Mavs Sign Ivan Johnson
The Mavericks have signed free agent power forward Ivan Johnson, the team announced via press release. Johnson, 30, was out of the NBA this past season after making his mark in two years with the Hawks, but he hooked on with the Mavs’ summer league team this year, and there had reportedly been mutual optimism that the sides would get a deal done for training camp, if not more. Dallas GM Donnie Nelson said earlier this month that the organization regarded him as “more than just a summer league guy.”
It’ll have to be a minimum-salary arrangement of some kind for Johnson, since the capped-out Mavs are out of exceptions. It’s not immediately clear whether the deal includes any guaranteed salary, or how long it runs.
The Jeremiah Haylett client had reportedly worked out for the Nets, Blazers and Spurs this summer, and he did the same for multiple teams late last season when he returned from having played in China. Johnson chose a more lucrative deal with Zhejiang Chouzhou last year when NBA teams were offering only the minimum, as he told Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com recently, but it appears he’s willing to take the minimum to come back to the NBA this time around.
Johnson went undrafted out of Cal State San Bernardino in 2008, and it wasn’t until 2011 that he found himself in an NBA preseason training camp. He took full advantage of the opportunity with the Hawks and became a part of the team’s rotation, averaging 6.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game. The rough-and-tumble inside player was a dominant force in China, where he put up 26.0 PPG and 9.9 RPG in 32.8 MPG this past season.
Western Notes: Clippers, Henry, Grizzlies
Attorneys for Donald Sterling plan to ask an appellate court for permission to appeal Monday’s probate court decision, even though the ruling doesn’t allow Sterling to seek a court order stopping the sale of the Clippers as he appeals, according to Brian Melley of The Associated Press. Dan Woike of the Orange County Register details three ways that Sterling can still prevent wife Shelly Sterling from completing the $2 billion sale of the Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Monday’s ruling left Donald Sterling unbowed, as his attorney Bobby Samini said to reporters, including Woike.
“His reaction was very calm,” Samini said. “He didn’t see this as the final battleground. This is one stage of a long war. This is one battle. We had hoped for a different result, but this is not the end.”
There’s more on the Sterling saga amid the latest from around the Western Conference:
- Judge Michael Levanas accepted the contention of Shelly Sterling’s lawyers that it was unlikely that anyone would match Ballmer’s $2 billion bid for the Clippers, as Melley notes in his piece. “Ballmer paid an amazing price that cannot be explained by the market,” Levanas said.
- Xavier Henry‘s one-year contract with the Lakers isn’t a minimum-salary arrangement, as first believed, and is instead worth the $1.082MM leftover portion of the team’s room exception, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The other part of the room exception went to Ryan Kelly.
- Joe Abadi, a lawyer for Grizzlies owner Robert Pera, conducted the team’s interviews with candidates for the front office job that Ed Stefanski will fill, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Abadi has taken on a larger role in the organization while Pera has marginalized minority owners Stephen Kaplan and Daniel E. Straus, as Stein details.
Grizzlies Sign Chris Wallace To Extension
12:30pm: It’s a three-year deal with a team option on the final season, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com. It appears as though the terms kick in for this coming season, though that’s not entirely clear.
11:16am: The Grizzlies have signed Chris Wallace to a multiyear extension and dropped the interim tag from his GM job, the team announced via press release. The team had applied the interim tag to Wallace’s GM title earlier this offseason when it parted ways with former CEO Jason Levien, although it represented a return to power for Wallace, who had retained the title of GM even during virtual exile from the organization.
“We are very pleased to announce Chris Wallace as our general manager,” owner Robert Pera said in the team’s statement. “Chris has been at the forefront and a stable presence throughout some of the Grizzlies’ greatest successes. His strong bonds and experience, not only within the organization and NBA but also within the Memphis and Mid-South communities, make him the ideal fit to lead our basketball operations. We believe Chris’ skills and expertise to be vital in our continued success of our franchise.”
