Clippers, Del Negro Have Talked Extension
Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro says he and the team have had "a little bit" of discussion about a contract extension, but feels there's "no sense of urgency for either side" to complete a deal soon, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times reports. The team picked up Del Negro's option for 2012/13 in May, ending a year full of speculation that he could be on his way out of L.A. despite the team's newfound success.
Del Negro will make about $2MM this season in the final year of his contract, Turner writes. There was reportedly internal discussion about letting him go last season when the team hit the skids after a fast start, but the team finished just one game shy of the Lakers for the Pacific Division title and made it to the conference semifinals. Still, there were rumors that Neil Olshey, then GM of the team, was undecided about bringing Del Negro back just days before the Clippers exercised his option in May.
When Olshey jumped to the Blazers the next month, Del Negro became one of three people in charge of the Clippers front office, and he maintains a voice even after Gary Sacks earned a promotion to vice president of basketball operations, essentially filling the role of GM. Del Negro acknowleged the pressure he's under, and said he embraces it, Turner writes.
"Of course, I wish it was under maybe a different situation," the coach said. "But I was on a one-year deal last year and I'm still here and enjoying myself and believe in what we're doing. I think all those things work themselves out over time."
Odds & Ends: Grizzlies, Young, Bell, Thunder
Earlier today, we heard Grizzlies power forward Darrell Arthur had suffered a leg fracture, and the team's website reports the left leg injury will keep him out four to six weeks. The timetable is longer for center Hamed Haddadi, who'll be rehabbing for the next eight weeks after right thumb surgery, according to the team. Since Marreese Speights enters camp as the only healthy big man on a guaranteed deal behind Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, the injuries could represent an opportunity for camp invitees Jerome Jordan, Jarrid Famous and Michael Dunigan. Here's the rest of what's happening around the Association:
- Nick Young expressed his excitement about his new Sixers teammates to reporters today, including Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com. He also spoke about how he ended up in Philadelphia. "I was shocked. I didn’t see this being one of the places I was going to come to," he said. "(Coach) Doug (Collins) called me early, 6:00am L.A. time, and we were just talking and it was a great talk. He had a good spirit to him. He talked to my dad and my mom and once my mom started raving about him that was pretty much it."
- Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune hears that Raja Bell and the Jazz haven't made any progress toward a buyout with the start of training camp looming just five days from now (Twitter links).
- Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman believes the Thunder are willing to become a taxpaying team to retain James Harden, but the question is just how much they're willing to dole out.
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel has details on some of the 23 new members of the Magic front office, coaching and scouting staffs, including recently retired guard Anthony Parker, who'll work as a scout.
- James Worthy's favorite offseason addition for the Lakers is Steve Nash, and the Hall-of-Fame forward has some strong criticism of Dwight Howard, as Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register writes.
Jazz Sign Quinn, Gilder, Jackson
10:16pm: The contract of second-round pick Kevin Murphy isn't guaranteed, Smith writes, so that means the Jazz only have 14 fully guaranteed contracts, including Raja Bell's. That provides a little extra room for one of the camp invitees to make the team.
8:54pm: The Jazz will bring point guard Chris Quinn to training camp, reports Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). The addition of Quinn, likely on a non-guaranteed, minimum-salary deal, brings the team's roster to 19 players. Quinn will likely compete for the final regular season roster spot with Trey Gilder, Darnell Jackson and Brian Butch, whose signings were officially announced via press release, as Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld notes via Twitter. Gilder and Jackson appeared close to invites earlier this month, while the signing of Butch was reportedly confirmed a few days ago.
Quinn has spent parts of five seasons in the NBA, with the Heat, Nets and finally the Spurs, with whom he made his last NBA appearance in 2010/11. The 6'2" 29-year-old averaged 4.6 points and 1.9 assists in 13.8 minutes per game with a 12.5 PER over his NBA career. He spent last season with Khimki BC in Russia, and put up 7.3 PPG and 2.9 APG in 19.4 MPG.
The Jazz have 15 fully guaranteed contracts, though one of them belongs to Raja Bell, who is attempting to negotiate a buyout. If he's successful, that would leave a spot open for Quinn, Gilder, Jackson or Butch, Teams aren't obligated to carry more than 13 players, though, so all of the recent signees must impress in order to stick around.
Bulls To Sign Kyrylo Fesenko
9:47pm: K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune notes that the Bulls, who have $758,550 left to spend, could sign another player at the veteran's minimum once it pro-rates to that amount in late November (Twitter link). Mark Deeks of ShamSports suggests via Twitter that the Bulls could waive Fesenko at the end of training camp and re-sign him once they're able. The Bulls could do the same with fellow camp invitee Andre Emmett, but another team, either in the NBA or overseas, would be free to snap up Fesenko and Emmett while they waited.
8:29pm: The Bulls will sign Kyrylo Fesenko by the end of the week, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. He was in Chicago on Monday for a workout after auditioning for the Spurs earlier this month, and reportedly had the Cavs tentatively on his workout schedule as well. He was also said to be in contact with the Hawks and the Heat.
