Atlanta Hawks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Free Agency Notes: Smith, Evans, Blazers, Kaman

June 30th, 2013 at 11:18pm CST by Zachary Links

It's officially the start of free agency! Here's the latest as we enter July..

A source tells Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News (Twitter link) that the Pistons will absolutely not offer Josh Smith a max deal. We learned earlier today that Detroit is among the teams targeting the Hawks free agent.
The Pelicans will have a sizable offer sheet ready for Tyreke Evans when they meet with him tonight, tweets David Aldridge of NBA.com. We learned earlier tonight that New Orleans was set to be the first team to meet with the Kings guard. Meanwhile, sources tell Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (Twitter link) that while the Pelicans got the first meeting with the 23-year-old, he will still do his due diligence on teams and the Kings are still in the mix.
The Blazers and the reps for center Chris Kaman are expected to meet face-to-face now that free agency is underway, tweets Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. Both the unrestricted free agent and the club feel that it would be a "great fit" (link).
The Jazz and Lakers were the first two teams to inquire on Knicks free agent Chris Copeland tonight, tweets Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com.

Hawks Won’t Extend QO To Ivan Johnson

June 30th, 2013 at 3:41pm CST by Zachary Links

The Hawks won’t extend a qualifying offer to Ivan Johnson, making him a free agent this summer, tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Hawks GM Danny Ferry was very noncommital in a recent interview when asked if he would give Johnson a QO rather than allowing him to become a restricted free agent.

While Johnson won’t necessarily be back with Atlanta next season, we learned earlier today that teammate Jeff Teague has received the QO from Ferry & Co. Teague’s deal will be worth more than $4.5MM, but the club has apparently decided that the ~$1.2MM needed for Johnson just wasn’t worth it.

Several Teams In On Andrew Bynum

June 30th, 2013 at 2:35pm CST by Zachary Links

There will be no shortage of interest in free agent center Andrew Bynum when the clock strikes midnight tonight, sources tell Yannis Koutroupis of HoopsWorld. One source specifically mentioned the Trail Blazers and Cavaliers as two teams expected to reach out to Bynum along with all of the franchises with cap space that are pursuing center Dwight Howard.

Howard will meet with the Hawks, Mavericks, Lakers, Warriors and Rockets. Of those five, the Hawks, Mavs, and Rockets have the necessary space under the cap to make a max, or near max, offer without needing to do a sign-and-trade.

Bynum, of course, missed all of last season with the Sixers due to serious knee problems. However, his people have been on the record saying that he'll be ready for the start of training camp. Despite his issues, Bynum will be the most talented center on the market once Howard signs.

Hawks Extend QO To Jeff Teague

June 30th, 2013 at 12:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Hawks have made a $4,531,459 qualifying offer to Jeff Teague, making him a restricted free agent, tweets Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The team hasn't officially announced the move, but Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is also reporting the news (Twitter link). The offer was thoroughly expected, and it's largely a formality for a point guard who figures to be one of the most sought-after restricted free agents this summer.

Teague has shown steady improvement since Atlanta took him 19th overall in 2009. He averaged career highs in points (14.6) and assists (7.2) this past season while playing slightly fewer minutes per game than in 2011/12. Teague, who was originally in line for a qualifying offer of $3,469,568, met the starter criteria, which triggered a jump in his QO. Still, it's unlikely he'll take the offer, as he's expected to command a multiyear deal for much more.

The client of the ASM agency is one of many Hawks hitting free agency this summer. Only Al Horford, Louis Williams and John Jenkins are under guaranteed contracts for 2013/14 among the players currently on Atlanta's roster. Ivan Johnson is also eligible to receive a qualifying offer, for $1,202,744, but there's no word on whether the Hawks have decided to tender that to him.

Pelicans Have Strong Interest In Andre Iguodala

June 30th, 2013 at 10:44am CST by Chuck Myron

The Pelicans have strong interest in free agent swingman Andre Iguodala, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The Nuggets, Hawks, Pistons, Kings, Mavs, Warriors and Rockets are all in the mix as well, according to USA Today's Sam Amick (Twitter link). When Iguodala opted out of his contract with Denver this month, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports identified many of those teams, along with the Cavs, as likely to have interest in the Rob Pelinka client.

