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Cavaliers Notes: James, Irving, Love, Trades

December 16th, 2016 at 10:15am CST by Arthur Hill

The new collective bargaining agreement will allow the Cavaliers to offer LeBron James a five-year worth about $209MM in 2018, writes Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal. The exact dollar amount won’t be known until the cap is set for 2018/19, but it would easily exceed the record $153MM contract that Mike Conley signed with the Grizzlies in July. It will be a nice raise for James, who will make nearly $31MM this season and more than $33MM next year, and it was made possible by the union’s insistence that the “age 36” rule, which limits contract length for older veterans, be changed to an “age 38” rule. Of course it’s not certain that James will decide to finish his career in Cleveland. He has talked about forming a team with his friends Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade, and 2018 may be his last chance to make that happen while they’re all still productive.

There’s more this morning out of Cleveland:

Kyrie Irving is the only member of the team’s Big Three who will be affected by the new designated veteran player exception, Lloyd notes in the same piece. The provision permits teams to offer six-year extensions to two players who are entering their eighth or ninth seasons in the NBA and who are signing their second max extensions. James is in his 14th season, and Kevin Love has already inked two long-term contracts. Both Irving and Love can both become free agents in 2019.
Grizzlies coach David Fizdale thinks that if James stays in the league when his playing days are over, it should be as an executive rather than a coach, relays Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. “He would kill somebody,” Fizdale said. “Perfection is like [his standard]. He wants perfection. I could see him actually owning his own team and doing something like that, but I think he would end up killing a player at some point because they wouldn’t live up to the expectations that he would set forth.”
The Cavaliers have expressed interest in Kings center Kosta Koufos in the past, but a trade with Sacramento doesn’t seem likely, Vardon states in a separate story. Koufos is now starting for the Kings and making $8MM, so he would be an expensive acquisition. Also, it would be hard to work him into the rotation with Tristan Thompson and Channing Frye forming an effective combination at center. Vardon says Willie Cauley-Stein might be more realistic, but would still cost too much for a player not likely to see many minutes come playoff time.

Central Notes: Rondo, Smith, LeBron

December 6th, 2016 at 5:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Rajon Rondo was in street clothes during the Bulls‘ Monday night loss to the Blazers due to a one game suspension by the team resulting from a a “heated exchange” the point guard had with an assistant coach. Rondo’s teammates are ready to move on from the incident, with veteran guard Dwyane Wade telling Nick Friedell of ESPN.com that Rondo understands what he did wrong and that the team still has full confidence in the playmaker’s leadership. “Let’s play,” Wade said when asked what he told Rondo. “He’s going to have enough messages. Our job is to say, “Let’s go, let’s play.” We got to win the game [Tuesday]. This is about basketball. All those things, it’s not my job to stay on him about. He’s been disciplined, they’ve talked about it, he understands and we’ve moved on.”

“He’s going to have fresh legs,” Wade continued. “Whatever happened, the organization took care of it. As players, we support each other and back each other. It’s an emotional game and guys have emotional moments. [The team] handled it the way they thought was best. Now we move on.”

Here’s more from the Central Division:

LeBron James has no desire to sit down with Knicks president Phil Jackson to discuss comments the executive made during a recent interview about the Cavs forward, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com relays. “Didn’t affect me, just know how much further we still have to go and how far we still have to go as African-Americans, even in the light of today,” James said about Jackson’s opinions. “For me, I’ve built my career on and off the floor on the utmost respect, and I’ve always given the utmost respect to everyone — all my peers, people that’s laid the path for me and laid the path for coaches, players, things of that nature. I’ve always given respect to them, and it’s always, like I told you before, it’s always shade thrown on me, so. It means we got a lot more work to do, myself and the team.“
The Cavaliers received some good news regarding J.R. Smith, who exited Monday night’s contest against the Raptors after suffering a left knee injury in the first quarter. Smith underwent an MRI today that showed no damage and the guard’s status is considered day-to-day, Shams Charania of The Vertical reports (via Twitter).
Bulls training camp cut and D-League affiliate player,D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, has been waived by the Windy City Bulls, Chris Reichert of The Step Back reports (Twitter link). The 23-year-old made six appearances for Windy City, averaging 3.0 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 11.1 minutes per outing while sporting a slash line of .269/.091/.600.

