International Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: G League, Acy, Mack, COVID-19

November 8th, 2020 at 6:20pm CST by JD Shaw

The NBA G League is discussing a number of options with its 28 teams for the 2020/21 season, one of which includes playing in a bubble environment, according to Harrison Feigen of SB Nation.

Teams were notified that the goal remains to play out a full season, Feigen reports, though exact details of the campaign remain unknown. The bubble environment could also exist in ‘regional bubbles’, rather than the Disney format used to finish the 2019/20 NBA season.

Besides the importance of developing young talent, another major push for the G League season to happen is the newly introduced Select Team, league sources told Hoops Rumors. The team acts as a one-year development program for NBA prospects fresh out of high school, with five-star recruits such as Jalen Green and Isaiah Todd set to play if a season is held.

Despite much about the G League campaign being unknown, the NBA and its players’ union have agreed to a start date for their season: December 22. The draft remains scheduled to be held on November 18, with free agency expected to commence shortly thereafter.

Here are some other odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Veteran forward Quincy Acy is in discussions on a new deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, according to Roi Cohen (as relayed by Sportando). Acy holds several years of NBA experience with the Raptors, Kings, Knicks, Mavericks, Nets and Suns, getting drafted No. 37 in 2012.
Free agent Shelvin Mack has signed in Greece with Panathinaikos, the team announced on social media. Mack, 30, also holds several years of NBA experience, making past stops with the Wizards, Sixers, Hawks, Jazz, Magic, Grizzlies and Hornets. He most recently played with Hapoel Jerusalem in Israel.
Patrick Reusse of The Star Tribune grades how different sports leagues adapted to COVID-19 this year. The NBA ranked in the “A” category, as the league successfully kept the virus away from its players in the Disney campus restart format.

Several International Players Pull Out Of Draft

November 7th, 2020 at 4:15pm CST by Arthur Hill

Sunday marks the deadline to withdraw from the NBA draft, and a handful of international players have reached their decisions. The date doesn’t affect college players because the NCAA set an Aug. 3 deadline for players to remove their names from the draft and retain their eligibility.

Lithuanian guard Arnas Velicka has decided to take his name out of the draft, tweets Nicola Lupo of Sportando. Velicka currently plays in France.
Belgian guard Joel Ekamba is skipping this year’s draft, a source tells Lupo. The 19-year-old also plays in France.
Brancou “Papi” Badio of Senegal has decided to withdraw, according to Lupo. The 21-year-old guard is playing his first season on the senior team for FC Barcelona.
Also removing his name from the draft is Greek guard Nikos Rogkavopoulos, Lupo adds. Rogkavopoulos is playing this season with AEK Athens.
Greek shooting guard Georgios Kalaitzakis is withdrawing, agent Marius Rutkauskas confirmed to Lithuanian basketball writer Donatas Urbonas (Twitter link). Kalaitzakis is ranked 90th on ESPN’s list of the top 100 prospects.
Lithuanian center Marek Blazevic is pulling out of the draft, sources tell Urbonas (Twitter link). He currently plays for Zalgiris Kaunas of the Lithuanian Basketball League.
Deciding to remain in the draft is Adrian Bogucki, a 20-year-old center from Poland, according to Lupo. The 7’1″ Bogucki is playing in Poland and has been part of the U16, U18 and U20 Polish national teams.

Draft Notes: Mouaha, Ebeling, Achiuwa, Knicks

November 6th, 2020 at 12:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The NCAA’s withdrawal deadline for the 2020 NBA draft has long since passed, but the NBA’s own deadline falls 10 days before the draft. That means that a number of international prospects – for whom the NCAA deadline didn’t apply – face final decisions on whether or not to keep their names in this year’s draft pool.

Cameroonian guard Aristide Mouaha and Italian forward Michele Ebeling are two international early entrants who have decided to pull out of the draft, according to a pair of reports from Nicola Lupo of Sportando. Both prospects are currently playing in Italy. Ebeling will become automatically draft-eligible in 2021, while Mouaha is on track to be draft-eligible in 2022 if he doesn’t re-enter his name next year.

