Offseason Outlook: Toronto Raptors
Guaranteed Contracts
- Kyle Lowry — $12,000,000
- DeMar DeRozan — $10,100,000
- Greivis Vasquez — $6,600,000
- Patrick Patterson — $6,268,675
- Jonas Valanciunas — $4,660,482
- Terrence Ross — $3,553,917
- James Johnson — $2,500,000
- Lucas Nogueira — $1,842,000
- Bruno Caboclo — $1,524,000
Non-Guaranteed Contracts
- None
Options
- None
Restricted Free Agents/Cap Holds
- None
Unrestricted Free Agents/Cap Holds
- Amir Johnson ($10,500,000)
- Landry Fields ($9,375,000)
- Chuck Hayes ($8,938,125)
- Lou Williams ($8,175,000)
- Tyler Hansbrough ($4,324,106)
- (Nando De Colo $1,901,900)1
- No. 20 pick ($1,257,800)
- Greg Stiemsma ($947,276)
- (Mickael Pietrus $947,276)1
Draft Picks
- 1st Round (20th overall)
Cap Outlook
- Guaranteed Salary: $49,049,074
- Non-Guaranteed Salary: $0
- Options: $0
- Cap Holds: $46,366,483
- Total: $95,415,557
The charmed run had to come to an end at some point. Toronto had been on a wild ride that began with the Rudy Gay trade in December 2013, one that transformed a lottery-bound team on the verge of a teardown into the third seed in the Eastern Conference. A disappointing seven-game playoff loss aside, the team picked up where it left off and sprinted to a 24-7 start, much of it without an injured DeMar DeRozan. The slide began shortly before DeRozan returned, and he and the rest of the Raptors stumbled to a 25-26 finish and a profoundly disappointing first-round sweep at the hands of the Wizards in the first round of the playoffs. All of it has raised uncertainty about whether coach Dwane Casey, just a year into a new three-year deal, will return next season. It would make little sense for the Raptors to cut ties with the coach at this point, as multiple Raptors beat writers have opined, but the team’s defensive shortcomings speak ill of the coach who’s done his best work on that end of the court.
GM Masai Ujiri hasn’t made any promises about Casey yet, but he said this week that he’ll avoid knee-jerk reactions to the way the team played after its strong start. That means Ujiri probably won’t revert to the drastic rebuilding plans that he was considering before the team blossomed after the Gay trade last year. The All-Star backcourt of DeRozan and Kyle Lowry thus figures to remain intact, barring the unforeseen opportunity to trade one or both of them for players of greater value. Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears that those two and Jonas Valanciunas are the only Raptors who should feel confident in their staying power, though that doesn’t necessarily signal an overhaul. Few others on the roster would pass for certifiable core pieces, and the Raptors knew Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams was set for free agency this summer when they made what appears to have been a sweetheart deal with Atlanta to acquire him last June.
Perhaps the most startling name left out of Stein’s trio is Terrence Ross, the former No. 8 overall pick who regressed this past season. His points per game, three-point percentage, PER and Basketball-Reference Defensive Box Plus/Minus numbers were all down. Still, Ujiri defended Ross this week in the same breath in which he said there would be no knee-jerk reactions, as Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun relays. The central question at play may well center on whether the team will seek to sign Ross to a rookie scale extension this summer rather than on whether the team will look to trade him. Sending him away this offseason would be selling low on a top-10 pick from just three years ago. The Raptors reportedly listened to offers for Ross before the trade deadline and considered trading him, though it didn’t appear as though they aggressively sought any deal involving him. Ujiri said shortly before the deadline that it was too early to give up on the swingman and that he’d be “shocked” if he traded him. That sentiment might not be as strong as it used to be, but it would appear Ross will stick on the roster while the October 31st deadline to reach a rookie scale extension draws nearer during the offseason.
A troubling consequence of Ross’ poor play this past season is that it would have been a lot easier for the team to draw a hard line in negotiations with Williams if Ross had continued to improve instead. The Raptors are nonetheless replete with perimeter players who are more than capable, from Lowry and DeRozan to Greivis Vasquez, each of whom plays at least one of the two guard positions that Williams is suited for. Toronto, even without the comfort of knowing that Ross is on the right path, has no shortage of guards or offensive threats, and Williams probably wouldn’t help the team shore up its defense. It’s difficult even in light of his award to envision the Raptors bringing back the Leon Rose client unless he agrees to a discount. The Raptors simply have little call for another highly paid player in the backcourt. Toronto should be expected to look into signing Toronto native Cory Joseph, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun, but he won’t command the sort of double-digit salary Williams presumably will.
