Free Agent Notes: Whiteside, Anderson, Foote
With the 2012/13 basketball season fast approaching both in North America and overseas, players still on the free agent market are looking to find jobs within the next few weeks. Here's the latest on a handful of players still in search of employment:
- The Timberwolves were "encouraged" by Hassan Whiteside's workout yesterday, but haven't decided whether to offer him a contract, tweets Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500.
- Kevin Anderson, who played his college ball at the University of Richmond, worked out with the Cavaliers this week, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. After going undrafted in 2011, Anderson played in France last season.
- Jeff Foote had a brief NBA stint last season when the Hornets signed him to a 10-day contract, but he'll be heading overseas for the coming season. Lithiuanian team Zalgiris Kaunas announced today that they've signed the big man out of Cornell (translation via Sportando).
- In a piece for Ridiculous Upside, Gino Pilato says Allen Iverson, who still wants to return to the NBA, should consider playing in the D-League.
Players Still Eligible To Be Amnestied
Teams that haven't used their amnesty provision to clear an unwanted salary from their cap won't receive another chance to do so until next July, but it's never too early to preview which players could be on the chopping block.
As our amnesty tracker shows, 15 teams have taken advantage of the rule, clearing a total of more than $350MM from their respective salary cap totals. Since clubs can only amnesty one player over the course of this CBA, that means the other half of the NBA's 30 franchises will still have that opportunity over the next few summers.
You can visit our glossary for a full explanation of the amnesty clause, but the essential information is this: To be an amnesty candidate, a player must have signed his contract under the old CBA, and can't have changed teams since the lockout. So Ben Gordon isn't an amnesty candidate for the Bobcats, since the team acquired him via trade. And Landry Fields can't be amnestied by the Raptors, since he signed his deal under the new CBA.
With all that in mind, here are the remaining amnesty candidates for the 15 teams that still have the clause at their disposal. Outstanding salary (guaranteed or non-guaranteed) left on their deals after 2012/13 is noted in parentheses:
Bulls: Joakim Noah ($36.7MM), Carlos Boozer ($32.1MM), Luol Deng ($14.28MM)
Bobcats: Tyrus Thomas ($18.08MM)
Bucks: Drew Gooden ($13.37MM), Larry Sanders ($3.05MM)
Celtics: Rajon Rondo ($24.86MM), Avery Bradley ($2.51MM)
Grizzlies: Zach Randolph ($34.3MM), Mike Conley ($26.08MM)
Hawks: Al Horford ($36MM)
Heat: LeBron James ($61.77MM), Chris Bosh ($61.77MM), Dwyane Wade ($60.49MM), Mike Miller ($12.8MM), Udonis Haslem ($8.96MM), Joel Anthony ($7.6MM)
Jazz: Derrick Favors ($6.01MM), Gordon Hayward ($3.45MM)
Kings: John Salmons ($14.58MM), DeMarcus Cousins ($4.92MM)
Lakers: Kobe Bryant ($30.45MM), Pau Gasol ($19.29MM), Metta World Peace ($7.73MM), Steve Blake ($4MM)
Pelicans: No players eligible
Pistons: Charlie Villanueva ($8.58MM), Greg Monroe ($4.09MM)
Raptors: Andrea Bargnani ($22.25MM), Amir Johnson ($13.6MM), Linas Kleiza ($4.6MM)
Spurs: Tony Parker ($25MM), Matt Bonner ($3.95MM)
Thunder: Kevin Durant ($56.99MM), Kendrick Perkins ($18.63MM), Nick Collison ($4.83MM), Thabo Sefolosha ($3.9MM)
Additional notes on this list:
- Because the Pelicans have no players on their roster eligible to be amnestied, there are essentially only 14 teams left that can use the provision.
- Many of the players on this list have team options for 2013/14. That makes them unlikely to be real amnesty candidates, barring a drastic injury or decline in production between the option decision and the 2013 amnesty period. If a team wants to get rid of one of these players, it could just decline his option.
- World Peace, Villanueva, and Kleiza all have player options for next season. So if any of them end up being amnestied, it will happen just a couple weeks after they've exercised their options to remain with their respective teams.
