Pistons Waive Eric Griffin
The Pistons have waived combo forward Eric Griffin, the team announced via press release. Griffin, who signed with the team last month, faced long odds to make it to opening night on his non-guaranteed contract. The move takes the Pistons down to 19 players, 17 of whom have fully guaranteed deals.
Griffin, 25, didn’t see action in Detroit’s preseason opener Tuesday. The Mavs hold his D-League rights from last season, so the D-League affiliate of the Pistons would have to trade for him for Detroit to continue their partnership. He was Third Team All-D-League last season and a D-League All-Defensive Second Team selection, so it would seem he’d carry some level of intrigue for other teams on the NBA level or overseas, though that’s just my speculation.
The move means Jordan Bachynski is the only Pistons player without some guaranteed money on his contract, as our roster count shows. Adonis Thomas has a $60K partial guarantee, but he’s a long shot for the regular season, too.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript
4:03pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.
3:00pm: The season hasn’t begun yet, but the Hornets are already likely without Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, whom they just signed to an extension, for all of 2015/16, and both of last season’s Finals participants are without key figures. Warriors coach Steve Kerr is on a leave of absence to nurse his ailing back, Cavs swingman Iman Shumpert is out for three months and teammate Tristan Thompson is holding out. That leaves others with unexpected opportunities and plenty of question marks about what happens next.
We can discuss that and more in today’s chat, so click here to join!
Grizzlies Sign Alex Stepheson, Cut Michael Holyfield
2:59pm: The Grizzlies followed up with a press release to formally announce the Stepheson signing.
2:38pm: Holyfield’s release is official, the team announced, though the Grizzlies made no mention of Stepheson.
12:24pm: The Grizzlies are switching out big men on their camp roster, waiving center Michael Holyfield to make room for the signing of power forward Alex Stepheson, reports Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal (Twitter link). Tillery indicates the transactions have already taken place, though the team has not made an announcement. Stepheson, who went undrafted out of USC in 2011, was with the Mavericks in summer league this year, but this will be his first NBA contract. It’ll be for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Grizzlies can hand out after using their mid-level exception on Brandan Wright, though the level of guarantee on Stepheson’s deal isn’t immediately clear. Holyfield, who signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Grizzlies in August, went scoreless in eight minutes in Tuesday’s preseason opener for Memphis. The Grizzlies roster will remain at the preseason limit of 20.
Stepheson, 28, scored a total of five points in about 18 minutes of playing time spread across three games with the summer league Mavs in July. He also appeared in summer league with the Kings in 2014, but most of his pro career has played out overseas. Stepheson averaged 12.3 points and 9.2 boards in 26.8 minutes per game across 29 appearances with Turkey’s Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyesi last season, showing his skill as a high-volume rebounder. He began his college career at North Carolina before transferring to USC, where he pulled down 9.2 RPG in 32.9 MPG as a senior in 2010/11.
Holyfield was with the Grizzlies summer league team this year before formally joining the Memphis roster. He went undrafted out of Sam Houston State in June. The Grizzlies can retain his D-League rights if they wish, just as they can with as many as four of the players they waive. Fellow Memphis camp invitee Dan Nwaelele, whom the Grizzlies waived earlier this week, appears set to become one of those four, as international journalist David Pick reported that he’s on his way to the D-League affiliate of the Grizzlies.
Memphis has 14 full guarantees plus a partial guarantee for JaMychal Green, as our roster count shows. Thus, Stepheson doesn’t appear to have much of a chance to stick with the Grizzlies for long, so he, too, is a candidate to end up with their D-League team.
Nazr Mohammed Mulling Retirement
Free agent center Nazr Mohammed doesn’t want to sign an NBA contract for now, and while he’s not ruling out a return in a few months, he would be OK with never playing again, as he writes in his personal blog (hat tip to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune). The 38-year-old veteran of 17 NBA seasons has spent the past three years with the Bulls, his hometown team, and he had plenty of praise for the Bulls organization even though he made it clear that he wished he’d seen more playing time on the team.
