Western Notes: Asik, Thunder, Spurs, Jefferson
It turned out to be Kendall Marshall making headlines tonight and not the much-discussed Omer Asik. Marshall agreed to terms with the Lakers this evening after being linked to the Grizzlies and Jazz in recent weeks. Here are some notes from around the Western Conference:
- Players on the Rockets roster are glad that Asik wasn’t dealt to another club today, according to Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle. Several players expressed their appreciation of the center’s talents, including James Harden: “He’s one of the best big men in the NBA, defensively as well. He complements our team so well. We’re fortunate to have him on our team.“
- Speaking of the Rockets, Jeremy Lin sat down with Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld and discussed how he deals with trade rumors: “I still remember what it was like being on the edge of my seat and wondering if I was even going to be on a roster tomorrow… I’ve seen the whole Linsanity thing and I’ve seen the D-League and getting cut… I think having that wide scope of perspective helps me stay more balanced and stay more even keel through ups and downs.“
- Ken Berger of CBSSports.com opines that a large reason for the success of the Thunder and Spurs comes from how responsibly the two clubs have handled their assets. Rather than trading future draft picks for quick fixes, Berger notes that the two squads have focused on player development and have set themselves up for years of winning basketball.
- Richard Jefferson spoke with SiriusXM NBA Radio hosts Kenny Smith and Jason Goff and made it clear he wanted to play for a championship team, as Jody Genessy of the Deseret News passes along. “If I get an opportunity to play for a championship team, I’m going to go hunting for them… I have no loyalty… I’m a gun for hire.” Jefferson is on an expiring contract but is set to make $11MM this year.
- Paul Coro of AZ Central Sports examines how Jeff Hornacek‘s use of Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe gives the Suns a legitimate playmaker on the floor at all times.
- With so many injury problems and an overall lack of talent, Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated suggests that this might be the best time for the Lakers to blow up their roster and fully involve themselves in the rebuilding process.
Pacific Notes: Suns, Kaman, Gasol
Let’s check in on the latest updates out of the Pacific Division….
- The Suns‘ impressive start has taken most of us by surprise, but it hasn’t altered the team’s roster or trade plans at all, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic details. “During my introductory press conference, the one thing I said we’d never do is pass on a chance to get a star, and that doesn’t change,” said GM Ryan McDonough. “The biggest misconception about our offseason moves was that we were trying to lose. We identified a good group of players who we thought could show more than they had in their careers…. One of the reasons we made four trades in the offseason is to make sure we didn’t have to do anything during the season.”
- The role Chris Kaman‘s had with the Lakers this season is “absolutely not” what he was looking for, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com. However, Kaman says he hasn’t heard anything from the team about the possibility of a trade, so he’s focusing on working hard and being ready to play when the time comes.
- Breaking down Pau Gasol‘s trade value in an Insider-only piece, ESPN.com’s Kevin Pelton concludes that the Lakers may not be looking at much of a return based on Pau’s play so far this season.
- Earlier today, we heard that the Kings may be a suitor for trade candidate Jordan Crawford. A report yesterday had suggested Sacramento was in the market for a pass-first point guard, a label that wouldn’t seem to apply to Crawford despite his career-high 5.5 APG so far.
Odds & Ends: Gasol, Knicks, Clippers
It seems high trading season has begun early this year, as this week has featured another Rudy Gay swap, plenty of rumors about Omer Asik and Kyle Lowry, and a flurry of roster moves. Sunday is December 15th, the day many players become eligible for inclusion in trades, so the week ahead doesn’t figure to be any slower. Here’s more from a busy Association:
- Kobe Bryant dismisses the notion that Pau Gasol and Mike D’Antoni are at odds, as Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com notes via Twitter. “That’s every year,” Bryant said. “They’re like an old couple. That’s every year. It’s not really anything new. It’s not a big deal.” Of course, D’Antoni and Gasol have only been together since last season.
- Every part of the Knicks franchise is in “complete chaos,” says Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). New York lost to the Celtics tonight for the second time in six days, but in contrast to Sunday’s 41-point blowout, this time it was only by four.
- Ongoing negotiations for a local TV deal helped motivate the Clippers to spend on Chris Paul and Doc Rivers, according to Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling.
- Many around the league see Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg as the top candidate for an NBA head coaching job among those currently leading college teams, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.
- HoopsWorld’s Nate Duncan tries to identify the players who’ll stick around for the long-term on the Suns, Jazz and Kings as each team rebuilds.
Poll: Should Suns Deal Picks For Immediate Help?
The Suns entered the season seemingly destined for the bottom of the Western Conference after an offseason in which they traded away veterans and signed only one player who made their opening night roster. Phoenix used their swaps to stockpile draft picks, and the team could end up with as many as four first-rounders for the deep and star-studded 2014 class.
Phoenix has nevertheless managed to jump out to a 12-9 start this year, and that’s apparently enough to prompt GM Ryan McDonough to change gears. He revealed to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com that the team is shopping its first-round picks as it looks for an established star.
