Rockets, Chuck Hayes Close To Deal
JULY 20TH, 1:29pm: The sides are close to an agreement and working on “fine details,” Andrews told Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
JULY 15TH, 8:32am: Free agent Chuck Hayes met with people from the Rockets organization Monday, and agent Calvin Andrews told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports that the sides have mutual interest (Twitter link). The 10-year veteran big man played his first six NBA seasons with Houston, and GM Daryl Morey has shown a fondness for reunions with his former players.
The market for the 32-year-old has been quiet this month. It’s unclear if he or the Raptors have any interest in a return. Hayes is coming off a season of career lows, as he averaged just 1.7 points and 1.8 rebounds in 8.8 minutes per game across 29 appearances. He was a starter his last two seasons in Houston.
The Rockets have their mid-level exception available, though the team may need it to re-sign either Josh Smith, K.J. McDaniels, or both, as Houston reportedly wants to retain those free agents. Hayes seems like a candidate for the minimum salary, coming off his down year, though he made nearly $5.959MM in 2014/15.
Spurs Re-Sign Manu Ginobili
JULY 20TH, 12:06pm: The deal is official, the team announced via press release. Since it indeed looks like Ginobili is going into the room exception, San Antonio will be limited to giving the minimum salary to outside free agents.
JULY 7TH, 8:24am: Manu Ginobili will come back to the Spurs on a deal worth $5.7MM over two years, with a player option on year two, sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Ginobili publicly announced Monday that he would return for 2015/16, and while it was thus expected that he would re-sign with San Antonio, the team and the Herb Rudoy client had yet to work out any terms. That $5.7MM figure would be slightly less than the full $5,754,630 two-year value of the room exception, but it’s quite possible that it’s because of rounding. Using the room exception would allow San Antonio to renounce Ginobili’s Bird rights and clear his $10.5MM cap hold to accommodate the team’s deals for LaMarcus Aldridge and others.
Ginobili wasn’t a safe bet to return, as conflicting reports about San Antonio’s confidence about his continued desire to play painted a cloudy picture. His role has gradually been shrinking, and he’s played fewer than 24 minutes a game each of the past four seasons. His 10.5 points and 22.7 minutes were his lowest per-game averages since he was a rookie, and he saw just 18.7 minutes per game in the playoffs. Still, Ginobili, who turns 38 next month, has no shortage of institutional knowledge, and his 16.2 PER shows he’s still fairly efficient when he’s on the floor.
The move helps San Antonio keep its core together amid a summer of momentous changes. Aldridge and David West are set to join the Spurs, who’ve agreed to trade Tiago Splitter to the Hawks. Still, the majority of the team’s five free agent agreements so far have been internal, as Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, just like Manu Ginobili, have agreed to re-sign. Tim Duncan, who’s also decided to put off retirement for at least another year, is expected to follow suit.
Celtics Sign Jordan Mickey
The Celtics have signed No. 33 overall pick Jordan Mickey, the team announced. The sides had been in talks last week. The big man had been pushing for a short-term deal, but it appeared he had come around to the idea of a longer arrangement, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reported last week. It’s a four-year, $5MM deal, reports Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, and two years are guaranteed, adds Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter links). So, the Celtics use cap space for the transaction.
Mickey told Zach Links of Hoops Rumors that he heard from officials with a team picking in the late first round that their club would take him if he were available at that point in the draft, but instead he slipped into the early portion of the second round, where Boston, which worked him out for a second time on the eve of the draft, was waiting. He’s 6’8″ and figures to see most of his time at power forward, but he’s a shot blocker, having swatted 3.6 per game last season as a sophomore for LSU, so he figures to help fill Boston’s need for a rim protector. He was the 31st-best prospect in the draft as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress rated them, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com had him at No. 45.
Optimism about the possibility of a deal surrounded the talks as they began last week, as Jay King of MassLive detailed, and Mickey was going to end up on Boston’s roster for this coming season one way or another, Bulpett wrote. The Matt Babcock client was prepared at one point in negotiations to sign the non-guaranteed one-year offer for the minimum-salary that the C’s were required to make to retain his draft rights, according to Bulpett, but that didn’t end up happening.
Pelicans Re-Sign Luke Babbitt
JULY 20TH, 11:01am: The signing is official, the team announced.
JULY 9TH, 10:13pm: The Pelicans and unrestricted free agent Luke Babbitt are finalizing a deal that would bring the forward back to New Orleans, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). The pact is for two years, and valued in the $2.5MM range, Stein adds.
Babbitt made 63 appearances for the Pelicans last season, including 19 starts. He notched averages of 4.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.4 assists in 13.2 minutes per contest. His shooting numbers were .479/.513/.684. Through five NBA seasons split between the Blazers and Pelicans, Babbitt’s numbers are 4.2 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 0.5 APG, with a slash line of .401/.403/.722.
The 26-year-old was the No. 16 overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, and played his college ball at the University of Nevada.
