Western Notes: Hammon, Terry, Teletovic, Jazz
Former Nets executive Bobby Marks says he would call Spurs assistant Becky Hammon first if he were running a team and looking for a head coach (Twitter link). Hammon has been a full-time NBA assistant for only one season, but she guided the Spurs to the Las Vegas Summer League title as the first female summer league head coach and commanded the attention of her players, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News details.
“She’s just a good coach,” said Kyle Anderson, San Antonio’s 2014 first-round pick. “Everybody listens to her like they would anyone else. I mean, she’s the coach.”
The arrival of the first female head coach for regular season play still seems a long way off, but, as Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News points out, the Spurs have once more proven they’re not afraid of innovation. Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Jason Terry confirmed Monday that he’s close to a deal with the Rockets, but Houston has renounced his Bird rights, according to the RealGM transactions log. That means the team is limited to paying him a deal with a starting salary of no more than the roughly $2MM slice of the mid-level exception left over from the K.J. McDaniels signing, which also took up a portion of the mid-level.
- Upheaval has surrounded the Suns during GM Ryan McDonough‘s first two seasons on the job, but this week he signaled that he’s settled on his main players, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic documents. “It took a little while to get to a core we liked but we think we finally have that and have the ability to be successful this year and then hopefully build on that and add to it a year from now when the cap spikes up and we have cap space to bring in guys that help our young core,” McDonough said.
- The Suns signed Mirza Teletovic for only one year, but they hope to re-sign him to a new deal next summer, Coro writes in the same piece.
- The Jazz‘s three-year deal with Tibor Pleiss is worth an even $9MM, and the team’s three-year deal with Raul Neto is worth precisely $2,852,546, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
Marcus Thornton Signs To Play In Australia
WEDNESDAY, 8:12am: The deal is official, the Australian team announced.
8:50pm: Thornton has indeed agreed to a one-year pact with the Sydney Kings of Australia’s National Basketball League, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe relays. “I think it’s good for him to get an opportunity to play and just continue to progress wherever he chooses to play, whether it was in Australia or the D-League or anyplace he was going to get a chance to play,” Boston executive Danny Ainge said. “We’ve certainly seen flashes from him this summer.”
TUESDAY, 10:43am: Celtics draftee Marcus Thornton is set to sign in Australia, a source told Sportando’s Enea Trapani. Thornton, this year’s 45th overall pick out of William & Mary, is not to be confused with the former Celtics shooting guard by the same name who’s reportedly agreed to sign with the Rockets. It’s not entirely clear which Australian team is landing this Thornton, who’s a combo guard.
Regardless, the news isn’t entirely surprising, as Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said soon after the draft that Thornton would most likely end up either overseas or in the D-League this season. The Celtics have a roster crunch, since after the Monday signing of No. 33 overall pick Jordan Mickey, they’re poised to have 16 fully guaranteed salaries for the season ahead, assuming they sign first-round picks Terry Rozier and R.J. Hunter. Boston’s roster seems in flux, so that dynamic is subject to change, but adding Thornton as a fourth rookie on the team would nonetheless present a challenge for coach Brad Stevens.
Thornton seemed like a reach at No. 45, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranked him as only the 83rd-best prospect in the draft, and Chad Ford of ESPN.com had him 95th. He poured in 20.0 points in 36.7 minutes per game with 40.2% three-point shooting this past season as a senior competing in the Colonial Athletic Association, a far cry from NBA-level competition. Thornton put up 5.1 PPG in 11.0 MPG and was just 2 for 10 on three-pointers in eight summer league appearances this month.
No. 49 overall pick Aaron White is also reportedly close to signing overseas. Who’ll have a greater impact in the NBA once he gets there, Thornton or White? Leave a comment to let us know.
Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 7/21/15
One of the more surprising developments during the 2014/15 campaign was the rise of the Atlanta Hawks. The franchise went from the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed in the 2014 NBA playoffs to the No. 1 team in the conference this past season. Quite an impressive leap, even in the underwhelming East. The team’s core took a hit this Summer when DeMarre Carroll departed for Toronto via free agency, but re-signing Paul Millsap certainly helped ease the sting a bit from that loss. Atlanta did acquire Tim Hardaway Jr. from the Knicks in a draft night deal to help fill Carroll’s minutes at small forward, but not many would argue that the team improved itself as a result of that change.
So here’s our question of the day for you: What are your predictions for the Hawks’ record/playoff seeding this season?