It’s an abrupt philosophical shift, especially considering we’re only a quarter of the way into the season. A 12-9 record would give the Suns the third seed in the Eastern Conference if the playoffs started today, but they’re only the seventh-best team in the West, clinging to a one-game lead for a postseason berth. A losing streak of any significant length could bury Phoenix’s playoff hopes.
Of course, the Suns didn’t seem to have much hope of making the playoffs when the season started. McDonough has only been on the job since this past summer, and the team has appeared destined for a lengthy rebuilding process. The draft is not a panacea, and McDonough suggests that he would be reluctant to bring four highly drafted rookies to the team all at once, but mortgaging the future for the present might not be the best idea for a roster that looked depleted when the season began.
Let us know if you think it’s time for the Suns to pivot toward trying to win this season at the expense of seasons to come. Feel free to elaborate on your thoughts in the comments.
Should the Suns trade draft picks for immediate help?
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No 57% (530)
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Yes 43% (398)
Total votes: 928
Suns Willing To Trade 2014 Picks For Star
The unexpected success the Suns have enjoyed this year has prompted them to let other front offices know they’re willing to give up one or more of their four potential 2014 first-round picks in return for a star who can help them win now, reports Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. The team might not wait until the deadline to do a deal, GM Ryan McDonough tells Howard-Cooper (Twitter link). Phoenix is 12-9 and tied in the loss column with the Clippers for first place in the Pacific Division.
“I think one of the things that’s important for people to realize is that we may not draft four players even if we have four picks,” McDonough said. “Our preference would probably be to maybe package a few of them. We’re obviously all looking for stars and we feel like we can put together a package as good, if not better, than any other team in the league if and when a star becomes available. That’s kind of generally what we’ve wanted to do, not only with our draft-pick situation but also with the cap space that we’ve acquired.”
The Suns could receive first-round picks from the Timberwolves, Wizards and Pacers for 2014, depending on where those selections wind up in the order. Phoenix is currently in line for all but Minnesota’s pick, as our Reverse Standings show. Still, that would leave the Suns without a lottery pick, and Phoenix’s own selection would be at No. 22.
Phoenix also has a 2015 first-rounder from the Lakers, and any of the first-round picks that other teams owe the Suns for 2014 would roll over to 2015 if they’re not conveyed this coming spring.
The Suns would almost certainly want attach protection to their own 2014 pick if they were to trade it, Howard-Cooper writes, with the level of star they’d be able to acquire in a swap determining the sort of protection the pick would carry.
Zwerling On Randolph, Anderson, Gordon
The latest dispatch from Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling is chock full of rumors. Let’s dive in:
- The Grizzlies are shopping Zach Randolph, with Ryan Anderson of the Pelicans as the primary target, Zwerling reports. Memphis wants to see Ed Davis continue to develop, and that may help push Randolph out the door. The Pelicans would have to add salary to such a deal to make it work, and Zwerling mentions Austin Rivers as a possibility, noting that he’s dissatisfied with his lack of playing time and is open to a trade.
- A source tells Zwerling that he believes the Pelicans will trade Eric Gordon at some point this season.
- Zwerling hears conflicting reports on whether a rumored Kenneth Faried/Iman Shumpert swap is a possibility for the Nuggets and Knicks, but he says the Knicks are currently reluctant to move Shumpert.
- It’s unlikely the Suns trade either Marcus Morris or twin brother Markieff Morris, according to Zwerling.
- The Sixers would trade Evan Turner for Dion Waiters “in a heartbeat,” a source tells Zwerling, though Cavs owner Dan Gilbert reportedly doesn’t want to trade his shooting guard. The Sixers are worried about what Turner may command in restricted free agency this summer. The Suns could be another landing spot for Waiters, Zwerling writes.
- Courtney Lee, Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries are on the market in Boston. The Celtics offered Avery Bradley a four-year, $24MM extension this fall, but the guard turned it down, looking for a deal with annual salaries of $8MM.
- The Rockets “adore” D-Leaguer Troy Daniels, Zwerling writes. Daniels is displaying a three-point stroke to go with his 25.1 points per game.
Pacific Rumors: Jackson, Rivers, Bledsoe
A pair of Pacific Division teams have turned their final roster spots over to experienced players, with the Clippers signing Stephen Jackson and the Warriors bringing on Hilton Armstrong. Doc Rivers says he wanted a player who’s been around, as Brian Robb of ESPN.com notes, and the 35-year-old Jackson, who’s played 13 seasons in the NBA, certainly fits the profile. Rivers also enjoys getting to make that kind of decision, as we detail in our roundup from the Pacific:
- The opportunity to coach as well as run the front office helped make the Clippers job appealing to Rivers, as he said on radio with Felger and Massarotti of 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston (link via CBS Boston).
