Bulls Monitoring Kurt Thomas
The Bulls signed a pair of guards to training camp deals yesterday, adding a couple more bodies to an already crowded backcourt. According to Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com though, the team also has a big man target in mind for later in the year. Deeks tweets that the Bulls are keeping an eye on Kurt Thomas, waiting for the veteran to get healthy.
Thomas, 40, struggled with foot issues in 2012/13, and was eventually released by the Knicks when he underwent surgery and was ruled out for the season. It was widely assumed that the procedure signaled the end of Thomas' NBA playing career, but a report in May suggested that he was still undecided on his future, and was leaving the door open for a return. If he signs with a team for the coming season, the 18-year-veteran would reclaim his title as the NBA's oldest player.
As Deeks notes in his above tweets, Thomas isn't expected to be ready for the start of the season, so that gives the Bulls some options, even if they intend to eventually sign him. Dexter Pittman is set to join the team for training camp, and if he impresses, perhaps Chicago's interest in Thomas will wane. The club would also have the flexibility to carry a non-guaranteed player for the first few weeks of the season, cutting him prior to the league's guarantee date in January in order to create room for Thomas or another player.
Nuggets Sign Damion James
Free agent swingman Damion James will be in camp with the Nuggets this fall, according to Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com, who reports (via Twitter) that Denver has signed James to a fully non-guaranteed contract.
James was traded from the Hawks to the Nets on draft night in 2010 after being selected with the 24th overall pick. Since then, he has bounced back and forth between the two teams — after spending the first two seasons of his NBA career in New Jersey, he was in camp with the Hawks last year. Atlanta cut him before opening night, but James signed with the Nets later in the season and appeared in a pair of games for the club.
For Denver, the 25-year-old will compete for a roster spot in camp, though it figures to be an uphill battle. The Nuggets are already carrying 14 guaranteed contracts, and also have Quincy Miller on a partially guaranteed deal. Miller didn't make much of an impression in his rookie year, but I'd be a little surprised if the Nuggets cut ties with him already, particularly since the team is already on the hook for $150K of his salary.
Kings Sign DeQuan Jones
The Kings have added another player to their training camp roster, signing DeQuan Jones, according to Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com (via Twitter). Jones' contract will be fully non-guaranteed, Deeks adds in a second tweet.
Jones, 23, went undrafted in June 2012, but signed with the Magic as a free agent, and ended up earning a rotation spot with the team, starting 17 of his 63 contests in his rookie season. After the 6'8" forward recorded averages of 3.7 PPG, 1.7 RPG, and an 8.4 PER, Orlando decided against tendering him a qualifying offer that would have made him a restricted free agent.
Sacramento's roster count now stands at 16 players, including 14 guaranteed contracts. In addition to Jones' non-guaranteed deal, the team is carrying Trent Lockett on a partially guaranteed contract. That partial guarantee may give Lockett the upper hand on the team's final roster spot, but it's only worth $35K, so it shouldn't be a difference-maker if Jones or another invitee outperforms him in the preseason. C.J. Aiken is also expected to participate in Kings camp.
Odds & Ends: Pistons, LeBron, Anderson
A panel of HoopsWorld columnists discussed their thoughts on the Pistons' offseason additions, current strengths and weaknesses, and where the team projects to finish in the Central Division standings this year. Count Brandon Jennings among those who seem most eager to get the season started, as he believes that with Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe, and Josh Smith, Detroit should be a dominant rebounding force on both sides of the court (Detroit Free Press staff report). Here's the rest of tonight's noteworthy links:
- Ken Berger of CBS Sports believes that with so many variables to consider, there's no way that even LeBron James knows what he's going to do on July 1st next year, when he'll have the ability to exercise his early-termination option and hit unrestricted free agency.
- Jeff Goodman of ESPN (via Twitter) doesn't think it's a guarantee that UCLA's Kyle Anderson will declare for the draft after this year, especially since he's not considered a lock to get selected in the first round at this point.
