Grizzlies Sign Luke Hancock For Camp
SEPTEMBER 25TH: The deal is official, as the Grizzlies have followed up with a formal announcement.
SEPTEMBER 11TH: Memphis has yet to make an official announcement, but the Grizzlies and Hancock put pen to paper last week, as the RealGM transactions log shows. Hancock’s deal is without a guarantee, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
AUGUST 31ST: Luke Hancock has agreed to a one-year, minimum salary deal with the Grizzlies, league sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter).
Hancock began his collegiate career at George Mason University before the departure of coach Jim Larrañaga led him to transfer to Louisville. In 2013, Hancock was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA tournament as he helped lead the Cardinals to a National Championship.
Hancock auditioned for the 76ers, Pistons, Bucks, Jazz, Rockets, and Celtics prior to the draft but wasn’t selected in June. The Pedro Power client averaged 10.1 PPG and shot ~37% from downtown in his two seasons with Louisville.
Nets Sign Jerome Jordan For Camp
12:33pm: The deal is official, the Nets announced via press release.
12:08pm: The Nets have struck a deal to bring former Knicks center Jerome Jordan to training camp, reports Robert Windrem of Nets Daily. The precise terms aren’t immediately clear, but it’s almost certainly for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Nets can give. Jordan has put pen to paper, and an official announcement from the team is imminent, according to Windrem.
The 7’0″ Jordan saw sparce playing time in 21 games for the Knicks in 2011/12, having since played in the D-League, the Philippines, and last season with Granarolo Bologna of Italy. He also spent the 2012 preseason with the Grizzlies. The former 44th overall pick out of Tulsa was briefly with the Rockets, who acquired him from New York as part of the Marcus Camby sign-and-trade in July 2012, but Houston waived him shortly thereafter. The Knicks appeared to have passing interest in a reunion last summer, but a deal never materialized.
The Nets have been carrying just 13 fully guaranteed contracts, as Windrem points out and as our roster counts show. So, Jordan appears to have a decent shot to make it to opening night if he can edge out Cory Jefferson, who has a partial guarantee worth $75K, and Jorge Gutierrez, whose non-guaranteed deal will become partially guaranteed for $25K if he sticks on the roster through September 26th. Agent Daniel Moldovan said in July that shooting guard Michael Jenkins would join the Nets for camp, too, but the team has yet to make that deal official.
Ryan Gomes Signs To Play In Spain
Eight-year NBA veteran Ryan Gomes has signed with Spain’s Saski Baskonia, also known as Laboral Kuxta, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The terms are unclear, but it looks like Gomes won’t head to camp with an NBA team this year, unlike last season, when he made the Thunder’s opening night roster.
Gomes remained with Oklahoma City into January, but he appeared in only five games, and the Celtics released him shortly after he went to Boston in the three-team Courtney Lee trade and right before his contract would have become fully guaranteed for the season. The former 50th overall pick out of Providence played much more extensively during his first seven seasons in the league, topping out at 13.3 points in 31.9 minutes per game for the Timberwolves in 2007/08.
The 32-year-old is returning to Europe after spending part of 2012/13 playing in Germany. Gomes will join Tornike Shengelia, who struck a deal with Baskonia in May.
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The Bulls are the most popular choice among Hoops Rumors readers who voted in a poll to identify the team not named the Cavaliers that had the most success this offseason, but reader Brent Nault believes Toronto GM Masai Ujiri and his staff deserve plaudits, too.
- How about the Raptors? They were able to re-sign their key free agents in Kyle Lowry, Greivis Vasquez, and Patrick Patterson to fairly reasonable deals. Then they went out and turned John Salmons into a much-needed offensive weapon off the bench in Lou Williams, signed the wing defender they so desperately needed in James Johnson and signed a true backup center in Greg Stiemsma. They managed to keep their playoff team from last year together while filling the few holes they had on their roster, all while maintaining substantial cap flexibility for a Kevin Durant run in 2016.
Greg Monroe recently became the most high-profile player to sign a qualifying offer since rookie scale contracts came into existence, and Matt Buys gives his take on what it means for the Pistons:
- As a Pistons fan, this feels like a decent outcome for the team. Ideally, we would have been able to get some assets for him in a sign-and-trade. The worst-case scenario would have been giving him something like $14 or $15MM a year for the next four or five years. Smart teams can find equal production — and more flexibility — from players who are far cheaper. Monroe is clearly the kind of “good, but not great” player that dumb teams waste mid-level money on because they’re scared of losing them for nothing. Thankfully, Monroe’s persistence to get out of Detroit didn’t allow the Pistons to make that mistake.
