Western Notes: Rubio, Nash, Thompson
The Wolves are willing to give Ricky Rubio an extension similar to the four-year, $44MM extension Stephen Curry signed with the Warriors two years ago, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Rubio and agent Dan Fegan are asking for the max over five seasons. We took a look at Rubio and other extension candidates earlier today.
More from out west:
- Steve Nash isn’t under any illusions that his career will last much longer, saying in a Sport TV video that he thinks this coming season with the Lakers will be his last, notes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
- Klay Thompson was hoping that he would have worked out a contract extension with the Warriors prior to beginning this summer’s Team USA camp, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com. He and the Warriors have until October 31st to strike a deal, or he’ll hit restricted free agency in 2015.
- The Spurs have sent Manu Ginobili a letter denying him permission to participate in the FIBA Basketball World Cup later this summer, reports Dan McCarney of Spurs Nation (hat tip to Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News). San Antonio GM R.C. Buford cited the eight-week recovery span required for the stress fracture in Ginobili’s right leg as the reason. The injury was first discovered during the team’s exit physicals after winning the NBA Championship this year.
- The Rockets signing of free agent Jeremy Lin back in 2012 was a solid one, opines Randy Harvey of the Houston Chronicle (Video link), who takes a look back at Lin’s time in Houston. Lin was recently traded to the Lakers in a move to clear cap space for the potential signing of Chris Bosh before he decided to return to the Heat.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Latest On NBPA Executive Director Vote
The three finalists for the vacant NBPA Executive Director position are Mavericks CEO Terdema Ussery, Michele Roberts, a trial attorney, and Dean Garfield, the CEO and president of the Information Technology Industry Council. The players are scheduled to vote at 10pm (CDT) this evening in Las Vegas.
Here’s the latest on the upcoming vote:
- Former NBA player Jerry Stackhouse attended the NBPA meeting regarding the Executive Director vote and criticized the process, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links). One player told Wojnarowski that Stackhouse was trying to “initiate a divide.”
- The NBPA executive committee believes it will get a vote on a new executive director tonight despite talk of potentially delaying the vote, tweets Wojnarowski.
- Another player told Wojnarowski (Twitter link) that, “This is a cluster. They’re trying to slam a director down our throats.“
Earlier Updates:
- The Kevin Johnson-led search committee interviewed more than 70 candidates for the union’s executive director vacancy, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt reports. The union is set to vote this evening on the three finalists, though Johnson won’t be present after an apparent falling out with the executive committee. Union secretary-treasurer James Jones told Zillgitt that the players would have preferred that he stayed on until the hire was complete, but added that there was little for Johnson and his committee to do once the finalists were identified.
- There have been some rumblings from those present for the vote asking if the vote is happening too quickly given the relative anonymity of the three finalists, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
- According to the schedule presented by the union, players will get 45-minute sessions to get to know each of the three candidates and then cast their votes, tweets Stein.
- Stein also tweets that numerous agents, after a conference call earlier today, have advised players to seek a delayed vote to ensure the finalists are indeed the best finalists for the job.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Judge Rules In Favor Of Shelly Sterling
5:20pm: NBA Executive Vice President Mike Bass issued a statement on today’s ruling (via Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports on Twitter):
“We are pleased that the court has affirmed Shelly Sterling’s right to sell the Los Angeles Clippers to Steve Ballmer. We look forward to the transaction closing as soon as possible.”
4:45pm: The judge in the trial between Donald and Shelly Sterling ruled in favor of the embattled owner’s wife today, saying she had “reasonable” belief Donald authorized her to sell the Clippers and that her testimony was “far and away” more credible than Donald’s, tweets Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times. Most importantly, the judge also made a ruling under 1310(b) of California Probate Code, according to Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles (on Twitter), and that essentially makes the decision “appeal-proof“.
The move seemingly seals the deal for former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to officially complete his purchase of the Clippers. If this is indeed the end of the Sterling saga, it will be a great relief to the league office as well as many members of the Clippers. Matt Barnes was the latest Clipper to raise the specter of a boycott if Donald Sterling remains, as we noted earlier. Coach/president Doc Rivers and star guard Chris Paul were also among those who have been considering drastic measures if Sterling was not ousted by the start of the 2014/15 campaign.
Last week, Clippers interim CEO Dick Parsons testified that if Sterling stayed and Rivers were to leave, it would spell doom for the franchise.
“If Doc were to leave, that would be a disaster,” Parsons said, according to ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Ramona Shelburne. “Doc is the father figure of the team. Chris [Paul] is the on-court captain of the team. But Doc is really the guy who leads the effort. He’s the coach, the grown-up, he’s a man of character and ability — not just in a basketball sense, but in the ability to connect with people and gain their trust. The team believes in him and admires and loves him. If he were to bail, with all the other circumstances, it would accelerate the death spiral.”
