Western Notes: Morris, Howard, Harden, Wolves
The saga of trade candidate Markieff Morris in Phoenix took another turn Wednesday when Morris threw a towel in coach Jeff Hornacek‘s direction while verbally directing his anger at the coach during the fourth quarter of Phoenix’s loss to Denver, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic details. Hornacek, who’d just taken Morris out of the game, tossed the towel back at Morris as he shared his own angry words with the power forward whom the Suns have reportedly had serious discussions about trading.
“He’s mad about not playing,” Hornacek said after the game, according to Coro. “I look at the stat sheet. He’s a minus-13 in 12 minutes. So there, I took him out. … He thinks he’s better than that. Show me.”
Hornacek said a discussion will take place among team officials about possible discipline for the towel-toss, which evoked memories of Robert Horry throwing a towel in coach Danny Ainge’s face during a game in 1997 when they were with the Suns. See more from the Western Conference:
- Coach J.B. Bickerstaff met with Dwight Howard and James Harden about their leadership roles and how they can function together, and the two stars have begun to work more closely with each other in practice, observes Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle. Howard has on multiple occasions denied a report that he’s upset with playing a secondary role to Harden. “It’s been great,” Howard said of his practice work with Harden. “The thing we are trying to build on the most is chemistry between me and James. We have played together for two years, but the best way to build chemistry is to have those individual workouts together. That’s what we have done the last couple of weeks and we have gotten better at reading each other and the more we do it, the better we will become.”
- Former Grizzlies CEO Jason Levien is an investor in Steve Kaplan’s bidding group for a 30% stake in the Timberwolves, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Conflicting reports emerged in November about whether Levien was involved. The Kaplan group is reportedly progressing toward a deal that would see them eventually take over a controlling interest in the team.
- Losing to the Suns last week prompted the Pelicans to hold a players-only meeting, Anthony Davis said Wednesday, according to John Reid of The Times Picayune. New Orleans has won both of its games since then. The team has gone 8-8 after an 1-11 start under new coach Alvin Gentry, who criticized the effort of the players after the Phoenix loss, as Reid points out.
Western Notes: Howard, Rondo, Kaman, Payne
Dwight Howard is “extremely unhappy” as a secondary option to James Harden on the Rockets, league sources tell Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops, but a source tells Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com that “everybody is unhappy” (Twitter link), with everybody presumably a reference to all of the Rockets. Houston has played better since last month’s coaching change, but the team is still just 12-13. Howard and Harden have never truly meshed, as Fran Blinebury of NBA.com wrote last month, adding that members of each other’s camp went into the 2014 offseason “whispering” about their desire to get rid of the other. Sheridan speculates about trade scenarios involving Howard, but no indication exists that the Rockets would indeed entertain any deals for the 30-year-old who has a player option worth more than $23.282MM for next season. Howard is No. 6 in our latest 2016 Free Agent Power Rankings. See more from the Western Conference:
- Rajon Rondo apologized to referee Bill Kennedy today in the point guard’s second statement in response to the controversy surrounding the homophobic slur he used during a game earlier this month as an insult to Kennedy, who is gay. Some took issue with his first statement, which he issued Monday via two tweets, for its lack of a direct apology, and executives who spoke with Ken Berger of CBSSports.com offered split opinions on whether the matter would affect Rondo’s free agency this summer.
- The Trail Blazers are making Chris Kaman available for trades, league sources told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops. Kaman is pulling down $5.016MM this season, the last one on his contract. A sprained right ankle has helped limit him to just three appearances so far in 2015/16.
- Timberwolves power forward Adreian Payne is also available, league sources said to Scotto for the same report. Payne, who’s earning almost $1.939MM in the second season of his rookie scale contract, was the 15th overall pick of the 2014 draft, but he’s played sparingly since. He’s averaging 3.5 points in 10.3 minutes per game across 15 appearances for Minnesota so far this season, though the team committed to him financially less than two months ago when it picked up his 2016/17 team option.
