Eastern Notes: Stone, Oubre, Celtics, Bucks

Julyan Stone‘s agent is hopeful of freeing his client from a European contract so that the point guard can sign with the Hornets, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Charlotte has offered Stone a two-year deal to be its third point guard behind Kemba Walker and Michael Carter-Williams but he first must be released from the contract he signed with Reyer Venezia in the Italian pro league. Stone’s agent, Giovanni Funiciello, told Bonnell that he’s hopeful a compromise can be worked out this week so that Stone can remain in the U.S. and be close to his ailing father.

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

  • Wizards majority owner Ted Leonsis hopes that small forward Kelly Oubre develops to the point where he has to pay the 2015 first-round pick “a lot of money,” Chase Hughes of CSNMidAtlantic.com writes. Leonsis indicated that Oubre was slowed by a knee injury last season and that coach Scott Brooks believes Oubre “can be a difference maker.” The Wizards are expected to pick up Oubre’s fourth-year option for 2018/19 prior to the start of the upcoming season, setting up Oubre for a potential big payday in the summer of 2019.
  • All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas is very pleased with the Celtics’ offseason, highlighted by the free agent signing of forward Gordon Hayward, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com tweets“We added Gordon Hayward, which is an All-Star-caliber player that’s going to help us get to the next level — and that’s the championship,” Thomas told Forsberg.
  • Jordan Brady has been named the first head coach of the Bucks’ G League team, the Wisconsin Herd, the Herd announced in a press release. Brady, 34, served as an assistant coach last season for the Salt Lake City Stars, the Jazz’s affiliate. He has also been an assistant coach with three other G League organizations.

Former GM Praises Irving, Expects Trade

Former Cavaliers GM David Griffin praised All-Star guard Kyrie Irving for the way he approached his trade request during an interview on ESPN’s The Jump show.

Griffin said Irving’s decision to make the request to owner Dan Gilbert in a private meeting took “courage” and was preferable to feigning that he was happy in Cleveland.

“The absolute worst thing this guy could have done was pretend to be all-in and sink the ship from within,” Griffin said on the show. “Most guys don’t have the courage to do what he did.”  

Griffin believes Irving will be traded and that it would be better for both sides if that happens.

“I see this as him looking for a fit for himself, to take the next step in his career,” he said. “I think this is a guy who wants to know how good he can be. LeBron (James) casts a very large shadow over an organization.”

Griffin’s comments could be construed as a veiled shot at the organization, since the court of public opinion has taken Irving to task for requesting a trade from the three-time defending Eastern Conference champions. Griffin and Gilbert parted ways right before the June draft when the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement on a contract extension.

Irving’s request was made before Griffin was let go and the former GM was exploring trade options in his final days with the franchise, according to Sam Amico of Amico Hoops. A trade scenario involving the Clippers and Chris Paul was discussed, according to Amico, but those talks proved fruitless and Paul was eventually dealt to the Rockets.

Irving isn’t close to being dealt, sources told Amico.

Knicks Re-Sign Ron Baker

AUGUST 7, 6:20pm: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JULY 11, 1:52pm: Baker’s new deal with the Knicks will be worth $8.9MM over two years, with a second-year player option, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. That means New York will use its room exception – worth $8,872,400 over two years – to complete the signing, which explains why it wasn’t finalized earlier, and why the Knicks were comfortable renouncing Baker’s rights.

JULY 1, 2:03pm: Baker said today that his new contract will be a two-year deal, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News (Twitter link).

JUNE 30, 11:35pm: The Knicks have reached an agreement on a new deal with restricted free agent Ron Baker, per Ian Begley of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The details of the pact (length and amount) have not been relayed at this time.

It is doubtful that the Knicks intend for Baker or 2017 first round pick, Frank Ntilikina, to begin the season as the starter at the one, but retaining Baker was a solid move for a New York team desperately in need of talent and hustle moving forward.

In his rookie season, Baker appeared in 52 games (13 starts), averaging 4.1 PPG and 2.1 APG in 16.5 minutes per contest. The Wichita State product was one of the Knicks’ few positives this past season, showing energy, tenacity, and ability on both sides of the ball.

Wiggins Can Get Max If He’s Loyal To Wolves

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor wants assurances from Andrew Wiggins that he’s committed to the franchise and determined to improve his game before giving the high-scoring forward a max extension, according to Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press.

