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Western Notes: Brooks, Clippers, Waiters

January 10th, 2015 at 2:57pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Though he’s unlikely to be fired mid-season, Thunder coach Scott Brooks‘ job is definitely on the line this year, Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman writes. Tramel cites the Thunder’s disappointing record, and how the team has regressed even after getting Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook back from injuries, as major reasons why Brooks’ days in OKC could be numbered.

Here’s the latest out of the Western Conference:

Toure’ Murry, who was waived by the Jazz earlier this month, was acquired by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA D-League, the team announced. Rio Grande Valley is the D-League affiliate of the Rockets.
The Warriors were one of the Wolves‘ most aggressive suitors for Kevin Love prior to him being dealt to Cleveland, but Love still isn’t sure how close he was to heading to Oakland, Rusty Simmons of The San Francisco Chronicle writes. “I know that they were a team that was in talks,” Love said. “But that’s really as far as it got.” Love definitely appreciates just how talented a squad Golden State has, Simmons adds. “They’re a great team,” Love said. “They’re a fun team to watch. They get up and down the floor. They shoot the three ball really well. They have a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things.”
Dion Waiters said that he learned that he had been traded to the Thunder after the starting lineup had been announced and the Cavs’ game against the Sixers was just about to begin, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports notes (Twitter link). Waiters still wanted to play in the game, but wasn’t permitted to for obvious reasons, Spears adds.
In light of president of basketball operations Neil Olshey‘s brand new contract extension, Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders looks at the success that Olshey has had during his tenure with the Blazers.
The Clippers sent $300K to the Sixers as part of the Jared Cunningham deal, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link).
Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger isn’t happy that trade talks have leaked to the media, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal tweets. “It’s a major distraction,” Joerger said. “Things like that should be kept behind closed doors. It ticks me off.“

Eastern Notes: Wroten, Taylor, Butler

January 10th, 2015 at 10:58am CST by Eddie Scarito

CSNPhilly.com’s John Gonzalez took an in-depth look at the potential trade value of Tony Wroten, who was rumored to be the subject of trade discussions between the Clippers and the Sixers earlier this week. A pair of league executives told Gonzalez that Wroten could possibly net GM Sam Hinkie two second-rounders, and another said that it would be difficult to get fair value for Wroten, so it would be wiser to hang on to the guard. Philadelphia currently owns a whopping 15 second round draft picks between now and 2020.

Here’s more from the East:

The Hornets have recalled Jeffery Taylor from the Austin Spurs of the NBA D-League, the team has announced. In four games with the Spurs he averaged 11.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 26.2 minutes per contest. This was Taylor’s initial jaunt of the season to the D-League.
Rasual Butler had the remainder of his contract guaranteed for the season when he remained on the Wizards’ roster past Wednesday’s deadline. The veteran swingman’s play has made him an integral part of Washington’s rotation, and Butler also has a fan in Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post writes. Thibodeau, who briefly coached Butler in Chicago, said of his former player, “I think it’s the perfect fit for him and he’s a great pro. He’s a guy who plays year-round and stays in great shape. And I think when you look at what John Wall does and you look at what Andre Miller does, he’s the perfect fit because he creates space and his career says how well he can shoot the three. But to be doing it at this stage of his career is a real credit to him. But we always felt strongly about his professionalism, his attitude, how much he loved he game. And the shooting part, that’s never going to go away.”
Despite all of the Knicks‘ struggles this season, first year coach Derek Fisher‘s confidence hasn’t wavered, and he believes this turbulent campaign will help him become a better coach, Al Iannazzone of Newsday writes.