Western Notes: Harden, Knight, Dekker
Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony believes that Kevin Durant will re-sign with the Thunder next summer when he becomes an unrestricted free agent, citing Durant’s ties to the Oklahoma Cty community, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. “C’mon, man, he just got into the [Oklahoma] Hall of Fame,’’ Anthony said. “He brought this team here [from Seattle]. He didn’t bring this team here, but he’s a big part of Oklahoma as a whole, not just from a basketball standpoint but from an economic and business standpoint. He’s a major part of what goes on here.’’
Anthony also noted that Durant doesn’t need to play in a larger city in order to maximize his earning potential, Berman adds. “Nowadays with the way social media is, I don’t think you have to be in a major market to get those opportunities,’’ Anthony said. “The way our TV deal is, you’re seen all the over the world now. Not just in big markets.’’
Here’s more from out West:
- Durant and Russell Westbrook “weren’t big fans” of James Harden during their time together with the Thunder, writes Sam Smith of Bulls.com. Smith, writing in his mailbag column, takes Harden to task for what he sees as an individualistic playing style. The Rockets will presumably be one of the many suitors for Durant when he hits free agency this summer, and Harden is under contract with Houston through the 2017/18 season.
- Brandon Knight understands the business side of the game, but that didn’t prevent him from being deeply disappointed when the Bucks dealt him to the Suns last season, Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports writes. “I wouldn’t say it hurt,” Knight told Lee. “It was more about the brotherhood we had built. Being on the worst team in the league and being able to turn that around. And for them to try to step on that, based on whatever the case may be – money or whatever it is – what’s the point in that?” Knight also noted that he doesn’t harbor any bad feelings toward the Bucks or Pistons, who also traded him, Lee relays. “In the long run, I know the type of player I am, can be, or that I will be,” Knight said. “I’m not out to prove this guy wrong, or that guy wrong, because then, you get caught up in failure. I’m just focused on myself, making sure I’m not cheating myself. In turn, I know that I’ll prove the people wrong that doubt me.”
- Rockets rookie combo forward Sam Dekker underwent successful surgery today to repair damage to his back, the team announced. Houston did not provide a timetable for Dekker’s return, though Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reported that the rookie would miss approximately three months of action.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Texas Notes: McHale, Harden, Howard, Aldridge
The poor play of the Rockets to start the season struck a chord with owner Leslie Alexander, but he admits changing coaches from Kevin McHale to interim boss J.B. Bickerstaff isn’t guaranteed to fix the team’s problems, as Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle relays.
“You don’t know for sure, right?” Alexander said. “But when you watch your team play and you know you’re going to lose … I knew I was going to lose the Boston game. I knew I was going to lose the Golden State game. I knew I was going to get crushed. I knew the way the players were playing, the way they were playing defensively. They weren’t playing hard, they weren’t running back. And they were sloppy. Their movements were sloppy. I knew we were going to lose.”
Still, myriad reasons, from injuries to poor shooting to roster moves that haven’t panned out, exist for Alexander to have drawn a different conclusion about the best way to turn the team around, Solomon posits. See more on the Rockets amid the latest from the Texas Triangle:
- The respective camps around James Harden and Dwight Howard each went into the 2014 offseason “whispering” about their desire to get rid of the other, and the stars have never truly meshed, writes Fran Blinebury of NBA.com. That neither has become a strong locker room leader is central to the Rockets‘ issues, Blinebury believes.
- The Spurs‘ offense has lagged alarmingly when the starting five has played, and while LaMarcus Aldridge, averaging only 14.8 points per game, rejects the notion that he should demand the ball more often, the Spurs didn’t sign him to reprise Tiago Splitter‘s role, argues Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. Spurs coach/executive Gregg Popovich believes the ex-Blazer must find a balance between fitting in the team’s egalitarian system and rediscovering his own high-scoring game, McDonald notes.
- Trade acquisition Zaza Pachulia has meshed with Dirk Nowitzki on the inside, and that’s helped offset the sluggish 3-point shooting of the Mavs guards so far, fueling the team’s surprising 8-4 start, observes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
Rockets Notes: Harden, Bickerstaff, Lawson, Howard
James Harden admits responsibility falls on him to play better defense, and getting him to stick to that notion is job one on a daunting list of tasks for Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff, as Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle believes.