It will be nonetheless tricky to move on from Williams, since Rose also represents Valanciunas, who’s up for a rookie scale extension in the offseason. It’s quite conceivable the Raptors will make an offer that’s fair but not too competitive to retain Williams or agree to participate in a sign-and-trade if that would be necessary for Williams to go to another team of his choice. Ultimately, the team would be better off spending the money they might commit to Williams to instead address power forward, where Amir Johnson is about to become a free agent and neither he nor Patrick Patterson has distinguished himself as a bona fide starter. It was no surprise to see the team chase David West before the trade deadline, and should he decline his $12.6MM player option for next season, Toronto would probably go after him again, though that’s just my speculation. The Raptors would be able to afford a deal that gives West a salary commensurate with the value of that option, since they have only about $49MM in guaranteed salary out to nine players against a projected $67.1MM cap. He’d fit the mold of the strong defender the team lacks, though he turns 35 this summer and his offensive production has declined.
Stars like Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Monroe are probably out of reach, but that might not be the case for the understated Paul Millsap. Ujiri has pledged a pursuit of Canadians, so Toronto native Tristan Thompson makes sense, though the Cavs can match any offers for him as a restricted free agent and the questions surrounding Love seemingly make it more likely Cleveland keeps Thompson around. DeMarre Carroll looms as an intriguing option if Ujiri is on board with a combo forward type.
The team appears set going into next season at its other interior position, as Ujiri was effusive in his support for Valanciunas as his extension eligibility looms. The former No. 5 overall pick hasn’t played up to his draft position yet, though he turns only 23 next week. Starting centers with potential get paid handsomely in the NBA, though Ujiri might still feel the burn from the four-year, $44MM deal he signed with JaVale McGee when the GM was with Denver. That contract came not long after Ujiri and the Nuggets signed Nene to a five-year, $65MM deal and traded him just a few months later to the Wizards in a deal that netted McGee, so the GM has shown a willingness to quickly pivot from such long-term arrangements. Committing to Valanciunas will nonetheless have consequences, especially if Rose asks for salaries like McGee’s or an extension similar to the incentive-laden four-year, $48MM extension the Magic gave Nikola Vucevic this past fall. Valanciunas hasn’t produced to the level that Vucevic had prior to his deal, so the Raptors would probably hold the line against $12MM salaries and seek numbers around $10MM, though that’s just my estimation.
It all adds up to a healthy stack of decisions facing Ujiri, the former Executive of the Year, who’ll have to take the Raptors farther than he took the Nuggets to earn consideration for the honor again. The way this season ended proved Toronto isn’t a contender to win the Eastern Conference, much less the title, but though the team doesn’t seem close to acquiring the star usually required to rise to that level, there are apparent paths to improvement. It’s up to Ujiri to take them.
Cap Footnotes
1 — See our glossary entry on cap holds for an explanation why these players listed in parentheses technically remain on the books.
The Basketball Insiders Salary Pages were used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Thunder Hire Billy Donovan
1:33pm: The Thunder have hired Donovan, the team announced.
1:30pm: Donovan has resigned from his job at Florida, the school announced, and the statement says he’s doing so to take the Thunder job (hat tip to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com).
12:17pm: League sources tell Wojnarowski that the Thunder have hired Donovan and that’s he’s signing a five-year deal (Twitter links), though the team has yet to make a formal announcement.
11:58am: It’s a “done deal,” a source tells Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated (Twitter link), which jibes with Wojnarowski and Ford’s report.
11:45am: The sides are continuing to work on contract terms, a source tells Zillgitt.
