And-Ones: Knicks, Mekel, Mirotic, Kerr
The Knicks have started the season with a record of 4-17, but there is upside to the team’s horrendous start, writes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Ending up in the early part of the lottery could lead to the addition of a franchise changing player to the team either by the draft itself or by a trade that sends the pick out in a package that lands the Knicks an elite talent, like the Cavs did with Kevin Love this past offseason. Isola points out that the Knicks haven’t been the most patient franchise when it comes to developing talent and notes that the last two Knicks’ draft picks to make the All-Star team were David Lee, who was drafted in 2005, and Mark Jackson, who was selected in the 1987 draft.
Here’s more from around the Association:
- Gal Mekel‘s two-year, non-guaranteed deal he signed with the Pelicans will pay him $639K this season, and he’ll earn $947,276 during the 2015/16 season, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). That means the deal is a minimum-salary arrangement.
- The Bulls‘ three-year wait for Nikola Mirotic brought back memories of a similar saga with Toni Kukoc two decades ago, writes Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. But while Kukoc was publicly dissed by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Mirotic has gotten a friendly reception from Chicago’s current stars. “He can put it on the floor, he can make plays for people, he can get to the basket,” Mike Dunleavy said of Mirotic, who is in the first season of a three-year, $16.6MM deal. “Defensively he’s pretty good — blocks shots, gets his hands on a lot of balls. As he gets used to everything a little more, he’ll foul less and be a pretty effective defender.”
- Steve Kerr, who has the Warriors off to the NBA’s best start in his first season behind the team’s bench, tells Sam Smith of Bulls.com that his coaching style borrows from every coach he ever played under. Kerr played for two of the league’s most successful coaches ever in Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, but said he learned something everywhere he went. “Cotton Fitzsimmons and Lenny Wilkens and Lute Olson; you sort of take a little from each person,” Kerr said. “But what they all told me was to be yourself. They said you have to be yourself, that players will know if you are trying to do something that is not you.”
Arthur Hill and Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
Bulls Notes: ‘Melo, Noah, Gasol, Butler
The Bulls haven’t been on fire out of the gate, starting just 12-7, but they’re in an unusually advantageous position from a broader standpoint. They have a roster that seems strong enough to seriously contend for a title this season, and they have a pair of intriguing rookies in Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic. They also have a potential lottery pick coming their way from the Kings next summer. The Bulls almost landed a superstar in free agency this past summer, but at least one member of the team doesn’t regret that swing and miss, as we detail amid the latest from the Windy City:
- Joakim Noah attempted to recruit Carmelo Anthony to Chicago earlier this year, but Noah believes the Bulls will be just fine without him, as he told reporters in the wake of a documentary showing just how close ‘Melo came to signing with the Bulls. Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com has the details. “I know you believe [teams] need to have all these superstar players and you have it all figured out. We know what your opinion, what your thoughts are, but maybe the way you view the game and the way I view the game is different,” Noah said to the media. “I come in here every day with the guys and my teammates and we work hard and we know we have ways to go. But we feel like the potential is there and that’s all you can ask for as a player is just have that belief that you could go all the way. It’s a good feeling.”
- Wednesday’s win after a heartbreaking double overtime loss the night before was indicative of the sort of toughness the Bulls often exhibit, a quality Pau Gasol found attractive this summer, notes Sam Smith of Bulls.com. “The resiliency of this team definitely attracted me,” Gasol said Wednesday. “A lot of these guys have fought through adversity in different situations, injuries and stuff and still been able to perform at a pretty high level, all things considered. I thought with my addition things could be even better.”
- It would be surprising if the Bulls didn’t match any offer for Jimmy Butler this spring, writes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune amid his mailbag column.
Central Notes: Butler, Cavs, Antetokounmpo
The Bulls are keeping an eye on the Kings this season, since Sacramento owes Chicago its first-round pick if it falls outside the top 10, and for now Chicago’s in line to receive a lottery pick, as our Reverse Standings show. Still, it might be difficult for the Bulls to squeeze even a rookie scale contract onto their ledger for next season, as we detail amid the latest from the Central Division:
- Several executives from around the NBA believe Jimmy Butler will command the maximum salary in restricted free agency this summer if he keeps up his torrid start to the season, reports Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Butler and agent Happy Walters were asking for $14MM salaries from the Bulls but would have been willing to settle somewhere between $12.5MM and $13MM during extension talks in October, sources tell Deveney. Instead, the team held firm at $11MM over four years, Deveney hears, echoing a report from K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, but Chicago appears to have passed up a bargain. The Bulls will court luxury tax trouble if they bring Butler back at the max, with the latest projection putting the tax line at $81MM for next season, according to Deveney, and the Bulls on the hook for nearly $63MM already if Kirk Hinrich picks up his player option.
