Western Notes: Lakers, Howard, Bell
During an interview at the Lakers practice facility today, Mike D'Antoni acknowledged that his job will be to compete for a championship this season and added, "I told the team if we're not averaging 110-115 points a game, we need to talk." Zach Harper of CBS Sports relayed a plethora of other notable quotes as the new Lakers coach touched upon the offensive freedom he plans to give his players, the promise he sees in the second unit, and the notion that maximizing the amount of possessions per game will help offset one bad shot or bad call affecting the final outcome. Here's more of what we've heard tonight out of the Western Conference:
- Dwight Howard told reporters that he is playing at about "75-80%" and still needs to get his explosiveness back to where he can sustain it over longer stretches of the game (Arash Markazi of ESPN LA tweets).
- Marc Stein of ESPN mentions that Raja Bell would naturally be a target for the Lakers to pursue at this point, but him still being under contract with the Jazz, Los Angeles' $100MM payroll and a full roster remain as the most significant obstacles in their way (Twitter link).
- The Suns approach to rebuilding includes stockpiling assets and being prepared for circumstances in which a good player may become available via trade, similar to how Houston was able to acquire James Harden from Oklahoma City, writes Sean Deveney of the Sporting News.
- Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group (Sulia link) reports that Warriors center Andrew Bogut has received multiple injections of Regenokine in his left ankle to help with his overall recovery process.
- Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside explains why a trip to the D-League for Scott Machado will be a golden opportunity for him to garner attention as a strong talent, something that would have been difficult without any significant playing time on the Rockets.
Al Jefferson Hints At Return To Celtics
10:00pm: Jefferson responded to the reports that he would consider signing with the Celtics, reiterating that the Jazz are his first choice, saying, "The only way I won't be there is they don't want me there," reports Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter links).
6:58pm: Al Jefferson is a free agent next summer and said he'd love to stay with the Jazz, but expressed a willingness to return to the Celtics, for whom he played the first three seasons of his career, writes Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com.
"This is my first home," he said of Boston, where the Jazz are playing tonight. "This will always be my home away from home. (Celtics president) Danny Ainge gave me a chance when nobody else did. If that situation were to happen, I’d love to do that again. But right now, like I said, it’s all about taking care of business and finishing out the season right."
Jefferson spoke highly of the Jazz organization as well, and said it reminds him of the Celtics. The 6'10" 27-year-old figures to be one of the most highly sought-after big men on the market in the offseason. It would be difficult to envision Boston, which has about $70MM in commitments next season, including Paul Pierce's $15.3MM player option, having anywhere near enough room to sign him outright. Ainge could engineer some kind of sign-and-trade or another swap that frees up cap space, but it's likely Jefferson won't be back in green anytime soon, barring a Celtics collapse this season that prods Ainge into significant changes.
Still, it seems the affection is mutual, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston notes Celtics coach Doc Rivers had dinner with Jefferson when the Jazz and Celtics played last season.
"He just keeps getting better and better," Rivers said. "The thing I thought I’d never say about Al, he’s becoming a better passer. And I’ve very happy about that for him. He just keeps working on his game. He hit that one little stretch where, he had lost a lot, you could see he’s fought through that now. Making that playoff run, and he was a big part of it last year, has kind of re-stoked him and that’s good. He’s a heck of a guy."
Western Rumors: Lakers, Wolves, Dirk, Rockets
We heard almost a month ago to the day that the Lakers had made Steve Blake and Chris Duhon available via trade, and that hasn't changed even with Steve Nash out, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link). Mannix reports that the Lakers have continued to dangle the two point guards in trade talks, but, unsurprisingly, neither player is drawing much interest. Here are a few more updates out of the Western Conference:
- With Chase Budinger officially out for about three months, the Timberwolves will likely move to add a wing, tweets Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. Zgoda names Mickael Pietrus, Josh Howard, and Raja Bell as possibilities, though Pietrus is seeking more than Minnesota can offer and Bell is still a member of the Jazz.
- Dirk Nowitzki's rehab on his surgically repaired knee isn't progressing quite as quickly as he'd anticipated, Nowitzki said on FOX Sports Southwest last night. Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News has the details.
- Following up on yesterday's report that the Rockets would send their three rookies to the D-League, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle notes (via Twitter) that that's always been the case with Rockets rookies who aren't getting regular playing time.
- SI.com's Ian Thomsen fields questions on the Lakers, DeMarcus Cousins, the Grizzlies, and a few other topics in his latest mailbag.
Offseason In Review: Utah Jazz
Throughout the month of November, Hoops Rumors will look back at each team's offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees, and more will be covered, as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.
Signings
- Jeremy Evans: Three years, $5.25MM. Signed via Early Bird rights.
- Randy Foye: One year, $2.5MM. Signed via mid-level exception.
