And-Ones: Wiggins, Young, Turner, Nuggets
Despite chatter that Masai Ujiri might be gearing up for a pursuit of Andrew Wiggins, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders doesn’t think there’s much of a chance last summer’s No. 1 pick joins the Raptors any time soon. In order to choose his destination as an unrestricted free agent, Wiggins would have to accept his qualifying offer in 2018, which would likely mean turning down a long-term deal with the Wolves. There hasn’t been a big name player to do that outside of Greg Monroe, as Kennedy notes.
Let’s round up the latest from around the NBA:
- Nick Young has suffered a slight fracture in his knee, the Lakers announced. He’ll be evaluated on a week-to-week basis for the remainder of the year, but it’s unclear whether or not he’ll appear on the hardwood again this season.
- Myles Turner has had an inconsistent freshman season with the Longhorns, but it may not have hurt his stock as much as some think, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com reveals in a chat with readers that some scouts attribute Turner’s up and down production this year to Texas coach Rick Barnes.
- The Nuggets’ decision to rest key veterans has irritated Wilson Chandler, but interim head coach Melvin Hunt insists the choice is one the entire Denver organization is making together and not just an order from the front office like Chandler hinted at, tweets Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post.
Southeast Notes: Ferry, Bazemore, Bosh, MKG
Kent Bazemore admits that Danny Ferry‘s name gets brought up in the Hawks‘ locker room quite a bit and the guard believes Ferry deserves credit for putting a championship contender together, as he tells Charles Bethea in an interview for Grantland.com.
“[Ferry is] definitely a huge part of this year’s success. It was unfortunate what happened, but that doesn’t change the way I feel about Mr. Ferry. I flew into Atlanta this summer and had lunch with him. And he’s a great guy,” Bazemore said. “We sat there, we laughed, we joked. He has a huge group of friends, believe it or not, in the NBA. So I look at it as a business. He’s trying to do his best for his organization, and he’s done a great job of getting the right guys in and creating a team that’s number one in the East and almost the best team in the NBA right now, recordwise. He could win the GM award.”
In our latest poll, about 30% of Hoops Rumors readers believe Ferry should win the Executive of the Year award. As we wait to see whether or not the summer controversy surrounding the Hawks prevents Ferry from taking home the trophy, we’ll round up more from the Southeast:
- Bazemore, before signing his two year, $4MM deal with the Hawks, played last season with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Some have suggested that free agents would be disinterested in signing with Los Angeles because of Bryant. Bazemore tells Bethea that that’s simply not the case and that it wasn’t difficult to play with the 17-time All-Star.
- Chris Bosh isn’t letting his season-ending injury prevent him from contributing to the Heat, as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel observes (subscription only link). Bosh has been playing the role of an assistant coach, and Dwyane Wade is supportive of what the big man brings to the bench. “If he sees something, he’ll come to you and he’ll tell you,” said Wade. “He’s been exciting. He’s been into it. I think he’s just enjoying being around the game again. We feel his excitement. It’s just good just to look over there and see him.”
- Hornets coach Steve Clifford believes Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has the talent to become the best perimeter defender in this generation of NBA players, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Kidd-Gilchrist becomes extension-eligible this summer, and such strong words likely indicate the Hornets would prefer to keep the Kentucky product around going forward.
Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
Mannix On Porzingis, Johnson, Wildcats
Kristaps Porzingis is reportedly climbing up draft boards, but some scouts still aren’t convinced he’s the real deal, as Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated denotes in his March Madness Big Board. “Is he Dirk Nowitzki or Andrea Bargnani?” one scout asked rhetorically. Mannix passes along NBA scouts’ views on several first-round prospects, and we’ll round up the most notable takes below:
- Arizona freshman Stanley Johnson’s frame and defensive instincts have led scouts to compare the 18-year-old forward to Metta World Peace, according to Mannix, who relays that teams will be watching Johnson very closely during the tournament. Johnson’s offensive abilities remain secondary to his defensive prowess, but he’s quietly averaged 14.1 points per night while shooting 36.6% from beyond the arc this year.
- Several scouts told Mannix that while Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein lacks superstar potential, there isn’t a safer pick in this June’s draft. The 21-year-old seven-footer has averaged 3.7 blocks per 40 minutes throughout his college career.
- Kentucky freshman Trey Lyles’ numbers haven’t been eye-popping this season, but that’s a result of a relative lack of playing time in the Wildcats’ time sharing system. Multiple executives tell Mannix that the 6’10” 19 year old could end up being seen as a steal one day if he falls to late in the first round.
