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Author: Chuck Myron

Trail Blazers Waive Brendan Haywood

By | at July 30, 2015 5:22 pm

The Trail Blazers have waived Brendan Haywood just days after acquiring him from the Cavaliers, the team announced (Twitter link). The move is no great shock, since Haywood’s non-guaranteed salary of $10,522,500 for this coming season would have been fully guaranteed if Portland kept him through Saturday. Thus ends the odyssey of one of the most unusual contracts the league has seen in quite some time.

Haywood averaged only 1.6 points in 5.4 minutes per game last season across 22 appearances, but his contract made him a valuable trade chip. The Mavs signed him to a six-year deal worth more than $52MM in 2010, but two years later, they amnestied him, with Charlotte claiming him off waivers shortly thereafter. The then-Bobcats submitted a partial bid, so they were only on the hook for a fraction of the Haywood contract, with Dallas paying the rest. However, the final season of his original Mavs deal was non-guaranteed. Thus, the cap figure for that year, unlike the years in which Charlotte and Dallas split the cost, remained as it was when Haywood signed the contract.

The center, who’s now 35, has seen his game decline over the past few seasons, but the final year of his contract was motivation for his team to keep him on an NBA roster, since this summer, the deal served as a de facto trade exception. A team could use his contract to acquire a player who makes as much as $15,522,500 without giving up any guaranteed salary in return.

Curiously, the Cavs acquired him cheaply last summer, giving up only Scotty Hopson and cash to Charlotte in a trade. Cleveland’s payroll has ventured into tax territory this summer, so the maximum amount of salary the Cavs could have brought back in a Haywood trade was $13,253,125. Still, Cleveland never found a deal to its liking, and simply rolled over the benefit into an actual trade exception in the deal with Portland. That exception is slightly less valuable, since the Cavs could only use it to bring in $10,622,500.

The utility of Haywood’s contract for Portland wasn’t that great, since the Blazers already possess cap space. They had this week to see if they could flip Haywood to an over-the-cap team that might then trade the contract again to reap its benefit, but no such series of deals materialized. Haywood faces a challenge to hook on with another team at this point, though he apparently doesn’t intend to retire.

Are you surprised that more a market didn’t develop for the Haywood contract when the Cavs had it? Leave a comment to let us know.

3 comments Newsstand Portland Trail Blazers Transactions

Knicks Talk With Sasha Vujacic

By | at July 30, 2015 5:09 pm

The Knicks have spoken with eight-year NBA veteran and former Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic, as David Pick of Eurobasket.com hears (Twitter link). The 31-year-old has played chiefly overseas since the 2011 lockout, save for a brief time with the Clippers in 2013/14. New York waived guard Ricky Ledo just this afternoon, ostensibly creating a vacancy in the backcourt.

Vujacic split this past season between Turkey and Spain, finding much greater playing time with Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyesi than he did with Spanish powerhouse Laboral Kuxta. He averaged 15.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 33.4 minutes per game for Istanbul, but he put up just 5.2 PPG in 14.1 MPG for his Spanish team.

The Clippers brought aboard the two-time NBA champion on a 10-day contract in February 2014, but after 10 total minutes across two appearances, the sides didn’t end up doing another deal. Vujacic spent most of his last full season in the NBA with the Nets, in 2010/11, a career year in which he averaged 9.8 PPG in 24.6 MPG.

The native of Slovenia otherwise spent his time in the Association as a Laker, much of it with Phil Jackson, now team president of the Knicks, as his coach. The Knicks have deals with 14 players, so for now, room is available. Still, Jackson is reportedly targeting big men, including Kevin Seraphin and, perhaps to a lesser degree, Carlos Boozer.

Teams can carry up to 20 players through the preseason but only 15 during the regular season. New York has its $2.814MM room exception available to pay above the minimum.

Do you think the Knicks should sign Vujacic? Leave a comment to have your say.