11:01am: University of Florida coach Billy Donovan will sign a multiyear deal to become coach of the Thunder, and the sides are presently finalizing the deal, report Adrian Wojnarowski and Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports. The news has been expected, as the sides were nearing an agreement late Wednesday, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported. Wojnarowski and Forde reported earlier Wednesday that the team was pushing Donovan to take the job and that the coach was enthusiastic about the idea as long as they could agree on terms. The Yahoo! scribes suggested at that point that Donovan was seeking salaries of about $6MM a year from the Thunder, though it’s unclear if the team agreed to shell out that sort of money.
Donovan is set to inherit a roster primed to contend for the title next season after Oklahoma missed the playoffs amid an injury-riddled 2014/15. Thunder GM Sam Presti hadn’t consulted with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook or Serge Ibaka as he negotiated with Donovan, as Wojnarowski wrote Wednesday. Still, he and Ford heard that Durant had formed a positive opinion of the coach after speaking with one of Donovan’s former players who’s now in the NBA. Durant’s opinion looms large, as he’s set to become a free agent after next season, so Donovan will enter the job facing enormous pressure.
The Thunder quickly zeroed in on Donovan after Connecticut’s Kevin Ollie, reportedly the team’s No. 1 target, called Presti to tell him he wouldn’t take the job. Spurs assistant Ettore Messina was also reportedly a candidate, though Donovan was the front-runner once Ollie pulled out, which happened at about the same time the team fired former coach Scott Brooks. Presti and Donovan have long been friends, and Presti previously hired two members of Donovan’s staff to work within the Thunder organization.
Donovan, who turns 50 next month, has spent the past 19 years at Florida and won two national championships, mentoring several players who went on to success in the NBA, including four who earned at least $12MM this season. A feeling that Donovan was ready to jump at the right opportunity to coach an NBA team was growing around the league this spring, as Stein reported then, adding Wednesday that the power and comfort that staying at Florida would entail loomed as the largest hurdle to an NBA jump. Donovan has been making more than $4MM a year at Florida, but there’s no buyout necessary for him to escape his contract with the school, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
The coach temporarily left the school in 2007, shortly after winning his second national title, to coach the Magic, but reneged on the deal and returned to Florida, which imposed a five-year moratorium on his pursuit of any NBA jobs. That’s long since expired, and had lapsed prior to last year, when Donovan rejected what Stein described as serious interest from the Cavaliers and the Timberwolves. The Nuggets and Magic planned to pursue Donovan this year, Stein reported in early April, but neither seemed to come after him with the conviction that the Thunder did.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Northwest Notes: Blazers, Thibodeau, Donovan
The questions that face the Blazers after a disappointing stretch run that threatens to shake the foundation of the roster are as profound as any the team has faced in the last 15 years, The Oregonian’s Jason Quick argues. The emergence of C.J. McCollum and Meyers Leonard, the disappointing play of Nicolas Batum and Robin Lopez, and the rumors surrounding LaMarcus Aldridge‘s willingness to keep playing in Portland provide challenge and opportunity for GM Neil Olshey, Quick contends. Still, few options other than returning to the Blazers would give Aldridge the chance to play a lead role on a true contender, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller opines. Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:
- Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post doesn’t envision Tom Thibodeau emerging as the top candidate for the Nuggets job given the conflict of his defense-first philosophy and Denver’s desire for a fast-paced game, as Dempsey writes in a mailbag column.
- The decision to leave Florida for the Thunder that Billy Donovan reportedly made should have been an easy one, as Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel argues. He’ll have an “exponentially better chance” at a title in Oklahoma City than he would with the Gators the next two years, and if he fails and the Thunder fire him, he’d have his pick of top college jobs, Thamel believes.
- The numbers suggest that Donovan was no better down the stretch in close games at Florida than the oft-criticized Scott Brooks was for the Thunder, The Oklahoman’s Jenni Carlson writes.
Celtics Rumors: Free Agency, Jerebko, Crowder
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge seeks a talent upgrade this summer and, to no one’s surprise, pledged today to try for a marquee acquisition, MassLive’s Jay King notes (on Twitter). Still, King hears that that the C’s are prepared to chase second-tier free agents if they miss out on stars, and league sources told King that the Celtics are ready to offer a contract that would make it seem like they were overpaying one of those Plan B free agents. The idea is that Boston would do so with someone who it felt would improve enough to justify the hefty salaries and that those paydays wouldn’t seem as large in the context of the surging cap in the next few years, as King explains. There’s more from King amid the latest from Boston:
- Reggie Jackson and Enes Kanter are second-tier free agents the Celtics are unlikely to pursue, King writes in the same piece. They fear that Kanter believes he’s more valuable than he is and that such thinking would disrupt the team concept, according to King.
