The Brooklyn Nets have made some solid moves in this offseason as they try to make the team as good as possible for the foreseeable future. However, it seems that there are others in the NBA space that believe that the Nets have other moves to make with the offseason still so young.
According to Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report, the Nets’ top free-agent target should be Frank Ntilikina. Ntilikina, 24, most recently played for the Dallas Mavericks as a guard coming off the bench. After coming into the league as the 8th overall pick by the New York Knicks in the 2017 NBA Draft, Ntilikina’s career has not followed accordingly to his draft status.
While Brooklyn has signed guards in Dennis Smith Jr. and Lonnie Walker IV, it’s possible that the Nets could use more guards. It would be interesting to ponder, but it’s possible that since Ntilikina is essentially playing for the minimum these days, Brooklyn could give him a look to be a third guard off the bench for defensive purposes.
With the NBA trade deadline coming up next week and the All-Star game in the rearview mirror, general managers are beginning to form more solid plans for the offseason.
With the NBA trade deadline coming up next week and the All-Star game in the rearview mirror, general managers are beginning to form more solid plans for the offseason.
Executives around the league always have tough decisions to make about who they plan to re-sign and who they plan to let walk during free agency. But as the season progresses, it becomes a bit easier to evaluate who would be a good fit for their franchise and who might not be.
As part of our ongoing series at HoopsHype, we are looking at whose free agency stock has gone up – and down – over the last several games.
As the Utah Jazz now resume basketball activities, there are major issues they need to fix regarding stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.
As the Utah Jazz now resume basketball activities, there are major issues they need to fix regarding stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.
After so much time off due to the coronavirus pandemic, there will be a lot to iron out for all rosters. But the recent gap also exposed some harsh truths about the two best players on the Jazz.
In a recent story, Tim MacMahon reported that Gobert feels he should receive more lobs from Mitchell (via ESPN):
“Gobert rarely hesitates to let teammates know if they miss him when he is open around the rim. He’ll occasionally point up during play in animated fashion, sometimes as he is running back on defense, to note that a lob should have been thrown … Gobert knows his lobbying for lobs wears on teammates to the point of being counterproductive, like the wide receiver who gripes at the quarterback after every play when a pass isn’t thrown his way, regardless of the pass rush.”
Gobert led all NBA players with 306 dunks recorded last season, according to Basketball-Reference. But even when including alley-oops layups, the big man paired with Mitchell for only 28 lob connections during their 2018-19 campaign.
Considering that Gobert attempted 125 alley-oops in 2018-19 (17.6 percent of his total attempts from the field), this is certainly a major offensive focal point for the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
As such, McMahon continued, the two players have specifically worked on their “lob chemistry” in individualized practice sessions to further avoid the blunders like the one seen above during their game against Denver back in January:
“Utah coach Quin Snyder and his staff have attempted to help facilitate that trust, especially between Mitchell and Gobert. That duo have had dozens of two-man workouts under the watch of coaches, with a focus on ironing out intricacies of their pick-and-roll partnership and lob chemistry. They also occasionally join coaches – usually some combination of Snyder, Jensen and Johnnie Bryant, the assistant who works most with Mitchell – for small-group film sessions at the team’s facility.”
Gobert made 16 alley-oops following passes from Mitchell, per NBA.com. This accounted for 4.5 percent of his total field goal count, down from 5.9 percent last season. This would average out to approximately 0.36 connections per 36 minutes when looking at their total time spent (1607 minutes) on the court together, down from 0.48 last season.
For a better understanding of how that compares to other lob threats around the league, we looked at the top combinations on this play type. Brooklyn’s Spencer Dinwiddie assisted DeAndre Jordan on 46 alley-oop opportunities this season. This means they averaged 2.76 alley-oops per 36 minutes shared (599 minutes) on the floor.
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
While these two players are no longer on the same roster, Houston’s James Harden and former teammate Clint Capela were also successful on 46 of their alley-oop possessions. Capela, now on the Atlanta Hawks, was able to catch 1.53 alley-oops per 36 minutes that he played alongside Harden (1,082) in 2019-20.
Other prolific pairings in the NBA this season include Dinwiddie-to-Jarrett Allen (40), Trae Young-to-John Collins (36), LeBron James-to-Anthony Davis (34), Chris Paul-to-Nerlens Noel (33) and Elfrid Payton-to-Mitchell Robinson (33).
The data makes it clear that there is certainly room for more lob connections between the two players. However, considering how rare these opportunities are even for the most prolific duo, perhaps there are other aspects of offense to worry about in Utah.
HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report.
According to SportsNet New York, the New York Knicks have interest in trading for Warriors’ D’Angelo Russell.
As the NBA rapidly approaches the 2020 trade deadline on February 6, each day brings a new team into the D’Angelo Russell rumor mill. Since his arrival at Golden State, teams from across the league have shown interest in trying to acquire Russell’s talents from the Warriors.
Many thought the Warriors would wait until draft time to seriously ponder moving D'Angelo Russell, but sources say they are listening to pitches — with no secret Minnesota wants D-Lo badly. Golden State is widely expected to trade Alec Burks and/or Glenn Robinson III this week
If the Warriors decide to move Russell, Minnesota may have some competition for the 23-year-old former Brooklyn Nets’ All-Star.
SportsNet New York’s Ian Begley reported the Knicks to have “registered interest” in Russell, with forward Bobby Portis as one of the names in the deal to bring the former Ohio State Buckeye to Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks have registered interest with Golden State about trading for D’Angelo Russell, league sources confirm. It’s unclear how far along talks have gone, but Bobby Portis is one name that came up in the conversations, per SNY sources.
