Northwest Notes: Favors, Thunder, KAT, Nnaji
Jazz reserve center Derrick Favors didn’t need much convincing around before deciding to return to Utah, per Eric Walden of the Salt Lake City Tribune.
“I just came to the decision: ‘You know what, man? It feels better going back to Utah,’” Favors said in a Wednesday afternoon Zoom conversation. “Utah is like a second home to me — I’ve been there since I was 19, [since] around 2010. It just felt right. So once they came with the opportunity, I jumped on it.”
Favors inked a three-year, $27MM contract with the Jazz to back up All-Star center Rudy Gobert at the start of free agency. Favors previously spent 8.5 seasons with Utah before being dealt to the Pelicans last season. He averaged 9.0 PPG, 9.8 RPG, and 0.9 BPG in 24.4 MPG during the 2019/20 season.
There’s more out of the Northwest Division:
- Besides Maurice Cheeks, who already left for a job with the Bulls, Brian Keefe and Vin Bhavnani are the only Thunder assistants not returning to be part of Mark Daigneault‘s new coaching staff, notes Joe Mussatto of the Oklahoman. The Thunder previously announced Daigneault’s group, which will include former Knicks interim coach Mike Miller.
- The Timberwolves are playing a delicate balancing act, as they strive to keep star center Karl-Anthony Towns happy while taking pains to improve the team’s roster long-term, as Jim Souhan of the Minnesota Star Tribune details.
- New Nuggets rookie forward Zeke Nnaji hopes to become a lockdown defender in Denver, Sean Keeler of the Denver Post reports. “My ultimate goal is to be able to guard one through five consistently,” the 19-year-old out of Arizona said. “I want to be a lockdown defender no matter who I’m guarding. But the biggest thing right now is working on that three through five and just being versatile, no matter what role I’m playing.”
Nets Sign Second-Rounder Reggie Perry
NOVEMBER 29: Perry’s deal, a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract, will most likely be converted into a two-way contract, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets.
NOVEMBER 27: The Nets have signed rookie big man Reggie Perry, according to a team press release.
It’s uncertain whether Perry received a standard contract or two-way deal but Brooklyn does have a two-way slot open.
The 6’10” Perry was selected with the 57th overall pick in the second round. The Clippers owned that pick but traded his draft rights as part of a three-team swap that also included the Pistons.
Perry played two seasons at Mississippi State, posting career averages of 13.4 PPG, 8.6 RPG and 1.4 APG in 27.3 MPG in 65 games. He was named the SEC’s Co-Player of the Year as a sophomore.
Southeast Notes: Adebayo, Bertans, Rondo, Mane
Heat president Pat Riley said signing Bam Adebayo to an extension was an easy decision, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. At age 23, Adebayo has already become one of the league’s best big men, averaging 15.9 points, 10.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists last season while making his first All-Star appearance.
“One of the most important things a franchise can do is to make sure that your best, youngest, cornerstone players sign on the dotted line,” Riley said. “Getting Bam his extension was a no-brainer for us because we know he will be around for years to come. That’s great for the Heat, great for the fans and great for Bam.”
Adebayo will only receive a full super-max deal, paying him 30% of the salary cap, if he earns MVP honors, tweets John Hollinger of The Athletic. That figure is 28.5% if he is a first-team All-NBA selection and 27.5% if he wins Defensive Player of the Year. If none of those things happen, Adebayo will be paid 25% of the cap. Those figures are confirmed by Chiang, who adds that Adebayo’s new contract doesn’t contain any player or team options (Twitter link).
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- Re-signing Davis Bertans gives the Wizards one sure thing on a roster filled with uncertainty, states Ava Wallace of The Washington Post. Bertans developed into one of the NBA’s most dangerous three-point shooters during his first season in Washington and was rewarded with a five-year, $80MM contract. “There’d been talk from (general manager Tommy Sheppard) and the Wizards that they wanted me to stay,” Bertans said. “But until it comes to free agency, you actually get the call that the team wants you, you can’t be sure. I was happy that it wasn’t just some talk from Tommy and the whole team, that they really, really wanted me to come back.”
- Rajon Rondo‘s new contract with the Hawks includes a $750K incentive if he plays at least 33 games and the team reaches the playoffs, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.
- Karim Mane, who signed a two-way contract with the Magic on Friday, has similarities in his game to Victor Oladipo and Jrue Holiday, observes Josh Cohen of NBA.com. Mane is relentless on defense, excelling in traps, and is hard for defenders to stay in front of when he drives to the basket.
Atlantic Notes: Howard, Milton, Raptors, Konate
Dwight Howard took a major step toward repairing his reputation last season with the Lakers, and now the Sixers are giving him a chance to move even further in that direction, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. After a brilliant start to his career that included eight consecutive All-Star appearances, Howard devolved into a journeyman who is now on his sixth team in six years.
He became known as a player who was more interested in joking around than winning and had disputes with teammates and coaches along the way. But Howard showed he could still be serious by earning a roster spot after signing a non-guaranteed deal with L.A. and contributing to the team’s title run as a big man off the bench. Philadelphia is counting on a similar performance as he becomes a back-up and mentor to Joel Embiid.
