Western Notes: Exum, Brown, Mavericks
The Jazz are in a holding pattern until they get point guard Dante Exum back, according to Brad Rock of the Deseret News in his midseason evaluation of the team. Exum is expected to miss the season after undergoing left knee surgery over the summer. Utah had built its team around the playmaking talents of their second-year point guard and that plan was sidetracked by Exum’s injury, the primary cause for its 18-23 record after 41 games, Rock adds. “We were all looking forward to how our team fit together as a whole; how Dante and Trey [Burke] would play together with their roles,” Snyder told Rock. “So a lot of planning that went into the year shifted at that point.”
In other news around the Western Conference:
- The Lakers are intrigued by the potential of swingman Anthony Brown, who has seen his playing time spike with Kobe Bryant battling injuries, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News reports. Brown, a second-round pick out of Stanford last summer, has started five games and appeared in 13 others. Though he’s shooting just 30.9%, the Lakers like what they’ve seen from him defensively, Medina adds. “You can put him out there on the defensive end and he’s going to guard the guy,” Lakers coach Byron Scott told the team’s beat reporters. “He’s going to use his athleticism and length. That’s something we’ve been missing.”
- The Mavericks remain a mystery team at the midway point of the season, being equal parts enticing and confounding, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News opines. Dallas reached the 41-game mark five games over .500, compared to 15 games over .500 a year ago. Owner Mark Cuban told Sefko that the team plays too often to the level of the opponent. “What I like is we play up to good teams,” Cuban said. “What I don’t like is we play down to bad teams.”
- A longtime personal assistant to Pelicans owner Tom Benson alleges in an amended lawsuit that Benson’s wife, Gayle, racially discriminated against him, harassed him and ultimately forced him out of his job last year, Mike Triplett of ESPN.com reports. The former assistant, Rodney Henry, had originally filed a suit seeking years of back pay and unpaid overtime he felt he was owed, the story adds.
And-Ones: D-League, Clippers, Beal, Draft
The recent call-ups of J.J. O’Brien by the Jazz and Keith Appling by the Magic could represent a new trend in how NBA teams use the D-League, according to D-League Digest. They are the first call-ups of the season directly from a franchise’s minor league affiliate, and their familiarity with the parent teams’ systems made them an easy fit. With 10-day contracts limiting the amount of instruction time for new players, it helps to have someone who already understands how a team approaches the game.
There’s more news from around the basketball world:
- NBA veteran Henry Sims is one of three D-League centers identified as top prospects by Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor. Undrafted out of Georgetown in 2012, Sims played 121 games with New Orleans, Cleveland and Philadelphia. He is currently averaging 14.1 points and 9.1 rebounds for the Grand Rapids Drive. Also on Reichert’s list are 28-year-old Alex Stepheson of the Iowa Energy and 26-year-old Jordan Bachynski of the Westchester Knicks.
- Dennis Wong, a former college roommate of Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, has bought a small percentage of the team, tweets Dan Woike of The Orange County Register. The sale amounts to less than 4% of the franchise.
- Bradley Beal is slowly easing back into the Wizards‘ rotation and hopes to have his minutes restriction raised soon, writes J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic. Beal, who is headed toward free agency, recently admitted that he may have to deal with restricted playing time for the rest of his career.
- California’s Ivan Rabb, Vanderbilt’s Wade Baldwin and Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield were the biggest risers in the latest mock draft from Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, as Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv details. His top five remains the same with Ben Simmons of LSU, Brandon Ingram of Duke, Dragan Bender of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Kris Dunn of Providence and Skal Labissiere of Kentucky.
Northwest Notes: Mitchell, Wolves, Nuggets
Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell reiterated his belief that he is developing players the right way after the Wolves ended their nine-game losing streak Sunday, Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune relays. Mitchell said that he is not frustrated with the Wolves’ struggles because he feels development is more important than wins at this point and added he hopes Wolves owner Glen Taylor understands that commitment.