As our tracker shows, we still have 34 international prospects listed as early entrants for 2020. It’s safe to assume that many more will withdraw before the November 8 deadline — I’d expect that list to be cut at least in half within the next couple days.

Here’s more on the 2020 NBA draft:

Former Memphis big man Precious Achiuwa worked out for the Wizards earlier this week and is working out for the Celtics on Friday, according to Adam Zagoria of Forbes (Twitter link). Achiuwa is the 12th overall prospect on ESPN’s big board, so both Washington at No. 9 and Boston at No. 14 could in play for him.
In a pair of Insider articles for ESPN.com, Jonathan Givony, Mike Schmitz, and Kevin Pelton discuss the best wings and big men of this year’s draft class. All three experts rate Deni Avdija as the top wing in the draft, with Givony and Schmitz placing Isaac Okoro second while Pelton takes Devin Vassell. In a bit of a surprise, both Givony and Schmitz pick Onyeka Okongwu over James Wiseman as the top big man prospect.
While the Knicks’ No. 8 pick has been the main focus, the team is working diligently on its options at No. 27 and 38 and is hoping to find a “diamond in the rough,” a source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post. Berman examines former Arizona shooting guard Josh Green and Duke center Vernon Carey Jr. as a couple potential late-first-round options for New York, citing one talent evaluator who says Green would be a “perfect fit” for the team.

And-Ones: Free Agents, Jersey Ads, Bubble, Europe

November 3rd, 2020 at 4:11pm CST by Luke Adams

John Hollinger of The Athletic, who invented the PER stat during his time at ESPN, has developed a new metric called BORD$ that estimates a player’s salary value for the upcoming season. After providing an in-depth explanation of how exactly the BORD$ formula works, Hollinger has applied it to this year’s class of free agent point guards and shooting guards in an attempt to determine which players warrant the biggest investments.

Hollinger’s point guard list doesn’t include a ton of surprises — Fred VanVleet is easily the most valuable free agent at the position, with Mike Conley and Goran Dragic topping the next two tiers. Shabazz Napier, Trey Burke, and Jordan McLaughlin are among the point guards whose projections are higher than you might expect.

Applied to this year’s free agent shooting guards, the results from Hollinger’s metric are more eyebrow-raising. Grizzlies RFA-to-be De’Anthony Melton is considered the top free agent at the position by BORD$, ahead of Bogdan Bogdanovic and Evan Fournier. A pair of Bulls guards, Kris Dunn and Shaquille Harrison, also rank in Hollinger’s top seven FA shooting guards due to their defensive prowess.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

As the NBA considers potential new revenue streams to help offset the losses generated by the coronavirus pandemic, allowing a second advertisement patch on game jerseys is one idea being weighed, according to John Lombardo of SportsBusiness Journal.
David Aldridge of The Athletic takes an in-depth look at the lessons learned from the NBA’s summer bubble experiment and the takeaways that could carry over to the 2020/21 season. As Aldridge observes, while players and coaches aren’t eager to re-enter a bubble next year, the fact that it worked so well this time around will go a long way toward convincing them it’s worth doing again, if need be — even if it’s just for a short period in the postseason, like Major League Baseball did.
The coronavirus pandemic has continued to wreak havoc on European basketball leagues that have begun their 2020/21 seasons, as Ken Maguire of The Associated Press writes. Only half of the EuroLeague’s 18 clubs have played a full six-game schedule so far this season, as COVID-19 outbreaks have caused several last-minute postponements.

Devon Hall Signs With German Team

October 30th, 2020 at 8:00am CST by Luke Adams

OCTOBER 30: Brose Bamberg has published a tweet formally welcoming Hall to the team.

OCTOBER 29: Thunder guard Devon Hall is in the process of signing with German club Brose Bamberg, a source tells Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.