Eastern Notes: James, Wade, Meeks, Bullock

December 2nd, 2016 at 8:24pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The partnership of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James (along with Chris Bosh, of course) was an extremely successful one for the Heat, resulting in four appearances in the NBA Finals and two league titles. In advance of tonight’s matchup of the Bulls and Cavs, Wade spoke to the media about his time with LeBron in Miami. The shooting guard told Nick Friedell of ESPN.com that he was the one who altered his game the most after James took his talents to South Beach, adding that he wouldn’t change a thing about the time he spent alongside James. “I definitely changed mine more,” Wade said. “It’s not even a conversation. There’s no conversation to have. I definitely had to change mine more.”

“We all knew the sacrifice that was going to be [made],” Wade continued. “Obviously, you sit down and you talk about playing together. You think you know what’s [going to happen], you try to cover things in that moment, but then once you start playing together you realize it’s harder than what you thought. But we all knew we had to sacrifice. Chris Bosh, too. He’s somebody who they don’t talk about, he had to sacrifice a lot too. But at the end of the day, we sacrificed points, article hits, but what we gained was championships, friendships and brotherhoods that last a lifetime. So I’m sure if we could do it all over again we’d do it exactly the same way.”

Here’s more from out of the Eastern Conference:

Offseason trade acquisition, Jodie Meeks, is set to make his season debut for the Magic this evening, the team announced. The 29-year-old underwent foot surgery back in July after missing all but three games in 2015/16, and will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
Staying on the injury front, Pistons executive/coach Stan Van Gundy confirmed that swingman Reggie Bullock will go under the knife on Saturday to repair his torn left meniscus, Rod Beard of The Detroit News relays (via Twitter). Bullock is expected to be sidelined for two to four months following the procedure, per a report by Shams Charania of The Vertical, but Van Gundy did not give an official estimate on when the player may return to action in his statement today, Beard adds.
Paul George, who has missed six of the last seven Pacers contests with an ankle injury, says he has to reestablish himself as the team’s leader once he is able to return to game action, Nate Taylor of USA Today relays. “I think just sitting out and watching, I’ve got to get back to being the guy for us,” George said. “I’ve got to have the trust of the team, I’ve got to have the trust of the organization. This has been my group, this has been my team. I’ve got to get back to that. That’s what I’m looking forward to, being our leader.” The swingman intends to play in Indiana’s contest against the Clippers on Sunday, Taylor notes.

Knicks Notes: Jackson, Anthony, Noah, Rose

November 16th, 2016 at 1:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

Knicks president Phil Jackson took to social media in an attempt to diffuse the reaction to his controversial comments regarding LeBron James, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Jackson has taken criticism for referring to James’ entourage as a “posse,” drawing reactions not only from James, but also from Knicks star Carmelo Anthony. Jackson re-tweeted a post from team advisor, Clarence Gaines, an African-American, who was promoting the “Posse Foundation,” which was set up to help black students succeed. Jackson refused to discuss the situation with reporters on Tuesday.

There’s more today out of New York:

Jackson’s statements were part of a continued effort to take the focus off the job he has done with the Knicks, contends Mike Vacarro of The New York Post. The writer called Jackson “petty” for focusing on James and Heat president Pat Riley in recent public comments and blasted Jackson for not talking to New York media since September 22nd.
Joakim Noah, one of the team’s prize offseason additions, will continue to start, but may not play much during fourth quarters, Berman writes in a separate piece. The Knicks have been more successful lately with coach Jeff Hornacek’s “small-ball” lineup that has Kristaps Porzingis playing center. Hornacek said Noah, who hasn’t scored in three games and is averaging just 4.3 points per contest, needs to become more “aggressive” on offense. “We don’t mind him taking the little mid-range shot, keeping teams honest if they’re going to stay back,’’ Hornacek said. “We want him to continue rolling to the basket, get low in the dunk area if guys penetrate and a big helps, he gets the dump and can just dunk it. If he stays outside, that’s what another team wants. We want for him to be more aggressive when he does get the ball around the basket.’’
Derrick Rose is seeking $70K in court costs related to his civil trial that concluded last month, according to ESPN. A woman’s $21.5MM suit alleging rape was rejected by a jury, and the law permits winners of civil trials to ask the court to have some of their costs covered by the losers.

