Kings Waive Jeremy Tyler
The Kings have waived Jeremy Tyler, the team announced. The move was expected, as Sacramento has planned to waive the big man since acquiring him in a trade with the Knicks earlier this month.
Tyler’s $948K contract was scheduled to become partially guaranteed at $100K if the Kings had not waived him by September 15. The move will help Sacramento’s efforts to creep beneath the luxury tax line. The Kings have yet to execute an in-place agreement to deal away Jason Terry to Houston for non-guaranteed contracts. As soon as that transpires, the Kings stand to have approximately $74-75MM in salary slated for 2014/15, including both guaranteed and non-guaranteed arrangements. The team will have to either add guaranteed money or retain some of its non-guaranteed training camp invites, since only 11 of the minimum 13 roster spots are fully guaranteed, not including Terry’s deal.
The Full Court Sports client has split time between the NBA and D-League the last three seasons, seeing action for the Warriors, Hawks, and Knicks. The 6’10” center has averaged 3.6 PPG and 2.7 RPG for his career, with a .451/.000/.557 slash line.
Eastern Notes: Turner, Sullinger, Bucks
Derrick Rose was held scoreless in Team USA’s 86-63 victory over Mexico, but Bulls head coach and Team USA assistant Tom Thibodeau wasn’t the least bit concerned, Sam Amick of USA Today reports. Of Rose’s progress, Thibodeau said, “There’s nothing negative about this. This is all positive. As I said, the more he practices, the more he plays, the better he’ll get. He’ll be fine. Just take it day by day, keep doing the things that he’s doing and get ready for training camp when we get there. The important thing is to concentrate on what he’s doing right now, which is here, and do the things that we’re asking him to do here.”
Here’s more from around the east:
- The Celtics‘ signing of Evan Turner hasn’t been made official yet, but Jared Sullinger is excited that Turner will be playing for Boston next season, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes. “Everybody is down on (Turner) because of how the ‘trade’ happened and what happened in the trade and how Indiana played,” Sullinger said. “People misunderstand Evan. He’s a great basketball player, a great teammate. I’ve known him for years. He’s all about winning. That’s his main goal.”
- Sullinger has lost weight and is primed for a big season, writes Blakely in a separate article. Sullinger is free of the post-surgical limitations he faced heading into last season, and he said, “I couldn’t play until September, full-go with contact playing one-on-one, things like that. I was kind of behind the eight-ball and stayed behind the eight-ball. My biggest thing was health last year. I think I was a little afraid at the beginning of training camp due to my back, contact and all that good stuff. I was afraid of what was going to happen…but now I know what I can do. I know how my back is going to hold up. The beautiful thing about it is I have another year to show who Jared Sullinger can be.”
- The crew over at Basketball Insiders preview the upcoming season for the Bucks, and the consensus is that Milwaukee will finish fifth in the Central Division, and miss the playoffs yet again.
And-Ones: Pietrus, Centers, Team USA
Team USA continued to dominate competition during FIBA World Cup play, defeating Mexico by the score of 86-63. Stephen Curry led the way for the Americans, scoring 20 points. Gustavo Ayon was the high-scorer for Mexico with 25 points.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Free agent swingman Mickael Pietrus has workouts scheduled with four teams later this month in an effort to rejoin the NBA, agent Bill McCandless tells Jérôme Knoepffler of the French website Basket USA (translation via HoopsHype). The 10-year veteran went without a deal all of last season and last appeared for the Raptors in 2012/13.
- More than a few great athletes have had their careers cut short due to injuries. Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders takes a look at some of the notable NBA players whose careers ended too soon.
- Despite the NBA becoming a more wing-oriented league over the last decade there are still plenty of good big men in the association. Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders looks at a number of the more underrated centers in the game.
Western Notes: Rivers, Cousins, Ayon
Austin Rivers believes this coming season will be his breakout year, John Reid of the Times Picayune writes. The Pelicans guard said, “I was constantly working the entire summer. I gained 10 pounds and I’ve got stronger in my upper body. This is my year. But I think at the end of the day, I think we all now understand we can only control what we can control. At the end of the day, we let all of the guys in the front office do their jobs. We just stick to what we do. We play.” Rivers has career averages of 7.0 PPG, 1.8 RPG, and 2.2 APG. His career slash line is .390/.346/.601.
Here’s more from the west:
- DeMarcus Cousins tells Chris Kudialis of The Sacramento Bee that he hopes Team USA experience for him and Rudy Gay will pay dividends for the Kings this coming season. “My thing is just taking in as much as I can from this experience and taking it back home,” Cousins said. “I’m being led by some of the best players in the league here, and I want to use everything I learn to make myself better.”
- With the Warriors signing GM Bob Myers to an extension recently, Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders looks back at Myers’ biggest moves since arriving in Golden State.