“Truth is, I still love this game, I still have that competitor in me and I still feel like I can help a team. And regardless of what happens, I plan on staying in basketball shape,” Mohammed wrote, in part. “But at this moment, I am comfortable and confident saying that I’m cool with it being over. I am really at peace. I realize how big of an accomplishment it is to have played as long as I’ve played. It’s an unbelievable feat. I’m cool with not playing ever again and choosing which path to take at this fork in the road that leads me away from my first love.”
The Mike Higgins client said that he would only sign with a team that planned a legitimate on-court role for him and didn’t want him merely as a locker room mentor. He also suggested that he’d like to join a team in a front office capacity.
Mohammed spent his time with the Bulls on a series of minimum salary contracts, and it didn’t appear as though he’d drawn much interest this past summer, in contrast to 2014, when he reportedly worked out with the Heat before re-signing with Chicago. He also reportedly expressed interest last year in rejoining the Spurs, with whom he won his NBA championship in 2005, but the feeling apparently wasn’t mutual.
The 6’10” center only started more than half his team’s regular season games twice during his NBA career, with the Spurs in 2004/05 and the Hawks in 2001/02. Mohammed averaged 5.8 points and 4.7 rebounds in 15.9 minutes per contest across precisely 1,000 games in the league. He entered the NBA coming off an NCAA championship at Kentucky as the 29th overall pick in 1998, and he made more than $65.162MM in NBA salaries, according to Basketball-Reference.
What will be your most enduring memory of Mohammed if this is indeed the end of his career? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Agent Happy Walters Leaves Relativity Sports
Prominent NBA agent Happy Walters has left Relativity Media and its Relativity Sports offshoot, Variety’s James Rainey reports. Walters represents John Wall, Jimmy Butler, Ty Lawson, Monta Ellis, Amar’e Stoudemire, Iman Shumpert and other notable NBA names. Billionaire and Relativity part-owner Ron Burkle, who was once a part of the bidding group that ultimately bought the Kings in 2013, will take over as chairman of Relativity Sports, tweets Liz Mullen of the SportsBusiness Journal.
Relativity was in the news this summer when DeAndre Jordan, then a client of Relativity agents Dan Fegan and Jarinn Akana, pulled his infamous flip-flop and re-signed with the Clippers after verbally committing to the Mavs. Jordan later let go of Fegan and Akana, and Austin Rivers, the son of Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers, did the same.
Several Walters clients made moves this offseason. Butler scored a new five-year deal worth more than $92MM with the Bulls, Ellis signed with the Pacers for nearly $44MM over four years, Shumpert re-upped with the Cavs on a four-year deal worth $40MM and Stoudemire joined the Heat for the minimum salary. Lawson gave up the guarantee on the final season of his contract to facilitate a trade to the Rockets, a move that could cast him into free agency this coming summer.
Walters is forming his own company, Rainey hears, though it’s unclear if all his clients will follow him. One of them, Maurice Harkless, faces a November 2nd deadline to sign a rookie scale extension, but the chances of an extension for Harkless, whom the Blazers acquired via trade this summer, have long seemed remote.
Pacers Sign Kadeem Jack To Camp Deal
WEDNESDAY, 12:17pm: The deal is official, the team announced (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 2:39pm: Jack has put pen to paper with the Pacers, Bass shows via Instagram.
FRIDAY, 9:50am: The Pacers will sign power forward Kadeem Jack and add him to their training camp roster, a league source tells Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). Agent Brian J. Bass confirms the move via Twitter. Jack, who turns 23 later this month, went undrafted out of Rutgers this year. He’ll become the 18th player on the Pacers, who were tied with the Clippers and Trail Blazers for the most open spots beneath the 20-man preseason roster limit.
Jack was a largely unheralded draft prospect, though his numbers at Rutgers weren’t shabby, as he put up 13.0 points and 6.4 rebounds in 31.0 minutes per game as a senior this past season. Those were nonetheless declines in his production from his junior year, when he’d done more in fewer minutes, with 14.3 PPG and 6.9 RPG in 29.3 MPG. He altered his shot selection, taking 48 total three-pointers and connecting on 15 of them in 2014/15 after attempting just a trio of three-pointers as a junior.
