Western Notes: Jazz, Lakers, Iguodala, Spurs
Let's round up a few Thursday notes from around the Western Conference….
- In a piece for The Score, Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com explains how Utah's past has informed its present. As Deeks writes, the team is retooling by stocking up on draft picks rather than signing a slew of free agents. The Jazz did the same thing nearly a decade ago, but are doing it better this time around, says Deeks.
- Kobe Bryant's health and his ability to return to form in the 2013/14 season could play a significant role in next summer's free agent market, according to Sam Amick of USA Today, who explains that the Lakers' plans could be significantly affected by whether or not Kobe shows signs of slowing down.
- Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News spoke to Andre Iguodala about working out with his new teammates, as the swingman prepares to enter the first season of his four-year deal with the Warriors.
- The Spurs announced a number of front office promotions and hirings in a press release today. Among them: Director of scouting Brian Pauga has been named the new general manager of the Spurs' D-League affiliate, the Austin Toros.
Magic Inviting Five Players To Camp
The Magic currently have 14 players on their roster, but will take advantage of increased offseason roster limits to bring five more players to camp, according to Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel. Schmitz reports (via Twitter) that Solomon Jones, Kris Joseph, Manny Harris, and Micheal Eric will be in camp with Orlando. The team is also bringing second-rounder Romero Osby to camp, though the two sides are still negotiating a contract, says Schmitz (Twitter link).
Although Jones and Joseph each saw NBA action in 2012/13, neither played extensive minutes. Jones, a big man who has spent time with five NBA teams, appeared in two games for the Knicks last season. Meanwhile, Joseph shuffled back and forth between the Nets and Celtics, and was included in the summer's Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce blockbuster before he was waived by Boston. The 24-year-old forward was said to have a deal with a Chinese team, but it appears he'll try to earn an NBA roster spot before exploring options overseas.
Harris and Eric both have some history with the Cavaliers, though Harris is the only one of the two that has NBA experience. Harris, 23, appeared in 80 games for the Cavs from 2010 to 2012, averaging 6.2 PPG in 17.4 minutes per contest. He spent last season playing in the Ukraine, as our international tracker shows. As for Eric, he participated in camp with Cleveland last fall before joining the club's D-League affiliate in Canton.
While the five additions to the camp roster will bring Orlando's roster count to 19, only 12 players have fully guaranteed contracts. Kyle O'Quinn's deal won't become guaranteed until opening night, and Schmitz tweets that the club continues to negotiate a buyout with Hedo Turkoglu, whose $12MM salary is only 50% guaranteed. Assuming O'Quinn is ticketed for the regular-season roster and Turkoglu isn't, there should be one or two spots up for grabs in camp.
The Sixers And The Salary Cap
Several weeks ago, I took an in-depth look at how the Sixers may attempt to reach the NBA's minimum required payroll this season, ultimately concluding that the team didn't necessarily have to do anything, since there are no real penalties for falling short of the salary floor. However, while Philadelphia's guaranteed player salaries only currently total about $41.48MM, a variety of cap holds and exceptions ensure that the team is still technically an over-the-cap club.
At no point this summer have the Sixers fallen below the cap threshold. When they traded Jrue Holiday to the Pelicans, they created a trade exception worth his 2013/14 salary ($9,713,484), and have since used that exception to absorb Royce White and Tony Wroten (via trades), as well as Tim Ohlbrecht and James Anderson (via waiver claims), making cap space unnecessary so far.
At some point, the Sixers will likely renounce their outstanding cap holds and exceptions in order to use cap room, but for now, there's no real benefit to doing so. By staying above the cap, Philadelphia hangs onto its full mid-level exception, its bi-annual exception, and the rest of that Holiday TPE, all of which would be lost if the team used any cap space.
Let's back up for a second though and examine how exactly the team remains over the cap, despite its lack of guaranteed salary. Here's a breakdown of the current charges on the cap, including guaranteed contracts (black), non-guaranteed deals (blue), cap holds (red), and exceptions (green):
The cap this season is set at $58,679,000, so the Sixers currently sit just a little above that line. That may not last much longer though, since both Royal Ivey and Damien Wilkins have reached agreements to join the Hawks for training camp. Once they officially sign with Atlanta, their cap holds will come off the Sixers' books, which would reduce Philadelphia's total team salary to $58,199,455.