- Soon-to-be free agent Jonas Jerebko drew raves today from Ainge, who jokingly called him “the Swedish Larry Bird,” and Ainge dropped hints that he’d like to re-sign the forward, as King observes (Twitter links). “I think I would sign off on the ‘sign the Swede’ hashtag. … But it all depends,” Ainge said.
- Ainge confirmed the team will indeed extend the qualifying offer of little more than $1.181MM necessary to match competing offers for Jae Crowder in free agency this summer, notes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). Ainge strongly signaled last week that he’d like to re-sign the swingman acquired in the Rajon Rondo trade.
- Ainge again challenged Jared Sullinger to improve his conditioning, as Globe scribe Adam Himmelsbach relays. Sullinger is up for a rookie scale extension this year. “I think he’s hurting the longevity of his career and his play now by not being in as good shape as he can be in,” Ainge said.
Hoops Rumors Glossary: Early Bird Rights
Bird rights offer teams the chance to sign their own free agents without regard to the salary cap, but they don’t apply to every player. Still, there are other salary cap exceptions available for teams to keep players who don’t qualify for Bird rights. One such exception is the Early Bird, available for players formally known as Early Qualifying Veteran Free Agents.
The Bird exception is for players who’ve spent three seasons with one club without changing teams as a free agent, but Early Bird rights are earned after just two such seasons. Virtually all of the same rules that apply to Bird rights apply to Early Bird rights, with the requirements condensed to two years rather than three. Players still see their Bird clocks restart by changing teams via free agency, being claimed in an expansion draft, or having their rights renounced.
The crucial difference between Bird rights and Early Bird rights involves the limits on contract offers. Bird players can receive maximum-salary deals for up to five years, while the most a team can offer an Early Bird free agent is 175% of his previous salary or 104.5% of the league-average salary in the previous season, whichever is greater. These offers are also capped at four years rather than five, and the new contracts must run for at least two years.
Another distinction between Bird rights and Early Bird rights applies to waivers. Players who are claimed off waivers retain their Early Bird rights, just as they would if they were traded. Those who had Bird rights instead see those reduced to Early Bird rights if they’re claimed off waivers. This rule stems from a 2012 settlement between the league and the union in which J.J. Hickson was given a special exception and retained his full Bird rights for the summer of 2012 even though he’d been claimed off waivers that March.
Teams can benefit from having Early Bird rights instead of full Bird rights when they’re trying to preserve cap space. The cap hold for an Early Bird player is 130% of his previous salary, significantly less than most Bird players, who take up either 150% or 190% of their previous salaries.
One example of a player who will have Early Bird rights this summer is DeMarre Carroll of the Hawks. Carroll is coming off the second season of a two-year deal with Atlanta after having finished the season before with Utah. The Hawks can use the Early Bird exception this summer to re-sign him, and it’s likely that this season’s average salary, which will probably come close to $6MM based on the average salary in the past few years, will exceed 175% of his salary of a little more than $2.442MM from this year. The Hawks will have to weigh retaining his Early Bird rights against the chance to renounce them if they open up cap space this summer, since they have only about $39MM in guaranteed salary against a projected $67.1MM cap for next season.
A special wrinkle involving Early Bird rights, called the Gilbert Arenas Provision, applies to players who’ve only been in the league for one or two years. We covered the Gilbert Arenas Provision in another glossary entry.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
Earlier versions of this post appeared on April 19th, 2012, April 24th, 2013 and June 3rd, 2014.
Magic Sign Rob Hennigan To Extension
The Magic have signed GM Rob Hennigan to an extension that carries through the 2017/18 season, the Magic announced. Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reported earlier this morning that the sides were close (Twitter link). The news is no surprise, as Robbins reported a month ago that the team would seek an extension, and two weeks ago the Sentinel scribe relayed that all signs pointed to the sides striking a deal soon. Magic CEO Alex Martins stopped short of confirming that report, but he did make it clear that he’s pleased with the job that Hennigan has done since the team hired him in 2012. The previous terms of the GM’s contract took the pact through 2015/16, and Martins was wary of having such a key executive on an expiring deal, as Robbins detailed in his initial story on the team’s desire for an extension.
