Pelicans Officially Sign Three For Camp
The Pelicans have formally signed Jeff Adrien, Chris Douglas-Roberts and New Zealand prospect Corey Webster, the team announced. The moves, which had been expected, give New Orleans 18 players with training camp set to begin this coming Tuesday.
Adrien is receiving a one-year deal for the minimum after splitting last season between the Timberwolves and China. The 29-year-old power forward again drew interest from Minnesota this summer, as well as from the Magic, Mavs, Timberwolves, Knicks, Hornets and Sixers, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports reported when he first broke the story of the deal and its details. It remains unclear just how much, if any, of Adrien’s salary will be guaranteed.
Douglas-Roberts, 28, returns to the NBA on a two-year minimum salary deal after sitting out since January, when the Celtics waived him following the trade that sent him to Boston from the Clippers. Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported the deal between the Pelicans and the 28-year-old, while John Reid of The Times Picayune added that it’s non-guaranteed.
Webster, a 26-year-old who attended college in the U.S. at the former Lambuth University in Tennessee, spent last season playing in Serbia as well as his native New Zealand. Marc Hinton of stuff.co.nz first revealed the shooting guard’s three-year, non-guaranteed deal. It’s not clear if Webster signed for any more than the equivalent of the rookie minimum salary, though the length of the contract dictates that the team used a portion of its mid-level exception.
Only 13 Pelicans are known to have fully guaranteed contracts, ostensibly giving Adrien, Douglas-Roberts and Webster decent chances of sticking for opening night. Bryce Dejean-Jones and Sean Kilpatrick are headed to camp without full guarantees in their deals.
Nets Sign Chris Daniels
The Nets have signed 31-year-old center Chris Daniels, the team announced via press release. Daniels is poised to head to an NBA training camp for the second time in his seven-year NBA career, having done so with the Lakers in 2011, but he’s yet to play in an NBA regular season game. The Nets have signed contracts or verbal agreements with 20 players already, as our roster count shows, but one of them is the injured Yanick Moreira, who has yet to sign a contract, so it would appear that Daniels is replacing him.
Daniels spent this past season playing in China with the Guangdong Southern Tigers, who also featured Emmanuel Mudiay, Will Bynum, Jeff Adrien and Yi Jianlian. The 7’0″ Daniels put up 12.6 points and 7.7 rebounds in 25.6 minutes per game. He’s made multiple appearances in NBA summer league play over the years since going undrafted out of Texas A&M Corpus Christi in 2008, the last of which came with the summer Raptors in 2014.
Brooklyn figures to have an intriguing camp, with only 12 players signed to fully guaranteed contracts and five others on partially guaranteed deals. Two others, Dahntay Jones and Justin Harper, are without any guaranteed money. It’s not immediately clear if Daniels will have a guarantee on his salary.
Atlantic Notes: Nets, Zeller, McCullough, Atkins
Nets GM Billy King said Tuesday that he’s comfortable with Jarrett Jack as the starting point guard, though he admitted he’s unsure if the team is better off without Deron Williams, whom the team waived in a buyout deal. Andy Vasquez of The Record has that and other details from King’s session with reporters Tuesday.
“It’s going to depend on how quickly it jells,” King said. “But I think with the core of guys, proven scorers, proven guys that can win, we have a chance to make the playoffs. And the goal for us going into this is just to try to get better.”
King also made it clear that the team won’t try to improve its record simply to try to keep from forking over draft picks that are too high, as Vasquez also notes. Brooklyn, which owes the Celtics unprotected first-round picks in 2016 and 2018, will rebuild at its own pace, King said. See more on the Nets and Celtics and other Atlantic Division news:
- Tyler Zeller confirmed he and the Celtics have engaged in extension talks, as A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com details, but while the center acknowledged that he’d like to reach a deal before the November 2nd deadline, he doesn’t sound like he’s especially anxious for one. “It would be nice to have an extension, just a little more security,” Zeller said. “But at the same time, you have to approach the year and you can’t be heartbroken if you don’t get it. You have to make sure you’re fully prepared. Either way, I have to do my job this year. I have one more year on my contract. So I have to go out and do as much as I can to help our team this year.” Chris Crouse of Hoops Rumors examined Zeller’s extension candidacy earlier this month.
