Southwest Notes: Davis, Chandler, Lee, Mills
Trevor Ariza and Tyson Chandler were probably the most significant newcomers to the Southwest Division this past summer, but even devoid of an influx of star talent, every team in the Southwest has a winning record so far. I covered Ariza’s impact earlier today in my look at what the Rockets did over the offseason, and there’s more on Chandler amid the latest from around the division:
- Anthony Davis is up for a rookie scale extension in the offseason ahead, and he seems comfortable with his surroundings, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports details. “I love it here in New Orleans,” Davis said. “Great city. Great atmosphere. …We’re getting the fans back and New Orleans back buzzing for the Pelicans, a great organization. I love my team here. We’re definitely moving in the right direction. I don’t know what the future holds, but right now I’m definitely loving the team and the organization.”
- Knicks president Phil Jackson deferred to GM Steve Mills when it came to communicating with Chandler, as the now-Mavs center told reporters on Wednesday, notes Marc Berman of the New York Post. “I just don’t think I was in the [Knicks’] future plans to be honest,” Chandler said, according to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link).
- The Celtics sought to clear salary when they traded Courtney Lee to the Grizzlies less than 11 months ago, but his hot three-point shooting is one reason he’s proven well worth his $5.45MM salary this year for Memphis, as Ronald Tillery of The Commericial Appeal examines (subscription only).
- A clause in the Spurs‘ contract with Patty Mills gives him an extra $333K if he meets conditioning benchmarks throughout the season, according to Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News. The incentive is considered likely to be met, so that $333K is already included in his cap hit of more than $3.842MM, Monroe notes. It’s unclear if the torn right rotator cuff that’s kept Mills out all season so far will keep him from meeting those benchmarks.
Southwest Notes: Pelicans, Franklin, Chandler
Despite their early-season success, the Pelicans‘ core isn’t likely to become a championship-contending one, Nate Duncan of Basketball Insiders opines. One of the main issues with the current roster is the lack of talent on the perimeter, and with Eric Gordon likely to exercise his $15.5MM player option for next season, it will be difficult to upgrade the roster until the summer of 2016, notes Duncan. One option Duncan suggests for the Pelicans to rid themselves of Gordon’s deal earlier is for New Orleans to package its 2016 first-rounder in a trade along with Gordon in order to encourage a team to take on his expiring contract, though the Pelicans owe a protected 2015 first-round pick to Houston, so they would have trouble sending out a 2016 first-rounder, thanks to the Stepien Rule.
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Duncan also added that re-signing Omer Asik this offseason will be an organizational priority because of that protected first-round pick that the Pelicans surrendered to the Rockets in order to acquire him.
- Jamaal Franklin recently agreed to a one month extension to his contract with the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). Franklin’s original agreement with the team was for two months, and this extension will still allow him to return to the NBA in January when teams are able to sign players to 10-day contracts, Wojnarowski adds. The 23-year-old shooting guard appeared in 21 contests for the Grizzlies last season and he averaged 1.9 points in 7.7 minutes per game.
- It’s possible that if Tyson Chandler had not broken his leg last season, New York’s 2013/14 campaign wouldn’t have been such a disaster and the Knicks wouldn’t have traded the big man to the Mavericks, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com writes. Chandler is happy to be back in Dallas and while he stops short of being thankful for the injury, he is pleased with how things turned out for him this offseason, MacMahon adds. “I look at life as like everything happens for a reason,” Chandler said. “There’s no mistakes made. At the time, [the injury] was devastating clearly, but I feel like everything happens for a reason.”
- The Iowa Energy have acquired former first round pick Jordan Hamilton via waivers, the team has announced. Hamilton reportedly worked out for the Lakers last week after a brief stint with the Jazz earlier this month. Though he’ll play for the Grizzlies‘ D-League affiliate, Hamilton is free to sign with any NBA team that would desire his services.
Western Notes: Dragic, Adams, Moreland, Smith
Zoran Dragic will receive $1.5MM in base salary this season and next, but he’ll count for more than $1.706MM against the Suns‘ cap each year because of his nearly $413K signing bonus, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The bonus went toward the part of Dragic’s buyout from Spain’s Unicaja Malaga that wasn’t covered under the $600K that teams are allowed to keep off their books when they buy players out of their overseas contracts. Here’s more from the western half:
- The Grizzlies have re-assigned Jordan Adams to the Iowa Energy, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Adams’ second trip to the D-League this season. During his first assignment, Adams appeared in one contest, contributing 20 points, seven rebounds and one assist in 31 minutes. The 20-year-old is averaging 1.5 points, 1.3 assists and 0.75 steals in 10.1 minutes per contest in four appearances for Memphis this season.
