Mavs Notes: Parsons, Liz, Ledo
Mark Cuban is an outspoken critic of the league’s lenient policies toward players who take part in international competitions, and while he allowed Chandler Parsons to participate in the run up to the FIBA World Cup, he made sure Parsons knew he’d prefer him to stay home.
“Yeah, he made that clear to me,” Parsons told reporters, including Jeff Caplan of NBA.com. “He did. He’s great … He obviously told me how he felt. He told the world how he felt about his guys playing for USA Basketball. But at the same time he understood it was something that I was really passionate about and it was something that I really wanted to do. So, I was planning on making the team and playing for the team. You take a risk of getting hurt anytime you step on the floor.”
There’s more from Parsons amid the latest on the Mavs, as we detail:
- Point guard Víctor Liz told reporters, including Rafael A. Faneyte of Curiosibasket, that the Mavericks have extended him an invitation to training camp, as Rafael A. Faneyte of Curiosibasket tweets (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). It’s not entirely clear whether Liz, who spent the last couple of weeks playing for the Dominican Republic in the FIBA World Cup, has worked out a deal to accept the invitation and join the Dallas roster.
- Parsons says he believes the Mavs caught the Rockets off guard with the size of the offer sheet, worth more than $46MM over three years, that the Mavs made to him, as Caplan also notes in his piece. “Give Mark credit and my agency credit, they put up a contract that was pretty tough for them to match and put them in a tough situation to make a hard decision,” Parsons said. “They did what they thought was best for their organization.”
- Ricky Ledo is entering the last fully guaranteed season of his contract, but Scott Rafferty of Ridiculous Upside believes he’s better suited to spend much of the coming season on D-League assignment, as he did last year, than on the Mavs bench.
Nets Sign Jerome Jordan For Camp
12:33pm: The deal is official, the Nets announced via press release.
12:08pm: The Nets have struck a deal to bring former Knicks center Jerome Jordan to training camp, reports Robert Windrem of Nets Daily. The precise terms aren’t immediately clear, but it’s almost certainly for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Nets can give. Jordan has put pen to paper, and an official announcement from the team is imminent, according to Windrem.
The 7’0″ Jordan saw sparce playing time in 21 games for the Knicks in 2011/12, having since played in the D-League, the Philippines, and last season with Granarolo Bologna of Italy. He also spent the 2012 preseason with the Grizzlies. The former 44th overall pick out of Tulsa was briefly with the Rockets, who acquired him from New York as part of the Marcus Camby sign-and-trade in July 2012, but Houston waived him shortly thereafter. The Knicks appeared to have passing interest in a reunion last summer, but a deal never materialized.
The Nets have been carrying just 13 fully guaranteed contracts, as Windrem points out and as our roster counts show. So, Jordan appears to have a decent shot to make it to opening night if he can edge out Cory Jefferson, who has a partial guarantee worth $75K, and Jorge Gutierrez, whose non-guaranteed deal will become partially guaranteed for $25K if he sticks on the roster through September 26th. Agent Daniel Moldovan said in July that shooting guard Michael Jenkins would join the Nets for camp, too, but the team has yet to make that deal official.
Ryan Gomes Signs To Play In Spain
Eight-year NBA veteran Ryan Gomes has signed with Spain’s Saski Baskonia, also known as Laboral Kuxta, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The terms are unclear, but it looks like Gomes won’t head to camp with an NBA team this year, unlike last season, when he made the Thunder’s opening night roster.
Gomes remained with Oklahoma City into January, but he appeared in only five games, and the Celtics released him shortly after he went to Boston in the three-team Courtney Lee trade and right before his contract would have become fully guaranteed for the season. The former 50th overall pick out of Providence played much more extensively during his first seven seasons in the league, topping out at 13.3 points in 31.9 minutes per game for the Timberwolves in 2007/08.
The 32-year-old is returning to Europe after spending part of 2012/13 playing in Germany. Gomes will join Tornike Shengelia, who struck a deal with Baskonia in May.
