Northwest Notes: Jazz, Mudiay, Blazers
The Jazz have a logjam at point guard behind Dante Exum that they must sort out prior to next season’s opener, Randy Hollis of the Deseret News reports. The trio of Trey Burke, Bryce Cotton and Raul Neto could be fighting it out for two roster spots during training camp, though GM Dennis Lindsey indicated that it’s possible the team could carry four point guards into next season, Hollis continues. Cotton’s quickness and entertaining style make him a candidate to be the second-stringer and displace Burke, a lottery pick whose shooting issues have pushed him to the bench, Hollis adds. The logjam could be broken by trading Burke, who is rumored to be on the block and doesn’t seem to fit coach Quin Snyder’s system, Hollis concludes.
In other news around the Northwest Division:
- The Nuggets’ lottery pick Emmanuel Mudiay will be the starter at point guard, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post opines. While Denver has a safety net in veteran Jameer Nelson, it’s clear that the Nuggets are committed to making Mudiay their floor leader in his rookie season, Dempsey adds. The only concerns are monitoring his workload and allowing him to work through his mistakes, something Nuggets GM Tim Connelly addressed with Dempsey. “We don’t want to put too much pressure on him,” Connelly said. “He’s a 19-year-old kid. We saw some good in summer league and we also saw some bad. I thought that he struggled shooting the ball. We’ve got to improve his free throw line percentage. But I think you see things like positional size, natural playmaking ability, and kind of the will and the approach to be great that excites us.”
- Blazers coach Terry Stotts spent a sizable portion of the summer league evaluating five players under contract with the team — Allen Crabbe, Noah Vonleh, Luis Montero, Pat Connaughton and Tim Frazier — and was particularly pleased with Crabbe and Vonleh, Mike Richman of The Oregonian writes. The Blazers added nine new players and are entering a transition season after LaMarcus Aldridge‘s departure. Portland does have some young and athletic talent, however, which has Stotts optimistic, Richman adds.
Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.
Hoops Rumors Originals 7/19/15-7/25/15
Here’s a look back at the original analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this past week…
- Chuck Myron ran down the players who had the largest pay decreases from the 2014/15 to 2015/16 season.
- I ran down the 2015/16 roster counts for the Trail Blazers, Kings, Spurs, Jazz, Wizards and Raptors. You can view the entire series here.
- Chuck examined the major moves for each team that remained above the salary cap this offseason, and he reviewed their remaining flexibility.
- We broke down this offseason’s player movement between conferences.
- If you missed the week’s live chat, you can view the transcript here.
- Chuck broke down how contract renegotiations work in the NBA.
- Zach Links highlighted some of the better basketball blogs around in his weekly installment of Hoops Links.
- If you missed any of our daily reader-driven discussions, be sure to check out the Community Shootaround archives.
- I answered reader questions in Hoops Rumors’ Weekly Mailbag.
- Chuck looked at some lucrative deals signed by former second round draft picks this past month.
- Here’s how you can follow Hoops Rumors on social media and RSS feeds.
- Chuck examined how teams are using the room exception.
- We reviewed out commenting policy. Play nice everyone.
Rockets Sign Marcus Thornton To One-Year Deal
JULY 25TH, 2:30pm: The signing is official, Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston tweets.
JULY 12TH, 1:58pm: Thornton turned down larger offers to sign with the Rockets, his agent told Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “He needs to play to sort of re-invent himself in the league and this was a perfect fit,” Dutt said. “There were some teams trying to do some things for him, but this was right. He’s very excited. This is going to be fun.”
1:13pm: Marcus Thornton has agreed to a one-year contract with the Rockets, tweets Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston. Thornton has signed for the minimum, his agent, Tony Dutt, tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. (Twitter link).
Dutt says Thornton called the Rockets a “perfect fit” for him, adding that his client is “excited” about going to Houston (Twitter link). Former NBA executive Bobby Marks sees Thornton as a younger version of Jason Terry (Twitter link), who is an unrestricted free agent after playing last season with the Rockets.
Thornton averaged 7.9 points per game in 2014/15 with the Celtics and Suns, but played sparingly in Phoenix after being part of the deal that brought Isaiah Thomas to Boston. Thornton appeared in just nine games for the Suns and averaged just nine minutes per contest. The Heat met with Thornton last week but didn’t offer him a deal, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports.
