Former Cavaliers power forward Samardo Samuels has signed with Israeli club Hapoel Jerusalem, David Pick of Eurobasket reports. The move had appeared close since earlier this week. Samardo's deal will cover two months and pay him $50K, excluding any extra cash he may earn with the team in postseason play. That pales in comparison to the $356,833 worth of prorated minimum salary he garnered for a partial season in the NBA with Cleveland this year.

The Cavs waived Samuels in January, right before his contract would have become fully guaranteed for the season. He was in the third year of a deal he signed with the team after going undrafted out of Louisville in 2010. Samuels averaged 3.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 10.9 minutes per game for Cleveland this year, a decline from the 7.8 PPG and 4.3 RPG he put up in 18.9 minutes per contest as a rookie. Despite interest from the Nets and Thunder, and later the Grizzlies, Samuels signed in the D-League shortly after his release from the Cavs and notched 19.8 PPG and 10.3 RPG in 32 games for the Reno Bighorns.

Hapoel Jerusalem had Craig Smith, another ex-NBA power forward, on its roster until he experienced a falling out with head coach Sharon Drucker, prompting the team to cut Smith loose in March. Among the other players the team considered before deciding on Samuels were Othello Hunter, who spent parts of two seasons with the Hawks in 2008/09 and 2009/10, and Rick Jackson, who was in camp this past fall with the Warriors.

With seven playoff spots clinched and the Bucks likely to lock their spot up as soon as this weekend, there won't be much late-season drama in the Eastern Conference. But seeding is still on the line, and a win for the Bulls tonight over the Nets would increase the likelihood of the two teams playing each other in the first round later this month. As we look forward to that game, let's check out a few notes from around the conference....

• Although he and the Bulls agreed to a contract extension way back in October, it took head coach Tom Thibodeau a while to actually sign his new contract, with multiple reports in February and March indicating that he had yet to do so. Thibodeau confirmed today, however, that he has signed the agreement, telling Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com that the delay was a non-issue.
• Jannero Pargo inked a deal yesterday to remain with the Bobcats for the rest of this season, but he'd like to stay in Charlotte beyond this year, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. It's not clear yet whether Pargo's deal with the Bobcats includes a non-guaranteed option for 2013/14, as many late-season agreements do.
• Despite spending the first few years of his career overseas before making the jump to the NBA, Nets forward Mirza Teletovic has no intention of returning to Europe, as Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News writes.
• One player who is heading overseas is Samardo Samuels, who was waived by the Cavaliers earlier this season. Despite reportedly drawing some interest from the Nets and others, Samuels didn't land with another NBA team, and is close to signing with Hapoel Jerusalem in Israel, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.
• Celtics president Danny Ainge is also overseas this week, having traveled to Europe on a scouting trip, says Aris Barkas of EuroHoops.net. According to Barkas, Ainge was in Volos, Greece to watch 18-year-old prospect Giannis Adetokunbo, who is expected to enter this year's draft.

WEDNESDAY, 8:07am: Chris Vernon adds yet another name to the list of possibilities for the Grizzlies, tweeting that the club is thinking about signing Josh Childress. Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal also adds (via Twitter) that the Grizzlies' interest in Vujacic is real, and that he'd be given a guarantee if it made financial sense to buy out his contract overseas.

TUESDAY, 7:28pm: Michael Redd has also been mentioned as a possibility, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio.

12:38pm: Samardo Samuels is also under consideration for the Grizzlies, says Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio (Twitter link).

10:33am: In addition to West and Walker, the Grizzlies are also considering Eddie House, Micah Downs, and Joe Ingles, tweets Vernon.

9:39am: Vernon clarifies in a second tweet that there was a misunderstanding between him and his source, and that the Grizzlies are only considering West and Walker, rather than definitely intending to sign them.

9:11am: Because the Grizzlies had already been carrying the minimum 13 players on their roster, their three-for-one trade with the Cavaliers will leave them two players short of the minimum. To fill out the roster, Memphis is expected to sign Delonte West and Bill Walker, reports Chris Vernon of 92.9FM ESPN in Memphis (Twitter link).

According to Vernon, the Grizzlies will also sign Sasha Vujacic, though we heard back in August that Vujacic's contract in Turkey wouldn't let him return to the NBA this season, so it's unclear if that has changed. According to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (via Twitter) and Istanbul-based reporter Ismail Senol (via Twitter), Vujacic won't be leaving Turkey's Anadolu Efes. If they add West and Walker, the Grizzlies would have reached the 13-man minimum, so there'd be no need to immediately add a 14th player anyway.

