And-Ones: McGuire, Heat, Garnett
Here is what’s going on around the league on Tuesday night:
- Fresh off his debut for Israel’s Hapoel Eilat, Dominic McGuire told Eurobasket’s David Pick that he will attempt to return to the NBA after playing a full season overseas. “I’m definitely tring to get back into the NBA. I’m not done with that. I came to Israel to see how (life and basketball) is overseas, but the goal is to get back to the league,” said McGuire, who spent last season between the D-League and Venezuela after six years in the NBA.
- Surya Fernandez of Fox Sports Florida lists Andray Blatche, Jordan Crawford, Emeka Okafor and Rashard Lewis as free agents the Heat could secure to bolster their bench. Miami has 11 fully guaranteed and four partially guaranteed contracts on their books thus far.
- It appears that Kevin Garnett will return for a second season with the Nets, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN New York, confirming a report from Sunday that the 19-year veteran had already been working at the team’s practice facility. Brooklyn head coach Lionel Hollins also indicated that Garnett would start and play upwards of 15 minutes per game if healthy.
- Sean Deveney of Sporting News takes a statistical approach in identifying the most overpaid players in the NBA. The top five, according to Deveney’s criteria, are Kendrick Perkins ($9.6MM), Joe Johnson ($23.2MM), Amar’e Stoudemire ($23.4MM), Gerald Wallace ($10.1MM) and Josh Smith ($13.5MM).
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Terry, Papanikolaou, Lakers
With a few weeks until training camps begin, here is the latest news coming out of the Western Conference on Tuesday evening:
- Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports that the Rockets‘ deal for Jason Terry will be completed tomorrow (via Twitter). The trade, which will send Terry to Houston and Alonzo Gee and Scotty Hopson to Sacramento, was originally agreed to on August 31st. There was a report yesterday that it would be finalized today, so we should expect an official announcement shortly.
- Feigen also expects the signing of Kostas Papanikolaou to become official this week, though he cautions that his buyout ($1.5MM) and the necessary FIBA approval make it a little unpredictable (Twitter link). Papanikolaou’s first-year salary of just under $4.8MM is the most ever given to a second-round pick in his first NBA season.
- The Lakers announced today that Paul Pressey, Jim Eyen and Mark Madsen will join Byron Scott on the Los Angeles bench as assistant coaches this season. Beyond that trio, the team also announced Clay Moser, Larry Lewis, Tom Bialaszewski and J.J. Outlaw as members of the staff. Rondre Jackson has been promoted to director of player development and Jordan Wilkes has been hired as an operations assistant, according to the team release.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
Poll: Which Team Had Second-Best Offseason?
With the Cavaliers going from owning the No. 1 pick of the draft this past June to being the number one pick to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy next June, it’s safe to say they’re the overwhelming choice as the team that enjoyed the NBA’s best offseason. But who finished second? Believe it or not, there were other transactions that occurred this offseason that didn’t involve LeBron James or Kevin Love. Here’s a rundown of which non-Cavs team fared the best this summer:
- Bulls: Despite losing out on the big-ticket free agents, the Bulls signed Pau Gasol, brought Nikola Mirotic over from Europe and wound up with NBA-ready Doug McDermott in the NBA Draft. These are additions to a team already good enough to tally 48 wins last season. Their most positive offseason development, however, has been the health of Derrick Rose, who is currently participating in the Basketball World Cup.
- Hornets: Charlotte built on their first playoff appearance in four years by signing ultra-talented Lance Stephenson along with Marvin Williams and Brian Roberts, all to deals that look reasonable compared to some of the monster numbers thrown around this summer. The Hornets also got what looks like great value in Noah Vonleh and P.J. Hairston in the draft.
- Mavericks: Where to start? The Mavs stole Chandler Parsons from a division rival, signed veteran point guard Jameer Nelson and reunited with Tyson Chandler. And don’t forget, this was the team that gave eventual champ San Antonio their toughest test in the playoffs. Dallas also retained star Dirk Nowitzki on a very team-friendly deal.
