Indiana Pacers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Odds & Ends: Lakers, LeBron, Gibson, KG

October 29th, 2013 at 11:23pm CST by Chuck Myron

Magic Johnson tells the “Max and Marcellus Show” on ESPNLA 710 that he’d be willing to help the Lakers recruit free agents during what he calls a “crucial summer” ahead. “If it’s (Lakers co-owner) Jim Buss going up against Pat Riley, he’s going to lose that battle. He needs help,” Johnson said. “You have to have a recruiter. Jim needs a recruiter with him.” Johnson touched on plenty more about the Lakers and their recent past, and Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com rounds up the highlights. Here’s more from opening night in the Association:

LeBron James tried to recruit Taj Gibson to the Heat when Gibson was a year away from restricted free agency, but Gibson doesn’t think he’ll return the favor with James poised to hit free agency this summer, as Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times details.
Kevin Garnett has yet to make his official debut for the Nets, but he’s already the “heartbeat of the team,” according to fellow offseason addition Alan Anderson. Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News has more.
Kevin Love tells Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune that he and Ricky Rubio have spoken about a long-term future together, but for now, they’re focusing on the present. Both Timberwolves can become free agents in 2015.
Sixers GM Sam Hinkie is confident that the city of Philadelphia can be a selling point for marquee free agents when he’s ready to make a run at them, but Mike Sielski of the Philadelphia Inquirer wonders if local fans will turn on him before he gets to that point.
Brett Brown admits that the challenge of coaching the Sixers is harder than he envisioned when he took over the team in August, observes Tom Moore of The Intelligencer.
Xavier Henry remains on a non-guaranteed contract after making the Lakers out of camp, but he’s drawing raves from coach Mike D’Antoni, notes Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link).

NBA Teams With Open Roster Spots

October 29th, 2013 at 12:55pm CST by Luke Adams

NBA teams are permitted to carry 15 players into the regular season, so now that opening night rosters are set, as many as 450 players could be under contract around the league. Instead, only 439 players are currently on NBA rosters, leaving 11 openings spread out among nine clubs. With the help of our roster count tool, here are the teams bringing open roster spots into the regular season:

Two openings:

Chicago Bulls
Memphis Grizzlies

One opening:

Boston Celtics
Golden State Warriors
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Clippers
Oklahoma City Thunder
Phoenix Suns
San Antonio Spurs

Teams carrying a full 15-man roster know that not all 15 players will see regular minutes in NBA games this season. Still, keeping an extra prospect or two under control, perhaps assigning them to the D-League to get them frequent playing time, could pay off in the long run, and has little downside. Many end-of-bench players are still on non-guaranteed contracts, so they don’t adversely affect a team’s roster flexibility, since they can be easily cut if the team wants to make a trade or signing.

The only real downside of carrying 15 players is having to pay 15 players. That’s why we shouldn’t be surprised to see that many of the teams listed above are either taxpayers or clubs hovering dangerously close to tax territory. For teams like the Bulls and Clippers, who are more focused on title contention than player development, carrying a 15th man all season isn’t worth the extra tax penalties. Meanwhile, the Grizzlies, Celtics, Thunder, and Pacers all have $68MM+ in guaranteed team salary on their books, so paying a 15th player would reduce cap flexibility for those clubs, who are looking to steer clear of the $71.748MM tax line.

We’ll be keeping our list of roster counts up to date throughout the 2013/14 season, so if you’re curious about whether or not a team has room to add a free agent or make an unbalanced trade, keep an eye on that page.

Eastern Rumors: Granger, Raptors, Osby

October 28th, 2013 at 10:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

After missing nearly the entire 2012/13 season, Danny Granger is off to an ominous start this season as well. Entering the final year of his contract, Granger will be sidelined for the next three weeks as he recovers from a calf injury, the Pacers announced today. Indiana held off on trading Granger this summer, optimistic that he’d bounce back from an injury-plagued season and help the team overcome the Heat on the way to a title. As we wonder whether that optimism remains for team president Larry Bird and company, here’s the latest out of the East:

Sources tell Bruce Arthur of the National Post that Raptors GM Masai Ujiri has talked about trading Rudy Gay, though it’s unclear whether those discussions were within the organization or involved other teams. Arthur also passes along thoughts from Ujiri about setting the Raptors on the right course toward contention.
HoopsWorld’s Eric Pincus confirms to Hoops Rumors that the Magic are paying Romero Osby $100K this year, despite his earlier report that Osby’s partial guarantee would only kick in if he made the opening-night roster. The team waived Osby on Friday. Pincus lists the $100K on the Magic’s updated salary page at HoopsWorld.
Khalif Wyatt, whom the Sixers released last week, has signed a one-year deal with the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, reports Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News speculates that Thaddeus Young would most likely be the centerpiece of any trade the Sixers make this year. Part of Cooney’s suspicion that an early-season trade might be in the works was based on the team’s roster standing at 14 players, but the Sixers got back up to the 15-man limit when they signed Brandon Davies today.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Northwest Rumors: Nuggets, Hayward, Tinsley

