Antoine Walker was (half) right
October 2nd, 2014
Throughout his playing career, Antoine Walker was always something of an object of ridicule. Rightly or wrongly, this happened. The fearsome, unrelenting uniqueness of watching him play was precisely why. For all his talent, particularly his prodigious handling and passing skills for a big man, Walker became best known for shooting three pointers. More specifically, he became best known for not shooting three pointers very well, yet doing it anyway. Toine was not a Josh Smith-like shooter out there. However, it was closer than it should have been. Walker’s career 32.5% three-point shooting mark ranks him 217th on the list of players with over 500 career three pointers made, nestled in between Stephon Marbury (216th) and Baron Davis (220th). And considering there are only 232 players who have hit at least that many in their career, this is not a strong placement for Toine. What further separates him from the good shooters on the list was the sheer volume of attempts – of those 232 players, Walker was 16th in total attempts, but only 26th in makes. He was not quietly inefficient. Indeed, he was never quietly anything. For two seasons in particular, Antoine’s three-point volume was ginormous. Walker hit 221 of 603 three pointers in the 2000-01 season (both leading the league), and 222 out of 645 the following season (second in makes only to Ray Allen, and again leading in attempts). This was the era of the three-point explosion – whereas in 1997-98 the 29 NBA teams shot a total of 30,231 regular season threes, that number had jumped almost 20 percent in the 2001-02 season to 35,071, led by Jim O’Brien‘s Celtics team willingly fuelled by Walker. That Celtics team and its 1,946 three-point attempts led the second-highest placed team (Orlando with 1,660) by almost 300 attempts. Although that league-wide number pales compared to the 52,974 […]
How Agents Make Money Out Of Rookie Contracts
September 26th, 2014
(originally posted elsewhere) The general rule for agents is that their earnings off of negotiated player contracts are capped at 4% of the player’s salary. Indeed, 4% is an assumed amount unless otherwise agreed upon, as outlined in section 3(B) of the Standard Player Agent Contract: If the Player receives compensation in excess of the minimum compensation applicable under the CBA for one or more playing seasons, the Agent shall receive a fee of four percent (4%) of the compensation received by the Player for each such playing season, unless a lesser percent (%) or amount has been agreed to by the parties […] In practice, this 4% is rarely deviated from. 4% is the norm, and rarely is it any different, especially in contracts involving the more powerful agents. There was an intriguing case involving Antoine Walker and agent Mark Bartelstein some years ago, in which Bartelstein had agreed the fairly unusual concession upon Antoine’s signing of a contract with Atlanta of lowering his standard fee from 4% at the time of signing to 3%, at the player’s discretion, if it was felt that Bartelstein ‘wasn’t doing a good job’. (The case went to arbitration over a disagreement over quite what that phrasing meant, and of how much Walker had to pay him. It was not in dispute that Walker owed Bartelstein, but merely how much, based on the arbiter’s findings of whether Walker was entitled to pay only 3% or not. Bartelstein won the case and was awarded a judgement of $671,373.) But this case stands out for its novelty, and is certainly not par for the course. However, the same handbook adds a few other criteria. In section 3(A) immediately preceding the previous paragraph, it states this: If the Player receives only the minimum compensation under the NBA-NBPA […]
San Antonio Spurs Sign Josh Davis
August 26th, 2014
The San Antonio Spurs have signed Josh Davis, last of San Diego State, to a multi-year contract. The amount of guaranteed money is not yet known. Davis graduated from San Diego State last season after transferring in from Tulane, where he had spent the previous two seasons after spending his freshman campaign at North Carolina State. The 6’8 athletic forward saw his offensive game regress significantly last season, down to 7.7 points per game from 17.6, shooting only 45.5% from the field down from 49.2%, and struggling badly at the free throw line, hitting only 47.2% from where he had previously shot 71.6%. Nevertheless, he brings to the table athleticism, prolific rebounding and versatile defence, and recently played well for the Charlotte Hornets summer league team, averaging 8.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Should he not make the Spurs’ roster, is a logical and perhaps likely candidate for allocation to the team’s D-League affiliate, the Austin Toros. With Davis’s signing, the Spurs’ roster now stands at 17. Davis will likely battle fellow camp signees JaMychal Green and Bryce Cotton for what might at best be one roster spot.
