Nets Forfeit Draft Rights To Xavier Thames
The Nets declined to extend the required tender necessary to keep the draft rights to Xavier Thames, the 59th overall pick from 2014, so he’s free to negotiate a deal with any NBA team, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Brooklyn had until the league’s deadline today to make the former San Diego State shooting guard an offer of at least a non-guaranteed minimum salary for one year.
The move is somewhat surprising, since the Nets have only 18 players, with just 12 who have fully guaranteed contracts, and NBA teams are allowed as many as 20 players for the preseason and 15 for the regular season. Brooklyn seemingly had room to make the required tender, in which case the worst scenario would have seen Thames sign it and fail to win a regular season roster spot, meaning the Nets would have lost his rights when they placed him on waivers. That would have given Brooklyn a chance to see him perform against others in training camp, but it appears that the Nets decided they have already seen enough.
The 24-year-old wasn’t dazzling in summer league this July, averaging 4.0 points in 12.6 minutes per game across eight appearances, with 4 for 13 three-point shooting. Thames shot 37.2% from behind the arc as a senior in college, but his stroke has appeared to desert him since, as he hit on just 28.0% of his three-pointers in 18 regular season games after joining the D-League Fort Wayne Mad Ants last season He went 2 for 10 from long distance in the D-League playoffs and connected on 28.6% of his three-pointers earlier in the season with Sevilla of Spain.
The Raptors originally drafted Thames, but they traded his rights to the Nets that same night in exchange for cash. Brooklyn used cash to acquire three 2014 second-rounders, but with Cory Jefferson off to the Suns, Markel Brown is the only one remaining on the Nets.
Did the Nets make the right call here? Comment to share your thoughts.
Pacific Notes: Morris, Curry, Teletovic, Huertas
- Seth Curry resisted overtures from overseas the past two years, but he and agent Alex Saratsis had planned for him to take one of those offers if he couldn’t find his footing in the NBA by this fall, writes Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated. An impressive summer league in July drew NBA interest from the Pelicans, Hornets and Warriors, as well as the Kings, who made the best offer and signed him to a two-year guaranteed deal, as Jenkins details. Golden State would have given him the chance to play with his brother, MVP Stephen Curry, but Seth looked the other way. “I didn’t want to go to Golden State,” Seth said. “I didn’t want to go back in Steph’s shadow.”
- Hornacek is high on the game of free agent signee Mirza Teletovic, who seems in line to start at power forward if Morris isn’t in Phoenix, but the Suns coach wants to see better conditioning out of the former Net, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic chronicles. “He can shoot the ball,” Hornacek said of Teletovic. “The big thing is he can also makes some plays and he’s got a good eye of the court and good court sense. He’ll drive in there a little bit on a roll and look one way and pass it another way. He understands how to set things up. He probably needs to get in better shape. I don’t think he was used to the running that we do here but he toughed it out and kept going. He just got off a plane the other day from Bosnia.”
- The contract that Marcelo Huertas signed with the Lakers is for one year and non-guaranteed, reports Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. It’s worth the minimum salary with limited injury protection, adds Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times, so it appears that it’s an Exhibit 9 contract.
Suns Sign Kyle Casey To Camp Deal
SEPTEMBER 10TH, 8:07am: The signing has taken place, according to the RealGM transactions log, though the team has made no official announcement.
AUGUST 21ST, 8:31am: The Suns have agreed to sign former Harvard combo forward Kyle Casey to a contract for training camp, reports Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Casey, who turns 26 in November despite having been out of college ball for only a year, will join former 36th overall pick Terrico White, with whom Phoenix also has a deal for camp, as Shams Charania of RealGM reported Thursday. The Suns have their $2.814MM room exception available, but these are likely minimum-salary arrangements with little or no guaranteed money.
Casey spent the past season playing for Helios Domzale of Slovenia, averaging 12.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in 28.5 minutes per game. That was more playing time than he saw as a senior for Harvard in 2013/14, when he put up 9.7 PPG and 5.6 RPG in 22.0 MPG. At 6’7″, he averaged 1.2 blocks per game as a college senior but fewer than one block per contest in Slovenia last year, and he shot less than 30% from three-point range in both seasons. Casey played for the Nets summer league team in 2014 but didn’t take part in NBA summer league this year.
