Jazz Fear Dante Exum Has Torn ACL
Point guard Dante Exum injured his left knee today while playing for the Australian National Team, and the Jazz fear that he may have torn his ACL, Jody Genessy of The Deseret Times reports (Twitter link). The injury was a non-contact one, which doesn’t necessarily bode well for a quick recovery for the second-year player. If Exum were to miss significant time, the team will be forced to rely heavily on former lottery pick Trey Burke, who was expected to be Exum’s backup. Utah also has Raul Neto and Bryce Cotton in the mix at the one spot heading into training camp.
The Jazz issued a statement regarding Exum (on Twitter), saying, “Exum suffered a left knee injury today while playing for the Australian National Team in a game against the Slovenian National Team in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Exum was initially treated on site and will now return to Salt Lake City for further medical evaluation by the Utah Jazz medical staff and official healthcare partner University of Utah Health Care.”
Exum, 20, was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. He appeared in 82 games as a rookie, including 41 starts. His numbers for the 2014/15 campaign were 4.8 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 22.2 minutes per contest. Exum’s slash line for last season was .349/.314/.625.
The injury to Exum is likely to rekindle the debate regarding whether or not NBA players under contract should be allowed by their teams to participate in National Team games during the offseason. Paul George was lost for all but six contests during the 2014/15 season after breaking his leg during a Team USA intrasquad scrimmage last Summer.
Top Free Agent Scorers Still Available
Most would probably agree that Tristan Thompson is the most prominent free agent among those still on the market, but that’s not because of his scoring ability. He averaged only 11.4 points per 36 minutes this past season, putting him well behind many others who haven’t signed yet. Thompson took on a more expansive role in the playoffs, and his per-36-minute scoring shrunk even further, to 9.5.
The former No. 4 overall pick brings plenty to the floor, but teams in need of scoring can find better options much more cheaply. Carlos Boozer leads the way. He won’t command anywhere close to the $16.8MM he saw last season in salary and amnesty payments, but the former All-Star was, by a wide margin, a better per-minute scorer than any other free agent who played in the NBA in 2014/15. He’s fielding interest from multiple teams, as Will Joseph of Hoops Rumors examined Sunday.
Here are the top 10 remaining free agents, ranked by points per 36 minutes. To qualify, the players must have averaged at least 10 minutes per game and have appeared in at least 20 contests this past season. Those who’ve committed to overseas deals aren’t included.
- Carlos Boozer (17.8)
- (tie) Michael Beasley (15.1)
- (tie) Henry Sims (15.1)
- JaVale McGee (14.9)
- A.J. Price (14.8)
- J.R. Smith (14.7)
- Ish Smith (14.6)
- Nate Robinson (14.5)
- (tie) Darrell Arthur (13.9)
- (tie) Rasual Butler (13.9)
Honorable mention:
- Austin Daye would have been next on the list, with 13.5 points per 36 minutes.
- Jason Richardson, who scored 14.9 points per 36 minutes this past season for the Sixers, would have been in the top five here, but he barely missed the qualification cut, playing only 19 games. Similarly, Sebastian Telfair averaged 14.8 points per 36 minutes but only saw action in 16 games for the Thunder.
- Alexey Shved, who signed a deal with Khimki Moscow that makes him the highest-paid overseas player, is the top scoring free agent who didn’t land an NBA deal, with a per-36-minute average of 20.4 from this past season.
Which of these free agents would you most want to see on your team? Leave a comment to tell us.
Clippers Ink Pablo Prigioni
AUGUST 4TH, 3:17pm: The signing is official, the Clippers announced.
5:41pm: The deal is a one-year, minimum salary arrangement, Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times reports (via Twitter).
JULY 22ND, 5:29pm: The Clippers and unrestricted free agent Pablo Prigioni have reached an agreement on a contract, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). The length and terms of the deal are not yet known. The veteran fills the team’s need for a solid backup to starter Chris Paul.
The 38-year-old had been sent to Denver as part of the Ty Lawson deal, and he was waived shortly after so the Nuggets could avoid paying Prigioni’s 2015/16 salary of $1,734,572, which was set to become fully guaranteed if he remained on the roster past Monday. Denver is on the hook for $440K, the amount of Prigioni’s partial guarantee.
