Ricky Rubio Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Hinrich, Rubio, Leuer, Draft

March 28th, 2016 at 4:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kirk Hinrich says he’s enjoying his time with the Hawks, but the trade that sent him to Atlanta from the Bulls last month took him from his family, and they’ll be a consideration as the 35-year-old decides whether to retire this summer, observes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. Hinrich’s contract expires at season’s end. “I would love to keep playing if the situation was ideal,” Hinrich said. “At this point, I have to think about my family as well.” The 13th-year veteran’s chances of an extended stay in Atlanta don’t appear too strong, as he’s a third-stringer and has appeared in only seven games since the February 18th trade.

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Ricky Rubio acknowledged that the Timberwolves had trade talks about him last month, but he’s confident the team isn’t going to ship him out, as he said in an appearance on the “Tot Gira” show on Catalunya Radio in Spain (transcription via Gigantes del Basket; translation via HoopsHype). Rubio, under contract through the 2018/19 season, was linked in trade deadline rumors to the Bucks and, less prominently, the Knicks.
Jon Leuer‘s playing time on the Suns this season has been wildly inconsistent, but he’s put up the best numbers of his career, and interim coach Earl Watson is pushing the soon-to-be free agent to fulfill the potential he sees in him, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic details. “I’m tough on Jon because I think the world of him.” Watson said. “His skill is unique. Our biggest challenge with Jon, and it was direct, was we need to be tougher, more aggressive in the paint, more aggressive rebounding. Go out in the post and just lose yourself to changing the game defensively.
South Florida freshman point guard Jahmal McMurray will test the draft waters, the school announced, indicating that he won’t immediately hire an agent. Thus, he’ll retain his college eligibility in case he decides to withdraw before the May 25th deadline to do so. McMurray is a long-shot prospect, falling outside the rankings that both Chad Ford of ESPN.com and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress compile.

Pacific Notes: Jones, Russell, Chalmers, Grizzlies

March 14th, 2016 at 12:04pm CST by Chuck Myron

Tyus Jones has already played in more games since the All-Star break than he played before it, as the Timberwolves have decided it’s time to let last year’s 24th overall pick learn on the court. Ricky Rubio, a subject of deadline trade talk whom Jones is trying to eventually replace as Minnesota’s starting point guard, sees “great things” ahead for the rookie, observes Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune.

“He can really score the ball. I think he’s learning how to control, and play in this league,” Rubio said. “It’s not like college. He’s learning how to play and he’s not afraid. That’s one of the main things you ask of a rookie. Don’t be afraid.”

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Much consternation has surrounded the limited playing time Lakers coach Byron Scott has given No. 2 pick D’Angelo Russell this season, but the combo guard is seeing 31.4 minutes per game since the All-Star break compared to 27.1 minutes per game before it, and he’s upbeat about the future, notes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. “It’s all about the opportunity,” Russell said. “Everybody has a different route toward reaching their potential. Some people bloom early and some people bloom late. If I’m a late bloomer and I’m around this league for a long time, I would prefer that.”
Mario Chalmers was popular within the Grizzlies organization, as Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal, who believes his early-season acquisition was a plus for the team, writes in his Pick-and-Pop column. Chalmers cleared waivers after tearing his Achilles tendon last week.
The Grizzlies have filled gaps in their roster with such wizened veterans as Gilbert Arenas, Jason Williams and Keyon Dooling in past years, so the recent signings of Ray McCallum, Alex Stepheson and Briante Weber represent a shrewd pivot toward finding stopgaps with potential future value, Herrington argues in the same piece.

Central Notes: Middleton, Lue, Carter-Williams

March 4th, 2016 at 8:11pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Bucks turned down a proposed trade deadline swap with the Timberwolves that would have sent Khris Middleton to Minnesota and brought point guard Ricky Rubio to Milwaukee, a deal the team was wise to nix, Zach Lowe of ESPN.com opines. The scribe cites Middleton’s versatility, solid production and reasonable contract as reason why the Bucks were smart to hold onto the swingman. The Wolves even offered to sweeten the deal with the inclusion of a protected 2016 first-round pick, but the Bucks, who never seriously entertained trading Middleton, declined that offer as well, Lowe notes. The Bucks did submit a counterproposal to the Wolves, offering Michael Carter-Williams in exchange for Rubio, a swap that Minnesota quickly shot down, Lowe adds.

