NBA Rumors Round-Up
NBA Rumors: Market Waiting on Ray Allen
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated04 Dec 2023
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The Cavaliers haven’t given up on their quest of signing veteran shooting guard Ray Allen. “Until he signs, that’s going to be a target for everybody,” Griffin said. “Ray is someone who fits us as a shooter. His championship pedigree fits us at a really high level. With James, Mike and LeBron here, I think he’d feel comfortable with our group. At the same time, it’s possible he’s not sure he wants to keep playing. He’s in no hurry to make a decision. We’ll play that out as far as we can.”
via Bob Finnan of The Morning Journal & The News Herald
At this point in his career, Allen has earned the right to be patient in deciding whether he wants to play and who he wants to play with in the case that he does want to come back. The 39 year old is likely Hall of Fame bound, and still a very capable contributor with his ability to space the floor with his picture-perfect jump shot.
As the Cavaliers GM alluded to, there’s not a contending team in the league that likely wouldn’t find a way to make room for Allen, if they don’t have a spot reserved for him already.
However, the Cavaliers, with James serving as the lead recruiter, could have an advantage other teams are unable to match. The Cavaliers do offer somewhat of an ideal situation for Allen at this point of his career. There’s plenty of young talent to help carry the load during the regular season and keep his minutes down, and enough star presence with James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love for Allen to play off of in the postseason.
Allen has been non-committal about playing in ’14-15, but given the immense amount of interest and the fact that teams are willing to wait as long as it takes for him to make a decision, if he decides not to play, it’s solely going to be because he’s at peace with walking away right now, not a lack of suitors.
“He’s super stubborn,” revealed Wyc Grousbeck, adding Rondo is a good, generous kid who loves being in Boston. “I don’t know how coachable he really is.
“I know if you ask [former, long-time head coach] Doc [Rivers], ‘Was he the most coachable guy, or in the top half, 50 percent,’ he’d say, ‘No, he’s in the bottom 50 percent of being coachable.’ It’s hard with him,” Grousbeck continued.
via Adam Kaufman of Boston.com
Grousbeck’s comments come on the heels of Danny Ainge saying that nobody is untradeable, even though he is not actively looking to trade the former All-Star point guard.
With Rondo heading towards unrestricted free agency, though, the Celtics are going to be forced to consider trading him or risk potentially losing him for nothing this offseason. The Celtics will possess his Bird rights and the ability to offer him more than any other team, but their willingness to keep him could be determined by how he handles being a part of a rebuilding squad in the first half of the season.
At the age of 28, Rondo has grown accustomed to winning and competing for a championship, something that it looks like the Celtics are admittedly not in a position to do right now. He’s publicly stated that he’s committed to Boston, doesn’t like change and wants to stay there, but there have also been private rumblings that he’s unhappy and wants out as well.
No matter what, the Celtics should question their ability to keep him long-term if they’re not able to field a contender around him sooner rather than later. There will undoubtedly be a long list of suitors, potentially ones closer to contention, after him this offseason, so the Celtics may be better off trying to extract some value for him mid-season rather than taking the risk of letting him hit the open market.
The Los Angeles Lakers have signed shooting guard Wayne Ellington, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak.
The five-year NBA veteran holds career averages of 6.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 assists over 312 games (35 starts) with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Memphis Grizzlies, Cleveland Cavaliers, and most recently, the Dallas Mavericks. Last season in Dallas, Ellington shot career-bests from the field (.437) and three-point range (.424), appearing in the postseason for the first time in his career.
The 26-year-old Ellington played three seasons at the University of North Carolina (2006-09), leading the Tar Heels to the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship in 2009 while being named Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
via NBA Press Releases
Although a late signee, Ellington has a good chance to make the Lakers’ opening day roster because of his specialist skill of being able to knock down open jump shots. He has a history with Lakers head coach Byron Scott stemming from their days together in Cleveland back in 2013 and the Lakers are a team that will give him the opportunity to prove that he belongs during training camp and in the preseason. With Kobe Bryant reportedly looking “strong” after playing 5-on-5 with some of his new teammates, the Lakers could certainly use another capable shooter to help space the floor around him.
