Hawks Sign Jeremy Evans To Camp Deal
SEPTEMBER 21: The Hawks have officially signed Evans, the team announced today in a press release.
SEPTEMBER 13: The Hawks have signed Jeremy Evans to a training camp deal, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). After bringing in Evans, the team has 18 players on the roster.
Evans last played in the NBA for the Mavericks during the 2015/16 season, though a shoulder injury cut his campaign short. He appeared in 30 games for Dallas that season, scoring just 2.4 points per game in 8.4 minutes per contest.
Prior to his Mavericks stint, he spent five seasons in Utah where he saw a career high in minutes (18.4) during the 2013/14 season. The combo forward played in Russia last season with BC Khimki.
Central Notes: Bucks, Mirotic, Bulls, Collins, Love
The Bucks are looking to improve on their 42-win campaign and they’re banking on continuity to give them a boost in the standings, Matt Velazquez of the Journal Sentinel writes. Milwaukee has hardly made any changes to its roster this offseason, with 13 of 15 players who finished last season with the team still under contract.
“[Continuity is] going to be huge, I think, with training camp being a little shorter,” Bucks head coach Jason Kidd said. “The veteran teams are going to have the advantage — there’s not a lot of time before your first game. Just understanding that continuity is big for us. We’re still young, but hopefully, we feel we’re going in the right direction. Hopefully, we can use that to our advantage early on in the season.”
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Nikola Mirotic remains on the market, albeit as a restricted free agent, and executive Bulls VP of Basketball Operations John Paxson indicates that the power forward’s qualifying offer is still on the table, as Nick Friedell of ESPN.com tweets. The power forward will make approximately $7.23MM this upcoming season should he accept his qualifying offer, and has until October 1 to do so.
- The Bulls hired Doug Collins as a senior advisor on Tuesday, and he expects to do just that — advise. During his introductory press conference, the former head coach indicated that he won’t return to the sidelines to coach the Bulls “under any circumstances,” and stressed that he won’t have decision-making power in the front office (Twitter links via K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune).
- Tyronn Lue won’t commit to Kevin Love as his starting center, though the Cavaliers coach said the UCLA product will be more involved in the offense this upcoming season.“Right now we’re just trying to get all of our pieces together and right now Tristan [Thompson]‘s our starter,” Lue tells Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. “I’m just thinking we’re going to run a lot more stuff through Kevin, more at the elbows, like we’ve done the last year and a half. Just trying to figure out with our new pieces and our new players and just see what works best for us.”
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Dwight Howard Considered Retirement In 2015
Dwight Howard considered retirement following his disappointing 2014/15 campaign, Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated passes along in a full-length piece that’s worth a read. Injuries certainly played a role in Howard evaluating that option, as he missed 41 games because of knee issues in 2014/15. Other factors, including his fit on the Rockets and his mindset toward the game of basketball, also were major factors.
“The joy was sucked out of it,” Howard said about his mindset toward the game that season.
The former No. 1 overall pick signed a four-year deal with Houston during the summer of 2013 and the team expected him to mesh well with rising star James Harden. The Harden-Howard pairing never came together as the franchise had hoped for, though the team attempted to create chemistry between the two by setting up a meeting during the 2014/15 season. Harden reportedly explained to Howard that he wanted the big man to set stronger screens and be a tougher rim protector, and Howard reportedly didn’t provide much of a response. One team source tells Jenkins that the gathering felt more like an intervention than a typical NBA player meeting.
Howard acknowledges that his communication skills are partially to blame for him not working in Houston and previously in Los Angeles.
“When I don’t like what’s going on, I tend to shut down, put my headphones on and ignore everything. I don’t talk about things. That happened to me in L.A. It happened to me again in Houston. I should have communicated better,” Howard said.
The big man was traded to the Hornets this offseason just one season into a three-year contract with the Hawks. Charlotte will be the center’s fourth team since he forced a trade from the Magic back in 2012.
Wizards Notes: Frazier, Meeks, Scott
The Wizards are one of nine teams that reportedly lost money this season, even after revenue sharing, though that didn’t stop the team from spending major resources to keep its talent in-house this summer.
