Odds & Ends: Billups, Jennings, Bobcats, Pelicans
- The Bucks and Jennings' camp both see a sign-and-trade as ideal, but it seems he's more likely to ink his qualifying offer, writes Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Hoops Rumors readers see a signed QO as the most likely outcome.
- Bobcats coach Steve Clifford wants the team to carry six big men and add a third point guard, notes Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. There are six bigs on the roster, but Jeff Adrien's deal is non-guaranteed.
- Charlotte's name change from the Bobcats to the Hornets is set to receive official NBA approval Thursday, Bonnell notes in a separate piece. The switch will occur next summer.
- The Pelicans' offseason is a "game-changer" for Eric Gordon, writes Sam Amick of USA Today, as the team's moves have helped sculpt an intriguing core that figures to entice the once-disgruntled shooting guard to stay.
- Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee spoke with Kings minority owner John Kehriotis, who's in a somewhat awkward situation after making a play at the majority interest in the team that went to new principal owner Vivek Ranadive.
- Kurt Rambis made comments on ESPN last fall that reportedly prompted Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni to cross him off his list of potential assistants, but it appears D'Antoni has changed his mind, as Rambis is set to join his staff, notes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Johnny Davis will join him, along with fellow newcomers Mark Madsen and Larry Lewis.
- The Wizards will hire Frank Ross as director of player personnel, TNT's David Aldridge tweets. Ross has been serving as the Thunder's scouting director for the East Coast.
Blazers GM, Aldridge Reps Discuss Possible Trade
Blazers GM Neil Olshey met Sunday in Las Vegas with members of LaMarcus Aldridge's camp who suggested several trade scenarios, a source tells Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com. The source described the meeting as productive, with both sides focused on the best outcome for all involved. Still, Haynes hears the team is in no hurry to trade the All-Star power forward, particularly if there isn't a fair deal available. Olshey and company don't want a package of draft picks in return, according to Haynes.
The Bulls, Timberwolves, Clippers, Hawks and Pelicans have declined to include Joakim Noah, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin, Al Horford and Anthony Davis, respectively, in any deal for Aldridge, Haynes hears. Aldridge has told Haynes and others that he has not requested a trade, and Haynes has confirmed that he hasn't done so. Still, Aldridge isn't opposed to a trade, just as he'd be OK with returning to Portland, as Haynes writes, echoing his report from last month.
A strong performance from Aldridge this season could help Olshey find the deal he wants next summer, when Aldridge will be down to one more year on his contract. The 28-year-old Arn Tellem client will make $14.628MM this season and $15.756MM in 2014/15.
Baron Davis Seeking Return To NBA
Baron Davis hasn't played since a devastating knee injury in the 2012 playoffs, but he told MSG's Alan Hahn tonight that he hopes he's ready to play with an NBA team by the time training camps begin in October (Twitter link). Davis has been with the Knicks in an advisory role since September, and has been observing free agent workouts this week with other members of the team's staff.
Davis spent 2011/12 with the Knicks, and while he held out hope that he'd be healthy enough to play this past season, agent Todd Ramasar said last August that his client would like to stay with the Knicks "in some capacity." The 13-year veteran indicated last summer that he'd like to play again with the Knicks, so they appear to be the leading candidate for him. The Knicks could be in the market for a third-string point guard following the retirement of Jason Kidd, so perhaps there's a fit there.
The 34-year-old is a two-time All-Star whose declining production landed him on amnesty waivers from the Cavs in 2011. The Knicks picked him up after that, and he averaged 6.1 points per game with a 4.7-to-2.6 assists-to-turnover ratio in 20.5 minutes per contest for New York.
Mavs Reach New Agreement With Devin Harris?
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban indicated that the team has a new deal with point guard Devin Harris, whose initial three-year, $9MM agreement with the team was scrubbed when he suffered a toe injury.
"He's coming back. We just restructured the deal,'' Cuban said, according to Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Twitter link).
A new deal between Dallas and the Excel Sports Management Client would come as no surprise, since the team still had interest in bringing him aboard even as the two sides mutually agreed to call off the initial arrangement. The financial terms of the latest agreement are unclear, but I'd imagine he'll take a paycut of some kind. Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors speculated this week that Harris could be in line for a two-year minimum salary contract with a player option for the second season.
