Pacers Doubt Wisdom Of Re-Signing Stephenson
There are many within the Pacers organization who don’t believe the team should give Lance Stephenson a lucrative long-term contract this summer when he hits unrestricted free agency, sources tell Mike Wells and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The concern stems from a perception that he’s acted selfishly. Many within the franchise believe that he changed his approach on the court at midseason in an attempt to enhance his value as a free agent, which he thinks took a hit when he failed to be selected for the All-Star Game, Wells and Windhorst hear.
Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird indicated on multiple occasions early in the season that the team planned to re-sign the guard, who’ll command a significant raise from the $1MM he made this season. Bird has been mostly silent in the second half of the season as the Pacers flatlined and Stephenson’s game changed. His assist ratio dropped from 25.2 to 20.2, per NBA.com, as Wells and Windhorst point out. Teammates grew weary of his act, and the result was the opposite of what Stephenson apparently intended. His value reportedly slipped from that of a player capable of commanding eight-figure annual salaries to one likely to end up in the $7-8MM range. He tumbled from seventh in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings to out of the top 10.
Indiana has more than $60MM in commitments for next season, and while the rise in the projected luxury tax line to $77MM gives the team breathing room, a new deal for Stephenson, even at $7MM a year, would put a serious crimp in the Pacers’ flexibility. Ownership has taken a hard line against paying the luxury tax, so Indiana wouldn’t have much room for significant upgrades if Stephenson returns at market value next season.
Offseason Outlook: Utah Jazz
Guaranteed Contracts
- Derrick Favors ($12,950,000)
- Enes Kanter ($5,694,674)
- Alec Burks ($3,034,356)
- Trey Burke ($2,548,560)
- Jeremy Evans ($1,794,872)
- Rudy Gobert ($1,127,400)
Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Contracts
- John Lucas III ($1,600,000)
- Malcolm Thomas ($948,163)
- Diante Garrett ($915,243)
- Ian Clark ($816,482)*
- Erik Murphy ($816,482)**
Free Agents / Cap Holds
- Richard Jefferson ($16,569,000)
- Marvin Williams ($11,250,000)
- Gordon Hayward ($8,630,458)
- Brandon Rush ($7,600,000)
- No. 5 pick ($3,012,500)
- No. 23 pick ($1,075,300)
Draft Picks
- 1st Round (5th overall)
- 1st Round (23rd overall)
- 2nd Round (35th overall)
Cap Outlook
- Guaranteed Salary: $27,149,862
- Options: $0
- Non-Guaranteed Salary: $5,096,370
- Cap Holds: $48,137,258
- Total: $80,383,490
The Jazz are making an offseason coaching change for the first time since they replaced Elgin Baylor with Tom Nissalke in 1979, the summer they moved from New Orleans to Salt Lake City. Every coach from that point forward came from within the organization, and none had roots as deeply planted in Utah as Tyrone Corbin, the first Jazz coach to have played for the team. Utah decided against renewing his contract at season’s end, as seemed the probable course all season. Jazz assistant coach Brad Jones is among a vast array of candidates to succeed his former boss, but it seems more likely than not that the Jazz will bring in a completely new face. It’s the latest step in GM Dennis Lindsey‘s overhaul of the franchise since he took over day-to-day control of the team’s roster in 2012 from Kevin O’Connor, who now has less of a hands-on role as the club’s executive VP of basketball ops.
Lindsey allowed the team’s top free agent talent to go elsewhere last summer, thinning the roster to a core of young up-and-comers that includes Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward and Trey Burke. The Jazz have long-term control over Burke, a rookie, and Favors, who signed a four-year, $48MM extension this past autumn, but there are no such assurances with Hayward, who’s set to hit restricted free agency in July. There’s plenty of mutual interest between Hayward and the Jazz, as I noted when I examined Hayward’s free agent stock in July, but the 24-year-old’s reminder as the season ended that “it’s a business” leaves the door ajar.