- Jeff Caplan of NBA.com gives the Trail Blazers a "B" for their offseason report card, highlighting their coaching staff and frontcourt as the team's strongest suits and identifying defense as their weakest one. In another a piece, Ben Golliver of BlazersEdge.com relays Damian Lillard's interview with True Hoop TV's Henry Abbott about his workload and expectations defensively.
- Dan McCarney of Spurs Nation wades through the changes and holdovers of the Northwest Division and touches upon what to expect from each team in 2013/14.
- Moke Hamilton of HoopsWorld held his weekly chat with fans, answering questions about Seattle, the Knicks, how Danny Granger's return from injury could affect Paul George, and the Pelicans' playoff chances among other topics.
Khalif Wyatt Agrees To Terms With 76ers
According to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Khalif Wyatt has agreed to terms to a multi-year, partially guaranteed contract with the 76ers. Tom Moore of Bucks County Courier Times (via Twitter) also received direct confirmation of the agreement from Wyatt's agent, Stephen Pina. After going undrafted in June, the 6'4 guard participated in five games for the Sixers' summer league team in Orlando, averaging 13.8 PPG and 1.6 SPG to go with 45.8% shooting from the field and 42.9% from long range in 19.8 MPG. Pompey adds that team brass had been impressed with Wyatt's ball-handling, passing, and leadership as well.
Once the signings of Darius Morris, Rodney Williams, and Wyatt are made official, the current roster will stand at 16 (11 fully guaranteed, three partially guaranteed, and two non-guaranteed deals). Although the former Temple Owl is set to be in uniform on opening night, Pompey won't rule out the possibility of the Sixers sending him to their D-League affiliate – the Delaware 87ers – for a portion of the season.
Cavaliers Sign Matthew Dellavedova
SEPTEMBER 12TH: According to Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal, a league source confirmed that Dellavedova has signed a two-year deal worth $1.3MM with a small partial guarantee for 2013/14, which we heard was worth $100k earlier this week.
Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio also reported confirmation of the signing from league sources today.
AUGUST 3RD: Matthew Dellavedova will join the Cavaliers this fall on an invitation to training camp, reports Roy Ward of The Age (hat tip to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). The St. Mary's star went undrafted in June, but impressed Cleveland GM Chris Grant and company during summer league play.
Ward writes that Dellavedova appears to be the front-runner for the third point guard spot behind Kyrie Irving and Jarrett Jack, but much can change between now and opening night. The Australian native will take part in a national team training camp and two games against New Zealand before heading stateside in September.
The 6'4", 22-year-old Dellavedova didn't cause much of a stir in the Las Vegas Summer League, shooting just 27.3% as he averaged 2.8 points and 3.0 assists in 20.1 minutes per game across five contests. Still, the Cavs saw enough to bring him aboard, likely on a one-year, non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary. Coach Mike Brown is particularly fond of him, and if he doesn't make the regular season roster, the Cavs would reportedly like to see him play for their D-League affiliate.
Pacific Links: Len, Lakers, Kings
Here are some links to pass along out of the Pacific Division tonight:
- Royce Young of CBS Sports relayed a tweet from Suns rookie Alex Len, who revealed that he's been cleared to start practicing and should therefore be ready for the start of training camp.
- Adi Joseph and Sean Highkin of USA Today have been ranking NBA teams according to their "watchability" next season and continue their list with the Lakers, who come in at number 24. With the departure of Dwight Howard leaving the roster thinner and the possibility that the team continues to struggle with injuries, Joseph expects the purple and gold to only win 33 games and ultimately miss the playoffs.
- Next on the list are the Kings at 23, whom Joseph projects to finish 25-57 and fall short of a playoff berth. Although Greivis Vasquez' unselfish play should benefit DeMarcus Cousins and the team could be very entertaining, Joseph points out that the overall roster remains in flux and will continue to struggle heavily on defense.
- Kevin Ding of the OC Register (via Twitter) notes that the Lakers training camp will open on September 29 after the team pushed their media day back to the 28th.
