Bobcats Sign James Southerland
SEPTEMBER 5TH: The Bobcats have officially announced the signing of Southerland in a press release.
AUGUST 24TH: James Southerland has accepted a training camp invitation from the Bobcats, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (via Twitter). Southerland went undrafted in June despite interest from a number of clubs.
The Spurs were amongst the teams interested in the 6'8" sharpshooter and they considered taking him with the 58th overall selection. San Antonio asked Southerland if he'd play overseas if they grabbed him, but he declined. He'll now try to find an NBA home with his late invite to camp with the Bobcats, though Bonnell notes that nothing is signed yet.
The Syracuse forward had an impressive 39.8% success rate from beyond the arc in his final college season. He also averaged career highs in points (13.3 PPG) and rebounds (5.2 RPG).
Lakers Sign Xavier Henry
The Lakers have officially signed Xavier Henry, the team announced today in a press release. Terms of the agreement weren't disclosed, but I'd expect it to be some form of non-guaranteed training camp invite.
Word of the Lakers' interest in Henry was reported yesterday by Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com, with fellow ESPN scribe Dave McMenamin adding (via Twitter) that the 6'6" guard was poised to become a camp invitee.
Henry, an Arn Tellem client, became an unrestricted free agent this summer because the Pelicans decided not to exercise the fourth-year option on his rookie contract. The Kansas product has yet to make a real impact in three NBA seasons with Memphis and New Orleans, averaging 4.5 PPG in 133 career contests. However, Henry was a lottery pick in 2010 and is just 22 years old, so there may still be some upside.
As our list of NBA roster counts shows, Henry becomes the 14th Lakers player under contract. That number doesn't include Marcus Landry, who is expected to receive a camp invite, and second-round pick Ryan Kelly, who has yet to officially sign with the team. With only 11 Lakers believed to be on fully guaranteed deals, Henry should have the opportunity to try to earn a roster spot next month.
Following Specific Players On Hoops Rumors
As we've outlined before, there are a number of different ways to follow Hoops Rumors via Facebook, Twitter, and RSS. If you don't want to follow all the site's updates, you can subscribe to team-specific or transaction-only Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feeds. Although we don't have Facebook pages or Twitter feeds for specific players, you can also easily follow all our updates on your favorite player.
If, for instance, you want to keep track of all the latest news and rumors on LeBron James as he enters a potential contract year, you can visit this page. If you're interested in keeping tabs on contract extension talks between the Kings and DeMarcus Cousins, you can find Cousins' page right here.
Every player we've written about has his own rumors page. You can find your player of choice by using our search box (located in the right sidebar); by clicking his tag at the bottom of a post where he's discussed; or, by simply typing his name in your address bar after hoopsrumors.com, substituting dashes for spaces. For example, LeBron's page is located at hoopsrumors.com/lebron-james.
In addition to players and teams, there are a number of other subjects you can track by clicking on the tags we use at the bottom of posts. Items related to the 2016 Olympics, for instance, can be found on this rumors page. If you want to follow early updates on the 2014 NBA draft, those are all available here.
Chris Mullin Joins Kings’ Front Office
Chris Mullin has officially joined the Kings front office, the team announced today in a press release, naming the Hall-of-Famer advisor to the chairman. ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported yesterday that the Kings would be hiring Mullin in a formal capacity.
"It isn't everyday that a franchise has the opportunity to add an individual of Chris' caliber and reputation," GM Pete D'Alessandro said in a statement. "His passion for the game, unflagging work ethic and will to win, ever-present characteristics which helped define him as one of the NBA's premier players for nearly 20 years, will have a contagious effect on our entire organization."
Mullin becomes the latest in a line of ex-Warriors to join the Kings over the last several months. Vivek Ranadive, the Kings' owner and chairman, previously held a minority stake in the Warriors, while head coach Michael Malone was formerly an assistant in Golden State. As for D'Alessandro, it was Mullin who initially hired him as a Warriors executive in 2004.
According to the Kings' press release, Mullin will take on a number of responsibilities relating to basketball operations. He is expected to advise both Ranadive and D'Alessandro "regarding player transactions and apprising front office and coaching personnel of the team's collegiate and professional scouting efforts."