Because Thornton signed a minimum contract, Houston still has its full mid-level exception available. Some of that could be used to sign unrestricted free agent Josh Smith or restricted free agent K.J. McDaniels.
Central Notes: Cavs, Jackson, Hilliard
The Cavs would benefit from bringing back unrestricted free agent J.R. Smith and the guard would benefit from a return to Cleveland after testing his luck in free agency, Bud Shaw of the Northeast Ohio Media Group opines. Smith, who is expected to meet with the Cavs soon, left $6.4MM on the table when he declined his player’s option with Cleveland in June. The reunion would make sense from a basketball standpoint, Shaw writes, because the Cavs would not need Smith to carry the load of a top scoring option and Smith is at his best off the bench and playing loose.
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Reggie Jackson‘s five-year, $80MM deal with the Pistons does not carry any options and will pay the guard $13.9MM in the first year and $18.1MM in the final year, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). It was recently reported that despite widespread criticism, Detroit coach/executive Stan Van Gundy still likes the contract.
- Darrun Hilliard, who the Pistons drafted at No. 38 and later officially signed to a three-year deal, received $600K guaranteed in the first year of his contract with Detroit with the second and third years of his deal at the minimum salary, Pincus tweets.
- The final year of the two-year deal E’Twaun Moore signed in September with the Bulls became fully guaranteed on July 15th, Pincus tweets. The combo guard will be paid slightly more than $1MM this upcoming season. Moore’s production fell last season as he made 56 appearences and averaged only 2.7 points per game.
Cavs Re-Sign James Jones
SATURDAY, 9:44am: The deal is official, the Cavs announce in a press release.
THURSDAY, 6:00pm: The deal is for one-year and $1.45MM, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com notes (on Twitter). Windhorst is likely rounding down from the minimum salary, which for Jones would be $1,499,187.
MONDAY, 8:22am: The Cavaliers will re-sign James Jones, a league source confirmed to Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. Jones told Vardon on Sunday that he would “be back in Cleveland for sure.” The 12-year veteran forward who turns 35 in October spent last year with the Cavs on a one-year deal for the minimum salary.
“I’ve made it well-known last year when I told them I was coming to help change the culture and do something special,” Jones said. “It wasn’t a situation where I was looking for a platform to move on. I was looking to be a part of something, to build something. And so I’m still in.”
Jones can receive up to $1,799,024 from the Cavs via Non-Bird rights, but it seems likely that Cleveland will push him to sign for the $1,499,187 minimum salary. If he takes the minimum on another one-year deal, the Cavs would only be responsible for $947,276, the equivalent of the two-year veteran’s minimum, with the league picking up the rest. That savings of $851,748 would allow Cleveland to avoid paying an additional amount of more than three times as much in tax penalties because of the team’s otherwise soaring payroll. So, a roughly $300K sacrifice for Jones would mean much for the Cavs.
The Joel Bell client, a Miami native, followed LeBron James from the Heat to the Cavs last summer. Jones played more total minutes this past season than he had in any of the previous three with Miami, averaging 4.4 points in 11.7 minutes per game with 36.0% three-point percentage across 57 appearances. His role increased in the playoffs, when he saw 15.5 MPG, but he averaged the same 4.4 PPG.
Nikola Milutinov Signs To Play In Greece
Nikola Milutinov, who the Spurs drafted with the No. 26 overall pick, has signed a three-year deal with Olympiacos of Greece, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports.
Carchia initially reported negotiations between Milutinov and Olympiacos on Friday. The Spurs were not going to sign him, anyway, this season. The Spurs have already filed paperwork with the NBA stating that he won’t sign this season so that the team could remove his cap hold.
The big man had reportedly been close to a deal with Panathinaikos, another Greek team, but Panathinaikos landed Miroslav Raduljica instead. Milutinov spent this past season with KK Partizan in his native Serbia.
