NBA Rumors: Analyzing Buzz Surrounding Thomas Robinson and Pero Antic
The madness of the NBA trade deadline is officially in the rearview mirror, but rumors of player acquisitions and team intentions for the offseason continue.
At this point in the season, players who were recently acquired as part of a trade can either be bought out of their contracts by their new team or request to be placed on waivers. In both scenarios, a player is placed on waivers and can be claimed by a team willing to pay his current salary. If that player clears waivers, he becomes a free agent and can sign with whomever he likes.
Keep that situation in mind, as it plays a crucial role in one of the rumors to recently surface on the Web. Here's a look at that buzz, followed by another interesting piece of information regarding one team's potential offseason plans.
Thomas Robinson was part of a five-player deal at the trade deadline that sent him from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Denver Nuggets. The power forward was just one of the many assets Portland traded in exchange for Arron Afflalo, and he didn't appear intent on remaining in Denver long.
Shortly after his acquisition, Robinson agreed to a buyout with the Nuggets due to a lack of on-court time, via ESPN's Jeff Goodman:
It didn't take long for Robinson to find a new home in the NBA, via Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
Or so he thought.
Robinson did agree to terms with the Brooklyn Nets; however, he was still on the waiver wire at the time. Since any team still had the right to swoop in and claim him, the Philadelphia 76ers took the opportunity to blindside Brooklyn, grabbing Robinson and his 2014 salary of $3.678 million to meet the Association's salary-floor obligation.
We can go ahead and assume both Robinson and the Nets weren't too happy about that.
Although, if Philadelphia only needed the power forward to fill its salary obligation, it could simply waive him once again, allowing him to finally make his way to Brooklyn. Well, according to Wojnarowski, that won't be the case: "[The Sixers'] initial plan is to keep Robinson and take a look at him in the short-term, league sources told Yahoo Sports."
Philadelphia continues to stockpile draft picks and doesn't have a deep roster, so hanging on to Robinson to assess his fit with the team makes sense. Unfortunately for the Nets, the forward won't be joining them any time soon. Tim Bontemps of the New York Post tweeted the team doesn't have plans on filling its vacant roster spot any time soon:
Robinson is averaging 3.6 points and 4.2 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per his 32 games (four starts) this season with the Trail Blazers. He's shooting 51.6 percent from the floor and 43.8 percent from the free-throw line.
Pero Antic
The Atlanta Hawks continue to dominate this season, holding a 44-12 record and looking like a lock for the East's No. 1 seed in the playoffs. Despite the team's ongoing success this year, it hasn't stopped focusing on the future.
Power forward Pero Antic has been playing as Atlanta's reserve center for most of this season, and he hasn't quite been performing at a high level. In 43 games (two starts) this year, he's averaging 5.7 points and 3.0 rebounds while shooting just 36.2 percent from the floor and 28.7 percent from downtown. That's a significant dip from his past production.
Consequently, head coach Mike Budenholzer had a decision to make. Antic's two-year $2.45 million contract is set to expire after this season, and the coach had to determine if the forward still fit the team's future plans. That question was recently answered.
According to Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Budenholzer appears ready to re-sign Antic over the summer: "Antic is in the final year of the two-year contract he signed with the Hawks. He will be an unrestricted free agent following the season. The Hawks have indicated that they would like to re-sign Antic."
Following a Tuesday practice, the coach elaborated on the decision during a press conference, via Vivlamore:
"It's the same thing we've talked about since Pero got here. He does so many other things well. I do like it when he shoots it and it goes in. That would be preferable. I do think, (with) some people, there is too much emphasis put on him shooting – making, not making. When you look at his impact on the game and all kinds of different statistical things, he is a huge positive. We tell him to keep shooting. We believe in him and he'll make shots.
"
Antic still has the remainder of the season and the playoffs to prove he can get things turned around; however, if Antic's shooting woes continue during the postseason, the coach will have yet another decision to make about his rotation. This appears to be an instance in which only time will tell.
