Odds & Ends: Lakers, Thunder, Wayns
The latest news and notes from around the NBA on Sunday night:
- Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida says the newly-retooled Lakers could pose a significant threat to the defending champion Heat.
- The Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry writes that the Lakers' acquisition of Dwight Howard is only the latest reminder that big-market teams have significant advantages over small-market teams, even contenders such as the Thunder.
- Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio is impressed with Sixers guard Maalik Wayns, who went undrafted in June's draft.
Amick On Olympics, Martin, Mason, Harden
You might expect Thunder GM Sam Presti to fall in line behind Mavs owner Mark Cuban in calling for limits on the participation of NBA players in the Olympics, considering Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka are all playing in London after a long postseason run this spring. Sam Amick of SI.com writes that while Presti is officially neutral on the issue, his enthusiasm for the benefits of international play is apparent, as he harked back to the growth he saw in Durant and Westbrook after the 2010 World Championships. "I think it's really helpful for them to play under different circumstances; it only rounds them out as players and makes them better," Presti said. "What we observed from the World Championship was just the mental endurance that it takes to go through an international competition and the training camp that leads up to it in medal-round play just to get there." The comments made by Presti, a product of the Spurs front office, seem to echo what Spurs GM R.C. Buford has said about the issue. Amick has plenty more in today's piece, and we've got the highlights here:
- The market for remaining frontcourt players is being held up while teams wait for Kenyon Martin to sign, Amick hears. The Lakers and Nets are among teams he's considering, but the willingness of many others to settle for the minimum salary so far this summer has eroded Martin's leverage. Martin is reportedly uninterested in a deal for the minimum.
- Amick takes a closer look at how NBA teams are being more cautious in handing out deals under the new CBA, along with the rise in minimum-salary deals. Luke Adams compiled a list of pacts for the minimum through August 1. The contract Roger Mason signed this weekend with the Hornets is another minimum deal, Amick reports. He also notes that players union president Derek Fisher and vice president Maurice Evans, two key figures in last year's lockout, remain unsigned.
- Emptying his notebook, Amick passes along a James Harden quote from last month that gives indication he's confident about his prospects for an extension with the Thunder. "I'm pretty, a hundred percent, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be in Oklahoma City," Harden said. "I'll let my agent and Mr. Presti and [Thunder owner Clay] Bennett discuss all that, so I'll let them handle that and stay out of it for right now and worry about the USA Olympics."
Odds & Ends: Wizards, Smith, Christmas, Brooks
Matt Moore and CBS Sports continued their offseason report series today by taking a look at the Washington Wizards. The Wizards haven't made the playoffs since 2008 and have been relatively irrelevant over that time period, but they raised some eyebrows in the offseason with a series of moves that should put them in position to contend for the playoffs this coming season.
Here are some other links and rumblings from this Sunday evening…
- Josh Cohen from NBA.com addresses the Orlando Magic offseason by evaluating the importance of superstars in today's NBA, specifically mentioning how the Orlando franchise has thrived in recent history.
- J.R. Smith, who signed a two year extension with the Knicks in July, said the team has the pieces in place to win it all in an interview with ESPN New York, Ian Begley writes. Smith also conveyed his pleasure on hearing the news that the Knicks signed his younger brother, Chris Smith on August 1.
- Former Temple guard Dionte Christmas landed a partially guaranteed deal with the Celtics earlier this week. Greg Payne of ESPN Boston analyzed Christmas' prospects for the upcoming season with Boston and detailed his European journey that ended with his first NBA deal.
- Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman writes that with the Thunder going cheap in free agency, the growth and development of head coach Scott Brooks will be of increased importance.
Daniel Orton Signs With Thunder
The Thunder have announced the signing of center Daniel Orton, reports Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. The deal is non-guaranteed, and he's not assured of a spot on the opening night roster, meaning the move is little more than an invitation to training camp, as Mayberry writes. The contract is probably for the minimum salary. If Orton, the 29th overall pick by the Magic in 2010, doesn't make the team, he'll likely be assigned to the Tulsa 66ers, the Thunder's D-League affiliate.
Orton missed his entire rookie season after undergoing arthoscopic surgery on his left knee, and appeared in just 16 regular season games last year, averaging 2.8 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11.7 minutes of play. The Magic didn't pick up his option for a third season on his rookie deal, making him an unrestricted free agent this summer. The Thunder already have the maximum 15 players on the roster, so Orton faces an uphill climb if he is to start the season in Oklahoma City. If he were to make it, the likely casualty would be Hollis Thompson, the only player on the roster whose contract isn't fully guaranteed for 2012/13.
