Eastern Notes: Kirk, Boylen, Porzingis
The Pistons got an early jump on their offseason today, acquiring Ersan Ilyasova from the Bucks in exchange for Caron Butler and Shawne Williams. Milwaukee GM John Hammond had nothing but praise for the departed big man, Charles F. Gardner and Matt Velazquez of The Journal Sentinel write. “Ersan always represented this organization and this community in a first-class manner,” Hammond said. “He gave 100% night in and night out. We wish Ersan nothing but the best as he continues his career in Detroit.” Here’s more out of the East:
- The Bulls are pursuing San Antonio assistant Jim Boylen to become the top assistant on coach Fred Hoiberg‘s staff, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. Chicago has received permission from the Spurs to speak to Boylen, league sources told Wojnarowski. Chicago has expressed a willingness to discuss the title of associate head coach with Boylen, the Yahoo! scribe adds.
- The Nets held pre-draft workouts today for Dakari Johnson (Kentucky), George Lucas (Brazil), Lucas Dias Silva (Brazil), Josh Gasser (Wisconsin), and Luis Montero (Westchester CC), Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops tweets.
- Center Alex Kirk worked out for the Knicks today with the hope he can earn an invite to training camp, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv writes. “I’m not going to come in and try to score 30 points and try to do some of these amazing things that these other guys are going to try to do,” Kirk told Basketball Insiders (video link). “I just want to come in and be Alex Kirk and try to play as hard as I possibly can and hopefully that turns into some training camp offers and just see where that goes from there.” Kirk was waived by New York shortly after being acquired from the Cavaliers this past season.
- The Knicks will be one of a number of teams attending a workout for Kristaps Porzingis in Las Vegas this Friday, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com relays (Twitter links). This is likely to be Prozingis’ only pre-draft showcase, Begley notes. Also participating in the workout will be Myles Turner (Texas) and Jarell Martin (LSU), the ESPN scribe relays.
- Kansas swingman Kelly Oubre plans to work out for the Heat in the near future, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel relays. You can see our full prospect profile for Oubre here.
2015/16 Roster Counts: Detroit Pistons
During the offseason it’s OK for teams to carry as many as 20 players, but clubs must trim their rosters down to a maximum of 15 by opening night. In the meantime, some teams will hang around that 15-man line, while others will max out their roster counts. Some clubs may actually have more than 15 contracts that are at least partially guaranteed on the books. That means they’ll end up paying players who won’t be on the regular season roster, unless they can find trade partners.
With plenty more movement still to come, here’s the latest look at the Pistons’ roster size, the contract guarantee status of each player, and how each player came to be on Detroit’s roster.
(Last Updated 3-15-16, 2:35pm)
Fully Guaranteed (14)
- Joel Anthony (C) — 6’9″/32 years old.
- Aron Baynes (F/C) — 6’10″/28 years old. Free agent signing.
- Steve Blake (G) — 6’3″/35 years old. Acquired via trade from Nets.
- Reggie Bullock (G) — 6’7″/24 years old. Acquired via trade from Suns.
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (G) — 6’5″/22 years old. Drafted with No. 8 overall pick in 2013.
- Spencer Dinwiddie (G) — 6’6″/22 years old. Drafted with No. 38 overall pick in 2014.
- Andre Drummond (C) — 6’11″/21 years old. Drafted with No. 9 overall pick in 2012.
- Tobias Harris (F) — 6’9″/22 years old. Acquired via trade from Magic.
- Darrun Hilliard (F) — 6’6″/22 years old. Drafted with No. 38 overall pick in 2015.
- Reggie Jackson (G) — 6’3″/25 years old. Acquired via trade from Thunder.
- Stanley Johnson (F) — 6’7″/19 years old. Drafted with No. 8 overall pick in 2015.
- Jodie Meeks (G) — 6’4″/27 years old. Free agent signing.
- Marcus Morris (F) — 6’9″/25 years old. Acquired via trade from Suns.
- Anthony Tolliver (F) — 6’8″/30 years old. Acquired via trade with Suns.
10-Day Contracts (0)
- None
TOTAL ROSTER COUNT (14)
Western Notes: Divac, Grizzlies, Pack
One of the strangest aspects of the Kings‘ hiring of Vlade Divac as the team’s president of basketball and franchise operations is that no one but Divac and team owner Vivek Ranadive actually understood he’d be in a powerful basketball operations position until a few days after the announcement, Tom Ziller of SBNation writes. It was assumed that because Divac had extremely limited prior front office experience, he would be more of a figurehead than being actively involved in personnel decisions, Ziller notes. There were even members of Sacramento’s front office who didn’t realize that Divac had the power to make personnel moves until Divac and Randive relayed that information to the media, the SBNation scribe adds.
