Eastern Notes: Durant, World Peace, Smith
The early season play of rookie Kristaps Porzingis coupled with Carmelo Anthony‘s return to health has given Knicks fans hope, not just for this season, but beyond. Another benefit the franchise may glean from exceeding expectations is that team president Phil Jackson will have a far more appealing product to sell Kevin Durant when he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer, Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News opines.
One issue I have with the Knicks potentially adding Durant is that both Anthony and Porzingis are frontcourt players, and unless Anthony shifted to power forward full-time and Porzingis to the pivot, one of the trio would need to come off the bench. Shifting Porzingis to center would also serve to displace Robin Lopez, who the team inked to a four-year, $54MM deal this past summer, which is obviously not an ideal move for New York given its financial commitment to the big man.
Here’s the latest out of the Eastern Conference:
- Metta World Peace, discussing his relationship with Pacers executive Larry Bird, said that he has tried to rejoin Indiana over the years, but he may have burned too many bridges with his disruptive attitude in his younger days for that to occur, Dave Zarum of Sportsnet.ca relays (Twitter link). World Peace did note that Bird was extremely patient with him during his time with the team, and that Bird would often go out of his way to work with him to improve his game, Zarum adds.
- Cavaliers shooting guard J.R. Smith is feeling much more comfortable in the flow of the team’s offense, something he credits to his increased playing time, Jason Lloyd of Ohio.com writes. “It’s hard to just run up and down the court four or five times, then just get one spot shot, then come out of the game, then go back in the game. Getting in a rhythm early is the most important thing,” Smith said. “It’s not even so much to shoot, just to feel the ball, get the motion, get the ‘camaraderie’ within the system. I think that’s big, not only for me but for everybody. It’s not from a selfish aspect, but to feel the ball, feel the flow of the offense a little better.”
- The Cavaliers have recalled shooting guard Joe Harris from the Canton Charge, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. You can keep track off all the D-League assignments and recalls made throughout the season here.
Western Notes: Chandler, World Peace, Durant
Nuggets small forward Wilson Chandler underwent successful surgery today to repair a labral tear in his right hip, the team announced via a press release. Chandler initially suffered the injury during the preseason and he will be out for the remainder of the 2015/16 campaign. Despite missing approximately 133 games since 2011 due to hip injuries, the veteran, who signed a four-year, $46.5MM renegotiation and extension with Denver back in July, recently told Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post that he isn’t contemplating retirement.
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- The Lakers have assigned small forward Anthony Brown the the L.A. D-Fenders, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This is the first trip of the season to the D-League for Brown, as our D-League assignments and recalls tracker shows. The rookie has appeared in three games for the Lakers this season, averaging 1.7 points in 3.0 minutes of action per contest.
- By not signing Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli to rookie scale extensions prior to this season’s deadline, the Warriors have left open the possibility of swinging a sign-and-trade deal for Kevin Durant this offseason, Danny Leroux of the Sporting News posits. Leroux also runs down a number of other scenarios that could result in Golden State potentially trotting out one of the greatest offensive teams of all-time, though the scribe does note that Barnes and Ezeli, both of whom are eligible to become restricted free agents next summer, would have the right to decline any sign-and-trade agreement.
- Lakers coach Byron Scott was worried that Metta World Peace‘s body wouldn’t hold up through training camp, but the 16th-year veteran who just turned 36 says he’s in better shape than when he was with the Lakers the first time, notes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. World Peace is seeing occasional starting assignments and 19.1 minutes per game. “You have to give him a lot of credit for somebody who was out of the league for a couple of years,” Scott said. “He worked as hard as he worked to get back into the league and be able to be a vital part of what we’re trying to do. It’s been great.”
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Eastern Notes: Porzingis, Whiteside, Durant
Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis arrived in the NBA with questions regarding whether or not his thin frame could endure the nightly beatings administered by the league’s other big men, but the Latvian has shown that he can hold his own thus far, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com writes. “As you can see, I’m still skinny, I’m still light. But I fight hard and I can’t back down to anybody,” said Porzingis. “So that’s been my game; a lot of people didn’t know my game. So that’s why they thought, ‘Skinny white guy, he’s not going to be physical.’ But I still fight for those rebounds and try to do my job on the court.”