The Mavs have a lot of balls in the air with regard to free agency at the moment, having struck a deal with Samuel Dalembert earlier this evening. The team is expected to reach agreement with Brandan Wright soon, and Dallas continues to eye Greg Oden. Cuban confirmed the team is still in the market for the No. 1 overall pick, but the owner says his team and Oden's representatives haven't engaged in contract talks, Price notes (on Twitter).
Dallas also has a decision to make regarding Bernard James, whose contract for this season was supposed to have become fully guaranteed if he wasn't waived on or before this past Monday. James and the team agreed to put off that deadline.
New York Notes: Childress, Morris, Hannah
The Nets have stolen New York's backpage headlines from the Knicks, observes Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News, who believes that if Carmelo Anthony flees for the Lakers next summer, it wouldn't be the worst possible outcome for the Madison Square Garden faithful. While baseball decamps from New York following last night's All-Star Game, here's a look at the city's basketball beat:
- Former Net Josh Childress will meet with several teams Friday in Las Vegas, tweets Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com. So, far the Knicks have been the only ones linked this month to 30-year-old swingman, and the two sides have already spoken.
- While noting that Baron Davis was part of a Knicks contingent observing Bobby Brown's workout yesterday, Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reports that Darius Morris and Stefhon Hannah also worked out for the Knicks (Twitter links).
- Keith Bogans says that when he consented to his inclusion in the Nets/Celtics blockbuster trade, he wasn't aware he'd get the hefty $5MM+ salary that the sign-and-trade afforded him, notes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post.
Lakers Sign Jordan Farmar
JULY 17TH, 7:55pm: The Lakers have officially announced the signing.
JULY 15TH, 4:27pm: The Lakers are "close" to a buyout with Farmar's former club, a source tells Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (via Twitter).
JULY 10TH, 8:52pm: Farmar is still on track to join the Lakers, but his buyout with Anadolu Efes is still not complete, according to Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register (on Twitter).
7:28am: Although Dwight Howard left guaranteed salary on the table to leave Los Angeles, at least one player is willing to give up money to come back to L.A. According to Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com, the Lakers have agreed to terms with Jordan Farmar on a one-year deal worth the minimum salary.
After being bought out by the Hawks a year ago, Farmar signed a three-year contract with Turkey's Anadolu Efes worth a reported $10MM+. The 26-year-old will earn about $1.1MM with the Lakers after the team negotiates his buyout with Anadolu Efes, a figure that McMenamin says will be around $500K.
"They knew about my deal overseas and really didn't push it earlier because they didn't think I'd be willing to give up that guaranteed money I had over there," Farmar told McMenamin. "I wanted to be back in the NBA, but more importantly, back with the Lakers. This is the only situation I would have taken a minimum deal with."
The Tony Dutt client spent the first four years of his NBA career with the Lakers before joining the Nets for a pair of seasons. Overall, Farmer has averaged 7.7 PPG and a 13.3 PER in 413 NBA contests. We first heard back on the opening day of free agency that there was mutual interest between him and the Lakers.
Mike Miller Suitors Wary Of Possible Surgery
Mike Miller is considering fusion surgery for bulging disks in his back, and that's giving teams pause as they consider whether to submit an amnesty claim for him, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Cavs are strongly considering claiming Miller, and according to Wojnarowski, several contenders are thinking about signing him if he were to go unclaimed. If Miller hits free agency, that would give clubs additional time to have doctors to examine the 33-year-old and for him to express his needs and intentions regarding surgery.
Miller also considered surgery last summer, when he downplayed retirement talk. Miller hasn't had retirement on his mind this summer, either, saying last month that he felt like he could play for four or five more years.
The Cavs are aware of Miller's back issues even as they continue to ponder making a bid, Wojnarowski writes. The Rockets reportedly have interest in him, and the Clippers have been linked to him as well, though presumably those teams would sign him rather than submit a waiver claim. Teams must have cap space to place either a full or partial amnesty bid, and the deadline to do so is 4:00pm Central time Thursday.