The Celtics are the most obvious contender for Hayward, since they have his college coach, Brad Stevens, manning their bench. Boston reportedly expressed interest in trading for Hayward at the deadline, though the Jazz showed no inclination to engage in such talks. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge will have a chance to speak directly with Hayward and agent Mark Bartelstein this summer, but Utah still controls the process. The real challenge to the Jazz comes if the Celtics or others are willing and able to lob a max offer Hayward’s way. Bartelstein never asked for a max deal from the Jazz during extension talks, and while they discussed a deal worth more than what Favors wound up with, Lindsey might not be willing to go all the way to the max.
The only caveat to Utah’s plans to retain Hayward is if the club acquires a marquee small forward in the draft, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News reported at the deadline. Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker figure to be off the board by the time the Jazz take their pick at No. 5. Parker is a Mormon, like many in Utah, and the Jazz covet him, so there remains a distinct chance that Utah will trade up. Managing to secure a pick high enough would be difficult, since it might require dealing with the Cavs for the No. 1 overall, pick, as there’s a chance Cleveland has designs on drafting Parker, too. It’d be a long shot for Parker to wind up in Salt Lake City, and so the Jazz seem most likely to end up haggling with Hayward over just how lucrative a deal he’ll receive. Hayward recently issued his support for Earl Watson, a former teammate who’s campaigning for the Jazz head coaching job, but Watson appears to be a darkhorse candidate, at best, and it seems unlikely that passing him up would muddy negotiations with Hayward. Chances are just as remote that the Jazz would take a flier on Watson just to please Hayward, since the soon-to-be free agent doesn’t exactly wield Kobe Bryant-level influence.
Still, it’s difficult to rule out much with the Jazz, especially considering the team reportedly rejected an offer of a first-round pick this year in exchange for Marvin Williams. I’d be surprised if the offer wasn’t for a late first-rounder with a player-friendly contract or some other unattractive caveat attached to it, but it nonetheless indicates the high regard in which the organization holds the 27-year-old. He averaged 9.1 points and 5.1 rebounds in 25.4 minutes per game primarily as a small-ball power forward for Utah, solid numbers but not ones that many would pass up a first-rounder for. He seems unlikely to merit a salary close to the $7.5MM he made this past season, so I’d expect the Jazz to try to speed negotiations along during the July Moratorium so that his outsized cap hold doesn’t linger.
The Jazz will also look to quickly rid themselves of Richard Jefferson‘s team-high cap hold of more than $16MM, and with Jefferson favoring playoff teams above the Jazz as he approaches free agency, Utah will almost certainly end up renouncing his rights. The same is most likely true of Brandon Rush, who saw little playing time and seems destined to head elsewhere this summer.
Utah has five non-guaranteed contracts, and the team doesn’t have to make a decision on any of them until August. That plus roughly $36MM in cap flexibility gives the Jazz plenty of leeway to make deals, even if Hayward lands a max contract and Williams returns at not too steep a discount. The team can clear the cap space needed to pull off the kind of swap it made last summer with the Warriors, who stuffed Utah’s books with the expensive-but-expiring contracts of Jefferson, Rush and Andris Biedrins in exchange for two first-round picks. The Jazz are already sitting on two first-rounders this year, and they have another first-rounder and three second-rounders coming their way in the future as part of that trade. Lindsey is well on his way to building an arsenal of picks that can either help the team directly, if he chooses to spend them in the draft, or as sweetener in a deal to attract a disgruntled superstar under contract with another team. Marquee free agents won’t soon start flocking to Utah, so such trades and the draft must be Lindsey’s primary tools.
The Jazz will probably receive a few intriguing offers for the No. 5 pick, though it seems unlikely that anyone will present Lindsey with a chance to grab game-changing talent for a shot at a draft choice outside the top three. The Jazz already have young talent at every position, suggesting that the team will target the best available talent at No. 5. It’s doubtful the roster will bear too much resemblance to the way it does now by the time the Jazz next field a team that competes for a title, so I don’t think Lindsey would hesitate to draft, say, Dante Exum, in spite of positional overlap with Burke and a lack of outside shooting that wouldn’t complement Hayward’s game.
