Atlantic Notes: Young, Knicks, Crowder, Jerebko
Thaddeus Young has said in the past that he’d like to return to the Nets next season, and while he didn’t directly address a question about his future from Steven Simineri of NetsDaily, the forward made it clear he was pleased with the midseason trade that brought him to Brooklyn. Young has an early-termination option worth nearly $10.222MM.
“It was the perfect situation for me, especially with me being good friends with [Nets GM] Billy [King], just knowing him and him drafting me in Philly,” Young said. “So it was a good situation, plus they had the right mix of players for me and I felt like I could be a great complementary piece to a lot of guys on this team.”
It’s a virtual must-win for Young and the Nets on Saturday as they trail 2-0 against the Hawks, and as we wait to see what happens, here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- The Knicks are reportedly poised to chase LaMarcus Aldridge, and Aldridge apparently has New York on his radar. Still, team president Phil Jackson doesn’t make it sound as if a superstar signing like that is in the offing for New York this summer, as Marc Berman of the New York Post observed after the Zen Master’s latest comments Tuesday.
- A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com figures the Celtics will try to re-sign Jae Crowder and Jonas Jerebko, but he doesn’t think they’re willing to splurge on either. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge on Thursday indicated his desire to re-sign Crowder.
- Blakely argues in the same piece that the best path to improvement for the Celtics is through trades. Ainge faces a key choice this summer about whether to keep Boston’s vast stockpile of trade exceptions or renounce them and open near max-level cap room, as I examined.
Buddy Hield Declines To Enter Draft
Oklahoma junior shooting guard Buddy Hield will pass up a strong chance to be drafted in the second round this year to instead return to Oklahoma for his senior year, he announced today through the school. Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranks Hield as the 37th-best prospect, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him at No. 41.
The 6’4″ 21-year-old’s production plateaued somewhat this season after a significant jump between his freshman and sophomore years. Still, Hield’s 17.4 points per game this year led the Big 12, as did his 35.9% three-point percentage and 93 made three-pointers. He rebounded well for his size, grabbing 5.4 boards in 32.4 minutes per contest.
Ford points to defense as an area in need of improvement for Hield and suggests he should attack the basket more often. His rate of free-throw attempts per field goal attempt rose from .191 to .261 this season, so continued improvement in that regard figures to help his stock. He’ll have no shortage of exposure next season, with Oklahoma looking strong again for 2015/16 after a run to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 this year.
Guillermo Hernangomez To Declare For Draft
Spanish center Guillermo Hernangomez will enter this year’s draft, reports Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). The 6’11” client of agent Guillermo Bermejo has first-round potential, as Givony says in his tweet, though Hernangomez is No. 42 in Givony‘s prospect rankings. Chad Ford of ESPN.com has him 40th.
The 20-year-old Hernangomez averaged 10.0 points and 5.6 rebounds in 19.6 minutes per game this season for Sevilla in his native Spain. He put up similar numbers in the Adidas Eurocamp two years ago. His athleticism isn’t ideal, but his size helps, as Ford writes in his scouting report.
Early-entry candidates must formally declare for the draft by 10:59pm Central time on Sunday to be eligible for the draft this year, so that helps explain the flurry of declarations of late. Hernangomez won’t be automatically eligible until next year, and he may withdraw from this year’s draft at any point until the NBA’s June 15th deadline.
Charles Jackson Entering Draft
Tennessee Tech junior center Charles Jackson has decided to enter this year’s draft and signed with agent Scott Nichols, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. The 21-year-old, who turns 22 next month, is an unheralded prospect outside the top 100 rankings for both Chad Ford of ESPN.com and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
The 6’10” Jackson was eighth in the nation in double-doubles this season, tied with first-round prospect Christian Wood and ahead of lottery hopeful Kevon Looney, as Charania points out, though Jackson did his much of his damage against weaker competition in the Ohio Valley Conference. He put up 13.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 27.2 minutes per game this season, his only NCAA Division I year after he transferred from junior college.
Jackson intends to stay in the draft, according to Charania, though the RealGM scribe notes that it’s possible he’ll withdraw by the NBA’s June 15th deadline and instead play in the D-League or overseas. He can’t return to NCAA competition if he formally enters the draft or has indeed hired an agent.