Were the Hawks just a one-season surprise in their success? A number of teams in the conference have improved themselves this offseason, be it through signings, trades, or coaching changes, and it’s questionable as to whether or not Atlanta kept pace. Who out there among you believes that the Hawks will emerge from the 2015/16 regular season scrum atop the standings? If not, then how far do you predict the Hawks will slide in the conference or even the Southeast Division? If you’re on the fence about the team’s chances, then jump in and tell us what move(s) the franchise needs to make before the season tips off to satisfy you as a fan. We look forward to what you have to say…
Of course, there will always be differing opinions. While we absolutely encourage lively discussion and debate, we do expect everyone to treat each other with respect. So, please refrain from inappropriate language, personal insults or attacks, as well as the other taboo types of discourse laid out in our site’s commenting policy. Speaking of commenting: we’ve made it much easier to leave a comment here at Hoops Rumors. Just put in your name, email address, and comment and submit it; there is no need to become a registered user.
And-Ones: Labor Negotiations, NBPA, Lawson
Many agents don’t see reason for the union to opt out of the collective bargaining agreement in 2017, in part because of the influx of billions of dollars in new revenue and in part because the league would try to negotiate a deal worse for players than the one they’d be opting out of, Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck details. Some sources indicate to Beck that as many as a dozen teams are losing money. Both the owners and the union have the right to opt out of the agreement, but an increasing number of people on both sides believe a pitched battle over labor issues won’t take place, Beck hears. The league projects that the average salary by 2016/17 will be $7.5MM, a 44% increase from 2010/11, Beck writes in the same story.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The National Basketball Players Association is studying ways to use the $57,298,826 shortfall coming their way from the owners as a result of the failure of 2014/15 salaries to add up to the required percentage of basketball related income, reports Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. The union will discuss using part of it to fund health care costs for retired players and decide how to divvy up the rest among active players, as Berger details.
- The union will distribute among affected players a $5.3MM settlement in a lawsuit against the state of Tennessee over its “jock tax” that requires players on visiting teams going against the Grizzlies to fork over sums to the state, Berger adds in the same piece. The tax, which ends after this season, had perhaps its most profound effect on players who signed 10-day contracts, and the Tennessee legislature used data from our 10-Day Contract Tracker as it considered the tax’s eventual repeal.
- Nuggets team president Josh Kroenke discussed Ty Lawson in the wake of the point guard being dealt to the Rockets, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports relays. “We did our best to try to help Ty. I’m excited to see he is embracing the first step of the process to get better,” Kroenke said. “I hope this is a good thing for Ty the person. There is no guarantees. Sometimes you need to hear it from a different person. With Jameer Nelson and Emmanuel Mudiay we’re excited about the future. We’re excited to turn the page and move on even if the [trade] value wasn’t equal,” Kroenke continued. “There wasn’t a lot of teams [interested]. Houston was in a position where it could put them over the top. We’re fully aware of that.“
- The two guaranteed years in No. 33 pick Jordan Mickey‘s four-year, $5MM contract with the Celtics are worth a combined $2.4MM, reports Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Southwest Notes: Lawson, McCallum, Pelicans
Rockets GM Daryl Morey isn’t shy about gambling, and he acknowledges that trading four players for troubled point guard Ty Lawson carries with it some potential pitfalls, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com writes. “I think when you’re trying to get the best team out of 30, you got to take risk all over the place,” Morey said. “Again, it’s a playing risk, injury risk, character risk. We feel Ty is someone we wanted to add to our team.”
With Houston badly in need of a playmaker at the point, Morey believes he has filled that need with Lawson, Watkins notes. “He’s one of the best playmakers in the league,” Morey continued. “If you look at the leaderboard for assists in the last few years or since he’s been in the league, he’s near the top. I think, as we saw, especially when [Harden] played a couple of teams last year, we struggle against teams that really load on James Harden, and we feel Ty will be a lot more difficult for teams to do that.”
Here’s more out of the Southwest Division:
- Recent Spurs trade acquisition Ray McCallum‘s minimum salary of $947,276 became fully guaranteed when San Antonio didn’t waive him by the end of Monday, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders notes (Twitter link). It had been partially guaranteed for $200K, as the schedule of salary guarantee dates shows.
- The Pelicans are looking into establishing their own D-League franchise, John Reid of The Times Picayune writes. New Orleans GM Dell Demps acknowledged the franchise’s interest in the D-League, but he didn’t know the exact time frame for the process, Reid adds. ”A couple of years ago, we did not do it because our players were so young and growing and we figured we just throw them into the fire,” Demps said. ”But that is the next step for us. We’re looking at some options right now on the Gulf Coast and in the state of Louisiana. So we’re looking into that. We have some plans to add our own D-League team.”