Utah is probably on its way to its first set of back-to-back losing seasons in 32 years. The franchise spent most of the years following the heyday of John Stockton and Karl Malone in the limbo of mediocrity, with rosters ill-equipped to win a title but too competitive to end up with a high draft pick. Lindsey has wisely pivoted from that course over the past two years, and the organization’s next set of tasks involves having the patience to continue in this direction and the savvy necessary to climb out of the lottery when the opportunity finally comes.
Cap footnotes
* — Clark’s salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before August 1st.
** — Murphy’s salary becomes guaranteed for $100,000 if he’s not waived on or before August 1st. It becomes guaranteed for $200,000 if he’s not waived on or before November 1st.
ShamSports and Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ were used in the creation of this post.
Wolves Notes: Hollins, Love, Karl, Draft
Lionel Hollins would be willing to take the Wolves head coaching job, which he interviewed for two weeks ago, regardless of whether the team is able to keep Kevin Love, according to Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. Zgoda also hears from George Karl, who expresses interest in the gig but says he’s had no contact with Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders. There’s more from Zgoda’s piece among the latest updates from Minnesota:
- Zgoda reiterates a report from earlier this month by Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com indicating that Scott Skiles has interviewed for the Wolves job, but Skiles’ agent, Keith Glass, has denied contact with the team.
- The Wolves might be down to their ninth option in their coaching search, so it would behoove owner Glen Taylor to allow Saunders to coach next season rather than commit to a long-term deal with someone the team considers a fallback, argues fellow Star Tribune scribe Jim Souhan.
- Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities adds Chane Behanan, Langston Hall, Austin Hollins, Mike Moser and Chaz Williams to the list of draft prospects scheduled to work out for the Wolves (Twitter link).
- The Kings would probably need to find additional teams to participate in a trade that would bring Love to Sacramento, since Minnesota is probably uninterested in the assets the Kings would make available, opines Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee.
- The Suns are also in the running for Love, but they, too, face an uphill battle, as Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic concludes.
Tornike Shengelia To Play In Spain
Former Nets and Bulls forward Tornike Shengelia has agreed to a three-year deal with Baskonia of Spain, Lefteris Moutis of Eurohoops.net reports. Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia confirms the deal, having noted earlier that the sides were in talks. It’s for the equivalent of about $2.855MM, according to Moutis, although it’s not clear what, if any, NBA escape clauses will be a part of the contract.
The Guy Zucker client was the 54th overall pick in the 2012 draft and wound up with a guaranteed two-year deal for the minimum salary from Brooklyn that summer. He played sparingly for the Nets, appearing in just 36 games over a season and a half before they sent him to the Bulls in a January trade. He saw even less playing time in Chicago, which waived him shortly before the season to accommodate multiyear contracts for Ronnie Brewer, Mike James and Louis Amundson that will help the Bulls assemble trade packages this summer.
Shengelia, a native of the Republic of Georgia, averaged 1.3 points in 5.5 minutes per game across 45 NBA appearances. His talent was on greater display while on D-League assignment, as he racked up 21.1 PPG in 33.9 MPG over 14 contests the past two years for the affiliate of the Nets.
Draft Rumors: Exum, Warren, Young
The allure of Dante Exum is prompting the Sixers to think about trading Michael Carter-Williams, and it appears as though Exum will indeed be available when Philadelphia picks third overall next month. Exum isn’t in the mix for the Cavs at No. 1 overall, and while the Bucks are high on him, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com writes in an Insider-only piece, the uncertain future of GM John Hammond and his staff makes it less likely the point guard ends up in Milwaukee. Here’s more draft-related news:
- Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com adds the Hawks and Suns to the list of teams that have workouts scheduled with T.J. Warren (Twitter link).
- Patric Young is performing for the Suns today and will work out for the Spurs on Friday, Goodman tweets.
- Dwight Powell is auditioning for the Thunder today and will do so for the Suns and Wolves later this week, Goodman reports (on Twitter).
