Amick On Martin, Fisher, Fesenko, Williams
In addition to reporting that Matt Barnes is closing in on a deal with the Clippers, SI.com's Sam Amick shared updates on a handful of other free agents in his latest piece. Let's dive in and round up a few highlights from the SI.com scribe:
- Most, if not all, of the teams interested in Kenyon Martin only have interest at the veteran's minimum. The Lakers and Celtics were among the teams in play earlier in the offseason, but now Amick wonders if Martin will wait until midseason or even retire if he doesn't find a situation he likes.
- Derek Fisher may be in the same boat as Martin, with retirement or signing halfway through the season both potentially in play. Fisher turned down an offer from the Bulls before Chicago signed Nate Robinson, and the chances of the veteran point guard returning to the Thunder are "remote."
- Kyrylo Fesenko is scheduled to work out with the Spurs next week, and may work out for the Cavaliers after that. The Hawks and Heat have also been in touch with the big man.
- The Pistons will work out Terrence Williams this week. The Mavericks and Celtics are also believed to have interest in Williams.
Odds & Ends: Harris, Aguilar, 2014 Draft, Bynum
Let's round up a few Tuesday afternoon odds and ends from around the Association….
- Before he re-signed with the Heat, Terrel Harris turned down contract offers from the Cavaliers and teams in Spain and Russia, says Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports Florida (Sulia link).
- Former Philippine Basketball Association first overall pick Japeth Aguilar is trying to earn an invite to an NBA training camp, writes Joseph Pimentel of ABS-CBN News. According to his agent, Aguilar has a workout scheduled with the Spurs and is trying to line one up with the Magic as well.
- Sean Deveney of the Sporting News lists his choices for the top ten most toxic contracts in the NBA.
- For the draft buffs who are already looking ahead to 2013 and beyond, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com has published his mock draft for 2014.
- Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic wonders if any of the Suns' new acquisitions will fill the leadership void left by Steve Nash's and Grant Hill's departures.
- Will Bynum should have a clearer path to playing time this season with Ben Gordon out of the picture for the Pistons, writes Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.
- Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside makes the case for why Marvin Phillips deserves an opportunity to earn an NBA roster spot.
Odds & Ends: Fegan, Childress, Anthony, Gee
Prominent NBA agent Dan Fegan has confirmed that he's no longer with Lagardère Unlimited, according to Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal (via Twitter). Fegan, who had been serving as the president of basketball at the agency, represents a number of NBA players, including big names like Dwight Howard and Nene. It will be interesting to see how many of those clients he takes with him.
Here are a few more Monday odds and ends from around the NBA:
- Josh Childress will meet with Nets GM Billy King and coach Avery Johnson and work out for the team on Tuesday, according to Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com. We heard last week that Childress and Dominic McGuire would work out for the Nets, but McGuire has since reached an agreement with the Raptors.
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel thinks the Heat could be angling to find a way to move Joel Anthony's contract. Anthony has three years remaining on his deal (including a third-year player option) for about $3.8MM annually.
- Sean Williams remains on the Timberwolves' radar, tweets Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500. Wolfson had reported late last month that the T-Wolves were eyeing the big man.
- Alonzo Gee's new deal with the Cavaliers, which was finally completed earlier today, was held up because Gee switched agents during the negotiations, says Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal (Sulia link). The Cavs wing is now represented by Happy Walters.
- After the Kings, Cavaliers, Wizards, Bobcats, and Hornets drafted in the top five in June, Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld examines whether any of last year's NBA bottom-dwellers are ready to contend for the postseason in 2012/13.
Cavaliers Re-Sign Alonzo Gee To Multiyear Deal
2:39pm: Gee's deal is for three years and $10MM, with a non-guaranteed third year, tweets Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal.
1:06pm: The Cavaliers have officially re-signed Gee, the team announced in a press release.
12:13pm: The Cavaliers have reached an agreement on a multiyear contract with Alonzo Gee, according to Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (via Twitter). Years and dollars aren't yet known, but last month we heard that the two sides could be closing in on a three-year agreement.
Gee, 25, had been one of two restricted free agents left on the market. The Cavs had extended a one-year qualifying offer worth about $2.69MM, which Gee could have accepted at any time, but he and the team had been working on a multiyear deal for most of the summer. Given the lack of serious interest Gee drew from other teams, I wouldn't expect a huge payday, but something in the neighborhood of three years and $10MM, perhaps with a team option on the third year, could work for both sides.
Gee enjoyed his most successful season in 2011/12, starting 31 of the 63 contests he appeared in for the Cavs. In 29 minutes per game, the 6'6" wing averaged 10.6 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and a 13.2 PER. When the Cavs officially finalize their deals with Gee and Kevin Jones, who is expected to sign later today, the team will have 18 players under contract.
Cavs Expected To Finalize Deal With Kevin Jones
The Cavaliers and Kevin Jones are expected to finalize a three-year deal today, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Zagoria says the contract would be for two years with a team option for year three, which seems to suggest that the first two years would be fully guaranteed.
Zagoria reported back in late June that Jones and the Cavs had reached an agreement on a contract, but it appears the deal remained on hold through most of the summer. Jones suffered a bone bruise in his foot that cut his pre-draft workouts short and kept him out of summer league play, so it's possible the Cavs were ensuring that he was fully healthy before officially signing anything.
Jones, ranked as the 45th best prospect in this year's draft class by ESPN.com's Chad Ford, played four years at West Virginia, averaging an impressive 19.9 points and 10.9 rebounds per game in his senior year. His deal with the Cavs should be modest, but may exceed the minimum salary, since Cleveland has over $11MM in cap space at its disposal.
Odds & Ends: Camby, Thompson, Cavs
Marcus Camby believes the Knicks have assembled all the pieces they need to dethrone the Heat and win a championship, writes Keldy Ortiz of Newsday.
Here are a few more links from around the league this Saturday evening.
- The Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry talks with undrafted rookie forward Hollis Thompson as he gets acclimated with the Thunder organization, the team he signed with in July.
- How can the Raptors improve on their disappointing season last year? Hoopsworld.com's Stephen Brotherston gives six valid reasons why Toronto should make the playoffs this season.
- The Plain Dealer's Mary Schmitt Boyer answers questions from readers regarding Luke Walton's contract and the Cavaliers' new gold colored home uniform.
- Dwyane Wade believes the work he put in this offseason on his jump shot should make him an even better offensive player for the rest of his career, writes Sun-Sentinel.com's Ira Winderman.
- NBA.com's Steve Aschburner makes the Hall of Fame case for longtime coach Johnny Bach.
Odds & Ends: Bobcats, Cavs, Nelson, Heat
While there has been a great deal of championship talk surrounding the Heat, Lakers, and Thunder this summer, the Bobcats have a more modest goal of not repeating as the NBA's worst team in 2012/13. While the Bobcats are still a work in progress, this year's team in Charlotte isn't nearly as bad as last season's group, writes Joel Brigham of HoopsWorld. Offseason acquisitions including rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Ben Gordon, Brendan Haywood, and Ramon Sessions should all help lift the team a little bit further out of the basement. As for the new cellar dweller? Brigham suggests that the Magic seem to be a likely candidate. Here's today's look around the Association..
- The Cavs brought former University of Richmond point guard Kevin Anderson in for a workout this week, a source told Sportando. Anderson spent last season with French team SIG Strasbourg, averaging 12.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 4.0 RPG.
- From Lithuania to the Lakers, forward Reeves Nelson truly has come full circle, writes Wendell Maxey of Ridiculous Upside. Nelson was once viewed as a first-round talent, but off-court trouble led to him being kicked out of the UCLA program and a brief stint overseas. The Lakers signed Nelson to a non-guaranteed deal earlier this week.
- In today's mailbag, Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel opines that the Heat did not make a "mistake" by whiffing on Andray Blatche, as he wouldn't have been a player of major consequence in the rotation anyway.
- David Mayo of MLive.com isn't sure what Ukrainian big man Vyacheslav Kravtsov brings to the table for the Pistons. Detroit signed the 24-year-old over the summer as their third center behind Jason Maxiell and rookie Andre Drummond.
Mavs, Cavs Interested In Rafael Hettsheimeir
10:26pm: Mavericks President Donnie Nelson, on the night his father was inducted into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame, said nothing is close to happening with Hettsheimeir, writes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. The Mavericks roster is full with 15 guaranteed contracts, so a move for Hettsheimeir would necessitate another deal.
8:53am: Around the time the moratorium on free agent signings lifted in early July, we heard a few rumors linking NBA teams to Brazilian big man Rafael Hettsheimeir. The Mavericks, Rockets, Spurs, and Hawks were said to be among the teams displaying interest.
Two months later, there's still a chance that Hettsheimeir could begin the season on an NBA roster. A TuBasket.com report (Spanish link) suggests that the Mavs are still interested in the 26-year-old, and the Cavs have interest as well. According to TuBasket, both teams could be willing to offer the CAI Zaragoza center a partially guaranteed, one-year deal.
It's not clear whether it would take more than the rookie minimum (about $473K) to land Hettsheimeir, but if he was seeking a larger deal, it could make Cleveland the favorite — the Cavs still have over $11MM in cap space at their disposal.
In ACB League play in 2011/12, Hettsheimeir averaged 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, with shooting percentages of .512/.339/.745.
Free Agent Notes: Whiteside, Anderson, Foote
With the 2012/13 basketball season fast approaching both in North America and overseas, players still on the free agent market are looking to find jobs within the next few weeks. Here's the latest on a handful of players still in search of employment:
- The Timberwolves were "encouraged" by Hassan Whiteside's workout yesterday, but haven't decided whether to offer him a contract, tweets Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500.
- Kevin Anderson, who played his college ball at the University of Richmond, worked out with the Cavaliers this week, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. After going undrafted in 2011, Anderson played in France last season.
- Jeff Foote had a brief NBA stint last season when the Hornets signed him to a 10-day contract, but he'll be heading overseas for the coming season. Lithiuanian team Zalgiris Kaunas announced today that they've signed the big man out of Cornell (translation via Sportando).
- In a piece for Ridiculous Upside, Gino Pilato says Allen Iverson, who still wants to return to the NBA, should consider playing in the D-League.
The Remaining Restricted Free Agents
Most of this offseason's restricted free agents saw their contract statuses resolved fairly quickly, either agreeing to offer sheets with a new team or re-signing with their original clubs. A handful of free agents that started the summer as restricted also became unrestricted, after their teams decided to withdraw qualifying offers. But two players remain restricted free agents, unable so far to sign an offer sheet with a rival team or work out a deal with their own teams.
The deadline for rescinding qualifying offers had passed, so neither the Cavaliers or Hawks are unable to withdraw their QOs to Alonzo Gee or Ivan Johnson, respectively. As such, Gee could accept his one-year, $2,695,391 offer any day now, and Johnson could do the same with his one-year, $962,195 offer.
Presumably, both players are still trying to negotiate larger, multiyear deals with their respective clubs or land an offer sheet from another team, viewing the qualifying offers as fallback options. While there's no sense of urgency from a player's perspective yet, that could change later this month — under the new CBA, October 1st is typically the date by which a player has to accept his qualifying offer, unless the two sides agree to extend that deadline. The deadline could be pushed back as late as March 1st, though presumably neither the team or player would want to put off contract talks that long.
So what are the most likely scenarios for the two restricted free agents still left on the market? At this point, it's unlikely either player secures an offer sheet. Teams don't have the money to spend that they did earlier in the offseason, and if there was significant interest for either Gee or Johnson, you'd have to think they'd have signed something long before September.
It appears very likely that Gee and the Cavs will eventually agree to a multiyear deal — a couple weeks back, we heard that the two sides could be nearing a three-year agreement, but that it may not be finalized until closer to training camp. Presumably, negotiations about guaranteed years and money are still ongoing, but it doesn't seem like Gee will be forced to accept his one-year QO.
Johnson's contract situation isn't quite as clear. We've heard next to nothing on the Hawks forward this summer, but the fact that Atlanta appears to have left its qualifying offer on the table means the team has at least some interest in bringing him back. I'd guess Danny Ferry and the Hawks don't view the 28-year-old as a crucial long-term piece, so they may be reluctant to sign him for more than his qualifying offer, since it would mean dipping into their bi-annual exception. Johnson's representatives could point out that using the BAE this summer shouldn't be a problem for the Hawks, since Atlanta will be well below the cap next offseason and will likely forfeit the BAE for 2013/14 anyway. We'll see which side cracks first, but I wouldn't be surprised if Johnson accepted his QO later this month.