Eastern Notes: Brown, Jackson, Jennings, Kidd
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.
Eastern Notes: Knicks, Cavs, Jackson
Lou Amundson wasn’t surprised when he heard the news of Cleveland’s firing of coach David Blatt, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. “It’s hard for a rookie coach to come in and be in a situation like that where one guy [LeBron James] is such a big influence on a whole organization,’’ said Amundson, who was with the Cavs last season before being traded to the Knicks. “It didn’t feel like it should feel. A team with championship aspirations, that’s not how it was supposed to feel. Teams go through ups and downs, but I just think the atmosphere and energy wasn’t there. It wasn’t a healthy atmosphere.”
As people along the East Coast shovel their sidewalks and dig out their cars as a result of the snow from Blizzard Jonas, stay warm and check out some notes from the Eastern Conference:
- Derek Fisher isn’t surprised that his former teammate, Tyronn Lue, was promoted to head coach, Berman adds in the same piece. “I think relationships are his strong point,” Fisher said. “He communicates well and is clear and articulates what he wants and expects. I think he’ll do a good job. I’m very happy for him, even though it’s an unfortunate situation for coach Blatt.’’
- The record-setting five year, $60MM deal that the Knicks handed team president Phil Jackson is paying dividends, Berman argues in a separate piece. Berman cites the team’s drafting of Kristaps Porzingis and the rookie’s ability to mesh with star Carmelo Anthony in Jackson’s infamous triangle offense as reason for optimism.
- Back in July, Jackson was adamant that new addition Robin Lopez would be a better fit for the Knicks than Greg Monroe, and the prediction is turning out to be correct, Berman contends in that same piece. Monroe chose to sign with the Bucks last summer rather than signing with New York.
Dead Money: Central Division
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 Central Division:
Chicago Bulls
- Richard Hamilton (Waived via stretch provision) — $333,333
Total= $333,333
Cleveland Cavaliers
- None
Detroit Pistons
- Josh Smith (Waived via stretch provision) — $5,400,000
- Danny Granger (Waived) — $2,170,465
- Cartier Martin (Waived) — $1,270,964
- Aaron Gray (Waived via stretch provision) — $452,049
- Adonis Thomas (Waived) — $60,000
Total= $9,353,478
Indiana Pacers
- Toney Douglas (Waived) — $600,000
- Terran Petteway (Waived) — $6,178
Total= $606,178
Milwaukee Bucks
- Larry Sanders (Waived via stretch provision) — $1,865,547
Total= $1,865,547
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Texas Notes: Lawson, Smith, Aldridge, Mavs
The Rockets expect to hang on to Ty Lawson through the trade deadline, as USA Today’s Sam Amick hears (Twitter link). The Bucks have been linked to Lawson of late, as Amick says, echoing a recent report from Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, who said a trade to Milwaukee was nonetheless unlikely. Houston had reportedly been exploring the market for Lawson as the point guard’s camp sought a way for him to see more playing time elsewhere, but the market proved slow. Houston instead struck a deal to acquire Josh Smith from the Clippers. See more on that amid the latest from Texas:
- Smith called the idea of returning to the Rockets “amazing” and said in an interview with Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston that he hopes to deliver leadership to the Rockets and relieve pressure from James Harden and Dwight Howard (All Twitter links here). “I look at that team as being right there, just missing a couple of pieces and I feel like I’m one of those missing pieces,” Smith said to Berman.
- LaMarcus Aldridge confirmed that the Suns were the last team other than the Spurs that he considered in free agency this past summer and said that while he enjoyed being the focal point of the Trail Blazers, he’s undergone a change that allows him to take a back seat on the Spurs. Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio News-Express has the details. “I don’t see myself being that guy here,” Aldridge said. “This is more Kawhi [Leonard]’s team, and we all fit in around him and try to make his life a little easier. If I was trying to be that guy still, I should have not come. I’m OK trying to help Kawhi be great every night.”
- The Mavericks have recalled Justin Anderson, Jeremy Evans and Salah Mejri from the D-League, tweets Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com. The team had just sent the trio on assignment Thursday.
Jason Kidd To Return To Bucks Next Week
12:43pm: Kidd hopes to be at practice Monday and coach in Tuesday’s game versus Orlando, a source indicates to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link).
9:36am: Bucks coach Jason Kidd will return to the team next week, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Kidd has been away on a leave of absence for the past month as he’s recovered from surgery on his right hip. He’s coming back ahead of schedule, Stein writes, though he initially reported that Kidd would be out an estimated four to six weeks, a timetable that appears to have proven accurate. Stein says Kidd will retake the reigns once the Bucks return from their road trip, which concludes with games Friday at Houston and Saturday at New Orleans. Milwaukee plays at home Tuesday against the Magic.
