New Orleans Pelicans Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southwest Rumors: Young, Pelicans, Belinelli

October 28th, 2013 at 5:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Southwest Division could be the NBA’s toughest this year, with five teams that have legitimate playoff hopes. The two Southwest clubs that played for the conference title last year, the Spurs and Grizzlies, meet for a rematch on Wednesday in the first of a season of key clashes. Here’s more from the Southwest:

B.J. Young drew interest from the Sixers and Lakers before deciding to join the Rockets for camp, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com. He was the first player the Rockets cut from their training camp roster, hitting waivers nearly a month ago, but he’ll sign a deal with Houston’s D-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Charania adds. Since he’s apparently signing directly with the Vipers instead of entering the D-League draft, that means the Rockets made him one of the three camp cuts whose D-League rights they can protect.
Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday are the major new arrivals for the Pelicans this year, and both shared insight on how the team’s new-look backcourt is coming together. Evans also spoke to HoopsWorld’s Alex Kennedy about his experience as a free agent, comparing it to college recruiting, while Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune points out that Holiday is the fourth starting point guard for the team in as many years.
Ken Rodriguez of Spurs.com examines the connection between a pair of San Antonio’s offseason signees. Marco Belinelli refers to Manu Ginobili as his “idol,” and it’s worth noting that Belinelli agreed to join the Spurs this summer shortly after the team reached a new deal with Ginobili.

Odds & Ends: Miller, Kennedy, Lighty, Pau

October 27th, 2013 at 10:36pm CST by Luke Adams

Quincy Miller is one of a handful of players whose contract will become guaranteed by virtue of earning a spot on his team’s opening day roster, as our schedule of guarantee dates shows. Now that he’s breathing a little easier, Miller can focus on contributing to the Nuggets, particularly with players ahead of him in the rotation sidelined with injuries, writes Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post.

Here are a few more Sunday odds and ends:

D.J. Kennedy, who was in camp with the Mavericks, has officially signed overseas with French team BCM Gravelines, tweets Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.
The Hawks waived David Lighty earlier this month, and he’s headed back to JSF Nanterre in France, where he starred last season, according to Alexandre Lacoste of Catch and Shoot (hat tip to Sportando).
As he enters a contract year, Pau Gasol feels better than he expected he would. Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com has the details.
Lance Thomas didn’t consider the idea of playing for another team after the Pelicans waived him in July, he tells Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune. He wound up re-signing for the same salary, with a $15K partial guarantee thrown in.
Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News writes that Stephen Jackson will have to accept a lesser role or perhaps even a D-League stint if he’s going to continue his playing career.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Odds & Ends: Hayward, Kobe, Nelson

October 24th, 2013 at 8:17pm CST by Ryan Raroque

As we inch closer to the start of the regular season, here are some miscellaneous news and notes to pass along tonight:

Gordon Hayward would love to remain on the Jazz for the rest of his career, reports Yannis Koutroupis of Hoopsworld.
Kobe Bryant says that he’s scaled back on his activities in order to allow his injured left achilles tendon to heal from the added pressure he felt last week. The Lakers’ superstar had been doing some light jogging and shooting drills last week while the team was in China for exhibition games (Mark Medina of InsideSoCal.com)
While discussing how much he enjoys his leadership role on the Magic as the team’s most seasoned veteran, Jameer Nelson knows that with a major rebuilding process underway, he’s still a prime candidate to be traded (Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel).
Gordon Monson of the Salt Lake Tribune makes a strong case for why the Jazz should trade for Kings guard Jimmer Fredette, who he believes would not only contribute with his shooting ability, but also help tickets sales by drawing the innumerable ‘Jimmermania’ fanatics that followed him at BYU.
Mike D’Antoni admitted that last year’s Lakers roster made it difficult to define roles, especially when “everybody thinks they’re the 1 or 2 guy” (Bill Oram of the OC Register via Twitter).
Pelicans coach Monty Williams admittedly didn’t find the type of production he was looking for from the center position during the pre-season, writes John Reid of NOLA.com.