Washington inked John Wall to a four-year extension worth $170MM and kept Otto Porter in town on a four-year, $106.5MM deal. The team also made several ancillary moves and here are some notes on a few of the acquisitions:
- The backup point guard spot in Washington has been a position of weakness over the past several years. However, the Wizards believe Tim Frazier can be the answer to their problem this season, Chase Hughes of Comcast Sportsnet writes. Frazier, who scored 7.1 points and dished out 5.2 assists per night in New Orleans last season, was acquired by Washington on draft night in exchange for a second-round pick.
- Jodie Meeks appeared in just 39 games over the last two seasons because of various injuries, but despite the injury risk, the Wizards are expecting him to play a major role off the bench this season, Hughes adds in the separate piece. Washington signed Meeks to a two-year, $7MM deal this offseason.
- The Wizards brought in Mike Scott on a one-year deal this summer to add toughness and defensive awareness to the team’s second-unit, Hughes passes along in a separate piece. Scott is expected to compete with Kelly Oubre and Jason Smith for backup minutes at the power forward position.
Suns Sign Alec Peters To Two-Way Contract
SEPTEMBER 16: The Suns have finally made their agreement with Peters official, having formally signed him to a two-way contract earlier this week, according to RealGM’s log of NBA transactions.
Phoenix has now filled both two-way slots on its roster, with former Lamar standout Mike James occupying the other one.
JULY 6: The Suns will sign Alec Peters to a two-way contract, league sources tell Chris Reichert of 2 Ways & 10 Days (Twitter link). Peters was selected by Phoenix with the No. 54 pick in the 2017 draft.
Players on two-way deals will spend most of their season in the G-League since they cannot spend more than 45 days with an NBA club, as our glossary page on two-way contracts shows.
Peters spent four years at Valparaiso and won the Horizon League Player of the Year award during his senior year. He scored 23.0 points while grabbing 10.1 rebounds per contest last season.
Zach Randolph Avoids Jail Time
Zach Randolph, who was arrested on possession of marijuana charges last month, has struck a plea deal with California prosecutors and will avoid jail time, according to TMZ Sports. Randolph could have faced up to one year in prison had he been convicted of the misdemeanor.
Ray Brothers, Randolph’s agent, released a statement on the incident following the plea deal (via NBA.com’s David Aldridge on TwitLonger):
“As we have said from the beginning, the reports regarding Zach Randolph were false and misleading. After being accused of marijuana possession, all charges have been dropped. He was never arrested with any marijuana in or on his possession. He has been cited for delaying a police officer. It’s defamatory for someone to say anything to the contrary.”
As part of the agreement, Randolph pled no contest to misdemeanor resisting arrest and agreed to serve 150 hours of community service as part of a diversion program. He will report to a California court in December for a progress update.
The power forward signed a two-year, $24MM deal with the Kings this summer. While he won’t miss games this season because of jail time, it’s possible the NBA suspends or fines him because of the incident.
Hawks Notes: Cook, New Hires, Front Office Moves
The Hawks will look much different this season than they have in past, after losing four All-Stars via trade and free agency over the last two years. Atlanta’s new look team will allow its youth an opportunity to shine and Quinn Cook, who the team officially signed earlier this week, looks forward to suiting up for the club, as KL Chouinard of NBA.com relays.
“It’s a great opportunity for all of us,” Cook said. “We have a younger team.”
Cook played collegiate ball at Duke University under coach Mike Krzyzewski and he believes his time in the program will help him thrive in coach Mike Budenholzer’s offense.
“We did a lot of [the same things] at Duke,” Cook said. “I know Coach Bud and Coach K are really, really, really close friends so they talk a lot. That’s one thing Coach K told me: Be prepared for motion and spacing. That’s really all I’ve been working on since before I got here.”
There’s more from Atlanta, as the franchise announced several hires and promotions within the front office (via NBA.com). Here’s a rundown of the moves:
- Rod Higgins, who played 13 seasons in the NBA, has been hired as a College Scout.
- Brady Howe, who previously worked for the Salt Lake City Stars, has been hired as an Assistant Athletic Trainer.
- Dan Martinez has been named the Senior Director of Team Operations.
- The team added Adam Loiacono as a Performance Therapist and Derek Pierce as a Pro Player Personnel Scout.
- Daniel Bove has been promoted to Sports Scientist/Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach.
- The team promoted Scottie Parker to Head Athletic Trainer, Zach Peterson to Video Coordinator and Patrick St. Andrews to Assistant Coach.