The additions of White and Casey give Phoenix deals with 15 players, 13 of which are fully guaranteed. The pair stand decent chances to make the regular season roster, depending on the other moves the Suns make between now and opening night, though it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see them end up with Phoenix’s one-to-one D-League affiliate. The Suns brought four players to camp last fall with the understanding that they would play for the D-League Bakersfield Jam if they didn’t stick in the NBA for opening night, as Coro notes.
Who do you think has a better chance to make the regular season roster for the Suns, Kyle Casey or Terrico White? Leave a comment to let us know.
Kings Re-Sign Eric Moreland
SEPTEMBER 10TH, 7:57am: The signing has taken place, according to the RealGM transactions log, though the Kings have yet to make an official announcement. In any case, Moreland’s partial guarantee is $200K, according to former Nets executive Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
SEPTEMBER 3RD, 1:51pm: The Kings and Eric Moreland have reached agreement on a new one-year deal that contains a “significant” partial guarantee, sources tell Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Charania reported Sunday that the Pistons were the front-runners for the one-year NBA veteran, with the Lakers and Sacramento also in the running, but it appears the Kings closed the gap to secure the power forward they released in July. They would have had to fully guarantee his salary if they had held on to him at that point. That contract called for him to make the minimum salary, and while it’s unclear how much Sacramento has agreed to give him this time, the Kings have the $2.814MM room exception available to exceed the minimum if necessary.
The Relativity Sports client had an abbreviated first year as a pro, having suffered a labral tear in his left shoulder in December that forced him out for the rest of this past season. He’d only made his way into three games for the Kings, but he showed his value as a rebounder in the D-League, pulling down 12.7 boards in 28.7 minutes per game across seven appearances. Moreland averaged 10.3 RPG in 29.4 MPG in his final college season at Oregon State, but he went undrafted in 2014.
Similarities between Moreland’s playing style and that of Willie Cauley-Stein, whom Sacramento drafted sixth overall this year, apparently helped lead the Kings to waive Moreland earlier this summer, but front office chief Vlade Divac made it clear early last month that the team maintained interest in bringing him back. The Lakers reportedly worked him out shortly thereafter.
Sacramento has 14 fully guaranteed salaries, plus a deal with Vince Hunter that’s reportedly partially guaranteed and a non-guaranteed contract with David Stockton. Marshall Henderson apparently has a camp deal with the team, though it’s unclear what level of guaranteed salary, if any, is involved with that.
Do you think Moreland will make the opening night roster? Leave a comment to tell us.
Wizards To Bring Ish Smith To Camp
SEPTEMBER 9TH, 10:56pm: The signing is official, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (via Twitter).
SEPTEMBER 8TH, 11:27am: The Wizards have a non-guaranteed pact with Ish Smith for training camp, reports Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post (Twitter link). Castillo also confirms an earlier report from J. Michael of CSNWashington.com that Washington will bring Toure’ Murry to camp on a non-guaranteed contract, too. Smith and Murry have already put pen to paper, according to Castillo, though the team has yet to make a formal announcement.
Washington also agreed to a non-guaranteed camp deal with undrafted UNC-Asheville center Jaleel Roberts, as Shams Charania reported at that point for RealGM, though Castillo refers to Roberts as a “possibility” for the Wizards (Twitter links). In any case, Smith, Murry and Roberts all seem to face long odds to make Washington’s roster, which includes 15 others who have fully guaranteed contracts.
Smith finished last season with the Sixers, and on a roster painfully short on point guard options, the five-year veteran had the most productive stretch of his career, averaging 12.0 points, 6.1 assists and 2.8 turnovers in 27.1 minutes per game across 25 appearances. He expressed interest at season’s end in a return to Philadelphia, but his unrestricted free agency this summer has been surprisingly quiet, with a lack of reports about any teams in pursuit. It’s possible that he was waiting on the Sixers, whose flurry of activity over Labor Day weekend left them with no more wiggle room for their camp roster, though that’s just my speculation.