Trades and Claims
- Acquired Mo Williams from the Clippers in exchange for the rights to Tadija Dragicevic (sent to Mavericks).
- Acquired Marvin Williams from the Hawks in exchange for Devin Harris.
Draft Picks
- Kevin Murphy (Round 2, 47th overall). Signed via minimum salary exception.
Camp Invitees
- Brian Butch
- Trey Gilder
- Darnell Jackson
- Chris Quinn
Departing Players
Rookie Contract Option Decisions
- Alec Burks, $2.2MM: Exercised
- Derrick Favors, $6.01MM: Exercised
- Gordon Hayward, $3.45MM: Exercised
- Enes Kanter, $4.51MM: Exercised
For some Jazz fans, the team's eighth-place finish in the Western Conference last season represented of a worst-case scenario of sorts. With Utah's first-round pick lottery protected, a playoff berth ensured that the pick would be ticketed for Minnesota, denying the Jazz the chance to add another young player to the roster going forward. However, as the No. 8 seed, Utah's postseason ended prematurely when they were swept by the top-seeded Spurs, whose margin of victory for the series was 16 points per game.
Despite the quick playoff exit though, it had to be encouraging for the Jazz to even be in a position to qualify for the postseason so soon after the team traded its star player, Deron Williams. With a young roster that includes four players on rookie scale contracts, Utah heads into the 2012/13 season knowing that players like Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward, and Enes Kanter should only continue to improve.
But before we get to this season's outlook, let's backtrack a little to the summer in Utah. The team got off to an early start, getting in on a four-team deal with the Mavericks, Clippers, and Rockets that landed them Mo Williams for, essentially, nothing but a trade exception. Williams is entering the last year of his contract and may not be a long-term piece for the Jazz, but he's still a capable veteran point guard, and his arrival served as a precursor for Utah's second deal of the summer: acquiring Marvin Williams for Devin Harris.
New Hawks GM Danny Ferry received plenty of accolades this summer not only for unloading Joe Johnson's contract, but also for flipping Williams, who had two years remaining on his deal, for an expiring contract in Harris. While the deal certainly worked out nicely for Atlanta, it's hard to argue that the Jazz were swindled. Williams is a former second overall pick, and is slightly cheaper than Harris in 2012/13, meaning the only downside for the Jazz is that extra year on his deal — Williams has a player option worth $7.5MM for 2013/14 that he'll likely exercise.
While such a commitment might put a serious dent in another team's flexibility, the Jazz have so few salaries on their books beyond this season that Williams' option shouldn't exactly hamper their flexibility. Besides Williams' $7.5MM figure, a modest $1.66MM guarantee for Jeremy Evans, and a non-guaranteed minimum salary for Kevin Murphy, those four rookie-scale contracts mentioned earlier are Utah's only '13/14 commitments.
Sure, the Jazz may have had room for two maximum-salary players if the team hadn't taken on Williams' salary, something that will be difficult to do now. But I don't think anyone in Utah believes that two maximum-salary free agents (Chris Paul and Dwight Howard?) are eyeing the Jazz as a potential destination. The club still has a ton of potential cap space to either re-sign its own free agents or pursue players on the open market — or both.
Another potential use for all that impending cap space? Making an in-season trade this year. With a number of contracts set to expire, the Jazz could kill multiple birds with one stone if they decided to move Al Jefferson, for instance. That would not only show Paul Millsap that the team is committed to him, rather than Jefferson, long-term, but it would clear a frontcourt logjam, allowing Favors and Kanter to play more. Plus, Utah's future cap flexibility would allow the team to take on a bad contract in such a deal if it meant acquiring an extra asset or two.
We're getting ahead of ourselves in looking ahead to Utah's next move though. The team's offseason itself was rather quiet — no first-round picks, no free agent signings worth more than $2.5MM annually, and, despite the pair of trades, no blockbuster deals that brought in a significant long-term piece.
It's not hard to imagine that this summer was the calm before the storm, however. With only about $26MM in salary on the books for 2013/14 and barely $10MM in likely commitments for 2014/15, the Jazz have set themselves up beautifully to add complementary pieces to their young core, as well as eventually retaining those young players long-term.
Northwest Rumors: Harden, Thunder, Layden
If it weren't for the Lakers' 0-3 start, the Nuggets, also 0-3, might be getting a lot more attention. A trendy pick this season (Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors has the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals over both the Lakers and the Thunder), Denver has struggled in its early East Coast trip, though the team might have scored a signature win against the Heat last night if not for Ray Allen's heroics. The Nuggets will be the last team to make their home debut this season, doing so Tuesday, so perhaps that will help them right the ship. Here's other weekend news on their Northwest Division rivals.