- Eric Moreland has been recalled from the Reno Bighorns of the D-League, the Kings have announced. This was Moreland’s second stint in the D-League this season, and he’s averaging 13.3 PPG, 10.7 RPG and 1.7 APG in three appearances for Reno this season. Moreland has yet to appear in a regular season contest for Sacramento.
- The Delaware 87ers of the NBA D-League have claimed Nolan Smith off of waivers, Gino Pilato of D-League Digest reports (Twitter link). Smith had cut ties with Turkey’s Galatasaray back in October and intends to use the D-League to showcase his talents for NBA teams. Smith’s last taste of the NBA came during the 2012/13 season when he appeared in 40 games for the Blazers and averaged 2.8 points and 0.9 assists.
- Mavs big man Tyson Chandler said that he felt like a scapegoat for the Knicks’ failures last season, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com writes. When asked whether his leadership attempts were unappreciated in New York, Chandler said, “At times, at times, at times. But I feel like New York made me a lot stronger, a lot stronger of a person going through trials and tribulations there. But that’s life. It also depends on where your mind is. If everybody is locked in and they want to win and they know I’m in it 100% and they’re in it 100%, nobody’s sensitive. But if there’s other agendas, it’s going to make things sensitive.”
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Atlantic Notes: ‘Melo, Green, Raptors, D-League
Carmelo Anthony admits the warm weather and the lack of a state income tax in Texas were factors he considered as he thought about signing with the Rockets this summer, but he has no regrets about his decision to return to the Knicks, as he told reporters today. Marc Berman of the New York Post has the details, including Anthony’s acknowledgment of a conversation with Dwight Howard.
“We had some great dialogue back and forth,’’ Anthony said. “I talked to him. We talked about some things. Ultimately it came down to what I really felt and really wanted at that moment. We had some contact and conversations. He tried. He tried extremely hard. It didn’t have anything to do with Dwight or James [Harden]. It came down to my own personal decision.’’
The Rockets appear none the worse for losing out on ‘Melo, having started 10-3, while the Knicks are but 4-10. Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Jeff Green stressed to reporters Sunday that he didn’t mean to imply that he wanted the Celtics to trade him when he expressed his frustration with the team’s losing, notes Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. “I want to stay here,” said Green, who can opt out of his contract this coming summer “I love this team. I love being here.”
- The Raptors rejected a draft-night offer from the Suns that would have given Toronto the draft rights to Tyler Ennis, whom the Raptors coveted, in return for 2014’s 20th overall pick and the 2016 first-rounder that the Knicks owe Toronto, according to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange.
- The Celtics have recalled James Young from the D-League, the team announced. It was a one-day excursion for this year’s 17th overall pick, who put up 22 points and eight rebounds Sunday for Boston’s affiliate.
- Rookie JaKarr Sampson is back from his three-day D-League assignment, the Sixers announced. The undrafted small forward averaged 15.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in two D-League games.
Atlantic Notes: Bass, Faverani, Calderon, Sixers
The Celtics‘ Brandon Bass may have increased his trade chances with a strong start to the season, writes Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. Bass is earning $6.9MM in the final season of his contract, and should be appealing to a contending team between now and the trade deadline. “If there’s a team competing for a championship and they could steal him, that’d be big,” said Rajon Rondo. “He’s one of the best mid-range shooters in the league.”
There’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- Bulpett also reports that Vitor Faverani is holding out hope of playing for the Celtics this season after two surgical procedures to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Faverani originally had the knee worked on in March, then went through a second procedure five weeks ago. “The bad thing is that I worked really hard all summer, and I got injured one more time,” he said. “I just have to recover. That’s my life. That’s all I can do right now.”
- The Celtics assigned James Young to the Maine Red Claws of the D-League, the team announced via press release. This is his second stint with the Red Claws, after appearing in one game last week. He has played in three games for the Celtics, averaging 3.0 points in 3.9 minutes.
