New Orleans Pelicans Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southwest Notes: Davis, Smith, Howard

December 25th, 2015 at 8:59pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Anthony Davis would trigger the Derrick Rose rule for more lucrative salaries on the extension he signed with the Pelicans this past summer if he’s voted to start the All-Star Game, but so far, he’s only sixth among vote-getters for the three frontcourt positions in the Western Conference (Twitter link via Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports). Davis can also earn the higher salaries if he makes an All-NBA team or is named MVP this season.

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry praised the effort given by Ish Smith, who was dealt to the Sixers on Thursday, and indicated that the point guard was expendable because of the team’s backcourt depth, John Reid of The Times Picayune relays. “He was great for us,” Gentry said. ”He did everything I asked for him to do. Obviously with Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday coming off restrictions as far as minutes and Norris Cole being healthy, there wasn’t a lot of time for him. This is a good thing for him, too. I think he will play a lot of minutes in Philly. He is a great kid and I think he is going to be in this league a long time.”
Dwight Howard hasn’t received his customary amount of shot attempts this season with the Rockets, which makes it difficult to judge if the center’s skills are beginning to diminish, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com writes. “The more confidence I have on the block, the better I’ll be,” Howard said. “Each day I just continue to work on getting reps, so when I get in the game, I can get to my spot and just finish.” The big man does say that he’s healthy and is trying to limit the distractions any talk regarding his potential free agency next summer may cause his teammates, Watkins adds. “Actually, the last couple of weeks I’ve been feeling really good,” Howard continued. “I’ve just been trying to stay free and not allowing any of the noise from the outside, the crazy rumors and all that stuff to affect who I am with my teammates and what we’re trying to accomplish. My body has felt great. I think when you stay stress-free, your body tends to follow.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Ish Smith Trade Fallout: Noel, D’Antoni, Holiday

December 25th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Sixers had interest in re-signing Ish Smith this past summer before he signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Wizards in September, according to Tom Moore of Calkins Media. Smith also drew offers of guaranteed money from teams, Calkins writes, indicating that the Sixers were one of them. The deal that Smith inked with Washington is the one he’s still on, since the Pelicans claimed him off waivers in October before trading him to the Sixers on Thursday. See more in the aftermath of the Christmas Eve trade between Philadelphia and New Orleans:

Nerlens Noel loved playing with Smith last year, so the move will likely please the big man, Moore notes (on Twitter). Noel becomes eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer.
New Sixers lead assistant coach Mike D’Antoni is also a fan of Smith and wanted Philadelphia to acquire him, sources told John Reid of The Times Picayune. D’Antoni has a reputation for lifting the performance of point guards, and Smith is set for free agency at season’s end.
New Orleans plans to keep Jrue Holiday coming off the bench when his minutes restriction is lifted next week, but the team still didn’t envision giving Smith adequate time in the rotation, Reid writes in the same piece.
The Pelicans created a trade exception equal to Smith’s $947,276 salary, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). The exception can help the Pelicans absorb a long-term minimum salary deal they might otherwise be unable to match salaries for, as I explained.

Southwest Notes: Wroten, Pelicans, Grizzlies

December 24th, 2015 at 7:32pm CST by Charlie Adams

The Sixers offered to send the now-waived Tony Wroten to the Pelicans in today’s trade that shipped Ish Smith off to Philadelphia, but New Orleans didn’t have any interest, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports passes along (via Twitter). The Pelicans will instead end up with two future second round picks: Denver’s in 2016 and Philadelphia’s in 2017, according to fellow Yahoo Sports contributor Bobby Marks (Twitter link).

Pelicans Trade Ish Smith To Sixers

December 24th, 2015 at 4:04pm CST by Chuck Myron

Mark J. Rebilas / USA TODAY Sports Images

4:04pm: The trade is official, the Pelicans announced on their website and the Sixers announced via press release. Philadelphia released Tony Wroten to accommodate the move, as we detail here.

3:16pm: The Sixers are on the verge of acquiring Ish Smith from the Pelicans, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Philly will send two future second-round picks to New Orleans in exchange for Smith, a source said to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). Smith spent the second half of last season with Philadelphia and thrived there, but the Sixers didn’t re-sign him in free agency this past summer. Philadelphia has a full 15-man roster, so it would have to make a corresponding move if Smith came in and nobody went out in the trade.