Week In Review 7/19/15-7/25/15
One of the last major offseason storylines involves the Cavaliers’ Brendan Haywood and his sizable non-guaranteed contract. Cleveland has been unsuccessful thus far in its attempts to find a trade partner willing to ship useful assets to the Cavs in return for the big man’s pact. The team has reportedly shifted gears and now is focused on flipping Haywood in a deal that creates a traded player exception prior to August 1st, when his contract becomes fully guaranteed, as is shown by our schedule of guarantee dates. The only teams currently possessing enough cap space to absorb Haywood and create a trade exception for Cleveland are the Trail Blazers and the Sixers, with the Jazz also a possibility, provided they trade or cut several players with non-guaranteed contracts prior to landing Haywood. While we await GM David Griffin‘s next move, here’s more from the week that was…
Trades
- The Rockets acquired Ty Lawson and a 2017 second-round pick from the Nuggets in exchange for Kostas Papanikolaou, Pablo Prigioni, Joey Dorsey, Nick Johnson and a protected 2016 first-round pick. Lawson agreed to make the final season of his contract non-guaranteed as a part of the swap.
- The Pacers acquired the rights to rookie forward Rakeem Christmas from the Cavaliers in exchange for a 2019 second-round pick.
You can keep up with all of the offseason trades here.
Free Agent Signings
Eastern Conference
- Reggie Jackson re-signed with the Pistons.
- The Raptors agreed to a training camp deal with undrafted power forward Michale Kyser.
- Ronald Roberts signed with the Raptors.
- The Magic and Keith Appling agreed to a partially guaranteed two-year deal.
- Joel Anthony re-signed with the Pistons.
- The Pacers re-signed Rodney Stuckey.
- The Cavaliers agreed to a deal with Richard Jefferson.
- The Hornets signed Tyler Hansbrough.
- The Raptors signed a training camp pact with Michale Kyser.
- The Pistons inked Adonis Thomas to a training camp deal.
- The Bucks and Chris Copeland agreed to a one-year deal.
- The Celtics agreed to a training camp deal with Levi Randolph.
- The Hawks signed training camp deals with Lamar Patterson and Terran Petteway.
- The Raptors signed swingman Axel Toupane.
- The Knicks intend to sign undrafted forward Darion Atkins.
- The Knicks agreed to a deal with undrafted guard Wesley Saunders.
Western Conference
- The Pelicans re-signed unrestricted free agent Luke Babbitt.
- Manu Ginobili re-signed with the Spurs.
- The Kings signed a deal with undrafted Wisconsin forward Duje Dukan.
- The Mavs reached an agreement with John Jenkins.
- The Mavericks and center Jarrid Famous agreed to a one-year deal.
- Quincy Acy inked a deal with the Kings.
- The Rockets re-signed K.J. McDaniels.
- Jonathon Simmons inked a deal with the Spurs.
- The Pelicans agreed to a deal with unrestricted free agent Kendrick Perkins.
- Seth Curry signed a deal with the Kings.
- The Clippers agreed to sign Pablo Prigioni.
- The Spurs signed Jimmer Fredette to a training camp deal.
- The Kings signed Caron Butler.
- John Jenkins signed a deal with the Mavericks.
- The Mavericks signed undrafted forward Maurice Ndour.
- The Trail Blazers signed undrafted free agent Cliff Alexander.
- Phil Pressey inked a deal with the Blazers.
- The Mavericks signed center Jarrid Famous.
You can stay up to date on all of the signings with Hoops Rumors’ free agent tracker.
2015 NBA Draft Pick Signings
- The Pistons and No. 38 pick Darrun Hilliard signed a three-year deal.
- The Pistons signed No. 8 overall pick Stanley Johnson to a rookie scale deal.
- The Pacers inked Rakeem Christmas to a four-year pact.
- The Rockets signed Sam Dekker to a rookie scale deal.
You can stay up to date on all of the 2015 NBA Draft signings here.
Waivers
- The Suns waived Jerel McNeal.
- The Nuggets waived newly acquired point guard Pablo Prigioni.
Miscellaneous News
- Guillermo Hernangomez, the 35th overall pick last month, will return to Real Madrid this coming season.
- The Nets promoted Steve Jones, the team’s manager of video operations, to assistant coach for player development.
- Aaron White, whom the Wizards drafted 49th overall last month, agreed to a deal with Telekom Baskets Bonn of Germany.
- Jared Dudley will miss approximately three or four months after undergoing surgery Tuesday to fix a herniated disk in his lower back.