- Gustavo Ayon prefers to play in the NBA next season, but the offers he has received from European teams have been more lucrative to this point, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). Stein believes that Ayon, whom the Spurs recently expressed interest in, will head overseas unless the offers improve. Ayon played in 26 games for the Hawks last season, averaging 4.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 1.1 APG.
Cray Allred contributed to this post.
Cavs To Work Out Julyan Stone
The Cavaliers are bringing in free agent Julyan Stone for workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday, Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer reports (Twitter link). Stone has also worked out twice for the Lakers, and has drawn interest from the Clippers, Heat, and Kings, plus has reportedly received two offers to play in China. The market has recently taken shape for Stone, who’s been without a deal for roughly two months after the Raptors let him go in July, shortly before his minimum-salary contract was to have become fully guaranteed.
The Cavs currently have 17 players on their preseason roster, with twelve of those deals being guaranteed, assuming Shawn Marion‘s pact is one of them. If Stone is signed he will compete for minutes backing up Kyrie Irving with John Lucas III and Matthew Dellavedova.
The 6’6″, 25 year-old has been in the league for three seasons after going undrafted out of UTEP. Stone’s career averages are 1.3 PPG, 1.0 RPG, and 1.1 APG. His career slash line is .440/.211/.722.
Eastern Notes: Dudley, Cavs, Granger
Bucks coach Jason Kidd believes that the newly acquired Jared Dudley will have a big impact on the team’s younger players, Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel writes. “When you look at a veteran coming from winning programs – Phoenix, the Clippers – that’s important,” Kidd said. “When I talked to him, he talked about learning from Grant Hill and what it means to be a professional. We need that in the locker room as much as we need him to be himself on the court by defending and knocking down threes and being part of the team.”
Here’s more from the east:
- Mike Miller told reporters including Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he chose to sign with the Cavs for a chance to win another championship alongside LeBron James, and that the addition of Kevin Love reinforced those expectations. “Before [Love], we still had the same expectations,” said Miller. “With him it makes those expectations a little more exciting. Now it’s on us as players and the coaching staff and organization to do our job and come together and show our commitment by making sacrifices within the locker room.”
- Miller added that Cleveland’s influx of veterans with championship experience will help instill commitment across the roster. “Every team is different and it’s a matter of commitment level,” Miller said. “The best thing is we have a handful of guys that have done it before. You add pieces like Shawn Marion, James Jones, LeBron, Brendan Haywood and that makes it a lot easier when you’re saying stuff to other players.”
- Danny Granger is the Heat newcomer that has the potential to be the wild card this season and provide an unexpected boost, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel opines. Winderman also believes that a number of Miami players who hold opt-outs after the season will be especially motivated to produce this season.
Cray Allred contributed to this post.
And-Ones: Bledsoe, Monroe, Augustin
Nothing has changed in the standoff between Eric Bledsoe and the Suns, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets that the point guard’s agent is holding firm on his demand for no less than a max offer. Here’s more from around the league, including more on the floor general some have dubbed the “mini-LeBron:”
- On his Instagram profile, LeBron James himself challenged the Suns to up their offer to Bledsoe, presumably to the point guard’s desired max salary (H/T Micah Peters of For The Win ). James, like Bledsoe, is represented by Klutch Sports Group agent Rich Paul.
- Chris Mannix of SI.com thinks Greg Monroe‘s decision to sign his qualifying offer with the Pistons is a bold, “high risk, high reward” choice, citing variables that could work against him including injury, diminished play, or reduced playing time under new coach Stan Van Gundy (on Twitter).
- D.J. Augustin tells Keith Langlois of Pistons.com that he wasn’t let down by the two-year, $6MM contract he signed with the Pistons this summer. “Anything can happen in free agency or in this business, period,” said Augustin. “So I had no expectations because it could go either way. I was just happy to be signing with a good organization, a good team and getting the opportunity to play again.”
- The point guard credits Tom Thibodeau, who most recently coached him with the Bulls, for rejuvenating his play. “Not only did he give me the opportunity, he actually brought my love for the game back,” Augustin said. “You kind of lose that a little bit, your passion for the game, throughout the years in the NBA depending on playing time and different situations you may be put in…I owe him a lot. I give him credit for bringing my passion for the game back and wanting to learn and play hard. [Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy] reminds me a lot of [Thibodeau]. They’re both good coaches. He’s putting us on the right track to be a good team.”
