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Southeast Notes: Porzingis, Wade, Wizards, Magic

January 29th, 2016 at 11:12am CST by Chuck Myron

The Magic were determined to land Kristaps Porzingis in the 2014 draft and GM Rob Hennigan promised to take him with the No. 10 pick if he stayed in the draft that year, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. Instead, he withdrew, and as he prepared for the 2015 draft, the Magic realized he wouldn’t slip past fourth, even though the Knicks had talks about swapping the No. 4 pick for a wing player and another first-rounder up until the day of the draft, Wojnarowski adds.

“Rob had a thorough, comprehensive plan,” Miller said to Wojnarowski. “He had invested as much, or more time, into Kristaps as anyone in the league. He really studied him. They had a plan for supplemental training, development. It wasn’t just, ‘Let’s just draft him and see what happens.’ This was a plan. Kristaps knew the plan and just wasn’t ready.”

Porzingis would have had the Magic’s blessing to remain overseas for a year had they drafted him in 2014, but as the 2015 draft approached, Porzingis’ camp wanted him to end up with the Knicks, as the Yahoo scribe details. Agent Andy Miller withheld him from working out or taking a physical for the Sixers, who had pick No. 3, Wojnarowski notes. The Magic wound up drafting Mario Hezonja with the fifth pick. See more from the Southeast Division.

  • Pat Riley said LeBron James never asked him to fire Erik Spoelstra, as previously rumored, as Ethan Skolnick of the Miami Herald relays, rounding up comments the Heat team president made Thursday. Riley also said he’s proud of Dwyane Wade for “how he has come back and changed the narrative about himself and worked on his body,” Skolnick notes. Wade hits free agency again this summer.
  • A third straight loss that dropped the Wizards to 20-24 prompted a players-only meeting Thursday, as J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic details. Jared Dudley, referring to himself as the spokesperson for the team, implicated the coaching staff in his comments following the meeting, as well as a return to a lineup featuring both Marcin Gortat and soon-to-be free agent Nene, who’s been marginalized most of this season. “The flow has been terrible for us these last couple games. That’s something that players and coaches have to do a better job,” Dudley said. “At times it’s good to play Nene and Gortat together. … What team are we trying to be here? We can’t keep coming into this locker room talking about inconsistency because April 15 [when the regular season ends] we’ll all be back at the crib.”
  • Hennigan last week cited the youthfulness of the Magic roster for the team’s struggles of late, but the team’s players said before the season that wouldn’t be an excuse, observes Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel. The Magic, tied with the Wizards at 20-24, have evoked memories of last season’s 25-57 disappointment as they’ve lost 11 of their last 12 games, and it indicates little progress under new coach Scott Skiles, who faces a challenge to turn the season around, Schmitz writes.
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Eastern Notes: Stoudemire, Horford, James

January 28th, 2016 at 9:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

New Cavs coach Tyronn Lue has publicly criticized Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving for “worrying too much about their brand,” something that LeBron James says isn’t an issue for himself, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. “All I wanted to do is win,” James told Haynes. “I do whatever it takes to win. I sacrifice whatever to win. When you’re younger, you don’t quite know how to do it at this level, but I did experience [winning] at the high school level. It don’t matter what level you are, if you’re able to win and win a championship, or win a national championship or a state championship, you have to make sacrifices. I knew I was a winner at heart and I knew I would put the work in to be a winner. I’m always the guy that understood that there’s no better recipe for your brand or your stature than winning. There’s nothing else better than that. There’s no other way to propel that to the highest level, than winning. So, that’s always been my mindset.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Heat power forward Amar’e Stoudemire believes he still has some basketball left in the tank and isn’t currently contemplating retiring at the end of this season, Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post relays. He wants to play two or three more seasons, Lieser adds (on Twitter). “I’ve still got it,” Stoudemire said. “I’m not too far removed from doing that. It’s just a matter of finding a nice balance where I can stay consistent. My body’s been feeling great and strong. I feel healthy, my passion is there. If that continues, I’m just gonna feel better and better and I’m gonna play better and better. There’s a lot more left in me. No question.” The 33-year-old is averaging 4.4 points and 3.2 rebounds in 12.5 minutes over his 18 appearances this season.
  • The Hawks shouldn’t trade either Al Horford or Jeff Teague this season, Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution opines. Dennis Schröder isn’t ready to take the reigns as a full-time starter yet, and Horford fits the team’s system extremely well as a big man, Bradley writes. The scribe also adds that if the Cavaliers falter, Atlanta could be the beneficiary come playoff time, which would make dealing away one or both of the pair a riskier move than normal.
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2016 NBA All-Star Game Reserves Announced

January 28th, 2016 at 6:14pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA has officially announced the reserves for the 2016 All-Star game, which will be played at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Sunday, February 14th. The names of the reserves were first reported by Carron J. Phillips of The News Journal and confirmed by Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution (All four Twitter links). The starters for both conferences were announced last week, with Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard voted to tip off the exhibition in the West and LeBron James, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Kyle Lowry slated to represent the East.

