NBA G League Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Chandler, Mavs, Noah

March 20th, 2016 at 2:14pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Tyson Chandler doesn’t want any part of a rebuilding team, James Herbert of CBSSports writes. “For me, especially where I am in my career, I want to win,” Chandler said (video link via The Arizona Republic). “I want to win now. I’m not in any kind of rebuilding stage. So if that’s the case, it ain’t where I’m supposed to be.” The Suns signed the 33-year-old to a four-year, $52MM deal last offseason and the team expected to be in the hunt for the playoffs. Phoenix currently owns a record of 19-50, as our Reverse Standings show.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

If Chandler Parsons stays with the Mavericks past this season, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News believes the team should demand an improvement from him on the defensive end. Sefko acknowledges that Parsons is capable of being a top scorer, but the scribe mentions the 27-year-old’s positioning on the defensive end as an area of concern.
Joakim Noah could be an option for the Mavericks in free agency, but the team should only add him at the right price, Sefko opines in the same piece. Sefko worries about all the minutes Noah played under former coach Tom Thibodeau and would like to see the team attempt to bring aboard Al Horford instead.
The Spurs have assigned Boban Marjanovic and Jonathon Simmons to their D-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs, according to the team’s website.

Eastern Notes: Embiid, Frye, D-League

March 20th, 2016 at 1:18pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Sixers allowed Joel Embiid to delay his surgery last offseason so the big man could enjoy his summer, Tom Moore of Calkins Media reports. “It’s the tail wagging the dog,” a league source told Moore. At the time it was reported that the surgery was delayed so more opinions could be sought.

Embiid underwent surgery last August after an initial operation in June 2014, and he isn’t expected to play for the Sixers’ 2016 summer league team. Moore mentions that had Embiid undergone the second surgery in June 2015 as expected, he would likely be ready to play in the summer league this year. Still, there are some within the NBA who are optimistic about the center’s long-term career. “He’s doing fine — well, in fact. He’s reached another gear,” a second league source tells Moore.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Channing Frye has made 26 of 52 shots from behind the arc since coming to the Cavs, and he appears to be fitting in with the team both on and off the court, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com writes. Frye feels comfortable with Cleveland and has no ill will toward Orlando for trading him just a year and a half into a four-year, $32MM deal. “When [the Magic drafted] a guy like Aaron Gordon, they wanted to develop that. I understood it. It was part of the business,” Frye said.
The Raptors have recalled Bruno Caboclo from the team’s D-League affiliate, the Raptors 905, according to the team’s Twitter feed.
The Pacers have assigned Shayne Whittington to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the team’s D-League affiliate, according to the team’s website.

And-Ones: Gasol, Kentucky, Johnson, D-League

March 19th, 2016 at 10:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Bulls‘ Pau Gasol, who has said that he will likely opt out of his contract this summer, admits he probably won’t be fully healthy for the rest of the season, relays K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Gasol missed his fourth straight game tonight with a swollen right knee, but he’s not giving any thought to ending the season early. He believes he can return to the court this week, possibly by Monday. “I was trying to play through it, trying to manage it for a while actually,” he said. “But after that Miami game, the knee just gave out. I had that swelling and reaction and obviously the alarms went off. Hopefully, it’s not going to get worse.”

There’s more tonight from around the world of basketball:

As many as six Kentucky players could be headed to the NBA draft after the Wildcats were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament today, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Combo guard Jamal Murray and big man Skal Labissiere, both freshmen, are projected to be lottery picks in the latest mock draft compiled by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress. He ranks Murray as the seventh pick and Labissiere as No. 10. Sophomore point guard Tyler Ulis projects at No. 26 and freshman guard Isaiah Briscoe is No. 39. Junior Marcus Lee and senior Alex Poythress aren’t in Givony’s mock but could become draft-eligible if they choose.
The Pelicans won’t sign Orlando Johnson to another 10-day contract, tweets Brett Dawson of The New Orleans Advocate. New Orleans signed Johnson on March 9th using a hardship exception.
The Kings have assigned power forward Eric Moreland to their D-League affiliate in Reno, the team announced today. A fractured metatarsal in his left foot has forced Moreland to miss 41 games this season. He has appeared in five games for the Kings, scoring four points in 24 minutes.
The Spurs have recalled shooting guard Jonathon Simmons from their D-League team in Austin. The rookie is averaging 5.6 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 48 games with San Antonio.

