Pacific Notes: Beverley, Len, Thompson
After years counterbalancing James Harden‘s offensive presence in Houston, Patrick Beverley will step into a larger role as Chris Paul‘s replacement with the Clippers, James Blancarte of Basketball Insiders writes.
Not only has the veteran guard embraced the trade to the Clippers, he asked for the change of scenery. Now the 29-year-old will get a chance to showcase what he’s capable of above and beyond his reputation as a tenacious perimeter defender.
While Beverley will have big shoes to fill even on the defensive side of the ball – Paul was the only player that ranked higher than him in defensive real plus minus – he brings leadership qualities that should help the Clippers franchise in the midst of a critical transition.
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Still without a contract for the 2017/18 season, restricted Suns free agent Alex Len has opted out of playing with the Ukrainian national team in FIBA EuroBasket this summer, international basketball reporter David Pick tweets.
- There have been no shortage of trade rumors involving Warriors guard Klay Thompson. Anthony Slater of The Athletic (subscription required) explains why he believes they’ll only continue.
- Healthy after suffering an ankle injury, Warriors center Zaza Pachulia will suit up for his native Georgia in FIBA EuroBasket, Stavros Barbarousis of EuroHoops writes.
- A handful of Pacific Division rotation players could make names for themselves as sleepers this season, David Yapkowitz of Basketball Insiders writes, including Lakers forward Larry Nance Jr. and recently acquired Clippers big man Montrezl Harrell.
Cavs, Celtics Made Contact Regarding Trade
7:00pm: The Cavs and Celtics started to engage each other on a solution today, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN writes. Wojnarowski adds that the Cavs are no longer looking for Boston’s top young players (Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown had been previously mentioned) or significant draft picks. League sources tell Wojnarowski that a late first-round pick or second-round pick could suffice.
5:00pm: While the prevailing narrative throughout the NBA world this week has been about the Cavaliers supposedly seeking to renegotiate the Kyrie Irving trade, Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald points out that the two sides haven’t actually spoken about it following Cleveland’s medical examination of Isaiah Thomas‘ now famous hip.
The Cavs have until Thursday morning to void the deal if the two clubs don’t decide to mutually extend that deadline.
Per A. Sherrod Blakely of CSN New England, the Cavaliers don’t believe that they were duped by Danny Ainge and the C’s, just that the two clubs interpreted Thomas’ prognosis differently.
Even if the Cavs did look for additional compensation after the fact, Chris Forsberg of ESPN writes that he believes Boston should stand pat lest something as seemingly trivial as a late pick turn into a sleeper star or potentially facilitate a trade for a superstar.
Sean Deveney of The Sporting News echoes Forsberg’s sentiments, albeit for slightly different reasons. Since the Cavaliers knew as much about Thomas’ hip as the Celtics did, Boston caving to retroactive concerns about a trade would set a bad precedent.
Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders does a good job of shining light on the conundrum from Cleveland’s perspective and points out that NBA circles tend to agree that the Celtics would agree to more compensation.
Kyler highlights the fact that the Cavs were clearly looking for veteran players who could help them contend this season. If Thomas isn’t able to perform at a high level come the second half of the 2017/18 season, he isn’t exactly the “win-now” player the team sought from the get-go when Irving requested his trade.
What’s more, an injured Thomas would represent $6MM of luxury taxed money and limit Cleveland’s roster flexibility.
Again, while fans and scribes can discuss the details and general ethics of a hypothetical renegotiation, it’s worth pointing out that the Cavs haven’t actually contacted Ainge about doing so.
If they still haven’t by 10:00 AM CST Thursday, the trade will officially be in the books.
Jared Cunningham To Play In Germany
Former first-round pick Jared Cunningham is headed to Germany for the 2017/18 season, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando details. Cunningham has signed a one-year contract with Bayern Munich, the team confirmed (via Twitter).
Cunningham, 26, was the 24th overall pick in the 2012 draft, but had trouble sticking with an NBA team. From 2012 to 2016, the former Oregon State shooting guard played in just 84 total regular season contests, but spent time with six NBA teams, appearing in games for the Mavericks, Hawks, Kings, Clippers, Cavaliers, and Bucks.
Althought Cunningham failed to make an impact in the NBA, his G League averages (17.2 PPG, 3.7 APG, 3.2 RPG in 69 games) were solid, and he posted big numbers for Jiangsu Tongxi in Chinese League play last season (34.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 2.2 APG in 31 games).
Cunningham will join a growing list of former NBA players who will play overseas in 2017/18, as we detailed earlier this month.
Trey Burke, 15 Other FAs Attend Bucks’ Mini-Camp
The Bucks are hosting a free agent mini-camp on Tuesday and Wednesday this week as they look to fill out their training camp roster and identify candidates to play for their G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, according to Matt Velazquez of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The mini-camp, which will give the club a chance to evaluate possible camp invitees, includes a handful of notable names among its 16 participants.