“That’s probably one of the reasons why the [team] energy has been so low,” Harden said. “Making shots or missing shots, I’ve got to bring my game.”
See more on the Rockets one day after they fired Kevin McHale:
- Bickerstaff understands the impatience around the franchise and his limited window of opportunity, and he plans to push the team harder than McHale had, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports examines. Still, Bickerstaff feels he owes a debt of gratitude to his predecessor, who brought him to Houston, promoted him, and gave him raises, Wojnarowski writes. “He did everything in his power to protect me, to protect my family,” Bickerstaff said of McHale. “He went out on a limb to support me.”
- The Rockets moved Ty Lawson to the bench for Wednesday’s game, just as McHale said before his ouster that he was thinking about doing, and it’s a move that the point guard said he’s on board with, as ClutchFans relays on Twitter. “Whatever for the team to win, I’m ready to do,” Lawson said.
- Lawson, who called for Tuesday’s players-only meeting, has been dreadful thus far for Houston, symbolizing the team’s sluggish start, writes Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post.
- Dwight Howard believes he had a strong relationship with McHale and feels down about the team’s decision to let him go, as Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle relays. “We can’t control what ownership does,” Howard said. “If they want to get rid of a player or a coach, that’s their decision. None of us had a clue what was going on. That [players-only] meeting was all about us. We didn’t even mention the coaches.”
- Corey Brewer feels responsible for the firing, and said the blame shouldn’t be on McHale for the team’s slow start, as Creech notes in the same piece. “I don’t think [McHale] lost the locker room,” Brewer said. “This isn’t a fractured locker room. We just haven’t been playing like we should be. We have new pieces, different things to put together, but right now it’s about being men, looking in the mirror and coming out and playing hard every night.”
- Owner Leslie Alexander’s fervent desire for a title has driven the Rockets to become overeager to find solutions, like the hasty decision to fire McHale, an old-school denizen whose open-mindedness to GM Daryl Morey‘s analytics had made their working relationship function, Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding opines.
Western Notes: Powell, Aldridge, Knight
The strong play of Dwight Powell for the Mavericks has given the franchise some enduring benefit from last season’s trade for Rajon Rondo, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com writes. Powell has worked extremely hard to develop his game, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed or unappreciated by his teammates, MacMahon adds. “The kid basically sleeps in the gym,” Mavs power forward Dirk Nowitzki told reporters. “He never goes home. It seems like every time I come in, he’s in there working, either lifting or running or shooting. He just wants to get better all the time. Now that he’s got some playing time, he’s still working harder than everybody else.” The 24-year-old is averaging 10.5 points and 8.1 rebounds thus far this season, well above his career numbers of 5.2 PPG and 3.5 RPG.
Here’s more from the West:
- The Suns‘ decision to acquire Brandon Knight from the Bucks last season is finally starting to pay off, with Knight playing some of the best basketball of his young career as he and Eric Bledsoe mesh perfectly together, writes Tom Ziller of SB Nation in his analysis of Phoenix’s backcourt duo.
- The Spurs have recalled Jonathon Simmons from their D-League affiliate in Austin, the team announced via press release. Simmons notched 17 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in one contest on his assignment.
- LaMarcus Aldridge remains happy with his decision to join the Spurs over the offseason, and he is pleased with his relationship with coach Gregg Popovich thus far, Ananth Pandian of CBSSports.com writes. “He’s very particular as far as basketball, you know, doing things right,” Aldridge said about his new coach. “But as soon as the game is over, he’s on to a different thing, making sure we are good as human beings. I think that’s a really good balance. He doesn’t burn you out. He’s not always basketball, basketball, basketball. He actually gives you the time to be free.”
