Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 8/10/2015
Rockets GM Daryl Morey has proven one of the canniest executives in the NBA over the years, but for now, he seems to have painted himself in a corner. The Rockets have yet to sign No. 32 overall pick Montrezl Harrell, and they haven’t re-signed Jason Terry, either, despite reports from last month that they were close to a deal. They renounced their Bird rights to Terry to accommodate the Ty Lawson trade, leaving them with only a $2,274,206 chunk of the mid-level exception to exceed the minimum salary for either, based on numbers from Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Yet using that exception for either would trigger a hard cap of $88.74MM, since they’ve already used nearly the entire $3.376MM amount that teams above the tax apron are limited to paying via the mid-level on K.J. McDaniels.
High second-round picks almost always command more than the minimum, as our list of draft pick signings from this year shows. Using the minimum salary exception for Harrell would also limit the Rockets to just two years in a contract for him, while three-year arrangements tend to be much more team-friendly for numerous cap-related reasons. Similarly, Terry likely proved capable of commanding more than the minimum, and he’s reportedly received an offer from the Pelicans, who have the $2.139MM biannual exception at their disposal.
So, our question today: What should the Rockets do with Harrell and Terry? Should they offer Harrell only the minimum and risk him taking the required one-year, minimum-salary offer that would allow him to hit free agency next year, as McDaniels did with the Sixers last year? Should they spend on Harrell and risk losing Terry to the Pelicans? Should they sign neither for more than the minimum and keep from triggering the hard cap in case they find an appealing trade later in the season?
Being mindful of our commenting policy, let us know in the comments section what you think the Rockets should do. We look forward to what you have to say!
Celtics Waive Zoran Dragic
The Celtics have waived Zoran Dragic, the team announced. The team had reportedly been likely to release him ever since Boston picked him up in last month’s trade with Miami, though it appeared as though the team was holding out to see if it could find a trade partner. The Celtics had held signed contracts or verbal agreements with 21 players, but before they could officially sign all of the players they’ve invited to camp, they had to unload someone to comply with the 20-man offseason roster limit.
The main attraction of the trade in which Boston received Dragic is Miami’s unprotected 2020 second-round pick. The Celtics also net $100K in cash, since they received from Miami $1.6MM and are on the hook for $1.5MM to Dragic unless another team claims him off waivers, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (All Twitter links). Dragic’s cap figure is slightly more than $1.706MM, but that reflects a signing bonus that the Suns gave him when he signed last year that the Celtics aren’t responsible for, Pincus points out.
Dragic, 26, averaged only 1.8 points in 4.7 minutes per game across 16 appearances this past season, his first since coming over from Europe to join his brother, Goran, on the Suns. The Suns sent the Dragic brothers in tandem to the Heat at the trade deadline. Miami committed a five-year contract to Goran this summer, and he was reportedly OK with the deal that sent his brother to Boston. The Heat can’t re-sign Zoran until next July.
Today’s move still leaves the Celtics with a tough call to make, since they have 16 fully guaranteed contracts, as our roster counts show. They’ve also signed Corey Walden and Malcolm Miller to camp deals and will reportedly bring Levi Randolph and Coty Clarke to camp as well.
Do you think Zoran Dragic will end up on another NBA team someday? Leave a comment to let us know.
Latest On Tristan Thompson
Tristan Thompson wouldn’t re-sign with the Cavaliers as an unrestricted free agent next year if he were to take sign his qualifying offer, worth nearly $6.778MM, this summer, as agent Rich Paul tells Michael Grange of SportsNet (Twitter links). That would appear to indicate that the Canadian native is adamant about signing a lucrative, long-term deal before the start of this coming season rather than trying his luck next summer, even though the cap is expected to surge. The former No. 4 overall pick is believed to be seeking maximum-level salaries, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com, but a starting salary of the $16,407,500 max for a player of his experience would cost the Cavs more than $35MM in tax penalties on top of that amount this year, Windhorst estimates.
The Cavs probably haven’t seen the qualifying offer as their preferred route, Windhorst speculates, and given Paul’s statement today, Cleveland has further reason to strike a long-term deal. Still, the Cavs have been offering significantly less than the max, according to Windhorst, and shelling out the max over the long term for a player who chiefly came off the bench behind the newly re-signed Kevin Love might be reason for pause. Thompson averaged only 8.5 points per game in the regular season this past year, though his strength is rebounding and off-the-ball work.