While the starters are selected by the fans, reserves are chosen by the coaches in each conference, though they are not permitted to vote for players on their own team. Listed below are the reserves for the 2016 NBA All-Star game for each conference:

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Who was the biggest surprise among the All-Star reserves announced tonight? Share your thoughts with a comment.

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Eastern Notes: Skiles, Noah, Winslow

January 27th, 2016 at 5:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Magic coach Scott Skiles, when asked about his tenure as Bucks head coach, said he considered his time there a failure, Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel relays. “Any time you’re someplace four or five years, you have friendships,” Skiles said regarding his time spent in Milwaukee. “We have a sailboat on Lake Michigan. We had a good time this summer here — all six weeks of it. That was a fun year [in 2010]. But like all coaches or like anybody in sports, you’ve got to be judged by wins and losses. From a personal standpoint because we weren’t able to sustain that, I look at it as a situation where I failed.” Skiles’ regular season record as Bucks coach was 162-182.

Skiles did add that the lack of All-Star level talent contributed to the Bucks difficulties, Gardner notes. “From year to year, things change,” Skiles told Gardner. “It’s hard. The teams that can sustain it, it’s not a secret why. They typically have two or three All-Stars that stay for a long period of time and a really solid core, and they just plug other guys in. If you don’t have that, it’s very hard, because other teams are getting better. Everybody’s goal is to have those guys, but there aren’t that many of them.” The last Milwaukee player selected to the NBA All-Star game was Michael Redd, way back in 2004.

Here’s more from out of the East:

  • Bulls center Joakim Noah has dealt with injuries and having his playing time drop this season, the last on his current deal, but he hopes to show the league he can still be a valuable contributor going forward, Nick Friedell of ESPN.com writes. “It’s not easy, but I know there’s people out there who it’s a lot harder for, so I’m not complaining,” Noah said of his pending free agency. “These are my cards right now. And it’s all about how you bounce back. I just want to prove that I have a lot more basketball in me.“
  • The Heat want to continue to expand the role of rookie Justise Winslow and view him as player who can be utilized at multiple positions, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel writes. Winslow, for his part, embraces the variety, Winderman adds. “I mean, that’s the type of player I was growing up, and at Duke, especially, versatile, just trying to do everything,” Winslow said. “I had a post up [Tuesday], knocking down a 3-pointer and playing a little point, just doing a little bit of everything.” The 19-year-old is averaging 5.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists over his 43 appearances this season.
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Eastern Notes: Durant, Anderson, Heat, LeBron

January 27th, 2016 at 10:19am CST by Chuck Myron

Some executives around the NBA expect that the Knicks will at least “get an audience” with Kevin Durant, writes Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com, who points out that New York will likely have to maneuver to create enough cap space to place a max offer on the table for him. Durant praised the Knicks’ roster construction, mentioning Kristaps Porzingis, Robin Lopez, Arron Afflalo and Derrick Williams, as well as coach and former Durant teammate Derek Fisher, notes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, but in spite of Durant’s much-publicized “unicorn” comment about Porzingis, the Thunder have a strong roster and a unique player of their own in Russell Westbrook, observes Royce Young of ESPN.com. See more on a few of New York’s Eastern Conference rivals:

  • Alan Anderson is expected to return to game action around the All-Star break, a source told Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post. The Wizards signed the swingman in the offseason thinking he’d be ready to start the season on time, but he wound up needing a second surgery on his injured left ankle, and he’s yet to suit up for the team.
  • Heat majority owner Micky Arison has been trying to buy out minority share owner Ranaan Katz for years, and Heat employees have long been barred from talking with him, according to Dan Le Batard of ESPN, who adds that the assertion that LeBron James tried to have Erik Spoelstra fired is untrue (Twitter links). Katz reportedly made that assertion, but he denies that, claiming that what he said on a radio show hosted by Ofira Asayag on ONE.co.il’s 102 FM in Israel was incorrectly translated from Hebrew to English, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). For what it’s worth, international journalist David Pick provided a full transcription for Bleacher Report, which depicts Katz saying that Riley’s refusal to fire Spoelstra was the primary reason James returned to Cleveland and that the Heat drafted Shabazz Napier in 2014 because James wanted them to. Katz also denies that he said LeBron was the catalyst for the Cavs firing David Blatt, as Pick notes in an addendum to the transcription.
  • James said today that he never hesitated to give his opinion but that he’s never undermined a coach, adding that he’s never met Katz, note Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (Twitter links). James has indeed met Katz, counters Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel, who points out that Katz sits next to the visitors bench for every Heat home game (Twitter link).
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Dead Money: Southeast Division