Here’s more out of the Western Conference:
- The Grizzlies have workouts scheduled on Sunday for Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (Arizona), Cady Lalanne (Massachusetts), Denzel Livingston (Incarnate Word), Norman Powell (UCLA), J.P. Tokoto (North Carolina), and Maurice Walker (Minnesota), the team announced via a press release.
- The Nuggets are expected to work out Murray State point guard Cameron Payne, who is rocketing up draft boards, this Monday, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post tweets.
- Robert Pack has signed on to be an assistant on the staff of new Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link).
- Working out for the Suns today were Bryce Dejean-Jones (Iowa State), Mouhammadou Jaiteh (France), Derrick Marks (Boise State), Michael Qualls (Arkansas), Chasson Randle (Stanford), and TaShawn Thomas (Oklahoma), Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic notes (Twitter links). Qualls suffered an undisclosed injury during the workout, Coro relays, and was replaced by Polish guard Mateusz Ponitka.
- The Kings have added John Welch and Chad Iske as assistants on George Karl‘s coaching staff, Spears reports (on Twitter). Both men were previously with Karl when he coached in Denver, Spears adds.
Central Notes: Ilyasova, Cavs, Bucks
The Pistons got the better end of today’s trade with the Bucks that netted Detroit Ersan Ilyasova, Daniel Leroux of RealGM writes in his breakdown of the deal. While the trade was essentially a salary dump for Milwaukee, the Pistons taking a flyer on Ilyasova without giving up any significant assets was a better outcome than most of their realistic free agent options in July, Leroux opines. In addition to creating some cap flexibility, the Bucks also cleared some minutes for the team’s bevy of young frontcourt players, the RealGM scribe notes.
Here’s the latest from the Central Division:
- The Cavaliers are conducting a group workout today involving Pittsburgh shooting guard Cameron Wright, league sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter links). Also participating in the workout are Utah’s Delon Wright, Kentucky’s Andrew Harrison, and North Carolina State’s Trevor Lacey, Scotto adds.
- Dealing away Ilyasova will also have an impact on who the Bucks look to select with the No. 17 overall pick in the NBA Draft, Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times relays (Twitter link). The franchise could potentially nab Wisconsin’s Sam Dekker or UCLA’s Kevon Looney with that pick, Woelfel adds.
- The Pistons interviewed LSU big man Jordan Mickey via Skype, but there are currently no plans for an individual workout because of scheduling issues, Vincent Ellis of The Detroit Free Press relays (on Twitter).
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Atlantic Notes: Saric, Celtics, Daniels, Holmes
Dario Saric‘s buyout with Anadolu Efes after next season would cost about 800K euros, as USA Today and DraftExpress contributor Derek Bodner hears. That’s about $900K at today’s exchange rate, but much less than the $2MM-plus it would apparently take to buy Saric out of his deal for this coming season, as the Sixers are reportedly trying to do. Bodner breaks down the numbers involved with Saric’s potential buyout and his rookie scale contract, concluding that it would be most financially rewarding for Saric to stay overseas for two more years and sign with the Sixers in 2017, when he’d no longer be bound by the rookie scale. Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- Celtics director of player personnel Austin Ainge denied to reporters today that the team has had any substantial talks about trading picks, notes Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. The C’s have reportedly been offering around their first-round picks, at Nos. 16 and 28, to move into the lottery. Still, Ainge admitted the team is at least exploring the idea of trading some of the four total picks it has in this month’s draft, among other options that would keep the team from having to bring four rookies onto the roster.
- Louisville’s Montrezl Harrell, Florida’s Chris Walker, Wisconsin’s Duje Dukan, Butler’s Kameron Woods, and Georgetown’s Greg Whittington all worked out for the Celtics today, Forsberg notes (on Twitter). Jamal Jones, who spent last season in the D-League but remains draft-eligible, is also part of the workout, as Forsberg relays.
- Draft-and-stash prospect DeAndre Daniels is hopeful that the Raptors will sign him for next season, and the team, which still sees him as part of its future, won’t rule out the idea, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca reports (Twitter links). The small forward who was last year’s 37th overall pick spent this past season with the Perth Wildcats of Australia.