If the Sixers value the flexibility that comes with being above the cap – and based on their offseason so far, it seems as if they do – they'll want to find a way to avoid dipping below that $58,679,000 cut-off. Officially signing Michael Carter-Williams won't help, since even inking him to a deal worth the maximum 120% of his cap hold would still see the club fall just short of the cap line. Instead, the Sixers will likely finalize at least one of their own free agent signings before Ivey and Wilkins officially sign with the Hawks.
Philadelphia is reportedly set to bring Rodney Williams, Khalif Wyatt, and Darius Morris to camp, so my guess is that, at least one of those players will formally sign a partially guaranteed, minimum-salary contract with the team very soon, if they haven't already, which would ensure that team salary remains above the cap threshold.
As mentioned above, if an opportunity arises where the Sixers need to use cap room to acquire an asset or two, I'm sure the club won't hesitate to renounce its exceptions and claim that space. Until then though, Philadelphia's creative use of the cap has kept a few extra doors open rather than limiting its available options.
HoopsWorld and ShamSports were used in the creation of this post.
Eastern Notes: World Peace, Bucks, Rose, Hawks
So far this morning, we've passed along word of Nerlens Noel's contract with the Sixers, and heard confirmation from the Raptors that they've signed three players to training camp deals. Here are a few more items from around the Eastern Conference:
- Metta World Peace tells Dan Duggan of Newsday that he "got calls from Oklahoma and the Clippers and all these teams" when he was amnestied by the Lakers, but he's happy with his decision to sign with the Knicks.
- Speaking at the Bucks Partner Summit in Milwaukee yesterday, future NBA commissioner Adam Silver made it clear that the city is in need of a new arena, writes Rich Kirchen of The Business Journal. "At the end of the day compared to other modern arenas in the league, this arena is a few hundred thousand square feet too small," Silver said. "It doesn’t have the sort of back-of-house space you need, doesn’t have the kinds of amenities we need."
- Derrick Rose has said in the past that he has little interest in actively recruiting other players to the Bulls, and as he prepares to return from an ACL injury, he's sticking to that stance. "I don't recruit. If anyone wants to play with me, I don't mind playing with, it could be anyone in the NBA, but as far as recruiting, I never did and never will," Rose told Rappler.com (link via ESPNChicago.com).
- Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld examines the Hawks' signing of Paul Millsap, which he views as one of the more underappreciated moves of the summer.
Raptors Sign Stone, Wright, Morais
SEPTEMBER 19TH: The Raptors have officially confirmed the signings of Stone and Wright, via a press release. The release also includes confirmation of Carlos Morais' deal, which we heard about over the weekend.
SEPTEMBER 13TH: The Raptors have 14 players currently on guaranteed contracts, but figure to have at least 17 players in camp next month, according to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star (via Twitter). Smith identifies two of the team's camp invitees as Julyan Stone and Chris Wright.
Stone agreed to terms with the Raptors earlier in the offseason, but that deal fell through when the 24-year-old failed a physical with the club. A report last month indicated that the two sides had remained in touch, and the new arrangement suggests that the Raps still have interest in bringing Stone to camp if little or no guaranteed money is involved. As I noted when Toronto first reached an agreement with the guard, the presence of new GM Masai Ujiri in the team's front office was likely a significant factor in the signing the former Nugget.
As for the Raptors' other invitee, there are two Chris Wrights with NBA experience, so we'll have to wait for further word from Smith or confirmation from the team to be 100% sure which one is heading to Toronto. But I'm assuming the Wright in question is the forward from Dayton, rather than the guard from Georgetown. The Dayton product participated in camp with the Raps a year ago, so it makes sense that the team would bring him back for another look, and perhaps to give him another shot at a regular-season roster spot.
Sixers Sign Nerlens Noel
Over two and a half months after drafting him, the Sixers have officially signed Nerlens Noel to a rookie-scale contract, according to Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com (via Twitter). As our chart of rookie salaries shows, that should put Noel in line for a first-year salary worth about $3.17MM.
Noel, 19, played 24 games for the Wildcats in his freshman year at Kentucky before a torn ACL sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Before the injury, he averaged 10.5 PPG, 9.5 RPG, and 4.4 BPG, and was viewed as the frontrunner to be the No. 1 pick. However, on draft night, he fell to the Pelicans at sixth overall, and was immediately sent to Philadelphia in a trade for Jrue Holiday.
