Caron Butler Expects Bucks To Waive Him
Wisconsin native Caron Butler made it clear that he thinks the Bucks will release him rather than guarantee his $4.5MM for next season, saying via text to Racine Sports Zone, “There’s no story here. I’m going to be a free agent on July 1st,” according to SB Nation’s Eric Buenning (Twitter link; hat tip to Marc Stein of ESPN.com). None of Butler’s salary for 2015/16 is guaranteed, but the full $4.5MM would be guaranteed if the Bucks don’t waive him by the close of business on June 30th. Milwaukee reacquired Butler, who played for the team during the first half of the 2013/14 season, in Thursday’s Ersan Ilyasova trade.
The Bucks have their sights set on signing a marquee free agent center, targeting Brook Lopez, Tyson Chandler and DeAndre Jordan, while also prioritizing the addition of a strong perimeter defender and a shooter, as Stein reported overnight. The Bucks have only about $36MM in guaranteed salary for next season, but given their plans for July, it would make sense that they’d want to retain as much flexibility as possible.
Butler and Milwaukee could circle back and work a new deal if he clears waivers, but Butler said in April that if the Pistons released him, he’d only consider signing with contending teams. The Bucks may well have a shot to win the Eastern Conference if they succeed in acquiring all of their targets, though it’d be a stretch to see them emerging as favorites. Still, Butler, at 35 years old, wouldn’t necessarily have his choice of intriguing offers, as he’s coming off career lows in points (5.9) and minutes (20.8) per game. He nonetheless shot 37.9% on 2.8 three-point attempts per game last season, so he at least still appears to have value as a spot-up shooter.
Milwaukee also acquired Shawne Williams in Thursday’s trade, though it’s not immediately clear what the Bucks plan to do with him and his minimum salary, which doesn’t become fully guaranteed until January. Williams shot 39.5% from behind the arc during the first half of this past season when he started in half of his 44 appearances as a member of the Heat, so he would seemingly be an option for the Bucks to consider as they look at shooters.
Atlantic Notes: Saric, Celtics, Daniels, Holmes
Dario Saric‘s buyout with Anadolu Efes after next season would cost about 800K euros, as USA Today and DraftExpress contributor Derek Bodner hears. That’s about $900K at today’s exchange rate, but much less than the $2MM-plus it would apparently take to buy Saric out of his deal for this coming season, as the Sixers are reportedly trying to do. Bodner breaks down the numbers involved with Saric’s potential buyout and his rookie scale contract, concluding that it would be most financially rewarding for Saric to stay overseas for two more years and sign with the Sixers in 2017, when he’d no longer be bound by the rookie scale. Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- Celtics director of player personnel Austin Ainge denied to reporters today that the team has had any substantial talks about trading picks, notes Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. The C’s have reportedly been offering around their first-round picks, at Nos. 16 and 28, to move into the lottery. Still, Ainge admitted the team is at least exploring the idea of trading some of the four total picks it has in this month’s draft, among other options that would keep the team from having to bring four rookies onto the roster.
- Louisville’s Montrezl Harrell, Florida’s Chris Walker, Wisconsin’s Duje Dukan, Butler’s Kameron Woods, and Georgetown’s Greg Whittington all worked out for the Celtics today, Forsberg notes (on Twitter). Jamal Jones, who spent last season in the D-League but remains draft-eligible, is also part of the workout, as Forsberg relays.
- Draft-and-stash prospect DeAndre Daniels is hopeful that the Raptors will sign him for next season, and the team, which still sees him as part of its future, won’t rule out the idea, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca reports (Twitter links). The small forward who was last year’s 37th overall pick spent this past season with the Perth Wildcats of Australia.
- The Knicks will soon work out Bowling Green forward Richaun Holmes, sources told Shams Charania of RealGM. Holmes spoke to Zach Links of Hoops Rumors recently about his improved shooting and his goal to make the same strides in ball handling.
Pistons Acquire Ersan Ilyasova
3:11pm: The trade is official, the Pistons and Bucks have announced. “Ersan Ilyasova is a player we have coveted since we got to Detroit,” said Van Gundy. “Not only is he a proficient three-point shooter that can stretch the floor, he is a high-energy, hard-playing guy who fits extremely well with how we want to play. We are excited about what he can add to our team. We appreciate the contributions of Caron and Shawne. Caron, in particular, is difficult to say goodbye to. Not only did he play well for us, his leadership went above and beyond. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a single player have a more a positive impact on a team than Caron did on ours. He is a special person and we will always respect and appreciate what he did here.”
