And-Ones: LeBron, Noah, Lopez, Lamb, Ross
The combination of his on-court brilliance and his influence over coaching matters and player personnel give LeBron James unprecedented power, and GM David Griffin concedes to Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher that no one in the Cavs organization other than Dan Gilbert is as powerful as James is.
“He’s going to have the biggest voice, he’s the most important, accomplished player in the league and he’s an absolute basketball savant,” Griffin said. “He has the most thorough understanding of X’s and O’s on the floor and best mind for the game off the floor of any human being I’ve ever known. Coach, front-office person, anything. It would be crazy for me not to consult with him on what we want to do.”
Still, Griffin rejects the notion that James runs the franchise, and executives around the league tell Bucher that Griffin has earned the trust of the four-time MVP. While we wait for James to resume his quest for a fifth MVP tonight against the Knicks, see more from around the NBA:
- Joakim Noah makes it clear that he reveres Thunder coach Billy Donovan, who was his coach at the University of Florida, but Noah, poised to hit free agency this summer, wouldn’t say in a Q&A with Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com whether he’s considered playing for Donovan again. Noah’s Bulls and Donovan’s Thunder play Thursday. “I just know I’m going to want to win really bad. Not because I’m playing against Coach Donovan; I love Coach Donovan, obviously,” Noah said to Friedell. “He’s like a father figure to me. Somebody that I’ve gone through a lot with. My time with him as a coach was the best time of my life, and it was a lot more than just basketball.”
- Brook Lopez and his representatives sought to persuade the Nets to keep his name out of trade rumors as they negotiated the three-year max deal that Lopez ultimately signed with Brooklyn this past summer, as he tells Chris Mannix of SI.com. Reports indicated that the Wasserman Media Group client twice nearly ended up in deals that would have sent him to the Thunder last season. “We asked them to temper those ideas,” Lopez said. “We told them to pump the brakes a little.”
- Jeremy Lamb will have to make major improvements to justify his three-year, $21MM extension, writes Ben Golliver of SI.com, who argues that Charlotte has too optimistic a view on the potential of the former lottery pick. The Terrence Ross deal meanwhile offers a decent chance for both him and the Raptors to extract value, Golliver opines as he hands out grades for both extensions.
NBA Teams Designate Affiliate Players
NBA teams cut as much as 25% of their rosters at the end of the preseason, but franchises that have D-League affiliates have a way to maintain ties to many of the players they release from the NBA roster. An NBA team can claim the D-League rights to up to four of the players it waives, as long as the players clear waivers, consent to join the D-League, and don’t already have their D-League rights owned by another team. These are known as affiliate players, as our Hoops Rumors Glossary entry details.
NBA teams allocated 46 affiliate players to the D-League at the beginning of the season last year, and this year, that number has risen to 56, according to the list the D-League announced today. These players are going directly to the D-League affiliate of the NBA team that cut them and weren’t eligible for the D-League draft that took place Saturday. Teams that designated fewer than the maximum four affiliate players retain the ability to snag the D-League rights of players they waive during the regular season, but for now, this is the complete list:
Boston Celtics (Maine Red Claws)
Cleveland Cavaliers (Canton Charge)
Dallas Mavericks (Texas Legends)
Detroit Pistons (Grand Rapids Drive)
Golden State Warriors (Santa Cruz Warriors)
Houston Rockets (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
Indiana Pacers (Fort Wayne Mad Ants)
Los Angeles Lakers (Los Angeles D-Fenders)
Memphis Grizzlies (Iowa Energy)
Miami Heat (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
New York Knicks (Westchester Knicks)
Oklahoma City Thunder (Oklahoma City Blue)
- Michael Cobbins
- Mustapha Farrakhan
- Michael Qualls
- Dez Wells
Orlando Magic (Erie BayHawks)
Philadelphia 76ers (Delaware 87ers)
Phoenix Suns (Bakersfield Jam)
Sacramento Kings (Reno Bighorns)
San Antonio Spurs (Austin Spurs)
Toronto Raptors (Raptors 905)
Utah Jazz (Idaho Stampede)
Also, several players who were on NBA preseason rosters are on D-League rosters through means other than the affiliate player rule. Most of them played under D-League contracts at some point within the last two years, meaning their D-League teams have returning player rights to them. Others entered through last weekend’s D-League draft, while others saw their D-League rights conveyed via trade. Most of these players aren’t with the D-League affiliate of the NBA team they were with last month, with a few exceptions.