Hall, a 2018 second-round pick who was on a two-way deal with the Thunder early in the 2019/20 season, was waived last December, but remained with the team’s G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue. In 30 total NBAGL games (31.4 MPG) this season, he averaged 15.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 4.1 APG on .455/.360/.860 shooting.

Hall then rejoined the Thunder for the NBA’s summer restart, signing as a substitute player after the club had promoted Luguentz Dort to its 15-man roster. He played in six of Oklahoma City’s eight seeding games, though he was inactive for the playoffs. In total, he appeared in 11 NBA games as a rookie, averaging 1.8 PPG and 1.2 APG.

Two players who finished the 2019/20 season under contract with the Thunder have now lined up deals with teams in Europe — Hall follows the lead of Kevin Hervey, who signed with Russian club Lokomotiv Kuban last month.

And-Ones: McMillan, T. Lewis, J. Jones, Free Agency

October 29th, 2020 at 12:22pm CST by Luke Adams

After initially planning to sit out the 2020/21 season following his dismissal from the Pacers, Nate McMillan has had an apparent change of heart, writes Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. Sources tell Agness that McMillan is hoping to be on an NBA coaching staff next season and has already heard from several teams.

While we don’t know all the clubs McMillan has talked to, it’s safe to assume Houston is one. After word broke on Wednesday that the Rockets were hiring Stephen Silas as their head coach, a report indicated that the team was looking to add a couple former head coaches – including McMillan – to Silas’ new staff.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

In international basketball news, former Salt Lake City Stars guard Trey Lewis is signing with Israeli team Maccabi Rishon, per JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors (Twitter link), while former Capital City Go Go wing Jalen Jones is joining Italy’s Pallacanestro Varese, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays. Lewis was in camp with the Jazz in 2018, while Jones appeared in 32 NBA games with three teams from 2017-19.
Earlier this week, the NBA sent teams its proposed game presentation protocols for 2020/21, assuming that few – or no – fans are permitted in arenas, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Those protocols would include enhanced theatrical lighting and pre-recorded arena noise (possibly from NBA 2K).
In an Insider-only article for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks estimates the starting salaries for this year’s free agents, including Fred VanVleet ($18-20MM), Joe Harris ($14-16MM), and Danilo Gallinari ($14-16MM), among many others.
With an apparent divide between the NBA and NBPA on whether to start the season on December 22 and January 18, Ethan Strauss of The Athletic wonders if a staggered start that allows some well-rested teams to headline the Christmas Day slate might be a good compromise.

David Stockton To Play In Puerto Rico

October 26th, 2020 at 9:17am CST by Luke Adams

Veteran free agent guard David Stockton, the son of Hall-of-Famer John Stockton, has agreed to join Mets de Guaynabo in Puerto Rico, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.

Stockton, 29, went undrafted out of Gonzaga in 2014 and has spent most of his professional career since then in the NBA’s G League. In five total seasons with the Reno Bighorns and South Bay Lakers, he has averaged 17.5 PPG, 7.1 APG, and 3.5 RPG on .450/.372/.823 shooting in 169 games (30.0 MPG).

Stockton has also appeared in six total NBA games for the Kings and Jazz, and has some international experience, having played in Croatia in 2016, New Zealand in 2016/17, and Germany in 2018/19.

The timing of Stockton’s move to Puerto Rico is interesting, since a recent report said he has been named vice president of the new G League players’ union (the Basketball Players Union). That report indicated that Stockton was part of the BPU’s “interim” executive committee, so perhaps he’ll be replaced now that he’s apparently headed to Puerto Rico.

Stockton is the second former NBA player to reach an agreement with Mets de Guaynabo this month. Terrence Jones reportedly struck a deal with the Puerto Rican club last week.

And-Ones: Technology, Ratings, L. Nash, Italy

October 25th, 2020 at 11:00am CST by Arthur Hill

The NBA is looking for more ways to deliver its product to fans who never attend games in person, NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum told Jabari Young of CNBC. The challenges that 2020 brought have led to revelations about involving more fans in the process and the potential of 5G technology, which is being made available in an increasing number of arenas.

