Raul Neto Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Northwest Notes: Barton, Nurkic, Lillard, Rubio

January 24th, 2017 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nuggets had been viewed as a potential seller at this season’s trade deadline, but with the race for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference wide open, the team’s approach to the trade market is a little less clear, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. It’s the first time in several years that Denver hasn’t headed into the trade deadline with a singular mindset, as Dempsey details.

Still, there are players on the Nuggets’ roster that could appeal to other teams as the deadline nears. Will Barton is one of those players, and Dempsey suggests Denver would have “no problem” landing a first-round pick for Barton. However, he has expressed interest in remaining with the Nuggets, and the team seems committed to keeping him.

The Nuggets are more amenable to a trade involving Jusuf Nurkic, since he hasn’t been thrilled with his role – or lack thereof – this season. According to Dempsey, Denver is “most certainly” seeking a first-round pick in a deal involving Nurkic, though realistically it would have to be a late first-rounder.

As Denver continues to weigh its options, here’s more from around the Northwest:

In a Q&A with Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype, Damian Lillard reaffirms his love for Portland, suggesting that he’d like to stick with the Trail Blazers for his entire career, if possible. “Obviously, with this being a business, people’s feelings change about players. And players’ feelings change about organizations,” Lillard said. “I don’t think mine will, though, because I really like where I am and where I live and stuff like that. But you just never know.”
Michael Rand of The Star Tribune proposes five realistic Ricky Rubio trade scenarios for the Timberwolves, including one involving Nurkic and the Nuggets.
Raul Neto, who has received several DNP-CDs this season, has been more involved the Jazz rotation lately, playing ahead of Shelvin Mack and sometimes Dante Exum, writes Mike Sorensen of The Deseret News. Neto has a non-guaranteed salary for 2017/18, so his play this year may determine whether he sticks with the team for another year.

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 1/11/17

January 11th, 2017 at 10:20pm CST by Luke Adams

Here are Wednesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from across the NBA:

10:20pm:

The Jazz have assigned Alec Burks and Raul Neto to their D-League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, according to the team’s website. Both players were in action for tonight’s contest against the Grand Rapids Drive.
The Blazers have assigned Tim Quarterman to the D-League, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical tweets. Portland does not have its own affiliate, so Quarterman will play for the Windy City Bulls on this assignment.

1:41 pm

The Raptors recalled rookie guard Fred VanVleet from their D-League affiliate following the team’s Tuesday night victory (Twitter link). VanVleet posted a double-double for the Raptors 905 on Tuesday, with 12 points, 11 assists, and four steals.
The Nets have re-assigned Chris McCullough to the D-League, the club announced today in a press release. The second-year power forward has played sparingly this season for Brooklyn, but has appeared in 21 games for the Long Island Nets, averaging 18.8 PPG and 8.4 RPG.

NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 1/9/17

January 9th, 2017 at 7:55pm CST by Luke Adams

Here are Monday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

7:55pm:

After assigning them to the D-League earlier today to practice with the Salt Lake City Stars, the Jazz have recalled Alec Burks, Dante Exum, and Raul Neto, the team announced in a press release. None of the three Utah players have seen much playing time recently, so the brief NBADL assignment allowed them to get some practice reps in.
The Spurs have recalled Dejounte Murray from the D-League, a day after he picked up 31 points and 12 boards for Austin, San Antonio’s affiliate. The club announced the transaction in a press release.

1:17pm:

The Jazz have assigned Alec Burks, Dante Exum, and Raul Neto to the D-League, according to a press release issued today by the team. It sounds like the trio will participate in practice with the Salt Lake City Stars, but won’t be on assignment for long. Meanwhile, Utah has also recalled Joel Bolomboy from the D-League.
The Raptors have assigned Delon Wright to the D-League, the team announced today (via Twitter). That’s positive news for the 2015 first-round pick, who is recovering from a major shoulder injury. However, Blake Murphy of Raptors Republic notes (via Twitter) that Wright hasn’t yet been cleared for full practice, so he’s not close to seeing the court in Toronto yet.
NBADL regulars Bruno Caboclo and Fred VanVleet will join Wright on assignment, having also been sent to the D-League by the Raptors, per the team (Twitter link).
The Celtics have recalled rookie guard Demetrius Jackson from the Maine Red Claws, according to the team (Twitter link). On his one-day D-League assignment, Jackson scored 26 points to help lead Boston’s affiliate to a Sunday victory over Fort Wayne.
The Suns have sent Derrick Jones back to the D-League, the club announced today (via Twitter). Jones, who has barely seen the floor for Phoenix, has averaged 14.0 PPG and 5.9 RPG in 15 NBADL games this season.