Al Harrington Retires
After 16 years in the NBA, Al Harrington has officially retired from basketball, as he revealed to Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post this afternoon. The 35-year-old big man signed a deal last August to play in China, where he was putting up monster numbers before he returned stateside amid NBA interest, including reported consideration by the Rockets. However, Harrington told Dempsey that none of the opportunities in the US appealed to him, and he now feels the timing is right to leave his playing days behind.
“I’m very happy with what I was able to accomplish,” Harrington said. “I was able to change a lot of people’s lives in my family, including myself in a game that I eventually fell in love with and will always be in love with. And hopefully I can stay around the game until I die. It was a fun ride. It went by fast, too. It was like one minute I was 18, the next I was 25 then was 30 and now I’m 35. It was a fun run. Met a lot of great people.”
Harrington was selected straight out of high school with the 25th pick of the 1998 draft. He played for seven different teams in his career, most recently donning a Wizards jersey during the 2013/14 campaign. While he never made an All-Star appearance, Harrington averaged a respectable 13.5 points per contest over 981 games played. His best year came when he posted impressive nightly marks of 20.1 points and 6.2 rebounds for the Knicks in 2008/09.
Although his playing days are over, Harrington still has interest in either coaching or working in a front office, relays Dempsey, who adds that Harrington will assist the Nuggets coaching staff for the rest of the season and help the club prepare for the draft this June. Harrington accumulated $85,514,819 in salary over the course of his career, according to his player page on Basketball-Reference.com.
Eastern Notes: Beasley, Bucks, Celtics
Michael Beasley‘s latest stint with the Heat has been a success, writes Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald. Miami signed him through at least the remainder of the season, after his second 10-day contract expired on Tuesday, and coach Erik Spoelstra believes he can be a contributor down the stretch. “Michael has been very good, and with all the changes and moving parts, we are very fortunate to add a player who is familiar to us and our system,” Spoelstra said. “He has improved a great deal and he has helped us, so he has made the most of the opportunity, and we’ll go from there.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Beasley confirmed that his contract for next season will be a team option, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel (Twitter link).
- The Bucks have signaled that they won’t pony up any more than the $250MM they’ve already committed toward the construction of a new arena in Milwaukee as legislators continue to haggle over public funding, as Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel details.
- The Celtics may be on the verge of making the playoffs, but Jimmy Toscano of CSNNE.com (video link) is looking ahead to the offseason to see which free agents might land in Boston. Toscano believes it would be wise for the franchise to look at Draymond Green and Wesley Matthews as possible free agent targets. Toscano also names Greg Monroe as someone who the team could conceivably land.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Pacific Notes: Robinson, Goodwin, Kuzmic
Nate Robinson‘s energy off the bench played a vital role in earning his second 10-day contract, which he signed on Tuesday, writes Rowan Kavner of NBA.com. The guard hasn’t played his best lately, but he believes he can contribute to the team without touching a basketball. “Doc [Rivers] gave me a great opportunity to come in and showcase my talent and be here for these guys and be a veteran leader,” Robinson said. “That’s what I’m working on now, maturing myself and my game and helping our younger guys and leading by example by just playing hard. Everything else will take care of itself.”
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic examines the development of 2013 29th overall pick Archie Goodwin, who’s seeing more playing time for the Suns of late, a couple of months after he vented about his lack of minutes. The Suns drew trade suitors for Goodwin but let them know that he remains a significant part of their plan.
- The Warriors have assigned Ognjen Kuzmic to their D-League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, according to the team’s Twitter feed. To date, the 7’1″ center has only played in 16 games this season, totaling 72 minutes of NBA action.
- Chris Paul elevated his game and kept the Clippers afloat in the Western Conference while Blake Griffin was out due to an injury. Tom Ziller of SB Nation believes Paul deserves to receive the NBA’s MVP award. Ziller points out that in addition to scoring 18.4 points per game, the point guard creates 23.4 points per game off of his assists. This, along with Paul’s low turnover rate and quality defense, makes the 29-year-old a dark horse contender in the wide open MVP race.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Jazz Lead NBA In 10-Day Contract Signings
The Jazz under GM Dennis Lindsey have proven that they’ll dig deep to find talent. They use the waiver wire, work out a ton of draft prospects each year, and, this season, they’ve signed 13.3% of all the 10-day contracts issued across the NBA. They’ve inked 10 such contracts with six different players, both league highs. Bryce Cotton this week joined Elijah Millsap as the second among those six to earn a deal that runs at least until the end of the season. Four weeks are still left before the regular season is over, and it would be surprising if the Jazz didn’t continue to make entries in our 10-Day Contract Tracker.
Five other teams have handed out six 10-day contracts, while 20 of the NBA’s 30 teams have signed at least one 10-day contract this year. We’ve ranked each team by the number of 10-day deals its given out, with the recipients in parentheses.