October 27th, 2013 at 4:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

Coach Brian Shaw plans to slow down the Nuggets‘ attack, but GM Tim Connelly makes it clear that he won’t mold the roster to conform the Pacers‘ defense-first model that Shaw was a part of in Indiana, as Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post observes. The Pacers might not have too much of an effect on the front range of the Rockies, but Indiana may have indirectly put a dent in the Jazz‘s plans, as we detail in a look at the Northwest:

Gordon Hayward and the Jazz are far apart in negotiations on an extension, and Paul George‘s max deal with the Pacers appears to be playing a role, tweets Steve Luhm of The Salt Lake Tribune.
Jamaal Tinsley didn’t have a contract with the Jazz over the summer, but he reached out to Trey Burke to let him know he was going to an organization that would treat him well, as Tinsley recounts to Luhm. Now, Tinsley is back with Utah to help replace the injured Burke.
Serge Ibaka‘s continued rapid growth is key to the Thunder‘s ability to climb the next rung toward a title, The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel writes.

Pacers Will Keep Rasual Butler

October 27th, 2013 at 1:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pacers had been expected to carry just 13 players on their roster to begin the regular season, but the team has changed plans and decided to keep Rasual Butler and his non-guaranteed contract, according to Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). Part of the motivation may be tied to Danny Granger, who’ll miss at least the first two games with injury, Buckner tweets, so if Granger comes back quickly, Butler’s reprieve might be brief.

Butler, 34, signed a one-year camp deal for the minimum salary with the Pacers in early September after the 10-year veteran played for Indiana’s summer league team as he sought to revive his NBA career. He spent last season, his first out of the Association since his rookie campaign in 2002/03, with the Tulsa 66ers of the D-League. He last played NBA ball with the Raptors, who waived him in March 2012. His last significant role was with the 2009/10 Clippers, for whom he averaged 11.9 points in 33.0 minutes per game.

The Pacers are a couple million dollars below the tax line, so they likely had financial considerations chief in mind when they thought about going with the league minimum of 13 players. Butler probably won’t see meaningful minutes, and unless he proves himself valuable while Granger is recovering, he remains expendable. His contract won’t become fully guaranteed until January 10th.

Pacers Waive Hilton Armstrong

October 26th, 2013 at 1:56pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pacers have waived center Hilton Armstrong, the team announced via press release. That leaves Rasual Butler‘s deal as the only non-guaranteed contract on a roster that’s down to 14 players. Butler hasn’t necessarily made the team, since coach Frank Vogel has indicated the Pacers are likely to go with just 13 players to start the regular season.

Armstrong played sparingly in the preseason, appearing in seven games and averaging 1.3 points and 2.4 rebounds in 6.1 minutes per contest. The 28-year-old has five years of NBA experience, but he hasn’t seen regular season action since 2010/11 with the Hawks.

The Pacers have about $69MM on their books for this season, roughly $2.7MM beneath the luxury tax threshold. The team has been adamant about avoiding the tax, so keeping fewer than the 15-player roster max as the regular season gets underway will allow them some flexibility to sign players later this year.

Lowe On Faried, Horford, All-NBA, Collins

October 22nd, 2013 at 2:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

Zach Lowe of Grantland unveils 32 predictions for the upcoming season in his latest post, but the column isn’t based entirely on speculation. Lowe passes along several tidbits from conversations with execs around the league, so let’s dive in:

Multiple sources tell Lowe that the Nuggets are gauging the willingness of other teams to trade for Kenneth Faried. The sources say Denver is demanding plenty in return for the power forward, and Nuggets officials deny they’ve had any talks with other teams about Faried, but Lowe predicts a deal will happen.
The Hawks‘ roster is “built to trade,” but Ferry has emphatically turned away teams calling about Al Horford‘s availability, Lowe hears.
The NBA is considering the removal of the center position from All-NBA teams, shifting to two backcourt and three frontcourt players as the league did with the All-Star ballot last season. That could alleviate a logjam among forwards and result in more money for Paul George, whose new extension will become more lucrative if he earns another All-NBA selection, under the terms of the Derrick Rose Rule.
Several executives believe Jason Collins will find an NBA home after January 10th, the date when all contracts become guaranteed for the season. Many of the guys on non-guaranteed deals will be released in advance of that date, creating opportunities for teams to sign the player who would become the first openly gay male athlete in major North American pro sports.

