Trey Burke: Utah Held Me Back
Wizards guard Trey Burke is not only happy to be out of Utah, he is accusing the Jazz of trying to ruin his NBA career. In an interview posted on the Fox Sports Radio 1340 website, Burke makes some strong charges against his former team.
“They couldn’t break me,” Burke said. “That’s what they tried to do. .. They gave me DNPs. Everybody asked me ‘What’s going on? Why are you not playing?’ There’s a reason why everybody is asking me that. I just kept my head up. I was a great team guy. Everybody can vouch for that over there. I never really complained. I worked hard every day. I waited for my opportunity.”
Burke was traded to Washington in July at a bargain price, with the Wizards giving up just a 2021 second-round pick in return. There was mutual frustration in Utah, with the Jazz expecting more from a player who was taken at No. 9 in the 2013 draft, and Burke feeling like he never got the opportunity he deserved.
Many people expected Burke to be Utah’s starting point guard last season, especially with Dante Exum sidelined for the year with a torn ACL. Instead, the Jazz gave the job to Raul Neto and traded for Shelvin Mack at the deadline, keeping Burke as a reserve. He got into 64 games, all off the bench, averaging 10.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per night.
Burke now hopes to revive his career in Washington and is grateful for the fresh start. “I feel like I’m in a much better situation,” he said. “I’m on a team that can definitely compete for the playoffs. … As far as the transition, it was great. It was a great move. I feel like Washington is definitely a better fit for me.”
Players With Incentive Bonuses For 2016/17
According to Bobby Marks of The Vertical, there are 33 players around the NBA who can potentially earn incentive bonuses this season based on their own durability or performance, or based on how their team performs. Although Marks doesn’t identify all 33 players who have incentives included in their 2016/17 contracts, he discusses over half of them, passing along a number of interesting tidbits about those potential bonuses. Here are some of the highlights:
Minutes/games played bonuses:
NBA bonuses are deemed either “likely” or “unlikely,” using the previous season’s statistics as a benchmark, so if a player didn’t appear in many games during the previous year, a team can include a games-played benchmark and call it an unlikely incentive. For instance, John Henson‘s contract with the Bucks features incentives if he plays 60 games or 75 games this season. He appeared in just 57 contests in 2015/16, so neither of those marks is viewed as likely.
Miles Plumlee (Bucks), Luis Scola (Nets), Greivis Vasquez (Nets), and Deron Williams (Mavericks) are among the other players who have incentives in their deals for games played or started.
Individual statistic bonuses:
The Trail Blazers got creative with Maurice Harkless‘ new contract this summer, including an incentive bonus in the deal that can be triggered based if he keeps his three-point percentage above a certain level. Jeremy Lin, meanwhile, not only has a three-point percentage incentive, but also has bonuses linked to assists, turnovers, and threes and free throws attempted per 36 minutes.
Individual achievement bonuses:
Players like Bismack Biyombo (Magic), Evan Fournier (Magic), and Will Barton (Nuggets) have incentives related to their individual performances as well, but they’re related to awards and honors, rather than raw statistics. Biyombo gets a bonus if he makes the NBA’s All-Defensive team, Fournier gets some extra money for an All-Star appearance, and Barton would get $250K if he wins the Sixth Man of the Year award.
Of course, some of these incentives are more realistic than others. For instance, Thaddeus Young (Pacers) probably shouldn’t be counting on the $500K incentive bonus that he’d earn if he wins the league’s MVP award.
Team performance bonuses:
Several players, including Fournier, Jon Leuer (Pistons), and Joe Ingles (Jazz) have bonuses related to their teams making the playoffs. Many of those postseason incentives are tied to another condition. For example, for Taj Gibson to earn his bonus from the Bulls, he must appear in at least 60 games, play in at least 75% of Chicago’s playoff games, and average 25 or more minutes per game during the regular season.
Some players also have incentives linked to their teams’ win total, and once again, some are more attainable than others. For example, Nikola Mirotic could earn an extra $800K, but he’d need the Bulls to win 65+ games, so there’s a good chance his shot at that bonus will disappear about halfway through the season.