- Keith Appling, Magic — Magic affiliate
- Jordan Bachynski, Pistons — Knicks affiliate
- Earl Barron, Hawks — Suns affiliate
- Sampson Carter, Grizzlies — Cavaliers affiliate (D-League draft)
- Patrick Christopher, Grizzlies — Grizzlies affiliate
- Bryce Cotton, Jazz — Spurs affiliate
- Michael Dunigan, Cavaliers — Cavaliers affiliate
- Jarell Eddie, Warriors — Spurs affiliate
- C.J. Fair, Pacers — Pacers affiliate
- Jimmer Fredette, Spurs — Knicks affiliate
- Stefhon Hannah, Bulls — Pistons affiliate
- Jaron Johnson, Wizards — Rockets affiliate
- Omari Johnson, Trail Blazers — Celtics affiliate
- Perry Jones III, Celtics — Grizzlies affiliate (D-League draft)
- Tre Kelley, Heat — Heat affiliate
- Jordan McRae, Sixers — Sixers affiliate (D-League draft)
- Cartier Martin, Pistons — Grizzlies affiliate
- Toure’ Murry, Wizards — Mavericks affiliate (traded with Rockets affiliate for his D-League rights)
- Dan Nwaelele, Grizzlies — Warriors affiliate
- Marcus Simmons, Bulls — Pacers affiliate
- E.J. Singler, Jazz — Jazz affiliate
- DaJuan Summers, Knicks — Knicks affiliate
- Adonis Thomas, Pistons — Pistons affiliate
- Sam Thompson, Hornets — Pistons affiliate (D-League draft)
- J.P. Tokoto, Sixers — Thunder affiliate (traded for his D-League rights)
- Talib Zanna, Thunder — Thunder affiliate
Roster information from Adam Johnson of D-League Digest, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor and freelancer and Hoops Rumors contributor Mark Porcaro was used in the creation of this post.
Central Notes: Cavs, D-League, Bullock
Pistons owner Tom Gores is excited about the culture change that executive/coach Stan Van Gundy has executed in Detroit, writes Keith Langlois of NBA.com. Gores noticed how different the mood around the team was this season during a team event prior to the regular season opening, Langlois notes. “They were interacting in a way that I haven’t seen players interact before,” Gores told Langlois. “They wanted to be here. They were enjoying each other. And if they didn’t have a game in a couple of days, they would’ve stayed late, late, late. There’s something special going on. I give so much credit to Stan Van Gundy on this. I could speak about culture, I could speak about chemistry. But that has to get done every single day and that has to get done on the floor. It’s really kind of walking the talk and I feel like, right now, my vision is able to walk the talk because of the people on the ground.”
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- The Bulls are looking to start up their own D-League affiliate that would play in the Sears Center, which is located in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, team officials have informed Mike McGraw of The Daily Herald (via Twitter). “A Bulls NBADL team will create tremendous opportunities to promote the game of basketball in our surrounding communities,” the Bulls noted in their official statement, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune relays (Twitter link). Chicago is currently one of 11 NBA teams without its own D-League affiliate.