- Celtics draftee Marcus Thornton signed a one-year pact with the Sydney Kings of Australia’s National Basketball League.
- The Warriors withdrew their $1,147,276 qualifying offer to Ognjen Kuzmic, making him an unrestricted free agent.
- Free agent Jeff Taylor agreed to a one-year deal with Real Madrid.
- Stephen Jackson retired from pro basketball.
- Two-year NBA veteran Nate Wolters signed with Besiktas of Turkey.
Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 7/24/15
With the month of July nearly over most of the bigger name free agents have already locked down their new deals and know what jerseys they will don for next season. The most notable remaining unrestricted free agent is J.R. Smith, who left $6.4MM on the table when he declined his player’s option with Cleveland for the 2015/16 campaign back in June. While there’s still a good chance that Smith will re-sign with the Cavs, his chances of topping that salary amount for next season are rapidly dwindling along with most of the teams’ available cap space. Smith experienced a bit of a career revival after escaping New York at midseason, though his postseason shooting woes, and ill-advised elbow to Jae Crowder‘s face that earned him a two game suspension, could not be considered closing out the season on a high note.
This brings me to the topic of the day: Where does J.R. Smith play next season, and how much do you predict he’ll earn for 2015/16?
Smith can be an explosive scorer when he’s “on” and playing under control. He’s also only two seasons removed from winning Sixth Man of the Year honors, and he did manage to steer clear of trouble while with the Cavs, except for that one postseason incident. The 29-year-old also fit into the Cavs’ rotation quite well, and the team has expressed a desire to re-sign Smith, though they reportedly weren’t pleased at him opting out of his deal.
Is remaining in Cleveland the best option for Smith, or do you see another team being a better fit? What sort of deal can Smith expect to land at this stage of the offseason? Does anyone out there believe he’ll top the $6.4MM he was set to earn? All these questions and more are fair game. Take to the comments section below to express your opinions, share your thoughts, and kill some time with your fellow hoops fans. We look forward to what you have to say.
Note: Since these Shootarounds are meant to be guided by you the reader, we certainly welcome your input on the topics we present. If there is something you’d like to see pop up here for a discussion, shoot me a message at hoopsrumorsmailbag@gmail.com or hit me up on Twitter at @EddieScarito to submit topics or ideas for what we should present in future posts.
2015/16 Roster Counts
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.
Here’s the complete listing of teams’ current roster counts sorted by conference and division:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic Division
Central Division
Southeast Division
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Northwest Division
Pacific Division
Southwest Division
Pacific Notes: James, Rivers, Lakers, Kings
Summer league point guard Mike James impressed the Suns, but the team doesn’t seem to have a need for another point guard, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Multiple teams are in pursuit, according to Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link), but he’s under contract with Laboral Kuxta Vitoria in Spain, Coro points out, suggesting that it would likely require a guaranteed deal with an NBA team to make it worthwhile for him to exercise his buyout clause. James, who’s not to be confused with the 12-year veteran by the same name, is inclined to play one more season in Spain, Charania adds.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Austin Rivers‘ brief tenure with Relativity Sports has met an end, tweets Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal. Rivers joined the agency after splitting with David Falk this past season. Relativity represented him as he came to a two-year deal for nearly $6.455MM to stay with father Doc Rivers and the Clippers.
- The deals that Caron Butler, Quincy Acy, and Seth Curry agreed to with the Kings are all two-year, minimum salary arrangements that are fully guaranteed the first year and include player options for the second season, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
- The performance of the Lakers‘ Summer League squad was underwhelming, leaving some around the league skeptical of the long-term future of a number of the team’s younger prospects, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. “You don’t want to draw any conclusions from a few summer games obviously,” one league executive told Deveney. “But I think in general, the way to put it is that they probably value their assets more than the rest of the league values them. Everyone gambles on young guys. You just don’t know. For [the Lakers], they could all turn out to be fine, but they’re a long way from that now.”
- The new Kings arena cleared another legal hurdle Friday, as a judge issued a ruling in favor of the city of Sacramento and against plaintiffs who asserted that the team and the city struck a side deal, writes Tony Bizjak of The Sacramento Bee. The arena is already under construction.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.