- Several teams reportedly had contact with the Thunder about James Harden prior to last week's trade, but Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio hears the Rockets, the last team standing, were also the first to get involved in discussions. Amico adds that the Cavs weren't in on the trade talks.
- In the same piece, Amico defends Thunder GM Sam Presti for making the trade, and believes the Thunder got just as much out of it as the Rockets did.
- Spurs assistant GM Scott Layden isn't upset he wasn't interviewed for the Jazz GM opening this summer, despite strong ties to the Utah organization, according to Jody Genessy of the Deseret News.
Kevin O’Connor Talks Trade Market, Jazz
With a new general manager in place in Utah, executive VP of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor isn't speaking as frequently with the media, letting Dennis Lindsey handle that part of the job. However, O'Connor did talk to reporters on Wednesday, and while he declined comment on the Raja Bell situation, he addressed a few other Jazz-related topics. Jody Genessy of the Deseret News has the quotes, so let's check them out….
On whether the trade market will be active as the deadline approaches:
"I think it will be. And I think the reason it will be is because people will be concerned going into next year… with the extra luxury tax, the punitive tax, the repeater's luxury tax. I think some teams are going to be cognizant of that. Hopefully, we put ourselves in a pretty good position. We had planned on this from four years ago. Now I'm not smart enough to write all the numbers down, but [Jazz CFO] Bob Hyde did. He planned it and looked at it and said, 'Here's what we should look like.' We thought it'd be two years before the implementation before the tax would come in and we guessed right, and hopefully we can be the beneficiaries of making some moves."
On the importance of expiring contracts:
"I don't think you want to go with expiring contracts as king, because that means you're not dealing with players and you've gotta have players to win. But I think what you might see is a pretty good player at a price you might like that another team can't afford."
On whether the Jazz can contend for a title without a superstar:
"The only thing that I equate everything to is wins…. If I go back and look at Detroit when they went to five straight Eastern Conference Finals, one [NBA] Final and won one in those five years, I don't think you would have said that they had a first- or second-team team All-NBA player or superstar…. That’s a model that certainly has worked a great deal."
On whether this year's Jazz team is better than last year's:
"We haven't proven it yet. You can do all the paperwork that you want. You can put everything on paper that you say that we should be better at this position, we should be better at that position. We've got to go out and prove it. I like the fact that we've added pieces that I think will make us better, but I don't want to say to you that we're absolutely better. What I want to say to you is that I believe that we've improved ourselves. Now we've got to prove it."
Odds & Ends: Allen, Pistons, Jazz, Curry, Lawson
While most of the night's news has centered around extensions for a flurry of fourth-year players before the 11pm Central deadline, there's sure to be fallout over the lack of extensions for Brandon Jennings, Tyreke Evans and Jeff Teague, who will headline a class of 2013 restricted free agents that won't be as strong as first expected. In the meantime, there are plenty of other interesting tidbits from around the league.
- Before deciding on the Heat, Ray Allen was serious about joining the Clippers this summer, but believes the Clips thought he was using them as leverage, writes Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.
- Pistons owner Tom Gores, who won't rule out someday moving the team from the suburban Palace of Auburn Hills to a downtown venue, is anxious for his team to make the playoffs, but said the jobs of basketball operations president Joe Dumars and coach Lawrence Frank aren't necessarily riding on a postseason berth, as David Mayo of MLive.com observes.
- Jazz executive vice president Kevin O'Connor says the team structured its contracts so most of them would end after this season, Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune reports.
- Grantland's Zach Lowe examines the extensions for Stephen Curry and Ty Lawson, believing the Warriors could trade Curry if he gets off to a fast start next season, while wondering if the Nuggets will make a cost-cutting move some time next year to fit Lawson's deal into their budget.
- Cavs forward Luke Walton, who played under Phil Jackson with the Lakers, believes his former coach won't return to the sidelines, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio (Sulia link).
- Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson didn't dismiss the possibility that the team could re-sign Dominique Jones as an unrestricted free agent next summer after deciding against picking up his 2013/14 option, as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News notes.
Northwest Rumors: O’Connor, Thunder, Kahn
With the Nuggets doling out a four-year, $48MM extension to Ty Lawson and the Thunder ruling out a deal with Eric Maynor, the rookie-scale extension drama is over for Northwest Division teams. Instead, the division's executives are focusing on other methods of building their teams as the season begins, and a couple of them have weighed in with reporters. Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune shares insight from Kevin O'Connor, executive vice president of basketball operations for the Jazz, while Timberwolves GM David Kahn sat down with Ray Richardson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Both pieces are worth a full read, but we'll break down the highlights here.