Boston Celtics Sign Rodney McGruder And Christian Watford
August 20th, 2014
The Boston Celtics today signed Rodney McGruder and Christian Watford to one year contracts. The levels of guarantee are not yet known, but are expected to be either nominal or nil. Watford, a jump shooting combo forward, attended summer league this year with both the Detroit Pistons and Golden State Warriors, averaging 8.5 points in two games for Detroit. He has spent the one year of his professional career thus far in Israel. McGruder meanwhile did not appear in summer league for anybody, yet last year spent some time with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The 6’4 off-guard is also only one year into a professional career, spending the bulk of his first campaign in Hungary with Atomeromu, averaging 14.4 points and 5.3 rebounds in 27 minutes a contest. After signing Tim Frazier earlier in the day, the Celtics roster now stands at 20, the maximum permissible amount in the offseason. Evan Turner, reported to have agreed a deal with the team some weeks ago, has yet to sign it.
Sorry guys, Carmelo Anthony did not get $62 million in advance
August 16th, 2014
(originally posted elsewhere) For the most part, NBA players are paid on the first and fifteenth of every month, with a standard of 24 paydays per calendar year. Players earning more than the minimum can agree to 12 payments over six months or 36 payments over eighteen months, yet the norm is the norm. There is room for some further deviation from these standards. Players can receive both advances on their salary, and receive loans from their teams. There is not, however, room for the amount of deviation that is currently being reported in the case of Carmelo Anthony. It is being reported in several places around the web, most notably (and I believe initially) the Wall Street Journal, that Melo received 50% of his new $124,064,681 contract in one up front payment. Admittedly, it is not so much expressly stated as it is implied that this is the case, but whichever it is, the idea it spawned that he will or might have already gotten $62 million is wrong. The confusion comes from a misunderstanding about how, when and to what degree NBA contracts can be advanced, a confusion I hope to clarify here. The first and most important point to make is that salary for a future season can never ever be advanced. NBA seasons begin on July 1st and end on June 30th, so if it is October 6th 2014 and you want an advance on your 2015/16 salary, you are begrudgingly going to have to wait until July 1st 2015 to get so much as a piece of it. This rule alone is enough to show that the idea that Melo received a full 50% of the full life of the contract up front is false. There is, however, a reason the story exists, for the […]
Jusuf Nurkic revisited
August 7th, 2014
This post from yesterday talks about how Nuggets draftee Jusuf Nurkic was set to receive less than 120% of the rookie scale, the customary amount. And in doing so, it was mentioned that he would be the highest first-round pick to ever do so. Not quite. It turns out this is a misreporting on my part. Nurkic will receive less than the salary of the 120% rookie scale amount, but he will count on the cap for the 120% amount. Nurkic’s buyout with Cedevita was for larger than the amount NBA teams can pay cap-exempt ($600,000 this season), and while teams are eligible to pay more than that amount in an international player’s buyout, they must do so by putting any amount greater than that paid into the cap hit in the form of a signing bonus. This is not especially to do in a rookie scale contract, with its fixed parameters, but it is doable if sufficiently small. The figures listed for Nurkic were an even $350,000 smaller than what the full rookie scale would have been, and that is the extra amount of buyout Denver paid, charged as a signing bonus. These rules were known to me, of course, and the practice is not uncommon. Bismack Biyombo, Andrea Bargnani and several others have been in this same situation, getting less than the full 120% in actual salary yet counting against the cap as the full 120% (and to anyone other than the people signing and receiving the cheques, i.e. us team building fans, only the cap number matters). Nevertheless, it was understood in the instance that the figures given were the actual cap hits and thus included the buyout signing bonus. It was counter checked and passed both tests. And yet now the opposite is said to be […]
Without looking, guess which first-round draft pick didn’t get the full 120% of the rookie scale this year
August 4th, 2014
Answer after the jump. (this is the jump) The answer is Jusuf Nurkic of the Denver Nuggets. His contract calls for 108% of the scale in year one ($1,562,680), 107% in year two ($1,642,000), and then 120% in years three and four ($1,921,320 and $2,947,300 respecitvely). That adds him to an exclusive and small club of non-120%ers, including Raul Lopez, George Hill, Ian Mahinmi, James Anderson, Sergio Rodriguez, MarShon Brooks, and probably some others. It is believed that Nurkic, a #16 pick, is the highest drafted player to ever not receive the full amount.
