Grizzlies Waive Luke Hancock
5:03pm: The move is official, the team announced via press release.
4:32pm: The Grizzlies are releasing swingman Luke Hancock, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders hears (Twitter link). The team has yet to make an official announcement, though Pincus indicates that the move has already taken place. The 24-year-old out of Louisville was on a non-guaranteed contract, so Memphis won’t be stuck paying him any salary. The move would reduce the Memphis roster to 18 players.
Hancock appeared in only one of the team’s three preseason games so far, making the only basket he attempted while coming up with three steals in nine minutes. He was a part-time starter at Louisville this past season before going undrafted in June, and he was with the Magic and Rockets in summer league this past July.
Memphis, which has a one-to-one D-League affiliation with the Iowa Energy this year, can keep the D-League rights to as many as four of the players it cuts before opening night, so it’s conceivable that it’ll do so with Hancock. Should the team formally let Hancock go, Patrick Christopher, Earl Clark, Kalin Lucas and Hassan Whiteside would be the lone remaining non-guaranteed contracts on the team’s books.
Spurs Release John Holland
The Spurs have waived camp invitee John Holland, the team announced via press release. San Antonio will be stuck with the $20K partial guarantee it committed to him in the likely event that he clears waivers. The former Boston University shooting guard is reportedly close to signing with Besiktas of Turkey, so it appears the Spurs are accommodating that move.
The 6’5″ Holland didn’t appear in either of the preseason games that San Antonio’s played so far, and he faced long odds to remain on the roster come opening night, since the Spurs have 15 fully guaranteed contracts. Holland, who turns 26 next month, appears poised to return to European basketball, where he’s pursued his career since going undrafted in 2011.
Holland’s release leaves the Spurs with 18 players, all of whom have at least partially guaranteed salaries. Still, Bryce Cotton, Josh Davis and JaMychal Green have only $130K in guaranteed salary split between the three of them, so they seem to be the Spurs most likely to hit waivers between now and the October 27th deadline for teams to set their opening-night rosters.
Extension Candidate: Alec Burks
Just as with teammate Enes Kanter, it was somewhat surprising to see that the Jazz are talking extension with Alec Burks. The shooting guard has made just a dozen career starts, and with this summer’s addition of No. 5 overall pick Dante Exum and retention of free agent Gordon Hayward, it doesn’t seem like there will be many starts to go around in the years to come, with Trey Burke already firmly entrenched. Still, Burks is a 23-year-old former 12th overall pick who’s coming off a season of noticeable improvement, and the Jazz have no shortage of financial flexibility for seasons to come.
The Andy Miller client was one of many young players on the Jazz who took on an expanded role last season, but his increase in production outstripped his increase in minutes. Burks set career-best per-36-minute marks of 17.9 points and 3.5 assists while recording a 15.8 PER, also a career high. He maintained strong three-point shooting, a part of his game that had been a question mark coming out of the University of Colorado, nailing 35.0% of his attempts from behind the arc, just a tick below the 35.9% he made in 2012/13. His markedly improved 45.7% field goal percentage overall was chiefly the result of better mid-range shooting, as Basketball-Reference shows he significantly increased his accuracy from 3 to 16 feet away from the basket. Burks has also defended well, as the Jazz have given up fewer points per possession when he’s been on the floor compared to when he’s sat in each of the past two seasons, according to NBA.com.
The Jazz only have about $36.5MM in commitments for 2015/16, a number that should swell to about $40MM once they pick up their team options on Burke and Rudy Gobert. That would give them max-level cap flexibility beneath the projected $66.5MM salary cap for that season. Extensions for Burks and Kanter that together add up to no more than $10MM in annual salaries would take Utah down to roughly the sort of cap room necessary to sign a restricted free agent to a max contract. The Jazz are much more likely to attract the sort of free agent who’d warrant the 25% max than a veteran who could make 30% or 35% of the salary cap, since star free agents have never clamored to go to Utah. Still, it will be quite difficult for the team to attract even a player befitting the lowest version of the NBA’s maximum salary, particularly if the Jazz end up in the lottery again this year, as expected.
