Grizzlies Acquire Nick Calathes From Mavs
The Grizzlies have officially acquired the rights to Nick Calathes from the Mavericks, Memphis announced today in a press release. ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported last night that the two sides were close to a deal.
According to the Grizzlies' press release, the 2016 second-round pick Memphis already owed the Mavs is now unprotected. It had previously been top-55 protected.
Calathes, a second-round pick in 2009, has spent the last several seasons playing overseas, most recently for Lokomotiv Kuban in Russia. The 24-year-old guard was named the 2012/13 EuroCup MVP after averaging 12.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG, and 6.7 APG while shooting 52.1% in 17 contests during the EuroCup competition.
Stein's original story suggested that although Calathes is under contract with Lokomotiv Kazan for the coming season, he has an NBA out clause in his deal, and is hoping to make the jump to the Association sooner rather than later.
Joe Dumars Talks Amnesty, Roster, Expectations
The Pistons have been busy this offseason, awarding the biggest non-max deal of the summer to Josh Smith, and also bringing aboard role players like Gigi Datome and Chauncey Billups. However, one move the club didn't make involved the amnesty provision, as Charlie Villanueva became perhaps the likeliest amnesty candidate not to be released.
Pistons GM Joe Dumars spoke to reporters about that decision, along with his expectations for the coming season, so let's check out the highlights, courtesy of Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press….
On why the Pistons didn't use the amnesty clause:
"Couple of reasons that you use or not use the amnesty. One is that usually you use amnesty to try to create space. You don’t have enough space, and you need that amnesty. And so we were $20MM to $25MM in cap space, and we didn’t need more space. One of the second reasons you use amnesty is you’re targeting someone specific, and you need that money to get it done. We knew we could do everything we needed to get done with the space we had. We would have just amnestied Charlie and we would be sitting here right now with the space and that’s it. There wasn’t a need to use it. Plus, you’re talking about an expiring contract. It made no sense to use it."
On whether the front office is comfortable with the current roster:
"I’m comfortable if we had to go in the season with this roster. I’m really comfortable now with this roster, but you can’t shut the door now and say we’re done. It’s the middle of July right now, and it’s a long way from Oct. 1st. You let teams around the league know that you’re still open. If something comes up that gets us one step further, we’d do it. But if you’re asking me if I’m comfortable with this, yeah, I am."
On whether he views the Pistons as a playoff team:
"I don’t know. I know we can compete for it now. We’ve upgraded the talent. We’ve upgraded what we needed to in terms of shooting, leadership, athleticism. We’ve made the steps to get better and time will tell how it plays out. Obviously we felt we’ve improved this offseason."
Odds & Ends: Faverani, Mavs, Rockets, Heat
Signs seem to be pointing toward Brazilian center Vitor Faverani finally joining the Celtics, according to a staff report from the Boston Herald. Faverani's Spanish team in Valencia issued a press release on Friday that the 25-year-old has officially told them that he is leaving the team to pursue his basketball career elsewhere. The Celtics and Faverani agreed on a three-year, $6MM framework of a deal, but the contract was delayed due to the Celts' efforts to get below the luxury tax line of $71.7MM. Here's more from around the Association..
- Beckley Mason of the New York Times takes a very interesting look at the directions that the Mavericks and Rockets are going in. The Mavs are employing a similar strategy to Daryl Morey & Co. which may not be glamorous in the short term, but its a gameplan that ultimately brought Dwight Howard to Houston.
- With Mike Miller out of the picture, the Heat have to find a rotation player who can help produce when Dwayne Wade's knees are acting up, opines Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.
- Former Rutgers and Creighton big man Gregory Echenique is signing with a German team, but his deal will come with an NBA out clause, sources tell Sportando.
Grizzlies Close To Acquiring Nick Calathes
The Mavericks are in advanced discussions on a trade with the Grizzlies that would send former second-round pick Nick Calathes to Memphis for future draft considerations, sources with knowledge of the deal tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Calathes, a 2009 second-round pick, has spent the last four seasons playing overseas
The Mavericks acknowledged in recent weeks that they were likely to deal the Florida product if they signed Israeli point guard Gal Mekel. Sources say that Dallas has since been in discussions with multiple teams, but it now appears that the pass-first point guard is Memphis-bound. The 24-year-old visited the Mavs in June to meet with team officials and audition for coach Rick Carlisle, but they apparently wanted Mekel more.
Calathes is under contract to his European club, Lokomotiv Kazan, for next season but has an NBA out clause in the deal.
Cavs Notes: Brown, Erden, Gibson
Cavs coach Mike Brown has had a very strange trip through the NBA which has led him back to the helm in Cleveland after an intermission in L.A. However, Brown seems to have taken it all in stride. “It was weird for a while,” Brown said. “But it was a seamless transition for myself and my family. It almost, to a certain degree after we got over the initial shock of it, it almost felt like we never really left. It was almost like we went on vacation for a little bit.” Here's the latest out of Cleveland..
- In part two of his chat with Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal, Brown talks about his relationship with Cavs GM Chris Grant, and the coach says that he expects the team to make the playoffs this year. Part one ran yesterday.
- Brown says he believes several members of the Cavs summer league team deserve invitations to training camp, as Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer notes. Matthew Dellavedova, Cory Higgins, Jermaine Taylor, and Justin Harper all got dap from the Cavs' head coach.
- The Cavs have renounced the rights to Daniel Gibson and Semih Erden, according to the RealGM transactions log.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Bernard James Clears Waivers
Center Bernard James has cleared waivers, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter). The Mavs were forced to waive James for cap reasons, but today's news clears the way for him to re-sign with Dallas.
