Mobile Menu
HEADLINES

Steve Novak

Western Notes: Cousins, Levien, Montero

July 15th, 2015 at 10:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kings coach George Karl admits talking hypothetical DeMarcus Cousins trades “behind closed doors,” but Karl tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com that he rejects the notion that he was actively trying to trade the center.  “As a coach, in meetings every year and maybe four or five times a year, you talk about what-ifs,” Karl said. “And 99% of what-ifs never happen. But isn’t it our job to talk about what-ifs? Does this make us better? Does this get us in a better place? That’s our job. There was never a discussion in that area even close to happening, in my opinion. … Never in the whole time of this experience did I ever think that I wasn’t going to coach Cuz.”

Here’s what else is happening around the Western Conference:

  • Jason Levien has become an unofficial adviser to Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com tweets. Levien was formerly the CEO of the Grizzlies, as well as a former Sacramento assistant GM, Howard-Cooper notes.
  • The Wolves were able to create a traded player exception worth $5MM as a result of dealing Chase Budinger to the Pacers, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders notes (Twitter link).
  • Danny Green said that LaMarcus Aldridge contacted him during the free agent process to pick his brain about the Spurs, Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express News tweets. Green also noted that the possibility of playing alongside Aldridge factored heavily into his decision to re-sign with the Spurs, McDonald adds.
  • The Trail Blazers‘ deal with Luis Montero is a three year arrangement with the first season partially guaranteed, according to former Nets executive Bobby Marks (Twitter links).
  • The Thunder have removed forward Steve Novak from the trading block, Chris Mannix of SI.com relays. OKC was reportedly seeking financial relief and was willing to flip Novak in exchange for a future draft pick.
  • Wilson Chandler‘s contract renegotiation and extension with the Nuggets will pay him $10.4MM in 2015/16, $11.2MM for 2016/17, $12.0MM in 2017/18, and $12.8MM during the final season, Pincus notes (Twitter links).

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Repost Share Send via email

Blazers Sign Enes Kanter To Max Offer Sheet

July 12th, 2015 at 2:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:14pm: The deadline is today, but Oklahoma City still hasn’t notified Portland about its intentions, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.

JULY 12TH, 1:50pm: The Thunder intend to match the offer to Kanter, tweets David Aldridge of TNT.

JULY 9TH, 4:17pm: Oklahoma City has received Kanter’s signed offer sheet from the Blazers, and have until Sunday to make a decision regarding the player, Wojnarowski tweets.

3:02pm: The offer sheet is worth the max over four years, with a player option on year three, Aldridge reports (on Twitter). It’s expected to include a trade kicker, too, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link). That means a starting salary of $16,407,500 this season and a total value of around $70MM.

2:22pm: The Trail Blazers are set to sign Thunder restricted free agent Enes Kanter to an offer sheet, as TNT’s David Aldridge reports and as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports confirms (Twitter links). The expectation around the league is that the Thunder will match, according to Royce Young of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Grantland’s Zach Lowe suggests that the Thunder will also intensify their efforts to trade Perry Jones and Steve Novak to clear salary (Twitter link). Lowe also mentions D.J. Augustin along with Jones and Novak, but it’s not clear if that’s just speculation.

USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt reported last week that the Blazers were eyeing the big man. Thunder GM Sam Presti told Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman this spring that he was committed to re-signing his team’s trade deadline acquisition, and while they met to discuss a deal approaching the max, and both sides were reportedly eager to complete a deal, it appears Oklahoma City has let the market dictate his terms. The Knicks were also reportedly in contact with the Max Ergul client.

Oklahoma City has roughly $79MM in salary commitments for this coming season, counting the team’s deal with Kyle Singler. That puts them well above the $70MM cap, and a new deal for Kanter would likely push the team far beyond the $84.74MM tax threshold. The Blazers have nearly $30MM in cap flexibility after the exodus of LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews.

