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Western Notes: Parsons, Woodley, Augustin

May 6th, 2016 at 7:48pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Chandler Parsons has been one of the Mavericks‘ most vocal free agent recruiters during his time in Dallas, but the forward, who is expected to opt out of his deal this offseason, noted that he has to resolve his situation prior to pitching the franchise to other players, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News writes. “Obviously it’s tough to recruit if I don’t know where I’m going,” Parsons said. “In the back of my head, Dallas is home to me and I love it here. I came here to be a great player and to win a lot of games. I’ve yet to do that here, so I feel like I have a lot of unfinished business that I’d love to continue and grow into the player that I saw myself being when I signed here. So the quicker we can get that done allows me to start recruiting and doing that whole thing.”

Here’s more from out West:

  • The Grizzlies have named Matt Woodley as the head coach of their D-League affiliate in Iowa, the team announced. “We are pleased to announce Matt as head coach of the Iowa Energy,” Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace said. “As evidenced last season, our affiliation with the Iowa Energy provides us a critical resource in the development of our players and institution of our organization’s philosophies. Matt’s coaching acumen and background within the Energy franchise make him a terrific fit.”
  • Over the past five seasons, the Thunder‘s winning percentage is second only to the Spurs, something Oklahoma City credits roster continuity for, Royce Young of ESPN.com writes. “That familiarity with your teammates is definitely something that’s under-rated in this league,” Kevin Durant said. “I think that’s one thing the Spurs are really great at, is knowing who they want on their team and knowing it’s going to take time to build a really good team. So guys like, obviously, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard, who they’ve groomed into a fantastic player, and along with getting LaMarcus Aldridge, they have guys that if you bring a new guy in, they can make them feel comfortable.“
  • Point guard D.J. Augustin is thrilled at the trade that got him out of Oklahoma City and landed him on the Nuggets, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post relays. “I was in a tough situation in Oklahoma,” Augustin said. “It wasn’t working out. I did the right thing, my agent did the right thing, and talked to those guys and they were kind enough to trade me, trade me to a good situation. Everything worked out.” Augustin, who is an unrestricted free agent this offseason, said he hopes to re-sign with Denver, Dempsey adds.
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And-Ones: Barnes, Clippers, Briscoe

May 5th, 2016 at 10:32pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Despite the reports that the Warriors are planning to make a run at Kevin Durant this offseason, Harrison Barnes, who is set to become a restricted free agent, said during a podcast appearance opposite Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group that he doesn’t take such chatter personally. When asked if he has accepted that Golden State may try to sign Durant this summer, Barnes noted it wasn’t the first time he’s dealt with rumors. “For sure. It was after my first year, was that when Dwight Howard was thinking about leaving? So it was funny, Andrew Bogut texted me and asked me, are we going to L.A.? Because he was going to come here,” Barnes said. We joked about that. And last summer it was [the] Kevin Love thing, is he going to come here? So me and David Lee were joking about the fact that we might have to buy winter coats.”

“You always kind of take it with a grain of salt,” the forward continued. “We’re a great team. And this is a place where people want to play now. Front office is going to do their job, and they’re going to go and try to recruit the best talent, that’s what they’re going to do. You don’t really get too personal about it, or say oh my gosh, they’re looking at other players. Because that’s how business goes.”

Here’s more from around the league:

  • Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers noted that the franchise wants to establish its own D-League affiliate in the near future, Rowan Kavner of NBA.com relays. “We’re going to discuss it, for sure,” Rivers said. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to do it by the start of the [2016/17] season, but it’s something we want to do. We’re a ways away from it, but we’ve had discussions with some outside forces that could make that happen, possibly.” Los Angeles was one of 11 NBA teams without its own D-League affiliate this season.
  • Kentucky point guard Isaiah Briscoe worked out for the Spurs on Wednesday and has workouts scheduled with the Clippers this week and the Lakers after the scouting combine is complete, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress tweets.
  • Creighton junior point guard Maurice Watson Jr. has withdrawn from the 2016 NBA Draft and will return to school for the 2016/17 season, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). Watson is the 70th-best prospect among juniors, according to Givony’s rankings.
  • San Diego State sophomore small forward Malik Pope has workouts scheduled for later this month with the Celtics and the Jazz, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv tweets. Pope is the No. 25 sophomore according to Givony and the No. 46 player overall according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
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Eastern Notes: Hill, Lue, D-League

May 5th, 2016 at 10:06pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Because the Pacers declined to exercise their team option on Solomon Hill for 2016/17, the small forward is now set to become an unrestricted free agent and Indiana cannot offer Hill a salary for next season greater than $2,306,019, which is the value of the option the Pacers declined. Team executive Larry Bird, speaking at today’s press conference, noted that he told Hill in his exit interview that that the team would consider re-signing him, Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star relays in a series of tweets. Bird also told the 25-year-old that he did him a favor by declining the option because it lit a fire under him this season, Buckner adds. Hill made 59 appearances for the Pacers this season, notching averages of 4.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 14.7 minutes per contest. His shooting line on the season was .447/.324/.857.