“It’s bigger than me,” Mitchell said. “It may turn out that I’m here to see it. But it may turn out that I’m not. But the people in this league know there is a certain way we have to do this, and we understand that. And If I’m not a big boy enough to do it, I shouldn’t be standing here talking to you.’’
Here’s more out of the Northwest Division:
- Wolves center Nikola Pekovic is exhibiting some rust after returning from the surgery he underwent back in April to repair damage to his Achilles tendon, but that is to be expected, according to Mitchell, Andy Greder of The Pioneer Press relays. “After [five] games and we don’t get to practice because we play every other day, you ask me has Pek scraped off the rust? He is limited to 18 minutes a game, and I’m the person that’s prickly. Did that answer your question?,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think in 18 minutes in [five] games he’s going to scrape it off.”
- Jazz rookie Trey Lyles has earned more playing time because of a vastly improved 3-point shot, Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune details.
- Small forward Will Barton, who re-signed with the Nuggets this past summer on a three-year, $10.6MM deal after originally having joined the team via the Arron Afflalo trade, has come out of nowhere to contend for this year’s Sixth Man of the Year award, Nick Groke of the Denver Post writes.
Western Notes: O’Brien, Suns, Towns
J.J. O’Brien‘s gamble on the D-League has paid off, according to Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune. The 6’7″ forward signed a 10-day contract with the Jazz today and will be available for tonight’s game with the Lakers. O’Brien played for Utah’s summer league team and earned an invitation to training camp. After being cut, he decided to join the franchise’s D-League affiliate in Idaho rather than seek a larger contract with an overseas team. He averaged 9.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 24 games with the Stampede. “I had a pretty good confidence in myself that I could get to this level,” he said. “It’s the ultimate dream to get here. The best way to do that is to be here playing in the D-League.”
There’s more from the Western Conference:
- GM Ryan McDonough is remaining positive about the Suns‘ future, even as losses pile up, writes Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. Phoenix has dropped 12 of its last 13 contests, but is still on the edge of the playoff race, trailing eighth seed Utah by just five games. The team’s performance in the next few weeks will determine McDonough’s course of action. “Over the next month or so,” he said, “we’ll evaluate where we are and what our options are and be realistic about who we are as a team and what we can do this year as we get closer to the trade deadline.”
- Karl-Anthony Towns may have landed with a struggling franchise, but he’s very happy to be in Minnesota, writes John Krawczynski of the Associated Press. The top pick in the 2015 draft has made an immediate impact, averaging 15.7 points and 9.4 rebounds over the first half of the season and putting himself in the race for Rookie of the Year honors. He also feels comfortable in Minneapolis, even though the Wolves are off to a 12-28 start. “I think I’m more and more a part of this community every day,” Towns said. “I love it here. I love absolutely everything here.”
Jazz Sign J.J. O’Brien To 10-Day Contract
The Jazz signed small forward J.J. O’Brien to a 10-day contract, the team announced via press release. O’Brien was with the Idaho Stampede, Utah’s D-League affiliate. The Jazz now have 15 players on the roster.
O’Brien averaged 9.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per game with the Stampede in 24 appearances.O’Brien’s familiarity with Utah’s system likely factored into the Jazz signing him, Jody Genessy of the Deseret News tweets. The Jazz waived O’Brien in October after he saw little action in the preseason.
The Jazz signed O’Brien to a minimum salary training camp deal in August. O’Brien, 23, went undrafted last June out of San Diego State and has yet to make his NBA regular season debut. In his NCAA career, O’Brien averaged 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
Enes Kanter Splits With Agent Max Ergul
Enes Kanter has left agent Max Ergul, who helped the Thunder center land a maximum-salary offer sheet this past summer, as USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt hears (Twitter link). Kanter is Ergul’s only NBA client. It’s uncertain whom Kanter will hire to replace him, though Ergul will continue to receive his commission on the deal. Standard commission would give him a 4% cut of Kanter’s $70,060,025 contract.
The Thunder matched the offer sheet that Portland gave Kanter, keeping the center they traded for at the deadline last February. The big man made it clear shortly before the swap that he wanted the Jazz to deal him away, though Ergul denied a report that he had been asking the Jazz to trade his client for years.