- Soon-to-be restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe says he feels more confident and has a greater sense of freedom playing for the Suns this year as opposed to his time with the Clippers, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
- The Suns are 12-9, just a game and a half out of first place in the division, and the success is surprising even to members of the team’s braintrust, notes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Phoenix’s unexpected victories hurt the team’s chances of landing a superstar in the draft, but they don’t necessarily derail an ascent to contention, writes Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register.
- The Warriors made the right decision when they traded Monta Ellis at the 2012 deadline to free up playing time for Klay Thompson, and the move has worked out well for Ellis, too, as Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com argues in an Insider piece.
- There’s plenty of activity surrounding the Kings, as we passed along earlier today.
Odds & Ends: Rondo, Carmelo, Tyler, Ayres
Rajon Rondo doesn’t put much stock in the rumor that Carmelo Anthony is trying to recruit him to the Knicks, but Anthony has been privately yearning to see Rondo in orange and blue since July, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Knicks attempted to trade Iman Shumpert for Rondo, and Newsday’s Al Iannazzone thinks it’s critical that New York continue to see if it can pry the All-Star point guard away from the Celtics or make some kind of splash, lest Anthony bolt in free agency. Here’s more on the Knicks and the rest of the NBA:
- Berman, in the same piece, also suggests the Knicks may look to re-sign camp invitee Jeremy Tyler in another week as he continues to round into form after a preseason injury.
- Unlike some free agents who were happy to leave their former teams behind, Spurs big man Jeff Ayres told Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News that he feels “no animosity” toward the Pacers and is “still really cool with all the guys on the team.”
- Kendall Marshall is off to a fast start with the D-League affiliate of the Sixers, and Michael Kaskey-Blomain of the Philadelphia Inquirer thinks the big club should consider signing last year’s 13th overall pick to an NBA contract.
- Doubts about the ability of Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe to play together left some executives around the league believing the Suns would trade Dragic, but early returns show the pairing has been successful, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
- Joel Embiid is developing into a potential No. 1 overall pick, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com, joining ESPN colleague Chad Ford on the Kansas center’s bandwagon.
- Knee troubles have sidelined Al Harrington for a good chunk of this season, but he remains involved with the Wizards. As he tells Michael Lee of the Washington Post, Harrington can imagine himself coaching after he retires and has been acting as a de facto assistant in Washington while he recovers.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Western Links: Trail Blazers, Bogut, Mavericks
Beckley Mason of the New York Times examines the chemistry and cohesiveness that have galvanized the Trail Blazers this season, prompting LaMarcus Aldridge to call this the ‘happiest time in his career’: “Guys are playing so (unselfishly) — our team chemistry is unreal right now…Coach Stotts gives us the freedom to play loose and make plays, and guys aren’t abusing it.”
Veteran point guard Earl Watson also weighed in: “Everyone accepts their role, and the roles were never defined. It’s the truth of our team, the DNA of our team. The way we fit together, it’s like the perfect storm, so to speak.”
Here’s more out of the Western Conference tonight:
- Sean Meagher of OregonLive.com provides a roundup of the latest links coming out of Portland (including Mason’s piece).
- Andrew Bogut is well past the the talk of the Warriors’ efforts to acquire Dwight Howard this past offseason and doesn’t think it’s worth discussing anymore since he’s shown team brass the type of production that he’s capable of, says Carl Steward of the San Jose Mercury News.
- The 7th or 8th seed should remain a goal for the Mavericks, writes Tim Cowlishaw of SportsDayDFW, who adds that tanking wouldn’t really guarantee anything for them.
- Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (via Twitter) reports that the Thunder have named Russell Westbrook and Reggie Jackson as their NBPA team player representative and alternative player rep, respectively.
- Matthew Coles of the Associated Press discusses the notable difference that Trey Burke has brought to the table for the Jazz from a point guard standpoint (hat tip to The Detroit News).
- Paul Coro of AZcentral.com talks about the competitive Western Conference playoff chase that lies ahead as it pertains to the Suns.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Nash, Blake, Suns
The Lakers are off until Friday night, but when they return to action, they could be with the services of Kobe Bryant. At this point, it’s possible that Bryant will be playing with a limit on his minutes, though coach Mike D’Antoni isn’t certain of that yet. Here’s more on the Lakers and other notes out of the Pacific..
- The Lakers are going to wait and see what Steve Nash has to offer in practice this week before deciding on what to do, if anything, for a backup to Steve Blake, tweets Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. Ex-Lakers Darius Morris and Chris Duhon may not be sexy options, but Pincus notes that they are both free agents and could probably be inked to non-guaranteed deals (link).
- The Suns are off to a hot start despite starting the year with nine new faces, but they’re not satisfied with their 9-8 mark, writes NBA.com’s Matt Petersen.
- Nick Young has been thriving with the Lakers this season, writes Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. Young had a reputation as a chucker when he was with Washington, but he has grown up and adjusted his game to meet L.A.’s needs.