Eastern Notes: Noah, Butler, Beal
The Wizards have interest in adding Joakim Noah in free agency and it was reported on Friday that the team may be willing to offer Noah a maximum-salary contract. However, a league source tells J.Michael of Comcast Sportsnet (Twitter links) that the team will not be offering him the max, calling the rumor “absolutely ridiculous.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Bradley Beal will not participate in the Olympic games this summer, as he explains on his Twitter Feed. Beal only appeared in 55 games for the Wizards this past season due to an injury to his right fibula.
- The Bulls received several proposals for Jimmy Butler on draft night including the Celtics‘ package of Jae Crowder, the No. 3 pick and the No. 16 pick for the All-Star, sources tell K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
- The Raptors had Jakob Poeltl higher on their draft board than roughly half of the prospects whom were selected ahead of him, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets. Toronto selected Poeltl with the No.9 pick in Thursday’s draft, meaning the team presumably had the center within its top-5.
Multiple Teams Interested In Lance Thomas
The Knicks would like to bring back Lance Thomas with team president Phil Jackson going so far as to say he expects to re-sign the 28-year-old, Ian Begley of ESPN.com passes along (ESPN Now link). New York won’t be the only team vying for his services, as the Thunder, Nets and Mavericks are all expected to have interested in the combo forward, sources tell Begley.
Thomas arrived in New York as part of the 2015 three-way deal that sent J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cavs. The team waived him just days after the trade before signing him to a pair of 10-day contracts and then a minimum-salary deal during the 2014/15 campaign. Thomas then re-signed with New York on a one-year, $1.65MM deal last offseason. He’s in line for a hefty raise on that figure and Begley notes that he’ll likely benefit from the historic salary cap increase.
Thomas established his 3-point shot this past season, making 40.4% of his attempts from long-range. He also sported a career high 10.4 player efficiency rating.
Darrell Arthur Won’t Exercise Player Option
Darrell Arthur has declined to pick up his player option, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders relays via Twitter. Arthur was set to make slightly over $2.94MM during the 2016/17 season, but he will hit free agency instead.
The power forward previously indicated that he would like to remain with the Nuggets regardless of whether or not he opted to turn down his option. Arthur should have a few suitors looking to bring him aboard, as he received strong interest from other teams at this past season’s trade deadline.
Arthur appeared in 70 games for Denver during the 2015/16 campaign, accumulating 7.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game while shooting 45.2% from the field. The 28-year-old ranked 26th in the league among power forwards in ESPN’s Real Plus/Minus.
Pistons Shopping Jodie Meeks
The Pistons are continuing to shop Jodie Meeks in an attempt to find him a new team, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link). Keith Langlois of NBA.com reported last month that odds were 50-50 whether the team was going to keep the shooting guard on the roster.
Adding Meeks was one of Stan Van Gundy’s first moves as the team’s president of basketball operations during the 2014 offseason, but the signing just hasn’t worked out. The Kentucky product has missed 101 regular season games due to various injuries since coming to Detroit.
In the 63 games that Meeks was able to play, he averaged 10.9 points and 0.9 steals per game while shooting 35.3% from downtown. Meeks’ availability on the trade market is likely due to a combination of his lack of durability, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s emergence as a legitimate two-way player, and Van Gundy’s propensity to play shorter rotations. The 28-year-old has one season and $6.54MM left on his contract.
Sixers, Shawn Long Agree To Deal
The Sixers have come to an agreement with Shawn Long, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The deal is partially guaranteed and will cover two seasons, Pompey adds.
Long impressed the team during a workout last month. “I call him a stretch five, stretch four,” said VP of player personnel Marc Eversley after the May 16th workout. “He has the ability to go out make a shot.The other thing that he does well is that he can take you off the dribble. He utilizes a pump fake well.”
Long is an athletic center, who spent four seasons at Louisiana Lafayette. The big man tested out his jumpshot while in college, taking 2.4 shots from behind the arc per game and making 34.1% of them. He averaged 18.8 points and 12.2 rebounds last season and Jonathan Givony of Draft Express ranked him as the 29th best senior in his class.
Philadelphia was shopping both Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor leading up to Thursday’s draft, but didn’t come away with a deal for either of them. Long will have a better chance at making the regular season roster should the Sixers ship out one of their centers.
Wizards To Sign Sheldon McClellan
Shortly after the completion of Thursday night’s draft, the Wizards struck a deal to sign former University of Miami shooting guard Sheldon McClellan, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com (via Twitter). Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com reports (via Twitter) that McClellan’s deal with the Wizards will be partially guaranteed, adding that the 23-year-old turned down teams that wanted to draft-and-stash him with a second-round pick.
McClellan wasn’t the only undrafted prospect to reach a deal with the Wizards. Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (via Twitter) that Texas A&M’s Danuel House agreed to a deal with Washington, while Aldridge tweets that the team will sign former Arizona center Kaleb Tarczewski. Finally, Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post says (via Twitter) that Villanova’s Daniel Ochefu will sign with the Wizards.
While McClellan has some guaranteed money in his contract, the terms of the other deals aren’t known, so it’s not entirely clear whether Washington will bring all those players to camp in the fall, or if they’ll just play for the Wizards in Summer League games next month.
As for McClellan, he ranked 60th on Jonathan Givony’s big board at DraftExpress.com. He’s coming off a senior season in which he averaged 16.3 points per game and made 40.6% of his three-pointers for the Hurricanes.
Latest On Joakim Noah
The Wizards are expected to make a major push to sign Joakim Noah in free agency next month, sources tell Mitch Lawrence of The Sporting News. Washington’s interest in Noah was reported earlier this week.
In addition to the Wizards, at least three other teams – the Knicks, Timberwolves, and Bucks – are prepared to make offers to Noah, who is coming off an injury-shortened season, having undergone shoulder surgery earlier in the year. The Warriors are also believed to have Noah on their list of free agent targets.
