Jared Dudley Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southeast Notes: Lin, Dragic, Dudley

July 14th, 2015 at 9:57pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Goran Dragic is thrilled that the Heat re-signed Dwyane Wade this offseason, but also notes that he would have returned to Miami regardless of Wade’s decision, as he said in a recent appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show on ESPN Radio (audio link), and as Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post transcribes. When Dragic was asked if he had been nervous about Wade returning, he said, “I was, a little bit. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I was back in Europe and I read all the media reports. In the end, I’m really glad we signed him.”

Dragic also noted that he didn’t speak with any other teams during the free agent signing period. “No, because Miami was the first team that called me,” Dragic said. “The last three months of last season, I was really satisfied with the organization and the people around me and the players. I was considering Miami the first option… Miami Heat is the right organization for me. I want to win something. I could go somewhere else, but I was really happy the last couple of months here. That was the right decision for me… Basically Miami Heat was the first option. Then they called me first. [Team president] Pat [Riley] was talking and saying what kind of team it was going to be… and I said I need to be on this wagon.”

Here’s more out of the NBA’s Southeast Division:

Jeremy Lin said that the Hornets entered the picture late in the free agent process, but he added that the team appeared to be sincere in its presentation and plan for him, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer tweets. The point guard inked a two-year pact with the franchise last week.
Charlotte’s signing of Lin using its biannual exception means that the Hornets have triggered the hard cap, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. If a team is hard-capped, it cannot exceed the tax apron under any circumstance. A team that has spent up to its hard cap can still ink players to non-guaranteed contracts for training camp or the regular season, but it must rid itself of such players before their salaries become guaranteed. The deal is worth the full value of the biannual exception, a total of $4,374,255 over two years, and it includes a player option, as Pincus shows on his Hornets salary page.
Jared Dudley said that the Wizards were one of the teams he considered signing with before he opted in for 2015/16 with the Bucks, and he’s thrilled with the trade that sent him to Washington, The Associated Press relays. “I liked my situation in Milwaukee, but if they told me I was going to opt in and go to Washington, I would have opted in the first day because I can’t see a [situation] that’s better for me right now,” Dudley said.

Central Notes: Love, Bucks, Morris

July 10th, 2015 at 8:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

New Pistons forward Marcus Morris wasn’t initially thrilled with the Suns for dealing him to Detroit, Perry A. Farrell of The Detroit Free Press writes. “I wouldn’t say stunning, but in Phoenix, I would say I didn’t have a great opportunity,” Morris said today. “I kind of wanted to play with my brother [twin Markieff Morris] so much that I kind of took away from myself. I didn’t think I had an opportunity to get better. I don’t think I had the chance to grow as a player over there. I think the opportunity is here for me. Everybody knew how bad I wanted to play with my brother. Phoenix knew. For them to trade me without consent or telling me was like a slap in the face, because of the contract I took from those guys and the money I took from them. I’m happy to be here. I’m a Piston. I’m a Bad Boy. I’m ready to get started.”

Here’s the latest from the Central Division:

The future second-rounder going to Indiana in the Roy Hibbert trade is the Lakers’ 2019 pick, tweets salary cap expert Larry Coon. The Pacers also net a trade exception equivalent to Hibbert’s salary of more than $15.5MM, Coon points out, but that will vanish when Indiana’s deal with Monta Ellis becomes official, unless the Pacers can somehow turn the Ellis transaction into a sign-and-trade.
The second-round pick heading from the Mavs to the Bucks in the Zaza Pachulia trade is Dallas’ 2018 selection, and it’s top-55 protected, according to RealGM. The same level of protection is on the 2020 second-rounder Milwaukee gets from the Wizards in the Jared Dudley deal, as RealGM also reveals. Both swaps produced trade exceptions, notes Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link). The Bucks get one worth $5.2MM from Pachulia and another for $4.25MM from Dudley.
The salaries in Khris Middleton‘s five-year, $70MM deal with the Bucks fluctuate up and down from year to year, but the starting salary is $14.7MM, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
Kevin Love indicated that he and LeBron James had what Love termed, “an honest talk,” prior to Love deciding to re-sign with the Cavaliers, Tom Withers of The Associated Press writes. “He happened to be in Los Angeles the same time I was,” Love said of James. “So, we just talked everything out and a lot of stuff was very honest and we came to a really good place and we agreed on a lot of things, so I think that was also a very big deal when you’re talking to the best player in the world.“

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Wizards Acquire Jared Dudley

July 9th, 2015 at 4:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

JULY 9TH, 4:00pm: The deal is official, the Bucks and Wizards announced. Washington is sending a protected second-rounder to the Bucks in exchange for Dudley. “Jared’s versatility and shooting ability will give us depth at both forward positions and allow us to use him in a variety of lineups,” said Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld. “We are also looking forward to the leadership and veteran presence that he will bring both on the court.”