Paul is no stranger to tough negotiations with restricted free agents after last season’s tense back-and-forth with the Suns that resulted in Eric Bledsoe signing a five-year, $70MM deal. Kevin Seraphin, another Paul client, signed his qualifying offer from the Wizards last summer and wound up inking with the Knicks last week. Still, it’s surprising to see Paul and Thompson take such a hard line against the qualifying offer, even though it would entail a playing for a discount this season, since signing it would set up Thompson to become a member of a fairly thin crop of 2016 free agents, outside of Kevin Durant and a few other notables, just as the salary cap is projected to spike to $89MM.
The Cavs are in a tough spot, since LeBron James, Paul’s marquee client, has expressed that he wants Thompson in Cleveland, and James can opt out of his new contract in a year. Thompson and the Cavs were reportedly close to a deal worth more than $80MM on the first day of free agency, but progress stalled. Thompson reportedly asked for $85MM over five years, after initial reports indicated that Draymond Green received that much from the Warriors, but Green wound up with $82MM instead.
In any case, Cavs GM David Griffin said in mid-July that he remained confident the sides would strike a deal. The Trail Blazers and Sixers are the only teams left with enough cap flexibility to approach the max for Thompson, and Windhorst identified the Blazers as the one team remaining that’s a “remote option” for Thompson this year, aside from the Cavs, who hold his Bird rights.
Do you think Thompson and Paul are wise to dismiss the qualifying offer, or do you think it would be advantageous for him to sign it? Leave a comment to let us know.
Where Last Season’s 10-Day Signees Are Now
Four dozen players signed 10-day contracts last season, and while some remain with their NBA teams, others are long gone. Two are reportedly working out for the Lakers today — Sean Kilpatrick and Toure’ Murry — while another, David Wear, signed with Fuenlabrada of Spain, the team announced today (Twitter link; translation via Sportando’s Enea Trapani). Familiar names like Michael Beasley and Nate Robinson are free agents again, while Kenyon Martin, another notable 10-day signee from 2014/15, called it quits.
With an assist from the Hoops Rumors 10-Day Contract Tracker, which provides a database on 10-day signees dating back several years, we’ve caught up with each of the 10-day signees from this past season. They’re listed alphabetically with their whereabouts below. The teams by their names are the clubs with which they signed their 10-day contracts last season. Players who signed 10-day deals with multiple teams have all of those teams listed.
- Lou Amundson, Knicks — He re-signed with the Knicks this summer after the expiration of the deal he’d signed for the rest of last season on the heels of his pair of 10-day pacts.
- Earl Barron, Suns — Barron is a free agent following the expiration of the contract he signed with the Suns for the rest of the season after his pair of 10-day deals.
- Michael Beasley, Heat — Beasley is a free agent. The Heat declined their team option for this season after signing him late last season to a multiyear deal following the conclusion of his pair of 10-day contracts with the team.
- Jerrelle Benimon, Jazz — Benimon remains a free agent, as he has been since the Jazz elected not to re-sign him after his lone 10-day contract with the team.
- Sim Bhullar, Kings — Bhullar remains a free agent, as he has been since the Kings elected not to re-sign him after his lone 10-day contract with the team.
- Jabari Brown, Lakers — He’s still with the Lakers on the contract he signed following his pair of 10-day deals.
- Lorenzo Brown, Timberwolves — He’s still with the Wolves on the contract he signed following his pair of 10-day deals.
- Dwight Buycks, Lakers — Buycks remains a free agent, as he has been since the Lakers elected not to re-sign him after his lone 10-day contract with the team. The Lakers apparently told him in June that they remain interested in him, however.
- Will Bynum, Wizards — Bynum is a free agent following the expiration of the contract he signed with the Clippers for the rest of the season after his pair of 10-day deals.
- Earl Clark, Nets — He’s still with the Jazz on the contract he signed following his pair of 10-day deals, but they reportedly intend to waive him.
- Jack Cooley, Jazz — He’s still with the Jazz on the contract he signed following his pair of 10-day deals.
- Bryce Cotton, Jazz — He’s still with the Jazz on the contract he signed following his pair of 10-day deals.
- Seth Curry, Suns — The brother of MVP Stephen Curry signed with the Kings last month.
- Andre Dawkins, Celtics — Dawkins remains a free agent, as he has been since the Celtics elected not to re-sign him after his pair of 10-day contracts with the team.