- Timberwolves: Bear with me here. If you consider the loss of Love a foregone conclusion going into the offseason, it can be argued that Minnesota did pretty well for itself, as Hoops Rumors readers displayed in a recent poll. If Andrew Wiggins is a star and Anthony Bennett progresses, the Wolves may have dodged a total rebuild. Adding Thaddeus Young in the Love deal and the high-ceiling of Zach LaVine in the draft certainly doesn’t hurt either.
- Wizards: Adding Paul Pierce, Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair while subtracting Trevor Ariza and Trevor Booker may not seem like a giant net improvement on paper. However, considering the weakness of the East and the youth and potential on Washington’s roster, you can argue the Wiz positioned themselves as the best of the second tier teams in the conference. Retaining Marcin Gortat was also an important move for Washington.
- Someone else: Feel free to offer your opinion in the comments section if none of these five squads would be atop your list as the winner of the offseason’s silver medal. Maybe you think it’s the Spurs for maintaining most of their championship roster, the Knicks for convincing Carmelo Anthony to stay or even the Sixers for trying something just crazy enough to work. Regardless, we want to hear it.
And-Ones: Roberts, Haddadi, Ferry, Parsons
The summer of 2014 continued to belong to Boris Diaw, as the Spurs star led France to a huge upset of host Spain in the quarterfinals of the Basketball World Cup earlier today. Meanwhile, on American soil, details continue to emerge in the situation in Atlanta. Here are some additional updates from around the league, Hawks-related and otherwise, on Wednesday night:
- Michele Roberts‘ term as executive director of the NBPA will begin at the end of September, according to Sam Amick of USA Today, who writes that the trial lawyer won’t have much time to ease into the job with the Hawks saga in full swing. Obligations from her previous job and ongoing contract negotiations have prevented Roberts from starting sooner, according to Amick. Acting executive director Ron Klempner, who issued a statement on the Atlanta situation on Monday, has been has handling the role on an interim basis since Billy Hunter was fired in 2013.
- Seven-foot Iranian center Hamed Haddadi wants to explore the possibility of a return to the NBA before committing to Qingdao Double Star of China, according to Sports Sohu (translation via Sportando). The 29-year-old Haddadi played in China and then Iran last season after spending five years in the NBA with the Grizzlies and Suns. He has not been linked to any NBA teams this offseason.
- Even if Danny Ferry was indeed reading a scouting report written by someone else, Bob Young of AZCentral opines that the Hawks GM should still resign for not immediately firing that member of his staff on the spot. Young also points out that Ferry and the Hawks have been fortunate that the NFL scandal has somewhat overshadowed what has transpired in Atlanta.
- Mavericks forward Chandler Parsons said the Rockets told him to “go get the biggest deal and the best deal for you and we’re matching,” writes Michael Florek of The Dallas Morning News. Parsons, of course, proceeded to do just that — signing a three-year, $45MM deal with Dallas — but Houston didn’t follow suit.
Pacers Sign Adonis Thomas For Camp
SEPTEMBER 5TH: The Pacers have followed up with a formal announcement, so the deal is official.
SEPTEMBER 3RD: The signing has taken place, according to the RealGM transactions log, though the team has yet to make a formal announcement.
AUGUST 22ND, 8:32am: It’s indeed a non-guaranteed deal, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link).
AUGUST 21ST, 9:32pm: Adonis Thomas will attend training camp with the Pacers this fall, the Memphis product tweeted on Thursday night. Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders was the first reporter to pass along the news (via Twitter). We haven’t heard anything official from the team yet, though it appears that the sides have come to an agreement based on Thomas’ tweet.
After going undrafted last June, Thomas spent most of the 2013/14 season in the D-League with the now-defunct Springfield Armor. The 6-foot-7 guard averaged 16.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in 34 games for Springfield, shooting an unconscious 46.6 percent from beyond the arc. His D-League play earned him two 10-day contracts with the Magic and one with the Sixers, with whom he closed out the regular season.
In all Thomas appeared in only six NBA games as a rookie, averaging 2.3 points in 6.2 minutes per game. The 21-year-old spent two years at Memphis, where he played 27.5 minutes per game for the Tigers and was the second leading scorer on a team that earned a six seed in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
Poll: Weigh In On Sixers’ Rebuild
As our Chuck Myron noted this morning, the Sixers have been a hub of activity over the past few days. From their involvement in the Kevin Love blockbuster, to the Hasheem Thabeet deal, to their agreement with injured rookie center Joel Embiid, the positioning that GM Sam Hinkie and company accomplished has put them in a unique spot from a salary cap flexibility standpoint. Philly seems to have their hands in everything and, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders pointed out earlier tonight, we shouldn’t expect that to change anytime soon.
Whether they’re dumping veterans, hoarding future draft picks or using their current ones on players unlikely to help them now, it’s obvious the Sixers have no intention of competing in the immediate future. Hinkie has the luxury of building his team with ownership’s ultimate confidence, or at least he’s operated as such. However, as careful as he’s been about tipping his hand since arriving in Philly, Hinkie did concede earlier today that trading Thaddeus Young was difficult, perhaps implying that he’s not as narrowly focused on asset collection as it may seem.
The Sixers’ methods are, if nothing else, polarizing in NBA circles. Basketball purists may look down upon what they perceive as tanking while more progressive-minded fans may see a forward-thinking GM taking advantage of a league loophole. So what do you think? A month ago, Hoops Rumors readers thought the Sixers’ rebuild would pay off before that of the Jazz or Magic, implying that there’s a contingent of fans out there who believe in what Hinkie and the Sixers are doing. What about the rest of you? As always, feel free to weigh in via the comments section.
Trade Details: Love, Thabeet, Sefolosha, Dudley
Here is the latest on a handful of recent trades from cap guru Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times and Basketball Insiders:
- Pincus reports that the Wolves received a $6.3MM trade exception in the Kevin Love deal, which is the difference between the salaries of Love and Thaddeus Young ($6,308,194 to be exact). It was originally thought to be worth $4,644,503 — the difference between Love’s salary and the combined salaries of Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett — but Pincus indicates that, for Minnesota’s purposes, Love was traded for Young while Wiggins and Bennett were traded for Luc Mbah a Moute and Alexey Shved (Twitter links).
- The Thunder have sent $100K along with Hasheem Thabeet to the Sixers in exchange for a top-55 protected second round draft pick, according to Pincus, who confirms that the deal will award Oklahoma City a $1.25MM trade exception. With Thabeet likely to be cut and Philly nearly certain not to finish as a top-five team next season, the Thunder essentially paid $100K for a $1.25MM trade exception that they’ll hold until August 26th, 2015 (Twitter links here).
- Pincus reminds us that the Thunder also pulled off a similar maneuver when they dealt Thabo Sefolosha to the Hawks last month. In that deal, Oklahoma City sent $550K to Atlanta which netted them a trade exception worth $4.15MM. (Twitter links).
- The Sixers are a likely candidate to take on salary this season via their cap room with cash and draft picks as compensation, Pincus believes. Each team is permitted to send out and receive up to $3.3MM in cash per season, so Philly can still receive up to $3.2MM (Twitter links here).
- The 2017 first-round pick headed from the Clippers to the Bucks in the Jared Dudley deal is lottery protected through 2019, at which time it will become two second-round picks, one for 2020 and the other for 2021, Pincus reports. Of course, as Pincus points out, the Clippers are likely to be a playoff team for the foreseeable future so the pick should be with Milwaukee come 2017 (Twitter links).
- While both deals were officially announced by at least one of the participating teams, Pincus tweets that Dudley still has to pass a physical to go to the Bucks while Thabeet is not required to do so to head to the Sixers.