Kidd also exerts player personnel control, though it’s unclear if he ceased his front office duties while on leave from coaching. Assistant coach Joe Prunty has been serving as interim head coach, and he’s said that he and the rest of the coaching staff have kept in close contact with Kidd during his absence.
Milwaukee appeared the likely destination for trade candidate Caron Butler at the time Kidd went out, but the Bucks have reportedly cooled on Butler in the meantime. Kidd and GM John Hammond reportedly met with Carlos Boozer shortly before Kidd’s leave began, and while it appears the team more recently took a second meeting with the veteran power forward, he remains unsigned.
The Bucks are a disappointing 19-25 this season, but they’re 8-7 under Prunty and have won three in a row. They’re three and a half games behind the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Central Notes: Noah, Bucks, Pacers
Coach Fred Hoiberg does not anticipate the Bulls making a move in the wake of Joakim Noah‘s injury, Nick Friedell of ESPN.com relays. “I don’t think there’s anything serious out there,” Hoiberg said. That is not totally surprising, considering Noah was the big man that Chicago most wanted to trade, executives around the league told Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The Bulls recently measured the trade market for Pau Gasol, who has said that he’s leaning toward opting out of his contract this summer.
Here is more out of the Central Division:
- It’s conceivable that the Bulls would be able to re-sign Noah, who is set to be a free agent, to a short-term deal because not too many teams are expected to offer significant money to a 31-year-old center coming off shoulder surgery, Mark Schanowski of CSNChicago.com writes. In an interesting stat to note, the Bulls are actually 8-2 this season without Noah, Stein tweets. Surely, however, the Bulls would prefer to have Noah’s presence on the court.
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- C.J. Miles, who is averaging a career-high in minutes this season (26.9 per game), is performing well as a combo forward instead of a shooting guard for the Pacers this season, Andrew Perna of RealGM writes in a profile of the veteran.
And Ones: Papanikolaou, Clark, Inglis, RFAs
Kostas Papanikolaou, whom the Nuggets waived last week, will return to Olympiacos in Greece, according to Sport24 (translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Papanikolaou, who won two Euroleague titles during his last stint with Olympiacos, will sign a contract that runs through June 2019. He was released twice this season by Denver, most recently on January 8th, just before the remainder of his veteran’s minimum salary of $845,059 would have been guaranteed for the season. Papanikolaou also played for the Rockets during his season and a half in the NBA, averaging 3.6 points in 69 games with the two franchises. The 6’8″ forward was sent to Denver in the July 20th trade that brought Ty Lawson to Houston.
There’s more from around the basketball world:
- Former lottery pick Earl Clark, who is playing in the D-League while hoping to earn a 10-day contract, was part of a trade Saturday, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Clark was sent from the Suns‘ Bakersfield affiliate to the Sixers‘ Delaware affiliate in exchange for a second-round D-League draft pick. The 27-year-old, who played 10 games with the Nets last season, hopes the move will give him a fresh start in his quest to return to the NBA. “It’s a grind,” Clark said of the D-League. “It’s definitely different from any other league. I just felt like [the NBA] was within my reach if I came down here and played well. I believe in my talent. I told myself I’m going to give myself another year to make this NBA thing work.”
- The Bucks have sent Damien Inglis to the D-League, the team announced Saturday. Because Milwaukee doesn’t have a direct affiliate, Inglis will be assigned to the Westchester Knicks. He played for the Canton Charge during an earlier trip to the D-League.
- Chasing restricted free agents is a risky way to pursue talent, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The danger is that while teams wait for other organizations to decide whether to match an offer, top talent could be signing elsewhere. Prominent RFAs this summer will include Andre Drummond, Harrison Barnes, Bradley Beal, Festus Ezeli, Allen Crabbe and Evan Fournier.
Greivis Vasquez Changes Agents
Soon-to-be free agent Greivis Vasquez has signed with Octagon agent Alex Saratsis after leaving the Wasserman Media Group, reports Liz Mullen of the SportsBusiness Journal (Twitter link). Darren Matsubara had been the representative for the Bucks backup point guard, and for Joel Embiid, who also recently left Wasserman and is reportedly expected to sign with Leon Rose. The departure of Vasquez represents another hit for an agency in transition following the departure of Arn Tellem for a job in the Pistons organization last year.
Vasquez is recovering from right ankle surgery in December that’s poised to keep him out for most of the rest of the season. He was averaging his fewest points per game since his rookie season in 16 contests before the injury, so Saratsis seems likely to face a difficult challenge to equal or better the two-year, $13MM deal Vasquez signed in 2014. Saturday is Vasquez’s 29th birthday, and the memory of his 9.0 assists per game for New Orleans in 2012/13 is receding farther into the past.
