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Atlantic Rumors: Kidd, Knicks, Richardson, Pierce

October 28th, 2012 at 1:05pm CST by Chuck Myron

The seismic NBA news in the last 24 hours has come out of the West, but that doesn't mean the East is all quiet with the season two days away. Here's the latest from around the Atlantic Division.

Jason Kidd turns 40 in March, but said he wants to play until the end of his three-year contract with the Knicks, and also spoke highly of his time with the Mavericks in a wide-ranging Q&A with Steve Serby of the New York Post.
Chris Smith was waived by the Knicks this week, but he's rehabbing his injured patella at the team's facility, observes Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link).
Nate Taylor of The New York Times examines the unlikely training camp success story of 28-year-old rookie Chris Copeland, who made the team's opening-night roster on a non-guaranteed deal.
Jason Richardson was pleased with the trade to the Sixers, where coach Doug Collins was sold on Richardson after a glowing recommendation from Grant Hill, reports John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Paul Pierce isn't a trade candidate, and Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said that the team had no serious discussions about trading Pierce last season, either, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald notes.
Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas, the fifth overall pick in the 2011 draft, knows he has a long way to go to live up to expectations as he begins his NBA career, writes Eric Koreen of the National Post.

Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Terry, Richardson, DeRozan

October 12th, 2012 at 7:51pm CST by Alex Lee

Yesterday we heard about the extensive Atlantic Division fallout from the Dwight Howard/Andrew Bynum trade, which at this point, seems like it will have ramifications in every corner of the NBA. The Atlantic has to be the NBA's most interesting division heading into the season. With the Sixers facing the Nets in Atlantic City tomorrow night, let's look at some other news from the division:

We mentioned Doc Rivers' comments regarding Jason Terry earlier below, and Greg Payne from ESPN Boston has more. According to Rivers, Terry could start for the Celtics, Payne says. While they targeted him with a sixth man role in mind, Rivers is keeping all of his options open. Terry, of course, says he is ready for any role the team needs him in.
Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York had a Knicks chat today (transcript here). Among the topics discussed, Zwerling said that he considers Raymond Felton a better fit for the Knicks than the departed Jeremy Lin. With an aging roster, it's doubtful that we see much that matters from their regulars in preseason.
Celtics coach Doc Rivers says that free agent acquisition
Jason Terry, "filled a need," according to a CSN New England staff
report. Terry's new teammates all seem to be pretty happy with the
addition of their new sixth man, but no one's endorsement was quite as
strong as that of Rivers: "When you think about the history of the
Celtics and the great sixth man, he's been that in Dallas and he wants
to be that with the Celtics. That makes it a little easier to coach."
Trade acquisition Jason Richardson talked to Bill Ingram of Hoopsworld (via video)
about the new-look Sixers. Richardson calls the Sixers "dark horses"
that have slipped under the radar in terms of title contention.
Richardson says along with himself, the additions Dorell Wright and Nick
Young are key considering that Andrew Bynum is best utilized if
surrounded by shooters.
DeMar DeRozan has the look of a complete player so far this preseason, writes Doug Smith
of the Toronto Star. DeRozan has tons of athletic ability and has
shown a propensity to score in his first three seasons in the NBA.
According to Smith, DeRozan has bulked up and shown a willingness to
defend this fall, which has been a definite weakness in his game. With
the additions of Kyle Lowry, Terrence Ross, Landry Fields and Jonas
Valanciunas, if DeRozan can make the leap, there may be some hope for
the Raptors despite being in a loaded division.

Richardson Expected Trade From Magic

October 11th, 2012 at 5:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

Jason Richardson has cut ties with agent Dan Fegan, but he says he fully expected the Magic to trade him over the summer when he was still represented by the man who also serves as the agent for Dwight Howard, reports John Denton of Magic.com (Twitter link). The Magic sent Richardson to the Sixers as part of Howard's trade to the Lakers this summer.

"Anybody associated with Dan Fegan was going to get traded," Richardson told reporters, including Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).

