Odds & Ends: Blazers, Timberwolves, McGrady
The NBA does not make a profit by sending its stars to play at the Olympics, and a move to re-direct their headline players into a rebranded World Cup of Basketball would certainly change that. While Ken Berger of CBS Sports understands the idea of pulling NBA stars out of the Olympic games in the future, he says that it should be based on the premise that "Dream Teams" have run their course, and not because it is driven by an opportunity for David Stern and NBA owners to try to make money elsewhere. With that aside, here are some of tonight's miscellaneous links…
- Bill Ingram of HoopsWorld mentions that Jeremy Lamb, Royce White, and Terrence Jones cannot be included in a potential Dwight Howard trade until the end of August, specifically 30 days after each of them signed their rookie deals with the Rockets on July 26 (Sulia link).
- In a series of tweets, Jason Quick of The Oregonian reports that Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey has concluded the second round of interviews and will "move on to the next phase" of the process once all four finalists are given due consideration. Although team owner Paul Allen was not involved in the interviews with Terry Stotts, Steve Clifford, Kaleb Canales, and Elston Turner, Quick assumes that Olshey will ultimately present a recommendation for hire to Allen after deliberation. Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (via Twitter) pointed out that Turner's interview lasted for four-and-a-half hours today.
- When asked if the Timberwolves had more changes to make after the Olympics, GM David Kahn replied, "Maybe it’s a tweak here and there, maybe even something big, to make us even better still" (according to a tweet by Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune). In a separate piece, Marcus R. Fuller of the Pioneer Press documented Kahn's thoughts on the team's new additions this offseason.
- HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy says that although the Bulls and Tracy McGrady have flirted in the past, it doesn't sound like a deal is close (Twitter link).
Josh Howard Close To Decision
Yahoo!'s Marc J. Spears tweets that unrestricted free-agent forward Josh Howard is close to making a decision on where to sign for the 2012/13 season. Spears reports that Howard's current team, the Utah Jazz, are in the mix to land him, along with the Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets, and New York Knicks.
Terms of Howard's upcoming deal are not known. Howard, 31, made approximately $2.1MM last season, averaging 8.7 PPG and 3.7 RPG for the Jazz.
Odds & Ends: Hennigan, Fields, Asik, Harden
Magic GM Rob Hennigan will not rule out Dwight Howard being on Orlando's roster come opening night, says Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. Robbins also thinks that Howard starting the season with the team could open up the possibility of the disgruntled center expanding his list of trade destinations or other teams improving their offers at that point. Here's more of what we've heard this evening…
- Mark Deeks of ShamSports examines the Gilbert Arenas provision and demonstrates how the Knicks and Bulls could have avoided facing hefty offer sheets to Landry Fields and Omer Asik this summer by signing them to three-year deals in 2010.
- Royce Young of DailyThunder.com says that fans shouldn't jump to conclusions about James Harden's recent comments about considering the Suns if he were a free agent. Harden, who attended Arizona State University before joining the NBA, is still eligible to sign an extension with the Thunder before October 31st and could thus avoid free agency next summer.
- Forward Omri Casspi is very happy to be a part of the Cavaliers and thinks the team has a very bright future, writes Stephen Brotherston of HoopsWorld.
- Frank Isola of the New York Daily News says that Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, and Jose Calderon all gave a "thumbs up" to recently-signed Knicks guard Pablo Prigioni (Twitter link).
- Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports discusses the challenge that NBA stars face amidst the NBA owners and FIBA working together to potentially re-direct its stars out of the Olympics and into a rebranded world championship tournament similar to the World Cup of soccer. The new Olympic format would involve a "23-and-under" competition, which would essentially prevent many NBA stars from being able to participate. Wojnarowski adds that the inefficacy of NBPA executive director Billy Hunter has only made the efforts to preserve the current Olympic format a more difficult task.
- Eddie Sefko of SportsDayDFW wonders if the Mavericks are improved after their additions this summer (Subscribers only). In a separate piece, Sefko explains why he thinks the team projects to win 47 games and finish sixth place in the Western Conference.
- Sean Deveney of the Sporting News writes that despite being teased by his Team USA teammates, Carmelo Anthony continues to reiterate his support for Jeremy Lin.