In three NBA seasons Prigioni has averaged 3.8 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 3.0 assists to go with a slash line of .437/.398/.872.
Celtics, Corey Walden Agree To Camp Deal
AUGUST 4TH, 3:01pm: Walden has signed for two years at the minimum salary with a partial guarantee of $25K for this season, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Boston has yet to make an official announcement.
JULY 26TH, 10:14am: Corey Walden will be added the Celtics’ training camp roster, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com tweets. Considering the multitude of point guards the Celtics have on their roster, the 6’2” Walden will face very long odds in terms of making the 15-man roster.
It’s likely Walden’s deal will be a minimum salary arrangement. Boston currently has the flexibility to use cap space to sign Walden, although the team will lose that ability once it officially acquires David Lee on Monday as expected.
Walden, who went undrafted out of Eastern Kentucky, appeared in two games with the Celtics’ summer league team in Las Vegas, averaging 2.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.5 steals per game. Walden averaged 18.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists for EKU is his senior season.
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
Southwest Notes: West, Marjanovic, Ndour
David West had kept the Spurs on his radar as a potential destination for years prior to his surprising decision to sign with San Antonio last month for the minimum salary, as the power forward told WRAL-FM in Raleigh, North Carolina (audio link; transcription via Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News).
“At this point, I just want to win games,” West said. “I feel like I’m in a position to where I had a choice to make. I just chose to give myself a chance to win. The Spurs have an unbelievable culture. I just want an opportunity to be in that system and experience it and see what comes of it.”
Among those who signed new deals this summer, West will see the third greatest decline in pay this coming season compared to last. See more on the Spurs amid the latest from the Southwest Division:
- The Serbian national team said it will challenge a decision the Spurs have made to pull newly signed center Boban Marjanovic out of international competition this summer, as the Serbian Basketball Federation announced and as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia translates. Serbia provided a copy of a letter the Spurs sent informing the national squad that it had exercised its right to unilaterally withdraw the center from international play because doctors had found a congenital defect in his feet that makes them more vulnerable to breaking. Marjanovic played on a broken foot this spring to help his club team, Red Star Belgrade, win the Serbian KLS League title, as David Pick recently chronicled for Bleacher Report.
- Grantland’s Zach Lowe is willing to cautiously bet that the Rockets won’t sign rookie scale extensions with either Terrence Jones or Donatas Motiejunas out the desire for greater cap flexibility next summer. Still, Lowe sees the extension candidacy of Jones as especially fascinating (Twitter link).
- Mavs signee Maurice Ndour has a partial guarantee worth $437K on his $874,636 salary for the 2016/17 season, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reveals (Twitter link).
Kobe Bryant On Retirement, Cap, Lakers
Kobe Bryant continued to leave the door ajar for playing beyond this coming season in an interview with Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, saying that he thinks it’s a decision that he’ll need to make after this season is through and not before it. It jibes with what he said in March, when he wouldn’t rule out continuing to play but said he probably wouldn’t decide until his contract is up at season’s end.
“[GM Mitch Kupchak and I] haven’t set anything in stone and I’ve talked about it before. But could this be the last [season]? Absolutely,” Bryant said to Spears. “It’s tough to decide. It’s really tough to make those types of decisions. Players I have spoken to say, ‘Kobe, you will know.’”
The ability to tap into the rising cap next summer for a new contract will have “zero” bearing on his decision, Bryant told Spears. The 19-year veteran, who turns 37 this month, will once again make the NBA’s highest salary this season, with $25MM coming his way.
The end of his NBA career might not be the end of his time as a player, as Bryant said in response to a question that he can envision himself playing in Italy or China at some point. For now, Bryant is optimistic about the Lakers’ chances of making the playoffs and praised the team’s offseason, as Spears relays.
“They have really set themselves up for a promising future going on years.” Bryant said. “I think they drafted very well. The free agents that we picked are extremely solid, [Roy] Hibbert, [Brandon] Bass, Lou [Williams]. We have a very good mix of young and veteran leadership. The challenge is going to be blending the two and cutting down the learning curve. How quickly can we get going? How quickly can we bring up [D’Angelo] Russell, [Julius] Randle. [Jordan] Clarkson got valuable experience last year in playing that will benefit us tremendously. I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to running with these young guns.”
Hibbert was a trade acquisition, not a free agent signing, but it nonetheless seems like Bryant is on board with what the front office is doing, and it appears that Bryant’s spirit of cooperation extends to the coaching staff, too. Lakers coach Byron Scott said recently that Bryant, who turns 37 this month, will probably see time at power forward, and while Spears asked Bryant’s thoughts about playing small forward, the Mamba made it clear that position matters little to him.
Knicks Among Teams Interested In Norris Cole
The Knicks have joined the Sixers and incumbent Pelicans as teams interested in restricted free agent Norris Cole, but New Orleans seems likely to either re-sign him or match another team’s offer sheet, according to Hoops Rumors contributor Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net (Twitter link). However, New York has reportedly agreed to a deal with fellow Rich Paul client Kevin Seraphin for the apparent cost of the $2.814MM room exception, limiting the Knicks to the minimum salary if they can’t engineer a sign-and-trade.
Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops identified the Sixers as a suitor in mid-July, around the same time that John Reid of The Times Picayune heard that the Pelicans remained interested. New Orleans has only been willing to go so far, as Reid reported about a month ago, and the most recent dispatch from Scotto indicated that Cole saw the prospect of signing his $3.037MM qualifying offer as a viable option.
New York is relatively thin in the backcourt, with Langston Galloway and Jerian Grant poised to become the primary backups for Jose Calderon and Arron Afflalo. Galloway and Grant have just a half-season of NBA experience between them, while Cole was in the rotation for back-to-back champs as a member of the Heat. The Wizards, Thunder, Bucks and Cavs all reportedly had interest in trading for Cole while he was still with the Heat as the February trade deadline approached, but as a restricted free agent months after Miami sent him to the Pelicans in the three-team Goran Dragic trade, the market for him has seemed cooler.
Do you think Cole will sign an offer sheet with the Knicks, Sixers or another team, or do you think he and the Pelicans will work something out? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Latest On J.R. Smith
The Sixers earlier expressed interest in signing J.R. Smith, but that interest has faded, reports Hoops Rumors contributor Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net (Twitter link). Cleveland still wants to re-sign him and is letting the market dictate his price, Amico adds.
Smith most recently expressed a desire to play somewhere he could be a difference-maker, and while he also said he’d like to start, he mentioned the Cavs as an example of a team for which he’d be willing to come off the bench. The former Sixth Man of the Year started in most of his regular season appearances for the Cavs this past season but returned to a bench role in the playoffs. The Leon Rose client said to Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group in mid-July that he “definitely” wants to return to Cleveland, adding that while he had engaged in talks with the Blazers, that discussion didn’t go anywhere.
The Cavs have wanted Smith back on a modest one-year deal, as Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer wrote last month, and Smith had been looking for a three-year deal, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, both of whom cast a reunion between the sides as unlikely. Still, LeBron James wants him back in Cleveland.
A key stumbling block no doubt involves the exponential tax penalties that Cleveland faces with every signing. The Cavs are about $4MM above the tax threshold for now, but they still haven’t re-signed Tristan Thompson, a move they seem likely to make. A deal around the max for Thompson would mean Smith’s contract would cost the Cavs $3.75 or more in tax penalties for every dollar it’s worth. However, only the Sixers, Blazers and Jazz have the cap room available to give Smith a salary comparable to the nearly $6.4MM option he turned down in June, so Cleveland doesn’t have to worry about too many suitors.
How much do you foresee Smith ending up with in a new deal? Leave a comment to tell us.
Column: Sixers Still Not Showing Strides
Sam Amico, the founder and editor of AmicoHoops.net and a broadcast journalist for Fox Sports Ohio, will write a weekly feature for Hoops Rumors with news, rumors and insight from around the NBA. If you missed last week’s edition, click here.
