San Antonio Spurs Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Spurs, Nowitzki, Thunder, Mudiay

November 15th, 2014 at 10:44pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Stability has been the key to the success of the Spurs, writes Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. The core of last year’s championship team remains the same with the only addition being rookie Kyle Anderson. Turner admits that while continuity is a huge part of their success, having Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker certainly has helped. Last week, they became the second trio in NBA history to win 500 games together, joining Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish of the Celtics, who won 540 games together.

Here’s more from around the Association:

By assembling the right talent around Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavs have ensured that the future Hall of Famer will sustain success, writes Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. Nowitzki is shooting 55% from the field this season, up from his career average of 47.7%. He attributes this success to his confidence in the team around him. “I don’t feel like I have to take any bad shots, you know,” Nowitzki said. “I’m happy to be on a good team again.” Dallas leads the league in scoring with 107.1 points per game.
Injuries have gutted the Thunder’s roster but the team should benefit from its adverse experience, writes Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman. Slater argues that the rare stretch of games without its top stars has created a learning opportunity for the rest of the team’s roster. If the team is able to make the playoffs after its 3-7 start to the season, the experience afforded to the team’s depth may pay real dividends.
Emmanuel Mudiay has made China a destination on the scouting trail for the first time in years, writes Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. Howard-Cooper points out that there hasn’t been such an important scouting trip to Asia since the 2007 draft in which Yi Jianlian went sixth overall to the Bucks. Mudiay is the second-best 2015 draft prospect in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings, and he’s No. 3 with Chad Ford of ESPN.com.

And-Ones: Holiday, D-League, Jerrett, Kuzmic

November 15th, 2014 at 12:46pm CST by Eddie Scarito

LeBron James wasn’t the only player to reach a career scoring milestone last night as Tim Duncan passed the 25,000 point mark for his career, becoming the 19th player ever to do so. Duncan is also only the second player ever to reach 25,000 points, 14,000 rebounds and 2,500 blocks, with the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar being the other. So congratulations go out to the “Big Fundamental” on this amazing achievement.

Here are more doings from around the league:

Justin Holiday and Ognjen Kuzmic have been recalled from the D-League, the Warriors have announced. The pair helped lead Santa Cruz to a 122-95 season-opening victory over the Los Angeles D-Fenders last night. Holiday scored a team-high 26 points and also added six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal in 36 minutes. Kuzmic totaled six points, a team-high 14 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal in 29 minutes of action.
The Thunder have assigned Grant Jerrett to the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA D-League, the team has announced. Jerrett appeared in 27 games last season for the Blue, averaging 15.1 points and 6.1 rebounds in 29.3 minutes per game. He hasn’t seen any NBA action thus far this season.
The NBA D-League season began last night and the crew over at SB Nation previewed 10 of the league’s teams including the Sioux Falls Skyforce (Heat), Grand Rapids Drive (Pistons), Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors), Canton Charge (Cavs), and Reno Bighorns (Kings).

And-Ones: Silver, Harris, Bryant, Celtics

November 13th, 2014 at 10:12pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Commissioner Adam Silver fired back at union executive director Michele Roberts, who held up players as the linchpins of the league while calling the salary cap “incredibly un-American.” The NBA sent remarks from Silver to media, including John Schuhmann of NBA.com, just hours after Roberts made her comments, “We couldn’t disagree more with these statements,” Silver said. “The NBA’s success is based on the collective efforts and investments of all of the team owners, the thousands of employees at our teams and arenas, and our extraordinarily talented players. No single group could accomplish this on its own. Nor is there anything unusual or ‘un-American’ in a unionized industry to have a collective system for paying employees – in fact, that’s the norm.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Tobias Harris says his first choice would be to remain with the Magic in restricted free agency this summer, according to John Denton of Magic.com. A report Wednesday indicated that Harris has strong interest in signing with the Knicks, so perhaps New York is Plan B.
Kobe Bryant has the same amount of championship rings as Tim Duncan (five), but that doesn’t stop the Lakers star from being envious of how the Spurs have kept their core together for so many years, Dan McCarney of The San Antonio Express-News writes. Bryant told Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times, “I’m extremely jealous of that. I don’t know if I can express to you how jealous I am of the fact that Tim [Duncan], Tony [Parker], Manu [Ginobili] and Pop [Gregg Popovich] have been together for all those years. Like, I can’t even. It would be like if me, Pau [Gasol], L.O. [Lamar Odom] and Phil [ Jackson], if we were all here still. It’s crazy.”
The Celtics were one of the teams reportedly interested in acquiring Kevin Love this past summer, but Boston wasn’t able to entice the Wolves into making a deal. Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com believes that with the way the franchise’s young core is performing it may end up being a blessing that no trade came to pass. Forsberg does add that the team still needs another star player to pair alongside Rajon Rondo, and Love would have certainly fit that bill.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Spurs, Centers, Suns, Jazz