Eastern Notes: Nets, Wizards, Sixers, Gibson
Given the makeup of their roster, the Nets likely won't have a ton of flexibility when it comes to making trades later in the 2013/14 season, as Steve Kyler writes in his latest piece for HoopsWorld. However, Kyler notes that smaller deals to reduce the team's tax bill are possibilities. For instance, if Tornike Shengelia and/or Mirza Teletovic end up not playing a role in Brooklyn's rotation, attempting to move them in salary-dump trades could save the Nets exponentially more money than just those players' salaries.
Here's more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Within the same piece, Kyler examines the Wizards' trade options, pointing out that Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza could become more desirable assets closer to the deadline, when the Wiz have already paid most of their salaries. There's plenty of optimism about the season in Washington though, so any sort of fire sale is unlikely, unless the club gets off to a very poor start.
- The Sixers have yet to sign a veteran free agent this summer, but the team may be exploring the idea of adding Daniel Gibson, a source tells Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio (via Twitter).
- Three Eastern teams – the Sixers, Bobcats, and Magic – rank among Shlomo Sprung's picks for the top five contenders in the Andrew Wiggins sweepstakes (link via Sheridan Hoops).
Cap Details: Grizzlies, Raptors, Bulls, Pistons
Mark Deeks of ShamSports has published his first column for SBNation.com, discussing how the Sixers' proximity to the salary floor has been overblown in recent weeks. As I wrote when I examined the issue last month, there's no real penalty for failing to meet the NBA's minimum payroll threshold, so there's no pressure on the 76ers to add unnecessary salary. However, as Deeks notes, the flexibility could open up a number of trade opportunties for the team.
Deeks also passes along a couple of cap details on other teams in his piece and in his latest update at ShamSports, so let's round up the rest of the noteworthy items….
- The Grizzlies and Raptors stretched the contracts of Fab Melo and Quentin Richardson, respectively, when releasing those players last week. That means that instead of a cap hit of about $1.31MM in 2013/14, Melo will count toward Memphis' books for about $437K for each of the next three seasons. For the Raptors, Richardson's cap hit figures to be about $467K for the next three years, rather than about $1.4MM this season.
- For both the Grizzlies and Raptors, the likely motivation was creating a little flexibility below the tax threshold, potentially accommodating further signings or trades.
- The Bulls also used the stretch provision when they released Richard Hamilton in July, as I suggested earlier today. That doesn't really create extra flexibility for Chicago, but it will reduce the team's tax bill for 2013/14.
- Josh Harrellson's two-year deal with the Pistons is partially guaranteed for $150K in year one, and non-guaranteed in year two, according to Deeks.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Richard Hamilton
The Bulls were a taxpaying team for the first time in 2012/13, and appear set to pay an even bigger bill in '13/14. However, that doesn't mean the club isn't still trying to cut costs where it can. Like the Lakers with Metta World Peace and the Heat with Mike Miller, the Bulls released a rotation player this summer to reduce team salary, parting ways with Richard Hamilton.
Unlike World Peace and Miller, Hamilton wasn't amnestied, but was on a partially guaranteed contract, so Chicago will only have to pay him $1MM of his $5MM salary. That salary may also be stretched over three years, with Hamilton receiving about $333K in each of the next three seasons. The reduction in his 2013/14 salary likely means the veteran guard will be a little more motivated to secure a new contract — in fact, we heard back in July that Hamilton isn't considering retirement, and is hoping for a bounce-back season in the right situation.
Hamilton, who signed a three-year, $15MM deal with Chicago after the 2011 lockout ended, had a disappointing stint with the Bulls, struggling with injuries and seeing his production slide when he was on the court. In 78 contests over two seasons with the club, the 35-year-old averaged 10.5 PPG and had a shooting line of .438/.337/.833, all down from his career rates.
Still, while those may have been underwhelming numbers for a player earning mid-level money, they're still solid enough to earn him a spot on an NBA bench. The former seventh overall pick was expected to be a starter in Chicago, coming off the bench just five times in his 78 games with the team. But virtually every NBA team has an idea of what its starting lineup will be at this point in the offseason, so if Hamilton catches on with a club now, he'd almost certainly be looking at a role as an eighth or ninth man, at best.
