Eastern Notes: Brown, James, Pistons
Nets forward Thaddeus Young pulled no punches when discussing the difference in playing for interim coach Tony Brown versus former coach Lionel Hollins, who was fired on Sunday, Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily relays (via Twitter). When asked his feelings about suiting up for Brown, Young said, “When your coach is not panicking and he’s staying positive and he’s continued to motivate us, it’s huge for us as far as an energy standpoint. It makes us continue to want to go out there and continue to play, and it doesn’t keep us thinking about what happened before as much. But Tony’s mentality is, forget what happened before this and let’s try to push and try to win this game. That’s huge for us as a team. It says a lot that he believes in us, that he wants us to compete.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Cavs shooting guard J.R. Smith notes that the team’s excellent work ethic comes from following the example set by LeBron James, whose dedication has rubbed off on his teammates, as Marc Narducci of HoopsHype relays. When asked what it has been like to play alongside James, Smith told Narducci, “For one, he elevates everybody’s game and holds everybody to a higher standard. He makes you hold yourself to a higher standard. This is the first team I have been on where everybody stays after practice to work on their game. Everybody wants to be better every single day and a lot of that has to do with him. He is a credit to that. He holds himself to a high standard. We see how hard he works each and every day. If your best player is working twice as hard as the next person, it gives you enthusiasm and drive to work harder.”
- Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy is using the Spurs’ track record of consistency as an organization as a model for how he wants to build Detroit’s roster, John Niyo of The Detroit News writes. “I do think, looking forward, one of things we’ve talked about in trying to build this team is we have a chance for continuity,” Van Gundy said. “And I think you see it when you see a team like San Antonio, that over time it allows you to build on what you’re doing.”
Cavs Notes: Cunningham, Harris, LeBron, Love
The Cavaliers thought when the regular season began that they’d waive Jared Cunningham by Thursday, the final day they could release him without paying his full-season salary, but they made up their minds weeks ago to retain him, a source told Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Still, the recent injury to Joe Harris posed an issue, Lloyd writes. The team would still like to somehow open a roster spot in advance of the trade deadline to provide flexibility for the post-deadline buyout market, Lloyd adds, suggesting that trading Harris, as the team has tried to do for weeks, is the only viable way of accomplishing that. The Cavs dodged a bullet today when Mo Williams said that he won’t require surgery on a partially torn ligament in his right thumb and that he’ll play through the injury as it heals over the next six weeks, tweets Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. See more on the Cavs:
- LeBron James didn’t mention Andrew Wiggins in his summer 2014 Sports Illustrated essay announcing the four-time MVP’s return to Cleveland because he simply wasn’t familiar with him, James recently told Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports. Many speculated that the omission was a signal that James wanted the Cavs to trade Wiggins for Kevin Love, a move the team ultimately made. “I didn’t know the kid, really,” James said of Wiggins. “I knew Dion [Waiters]. I knew Kyrie [Irving]. I knew Tristan [Thompson]. I knew all the guys that I was playing with before. I didn’t know the kid, so it wasn’t no big issue to me.”
- Wiggins isn’t bitter, telling Lee in the same piece that the trade “put me in a better place.”
- The max contract that Kevin Love signed this summer “gave me that little extra edge and push” to recover from the shoulder injury he suffered in the playoffs, Love said to Lee. The power forward’s primary desire in free agency was to remain in a winning situation, as he explained to James. “When I talked to him this summer and when he went over what he wanted, what he needed, the most important thing that came out of it was, ‘I just want to win. And I want to win at a high level because I went through too many losing seasons in Minnesota,’” James said to Lee. “And I said, ‘If that’s the case, we can figure out all that other stuff. If you want to win, we can figure out all that other stuff.’ And he’s been unbelievable from that point on.”
And-Ones: Lamb, James, D-League
Former Thunder shooting guard Jeremy Lamb will face his old team for the first time Saturday and comes into the game playing the most consistent basketball of his four-year career in his first season with the Hornets, Erik Horne of The Oklahoman details. The Hornets acquired Lamb in a June trade. The 23-year-old then signed a three-year, $21MM extension in November, a deal that was met with some criticism because Lamb had not shown any consistency. Entering action Friday night, Lamb was averaging per game career highs in points (11.3), rebounds (4.4), minutes (21.7) and field goal percentage (47.5), as Horne notes.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- LeBron James‘ season to this point has a positive vibe to it, something that was absent in the first two months of last season, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com writes. The difference has to do with James, who recently turned 31, feeling healthier now than he did last year, Vardon adds. “I think he’s pretty healthy,” Cavs coach David Blatt said. “I think he’s obviously been able to play in every game. He could’ve played in the Miami game. I pulled him out. It wasn’t his wish or any need on his part except for what I saw not wanting him to play in that horrific back to back that we had. I think he’s good, I think he’s strong. I think he feels good and hopefully that’s going to continue in the same vein. When and if necessary we’ll look to reduce the load on him if we can.”
