Atlantic Notes: Valanciunas, Zeller, Rozier, Hunter
Grantland’s Zach Lowe finds the four-year, $64MM extension that Jonas Valanciunas received from the Raptors more surprising than fellow Leon Rose client’s Michael Kidd-Gilchrist‘s apparent agreement to sign for $52MM over that same span of years, given the center’s potential earnings (Twitter links). Valanciunas could have come away with a four-year deal worth closer to $75MM if he’d waited until the extension deadline in the fall, and the max if he’d passed on an extension in favor of restricted free agency, Lowe opines. Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Chances are 50-50 that Tyler Zeller will sign an extension with the Celtics before the deadline this fall, sources tell Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. The sides have talked about the idea, Kyler writes. Grantland’s Zach Lowe speculated earlier this summer that the C’s might agree to a deal as long as it was for less than $12MM a year.
- The Celtics took Terry Rozier with the 16th overall pick, a dozen spots in front of R.J. Hunter, but Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com and the majority of ESPN’s Summer Forecast panel argue that Hunter will make the more significant impact this season.
- Knicks president Phil Jackson shared his thoughts about the team’s offseason additions, but Marc Berman of the New York Post believes the Zen Master’s outlook is far too positive. New York didn’t add a single All-Star caliber player despite its bevy of cap room, Berman writes.
Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 8/24/15
The Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks have been among the NBA’s most glamorous franchises for decades. They play in two of the country’s biggest cities with large media followings and passionate fan bases.
The Lakers have also been the league’s most successful franchise outside of the Celtics, collecting 11 championships since moving from Minneapolis in 1961. Knicks fans have been thirsting for a title since New York beat the Lakers in the Finals twice in the early ’70s, though they made two trips to the Finals in the ’90s.
It’s hard to believe that a franchise with a winning tradition like the Lakers and a team with the advantage of playing in storied Madison Square Garden like the Knicks could fall on such hard times the past two seasons. Los Angeles won 27 games in 2013/14 and, thanks to Kobe Bryant’s torn rotator cuff, plunged even further into the abyss with a 21-61 mark last season. The Knicks also went from bad to worse, finishing eight games under .500 two seasons ago and then winning just 17 games in last season’s painful campaign marred by Carmelo Anthony’s knee issues, which limited him to a career-low 40 games.
Things appear to be looking up on both Coasts, thanks to trips to the lottery, trades, free agent signings and improving health. The Lakers drafted D’Angelo Russell to be their floor leader, signed free agents Brandon Bass and Louis Williams and traded for center Roy Hibbert. They’ll also have last year’s lottery selection, Julius Randle, back in action after a season-long injury and Bryant on the comeback trail.
The Knicks drafted European big man Kristaps Porzingis, signed free agents Arron Afflalo and Robin Lopez to fill starting roles and retooled their bench. They’ll also have Anthony back to lead the offensive attack while playing in a division that had just one team finish above .500.
Neither club is expected to make the postseason but with the upgrades, they should be much more competitive or, at the very least, watchable. So our question of the day is as follows: Which team will win more games this season, the Lakers or the Knicks?
Take to the comments section below to sound off with your thoughts and opinions. We look forward to what you have to say.
Note: Since these Shootarounds are meant to be guided by you the reader, we certainly welcome your input on the topics we present. If there is something you’d like to see pop up here for a discussion, shoot us a message at hoopsrumorsmailbag@gmail.com.
Phil Jackson On Williams, Afflalo, Vujacic
Phil Jackson has endured his share of criticism since becoming team president of the Knicks, but he defended his offseason additions in the latest of his interviews with Charlie Rosen for ESPN.com. The Knicks failed to land a superstar in this summer’s free agency, instead taking a piecemeal approach with their cap space as they used it on Robin Lopez, Arron Afflalo, Derrick Williams and others. The executive made his lengthiest comments about Williams, who, according to Jackson, is confident that he already knows the triangle because of the time he spent watching Jackson’s Lakers in the 2000s and videos he found more recently on YouTube.
The entire piece is a must-read, especially for Knicks fans, and we’ll pass along a few highlights here:
On Derrick Williams:
“I mean, there’s no doubt that Derrick has the talent, size and strength to be a more-than-capable NBA player. However, his development has been hindered by several factors. From the start of his pro career, being the second overall draft pick has been like an albatross around his neck, something that he, and lots of other people, felt a lot of pressure to live up to. I told him that right now he’s an NBA player and it no longer makes any difference where he was drafted. He just has to learn how to play the game the right way. That means developing a defensive mindset, developing an intermediate game and improving his long-range shooting.”