In that role, and at a discount price – perhaps the veteran minimum – Hamilton should still be an effective roster piece, providing a scoring punch for a team's second unit. Even in his last two years in Chicago, Hamilton averaged about 23 minutes in the games he played, so a reduction in his playing time to 15-20 MPG could help him stay fresher and healthier, warding off potential injuries.
We heard earlier this week that the Rockets and Knicks may have some interest in Hamilton, and it's not hard to imagine him fitting in on a few other contenders as well. The Thunder, for instance, appear likely to cut DeAndre Liggins, and could view Hamilton as a poor man's Kevin Martin. If OKC were to sign him to a one-year minimum-salary deal, the team would only be on the hook for about $884K of his $1.4MM salary.
Hamilton says he isn't ready to retire, and his numbers with the Bulls, while not quite as solid as the team may have hoped, suggest he's still got something in the tank. We're only about a month away from the start of the NBA preseason, so there's no guarantee the UConn product will be in camp with a club by then, but I'd be pretty shocked if he doesn't play NBA minutes at some point during the 2013/14 season.
Upcoming Rookie-Scale Option Decisions
We've taken in-depth looks at several players eligible for extensions to their rookie-scale contracts this fall, but whether to extend isn't the only decision that teams face with recent former first-round picks. The final two seasons of four-year rookie-scale deals are team option years, but unlike other options, the deadline for either exercising or declining them is a full year before the option season begins. In most cases, rookie-scale deals are bargains and there's no thinking required when it comes to picking up the options. The Cavs, for instance, aren't going to let Kyrie Irving's deal end a year early.
Of course, most first-round picks don't find instant success the way Irving has done. Sometimes, a former first-round pick may be struggling to find playing time or live up to his promise, but the team still has confidence that he can develop, and the front office is willing to assume his relatively small cap hit for another season. Then, there are those who aren't panning out at all, making even a cheap rookie deal seem like an outsized expense.
Part of what makes some of these calls difficult is that teams have to decide a year ahead of time. The options that clubs are debating this fall are for 2014/15. Further complicating matters is that if a team declines a player's rookie-scale option, he becomes an unrestricted free agent when the deal is up, instead of a restricted free agent, as would be the case if the team allowed the contract to run to term.
Teams are in an especially difficult position with underperforming players taken near the top of the first round, since the final seasons of their rookie contracts can get pricey. Former No. 2 overall pick Derrick Williams will be set to make $6,331,404 in 2014/15 if the T-Wolves pick up his fourth-year option, as Grantland's Zach Lowe pointed out recently when he looked at a few high profile rookie-scale option decisions.
Lowe broke down a half dozen players in that piece, and I've taken a broader look at each player eligible to have his rookie-scale option picked up before the October 31st deadline. I grouped them into three categories based on the likelihood that their respective teams will exercise the options, and I added a blurb for some of the more compelling cases.
Clubs that must decide on third-year options only have the player's rookie season to go on, so they pick those up more often than they do with fourth-year options, and I took that into consideration as I filled out the categories. Feel free to disagree and share your own analysis in the comments.
No-brainers
If anyone among this bunch has his option declined, it will be a shock.
- Kyrie Irving, Cavaliers (4th year, $7,070,730)
- Jonas Valanciunas, Raptors (4th year, $3,678,360)
- Klay Thompson, Warriors (4th year, $3,075,880)
- Kawhi Leonard, Spurs (4th year, $2,894,059)
- Nikola Vucevic, Magic (4th year, $2,751,260)
- Kenneth Faried, Nuggets (4th year, $2,249,768)
- Jimmy Butler, Bulls (4th year, $2,008,748)
- Ricky Rubio, Timberwolves (4th year, $4,660,479)
- Anthony Davis, Pelicans (3rd year, $5,607,240)
- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (3rd year, $5,016,960)
- Bradley Beal, Wizards (3rd year, $4,505,280)
- Dion Waiters, Cavaliers (3rd year, $4,062,000)
- Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers (3rd year, $3,340,920)
- Harrison Barnes, Warriors (3rd year, $3,049,920)
- Andre Drummond, Pistons (3rd year, $2,568,360)
Probables
It'd be surprising if the options for these players weren't picked up, too, even if the decision isn't quite as easy as with the guys in the above category.