Repost Share Send via email

And-Ones: Thunder, Grizzlies, Antic

June 22nd, 2015 at 11:44pm CST by Dana Gauruder
The Thunder have been shopping Perry Jones, Jeremy Lamb and Steve Novak, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated tweets. Oklahoma City, which has $78.26MM in guaranteed salary commitments for next season, is seeking financial relief but it is also seeking a draft pick, Mannix adds. The Thunder already have picks at No. 14 and No. 48.
In other news around the league:
  • The Knicks, Kings and Hornets are the teams most likely to trade out of the Top 10 in the draft, Mannix reports in a separate tweet.
  • Guards Andre Hollins and Deville Smith and forwards Nino Johnson and Aaron White worked out for the Grizzlies on Monday, completing the team’s predraft workouts, according to Grizzlies.com.
  • R.J. Hunter, Anthony Brown, Olivier Hanlan, Christian Wood, Sir’Dominic Porter and Mouhammadou Jaiteh will work out for the Wizards on Tuesday, according to J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. (Twitter link).
  • Fenerbahce of the Turkish League is interested in signing Hawks free agent center Pero Antic, according to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia.
Repost Share Send via email

Pistons Acquire Reggie Jackson

February 19th, 2015 at 7:13pm CST by Chuck Myron

7:13pm: The release on the Thunder’s website indicates that the Thunder received Detroit’s unprotected 2019 second-round pick, too.

6:34pm: The Jazz have formally announced that the deal is official. The Pistons and Thunder have also confirmed the trade in press releases. Utah has acquired Jerrett, the rights to Pleiss, Perkins, and a future first-round pick from Oklahoma City, as well as a 2017 second-round pick from the Pistons. The Thunder will receive Kanter and Novak from Utah, and Augustin and Singler from the Pistons, while Detroit garners Jackson.

4:06pm: The Jazz are getting Jerrett, a protected first-round pick from the Thunder and a second-rounder from the Pistons in addition to Kanter and the rights to Pleiss, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

3:49pm: Several picks are changing hands in the deal as well, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, suggesting that a significant chunk of the draft considerations are heading Utah’s way (Twitter link).

3:33pm: The Thunder dealt for Kanter with the intention of re-signing him this summer, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

3:25pm: Grant Jerrett is headed out in the deal, too, according to Mayberry, though he doesn’t specify which team he’s going to (Twitter link). The Thunder are expected to waive Ish Smith to accommodate all the moves, Mayberry adds.

2:49pm: The Thunder will send the draft rights to center Tibor Pleiss to the Jazz, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman (on Twitter).

2:44pm: Guard D.J. Augustin is headed from the Pistons to OKC in the deal, according to Wojnarowski (on Twitter). The former No. 9 overall pick averaged 10.6 PPG and 4.98 APG in 23.8 minutes per game for the Pistons this season.

2:15pm: Steve Novak is heading from the Jazz to the Thunder in the deal, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com (on Twitter).  Jody Genessy of The Deseret News (on Twitter) first reported that Novak would be included in the three-way swap.

1:56pm: It’s now a three-way deal, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter links).  The Jazz will send Enes Kanter to OKC, the Thunder will ship Kendrick Perkins to Utah, and Detroit will send Kyle Singler to OKC.

Talks with the Jazz about Kanter picked up today as OKC weighed the pros and cons of the Nets’ Brook Lopez/Jackson proposal.  For his part, Kanter made it clear last week that he’s frustrated with his role and wants a trade.  In 49 games this season, Kanter has averaged 13.8 PPG and 7.8 RPG – both career-highs, in 27.1 minutes per contest.  For his career, the former No. 3 overall pick has put up 9.3 PPG and 5.9 RPG across four seasons in Utah.

Perkins, 30, is now slated to join the third franchise in his NBA career.  The big man has been playing mostly in a reserve role this season, averaging 4.0 PPG and 5.5 RPG in 19.2 minutes per contest.  In total, Perkins has put up 5.6 PPG and 6.0 RPG over the course of 12 seasons with the Celtics and Thunder.

1:50pm: The Thunder have traded Jackson to the Pistons, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).

1:34pm: The Pistons are making a strong run at Reggie Jackson, a league source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).  Jackson appeared to be Brooklyn-bound earlier today, but it’s not clear if that deal will be consummated.