Former lottery picks Trey Burke and Hasheem Thabeet are among the first-rounders who will be in attendance at the mini-camp, as Velazquez details. MarShon Brooks, Toney Douglas, Archie Goodwin, R.J. Hunter, John Jenkins, Perry Jones, and James Young are also set to get a look from the Bucks.
The Bucks don’t have a ton of flexibility to add more players to their offseason roster, having already locked up 16 players to NBA deals and two more to two-way contracts. That leaves just a pair of openings on the team’s 20-man training camp roster. Still, two of those roster players – Gary Payton II and JeQuan Lewis – are on non-guaranteed contracts, so Milwaukee has some flexibility if it wants to make changes at the back of its roster.
In addition to the players listed above, the following free agents are attending the Bucks’ mini-camp, per Velazquez: Cliff Alexander, Gracin Bakumanya, Trahson Burrell, Jeremy Evans, Aaron Harrison, Luke Petrasek, and Jacob Pullen.
Any player that signs with the Bucks figures to get a minimum salary deal that is non-guaranteed or features a very modest guarantee, since the Bucks are currently slightly above the luxury tax line.
Trail Blazers Extend Neil Olshey Through 2021
The Trail Blazers have agreed to a contract extension for Neil Olshey that will keep the president of basketball operations under team control through 2021, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. According to Wojnarowski, Portland will exercise its two remaining options on Olshey’s contract to lock him up through 2020, and the two sides added an extra year to his deal on top of that.
Olshey, who has been the head of basketball operations in Portland since 2012, joined the Blazers after spending multiple seasons with the Clippers as their GM and VP of basketball ops. Since Olshey took over in Portland, the Blazers have compiled a 223-187 (.544) regular season record, earning playoff berths in four of his five seasons.
While some of Olshey’s moves in the summer of 2016 – including signing Evan Turner and extending Allen Crabbe and Meyers Leonard to lucrative long-term deals – received criticism, he has done well overall during his time with the Blazers. Olshey drafted Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum during his first two years with the franchise, and more recently acquired Jusuf Nurkic and a first-round pick in a seemingly lopsided deal with the Nuggets.
The Hawks had interest in interviewing Olshey for their GM job earlier this offseason, but were denied permission by Portland, says Wojnarowski.
According to Basketball Insiders’ data, the Blazers are carrying $124MM+ in guaranteed team salary for 2017/18 and have $114MM+ in guarantees on the books for 2018/19, even without taking a potential Nurkic extension into account. As such, Olshey will have his work cut out for him as he looks to continue building the Blazers’ roster into a title contender.
Wizards Sign Donald Sloan To One-Year Deal
AUGUST 29: The Wizards have finalized their deal with Sloan, officially signing him to a one-year contract, according to RealGM’s transactions log.
AUGUST 17: The Wizards have reached agreement on a one-year deal with free agent guard Donald Sloan, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical.
The 29-year-old played in China last season for the second time in his career. His last NBA experience was in 2015/16, when he played 61 games for the Nets, starting 33.
Sloan has been a journeyman since signing with the Hawks in 2011 after going undrafted out of Texas A&M. He played just five games for Atlanta and three for New Orleans during his rookie year and finished the season with Cleveland. He later returned to New Orleans, then spent two seasons in Indiana.
A 6’3″ combo guard, Sloan is averaging 5.5 points and 3.0 assists per game through his NBA career.
The Wizards now have 19 players under contract, one short of the maximum, with camp a little more than a month away.
Celtics Sign Ex-Hoya L.J. Peak
AUGUST 29: The Celtics have officially signed Peak, per RealGM’s log of NBA transactions.
AUGUST 28: The Celtics and rookie swingman L.J. Peak have agreed to a partially guaranteed contract, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The former Georgetown forward will likely be ticketed to Boston’s G-League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, Wojnarowski adds.
Undoubtedly, Peak would have to be make a huge impression during training camp to nab a spot on Boston’s opening-night roster. Boston now has 19 players on the roster — 14 with guaranteed deals, three more with partial guarantees and a couple of two-way contracts, as Bobby Marks of ESPN.com notes (Twitter link).
The 6’5” Peak played three seasons with the Hoyas. He averaged 16.3 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 3.5 APG last season as a junior, then went undrafted as an early entrant. He played for the Rockets’ summer-league team and averaged 7.3 PPG in 13.7 MPG in four appearances while making half of his 3-point attempts.
Celtics Sign Andrew White
AUGUST 29: The Celtics formally signed White on Monday, according to RealGM’s official NBA transactions log.
AUGUST 17: Syracuse guard Andrew White has signed a partially guaranteed one-year contract with the Celtics, tweets Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. He is probably ticketed for Boston’s G League affiliate in Maine, Himmelsbach adds.
The signing was confirmed to Mike Waters of Syracuse.com by White’s agent, Adie von Gontard.