- Nets first-round pick Chris McCullough seemed to make progress over the summer toward his target of a November return for full-contact practice, but he said Tuesday that he’s “nowhere near ready,” observes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. This year’s No. 29 overall pick is unlikely to make his debut until the second half of the season, according to Bontemps. “We’ll give a timetable on exactly where we think he’ll be after [the first] preseason game,” King said. “We’ll sit down with him and his agent and everybody and really just walk through it. I have an idea in my mind of what we want to do with him, but I want to sit down with him and with his agent and explain it.”
- The deal between the Knicks and Darion Atkins is partially guaranteed for $75K, a source tells Marc Berman of the New York Post. The team’s interest in the undrafted power forward from Virginia was late-developing, as the Knicks weren’t one of 16 teams to work him out prior to the draft and only turned to him when fellow undrafted rookie Maurice Ndour spurned them for the Mavs, Berman writes.
Knicks Sign Travis Trice For Camp
SEPTEMBER 22ND, 4:30pm: The signing is official, the team has announced.
SEPTEMBER 10TH, 12:12pm: The Knicks have agreed to sign undrafted Michigan State point guard Travis Trice to a one-year, partially guaranteed contract, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Trice was with the Heat during summer league, but he’ll be with New York this fall, joining four others who have partially guaranteed deals with the Knicks, plus 13 players with full guarantees, as our Knicks roster page shows.
Trice was a largely unheralded draft prospect, falling outside of ESPN’s rankings, but he showed a knack for outside shooting with the Spartans, nailing 39.5% of his three-point attempts in his four years of college ball. The 6’0″ 22-year-old brought that stroke with him to the summer league, canning five of 14 total attempts. This past season was his only year as a full-time starter at Michigan State, and he averaged 15.3 points, 5.1 assists and 1.8 turnovers in 33.6 minutes per game. However, his 36.9% three-point shooting was the worst mark of his college career.
The Knicks will probably keep Langston Galloway on his partially guaranteed contract, and Thanasis Antetokounmpo, in whom New York invested the 51st overall pick in 2014, would appear to have the inside track on the 15th regular season roster spot despite his lack of a full guarantee. So, Trice faces long odds to stick around for opening night. The Knicks can claim the D-League rights to as many as four of the players they cut at the end of the preseason, so Trice appears to have a better shot of remaining with the organization that way.
Do you think Trice is capable of making a regular season contribution for an NBA team? Leave a comment to let us know.
Key 2015/16 NBA Dates
Some NBA training camps open Saturday and the rest open a week from a day, as action for the 2015/16 season is about to start. With just one date on our Key 2015 Offseason Dates still to come, we’ll look ahead. Here’s a glance at the deadlines and events that will influence player movement for the next several months across the league:
September 26th — Training camp begins for Celtics, Clippers, Hornets, Magic.
September 29th — Training camp begins for all other teams.
October 1st — Last day for restricted free agents to accept qualifying offers, unless the team chooses to extend the deadline.
October 24th — Last day to waive summer contracts without them counting toward team salary.
October 26th — Roster limit declines from 20 to 15; Last day for sign-and-trades.
October 27th — Opening night.
November 2nd — Deadline for rookie scale extensions; deadline to exercise rookie scale team options for 2016/17. (The deadline is normally October 31st, but because October 31st is a Saturday this year, the deadline falls on the next business day.)
December 15th — Most offseason signees become eligible for inclusion in trades.
January 5th — First day teams can sign players to 10-day contracts.
January 7th — Last day to waive non-guaranteed contracts before they become guaranteed for the rest of the season.
January 15th — Last day to apply for a disabled player exception.
February 1st — First day former first-round picks playing overseas may sign for the 2016/17 season.
February 14th — All-Star Game in Toronto.
February 18th — Trade deadline (2:00pm Central).
February 29th — Last day for contract renegotiations.
March 1st — Last day that players can hit waivers from one team and remain eligible to appear in the postseason for another team; last day for a restricted free agent to accept a qualifying offer (if the October 1st deadline was extended) or sign an offer sheet.