The Thunder and the Nets were discussing the framework of a deal that would involve Brook Lopez going to OKC and Jackson going to Brooklyn.  However, the Thunder pumped the breaks a bit on the talks when they started looking at a deal with another team.  Given that Detroit is enthusiastic about landing Jackson, the PIstons might be the party putting a spoke in that wheel.

Jackson’s agent, Aaron Mintz, recently requested that the Thunder trade his client, who’s due for restricted free agency this summer. The Kings, Bucks, Heat, Pacers, Rockets and Nuggets also registered their interest in Jackson, while there are conflicting reports about whether the Celtics are pursuing him.

The 24-year-old turned down an extension offer in the neighborhood of four years and $48MM this past fall, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick (Twitter link). That was around the time teams around the league thought he’d end up commanding $13-14MM a year this summer, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported at the time.

Repost Share Send via email

Jazz Acquire Steve Novak

July 10th, 2014 at 12:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 10TH: The trade is official, the Jazz announce via press release. The second-round pick going to Utah is New York’s 2017 selection that the Raptors acquired in a previous trade.

JULY 4TH: The Raptors and Jazz have struck an agreement on a trade that sends Steve Novak and a second-round pick to Utah, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Utah is giving up Diante Garrett, but Toronto plans to waive Garrett and his non-guaranteed minimum salary after the trade is official following the July moratorium, which runs through Wednesday, Wojnarowski adds.

NBA: Toronto Raptors at Los Angeles LakersToronto appears to be making the move to clear room beneath the projected $77MM luxury tax line to accommodate a deal for Greivis Vasquez and perhaps other signings, with space tight following the team’s agreements with Kyle Lowry and Patrick Patterson. The team is reportedly closing in on a deal with Vasquez, but it only has roughly $7.5MM in flexibility beneath the tax threshold.

Novak was little-used in Toronto this past season after having been an integral part of the Knicks rotation the previous two years. He averaged just 10.0 minutes per game, but as usual, he was stellar from behind the arc, nailing 42.6% of his three-point attempts. He led the league with a 47.2% three-point percentage in 2011/12, and that summer he signed a four-year, $15MM deal that made him a pricey luxury at the end of the bench this past season for the Raptors.

Utah uses its ample cap flexibility to pick up one of the league’s premier three-point shooting specialists. Novak will make nearly $3.446MM this coming season and $3.75MM in 2015/16, but it seems like Utah is OK with the commitment as it slowly rebuilds.

Repost Share Send via email

And-Ones: Bogdanovic, Blatt, Anthony

July 5th, 2014 at 8:56am CST by Eddie Scarito

Serbian shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, the 27th overall pick of the Suns,  is finalizing four-year deal with Fenerbahce, reports David Pick of Eurobasket. The deal contains an NBA escape clause after the second year, according to Pick.

Here’s more from around the league:

Repost Share Send via email

Western Notes: Novak, Tucker, Hawes

July 4th, 2014 at 9:54pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Jazz were looking for a sharpshooting veteran big man going into free agency, as Jody Genessy of the Deseret News heard (Twitter link), and with the team’s agreement to trade for Steve Novak, it appears that’s just what it has. Utah envisions Novak as a stretch power forward, notes Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune (on Twitter).

Here’s more from out west:

  • The Jazz were also high on Novak’s plus-minus numbers from recent years, according to Jones (Twitter link).
  • With Novak reportedly on his way to Utah, Kurt Kragthorpe of the Salt Lake Tribune looks at what the player brings to the Jazz.
  • Some teams have inquired about the possibility of a sign and trade for the Suns restricted free agent  P.J. Tucker, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
  • Spears also tweets that Tucker is receiving interest from teams, but they’re hesitant to make an offer due to fears that it will be matched by Phoenix.
  • Spencer Hawes passed on an offer from the Blazers on Thursday, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets. Portland moved on from that rejection and signed Chris Kaman, according to the tweet.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Repost Share Send via email

Eastern Notes: Pistons, Raptors, Rose

July 4th, 2014 at 8:09pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Andre Drummond said he’ll do whatever’s necessary to convince restricted free agent Greg Monroe to remain with the Pistons and feels confident Monroe will return given his affection for Detroit, as Drummond told MLive’s David Mayo. Drummond expressed doubt that the team would trade Josh Smith, in spite of rumors.