The Magic franchise was seemingly on hold last season as Howard waffled on whether he wanted to remain in Orlando. He wound up waiving the early termination option on his contract for 2012/13 right before the trade deadline this past March, but regretted the move. Chris Broussard of ESPN.com reported on the eve of the deadline that the Magic were "incensed" with Fegan, believing he was trying to convince the star center to leave. Fegan also leaked information from a meeting Magic executives held with Howard in July, a couple weeks before the blockbuster trade that sent Howard and Richardson out of Orlando.

Richardson said he wished he could have done more during his time in Orlando, Schmitz tweets. The Magic acquired him from the Suns in December of 2010, and his numbers took an immediate hit. He averaged 11.6 points and 3.6 rebounds with a 13.3 PER last year, all of which were career lows. His numbers of 13.9 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 13.2 PER in a partial season with Orlando in 2010/11 weren't much better.

Fegan recently made a move of his own, leaving Lagardère Unlimited to join Happy Walters at the newly created Relativity Sports agency. Walters represents Earl Clark, another of the players involved in the Howard trade. The other player the Magic unloaded in that deal, Chris Duhon, is represented by Kevin Bradbury and Bill Duffy. Al Harrington, whom the Magic got from Denver in the deal, is believed to be the only Fegan client on the Magic roster, according to RealGM.com.

Odds & Ends: Harden, Spurs, Richardson, Nuggets

October 11th, 2012 at 12:09pm CST by Luke Adams

Of today's slate of preseason NBA games, three are scheduled for tonight, with one already in the books — the Heat defeated the Clippers 94-80 in Beijing in a contest that got underway at 6:30 CST this morning. As we await the rest of today's action, let's round up a few odds and ends from around the league….

Grantland's Bill Simmons believes the Thunder should be able to absorb the tax hit that will come with extending or re-signing James Harden, and implores Harden not to settle for a hometown discount.
Derrick Brown's ability to guard the three spot could set him apart in the battle to earn a roster spot among Spurs' bigs, says Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (Twitter links). As Mike Monroe of the Express-News writes, however, Eddy Curry and Josh Powell also both played well in the team's preseason game with the Hawks.
Jason Richardson has left agent Dan Fegan and is in the market for new representation, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (via Twitter).
Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post examines the Nuggets' quest to build a winning culture in Denver.
Juwan Howard is remaining around the Heat in case the team decides to cut six players instead of five and has an open roster spot for him, says Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Agent Rich Paul, who recently began to exclusively represent LeBron James and other NBA players, is under investigation by the NCAA for his relationship with University of Texas guard Myck Kabongo, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Nets, Knicks

October 4th, 2012 at 9:53pm CST by Ryan Raroque

It's the third day of Celtics training camp, and Brian Scalabrine and Mike Gorman spoke on CSNNE.com about who would possibly be Kevin Garnett's primary back up at the center position. Scalabrine thinks that while Darko Milicic and Jason Collins are both prime candidates, rookie Fab Melo might find his way to the D-League early on to refine his game first. Kevin Garnett also provided input on Jared Sullinger and Melo, saying that both have impressive work ethic. Here's what else we're hearing out of the Atlantic Division this evening…

Nets rookie guard Tyshawn Taylor is recovering from a strained right quad, but remains anxiously eager to prove himself to the team's coaches. The former Kansas Jayhawk also said that watching the team practice while being sidelined is helping him become acquainted with how the team is expected to run (Tim Bontempts of the New York Post writes).
According to John N. Mitchell of Philly.com, Spencer Hawes is excited about playing power forward next to Andrew Bynum. The former Washington Huskies big man has mostly been playing center since entering the league, but believes he has the skill-set to mesh well with the former Lakers star.
John R. Finger of CSN Philly writes about how Maalik Wayns can contribute to the 76ers with his speed and scoring ability. Dei Lynam of CSN Philly says that Dorell Wright has been impressive in camp, especially with his shooting and playmaking ability. Also, Max Rappaport of NBA.com looks at how Dorell, Jason Richardson, and Nick Young form a remarkable combination of viable outside shooters.
Knicks point guard Raymond Felton has lost 20 pounds since leaving the Trail Blazers and currently weights 207 pounds, according to Ben Golliver of the Blazers Edge. Felton admitted that his conditioning issues to start the 2011-12 season significantly affected his play early on.

