Phoenix Suns Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Booker, Clippers, Sanders

June 1st, 2015 at 10:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kentucky shooting guard Devin Booker will work out for the Thunder on Tuesday, Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman tweets. Oklahoma City owns the No. 14 overall pick. The Suns, who have the No. 13 pick, brought in Booker for a workout on Monday. according to a tweet from Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops.com. Dez Wells, Josh Richardson, Derek Cooke, Vince Hunter and Jarvis Summers also participated in Phoenix’s workout, according to Scotto.

In other news around the league:

The Clippers, who don’t have a pick in the draft, nonetheless brought in several prospects for workouts on Monday, including Chris Walker, Dwayne Polee, Ralston Turner, Keifer Sykes, Shannon Scott and Richaun Holmes, Dan Woike of the Orange County Register reports.
Trevor Lacey, Dakari Johnson, Rayvonte Rice, Corey Hawkins, Kenneth Smith and Alpha Kaba worked out for the Lakers on Monday, according to the Lakers’ Twitter feed.
Jerian Grant and Delon Wright participated in the Wizards’ first pre-draft workout, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post reports.
Larry Sanders has no regrets walking away from the Bucks and the NBA, he tells Gus Turner of Complex.com in a lengthy feature article. Sanders left approximately $27MM but has found peace and happiness outside of basketball, Turner adds. “I couldn’t function outside of the gym and my studio,” he told Turner. “I couldn’t be around my family; I couldn’t be around anybody else. I was creating from a place of anxiety and fear, suffering. I wasn’t creating from a place of joy or happiness or freedom. Everything I did was pure avoidance.”
Alvin Gentry’s four-year deal to coach the Pelicans is worth a total of $13.75MM, and that includes a team option of $4MM for the final season, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.

Draft Notes: O’Neale, Haws, Harvey

June 1st, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Royce O’Neale has seen his stock go up significantly since he began a slate of about 15 predraft workouts, a source tells Hoops Rumors. The small forward from Baylor has shown off for five teams so far, including the Spurs, Rockets and Bulls, and he’s set to work out Monday for the Clippers, the source said. The Mavs have also auditioned him, as Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops reported earlier, and as the source confirmed to Hoops Rumors. Here’s more on the draft:

BYU shooting guard Tyler Haws will work out for the Jazz today after setting a Suns record for the most full-court sprints in three minutes in his Phoenix workout Friday, as Jody Genessy of the Deseret News details.
Tyler Harvey went from walk-on at Eastern Washington to early NBA draft entrant, and now the shooting guard is trying to make sure he hears his name called on draft night, as Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune details. Harvey is the 53rd-best prospect as Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranks them and 67th with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
Josh Smith, a Georgetown center who transferred from UCLA, will work out for the Lakers and Clippers, reports Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
The Mavericks don’t have a single player they drafted themselves on the roster, as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News points out as a caveat as he looks at how prospects Montrezl Harrell, Sam Dekker, Tyus Jones, Cameron Payne and Delon Wright would fit on the team. The Mavs are slated to pick 21st and 52nd this year.

Draft Notes: Anderson, Brown, Randle

May 31st, 2015 at 7:15pm CST by Will Joseph

Virginia’s Justin Anderson worked out with the Lakers on Thursday and afterward said he expects to be selected in the middle or toward the end of the first round based on conversations with his agent and interviews during draft workouts and the NBA pre-draft combine, Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News writes. Anderson, who is ranked 23rd by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and is pegged at No. 28 by Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required), believes he can thrive in the league with his strength, defense and ability to knock down shots, Medina adds. Johnson has also worked out with the Bulls and Spurs and plans to work out with the Celtics, Medina notes.

“I’m just going to be a complete and smart defender as well as a knockdown shooter,” Anderson said. “I’ll use my physicality and strength and be as complete as I can be. Whatever system I land, I know I can adjust.”