Indiana already has 15 players on fully guaranteed contracts, as our roster count shows, plus a partial guarantee for Toney Douglas and a non-guaranteed pact with C.J. Fair. The level of guarantee Jack is receiving isn’t clear, but it doesn’t appear as though he has much chance to stick for opening night. The Pacers can retain the D-League rights to as many as four players they waive, so the odds would seem better that Jack ends up with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, who became Indiana’s one-to-one D-League affiliate this year.
Northwest Notes: Nelson, Durant, Payne, Neto
Nuggets coach Michael Malone was impressed when Jameer Nelson organized and footed the bill a team getaway to his hometown of Philadelphia this summer, and Nelson has a positive feeling about Denver after initial trepidation, reports Matt Moore of CBSSports.com. Nelson re-signed with the Nuggets this summer after a midseason trade brought him to the team last season.
“[When I was first traded to Denver], I didn’t know if I wanted to come here,” Nelson said. “I wanted to stay on the East Coast with my family. I had conversations with the GM, my agent, but also with my wife. I was like ‘I don’t want to go.’ I’ve never been in that situation. You don’t know what you’re going to do until you’re in that situation. I gave myself about 10 minutes to think by myself and I’m like, ‘Well, there’s no reason for me not to go. I’m a professional. This is my job, and they’re giving me an opportunity to play.'”
Nelson told Moore that after the Nuggets promised that they wanted him and had a role in mind for him, “everything has come true” and the organization kept its word. The 33-year-old has quickly become the team’s most prominent leader and a mentor for No. 7 overall pick Emmanuel Mudiay, as Moore details. See more from the Northwest Division:
- Thunder assistant coach Monty Williams has already made a strong connection with soon-to-be free agent Kevin Durant, a source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, who writes in a piece examining the unusual circumstances surrounding new head man Billy Donovan‘s introduction to NBA coaching.
- Lottery pick Cameron Payne is making a strong impression on the Thunder so far, as The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater chronicles. “He’s better than I imagined,” Durant said of this year’s No. 14 selection. “A great addition.”
- Conversely, Jazz coach Quin Snyder is trying to temper expectations surrounding his team’s rookie point guard, observes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. Draft-and-stash signee Raul Neto dazzled in his preseason debut, and with Dante Exum hurt and Trey Burke coming off a rough season, Neto’s quickly become a fan favorite. “It’s a long year,” Snyder said, “and I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves — for his sake.”
Travis Wear Signs To Play In Spain
WEDNESDAY, 10:57am: The deal is official, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia).
TUESDAY, 3:36pm: Former Knicks small forward Travis Wear will sign with Gipuzkoa Basket of Spain, reports Juanjo Lusa of the Spanish outlets Onda Vasca and Mundo Deportivo (Twitter links; translation via Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi). The 25-year-old didn’t appear to generate much interest from NBA teams this offseason, as his rumors page indicates, even though he stuck on the Knicks roster for the entire season last year after making the team out of training camp.
New York had the chance to make him a restricted free agent, but the team elected not to make a qualifying offer that would have been worth $1,045,059, so he became an unrestricted free agent instead. It had seemed at the end of last season as though the Knicks would likely invite him back to camp, but he struggled on New York’s summer league team, notching just 2.0 points in 16.7 minutes per game with 26.7% shooting over four appearances. That small sample size represented a regression from this past season, when he posted 3.9 PPG in 13.2 MPG with 40.2% shooting.
Wear is set to join his twin brother in Spain, as David Wear signed with Fuenlabrada this summer after spending time with the Kings on a 10-day contract last year. Both went undrafted out of UCLA in 2014.
Do you think we’ll see Travis Wear in the NBA again? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Southeast Notes: Dragic, Napier, Smith, Holiday
Goran Dragic has a new five-year deal worth more than $85MM with the Heat, and he also has more responsibility and a stronger roster around him than ever before, notes Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post. Dragic only has played in one NBA postseason, but odds are that’ll change by this spring.