January 26th, 2016 at 9:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Not every dollar of each team’s payroll shows up on the court, as franchises often dish out funds to players who are no longer on their rosters. Players with guaranteed money who are waived, either through a standard waiver release, use of the stretch provision, or when a buyout arrangement is reached, still count against a team’s cap figure for the duration of their contracts, or the amount of time specified by the collective bargaining agreement for when a player’s salary is stretched.

There are even situations that arise, like the one with JaVale McGee and the Sixers, where these players are actually the highest-paid on the team. McGee is set to collect $12MM from Philly, and he won’t score one point or collect one rebound for the franchise this season. The next highest-paid athlete for the Sixers is Gerald Wallace, who was also waived, and he is scheduled to earn $10,105,855 for the 2015/16 campaign. In fact, the total payroll for the Sixers’ entire active roster this season is $32,203,553, which is merely $3,709,857 more than the amount being paid to players no longer on the team!

Listed below are the names and cap hits associated with players who are no longer on the rosters of teams in the Southeast Division:

Atlanta Hawks

Total= $75,000

Charlotte Hornets

Total= $80,000

Miami Heat

  • None

Orlando Magic

*Note: Appling recently re-signed with the team on a 10-day pact, but his original contract still counts as dead money.

Total= $1,195,059

Washington Wizards

Total= $5,823,926

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

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Southeast Notes: Katz, Smart, White, Watson

January 26th, 2016 at 6:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Heat minority share owner Ranaan Katz refuted a report made earlier today by international journalist David Pick in which it was relayed that Katz indicated that LeBron James tried and failed to oust coach Erik Spoelstra when they were together in Miami, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald reports (Twitter links). According to Jackson, Katz maintains that he has no information relating to James attempting to have Spoelstra removed from his position. “That was my opinion. I am very careful with what I say,” Katz told Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. “I have no knowledge of what happened. The only thing I said to the reporter was, ‘It’s up to you to figure it out yourself.’”

Blatt‘s camp reportedly believes that James was the sole catalyst for the Cavs coaching change, and the belief is much more than simply a fringe theory among people around the league, according to TNT’s David Aldridge. Here’s more from the Southeast:

  • Heat assistant coach Keith Smart will be taking a second leave of absence from the team for another round of treatment for skin cancer, Ethan J. Skolnick of The Miami Herald relays. Miami did not set a definitive date for Smart’s return, though his absence is likely to be measured in weeks, not days, Skolnick adds.
  • The Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv recently tried to acquire Wizards 2015 second round draft pick Aaron White, but the buyout attempt was declined by his German club, Telekom Baskets Bonn, J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com writes. White, the No. 49 overall pick last June, went to Europe to develop because he considered it a better option than the D-League, Michael notes.
  • Magic point guard C.J. Watson, who has missed 35 consecutive games with a calf injury, is nearing a return to basketball related activities, Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel relays. “It’s like night and day,” Watson said regarding his calf. “So, hopefully, pretty soon I’ll get to start practicing, do some conditioning and running on the court. But right now I’m [doing] just a little spot shooting, just taking it one day at a time and just seeing how I feel the next day.” Orlando inked Watson to a three-year, $15MM deal this past offseason.
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And-Ones: Durant, Noah, LeBron, Draft

January 26th, 2016 at 2:15pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kevin Durant fielded the first direct questions in more than two months about his upcoming free agency today as the Thunder prepare to play the Knicks in New York, and his answers revealed little, with mostly boilerplate responses surrounding his sentiments for playing at Madison Square Garden, as The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater transcribes. Still, he dismissed the notion that a large market would be any better for his business profile than small-market Oklahoma City and said his main focus is on the court, anyway. He spoke fondly of New York basketball culture, but that’s standard fare, as Durant himself essentially suggested.

“They link everybody with New York City,” Durant said, according to Slater’s transcription. “One of the greatest cities in the world. They link everybody with this city. So it’s not a bad thing. Great city. Great place to visit, great place to live, I’m sure. They link everybody, it’s not just me.”

