Week In Review 8/16/15-8/22/15
J.R. Smith, who was the most prominent unsigned free agent remaining, finally agreed to re-sign with the Cavaliers this week. The two sides reached a deal on a two-year pact that includes a player option for the 2016/17 season, which will allow the guard to once again test the free agent market next offseason if he wishes.
Smith took to his personal Instagram account to relay the news, writing, “Happy to say that I am returning to the Cavs! It’s been a long ride this summer but I can say for sure, well worth the wait. When I opted out of my contract, I wanted to understand the landscape of the NBA and where I fit best. The Cavaliers had things they needed to do in order to piece together a championship caliber roster. I ended up deciding that instead of potentially securing a larger deal elsewhere, I wanted to rejoin an incredible organization in pursuit of the ultimate goal, an NBA championship. Thank you to the Cavaliers for making this happen. Can’t wait to get started!”
The 29-year-old’s decision to decline his one-year, $6.4MM player option for certainly didn’t pay off, as he will now earn $5MM this coming season under the terms of his new pact. But a chance to once again contend for an NBA title should help alleviate some of his angst regarding his lower income level for the upcoming campaign. Here’s more from the week that was…
Free Agent Signings
Eastern Conference
- The Bucks signed former University of Wisconsin power forward Marcus Landry.
- The Cavaliers reached a deal with free agent Jared Cunningham.
- The Hornets agreed to a deal with undrafted free agent forward Sam Thompson.
- The Hawks signed a deal with unrestricted free agent Jason Richardson.
- The Wizards agreed to sign undrafted center Jaleel Roberts.
- The Hornets agreed to a deal with unrestricted free agent center Jason Washburn.
- The Heat signed undrafted shooting guard Corey Hawkins.
Western Conference
- The Jazz signed undrafted guard Treveon Graham.
- The Lakers reached a contract agreement with Michael Frazier.
- The Grizzlies signed center Michael Holyfield.
- The Suns and shooting guard Terrico White agreed to a deal.
- The Warriors and Jarell Eddie reached an agreement on a training camp deal.
- The Suns agreed to a camp deal with former Harvard combo forward Kyle Casey.
You can stay up to date on all of the signings with Hoops Rumors’ free agent tracker.
Waivers
- The Nuggets waived Joey Dorsey as part of a buyout arrangement. Dorsey agreed to a deal with Galatasaray of Turkey.
Miscellaneous News
- The Raptors and Jonas Valanciunas signed an extension worth $64MM over four years.
- Dorell Wright signed a deal with China’s Chongqing Dragons.
- The Kings hired longtime NBA sabermetrician Roland Beech to head up their analytics department.
- Colton Iverson officially signed with the Turkish team Pinar Karsiyaka.
- Joel Embiid underwent a second surgery on his right foot and he is expected to miss the entire 2015/16 season.
- The NBA officially announced that Kiki Vandeweghe has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations for the league.
- The Rockets hired Matt Brase as the coach of Rio Grande Valley Vipers, their D-League affiliate.
- The Bulls hired Toni Kukoc as a special adviser to president and COO Michael Reinsdorf.
- Will Bynum agreed to re-sign with the Guangdong Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association.
- Warriors 2015 first-rounder Kevon Looney underwent surgery on his right hip and is expected to miss a minimum of four to six months.
Wolves, Blazers Explored ‘Major’ Trade
Sources have informed Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter links) that the Blazers and Wolves had talks regarding what Bonnell termed, “a major deal,” though the discussions ended without any deal being struck. Bonnell also noted that the discussions were salary cap room driven, though he didn’t specify which players may have been involved, nor which team initiated the talks. The Trail Blazers currently have just $48,304,966 in guaranteed salary on the books for 2015/16, while the Timberwolves are over the $70MM salary cap with a total of $73,620,533 in guaranteed salary committed for next season, so it stands to reason that Minnesota was the franchise looking to shed some payroll, though that is merely my speculation.
The Wolves currently have a roster count of 17, including 16 players possessing fully guaranteed pacts, while Portland currently has 17 players on its roster, 12 of whom have fully guaranteed contracts. One aspect that could have made facilitating a trade easier is that almost all of Minnesota’s roster is eligible to be traded immediately since the franchise wasn’t especially active on the free agent market this offseason. Players who sign in the summer can’t be traded until December 15th at the earliest, or for 30 days after signing if they’re a draft pick.
There have been reports relaying that the Wolves were entertaining the idea of trading Ricky Rubio, who is scheduled to earn $12.7MM this coming season. Portland wouldn’t appear to be a match for the point guard, seeing as Damian Lillard is already firmly entrenched as the starter and franchise centerpiece at the point. Lillard certainly has the ability, if not the size, to play shooting guard full time, but it’s highly doubtful that the team would look to acquire Rubio, unless a third team were to potentially get involved.
Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 8/21/15
On Thursday, the Raptors officially announced that they and center Jonas Valanciunas reached an agreement on a contract extension worth $64MM over four years. The pact also includes a player option on the fourth year. “Jonas’ contributions continue to improve with each season and we view him as a significant part of what we are building in Toronto,” Toronto GM Masai Ujiri said in the team’s press release regarding the deal.
The extension didn’t come as a surprise after Ujiri had relayed this past spring that Valanciunas was “a huge part of our team” for the future. Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun had reported in early July that the Raptors planned to work toward extensions with both Valanciunas and Terrence Ross, though the team’s front office has seemed to be especially enamored with Valanciunas, and they seemed to blame the team’s coaching staff for the slow development in the center’s game. The Raptors and head coach Dwane Casey overhauled the team’s group of assistant coaches this offseason, bringing in Rex Kalamian, Andy Greer and Jerry Stackhouse to hopefully hasten Valaciunas’ development along.
Valanciunas’ $60MM deal makes him one of the league’s most highly paid big men, eclipsing the $12MM a year that Nikola Vucevic snagged on the extension he signed with the Magic this past fall. Enes Kanter came away with a max deal of about $70MM this summer as the salary structure of the NBA continues to change in advance of the projected leaps in the salary cap. This brings me to today’s topic: What are your thoughts on Jonas Valanciunas’ extension with the Raptors?
Do you feel that a $15MM annual salary is in line with Valanciunas’ production and potential? With salaries expected to jump dramatically on deals signed beginning next Summer, will this pact be looked at as a bargain in a few short seasons, or a bust? Whatever your feelings are on the matter, we want to hear them. Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions. 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.
Spurs Remain Interested In Rasual Butler
The Spurs continue to show interest in signing unrestricted free agent forward Rasual Butler, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops reports (via Twitter). San Antonio’s interest in the veteran was first noted by Jason Quick of The Oregonian back in early July. Butler has also reportedly garnered attention this Summer from the Warriors and the Trail Blazers, and Portland was even said to have made a contract offer to the 36-year-old, though Butler was in no hurry to sign at the time.
San Antonio has in excess of $85MM in guaranteed salary already committed for the 2015/16 campaign, which includes 13 players inked to guaranteed contracts, as our roster count for the team illustrates. The Spurs, who are over both the salary cap and luxury tax line, can offer Butler no more than the veteran’s minimum salary. Whether or not that sum would be enough to entice Butler to play in Texas remains to be seen, but certainly the lure of joining a solid organization like the Spurs should hold some level of appeal. San Antonio already has starter Kawhi Leonard to man the three spot, as well as Kyle Anderson and Reggie Williams on the depth chart as reserves.
Butler, a 13-year NBA veteran, averaged 7.7 points and 2.6 rebounds in 75 appearances with the Wizards last season. His career numbers are 7.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 0.8 assists to go along with a slash line of .402/.363/.749.
Poll: 2003 NBA Draft Take Two (Pick No. 1)
Drafting players is far from an exact science, and many a GM has been second-guessed for his draft night decisions. I’m willing to bet that every team executive has at least one pick that he would like a mulligan for. While life, and the NBA, doesn’t allow for such opportunities, we at Hoops Rumors decided it would be fun to give our readers a second take at picking players, complete with the benefit of hindsight.
Over the last two weeks our readers went back and revised history with their take on the 2013 NBA Draft lottery. The final results of those 14 picks were:
- Cavaliers: Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Magic: Victor Oladipo
- Wizards: Nerlens Noel
- Hornets: Rudy Gobert
- Suns: Michael Carter-Williams
- 76ers: Ben McLemore
- Kings: Mason Plumlee
- Pistons: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
- Jazz: Dennis Schröder
- Trail Blazers: Allen Crabbe
- 76ers: Shabazz Muhammad
- Thunder: Gorgui Dieng
- Celtics: Kelly Olynyk
- Wolves: Tim Hardaway Jr.
We now take a journey back to June of 2003, and revisit a draft that saw the likes of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh available to potentially change the fortunes of a few struggling franchises. Wade was the first of that group to win an NBA championship, though James and Bosh would later join him in Miami and go on to win multiple titles together years later, while Melo is still seeking his first trip to the NBA Finals. Detroit, which owned the No. 2 overall pick that season, chose to go with Darko Milicic, which didn’t work out so well for the Pistons. Not all picks pan out, but that one is especially painful given the talent that the Pistons passed over to select the big man, who owns career averages of 6.0 points and 4.2 rebounds, and has been out of the NBA since making a single appearance for the Celtics back in 2012/13.