- Enes Kanter, Jazz (4th year, $5,694,674)
- Tristan Thompson, Cavaliers (4th year, $5,138,430)
- Bismack Biyombo, Bobcats (4th year, $3,873,398)
- Brandon Knight, Bucks (4th year, $3,553,917)
- Kemba Walker, Bobcats (4th year, $3,272,091)
- Alec Burks, Jazz (4th year, $3,034,356) — I might have listed him as on the bubble, but the Jazz seem focused on turning the team over to their young players, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Burks emerged as the starting shooting guard this season. Lowe referred to his option as a "cinch" to be picked up.
- Markieff Morris, Suns (4th year, $2,989,239)
- Marcus Morris, Suns (4th year, $2,943,221) — Much as with Burks and the Jazz, the Suns probably want to see what the Morris twins do with a full season of ample playing time before casting either of them off.
- Iman Shumpert, Knicks (4th year, $2,616,975)
- Tobias Harris, Magic (4th year, $2,380,594)
- Donatas Motiejunas, Rockets (3rd year, $1,483,920) — The focus in Houston has switched from youth to veterans, but with only his rookie season under his belt, the Rockets will probably give the former 20th overall pick some more time to develop.
- Reggie Jackson, Thunder (4th year, $2,204,369)
- MarShon Brooks, Celtics (4th year, $2,179,354)
- Norris Cole, Heat (4th year, $2,038,206)
- Thomas Robinson, Trail Blazers (3rd year, $3,678,360)
- Terrence Ross, Raptors (3rd year, $2,793,960) — He has the makings of a no-brainer, since he's a top 10 pick coming off his rookie season, but without rousing success last year and with new management in Toronto, it's at least conceivable that his option goes unexercised.
- Austin Rivers, Pelicans (3rd year, $2,439,840) — His rookie season was rough, but his status as the 10th overall pick is enough to keep him off the bubble here.
- Meyers Leonard, Trail Blazers (3rd year, $2,317,920)
- Jeremy Lamb, Thunder (3rd year, $2,202,000)
- John Henson, Bucks (3rd year, $1,987,320)
- Maurice Harkless, Magic (3rd year, $1,887,840)
- Tyler Zeller, Cavaliers (3rd year, $1,703,760)
- Terrence Jones, Rockets (3rd year, $1,618,680) — He's in almost precisely the same situation as Motiejunas, with little NBA playing time on his resume as Houston turns away from its youth movement. The Rockets may see Jones and Motiejunas as an either-or debate.
- Andrew Nicholson, Magic (3rd year, $1,545,840)
- Evan Fournier, Nuggets (3rd year, $1,483,920)
- Jared Sullinger, Celtics (3rd year, $1,424,520)
- John Jenkins, Hawks (3rd year, $1,312,920)
- Miles Plumlee, Suns (3rd year, $1,169,880)
- Arnett Moultrie, Sixers (3rd year, $1,136,160)
- Perry Jones, Thunder (3rd year, $1,129,200)
- Marquis Teague, Bulls (3rd year, $1,120,920)
- Festus Ezeli, Warriors (3rd year, $1,112,880)
On the bubble
This bunch will test the mettle of their respective front offices, and it will be compelling to see what choices the teams make as the deadline approaches.
- Derrick Williams, Timberwolves (4th year, $6,331,404)
- Jan Vesely, Wizards (4th year, $4,236,287)
- Jimmer Fredette, Kings (4th year, $3,110,796) — Fredette's defensive ineptitude and limited offensive skill set beyond his shooting make $3MM+ a tough price to pay for him. That's especially so given the Kings' cap constraints in 2014/15, as Lowe points out in his piece. The team invested a 10th overall pick in him, but that was long before new GM Pete D'Alessandro arrived. He and the rest of the front office may not have reservations about cutting ties with the former BYU star.
- Chris Singleton, Wizards (4th year, $2,489,530)
- Jordan Hamilton, Nuggets (4th year, $2,109,294) — The only time he's found his way into the rotation so far is when someone else has been hurt. He might get some playing time early in the season with Danilo Gallinari hurt, but as with the Kings and Fredette, Denver's new GM and new coach don't have as much a stake in him as the old regime did.
