NBA Rumors Round-Up

NBA Rumors: Newly-Traded Kirilenko out Until March?

Andrei Kirilenko could be out until March… Dwight Howard back soon and more!

Alan Draper profile picture
Sports Editor
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Kirilenko dealt to Philly

The Brooklyn Nets have reached agreement on a deal to unload forward Andrei Kirilenko onto the Philadelphia 76ers, sparing the franchise nearly $11 million in salary and luxury tax, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The 76ers will send forward Brandon Davies to the Nets and acquire a 2020 second-round pick in the deal, as well as the right to swap second-round picks with Brooklyn in the 2018 draft. The Nets will likely include guard Jorge Gutierrez in the deal, a league source told Yahoo.

The trade is expected to be finalized on Thursday.

via Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports

This is just par the course for the Philadelphia 76ers, and the start of a potential mass exodus in Brooklyn.

From Philly’s standpoint, acquisitions like this have become the staple of the Sam Hinkie era. He’s willing to take on an undesirable asset in order to get young players and draft picks in return along with it. Kirilenko will never don a 76ers jersey and will likely be an unrestricted free agent by early next week.

However, according to Wojnarowski, Kirilenko could still be a ways away from being ready to sign. He’s been away from the Nets while tending to family issues and those issues could keep him away until March.

While the market won’t be overwhelming, Kirilenko should still have a contender or two willing to take a flyer on him. Meanwhile, the 76ers will likely give Gutierrez a chance to prove himself that few other teams in the league could offer him.

For the Nets, more cost cutting moves could be on the horizon. Now that the Kirilenko trade is complete, they’re reportedly going to shift their focus to trading Brook Lopez, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson. Read here for a list of potential destinations for those three.

Kobe playing point guard?

It’s all the same to Bryant, who said after the win that “nothing changes” when he plays point guard.
“Just my position on the floor changes,” he said. “That’s all.”

Scott said he was initially unsure who would guard Kings point guard Darren Collison, but opted to play small forward Wesley Johnson on the former UCLA star, allowing Bryant to play point guard on offense.

And while Scott doesn’t plan on starting Bryant at the point anytime soon, it’s not a look he will shy away from at other junctures of games.

“It just kind of depends on the situation,” he said. “I feel real good when the ball is in his hands. Because No. 1 he can get his own shot, obviously, and No. 2 he can create shots for his teammates.”

via Bill Oram of the Orange County Register

At first, the idea of the shoot-first Bryant running the point is a scary notion. Would anyone else get to shoot, especially given his torrid shooting pace so far this season?

However, if you look back historically, Bryant has actually spent a lot of time doing the things that point guards are asked to do. During the championship years in the triangle offense with Derek Fisher, he was the facilitator, while Fisher primarily did his work off of the ball.

The key to it succeeding, along with Bryant not getting tunnel vision for his own shot too often, is being able to cross match someone else on the point guard defensively. Johnson has proven to be very effective against lead guards thanks to his great length and athleticism, so the potential is there for this to be a good move for the Lakers, who rightfully should be exhausting all options right now.

No fines coming for “I can’t breathe” shirts

Finally, after three weeks out with a strained right knee, Rockets center Dwight Howard had progressed to the point he could target a date for a return.

Howard said on Wednesday that he hopes to play on Saturday against the Denver Nuggets, a plan that would keep him out of the Rockets’ back-to-back against the Warriors and Kings but give him a few more days of workouts to strengthen the leg that has kept him out since he the problems began Nov. 17 in Memphis.

“I’ve just been trying to do extra stuff every day to try to gauge where I’m at” Howard said. “I feel a lot better. Today my leg was a little weak. I want to say that was from the flight, the long flight here. Get a good workout in tonight and hopefully try to play Saturday.”
Howard underwent platelet rich plasma therapy on Nov. 20 to start the process to return, but said the wear on the cartilage in his knee over the years made recovery difficult.

Via via Jonathan Feigan of the Houston Chronicle

The Rockets have been almost shockingly successful since Howard left the lineup. Now, though, they’re getting to the point where the injuries are piling up at too high of a rate and they need him back out there. As great of a job as James Harden has done at carrying the load during his absence, his back is starting to bother him now and he could use the help of his co-star.

At 16-5 the Rockets are currently ranked fifth in the West and are three games back of the Conference-leading Golden State Warriors.

Alan is an expert gambling writer who works as one of the chief editors for Basketball Insiders. He has been covering online gambling and sports betting for over 8 years, having written for the likes of Sportlens, Compare.bet, The Sports Daily, 90min, and TopRatedCasinos.co.uk. His particular specialisms include US online casinos and gambling regulations, and soccer and basketball betting. Based in London, Alan holds an MA in English Literature and is a passionate supporter of Chelsea FC.

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