“There’s definitely more pressure now,” Dragic said to Lieser. “You need to show people that you’re worth that money. I know I have my spot, but you need to prove to everybody that you deserve it. There’s pressure, and you need to deal with it. I can do that.”
See more on an ex-Heat point guard amid the latest from the Southeast Division:
- Shabazz Napier likes his new surroundings with the Magic and wasn’t surprised when the Heat traded him in the offseason, observes Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel. “During the summer you hear lot of rumors. What actually happened, I wasn’t too surprised at all. If it hit me where I didn’t know about it, then I’d be surprised,” Napier said. “But I kind of had a feeling they kind of needed to get some trades off. I sensed it because I have a great agent [Rob Pelinka], not because I felt they wanted me to get out of there. It’s just sometimes it’s business. They needed extra money and they didn’t need the luxury tax and what not.”
- The Sixers made Ish Smith an offer to return, and the Kings and Suns offered him deals, too, before he instead signed with the Wizards, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Sixers seem like they could have used him, but Smith faces long odds to stick for opening night in Washington, since he has a non-guaranteed deal on a roster with 15 fully guaranteed contracts, Pompey writes.
- Justin Holiday, one of the few members of the Warriors championship team to depart Golden State this summer, is hoping to follow in DeMarre Carroll‘s footsteps as an under-the-radar signee who blossoms with the Hawks, as Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders details. Holiday’s two-year deal with Atlanta is for the minimum salary, as Basketball Insiders scribe Eric Pincus shows. “The main thing that appealed to me was how the team played,” Holiday said. “Just how coach [Mike Budenholzer] goes about doing things here. I guess DeMarre leaving, obviously that made it available for me to come. So that has to be a big reason why I’m here, but I guess I didn’t focus as much on him not being here. I just think the way they do things here is the main reason why I felt like this was a good place for me to come.”
Pacific Notes: Clark, Chandler, Cousins, Walton
Ian Clark has shot well during camp and shown improving skill as a point guard, as well as the ability to defend multiple positions, all of which bodes well for his chances to stick with the Warriors on his non-guaranteed deal, as Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle examines. He’s also lingering after the end of most practices so he can play one-on-one with Stephen Curry, Simmons notes.
“He’s played well,” Curry said. “He’s not just a shooter. He’s shown that he can put the ball on the floor and make plays. He’s been around a couple of different teams and our summer-league program. I think he understands how we play, and he’s fitting right in. It’s fun to watch those five or six guys fighting for a roster spot, but Ian has definitely shown that he’s confident, and he’s making the most of an opportunity right now.”
Golden State has 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts and James Michael McAdoo on a partially guaranteed deal, as our roster count shows, leaving Clark among six likely fighting for a single regular season spot. See more from the Warriors amid the latest on the Pacific Division:
- The free agent signing of Tyson Chandler has displaced Alex Len from the Suns starting lineup, but the 2013 No. 5 overall pick sees it as an opportunity to learn from an experienced mentor, writes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Suns senior adviser Lon Babby also arranged for Len to work with Tim Duncan for a few days this summer, Coro notes. “I learn something new every day,” Len said. “Like I talk to Tyson and he tells me something and I can apply it in the game right away. Like positioning and little things he helps with. I feel the game has slowed down a little bit from last year to this year. Now, when I dive and catch the ball, I see other guys more and read the game better.”
- Luke Walton‘s career trajectory has seen him go from a first-time assistant, to winning an NBA title, and now to Warriors interim head coach in the span of 14 months, Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle writes.
- Kings center DeMarcus Cousins is pleased with the team’s veteran offseason additions, who all fit with Sacramento’s intent to try to contend this season, writes Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report. “You’ve got guys who know how to play the game, guys that know the game,” Cousins said. “Coming out and building chemistry is even easier. Trying to do that with younger guys? They’re trying to figure out their game and learn how to play.“