NBA Rumors: Latest Rumblings on Will Bynum, Chase Budinger and More
The NBA season is less than 10 days away, which means teams are running out of time to finalize their rosters and make the necessary cuts or trades before the games start to count in the standings.
With that realization hovering over the league, there are a handful of rumors circulating regarding roster spots and impending moves. Here are a few of them involving the Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Will Bynum on the way out in Boston?
Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald noted that Will Bynum could be on the way out in Boston before he even gets a chance to play a regular-season game in Celtic green:
Bynum appeared in 56 games for the Detroit Pistons a year ago and posted nightly averages of 8.7 points, 3.9 assists, 1.8 rebounds and 0.7 steals. He also shot 42.8 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from behind the three-point line.
At his best, Bynum is a solid minutes-eater at point guard who can come in and play passable defense and provide a scoring spark off the bench. However, he has seven years in the league under his belt and has probably reached his peak, which doesn’t exactly mesh with the infusion of youth and rebuilding going on in Boston.
Rajon Rondo and Marcus Smart will likely see the majority of the point guard minutes throughout the season, which wouldn’t leave much opportunity remaining for Bynum.
Ironically, Boston recently acquired Bynum in a trade with the Detroit Pistons that saw the Celtics give up Joel Anthony.
ESPN’s Marc Stein provided some updates on Bynum, so it looks like it will be worth keeping an eye on this situation:
Chase Budinger on the Trade Block?
Darren Wolfson of 1500ESPN.com pointed out that Chase Budinger’s days with the Timberwolves may be limited, although perhaps not in the immediate future:
Minnesota recently waived Kyrylo Fesenko to bring the roster down to 17 players, but it needs to trim that number to 15 before opening night. Brady Heslip is in camp on a non-guaranteed deal and could be one of those additional two players to go, and it is natural to wonder if Budinger could be the other if a deal can’t be worked out in time.
Budinger averaged 6.7 points and 2.5 rebounds a night in 41 games for the Timberwolves last year. He also only played in 23 games the season before, so there is clearly some concern in the durability department.
As for Thomas Robinson, he was the fifth overall pick in the 2012 draft but has largely disappointed with career averages of 4.8 points and 4.4 rebounds a night. Still, he is only 23 years old and would make some sense on a Minnesota team that is rebuilding and very young.
Perhaps Robinson, along with Anthony Bennett, could tap into that potential that made him such an intriguing draft pick in the first place and give the Timberwolves yet another young asset moving forward.
Moves to be Made in Cleveland
The Cleveland Cavaliers waived Stephen Holt and Chris Crawford on Sunday, which trimmed the roster down to 16. That means they still need to make a move to get that number to 15 by opening night.
Both Holt and Crawford will likely go to the team’s D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge.
Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com added an interesting caveat to the report about Holt and Crawford, “The Cavaliers, at minimum, will need to make one more cut before the regular season begins, but it's likely they will shave off two more to leave a roster spot open for potential free agents.”
You don’t have to be a diehard basketball fan to make the connection between that tidbit and Ray Allen, who has yet to officially sign with anyone this offseason.
Allen has been connected to the Cavaliers and former teammate LeBron James throughout the summer and is likely the free agent that would inspire Cleveland to leave that roster spot open.
Allen commented on his offseason process, via Don Amore of the Hartford Courant, "I'm not in any rush [to make a decision]. I've played 18 years, and the way I look at my career, I'm content with everything that I've done. I just want to take this summer and see how it goes."
Allen would give Cleveland yet another lethal three-point shooter to go along with guys like Dion Waiters, Mike Miller, James Jones and Kevin Love. James will certainly have his pick of scorers to dish to when the opposing defenses collapse on his penetration.
Sometimes, the rich really do get richer.
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