Nets Sign Yogi Ferrell
AUGUST 5: The Nets have officially signed Ferrell, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 22: Nearly a month after the Nets’ agreement with Ferrell was initially reported, it looks like it’s close to being made official. Michael Scotto of The Associated Press tweets that it will just be a one-year deal for Ferrell.
JUNE 24: The Nets and Yogi Ferrell have agreed to a partially guaranteed deal, according to Jake Fischer of Liberty Ballers (Twitter link). Fischer adds that Ferrell turned down several draft-and-stash opportunities, presumably in the second round.
Ferrell started all four years while attending Indiana and he averaged 17.3 points, 5.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game during his senior season. Jonathan Givony of Draft Express ranks him as the 63rd best prospect in the draft.
The Nets don’t have a strong option at the point guard position on their roster. Incumbent starter Jarrett Jack, who played well last season before tearing his ACL, is no lock to return, as GM Sean Marks indicated that the team is still undecided on whether to pick up his team option. If Ferrell impresses early on, he could end up being part of the team’s rotation next season, though that’s merely my speculation.
Nets Sign Egidijus Mockevicius
JULY 28: The Nets have officially signed Mockevicius to a camp deal, per RealGM.com. Mockevicius certainly won’t be assured of a regular-season roster spot, but Brooklyn currently doesn’t have a ton of depth at center, with only Justin Hamilton behind Lopez, so the rookie could receive 15-man consideration if he impresses in camp.
JUNE 26: The Nets have agreed to a partially guaranteed, one-year deal with Egidijus Mockevicius, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed, however, it’s likely a minimum-salary arrangement.
Mockevicius played four seasons at Evansville, shooting 61.7% from the field. The 6’10″center is ranked 97th in Jonathan Givony’s T0p 100 prospects on DraftExpress.com. The big man averaged 15.6 points and 14.1 rebounds per game while sporting a 29.3 player efficiency rating during his senior season.
Brook Lopez is the only center under contract for the Nets, as the team’s depth chart at Roster Resource indicates. Brooklyn will need to add at least one more bruiser in the frontcourt and Mockevicius’ staying power will likely be tied to who else the team can add in free agency.
Hawks Sign Matt Costello
JULY 26: The Hawks have issued a press release formally confirming their deal with Costello.
JULY 18: According to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), Costello got a two-year, minimum-salary deal from the Hawks. The pact includes a $50K guarantee in year one.
JUNE 24: The Hawks have agreed to a deal with Matt Costello, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The big man will play on Atlanta’s Summer League team.
Costello averaged 10.7 points and 8.2 rebounds during his senior season at Michigan State. The Michigan native ranked 72nd among all seniors, according to Jonathan Givony of Draft Express.
Costello wasn’t expected to be drafted on Thursday night and he probably faces long odds of making the Hawks’ regular season roster. Entering the day, Atlanta had 12 players under contract, as the team’s depth chart at Roster Resource shows.
Sixers Sign Brandon Paul
JULY 25: The Sixers have issued a press release formally announcing the signing of Paul.
JULY 18: The Sixers and Brandon Paul have reached an agreement on a partially guaranteed deal, according to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The 6’4″ shooting guard played for Philadelphia’s Summer League team this offseason, where he averaged 10.7 points and 1.7 steals in 19.6 minutes per game.
The 25-year-old didn’t shoot the ball well during four years at the University of Illinois, making slightly less than 32.5% of his shots from behind the arc. However, he played for Liga ACB last season and made improvements in that area, making 35.3% of his attempts.
The Sixers had 19 players on the roster entering the day, as the team’s depth chart at Roster Resource indicates. Paul will face stiff competition for roster spot and once the season begins, it’s more likely he will be suiting up for the 87ers, Philadelphia’s D-League affiliate.
Nuggets Re-Sign Mike Miller
JULY 21st: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
JULY 18th: The Nuggets will re-sign Mike Miller to a two-year deal, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Miller will receive more than $5MM over the length of the deal, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link).
Miller played sparingly for the Nuggets last season, seeing 7.9 minutes per game over 47 contests. He shot just 35.5% from behind the arc, down from his career mark of 40.7%.
The Nuggets entered the day with 17 players under contract, as the team’s depth chart at Roster Resource indicates. Juan Hernangomez and Petr Cornelie are included on that list, although both are expected to play overseas next season. Miller will likely make the team and play sparingly again, while serving as a veteran mentor for the franchise’s young talent.
Pelicans Ink Solomon Hill To Four-Year Deal
JULY 21st: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
JULY 1st: The Pelicans have agreed to a deal with Solomon Hill, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The pact will be for $48MM over four seasons, reports Scott Kushner of The Advocate (Twitter links). Kushner adds that the deal will be guaranteed and it will contain incentives. Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical tweets that the deal will be for $52MM over four seasons, so perhaps that figure represents his maximum earnings.
GM Dell Demps was very high on the combo forward and had been targeting him since the beginning of free agency, Kushner adds. Sources tell Kushner that the team feels Hill is a high-IQ, team player and a good passer, comparing the forward to DeMarre Carroll (Twitter link). New Orleans wants Hill to be the team’s new “two-way” small forward, Stein tweets.
Hill was set to make roughly $2.3MM next season for the Pacers, but Indiana decided not to exercise its team option for the final year of his rookie deal. Hill had an up-and-down career for the Pacers before breaking out in the playoffs this past year.