And-Ones: Trump Backlash, Jones, Lue

November 15th, 2016 at 10:57pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Bucks, Grizzlies and Mavericks have stopped staying at Donald Trump-branded hotels in order to avoid being associated with the businessman, Marc Stein and Zach Lowe of ESPN.com collectively report. Sources tell the duo that another Eastern Conference team set to stay at the Trumo SoHo in New York this season has already decided to switch to a different hotel once its contract expires at the end of the season. Seven other teams are currently scheduled to stay at Trump-branded hotels this season. ESPN has declined to reveal which teams will be staying at the locations.

Here’s more from around the league:

Perry Jones III has signed with the Iowa Energy of the D-League, sources tell Chris Reichert of The Step Back (Twitter link).
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said he will not try to mend the fence between LeBron James and his former coach Phil Jackson, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com tweets.
Before signing with the Hawks, Dwight Howard told his mother he was going to sign with the Jazz and she didn’t take the fake news too well, as Koster Kennard of the Deseret News relays. “I played a prank on my mom,” Howard said to Doug Gottlieb of CBS Sports Radio. “I wanted to see her reaction, so I told her, I said, ‘Mom, I just got this big contract, $150 million.’ And she was like, ‘Oh my God, from who?’ I said, ‘Utah Jazz,’ and she started crying.”

Knicks Notes: Anthony, Jackson, Noah

November 15th, 2016 at 8:36pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Carmelo Anthony said he would be offended if Phil Jackson referred to his entourage as a “posse,” but added that he believes Jackson may have meant no harm by his word choice, Marc Berman of The New York Post relays.

“Do I think he meant it in any kind of way? I really don’t know. I don’t think he did.” Anthony said. “I would hope he didn’t. Sometimes Phil just says things, the first thing that comes to mind. He’s probably in his office now regretting it. When it comes to, Phil, you never know what’s going to be said.”

Here’s more from New York:

Anthony also added that he can’t understand why LeBron James is the topic of Jackson’s conversation, as Berman passes along in the same piece. “I don’t think we play them anytime soon,” Anthony said. “It’s a whole month away. I just don’t understand Phil talking about LeBron right now. In November. I don’t understand that.”
Jackson’s insecurities about running a franchise are prompting him to take shots at his successful counterparts, Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical argues in a video essay (Twitter link). The scribe details all of Jackson’s failed moves, including his decision to trade J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cavs for practically nothing in return.
The Knicks signed Joakim Noah to a four-year, $72MM contract during the offseason, but the team’s best lineup doesn’t included the big man, as Stefan Bondy of the Daily News details. In Monday’s win over the Mavericks, Kristaps Porzingis was moved to the center position and the team enjoyed great success, including a 30-10 run. Noah admitted that he has to find his offensive game and said he would be looking at the film to “figure it out.”

LeBron James: I “Had” Respect For Phil Jackson

November 15th, 2016 at 11:37am CST by Luke Adams

When we passed along some of the highlights from Phil Jackson‘s interview with ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan on Monday, we didn’t include a comment from the Knicks president on LeBron James. Jackson suggested that the reigning NBA Finals MVP “likes special treatment” and “needs things his way” when he discussed LeBron’s 2014 departure from Miami.