Here’s more news on the draft:

Stanford’s Anthony Brown also worked out with the Lakers, and his shooting ability could be of use to the to the Lakers, who own the second, 27th and 34th picks, Medina writes in a separate story. Brown shot 44.1% from 3-point range in two seasons at Stanford, Medina notes. The Lakers received poor shooting seasons from several players, including Nick Young, who shot a career-low 37% from the field, as Medina points out. “I’m a great shooter,” Brown said. “That’s the number one thing I hang my hat on, shooting the basketball. I’m also going to defend you. I’m a three-deep player.”
Stanford guard Chasson Randle‘s next workout will be with the Sixers, Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe tweets. Randle has already worked out for the Thunder and Celtics, Washburn adds.
Jarvis Threatt has workouts with the Wizards, Suns and Rockets next week, Adam Johnson of D-League Digest tweets.
BYU’s Tyler Haws wants to hear his name called on draft night, but if he doesn’t, he will have opportunities to play overseas, Jeff Call of the Deseret News writes. “He’s got a couple of offers already overseas,” said BYU coach Dave Rose, who added he expects Haws to be drafted.

Western Draft Notes: Towns, Grant, Jazz

May 31st, 2015 at 12:56pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Karl-Anthony Towns will interview with the Wolves and the Lakers, but won’t work out for any teams, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv reports. The big man would relish the opportunity to play in Minnesota. “It would be a blessing and an honor to even have a chance to play for Minnesota and be able to have the chance to play for a great organization and learn from a great mentor like Kevin Garnett,” Towns said.

Here’s more on the upcoming draft:

Jerian Grant, whom I profiled earlier today, will work out for the Raptors, Heat, Hornets, Nuggets and Wizards according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Grant previously worked out for the Pacers, Suns, Thunder and Rockets.
The Suns are looking for play-makers off their bench and Grant may be a good candidate for the No. 13 pick, Coro opines in the same piece. “We’re looking at the guys who could possibly be backup point guards,” coach Jeff Hornacek said. “The more guys we can get on this team, whether it’s point guard, off-guard, three-man, center, forward, whatever it is — that bring intelligence to the game can only help us.”
The Jazz own the No. 12 selection in the draft and Kincade Upstill of the Deseret News wonders if the team should trade its pick. Upstill examines some hypothetical trades involving the team’s first-rounder, including an intriguing swap with the Clippers that involves sending J.J. Redick to the Jazz for Trey Burke and the No. 12 pick.

Draft Notes: Holmes, Christmas, Mickey, Vaughn

May 31st, 2015 at 10:26am CST by ChrisCrouse

Richaun Holmes, Rakeem Christmas, Jordan Mickey and Rashad Vaughn have improved their stocks considerably, as one Eastern Conference GM tells Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops.

“All four have helped themselves so far during the workouts,” the anonymous GM said. “Vaughn has a chance to go in the first round. The other three are second-round picks. Although Christmas has apparently intrigued some teams at the bottom of the first round.”

Here’s more from Scotto on these prospects:

Holmes will work out for the Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, Raptors and Grizzlies as well as other teams that should bring him to roughly 15 workouts. He has already worked out for the Jazz, Spurs, Suns, Pacers and Mavericks. Holmes previously spoke with Zach Links of Hoops Rumors about how he changed his form to improve his shooting.
Mickey will work out for the Wolves and Spurs. He has already worked out for the Bulls, Rockets and Celtics. “I like Mickey,” an Eastern Conference GM told Scotto. “He’s an NBA shot blocker and rebounder. He’s a more athletic Taj Gibson.”
Vaughn has already worked out for the Heat and Pacers. “I really like Vaughn,” one GM told Scotto. “He’s a good shooter with range. He can get his own shot and is athletic.”

