Wizards Notes: Porter, Max Deals, Wall
Otto Porter re-signed with the Wizards on a massive, four-year, $106MM this offseason. Although he’ll likely remain the third option on the team—behind John Wall and Bradley Beal—owner Ted Leonsis is happy to hand the small forward that kind of deal, as he tells Michael Lee of The Vertical.
“The market spoke, I said, ‘Done,’ ” Leonsis said about Porter’s deal. “There’s not that many transformative free agents out there and a lot of teams are paying a lot of money on free agents and they’re not quite sure how it’s going to work. I felt keeping Otto, maxing Otto, was way lower risk than saying, ‘Let’s let him go and we’ll get someone in free agency.’ I get a lot of emails, a lot of tweets, ‘Cut him loose!’ Oh, really? The coach loves him, teammates love him, he’s one of the best 3-point shooters in the league. Cut him loose? No. That’s not in the plan.”
Here’s more from Washington:
- The Wizards are the first team to give out three max contracts to players who were drafted and developed by a single franchise, Michael adds in the same piece. Leonsis envisioned this feat for the organization years ago. “For us, if you articulate a strategy of, ‘We’re going to be bad and we’ll get high draft picks,’ and you realize NBA players come into their prime at 26, 27 years old, you’re hoping that this happens,” Leonsis said. “The worst thing that happens, you use a high pick, he’s a restricted free agent and you’re debating, ‘Do we want to keep him? Is he worth that?’ I said, ‘We want to be a ‘have’ team. ‘Have’ teams do whatever they want.”
- Wall and Wizards have a partnership that’s rare in today’s NBA, Chase Hughes of Comcast Sportsnet contends. Hughes argues that the point guard has a devotion to the franchise as well as the City of Washington that’s isn’t typical with the current free agency landscape. Wall recently agreed to a four-year, $170MM extension with the team.
International Notes: Fredette, Hamilton, Seraphin
After considering a possible NBA return, Jimmer Fredette will spend at least one more season in China, tweets international basketball writer David Pick. Fredette has agreed to a one-year deal in the $1.8MM range to remain with the Shanghai Sharks. The 28-year-old is coming off an MVP season in the Chinese Basketball Association, averaging 37.4 points per game, along with 7.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists.
The 10th player taken in the 2011 draft, Fredette started his career in Sacramento but never developed into the player the Kings had hoped. He also spent time with the Bulls, Pelicans and Knicks before leaving the NBA after the 2015/16 season. He reportedly turned down several 10-day offers at the end of last season.
There’s more news on the international front:
- Justin Hamilton, who was waived by the Raptors last week after being acquired in a trade with the Nets, has signed with the Beijing Ducks of the CBA, according to Orazio Carcia of Sportando. Hamilton, who was part of the deal that sent DeMarre Carroll to Brooklyn, averaged 6.9 points and 4.1 rebounds in 64 games with the Nets last season.
- Barcelona has interest in Kevin Seraphin if he isn’t retained by the Pacers, according to Dario Destri of Sportando. Seraphin’s $1,974,159 salary for next season doesn’t become guaranteed until August 1st, and the Pacers already have 14 players with guaranteed deals. He signed with Indiana last summer after spending five years with the Wizards and one with the Knicks. In his only season as a Pacer, Seraphin appeared in 49 games, averaging 4.7 points and 2.9 rebounds per night.
- Ryan Arcidiacono, a former Italian league star who spent last season with the Spurs’ affiliate in the G-League, will return to Italy with Juvecaserta, tweets Chris Reichert of 2 Ways and 10 Days. Arcidiacono was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2016 NCAA Tournament at Villanova.
Knicks To Hire Gerald Madkins as Assistant GM
The Knicks will hire Gerald Madkins as assistant GM, tweets Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times. The Kings and Bucks also expressed interest in him (Twitter link).
Madkins, 48, had been an assistant GM with the Clippers for the past two seasons. Since joining the organization in 2012, he also served as director of basketball operations and director of scouting.
Before joining the Clippers, Madkins held scouting positions with the SuperSonics and Rockets and was VP of player personnel for the Hornets.
A former NBA player, Madkins spent time with the Cavaliers and Warriors in the 1990s. He was named Continental Basketball Association Rookie of the Year in 1993.
Weekly Mailbag: 7/17/17 – 7/23/17
We have an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in this, our weekly mailbag feature. Have a question regarding player movement, the salary cap or the NBA draft? Drop us a line at HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com. Here are this week’s inquiries:
What are the chances that Kyrie Irving is traded to the Heat? And what would that trade have to look like? — Reid Parrish
Miami is one of four preferred destinations [along with San Antonio, New York and Minnesota] that Irving submitted to Cavs owner Dan Gilbert. Although Cleveland has no obligation to honor that list, it does bring the Heat into the conversation. Start with point guard Goran Dragic, whose $17MM salary for next season is close to Irving’s $18,868,625. Dragic is six years older than Irving and not on the same All-Star level, so Miami would have to sweeten the deal quite a bit. Justise Winslow is an obvious possibility, along with Josh Richardson or rookie Bam Adebayo. None of them moves the Cavs any closer to a title in what could be LeBron James‘ final season in Cleveland, so a third team would probably be necessary to get Irving to Miami.
