Suns Rumors

Pacific Rumors: Kings, Granger, Thomas

April 19th, 2015 at 4:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Kings have several decisions to make regarding their backcourt, Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press reports. Starting shooting guard Ben McLemore only showed slight improvement in his second season while backup Nik Stauskas struggled during his rookie campaign, in part because the team had two coaching changes during the season, Gonzalez continues. The club also has to decide whether to retain backup point guards Ray McCallum and David Stockton. McCallum’s approximate $947,000 contract for next season is not guaranteed, while Stockton has a non-guaranteed salary of $845,059 for next season.

In other news around the Pacific Division:

Danny Granger has not decided whether to exercise the approximate $2.17MM player option on his contract for next season, according to Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Granger, who was acquired by the Suns from the Heat during the trade deadline, has been working with the team’s athletic training staff to overcome health issues associated with his twice-surgically repaired left knee, Coro continues. Granger is building a house in the area, Coro adds, a potential sign that he’s planning to return to the team next season.
Isaiah Thomas learned quickly that he made a mistake when he signed with the Suns as a free agent last summer, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe writes. Thomas, who was dealt to the Celtics at the trade deadline, was sold on the idea of joining Phoenix after getting advice from Jason Terry, Himmelsbach reports. Thomas realized once the season started that sharing playing time and the ball with fellow point guards Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe was not going to work out, Himmelsbach continues. “I was taking a step back,” Thomas said to Himmelsbach. “We all wanted the ball and are all talented, but somebody ended up upset every night. It’s something that everyone thought would work, but it just didn’t.”
Jeremy Lin views a return to the Lakers as a possibility despite a tumultuous season, Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times reports. Lin, who becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, believes the prospects of remaining with the club improved after a productive exit meeting with coach Byron Scott and GM Mitch Kupchak, Pincus adds. “That would be great,” Lin said to Pincus about re-signing with the Lakers. “There’s so much that needs to happen, but that’s definitely an option for me.” Lin averaged 11.2 points on 42.4% shooting this season, his lowest output in both categories since his rookie season in 2010/11.

Suns Notes: Knight, Wright, Green

April 16th, 2015 at 11:41am CST by Chuck Myron

Brandon Knight would like to re-sign with the Suns, and he’d like that to happen in a swift process that would contrast sharply from last summer’s drawn-out negotiations with Eric Bledsoe, and Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic relays.

“If it can be quick and easy, that’s the best thing,” Knight said. “You don’t want to go through a fight or anything like that or you don’t want to drag it out as well. Definitely don’t want anything that leads up to training camp. For me, it’s just about doing what’s best for me and my family and the Suns will do the same. I’m optimistic about the situation. I like it here. I like the way I’ve been treated so far. Top-class organization. I’m looking forward to a future with the Suns.”

GM Ryan McDonough admits the team has learned from what happened with Bledsoe and expressed belief and hope that negotiations with Knight will go more smoothly, as Coro notes in separate piece. The Suns want to bring him back, and he told them that he has no issues pairing with Bledsoe in the backcourt, Coro writes. While we wait to see how it turns out for Knight and the Suns in restricted free agency this summer, here’s more from Coro on the Suns:

McDonough said the team will go after a star this summer and pledged to be active on the trade market, and he expressed confidence that the team is in a strong position to land any marquee players who become available, according to Coro. “Short of that, we’ll try to do it with depth and do it as a team,” McDonough said. “We tried to do that last year. It’s just the roster wasn’t as balanced as it should’ve been and, frankly, the players didn’t handle it as well as we would’ve liked them to.”
Adding size, rebounding, shooting and veterans will be priorities, McDonough said, as Coro notes.
The team would like to re-sign Brandan Wright, according to Coro, and that feeling is mutual, Coro writes via Twitter.
Soon-to-be free agent Gerald Green struck a more optimistic tone about a future with the Suns than emanated recently from agent Kevin Bradbury, who alleged coach Jeff Hornacek of unwarranted criticism of his client. “I think they want me back as well … Actually, it was a good conversation [with president of basketball operations Lon Babby] so I’m a little positive about that,” Green said, as Coro tweets.