Western Notes: Young, Neto, Teodosic, Koponen

August 15th, 2016 at 9:49pm CST by Arthur Hill

Nick Young is ready to end the feud with Lakers teammate D’Angelo Russell that resulted in the rookie being ostracized last season, relays Mark Medina of The Orange County Register. The dispute started when Russell secretly recorded Young talking about being unfaithful to his former fiancee, a clip that was later posted to social media. “It’s been so long, so it’s kind of old,” Young said. “We’ll be able to work it out. We’ve already been working it out. I can’t be mad forever.”

Young, who shot a career-low 34% from the field last season, may not be back with the Lakers, as there have been rumors that the team might buy out the final two years and $11MM left on his contract. If he does return, he’s looking forward to a chance to play for new head coach Luke Walton, who was hired over the offseason to replace Byron Scott. “Luke is a big-time coach and came from a championship team,” he said. “I think I have the tools that we can use as a shooter.”

There’s more news tonight from the Western Conference:

The Olympics have given Jazz point guard Raul Neto a chance to connect with new teammate Boris Diaw, writes Amy Donaldson of The Deseret News. Utah acquired Diaw, who plays for the French team, in a July trade with the Spurs to provide veteran help off the bench. “I’ve talked to Boris in the [athlete’s] village,” said Neto, who hails from the host country of Brazil. “He’s a really nice guy. [Leandro] Barbosa played with him in Phoenix, and he say only good things about him. I think we have a great team, some nice guys joined our team, and we expect [to] do better [this] season.”
The Grizzlies offered Serbian star Milos Teodosic more than $5MM in 2013, tweets international basketball writer David Pick. Teodosic’s agent, Nick Lotsos, said his client chose CSKA Moscow over Memphis.
Finnish point guard Petteri Koponen, whose draft rights have been held by the Mavericks since 2011, is close to reaching a deal with Barcelona, Pick tweets.

And-Ones: Gobert, Harkless, Pierce

July 11th, 2016 at 10:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jazz center Rudy Gobert will play for Team France in the Rio Olympics, Jody Genessy of the Deseret News reports. He’ll join new Jazz teammate, Boris Diaw, on the squad. Utah swingman Joe Ingles will play for Team Australia and point guard Raul Neto will play for host Brazil, Genessy adds. Gobert did not participate in the Olympic qualifying tournament, when France nabbed the final spot in the field of 12.

In other news around the league:

Technology industry leaders are urging commissioner Adam Silver to move next year’s All-Star Game out of Charlotte unless a North Carolina law that limits anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay and transgender people is repealed, according to Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press. The executives told Silver in a letter obtained by the AP that putting fans at risk of discrimination would “send a terrible message about who the NBA is and what it values as an organization.” Silver has made it clear the league needs changes to the HB2 law in order to stage the All-Star game but has not set any deadlines for when he might act, Mahoney adds.
Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless is in “no rush” to sign a contract, but the restricted free agent should make a decision in the next couple of days, his agent told Jason Quick of CSNNW.com (Twitter link). Harkless might accept the Blazers’ qualifying offer of just over $4MM, Quick adds. Several teams were reportedly interested in Harkless early in the free agent process, including the Wizards, Pistons, Lakers, Mavericks and Jazz, but some of those clubs have already made other commitments.
Clippers small forward Paul Pierce intends to play next season, a source close to Pierce informed Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). The 38-year-old Pierce appeared in 68 regular-season games with them last season, averaging 6.1 points and 2.7 rebounds. He also played in five postseason games.
Point guard Flip Murray is attempting an NBA comeback, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders tweets. The 36-year-old Murray, who has been playing overseas, hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since the 2009/10 season.

Jazz Sign Erick Green To 10-Day Contract

January 26th, 2016 at 12:03pm CST by Chuck Myron

12:03pm: The deal is official, the team announced. Utah plays four games over the next 10 days.

8:16am: The Jazz will sign former Nuggets point guard Erick Green to a 10-day contract, league sources tell Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports. The move will compensate for the loss of Raul Neto, who suffered a concussion in Monday’s game. Utah has an open roster spot following the expiration of J.J. O’Brien‘s 10-day contract Monday, so no corresponding move is necessary.

Green has been impressive since joining the D-League affiliate of the Kings in November. The 24-year-old has averaged 26.7 points, 4.4 assists and 1.6 turnovers in 39.0 minutes per contest across 23 games. He’s also nailed 48.1% of his 154 3-point attempts, showing off a long-distance stroke that didn’t register in his time in the NBA with the Nuggets. Green is a 29.2% 3-point shooter in the NBA, though he’s attempted only 48 shots in limited playing time. The 46th overall pick from 2013 signed with Denver before last season after spending a year playing with Mens Sana Siena of Italy, but the Nuggets waived him in early November to sign Kostas Papanikolaou, who’s no longer with Denver.