The Jazz have instead used their cap space in more unconventional ways in recent years. They essentially rented it to the Warriors in 2013/14, as GM Dennis Lindsey agreed to take on the inflated contracts of Richard Jefferson, Andris Biedrins and Brandon Rush for a slew of draft picks. Lindsey and the Jazz did the same on a smaller scale this summer, garnering a pair of second-round draft picks in exchange for absorbing close to $4.3MM combined in guaranteed salary for Steve Novak and Carrick Felix. Eventually, Lindsey will have to decide whether securing the draftees the team has brought aboard over the last several years is more important than acquiring picks to bear fruit in years to come.
Utah isn’t at that point yet, and it probably won’t be until at least the summer of 2017, when the rookie deals of Burke and Gobert are set to expire and Hayward can opt out of his contract. An extension for Burks would almost certainly carry through that summer. No one knows just what the salary cap will look like at that point, but Lindsey and the Jazz have to be thinking ahead.
An extension that runs three seasons instead of the standard four would at least allow the Jazz to move on from Burks in the summer of 2018, when Derrick Favors is due to hit free agency. The same could be accomplished if the Jazz include non-guaranteed salary in the final season of a four-year extension for Burks, though all four of the seasons on the extension that Quincy Pondexter signed last year with the Grizzlies are guaranteed, a point that Miller would surely bring up. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Jazz would counter with the idea of giving Burks more than the $14MM total that Pondexter is receiving in exchange for a non-guaranteed season. Utah would also be wise to try to frontload the salaries so that the majority of the cost comes while the team still has plenty of cap flexibility.
Lindsey and the Jazz seem willing to commit to their young talent if those players are willing to bet that their market value won’t escalate significantly in the years to come, and while that sort of agreement is elusive, it’s worthwhile for the Jazz to pursue it. Last year’s extension with Favors looks reasonably team-friendly compared to the max offer sheet that Hayward scored in restricted free agency, and surely Lindsey has that dichotomy in mind as he sits at the negotiating table with the agents for Burks and Kanter. It still seems unlikely, based on the history of rookie scale extensions, that the Jazz or any team would strike a deal with a player who doesn’t seem to have superstar potential, but Burks is on an upward arc, and Utah appears eager to keep him from free agency if it’s feasible. Other teams will surely be watching how these negotiations play out to gauge whether they, too, should consider granting rookie scale extensions to a wider range of eligible players.
Eastern Notes: Van Gundy, Mirotic, Sixers
Pistons owner Tom Gores expressed a desire for more synergy between the front office and the coaching staff during his first meeting with Stan Van Gundy this spring, and that was “music to my ears,” Van Gundy tells TNT’s David Aldridge for his Morning Tip column on NBA.com. Van Gundy asserts that his dual executive/coaching role is as aligned with the owner’s vision as it is with his. It’ll be a while before we know whether Gores and Van Gundy had the right idea to consolidate authority, but while we wait on the early returns, there’s more on the Pistons amid the latest from the Eastern Conference:
- Nikola Mirotic thought he’d keep playing in Spain until at least 2015 until the Bulls pushed for buyout talks with Real Madrid this spring, as Shams Charania of RealGM details.
- The Pistons have discussed the idea of retaining the D-League rights to Josh Bostic and Lorenzo Brown with their respective agents, GM Jeff Bower says, according to MLive’s David Mayo. Detroit can do so with up to four of its preseason cuts.
- Michael Carter-Williams told reporters today that the original prognosis when he had shoulder surgery in early May was for him to miss six to nine months, which conflicts with the two-to-four month timetable the Sixers released at that point, notes Tom Moore of Calkins Media (Twitter links). The reigning Rookie of the Year has yet to play in the preseason this month, though Carter-Williams added that he’s ahead of that six-to-nine month schedule.
- Vitor Faverani will miss six to eight weeks after today’s left knee surgery, perhaps endangering his place on a Celtics roster on which he has one of 16 fully guaranteed contracts, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com.
- Tom Thibodeau will make close to $4.4MM a year through 2016/17, but amid persistent rumors about his future and with the going rate for coaches on the rise, the Bulls should grant him an extension that’s more reflective of his value, opines Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Heat Waive Chris Johnson, Reggie Williams
The Heat have waived the non-guaranteed contracts of Chris Johnson and Reggie Williams, the team announced. The moves take Miami’s roster down to 18 players, with three players still to be shed before the deadline to set opening-night rosters two weeks from today.
