Southeast Notes: Morris, Humphries, Fournier
The Wizards are giving Marcin Gortat more minutes down the stretch of late, and he prefers playing with Jared Dudley and Wizards trade acquisition Markieff Morris at power forward instead of Kris Humphries, who went out in the trade for Morris, notes J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic.
“It’s opportunities, being the guy who’s pretty much played the whole fourth quarter. I didn’t have that opportunity in the first 50 games,” Gortat said. “I’m definitely excited about playing more minutes. I think just having Markieff or Jared next to me in the starting lineup it’s a much better fit for me than Kris Humphries. Not picking on him but he just didn’t fit with me well. He’s a totally different player than Keef or Jared. I feel more comfortable playing with them.”
Gortat called Morris “a great teammate” and said the controversy surrounding him in Phoenix was overhyped, quipping that “we’re not giving him towels to throw at people,” a reference to the towel Morris tossed in former Suns coach Jeff Hornacek‘s direction in the midst of a December game, as Michael also relays. See more on the Wizards, and on Humphries, amid news from the Southeast Division:
- The Wizards are likely to allow their $2,806,750 disabled player exception expire, Michael hears, writing in a separate story. Washington couldn’t use the majority of it anyway without going over the tax line. The deadline to use it is a week from today.
- Soon-to-be restricted free agent Evan Fournier would like to re-sign with the Magic, observes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. GM Rob Hennigan has refuted the idea that the team isn’t entirely sold on the swingman, and reports indicated the Magic were hesitant to trade him at the deadline. “I really like to play for this team. I’m having my best year so far. There’s no reason for me to leave,” Fournier said.
- The Hawks dipped into their room exception to sign Humphries to his deal for the rest of the season, giving him an even $1MM and not the prorated minimum salary as previously reported, reveals Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). That gave Humphries an even exchange on the buyout market, since he gave up $1MM to secure his release from the Suns, Pincus notes (on Twitter). Atlanta has about $900K left on its room exception in the wake of the Humphries signing.
Nuggets Consider Shutting Down Danilo Gallinari
The Nuggets are thinking about sitting Danilo Gallinari for the rest of the season even if he returns to health with a few games left on the schedule, coach Michael Malone acknowledged to reporters, including Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. The 27-year-old small forward suffered two torn ligaments in his right ankle during Friday’s game that are expected to sideline him for a month, as Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reported Tuesday, the same day that The Vertical’s Shams Charania reported the team would sign D-League small forward Axel Toupane to a 10-day contract.
Only five games are on the schedule for the Nuggets in April, as Dempsey points out, raising the question of whether it would be wise to put the team’s veteran centerpiece back on the court and risk additional injury with only a few games left to go.
“I’ve already thought about that. I don’t have an answer,” Malone said. “I think it’s a very good question. At that point, depending on where we are, it’s going to depend on four games to go, what is the picture? Are we 15 games out of the playoffs? Well, it probably makes sense to play some of our younger guys and let them get minutes and see what they can do. But we’ll see.”
Denver is six games behind the Rockets, who hold the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Malone said the team would consult Gallinari to see whether he wants to return to action, adding that the Michael Tellem client had earned the right to have input with his performance this season. The eighth-year veteran is in the midst of his best year in the NBA, averaging 19.5 points and 5.3 rebounds in 34.7 minutes per game, all career highs.
The Nuggets couldn’t get a disabled player exception, even if Gallinari becomes likely to miss the rest of the season, and while Wilson Chandler and Jameer Nelson are also sidelined, Denver still falls short of the four long-term injuries needed to qualify for an extra roster spot via hardship. The team already spent the disabled player exception it reaped from Chandler’s season-ending injury in the deadline-day trade with the Thunder. Nelson hasn’t played since January 30th because of a severely sprained left wrist, though he was available for Wednesday’s game, Dempsey notes. Kenneth Faried and Emmanuel Mudiay did play Wednesday despite minor ailments.
Gallinari is signed through next season with a player option for 2017/18, thanks to a rare renegotiation and extension deal that he and the team pulled off this past summer. The Nuggets reportedly turned away interest that the Celtics had in trading for him before last month’s deadline.
Baron Davis Joins Sixers D-League Team
7:35pm: Davis is officially a member of the 87ers, the team announced.
10:18am: The 87ers would technically be claiming Davis rather than signing him, as Adam Johnson of the D-League Digest and Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor clarify (Twitter links).
8:01am: Davis is expected to sign with the Sixers’ D-League team, Charania writes in a full-length story, which appears to clarify that he hasn’t done so yet.
7:47am: Two-time NBA All-Star Baron Davis has signed with the D-League affiliate of the Sixers, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The team, known as the Delaware 87ers, hasn’t made an official announcement, but Charania indicates the signing has taken place. The 36-year-old Davis, who’s been out of the NBA since the 2011/12 season, went unclaimed on D-League waivers when he signed with the league in January. He remains free to join any NBA team, though given the tepid response to his free agency on the D-League level, it appears Davis will have to prove his capabilities before returning to the Association.
