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Fallout From Cavs-Thunder-Knicks Trade

January 6th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Monday night’s three-team trade brought about significant changes to a title contender in each conference and was seemingly a signal that the Knicks are focused more on the future than the present. We’ll look at the ripple effects of the move as they’re felt in Cleveland, Oklahoma City, and New York.

The Knicks plan to waive two of the three players they acquired in the trade, and Lance Thomas is the most likely among that trio to be kept, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. The Knicks would look to fill the open roster spots that would create, coach Derek Fisher said, according to Newsday’s Al Iannazzone. “I don’t think this in any way signals the end of our transition process,” Fisher said. “I think our front office will continue to look at what we can do to replace a couple of these guys, but also how we’re going to build our roster going forward in the short term and the long term. I think Phil [Jackson] is continuing to look at how we transition as we change the culture of the New York Knicks.”
The Cavs kept LeBron James informed about the move, and he understands it as a transaction necessary for the team, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group hears. The relationship between James and J.R. Smith, who’s spent summers training with James in the past, is solid, Haynes also reports.
Kevin Durant is excited about the addition of Dion Waiters to the Thunder and said that he doesn’t think the shooting guard has felt “wanted” the past couple of years, notes Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman (Twitter link). Durant is intent on changing that. “I’m not saying he’s James [Harden]‘s replacement, we’re far past that,” Durant said. “But yeah, he can play, can come off the bench for us and score and make plays. He’s a really good player, man. A lot of people take him for granted, I think. Because he’s been around and you hear different things about him that’s not true. But he can play basketball. So he just needs to come out here and be himself, be aggressive and make plays.”

And-Ones: LeBron, Thunder, Fisher

January 1st, 2015 at 10:03pm CST by Eddie Scarito

LeBron James is expected to miss the next two weeks of action thanks to injuries to his back and left knee, the Cavaliers have announced. Coupled with the season-ending injury to Anderson Varejao, Cleveland suddenly finds itself a bit short-handed. The league has approved the franchise’s request for a disabled player exception, but with the league maximum 15 players already on their roster the Cavs would need to waive or deal a player to be able to utilize it.

Here’s more from around the league:

The Thunder are edging closer toward the summer of 2016, which is when Kevin Durant can elect to depart Oklahoma City as a free agent, and the speculation is that it will take an NBA title to keep him in town beyond then. The team’s play as of late has gotten it back on track for the season after enduring a multitude of injuries, Jeff Caplan of FOX Sports Southwest writes. “I’m excited. Obviously we need everybody healthy,” coach Scott Brooks said. “But I like the fact that our guys compete regardless of who’s on the floor. They get out there and compete. We haven’t had as many wins as we would like, but we’re competing every night. We put ourselves in a position to win games and we have a no-excuse mentality.”
Derek Fisher said that the Lakers never reached out to him after last season, and the Knicks were the only offer he had to become a head coach, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. “I never had any conversations with the Lakers of coaching the team,’’ Fisher said. “This was the only one. It doesn’t disappoint me in any way. I never pretended to run the Lakers or make decisions for them. I did the best I could when I played. They don’t owe me anything. I don’t owe them anything.’
Brandon Jennings has emerged as a leader since the Pistons released Josh Smith, Brendan Savage of MLive.com writes. “Brandon has noticeably gotten back to probably what is his natural personality,” coach Stan Van Gundy said. “He’s really having fun. He’s talking a lot, joking with guys, things like that. I think he had been suffering. He hadn’t been playing real well, we hadn’t been winning. He had gotten really quiet.” There were conflicting reports regarding Detroit shopping the veteran point guard prior to Smith being released.
The Raptors have recalled Bruno Caboclo from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the D-League, the team announced in a press release. This was Caboclo’s first D-League assignment of the season.

Eastern Notes: Cavaliers, Henson, Wade

January 1st, 2015 at 4:35pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Cavaliers have some roster flexibility after being granted a disabled player exception on Wednesday, and Nick Borges of ESPN.com [Insider subscription required] suggests a number of players it could be used to acquire. In recent weeks, there have been rumors linking the team to Timofey Mozgov of the Nuggets, Kosta Koufos of the Grizzlies and Robert Sacre of the Lakers. Borges also suggests Brandan Wright of the Celtics, Jerome Jordan of the Nets, Joel Anthony of the Pistons, Ekpe Udoh of the Clippers, Jeff Withey of the Pelicans, Cole Aldrich and Samuel Dalembert of the Knicks, Dewayne Dedmon of the Magic, Joel Freeland of the Blazers and Ryan Hollins of the Kings. The DPE gives Cleveland an extra $4,852,273 to use for a trade, free agent signing or waiver claim through March 10th.

