Odds & Ends: Tanking, Dwight, Bennett, Ledo
It’s been a pretty busy afternoon around the NBA, as we heard the Celtics might be trying to move Rajon Rondo, and we saw the Nets hook up with the Bulls and Pelicans to dump some salary via trade, Let’s round up some miscellaneous notes from Saturday:
- Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders examines the two deals from earlier today, and opines the moves make sense for all three teams that were involved.
- While team executives might be interested in intentionally losing games to help raise draft position, players and coaches never are, at least according to former NBA coach Tom Nissalke. Brad Rock of the Deseret News passed along this quote from Nissalke: “I think organizations tank. I don’t think players do. Players know that they’re being auditioned every time they play. If they’re on a bad team, they know they’re not going to be back the next year. There will be some draft picks, some trades made, so the players are always auditioning — and coaches are too.“
- Rockets center Dwight Howard is happy to have trade chatter behind him. “For me I think it (the trade deadline) was different from a lot of players,” Howard told Jessica Camerato of Basketball Insiders. “A lot of attention was on me and what teams were going to do that day. It’s tough. You have everybody asking what’s going to happen, what you’re going to do, all that stuff. I had a big headache and I was just happy when it was over with.”
- It’s been a disappointing start to Anthony Bennett‘s career, but his former UNLV coach Dave Rice says it’s too early for the Cavaliers to give up on last summer’s number one overall pick. The latest piece by Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer passes along Rice’s view on Bennett’s game and how he thinks the forward will develop.
- A Mavericks team press release announced that Ricky Ledo was assigned to the Texas Legends this morning. Ledo has only seen 33 minutes on the floor for Dallas this season so the move will give him the opportunity to see some action on the hardwood. It’ll be his second such assignment this season.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Celtics Attempting To Move Rajon Rondo?
Just earlier today, we passed along that ESPNBoston.com’s Chad Forsberg suggested it was unlikely Rajon Rondo would be moved, but Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News hears from “more than a few” executives around the league that the C’s will try to deal Rondo, either at the trade deadline or before the draft this June. According to Lawrence, the proposed move would probably be appealing to the recently returned Rondo since he likely won’t be eager to accept a role on a rebuilding team. He’s signed through 2014/15, and will earn about $13MM next season.
There have been a steady flux of Rondo trade rumors since the Celtics and Nets hooked up last summer on the blockbuster deal that sent Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn. Boston GM Danny Ainge has repeatedly dismissed these rumors and continues to stress that he pegs Rondo as the cornerstone to build the franchise around. Rondo has recently been part of rumors involving a potential deal with the Knicks, but Lawrence hears that Phoenix and Houston are two of the most likely landing spots for him. Dallas seems to have an affinity for Rondo as well, but it doesn’t look like they’ll have the proper assets to put together a desirable package for Boston.
Lawrence’s piece implies it’s essentially a foregone conclusion that Rondo will be dealt, which I find a little surprising since there are so many questions about how he will bounce back and perform on the court after recovering from his ACL tear. Rondo’s talent is enticing though, and it’s tough to imagine there are many teams in the league that would object to his presence on their roster. We’ll likely continue to hear trade chatter about Rondo as the February 20th trade deadline fast approaches.
D-League Notes: Melo, Wright, Covington
The latest from the NBA Developmental League..
- A team source tells Gino Pilato of D-League Digest that Fab Melo has entered his name into the D-League player pool. Last season, Melo spent 33 games of his rookie season with the Maine Red Claws, Boston’s D-League affiliate. Melo, who bounced around a bit during his short professional career, is likely headed back to the NBADL with hopes of landing a ten-day contract
- Chris Wright, a current member of the Red Claws, is playing well and hopes to bag a ten-day deal with an NBA team, Pilato writes. On the season, Wright is averaging 21.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game. He’s also averaging 36.2 minutes in 20 games so far. A small forward from Dayton, he’s not to be confused with the former Georgetown shooting guard by the same name.
