Pacific Notes: Afflalo, Kobe, Gortat, Lakers, Suns
Players who are oft featured on Hoops Rumors, like the Lakers' Pau Gasol, can attest to the fact that trade rumors can negatively impact your on-court performance. Magic guard Arron Afflalo was in headlines for a good portion of the summer as it was rumored he would be in a deal sending him to the Clippers for Eric Bledsoe. However, the talk didn't bother the 27-year-old at all, writes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. "I've seen a lot of trades go down within my own NBA circle with my team, whether I was in Detroit or Denver," Afflalo said. "It's part of the game. It's part of the business. At the end of the day, I'm very, very blessed to play this game no matter where I'm playing, and I'm proud of that. "You just have to be professional with those things. As long as you're wearing this Magic uniform, you give it your best." Here's more out of the Pacific Division..
- Sean Deveney of the Sporting News wonders if Kobe Bryant will take a paycut for the Lakers' benefit. There is room for middle ground between Kobe asking for another deal with a $30MM salary and a bargain basement deal. A deal paying Bryant about $20MM wouldn't allow the Lakers to sign two max players in the 2014 offseason, but it would give them enough breathing room to get one max player plus someone else in the $10MM range.
- Suns center Marcin Gortat will have to fight to keep his job thanks to the additions of No. 5 overall pick Alex Len and Miles Plumlee, writes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Len's ankle issues could be an issue, but coach Jeff Hornacek says he's doing great. “Alex has done a great job of pushing through this,” Hornacek said. “For a ‘big’ that size and as much as we want to run, that gets tough. He’s winded quite a bit and that affects some of his shots when he does get the ball inside but he’s had some nice moves. He’s working every day to get better. I think he’s improved, obviously with conditioning, over these four days but also with being able to pick up the offense.”
- Are the aging Lakers better than the new-look Warriors? Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times pits them against each other. The verdict: the Warriors will probably win 50 games with a shot at 55 while the Lakers look like a team in the 40-50 range with a lot depending on the health of Kobe Bryant.
Odds & Ends: Brooks, Evans, Wallace, Clippers
MarShon Brooks requested a trade from the Nets last spring, a source tells Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, and the team accomodated him, throwing him into the Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett blockbuster in place of Reggie Evans, who was in an early version of the deal. The result pleased Evans and Garnett, who said the Nets' decision to keep their rebounder extraordinaire was even more important than landing free agent Andrei Kirilenko. There's still more fallout from that Nets-Celtics trade as training camps open around the Association:
- Gerald Wallace admits he was "in shock" when he found out Brooklyn traded him to the Celtics, but he's pleased to be in Boston and says he's OK with spending the twilight of his career on a team that isn't a title contender, notes Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com.
- Brandon Davies, whose contract is partially guaranteed for $50K, and Lou Amundson, who's on a non-guaranteed deal, are the Clippers training camp invitees most likely to make the opening-night roster, a source tells Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link).
- The Clippers announced a number of front office moves today, and added Brendan O'Conner to the coaching staff, notes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (on Sulia).
- Suns center Channing Frye missed all of 2012/13 with a heart ailment, but with training camp ushering in the final season of his contract, the sharpshooter has been medically cleared to play, as Matt Petersen of Suns.com details.
- Manu Ginobili wasn't sure the Spurs wanted him back when he hit free agency this summer, but a brief meeting with GM R.C. Buford convinced the veteran swingman that the team still values him highly, writes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News.
- John Salmons didn't enter the offseason expecting that he'd remain with the Kings, but he says team officials assured him over the summer that he's still in their plans, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee notes via Twitter.
Clippers Sign Mustapha Farrakhan
The Clippers have finalized their camp roster, and one player we hadn't previously heard mentioned is among the invitees. Mustapha Farrakhan will be in camp with the team, the Clippers announced today in a press release.
Farrakhan, 25, participated in camp with the Bucks a year ago, but was released before the regular season began. He spent the year bouncing around the D-League, appearing in multiple games for the Iowa Energy, Sioux Falls Skyforce, and Idaho Stampede. The 6'4" guard averaged just 6.8 PPG on 38.0% shooting for the season.
With the addition of Farrakhan, the Clippers will carry 18 players into camp, including 13 on fully guaranteed deals.