While the 20-year-old has gotten off to a solid start, averaging 11.6 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest, the coaching staff cautions against placing too high an expectation on what Porzingis will be able to accomplish this season, Begley relays. “I don’t think we could anticipate that he’d be as good as he’s been. There probably will be a stretch for two weeks where he looks bad and everybody is questioning whether we should have drafted him and all the stuff that comes with that,” coach Derek Fisher said. “He’s a rookie and there’s a lot to learn. His ceiling is a long way from wherever he is now.”
Here’s more from out of the Eastern Conference:
- The Celtics have once again assigned swingman James Young and power forward Jordan Mickey to the Maine Red Claws, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will mark Young’s fourth jaunt to Maine of the young season, and Mickey’s third, as our tracker shows.
- One executive who spoke with Chris Mannix of SI.com said he wouldn’t sign 2016 free agent Hassan Whiteside for more than $10MM a year, which Mannix connects to the Heat big man’s track record of maturity issues.
- Kevin Durant‘s relationship with the Wizards and their fanbase will never quite be the same after making what could be his last appearance at the Verizon Center as a visiting player on Tuesday night, writes Dan Steinberg of The Washington Post. If Durant signs with Washington next offseason when he becomes an unrestricted free agent, he will arrive with a massive set of expectations attached. But if he instead elects not to play for his hometown squad, there will be a palpable sense of disappointment present every time he plays in D.C., Steinberg opines.
- Bucks point guard Tyler Ennis credits his time spent with the Suns during the early half of the 2014/15 season for helping his development as a player along, Charles F. Gardner of The Journal-Sentinel writes. “In the long run, it helped me a lot,” Ennis said of his time in Phoenix. “Competing against those guys [Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas] in practice is not something every rookie gets to do. I learned a lot from them.” The second year player has been forced into a starting role for Milwaukee thanks to an injury to Michael Carter-Williams.
And-Ones: Durant, Green, Aldridge
Sean Deveney of The Sporting News mentions the Lakers, Bulls and Knicks as major-market suitors for Kevin Durant, and the Warriors as a team that could catch his eye, but people around the league have long felt as though Durant will either sign with the Thunder or the Wizards, Deveney writes. It’s a sentiment one Eastern Conference GM who spoke with Deveney confirms. Still, Washington doesn’t plan an extravagant pitch, a source tells Deveney, in keeping with the former MVP’s low-key personality. That said, neither the Warriors nor the Heat should be ruled out as potential Durant destinations, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. See more from around the NBA:
- Gerald Green punched a man who was trying to restrain him from going from the lobby of his condo building to his unit, according to a police report that Manny Navarro and Charles Rabin of the Miami Herald obtained. The man, who elected not to press charges, was attempting to keep Green in the lobby so that he would be there when rescue officials arrived, the report states, according to Navarro and Rabin. Green had earlier approached the front desk of the lobby with bloody hands and asked for a call to paramedics, then proceeded to the valet area in front of the building and collapsed, the report continues, as Navarro and Rabin detail. Green, who was handcuffed but not arrested, was hospitalized and later released and is serving a two-game suspension from the Heat. Team president Pat Riley said the team still believes it can count on Green, who issued an apology as part of a team statement, Navarro and Rabin add.
- The Mavericks weren’t the favorites for LaMarcus Aldridge, but they still had a chance to sign him when they abandoned their pursuit to instead nail down the more certain acquisition of Wesley Matthews, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports details in an inside look at Aldridge’s free agency. Aldridge liked Kobe Bryant‘s basketball chat but little else about the Lakers presentation, while Aldridge was reluctant to share the marquee with James Harden despite an intriguing Rockets pitch and found Raptors GM Masai Ujiri appealing but not convincing enough to sway him to Toronto, according to Wojnarowski.
