Cavs, Cedi Osman Have Had Initial Extension Talks
There have been conversations between Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman and agent Jeff Schwartz about a possible contract extension for Cedi Osman, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. However, Fedor cautions that those have been “just initial talks.”
As Fedor details, the Cavaliers wanted to allow Osman to focus on his World Cup commitment before more seriously exploring a potential extension. Turkey was eliminated from medal contention earlier today following a loss to the Czech Republic, so Osman’s FIBA run will come to an end once the Turkish squad finishes its classification-round play.
Osman, 24, enjoyed a breakout season for the Cavs in 2018/19, starting 75 games and averaging 13.0 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 2.6 APG with a .427/.348/.779 shooting line.
Although he’s not technically eligible for a rookie scale extension, having been a second-round pick, Osman qualifies for a veteran extension since it has been over two years since he signed his first NBA contract. Such an extension could be worth up to approximately $51MM over four years.
According to Fedor, Cleveland isn’t necessarily in any rush to extend Osman now, since he’ll be a restricted free agent next summer when the team will have a ton of salary coming off its books. Still, if the numbers discussed between the two sides make sense, the Cavs wouldn’t be averse to locking up one of their long-term building blocks sooner rather than later.
Hornets Sign Ahmed Hill To Two-Way Contract
SEPTEMBER 5: The Hornets have officially signed Hill to a two-way deal, the team confirmed today in a press release.
SEPTEMBER 4: The Hornets are signing undrafted free agent Ahmed Hill to a two-way contract, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
A 6’5″ guard out of Virginia Tech, Hill posted 13.1 PPG on .443/.391/.812 shooting in 35 games in his senior year with the Hokies. After going undrafted, he joined the Nets’ Summer League roster and appeared in six games in Las Vegas, averaging 6.8 PPG on 44.8% shooting in 18.2 minutes per contest.
As our two-way contract tracker shows, Charlotte previously filled one of its two-way slots by signing rookie forward Robert Franks, so the team won’t have any openings after officially adding Hill.
That puts No. 52 overall pick Jalen McDaniels in an interesting spot. With 17 players on standard contracts and point guard Kobi Simmons expected to join that group shortly, the Hornets will have a full 20-man offseason roster.
It’s possible that Charlotte will eventually waive a player to make room for McDaniels, but the club’s agreement with Hill could signal that the former San Diego State forward will begin his professional career overseas or on a G League contract.
World Cup Notes: Round Two, Smart, Canada, Australia
The second round is set in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, as Greece and the Czech Republic advanced to the round of 16 today, eliminating New Zealand and Turkey, respectively.
Eight teams remain undefeated after three games: Argentina and Poland (Group I), Serbia and Spain (Group J), USA and Brazil (Group K), and France and Australia (Group H).
Team USA’s second-round schedule is now set too, as Gregg Popovich‘s group will face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Greeks on Saturday morning. Monday will bring a matchup against Brazil, whose roster features current NBA players like Cristiano Felicio and Bruno Caboclo along with familiar faces such as Leandro Barbosa and Anderson Varejao.
Here’s more on the World Cup:
- A second Celtics player is dealing with a minor injury, as Marcus Smart missed Thursday’s game against Japan due to a left quad strain, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. USA Basketball had already secured its spot in the second round and Smart is listed as day-to-day, so it sounds like the club was probably just playing it safe with the veteran guard. Smart’s teammate Jayson Tatum is currently dealing with a sprained ankle.
- Although Team Canada picked up a win today over Senegal, the program had a disappointing run in the World Cup after expectations had grown, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. As Lori Ewing of The Canadian Press writes, head coach Nick Nurse thought more Canadian NBA players would be on the World Cup roster, and intends to play a bigger recruiting role going forward.
- As a result of being the last team from the Oceania region still standing in the World Cup, Australia has clinched its spot in the 2020 Olympics, as Sportando observes (via Twitter). The Boomers become the second country to claim a spot in the 12-team Olympic field, joining host nation Japan. Six more programs will secure Olympic berths in the World Cup.
Community Shootaround: The Next Pascal Siakam
Few NBA players make the sort of leap that Pascal Siakam did from his second season to his third. The former No. 27 overall pick appeared to be developing into a solid role player during his first two years in the league, but his modest numbers in 2017/18 didn’t portend the breakout that was around the corner.
Still, there were some hints leading up to the 2018/19 season that Siakam was capable of taking a big step forward. Stories surfaced in the offseason about his eye-opening summer workouts and scrimmages at UCLA, where he worked with player development coach Rico Hines and impressed stars like James Harden and Paul George.
Although a one-year ascension like Siakam’s – from solid rotation piece to borderline All-NBA candidate – may be rare, it’s worth scouring the league to see if there are candidates to make that same kind of jump in the 2019/20 season.