On Arron Afflalo:
“Some NBA watchers have questioned whether or not Arron has anything left as he nears his 30th birthday, but I’m positive that he does. He has a gym in his Las Vegas home and he works out religiously. Actually, he’s such a hard-worker that he holds his teammates accountable if they try to cut corners in any way. I look for Arron to be a leader on this team. He wanted us and we wanted him, so Arron and the Knicks is a very good match.”
On Sasha Vujacic:
“Except for a 10-day contract with the Clippers in 2014, Sasha hasn’t played in the NBA for four years, but at age 31 he still has plenty of game. He’s a classic streak-shooter who, when he’s zeroed in, can totally change a game in three minutes. He’ll be a significant force for us coming off the bench.”
And-Ones: Williams, Thomas, Nunnally
Alan Williams, who starred at UC Santa Barbara and made an impact during summer league, was surprised that no NBA team was willing to give him a guaranteed contract, according to Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Instead, Williams signed with the Double Star Eagles in Qingdao, China, grabbing an overseas spot that usually isn’t available once NBA training camps end in October. “It gave me financial stability, which is something a lot of people don’t get in their first year,” Williams said. “It gives me an opportunity to go out there and develop my game more and play for a pretty good team. Culturally, I get to go to a whole different continent and see how they play.” Williams thought he might get more interest from NBA teams after an impressive performance with the Rockets‘ summer league squad. He averaged 20.5 points and 11.8 rebounds in four games and was named to the all-NBA Summer League second team. Williams is hoping for another shot at the NBA once his CBA season ends in February or March.
There’s more news tonight from around the basketball world:
- Tyrus Thomas, the fourth pick in the 2006 draft, still dreams of returning to the NBA, writes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Thomas missed the entire 2013/14 season after undergoing an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion for an arachnoid cyst. He signed a 10-day contract with the Grizzlies in January, but only appeared in two games. At 29, he is training for another shot at the league and hopes to be in someone’s camp next month.
- James Nunnally has signed with Sidigas Avellino of the Italian Serie A, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Nunnally, another UC Santa Barbara product, appeared in a combined 13 games with the Hawks and Sixers during the 2013/14 season. He spent last season with teams in Spain and Israel, and played for the Pacers‘ entry in this year’s summer league.
- Several teams took risks this summer, and Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders evaluates the best and worst of them, including the Lakers‘ and Knicks‘ draft picks, the Rockets‘ deal for Ty Lawson, the Raptors giving big money to DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph and the Kings‘ gamble on Rajon Rondo.
Atlantic Notes: Valanciunas, Porzingis, Rozier
The four-year, $64MM extension that Jonas Valanciunas signed this week is a good deal for both him and the Raptors, writes Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. If the 23-year-old center has an outstanding year in 2015/16, he may have cost himself some money by not waiting to negotiate, Wolstat notes, especially with the salary cap expected to rise into the neighborhood of $90MM next summer. However, Valanciunas opted for security and the satisfaction of making more than four times more than his previous salary. “That’s why we’re doing the deal, because I feel the trust in me,” Valanciunas said. “I’m ready to go out and compete on the court. Now it’s my time to do something.”
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- The deal that netted Valanciunas his extension came together quickly, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Last week, Valanciunas was preparing for Eurobasket 2015 with his national team in Lithuania. He arrived in Toronto on Monday and stayed until the extension was finalized. “There’s a great opportunity for me to stay in a good city,” Valanciunas said. “I love Toronto, I love to play here, it’s my second home. They take me as if I’m from here. It’s great. I just feel for the Raptors. I feel good about it. A contract is just a contract.”
- Knicks associate head coach Kurt Rambis is the right choice to mentor Kristaps Porzingis, writes Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. League sources have told Begley that most of the responsibility for developing the 7’0″ rookie will fall on Rambis, who spent 14 years in the NBA as a power forward.
- Celtics rookie Terry Rozier thinks his summer league experience will help get him ready for the pace of the NBA game, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Many were surprised when Boston tabbed Rozier with the 16th pick, but the toughness, competitiveness and defensive prowess that attracted the Celtics was on display this summer. “I think I grew a lot out there, just seeing the spacing and learning to play with a different pace at this level,” Rozier said. “I’m a fast learner, so to meet people and be in that environment was special, because I learned a lot and got better.”
