Demarcus Cousins Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Northwest Notes: Favors, Malone, Pleiss

February 24th, 2016 at 7:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Tuesday morning marked the five year anniversary of the trade that sent Deron Williams to the Nets and landed Derrick Favors in Utah, a place the power forward initially wasn’t thrilled to be headed to, Jody Genessy of The Deseret News writes. But despite his initial concerns, Favors is content playing for the Jazz, Genessy adds. “Welcome to the NBA, basically. That’s my memory,” Favors said. “Coming from New Jersey, being 19 coming all the way over to Utah, a place I’d never been before. It was different, but I grew up, got used to it and I like it here. I’ve matured a lot. Obviously I’m not 19 anymore. My game changed a lot. I’ve changed as a person. Five years ago seems like forever.“ The 24-year-old still has two more seasons remaining on his contract after this one, so his loyalty to the Jazz won’t be put to the test until the summer of 2018, when he is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent.

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

The Jazz are pleased with the development of center Tibor Pleiss and credit his four stints in the D-League this season for his improvement, Genessy notes in the same piece. “He’s getting an opportunity to play. Whatever his play looks like in my mind is what’s being accomplished is just those minutes,” coach Quin Snyder said. “Look at his line, his numbers. He’s fouling less, been more productive. Really, if you watch him, he looks more comfortable and that’s the primary thing.” The 26-year-old has appeared in 15 games for Idaho this season and has averaged 12.6 points and 9.8 rebounds for the Stampede.
The Nuggets are a much more stable team with Michael Malone as head coach, and his no-nonsense demeanor and desire to avoid discord separates him from former Denver coach George Karl, who has had numerous issues since taking over as coach of the Kings, Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post writes. Malone, whom Sacramento was fired last season, has observed Karl’s difficulties getting along with Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, a player with whom Malone had reached a common ground, Kiszla adds. “I was real with him, I was honest with him, I coached him, I disciplined him, I held him accountable. I never tried to be his buddy. I never tried to coach around him,” Malone said of his relationship with Cousins. “And, at the end of the day, I am a competitor. I hate to lose. At the end of the day, DeMarcus is a competitor. He hates to lose. We had that in common.“
One of the reasons that the Blazers are in the playoff hunt this season is the play of shooting guard C.J. McCollum, whose emergence is not a surprise to Portland’s front office, Ian Thomsen of NBA.com writes. “Damian [Lillard] and C.J. are our two best players,” GM Neil Olshey said. “They are our two best passers, our two best shooters and our two best scorers. The irony is, if C.J. doesn’t get hurt in camp as a rookie, then we were having this conversation two years ago. He was that good.“

Heat Notes: Dragic, Bosh, Trade Targets

February 17th, 2016 at 9:00am CST by Chuck Myron

The Heat not surprisingly have interest in soon-to-be free agent Mike Conley, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald passes along via Dan Le Batard of ESPN Radio, and Miami is open to hearing offers for Goran Dragic, Jackson writes. However, the Heat are in no hurry to trade their point guard. The Heat like Jeff Teague and Al Horford, but Miami would need to find a third team to involve in a deal to get Atlanta the assets it wants for them, according to Jackson. DeMarcus Cousins and Jahlil Okafor have also held appeal to Miami, at least as of earlier this season, a source who has spoken with the Heat told Jackson. Moreover, the Heat want to further reduce their luxury tax bill and add a shooter, and they’re continuing to try to make the playoffs despite the health scare for Chris Bosh, who has an encouraging prognosis for his long-term health once his latest blood clot issue is resolved, Jackson reports.

See more from Miami:

The most likely course of action regarding Bosh’s health would probably knock him out for three months, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel, though agent Henry Thomas told Winderman that it’s too soon to know what will happen.
The Heat probably wouldn’t benefit from missing the playoffs as much as they did last year when they snagged the No. 10 pick and Justise Winslow, making Bosh’s situation potentially devastating for the franchise, contends Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. Miami’s first-round pick is again top-10 protected, but lottery and draft-night luck played in the Heat’s favor last year.
Jackson lists Mirza Teletovic, Jerryd Bayless and Wayne Ellington as “options” for the Heat as they look for a shooter, though it’s not entirely clear whether the Heat are indeed interested in them.

And-Ones: Rubio, Anthony, Cousins

February 14th, 2016 at 9:25pm CST by Will Joseph

Ricky Rubio is “readily available,” writes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, but Wolves GM Milt Newton earlier this week told Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities that he hadn’t fielded any offers for the point guard. Still, Newton said he would be obliged to listen if a team came calling. The Knicks are in the market for a point guard, but it’s hard to envision New York having the assets needed to acquire Rubio, Isola notes. Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press further clarifies the situation, tweeting that the Wolves are not shopping Rubio, but they won’t immediately hang up the phone if someone calls to ask.