Spurs, Mavs Believe They Can Lure Aldridge
FRIDAY, 8:28am: Two executives told Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com last month that there was a belief among some around the league that Aldridge would consider the Knicks as well as the Spurs this summer.
2:03pm: All options are on the table for Aldridge this summer, including a departure from the Blazers, a source familiar with his free agency strategy told Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. The source also said to Berger that he wouldn’t be surprised if the All-Star signed with a Texas team.
THURSDAY, 8:59am: The Spurs and Mavs believe they can convince LaMarcus Aldridge to sign with them in free agency this summer, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Both teams are planning aggressive pursuits of the Blazers power forward, and the Knicks and Lakers will go after him, too, Stein also says. It’s the latest ominous news for Portland’s hopes of keeping the No. 4 player in our Free Agent Power Rankings, in spite of his insistence last summer and before the season that he intends to re-sign, and the Blazers have their “work cut out” for them if they’re to retain their star, as Stein puts it.
A Blazers teammate who spoke with The Oregonian’s Jason Quick earlier this month cast it as a 50-50 proposition that the Arn Tellem client would be back with the Blazers. Quick noted that Aldridge feels as though the franchise is behind him, but the veteran of nine NBA seasons, all of them in Portland, recently expounded to Michael Lee of The Washington Post on times when he didn’t sense that sort of support from the Blazers. The Blazers have been “very, very scared” that Aldridge will leave, as one rival executive said to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News in February, though that executive chalked the team’s feeling up to paranoia.
Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News first reported in November that Dallas planned to target the native of nearby Seagoville, Texas, while Grantland’s Zach Lowe has consistently heard chatter vaguely linking Aldridge to San Antonio. The big man praised Knicks president Phil Jackson and the city of New York and said that he thought he’d be a fit for the triangle upon prompting from New York media at the All-Star Game. There hasn’t been much connecting Aldridge to the Lakers, besides a report from Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders indicating that the prospect of the former No. 2 overall pick winding up in purple-and-gold was a long shot. Still, Aldridge makes sense for a Lakers team with plenty of cap flexibility and an ever-present desire to chase star free agents.
The same can be said for the Knicks, and the Mavs have max-level flexibility, too, though the team’s apparent willingness to move on from Rajon Rondo will help Dallas clear the cap space necessary to put a max offer in front of Aldridge. The Spurs have a more complicated path as long as Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili decide they want to return, but having decided against a lucrative extension for Kawhi Leonard this past fall gives the Spurs a chance to clear max cap room. His cap hold remains just slightly more than $7.235MM until San Antonio signs him to a new deal or matches an offer sheet for him.
Moussa Diagne To Enter Draft
Senegalese center Moussa Diagne is entering this year’s draft, the Interperformances agency confirms to Shams Charania of RealGM. The 21-year-old Herb Rudoy client is No. 42 in Chad Ford’s ESPN.com prospect rankings and 56th with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, so it appears Diagne is in line to become a second-round pick. Of course, that’s assuming he stays in the draft and doesn’t withdraw as he did after declaring for last year’s draft.
The 6’10” Diagne has played a reserve role for Baloncesto Fuenlabrada, his Spanish league team, averaging 4.4 points and 3.9 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per game this season. He impressed on the boards at last year’s Adidas EuroCamp, a prestigious showcase for overseas players, pulling down 5.7 boards in 16.5 MPG, but his offense lagged behind, as he scored only 4.0 PPG at the event.
The deadline for Diagne and other international prospects to withdraw isn’t until June 15th, so he and Rudoy will have plenty of opportunity to get a better feel for how NBA front offices view him. He’ll probably have the chance to attend this year’s EuroCamp, and he can perform individual workouts for NBA teams. Regardless, it wouldn’t be surprising if he ends up as a draft-and-stash prospect and remains overseas even if he is drafted this year.
Thunder Coaching Rumors: Donovan, Messina
A third NBA head coaching vacancy opened Wednesday when the Thunder cut ties with Scott Brooks, and college coaches Billy Donovan and Kevin Ollie have emerged as perhaps the most prominent candidates. We’ll round up the latest on the Thunder’s search here, with any additional updates added to the top:
- While Donovan is the current favorite to land the Thunder’s coaching position, Spurs assistant Ettore Messina is also on the team’s list of candidates, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets.
