Wolves, Ricky Rubio Progress Toward Extension
Ricky Rubio and Wolves owner Glen Taylor had several phone conversations in the past week, and each has expressed intention to get a deal done on a rookie scale extension, reports Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Any such pact is expected to be for four years, Walters writes, which suggests that a five-year deal that would make Rubio the team’s Designated Player is unlikely. Agent Dan Fegan has reportedly asked for a five-year max deal, but the Wolves are willing to wait until next summer, when Rubio would be a restricted free agent, if his camp won’t accept four years, according to Walters. The sides have until October 31st to ink an extension.
The Wolves didn’t have serious interest in Eric Bledsoe, Walters also hears, which conflicts with rumors from earlier this month suggesting that the team made a max offer to the Suns point guard while he lingered in restricted free agency. The necessity for a deal with Bledsoe to take place as part of a sign-and-trade made it too complicated for the Wolves to pursue, as Walters writes, adding that Bledsoe nonetheless had interest in Minnesota depending on what happened with Rubio.
Walters says an extension for Rubio “could” be worth $11MM annually, which would line up with the figures the team is seeking in such a deal. The Wolves nonetheless have the capacity, if not the willingness, to go much higher than that in a four-year offer, with salaries likely starting at around $15MM, though the precise maximum won’t be set until next July.
It’s debatable whether Rubio is worth max money, as Charlie Adams of Hoops Rumors wrote when he examined Rubio as an extension candidate earlier in the offseason, but perhaps the ultimate stumbling block will come down to the length of the deal, just as it did with Kevin Love. Former Wolves GM David Kahn balked at a five-year deal for Love in 2012 so that the team could go to that length with Rubio. However, it’s conceivable that current president of basketball operations Flip Saunders wants to reserve the Designated Player bullet for the newly acquired Andrew Wiggins, who’ll become extension-eligible three years from now. If the Wolves signed Rubio to a five-year extension, they couldn’t do so with anyone else they have on a rookie scale contract until Rubio’s would-be extension expired, or until they traded Rubio.
Stan Van Gundy On Monroe, Smith, Dual Role
Stan Van Gundy has had quite an introduction to handling basketball operations for a team in his first offseason as coach/executive for the Pistons. He was involved in tough negotiations with Greg Monroe, who ultimately turned down a four-year offer better than what the Pistons gave Josh Smith a year ago to sign his qualifying offer, which gives him the chance to hit unrestricted free agency next year. Van Gundy acknowledged in a chat with Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News that Monroe had serious reservations about a long-term future with the Pistons, and he had plenty more to say about the former seventh overall pick as well as other issues concerning the team. Goodwill’s entire interview is worth a read, especially for Pistons fans, but we’ll share a few of the highlights here:
On Smith:
“Last year wasn’t indicative of what he’s capable of as a basketball player. He was an incredibly tough guy to play against [when I coached against him]. At both ends, he gave us fits. He’s one of the most versatile frontline guys in the whole league. He has potential to be a great two-way player and you didn’t really see that last year, in all honesty. I think Josh would agree with that.”
On whether he’ll delegate his duties as front office chief during the regular season:
“I don’t know I ever take [that hat] off. [GM] Jeff [Bower] and I sort of worked out how we’ll communicate with that stuff, and [Palace of Auburn Hills president] Dennis [Mannion] on the other side. Jeff and I, when I’m in town, will meet at 7:30 before the coaches meetings every day, just to keep a handle on what’s going on.”
On whether he was ever close to a long-term deal with Monroe:
“That I can’t answer. That’s more to Greg, was he close to an agreement? There came a point where his agent [David Falk] said, ‘Look, we don’t want to get into a long back and forth. Give us your best offer.’ We sat and talked about it and outlined some things we wanted to accomplish with the offer. When I say ‘we,’ that was ownership involved. It was a well-thought-out, solid offer in terms of what we wanted to offer. Greg had to make a decision. I’m being honest. I was disappointed to a degree.”
