Injury Notes: Mbah a Moute, Honeycutt, Cavaliers
As training camps begin to start all throughout the league, here are few bits of injury related news.
- Bucks forward Luc Mbah a Moute will miss all of the team's training camp while he continues recovering from offseason knee surgery, writes JSOnline.com's Charles F. Gardner. Mbah a Moute underwent the surgery in May, and he hopes to return at some point early on in the regular season. While he's out, the team's small forward position is wide open. Mike Dunleavy will come off the bench, and second year player Tobias Harris could take the spot.
- Kings forward Tyler Honeycutt was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right fibula, according to an official media release from the team. As he enters his second season with Sacramento, Honeycutt is expected to miss three to four weeks.
- With each player coming off an offseason surgery, Kyrie Irving, Anderson Varejao, and Daniel Gibson are all cleared to practice with the Cavaliers in training camp, reports NBA.com.
Warriors Sign Stefhon Hannah
The Warriors have maxed out their training camp roster, signing Stefhon Hannah to fill the team's 20th roster spot. Golden State formally announced the signing today via a team release.
Hannah, 27, played for the Bucks' summer league squad in Las Vegas earlier this summer after spending last season with the Warriors' D-League affiliate. Hannah helped lead the Dakota Wizards to a postseason berth, averaging 18.4 PPG and earning D-League Defensive Player of the Year honors. The 6'1" guard out of Missouri has also played overseas since finishing his college career in 2008.
The Warriors now have five players on fully non-guaranteed contracts, plus Kent Bazemore on a partially-guaranteed deal. While Bazemore would appear to be the frontrunner for the final roster spot based on his partial guarantee, the buyout would only cost the Warriors $25K, so if Hannah or another of the Warriors' non-guaranteed players impresses in camp, they could be in the mix for that 15th roster spot.
Lakers Sign Chris Douglas-Roberts
The Lakers have signed Chris Douglas-Roberts to a training camp contract, reports Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com (via Twitter). Douglas-Roberts likely won't earn a spot on the Lakers' 15-man roster, but the team is hoping he'll join the D-Fenders, L.A.'s D-League affiliate, says McMenamin.
D0uglas-Roberts, 24, was drafted 40th overall in 2008 after leaving the University of Memphis a year early. Although Douglas-Roberts excelled in his junior year as a Tiger, averaging 18.1 PPG on 54.1% shooting, he failed to find a long-term home in the NBA, spending time with the Nets and Bucks from 2008 to 2011. In 155 career games, he has averaged 7.7 points and 2.2 rebounds.
For the Lakers, Douglas-Roberts is the 20th player under contract, meaning the team can't add any more players to its training camp roster without waiving someone.
Sixers Exercise 2013/14 Option On Doug Collins
The Sixers have added one year to Doug Collins' contract, exercising the coach's option for the 2013/14 season, according to the team's director of public relations Michael Preston (Twitter link). Sixers owner Josh Harris announced the news today to media in Philadelphia, adding that he hopes Collins will stay longer than the two years he now has left on his deal (Twitter link via Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News).
Back in August, Collins expressed a desire to coach four or five more years in Philadelphia, though he hopes to eventually move to the front office, as Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com tweets. It appears as if the Sixers would be open to such a move, depending on how the next few seasons go — Collins has long been viewed as the de factor GM in Philadelphia, and has a hand in the team's basketball decisions.
Colling is entering his third season as the coach of the 76ers, having posted a 76-72 record in his first two years. He led the team to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs as a No. 8 seed in 2011/12.
Nuggets Notes: Lawson, McGee, Karl
We haven't heard many updates on Ty Lawson's contract negotiations with the Nuggets since the point guard expressed optimism back in July that the two sides would work out an extension this offseason. But both Lawson and the Nuggets stay positive about a deal getting done, as GM Masai Ujiri indicated at media day.
"Talks are good," Ujiri said, according to Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post. "We continue to talk. It never gets really serious until that date (October 31st) comes."
Here are few other Nuggets-related notes from media day:
- According to Ujiri, JaVale McGee was working out with the team even before re-signing, and never seriously explored other opportunities or offers (Twitter link via Matt Moore of CBS Sports).
- Lawson said that he feels as if the Nuggets are the best team in the West, according to Hochman. I'm not sure many pundits would agree with his assessment, but I do think Denver is the best bet to unseat the Lakers, Thunder, or Spurs as a top-three team out west.
- Ujiri acknowledged that the Nuggets are still a "growing team," but both he and coach George Karl like the direction the club is headed, as Adrian Dater of the Denver Post writes. "I can't deny that this (was) the best September with the Denver Nuggets that I've had since I've been here," Karl said. "We had more guys in the gym and more committed guys to exactly how we're going to play."
Harden Confident About Getting Extension Done
James Harden was among the members of the Thunder available to speak to reporters this afternoon for media day, and predictably, he fielded some questions about his contract situation. According to Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman (via Twitter), Harden said he wasn't necessarily seeking a max contract, and that he's willing to make a sacrifice to stay in Oklahoma City. The All-Star guard also added that he's confident a deal will get done, tweets Mayberry.
