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Joakim Noah Leads All-Defensive Team

June 2nd, 2014 at 1:10pm CST by Chuck Myron

Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah, Paul George, Chris Paul, Serge Ibaka and Andre Iguodala make up this year’s All-Defensive First Team, the NBA announced in a press release. LeBron James, Patrick Beverley, Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard and Roy Hibbert are on the second team. The news is a boon for the Bulls, who would have had to pay Taj Gibson a $250K bonus for making either the first or second All-Defensive teams. Chicago scrambled late in the season to avoid the possibility that such a bonus for Gibson would force the team to pay the luxury tax. Earning the bonus would have pushed Gibson’s salary cap figure higher for next season, too, since it would have been considered a “likely” bonus for next season.

Noah received 105 first-place votes, far outdistancing George, who with 65 first-place votes earned the second most. Iguodala and James received an identical number of first-place votes (57), but Iguodala’s 34 second-team votes were better than the four-time MVP’s 20, allowing Golden State’s swingman to take the final position on the first team.

Clippers center DeAndre Jordan was the highest vote-getter who missed the cut for the second team, followed by Anthony Davis and Tony Allen. Tim Duncan and Dwight Howard were next, directly in front of Gibson.

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Western Notes: Leonard, Jazz, Bledsoe, Nash

April 18th, 2014 at 4:03pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kawhi Leonard is up for a rookie scale extension this summer, but it appears he envisions a long-term future with the Spurs, based in his comments to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press. Gregg Popovich believes the small forward will become the face of the franchise once Tim Duncan retires.

“I’ve been working hard to be one of the focal points in the NBA, one of the top guys. For him to say that and see that I could be the face, it just brings joy to me,” Leonard said. “I’m just happy that someone else sees it other than myself.”

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

  • Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin is on shaky ground in Utah, but soon-to-be free agent Gordon Hayward said Corbin did a “tremendous job” considering the circumstances this year, observes Steve Luhm of The Salt Lake Tribune.
  • Eric Bledsoe has been non-committal in his public statements about the notion of re-signing with the Suns this summer, though teammate and neighbor Ish Smith is confident Bledsoe will return, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. The Suns have said they intend to match any offer for Bledsoe, a restricted free agent.
  • Steve Nash is fine with a reduced role on the Lakers next season, one he expects will be his last in the NBA, notes Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. “They can’t rely on me, frankly,” Nash said. “Hopefully, I come back and play 82 games next year and the sky is the limit. But they can’t rely on me if they don’t know what I’m going to bring, so they got to evaluate those guys for next season.”
  • There’s a “strong possibility” the Jazz will have a one-to-one affiliation with the D-League’s Idaho Stampede next season, reports Gino Pilato of D-League Digest (on Twitter). The Jazz shared the Bakersfield Jam with four other NBA teams this season.
  • The Warriors recalled Ognjen Kuzmic from the D-League today, the team announced. Golden State has been shuttling him back and forth to help the Santa Cruz Warriors in the playoffs, and Kuzmic had 23 points and 18 rebounds in Thursday’s win.
  • Santa Cruz beat the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who announced Thursday that the Rockets had assigned Isaiah Canaan and Robert Covington to play in the game (Twitter link). Houston brought them back to the big club today, the Rockets announced via Twitter.
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And-Ones: Williams, Carmelo, Leonard, Isiah

March 27th, 2014 at 10:51pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Jazz forward Marvin Williams hasn’t had any discussions with management about his future, writes Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune. However, Falk reminds that Utah rejected a deadline deal that would have sent Williams out in an exchange for a first round pick, hoping that the 6’9 forward would eventually re-sign this summer. Williams is finishing up the final year of a deal that will pay him $7.5MM this season, and based on glowing approbation from his teammates and coaches recently, it’d appear that Utah remains strongly interested in keeping him for the long-term.

Here are more of tonight’s miscellaneous news and notes:

  • Carmelo Anthony finally had his first conversation with Phil Jackson before the Knicks‘ loss to the Lakers on Tuesday, though the 29-year-old forward tells Newsday’s Al Iannazzone that it was nothing more than small talk: “He told me to get ready, go out there and play, try to finish the season off strong, that’s it…We didn’t really talk about too much. Talked about him being in New York, him coming back out to L.A., the weather. Just generic. We really didn’t talk about nothing.”
  • There’s an argument to be made that Kawhi Leonard is the most valuable player on the league’s best team, writes Sam Amick of USA today, who also thinks it’s safe to assume that securing Leonard’s services will be a top priority for the Spurs this summer. The 6’7 forward will be eligible for a contract extension in July.
  • Isiah Thomas neither confirmed nor denied an interest in taking a job with the Pistons in the near future, but he did intimate his strong loyalty to the franchise: “My heart has never left this organization…I don’t think you will find a person on this earth that loves the Pistons more than I do” (Eric Lacy of MLive.com reports).
  • Bill Laimbeer was also asked about a potential role with the Pistons but declined comment.
  • At the recommendation of a Los Angeles-based ankle specialist, Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova will sit out the remainder of the 2013/14 season (Twitter links via the team’s official Twitter account).
  • Some may contend that Taj Gibson is a strong candidate to win the Sixth Man of the Year title, but Sam Smith of Bulls.com argues that the Bulls forward exemplifies the NBA’s Most Improved award.
  • Former 76ers swingman Rodney Carney is headed to Lebanon to play for Al Riyadi Beirut, reports Enea Trapani of Sportando.
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Amico On Celtics, Melo, Irving, Dumars

February 10th, 2014 at 10:44pm CST by Zachary Links

Most executives who spoke with Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio say it seems more and more likely that the Celtics want to build around point guard Rajon Rondo, forward Jeff Green, and second-year big man Jared Sullinger.  Everyone else, however, appears to be available, and even those three aren’t considered untouchable.  More from Amico’s column..