2:13pm: The Bucks and Pistons have agreed to a trade that will send Ersan Ilyasova to Detroit for Caron Butler and Shawne Williams, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The move will give Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy a new stretch power forward of the sort that he so often employed when he was coach of the Magic. It’ll also set up Butler, a Wisconsin native, for his second stint with the Bucks after he spent the first half of the 2013/14 with Milwaukee, providing the Bucks keep him. Williams is also a stretch four who started 22 games for the Heat early this past season, but he saw little playing time in Detroit after the Pistons claimed him off Waivers.
The swap will give the Bucks a chance to clear salary, Wojnarowski notes (on Twitter). Butler is due $4.5MM next season, but that salary wouldn’t become guaranteed until June 30th. Williams likewise is without a guarantee for next season, but his minimum salary wouldn’t become fully guaranteed until January. Ilyasova is due a fully guaranteed $7.9MM next season, with $400K of his $8.4MM salary for 2015/16 guaranteed.
The deal is a further signal that soon-to-be free agent Greg Monroe will be elsewhere next season, tweets Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, since Ilyasova plays his position. It also ostensibly gives the team more motivation to acquire a small forward, with the power forward slot accounted for and Butler on his way out of town, Ellis surmises.
It doesn’t appear as though either team will have a chance to create a trade exception, since Milwaukee is under the cap and the Pistons need both the salaries of Butler and Williams to match for Ilyasova. The Bucks will instead have the chance to benefit from an additional chunk of cap flexibility equivalent to Ilyasova’s salary. That gives Milwaukee only about $36MM in commitments for next season against a projected $67.1MM cap, leaving enough room to re-sign restricted free agent Khris Middleton to a max deal and still have enough money left over for another marquee restricted free agent. Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times speculates that the Bucks will prioritize the addition of a perimeter shooter to offset the loss of what Ilyasova delivered in that regard (Twitter link).
Ilyasova acknowledged that trades are a part of the business when Woelfel asked for his reaction to the news (Twitter link). That Milwaukee would send him out is no surprise, since his name has been in rumors almost ever since he re-signed with the Bucks on a five-year, $40MM deal in July 2012. The team dangled him in trade talk as recently as the deadline in February, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported then.
The 28-year-old Ilyasova is coming off a bounceback season in which he shot 38.9% from three-point range and averaged 11.5 points per game, but he did so in just 22.7 minutes per night, his lowest since he was a rookie in 2006/07. Butler, 35, put up 5.9 PPG in 20.8 MPG for Detroit. Williams saw less than 10 MPG for the Pistons after knocking down 39.5% of his three-pointers in 21.0 MPG for the Heat. Should the Bucks seek outside shooting, they could do worse than keeping Williams on the minimum salary, though that’s just my speculation.
Southwest Notes: Ellis, Llull, Duncan, Collins
The Mavs won’t prioritize re-signing Monta Ellis if he opts out in search of a raise, as expected, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Ellis, who made $8.36MM this season, had a negative effect on team chemistry this past season because of his moodiness and selfish behavior, a source told MacMahon. The Mavs prefer to spend on either a combination of LaMarcus Aldridge and Tyson Chandler or DeAndre Jordan and a three-and-D wing player, MacMahon adds. That’s in part because the Mavs believe Chandler Parsons will be better off without Ellis’ on-court and off-court influence, as MacMahon details. Still, the Mavs are liable to change their minds based on unforeseen scenarios, just as they did when they decided to up their offer when they signed Ellis two years ago, MacMahon cautions. I looked further into Ellis scenarios when I examined the offseason ahead for the Mavs. Here’s more from around the Southwest Division:
- The Rockets have let Sergio Llull know that they’re willing to offer him a three-year deal worth $15-18MM, sources tell Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net. Houston GM Daryl Morey batted down a similar report from Javier Maestro of Encestando.es in March, but coach Kevin McHale recently made it clear that the team would like to sign the draft-and-stash point guard. Still, there’s a pricey $4MM buyout attached to Llull’s contract with Real Madrid, Varlas writes, adding that if Llull doesn’t end up in Houston for next season, the team would push to sign draft-and-stash center Marko Todorovic.
