NBA Rumors - HoopsRumors.com

Nuggets To Promote Calvin Booth To General Manager

April 18th, 2020 at 6:38pm CST by Arthur Hill

Calvin Booth will be the next general manager in Denver, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Currently serving as assistant GM, Booth will be promoted to replace Arturas Karnisovas, who was hired this week as executive VP of basketball operations with the Bulls.

A league source confirmed the Nuggets‘ intentions to Mike Singer of the Athletic (Twitter link), but said the timing of an official announcement is uncertain because of the league’s hiatus.

Booth has served as assistant GM with Denver since 2017. After a 10-year playing career, he became a scout for New Orleans during the 2012/13 season, then joined Minnesota a year later, eventually becoming director of player personnel.

Lou Williams Wants To Finish Career With Clippers

April 18th, 2020 at 6:29pm CST by Arthur Hill

After bouncing around the NBA for much of his 15-year career, Lou Williams is determined to finish up with the Clippers. The three-time winner of the Sixth Man of the Year award made his intentions clear in an interview with Ros Gold-Onwude of ESPN (hat tip to Garrett Chorpenning of Sports Illustrated).

“This is it,” Williams said. “Listen, all teams out there, I’m not playing for anybody else after this. … That’s my leverage. I identify with this group of guys, I identify with this organization. I don’t see me finding that somewhere else.”

After spending his first seven seasons in Philadelphia, Williams played for the Hawks, Raptors, Lakers and Rockets in a span of five years before being shipped to the Clippers in the Chris Paul trade in 2017. He admits he didn’t feel comfortable at first with his new team, but eventually coach Doc Rivers helped him revive his career.

“Never give up,” Williams said. “That’s my Clippers story, never give up. I was at a place in my career where I thought that I was done, and Doc and the rest of the guys rejuvenated me again and gave me that confidence that I needed to move forward in my career. And I’ve had the best years of my career with the Clippers.”

Williams has remained productive at age 33, averaging 18.7 PPG through 60 games before the hiatus and putting himself in contention for another Sixth Man award. He’s making $8MM this season and the same amount next year before becoming a free agent in 2021. Williams told Gold-Onwude he believes he can play four more years of “high-level” basketball.

Spencer Dinwiddie To Play For Nigeria In Olympics

April 18th, 2020 at 5:10pm CST by Arthur Hill

Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie plans to acquire a Nigerian passport and represent the country in the Olympics, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Dinwiddie’s decision comes after he was left off the list of 44 finalists for Team USA that was released in February.

Dinwiddie will join several other NBA players on the Nigerian team, which is coached by Warriors assistant Mike Brown. Dinwiddie’s teammates will include Al-Farouq Aminu, Josh Okogie, Chimezie Metu and Ekpe Udoh. Nigeria has already qualified for the Olympics as the highest-ranked African team at the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

The addition of Dinwiddie will bring some extra firepower to an already-strong team. He was averaging career highs with 20.6 points and 6.8 assists through 64 games before the NBA season was put on hold.

Brown, who was named as Nigeria’s head coach in February, talked recently to Marc J. Spears of The Athletic about the advantages of having the games postponed until 2021.

“It helps from the standpoint of there are a lot of teams that have been together … the players, especially. A lot of countries have players who have grown up playing together on national teams or All-Star teams,” Brown said. “There are a lot of coaches out there that are in charge of programs that they have been a part of for many years. To have another year to grasp, not only the talent level of the team, but the direction the team needs to go and making sure we are able to put the best Nigerian team out there, it’s a welcomed advantage to have a little bit more time for a new guy like myself.”

Draft Decisions: Jarreau, Elleby, Blazevic, Krejci

April 18th, 2020 at 3:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

Houston guard DeJon Jarreau will enter the NBA draft without hiring an agent, tweets Mark Berman of Fox 26 in Houston. He averaged 9.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists during his junior season with the Cougars.

“I’m gonna test the waters, go through the process and get a draft grade. I want to get evaluated. If I don’t like what I hear I plan on coming back,” Jarreau said (Twitter link). “Basketball is my world. I’ve played all my life to get to this point. Coach (Kelvin) Sampson has helped me a lot, from being a basketball coach to a major role model (Twitter link). I’m very nervous because you never know what can happen. This is a big step. It’s always been my dream. So of course nervous, but confident.” (Twitter link)

There are more draft decisions to pass along:

CJ Elleby, a sophomore forward from Washington State, has entered the draft but plans to preserve his eligibility, a sources tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter link). Elleby averaged 18.4 PPG and 7.8 RPG this season and was a first-team All-Pac 12 selection.
Lithuanian center Marek Blazevic has also declared for the draft, agent Tadas Bulotas tells Givony (Twitter link). The 18-year-old stands 6’11” and played professionally with Rytas this year.
Czech guard Vit Krejci, who saw regular minutes with Zaragoza this season, has announced he will enter the draft, Givony tweets. Bulotas also confirmed the decision for Krejci, who is 6’7″ and 19 years old.