And-Ones: Drummond, Price, Afflalo

April 15th, 2015 at 10:35pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Pistons owner Tom Gores gave Andre Drummond a vote of confidence during tonight’s contest against the Knicks, calling the big man a “max player,” David Mayo of MLive.com relays (Twitter link). Drummond, who is set to earn $3,272,091 next season, is eligible to ink an extension this summer, but this doesn’t necessarily mean the Pistons will offer him one, since the team would have the right to match any offer sheet the big man were to sign as a restricted free agent in 2016. Detroit could be wary of taking that chance given how the team is likely to lose Greg Monroe, who reportedly declined to ink an extension of his own with the club, as a free agent this summer, though that is merely my speculation.

Here’s more from around the league:

Arron Afflalo will let his playoff performance dictate whether he picks up his $7.75MM player option for next season with the Blazers, as a source close to the swingman tells Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops that he’ll opt out if he plays well.
One executive who spoke with Scotto for the same piece pegged Danny Green‘s value at $6MM a year. The Spurs swingman is an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Ronnie Price indicated that his desire is to remain with the Lakers, even if it is as a third-string guard, Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News writes. “I enjoyed being a voice in the locker room. I enjoyed being able to help younger guys. I helped great veterans that can help me. I’d be selfish not to extend that knowledge to players that are younger than me,” Price said. “Of course you want to play. That’s why we do what we do. You want to play. You never know what’s ahead. Whatever role is my role, I’ll embrace it whether it’s being here or the third guard.” Price will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
Suns forward Markieff Morris believes that the team needs to add players with more experience to its roster, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic tweets. “Veteran leadership for sure,” Morris responded when asked about Phoenix’s needs. “We have to have more older guys around so we can keep this thing intact.“

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Pacific Notes: Suns, Ellington, Lin, Cousins

April 15th, 2015 at 11:04am CST by Chuck Myron

Suns GM Ryan McDonough admits the team had no intention of reshaping its roster as much as it did this season, but while he’s disappointed with the way this year has gone, he feels the Suns are still better off than they were two years ago, when he took over, as he tells Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.

“We’ve tried to do something that’s not easy to do,” McDonough said. “We tried to turn over the roster with talented, young players who have some potential but probably aren’t ready to win yet at the highest levels. But we also tried to stay competitive in a brutal Western Conference. Usually, teams try to do one or the other. They load up on veteran guys and trade draft picks and go all in or they completely blow up and gut the team and try to acquire and play a bunch of young guys.”

Phoenix will look to achieve more roster balance, among other goals, this summer, McDonough added. Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

The sense is that Wayne Ellington will largely favor the Lakers in free agency this year, but he’s mindful that the market is uncertain for both himself and the team, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Twitter links), who’s identified mutual interest between the sides. Ellington backed up his end of that, referencing coach Byron Scott and GM Mitch Kupchak during his exit interview with the media Tuesday when he said, “I flat out told coach and Mitch I want to be back,” Medina notes.
Jeremy Lin seemed lukewarm to the idea of returning to the Lakers during his exit interview, saying that he has “definitely not ruled out” the possibility and that the Lakers wouldn’t be a “last resort.” He said that losing his starting job in December “hurt,” but that his respect for Scott has grown throughout the season. Medina (separate piece), Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles (Twitter link), Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding (Twitter link) and Bill Oram of the Orange County Register (Twitter link) have the details.
Trade rumors are partly to blame for the sour mood DeMarcus Cousins has been in of late, but Kings executive Vlade Divac, who’s in charge of the front office, is in awe of Cousins’ talent, according to Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. Voisin advises Cousins to get away from the noise now that the season is ending.

Western Notes: Hornacek, Garnett, Jazz

April 13th, 2015 at 9:36pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Suns could show their faith in coach Jeff Hornacek by picking up his 2016/17 contract option year, according to Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Hornacek will enter the last guaranteed year on his contract next season, though he has a strong relationship with the team’s management. He has been hampered by the Suns’ major roster overhaul during the season, with point guards Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas getting dealt and replacement Brandon Knight getting injured, Coro continues. Hornacek’s system requires multiple playmakers and quality shooters but after all the changes the Suns have been the worst 3-point shooting team in the league since the trade deadline, Coro adds.