- Attorneys for Tim Duncan today requested that a trial in his lawsuit against a former financial adviser of his take place next summer so that he won’t miss playing time, tweets Guillermo Contreras of the San Antonio Express-News. That doesn’t necessarily signal that the Spurs star intends to play next season, only that he isn’t ruling it out, writes Express-News scribe Jeff McDonald, though it’s an interesting tidbit nonetheless.
- Chris Mannix of SI.com has heard Jarron Collins‘ name bandied about as a possible assistant coach for new Pelicans head man Alvin Gentry (Twitter link). Collins, like Gentry, has spent this past season as a Warriors assistant coach.
Eric Gordon Still Leaning Toward Opting In
Eric Gordon has largely made up his mind to pick up his player option worth more than $15.514MM to stay with the Pelicans for next season, a source close to the Rob Pelinka client tells John Reid of The Times Picayune. Gordon signaled as much back in March when he referred to 2015/16 as a contract year, and the latest development would come as no surprise even if he hadn’t dropped that hint, since Gordon’s stock has taken a hit since he signed his existing contract, originally an offer sheet from the Suns, in 2012. Gordon told Blake Schuster of the Indianapolis Star a few days ago that he had yet to come to a final decision, but Reid’s source indicated that Gordon would formally make his choice within the next 10 days in advance of the June 29th deadline for him to officially opt in.
New Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry was coaching the Suns when Gordon signed the Phoenix offer sheet, which New Orleans matched, and Gordon is still fond of Gentry, Reid writes. The offensive maestro will no doubt try to unlock Gordon’s dormant scoring touch. The former seventh overall pick has seen his scoring average decline each of the past four seasons, from a career high of 22.3 points per game as a Clipper in 2010/11 to this past season’s 13.4 PPG. This year’s blistering 44.8% three-point shooting accuracy, his best mark in seven NBA seasons, is nonetheless cause for optimism.
A Gordon opt-in would close off any chance the Pelicans might have had to open max-level cap room without making significant salary clearing trades. New Orleans has more than $40MM in guaranteed salary against a projected $67.1MM cap for next season without Gordon’s option.
Central Notes: Dellavedova, Tellem, Hunter
Some in the Cavaliers organization wanted to waive Matthew Dellavedova during training camp in 2013, but former GM Chris Grant believed in the undrafted guard and stuck by him, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. That decision has never been more important than it is now, current GM David Griffin acknowledges, as the soon-to-be restricted free agent has been a surprise star of the Finals.
“The fact that Chris believed in Delly to the level that he did is paying off for the organization in spades,” Griffin said. “Everyone benefits from everyone that comes before them.”
While we wait to see what Dellavedova can do for an encore tonight after scoring 20 points in Game 3, here’s more from around the Central Division:
- It appears that incoming Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem will be taking more of an advisory role with the Wasserman Media Group than that of a traditional agent this summer, tweets Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. That’s not thoroughly surprising, considering the potential conflict of interest, but it nonetheless adds another layer of intrigue to the free agency of Wasserman clients like LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol and Michigan native Draymond Green.
- The Bucks, who have the 17th pick, have made Georgia State shooting guard R.J. Hunter their primary draft target, according to some NBA personnel, as Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times hears.
- Jason Kidd is apparently targeting Clippers shooting coach Bob Thate for the Bucks coaching staff, Woelfel writes in the same piece.
- Marquette guard Matt Carlino, Oklahoma State power forward Michael Cobbins, Michigan State forward Branden Dawson, Temple guard Jesse Morgan and Northern Iowa power forward Seth Tuttle are working out today for the Bucks, the team announced. So is UCLA power forward Kevon Looney, who mentioned Milwaukee among his many workout stops when he spoke with Zach Links of Hoops Rumors. Woelfel first reported Looney’s Bucks workout.
