Basketball Insiders Week in Review 10/5

Rondo Injury Creates Opportunity for Smart

By Jesse Blancarte

On Friday, the Boston Celtics suffered a major setback as Rajon Rondo underwent surgery to repair his broken left hand (a left metacarpal fracture), which will keep him out of action for 6-8 weeks. While the situation is unfortunate for both Rondo and the Celtics, there may be a silver lining as Rondo’s absence opens up a big opportunity for rookie point guard Marcus Smart to step in and gain valuable experience.

The Celtics drafted Smart, who played two seasons at Oklahoma State, with the sixth overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft. In a draft class that is loaded with NBA talent, Smart stands out as being one of the most NBA-ready players. Smart spent two seasons in college, whereas other top rookies like Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, and Aaron Gordon only played one season of college basketball. In his second season at Oklahoma State, Smart increased his scoring from 15.4 points per game to 18, slightly increased his assist average, cut down on turnovers and got to the free throw line more often. Smart also learned a hard lesson when he lost his temper and confronted a Texas Tech fan who made offensive comments to him during a game. Smart was suspended for three games and learned that no matter what fans say, it’s never appropriate to confront them in the stands and make physical contact with them.

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Iman Shumpert Odd Man Out In New York?

By Lang Greene

Iman Shumpert’s name floated in trade rumors for the majority of the 2014 campaign leading some to doubt whether the talented guard was part of the New York Knicks’ long term strategy. But that was under the old regime. Newly crowned president of basketball operations Phil Jackson hasn’t furthered those rumors since taking the helm and for now Shumpert appears safe heading into training camp.

But is Shumpert truly safe?

Shumpert, the No. 17 overall of the 2011 draft, is entering the final season on his rookie scale contract. The Knicks have until October 31 to sign Shumpert to an extension or opt to wait and let the market set his value in restricted free agency next summer (assuming a qualifying offer is made, which is certain in this scenario). New York could also to reopen trade discussions involving Shumpert who has developed into one of the league’s better young perimeter defenders.

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Can the Chicago Bulls Beat the Cleveland Cavaliers?

It’s easy to forget, since it feels like eons ago, but there was a time in the recent past where the Chicago Bulls looked close to being the kind of team that could compete for a championship. Obviously, Derrick Rose’s knee injuries the last two years derailed any progress they had made toward that end, but with him healthy again and a summer free agency season that brought in more than enough talent to put them back on the radar, it’s time to take Chicago seriously again.

How seriously we take them, though, depends entirely on how quickly the Cleveland Cavaliers become the Eastern Conference juggernaut they appear destined to be.

The good news is that the Bulls really are championship contenders this season, even if Cleveland ends up as good as we think they’ll be. Despite all the talent on that Cavaliers roster, nobody should be fitting them for rings just yet. There are potential weaknesses there, just as there are some ways in which Chicago could ultimately prove to be the better team.

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Rondo Clears Up Trampoline-Gate Rumors

Rumors about Rajon Rondo began bouncing off the wall upon being spotted at a trampoline park prior to news of his hand injury.

The Boston Celtics captain underwent surgery for a left metacarpal fracture on Friday. On Monday he cleared up trampoline-gate during Media Day, explaining he suffered the injury in his shower.

“Usually how certain falls happen, you slip,” Rondo said with his left arm in a sling. “I slipped and tried to catch my hand. It wasn’t like a banana slip. Actually, I almost caught myself, landed on my knuckle in the windowsill in my home.”

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Who’s the Best Team in the Atlantic?

Word has it that this past offseason, the suits at the NBA’s League Office put serious consideration into changing the name of the Atlantic Division.

The “Titanic Division,” it was thought, would have been a more appropriate name, considering the depths to which the division sank last season. In case you’ve forgotten, the Titanic Division was the only one in the entire league to be conquered by a team winning less than 50 games.

For the Toronto Raptors, their 48-34 record was enough to get it done.

Now, entering this season, they are poised to follow up the franchise’s best-ever regular season with another run toward the top of the Titanic Division, though both Carmelo Anthony and Deron Williams may have a thing or two to say about it.

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Understanding When You Can Win

By Steve Kyler

In life we often talk about being in the right place at the right time. Success usually happens when those two thing converge. In pro sports, especially in the NBA, that idea is truer than some want to admit.

For teams like the San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers, they have a real chance at something special. There are six or seven teams this season that have a real shot at getting to the NBA Finals and winning the 2014-15 NBA Championship. This is their window.

Understanding and planning for your window is becoming more and more prevalent in the NBA. The days of assembling the best team you can and taking a run at seeing how it works out is being replaced with mindful and strategic rebuilds.