How Agencies Fared In Free Agency (Part 2)
Yesterday, we published the first installment in our look at how agencies fared in this summer's free agency period. Today, we'll be bringing you the second part of that post, focusing on the eight agencies who landed the most overall guaranteed money for their clients in free agency. Before we dive in though, let's revisit a few caveats….
- The info in our free agent tracker is based on contract details that have been reported to date. In some cases, a player has been said to have a partial guarantee on his contract, but we haven't heard specifics on how big that guarantee is. If those details have yet to be reported, we're excluding those players from our calculations, and considering them to be non-guaranteed for now. That includes guys like Ronnie Brewer, Darius Morris, Richard Howell, and Rodney Williams, among others.
- Players who signed overseas, players believed to have accepted non-guaranteed camp invites, and draft picks who signed deals with NBA teams aren't included in this summary. That means, for our purposes, BDA Sports won't get credit for Luke Babbitt's deal in Russia (an international signing), Wasserman Media won't get credit for Fab Melo's deal with the Mavs (reportedly a non-guaranteed camp invite), and Relativity Sports won't get credit for Nick Calathes' deal with the Grizzlies (Memphis held Calathes' draft rights, rather than signing him as a free agent).
- Our overall figures for each agency are based on guaranteed salary, which doesn't include team options, but does include player options and early termination options, since the player is guaranteed that money if he chooses to accept it. The figures in our tracker are also rounded to the nearest thousand, so our totals may not be accurate down to the dollar, but they're very close.
- There are a small handful of 2013 signees whose agents we have yet to confirm, but those guys all signed minimum-salary contracts, so their absence won't have a significant impact our totals.
With those qualifiers in mind, here are the eight agencies who did best in free agency this summer, by our calculations:
Agency: Perennial Sports & Entertainment
Notable deals: Josh Smith, Pistons (4/$54MM); Anthony Morrow, Pelicans (2/$2.173MM)
Overall guaranteed money: $56.173MM
Perennial is the last agency on our list to have one big deal account for nearly their entire overall guarantee. But for an agency that only represents a handful of NBA players, this was certainly an eventful offseason. Perennial's other big client, Derrick Favors, is also extension-eligible up until October 31st.
As for Smith's and Morrow's deals themselves, it's worth mentioning a couple details not listed above: Smith's contract includes several unlikely incentives, which could increase the overall value of the deal, while Morrow's contract includes language that reduces his guarantee for 2014/15 if he misses a certain amount of games due to back issues.
Agency: Landmark Sports Agency
Notable deals: Andre Iguodala, Warriors (4/$48MM); O.J. Mayo, Bucks (3/$24MM)
Overall guaranteed money: $78.699MM
A few of Landmark's clients appear to have signed deals worth less than what they might have earned elsewhere. That list includes Iguodala, who reportedly had offers worth $50MM+, and a pair of new Lakers, Chris Kaman and Wesley Johnson. Considering Landmark and agent Rob Pelinka also represent Kobe Bryant, it's likely no coincidence that Kaman and Johnson ended up taking modest, cap-friendly deals to join the Lakers.
Agency: ASM Sports
Notable deals: Jeff Teague, Hawks (4/$32MM); J.J. Hickson, Nuggets (3/$16.145MM)
Overall guaranteed money: $84.189MM
ASM has a ton of NBA clients, but this year's free agent class didn't have quite the same amount of starpower as last year's for the agency. Kevin Garnett and Ersan Ilyasova landed big contracts last season, while Serge Ibaka inked a contract extension worth nearly $50MM. This time around, only Teague landed more than mid-level money. Still, Andy Miller and ASM did well to negotiate larger paydays than I would've expected for guys like Hickson, Marreese Speights, and Chauncey Billups.
One oddity related to ASM's deals this summer was the agency's fondness for actual team options. Typically, non-guaranteed seasons take the place of official team options, but the contracts for Timofey Mozgov, Speights, and Billups all include the latter. Perhaps the agency prefers that form of option because decisions are always due by the end of June, which would make clients available for potential suitors at the start of free agency. For non-guaranteed contracts, the player's team often doesn't have to make a decision until later in July.
