Latest On Cavs, No. 1 Pick
6:21pm: The Cavs turned down Philly’s offer of picks Nos. 3, 10 and 32, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
5:43pm: All signs point to the Cavs taking Wiggins with the top pick, a source tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link).
4:54pm: The Cavs are set to keep the pick and choose between Parker and Wiggins, unless a last-minute offer comes around, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
3:58pm: Nothing is expected to happen with the Kings outside of a multiple team deal, Amico tweets. Meanwhile, the Celtics want the top pick, but they lack the parts to get a deal done.
3:53pm: The Cavs are talking with the Kings, Celtics, and Sixers about the No. 1 pick but not the Wolves or Magic at this stage, tweets Amico.
2:56pm: Nothing is close in terms of a deal for the No. 1 pick, but the Cavs expect it all to come down to the wire, tweets Amico.
2:06pm: The asking price for the No. 1 pick is as high as picks Nos. 3, 10, and 32 from the Sixers, Tom Moore of the Courier Times tweets. If Philly stays at No. 3, meanwhile, Dante Exum will likely be their choice.
Technically speaking, we are past the 1pm CT deadline where teams can officially trade picks, but the Cavs can draft someone for the Sixers or another club to complete a trade.
1:15pm: The Cavs know who they’re selecting with the first pick in the draft and there’s no great internal debate going on today, tweets Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio. The club still has multiple trade opportunities in front of them, however.
12:44pm: A league source tells Bob Cooney of the Daily News (on Twitter) that the Sixers are in full court press mode with Cleveland to get the No. 1 pick. “They really, really, really want Wiggins,” the source said.
10:47am: There’s a lot of skepticism that the Cavs are at all serious about trading the No. 1 pick, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.
9:44am: The two sides have exchanged proposals on the No. 1 pick, but there’s nothing that has gained traction, sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
9:35am: The Cavs and Magic aren’t anywhere close to a deal for the No. 1 pick, team sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).
8:15am: Buckle up, this is going to be one crazy day leading up to the draft. As we learned yesterday, the Cavs are still split on whether to take Jabari Parker or Andrew Wiggins with the No. 1 overall pick. General Manager David Griffin and other execs are pushing for Parker while outspoken owner Dan Gilbert wants to take Wiggins. Of course, they might not keep the pick at all.
Sources tell Chad Ford of ESPN.com (on Twitter) that the Cavs have been calling teams and offering up the Magic’s picks at No. 4 and No. 12 for different players. The Magic would take Parker with the No. 1 overall pick but the Cavs were just gauging the value of those picks and a deal is not yet completed, Ford tweets. The Sixers are also upping their offer for the top pick.
Meanwhile, sources out of Orlando tell Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio (via Twitter) that the Cavs have inquired about Magic guard Victor Oladipo during their exploratory trade talks.
Michael Carter-Williams Leads All-Rookie Team
Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams headlines the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team, which also features Victor Oladipo, Trey Burke, Mason Plumlee and Tim Hardaway Jr. The Second Team is composed of Kelly Olynyk, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Gorgui Dieng, Cody Zeller and Steven Adams. Carter-Williams was a unanimous first-team selection among the media members who voted for the award. Had Kevin Calabro of ESPN Radio not left Oladipo off his ballot entirely, the Magic guard would have been a unanimous first-teamer, too.
Still, the first team is made up of the only five players who received first-place votes for Rookie of the Year. Ben McLemore was the player with the most All-Rookie votes not to make either the first or the second team, and 29 players received at least one vote for one of the teams. That includes 2013 No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett, who drew a single second-team vote.
Only three of the top 10 picks from the 2013 draft appear on either All-Rookie Team. Still, all 10 players selected to the team were first-round picks, with Hardaway, the 24th overall selection, the last to come off the board on draft night a year ago.
Kennedy Notes: Draft, Gasol, Sixers
Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders held his weekly chat. He touched on a number of topics, and some of the highlights are listed below:
- Kennedy believes the biggest sleeper pick in the upcoming NBA Draft is Wichita State’s Cleanthony Early. He also believes the player most likely to be taken too high is Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein.
- Pau Gasol is most likely done with the Lakers after this season, opines Kennedy. He cites the Lakers’ desire to have cap flexibility heading into the summer of 2015, as well as Gasol’s reluctance to be part of a rebuild.
- On who the Sixers will take in the draft, Kennedy believes the team will simply select the best two players available. His draft scenario has the team selecting Andrew Wiggins and Dario Saric.