Smith proved valuable early this season for the Pelicans, who claimed him off waivers from the Wizards shortly before opening night. The 27-year-old averaged 8.3 assists against 2.1 turnovers through the first 16 games of the season. However, his playing time has dwindled since the return of backup point guard Norris Cole from injury, as Smith has played less than 10 minutes in four of the Pelicans’ last five games.

The timing of the move for Philadelphia is somewhat odd, since point guards Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten recently made their season debuts after recovering from injuries. The Sixers also have Isaiah Canaan and rookie T.J. McConnell at the position.

It’s the first move of consequence for the Sixers since Jerry Colangelo became chairman of basketball operations, and it represents a departure of sorts from GM Sam Hinkie‘s philosophy, since Hinkie was notorious for stockpiling second-rounders. Smith is just the second player on the team who’s older than 25, but though he has five years of NBA experience, he doesn’t quite fit the profile of the sort of long-tenured veteran the Sixers have been rumored to be seeking. Smith doesn’t figure to markedly change the direction of the Sixers, who at 1-30 are the first team ever to win just a single game in their first 31 outings.

Smith isn’t a lavish expenditure for Philadelphia, either. His contract is non-guaranteed for the minimum salary and covers only one season. He agreed to those terms with the Wizards before the start of training camp, joining Washington even though he faced long odds to make the opening night roster. The Wizards cut him, as expected, in late October, allowing the Pelicans to scoop him up. Smith was briefly with New Orleans last season, when the Pelicans acquired him in a deadline-day trade from the Thunder, but the Pelicans waived him immediately after that deal, and Philadelphia claimed him shortly thereafter. Smith averaged 12.0 points, 6.1 assists and 2.8 turnovers in 27.1 minutes per game across 25 appearances for the Sixers last year.

New Orleans appears poised to open a roster spot if the deal goes through as reported so far. Cole, Jrue Holiday, Toney Douglas and Tyreke Evans are all around to man the point guard position. The move would appear to be a positive development for Douglas, whose contract isn’t fully guaranteed.

Which team do you think is getting the better end of this deal? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Latest On Markieff Morris

December 24th, 2015 at 1:43pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:43pm: Morris issued an apology via Twitter (hat tip to Coro).

“My frustration got the best of me last night,” Morris wrote. “It won’t happen again. I apologize to Jeff. My teammates told me I hit coach with the towel. In no way was that towel intended for him. I just want to help my team win so much. That’s my focus moving forward.”

1:26pm: The Suns have confirmed the suspension (Twitter link), citing “conduct detrimental to the team.” Morris will miss games against the Sixers and Cavs.

1:05am: The trade value of Markieff Morris is such that teams are asking the Suns to attach another player or asset to him in any proposal, tweets Zach Lowe of ESPN.com, using Archie Goodwin‘s name as an example of the sort of add-on other teams want. The Wednesday towel-toss that marked the latest chapter in a back-and-forth relationship between Morris and the Suns has prompted the team to issue an unpaid two-game suspension, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports. It’ll cost him $145,455 out of his $8MM salary, Charania notes. Morris threw a towel in the direction of coach Jeff Hornacek, who tossed it back as the pair engaged in an argument during Wednesday’s game, though Morris told teammates he didn’t mean for the towel, which connected with Hornacek’s leg, to hit the coach, Charania hears.

The Suns are unlikely to agree to give up value on top of Morris in a trade, Lowe says, though the power forward is “very available” on the trade market, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported last week, when he added that talks with the Rockets about trading Morris to Houston, which Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops originally revealed, have been serious. It’s unclear whether the Rockets or another Morris suitor, like the Pelicans, have spoken to the Suns about Goodwin or if Lowe was merely using him as a hypothetical. Goodwin, making about $1.16MM in year three of his rookie scale contract, has only played 41 total minutes in December.

Phoenix has lost three in a row and six of eight, and the Suns are four games in the loss column behind eighth place in the Western Conference. Morris, who backed off a summer trade demand when he showed up at training camp, lost his starting job earlier this month and disappeared from the rotation entirely before re-emerging to average 16.3 minutes per game over Phoenix’s last four contests. All of the Suns players were present for practice today except Morris, who deflected a question last week about whether he wanted to be traded, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link).