D.J. Foster of The Ringer explored this topic earlier in the offseason, identifying another Raptors forward, OG Anunoby, as one candidate to have a Siakam-esque breakthrough year. Foster also singled out Trail Blazers center Zach Collins, Grizzlies guard De’Anthony Melton, Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, and Kings big man Harry Giles as contenders to be “the next Siakam.”
While I like Foster’s list, I’ll add a couple more names for consideration. Spurs guard Dejounte Murray was generating the same kind of hype as Siakam leading up to the 2018/19 season, but Murray’s ascent was derailed by an ACL tear that sidelined him for the year. If he’s 100% healthy, the former 29th overall pick is still capable of making the star turn that San Antonio envisioned a year ago.
Meanwhile, in Portland, second-year guard Anfernee Simons has been the subject of buzz around the NBA in recent months. The Trail Blazers showed confidence in his ability to contribute right away when they traded away backup point guard Evan Turner this summer. Given Simons’ age (20) and the fact that Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum will handle most of the play-making responsibilities in Portland, it’s not clear if he’s ready for stardom quite yet, but the franchise clearly has high hopes for him.
What do you think? Are there any young players around the NBA who are poised for breakout seasons after flying mostly under the radar so far? Who do you think has the best chance to be 2019/20’s version of Siakam?
Head to our comment section below to share your two cents!
Southwest Notes: Gordon, Rockets, Wright, Langdon
After up-and-down stints in L.A. and New Orleans earlier in his career, Eric Gordon has found a long-term NBA home he likes in Houston. Speaking to Kelly Iko of The Athletic after signing a new four-year extension with the Rockets, Gordon explained why things have worked so well with his current team.
“There’s no perfect organization. But Houston has a good following, great fans — great city to play in,” Gordon said of the Rockets. “It makes it much easier, being on a winning team. I think since I’ve been here, we’ve never gone less than 54 wins. You definitely want to be a part of something like that, and it makes everything smoother. We’ve always had great coaches and good trainers; it makes the decision easier. Everyone wants to make the most money, but it makes it even better playing for a solid organization.”
Since arriving in Houston in 2016, Gordon has knocked down 36.4% of his three-point attempts, never topping 37.2% in a single season. However, he tells Iko that his goal for the 2019/20 season is to “shoot at a very high clip” from beyond the arc. Noting that scoring efficiently will be a priority for the Rockets this year, the veteran shooting guard said he’d love to see his three-point percentage “in the 40s.”
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights breaks down Gordon’s extension, suggesting that it should provide the Rockets with good value unless the veteran’s injury woes resurface or his game ages unexpectedly poorly. Siegel also explores the idea of a new extension for another Rocket, P.J. Tucker.
- Delon Wright‘s new contract with the Mavericks features $1.05MM annually in unlikely incentives, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon and Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Wright would earn $350K for a spot on an All-Defensive team, $350K for an All-Star nod, and another $350K if he wins the league’s Most Improved Player award.
- Although David Griffin is running the show in the Pelicans‘ front office, new general manager Trajan Langdon will play a key role too. Jim Eichenhofer of Pelicans.com takes an in-depth look at what Langdon brings to the franchise.
Warriors Sign Andrew Harrison To Camp Deal
SEPTEMBER 5: Harrison’s deal is official, per RealGM’s NBA transactions log.
AUGUST 27: The Warriors have reached an agreement with free agent guard Andrew Harrison, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that Harrison is signing a training camp contract with the team. Agent Kevin Bradbury of BDA Sports informed Wojnarowski of the deal.
Harrison, 24, has spent the last three seasons in the NBA, appearing in 145 total regular season games for the Grizzlies, Cavaliers, and Pelicans. He spent time with all three teams early in 2018/19, averaging 3.2 PPG, 1.4 APG, and 1.2 RPG in 17 contests (11.0 MPG). After being waived by New Orleans in January, he caught on with Russian club Khimki to finish the season.
A former Kentucky standout, Harrison is on track to become the 18th player under contract with the Warriors. The team is currently carrying 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts, two on non-guaranteed deals, and a pair on two-way pacts.
Because they’re right up against a hard cap, the Warriors are unlikely to retain Harrison for their regular season roster. If he doesn’t catch on with another NBA team to start the 2019/20 season, it’s possible he’ll join Golden State’s G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors.
Rockets Adjust Contracts For Ponds, McDowell-White
SEPTEMBER 5: After converting Ponds and McDowell-White to two-way contracts, the Rockets have converted them back to standard deals, according to RealGM’s official transactions log and ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
The two players appear to be back on essentially the same contracts they were before, but with one key difference, as Marks explains: The initial Exhibit 10 deals for Ponds and McDowell-White didn’t feature Exhibit 9 language, which limits a team’s liability if a player is injured in training camp or the preseason. Teams must have at least 14 players under contract to add Exhibit 9 language to an agreement, which the Rockets didn’t when they signed the duo in early July.