“Under the leadership of Rob, we feel that we are positioning ourselves to be able to contend in a long-term, sustainable fashion,” Martins said in the team’s statement. “We are proud of the work that Rob and our basketball operations department has done to this point and we look forward to taking the next steps in the process.
The feeling around the league earlier this month was that the Magic’s intention to extend Hennigan’s deal was a clear signal to candidates for the team’s coaching vacancy that they wouldn’t get personnel control, as Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher said. The Magic picked up team options for 2015/16 on Hennigan and former coach Jacque Vaughn last spring but fired Vaughn in February, forcing the coach and not the GM to face the ultimate consequences for the team’s failure to show significant improvement over the past three seasons. The team hired both Hennigan and Vaughn in the 2012 offseason and has gone 68-178 since, topping out at just 25 wins this past season.
Hennigan made what’s likely the most significant move of his tenure shortly after taking the job, when he traded Dwight Howard to the Lakers in August 2012 for a package that included three first-round picks and Nikola Vucevic, who blossomed in Orlando. The Magic and Hennigan signed Vucevic to a four-year, $48MM extension that includes incentives, and though Vucevic hasn’t matched the production of Howard, particularly defensively, he has nonetheless become more than a capable starting center. Hennigan also received Arron Afflalo in that trade, flipping him after he led the team in scoring last season for the much cheaper Evan Fournier, who’s performed a lot better in Orlando than he did in Denver.
The Magic now seek an experienced coach to pair with Hennigan and face key decisions in the offseason. Forward Tobias Harris, the jewel of the 2013 J.J. Redick trade, is set to become a restricted free agent, and Orlando is in line for another high lottery pick, with a better chance of drafting sixth than in any other spot in the first-round order, as our lottery odds table shows.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Kevin Love Out For Rest Of Playoffs
WEDNESDAY, 9:52pm: Love underwent successful surgery this afternoon to repair his dislocated left shoulder, the Cavaliers announced. The estimated recovery time for Love will be four to six months.
TUESDAY, 11:09am: Kevin Love is “highly unlikely” to return at any point in the postseason, Cavs GM David Griffin said today, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com tweets. The damage to his injured left shoulder was extensive, and surgery is an option, Griffin added, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio (on Twitter). It’s a devastating blow for the Cavs and for Love, who can opt out of his contract this summer. The team can’t sign a player to replace him for the postseason, since the last day of the regular season was the final day for signings. Griffin added that there’s no possibility that Anderson Varejao, who tore his Achilles tendon in December, will come back during the playoffs to offset the loss of Love, tweets Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group.
The injury occurred when Kelly Olynyk hooked Love’s arm as they chased a loose ball in Sunday’s Game 4 of Cleveland’s first round series against the Celtics. In layman’s terms, Love suffered a shoulder dislocation, torn ligaments and a torn labrum, writes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. It threw not only the postseason but the long-term future into flux, as Love went from a growing affection for Boston as a possible free agent destination to a “legitimate loathing” of the Celtics on Sunday, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote. Love called Olynyk’s move a “bush-league play” as the All-Star power forward spoke to reporters shortly after the game Sunday.
Love said in January that he planned to opt in and take his $16.744MM salary for next season, but teams that have looked into the possibility of signing him have been convinced that he’ll “minimally explore” the market, according to Wojnarowski. Some executives are reportedly questioning whether the Cavs would give Love a max deal, with a starting salary of an estimated $19MM, if he were to opt out. Love would nonetheless be at the forefront of the Lakers’ plans if he became available, as Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding wrote, and surely others would value Love highly even though he’s coming off a down season in which he failed to mesh with the Cavaliers on the court.
The injury complicates the future for the Jeff Schwartz client, and it would seemingly be even more troublesome if it requires surgery. It would probably make it a safer bet that Love would opt in and give himself a chance to hit free agency at full health next year, when the salary cap is projected to jump to $89MM, though that’s just my speculation.