Celtics President On Rondo, Young Assets
Piggybacking on his denial that Boston is dealing with a trade demand from Rajon Rondo, Celtics president Rich Gotham told Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com and other reporters that the team is primarily concerned with the point guard’s return to form following ACL surgery in early 2013. Gotham also touched on the Celtics’ roster and team-building strategy moving forward. The whole piece is worth a read, but we’ll round up some of the highlights here:
On Rondo:
“When we talk about Rondo, we talk about his development and recovery from his ACL [surgery],” said Gotham. “So we talk about getting him ready to perform this season and we’re excited about having the old Rondo back. That’s what we talk about. The stuff that gets reported in the media, it’s out of our control. Sometimes you laugh a little bit, sometimes you shake your head a little bit, sometimes you say, ‘Geez, I haven’t heard that, I wonder if there’s anything there?’ But we can’t allow ourselves to pay too much attention to that. What’s important to us is getting the team ready, and paying attention to media rumors doesn’t help us get the team ready.”
On the team’s flexibility in developing or dealing assets:
“The franchise, we’re committed to being patient as we need to be to get the team to where it needs to go. What you want, most importantly, is to have options. Whether it’s developing your young guys and utilizing those draft picks–and utilizing them well–and getting guys that can help you hang that next banner. Or it’s using those picks and cap space as assets to acquire other players, whether it’s via trade or free agency. I think we have all those options available to us, and they’ll continue to be available to us for the foreseeable future. And that’s really all that you can ask for. You can’t be too hasty in trying to make things happen just for the sake of trying to make it happen in order to appease any sense of impatience. You gotta stay true to the process.”
On Boston’s rookie additions:
“I’ve been loving Marcus Smart‘s play, because he’s just tough. He goes out there and he competes. I saw James Young for the first time the other day, and I saw him stroke a couple of lefty 3-pointers from a couple feet beyond the arc and I was like, ‘Hmmm, we could use that.'”
On the other young players on the roster:
“I love thinking about what these guys could become. I watched our draft workouts, but the best workout I saw all summer was Kelly Olynyk putting on a shooting clinic hitting threes. We bring in all these guys, but we’ve got great guys on our team. It’s exciting to think about how these guys will develop over time… I think the expectation for this year’s team is that the future will come a little bit more into focus. Some of the guys who showed promise last year, guys that took a step last year like Jared [Sullinger] and Avery [Bradley] and [Olynyk], I think their continued development is a great reason to be optimistic. The addition of Tyler Zeller helps us a lot as we have a pure center on the roster now. I think a healthy Rondo is a huge difference-maker for us. And so I think, while we were very competitive last year, in a lot of these games, I think we have a better shot to take some of those games that come down to the last two minutes. Guys will have another year in [coach] Brad [Stevens’] system, I think we have great depth on this team, we have quality depth. We just look forward to taking the next step in our progression.”
Poll: Which Free Agent Is Most Likely To Sign?
On Wednesday morning, Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors ran down a list of players who spent time as starters in 2013/14 but don’t have NBA contracts in place for the upcoming season. Of the 12 players identified on the list, two had signed overseas (James Anderson and Toney Douglas), one had retired (Shane Battier), one has since agreed to a deal with a new team (Greg Stiemsma, Raptors), and one has signed a qualifying offer to remain with his team for another year (Greg Monroe, Pistons). That leaves seven players with legitimate starting experience sitting without contracts.
One remaining name on the list, Eric Bledsoe, is without a deal mostly because of his status as a restricted free agent. Bledsoe wants more than Phoenix is willing to offer, so seeing the stud point guard moved in some sort of sign-and-trade wouldn’t be shocking. However, given the lack of financial flexibility most teams around the league have at this point in the offseason, it’s highly unlikely he signs outright with a new team before the start of the season.
Taking a look at the six players still on the list, which one do you see as the most likely to sign a new contract first? Some, like Ramon Sessions and Earl Clark, have been linked to teams this summer in one way or another. Others, like Kenyon Martin, haven’t been part of many rumors since the conclusion of the previous season. Let us know which remaining player on Chuck’s list you think will be the first player to ink a new deal by voting in the poll below.
Clippers, Hedo Turkoglu Nearing Agreement
SEPTEMBER 5TH, 4:26pm: A signing is on track to take place next week, tweets Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times.
AUGUST 31ST, 8:57pm: The Clippers and Hedo Turkoglu are nearing agreement on a one-year, $1.4MM deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
Turkoglu didn’t play a major role in Los Angeles after getting his buyout for Orlando, but the Clippers are apparently appreciative of his veteran leadership and like what he can do in limited minutes. The 35-year-old averaged just 3.0 PPG in 10 minutes per contest across 38 games, not quite in line with his best work. For his career, the veteran has averaged 11.5 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 3.0 APG while nailing 38.2% of his shots from outside the arc.
It has been a busy end of August for the Clippers who extended coach/president Doc Rivers, shipped Jared Dudley to the Bucks, and subsequently waived the players acquired in the trade. The Clippers also re-signed Glen Davis, who, like Turkoglu, joined the club midseason.
Turkoglu will continue his career in 2014/15, but he certainly doesn’t need the money. According to Basketball-Reference, Turkoglu has banked roughly $90MM over the course of his career.