Davis has said he indeed plans to use the D-League as a springboard to a return to the NBA, and agent Todd Ramasar claimed that he was drawing NBA interest. Rumors surfaced that the Mavs were eyeing him, but owner Mark Cuban clarified that his team only regarded him as a D-League possibility. One NBA assistant GM told Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher earlier this season that Davis merits consideration if he’s engaged and in shape, though multiple NBA executives didn’t think his comeback attempt was serious because of a film Davis made two years ago that appeared to parody the notion of his return to the league, as Bucher also noted.
The 13-year NBA veteran started four playoff games for the Knicks in 2012, suffering a gruesome knee injury in the last of them that left him with complete tears in his ACL and MCL and a partially torn patella tendon. His contract expired that summer, leaving him with a tough road back to action.
Grizzlies Re-Sign Ryan Hollins
5:00pm: The signing is official, the team announced via press release.
9:48am: The Grizzlies are expected to re-sign Ryan Hollins, a source told Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The contract couldn’t be worth more than the minimum salary, and it would have to cover at least the rest of the season because Hollins already signed a pair of 10-day contracts with Memphis earlier this year. It would require a corresponding move, since Memphis is at the 15-man roster limit, unless the Grizzlies qualify for a hardship exception. It’s unclear who would get the boot, but The Commercial Appeal’s Chris Herrington wrote this week that he believed James Ennis would be the most likely cut if the team were to make a signing.
Memphis is missing centers Marc Gasol and Brandan Wright because of injury, leaving the Grizzlies thin inside, where Hollins plays. Shooting guards Jordan Adams and Tony Allen are also hurt. Gasol is done for the season, but the timetable for Wright is unclear. Allen’s situation is similarly muddled, as a sore left knee has kept him from playing since February 19th. Adams is due back soon after undergoing right knee surgery in January. The team would need four players expected to be out for at least another two weeks to merit an extra roster spot.
Hollins has been a rotation player at times for the Grizzlies this year, averaging 3.3 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11.2 minutes per game spread over 14 appearances. He was also with Memphis for the preseason, so this would be his fourth contract with the team in 2015/16. He also spent a few weeks with the Wizards in November and December. The Grizzlies kept Ennis instead of Hollins when they needed to open a roster spot in January, but a reversal of fortune could be in the works.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript
4:07pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.
3:00pm: Noteworthy buyouts that rivaled the trade deadline for significance dominated headlines over the past week, with Ty Lawson and Kevin Martin the latest major names to come available. The Heat worked financial gymnastics to sign Joe Johnson and still escape the tax, reportedly irking other teams, while Miami’s Florida rivals are looking ahead to summer free agency as they appear to be mounting a serious bid for Chandler Parsons. An ex-teammate of Parsons, Dwight Howard, has also apparently dropped some hints about where he might like to end up this summer. We can discuss all that and more in today’s chat.
Timberwolves Sign Greg Smith To 10-Day Deal
WEDNESDAY, 3:46pm: The signing is official, the team announced.
TUESDAY, 2:06pm: The Timberwolves plan to sign big man Greg Smith to a 10-day contract, a league source tells Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (Twitter link). The four-year veteran has been with the D-League affiliate of the Raptors since January, a couple of months after failing a physical that nixed his preseason contract with the Pelicans. Minnesota has an open roster spot in the wake of its buyout with Andre Miller, while talks have reportedly taken place about a buyout for Kevin Martin that would create a second roster vacancy.
It’s no surprise to see Minnesota strike a deal after interim coach Sam Mitchell complained the team was “awfully thin” up front, and while Mitchell also indicated a signing wouldn’t take place until well after today, adding a 10-day contract allows the team to preserve flexibility to sign others who might enter the market. The team also reportedly had internal discussion about signing Chris Copeland, another frontcourt player.
Smith, 25, has averaged 12.6 points and 8.0 rebounds in 28.1 minutes per game with Toronto’s D-League team, proving his health in the wake of the torpedoed deal with New Orleans. He’s shown efficiency on the boards in 131 NBA games with the Rockets and Mavs, averaging 3.4 in 12.5 minutes per game for his NBA career. The 10-day contract will pay him $59,731 and cost the Wolves $55,722. The league foots the bill for the difference.
Grizzlies Waive James Ennis
The Grizzlies have waived James Ennis, the team announced via press release. The move appears to be a precursor to a deal for the rest of the season with Ryan Hollins, who’s set to sign, according to Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. It’s tough luck for Ennis, the 50th pick in the 2013 draft, who won’t be able to participate in the playoffs for another team this season but would have been eligible for the postseason had his release come as late as Tuesday night.