  • The Knicks‘ struggles are fueling talk that Carmelo Anthony could be moved at the deadline but league sources say that seems considerably less likely and Melo will remain a Knick at least until the end of the season.
  • Could the Cavs be giving thought to moving Kyrie Irving given their own troubles?  “Absolutely, positively untouchable, now and forever,” said one opposing General Manager.
  • There’s been some talk that Pistons GM Joe Dumars could step down at the end of the season if the team fails to make the playoffs.  If so, league insiders suspect Dumars won’t be out of the game for long.  Despite Detroit’s struggles, Dumars helped build a title team and still has a lot of respect around the league.
  • The Spurs typically aren’t major players at the trading deadline, but sources say that could change this year.  For an outstanding return, Kawhi Leonard could be made available.
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Spurs Pick Up Options For Leonard, Joseph

October 28th, 2013 at 5:43pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Spurs have exercised their 2014/15 options on Kawhi Leonard and Cory Joseph, the team announced via press release. It’s the fourth-year option for both, meaning they’ll be eligible for extensions to their rookie-scale contracts next summer. Leonard will earn close to $2.9MM in 2014/15, while Joseph will see a little more than $2MM, as our rookie contract option tracker shows.

The move to pick up Leonard’s option is a formality, since he quickly established himself as a key part of the franchise’s future in his first two seasons in San Antonio. I had the decision on Leonard as a “no-brainer” when I looked at pending rookie options last month, but I listed Joseph as “on the bubble.” The 29th pick in 2011 has appeared in only 57 games over his first two seasons combined, though he did serve as the team’s backup point guard for the majority of the playoffs last year, averaging 3.0 points and 1.2 assists in 9.6 minutes per contest.

The moves add nearly $5MM to San Antonio’s payroll for next season, bringing the total amount of the team’s commitments to about $33.5MM. That number is deceptively low, as I pointed out earlier this month, since it doesn’t include $9MM in non-guaranteed salary for Tony Parker and a $10MM player option for Tim Duncan.

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Western Notes: Leonard, Hamilton, Blazers, Favors

October 19th, 2013 at 8:08pm CST by Spencer Lund

With Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili all carrying a lot of mileage on their legs after multiple years of long playoff runs, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has taken to resting his old stars during back-to-backs while also limiting their game-to-game regular season minutes.

After the excellent play of Kawhi Leonard in last season’s NBA Finals, it might mean an increased role for the “3 & D” wing entering his third year. The San Antonio Express-News’ Jeff MacDonald shares, in a couple different tweets, that Popovich will be increasing Leonard’s responsibility on offense. McDonald thinks his scoring should jump significantly as a result.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference tonight:

  • The Timberwolves have expressed interest in unsigned free agent Richard Hamilton, but Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweets that there has been no further movement from GM Flip Saunders.
  • As noted earlier, the Blazers‘ starting five have yet to appear on the court together this preseason due to multiple injury issues.  The lack of time playing together means they haven’t gotten a chance to “gel” as a team, writes the Oregonian’s Mike Tokito.
  • Grantland’s Zach Lowe spoke with Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey about the Derrick Favors extension, and mentions in a tweet that Lindsey repeatedly mentioned the Bulls as a model for the Jazz franchise.
  • After the Jazz officially confirmed the four-year, $49MM+ extension this morning, everyone’s pretty happy writes the Deseret News’ Mike Sorenson.
  • Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune says Favors earned his extension with his defensive prowess for the Jazz.
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Western Notes: Leonard, Bogut, Holiday

October 16th, 2013 at 7:14pm CST by Michael Pina

A few note from around the Western Conference.

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Spurs Notes: Leonard, Carter, 15th Man

October 1st, 2013 at 4:50pm CST by Luke Adams

As Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and the Spurs prepare to begin defending their Western Conference title, let's round up a few items out of San Antonio….

  • The Spurs were "scared to death" when they traded George Hill for Kawhi Leonard in 2011, head coach Gregg Popovich tells Yannis Koutroupis of HoopsWorld. However, Leonard has developed exactly as the team hoped, and Popovich expects the young forward to "take over as the star of the show as time goes on." As I noted earlier today, Leonard will be eligible for a rookie-scale extension a year from now, and a big season could push him into the max-contract conversation.
  • Veteran point guard Anthony Carter, who was with the Nuggets in camp a year ago, has been hired as an assistant coach by the Spurs' D-League affiliate, the Austin Toros, the team announced in a press release.
  • Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News takes a look at the players vying for the Spurs' final roster spot this month. With 14 players on guaranteed contracts, one of the other six camp invitees – Marcus Cousin, Courtney Fells, Myck Kabongo, Corey Maggette, Daniel Nwaelele, or Sam Young – should end up being the 15th man.

Read more

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Kyler On Grizzlies, Magic, Redick, Leonard

January 26th, 2013 at 12:23pm CST by Sean Highkin

Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld.com answered some questions from followers on his Twitter account Saturday morning, addressing a variety of trade rumors and speculation.

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Southwest Notes: Dirk, White, Hornets, Leonard

January 1st, 2013 at 12:57pm CST by Sean Highkin

The latest news and notes from around the Southwest Division on New Year's Day:

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