Jazz Waive J.J. O’Brien, Jack Cooley
2:25pm: The moves are official, the team announced.
1:21pm: The Jazz are waiving J.J. O’Brien and Jack Cooley, according to Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link). O’Brien has a $75K partial guarantee that Utah will be responsible for if he clears waivers, while Cooley’s pact is non-guaranteed. They’re the first cuts from the Jazz preseason roster, which shrinks to 18 players, including 13 with fully guaranteed salaries, as our roster count shows.
Neither had seen much playing time in preseason, with Cooley scoring a single basket in six and a half minutes of play spread over two games and O’Brien going scoreless in less than two minutes during his one-game cameo. The 6’9,” 24-year-old Cooley was also with the Jazz last season, when he signed a pair of 10-day contracts followed by a multiyear deal, while the 6’7″ O’Brien, 23, went undrafted this June out of San Diego State.
Cooley was also a training camp cut for the Jazz last fall, and he spent much of the season with Utah’s D-League affiliate before rejoining the NBA roster. It wouldn’t be shocking to see him return to the D-League Idaho Stampede or for O’Brien to follow in his footsteps, though that’s just my speculation. NBA teams can retain the D-League rights to as many as four of the players they waive, but Utah doesn’t need to use one of those four spots on Cooley since the Stampede already have his D-League rights.
Today’s moves will leave the Jazz with a five-man battle for two regular season roster spots, assuming Utah carries a full 15-man roster on opening night. Jeff Withey and Treveon Graham, with partial guarantees, are up against non-guaranteed holdovers Bryce Cotton, Chris Johnson and Elijah Millsap. I looked at the battle for regular season roster spots on the Jazz in more detail here.
Who do you think the Jazz will end up keeping for opening night? Leave a comment to tell us.
Central Notes: Jefferson, Vaughn, Pistons, Pacers
Richard Jefferson felt uncomfortable with the prospect of playing for the Mavericks once DeAndre Jordan turned his back on the team, and the veteran small forward took agent Jeff Schwartz’s advice to take a delicate approach to undoing his own verbal commitment to Dallas, as Jefferson details to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. The 35-year-old signed a guaranteed one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Cavs after asking Mark Cuban’s permission to break off their deal.
“And so, [Schwartz] was like: ‘Well, Rich, I can call, but we should probably tell the Mavs first. And let’s see. Because I don’t want to call the Cavs and all of the sudden the Cavs call the Mavs about what’s going on and it comes back on me and it looks like I’m trying to do stuff behind their back,'” Jefferson said. “And so, we talked to Mark first and I asked him for permission, and he said, ‘That’s fine.’ And then there was some interest here [in Cleveland] and it was pretty much a no brainer.”
See more from the Central Division:
- Rashad Vaughn‘s mature demeanor impressed Bucks coach Jason Kidd before Milwaukee drafted him 17th overall this June, and the rookie is making waves on the court, too, as Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel examines. “The Vaughn kid put on a show in the fourth quarter, as he did in Chicago the other night,” Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy said after his team’s game against the Bucks Saturday. “We’re going to be dealing with him for a long time in the league. He’s got a quick release and can really, really shoot the ball.”
- Detroit has experienced a whirlwind of player movement under Van Gundy, so in spite of their apparent interest in Markieff Morris, the Pistons would be well-served to consider the benefits of roster stability over yet another change, opines Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.
- The commitment to a traditional lineup that the Pacers made in the past seemed aimed at beating the Heat, but now that president of basketball operations Larry Bird has shifted the team’s roster and on-court philosophy, Paul George isn’t the only one who must fit in, argues RealGM’s Andrew Perna. Coach Frank Vogel, who’s under contract through 2016/17, must also prove he can lead a more potent attack on offense.