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The Bulls are the most popular choice among Hoops Rumors readers who voted in a poll to identify the team not named the Cavaliers that had the most success this offseason, but reader Brent Nault believes Toronto GM Masai Ujiri and his staff deserve plaudits, too.
- How about the Raptors? They were able to re-sign their key free agents in Kyle Lowry, Greivis Vasquez, and Patrick Patterson to fairly reasonable deals. Then they went out and turned John Salmons into a much-needed offensive weapon off the bench in Lou Williams, signed the wing defender they so desperately needed in James Johnson and signed a true backup center in Greg Stiemsma. They managed to keep their playoff team from last year together while filling the few holes they had on their roster, all while maintaining substantial cap flexibility for a Kevin Durant run in 2016.
Greg Monroe recently became the most high-profile player to sign a qualifying offer since rookie scale contracts came into existence, and Matt Buys gives his take on what it means for the Pistons:
- As a Pistons fan, this feels like a decent outcome for the team. Ideally, we would have been able to get some assets for him in a sign-and-trade. The worst-case scenario would have been giving him something like $14 or $15MM a year for the next four or five years. Smart teams can find equal production — and more flexibility — from players who are far cheaper. Monroe is clearly the kind of “good, but not great” player that dumb teams waste mid-level money on because they’re scared of losing them for nothing. Thankfully, Monroe’s persistence to get out of Detroit didn’t allow the Pistons to make that mistake.
The Spurs have preserved their mid-level and biannual exceptions this summer, giving them ammunition in their pursuit of Ray Allen, as rxbrgr points out.
- One advantage the Spurs have compared to about any other club competing for Allen’s services is they still have BOTH their exceptions left — that means they can offer a LOT more than the minimum if they would so choose. So, if Allen wants to prioritize money AND winning, then maybe the Spurs are his best choice.
Check out what more readers had to say in previous editions of Hoops Rumors Featured Feedback. We appreciate everyone who adds to the dialogue at Hoops Rumors, and we look forward to seeing more responses like these from you!
Central Notes: Sanders, Bucks, Marion, Billups
Murphy’s Law governed Larry Sanders last season after the Bucks signed him to a four-year, $44MM extension, and a report this summer indicated that the team was making him available in trade talk. Still, the Bucks maintain their faith in the 25-year-old, as Milwaukee assistant GM David Morway tells HoopsHype’s David Alarcon.
“Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Larry is in our future plans,” Morway said. “We are hopeful that this year Larry gets back to being the basketball player that he was two years ago. He is a defensive presence and a game-changer on the court. So when you have his length along with Giannis [Antetokounmpo], Jabari Parker, John Henson and then Zaza Pachulia, Damien Inglis, who is very long, and if you play Khris Middleton at the two … We are a fairly long team. We’ve got good experience with O.J. Mayo, Jerryd Bayless … And we like Kendall Marshall. So we are excited for next year.”
The executive had more to say about his club, as we’ll note amid the latest from around the Central Division:
- Morway says the Bucks are “pretty much done” with their offseason moves, as he also tells Alarcon. Morway mentions the presence of 15 guaranteed contracts on the roster, though it appears as though Milwaukee only has 14. It’s likely he’s counting Marshall’s non-guaranteed deal in the guaranteed category, given the prominent role that Marshall is set to play, though that’s just my speculation.
- The Bucks had a desire to let Caron Butler play for a winner when they let him out of his contract at midseason last year, as Morway mentions in his interview with Alarcon. Butler joined the Thunder for the stretch run, and while the Pistons are far from contention, the idea that they’ll start winning sometime soon was apparently key to Butler’s decision to sign with Detroit this summer.
- Shawn Marion‘s pact with the Cavs is fully guaranteed, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), who confirms that he’s getting the minimum salary, which is all Cleveland could give him. It’s a one-year deal, as Pincus shows on the Basketball Insiders salary pages.
- The leadership of Chauncey Billups is what led the Pistons to sign him a year ago for what turned out to be his final season, but for most of his career he was the rare player who combined professionalism and All-Star talent, writes Shawn Windsor of the Detroit Free Press.