- The Cavaliers have taken up a two-tiered approach to team-building, not only concentrating on securing an NBA title this season, but also focusing on constructing the roster to maintain success in the seasons ahead, Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer writes. “We’re very cognizant of that fact that you don’t get these opportunities very often and you need to capitalize while you can,” said GM David Griffin. “But we also want to win in a way that is sustainable [for the next few seasons].“
- When the Pistons exercised their 2016/17 option on Reggie Bullock it created a logjam at shooting guard with four players at the position possessing fully guaranteed pacts for next season, writes David Mayo of MLive.com. “The way that he played and the fact that it’s really a value contract,” Van Gundy said about picking up the option on Bullock. “It’s low-cost and the whole thing. We really like him. It’s always hard to be making decisions for down the road based on the preseason. But we just like everything about him, what we’ve seen in practice, his whole approach, his attitude, so we’ve been really, really happy with him.“
2015/16 Salary Cap: Chicago Bulls
The NBA’s salary cap for 2015/16 has been set at $70MM, which is an 11% increase from this past season, and the luxury tax line will be $84.74MM. The last cap projection from the league had been $67.1MM, and the projection for the tax line had been $81.6MM.
With the October 26th cutoff date to set regular season rosters now past, we at Hoops Rumors are in the process of running down the current salary cap commitments for each NBA franchise for the 2015/16 campaign. Here’s the cap breakdown for the Chicago Bulls, whose regular season roster can be viewed here:
- 2015/16 Salary Cap= $70,000,000
- 2015/16 Luxury Tax Line= $84,740,000
- Fully Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $87,654,223*
- Partially Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $425,000
- Non-Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $945,152
- Total Salary Cap Commitments= $89,024,375
- Remaining Cap Room= -$19,024,375
- Amount Over Luxury Tax Line= $4,706,558
*Note: This amount includes the $333,333 owed to Richard Hamilton, who was waived via the stretch provision.
Cap Exceptions Available:
- Taxpayer’s Mid-Level Exception= $1,126,000
Cash Available to Send Out In Trades= $3,400,000
Cash Available to Receive Via Trade= $3,400,000
Last updated: 10/30/15 @ 8:30pm
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Bulls Exercise Options On McDermott, Snell
The Bulls have exercised their third-year team option on small forward Doug McDermott and fourth-year team option on swingman Tony Snell, the team announced. Both options are for the 2016/17 campaign, when McDermott is set to earn $2,483,040 and Snell is due $2,368,327. These moves now give Chicago approximately $64.75MM in guaranteed salary committed for next season.
McDermott, 23, appeared in 36 contests last season during a disappointing rookie campaign when he averaged 3.0 points and 1.2 rebounds on 40.2% shooting. His defensive shortcomings no doubt played a part in limiting his minutes to 8.9 per game under former coach Tom Thibodeau, though McDermott failed to impress on the offensive end of the court when he was able to crack Chicago’s rotation. The former No. 11 overall pick has certainly looked more comfortable in Fred Hoiberg‘s system, though the sample size remains small.
The 23-year-old Snell is known primarily for his defensive abilities, as well as his high-energy style of play. Snell appeared in 72 games during the 2014/15 season, including 22 starts, and he notched averages of 6.0 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 0.9 assists in 19.6 minutes per contest. His career numbers are 5.3 PPG, 2.0 RPG, and 0.9 RPG to accompany a slash line of .408/.349/.780.
Central Notes: Love, Meeks, Monroe, Noah
The Cavaliers re-signed Kevin Love to a five-year max deal this summer, and LeBron James indicated Wednesday that getting the former All-Star involved is the team’s top offensive priority, notes Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. Love is so far the team’s second-leading scorer, at 17.5 points per game, a point behind James.
“We’ll use Kevin however he wants to be used,” James said. “I told you Kevin is going to be our main focus. He’s going to have a hell of a season. He’s going to get back to that All-Star status. He’s the focal point of us offensively. I know I can go out and get mine when I need it. But I need Kev to be as aggressive as he was tonight, and when he rebounds at the level he did tonight, the shots will automatically fall for him.”
See more from the Central Division:
- Jodie Meeks suffered a Jones fracture to his right foot during the Pistons game Wednesday, coach/executive Stan Van Gundy told reporters, according to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. It’s an injury that some doctors say requires four to six weeks for recovery in some cases, Ellis tweets, though the team hasn’t released a timetable and specifics are scarce, Ellis notes.
