Central Notes: Bulls, Asik, Cavs
The latest news and notes from around the Central Division on Tuesday evening:
- The Bulls are now eligible to sign a free agent despite being up against the hard cap. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune writes that their bench is currently a liability, and there's a chance they will look to the free-agent market for help.
- Bulls forward Taj Gibson tells Nick Freidell of ESPNChicago.com that the Bulls are feeling the loss of Omer Asik, but they are not using it as an excuse for their poor play.
- Bob Finnan of the News-Herald writes that the injury to Kyrie Irving will cause a significant setback for the Cavs this season.
Kyrie Irving To Miss Four Weeks
Kyrie Irving will miss four weeks with a broken left index finger, the team announced. The point guard sustained the injury, described as a hairline/non-displaced fracture, in Saturday's game against the Mavericks. He played last night against the Sixers, but was unusually ineffective, scoring just nine points on 4 of 14 shooting. The news puts the Cavs in a tough spot, to say the least, since Irving was off to a strong start, averaging a team-high 22.9 points a game, and played an even greater role in the offense than he did as Rookie of the Year last season.
The Cavs have only Donald Sloan and Jeremy Pargo as point guards on the roster behind Irving, and the poor play of the team's bench has already led coach Byron Scott to hint at a possible move. The Cavs have a full complement of 15 players, but only 12 have guaranteed contracts. Sloan's contract is the only fully non-guaranteed deal, as Samardo Samuels can be bought out for $200K, while Daniel Gibson's $4.79MM contract can be let go for just $2.49MM. Nonetheless, Sloan is one of the two true point guards on the roster, while Samuels has been a part of the rotation, averaging 16.7 minutes per game. Gibson has been seeing minutes, too, and he's played the point at stretches during his career, so there's no obvious answer about whom to let go.
The Cavs, with a payroll of just $47.666MM, have the most cap room in the league with more than $10MM. Yet they could be wary of too significant an expenditure, since they're on the hook for $12.25MM to Baron Davis, whom they amnestied last year, even though that amount does not count against the cap. Few on the list of available free agents would command much more than the minimum salary, however, and though we noted yesterday that they're not interested in reaching out to former Cav Delonte West, their position could change in light of the news about Irving. Cleveland could also pursue a trade, though that might be an uphill battle, since most teams aren't looking to deal at this time of year, and GM Chris Grant and company may be reluctant to make long-term changes to the roster to solve a problem that will last only a month.
Central Notes: Ilyasova, Stephenson, Scott
The latest news and notes from around the Central Division on Sunday evening:
- Ersan Ilyasova, re-signed by the Bucks this offseason, is off to a slow start, writes Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
- Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star discusses Lance Stephenson, one of the wing players the Pacers will count on to fill the void left by Danny Granger's injury.
- John Rhode of the Oklahoman examines the success Cavs coach Byron Scott is having with Kyrie Irving, and points out that Scott has had success with elite point guards both during his playing and coaching career.
Odds & Ends: Bogut, Jennings, Rose, Irving, Roy
We learned tonight that the Warriors have shutdown center Andrew Bogut for 7 to 10 days and Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News says that all signs point towards the Aussie big man's absence extending longer than that. Bogut said that he may have pushed it too much and that he would consider himself a liability on the court right now, writes Marcus Thompson of the Contra Costa Times. There are only two games tonight, but still plenty of links from around the league:
- In the early going, the absence of a contract extension has brought out the best in Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings, writes Sports Illustrated's Ian Thomsen. Since he couldn't come to an agreement with Milwaukee, Jennings will hit free agency this summer.
- According to Russell Westbrook, Bulls point guard Derrick Rose will come back from his knee injury this season stronger than ever, writes Scott Powers of ESPN Chicago. Westbrook and Scott Brooks also said that while the Bulls are a different team without Rose, they still must be feared because of the way Tom Thibodeau prepares them to play, says Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago.
- Beckley Mason of the New York Times opines that it isn't too early to consider the Cavaliers' Kyrie Irving among the NBA's elite point guards.
- After sitting out last year, Timberwolves guard Brandon Roy is rusty, writes Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. Roy says his knee are fine, however, and will begin to look more for his shot to try to get his career back on track.
Cavs Exercise Options On Irving, Thompson
The Cavaliers have officially picked up their 2013/14 options on Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson, the team announced today in a press release. Both Irving and Thompson are currently heading into their sophomore seasons, so the Cavs will have an additional team option on both players in 2014/15.
Considering both Irving and Thompson were top-five picks in 2011, with Irving earning Rookie of the Year honors last season, exercising their third-year options was a formality for the Cavs. Irving is now slated to make a guaranteed $5.61MM in 2013/14, while Thompson will earn about $4.06MM.
Be sure to check out Hoops Rumors' option tracker to follow which rookie-scale players have had their 2013/14 options picked up so far this offseason.
Cavaliers Notes: Irving, Varejao, Jones
Here's the latest out of Cleveland on a Cavs team that Kyrie Irving thinks is ready to contend for the playoffs:
- Appearing on ESPN 850 WKNR in Cleveland (link via Sports Radio Interviews), Irving talked about his expectations for the team: "I have high hopes for us. Obviously our number one goal is to make the playoffs this year and we’re definitely going to attain that as long as we continue to get better and as long as we compete every single night."