Spurs Lead In Flex D-League Assignments

March 18th, 2016 at 11:38am CST by Eddie Scarito

The Spurs are making the most out of a rule that allows them to work with developing prospects from other NBA franchises. The 11 NBA teams without their own D-League squads this season are permitted to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises, using what is known as the flexible assignment rule. D-League teams can volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerge, the players are assigned at random. The Spurs have taken in more D-League assignees from other teams than any other franchise.

Teams certainly have their preferences when it comes to where they assign their players. Playing time is of course a major factor, since there is little benefit to sending a player to the D-League if he is going to ride the pine, which could be accomplished at the NBA-level. The system a D-League team runs is also a factor, which is likely a major reason why the Hawks, who run a similar system to the Spurs, have sent 13 of their 17 players assigned to the D-League to San Antonio’s affiliate. In fact, more assignments have been made to the Spurs’ D-League squad by other teams this season than by the Spurs themselves, who have totaled just 10 on the campaign thus far.

Listed below are the number of players assigned to each affiliate via the flexible assignment this season:

Austin Spurs [Spurs affiliate] — 14 assignments
Canton Charge [Cavaliers affiliate] — 8 assignments
Bakersfield Jam [Suns affiliate] — 4 assignments
Santa Cruz Warriors [Warriors affiliate] — 3 assignments
Grand Rapids Drive [Pistons affiliate] — 3 assignments
Oklahoma City Blue [Thunder affiliate] — 2 assignments
Erie BayHawks [Magic Affiliate] — 2 assignments
Westchester Knicks [Knicks affiliate] — 1 assignment
Idaho Stampede [Jazz affiliate] — 1 assignment

And-Ones: Faried, Okafor, Crawford, D-League

March 17th, 2016 at 10:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Nuggets power forward Kenneth Faried can expect a light workload for the rest of the season, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Faried was held out of tonight’s game with the Hawks because of soreness in his back, and coach Mike Malone suggested that he might face some more DNPs. “Sometimes I feel that I may have to protect him from himself,” Malone said. “I think he wants to be out there, but, you know what? We have 14 games to go, we know what Kenneth is about, we know the high level he’s capable of playing at.” Malone said one benefit of Faried’s absence will be more playing time to evaluate big men Joffrey Lauvergne, Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic. Faried has three years and more than $38.764MM left on the extension he signed in 2014.

There’s more news tonight from the basketball world:

The delay in Jahlil Okafor‘s knee surgery is no cause for concern, Sixers coach Brett Brown tells Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Okafor is waiting to undergo arthroscopic surgery to fix a torn meniscus in his right knee. The operation was originally scheduled for Wednesday, and then today, but it hasn’t been performed yet. “There’s no sort of conspiracy theories going on,” Brown said. “It’s more just trying to get a collaborative effort. It happened with Joel [Embiid] and, I think, with Nerlens [Noel].”
The effort to get an NBA team back in Seattle received support from Clippers shooting guard Jamal Crawford, who wrote a piece promoting the idea for Sports Illustrated’s The Cauldron.
The Thunder recalled forward Mitch McGary from their Oklahoma City Blue affiliate in the D-League, the organization announced via press release. McGary is averaging 15.1 points and 9.2 rebounds in 21 games with the OKC Blue.
The Spurs assigned forward Jonathon Simmons to their D-League team in Austin. This is his second D-League trip of the season. Simmons has appeared in 48 games with San Antonio, averaging 5.6 points and 1.7 rebounds per night.