Knicks Notes: Brewer, Novak, Chandler
In less than two months, the Knicks will travel across town to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to face the Nets in the 2012/13 season opener. It'll be the start of what the NBA is hoping will be a renewed rivalry, and former Knicks president Donnie Walsh is fascinated to see how it plays out.
"I think it’s going to be an unbelievable rivalry," Walsh told Fred Kerber of the New York Post. "The Knicks still will have their fans but the Nets now have an entire borough. And Manhattan and Brooklyn have always been rivals…. Even when New Jersey was really good, the rivalry wasn’t there. This is fantastic for the city, great for Brooklyn. Knick fans are loyal but there are enough people in Brooklyn to support a second team."
Here are a few more of today's Knicks-related items:
- Howard Beck of the New York Times reports that Ronnie Brewer will miss six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his knee (Twitter link).
- Tommy Beer of HoopsWorld writes that the Knicks will certainly be an older team this season, but it remains to be seen whether or not they'll be a better team.
Earlier updates:
- Walsh also told Kerber that he likes the Knicks' roster, and doesn't buy the popular theory that Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire can't play together.
- In a Q&A with Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com, Steve Novak discusses his role, his goals for the season, and the challenge of playing in what could be the NBA's toughest division.
- The Knicks have new attitudes to go along with their new uniforms, according to Anthony Sulla-Heffinger of the New York Post. Within the piece, Tyson Chandler praises his teammates for being willing to give up a month of their summers to participate in a "pre-training camp" starting next week. Chandler also noted that not having to deal with a lockout this summer should put him in far better position heading into his second season with the Knicks.
Tyrone Corbin Talks Jazz Coaching Staff, Roster
After the Jazz announced yesterday that the team had promoted Michael Sanders to be an assistant coach and added Brad Jones to the coaching staff, coach Tyrone Corbin spoke to the media about his staff and his roster heading into the season. Brian T. Smith of the Salt Lake Tribune rounded up Corbin's comments, so let's take a look at the highlights:
On Sanders' work in player development:
"I think I was fortunate last year being able to get Mike as a player development coach. With his experience as a player; the fact he’s been a bench coach in this league…. I thought he did a great job with Enes [Kanter] and Derrick [Favors], even Al [Jefferson] and Paul [Millsap]. After practice, getting them shots in the post and teaching. Working with Enes, especially, on how to use his body some, using low-post moves, and got him up to speed. When we started camp, I didn’t know if we was going to have the opportunity to play Enes in the beginning of training camp. And he continued to work with Mike and did a good job of learning – we were able to get him in the games some last year. I’m extremely happy with the work Mike has done so far."
On adding Jones to Utah's staff:
"For the last few years, as an assistant coach, I thought he’d be great to work with as an assistant coach. Then when I became a head coach, he just became one of the guys that I had — I always keep a list of guys if something happened may be candidates for joining us."
On whether the Jazz players are working out together before training camp:
"They are aware they have to be in great shape when camp starts. We talked about it at the end of the year, we talked about it during the course of the summer. We’ve been out to see some guys. We have a group now in Santa Barbara — we have a great group working to get better. So the guys are working. They’re working together, they’re working individual when they depart and go back to where they’re from or where they stay in the summer."
On having a full offseason and 82-game regular season to incorporate the team's offseason acquisitions:
"I’m anxious to get started, because we have so much expectation of where and who we are and how to get better. We’re anxious to get started to see where we are individually. And we have to build the team again. We’ve added some guys with Mo [Williams] coming over and Marvin Williams… Randy Foye… There’s a lot of questions still around. We have to build a team again. That’s going to be working everyday from day one, to understanding who we are and how we have to work together to be an effective team on the floor."
Raptors Expected To Sign Chris Wright
In addition to inviting Jamaal Magloire to training camp, the Raptors are expecting to bring at least a couple more players to camp to give them the opportunity to earn a roster spot. According to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star, one of those players will be unrestricted free agent forward Chris Wright.
Wright didn't see a ton of playing time in his rookie season last year, but did make it into 24 games for the Warriors, including one start. In 7.8 minutes per game, he averaged 2.9 points and 1.9 rebounds, good for an 18.6 PER in a very small sample size. The 24-year-old went undrafted out of Dayton in 2011, and also played 13 D-League games in 2011/12, averaging 17.8 PPG and 8.8 RPG for Maine and Dakota.