- Austin Daye, Hawks — Daye is a free agent. The Hawks waived him after signing him late last season to a multiyear deal following the conclusion of his pair of 10-day contracts with the team.
- Toney Douglas, Pelicans — The six-year veteran reportedly reached agreement on a deal with the Pacers. The Pelicans had signed him to a multiyear deal following his second 10-day contract, but they waived him in July.
- Larry Drew II — Drew signed with AS Monaco Basket of France.
- Jarell Eddie, Hawks — Eddie remains a free agent, as he has been since the Hawks elected not to re-sign him after his lone 10-day contract with the team.
- Tim Frazier, Sixers — The Trail Blazers signed Frazier to a multiyear deal following his pair of 10-day contracts with Philadelphia.
- Langston Galloway, Knicks — He’s still with the Knicks on the contract he signed following his pair of 10-day deals.
- JaMychal Green, Spurs, Grizzlies — He’s still with the Grizzlies on the contract he signed following his pair of 10-day deals.
- Jorge Gutierrez, Bucks — He’s still with the Bucks on the contract he signed following his pair of 10-day deals.
- Jordan Hamilton, Clippers — Hamilton is a free agent. The Clippers waived him after signing him late last season to a multiyear deal following the conclusion of his pair of 10-day contracts with the team.
- Lester Hudson, Clippers — Hudson is a free agent. The Clippers waived him after signing him late last season to a multiyear deal following the conclusion of his pair of 10-day contracts with the team. He’s reportedly expected to sign with Liaoning of China.
- Bernard James, Mavericks — He signed with the Shanghai Sharks of China this summer following the expiration of his deal for the rest of last season with Dallas that came after his pair of 10-day pacts with the team.
- Dahntay Jones, Clippers — Jones is a free agent following the expiration of the contract he signed with the Clippers for the rest of the season after his pair of 10-day deals.
- Chris Johnson, Bucks, Jazz — He’s still with the Jazz on the contract he signed following his 10-day deal.
- Tyler Johnson, Heat — He’s still with the Heat on the contract he signed following his pair of 10-day deals.
- Sean Kilpatrick, Timberwolves — Kilpatrick is a free agent, but the Lakers are reportedly working him out.
- Ricky Ledo, Knicks — Ledo is a free agent. The Knicks waived him after signing him late last season to a multiyear deal following the conclusion of his pair of 10-day contracts with the team.
- John Lucas III, Pistons — Lucas is a free agent following the expiration of the contract he signed for the rest of the season after his pair of 10-day deals.
- Jerel McNeal, Suns — The Suns waived him after signing him late last season to a multiyear deal following the conclusion of his pair of 10-day contracts with the team. He’s since signed to play for Aris Thessaloniki of Greece.
- James Michael McAdoo, Warriors — He’s still with the Warriors on the contract he signed following his pair of 10-day deals.
- Toure’ Murry, Wizards — Murry is a free agent, but the Lakers are reportedly working him out.
- Kenyon Martin, Bucks — The 37-year-old announced his retirement in July.
- Quincy Miller, Kings, Pistons — He’s still on the contract he signed following his pair of 10-day deals with the Pistons, but Detroit traded him to the Nets, who reportedly plan to keep him at least until the start of training camp.
- Elijah Millsap, Jazz — He’s still with the Jazz on the contract he signed following his pair of 10-day deals.
- A.J. Price, Suns — Price is a free agent. He was reportedly considering an overseas deal, but he remains on the market.
- Miroslav Raduljica, Timberwolves — The two-year NBA veteran signed with Panathinaikos of Greece on a deal that includes an NBA out.
- Nate Robinson, Jazz — Robinson remains a free agent, as he has been since the Clippers elected not to re-sign him after his pair of 10-day contracts with the team.
- David Stockton, Kings — He’s still with the Kings on the contract he signed following his 10-day deal.
- Lance Thomas, Knicks — He re-signed with the Knicks this summer after the expiration of the deal he’d signed for the rest of last season on the heels of his pair of 10-day pacts.
- Tyrus Thomas, Grizzlies — Thomas remains a free agent, as he has been since the Clippers elected not to re-sign him after his lone 10-day contract with the team. The Mavs were reportedly among the teams that watched workouts the former No. 4 overall pick staged last month.
- Henry Walker, Heat —Walker is a free agent. The Heat waived him after signing him late last season to a multiyear deal following the conclusion of his pair of 10-day contracts with the team.