Neil Olshey On Extension, Future, More

January 9th, 2015 at 11:21am CST by Chuck Myron

There wasn’t much chatter about a new deal for Trail Blazers executive Neil Olshey before he and the team signed an extension Thursday, but it’s no real surprise, given the franchise’s rapid ascent the past two seasons. Portland is 28-8 and in second place in the Western Conference a season after having finished as the No. 5 seed and two seasons removed from going 33-49 and missing the playoffs. The extension kicks in next season, notes Joe Freeman of The Oregonian, meaning it runs through 2018/19, which is a team option year. Olshey also scored a promotion to president of basketball operations in the arrangement, and that was one of the many issues he addressed with the media Thursday following the announcement of the deal. Casey Holdahl of Blazers.com provides a complete transcription, and we’ll pass along the highlights here:

On the effect of his promotion to president of basketball operations:

“No, nothing. Nothing. What the title does — I really appreciate it — but what it does is in the event, at some point, we wanted to hire or promote from within someone to the general manager level, we wouldn’t be restricted by title that the general manager position was already taken. Down the road, if there was a talent available or if internally we wanted to make sure we kept someone’s services and the title was an issue, we now have a title that’s open there as opposed to having it closed off.”

On whether things with the Blazers have met his expectations since he left the Clippers in 2012:

“I hope so. I didn’t leave for nothing. I love the Los Angeles Clippers and I had a great run there. It was hard for my wife, my family, my kids to move out of the only city they’d ever lived in, but they were willing to do it to support me. It all just kind of worked in place. We hired [coach] Terry [Stotts], he’s been an incredible coach. [Team president] Chris [McGowan] came on board not long after me and completely revamped everything going on up here. Having [owner] Paul [Allen] embrace the vision of everyone, from what goes on on the court, off the court, behind the scenes, it’s been a great run so far. I just know we got to the point where we were relevant quicker than we’d anticipated. And now the key is to sustain that and I know Paul drives us every day to make sure we put the best product on the floor for the fans. I think right now we’ve got the fans, the season ticket holders in a really good place in terms of their support of the team and the kind of guys and the culture that we have. It’s our job every day to make sure we keep that as keep that as consistent as possible.”

On the future for the Blazers:

“One of the things we had talked about when we took over was sustainability. I think the key was to prove to everybody that last year wasn’t a fluke, that the core of this team is capable of competing for a championship and being a factor in the playoff race. We’re only [a] third of the way through the season but I think there are enough positive indicators to know we’re on the right track. We’ll look for opportunities if we can to improve the roster to give Terry and his staff a better chance at competing at a higher level, but at the end of the day, we’re comfortable with where we are, as evidenced by tonight.”

Western Notes: Nuggets, Lakers, Young

January 8th, 2015 at 8:26pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Nuggets, who finally decided to trade Timofey Mozgov, are realistic about their season being at a crossroads, Mark Kizsla of The Denver Post writes. “We came into this season expecting to be a playoff team,” GM Tim Connelly said. “At this point, we’re on the outside, looking in. We probably have a couple weeks to change that, be relevant and view ourselves as a playoff-caliber team. I’m hopeful that’s the case. But I’m also realistic to know, and honest enough with our team internally, to say: If in a couple weeks, if that’s not the case, then we have a new reality. It’s now or never. The disappointment is real with where we stand. We’ll have all we need to know about this present roster within a few weeks.”

Here’s more from the West:

Fans of the Lakers and the Knicks shouldn’t get their hopes up that either team will be able to sign Rajon Rondo when he hits free agency this summer, since he’s unlikely to leave the Mavs, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops writes. “Dallas will throw money at him and has a better chance at winning than the other two teams [Knicks and Lakers],” an Eastern Conference scout told Scotto.
Nick Young,who was a member of the Clippers for part of the 2011/12 season, said that his experience with the Lakers thus far has been the superior one of his time spent in Los Angeles, Bill Oram of The Orange County Register writes. “Being a Laker, there’s nothing like it,” Young said. “I think I learn more just being here and being around an atmosphere of winning, toughness and learning how to play under a great player like Kobe Bryant.”
When asked about the declaration that the team would contend for a title within three years made by Lakers executive VP of basketball operations Jim Buss, coach Byron Scott was non-committal about the probability of that becoming a reality, Eric Pincus of The Los Angeles Times writes. “Our plan, when you talk about the organization, is to win the championship, that’s the bottom line,” Scott said. “I don’t know what the time frame is right now. Jeanie [Buss] and Jim, obviously that’s between them. I’ll let you know in September. That’s when training camp will start next year. We’ll have our free agents, our draft picks. I’ll get a pretty good idea of what we have at that particular time and let you know.“