Western Notes: Crawford, Dejean-Jones, Prince
There are reportedly multiple teams, including the Knicks, Heat, and Cavaliers, that are interested in swinging a deal with the Clippers to acquire sixth man Jamal Crawford. But Los Angeles isn’t currently motivated to give up Crawford without garnering a useful return, Dan Woike of The Orange County Register relays in a series of tweets. It wouldn’t be a wise move to deal Crawford, who is extremely valuable as a bench piece, for a backup caliber point guard or center, Woike opines. The Orange County Register scribe believes that the smarter move for the Clippers would be to hold onto Crawford and see how the team’s roster shakes out in training camp to better assess what the team’s needs are before making a decision.
Here’s what else is happening around the Western Conference:
- The Pelicans dipped into their mid-level exception to sign undrafted shooting guard Bryce Dejean-Jones, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. The pact includes a partial guarantee of $50K for the 2015/16 campaign, while the other two seasons of the deal are non-guaranteed, Pincus adds.
- According to league sources, the Jazz have yet to contact other teams or free agents regarding adding another point guard in the wake of Dante Exum‘s season-ending knee injury, Andy Larsen of KSL.com relays (Twitter links). Utah appears content to begin the season with Trey Burke, Bryce Cotton, and Raul Neto, and will potentially look to acquire additional help later in the season if needed, Larsen adds. There were reports that the Jazz had interest in acquiring Garrett Temple from the Wizards, but Washington reportedly isn’t anxious to to move Temple, and he wouldn’t come cheaply if they were so inclined.
- Tayshaun Prince‘s minimum salary arrangement with the Timberwolves for the 2015/16 season is fully guaranteed, Pincus tweets. The addition of Prince gives Minnesota 16 fully guaranteed pacts, according to our roster count for the team.
Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Johnson, Crawford
Sixers center Joel Embiid underwent a second surgical procedure on his injured right foot this week, and he is expected to miss the entire 2015/16 campaign as a result. While the news that the 2014 No. 3 overall pick will miss his second consecutive campaign is bad enough, there’s also a strong chance that Embiid will also miss the beginning of the 2016/17 season, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (video link), with a hat tip to Chris Walder of TheScore.com.
“Talking to my sources, they want to see him return around October – not this October, but the next October, for that season,” Pompey said. “And he may not even return for the start of that season. He may miss a couple games. But that’s their goal.”
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- The Raptors will miss Amir Johnson ‘s intangibles and hustle this season, with the forward having signed a two-year, $24MM pact with the Celtics this offseason, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. “He went from a role player to a very big piece of what we were doing,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of his former player. “He became the core of what we were doing in Toronto. We went from a young, up and coming team to grow. We’ll miss his leadership, his toughness. He has a quiet toughness about him that we will miss with our team.”
- The Knicks reportedly have interest in acquiring Jamal Crawford from the Clippers, and Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders believes that landing Crawford would take additional pressure off of Carmelo Anthony on the perimeter and also provide good spacing for the entire Knicks offense overall. Greene also notes that trading for the guard wouldn’t have a negative impact on the Knicks’ salary cap since Crawford is in the final season of his current deal.
Latest On Carlos Boozer
7:54am: The Shandong Lions, another Chinese team, are also going after Boozer, as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia indicates via Twitter.
12:26am: The Sichuan Blue Whales and other Chinese teams are expressing interest in Carlos Boozer, and while the Rob Pelinka client is intrigued, he’s still pursuing NBA deals, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). News regarding the 33-year-old has been scarce since a late-July report indicated that the Knicks, Rockets and Mavericks were eyeing him. The 33-year-old has lingered in free agency since July, when the lucrative five-year deal he signed with the Bulls expired. He made $16.8MM last season as a member of the Lakers, though Chicago paid all but the $3.251MM figure the Lakers bid when they claimed him via amnesty waivers.
Few NBA teams have more than the $2.814MM room exception to spend at this point. The Mavs have that amount available, though they already have deals with 20 players, the offseason maximum. The Knicks spent the room exception on Kevin Seraphin and have only the minimum to offer. The Rockets have about $2.274MM worth of their mid-level that they could spend, though doing so would leave the team hard-capped and without the means to give No. 32 pick Montrezl Harrell a market-value contract. Boozer and the Clippers reportedly had mutual interest in July, but they only have the minimum to spend, and while the Spurs, Raptors, Pelicans, Nuggets, Nets, Lakers and Heat have all apparently had interest over the course of the summer, it’s unclear if that’s the case now. Thus, I’d speculate that Boozer is only receiving minimum-salary offers from NBA teams at this point.