Evaluating Player Option Decisions
Declining a player option was rarely proven unwise on this summer’s market. The majority of the players who opted out to hit free agency this year wound up with new deals that will give them more this season than they would have made if they’d opted in. Still, several players who turned down their options for this coming season ended up agreeing to take less in 2014/15. In those cases, most of them signed for long-term deals that give them a total amount that’s greater than they would have made if they’d picked up their options, even though that money is spread over multiple seasons.
Here’s a look at how each of the players who turned down a player option for the 2014/15 season fared, sorted by those who most certainly made the right decision, players who gave up money for this year for more in the long term, and a pair who are without NBA deals. The players are listed in alphabetical order within each category, followed by their 2013/14 teams and the values of the player options they turned down.
Clear winners:
- Alan Anderson, Nets, minimum salary — The Nets re-signed him to a two-year deal worth slightly more than $2.61MM that represents a raise, albeit an incremental one, on what he would have seen on his option.
- Chris Bosh, Heat, $20.59MM — It seemed there were many ways for Bosh to end up with a lower salary when he opted out, since there were rumors he would take less to help the Heat attract another marquee player. There was also no guarantee the NBA’s maximum salary would go up high enough to exceed the value of Bosh’s option year. But, that’s what happened, and the Heat reeled Bosh back in with a five-year, $118.705MM max deal with a starting salary of $54,400 more than he would have made on his option.
- Darren Collison, Clippers, $1.986MM — The Kings signed him for three years and $15.041MM, a clear financial upgrade.
- Channing Frye, Suns, $6.8MM — Frye signed a four-year, $32MM deal with the Magic, so as with Collison, the decision to opt out was smart.
- Danny Granger, Clippers, minimum salary — The Heat brought Granger in on a two-year, $4.247MM deal that gives him more than the minimum each season.
- LeBron James, Heat, $20.59MM — James was determined not to take another discount, and while he, like Bosh, gambled that the maximum salary would exceed the value of his option, it did indeed, allowing James to sign his two-year, $42.218MM contract with the Cavs.
- Josh McRoberts, Hornets, $2.771MM — There’s no mistaking just how well it turned out financially for McRoberts, who wound up with a four-year, $22.652MM deal from the Heat after a career year in Charlotte.
- Anthony Morrow, Pelicans, minimum salary — He signed with the Thunder for $10.032MM over three years. That means he’ll come away with about three times as much in 2014/15 as he would have if he opted in, and those enhanced paydays will continue.
- Mo Williams, Trail Blazers, $2.771MM — Williams signed a one-year, $3.75MM deal with the Timberwolves, a raise of almost precisely $1MM.
- Nick Young, Lakers, minimum salary — The Lakers seemed determined not to let Young get away from them in free agency, opening the coffers for a four-year, $21.326MM deal that validates Young’s opt-out decision many times over.
It depends:
- Carmelo Anthony, Knicks, $23.333MM — Anthony surely doesn’t have any regrets about signing a five-year deal worth $124.065MM, but his new pact calls for a lower salary for this coming season than he would have seen on the option. That’s because a new pact for Anthony, whose salaries exceed the NBA’s maximum thanks to the built-in raises on his lucrative contracts over the years, was limited to giving him a starting salary worth no more than 105% of what he made last year. His scheduled raise under the old deal would have been for more than that.
- Glen Davis, Clippers, minimum salary — Davis wound up precisely where he started, since he has a guaranteed minimum salary on his one-year deal after re-signing with the Clippers.
- Francisco Garcia, Rockets, minimum salary — Garcia agreed to re-sign with the Rockets on a one-year deal for that minimum salary. It’s not quite clear if it’s guaranteed at this point, but if it is, he’ll have broken even, just like Davis.
- Udonis Haslem, Heat, $4.62MM — Haslem locked in $5.587MM, more than he would have seen on his option, but that amount is spread over two seasons in his new deal with the Heat. If he had picked up his option and signed next summer for the minimum salary, he would have made more.
