Hornets Sign Dallas Lauderdale For Camp
SEPTEMBER 22ND: The deal is official, the team announced.
SEPTEMBER 9TH: Big man Dallas Lauderdale will attend training camp with the Hornets, reports Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer (Twitter link). The terms of the arrangement for the former Ohio State Buckeye aren’t immediately clear, but it’s likely for the minimum salary, perhaps with a nominal guarantee included.
The 6’8″ 25-year-old is heading to camp with an NBA club for the second straight year, having done so with the Blazers last autumn. Portland retained his D-League rights for this past season, and he did his most impressive work on the boards, averaging 8.7 a game to go with 7.5 points in 29.3 minutes per contest in the D-League.
Charlotte has been carrying 14 players on 14 guaranteed deals, as our roster counts show, but while Lauderdale doesn’t appear to have much camp competition as it stands, the Hornets will almost certainly bring in a few more camp invitees. NBA teams don’t have to carry any more than 13 players in the regular season, so it’s possible that Lauderdale or anyone else the team signs this month will have to be particularly impressive to make it to opening night.
Goran Dragic Plans To Opt Out Next Summer
Goran Dragic made comments indicating that he plans to decline his player option for 2015/16 as he spoke to Jaka Lopatič of the Slovenian website Planet Siol.net (translation via Dave King of Bright Side of the Sun). Dragic can turn down the $7.5MM he’s set to make that season and hit free agency next summer.
King interprets Dragic’s comments to indicate that he intends to re-sign with the Suns, but that doesn’t seem entirely clear, and as with any foreign-language report, there’s a chance some of the meaning is lost in translation. Either way, rival teams are already lining up to target the 28-year-old guard in the wake of his best season, with last week’s report indicating that the Rockets are considering a run at him and that the Lakers among those likely to enter the fray.
The Suns made Dragic a full-time starter for the first time in his career after he inked with the team in 2012, and he set career highs in scoring and assists. His points per game leaped again this past season, to 20.3 from 14.7 in 2013/14. That was in part because coach Jeff Hornacek moved him to shooting guard so he could pair with Eric Bledsoe. With fewer ball-distributing responsibilities, Dragic not only set a career high in field goal attempts but also in field goal percentage, connecting on 50.5% of his shots from the floor. His 40.8% three-point accuracy was also his best mark to date.
It remains to be seen whether the BDA Sports Management client can duplicate that production, particularly with Bledsoe still unsigned, but Dragic will be near the top of the 2015 free agent class if he can. The Suns are in prime position to shell out whatever it takes to keep Dragic, since they have his Bird rights and only about $17MM in commitments for 2015/16. The Suns are also reportedly among a trio of teams with especially keen interest in signing Spanish-league shooting guard Zoran Dragic, Goran’s brother.
Draft Notes: Towns, Harrison Twins, Looney
The 2015 draft is more than nine months away, but teams track prospects year-round in an effort to make the right decisions when the day finally arrives. All that work doesn’t prevent draft busts, as is proven time and again, but teams can still gather valuable information so they can limit their mistakes. Here’s the latest:
- University of Kentucky coach John Calipari has invited all 30 NBA teams to send personnel to watch him put his star-studded roster through a two-day scouting combine of sorts next month, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Calipari is believed to be the first college coach to set up such a showcase for his players, but Wojnarowski adds that he won’t allow anyone from the league to observe his practices for an indefinite time thereafter.
- There’s no shortage of NBA prospects on Kentucky, as nine fall within the top 43 in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress ratings, but forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns, shooting guard Aaron Harrison and combo guard Andrew Harrison will be the main attractions at the team’s preseason showcase, scouts tell Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
- Duke center Jahlil Okafor remains the top-ranked player on the second version of Chad Ford’s ESPN.com Insider-only draft board, but 6’10” UCLA combo forward Kevon Looney vaults to the No. 8 spot after Ford left him outside his top 30 the first time around.
Shawn Marion Signs With Cavs
SEPTEMBER 9TH: The signing is finally official, the team announced.
“Shawn brings great versatility, talent and championship experience to the team,” Cavs GM David Griffin said in the club’s statement. “He will impact both ends of the floor and his ability to guard multiple positions will be particularly important for us. Shawn is an accomplished, high-caliber veteran that will help with leadership on and off the court and we’re very happy to welcome him to the Cavaliers family.”