The Spurs have preserved their mid-level and biannual exceptions this summer, giving them ammunition in their pursuit of Ray Allen, as rxbrgr points out.
- One advantage the Spurs have compared to about any other club competing for Allen’s services is they still have BOTH their exceptions left — that means they can offer a LOT more than the minimum if they would so choose. So, if Allen wants to prioritize money AND winning, then maybe the Spurs are his best choice.
Check out what more readers had to say in previous editions of Hoops Rumors Featured Feedback. We appreciate everyone who adds to the dialogue at Hoops Rumors, and we look forward to seeing more responses like these from you!
Central Notes: Sanders, Bucks, Marion, Billups
Murphy’s Law governed Larry Sanders last season after the Bucks signed him to a four-year, $44MM extension, and a report this summer indicated that the team was making him available in trade talk. Still, the Bucks maintain their faith in the 25-year-old, as Milwaukee assistant GM David Morway tells HoopsHype’s David Alarcon.
“Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Larry is in our future plans,” Morway said. “We are hopeful that this year Larry gets back to being the basketball player that he was two years ago. He is a defensive presence and a game-changer on the court. So when you have his length along with Giannis [Antetokounmpo], Jabari Parker, John Henson and then Zaza Pachulia, Damien Inglis, who is very long, and if you play Khris Middleton at the two … We are a fairly long team. We’ve got good experience with O.J. Mayo, Jerryd Bayless … And we like Kendall Marshall. So we are excited for next year.”
The executive had more to say about his club, as we’ll note amid the latest from around the Central Division:
- Morway says the Bucks are “pretty much done” with their offseason moves, as he also tells Alarcon. Morway mentions the presence of 15 guaranteed contracts on the roster, though it appears as though Milwaukee only has 14. It’s likely he’s counting Marshall’s non-guaranteed deal in the guaranteed category, given the prominent role that Marshall is set to play, though that’s just my speculation.
- The Bucks had a desire to let Caron Butler play for a winner when they let him out of his contract at midseason last year, as Morway mentions in his interview with Alarcon. Butler joined the Thunder for the stretch run, and while the Pistons are far from contention, the idea that they’ll start winning sometime soon was apparently key to Butler’s decision to sign with Detroit this summer.
- Shawn Marion‘s pact with the Cavs is fully guaranteed, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), who confirms that he’s getting the minimum salary, which is all Cleveland could give him. It’s a one-year deal, as Pincus shows on the Basketball Insiders salary pages.
- The leadership of Chauncey Billups is what led the Pistons to sign him a year ago for what turned out to be his final season, but for most of his career he was the rare player who combined professionalism and All-Star talent, writes Shawn Windsor of the Detroit Free Press.
Poll: Which Team Had Second-Best Offseason?
With the Cavaliers going from owning the No. 1 pick of the draft this past June to being the number one pick to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy next June, it’s safe to say they’re the overwhelming choice as the team that enjoyed the NBA’s best offseason. But who finished second? Believe it or not, there were other transactions that occurred this offseason that didn’t involve LeBron James or Kevin Love. Here’s a rundown of which non-Cavs team fared the best this summer:
- Bulls: Despite losing out on the big-ticket free agents, the Bulls signed Pau Gasol, brought Nikola Mirotic over from Europe and wound up with NBA-ready Doug McDermott in the NBA Draft. These are additions to a team already good enough to tally 48 wins last season. Their most positive offseason development, however, has been the health of Derrick Rose, who is currently participating in the Basketball World Cup.
- Hornets: Charlotte built on their first playoff appearance in four years by signing ultra-talented Lance Stephenson along with Marvin Williams and Brian Roberts, all to deals that look reasonable compared to some of the monster numbers thrown around this summer. The Hornets also got what looks like great value in Noah Vonleh and P.J. Hairston in the draft.
