Hawks Pick Up Option On Jenkins, Not Cunningham
The Hawks have announced via press release that they’ve exercised the 2014/15 option on second-year guard John Jenkins, who will make $1.31MM next season. Meanwhile, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the team will not pick up their third-year option on Jared Cunningham.
Atlanta selected the sharp shooting Jenkins out of Vanderbilt with the 23rd pick in the 2012 draft. He averaged 6.1 points and 1.5 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per game as a rookie, starting twice in 61 games. He also spent a brief amount of time in the D-League in December. The Hawks acquired Cunningham, taken the pick after Jenkins, in a draft day deal with Dallas. He will be an unrestricted free agent after this season.
Draft & D-League: Top Five, Smart, 66ers, Czyz
With David Stern putting all his weight behind the positive evolution of the D-League, it’s only natural for that avenue of player development to be contrasted with the more traditional one. Let’s take a look at Thursday night’s news and notes from the draft and the D-League here:
- The kickoff of the NBA season isn’t complete without our first wave of NBA mock drafts. Chad Ford provides ESPN insiders a look at what the first round might look like in June 2014. In what some pundits are dubbing the best draft since 2003, Ford predicts a top five of Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle, Marcus Smart, Joel Embiid and Dante Exum.
- Speaking of Oklahoma State’s Smart, the sophomore point guard is still unsure that he made the right decision to return to school last April, writes ESPN’s Myron Medcalf. Considering the shocking results of last June’s draft, it probably isn’t far fetched to say that Smart would have been the best player on the board when the Cavs went on the clock.
- The Tulsa 66ers, the Thunder‘s D-League affiliate, have acquired the number one pick in tomorrow night’s D-League draft along with Ben Uzoh in a three team deal with the Iowa Energy and Springfield Armor, writes Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside. Along with other picks tomorrow night, Diante Garrett and Lorenzo Brown were also involved in the deal.
- Polish forward Olek Czyz has signed a deal to join the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the D-League, Sportando reports on Twitter. The Bucks, who use Fort Wayne as their D-League affiliate, cut Czyz on Saturday after he spent training camp with the team, indicating that they protected his D-League rights. Czyz played at Duke and Nevada before going undrafted in 2012. He played last season for Virtus Roma of the Italian League.
Poll: What Will Sixers Do With Evan Turner?
As our Chuck Myron outlined last night, former No. 2 overall pick Evan Turner is in somewhat of a lame duck situation in Philadelphia. While he will likely go down in history as a draft-day bust considering where he was picked, Turner is certainly not a bust as an NBA player and could probably be a useful and effective piece in the right situation. But that doesn’t do much for him in Philadelphia where the Sixers are intent on rebuilding from the ground up — a plan that reportedly doesn’t include Turner.
We know the Sixers haven’t even broached the idea of an extension with Turner, making the chances of the two sides working something out before the October 31st deadline remote to say the least. If they trade him before October 31, he could sign an extension with his new team. If that doesn’t happen, Turner is destined for restricted free agency next summer where the Sixers — or his new team if he’s traded this winter — will have the option to match any offer sheet he signs with another team.
Turner has said all the right things about the unique situation in Philly, but that doesn’t make his fate any less interesting. So what will it be — what will the Sixers do with the former Ohio State star?
Nets Waive Marko Jaric
The Nets have waived point guard Marko Jaric, the team announced tonight. Brooklyn added the seven-year NBA veteran on September 30, though he was always considered a long shot to make a roster that already included 15 players on guaranteed deals. Jaric appeared in two preseason games for Brooklyn, totaling three points and seven assists.
The former first-round pick last appeared in the NBA in 2008/09 as a member of the Grizzlies. Before that, he spent three years with the Clippers and three years with the Timberwolves, accumulating career averages of 7.1 PPG and 3.6 APG. The move puts the Nets roster at 18 players.
Odds & Ends: Jazz, Odom, Howard, Nelson, Brooks
With seven preseason games on the schedule for Tuesday night, let’s take a look at some odds and ends from around the NBA:
- Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune spoke to Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin and some of the team’s camp invitees — including Justin Holiday, Scott Machado and Brian Cook — about the roster cuts the team will have to make within the next couple of weeks to get down to 15 players.
- We haven’t heard too much about Lamar Odom since the strange reports about his off-the-court issues surfaced in August. Ramona Shelburne of ESPN LA tweets that the Lakers reached out to Odom recently, but that the contact was strictly for personal reasons.