Be sure to check out the full breakdown from Marks for many more details on players who could earn incentive bonuses in 2016/17.
Hayward Scores 28 In Return To Action
Gordon Hayward put up 28 points today in his first game of the season after breaking a finger in early October, writes Jody Genessy of The Deseret News. Hayward, who wore a splint on his left ring finger, shot just 6 of 17 from the field as the Jazz won at New York. He was relieved to be back on the court. “I think naturally you lose a little bit. It’s what happens when you can’t play for a month,” Hayward said. “You can do all of the drills you want, all of the working out you want, but there’s nothing like five-on-five. There’s nothing like game atmosphere. … That’s why I did so much work, so I’d try not to lose so much of it.”
Jazz Notes: Hayward, Diaw, Favors, Exum
Four weeks after fracturing his left ring finger in practice, Gordon Hayward is expected to make his season debut Sunday, reports ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. Hayward was originally given a six-weeks prognosis after the Oct. 7 injury, but he will make it back in a little less than a month. The 6’8″ small forward, who can opt out of his current deal next summer, led the Jazz in scoring last season with 19.7 points per game.
There’s more news out of Utah:
- Boris Diaw is expected to miss about two weeks with a contusion on his right leg, MacMahon posts on ESPN Now. With Derrick Favors still on a minutes restriction, that should mean more playing time for second-year forward Trey Lyles.
- With Rudy Gobert‘s extension now out of the way, Utah can turn its attention to locking up the rest of its core, writes Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. Hayward will be the priority, and the Jazz are expecting him to earn at least $25MM in his next deal, a hefty raise from this year’s salary of $16,736,710. They would also like to get something done with Favors, who is eligible for a renegotiation and extension through March. Utah’s front office believes he would receive a max contract on the open market and would prefer to reach an extension agreement before that happens. The Jazz may also need to find money for point guard George Hill, who is in the final year of his contract after being acquired from the Pacers in a three-team trade. At age 30, Hill wants a long-term deal and a raise from his current $8MM salary, but he would prefer not to change teams again.
- Dante Exum seems fully recovered from the ACL tear in his left knee that forced him to miss all of last season, notes Nathan Harker of The Deseret News. Exum played a season-high 29 minutes in Friday’s loss to the Spurs, collecting seven points and seven rebounds. “I feel good. I feel like I’ve put a lot of work into where I am now,” Exum said. “It’s just about continuing to get better, playing those 28-plus minutes where I’m playing those late minutes trying to get the win.”
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 11/4/16
Here are Friday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the league:
10:30pm:
- The Celtics announced via press release that Kelly Olynyk and Demetrius Jackson were assigned to the Maine Red Claws for practice purposes earlier today and later recalled to Boston by the team. Jackson has yet to see any regular season action in his rookie campaign, while Olynyk is still making his way back from offseason shoulder surgery.
11:32am:
- That was fast. After announcing this morning that they had assigned former first-round pick Bruno Caboclo to the D-League, the Raptors confirmed a few hours later that Caboclo has been recalled (Twitter links). The 21-year-old was briefly sent to the Raptors 905 to participate in today’s practice.
- A day after assigning him to the Salt Lake City Stars, the Jazz have recalled rookie forward Joel Bolomboy for their game tonight against the Spurs, the team announced in a press release.
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 11/3/16
Here are today’s D-League assignments and recalls from across the NBA:
- The first D-League assignment of Dejounte Murray‘s young career was a brief one. The Spurs announced today that they’ve recalled Murray, just one day after assigning him to Austin, so the 2016 first-rounder will join the team on its road trip to Utah.
- The Suns have sent rookie forward Derrick Jones to their newly-relocated D-League affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns, the team announced today in a press release. Jones has yet to see the floor for Phoenix during the regular season, so it makes sense to send him to Northern Arizona to get him some action.
- The Jazz have assigned 2016 second-rounder Joel Bolomboy to the Salt Lake City Stars, according to a team release. Bolomboy has played briefly in two games for Utah so far this season.
NBA D-League Affiliate Players For 2016/17
Throughout the offseason, and in the weeks leading up to the start of the regular season, NBA teams are permitted to carry 20 players, but that total must be cut down to 15 in advance of opening night. However, up to four players waived by teams before the season can be designated as affiliate players and assigned to their D-League squads.