In any case, Utah has flourished since the departure of Kanter freed up more playing time for Rudy Gobert. The Thunder have done well, too, compiling a record of 28-12 this season, fourth-best in the NBA. Kanter is seeing only 20.1 minutes per game in 2015/16, down drastically from the 31.1 minutes per contest he saw down the stretch with Oklahoma City last year.
Southwest Notes: Withey, Cunningham, Green
Former 39th overall pick Jeff Withey is seeing significant minutes with the Jazz this season after a parting of ways with the Pelicans that cast him into uncertainty, as Ben Dowsett of Basketball Insiders details. Executives from other teams have speculated about whether the Pelicans dealt fairly with the center, who said GM Dell Demps told him during the playoffs that the team wanted him back, Dowsett reports. The team made a qualifying offer to him but withdrew it shortly before re-signing Alexis Ajinca, making Withey an unrestricted free agent and leaving him “really confused,” as he said to Dowsett. Withey ultimately landed with Utah on a partially guaranteed deal that last week became fully guaranteed for the rest of this season, and he’s pleased with his new surroudings.
“In New Orleans, it was a tough place for me, just because the coach [Monty Williams], he didn’t really give me a shot, you know what I mean?” Withey said to Dowsett. “Even if I was playing, if I screwed up one time or anything like that, he would just take me right out. Here, Coach [Quin Snyder], he’ll come to you … it’s just a different type of coaching. More player-friendly, for sure.”
Withey has one more year left on his deal, with a non-guaranteed minimum salary for next season. See more on the Pelicans and the rest of the Southwest Division:
- Dante Cunningham is shooting more 3-pointers than ever this season, and while he’s making a passable 30% of them, it’s still not enough to give the Pelicans the spacing necessary to prevent double teams on Anthony Davis, as John Reid of The Times Picayune examines. New Orleans re-signed Cunningham in the offseason to a three-year deal worth nearly $8.935MM. Backup and fellow offseason signee Alonzo Gee is nailing just 27.3% of his 3-point looks, compounding the absence of Pondexter, as Justin Verrier of ESPN.com examines.
- The Raptors were one of the teams that pursued Danny Green this summer, according to Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News. Given the four-year, $58MM deal that Toronto gave fellow wing player DeMarre Carroll, it seems Green was liable to end up with much more than the $40MM over four years he got from the Spurs, Harvey writes. However, unlike other places in the NBA, San Antonio affords him the comfort of knowing the team has a history of supporting him through slumps like the one he’s in now, as Harvey details.
- Baron Davis, who’s set to play in the D-League, reportedly worked out for the Mavs recently, but coach Rick Carlisle laughed off the notion and owner Mark Cuban clarified that the team has an “open door” as far as its D-League affiliate goes but doesn’t harbor NBA-level interest in him. Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News relays Cuban’s comment.
Pelicans Eye Millsap, Johnson, Dejean-Jones
The Pelicans are expected to consider several wing players for 10-day contracts now that Quincy Pondexter is set to miss the entire season, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, who mentions free agents Elijah Millsap, Orlando Johnson and Bryce Dejean-Jones by name. New Orleans has been carrying an open roster spot since trading Ish Smith to the Sixers last month.
Millsap cleared waivers last week from the Jazz, who cut him rather than guarantee his contract for the rest of the season. The 28-year-old brother of Paul Millsap had seen his minutes dwindle this season, to 8.6 per contest in 20 appearances, after he averaged 19.7 minutes a night in 47 games with Utah last year.
Johnson, who was the 36th overall pick in 2012, has been playing for the D-League affiliate of the Spurs for the past month, averaging 15.5 points in 32.3 minutes per game, with sizzling 50.7% shooting on 73 attempts from 3-point range. The 26-year-old last appeared in the NBA during the 2013/14 season with the Pacers and Kings.
Dejean-Jones signed with the Pelicans in August as an undrafted free agent after winning a spot on the New Orleans summer league team. He averaged 8.8 points in 18.2 minutes per game during the preseason, but a rash of injuries at other positions helped persuade the Pelicans to cut him before opening night. He’s since joined the Jazz affiliate in the D-League and has posted 18.5 points in 31.5 minutes per contest across six appearances.