- Rockets rookie Robert Covington is back from the D-League as Houston wants to have plenty of bodies in practice this week, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. However, it’s not clear if this is a prelude to Covington officially getting recalled to the varsity squad.
Western Rumors: Randolph, Rockets, Davis
Zach Randolph has spoken many times about his affection for Memphis, and he tells Shams Charania of RealGM.com that he and Marc Gasol want to continue playing together. Both have contracts that end after next season, but Randolph’s deal includes a player option for 2014/15, and Z-Bo also tells Charania that he hasn’t decided what he’ll do with that option, worth more than $16.9MM. The RealGM.com scribe has more on the offseason ahead for the Grizzlies, as we share amid our look at the Western Conference:
- The Rockets are still in the market for a floor-stretching forward, writes Chris Mannix of SI.com, who also passes along a few of James Harden‘s comments about his recruitment of Dwight Howard.
- Ed Davis didn’t reach a deal on an extension with the Grizzlies before the October 31st deadline, but he nonetheless views the negotiations as a sign the team views him as key cog, as Charania notes in the same piece. Davis admits to Charania that he feels frustration when his minutes drop, but the big man understands he falls behind Randolph and Gasol in the pecking order. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a deal done, but it wasn’t a big thing because I’ll be a restricted free agent in the summer,” Davis said. “Hopefully, we’ll get something done this summer and I’ll be back.”
- Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson doesn’t seem eager to make a deal before the February 20th trade deadline, observes Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “You never say never, but we do like the team,” Nelson said. “With nine new faces we’re not looking for reasons to change. But that being said, if an opportunity presents itself that can take us over the top we certainly have to look at it.”
- Leandro Barbosa‘s 10-day contract with the Suns expires after tonight’s game, one he may miss with a right shoulder sprain. That could prompt Phoenix to wait until he’s healthy to give him another 10-day deal, tweets Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
- The Warriors have assigned center Ognjen Kuzmic to the D-League, the team announced. It’s his third trip to Santa Cruz, but he’s only appeared in a single D-League game, scoring two points in a 16-minute stint.
Bucher’s Latest: Griffin, Anthony, Lowry
A majority of the league believes Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan don’t fit together, and Jordan’s improvement has made Griffin the more obvious trade candidate, according to Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report. The consensus is that the Clippers need a big man who can shoot, and even Chris Paul wishes Griffin were more like former teammate David West, sources tell Bucher. A general manager who possesses the sort of power forward who might mesh better with Jordan said to Bucher that the Clippers haven’t contacted his team and added that he hasn’t heard that the Clippers are shopping Griffin at all. The GM thinks owner Donald Sterling would never agree to such a deal, though Bucher hears from a Clippers source confident that Doc Rivers will talk him into it before the trade deadline. Bucher has more on the Clippers and scuttlebutt around the league, as we detail:
- Bucher suggests that if the Clippers were to trade for Carmelo Anthony, there’d be no certainty that they could re-sign him.
- The Warriors decided against trading for Kyle Lowry over concerns about how he’d fit into their locker room. The Raptors have upped their asking price for Lowry in the meantime, and executives around the league aren’t sure whether Lowry, Andre Miller or Kirk Hinrich is the best oversized point guard who might be available.
- Several GMs believe the Bulls will trade Mike Dunleavy for a draft pick, with Chicago setting its sights on a retool for next season. The Rockets are reportedly targeting Dunleavy, and Bucher shares insight from a rival executive on why Houston might be inclined to deal for him.
Southwest Rumors: Motiejunas, De Colo, Hairston
The chances that Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin will be involved in a trade this year appear to be waning by the day, but that won’t preclude Daryl Morey from making some kind of deal between now and the February 20th trade deadline. He’s been the most active GM at the deadline over the past six seasons, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News points out. Many Rockets players aren’t sold on the idea that the team needs to make another deal, feeling the team can win the title as constituted, Deveney reveals. There’s plenty more on the Rockets as we look around the Southwest Division:
- The Rockets are more likely to trade for a shooter than for a big man, Deveney writes in the same piece.
