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The Knicks are willing to reconsider their stance against absorbing Carlos Boozer in a sign-and-trade from the Bulls involving Carmelo Anthony, perhaps following the same logic that reader Resneps2340 laid out.
- The Knicks shouldn’t dismiss such a trade right off the bat. Yes, Boozer is not worth $16.8MM if the only other thing you are including is picks. The Bulls aren’t trading Taj [Gibson] either since he was in the Carmelo meeting today and I’m sure him being on the team was part of the sales pitch. If the Knicks took Boozer, I think the Bulls would be willing to give up a couple of picks, the rights to Nikola Mirotic (one of the best young players in Europe who is likely to come over this year), and as much as I hate to say it, Jimmy Butler. I think the Bulls are beyond desperate to get ‘Melo and frankly, the Knicks may not be able to do better that that in a sign-and-trade.
Reaction was swiftly negative when the Magic struck a two-year, $9MM deal with Ben Gordon, and jeremy summed up just why he thinks Orlando will regret the agreement.
- It doesn’t matter how much cap room you have; a bad deal can still be a bad deal. This dude hasn’t been the same player since he left the Bulls. His stat line is nothing that makes him worth $9MM. He’s still a decent player, but I’m not sure he’s worth $9MM.
Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors only handed out one A in our Northwest Division Draft Grades, but it seems like Sky14 might have given out more.
- I really like what some of the teams in this division did on draft day, especially the Jazz and the Nuggets. The Wolves draft is hard to gauge because it seems like it has an equal chance of being very good or producing absolutely nothing. Based on his first two drafts, Flip Saunders clearly favors upside.
We appreciate everyone who adds to the dialogue at Hoops Rumors, and we look forward to seeing more responses like these from you!
Nikola Mirotic To Join NBA This Year
9:33pm: Sources have told K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune that Mirotic is hoping for assurances from the Bulls that he won’t be traded before completing his buyout.
11:08am: Mirotic and the Bulls don’t believe they have far to go to complete a deal, but no agreement is imminent, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.com.
8:47am: The Bulls are indeed working to sign Mirotic, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com, who notes that it doesn’t mean Chicago is abandoning its pursuit of Anthony.
8:00am: Nikola Mirotic has decided to leave his Spanish league team and sign an NBA contract this summer, reports Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype (Twitter link). It’s not clear just what sort of contract he’ll end up with from the Bulls, who hold his rights, but it appears the 6’10” forward widely considered the best overseas player is finally bound for the NBA.
Mirotic’s contract with Real Madrid involves an NBA buyout that costs the equivalent of more than $3MM. That’s well above the Excluded International Player Payment Amount of $600K, the most NBA teams can pay without the money counting against team salary. That means the majority of the buyout will come out of Mirotic’s NBA paychecks and count in Chicago’s books.
That’s part of the reason why Mirotic has stayed out of the NBA since becoming the 23rd overall pick in the 2011 draft. Since three years have passed, he’s no longer subject to the NBA’s rookie scale, which wouldn’t afford him a salary nearly high enough for him simply to break even this year. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com heard in March that Mirotic would seek salaries worth $3-4MM from the Bulls, but Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com wrote in January that the Bulls would be quite pleased if Mirotic were to settle for the $5.305MM mid-level exception.
Another report from March indicated that Mirotic and Carmelo Anthony was an either-or proposition for the Bulls, pointing to the tight financial squeeze required if the team were to be able to sign ‘Melo. Indeed, the Bulls would have to clear cap room to sign ‘Melo unless the Knicks agreed to a sign-and-trade, which they appear reluctant to do. Opening cap space would cause the $5.305MM non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception to vanish and be replaced by the $2.732MM room exception, which wouldn’t cover the cost of Mirotic’s buyout. Still, the report frames the decision as coming from Mirotic, and not the Bulls, so it’s not necessarily an indication that the Bulls are counting themselves out of the race for ‘Melo. Chicago could trade the rights to Mirotic as it seeks a deal for Anthony.
The 23-year-old Mirotic scored 12.1 points and grabbed 4.9 rebounds in 23.4 minutes per game for Real Madrid this past season, but perhaps most intriguing, he shot 40.9% from behind the three-point line. Assuming he ends up with Chicago, he figures to be a key floor-spacing weapon for a Bulls team that had serious trouble scoring in 2013/14.
Carmelo Anthony Rumors: Friday
Carmelo Anthony has been plenty busy, meeting with five teams in the first three days of free agency. He doesn’t have a visit on the agenda today as he takes the holiday weekend to decide where to play next season, but there’s still chatter surrounding the perennial All-Star. Here’s the latest:
- The Knicks already appeared to be leading the ‘Melo sweepstakes, and Thursday’s meeting between Anthony and the team only upped New York’s chances, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Team president Phil Jackson cleared any doubt about the strength of his desire to have Anthony re-sign and the star forward left the meeting mostly sharing the Zen Master’s vision for the club’s future, Wojnarowski hears.