- Carmelo Anthony expects the Knicks to improve now that Jose Calderon is back on the court, according to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. Anthony praised Calderon’s understanding of the game, and said scorers always love playing with skilled point guards. “His IQ out there on the basketball court, I think is very high,” Anthony said. “That’s something that, at that position, we’ve been missing.” Calderon, who came to the Knicks in an offseason trade with the Mavericks, missed the first 13 games of the season with a strained calf.
- Fans of the winless Sixers shouldn’t expect a turnaround any time soon, opines Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He said Philadelphia is committed to its strategy of trying to improve by getting high draft picks, even though it hasn’t landed the team an obvious franchise player so far.
Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Bass, Calderon
The Raptors are the best team in the Eastern Conference at 9-2, but the rest of the Atlantic Division is off to a rough start. The four other teams are all below .500, and the Sixers haven’t won in 11 tries. They’ll visit the 3-10 Knicks on Saturday in a game with early 2015 draft lottery implications. Here’s more from the struggling Atlantic:
- Sixers coach Brett Brown and GM Sam Hinkie didn’t realize when they took their respective jobs in 2013 that the team’s roster this season would be so devoid of immediate contributors, Brown admitted Thursday, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Brown said the expectation had been that the Sixers would use their pair of lottery picks this year to bring in players who would be on the floor now instead of the injured Joel Embiid and Euroleaguer Dario Saric. “We put our big-boy pants on and made a decision that is best for the club long-term,” Brown said. “Time will tell. But the year that we are all now living in is a result of those types of decisions. That’s why you look on the floor and see a roster like you do and resumés like you do.”
- Boston acquired Brandon Bass to be a complementary piece on a contending team, making his value to this version of the Celtics hard to divine, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com writes in his mailbag column. If the Celtics make a trade, Bass is among the most likely candidates to go, Forsberg opines.
- Much hinges on the return of Jose Calderon as the most significant offseason addition for the Knicks is poised to make his regular season debut for New York, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post.
Eastern Notes: Anthony, McDermott, Haywood
In an interview with Eli Saslow of ESPN: The Magazine (hat tip to Marc Berman of The New York Post), Carmelo Anthony said that coming to New York to play for the Knicks distorted his reputation and did not enhance it. “I’m more misunderstood than most people,” Anthony said. “As an athlete, you don’t really have a voice. Everything you say or do, people have a million opinions about it, so it doesn’t really get heard the way you want it to get heard. People are putting things on you and shaping your reputation, and you don’t really have control. People say I am all about more money, but it’s not like that. It’s about having the appearance of someone with success. Image and reputation matter to me. If you’re being honest, they matter to everybody. Money is about people thinking of you as someone who does well.”
Here’s more from the east:
- Anthony also added that he isn’t fond of critics opining before each season on whether he will finally prove himself as a winner. “People say every year is the one that will determine if I’m great or terrible, if I’ve met expectations or been a disappointment,” Anthony said. “To be honest with you, I’m tired of it.” With the Knicks‘ record a disappointing 3-10, it doesn’t look like this will be the season ‘Melo silences his critics.
- Despite entering the league with four years of college experience and having won numerous awards during that time, Doug McDermott admitted that it’s not easy being a rookie and that he is still trying to find his way with the Bulls, Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders writes. “I’m still kind of establishing a role to be honest,” McDermott said. “It’s still really early, and I’m just trying to get my feet wet and learn more things defensively and the playbook, and everything’s coming along great. So I’m making steps, but I think it’s still early and I think I can have a really good role on this team, not just as a shooter, but overall just a good role.”
- Brendan Haywood understands that the appeal of his non-guaranteed contract for next season makes him a more valuable trade asset than on-the-court contributor for the Cavs, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. “I don’t worry about it because at the end of the day, I can’t do anything about it,” Haywood said. “If somebody views my contract as an asset or the team feels they can get something in that can help them or shed salary, they’re going to do what they’re going to do because that’s what they have to do.”
Pacific Notes: Gay, Clippers, Kerr
The Kings were in a position of power when DeMarcus Cousins signed his rookie scale extension last year, but Rudy Gay‘s decision to sign a veteran extension with the team this week is demonstrative of the strides the franchise has taken, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee examines.
“Obviously, when my contract was ending, I thought about going into free agency and maybe seeing what happens, but why search it when you have what you want right here?” Gay said.