Draft Notes: Vaughn, Randle, Heat, Sixers

May 29th, 2015 at 1:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

The draft is less than four weeks away, and Hoops Rumors has you covered. Check out our full log of draft news right here. Our Eddie Scarito runs down the first round in his Mock Draft, and we dive deeper into key figures with our Prospect Profile series. We’ve gained insight from a wide array of prospects through their interviews with our Zach Links, and, as always, we’ll pass along the latest news, including these reports on team workouts:

UNLV shooting guard Rashad Vaughn will work out Monday for the Lakers and will soon do so with the Warriors, Suns and Spurs, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
Chasson Randle auditioned for the Thunder and also plans to show off for the Sixers, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). The Celtics have already worked out the two-guard from Stanford, as we noted earlier.
Shooting guards K.T. Harrell of Auburn and Josh Richardson of Tennessee worked out Thursday for the Heat, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald hears.
The Sixers are taking a look today at Delaware State big man Kendall Gray, sources told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (on Twitter), and they’re doing the same with Arizona point guard T.J. McConnell, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Syracuse big man Rakeem Christmas is working out for the Spurs today and already got a look from the Mavericks, Pompey reveals in a separate piece.

Suns Notes: Hornacek, Draft, Bledsoe

May 29th, 2015 at 11:31am CST by Chuck Myron

Jeff Hornacek indicated that if the timing was right, he would consider taking the coaching job at Iowa State, but he made it clear that he hopes to remain coach of the Suns for a long time, as he said on The Burns and Gambo show on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Thursday (transcription via Adam Green of ArizonaSports.com). Fred Hoiberg, currently the coach at the school, which he and Hornacek attended, has long been linked to the now-vacant Bulls job. Here’s more from the Valley of the Sun:

Today’s Suns predraft workout participants are Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant, North Carolina’s J.P. Tokoto, Bowling Green’s Richaun Holmes, Boston College’s Olivier Hanlan, Villanova’s Darrun Hilliard and Virginia’s Darion Atkins, sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). Grant and Holmes shared more about themselves in recent conversations with Zach Links of Hoops Rumors.
The Suns have let go of assistant coach Kenny Gattison and are transitioning Nate Bjorkgren, the coach of their D-League affiliate, into a player development role, sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link).
Phoenix offered only four years and $29MM to Eric Bledsoe in the fall of 2013 when the sides were negotiating an extension shortly after the Suns acquired him from the Clippers, league sources told Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. Bledsoe, a Rich Paul client, wisely turned that down and garnered his five-year, $70MM deal this past fall.

Pacific Notes: D’Alessandro, Draft, Clippers

May 28th, 2015 at 9:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers denies that there is any rift between teammates Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com relays. “I can put this to rest: They get along great,” Rivers told Fred Roggin of The Beast 980. “Clearly, like everybody, they don’t get along all the time, and they don’t get along with me all the time, either, by the way. I don’t see that as an issue. I think all three, and I’m including Blake [Griffin] in this as well, understand how important the other guy is to them. Meaning, they all three need each other to win, and I think all three get that and all three know that and all three want to do it together. To me, that’s the most important thing.”

Here’s the latest out of the NBA’s Pacific Division:

The Clippers held workouts today for Phil Greene, Rayvonte Rice, Cady Lalanne, Maurice Walker, Bryce Dejean-Jones, and Matt Carlino, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops reports (Twitter link).
Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro is a “significant candidate” for the now vacant athletic director post at St. John’s University, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). D’Alessandro lost a significant amount of his authority when the team hired new president of basketball and franchise operations, Vlade Divac.
The Suns worked out Quinn Cook, Marcus Thornton (Georgia), D.J. Newbill, Tyler Haws, Matt Stainbrook, and Aaron Thomas, Scotto tweets.
When speaking about potential 2015 draftees Aaron Harrison and Kevin Pangos, both of whom recently worked out for the team, Suns coach Jeff Hornacek noted that both players may not get selected this June, but could have a shot at making an NBA roster because of the changes in how guards are used today, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic writes. “There are probably more guys that are the combo guards because they’re not really true point guards,” Hornacek said. “They’re all scoring guys. They all come up with the scoring mentality. You try to find those guys that can do both those things. But especially in today’s game, the point guard, he may be a scorer but he’s still got to lead the team. He’s still got to have that ability to direct guys and not be afraid.“