There’s more from the Eastern Conference:

LeBron James understood what he was getting into when he opted to return to Cleveland, opines Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Kyler notes that James said “I’m not promising a championship” when he announced his decision in July. With a massively overturned roster and James’ problems with a sore back and aching knees, he was realistic about what his first season back with the Cavaliers might look like.
A rash of injuries has given the Bucks‘ John Henson a chance to show off his skills, writes Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. With Jabari Parker, Ersan Ilyasova and Larry Sanders out of action, Henson has responded with 10 blocks in his last two games. “He brings another dimension to our team and it’s not just defensively,” said teammate Kendall Marshall. “He’s very good offensively, making plays, being in the right spots at the right times.” Henson is under the Bucks’ control through the 2016/17 season.
Dwyane Wade gave up approximately $10MM in salary by opting out of his deal and then re-signing with the Heat, but despite Miami’s struggles this season it isn’t something he laments over, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press writes. “I’ll be all right,” Wade said. “It cost me a lot. But it wasn’t ‘The Decision’ [James’ return to the Cavs] that cost me. It was my decision. I opted out for the better of the team, not for any individual. I opted out for the better of the team and it cost me some money. I’m not concerned about it. Not overly concerned, anyway.”

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

Cavaliers Notes: James, Irving, Blatt

January 1st, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Arthur Hill

“Outlandish” was the word LeBron James used Wednesday to dismiss rumors that he might be leaving the Cavaliers again, reports Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. “I’m here to build, build something great in the present and the future, and that’s the reason I’m back,” said the four-time MVP. “I’ve got no other reason to have to continue to talk about things that’s so outlandish. So, I’m here, this is where I’ll be, and this is where I’m comfortable.” Rumors of unrest in Cleveland have accompanied a disappointing 18-14 start and have fueled reports that James is looking elsewhere. He has a two-year, $42.1MM contract with a player option after this season, but he has stated many times that he signed the short deal to maximize his market value.

There’s a lot more from Cleveland:

Some of those rumors stemmed from a video of a conversation between James and former Heat teammate Dwyane Wade after their Christmas Day game, but Wade tells Shandel Richardson of the Sun Sentinel that they weren’t talking about basketball. “It had nothing to do with [reuniting],” Wade said. “It was about bigger and better things later.”
Despite the dysfunction in Cleveland, Kyrie Irving says it’s still better than not being in contention, according to Chris Fedor of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. “I’d rather be in this position right now than [where] I was last year,” he said. “We’re just in a great mental place and I’m in a great mental place.” Irving signed a five-year, maximum-salary extension in July.
It’s up to owner Dan Gilbert to settle the team’s coaching situation, opines Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Stein contends the Cavaliers made a mistake by hiring David Blatt, who had no experience as an NBA head coach, before they knew if James was returning. He says Gilbert needs to either fire Blatt and take the heat for the move or demand that James throw his full support behind the coach, although he admits the second option is hard to picture considering James’ immense power in the organization.

LeBron James Won’t Rule Out Leaving Cavs?

December 30th, 2014 at 9:24am CST by Chuck Myron

LeBron James is intent on making the “appropriate business decision” as he approaches his next chance at free agency, even if that means leaving the Cavs, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group hears. There would no doubt be harsh public criticism were he to leave Cleveland a second time, but he’s willing to act if his hand is forced, Haynes writes. James, who celebrates his 30th birthday today, has a player option worth more than $21.573MM for next season, though he’s said on multiple occasions that he inked a short-term contract simply to maximize his earnings and without the intention of signing with any other team.

James gave conflicting statements Monday about his feelings regarding coach David Blatt, but the four-time MVP hasn’t gone to Cavs management to request that Blatt be fired, nor will he at any point this season, a league source tells Haynes. James said that his relationship with Blatt improves by the day and that Blatt has the attention of his players, in response to rumors that Cavs management is concerned about the way the roster has taken to Blatt, notes fellow Northeast Ohio Media Group scribe Joe Vardon. Still, when Vardon asked James whether he felt Blatt was the right coach for the team, James simply said, “Yeah, he’s our coach, I mean, what other coach do we have?” as Vardon passes along via Twitter.

The Cavs have reportedly been a “little uncomfortable” with the ability James has to hit free agency again so soon, and he has no desire to play for a “sputtering organization,” Haynes writes. The Cavs, at 18-12, have struggled to establish themselves as the elite team they were roundly expected to be this season. Still, it’s similar to what played out for years ago in Miami, when James was also with a team having difficulty blending the talents on a revamped, superstar-laden roster. The Heat nonetheless made the Finals all four years that James was with the club.

