Rodney Stuckey To Undergo Surgery On Thumb
The Pistons have announced that Rodney Stuckey will undergo surgery tomorrow on his right thumb after fracturing his “distal phalanx” on Wednesday when part of his hand got jammed in the door of his car. A timeline for his return will be determined after Friday’s procedure. Per Pistons.com scribe Keith Langlois, the distal phalanx is essentially the tip of the thumb. Langlois also points out that Stuckey, a six-year veteran, missed 27 games his rookie year with a broken bone in his hand (Twitter links).
Stuckey, 27, was expected to compete for the Pistons’ starting shooting guard position this season alongside new point guard Brandon Jennings. While he could still land the job eventually, this injury certainly doesn’t help his chances. Veteran Chauncey Billups and rookie Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will likely vie for the job to start the season while Stuckey recovers from his injury. For what it’s worth, Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News tweets that Kyle Singler is starting at shooting guard tonight for the Pistons in their preseason matchup against the Heat.
Mavericks Sign Renaldo Balkman
SEPTEMBER 30TH: The Mavs have officially announced the signing via press release.
SEPTEMBER 25TH: The Mavericks have reached an agreement on a non-guaranteed contact with free agent Renaldo Balkman, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas. Balkman, who was said to be considering Dallas' offer as of earlier today, was the 20th pick of the 2006 NBA draft by the Knicks.
Balkman will fill the Mavs' 20th and last roster spot for training camp and certainly fits the profile of the type of "active defensive-minded bodies" the team is said to be interested in. However, it will take some manuevering for Balkman, or any other Mav without a guarantee, to make the team considering Dallas already has 15 players with guaranteed deals on the roster.
Balkman, 29, last appeared in the league in 2011/12 with New York, where he played in only 14 games. Last season he averaged impressive numbers (25 PPG and 13.4 RPG) in the Philippine Basketball Association before he was banned for a year in March after choking a teammate. His career NBA averages are 4 PPG and 3.5 RPG over six seasons out of South Carolina.
Jazz Waive Jerel McNeal
THURSDAY, 5:05pm: Oram hears that the Jazz waived McNeal because he received a big contract to play overseas (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 5:40pm: The Jazz have announced they have waived point guard Jerel McNeal, tweets Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune. As Oram indicated, McNeal signed two 10-day contracts with the Jazz last year and played with the team in the Orlando Summer League. McNeal, a Marquette product, has never actually appeared in an NBA game despite spending time on league rosters over the past couple of seasons.
As our Luke Adams wrote earlier this month, McNeal's contract with Utah would have guaranteed him at least $884,293 this season if he was not waived on or before October 31st. His release comes one day after the Jazz inked fellow point guard Scott Machado yesterday.
Because the move comes so close to the start of training camp, Steve Luhm of the Tribune can't help but wonder if the Machado signing led to McNeal and his agent requesting his release (Twitter links). However, David Locke of Locked on Jazz tweets that it may have been the late-July addition of Ian Clark that spelled the end for McNeal, since the guards are so similar. Along with Machado and Clark, the Jazz will now have Trey Burke, John Lucas and Alec Burks all capable of running the point in camp.
The Jazz currently have 12 guaranteed contracts on their roster, along with a partially guaranteed deal for Clark.
Sixers Notes: White, Wyatt, Turner, Kuester
New 76ers head coach Brett Brown sat down with the media for a 35-minute press conference today. Let's take a look at the reports coming out of Philly a day after they officially signed first round picks Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams:
- Royce White, who the team acquired in July, is officially participating in pre-training camp workouts with the Sixers and is expected to be present for the team's Media Day on Friday, writes the Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey. Based on Brown's comments, it sounds like the Sixers plan to try to bring him along slowly, and this news certainly qualifies as a step in the right direction considering his rocky stint with Houston.
- According to Pompey, Brown compared the scoring potential of Temple product Khalif Wyatt to that of Gary Neal, his former pupil in San Antonio. Another thing Wyatt shares with Neal, according to Brown, is a body type for a guard that necessitates a concentration on fitness. Pompey adds that Wyatt's conditioning was called into question in his time at Temple.
- Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com writes that Brown's fixation on conditioning extends far beyond just Wyatt, adding that the new coach believes in the talent of Evan Turner, who is headed into the fourth and final year of his rookie contract. Brown will count on Turner as a team leader, writes Moore.
- Both Pompey and Moore report that Brown is still searching for another assistant coach. He has already hired Chad Iske, Lloyd Pierce, Greg Foster and Billy Lange. Although Brown implied NBA experience is not an absolute necessity on a team this inexperienced, Moore lists former Sixers assistant and Pistons head coach John Kuester as a candidate due to a previous connection with Brown. Last week there was a report that Kuester was the favorite to be hired as Brown's top assistant.
Training Camp Invites: Byars, Gadzuric, Alexander
While we've has plenty of training camp signings today – from Louis Amundson to Dwayne Jones to Sam Young to Renaldo Balkman to Eric Boateng and Darius Johnson-Odom – there is also news of training camp invites that have yet to be accepted. Let's take a look at buzz from around the league that might help us determine who lands where in October:
- The Grizzlies have extended a training camp invite to Memphis-native Derrick Byars, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). Byars, 29, has spent most of the time since his Vanderbilt days playing overseas, minus two games with the Spurs in 2011/12 and a handful of D-League stints. With only 13 guaranteed contracts, the Grizz have two potential open roster spots.
- The Lakers have invited Dan Gadzuric to training camp, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles. With the additions of Boateng and Johnson-Odom, Gadzuric would make 19 players in camp for the Lakers should he accept. The UCLA product, 35, played in Venezuela last season after a decade in the NBA. The Lakers only have 11 guaranteed deals on their roster, but there will be plenty of competition for the remaining spots.
- Former Bucks first rounder Joe Alexander has received an invitation to training camp from the Warriors, tweets Zach Lowe of Grantland. Alexander, the No. 8 pick of the 2008 draft, lasted only two years in the NBA out of West Virginia. With Ognjen Kuzmic's arrival in Oakland reportedly imminent, the Warriors will have two potential regular season roster spots remaining.
Lakers Add Eric Boateng, Darius Johnson-Odom
The Lakers have signed both Eric Boateng and Darius Johnson-Odom to their training camp roster, tweets Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. Pincus adds that these moves were camp invites, implying the deals didn't involve any sort of guarantee, but there's been no official word on the contract specifications as of yet. Both players were previously linked to the Lakers in a report earlier today.
Boateng has bounced around between Europe and the D-League since going undrafted in 2010 out of Arizona State. He has never made an NBA roster despite coming close with the Nuggets heading into the 2010/11 campaign. Johnson-Odom is a bit more experienced, but not by much. He played in four games for the Lakers last year, spending most of his time with the D-Fenders, their D-League affiliate, where he led them in scoring at 20.6 PPG.
The Lakers training camp roster now stands at 18, but Pincus tweets that general manager Mitch Kupchak suggested that the team may go with 19 or 20 because of injuries and also to limit minutes for their veterans.
Ognjen Kuzmic Close To Joining Warriors
According to Warriors general manager Bob Myers, 2012 second round pick Ognjen Kuzmic is closing in on a buyout with Unicaja Malaga, his team in Spain, that will allow him to sign a guaranteed deal with Golden State for the upcoming 2013/14 season, tweets Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. Myers said Kuzmic, who is in town rehabbing an ankle sprain, is expected to be in camp, reports Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter).
There were reports a month ago that the Bosnian big man might be headed west for the NBA this season, but this is the first we're hearing of it from the Warriors' brass. Thompson also adds, via Twitter, that Myers indicated Kuzmic would be guaranteed a roster spot should the buyout go through. Kuzmic would make 13 rostered players on guaranteed contracts in Golden State, leaving only two spots for Kent Bazemore, DeWayne Dedmon and Seth Curry, all of whom are believed to have partial guarantees on their deals.
Kuzmic, 23, averaged 6.9 PPG and 5.5 RPG in 27 Spanish League contests for FIATC Joventut Badalona in 2012/13.
Spurs Sign Sam Young
The Spurs have reached a contract agreement with free agent Sam Young, reports Shams Charania of RealGM, citing a league source. We haven't heard much about Young's eventual destination this offseason, but the silver and black of San Antonio seems like a pretty good fit for the defensive-minded Pittsburgh alum. Charania reports that the Kings and Knicks also kicked the tires on the 6-foot-6 swingman.
After being drafted 36th overall by Memphis in 2009, Young was traded to Philadelphia in 2012 and then latched on with the Pacers last year. Young was cut in early January last year by the Pacers in a strategic roster move, but was re-signed to the team less than a month later. He's averaged 5.8 points and 15.9 minutes per game over his four-year career, but is better known for his defensive intangibles than his statistical production.
Jazz Sign Dwayne Jones
The Jazz have signed free agent center Dwayne Jones to a non-guaranteed deal, tweets RealGM's Shams Charania. Jones last appeared in an NBA game in the 2009/10 season with the Suns, however the Saint Joseph's product did close out last year with Golden State before he was cut in July.
The Jazz have been busy of late, waiving Jerel McNeal earlier tonight only a day after signing Scott Machado, who was coincidentally waived by the Warriors along with Jones on July 24. Both would have received partial guarantees had they not been cut prior to August 1. The Jazz have 12 guaranteed contracts on their roster and a partially guaranteed deal for Ian Clark.
Knicks Split On Signing Earl Barron
While the Knicks coaching staff would like to add free-agent big man Earl Barron, the team's front office is not in any hurry to do so, writes Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report. This is not the first time we have heard that the Knicks like Barron from Zwerling, who cites several sources in his story, presumably making Barron a solid candidate to land one of the last three Knicks roster spots should they bring him aboard.
Zwerling also confirms what we heard yesterday; that the Knicks have worked out a slew of free agents in preparation for training camp, which he says is contributing to the disagreement on Barron. Zwerling reports that center Hamed Haddadi, who worked out for the Knicks last month, hopes to find a team this week but that team is unlikely to be New York. Cole Aldrich and DeSagana Diop are another pair of free agent big men that have worked out with the Knicks.
Apparently, Barron shot the ball well in his Monday workout with the Jazz. According to Zwerling's source close to Barron, while the free agent hopes to land in New York and may use Utah's interest as leverage to speed up the process, he is not waiting on the Knicks.