Western Notes: Suns, Favors, Hayward, Kings
Executives from around the league who spoke recently to Grantland’s Zach Lowe believed there might be only one solid veteran on a poor team capable of enticing another club to give up a first-round pick in a trade. That player was Marcin Gortat, and the Suns indeed extracted a first-rounder from the Wizards when they traded Gortat last week. GM Ryan McDonough acknowledges to Greg Esposito of Suns.com that his team has plenty of “valuable currency” with the potential for six first-round picks in the next two drafts, and that he could use them all or package some of them in a trade for a star. While we wait to see how teams pivot from opening night to the trade deadline, here’s more from the West:
- Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey wants Derrick Favors to “increase his motor” this season, and Kurt Kragthorpe of The Salt Lake Tribune believes it’s critical for the team that Favors begin fulfilling his potential now that he has his long-term extension.
- Gordon Hayward is also negotiating an extension with the Jazz, though the sides are far apart on a deal. Favors told Matthew Coles of The Associated Press that it’s a priority for him that Hayward stick around. “Me and Gordon, we’ve been together going on three years now and we went to USA Basketball camp together so we have a good chemistry going. It’s important to keep the core together for the future,” Favors said.
- The NBA isn’t worried about a petition drive to put funding for a new arena for the Kings on the ballot in Sacramento, as Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com explains (on Sulia). The league is confident that voters would back the funding measure.
- We rounded up more news from the Pacific and Southwest divisions earlier today.
Pacific Notes: Bogut, Kobe, Tyler, Suns
Let’s round up a few Monday items out of the Pacific Division….
- Grantland’s Zach Lowe examines last Friday’s two big deals, the Wizards‘ acquisition of Marcin Gortat and the Warriors‘ extension for Andrew Bogut. In Lowe’s view, the Suns made out very well in the Gortat swap, which looks like the result of a win-now mandate for Washington. Meanwhile, Lowe considers Bogut’s deal a risky one for Golden State, but hopes it works out, since the league is better off with the former first overall pick healthy.
- Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News goes in-depth on Bogut’s new contract and the Warriors‘ long-term cap situation, reporting some new details on the agreement with Bogut. According to Kawakami, there is no trade kicker included in Bogut’s extension, which features up to 15% in unlikely bonuses in each season.
- In his latest piece for SBNation.com, Tom Ziller examines Jim Buss’ comments on Kobe Bryant‘s contract situation and attempts to identify Buss’ motives.
- After cutting him last week, the Knicks are trying to obtain Jeremy Tyler‘s D-League rights from Golden State’s D-League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post. Tyler, who is rehabbing a foot injury, is free to sign with any NBA team, but can’t join a D-League team besides Santa Cruz unless the Warriors agree to a deal to relinquish his rights.
- Dionte Christmas, Ishmael Smith, and Viacheslav Kravtsov, who earned spots on the Suns‘ opening night roster, have learned not to take having an NBA job for granted, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic details.
Pacific Notes: Dragic, Bogut, Kings, Iguodala
Many around the NBA believe Goran Dragic will be the next player the Suns trade away after Friday’s Marcin Gortat deal, but Phoenix GM Ryan McDonough insists that won’t be the case, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic notes. “He’s a good player on a good contract and a great guy,” McDonough said. “So, no, we’re not looking to move Goran Dragic.” Andrew Bogut is another player who probably won’t be traded this year now that he’s signed his extension, and he’s glad to stick around the Warriors, as we explain amid our look around the Pacific:
- Andrew Bogut understands he could have snagged a better payday if he had held off on an extension and performed well this season, but he tells Sam Amick of USA Today that he didn’t want to play the season as a trade candidate on an expiring contract. Bogut says he’s put his anger about the Warriors‘ pursuit of Dwight Howard behind him and encourages his teammates to take discounts on their next deals so the team can stay together.
- The Kings face a Thursday deadline for decisions on Jimmer Fredette‘s fourth-year option and extensions for Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson, and GM Pete D’Alessandro remains circumspect, observes Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee. “We’re still looking at things and evaluating before making a decision. … I think there’s some spirited conversations going on about all the guys near the deadline,” D’Alessandro said.
- The moves that D’Alessandro and company have made so far during their brief tenure aren’t above reproach, but the key is whether their long-term investment in DeMarcus Cousins works out, The Bee’s Ailene Voisin opines.
- Carl Landry should be out a few more months with his hip injury, so camp invitee Hamady N’Diaye could remain with the Kings for a while, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.com.
- Andre Iguodala‘s arrival to Golden State raises the expectations for the Warriors, as Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle examines.
Southeast Notes: Wizards, Griffin, Dawson
It wasn’t exactly 2012’s James Harden blockbuster, but the Wizards‘ acquisition of Marcin Gortat last night, just days before the season gets underway, was a bold and surprising move by Washington. Our latest round of Southeast items has some more info on that deal, as well as other notes from around the division….