A report late Monday indicated that Memphis had reached agreement with Ed Stefanski to serve as the team’s executive vice president of player personnel, a role that would make him an assistant to Wallace. The extension seems to confirm that Wallace will remain in charge of the team’s front office, even though the Grizzlies had apparently been seeking a “GM-in-waiting” to eventually take over for him.
Wallace first became the GM of the Grizzlies in 2007, but even though he didn’t lose his job when Levien came aboard with the sale of the team to Pera in 2012, Wallace went nearly a year without stepping foot in Grizzlies offices. Pera nonetheless emerged as an apparent fan of Wallace’s, saying shortly after Levien’s departure that he wanted to retain Wallace in some form or fashion even if he wouldn’t return to his role as head of the club’s basketball department. More recently, Pera said that he might promote Wallace to president of basketball operations, but it appears as though that job will remain vacant and Wallace will head the front office with his familiar job title of GM.
Mavericks Sign Al-Farouq Aminu
10:52am: The team has formally announced the signing, via press release.
JULY 29TH, 10:21am: The deal is official, according to the RealGM transactions log and Eric Pincus of Basketball insiders (Twitter link), though the team has yet to make an announcement.
JULY 23RD: Free agent forward Al-Farouq Aminu will sign with the Mavericks, Chris Haynes of CSN Northwest reports (via Twitter). Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas confirms the deal, citing Aminu’s agent Raymond Brothers and adding that it will be for the veteran’s minimum (Twitter links). More specifically, the pact is for two years and $2.1MM with a player option for the second year, reports NBA.com’s David Aldridge (via Twitter). Aminu played the last three seasons in New Orleans after being drafted No. 8 overall in 2010 by the Clippers. The Wake Forest product, still only 23, averaged 7.2 points and 6.2 rebounds for the Pelicans in 2013/14.
MacMahon reported that the Mavs were interested in Aminu earlier this month, a report that Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram seconded a few weeks later. This is the latest move in a busy offseason for the Mavericks, who voided their contract with Rashard Lewis earlier today and are reportedly close to a deal with point guard Jameer Nelson. Dallas also acquired Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton via trade in June and, of course, stole Chandler Parsons from the rival Rockets earlier this month.
As Aldridge adds, Lewis’ knee surgery caused Dallas to turn to Aminu. Aldridge also indicates that the Mavs have retained their $2.7MM room exception, which is expected to go to Nelson (Twitter links). At only 23 years of age, Aminu makes for an interesting addition to a new-look Mavericks team that will look to improve on a 49-win season in 2013/14. The former Demon Deacon will add versatility and rebounding ability to the Dallas frontcourt.
Wizards Sign Garrett Temple
JULY 29TH: The deal is official, according to the RealGM transactions log and Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), though the team has yet to make an announcement.
JULY 18TH: The Wizards have struck a deal with Garrett Temple that will allow the free agent guard to return to Washington, reports J. Michael of CSNWashington (Twitter link). It’ll be a two-year contract for the minimum salary that includes a player option for the final season, Michael adds (on Twitter). The move had been expected, as Michael wrote earlier this week.
Still, there were other teams in the market for the 28-year-old client of John Hamilton, as the Heat, Magic and Bulls all appeared to show interest. One report indicated he was leaning toward signing with Miami, while another contended that the wasn’t considering any offer from the Heat. Temple said early this month that he’d look at other teams but that he’d “love” to sign a new deal with the Wizards.
Temple bounced around the fringes of the league at the beginning of his career, playing for three teams in each of the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons. He finally gained firm footing with the Wizards in 2012/13, starting 36 games, but Washington had less call for him this past season, and his 1.8 points and 8.5 minutes per game were the lowest of his career. The new deal nonetheless signals that the Wizards have trust that Temple would perform capably if pressed into more action this coming year.
Pistons Sign Spencer Dinwiddie
JULY 29TH: The deal is official, according to the RealGM transactions log, though the team has yet to make an announcement. He’ll get $700K in the first year of his contract, about $200K more than the minimum, but he’ll make the minimum in the final two seasons of the deal, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The team clearly used cap space on the contract, since the room exception wouldn’t have allowed for a three-year contract.
JULY 22ND: The third year isn’t guaranteed, MLive’s David Mayo writes.