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

Carmelo Anthony has said he is not looking to leave the Knicks and is not interested in waiving his no-trade clause, but Isola hears Anthony would strongly consider a trade to the Clippers (in the same piece). Isola adds that Anthony has wanted to play with Chris Paul for a while and speculates that a deal involving Blake Griffin would make sense for both teams.
DeMarcus Cousins has been answering to trade rumors all weekend, but the Kings are not going to move him, according to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports’ Pro Basketball Talk. There is little incentive to trade Cousins because he has a reasonable contract, owner Vivek Ranadive loves him and the Kings plan to open a new arena in downtown Sacramento next season, Helin adds. “First of all, I can’t control the trade [rumors] and I can’t control if I’m traded or not,” Cousins said. “But I do want to be in Sacramento, and I know everybody in Sacramento knows that.”
Commissioner Adam Silver hinted that keeping the relative status quo in the next collective bargaining agreement would be OK with him as he spoke Saturday in his All-Star weekend press conference, according to a transcript on NBA.com. “Did we get everything we were looking for in collective bargaining last time? No,” Silver said. “But we feel it’s a fair compromise, and we feel it’s working pretty well.”
Warriors coach and former Suns GM Steve Kerr was inspired to get into coaching because of Jeff Hornacek‘s initial success and expressed disappointment toward Hornacek’s firing, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic relays. “It’s just a jolt of NBA reality,” Kerr said. “Every coach is sort of a victim of circumstance, good or bad. So much depends on the talent that you have and the support you have and the chemistry in your organization and your locker room. Unfortunately, it’s a really, really hard thing to discover or to create. I feel very lucky to have that here because I know it doesn’t exist in most places.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Cousins, Trades, Thunder

February 13th, 2016 at 11:43pm CST by ChrisCrouse

DeMarcus Cousins doesn’t believe he’s in the best situation with the Kings, Ken Berger of CBS Sports writes. “I prefer to be in a perfect situation,” Cousins deadpanned, “but that’ll never happen.” The center described the perfect situation as one where everyone is happy before reiterating that it just won’t happen. “There’s nothing in life that’s perfect,” the 25-year-old said. Cousins will be an unrestricted free agent following the 2017/18 campaign.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

Oklahoma City has a pair of trade exceptions that are set to expire at the trade deadline Thursday, Erik Horne of The Oklahoman notes in a piece that analyzes the Thunder’s trade assets. The team has a $2.2MM trade exception from last year’s Reggie Jackson trade and a trade exception worth roughly $861K from last season’s Ish Smith deal.
If the Rockets look to make drastic changes, Trevor Ariza and Corey Brewer would be realistic trade targets for Oklahoma City, Horne opines in the same piece. The scribe also names Courtney Lee and P.J. Tucker among the players on the market who would be good fits for the Thunder.
The Thunder shouldn’t be making trades to try to bridge the gap between them and Golden State, and they especially shouldn’t consider dealing away Serge Ibaka, Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman argues.

Pacific Notes: Karl, Griffin, Cousins, Watson

February 9th, 2016 at 4:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

The fast pace of the Kings under George Karl has perturbed players and management, and concerns exist over the effect of the two-time cancer survivor’s health on his ability to coach, according to Sam Amick of USA Today. It’s hard for players to hear Karl, who endured neck and throat cancer while with the Nuggets, over the din of NBA arenas, Amick writes. Owner Vivek Ranadive reportedly hired Karl in part to run an up-tempo offense, so it’s odd to see pace become an issue. Still, the Kings have apparently committed to keeping Karl, in spite of reports that they planned to fire him.

“If they let George do his job and coach this team like he’s done in the past, they will get what they are both always seeking, respectability as a team and organization,” Karl’s agent, Warren Legarie, said in a statement to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

See more on the always-entertaining Kings amid the latest from the Pacific Division:

Blake Griffin has been suspended for four games without pay and fined him the equivalent of a fifth game check for reportedly hitting assistant equipment manager Mathias Testi, an incident that left Griffin with a broken right hand, as Dan Woike of the Orange County Register reported and the Clippers shortly thereafter confirmed (Twitter links). It’s officially a team suspension, Amick reports (Twitter link), so the Clippers won’t reap any tax savings as they would have if it were an NBA suspension. The team suspension also allows the Clippers some leeway in determining whether it’ll start before or after Griffin is fully recovered from his hand injury, as Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times points out (on Twitter), though the team has no plan to do so, Woike relays (via Twitter).
The Kings still aren’t seriously considering any DeMarcus Cousins trade before the deadline, but they’re expected to decide soon whether to use the months after the deadline to “lay the groundwork” for a later trade of the star big man, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. That process could take a while, Deveney writes, pointing to Minnesota’s months-long effort to find a suitable Kevin Love deal in 2014.
Interim Suns coach Earl Watson spent only one season with the Spurs organization, as a D-League coach last year, but San Antonio’s philosophy has a clear influence on the style he’s bringing to Phoenix, notes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.