March 10th — Last day to use a disabled player exception.
April 13th — Last day of the regular season; luxury tax penalties calculated based on payroll as of this day.
April 15th — Playoff rosters set (2:00pm Central).
April 16th — Playoffs begin.
Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and NBA.com were used in the creation of this post.
Northwest Notes: Gallinari, Davis, Thunder
The Grizzlies looked into trading for Danilo Gallinari around the trade deadline this past season, several league sources tell Grantland’s Zach Lowe, advancing a report from June indicating that Memphis was pursuing the combo forward as the draft approached. The Nuggets instead held on to him, even though they “absolutely could have” scored first-round picks for Gallinari or Wilson Chandler, Lowe writes, citing league sources. Both signed renegotiations-and-extensions this summer with Denver, a place Gallinari loves, according to Lowe, making him a relative rarity among top-level players and extra valuable to the Nuggets, who aren’t eligible to trade him until February even if they so desired because of the terms of his new deal.
The Kroenke family, which owns the team, has never wanted to strip down the roster, Lowe adds as he examines a Nuggets team stuck far from contention but too talented to bottom out. See more from the Northwest Division:
- Ed Davis received the second most lucrative deal that the Blazers handed out this summer, at $20MM spread over three years, and while the former 13th overall pick is anxious to become a full-time starter for the first time since entering the league in 2010, it not a given that will happen this season, as The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman examines.
- Susan Bible of Basketball Insiders, writing in the site’s preview of the Thunder‘s season, likes what extension candidate Dion Waiters and Oklahoma City’s new coaching staff can contribute to the team as it approaches a pivotal year ahead.
- Thunder director of strategic planning Jason Ranne is headed back to the Wasserman Media Group, which used to employ him, for an executive position within the agency, as Wasserman announced and as Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal details.
- The Blazers have promoted associate video coordinator Jim Moran to assistant coach, the team announced.
- See the details on Anthony Bennett‘s buyout deal with the Timberwolves right here, and check out the news on the teams in the running for the former No. 1 overall pick, including the Blazers, in this post.
Reaction To Warriors, Barnes Extension Talks
Harrison Barnes resisted the notion that he should give former agent Jeff Wechsler the standard 4% commission before their parting of ways, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports (Twitter link). It’s unclear how much commission Barnes has agreed to give new agent Jeff Schwartz. Wechsler, in negotiations with the Warriors, had reportedly asked for more than the $16MM annually the team offered before Barnes let him go, and it would be surprising if Barnes found Wechsler not to be aggressive enough in talks with the club, as Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group surmises. See more on the Warriors and Barnes:
- Lowe doesn’t envision Barnes ending up with a max deal (Twitter link), but Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com thinks it won’t be hard for him to come up with $20MM salaries if he hits free agency next summer, given the rising cap and his ability to defend opposing power forwards. That would be right around Barnes’ projected max of $20.4MM. Some in the Warriors organization feel guilt over the way the team failed to properly develop Barnes earlier in his career, Strauss writes.
- Barnes has more value to the Warriors if they sign him to an extension than if they don’t, in part because it would clear a hurdle to a sign-and-trade that brings Kevin Durant to Golden State next summer, as Kawakami details. The Warriors would nonetheless be willing to pass on an extension if Barnes wants much more than $16MM, Kawakami opines, believing that the sides will instead settle somewhere around $16MM just as the deadline is closing in.
- The presence of Draymond Green, whom the Warriors re-signed for five years and $82MM this summer, serves as a roadblock to Barnes ever hitting his ceiling as a player for Golden State, argues Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM.
- Barnes’ apparent rejection of the Warriors’ offer validates the decision the Hornets made to sign Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to a four-year, $52MM extension, posits Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer, who doesn’t believe the Hornets would trade Kidd-Gilchrist straight up for Barnes if the idea were ever broached (All Twitter links).
Bucks Arena Funding Plan Crosses Final Hurdle
1:24pm: Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett has signed the funding measure, Daykin tweets.