- Cavs GM David Griffin originally planned to shuttle Joe Harris between Cleveland and its D-League affiliate this season, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. Instead, he’s been part of the rotation, complicating matters for Dion Waiters and a suddenly resurgent Mike Miller, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com examines.
- Giannis Antetokounmpo would have been a Mav if owner Mark Cuban had given in to Dallas GM Donnie Nelson‘s desire to draft him 13th overall in 2013, writes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. Antetokounmpo fell to the Bucks at No. 15, and the Mavs swung deals that landed them Shane Larkin, whom they eventually traded for Tyson Chandler.
Central Notes: Bulls, Noah, West, James
The Bulls believe in their starting five, writes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com, but they’re hoping to see it together more often. Injuries have limited Chicago’s starting unit of Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah, Mike Dunleavy and Pau Gasol to four games together this season. “It’s kind of frustrating a little bit because we know how good we can be,” Rose said. “And we know that it’s a long season. And we’re just trying to stay consistent with everything that we’re doing knowing that we have a pretty, pretty good team. Right now defensively, we’re not where we want to be.”
There’s other news from the Central Division:
- A key component of that starting unit may be Joakim Noah putting injury woes behind him, according to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. A surgically repaired left knee forced him to miss Tuesday’s game in Denver, but he bounced back with 15 points and 14 rebounds Friday in Boston. “There’s no question in my mind — 100% — that I can get to where I want to be physically this season,” Noah said. “I have to be positive. I know how far I’ve come in just the last month.”
- David West has changed his attitude about the new-look Pacers, writes Mike Montieth of Pacers,com. With Paul George missing the season with a broken leg and Lance Stephenson gone through free agency, West seemed down on Indiana’s situation during media day. But the 34-year-old forward, who missed the season’s first 15 games while rehabbing a sprained ankle, had a different outlook on his teammates after returning to the court Friday. “These guys compete and play hard, and they do that at a very high level,” he said. “They’ve won some tough road games by being competitive and engaged and having a fight about them, which is one of the reasons I was anxious to get back out there.” West has a player option next season worth $12.6MM.
- His teammates aren’t the only ones missing Paul George, writes Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. The Cavaliers‘ LeBron James regrets that he won’t have any epic matchups with George this year. “Us competing against each other the last few years throughout the second round and Eastern Conference Finals and things of that nature definitely has helped it,” James said of the rivalry. “So it’s mutual respect, but I’ve always respected him, just him as a person.”
Central Notes: Butler, Sanders, Pistons
The Bucks can move into first place in the Central Division tonight if they beat the Pistons and the Bulls lose on the road to the Celtics. It’s early, of course, but new coach Jason Kidd is making a case for Coach of the Year honors, though he’s receiving an assist from the arrival of Jabari Parker and the improved play of others. There’s more on Milwaukee amid the latest from the Central:
- A source tells Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times that the Bulls offered Jimmy Butler a four-year extension worth more than $40MM. That largely falls in line with the $11MM annual salaries that an earlier report from K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune indicated the Bulls had put on the table.
- Larry Sanders is only playing 22.2 minutes per game, but Kidd is pleased with his play not just on defense but on offense as well, and the center credits Kidd and the new Bucks owners for a culture change, as Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel details. The revival of Sanders, whose poor performance last season had him in trade rumors shortly after he signed a four-year, $44MM extension, has helped the surprising Bucks to a 9-7 record.
- The Pistons have recalled Tony Mitchell from the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). He had 12 points and 12 rebounds in his lone appearance with the Grand Rapids Drive this week after Detroit sent him down Wednesday.
‘Melo On Knicks, Bulls, Rockets, Mavs, Lakers
Carmelo Anthony met with the Bulls, Rockets, Mavs and Lakers in addition to the Knicks this summer, but in a forthcoming documentary, he makes it clear that his final decision was between the Knicks and the Bulls, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post. Berman obtained a preliminary cut of the film, called “Carmelo Anthony: Made In NY,’’ that’s set to air next week on MSG Network, and Anthony’s statements in the movie demonstrate just how close the high-scoring forward came to wearing red-and-black.