- Jazz, 10 (Jack Cooley, 2; Bryce Cotton, 2; Elijah Millsap, 2; Elliot Williams, 2; Jerrelle Benimon, Chris Johnson)
- Bucks, 6 (Jorge Gutierrez, 2; Chris Johnson, 2; Kenyon Martin, 2)
- Clippers, 6 (Jordan Hamilton, 2; Dahntay Jones, 2; Nate Robinson, 2)
- Heat, 6 (Michael Beasley, 2; Tyler Johnson, 2; Henry Walker, 2)
- Knicks, 6 (Louis Amundson, 2; Langston Galloway, 2; Lance Thomas, 2)
- Pelicans, 6 (Toney Douglas, 2; Elliot Williams, 2; Nate Wolters, 2)
- 76ers, 4 (Larry Drew II, 2; Tim Frazier, 2)
- Pistons, 4 (John Lucas III, 2; Quincy Miller, 2)
- Timberwolves, 4 (Lorenzo Brown, 2; Miroslav Raduljica, 2)
- Grizzlies, 3 (JaMychal Green, 2; Tyrus Thomas)
- Kings, 3 (Quincy Miller, 2; David Stockton)
- Spurs, 3 (Reggie Williams, 2; JaMychal Green)
- Suns, 3 (Earl Barron, 2; Seth Curry)
- Celtics, 2 (Andre Dawkins, 2)
- Hawks, 2 (Austin Daye, Jarell Eddie)
- Mavericks, 2 (Bernard James, 2)
- Warriors, 2 (James McAdoo, 2)
- Hornets, 1 (Elliot Williams)
- Lakers, 1 (Jabari Brown)
- Wizards, 1 (Toure’ Murry)
- Bulls, 0
- Cavaliers, 0
- Magic, 0
- Nets, 0
- Nuggets, 0
- Pacers, 0
- Raptors, 0
- Rockets, 0
- Thunder, 0
- Trail Blazers, 0
Heat Sign Michael Beasley For Season
1:26pm: The signing is official, the Heat announced.
1:12pm: The deal is believed to cover next season as well with a team option, according to Winderman, who writes in a full story. I’d speculate that next season would involve non-guaranteed salary rather than a team option, since that’s a more typical structure for this sort of contract, but that remains to be seen.
WEDNESDAY, 12:10pm: Karnes confirms via Twitter that his client will re-sign with the Heat.
TUESDAY, 1:02pm: Heat coach Erik Spoelstra indicated today that the Heat will re-sign Michael Beasley on Wednesday to a contract that covers the balance of the season, tweets Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Today is the final day of his second 10-day contract with the team, so the sides would have to do a deal for at least the rest of 2014/15 if they were to continue their partnership. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the team indeed commit to the former No. 2 overall pick for at least the next month or two, given the praise that Spoelstra and team president Pat Riley have given him since he signed the first of his 10-day contracts with Miami late last month.
The Jared Karnes client has also played a fairly prominent role for the team on his pair of 10-day deals, averaging 9.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in 22.9 minutes per game across 10 appearances. Those averages are better than he posted last season, when he was on the Heat’s roster all year. He spent most of this season playing in China after a brief stint with the Grizzlies during the preseason.
Miami has a full 15-man roster with 14 players already signed through at least the end of the season, so a new deal for Beasley would close off the Heat’s ability to add another player without waiving someone else. Miami is limited to giving Beasley no more than the minimum salary, but the team can tack an extra year onto the deal if it wants and if Beasley and Karnes permit it. It would be reasonable to expect Beasley to demand at least a significant partial guarantee for that to happen, but it’s unclear if either side is thinking beyond 2014/15.
Qualifying Offer Adjustments Via Starter Criteria
The timing of the three-team trade that sent Iman Shumpert to the Cavaliers on January 5th was likely influenced more by the looming leaguewide contract guarantee date than by any other factor. Still, it was rather significant that the move came after Shumpert had played his 24th game of the season, having started each of them. That was precisely the number of starts that Shumpert needed to make this season to average 41 starts over this season and last, which triggered a bump in his qualifying offer via the league’s so-called starter criteria. Shumpert hasn’t started a single game since the trade, but the Cavs will have to make a qualifying offer worth $4,433,683, instead of $3,695,169, to match offers for him in restricted free agency this summer.
Qualifying offers took on a new level of importance this past summer, when Greg Monroe followed through on his threat to sign his qualifying offer from the Pistons as a means to control his future and reach unrestricted free agency as soon as possible. Eric Bledsoe seemingly came close to doing so before he ended up with a five-year, $70MM deal with the Suns. Kevin Seraphin signed his qualifying offer from the Wizards, joining Monroe in a move that only 16 others have made since 1995. A report before the trade deadline this year indicated that Reggie Jackson was open to signing a qualifying offer from the Thunder.