Today’s clean sweep ruling should be the final step towards making Ballmer’s $2 billion purchase official, but Donald Sterling has a long history of dragging things out in court. The NBA certainly hopes that this will be the end of what has been a bizarre and ugly series of events for the league.
Lakers Sign Wesley Johnson
JULY 28th, 4:15pm: The Lakers have officially announced the signing, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (on Twitter).
JULY 18th: The Lakers will sign Wesley Johnson to a one-year contract, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. Broussard’s source sets the deal at $1MM, which is slightly above the minimum for a player of Johnson’s tenure. It’s possible that amount is rounded up from the minimum, although that’s just my speculation.
Recently, the odds seemed low that Johnson would return to Los Angeles. The fifth-year small forward had shown early interest in returning to the purple and gold after having his best season as a pro with the Lakers last season. On a team gutted by injuries, the former No. 4 pick started 62 games, averaging career highs in points, rebounds, steals, and blocks per game.
The Landmark Sports Agency, Inc. client has never averaged double-digit scoring in a season, with a disappointing career average of 8.1 PPG. Johnson’s athleticism is still an asset, and he will hope to stick in a rotation that projects to be more complete, if not highly competitive, next year. No other teams had been reported as interested in the wing prior to the news of his return.
Wolves, Mo Williams Close To Deal
The Wolves and Mo Williams are nearing an agreement, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The free agent guard had chiefly been connected to the Mavs of late, but Dallas instead used the $2.732MM room exception it had earmarked for a potential deal with the ex-Blazer on Jameer Nelson. The Wolves have their $5.305MM mid-level exception to spend, so it’s possible that Williams will end up with more than he would have made with the Mavs.
Williams, 31, had made re-signing with Portland his “only goal” at the outset of free agency after he turned down a $2.77MM player option. The capped out Blazers used their exceptions on Chris Kaman and Steve Blake, leaving only the Non-Bird rights they held on Williams to give him no more than a 20% raise, and it became clear within the second week of free agency that the chances for a return were slim.
The Wolves, John Krawcyznski of The Associated Press (on Twitter) notes, have been looking at the veteran for a few days now. Team president Flip Saunders & Co. see Williams as a strong fit to play on the second unit alongside rookie dunking machine Zach LaVine. In 74 games for the Blazers last season, Williams averaged 9.7 PPG and 4.3 APG in 24.8 minutes per contest. Williams also turned in a career low 41.7% field goal percentage and 11.8 PER, numbers that he’ll look to improve on this season.
Wolves Targeting Thaddeus Young
3:08pm: The Sixers want at least a first-round pick in return for Young, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. That echoes Philadelphia’s stance regarding Young at the trade deadline this past February.
2:29pm: The Wolves are interested in acquiring Thaddeus Young as part of a Kevin Love trade, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Minnesota has been working on ways to deal for Young, either as part of a Love deal or through a separate transaction, Stein writes, though those efforts have been going on for quite some time, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press.
The Sixers have reportedly held interest in trying to fold Young into a deal that would send Love to another team and allow Philadelphia to recoup other assets. Sixers GM Sam Hinkie nonetheless said after the draft that he expected Young would be back with the team, as Stein notes, though the general belief is that the Sixers are open to trading their 26-year-old combo forward, according to the ESPN scribe. Young is set to make more than $9.4MM this coming season and has an early termination option he can exercise to hit free agency next summer.
The ideal scenario for the Wolves involves a three-team arrangement involving Cleveland in which Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and Young end up in Minnesota, Love goes to the Cavs, and expiring contracts and draft picks head to Philadelphia, according to Krawczynski. Still, that idea is just one of many in play, Krawczynski cautions (Twitter links). The Cavs can’t deal Wiggins until August 23rd, since league rules stipulate that a draft pick can’t be traded for 30 days after he signs, as Wiggins did this past Thursday.
2014 Rookie Scale Extension Primer
The deals involving star players aren’t yet over this offseason. Even beyond the unresolved free agencies of Eric Bledsoe and Greg Monroe and the looming specter of a Kevin Love trade are rookie scale extension candidates. Any player who signed a rookie scale contract is eligible to sign an extension from July 1st to October 31st after his third season in the league. If the player doesn’t sign an extension in that window, he’ll be eligible for restricted free agency the next summer.
Six players signed rookie scale extensions last offseason, and Kyrie Irving became the first to do so this summer, signing the first day he was eligible. Here’s a look at what Irving received and a primer on the rest of the market.