November 13th, 2014 at 3:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kobe Bryant hasn’t been nearly as willing to sacrifice money for the betterment of his team the way Tim Duncan has. Still, with the Lakers raking in $100.1MM in basketball-related revenue last season, an amount that far outstrips any other team in the league, USA Today’s Sam Amick argues that Bryant is simply more valuable to his team, in a financial sense, than Duncan is to the Spurs. San Antonio netted $26.1MM from their basketball operations last season, a source tells Amick. Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Big men still command attention on the market even in an era of small-ball, and next summer’s free agent class figures to see plenty of centers garner top dollar, as Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com examines in an Insider-only piece. The majority of the bigs he spotlights are on Western Conference teams, including Marc Gasol, Omer Asik, Robin Lopez and Tyson Chandler.
The Suns have assigned 2014 first-round picks Tyler Ennis and T.J. Warren to the D-League, the team announced (on Twitter). Suns coach Jeff Hornacek indicated that the rookies won’t stay with the Bakersfield Jam for long, and it’s likely they return to the big club in time for an East Coast road trip that begins Monday in Boston, according to Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic (Twitter links).
Toure’ Murry is headed on D-League assignment from the Jazz, the team announced. Murry has yet to appear in a game for Utah after signing as a free agent this past summer. We’ll be keeping track of D-League assignments and recalls throughout this season in this post.

And-Ones: Leonard, Millsap, Mekel, Sixers

November 11th, 2014 at 1:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kawhi Leonard says he was “never upset” that the Spurs passed on a rookie-scale extension for him before last month’s deadline, as he tells USA Today’s Sam Amick.

“I don’t think I’m going anywhere,” Leonard said. “I mean they love me here. I like the organization, and if it was up to me, I want to finish out with one team like a lot of great players have done, to stay with one organization their whole career and just be loyal to that. You never know. We’ll see what happens next summer, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be in a Spurs jersey for my whole life.”

The Spurs reportedly passed on Leonard’s request for a max extension because they prefer maintain maximum cap flexibility for next summer, even though they’ve indicated that they’ll match any offer another team might make for the player Gregg Popovich calls a “coach’s dream.” Here’s more from around the NBA:

Paul Millsap acknowledged Monday that he’ll look around when he hits free agency in the summer, but he made it clear that the Hawks are the front-runners to re-sign him, as Marc Berman of the New York Post chronicles. “Anywhere could be an option,” Millsap said. “But my loyalty right now is in Atlanta. Free agency is free agency. When it happens, I’ll weigh my options and see where I’m at. But I’m happy in Atlanta right now.’’
A report late last month indicated that the Thunder had interest in Gal Mekel before they were beset by injuries, but with Ish Smith having joined the team as a 16th player and some of the wounded recovering, Mekel and OKC aren’t in active talks, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
Details are scarce about the contract that Drew Gordon signed Monday with the Sixers, but it is a multiyear arrangement, according to the RealGM transactions log.
The Timberwolves lost a star when Kevin Love forced a trade this summer, and Flip Saunders recognizes the importance of creating an environment that will help prevent a repeat in the future with Andrew Wiggins, as Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick examines.

Western Notes: Leonard, Robinson, Jazz

November 9th, 2014 at 10:45am CST by Arthur Hill

The Spurs‘ Kawhi Leonard is battling blurred vision brought on by conjunctivitis, reports Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. “My right eye, the vision’s not all the way back yet,” Leonard said. “Hopefully I can heal up soon. I’ve just got to keep competing so I can get used to it and get my rhythm going.” The MVP of the 2014 NBA Finals, who has been plagued by poor shooting early this season, said his eye goes cloudy at times. He said doctors have told him the condition has to “run its course” and should improve in time.