30 Offseason Reviews In 30ish Days: Atlanta Hawks
August 4th, 2014
Completed transactions: Draft night: Drafted Adreian Payne (15th, signed) and Walter Tavares (43rd, unsigned). Acquired the rights to Lamar Patterson (48th, unsigned) for a future second round pick. 30th June: Traded Lou Williams and the rights to Lucas Nogueira to Toronto in exchange for John Salmons. 10th July: Waived John Salmons. 15th July: Acquired Thabo Sefolosha via sign and trade (three years, $12 million) along with cash and the draft rights to Giorgis Printezis in exchange for the draft rights to Sofoklis Schortsanitis. Agreed upon but not yet completed transactions: Re-signing Shevlin Mack. Re-signing Mike Scott Signing Kent Bazemore. In: Adreian Payne, Thabo Sefolosha, Kent Bazemore Out: Lou Williams, Gustayo Ayon, Elton Brand, Cartier Martin Words: On the face of it, Atlanta improved their team. Those incoming players are, or will be, slightly better than those outgoing. Brand is a shell of what he was, Ayon needed upgrading, Williams was not the right fit, and Martin is highly replacable. On the simplest of evaluations, then, things are OK. The bulk of the Hawks’s offseason business was conducted in one fell swoop with the trade dated 30th June. Williams, a once prolific scorer who has never developed as a point guard and who rather compounded a size problem found throughout Atlanta’s roster, still had his moments as a high-usage volume scorer, but he was eminently replacable on a team prioritising efficient players. Using the rights to Nogueira (a sprightly big with potential but also concerns about his knees) as a crux for dumping Williams’s $5.45 million salary for only the $1 million cap hit of a waived Salmons was deemed an acceptable cost for the cap space gamble. In return, they receive Sefolosha, a sizeable wing who can guard all comers at two positions, but not without his […]
Josh Huestis’s D-League adventure, a misplaced exercise in loyalty
July 23rd, 2014
(originally published elsewhere) A few days ago, Darnell Mayberry broke the story that Oklahoma City Thunder draft pick Josh Huestis might spend next year in the D-League, collecting a mere $25,000 or so salary, rather than sign in the NBA. This would be groundbreaking, not as the first first rounder to not sign immediately in the NBA (this happens quite often), but as the first to do so who instead signs in the D-League. It also makes absolutely no sense on the face of it. As useful as the D-League can be, its salaries are extremely uncompetitive. Players are paid by the league in one of three salary brackets, determined by their ability, and even though Huestis would no doubt be worthy of the highest D-League salary possible, that figure is still paltry. It will be comparable before tax with what an NBA 10 day contract pays, and when I say ‘comparable with’, I mean ‘slightly lower than’. Huestis would be doing so because the Thunder asked him to, in a pre-arranged deal running unnervingly close to the line. Tom Ziller speculated it, and Zach Lowe confirmed it. The projected second round or undrafted player going in the first round was indeed a eye opener, and it follows that, given that they may have been alone in wanting to take him that high, the Thunder felt they had the leverage to lean on him in this way. Apparently, to agent Mitchell Butler, the fact that it is the Thunder makes it all worthwhile. An analogous situation here is that of George Hill with the San Antonio Spurs in 2008. The Spurs took the IUPUI guard in the first round when no one expected them to, and used this as a means of leveraging him into accepting less than the customary […]
The Following Players Are Untradeable
July 21st, 2014
‘Traditional’ no-trade clauses in the NBA are possible, but rare, with only six of them currently in existence. They belong to Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade, the latter three all getting one in the contracts they signed this summer. These vetos apply to any trades throughout the life of the contract, and are not lost if one trade goes through – Garnett, for example, keeps his no-trade clause for any future trades he might be in, despite his acquiescence to the trade to Brooklyn last year. To be eligible for one, a player has to have spent eight seasons in the league, four of which must have been with the team with whom he is signing the new contract containing the clause. They don’t have to have been the four years immediately prior to the signing, however – Cleveland, for example, could have put a no-trade clause in the maximum contract LeBron James signed with them this summer, due to the service time he spent there between 2003 and 2010. They didn’t, however, and so only those six ‘traditional’ no-trade clauses exist. (It also matters not how long the contract is, as long as the criteria in the opening are met.) Devin Harris could also have done so with Dallas, which would have been a laugh, yet it is apparent why these devices are rare and reserved only for the best. There also however exist some slightly more funky no-trade provisions, born out of salary cap technicalities, that give certain players no-trade powers that you would not be expecting. Cole Aldrich, for example, can veto any trade he is in, while LeBron cannot. And this probably needs explaining. Aldrich et al have their rights to veto come from a technicality of Bird rights. Named […]
What Is A Cap Hold And Why Does It Matter?