In other news around the Western Conference:

Flip Saunders expects Kevin Garnett to play again for the Timberwolves next season, Jon Krawcyznski of the Associated Press reports. Garnett has missed 20 of 25 games since being traded back to Minnesota in February and he’s also expected to miss the season finale against the Thunder. Saunders says that’s an indication that Garnett plans on playing another season, the story continues. “If he plays, to me it would be an indication that he didn’t want to play next year,” Saunders said. “He’s looking at this as not being over.” Garnett becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer but is expected to stay with the club if he does not retire.
Interim coach Melvin Hunt has the Nuggets playing the fast-paced style of his former boss and current Kings coach, George Karl, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee reports. Hunt, who replaced Brian Shaw, will receive consideration for the full-time job in part because of his willingness to make bold changes, Jones adds. “He [Karl] has showed me a lot of things – that it is OK to not be traditional,” Hunt said to Jones.
The Jazz will host a summer league for the first time since 2008, the team announced on Monday. The Celtics, Sixers and Spurs will join the Jazz in the six-game event on July 6-9.

Pacific Rumors: Thornton, Lakers, Bogut

April 11th, 2015 at 5:29pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Marcus Thornton has not improved his free agent outlook since he was dealt to the Suns at the trade deadline, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic reports. The Suns only acquired Thornton to facilitate the Isaiah Thomas trade to the Celtics, which allowed them to acquire the Cavaliers’ 2016 first-round pick in the multi-team deal, Coro explains. Thornton, who becomes an unrestricted free agent after the season, has only appeared in nine games since the deal and has been battling a left Achilles’ tendon injury, Coro adds. That has rendered Thornton as a non-rotation player on a non-playoff team, which is not the best way to head into the free agent market, Coro points out.

In other news around the Pacific Division:

Wesley Matthews, Omer Asik and Khris Middleton are some of the free agents that the Lakers should consider pursuing this summer, Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders opines. The Lakers should target free agents like Matthews and Asik that still have several productive years remaining and could be signed at a reasonable price, as well as budding talents like Middleton, Blancarte continues. What the Lakers should avoid is appeasing Kobe Bryant by signing quick-fix, high-priced free agents like Rajon Rondo, since the Lakers are a long way from contention, Blancarte adds. The club also needs to re-think its offensive strategy and embrace the 3-point shot by bringing in some long-range shooters that can space the floor, Blancarte argues.
Andrew Bogut‘s gamble when he signed an incentive-laden, three-year extension prior to last season is paying off, Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press writes. The Warriors center will play his 65th game of the season Saturday night, fulfilling one of the requirements for a potential bonus. Bogut’s deal calls for him to earn a 15% bonus — or approximately $1.93MM this year — any season he plays at least 65 games and is named to the NBA’s First or Second All-Defensive Team, Gonzalez continues. Bogut leads the league in defensive plus-minus rating, Gonzalez adds.
James Michael McAdoo was recalled by the Warriors on Saturday after he helped the D-League’s Santa Cruz Warriors win a playoff series over the Oklahoma City Blue, the team’s website reports. McAdoo has appeared in 14 games with Golden State this season, averaging 3.9 points and 2.6 rebounds in 8.6 minutes. He had 25 points and 13 rebounds in Santa Cruz’s clinching win over the Blue on Friday.

Suns Sign Jerel McNeal Through Next Season

April 11th, 2015 at 4:08pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jerel McNeal has been signed by the Suns through the 2015/16 season, RealGM reports. Further details were not immediately made available. McNeal’s first 10-day contract with the club expired after Friday night’s action.

McNeal has appeared in four games with the Suns, though he has only scored two points in 19 minutes. McNeal signed the 10-day contract April 1st after Phoenix opted not to re-sign guard A.J. Price after Price’s first 10-day contract expired. McNeal, a shooting guard who was not drafted when he was eligible in 2009, was playing for the Bakersfield Jam, the Suns’ D-League affiliate, prior to joining Phoenix.