2013 Draft Pick Signings
Teams typically fly their draft picks in and show them off to fans and the media in the first few days after they’re selected. Still, those incoming prospects often remain unsigned for weeks, if not months. That’s especially true for second-rounders, many of whom never sign. Just 20 of the 30 second-round picks in 2012 played in the NBA this past season.
Many second-rounders have competed in summer league for their respective teams without a formal agreement for next season, furthering the point that in many cases, all the pick amounts to is an invitation to try out.
That’s not so for first-rounders, whose contracts are guaranteed by rule for at least two years once they sign. Negotiations with first-round picks are usually easy for teams, since almost all of them receive 120% of their rookie-scale amounts. Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors recently ran down the likely starting salary for each first-round pick. The predetermined salary structure is one of the reasons why first-rounders come to terms more quickly than their second-round counterparts, as evidenced by this year’s draft-pick signings.
Here, we have a roundup of which picks have been signed and which remain without a contract. Each player is listed with the team that currently owns his rights, which in many cases isn’t the team that originally drafted him, given the volume of trades we saw on draft night and the weeks since. The first-rounders who signed presumably did so for 120% of their rookie-scale amounts (unless otherwise noted), but since there’s no established structure for contracts given to second-rounders, we’ve provided detail where available.
Updated 10-21-13
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Anthony Bennett — signed
- Orlando Magic: Victor Oladipo — signed
- Washington Wizards: Otto Porter — signed
- Charlotte Bobcats: Cody Zeller — signed
- Phoenix Suns: Alex Len — signed
- Philadelphia 76ers: Nerlens Noel — signed
- Sacramento Kings: Ben McLemore — signed
- Detroit Pistons: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — signed
- Utah Jazz: Trey Burke — signed
- Portland Trail Blazers: C.J. McCollum — signed
- Philadelphia 76ers: Michael Carter-Williams — signed
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Steven Adams — signed
- Boston Celtics: Kelly Olynyk — signed
- Minnesota Timberwolves: Shabazz Muhammad — signed
- Milwaukee Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo — signed
- Atlanta Hawks: Lucas Nogueira — playing overseas
- Atlanta Hawks: Dennis Schröder — signed
- Dallas Mavericks: Shane Larkin — signed
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Sergey Karasev — signed
- Chicago Bulls: Tony Snell — signed
- Minnesota Timberwolves: Gorgui Dieng — signed
- Brooklyn Nets: Mason Plumlee — signed
- Indiana Pacers: Solomon Hill — signed
- New York Knicks: Tim Hardaway Jr. — signed
- Los Angeles Clippers: Reggie Bullock — signed
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Andre Roberson — signed, with a starting salary at 80% of the rookie scale
- Utah Jazz: Rudy Gobert — signed
- San Antonio Spurs: Livio Jean-Charles — playing overseas
- Phoenix Suns: Archie Goodwin — signed
- Golden State Warriors: Nemanja Nedovic — signed
Round Two:
- Portland Trail Blazers: Allen Crabbe — signed to a three-year deal with a team option for the final season.
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Alex Abrines — playing overseas
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Carrick Felix — signed to a four-year deal with a non-guaranteed season in year four.
- Houston Rockets: Isaiah Canaan — signed to a three-year deal with a team option for the final season.
- Washington Wizards: Glen Rice Jr. — signed to a two-year deal with a partial guarantee on year two.
- Sacramento Kings: Ray McCallum — signed to a three-year guaranteed deal.
- Detroit Pistons: Tony Mitchell — signed to a three-year deal with a non-guaranteed third season.
- Milwaukee Bucks: Nate Wolters — signed to a three-year deal worth $2,263,758. Only the first two seasons are fully guaranteed.
- New Orleans Pelicans: Jeff Withey — signed to a two-year deal with a non-guaranteed second season.
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Grant Jerrett — will play in D-League
- Memphis Grizzlies: Jamaal Franklin — signed to a three-year deal with a non-guaranteed third season.
- New Orleans Pelicans: Pierre Jackson — unsigned
- Dallas Mavericks: Ricky Ledo — signed to a four-year deal which is guaranteed for two years.
- Atlanta Hawks: Mike Muscala — playing overseas
- Houston Rockets: Marko Todorovic — playing overseas
- Denver Nuggets: Erick Green — playing overseas
- Utah Jazz: Raul Neto — playing overseas
- Los Angeles Lakers: Ryan Kelly — signed to a one-year, non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary.