July 20th, 2014
The calculation of a team’s cap space would, you would hope, be as easy as looking at their owed contracts to both current and waive players, and subtracting it from the salary cap amount for that year. Nope, not close. There are a few extra things that go into the determination of a team’s “team salary” amount, and by association that team salary amount’s proximity to the salary cap thresholds. And of these extra things, the most important, obvious and prevalent are things we know as “cap holds”. There are two types of cap hold – a free agent’s cap hold, and a draft pick’s cap hold. The first one, the free agent cap hold, is the most common. A free agent’s cap hold is an amount of money that is charged to your team’s salary cap number, even though the player is not under contract. This is a deliberate ploy that exists to close a loophole; if free agent cap holds did not exist, it is theoretically possible for a team to have its entire roster become free agents at the same time, have their entire cap to spend on other team’s free agents, and then use Bird rights to re-sign their own ones afterwards. That would be disingenuous and would create a rather ludicrous situation whereby there would be no incentive to ever sign a long term deal. In having cap holds, your free agents eat into your cap room, forcing you to prioritise a bit better. The juggling of these priorities is a key component in team building and roster management. There are multiple ways to get rid of a cap hold. Firstly, if you waive a player, they are automatically removed, and so will not have a cap hold. Secondly, if a player signs with another NBA team, […]
The amount of cap room teams have remaining
July 17th, 2014
The bulk of free agency is behind us, maybe, but we’re far from done. There follows a look at how much cap space NBA teams still have outstanding, which, with the exception of the occasions I blatantly do the opposite, will be presented without analysis as to how the situation came about. All the teams that have cap space, or have had cap space this offseason, are included in the list. That is a total of fifteen teams and half the league. The other fifteen – Boston, Brooklyn, Denver, Golden State, Indiana, L.A. Clippers, Memphis, Minnesota, New York, Oklahoma City, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, Toronto and Washington – are not mentioned at all. All salary information is taken from this website’s own salary pages. All figures taken from the day of publication – if subsequent trades/signings are made, then adjust accordingly. It is vital – VITAL – that you understand what a “cap hold” is before you read this. An explanation can be found here. Players with asterisks by their names are not under contract with the team, and cap holds are separated from active contracts by the use of a simple link break. Atlanta Hawks Committed salary for 2014/15: $48,416,058 (view full forecast) Remaining cap space: $10,839,436 Atlanta has made only one signing in free agency, facilitated by one trade, and the money jointly spent on Thabo Sefolosha and John Salmons is actually less than the money they were due to spend on Louis Williams. They started with cap space, added more possibly unnecessarily, and still haven’t used up the extra bit, let alone dip into the reserves. I say “possibly unnecessarily” because it does not appear as though they have looked to do much with it, got shot down when they did, and the list of candidates is […]
“Consideration In Trades And Trade Structure” – a league instruction manual
July 11th, 2014
At the end of the July Moratorium each year, the league sends out a memo containing all of the findings from the audit it conducted during it. That audit is what the moratorium period is for – the moratorium is one long end-of-season book-keep in which it crunches all the numbers related to revenue, BRI, escrow, tax and the like, and makes determinations on both the past and the future. That memo generally filters through to the mainstream media – it has to, because it contains all the things that will make the league work next year, such as the salary cap numbers and exact size of the luxury tax threshold. It also contains things such as the latest projection of the season after next ($66.3 million salary cap, $80.7 million luxury tax threshold) and the sizes of next year’s exceptions. This year, however, the league sent out a second memo. Entitled “Consideration in Trades and Trade Structure”, it is a reminder and/or clarifier to teams about some of the specifics of what they can and cannot do in trades. Seemingly, they felt this was necessary Considering the presence of this memo suggests that some teams do not entirely understand the rules (or, perhaps, have been intent on pushing them back a bit), it is self-evidently the case that those of us outside of the league will not fully know them either. So, here goes. The memo is divided into two parts. The first part of the memo deals with what constitutes ‘consideration’ in trades, and is itself split into two parts. Part two of this first section concerns consideration in trades for non-playing personnel. Seemingly, in light of recent de facto coaching trades (whereby a team receives compensation for letting a non-playing member of staff out of their contract […]