Pacific Links: Nunnally, Bogut, Rivers, Lakers
James Nunnally was a sought-after commodity before he agreed to join the Suns for training camp. The Grizzlies also extended a camp invitation, and he went through workouts out for the Spurs, Jazz and Pelicans this month. Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside examines the 6'7" forward's journey from the D-League's Bakersfield Jam to the Suns, one of four NBA franchises that counted Bakersfield as one of their affiliates last season. There's more from Phoenix amid our roundup of the latest from the Pacific Division:
- The Warriors are taking a "wait-and-see approach" to a possible contract extension for a reinvigorated Andrew Bogut, writes Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group. An extension doesn't appear to be chief among Bogut's priorities, which is the case for most NBA veterans, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors explained.
- New Clippers boss Doc Rivers admits being "wishy-washy" as he recounts the back-and-forth decision process that led him to L.A. from the Celtics in a one-on-one with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
- Dwight Howard might be with the Rockets now, but he still casts a shadow over the Lakers as they open camp, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News details.
- The past 12 months have been unusually disappointing for a Lakers franchise that's been so successful, and with GM Mitch Kupchak's admission that the new CBA makes it difficult to attract free agents, the outlook is bleak for the purple-and-gold, opines Jeff Miller of the Orange County Register.
- Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic looks back on an offseason of sweeping change for the Suns.
Pacific Rumors: Kuzmic, Seth Curry, Kings, Clips
The Clippers, Warriors and Lakers all made roster moves today, but by far the most significant story involving a Pacific Division team to break in the past 24 hours is the Kings' decision to give DeMarcus Cousins a four-year max extension. When I examined Cousins' extension candidacy, I predicted that he'd hit restricted free agency next summer. If he had, the Kings could have matched another team's four-year max offer sheet, one that came with raises of no better than 4.5% of the starting salary. Instead, Cousins will get 7.5% raises for signing with the Kings directly, a more expensive outcome for Sacramento. Here's more from the Pacific:
- Center Ognjen Kuzmic's deal with the Warriors is a two-year, minimum-salary arrangement, reports Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group.
- Seth Curry is confident that he'll make the Warriors opening night roster, and his faith that GM Bob Myers and company will give him a fair shot prompted him to turn down other offers to head to Golden State, as Antonio Gonzalez of The Associated Press examines. Of course, the presence of brother Stephen Curry also surely helped influence him to accept his partially guaranteed contract with the Warriors.
- California Gov. Jerry Brown today signed into law a bill designed to remove legal hurdles to a new Kings arena in Sacramento, explains Dale Kasler of The Sacramento Bee.
- Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com takes a stab at predicting the Clippers opening night roster and writes that Byron Mullens is the most likely candidate to emerge as the team's most unheralded signing from the summer.
Clippers Sign JaMychal Green
Free agent power forward JaMychal Green will join the Clippers in training camp, according to Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com, who tweets that Green has signed with the team. Green figures to compete for a regular-season roster spot with other bigs in camp, including Brandon Davies and Louis Amundson.
Green, an Alabama product, went undrafted last June, and joined the Spurs for training camp. When he didn't make San Antonio's regular-season roster, he joined the club's D-League affiliate, the Austin Toros. The 23-year-old appeared in 40 games for Austin, including 25 starts, and averaged 12.3 PPG and 8.1 in 24.2 minutes per contest for the season.
The Clippers are currently carrying 13 players on guaranteed contracts, leaving a couple roster spots potentially available for the likes of Green, Davies, Amundson, and Maalik Wayns.
Lou Amundson To Join Clippers For Camp
After being linked to the Clippers in multiple reports over the last several weeks, Louis Amundson is prepared to join the team for training camp, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter). It appears that Amundson will be the first fully non-guaranteed camp invitee added by the Clips, bringing the club's roster to 16 players.
In addition to their 13 players on guaranteed contracts, the Clippers also have Maalik Wayns on a non-guaranteed deal and signed Brandon Davies to a contract that included a $50K guarantee. Given his advantage in NBA experience and the club's potential need in the frontcourt, Amundson may have the upper hand for earning one of those last two roster spots, though he'll likely need to impress in camp.