1:18pm update:
- “Very personal reasons” have led Ollie to call Presti and tell him he wouldn’t take the job, a source told Zagoria. A second source said to Zagoria that the Thunder made it clear that they were indeed interested, but there were a variety of reasons why Ollie decided against it.
12:10pm update:
- Ollie has “removed himself from consideration” for the Thunder job, sources tell Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com (Twitter link; hat tip to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman). Given the doubt that lingered Wednesday even after Ollie issued his statement that he would stay at Connecticut, it’s unclear if that completely closes any reasonable chance that Ollie will end up in the Oklahoma City job.
12:00pm update:
- “All signs point to” Donovan becoming the next Thunder coach, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, who hears sentiments similar to those that Marc Stein of ESPN.com heard earlier this spring indicating that the Florida coach is ready to jump to the NBA. Donovan, a friend of Thunder GM Sam Presti, is tired of recruiting and while he would jump to the NBA only for a winning situation and a GM he knows and trusts, as a person who knows Donovan tells Berger, the Thunder fit the bill. Donovan would seek a deal worth $25MM over five years, or similar terms, league sources tell Berger.
- Donovan doesn’t have the credibility or relationship with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook that Ollie does, a source points out to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. The same source who earlier identified Ollie as the Thunder’s No. 1 target tells Zagoria that Ollie is “listening” as Oklahoma City pursues him, despite Ollie’s statement from Wednesday in which he indicated that he would remain at Connecticut. The source also suggests to Zagoria that if the Thunder’s next coach can’t manage the two-superstar dynamic between Durant and Westbrook to Durant’s liking, last year’s MVP will leave in free agency next summer.
- Durant expressed “100%” support for the team’s decision to part ways with Brooks but said the news was difficult to take and lauded Brooks for his mentorship on and off the court, as the injured star posted on his Instagram account.
Tyrone Wallace Decides Against Draft
3:09pm: Wallace has formally announced his decision to pass up the draft, as the school tweets (hat tip to Rothstein).
2:53pm: Second-round prospect Tyrone Wallace will return to Cal rather than enter this year’s draft, sources told Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). There’s a wide disparity on just what sort of NBA player Wallace projects to become, as the junior combo guard is 34th in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress prospect rankings and No. 63 with Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
The 6’5″ Wallace was fourth in the Pac-12 in points per game this season at 17.1, but he led the conference in total turnovers with 94, a figure that worked out to 3.3 a game. Wallace endured a heavy workload that saw him take 14.8 shots and dish out 4.0 assists in 34.9 minutes per contest. He excels on defense, as Ford writes in his scouting report, pointing to inconsistency as his primary flaw. Wallace isn’t a strong outside shooter, making only 31.8% of his three-point attempts this season and 29.1% for his college career.
The 20-year-old, who turns 21 in June, showed steady improvement during his time at Cal, and he improved his stock after he was only 94th in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index coming out of high school. Givony’s ranking suggests the first round isn’t out of reach in 2016, and he’ll be relatively young for a senior, turning 22 only weeks before next year’s draft.
Hoops Rumors Glossary: Cap Holds
The Spurs have committed only about $34.2MM in guaranteed money to player salaries for 2014/15, but that doesn’t mean the team will have more than $30MM to spend on free agents against the projected $67.1MM salary cap. Each of San Antonio’s own free agents will be assigned a free agent amount or “cap hold” until the player signs a new contract or the Spurs renounce his rights.
The following criteria are used for determining the amount of a free agent’s cap hold:
- First-round pick coming off rookie contract: 250% of previous salary if prior salary was below league average; 200% of previous salary if prior salary was above league average
- Bird player: 190% of previous salary (if below average) or 150% (if above average)
- Early Bird player: 130% of previous salary
- Non-Bird player: 120% of previous salary
- Minimum-salary player: Two-year veteran’s minimum salary, unless the free agent only has one year of experience, in which case it’s the one-year veteran’s minimum.
A cap hold for a restricted free agent can vary based on his contract status. A restricted free agent’s cap hold is either his free agent amount as determined by the criteria mentioned above, or the amount of his qualifying offer, whichever is greater. Kawhi Leonard, Aron Baynes and Cory Joseph are the Spurs who are set for restricted free agency this summer. Leonard and Joseph are former first-round picks coming to the end of their rookie scale contracts, and their salaries this year are below the league average. (The average salary isn’t known until the season is complete, but the average has come between $5MM and $6MM the past several years, and neither Leonard nor Joseph makes as much as $3MM this year.) Their qualifying offers aren’t greater than 250% of their salaries, so their cap holds are about $7.235MM for Leonard and about $5.085MM for Joseph. Baynes, who makes $2.077MM, is a Bird free agent, and his qualifying offer isn’t more than 190% of his salary, so his cap hold will be a little more than $3.946MM.
