Submit Your Questions For Hoops Rumors Mailbag
In addition to our regular weekly chat, which Chuck Myron facilitates every Wednesday, we have a second opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in our weekly mailbag feature, which is posted every Sunday.
Have a question regarding player movement, free agent rumors, the salary cap, the NBA draft, or the top storylines of the week? You can e-mail them here: hoopsrumorsmailbag@gmail.com. Feel free to send emails throughout the week, but please be mindful that we may receive a sizable number of questions and might not get to all of them.
If you missed out on any past mailbags and would like to catch up, you can view the full archives here.
Grizzlies Re-Sign Ryan Hollins
5:00pm: The signing is official, the team announced via press release.
9:48am: The Grizzlies are expected to re-sign Ryan Hollins, a source told Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The contract couldn’t be worth more than the minimum salary, and it would have to cover at least the rest of the season because Hollins already signed a pair of 10-day contracts with Memphis earlier this year. It would require a corresponding move, since Memphis is at the 15-man roster limit, unless the Grizzlies qualify for a hardship exception. It’s unclear who would get the boot, but The Commercial Appeal’s Chris Herrington wrote this week that he believed James Ennis would be the most likely cut if the team were to make a signing.
Memphis is missing centers Marc Gasol and Brandan Wright because of injury, leaving the Grizzlies thin inside, where Hollins plays. Shooting guards Jordan Adams and Tony Allen are also hurt. Gasol is done for the season, but the timetable for Wright is unclear. Allen’s situation is similarly muddled, as a sore left knee has kept him from playing since February 19th. Adams is due back soon after undergoing right knee surgery in January. The team would need four players expected to be out for at least another two weeks to merit an extra roster spot.
Hollins has been a rotation player at times for the Grizzlies this year, averaging 3.3 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11.2 minutes per game spread over 14 appearances. He was also with Memphis for the preseason, so this would be his fourth contract with the team in 2015/16. He also spent a few weeks with the Wizards in November and December. The Grizzlies kept Ennis instead of Hollins when they needed to open a roster spot in January, but a reversal of fortune could be in the works.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript
4:07pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.
3:00pm: Noteworthy buyouts that rivaled the trade deadline for significance dominated headlines over the past week, with Ty Lawson and Kevin Martin the latest major names to come available. The Heat worked financial gymnastics to sign Joe Johnson and still escape the tax, reportedly irking other teams, while Miami’s Florida rivals are looking ahead to summer free agency as they appear to be mounting a serious bid for Chandler Parsons. An ex-teammate of Parsons, Dwight Howard, has also apparently dropped some hints about where he might like to end up this summer. We can discuss all that and more in today’s chat.
Timberwolves Sign Greg Smith To 10-Day Deal
WEDNESDAY, 3:46pm: The signing is official, the team announced.
TUESDAY, 2:06pm: The Timberwolves plan to sign big man Greg Smith to a 10-day contract, a league source tells Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (Twitter link). The four-year veteran has been with the D-League affiliate of the Raptors since January, a couple of months after failing a physical that nixed his preseason contract with the Pelicans. Minnesota has an open roster spot in the wake of its buyout with Andre Miller, while talks have reportedly taken place about a buyout for Kevin Martin that would create a second roster vacancy.
It’s no surprise to see Minnesota strike a deal after interim coach Sam Mitchell complained the team was “awfully thin” up front, and while Mitchell also indicated a signing wouldn’t take place until well after today, adding a 10-day contract allows the team to preserve flexibility to sign others who might enter the market. The team also reportedly had internal discussion about signing Chris Copeland, another frontcourt player.
Smith, 25, has averaged 12.6 points and 8.0 rebounds in 28.1 minutes per game with Toronto’s D-League team, proving his health in the wake of the torpedoed deal with New Orleans. He’s shown efficiency on the boards in 131 NBA games with the Rockets and Mavs, averaging 3.4 in 12.5 minutes per game for his NBA career. The 10-day contract will pay him $59,731 and cost the Wolves $55,722. The league foots the bill for the difference.
