Mike Miller To Sign With Grizzlies
Mike Miller has informed the Grizzlies that he will sign with them, according to a tweet from ESPN.com's Marc Stein.
Thunder Re-Sign Derek Fisher
Derek Fisher will be returning to the Thunder next season, according to NewsOk.com's Darnell Mayberry. The contract is a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum of roughly $1.4MM.
Over the past two seasons, Fisher has appeared in 44 games for the Thunder, giving them veteran leadership and filling in in the past for injured guards such as Eric Maynor and Russell Westbrook.
The 39-year-old veteran averaged 8.7 PPG in 11 playoff games last season.
Grizzlies Claim Josh Akognon Off Waivers
The Grizzlies have claimed Josh Akognon off waivers from the Mavericks, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Memphis assumes Akognon's minimum-salary contract as a result. Dallas decided this weekend to let go of Akognon to accomodate their deal with free agent Monta Ellis, whose three-year, $25.08MM deal became official yesterday, Stein also tweets. The team also has an outstanding agreement with Wayne Ellington, but presumably that will become official soon, too.
The same cap crunch also forced the team to waive Bernard James, but he went unclaimed and the Mavs re-signed him. Akognon originally joined the Mavs on a 10-day contract in April after putting up impressive scoring numbers in China. He put up 29.0 points per game this past season in the Chinese league and 28.2 in 2011/12, and while he was drawing heavy interest from China following the Mavs' decision to waive him, it appears he'll get his wish to remain in the NBA.
The Alpha Basketball Agency client was the Mavs' leading scorer in the Las Vegas Summer League at 17.5 PPG, and he shot 39.1% on 46 total attempts from behind the arc. The 5'11" guard may provide another outside shooter for the Grizzlies in case they miss out on their pursuit of Mike Miller. The claim probably won't affect the team's plans to chase Miller or another free agent, since the Grizzlies can absorb him using the minimum-salary exception. Indeed, Stein tweets that Akognon's pickup doesn't affect their pursuit of the former Heat sharpshooter, whom Memphis is pushing hard to sign.
Warriors Waive Jones, Machado, Murphy
The Warriors have waived Dwayne Jones, Scott Machado and Kevin Murphy, the team announced today. Jones and Machado were late-season signings from this past spring, while Murphy joined the team as part of a three-team trade two weeks ago.
All three were on non-guaranteed minimum-salary contracts, but they all would have received at least a partial guarantee if Golden State hadn't waived them on or before August 1st. The contracts for Jones and Machado would have become fully guaranteed if they had stayed on the roster past that date, while Murphy's would have been guaranteed for $75K.
The team's roster is at 13 players, which gives Golden State plenty of flexibility heading into training camp. Teams can have as many as 20 players on their camp rosters, a limit that shrinks to 15 for the regular season. The Warriors have a hard cap this season, but the subtraction of a few minimum-salary players won't make too much of a difference considering they were more than $7MM shy of the hard cap before today's moves.
None of the three saw significant playing time last season. Jones and Machado didn't make it into any regular season games with the Warriors, instead appearing only briefly during the playoffs. Machado did play in six regular season contests during his stint with the Rockets in 2012/13. Murphy spent 2012/13 with the Jazz, who made him the 47th pick of the 2012 draft.
Celtics Expected To Invite Nolan Smith To Camp
A sprained calf led to an abbreviated summer league stint for former Trail Blazer Nolan Smith, but he's still expected to join the Celtics for training camp, tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. The Knicks were also considering Smith. Presumably, the 21st pick in the 2011 draft will join Boston on a non-guaranteed contract that amounts to the chance to try out for the 2013/14 regular season roster.
The Blazers changed management in between Smith's first and second seasons, and new GM Neil Olshey elected not to pick up their option for Smith's third year. That made the former Duke standout an unrestricted free agent entering the summer. He was a trade candidate this past season, and by April, when a report identified the Thunder, Bulls and Hawks as teams likely to have interest in him, it was clear he wouldn't be re-signing with the Blazers.
Smith played just 12.3 minutes per game as a rookie, and he saw even less action this past season, racking up just 7.2 MPG. He notched 20.6 points per game as a senior at Duke, so the Celtics clearly hope that he can once more summon that scoring touch if given a chance.