JULY 2ND, 5:57pm: The Wizards are closing in on a deal that would net them Jared Dudley of the Bucks, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Washington is expected to use a trade exception to accommodate Dudley’s contract, and are expected to ship out a protected second round pick in return, Stein adds. The Wizards own a pair of trade exceptions, $2.3MM and $4.6M, and Dudley is set to earn $4.25MM in 2015/16, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders relays (via Twitter).

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Washington has a void at small forward in the wake of Paul Pierce taking his game to the Clippers on a free agent deal. Dudley can certainly help fill that void, as well as provide the Wizards’ young roster with a veteran presence. The 29-year-old appeared in 72 games for Milwaukee last season, averaging 7.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.8 assists, with a shooting line of .468/.385/.716. His career stats through 595 games are 8.5 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 1.5 APG. His career slash line is .468/.396./.736.

Dudley, who turns 30 on July 10th, came to the Bucks in a deal last August with the Clippers. At the time, he wasn’t happy with the move, but he said back in March that he eventually became comfortable in Milwaukee, thanks in part to Jason Kidd‘s coaching style. The forward opted in for next season, and he and the Bucks were expected to work out a long-term arrangement. The veteran appreciated that the Bucks provided him an opportunity to showcase his abilities when healthy. “The trade [to Milwaukee] was the best thing for my career, where I got with a training staff that got me healthy and when I’m healthy, I’m the player you see now and the player you saw in Phoenix,” said Dudley, who claimed that he played the entire 2013/14 season with a fracture in his right knee at the request of Doc Rivers.

Jared Dudley Exercises Option To Stay With Bucks

June 30th, 2015 at 6:15pm CST by Zachary Links

6;15pm: The two sides are working on a long-term extension deal, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com (on Twitter).

4:41pm: Jared Dudley has exercised his option to stay with the Bucks, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Dudley is now scheduled to earn $4.25MM with the Bucks for 2015/16. Since Dudley’s contract was signed before new CBA in November of 2010, his ETO decision date was grandfathered in as June 30th rather than June 29th, Stein adds (link).

Dudley, who turns 30 on July 10th, came to the Bucks in a deal last August with the Clippers. At the time, he wasn’t happy with the move, but he said back in March that he eventually became comfortable in Milwaukee, thanks in part to Jason Kidd‘s coaching style. Dudley also said that he would like a long-term deal with the Bucks and that he was willing to take a discount to sign one. With the Bucks, Dudley also got to show the world what he can do when he’s healthy:

“The trade [to Milwaukee] was the best thing for my career, where I got with a training staff that got me healthy and when I’m healthy, I’m the player you see now and the player you saw in Phoenix,” said Dudley, who claims that he played the entire 2013/14 season with a fracture in his right knee at the request of Doc Rivers.

In 72 games (22 starts) last season, Dudley averaged 7.2 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 1.8 APG. Dudley also shot 38.5% from downtown, an improvement over his 36% showing in 2013/14.

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.