JULY 21ST: The Pistons and second-round pick Spencer Dinwiddie have agreed to a three-year deal, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Dinwiddie was selected with the eighth pick in the second round (38th overall).
The 21-year-old was viewed as a possible lottery candidate before his knee injury last season and was still projected as a late-first round choice by DraftExpress. The former Colorado standout might be limited in his first NBA campaign, but president/coach Stan Van Gundy and the rest of the front office obviously sees a high ceiling for the shooting guard. Last season, Dinwiddie averaged 14.7 PPG and 3.8 APG while shooting 41.3% from downtown and 85.7% from the charity stripe.
Lorenzo Brown To Play In Italy
Former Sixers guard Lorenzo Brown has signed with Reyer Venezia of Italy, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The terms are unclear, and it’s uncertain whether the new contract for the Andy Miller client includes an out clause that will allow him to return to the NBA this year, should an opportunity arise. He recently completed a five-game stint with the Clippers summer league team, averaging 13.6 points per game.
Brown, 23, appeared in 26 games with the Sixers last season before they cut him in March to make room for a 10-day contract to Darius Johnson-Odom. He was the 52nd pick in the 2013 draft, but the Timberwolves relinquished his rights when they waived him prior to opening night last season.
The Sixers scooped him up a few weeks into the season, but he saw most of his playing time at Philadelphia’s D-League affiliate, averaging 19.9 points, 6.9 assists and 5.3 rebounds in 35.0 minutes per game for the Delaware 87ers. He saw just 8.6 MPG with the big club in Philly, notching 2.5 PPG, 1.6 APG and 1.1 RPG. Brown also spent time with the D-League’s Springfield Armor.
Union Elects Michele Roberts
Trial lawyer Michele Roberts became the first woman to lead a major North American pro sports union early Tuesday morning when the National Basketball Players Associated elected her as its new executive director. TNT’s David Aldridge was the first to report the news (Twitter link). Roberts captured 32 of a possible 36 votes among player representatives from each of the league’s 30 teams and the union’s executive committee, easily surpassing the required two-thirds majority in spite of reports detailing dissension before the vote.
“Let’s be clear: I’m sure there were people that noticed I was a girl,” Roberts said to reporters, including Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, following the vote. “Having said that, I frankly wanted to address that question up front whenever I spoke with any of the members of the executive committee and the union. My sense was, the only thing people cared about was my resolve.”
Roberts, a member of the Washington, D.C.-based firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, has won plaudits as a “talented and ruthless” litigator, Berger writes. She beat out Mavs CEO Terdema Ussery and tech industry CEO Dean Garfield, the other two finalists for the job that’s remained vacant since the union ousted longtime executive director Billy Hunter at the All-Star Game in 2013.
“It shows how open-minded our players are,” union president Chris Paul said, as Berger notes. “With any of the candidates, it wasn’t about race or gender. It was about who was going to be the best person in that position. From day one in interviews, she tackled every question head first. … There were tough questions she was faced with. She didn’t back away from them. She didn’t shy away from them. She told us her story, and it really sat well with us.”
Roberts first emerged as one of two finalists for the post in February, but the union decided soon after to renew its search. Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson teamed with the NBPA to form a search committee that interviewed more than 70 candidates, but Johnson left the process amid disagreement with the union’s executive committee in the days leading up to the vote. Johnson’s departure seemed to reopen the door to the skepticism and discord that had marked much of the union’s slow movement toward a hire. Agents and players alike called for yet another delay in the process. A player told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link) that he wanted more time to consider the finalists after they each made presentations Monday night to the attendees, who were roughly 120 in number, as Berger writes. That’s in contrast to the 35 who were in attendance when Hunter was deposed, Berger also points out.
Former union executive committee member Jerry Stackhouse was particularly critical. He believed current executive committee members, who identified Roberts as a candidate before Johnson’s involvement, were attempting to “save face” by supporting her candidacy, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick (Twitter links). Stackhouse attended the meeting, but was eventually forced to leave because he’s no longer an NBA player, Amick notes (Twitter link).