- Daniel Starkman has been named Manager of Basketball Information and Scouting Coordinator.
Heat Notes: Wade, Hammons, Mickey
Dwyane Wade may soon find himself on the free agent market if he and the Bulls can agree to a buyout. It was recently reported that a reunion with the Heat remains a realistic option, as the 35-year-old recently moved his children back to the Miami area.
The Heat appear to already have a starting shooting guard in place after inking Dion Waiters to a four-year, $52MM deal this summer, though the former No. 4 overall pick is open to playing alongside the future Hall of Famer. Waiter previously told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald that he admires Wade and would like to learn from the experienced veteran.
Miami brought back Waiters along with other pieces from its 2016/17 lottery campaign after failing to land a star in free agency yet again. While Wade can no longer be categorized as a star, adding him to the unit should only help the team to climb higher in the standings. Regardless of whether or not the franchise adds Wade, it has a decent chance of avoiding the lottery this season, as ESPN statistician Kevin Pelton projects Miami to end up with the No. 7 seed in the conference.
As we wait to see where Wade ends up playing, check out some notes from Miami:
- Assuming the Heat don’t land Wade, A.J. Hammons and Jordan Mickey are the front-runners for the team’s final two roster spots, Jackson writes in a full-length piece. The scribe adds that Matt Williams is a legitimate candidate for one of the spots should the team decide to waive one of its big men.
- Jackson hears (same piece) that two separate scouts have concerns about Hammons’ maturity level and he identifies one of the scouts as a member of the Mavericks’ staff. Hammons was selected by Dallas in the 2016 draft, though he was traded to the Heat this summer.
- Larry Drew II, who will go to training camp with the Heat, doesn’t appear to have a realistic chance at making the team, Ira Winderman on the Sun-Sentinel contends. The team currently has 18 invites for camp and with only 15 roster spots and a pair of two-way contracts, the point guard could be the odd man out.
Community Shootaround: Lottery Reform
The NBA Competition Committee is considering a change to the current lottery system, as we passed along on Thursday, and the proposed terms of the new system include:
- Teams would be able to drop four spots in the lottery. Currently teams can drop no more than three spots.
- The three worst teams would have equal probabilities of landing the first pick.
- The odds for those three worst teams would be flattened, closing the gap between their odds of landing the top pick and the subsequent teams’ odds of landing the top pick.
The reform would help to discourage tanking, something that commissioner Adam Silver would like to accomplish. The committee may vote on the proposal prior to the upcoming season and if it gains support, there could be a new system in place as soon as the 2018 draft, though it’s more likely that any changes are phased in over time.
That leads us to tonight’s topic: Should the NBA make these changes to the lottery or does the current system work for the league? Are there other alternatives to the latest proposal that would be better for the NBA?
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. We look forward to what you have to say!
Mark Cuban Talks Nerlens Noel, Restricted Free Agency
After the Mavericks acquired Nerlens Noel at last season’s trade deadline, many assumed the team would follow up the transaction by locking up the center to a long-term deal. Noel ended up signing his qualifying offer, which will allow him to hit the market again next summer, but this time, as an unrestricted free agent. Owner Mark Cuban said he was satisfied with the result, though he would have rather inked the Kentucky product to a longer deal, as he tells Tim Cowlishaw on his local radio program (h/t Dallas Morning News).
“We made what we thought was a significant offer,” Cuban said. “Nerlens decided to bet on himself and now we’re in a position where if everybody comes out ahead this coming season, he’ll get paid, we’ll be happy and we’ll go on with life. He’s not going to be the first player to bet on himself and he won’t be the last.”
Cuban believes this year’s crop of restricted free agents were unfortunate because many teams over-spent last offseason. The salary cap was expected to go significantly this offseason, though that didn’t happen and many players saw less than desirable offers because teams didn’t plan for that scenario. Cuban added that Noel understands the market and despite being unable to land a massive deal, the big man has remained positive.
“I’ve talked to him since and he’s like, ‘I’m ready to do this. Let’s go out and have a great year.’ He’s just got that positive attitude and that’s been great. Look, the whole time–I’ve got to give Nerlens props–while all of this was going on, he was very positive. It was like look, ‘Our agents are our agents and they’re doing their thing but I’m excited.’ So I give him a ton of credit,” Cuban said.