Here’s more from the Central Division:

The Cavaliers have gone 12-6 thus far under Tyronn Lue and despite a few bumps along the way, LeBron James is pleased with the job the new coach has done since replacing the fired David Blatt, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes. “I think he’s done a great job,” James said of Lue. “He’s even-keel as well. He just wants us to get better every single day and not waste an opportunity. Continue to focus on what needs to be done, the job at hand, and if we do that we’re going to give ourselves a great chance to win. He gets on us when we’re not doing our job and when we’re not doing it to the capabilities that we’re capable of doing it at, so that’s when he’s on us. And he stays on us.”
Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy openly expressed his appreciation of the Spurs and how that franchise is able to maintain a championship-caliber roster while not running afoul of the salary cap, David Mayo of MLive.com relays. “There’s no question when you don’t have to pay guys market value it’s pretty easy to build depth,” Van Gundy said. “The salary cap is hard on most of us trying to build depth. But with them, when they’ve got Tim Duncan playing below market value, Tony Parker playing below market value, Manu Ginobili playing below market value, David West playing below market value, when those guys all give up money, well, then it’s easy to add other people and allow you to go out and do what you need to do to build depth. They’ve done a great job of that.“

Central Notes: Rubio, Forman, Harris

February 18th, 2016 at 9:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Bulls held off on making any major trade deadline moves because no offers significant enough to improve the team materialized, according to GM Gar Forman, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune relays. “We understand the frustrations. Up to this point, it has been a disappointing year,” Forman said. “We all realize — from ownership to the front office to the players to the coaching staff — we haven’t done as well as we thought we would do. We hold ourselves accountable that we haven’t met expectations. With that said, we certainly were not in any type of panic mode. We looked at the big picture. Obviously, the injuries that we’ve had have hurt. But that’s not the only reason. … We explored heavily and were very, very active with talks with a lot of teams. There wasn’t something we felt … significant enough to do something right now.”

Here’s the latest from the Central Division:

The Pistons believe that Tobias Harris is still on the rise as a player and that he will be able to help the franchise in a variety of ways, Keith Langlois of NBA.com writes. “The interesting thing is being able to look at what he was doing this season but going back to our free-agent preparation for the summer and the review of last year’s performance,” GM Jeff Bower told Langlois. “We feel that showed us a player with a variety of skills that can help a team in numerous ways. We also think that his play and the projection of his performance over the next five years is on a steady incline based on what we’re seeing and think he has a lot of room to grow as a player. We really like that this is a move that can be looked at as a long-term move as well as one that will fit with our core group of players and we’ll be able to keep them together due to contract certainty. Those are all pieces that were pretty important.”
The protected first round pick the Cavaliers sent to the Trail Blazers as part of the Channing Frye trade will become two second round picks if it is not conveyed in 2018 or 2019, Erik Gunderson of The Columbian relays (on Twitter).
The Bulls never attempted to trade power forward Pau Gasol, though the team did receive numerous inquiries about his availability, Forman insists, as Nick Friedell of ESPN.com notes (Twitter links). Forman also indicated that the team still hopes to re-sign center Joakim Noah, who will become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, Friedell adds.
Cavs GM David Griffin noted that the team had a deal in place with Frye when he was a free agent in 2014, but Cleveland couldn’t make the numbers work because it needed all of its cap space to sign LeBron James, Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal tweets.
The Bucks made several attempts to pry point guard Ricky Rubio away from the Wolves but balked when Minnesota requested shooting guard Khris Middleton in return, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reports (Twitter link).