With Magloire and Wright on non-guaranteed deals, the Raptors will have at least 16 players in camp, so Wright will have to impress to earn a roster spot.
Nuggets Sign Quincy Miller
FRIDAY, 8:19am: Miller's deal is worth about $2.2MM over three years, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). It sounds like it's a minimum-salary deal, which would pay Miller $2,177,719 if he remained under contract for all three years. It's unlikely the deal is fully guaranteed.
Because the minimum salary exception can only be used to sign players for up to two years, the Nuggets figure to have used part of their mid-level exception to bring Miller on board.
THURSDAY, 4:22pm: The Nuggets have officially signed Miller, according to a team press release. It's not clear whether Miller simply accepted the team's required tender or whether the two sides worked out a different agreement, but either way, the Baylor product is now under contract.
9:53am: The Nuggets have ensured that Quincy Miller won't hit free agency this week by submitting a required tender for the 38th overall pick, according to Nate Timmons of Denver Stiffs. Agent Dwon Clifton confirmed to Timmons that Denver has tendered his client a non-guaranteed offer.
September 6th is the last day that NBA teams can tender contract offers to unsigned second-round draft picks in order to retain their draft rights. The player then has the opportunity to accept that one-year required tender, if he so chooses. By submitting the offer, the team also buys itself a little more time to negotiate further with the player, if he's unwilling to accept the tender.
According to Timmons, Clifton is confident that the two sides will work out a deal in the coming days, which seems to suggest that Miller isn't leaning toward just accepting the one-year, non-guaranteed deal. With 14 players on board so far, the Nuggets do have room to guarantee Miller's deal for their 15th roster spot.
As Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors noted this week when he looked at the contract statuses of this year's second-round picks, the Baylor wing is one of a few second-rounders that remains unsigned.
Eastern Notes: Nets, Heat, Dyson, Pistons
There have been plenty of newsworthy items out of the Eastern Conference today, with the Knicks unveiling new uniforms, the Nets possibly having signed Andray Blatche, and the league's most popular 12th man landing a TV gig with the Celtics. Here are a few more Eastern-related links we've yet to cover:
- The Nets plan to hold a free agent workout with forwards Josh Childress and Dominic McGuire early next week, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo (via Twitter).
- SI.com's Zach Lowe believes that, on a minimum-salary contract, Blatche would be worth the gamble for either the Nets or Heat.
- While we've heard that Mehmet Okur will probably require more than a minimum-salary commitment, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel still thinks he could be a possibility for the Heat.
- Jerome Dyson is the latest player to audition at the Heat's pre-camp tryouts, reports Winderman (Sulia link).
- The Pistons' depth at small forward could mean that a trade is in the team's future, writes David Mayo of MLive.com.
- Former George Washington point guard Tony Taylor Jr. will work out with the Knicks for a second time next week, according to Keith Schlosser of KnicksJournal.com.
- Amare Stoudemire appeared on FOX Sports Radio to discuss a number of topics, including former Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, Jeremy Lin, and the infamous fire extinguisher incident. Sports Radio Interviews rounds up a few of Stoudemire's noteworthy quotes.
- NBA.com's Sekou Smith takes a look at the Bobcats' future after the team set a record for futility in 2011/12.
Odds & Ends: Warriors, Jazz, Rockets, Iverson
We've seen a sharp rise in the size of overseas contracts in recent years, and it seems that the Chinese Basketball Association has had about enough. Several CBA clubs are calling for an NBA-style salary cap to be instituted post-haste as the season gets underway in two months, writes Alastair Himmer of Reuters. The league has had a salary cap in years past, but with no luxury tax system in place, there was no real way to enforce it. Last year, Kenyon Martin signed a $2.7MM deal with the Xinjian Flying Tigers before leaving midway through the season. Here's tonight's look around the Association..
- Warriors coach Mark Jackson has promoted Darren Erman to the No. 3 assistant coach after the departure of Wes Unseld Jr., sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). Unseld Jr. recently left Golden State to join Jacque Vaughn's staff in Orlando.
- The Jazz are still working to complete a buyout agreement with Raja Bell and sign second-round pick Kevin Murphy, but Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune (via Twitter) would be surprised if both situations aren't resolved before camp starts.