- Dwyane Wade, Heat, $20.164MM — Like Haslem, Wade wound up with more than he would have made in the option year, but his $31.125MM will come over the course of a new two-year deal with the Heat. Still, it’s not the drastic annual pay decrease that seemed a distinct possibility, and Wade has a player option for next summer if he regains his superstar form without LeBron around.
Probably should have opted in:
- Andray Blatche, Nets, minimum salary — His salary would automatically equal or exceed the value of his option if he signs with an NBA team before the season, but he might not find guaranteed salary. In any case, he remains unsigned, so the decision looks poor, at least at the moment.
- Byron Mullens, Sixers, minimum salary — It’s unclear what he’ll make on his deal to play in China, but heading overseas probably wasn’t the outcome he would have preferred.
Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.
Warriors Sign Leandro Barbosa
4:24pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
SEPTEMBER 10TH, 2:43pm: Barbosa has put pen to paper, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick (Twitter link), though there has yet to be an official announcement from the team.
AUGUST 28TH: The Warriors and Leandro Barbosa have reached agreement on a one-year deal for the minimum salary, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. It’s not immediately clear whether the salary for the 11-year veteran will be guaranteed.
Golden State had been on the lookout for backup guards, Stein notes, and the 6’3″ Barbosa fits that bill. The 31-year-old and the Heat held a mutual interest, though it didn’t seem as though Miami was going too hard after the client of Excel Sports Management. Barbosa reportedly had talks with a few teams, but he seemed prepared to wait until after the FIBA World Cup to find a deal, until the Warriors swooped in.
It’s a contrast from last year, when Barbosa went without an NBA deal until January, starting the season with a Brazilian team in an effort to prove his health after suffering a torn ACL in February 2013. Barbosa is once more coming off an injury that ended his season early, having broken his left hand in March while playing for the Suns. Still, the concern surrounding that injury isn’t as profound, as the Golden State deal demonstrates.
The Warriors had been carrying 13 guaranteed deals plus a non-guaranteed pact for undrafted rookie Aaron Craft. Barbosa gives the team yet another option at point guard behind starter Stephen Curry, joining Craft, Shaun Livingston and the injured Nemanja Nedovic.
Hawks Rumors: Wednesday
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports uncovered the recording of the meeting in which Hawks GM Danny Ferry made his fateful remarks about Luol Deng. We’ll pass along the revelations from that story amid the latest news surrounding the Hawks controversy, with any additional updates throughout the day at the top:
4:07pm update:
- Commissioner Adam Silver cited Ferry’s otherwise upstanding track record in telling USA Today’s Sam Amick that he doesn’t think the Hawks should fire Ferry. “It’s a question of context,” Silver said in part. “… These words, in this context, understanding the full story here, the existence of the scouting report, the fact that he was looking at the scouting report as a reference when he was making these remarks, what I’m saying is – and frankly my opinion — is that this is a team decision in terms of what the appropriate discipline is for their employee. But if I’m being asked my view, I’m saying that, based on what I know about the circumstances, I don’t think it’s a terminable offense.”
1:54pm update:
- Ferry read more statements in the meeting that impugned Deng’s character, as Wojnarowski transcribes. “… For example, he can come out and be an unnamed source for a story and two days later come out and say, ‘That absolutely was not me. I can’t believe someone said that,”‘ Ferry said on the recording. “But talking to reporters, you know they can [believe it].”
- Ferry’s report also brought up concerns about Deng’s focus, Wojnarowski reveals. “… Good guy in Chicago,” as Ferry is heard saying. “They will tell you he was good for their culture, but not a culture setter. He played hard and all those things, but he was very worried about his bobble-head being the last one given away that year, or there was not enough stuff of him in the [team] store … kind of a complex guy.”
- Wojnarowski suggests that the remarks Ferry made on the recording were his own, and not words he read from a report, as Ferry has claimed. However, that’s merely based on Wojnarowski’s own observation.