Johnson, not to be confused with the Sixers swingman of the same name, was bidding to return to the NBA after spending the 2013/14 with Zhejiang Guangsha of China. The 29-year-old center from LSU went scoreless in his only preseason appearance this month for the Heat. Williams spent much of last season in the D-League as well as with the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippines, though he did ink a pair of 10-day contracts with the Thunder. The Heat didn’t put Williams on the floor in any of the three preseason games they played while the 28-year-old swingman was on the roster.
The Heat still have much to decide before the regular season, with only 11 players under guaranteed contracts. Shannon Brown, Andre Dawkins and Shawn Jones, all of whom have non-guaranteed deals, are trying to beat out Khem Birch, James Ennis, Justin Hamilton and Tyler Johnson, who have partial guarantees.
Wizards Plan Extension For Bradley Beal In 2015
Bradley Beal won’t be eligible for an extension to his rookie scale contract until July, but the Wizards are already planning to come to terms with him next offseason, and his latest injury hasn’t given the team pause, sources tell J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. Beal is likely out six to eight weeks with a broken wrist, but it remains a fait accompli that the team will pick up his approximately $5.695MM rookie scale team option for 2015/16 by the deadline at the end of the month, Michael writes.
Beal played in only 56 games as a rookie thanks to a leg injury and was on a minutes limit last year because of another injury to the same leg, as Michael notes, but his history of ailments apparently isn’t a concern to GM Ernie Grunfeld and his staff. A quick extension for Beal would follow the team’s path with backcourt mate John Wall, to whom the team committed a five-year maximum-salary deal in 2013 despite the fact that to that point he’d missed at least 13 games in two of his three seasons in the NBA. The extension made Wall the team’s Designated Player, meaning the Wizards can grant an extension of no more than four years to Beal as long as Wall remains on the roster.
It’s conceivable that Beal will be worth the maximum salary, as Michael opines, but it remains unknown whether the team wants to jump into a max deal with the Mark Bartelstein client just as it did with Wall. The maximum salary is tied to the salary cap, and it’s unclear just how high the salary cap will spike for the summer of 2016, when an extension for Beal would kick in. The league’s new $24 billion TV deal also takes effect that summer, but while some projections have the cap surging as high as $80MM, it’s not yet known if the league will phase in more gradual increases, and if so, how the league would structure those incremental rises. Waiting until Beal hits restricted free agency in the summer of 2016 would give both sides the ability to see where the max and the cap are situated before committing to a deal. The Wizards have only about $29MM on the books for 2016/17, but locking themselves into a max extension for Beal might make it difficult for the team to chase free agent target Kevin Durant in the summer of 2016.
Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Anthony, Karasev
The Raptors are strong favorites to repeat as Atlantic Division champs, as Hoops Rumors readers asserted last month, a feat that would be a first in franchise history. It’s easy for forget that a year ago, the team was on the verge of a tear-down as new GM Masai Ujiri was unsure about just what he had on the roster. The Raptors didn’t make any superstar additions in between now and then, and their sudden success story is a model that many other front offices would certainly like to duplicate. While we wait to see if Toronto can keep it up, here’s more on the Raptors and their rivals in the Atlantic Division:
- The Raptors aren’t ready to commit to any of the three players seemingly competing for the final spot on the team’s regular season roster, coach Dwane Casey said, as Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun details. “We’re not in a hurry whatsoever,” Casey said. “All three men have done an excellent job in practice. Will Cherry is as tough a little competitor as you can find. Jordan Hamilton is a great scorer and really fighting on the defensive end and Greg Stiemsma is a solid, solid big man, veteran big man who has done some great things in the post. It may go down to the wire, the last day of camp because those guys have deserved it.”
