him a salary for next season, too.