The Thunder have kept an eye on the 6'10" Oklahoma City native, as we heard more than a month ago that he was possible target for the team.
Extension Candidate: Serge Ibaka
The Thunder have made rapid progress toward an NBA championship in recent years, and are held up as a model franchise around the league. Yet the cloud hanging over the team after its trip to the NBA Finals this past June concerns the futures of James Harden and Serge Ibaka, two young cornerstones in line for significant raises soon. As Luke Adams pointed out when he looked at the prospect of an extension for Harden, the Thunder would be committing more than $60MM for four players if they gave maximum extensions to both Harden and Ibaka, since Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are also signed to maximum deals. The volume of chatter about Harden seems to indicate GM Rob Hennigan and company are giving him priority, but clearly they'd like to find a way to keep them both.
The contribution Ibaka makes to the team isn't as readily apparent in box scores as what Harden does, though Ibaka was far and away the league leader in blocks per game last year. His average of 3.7 BPG was 68% better than the 2.2 submitted by JaVale McGee, the league's second-best shot blocker in 2011/12. No active player has ever blocked more shots per game in a season than Ibaka did last year. All those rejections led to a first-team All-Defensive selection, and helped him to the league's 11th best defensive rating, according to Basketball-Reference. Perhaps most remarkable about his blocks is that he got them in just 27.2 minutes a game, much less court time than what most key contributors see. Even though Harden comes off the bench, he averaged 31.4 MPG, significantly more than Ibaka, who starts.
Ibaka might be pressed into longer minutes if the team unloads Kendrick Perkins and the $17.63MM he's owed between 2013/14 and 2014/15. Doing so would make it easier for the Thunder to squeeze in both Harden and Ibaka, though it's worth asking why the Thunder would be so anxious to get rid of someone who plays a role similar to Ibaka's. Both are Perkins and Ibaka are defensively oriented, offensively challenged post players. Perkins is five years older and doesn't possess nearly the athleticism of Ibaka, but he's sturdier and able to protect the basket, as evidenced by his 2.0 blocks per game for the Celtics in 2008/09. Factor in the presence of Nick Collison, who's signed to a team-friendly contract through 2015 and is another big man who specializes in the game's subtleties, and it seems the Thunder have an inside player to spare.
Ibaka is likely to receive a maximum offer sheet as a restricted free agent next summer if the Thunder don't extend him by the October 31st deadline, if for no other reason than his potential. Ibaka arrived in the NBA with underdeveloped skills but has quickly picked up the nuances of the game during his three-year career, his PER rising from 15.2 as a rookie, to 17.7 in 2010/11, and to 19.0 last season. At 22, he still has the capacity for marked improvement. Just how much farther he can go is a mystery, and last season there was even evidence of regression. Ibaka's scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and free throw percentage were all down last season, and his turnovers were up.
The Thunder, who've nurtured and monitored his development every day for the last three years, probably have as much of an idea about what he can do as anyone. There's motivation for the team to try to save a few million dollars with an extension this summer, since Ibaka might want to take the guaranteed money on the table and hedge against injury, poor play and other uncertainty. Yet if the Thunder have any inkling that Ibaka's growth as a player is about to level off, they might want to let him play out the season and take their chances with him as a free agent. If they can extend Harden for less than the maximum this summer, they'd already have a little money saved, and if Ibaka has an outstanding 2012/13, they'll have time to decide what to do with Perkins and make other moves to clear room in preparation to re-sign Ibaka for the max. If Ibaka falters or levels off, their patience would go down as yet another shrewd move by one of the league's most well-regarded front offices.
Mayberry On Howard, Thunder, Lakers
As the Dwight Howard saga drags on, Lakers, Rockets, and Mavericks have emerged as the teams with the best chances of landing the superstar center from the Magic. The Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry has posted two new columns on Howard's future:
- In the first column, Mayberry writes that landing Howard would be contradictory to the Thunder's long-term plans.
- In the second column, Mayberry argues that Howard ending up in Los Angeles will be bad for Oklahoma City's title chances in the next several years.
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.
Extension Candidate: James Harden
Much has been made about the clock that seems to be ticking on the Oklahoma City Thunder's current core. With Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook locked up to big, long-term contracts, and James Harden and Serge Ibaka poised to become restricted free agents a year from now, it seems impossible that a small-market team like the Thunder could keep all four players.