- Joel Anthony certainly had plenty of financial incentive when he opted into his $3.8MM salary this season, but he maintains that money wasn’t his primary motivation to stick with the Celtics, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald notes. “It was about wanting to get an opportunity to come into camp and get a chance to prove myself and get on the court,” Anthony said. “This was the best opportunity I had. I don’t know what would have happened in free agency or whatnot, but I just felt that coming back to the team after being here the last three months and knowing the coaches and knowing the players and everything like that, this was what was best for me. It just seemed like a better situation for me to come back here.”
- The Nets had the chance to acquire a pair of second-round picks in this summer’s three-team trade with the Cavs and Celtics, but they insisted that they receive Sergey Karasev instead, NetsDaily’s Robert Windrem tweets.
Following Specific Players On Hoops Rumors
We’re midway through the preseason, and opening night is just two weeks and a day away. In addition to methods of keeping track of your favorite teams as they make their final offseason moves, Hoops Rumors also provides ways to easily follow the latest on all of your favorite players. If you want to stay up to date on Ray Allen‘s continued free agency, you can find Allen’s page right here. For intel on where trade candidate Rajon Rondo might end up, go here. Updates on extension talks between Klay Thompson and the Warriors are found on this page.
Every player we’ve written about has his own rumors page. You can find any player by using our search box (located in the right sidebar); by clicking his tag at the bottom of a post in which he’s discussed; or, by simply typing his name in your address bar after hoopsrumors.com, substituting dashes for spaces. For example, Allen’s page is hoopsrumors.com/ray-allen.
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Rockets To Part Ways With Robert Covington
3:46pm: Charania clarifies in a full story that the Rockets continue to listen to trade proposals from other teams about Covington. Still, the team has decided to cut ties with him one way or another, Charania explains.
2:50pm: The Rockets will waive small forward Robert Covington, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Other teams around the league have expressed interest in trading for the one-year veteran, but Houston is pushing ahead with its plan to simply release him, according to Charania. The 23-year-old had a $150K partial guarantee on his contract, so that money will remain on Houston’s books for the season unless another team submits a waiver claim. The move will leave the Rockets at 19 players, one shy of the preseason roster limit.
Covington spent the lion’s share of last season with Houston’s D-League affiliate, even though he was on the team’s NBA roster all year. He didn’t make his regular season debut for the Rockets until January 18th, and he saw just 34 total minutes all season, spread over seven games. He spent enough time in the D-League to earn an All-Star nod on that circuit, and averaged 23.2 points and 9.2 rebounds in 34.1 minutes per game across 42 D-League appearances.
Houston still faces a roster logjam with 15 fully guaranteed contracts, partial guarantees to Tarik Black and Akil Mitchell, and a non-guaranteed contract with starting point guard Patrick Beverley. Last week, I examined the tough decisions ahead for GM Daryl Morey.
Jazz Waive Kevin Murphy, Dee Bost
The Jazz have waived swingman Kevin Murphy and point guard Dee Bost, the team announced. The moves mean Utah will be stuck with $130K of dead money on its cap this season unless another team claims one of the players off waivers, since Bost and Murphy had identical $65K partial guarantees on the deals they signed this summer. Their departures leave the Jazz with 17 players on their roster.
Murphy, 24, appeared for five minutes in Tuesday’s preseason opener against the Blazers, scoring four points, but that’s the only action that either has seen in the team’s two exhibition games so far. It was Murphy’s second stint with Utah, which drafted him 47th overall in 2012 and gave him brief regular season playing time in his rookie season before shipping him to the Warriors in a three-team trade during the summer of 2013. Golden State waived him shortly thereafter, and he spent last season playing in France and for the Blazers D-League affiliate.
Bost, who turns 25 on Sunday, also has a Blazers connection, having spent training camp with Portland last autumn. Bost has made stops in Venezuela and Montenegro, and he, like Murphy, spent time last year with Portland’s D-League affiliate, the Idaho Stampede, who’ve switched their one-to-one affiliation to the Jazz for this season. The Jazz signed both with the idea that they’d end up playing for Idaho again this year, tweets Jody Genessy of the Deseret News, so it seems likely that Utah will retain the D-League rights to the pair.
The Jazz have 13 fully guaranteed contracts, plus two remaining partial guarantees on the books with Toure’ Murry and Jack Cooley. Brock Motum and veteran Dahntay Jones are without guaranteed salary.