And-Ones: Lakers, Hornets, CDR, Young, Mavs
Michael Beasley‘s second audition with the Lakers was part of a larger free agent workout today, writes Sam Amick of USA Today, who lists Dexter Pittman, Greg Stiemsma, Daniel Orton, Bobby Brown, Toney Douglas, Ben Hansbrough and Malcolm Lee as the other participants. As Amick points out, GM Mitch Kupchak has two roster spots to play with going into the 2014/15 season.
Here is what else is happening around the league on Wednesday evening:
- Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer doesn’t foresee the Hornets burning their 15th and final guarantee on center depth behind Al Jefferson and Bismack Biyombo. Bonnell believes Charlotte would prefer to, when needed, plug Cody Zeller in at center rather than limit their roster flexibility (Twitter links here).
- Bonnell also quashes any talk of the Hornets using that final guarantee on Chris Douglas-Roberts, who impressed at times in 49 games in Charlotte in 2013/14 (Twitter link). With Lance Stephenson and P.J. Hairston now in the fold, the Hornets are not looking for another wing, Bonnell implies. CDR was linked to the Clippers as recently as yesterday.
- Clearly appreciative of the Timberwolves‘ efforts to acquire him, Thaddeus Young conceded that the past two seasons with the Sixers have been frustrating, writes Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
- The combination of Dirk Nowitzki‘s unselfishness and his communicative relationship with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban directly led to the addition of Chandler Parsons this summer, writes Earl K. Sneed of NBA.com.
Rockets Sign Tarik Black
6:50pm: The signing is official, the team announced.
6:33pm: Black’s deal with the Rockets is for two years and is partially guaranteed, according to Shams Charania of RealGM (via Twitter).
6:02pm: The Rockets have come to an agreement with Tarik Black, reports Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). After going undrafted in June out of Kansas, Black played 13 games with Houston this summer between Las Vegas and Orlando. He was particularly impressive over five games in Orlando, averaging 10 points and 6 rebounds on 60 percent shooting in 20 minutes per contest.
Black, a 6’9″ forward, is probably a long shot to make a Rockets team that has 14 guaranteed contracts on the books, not to mention a handful of non-guaranteed ones. However, as Feigen notes, Black might be a good bet to end up on the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s D-League affiliate. The 22-year-old Black was a heralded recruit coming out of high school, playing three years at Memphis before graduating early and transferring to Kansas for his senior season to play alongside Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid. Black averaged 5.5 points on 69.2 percent shooting in his lone season in Lawrence.
Hawks Re-Sign Mike Scott
AUGUST 26TH: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
AUGUST 25TH: Atlanta hasn’t announced the agreement, but Scott has signed his contract according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (via Twitter). Pincus reports that Scott’s salary is evenly distributed for a total of $10MM across the three years on the deal, and that the first two seasons of the contract are fully guaranteed. The final year is presumably partially guaranteed or completely non-guaranteed.
AUGUST 1ST: Restricted free agent forward Mike Scott has agreed to a three-year, $10MM deal to remain with the Hawks, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has confirmed the report and indicated that the third year is a team option (via Twitter). Atlanta had been working on retaining Scott, though word spread a few days ago that the Aaron Mintz client was considering an offer from Russian powerhouse CSKA Moscow.
At 26 years old, Scott broke into the Hawks’ rotation this past season after playing sparingly in his 2012/13 rookie year. He played in 80 games for Atlanta, starting six and averaging 9.6 points and 3.6 boards in 18.5 minutes per contest. The Hawks selected Scott 43rd overall in 2012 out of Virginia. Scott said in the spring that he wanted to remain with the Hawks, but other NBA teams reportedly felt that they could pry him from Atlanta.
The Hawks also retained fellow restricted free agent Shelvin Mack last week while adding free agents Thabo Sefolosha and Kent Bazemore to a team that took the top-seeded Pacers to a seventh game in the first round of the NBA Playoffs without star center Al Horford. Scott figures to continue to get significant playing time behind starting power forward Paul Millsap, though he will have some tough competition in Adreian Payne, who the Hawks took with the No. 15 selection in June’s draft.