- It’s the play and “aloofness” of James Harden that’s frustrated Rockets teammates, Jeff Zillgitt and Sam Amick of USA Today write, clarifying Zillgitt’s earlier tweet that Harden’s “style” had created tension.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Reactions To Rockets Firing Kevin McHale
The Rockets fired coach Kevin McHale earlier today and installed J.B Bickerstaff as the interim coach for the remainder of the season. GM Daryl Morey said that he has not lost faith in the team’s ability to contend, and cited the lack of time to dally in the rugged Western Conference as reasoning for making the coaching move. Here’s what is being said around the league regarding McHale and Houston parting ways:
- James Harden‘s “style” has created tension within the Rockets, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today, and while that’s short on specifics, a follow-up tweet from Zillgitt suggests that it’s Harden’s playing style that’s irking some on the team. Still, Harden and Dwight Howard were both upbeat following Tuesday’s players-only meeting, which preceded the team’s coaching change today.
- McHale admits that his situation in Houston was growing untenable, though he does believe that he could have turned things around, writes Jonathan Feigen of he Houston Chronicle. “We probably had more meetings in last six weeks than in my previous four years here,” said McHale. “It wasn’t working.”
- The coach understood that a change could be coming after the Rockets’ loss to the Nuggets last Friday, and McHale wasn’t surprised by the team’s decision to let him go, Brian Geltzeiler of HoopsCritic.com tweets.
- An opposing GM placed the blame for McHale’s departure on Howard and Harden, saying, “A team with James Harden and Dwight Howard as the stars had to fire the coach? Gee, shocking,” Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.com relays (Twitter link).
- Mavs coach Rick Carlisle called McHale’s firing, “preposterous,” Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com tweets. “It’s very disappointing to hear, but Kevin will be fine,” Carlisle added.
- Rockets team owner Leslie Alexander notes that it was Bickerstaff’s defensive acumen and the players’ familiarity with him that led to his appointment as interim coach, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com writes. “We spoke to him and we think he’s a good young coach with a lot of experience,” Alexander told Watkins. “He is on the defensive end which we really need a lot of help on. We have a good offensive coordinator [Chris Finch] so at the same time we have both. J.B. has a good relationship with the players, which I think is very important. If they didn’t know him it would be tough in the adjustment process. Now it’s much quicker.“
- The Rockets appear to have demonstrated conflicting priorities with the team’s coaching staff, continually adding offensive-minded players while eschewing team defense, write Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. “Is this the first crack in the analytics revolution, where they start hanging the revolutionaries themselves?” [The Rockets] still haven’t figured out chemistry. They keep adding and adding, but none of it fits,” an NBA coach told Berger.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
And-Ones: LeBron, Silver, Labissiere, Bender
LeBron James isn’t pressuring the Cavs to make moves amid the absence of key players, observes Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. Kevin Love is set to take part in a full practice for the first time this weekend, Vardon’s Northeast Ohio Media Group colleague Chris Haynes writes, but Kyrie Irving is still out, Iman Shumpert isn’t expected back for about three months, and Tristan Thompson remains unsigned.
“Until Kyrie and Tristan and Shump is ready, we have enough guys that will all help,” James said. “It’s not about me carrying the team and that nature. We’re all grown men, we’re all professionals and they’re here to do their job.”
While we wait to see if the Cavs can indeed overcome being shorthanded, here’s more from around the league:
- It’s unclear whether formal labor talks between commissioner Adam Silver and union executive director Michele Roberts have taken place, but Silver told Raúl Barrigón of HoopsHype that the two have remained in communication (All Twitter links). “We continue to talk all the time,” Silver said. “I think Michele Roberts and I both have the same goal which is to avoid any sort of work stoppage. And we know one of the ways to avoid a work stoppage is to talk early and often. And we’re doing that.”
- Top 2016 draft prospect Skal Labissiere has yet to receive NCAA clearance to play this season at Kentucky, his guardian tells Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. The NCAA has scrutinized the relationship between the guardian and the 7’0″ forward/center, Goodman hears, but it’s not clear if that’s the reason for the holdup. Labissiere is the top prospect in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings while Chad Ford of ESPN.com has him second.
- Dragan Bender impressed NBA scouts and executives with his play in exhibitions in Chicago and New York last week, according to Ford, who has the 17-year-old small forward at No. 3 in his ranking of the top 2016 draft prospects (Twitter links).
- Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari became the first players to sign renegotiations-and-extensions under the current collective bargaining agreement this summer, but with the cap rising, a greater chance exists that this rarely used contract tool comes into play more often, notes Nate Duncan of Nylon Calculus. Duncan examines potential renegotiation-and-extension scenarios for DeMarcus Cousins, James Harden and others, arguing that such a move would make sense for both Cousins and the Kings in 2017.
Fallout From/Reaction To Ty Lawson Deal
Ty Lawson‘s drinking habit had concerned teams even when he entered the NBA, according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe, who hears from several sources who say that it helped dissuade the Celtics from trading for him while they were in talks with the Nuggets before the February deadline. The video that depicts him smoking from a hookah and predicting that the Nuggets would trade him to the Kings as he watched Denver select Emmanuel Mudiay in the draft was a turn-off for potential suitors, too, Lowe writes. Lowe and others have more on the trade agreement, as we’ll pass along here:
- The Lakers were the only team other than the Rockets to express interest in Lawson shortly before the deal, according to Lowe, though Chris Mannix of SI.com heard the Pistons also did.
- Nick Johnson, one of the players heading to the Nuggets, didn’t get along with the coaching staff at the Rockets D-League affiliate while on assignment last season, several league sources told Lowe.
- The Nuggets face a scramble to complete the trade before the close of business today so that they can waive Pablo Prigioni, as they reportedly intend to do, before his partial guarantee of $440K becomes a full guarantee of nearly $1.735MM, as former Nets executive Bobby Marks details. Teams can waive physicals and the requirement that the players report, but it would be up to the Rockets to do so with Lawson, Marks notes. Also, players in the final year of their respective contracts must certify a trade before it goes final, so Denver has to get in contact with Prigioni, Kostas Papanikolaou and Joey Dorsey, Marks explains (All four Twitter links).
- Lawson is on board with the trade, agent Happy Walters told Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston. “He’s excited,” Walters said. “I spoke to him once about it. He’s close with James [Harden], tight with Corey [Brewer], knows Trevor [Ariza] and Dwight [Howard] and is real excited. It’s an opportunity for him. He’s been deep in the playoffs before, but this is something he feels really good about.”
- Houston’s new point guard has his baggage, but the Rockets didn’t relinquish much in the deal, making it a risk that the rigors of the Western Conference demand that they take, opines Tim Bontemps of the New York Post.
- Lawson might not be the third star the Rockets have been seeking to complement Harden and Howard, but Michael Lee of The Washington Post points out that he’s the sort of facilitator that Harden has said he’d welcome.
- What’s your reaction to the deal? Leave a comment to let us know.
Free Agency Rumors: LeBron, Cavs, Leonard
A league source told Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group that the Cavs “do not value” pending free agent J.R. Smith. LeBron James reportedly wants the Cavs to re-sign the guard, so one has to wonder if that could outweigh the team’s reservations about him. Vardon adds that it is not known if the Cavs will immediately submit offers to James, Kevin Love, and Tristan Thompson when the clock moves past midnight. Here’s more as we get set for the start of free agency..
- There’s a growing belief that Thompson’s postseason performance coupled with his ties to LeBron could earn him a max contract or something close to it, Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon-Journal writes. Lloyd also writes that the Cavs were aware that Iman Shumpert would be seeking a ~$10MM per year deal this summer when the acquired him.
- Spurs star Kawhi Leonard is on track for five-year, ~$90MM max deal after San Antonio takes care of other free agency business, Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express News tweets. It was previously believed that Leonard was in line for a lucrative four-year deal rather than five.
- Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki will join the team’s recruiting contingent in Wednesday’s meetings with DeAndre Jordan and LaMarcus Aldridge, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com tweets.
- James Harden will join coach Kevin McHale, GM Daryl Morey and executive VP Gersson Rosas in the Rockets‘ meeting with LaMarcus Aldridge Tuesday night in Los Angeles, a source tells Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
- The Knicks‘ selection of Kristaps Porzingis may scare free agents away, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. “They took a Latvian guy who may or may not be good,’’ an individual connected to a free agent said. “It’s very strange. They should’ve taken more of a tried-and-true guy, even a Justise Winslow. Top free agents are looking at winning now. It’s fun to go the playoffs and have a chance to compete for the Finals. They’re not going to win this year.’’