Following Specific Players On Hoops Rumors
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Pacific Notes: Okafor, Lakers, Babby, Schlenk
The Lakers have zeroed in on Jahlil Okafor for the No. 2 pick, multiple league sources tell Chris Mannix of SI.com, who writes in his latest mock draft. Chad Ford of ESPN.com wrote a couple of weeks ago that he didn’t get the sense that Okafor wasn’t a surefire Lakers pick at No. 2 the way that Karl-Anthony Towns would be if the Timberwolves took Okafor first overall, so perhaps Okafor’s workout with the Lakers this week swayed the team’s thinking. Mitch Kupchak is choosing his words carefully, but Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding has heard enough from the Lakers GM to become convinced that either Towns or Okafor will be the team’s choice. Kupchak made it clear to reporters, including Bill Oram of the Orange County Register, that there need not be a consensus within the front office and that the decision, with the support of the team’s ownership, rests with him (Twitter link). Here’s more on the Lakers’ Pacific Division rivals:
- Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby, who will become an adviser on August 1st, didn’t originally intend to remain with the team as long as he has, but the 64-year-old has found it hard not to stay involved, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic details. The role reduction, which will make him a part-timer but leave him involved in negotiations and cap management, suits Babby just fine, Coro writes. “This is a perfect outcome,” Babby said. “When I came here, I made it clear to everybody that I thought one of my major responsibilities was to develop a succession plan and prepare the next generation. When I hired [GM] Ryan [McDonough], I made it clear. I said, ‘You don’t need to worry about your career path here. I’m not going to do this forever.’ That was my commitment to him.”
- Warriors assistant GM Travis Schlenk is believed to be among the potential candidates to fill the vacancy that Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro will reportedly create in Sacramento upon his departure for the Nuggets, writes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. Lakers assistant scouting director Ryan West is another apparent candidate, as Sam Amick of USA Today reported.
- David Lee saw playing time for the Warriors in Game 3 of the Finals, but he sat out the first two games and admitted to Mannix, writing in a separate piece, that his lack of minutes has been frustrating. Still, Lee takes pride in being a supportive teammate and insists he won’t agitate to play more, and he said that he’s not concerned about the notion that he’ll be a trade candidate this summer, as Mannix details.
NBA, Union To Begin Negotiations In August
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association will open negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement in August, players association executive director Michele Roberts tells Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link). That’s well in advance of a December 2016 deadline that both sides face to inform the other if they intend to opt out of the existing CBA after the 2016/17 season. An opt out from one side or the other has long been expected.
The sides will discuss how to split a flood of new revenue from the $24 billion TV deal the league struck with its media partners this fall, among other matters. Roberts has taken an aggressive tack since the union hired her last summer, with the latest bombshell having been the revelation that the union will apparently exercise its rarely used right to independently audit five teams this summer. Adam Silver, who’ll be in the role of commissioner during CBA talks for the first time, has raised the notion that the league would push for a hard salary cap, among other measures sure to meet with union resistance.
The goal for both sides would seemingly be to find a workable deal that would avert a lockout after the 2016/17 season. The last CBA negotiations, in 2011, forced the NBA to abbreviate the 2011/12 campaign, which started on Christmas Day 2011.
Draft Notes: Okafor, Russell, Lyles, McCullough
Duke center Jahlil Okafor was atop most draft rankings for most of the season, but Kentucky big man Karl-Anthony Towns eclipsed him during the NCAA Tournament, and now Ohio State combo guard D’Angelo Russell has leapfrogged him for No. 2 on Chad Ford’s ESPN Insider Board. There isn’t unanimity on Russell’s ascension, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him going fourth to the Knicks, with the Sixers taking Latvian power forward Kristaps Porzingis third. More clear is that this year’s draft isn’t hurting for intrigue with two weeks and one day to go before teams start picking. Here’s the latest:
- The Pistons, who hold the eighth selection, are the team picking highest among those interested in Kentucky power forward Trey Lyles, Ford hears and writes within his rankings (linked above). There’s almost no chance that Syracuse power forward Chris McCullough slips past the Nets at pick No. 29, Ford also hears.
- Slovenian center Ziga Dimec has worked out for the Sixers and will do so for the Mavericks, Celtics and Bucks, according to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia. Dimec, who’s automatically draft-eligible as a 22-year-old from overseas, is Ford‘s No. 96 prospect, but he’s outside the top 100 for Givony, who has him as the 19th-best international prospect born in 1993.
- Josh Newman of SNY.tv adds the Jazz, Nuggets, Rockets, Wizards, Cavaliers and Bulls to the list of teams reportedly working out Syracuse big man Rakeem Christmas.