Saratsis represents many clients from outside the U.S., including fellow Buck Giannis Antetokounmpo, so he’s a fit for the Venezuelan-born Vasquez in that regard. The four-year, $8MM deal for Kendall Marshall that Saratsis and fellow Octagon agent Jeff Austin helped him find is the largest free agent contract the Sixers have handed out since GM Sam Hinkie came aboard in 2013, and it came after Marshall suffered a torn ACL while playing for the Bucks last season. Vasquez might be loath to settle for $2MM a year, but the Marshall precedent nonetheless seems encouraging.
Central Notes: Dudley, Morris, Baynes
Jared Dudley believes the Bucks made the right move for themselves when they traded him to the Wizards and Zaza Pachulia to the Mavericks this past summer, even though they did so for virtually nothing in return other than cap space, observes Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Dudley thinks he came out well, too, lauding the Bucks for placing Pachulia and him in “great situations,” Gardner relays.
“Even if me and Za were there, you have to incorporate Jabari [Parker] back in,” Dudley said. “He still would have been playing 28, 29 minutes. For the long-term approach for them, they’re doing it the right way. You have to see if Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and Jabari can coexist.”
See more from the Central Division:
- Marcus Morris is fond of Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, whom he believes has given him a more clearly defined role than Jeff Hornacek did with the Suns, as Morris told Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Morris responded harshly when Washburn asked him about Suns owner Robert Sarver’s criticism of “millennial culture” and Morris’ twin brother, Markieff, saying the owner “doesn’t even know basketball.” Marcus also hinted that the Suns will indeed trade his brother. “He’s in good spirits,” Marcus said to Washburn about Markieff. “Whatever team he ends up going to, he’s still going to be that same player. He’s just excited to see what’s next and where he’s going. Some things were said about him in the press and I know that’s totally wrong. People talk about adversity; coming from where we come from [Philadelphia] is adversity. This is small stuff. He’ll get over it fast.”
- Van Gundy was quick to point to Aron Baynes‘ strong free-throw shooting as one of the reasons the Pistons signed him to a three-year, $19.5MM deal this summer, and that’s indeed been paying dividends to offset Andre Drummond‘s struggles at the line, as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press notes.
- The Bulls don’t have enough to put a scare into the league’s true title contenders, so it’s imperative for the team to make a trade, posits Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com. No NBA team has gone longer without making a trade than the Bulls, who haven’t pulled off a swap since July 14th, 2014, though they’re reportedly gauging interest in Pau Gasol and others.
Bucks Interested In Kevin Martin
11:09pm: Milwaukee and Minnesota had talks about Martin, but the Bucks merely wanted to explore the idea, sources told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, adding that one source described the talks merely as due diligence (Twitter links). The Bucks, like other teams interested in Martin, have reservations about his player option, Scotto also tweets.
10:44pm: The Bucks have expressed interest in acquiring shooting guard Kevin Martin from the Timberwolves, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reports (Twitter link). The 32-year-old was reportedly made available on the trade market by Minnesota last month. The Wolves had spoken with two unnamed teams about Martin earlier this season but were reluctant to move him after getting off to a promising 8-8 start, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press, who reported Martin’s availability last month, after Minnesota fell off its early-season pace. The team wishes to clear up more playing time for its younger wing players like Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine, according to Krawczynski.
Milwaukee’s interest in Martin is curious considering that the Bucks are currently the 13th ranked team in the Eastern Conference and seemingly out of playoff contention, though the team has been looking to add some veteran leadership, which Martin could certainly help provide. The Bucks were reportedly interested in acquiring Caron Butler, but they have since apparently cooled on pursing the swingman, and they have also met with power forward Carlos Boozer multiple times in recent weeks, according to reports. The Kings are also interested in Martin, as Wolfson reported earlier, and the Bulls and Grizzlies have looked into trading for him, too, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. However, Memphis has resisted attempts from Minnesota for a swap of Martin for Courtney Lee, as USA Today’s Sam Amick relayed. The shooting guard was also the subject of trade talk last winter, when a series of reports identified the Mavericks, Wizards, Bulls, Kings and Rockets as interested parties, though late Wolves coach/executive Flip Saunders didn’t appear willing to part with Martin at the time.
Martin has appeared in 29 games for the Wolves this season, including 12 starts. He is averaging 11.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists in just 23.8 minutes per game, which is his lowest amount of playing time since his rookie campaign of 2004/05. Through 688 career regular season games, Martin is averaging 17.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists to go along with a shooting line of .438/.385/.870. The veteran is earning $7.085MM on the year and possesses a player option for 2016/17 worth $7,377,500. Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors examined Martin’s trade candidacy earlier this week.