Stein says the 7'1" center will receive a non-guaranteed contract, and Sam Amick of SI.com reports via Twitter that it will be for the minimum. The team doesn't have enough room under its $74.307MM hard cap to retain Fesenko for the regular season, even at the minimum salary, without waiving or trading another one of its players.
Fesenko signed with the Pacers in March for the balance of the 2011/12 season, and appeared in only three regular season games. He scored a total of eight points and grabbed nine rebounds in 17 minutes, and didn't see action in any of the team's playoff games. The Ukraine native averaged 2.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 8.3 minutes per game during the previous four seasons with the Jazz, upping those numbers slightly when he started nine of the Jazz's 10 playoff games in 2009/10 for the injured Mehmet Okur.
Wizards Rumors: Beal, Crawford, Wall, Seraphin
The Wizards have made a slew of changes to their roster since last season began, adding Nene at the March trading deadline, Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza in an offseason swap, Bradley Beal with the third pick in the draft, and Martell Webster, A.J. Price and others via free agency. GM Ernie Grunfeld believes the attitude and environment are now different in Washington, as Michael Lee of the Washington Post writes. For a separate piece, Lee also spoke with coach Randy Wittman, who had the interim tag removed from his position in June. We'll round up some of their noteworthy comments here:
- Wittman was impressed with what he saw from Beal over the summer, but believes the rookie will face some ups-and-downs and says Jordan Crawford has "a little bit of an advantage" in the competition for the starting shooting guard job.
- John Wall is a shoo-in to have his 2013/14 option exercised before the October 31st deadline, but Wittman said the stakes for him are high this season, the final year before he's eligible for an extension. The team must also make a call on Kevin Seraphin's 2013/14 option, and Wittman had praise for the strides the big man took as a part-time starter last season.
- Grunfeld, who signed a two-year extension in April, responded to owner Ted Leonsis' comment from earlier in the offseason that another lottery appearance is "unacceptable." "I think that’s great," Grunfeld said. "Everybody wants to be better and everybody wants to grow and everybody wants to compete for the playoffs. I think he also said if we don’t make the playoffs it won’t be the end of the world, but we want to see improvement. There’s no questions about that."
Minor Moves: Julian Wright, Gene Cross
A few of the training camp invitees who've been signing deals with teams this month will probably be impressive enough to earn regular season roster spots, but the majority are likely headed elsewhere. Here's the latest from the D-League and overseas:
- Julian Wright, whom the Hornets took 13th in the 2007 draft, is close to a deal with the Israeli club Maccabi Rishon LeZion, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Wright last appeared in the NBA with the Raptors in 2010/11. He spent 16 games with the D-League's Austin Toros last season, averaging 15.1 points and 8.0 rebounds in 28.1 minutes per game.
- Tim Bontemps of the New York Post takes a look at Gene Cross, whom the Knicks hired yesterday as coach of their D-League affiliate. Cross, who'll be in charge of the Erie Bayhawks, spent last season as an assistant coach with the D-League's Iowa Energy.
- Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside spoke with agent B.J. Bass of RBA Sports, who's using the tighter bond between D-League teams and their NBA parent clubs to help his clients land deals.
Spurs To Sign Wesley Witherspoon, Tre Kelley
The Spurs will bring Wesley Witherspoon and Tre Kelley to training camp, reports Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News. They'll likely be on non-guaranteed, minimum-salary deals. While McCarney isn't high on their chances to make the team, they stand a relatively decent shot compared to many other training camp invitees around the league, since the Spurs only have 12 players on fully guaranteed deals.
Witherspoon, who ranked 91st on the list of top 100 prospects this year compiled by Chad Ford of ESPN.com, went undrafted in June out of the University of Memphis. The 6'9" small forward put up just 7.2 points and 3.6 rebounds in 22.0 minutes per game this past season, though he did shoot 38.7% from behind the arc in his four years with the Tigers. He was with the Knicks' summer league team, and averaged 8.0 PPG and 2.2 RPG in 16.5 MPG.
Kelley is a 6'0" guard who has yet to make his NBA regular season debut despite training camp stints with the Heat, Thunder and Grizzlies. The 27-year-old spent 11 games with the Spurs' D-League affiliate in 2010/11, and split last season with teams in Italy and Venezuela, averaging 14.8 PPG and 3.5 APG in 27.7 MPG.
The moves will bring the Spurs' roster to 18 players, by my count. Aside from the dozen who have fully guaranteed deals, DeJuan Blair's deal is partially guaranteed for $1.05MM and the rest are believed to be non-guaranteed.