On how Monroe’s decision to accept the qualifying offer has affected their relationship:
“His attitude has been great. At least I haven’t noticed it from my point. Business is business. I’ve got no hard feelings. I hope he doesn’t. I’ve seen no sign of a rift. He’s come in and worked hard, he’s been receptive to me and our coaching staff. He’s fun to be with. It changes strategy with where we go next offseason but for this season, it doesn’t change anything.”
Southwest Notes: Grizzlies, Rockets, Baynes
The absence of Nick Calathes for the first 13 games because of his suspension will leave the Grizzlies thin at the point, and there’s a decent chance it’ll have an effect on how many players the team carries out of camp, coach Dave Joerger admits. Joerger shared his thoughts in a subscription-only Q&A with Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal.
“We might need an insurance policy,” Joerger said. “But you’ve got some guys that come in and one area affects the other because we have 14 spots [filled]. We can only keep one. If one guy wows you in an area, then you’re dealing with risk/reward. You might be kind of naked with two point guards. Can Courtney [Lee] swing over there? I don’t know. Being at the [luxury] tax and having 14 roster spots, it’ll be interesting.”
Here’s more from around the Southwest Division:
- The Rockets granted Akil Mitchell a partial guarantee worth $150K on his deal, which runs two seasons at the minimum salary, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports. The guarantee, fairly sizable for a player of his caliber, might be an enticement for Mitchell to end up playing for the team’s D-League affiliate, Pincus speculates.
- John Holland has a $20K partial guarantee on his minimum-salary contract with the Spurs, which runs for two seasons, Pincus reports (Twitter link).
- In the same tweet, Pincus confirms his earlier report that the Spurs used part of their $5.035MM mid-level exception rather than Early Bird rights to sign Aron Baynes. That’s even though he’ll make precisely $2.077MM, the amount of the biannual exception, on his one-year deal. It’s curious, since using Early Bird rights would have allowed the Spurs to preserve their mid-level, and thus greater flexibility for signing free agent target Ray Allen or someone else, so perhaps there are more details at play that have yet to be reported.
- Mavs owner Mark Cuban believes his team has been the beneficiary of the unwillingness of other NBA clubs to show patience with young talent that’s yet to blossom, as he told reporters, including Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. “I think one of the things we’ve been really good at is finding what I call fallen angels, guys who other teams had a lot of aspirations for but for whatever reason couldn’t fit,” Cuban said. “Al [Al-Farouq Aminu] was the first call I made when free agency hit. These are guys that I think, even though they don’t have big names and not everybody knows who they are, are going to have big impacts, and I think that’s one way you get younger.”
Suns Sign Barron, Prather
SEPTEMBER 27TH, 11:34am: The signings are official, the team has announced.
SEPTEMBER 25TH, 11:05pm: The signings have taken place, according to the RealGM transactions log.
AUGUST 26TH, 8:21am: The Suns have agreed to non-guaranteed deals with eight-year NBA veteran Earl Barron and undrafted rookie Casey Prather that will allow the pair to join the team for camp, reports Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. They’re almost certainly on minimum-salary arrangements in spite of Phoenix’s ample cap flexibility.
The deal is Barron’s first in the NBA after he signed with the Knicks for the final game of the regular season and the playoffs in 2013. He didn’t see any postseason action that year, appearing in just that lone regular season game, and while the Knicks were reportedly split on bringing him back for last year’s camp, they decided against it, and he spent the season playing in China and Lebanon instead.
Prather made his first contact with the Suns through a predraft workout, though he spent summer league with the Hawks. The small forward from Florida entered the draft as the 83rd-best prospect in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and No. 95 on Chad Ford’s ESPN.com board after a breakout senior season with the Gators. His 13.8 points in 27.9 minutes per game represented the first double-digit scoring average of his college career.
Barron and Prather will join 13 other Suns, all of whom have guaranteed deals, as our roster counts show. That doesn’t include Eric Bledsoe or second-round pick Alec Brown, though the Suns could make room for them if they cut Barron, Prather or both before opening night.