Eastern Notes: Dudley, Monroe, Fisher

March 30th, 2015 at 10:04am CST by Chuck Myron

Jared Dudley didn’t really want to play for the Bucks after the Clippers traded him to Milwaukee this summer, but his new team’s training staff, Jason Kidd‘s coaching style, and Milwaukee’s competitiveness helped convince him otherwise, as Lori Nickel of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel details. Dudley has a $4.25MM early termination option for next season, and while he hasn’t said what he’ll do with that, he told Nickel that he’d like a long-term deal with the Bucks and that he’s willing to take a discount to sign one, citing Kidd as his top reason why. Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Greg Monroe believes former Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars deserves another chance to run a team, as Terry Foster of The Detroit News relays. Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher wrote in January that Pelicans owner Tom Benson had some interest in Dumars, and Monroe, soon to be an unrestricted free agent, is a New Orleans native. “I mean, yeah,” Monroe said when asked if Dumars should have another shot at team building. “He put together a championship team. Obviously he knows what it takes to get it done. For a stretch he had one of the most successful teams in the league. Obviously he is good at that job. I don’t see how that would be a problem to get back.”
Derek Fisher says he doesn’t have regrets about taking on the Knicks coaching job even with the team in possession of the league’s worst record and added that he talks daily with team president Phil Jackson, notes Peter Botte of the New York Daily News. Coaching colleagues, like Tom Thibodeau, have no shortage of praise for Fisher, Botte adds.
Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers believes the Celtics almost had to trade Rajon Rondo this season with his contract running out this summer, as he told reporters, including Brian Robb of Boston.com. Rivers said a rebuilding team like the Celtics, whom he used to coach, can’t afford to risk that a soon-to-be free agent walks and added that he believes Rondo, and not the Celtics front office, was the catalyst for the move, as Robb passes along.

Pacific Notes: Suns, Dudley, Kerr

February 12th, 2015 at 6:41pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Jared Dudley said that he played the entire 2013/14 season with a fracture in his right knee, and he did so at the request of Clippers coach and executive Doc Rivers, Arash Markazi of ESPN.com writes. Dudley also relayed that he played through the injury with the understanding he would be able to return to the team healthy for the 2014/15 season, but instead he was traded to the Bucks this past offseason, Markazi notes. Dudley is extremely thankful that he was dealt to Milwaukee, the ESPN scribe relays. “The trade [to Milwaukee] was the best thing for my career, where I got with a training staff that got me healthy and when I’m healthy, I’m the player you see now and the player you saw in Phoenix.”

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

In an interview with Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, Suns GM Ryan McDonough acknowledged that Phoenix’s roster composition is uneven, Adam Green of RealGM.com relays. “I think our roster balance is a little off, and that’s my fault,” McDonough said. “We are a little too backcourt heavy, especially in terms of guys who, you know, I think you’d define primarily as scorers in the backcourt. So I think at some point we’ll need to balance that out, try to get a little more size, a little more frontcourt scoring and rebounding.”
Kings owner Vivek Ranadive wasn’t necessarily the driving force behind the early season firing of Michael Malone, Aaron Bruski of NBCSports.com writes (Twitter links). Bruski was addressing an earlier report by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that asserted Sacramento’s owner was the one who insisted that Malone be let go, though Bruski didn’t elaborate further on who was the impetus behind the coaching change.
Despite coaching the Warriors to the best overall record in the league thus far, Steve Kerr says that he still has a lot of work to do in figuring out how to be an NBA coach, Sam Amick of USA Today writes. “The biggest thing for me is learning on the job, feeling the job, feeling the routine and the rhythm of it, staying in tune with the players and making sure we’re moving the ship forward,” Kerr said. “You learn all the time. There’s a lot going on, and you have to constantly be on your toes.“

Eastern Notes: Dudley, Rose, Magic

December 13th, 2014 at 11:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

Clippers coach Doc Rivers never wanted to part with Jared Dudley, writes Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Dudley came to the Bucks via trade last summer after a frustrating season in Los Angeles. “We just had to create roster room,” Rivers said. “We actually really wanted to keep him. He was the one who had the most value. We really haven’t used the [salary] space yet, but we think we may need it at some point.”

There is other news from the Eastern Conference:

The Bulls‘ Derrick Rose is slowly regaining his MVP form, writes Sam Smith of Bulls.com. Rose scored 31 points in Friday’s win over Portland, his largest outburst since March of 2012. “We all feel he is going to be back to the guy he was,” coach Tom Thibodeau told the team’s official website. “He is going step by step. He has to keep building, keep attacking. When he is aggressive like that, there is no one like him.”
Magic coach Jacque Vaughn warned his young guards that they have to take better care of the ball if they want to stay in the game, according to Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. The Hawks turned up the pressure in Friday’s game, forcing three turnovers by Victor Oladipo and two by Elfrid Payton. “You try to prepare them with a solution,” Vaughn said. “But you also want them to be able to go through the situation and try to swim their way through it as well.”
Jared Sullinger‘s sudden scoring slump has hit at the same time as the Celtics‘ three-game losing streak, writes Chris Forsburg of ESPNBoston.com. Sullinger missed all six of his shots from the field in Friday’s loss to the Knicks, but the Celtics are remaining supportive. “Sully’s a really good player who’s had a couple tough games in a row,” said coach Brad Stevens. “I think the most important thing we can do is encourage him, but we certainly need him to be good. But there’s a lot of things when you lose a game that factor into losing the game, and so I don’t think it’s any one person’s play or any two people’s play — it’s a collective effort, win or lose.”