Kyrie Irving, Cavaliers — Irving already signed a five-year max extension. Irving’s lone financial concession was giving up the right to receive approximately 30% of the salary cap should he trigger the Derrick Rose Rule. He’ll instead earn about 27.5% should he meet the Rose Rule criteria and the standard 25% max if not.
Klay Thompson, Warriors — Agent Bill Duffy is seeking the max in negotiations with Golden State, and the team appears to have decided to keep his name out of offers for Love, at least for the time being. The Warriors have taken steps to plan for such a deal, even dating back to the veteran extension they signed last year with Andrew Bogut. Co-owner Joe Lacob has vowed to strike a deal with the shooting guard, though it’s not entirely clear whether he intends to do so through an extension or next summer in restricted free agency. Signing an extension would trigger the Poison Pill Provision, making it difficult for the Warriors to trade Thompson until next summer, so I think he’ll sacrifice some money for a degree of certainty. Prediction: Four years, $58MM.
Kawhi Leonard, Spurs — The Finals MVP is confident a deal will get done, and Gregg Popovich believes the 23-year-old will become the face of the franchise. Still, the three straight games with 20 points or more he compiled in the last three games of the Finals represented the first such streak in his entire career, and only the second time he’d ever scored 20 in as many as two games in a row. He’s also grown among a Spurs core that sacrificed money for championships. Prediction: Four years, $50MM.
Nikola Vucevic, Magic — There’s reportedly mutual interest in a deal, though it sounds like Orlando has put the matter on the backburner. Vucevic’s progress seemed to stall this past season, but the leap he made in his second NBA season, the first in which he saw significant playing time, is probably enough to convince the Magic to deal. Orlando has been profligate in its spending on mid-tier veterans, so I imagine the team will follow suit with its promising 23-year-old center. Prediction: Four years, $48MM.
Kenneth Faried, Nuggets — Denver GM Tim Connelly and coach Brian Shaw spoke in support of Faried this spring, and Connelly was to have met with agent Thad Foucher and company at the beginning of this month. Still, the Nuggets reportedly floated Faried’s name in trade talks early last season, and concerns about his defense remain. Prediction: Four years, $44MM.
Ricky Rubio, Timberwolves — Agent Dan Fegan wants the five-year max that former GM David Kahn infamously refused to give to Love in order to save it for Rubio, but injury and shooting woes have kept the point guard from displaying superstar potential. Flip Saunders, who replaced Kahn in the Minnesota front office, might be willing to overpay a smidge to prevent losing both Love and Rubio, but given Fegan’s demands, it seems unlikely they come to terms. Prediction: No extension; restricted free agency next summer.
Tristan Thompson, Cavaliers — The Rich Paul client has increased leverage now that LeBron James, the top client on Paul’s list, has returned to Cleveland, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports recently wrote. Cleveland will have a tough time engineering cap flexibility to chase Love next summer, and it would be hard to trade Thompson if he signed an extension, thanks to the same Poison Pill Provision that would trip up the Warriors and their extension-eligible Thompson. It’s also tough to see where Tristan Thompson fits in if Cleveland does acquire Love. Prediction: No extension; restricted free agency next summer.
Jimmy Butler, Bulls — Butler is yet another rookie scale extension-eligible player tied to Love. The Wolves would reportedly like to receive Butler in a trade involving Love, but the Bulls apparently kept him out of their recent offer. That indicates that Chicago envisions a future with the Happy Walters client. Prediction: Four years, $42MM.
Reggie Jackson, Thunder — The last time a Thunder sixth man came up for a rookie scale extension, they traded him to the Rockets. It doesn’t seem like a drastic move like the James Harden blockbuster will happen this time, but Jackson wants a job at starting point guard he won’t get as long as Russell Westbrook‘s in town, and GM Sam Presti has seemed dismissive of extension chatter. Prediction: No extension; restricted free agency next summer.
Kemba Walker, Hornets — Charlotte has taken a fast track to rebuilding the past two seasons, but next summer might be about maintaining the status quo more than building, with Al Jefferson possessing the chance to hit free agency. Unless GM Rich Cho has designs on keeping everyone together and making a significant upgrade at point guard, I think he’ll be willing to get a deal done with Walker before Halloween. That goes double if it prevents another team from driving up Walker’s cost in restricted free agency, just as Cho drove up Gordon Hayward‘s cost this summer. Prediction: Four years, $40MM.
Extension longshots:
These are the rest of the players eligible for rookie scale extensions this year. Even though none of them seem likely to sign, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one or two of these players ink a small-scale extension like the four-year, $14MM deal the Grizzlies gave Quincy Pondexter.