In 27 games for the Jam, McNeal averaged 18.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in 32.6 minutes per contest. He has previously had NBA training camp stints with the Clippers, Raptors and Rockets. The Pelicans and Jazz have briefly carried him on regular season rosters in the past, but he didn’t see action with either team, so he’s technically a two-year veteran even though he did not make his official NBA debut until this month.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Brandon Knight

April 10th, 2015 at 10:25am CST by Chuck Myron

The Suns have plenty invested in Brandon Knight, having relinquished a potential lottery pick from the Lakers as well as Miles Plumlee and Tyler Ennis, both of whom have shown promise and are on rookie scale contracts. Knight is also on a rookie scale contract, but unlike Plumlee and Ennis, his deal expires this summer, when the Suns figure to have to shell out eight-figure salaries to keep him. Several GMs told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops earlier this spring that they believe Knight is worth $12MM a year. Suns GM Ryan McDonough referred to Knight as the best player in the trade, though it’s unclear if he was merely referring to the Knight trade itself or the series of moves the Suns made on deadline day, when they shipped Goran Dragic to Miami in a separate trade. It’s nonetheless clear that McDonough thinks highly of Knight, a former eighth overall pick, having referred to him as a “23-year-old who is a borderline All-Star in the East.”

McDonough and president of basketball operations Lon Babby will have to go chiefly by what Knight did while he was in the East with the Bucks as they wade through his restricted free agency, since a heel injury has ended the season for Knight after he played only 11 games as a Sun. The point guard took just 4.6 shots per game during that small sample size, a figure that would be a career low if extrapolated over a full season. He looked every bit the part of the budding All-Star that McDonough envisions in a 28-point performance against the Magic, but that was less than a week after a one-point, 0-for-6 clunker against the Spurs.

Knight has struggled over the course of his NBA career to become a true point guard, though he’s expressed a desire to embrace the role. The Suns don’t have to worry too much about that with Eric Bledsoe around. He and Bledsoe fit the mold of the small backcourt that’s marked McDonough’s Suns teams, and Bledsoe’s presence also takes pressure off Knight to improve defensively. Bledsoe is second among point guards in ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus/Minus this season, while Knight languishes at No. 50, well into the minus side of the ledger. Knight has been a minus defender in all four of his NBA seasons, according to Basketball-Reference’s Defensive Box Plus/Minus.

There’s still potential for growth on that end of the floor, since he’s only 23, as McDonough notes. He certainly wouldn’t be the only one-way player making $12MM a year if that’s what he ends up with, and he helps in other areas. He averaged 5.2 rebounds per game this season, the 12th most among any player 6’3″ or shorter who saw at least 500 minutes, as Basketball-Reference shows. Bledsoe is third on that list. Knight also bumped his three-point shooting to a career-high 38.9% this season after last year’s regression to 32.5%, and he was at 40.9% in that category this year before his disjointed 11 games with the Suns. His PER was 18.5 with Milwaukee, and though that shrunk to 17.2 thanks to his brief time playing with Phoenix, it’s still a career high.

The Arn Tellem client has validated his draft position, and while he doesn’t seem the sort who’ll ever be one of the top two players on a contender, he could certainly be the third. Bledsoe’s ceiling is beginning to emerge as a No. 2 on that kind of team. So, the Suns have the groundwork for a contending core, but they lack the superstar piece that’s almost always the hardest to obtain.

A new deal for Knight would essentially put the Suns out of the running to acquire a superstar in free agency this summer, since Phoenix already has about $41MM on the books. It wouldn’t be much of a setback for the franchise if it comes up empty in its star search this summer, since the top five players in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings all seem likely to stay put. It’s the summer of 2016 when the Suns appear positioned to make their move, as they only have about $28MM committed, and even with an eight-figure salary for Knight, they should have no shortage of flexibility with the cap set to catapult to around $90MM. The Valley of the Sun looms as an attractive destination for top free agents as long as the roster infrastructure is there for a superstar to contend immediately upon joining the team, and Knight’s presence helps the Suns toward that roster prerequisite.

Phoenix also has its share of trade assets, with the Heat’s 2021 unprotected first-round pick perhaps the juiciest. The Suns took a step back at the deadline this season, as Babby has acknowledged, with the long term in mind, and that’s why keeping Knight is more or less imperative. There’s been chatter connecting the Lakers to Knight, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see some team with aspirations of contending in the West in the near future pitch an outsized offer sheet to Knight this summer, just to force the Suns to pay a premium. That would carry risk for a team like the Lakers, since it would be difficult for any team to end up paying a defensive minus a salary approaching the max in case Phoenix doesn’t match, but it’s a distinct possibility nonetheless, given the consequences for the Suns if they let Knight walk.

