2012 July | Hoops Rumors

Raja Bell Close To Buyout With Jazz

July 30th, 2012 at 7:33pm CST by Ryan Raroque

JULY 30: Bell's buyout with the Jazz hasn't been finalized and there's a holdup in negotiations, a league source tells Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune (via Twitter). Utah would like to sign off on Bell's buyout and move on from last season's drama while Bell's camp has yet to agree to the terms, Smith tweets.

JULY 8: Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune tweets that Raja Bell is on the verge of a buyout with the Jazz. The 6'5'' shooting guard averaged 6.4 PPG and shot 39.1% from three point range in 34 games last season. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo (via Twitter) says that Bell could be interested in returning to his hometown to play for the Heat. The Lakers could also be a possibility, as the 35-year-old guard would be reunited with former-Suns teammate Steve Nash.

Smith also mentions that Bell holds no ill-will toward the Jazz and greatly respects GM Kevin O'Connor. The 12-year-veteran elaborated further on his current situation with Smith (Sulia link):

"We typically play it pretty close to the vest. [Agent] Herb [Rudoy] and I are pretty private. But, in essence, [I'm] pretty much a free agent. I don't think the Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed. But we've been given the greenlight by Utah to go ahead and find something that works for us. We've agreed to the terms. So I think it's safe to say now we are in the market again and we're entertaining our options at this point."

During the summer of 2010, Bell signed with Utah despite heavy interest from the Bulls and Lakers. In May of this year, we documented Bell's intentions of moving on from the Jazz and recalled the tension brewing between him and head coach Tyrone Corbin over the course of the season. Although Utah made the playoffs this year, Raja did not play in any of team's postseason games.

Clippers Acquire Willie Green

July 30th, 2012 at 4:21pm CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers have acquired Willie Green from the Hawks in exchange for the draft rights to Sofoklis Schortsanitis, the team announced today in a press release. Green was a free agent, so the deal is a sign-and-trade, as the Hawks confirmed in their own release.

Since Green was coming off a minimum-salary deal and only had Non-Bird Rights, he couldn't have received much of a raise. Still, it's likely more than a minimum-salary deal, since the Clippers could have signed him outright if they intended to pay him the minimum. I would guess the Clips will use the traded player exception acquired in the Reggie Evans trade to absorb Green's salary. Green could sign for a first-year salary up to about $1.48MM, while the Evans trade exception is worth about $1.62MM.

Green, 31, adds a little more depth to a Clippers' backcourt that lost Randy Foye, but added Jamal Crawford and retained Chauncey Billups. Green posted a career-high 13.9 PER for the Hawks in 2011/12, averaging 7.6 PPG and career-best shooting percentages of .471/.442/.857 in 17.4 minutes per game.

For the Hawks, the move nets them a small trade exception (worth Green's 2012/13 salary) along with the rights to Schortsanitis. The Greek center seems unlikely to ever make the leap to the NBA, having been selected by the Clippers in the second round of the 2003 draft. Still, if the Hawks didn't intend to re-sign Green, at least they were able to acquire a small asset for him.

Magic Hire Jacque Vaughn

July 30th, 2012 at 3:43pm CST by Zachary Links

MONDAY, 3:43pm: The Magic have officially hired Vaughn, introducing him in a press conference today (link via NBA.com). According to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (via Twitter), Michael Curry was the only other coaching candidate to meet with the DeVos family.

SATURDAY, 9:55am: The Magic are set to hire Jacque Vaughn as their next head coach, a team official told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. Orlando has issued a press release confirming the news and will introduce their new coach to the media on Monday afternoon.

Vaughn, 37, has spent the last two years as an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio. While the former point guard shared responsibilities with the rest of the Spurs assistant coaching staff, he was not technically among the top three to sit on the bench as those spots belonged to Mike Budenholzer, Don Newman, and Brett Brown.

Magic GM Rob Hennigan has history with Vaughn as he was working for the Spurs when the signed the guard in the summer of 2006. Hennigan cast a wide net in his coaching search, also conducting first-round interviews with Michael Curry, Jeff Hornacek, Michael Malone, Lindsey Hunter, and Brian Shaw. Hunter and Curry both made the final three, but Vaughn was reported to be the frontrunner for some time.