Odds & Ends: Richardson, Sixers, Mavs, Green

August 15th, 2012 at 10:44pm CST by Michael Pina

Jason Richardson is excited to play out the final three years of his contract on a team that's headed up instead of down, writes Philly.com's John Mitchell. The 31-year-old is especially looking forward to playing with another dominant center who's capable of drawing consistent double teams.

Here's a look around the rest of the league.

In a chat with his readers, Dallas Morning News columnist Kevin Sherrington writes his belief that the Mavericks are wasting Dirk Nowitzki's prime by going after a big name free agent that may never sign in Dallas.
Philly.com's Marcus Hayes thinks that the Sixers would be wise not to sign Andrew Bynum to a max extension until they know the full extent of his health.
After making the most of his opportunity with the Nets last season, Gerald Green received a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract offer with the Pacers this summer. Green's feel good story has been well documented, but he's perfectly content coming off the bench and providing a spark next season, writes Pacers.com's Scott Agness.
One of Raymond Felton's new teammates next season with the Knicks will be Kurt Thomas, who joined Felton in an offseason trade from Portland that landed the pair in New York. Thomas says Felton is "definitely motivated" for his second stint with the club, writes ESPNNewYork.com's Ian Begley. He better be, because the scrutiny will be high due to the fact that he's perceived to be Jeremy Lin's replacement.
While down in Houston working with Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon, Amare Stoudemire recently said he believes Lin will be a perfect addition to the Rockets, reports Fox 26 reporter Mark Berman.

Four Teams Finalize Dwight Howard Blockbuster

August 10th, 2012 at 1:34pm CST by Luke Adams

1:34pm: Ken Berger of CBS Sports has tweeted a number of the details on the traded draft picks in the deal. We've updated the list below to reflect the protection on those picks.

12:19pm: The Magic, Lakers, Nuggets, and 76ers have completed their trade call with the league office, making Dwight Howard a Los Angeles Laker, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). The Magic officially announced the transaction in a press release this afternoon.

The details of the massive four-team swap can be found in our post from yesterday that tracked updates as they came in. But here's a quick recap of how the deal looks from each team's perspective based on what's been reported so far, with players' 2012/13 salaries in parentheses. If anything changes when the teams make their official announcements, we'll update this post to reflect that.

Orlando Magic
Acquire: Arron Afflalo ($7,750,000), Al Harrington ($6,687,400), Josh McRoberts ($3,135,000), Maurice Harkless ($1,731,960), Nikola Vucevic ($1,719,480), Christian Eyenga ($1,174,080), protected 2014 first-round pick from Nuggets¹, protected 2015 first-round pick from Sixers², protected 2017 first-round pick from Lakers³, Warriors' 2013 second-round pick from Nuggets, conditional 2015 second-round pick from Lakers⁴
Trade: Dwight Howard ($19,536,360), Jason Richardson ($5,799,625), Chris Duhon ($3,250,000), Earl Clark ($1,240,000)

The Magic also create a trade exception worth about $17.8MM in the deal, as outlined here.

Denver Nuggets
Acquire: Andre Iguodala ($14,968,250)
Trade: Arron Afflalo ($7,750,000), Al Harrington ($6,687,400), protected 2014 first-round pick from Nuggets¹, Warriors' 2013 second-round pick

Philadelphia 76ers
Acquire: Andrew Bynum ($16,889,000), Jason Richardson ($5,799,625)
Trade: Andre Iguodala ($14,968,250), Maurice Harkless ($1,731,960), Nikola Vucevic ($1,719,480), protected 2015 first-round pick²

Los Angeles Lakers
Acquire: Dwight Howard ($19,536,360), Chris Duhon ($3,250,000), Earl Clark ($1,240,000)
Trade: Andrew Bynum ($16,889,000), Josh McRoberts ($3,135,000), Christian Eyenga ($1,174,080), protected 2017 first-round pick³, conditional 2015 second-round pick⁴

¹The lesser of the Nuggets' and Knicks' first-rounders.
²Top-14 protected in 2015, 2016, top-11 in 2017, top-8 in 2018; if the pick still hasn't been conveyed after four years, the Magic will receive 2018 and 2019 second-rounders instead of a first-rounder. The pick cannot be conveyed until the Sixers meet their draft pick obligations to the Heat, which could delay the Magic from getting a first-round pick until 2017.
³Top-5 protected in 2017 and 2018, unprotected in 2019. The pick cannot be conveyed until the Lakers meet their draft pick obligations to the Suns, which would prevent the Magic from getting a first-round pick if the Lakers fail to make the playoffs the next three years. If that takes place, the Magic will receive 2017 and 2018 second-rounders instead.
⁴Top-40 protected; if the pick isn't conveyed in 2015, the Magic will not receive it.