Complete History Of NBA Luxury Tax Payments, 2001-2014
July 10th, 2014
This website and its sole proprietor keep a spreadsheet containing to-the-dollar information on all luxury tax paid to date, updated annually. Here is the latest update. In the 13 seasons since the luxury tax was created, it has been applicable in eleven seasons; in those eleven seasons, 24 NBA franchises have paid over $1 billion in payroll excess. The exact details can be found here. (Sorted alphabetically – click to enhance.) (Sorted by expenditure – click to enhance.) (Orange cells denote the team that won the championship that year.) Please use the spreadsheet freely for resource purposes, and feel equally free to suggest any improvements. However, please do not just take it, and if you do cite its data somewhere, please acknowledge its source. While the content is not my IP, I did spend a long time sourcing the relevant information, and in return, I seek only credit and a few page hits for that. Thank you.
2014 Summer League rosters – Miami
July 7th, 2014
Ivan Aska – Murray State graduate Aska has played two professional seasons, splitting last one between Greece and Puerto Rico. He averaged 15.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.4 fouls in 29.9 minutes per game for Ikaros, then averaged 6.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 fouls in 13.8 minutes per game for Santurce. The 6’7 power forward never really developed at Murray State, saved for an improved free throw stroke he has subsequently lost again, but he brings plenty of athleticism to the table, easily his most alluring quality. There are occasional post ups, straight line dribble drives and mid-range catch-and-shoots in there, but the athleticism doesn’t seem to make him a shot blocker, and there are no NBA calibre skills other than it. Danilo Barthel – In his first significant season of playing time at the highest level of German basketball, the 6’10 Barthel won the Bundesliga’s Most Improved Player award. A 6’10 face-up power forward who does a bit of everything, Barthel is a very good athlete for his size, and uses it to put the ball on the floor. He shoots jump shots from mid and long range (albeit not especially well yet), plays the pick-and-roll, can get up to throw down, and handles it very well for one so large. He is also a good passer of the ball with good vision, and who knows how to get open for others, a high IQ offensive player and a very real prospect who has started to realise that potential. Barthel has more to do to put it all together – he makes mistakes at times, forces the issue at some, being too passive at others, and needs to toughen up defensively. But he would have been a high to mid second-round pick had he done what he did […]
How Chicago Can Get Carmelo
July 7th, 2014
(originally published elsewhere) Pretend for a minute that Carmelo Anthony chooses the Bulls. It’s possible until it isn’t. Pretend for a minute that he wants more than they can pay him in free agency. Considering that their best free agency offers would top out at a starting salary of $15 million barring a significant weakening of the roster elsewhere, and that other teams are offering an unconditional max, and this seems a reasonable belief. To join Chicago for an amount of money comparable to what he would get elsewhere, Melo would have to be signed and traded. Pretend for a minute that the Knicks are willing to do this deal to help out a conference rival. This, too, is realistic. If they want to be proud and/or stubborn and refuse to help a one time rival, instead preferring to let their player walk for free, then….OK. But there’s assets in it for them if they do, so they shouldn’t be stubborn in this way. They need assets to get good again more than they need to worry about who is good whilst they rebuild. It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business. With all the previous assumptions in place, Chicago would want badly to acquire Melo via sign and trade while keeping together as good of a team as possible. This means no trading of Taj Gibson, and ideally no trading of Jimmy Butler and Nikola Mirotic. Can Chicago keep all three, acquire Melo, build a brilliant team and do it all within the confines of the Collective Bargaining Agreement? Just about. Here’s how. STEP ONE: Amnesty Carlos Boozer. Thereby expunging his $16.8 million salary from the cap number, if not the payroll. Note that amnestying Boozer does not immediately put the Bulls under the salary cap, due to their […]
2014 Summer League rosters – Detroit
July 6th, 2014