- The Suns and Wizards had been talking about making a deal for a few weeks, and the major holdup involved wrangling over the amount of protection on the first-rounder going from Washington to Phoenix, according to Michael Lee of the Washington Post. J. Michael of CSNWashington.com adds that the swap was fast-tracked over the past few days when it became increasingly clear to the Wizards that Emeka Okafor would miss a significant portion of the season.
- Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld left the door open for his team to open a max player next summer, tweets Lee.
- Amin Elhassan breaks down the Wizards/Suns trade in an Insider-only piece for ESPN.com.
- After being cut by the Heat, Eric Griffin is considering playing in China, according to Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald (Twitter link).
- Eric Dawson, who was released by the Hawks today, will sign with the Austin Toros of the D-League, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.com.
- Mike Miller‘s attorney told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald that his client is planning to sue the Heat after the club allegedly introduced him to a con man who pocketed his investment money. Meanwhile, Miller told Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press that he did not authorize his lawyer to give out that information and wrote, via text, that he is grateful for the way he and his family were treated by the club.
Suns Pick Up Options On Plumlee, Morris Twins
The Suns have exercised their 2014/15 options on center Miles Plumlee and forwards Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). Markieff Morris will make $2,989,239 next season, slightly more than his twin brother Marcus, who’ll earn $2,943,221. The option covers the fourth season for both Morrises, while Plumlee’s $1,169,880 option is for his third, as our rookie contract option tracker shows.
Plumlee has impressed in the preseason after arriving over the summer via trade from the Pacers, and his improvement made the Suns more comfortable with trading Marcin Gortat to the Wizards. Marcus Morris also came to the Suns in a trade, as the Rockets shipped him to Phoenix at the deadline in February. Houston drafted him 14th overall in 2011, one pick before the Suns took his brother at No. 15, which accounts for the slight difference in salary between the two.
The more than $7.1MM the exercised options add to Phoenix’s books still leave the team with ample projected cap space next summer. The Suns will have only about $22.1MM in commitments for 2014/15, about $40MM beneath the cap.
Reaction To Suns/Wizards Trade
Marcin Gortat took to Twitter to share his reaction to the trade that sent him from the Suns to the Wizards today, writing that he’s glad the deal happened before the season instead of in the middle of it. He also tweeted that he doesn’t have any hard feelings toward the Phoenix brass, calling Ryan McDonough “an amazing GM” for the Suns, and he expressed his excitement about playing with Nene. The man known as The Polish Hammer isn’t the only one with an opinion on the deal, and we’ve got more insight here:
- J. Michael of CSNWashington.com calls the trade a win for both teams, and believes the three others headed to the Wizards in this deal — Kendall Marshall, Malcolm Lee and, in particular, Shannon Brown — could be claimed on waivers when Washington cuts them, as expected. If another team claims them, it would take their salaries off the Wizards’ books.
- The pressure is on the Wizards to make the playoffs, and the trade makes the need for a postseason berth even more dire for GM Ernie Grunfeld and coach Randy Wittman, according to USA Today’s Adi Joseph, who thinks there was a touch of desperation involved.
- TNT’s David Aldridge disagrees that the Wizards made the deal out of desperation, calling it “a classic NBA trade” involving one team with playoff hopes and another one robbing the present to invest in the future.
- Miles Plumlee‘s development makes the loss of Gortat easier to stomach, McDonough told reporters, including Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. “Miles Plumlee’s progress is a big reason we did this trade,” McDonough said. “Miles was a big part of the deal we did with Indiana (also getting Gerald Green and a pick for Luis Scola). Our coaching staff has been very pleased with Miles. He’s improved ever since he left Duke and a lot in the short time he’s been with us.”
- There have been trade rumors swirling around Gortat since last season, but McDonough said the team wasn’t especially anxious to move him, as Coro notes in the same piece. “We think he’s an above-average center and it took a great deal to do it,” the GM said, adding that “the way we build the next great Suns team is through the draft.”
- There are fears that Suns acquisition Emeka Okafor will miss the entire season, as we noted earlier.
Emeka Okafor May Miss All Of 2013/14
There hasn’t been any official timetable given for Emeka Okafor‘s recovery from a herniated disk in his neck, but Chris Mannix of SI.com hears the injury could keep him out all season (Twitter link). Others, including TNT’s David Aldridge, have noted that the Suns didn’t acquire Okafor and his expiring contract for what he could give them on the court, and it appears he may never take the court for Phoenix at all (Twitter link).
The notion that Okafor might miss the entire season clearly lent a sense of urgency to the Wizards negotiations to trade for Marcin Gortat. Washington has aspirations of making the playoffs this season, and the team would have been forced to scramble for a center if Okafor couldn’t play. Wizards coach Randy Wittman could have made Nene the starting pivotman, but the Brazilian prefers to guard opposing power forwards, as Mannix points out on Twitter.
Okafor will make $14,487,500 this season in the final year of his deal. The Suns will likely go with Miles Plumlee, whom they acquired via trade this summer from the Pacers, or Alex Len, the fifth pick from this year’s draft, as their starting center.
Goran Dragic Next In Line To Leave Suns?