The Raymond Brothers client signed a fully guaranteed contract for the minimum salary with the Rockets last summer, but Houston waived him before the start of the regular season. The Thunder added him as their 16th man via the hardship provision in November and kept him over Sebastian Telfair when they trimmed back down to 15 players. Oklahoma City nonetheless traded him to the Pelicans at the deadline, and New Orleans immediately released him. That’s when the Sixers jumped into the picture, claiming him off waivers two days later.
Do you think Ish Smith deserves to stick with the Wizards? If so, which of their 15 fully guaranteed contracts should go? Leave a comment to tell us.
Grizzlies, Lazeric Jones Agree To Camp Deal
SEPTEMBER 9TH, 10:55pm: No official announcement has been made by Memphis, but Jones has indeed signed a non-guaranteed minimum salary contract with the team, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
SEPTEMBER 7TH, 2:30pm: The Grizzlies have agreed to sign former UCLA point guard Lazeric Jones to a non-guaranteed deal, a source tells Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The 25-year-old was with the Pelicans for summer league in July, but he’s chiefly played out his pro career overseas so far, with stops in Israel, Greece and Hungary.
Only one roster spot would appear to be up for grabs in Memphis, which has 14 fully guaranteed deals, though the Grizzlies have carried fewer than 15 players on opening night each of the last three seasons, as I noted earlier today. Jones would be competing against JaMychal Green, who has a $150K partial guarantee, and fellow non-guaranteed camp signee Michael Holyfield for a regular season roster spot if the Grizzlies decide to buck their recent trend. It’s more likely that Memphis would cut him at the end of the preseason and retain his D-League rights for its one-to-one affiliate, though that’s just my speculation.
Jones, who went undrafted in 2012, put up 13.6 points, 4.1 assists and 2.6 turnovers in 33.5 minutes per game in his final collegiate season with the Bruins in 2011/12. He posted 7.8 PPG, 1.6 APG and 1.2 TOPG in 16.3 MPG across five summer league appearances this year. The 6’0″ Chicago native spent this past season in Hungary, where he posted 12.8 PPG, 4.1 APG and 2.5 TOPG in 26.6 MPG for Szolnoki Olaj.\
Do you think Jones stands a realistic chance to make the regular season roster for the Grizzlies? Leave a comment to let us know.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript
4:04pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.
3:00pm: Tristan Thompson has still yet to sign for this season, but his camp is already thinking about next summer. That’s when agent Rich Paul reportedly believes he’ll have three teams waiting to give Thompson the max if he’s once more on the market. That scenario would be in place if Thompson signs his qualifying offer, a short-term discount that could turn out to be the most lucrative path for him in the long run, as I explained amid Tuesday’s news. Meanwhile, the Cavs are moving on with other business, with training camp less than three weeks away, officially signing draft-and-stash prospect Sasha Kaun today and, as Zach Links of Hoops Rumors reported Tuesday, agreeing to add D.J. Stephens to the camp roster.
We can talk about all of that and more in today’s chat. Click here to join!
Southeast Notes: Sefolosha, Hornets, Gordon
- The Hornets improved this summer, but so did others around them in the Eastern Conference, and with an unbalanced roster, they’ll still have a tough time making the playoffs this season, opines Tim Bontemps of the New York Post (Facebook link).
- The key for Aaron Gordon will be establishing himself as a starter this season, but the development of last year’s No. 4 overall pick will take some time for the Magic, writes Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel.
- Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel isn’t counting on any of the Heat‘s camp invitees to make the regular season roster, but, in his opinion, Corey Hawkins stands a decent chance to make a strong impression with his three-point prowess, just as Andre Dawkins did when he made it to opening night last year.
NBA D-League Affiliations For 2015/16
The concept of shared D-League affiliates changed drastically last season, when the Fort Wayne Mad Ants became the only D-League team available for the 13 NBA franchises that didn’t have their own one-to-one affiliates. This year represents another dramatic step, as for the first time since D-League and NBA team affiliations began, some teams will have no affiliate at all.