Howard To Lakers, Bynum To 76ers In 4-Team Deal

August 10th, 2012 at 11:18am CST by Chuck Myron

11:18am: SI.com's Sam Amick tweets that McRoberts will be heading to Orlando in the deal, rather than to Denver. Wherever McRoberts ends up, it seems the Lakers will be shipping him out to make the salary figures work.

10:55am: Coon corrects himself (via Twitter), suggesting that Bynum's and Eyenga's salaries aren't quite enough to absorb Howard's and Duhon's. Here's how it looks from the Lakers' perspective, by my calculations:

The team's $1,422,207 traded player exception acquired via Walton can absorb Clark's $1.24MM option.
Bynum's $16,889,000 salary and Eyenga's $1,174,080 total $18,063,080. The Lakers can take back 125% (plus $100K) of that amount: $22,678,850.
Howard's and Duhon's salaries ($19,536,360 and $3,250,000, respectively) total $22,786,360, just barely too much for the Lakers to absorb. So in order to take on both players, Los Angeles will have to either include another player (perhaps McRoberts or Ebanks) or figure out another way to organize the deal. Assuming, of course, that all the public salary figures for these players are accurate.

We should hear shortly how the Lakers ultimately work things out, since the conference call with the league to finalize the trade is expected to begin momentarily, tweets Ken Berger.

10:26am: Cap expert Larry Coon clarifies (via Twitter) that the trade exception the Lakers acquired when they dealt Luke Walton to the Cavaliers is big enough to absorb Clark's salary, so Los Angeles wouldn't necessarily have to send out any more players in addition to Bynum and Eyenga.

10:08am: The pick heading to the Magic from the Sixers will be lottery-protected for the first two years, top-11 protected in year three, and top-eight protected in year four, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Since the Sixers have already dealt their 2013 first-rounder (lottery protected) to Miami, presumably the one going to Orlando would be for 2015, as Sam Amick of SI.com notes. If the Magic don't get a first-rounder from Philadelphia after four years, they'd get two second-round picks instead, tweets Berger.

9:32am: According to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld, Josh McRoberts may be headed to Denver in the four-way deal. This makes sense, since by my calculations, the Lakers would be unable to take back Howard, Duhon, and Clark without sending out another player in addition to Bynum and Eyenga.

8:49am: The first-rounder heading from the Lakers to Orlando will be the team's 2017 pick, while the first-rounder from Denver will be the lower of the club's two 2014 first-rounders, tweets TNT's David Aldridge. It's still not clear which first-round pick will be coming from the Sixers, but it figures to be 2015's, since their lottery-protected 2013 first-rounder is ticketed for Miami.

8:26am: Duhon is definitely involved in the four-way deal, as he tells Joshua Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).

FRIDAY, 7:33am: According to Spears, one of the second-rounders heading to the Magic in the trade will be the Warriors' 2013 second-round pick, from the Nuggets (Twitter link). Orlando will receive one more second-rounder, to bring their total haul to five future draft picks, tweets Kennedy.

Additionally, multiple reports indicate that the conference call with the league to confirm the blockbuster deal will happen no later than about noon eastern today.

More Reactions To The 4-Way Howard Blockbuster

August 10th, 2012 at 9:27am CST by Luke Adams

On a day when Team USA's semifinal game against Argentina was expected to dominate the headlines, the Olympics have taken a back seat to an epic four-way trade that will see three 2012 All-Stars changing hands. In a deal that's expected to be officially agreed upon later today, the Lakers will acquire Dwight Howard, the Sixers will land Andrew Bynum, and the Nuggets will get Andre Iguodala, while the Magic acquire a package of players and picks. We already examined some of the reactions to the agreement last night, but the links continue to pour in, so let's round up a few more….

