Washington Wizards Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Wiggins, Ariza, Mavs

November 7th, 2014 at 10:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

No. 1 overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins is only averaging 9.8 PPG after his first four NBA games, but the Wolves rookie is already drawing comparisons to another NBA star, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops writes. “He reminded me of Paul George,” an Eastern Conference GM told Scotto. “Paul came in a better off-ball defender than Andrew. He’s [Wiggins] probably a good on-ball defender. Paul had a very difficult time handling the ball when he came in and worked on it and their shooting is similar. I’d say Andrew is a hair better athlete and Paul is a little bigger maybe.” The biggest difference between the two players as rookies is Wiggins is under much more scrutiny and pressure than George was as a rookie thanks to his top slot on the draft board, adds Scotto.

Here’s more from around the league:

Despite quite a few predictions of a Cavs–Bulls Eastern Conference Finals, the Raptors and the Wizards might prove those prognostications premature, Eric Koreen of The National Post writes. Toronto and Washington are taking different approaches regarding the mixture of veterans and younger players on their respective rosters, notes Koreen. The Raptors are building around a younger core, and the Wizards, despite younger stars like Bradley Beal and John Wall, have added a number of long-in-the-tooth veterans this past offseason. Wizards coach Randy Wittman said, “Obviously, talent prevails. You’ve got to have that first. It was important for us to have a mixture of veterans with our young guys,” Koreen adds.
The Mavs have been affiliated with the Texas Legends of the D-League for five seasons and view the partnership as a way to experiment with new ideas, Bryan Gutierrez of ESPNDallas.com writes. “There have always been a lot of advantages to having the team in Frisco, but we’re using it more experimentally now,” Mavs owner Mark Cuban said. “There are certain things we’ll hopefully unveil that will be different. We’ve been practicing some things, and hopefully they will work. We want to try some things that will hopefully change things up.”
Trevor Ariza is making it easy for Rockets fans to forget that Chandler Parsons is now in Dallas, Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) writes. Thus far, Ariza is averaging 15.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 3.2 APG, while shooting a ridiculous 55% from behind the arc for the 6-0 Rockets.

And-Ones: Thunder, Durant, Butler

November 4th, 2014 at 10:56pm CST by Alex Lee

Let’s take a look at some news and notes from around the Association late on this Tuesday night:

The injury-plagued Thunder might just become a “cautionary tale of prudence” this season, writes Scott Stinson of the National Post. Stinson argues that, in today’s NBA, a caveat of opting for competitive longevity over the aggressive pursuit of a title is that something out of a team’s control — injuries, in this case — might lay the best-laid plans to waste.
There’s been no shortage of Kevin Durant news today, as the Thunder superstar is making the media rounds to promote the premiere of his HBO special. On ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike (via the Oklahoman), Durant was asked if the decision of LeBron James to return to Cleveland might impact the possibility that he could sign with the Wizards. To which, Durant said: “I really haven’t thought about that, to be honest. I hear it a lot. But I think I can make an impact on the community I grew up from anywhere. So I think I’m doing a good job of that in Oklahoma. My friends, my family, the kids in my neighborhood, are seeing that. I’m inspiring them from Oklahoma City. I really haven’t thought about it. I love where I am. I know that sounds cliche and the answer everybody gives, but that’s really true from my side of it. I’m sure everybody’s watching from afar.”
Between the dearth of shooting guards in the NBA and Klay Thompson‘s near $70MM deal, Jimmy Butler‘s decision to turn down the Bulls‘ extension offer might prove to be a smart one if the swingman can stay healthy, writes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times.

Northwest Notes: Thunder, Jackson, Jazz, Ingles

November 4th, 2014 at 9:00am CST by Chuck Myron

The league has proposed setting the 2016/17 salary cap between $78MM and $82MM in discussions with the union about phasing in the increases that the league’s new TV revenue will bring about, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports. Those figures would still be quite a leap from next season’s projected $66.5MM cap, and they’d set up lots of teams with flexibility for the summer of 2016, when Kevin Durant is poised to hit free agency. Some teams are optimistic that Durant will consider a wide array of suitors, while others have heard that he’s already down to the Thunder and the Wizards, according to Lowe. In any case, there’s much on the line on Oklahoma City in the next 19 months or so left before Durant’s contract expires, as Lowe examines. Here’s more on the Thunder and their Northwest Division rivals:

The Thunder are confident that they’ll be able to match other clubs’ offer sheets for restricted free agent-to-be Reggie Jackson next summer, sources tell Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated (Twitter link). Given the roughly $63.57MM of guaranteed salary the Thunder already have on their books for the 2015/16 season, retaining Jackson might require exceeding the luxury tax threshold, something they’ve been reluctant to do in the past.
Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey isn’t planning simply to let his team’s young core grow on its own, and he says he’ll use it as a draw to attract free agents, as he tells Jody Genessy of the Deseret News, promising to be “very aggressive” in free agency next year. Still, Alec Burks tells Genessy that the team’s commitment to youth is one reason why he was eager to sign his extension with Utah.
The Clippers weren’t pleased when the Jazz claimed Joe Ingles off waivers, as coach/executive Doc Rivers admits his club had designs on re-signing the 27-year-old rookie, Genessy tweets.
Thaddeus Young, who can become a free agent in the summer, sees a bright future ahead for the Timberwolves, as he tells Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders.

Charlie Adams contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Cavs, D-League, Temple

November 3rd, 2014 at 5:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Not surprisingly, three of the NBA’s four unbeaten teams reside in the Western Conference, where the Warriors, Rockets and Grizzlies are all 3-0. The East’s lone unbeaten is the franchise that’s won the last four conference championships, but it’s nonetheless surprising to see the Heat back atop the conference standings after they lost LeBron James this past summer. While we wait to see if Miami will continue to reign without King James, here’s the latest from around the league:

The Cavs feel like they made concessions in their final extension offer to Tristan Thompson, which exceeded $48MM over four years, but neither side has any hard feelings in the wake of the failed negotiations, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio.
NBA teams kept the D-League rights to 47 players cut during camp this year, the D-League announced, listing all of them. The Mavs, Warriors and Suns used all four spots available to each NBA team to reserve the rights to such players, so they can’t keep the D-League rights to anyone they waive during the regular season, unlike the rest of the teams in the NBA. Renaldo Balkman, Bernard James, Doron Lamb, Hasheem Thabeet, Peyton Siva, Malcolm Lee and Earl Barron are this year’s “affiliate players” with NBA experience.
Garrett Temple refrains from drinking, smoking and tattoos, and he’s convinced the straight-arrow approach has helped him win jobs during his career, as Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post observes. Injuries to others have thrust Temple into the starting lineup for the Wizards, who re-signed him this summer for two years at the minimum salary.

Wizards Cut Lucas, James, Silas

October 25th, 2014 at 2:13pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:13pm: The trio of Silas, James, and Lucas have indeed been waived, the team announced in a press release.

SATURDAY, 1:10pm: The Wizards have waived Silas, James, and John Lucas III, Michael reports (Twitter link). No official word from the team has been made, and their was no mention of Butler also being waived. After these moves the team’s preseason roster count stands at 15, so the Wizards wouldn’t be required to make any further cuts.

8:29pm: Michael has updated his report to reflect that Butler, James and Silas have yet to be released, and could actually still be retained. Though, in a later story, the CSN Washington scribe suggests that the chances the Wizards retain any of the trio is slim.

TUESDAY, 9:38am: The Wizards are set to part ways with Rasual Butler, Damion James and Xavier Silas, reports J. Michael of CSNWashington.com, who writes amid his story on Washington’s deal with John Lucas III. That indicates that the club will place its non-guaranteed contracts with the trio on waivers in advance of Monday’s deadline to set its opening-night roster. The addition of Lucas will give the team 15 players with at least a partial guarantee, which puts the squeeze on Butler, James and Silas.

The three swingmen appeared to have better chances at remaining with the team into the regular season once Bradley Beal went down with injury, but it looks like GM Ernie Grunfeld is going a different direction to bolster his backcourt. James and Silas were reportedly the strongest contenders among the three to remain with the team. Silas went to training camp with the Wizards this fall for the second year in a row, while James was the 24th overall pick in 2010 and showed promise before a series of injuries derailed his career. The 35-year-old Butler was hoping to duplicate what he did with Indiana last year, when he made the Pacers out of camp and wound up contributing in the playoffs.