24 comments New York Knicks Newsstand

Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 7/29/15

By | at July 29, 2015 11:00 pm

The Thunder will almost certainly be better than they were last season, provided Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka miss fewer than the 88 combined games they sat out because of injury in 2014/15. They’ll have Enes Kanter for a full season after matching a max offer sheet from the Blazers this month, and their supporting cast looks strong, with Steven Adams, Dion Waiters, Anthony Morrow, D.J. Augustin, Nick Collison and the newly re-signed Kyle Singler, among others vying for minutes.

Still, the top of the Western Conference appears even more monstrous than usual this season. The Warriors, Spurs, Clippers, Rockets and Grizzlies all seem to have decent chances to win the title. Thus, our question(s) of the day: Do you think the Thunder are the favorites? If not, what do they need to do to change that?

Oklahoma City is more than $10MM over the $84.74MM tax threshold but only has 14 guaranteed contracts, and the $3.376MM taxpayer’s mid-level exception is still available. That doesn’t provide much flexibility, but it’s more recourse than many teams have, and the right role player can swing a postseason series. The Thunder can’t take in a player via sign-and-trade, but they’re otherwise free to explore the trade market. Of course, their roster isn’t exactly ridden with holes.

So, tell us what you think about Oklahoma City’s chances this year. To comment, simply enter your name and email address, write what you want to say, and submit it; there’s no need to become a registered user. Just make sure you comply with our commenting policy.

8 comments Community Shootaround Hoops Rumors Originals

Mavs, Spurs Lead In Volume Of Free Agent Deals

By | at July 29, 2015 1:20 pm

Texas is known for going big, and this year, NBA free agency is no exception. The state boasts not only the most celebrated free agent to change teams in LaMarcus Aldridge, but also the two teams that corralled more free agents than any other in the league. The Spurs and Mavericks have reached deals with 11 free agents each over the past month.

Aldridge is one of them, of course, as the suburban Dallas native eschewed the Mavs to instead sign with the Spurs. Dallas almost convinced the free agent who might have been the next most sought-after to change teams, but DeAndre Jordan skipped out on his deal with the Mavs to return to the Clippers, who’ve had a fairly sizable haul of their own, with eight free agent agreements so far.

Part of the reason for the heavy volume of deals in San Antonio and Dallas has to do with both teams getting an early start on building their training camp rosters, and the number of expiring contracts that they were carrying at the end of last season obviously plays a role, too. Still, to put the scope of their free agent activity in perspective, the entire Northwest Division has only reached agreement with 13 free agents so far. That includes the Jazz and Timberwolves, who’ve struck deals with just one free agent apiece.

Both Utah and Minnesota have signed draft-and-stash prospects and players taken in this year’s draft, so it’s not as if they’ve been dormant this month. Indeed, teams across the league have engaged in trades, extensions and even rare renegotiations, as the free agent market represents only a portion of the player movement around the league.

Still, it’s worth wondering whether factors like the lack of a state income tax, relatively mild weather, and track records of success have helped the Spurs and Mavs to the top of the list below, even if the Rockets lag behind in this category. Note that the numbers here, drawn from our Free Agent Tracker, include agreements to sign that haven’t become formal signings yet.

Number of free agent deals by team:

0 comments Hoops Rumors Originals

Kings Waive Eric Moreland

By | at July 29, 2015 1:15 pm

1:15pm: The move is official, the team announced.

12:08pm: The Kings are placing Eric Moreland on waivers rather than guarantee his salary, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). His minimum salary would become fully guaranteed if the Kings don’t release him by the end of Saturday, as the schedule of guarantee dates shows.

The big man who went undrafted out of Oregon State in 2014 saw only two minutes of NBA regular season action before a labral tear in his left shoulder knocked him out for the rest of the season around New Year’s Day. Sacramento had signed him to a three-year partially guaranteed deal for the minimum salary before the season, but no guaranteed money remains on the pact. The 6’11” 23-year-old put up fairly impressive rebounding numbers in seven games while on D-League assignment, averaging 12.7 boards in 28.7 minutes per contest.