- Mavericks: Where to start? The Mavs stole Chandler Parsons from a division rival, signed veteran point guard Jameer Nelson and reunited with Tyson Chandler. And don’t forget, this was the team that gave eventual champ San Antonio their toughest test in the playoffs. Dallas also retained star Dirk Nowitzki on a very team-friendly deal.
- Timberwolves: Bear with me here. If you consider the loss of Love a foregone conclusion going into the offseason, it can be argued that Minnesota did pretty well for itself, as Hoops Rumors readers displayed in a recent poll. If Andrew Wiggins is a star and Anthony Bennett progresses, the Wolves may have dodged a total rebuild. Adding Thaddeus Young in the Love deal and the high-ceiling of Zach LaVine in the draft certainly doesn’t hurt either.
- Wizards: Adding Paul Pierce, Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair while subtracting Trevor Ariza and Trevor Booker may not seem like a giant net improvement on paper. However, considering the weakness of the East and the youth and potential on Washington’s roster, you can argue the Wiz positioned themselves as the best of the second tier teams in the conference. Retaining Marcin Gortat was also an important move for Washington.
- Someone else: Feel free to offer your opinion in the comments section if none of these five squads would be atop your list as the winner of the offseason’s silver medal. Maybe you think it’s the Spurs for maintaining most of their championship roster, the Knicks for convincing Carmelo Anthony to stay or even the Sixers for trying something just crazy enough to work. Regardless, we want to hear it.
Which Team Had Second-Best Offseason?
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Bulls 33% (271)
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Timberwolves 19% (157)
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Mavericks 18% (146)
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Someone else 14% (118)
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Hornets 11% (89)
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Wizards 6% (49)
Total votes: 830
And-Ones: Roberts, Haddadi, Ferry, Parsons
The summer of 2014 continued to belong to Boris Diaw, as the Spurs star led France to a huge upset of host Spain in the quarterfinals of the Basketball World Cup earlier today. Meanwhile, on American soil, details continue to emerge in the situation in Atlanta. Here are some additional updates from around the league, Hawks-related and otherwise, on Wednesday night:
- Michele Roberts‘ term as executive director of the NBPA will begin at the end of September, according to Sam Amick of USA Today, who writes that the trial lawyer won’t have much time to ease into the job with the Hawks saga in full swing. Obligations from her previous job and ongoing contract negotiations have prevented Roberts from starting sooner, according to Amick. Acting executive director Ron Klempner, who issued a statement on the Atlanta situation on Monday, has been has handling the role on an interim basis since Billy Hunter was fired in 2013.
- Seven-foot Iranian center Hamed Haddadi wants to explore the possibility of a return to the NBA before committing to Qingdao Double Star of China, according to Sports Sohu (translation via Sportando). The 29-year-old Haddadi played in China and then Iran last season after spending five years in the NBA with the Grizzlies and Suns. He has not been linked to any NBA teams this offseason.
- Even if Danny Ferry was indeed reading a scouting report written by someone else, Bob Young of AZCentral opines that the Hawks GM should still resign for not immediately firing that member of his staff on the spot. Young also points out that Ferry and the Hawks have been fortunate that the NFL scandal has somewhat overshadowed what has transpired in Atlanta.
- Mavericks forward Chandler Parsons said the Rockets told him to “go get the biggest deal and the best deal for you and we’re matching,” writes Michael Florek of The Dallas Morning News. Parsons, of course, proceeded to do just that — signing a three-year, $45MM deal with Dallas — but Houston didn’t follow suit.
Evaluating Player Option Decisions
Declining a player option was rarely proven unwise on this summer’s market. The majority of the players who opted out to hit free agency this year wound up with new deals that will give them more this season than they would have made if they’d opted in. Still, several players who turned down their options for this coming season ended up agreeing to take less in 2014/15. In those cases, most of them signed for long-term deals that give them a total amount that’s greater than they would have made if they’d picked up their options, even though that money is spread over multiple seasons.
Here’s a look at how each of the players who turned down a player option for the 2014/15 season fared, sorted by those who most certainly made the right decision, players who gave up money for this year for more in the long term, and a pair who are without NBA deals. The players are listed in alphabetical order within each category, followed by their 2013/14 teams and the values of the player options they turned down.
Clear winners:
- Alan Anderson, Nets, minimum salary — The Nets re-signed him to a two-year deal worth slightly more than $2.61MM that represents a raise, albeit an incremental one, on what he would have seen on his option.