Eastern Notes: LeBron, Hawks, Knicks, Bass

December 29th, 2014 at 6:42pm CST by ChrisCrouse

LeBron James insists that coach David Blatt has the players’ attention, writes Joe Vardon of Northeast Ohio Media Group. “I think my relationship with the coach continues to get better and better every day,” James said. “It’s just two months of us being together. I don’t know him fully, he doesn’t know me fully, he doesn’t know any of the guys fully, and that’s to be expected. It’s our first year together. But he has our attention.” There were reports that members of the Cavs organization were concerned about how the players are responding to Blatt. The team hasn’t met expectations this season and has lost two of three games since center Anderson Varejao was sidelined with a torn Achilles.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

The sale of the Hawks is still slow-going, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, who writes in his weekly power rankings column. Spears piggybacks on September speculation from TNT’s David Aldridge that Grant Hill will be among the bidders.
The Knicks aren’t ready to make “fire-sale” maneuvers just yet, one NBA GM told Spears for the same piece. New York is 5-28 on the season and ranks 27th in the league on offense, scoring only 94.6 points per game.
Celtics forward Brandon Bass understands the team’s decision to trade Rajon Rondo and is committed to the team as currently constructed, writes Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. “My job is to work with what we have. That’s what I do. It’s sad to see Rondo leave, but at the end of the day, it’s a business,” said Bass. “Every year here somebody left. You’ve got to work with what you’ve got. I am a firm believer that, I don’t believe in looking for no people to come join a team — I ain’t into looking and searching for a team to go to win a championship. That’s not who I am. I’m into working with what we’ve got and making the best of it.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Heat Rumors: LeBron, Cavs, Wade

December 24th, 2014 at 1:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavs and Heat both go into Thursday’s LeBron James reunion game in Miami on rather profound down notes. The Heat lost Tuesday to the lowly Sixers, while the Cavs learned today that Anderson Varejao has a torn Achilles tendon and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Still, Miami would probably trade the position it’s in for Cleveland’s troubles. Here’s more on the after-effects still rippling from James’ decision to leave the Heat:

What bothers people within the Heat who believe that James knew he would return to Cleveland well before he met with Pat Riley in July was that James’ failure to let Miami’s brass know his choice hurt the team in free agency, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald hears. James publicly announced his decision on July 11th, after many prominent free agents had committed to sign or had narrowed their options. Those Heat insiders think James’ chief concern was how his decision-making process would play from a public relations standpoint and question whether James wanted more say in personnel decisions and more accommodations for his friends, Jackson writes.
The Cavs hired Randy Mims, James’ personal assistant, this season, but they complained to the league when the Heat attempted to hire him shortly after James signed with Miami four years ago, claiming it would circumvent the salary cap, a league source tells Jackson.
Dwyane Wade has no hard feelings, and he told reporters today that James made the right decision when he returned to Cleveland, adding that he didn’t attempt to prevail upon the four-time MVP to stay in Miami. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports and Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post relay Wade’s thoughts in a pair of tweets.

Eastern Notes: LeBron, Brand, George

November 22nd, 2014 at 10:41am CST by Eddie Scarito

Despite the Cavs‘ early struggles LeBron James insists that he isn’t losing patience, and while he doesn’t like losing, he is happy with the effort the team is giving, something Cleveland fans took as signaling this was a rebuilding year for the Cavs, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. James acknowledged that in a way, the franchise was rebuilding, notes Haynes.

“We put a lot of pieces together that weren’t here last year,” James said. “I don’t want to say rebuilding. I think when people think of rebuilding, they think of starting from the ground up. We are a team that wasn’t together last year so [we] have the same struggles as the 76ers or teams like the Miami Heat right now. And us, we have some of the same qualities as far as putting new guys together. Obviously the talent is a little bit different on every team, but coming together and going through a new system [is the same]. We have a new coach, we have a new staff, and we have new players.”

Here’s more from the east:

Though he’s only made two appearances thus far for Atlanta this season, Elton Brand is happy that he chose to re-sign with the Hawks this past summer, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. “It’s kind of what I expected coming here,” Brand said. “I look at the teams that I could have been with. Some are doing well. Dallas said ‘What do you want to do? Do you want to come back?’ Some other teams I could have played a lot of minutes with are doing really bad. So, would I want to be there? I believe in our talent, what we have and I’m glad I’m here.”
Paul George still believes that he can recover from the broken leg he suffered while playing for Team USA this summer in time to return to the Pacers by April, Michael Marot of The Associated Press writes. “It’s a goal, for sure, to have an opportunity to play this year,” George said. “We have a good team and one of my goals is to come back and try and help this team out any way I can.”
But Indiana’s head coach Frank Vogel continued to preach caution regarding his star, Marot adds. “It’s up to the doctors to see where he’s at,” Vogel said. “He [George] really hasn’t done much activity other than walking around and shooting around. It’s still very unlikely he’ll play this season.”