Which player makes the most sense for the Pelicans, or is there another name they should consider? Share your thoughts with a comment.
Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Jazz, Thunder
GM Tim Connelly has focused on finding talent that others have overlooked and that strategy has led the Nuggets to draft many international players, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “We’ve put a lot of emphasis in international scouting. … We want to be very well informed with any player in the world,” said Connelly. “Certainly the more well informed we are, hopefully we make better decisions. It just so happens that when we’ve selected guys, signed guys, traded for guys, we’ve had a pretty big international influence.”
The Nuggets employ one of the league’s top international scouting staffs, which is something that didn’t happen by accident. Connelly spent time early in his career as an international scout and the team’s assistant GM, Arturas Karnisovas, is a former FIBA Europe player of the year. Denver has one of the most international-heavy rosters in the league, which could make communicating with the team problematic, but first year coach Mike Malone doesn’t see it as a deterrent. “I don’t care where you’re from,” Malone said. “If you can play, I’m a fan of yours.”
Here’s more from the Northwest Division:
- The Jazz have an open roster spot as a result of waiving Elijah Millsap, and David Smith of The Deseret News believes the D-League has a few guards that could help the team. Smith names Sean Kilpatrick, Erick Green and Jimmer Fredette among the possible candidates. However, Utah seems to have a lack of interest in Fredette, as Jody Genessy of The Deseret News reported earlier this week.
- The Thunder should look to the trade market to find a veteran backup point guard, Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders opines. D.J. Augustin has fallen out of the rotation and while Cameron Payne has shown promise, rookie contributors on title contenders are rare, and the team should look to shore up the position, Greene adds.
Western Notes: Bryant, Fredette, Payne, Nance
The Lakers simply can’t concentrate on developing young players as they otherwise would because they need to give Kobe Bryant a “justified farewell” as he plays his final season, GM Mitch Kupchak contended in an interview with Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Kupchak expounded on comments he made in a recent meeting with season ticket-holders in which he said the team can’t fully move forward with Bryant still present, though he made it clear that the franchise has no reservations about giving Bryant his due. Kupchak argued to Holmes that the attention Bryant draws allows the young players to grow outside the harsh glare of the spotlight, calling it a “silver lining” to the situation, and the GM also insisted the team will be in better position to attract free agents this summer than it was last year.
“I think we’ll see enough [from the young players],” Kupchak said. “Yeah, I think we’ll see enough. I do. Kobe has been really good lately. He looks like he’s trying to fit in and play the right way. Yeah, I think we’ll see enough. Is it going to come as quick as you want? I mean, D’Angelo [Russell] is going to be 20. They all want it now, but it’s just going to take a year or two or three. But it’s certainly going to be a lot more attractive than what we had to offer last summer.”
See more from the Western Conference:
- Utah has an open roster spot after waiving Elijah Millsap on Tuesday, but while Jimmer Fredette, who’s eligible to sign with any NBA team, is still a fan favorite from his days at BYU, the Jazz signaled their lack of interest when they passed him up in this season’s D-League draft, tweets Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. The team doubts his ability to play NBA-caliber defense and doesn’t want to deal with the crush of local interest that signing him would entail, Genessy adds (Twitter link).
- Thunder coach Billy Donovan‘s decision to put rookie Cameron Payne in the rotation has helped a talented second unit to finally play up to its abilities, as Royce Young of ESPN.com examines. The process hasn’t been without hiccups, but Payne’s emergence is nonetheless one more selling point the Thunder have to use in their pitch to retain Kevin Durant this summer, Young writes.
- Others still on the draft board seemed to be more likely candidates for the Lakers when they instead picked Larry Nance Jr. 27th overall this past summer, but after starting him at power forward for a month, coach Byron Scott thinks the situation has flipped, notes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. “If you were probably to re-do the draft, he’d be a lottery pick,” Scott said. “So obviously, we got a steal.”