- Chicago Bulls: Erik Murphy — signed to a two-year, non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary.
- Miami Heat: James Ennis — playing overseas (deal includes NBA out)
- Orlando Magic: Romero Osby — receiving camp invite
- Minnesota Timberwolves: Lorenzo Brown — signed
- Boston Celtics: Colton Iverson — playing overseas
- Philadelphia 76ers: Arsalan Kazemi — playing overseas
- Denver Nuggets: Joffrey Lauvergne — playing overseas
- Detroit Pistons: Peyton Siva — signed to a two-year, non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary.
- Phoenix Suns: Alex Oriakhi — playing overseas
- San Antonio Spurs: Deshaun Thomas — playing overseas
- Minnesota Timberwolves: Bojan Dubljevic — playing overseas
- Memphis Grizzlies: Janis Timma — playing overseas
Cavs Mulling Amnesty Claim Of Mike Miller
6:28pm: The Cavs have decided to delay their official signing of Andrew Bynum, and that's tied to their pursuit of Miller, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The Cavs have postponed Thursday's scheduled signing, as Mary Schmitt Boyer of the The Plain Dealer originally reported, and that's so they can preserve the cap space necessary to make a bid on Miller, according to Windhorst (Twitter link). If Cleveland submits the winning bid for Miller, the team would waive non-guaranteed players to re-open space for Bynum's deal, as Windhorst explains via Twitter.
5:10pm: The Cavs are strongly considering claiming Mike Miller off amnesty waivers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Heat used the amnesty clause yesterday to rid themselves of the two years and $12.8MM remaining on his contract. The Cavs, and any other NBA team with cap space, can place a partial bid on that amount. If there are multiple bids, Miller's rights would go to whichever team bid the highest.
Miller, 33, would become a free agent if no team claims him. With the Clippers and Rockets already linked to the 13-year veteran sharpshooter, an amnesty claim might represent the Cavs' best chance to get him.
There have been reports indicating the Cavs are out of cap room, so if they're accurate, the team will have to waive some of its non-guaranteed players to make a bid on Miller. The Cavs can eliminate as much as much as $4,120,814 from their books by waiving C.J. Miles, Chris Quinn and Kevin Jones. They're not allowed to make a trade to open up cap space under the rules of the amnesty provision.
Miller is a friend of former Heat teammate LeBron James, as Wojnarowski notes. The Cavs are gearing up for a run at James next summer, when the four-time MVP can opt out his contract with the Heat, so perhaps that's one of the factors the team is considering as it thinks about claiming Miller.
Mavs Close To Deal With Samuel Dalembert
The Mavs have made Samuel Dalembert a target for the past couple of weeks, and now it appears they're nearing an agreement with the veteran center, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. Dallas is one of several teams looking at Greg Oden, but Stein adds that the Mavs feel compelled to add Dalembert after missing out on Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum (Twitter link).
Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning news wrote over the weekend that Dallas and the Pinnacle Management client were "inching toward" a deal, so it looks like they're finally approaching the end of that process. Stein identified Dalembert as the Mavs' prime target a week ago.
As for Oden, the Mavs are aware they can be outbid, but they've met face-to-face with the Mike Conley Sr. client and continue to try to sell him on the idea of making his comeback in Dallas, Stein tweets. The Mavs would like to sign both Dalembert and Oden, and with the prospect of a crowded frontcourt, the team convinced Bernard James to postpone the date when his contract for this season goes from non-guaranteed from fully guaranteed, as Stein also reports via Twitter. That date was originally this past Monday, but James' salary remains non-guaranteed. Dallas wants to let its pursuit of the other big men play out before committing to James, though the team is still high on him, according to Stein (Twitter link).
The team is also likely to re-sign Brandan Wright, one of its own free agents. None of the big men the Mavs appear to be going after have the cachet of Howard or even the oft-injured Bynum, so it's odd to see them place such a priority on Dalembert, who played only a bit part with Milwaukee this past season. Dalembert would seem to be a lateral move, at best, from Chris Kaman and Elton Brand, who've signed with other teams after spending 2012/13 with the Mavs.