Pacific Rumors: Suns, D’Antoni, Nash, Caracter
Four of the five teams in the Pacific Division stand at least a reasonable chance to improve in 2012/13. The Lakers, last year's first-place team, brought in Steve Nash and Antawn Jamison. The Clippers will have Jamal Crawford and a healthy Chauncey Billups. The Warriors will finally get to see Andrew Bogut on the floor, and the Kings added another high lottery pick with No. 5 overall selection Thomas Robinson. The only team that figures to take a step back is the Suns, and there are a couple items of interest from Phoenix this afternoon:
- Suns executives believe yesterday's three-team deal that sent Robin Lopez to the Hornets and brought back Wesley Johnson represents a key point in the team's rebuilding phase, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic writes. The deal was helped along by draft picks and cash the Suns acquired when they sent Steve Nash to the Lakers, team officials said.
- Former Suns and Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said if he were still coaching in New York, he would have "walked to Phoenix" to persuade Nash to sign with the Knicks, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com. The Knicks were seen as frontrunners for the two-time MVP before he wound up with L.A.
- Former Lakers reserve Derrick Caracter didn't see much playing time in the summer league for the Hawks, but Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld expects the 6'9" free agent power forward to get a training camp invite (Twitter link).
Odds & Ends: Cavs, Parker, Kirilenko, Fields
Every team in the NBA gets an equal number of home games and road games every year, but that doesn't guarantee equitability. Matt Moore of CBSSports.com goes in-depth on this year's slate, explaining how strength of schedule varies across the league. The Spurs, thanks to their annual rodeo road trip, have only two home games in February. The Clippers will go on an eight-game road trip while the Grammys occupy the Staples Center, but their rival Lakers only play seven road games during that time. The Magic will play the fewest sets of back-to-back games, with 13, while nine other teams have 22 back-to-backs. There's plenty more of note this evening from around the Association:
- Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld notes the Cavs still have the flexibility needed to acquire Andrew Bynum if three-team trade talks with the Lakers and Magic get going again (Sulia link).
- Tom Withers of the Associated Press catches up with Spurs point guard Tony Parker, who's taking a more cautious approach to life following the injury he sustained to his eye as a bystander to a nightclub brawl. Parker doesn't plan on letting the apprehensiveness carry over to his play, however.
- One NBA assistant coach tells Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune that Andrei Kirilenko is a better fit with Wolves coach Rick Adelman's offensive system than he was with former Jazz coach Jerry Sloan's (Twitter link).
- Stephen Brotherston of HoopsWorld talks to Landry Fields, now with the Raptors after the Knicks declined to match his backloaded offer sheet. Fields reflected on his time in New York and says his new team feels optimistic about making the playoffs this year.
- Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com echoes the comments of former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy on ESPN 1000’s "Waddle & Silvy" show, calling for the Bulls to extend coach Tom Thibodeau's contract.
- Austin Rivers (right ankle) and Xavier Henry (right knee) have undergone surgeries, the Hornets announced on their website, but both will be ready in time for fall training camp.
Odds & Ends: Harden, Lin, Brooks, Hawks, Bulls
Earlier this month, Kevin Durant tweeted that teammate James Harden wouldn't be "hitting the market" next summer, suggesting the Thunder would lock Harden up to a long-term extension before then. Today, he backed off that assertion, as Sean Deveney of the Sporting News tweets. "I may be wrong," said Durant. "I don’t sign contracts, I don’t negotiate contracts."
An extension for Harden is certainly one of the Thunder's top priorities this offseason, but the reigning Sixth Man of the Year will be a restricted, rather than unrestricted, free agent next summer, so the team can afford to exercise a little patience for now. Here are a few more Friday notes from around the NBA:
- Carmelo Anthony dismissed the notion that he helped push Jeremy Lin out of New York, telling Frank Isola of the New York Daily News that he was one of Lin's "true supporters."
- According to a Sports Exchange report (link via HoopsWorld), Rockets GM Daryl Morey believed his offer sheets to Lin and Omer Asik would be matched by their respective clubs.
- Kings coach Keith Smart tells Lang Greene of HoopsWorld that he was surprised Sacramento was able to sign Aaron Brooks: "Based on what we had heard from his standpoint is that he had a contract on the table with a lot more than we could offer him. And yet knowing the situation where we have a team, we’re trying to develop to get ready to start being in playoff contention and he didn’t hesitate. He thought about it for a while and within a couple hours he called right back and said he wanted to be a King."
- Josh Smith has long been rumored to be on the trade block, but new Hawks GM Danny Ferry sounds open to building around the 26-year-old. "He's excited for next season," Ferry said of Smith. "We've talked about how we're going to play. We've talked about other players. His ideas, my ideas. I'm just trying to establish a relationship" (link via Yahoo! Sports).