What do you think the Suns can reasonably get in exchange for Morris? Leave a comment to share your ideas.

Western Notes: Morris, Howard, Harden, Wolves

December 24th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The saga of trade candidate Markieff Morris in Phoenix took another turn Wednesday when Morris threw a towel in coach Jeff Hornacek‘s direction while verbally directing his anger at the coach during the fourth quarter of Phoenix’s loss to Denver, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic details. Hornacek, who’d just taken Morris out of the game, tossed the towel back at Morris as he shared his own angry words with the power forward whom the Suns have reportedly had serious discussions about trading.

“He’s mad about not playing,” Hornacek said after the game, according to Coro. “I look at the stat sheet. He’s a minus-13 in 12 minutes. So there, I took him out. … He thinks he’s better than that. Show me.”

Hornacek said a discussion will take place among team officials about possible discipline for the towel-toss, which evoked memories of Robert Horry throwing a towel in coach Danny Ainge’s face during a game in 1997 when they were with the Suns. See more from the Western Conference:

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff met with Dwight Howard and James Harden about their leadership roles and how they can function together, and the two stars have begun to work more closely with each other in practice, observes Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle. Howard has on multiple occasions denied a report that he’s upset with playing a secondary role to Harden. “It’s been great,” Howard said of his practice work with Harden. “The thing we are trying to build on the most is chemistry between me and James. We have played together for two years, but the best way to build chemistry is to have those individual workouts together. That’s what we have done the last couple of weeks and we have gotten better at reading each other and the more we do it, the better we will become.”
Former Grizzlies CEO Jason Levien is an investor in Steve Kaplan’s bidding group for a 30% stake in the Timberwolves, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Conflicting reports emerged in November about whether Levien was involved. The Kaplan group is reportedly progressing toward a deal that would see them eventually take over a controlling interest in the team.
Losing to the Suns last week prompted the Pelicans to hold a players-only meeting, Anthony Davis said Wednesday, according to John Reid of The Times Picayune. New Orleans has won both of its games since then. The team has gone 8-8 after an 1-11 start under new coach Alvin Gentry, who criticized the effort of the players after the Phoenix loss, as Reid points out.

Western Notes: Kings, Morris, Knight

December 19th, 2015 at 11:08pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Coach George Karl believes the Kings’ lack of professionalism and effort are major reasons why the team isn’t winning this season, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes. “If we get a more serious, play-hard mentality, a more serious defensive mentality, I’ll take all the blame in the world,” Karl said. “You can blame me all night long. But when I’m managing attitude, when I’m managing approach, when I’m managing professionalism then yeah, my X’s and O’s aren’t good, either.”

The Kings attempted to add professionalism during the offseason, Jones adds, when they brought in 10 new players, many of whom are veterans who have been part of winning situations. Yet, changing habits takes time and the team understands that.

“That’s part of the process of trying to change the culture with winning ways, winning habits, and we’ve got some guys who can help do that,” Rajon Rondo said. “Marco [Belinelli] is a winner; [Caron Butler] is one. We’ve got enough strong personalities to help change the culture. It’s just a matter of time if the team stays consistent with it.”

Here’s more out of the Western Conference:

Eric Saar of Basketball Insiders looks at potential Markieff Morris trades, and he believes a swap with the Pelicans for Ryan Anderson is the best-case scenario for the Suns. Anderson will be a free agent at the end of the season and Saar speculates that he will command near-maximum salary on the open market, which is something the Pelicans may not be inclined to give him.
Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic examines Brandon Knight‘s play since he signed his five year, $70MM contract during the offseason. The Suns were 4-7 last year with Knight in the lineup and they are 10-18 to start this season.
The Mavericks assigned Jeremy Evans to their D-League affiliate, the Texas Legends, according to a team press release. Evans is averaging only 1.9 points and 1.7 rebounds in 7.8 minutes per game for Dallas this season.