Community Shootaround: Resuming The Season

April 18th, 2020 at 12:29pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Most NBA fans were eagerly awaiting this day. Prior to the hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the playoffs were supposed to begin on Saturday.

Play was halted a little over five weeks ago but it seems so much longer for basketball fans, who were looking forward to a postseason that promised to hold plenty of intrigue. The Western Conference had plenty of storylines — the Los Angeles rivalry, the Rockets’ superstar guards and small ball approach, the up-and-comers like the Nuggets, Jazz and Mavericks, hoping to make a statement of their own. The Eastern Conference had a clear favorite — the Bucks — but the Celtics, defending champion Raptors and the enigmatic Sixers had the potential to make things interesting and dash Milwaukee’s aspirations.

All of the possible plot changes have been put on hold. Unfortunately, the league is no closer to setting a date for resuming play than the scary night when everything came to a stop. Commissioner Adam Silver told the media on Friday that there’s still no way to tell if and when the season can restart. A lot of hurdles must be cleared for teams to even begin training again.

It’s generally assumed that if games are played again this season, spectators will be prohibited. There’s also been widespread speculation that games would be conducted at a neutral site such as Las Vegas but Silver indicated that the league isn’t actively pursuing a “bubble city” plan.

Meanwhile, financial losses are piling up. “Revenues, in essence, have dropped to zero,” Silver said.

That brings us to our question of the day: Do you believe the 2019/20 NBA season can salvaged? If so, how will the league be able to pull it off and still ensure the safety of all involved?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

Coronavirus Updates: EuroLeague, NBL, Bubble City, Salaries

April 18th, 2020 at 11:31am CST by Dana Gauruder

The deadline on whether to resume the EuroLeague and EuroCup seasons is the end of May, according to league president Jordi Bertomeu, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando tweets. The final decision will be made during the last two weeks of the month, Carchia adds. If play is resumed, it wouldn’t begin any later than July, Carchia adds in another tweet.

We have more coronavirus-related updates:

Players in Australia’s NBL have agreed to a tiered system of pay reductions, with players earning $200K or more receiving a 50% pay cut, Olgun Uluc of ESPN reports. The minimum player salary of $60K will remain and those players making $80K or less won’t see a reduction. All players will have an opportunity during the two weeks leading up to free agency to opt out of their current contracts. However, each player’s NBL rights will be retained by their respective club, Uluc adds.
There’s hope that immediate family members would be able to accompany their NBA-playing relatives to Las Vegas if they NBA opts for “bubble” concept to resume the season, according to David Aldridge of The Athletic. By allowing close family members to join them, the desire to leave the city during the resumption of play would be eliminated, an unnamed player agent told Aldridge.
Players such as Ben Simmons and Pascal Siakam who signed rookie scale extensions last fall will have their pay reduced based on this season’s salary, not the first year of their extensions, Bobby Marks of ESPN notes. Players agreed to have 25% of their paychecks withheld beginning on May 15. Restricted free agents such as Brandon Ingram will also have their pay reductions come out of just their 2019/20 salary, not future earnings, Marks adds.

Atlantic Notes: Knox, Durant, Robinson, Hayward

April 18th, 2020 at 10:20am CST by Dana Gauruder

The league’s hiatus has made it much more difficult for new Knicks president Leon Rose to evaluate Kevin Knox, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. Rose was unable to get a closer look at the second-year forward and doesn’t know if the 20-year-old is part of the team’s future, Berman adds. Rose must decide prior to the start of next season whether to pick up Knox’s $5.84MM fourth-year option.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Kevin Durant‘s agent and business partner, Rich Kleiman, said it’s unrealistic to think his client can return to action from his Achilles injury this summer, he told Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix. This reiterates what Kleiman said in an ESPN interview last month about the Nets forward. “I promise you, Kevin and I have not talked about that. And I know it sounds crazy, but my assumption has been that wasn’t very realistic,” Kleiman said to Mannix.
Mitchell Robinson‘s development may be the biggest argument to remove the interim tag from Knicks coach Mike Miller, Berman writes in a separate story. Robinson has emerged as a foundation piece, according to Berman, and his high school coach, Butch Stockton, believes Miller is primarily responsible for that. “The Knicks have done a real good job developing him and getting toward to his full potential,” Stockton said.
Celtics forward Gordon Hayward said the hiatus has allowed him to heal up from lingering knee and foot injuries, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reports. “That’s one positive from this whole thing is everybody’s been able to recover,” Hayward said. “We haven’t been able to do much, so hopefully everyone is healthy whenever and if ever we get back this year. … This has been good for everybody’s body.”

