The Sacramento Kings gave up a lot to get J.J. Hickson but now have reached an agreement to buy him out of the last few months of his contract. Instead of letting Hickson become a restricted free agent this offseason, the Kings have let him hit the waiver wire and the Phoenix Suns are reportedly one of two teams interested.
J.J. Hickson agrees to buyout with Kings - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
The Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns have emerged as frontrunners for potential free agent J.J. Hickson, league sources told Yahoo! Sports...He needs to clear waivers for him to become a free agent. He wants a team where he’ll have a chance to get playing time and restore his value.
It's not clear who's minutes Hickson would take on a Suns team that already has Marcin Gortat and Robin Lopez playing well at the center position and Channing Frye, Markieff Morris and Hakim Warrick at power forward. In theory, Hickson, 6-9, would play behind Frye and push the rookie to the bench.
That seems a bit far fetched, but don't forget that GM Lance Blanks was in Cleveland when the Cavs drafted Hickson in 2008 so there's some familiarity there. You will also recall that the Cavs reportedly tried to trade Hickson for Amare Stoudemire in 2010.
I can't say I've spent a lot of my life watching J.J. Hickson, but I seem to recall him being a decent roll man on the pick and roll. The stats seem to indicate that he's a good defensive rebounder.
I don't recall his defense being very good but that was a year or two ago and he's young. He doesn't seem to have much range but he does have long arms and is athletic and at one point in his life had a few decent post moves.
I've reached out to the Suns for confirmation or denial. So far, no response. We'll see, I wouldn't hold my breath. My gut says this is an agent floating the Suns as an interested party in order to drive up value for his client. Then again, maybe Blanks really likes him. We'll see.
In a COMPLETELY unrelated matter, here's Dudley's dunk debunked...
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