- The Spurs wooed Aldridge with a casual, face-to-face approach from Gregg Popovich and other San Antonio principals, Wojnarowski explains in the same piece. Popovich’s decision to fly in for a second visit, prompted by Aldridge’s second Lakers meeting, helped sealed the deal for the Spurs, thanks in part to a last-minute appeal from Riley that the Heat president intended to use to sell Aldridge on a secondary role in Miami, Wojnarowski writes. Instead, Aldridge took Riley’s message to heart as he embraced the idea of sacrificing some of his impressive offensive numbers in San Antonio’s egalitarian offense, as the Yahoo scribe details.
Southeast Notes: Durant, Wittman, Dedmon, Payne
Kevin Durant didn’t give the media much to go on as he spoke this morning in Washington, where the Thunder will play the Wizards tonight, but he elaborated on the remark in which he called the attention he received the last time he played in Washington “disrespectful,” as The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater relays. The Wizards showed a photo of Durant edited to depict him in a Wizards jersey on their scoreboard when the Thunder visited Washington last season, but Durant doesn’t pin any blame on the adulation from Washington fans.
“Nah, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with what the fans do,” Durant said. “Me, I’m just thinking as a player on the other side. Fans gonna do what they gonna do. I appreciate all the support going our way. But I’m just looking at it as an opposing player and if I was on that team and they came in here and did that, I wouldn’t like it. But the fans, hey, they support us. Throughout the whole league, they make it what it is.”
See more on the Wizards and other news from the Southeast Division:
- Several people around the league wonder if the Wizards would let Durant decide the fate of coach Randy Wittman if the former MVP wants to sign with the team next summer, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com. Wittman’s contract is partially guaranteed for 2016/17.
- Magic center Dewayne Dedmon is seeing a more clearly defined role under new coach Scott Skiles, including spot starts while Nikola Vucevic deals with a bruised right knee, as Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders examines. Dedmon is entering the final season of his contract.
- The Hawks drafted Adreian Payne 15th overall last year but traded him midway through his rookie season to the Timberwolves, a move that caught him off guard, he admits to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He wasn’t in Atlanta long, and D-League assignments took him away from the team for much of his time on the Hawks roster, but he said he still learned plenty from the veterans on the Hawks, Vivlamore notes.
Eastern Notes: Nets, Beal, Durant, Young
Nets GM Billy King has made exploratory trade calls in response to the team’s 0-7 start, as he told reporters today, including Newsday’s Roderick Boone (Twitter link). It would be tough for Brooklyn to engineer a deal before December 15th, the date most of the players signed this past offseason become eligible to be traded, but the GM isn’t hiding from the blame even as he conceded a quick fix is unlikely, Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com relays (ESPN Now link).
“I’m not sitting in here shirking accountability,” King said. “… It stops at me. I’m the GM. You make decisions along the way, and it’s my job now to figure it out and turn it around. … It doesn’t happen overnight. We knew when we traded [the first-round] picks and went down this road that if it doesn’t go well you have to dig yourself out of it, and that’s what we’re doing now.”
See more from the Eastern Conference:
- Kevin Durant called the less-than-subtle affection that surrounded him during the Thunder’s game at the Wizards last season “disrespectful,” and Bradley Beal concurs, notes J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com. “It is disrespectful because he plays for Oklahoma City,” Beal said. “He doesn’t play for Washington.” The Wizards have made no secret of their desire to attract Durant, a D.C. native, to Washington, and, for what it’s worth, Durant’s friend John Wall said he and the former MVP worked out together over the summer, notes Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post (on Twitter).
- Beal echoed many of the sentiments of Joakim Noah in praising Billy Donovan, their former college coach who’s now the bench boss for the Thunder, as The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater observes. “He’s always been like a second Dad to me,” Beal said of Donovan. “He’s a family first guy and granted me a lot of freedom. We talk a lot.” Noah and Beal are both poised for free agency in the summer, but the Wizards can match offers for Beal, who’s said he has no desire to leave Washington.