While Noel has signed, there's still no word on whether Michael Carter-Williams, Philadelphia's other lottery pick has officially inked his deal yet.
Jeff Pendergraph Changes Name To Jeff Ayres
Jeff Pendergraph hit free agency this July and inked a two-year deal with the Spurs, but the player who showed up in San Antonio this fall no longer goes by that name. The former Pacer legally changed his name to Jeff Ayres last month, according to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News.
The 26-year-old was born Jeff Orcutt, his mother's maiden name, and assumed the last name Pendergraph in elementary school when she married. That stepfather hasn't been in the picture since the Spurs forward was in high school, which eventually inspired him to assume the surname of his biological father, James Ayres.
As noted above, Ayres signed a two-year contract with the Spurs this offseason, so we shouldn't expect to hear any trade or free agency rumors involving him anytime soon. But when we refer to him going forward, it'll be by his new name. If you're looking for our archive on Ayres, you'll be able to find it at a new URL: hoopsrumors.com/jeff-ayres.
Knicks Split On Signing Earl Barron
While the Knicks coaching staff would like to add free-agent big man Earl Barron, the team's front office is not in any hurry to do so, writes Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report. This is not the first time we have heard that the Knicks like Barron from Zwerling, who cites several sources in his story, presumably making Barron a solid candidate to land one of the last three Knicks roster spots should they bring him aboard.
Zwerling also confirms what we heard yesterday; that the Knicks have worked out a slew of free agents in preparation for training camp, which he says is contributing to the disagreement on Barron. Zwerling reports that center Hamed Haddadi, who worked out for the Knicks last month, hopes to find a team this week but that team is unlikely to be New York. Cole Aldrich and DeSagana Diop are another pair of free agent big men that have worked out with the Knicks.
Apparently, Barron shot the ball well in his Monday workout with the Jazz. According to Zwerling's source close to Barron, while the free agent hopes to land in New York and may use Utah's interest as leverage to speed up the process, he is not waiting on the Knicks.
Odds & Ends: Hunter, Extensions, Lin, Thibodeau
Here are some odds and ends from around the NBA on Wednesday:
- The Warriors have officially added Lindsey Hunter to Mark Jackson's staff as an assistant coach, the team announced today in a press release. Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game initially reported last week that the former Suns head coach was finalizing a deal with Golden State.
- It wouldn't be a shock if none of the 16 extension-eligible players from the rookie class of 2010 signed a deal before hitting restricted free agency next summer, writes Mark Deeks of SB Nation. Deeks opines that teams would rather let external offer sheets set the market for their own hard-to-project players than committing big dollars prematurely. Of course, based on a report this afternoon, it seems that Paul George will be extended this offseason.
- While he has certainly been through a lot, it is important to remember that Rockets point guard Jeremy Lin is still in the early stages of his career, writes Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld, who notes that Lin has had less starts (107) than fellow young point guards Kyrie Irving and Brandon Knight. Assuming he isn't traded, Lin will return to the team he was on the year before for the first time in his career.
- The Luol Deng situation in Chicago has put Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau in a "vortex of drama," writes Sean Deveney of the Sporting News, who says that the list of coaches who dislike distractions more than Thibs is very short.
Free Agent Notes: Wiz, Byars, Powell
Despite news that Emeka Okafor is out indefinitely with a herniated disc and Chris Singleton will undergo surgery today, the Wizards cannot guarantee money to any free agents to replace them (without letting go of someone else on a guaranteed contract by opening night), tweets NBA.com's David Aldridge. Washington already has 15 guaranteed deals on their roster, including Okafor and Singleton, but as Aldridge points out (via Twitter), a trade is always possible. CSN Washington's J. Michael confirms Aldridge's report, via Twitter, adding that the Wizards are likely to bring two or three other players to camp in addition to the 15.
Let's take a look at some other free agent notes from around the league:
- In his latest piece for HoopsWorld, Lang Greene examines a number of unsigned NBA veterans who are still looking for work, including Richard Hamilton, Tyrus Thomas, and Stephen Jackson.
- Memphis native and former Spur Derrick Byars is set to work out for the Grizzlies this week, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Spears adds that the Knicks also have some interest.
- Josh Powell has worked out with New Orleans for a second time, tweets Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype. The Pelicans, who expect to add more players to their camp roster, auditioned Powell last month.