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Wizards Expected To Pursue Greg Monroe

January 20th, 2014 at 6:07pm CST by Cray Allred

The Wizards are interested in the Pistons’ Greg Monroe, either by trade this season or as a restricted free agent in the offseason, per Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. The Wizards have cap room next year, when an extension for Monroe would kick in. Marcin Gortat, the Wizards’ current starting center, will also be a free agent at that point.

When the Pistons signed Josh Smith last summer, it created a very big starting five in Detroit, with Andre Drummond at center, Monroe at power forward, and Josh Smith at small forward. This lineup has had spacing issues in a league increasingly dependent on the three-point shot. Smith is near the bottom of the league’s long-distance shooters at .239 from deep, and the team’s 17-24 start hasn’t silenced questions about the long-term viability of the unconventional roster.

Drummond is highly prized and on the second year of his rookie deal, and Smith has three years remaining after this season on his four-year, $54MM contract. The 23-year-old Monroe will be a restricted free agent next year, and has averaged 13.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.2 steals over his three-plus years in the league. Our readers voted Monroe the most likely to be traded from the Pistons yesterday, and Kennedy says the Pistons’ front office is considering whether to do just that: “Rival executives have said that there is “turmoil” within the organization and that they haven’t decided what to do as the deadline approaches.”

The Pistons are still in contention for the eighth seed in the weak Eastern Conference, and they are expected to be active before the trade deadline. Whether the front office tries to bolster the current foundation, or deconstructs some of the “ill-fitting pieces” such as Monroe could be determined by the team’s performance in the near term.

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Eastern Notes: Bogans, Bucks, Nets, Rice

January 20th, 2014 at 1:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

A source tells Steve Bulpett of the Boston Globe that Keith Bogans intends to “stick it out” with the Celtics this season, seemingly indicating the guard isn’t thinking buyout (Twitter link). The C’s and Bogans agreed to have the 33-year-old stay away from the team as Boston pursues takers for him via trade. It wouldn’t really be a surprise if Bogans doesn’t want to do a buyout, since that would mean giving up some of his more than $5MM in guaranteed salary for the season, the largest take of his career. Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Bucks owner Herb Kohl is signaling to the team’s management that he’s ready to give up the pursuit of a playoff berth this season, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com writes in his latest Insider-only “Tank Rank” column. That contradicts what we heard earlier from Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio, who says the team would be “more than willing” to trade for veteran help.
  • Mark Deeks of ShamSports breaks down the trade agreement between the Bulls, Nets and Pelicans in a piece for SB Nation, noting that the cash Brooklyn is sending to New Orleans will be enough to cover the rest of Tyshawn Taylor‘s contract, which expires at season’s end. He also says the Nets briefly looked into a deal for Jazz point guard John Lucas III, echoing a report from July.
  • The Wizards assigned Glen Rice Jr. to the D-League today, the team announced (Twitter link). It’s a rehab stint for the rookie as he makes his way back from a fractured right wrist, coach Randy Wittman says, according to Michael Lee of The Washington Post. Wittman also says it’s possible the team will send No. 3 overall pick Otto Porter to the D-League at some point, too.
  • The Sixers will decide within the next two or three days whether to bring back Dewayne Dedmon on a second 10-day deal, coach Brett Brown told reporters, including Tom Moore of Calkins Media (Twitter link). The center’s deal expires after Thursday night.
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Southeast Notes: Heat, Trade Exception, Oden

January 16th, 2014 at 7:36pm CST by Zachary Links

After parting with Israeli’s Maccabi Ashdod, Xavier Silas is returning to the States in hopes of signing with an NBA team, a league source told Shams Charania of RealGM.  Silas, who went to training camp with the Wizards in October, was an undrafted rookie out of Northern Illinois leading into the lockout and has done quite a bit of traveling for a 25-year-old.  Silas apparently went AWOL without notifying his Israeli team, according to David Pick of Eurobasket.com (via Twitter).  While a stop in the D-League is possible, it’s not planned at the moment, his agent tells Gino Pilato of D-League Digest.  Here’s more out of the Southeast Division..

  • Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (on Twitter) estimates that the Heat will wind up with a $2.2MM trade exception following the three-team deal involving the Warriors and Celtics.  The swap saw Jordan Crawford and MarShon Brooks head to the W’s, Toney Douglas come to Miami, and Joel Anthony, a Heat first-round pick, and 2016 second-round pick go to the Boston.
  • Good news for Heat fans: Greg Oden says his knees feel fine after seeing a handful of minutes on the NBA hardwood for the first time in more than four years, writes Michael Wallace of ESPN.com.  Miami inked the former No. 1 overall pick to a one-year deal over the summer.
  • Former Heat training camp invitee Derrick Byars has reached agreement on a deal with Krasny Oktyabr of the European League, a source told Charania.  Byars averaged 5.0 points and 5.5 rebounds in two regular season games with San Antonio in 2012.  The 6-foot-7 forward was a second round pick of the Trail Blazers in 2007.
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Heat Rumors: Bynum, Additions, Temple

January 16th, 2014 at 10:31am CST by Chuck Myron

Yesterday was an eventful day for the Heat, who saved on salary and their projected luxury bill with their swap of Joel Anthony for Toney Douglas, and welcomed Greg Oden back for an eight-minute stint that was his first official NBA action in more than four years. The day ended with the thud of a blowout loss to the Wizards, resulting in Miami’s first three-game losing streak since the 2011/12 season. Here’s more from South Beach:

  • In spite of speculation that yesterday’s trade would lead the Heat to sign Andrew Bynum, team president Pat Riley told reporters yesterday that nothing’s going on between Bynum and the club, Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick tweets.
  • Riley also said that he’d be meeting with others in the front office and looking for pieces to add to the club, Skolnick notes via Twitter.
  • The Heat’s next priority should be finding an energetic wing player who can defend well, as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel opines in his latest mailbag column.
  • Miami tried to bring back 2012 training camp invitee Garrett Temple when he was a free agent this summer, tweets J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. The point guard re-signed with the Wizards instead, and the Heat’s decision to cut him two years ago still serves as motivation, Temple says.
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Odds & Ends: Deng, Miller, Kings

January 12th, 2014 at 10:49pm CST by Cray Allred

The Kings are playing much better than they did in last year’s awful campaign or to open this season, routing the Magic and Cavaliers after beating the Blazers last week. While the playoffs are still a long shot, FOX Sports Ohio’s Sam Amico sees signs of promise. The team has improved around DeMarcus Cousins, Isaiah Thomas, and now Rudy Gay as the roster has shaped up around the talent at the center, point guard, and swingman positions. Here’s a look around the rest of the league:

  • Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports wonders if the Cavs could put off contract talks with Luol Deng in an effort to land LeBron James next summer.  A league source tells Spears that the Cavs are interested in keeping Deng long-term, but also know there is plenty of time to evaluate him and begin extension talks.  Deng says he understands that contract talks could be placed on hold as long as Cleveland has any hope for a James homecoming.
  • ESPN Insider’s Amin Elhassan [subscription only] looks at a hypothetical Andre Miller trade that could be a nice fit, sending him to the Wizards for a second round pick.
  • The storyline that has played out between Miller and Nuggets coach Brian Shaw is nothing new in the NBA, writes The Salt Lake Tribune’s Steve Luhm in a post lamenting the common necessity for new coaches to move on from an older veteran.
  • The Mavericks’ D-League affiliate Texas Legends are planning to add P.J. Hairston off wavers, Spears tweets. Hairston recently filed paperwork to join the D-League after North Carolina booted the junior from its NCAA squad due to an investigation of rule violations. He cannot be an NBA call-up for any team until next season, since he wasn’t ever draft-eligible this year.
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Eastern Notes: Wizards, Beasley, Salmons

January 1st, 2014 at 11:37am CST by Zachary Links

The Wizards have won five of their last six and are fourth in the Eastern Conference, but they’re not about to get complacent.  “We just got to continue to move forward . . . not get complacent with the wins,” Beal said, according to Michael Lee of the Washington Post. “We’ve got to continue to play as a team and move forward. We’re back where we want to be, but we have to get over that hump and I think we have a great opportunity in front of us to be able to do something.”  More from the East..

  • In today’s mailbag, a reader asks Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel if he sees offseason pickup Michael Beasley expanding his role even more this season. Ultimately, Winderman writes, it comes down to whether coach Erik Spoelstra grows confident enough to start him, which doesn’t seem that likely at the moment.  Otherwise, he still sets up behind Ray Allen, Chris Andersen, Norris Cole, and possibly even Rashard Lewis in the reserve rotation.
  • John Salmons is turning into quite the closer for the Raptors, even if they don’t call his number for the big shots at the big moments, writes Doug Smith of the Toronto Star.  Toronto acquired Salmons in December’s Rudy Gay trade with Sacramento.  Meanwhile, the forward is considered by some to be a trade candidate.
  • The Bulls want to keep recent pickup D.J. Augustin in a backup role, writes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.  He was starting at the one in place of Kirk Hinrich when he was injured, but Hinrich will continue to stay in the first rotation.  The Bulls signed Augustin back in mid-December and, so far, he has impressed.
  • DeMar DeRozan‘s solid play has mirrored the Raptors‘ late-season surge, writes Eric Koreen of the National Post.  Meanwhile, despite Gay’s absence, DeRozan is actually averaging slightly fewer field-goal attempts per game than he was before the trade.
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Eastern Notes: Knicks, Udrih, Trade Candidates, Wizards

December 25th, 2013 at 9:42pm CST by Jonathan Nehring

According to Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld.com, 87.5% of the teams at the top of their division on Christmas Day in the past four years have ended the season still in first place. These odds of making the playoffs shouldn’t come as a surprise to the fans of the Heat, Pacers, Spurs, Thunder, or Clippers but may be odds Trail Blazer or Raptor fans want to hold onto.