What’s the most likely scenario for the Cavs with the turmoil going on? Will they still be strong enough to dethrone the Warriors with Irving gone? — Greg Dizon
There’s no way to tell until we know what they’re able to get back in an Irving trade, and we’re in the very early stages of that process. But this isn’t like the situation the Pacers faced with Paul George, where he was a year away from free agency and it was widely believed he plans to sign with the Lakers. Irving is under contract for two more seasons and has a player option for 2019/20. Whoever gets him will have an opportunity to keep him for the rest of his career, especially if it’s one of the teams on his list. So the Cavaliers should be able to get what they want in return, whether it’s veterans to make another run at a title or young players and picks to help them rebuild if LeBron James leaves next summer. That said, Cleveland is having an awful offseason so far, watching George and Jimmy Butler get traded elsewhere and settling for Jose Calderon and Jeff Green in free agency. With the Celtics signing Gordon Hayward, there’s no guarantee that the Cavs are headed to a fourth straight NBA Finals.
Since the end of their season, all members of the Mavericks’ front office (Mark Cuban, Donnie Nelson and Rick Carlisle) spoke of their view that Nerlens Noel was a part of their “young core,” suggesting that they would match any offer. Do you think the lack of an offer sheet has more to do with the assumption of the Mavs’ willingness to match or a true lack of interest? — Jonathan Dennis
Life is tough for restricted free agents. Most of the offer sheets they receive get matched, and teams don’t want to tie up resources on a fruitless effort in the middle of free agency. Look at what happened with the Nets and Otto Porter. They made a max offer of $106.5MM over four years on July 4th, which was a Tuesday. The offer sheet couldn’t be officially extended until the moratorium ended two days later. Despite announcing in advance that they planned to match any deal, the Wizards took almost the full 48 hours to reach an official decision, making their announcement on Saturday night. Porter then had two days to take his physical, and Washington had two days after that to send the results to the league. So the Nets didn’t have their resources freed up to complete the DeMarre Carroll deal until nine days after they made the offer to Porter. Things have slowed down now, but few teams have the cap space left to give Noel an offer that would make the Mavericks think twice. He’ll probably get a deal done soon, but he’ll have to decide if he wants to take a long-term contract on Dallas’ terms or sign for one year and try unrestricted free agency next summer.
Cavaliers Were Close To Acquiring Paul George
The Cavaliers nearly landed Paul George in a three-team deal in late June, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Dave McMenamin and Brian Windhorst.
The trade would have sent Kevin Love to Denver and Gary Harris and other assets to Indiana, but Pacers president Kevin Pritchard reportedly backed out before everything was finalized.
Prior to the draft, Cleveland made trade offers to the Pacers for George and to the Bulls for Jimmy Butler. Once the Wolves acquired Butler on draft night, the Cavs stepped up their efforts for George, with the Nuggets agreeing to send Harris and the No. 13 pick to Cleveland, which would include those assets in a deal with Indiana. However, the Pacers put the trade on hold as they talked to the Trail Blazers about a deal to acquire all three of Portland’s first-rounders in exchange for George. Both proposals eventually fell through.
The Cavs continued to work on the trade following the draft, and an agreement was reached on June 30th. All three teams tentatively okayed to the deal on a conference call, and Cleveland began targeting free agents to fit with George. However, Pritchard changed his mind and the news broke soon after that George was headed to Oklahoma City.
The failed trade was part of a tumultuous offseason for the Cavaliers, as the ESPN authors examine in a lengthy piece. Cleveland also parted ways with GM David Griffin and was unable to land Chauncey Billups, who interviewed twice as a potential replacement. The team missed out on marquee free agents and had to settle for Jose Calderon and Jeff Green. Then star guard Kyrie Irving held a meeting with owner Dan Gilbert on July 7th where he issued a request to be traded.
Irving was reportedly angry that his name had been included in offers for Butler and George, and has been unhappy for some time with how much James dominates the ball. He also believes the team defers too much to James, noting that LeBron’s friend, Randy Mims, was given a position as executive administrator and flies on the team plane, while none of Irving’s friends has a similar arrangement.
The front office and the players have been aware of Irving’s intentions for two weeks, and there is confidence in the organization that the team can get enough assets for Irving to remain a contender. The Cavs have been inundated with calls from interested teams since the story broke on Friday.