- The Celtics were involved in trade talks for Donatas Motiejunas, but those discussions have since died, as Virginijus Bulotas, the international agent for the Rockets reserve, tells Lithuania’s SportoTV (translation via HoopsHype). The Mavs have also held interest in Motiejunas, who has reportedly been “desperate” for playing time as the Rockets and his U.S.-based agent, Arn Tellem, place calls with other teams.
- Turkey’s Fenerbahce is interested in Spurs guard Nando De Colo, according Javier Maestro of Encestando (translation via Sportando). De Colo has bounced back and forth between San Antonio and the Spurs’ D-League affiliate, but it doesn’t sound like the Spurs have any interest in letting him go. De Colo will be a free agent at season’s end, so perhaps the France native will return overseas then.
- The D-League affiliate of the Mavs has officially acquired P.J. Hairston, the club announced. The move was widely expected once Hairston signed with the D-League, since the Texas Legends had first dibs in the league’s waiver system. The Mavs and all other NBA teams are ineligible to call him up this season, since Hairston has yet to enter the NBA draft. The former North Carolina shooting guard is 32nd on the DraftExpress list of 2014 draft prospects and 41st on the board at ESPN.com.
Rockets Likely To Keep Asik, Lin Through Season
Omer Asik was the hottest trade candidate in the NBA a month ago, but it doesn’t sound like that will be the case again in advance of the trade deadline. It’s likely he and Jeremy Lin will finish the season on the Rockets, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News, who hears that the market for them is becoming increasingly worse.
Both are due balloon payments worth nearly $15MM next season, though they’re only seeing about $5MM this year. With each paycheck the Rockets issue Asik and Lin, their trade value slips, since part of the rationale for other teams who would absorb next year’s increased costs had been this year’s bargain prices, as Deveney explains.
Their cap hits are close to $8.4MM each this season and next, but that doesn’t reflect the actual payments they’re receiving because Houston signed them via the Gilbert Arenas Provision, as I pointed out last month in examining the way Asik’s contract affected his trade value.
“It is a tough sell to bring something like that to your owner,” an executive from a rival team told Deveney. “You have got to tell him, ‘We’re getting a pretty good player, an $8MM player. Oh, but we have to pay him $15 million. We will be giving him LeBron (James) money. That’s OK, right?’ That’s not really a conversation you want to have.”
It’s still possible that the Rockets could find a deep-pocketed team willing to trade for Asik, but Houston probably isn’t as motivated to find a new home for Lin, who’s having the best shooting year of his career, Deveney notes.
Southwest Notes: Gordon, Grizzlies, Bynum
Two reports on Friday indicated New Orleans was shopping Eric Gordon, but the Pelicans were quick to tell the shooting guard and Nakia Hogan of The Times-Picayune that they aren’t pursuing any such deals. Gordon doesn’t appear concerned with the chatter, and even though his field goal attempts and scoring average are down for the third straight season, he’s been uncharacteristically healthy this year, having played in all but three games. Backcourt mate Jrue Holiday is sidelined indefinitely with a stress fracture in his right leg, so I’d be surprised if a Gordon trade happens anytime soon. Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- James Johnson‘s improved conditioning and maturity has turned him into an asset for the Grizzlies just a month after he signed a minimum-salary deal with the team, as Chris Herrington of the Memphis Commercial Appeal examines. One Western Conference scout tells Herrington that he laments that his team passed on the former 16th overall pick while he languished in free agency.
- Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com weighs the chances that Andrew Bynum could be a fit for the Mavericks, pointing to owner Mark Cuban’s comments about Samuel Dalembert and the state of the team’s centers. “Depends on which Sam we have,” Cuban said. “If we have the Sam of [Friday] night, we’re good. If we have the Sam that isn’t as on key as he was [Friday] night, it’s different. Again, we’re always being opportunistic. Wherever we can improve our team, we will.”