West, 29, was in camp with the Mavericks this year on a guaranteed minimum-salary contract, but fell out of favor with the team and was released just before the regular season got underway. He had a productive year in Dallas in 2011/12 though, posting a career-high 15.3 PER in 44 games, including 33 starts. Walker, meanwhile, spent most of last season with the Knicks before being released just before the playoffs. The 25-year-old averaged 5.9 PPG in 32 contests for New York in '11/12.

Even if the Grizzlies sign a pair of players to rest-of-season deals, the team shouldn't have to worry about going back over the tax threshold. In each instance, Memphis would only be on the hook for a pro-rated portion of the minimum salary, an amount small enough that the Grizz would remain under the tax line.

3:49pm: Sam Amico of FoxSportsOhio.com reports that the Brooklyn Nets and Oklahoma City Thunder may have interest in signing Samuels.

12:14pm: The Cavs have waived power forward Samardo Samuels, the team announced. The team had until Monday to place him on waivers in order to avoid paying his minimum-salary contract for the rest of the season. The move leaves the Cavs with 14 players, 11 of whom are on fully guaranteed deals. Daniel Gibson's contract is partially guaranteed for $2.49MM, while Shaun Livingston and Kevin Jones are without any guarantee.

Samuels' deal included a partial guarantee of $200K, but since he's already earned more than that amount this season, Cleveland doesn't owe him any more money. He was in the final season of a three-year pact he signed with the team after going undrafted in 2010 out of Louisville. The 6'9" native of Jamaica averaged 5.9 points and 3.4 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game for his career, but his numbers have steadily declined since his rookie season. This year, he's down to 3.2PPG, 1.2RPG and 10.9MPG.

Samuels was caught up in a minutes crunch at his position, where he was competing with Jones, Luke Walton and Jon Leuer for playing time behind starter Tristan Thompson. If they want to give him another shot without committing to him for the entire season, the Cavs could opt to bring him back on a 10-day contract, which can be signed starting Monday.  

Today's D-League assignments and recalls:

• Kent Bazemore and Jeremy Tyler continue to bounce back and forth between Golden State and Santa Cruz, having been re-assigned to the D-League by the Warriors. The team announced the move in a press release.
• The Grizzlies have recalled Tony Wroten from their D-League affiliate, according to Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal (via Twitter). The rookie guard had just been sent to the Reno Bighorns last Wednesday.
• The Cavs announced that they have recalled Samardo Samuels from the D-League's Canton Charge.  Samuels, who turns 24 in January, has seen time in 18 games for Cleveland so far this year.
• The Mavericks announced today that they have recalled Jared Cunningham from the Texas Legends of the D-League.  During his seven game stint with the Legends he averaged 18.1 points, 3.0 assists, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.0 steals in 37 minutes per contest.
• The Hornets announced that they have assigned forward Darius Miller to the D-League's Iowa Energy.  Miller has appeared in 23 games this season for the Hornets, averaging 2.0 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game.  New Orleans drafted the 6'8" Kentucky product with the 46th overall pick in the 2012 draft.

Here are Friday's D-League assignments and recalls:

• Miles Plumlee is headed to the D-League, while fellow rookie Orlando Johnson has been recalled to the Pacers, the team announced. It's the third assignment to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants for Plumlee this year, who's averaged 14.4 points and 10.4 rebounds in five D-League contests so far. Johnson led the Mad Ants to victory tonight with a game-high 24 points.  
• The Warriors have recalled Kent Bazemore and Jeremy Tyler to the D-League after being assigned to the Santa Cruz Warriors yesterday, the team announced today in a press release. The duo combined for 49 points in Santa Cruz's 113-101 win last night.
• The Cavaliers have assigned Samardo Samuels to their D-League affiliate, the team announced today in a press release. Samuels will join the Canton Charge in time for tonight's game against the Tulsa 66ers. Samuels, 23, has seen his playing time in Cleveland reduced this season, as he's averaging career-lows in MPG (10.9), PPG (3.2), and PER (6.4), among other categories.

The latest news and notes from around the NBA on Tuesday night:

• Sam Amico of FoxSportsOhio.com says the Cavs can expect an improved Samardo Samuels this season.
• Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express News reports that the Spurs are impressed with DeJuan Blair's training camp.
• Sean Deveney of the Sporting News previews the Mavericks' season and says that their roster is constructed with future free-agent moves in mind.
• Steve Reed of the Associated Press writes (link via the Detroit Free Press) that the Bobcats are expecting Ben Gordon, acquired from the Pistons this summer, to finish games for them this season.
• Alex Raskin of HoopsWorld.com has a list of training-camp invitees with a shot at making NBA rosters this season.