Mavericks Sign Ricky Ledo
The Mavericks have signed 43rd overall pick Ricky Ledo, the team announced via press release. Dallas acquired the rights to Ledo from the Bucks, via the Sixers, as our rundown of offseason trades shows.
Ledo attended Providence University, but he never played for their team after the NCAA ruled him academically ineligible. Still, the shooting guard impressed teams during pre-draft workouts. He averaged 7.3 points and 3.8 rebounds this month on the Mavs summer league team.
Agent Seth Cohen of the Verus Management Team first tweeted news of the deal this afternoon. The Mavs haven't yet reached an agreement with their other draft pick, 18th overall selection Shane Larkin, who suffered a broken ankle in summer league.
2013 Offseason Trades
Our Free Agent Tracker runs down the signings that have taken place this summer, but it doesn’t cover trades. That’s where this post comes in. As we’ve done with last year’s offseason trades and the moves during 2012/13, we’ll list all of the trades that have gone down this summer here.
Together with the free agent tracker and the 2013 draft results, you can see the full picture of the movement across the NBA landscape over the past month. For up-to-the-minute news on trades as well as other roster moves as the offseason continues, follow our transactions-only feeds via RSS and Twitter.
The moves are listed in reverse chronological order, with the latest on top. So, if a player has been traded multiple times (as often happens with draft picks), the first team listed as acquiring him here is the one that currently holds his rights.
- Wizards acquire Marcin Gortat, Shannon Brown, Kendall Marshall, and Malcolm Lee.
- Suns acquire Emeka Okafor and a top-12 protected 2014 first-round pick.
- Bucks acquire Caron Butler
- Suns acquire Viacheslav Kravtsov and Ish Smith
- Sixers acquire Tony Wroten.
- Grizzlies acquire future second-round pick.
- Celtics acquire Donte Greene.
- Grizzlies acquire Fab Melo and $1.66MM cash.
- Pistons acquire Brandon Jennings (sign-and-trade).
- Bucks acquire Brandon Knight, Viacheslav Kravtsov and Khris Middleton.
- Pacers acquire Luis Scola.
- Suns acquire Miles Plumlee, Gerald Green, and a lottery-protected 2014 first-round pick.
- Grizzlies acquire the draft rights to Nick Calathes.
- Mavericks acquire fully unprotected 2016 second-round pick (the pick had been top-55 protected).
- Sixers acquire Royce White, Furkan Aldemir and cash.
- Rockets acquire future draft considerations.
- Kings acquire Luc Mbah a Moute.
- Bucks acquire a 2016 second-round pick and the right to swap 2018 second-round picks with the Kings.
- Nets acquire Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry and D.J. White.
- Celtics acquire Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, MarShon Brooks, Kris Joseph, Keith Bogans (sign-and-trade), a 2014 first-round pick, a 2016 first-round pick, a 2018 first-round pick, and the right to swap first-round picks with the Nets in 2017.
- Pelicans acquire Jrue Holiday and 2013 No. 42 pick (Pierre Jackson).
- Sixers acquire 2013 No. 6 pick (Nerlens Noel) and a 2014 first-round pick.
- Timberwolves acquire Kevin Martin (sign-and-trade) and cash (from Thunder)
- Bucks acquire Luke Ridnour and a 2014 second-round pick (from Timberwolves)
- Thunder acquire Szymon Szewczyk (from Bucks).
- Warriors acquire Andre Iguodala (sign-and-trade from Nuggets) and Kevin Murphy (from Jazz).
- Nuggets acquire Randy Foye (sign-and-trade from Jazz) and a 2018 second-round pick (from Warriors).
- Jazz acquire Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson, Brandon Rush, a 2014 first-round pick (from Warriors) a 2017 first-round pick (from Warriors), a 2016 second-round pick (from Warriors), a 2017 second-round pick (from Warriors), a 2018 second-round pick (from Nuggets), and cash (from Warriors).
- Pelicans acquire Tyreke Evans (sign-and-trade from Kings) and Jeff Withey (from Trail Blazers).