- USA Today’s Sam Amick looks at the way NBA teams are connecting with the coaches of their D-League affiliates, noting that Nevada Smith, who beat out 34 other candidates for the head job at Rockets affiliate Rio Grande Valley, has become the “darling” of the D-League coaching circle.
Eastern Notes: Drake, Raptors, Cavs, Bynum
In September the Raptors and rapper Drake agreed to a partnership in preparation for the Raptors 20th anniversary and the 2016 All-Star game. A product of that partnership was tonight’s game being labeled “Drake Night” featuring among other festivities, Drake announcing Toronto’s starting line up. Prior to the evening, Drake held a press conference in which he disclosed (Twitter Link) to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun that he has weekly discussions with Raptors GM Masai Ujiri and CEO Tim Leiweke. Whether Drake is the one advising the Raptors to “start from the bottom” and draft Andrew Wiggins next summer is still to be seen.
- Speaking of Raptors transactions, Sean Highkin of USA Today describes how Toronto has changed for the better since the Rudy Gay trade. Additionally, Highkin points out the Raptors aren’t the only one doing better as Gay himself has improved since joining the Kings.
- Tom Moore of the Bucks County Courier Times examined the contract situations for the impact players on the Sixers to preview what next year’s lineup could look like. Moore is of the belief that the current roster, two lottery picks, and $30MM in available free agency money isn’t enough to solve the Sixers missing pieces.
- Now that the dust has settled from the Cavaliers trade for Luol Deng, Bob Finnan of The News-Herald details what Deng will be seeking in free agency next summer. Finnan believes the Cavaliers won’t be able to keep Deng around if he becomes an unrestricted free agent so Cleveland will have to try their best to extend Deng for the maximum three-years, $49.5MM before June 30th. Deng has already shown by turning down Chicago’s extension offer that he believes his value is above $10MM per year but has repeatedly denied ever asking for a deal near $15MM a year.
- Finnan also evaluates what Andrew Bynum‘s options may be with his upcoming free agent decision. It looks like the Heat may still be a favorite. The Pacers and Rockets are also being rumored as options according to Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer.
- Cavaliers GM Chris Grant didn’t rule out the possibility of another trade prior to the deadline but he did tell Boyer of The Plain Dealer that his preference is to not be active and let the guys “settle in and learn”. In relation to settling in, Boyer also believes the Cavs plan to stick long term with both Anthony Bennett and Anderson Varejao.
Pacific Rumors: Suns, Frye, Clippers, Bynum
Here’s the latest on two of the three Pacific teams currently in playoff positions, the Suns and Clippers:
- In a piece on Eric Bledsoe‘s injury, Grantland’s Zach Lowe examines whether it makes sense for the 21-13 Suns to try to “re-tank.” Lowe offers up a few potential destinations for Goran Dragic, if Phoenix wants to trade him, but suggests that he’d rather see the team stay on its current path, perhaps adding a solid point guard behind Dragic.
- Lowe also reports that the Suns were prepared to use Channing Frye as a trade chip in three-team trade scenarios involving Omer Asik when the Rockets were actively looking to move the big man. Phoenix wouldn’t have been the club acquiring Asik in those hypothetical deals.
- The Clippers have frequently been mentioned as one of Andrew Bynum‘s preferred destinations, but reports have indicated that L.A. is lukewarm on the former All-Star center. According to Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter), the Clips have gone “back and forth” on Bynum, but have had a few more internal discussions recently and have some interest. The club currently has no open roster spots, but two players are on 10-day deals, so there could be a pair of openings soon.
- Ricky Davis was last seen in the NBA with the Clippers, and even as L.A. searches for backcourt help, a reunion is not too likely. Still, speaking to Howard Beck of Bleacher Report, Davis, who is currently averaging 14.1 PPG for the D-League’s Erie BayHawks, says he’d love one more shot at the NBA: “It could be one game. It could be 20 minutes. It could be a 10-day contract. It just lets me know that guys are watching and guys do see that I can still play the game. However long it is, just as long as they know I can play.”