- Sam Smith fields a number of questions about the Bulls' offseason and future plans in his latest mailbag for Bulls.com.
Knicks Sign Ronnie Brewer
WEDNESDAY, 3:49pm: The Knicks have officially signed Brewer, tweets Jonah Ballow of NYKnicks.com.
TUESDAY, 10:52am: The Knicks have reached a contract agreement with Ronnie Brewer, according to TNT's David Aldridge (via Twitter). The former Bull will sign with New York on a one-year deal, which figures to be for the minimum salary.
Brewer was released by the Bulls earlier this month, clearing his non-guaranteed 2012/13 contract from their books. The 27-year-old had been set to earn $4.37MM if his contract with Chicago had been guaranteed, so he'll take a significant pay cut in joining the Knicks. Having spent their mid-level exception and with no means to sign-and-trade for Brewer, the Knicks can only offer the veteran's minimum for a player with Brewer's experience, which will be $1,069,509.
For the Knicks, Brewer represents a solid addition to a backcourt that is heavy on point guards and figures to be missing Iman Shumpert at the start of the season. Brewer will likely split time with J.R. Smith at shooting guard until Shumpert is healthy enough to return, and will perhaps see some time at the three as well.
Knicks Sign Pablo Prigioni
JULY 24TH, 1:47pm: The Knicks have officially signed Prigioni, the team announced today (Twitter link via Jonah Ballow of NYKnicks.com).
JULY 11TH, 7:32pm: Prigioni's contract will be for the rookie minimum of $473,604, Zwerling writes. He'll likely be the team's third string point guard behind Jeremy Lin and Jason Kidd.
6:18pm: The Knicks have reached an agreement on a one-year deal with Spanish league point guard Pablo Prigioni, Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com confirms via Twitter. The 35-year-old has been "on the radar" of Knicks GM Glen Grunwald for the last five years, Zwerling says. The team has been linked to Prigioni at various times during the summer. Marc Berman of the New York Post initially heard from Prigioni's agent, George Bass, that the agreement had been struck (Twitter link).
Odds & Ends: Nets, Lakers, Felton, Sixers
ESPN's Chris Broussard (video link) ran down his winners and losers of the NBA offseason thus far and the Nets top his list thanks in large part to their acquisition of Joe Johnson. The Lakers are also in the winners circle after landing Steve Nash and Antawn Jamison. Later, Broussard puts the Mavericks in the losers category as they failed to sign Deron Williams or trade for Dwight Howard. Here's more from around the league..
- Chris Bernucca of Sheridan Hoops recaps the Lakers' offseason and dismisses talk of Nash and Kobe Bryant clashing stylistically. However, he notes that the training staff in Los Angeles will have to pull the same kind of magic as the Suns staff did in order to keep the aging point guard healthy.
- Point guard Raymond Felton is looking to revitalize his career with the Knicks, writes Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. The 28-year-old was less-than-stellar in the first half of the year with Portland but showed promise after coach Nate McMillan was fired, averaging 14.4 PPG on 46.3% shooting with 7.7 APG.
- The Sixers did a solid job of addressing their lack of size in the frontcourt this offseason and improved their team overall this summer, opined Charles Barkley in an interview with CSNPhilly.
Agent Says Knicks Eyeing Shooting Guards
Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com reports the Knicks have interest in unrestricted free agents Sonny Weems and Maurice Evans, according to Roger Montgomery, the agent for both players. The Knicks are seeking depth at shooting guard with Iman Shumpert out until January and J.R. Smith the only rotation-caliber two-guard on the roster, but have only the veteran's minimum at their disposal, as Zwerling points out.
The Knicks could also be a candidate for Randy Foye if the Clippers consent to a sign-and-trade, writes Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune, also identifying the Suns, Bucks and Bulls as Foye suitors (Twitter link). Foye spent most of last season in the starting lineup for the Clippers, averaging 11.0 points, 2.2 assists and 2.1 rebounds with a 13.5 PER.
The 26-year-old Weems spent last season playing overseas after averaging 9.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists for the Raptors in 2010/11. Toronto withdrew its qualifying offer to Weems last week, making him an unrestricted free agent. Evans, who'll be 34 when the season starts, spent last season with the Wizards, putting up 4.9 PPG, 1.0 RPG and 0.4 APG in just 14.3 minutes a night.
Evans seems the more likely bet to settle for the minimum salary, as Zwerling notes. A twist to the story is that Montgomery is also the agent for Jeremy Lin, whose offer sheet the Knicks declined to match this week.