Vaughn will become the successor to Stan Van Gundy, a coach who compiled a 259-135 record during his time in Orlando and guided the club to the 2009 NBA Finals. Of course, Van Gundy's breakup with the Magic was anything but smooth as the coach battled with star center Dwight Howard and upper management.

The question now is whether Vaughn will have the opportunity to coach Howard. Earlier this week, Luke Adams ran down the possible destinations for the six-time All-Star.

Warriors Close To Signing Rush, Landry

July 30th, 2012 at 2:57pm CST by Luke Adams

2:57pm: Bartelstein tells Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle that deals for Rush and Landry could be finalized "within the next day or two" (Twitter link).

2:24pm: The Warriors are closing in on deals with restricted free agent Brandon Rush and unrestricted free agent Carl Landry, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Matt Steinmetz of CSNBayArea.com. Rush and Landry, who are both represented by Bartelstein, could each agree to deals with Golden State by the end of the day, according to Steinmetz.

Landry has been the Warriors' top target for the last couple weeks, as the team looks to add a power forward to its rotation. The former Hornet is arguably the top free agent remaining on the market, but it was unclear whether Golden State had the financial flexibility to make him a competitive offer. SI.com's Zach Lowe tweeted earlier today that the Warriors seem unlikely to be able to sign both Landry and Rush without surpassing the luxury tax threshold.

As for Rush, he has received a little interest from rival teams, including the Lakers, but with the Warriors expected to match any reasonable offer sheet, it seems as if clubs have shied away from formally extending an offer. Bartelstein suggests Rush will simply re-sign with the Warriors rather than signing an offer sheet — in that case, the 27-year-old could either sign his qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent next summer, or work out a multiyear agreement with the team.

If the Warriors are able to finalize deals with Landry and Rush, the team probably won't retain free agent forward Dominic McGuire, says Steinmetz.

Warriors Agree To Terms With Draymond Green

July 30th, 2012 at 2:35pm CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors and Draymond Green have agreed to terms on a contract, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Wojnarowski tweets that Green's deal will be worth $2.6MM over three years, with a team option for year three. $250K of $900K in that third season will be guaranteed, while presumably each of the first two years are fully guaranteed (Twitter link).

Because the Warriors are signing Green for more than the rookie minimum, they figure to be using a portion of their mid-level exception to consummate the deal. If Golden State can also ink Carl Landry to a contract, the veteran forward will likely get most of the rest of the team's MLE.

Green, the 35th overall pick in June's draft, averaged 16.2 points and 10.6 rebounds in his senior year at Michigan State. The 6'8" forward was viewed as a probable late-first-round pick, so it's not surprising that he'll earn a little more than the rookie minimum with the Warriors.

Suns Owner On Offseason, Nash, Childress

July 30th, 2012 at 1:38pm CST by Luke Adams

In his latest column at NBA.com, TNT's David Aldridge takes an extensive look at the Suns' offseason, talking to members of the front office about parting ways with Steve Nash and adding a handful of players in hopes of replacing his production. The piece is a must-read for any Suns fans, with team president Lon Babby and owner Robert Sarver both providing a number of interesting quotes. Here are the highlights from Sarver:

On roster-building and the team's new direction:

"You can't kind of be in no man's land [in the NBA]. You have to be getting better or you have to be getting worse. A number of the fans obviously wanted to keep Steve, but a number of the fans thought we should have moved on last year. In general, I think our fan base was ready for us to move on. The backlash from that wasn't as strong as I thought it could have been. Our fan base was ready for us to get younger. I think we're prepared for it. The reality is that the last two seasons, we were mediocre. I was ready for us to move on."

On wanting to avoid bottoming out, or "tanking":

"We went back and looked at all teams over the last 30 years and how they rebuilt. The reality is that if you go bad for a few years to get good, there's no assurances you're ever going to get good. There are a few exceptions like Oklahoma City, but the majority of the teams have taken six to 10 years to rebuild."

On his willingness to sign-and-trade Nash to the rival Lakers:

"At the end of the day, this just gave us the best option for assets, too, and from a basketball standpoint, if you kind of take the emotion out, it was the best thing for the Suns, for the franchise. I think we've shown in the last couple of years that drafting is one of our strengths, so it kind of played into our strengths. It's one of the things we definitely have to use to move our franchise forward, especially with the new rules with the new CBA."