Paul and the executive committee were indeed the prime movers behind the choice of Roberts, sources told Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Ultimately, Roberts’ track record as a litigator, unblemished character, and her vision for change won over the rest of the union’s voting members, as Wojnarowski, in a full story, and Berger report. The close ties between league management and Ussery, whom former commissioner David Stern considers a friend, scuttled his chances, Jared Dudley told Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link).
And-Ones: Heat, Wolves, Stokes, Mudiay
Heat owner Micky Arison addressed the team’s fans today to assure them that despite losing LeBron James, the franchise would contend in the east, writes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. Arison said, “We are laser-focused on the present and the task at hand of defending our Eastern Conference championship with the East being described as ‘wide open,’ while also positioning ourselves for maximum flexibility and maneuverability in the future.“
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Grizzlies may have found a diamond in the rough on draft night with their selection of Jarnell Stokes, writes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Stokes was projected by some experts as a potential late first-round pick, but slipped to Memphis who selected him 35th overall.
- Top 2015 prospect Emmanuel Mudiay said he is skipping SMU for financial reasons, not because of any academic issues at his former prep school, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY. Mudiay reportedly signed for $1.2MM in China.
- The Wolves signing of Mo Williams earlier today will give the team the a player who can create his own shot, which is something the team was lacking, opines Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune (Twitter link).
- The signing of Williams could potentially affect a number of players’ roster spots on the team, writes Michael Rand of the Star Tribune.
- When discussing the rumors about any potential trade that would bring Kevin Love to the Bulls, Derrick Rose said, “That’s up to the front office. I’m riding with whatever decision they make. My job right now is to prepare,” tweets Sam Smith of Bulls.com.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Lakers Hire Byron Scott
9:36pm: Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has announced the signing of Scott, reports Mike Trudell of Lakers.com (Twitter link). Kupchak said, “After an extensive and thorough search, we’re proud to welcome Byron back to the Lakers family as our next head coach.”
9:26pm: Scott has signed the contract and the press conference to announce the deal will be held Tuesday afternoon at 1pm (CDT), reports Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 8:28am: There are minor details left to work out, but the main terms of the deal have been agreed upon, Scott tells Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link).
SATURDAY: 10:20pm: Medina writes that Scott was under the impression he had reached an agreement with Los Angeles, while the Lakers are claiming negotiations could take a couple more days to complete.
10:01pm: The Lakers have maintained to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News that negotiations are still ongoing with Scott (Twitter link). That would contradict the reported agreement, which Medina had confirmed earlier, presumably with a different source (on Twitter).
9:01pm: The Lakers have agreed to terms with Byron Scott, who will become the new head coach in Los Angeles, as first reported by Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter). The deal is for four-years and $17MM, the fourth year being a team option. The deal has been in the works since yesterday, when some reports indicated the team had offered him the job.
As expected, the contract comes in at a lower salary than recent first-year coaching hires Derek Fisher and Steve Kerr, although not dramatically so. The length of the deal would suggest that the Lakers are planning to let Scott guide the team through what will likely be some difficult seasons in the immediate future. Of course, the team has shuffled through two coaches on long-term contracts the past two seasons, so Scott will still need to perform well to truly feel secure. The team is poised to miss the playoffs for consecutive seasons for the first time in five decades, and barring a major haul in next year’s free agency, isn’t positioned to scale back to the top of the Western Conference next year.
Los Angeles took the most time of any team in filling its coaching vacancy this summer, as the front office committed to a methodical search and an aggressive free agency period. Scott has long considered himself the favorite for the job, and was reported as the Lakers front-runner in late June. Scott’s history with the organization and his relationship with Kobe Bryant were factors that worked in his favor.
Scott will join his fourth NBA team as head coach. The coaching veteran and former Lakers player has compiled a career 416-521 record on the bench. Scott guided the Nets to two Finals appearances early in his coaching career and took New Orleans into the playoffs in consecutive seasons later in his career, but has led losing efforts in every other season. Most recently, Scott’s Cavs teams finished with 24 wins or fewer in each of his three seasons in Cleveland.
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