Also in the Western Conference:

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich blames effort, not injuries, for the defending champs’ 2-3 start, tweets Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News. “We need to start playing with (the) same intensity people bring at us who want to kick out butt,” Popovich said after Saturday’s loss to the Pelicans.
Pain can be part of the NBA lifestyle, which is why the Nuggets‘ Nate Robinson tells Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post he’s not letting knee rehab and a hamstring injury keep him out of the lineup. With starting guard Ty Lawson sidelined by a sore ankle, Robinson played 26 minutes Friday in a loss to Cleveland. “I want to play through injury; I don’t care,” Robinson said. “But I want to be here for the long run, I want to be here for the rest of the season, so I don’t want to tweak anything else. Just take it day by day.” Robinson joined the Nuggets in July, signing a two-year guaranteed deal worth $4.1MM.
Former Nuggets coach George Karl says Lawson’s bum ankle explains a lot of Denver’s 1-4 start, Dempsey writes. “I don’t see Ty playing at a high level,” Karl said. “I think he’s their engine.” Karl, now an NBA analyst for ESPN, guided the Nuggets for eight years before being let go after winning Coach of the Year honors in 2013. He offered some advice for his successor, Brian Shaw. “One thing I think Brian is kind of caught up in a little bit is he’s playing too many players,” Karl said. “I don’t think he can play three centers. I don’t think he can play that many big guys on the court when your team plays well when it’s fast and small.”
The Jazz are thinking long-term on lottery reform, writes Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. Utah, like many teams, voted against changing the current system because of its small market status. “We looked at the long run, and how this may affect us and teams like us,” GM Dennis Lindsey said. “We think that we have a chance to outperform expectations. But we voted no because we were looking at the next 30 years — not now or in the short term.”

Chris Crouse contributed to this post.

Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Raptors, Uzoh

November 8th, 2014 at 10:30pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Sixers should add another big man to their 15-man roster with Nerlens Noel sidelined with an ankle injury, writes Tom Moore of Calkins Media. Henry Sims, along with Noel, is the only other player at the center position. Moore opines that the roster is set up to lose and finding a player on it to release in order to make room for a new big man shouldn’t be difficult. Philadelphia started the season 0-6 and with its upcoming four-game road trip against the Raptors (5-1), Mavericks (4-2), Rockets (6-0) and Spurs (2-2), going 0-10 looks like a real possibility.

The Sixers are using international leagues to stash talent in their attempt to build a contender via asset accumulation, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The team owns the rights of five players who play in leagues overseas including 2014 draftees Dario Saric, Vasilije Micic and Jordan McRae. Pompey argues that the defending champion Spurs, who own the rights to 11 players overseas, have proven the strategy works.
Despite starting the season with a record of 5-1, the Raptors have plenty of room to improve, opines Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. Wolstat identifies team defense, rebounding and assist totals as areas the team should look to improve. The piece isn’t entirely pessimistic as Wolstat cites the team’s chemistry as superb even with James Johnson and Lou Williams as new additions.
Ben Uzoh is hopeful he can return to the NBA after mysterious ailment nearly derailed his career, writes Marc J Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Uzoh, who has been diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, played parts of his first four NBA seasons while losing feeling in his right shooting arm. Now that the condition is diagnosed, Uzoh can focus on basketball. “I feel so much better just knowing how to manage,” Uzoh said. “I’m still finding myself, retooling, reviving the connection that I was never able to feel. I am getting better each week. I am in great shape. But the reality is I don’t want my arm to go out on me anymore. I am getting feedback on it still.” Uzoh last played in an NBA game for the Raptors in 2012.

Eastern Notes: Waiters, Bazemore, Cavs

November 8th, 2014 at 10:45am CST by Eddie Scarito

Despite their win in Denver last night the Cavs are off to a bit of a rough start to the new season. Dion Waiters, one of the players struggling to adjust to his new role, isn’t likely to remain on Cleveland’s roster for the long haul, Steven Ruiz of USA Today writes. The 22-year-old guard isn’t in a rush to win yet, and isn’t quite ready to sacrifice his numbers and potential earning power for the good of the team, Ruiz opines. Waiters could potentially be trade bait to acquire a defensive stopper, something the Cavs sorely need, adds the USA Today scribe.