- With the Magic in town to face the Rockets on Wednesday, Dwight Howard spoke to Orlando-area reporters, including Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, about what has been a whirlwind of a two years for the Houston center. While Howard expressed regret about how things ended in Orlando, he implied that the situation in Los Angeles was different, and that Houston simply represented the best place for him to be.
- Meanwhile in post-Dwight Orlando, 31-year-old Jameer Nelson is happy to play the role of elder statesman on a young and improving Magic team, writes Jeff Caplan of NBA.com. Caplan writes that Nelson, a veteran in the second year of a three-year deal, is aware that he will probably be shopped this winter unless the Magic surprise everyone and contend.
- We heard earlier tonight from Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News that MarShon Brooks had expressed a desire to be traded from the Nets before he was part of the blockbuster with the Celtics. Bondy provides several quotes from Brooks, now in Boston, in his complete story: “I wasn’t really sure with [Jason Kidd becoming coach]. I didn’t know what to expect. Last year obviously we knew what was going on, it was so rocky, I didn’t know if I was playing. There just wasn’t any structure to any of my minutes.. So it was kind of hard for me to perform under those circumstances and obviously I didn’t want to be in that situation next year.”
NBA Hopefuls: Graham, Carr, Addison, D-League
As we creep closer to the time when NBA teams begin to whittle down their rosters, let’s take a look at some NBA hopefuls, current and future, that are presently making news:
- Stephen Graham, currently in camp with the Bucks, is determined to land a contract that keeps him in the NBA this season after floating between the D-League and overseas since the NBA lockout, writes Shams Charania of RealGM, who adds that Milwaukee already has 15 players on guaranteed deals. While he never found a permanent home in the NBA, Graham did spend time on seven teams in six seasons in the NBA before the Nets waived him in 2011.
- Aquille Carr, the 20-year-old phenom from Baltimore who was previously playing in China, has signed a D-League contract for this season in an attempt to prepare himself for the 2014 NBA Draft, writes Gino Pilato of the D-League Digest. As Pilato notes, Carr is following in the footsteps of Glen Rice Jr., who spent a season in the D-League after getting booted from Georgia Tech’s basketball team and ended up being drafted 35th and traded to the Wizards. Commissioner David Stern recently boasted of the improvement of the D-League when it comes to developing young players.
- Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside takes a look at 26-year-old Brian Addison, who was one of a handful of players that stood out to the Knicks at last month’s tryout for their D-League affiliate, the Erie Bayhawks. Addison, who went to Buffalo University, has played professionally in Portugal, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
- In a separate post, Schlosser reports the names of five players who are set to enter next month’s D-League Draft: Kyle Hunt, Orion Outerbridge, Jamine Peterson, Akeem Ellis and Derick Beltran. Schlosser also mentions Dami Sapara and Ahmad Aasiya-Bey as two talented prospects who have already stated their intentions to join the league.
Atlantic Notes: Celts, Nets, Smith, Buycks, Raptors
The Celtics are in Brooklyn tonight to take on the Nets and there is already word that Paul Pierce has made his way into the visiting locker room to greet his old teammates, thanks to Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston (via Twitter). Let’s take a look at some of the rumblings out of the Atlantic division, including a couple of new nuggets about the deal that sent Pierce and Kevin Garnett south to the rival Nets:
- Details about one of the summer’s biggest trades are still trickling out, as Tim Bontemps of the New York Post writes that no one took being traded to the Celtics harder than Gerald Wallace. Meanwhile, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News reports (via Twitter) that Reggie Evans was never a part of the Nets‘ outgoing package, and that MarShon Brooks had conveyed a desire to be moved prior to the deal.
- While most non-guaranteed contracts don’t become fully guaranteed until January, Chris Smith would be assured a full-season salary if he makes the Knicks‘ opening night roster, tweets Ian Begley of ESPN New York. We outlined when the non-guaranteed deals of Smith (October 29th) and other minimum-salary players will become guaranteed here.
- Grabbing Dwight Buycks was a steal for the Raptors according to head coach Dwane Casey, who said that the point guard is better than any of the guards taken in the late first or second rounds of June’s NBA Draft, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. Toronto added Byucks, a Marquette product, as a free agent in July and guaranteed him $700K after he spent the last two seasons playing in the France, Belgium and the D-League.
- Casey expects Buycks to compete with D.J. Augustin for the team’s back-up point guard position and also get time off the ball as well. The Raptors didn’t have a draft pick in June, but Wolstat says they tried aggressively to move into the late lottery to take Greek phenom Giannis Antetokounmpo. (via Twitter)
Western Notes: Wright, Burke, Griffin, Gasol
We already covered the East, now let’s check in on what is happening around the league out West tonight:
- Brandan Wright sustained a small, non-displaced fracture to his left shoulder that is unlikely to require surgery, the Mavericks announced today. Wright, who re-signed with the team in July, is entering his sixth year in the league and third with the Mavs. No timetable has been set for his return.
- Rookie point guard Trey Burke is concentrating on making a good impression on his opponents as the Jazz‘s preseason gets into full swing, writes Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune. Burke, who the Jazz took in June at No. 9, figures to run the point for a young but talented team in Utah.
- Blake Griffin suffered a bone bruise in his left knee in a Wednesday night scrimmage while attempting to dunk, writes Broderick Turner of the L.A. Times. Griffin’s precautionary MRI showed no structural damage, reports Turner, but the All-Star forward is still likely to miss an undisclosed amount of practice and preseason time.
- If Pau Gasol, more physically and mentally ready than he’s been in years, has the type of season he expects to have in Los Angeles, he believes the Lakers will want to re-sign him in the offseason, writes Mark Medina of the L.A. Daily News. However, Gasol is unlikely to be willing to accept a significant pay cut to stay in the purple and gold, per Medina. Gasol will make $19.3MM this year.
East Notes: Bargnani, Cavs, Heat, Antetokounmpo
Let’s round up all of the links coming out of the Eastern Conference on Thursday night:
- In Canada for tomorrow night’s matchup with the Raptors, the Knicks, at this point in training camp, seem thrilled Toronto gave up on Andrea Bargnani this offseason, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post, who tabs head coach Mike Woodson as one of Bargnani’s biggest fans in the early going.
- Woodson also said on Thursday that rookie and No. 24 pick Tim Hardaway Jr. has “put himself in a nice position” to get minutes in the Knicks rotation, writes Al Iannazzone of the Long Island Newsday.
- Despite going undrafted in June, it sounds like Matthew Dellavedova is on track to make the Cavaliers‘ final roster as the third point guard, writes Bob Finnan of the Cleveland News-Herald. The Cavs signed the Saint Mary’s product to a two-year deal with a small guarantee about a month ago.
- Despite a shaky preseason debut on Tuesday, No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett says he is simply trying to find his groove after offseason shoulder surgery, writes Jodie Valade of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, who adds that the highly-touted rookie is currently concentrated on improving his conditioning.
- Ethan Skolnick of Bleacher Report breaks down the five candidates in Miami with a chance to crack Erik Spoelstra’s nine-man, championship rotation: Michael Beasley, Rashard Lewis, Roger Mason Jr., James Jones and Joel Anthony. Skolnick also mentions Greg Oden, who may be a factor for the Heat in 2014.
- Greek import Giannis Antetokounmpo, who the Bucks took in June at No. 15, has flashed big-time talent two preseason games into his NBA career, tweets Jonathan Givony of Draft Express, who says some scouts adamantly labeled the “Greek Freak” a bust without giving him a sufficient look (Twitter links here).
Odds & Ends: D-League, Celts, Collins
Yesterday, commissioner David Stern boasted of the job that the NBA has done in developing the D-League while also taking a shot at the NCAA, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. “I’m very proud of the development league,” Stern said. “It’s working. That march is continuing. The drumbeats I hear about colleges not liking what they refer to one-and-done. We now have a league in the NBA Development League that will accept players that are 18 and will do a better job of educating them than the college programs in which they are…. Take that.”
Those are some big words from Stern. Let’s take a look at some of the other odds and ends from around the league:
- There are a handful of 2011 and 2012 draftees that are candidates to have the second or third year options on their rookie contracts declined for next year before the looming October 31 deadline, writes Mark Deeks of SB Nation. Among the more notable names on the list are Jan Vesely and Derrick Williams.
- According to his daughter, longtime Celtics coach Red Auerbach would not have given in and dealt Boston staples Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett this offseason, writes Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. As Spears details, Auerbach’s intense loyalty was on display throughout his reign in Boston, allowing stars like Larry Bird and Kevin McHale to walk off into the sunset wearing Celtics green. Current C’s general manager Danny Ainge admitted that the memory of Auerbach’s resolve did cross his mind before he sold off his stars.
- While his agent received several inquiries this offseason, Jason Collins remains a man without an NBA contract nearly six months after announcing he is a gay professional basketball player, writes Harvey Araton of the New York Times. Collins knows that his veteran status — and the contract demands that come with it — complicates his ability to land an NBA deal. What he doesn’t know, and wouldn’t comment on, is if any discriminatory forces are playing a role in his ongoing free agency. Either way, Collins will continue to explore an NBA deal before he considers playing overseas.
Zach Links contributed to this post.