Bob Myers On Warriors Offseason
Warriors general manager Bob Myers spoke today about several different issues regarding how his team's fared this offseason, and what the expectations are for next year, writes CSNBayArea.com.
On the re-signing of Brandon Rush: Obviously he had a great year shooting the basketball. It also gives us some continuity. There are some new players on the team. Bringing Brandon back—as a player who has been with our coaching staff and some of our other players was important.
On the signing of Carl Landry: We just think he’ll help our core group, and we’re thrilled to have him on our team. It’s nice see a player come to our team and not feel like we had to go crazy financially to get him. So we’re hopefully turning the corner to the playoffs—to where people want to play for us because they think we have a chance to win.
Myers went on to say that promising a playoff berth would be "counterintuitive", and that his team has made moves to improve the roster since last year's trading deadline.
Anthony Tolliver Weighing Free Agent Options
THURSDAY, 2:54pm: The Pacers are also displaying interest in Tolliver, according to Tomasson (via Twitter). Nothing is imminent yet, however.
WEDNESDAY, 7:45pm: Free agent forward Anthony Tolliver said the Wizards have been calling him daily, making them a potential front-runner for the four-year veteran, Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida reports. Tolliver says the Bobcats have reached out to him recently as well, Tomasson writes, and the Timberwolves, who renounced his rights earlier this summer to clear cap space, remain in the running, too. Tolliver is seeking a deal that would give him close to the $2MM he made last year in Minnesota (All Sulia links).
Last month reports suggested the Timberwolves and Cavs were in the lead for Tolliver, but the Cavs have faded from consideration. Tolliver told Tomasson he could still envision a return to the Wolves despite the addition of Andrei Kirilenko, who can play both forward positions just as Tolliver does (Sulia link).
Tolliver's points per game regressed for the second season in a row last year, as he averaged 4.1 PPG in 17.3 minutes a night. His three-point shooting, a strength at 40.9% in 2010/11, dipped to 24.8% this past season. A team willing to give the 27-year-old more than a minimum deal would be banking on a repeat of his production in 2009/10, when he averaged career highs of 11.7 PPG, 7.0 RPG and 31.0 MPG.
Riley: Heat Don’t Need To Add Center
In an appearance on 560 WQAM in Miami, Heat president Pat Riley acknowledged that the team could use another big man, but said he didn't view it as an essential addition, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
"We definitely are going to continue to look for somebody in that spot," Riley said. "But unless there's an injury, we really don't need a center…. We signed Chris [Bosh], basically, in my mind, fully in my mind, not in the back of my mind, he was probably going to be our center in critical situations. Chris Bosh is a power forward, he's a Tim Duncan-type player, but when you watch the San Antonio Spurs play, Tim is in the middle. That's all there is to it."
Since acquiring their Big Three, the Heat have dealt with a hole at the center position, rotating players like Joel Anthony, Udonis Haslem, Dexter Pittman, and Ronny Turiaf in and out of the spot, with mixed results. Still, it's hard to argue with Riley when he says adding a big isn't a necessity, considering the team is coming off a championship.
If the Heat do add a big man, Darko Milicic has been rumored as one possibility. Winderman also points to Mickell Gladness and second-round pick Justin Hamilton as low-cost options. With no mid-level or bi-annual exceptions left to sign free agents, the Heat could only offer minimum-salary contracts.
Timberwolves Sign Greg Stiemsma
2:10pm: Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune tweets that Stiemsma's deal with the Wolves includes a non-guaranteed second year. It will be worth the $2.575MM room exception, says Zgoda (Twitter link).
AUGUST 2ND, 1:35pm: Stiemsma has officially signed with the Timberwolves, according to the team's official PR Twitter feed.
JULY 24TH, 8:00am: The Celtics have withdrawn their qualifying offer to Stiemsma, making him an unrestricted free agent, according to Ray Richardson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. This clears the way for the Timberwolves to sign the big man outright.
JULY 22ND, 4:26pm: The deal is for one year and about $3MM, tweets A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com.
3:59pm: The Timberwolves and Greg Stiemsma have agreed to terms on a contract, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune reports (Twitter link). The deal will be for an amount greater than the $1.957MM biannual exception the Celtics were limited to giving him, Zgoda tweets, and comes after Stiemsma's agent Mike Naiditch set today as the deadline for Minnesota to sign Stiemsma at a rate cheaper than he could get elsewhere. Stiemsma reportedly received a significant offer from another team. A report earlier in the week suggested the Wolves would offer him a deal close to $3MM a year.