The 10-day deal will be worth $49,709. Green already pocketed $100K from his partial guarantee with the Nuggets. It’s unclear how long Neto will be out, or whether the Jazz have any intention of keeping Green past the expiration of his 10-day if Neto returns to action quickly. Utah has shown reluctance to add to its point guard depth all season in the wake of Dante Exum‘s offseason injury, preferring to give significant minutes to a lineup with three wing players.

Should the Jazz keep Green even after Neto returns? Leave a comment to tell us.

Northwest Notes: Hayward, Durant, Plumlee, Davis

January 26th, 2016 at 9:47am CST by Chuck Myron

The Jazz are “poking around” the market for a point guard, several league sources tell Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. It’s not entirely clear if such efforts are related to the team’s reported 10-day deal with Erick Green, though it would seem given the timing of that agreement, so soon after Raul Neto suffered a concussion Monday, that the team had already been looking. The Heat reportedly rebuffed Utah when it tried to engage them in Mario Chalmers trade talks over the offseason, but the Jazz’s interest in Chalmers was minimal, according to Lowe. The ESPN scribe speculates about other options, including Jrue Holiday, whose leg issues leave teams “petrified” and whom the Pelicans are reluctant to deal, anyway, Lowe reports. Lowe also believes Jeff Teague would be a fit for Utah, but reports that the Hawks have had “major trust issues” with backup Dennis Schröder and are focused on contending this season. In any case, the Jazz appear reluctant to pilfer from their store of future picks, which includes the Warriors unprotected 2017 first-rounder as the relative cost of rookie scale contracts becomes cheaper amid the rapid salary cap escalation, Lowe writes.

“Picks are that much more valuable,” GM Dennis Lindsey said to Lowe.

See more from Utah:

The impending financial realities threaten the core of the Jazz, as Lowe details in the same piece, and Gordon Hayward, who can opt out after next season, acknowledged to Lowe that they cast a shadow on his future. “I’m constantly thinking about that,” Hayward said. “Contracts are so short now. A lot of our guys are on their rookie deals, and they’ll come up for extensions. It all might determine whether or not I stay in Utah.”
The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater examines the surprising lack of legitimate rumors about Kevin Durant‘s impending free agency, writing that the idea of the Thunder star signing a deal that would allow him to opt out after just one season “has gained traction.” It’s not clear whether that idea is growing on Durant himself or if more people are simply realizing that it would likely represent the most lucrative path for the former MVP. That would allow him to take advantage of a projected $108MM cap for the summer of 2017 and a higher maximum-salary tier, since he’d be a 10-year veteran.
The playmaking ability of Trail Blazers offseason acquisitions Mason Plumlee and Ed Davis has helped alleviate the pressure from incumbent guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, as Mike Richman of The Oregonian examines. Plumlee will be eligible for a rookie scale extension in the offseason.

Northwest Notes: Mitchell, Mensah-Bonsu, Neto

October 14th, 2015 at 8:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Raptors coach Dwane Casey believes that Timberwolves interim head man Sam Mitchell will be an improved leader now that he is getting another head coaching opportunity, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune writes. “Huge,” Casey said of the difference between the first and second times around as a coach. “You learn so much from your mistakes, more from your mistakes than the success you have. So I’m sure Sam has learned. I don’t know a coach who has been fired who felt like he should have been fired. I didn’t feel like I should have been fired in Minnesota. We were in the playoff hunt. You never feel that way. I made mistakes in Minnesota. Everybody does. But you learn from them, you grow from them. I’m sure Sam has. He’ll tell you that.”

Mitchell agrees with Casey’s assessment, and said that he is a better coach now because of his past failures, Zgoda notes. “You just try to get better,” Mitchell said. “You try to have more patience. You understand Rome wasn’t built in a day and you’re not going to win a championship in a day. You understand the process, the ups and downs a little bit better. You understand how difficult the league is. Everybody wants to win right now, but it just doesn’t work. You put in your time and you keep your players focused, understanding it’s a process.”

Here’s the latest from the Northwest Division:

Former NBA player Pops Mensah-Bonsu has officially retired from the game, Mark Woods of MVP247.com relays. The 32-year-old was in training camp with the Nuggets last year, but left the team due to personal reasons. Mensah-Bonsu appeared in 61 combined games over the course of his career and owns averages of 3.0 points and 3.0 rebounds to accompany a shooting line of .410/.000/.589.
Rookie Jazz point guard Raul Neto, who will be counted on in Utah’s rotation with Dante Exum expected to miss the season, is becoming more comfortable with the team’s system as well as life in the U.S., Mike Sorensen of The Deseret News writes. “Each game I’m getting more comfortable with the team and with the plays, with everything, so I’m feeling great,’’ Neto told Sorensen. “You always have somebody close to you, helping you. I really like it here.’’
With the departure of LaMarcus Aldridge via free agency this summer, Damian Lillard is poised to have big season, according to teammate C.J. McCollum, Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders relays. “I just expect him to continue to do a lot of the things he has done in the past: being a good leader, orchestrating the offense, being aggressive like he has been and just being a killer,” McCollum said of Lillard. “I always joke with him and tell him this is just like when he was at Weber State only he’s got more help. He’s going to take on the bulk load of attention from an in-game standpoint and a media standpoint so a lot of pressure is going to be on him, but I think he’s ready for it. Offensively, he has all the tools to be an All-Star again….”