- Caron Butler played a half-season for the Bucks in 2013/14 and was briefly on the roster following this year’s Ersan Ilyasova trade, but Milwaukee can thank the native of nearby Racine for his hand in helping the team successfully recruit Greg Monroe, as Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times details. Butler, now with the Kings, and Monroe were teammates on the Pistons last season. “He grew up around here [Milwaukee] and played here and I listened to what he would say about Milwaukee,’’ Monroe said of Butler. “He had some positive things to say about being here. He also definitely played a role in me coming here.’’
- Joakim Noah came to Fred Hoiberg with the suggestion that the Bulls start Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic instead of him, the new Bulls coach tells Grantland’s Zach Lowe. Noah was No. 8 in the 2016 Free Agent Power Rankings we compiled before the start of camp, though he figures to drop in the upcoming edition of our rankings now that he’s coming off the bench.
Eastern Notes: Monroe, Mahinmi, Spoelstra
Despite meeting with the Knicks first during the free agent signing period this offseason, Greg Monroe dispelled the notion that New York was ever the frontrunner for his services, Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News writes. “That was just the way it was scheduled,” Monroe said. “There was nothing extra. I wasn’t the only player teams were meeting with and that’s just how it fell in place.” David Falk, Monroe’s agent, regarding why his client chose the Bucks over the Knicks, told Bondy, “It wasn’t about presentation or marketing, It was about what Milwaukee already brought to the table.”
“The interest was definitely there [with the Knicks],” Monroe told the Daily News scribe. “I took an interest in everybody that was willing to meet with me. I don’t like to take anybody’s time for granted. I definitely didn’t take their time for granted. I made a decision based on the things that I was looking for and I wanted. At this point, I’d rather not [talk about it]. It doesn’t matter anymore. Any questions anybody has, I could honestly not care less. I’m happy with where I’m at. I definitely feel like I made the right decision.”
Here’s more from out of the Eastern Conference:
- Ian Mahinmi, entering the final season of his contract and with the Pacers starting center job now his, worked tirelessly over the summer on his offensive game, particularly his shooting touch, as Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star examines.
- Celtics coach Brad Stevens has been the exception to the rule for college coaches coming to the NBA, as most of them have struggled, so Billy Donovan of the Thunder and Fred Hoiberg of the Bulls face a challenge to defy history, as Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune examines.
- Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is the second longest tenured coach in the NBA behind Gregg Popovich, yet he enters this season needing to prove himself all over again now that the team has overhauled its roster and is in need of a new identity, Ethan J. Skolnick of The Miami Herald writes.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Central Notes: Lopez, Pistons, Bulls, Petteway
Bucks coach Jason Kidd confirmed reports that the team had interest in Robin Lopez and Brook Lopez in free agency this summer, notes Marc Berman of the New York Post. Neither ended up in Milwaukee, with Robin going to the Knicks and Brook re-signing with the Nets, though the Bucks did well enough, landing Greg Monroe.
“We liked both of those guys,’’ Kidd said. “They both do something and they’re very productive. I think both teams got maybe the guy they wanted. Looking at the Lopezes, I’ve coached one of them and recruited another. They’ve always played the game the right way. The Knicks ended up with [Robin] Lopez, which is a good pickup for them.”
See more from the Central Division:
- The Pistons have no shortage of players with contractual motivation to prove their worth this season, making “the disease of more” and the potential for selfishness a concern in Detroit, as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press details.
- Other Eastern Conference teams improved their rosters in the offseason, but short of adding Bobby Portis and Cristiano Felicio, the Bulls stood pat, making it fair to wonder about Chicago’s apparent determination that the most pressing need for change was at head coach, opines David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune.
- The contract that Terran Petteway was briefly on with the Pacers was non-guaranteed for the minimum salary and covered one season, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Indiana absorbed a small cap hit for signing him after Saturday’s deadline to remove non-guaranteed salary without it counting against the cap. The Pacers inked Petteway on Sunday and waived him on Monday to secure his D-League rights.