- Cory Joseph, Spurs (4th year, $2,023,261) — He was Tony Parker's backup as the playoffs began last season, but his postseason minutes were erratic.
- Kendall Marshall, Suns (3rd year, $2,091,840) — Phoenix has plenty of point guards, even though the team plans to play Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe in the backcourt together. The Suns reportedly put Marshall on the trade block this summer.
- Royce White, Sixers (3rd year, $1,793,520) — White, whose struggles with mental health have been well-documented, is probably less likely to have his option picked up than any other eligible player this year. Furkan Aldemir was apparently the team's primary target in the trade that brought White to Philly.
- Jared Cunningham, Hawks (3rd year, $1,260,360) — He was outplayed by a couple of second-round picks on the Mavericks last year, and he's on his second team in as many seasons.
- Tony Wroten, Sixers (3rd year, $1,210,080) — The Grizzlies traded Wroten to Philadelphia last month for little more than breathing room under the tax line, indicating a major slip in his NBA stock.
ShamSports was used in the creation of this post.
Odds & Ends: Lee, SportVU, Ellis, Frye, Bynum
We took note earlier today of David Lee's comments to Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group about his worse-than-imagined hip injury, and in an updated version of the story, Thompson passes along more from the power forward. Lee said he didn't catch wind about a rumored swap involving him and LaMarcus Aldridge until the Warriors called him to say there was no deal, and Lee also chimes in on the emergence of Golden State as a free agent destination.
"We still have a long way to go," he said. "But if you looked at where we came from three years ago, some of the questions were, 'Why would you come here? They've had one playoff team in the last 150 years.' … Looking where we are now and having these conversations, its very exciting."
Here's more from the Association:
- The NBA will officially announce Thursday an agreement that will place STATS SportVU cameras in each arena, according to Grantland's Zach Lowe, who reported two weeks ago that a tentative agreement was in place. Lowe examines the technology's impact on referees, contract negotiations, the player's union and other facets of the game in his latest piece.
- Monta Ellis tells Cash Sirois of 1310 The Ticket in Dallas that he was "miserable" during the past several seasons and calls his opportunity with the Mavs "a breath of fresh air." (Twitter links).
- Insurance covered Channing Frye's $6MM salary for the Suns last year while he was out with an enlarged heart, notes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Frye, who's due $6.4MM this year, says he's ready to return to action and is awaiting team approval to do so.
- Both Andrew Bynum and the Cavs paint a sunny picture of his recovery from last year's knee injuries, but the team isn't setting a timetable for his return to action, as The Plain Dealer's Mary Schmitt Boyer observes.
- J.A. Adande of ESPN.com calls on incoming commissioner Adam Silver to take a tough stance on criminal behavior in the wake of legal issues for several players and Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer this offseason.
Latest On Magic, Romero Osby
A report earlier today indicated that the Magic were close to losing their rights to second-round draft pick Romero Osby, but the team has offered Osby a deal in advance of Friday's deadline for them to do so, HoopsWorld's Steve Kyler tweets. That echoes what Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel wrote this weekend about the Magic's plan to bring Osby aboard. Teams have until September 6th each year to make an offer of at least the rookie minimum salary to their second-round picks from the June draft. Otherwise, the players become free agents. Osby and the Magic will likely reach agreement on a contract at some point soon, according to Kyler, who adds that both sides have interest in getting a deal done (Twitter links).
The Magic drafted Osby 51st overall out of the University of Oklahoma. The 6'7" 23-year-old played out of position for the Sooners, and that hurt his draft stock, Kyler says (on Twitter). He averaged 16.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in his senior year, and he put up 11.0 PPG and 4.4 RPG in 21.1 minutes per contest with the Magic's summer league team.
Orlando has 14 players under contract, but only 12 of those deals are fully guaranteed, so it seems like there's plenty of room for Osby, even given the team's apparent interest in Devin Ebanks. The Magic would lose Osby's rights if they bring him to training camp and cut him, so if they sign him, he'll likely remain with the team into the regular season.