Wizards Eye New Deal With Marcin Gortat
1:40pm: Stein’s full story suggests the Wizards have made an extension offer to Gortat, though the terms of any such offer are unclear.
12:31pm: The Wizards will make it a priority to re-sign Marcin Gortat this summer if they can’t sign sign him to an extension before his contract runs out at the end of June, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Washington’s brass is “thrilled” with the client of Guy Zucker, according to Stein. The news comes on the heels of a Monday report that the Wizards are interested in fellow big man Greg Monroe and would like to trade for him before the deadline or sign him as a restricted free agent this summer.
Gortat, who’ll turn 30 next month, is averaging 12.0 points and 8.8 rebounds with a 16.0 PER for the Wizards this year after coming over a few days before the season began via trade from the Suns. He’s capably filled the hole created when Emeka Okafor, who went to Phoenix in the same trade, suffered a preseason neck injury that’s kept him out of action ever since.
The Wizards have big man Nene on a contract that pays him $13MM a year through 2015/16, so the team would logically have room for only one of Gortat and Monroe along their front line. Monroe presents a younger option who’s putting up slightly superior numbers as a 23-year-old this season, and he has the hometown appeal of having played for Georgetown University. It’ll probably be difficult to obtain him, since the Pistons will have the right to match offers if they keep him until the summer, and the trade market for promising young big men is always full of competition.
Gortat would figure to come more easily, since he’s already in Washington and the Wizards have his Bird Rights. The seventh-year veteran can re-sign for as much as five years with the Wizards if he hits free agency, but could only add three years to his existing deal if he were to sign an extension, making it more financially sound for him to wait until July, Stein notes.
The Polish Hammer is finishing up a five-year deal that pays him more than $7.7MM this season, but he signed that contract when he was still a backup for the Magic, so I think he’s in line for a raise that would put his annual take at around $10MM. Gortat’s age would suggest he’d like the security of a long-term deal, but I’m not sure the Wizards would be willing to do a fifth year unless he and Zucker agree to a steep discount. Even a fourth year could be an ambitious proposition for the Wizards, though that could be mitigated if they can arrange for the fourth season to be partially guaranteed.
Gortat admits to Michael Lee of The Washington Post that it’s been an adjustment playing aside another big man in Nene and serving as a complimentary player on offense, neither of which he experienced while with the Suns. Still, he believes he’s much more content in Washington than he would have been if he were still in Phoenix.
“Playing in Phoenix was a totally different story,” he said. “I had more space under the basket. I knew that [I] was going to get the ball inside and I was the guy who was going to work. Here, it’s a different story. But I can say, I don’t mind doing that. As long as we’re winning, I don’t mind at all.”
Southeast Rumors: Beal, Magic, Heat, Wade
The max extension John Wall received this summer had an influence on Bradley Beal‘s willingness to stay with the Wizards when he becomes a free agent, as the second-year shooting guard tells USA Today’s Adi Joseph.
“It’s good for the team,” Beal said of Wall’s contract. “He’s the leader. He’s the head of the snake. It just makes my decision that much easier, if I want to continue to play with him over the next couple of years.”
Beal won’t become extension-eligible until the summer of 2015, and the earliest he could hit restricted free agency is the summer of 2016. Still, Wall’s contract appears to have forged some stability for Washington, which has sorely lacked it in recent years, as Joseph notes. Here’s more from the Southeast Division:
- The Magic were one of 26 NBA franchises to turn a profit last year, according to a Forbes.com report, but teams typically dispute those figures. Magic CEO Alex Martins tells Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel that his club didn’t wind up in the black. “We have not made a profit in over a decade,” Martins said. That’s a product primarily of the DeVos’ approach that they’re going to continue to reinvest in the business and continue to reinvest in the product on the floor. But to assert that we made an operating profit last year is completely inaccurate.”
- The Heat‘s money-saving moves have weakened the team at the wing positions, making them more vulnerable to the Pacers, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com examines.
- Heat stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are two of the most noteworthy omissions from the preliminary roster that Team USA released this morning, and it’s a sign of the times for the 32-year-old Wade, who’ll miss his fourth straight game tonight with knee soreness. Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald has more. “We appreciate the service he gave us … but it’s time for us to move on,” USA Basketball executive director Jerry Colangelo said of Wade.
D-League Notes: Canaan, Roberson, Rice Jr.
Playoff teams in both conferences have tweaked their rosters with some recent D-League maneuvers. Here’s a look at the moves the Rockets, Thunder, and Wizards are making with their rookie players..
- The Rockets have re-assigned point guard Isaiah Canaan to the Rockets’ D-League affiliate Rio Grand Valley Vipers, according to the Rockets’ official Twitter account. Canaan has spent a third of this season at Rio Grand Valley.
- The Thunder called up shooting guard Andre Roberson from the Tulsa 66ers D-League squad, per NBA.com. Roberson is only averaging 8.4 MPG, but has made four starts in place of Thabo Sefolosha when the latter has sat out due to injury.
- The Wizards are sending shooting guard Glen Rice Jr. down to the Iowa Energy, per The Washington Post’s Michael Lee, in what head coach Randy Wittman described as a rehabilitation stint.
Wizards Expected To Pursue Greg Monroe
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.
Eastern Notes: Bogans, Bucks, Nets, Rice
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.
Southeast Notes: Heat, Trade Exception, Oden
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.
Heat Rumors: Bynum, Additions, Temple
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.
Odds & Ends: Deng, Miller, Kings
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.
Eastern Notes: Wizards, Beasley, Salmons
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.
Eastern Notes: Knicks, Udrih, Trade Candidates, Wizards
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.