Here’s more from the east:

  • The dispute over just how large a role Derrick Rose played in Chicago’s pitch to Carmelo Anthony seems to indicate a disconnect somewhere, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com believes it signals a deeper misunderstanding between the Bulls and Rose’s camp (Twitter links).
  • Bruno Caboclo and Lucas Nogueira appear likely to join the Raptors this year, but GM Masai Ujiri has indicated that the team probably won’t ink second-round pick DeAndre Daniels for this coming season, writes Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.
  • The Raptors are enamored with P.J. Tucker, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun, who wonders if the team will throw an offer sheet his way now they know Steve Novak‘s contract is coming off the books (Twitter links).

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Repost Share Send via email

Raptors Rumors: DeRozan, Lowry, Ross

December 31st, 2013 at 9:19am CST by Luke Adams

Zach Lowe’s final Grantland piece of 2013 kicks off with an extended look at the rebuilding Raptors, who are a surprising 7-3 since sending Rudy Gay to Sacramento. The hot stretch, which has vaulted Toronto into first place in a weak Atlantic Division, has created a whole new set of questions about whether or not the team will continue to sell off pieces. Lowe spoke to GM Masai Ujiri, coach Dwane Casey, and DeMar DeRozan about that subject and more in his piece, which is worth reading in full. Here are a few of the highlights:

  • While there have been rumblings that the Raptors would at least gauge the trade market for DeRozan, Lowe writes that the team seems to be growing more comfortable with the idea of the 24-year-old as a long-term core piece.
  • The market for Kyle Lowry hasn’t been as robust as the club may have anticipated, and Lowe runs down several reasons why specific suitors haven’t gotten too involved. One potential fit, the Heat, would “love a shot” at Lowry, but has little to offer.
  • If the Raptors’ success continues and the team appears to have a real shot at a top-four seed in the East, Terrence Ross could become a trade chip, according to Lowe. Noting that Arron Afflalo played for Ujiri’s team in Denver, Lowe cites several league sources who say that the Magic value Ross highly.
  • Assuming the Raptors did decide to explore any “buy now”-type moves, it’ll be difficult for the team to unload either Landry Fields or Steve Novak in such a deal, says Lowe.
Repost Share Send via email

Atlantic Notes: Bargnani, Novak, Knicks, Turner

October 11th, 2013 at 10:05pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks and Raptors hooked up on a significant trade this past summer, with Andrea Bargnani heading to New York. Bargnani and the Knicks visited Toronto this evening for a preseason game, allowing fans and media to revisit the swap. Bargnani called himself “lucky” to have played for the Raptors, as the Toronto Sun’s Ryan Wolstat tweets, though I’m not sure whether the team or the Toronto faithful consider themselves so fortunate, considering their return on the investment in the former No. 1 overall pick. Here’s more fallout from that deal and other news from the Atlantic Division:

  • While Bargnani’s departure from the Raptors was long-rumored, Steve Novak didn’t think he’d be leaving the Knicks, Newsday’s Al Iannazzone notes. “I didn’t expect it,” the sharpshooter said. “You understand this is the business we’re in. New York felt like home. It was a place I love to play and I miss. I miss those guys. It’s not easy being traded. But there’s no doubt Toronto is a great city and good place to be.”
  • New Knicks GM Steve Mills is concerned about the team’s backup centers, but in talking with reporters today, he gave the thumbs-up to Bargnani and fellow offseason addition Beno Udrih, and declared his firm belief in coach Mike Woodson.  Iannazzone and Marc Berman of the New York Post and provide details.
  • If the Sixers don’t extend Evan Turner‘s contract before the October 31st deadline, a strong performance from him this season would boost his trade value and his worth on the free agent market, benefiting both team and player, writes Michael Kaskey-Blomain of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Repost Share Send via email
Load More Posts