- O'Connor compared the bounty of interior players the Jazz have to a baseball team with plenty of starting pitching, saying you can never have too much of either. "What it's going to do is help our team," he said. "You can't feelings get hurt because they don't play as well as they're supposed to and somebody else plays, that's not what the coach is concerned. What he's concerned with is how those guys can help us win. But if you look at the teams that won last year, all of the teams that won had pretty darn good depth especially at big guy positions. A couple of years ago you had (Andrew) Bynum and (Pau) Gasol and Lamar Odom. I'm happy that we have that. I'm please that the guys have continued to improve."
- The Jazz executive also spoke about what the James Harden trade meant for the Thunder. "They weren't able to pay him," he said. "They paid three other guys (Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka). I think that sends a signal that Oklahoma City does want to compete and does want to win a championship. There's very few teams that can pay everybody. I don't need to mention names but I think you know who they are, that can."
- Kahn addressed the attention the Wolves have received for having only five black players, pointing to the diversity of the roster that includes five players from overseas. "Since I've arrived here, it's been imperative for us to cast the widest net possible in attracting talent, whether the players are domestic or international," he said. "What people are seeing is the outgrowth of that. That's how we've been operating and will continue to operate that way."
- He predicted the recently waived Jonny Flynn, whom Kahn drafted sixth overall in 2009, won't be out of the league for long, and spoke about his own future with the Wolves. "I think they're going to keep me around for a few more days," Kahn quipped. "The ownership has an option to pick up (on my contract) whenever the season ends. I'm operating in the manner that everything we're doing is in the best interest of the franchise on a long-term basis. The owner (Glen Taylor) has encouraged me to feel that way and operate that way. Now that we have begun the turnaround, nothing would please me more than to be here with the collection of players we have for an extended period of time. I'm not thinking of anything but that."
Western Notes: Meeks, Tinsley, Roy, Blazers
The NBA released its annual report on the growing international presence on its rosters, noting the Spurs have a record eight players from overseas, notes Art Garcia of Fox Sports Southwest, and that includes players from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy points out (Twitter links). The Timberwolves have five of the league's international players from four different countries, according to the team (Twitter link). As the league continues to attract talent from around the world, here's what's going on around the Western Conference.
- Jodie Meeks couldn't be more content with his decision to sign with the Lakers, even though the Wizards and Bucks offered him more money this summer, Kennedy reports.
- In the same piece, Kennedy also checks in with Jamaal Tinsley, whose deal with the Jazz is non-guaranteed, as we learned last night. The backup point guard is enthusiastic about Utah's veteran offseason additions, but Brad Rock of the Deseret News believes the team's younger players are the key.
- Ray Richardson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press looks at how the Timberwolves plan to use Brandon Roy this season, noting that the plan is for him to see 30 to 32 minutes per game, down from his career 35.6 MPG average.
- The Blazers hired Chris McGowan as team president last night, but he'll take a hands-off approach to the basketball operations side of the franchise, reports Mike Tokito of The Oregonian.
- No. 1 overall pick Anthony Davis is set to make his debut for the Hornets on Wednesday against the Spurs, and Davis believes he gained much from going against Duncan as the Hornets conducted voluntary scrimmages against the Spurs in the summer, writes John Reid of The Times-Picayune.
- The focus is on the present in Memphis, where Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace largely stood pat over the summer with a roster on the fringes of contention amid the ownership transfer from Michael Heisley to Robert Pera, as Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal examines.
Buyout Talks Resume Between Raja Bell, Jazz
5:51pm: Charania tweets more from Bell's radio interview, noting that Bell characterized the situation as a "waiting game until [the Jazz] can either get rid of the contract and trade it or we can find a good situation for a buyout." Charania concludes that the situation is fluid, and no one on either side of the dispute is quite sure how it will turn out (Twitter links).
5:12pm: Raja Bell told Jorge Sedano of WQAM in Miami that he and the Jazz are once more working toward some means of parting ways, whether through a trade or a buyout, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.com. This comes a week after Bell's agent, Herb Rudoy, told Charania that the two sides had ended buyout negotiations that had dragged on all summer. The report indicated Rudoy and the Jazz were discussing trade scenarios, but Rudoy later denied that part of it to Jody Genessey of the Deseret News.
The 36-year-old shooting guard is due $3.48MM this season in the final year of a three-year, $9.72MM contract. He started 33 of the 34 games he played last season in Utah, but clashed with coach Tyrone Corbin and saw his playing time disappear. Though it's long been clear that the Jazz organization sided with Corbin, their decision to exercise their 2013/14 option on Corbin today is further evidence of where they stand. Bell didn't attend camp with the Jazz after he was told to stay away, and hasn't been with the team at all in the preseason.
Bell attended high school and college in Miami, and last month he identified the Heat as his top choice for his next destination. The Heat currently have 15 players under contract, but Josh Harrellson and Terrel Harris are on non-guaranteed deals.