“Chicago was the one from Day 1 [and] was something I was very impressed with,” Anthony said in the film. “They were looking for someone like me to come in and take them to the next level. So it was perfect. It was a perfect setup and perfect fit for me in Chicago. But also I had to think about just living in Chicago. Do I want to live in Chicago? Do I want to take everything I created in New York and move all of that? It came down to that. But there was one point in time I was like — oh, I’m going.’’
Berman shared several other revelations from the documentary in his full-length story, and we’ll summarize them here:
- ‘Melo’s camp concluded that they’d need to have the Knicks sign-and-trade him to Chicago for him to end up on the Bulls with a max deal, Berman writes. Anthony’s manager, Bay Frazier, said in the documentary that the Bulls could offer a total of only $74MM, according to Berman. There were various hypothetical scenarios in which the Bulls could have opened more flexibility, but it sounds like $74MM was the realistic amount on the table.
- Anthony spoke of affection for the winning attitude of the Bulls and said that Derrick Rose reached out to recruit him, as Berman details. Rose’s supposed unwillingness to go along with Chicago’s pitch to Anthony was reportedly at the root of tension between the team and its star point guard. “D-Rose is tough. He even hit me [up],” Anthony said. “I’ve been talking to him. Him and [Joakim] Noah. Noah’s more outgoing. But I’m glad we did them first.’’
- Anthony said he didn’t want to endure the “culture change” that would come with living in Texas and playing for either the Mavs or the Rockets, Berman notes.
- Kobe Bryant and Anthony have spoken about one day playing together, but the specter of changing teams just to find himself in another rebuilding situation made jumping to the Lakers an unappealing choice, Anthony said in the documentary, as Berman relays.
And-Ones: Realignment, Jones, D-League, Draft
Mavs owner Mark Cuban has come up with a proposal to level the playing field between the NBA’s two conferences that involves realignment, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com reports. In Cuban’s plan, the Spurs, Rockets, Pelicans and Mavs would shift to the Eastern Conference, and the Bulls, Pacers, Pistons, and Bucks would relocate to the west. Cuban acknowledged that Dallas could benefit from the shift, but added, “It’s not like it’d be the first time we’ve ever realigned. It’s happened many times before, so there’s precedent and I just think it shakes things up and makes things interesting. It’s not like you’re reducing competition. You keep Cleveland, Washington and other good teams in the East. It kind of shakes things up in terms of not just interest but also in terms of how people rebuild.”
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Fort Wayne Mad Ants have acquired the rights to Dahntay Jones through the D-League’s waiver process, the team announced today. Jones last appeared in the NBA during the 2012/13 season when he appeared in 50 games for the Mavericks, and he spent the preseason last month with the Jazz. His career NBA averages are 5.6 points and 1.8 rebounds per game.
- With the Lakers receiving a disabled player exception for the season-ending injury to Steve Nash, Eric Pincus of The Los Angeles Times ran down the long list of players who are mathematically attainable via a trade using the $4.851MM exception the league granted the franchise.
- With an increase in higher-profile players entering the D-League’s player pool, it is lowering the incentive for fringe players to remain in the league, writes Gino Pilato of D-League Digest. A D-League team source told Pilato, “If you’re in there right now [player pool] and were either undrafted or cut in camp and not picked up yet, there’s no reason to stay. And with an abundance of guys either coming back early from Europe or deciding that the D-League is the best option, there are just too many new faces coming in to really consider the guys that other teams have already decided don’t have what it takes to play in this league.”
- ESPN.com draft guru Chad Ford (Insider subscription required) runs down eight college prospects who have raised their draft stock with excellent early-season play, including Kevon Looney (UCLA); Justise Winslow (Duke); Buddy Hield (Oklahoma); and Kennedy Meeks (North Carolina).
Central Notes: Scola, Bucks, Butler
LeBron James still hasn’t hit his 30th birthday, which comes next month, but there’s evidence to suggest that he’s already past his prime, as Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher examines. The four-time MVP hasn’t been able to carry the Cavs to the sort of performances they were expected to have so far this season, but he’s not the only one struggling for Cleveland, which is just 6-7. Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Pacers power forward Luis Scola still thinks of what might have been if the Spurs, who drafted him in 2002, hadn’t traded his rights to the Rockets in 2007 before he joined the NBA, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News details. Playing with San Antonio would have meant pairing with Tim Duncan, whom Scola calls “my biggest hero,” and fellow Argentine Manu Ginobili. All three are set to hit free agency this summer, but there’s retirement talk surrounding Duncan and Ginobili, and Scola spoke of the chance to play with them as though it wouldn’t come again.