L.A. Notes: Kobe, Dudley, Rivers, Wohl

December 10th, 2014 at 10:24am CST by Chuck Myron

Both Los Angeles teams enter their next games having come off wins, with the Clippers having dusted off their eighth straight on Monday against the Suns and the Lakers topping the Kings on Tuesday. Still, the dichotomy between the two Staples Center tenants couldn’t be more stark. Here’s the latest from L.A.

A source close to Kobe Bryant says the Lakers star was “adamant” this past offseason about retiring in the summer of 2016, reports Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Bryant hasn’t publicly ruled out the idea of playing beyond next season, even as he’s signaled that he has no plans to do so.
The Lakers would be hard-pressed to build a championship-level team before the time that Bryant is poised to walk away, but the Black Mamba believes there’s a decent chance that the team’s fortunes will change in a hurry, as he tells Michael Lee of The Washington Post. “I’ve been in this situation before. I don’t fret about it. I don’t think nothing about it,” Bryant said. “I’ve seen, where it seems like this organization is in dire straits and then all of a sudden, we make a couple of moves, make a couple of trades and boom, we’re right back in it. So I just stay patient.”
The Bucks didn’t make the best offer to the Clippers for Jared Dudley and the first-round pick that the Clips wound up trading to Milwaukee this summer, but Doc Rivers and his staff felt they had to act quickly, multiple sources suggested to Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com. Arnovitz’s insider-only piece delves into the front office dynamics for the Clippers, where executives and agents rely on GM Dave Wohl as a conduit to Rivers, Arnovitz hears.

Bradley Beal Likely Out Six To Eight Weeks

October 11th, 2014 at 6:24pm CST by Cray Allred

Bradley Beal suffered a broken wrist to his non-shooting hand in last night’s preseason game, and the Wizards announced in a team release that he will undergo surgery for the non-displaced fracture this evening. While a timetable for return hasn’t been set, David Aldridge of NBA.com tweets that the team fears Beal could miss 6-8 weeks, and that a recovery estimate will be established after the surgery is complete within the next two days.

The injury is a blow to Washington’s hopes of contending for a higher playoff seed this season, as it could force them to be without their budding star for 18 games or more. The team is over the salary cap, so it can only sign someone to a minimum salary contract. An additional restraint is the luxury tax line; Washington sits just under $1.4MM short of that number. The team is carrying Damion James and Xavier Silas on non-guaranteed contracts, two wings who could have a better path to earning a regular season spot thanks to the void left by Beal in the lineup.

The Wizards only have 13 of the maximum 15 guaranteed contracts lined up for 2014/15, and they also have room for two more players under the 20-player preseason maximum. Martell Webster is a solid rotation player, but the veteran guard is still recovering from back surgery himself and likely won’t be back, or back to full speed, when the season opens. Behind Webster, Washington is very inexperienced at guard, with unproven wings Glen Rice Jr. and Otto Porter next in line for minutes. Point guard Garrett Temple can man the two-guard spot, but he had his minutes reduced to just 8.2 per contest last year with the Wizards. Veteran wing Rasual Butler is currently with the team on a non-guaranteed deal, but he is at the tail end of his career and only played 7.6 minutes per game last year with the Pacers.

A trade is a possibility, and the team does have two trade exceptions for $1,254,660 and $4,329,089 that could land them a player for more than the minimum without having to match returning salary. Of course, they wouldn’t be able to use much of the exceptions without exceeding the tax line. Zach Lowe of Grantland pegs Jared Dudley and Randy Foye as gettable players for the Wizards to trade for, but expects the team to ride out the injury while adding a player at the minimum (on Twitter). Chris Mannix of SI.com also tweets that he thinks a trade is unlikely.

In his full story, Aldridge suggests that the team will intensify its pursuit of free agent shooting guard Ray Allen, who has yet to signal whether he will retire or return to the court this season. The team would still only be able to offer the minimum salary due to its cap situation, so any increased efforts for Allen would come down to the size of his role, not his contract.