- The Celtics have recalled James Young from the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). Young’s assignment, already his second on the season, lasted just one day. Rookie Jordan Mickey, whom the team sent to Maine with Young, remains with the D-League club.
Northwest Notes: Durant, Barton, Ingles
Kevin Durant feels uncomfortable with the attention his upcoming free agency is generating, but the volume of the talk about it figures to go up a few notches in the next couple of days with the Thunder‘s annual visit to Washington for a game against the Wizards coming Tuesday, as USA Today’s Sam Amick examines. The former MVP wasn’t a fan of what the Wizards did in January the last time Oklahoma City went to Washington, when they showed a photo of Durant on scoreboard with a Wizards jersey edited onto his chest, among other homages to the D.C. native, as Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports relays:
“It was crazy. It was crazy,” Durant said. “It was kind of disrespectful in my opinion, because you’ve got a great team there already, that deserves your full, 100% support. And I wouldn’t like that if I was on that team. And I didn’t like that. But it comes with nowadays. It’s a part of it.
Durant said he’s learning to embrace the hoopla, as Amick notes, and that could be key as the season goes on and the noise grows louder. Here’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Nuggets coach Michael Malone is a fan of Will Barton‘s versatility and motor, traits that are paying dividends for the team, observes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Barton re-signed with the Nuggets this summer on three-year, $10.6MM deal after originally having joined the team via the Arron Afflalo trade. “I’m starting fresh,” Barton said, according to Dempsey. “And they embraced me when I came here in the trade. So it was like I wanted to come back and get a full year under my belt and show the fans really, really what I can do. I think I teased them last year and it’s just a great feeling, a great vibe from the front office to the players. Everybody wanted me back. So it was just like ‘Let’s get it done.'”
- Versatility is also helping Joe Ingles impress Jazz coach Quin Snyder, notes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. Snyder wants him to improve defensively, but he’s otherwise pleased with the 28-year-old who re-signed on a two-year, $4.5MM deal in the offseason.
- The Thunder carried an underlying anxiety during their three-game losing streak, with a new coach, new players and Durant’s free agency in their thoughts, but a win Sunday that highlighted their deep bench showed what can happen if Billy Donovan continues to experiment, observes Royce Young of ESPN.com.
Northwest Notes: Durant, Mudiay, Papanikolaou
Kevin Durant is well known around the league for his humility, which was certainly on display when he called teammate Russell Westbrook the best player on the Thunder, Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman relays. The Slim Reaper’s comments came mere months after he had proclaimed himself the “world’s best player,” Slater notes. When asked about Westbrook comment, Durant explained, “That’s how I feel. And he feels the same about me. We hold each other on that pedestal. That’s what makes us great teammates. I believe he’s the best player in the world, and he believes the same about me. Of course I’m gonna say that. There’s gonna be nights where I’m the best player on the team. There’s gonna be nights where he’s the best player on the team, when Dion Waiters is the best player on the team. That’s how I feel about my teammates. A lot of people may read into it but any given night it’s different.”
Here’s more from out of the Northwest:
- Not surprisingly, Nuggets coach Michael Malone doesn’t have the doubts about Emmanuel Mudiay‘s ability that Byron Scott said he had going into the draft, when the Lakers picked D’Angelo Russell instead. Bill Oram of the Orange County Register has the details. “Unlike some others, we feel he is a point guard that can make good decisions and we feel he’s going to showcase that throughout the season,” Malone said.
- Kostas Papanikolaou‘s two-year, minimum salary deal with the Nuggets includes a partial guarantee of $350K for the 2015/16 season, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders relays (via Twitter).
- Thunder big man Enes Kanter is fitting in well with the team and the community, a distinct difference from his time spent in Utah with the Jazz, Nick Gallo of NBA.com writes. “Enes has really embraced the community since he arrived in Oklahoma City last season,” said Christine Berney, the Thunder’s Vice President of Community Relations. “From planting trees in Myriad Gardens during NBA Green Week last spring to stopping by the OKC Turkish Festival this fall to visiting the kids and families at OU and Children’s Hospital after the tragedy at OSU’s Homecoming parade, Enes has been so generous with his time. He’s a great ambassador for the team, and a pleasure to work with.”