Though the Celtics were said to be likely to rescind his qualifying offer as of last night, they haven't done so, meaning he's technically still a restricted free agent. Since the Celtics, who are over the cap, only have non-Bird rights on Stiemsma and can't exceed the value of the biannual exception to keep him, they'll be unable to match the Wolves' offer.
Stiemsma averaged 2.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks as a first-year minimum-salary player for the Celtics last season. He went undrafted out of Wisconsin in 2008 and played in the D-League before getting his shot in Boston.
Kenyon Martin Not Interested In Minimum Salary
The Knicks may still add a power forward to their roster this summer, and Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com notes that Kenyon Martin could be the best fit for New York. However, a source tells Zwerling that Martin won't sign for the veteran's minimum, which is all the Knicks have left to offer (Twitter link).
Despite signing well after the season was underway, Martin managed to land a $2.5MM contract with the Clippers in 2011/12, earning the team's full room exception. However, in the 42 games he played for the Clips, Martin established career-lows in many statistical categories — the former first overall pick averaged just 5.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 9.9 PER, perhaps reducing his appeal this summer. If the 34-year-old were to sign for the veteran's minimum for 2012/13, he'd earn just $1,352,181, by far his lowest salary since he entered the league.
If Martin remains unwilling to sign a minimum-salary deal, Andray Blatche could be an option for the Knicks, Zwerling suggests (via Twitter). Because he's still being paid by the Wizards, the amnestied Blatche may be more open to signing for the veteran's minimum.
Lakers Interested In Leandro Barbosa?
Having recently been linked to Jodie Meeks and C.J. Miles, the Lakers are clearly looking to add at least one more player to improve their backcourt and wing depth. Besides Meeks and Miles, the Lakers may also be targeting Leandro Barbosa. ESPN.com's Marc Stein tweets that he's hearing out of the Team Brazil camp that the Lakers have interest in the veteran combo guard.
The Lakers have expressed a reluctance over the last few weeks to use their taxpayer mid-level exception (worth $3.09MM), and managed to sign a solid rotation piece in Antawn Jamison to the veteran's minimum, when Jamison likely could've signed for more money with another club. The team is presumably hoping that Meeks, Miles, Barbosa, or another player will be open to taking a discount to play for a title contender in Los Angeles.
For his part, Barbosa is reportedly seeking a multiyear deal, and the fact that he's shown interest in the Cavaliers, the team with the most remaining cap space, suggests he's not looking to settle for a minimum-salary contract. The 29-year-old spent the 2011/12 season with the Raptors and Pacers, averaging 11.1 points in 21.6 minutes per game in 64 overall contests.
Extension Candidate: Jrue Holiday
When Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reported a month ago that Jrue Holiday would be seeking a maximum extension this offseason, the reactions across the board were fairly similar. The consensus: Good luck with that. While Holiday is evolving into a solid point guard and has made strides since debuting for the 76ers in 2009, his production to date doesn't seem worthy of a maximum salary. But what sort of price tag could the Sixers be facing if they decide to sign Holiday to a long-term deal in the next few months? Let's take a look….
After averaging 14.0 points and 6.5 assists per game in 2010/11, Holiday's numbers regressed slightly in 2011/12, to 13.5 points and 4.5 assists. However, he's proven to be durable, starting all but one game in the last two seasons for the Sixers. And considering he's just turned 22, you have to think Holiday's slight step back this past season is just a blip on the radar, and that he'll continue to improve rather than heading in the other direction.
Still, if he hopes to sign an extension, Holiday has to recognize that the Sixers can't just pay for his potential upside. The team's potential contract offer will take into account the 6'3" guard's career production to date. So perhaps it would be useful to compare Holiday's numbers to those of a couple other young point guards. Mike Conley signed a long-term extension with the Grizzlies after three seasons in the league in 2010, and Ty Lawson is eligible for an extension with the Nuggets this summer, as he heads into his fourth year. Here are a few career averages for the three guards as they headed into the final years of their rookie contracts:
Although many of these numbers look awfully similar across the board, it's not hard to see that Lawson's efficient play gives him the advantage over the rest of the group. And while Holiday's rates compare favorably to Conley's, they don't suggest that he has a huge leg up on the Grizzlies' point guard.