Cutting Ennis gives Memphis an open spot beneath the 15-man roster limit. His deal is for the minimum salary this season and next, with no guarantee on his pay for next season, so Memphis is poised to eat only about $200K if he clears waivers. It’s a three-year contract he signed in the summer of 2014 with Miami, so only teams with trade exceptions or cap room can claim him, The Vertical’s Bobby Marks notes (Twitter link).
Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal wrote earlier this week that he believed Ennis would be the likeliest to go if the team wanted to sign someone, so today’s news proves him right. The 25-year-old Ennis totaled only 40 minutes spread over 10 appearances with the Grizzlies in the months since Memphis acquired him in the Mario Chalmers trade. He went on eight separate trips to the D-League in the meantime, racking up 16.7 points in 33.1 minutes per contest over 15 D-League games.
Ennis and agent Scott Nichols twice worked out amended terms with the Heat that helped him stay under contract prior to the trade. The changes pushed back the dates upon which salary guarantees would kick in for this season, but Ennis avoided getting cut before the end of January 7th, which locked in his full $845,059 salary.
Clippers Sign Alex Stepheson To Second 10-Day
WEDNESDAY, 12:55pm: The signing is official, the team announced via press release.
TUESDAY, 11:46am: The Clippers will sign Alex Stepheson to a second 10-day contract, as Dan Woike of the Orange County Register reports and as a source confirms to Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). The rookie power forward’s first 10-day deal expired Monday night. Woike and Turner indicate the signing is set to take place Wednesday, which would allow the contract to cover five games, against the Thunder (twice), Hawks, Mavericks and Knicks.
The deal will give Stepheson $30,888 but cost the Clippers that plus $77,220 in additional projected tax penalties. It’s a smaller price than if the team signed a veteran, but Stepheson didn’t see much action in his first 10 days with the Clippers, logging just nine minutes across two games.
The Clippers reportedly turned to him when they couldn’t find a defensive-oriented guard they liked. The 28-year-old former USC player has spent most of his career overseas. His appeal is as a rebounder, and his 13.8 boards per game in 31 appearances this season for the D-League affiliate of the Grizzlies is tops in that league by a wide margin.
Texas Notes: Miller, Ginobili, Parsons, Lawson
Spurs coach/president Gregg Popovich had no shortage of praise for new addition Andre Miller, who signed Monday with San Antonio following his buyout from the Timberwolves, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News relays. Miller is just as glad to be with the Spurs as Popovich is to have him, McDonald notes.
“He’s one of those players you look at and say, ‘Boy, I could figure out how to fit him in,’” Popovich said. “He has been such a great player for several teams, and he does the same thing (everywhere). He’s just a pro, the consummate pro.”
See more on the Spurs amid news from the Texas triangle:
- Manu Ginobili is progressing much more quickly in his recovery from a testicular injury than the Spurs thought he would, Popovich said Tuesday, as Express-News scribe Melissa Rohlin chronicles. The Spurs expected Ginobili would miss at least a month when they announced that he underwent surgery February 4th, but Tony Parker hinted Tuesday that Ginobili could return next week. It’s unclear what that means for the team’s reported pursuit of fellow wing player Kevin Martin.
- Chandler Parsons thinks he’s playing the best basketball of his career, and it’s clear that he’s moved past the early-season struggles he went through as he recovered from a knee injury that prematurely ended his playoff run last spring, as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News examines. Parsons is set to turn down his player option this summer and entertain an aggressive pitch from the Magic, as well as interest from the Rockets, Heat, Lakers, Nets, Knicks, Trail Blazers, Nuggets and possibly Thunder, but the Mavs remain the favorites for him, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com reported Tuesday.
- Ty Lawson‘s failure to produce for the Rockets was a product of lost confidence, people around the team told Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Houston waived Lawson in a buyout deal Tuesday.
Knicks Consider Tim Frazier, Ray McCallum
The Knicks are thinking about signing either Tim Frazier or Ray McCallum to a 10-day contract, reports Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter links). Each is considered a more likely candidate than Tony Wroten, with whom the Knicks met recently, Isola adds. Marc Berman of the New York Post earlier wrote that the team was eyeing McCallum, who comes off waivers from the Spurs at 4pm Central today, while The Wall Street Journal’s Chris Herring reported last month that the Knicks considered Frazier before signing Jimmer Fredette instead. New York reportedly has no plans to re-sign Fredette after his 10-day contract expires tonight.
Frazier rejoined the D-League affiliate of the Celtics last week after clearing waivers from the Trail Blazers, who cut him to accommodate their deadline-day trades. Blazers GM Neil Olshey said he told Frazier he’d be interested in re-signing him if the team was unable to add another point guard, though Portland acquired point guard Brian Roberts in one of its deadline swaps.
The 25-year-old Frazier saw just 7.8 minutes per game in 35 appearances for the Blazers this season, though he put up an impressive 5.5 assists in 21.7 minutes per game across 11 contests with the Sixers last year. Similarly, McCallum was buried on San Antonio’s bench before his release from the Spurs but made 30 starts for the Kings last season.