- Bismack Biyombo, Hornets
- Brandon Knight, Bucks
- Norris Cole, Heat
- Derrick Williams, Kings
- Cory Joseph, Spurs
- Alec Burks, Jazz
- Enes Kanter, Jazz
- Iman Shumpert, Knicks
- Tobias Harris, Magic
- Marcus Morris, Suns
- Markieff Morris, Suns
Nemanja Dangubic Likely To Remain In Serbia
Spurs second-round draftee Nemanja Dangubic is close to signing with Serbian club KK Crvena Zvezda, the website Novosti.rs reports (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). KK Partizan, another Serbian team, is also pursuing him, but the 54th overall pick from this year’s draft is leaning toward Crvena Zvezda, according to the Novosti.rs report.
The Spurs acquired the rights to Dangubic, a 6’8″ shooting guard, in a draft-night trade with the Sixers. Dangubic, 21, would be the latest in a long line of Spurs “draft-and-stash” players from overseas. It’s no surprise the team isn’t bringing him aboard for this season, given the difficulty that Dangubic would face in finding playing time on a team that’s poised to return nearly everyone from last year’s championship roster.
Dangubic spent the last two years with KK Mega Vizura, another Serbian franchise. He averaged 10.3 points and 3.6 rebounds in 26.2 minutes per game this past season.
Pacific Notes: Thompson, Young, Clippers
Every coach in the Pacific Division next season will be in either his first or second season on the job. Presumably that group will include Byron Scott, who says he has just a few loose ends to tie up before he’s the next coach of the Lakers. Here’s more from the Pacific:
- Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are confident that the Warriors aren’t looking to break up the “Splash Brothers” backcourt tandem with a trade that sends Thompson to the Wolves for Kevin Love, as the Golden State guards tell Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Thompson said new coach Steve Kerr gave him the “vibe” that he won’t be traded. Kerr is reportedly among the advocates within the team’s brass for keeping Thompson.
- Nick Young says he feels like the Lakers made him a priority when they re-signed him to his new four-year deal, but he acknowledged he might not have ended up with the team had Carmelo Anthony decided to go to L.A., as he tells Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
- Matt Barnes said it’s realistic that Clippers players would boycott if Donald Sterling remains the owner into next season, as he said in an appearance on The Chris Mannix Show on NBC Sports Radio (Facebook link; hat tip to USA Today’s Nina Mandell). Still, he acknowledged that with the process tied up in court, he just wants to see the NBA move “swiftly and abruptly” toward Sterling’s ouster. ““It’s tough,” he said. “I think you guys [the media] are like we are, we’re not exactly sure how far they can push it. We know where they stand and what they want. At the end of the day it comes down to legalities and business, stuff that has to be handled in a court of law. It’s a very touchy, very iffy situation. We’re about two months out from camp, and I think as it gets closer and as we get a better understand of what’s going to happen I think you will have a better idea of what we are going to do.”
Poll: Is Byron Scott The Right Hire For Lakers?
While most teams with coaching vacancies scrambled to make their hire prior to the June draft, the Lakers had no problem taking their time. At long last, however, their search just might be over. We’re still waiting on an announcement, but it appears that the Lakers are nearing agreement with Byron Scott on a contract that will make him the 25th coach in franchise history.
In an offseason where coaching neophytes Steve Kerr and Derek Fisher both landed lucrative deals and rising sophomore Jason Kidd jumped ship from the Nets to the Bucks with a hefty pay raise, the Lakers apparently valued experience. Scott’s career 416-521 record on the bench leaves something to be desired, but it’d be unfair to judge Scott purely on wins and losses considering some of the teams he managed, including the LeBron-less Cavs. Scott’s first foray into being a head coach was a rousing success, of course, as he guided the Nets to back-to-back Eastern Conference championships in 2001/02 and 2002/03 after a trying 2000/01. Those Nets were unceremoniously swept in the 2002 Finals by the Lakers but the 2003 team pushed a very talented Spurs squad to a six game series.
The Lakers considered other familiar names for the opening, including Lionel Hollins, George Karl, Alvin Gentry, Mike Dunleavy, and Kurt Rambis, but Scott was likely the pick thanks to his combination of experience and history with the Lakers franchise. Scott’s eleven career seasons in purple and gold was a definite foot in the door and it probably helped that his final season in Los Angeles was Kobe Bryant‘s first. As Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com noted, Bryant recently gave his blessing for the Lakers to hire Scott.
“He was my rookie mentor when I first came into the league,” Bryant said. “So I had to do things like get his doughnuts and run errands for him and things like that. We’ve had a tremendously close relationship throughout the years. So, obviously, I know him extremely well. He knows me extremely well. I’ve always been a fan of his.”
We’re pretty sure we know how Kobe would vote, but we want to know what you think. Is Scott the right man for the job in Los Angeles?
Is Byron Scott The Right Hire For The Lakers?
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Yes 72% (1,372)
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No 28% (545)
Total votes: 1,917