On amnestying Josh Childress:

"Actually, the Josh thing was my idea. I just felt it made sense. We still felt Josh was a good player. I think the system in which we play, especially with Steve where we need to spread the floor, maybe wasn't the best for him. I think he's good and will still be a good player, but freeing up that cap space allowed us to have more opportunities down the road, to have that space for free agents or to be able to make trades. It was part of being able to make a move for [Luis] Scola and still being able to have the cap space to make other moves next summer."

Odds & Ends: Blazers, Przybilla, Gentry, Villanueva

July 30th, 2012 at 12:35pm CST by Luke Adams

With Olympic basketball underway in London, new Timberwolves Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved led the Russian squad to a victory over Great Britain in each team's first game. Former NBA veteran Pops Mensah-Bonsu scored 22 points for Britain, and has also reportedly agreed to play in Israel for the coming season. Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (via Twitter) confirms an Israel Today report suggesting that Mensah-Bonsu has agreed to terms with Maccabi Tel Aviv. The 28-year-old had played in regular-season games for the Mavericks, Spurs, Raptors, Rockets, and Hornets in four NBA seasons.

Let's round up a few more Monday odds and ends….

The Trail Blazers will interview their final four coaching candidates today and tomorrow, starting with Steve Clifford today, tweets Jason Quick of the Oregonian. Kaleb Canales, Terry Stotts, and Elston Turner are the other finalists.
Joel Przybilla says he's meeting with teams this week and will decide "really soon" where he'll play in 2012/13, though he didn't say if the Blazers are still in the running, according to Quick (Twitter links). We heard last week that the Bucks, Blazers, and Mavericks were all interested in the big center.
Suns coach Alvin Gentry isn't concerned that the team hasn't extended his contract, which will expire at the end of the coming season. "My view is if a person has a three-year contract, you assess it at the end of three years," said GM Lon Babby, and Gentry is on board with that approach, as he tells Randy Hill of FOX Sports Arizona.
Plenty of Pistons fans were disappointed that Detroit didn't amnesty Charlie Villanueva earlier this month, but the veteran forward tells Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press that he plans to take advantage of the opportunity and use fans' scorn as motivation.

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July 30th, 2012 at 12:09pm CST by Luke Adams

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Kyler On Evans, Fredette, Iguodala, Calderon

July 30th, 2012 at 9:55am CST by Luke Adams

While Dwight Howard is still the league's most prominent trade candidate, as he has been since Chris Paul was dealt to the Clippers, there are a number of other players that could potentially be on the move in the coming months. In his latest NBA AM piece for HoopsWorld, Steve Kyler provides updates on a few of those players. Here are the highlights:

While the Kings were entertaining trades offers for Tyreke Evans around the time of the draft, they've since cooled on the idea of dealing him, according to Kyler. Still, Sacramento may decide to pass on a long-term extension for the 22-year-old. Kyler hears that both Evans and teammate Jimmer Fredette could be open to being moved.
It's "highly unlikely" that the Sixers will trade Andre Iguodala before the season begins. Sources tell Kyler that any move involving Iguodala is probably something that would happen down the road.
Kyler hears that Jose Calderon wasn't all that happy with the way the Raptors pursued Steve Nash and Kyle Lowry this offseason, and that Toronto is willing to accomodate a trade. There's not much of a market for Calderon at this point, but the Raps believe they could land an asset for him before the trade deadline.

Sonny Weems Signs With CSKA Moscow

July 30th, 2012 at 8:19am CST by Luke Adams

A pair of players from last year's CSKA Moscow squad have made the jump to the NBA this summer, as Alexey Shved and Andrei Kirilenko both signed deals with the Timberwolves. Sonny Weems, however, is heading in the other direction. CSKA Moscow has officially signed Weems to a three-year deal, the team announced in a press release (hat tip to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando).

Weems, who spent three seasons in the NBA from 2008-11 with the Nuggets and Raptors, also played overseas in 2011/12, signing with Lithiuana's Zalgiris B.C. during the lockout. After averaging 7.7 points and 2.5 rebounds in 20.3 minutes per contest over the course of 140 NBA games, Weems averaged 15.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game with Zalgiris in Euroleague action.

The Knicks were said to have interest in Weems before signing Ronnie Brewer, and the Celtics also had some interest before adding Jason Terry and Courtney Lee. Weems was still seeking an NBA contract two weeks ago, but considering the amount of interested teams that decided to go in another directions, I speculated during last week's live chat that the 26-year-old could end up back overseas.

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