Agency: Priority Sports & Entertainment
Notable deals: Jose Calderon, Mavericks (4/$29MM); Carl Landry, Kings (4/$26.047MM)
Overall guaranteed money: $84.91MM
Like ASM, Mark Bartelstein and his associates at Priority didn't have a marquee free agent hitting the market this summer, but the agency still had a strong offseason. It wouldn't have surprised me to see Calderon and Landry signed for mid-level money, so the fact that each player earned a guaranteed four-year contract worth more than that was impressive. Even the agency's smaller deals, like Will Bynum's, DeMarre Carroll's, and Ronny Turiaf's, were worth slightly more guaranteed money than I would have expected ($5.75MM, $5MM, and $3MM, respectively).
There were at least a couple Priority clients who signed for less than I anticipated, but even then, second-year player options were negotiated into the contracts to allow those players (Mo Williams and Nick Young) to hit the market again next summer, if they so choose.
Agency: Creative Artists Agency
Notable deals: Chris Paul, Clippers (5/$107.343MM); J.R. Smith, Knicks (3/$17.947MM)
Overall guaranteed money: $138.362MM
The Knicks and CAA are often mentioned in the same breath, and for good reason — Carmelo Anthony, Mike Woodson, Andrea Bargnani, C.J. Leslie, and the Smith brothers (J.R. and Chris Smith) are all represented by the agency. But this summer's deals almost suggest that Houston is becoming New York West; CAA clients Omri Casspi, Aaron Brooks, and Ronnie Brewer all signed with the Rockets this offseason.
Of course, focusing on how the agency has a tendency to group its clients on the same teams is burying the lede. The prize jewel of free agency this summer was Paul, who signed for about $20MM more than any other player. CAA would have fared well this offseason without Paul's massive contract, but his $107MM+ guarantee catapults the agency into the summer's top five.
Agency: Wasserman Media Group
Notable deals: Tyreke Evans, Pelicans (4/$44MM); Tiago Splitter, Spurs (4/$36MM); J.J. Redick, Clippers (4/$27.755MM)
Overall guaranteed money: $155.983MM
I don't know exactly how negotiations transpired for Wasserman's top free agents this offseason, but on the surface it seems like the agency did an exceptional job getting its clients into their preferred situations. Even though Evans was a restricted free agent, the Kings eventually agreed to sign-and-trade him to New Orleans in a deal that landed another Wasserman client (Greivis Vasquez) in Sacramento. The same sort of thing happened for Redick, who wouldn't have landed an annual salary worth nearly $7MM with the Clippers unless the Bucks had agreed to sign-and-trade him.
Even Splitter's four-year, $36MM contract reportedly came as a result of the Trail Blazers making a similar offer. If the restricted free agent big man had wanted to play in Portland, Wasserman's track record suggests Arn Tellem and company would have made it happen. But Splitter preferred to stay in San Antonio, and ultimately signed outright with the club rather than forcing the Spurs to match a rival offer sheet.
Agency: Relativity Sports
Notable deals: Dwight Howard, Rockets (4/$87.591MM); Kevin Martin (4/$27.805MM); Monta Ellis, Mavericks (3/$25.08MM)
Overall guaranteed money: $180.303MM
The super-agency formed by Happy Walters and Dan Fegan finished a close second in our free agent rankings, but had we included rookie-scale extensions, Relativity Sports would have blown away its competition. Both John Wall and Larry Sanders are Relativity clients, and their new long-term deals would bring the agency's total guaranteed money this summer to well over $300MM.
Still, even just taking into account free agency, Relativity made out well. Howard gave up some guaranteed money by leaving Los Angeles, and Ellis may have done the same (albeit before he joined Relativity) by turning down an extension from the Bucks. But Martell Webster's four-year contract with the Wizards was one of the surprises of the offseason, and few players did better in free agency than Keith Bogans, who will earn more than $5MM in guaranteed money in 2013/14. Unusual CBA rules and plenty of luck played roles in Bogans' deal, but it's still a feather in Relativity's cap.