Begley additionally reported that 21-year-old French guard, Frank Ntilikina is another name that could be attached to a trade for Russell.
Per SNY sources, Frank Ntilikina’s name has also come up in conversations between the Knicks and Warriors around Russell.
Bob Myers and Steve Kerr will be forced to decide between either entertaining trade offers for Russell before the deadline or keep him in Golden State to see how he plays next to Curry.
HoopsHype ranks the five players who have popped up the most in trade rumors over the past week, including Marcus Morris and Andre Iguodala.
After a painfully long 160 days between trades, the NBA finally saw a bit of movement on that front this past week when the Cleveland Cavaliers agreed to send Jordan Clarkson to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Dante Exum and a couple of second-round draft picks.
Various big-name players have been bandied about over recent days, and though a huge deal may not seem imminent, one could spring up on us at any time, just like how the Clarkson-for-Exum swap occurred almost out of nowhere.
Below, HoopsHype ranks the five players who have popped up the most in rumors on the site’s Trade page over the past week.
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
5. KEVIN LOVE
Following the Clarkson trade, the expectation is for Cleveland to continue unloading veterans for premium assets, according to reports from Adrian Wojnarowski and the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Chris Fedor. The latter reported the following on Tuesday:
“The [Clarkson] move puts Cleveland about $5.1 million below the luxury tax threshold, which gives the team more financial flexibility when it comes to other deals. Make no mistake, more are coming between now and the trade deadline on Feb. 6. Players are already bracing for those shakeups.”
Love is averaging 16.2 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game this season while shooting 44.2 percent from the floor and 37.3 percent from beyond the arc. The floor-spacing big man also ranks in the “excellent” range, according to Synergy Sports, in scoring out of the pick-and-roll (as the roller) and coming off screens, so teams know the value Love still possesses as a scorer.
Of course, the main issues when it comes to trading Love are his age (31) and contract (he’s the 22nd-highest paid player this year and signed through 2022-23), but if Clarkson was able to net two second-rounders and a decent prospect like Exum, there’s a good chance Cleveland will be able to get a first-rounder, even a protected one, for their star power forward, especially if they’re willing to take back bad salary in return.
Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
4. MARCUS MORRIS
Despite the New York Knicks’ struggles this season, Marcus Morris has been a revelation, averaging a career-high 18.4 points per game to go along with 5.6 rebounds and 2.7 triples (on 46.6 percent shooting from the outside) nightly.
“‘Teams love his leadership and he’s been shooting incredibly well,’ a representative for one Eastern Conference team said. ‘You can easily see them getting a late first-round pick for him if that team feels Marcus pushes them over the top.'”
It might not be for another few weeks, but expect to see Morris traded by early February; one of the two L.A. teams, for example, would make a whole lot of sense for him.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
3. DION WAITERS
Everyone is pretty well-versed in Dion Waiters’ impossibly bad season so far, but for those who aren’t, the gist of it is: He’s been suspended three separate times and has yet to play a minute for the Miami Heat.
As such, logically, Miami would prefer to move on from their troublesome 2-guard, but there aren’t many ways they could do so. On its own, Waiters’ contract lends itself nicely to be used as a trade chip, since it only has a year-and-a-half left on it and merely pays him $12.3 million annually in that span, but why would any team want to add Waiters to their locker room, especially with the way he’s behaved this season?
Now that Elfrid Payton is healthy for the Knicks, third-year guard Frank Ntilikina’s playing time has gone way down, from over 26 minutes nightly over a 23-game stretch to under 14 minutes nightly over his last four. With that dip in playing time, the French ball-handler’s averages have gone way down (and they were never that impressive to begin with), as Ntilikina is scoring 3.8 points and securing 2.0 rebounds in that stretch.
There have been trade rumors surrounding Ntilikina for a long time now, and that hasn’t changed recently, not with how poorly he’s played in New York and the upside other teams still think he might have. If nothing else, Ntilikina is still just 21 and has proven to have huge promise on the defensive end of the floor, where he routinely makes special plays while covering opponents one-on-one.
According to SportsNet New York, teams around the Association still value Ntilikina for the aforementioned reasons, with one exec speculating that this might be a Markelle Fultz situation, where both sides might benefit from a clean break.
The question is whether Ntilikina still has enough value to net a first-rounder in return, or if he’s fallen so far that other teams only see him worthy of a second-round pick instead.
Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
1. ANDRE IGUODALA
Memphis Grizzlies swingman Andre Iguodala, who has yet to play a minute for his new team, has long been at the center of trade rumors, pretty much since the time the Golden State Warriors decided to trade him to a rebuilding team.
Contenders around the league are watching this situation closely, as some believe the 2015 Finals MVP could be bought out by Memphis, which would lead to an intense recruitment for his services. However, according to The Athletic, Grizzlier higher-ups are still confident they’ll be able to find a trade for Iguodala, one that will net them either a first-rounder or a promising young player.
That seems reasonable, as Iguodala has proven time and time again that he can contribute at a high level once the playoffs roll around, particularly on the defensive end, where he would wreak havoc for Golden State over the last few years.
As far as the teams rumored to be interested in Iguodala, reports state that the two L.A. teams are at the forefront of this chase, while the Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets have also looked into the possibility of adding the 35-year-old.
You can follow Frank Urbina on Twitter: @FrankUrbina_.