Grizzlies Waive James Ennis
The Grizzlies have waived James Ennis, the team announced via press release. The move appears to be a precursor to a deal for the rest of the season with Ryan Hollins, who’s set to sign, according to Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. It’s tough luck for Ennis, the 50th pick in the 2013 draft, who won’t be able to participate in the playoffs for another team this season but would have been eligible for the postseason had his release come as late as Tuesday night.
Cutting Ennis gives Memphis an open spot beneath the 15-man roster limit. His deal is for the minimum salary this season and next, with no guarantee on his pay for next season, so Memphis is poised to eat only about $200K if he clears waivers. It’s a three-year contract he signed in the summer of 2014 with Miami, so only teams with trade exceptions or cap room can claim him, The Vertical’s Bobby Marks notes (Twitter link).
Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal wrote earlier this week that he believed Ennis would be the likeliest to go if the team wanted to sign someone, so today’s news proves him right. The 25-year-old Ennis totaled only 40 minutes spread over 10 appearances with the Grizzlies in the months since Memphis acquired him in the Mario Chalmers trade. He went on eight separate trips to the D-League in the meantime, racking up 16.7 points in 33.1 minutes per contest over 15 D-League games.
Ennis and agent Scott Nichols twice worked out amended terms with the Heat that helped him stay under contract prior to the trade. The changes pushed back the dates upon which salary guarantees would kick in for this season, but Ennis avoided getting cut before the end of January 7th, which locked in his full $845,059 salary.
Clippers Sign Alex Stepheson To Second 10-Day
WEDNESDAY, 12:55pm: The signing is official, the team announced via press release.
TUESDAY, 11:46am: The Clippers will sign Alex Stepheson to a second 10-day contract, as Dan Woike of the Orange County Register reports and as a source confirms to Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). The rookie power forward’s first 10-day deal expired Monday night. Woike and Turner indicate the signing is set to take place Wednesday, which would allow the contract to cover five games, against the Thunder (twice), Hawks, Mavericks and Knicks.
The deal will give Stepheson $30,888 but cost the Clippers that plus $77,220 in additional projected tax penalties. It’s a smaller price than if the team signed a veteran, but Stepheson didn’t see much action in his first 10 days with the Clippers, logging just nine minutes across two games.
The Clippers reportedly turned to him when they couldn’t find a defensive-oriented guard they liked. The 28-year-old former USC player has spent most of his career overseas. His appeal is as a rebounder, and his 13.8 boards per game in 31 appearances this season for the D-League affiliate of the Grizzlies is tops in that league by a wide margin.
Texas Notes: Miller, Ginobili, Parsons, Lawson
Spurs coach/president Gregg Popovich had no shortage of praise for new addition Andre Miller, who signed Monday with San Antonio following his buyout from the Timberwolves, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News relays. Miller is just as glad to be with the Spurs as Popovich is to have him, McDonald notes.
“He’s one of those players you look at and say, ‘Boy, I could figure out how to fit him in,’” Popovich said. “He has been such a great player for several teams, and he does the same thing (everywhere). He’s just a pro, the consummate pro.”
See more on the Spurs amid news from the Texas triangle:
- Manu Ginobili is progressing much more quickly in his recovery from a testicular injury than the Spurs thought he would, Popovich said Tuesday, as Express-News scribe Melissa Rohlin chronicles. The Spurs expected Ginobili would miss at least a month when they announced that he underwent surgery February 4th, but Tony Parker hinted Tuesday that Ginobili could return next week. It’s unclear what that means for the team’s reported pursuit of fellow wing player Kevin Martin.
- Chandler Parsons thinks he’s playing the best basketball of his career, and it’s clear that he’s moved past the early-season struggles he went through as he recovered from a knee injury that prematurely ended his playoff run last spring, as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News examines. Parsons is set to turn down his player option this summer and entertain an aggressive pitch from the Magic, as well as interest from the Rockets, Heat, Lakers, Nets, Knicks, Trail Blazers, Nuggets and possibly Thunder, but the Mavs remain the favorites for him, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com reported Tuesday.
- Ty Lawson‘s failure to produce for the Rockets was a product of lost confidence, people around the team told Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Houston waived Lawson in a buyout deal Tuesday.