“Showing him some of the things that I learned over the years, the pitfalls, the things that bring you down,” Howard said of his expected relationship with Embiid, “and also that really (elevate) you up. Not just doing that through words, really through my actions.”
- The Sixers have high expectations for Shake Milton, who moved into the starting lineup midway through last season. During a Reddit chat with fans Friday night, new team president Daryl Morey talked about the potential of the second-year guard (Twitter link from Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire). “I think the league hasn’t caught up to how good Shake can be,” Morey said. “It was one of the first things (new head coach Doc Rivers) and I spoke about after I joined — we are excited to see what he can do this year.”
- The signing of Aron Baynes should improve the Raptors’ defensive rebounding, states Blake Murphy of The Athletic. Assessing areas where the team got better and worse during the offseason, Murphy notes that Baynes has the greatest defensive rebounding impact in the league since the 2015/16 season. Alex Len, another free agent addition, grabbed 25.2% of defensive rebounds last year, which would have been the best rate on the Raptors.
- Sagaba Konate, who played for the Raptors‘ G League affiliate last year, has signed with PAOK Thessaloniki of the Greek A1 league for the rest of the season, according to Nicola Lupo of Sportando. Konate began the season with Casademont Zaragoza in Spain.
Sixers Sign Isaiah Joe To Three-Year Deal
The Sixers have signed second-round pick Isaiah Joe, according to the Real GM Transactions Page.
The former Arkansas guard inked a three-year deal with the first two seasons guaranteed for a total of $2.4MM, writes Kevin McPherson of KARK.com. The total value of the deal is nearly $4.2MM if Joe remains on the roster for 2022/23. Philadelphia completed the signing using its mid-level exception.
Joe, 21, was selected with the 49th pick in this year’s draft. He played two seasons at Arkansas, averaging 16.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore.
Philadelphia also completed two-way contracts with Paul Reed and Dakota Mathias, along with the signings of Derrick Walton Jr., Ryan Broekhoff and Justin Anderson.
Wizards Sign Marlon Taylor To Exhibit 10 Deal
The Wizards have signed LSU guard Marlon Taylor to an Exhibit 10 contract, the team announced in a press release. Taylor will be part of Washington’s training camp and will be eligible for a bonus if he is waived and joins the team’s G League affiliate.
Taylor, 23, played two years for the Tigers after transferring out of junior college ball, averaging 5.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per game as a senior. He missed the start of last season after having surgery on his left leg.
Washington also confirmed the signings of BYU forward Yoeli Childs and Liberty guard Caleb Homesley to Exhibit 10 deals.
Xavier Tillman Signs Four-Year Deal With Grizzlies
NOVEMBER 29: The signing is official, the Grizzlies announced in a press release. Tillman will receive $4.6MM in guaranteed money, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. That breaks down to $1.3MM for the upcoming season, $1.5MM in 2021/22, $1.8MM in 2022/23 and $1.9MM in 2023/24. Marks notes that it’s the second-largest amount of guaranteed money ever for a second-round pick who is headed to the NBA immediately after being drafted.
NOVEMBER 28: The Grizzlies have agreed to a four-year deal with their second-round pick Xavier Tillman, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports (Twitter link).
Memphis traded up in a deal with the Kings to get the 35th overall pick Tillman. The team will be able to give him a four-year contract using a portion of its mid-level exception.
Tillman, 21, was regarded as a solid player in the draft who could be a late first-rounder or an early second-round pick. It was with good reason as he posted outstanding numbers as a junior with Michigan State.
The 6’8″ forward averaged a double-double for the Spartans, posting 13.7 PPG and 10.3 RPG to go with 3.0 APG and 2.1 BPG across 31 games. Tillman was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
Community Shootaround: NBA Vs. COVID-19
The coronavirus continues to spread throughout the globe, causing the same havoc in the sports world that it does in nearly every other area of life.
The NFL has been forced to postpone games and rearrange its schedule. The Broncos will have to play tomorrow with no active quarterbacks, while the 49ers need to find a temporary home after Santa Clara County banned all contact sports for the next three weeks. College football and basketball also had to scramble after outbreaks.
These aren’t ideal conditions for a new NBA season, but the owners and players understood the risks when they agreed to a December 22 start date. Training camps open Tuesday, with the first exhibition games just 13 days away. Unlike a few months ago, the league won’t have the advantages of a closed campus to minimize COVID-19 dangers. Players will be out among the public, they will travel from city to city and some arenas are making plans to have fans in attendance, although on a limited basis.
To prepare for the challenges ahead, the league distributed a 134-page “Health and Safety Protocol Guide” to all of its teams. It sets regulations that will hopefully limit any disruptions to the upcoming season.
Among the highlights:
- Players who test positive for the virus must quarantine for at least 10 days after the first positive test or onset of symptoms, or they can submit two negative PCR tests 24 hours apart. Players who are cleared must work out alone for two days before rejoining their teammates. A hotline will be set up to report safety and protocol violations, just as it was in Orlando.