Warriors Rumors: Biedrins, Ezeli, Curry, Jackson
Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group rounded up a number of comments from Warriors coach Mark Jackson today, including the coach's displeasure with Andris Biedrins, the only one of the Warriors under contract since Labor Day not to show up at the team facility since the holiday. Kawakami says there "little doubt" that rookie Festus Ezeli has the edge on Biedrins for the backup center job. Jackson says the starting small forward position is an open competition, and seems convinced that Stephen Curry, entering the final season of his rookie deal and eligible for an extension with the team until the end of October, will get a significant raise soon. "I laugh because the dude is going to be filthy rich," Jackson said. "There's no pressure. Don't let it get in your head? What? That I'm going to be paid? To me, it's hilarious. Hopefully, it's going to be us and I expect it to be us. But one way or another, Steph Curry is going to be paid and paid very well for a long time."
Here's plenty more from a busy day by the bay:
- Curry's doctor has given him permission to resume all activities with no restrictions, and is ready to demonstrate his healthy ankles to the Warriors brass in training camp, as HoopsWorld's Bill Ingram writes. Curry and the team have agreed to table extension discussions until the end of preseason. “I’ve left most of that to my agent,” Curry said. “I’m sure they have talked about it before, but nothing happened yet. We’re just kind of letting training camp play out and any deal we can make before the deadline would be great. I would love to stay out here in Golden State and be a part of the future. That’s definitely high on my priority list right now but the only thing I can control is getting healthy and getting ready for training camp and letting those guys do their job.”
- In the same piece, Curry also praised the team's additions of Andrew Bogut and Harrison Barnes.
- Jackson promised the Warriors would make the playoffs before last season, a vow the team wound up breaking. This year, he feels the team has improved, but is holding back from any pronouncements, believing that the team's changed culture is a statement unto itself, writes Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group.
- Warriors GM Bob Myers, like Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby, is a former agent, and Sean Deveney of The Sporting News looks at how that experience helps them do their jobs.
- The team officially announced four training camp invitees, as we noted earlier.
Warriors Sign Brown, Goulbourne, Jackson, Kinsey
The Warriors have officially signed four free agents, the team announced via press release. Carlon Brown, Lance Goulbourne, Rick Jackson and Tarence Kinsey will all be in camp, and though the team did not disclose the terms, it's likely they all have non-guaranteed minimum-salary deals. The moves put Golden State at 19 players, one short of the maximum number they can bring to camp, with a space left open if the team wishes to complete a deal with Alex Renfroe, who was reportedly close to signing with the team earlier this month.
We heard a report from HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy a week ago that the team had signed Kinsey, so this just makes that move official. Kinsey is the only one of the four with NBA experience, having played parts of three seasons with the Grizzlies and Cavs, the last coming in 2008/09. The 6'6" shooting guard has averaged 4.7 points and 1.3 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per game in 109 NBA contests, with a PER of 11.0. He spent last season with Anadolu Efes in Turkey.
The 6'5" Brown went undrafted out of Colorado this June, averaging 12.6 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 2.0 APG in 28.5 minutes for the Buffaloes in 2011/12. The shooting guard played with the Bobcats in summer league, putting up 9.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG and 1.4 APG in 22.3 MPG. Goulbourne, a 6'8" swingman, also went undrafted out of Vanderbilt this past June, having put up 8.7 PPG and 6.9 RPG in 27.9 MPG in his final season for the Commodores. Neither Brown nor Goulbourne appeared in Chad Ford's list of the Top 100 draft prospects for ESPN.com (Insider only). Jackson, a 6'9" power forward from Syracuse, spent his first pro season last year with Chorale Roanne Basket in France, putting up 8.6 PPG and 5.6 RPG in 17.0 MPG.
The signees figure to compete against each other for the final spot on the regular season roster, since the team already has 14 contracts that are fully guaranteed. A 15th player, Kent Bazemore, has a deal that's partially guaranteed for $25K.
Knicks Maintain Interest In Josh Howard
The Knicks, one of a handful of teams linked to Josh Howard over the summer, are still interested in the veteran swingman, a league source tells Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link). Howard met with the Sixers on Monday and Tuesday, a week after he visited the Spurs.
Howard was reportedly close to making a decision on where to sign at the end of July, with the Knicks one of five teams he was to have been choosing between, but nothing materialized. We heard a month later that the Knicks were one of three teams still in on him, and now it appears the Knicks are again a part of a new set of NBA clubs going after the 32-year-old former All-Star. He could be viewed as an alternative to Tracy McGrady, whom the Knicks are apparently no longer pursuing. The persistence of their interest would seem to make the Knicks a favorite to land Howard, but that's just my speculation.
When Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors looked today at free agents likely to receive more than the minimum, Howard received an honorable mention of sorts. Given the length of time his free agency has dragged on since he was reportedly close to a deal, it seems he's been holding out for more than the minimum, though the tenor of negotations may have changed since then, and Howard could simply be fighting for a deal that's fully guaranteed. He's been injury-hit the last several years, having played no more than 52 games in a season since 2007/08. Last year, he averaged 8.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in 23.0 minutes with a 10.5 PER for the Jazz.