- He doesn’t believe that Victor Oladipo is the long term answer for the Magic at point guard. Kennedy believes the team should look at drafting Dante Exum and keeping Oladipo at shooting guard.
- Kennedy also believes the rumors that Kyrie Irving wants out of Cleveland. He opines that Irving might sign an extension and then demand a trade from the Cavs.
Spears’ Latest: Carmelo, Bobcats, Wizards
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports hears there’s “no chance” the Knicks will trade Carmelo Anthony before the deadline. That’s no surprise, since most reports have suggested that New York’s top priority will be re-signing Anthony this summer, and the Knicks have batted down rumors of a trade with the Clippers. Spears stuffs a lot more into his latest power rankings, and we’ll pass along the best of it here:
- The Bobcats are “actively pursuing” a deal for perimeter shooting, Spears writes. Charlotte is looking to buy at the deadline.
- A source tells Spears that the Wizards will try to trade for a backup point guard, but there’s little optimism they’ll be able to find one. Washington has been using minimum-salary signee Garrett Temple in that role.
- The Kings are high on Isaiah Thomas, but that hasn’t stopped them from pursuing a true point guard, Spears observes.
- The Magic are willing to talk trade about everyone on their roster except Victor Oladipo, but no deals are close, according to Spears.
- The Timberwolves are more focused on making internal defensive improvements than a deadline trade, Spears writes.
Eastern Notes: Livingston, Oladipo, Beasley
It's not as easy as it used to be for NBA players to transition to front office positions, as Sam Amick details in his latest piece for USA Today. Still, the NBA Player's Association has tried to help its players become more familiar with the league's CBA, setting up events like a July seminar that featured presentations from several team executives. Shaun Livingston is one player who is appreciative of the NBPA's efforts.
"I'm really trying to take advantage of it," said the Nets guard. "And learn and soak everything in to where if I can study and meet the right people and stars can align then I can really create some good opportunities."
Here's more from around the Eastern Conference:
- At a season ticket-holder's event in Orlando, second overall pick Victor Oladipo said that he "really didn't want to go to Cleveland," the team with the No. 1 pick. Oladipo has since apologized for offending Cavs fans, hinting that the comment was meant to reflect how much he wanted to land with the Magic. Evan Dunlap of Orlando Pinstriped Post has the details.
- Heat fans are somewhat divided on the signing of Michael Beasley, so Ira Winderman's Friday mailbag for the South Florida Sun Sentinel is an extended all-Beasley edition, breaking down the move.
- Tom Ziller of SBNation.com provides an interesting take on the concept of tanking and roster-building, with a focus on teams like the Sixers and Bucks.
Magic Notes: Harkless, Nicholson, Canada
Hoops World's Alex Kennedy wrote about the young core Rob Hennigan has acquired since his term as Magic general manager started in 2012. The Magic's roster has been growing closer this offseason, akin to the young Thunder team Hennigan worked for before joining the Magic.
The youthful Magic players mentioned in the piece, Maurice Harkless, Tobias Harris, Nikola Vucevic, rookie Victor Oladipo, Andrew Nicholson, Kyle O'Quinn, and Doron Lamb only took a couple weeks off after the season concluded in April before returning to Orlando.
Once in town, they all work out, lift weights and scrimmage five-on-five together before hanging out off the court to grab food, play cards or watch TV at someone's house at night.
Said Harkless of all the time spent together, “I think it’s really important. We pretty much spend all of our time together, whether it’s in the gym or just hanging out at a guy’s house playing video games, watching TV or playing Spades. We just spend a lot of time together. I think it’s really good. It’s going to help us build chemistry, on the court and off of the court.”
It's that same chemistry Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, Jeff Green, James Harden and Eric Maynor developed while they were all growing together in Oklahoma City with Hennigan looking on. Whether the Magic go on to reach the upper-tier as one of the NBA's true title-contenders, remains to be seen, but Magic fans have to like the growing bond between their young players.
- This summer, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reported that the Magic were going to pick up the options on four of the players mentioned in Kennedy's piece who are all on their rookie-scale deals: Harris, Vucevic, Harkless and Nicholson.
- Picking up the options on all four – they have until October 31st, but Robbins believed the options could be picked before the 1st of October – means they'll be under contract in Orlando through the 2014/15 season. Next summer, the Magic will decide on fourth-year options for Harkless and Nicholson and an extension for Vucevic.
- Nicholson played well for team Canada tonight during their 81-74 loss to the Dominican Republic at the FIBA Americas qualifying tournament, tweets the Toronto Sun's Ryan Wolstat. Nicolson's play was one of the only bright spots in the game for Canada (Twitter).