Cavs Notes: Varejao, LeBron, Trades, Blatt, Kirk

November 19th, 2014 at 2:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

Anderson Varejao isn’t sure that the Cavs didn’t resist trading him over the past few years in hopes that he might serve a lure to draw friend LeBron James back to Cleveland, but regardless of the Cavs’ intentions, Varejao’s presence paid dividends, reports Ian Thomsen of NBA.com.

“That’s a big part of the reason why I came back: It was because he was still here,” James said. “A lot of people told him he should talk about getting traded or force his way out of here, and he just stuck around, man. And I’m happy that he’s still here. He’s a big cornerstone of this franchise being here for over 10 years, and it wouldn’t be the same without him.”

Varejao will be around for a while longer after signing a three-year $30MM extension last month, and presumably he’ll continue to serve as enticement for James, who possesses a player option for next season, to stay. Here’s more from Cleveland:

GM David Griffin acknowledges the team’s defensive shortcomings, and he’s not holding back when it comes to finding a solution, as he tells Chris Haynes of Northeast Ohio Media Group. “No one is untouchable, and you’re never done building a team, so we’re always paying attention to what opportunities are out there,” Griffin said. “My tendency is always trying to do what we can do to improve the roster. But I’m not looking to create one so much as paying attention to what I’m hearing.” Still, the GM cautioned that he wouldn’t put much stock in any player movement rumors involving his team for the time being.
The Cavs took a chance on David Blatt this summer, and despite a 5-4 start, Griffin remains confident in the first-year head coach, as Haynes relays in the same piece. “I think David has done a tremendous job,” he said. “I think his task is very large. I feel bad in a lot of ways because people have a tendency to want everything to happen right now and when it doesn’t, it has to be someone’s fault when in reality, this adversity is very organic and good for us. He’s renowned for his ability to innovate and make adjustments. I’m glad he’s our partner in this.”
Rookie Alex Kirk is headed back on D-League assignment, the team announced. The center just returned to the big club Monday from three days with the Canton Charge, as our log of D-League assignments and recalls shows.

Eastern Notes: Waiters, Bazemore, Cavs

November 8th, 2014 at 10:45am CST by Eddie Scarito

Despite their win in Denver last night the Cavs are off to a bit of a rough start to the new season. Dion Waiters, one of the players struggling to adjust to his new role, isn’t likely to remain on Cleveland’s roster for the long haul, Steven Ruiz of USA Today writes. The 22-year-old guard isn’t in a rush to win yet, and isn’t quite ready to sacrifice his numbers and potential earning power for the good of the team, Ruiz opines. Waiters could potentially be trade bait to acquire a defensive stopper, something the Cavs sorely need, adds the USA Today scribe.

Here’s more from the east:

This past offseason Kent Bazemore inked a two year, $4MM deal with the Hawks. In an interview with Paul Garcia of Project Spurs, Bazemore discussed why he chose Atlanta, saying, “It was a good mix, an up-and-coming team, myself, I’m an up-and-coming player. The system is good, how the ball moves, a lot of pick-and-rolls stuff, those play to my strengths; how they play defensively, how active they are defensively and I was in talks with them a lot. They were one of the more persistent teams, that’s what you look for in those type of situations – signs of loyalty, and they were around the entire time, and they worked very diligent with my agent to get a deal done, so what other better place?”
Bazemore also confirmed that the Spurs were interested in signing him this past summer, Garcia adds. “Yeah,” said Bazemore, “they [San Antonio] reached out to my agent, showed some interest, but I came here [Atlanta], so the second best thing obviously – same system.” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer is a former Spurs assistant, and Atlanta runs a similar offensive system to San Antonio’s.
Both LeBron James and Kyrie Irving threw cold water on the reports that there were chemistry issues between the two Cavs stars, Pat Graham of the Associated Press writes. “We’re two dynamic players and it’s coming along well, I believe,” James said. “It’s going to continue to get better and better. It’s just four games. It’s our first time playing together. Every game is going to be a learned experience for both of us. It’s not just me and Kyrie. It’s myself and the rest of the guys, and Kyrie and the rest of the guys as well.“