- The Raptors recalled Anthony Bennett, Norman Powell and Delon Wright from their D-League affiliate, the team announced (on Twitter).
- The Magic assigned Devyn Marble to their D-League affiliate, per Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).
Central Notes: Jennings, James, Hoiberg
Bulls VP John Paxson admitted that Fred Hoiberg is still learning how to survive in the NBA, but noted that the team is firmly behind its new coach, Teddy Greenstein of The Chicago Tribune writes. “Fred has a lot to learn,” Paxson said. “He’ll acknowledge that. We all will. The system he wants to implement offensively is taking some time to really come to fruition. And when you don’t have certain players in terms of spacing the floor like [the injured] Mike Dunleavy — and that’s not an excuse it’s just our reality — that can slow the process as well.”
Paxson did add that Hoiberg’s calm demeanor on the sideline has impressed him, Greenstein relays. “I played for Phil Jackson. He sat most of the game. He was laid-back but intense. You see some coaches who are maniacs on the sideline,” Paxson said. “The last thing as a player you need when there’s stressful situations is to look to the sidelines and there’s a guy over there going nuts. I see that in college all the time.”
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Pistons point guard Brandon Jennings insists that he’s ready for action immediately, but understands the team being cautious with him as he makes his return from an Achilles injury suffered back in January, Terry Foster of The Detroit News relays. “I’m fine, I’m ready,” Jennings said. “However, this is not my decision. This is my coach’s decision, so I wait and see.” Detroit coach/executive Stan Van Gundy indicated he’s waiting to see how Jennings responds to back-to-back practices before settling on an exact return date for the veteran playmaker, Foster adds. “Our whole team needs work but it’s good for Brandon,” Van Gundy said. “We practiced before but it was more four-on-four. He got up and down. I think this is the first time he will get two practices in a row to get his legs underneath him.“
- LeBron James has called for more clarity and consistency in the Cavaliers‘ rotation this season, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com writes. “For us to have a full unit, we’ve got to practice, we’ve got to play some games where we know what we want to do, what lineups we want to play out there,” James said. “It’s an adjustment period. It’s not just going to happen – you plug a guy in there, plug two guys in there and it automatically happens. It’s going to be an adjustment period, but we’ll be fine. We’ll be fine toward February and March.“
- The Pacers have recalled Joe Young and Glenn Robinson III from Fort Wayne, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. Indiana also assigned center Shayne Whittington to the Mad Ants, the team noted in the same press release.
Central Notes: Jones, LeBron, Love, Scola, Jackson
LeBron James‘ affection for James Jones runs deep, and the same is true for Kevin Love, who said Jones may well be his best friend in the NBA, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com details. Jones re-signed with the Cavaliers this summer on a one-year, minmum salary deal.
“I told J.J., as long as I’m playing, he’s going to be around,” James said last week. “He’s not allowed to stop playing basketball. So, I’m going to make sure I got a roster spot for him. I love him. He’s the greatest teammate I’ve ever had.”
Jones is 35 and James turns 31 later this month, so it would be tough for Jones to hang in the league for the rest of LeBron’s career, but it’s nonetheless clear that the two are close. See more from Cleveland amid the latest from the Central Division:
- It was watching his Cavaliers teammates doggedly pursue a championship during the finals last summer that served as the last bit of convincing Love needed to make up his mind to re-sign with the team, Love says, according to McMenamin, who writes in separate piece.
- The Pacers and Luis Scola talked a couple of times while he was a free agent in July, but the team didn’t make an offer for him to re-sign, and Scola and agent George Bass got the impression the team didn’t intend to make one, the power forward told Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports. Scola, 35, signed instead with the Raptors for one year and $2.9MM, and he said to Agness that he’s pleased with Toronto so far.
- Reggie Jackson drew motivation from the commitment that the Pistons showed when they gave him a five-year, $80MM deal this summer, and the deal signaled that the team’s executives “did their homework,” Jackson told TNT’s David Aldridge for his NBA.com Morning tip.
Central Notes: Hill, Cunningham, Antetokounmpo
Solomon Hill is one of Pacers coach Frank Vogel‘s favorite players because of his versatility and work ethic, writes Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star. That’s in spite of a report last week that Indiana has made the swingman available for a trade and the lack of playing time Hill has seen since the team declined his rookie scale option for next season.
“He knows the fact that he’s not in the rotation to start the season does not mean his days are numbered here,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “We made that very clear that we’re going to give some other guys looks at that position to give us an offensive boost. We’re trying to improve on the offensive end this year and he’s got to stay ready. There are going to be times when he’s needed and he’s going to have an opportunity to get back into the rotation at some point.”
Hill’s best work comes on defense, so the notion that at least some of the Pacers braintrust isn’t sold on him is another sign of the team’s shift toward more offense, Buckner posits. Here’s more from the Central Division:
- LeBron James has quickly formed a bond with Jared Cunningham off the court, but it’s unlikely to play much of a role when the Cavs must decide next month whether to guarantee Cunningham’s salary for the rest of the season, writes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal.
- The Bucks gave Greg Monroe a max deal and Khris Middleton a new five-year, $70MM contract, but the executives and scouts who spoke to Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times are higher on Giannis Antetokounmpo than any other player on the Milwaukee roster. Antetokoumpo, making slightly less than $1.954MM this season, becomes eligible for a rookie scale extension in the summer ahead.
- Bulls management basically said this summer that they believe they have a roster with a real chance to win the championship this year, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune writes in a mailbag column, one in which he says he doesn’t think the team will make a trade this season.
Central Notes: George, Noah, LeBron, Mozgov
New teammates and a new, more open attack make Paul George harder to guard, coach Frank Vogel contends, and the willingness of C.J. Miles to defend power forwards, a duty George was reluctant to assume, has the Pacers clicking, as TNT’s David Aldridge examines in his NBA.com Morning Tip.
“I would say it bothered me a little bit,” George said to Aldridge about the idea of guarding fours. “I was like, man, I worked so hard to get back, playing the three, and now you’re putting me at a new position. You guys don’t trust me? So it took some time to get that through my head. But now, everything is working out fine, and I’m happy with what we’ve got going right now.”
George, in his interview with Aldridge, called Miles a “lifesaver” for his willingness to step into the power forward role, and Miles, a full-time starter for the first time since 2008/09, doesn’t seem to mind. See more from the Central Division:
- Joakim Noah seemed to make it clear when he spoke to reporters Tuesday that he wants to play more and that he’s frustrated that Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg won’t give him more minutes, but he’s also careful not to publicly criticize Hoiberg, observes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com (Twitter links). The 2016 free agent who’s now coming off the bench tempered his comments by calling it a “blessing to play for this franchise,” notes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune (All Twitter links). “I never want to come out,” Noah said. “But I understand this is my role now and I have to accept it and be the best that I can with what I have.”
- LeBron James didn’t think the Cavs would be able to trade for Timofey Mozgov, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert last season, but when they did, he found their acquisitions reassuring signs of GM David Griffin‘s mettle, as the four-time MVP tells Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated. Their additions have been part of James’ struggle to change the culture of the Cavs into a winning one. “Coming back has been everything I thought,” James said to Jenkins of his 2014 return to Cleveland, “only a lot harder. I can’t tell you it’s been comfortable. But that’s O.K. I don’t really like to be comfortable.”
Central Notes: Drummond, Thompson, Monroe
Andre Drummond‘s game has taken another leap this season, and while the challenge for him is to become more consistent, the soon-to-be restricted free agent is impressing many, including Pistons owner Tom Gores, as Rod Beard of the Detroit News examines.
“He’s developing incredibly and I’m not surprised. We knew it from the first time he got on the floor,” Gores said. “He worked so hard this summer to develop some other skills and right now it’s showing on the floor and his character is reflecting on the team. You can talk about it, but then you have to do it. Andre’s doing it and he’s also developing great chemistry among all the players. You can say it or you can do it.”
Gores already referred to Drummond as a “max player” this spring, and with the Pistons and Drummond working in concert when they tabled extension discussions with the idea of allowing the team more cap flexibility in the summer, it doesn’t appear as though the big man’s free agency will carry much suspense. See more from the Central:
- Consistency might be the last hurdle for Drummond, but it’s a hallmark for Tristan Thompson, who played his 300th consecutive game Thursday, not counting the preseason games he missed while holding out this fall for his new deal with the Cavs. Thompson’s willingness to always be ready helped endear him to LeBron James, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com.
- The decision to trade Brandon Knight didn’t clear the way for the Bucks to lay a five-year, $70MM contract on Khris Middleton, as Jason Kidd suggested, as much as it gave them the opportunity to sign Greg Monroe, argues Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. Milwaukee struggled offensively last season after shedding Knight, but bringing Monroe in as the remedy to that has knocked a hole in the team’s defense, Bontemps points out. Kidd remains confident, chalking the poor play up to the team’s youth, Bontemps notes.
- Free agent signee Monta Ellis is bouncing back after a slow start and the remade Pacers roster has the look of a playoff team, even if Indiana isn’t in 50-win territory, opines Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders.
Cavs Notes: LeBron, Blatt, Shumpert, Love
The Cavaliers have lost two in a row and are on just their third regular season losing streak since January 15th, observes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Still, the rhetoric coming from the team suggests it isn’t treating the matter lightly, with LeBron James questioning the team’s hunger and attention to detail and coach David Blatt calling for more toughness, as Lloyd relays. Iman Shumpert should help add some grit, Lloyd posits, and he’s ahead of schedule as he mends from his wrist injury, with a mid-December return possible, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Still, that’s a ways off, Lloyd notes. See more from Cleveland:
- The attitude of Dion Waiters wore on coaches, executives and other Cavs players and prompted his trade last season, Lloyd writes in the same piece, one that looks back on Cleveland’s choice to pick Waiters instead of Andre Drummond with the No. 4 overall selection in 2012. Drummond doesn’t seem to place blame the Cavs, since they already had other big men, though Cleveland, like others, had questions about Drummond’s motor, Lloyd notes. “Still to this day I don’t have the answer to that,” the Pistons center said about why teams questioned his desire. “I don’t know who started that or how it came about, but I’m pretty sure they’re punching themselves now.”
- James is more trusting of coach Blatt and his teammates than he was last season, as Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today examines. James is again showing the willingness to accept coaching that he had under Erik Spoelstra in Miami, and Blatt feels more comfortable communicating to him, Zillgitt writes.
- Kevin Love‘s rejuvenated play this season is prompting many to take a second look at the trade that brought him to Cleveland and sent out Andrew Wiggins, but the value of the deal for the Cavs will likely come down to whether the team delivers a title with Love on the roster, observes Shaun Powell of NBA.com.
Central Notes: Vasquez, Love, Budinger
Greivis Vasquez is just 4 for 29 from behind the 3-point line thus far this season, but the Bucks aren’t fretting about the offseason trade acquisition, notes Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“He’s a vet. He understands he’s got to shoot his way through this. His teammates are telling him to keep shooting,” Kidd said. “If it helps him, I ended my career without making a shot. Hopefully that makes him feel better.”
Kidd was making a self-deprecating reference to his 0 for 17 performance in the final 10 games of his career. With the Bucks possessing a 4-3 record and apparently in a jovial mood, they aren’t the only ones with a relatively carefree attitude to start the season. See more from the Central Division:
- Kevin Love is carrying a looser demeanor and he and LeBron James seemingly have a much more open dialogue than they did last season, observes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Love, despite rumors that he would bolt, was the first of the major Cavs free agents to recommit to the team this past summer, as I noted when I examined the team’s offseason accomplishments earlier today.
- Chase Budinger, a summer trade pickup, was struggling to find his role on the Pacers leading up to Monday’s game, as Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star examines, and coach Frank Vogel absorbs responsibility for it. “I haven’t really called Chase’s number very much at all,” Vogel said. “I told him a couple days ago that’s on me. I got to make sure we’re taking advantage of his skill set more.”
- The Bulls received approval from the village board in suburban Hoffman Estates, Illinois for their plan to place a one-to-one D-League affiliate there starting next season, writes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. The lease agreement for the team to use the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates isn’t final, but it’s expected to become so, according to Johnson, who adds that the Bulls have called a press conference for Wednesday. Presumably, a formal announcement about the D-League team will take place at that point.