AUGUST 17TH: Shawn Marion has decided to join the Cavaliers, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Cleveland can only offer Marion the veteran’s minimum salary, but the opportunity to play with LeBron James and to contend for an NBA Championship was the deciding factor, notes Stein. The Clippers, Pacers, and the Heat had also pursued the 15-year veteran.
Indiana could have offered Marion a larger role and more playing time, with Paul George most likely being lost for the season. The Pacers could have also offered a larger salary as well, with the league already approving the disabled player exception the franchise had applied for. But with James’ arrival, and Kevin Love set to be added as soon as Andrew Wiggins can be traded on August 23rd, the Cavs became too appealing an option for Marion.
Marion’s career averages are 15.8 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 1.9 APG, and 1.6 SPG. His career slash line is .485/.332/.811. Last season with the Mavericks, he averaged 10.4 PPG and 6.5 RPG, while appearing in 76 contests.
Kings Target Dmitry Kulagin To Play In Russia
12:53pm: Kulagin is re-upping with Zenit St. Petersburg, a source tells Sportando’s Enea Trapani (Twitter link).
SEPTEMBER 9TH, 12:34pm: Kulagin has decided to remain in Russia, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Charania says Kulagin is signing a one-year pact with a Russian team, but it’s not clear if he’s leaving Zenit St. Petersburg, with whom he had apparently been under contract, or inking a new deal with the club. In any case, it looks like Kulagin is not coming to the NBA this year.
8:08am: Agent Stanislav Ryzhov pegged the chances that the Kings will sign Kulagin at 50-50 as he spoke to Timur Rustamov of Sport-Express (translation via Alexander Chernykh of Rush’n Hoops). Ryzhov added that he believes there will be clarity about his client’s situation by the end of the week. Kulagin told Rustamov that he’s spoken with Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro and scouts from the team and that playing in the NBA is his goal, but the shooting guard cautioned that he only wants to play in the league if a team will ensure him that he’ll see significant playing time.
SEPTEMBER 4TH, 5:25pm: Kulagin and Sacramento are still discussing an NBA deal, but Kulagin is considering offers to play in Russia as well, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link).
AUGUST 26TH, 5:51pm: The Kings are eyeing Russian shooting guard Dmitry Kulagin, and the 22-year-old is seriously considering joining the NBA for this season, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Still, any team that would sign him would have to buy him out of his contract with Zenit St. Petersburg, according to Spears.
Kulagin was eligible for the draft this year but went unselected, so any NBA team is free to sign him as long as Zenit St. Petersburg gives the OK. The 6’6″ Moscow native averaged 7.3 points in 22.3 minutes per game last season for his Russian team, but as with many European prospects, upside is the key, rather than prior production.
The guaranteed salary the Kings are carrying puts them less than $1MM beneath the tax line, so while the team still has its biannual exception available, any deal for too much more than the rookie minimum salary would be tough for Sacramento to manage. A buyout of more than the Excluded International Player Payment amount of $600K would also complicate a deal.
Hawks Co-Owner Wanted Danny Ferry Out
12:02pm: Koonin said retaining Ferry is “a decision I am willing to live with” while appearing with Mike Conti on Sports Radio 92.9 The Game, as Conti tweets (hat tip to Michael Lee of The Washington Post). “I have to be fair to the facts,” Coonin said (Twitter link). “As of today, based on the facts, this is what I’ve decided.”
11:06am: Gearon isn’t the only one among the ownership group who would like to see Ferry resign, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (video link).
8:59am: Hawks GM Danny Ferry has no immediate plans to step down in the wake of the discovery that Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. called for Ferry’s dismissal in a letter sent to controlling owner Bruce Levenson in June, writes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Zach Klein of WSB-TV in Atlanta obtained a copy of the letter, in which Gearon depicts an expanded version of the inflammatory comments that Ferry is to have made about Luol Deng. The following is an excerpt of that letter, as hosted by WSB-TV:
“As you know, last Friday there was a conference call attended by numerous persons including Hawks management and ownership. We believe that you and [co-owner] Ed Peskowitz were on the call, but we are not sure whether you were listening the whole time. During the call, which was recorded so that notes could be made for our partners unable to participate live, our GM Danny Ferry discussed player personnel issues at some length. With respect to one potential free agent, a highly-regarded African-American player and humanitarian, Ferry talked about the player’s good points, and then went on to describe his negatives, stating that ‘he has a little African in him. Not in a bad way, but he’s like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back.’ Ferry completed the racial slur by describing the player (and impliedly, all persons of African descent) as a two-faced liar and cheat.”