The news of Moreland’s impending release is probably an auspicious sign for Kings point guard David Stockton, even though he plays a different position. Sacramento is carrying 14 fully guaranteed contracts, and Moreland would have become the 15th if the Kings had kept him this weekend. That means Stockton, whose salary wouldn’t become guaranteed until January, has an opening on the regular season roster to fight for.

Who do you think has a better shot to stick in the NBA, Eric Moreland or David Stockton? Leave a comment to let us know.

1 comment Sacramento Kings Transactions

Florida Notes: Napier, Johnson, Richardson

By | at July 29, 2015 11:29 am

This past spring was the first without either the Heat or the Magic in the playoffs since 1993. Florida figures to have at least one postseason representative this coming season, with Chris Bosh set to return from the blood clot ailment that prematurely ended last season, and Goran Dragic and Dwyane Wade, each of whom signed new deals, will be back, too. The outlook is murkier for the Magic, but they added No. 5 overall pick Mario Hezonja and re-signed Tobias Harris. Here’s the latest from the Sunshine State, where both teams hooked up on a trade earlier this week:

2 comments Miami Heat Orlando Magic

Bucks Sign Chris Copeland

By | at July 29, 2015 11:23 am

JULY 29TH, 11:23am: Copeland has officially signed with the Bucks, the team announced.

JULY 23RD, 2:24pm: The Bucks and Chris Copeland have a verbal agreement on a one-year deal, reports Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported Tuesday that the sides were finalizing a deal, but the Spurs and Thunder remained in the mix, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports revealed shortly afterward. The John Spencer client will see in excess of $1.1MM on his contract, league sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). That indicates that he’s receiving a slice of Milwaukee’s $2.814MM room exception, since the minimum salary for the three-year veteran is $981,348.

Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times first identified the Bucks as an interested party nearly two weeks ago, and he heard last week from some higher-ups around the league that Milwaukee had become the front-runner for him. The sides met on Tuesday, Woelfel later reported, and he worked out for the team that day as well, according to Spears.

Copeland just finished a two-year deal with the Pacers that he signed after a surprising season as a rookie for the Knicks in 2012/13. He and Bucks coach Jason Kidd were teammates in New York. The Pacers elected not to make a qualifying offer of more than $3.9MM, so Copeland has been an unrestricted free agent this month.

The 31-year-old was the victim of a stabbing outside a New York nightclub in April that left him with injuries that curtailed his season, one in which he’d fallen out of the Pacers rotation after injuries to others thrust him into use. Normally a strong outside shooter, he made just 31.1% of his three-pointers in 2014/15, and he never made the sort of impact in Indiana that he did with the Knicks.

Do you think Copeland will be a part of the rotation for the Bucks this year? Leave a comment to let us know.

4 comments Milwaukee Bucks Oklahoma City Thunder San Antonio Spurs Transactions

Underclassmen In The 2015 Draft: How They Fared

By | at July 29, 2015 10:24 am

Every year, it seems like more college underclassmen declare for the NBA draft than there are jobs available for them. A total of 45 players who left U.S. colleges with NCAA eligibility remaining were available for selection last month, representing three-fourths of the 60 draft slots. On the whole, they made the most of their opportunities.

The majority of them heard their name called on draft night, and they represented nearly half the draft field, comprising 29 of this year’s 60 draftees. Seven of the 16 who went undrafted have since secured deals with NBA teams, and two months still remain for others to join them before the start of training camp. Not all of the players drafted beyond the first round have guaranteed salaries, but the vast majority of the underclassmen who made themselves eligible for this year’s draft have at least found opportunities to prove they can play in the NBA.