Atlantic Notes: Jackson, Galloway, Celtics

January 7th, 2015 at 8:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Knicks still have an interest in acquiring Reggie Jackson from the Thunder, but New York likely lacks the assets to entice Oklahoma City into dealing the guard, who will become a restricted free agent at season’s end, Jon Hamm of The Oklahoman writes. The only Knicks players that the Thunder may be interested in, Pablo Prigioni and Jose Calderon, offer significant downsides, Hamm notes. Calderon’s contract is unappealing, and Prigioni’s age (37), make any deal for them with OKC unlikely, adds Hamm.

Here’s the latest out of the Atlantic Division:

Newly-signed Langston Galloway had two things going for him that the Knicks liked: He’s well-versed in the triangle and he completed his college career, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. “Langston is mature for a young player, gone to school for four years,’’ coach Derek Fisher said. “Not being afraid of the moment as a young guy was really impressive over the summer. He’s done some good things in Westchester [D-League] so far that tell us he is a guy who can develop into a good pro player. We’re excited to have him here for a short period. He’s going to try to make the most of it.’’
Knicks team president Phil Jackson hasn’t given up on Calderon, in spite of speculation that he’ll be the next player the team trades, so it’s more likely the Knicks would let go of backup Prigioni instead, Berman writes in a separate piece.
One of the Celtics‘ remaining trade assets who could be in demand is veteran forward Jeff Green. Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders runs down a number of possible deals that Boston can make should it decide to trade Green. Hoops Rumors’ Chuck Myron also looked at Green’s market in our Trade Candidate series.
The $490K that remained from the $2.09MM trade exception that the Celtics had created last January from the Courtney Lee to Memphis trade expired today. Also expiring is the $884,293 trade exception that the Thunder created from the same deal for sending Ryan Gomes to Boston.
Tony Wroten was rumored to be a part of the Sixers’ deal with the Clippers for Jared Cunningham, but for now, Wroten remains in Philadelphia. But Los Angeles is still interested in acquiring the guard, and the teams are having preliminary discussions regarding a possible trade, John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com reports. Wroten said that he’d like to remain in Philly, but he’s flattered that other teams are interested in him, Gonzalez adds. “I’m auditioning for everybody,” Wroten said. “But I was blessed and fortunate enough, with a few guys, who got to stay on this team. It’s like you feel wanted. I continue to play for the lovely fans and the lovely community and see where it takes us.”

Sixers Acquire Jared Cunningham

January 7th, 2015 at 6:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

6:58pm: The trade is official, the Clippers have announced. Los Angeles sent Cunningham, the draft rights to Akyol and cash considerations to the Sixers in exchange for the draft rights to Lishuk. The deal allows the Clippers to create a trade exception worth $915,243, the equivalent of Cunningham’s salary. Philadelphia has yet to make an announcement, and the Sixers couldn’t have traded for Cunningham without offloading someone, since they were carrying a 15-man roster, so it would seem there’s another part of the equation still to be revealed.

6:25pm: The Clippers will receive the rights to Serhiy Lishuk from the Sixers, and Philadelphia will acquire the rights to Cenk Akyol, Bolch reports (Twitter link). Akyol, 27, was selected in the second round of the 2005 NBA draft, and Lishuk, 32, was the No. 49 overall pick in the 2004 draft.

4:52pm: The Sixers and Clippers will also be swapping rights to draft picks as part of the deal, Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times tweets.

2:32pm: The Clippers have inquired about Wroten, but those are preliminary talks, according to John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter link).

2:01pm: It’ll be cash going Philly’s way from the Clippers, and the Sixers will indeed waive Cunningham once they acquire him, Wojnarowski tweets.

1:59pm: The Clippers aren’t taking any players back in the deal, according to Wojnarowski (on Twitter). That means the Sixers would have to offload someone before the deal can become official.

