Spurs Work Out Fuquan Edwin
Undrafted former Seton Hall swingman Fuquan Edwin is auditioning for the Spurs today and Tuesday, a source tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link). It’s the second time that the first-year pro will have shown off for the Spurs, who also worked him out prior to the draft.
Edwin suffered a regression this past season as a senior for the Pirates, as his scoring, rebounding and three-point shooting were all off from the marks he put up as a junior. He averaged 15.5 points and 4.7 rebounds and made 37.5% of his three-point attempts in 31.3 minutes per game the past two years combined for Seton Hall. He also saw 7.3 MPG for the Thunder in summer league this year.
Edwin joins a lengthy list of players reportedly on San Antonio’s radar. Michael Beasley, Hakim Warrick and Jamaal Franklin are among the veterans who’ve also apparently worked out for the Spurs, so Edwin seemingly faces long odds of making the training camp roster, much less remaining on the team through opening night. The Spurs have 14 fully guaranteed deals and three partially guaranteed arrangements.
Celtics Notes: Rondo, Smart, Young, Playoffs
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge hasn’t been shy about batting down trade rumors surrounding Rajon Rondo, but the chatter won’t go away. The conflicting narratives might have root in Ainge’s own uncertainty about the future of his point guard, as he expressed in a public appearance Sunday, according to Bill Doyle of the Telegram & Gazette.
“The possibility of a trade is not out of the question,” Ainge said about Rondo. “Nobody is untradeable, but I don’t see that happening.”
Doyle rounds up more from Ainge’s Q&A with fans at a church in Worcester, Mass., and his entire piece is worth a read for Celtics diehards. We’ll round up a few of the highlights here:
- Ainge pointed to mutual interest in a continued relationship between the Celtics and Rondo when asked whether he would trade the All-Star, Doyle notes. “The truthful answer is I really don’t know,” Ainge said. “I have no intention. I’m not trying to trade Rondo, but because he’s a free agent this summer, he assured me that he wants to stay in Boston. We’d love to keep him in Boston.”
- Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck first made use of the word “fireworks” in reference to the team’s offseason plans, but Ainge picked up the torch and still isn’t ruling out a flashy move even as he expressed contentment with his pair of first-round picks from June, as Doyle chronicles. “It wasn’t the fireworks that we tried,” Ainge said, “and we continue to try to do, but we’re excited about Marcus [Smart] and his future and James Young and his future. We need to be more patient with James, especially out of the gate. I think Marcus is more physically ready to play at our level than James is today, but we hope for fast progress from James. I felt like we acquired some assets. We didn’t panic and do anything that was silly.”
- Ainge admits a championship is out of reach this season, and while he was reluctant to set goals, he doesn’t think the playoffs are out of the question, Doyle writes.
DeAndre Liggins To Join Clippers For Camp?
SEPTEMBER 20TH, 12:38pm: An NBA executive has told Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link), that Liggins will not be with the Clippers in training camp, contrary to earlier reports.
SEPTEMBER 2ND, 4:01pm: Three-year NBA veteran DeAndre Liggins will sign a deal for training camp with the Clippers, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter). That means he’ll almost certainly be on a non-guaranteed contract for the minimum salary, allowing the team to continue to chase veteran targets with guaranteed money.
Liggins saw just one minute of playing time in the NBA last season while he was on a pair of 10-day deals with the Heat, and he didn’t see much more action in earlier stints with the Thunder and Magic after Orlando drafted him 53rd overall in 2011. The 26-year-old swingman has played primarily in the D-League, earning an All-Star selection on that circuit this past season. The Clippers caught a look at him while he played for their summer league team in July, when he averaged 7.2 points in 23.2 minutes per contest. He also suited up for the Pistons summer league squad this year.
The addition of the Henry Thomas client gives the team deals with 12 players, though the Clippers are reportedly close to agreements with Chris Douglas-Roberts and Hedo Turkoglu. Reports have also indicated that the club has interest in Ray Allen and Ekpe Udoh.
Spurs Open To Sign-And-Trade Of Aron Baynes
FRIDAY, 10:37am: Yao Ming’s Shanghai Sharks are among the teams in China looking to sign Baynes away from San Antonio, sources tell ESPN.com’s Marc Stein (on Twitter). Baynes, meanwhile, is still in the process of weighing all his options (link). The Spurs would still retain his NBA rights if he chose to play abroad.
MONDAY, 11:46am: The Spurs are open to a sign-and-trade deal that would send center Aron Baynes elsewhere, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The 27-year-old is the only remaining unsigned restricted free agent in the league aside from Eric Bledsoe, as our Free Agent Tracker shows.
Reports over the last month have indicated that Baynes and the Spurs have at least some level of mutual interest in an arrangement that would keep him in San Antonio, even as Baynes has cast his eyes toward signing in Europe while the Spurs have considered other players. San Antonio has 14 fully guaranteed pacts and is carrying Bryce Cotton, Josh Davis and JaMychal Green, each of whom has a nominal guarantee on his deal. The Spurs have carried fewer than 15 players on their opening-night roster in each of the past three seasons, as I noted earlier, so adding Baynes to the mix would leave them poised to go against their recent history. Reports have also linked San Antonio to Ray Allen, Julyan Stone, Ryan Hollins and others in recent weeks.