2016 NBA All-Star Game Reserves Announced

January 28th, 2016 at 6:14pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA has officially announced the reserves for the 2016 All-Star game, which will be played at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Sunday, February 14th. The names of the reserves were first reported by Carron J. Phillips of The News Journal and confirmed by Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution (All four Twitter links). The starters for both conferences were announced last week, with Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard voted to tip off the exhibition in the West and LeBron James, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Kyle Lowry slated to represent the East.

While the starters are selected by the fans, reserves are chosen by the coaches in each conference, though they are not permitted to vote for players on their own team. Listed below are the reserves for the 2016 NBA All-Star game for each conference:

Eastern Conference

Chris Bosh (F) — Heat
Jimmy Butler (G/F) — Bulls
DeMar DeRozan (G) — Raptors
Andre Drummond (C) — Pistons
Paul Millsap (F) — Hawks
Isaiah Thomas (G) — Celtics
John Wall (G) — Wizards

Western Conference

LaMarcus Aldridge (F) — Spurs
DeMarcus Cousins (C) — Kings
Anthony Davis (F) — Pelicans
Draymond Green (F) — Warriors
James Harden (G) — Rockets
Chris Paul (G) — Clippers
Klay Thompson (G) — Warriors

Who was the biggest surprise among the All-Star reserves announced tonight? Share your thoughts with a comment.

Western Notes: Karl, Davis, Cotton

January 12th, 2016 at 9:21pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kings coach George Karl admits that the comment he made at the end of last season that any player on the roster was tradeable didn’t get his relationship with DeMarcus Cousins off to a great start, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. “I just can’t stand summer talk,” Karl said. “I mean, free agency, all the money, teams think they saved their organization by signing this guy or making this trade. You have all these obnoxious predictions and it doesn’t mean anything. We got off into that trade innuendo, and I think it hurt Cuz [Cousins]. And I think I made a mistake in making the comment that no player is untradeable. That’s something I might believe, but I shouldn’t have said it. So everything kind of snowballed in the wrong way at the end of last year.”

“My belief was, I never, ever thought I was not going to coach Cuz this year,” Karl continued. “Did you have philosophical discussions? We talk about everything. We meet for 2-3 hours every day and talk about every scenario in the world. And I think Cuz worked his tail off this summer. [Team executive] Vlade [Divac] and I got together with Cuz in the summertime. Vlade’s done a good job of being a good bridge between he and I.”

Here’s more from out West:

Baron Davis, who agreed to join the NBA D-League earlier today, worked out for the Mavericks last Saturday when the team was in Los Angeles, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), but coach Rick Carlisle laughed off the report, as SB Nation’s Tim Cato relays (on Twitter).
Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff continues to learn while on the job, something that is vital if he hopes to remain in the position on a long-term basis, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com writes. “Every day you learn something,” Bickerstaff said. “That’s the same as assistant coach and the same as a head coach. You should continue to learn. You watch so much basketball you should see something somewhere from somebody different all the time. I hope I continue to learn. If I don’t then I know everything.“
Bryce Cotton, whom the Suns waived prior to the leaguewide contract guarantee date, has rejoined the Austin Spurs in the NBA D-League, tweets Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor.

Pacific Notes: Rondo, Butler, Barnes, Ezeli

January 11th, 2016 at 5:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

Rajon Rondo has earned the complete trust of DeMarcus Cousins, which is no easy task, TNT’s David Aldridge writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Rondo, who’s on a one-year, $9.5MM contract, is “the most unselfish player I’ve ever played with,” Cousins told Aldridge. Rondo said to Aldridge that he signed with the Kings in part to mentor the center, adding that he’s wanted to play with Cousins for the past four or five years. It’s all cast against the backdrop of a Sacramento team that’s just two games out of a playoff spot, and the presence of Caron Butler has had much to do with the team’s improvement, Rondo contends. The Kings reportedly promised to trade Butler last month, but he’s still with the team. See more from the Pacific Division:

Warriors assistant GM Kirk Lacob, the son of co-owner Joe Lacob, hinted at the team’s willingness to pay whatever it takes to re-sign Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli in restricted free agency this summer as he spoke in a recent radio appearance on 95.7 FM The Game’s “NBA This Week” show. Host Matt Steinmetz has the transcription. “Both those guys are a part of the core,” Lacob said in part. “Hopefully we’ll have this team for a number of years to come. If it costs a lot of money, it’s going to cost a lot of money. It probably will. A lot of our players have come up in free agency the last year or two and if they continue to perform we’re going to continue to pay them. We’re 34-2 [now 35-2], we’re trying to get a second championship here. There’s a lot of room for improvement of course, but there’s a lot of power to continuity.”
Numbers suggest that Julius Randle is on track to have a career similar to that of Drew Gooden, a sign that he’s not on the path to stardom the Lakers hoped for him, writes Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com in an Insider-only piece co-authored with Chad Ford. D’Angelo Russell is the only one among the Lakers’ young players who has a strong chance to become an above-average starter, Pelton contends.
The Lakers have recalled Tarik Black and Ryan Kelly from the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). They went down to the D-Fenders together on Friday. Black averaged 11.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in two D-League games this weekend, while Kelly posted averages of 26.0 points and 6.5 boards a night.

Western Notes: Aldridge, Wolves, Kings

January 3rd, 2016 at 8:28pm CST by Will Joseph

LaMarcus Aldridge averaged more than 20 points per game in each of his final five seasons with the Blazers, yet even though he is scoring only 15.8 points per game for the Spurs, San Antonio is delighted with how the offseason acquisition has started to gel with his new team, Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News writes.

“It’s difficult to do in your first year,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, per McDonald. “A lot of guys take a whole year to get used to us. He’s been remarkable in catching on this quickly.”

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

While Wolves owner Glen Taylor has said interim coach Sam Mitchell has this season to prove himself, Mitchell doesn’t concern himself with the job’s labeling or his future beyond 2015/16, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune relays. “My job is to coach the team and do what I think is right to do,” Mitchell said. “I don’t worry about whether I’m going to be here or not. My job is to teach these players to the best of my ability so that whoever is coaching this team, whether it’s me or anybody else, at least these guys have any idea how to play.”
DeMarcus Cousins‘ interaction with George Karl still remains as an interesting topic because of their rocky relationship over the summer, so it was not surprising that Cousins was asked about his high-five to the Kings coach following Karl being called for a technical foul Saturday, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee writes. “I’ve told y’all before, honestly, it’s not about that,” Cousins said. “As long as we’re on the same page and have the same goal on a nightly basis, that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter if we’re friends or whatever the case may be. It’s about winning games; that’s all that matters.”
In a chat with readers, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News writes that he believes the Mavs will make a trade before the deadline, though he does not necessarily think it will be a significant one.

Pacific Notes: Cousins, Chandler, Walton

January 2nd, 2016 at 3:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Kings are at a critical point in relation to the direction of the franchise, and the question must be asked if center DeMarcus Cousins is the player the team should be building around, Sam Amick of USA Today writes. Cousins is on his fifth coach since entering the league and Sacramento has yet to eclipse the 30 win mark with the big man as the focal point, which isn’t a glowing endorsement of his ability to be the franchise’s anchor going forward, Amick notes.

Coach George Karl is also questioning the team’s demeanor and the roster’s lack of defensive-minded players, Amick adds. “My thought, and I told the team my thought, is inconsistent intensity, inconsistent focus, inconsistent toughness and mental discipline,” Karl said. “Too many times we’ve come out on this court and we’ve been the quiet team, or the soft team, or the cool team, and not the man team. My feeling is we have too many offensive players. We don’t have enough guts to make stops.”

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

The Suns find themselves in a difficult spot regarding rebuilding the roster, and with approximately $110MM committed to the backcourt duo of Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight through 2018/19, the team’s best course of action would be to attempt to deal Tyson Chandler and Markieff Morris in order to clear cap space, writes Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders. Phoenix should also consider waiving small forward P.J. Tucker and his partially guaranteed pact this offseason, which would free up an additional $3.7MM in cap room, Greene adds.
Warriors interim coach Luke Walton was the perfect choice for the franchise to fill in for Steve Kerr while he recovers from back surgery, Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group writes. Leung cites Walton’s humble demeanor and excellent preparedness as reasons why he was able to find immediate success, though Golden State’s talented roster certainly was a major benefit for the young coach as well.