- The Knicks will soon work out Bowling Green forward Richaun Holmes, sources told Shams Charania of RealGM. Holmes spoke to Zach Links of Hoops Rumors recently about his improved shooting and his goal to make the same strides in ball handling.
Pistons Acquire Ersan Ilyasova
3:11pm: The trade is official, the Pistons and Bucks have announced. “Ersan Ilyasova is a player we have coveted since we got to Detroit,” said Van Gundy. “Not only is he a proficient three-point shooter that can stretch the floor, he is a high-energy, hard-playing guy who fits extremely well with how we want to play. We are excited about what he can add to our team. We appreciate the contributions of Caron and Shawne. Caron, in particular, is difficult to say goodbye to. Not only did he play well for us, his leadership went above and beyond. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a single player have a more a positive impact on a team than Caron did on ours. He is a special person and we will always respect and appreciate what he did here.”
2:13pm: The Bucks and Pistons have agreed to a trade that will send Ersan Ilyasova to Detroit for Caron Butler and Shawne Williams, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The move will give Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy a new stretch power forward of the sort that he so often employed when he was coach of the Magic. It’ll also set up Butler, a Wisconsin native, for his second stint with the Bucks after he spent the first half of the 2013/14 with Milwaukee, providing the Bucks keep him. Williams is also a stretch four who started 22 games for the Heat early this past season, but he saw little playing time in Detroit after the Pistons claimed him off Waivers.
The swap will give the Bucks a chance to clear salary, Wojnarowski notes (on Twitter). Butler is due $4.5MM next season, but that salary wouldn’t become guaranteed until June 30th. Williams likewise is without a guarantee for next season, but his minimum salary wouldn’t become fully guaranteed until January. Ilyasova is due a fully guaranteed $7.9MM next season, with $400K of his $8.4MM salary for 2015/16 guaranteed.
The deal is a further signal that soon-to-be free agent Greg Monroe will be elsewhere next season, tweets Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, since Ilyasova plays his position. It also ostensibly gives the team more motivation to acquire a small forward, with the power forward slot accounted for and Butler on his way out of town, Ellis surmises.
It doesn’t appear as though either team will have a chance to create a trade exception, since Milwaukee is under the cap and the Pistons need both the salaries of Butler and Williams to match for Ilyasova. The Bucks will instead have the chance to benefit from an additional chunk of cap flexibility equivalent to Ilyasova’s salary. That gives Milwaukee only about $36MM in commitments for next season against a projected $67.1MM cap, leaving enough room to re-sign restricted free agent Khris Middleton to a max deal and still have enough money left over for another marquee restricted free agent. Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times speculates that the Bucks will prioritize the addition of a perimeter shooter to offset the loss of what Ilyasova delivered in that regard (Twitter link).
Ilyasova acknowledged that trades are a part of the business when Woelfel asked for his reaction to the news (Twitter link). That Milwaukee would send him out is no surprise, since his name has been in rumors almost ever since he re-signed with the Bucks on a five-year, $40MM deal in July 2012. The team dangled him in trade talk as recently as the deadline in February, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported then.
The 28-year-old Ilyasova is coming off a bounceback season in which he shot 38.9% from three-point range and averaged 11.5 points per game, but he did so in just 22.7 minutes per night, his lowest since he was a rookie in 2006/07. Butler, 35, put up 5.9 PPG in 20.8 MPG for Detroit. Williams saw less than 10 MPG for the Pistons after knocking down 39.5% of his three-pointers in 21.0 MPG for the Heat. Should the Bucks seek outside shooting, they could do worse than keeping Williams on the minimum salary, though that’s just my speculation.
Southwest Notes: Ellis, Llull, Duncan, Collins
The Mavs won’t prioritize re-signing Monta Ellis if he opts out in search of a raise, as expected, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Ellis, who made $8.36MM this season, had a negative effect on team chemistry this past season because of his moodiness and selfish behavior, a source told MacMahon. The Mavs prefer to spend on either a combination of LaMarcus Aldridge and Tyson Chandler or DeAndre Jordan and a three-and-D wing player, MacMahon adds. That’s in part because the Mavs believe Chandler Parsons will be better off without Ellis’ on-court and off-court influence, as MacMahon details. Still, the Mavs are liable to change their minds based on unforeseen scenarios, just as they did when they decided to up their offer when they signed Ellis two years ago, MacMahon cautions. I looked further into Ellis scenarios when I examined the offseason ahead for the Mavs. Here’s more from around the Southwest Division:
- The Rockets have let Sergio Llull know that they’re willing to offer him a three-year deal worth $15-18MM, sources tell Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net. Houston GM Daryl Morey batted down a similar report from Javier Maestro of Encestando.es in March, but coach Kevin McHale recently made it clear that the team would like to sign the draft-and-stash point guard. Still, there’s a pricey $4MM buyout attached to Llull’s contract with Real Madrid, Varlas writes, adding that if Llull doesn’t end up in Houston for next season, the team would push to sign draft-and-stash center Marko Todorovic.
