Category: Transactions

Colts activate DT Sheldon Day from IR among several roster moves

Colts made several roster moves on Saturday.

The Indianapolis Colts made several roster moves, including the activation of defensive tackle Sheldon Day from the injured reserve list, the team announced Saturday.

After getting an offseason procedure done on his knee, Day missed most of training camp and wound up starting the season on the injured reserve list. He was eligible to return to practice in Week 4 and has been activated before the 21-day window closed.

Day will be working with Taylor Stallworth behind Grover Stewart at the one-technique defensive tackle position.

The other moves include singing wide receiver Marcus Johnson from the practice squad to the active roster and elevating guard Jake Eldrenkamp and wide receiver DeMichael Harris from the practice squad.

The Colts also waived defensive tackle Eli Ankou and released safety Ibraheim Campbell.

Johnson seems to be a mainstay on the roster now that he’s proven to be a solid contributor again. The undrafted rookie in Harris gets his first shot on the active roster and is likely to be used on special teams.

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Ex-Celtic Chauncey Billups to join Ty Lue in L.A. as assistant coach

One Celtic alumnus hiring another, Chauncey Billups will be former Boston assistant Ty Lue’s assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Another Boston Celtics alumnus has found a home coaching as Celtics draftee Chauncey Billups has been hired as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers, per Yahoo Sports’ Dan Feldman.

He was hired by another Celtic alumnus in former Boston assistant Tyronn Lue after he was elevated to head coach of the Clippers upon the previous head coach Doc Rivers stepping down in that capacity.

Rivers, himself a Celtics alumnus, almost immediately found a new home as head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, taking over the post vacated by Brett Brown after Philly’s first-round exit at the hands of Boston.

At the same time all of this is occurring, it is unclear what the status of yet another Celtic alumnus still with Los Angeles after Rivers’ departure is Sam Cassell.

The former Celtic guard who won a title with Rivers in Boston in 2008 is one of several candidates for the Houston’ Rockets head coaching vacancy.

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Colts place Matt Gay, Marcus Johnson on protected practice squad

Colts protect Matt Gay and Marcus Johnson.

The Indianapolis Colts placed kicker Matt Gay and wide receiver Marcus Johnson on the protected practice squad on Tuesday, per the league’s transaction wire.

The Colts haven’t utilized the protected practice squad often this season—just with Gay the last two weeks. Even though rookie kicker Rodrigo Blankenship has been extremely solid, the Colts signed Gay to the practice squad a few weeks ago for insurance.

It makes sense that the Colts would protect Johnson, who has been a strong contributor since re-joining the team two weeks ago following the injury to rookie Michael Pittman. Johnson played the third-most snaps among wide receivers in Week 5 for the Colts.

As the league tries to make it easier for teams to navigate through COVID-19, the practice squads were expanded to 16 spots. The league also added the “protection” measure for four of those players. If a player is protected, other teams are not allowed to sign them to their active roster.

The protected practice squads are rest after each week of games.

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Colts sign CB Christian Angulo to the practice squad

Colts make a practice squad move.

The Indianapolis Colts signed cornerback Christian Angulo to the practice squad and released linebacker Jonas Griffith from the practice squad, the team announced Tuesday.

Angulo was signed to the practice squad exactly a week ago but was released just two days later when the Colts signed veteran linebacker Najee Goode to the practice squad.

The Colts are seemingly healthy at cornerback right now with all five players having roles in the Week 5 loss against the Cleveland Browns. Rookie sixth-round pick Isaiah Rodgers even brought back a kickoff for a touchdown to make an impact.

Griffith was signed to the practice squad last week as well when the Colts were dealing with injuries to the linebacker position, but it seems the team wants flexibility in the secondary.

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Two trades and a prayer: three ideas on what to do with Gordon Hayward

The Boston Celtics’ latest offseason conundrum is what to do with Gordon Hayward long term; we present three different ideas of how that could be solved.

Once again, the Boston Celtics will soon find themselves staring at a conundrum regarding big-money players and how they will fit into their contention window.

Akin to the chaotic start to their last offseason, which saw All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving and star big man Al Horford decamp to greener pastures, the Celtics could very well see star forward Gordon Hayward walk for nothing if he chooses to opt out of the final season of his current deal.

And that’s not even the half of it.