See more from around the NBA:

  • Joakim Noah, another soon-to-be free agent, hopes he’ll be back with the Bulls next season, as he told reporters, including Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com (Twitter link). It’s not uncommon for players to say that about their incumbent teams as they approach free agency, but he has reportedly been displeased with how the team has viewed him this year, one in which he played mostly in a backup role before suffering a shoulder injury that’s likely to have ended his season.
  • Heat minority share owner Ranaan Katz is among those who say that LeBron James engineered the firing of former Cavaliers coach David Blatt, adding that James tried and failed to oust Erik Spoelstra when they were together in Miami, according to international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). Spoelstra is currently the NBA’s second longest-tenured coach.
  • Ben Simmons goes to the Sixers, Brandon Ingram to the Lakers and Dragan Bender to the Celtics in the top three picks of the latest mock draft from Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
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Northwest Notes: Hayward, Durant, Plumlee, Davis

January 26th, 2016 at 9:47am CST by Chuck Myron

The Jazz are “poking around” the market for a point guard, several league sources tell Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. It’s not entirely clear if such efforts are related to the team’s reported 10-day deal with Erick Green, though it would seem given the timing of that agreement, so soon after Raul Neto suffered a concussion Monday, that the team had already been looking. The Heat reportedly rebuffed Utah when it tried to engage them in Mario Chalmers trade talks over the offseason, but the Jazz’s interest in Chalmers was minimal, according to Lowe. The ESPN scribe speculates about other options, including Jrue Holiday, whose leg issues leave teams “petrified” and whom the Pelicans are reluctant to deal, anyway, Lowe reports. Lowe also believes Jeff Teague would be a fit for Utah, but reports that the Hawks have had “major trust issues” with backup Dennis Schröder and are focused on contending this season. In any case, the Jazz appear reluctant to pilfer from their store of future picks, which includes the Warriors unprotected 2017 first-rounder as the relative cost of rookie scale contracts becomes cheaper amid the rapid salary cap escalation, Lowe writes.

“Picks are that much more valuable,” GM Dennis Lindsey said to Lowe.

See more from Utah:

  • The impending financial realities threaten the core of the Jazz, as Lowe details in the same piece, and Gordon Hayward, who can opt out after next season, acknowledged to Lowe that they cast a shadow on his future. “I’m constantly thinking about that,” Hayward said. “Contracts are so short now. A lot of our guys are on their rookie deals, and they’ll come up for extensions. It all might determine whether or not I stay in Utah.”
  • The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater examines the surprising lack of legitimate rumors about Kevin Durant‘s impending free agency, writing that the idea of the Thunder star signing a deal that would allow him to opt out after just one season “has gained traction.” It’s not clear whether that idea is growing on Durant himself or if more people are simply realizing that it would likely represent the most lucrative path for the former MVP. That would allow him to take advantage of a projected $108MM cap for the summer of 2017 and a higher maximum-salary tier, since he’d be a 10-year veteran.
  • The playmaking ability of Trail Blazers offseason acquisitions Mason Plumlee and Ed Davis has helped alleviate the pressure from incumbent guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, as Mike Richman of The Oregonian examines. Plumlee will be eligible for a rookie scale extension in the offseason.
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Eastern Notes: Brown, Jackson, Jennings, Kidd

January 25th, 2016 at 3:05pm CST by Chuck Myron

Brett Brown has made it clear in his comments to the media that he’d like for the Sixers to either stand pat or make a move that upgrades the current roster instead of one akin to last season’s Michael Carter-Williams trade, but he recognizes that it’s not his call, observes Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News. Brown wouldn’t rule out anything when asked if he thought the roster wouldn’t be changing as much this season as it did last year.

“I’m not confident to say anything, truly,” Brown said. “That’s not because I don’t know. It’s not because I’m afraid of it. It’s because I truly feel like we’re all going to step back. From Day 1, it’s been very, very collaborative. I think that as an organization, with Jerry [Colangelo] coming into it, there’s another voice. I think that we all recognize wholeheartedly that we’re ready to move on. We want to keep moving forward where we’re not always in flux. We want some solidarity. We want some balance to what we’re doing. I can only offer that. But to stamp off on anything of certainty, I can’t do that.”

See more from the Eastern Conference:

  • The idea of playing Reggie Jackson and soon-to-be free agent Brandon Jennings alongside one another in the backcourt is in the back, not the front, of Stan Van Gundy’s mind, the Pistons coach said, according to MLive’s David Mayo, and it doesn’t appear as though it’s a high priority, as Mayo details.
  • Bucks coach Jason Kidd returned to practice Monday and plans to coach the team in Tuesday’s game, but he acknowledged that a blood-clot risk may keep him from traveling with Milwaukee on its three-game Western road trip next week, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  • The banged-up Heat haven’t reached their potential, but Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel believes the team can still find a better way to use the talent on the roster before changing it.
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