“There were a lot of little things that came out of that,” Jackson said. “When LeBron was playing with the Heat, they went to Cleveland, and he wanted to spend the night. They don’t do overnights. Teams just don’t. So now [head coach Erik] Spoelstra has to text [president Pat] Riley and say, ‘What do I do in this situation?’ And Pat, who has iron-fist rules, answers, ‘You are on the plane. You are with this team.’ You can’t hold up the whole team because you and your mom and your posse want to spend an extra night in Cleveland.”

As Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com tweets, James addressed those comments today, telling reporters that he “had nothing but respect” for Jackson as a coach. Asked to clarify his use of the past tense, LeBron confirmed that he no longer has that same level of respect for the Knicks president. The Cavs star also took exception with Jackson’s use of the word “posse” to describe James’ camp.

“To use that label, and if you go and read the definition of what the word ‘posse’ is, it’s not what I’ve built over my career,” James said, per Jordan Heck of The Sporting News (Twitter link). “It’s not what I stand for. It’s not what my family stands for. And I believe the only reason he used that word is because it’s young African-Americans trying to make a difference.”

Maverick Carter, one of LeBron’s business partners, also took exception to Jackson’s comments, according to McMenamin: “It’s the word ‘posse’ and the characterization I take offense to. If he would have said LeBron and his agent, LeBron and his business partners, or LeBron and his friends, that’s one thing. Yet because you’re young and black, he can use that word. We’re grown men.”

While a conflict with a rival player won’t necessarily have any short-term negative impact on Jackson and the Knicks, it’s not a great look for a team executive who will be trying to recruit players in free agency in the summer. It’s also worth noting that Knicks star Carmelo Anthony is close friends with James, and probably wouldn’t be thrilled to be caught between the two.

Sixers Notes: Noel, Simmons, LeBron, Ilyasova

November 5th, 2016 at 1:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Raptors’ reported interest in Nerlens Noel could revive a deal that was discussed over the summer, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia and Toronto were discussing an offseason trade revolving around Noel and Raptors swingman Terrence Ross. Noel is considered expendable because the Sixers have a wealth of quality young big men, and the team didn’t try very hard to reach a rookie contract extension with him before Monday’s deadline. Toronto may be in the market for help at power forward after offseason acquisition Jared Sullinger suffered a foot injury that will keep him out until January. Noel has already started rehabilitation after undergoing surgery October 26th for inflamed tissue above his left knee. He is expected to be out for three to five weeks.

There’s more news from Philadelphia:

Even though he’s 6’10”, rookie Ben Simmons will eventually become the Sixers’ point guard, according to Nick Metallinos of ESPN.com. Simmons is sidelined with a Jones fracture in his right foot, but coach Brett Brown plans to help him transform to the new position when he is cleared to return. “That type of breakaway speed at 6’10, 245 pounds. He is an elite athlete,” Brown said. “Apart from the skill package that he most definitely has, I feel like that’s one of the foundations of a lot of the great players.”
Cavaliers star LeBron James sees a bright future for Simmons, relays Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com. Simmons spent part of the summer working out with James, Dwyane Wade and Richard Jefferson and made a strong impression on the NBA veterans. “We all went through the workouts and he went better as the days went on,” James said. “That lets you know that he’s there to work and wants to get better and he wants to train with some of the guys he feels like he wants to work out to get better. It’s great to have him in the gym. It’s great to just be around him. He’s a great kid. Things will work out good for him.”
The Sixers’ trade for Ersan Ilyasova is a step toward the positional balancing that Brown has been talking about since last season, writes Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I just think that the skill package that [Ilyasova] has is similar in many ways to Dario [Saric] and the skill package that [Joel Embiid] has and Jahlil [Okafor] has are similar to each other,” Brown said. “I just think that it’s clear what their strengths are and the offense should reflect that. I think that those are also our best scorers. As you design your offense and you go to your strengths, I’m looking at those guys.”