Irving’s Motivation For Trade Request Explained
Kyrie Irving‘s decision to ask for a trade isn’t a betrayal of LeBron James, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Irving is aware of the rumors that James might leave for Los Angeles when he becomes a free agent next summer. The All-Star point guard is concerned about the roster he would be left with if that happens, which he explained to team owner Dan Gilbert when they had their meeting.
Wojnarowski explains that the Cavaliers have been making personnel decisions to find players who complement James in a methodical, half-court style. Those players wouldn’t easily transition to an up-tempo approach that would make sense if Irving becomes the focal point. The team has given big-money, long-term deals to Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith, clients of Klutch Sports like James, that would clog the team’s cap space and slow a potential rebuilding project if James leave.
Irving has two seasons left on his contract, along with a player option for 2019/20. He is worried about being stuck on a non-competitive team if James is suddenly gone and has seen from this summer’s Paul George situation how difficult it can be to trade a player who is close to free agency.
So Irving decided to make his move now, which Wojnarowski notes is a way of exercising the power for NBA stars that James helped to create.
Submit Your Questions For This Weekend’s Mailbag
We at Hoops Rumors love interacting with our readers. This is why we provide an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in our mailbag feature, which is posted on Sundays.
Have a question regarding trades, 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 likely won’t 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.
Rockets Remain Top Choice For Carmelo Anthony
Kyrie Irving‘s trade request hasn’t affected Carmelo Anthony‘s desire to join the Rockets, according to Frank Isola of The New York Daily News.
The Knicks are among four teams that Irving told Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert he would like to be traded to, and there is speculation that New York will offer Anthony and a collection of draft picks in exchange for the All-Star guard. However, a source tells Isola that Anthony remains “focused on getting a deal done with Houston.”
Anthony has a no-trade clause in his contract and can block any deal that he doesn’t like. He has reportedly told Knicks management that he would waive the clause to join the Cavaliers or the Rockets, but he might change his mind about Cleveland if Irving is no longer there.
The Knicks and Rockets tried unsuccessfully to work out a deal involving Anthony earlier this month. Houston needs to unload Ryan Anderson, whom New York doesn’t want, so there was a search for a third — and possibly fourth — team to help make it work. The Knicks put a hold on trade talks after hiring Scott Perry as their new GM last week.
Southeast Notes: Brussino, Crawford, Walker, Reed
Nicolas Brussino, claimed off waivers today by the Hawks, comes with a $1.3MM cap hit, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The move leaves Atlanta with $8.6MM in cap space and 14 guaranteed contracts. The waiver claim means the Hawks will receive Brussino’s entire contract, which includes a $1.5MM salary for 2018/19 that becomes fully guaranteed on the final day of the 2018 moratorium (Twitter link).
There’s more news from the Southeast Division:
- The Hawks‘ roster for next season is nearly complete, according to Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). Atlanta still hopes to find a third point guard, and will begin that search next week.
- Jamal Crawford gave up $4MM in his buyout arrangement with the Hawks, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The Clippers sent Crawford to Atlanta in a three-team deal earlier this month, and he quickly agreed to a buyout that enabled him to sign with Minnesota. Crawford’s contract guaranteed him $14.2MM next season and $3MM for 2018/19, and Pincus says he accepted $10.9MM and $2.3MM.
- The Hornets should consider making an offer for Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving, writes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. He lists the pros and cons of offering Kemba Walker as part of a trade package, noting that Irving is a more prolific scorer, has much more playoff experience and is two years younger. However, Walker is a better defender, a proven fit with the current team and has a smaller contract. Irving is signed for nearly $18.9MM next season and more than $20MM in 2018/19, with a player option for more than $21.3MM the following season. Walker will make exactly $12MM in each of the next two years.
- It was playing time, rather than finances, that ended Willie Reed‘s stay in Miami, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Reed signed with the Clippers last week, accepting a $1.6MM veterans minimum offer. With their $4.3MM mid-level exception still available, the Heat could have offered more, but Reed wanted a guarantee of playing time, which Winderman says the Clippers were willing to provide. Miami signed Kelly Olynyk this summer and drafted Bam Adebayo, so Reed would have been in a fight for minutes with the Heat.
Marreese Speights Meets With Magic
The Magic held a face-to-face meeting with free agent center/power forward Marreese Speights, tweets international basketball writer David Pick.
Orlando, which has been looking for shooting help, could benefit from the addition of the 6’10” veteran, who played all 82 games with the Clippers last season. He shot 37% from 3-point range while averaging 8.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per night.
The Magic still have their $4.328MM room exception available and could offer Speights a nice raise from the minimum-salary deal he opted out of in L.A.
Speights spent just one season with the Clippers after joining the team as a free agent last summer. A 2008 first-round pick by the Sixers, he has also played for the Grizzlies, Cavaliers and Warriors in his nine-year career.
The meeting with Orlando comes a week after negotiations broke off with Atlanta. The Clippers are also reportedly interested in having him return.