Draft Notes: Spurs, Grizzlies, Payne

May 27th, 2015 at 10:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Hoops Rumors has a full log of 2015 draft news that you can see anytime at the link here. You can also set that page up as an RSS feed to receive constant updates. All you’d need to do would be to add /feed to the url, like so: hoopsrumors.com/2015-nba-draft/feed. Other draft-related resources include our latest Mock Draft, the full list of early entrants, as well as our ongoing Prospect Profile series. Here’s more news regarding the 2015 NBA Draft:

League sources have suggested to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link) that Murray State guard Cameron Payne has a draft promise from a team, and that there is a very good chance he is going to be a lottery pick. If Payne has indeed been targeted by a lottery team, his most likely destination is the Thunder, whom I predicted would be selecting the guard in my latest mock draft, though this is merely my speculation of course.
The Spurs brought in Syracuse forward Chris McCullough for an interview today, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops tweets.
Scheduled for workouts this Friday with the Grizzlies are Josh Richardson, Ky Madden, Aaron Thomas, Pat Connaughton, Chris Walker, and Brandon Ashley, Ronald Tillery of the Commercial Appeal (subscription required) relays.
Arkansas forward Bobby Portis has workouts scheduled with the Thunder, Heat, Pistons, Raptors, Pacers, Hornets, Bucks, Suns, and Jazz, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe tweets.
Former Colorado guard Askia Booker worked out for the Suns on Tuesday, and has upcoming workouts scheduled with the Lakers and the Jazz, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post relays (Twitter link).
Booker said that he was asked about his refusal to play in this year’s College Basketball Invitational tournament by the Sixers, and also expects the subject to come up in other interviews, Dempsey relays in a series of tweets. “It’s something I’m willing to address no doubt. I have no issue addressing that. When the question comes I’ll be able to answer it,” Booker said. “It was a mutual decision. We came to an agreement, and the decision was made.” Booker reportedly passed on playing in the tourney to prepare for the upcoming draft instead.

Pacific Notes: Suns, Bryant, Draft

May 27th, 2015 at 9:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Suns GM Ryan McDonough believes there is quite a talent dropoff in this year’s NBA Draft after the team’s pick at No. 13 overall, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic writes. Phoenix hasn’t targeted a specific player, and if it retains the pick, will likely target the best player available, Coro adds. “As a non-playoff team, I think you need help everywhere,” McDonough said. “So we’ll take the best player, even if that goes against what some people think we should do in terms of conventional wisdom. I think, unless you’re a championship-level team, you always take the best available player. Our philosophy is if he’s better than the guys who are on your current roster, maybe he beats him out and you move one of the guys on your current roster. I think some mistakes, in the history of the draft, are made drafting for saying, ‘Oh, we need this. Let’s do the best player who does whatever.’ When you draft that guy, you tend to reach sometimes.”

Here’s the latest from the NBA’s Pacific Division:

McDonough also indicated that the Suns may be more willing to deal away their first round pick than in years past, Coro adds. “At some point, there is a saturation point for young players as you try to put together a team that is capable of competing and making the playoffs in the Western Conference,” McDonough said. “I think it [trading the pick] is something we’re more open to than in the past but, at the same time, we like the players that we think will be there at 13.“
In an radio appearance with ESPN’s Colin Cowherd (hat tip to Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel), Jared Dudley spoke about NBA free agents not wanting to play with the Lakers‘ Kobe Bryant. Dudley said, “Most guys don’t want to play with Kobe. He gets in this thing where he doesn’t pass and then overpasses and then tries to get triple-doubles every night. …. That’s why I think it will be a while for the Lakers to get good because they’ve got no stars. I would be surprised if Kevin Love goes there.”
Former Minnesota guard Andre Hollins has a workout scheduled with the Clippers, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets.
The Kings have workouts scheduled for Friday with Corey Hawkins, Mikh McKinney, Shaquielle McKissic, Alan Williams, Charles Jackson, and Will Davis II, the team announced.