James is an athletic big man entering his second season in the league and is thought to have a decent amount of upside potential. With a salary less than $1MM, it seemed like there was a good chance of James being picked up by another club. One possible deterrent with James was that claiming him off of waivers would have meant guaranteeing his salary for 2013/14.
The 28-year-old center saw just 9.9 minutes per contest last season and averaged 2.8 PPG.
Marcus Camby Clears Waivers
7:35pm: Camby's three finalists are the Heat, Rockets, and Bulls, sources tell Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports (on Twitter).
4:19pm: Marcus Camby has cleared waivers and is now officially a free agent, according to Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports (via Twitter). The waivers process was more or less a formality as no one was expected to claim him following his buyout from Toronto.
The Heat are among the teams with interest in the veteran center along with the Rockets and Bulls. The Clippers were believed to have interest as well, but that notion was shot down last last week. The shot-blocking big man has impressed in recent years with his tremendous rebounding but played in just 24 games for the Knicks last season.
His recently-terminated deal called for him to earn $7.5MM between next season and 2014/15. Camby apparently wants to play for a couple more years before transitioning into coaching.
Hoops Links: Jackson, Nets, Heat, Clippers
This week 13 years ago, Isiah Thomas was named head coach of the Pacers, replacing Larry Bird, who stepped down following the 1999/00 season. Thomas was a 12-time All-Star and led the Pistons to two NBA championships and was the Finals MVP in 1990. He also led Indiana to the NCAA title in 1981. As was the case with Bird, who was the 1997/98 NBA Coach of the Year, the Pacers’ job was Thomas’ first coaching experience. Thomas would coach the Pacers for three years and later have two seasons at the helm with the Knicks, giving him a total coaching mark of 187-223.
Got a fantastic basketball blog piece that you want featured on Hoops Rumors? Send your submissions to HoopsLinks@gmail.com. Here’s this week’s look around the web..
- Suite Sports looks at the good moves and bad moves of the summer.
- Hardwood Paroxysm talks Darnell Jackson and the value of age.
- The Brooklyn Game pits the new-look Nets against the Heat.
- Celtics Life has a former-C’s showdown between the Nets and the Clippers.
- NBA Couchside projects the Bulls’ season using advanced metrics.
- Blog A Bull wonders why Nate Robinson can’t find a home.
- Rufus On Fire talks nepotism.
- Pounding The Rock wonders if the Spurs would consider Iman Shumpert.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Zach can be reached here.
Hoops Rumors Originals
Here's a roundup of the original analysis produced by the Hoops Rumors staff this week..
- Chuck Myron gave us an update on this summer's restricted free agents.
- Luke Adams broke down the players eligible for rookie-scale extensions.
- Chuck listed the biggest raises given to minimum salary players. The big winner, of course, is Keith Bogans.
- There's a subtle value in a three-year deal, Chuck explains.
- Luke broke down the 2014 amensty candidates.
- Opinions are split on where Brandon Jennings will land.
- Earlier this week, Luke ran down the latest on some of the more notable available free agents.
- Here's how you can follow Hoops Rumors on every conceivable medium.
- Check out our running list of 2013 Draft signings.
- If you haven't already, check out the Hoops Rumors free agent tracker.
Week In Review: 7/15/13 – 7/21/13
This summer didn't bring Dwight Howard to Dallas, but Mark Cuban wasn't going to just sit on his wallet. The Mavs went out and formed a backcourt of Jose Calderon and Monta Ellis while bolstering the frontcourt with Samuel Dalembert, who was signed to a two-year, $7.5MM deal this week. Here's the rest of our look back at the week that was on Hoops Rumors..
- LeBron James will reportedly exercise his ETO next summer and choose between staying with the Heat or returning to the Cavs. The Lakers are eyeing him and Carmelo Anthony in 2014.
- The Heat used their amnesty provision to get out from under Mike Miller's contract. The veteran is now being courted by the Thunder, Nuggets, and Grizzlies.
- Ask (whine?) and you shall recieve. Marcus Camby got his buyout from the Raptors and is now a free agent. He hopes to play for two more seasons, then coach.
- The Blazers and LaMarcus Aldridge's reps discussed a possible deal.
- Richard Hamilton isn't ready to call it a career just yet.
- The Hawks agreed to a one-year deal with Elton Brand.
- Drew Gooden was amnestied by the Bucks and cleared waivers.
- Linas Kleiza was amnestied by Denver.
- The Rockets officially signed Aaron Brooks.
- The Wolves' owner expects to keep Nikola Pekovic.
- The Magic signed former Piston Jason Maxiell.
- The Greg Oden saga continues.
- Baron Davis wants to return to the NBA.
- The Celtics agreed in principle to a deal with Vitor Faverani.
- D.J. Augustin will join the Raptors.
- The Mavs reached a new deal with Devin Harris.
- Chuck Hayes is open to a trade.
- Kendall Marshall is on the block.
- The Clippers and Byron Mullens agreed to a two-year, $2MM deal with a player option on year two.
- The 76ers are still after a head coach.
- The Mavs waived Bernard James as well as Josh Akognon to make cap room.
- The Lakers will sign Shawne Williams.
- The Sixers claimed a pair of former Rockets.
- The Celtics signed Phil Pressey to a multi-year pact.
- The Thunder found some change underneath the couch cushions.
- The Knicks will give Jeremy Tyler a non-guaranteed deal. As a high schooler, Tyler was thought to be an elite talent.
- The Magic will sign Ronnie Price.
- The Bobcats are now going to become the Hornets.
- The C's waived Kris Joseph.
- John Lucas signed with the Jazz.
- The Cavaliers shed two non-guaranteed contracts from their books, waiving Kevin Jones and Chris Quinn.
- The Nets said goodbye to D.J. White.