Pistons Sign Darrun Hilliard
MONDAY, 10:45am: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
THURSDAY, 1:37pm: The Pistons and No. 38 pick Darrun Hilliard have reached agreement on a three-year deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Wojnarowski indicates that the 6’6″ swingman from Villanova has already put pen to paper, though the team hasn’t made any formal announcement, and Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press hears the deal will be formalized Monday (Twitter link). The first year of his contract will be fully guaranteed, the second year will carry a partial guarantee, and the third year will be a team option, Ellis adds (on Twitter).
Detroit will dedicate cap space to him rather than use an exception, since the length of the arrangement is greater than two years, though a three-year deal gives the Pistons greater flexibility going forward, as I examined in the past. The 22-year-old was a surprise selection, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress had him ranked only 62nd among the best prospects in this year’s draft, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com had him even lower, at No. 77.
Ford pointed to his lack of top-flight athleticism or standout skill in any one particular area as weaknesses, adding that he’s nonetheless strong on both sides of the floor. Hilliard averaged 14.3 points in 28.8 minutes per game with 38.7% three-point shooting this past season as a senior.
It’s unclear exactly how much he’s getting in the deal, but it’s likely for around the minimum salary, perhaps with a few extra thousand dollars tacked on in year one, since such deals are standard for second-rounders, and the Pistons are running out of cap room. Detroit’s other 2015 draft pick, No. 8 overall selection Stanley Johnson, is on track to sign next week, agent Nima Namakian tells Ellis (Twitter link).
And-Ones: Gallinari, Belinelli, Jazz, Harrellson
Danilo Gallinari confirmed to Italian media that he and the Nuggets are discussing an extension, as Dario Vismara of Rivista Ufficiale NBA tweets (translation via Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi). Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post reported last week that the team intended to begin talks. The Nuggets can open about $6MM in cap room if they waive both Pablo Prigioni and Kostas Papanikolaou, whom they’re reportedly about to acquire in the deal for Ty Lawson, as former Nets executive Bobby Marks points out (on Twitter). They could use the cap room to give Gallinari a renegotiation and extension, as they did with Wilson Chandler, a maneuver that would be more lucrative for Gallinari than a simple extension. While we wait to see if that’s the route the Nuggets take, here’s more from around the NBA:
- The Pelicans, Knicks, Clippers, Lakers, Spurs and Warriors all made offers to Marco Belinelli, who instead signed with the Kings, as he said at the same gathering of Italian media, Vismara notes (Twitter link).
- The salary cap is set to surge next summer, but the 2016 free agent class doesn’t have much depth beyond Kevin Durant and LeBron James, leaving many teams with a conundrum as they face the prospect of a salary floor of some $81MM, as Marks examines for HoopsHype.
- A work stoppage in 2017 is a “virtual certainty,” an executive from a team recently told Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com, in spite of commissioner Adam Silver’s suggestion to the contrary. Teams are worried that the new TV revenue somehow won’t allow them to keep up with surging payrolls, and clubs that have traditionally relied on revenue sharing figure to take a hit with fewer teams in line to pay into the luxury tax in seasons to come, as Arnovitz details.
- The Jazz are drawing raves from coaches and GM around the league for their home-grown approach to rebuilding and hesitance to sign mid-tier free agents who’d only help the team make incremental gains, Arnovitz writes in the same piece.
- Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press tells the story of a handful of summer leaguers who carry divergent credentials, including three-year NBA veteran Josh Harrellson, who’s willing to be flexible as he tries to make it back to the NBA now that he’s recovered from a career-threatening back injury. “I think I’ll get a camp invite,” Harrellson said. “My main goal is to get a contract out of this. Even if it’s a partial [guarantee], just something.”
Eastern Notes: Celtics, Anthony, Jackson
The Celtics depart the Las Vegas Summer League feeling much better about a number of their 2015 draftees, Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald relays. Celtics Summer League coach Micah Shrewsberry, discussing guards Terry Rozier, R.J. Hunter and Marcus Thornton, and forward Jordan Mickey, said, “They’re all hard workers. They all love the game, and that stood out first. They’re in the gym working. Terry and Jordan Mickey were on the workout buffet, all over the place in the month of June. They get drafted, get a couple of days, and then come right to practice. They played a lot of minutes and got stronger as the week went on. R.J. was the same way. He started out a little shaky, but he eventually showed what he can do. They’re each going to get better and better, not just this season but as their careers go on.” The Celtics and Mickey are still in the process of negotiating his rookie contract.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said on The Chris Mannix Show on NBC Sports Radio that the team’s fear of restricted free agent Reggie Jackson signing a one-year qualifying offer played a big part in Detroit’s willingness to offer Jackson a five-year $80MM deal (Twitter link). Detroit obviously wanted to avoid a situation similar to the one it experienced last season when Greg Monroe opted to sign his qualifying offer and then signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Bucks this offseason.