Eastern Notes: Batum, Calderon, Whittington

March 17th, 2016 at 2:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The impact that Nicolas Batum has had on the Hornets this season has him in line to land a major payday when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this offseason, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer writes. The swingman is likely to seek a maximum salary contract this summer, and while it’s debatable whether Batum is worthy of that amount even with the salary cap set to increase drastically for 2016/17, Charlotte’s inability to lure top-tier free agents may make investing in him for the long-term a wise move, Bonnell adds. While Batum is not a star in the traditional sense, he does make his teammates around him better as well as provide coach Steve Clifford a well-rounded set of skills to utilize, Bonnell writes. Batum is averaging 14.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists in 35.6 minutes per outing on the campaign.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Much-maligned Knicks point guard Jose Calderon said he’s looking forward to playing with the Spanish national team in this summer’s Olympics, noting that he is “appreciated there,” Marc Berman of The New York Post relays. “I want to be there,’’ said Calderon. “It will be my fourth Olympics. I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to play more. I think four is a good number. After 16 years on the national team, I’m not going to get to 2020. It’s a little bit too far for me.” Calderon has one year and approximately $7.7MM remaining on his contract but the Knicks could use the stretch provision to waive him and save $5MM on next season’s cap.
The Pacers have recalled Shayne Whittington from their D-League affiliate, the team announced. The center has appeared in 34 games for the Mad Ants this season, averaging 12.1 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.5 steals.

And-Ones: Roberts, Lin, Ejim

March 16th, 2016 at 10:44pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Executive Director of the NBPA Michele Roberts is working to shift the perception that players make too much money, something that will likely be expressed once negotiations begin with team owners over their respective stakes in the league’s basketball related income, as she tells Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports on his podcast (h/t RealGM Wiretap). Roberts believes the amount of money owners make is not being discussed enough.

“We read just recently that the value of these teams, thank you Donald Sterling, we know what a team can make on the open market,” Roberts said. ” If the reality is that as the game is growing financial, owners are holding onto those teams for a reason. There is a great deal of value. And there’s a long line of folks that would love to buy a basketball team.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Jeremy Lin has thrived with the Hornets in his role off the bench, but if he declines his player option for next season, which is worth $2.1MM, it may be difficult for Charlotte to bring him back, Bobby Marks of the Vertical on Yahoo Sports writes. Lin is one of many players with looming contract decisions, as Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors details.
The Erie BayHawks of the D-League have waived Magic camp invitee Melvin Ejim, Chris Reichert of Upside Motor tweets. Ejim will sign with Reyer Venezia in Italy, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.
The Clippers have recalled C.J. Wilcox from the Canton Charge, according to the Clippers website.

Eastern Notes: Magic, Harris, Embiid

March 16th, 2016 at 8:22pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Magic had other offers on the table for Tobias Harris, but they opted to take Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova from Detroit because both players had played under coach Scott Skiles previously, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders writes. Orlando believed the duo could contribute immediately to the team’s goal of making the playoffs, Kennedy adds.

The Magic are 6-8 since adding Ilyasova and Jennings, sitting five and a half games behind the Pistons, who are currently tied with the Bulls for the eighth seed in the conference entering tonight’s slate of games. Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy feels that Harris has masterfully fit in with the team, Kennedy passes along in the same piece. “You feel like he’s been here all year, even in terms of the way he relates to his teammates,” Van Gundy said. “It’s actually been a pretty seamless transition. He’s unselfish.”
Even if Joel Embiid is able to remain healthy, the Sixers should take a patient approach with regard to his development, Bob Cooney of Philadelphia Daily News cautions. Cooney points out that Embiid now 22 years old, has only been playing basketball for roughly six years.
The Pacers have assigned Shayne Whittington to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, according to the team’s website.

Atlantic Notes: Durant, Vaulet, Roberts

March 16th, 2016 at 4:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Celtics, who are among many teams dreaming of signing Kevin Durant this summer, would have taken the Texas product first overall in the 2007 draft if the pingpong balls had bounced their way, writes Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com. Instead, Portland landed the top pick and selected Ohio State center Greg Oden, with Durant falling to the Thunder at No. 2. “I was in the draft room, and they would have taken Durant,” said Austin Ainge, son of Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. “I did have some inside information there.” Team co-owner Wyc Grousbeck has verified that claim, according to Forsberg.