- Trail Blazers acquire Robin Lopez and Terrel Harris (from Pelicans).
- Kings acquire Greivis Vasquez (from Pelicans), a 2016 second-round pick (from Trail Blazers) and future second-round considerations (from Trail Blazers).
- Suns acquire Eric Bledsoe and Caron Butler (from Clippers).
- Clippers acquire J.J. Redick (sign-and-trade from Bucks) and Jared Dudley (from Suns).
- Bucks acquire a 2014 second-round pick (from Suns) and a 2015 second-round pick (from Clippers).
- Knicks acquire Andrea Bargnani.
- Raptors acquire Marcus Camby, Steve Novak, Quentin Richardson (sign-and-trade), a 2016 first-round pick, a 2014 second-round pick and a 2017 second-round pick.
- Trail Blazers acquire Thomas Robinson
- Rockets acquire the rights to Kostas Papanikolaou and Marko Todorovic, a 2015 second-round pick, and a 2017 second-round pick.
- Grizzlies acquire Kosta Koufos
- Nuggets acquire Darrell Arthur and 2013 No. 55 pick (Joffrey Lauvergne).
- Celtics acquire 2013 No. 53 pick (Colton Iverson).
- Pacers acquire cash.
- Heat acquire 2013 No. 50 pick (James Ennis).
- Hawks acquire a future second-round pick.
- Jazz acquire 2013 No. 47 pick (Raul Neto).
- Hawks acquire a future second-round pick.
- Thunder acquire 2013 No. 40 pick (Grant Jerrett).
- Trail Blazers acquire cash.
- Mavericks acquire 2013 No. 43 pick (Ricky Ledo).
- Sixers acquire a 2014 second-round pick.
- Bucks acquire 2013 No. 38 pick (Nate Wolters).
- Sixers acquire 2013 No. 43 pick (Ricky Ledo) and a future second-round pick.
- Wizards acquire 2013 No. 35 pick (Glen Rice Jr.).
- Sixers acquire 2013 No. 38 pick (Nate Wolters) and 2013 No. 54 pick (Arsalan Kazemi).
- Trail Blazers acquire 2013 No. 31 pick (Allen Crabbe).
- Cavaliers acquire two future second-round picks.
- Hawks acquire Jared Cunningham, 2013 No. 16 pick (Lucas Nogueira) and the 2013 No. 44 pick (Mike Muscala).
- Mavericks acquire 2013 No. 18 pick (Shane Larkin).
- Celtics acquire 2013 No. 13 pick (Kelly Olynyk).
- Mavericks acquire 2013 No. 16 pick (Lucas Nogueira) and two future second-round picks.
- Jazz acquire 2013 No. 9 pick (Trey Burke).
- Timberwolves acquire No. 14 pick (Shabazz Muhammad) and pick No. 21 (Gorgui Dieng).
- Suns acquire Malcolm Lee and 2013 No. 29 pick (Archie Goodwin).
- Warriors acquire 2013 No. 30 pick (Nemanja Nedovic).
- Thunder acquire 2013 No. 26 pick (Andre Roberson).
- Warriors acquire 2013 No. 29 pick (Archie Goodwin) and $1MM cash.
- Warriors acquire 2013 No. 26 pick (Andre Roberson) and Malcolm Lee.
- Timberwolves acquire a 2014 second-round pick and $1.6MM cash.
- Jazz acquire 2013 No. 27 pick (Rudy Gobert).
- Nuggets acquire 2013 No. 46 pick (Erick Green) and cash.
- Clippers acquire coach Doc Rivers.
- Celtics acquire a 2015 first-round draft pick.
Southwest Rumors: Neal, Jackson, Ellis, Dalembert
Yesterday, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported that the Spurs were in the "process of" withdrawing their qualifying offer to Gary Neal. The RealGM transactions log indicates that the move indeed took place, and if that's so, the timing is key. Yesterday was the deadline for teams to unilaterally withdraw qualifying offers without having to get the player's consent. Teams that pull QOs after the deadline also automatically lose Bird rights to those players. So, the Spurs have not only saved themselves the trouble of getting Neal's permission by presumably withdrawing his QO yesterday, but they've also given themselves more flexibility to re-sign him, if they choose. Here's more on Neal and other notes involving Southwest Division clubs:
- It's been a couple weeks since Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times mentioned that the Bucks were among the teams interested in Gary Neal, but today Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio indicates that Milwaukee remains in the running (Twitter link).