Southwest Notes: Howard, Anderson, Wright

December 16th, 2015 at 10:29am CST by Chuck Myron

Dwight Howard denies that he’s “extremely unhappy” in Houston and said to reporters Tuesday that he hasn’t expressed any discontent with playing a secondary role to James Harden, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle relays. Howard, taking his fewest shots per game since he was a rookie, said last week he’s not worried about his part in the Rockets offense and that he believes his role will increase, Feigen points out.

“I want us to win,” Howard said Tuesday. “We had two upsetting losses. We’re all frustrated because we know we can play better. I haven’t said anything to any reporter or to anybody about being unhappy. That’s only noise. All the other stuff is lies.”

See more from the Southwest Division:

The Pelicans have listened to teams that have called with interest in trading for Ryan Anderson, and while they’re actively exploring trade possibilities and engaging teams on other matters, they’re not shopping the power forward, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears (Twitter links). The Rockets have reportedly “kicked the tires” on potential deals involving Anderson, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, while the team would consider giving up Anderson for Markieff Morris, as Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reported. The Suns and Pelicans have had preliminary talks about Morris, Wojnarowski and Charania wrote, and Anderson’s name is involved in that discussion, too, writes John Reid of The Times Picayune.
An initial timetable has Grizzlies big man Brandan Wright back in six to eight weeks after a knee surgery he’s scheduled to undergo Thursday, reports Chris Vernon of 92.9 FM in Memphis (Twitter links). Wright, a key offseason free agent signee for Memphis, hasn’t played since November 7th as he and the team held out hope that his sore right knee would heal without the procedure, Vernon adds.
Jonathon Simmons made the D-League affiliate of the Spurs through an open tryout in 2013, but he averaged fewer than 10 points a game in 2013/14 and thought about quitting pro basketball in the summer of 2014, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News details. Now, the 26-year-old is in the Spurs rotation after signing an NBA deal this past summer that includes a fully guaranteed salary for this season.

Jerome Jordan To Play In China

December 15th, 2015 at 4:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Free agent center Jerome Jordan has signed with Jiangsu Tongxi of the Chinese Basketball Association, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter link). The length and terms of the deal are not known, nor if it includes an NBA out clause. If his pact does not include such a clause, Jordan would be eligible to join an NBA team in the spring after the Chinese season ended.

The 29-year-old Jordan appeared in 44 contests for the Nets last season, averaging 3.1 points and 2.4 rebounds in 8.7 minutes per game. His slash line was .532/.000/.864. Jordan wasn’t extended a qualifying offer by Brooklyn and became an unrestricted free agent as a result. The center had signed a one-year non-guaranteed deal with the team that included a partial guarantee of $100K only if he remained under contract through October 25th, 2014, but he stuck on the Nets all season, earning a full $816,482 salary.

Jordan was in training camp with the Pelicans this year, but New Orleans parted ways with him and his non-guaranteed minimum salary arrangement.

Pelicans Make Omer Asik Available

December 15th, 2015 at 3:42pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pelicans have made Omer Asik available to potential trade suitors, league sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, who writes within a larger piece. New Orleans just re-signed the 29-year-old center over the summer to a five-year deal worth nearly $52.978MM in base salary, but he’s averaging a career-worst 2.2 points in 13.9 minutes per game so far this season after suffering a right hamstring strain in early October. He’s missed seven games so far this season, and new coach Alvin Gentry has moved him in and out of the starting lineup of late.

Asik’s struggles have symbolized the trouble the Pelicans have experienced as they dealt with a slew of injuries that led to chaotic roster movement throughout the preseason and left the team shorthanded at times during a disappointing 6-18 start. The Pelicans have struggled to pick up Gentry’s offense, no surprise given the lack of practice time for many players.

New Orleans originally acquired Asik in a trade with the Rockets in the summer of 2014. The Celtics were reportedly expected to make a run at the B.J. Armstrong client during free agency this past offseason, but it’s unclear whether they did, as Asik and the Pelicans were already finalizing a deal on the first day of free agent negotiations in July, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com.

The Pelicans are over the cap and less than $4MM shy of tax territory, so they don’t have a wealth of flexibility to take on additional salary. They have a trade exception worth about $507K, but that’s likely too small to help facilitate any deal. Trade rumors have also surrounded soon-to-be free agent Ryan Anderson in recent weeks.

What should the Pelicans look for in a trade involving Asik? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.