But CBA rules certainly won't prevent Oklahoma City from keeping all its stars if the team is willing to pay for them. Since Harden and Ibaka are restricted (rather than unrestricted) free agents in the summer of 2013, the Thunder will be able to match any offer those two players receive from another team. However, paying all four of its core players while staying below the luxury tax threshold will be a challenge.
With Durant slated to make about $17.83MM in 2013/14 and Westbrook due about $14.69MM, maximum salaries for Harden and Ibaka would take the Thunder's total payroll up to $60MM+ for four players. Even with increased cap and tax thresholds, and the chance to potentially trade or amnesty Kendrick Perkins, the Thunder would be commiting enough to four players that there's a strong chance they'd be a taxpaying team. With more punitive tax charges beginning in the summer of 2014, and those max salaries increasing annually, that's not good news for the team.
Still, there should be a way for the Thunder to retain both players and still have a chance to avoid a large tax hit. If the club hopes to keep both Harden and Ibaka, contract extensions would make more sense than waiting until next year's free agent period. As we saw with free agents like Roy Hibbert and Eric Gordon this summer, you don't necessarily have to be a perennial All-Star for rival teams to be willing to offer you a max deal, and Harden and Ibaka are good bets to receive max offers next summer. If the Thunder pre-emptively offer long-term extensions for a little below the max, the team has a chance to save a few million dollars — perhaps Harden and/or Ibaka would sign slightly below-market deals to hedge their bets against poor performance or a serious injury in 2012/13.
Let's take a look specifically at Harden's case. Kevin Durant declared earlier this month that there was no way Harden would hit the open market next summer, and while he backed off that comment today, I do get the sense that the Thunder are prioritizing a Harden extension at this point. When the season ended, the Sixth Man of the Year talked about how much he loved playing in Oklahoma City, and said he hoped to sign a long-term deal to remain with the club.
The fact that Harden is hoping to be extended rather than talking about testing the free agent waters could provide some hope that he doesn't intend to squeeze every last dollar out of the Thunder. Additionally, this offseason might just be the time for the Thunder to strike, with Harden coming off a disappointing Finals performance against the Heat. The 22-year-old's play in that series certainly didn't impact his value significantly, but it could have been enough to save the Thunder a little more money.
Unfortunately, the Thunder lost one additional piece of leverage when they inked Westbrook to a five-year extension earlier this year. Each team is only allowed to sign one player to a five-year deal coming off a rookie contract, so Westbrook is now the Thunder's "designated player," meaning Oklahoma City doesn't have the advantage of offering Harden that extra year.
What might a four-year extension for Harden look like then? I doubt the Thunder are able to get it done for less than $50MM, but something in that neighborhood could work for both sides. Harden would receive his first massive payday, while the Thunder would avoid having to pay him the max (which figures to amount to well over $60MM), saving some room for Ibaka and others.
If Oklahoma City isn't willing to go that high, or maybe even higher, for Harden, he likely won't be in any hurry to sign an extension. With a shortage of elite shooting guards around the league these days, Harden would draw plenty of interest on the open market next summer, perhaps from the Suns, the team that missed out on Gordon. Phoenix should have a decent chunk of cap space available a year from now, and is said to have interest in Harden, interest that could be mutual.
"Yeah," Harden told Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic, when asked if he'd consider signing with the Suns. "Of course. I love it there. My mom lives there still. So that's definitely my second home as far as my comfort level and going to school there."
Harden quickly reiterated that he's a member of the Thunder, and indicated he'd like to remain in Oklahoma City for the long-term. And I think there's a good chance the two sides work out an agreement sometime before October 31st to make that happen. If they do, it'll be yet another sign that the Thunder are committed to keeping their core intact, ensuring that they remain a perennial threat for the NBA title for years to come.
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.
Lester Hudson Drawing Interest
Lester Hudson isn't exactly a household name, but he's appeared in 52 NBA games over the last three seasons, most recently impressing the Cavs on a pair of 10-day contracts before finishing out the 2011/12 season with the Grizzlies. Hudson remains unsigned so far this summer, but agent Tyler Glass tells Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio (Sulia link) that he feels good about Hudson finding an NBA job before training camps begin.
Glass declined to name specific teams that had expressed interest in his client, but according to Amico, the Thunder are believed to be among Hudson's potential suitors (Sulia link). Amico tweeted earlier this week that the Nuggets have some interest as well. It's unclear if either the Cavs or Grizzlies are interested in bringing Hudson back.
In 16 games in Cleveland and Memphis in 2011/12, Hudson averaged 10.9 points in 20.9 minutes per contest, recording a 13.9 PER. All those numbers were career highs for the 2009 second-rounder.