Here’s more from out of the Eastern Conference:

  • Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue has consistently held LeBron James accountable for his mistakes, something former coach David Blatt was unable or unwilling to do, and it has strengthened the relationship between James and Lue as a result, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com writes.
  • Bucks GM John Hammond told members of the media that Milwaukee hopes to establish its own D-League affiliate in time for the 2017/18 season, as Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor relays (via Twitter).
  • The Nets made significant strides in their 3-point shooting as a team after David Nurse joined the team as a shooting coach in January, Ian Begley of ESPN.com notes (ESPN Now link). Prior to Nurse’s arrival, Brooklyn shot just 32.6% from beyond the arc, which was good for 28th in the league, Begley writes. But the Nets actually led the league from deep after Nurse came aboard, sinking a stellar 40.7% of their 3-point shots.
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2015/16 D-League Usage Report: Pistons

May 4th, 2016 at 9:17pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams had one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.

This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.

We at Hoops Rumors are recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team, and we’ll continue with the Detroit Pistons, whose D-League affiliate is the Grand Rapids Drive:

The Pistons made 18 assignments for the 2015/16 campaign, sending four players to the D-League for a total of 42 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Detroit for the 2015/16 season:

Grand Rapids also had one player assigned to it from another NBA franchise via the flexible assignment rule:

Here is how the Pistons’ players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:

  • Reggie Bullock: In one D-League appearance, the swingman scored 29 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists while shooting 83.3% from the field.
  • Spencer Dinwiddie: The combo guard appeared in 13 D-League contests and averaged 14.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists to accompany a shooting line of .421/.340/.869.
  • Darrun Hilliard: The shooting guard made three D-League appearances and compiled averages of 25.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists to go along with a slash line of .490/.440/.800.
  • Brandon Jennings: The point guard made one D-League appearance and scored 11 points, snagged three rebounds and issued 11 dimes while connecting on 44.4% of his field goal attempts.
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Heat Notes: Dragic, Wade, Johnson, Stokes

May 1st, 2016 at 7:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Goran Dragic‘s performance in today’s Game 7 win over the Hornets showed why Miami traded two first-round picks to get him last season, writes Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. Dragic scored 25 points and handed out four assists as the Heat easily dispatched Charlotte. It was a welcome performance after an uneven season that had many observers questioning whether Dragic was a good fit alongside Dwyane Wade. Both guards need to control the ball to be effective, and although they were friendly off the court, their styles of play sometimes clashed. But today Dragic was at his best, connecting on 11 of 17 shots from the field while holding Hornets point guard Kemba Walker to just 3 of 16. “That’s the Goran Dragic we all love,” Wade said. “He puts so much pressure on the defense and allows the other guys to chill out, especially me. When he’s playing that way for us, we’re a tough, tough team to beat.”

There’s more on a victorious day in Miami:

  • After being sidelined since late January, Tyler Johnson was happy to get back on the court today, relays Christy Cabrera Chirinos of The Sun-Sentinel. Johnson scored five points in his first action since having surgery on his left rotator cuff in February. “The last couple games, I’ve been available, but to finally get in there was a blessing,” Johnson said. “It was good to see the ball go in the basket for the first time in a while.” 
  • The Heat not only won their first playoff series since LeBron James left in 2014, they showed they could succeed without Chris Bosh, writes Dave Hyde of The Sun-Sentinel. Bosh has been out of action since the All-Star break when doctors reportedly discovered blood clots in his left calf.
  • The fate of Jarnell Stokes will help shape the role of the D-League in the future, contends Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Stokes, who played for Miami’s affiliate in Sioux Falls, was the league’s MVP for both the regular season and the championship series, a feat he accomplished despite being part of three organizations during the year. However, Winderman says the D-League’s reputation will take a hit if Stokes can’t turn those awards into a steady NBA job.
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2015/16 D-League Usage Report: Mavericks

April 29th, 2016 at 4:36pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams had one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.

This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.

We at Hoops Rumors are recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll continue with the Dallas Mavericks, whose D-League affiliate is the Texas Legends:

The Mavs made 18 assignments for the 2015/16 campaign, sending three players to the D-League for a total of 20 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Dallas for the 2015/16 season:

Here is how the Mavs’ players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:

  • Justin Anderson: In seven D-League appearances, the swingman averaged 23.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 38.3 minutes per outing. Anderson’s shooting line was .460/.333/.792.
  • Jeremy Evans: In four contests for the Legends, Evans notched averages of 16.8 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 35.8 minutes per game. His slash line was .500/.389/.727.
  • Salah Mejri: The center appeared in eight D-League games on the season and averaged 8.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.9 blocks in 23.8 minutes per contest. Mejri’s shooting line was .566/.125/.875.
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2015/16 D-League Usage Report: Cavaliers

April 27th, 2016 at 10:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams had one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.

