- Malcolm Delaney, who signed a two-year, $5MM deal with the Hawks in the offseason, isn’t a typical rookie, writes Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Delaney, who is 27 years old and spent the last five seasons playing overseas, tells Vivlamore that he feels like he belongs in the NBA.
- In a separate AJC piece, Vivlamore notes that no roster cuts appear imminent for the Hawks, who aren’t in any rush to reduce their roster to 15 players.
- As high as they are on Dennis Schroder‘s potential, the Hawks may want to see how he handles the starting point guard job in Jeff Teague‘s absence before committing to a long-term deal, Stein writes. In that case, an extension this month seems unlikely.
[SOURCE LINK]
- The Hawks announced earlier this week that big man Tiago Splitter is expected to miss at least four weeks of action due to a hamstring injury, but Splitter’s status shouldn’t have an impact on how the team’s final roster is determined, per head coach Mike Budenholzer (Twitter link via Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
The Hawks announced via press release that Tiago Splitter was diagnosed with a grade 2 hamstring strain, which he sustained during a recent practice. An MRI taken Monday at the Emory Orthopaedics and Spine Center revealed the injury and he will be out a minimum of four weeks. A four-week timetable would mean that the earliest Splitter would return would be the second week of November, missing at least seven regular season games as a result.
- Hawks forward Paul Millsap, who has a player option for next season worth $21,472,407, says he hasn’t decided whether or not he’ll opt out, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution relays. “I think the plan is to see how this season goes and go from there,” Millsap said. “I can’t predict what is going to happen. For me, it’s focus on basketball. Get through this year, try to get a championship for this team first of all. We’ll deal with all that during the summer time when we have all our options on the table.”
Dwight Howard, who signed a three-year deal with the Hawks this offseason, is upset at the perceptions about him around the league and with fans, that he is a bad teammate and underachiever who doesn’t care enough about winning. In an interview with Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com, the center addressed a number of topics. The entire piece is definitely worth a look, but here are some of the highlights:
On what a new beginning in Atlanta means to him:
“I changed up everything around me. I hold myself more accountable in certain situations. I try to be a better man, a better father, a better teammate. I know a lot of the stuff that’s been said about me that I can’t really control and has been false, but at the same time, I just want to show this city who I really am and show my teammates what kind of teammate I am. They’ve been great to me, and I think it’s a great situation for me to be in.”
On what changes he has made over the summer:
“Just things off the court, a lot of the stuff that was happening around me, just personal things. I tried to change that up and just really start over, get a clean slate. No offense to the people that I had around me, but I just wanted to start over, start fresh. Like I said, it’s a new beginning, so I wanted everything to be fresh. I didn’t want to bring any old baggage or anything from my past to this organization. They believe in me, this city believes in me, so I just wanted to make sure that when I’m out there on the court that I’m free, that I can give this city and this team everything that I’ve got.”
On why his pairing with James Harden in Houston didn’t work out:
“Well, sometimes things don’t work like they should. I’ve never had an issue with James. I wish him nothing but the best. I just think the timing of everything was a little bit different. That’s OK. All that stuff did was just mold me for this moment here, this organization, this team. They’ve asked me to be a leader. It’s my job to come in here every night and provide physicality and the leadership that this team needs.”
On if he was surprised that he didn’t receive any maximum salary offers in free agency this summer:
“Well, I knew all the situations that was going on. I really only looked into one place and that was the Hawks. I didn’t go to other teams. As soon as free agency opened, I met with Coach Bud [Mike Budenholzer] and [GM Wes Wilcox]. After the meeting, I went back to my car and I was like, “Man, this is where I want to be.” I didn’t need to meet with other teams. I didn’t care about what offers were on the table. I wanted to be in Atlanta. I wanted to represent for this team.”
On if he feels pressured not to be himself:
“Yeah, a lot of times I do feel like that. When I’m smiling, I’m supposedly not taking the game seriously. When I’m not smiling, then it’s like, “He don’t care. He’s just out there.” When I was in Orlando and everything was going well and we were winning, even in L.A. when we won those games and stuff like that, me smiling didn’t bother people. But like I said, you really can’t please people. I know everybody’s attention is on what I’m doing on the floor. My job is to be the best teammate I can be, push these guys to the limit every day, make sure that I’m being the right type of leader.“
Jabari Brown and Richard Solomon were among the NBA’s first preseason roster cuts over the last few days, having been waived by the Bucks and Hawks, respectively. Brown’s release came on Wednesday, meaning he hasn’t even cleared waivers yet, but already both players have lined up new deals overseas.
According to international basketball reporter David Pick (via Twitter), Brown has agreed to a deal with the Jilin Northeast Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, where he’ll replace Tony Crocker. Assuming the two sides finalize that agreement, it will be a return to China for Brown, who played for the Foshan Long Lions last season.