Odds & Ends: Heat, Smith, Kidd, Wiggins

October 22nd, 2013 at 12:39pm CST by Zachary Links

The Heat were picked as the clear favorite to win the 2013/14 title in this year’s GM survey, writes John Schuhmann of NBA.com. There were a few dissenters with the Spurs and Pacers receiving 6.9% of the vote and the Bulls, Clippers, and Thunder also getting nods. LeBron James was the overwhelming pick to win the MVP trophy and Pelicans big man Anthony Davis was pegged as the breakout player of the year. Magic guard Victor Oladipo was picked to win the Rookie of the Year award and GMs feel that he’ll be the best player out of this class five years from now. Here’s more from around the Association..

Pistons forward Josh Smith spoke to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld about his decision to leave the Hawks this summer. “It wasn’t as hard as other people saw it,” Smith said. “It was time for me to experience a different thing in my life, a new situation, new opportunity and I’m happy where I’m at.” It also didn’t hurt that Detroit gave him a four-year, $54MM deal.
David Aldridge of NBA.com sat down with new Nets head coach Jason Kidd for a Q&A. The discussion covered his learning curve and former coaches that the point guard has apologized to now that he has discovered the difficulty of the job.
Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle, Dante Exum, Jabari Parker, and Aaron Gordon are all candidates to go No. 1 overall in next June’s draft, in Kyler’s view (Twitter link). Not everyone would agree with that assessment as Wiggins has long been viewed as the top talent in the 2014 class.

Bucher On Nets, Pacers, Stephenson, Jordan, Collins

October 22nd, 2013 at 11:08am CST by Zachary Links

In his first column for Bleacher Report, Ric Bucher writes that GMs from across the league are reporting that their owners have skyhigh/unrealistic expectations for the upcoming season. Bucher spoke to several execs and asked them about their chief concern for 2013/14 and Nets GM Billy King was the only one whose biggest concern centered on basketball. The expectation level of owners and front office turnover has changed the mindset of many execs who were once seeking the formula for success but are now zeroed in on survival. More from Bucher’s column..

The Pacers are a young squad with a payroll ($71.431MM) on the cusp of the luxury-tax threshold, but one opposing GM said that, for financial reasons, they will have a hard time ever fielding a team deeper in talent than this one. Danny Granger’s $14MM contract comes off the books next season, but that savings is wiped out by Paul George’s extension kicking in. The bottom line is that locking up free-agent-to-be Lance Stephenson will require stripping the roster of its current depth. “One thing I can tell you,” the exec said. “Indy is not paying the luxury tax.”
Some are skeptical of Clippers coach Doc Rivers‘ praise for center DeAndre Jordan and his effort, but Bucher hears that it’s legit. “He’s more engaged than ever before,” a scout said of Jordan, who clashed with previous coach Vinny Del Negro. “He’s constantly talking on defense, and that’s new.” Of course, Rivers will have quite a bit of say in personnel in L.A.
Several GMs say they have an aversion to free agent center Jason Collins – not because of his sexual orientation, but over the relentless media attention it will generate. “If it were just an initial blast and you knew it would settle down after that, it would be one thing,” said one executive. “But you know this is something that he and his teammates are going to be asked about everywhere they go, all season long, and all it takes is one guy to say something a little off and it could really blow up. He’s still good enough to play in the league, but when you throw in the ongoing media frenzy, most teams are going to decide it’s just not worth it.” The Nets and Pistons were reportedly among the clubs with some level of interest in the free agent big man.
One GM who was polled said the shift from commissioner David Stern to Adam Silver is his biggest worry. “I don’t know how much he thinks about the integrity of the game,” the GM said. “He’s more about selling widgets.”

Odds & Ends: Clippers, Favors, Pacers, Spurs

October 21st, 2013 at 7:52pm CST by Zachary Links

The talk of L.A. this week has been Doc Rivers‘ decision to cover up the Lakers’ championship banners with posters of seven Clippers players, including stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. For his part, the Clips coach says that it’s nothing personal. “The culture is changing and we want to be a winner,” Rivers told news reporters, including Sam Amick of USA Today. “And to do that, I think we have to make changes. (The change) at Staples Center is one that I thought we needed to make. We don’t leave a Lakers (playing) floor down, do we? And they don’t play on the Clippers floor. They take it up. That’s all we’re saying. It’s no disrespect and all that stuff. I have an amazing amount of respect for the Lakers. Having said that, I work for the Clippers. When we play it should be the Clippers’ arena.” More from around the Association..

In examining Derrick Favors‘ new long-term deal with the Jazz, Grantland’s Zach Lowe and Tom Ziller of SBNation.com both point to Favors’ defense and age (22) as key factors in the team’s decision.
Two members of the Pacers, center Hilton Armstrong and small forward Rasual Butler, know that the end is nigh as the regular season approaches, writes Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star. Indiana is currently carrying 15 players on the roster, the max allowed, but they’ve made it known that they’ll only carry 13 and Armstrong and Butler are all but guaranteed to be the ones to go.
After releasing six camp invitees this month, the Spurs are down to 14 players, and don’t plan to add anyone before the season starts, coach Gregg Popovich tells Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link).

Luke Adams contributed to this post.