If he does opt in, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent again in the team’s next offseason, and Boston may have to decide on ponying up on a deal that will explode their tax bill and perhaps imperil the length of their contention window, or see Hayward walk — again — for nothing.

But what are the issues at play?

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Analyzing two LaMarcus Aldridge trade proposals for the Boston Celtics

Two recent trade proposals would see San Antonio Spurs big man LaMarcus Aldridge to the Boston Celtics — does either make sense for Boston?

Are the basketball gods trying to get San Antonio Spurs big man LaMarcus Aldridge to the Boston Celtics?

In truth, probably not — but at least two NBA analysts think it’s at least worth a look by both teams.

The 34-year-old big man has been the focal point of a pair of proposed trades in recent pieces of the sort that tend to proliferate in the offseason, which has arrived for all but the two teams in the 2020 NBA Finals.

The first of the two trade proposals makes for an interesting thought experiment, but would never happen in reality.

Offered up by Dylan Carter of AirAlamo.com, the deal would see forwards Gordon Hayward and Semi Ojeleye dealt with the No. 14 overall pick controlled by Boston in the 2020 NBA Draft in exchange for Aldridge and veteran swingman Rudy Gay, straight up.

As noted in the proposal, all players in this deal are on expiring deals, meaning any or all of them will be able to walk at the end of the season, if they decide to.

And therein is the problem.

The Celtics aren’t going to cough up a lottery pick for a pair of players who likely won’t be around past next season (and may not be worth bringing back, given both players are 34 years old).

While Aldridge might be able to slow some of the more troubling beefier bigs Boston has faced in the postseason, he could also fall of a cliff; and while Gay has aged well, he would be a significant downgrade even if he doesn’t decline further.

Even without the lottery pick, this is a non-starter because of the contract situations, with the Celtics only likely to make a deal involving Hayward if it means bringing back young talent under contract for multiple seasons — and that is unlikely to materialize as well.

The other proposal makes a bit more sense in context, floated by Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz.

In an article appropriately entitled “Trades that would shock every NBA fanbase,” Swartz indeed thinks up one that would get a rise out of most Celtics fans also built around Aldridge.

This one does not involve Hayward, but has the right idea regarding Boston’s priorities.

Swartz proposes sending Aldridge and the Spurs’ No. 11 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft to the Spurs along with the part Boston would likely most be interested in — point guard Dejounte Murray — to the Celtics for Kemba Walker and center Enes Kanter.

We think such a trade might require Boston adding one of their late firsts (Nos. 26 and 30) back to make this deal work, and the inclusion of Murray plus the pick gives the Celtics back something that makes more sense given their designs on contention.

In Boston, Murray’s speed and defense would fit well along with wings Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Gordon Hayward while opening up cap space for Hayward to stay with the team in the future once Aldridge’s deal expires.

In the draft, Boston could then take the best point guard and big available with picks 11 and 14, while having another first-rounder or two to stash overseas or deal into a future draft with.

Apart from needing Kanter to opt in as Hayward would in the first proposal, the biggest obstacle to such a deal is it would likely impact the team’s ability to contend for a title next season.

At least, barring a new source of reliable scoring developing internally.

Ultimately, a deal involving either Hayward or Walker in the offseason feels unlikely, if possible.

That’s not to say team president Danny Ainge and the rest of the front office aren’t exploring such possibilities, but it takes two (or more!) teams to tango.

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Celtics’ Marcus Smart one of 10 best-looking NBA free agent contracts

The Athletic’s John Hollinger sees Boston’s Marcus Smart as one of the best-looking free agent deals signed in recent history.

Boston Celtics veteran shooting guard Marcus Smart is among former Memphis Grizzlies executive and current analyst for the Athletic John Hollinger’s 10 NBA free-agent contracts in the NBA.

In a new article surveying the league’s best recently-inked deals in free agency with enough time having passed to properly evaluate their actual value (presumably at least one full season), but also still have more than this current (2019-20) season on the books, Smart’s current contract ranked quite high.

Inked in the summer of 2018, a depressed cap ended up creating what Hollinger sees as the third best value in the league based on these and other criteria for the Celtics.

Generating as much as $8 million in value Boston is getting gratis above what they are paying him, Smart’s defensive acument in particular brings loads of value to the team.