Battle For Roster Spots: Southwest Division
Hoops Rumors will be taking a team-by-team look at the battles for regular season roster spots going on around the NBA this month, the last before rosters shrink from the offseason limit of 20 to the 15-man regular season maximum. We’ve already checked out the Northwest and Pacific division franchises, and now we’ll complete the Western Conference with a look at the Southwest Division:
MAVERICKS
15 full guarantees (Smallest full guarantee: Salah Mejri — $525,093)
Non-guaranteed players
- Brandon Ashley — $50K partial guarantee
- Jarrid Famous — $10K partial guarantee
- JaVale McGee — $500K partial guarantee
- Dwight Powell
- Jamil Wilson — $50K partial guarantee
Analysis: McGee is apparently unlikely to be healthy enough to play in time for opening night, but that hasn’t seemed to doom his chances at a regular season roster spot. Instead, it appears the team is banking on his upside, and with $500K partially guaranteed, that puts McGee on roughly equal financial footing with Mejri and Maurice Ndour, who has only one more dollar on his salary than Mejri does. John Jenkins, Charlie Villanueva and Samuel Dalembert each have full guarantees of less than $1MM, so they’d be vulnerable if one of the other camp invitees makes a push. Jenkins and Villanueva are so far leading the Mavs in preseason minutes per game.
GRIZZLIES
14 full guarantees (Smallest full guarantee: Russ Smith, Jarnell Stokes, tie — $845,059)
Non-guaranteed players
- Sampson Carter
- Yahkouba Diawara
- JaMychal Green — $150K partial guarantee
- Ryan Hollins
- Lazeric Jones
- Alex Stepheson
Analysis: Green’s partial guarantee and status as the lone holdover from last season among the camp invitees ostensibly makes him the favorite here. Still, Hollins knows his way around the NBA, and he surely didn’t join the team with just the D-League in mind. Hollins, along with Diawara, a fellow veteran, have been seeing in excess of 10 minutes a night in the preseason so far. Green and Jones have, too, so Memphis is at least giving most of its camp invitees a shot. Carter and Stepheson are new additions since the start of camp, having replaced Dan Nwaelele and Michael Holyfield.
ROCKETS
14 full guarantees (Smallest full guarantee: Marcus Thornton, Jason Terry, tie — $947,276)
Non-guaranteed players
- Will Cummings
- Arsalan Kazemi
- Denzel Livingston
- Joshua Smith
- Jeremy Tyler
- Chris Walker
Analysis: The Rockets added a player to the mix Monday when they claimed Arsalan Kazemi off waivers, but he probably doesn’t change the equation much here. That the Rockets will carry a 15th player at all is in doubt because the team is less than $2MM shy of its hard cap of $88.74MM, which it triggered when it signed Montrezl Harrell last month. That said, Smith is averaging 7.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game across two preseason appearances so far, so he’s making a strong impression, particularly on the boards.
SPURS
13 full guarantees (Smallest full guarantee: Jonathan Simmons — $525,093)
Non-guaranteed players
- Matt Bonner — $749,594
- Rasual Butler
- Jimmer Fredette — $507,711
- Youssou Ndoye
- Keifer Sykes
- Deshaun Thomas
- Reggie Williams
Analysis: The sizable partial guarantees for Bonner and Fredette ostensibly make it their competition to lose, but if the Spurs were 100% sold on them, they would have given them full guarantees, so much depends on what happens this month. Bonner and Fredette are a combined 0 for 6 from the floor in their limited preseason action so far, and for players who depend so heavily on their outside shooting, that doesn’t bode well for them. Butler, meanwhile, shot 5 for 7 and made both of his three-point attempts in his only preseason game to date this fall.
PELICANS
13 full guarantees (Smallest full guarantee: Kendrick Perkins — $947,276)
Non-guaranteed players
- Jeff Adrien
- Chris Douglas-Roberts
- Jerome Jordan
- Sean Kilpatrick
- Corey Webster
- Bryce Dejean-Jones — $50K partial guarantee
Analysis: Injuries to Omer Asik, Alexis Ajinca and Norris Cole have thrown the preseason into flux for New Orleans. It’s unclear how long Cole will be out, and Asik could be back before the start of the regular season, so how just how quickly they return will be key. Adrien and Jordan are the only big men among the camp invitees for the Pelicans, and Jordan the only true center, so each has at least a decent chance to stick, given that Asik and Ajinca are the team’s top two centers. The rest of the camp invitees are wing players, though they could come in handy if Cole has to miss significant time and the Pelicans decide to play Tyreke Evans more at point guard.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Atlantic Notes: Bennett, Zeller, Williams, Grant
People who know Anthony Bennett speak well of his character, and it appears his mission with the Raptors is to restore his self-confidence, writes Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. So far, he’s made a positive impression on coach Dwane Casey, as Lewenberg relays.