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – It was a bit of a nothing season for KCP, who was given plenty of opportunity to succeed (80 games, 41 starts, 19.8 mpg) and simply didn’t. He averaged only 5.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game, shooting 39.6% from the field and 31.9% from three, looking very awkward on the offensive end of the court. Caldwell-Pope faired better defensively, given plenty of big matchups (especially at the start of the season) and using his athleticism and wingspan to occasionally be a deterrent to any slashing guard, but on offence he mostly looked lost, was unreliable with the handle, and settled for far too many long twos. KCP projects to be a very good three and D role player, which would suffice despite his draft position, but he absolutely needs to spend the summer honing that jump shot. There is something there to work with, yet a long way to go. Brian Cook – The 33 year old Cook is back for one final go-around, joining the Jazz last year for training camp and now back in summer league for the first time in a decade. Cook however has not been an effective player for seven years, and, having not played in his time since being cut by the Jazz, hasn’t done anything to show this will stop being the case any time soon. Justin Harper – Seems Stan Van Gundy is bringing in all the stretch fours from his Orlando days. Or at least, that’s what Harper was projected to be. He has not shot the ball well from three point range since leaving Richmond, hitting only 31.9% of his threes last season with Hapoel Tel-Aviv in Israel, on his way to 10.4 point and 5.1 rebound averages. Nevertheless, Harper can stretch the floor […]
2014 Summer League rosters – Boston
July 6th, 2014
O.D. Anosike – Anosike played in summer league last year with the Nuggets, then split last year between Italy and France. He started in Italy with Pesaro, and averaged 14.3 points and a league leading 13.1 rebounds in 35 minutes per game. He then bought himself out of his contract in May and finished the season with Strasbourg, where he did little in six games, averaging only 4.5 points and 3.3 rebounds in 19 minutes per game. The 6’7 Anosike is self-evidently an extremely proficient rebounder – strong, relentless, a decent athlete and a tireless worker, he uses his strength and determination to clean the boards, box out and rebound out of his area. The offensive skills, however, are lacking – Anosike posts little, shoots less, has no range and a very poor free throw stroke, good for some occasional pick-and-roll action but a finisher in the paint at best, and even then not the best one. Given his size, the fact that he is exclusively a paint player and the fact that he does not protect the rim, Anosike has few hopes of joining the NBA level. But Italy will have him back for many a year to come. Chris Babb – Babb started the season with the Celtics and also ended it there. He is signed through 2017, albeit all unguaranteed from here on out, and played 14 games with the team down the stretch. He didn’t play them well, exclusively casting up threes and missing most of them, but he played them nonetheless. In the time in between, Babb played 33 D-League games with the Maine Red Claws and averaged 12.0 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 37.5 minutes per game. As effective of a role player as Babb is – demonstrating good IQ, moving the […]
2014 Summer League rosters – Indiana
July 6th, 2014
Lavoy Allen – Allen was the third part of the Danny Granger/Evan Turner trade, but has barely improved in three years. He is still one of the most inefficient scorers in the league – he can hit a mid-range shot, but he only takes them, and there’s nothing efficient about a mid range jump shot. You have to hit 50% of them just to score a point per possession, with very few foul shots in the process, and Allen has yet to add the three point range to it. On the plus side, the rest of his game outside of scoring is very solid. He picked up his rebounding rate last year, still passes well, and defends through physicality, temperament and IQ rather than length or athleticism. Allen is said to already have agreed a deal to re-sign with the Pacers, which makes plenty of sense, because he is a very solid backup power forward. They can now waive Luis Scola, save money, and lose little. Eric Atkins – Atkins is very hardy, playing huge minutes in almost every game. In those minutes, he is a very steadying presence, sporting an assist/turnover ratio of slightly over 2.5 to one and making very few mistakes. The trade-off is an absence of dynamic play. Reasonably big for a point guard, but not especially fast or athletic, Atkins does not has the speed to consistently penetrate the first line of the defence and collapse it. He racks up his assists through feeding the post and moving it around without making bad passes, rather than through drawing the defence. Atkins is not a particularly bold or audacious ball handler, either, but he keeps the dribble alive and rarely loses it, partly because he rarely takes it into traffic but also because of the same […]
2014 Summer League rosters: Philadelphia
July 5th, 2014