The qualifying offer almost always represents a steeply discounted salary for a player of the likes of Monroe, Bledsoe and Jackson, which helps explain why Monroe is probably the best player ever to have signed one. Still, for others, like Seraphin, it represents a salary in line with their value. That’s why the starter criteria, which help determine how much qualifying offers are worth, are a key factor for many.
The starter criteria are fulfilled if a player eligible for restricted free agency makes 41 or more starts or plays 2,000 minutes in the season preceding the end of his contract, or in the average of the two seasons preceding the end of his contract. The following are the consequences for meeting or not meeting the starter criteria as they appear in our Hoops Rumors Glossary entry on qualifying offers and as informed by Larry Coon’s invaluable Salary Cap FAQ:
- A top-14 pick who does not meet the starter criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 15th overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
- A player picked between 10th and 30th who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the ninth overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
- A second-round pick or undrafted player who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 21st overall pick would receive if he signed for 100% of the rookie scale.
- For all others, the standard criteria determine the amounts of their qualifying offers.
The final four weeks of the season will be crucial for a pair of players eligible for qualifying offers this summer. Henry Sims of the Sixers needs to make 10 more starts to bump his qualifying offer from $1,181,348 to $2,725,003. That’s an iffy proposition, since he’s been in and out of the starting lineup this season and last made a start on March 2nd. The Pelicans don’t have enough games left for Norris Cole to make enough starts, but if he averages 32.7 minutes per game over the 15 contests remaining on the team’s schedule, his qualifying offer will go from $3,036,927 to $4,433,683. That’s unlikely but conceivable, since he’s averaging 26.8 MPG as a Pelican.
The following players are former second-round picks or undrafted players who’ve already triggered the starter criteria and are due qualifying offers of $2,725,003 this summer. Their previous qualifying offers are listed by their names.
- Patrick Beverley, Rockets — ($1,181,348)
- Draymond Green, Warriors — ($1,181,348)
- Khris Middleton, Bucks — ($1,181,348)
- Kyle Singler, Thunder — ($1,362,500)
These are the players selected with picks 10-30 in the 2011 draft who’ve triggered the starter criteria for qualifying offers of $4,433,683 in the offseason ahead. Again, the previous qualifying offers are listed next to their names.
- Jimmy Butler, Bulls — ($3,013,123)
- Tobias Harris, Magic — ($3,394,726)
- Reggie Jackson, Pistons — ($3,222,788)
- Kawhi Leonard, Spurs — ($4,045,894)
- Iman Shumpert, Cavaliers — ($3,695,169)
These are 2011 lottery picks who almost certainly won’t meet the starter criteria, meaning their qualifying offers will decline to $4,045,894. The qualifying offers they had been in line to make are listed by their names.
- Bismack Biyombo, Hornets ($5,194,227)
- Derrick Williams, Kings ($8,262,482)
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Western Notes: Wiggins, Chandler, Booker
The Raptors are reportedly already planning a run at Andrew Wiggins, and there are apparently whispers that he’d love to play for his hometown Toronto team someday, even though he can’t elect unrestricted free agency until 2019. Still, Wiggins said today, in advance of tonight’s Timberwolves-Raptors game, that he’s quite content in Minnesota, making his remarks to reporters, including Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun (Twitter link).
“I love Minnesota,” he said. “They treat me nice up there. I plan to be there a very, very, very long time.”
That’s no doubt the plan for the Wolves, too, who acquired the 2014 No. 1 overall pick this year in the Kevin Love trade. Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Tyson Chandler knew the Mavericks were trying to trade for him this past summer, but he didn’t think it would happen, as he tells Ian Thomsen of NBA.com. “I think the Knicks had rejected every possible trade that they offered,” Chandler said. “I didn’t think I was going from New York. The Knicks had visited me to teach me the triangle offense two days before I got traded. So I definitely didn’t think [a] trade was in the works.”
- The Jazz are 11-2 since the trade deadline, when the deal that sent Enes Kanter out created more playing time for Trevor Booker. The ex-Wizards power forward didn’t expect Utah to play this well when he signed with the Jazz in the offseason, and he wants to remain with the team, as he tells Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. Only $250K of his $4.775MM salary for next season is guaranteed.
- Pelicans coach Monty Williams praised Eric Gordon for putting the team above himself when he decided not to have surgery on the torn labrum in his left shoulder, a move that would have helped ensure he’s 100% for next season, the last on his contract, observes Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune. Gordon can hit free agency as soon as this summer if he chooses, though he’d have to turn down a player option worth more than $15.514MM to do so.