- A brief hello was all there was to Derrick Rose‘s participation in the Bulls‘ recruiting pitch to Anthony on Tuesday, according to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. Most other reports indicated that Rose had a somewhat larger presence, speaking to ‘Melo for 15 to 20 minutes in the locker room, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune notes via Twitter. The Bulls never asked him to formally take part in its presentation, but he would have done so if they had, as Broussard details.
- Anthony and Kobe Bryant aren’t as close as most dispatches make it seem, a person who knows both well tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.
Raptors Likely To Ink Caboclo, Nogueira This Year
The Raptors acquired a pair of Brazilian-born prospects last week, pulling a stunner with their selection of power forward Bruno Caboclo at No. 20 overall in the draft and trading for the rights to center Lucas Nogueira, last year’s 16th overall pick. While they seem like strong candidates to be stashed overseas, both are instead expected to join the team for next season, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.
Mystery surrounds Caboclo, who wasn’t among the top 100 prospects in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings going into the draft. Still, the 6’8″ 18-year-old apparently drew the attention of multiple NBA teams. The Jazz and Suns were reportedly ready to draft him before the Raptors could snag him with the 37th overall pick, as they’d told Caboclo they would do. So, Toronto made its preemptive strike.
Nogueira spent an injury-plagued 2013/14 with Asefa Estudiantes of Spain, averaging 6.2 points and 4.1 rebounds in 16.5 minutes per game in just 18 appearances. The 21-year-old 7-footer nonetheless came away with 1.6 blocks per game in those limited minutes, so he appears to be an intriguing rim protector.
Caboclo is likely to receive a starting salary worth more than $1.458MM on his rookie scale contract, as our table of salaries for first-round picks shows. Nogueira would make the scale amount for this year’s 16th overall pick, even though he was drafted last year, so he’s in line for nearly $1.763MM.
Raptors Nearing Deal With Greivis Vasquez
The Raptors are coming close to a deal with restricted free agent Greivis Vasquez, reports Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. An agreement with the point guard would allow the Raptors to retain the top three free agents from last season’s roster, having already come to terms with Kyle Lowry and Patrick Patterson.
Vasquez said in May that it would be “heartbreaking” if he didn’t wind up returning to the team. Toronto’s brass nonetheless worried it wouldn’t be able to swing deals for both him and Patterson after the leaguewide market began bearing high-priced contract agreements earlier this week. Still, there haven’t been reports linking Vasquez to any other NBA club since the start of free agency.
The Arn Tellem client had his breakout season in 2012/13, averaging 13.9 points and 9.0 assists per contest as the starter in New Orleans, but he was a backup for both Sacramento and Toronto this season amid a pair of trades. He notched just 9.5 PPG and 3.7 APG in 21.5 minutes per game behind Lowry on the Raptors this past season, but it appears he’s about to commit to remaining a reserve for the foreseeable future.
Western Notes: ‘Melo, Mavs, Bledsoe, Kaman
The offer the Mavs are making to Carmelo Anthony involves a starting salary of slightly more than $18MM, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com (Twitter link). That would mean a max of $77MM over four years, though McMahon pegs the likely value of the offer at $75MM. In any case, that’s significantly less than the nearly $96MM over four years the Lakers are reportedly offering in a max deal, and about $50MM less than the five-year max that the Knicks have apparently put on the table. There’s more from MacMahon on the Mavs amid the latest from the Western Conference:
- The Mavs have confidence they’ll strike a deal to re-sign Devin Harris, presuming they don’t land Anthony or LeBron James, even if some of the inflated agreements around the league this week have pushed his market value higher, MacMahon writes. The team sees Isaiah Thomas as its primary fallback option should Harris sign elsewhere, and Dallas has also been in contact with the agent for Wasserman client D.J. Augustin, MacMahon adds.
- There are some who believe that agent Rich Paul’s talks with teams about LeBron are instead intended to pitch clubs on Suns restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe, whom Paul also represents, tweets USA Today’s Sam Amick.
- The Blazers came to terms with Chris Kaman believing they wouldn’t be able to sign Spencer Hawes or Channing Frye, according to TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link).
- The Warriors have officially hired Alvin Gentry, Ron Adams and Luke Walton as assistant coaches, the team announced. Gentry, who spent last season as a Clippers assistant, was a candidate for multiple head coaching vacancies this summer. Adams was an assistant with the Celtics last season while Walton was an assistant for the Lakers D-League affiliate.
- Marcus Camby, 40, still harbors aspirations of returning to the NBA after missing last year as he recovered from left foot surgery, an injury that prompted the Rockets to waive him just before the start of the regular season.
Talks Between Stephenson, Pacers Hit Snag
FRIDAY, 12:55pm: Stephenson’s representatives spoke with the Pacers earlier today, but they’re not any closer to a deal, according to Broussard (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 7:35am: The Pacers and Lance Stephenson have reached an impasse in negotiations, with the shooting guard unwilling to accept Indiana’s offer of five years and $44MM, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. The Alberto Ebanks client will move on to discussions with other teams, and the Bulls, Lakers and Hornets have interest, Broussard adds.