- New York’s slow rebuilding has reportedly left Carmelo Anthony wondering about the Knicks‘ plan, but even though team president Phil Jackson hasn’t been in touch with his star forward, GM Steve Mills has maintained contact with Anthony, who still trusts Jackson’s judgments, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post.
- Guillermo Hernangomez, the 35th overall pick last month, will play again for Real Madrid this coming season, the club announced. He spent the past two seasons on loan to fellow Spanish club Baloncesto Sevilla. The Knicks acquired the NBA rights to the center in a trade worked out on draft night, and New York reportedly plans to sign him next summer.
- Cory Joseph‘s four-year pact with the Raptors will see the point guard earn $7MM for the coming season, $7.315MM in 2016/17, $7.63MM in 2017/18, and includes a player option for the final season worth $7.945MM, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders relays.
- The Raptors‘ biggest offseason signing, DeMarre Carroll, will earn $13.6MM in 2015/16, $14.2MM during year two, $14.8MM during the 2017/18 campaign, and will cap off his contract with a salary of $15.4MM in 2018/19, Pincus adds.
Southeast Notes: Heat, Smith, Magic, Anderson
The second part of summer league for No. 10 overall pick Justise Winslow was full of more challenges than he might have expected, but the performance of Josh Richardson, whom the Heat drafted with their other pick, at No. 40, was more impressive than it figured to be, as Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel examines. Winderman, in a broad look at what Miami accomplished during summer league, writes that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Heat invited undrafted center Josh Smith to camp. Smith, from Georgetown, is not to be confused with the more well-known Clippers signee of the same name. Here’s more from around the Southeast Division:
- Jason Smith‘s salary on his new one-year deal with the Magic is $4.3MM, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders confirms (Twitter link). There had been conflicting reports about just how much the contract is worth.
- The Magic were technically over the cap when they made the Maurice Harkless trade, so they ended up with a trade exception worth $2,894,059, equivalent to the salary that Harkless will make this coming season, Pincus also reports (Twitter link).
- Alan Anderson‘s one-year, $4MM contract with the Wizards includes a 15% trade kicker, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Washington facilitated the signing via the mid-level exception, and since it’s worth more than $3.376MM, the Wizards are hard-capped at $88.74MM this season, Pincus notes.
Hoops Links: Antetokounmpo, Foyle, Spurs
On this date in 2005, the National Basketball Development League changed its name to the “NBA Development League” to better reflect the role of the league within the new NBA-NBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement. Today, we know it better by it’s nickname — the D-League.
Got a great basketball blog post that you want to see featured on Hoops Rumors? Send it to Zach at HoopsLinks@gmail.com. Here’s this week’s look around the basketball blogosphere…
- Press Break re-did the 2013 draft with Giannis Antetokounmpo going No. 1.
- Tru School Sports spoke with Adonal Foyle, who is changing lives.
- Fantasy Pros looked at the winners (including the Spurs) and losers of free agency.
- Hoop Trends explained The Basketball Tournament.
- Heat Beat Miami made some Western Conference predictions.
Please send submissions for Hoops Links to Zach at HoopsLinks@gmail.com.
Celtics Rumors: Ainge, Smart, Young, Jerebko
Danny Ainge‘s quest to find hidden gems explains some of the Celtics’ offseason moves, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. On a team without superstars, the executive is constantly searching for untapped potential. That’s why he picked up Amir Johnson, David Lee and Perry Jones III and took a calculated draft risk with Terry Rozier. Ainge is hoping at least one of his acquisitions will duplicate the success of DeMarre Carroll in Atlanta or Khris Middleton in Milwaukee.
There’s more news from Boston:
- Two dislocated fingers on his right hand will prevent Marcus Smart from making a trip to Africa for an August 1st exhibition game, according to Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. Smart suffered the injury during summer league play and had to miss the final two games for the Celtics’ entry. There is no timetable for his recovery, but Smart is relieved that they weren’t broken. There is no speculation so far that the injury will linger into training camp.
- Paul Pierce is an admirer of the moves the Celtics have made, Bulpett writes in a separate story. “They asked Danny to get good pieces, good tradable pieces, good foundation pieces, and that’s what he’s been doing,” Pierce said. “Over time you have to figure out who you’re going to keep and who you’re going to move to get better until you find that piece.”
- James Young will spend part of the summer working out with former MVP Kevin Durant, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. The players share the same agent, Rick Kleiman, and Young is excited about the opportunity. “He’s going to be able to start being able to play soon,” Young said of Durant. “I can’t wait. He’s a great guy, a great offensive player, one of the best players in the league, one of my favorite players growing up.”
- The Celtics were always the first choice for Jonas Jerebko, who re-signed with the team last week, writes Marc D’Amico of Celtics.com. “I had some offers, but my first choice was always coming back here and we worked it out and I’m happy to be back,” Jerebko said. “There were teams that were knocking on the door, but I just liked being in Boston and what we had going on.”