Andray Blatche signed a three-year, $7.5MM deal with China’s Xinjiang Flying Tigers this past spring, and a few weeks ago Shavlik Randolph inked a contract for at least $4.5MM over three years, numbers that suggest that Boozer, if he went to China, stands a decent chance to top the $1,499,187 he’d see on an NBA minimum deal. Still, Metta World Peace wound up with less than that in his deal with Sichuan last summer. A Chinese team would nonetheless offer Boozer a chance to double-dip, since the Chinese Basketball Association ends well in advance of the NBA season, giving players an opportunity to latch on with NBA teams at prorated salaries for the stretch run.
Will Joseph of Hoops Rumors examined Boozer’s free agent stock in depth earlier this month.
Where do you think Boozer ends up? Comment to tell us.
Trade Candidate: Jamal Crawford
Jamal Crawford apparently wishes he were a free agent, as he said on Twitter earlier this summer, but he still has one more season left on his contract. However, if he wants to leave the Clippers, he seems to stand a decent chance of having that happen for him before next July. The Clippers aren’t eager to trade the two-time Sixth Man of the Year award winner, but they reportedly explored the idea around draft time, and they’ve spent the summer upgrading on the wing, with newcomers Lance Stephenson, Paul Pierce and Wesley Johnson. The Knicks have expressed interest, as Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reported Tuesday, and the Heat and Cavs were apparently interested as of earlier this summer. Crawford is 35 years old and coming off his fewest minutes per game since the 2002/03 season, but it appears there’s still a market for him.
The Heat called the Clippers about Crawford in early July, as Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com reported then, but as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel points out, that was before Miami signed Gerald Green. Bringing in Crawford and his $5.675MM salary would likely commit the team to paying repeat-offender tax penalties this season, Winderman also asserts, though that would probably depend on the nature of the trade they’d make. The Clippers, like the Heat and the Cavs, are above the tax threshold for now, and that would complicate any move, since the salary-matching constraints are stricter for tax teams.
The Knicks are well outside of tax territory, for a change, but they face other challenges. The Knicks don’t have any trade exceptions, so they’d have to send players to the Clippers to make a trade work. Only four Knicks players — Carmelo Anthony, Jose Calderon, Langston Galloway and Cleanthony Early — are currently eligible for inclusion in trades. First-round picks Kristaps Porzingis and Jerian Grant join them later this month, but that’s still not much to choose from. Calderon seems like the most logical candidate, given that the Clippers would be somewhat short on backup point guard options if Crawford weren’t there anymore, but the Clips would have to send additional salary to New York to make that a match. Porzingis would be an intriguing option for a Clippers team that doesn’t have much young talent coming up the pipeline, but the Knicks would be ill-advised to trade this year’s No. 4 overall pick for a 35-year-old who’s a year away from free agency. As Isola suggested, the involvement of a third team might be necessary if the Knicks are to somehow end up with Crawford.
The Cavaliers also only have four players eligible to be traded — Kyrie Irving, Anderson Varejao, Timofey Mozgov and Joe Harris — but they have a trade exception worth $10,522,500 that they can use to take in Crawford without giving up a player in return. That trade exception is a vestige of the Brendan Haywood contract that the Cavs were thinking about sending to the Clips when Cleveland looked into trading for Crawford in early July, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported then. The exception makes it easier for the teams to facilitate a deal, since the Clippers would have had to include additional salary along with Crawford to take in Haywood’s contract. Still, it would be difficult for the Clippers to give up Crawford without receiving a player who can help them in their quest for a championship this year. Teams only get so many legitimate cracks at a title, and the Clips would surely be loath to downgrade their talent just as they seem as close as they’ve ever been to the Larry O’Brien trophy.