Brown, 23, averaged an impressive 32.4 PPG for Foshan in 27 games, also chipping in 3.8 RPG, 2.5 APG, and 1.1 SPG. Over the last two seasons, the young shooting guard has also spent time with the Lakers’ D-League affiliate, the Los Angeles D-Fenders, averaging 23.1 PPG and shooting .443/.374/.842 in 47 D-League contests.
As for Solomon, the forward has agreed to terms with Gravelines-Dunkerque in France, a source tells Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The team has since confirmed the signing, announcing it via Twitter.
Solomon, who went undrafted out of the University of California in 2014, appeared in 59 games in the Japanese League last season and averaged 11.3 PPG and 8.9 RPG. Previously, he spent 28 games with Oklahoma City’s D-League affiliate in 2014/15, averaging 8.5 PPG and 6.9 RPG.
No-trade clauses are rare in the NBA, and they became even rarer this offseason, when several players with those clauses in their contracts either called it a career or signed new deals. Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett, who all opted for retirement, had no-trade clauses last season, and so did Dwyane Wade, who doesn’t have the same protection on his new contract with the Bulls.
Nonethless, while the list of players with explicit no-trade clauses may be dwindling, there are still several players each year who have the ability to veto trades. A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract – or a two-year contract with an option clause – is given no-trade protection, and so is a player who signs an offer sheet and has that offer matched by his previous team. Players who accept qualifying offers after their rookie deals expire can also block deals, though no restricted free agents signed their QOs this year.
Taking into account that list of criteria, here are the players who must give their consent if their teams want to trade them during the 2016/17 league year:
No-trade clauses
- Carmelo Anthony (Knicks)
- LeBron James (Cavaliers): Received no-trade clause on his new contract with Cavs.
- Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks)
Players whose offer sheets were matched
- Allen Crabbe (Trail Blazers)
- Tyler Johnson (Heat)
Players accepting qualifying offers
- None
Players re-signing for one year (or two years including an option)
- Lou Amundson (Knicks) (waived)
- Elton Brand (Sixers) (retired)
- Ian Clark (Warriors)
- Alonzo Gee (Pelicans) (waived)
- Manu Ginobili (Spurs)
- Udonis Haslem (Heat)
- Kris Humphries (Hawks)
- Dahntay Jones (Cavaliers) (waived)
- James Jones (Cavaliers)
- James Michael McAdoo (Warriors)
- Steve Novak (Bucks)
- Marcus Thornton (Wizards)
- Beno Udrih (Pistons)
- Anderson Varejao (Warriors)
- Sasha Vujacic (Knicks)
- Metta World Peace (Lakers)
Information from Basketball Insiders and Yahoo! Sports was used in the creation of this post.
- Hawks point guard Dennis Schroder returned to practice on Monday after resting a sore ankle for the past several days, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution relays. “The trainers told me to relax a little bit and not put pressure on it,” Schroder said. “In training camp it was hurting a little bit. It was bothering me so they said take off. I took off Friday, Saturday and Sunday and today was the first time practicing again. I could run up and down the floor. Now, I’m healthy.”
OCTOBER 3: The Hawks have officially signed Magette, the team announced today in a press release.
OCTOBER 2: The Hawks have reached an agreement with point guard Josh Magette, according to Chris Vivlamore of The Journal Constitution. He is expected to join the team in time for Monday’s practice.
The 26-year-old has spent the past two seasons with the L.A. Defenders in the D-League. He averaged 11.5 points and 9.1 assists in 45 games last season. Magette played college ball at Alabama-Huntsville and spent a year in both the Netherlands and Greece before coming to the D-League.
The move confirms speculation that the Hawks were looking to add a guard after waiving Richard Solomon on Saturday. Starting point guard Dennis Schroder has been slowed by an ankle injury and backup Jarrett Jack is working his way back from a torn ACL. The addition of Magette brings Atlanta back up to the preseason roster limit of 20.
1:05pm: The Hawks have officially announced the move via press release.
12:53pm: The Hawks have made their first training camp cut of the preseason, waiving Richard Solomon, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports (on Twitter). The subtraction of Solomon leaves Atlanta with a roster count of 19, one below the league maximum. No official announcement has been made by the team regarding the move.
The power forward’s contract worth $543,471 was non-guaranteed, so Atlanta won’t be on the hook for any salary as a result of this move. The Hawks are likely to sign a guard to replace Solomon on their roster, Vivlamore notes.
Solomon appeared in 59 games in the Japanese League last season and averaged 11.3 points, 8.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists. His shooting line was .536/.179/.660. In his senior season with the Bears, he averaged 11.0 points and 10.2 rebounds in 29.2 minutes. In July, he played in Orlando for the Suns’ summer league squad and then in Las Vegas with the Thunder.