Celtics Cut, Agree To Re-Sign Christian Watford
11:20pm: The release has taken place, according to the RealGM transactions log, but Watford and the team have agreed on a new deal that he would sign Monday, presuming he clears waivers, as Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). It’s an odd turn of events, particularly since the injury to Rajon Rondo would suggest the team would prioritize point guards rather than a big man like Watford. Boston hasn’t publicly acknowledged waiving Watford, just as the team never formally announced that he’d signed, making the situation even more strange. In any case, adding Watford again would force the C’s to cut ties with two other players before they can make their deal with Turner official.
3:39pm: The Celtics are waiving power forward Christian Watford, a source tells Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com (Twitter link). Forsberg’s tweet indicates the release has already taken place, but there’s been no formal announcement of such a move. Boston never officially announced his signing, either, but reports indicated that he put pen to paper last month. The C’s had to remove one player from their roster following Thursday’s Keith Bogans trade and the releases of Chris Johnson and Chris Babb, which left them with 21 contracts, one over the preseason limit.
Watford didn’t last long enough with Boston to suit up for the team, having spent summer league with the Pistons and Warriors instead. He played summer league with the Pacers and Mavs last year, but that’s been the extent of his NBA experience since he went undrafted out of Indiana University in June 2013. Watford, now 23, spent this past season playing with Hapoel Eilat in Israel, averaging 9.6 points and 5.2 rebounds in 26.1 minutes per game.
The Celtics still must clear one more player before they can turn their agreement with Evan Turner into an official contract. Tim Frazier, John Lucas III, Rodney McGruder and Malcolm Thomas are all on non-guaranteed deals, so it’s most likely that one of them will be cut.
Wizards Sign David Stockton For Camp
MONDAY, 9:22am: The deal is official, the team announced.
FRIDAY, 8:00pm: The signing has occurred, as is shown in the RealGM transactions log.
THURSDAY, 3:05pm: David Stockton is planning to sign a deal to join the Wizards for training camp, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Washington is limited to giving out only the minimum salary to the son of Hall-of-Famer John Stockton, though there’s a chance that his deal will include a nominal partial guarantee.
The Wizards had apparently been set to audition the younger Stockton earlier this week, and he’d also reportedly earned workouts with the Thunder and Jazz. The 5’11” guard went undrafted out of Gonzaga this past June, though he latched on with the Suns for summer league, scoring a total of six points in less than 19 minutes over two games. He put up 7.4 points and 4.2 assists in 27.8 minutes per game as a senior this past season.
Washington had been carrying 19 players, including 13 on fully guaranteed deals and a partially guaranteed pact with Glen Rice Jr. Stockton is set to become the lone player without NBA experience in camp with the Wizards, adding to the challenge of making it to opening night.
Wizards Sign Rasual Butler For Camp
SEPTEMBER 29TH: The deal is official, the team announced.
SEPTEMBER 26TH, 7:47pm: The signing has occurred, according to the RealGM transactions log.
SEPTEMBER 22ND, 3:42pm: The Wizards and Rasual Butler have struck agreement on a non-guaranteed deal, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). It’s almost certainly for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Wizards can give.
The 35-year-old veteran of 11 NBA seasons finds himself in a situation similar to a year ago, when he joined the Pacers on a non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary. He stuck with the team for the entire season, so the Joel Bell client surely hopes the narrative continues along that course. Butler didn’t see much playing time with the Pacers, averaging 7.6 minutes in 50 regular season games, but he made it into 11 of Indiana’s 19 playoff games, averaging 6.4 minutes per postseason appearance. Helping him find a place on the floor was his three-point stroke. He shot 41.9% from behind the arc during the regular season and 41.7% during the playoffs.
Washington appeared to be auditioning Jamaal Franklin and Vander Blue, as we passed along earlier, so it looks like the Wizards are actively working toward their final additions for camp. They added Xavier Silas and Damion James last week to a roster than includes 13 fully guaranteed contracts and Glen Rice Jr. on a partially guaranteed deal.
Wizards Sign Vander Blue For Camp
MONDAY, 9:22am: The deal is official, the team announced.
FRIDAY, 7:44pm: The signing has occurred, as the RealGM transactions log indicates.
WEDNESDAY, 10:27am: The Wizards have struck a deal to bring shooting guard Vander Blue to training camp, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Washington is limited to giving out only the minimum salary, but it’s unclear if there’s any guaranteed money involved for the Makhtar N’Diaye client.