Shams Charania of RealGM had a few interesting tidbits to relay from Bulls camp, writing about how coach Tom Thibodeau personally recruited Nate Robinson, Andre Emmett's fight to earn a contract during training camp and his willingness to sign with the team at any point during the season, and coach Thibodeau's aim to maintain Joakim Noah's minutes during the season. We have quite a few more links to share with news from the Central Division...

• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune notes that despite losing many rotation players from last year's team, Thibodeau likes the versatility of the team's new additions and the flexibility of the roster overall. 
• Pacers insider Mike Wells of IndyStar.com breaks down what he will pay attention to during the team's scrimmage on Friday, particularly Roy Hibbert's positioning, the play of the reserves, Paul George's ball-handling, and how the rookies fare. 
• Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio listed some of his early observations from Cavaliers training camp early on, saying that Dion Waiters' conditioning is not an issue, C.J. Miles is standing out as a perimeter shooting threat, Samardo Samuels and Jon Leuer appear to have earned significant roles, and that the team will have tough roster decisions to make by the end of camp. 
• Cavaliers coach Byron Scott appears especially impressed with Leuer, who the team had claimed off waivers in July. "I just don't think he knows how good he can be," said Scott (according to a tweet by Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer). Jason Lloyd of the Beacon Journal elaborates about Samuels' hard work this past summer, shedding 20 pounds since the end of last season and has cut down his body fat from 15 percent to between six and seven percent. 
• Jonny Flynn and Terrence Williams, the sixth and ninth picks of the 2009 NBA draft respectively, find themselves vying for guaranteed contracts on the Pistons roster. David Mayo of MLive.com writes about their thoughts on the opportunity as well as head coach Lawrence Frank's firm belief that both are NBA players. Frank says that he's liked what he's seen from Flynn and Williams in camp so far, even pointing out that he sees Williams as a point guard (and not a wing player).  

With the season right around the corner, tons of speculation surrounds positional rotations on several teams. Here are a few recent articles that shine a little light on where certain players currently stand on their team's respective depth charts.

• Terry Pluto from The Cleveland Plain Dealer writes that Samardo Samuels will be fighting for a spot in the Cavaliers front court next season, but with the addition of Tyler Zeller and the return of Anderson Varejao from injury, it'll be difficult. 
• The Toronto Star's Doug Smith believes that with six players in front of him, rookie Quincy Acy will have a very difficult time cracking the Raptors front court rotation. 
• With the Sixers offseason addition of Andrew Bynum at center, former center Spencer Hawes will be forced into a role as the team's power forward, writes the Philadelphia Inquirer's John Mitchell.
• Kent Williams of SheridanHoops.com has a few notes worth discussing, including Glen Davis' status as the Magic's starting power forward and J.J. Barea's rapidly decreasing role with the Timberwolves.  

If you were looking forward to watching Kobe Bryant try to drop 38 points on Sacramento tonight to win the scoring title, you may want to make alternate plans. According to Sam Amick of SI.com (via Twitter), Lakers coach Mike Brown says Bryant won't play in tonight's game, meaning Kevin Durant will finish as the NBA's leading scorer for the third straight season. While it would've been fun to see Kobe gun for 38, we have to give props to Durant -- at just 23 years old, he's the youngest player ever to win three scoring titles.

Here are a few more Thursday afternoon odds and ends from around the Association:

• Marcus Camby reiterates to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle that the Rockets will be his first choice in free agency this summer: "A lot of suitors are going to be trying to reach out. This is where I want to be. So hopefully, we can make something work."
• Ben Wallace has appeared headed toward retirement all season, but wants to make sure it's the right decision, as Vince Goodwill of the Detroit News writes. Wallace will sit down with Pistons management and his family and won't rush his final decision.
• Bill Ingram of HoopsWorld believes Harrison Barnes could be the ideal fit for the Raptors in the draft.
• Samardo Samuels and Manny Harris will head into the summer looking to earn themselves a spot on next year's Cavaliers' roster, says Joe Gabriele of Cavs.com. Both players are on non-guaranteed contracts for 2012/13.
• If the Magic let Stan Van Gundy go at season's end, the veteran coach will have no shortage of options, according to Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel.