Southwest Notes: Davis, Howard, Mavericks
The Pelicans are building their team around Anthony Davis in the same way the Spurs built their dynasty around Tim Duncan nearly two decades ago, writes Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated in a piece that chronicles Davis’ journey to the NBA. Jenkins notes that the team acquired Ryan Anderson in part because of how the Spurs sustained success with floor spacing.
There’s more from the Southwest Division:
- The injury-plagued Rockets shouldn’t count on Dwight Howard returning to the court soon, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Feigen said coach Kevin McHale is pessimistic about a quick return from Howard or any of Houston’s other injured players.
- Nobody in Dallas is surprised Jason Kidd made such a quick transition from on-the-floor leader to the head coaching ranks, writes Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Mavs coach Rick Carlisle isn’t the least bit surprised with Kidd’s career moves. “Let’s face it; he was always coaching, anyway, when he was out there,” Carlisle said. “I felt like he had a very good idea coming off his playing career, as to how he felt the game should be played. And he’s coaching it that way. You’ve got to give him a lot of credit for that.”
- Spurs coach Gregg Popovich continued his long-distance jousting with Knicks president Phil Jackson this week, writes Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. Jackson said in April that San Antonio didn’t qualify as a dynasty because the team hadn’t won two titles in a row. “Ooh that makes me mad,” Popovich said sarcastically when asked about the comments. Jackson made the remarks when talking about whether Carmelo Anthony would accept less money to stay in New York, similar to what Tim Duncan has done with the Spurs.
Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
And-Ones: Knicks, Mekel, Mirotic, Kerr
The Knicks have started the season with a record of 4-17, but there is upside to the team’s horrendous start, writes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Ending up in the early part of the lottery could lead to the addition of a franchise changing player to the team either by the draft itself or by a trade that sends the pick out in a package that lands the Knicks an elite talent, like the Cavs did with Kevin Love this past offseason. Isola points out that the Knicks haven’t been the most patient franchise when it comes to developing talent and notes that the last two Knicks’ draft picks to make the All-Star team were David Lee, who was drafted in 2005, and Mark Jackson, who was selected in the 1987 draft.
Here’s more from around the Association:
- Gal Mekel‘s two-year, non-guaranteed deal he signed with the Pelicans will pay him $639K this season, and he’ll earn $947,276 during the 2015/16 season, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). That means the deal is a minimum-salary arrangement.
- The Bulls‘ three-year wait for Nikola Mirotic brought back memories of a similar saga with Toni Kukoc two decades ago, writes Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. But while Kukoc was publicly dissed by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Mirotic has gotten a friendly reception from Chicago’s current stars. “He can put it on the floor, he can make plays for people, he can get to the basket,” Mike Dunleavy said of Mirotic, who is in the first season of a three-year, $16.6MM deal. “Defensively he’s pretty good — blocks shots, gets his hands on a lot of balls. As he gets used to everything a little more, he’ll foul less and be a pretty effective defender.”
- Steve Kerr, who has the Warriors off to the NBA’s best start in his first season behind the team’s bench, tells Sam Smith of Bulls.com that his coaching style borrows from every coach he ever played under. Kerr played for two of the league’s most successful coaches ever in Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, but said he learned something everywhere he went. “Cotton Fitzsimmons and Lenny Wilkens and Lute Olson; you sort of take a little from each person,” Kerr said. “But what they all told me was to be yourself. They said you have to be yourself, that players will know if you are trying to do something that is not you.”
Arthur Hill and Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
D-League Notes: Celtics, Smith, Ledo
The Mavs reaped a subtle benefit when the Thunder decided to keep Ish Smith instead of Sebastian Telfair when their 16th roster spot expired last week, as Gino Pilato of D-League Digest explains. The Mavs affiliate, by D-League rule, inherited top waiver priority once Smith, who left the Mavs affiliate to sign with Oklahoma City on November 7th, spent his 21st day on the Thunder’s NBA roster, as Pilato points out. Thus, the Legends were able to grab Ivan Johnson even though Dallas didn’t have his D-League rights when he signed with the league earlier this week.
Here are the latest D-League moves:
- The Celtics have recalled James Young, Dwight Powell, and Marcus Smart from their D-League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, the team has announced. The trio make their return after seeing action in Maine’s victory against Fort Wayne last night. Young poured in 31 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Powell contributed 21 points. Smart, making his D-League debut, added six points, five boards, and dished out seven dimes.
- Russ Smith has been assigned to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Pelicans have announced. Smith has appeared in three contests for New Orleans, going scoreless in his 3.7 minutes per game. The rookie averaged 5.0 points, 0.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in six preseason games for the Pelicans this year. Smith is the first player that New Orleans has assigned to the D-League this season.
- The Pistons have assigned Tony Mitchell to their D-League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Drive, David Mayo of MLive reports (Twitter link). This will be Mitchell’s third trip to the D-League this season.
- Ricky Ledo has been reassigned to the Texas Legends, the Mavs‘ D-League affiliate, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com tweets. This is Ledo’s third such assignment, and in four games with the Legends Ledo has averaged 11.5 points and 2.8 assists.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Pelicans Sign Gal Mekel
The Pelicans have signed free agent Gal Mekel, the team announced in a press release. Roey Gladstone of Israeli Channel 5 TV was the first to report the news. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Gladstone tweets that it is a two-year deal which contains a team option for the second season, and Marc Stein of ESPN.com adds (Twitter link) that the contract is non-guaranteed. This signing will increase New Orleans’ roster count to the league-maximum 15 players.
New Orleans had one open roster spot available after waiving Patric Young and Darius Miller on Sunday and inking Dante Cunningham to a deal yesterday. Mekel will add depth at the point guard position behind Jrue Holiday.
The 26-year-old guard joined the Mavs in 2013 after putting up 13.3 points, 5.4 assists and 2.5 turnovers in 32.3 minutes per game during 2012/13 for Maccabi Haifa in his native Israel. He inked a fully guaranteed three-year contract for the minimum salary to come stateside, but Dallas instead chose to eat the salaries for the final two years to instead sign J.J. Barea shortly after opening night.
Southwest Notes: Cunningham, Spurs, Pelicans
The Pelicans reached out to the NBA to determine if the league would punish Dante Cunningham before they decided to sign him earlier today, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reports. As was noted earlier, the NBA is unlikely to discipline Cunningham for the domestic assault charges against Cunningham that were dropped over the summer. “We have commenced an independent review of the matter and the charges that were subsequently dropped against Mr. Cunningham, but at this point we have no basis to conclude that he engaged in conduct that warrants discipline from the NBA,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said.
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Cunningham sees the Pelicans as the ideal team to restart his NBA career with, Jim Eichenhofer of NBA.com writes. “It’s a great opportunity to get here, sign and be part of this great organization,” Cunningham said. “It’s been a rough couple months, but at this time, it’s definitely behind me. I’ve learned, I’ve grown and I’m a stronger person for it. Being back where I love to be [playing basketball], it’s definitely a weight off of my shoulders. My name is cleared. I’m now just trying to rebrand it and make sure it’s ‘Dante Cunningham’ once again.”
- Kyle Anderson, the Spurs‘ first round pick this season, has a unique opportunity to learn from the storied veterans in San Antonio’s locker room, Andy Vasquez of The Record writes. “I landed in a really good situation,” Anderson said. “Every day I walk into this locker room I’m among Hall of Famers, I’m among real pioneers of the game, guys I’ve watched my whole life. So it’s big time for me. I don’t take any day for granted that I’m in this locker room.”
- One of the reasons New Orleans signed Cunningham is because head coach Monty Williams was an advocate for Cunningham’s character, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports writes. Williams’ relationship with Cunningham dates back to the 2009/10 season, when Williams was an assistant coach with the Blazers and the forward was playing in Portland, notes Wojnarowski.
Pelicans In Advanced Talks With Gal Mekel
2:39pm: The Pelicans are working on securing a visa for Mekel, and the team thinks it will be able to do so, tweets Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune.
2:24pm: The Pelicans are in “advanced discussions” with free agent point guard Gal Mekel, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The club has identified the former Maverick as its primary target after working out other point guards, including Diante Garrett and Eric Maynor, Stein adds in a second tweet. No visa issues are expected for Mekel this time after such problems scuttled a deal he had in place to join the Pacers last month, since the Pelicans aren’t under a time crunch to sign him, as the Pacers were with a hardship exception that was expiring, Stein also reports (Twitter link).
New Orleans has an open roster spot after waiving Patric Young and Darius Miller on Sunday and inking Dante Cunningham earlier this afternoon. GM Dell Demps and his staff have reportedly been aggressive in trade talk as the December 15th trade-eligibility date for most offseason signees nears, but it appears their first priority is to scour the market for free agents who can add depth. Mekel played sparingly in his first season with the Mavs, but the Thunder liked him, and the Lakers recently auditioned him along with several other players.
Mekel, now 26, joined the Mavs in 2013 after putting up 13.3 points, 5.4 assists and 2.5 turnovers in 32.3 minutes per game during 2012/13 for Maccabi Haifa in his native Israel. He inked a fully guaranteed three-year contract for the minimum salary to come stateside, but Dallas ate the salaries for the final two years to instead sign J.J. Barea shortly after opening night.
Pelicans Sign Dante Cunningham
The Pelicans have signed Dante Cunningham, the team announced via press release. The team reportedly worked him out this past weekend and had been doing their “due diligence” to investigate domestic assault charges against Cunningham that were dropped over the summer, as Jimmy Smith of the The Times-Picayune wrote earlier this week. The NBA is unlikely to punish Cunningham, a league spokesman tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The NBA recently took a tough stand against domestic violence with a 24-game suspension for Jeff Taylor, but Taylor had pleaded guilty to the charges against him. Cunningham is getting a one-year deal for the minimum, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears (Twitter links), though it’s unclear if there’s any guaranteed salary involved.
Agent Joel Bell told Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press this fall that he estimated that Cunningham would have received annual salaries of more than $4MM had it not been for the charges. That figure was debatable, but it was surprising that, according to Bell, Cunningham hadn’t received so much as a minimum-salary offer as of October. It demonstrated the chilling effect that the NFL’s much-criticized handling of domestic violence among its players had on the NBA market, even for Cunningham, whose charges were dropped in August.
The now 27-year-old Cunningham pulled down a career-high 5.1 rebounds per game and came close to a career mark with 8.7 points per contest last season for the Wolves, who were reportedly in talks with him about a new deal shortly after the charges against him were dropped. Still, it seemed even at that point that the Timberwolves were a long shot to re-sign him, since Minnesota’s roster was already full. The Wolves added power forward Jeff Adrien instead last week when the league granted them an extra roster spot.
The Pelicans made space on their roster Sunday, when they let go of Patric Young and Darius Miller. The addition of Cunningham, who’ll begin his sixth year in the NBA, still leaves one open roster spot for New Orleans, which has reportedly been aggressive in its pursuit of trades lately.
Patric Young Signs To Play In Turkey
11:30am: The deal is official, the team announced (Twitter link; hat tip to Carchia).
8:27am: Former Pelicans big man Patric Young has agreed to sign with Galatasaray of Turkey, reports Ismail Senol of NTV Spor (Twitter links; translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). It’s not clear what Young will make on the deal, but it’s a quick turnaround for the first-year pro, who just cleared waivers Tuesday after New Orleans waived him Sunday.
Young didn’t appear in a regular season game for the Pelicans, who signed him in July, shortly after he turned in an impressive summer league despite going undrafted out of the University of Florida the month before. The 22-year-old averaged 7.4 points and 8.0 rebounds in 25.2 minutes per game for the summer Pelicans coming off a season at Florida in which he was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
New Orleans guaranteed the Jim Tanner client‘s rookie minimum salary for $55K, though he had already earned more than $100K by virtue of remaining on the roster through the first month of the season, putting him on a de facto non-guaranteed contract. The Pelicans reportedly worked out free agent Dante Cunningham, but it was nonetheless curious to see them release Young without bringing in someone to fill his roster spot. Young’s quick deal with Galatasaray seems a hint that he might have asked the Pelicans to waive him now so that he could capitalize on interest from the Turkish team, though that’s just my speculation.
D.J. Stephens To Play In Russia
High-flying swingman D.J. Stephens is joining Russia’s Zenit St. Petersburg pending a physical, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Stephens was with the Bucks last season on a 10-day contract and joined the Pelicans for training camp this fall. The terms of his Russian deal aren’t immediately clear.
Stephens went undrafted out of the University of Memphis in 2013 in spite of a vertical leap that was the highest in the recorded history of the NBA’s predraft combine, as DraftExpress shows. He never averaged double figures in points during his four years at Memphis, but he used his athleticism on the other end of the floor, winning the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year award in his senior season. The 6’5″ Stephens, who turns 24 this month, split last season between Ilisiakos BC of Greece, Anadolu Efes of Turkey, and the Bucks, with whom he scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds in 15 total minutes across three games on his 10-day deal.
He reportedly auditioned for the Jazz in September before signing a non-guaranteed deal with the Pelicans for camp. Stephens appeared in only three preseason games for New Orleans, with a total of five points and two rebounds, and the Pelicans let go of him shortly before opening night.
And-Ones: Rookies, Nets, Cavs, Pelicans
The vaunted 2014 draft class hasn’t performed up to par quite yet, notes Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. K.J. McDaniels of the Sixers is the third-leading rookie scorer, as Amico points out, but he’s averaging only 10.2 points per game and was the 32nd overall pick. There’s plenty of time for others to fulfill their promise, but this year’s crop of first-year players isn’t exactly revolutionizing the game. Here’s more from around the NBA as the league gets set to tip off a four-game night:
- Nets GM Billy King told reporters that he’s considering “tweaks” to the roster as he works the phones, but he offered only a “we’ll see” when asked whether the team’s core of Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson was still viable. Devin Kharpertian of The Brooklyn Game has the details.
- Pelicans coach Monty Williams felt as though he’d given Darius Miller an opportunity to show what he can do after putting him in the starting lineup last week, but he admits that Patric Young still may have had the potential to help the team, observes Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune. The Pelicans waived both on Sunday.
- The Cavs have recalled Alex Kirk from the D-League, the team announced. The center had 16 points and six rebounds in 29 minutes for Cleveland’s affiliate Sunday on a one-day assignment.