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
And-Ones: Beal, Durant, Morris, Giles
Bradley Beal understands the advantage of the cap flexibility the Wizards retained when they didn’t sign him to an extension before Monday’s deadline, and he has no desire to play for any other team after his restricted free agency next summer, as he tells Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports. Beal thinks of himself as a max player but told Lee that he’ll accept whatever he deserves regardless of whether it’s the max. The Wizards reportedly intend to give him the max next summer.
“This is where I want to be. I’m not looking at any other teams. I’m not looking to go anywhere else. I believe in this team we have in this locker room. I’m a big cornerstone of this team, so I’m here. I want to be here. Hopefully, the front office knows that. I’m pretty sure that they know that,” Beal said.
See more on the Wizards amid the latest from around the NBA:
- The Wizards remain a legitimate threat to sign Kevin Durant in 2016, league sources tell Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. One executive from another team who spoke with Berger insists the maneuver the Wizards are executing with Beal to help facilitate that, similar to what the Pistons are doing with Andre Drummond, is against the rules.
- Marcus Morris made comments indicating that he’s ready to move past his feelings toward the trade that separated him from his brother, but as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press shows, he still has negative memories of his time with the Suns. “I felt disrespected the entire time I was in Phoenix,” Morris said. “I was playing well, but I still feel like I didn’t have a real opportunity to grow. Anytime a team trades you away like that, it’s a slap in the face. I still feel disrespected, and I feel like I want to disrespect them.”
- Top 2017 draft prospect Harry Giles suffered a “slight small tear” in his right ACL, a source told Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv, but it’s enough to knock him out for his senior year of high school this season, his father confirmed to Paul Biancardi of ESPN.com. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress moved the 6’10” power forward down from No. 1 to No. 2 in his 2017 mock draft, replacing him at the top with 6’8″ small forward Jayson Tatum, but Givony explained to Zagoria for a separate story that Giles has plenty of time to recover and regain the top spot.
Northwest Notes: Nelson, Durant, Payne, Neto
Nuggets coach Michael Malone was impressed when Jameer Nelson organized and footed the bill a team getaway to his hometown of Philadelphia this summer, and Nelson has a positive feeling about Denver after initial trepidation, reports Matt Moore of CBSSports.com. Nelson re-signed with the Nuggets this summer after a midseason trade brought him to the team last season.
“[When I was first traded to Denver], I didn’t know if I wanted to come here,” Nelson said. “I wanted to stay on the East Coast with my family. I had conversations with the GM, my agent, but also with my wife. I was like ‘I don’t want to go.’ I’ve never been in that situation. You don’t know what you’re going to do until you’re in that situation. I gave myself about 10 minutes to think by myself and I’m like, ‘Well, there’s no reason for me not to go. I’m a professional. This is my job, and they’re giving me an opportunity to play.'”
Nelson told Moore that after the Nuggets promised that they wanted him and had a role in mind for him, “everything has come true” and the organization kept its word. The 33-year-old has quickly become the team’s most prominent leader and a mentor for No. 7 overall pick Emmanuel Mudiay, as Moore details. See more from the Northwest Division:
- Thunder assistant coach Monty Williams has already made a strong connection with soon-to-be free agent Kevin Durant, a source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, who writes in a piece examining the unusual circumstances surrounding new head man Billy Donovan‘s introduction to NBA coaching.
- Lottery pick Cameron Payne is making a strong impression on the Thunder so far, as The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater chronicles. “He’s better than I imagined,” Durant said of this year’s No. 14 selection. “A great addition.”
- Conversely, Jazz coach Quin Snyder is trying to temper expectations surrounding his team’s rookie point guard, observes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. Draft-and-stash signee Raul Neto dazzled in his preseason debut, and with Dante Exum hurt and Trey Burke coming off a rough season, Neto’s quickly become a fan favorite. “It’s a long year,” Snyder said, “and I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves — for his sake.”