Owner Vivek Ranadive and GM Pete D’Alessandro convinced the forward that the Kings were no longer the disorganized club that he’d heard stories about, Gay said, adding that having spent the offseason with Cousins helped influence his decision, too, Jones tweets. A bond with new point guard Darren Collison and comfort with the Sacramento community were also factors, Gay acknowledged, as fellow Bee scribe Ailene Voisin notes (Twitter link). There’s more on the Gay extension amid the latest from the Pacific Division:
- The Clippers planned to re-sign Willie Green after waiving him this summer, but the Magic stymied that when they claimed him off waivers, writes Dan Woike of the Orange County Register. “We were not very happy with the Magic on that one,” Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers said.. “We just assumed that no one would pick him up. Willie’s one of those guys you just want around.” Rivers also said that Green can serve as an assistant coach for him after he retires, Woike notes.
- Turning down Knicks president Phil Jackson to take the Warriors job instead was “probably the hardest thing that I had to do professionally,” Steve Kerr tells Michael Lee of The Washington Post. “He basically made my career. From my experience in Chicago, that allowed me to have the success to sign as a free agent in San Antonio, where I had another incredible experience. My career path, started with Lute Olson [at Arizona] … but Phil’s the guy who got me rolling and gave me all the opportunities that I have in front of me right now.”
- The Gay extension was a positive step for the Kings, and one the team had to make to move toward playoff contention, Voisin opines.
Eastern Notes: Kidd, Cavs, Early, Raptors
Bucks coach Jason Kidd didn’t have interest in heading to Milwaukee until the team came after him, as he makes clear to Michael Lee of The Washington Post. Kidd remains proud of the work he did in his lone season as coach of the Nets, who received a pair of second-rounders as compensation when the Bucks hired him this summer.
“We felt that we helped a lot of people get better. As coaches, that’s all you ask for,” Kidd said. “There was a lot of good stuff. Unfortunately, management, ownership didn’t [think so], so they got two second round picks.”
Kidd returns to Brooklyn on Wednesday, and while we wait to see that, here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- The relationship between LeBron James and coach David Blatt isn’t fully functional yet, and though Blatt is technically the boss, James perhaps wields greater leverage over him than he has with any of his previous coaches, as Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group examines.
- Knicks rookie small forward Cleanthony Early is set to miss about a month or more after undergoing surgery to remove a “loose body” in his knee, the team announced (Twitter link).
- The size of the role that James Johnson would play for the Raptors wasn’t clear when they signed him this summer, but he’s quickly become a key contributor who’ll be missed while he’s out indefinitely with a severely sprained ankle, as Eric Koreen of the National Post details.
Eastern Notes: Mudiay, Pacers, Kidd, Melo
With the Sixers well on the way to their 10th straight loss to start the 2014/15 season tonight, they’re undoubtedly keeping tabs on top prospect Emmanuel Mudiay, who recently recorded a triple double in China. Mudiay is a consensus top-five pick according to NBA scouts, says Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher, who adds that the 18-year-old has displayed the type of skills in his time with the Guangdong Tigers that has some talent evaluators thinking he can play point guard in the NBA right now.
The bad news for Sixers fans, of course, is that they still have 72 games to endure until they can truly salivate over the 2015 draft class. Here are some other notes coming out of the East:
- The Pacers have received clearance from the NBA to continue with 16 players on their roster, so A.J. Price remains with Indiana, the team announced. The allowance, which the Pacers merited because at least four players were expected to miss significant time, will provide for Price to stay with the club for at least three more games, according to Mark Montieth of Pacers.com.
- Rumors indicated that Jason Kidd was angling for front office control before he jumped to the Bucks merely to coach this past summer, but Milwaukee GM John Hammond doesn’t feel threatened by Kidd’s presence, as he tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. “I wasn’t concerned,” Hammond said. “I am in a position in my life and professionally where I am secure in myself. I feel very fortunate about that, that I have been around the league for so long — this is my 25th year in the NBA. I know who I am and I know my abilities, so it is not about being concerned. You’re not looking over your shoulder, you’re just glad you have the opportunity. Obviously, you’d like to keep the opportunity, but I feel good about the chances I have.”
- Carmelo Anthony recently had a helpful conversation with Knicks president Phil Jackson regarding his role in the team’s triangle offense, writes Ian Begley of ESPN.com. Begley points out that, with triangle-enthusiasts Jackson and head coach Derek Fisher under contract through 2018/19 — the same season that Anthony’s deal ends — the forward knows the system is here to stay.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.