- David Wear, Kings — Signed with Fuenlabrada of Spain.
- Elliot Williams, Jazz, Hornets, Pelicans — Williams didn’t receive a deal for the rest of the season with any of the three teams that gave him 10-day pacts, but he recently re-signed with the Hornets for training camp.
- Reggie Williams, Spurs — He’s still with the Spurs on the contract he signed following his pair of 10-day deals.
- Nate Wolters, Pelicans — Wolters signed with Besiktas of Turkey.
Which of these 10-day signees from last season do you think is most capable of having an impact in the NBA this year? Leave a comment to let us know.
Hoops Rumors On Social Media/RSS
The NBA offseason is churning along, with some noteworthy free agents still unsigned and a healthy trade market. Hoops Rumors gives you a handful of ways you can keep tabs on the latest news and rumors as the storylines unfold.
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Nets Sign Donald Sloan
1:01am: The deal is for the minimum salary and includes a small guarantee, NetsDaily tweets, citing a league source.
11:50am: The Nets have signed point guard Donald Sloan, the team announced via press release. The new client of Byron Irvin and Dan Fegan became a free agent when his deal with the Pacers expired at the end of June.
Sloan is coming off a career-high 21 starts for an injury-riddled Indiana team this past season. The four-year veteran spent the past two seasons with the Pacers after having played for three teams in his first couple of years in the league. He’s a strong distributor, averaging 3.6 assists against 1.2 turnovers per game in 2014/15, and he was the fourth most efficient assist producer left in free agency, as I noted last week. He was in talks with the Spurs, Bulls and Mavericks last month, as Shams Charania of RealGM reported then, so the Nets appear to have been a more recent suitor.
Brooklyn is hanging around the $84.74MM tax threshold, with less than that figure in guaranteed salary but more than that if non-guaranteed salary is factored in. Sloan made the minimum this past season, and it would be somewhat surprising to see him make more this time around. Still, the Nets do have $2.464MM left on their mid-level exception that they could use if they’re on board with triggering a hard cap of $4MM above the tax line.
The Nets have only 12 fully guaranteed contracts, but Markel Brown, Quincy Miller, Willie Reed and rookie Ryan Boatright all have partially guaranteed pacts, as our roster counts show. Sloan figures to compete with Boatright for the job as Brooklyn’s third point guard behind Jarrett Jack and Shane Larkin.
Knicks Notes: Bargnani, Carmelo, Amundson
Andrea Bargnani “was and still is” a big tease who seemed like a “malingerer,” Knicks team president Phil Jackson told friend Charley Rosen, whose latest interview with the Zen Master appears today on ESPN.com. Jackson didn’t like the way he refused to engage in non-contact activities while he was recovering from an injury, nor his on-court intensity. Still, Jackson believed his offensive game was “perfectly suited” to the triangle offense. Bargnani left the Knicks for the Nets this summer on a two-year deal for the minimum salary. Jackson evaluated each member of New York’s season-ending roster, coach Derek Fisher, and even himself as part of his conversation with Rosen, which is certainly worth a read. We’ll pass along a couple of other highlights from the piece here amid the latest on the Knicks:
- Carmelo Anthony is “very into the triangle,” Jackson told Rosen for the same piece. The Knicks president also said that Lou Amundson was the worst shooter he’d ever seen when the journeyman power forward came into the league. Jackson nonetheless made it clear to Rosen that he wanted Amundson back because of his courage and professionalism, and the Knicks re-signed him for slightly more than the minimum.
- The Kyle O’Quinn sign-and-trade acquisition was the top move the Knicks made in free agency this summer, opines Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders, who gives New York an A-minus for the transaction. Beer’s lowest grade was a C-minus for the Derrick Williams signing.
- The addition of Robin Lopez helps, and Carmelo Anthony is elite when healthy, but the numbers show that the Knicks simply aren’t built to win in the playoffs, as Bradford Doolittle shows in an ESPN Insider-only piece. New York’s roster is the 12th most capable of playoff success among the 15 Eastern Conference teams, according to Doolittle’s metrics.
Hoops Rumors 2015 Free Agent Tracker
The deals don’t come at as fast a pace as they do in July, but plenty of NBA players sign in August, and Hoops Rumors is here to help you keep track of which players are heading to which teams throughout the offseason. We’ve got a new version of a feature we’ve had each year since our inception in 2012: the Free Agent Tracker. Using our tracker, you can quickly look up deals, sorting by team, position, free agent type, and a handful of other variables.