Knicks Consider Tim Frazier, Ray McCallum
The Knicks are thinking about signing either Tim Frazier or Ray McCallum to a 10-day contract, reports Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter links). Each is considered a more likely candidate than Tony Wroten, with whom the Knicks met recently, Isola adds. Marc Berman of the New York Post earlier wrote that the team was eyeing McCallum, who comes off waivers from the Spurs at 4pm Central today, while The Wall Street Journal’s Chris Herring reported last month that the Knicks considered Frazier before signing Jimmer Fredette instead. New York reportedly has no plans to re-sign Fredette after his 10-day contract expires tonight.
Frazier rejoined the D-League affiliate of the Celtics last week after clearing waivers from the Trail Blazers, who cut him to accommodate their deadline-day trades. Blazers GM Neil Olshey said he told Frazier he’d be interested in re-signing him if the team was unable to add another point guard, though Portland acquired point guard Brian Roberts in one of its deadline swaps.
The 25-year-old Frazier saw just 7.8 minutes per game in 35 appearances for the Blazers this season, though he put up an impressive 5.5 assists in 21.7 minutes per game across 11 contests with the Sixers last year. Similarly, McCallum was buried on San Antonio’s bench before his release from the Spurs but made 30 starts for the Kings last season.
Central Notes: Motiejunas, Dunleavy, Hoiberg, Love
Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy denies the team simply changed its mind about trading for Donatas Motiejunas, as the power forward asserted, MLive’s Brendan Savage notes. The trade was voided when the Pistons said Motiejunas didn’t pass his physical, but Motiejunas, who returned to action this weekend for the Rockets after back trouble kept him out for nearly two months, insists he’s fine.
“We went through a very thorough process and we made the decision we made for the reasons that we thought it was too much risk,” Van Gundy said. “Look, I feel bad for him, too, because I understand his points in terms of his value and everything else. But we felt we had to make the decision we made.”
Motiejunas is set to enter restricted free agency this summer, so the next six weeks figure to be key for his market value. See more from the Central Division:
- The return of Mike Dunleavy is giving the Bulls a boost even though it isn’t reflected in the standings, writes Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com. The team was reportedly seeking an upgrade on the wing, as Goodwill notes, but Chicago didn’t make a significant move for one and has instead benefited from Dunleavy’s presence since his return from back surgery that knocked him out the first half of the season. The Bulls re-signed him to a three-year, $14.4MM deal this past summer.
- New coach Fred Hoiberg‘s message simply isn’t connecting with the Bulls, observes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. The Bulls are beset with injuries even in the wake of Dunleavy’s return, but Tuesday’s loss to the Heat dropped Chicago, which aimed for at least the conference finals, to ninth place.
- Kevin Love‘s revival following Cleveland’s coaching change was short-lived, and the max-salary signee has returned to the underwhelming performances that have marked much of his tenure with the Cavs, notes Michael Rand of the Star Tribune.
Latest On Knicks Targets
10:41am: The team won’t re-sign Fredette, league sources told Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link), not long after Berman heard the Knicks weren’t expected to bring him back (Twitter link).
12:20am: The Knicks appear unlikely to re-sign Jimmer Fredette after his 10-day contract expires at the end of Wednesday, and they’ve decided to take a pass on signing Ty Lawson, who’s poised to become a free agent in the wake of his buyout from the Rockets, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post. Lawson is nonetheless one of the team’s “possibilities” for summer free agency, Berman writes.
New York is meanwhile eyeing Ray McCallum, who’s on waivers until 4pm Central time Wednesday following his release from the Spurs, Berman adds, lending some clarity to earlier reports. The Knicks recently met with free agent Tony Wroten, as Frank Isola of the New York Daily News heard.
Fredette scored four points in a brief three-minute cameo Tuesday, just his second appearance for New York since signing February 22nd. The team has a specific interest in young players, coach Kurt Rambis said, so that would help explain the appeal of Wroten, 22, and McCallum, 24, as opposed to the 27-year-old Fredette and 28-year-old Lawson. The Knicks reportedly spoke with the Rockets about trading for Lawson before last month’s deadline, but New York’s playoff hopes have faded as they’ve lost 15 of their last 18 games. The expiration of Fredette’s deal will create a lone open roster spot, with 14 other Knicks signed through season’s end. New York has only the minimum salary to give out to free agents.