- Chris Bosh, Heat, $20.59MM — It seemed there were many ways for Bosh to end up with a lower salary when he opted out, since there were rumors he would take less to help the Heat attract another marquee player. There was also no guarantee the NBA’s maximum salary would go up high enough to exceed the value of Bosh’s option year. But, that’s what happened, and the Heat reeled Bosh back in with a five-year, $118.705MM max deal with a starting salary of $54,400 more than he would have made on his option.
- Darren Collison, Clippers, $1.986MM — The Kings signed him for three years and $15.041MM, a clear financial upgrade.
- Channing Frye, Suns, $6.8MM — Frye signed a four-year, $32MM deal with the Magic, so as with Collison, the decision to opt out was smart.
- Danny Granger, Clippers, minimum salary — The Heat brought Granger in on a two-year, $4.247MM deal that gives him more than the minimum each season.
- LeBron James, Heat, $20.59MM — James was determined not to take another discount, and while he, like Bosh, gambled that the maximum salary would exceed the value of his option, it did indeed, allowing James to sign his two-year, $42.218MM contract with the Cavs.
- Josh McRoberts, Hornets, $2.771MM — There’s no mistaking just how well it turned out financially for McRoberts, who wound up with a four-year, $22.652MM deal from the Heat after a career year in Charlotte.
- Anthony Morrow, Pelicans, minimum salary — He signed with the Thunder for $10.032MM over three years. That means he’ll come away with about three times as much in 2014/15 as he would have if he opted in, and those enhanced paydays will continue.
- Mo Williams, Trail Blazers, $2.771MM — Williams signed a one-year, $3.75MM deal with the Timberwolves, a raise of almost precisely $1MM.
- Nick Young, Lakers, minimum salary — The Lakers seemed determined not to let Young get away from them in free agency, opening the coffers for a four-year, $21.326MM deal that validates Young’s opt-out decision many times over.
It depends:
- Carmelo Anthony, Knicks, $23.333MM — Anthony surely doesn’t have any regrets about signing a five-year deal worth $124.065MM, but his new pact calls for a lower salary for this coming season than he would have seen on the option. That’s because a new pact for Anthony, whose salaries exceed the NBA’s maximum thanks to the built-in raises on his lucrative contracts over the years, was limited to giving him a starting salary worth no more than 105% of what he made last year. His scheduled raise under the old deal would have been for more than that.
- Glen Davis, Clippers, minimum salary — Davis wound up precisely where he started, since he has a guaranteed minimum salary on his one-year deal after re-signing with the Clippers.
- Francisco Garcia, Rockets, minimum salary — Garcia agreed to re-sign with the Rockets on a one-year deal for that minimum salary. It’s not quite clear if it’s guaranteed at this point, but if it is, he’ll have broken even, just like Davis.
- Udonis Haslem, Heat, $4.62MM — Haslem locked in $5.587MM, more than he would have seen on his option, but that amount is spread over two seasons in his new deal with the Heat. If he had picked up his option and signed next summer for the minimum salary, he would have made more.
- Dwyane Wade, Heat, $20.164MM — Like Haslem, Wade wound up with more than he would have made in the option year, but his $31.125MM will come over the course of a new two-year deal with the Heat. Still, it’s not the drastic annual pay decrease that seemed a distinct possibility, and Wade has a player option for next summer if he regains his superstar form without LeBron around.
Probably should have opted in:
- Andray Blatche, Nets, minimum salary — His salary would automatically equal or exceed the value of his option if he signs with an NBA team before the season, but he might not find guaranteed salary. In any case, he remains unsigned, so the decision looks poor, at least at the moment.
- Byron Mullens, Sixers, minimum salary — It’s unclear what he’ll make on his deal to play in China, but heading overseas probably wasn’t the outcome he would have preferred.
Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.
Warriors Sign Leandro Barbosa
4:24pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
SEPTEMBER 10TH, 2:43pm: Barbosa has put pen to paper, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick (Twitter link), though there has yet to be an official announcement from the team.
AUGUST 28TH: The Warriors and Leandro Barbosa have reached agreement on a one-year deal for the minimum salary, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. It’s not immediately clear whether the salary for the 11-year veteran will be guaranteed.
