{"id":834831,"date":"2026-07-31T03:35:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T03:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/834831\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T03:35:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T03:35:18","slug":"southwest-notes-harper-rockets-kcp-grizzlies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/834831\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Notes: Harper, Rockets, KCP, Grizzlies"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an interview with DJ Siddiqi of RG.org<\/a>, Spurs guard Dylan Harper<\/a> said he doesn\u2019t have any specific individual goals in mind as he prepares for his second NBA season. San Antonio advanced to the NBA Finals in 2025\/26, eventually falling to New York in five games.<\/p>\n

\u201cNah, man. I feel like the biggest thing for me in every year is really just getting better every day, learning from the people around me and learning from my own experiences and just trying not to make the same mistakes over and over again,\u201d Harper said. \u201cBut for me, it\u2019s not really just anything personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we all have that one team goal that we felt like that we should have had last year. I feel like that\u2019s really the only thing on that. That\u2019s the only thing that\u2019s on everyone\u2019s mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harper, the second overall pick of last year\u2019s draft, came off the bench during his rookie campaign and told Siddiqi he wouldn\u2019t mind doing so again in 2026\/27.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I feel like regardless, I\u2019m in the NBA,\u201d Harper said. \u201cThere\u2019s only like 450 people in the NBA, and I get a chance to go on the court and play with the best of the best. I feel like those kinds of things and those logistics at the end of the day, in the big scheme of things, it\u2019s not going to affect me and how I approach every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more from around the Southwest Division:<\/p>\n

Who are the biggest winners and losers of the Rockets\u2018 offseason so far? William Guillory of The Athletic<\/a> analyzes that question, listing Alperen Sengun<\/a> as one of the primary winners because he\u2019ll have two veteran guards \u2014 Fred VanVleet<\/a> and free agent addition Marcus Smart<\/a> \u2014 who can help him run the offense. Sengun should also have less burden up front with Steven Adams<\/a> expected to be healthy again following ankle surgery, Guillory notes. As for losers, Guillory points to VanVleet due to his uncertain long-term fit on the team (he picked up his $25MM player option for 2026\/27 and will be a free agent next year) and Reed Sheppard<\/a>, whose role could be reduced with VanVleet and Smart in the backcourt mix.
\nKentavious Caldwell-Pope<\/a>\u2018s buyout with the Grizzlies appears to be mutually beneficial for both the veteran swingman and the team, argues Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal<\/a> (subscription required). As Cole explains, Caldwell-Pope is 33 years old and focused on contending for championships, and Philadelphia certainly seems to fit that bill better than a young Memphis team. Removing Caldwell-Pope from the equation also helps ease the Grizzlies\u2019 roster crunch and he may not have received much playing time anyway with several players vying for minutes at shooting guard and small forward, Cole adds.
\nIn case you missed it, we relayed several Mavericks Notes<\/a> on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an interview with DJ Siddiqi of RG.org, Spurs guard Dylan Harper said he doesn\u2019t have any specific…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[23895,64,63,12842,19703,16117,9034,590,12994,85,19698],"class_list":["post-834831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-alperen-sengun","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dylan-harper","tag-fred-vanvleet","tag-kentavious-caldwell-pope","tag-marcus-smart","tag-nba","tag-reed-sheppard","tag-sports","tag-steven-adams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}