- Attorneys for Tim Duncan today requested that a trial in his lawsuit against a former financial adviser of his take place next summer so that he won’t miss playing time, tweets Guillermo Contreras of the San Antonio Express-News. That doesn’t necessarily signal that the Spurs star intends to play next season, only that he isn’t ruling it out, writes Express-News scribe Jeff McDonald, though it’s an interesting tidbit nonetheless.
- Chris Mannix of SI.com has heard Jarron Collins‘ name bandied about as a possible assistant coach for new Pelicans head man Alvin Gentry (Twitter link). Collins, like Gentry, has spent this past season as a Warriors assistant coach.
Eric Gordon Still Leaning Toward Opting In
Eric Gordon has largely made up his mind to pick up his player option worth more than $15.514MM to stay with the Pelicans for next season, a source close to the Rob Pelinka client tells John Reid of The Times Picayune. Gordon signaled as much back in March when he referred to 2015/16 as a contract year, and the latest development would come as no surprise even if he hadn’t dropped that hint, since Gordon’s stock has taken a hit since he signed his existing contract, originally an offer sheet from the Suns, in 2012. Gordon told Blake Schuster of the Indianapolis Star a few days ago that he had yet to come to a final decision, but Reid’s source indicated that Gordon would formally make his choice within the next 10 days in advance of the June 29th deadline for him to officially opt in.
New Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry was coaching the Suns when Gordon signed the Phoenix offer sheet, which New Orleans matched, and Gordon is still fond of Gentry, Reid writes. The offensive maestro will no doubt try to unlock Gordon’s dormant scoring touch. The former seventh overall pick has seen his scoring average decline each of the past four seasons, from a career high of 22.3 points per game as a Clipper in 2010/11 to this past season’s 13.4 PPG. This year’s blistering 44.8% three-point shooting accuracy, his best mark in seven NBA seasons, is nonetheless cause for optimism.
A Gordon opt-in would close off any chance the Pelicans might have had to open max-level cap room without making significant salary clearing trades. New Orleans has more than $40MM in guaranteed salary against a projected $67.1MM cap for next season without Gordon’s option.
Central Notes: Dellavedova, Tellem, Hunter
Some in the Cavaliers organization wanted to waive Matthew Dellavedova during training camp in 2013, but former GM Chris Grant believed in the undrafted guard and stuck by him, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. That decision has never been more important than it is now, current GM David Griffin acknowledges, as the soon-to-be restricted free agent has been a surprise star of the Finals.
“The fact that Chris believed in Delly to the level that he did is paying off for the organization in spades,” Griffin said. “Everyone benefits from everyone that comes before them.”
While we wait to see what Dellavedova can do for an encore tonight after scoring 20 points in Game 3, here’s more from around the Central Division:
- It appears that incoming Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem will be taking more of an advisory role with the Wasserman Media Group than that of a traditional agent this summer, tweets Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. That’s not thoroughly surprising, considering the potential conflict of interest, but it nonetheless adds another layer of intrigue to the free agency of Wasserman clients like LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol and Michigan native Draymond Green.
- The Bucks, who have the 17th pick, have made Georgia State shooting guard R.J. Hunter their primary draft target, according to some NBA personnel, as Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times hears.
- Jason Kidd is apparently targeting Clippers shooting coach Bob Thate for the Bucks coaching staff, Woelfel writes in the same piece.
- Marquette guard Matt Carlino, Oklahoma State power forward Michael Cobbins, Michigan State forward Branden Dawson, Temple guard Jesse Morgan and Northern Iowa power forward Seth Tuttle are working out today for the Bucks, the team announced. So is UCLA power forward Kevon Looney, who mentioned Milwaukee among his many workout stops when he spoke with Zach Links of Hoops Rumors. Woelfel first reported Looney’s Bucks workout.
Following Specific Players On Hoops Rumors
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