Facebook is working to improve its virtual reality experience, including remotely bringing fans into courtside seats. The company’s “rail-cam” was able to move at game speed with no actual fans getting in the way. Rob Shaw, Facebook’s head of Global Sports Media and League Partnerships, said the social media company plans to utilize better camera lenses to enhance the video experience.

“If you’re going to watch a game from the front row, it has to feel like you’re watching it from the front row,” Shaw said. “… That experience is something I hope is brought to the platform in three to five years – for people around the world to be able to have the same experience as Spike Lee watching a Knicks game.”

If Facebook can sell virtual courtside seats, it would present an opportunity for advertisers to reach out to fans with personally catered messages. The NBA is also working to expand virtual signs throughout its arenas.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

The league isn’t overly concerned about its ratings decline during the playoffs, Tatum said in the same story. The NBA Finals drew the lowest viewership since 1994, but Tatum points to increased social media metrics, including billions of video views and more than 300 million YouTube views during the postseason, an increase of 63% over last year. “These are things that not only are affecting us but every other sports league,” Tatum said. “But we understand the numbers are what they are.”
Le’Bryan Nash, who was briefly with the Rockets in 2018, has been released by Maccabi Haifa for disciplinary reasons, according to Nicola Lupo of Sportando. Nash played just two games for the Israeli team.
COVID-19 continues to disrupt overseas basketball, writes Ennio Terrasi Borghesan of Sportando. The Italian government has adopted new pandemic restrictions that will require all basketball games through November 24 to take place in empty arenas.

Terrence Jones To Play In Puerto Rico

October 22nd, 2020 at 6:33pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Power forward Terrence Jones, formerly of the Rockets, Pelicans and Bucks, will continue his international basketball journey in Puerto Rico, per Nicola Lupo of Sportando. Jones will suit up for Mets de Guaynabo during the team’s 2020/21 basketball season.

The 6’9″ Jones saw his most recent NBA action during the 2018/19 season, when he inked two 10-day contracts with the Rockets and appeared in two games for the club that season. He also logged time with Houston’s G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, during ’18/19.

In 2019, Jones signed with TNT KaTropa in the Philippines.

The 28-year-old big man is an eight-year NBA veteran, having been drafted with the No. 18 pick by the Rockets in 2012. Jones has appeared in 234 games in the league, including 118 starts. He holds career averages of 10.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 1.0 APG.

And-Ones: NBA Revenue, Burks, NCAA, Africa

October 19th, 2020 at 3:04pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s summer restart permitted the league to recoup about $1.5 billion in revenue that would have otherwise been lost, sources tell John Lombardo of SportsBusiness Daily. As Lombardo explains, much of that $1.5 billion was tied to national and local television deals, as well as league sponsorships.

Of course, the inability to fully complete the regular season schedule and to have fans in arenas for any summer games will end up costing the NBA a significant chunk of revenue, and the coronavirus pandemic will continue to impact the league’s financial outlook going forward. Still, that financial outlook would have been significantly grimmer if the NBA hadn’t been able to successfully pull off the bubble experiment at Walt Disney World this summer.

“Without a doubt, it was worth it,” one team executive said of the reported $180MM the NBA spent to operate the Disney bubble, per Lombardo.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

As he prepares to re-enter free agency, guard Alec Burks has signed with Octagon Sports for representation, the agency announced today (via Twitter). Burks signed for the veteran’s minimum last summer, but had a solid season with the Warriors and Sixers, averaging 15.0 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 2.9 APG on .418/.385/.887 shooting in 66 games (26.6 MPG).
The NCAA’s Division I Council announced last week that winter sport athletes who compete during the 2020/21 season will receive an additional year of eligibility due to the coronavirus pandemic. While the ruling may affect future NBA draft classes, its impact should be relatively minimal, since most top prospects leave school after a year or two anyway.
In an interesting piece for ESPN.com, Matthew Kirwin of Sports Africa Network explores how Africa’s relationship with U.S. basketball and the NBA has evolved over the last few decades.