Central Notes: Hoiberg, Parker, Jefferson, Boatright
Fred Hoiberg chose the Bulls in part because of their ability not just to win now but to have sustained success for the future, Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard tells K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. Indeed, long-term thinking is a key for Hoiberg’s Bulls, as the coach has taken a decidedly less-aggressive approach than Tom Thibodeau, his predecessor, leading Jimmy Butler to remark that Hoiberg “really cares about how our body feels,” as Johnson relays. In all, Hoiberg has brought more calm and collaboration to the Bulls, Johnson writes.
“There are days where he just talks and relates to us. That’s big,” Taj Gibson said. “Sometimes, guys come in a little down. It’s good to have a coach that comes to you and says, ‘It’s all right. Things are going to happen. I’ve been there.'”
Another change for the Bulls this season is an opening night roster with 15 players, breaking a longstanding tradition of starting with less than the maximum number of players allowed. See more from around the Central Division:
- The Bucks privately say that they won’t rule out the notion that Jabari Parker‘s absence will extend until late November, according to Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times. Last year’s No. 2 overall pick is still recovering from the torn left ACL he suffered in December.
- The Cavaliers finished with a 1-6 preseason record, but Richard Jefferson was perhaps the team’s most consistent player throughout, an encouraging sign considering the free agent signee’s key role as the backup to LeBron James, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer details. The 35-year-old Jefferson asked out of a guaranteed one-year deal for the minimum with the Mavs to sign a contract for the same terms with Cleveland.
- The deal that Ryan Boatright signed with the Pistons last week was non-guaranteed, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, so since Detroit waived him by the close of business on Saturday, he doesn’t count against the team’s cap. He’s reportedly expected to join Detroit’s D-League team as an affiliate player.
Central Notes: Granger, Noah, Thompson
It’s all but inevitable that the Pistons will waive Danny Granger, coach/executive Stan Van Gundy admits, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com (Twitter link). They’re exploring trade options in the interim, according to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, who cautions that it doesn’t mean a deal will happen (Twitter links). Granger has a fully guaranteed salary of $2,170,465, one of 16 full guarantees on the Pistons.
Here’s the latest from the Central Division:
- The Pacers‘ new D-League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, officially hired Harrison Greenberg as Director of Basketball Operations, the team announced.
- LeBron James is pleased that Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert is willing to venture deep into luxury tax territory in an effort to put together a contending team, Joe Vardon of The Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. “It’s a sign that he’ll do anything to help us go out there and perform,” James said of Gilbert’s spending. “I’m not comparing us to the New York Yankees, because we’re not, we’re so nowhere near compared to the New York Yankees, but they have one of the highest payrolls every year,” James continued. “They don’t win it every year but that’s what they believe in. They believe in going out there and getting the best talent that can play. When you have an ownership group or a collection round that believes what it’s going to take, then money is not an object.“
- While Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg has yet to make it official, center Joakim Noah is likely to begin the season coming off the bench, writes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. “We’ll start the same way,” Hoiberg said. “If it looks good, [that’s] a pretty good chance that’s the way we’ll go on opening night.” When asked about Noah’s response to the potential move, Hoiberg said, “We’ve talked. We talk about everything that he’s done. He was great, he was excited about playing with Taj Gibson last game. I think those two have a very good chemistry out there together. And [Noah] was the one that talked to me about that, about how well he feels he and Taj play together out there on the floor.”
- Tristan Thompson is glad to be back with the Cavaliers, but does maintain that he was prepared to miss regular season time if a contract agreement had not been reached, Chris Fedor of The Northeast Ohio Media Group relays. “I love playing basketball,” Thompson said. “That’s my love, that’s my passion. But with this business it comes with a business side of it. For me, that’s how I approach it. Business is business and my approach is if a deal gets done before the season that’s great, but if not then so be it. I’m not a rookie no more. I’m a veteran. It’s not something to take lightly. It’s a serious matter.“
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.