- According to another Wolstat tweet, Canada needs Puerto Rico to beat Venezuela tonight and Mexico tomorrow while Canada also needs to defeat Argentina tomorrow to grab a spot in the 2014 FIBA World Championships in Spain next summer.
Atlantic Rumors: Sixers, Bynum, C’s, Knicks, Nets
Atlantic teams have been among the clubs finalizing deals agreed to during the moratorium today, including the Sixers officially making a trade with the Pelicans and the Knicks and Raptors formally completing their Andrea Bargnani swap. As teams and players continue to put pen to paper, let's round up a few items of note out of the division…
- When the Sixers agreed to send Jrue Holiday to the Pelicans in exchange for Nerlens Noel and a 2014 first-rounder, Noel wasn't the only player Philadelphia would have accepted with that No. 6 overall pick. According to Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com, the Sixers would also have made the deal if New Orleans was able to select Anthony Bennett or Victor Oladipo. Those two players, of course, ultimately went first and second overall.
- The Sixers continue to keep their options open and have "absolutely not" ruled out re-signing Andrew Bynum, a source tells Bill Ingram of HoopsWorld (Twitter link). That seems like a long shot to me, but Philadelphia should still have plenty of cap room to make a move.
- Michael Curry has yet to formally interview for the Sixers' head coaching job, but expects to talk to GM Sam Hinkie after Summer League play, tweets Lynam.
- Although the Celtics could have their mid-level and bi-annual exceptions available, GM Danny Ainge says minimum-salary signings are more likely, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (via Twitter).
- The Knicks are interested in Tyrus Thomas, who was officially released via the amnesty clause by the Bobcats today, tweets Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. New York won't have a chance to place a claim on Thomas, but could negotiate a new deal with him if he clears amnesty waivers.
- Don't expect Andrei Kirilenko to be the Nets' "Plan B" after the team failed to lock up Bojan Bogdanovic. Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News says (via Twitter) that there's nothing happening between Kirilenko and Brooklyn.
Magic Sign Victor Oladipo
The Magic have signed No. 2 overall pick Victor Oladipo, the team announced via press release. His rookie-scale figure is close to $4MM, so he’s likely to receive a first-year salary equal to 120% of the scale amount, like most first-round picks. That would give him slightly more than $4.76MM, as our salary chart for this year’s first-rounders shows.
The signing of first-round picks is one of the few transactions allowed during the July Moratorium, so the move is official. Oladipo gives the Magic a high-energy defender with a rapidly improving offensive game. When I examined his potential this spring, I figured Oladipo would continue his rise on draft boards around the league, and he wound up just one pick shy of the top spot.
He was a full-time starter for just one season in high school and two at Indiana University, but the 21-year-old wound up eclipsing fellow shooting guard prospect Ben McLemore in the eyes of the Magic, who have appeared ready to deal Arron Afflalo to clear a space in the lineup for Oladipo.
Wojnarowski On Copeland, Allen, Oladipo
Adrian Wojnarowski has passed along a few nuggets this afternoon on free agents and the teams chasing them, so let's check out what the Yahoo! Sports scribe has for us….
- The Pacers and Chris Copeland have a "strong mutual interest," according to Wojnarowski, who says Indiana is emerging as a potential destination for the restricted free agent.
- If the Grizzlies are unable to re-sign Tony Allen, the Nuggets may become a real threat to land the defensive specialist, tweets Wojnarowski. The Trail Blazers, Pacers, Bucks, and Knicks have also been identified as possible suitors for Allen, while Ken Berger of CBSSports.com throws the Mavericks into the mix as well (Twitter link).
- In a non-free-agent tweet, Wojnarowski suggests No. 2 overall pick Victor Oladipo will get "major run" at point guard in Summer League play for the Magic.
Thunder Pushing Hard To Move Up To No. 2
The Thunder are "pushing hard" to complete a deal that would see them acquire the Magic's second overall pick, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Wojnarowski says the Thunder are targeting Victor Oladipo if they can move up.
Various reports over the last several days have suggested that the Thunder would like to move up into the top five. However, the club has indicated it has no interest in moving Serge Ibaka to do so. We heard yesterday that the club's trade chips would likely include the 12th, 29th, and 32nd picks, and perhaps Kendrick Perkins.
Although we heard earlier tonight that the Magic will likely keep the No. 2 pick, the Wolves also remain in the hunt for the selection in the hope of drafting Oladipo, tweets Wojnarowski.