San Antonio is not without financial flexibility, possessing both its $5.305MM mid-level exception and $2.077MM biannual exception. The Spurs could use part of either to ink Baynes and send him out in a sign-and-trade, perhaps for non-guaranteed salary in return.
Nets Void Hamady Ndiaye’s Deal
FRIDAY, 9:40am: The Nets announced that they have voiced Ndiaye’s deal. The Nets’ roster now stands at 16 players.
As we learned yesterday, the Rutgers product’s deal was non-guaranteed until October 25th, so the Nets aren’t on the hook for anything. Had Ndiaye remained with the club at that point, his contract would have been guaranteed for $25K.
WEDNESDAY, 10:31am: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
9:44am: The Nets and center Hamady Ndiaye have agreed to a deal for training camp, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). It’ll have to be a minimum-salary contract for the 7’0″ 27-year-old, since that’s all the Nets can give, though it’s unclear whether he’s receiving any guaranteed money.
Ndiaye spent part of three seasons with the Wizards and Kings, having made Sacramento’s opening night roster as a non-guaranteed training camp invitee last season. The Kings waived him in January just before his contract would have become guaranteed for the entire season. The Pinnacle Management Corp. client reportedly worked out for the Sixers shortly thereafter, but he wound up joining Philadelphia’s D-League team instead. He spent the last couple of weeks competing for his native Senegal in the FIBA World Cup, averaging 5.7 points and 4.0 rebounds in nearly 17 minutes a game.
The Nets have been carrying only 13 fully guaranteed deals, but they have a partially guaranteed arrangement with 60th overall pick Cory Jefferson, and Jorge Gutierrez‘s deal becomes partially guaranteed if he sticks with the club past September 26th. Ndiaye would probably have to outplay Jefferson, another big man, to earn a spot for the regular season.
Wizards Sign Damion James
SEPTEMBER 29TH: The deal is official, the team announced.
SEPTEMBER 18TH: The Wizards have signed small forward Damion James, according to the RealGM transactions log, though the team has yet to make an official announcement. J. Michael of CSNWashington.com reported earlier this week that an agreement was close. It’s almost certainly for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Wizards can give, though it’s unclear whether it involves any guaranteed salary.
It’s the third straight September that James has signed a new deal, and the former 24th overall pick is surely hoping for better luck this time after he failed to make it to opening night on non-guaranteed contracts with the Hawks and Nuggets. The Mark Bartelstein client has nonetheless found his way onto NBA rosters in each of the past two seasons via 10-day contracts, and the Spurs signed him for the final few days of the regular season and the playoffs this spring, though he failed to appear in a postseason game.
Washington has been carrying 13 guaranteed deals, and the team’s contract with Glen Rice Jr. is partially guaranteed, so that seemingly sets up a battle between James and Xavier Silas, both wing players, for the team’s 15th regular season roster spot. Still, it would be somewhat surprising to see the Wizards leave four open spots beneath the 20-man preseason roster limit, and Michael indicated in his report this week that there’s a strong chance the Wizards won’t carry 15 players on opening night.
Grizzlies Sign Kalin Lucas To Camp Deal
SEPTEMBER 25TH: The deal is official, the team announced.
SEPTEMBER 18TH: The signing has taken place, according to the RealGM transactions log, though the team has yet to make a formal announcement.
SEPTEMBER 16TH: The Grizzlies and former Michigan State standout Kalin Lucas have struck a deal, as the agent for Lucas tells Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia (Twitter link). Presumably the arrangement will be for camp, perhaps with a diminutive guarantee involved. The Grizzlies have a sliver of their mid-level exception left to pay a bit more than the minimum salary, but it seems unlikely they’ll make that commitment in this case.
Lucas was briefly in camp with the Bulls last autumn, but it appeared they signed him specifically so they could reach the roster threshold necessary to ink others to Exhibit 9 contracts and reduce their liability. The Bulls cut him just as camp began to avoid running the risk that he’d be injured and they’d have to keep him on the roster and pay his salary during the regular season. The Grizzlies already have at least 14 non-Exhibit 9 contracts on the books, so Lucas will likely get a legitimate shot to participate in the preseason with Memphis.
The 25-year-old point guard averaged 8.3 points and 1.8 assists in 15.5 minutes per game with the Grizzlies summer league team in July, and he spent much of last season with the D-League’s Iowa Energy. Otherwise, he’s played overseas, with stops in Greece and Turkey, since going undrafted in 2011.
Bulls Reach Deal With E’Twaun Moore
THURSDAY, 12:17pm: The Bulls officially announced the signing.
TUESDAY, 1:25pm: Moore’s deal is for two years, and his salary is partially guaranteed for 50% of its value for the coming season, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. The partial guarantee might signal that the team is still leaving the door open to the possibility that free agent target Ray Allen might choose to come to Chicago, but that’s just my speculation.