A few notes on the tracker:
- Contract years and dollars are based on what’s been reported to date, so in some cases those amounts are approximations rather than official figures. Salaries aren’t necessarily fully guaranteed either.
- A restricted free agent who signs an offer sheet will be listed under the team that extended the offer sheet, but note that those signings won’t be official unless the player’s original team declines to match within the three-day period to do so. If the original team matches, we’ll update the tracker to show that the player is back with that team.
- Many deals are primarily for training camp even though they include a partial guarantee. Still others qualify as true summer contracts and are without any guaranteed money. The summer contracts are noted with an † symbol.
- Signings from this year’s draft are noted here, and draft-and-stash signings are detailed here.
Our 2015 Free Agent Tracker can be found anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features,” and it’s also under the “Tools” menu atop the site. It will be updated throughout the offseason, so be sure to check back for the latest info. If you have any corrections, please let us know right here.
Lakers Bringing In Toure’ Murry For Workout
Former Knicks, Jazz and Wizards guard Toure’ Murry will be a part of the group workout the Lakers are planning for today, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Bobby Brown, Eric Moreland and D.J. Kennedy are also reportedly taking part, though Kennedy has already signed a deal with a Russian team. The Lakers have only 12 fully guaranteed contracts, so the final spots on the opening night roster are still up in the air.
Murry saw little action this past season after more extensive experience with the Knicks in 2013/14, his first NBA season. That year he appeared in 51 games, averaging 2.8 points in 7.3 minutes per game. That netted him a one-year, $1MM contract with Utah last summer, but it was only partially guaranteed, and he earned a shade under $418K prior to his January release, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The former Wichita State mainstay saw just one minute of action with the Jazz, to the dismay of agent Bernie Lee, and Murry later resurfaced on a pair of 10-day contracts with the Wizards, for whom he totaled six points in 17 minutes.
The Lakers have been active in the past few days, agreeing to sign undrafted Texas forward Jonathan Holmes, organizing today’s workout, and emerging as a front-runner for JaVale McGee. Tarik Black and Jabari Brown have non-guaranteed salaries, while Holmes and Robert Upshaw have partial guarantees in their reported deals with the team, giving the Lakers a total of 16 signed contracts or verbal agreements, four shy of the 20-man offseason roster limit.
Celtics, Malcolm Miller Agree To Camp Deal
SATURDAY, 10:23am: The signing has occurred, according to the RealGM transactions log, though there has been no official announcement made by the team.
4:30pm: Miller’s deal will be partially guaranteed for $25k, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
FRIDAY, 2:27pm: The Celtics will bring summer-leaguer and former Holy Cross small forward Malcolm Miller to training camp on a one-year deal for the minimum salary, a league source tells Kevin O’Connor of SB Nation’s CelticsBlog. The arrangement will be non-guaranteed, O’Connor adds. It gives the Celtics contracts or verbal agreements with 21 players in the wake of the news earlier today that Coty Clarke will also sign a camp deal. Teams may only carry as many as 20 signed contracts during the offseason, but Boston reportedly intends to offload Zoran Dragic.
Miller averaged just 4.0 points and 12.1 minutes per game across seven appearances for the summer league Celtics, but he canned five of his six three-point attempts during that span. He was a 39.3% three-point shooter over his last two college seasons, and he put up 14.7 PPG in 31.7 MPG as a senior for the Crusaders this past year. The 22-year-old worked out for the Celtics and Jazz prior to this year’s draft, but he wasn’t selected on draft night.
At 6’7″, Miller carries much the same profile as does Clarke, who spent last season playing in Israel. Still, both face steep climbs to make the opening night roster for Boston, which has 17 fully guaranteed contracts, including Dragic’s. Shooting guards Corey Walden from Eastern Kentucky and Levi Randolph from Alabama are reportedly set to join Miller and Clarke in Celtics camp, with all four of them candidates to end up on Boston’s D-League affiliate. The C’s can protect the D-League rights to as many as four camp cuts. Still, it’s not surprising to see the Celtics, who are heavily loaded with point guards and big men, concentrate on wing players as they build their preseason roster, so that offers a glimmer of hope that one of them can stick for the regular season.
Which camp invitee do you think has the best chance of playing NBA regular season games for the Celtics or another team? Leave a comment to let us know.