Those 11 NBA teams without their own D-League squad will get to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises, as the NBA announced today amid the news that the Pacers have bought the Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner. D-League teams can volunteer to take the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerge, the players will be assigned at random.
A similar system was in place last season to deal with occasions when the Mad Ants were fully stocked with players and one of their 13 NBA partners wanted to make an assignment. Those 13 teams made a total of 27 D-League assignments, including six to one-to-one D-League affiliates of other NBA franchises.
The D-League landscape looks much different from the way it did two years, ago, when three D-League teams were shared affiliates for the 2013/14 season, and no more than six NBA teams partnered with any one D-League squad. Five shared D-League affiliates split no more than four NBA teams apiece in 2012/13.
The Raptors avoided the disappearance of their shared affiliate this summer when they created Raptors 905, a D-League expansion team, to serve as their one-to-one partner. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is that all 30 NBA franchises will have their own D-League squads.
NBA D-League affiliations for 2015/16
- Atlanta Hawks — None
- Boston Celtics — Maine Red Claws
- Brooklyn Nets — None
- Charlotte Hornets — None
- Chicago Bulls — None
- Cleveland Cavaliers — Canton Charge
- Dallas Mavericks — Texas Legends
- Denver Nuggets — None
- Detroit Pistons — Grand Rapids Drive
- Golden State Warriors — Santa Cruz Warriors
- Houston Rockets — Rio Grande Valley Vipers
- Indiana Pacers — Fort Wayne Mad Ants
- Los Angeles Clippers — None
- Los Angeles Lakers — Los Angeles D-Fenders
- Memphis Grizzlies — Iowa Energy
- Miami Heat — Sioux Falls Skyforce
- Milwaukee Bucks — None
- Minnesota Timberwolves — None
- New Orleans Pelicans — None
- New York Knicks — Westchester Knicks
- Oklahoma City Thunder — Oklahoma City Blue
- Orlando Magic — Erie BayHawks
- Philadelphia 76ers — Delaware 87ers
- Phoenix Suns — Bakersfield Jam
- Portland Trail Blazers — None
- Sacramento Kings — Reno Bighorns
- San Antonio Spurs — Austin Spurs
- Toronto Raptors — Raptors 905
- Utah Jazz — Idaho Stampede
- Washington Wizards — None
Which of the teams without a D-League affiliate would most benefit from having one? Leave a comment to let us know.
Lakers Sign Marcelo Huertas
SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1:29pm: The deal is official, the Lakers announced.
AUGUST 31ST, 3:54pm: The Lakers and Brazilian point guard Marcelo Huertas have come to terms on a one-year deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). Ismail Senol of the Turkish outlet NTV SPOR had reported earlier today that Huertas would sign with a Western Conference team (Twitter link; translation via Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi). Huertas had reportedly agreed to a deal with Galatasaray of Turkey, but he asked for more time to scan NBA interest, as Cauchi relays via Senol.
Wojnarowski first reported four months ago that Huertas was planning to sign with an NBA team this year and that he was expected to draw aggressive pursuit from teams seeking a backup. The 6’3″ Huertas, who turned 32 in May, seemed to change his mind shortly thereafter, but agent Gerard Darnes said a month ago that Huertas was still focused on landing an NBA deal and that Octagon colleague Alex Saratsis continued to negotiate toward that end on his behalf.
Huertas went undrafted back in 2005 and has played each season since in Spain, save for a year in Italy. He’s been a mainstay for FC Barcelona the past four seasons, and he averaged 7.7 points, 4.3 assists and 1.8 turnovers in 21.1 minutes per game in 2014/15.
It’s unclear whether the Lakers are exceeding the rookie minimum of $525,093 for Huertas, though that’s often required to convince European players to sign stateside. If that’s the case, the Lakers have their $2.814MM to dip into. They only have 12 fully guaranteed contracts, as our roster count shows, so there’s plenty of roster flexibility and a decent chance for Huertas to stick for opening night if he isn’t the 13th Laker with a guaranteed deal.
The Lakers are taking some risks this offseason. What do you think of their approach? Leave a comment to tell us.