Billy Donovan, Thunder Nearing Agreement
9:24pm: The two sides are nearing an agreement that would make Donovan the team’s coach, and a formal announcement of the deal is expected in the next two days, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets.
3:25pm: Donovan and the Thunder are discussing the framework of a contract that would bring the coach to OKC, Wojnarowski and Forde report. There is confidence on both sides that a deal can be completed, but no agreement has been reached as of yet, the Yahoo! scribes note.
1:43pm: Presti has yet to speak with Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka or their agents about the idea of hiring Donovan, Wojnarowski tweets.
1:15pm: Donovan is strongly leaning toward taking the Thunder job, sources tell Stein and fellow ESPN scribe Andy Katz, and one source said to them that the feeling around Florida is that Donovan “is as good as gone.”
12:24pm: Oklahoma City is focusing completely on Donovan, reports Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com. The likeliest scenario involves Donovan taking the Thunder job, presuming they can agree on compensation, sources tell Parrish.
11:28am: Donovan doesn’t have to pay Florida a buyout to leave the deal, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. Presti flew to Florida and met with Donovan on Tuesday, league sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
11:05am: The job is Donovan’s to lose, a source tells Stein.
10:08am: The Thunder are pushing Donovan to take the job as the team puts together an offer, and Donovan is enthusiastic about the idea pending agreement on terms of a deal, report Adrian Wojnarowski and Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports. Wojnarowski suggests that Donovan is looking for salaries of around $6MM a year. Kevin Durant has a positive feeling about the possibility after reaching out to one of Donovan’s former player’s who’s now in the NBA, league sources tell Wojnarowski. Donovan has wanted to speak with Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka before taking the job, but it’s unclear if he’ll be able to talk to them, Wojnarowski adds.
9:17am: Grantland’s Zach Lowe has heard further chatter connecting the Thunder and Donovan, and that combined with Stein’s report prompted Lowe to say via Twitter that he’d be surprised if Oklahoma City doesn’t hire the Florida coach.
8:54am: Thunder GM Sam Presti and University of Florida coach Billy Donovan have begun formal conversations about Oklahoma City’s vacant coaching position, league sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Donovan has been considered the favorite to end up in the job since the team fired Scott Brooks a week ago, according to Stein, though Spurs assistant Ettore Messina is also a candidate, as the ESPN.com scribe reported last week. Connecticut coach Kevin Ollie was reportedly the team’s No. 1 target shortly before the Thunder dismissed Brooks, but he issued a statement indicating he would stay at UConn shortly before Brooks’ firing and later called Presti to tell him he was withdrawing from consideration.
The 49-year-old Donovan is the first candidate with whom Oklahoma City is known to have had formal talks, Stein writes, though it’s clear that there were at least back-channel communications going on between the Thunder and Ollie. Presti and Donovan have a longstanding friendship, and the GM has hired two members of Donovan’s staff in the past. One person who knows Donovan recently described him as “tired of recruiting” to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, and sources tell Stein much the same. There was a growing feeling around the league as of a month ago that Donovan was ready to jump to the NBA for the right opportunity, as Stein heard then, though the comforts and power Donovan has established over 19 years at Florida continue to tug at the coach, Stein notes.
The Nuggets and Magic have planned to target Donovan for their openings as well, Stein wrote early this month, and last year Donovan turned away what Stein described as serious interest from the Cavaliers and the Timberwolves. The coach has a $500K buyout in his Florida contract, one that pays him more than $4MM a year, though that buyout wouldn’t dissuade him from jumping to the NBA, according to Stein.
DeAndre Jordan Extremely Interested In Mavs
1:27pm: The Mavs indeed intend to pursue Jordan, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Still, there seems a better chance the Clippers will retain Jordan than the Blazers will keep fellow Mavs target LaMarcus Aldridge, given the numerous signals of late indicating that Aldridge is eyeing an exit from Portland, Stein writes.
WEDNESDAY, 9:09am: Jordan has expressed via back channels that he’ll be “extremely interested” in joining the Mavs this summer, multiple sources tell MacMahon, who writes in a full piece.
TUESDAY, 11:50pm: Soon-to-be free agent DeAndre Jordan has made it known that he has interest in signing with the Mavs this summer, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com (Twitter link). Jordan has spoken of his affection for Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers, but even as he gave thanks for Rivers and his teammates in an interview with Sam Amick and Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today in March, the Relativity Sports client indicated that the Clippers aren’t necessarily the front-runners for him.