Eastern Rumors: Teague, Gasol, Nets

February 18th, 2016 at 1:04pm CST by Will Joseph

The Hawks have stopped trade talks involving Jeff Teague, whom the Knicks and Jazz (among others) reportedly covet, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reports (Twitter links). Our own Chuck Myron examined the point guard’s trade candidacy last month.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

The Nets never wound up interviewing Wizards senior VP of basketball operations Tommy Sheppard despite asking Washington’s permission to do so, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
Knicks GM Steve Mills spoke with the Timberwolves about Ricky Rubio, but the Knicks believe Minnesota won’t deal him, and while New York contacted the Rockets about Ty Lawson, neither dialogue is active, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post.
The Celtics have thus far been unwilling to pay a premium for Al Horford or Dwight Howard, sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
The Bucks have reached out to the Sixers about Kendall Marshall but haven’t made progress on that front, reports Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Pau Gasol confirmed today the Bulls are in the lead to re-sign him when he opts out, as expected, this summer, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. An earlier report indicated he preferred to join forces with Marc Gasol on the Grizzlies.
The Pistons are still deliberating on their point guard situation, Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press hears (Twitter link).
The Magic are expected to make a big push this summer for Horford, Zach Lowe of ESPN.com tweets.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Wolves Receive Late Pitches On Rubio, Martin

February 18th, 2016 at 12:50pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Bucks and Timberwolves had a renewed discussion about Ricky Rubio today but were unable to gain traction, and while the Knicks made a run at trading for Kevin Martin today, it appears unlikely Minnesota will trade him to New York, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

This jibes with recent reports that indicated while Rubio is currently on the block, Minnesota doesn’t appear to be in a hurry to deal him for the time being. Martin, meanwhile, is unlikely to end up in a trade unless he turns down his player option, worth nearly $7.378MM for next season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. It would not make much sense for Martin to do that because he’d have a tough time making up that money on the free agent market this summer.

Kidd is said to be a longtime admirer of Rubio. Yet the Bucks head coach, who holds sway over the team’s personnel decisions, expressed doubt last week that Milwaukee would make any moves.

Northwest Notes: Rubio, Martin, Foye, Green

February 17th, 2016 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Bucks coach Jason Kidd, who holds sway over the team’s personnel decisions, has a longstanding admiration for Ricky Rubio, and while the Timberwolves haven’t been looking for Rubio trades, they’re likely to do so this summer, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Other recent reports have indicated that Rubio is currently on the block, though Minnesota doesn’t appear to be in a hurry to deal him for the time being, judging by Wojnarowski’s reporting. See more from Minnesota amid the latest from around the Northwest Division:

Timberwolves shooting guard Kevin Martin is unlikely to end up in a trade unless he turns down his player option, worth nearly $7.378MM for next season, league sources told Wojnarowski for the same piece. Martin probably won’t do that, since he’d have a tough time making up that money on the free agent market this summer.
Randy Foye‘s eminently positive locker room presence appeals to the Nuggets, who won’t be quick to give him up, according to Wojnarowski. The Heat reportedly have interest, and Wojnarowski suggests others do as well.
Erick Green, whose second 10-day contract with the Jazz expired Sunday, will return to the D-League affiliate of the Kings, a league source tells Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (Twitter link).
Joey Dorsey, whom the Nuggets acquired in the Ty Lawson trade this past summer and later waived in a buyout, has left Turkey’s Galatasaray and will sign with Barcelona of Spain, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter links).

Timberwolves Interested In Miles Plumlee

February 15th, 2016 at 10:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Timberwolves are interested in acquiring center Miles Plumlee from the Bucks, a source told Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The club is trying to move shooting guard Kevin Martin and power forward Adreian Payne and is also willing to deal point guard Ricky Rubio, the source also told Broussard.

Plumlee was moved into Milwaukee’s starting lineup just before the All-Star break in an effort by coach Jason Kidd to shake things up on his disappointing club. Otherwise, Plumlee’s role has been limited most of the season. He’s averaging 3.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in 9.5 minutes over 33 games. ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reported in December that the Bucks were shopping Plumlee.

It would be the second time in as many seasons Plumlee would be moved just before the trade deadline if the Timberwolves acquire him. Plumlee was part of a three-way deal involving the Bucks, Suns and Sixers last season that included Brandon Knight and Michael Carter-Williams. He made 107 starts in 134 games with Phoenix after playing 14 games during his rookie campaign in 2012/13 with the Pacers.

The Timberwolves have paired up Gorgui Dieng and rookie sensation Karl-Anthony Towns in their lineup but have lacked depth up front because of nagging foot issues plaguing former starting center Nikola Pekovic.

Previous reports have indicated that Martin, Payne and Rubio were available, with Martin also drawing buyout interest if he’s not dealt. The Bucks appeared to have at least passing interest in Martin as of about a month ago.