Boston may be able to make its pitch to Durant more appealing by acquiring another high-level talent first. Forsberg suggested the Celtics may pursue Hawks free agent center/power forward Al Horford, who is also headed toward free agency and whom they reportedly targeted prior to last month’s trade deadline. Boston will have about $34MM in guaranteed salary for next season if it elects not to hang on to Amir Johnson and Jonas Jerebko. If the salary cap tops $90MM, as some estimates have suggested, the Celtics could have enough room for two elite free agents.

There’s more on the Atlantic Division:

Durant, who will face the Celtics in Boston tonight for the first time since 2012, had plenty of good things to say about the city, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. “I like the city a lot,” Durant told reporters this morning. “It’s cold, but they love sports here. It’s a family atmosphere I feel when I walk around the city, so yeah, I like it a lot.”
The Nets are hoping they might have “the next Manu Ginobili” in second-round pick Juan Pablo Vaulet, according to NetsDaily. Playing in Argentina, Vaulet missed 19 games with an early-season stress fracture in his ankle, but he is starting to show why Brooklyn and other observers were so high on him during the draft. That includes new Nets GM Sean Marks, who was watching Vaulet closely when he was still with the Spurs’ front office.
The Raptors‘ D-League affiliate has announced that Ronald Roberts Jr. will miss the rest of the season with a right knee injury, tweets Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor. Three NBA teams had considered signing Roberts to a 10-day contract before the injury, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (Twitter link).

Western Notes: Carter, Harper, Lee

March 16th, 2016 at 2:43pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Swingman Vince Carter appreciates the freedom the Grizzlies have allowed him to express himself on the court and off, which is a big reason why he decided to sign with the team in 2014, David Aldridge of NBA.com writes. When asked what he looks for in an organization, Carter told Aldridge, “Like anything else, you just have to do your research. There’s a lot of guys in the league that I’ve played with that are now either young coaches or whatever. So you just have to do your research. We played year to year now. You see what’s going on. Now, I look for what fits right with my style. That’s kind of how I approach it. I think everybody’s approach is different, of course. For me, it’s just who will allow me to be me. I like to help the young guys do that. So I bring that to the table, and that’s what Coach has allowed me to do here, while still playing. One thing that I’ll never do is overstep my boundaries. I’m not trying to be the coach, be the voice. I’m just trying to make the game easier. As a player, you hear what the coaches say, but sometimes, when another teammate delivers it, it’s a little different. It makes sense, or hits home.”

Here’s more from out west:

The 39-year-old’s contract is partially guaranteed for 2016/17, the final one in his current deal, and despite his love for helping younger players develop, Carter doesn’t envision himself making the jump to the coaching ranks when his playing career is over, Aldridge adds in the same piece. “I think I’d rather do some broadcasting, to be honest with you,” Carter said. “I think that’s where my passion lies. I enjoy coaching. I enjoying Coach allowing me to coach, or [offer] words of wisdom. I don’t know if it’s coaching. Just helping, being another coach on the floor, or just off the bench, or anything. Sometimes it’s easy to translate and relay the message he’s trying to portray, or make. So I think I enjoy that part of it. But I think I want to do some broadcasting.“
David Lee signed with the Mavericks after agreeing to a buyout with Boston because he believed they were the best fit for him, a move that has paid off for both him and the team thus far, Adi Joseph of The Sporting News writes. “I saw the possibilities on paper, thought it’d be a great fit on both sides. But you know, you’ve just got to make it [happen],” Lee told Joseph. “It’s still, until you go out there and play, you never know how you’re going to feel with the guys and how things are going to work. But I think it’s been a tremendous fit here, and I’m just excited — excited to be here and excited to give it everything I have for them this year.”
Justin Harper has rejoined the Lakers‘ D-League affiliate after the Pistons elected not to ink him for the remainder of the season when his second 10-day contract with the team expired, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor tweets.