At 6’7″, White was the leading scorer for the Orange last season at 17.4 points per game, while setting a school record for 3-pointers with 112. He played for the Cavaliers during summer league.
NBA Draft Rights Held: Central Division
When top college prospects like Markelle Fultz or Lonzo Ball are drafted, there’s virtually no doubt that their next step will involve signing an NBA contract. However, that’s not the case for every player who is selected in the NBA draft, particularly for international prospects and second-round picks.
When an NBA team uses a draft pick on a player, it gains his NBA rights, but that doesn’t mean the player will sign an NBA contract right away. International prospects will often remain with their professional team overseas for at least one more year to develop their game further, becoming “draft-and-stash” prospects. Nikola Mirotic, Dario Saric, and Bogdan Bogdanovic are among the more notable players to fit this bill in recent years.
However, draft-and-stash players can be former NCAA standouts too. Sometimes a college prospect selected with a late second round pick will end up playing overseas or in the G League for a year or two if there’s no space available on his NBA team’s 15-man roster.
While these players sometimes make their way to their NBA teams, others never do. Many clubs around the NBA currently hold the rights to international players who have remained overseas for their entire professional careers and are no longer viewed as top prospects. Those players may never come stateside, but there’s often no reason for NBA teams to renounce their rights — those rights can sometimes be used as placeholders in trades.
For instance, earlier this summer, the Pacers and Raptors agreed to a trade that sent Cory Joseph to Indiana. Toronto was happy to move Joseph’s salary and didn’t necessarily need anything in return, but the Pacers had to send something in the deal. Rather than including an NBA player or a draft pick, Indiana sent Toronto the draft rights to Emir Preldzic, the 57th overall pick in the 2009 draft.
Preldzic is currently playing for Galatasaray in Turkey, and at this point appears unlikely to ever come to the NBA, but his draft rights have been a useful trade chip over the years — the Pacers/Raptors swap represented the fourth time since 2010 that Preldzic’s NBA rights have been included in a trade.
Over the next several days, we’re taking a closer look at the players whose draft rights NBA teams currently hold, sorting them by division. These players may eventually arrive in America and join their respective NBA teams, but many will end up like Preldzic, plying their trade overseas and having their draft rights used as pawns in NBA trades.
Here’s a breakdown of the draft rights held by Central teams:
Chicago Bulls
- Albert Miralles, C (2004; No. 39): Last played in Spain.
- Milovan Rakovic, C (2007; No. 60): Last played in Spain.
- Tadija Dragicevic, F (2008: No. 53): Last played in Greece.
Cleveland Cavaliers
- Vladimir Veremeenko, F (2006; No. 48): Last played in Germany.
- Ejike Ugboaja, F (2006: No. 55): Retired.
- Edin Bavcic, F/C (2006; No. 56): Playing in Austria.
- Sergiy Gladyr, G (2009; No. 49): Playing in Monaco.
- Milan Macvan, F (2011; No. 54): Playing in Germany.
- Chukwudiebere Maduabum, F/C (2011; No. 56): Last played in Japan.
- Ilkan Karaman, F (2012: No. 57): Playing in Turkey.
- Sir’Dominic Pointer, G/F (2015; No. 53): Last played in Israel.
- Arturas Gudaitis, C (2015; No. 47): Playing in Italy.
Detroit Pistons
- None
Indiana Pacers
- Andrew Betts, C (1998; No. 50): Retired.
Milwaukee Bucks
- Andrei Fetisov, F (1994; No. 36): Retired.
- Eurelijus Zukauskas, C (1995; No. 54): Retired.
Previously:
Information from Mark Porcaro and Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.
Jared Sullinger Works Out For Nets
After a photo showing Jared Sullinger wearing Nets gear surfaced on social media, agent David Falk informed Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News that his client is “exploring the opportunity” of signing with Brooklyn. Per NetsDaily (Twitter link), Sullinger was in Brooklyn for a workout with the Nets.
Sullinger, a first-round pick in 2012, was a solid rebounder and scorer for the Celtics during his first four NBA seasons, averaging 11.1 PPG and 7.7 RPG over the course of his time in Boston. However, after he signed with the Raptors for the 2016/17 campaign, his season was derailed by injuries — the big man appeared in just 11 games for Toronto and was ineffective in limited minutes.
If Sullinger is healthy and his weigh isn’t an issue, he’d be an intriguing addition to the Nets’ frontcourt. The five-year veteran is still just 25 years old, and Brooklyn could use some help up front after trading away Brook Lopez, Andrew Nicholson, and Justin Hamilton in various deals this summer. The club acquired Timofey Mozgov and drafted Jarrett Allen, but adding some depth behind Trevor Booker at power forward would make sense.
Currently, the Nets have 18 players under contract, but two of those players are on two-way contracts and three others have non-guaranteed deals. That leaves two potential spots available on the club’s 15-man roster — Spencer Dinwiddie is a good bet to grab one of those spots, but the other remains open for someone like Sullinger.