Odds & Ends: Heat, Smith, Kidd, Wiggins

October 22nd, 2013 at 12:39pm CST by Zachary Links

The Heat were picked as the clear favorite to win the 2013/14 title in this year’s GM survey, writes John Schuhmann of NBA.com. There were a few dissenters with the Spurs and Pacers receiving 6.9% of the vote and the Bulls, Clippers, and Thunder also getting nods. LeBron James was the overwhelming pick to win the MVP trophy and Pelicans big man Anthony Davis was pegged as the breakout player of the year. Magic guard Victor Oladipo was picked to win the Rookie of the Year award and GMs feel that he’ll be the best player out of this class five years from now. Here’s more from around the Association..

Pistons forward Josh Smith spoke to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld about his decision to leave the Hawks this summer. “It wasn’t as hard as other people saw it,” Smith said. “It was time for me to experience a different thing in my life, a new situation, new opportunity and I’m happy where I’m at.” It also didn’t hurt that Detroit gave him a four-year, $54MM deal.
David Aldridge of NBA.com sat down with new Nets head coach Jason Kidd for a Q&A. The discussion covered his learning curve and former coaches that the point guard has apologized to now that he has discovered the difficulty of the job.
Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle, Dante Exum, Jabari Parker, and Aaron Gordon are all candidates to go No. 1 overall in next June’s draft, in Kyler’s view (Twitter link). Not everyone would agree with that assessment as Wiggins has long been viewed as the top talent in the 2014 class.

Western Rumors: Hayward, Nuggets, Pelicans

October 20th, 2013 at 11:45am CST by Chuck Myron

The Mavericks are the only Western Conference team left with 20 players, as our roster counts show. Teams can have that many until October 28th, when the regular season limit of 15 kicks in, but unless a club intends to unload some of its extra guys via trade, it needs to waive them by 4pm Central on October 26th — this coming Saturday. The decisions shouldn’t be too hard for Dallas, since the team has 15 fully guaranteed contracts and five others on fully non-guaranteed deals, but there are plenty of other places where intrigue abounds. Impending roster cuts aren’t the only drama playing out, since the October 31st deadline for rookie scale extensions also looms. Here’s more on a team and a player staring down that date and other news from the West:

The Jazz granted Derrick Favors an extension, but Gordon Hayward and agent Mark Bartelstein are still trying to pry another long-term commitment from Utah. Coach Tyrone Corbin is hopeful that the situation will be resolved soon, observes Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune. “It’s part of the business,” Corbin said. “Gordon understands it. His situation is what it is. There’s talks ongoing and hopefully things get worked out. But he understands. He’s happy for Derrick. … And we love both guys and we hope everything will work out that we can keep [both] guys here.”
New GM Tim Connelly is bringing a sharper focus on analytics to the Nuggets front office, which includes his hiring of Tommy Balcetis, the team’s full-time analytics manager. Coach Brian Shaw is on board, too, as Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post details.
Connelly’s old team, the Pelicans, doesn’t have a single player on its roster older than 28, as Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe notes in his weekly roundup. Though the club is youthful, GM Dell Demps is confident the Pelicans have enough experience, pointing to the influx of one-and-done college players into the draft that’s made it possible for more guys to accrue NBA service time at younger ages.

Western Notes: Leonard, Bogut, Holiday

October 16th, 2013 at 7:14pm CST by Michael Pina

A few note from around the Western Conference.

After waiving small forwards Corey Maggette and Sam Young earlier this week, the Spurs will enter the season with no legitimate backup for Kawhi Leonard, writes MySanAntonio.com’s Jeff McDonald.
MercuryNews.com’s Tim Kawakami opines on the Warriors and Andrew Bogut, and what’s a fair extension for the former number one overall pick.
Coming off a breakout season as an All-Star with the Sixers, Jrue Holiday heads into 2014 as the franchise point guard for the Pelicans. Hoopsworld.com’s Yannis Koutroupis takes a look at what Holiday needs to do to settle in to his new environment.