1:56pm: Tony Wroten is the Clips’ target in the deal, according to Dan Woike of the Orange County Register (on Twitter). Wroten, who’s averaging 30.5 minutes per game for Philly, is on a guaranteed rookie-scale contract that would further tighten the squeeze under the team’s hard cap.

1:53pm: The Sixers are unlikely to keep Cunningham once they acquire him, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times counters that the Clips are merely exploring a move that will affect whether or not they waive Cunningham (Twitter link).

1:38pm: The Clippers are trading Jared Cunningham to the Sixers, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Cunningham has a non-guaranteed deal and the Clippers were set to waive him in advance of today’s deadline to do so before his minimum salary would have become guaranteed for the balance of the season. Philadelphia has 15 players on its roster, so it’ll need to either send someone to L.A. or make a corresponding move. That’s true even if the Sixers don’t intend to keep Cunningham, as is often the case with the veterans the Sixers acquire via trade.

Trading Cunningham instead of releasing him would help the Clippers financially, since it would remove his entire salary from their books, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The Clippers would be stuck with the money they had already paid to Cunningham this year counting against their hard cap if they were to waive him. The team is less than $1MM shy of its hard cap, a collective bargaining agreement feature it triggered when it gave out the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception to Spencer Hawes and the biannual exception to Jordan Farmar.

Cunningham, the 24th overall pick in the 2012 draft, has only played in 40 career NBA regular season games, 19 of which have come this season after he showed enough in the preseason to make the team out of training camp. Still, he’s averaged 1.8 points in just 4.7 minutes per game for the Clippers.

Blazers Join Pursuit Of Jermaine O’Neal

January 7th, 2015 at 8:32am CST by Chuck Myron

The Blazers have pitched Jermaine O’Neal on the idea of playing in Portland, but the Mavs remain the front-runners for him, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. O’Neal still hasn’t decided whether to play at all this season, though he has a strong connection to the Portland area, according to Stein.

O’Neal lives in greater Dallas and he’s long held aspirations of playing close to home, as Stein wrote last month when he identified the Mavs as the favorites to land O’Neal, a position bolstered when the team traded for Rajon Rondo. The Warriors, Cavs and Clippers also appeared to be in the hunt as of last month, though Stein leaves Golden State out of his latest dispatch.

The 36-year-old center, who played for the Warriors last season, has made it clear that his family will play a key role in his decision-making, which seemingly confirms the Mavs’ status as favorites should he decide to play. O’Neal revealed this week that he’s traveled to Germany to undergo treatments on his knees, seemingly a signal that he’s preparing to make his way back to the court. Dallas president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said last month that he was confident his team would land either O’Neal or Josh Smith, and shortly thereafter Smith signed with the Rockets.

The Blazers are missing starting center Robin Lopez, who’s likely out for the rest of the month with a broken right hand, and backup big man Joel Freeland is out for at least two weeks with a bruised right shoulder. The team has a full 15-man roster, so it would have to clear a space to sign O’Neal. Portland made O’Neal the 17th overall pick back in 1996, and he played the first four of his 18 NBA seasons with the Blazers.

Pacific Notes: Corbin, Lakers, Wilcox

January 6th, 2015 at 9:27pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro confirmed that Tyrone Corbin would indeed coach Sacramento for the remainder of the season, as the GM said in a radio interview Monday on KHTK-AM, Bill Herenda of CSNBayArea.com notes. When Corbin took over for the fired Mike Malone, it was assumed that he would merely be the interim coach, notes Herenda, but the team intended to have Corbin finish out the season all along. D’Alessandro did admit that he spoke with George Karl after Malone was fired, but D’Alessandro said the organization supports Corbin fully, Herenda adds.