“At just 26, Smart has an offensive game that is still making small forward strides each season (he was a much more aggressive scorer this season, for instance),” relates Hollinger, “which allows him to stay on the court for his angry terrier defense. Smart projects to be worth $22 million a year, so the Celtics are coming out $16 million ahead over these next two seasons.”

A fringe Defensive Player of the Year candidate for his defense, the Flower Mound native is also having one of the best offensive seasons of his career, having (mostly) found his niche on that end of the ball.

For a player who was the worst 3-point shooter in NBA history with significant attempts not that long ago, to knock down treys at a solid 34.8 % 6.9 attempts per game means he’s providing a real threat opening up space for wings Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to work in.

And that doesn’t count the intangible leadership and intensity the Texan brings to the table almost every game he suits up; Smart’s contract is indeed one of the best values in the NBA — a bargain for the player many describe as the heart and soul of the Celtics.

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Visualizing the Boston Celtics’ future salary cap usage

The Celtics Wire found an interesting new way to visualize the Boston Celtics (and 29 other NBA teams’) future salary commitments each season.

Visualizing the future of the Boston Celtics’ cap usage just got a little easier for those of us who prefer graphic representations with our figures, care of Stephen Spiewak and Vivid Seats.

Spiewak assembled a visualization tool that lets you explore which players make up how much of each of the NBA’s 30 teams’ cap space by season, allowing for a quick and dirty tool to reference each franchise’s distribution of available cap space.

As one heads into future seasons, the space for teams with less financial commitments become clear as names disappear from each team’s circle, and the years and dollars for all players under contract are there at a glance when you mouse over the player’s individual circles.

While the visualizer is more of a cool way to explore the state of each team’s financial commitments than a serious diagnostic tool, it also provides a great means of displaying that data in ways at least some of us will find more amenable to making those synaptic connections stick.

To play around with the visualization tool yourself, click on the link here.

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Mychal Mulder signs multi-year deal with Warriors

The Golden State Warriors signed an extension with Mychal Mulder, who played well over his 10-day contract.

Mychal Mulder impressed the Golden State Warriors over his 10-day contract.

The team announced a multi-year extension with Mulder on Tuesday afternoon.

Mulder has been a revelation since signing a 10-day contract with Golden State out of the Sioux Falls Skyforce in February. He provided key offense in a 15-point comeback against the Denver Nuggets.

In four of Mulder’s six games he scored double-digit points. Excluding his poor debut, he shot 40% on eight 3-point attempts per game.

That 3-point proficiency is not an outlier: Over his last two seasons in the G League, he shot slightly above 40% on 8.4 attempts per game.

In total, Mulder averaged 12.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 29.5 minutes over his six games in the 10-day contract.

Over the next month, the Warriors will get to see Mulder play next to Steph Curry. The team sees him as a player who can fit in next to Curry and Klay Thompson to provide even more shooting.

Golden State has once again helped a fringe player establish himself in the NBA.

With the arrival of Mulder, growth of Marquese Chriss and Damion Lee and development of second-round pick Eric Paschall, the Warriors have done an excellent job not letting an noncompetitive season go to waste.

Report: Warriors signing Dragan Bender to second 10-day contract

The versatile Dragan Bender has shot at least 40% from three in three of the six games he’s played for Golden State.

On the day that Golden State Warriors superstar guard Steph Curry is set to return (and against the reigning NBA champions, no less), ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has announced that forward Dragan Bender will be signing a second 10-day contract with the club.

Bender, the fourth overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, has played in six games for Golden State (with three starts) since signing his initial 10-day contract. The 7’0” Croatian Sensation has recorded averages of 7.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.7 blocks and 0.7 steals in 23.3 minutes per game, showing he can impact the game in multiple ways in his time with the Warriors.

He’s only shooting 36.7% from the field and 29.2% from 3-point range but has shot at least 40% from deep in three of his six contests with the Dubs.

Earlier this week, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said he would “love” for Bender to get another 10-day contract and it’s clear that Warriors general manager Bob Myers took heed. This is the last 10-day contract that Bender can sign with Golden State though, and they’ll have to sign him for the rest of the season or beyond after this, so the versatile forward may need to bring his A-game for the next week and a half if he wants to stay in the Bay Area.

Earning the second 10-day contract is certainly a positive sign that he has a fair chance of making that happen though.