Taylor wants to receive those pledges in a face-to-face meeting with Wiggins, who averaged 23.6 PPG last season.

Wiggins is still working on his rookie contract and the exact amount of an extension is tied to the 2018/19 salary cap. Based on projections, a five-year, max extension for Wiggins would net him slightly under $148MM, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors recently detailed.

Wiggins’ name has popped up in trade rumors regarding Cavaliers disgruntled point guard Kyrie Irving but Taylor insists he won’t give up Wiggins in the team’s efforts to land the All-Star floor leader. The addition of All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler in a blockbuster deal with the Bulls this summer has made the Timberwolves a popular pick as the most improved team next season.

Wiggins can certainly find areas for improvement beyond his scoring average. His 35.6% shooting from long range last season was the best of his 3-year career but far from elite. He could also become a better rebounder (4.0 RPG last season), free throw shooter (76%) and defender, both man-to-man and in takeaways (1.0 SPG).

If Wiggins is maxed out, the Timberwolves will have five players on the current roster making at least $14MM for the 2018/19 season.

Three 2017 Free Agents Signed Five-Year Contracts

The NBA’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement is designed to give teams certain benefits when it comes to re-signing their own free agents. Many players who reach free agency, for instance, are permitted to get 8% annual raises from their own teams, while they can only get 5% raises from another team. More notably, Bird rights free agents can sign five-year contracts with their own teams, but can only go up to four years with other clubs.

In some cases, that extra year doesn’t make much of a difference. For instance, Gordon Hayward left Utah for Boston and signed a four-year contract with the Celtics, even though the Jazz likely would have been willing to do a five-year max.

Still, for at least a small handful of players, that five-year contract may have played a part in their decisions to return to their own teams. As our Free Agent Tracker shows, three free agents signed five-year deals this year, and all three of those contracts were worth at least $131MM. One was a maximum salary pact, and another was very close to the max.

Here are those five-year contracts, which will run through the 2021/22 season:

  • Stephen Curry (Warriors): Five years, $201,158,790 (maximum salary)
  • Blake Griffin (Clippers): Five years, $171,174,820 (fifth-year player option)
  • Jrue Holiday (Pelicans): Five years, $131,100,000 (fifth-year player option)

Curry was never a threat to leave Golden State, but Griffin and Holiday reportedly drew interest from several other teams. The Suns were believed to be eyeing Griffin, while Holiday was said to have received interest from the Mavericks, Knicks, and others. However, the fact that those players’ old teams were willing to offer five years likely made negotiations much simpler, since no rival suitor could offer that fifth year.

Although neither Griffin nor Holiday received the max from their respective teams, they’ll both earn more money over five years than any other team could have offered over four — Holiday’s deal is believed to include unlikely incentives that could increase its total value to $150MM.

Meanwhile, Griffin and Holiday also received fifth-year player options, which gives them a safety net for the summer of 2021. If they’re still playing at a high level at that point, it might make sense to opt out and sign a new, longer-term contract. If their production has slipped, or if they’re battling injuries, they’ll have the option of remaining in their current contract and collecting a big pay check in that fifth year.

The ability to offer an additional year to their own free agents hasn’t always prevented teams from losing top-tier players on the open market, but there are still a few instances where that fifth year seems to make a difference. In 2017, there may have only been a couple scenarios where that fifth year was a difference-maker, but the Clippers and Pelicans are likely happy that it remained written into the new CBA.

Knicks Sign Second-Rounder Damyean Dotson

AUGUST 7: The Knicks have officially signed Dotson, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 22: The Knicks have reached an agreement with second-round pick Damyean Dotson, tweets Ian Begley of ESPN. Dotson’s contract covers three years, with the first two fully guaranteed.

Dotson, a 3-point marksman out of Houston, was taken with the 44th selection in last month’s draft. He averaged 17.4 points per game as a senior with the Cougars and shot an impressive 44% from long distance.

The 6’5″ guard impressed Knicks officials with his performance in the Orlando Summer League, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News.

“He can really shoot the ball, he’s athletic,” said Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek. “I wasn’t quite sure how his feel for the game is but his feel for the game has been great in these scrimmages. He’s making the right passes at the right time and he’s one of those guys when he gets an open look at it you’re pretty confident he’s going to make it.”