One team apparently not viewed as a serious contender to sign Noah is his current team — the Bulls. An earlier report indicated that the veteran big man may want to leave Chicago, and Lawrence hears that Noah is indeed ready to move on.
Lawrence also suggests that the Wizards may be willing to offer Noah a maximum-salary contract, though that seems awfully hard to believe, given the veteran’s age, his health issues, and his modest production over the last couple seasons. J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com (Twitter link), who thinks Washington may pursue Noah, is skeptical that the club would offer him the max, as is Ben Standig of CSNMidAtlantic.com.
With the salary cap on the rise, we’ve been bracing for months for a crazy free agent period, with salaries that exceed what we would have expected. But a four-year max contract for Noah would start at $26MM+, and wouldn’t expire until he’s 35 years old. I could potentially imagine the Wizards being willing to do a maximum-salary deal for one or two years, if they’re unable to land any other top free agent targets, but even that would be a bit of a shock.
Still, according to Lawrence, multiple NBA general managers believe Noah could draw more interest than some other top big men on the market, and at least one GM thinks the longtime Bull will be very well-compensated as long as his shoulder isn’t a concern. “If teams are convinced Noah is healthy, he will get a max deal, and Washington is panicking because Nene is done and they didn’t make the playoffs last season,” the GM tells Lawrence. “They’ll overpay for Noah — they always do.”
As the Wizards prepare for free agency, they’re also reportedly ready to put a max offer on the table for Bradley Beal.
NBA Depth Charts At Roster Resource
In case you missed the big announcement from last week, Trade Rumors has purchased Roster Resource. What does this mean for our NBA coverage here at Hoops Rumors?
For starters, our updated NBA Depth Charts at Roster Resource will serve as an extension of Hoops Rumors, accurately portraying depth charts and roster information based on the latest news around the league. If Hoops Rumors reports on a transaction that affects a roster or a rumor that might affect a roster, you can bet that Roster Resource will be able to show you what that looks like “on paper” within minutes.
As of now, these depth charts include separate sections for Projected Starters, Projected Bench, Free Agents with a 2016/17 option, Restricted Free Agents, Unrestricted Free Agents, Draft Rights Retained, Free Agent Rights Retained, Projected Payroll, Estimated Max Cap Space and Transactions. In addition to basic player information, you can also view how a player was acquired by their current team, draft information (team, round, pick), 2016/17 salary and any cap holds.
While these depth charts should already give you a pretty good idea of the state of each team, we do have improvements planned and would love your feedback, whether through comments on this post, replies on Twitter, or messages through our contact form.
Enjoy the offseason!
Mavs Don’t Plan To Offer Max To Chandler Parsons
Chandler Parsons is heading for free agency after turning down his player option for 2016/17 with the Mavericks, and while Dallas has interest in bringing back the veteran forward, the team has made it clear to Parsons that it doesn’t intend to offer him a max contract, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. Parsons’ camp, meanwhile, remains confident that he’ll command a max deal on the open market.
[RELATED: Mavs prioritizing Hassan Whiteside, Mike Conley in free agency]
A report earlier this week indicated that the Mavericks’ top targets in free agency will be Hassan Whiteside and Mike Conley, and that the team would be willing to part ways with Parsons if it can acquire those two players. Dallas is willing to take the risk of Parsons reaching a deal with another team while the Mavs pursue their top targets, since Whiteside and Conley are believed to have interest in Dallas, says MacMahon.
If Parsons does leave Dallas, the Mavericks could pursue a replacement in free agency. MacMahon reports that Evan Fournier, Kent Bazemore, Evan Turner, and Marvin Williams are among the players the Mavs are looking at, assuming they have cap room to spend on a small forward. If they don’t have that spending flexibility, the Mavs wouldn’t mind having Justin Anderson taking on a larger role at the position.
As for Parsons, he will be “all ears” when potential suitors come calling in free agency, and looks forward to exploring his options, sources tell MacMahon. Despite undergoing multiple surgical procedures on his knee, Parsons has received clearance to resume basketball activities and multiple orthopedic specialists have expressed optimism that his knee trouble won’t derail or jeopardize his career.
Warriors Eyeing Horford, Noah, Batum, Others
With free agency around the corner, the Warriors are prepared to make a run at Kevin Durant, the top player on the market. However, the team has plenty of alternate targets lined up in the event that Durant isn’t interested in coming to Golden State.
Sources tell Marcus Thompson II of The Bay Area News Group that the Warriors are eyeing Al Horford, Joakim Noah, and Hassan Whiteside as possible frontcourt additions. At small forward, Nicolas Batum and Evan Turner are among the potential targets Golden State is looking at, suggesting that Durant isn’t the only player that would make the club consider replacing pending free agent Harrison Barnes.
As I discussed when I previewed the Warriors’ offseason earlier this week, the team won’t be shy about upgrading the roster via free agency or trades, having vowed to be aggressive this summer. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green aren’t going anywhere, but anyone else on the roster may be expendable for the right incoming piece, and none of Golden State’s eight free agents – including Barnes and Festus Ezeli – are locks to return.
If the team does look to make a big splash, it will have to take into account Curry’s eventual raise. Even with the salary cap on the rise, the Warriors’ roster would start to get expensive if the team signs a max free agent this summer and inks Curry to a max extension a year from now. That scenario could mean paying more than $90MM combined to Curry, Thompson, Green, and a fourth player in 2017/18, with annual raises to follow.
Still, Warriors ownership has exhibited a willingness to spend into tax territory, so they aren’t about to suddenly start playing it safe now. Golden State will certainly be a team to watch when the free agent recruiting period officially gets underway a week from today.