Details On The D-League Expansion Draft
The D-League will add three new teams this upcoming seasons. The Bulls (Windy City Bulls), Hornets (Greensboro Swarm), and Nets (Long Island Nets) are all set to have one-on-one affiliates and the expansion draft will take place on August 24th, Adam Johnson of D-League Digest reports.
The league hasn’t had three teams join at the same time since 2006 and it has made some tweaks to the rules, sources tell Johnson. Previously, teams would be able to select 16 players from the available pool of players, but this year, the expansion teams will only be able to make 12 selections.
The draft will be serpentine and existing D-League teams can protect 10 players currently on their roster, which is down from 12 in previous expansion drafts. One thing remaining the same is where the expansion teams will pick during the D-League draft. The three teams will have the selections between the non-playoff teams and the playoff teams, which this year are the 12th, 13th, and 14th overall picks. The determination of the order in which these team pick during the annual draft will be set by the inverse of the expansion draft order, meaning the team that receives the first pick in the expansion draft will receive the 14th pick in the annual draft and the others will follow in that pattern.
Once a player is selected by the expansion team, that team owns his rights for at least two seasons. Last season, Toronto’s expansion team, Raptors 905, was the only team participating in the draft. Of the 16 players they selected, only Scott Suggs saw action for the team.
Atlantic Notes: Colangelo, Simmons, Durant
GM Bryan Colangelo acknowledged that the Sixers need to figure out their big man situation in order to have a more balanced roster, Chris Mannix of The Vertical writes. Colangelo added that collecting shooters to place around Ben Simmons on the floor is a priority as well.
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Simmons is making the Sixers‘ tanking efforts pay off, Mannix writes in the same piece. “I hated what they did,” a Western Conference GM told Mannix. “But you can’t deny what they have.” The 19-year-old displayed excellent passing and ball handling skills during Summer League and coach Brett Brown told Mannix that he expects Simmons to spend much of the upcoming season as a point guard.
- The Sixers plan to make fundamental changes to Simmons’ jump shot akin to how the Spurs help Kawhi Leonard change his release after he was drafted by the team, Mannix adds in that same piece.
- Kevin Durant said it was his call not to meet with the Knicks even though he held his free agency meetings in the Hamptons, Marc Berman of The New York Post passes along. “Everything was my call,’’ Durant said. “The whole process was my call. I respect everybody in this league and every organization. But I couldn’t meet with everybody.”
- There was speculation that Carmelo Anthony would have asked for trade if the Knicks struck out in free agency, but after the team made major moves this offseason, Anthony appears happy with New York, Berman writes in a separate piece. The Knicks traded for Derrick Rose and they signed Joakim Noah, Courtney Lee and Brandon Jennings to form a team that should easily compete for a playoff birth.
Clippers Sign Brandon Bass
JULY 19: The Clippers have officially signed Bass, according to the team’s website.
JULY 16: The Clippers have reached an agreement to sign Brandon Bass, sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). It’ll be a one-year deal, presumably for the minimum, which is worth roughly $1.55MM, according to Dan Woike of the OC Register (Twitter link). Charania adds (full-length piece) the the Spurs had strong interest in bringing Bass aboard.
Bass spent last season with the Lakers, accumulating 7.2 points and 4.3 rebounds off the bench. He turned down a player option worth $3.135MM last month in order to become a free agent. At the time, Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors speculated that the Clippers could be a possible landing spot.
The Clippers already added Marreese Speights earlier in the month, so they now have plenty of veteran depth in the frontcourt behind DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin.
Celtics Notes: Ainge, Okafor, Trades
The Celtics are eager to make a deal, but other teams simply are not looking to swap top players for prospects and draft picks, A. Sherrod Blakely of Comcast Sportsnet writes. “You win with players, not picks,” an anonymous assistant GM told Blakely. “Boston has lots of picks and some good players. But there’s not a great player on that roster. And the players you [media] guys keep writing and talking about that they’re interested in, are great players. [Danny Ainge] will tell you, it’s not easy making trades. And when it comes to great players, it’s even harder to acquire them no matter how many picks you offer up.”
Here’s more from Boston:
- The consensus around the league is that if the Celtics can make a big deal, it will be for Jahlil Okafor, as Blakely passes along in the same piece. “From the moment Philly drafted Ben [Simmons], everyone around the league knew that they would have to trade a big, either Okafor or Nerlens [Noel],” an NBA scout told Blakely. “Okafor is the better scorer; it’s not even close really. But Nerlens has that ability to run the floor and can protect the rim. Those two qualities . . . you can’t have enough guys in the frontcourt who call those two skills, strengths. That’s why Okafor is the more expendable player.”
- Another executive told Blakely that Ainge is waiting for an opportunity to snag a player whom no one thought would be available. “I have no idea who that big fish is,” the executive said. “But Danny knows there have to be certain circumstances in play that make guys available who wouldn’t be if you just went by talent. That’s how they got Ray Allen. That’s how they got KG (Kevin Garnett). Even Isaiah Thomas a couple years ago was about circumstance more than anything else. He’s looking for something like that now.”
- While the Celtics are looking to acquire another star via trade, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com wonders if the next prime-time player is already on the roster. Forsberg makes the argument that Marcus Smart will elevate his game to an All-Star level next season and the scribe expects Smart to take on much of Evan Turner‘s previous role now that the Ohio State product has signed with Portland.