Now, there are other factors to consider — Conley was nearly a year older than Holiday at the same points in their careers, and the former Buckeye signed his contract under a different Collective Bargaining Agreement. Nonetheless, it's hard to see why Holiday should receive much more than the five years and $40MM that Conley received on his first long-term deal. Particularly when an extension for Lawson, which I previewed last week, figures to be worth less than the max, perhaps $11-12MM annually. If Conley landed $8MM per year and Lawson can get $11-12MM, it makes sense that Holiday should fall somewhere in between the two. Something in the neighborhood of four years and $40MM for Holiday could work for both him and the Sixers.
The Sixers and Holiday's representatives will have plenty of time to negotiate an extension between now and the start of the season on October 30th, and I'd expect Philadelphia to make an offer close to the four years and $40MM I'm suggesting. But it wouldn't surprise me to see Holiday decline that offer and play out the season. If he keeps improving in 2012/13, it will only boost his stock, and could potentially earn him a more lucrative offer sheet from a rival team next summer, when he hits restricted free agency.
He may not be a maximum-salary player, but Holiday is a good bet to sign a very lucrative deal within the next year. Whether that happens this offseason or next summer, with the Sixers or another club, remains to be seen.
James Singleton Passes On Wizards’ Offer
James Singleton appears to have moved on from the Wizards and will explore other opportunities. His agent tells Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner that Singleton has passed on Washington's contract offer (Twitter link). According to Michael Lee of the Washington Post, the Wizards were unwilling to offer more than the veteran's minimum for the forward (Twitter link).
Singleton was impressive in the final month of the 2011/12 season with the Wizards, initially joining the club on a 10-day contract before signing for the rest of the year. In 12 games, the 31-year-old averaged 8.2 PPG on 54.7% shooting in 21.8 minutes per contest. Those averages, along with his 19.6 PER, were all career highs.
Still, it's hard to imagine Singleton earning more than a minimum-salary deal this summer, as the five-year NBA veteran has never been more than a bench player. If he doesn't get an NBA offer he likes, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Singleton sign overseas — the Murray State product has shown a willingness to travel in the past, having played in Italy, Spain, China over the course of his career.
International Moves: McCalebb, White, Roberts
We haven't been keeping up with international free agent signings this summer like we have with NBA transactions, but occasionally there are a few items of interest to pass along. Here are a few notable recent moves from overseas:
- Top international player Bo McCalebb will remain overseas rather than making the leap to the NBA anytime soon. As Emiliano Carchia of Sportando writes, Turkey's Fenerbahce Ulker announced today that they've signed the former University of New Orleans standout. The deal will be for three years, with a third-year option.
- 2010 Pistons second-round pick Terrico White has signed in Serbia with Radnicki Kragujevac, according to Carchia.
- According to various reports, Brian Roberts, who had been playing in Germany, has left his team and will receive a training camp invite from the Hornets. This move has yet to be confirmed by any Hornets beat writer or the team itself.
- Jarvis Varnado, who was selected 41st overall by the Heat in the 2010 draft, is hoping to sign with Miami this summer, and isn't considering offers overseas at the moment, says Carchia.
Odds & Ends: Brewer, Raptors, Blazers, Olympics
As August begins, four deals became official today while another is on its way, as Roger Mason and the Hornets agreed to terms. There's plenty left to resolve this summer, with the Dwight Howard saga continuing to loom as the league's largest story. Two of the most significant plotlines don't involve players. The Blazers cut their list of coaching candidates in half today, while the Clippers continue to operate without a general manager. Here's what's up around the Association tonight:
- In a two–part interview with Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com, Ronnie Brewer explains why he turned down offers with more years and more money to sign for the minimum with the Knicks.
- Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun doesn't expect any more offseason movement for the Raptors (Sulia link).
- Jason Quick of The Oregonian notes that Terry Stotts and Kaleb Canales, the remaining candidates to coach the Blazers, are both clients of agent Warren LeGarie, who also represents GM Neil Olshey. Quick adds that since LeGarie represents more coaches than any other agent, it could simply be a coincidence (Twitter links).
- Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM.com says it would be shortsighted for the NBA to push for an age limit in the Olympics, arguing the exposure players get on a worldwide stage at the Olympics helps promote the NBA product internationally.