Pelicans Exercise ’14/15 Options On Davis, Rivers

October 16th, 2013 at 3:51pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans have officially picked up their 2014/15 options on Anthony Davis and Austin Rivers, the team announced today in a press release. The move ensures that both Davis and Rivers will be on guaranteed contracts through 2015, with the Pelicans holding additional team options on both players for 2015/16.

There was no doubt that the Pelicans would exercise their option on Davis, last year’s No. 1 overall pick. Rivers didn’t have nearly as successful a rookie campaign as the Kentucky big man, but very few lottery picks have their options turned down, and New Orleans still has high hopes for the former Duke guard.

Davis will be in line for a salary of about $5.61MM in 2014/15, while Rivers will earn a guaranteed $2.44MM. Their salaries will bring the Pelicans’ total commitments up to about $52.1MM for six players, including Eric Gordon, Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday, and Ryan Anderson.

You can follow all of this month’s rookie contract option decisions right here.

Pelicans Waive Lazar Hayward

October 13th, 2013 at 7:21pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pelicans have waived small forward Lazar Hayward, the team announced. He appeared for a total of just 15 minutes in two preseason contests for New Orleans, the team with which he signed a non-guaranteed deal shortly before camp. The move drops the Pelicans roster count to 15 players.

Hayward was the last pick of the first round in 2010, and he’s been traded and waived three times apiece since then. He spent a pair of brief stints with the Timberwolves last season, but he only managed to appear in four games. The 6’6″ former Marquette Golden Eagle also played 14 games with the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the D-League in 2012/13. Reggio Emilia of Italy appeared to have interest in Hayward this summer before he signed with the Pelicans, so perhaps the 26-year-old will head overseas.

Pelicans GM Dell Demps could carry his roster as is into the season, allowing Arinze Onuaku, on a non-guaranteed contract, and Lance Thomas, whose deal is guaranteed for $15K, to remain with the team. Still, NBA clubs are only obligated to have 13 players on their roster, and the Pelicans could always sign someone else, so Onuaku and Thomas are no locks for opening night.

Traded 2014 First Round Picks To Watch

October 9th, 2013 at 10:31am CST by Luke Adams

As we saw in 2011 when the draft pick acquired from the Clippers by the Cavaliers ended up landing first overall, trading unprotected first-round picks is a risky proposition for NBA teams. That would explain why, heading into the 2013/14 season, only three ’14 first-round picks have been traded without protection, all by veteran teams expected to have strong years.

The Knicks’ first-round pick will be sent to the Nuggets, as part of New York’s debt from the Carmelo Anthony blockbuster. However, if the Knicks’ pick is less favorable than Denver’s own pick, the Nuggets will pass it along to Orlando, as part of last summer’s four-team Dwight Howard trade. Otherwise, the Magic will receive Denver’s pick.

The Warriors’ first-round pick will head to Utah, one of several picks Golden State sent to the Jazz in the cap-clearing summer deal that saw Andre Iguodala land with the Warriors.

The other unprotected first-rounder will come from the Nets, who agreed to send their pick to Boston in this offseason’s acquisition of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. As part of 2012’s Joe Johnson swap though, the Hawks have the opportunity to swap their own first-round pick with the Nets’ pick, leaving the Celtics with the lesser pick of the two. So if the Nets disappoint this season, it will be the Hawks, rather than the C’s, who benefit most.

Nine other teams have agreed to give up their respective 2014 first-round picks in certain scenarios, but given the protection on these picks, only a handful will actually change hands next summer. We’ll be keeping an eye on the standings all season to monitor whether or not these traded picks will fall under protection, but here’s an early look at the situations to watch this season:

Team: Charlotte Bobcats
Will be sent to: Chicago Bulls
Protection: 1-10
Forecast: Despite the addition of Al Jefferson, the Bobcats still likely project as a lottery team, meaning this pick has a good chance to stay put. That could be good news for the Bulls, since we continue to inch closer to 2016, when this pick will become unprotected.

Team: Dallas Mavericks
Will be sent to: Oklahoma City Thunder
Protection: 1-20
Forecast: Mark Cuban and the Mavs are optimistic about the new-look roster, but I’m skeptical that Dallas is a top-ten team. This pick will probably stay with Dallas.

Team: Detroit Pistons
Will be sent to: Charlotte Bobcats
Protection: 1-8
Forecast: If the Pistons were to finish as a bottom-eight team, I expect there’d be some jobs opening up in Detroit in 2014, given the expectations for the club. I have the Pistons penciled in as a low playoff seed in the East, so this pick should be ticketed for Charlotte.

Team: Indiana Pacers
Will be sent to: Phoenix Suns
Protection: 1-14
Forecast: While the Heat may be the No. 1 seed in the East again, the Pacers shouldn’t be too far behind them. As such, this pick will likely land in the mid-20s and be shipped to Phoenix.

Team: Minnesota Timberwolves
Will be sent to: Phoenix Suns
Protection: 1-13
Forecast: If the T-Wolves can avoid the injury problems that plagued them last season, they should be a playoff contender. The West will be competitive though, so there are no guarantees either way on this one.

Team: New Orleans Pelicans
Will be sent to: Philadelphia 76ers
Protection: 1-5
Forecast: I’m not bullish on the Pelicans’ postseason chances for 2013/14, but the offseason upgrades, along with continued development from Anthony Davis, should ensure that New Orleans isn’t a bottom-five team. The result could be a pair of lottery picks for the Sixers.

Team: Philadelphia 76ers
Will be sent to: Miami Heat
Protection: 1-14
Forecast: Speaking of those Sixers, it would be truly be a shocker if their own first-rounder changed hands next summer. Many pundits don’t expect the Sixers to win 20 games, let alone earn a playoff spot.

Team: Portland Trail Blazers
Will be sent to: Charlotte Bobcats
Protection: 1-12
Forecast: Like the Wolves, the Blazers expect to be in contention for the postseason, but again, it won’t be easy in the West. This is another pick I could see going either way.

Team: Sacramento Kings
Will be sent to: Cleveland Cavaliers
Protection: 1-12
Forecast: The Kings are entering the season with playoff aspirations as well, but their odds are significantly lower, in my view, than the Wolves’ or Blazers’. I expect we’ll see Sacramento keep this pick.

RealGM.com was used in the creation of this post.

Odds & Ends: Beasley, Pelicans, Lawal

October 7th, 2013 at 9:36pm CST by Zachary Links

There are tons of intriguing minimum-contract players around the league this year, writes HoopsWorld’s Mark Deeks. Omri Casspi of the Rockets had 20 points off of 9-10 shooting in his preseason debut while the Lakers‘ Xavier Henry had 29 points of his own. DeJuan Blair, Anthony Morrow, Chris Andersen, Aaron Brooks, and Antawn Jamison are just some of the other notable vets playing on bargain basement deals in 2013/14. Here’s tonight’s look around the Association..

Heat forward Michael Beasley is changing agents, according to Guido Guida of La Gazzetta (via Twitter). The former No. 2 overall pick left Jeff Schwartz to join up with Jared Karnes of A3 Allegiant Athletic Agency. You can keep up with everyone’s representation using the Hoops Rumors Agency Database.
Jimmy Smith of the Times-Picayune looks at Arinze Onuaku‘s quest to make the Pelicans roster and his journey getting there.
Sixers newcomer Gani Lawal plans on sticking around in the NBA for a while, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The forward believes that if he hadn’t torn his ACL as a rookie with the Suns in 2010, he’d be an NBA starter.
Charles O’Bannon says he’s officially retired from playing after searching for another NBA gig and playing in Japan, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. O’Bannon, the brother of former UCLA star Ed O’Bannon, spent two years in the NBA with the Pistons.