Gearon went on to write that an attorney advised him that the fallout from Ferry’s remarks would be “devastating,” and Gearon also asserts that if Ferry’s comments became public, “it could be fatal to the franchise.”
“Bruce, we are all too familiar with the current environment in the NBA and in the country generally from the fallout of Donald Sterling’s offensive comments,” the letter continued. “You have been on national television condemning Sterling and preaching zero tolerance of racial prejudice. We believe these comments by Ferry were far worse than Sterling’s because they were not from a private personal conversation – they were in a business environment on a business matter in front of a dozen or more people. If Ferry would make such a slur in a semi-public forum, we can only imagine what he has said in smaller groups or to individuals.”
The co-owner points to the racial diversity of Hawks management as having “changed for the worse since Ferry took over.” Ferry expressed regret in a press release from the team this morning.
“In regards to the insensitive remarks that were used during our due diligence process, I was repeating comments that were gathered from numerous sources during background conversations and scouting about different players,” Ferry said in the statement. “I repeated those comments during a telephone conversation reviewing the draft and free agency process. Those words do not reflect my views, or words that I would use to describe an individual and I certainly regret it. I apologize to those I offended and to Luol, who I reached out to Monday morning.”
The situation surrounding Ferry is having an “immense impact” around the league, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, as front offices discuss language and the way scouting frames ethnicity and race. The Hawks don’t plan further discipline for Ferry beyond the undisclosed punishment that he was already receiving, according to TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link). The league still isn’t set to sanction Ferry in any way, a source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter link).
Ferry’s comments this summer sparked an investigation that led to the discovery of a racially charged 2012 email that Levenson had sent, and that in turn prompted Levenson’s announcement this weekend that he would sell his controlling stake in the team. Hawks CEO Steve Koonin is in charge of the Hawks while the sale is being conducted.
Gustavo Ayon To Play In Spain
TUESDAY, 10:43am: The contract will cover three seasons, Pick hears (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 3:09pm: It’s a multiyear deal, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com. There will be several outs in the contract, Pick hears, though it’s unclear whether any of them pertain to the NBA (Twitter links).
10:02am: Free agent center Gustavo Ayon has agreed to play for Real Madrid in Spain, reports Igor Minteguia of Solobasket.com (translation via HoopsHype). It’s not immediately clear just how lucrative the deal is or just what sort of escape clauses the contract will contain to allow him to return to the NBA sometime soon.
The Spurs had reportedly been interested in him, among other potential free agent targets, but overseas options had reportedly been proving more lucrative than any stateside offers for the Emilio Duran client. Ayon spent the past three seasons in the NBA after signing a three-year, $4.5MM deal with New Orleans shortly after the lockout. He averaged 5.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game as a rookie but didn’t match those numbers in either of his next two seasons. It appeared he had an opportunity to head to China before Real Madrid gave him the chance to return to Spain, where he played before entering the NBA.
Former Raptors point guard Dwight Buycks, who signed with Valencia, also jumped to Spain this summer after having played in the NBA this past season. The 29-year-old Ayon will join fellow NBA veterans Andres Nocioni, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez among the notable names on Madrid’s roster for the coming season.
Players Who Took NBA’s Largest Pay Cuts
It was clear from the start that Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t leaving the Mavericks this summer, and while that also foretold a discount deal, few would have predicted that he’d agree to the league’s sharpest decline in salary. The future Hall-of-Famer let the Mavs lop nearly $15MM off his take from 2013/14, a reduction larger than last season’s entire salary for Emeka Okafor, who remains unsigned and trails only Nowitzki in terms of pay decrease from last season.
The presence of Nowitzki might keep new teammate Richard Jefferson from feeling too regretful about his minimum-salary deal, one that comes on the heels of a more than $11MM payday last season. Five players in the NBA are set to see their salaries dip by more than $10MM, and Jefferson is next on the list after that group.
The Wizards are the only other team with two players among the top 10 in salary declines from last season to next, as Paul Pierce and Kris Humphries, whose eight-figure salaries went the opposite way in the 2013 Celtics/Nets blockbuster, unite for less in Washington. Like the majority of the players in this top 10, Pierce and Humphries will still make more than the minimum salary this year, so it could be worse for them.