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Is This Monroe’s Last Year in Detroit?

By Alex Kennedy

Media day is usually a time for players and fans to get excited about their NBA team and feel optimistic about the upcoming campaign. Most players are loose and happy since the start of the season is almost here.

However, Detroit Pistons big man Greg Monroe was probably dreading media day since he didn’t have a particularly good offseason. Not only did free agency not go the way Monroe had hoped, he had some off-court trouble and rumors of discord between him and teammates surfaced.

The 24-year-old spent most of media day discussing his free agency experience, which ended with him turning down a four-year offer from Detroit and signing their one-year qualifying offer. By taking this route, Monroe will make $5.47 million this year and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. He also has the right to veto any trade involving him during the 2014-15 season.

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The Phoenix Suns’ Path to Contention

The Phoenix Suns have been the NBA’s most newsworthy franchise over the last week, re-signing Eric Bledsoe to a five-year pact worth $70 million and inking brothers Markieff and Marcus Morris to four-year rookie extensions that kick in for the 2015-16 season. The Morris deals are solid; locking up a starting power forward (as Markieff projects to be) for only $8 million a year in a rising cap climate is solid value, while Marcus could also prove worth his contract even while acknowledging he might have been slightly overpaid to mollify Markieff.

Now that more of Phoenix’s core is locked in, what can we expect going forward? The backcourt of Goran Dragic and Bledsoe projects to be one of the NBA’s best. While Dragic is likely to decline after an age-27 season in which he far exceeded his performance to date, Bledsoe should counteract that with continued improvement. Adding Isaiah Thomas should allow Phoenix to keep its foot on the gas at all times with two scoring ballhandlers always in the game. The Suns appear poised to build on last year’s eighth-ranked offense.

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Reggie Jackson Determined To Join Thunder’s Starting Lineup

There are very few, if any, surprises revealed by players or coaches during Media Day, an annual event held by each NBA team just prior to the start of training camp. These question-and-answer sessions typically involve banal talk of what the players did during the offseason, what they expect for the coming season and impressions of incoming players. While these and related topics were indeed discussed at the various teams’ sessions, something rare happened this year at the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Media Day when guard Reggie Jackson took the microphone.

Jackson became emotional when describing why he will not be satisfied until he locks down a regular starting role. He made his desire known during exit interviews last season when he simply disclosed he would like a starting role. His statement garnered attention back then; fast forward four months, and Jackson has now elevated his stance to a proclamation.

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Can the Orlando Magic Really Compete?

When the Orlando Magic decided that it was time to trade away franchise center Dwight Howard two summers ago, it meant the team would be rebuilding for the next several seasons. Many thought at the time that the Magic didn’t quite receive enough compensation in return for a player that had won three consecutive Defensive Player of the Year awards. A lot of fans weren’t quite ready to see the team compete for lottery picks after coming off of several seasons of 50+ win seasons and a trip to the 2009 NBA Finals.

The Magic were left in a position like the Minnesota Timberwolves faced this past summer with Kevin Love: do you trade away one of the best players in franchise history or do you keep him and risk losing him for nothing? When teams are in a position like that with no leverage, they often don’t come out on top, but it’s quite possible that the Orlando Magic did just that. That idea is especially surprising considering the fact that the team acquired all younger players that had yet to prove themselves at the time.

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Changes Coming for Brooklyn Nets?

By Yannis Koutroupis

Three months ago Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported that Brooklyn Nets controlling owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who also owns a sizable portion of the Barclays Center, was exploring the market to see what he could get for his $223 million purchase made back in 2010.

Since taking over the Nets four years ago, Prokhorov has been one of the most active and visible owners in the NBA. He’s made it clear that he’s willing to spend whatever it takes to field a contending team, although he’s come up short so far.

However, as much as he’s adapted to the NBA lifestyle, Prokhorov is still a business man at heart. He didn’t become a billionaire by passing up on good deals, and right now it’s feasible that he could get at least 10 times his investment, if not significantly more. The Los Angeles Clippers’ recent $2.2 billion price tag makes the prospect of selling more enticing than ever to all NBA owners, not just Prokhorov. Due to the privacy of these kind of negotiations and Prokhorov not wanting to seem like he has one foot out the door, Wojnarowski’s report was denied.

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NBA Training Camp Questions: Atlantic Division

Basketball Insiders has looked at some of the most pressing training camp questions in the Northwest, Southwest, Central, Pacific, Southeast divisions as the 2014-15 NBA season approaches. Today we tackle the Atlantic Division:

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