And-Ones: Rubio, Anthony, Cousins

February 14th, 2016 at 9:25pm CST by Will Joseph

Ricky Rubio is “readily available,” writes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, but Wolves GM Milt Newton earlier this week told Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities that he hadn’t fielded any offers for the point guard. Still, Newton said he would be obliged to listen if a team came calling. The Knicks are in the market for a point guard, but it’s hard to envision New York having the assets needed to acquire Rubio, Isola notes. Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press further clarifies the situation, tweeting that the Wolves are not shopping Rubio, but they won’t immediately hang up the phone if someone calls to ask.

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

Carmelo Anthony has said he is not looking to leave the Knicks and is not interested in waiving his no-trade clause, but Isola hears Anthony would strongly consider a trade to the Clippers (in the same piece). Isola adds that Anthony has wanted to play with Chris Paul for a while and speculates that a deal involving Blake Griffin would make sense for both teams.
DeMarcus Cousins has been answering to trade rumors all weekend, but the Kings are not going to move him, according to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports’ Pro Basketball Talk. There is little incentive to trade Cousins because he has a reasonable contract, owner Vivek Ranadive loves him and the Kings plan to open a new arena in downtown Sacramento next season, Helin adds. “First of all, I can’t control the trade [rumors] and I can’t control if I’m traded or not,” Cousins said. “But I do want to be in Sacramento, and I know everybody in Sacramento knows that.”
Commissioner Adam Silver hinted that keeping the relative status quo in the next collective bargaining agreement would be OK with him as he spoke Saturday in his All-Star weekend press conference, according to a transcript on NBA.com. “Did we get everything we were looking for in collective bargaining last time? No,” Silver said. “But we feel it’s a fair compromise, and we feel it’s working pretty well.”
Warriors coach and former Suns GM Steve Kerr was inspired to get into coaching because of Jeff Hornacek‘s initial success and expressed disappointment toward Hornacek’s firing, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic relays. “It’s just a jolt of NBA reality,” Kerr said. “Every coach is sort of a victim of circumstance, good or bad. So much depends on the talent that you have and the support you have and the chemistry in your organization and your locker room. Unfortunately, it’s a really, really hard thing to discover or to create. I feel very lucky to have that here because I know it doesn’t exist in most places.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Northwest Notes: Durant, Lauvergne, Rubio

February 12th, 2016 at 12:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The idea that Kevin Durant will sign a two-year deal with a player option after the first season to align his free agency with that of Thunder teammate Russell Westbrook, whose contract expires after next season, isn’t one that Durant has given much thought, as he said on ESPN Radio today, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link).

“Actually that’s probably one of the first times I’ve heard that one, but, no, I haven’t really thought about it, man,” Durant said. “I’m just, with [coming back from] injury and just getting back to playing again, I haven’t thought about contracts or free agency or none of that stuff at all. … I really haven’t thought about that one. I guess I have to.”

Durant would stand to benefit financially from the short-term deal, since becoming a free agent in 2017 would allow him to make a starting salary worth roughly 35% of the salary cap, instead of 30%. The cap is also projected to reach $108MM in 2017 and only $89MM this coming summer. Still, the uncertainty surrounding the next collective bargaining agreement, likely to take effect before 2017 free agency, might mean changes to the sort of contract Durant could sign, notes Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). See more from the Northwest Division:

Nuggets coach Michael Malone spoke earlier this week of finding a way for Joffrey Lauvergne to see more playing time, as Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post observes. The Nuggets reportedly want a late first-rounder in exchange for the center, but Dempsey believes Lauvergne is staying put.
The four-year, $55MM extension that kicked in for Ricky Rubio this season is soon to become one of the most team-friendly deals in the league, thanks to the escalation of the salary cap and Rubio’s “electrifying” play, Marks opines. Timberwolves GM Milt Newton denies that he’s received any trade calls on Rubio lately but said he would be obliged to listen if a team did ask about him, as Newton said to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link).
The Wolves allowed a pair of small trade exceptions, one worth $816,482 and the other $500K, to lapse Wednesday. They were vestiges of the team’s swap that sent Mo Williams and Troy Daniels to the Hornets last year.