- Co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. had sought Ferry’s ouster even before Ferry’s racially charged remarks in June that sparked the controversy, Wojnarowski writes. Gearon made an immediate audible reaction to Ferry’s comments about Deng, comparing them to the inflammatory remarks that led to Donald Sterling’s exit from the Clippers, as the Yahoo! scribe notes. An email Gearon sent in reaction to the one with racial overtones that prompted outgoing controlling owner Bruce Levenson to sell the team was more matter-of-fact, and it didn’t entail the sort of dramatic reaction that Gearon had to Ferry’s comments, Wojnarowski shows.
- The league office is “livid” with Gearon, Wojnarowski writes, though the precise reason for that anger isn’t entirely clear.
- The Hawks offered Deng a two-year, $20MM deal and a one-year, $10MM arrangement, and Ferry was the team’s greatest supporter for signing him, Wojnarowski hears. The salaries Atlanta offered are similar to the ones Deng will receive on his contract with the Heat.
- Ferry has his boosters around the league, but many find him distant and unsympathetic and find it difficult to work with the Hawks front office, according to Wojnarowski.
- The conversation covered many free agent targets, including Carmelo Anthony. Ferry said that Anthony “can shoot the [expletive] out of it, but he screws you up in other ways,” as Wojnarowski transcribes, though Ferry also saw value in giving him a lucrative deal.
- At least one civil rights leader expressed frustration when the Hawks called off a meeting that was set for today with civil rights leaders in Atlanta, Charles Odumap of The Associated Press reports. The Hawks called the meeting a “priority” and indicated their intention to reschedule in a press release today.
Warriors, Jerry West Agree To Extension
The Warriors have agreed to an extension with Jerry West that will keep the Hall-of-Famer on the team’s executive board through the 2016/17 season, reports Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group. West’s existing deal had been due to run out at the end of this coming season, and the 76-year-old recently told people close to him that he was thinking of retirement, even as he made it clear he was passionate about lifting the team to title contention, Kawakami hears.
West, who holds the title of director of scouting and administration for the club, has played a key role in Golden State’s decision-making since joining the Warriors in May of 2011, and he owns a partial stake in the franchise. He was vociferous in his opposition to trading Klay Thompson for Kevin Love this summer and helped influence the team’s decision not to do so, but West didn’t make the call to dismiss former coach Mark Jackson despite their poor relationship, Kawakami writes.
The Warriors recently signed GM Bob Myers to an extension that takes his contract through 2017/18. West’s commitment seals co-owner Joe Lacob’s desire to have his front office staff intact for years to come, as Kawakami points out. West is a two-time Executive of the Year award-winner, having taken home the honor in 1995 with the Lakers and in 2004 with the Grizzlies.
Pistons Notes: Bower, Butler, Meeks
Chauncey Billups might not be headed for the Hall of Fame, as a majority of Hoops Rumors readers who voted in Tuesday’s poll believe, but he’ll remain a Pistons icon, and his retirement serves as further notice of the changing times in Detroit. The 2013/14 season was the last with the organization for Billups, Joe Dumars, and a host of others. Greg Monroe is the only one among the team’s six signees to have played for the team last year, and it seems more likely than not that he’ll depart after his one-year qualifying offer expires next summer. Here’s more from a different-looking Motown:
- GM Jeff Bower tells MLive’s Peter J. Wallner that he doesn’t see it as a threat to his job that the Pistons hired Otis Smith as the new D-League coach, even though Smith was a candidate to fill the GM job before Bower came aboard. “When Stan [Van Gundy] talked to me, I thought [Smith] was the perfect guy because he embodies everything that the developmental league is all about,” Bower said. “He’s great for this. [The D-League] is about getting the best out of guys.”
- The chance for plenty of playing time and the promise that the team will be competitive sooner rather than later helped convince Caron Butler to spurn other suitors and sign with the Pistons, writes Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.
- Playing time was also a key to securing fellow free agent Jodie Meeks after a season in which he saw plenty of it with the Lakers, as Langlois notes in a separate piece.