Amundson, 30, saw NBA action for the Timberwolves, Bulls, and Hornets (now the Pelicans) last season, averaging 1.9 PPG and 1.5 RPG in 39 contests. As Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors wrote when he examined Amundson's free agent stock, 2012/13 certainly wasn't the best showcase of the big man's ability, but he's still capable of grabbing some rebounds in limited minutes off the bench.
Gilbert Arenas Plans To Play In China
We heard a week ago that the Clippers may be inviting Gilbert Arenas to training camp, but it doesn't sound like the former All-Star is interested in auditioning for an NBA roster spot. Asked by HipHollywood.com about the Clippers rumor, Arenas denied that he'd be joining the team, indicating instead that he plans to return to China for the coming season.
"I went to go work out at the Clippers facility about two months ago," Arenas said. "I guess I did well enough for them to invite me [to camp], but I want to go to China so I can come home faster…. With China, I get to go and still play and then I can get back home and spend more time with the kids. I get to be home in February and enjoy the family. I don’t need the NBA money, I have enough of it."
This isn't the first time Arenas has expressed a fondness for China's shorter season, which ends not long after the NBA's All-Star weekend. Playing for the Shanghai Sharks earlier in 2013, Arenas indicated that he intended to spend the spring with his family, rather than trying to catch on with an NBA team after returning from China.
"Thirty-two games a year," Arenas said at the time. "Maximum 36 minutes. That’s all I need at this point in my career. So as long as China teams want me, I’ll be here."
As for whether teams in the CBA have interest in Arenas, that remains to be seen. But the 31-year-old played well in 14 games for the Sharks last season, averaging 20.7 PPG and 7.3 RPG, so I'd be surprised if he didn't attract a few suitors.
Pacific Notes: Redick, Clippers, Barnes, Shaq
Earlier today, Sam Amick of USA Today spoke with Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, who says that he is a fan of DeMarcus Cousins and hopes to get a new deal hammered out with him in advance of next month's deadline. While Ranadive wouldn't handicap the odds of something getting done, Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears that the two sides are on track to agree to an extension in the coming weeks. Here's more on the Kings and other notes from the Pacific Division..
- J.J. Redick spoke with Eric Patten of NBA.com about the deal that sent him to the Clippers this summer. “I have mixed emotions about [getting traded],” Redick said. “For the most part, you essentially accept the fact that it’s part of the job and you’re getting paid to play basketball. Ultimately, I don’t feel Milwaukee with our team last year was… It definitely wasn’t a great fit. We didn’t play particularly well as a team down the stretch. Going into that I hoped we could kind of move up from that eighth spot and we didn’t. It was frustrating to a lot of people last year in Milwaukee.”
- Mark Deeks of HoopsWorld.com ranked the ten best new contracts of the offseason and the Clippers earned two mentions for Matt Barnes and Darren Collison. Both were acquired via the non-taxpayer mid-level exception with Barnes earning $3.25MM with Collison getting the remaining $1.9MM.
- Shaquille O'Neal can offer the Kings quite a bit in the way of marketing after becoming a minority owner, Amick writes.
Eastern Notes: World Peace, Bucks, Rose, Hawks
So far this morning, we've passed along word of Nerlens Noel's contract with the Sixers, and heard confirmation from the Raptors that they've signed three players to training camp deals. Here are a few more items from around the Eastern Conference:
- Metta World Peace tells Dan Duggan of Newsday that he "got calls from Oklahoma and the Clippers and all these teams" when he was amnestied by the Lakers, but he's happy with his decision to sign with the Knicks.
- Speaking at the Bucks Partner Summit in Milwaukee yesterday, future NBA commissioner Adam Silver made it clear that the city is in need of a new arena, writes Rich Kirchen of The Business Journal. "At the end of the day compared to other modern arenas in the league, this arena is a few hundred thousand square feet too small," Silver said. "It doesn’t have the sort of back-of-house space you need, doesn’t have the kinds of amenities we need."
- Derrick Rose has said in the past that he has little interest in actively recruiting other players to the Bulls, and as he prepares to return from an ACL injury, he's sticking to that stance. "I don't recruit. If anyone wants to play with me, I don't mind playing with, it could be anyone in the NBA, but as far as recruiting, I never did and never will," Rose told Rappler.com (link via ESPNChicago.com).
- Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld examines the Hawks' signing of Paul Millsap, which he views as one of the more underappreciated moves of the summer.