12:16pm: The Bulls have signed E’Twaun Moore, according to Moore’s Priority Sports agency (Twitter link). Chicago has yet to confirm the signing with an official announcement, but a report from last month indicated that the move was expected. The terms of the deal aren’t immediately clear, but it almost certainly won’t be for any more than the minimum salary, since the Bulls are among the teams limited to that amount.
Moore had a deal to play in Italy earlier this summer, but he hesitated to sign a contract when a pair of NBA teams emerged with interest. The Cavs appeared to be one of them, but the Mark Bartelstein client from suburban Chicago will instead play as close to home as possible. Moore expressed interest this spring in returning to the Magic, but they didn’t appear to reciprocate that desire too strongly and made him an unrestricted free agent after declining to tender a qualifying offer at the start of the offseason.
The 25-year-old combo guard was a part of the rotation during his two seasons in Orlando after he saw sparing minutes as a rookie with the Celtics. Moore averaged 7.1 points and shot 34.6% from three-point territory in 20.7 minutes per game in two years with the Magic.
Moore’s production suggests he’ll warrant a full guarantee, though it’s not clear whether the Bulls committed that to him. Chicago had been carrying 12 players, all of whom have guaranteed pacts. The Bulls appeared to have interest in Denzel Bowles, though the team would likely see him as an addition for camp and nothing more. Chicago hasn’t had more than 13 men on the roster for opening night in any of the past three seasons.
Brady Heslip To Join Wolves For Camp
SEPTEMBER 18th: The Wolves confirmed Heslip’s deal via Twitter.
AUGUST 27th: Undrafted point guard Brady Heslip and the Wolves have agreed on a deal that will bring him to camp, reports Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Wolfson noted last week that the 24-year-old from Baylor had impressed the club during his stint on the summer league Wolves. It’s not immediately clear whether the arrangement involves any sort of partial guarantee, as is common with such contracts at this point in the process, but it’s probably for the minimum salary.
The 6’2″ Heslip wasn’t a highly regarded draft prospect, as neither Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress nor Chad Ford of ESPN.com had him among their rankings. He nonetheless received plenty of exposure in college, where he played in the NCAA tournament during two of his three seasons at Baylor, and he made his mark as a premiere long-range shooter. He nailed 46.5% of his three-pointers on 6.7 such attempts per game last season, and he was a double-figure scorer, averaging 11.7 points in 27.4 minutes per game. Heslip nailed seven of the 10 three-pointers he took in summer league, though that’s a small sample size, of course.
It’d be difficult for Heslip to make it to opening night as the Wolves roster stands now, with 15 players on guaranteed deals. Still, the team reportedly continues to try to unload J.J. Barea, so perhaps coach/executive Flip Saunders can see Heslip taking Barea’s backcourt spot. The Wolves apparently had recent talks with power forward Dante Cunningham, too, so much is unsettled.
Gustavo Ayon Mulls Offers From Spurs, China
THURSDAY, 7:40am: FC Barecelona exec Joan Creus tells Spanish journalist Alex Gozalbo (translation via Sportando on Twitter) that Ayon is not tied to the club anymore and he is free to sign wherever he wants. It’s not immediately clear whether Ayon has paid the tab on his own buyout as he said he would do yesterday or if they have simply allowed him to break his contract.
Despite the offers from the Spurs and China, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia writes that Ayon is likely to sign a three-year pact with Real Madrid. The veteran and Real Madrid shook hands on a deal before FC Barcelona interfered.
WEDNESDAY, 10:57pm: Ayon has told FC Barcelona that he’s willing to foot the bill for the buyout himself, according to Javier Maestro of Encestando, who adds that Real Madrid’s three-year offer is still on the table. The Spurs are offering less than $1MM, while Shandong’s offer is adequate, Maestro also reports (Twitter links; translation via HoopsHype).
1:10pm: The Spurs and Shandong of China have made formal offers to Gustavo Ayon, who’s debating between them and playing in Europe this season, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter links). Ayon reportedly had a deal in place with Real Madrid, but Spanish rival FC Barcelona holds his European rights, and their insistence on a buyout worth roughly $376K has thrown a wrench in those plans.
The Spurs have consistently shown interest in Ayon for the past couple of weeks, with an initial report having surfaced late last month and another dispatch from this weekend that indicated that San Antonio was still in the mix. Ayon is one of several players the team is considering for its final regular season roster spot, including Michael Beasley, who’s reportedly working out for Spurs officials in San Antonio this week. The Spurs have Bryce Cotton, Josh Davis and JaMychal Green on deals with nominal partial guarantees as well as 14 fully guaranteed pacts.
Ayon is coming off a three-year, $4.5MM contract he signed with New Orleans shortly after the lockout. He wound up heading to the Magic and Bucks before spending last season with the Hawks, who made him an unrestricted free agent this summer when they declined to tender a qualifying offer. Atlanta hasn’t appeared interested in bringing him back, with the Spurs seemingly the only NBA club in pursuit.