- The start of training camp will be limited to individual workouts with a maximum of four players and four staff members at a time. All participants need three negative PCR tests before being cleared and must start quarantining today if they plan to begin Tuesday. Full team practices won’t start until Friday.
- All teams must employ an infectious disease specialist, infection control specialist, rapid testing coordinator, testing officer, testing manager and contact tracing officer, two contact tracers and team protocol enforcement officer. Requirements also include two face mask enforcement officers, a player liaison, facility hygiene officer, arena health and hygiene manager, health education and awareness officer and travel safety officer. No more than 45 people will be permitted in a traveling party.
- No criteria have been set for what would result in the season being suspended. Like the NFL and Major League Baseball, the NBA will make that determination based on the way events unfold.
We want to get your opinion. Under the circumstances, do you believe the NBA will be able to complete its 72-game schedule and its entire 20-team playoffs? Or will the league eventually have to switch to a “bubble” environment to save the season? Please leave your answers in the comments section.
Knicks Notes: Toppin, Randle, Rivers, Quickley
The Knicks are excited about lottery pick Obi Toppin, but there are concerns about his fit alongside Julius Randle, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Both are natural power forwards, and many scouts tell Berman that Toppin doesn’t have the versatility to play small forward in the NBA.
“I think best case, they don’t play together that often and you share the 48 power-forward minutes,’’ former NBA scout Bryan Oringher said. “You can get away with each of them as a small-ball 5 for a few minutes a game, but I really don’t think either can play the 3. As centers, they are obviously undersized, and your rim protection will be pretty porous.’’
Randle is headed into the final fully guaranteed year of the contract he signed last summer. He would eat up $4MM in cap space if the Knicks cut him loose before the 2021/22 season, so there’s incentive to trade him before then and let Toppin become the starter at power forward.
There’s more from New York:
- The Knicks’ point guard situation may be even more muddled than it was last season, contends Greg Joyce of The New York Post. Elfrid Payton, Frank Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr., who shared the job a year ago, are all still with the team, as well as free agent addition Austin Rivers and first-round pick Immanuel Quickley. New York missed out on free agent targets Fred VanVleet and D.J. Augustin.
- Rivers’ new deal will pay him $3.5MM this season, $3.3MM is 2021/22 and $3.15MM in 2022/23, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. The second and third years won’t become guaranteed until seven days after the final day of the moratorium for each season.
- In a lengthy interview, Quickley talks to Steve Serby of The New York Post about his experiences at Kentucky and his hopes for the NBA. “My whole life I wasn’t ranked,” Quickley said. “I had just gotten ranked like my junior and senior year. And then I come into Kentucky, people don’t believe that I’m gonna be good enough to be able to … I’m not the quote unquote usual Kentucky player like John Wall or De’Aaron Fox or something like that. But I still came in and had success. And then I think it’s a lot of people that still doubt me coming into the league, don’t think I can play point guard, don’t think I’m strong enough or things like that, so just always trying to prove the doubters wrong and prove myself right.”
Southwest Notes: Wood, Ingram, Bane, Tripp
Of all the free agents who signed this offseason, no one had a more difficult path to a big-money deal than Christian Wood, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Wood went undrafted out of college, played for five NBA teams and was waived in China before breaking through last season with the Pistons.
“Coming back from China (in 2017) and going into the G League, I knew I had to step up,” Wood said. “I actually got cut from that China team. They said I wasn’t good enough at the time. That chip on my shoulder from me being undrafted and me being waived from there, I knew I had to change. It’s a journey I wouldn’t put anybody on. It’s a journey I learned a lot from to get to where I am now. I wouldn’t have asked for it to be any other way because it made me (get) to where I am now.”
Wood is reuniting with new Rockets head coach Stephen Silas, who was an assistant in Charlotte when Wood played there in 2016/17. He is looking forward to being part of Silas’ five-out offense, which requires big men who can shoot from the outside.
“I like to get out and run,” Wood said. “I know the Houston Rockets like to get out and run. The way James (Harden) and other guys play around him, I think I can be a great fit.”
There’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Brandon Ingram‘s new contract shows the Pelicans consider him as much a part of their future as Zion Williamson, notes William Guillory of The Athletic. Ingram signed the largest contract of the offseason, earning $158.25MM over the next five years.
- Desmond Bane‘s deadly outside shot, along with his maturity and competitiveness, inspired the Grizzlies to trade up to the 30th pick, according to Evan Barnes of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Bane averaged 13.6 PPG and shot 44.2% from beyond the arc last season at TCU. “He was a guy that kind of rose to the top because he fits so many things that we’re about here,” said Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins. “He’s a playmaker and he’s unselfish. Those are big things we talked about being a together and unselfish team.”
- The Grizzlies signed Pacific guard Jahlil Tripp to a training camp contract, the team announced on Twitter. Tripp won Defensive Player of the Year honors last season in the West Coast Conference.