Still, for a player like Leonard in line for a significant raise, the cap hold actually gives his team a greater measure of flexibility than a lucrative new contract would, since the hold is based on his previous salary and not what he’ll be making next. That’s reportedly why the Spurs turned away Leonard’s extension push, as San Antonio sought to preserve its ability to offer the max to other top-level free agents, like Marc Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge.
No cap hold can exceed the maximum salary for which a player can sign. That’s why Aldridge’s cap hold will be less than 150% of his salary for the Blazers this season even though the Blazers hold his Bird rights. The maximum salary for a player with Aldridge’s experience is projected to come in at about $18.96MM, not much more than his current salary of $16.256MM.
The Clippers have an even more unusual case in Austin Rivers, who was traded twice this season. The Clips have his Bird rights, but the Pelicans declined the fourth year team option on his rookie scale contract before the season, so the Clippers can’t pay him more than what he would have made in the option year. That rule is in place so a team can’t circumvent the rookie scale and decline its option so it can give the player a higher salary, and it applies even if the player is traded after the option is declined, as in the case of Rivers.
If a team holds the rights to fewer than 12 players, cap holds worth the minimum rookie salary ($525,093) are assigned to fill out the roster. So, if a team chose to renounce its rights to all of its free agents and didn’t have anyone under contract, the team would have 12 holds worth $525,093 on the cap, reducing its total cap space by about $6.3MM.
Cap holds aren’t removed from a team’s books until the player signs a new contract or has his rights renounced by the club. For instance, since Roshown McLeod never signed elsewhere after reaching free agency after the 2001/02 season, and the Celtics have never renounced him, Boston still has a minimum salary hold for McLeod on its cap. It’s been so many years since the Celtics have gone under the cap that there’s been no reason for them to renounce their rights to players who retired long ago. Keeping those cap holds allows the Celtics some degree of cushion to help them remain above the cap and take advantage of the mid-level exception and trade exceptions, among other advantages afforded cap teams.
The general purpose of a cap hold is to prevent teams from using room under the cap to sign free agents before using Bird rights to re-sign their own free agents. If a team wants to take advantage of its cap space, it can renounce its rights to its free agents, eliminating those cap holds. However, doing so means the team will no longer hold any form of Bird rights for those players — if the team wants to re-sign those free agents, it would have to use its cap room or another kind of cap exception.
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 and the Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Versions of this post were initially published on May 1st, 2012 and May 1st, 2014.
Texas Notes: Morey, McHale, Rondo
Reports have indicated the Rockets would like to re-sign Patrick Beverley and Josh Smith, and GM Daryl Morey tells Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com that the same feeling applies to other Rockets.
“We’re pretty focused on now, but obviously pretty much everyone on this team, we’re going to be focused on trying to bring them back,” Morey said. “We got quite a few free agents, Josh Smith is one, we’re going to address in the offseason. We feel if our team can keep executing, we feel like we can keep getting better with the group that we have here.”
Corey Brewer, Jason Terry and K.J. McDaniels are the team’s other soon-to-be free agents. Here’s more from Houston and elsewhere around the Lone Star State:
- Morey also lauded Kevin McHale in his interview with Watkins, saying that a team’s coach “has a huge impact” on the decisions free agents make when they sign. The Rockets inked McHale to a three-year extension in December.
- Several members of the Mavs organization rolled their eyes after the team announced Wednesday that Rajon Rondo was out indefinitely with a back injury, seemingly dubious that his health has anything to do with his absence from the team, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com examines. Coach Rick Carlisle acknowledged that he doesn’t expect Rondo, set for free agency this summer, to return to Dallas.
- Sources close to Rondo tell Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders that the Mavs have never been an ideal fit for the point guard and that everyone involved has just been trying to make the best of it, as Kyler writes within in NBA AM piece.
- The Spurs and Mavs reportedly believe they’ll have a chance to sign LaMarcus Aldridge this summer, as we passed along earlier.