- Danny Green surprised some when he elected to re-sign with the Spurs with a four-year, $45MM deal when numerous teams had expressed interest in his services, and he likely could have earned more elsewhere. But Green believes his annual salary is in line with his production, Dan McCarney of The San Antonio Express-News notes (Twitter links). “People keep saying that I took less. I think I took what I was worth,” said Green. Though, to get his full market value, Green would have likely had to go to a team like the Pistons or the Kings, who certainly don’t offer as good a chance to contend as San Antonio does, McCarney adds. The Pistons, Mavericks, Blazers, Knicks and the Kings, who’d reportedly made Green their top target, all had some degree of interest in the swingman.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Bucks Nearing Deal With Chris Copeland?
9:13pm: Copeland had a strong workout with the Bucks today, but the Spurs and Thunder are still in the mix for his services, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports tweets.
7:30pm: The Bucks and Copeland are working to finalize a deal, and it is expected to be completed sometime this week, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets.
JULY 21ST, 12:22pm: Copeland has traveled to Milwaukee for a meeting with the Bucks and perhaps to take a physical, Woelfel tweets.
JULY 17TH, 2:09pm: Some higher-ups from around the league think the Bucks have become the front-runners for Copeland, Woelfel reports (Twitter link).
JULY 14TH, 11:42am: The Bucks are interested in Chris Copeland, but they have yet to make an offer to the unrestricted free agent forward, reports Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times (Twitter link). Milwaukee is still looking to replace the perimeter shooting it gave up in the Ersan Ilyasova trade, Woelfel notes, pointing to Copeland’s career 37.3% three-point shooting.
That three-point shooting percentage was above 40% before this past season, when he nailed only 31.1% and dropped out of the Pacers rotation in the second half as many of Indiana’s regulars returned to health. His season ended prematurely when he was stabbed and suffered a broken elbow in April outside a New York nightclub.
Milwaukee is among four teams on Copeland’s radar, and the 31-year-old is expected to decide between them in the next couple of days, Woelfel tweets. The Wizards were linked to the John Spencer client early in free agency.
Copeland signed a two-year, $6.135MM deal with Indiana two years ago, when he was coming off a surprisingly successful rookie season with the Knicks, with whom he made his NBA debut six years after going undrafted out of Colorado. He wasn’t able to duplicate that performance with the Pacers, who declined their chance to match competing bids for him this summer when they elected not to make a qualifying offer that would have been worth nearly $3.919MM.
2015/16 Roster Counts: San Antonio Spurs
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 Spurs’ roster size, the contract guarantee status of each player, and how each player came to be on San Antonio’s roster.
(Last Updated 3-9-16, 6:00pm)
Fully Guaranteed (15)
- LaMarcus Aldridge (F) — 6’11″/29 years old. Free agent signing.
- Kyle Anderson (G/F) — 6’9″/21 years old. Drafted with No. 30 overall pick in 2014.
- Matt Bonner (F) — 6’10″/35 years old. Acquired via trade from Raptors.
- Boris Diaw (F) — 6’8″/33 years old. Free agent signing.
- Tim Duncan (F) — 6’11″/39 years old. Drafted with No. 1 overall pick in 1997.
- Manu Ginobili (G) — 6’6″/36 years old. Drafted with No. 57 overall pick in 1999.
- Danny Green (G/F) — 6’6″/28 years old. Free agent signing.
- Kawhi Leonard (F) — 6’7″/24 years old. Draft rights acquired via Pacers.
- Boban Marjanovic (C) — 7’3″/26 years old. Free agent signing.
- Kevin Martin (G) — 6’7″/33 years old. Free agent signing.
- Andre Miller (G) — 6’3″/39 years old. Free agent signing.
- Patty Mills (G) — 6’0″/26 years old. Free agent signing.
- Tony Parker (G) — 6’2″/33 years old. Drafted with No. 28 overall pick in 2001.
- Jonathon Simmons (G/F) — 6’6″/25 years old. Free agent signing.
- David West (F) — 6’9″/34 years old. Free agent signing.
10-Day Contracts (0)
- N/A
TOTAL ROSTER COUNT (15)
Pacific Notes: Clippers, Contract Details, Chandler
The Clippers‘ offseason moves, which include re-signing DeAndre Jordan, signing unrestricted free agent Paul Pierce, and acquiring swingman Lance Stephenson, have added needed versatility to the team’s roster, Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders writes. With Stephenson, Pierce and Wesley Johnson joining the roster, the Clippers have more skill, length, defense and versatility on the perimeter than they did last season, Blancarte opines. The addition of forward Josh Smith also gives coach Doc Rivers some needed rotation flexibility in the frontcourt, notes Blancarte.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The four-year deal that Kosta Koufos signed with the Kings is worth precisely $32.879MM, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reveals (Twitter link). Marco Belinelli is getting $1 less than $19MM in his new three-year deal, Pincus adds. Sacramento gave Omri Casspi exactly $5.8MM on his two-year deal, Pincus also reports, adding that the James Anderson‘s contract is for two years at the minimum salary with a player option on year two.