Agency: Excel Sports Management
Notable deals: Nikola Pekovic, Timberwolves (5/$60MM); Al Jefferson, Bobcats (3/$40.5MM); Brandon Jennings, Pistons (3/$24MM); Kyle Korver, Hawks (4/$24MM)
Overall guaranteed money: $185.738MM
It wasn't a perfect summer for Jeff Schwartz and Excel Sports, but considering Pekovic's $60MM guarantee was only the third-highest among free agents this offseason, it's impressive that they finished atop our list. It's also the second straight huge summer for the agency, which saw Deron Williams and Blake Griffin ink max deals a year ago.
While Pekovic and Korver were among Excel's big signees who remained with their previous teams, the agency pursued unexpected opportunties for many of its other free agents. Very few people would have predicted that Jefferson would land in Charlotte, or that Jarrett Jack would sign with the Cavs, but both players received lucrative multiyear contracts with those clubs. Throw in the fact that Excel landed No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett, and it's hard to make the case that many agencies had a better summer.
Odds & Ends: Seattle, Expansion, Thunder
There has been speculation that Chris Hansen's contributions to an anti-Kings-arena movement in Sacramento could hurt Seattle's chances of eventually landing an NBA franchise. However, current commissioner David Stern and future commissioner Adam Silver both recently downplayed concerns about the league or its owners holding a grudge, according to Percy Allen of the Seattle Times. You can find more of this evening's miscellaneous news and notes below, including more from the above article:
- Allen also points out that Hansen still has around four years to secure an NBA team and finalize an agreement with Seattle and King County to build a $490MM arena in Sodo with $200MM in public subsidies.
- Given that there currently aren't any teams for sale, Silver had this to say about possible expansion within the near future: "I would never say it’s never going to happen. There’s nothing in the works at the moment…Obviously the league has grown over the years and there may come a point to look at it…But right now coming off of our new collective bargaining agreement, we really want to make sure we have 30 franchises that are all financially sound."
- RealGM's Jonathan Tjarks makes a case for why the Thunder's core still has enough time to win a title.
- Mark Willard and Arash Markazi of ESPN LA talk about what Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni has to accomplish in order to keep his job in Los Angeles.
- Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com discusses the ten players most likely to be dealt this season (Insiders only). Among the more notable names on the list include Luol Deng (who we recently heard is set to hit free agency next summer), Rajon Rondo, Omer Asik, and Danny Granger.
Eastern Notes: Wilkins, Smith, Heat, Wizards
A pair of Eastern Conference teams have reached agreements with free agents today, as the Sixers worked to finalize a deal for Darius Morris, while the Bulls signed a pair of players – Patrick Christopher and Kalin Lucas – for camp. Here's more from around the East:
- Free agent forward Damien Wilkins has been working out for the Hawks in Atlanta, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com. The 33-year-old, who has played for the Hawks, Pistons, and Sixers in the last three seasons, also worked out for the Spurs last week, says Charania. No deal is imminent, but the Hawks appear to have some interest.
- Two months after he officially signed his deal with the Pistons, Josh Smith tells Keith Langlois of Pistons.com that he feels great about choosing Detroit. "Our team, our roster, is very impressive to me," Smith said. "Everybody wants to get better and everybody wants to do it together. Whenever you are able to be a part of something like that, it’s special."
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel is surprised the Heat would bring back a player like Michael Beasley, who "didn't exactly do things the Heat way," and that the team may give him minutes over guys like James Jones and Rashard Lewis, who have "toed every Heat line."
- Although Mike James has played for several NBA teams since 2009, this will be the first time since then he has participated in training camp, writes Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside. James reportedly agreed to a camp deal with the Bulls.
- The Wizards have hired former Raptors executive Marc Eversley as vice president of scouting, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).