Longest-Tenured NBA Head Coaches

The turnover in the NBA’s coaching ranks reached a high point during the 2016 offseason, when 10 teams – one-third of the league – named new permanent head coaches. Since then, however, none of the NBA’s 30 teams have made a coaching change.

The current streak without a firing is an impressive one, and is perhaps reflective of the prevailing belief that head coaches need time to find their footing — and that significant value should be placed on continuity. It’s no coincidence that many of the NBA’s most highly-regarded franchises, including the Spurs, Heat, and Mavericks, feature some of the league’s longest-tenured head coaches.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we won’t see some changes in the head coaching ranks during – or after – the 2017/18 season, but for the first time since Hoops Rumors’ inception, our annual list of the league’s longest-tenured head coaches doesn’t include any new hires.

Here are the NBA’s longest-tenured head coaches, sorted by the date they were hired:

  1. Gregg Popovich, Spurs: December 1996
  2. Erik Spoelstra, Heat: April 2008
  3. Rick Carlisle, Mavericks: May 2008
  4. Dwane Casey, Raptors: June 2011
  5. Terry Stotts, Trail Blazers: August 2012
  6. Mike Budenholzer, Hawks: May 28, 2013
  7. Steve Clifford, Hornets: May 29, 2013
  8. Doc Rivers, Clippers: June 2013
  9. Brad Stevens, Celtics: July 2013
  10. Brett Brown, Sixers: August 2013
  11. Stan Van Gundy, Pistons: May 14, 2014
  12. Steve Kerr, Warriors: May 14, 2014
  13. Quin Snyder, Jazz: June 2014
  14. Jason Kidd, Bucks: July 2014
  15. Billy Donovan, Thunder: April 2015
  16. Alvin Gentry, Pelicans: May 2015 (remained Warriors assistant through playoffs)
  17. Fred Hoiberg, Bulls: June 2, 2015
  18. Michael Malone, Nuggets: June 15, 2015
  19. Tyronn Lue, Cavaliers: January 2016
  20. Earl Watson, Suns: February 2016
  21. Kenny Atkinson, Nets: April 17, 2016 (remained Hawks assistant through Atlanta’s playoff run)
  22. Tom Thibodeau, Timberwolves: April 20, 2016
  23. Scott Brooks, Wizards: April 26, 2016
  24. Luke Walton, Lakers: April 29, 2016 (remained Warriors assistant through playoffs)
  25. Dave Joerger, Kings: May 9, 2016
  26. Nate McMillan, Pacers: May 16, 2016
  27. Frank Vogel, Magic: May 20, 2016
  28. David Fizdale, Grizzlies: May 29, 2016
  29. Mike D’Antoni, Rockets: June 1, 2016
  30. Jeff Hornacek, Knicks: June 2, 2016

Knicks Hire Craig Robinson For Front Office Job

The Knicks continue to re-shape their front office, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical, who reports that Bucks executive Craig Robinson is accepting a job with New York.

Robinson will fill multiple roles for the Knicks, working in a player development capacity, per Charania. It’s not clear exactly who Robinson will report to, but he’ll work in the club’s new-look front office under president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry.

Robinson, who served as the Bucks’ vice president of player and organizational development, played college basketball alongside Mills at Princeton from 1979 to 1981 and is the brother-in-law of former President Barack Obama.

With Phil Jackson out and Perry and Robinson in, it will be interesting to see what other changes the Knicks make to their front office this summer. Charania’s report suggests that Robinson will take over as the GM of the Westchester Knicks, New York’s G League affiliate. However, that role is currently held by Allan Houston, and Ian Begley of ESPN suggests Houston will continue to work in that position.

While Houston may not be impacted significantly by the hiring of Robinson, the future of Knicks executive Clarence Gaines – a Jackson hire – is less certain.

NBA Teams Projected To Be 2017/18 Taxpayers

In the wake of 2016’s salary cap spike, the luxury tax line was higher than ever in 2016/17, and only two teams finished the season above it. The Clippers barely crossed over into taxpayer territory, while the Cavaliers blew past that threshold and were on the hook for a big tax bill.