12:30pm: The Milwaukee Common Council has voted to approve the city’s $47MM portion of the public funding for a new Bucks arena, meaning the funding plan for the project has crossed the final barrier, reports Tom Daykin of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The $500MM building still needs the council’s approval for its design, with that matter likely to come to the table this fall, Daykin adds. Still, it appears the arena is well on its way to becoming a reality, even though minority owner and team executive Mike Fascitelli recently admitted the arena might not open until the fall of 2018, one year after the NBA’s deadline, according to Daykin.
The league has nonetheless given only positive feedback of late, at least through public channels, on the progress of the public funding approval process, so it doesn’t appear as though Milwaukee is in any jeopardy of losing the team. The NBA holds the right to seize the team from its owners and sell it to investors who would move the franchise out of town, a threat that appeared more ominous when the funding was bogged down in the Wisconsin state legislature this spring, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com documented then.
The state, Milwaukee County and the City of Milwaukee are ponying up half the cost of the arena, with current and former Bucks owners paying the other $250MM of the estimated cost.
The Beat: Jabari Young On Blazers, Spurs
Nobody knows NBA teams better than beat writers, save for those who draw paychecks with an NBA owner’s signature on them. The reporters who are with the teams they cover every day gain an intimate knowledge of the players, coaches and executives they write about and develop sources who help them break news and stay on top of rumors.
We at Hoops Rumors will be chatting with beat writers from around the league and sharing their responses to give you a better perspective on how and why teams make some of their most significant moves. Last time, we spoke with Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group about the Warriors. Click here to see all of the previous editions of this series.
Today, we gain insight on the Spurs and the Trail Blazers from Jabari Young, who’s moving from Comcast SportsNet Northwest to the San Antonio Express-News. You can follow Jabari on Twitter at @JabariJYoung, and check out his archive of material for Comcast SportsNet Northwest right here.
Hoops Rumors: You spent the past season covering the Blazers and LaMarcus Aldridge, and now you’re following his footsteps to San Antonio to once more cover the Spurs. So, given your unique insight here, what do you think he found so appealing about the Spurs, and what persuaded him to change his mind about staying with the Trail Blazers?
Jabari Young: It’s well-known LaMarcus has always been intrigued by the Spurs. His respect for Tim Duncan is also well-documented. I think his decision to end his tenure in Portland was a mixture of an opportunity to learn from Tim firsthand, be coached by Gregg Popovich, be closer to winning a championship than any point of his career, and return to Texas (his home state). He likes the team’s unselfish style, and will not try to emulate Tim one bit, but leave his own mark with the Spurs playing his game and becoming a part of their championship history. The Spurs have everything Aldridge needs from top to bottom to finally win a ring, which is important to him. After all, he took less money to join the Spurs.
Hoops Rumors: The last time the Spurs made a free agent signing nearly as splashy, it was Richard Jefferson, and that didn’t go so well. What have the Spurs learned since then that will help them incorporate a star like Aldridge into their system?
Jabari Young: With Popovich at the helm, the Spurs have learned not to fall in love with just any big name. It has to be someone they feel will enter the organization and fit right into the way they do things, led by Popovich/Duncan. LaMarcus was the perfect fit because of his willingness to adapt to this philosophy, but at the same time play his game. I feel the Spurs will allow Aldridge to play his style and he’ll also adjust. Plain and simple, Aldridge is arguably the best power forward in the NBA and wanted to be in San Antonio. It’s not every day the Spurs experience a top free agent like Aldridge wanting to join. With Duncan possibly in his final year(s), Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili on their last run, Aldridge, along with Kawhi Leonard, will be handed the keys to usher the Spurs into a new era. The Spurs trust that Aldridge has the right tools to help them stay afloat after the “Big Three” have departed. He has the basketball IQ and wants to win at this point in his career. It should be a good fit for both parties.
Hoops Rumors: Why do you think the Blazers signed Enes Kanter to a max offer sheet but haven’t done so, at least so far, with Tristan Thompson?
Jabari Young: The Blazers wanted to add a more established offensive threat in Enes Kanter to the mix. It’s not that they aren’t high on Mason Plumlee, but adding Kanter would’ve helped take pressure off Damian Lillard on offense. Tristan Thompson doesn’t pose the same threat on offense as Kanter does, and the Blazers are invested in power forwards Meyers Leonard and Noah Vonleh. Adding Thompson would only disturb the progress of Leonard and Vonleh. Kanter, as a center, would’ve been a different type of signing.