- The Bucks are facing an 2017 deadline to break ground on a new arena, lest the league seize control of the team, but commissioner Adam Silver downplayed any urgency surrounding the situation as he visited Milwaukee on Tuesday. Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the details. “I didn’t come here to announce deadlines,” Silver said. “We want to work in partnership with the city and the state to get a new arena built. We’re always going to be reasonable.” Silver, who advocated for the repeal of a “jock tax” in Tennessee, expressed measured support for such an arena funding source in Wisconsin, where a jock tax is under consideration, as Walker notes.
- Jimmy Butler rejects the idea that he’s a marquee player, but Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau is the latest to gush about the swingman poised for restricted free agency this summer, observes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. “He’s been incredible,” Thibodeau said. “He’s a star, and he does it on both ends of the floor. He’s just an amazing player. We’ve had him play the point, we’ve had him play the 2, the 3, and [Tuesday] he played the 4. And he hasn’t had any opportunity to practice the 4. So he just got out there, he’s smart, he’s tough, he does whatever the team needs, and he found a way to help lead us into coming back and having a shot at the end.”
Eastern Notes: Whiteside, Beal, Butler, Cavs
League executives are confident that Bradley Beal will command a max extension from the Wizards, RealGM’s Shams Charania hears. Washington has made it known around the league that it intends to do whatever’s necessary to secure the shooting guard for the long term, Charania adds, echoing a report from last month indicating that the Wizards were already planning to ink Beal to an extension when he’s eligible for one in the offseason ahead.
Here’s more from the east:
- The Heat see new signee Hassan Whiteside as a prospect they can develop for the long term, coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters, including Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The center had worked out two times in three years for the team, including an audition last week, as Jackson writes in a separate piece.
- Whiteside’s free agent deal with the Heat is for two years, and includes partial guarantees for each season, Charania reports (Twitter link). It’s presumably a minimum salary arrangement, since the Heat are limited to giving out no more than that.
- The Bulls and Jimmy Butler failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension, setting him up to become a restricted free agent next summer. But Butler isn’t letting his contract situation distract him and is continuing to work hard, Nick Friedell of ESPN.com writes in his profile of the swingman. “I feel like I’ve never been the best player,” Butler said. “I’ve never been highly recruited, so I’ve always had all the chips stacked up against me and I’ve always found a way to make things happen. [The contract talk] is just another obstacle, another hurdle. But I think I’m in the right direction and if I keep my eye on the prize I think I’ll end up successful.”
- Not all “superteams” are created equal, and it takes great sacrifices to make a combination of superstar players work, something the Cavs are finding out the hard way, Howard Beck of Bleacher Report writes. “I tell people all the time that it’s easy to say the word sacrifice,” veteran swingman Mike Miller said. “But to sacrifice, whether it’s playing time, shots, things like that, without knowing the outcome, it’s scary. And that’s what you’re asking players to do here in Cleveland again. You got young, talented players that are asked to sacrifice without knowing what the outcome could be. If you don’t win a championship, is it worth it?“
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Central Notes: Butler, Knight, Gray
Few would have imagined that the Bucks, who had the worst record in the NBA last year, would have a better mark nearly a month into this season than LeBron James and the Cavs do, but that’s the case, with Milwaukee at 7-7, a half-game clear of 6-7 Cleveland. Still, it won’t be difficult for the Cavs to climb back into contention for a high playoff seed, since they’re only two games back of the Central Division-leading Bulls in the loss column. Here’s the latest from the Central:
- Jimmy Butler tells Ben Golliver of SI.com that it was difficult to pass on an extension with the Bulls last month but that he turned down Chicago’s offer because he believed in his ability to improve his offensive game after a step back last season. Butler has proven wise so far, averaging 20.8 points per game on 49.7% shooting this season compared to 13.1 PPG and 39.7% shooting last year.
- Brandon Knight has had three coaches in his four NBA seasons, but his relationship with new Bucks coach Jason Kidd has been positive so far, and a desire for stability is one reason why Knight wants to re-sign with the Bucks this summer, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News examines.
- Aaron Gray won’t play this season because of a heart ailment, and he acknowledges that there’s a chance that he’ll never be healthy enough to return, as he says to MLive’s David Mayo. Still, he’s not giving up hope, and a couple of weeks shy of his 30th birthday, Gray is serving as an unofficial assistant coach for the Pistons, who waived him last month in part because of his health, as Mayo details. “They brought me here for a service,” Gray said. “Even though I’ve been waived, the type of guy I am, I’m still getting paid for two years. I just wouldn’t feel right not contributing as much as I possibly could.”