Jordan has said he’s seeking a long-term commitment rather than a one-year deal that would allow him to hit free agency again next year and take advantage of the projected surge in the salary cap. The Clips will be able to offer a five-year contract with 7.5% raises instead of the four-year deal with 4.5% raises that every other team, including the Mavs, will be limited to. Still, the Clippers already have Chris Paul and Blake Griffin on maximum-salary deals, and another one for Jordan would pile yet more on top of a soaring payroll. The Clippers already have about $58MM committed against a projected $67.1MM cap for next season, and that doesn’t include most of Jamal Crawford‘s and Matt Barnes‘ partially guaranteed salaries. Still, the Clippers have Jordan’s Bird rights and thus can exceed the cap to re-sign him, and owner Steve Ballmer has no shortage of wealth to lay out if he so chooses.
The Mavs only have about $28MM on the books for next season, not counting close to $14MM in player options for Monta Ellis, Raymond Felton and Al-Farouq Aminu. Even if all three opt in, which seems unlikely, the Mavs would probably still have the cap flexibility needed to give Jordan a max deal with a starting salary that will likely fall in the neighborhood of $19MM. Much of that flexibility comes as Rajon Rondo and Tyson Chandler head into free agency. Coach Rick Carlisle let it slip that he can’t envision Rondo back with the team, and while Dallas owner Mark Cuban has affection for Chandler, the Mavs probably wouldn’t hesitate to replace him with Jordan, a younger, more athletic version of the defensive-minded Chandler.
Jordan finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting this month, and he led the league in rebounding for a second straight season with 15.0 per game. The 26-year-old, who turns 27 in July, also topped the NBA in field goal percentage for the third year in a row as he seldom dared to stray outside his severely limited offensive range. In spite of that shortcoming, most acute at the free-throw line where he shot an atrocious 39.7% this year, he scored a career-high 11.5 points per game this season, though some of that is surely tied to the extra free throws he gets when teams intentionally foul him to send him to the line.
In any case, the Houston native is eighth in the latest Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings. Will Joseph of Hoops Rumors examined Jordan’s free agent stock last month.
Mavs Notes: Rondo, Chandler, Aldridge
The Mavericks and Rajon Rondo mutually decided to part ways, and the team agreed to cite a back injury for his absence to help the point guard avoid embarrassment, sources told Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Dallas was going to bench the former All-Star if they hadn’t worked out the arrangement, MacMahon adds. Several members of the Mavs organization appeared dubious that Rondo’s back was truly the reason he was out, as MacMahon detailed last week shortly after coach Rick Carlisle acknowledged that he doesn’t expect the Mavs to re-sign the soon-to-be free agent. There’s more from MacMahon’s piece, which looks at an uneasy summer ahead for the Mavs, amid the latest from the Southwest Division:
- Tyson Chandler expressed a desire to return to the Mavs, MacMahon notes. The center is set for free agency this summer, though extreme interest from fellow free agent center DeAndre Jordan and the Mavs’ belief that they can lure LaMarcus Aldridge, a native of nearby Seagoville, complicate Chandler’s would-be return.
- Dirk Nowitzki doesn’t regret the trade the Mavs made to acquire Rondo or any other moves the team engineered to try to win this season, observes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. “We had to do it,” Nowitzki said. “I thought Cubes [owner Mark Cuban] and [GM] Donnie [Nelson] did everything to put us in a position to win. It’s unfortunate, but we’ll see what happens this summer. If you can get a player like Rondo, I think you go for it every time. I don’t think anybody is looking at that now. It was a deal that was there and that we went for. It just didn’t pan out for both sides and both sides moved on. Mark and Donnie always try to make this team better. Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s a gamble, and sometimes it doesn’t.”
- Nowitzki isn’t the same as he once was, and that makes signing Aldridge an imperative for the Mavs this summer, opines Morning News columnist Kevin Sherrington. The Mavs can’t count on Aldridge’s local ties helping them, since Dallas-area natives Deron Williams and Chris Bosh have passed on homecomings, Sherrington notes.