We begin our revisionist history with the Cavaliers, who owned the first overall pick courtesy of their 2002/03 record of 17-65. While it was tempting to begin this draft with pick No. 2, and simply assume that LeBron would be the first overall choice, I decided to leave the fate of the Cavs’ franchise in your hands. Readers, you are now on the clock! Cast your vote for Cleveland’s pick and check back Saturday afternoon for the results, as well as to cast your vote for who the Pistons will select with the No. 2 overall pick that they had acquired from Memphis. Will it be Milicic once again, or will you decide to right that wrong?
But don’t limit yourself to a simple button click. Take to the comments section below and share your thoughts on the No. 1 overall pick and why you voted the way that you did. Also, if you DIDN’T vote for LeBron with this selection, I’d especially like to hear your thoughts as to why.
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Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Johnson, Crawford
Sixers center Joel Embiid underwent a second surgical procedure on his injured right foot this week, and he is expected to miss the entire 2015/16 campaign as a result. While the news that the 2014 No. 3 overall pick will miss his second consecutive campaign is bad enough, there’s also a strong chance that Embiid will also miss the beginning of the 2016/17 season, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (video link), with a hat tip to Chris Walder of TheScore.com.
“Talking to my sources, they want to see him return around October – not this October, but the next October, for that season,” Pompey said. “And he may not even return for the start of that season. He may miss a couple games. But that’s their goal.”
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- The Raptors will miss Amir Johnson ‘s intangibles and hustle this season, with the forward having signed a two-year, $24MM pact with the Celtics this offseason, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. “He went from a role player to a very big piece of what we were doing,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of his former player. “He became the core of what we were doing in Toronto. We went from a young, up and coming team to grow. We’ll miss his leadership, his toughness. He has a quiet toughness about him that we will miss with our team.”
- The Knicks reportedly have interest in acquiring Jamal Crawford from the Clippers, and Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders believes that landing Crawford would take additional pressure off of Carmelo Anthony on the perimeter and also provide good spacing for the entire Knicks offense overall. Greene also notes that trading for the guard wouldn’t have a negative impact on the Knicks’ salary cap since Crawford is in the final season of his current deal.
Heat Sign Corey Hawkins
3:53pm: The deal is official, the Heat announced.
3:35pm: The Heat are poised to sign undrafted shooting guard Corey Hawkins, reports Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel (Twitter links). The 24-year-old son of former NBA player Hersey Hawkins averaged more than 20 points per game two out of his last three seasons at UC Davis and won this year’s Big West Player of the Year award, as Winderman notes. The terms of Hawkins’ deal are the same as Keith Benson‘s, who inked a non-guaranteed training camp pact with Miami earlier this month, Winderman tweets.
Hawkins will compete for one of ostensibly two open spots on the regular season roster for Miami, which is carrying 12 fully guaranteed salaries plus Hassan Whiteside‘s partially guaranteed deal, one that the Heat will almost certain keep.
The 6’3″ guard spent his freshman season at Arizona State, then transferred to UC-Davis, where he spent his remaining three collegiate campaigns. Hawkins’ career averages are 15.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists to go along with a shooting line of .468/.406/.802.
Raptors Sign Shannon Scott For Camp
AUGUST 21ST, 3:07pm: The deal is official, the team announced (Twitter link).
AUGUST 6TH, 10:54am: The Raptors and undrafted Ohio State point guard Shannon Scott have agreed to a partially guaranteed deal, a league source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). It’ll have to be for the minimum salary, since that’s all Toronto has left to give to outside free agents. The level of the guarantee isn’t immediately clear, but the Raptors gave camp invitees Michale Kyser and Axel Toupane matching $25K guarantees on their deals earlier this summer, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.
Scott played for the Spurs summer league team that won the title in Las Vegas, and he also saw action for San Antonio’s squad at the Salt Lake City summer league, averaging 5.3 points and 2.4 assists in 22.6 minutes per game over nine total appearances. The 6’2″ 22-year-old was a full-time starter only in his senior season at Ohio State, averaging 8.5 PPG, 5.9 APG and 2.4 turnovers in 30.5 MPG this past season.
The Raptors are setting up a battle for their final regular season roster spot, as they’ve been carrying 14 fully guaranteed salaries plus partial guarantees for Kyser, Toupane and Ronald Roberts. Scott joins that group, one in which Roberts would seem to have a slight financial edge with a $75K partial guarantee. Point guards Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph and Delon Wright are among those 14 Raptors with full guarantees, so Scott faces an uphill battle, notes former Nets executive Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Toronto isn’t obligated to carry more than 13 players into the regular season, so it would seem Scott, Kyser, Toupane and Roberts are all strong candidates to end up with Raptors 905, Toronto’s new one-to-one D-League affiliate. The Raptors organization can claim the D-League rights to as many as four of the players it cuts at the end of the preseason.