Golden State had been on the lookout for backup guards, Stein notes, and the 6’3″ Barbosa fits that bill. The 31-year-old and the Heat held a mutual interest, though it didn’t seem as though Miami was going too hard after the client of Excel Sports Management. Barbosa reportedly had talks with a few teams, but he seemed prepared to wait until after the FIBA World Cup to find a deal, until the Warriors swooped in.
It’s a contrast from last year, when Barbosa went without an NBA deal until January, starting the season with a Brazilian team in an effort to prove his health after suffering a torn ACL in February 2013. Barbosa is once more coming off an injury that ended his season early, having broken his left hand in March while playing for the Suns. Still, the concern surrounding that injury isn’t as profound, as the Golden State deal demonstrates.
The Warriors had been carrying 13 guaranteed deals plus a non-guaranteed pact for undrafted rookie Aaron Craft. Barbosa gives the team yet another option at point guard behind starter Stephen Curry, joining Craft, Shaun Livingston and the injured Nemanja Nedovic.
Hawks Rumors: Wednesday
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports uncovered the recording of the meeting in which Hawks GM Danny Ferry made his fateful remarks about Luol Deng. We’ll pass along the revelations from that story amid the latest news surrounding the Hawks controversy, with any additional updates throughout the day at the top:
4:07pm update:
- Commissioner Adam Silver cited Ferry’s otherwise upstanding track record in telling USA Today’s Sam Amick that he doesn’t think the Hawks should fire Ferry. “It’s a question of context,” Silver said in part. “… These words, in this context, understanding the full story here, the existence of the scouting report, the fact that he was looking at the scouting report as a reference when he was making these remarks, what I’m saying is – and frankly my opinion — is that this is a team decision in terms of what the appropriate discipline is for their employee. But if I’m being asked my view, I’m saying that, based on what I know about the circumstances, I don’t think it’s a terminable offense.”
1:54pm update:
- Ferry read more statements in the meeting that impugned Deng’s character, as Wojnarowski transcribes. “… For example, he can come out and be an unnamed source for a story and two days later come out and say, ‘That absolutely was not me. I can’t believe someone said that,”‘ Ferry said on the recording. “But talking to reporters, you know they can [believe it].”
- Ferry’s report also brought up concerns about Deng’s focus, Wojnarowski reveals. “… Good guy in Chicago,” as Ferry is heard saying. “They will tell you he was good for their culture, but not a culture setter. He played hard and all those things, but he was very worried about his bobble-head being the last one given away that year, or there was not enough stuff of him in the [team] store … kind of a complex guy.”
- Wojnarowski suggests that the remarks Ferry made on the recording were his own, and not words he read from a report, as Ferry has claimed. However, that’s merely based on Wojnarowski’s own observation.
- Co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. had sought Ferry’s ouster even before Ferry’s racially charged remarks in June that sparked the controversy, Wojnarowski writes. Gearon made an immediate audible reaction to Ferry’s comments about Deng, comparing them to the inflammatory remarks that led to Donald Sterling’s exit from the Clippers, as the Yahoo! scribe notes. An email Gearon sent in reaction to the one with racial overtones that prompted outgoing controlling owner Bruce Levenson to sell the team was more matter-of-fact, and it didn’t entail the sort of dramatic reaction that Gearon had to Ferry’s comments, Wojnarowski shows.
- The league office is “livid” with Gearon, Wojnarowski writes, though the precise reason for that anger isn’t entirely clear.
- The Hawks offered Deng a two-year, $20MM deal and a one-year, $10MM arrangement, and Ferry was the team’s greatest supporter for signing him, Wojnarowski hears. The salaries Atlanta offered are similar to the ones Deng will receive on his contract with the Heat.
- Ferry has his boosters around the league, but many find him distant and unsympathetic and find it difficult to work with the Hawks front office, according to Wojnarowski.
- The conversation covered many free agent targets, including Carmelo Anthony. Ferry said that Anthony “can shoot the [expletive] out of it, but he screws you up in other ways,” as Wojnarowski transcribes, though Ferry also saw value in giving him a lucrative deal.
- At least one civil rights leader expressed frustration when the Hawks called off a meeting that was set for today with civil rights leaders in Atlanta, Charles Odumap of The Associated Press reports. The Hawks called the meeting a “priority” and indicated their intention to reschedule in a press release today.