Eastern Notes: McGruder, Bentil, Kidd-Gilchrist

October 25th, 2016 at 8:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Heat announcing that Rodney McGruder made the team’s regular season roster may have surprised some around the league, but coach Erik Spoelstra loves the player’s work ethic and grit, writes Manny Navarro of The Miami Herald. “You love his perseverance, his fortitude, the grit,” Spoelstra said. “These things you can’t teach, you have to go through life experiences to develop it. The way he came through is almost text book in how you would want to develop a player — go overseas, learn how to handle more responsibilities and then start the process of training camp and summer league. Then, play a season and a half with our D-League team under our staff and really develop there and then finish off with another summer league, a full summer of development, a training camp, all the way to the 11th hour. And he just pushed through and persevered and worked on just getting better as a basketball player. You really root for guys like that. By the end of it, he really felt like a veteran Miami Heat player through all those experiences. But a lot of guys don’t have the type of makeup to be able to go through all those experiences without getting discouraged.”

Here’s more from the East:

Ben Bentil got a solid partial guarantee of $250K when he signed with the Celtics earlier this year, and after he was cut by Boston, he received some more guaranteed money from a second time. Per Chris Reichert of Upside and Motor (via Twitter), the Pacers – who will send Bentil to their D-League affiliate in Fort Wayne – guaranteed $50K of his salary for the few hours he spent on the NBA roster.
Hornets small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is tired of questions regarding his twice injured shoulder and insists he is 100% healthy entering the season, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer writes. “I don’t want to talk about my injury anymore,” Kidd-Gilchrist said. “I’ve been back to my old self ever since I started playing again. I feed off my energy. That’s always how I’ve played. My goal is to be healthy the whole season. When I get to that point, I’ll say ‘Yes! Let’s Go!’“
The relationship between LeBron James and Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert has come a long way over the past few seasons, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com notes. “I think everybody learns every day in the decisions they make and the things they do,” Gilbert said. “It was just a whole different feeling from Day 1 [when James came back in 2014]. Keep in mind that we just had one bad night in five years that we were here with LeBron — remember the first two [years James played in Cleveland], Gordon Gund ran and owned the team. But we never had a bad day until the way it ended. And as bad as it was, it was one day, it was one night and everybody is a grown man and obviously we focused on the job here. And sometimes things happen for a reason, right? You just never know it at the time.“

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

NBA GMs Weigh In On 2016/17 Season

October 18th, 2016 at 11:38am CST by Luke Adams

NBA.com has completed its annual survey of NBA general managers, asking each of the league’s 30 GMs an array of questions about the league’s top teams, players, and coaches. As John Schuhmann of NBA.com details in his piece announcing the results, it comes as little surprise that NBA GMs are just as bullish on the Cavaliers‘ and Warriors‘ chances in 2016/17 as the rest of us are — those are the only two teams GMs predicted to become this season’s NBA champion, with Golden State getting 69% of the vote and Cleveland getting 31%.

While there are many responses in the GM survey worth checking out, we’ll focus on rounding up some of the more interesting ones related to rosters and player movement. Let’s dive in…

LeBron James led the way in votes for 2016/17’s MVP award, but Karl-Anthony Towns was the clear choice for the player most GMs would want to start a franchise with today.
The Warriors were the only team to receive more than two votes for which team made the best offseason moves — Golden State was the runaway winner at 83.3%, largely due to the signing of Kevin Durant. The addition of Durant was easily voted the move most likely to make the biggest impact this season, and it was also viewed as the most surprising move of the summer, just ahead of Dwyane Wade joining the Bulls.
The Jazz‘s trade for George Hill received at least one vote for the move likely to have the biggest impact, and it was the winner for the most underrated player acquisition of the offseason.
Dejounte Murray (Spurs), Kris Dunn (Timberwolves), and Patrick McCaw (Warriors) were considered the biggest steals of the draft by GMs, who voted Milos Teodosic and Sergio Llull as the top international players not currently in the NBA.
NBA general managers view Tom Thibodeau as the new coach most likely to make an immediate positive impact on his new team, and think Chris Paul is the player most likely to become a future NBA head coach.
The rules that GMs wants to see changed or modified include the draft lottery system, the number of timeouts per game, and intentional fouling.