The subtraction of Butler, James and Silas will drop the Wizards to 15 players, seemingly setting the club’s opening-night roster. Washington released Daniel Orton, Vander Blue and David Stockton earlier in the preseason.

Eastern Notes: Butler, Wizards, Maxiell, Inglis

October 24th, 2014 at 3:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Bulls and Jimmy Butler are “millions apart” in extension talks, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, and while the precise gap is unclear, it’s not uncommon for sides to be as far apart as the Bulls and Butler are even a week before the extension deadline, Johnson writes. The team and Butler’s representatives at Relativity Sports this week had their first extensive talks in awhile, Johnson adds. Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

The Wizards recently tried to pry Julyan Stone out of his contract with Reyer Venezia of Italy, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter). The point guard has an escape clause in the pact, according to Charania, who suggests that Stone would be disinclined to leave the team since he’s seeing heavy playing time. It’s unclear if the Wizards maintain interest after signing John Lucas III earlier this week.
Jason Maxiell will remain with the Hornets on opening night in spite of his non-guaranteed contract, coach Steve Clifford confirmed today to reporters, including Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).
Bucks rookie Damien Inglis will miss at least another six weeks because the right foot he broke during a predraft workout for the Thunder has not healed, tweets Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Bucks drafted Inglis 31st overall in June. His deal is guaranteed for this season.

Southeast Notes: Stephenson, Nelson, Wizards

October 24th, 2014 at 12:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Magic have more money that counts against the cap for players who are no longer with the team than any other NBA franchise this season, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. That $14.2MM figure is likely to escalate soon with partial guarantees out to four of the team’s camp invitees. It also doesn’t include the cash going to the amnestied Gilbert Arenas, which doesn’t affect the cap. Still, Orlando isn’t alone, since “dead money” is piling up around the league as teams make cuts in advance of opening night. There’s more on the Magic amid the latest from the Southeast Division:

Lance Stephenson admits he wanted to re-sign with the Pacers, but he told Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star that he wasn’t ready to commit when the team set a tight deadline for him to accept its offer. The team quickly moved on and struck a deal with C.J. Miles on the second day of free agency, depleting its limited room against the luxury tax line, and that sealed Stephenson’s departure, as the new Hornets guard said to Buckner. “They didn’t have nothing else. They had no more money or anything. That was basically it right there,” Stephenson said. “Soon as I said no to that offer, they went and signed C.J. I figured they thought I had no chance of coming back, they just went on and signed C.J. … I felt like it was a wrap after that.”
The Pacers did follow up their five-year, $44MM offer to Stephenson with offers of three and four years, Buckner writes, refuting an earlier report.
Jameer Nelson‘s agent, Steve Mountain, said as recently as June that the point guard wanted to remain with the Magic for this season, but Nelson tells Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com that he instead felt it was time to leave Orlando. The Mavs signee referred to his departure from the Magic, who waived him at the end of June, as a mutual decision.
Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld doesn’t think the lack of a one-to-one D-League affiliate significantly hinders his team, but he nonetheless told Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post that the Wizards are looking into the possibility of having a D-League partner for future seasons.

And-Ones: Thunder, Raptors, D-League

October 23rd, 2014 at 10:21pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Although the Thunder have sustained a rash of injuries, the team will only keep 14 players on the roster, writes Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman. Slater also notes that Michael Jenkins, Richard Solomon, Talib Zanna and Lance Thomas have all played vital roles in the preseason, yet it is unlikely any of them force the team to consider filling their 15th and final regular season roster spot before opening night.

Here’s more from around the league:

The Raptors still have 17 players on their preseason roster, and haven’t decided on who will make the final cut. Head coach Dwayne Casey said the final roster decisions would come down to the wire, Jay Satur of NBA.com reports.
The Wizards signing of Paul Pierce was a short-term fix with the franchise hoping that Otto Porter can develop into a valuable contributor in the coming season, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders writes. With the injury to Bradley Beal, and with Trevor Ariza departing as a free agent to Houston, Porter may be called upon to log heavy minutes early in the season.
Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy is against maximum individual salaries for NBA players, writes David Mayo of MLive. “If it were more of a free-market system, I think things would change,” Van Gundy said. “I think you’d see greater parity in the league — especially having the (salary) cap and no individual max.”
Teams are finding ways to get around the D-League’s individual maximum salary restrictions to entice players to sign with their affiliates, writes Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required). This preseason, many NBA teams have signed players to their active roster only to release or waive the player shortly thereafter. By doing this, the team obtains the player’s D-League rights and the player can sign a partially guaranteed contract that trumps the D-League maximum salary which is slightly less than $26K per year. Elhassan points out this loophole would motivate fringe NBA talent to play in the D-League rather than take international offers.
Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter links) disputes the notion that the Kings had interest in Jordan Crawford prior to him heading over to China to play. The two sides never had serious discussions, and if Sacramento was interested in signing a veteran shooting guard they would have preferred MarShon Brooks, who played well for them in Summer League, Jones notes.

Chris Crouse contributed to this post.

Wizards Sign John Lucas III

October 21st, 2014 at 11:10am CST by Chuck Myron

11:10am: The deal is official, the team announced.

9:21am: The contract will be non-guaranteed, according to J. Michael of CSNWashington.com.

8:04am: The Wizards are close to signing John Lucas III, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Washington’s interest is related to shooting guard Bradley Beal‘s injury, Stein suggests, though Lucas plays point guard. Still, Lucas would help provide depth that would allow Andre Miller and Garrett Temple to shift to the two-guard position. The Wizards are limited to giving the minimum salary to Lucas, who turns 32 next month, but it’s not clear whether there’ll be any guaranteed money involved.

The seven-year veteran became a free agent last month after the Celtics waived him shortly following their acquisition of him from the Cavs via trade. It was the second trade of the offseason for Lucas, who went from the Jazz to Cleveland in July. His non-guaranteed contract called for him to make $1.6MM for 2014/15, not much more than the minimum, but enough to help two teams view him more as trade ballast than as a potential contributor. He saw 14.1 minutes per game for Utah last season, nearly setting a career high, but his scoring and assists per contest declined for the second year in a row.

Washington has been carrying 17 players, as our roster counts show, and the addition of Lucas would be an ominous sign for Rasual Butler, Damion James and Xavier Silas, each of whom has a non-guaranteed salary. The Wizards have 13 full guarantees plus a partial guarantee with Glen Rice Jr.

And-Ones: Hornacek, Mavs, Knicks

October 19th, 2014 at 9:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press writes that assistant coaching positions are now some of the NBA’s more glamorous positions. Coaches tell Krawczynski that the rising salaries and profiles of the assistants are justified. “There’s a lot more to head coaching than actual coaching,” Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek said. “There’s a lot of other stuff that comes up. To try to put your full effort into everything is tough to do. That’s where the assistants become really valuable in terms of getting the basketball stuff ready, narrowing it down for you to look at the game plan and it’s already done pretty much for you [to] just go from there.” More from around the league..

Despite losing key cogs of their championship team over the past few years, the Mavs appear poised to contend in 2014/15, writes Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders. Familiar faces like J.J. Barea and Caron Butler have moved on since 2010/11, but Dallas has a strong new supporting cast built around Dirk Nowitzki. This offseason also saw the Mavs welcome back big man Tyson Chandler.
Knicks associate coach Kurt Rambis is helping rookie head coach Derek Fisher adjust to the pressures of coaching in New York, writes Mark Berman of the New York Post. Rambis worked as an assistant under new Knicks president Phil Jackson with the Lakers and understands the pressures of coaching in a big-city atmosphere. “I’m giving him countless suggestions, even how to monitor his time,’’ said Rambis, who was hired in July. “… Derek is a perfectionist, constantly thinking about the game. He did it as a player and it’s worse when you become a head coach. I want him to find time to do it.’’
The Knicks‘ Travis Wear has already seen his twin brother get cut from an NBA roster, and he is hoping to avoid the same fate, reports Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Wear has just $62K of his $507K contact guaranteed, and the Knicks have 15 players in camp with fully guaranteed deals. Zagoria reports that Wear has fit in well with the Knicks’ new triangle offense, but he may wind up with the team’s D-League affiliate in Westchester, N.Y. Wear’s brother, David, was waived Sunday by the Kings.
The NBPA hired Gary Kohlman as its new general counsel, a source tells Ben Strauss of the New York Times.

Zach Links contributed to this post.