The players have some say in the decision — if they’d prefer to sign with a team overseas, or if they get an opportunity with another NBA club, they’re free to turn down their team’s request to have them play in the D-League. Most NBA and international teams have fairly set rosters by late October though, so having the opportunity to continue playing in the same system is appealing to many of those preseason cuts. Especially since they’ll maintain NBA free agency while they play in the D-League.
There are a few other rules related to D-League affiliate players. A player whose returning rights are held by a D-League team can’t be an affiliate player for another club, which is why undrafted free agents from the current year are commonly signed and assigned. Additionally, an affiliate player must have signed with his team during the current league year, which explains why we often see players signed and quickly waived in the days leading up to the regular season. And, of course, not every NBA team has a D-League affiliate, so clubs like the Hawks, Nuggets, or Clippers have no place to send affiliate players.
With all that in mind, here are the NBA D-League affiliate players to start the 2016/17 season:
Austin Spurs (San Antonio Spurs)
Canton Charge (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Delaware 87ers (Philadelphia 76ers)
George Hill Would Be “Very Interested” In Extension
There are only about two dozen veterans around the NBA eligible for contract extensions during the season, and one of those players is Jazz point guard George Hill. According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com, Hill would have plenty of interest in discussing a new deal with his new team, should Utah approach him about it at some point in 2016/17.
[RELATED: Players eligible for veteran extensions]
“If that’s the case [that the team wants to discuss an extension], then I would be very interested in that,” Hill said. “But I’m going to let them take care of that and just do what I can control.
“I’m not the type of guy that likes to move around and go from team to team,” Hill added. “I really like it here. My family likes it here. I’ve got some friends here. The city’s been great for me so far, and it’s a nice place to raise a family, so hopefully I get an opportunity to re-sign here if they would love me to be here.”
While veteran extensions are rare, players become eligible to sign new deals when at least three years have passed since they signed their current contract. In Hill’s case, he’s in the final year of a deal he signed way back in July of 2012, making him extension-eligible even though he has only played a handful of games so far for the Jazz.
When teams sign players to veteran extensions, a renegotiation is typically involved in the transaction, allowing the player to receive a raise on his current-year salary. Cap space is necessary to accommodate such a raise, and the Jazz have no shortage of that — they’re currently more than $13.6MM under the cap, so they could give Hill a significant raise if they chose to extend him.
[RELATED: Salary Cap Snapshot: Utah Jazz]
Still, there could be roadblocks for the Jazz and Hill. For one, Derrick Favors is also eligible for an extension, so if Utah were to lock up Hill and use its cap room to give him a big raise, it would almost certainly rule out the possibility of a new deal for Favors this season. Additionally, Hill is less than eight months away from reaching the open market, at which point he could receive multiple big-money offers from rival suitors, so the Jazz will have to make him a fair, competitive offer if they want to keep him from exploring his options.
Hill has looked excellent in the early going for the Jazz after arriving from Indiana in a three-way trade this summer. In five games for his new team, the 30-year-old guard has averaged 21.4 PPG and 4.6 APG to go along with a shooting line of .548/.429/.882.
Rudy Gobert Contract Details
Meanwhile, Rudy Gobert‘s four-year extension with the Jazz has a base value of $90MM, but will count against the cap for a total of $94MM over four years, since it includes $4MM in likely incentives. The deal, which starts at about $21.225MM next year, according to Pincus, contains another $8MM in unlikely incentives, per reports, meaning it could max out at $102MM overall.
Gobert On Extension
- Rudy Gobert, who agreed to a four-year, $102MM contract extension with the Jazz on Monday, weighed in on why he eschewed the chance to test his value on the open market, Mike Sorensen of The Deseret News relays. “It’s great,” said Gobert, who indicated that he knew a few days earlier that the deal was coming. “It was important for me and especially for the team, so we can get a plan and know who we want to be. I love the organization, I love the coach, I like to live in Utah and I like the way the team is building. My goal in my career is to get a championship and I think we’re going in the right direction and I want to be part of that.”