Mavs Exec Michael Finley Interviews For Bulls’ GM Job

April 17th, 2020 at 8:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mavericks vice president of basketball operations Michael Finley has interviewed for the Bulls’ general manager job, Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets.

Finley is a Chicago native who has spent the last seven seasons in the Dallas front office after a long playing career. Mavs owner Mark Cuban indicated in a radio interview this week he’d allow Finley to talk to the Bulls.

Chicago’s newly-hired head of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas has promised an “extensive and diverse search” for a GM. Chicago had already been granted permission to speak to Sixers senior VP of player personnel Marc Eversley, Clippers assistant GM Mark Hughes, and Magic assistant GM Matt Lloyd.

Thunder executives Troy Weaver and Nazr Mohammed have also had their names bandied about as potential GM targets for Chicago. However, based on a subsequent report, it would be a surprise if Weaver has interest in the job. Karnisovas has already added J.J. Polk and Pat Connelly in the first steps toward assembling a new front office.

Silver: Still Too Early To Know When Hiatus Will End

April 17th, 2020 at 7:27pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Commissioner Adam Silver said in a conference call on Friday that there’s no way to know yet whether this season will be resumed, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.

“We don’t have a good understanding of exactly sort of what those standards are that we need to meet in order to move forward … because the experts don’t necessarily, either,” Silver said following a Board of Governors meeting, which was held via video conferencing.

The league continues to be willing to go deep into the summer and perhaps into the fall to finish this season. Players have been told there is no consensus plan on how the NBA will return, nor a “drop dead date” when cancellation would be necessary, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.

A number of factors will determine whether the season can be salvaged, including a reduction of the infection rate of COVID-19 nationally, the availability of large-scale testing and progress toward a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.

“Everything is on the table, including potentially delaying the start of next season,” Silver said, according to ESPN’s Rachel Nichols (Twitter link).

While there has been widespread speculation that the NBA would resume at a neutral site such at Las Vegas or Orlando’s Disney complex, Silver said the league isn’t actively pursuing any such “bubble” plan, Reynolds notes.

Until games are played once again, the financial losses will continue to pile up. Players will have 25% of their paychecks withheld beginning on May 15, the league announced earlier in the day.

“Revenues, in essence, have dropped to zero,” Silver said. “That’s having a huge financial impact on team business and arena business.”

Silver also revealed that more players have tested positive for COVID-19 than the seven who have been publicly named but wouldn’t give any more details due to privacy concerns.

Northwest Notes: Conley, Millsap, Butler, Timberwolves

April 17th, 2020 at 6:27pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jazz point guard Mike Conley isn’t concerned about a rift between teammates Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, according to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. Gobert and Mitchell are trying to repair their relationship after Mitchell felt Gobert’s careless actions led to his positive test for COVID-19. “They’re fine,” Conley said. “They’re competitors. They want to win.” Conley feels confident that there won’t be any locker room issues when the hiatus ends. “Our team chemistry has been as solid as ever and I am excited to hopefully get out there soon once this thing gets under control,” he said.

We have more from the Northwest Division:

Paul Millsap‘s contributions to the Nuggets go beyond his raw statistics, Mike Singer of the Denver Post writes. Millsap provides a solid defensive presence and his leadership is unquestioned. He kept up the spirits of Nikola Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. when they endured rough times this season and he’s been a mentor for Jamal Murray and former Nugget Malik Beasley, Singer adds. Millsap will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.
The fortunes of the Timberwolves probably wouldn’t have changed even if they passed on trading with the Bulls for Jimmy Butler, Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune opines. Tom Thibodeau wouldn’t have had the patience to nurture a young core into a playoff team, Hine continues. Meanwhile, Chicago hasn’t been able to win with the players it received in the deal and is undergoing front-office changes, Hine adds.
The Timberwolves’ biggest priority this offseason is likely to be re-signing their restricted free agents, particularly Beasley, Hine writes in a mailbag piece. They’d also like to retain Juan Hernangomez, though that would leave them very little wiggle room for a splashy free-agent acquisition, Hine adds.

Mar	APR	May
	19
2019	2020	2021