The Pelicans appear to be one of the most aggressive teams this offseason, already having pulled off a trade at the draft for Jrue Holiday, Iguodala's former teammate in Philadelphia. New Orleans is also said to be making Eric Gordon "very available" in trade talks. The Pelicans will have plenty of cap space available if they wish to make Iguodala a maximum-salary offer, but I'm not sure they'd need to go that far. The max for the nine-year veteran would entail a starting salary worth 30% of the salary cap, or around $19.5MM. He would have made $16.155MM had he opted in with Denver.

Among the other teams pursuing Iguodala, the Rockets and Mavs will focus first on higher priorities like Dwight Howard, as Amick tweets, also noting that the Warriors interest in Iguodala is likely only cursory, given their lack of cap space and proximity to the luxury tax line. The Warriors are pursuing Howard, too, but that, too, appears a longshot.

Pistons Among Teams Targeting Josh Smith

June 30th, 2013 at 9:09am CST by Chuck Myron

Five or six teams are expected to go after Hawks free agent forward Josh Smith, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com, and one of them will be the Pistons, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Detroit will have plenty of cap room for the maximum-salary offer Smith and agent Wallace Prather are likely to seek.

The Celtics are also reportedly high on Smith, and teams that miss out on Dwight Howard could be in the mix as well. It's unclear how much of a priority retaining Smith will be for the Hawks, but Atlanta can give him the best financial offer. The maximum starting salary for Smith, a nine-year veteran, will be 30% of the salary cap, or approximately $19.5MM, but the Hawks can give him a five-year deal instead of the four years other teams can offer. They can also give him 7.5% raises each season, as opposed to the 4.5% raises he'd get from the Pistons and everyone else.

Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said he's targeting help at point guard and the wing, as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press notes, so the team would seem to envision Smith as a small forward rather than a power forward.

The Pistons made one decision affecting their cap space Saturday, keeping Viacheslav Kravtsov for $1.5MM for next season rather than waiving him while his $500K partial guarantee was still in effect. Rodney Stuckey's contract is only guaranteed for $4MM if he's waived today, but the Pistons plan to keep him, according to MLive's David Mayo. Detroit also plans to renounce its cap holds on all of its free agents, including Jose Calderon, whom the team is unlikely to pay more than $7MM annually to re-sign, Mayo writes.

The Pistons and Corey Maggette had mutual interest in his return a few months ago, but he won't be back, and neither will Jason Maxiell, according to Mayo.

Rockets To Meet With Dwight Howard First

June 29th, 2013 at 2:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Rockets will meet with Dwight Howard late Sunday night in Los Angeles, soon after teams other than the Lakers become eligible to negotiate with the free agent center, reports Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. The same can't be said for Golden State, as a source close to Howard tells Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game that the sought-after free agent center won't visit the Warriors to hear a pitch from the team (Sulia link). An earlier report indicated that the Warriors were hoping to sit down with Howard, and that he was likely to indulge them on their request.

Houston's contingent will include GM Daryl Morey, coach Kevin McHale, owner Les Alexander, Hall-of-Fame Rocket Hakeem Olajuwon and current Rockets James Harden and Chandler Parsons, Goodman writes. The Rockets have emerged as the front-runner in the last few weeks for the famously indecisive Howard, whose most serious suitors appear to be Houston, the Mavs and the Lakers, according to Bucher. Parsons has said he's been in contact with Howard every day this spring.

The Warriors don't have cap space for 2013/14, so the only way they could acquire Howard would be via sign-and-trade as Bucher points out. Even if the Lakers agree to such a maneuver, the Warriors would have to send back close to $20MM in salary to make the deal work with a max contract for Howard, which could gut a roster that made it to the Western Conference semifinals last season.