Blue, 22, reportedly worked out earlier this week along with Jamaal Franklin at the Verizon Center, the home court of the Wizards, in what appeared to be an audition for the team. It seems that Blue showed enough to join an NBA club for camp for the second consecutive fall after he went undrafted out of Marquette last year. He failed to make it to opening night with the Sixers this past season, but he joined the Celtics in January on a 10-day contract and saw brief action in three games. It was an otherwise whirlwind season for the 6’4″ Blue, who played in Israel and with three different D-League teams. He was also part of the Spurs summer league team this year.
It’s been an active last couple of weeks for the Wizards, who’ve come to terms with Xavier Silas, Damion James, Rasual Butler and Daniel Orton, adding to a roster that already included 14 fully guaranteed deals and a partially guaranteed contract for Glen Rice Jr. Silas and James appear to be on the inside track to earn a spot for the regular season, though there’s some doubt that the team will carry a full 15-man roster come opening night. In any case, the addition of Blue means there’s still room for one more camp invitee beneath the preseason roster limit of 20 players, whether it’s Franklin or David Stockton, who’s also reportedly worked out for the team, or someone else.
Pelicans Sign Vernon Macklin For Camp
SEPTEMBER 26TH, 5:12pm: The signing is official, New Orleans announced courtesy of a press release.
SEPTEMBER 12TH, 10:13am: Macklin signed his deal this week, just as new teammates Dionte Christmas and Kevin Jones did, according to the RealGM transactions log, though the Pelicans haven’t made any formal announcement.
SEPTEMBER 8TH, 8:06am: Power forward Vernon Macklin will join the Pelicans for camp on a non-guaranteed contract, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Macklin has played in the D-League, the Philippines, Turkey and China after a 23-game stint with the Pistons in 2011/12.
The 27-year-old spent summer league with the Magic this year, averaging 5.4 points and 3.6 rebounds in 15.6 minutes per contest. He saw just 5.9 minutes per game during his regular season time with Detroit, which drafted him 52nd overall in 2011. It appeared as though he drew interest from multiple NBA teams after the Pistons allowed him to hit unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2012, but there’s otherwise been little chatter about him formally rejoining the NBA until now.
New Orleans offers Macklin a decent shot to make the opening-night roster, since the Pelicans only have 12 fully guaranteed contracts. The 6’10” big man would nonetheless have to beat out Luke Babbitt, Darius Miller, Patric Young or some combination of the three, all of whom have partial guarantees.
Pelicans Sign Kevin Jones For Camp
SEPTEMBER 26TH, 5:06pm: The deal is official, the team announced in a press release.
SEPTEMBER 12TH, 10:10am: The Pelicans and Jones have signed the deal, as the RealGM transactions log shows. The team hasn’t made an official announcement just yet, however.
9:34am: It’ll indeed be a non-guaranteed contract for Jones, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.
SEPTEMBER 8TH,9:27am: Former Cavs power forward Kevin Jones will attend training camp with the Pelicans, as he tells Caleb Wygal of The (Beckley. W.Va.) Register-Herald. The precise terms of the deal are unclear, but it seems likely to be a non-guaranteed arrangement, just like the one the Pelicans reportedly gave Vernon Macklin.
An impressive performance in summer league helped put the 25-year-old back on the NBA map, as he averaged 10.0 rebounds per game for the Pacers squad, more than anyone else in the Orlando summer league. He saw slightly fewer minutes per appearance with the D-League Select Team in the Las Vegas summer league, but his rebounding production was cut in half, to 5.0 per contest. Jones averaged 3.0 points and 2.4 rebounds in 10.4 minutes per game across 32 appearances for the Cavs in 2012/13, and he split this past season between Cleveland’s D-League affiliate and the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippines.
The additions of Jones and Macklin give the Pelicans agreements with 17 players, 12 of whom have fully guaranteed deals and three of whom have partial guarantees. Jones appears to be competing directly against Macklin and Patric Young, whose contract is partially guaranteed for $55K, for one of the final regular season roster spots.