- Irving added that he's excited about the players the front office drafted and acquired in the offseason, and that he's looking forward to starting to play with them.
- Several sources tell Bob Finnan of the News-Herald that they believe Anderson Varejao will be traded by the Cavs at this season's trade deadline.
- Varejao, for his part, said yesterday that he wants to remain a Cav, though he recognizes he doesn't have much control over the situation: "I'm still here. I can't control that. If they trade me, they trade me…. I'm happy in Cleveland. I love the city and I love the fans."
- The Cavs aren't worried about replacing Antawn Jamison's 17.2 points per game, according to head coach Byron Scott.
- Kevin Jones signed a three-year pact with the Cavs, but only $50K of his 2012/13 salary is guaranteed, as Finnan writes. Our list of non-guaranteed contracts shows that a number of Cavs players have partial guarantees on their deals.
Injury Notes: Mbah a Moute, Honeycutt, Cavaliers
As training camps begin to start all throughout the league, here are few bits of injury related news.
- Bucks forward Luc Mbah a Moute will miss all of the team's training camp while he continues recovering from offseason knee surgery, writes JSOnline.com's Charles F. Gardner. Mbah a Moute underwent the surgery in May, and he hopes to return at some point early on in the regular season. While he's out, the team's small forward position is wide open. Mike Dunleavy will come off the bench, and second year player Tobias Harris could take the spot.
- Kings forward Tyler Honeycutt was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right fibula, according to an official media release from the team. As he enters his second season with Sacramento, Honeycutt is expected to miss three to four weeks.
- With each player coming off an offseason surgery, Kyrie Irving, Anderson Varejao, and Daniel Gibson are all cleared to practice with the Cavaliers in training camp, reports NBA.com.
Odds & Ends: Irving, Spurs, Clippers, McGrady
Reigning rookie of the year point guard Kyrie Irving rejoined his teammates on Monday, competing in his first five-on-five scrimmage since breaking his hand two months ago, writes Yahoo! Sports NBA reporter Marc J. Spears.
Here's a look elsewhere around the league.
- Hoopsworld.com's Yannis Koutroupis asks whether or not the Spurs title window is closed, given the fact that they only added one player (Nando De Colo) to their roster this offseason.
- Hoopsworld.com's Joel Brigham gives five teams from the Eastern Conference he believes must be watched heading into next season.
- Sporting News' Sean Deveney believes both Tracy McGrady and Baron Davis are at the crossroads of their respective careers, with both players possibly at a point where no more NBA basketball will be played.
- In his continuing series previewing each division, NBA.com's John Schuhmann writes about the Pacific Division, honing in on the Clippers and how they'll try to keep up with the Lakers this year.
- NBA.com's Sam Smith writes that the Bulls didn't dismantle their "bench mob" — they improved it.
- It's a contract season for Jazz forward Paul Millsap, and in many ways it'll also be the biggest year of his life, writes The Salt Lake Tribune's Brian T. Smith.
Odds & Ends: Shaq, Wilkerson, Vaughn
The Lakers will retire Shaquille O'Neal's #34 jersey on April 2nd at Staples Center before the team faces the Mavericks, tweets Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register. He adds that the team will also retire center Jamaal Wilkes' #52 jersey on December 28. Also, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's statue will be unveiled on November 16, according to Ding (via Twitter). Here's what else we're hearing from the NBA this evening…
- Tyler Wilkerson has received an offer to attend training camp with the Spurs after a standout performance with their summer league team, says Dan McCarney of Spurs Nation. McCarney cited a tweet from NBA agent Seth A. Cohen for making the announcement.
- John Denton of NBA.com highlights Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn as he prepares for his first season with Orlando and obtains some thoughts regarding his newly hired assistant coaches.
- According to an ESPN.com survey of "100 of ESPN's best basketball minds", the Lakers received 56 votes and the Thunder finished with 42 on the topic of who will be the Western Conference champions this year.
- Moke Hamilton of SheridanHoops.com reviewed a list of the remaining NBA teams with cap and trade exceptions.
- Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio doesn't think that the Cavaliers are actively trying to move Daniel Gibson, contrary to what other rumblings might suggest (Twitter link). In a separate tweet, he asserts that Kyrie Irving is ahead of his recovery schedule and should be ready by training camp on October 1.
- Head coach Doug Collins likes the pieces that the 76ers have heading into training camp and is excited to start work, writes Marc Narducci of Philly.com.
Amico On Grant, Miles, Irving, Waiters
Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio writes that Cavaliers GM Chris Grant is happy with where the team is now, having added Dion Waiters, Tyler Zeller, and C.J. Miles this summer (Sulia link). However, Grant also says that the team still hopes to sign Alonzo Gee but understands that the process could take some time (Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer tweets). Here are a few more miscellaneous notes coming out of Cleveland this evening, courtesy of Amico:
- Miles, who looks at his situation in Cleveland as a fresh start, believes that he has more to offer than what he had been able to show in Utah (Sulia link).
- According to head coach Byron Scott, Kyrie Irving says he's "doing great" and has already been dribbling with his surgically repaired hand.
- Scott also mentioned that Dion Waiters has been working out in Los Angeles since the summer league and appeared to look much better conditioning-wise.