Hoops Rumors: Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and David West won’t make as much put together this season as Danny Green will on his $10MM salary, and Green probably could have signed elsewhere for more money. What is it about the Spurs that convinces all these guys to make financial sacrifices?
Jabari Young: For a player like Danny Green, I feel he’s learned the grass isn’t always greener (see what I did there :-) ) on the other side. Take less money, be in contention for another championship, no pressure as being an overpaid signing. He’ll still earn more money than last season and already has a solid role within the Spurs system. Most guys would chase the money, ignoring everything else. Those players who have taken less to stay put realize they will not only be taken care of financially, but personally, and have the opportunity to win championships. Add that to the fact the Spurs are well-known for protecting their players, and the community support, some just feel it’s better to remain and take less than to take more, be on a bad team, have a bad role, and no real chance to win. Sometimes less is more, but it takes a certain player to realize this. Danny Green is that type of player.
Hoops Rumors: The Blazers had seven free agents at the end of the season, including Aldridge, and they didn’t re-sign any of them. Is there any one of them who you’re surprised they didn’t bring back once they learned Aldridge was going elsewhere?
Jabari Young: So much was depending on the future of Aldridge that once he walked, even if all their free agents were still available, it would’ve been hard to see them re-signing. What Blazers GM Neil Olshey did was alter the face of the franchise with Lillard at the helm, adding younger players who will buy into it being Lillard’s team. With that said, you would think Wesley Matthews, with all he’s given the Blazers over the years and the respect he’s earned among the fans in Portland, would have gotten some kind of offer from the Blazers. His injury was serious, so it’s hard to knock the Blazers for not pursuing his services again, but the injury did occur in a Portland uniform; hence, one would think the Blazers would take care of him. But it’s a business, and they treated it like one by moving on.
Hoops Rumors: Does Jimmer Fredette have what it takes to stick with the Spurs?
Jabari Young: He’s a shooter, which is always welcome in San Antonio (see Matt Bonner). Thing is, will he make enough of an impact to stay? The Spurs will not just give him a roster spot. He’ll have to earn it. How bad he wants to be a part of this team, time will tell. But if he makes the opening night roster, he could be a threat. Right now, I’d say it’s 50/50 he sticks.
Cavs Notes: Irving, Love, Bennett
The Cavaliers are poised to enter the season ahead as favorites to return to the Finals, though that status comes at a cost. They already have about $95MM in guaranteed salary for the season ahead, and a new deal for Tristan Thompson would send that figure, and the tax bill that comes with it, even higher. Thompson on the qualifying offer would give the Cavs a tax bill of roughly $34MM. A max offer, one that Thompson is reportedly insisting upon, would push Cleveland’s tax bill to about $70MM. That would be on top of about $111MM in payroll, bringing the team within hailing distance of Brooklyn’s record outlay of some $190MM in 2013/14. While the Cavs ponder those figures, see the latest from Cleveland:
- Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Timofey Mozgov and Anderson Varejao will all be ready for Cavs training camp when it begins a week from today, reports Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. It had previously appeared that Irving, on his way back from the left kneecap fracture he suffered in the Finals, was likely to miss the start of the regular season, with a distinct possibility he’d be out until January. Love said 11 days ago that he was about a month to a month and a half away from returning from shoulder surgery. Mozgov and Varejao are also recovering from surgery.
- The Cavs will likely carry the maximum 20 players for camp, Haynes writes in the same piece. That would mean four more deals are on the way, since the Cavs are carrying 16 players, as our roster count shows. Presumably, one of them will be Thompson, whether it’s on the qualifying offer or a new deal, and the Cavs are also reportedly expected to sign former Duke point guard Quinn Cook, though they’ve yet to reach a deal with him as of last check.
- No one beyond the Cavaliers considered Anthony Bennett a top-10 pick before the 2013 draft, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. Bennett was the No. 6 prospect in that draft a few days before the event took place, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress had them ranked, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com listed Bennett fourth in his predraft rankings, so the notion that most teams didn’t have him in the top 10 on their boards is surprising.