There is a “growing expectation” around the league that the Suns will at some point try to trade Goran Dragic in a deal similar to this afternoon’s Marcin Gortat swap, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com writes in his report on today’s deal. The Suns remain in talks with point guard Eric Bledsoe about a rookie-scale extension, and Dragic plays the same position. The Suns have expressed optimism that Bledsoe and Dragic can coexist as backcourt partners, but that might be more a stopgap solution than a long-term plan.
Dragic, 27, is entering the second season of a four-year deal that pays him $7.5MM annually and includes a player option for 2015/16. Phoenix may be loath to commit that kind of money long-term to a player who shares a position with one of its young building blocks. The Suns might be more inclined to keep Dragic around if they can’t reach a deal on an extension for Bledsoe by the October 31st deadline, but the Suns ultimately wield the hammer with Bledsoe, since they could match offers for him if he becomes a restricted free agent next summer.
The notion that the Suns may look to do a deal similar to the Gortat trade suggests GM Ryan McDonough will again look for a first-round pick, as he did today when he secured the Wizards’ 2014 first-rounder and this summer when he acquired the same bounty from Indiana for Luis Scola. The Suns have their own 2014 first-round pick, and they could wind up with the 2014 first-rounders of the T-Wolves, Pacers and Wizards, depending on how protection on each of those draft choices plays out. McDonough might want to fortify his picks for 2015 and beyond, drafts for which the only pick the Suns are owed is the Lakers’ 2015 first-rounder.
Wizards Acquire Marcin Gortat From Suns
6:02pm: The Wizards have officially announced the trade on their website. The Suns have also made an announcement via their site.
5:23pm: TNT’s David Aldridge’s tweets more about the protection on the first-round pick the Wizards are sending to Phoenix: If it falls inside the top 12 for 2014, it’ll be top-10 protected from 2015 through 2019, and unprotected after that.
4:24pm: The Wizards will acquire Marcin Gortat from the Suns, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein (via Twitter). Stein reports that Emeka Okafor will head to Phoenix in the deal, while Shannon Brown and Kendall Marshall will join Gortat en route to Washington (Twitter link).
Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com fills in a couple more details, tweeting that the Suns will acquire a protected 2014 first-rounder, while Malcolm Lee will also head to Washington. According to Goodman (via Twitter), the first-round pick acquired by Phoenix will be top-12 protected in ’14. The Suns now hold the Pacers’, Wolves’, and Wizards’ first-round picks, in addition to their own.
For the Wizards, the move will provide more scoring punch in the frontcourt, not to mention a healthier center — Okafor is out indefinitely with a herniated disc, whereas Gortat can be plugged into the lineup immediately. Brown, Marshall and Lee appear to be salary throw-ins, as Michael Lee of the Washington Post tweets that they aren’t expected to stick in Washington.
By reaching an agreement before the season begins, the Wizards will be able to complete the four-for-one trade without waiving three players already on their roster. Once Washington finalizes the deal, it will have 18 players on guaranteed contracts, three of which will need to be dropped before opening night, and it looks like the three extra players in this swap are the prime candidates.
All five players involved in the trade are essentially on expiring contracts. Only Marshall has years on his deal beyond 2013/14, but the final two years on his contract are team options, which the Wizards could decline if they so choose.
For the Suns, the deal clears up their roster logjam. Phoenix had 17 players with full or partial guarantees, but now will be carrying just 14 players, giving the club the option of adding another free agent.
The salaries going in both directions nearly match up exactly, so neither team gains a significant amount of cap relief in the deal, but the Wizards should save about $370K in the move. Considering the team had less than $1MM in breathing room before hitting the tax line, that extra flexibility could come in handy by season’s end. Washington also should create a small trade exception in the transaction which, by my calculations, will be worth about $1.25MM.
Odds & Ends: Jazz, Suns, 2014 FAs, Turner
Speaking to Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune, Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey offered up some thoughts on the team’s decision not to trade Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap last season, and discussed a rebuilding process that dates back to the Deron Williams trade. Lindsey referred to the 2013/14 season as one of “discovery,” and suggested that other teams will be keeping an eye on Utah to see how the club’s plan progresses
“If it works, I think they’ll really like it,” Lindsey said. “It’s a copycat league.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:
- Ishmael Smith and Kendall Marshall are likely fighting for a single roster spot with the Suns, according to head coach Jeff Hornacek (Twitter link via Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic). If Smith earns that spot, Marshall figures to be cut just 16 months after being selected in the draft lottery.
- Sean Deveney of the Sporting News takes an early look at the 2014 free agent market, and talks to several executives who believe there will be more smoke than fire next summer. “It’s a lot of hot air,” said one general manager. “You’re going to see most guys just re-sign with the teams they are on and not much else.”
- Evan Turner isn’t stressing about his contract situation, telling Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link) that whether he signs an extension or becomes a free agent, “I’m gonna get money regardless.”
- In his latest piece for SBNation.com, Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com explains why second-round picks are becoming increasingly valuable to NBA teams.