In 2017/18, the salary cap increase was far more modest, and as a result, it appears that several more teams will finish the season as taxpayers, surpassing this year’s $119.266MM tax line. Teams have until the end of the ’17/18 regular season to adjust team salary in an effort to get back under the tax line, but most of those clubs will have little leverage if they try to dump salary, so it won’t be easy to cut costs.

Here’s an early look at the teams likely to finish 2017/18 as taxpayers:

Cleveland Cavaliers
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $139.73MM
No team is further over the tax line than the Cavaliers, and Cleveland will also qualify as a repeat taxpayer for the first time this year, making the penalties levied against the franchise more punitive. Currently, the Cavs’ projected tax bill is approaching $70MM, which explains why the team is interested in attaching an extra contract or two to Kyrie Irving in any trade.

Golden State Warriors
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $135.36MM
Last year’s dominant Warriors team actually didn’t have one of the more expensive rosters in the league, but that will change this time around, with several players signing lucrative new deals. The biggest raise belongs to Stephen Curry, who played out the final season of a four-year, $44MM deal in 2016/17, and will now start a five-year, $200MM+ pact.

Oklahoma City Thunder
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $125.99MM
Years ago, the Thunder decided to move on from James Harden when he and the team couldn’t agree to terms on an extension that would have created luxury-tax issues for the franchise. Now, Oklahoma City has the third-highest team salary in the NBA, and a projected tax bill that will exceed $10MM.

Portland Trail Blazers
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $124.25MM
The Trail Blazers managed to slash their projected tax bill significantly a couple weeks ago when they sent Allen Crabbe to the Nets for Andrew Nicholson. Assuming they eventually waive and stretch Nicholson’s contract, as expected, the pair of transactions will save the club upwards of $40MM in tax payments alone.

Washington Wizards
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $123.54MM
Going into tax territory was necessary if the Wizards wanted to match Otto Porter‘s offer sheet from the Nets and bring him back. Fortunately for the club, John Wall‘s new super-max extension won’t go into effect until 2019/20 — his current salary is far below the 2017/18 max, which will save the Wizards from paying more exorbitant tax penalties.

Milwaukee Bucks
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $119.38MM
The Bucks currently project to be over the tax threshold by a very small amount, and I’d be surprised if the team doesn’t make every effort to trim payroll and sneak below that line before the season is over. Milwaukee isn’t a big-market team, and the opportunity to be on the receiving end of the luxury tax – rather than the paying end – will be tantalizing.

Outside of the six teams listed above, a handful of other clubs are inching dangerously close to tax territory. Among them: The Clippers, whose estimated guaranteed team salary sits about $100K below the tax threshold; the Pelicans, who are less than $1MM below the tax line; and the Rockets, who only have about $114.75MM in guarantees, but are carrying several million more dollars in non-guaranteed contracts.

Salary information from ESPN, Basketball Insiders, and HeatHoops was used in the creation of this post.

Hoops Rumors’ 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker

With the majority of 2017’s top free agents off the board, and news of contract agreements still trickling in, Hoops Rumors is here to help you keep track of which players are heading to which teams this offseason. To that end, we present our Free Agent Tracker, a feature we’ve had each year since our inception in 2012. Using our tracker, you can quickly look up deals, sorting by team, years, salary, and a handful of other variables.

A few notes on the tracker:

  • Some of the information you’ll find in the tracker will reflect reported agreements, rather than finalized deals. As signings become official, we’ll continue to update and modify the data.
  • Similarly, contract years and dollars will be based on what’s been reported to date, so in many cases those amounts will be approximations rather than official figures. Listed salaries aren’t necessarily fully guaranteed either.
  • A restricted free agent who agrees to or signs an offer sheet will be included in the tracker, but the team won’t be specified until his original club matches or passes on the offer sheet, in order to avoid confusion.
  • Two-way contracts and draft pick signings aren’t included in the tracker.
  • Click on a player’s name for our full report on his deal.
  • If you’re viewing the tracker on mobile, be sure to turn your phone sideways to see more details.

Our 2017 Free Agent Tracker can be found anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features,” and it’s also under the “Tools” menu atop the site. It will be updated throughout the offseason, so be sure to check back for the latest info. If you have any corrections, please let us know right here.

Our lists of free agents by position/type and by team break down the players who have yet to reach contract agreements.