Here’s more from the east:

This past offseason Kent Bazemore inked a two year, $4MM deal with the Hawks. In an interview with Paul Garcia of Project Spurs, Bazemore discussed why he chose Atlanta, saying, “It was a good mix, an up-and-coming team, myself, I’m an up-and-coming player. The system is good, how the ball moves, a lot of pick-and-rolls stuff, those play to my strengths; how they play defensively, how active they are defensively and I was in talks with them a lot. They were one of the more persistent teams, that’s what you look for in those type of situations – signs of loyalty, and they were around the entire time, and they worked very diligent with my agent to get a deal done, so what other better place?”
Bazemore also confirmed that the Spurs were interested in signing him this past summer, Garcia adds. “Yeah,” said Bazemore, “they [San Antonio] reached out to my agent, showed some interest, but I came here [Atlanta], so the second best thing obviously – same system.” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer is a former Spurs assistant, and Atlanta runs a similar offensive system to San Antonio’s.
Both LeBron James and Kyrie Irving threw cold water on the reports that there were chemistry issues between the two Cavs stars, Pat Graham of the Associated Press writes. “We’re two dynamic players and it’s coming along well, I believe,” James said. “It’s going to continue to get better and better. It’s just four games. It’s our first time playing together. Every game is going to be a learned experience for both of us. It’s not just me and Kyrie. It’s myself and the rest of the guys, and Kyrie and the rest of the guys as well.“

Western Notes: Thompson, Kobe, Fesenko

November 5th, 2014 at 1:03pm CST by Chuck Myron

Klay Thompson agreed that the starting salary in his extension with the Warriors couldn’t escalate past the current $15.5MM projection for next season’s 25% maximum salary, even if the max ends up coming in higher, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports. That means the deal will be no more lucrative than $69MM over four years, and Lowe heard from a couple of agents who believe the Warriors acted unfairly in the way they structured Thompson’s deal (Twitter link). Still, it doesn’t appear that it will end up having been a sacrifice for Thompson, since it’s unlikely next year’s salary cap, to which maximum salaries are tied, will reflect any of the revenue from the league’s new $24 billion TV deal, according to Lowe. The league’s salary cap projections for 2015/16 remain around $66-68MM as league office execs favor a gradual phase-in of the TV money that wouldn’t start until 2016, Lowe writes. There’s more on Thompson and the Warriors amid the latest from Western Conference:

The promise of future production, expendability, strong character and the ability to attract fans are a few of the qualities that current and former team executives tell Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher they believe players who sign maximum-salary contracts should possess. All of those execs agree that Thompson is a max player, but their opinions are mixed on Kawhi Leonard, to whom the Spurs decided against giving a max extension.
Kobe Bryant‘s two-year, $48.5MM extension looks like an albatross for the 0-5 Lakers, but Warriors executive and part-owner Jerry West doesn’t agree, as he told KNBR radio, “Whatever they’re paying, he’s earned it,” West said, as Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group notes (Twitter link).
Timberwolves camp cut Kyrylo Fesenko has inked with Avtodor of Russia, the team announced (translation via David Pick of Eurobasket.com, on Twitter).

Western Notes: Durant, Rockets, Thompson

November 4th, 2014 at 12:09pm CST by Chuck Myron

The message in HBO’s “Kevin Durant: The Offseason” documentary shows the Roc Nation Sports agency’s heavy hand in Durant’s affairs and paints the reigning MVP as a player who’s eager to win, even if it means leaving the Thunder in 2016, as Ben Golliver of SI.com opines. Even though Durant says as the film’s credits roll that he has “no doubts” about the Thunder’s ability to win a championship eventually, the film makes it clear he’s ready to seek a title elsewhere if any such doubts creep in. We passed along more on Durant this morning, and there’s another Durant-related item amid the latest from the Western Conference:

The Rockets are among the many teams planning a run at Durant when he can become a free agent in 2016, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com says in a video report.
The maximum salaries for 2015/16 won’t be known until July, but the league is estimating that the 25% max that Klay Thompson is set to receive in his extension from the Warriors will give him a $15.5MM salary for next season, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). That would mean $69MM over the life of the four-year deal, as Pincus also illustrates. That’s up significantly from the $14.746MM that 25% max signees received for this season. Kyrie Irving is also in line for the $15.5MM starting salary in his five-year max extension, though he has a better chance than Thompson does to trigger the Derrick Rose rule, which he and the Cavs agreed would give him a max worth approximately 27.5% of the salary cap.
Cory Joseph acknowledges that it wasn’t surprising when he didn’t sign an extension with the Spurs when he was eligible before the end of last month, and the ever-optimistic point guard looks ahead to restricted free agency as an opportunity. Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News has the details.