That’s ostensibly why the Clippers aren’t anxious to trade Crawford in the first place. They’re probably not going to do a deal unless it benefits them on the court, and while Crawford could always pout or become a disruptive force in the locker room, he has yet to air his grievances beyond relatively innocuous social media interaction. The Clippers could nonetheless use some size behind DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin. They added Cole Aldrich through free agency, but Aldrich hasn’t proven to be the sort of player who could fill in as the starter for a championship-level team if Jordan or Griffin is injured for any significant stretch of time. That would make Varejao, despite injury concerns of his own, intriguing for the Clippers. It’s unclear just what sort of role a healthy Varejao would play for the Cavs this season, especially with Tristan Thompson‘s free agency still unresolved, but if Thompson comes back, Varejao would be relatively expendable. Of course, the Brazilian is also tight with LeBron James, and the Cavs would have to question the wisdom of sending one of LeBron’s friends to a contending team in a major market with warm weather. The Clips would also have to send additional salary to Cleveland to make a Varejao deal work.
Josh McRoberts and Chris Andersen offer no such salary-matching concerns, and they, like Varejao, would help deepen the Clippers up front. The Heat have no shortage of big men, with McRoberts, Andersen, Chris Bosh, Hassan Whiteside, Amar’e Stoudemire and Udonis Haslem all on the roster, so it would seem fertile ground for a trade is there. I’d contend that if the Heat were to trade McRoberts or Andersen for Crawford, they’d be no more committed to paying the tax than they otherwise would be, since it would entail an almost even exchange of salaries, and Crawford would appear to be a more intriguing trade chip to offer around the league if the Heat can’t find another way to slip under the tax line before the trade deadline. Crawford would give the Heat a strong alternative at shooting guard on the nights that Dwyane Wade can’t go. The addition of Crawford would make it easier for the team to play more small-ball lineups and for Miami to trade Mario Chalmers, currently Miami’s only proven option at the point behind Goran Dragic.
Regardless, it’s a seller’s market for Crawford. The Clippers wield the power, and if they want to mend fences with him, they can always pursue extension talks, as I pointed out earlier. Teams like the Heat, Cavs and Knicks will have to come to Clips coach/executive Doc Rivers, and not the other way around.
What do you think a good trade idea for Crawford might be? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Knicks Interested In Jamal Crawford
12:54pm: Isola clarifies that the Knicks would have to be creative in constructing a deal for Crawford, suggesting the involvement of a third team would be a possibility (Twitter link).
11:51am: The Knicks have expressed interest in Clippers sixth man Jamal Crawford, a source tells Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). The veteran guard is under contract with the Clippers but has emerged as a trade candidate, with the Clips reportedly having explored Crawford trades around draft time and the Cavs and Heat apparently having been suitors last month. The 35-year-old who spent more than four seasons with the Knicks between 2004 and 2008 is a favorite of Knicks owner James Dolan, GM Steve Mills, assistant GM Allan Houston and Isiah Thomas, a Dolan confidant and WNBA New York Liberty executive who was president of the Knicks during Crawford’s time there, Isola adds (Twitter link). Current team president Phil Jackson would presumably have the final say about a deal that would return Crawford to New York.
The Clippers haven’t been anxious to trade the two-time Sixth Man of the Year award winner, but the trade rumors from earlier this summer, his exclusion from the team’s recruitment of DeAndre Jordan, and new players at his position cloud Crawford’s future, as Dan Woike of the Orange County Register wrote a few weeks ago. Crawford has also signaled his concern via social media, as Woike noted. Still, trade acquisition Lance Stephenson, one of L.A.’s additions on the wing, expressed enthusiasm about the idea of playing with Crawford, as Ben Bolch relayed late Monday (Twitter links).
New York has spent its cap room and doesn’t have a trade exception, so it would have to relinquish salary for a Crawford trade to work. The Clippers would no doubt want a player who can help them make a push for the title this year if they were to relinquish Crawford, though that’s just my speculation. Crawford is due to make $5.675MM this coming season, so salary matching would be based on that figure. Tax considerations may well come into play, since the Clips are about $11MM above the $84.74MM tax line. Conversely. the Knicks are roughly the same distance under the tax line.
Players who signed new contracts are off-limits for a trade until at least December 15th, so the only Knicks eligible for inclusion in a deal for now are Carmelo Anthony, Jose Calderon, Langston Galloway and Cleanthony Early. Anthony, who has a no-trade clause, almost certainly wouldn’t be included. First-round picks Kristaps Porzingis and Jerian Grant become trade-eligible later this month, and the Knicks are allowed to trade draft-and-stash signee Thanasis Antetokounmpo as soon as early September.
Given the constraints, do you see a workable deal that could land Jamal Crawford with the Knicks? Leave a comment to share your ideas.