Knight might not be the best player involved in Phoenix’s deadline trades, but he’s the best the Suns have to show from a pivot point in their rebuilding. Phoenix, which still hasn’t made the playoffs since Steve Nash left town, can’t afford to take a step back in both the short and the long term, so expect Knight’s Suns tenure to last a lot longer than 11 games.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pacific Notes: Bogut, Green, Suns, Lakers

April 10th, 2015 at 9:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Trading for Andrew Bogut in 2012 was a turning point for the Warriors, who clinched the league’s best record Thursday, writes USA Today’s Sam Amick. Bogut, who signed a rare veteran extension in 2013, credits the owners and GM Bob Myers for reviving a team that was “in shambles” upon his arrival. That certainly makes it easier to stomach paying the 15% bonus that Bogut appears poised to trigger. There’s more on the Warriors amid the latest from the Pacific Division:

It’s been a “fitful” season for the Suns, as president of basketball operations Lon Babby puts it, and he acknowledges that the team’s deadline trades were made with the long term in mind and compromised the team this season, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic details. Babby also said he continues to support GM Ryan McDonough and coach Jeff Hornacek.
Myers makes it clear in a long piece from Grantland’s Jonathan Abrams that the Warriors are thinking of soon-to-be restricted free agent Draymond Green as a part of the team beyond the end of his contract this summer. “We really like him,” Myers said. “We believe he’s a core member of our team and we believe he’s a big part of our future.”
Management, and not Kobe Bryant, is to blame for the inability of the Lakers to attract marquee free agents the past two summers, as Matt Barnes opines to Chris Ballard of SI.com. Barnes spent 2010/11 and 2011/12 with the Lakers before moving on to the Clippers. A report in October cited agents and team sources who said Bryant was driving free agents away from the Lakers.

Pacific Notes: Green, Bogut, Scott

April 9th, 2015 at 11:17am CST by Chuck Myron

Agent Kevin Bradbury is upset with Suns coach Jeff Hornacek‘s criticism of client and soon-to-be free agent Gerald Green, as Bradbury makes clear in his comments to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Hornacek brought up Green’s defense as one reason why the swingman hasn’t seen as much playing time as he’d like, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic relayed earlier this week, and that in particular drew Bradbury’s ire.

“It’s completely unfair to misrepresent Gerald and his game like this,” Bradbury said. “You’re talking about a player that wants to win at any cost and is a tremendous locker guy and teammate. I don’t see the benefit for the coach to go about things this way.”

Bradbury told Deveney that opposing teams were willing to give up assets in significant trade offers for Green at the deadline, only to have the Suns turn them down. Green, who hits free agency this summer, said that in spite of his lack of minutes that he wants to re-sign with Phoenix and retire as a Sun, though he’s not sure if Phoenix feels the same way, as Coro relays. Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

Andrew Bogut is closing in on a key milestone tied to a bonus clause in his deal, as Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group points out. He played his 63rd game of the season Tuesday, so if he plays in two of the Warriors‘ last four regular season contests, he’ll hit the first criteria for triggering the bonus. He’d need to either win Defensive Player of the Year or make one of the league’s two All-Defensive teams for the bonus to kick in, but Bogut will almost certainly earn an All-Defensive nod, Kawakami writes.
The prospect of Bogut triggering the bonus, worth 15% of his $12.973MM salary this season, was one reason why the Warriors didn’t give serious thought to adding a veteran the past few months, according to Kawakami. Golden State is well shy of the tax threshold for this season. Bogut’s cap figure for 2015/16 will be higher if he earns the bonus this year, but it won’t count toward the team’s salary for tax purposes next year unless he again hits the same benchmarks next season.
Lakers coach Byron Scott on Wednesday tempered his earlier remark that he “wouldn’t want to be in a fox hole with” many of his players, which seemed to indicate a desire for an offseason overhaul. Scott said that he made that comment out of frustration and that he’s been pleased with the effort of his players for most of the year, as Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com details.

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