Indiana rolled out the red carpet for Stephenson in the hours immediately after free agency began, reportedly producing a movie in his honor as the team sought to win him over. President of basketball operations Larry Bird has spoken on multiple occasions of his affection for the tempermental 23-year-old, in spite of some apparent misgivings from others in the organization. Bird nonetheless prefaced his remarks a month ago by saying the team had a price ceiling that it wouldn’t exceed to re-sign him.
At least one NBA GM believes Stephenson would be worth $10-12MM on talent alone, but his on-court antics and alleged selfish behavior knocked his value down to $8-10MM in the GM’s eyes, as Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops reported last month. Another GM pegged him all the way down in the $4-6MM range annually, so it seems like the average annual value of $8.8MM that the Pacers apparently have on the table wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice.
Still, players of Stephenson’s talent rarely hit unrestricted free agency at such a young age, so perhaps he can find a team willing to pay more. A report linked the Lakers, Bulls and then-Bobcats to Stephenson as far back as early February, so it seems those clubs weren’t turned off by Indiana’s second-half swoon.
Hornets To Meet With Gordon Hayward
Gordon Hayward will visit the Hornets next week, reports Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Charlotte has held interest in the restricted free agent since before free agency began, and now it appears that the Hornets intrigue Hayward, too, at least to a degree. He’s friends with former Jazz teammate Al Jefferson, and the Hornets center will be a part of the team’s pitch to Hayward, according to Bonnell.
The Jazz have nonetheless made it clear they’ll match any offer for the 24-year-old, which left the Cavs reluctant to make an offer when Hayward visited Cleveland earlier this week. Hayward and the Celtics have mutual interest, too, and the Suns apparently have been interested on some level in a deal approaching the max. There were conflicting reports about whether the Cavs were prepared to make a max offer when they met with Hayward, ranked No. 6 in the latest edition of the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings. Charlotte, should it decide to offer the max, has ample cap flexibility to do so.
Utah and the Mark Bartelstein client were reportedly discussing an extension this past fall worth more than the four years and $48MM the team gave to Derrick Favors, but they were unable to come to terms. Still, the Jazz, who wield the hammer of being able to bring Hayward back to Utah no matter which team he signs with, appear comfortable with the restricted free agency process. It’s playing out just as they expected, tweets Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link).
Eastern Rumors: Wade, Bosh, ‘Melo, Gasol
Happy Fourth of July to our American readers! It remains to be seen if there will be any free agency fireworks today, but with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh hesitant to take discounts, prompting a disconnect between them and LeBron James, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the fuse has been lit. Here’s more from the Eastern Conference as the market waits to see what James and Carmelo Anthony will do:
- The Bulls remain confident that they’re still in the running to end up as Anthony’s choice, but they sense they’ve lost momentum with the Knicks prepared to offer the max, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
- Pau Gasol learned when he met with the Bulls on Thursday that he would be a starter if he signed with the team, as Cowley, writing in the same piece, also hears.
- The Raptors have had preliminary talks with Patrick Patterson as they concentrate on securing depth behind Amir Johnson, reports Doug Smith of the Toronto Star. They’re willing to wait before shopping for a physical, defensive-minded wing this summer, Smith adds. Concerns about Johnson’s ability to stay healthy also likely played a role in the team’s decision to fully guarantee Tyler Hansbrough‘s contract, Smith believes.
- The Hornets have expressed interest in signing Ramon Sessions, a source tells Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). A report late Thursday indicated the opposite, so perhaps Charlotte reached out within the last several hours.
Magic Waive Jason Maxiell
9:30pm: Orlando has officially waived Maxiell, the team announced via press release.
8:53am: The Magic are waiving Jason Maxiell, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). There doesn’t appear to be an official announcement of yet, but presumably one is on the way. Orlando was reportedly trying to find a trade partner to take him before his non-guaranteed contract was to have become fully guaranteed for $2.5MM on July 10th, and apparently the Magic have yet to find a team willing to take on the power forward.
Maxiell’s 3.2 points per game last season were his fewest since he was a rookie as his minutes were cut from 24.8 his final season with the Pistons to 14.4 in his first year with Orlando after he signed with the club last summer. The arrival of Aaron Gordon, the No. 4 overall pick in the draft, figured to further impinge upon the playing time of the 31-year-old Maxiell, who doesn’t quite fit the mold of the franchise’s youth-focused rebuilding approach.
Still, it seems somewhat odd that the Magic apparently have no use for Maxiell at $2.5MM after agreeing earlier this week to sign Ben Gordon to a two-year, $9MM contract. The Andy Miller client is just a year removed from having started 71 games for the Pistons, and he seems in line to recoup most, if not all, of the salary he would have made with Orlando. The timing of the move, nearly a week before his contract guarantee date, gives Maxiell more of a chance to find a new deal on the market.