There has been no shortage of rumors and speculation on Harden's contract situation this summer, as the Thunder look for away to keep their core intact without going too far into luxury-tax territory. Mayberry himself wrote within the last 24 hours that it was looking more and more like Harden would hit restricted free agency next summer, and it doesn't appear that Harden's comments today changed the beat writer's mind (Twitter link).
Still, if Harden is geniunely willing to make a sacrifice to remain in Oklahoma City, it can only be good news for the Thunder. There's no doubt that the 23-year-old will receive at least one max-contract offer next summer, barring a major injury or decline in production this season. So if the Thunder have the chance to lock him up for a lesser price before Halloween, it will be something they'll seriously consider.
Hawks Sign Isma’il Muhammad
The Hawks have added former Georgia Tech forward Isma'il Muhammad to their training camp roster, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Consitution (via Twitter). Muhammad is the 19th player under contract for the Hawks.
Muhammad was considered a solid defender and an outstanding dunker during his days at Georgia Tech. The 29-year-old graduated back in 2005, but was in an NBA camp as recently as last December — he was waived by the Bobcats just a few days before the season started.
With 14 players on fully or partially guaranteed contracts in Atlanta, and guys like Damion James and James Anderson expected to compete for the 15th spot, I'd expect Muhammad to be an extra body in camp, rather than a real candidate to earn a roster spot.
Odds & Ends: Morrison, Turkoglu, Lin, Ginobili
Let's round up a few odds and ends from a busy day around the NBA….
- Blazers coach Terry Stotts told the media today that summer signee Adam Morrison has a "legitimate" chance to make the team, according to Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge (Twitter link).
- Hedo Turkoglu says he'd like to finish his career with the Magic, tweets Joshua Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.
- Asked about the Knicks' decision to let Jeremy Lin walk in July, GM Glen Grunwald told the media that the Rockets made a commitment to Lin that New York wasn't prepared to make, and that Raymond Felton was a better fit for the Knicks. Marc Berman of the New York Post has the quotes.
- Manu Ginobili expects to return to the Spurs if he continues playing when his contract expires at season's end, tweets Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News.
- Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal poses five burning questions facing the Cavaliers heading into the 2012/13 season. Among Lloyd's five: Whether Dion Waiters was the right choice in June's draft, and whether Anderson Varejao will finish the year with the Cavs.
- Ben Wallace won't be in camp with the Pistons, since the team doesn't want to put him a position where it may have to cut him, tweets Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News.
- Appearing on KJR in Seattle, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he didn't think any NBA owner would stand in the way of the city of Seattle getting another NBA franchise (link via Sports Radio Interviews).
- Former NBA veteran Jayson Williams tells ESPN.com's Matt Wong that he's healthy and misses the NBA, but stopped short of saying he's interested in making a comeback.
Bulls, Thibodeau Agree On Four-Year Extension
1:53pm: Thibodeau's four-year extension will pay him about $17.5MM, with bonuses that could increase the total value to $20MM, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
1:14pm: The Bulls and Tom Thibodeau have reached an agreement on a four-year extension for the head coach, GM Gar Forman announced today at a press conference in Chicago (Twitter link via Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com). Thibodeau's contract, which was set to expire at season's end, had been a hot topic of discussion over the offseason, but the 2011 Coach of the Year says he was never worried about his future.
"I'm thankful to Jerry [Reinsdorf] and Gar and John [Paxson]," Thibodeau said (Twitter link via K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune). "I never doubted it would work out. I love being here."
The Bulls initially elected to simply pick up Thibodeau's contract option for the 2012/13 rather than working out a long-term extension. However, we heard last month that the two sides had resumed negotiations on a new deal.
In his two years on the Bulls' bench, Thibodeau has led the team to an extremely impressive 112-36 (.757) record. The team has yet to break through in the postseason, however, with the 2011/12 season coming to an end after a pair of devastating injuries to Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.
Bulls, Taj Gibson Making Progress On Extension
Bulls fans received some good news today when the team announced that head coach Tom Thibodeau had agreed to a four-year extension to remain in Chicago. According to Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com, Thibodeau may not be the only one extended by the Bulls this month. Sam tweets that Taj Gibson and the Bulls are "getting closer" to a long-term extension.
This isn't the first time we've heard optimism about the possibility of Gibson and the Bulls reaching an agreement on a new contract before Halloween. On September 22nd, agent Mark Bartelstein told Shams Charania of RealGM.com that he was confident about getting a deal done, and that his client "loves being a Bull."
When the Bulls let Omer Asik sign with the Rockets earlier this offseason, there was speculation that an anticipated long-term deal for Gibson was part of the reasoning behind the team's decision. Ryan Raroque of Hoops Rumors examined Gibson's extension candicacy shortly after Asik left, concluding that a deal worth about $6MM annually could work for both sides. I wouldn't be surprised if Gibson scores a payday even a little higher than that.