A few notes in the Eastern Conference regarding teams that don’t have very good playoff odds.

  • It was no Christmas surprise that the Knicks are quickly unraveling this season. Following a double digit blowout to the Thunder, Brian Windhorst of ESPN compared the Knicks continuous offseason mistakes to those of the Thunder’s offseason successes. The Knicks address their transactions with a “think big” mentality which has caused them to whiff big by chasing, and missing, expensive free agents. On the contrary, the Thunder have thought small and invested in young talent through the draft. Windhorst claims the Knicks aren’t planning to stop this cycle anytime soon either as they are now looking at expensive names in their near future such as Rajon Rondo, Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, Roy Hibbert, Marc Gasol, Tony Parker or re-signing Carmelo Anthony,
  • Speaking of Knicks unraveling, what sold Beno Udrih on signing as a free agent with the Knicks was the opportunity to play in a two point guard lineup with Raymond Felton. Udrih told The Wall Street Journal’s Chris Herring (Twitter link) this selling point has yet to come to fruition with the Knicks even when Felton was healthy.
  • Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld.com looked forward to the six NBA players who are most likely to move teams in 2014. The list includes Omer Asik, Kyle Lowry, Jimmer Fredette, Dion Waiters, Iman Shumpert and an assortment of Sixers players.
  • Emir Preldzic, whose NBA rights are held by the Wizards, has extended his contract with Turkey’s Fenerbache Ulker through the 2016/17 season, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.
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Atlantic Notes: Lee, Celtics, Lopez, Nets

December 21st, 2013 at 12:30pm CST by Zachary Links

Last night in Philadelphia, the Sixers stopped a seven-game losing streak with a 121-120 overtime win over the Nets.  “We needed to get that win for the sanity of the group, keeping our group together, holding hope,” coach Brett Brown said after Evan Turner‘s game winner, “and for those reasons as that ball is hanging on a rim and then decides to fall in, for us, given where we are, that is an important win.”  Here’s more out of Atlantic..

  • A rumored deal would had the Celtics sending Courtney Lee and Brandon Bass along with a first-round pick to Houston for Omer Asik, but Lee says the rumors were never serious enough to warrant a call from his agent, writes the Boston Globe’s Julian Benbow.  “I haven’t even had a conversation with my agent,” Lee said. “He called me before and said he hasn’t heard anything and neither [general manager] called him, so don’t worry about it, and that’s what I did.”
  • Brook Lopez fractures the fifth metatarsal in his right foot, according to Roderick Boone of Newsday (on Twitter).  Earlier today, we learned that the Stanford product will be out for the year with the injury.
  • Looking back on things, Jordan Crawford says that the trade sending him to the Celtics “had to happen” but admits that he could have been more professional during his tenure in Washington, writes Michael Lee of the Washington Post.
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Southeast Notes: Heat, Wizards, Anthony

December 21st, 2013 at 9:31am CST by Zachary Links

Here’s our Saturday morning look at the Southeast Division..

  • In today’s mailbag, a reader asks Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel if it would make sense for the Heat to start Joel Anthony in order to audition him to other clubs for a possible trade.  That wouldn’t make sense, Winderman argues, because the greater issue is not exposure, but rather the additional season Joel has on his contract beyond this one.  The forward is viewed as more of a cap liability than an on-court liability, though his defense could potentially help a team on the playoff fringe.
  • Wizards big man Kevin Seraphin says that he’s still working to find his rhythm, writes Michael Lee of the Washington Post.  Seraphin will be a restricted free agent following the 2013/14 season.  Washington can tender him a qualifying offer at just $3.89MM.
  • Dwyane Wade says the attitude of Heat offseason pickup Greg Oden is improving, writes Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald.
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Eastern Notes: Bulls, Waiters, Nene, Pistons

December 18th, 2013 at 12:30pm CST by Luke Adams

After losing in Indiana last Tuesday, the Heat will get another shot at the Pacers tonight, this time in Miami. As we look forward to the evening’s showdown between the only two Eastern teams that look like title contenders, let’s round up a few notes from around the conference….

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