- It appears that this year's 42nd overall pick will play in France. Pierre Jackson, whom the Pelicans acquired as part of the Jrue Holiday/Nerlens Noel trade, has agreed to sign with ASVEL Villeurbanne of France, according to Gabriel Pantel-Jouve of Catch-and-Shoot (translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando).
- Now that the Mavs' signings of Monta Ellis and Samuel Dalembert are official, Mark Deeks has provided contract details for them on the Mavs page at ShamSports. Ellis has a three-year, $25.08MM deal with a player option in the final season, and Dalembert gets two years and $7,568,030, with only a $1.8MM guarantee in year two. Dalembert also has a 15% trade kicker.
- Chandler Parsons believes that he had a critical influence on Dwight Howard's decision to sign with the Rockets, as the big man's new teammate tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
Poll: Biggest Eastern Conference Threat To Heat?
Since forming their Big Three in the summer of 2010, the Heat have won the Eastern Conference three consecutive times, knocking off the Bulls, Celtics, and Pacers respectively. As long as LeBron James continues to be the undisputed best player on the planet, Miami probably remains the favorite to win the East, but the team could be a little more vulnerable in 2013/14.
Mike Miller, who has made several big shots in the postseason during the last three years, is no longer on the roster, and so far this summer, the team hasn't used its taxpayer mid-level exception to bring in a veteran contributor like Shane Battier or Ray Allen. Throw in the fact that Dwyane Wade is, at best, entering the tail end of his prime, and there may be an opening for an upset in the East next season.
Four other Eastern Conference teams make up a clear-cut top five, along with the Heat. Last year's Eastern Conference Finalists, the Pacers, have tweaked their bench, and are expecting to have a healthy Danny Granger back in their lineup. The Bulls, who lost to the Heat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, will get former MVP Derrick Rose back. The Knicks are retaining most of the players that helped lead the team to a second-place finish in the Eastern Conference, and the Nets made perhaps the biggest splash of the summer, adding Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jason Terry, and Andrei Kirilenko, among others.
So which of these clubs do you think has the best chance to upset the Heat and earn a spot in the NBA Finals this season? The Nets, Bulls, Pacers, Knicks, or a darkhorse squad? Feel free to use the comments section to weigh in with your thoughts.
Kyler On Jennings, Henderson, Blair, Mozgov
When I asked a week ago how Brandon Jennings' free agency would play out, over 41% of you predicted that he and the Bucks would ultimately work out a sign-and-trade agreement that sends him to another team. However, according to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld, while some sign-and-trade scenarios have been explored, the Bucks aren't about to "sandbag their season" by moving Jennings in a deal that doesn't land them a starting-caliber point guard. Here's more from Kyler's latest NBA AM piece:
- The Bucks and Jennings continue to maintain a dialogue, and Kyler thinks a deal in the $8MM-per-year range could be worked out, but something that pays Jennings $11-12MM annually is unlikely.
- Mo Williams is considering a few scenarios, but is still hoping to land a "solid multiyear offer." If one doesn't materialize, he may be willing to take a small one-year contract to join a contender, as we heard last week.
- Like the Bucks with Jennings, the Bobcats are waiting for a rival suitor to set Gerald Henderson's price. According to Kyler, several teams would be willing to do mid-level type offer sheets for Henderson, but the Bobcats would almost certainly match such an offer. Kyler adds that it appears likely Henderson will return to Charlotte on a multiyear deal, rather than signing his qualifying offer or being traded.
- "Most of the league" has called about DeJuan Blair "in some capacity," writes Kyler. It sounds as if plenty of clubs would be willing to do one-year, low-money deals, but Blair is still seeking a multiyear pact, or a sign-and-trade that would allow him to keep his Bird rights.
- Timofey Mozgov's destination remains unclear, with Kyler suggesting that the Spurs may be interested in the Nuggets' restricted free agent.