“One thing that has impressed me is his defense,” Casey said. “His defense is ahead of his offense. That was a surprise. I didn’t know he was as good a defender as he’s showed since we’ve had him, which has been very impressive. And that’s helped get ingratiated with his teammates and the staff. He’s done a good job. The main thing for him is just to relax and play, enjoy the game, get that No. 1 pick necklace off his neck and just play basketball, have fun.”
See more from the Atlantic Division:
- Tyler Zeller is glad to work with Celtics coach Brad Stevens and would like an extension before his eligibility window closes on November 2nd, but he’s OK with the prospect of not signing an extension if that’s how it plays out, as he explains to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.
- Derrick Williams, confident that the triangle will be the right long-term fit for him, made up his mind to join the Knicks 10 minutes after meeting with the team, and he decided not to speak to Kings coach George Karl about re-signing with Sacramento, as Williams told Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. “Nope, I didn’t really care,” Williams said. “I knew where I wanted to go.”
- Knicks team president Phil Jackson coached Horace Grant on the Bulls, and the Zen Master admits that connection gives him greater confidence in Knicks rookie Jerian Grant, Horace’s nephew, observes Marc Berman of the New York Post. Carmelo Anthony, who was reportedly upset to see Tim Hardaway Jr. go out in the trade that brought in Grant, has been impressed with the poise and ability to control the tempo that this year’s No. 19 overall pick has demonstrated, Berman notes.
Western Notes: Durant, Donovan, Grizzlies, Barnes
Thunder GM Sam Presti carries an upbeat attitude as his team enters the final season of Kevin Durant‘s contract, but he understands the stakes, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com details. Presti acknowledges plenty of competition will exist for the former MVP, and when Shelburne asked his thoughts on the rising salary cap that will give more teams a shot to sign Durant, Presti simply pointed to a magnet on his wall that reads, “Forget It, Jake, It’s Chinatown.” The question remains about whether Durant and Russell Westbrook can lead the team to the championship as a united force in perhaps the last season they’ll play together, Shelburne writes.
“We are not going to bury our head in the sand,” Presti said, “and pretend that’s not going to be in the air.”
See more on the Thunder amid our look at notes from the Western Conference:
- The atmosphere around the small-town Thunder offers new coach Billy Donovan the chance to concentrate on the X’s and O’s of basketball, and it’s clear that success on the court will be more important than Donovan’s ability to manage egos, as Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding believes.
- The Grizzlies didn’t add a shooter in the offseason, but as long as Zach Randolph and Tony Allen have prominent roles in the rotation, there’s little the team can do improve in that area, argues Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal, writing in his “Pick and Pop” column.
- The trade that netted Matt Barnes didn’t cost the Grizzlies much, so if his situation with Derek Fisher becomes too much of a distraction, the team wouldn’t be making too much of a sacrifice, all told, if it decides to part ways with Barnes, Herrington opines in the same piece.
Larry Sanders Drawing Preliminary Interest
10:53pm: The Mavs continue to have interest in Sanders, but no talks are ongoing, and a trip Sanders took to Texas today has nothing to do with the team, Tim Cato of SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball hears. Tim MacMahon reports much the same, tweeting that nothing’s in the works but that Dallas would pursue him if he decided to play again.
MONDAY, 2:51pm: A Western Conference team has had internal discussions about the idea of signing Larry Sanders, a source tells Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times (Twitter link). It’s unclear which team it is, or whether the former Bucks defensive stalwart even wants to play again. Sanders cast doubt on the idea last February, shortly after his buyout deal with Milwaukee. Woelfel heard a couple of months later that Sanders still had no desire to return to the game, and Sanders spoke around the start of June about his peace with life away from basketball.