Nerlens Noel – Noel will be the best player from the 2013 draft, barring more significant injuries. There is no reason why this as-near-as-is 7 footer with wingspan, athleticism, instincts, anticipation, body control and hustle should not average 10 points and 3 blocks per game at his peak. The offensive end is less certain, as is the fit alongside Joel Embiid, but that’s all stuff that can be worked out down the right. As of right now, the Sixers landed the two best talents in back-to-back drafts without a number one overall pick to do so. And the fact that both have been injured sufficiently to keep the tank open is even better. Casper Ware – Ware is signed through 2017 with the Sixers, although this being they, that does not mean much, as it is all fully unguaranteed from here on out. He squeaked into nine games with the team at the end of last season and did what he always does – score. He also defends well for his size, moving the feet well and being generally pesky, even when generally pesky. It is going to be a problem for Ware that the Sixers have obtained the draft rights to Pierre Jackson, because as good as Ware is for a 5’10 scorer with a merely adequate floor game, Jackson is a better. Ware, then, needs to win (or hold) his spot through this defensive pressure. Ronald Roberts – Roberts was one of the best athletes in this draft, or indeed in any draft. He has a decent frame, decent wingspan and decent strength, terrific leaping ability, good speed, and a LONG first step. His athleticism is magnetic and tantalising, because few can impact a game through their ability to jump alone in the way he can. There is […]
2014 Summer League Rosters – Orlando
July 4th, 2014
Kadeem Batts – Batts is somewhere in between Mike Davis and Mike Scott. He is a wiry strong finesse power forward whose game is based around the mid-range jump shot and who rarely creates. Be it through the pick and pop, the pick-and-roll, cuts to the basket or through running the court in transition, Batts generally only finishes looks others or opportunity created for him. Even when he posts, it is normally only to a jump shot. He has the frame to do more in the paint, but not the game. He’s a finesse player who will take some contact, but hasn’t that much power. He just is. So be it. On the glass, Batts uses his activity and length to keep balls alive and is a good offensive rebounder for this reason, but is less effective on the defensive glass where he can be outfought. Similarly, he defends the perimeter well, but is not much of a rim protector. He struggles to do much in the post on both ends when up against players of true size, and though he anticipates well and hedges hard, he has not the power of a power position player. Batts has good speed and a good motor, and can seal and finish down low on smaller opponents, but there aren’t going to be smaller opponents at the highest levels. And while he can occasionally spot up from three and drive the ball from the line, he can also barrel people over and has yet to add consistent three point range. What separates Mike Davis and Mike Scott? Scott is smarter, tougher, competes defensively even when overmatched and has a little bit of three point range. Batts ought to channel some of this. He could make the league despite his rebounding and his defensive […]
2014 Summer League rosters – Houston
July 2nd, 2014
Miro Bilan – The 6’11 Bilan turns 25 later this month, yet this is his first foray into the NBA. He has long been on the radar of clubs around the world, appearing in European championships at various age levels, and finally cracking the Croatian national team this past season. Bilan has never really broken out, however, merely making steady improvements to his game year on year. A brief spell in the EuroLeague in 2012/13 coupled with a longer spell in the EuroCup last season to allow him to take on the best European centres at his position, and he held his own on the offensive end at least, where his post and pick-and-roll play helped him to 8.8 points in 18.4 minutes on 58% shooting, alongside 13.3 points in 22 minutes per game of Croatian league play. Bilan is a prototypical European big man – big enough and offensively skilled, but unathletic, and a defensive factor only by the virtue of giving a good hard foul. He can make shots around the basket and from mid-range, but neither his physical tools nor style of play are ideally suited for the NBA and he is probably best where he is. Greg Smith admittedly played a bit like this while being slightly smaller, but Greg Smith was faster and had hands like mattresses. Or like Tim Howard. Tarik Black – Black was covered emphatically in the 2014 NCAA Senior Centres round-up. Click here. Jabari Brown – Brown plays and photographs with a permanent look of insouciance. He never ever smiles, save for one time after a game winner. It does not undermine his skill set, but it would have helped his draft credentials a bit better had he looked like he was enjoying himself. Brown played alongside Earnest Ross on Missouri’s […]
The Louis Williams/Lucas Nogueira Trade
June 28th, 2014