Here’s the complete list, with each player’s pay cut in parentheses, followed by his name, his 2013/14 salary, his 2014/15 salary, and his 2014/15 team, if applicable. All salaries are rounded to the nearest $1K:
- ($14.747MM) Dirk Nowitzki, $22.721MM — $7.974MM: Re-signed with Mavericks
- ($14,488MM) Emeka Okafor, $14.488MM: Unsigned
- ($12.158MM) Pau Gasol, $19.286MM — $7.128MM: Signed with Bulls
- ($11.944MM) Danny Granger, $14.021MM* — $2.077MM: Signed with Heat.
- ($10.028MM) Paul Pierce, $15.333MM — $5.305MM: Signed with Wizards
- ($9.598MM) Richard Jefferson, $11.046MM — $1.448MM: Signed with Mavericks
- ($9MM) Andris Biedrins, $9MM: Unsigned
- ($8.7MM) Ben Gordon, $13.2MM — $4.5MM: Signed with Magic
- ($7.869MM) Shawn Marion: $9.317MM — $1.448MM**: Agreed to sign with the Cavaliers
- ($7.75MM) Kris Humphries, $12MM — $4.25MM: Signed-and-traded to Wizards
* — Granger’s 2013/14 salary as listed here is the combined salary he made between his original deal and the prorated minimum salary he signed with the Clippers after the Sixers waived him following the trade that sent him to Philadelphia. The amount might be slightly less, depending on whether the Sixers agreed to waive set-off rights as part of Granger’s buyout agreement.
** — Some details about Marion’s deal remain unclear, but the Cavs are limited to giving him no more than the minimum salary.
Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.
And-Ones: Hawks, Lakers, Ayon, Collison
The NBA and its network partners expect to reach an agreement on new long-term media deals by the start of the regular season, sources tell John Lombardo and John Ourand of Sports Business Daily. The new deal would see the league’s annual rights fee more than double, with ESPN and Turner combining to pay more than $2 billion per year on average. As it stands, the NBA takes in $485MM per year from ESPN and $445MM from Turner, good for a little under $1 billion per year. Several sources say the new deal will be an eight-year pact but one source says it’ll be a nine-year deal. Here’s tonight’s look around the Association..
- Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. wrote a letter to majority owner Bruce Levenson in June asking to get rid of GM Danny Ferry, writes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Vivlamore also reprinted Gearon’s account of Ferry’s controversial comment.
- The Lakers asked Byron Scott‘s opinion on their summer moves as they made them even before they hired the coach, who praised the team’s acquisitions of Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin in an interview with A. Martinez of 89.3 KPCC Public Radio.
- Barcelona was also in on Gustavo Ayon before he landed with Real Madrid, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter). We learned earlier today that the center signed with the Spanish club on a multi-year deal.
- Offseason addition Darren Collison knows it won’t be easy, but he’s excited about the opportunity to help lead the Kings, writes Steven Wilson of Kings.com. “We have a relatively young team and there’s still going to be a lot to learn – there are going to be some road blocks and it’s not going to be easy where we want to go, but I’m excited to take on that role,” Collison said.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Southwest Notes: Lewis, Rockets, Terry
Here’s tonight’s look at the Southwest Division..
- Charlie Villanueva signing with the Mavericks can’t be a good sign for Rashard Lewis and his chances of getting something done with Dallas, tweets Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. The team recently 86’d their one-year, $1.4MM offer after learning that Lewis needed an operation on his right knee.
- The Rockets certainly wanted his expiring contract, but they also had their eye on adding a veteran guard when they traded for Jason Terry, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. With that in mind, Feigen wonders if the Rockets might want to add an experienced player at the center position. Trouble is, Houston has 19 players under contract and 16 with guaranteed deals. For now, it looks like Houston will hope to see some development out of Joey Dorsey, Donatas Motejunas, and Josh Powell.
- Free agent forward Vernon Macklin, who signed a non-guaranteed training camp deal with the Pelicans, rejected overseas deals to hook on with New Orleans, according to Shams Charania of RealGM. Kevin Jones, who also has a non-guaranteed deal with the Pelicans, had significant interest from the Pacers before Paul George‘s season-ending injury.