If the Raptors carry a 15th man on opening night, who do you think should get the nod? Leave a comment to let us know.
Wizards Notes: Temple, Oubre, Camp Deals
The summer has been relatively quiet for the Wizards, with the trade for Jared Dudley and the Alan Anderson signing perhaps the team’s most significant moves. Washington is hoping it’s a different story a year from now, with native son Kevin Durant poised to hit free agency. While we wait to see how that storyline develops, see the latest from the nation’s capital:
- Jazz coach Quin Snyder, and not the Utah front office, is the party that expressed interest in Wizards guard Garrett Temple, according to a source who spoke with J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic (Twitter link). The Wizards don’t appear eager to trade Temple, and it seems unlikely he’ll be changing teams, Michael tweets.
- Kelly Oubre intrigued the Hornets and the Heat, who had this year’s ninth and 10th picks, respectively, and the Celtics and Rockets tried to move up to draft him, reports Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Ulimately, the Wizards came up with the package the Hawks accepted for the No. 15 overall pick, allowing Washington to come away with the small forward from Kansas. Deveney chronicles the struggle Oubre’s family faced in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which forced them from their home in New Orleans 10 years ago.
- The Wizards aren’t offering partial guarantees with their training camp invitations, Michael writes in a separate piece, and that was a factor in the decision undrafted Maryland shooting guard Dez Wells made to turn down an offer from the Wizards for a deal with the Thunder instead, Michael adds.
Unusual Timing Marks Jonas Valanciunas Deal
That the Raptors signed Jonas Valanciunas to an extension was no surprise, and the deal’s $16MM average annual value, while high compared to the salaries that other, similarly skilled centers are making, isn’t causing too much of a stir in an increasingly lucrative market for player salaries. Perhaps the most eye-catching element of the extension is its timing.
The Valanciunas deal, while pricey, is for far less than the projected $20.4MM maximum for players with his level of experience next season, when the extension would kick in. That puts it in the minority among rookie scale extensions signed prior to October, the last month of the annual window for these extensions that opens at the end of the July Moratorium and closes on Halloween. This year, October 31st falls on a Saturday, so the deadline is November 2nd.
Seven of the 12 rookie scale extensions signed in July, August or September since the 2011 collective bargaining agreement went into place have been for the maximum salary. Serge Ibaka was the first to sign an early extension for less than the max, taking about $49MM over four years when he inked his extension in August 2012. Trouble has befallen the others to follow in his footsteps, however. Larry Sanders was out of the league less than a season into the four-year, $44MM extension he signed with the Bucks in August 2013, and the Morris twins, who signed their extensions with the Suns last September, have become disgruntled over the trade that sent Marcus Morris to the Pistons.
The Raptors no doubt envision a better outcome with Valanciunas, but the more significant aspect of the timing of their deal is Toronto’s forfeiture of the chance to see if the center would take less with the deadline bearing down on him. The pressure of final-hour negotiations may well have caused the Raptors to blink instead, but it’s clear from the willingness of the sides to act now that both team and player are satisfied with the $64MM figure.
Here’s a look at the max extensions signed in July, August or September under the current collective bargaining agreement. Note that these include extensions in which players made concessions pursuant to the Derrick Rose rule that prevented them from seeing the 30% max, as was the case with the Pacers and Paul George. As long as the deal was worth at least the 25% max, it’s listed here:
- Anthony Davis, Pelicans — July 9th, 2015
- Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers — July 9th, 2015
- Kyrie Irving, Cavaliers — July 10th, 2014
- DeMarcus Cousins, Kings — September 30th, 2013
- Paul George, Pacers — September 25th, 2013
- John Wall, Wizards — July 31st, 2013
- Blake Griffin, Clippers — July 11th, 2012
Here are the non-max early rookie scale extensions over that same timeframe:
- Jonas Valanciunas, Raptors — August 20th, 2015 (four years, $64MM)
- Marcus Morris, Suns — September 28th, 2014 (four years, $20MM)
- Markieff Morris, Suns — September 28th, 2014 (four years, $32MM)
- Larry Sanders, Bucks — August 20th, 2013 (four years, $44MM)
- Serge Ibaka, Thunder — August 18th, 2012 (four years, $49.2MM)
The RealGM transactions log was used in the creation of this post.
Do you think the terms of the Valanciunas extension would have been different if he and the Raptors had waited until the deadline in the fall? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.