According to Wojnarowski, the Rockets' offer for Howard included recent first-rounders, future lottery and unprotected first-round picks, and the opportunity to move bad contracts and gain cap space (Twitter links). I've maintained for a while that Houston's looked like Orlando's most logical trade partner, and none of the details about the Rockets' offer make me think otherwise.
In response to John Hollinger's tweet linked below, Brian Schmitz stresses, via Twitter, that the Howard deal ran through Hennigan first, before progressing to Martins and the DeVos family.

Earlier updates:

ESPN.com's John Hollinger tweets that it was likely Magic CEO Alex Martins, rather than GM Rob Hennigan, that ran the Howard deal.
In an Insider piece for ESPN.com, Hollinger says he likes the four-way trade for three teams, but really can't understand it from the Magic's perspective.
Sam Amick of SI.com argues that it's unfair to criticize the Magic for the deal yet, since there's a major "wait-and-see" aspect to their haul.
With everyone wondering whether the Magic could have acquired more from the Nets a month ago, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets Brooklyn's final offer for Howard: Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries (on a one-year, $9.6MM guarantee), MarShon Brooks, and four unprotected first-round picks for Howard, Jason Richardson, Chris Duhon, and Earl Clark.
Bynum had been open to re-signing with the Lakers, but was also very receptive to signing with a team where he could earn more touches, according to Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio. Acquiring Bynum and his Bird Rights makes the Sixers the overwhelming favorites to retain him long-term, as I suggested earlier this week.
The Howard trade is the latest bitter pill for the Mavericks' front office to swallow, writes Jeff Caplan of ESPNDallas.com.
National NBA fans may consider the Dwightmare to be over, but Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel says Howard's departure could haunt Magic fans for years.

Magic Close To Four-Team Howard Blockbuster

August 9th, 2012 at 9:12pm CST by Luke Adams

9:12pm: Stein says there are still unreported names in the deal, but the Magic are getting Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless and a future first-round pick from each of the other three teams in the deal. The Sixers will get Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson. The Nuggets will get Andre Iguodala, and the Lakers will land Dwight Howard. Pau Gasol is not in the deal, Stein hears (All Twitter links).

8:59pm: A conference call has been scheduled for Friday morning with the league office to process the deal, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).

7:34pm: Berger says the most likely scenario involves the Magic getting neither Andrew Bynum nor Pau Gasol, adding credence to earlier reports that Gasol won't be a part of the deal (Twitter link).

7:29pm: Various Twitter reports indicate differing levels of confidence that the deal will get done. Chris Broussard of ESPN.com says the deal will happen "barring any last minute snag." ESPN.com colleague Ric Bucher believes the Magic and Lakers are pushing hard to complete the trade, but adds there are still many question marks. Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel says the talks are serious, but cautions there are a lot of moving parts. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports "guarded optimism" about the deal.

7:11pm: The deal has "huge legs," a source tells Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com, and the teams have made progress toward its completion today, Lynam tweets.

6:55pm: A source close to Gasol says he's not in the trade, Ric Bucher of ESPN.com tweets.

6:39pm: Chris Broussard of ESPN.com hears the deal is "very close" and could take place as early as Friday morning. Broussard says that Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles also hears Gasol may not be a part of the trade. Jarrod Rudolph of RealGM.com tweets that there is greater confidence a Howard deal will get done than in the past. The Sixers are willing to take on Bynum even without assurances he'll re-sign next summer, according to the ESPN report.

6:23pm: Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld, in an updated version of an earlier story, says one of the variants of the deal doesn't include Gasol, and it's unclear whether it includes Al Harrington. Devin Ebanks, on a sign-and-trade, and Josh McRoberts may also be a part of the deal.

5:52pm: A source close to the talks tells HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy that reports so far have the teams right, but the deal would likely include different players if it gets done, as the Magic, Lakers, Nuggets and Sixers discuss multiple scenarios. No deal is imminent or near completion, the source says (Twitter links).

5:41pm: Sixers center Nikola Vucevic would also go to the Magic as part of the deal, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.