The Hawks don't make much sense for Howard, Bucher writes, adding that Howard may listen to a pitch from Atlanta simply so he's not seen rejecting the notion of coming to his hometown team out of hand.

Western Rumors: Mo Williams, Mavs, Harris

June 28th, 2013 at 6:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

There's a major shakeup going on in the Eastern Conference now that Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are on their way to Brooklyn. An even more resounding move could happen in the West, where Dwight Howard's primary suitors are. We've got more on that storyline and others from the Western Conference:

Mo Williams is expected to discuss re-signing in Utah with Jazz brass, but a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that Williams isn't interested in returning if he's not the starter. Last night, the Jazz wound up with point guard Trey Burke in the draft, and he has eyes on the starting job, too, notes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. (Twitter link).
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tells Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News that he has a couple of meetings with players scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, presumably referring to Howard and Chris Paul. Still, those two big fishes aren't the team's sole focus, as Cuban also says the Mavs were in discussions yesterday about a deal that would have prevented the team from making a maximum-salary signing this summer.
Devin Harris dropped hints Friday about returning to the Mavericks, where he began his career, as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News observes. "It’s always crossed my mind," Harris said. "It’s crossed my mind since I left. Obviously, I think it would be cool to come back. But I also like it in Atlanta. It comes down to what best fits me."
Howard won't necessarily make the Lakers the last stop on his listening tour as he fields free agent pitches this summer, even though the purple and gold brass would like to see that happen, tweets Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
The Lakers are declining the chance to tender Darius Morris a $1.2MM qualifying offer, but the team has interest in re-signing him to a deal worth less than that, writes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. Andrew Goudelock may return as well, but Devin Ebanks won't be back, Pincus adds in a look at the team's would-be restricted free agents.
Brian Scalabrine is talking with the Warriors about joining the team as an assistant coach, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
The Spurs officially announced their hiring of Pacers assistant coach Jim Boylen as an assistant on Gregg Popovich's staff. Boylen is not to be confused with Cavs assistant Jim Boylan.

Andre Iguodala Opts Out, Will Be Free Agent

June 28th, 2013 at 10:18am CST by Luke Adams

JUNE 28TH: Iguodala has formally filed his paperwork to opt out, making his decision official, tweets ESPN.com's Chris Broussard.

JUNE 14TH: Andre Iguodala has decided to opt out of the final year of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. According to Wojnarowski, agent Rob Pelinka informed Nuggets CEO Josh Kroenke of the decision on Thursday.

"We are fully aware of Andre's intentions and he's well aware of how much we want him back," Kroenke said. "Andre us a huge priority for our organization."

While there appears to be mutual interest between Nuggets and Iguodala in a new deal, Denver is currently without a GM or coach, which makes the situation a little murkier. There will also be plenty of clubs vying for the 29-year-old's services. Wojnarowski names the Hawks, Cavaliers, Mavericks, Rockets, Pistons, and Pelicans as likely suitors.

An official decision from Iguodala is due by June 25th, but assuming he opts out, he'll be eligible for a new five-year contract from the Nuggets or a four-year deal from another team. He'll pass up a 2013/14 salary that Wojnarowski cites as $15.9MM, though various salary databases have it at $16.15MM — that salary included $250K in likely incentives, so perhaps those incentives are now listed as unlikely.

In any case, although I'm skeptical that Iguodala will land an annual salary that exceeds the approximate $16MM he would have earned on his current contract, he'll certainly be able to secure a significantly larger guarantee in a new long-term deal.

Jazz Acquire Raul Neto

June 27th, 2013 at 11:35pm CST by Luke Adams

FRIDAY, 12:38am: Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey has confirmed the deal, tweets Jody Genessy of the Deseret News.

THURSDAY, 11:35pm: The Hawks will receive a future second-round pick from the Jazz in exchange for this year's 47th overall pick, Raul Neto, tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

It was a busy night for the Hawks, who also agreed to send James Ennis to Miami for a future second-rounder and consummated a deal with the Mavericks that landed them an extra pick and Jared Cunningham.