Here’s the latest out of the Pacific Division:

The Clippers have assigned C.J. Wilcox to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the D-League, the team has announced. This will be Wilcox’s first trip of the season to the D-League, and he is the first player that the Clippers have assigned this season.
Blazers guard Steve Blake still has warm regards for the Lakers, with whom he spent four years of his career before being dealt to Golden State last season, Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News writes. Blake said that he “absolutely” had interest in re-signing with the Lakers this offseason, Medina notes. Blake also relayed that he and the Lakers talked at the beginning of free agency, though Los Angeles was waiting on the decisions of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. “As soon as the Blazers made me an offer, I took it pretty quickly,” Blake said. “There were a lot of questions for the Lakers to answer before they could get around to someone like me. I wasn’t the first option. A lot of those things didn’t clear themselves up until it was too late.”
In the same article by Medina, Chris Kaman, who didn’t mesh well with former Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni‘s system, blamed himself for signing with L.A. “I can point fingers all day long. But it was my choice where I went,” said Kaman. “I made the call and thought it would work. I don’t think that Mike D’Antoni purposely tried to [expletive] anybody over. It’s just the way he wants to play people.”
Kaman also blames the Lakers‘ delay while waiting for ‘Melo and LeBron for why he didn’t return to Los Angeles, Medina notes. “Mitch Kupchak [Lakers GM] took forever trying to wait for Carmelo,” Kaman said. “I think that was [executive] Jimmy Buss. They lost a lot of opportunities personally by waiting that long. They lost a bunch of guys that went the other way. My guess is Jimmy said we want to wait for those guys so they can try to make a run at it.”

Berger’s Latest: Stephenson, Jackson, Crawford

January 6th, 2015 at 3:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com shares eye-catching rumors from across the league in his latest must-read piece, which looks ahead to the trade deadline that’s just a month and a half away. We’ll pass along some of the highlights here:

The Hornets continue to explore the market for Lance Stephenson, and they’re looking for frontcourt help, Berger hears. Charlotte had reportedly decided to table Stephenson talks late last month, but since that time, Al Jefferson was diagnosed with an injury that’ll keep him out most of January, if not longer.
The Knicks tried to pry Reggie Jackson from the Thunder in talks leading up to Monday’s trade, and they’re expected to try to do so again, Berger writes. Still, the Thunder are holding the line against trading him, as Berger adds.
Jamal Crawford is off-limits for other teams as the Clippers try to acquire a starting-caliber small forward, sources tell Berger. The Clips, up against a hard cap, have told at least one team that asked about Crawford that they don’t plan to move him.
Execs from teams around the league believe the Knicks will be active between now and the draft, as there’s widespread doubt that New York will be able to land a major free agent this summer, Berger hears. There’s speculation that Jose Calderon will be the next Knicks player to be traded, but that’ll be more easily said than done for New York, since the 33-year-old point guard’s contract runs through 2016/17 with salaries in excess of $7MM each year, Berger writes.

Clippers To Waive Jared Cunningham

January 6th, 2015 at 12:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Clippers are expected to waive Jared Cunningham, a source tells Dan Woike of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). The move would come as no surprise, as Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com wrote last month that the team was likely to cut ties with the former first-round pick at some point in the coming weeks. Cunningham’s contract is non-guaranteed, but it would become fully guaranteed for the rest of the season if the Clippers fail to waive him by 4:00pm Central on Wednesday. The team is less than $1MM shy of its hard cap, so dropping Cunningham before his minimum salary locks in would give the club a modicum of additional flexibility. The Clips are on the hook for the prorated portion of Cunningham’s salary of more than $915K that he’s already earned, but they’d get to take his entire salary off their books if another team claimed him off waivers.

The 23-year-old shooting guard made the team out of training camp, but he’s failed to garner much playing time, accruing just 1.8 points in 4.7 minutes per game across 19 appearances. Still, Cunningham has played in nearly as many NBA games this season as he did in his first two seasons after becoming the 24th overall pick in 2012.

The team’s deal with Cunningham is its only non-guaranteed pact, as our roster counts show, so releasing him allows the club to maintain flexibility for a signing later in the season. The Clippers may also utilize 10-day contracts, as they did with three players last season, but since the team is already over the tax line and nearing that hard cap, even the slightest of investments come at a higher cost.