Sanders, who turns 27 next month, gave up nearly half of his $44MM deal with Milwaukee when he left the NBA midway through last season. The NBA handed down two drug-related suspensions to the former 15th overall pick within the year leading up to the end of his time with the Bucks. He checked himself into a hospital where he took part in a program for anxiety, depression and mood disorders last spring. Still, Sanders hasn’t ruled out a return, and in January he denied a report from Woelfel that he was thinking about retirement.
The Mavericks and Clippers, as well as the Cavs, reportedly had at least cautious interest in Sanders toward the end of last season. The Mavs have a need for a clear-cut starter at center, though they have 15 fully guaranteed salaries plus a $500K partial guarantee out to JaVale McGee. The Clippers have only 14 fully guaranteed pacts. The Cavs have 13 full guarantees, not counting the still-unsigned Tristan Thompson, though they’re an Eastern Conference team, of course. It’s a stretch to suggest that any of those three still have interest, given the length of time it’s been since they were linked to Sanders.
Milwaukee might have a rooting interest in Sanders’ future, since teams are generally entitled to set off a portion of any money they owe to ex-players who clear waivers if those players sign new deals elsewhere. However, teams often waive set-off rights in buyout deals, as Larry Coon notes in his Salary Cap FAQ.
Do you think Sanders will play in the NBA this season? Leave a comment to let us know.
Cavs Lead With 16 Free Agent Signings
The Cavaliers have drawn plenty of attention the past few months for a free agent they haven’t signed, but even though Tristan Thompson lingers in free agency, Cleveland has taken care of more free agent business than any other team in the league during the 2015 offseason. They signed 16 free agents, three more than the Spurs, the team that recorded the next most free agent signings. The Cavs just made their latest signing this weekend, replacing Michael Dunigan with Dionte Christmas on the camp roster.
It might be easy to presume a direct correlation between free agent activity and success, given the teams at the very top and bottom of the list below. The Cavs and Spurs are strong bets to win their respective conferences this season, while the Jazz, Timberwolves and Sixers are nowhere near the title picture. The presence of the Warriors and Thunder on the bottom half of the list and the Kings and Nets close to the top debunk that theory, however. It has more to do with the fact that the Cavs had only four players signed for 2015/16 when they ended last season, while the Jazz had 13. Cleveland simply had more jobs to hand out.
Still, other factors are at play, since free agent signings don’t encompass draft picks, draft-and-stash signings, trades or waiver claims. The Trail Blazers made significant changes to their roster, but they did much of their work via trade instead of free agency. The Rockets had 10 players under contract on July 1st, but they still wound up making 11 free agent signings.
Here’s a look at the number of free agent signings for each team. Click the team’s name to see the names of each of their signees via our 2015 Free Agent Tracker.
- Cavaliers, 16
- Mavericks, 13
- Spurs, 13
- Kings, 12
- Knicks, 12
- Nets, 12
- Pelicans, 12
- Rockets, 11
- Clippers, 10
- Grizzlies, 10
- Suns, 10
- Heat, 9
- Pacers, 9
- Raptors, 9
- Bulls, 8
- Hawks, 8
- Magic, 8
- Wizards, 8
- Bucks, 7
- Celtics, 7
- Hornets, 7
- Lakers, 7
- Nuggets, 7
- Warriors, 7
- Pistons, 6
- Thunder, 6
- Trail Blazers, 6
- 76ers, 5
- Timberwolves, 5
- Jazz, 4
Rockets Claim Arsalan Kazemi From Hawks
The Rockets have claimed Arsalan Kazemi off waivers from the Hawks, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Houston becomes the third team within the past month to have a hold on Kazemi after the Sixers relinquished their draft rights to the Iranian power forward so he could sign with Atlanta. Houston inherits the non-guaranteed contract he received from the Hawks. Kazemi becomes the 20th player on the Rockets, who have 14 signed to fully guaranteed pacts, as our roster count shows.
The former Rice and Oregon player didn’t appear in a preseason game in his brief time with the Hawks, who had him for less than two weeks when they released him Saturday. His deal only covers one year at the minimum salary without any guarantees, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reported, so the Rockets don’t assume much risk. It’s not altogether surprising to see him end up with Houston, since GM Daryl Morey is the former boss of Sixers GM Sam Hinkie, who had acquired his draft rights in a trade with the Wizards in 2013 on the same night that Washington drafted him 54th overall. The waiver claim is the first in the NBA since the calendar flipped to the 2015/16 season on July 1st.