(originally published elsewhere) In a trade agreed to last night, and perhaps already to have been made official by the time this sentence is finished, the Toronto Raptors agreed to trade John Salmons and his partially guaranteed contract to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Louis Williams and the draft rights to Lucas Nogueira. Toronto were previously on the cusp of trading Salmons to Memphis on draft night, along with the #37 pick, in exchange for Tayshaun Prince and the #22, the theory being that they intended to draft Canadian guard Tyler Ennis with their #20 pick and then taking young project Bruno Caboclo at #22. But when Ennis was taken 18th by Phoenix, the plan was scuppered, and the deal pulled. The Raptors would instead choose to wait for a better spot in which to use Salmons’s valuable unguaranteed contract. And they have now found it. Nogueira, the #16 pick in the 2013 draft, had been shopped by Atlanta in recent times. Despite averaging a very solid 6.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in only 16 minutes per game of Spanish ACB league option last season, the Hawks seemed to have other priorities, and have used those once-valued rights merely to dump some salary. Perhaps prompted to by Nogueira’s ongoing tendinitis problems – which are worryingly recurrent and severe for a 21 year old center whose game is largely based on his athleticism – Atlanta soured on this potential piece for the future in order to prioritise their present. They are not trading for John Salmons the player under any circumstance. Salmons has declined significantly, and despite a big minutes yield for the Raptors last season, he was mostly ineffective, shooting 36% on his way to a 7.6 PER. Nevertheless, his contract, which calls for a $7 million […]
The fourth and probably final part of the Tim Duncan/Zach Randolph contract saga
June 24th, 2014
Further to this, this and most recently this. In the last update, I explained how Tim Duncan had had his contract modified, but Zach Randolph had not. And yet what I could not explain was why Tim Duncan had had his contract modified, but Zach Randolph had not. Was it because simply no one had noticed, or because of some other technicality I could not otherwise foresee that made the otherwise identical situations different? Couldn’t say. Can now, though. It certainly wasn’t the former. Apparently the reason why Duncan’s contract (which he has opted into, thus transitioning this whole endeavour from being an interesting aside into something with a palpable if not exactly massive affect on the NBA landscape) was modified, but Randolph’s was not, is because Randolph’s was “too old”. This does not however mean that the fact it was signed under the 2005 CBA (and not the 2011 CBA like Duncan) played a part in this differentiation. Instead, I am told it instead merely means they took that as a legitimate reason for looking the other way, through avoiding the issue altogether, rather than having a technical reason for addressing it in this way. So, yeah. Zach, if you’re out there, and you’re planning on opting in and signing an extension…..start chasing this up. There could be a million dollars in it for you. (The very full details of what is being discussed here can be found at the previous links. Especially the first one.)
Tampering, What It Is, And How Not To Not Quite Do It
June 22nd, 2014
(originally published elsewhere) A report from the Chicago Sun Times’s Joe Cowley is currently doing the rounds, providing as it does an intriguing look into the conduct of Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau, and a fresh perspective on the comprehensively documented possibility of Carmelo Anthony joining the Chicago Bulls. The report focuses on Thibodeau, and his garnering of background knowledge on Anthony from those connected with him in the past. This is a perfectly acceptable and normal thing to do. What stokes the fire in this instance, however, is that the report uses rather incendiary language that suggests things are not as perfectly acceptable as they ought be. It starts thusly: According to one of Anthony’s former coaches, Thibodeau has reached out to him and to several other coaches who have worked with Anthony with numerous calls. This sentence reads in more than one way, but if the ‘him’ is assumed to be the former coach that Cowley spoke to, things are all right so far. There is nothing wrong with talking to someone outside of the NBA in an attempt to garner information about someone inside it. Later on, however, things get more contentious: That the Bulls are in full-court-press mode on Anthony comes as no surprise, considering center Joakim Noah courted him during All-Star Weekend in February and continued the recruitment throughout the second half of the season. That is probably not good. Players talk to each other and certainly are permitted to do – a situation by which they could not do so at all would be patently ridiculous. But they cannot talk about certain things. Tampering is not an especially well understood concept amongst fans and media alike, yet it is clearly defined. Section (e) of Exhibit A of the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement defines […]