At least the Philadelphia 76ers have a plan. But is it a plan that’s good for their fans and the NBA in general?
“Anybody can say they’re going to be good in five years,” one NBA coach told me. “How about winning some games?”
Sixers GM Sam Hinkie isn’t opposed to winning. He just seems OK with not winning, too.
Hinkie clearly believes you win later, and win bigger later, by losing now. It’s a theory that places success on things such as lottery picks, trade exceptions, and young players who may or may not be confused by management’s acceptance of failure.
“It’s tough enough to build a winning culture when you’re trying to win,” the opposing coach said. “So imagine what it’s like to build a winning culture when you’re OK with losing all the time.”
There was a time, and not long ago, when the Sixers were considered among the NBA’s traditional powers, right up there with the Celtics and Lakers.
“When I was a kid, they were the only three teams on television,” the coach said. “I basically thought the NBA consisted of three teams, and there were times the Sixers looked like the biggest and baddest.”
Back in the league’s golden era of the 1980s, the Sixers boasted names such as Julius Erving, Andrew Toney, Charles Barkley and Moses Malone. After some so-so years in the 1990s, they returned to the Finals behind Allen Iverson, coach Larry Brown, and a bunch of basketball scrap metal in 2001.
So it was only more recently that the Sixers became a laughingstock.
It was only recently they seemed to lose much of their fan base with promises of a process that, so far, has done nothing but gone kaput.
Since Hinkie took the reigns as GM in 2013, the Sixers have been nauseating. They lose, they look awful, they play the lottery, they compile draft picks, they make coach Brett Brown’s hair turn gray.
The idea is for the Sixers to eventually land the next LeBron James or Tim Duncan in the draft. The more likely scenario seems to be them turning into the Eastern Conference version of the Timberwolves or Kings — two teams that can’t win for losing. Or in the case of the Sixers, it’s more like can’t lose for winning.
Now, the Sixers have some nice starting points in second-year center/power forward Nerlens Noel, and perhaps rookie center/power forward Jahlil Okafor.
Noel is already among the league’s premier rim-protectors, and Okafor, the No. 3 overall draft pick, has displayed a penchant for playing with his back to the basket.
Who will actually throw these guys the ball on the block is anyone’s guess — unless the names of guards Pierre Jackson, Nik Stauskas, Isaiah Canaan or Scottie Wilbekin excite you.
You could also say the Sixers’ third-best player might be forward Carl Landry, and he’s a journeyman who may not even be around when training camp starts.
As for the other notable returnees? Well, second-year center Joel Embiid is out again with a foot injury. Early signs point to him becoming The Next Greg Oden.
That leaves the Sixers with the likes of Robert Covington, Jerami Grant, Hollis Thompson and perhaps Henry Sims, an unrestricted free agent center who may be brought back after the latest news on Embiid.
All are nice young players, but we’re not talking Dr. J, Mo Cheeks and Barkley here. Far from it. Far from anything that resembles even average basketball, in fact.
“What really is the plan?” the opposing coach asked. “Maybe it’s to keep just convincing ownership to hang on a little longer while the process plays out. But that’s not really a plan. That’s an excuse.”
Latest On Bucks, John Henson Extension Talks
AUGUST 4TH, 9:05am: The Bucks and Henson remain “on course” for an extension, several league sources tell Grantland’s Zach Lowe, who speculates that Henson will end up with eight-figure salaries.
JULY 12TH, 10:40pm: Contract extension talks are ongoing between the Bucks and center John Henson, and they appear to be gaining momentum, but no deal has been struck, Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. ESPN.com’s Marc Stein also tweets that the two sides are indeed heading toward a deal.
Henson, as Gardner points out, will be in the final year of his rookie-scale deal in the 2015/16 season but can sign an extension prior to the end of October. Henson averaged seven points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game in 67 appearances. He is expected to have an expanded role as Greg Monroe‘s backup, Gardner adds.
The Bucks regard Henson as a key part of their core, Stein tweets. In February, however, the Bucks dangled the big man in the trade market with the hope of acquiring a top point guard.