These were the drafted underclassmen, listed in order of selection:

The rest of the underclassmen are listed alphabetically below, with information on those who’ve found pro deals:

0 comments 2015 NBA Draft Hoops Rumors Originals

Atlantic Notes: Ndour, Boozer, Celtics, Prokhorov

By | at July 29, 2015 8:58 am

The Knicks tried to make Maurice Ndour the latest to back out of a deal with the Mavericks this summer, but Ndour wouldn’t break his commitment to Dallas, a source told Marc Berman of the New York Post. The undrafted power forward stuck to a three-year pact that will give him a fully guaranteed salary worth more than the rookie minimum, according to Berman. The Knicks had only been offering a $200K partial guarantee until the Mavs swooped in, and New York’s attempt to win over Ndour after he gave his word to Dallas came up short, Berman writes. Still, if Ndour becomes a free agent again soon, he’d love to return to the Knicks, for whom he played in summer league, the Post scribe says. Already, DeAndre Jordan and Richard Jefferson have turned their backs on the Mavs, but Jefferson did so with owner Mark Cuban’s blessing. In any case, there’s more out of New York amid the last from the Atlantic Division:

  • New York’s interest in Carlos Boozer is “tepid,” Berman writes in the same piece, and that jibes with his report from two weeks ago that the team held internal conversations about the free agent power forward but hadn’t made a move on him. In any case, Knicks team president Phil Jackson would still like to sign a big man, Berman adds.
  • The offseason has been a success for the Celtics because they acquired depth that vastly improved the team while still maintaining the copious draft assets that they can use in future trades, opines Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. That’s doubly so because the C’s acquired players with motivation to play to their fullest, Washburn adds. We asked you to weigh in Boston’s offseason so far right here.
  • Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov struck an upbeat tone in brief comments Tuesday, but conspicuous by his absence from Prokhorov’s remarks was Deron Williams, the marquee free agent signing of the Prokhorov era whom the Nets let go in a buyout deal this month, notes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. “First of all, we had a really good offseason – better than a lot of people expected,” Prokhorov said. “Without a lot of noise, we got a lot done. Brook [Lopez] and Thaddeus [Young] are staying with us, which gives us continuity in our frontcourt. Joe Johnson stays as a core player. We also have high expectations for Bojan Bogdanovic, who showed us real flashes of brilliance in his first year on the Nets.”
2 comments Boston Celtics Brooklyn Nets Dallas Mavericks New York Knicks

Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 7/28/15

By | at July 28, 2015 11:00 pm

The Hornets could have had four first-round picks if they’d just been willing to give up the ninth selection to the Celtics, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe detailed earlier today. Boston also offered four first-rounders to the Heat for pick No. 10, as Dan Le Batard of the Miami Herald and ESPN reported last month. Both Charlotte and Miami said no and kept their top 10 picks.

The Heat and the Hornets had no guarantee from the Celtics that any of the four picks would be as high in the order as the ones they already held. Still, the ninth and 10th selections aren’t generally places where superstars come from. Justise Winslow looks like a steal at No. 10 for Miami, but Frank Kaminsky, whom Charlotte took at No. 9, has a limited ceiling. Neither is certain to pan out.

Thus, the question for today: Would you rather your team have one pick in the back half of the lottery, or four picks later in the first-round? Kawhi Leonard, a former No. 15 pick, and Jimmy Butler, once the last pick of the first round, signed deals this month that will give them maximum salaries this coming season, proving that top-flight talent can come from any point in the round. Still, the outlook for lottery picks is generally better than it is for anyone else, and teams picking higher in the order have the power of choice. But sometimes, the best choice involves a trade.

Tell us what you would do if you had a late lottery pick and received an offer for four first-rounders. To comment, simply enter your name and email address, write what you want to say, and submit it; there’s no need to become a registered user. Just make sure you comply with our commenting policy.

18 comments Boston Celtics Charlotte Hornets Community Shootaround Hoops Rumors Originals Miami Heat
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