Without the Exhibit 9 clause, the Rockets would have had to pay either player’s salary if he suffered an injury in the preseason, up until he got healthy. As such, a season-ending injury would have forced Houston to pay the player’s entire salary, which would have compromised the team’s ability to limit its tax bill (or avoid the tax altogether). With Exhibit 9 language in place, Houston will now only be on the hook for $6K in the event of an injury.
The upshot is that Ponds and McDowell-White are back on non-guaranteed salaries and Houston’s two-way slots are once again open.
SEPTEMBER 4: The Rockets have converted the Exhibit 10 contracts for rookies Shamorie Ponds and William McDowell-White into two-way deals, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Previously, Houston had been one of just three NBA teams without a two-way player under contract.
Ponds and McDowell-White were two of the first players signed in July, as the Rockets locked them up to contracts even before the July moratorium ended. Both players suited up for Houston’s Las Vegas Summer League roster.
Ponds, a 6’1″ guard out of St. John’s, averaged 19.7 PPG, 5.1 APG, 4.1 RPG, and an impressive 2.6 SPG in 33 games during his junior year in 2018/19 before declaring for the draft as an early entrant.
McDowell-White spent the last several years playing for teams in Australia and Germany. Having started his career with the Sydney Kings in 2016, the 6’5″ Australian combo guard spent a season and a half with German club Brose Bamberg, leaving the team earlier this year to prepare for the 2019 draft.
As we explained on Tuesday, converting an Exhibit 10 contract into a two-way deal is one of a handful of options that teams have for a player on an E10 pact. I noted within that story that I expected the Rockets to have a few players compete in camp for their two-way slots, but it appears the team has made its two-way decisions well in advance of the preseason.
Could World Cup Affect Frank Ntilikina’s Future?
Generally speaking, the success of an NBA player during FIBA play has little bearing on that player’s ability to compete and prosper at the NBA level. As those in the know will readily opine, the games are different, with different rules and different styles of play.
But because NBA teams only have until October 31 to exercise their team options for first-round draft picks for the following season, the 2019 FIBA World Cup could be of the utmost importance for Knicks point guard Frank Ntilikina, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
As Bondy notes, the Knicks have to decide by Halloween whether or not to guarantee Ntilikina’s $6.18MM salary for the 2021/21 season, leaving little time for New York to assess the 21-year-old year old Frenchman in NBA action, as the season doesn’t start until October 22.
Should the Knicks not exercise the option, Ntilikina becomes an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2020, so assessing his play during the World Cup may be an avenue the Knicks’ explore while making a decision on the option.
Ntilikina has admittedly struggled to crack the Knicks’ rotation since being drafted several years ago, but it’s hard to imagine the Knicks letting him and his potential walk away next summer for nothing when the only cost for keeping him is a relatively minor cap hit at a time (summer of 2020) when there is such a dearth of talent in the free agency class.
Sterling Brown Unlikely To Accept Settlement Offer
According to Alison Dirr of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the City of Milwaukee has authorized its city attorney to offer a $400K settlement to Bucks guard Sterling Brown regarding the lawsuit he filed against the city in response to police officers using a taser on him over a parking violation last year.
However, according to The Associated Press, it’s unlikely that Brown will accept the settlement, per one of his lawyers, because the settlement offer does not include an admission of liability by the city. Per the attorney, Brown will only consider settlement offers that include such an admission.
“I fully anticipate that any settlement that doesn’t include an admission that they violated Mr. Brown’s civil rights will go nowhere,” attorney Mark Thomsen said (via Dirr). “We can’t heal in this city without that.”
It’s commonplace as a condition in most if not all civil settlement agreements for neither party to admit liability. However, given the video evidence in this case, the fact that the police chief issued an apology for the incident, and Brown’s relatively lessened need for financial compensation, it’s no surprise that Brown is adamant that the city accept legal responsibility for the incident.
Grizzlies Sign Matt Mooney To Exhibit 10 Deal
SEPTEMBER 4: The deal is now official, per a release from the team.
AUGUST 17: The Grizzlies have agreed to sign Matt Mooney to an Exhibit 10 deal, as the guard tells KeloSports. Mooney will likely end up playing for the team’s G League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle.
The 6’3″ guard helped lead Texas Tech to the National Championship game last season, though the team lost to Virginia. He’s the third member of that squad to ink an NBA contract this offseason with Jarrett Culver joining the Wolves and Tariq Owens finding himself on the Suns.
Mooney said he had been deciding between the Grizzlies and the Heat for his first deal in the NBA. He’ll join Memphis for training camp.
The Grizzlies currently have a full 20-man roster, so they’ll need to make a trade or a cut before officially signing Mooney.