It would nonetheless seem as though the 25-year-old Kazemi, who put up 15.0 points in 38.9 minutes per game for ChongQing AoLong of China last season, faces long odds to make the regular season roster in Houston, given the competition from five other camp invitees. The Rockets face a hard cap because they exceeded the taxpayer’s amount on the mid-level exception with their signings of K.J. McDaniels and Montrezl Harrell, so the distinct possibility exists that Houston won’t carry a 15th man for opening night. Still, the Rockets can keep the D-League rights to as many as four of the players they waive, so perhaps that’s what they have in mind for Kazemi.
Warriors Waive Tony Mitchell
The Warriors have waived power forward Tony Mitchell, the team announced. The subtraction of his non-guaranteed deal leaves Golden State with 19 players, 13 of whom have full guarantees, as our roster count shows. Mitchell was the only Warriors camp invitee who didn’t pose much of a threat from beyond the arc, as I noted earlier today, so it’s not entirely surprising that he’s the first cut, given the team’s desire for more shooting.
The former Piston who was the 37th overall pick out of North Texas in 2013 is not to be confused with the ex-Bucks small forward of the same name. Mitchell, who didn’t see any preseason action for the Warriors, has expressed interest in playing for Golden State’s D-League affiliate, notes Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). Still, the 23-year-old had been giving it a go in Warriors camp to see if he could return to the NBA after a 2014/15 season in which he didn’t appear in a single regular season game for the Pistons even though he was on their roster for nearly two months. Detroit traded him to Phoenix in late December, but he didn’t see any playing time there either before the Suns waived him in conjunction with the Brandan Wright trade.
James Michael McAdoo appears to have a line on the 14th regular season spot for the Warriors, leaving Chris Babb, Ian Clark, Ben Gordon, Jarell Eddie and rookie Juwan Staten to battle over spot No. 15, assuming the taxpaying Warriors carry a full roster on opening night.
How would you handicap the battle for the last regular season spots on the Warriors? Leave a comment to tell us.
Rookie Scale Extensions For Less Than $10MM/Year
Andre Drummond and Harrison Barnes are reportedly the players most likely to receive extensions among those who’ve yet to sign on the list of rookie scale extension-eligible players. That stands to reason, since they, along with Bradley Beal, would appear to be the most valuable among that group. Rookie scale extensions are typically the purview of elite or nearly elite players. Still, as we’ve seen with Milwaukee’s extension for John Henson and Golden State’s willingness to consider an extension for Festus Ezeli, sometimes teams tie up young players at the back of their rotations, too.
Henson will receive an average annual value of at least $11MM when the extension kicks in for 2016/17, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports, but eight players since 2010 have signed rookie scale extensions for less than $10MM in average annual value. Perhaps most notable among them is Mike Conley‘s discounted five-year, $41MM deal that he signed in 2010. It’s finally up after this season, and Conley will surely end up with a salary more commensurate with his skill. The same will probably be true for DeMar DeRozan should he opt out. Even though he comes closest among the eight to $10MM a year on his deal, it’s still reasonable to suspect he’d get much more on the open market.
Here’s a look at each of the players who’ve signed rookie scale extensions for less than $10MM a year since 2010, ranked in descending order of average annual value. Note that the teams with which they signed the extensions are in parentheses, and not necessarily their current teams.
- DeMar DeRozan (Raptors, 2012): Four years, $39.7MM
- Taj Gibson (Bulls, 2012): Four years, $33MM
- Mike Conley, (Grizzlies, 2010) Five years, $41MM
- Markieff Morris (Suns, 2014): Four years, $32MM
- Marcus Morris (Suns, 2014): Four years, $20MM
- Quincy Pondexter (Grizzlies, 2013): Four years, $14MM
- Kosta Koufos (Nuggets, 2011) Three years, $9MM
- Jared Dudley, (Suns, 2010) Five years, $21.375MM
The Basketball Insiders salary pages and Patricia Bender’s database were used in the creation of this post.