This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.

We at Hoops Rumors are recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll continue with the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose D-League affiliate is the Canton Charge:

The Cavs made nine assignments for the 2015/16 campaign, sending three players to the D-League for a total of 29 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls Cleveland made for the 2015/16 season:

Canton also had seven players assigned to it from other NBA franchises via the flexible assignment rule:

Here is how the Cavs’ players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:

  • Joe Harris: In 10 D-League appearances, the combo guard averaged 16.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 33.1 minutes per outing. Harris’ shooting line was .397/.323/.794.
  • Sasha Kaun: In one D-League outing, the center logged 15 points, nine rebounds, three steals and three blocks in 30 minutes of action. Kaun made six out of his seven field goal attempts on the night.
  • Jordan McRae: The shooting guard did not see any game action for Canton while on assignment. McRae did appear in 29 contests this season for the Delaware 87ers, who are the Sixers’ affiliate, averaging 23.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists in 35.4 minutes per outing. His slash line with Delaware was .549/.318/.799.
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2015/16 D-League Usage Report: Bulls

April 23rd, 2016 at 5:10pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams have one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.

This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.

We at Hoops Rumors will be recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll continue with the Chicago Bulls, one of the 11 NBA franchises without their own D-League affiliate:

The Bulls made four assignments for the 2015/16 campaign, sending three players to the D-League for a total of 32 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Chicago for the 2015/16 campaign:

Here is how the Bulls players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:

  • Cameron Bairstow: In five D-League appearances, the forward averaged 14.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 26.5 minutes per outing. Bairstow’s shooting line was .475/.000/.824.
  • Cristiano Felicio: In four D-League appearances this season, the big man averaged 14.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 23.7 minutes per contest. His slash line was .641/.400/.750.
  • Mike Dunleavy: The swingman was assigned to the D-League for practice/rehab purposes and didn’t appear in any games while with Santa Cruz.
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2015/16 D-League Usage Report: Hornets

April 21st, 2016 at 10:27pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams have one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.

This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.

We at Hoops Rumors will be recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team, and we’ll continue with the the Charlotte Hornets, one of the 11 NBA franchises without their own D-League affiliate:

The Hornets made three assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending one player (Aaron Harrison) to the D-League for a total of 30 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Charlotte for the 2015/16 campaign:

Here is how Harrison, Charlotte’s lone assignee,  performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:

  • With the Oklahoma City Blue: In four games, he averaged 9.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists. Harrison’s slash line was .308/.167/.714.
  • With the Erie BayHawks: In nine games, Harrison averaged 21.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists. His shooting line was .377/.300/.840,
  • Totals: In 13 combined games, Harrison notched averages of 17.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists. His combined slash line was .363/.265/.820.
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Eastern Notes: Lue, Johnson, Thibodeau

April 20th, 2016 at 7:55pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Cavaliers GM David Griffin was hesitant to say anything negative about former coach David Blatt, but the executive did contend that Blatt wasn’t the right person to lead the team’s current roster, Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer writes. “David really didn’t do anything inherently wrong,” said Griffin. “It just wasn’t the right fit. We [the players] are radically more engaged with each other [since Tyronn Lue took over as coach]. You can see it on an night-in, night-out basis just by watching the bench during games.”

When asked about the Cavs’ record being worse under Lue than under Blatt this season, Griffin responded, “I told everyone that things were likely to get worse before they got better after the change,” said Griffin. “I know the [coaching] change was somewhat unprecedented. We were going to make some significant changes, and it was going to take Ty a while to get his feet on the ground. At one point, we had 23 games in 41 days. When Ty took over, we were changing offensive and defensive schemes and there were periods where we had absolutely no practice days. We put him in a very tough spot.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Pistons rookie swingman Stanley Johnson has embraced the challenge of guarding LeBron James in his first-ever playoff series, which is in line with the competitive fire that made the team enamored with him in the first place, Nick Friedell of ESPN.com writes. “Stanley’s toughness and competitiveness and the fact that he’ll never back down, that’s not been a concern all year,” coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said. “What he’s got to do is play smarter, make better decisions and continue to work on his skills. I never have a doubt about his competitiveness. If you’re not a competitor, a great competitor at 19, my guess is at 22 you’re not going to be a great competitor, either. That to me is just sort of part of the personality. Now you’ll learn to play situations better, you maybe won’t make the mistakes about being nervous, you’ll have seen things more. All of those things will change, but the competitiveness to go out and play the best player in the world and not be afraid and all of that. If he didn’t have that now, I don’t think he’d have it in three years, quite honestly.”
  • The plethora of talented young defensive players the Wolves possess makes former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau the perfect choice to lead Minnesota into contention, opines Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post.
  • The Hawks have once again assigned swingman Lamar Patterson to the Austin Spurs of the NBA D-League, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution relays. Patterson will play in the deciding game of the Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles D-Fenders tonight, Vivlamore notes.
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