- The Jazz announced that Michael Sanders has been promoted to an assistant coach on Tyrone Corbin’s staff. Utah also agreed in principle with D-League coach and former Jazz scout Brad Jones to take over Sanders’ previous position as assistant coach in charge of player development.
- The Rockets have elevated Gersson Rosas to executive vice president of basketball operations, according to Mark Berman of FOX Houston. Rosas, who previously served as the club's vice president player personnel, was a finalist to become the next assistant GM of the Spurs.
- Former MVP Allen Iverson is reportedly thinking about playing if China if he cannot land an NBA deal, but Neil Hartman of CSNPhilly.com would like to see him call it a career. Iverson last appeared in an NBA game in February 2010 and turned down offers in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic last season.
- Robert Pera, the prospective new owner of the Grizzlies, is recruiting singer/actor Justin Timberlake to be a minority owner of his club, sources have told Marc Stein of ESPN.com. One source added that Timberlake is making "a meaningful investment into the team" and "plans to be active" with the club. A recent piece by Will Leitch of New York Magazine revealed that rapper Jay-Z owns just a fraction of one percent of the Nets.
- Kevin Willis celebrated his 50th birthday today and the former NBA center told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter) that he could still play 15-20 minutes a night and would return if a team was serious. Willis would easily eclipse Kurt Thomas and Grant Hill (both turn 40 in October) as the NBA's oldest player. With that said, it's extremely difficult to imagine a comeback for Willis at this stage.
- In an interview with HoopsWorld, free agent Sean Williams said that he isn't sure where his next NBA opportunity might come from and hasn't spoken with his agent recently. Late last week it was reported that the Knicks are considering the former first-round pick.
- Former University of Florida standout Taurean Green has signed with Italian team Sigma Barcellona, according to a report from Amnotizie.it passed along by Sportando. Green averaged 9.4 PPG, 2.0 RPG, and 3.9 APG for Turkish team Tofas Bursa last season.
Pacers Sign Sam Young, Sundiata Gaines
The Pacers announced that they have signed small forward Sam Young and point guard Sundiata Gaines. The press release also confirmed the signing of guard Blake Ahearn, whose deal reportedly comes with a partial guarantee.
Young became an unrestricted free agent in late June when the 76ers opted not to extend him a qualifying offer. The 27-year-old was traded from Memphis to Philadelphia at the deadline for the rights to Ricky Sanchez in a deal that allowed the Grizzlies to get below the luxury tax threshold. Young averaged 3.3 PPG and 1.8 RPG in 35 games for the two clubs last season.
Gaines, 26, established himself as a regular in the Nets rotation last season, serving as a backup to Deron Williams and playing alongside him as a two-guard at times. The veteran saw 13.9 minutes per contest, averaging 5.1 PPG, 2.2 APG, and 1.9 RPG.
Ahearn was the D-League's top scorer last season, averaging 23.8 PPG and 5.1 APG in 37 games for the Reno Bighorns. The 27-year-old has built a reputation as a sharpshooter and shot 40% from three-point range last year for Reno.
Magic Sign E’Twaun Moore
SEPTEMBER 6TH, 3:43pm: The Magic have officially signed Moore, according to a team release.
AUGUST 29TH, 7:58am: The deal is for the minimum, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. That means Moore, a second-year player, is in line for $762K this season and $884K in 2013/14.
AUGUST 28TH, 9:33pm: Both seasons are expected to be partially guaranteed for Moore, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.
5:54pm: The Magic have reached agreement with guard E'Twaun Moore on a two-year deal, according to HoopsHype (via Twitter). Terms of the deal are not yet known.
Moore, 23, was a part of the three-team deal that sent Courtney Lee to the Celtics in July. The Rockets promptly waived the guard without absorbing any salary cap consequences as his salary was non-guaranteed. The former Purdue standout cleared waivers and received interest from multiple NBA teams in addition to a few clubs overseas.
As a rookie, the 55th overall pick became a semi-regular in Boston, averaging 8.7 minutes per contest in 38 games. Provisions in the collective bargaining agreement prevented Moore from re-signing with the Celtics until July 2013.
Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (via Twitter) first reported that Orlando expected to reach a deal with Moore in the coming days.