Northwest Notes: Jazz, Mudiay, Blazers

July 25th, 2015 at 4:00pm CST by Will Joseph

The Jazz have a logjam at point guard behind Dante Exum that they must sort out prior to next season’s opener, Randy Hollis of the Deseret News reports. The trio of Trey Burke, Bryce Cotton and Raul Neto could be fighting it out for two roster spots during training camp, though GM Dennis Lindsey indicated that it’s possible the team could carry four point guards into next season, Hollis continues. Cotton’s quickness and entertaining style make him a candidate to be the second-stringer and displace Burke, a lottery pick whose shooting issues have pushed him to the bench, Hollis adds. The logjam could be broken by trading Burke, who is rumored to be on the block and doesn’t seem to fit coach Quin Snyder’s system, Hollis concludes.

In other news around the Northwest Division:

The Nuggets’ lottery pick Emmanuel Mudiay will be the starter at point guard, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post opines. While Denver has a safety net in veteran Jameer Nelson, it’s clear that the Nuggets are committed to making Mudiay their floor leader in his rookie season, Dempsey adds. The only concerns are monitoring his workload and allowing him to work through his mistakes, something Nuggets GM Tim Connelly addressed with Dempsey. “We don’t want to put too much pressure on him,” Connelly said. “He’s a 19-year-old kid. We saw some good in summer league and we also saw some bad. I thought that he struggled shooting the ball. We’ve got to improve his free throw line percentage. But I think you see things like positional size, natural playmaking ability, and kind of the will and the approach to be great that excites us.”
Blazers coach Terry Stotts spent a sizable portion of the summer league evaluating five players under contract with the team — Allen Crabbe, Noah Vonleh, Luis Montero, Pat Connaughton and Tim Frazier — and was particularly pleased with Crabbe and Vonleh, Mike Richman of The Oregonian writes. The Blazers added nine new players and are entering a transition season after LaMarcus Aldridge‘s departure. Portland does have some young and athletic talent, however, which has Stotts optimistic, Richman adds.

Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.

Northwest Notes: Lawson, Contract Details, Exum

July 22nd, 2015 at 9:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Nuggets team president Josh Kroenke told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that the team had been privately trying to help Ty Lawson with his drinking issues for the past couple of years and that there had been problems for a long time. Kroenke indicated that he had repeated conversations with Lawson about his struggles, and noted that Lawson often said he would attempt to fix his issues but he could never fully shake them, Spears adds. Lawson was recently traded to the Rockets.

“He always had an affinity for burning the candle at both ends,” Kroenke said. “We want to give our players freedom to be young guys as well. We’re not going to be drill sergeants. But we want our guys to be able to handle their personal lives on their own. Ty … there were times when he was better than others. But the problems have been there for several years, going back to when we were having a lot of on-court success. I don’t want to go back too far. There were just a lot of times where you were at practice and you just know. You could smell it. You know there is probably deeper issues than he would probably let on.”

Here’s more out of the Northwest Division:

GM Tim Connelly said it was a difficult choice for the Nuggets to trade Lawson, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “It was a tough day,” said Connelly. “Ty was a huge part of our success here. He’s certainly one of the really talented lead guards. Sometimes a change of scenery is best for both parties. Where we were, it made sense to make the move.“
Raul Neto‘s three-year pact with the Jazz will see him earn $900K for the 2015/16 season, $937,800 the following season, and $1,014,746 during the 2017/18 campaign, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Joe Ingles‘ two-year deal with Utah will pay him $2.150MM for each season, Pincus adds.
Al-Farouq Aminu‘s contract with the Blazers will pay him $8,042,995 this season, $7,680,956 in 2016/17, $7,319,035 the following year, and $6,957,105 in 2018/19, Pincus relays (on Twitter). Ed Davis‘ three-year deal will pay him $6,980,802, $6,666,667, and $6,352,531 respectively, notes Pincus.
Jazz point guard Dante Exum knows that he needs to improve his outside shooting if he hopes to emerge as a star in the NBA, Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders writes. “I think just the consistency of it, being straight, being on target, even if I’m not making them—as long as it’s still a good looking shot and it feels good,” Exum said regarding the progress that he has made over the summer. “I think that’s the most important thing. … Once it gets into the game and I start playing one-on-one and five-on-five that I get that carryover.”