- Tyson Chandler‘s four-year deal with the Suns will pay him $13MM this coming season, $12.415MM in 2016/17, $13MM in 2017/18, and $13.585MM the final season, tweets Pincus. Brandon Knight‘s five-year pact will see him earn $13.5MM in 2015/16, then pull down salaries of $12,606.250, $13,618,750, $14,631,250, and $15,643,750, Pincus notes.
- Instead of lamenting the Suns‘ signing of Chandler, who will be the team’s starting center, Alex Len is looking forward to learning from the veteran, Michael Lee of The Washington Post relays. “He’s one of the best defensive bigs in the league. The way he blocks shots, the way he communicates. I think I can learn just from watching, just from being around him, add it to my game. I think it’s going to be great,” Len said. “He’s a great leader. We needed a veteran last year. Somebody in the locker room, on the court, somebody we can look up to. So, I think it’s great for the team.” Len, 22, started 44 games for Phoenix during the 2014/15 campaign.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Rockets Re-Sign K.J. McDaniels
TUESDAY, 3:52pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
SUNDAY, 1:41pm: Restricted free agent K.J. McDaniels has agreed to a three-year, $10MM deal to stay with the Rockets, tweets Jake Pavorsky of Liberty Ballers. The deal does not include a player option, according to Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston (Twitter link).
The Rockets used a portion of their mid-level exception to sign McDaniels, who claimed to have received a “strong offer” from another organization. Houston lost unrestricted free agent Josh Smith to the Clippers on Thursday. “But I’m too happy and too blessed and thankful to be back apart of #RedNation,” McDaniels tweeted after the agreement was reached.
“It’s a blessing and I’m happy to be a part of the Rockets franchise. I’m excited to see what happens,” McDaniels told Berman (Twitter link). “It means a lot. It just shows how much the coaches enjoy working with me, how much I enjoy working with them.” (Twitter link).
McDaniels was traded from the Sixers to the Rockets at the February deadline in exchange for Isaiah Canaan and a second-round pick. He barely played in Houston, appearing in just 10 games before suffering a non-displaced fracture in his right elbow in the season’s final regular-season game. McDaniels averaged 9.2 points and 3.8 points in 52 games with Philadelphia before the trade.
Clippers Notes: Griffin, Jordan, Pierce, Smith
Blake Griffin was amused by what he labeled as false reports of the Clippers’ rendezvous with DeAndre Jordan in the hours leading up to the end of the July Moratorium, as the forward made clear in The Players’ Tribune. Griffin penned his own account of what took place when Jordan reneged his Mavs deal to instead re-sign with the Clippers.
“By Tuesday morning [July 7th], I knew he was really struggling with it,” Griffin wrote in part about Jordan. “He really didn’t want to disappoint people, but I could tell his heart wasn’t in it. We text every day. It’s not always about basketball. Mostly it’s about life. I’m his friend above all else. I stuffed some clothes into a bag, ran through LAX and got on the first flight to Houston. My intention wasn’t to go down and sell DeAndre on the Clippers. We promised each other a long time ago that we’d never do that stuff. I just wanted to be there for my friend and hear him out.”
We passed along some highlights of Jordan’s first-person story about the affair earlier today, and he said in a press conference this afternoon that he didn’t intend the “fiasco” that took place, notes Dan Woike of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). Here’s more from Clipperland:
- Paul Pierce, who inked a three-year deal with the Clippers this month, signaled that he intends to retire with the team, as Woike and Rowan Kavner of Clippers.com relay (Twitter links). “This will probably be the last ride of my career,” Pierce said. “I think this is where I’m going to end it. I’m going to go all in.”
- The Clippers are only shelling out the minimum to Josh Smith on his one-year deal, and Smith said today to reporters, including Woike (Twitter link), that the roughly $5MM he still has coming his way from his old Pistons contract gave him the security to sign at a bargain rate in L.A. Still, he said he’ll look for a long-term deal next summer, notes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (on Twitter).
- The offseason for the Clippers has come a long way from the F-minus grade that J.J. Redick gave it before Jordan broke his deal with the Mavs, writes Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders, who adds that the Clippers are nonetheless lacking a true backup point guard.