- The Hawks worked out Jahii Carson, as the Arizona State sophomore revealed on Twitter (hat tip to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). He’s auditioning for the Suns today, notes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. He’ll join Isaiah Austin, whom the Suns are also working out today, Goodman hears (Twitter link).
- Khem Birch worked out for the Sixers on Monday and will do so for the Heat next week, according to Goodman (Twitter link).
- Ronald Roberts Jr. will show off for the Raptors, Sixers and Pistons this week, reports Tyler R. Tynes of the Philadelphia Daily News.
- Javon McCrea is working out with the Bulls today and the Sixers and Raptors next week, as Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv has learned (Twitter link).
Sixers Consider Trading Michael Carter-Williams
Sixers management has “bounced around” the idea of trading Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com reports amid an Insider-only piece he co-authors with Kevin Pelton. The Sixers are high on draft prospect Dante Exum, according to Ford, and while they believe Exum and Carter-Williams could co-exist in the backcourt in spite of their shooting deficiencies, it appears they’re thinking about choosing the guard from Australia over last year’s 11th overall pick.
A couple of Philadelphia-based beat writers have advanced the idea that the Sixers should trade Carter-Williams, but it hadn’t seemed as though the team had given it serious consideration until now. Williams was a runaway winner for the Rookie of the Year award and a unanimous All-Rookie First Team selection, but he was the leader of a weak 2013 draft class and put up his numbers for a talent-poor 19-win Sixers team. He averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 assists and 6.2 rebounds in 34.5 minutes per game this past season, but he shot just 26.4% from behind the arc, and his 15.5 PER suggests only slightly above average efficiency.
The Sixers have the third and 10th picks in this year’s draft plus five second-round picks, and that coupled with ample cap flexibility gives GM Sam Hinkie plenty of options for trades. Carter-Williams probably lacks the upside of a top-three pick in this year’s draft, but he would provide trade suitors a young, inexpensive player who’s already shown he can hold his own in the NBA.
Bosh Wants To Stay With Heat, Open To Discount
10:54am: Bosh said at a shootaround today that he’s definitely coming back to the Heat next season, Lieser tweets.
12:43am: Chris Bosh said in an appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show on ESPN Radio that he wants to remain with the Heat and is willing to do so at less than the maximum salary if necessary, notes Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post. Bosh has an early termination option worth $20.59MM for next season, and he can opt out and sign a new contract that guarantees more salary over the long term than called for in his current deal, which covers two more seasons.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t want to go anywhere,” Bosh said. “I like it here. It’s Miami. Everybody wants to come here. Yeah.”
The news contradicts at least part of a February report suggesting that Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade weren’t interested in agreeing to discounts on their next deals, as all three did when they signed with the Heat in 2010. It also seems to run counter to rumors earlier this year that painted Bosh as the most likely of the Heat’s trio of stars to leave Miami. More recently, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com wrote that it would take a “dream scenario” for James to sign elsewhere this summer. While that coupled with Wade’s career-long connection to Miami may still make Bosh more open to leaving that his other All-Star teammates, it nonetheless seems unlikely that Bosh would depart. That’s in spite of his apparent interest in the Lakers, which L.A. reciprocates.
Bosh might view the Lakers not as a destination for this summer but as a landing spot if he chooses to leave the Heat farther into the future, though that’s just my speculation. The Henry Thomas client might be able to make more money next season if he opts in than if he were to become a free agent this summer, even if he signed a new max deal. That’s because the salary he’d make next year on his existing deal represents a more than 10% raise on his pay this season, and he’d be limited to no more than a 5% raise if he becomes a free agent, unless the maximum salary for a player of his experience exceeds that amount. It won’t be clear just how high that max, which was $19,181,750 this past season, will climb until after the July Moratorium, past the deadline for Bosh to decide on that option.
He’d have to opt out to give the Heat a discount, and he said today that he’d take less “if that’s what it takes.” It’s conceivable that Heat president Pat Riley will appeal to his stars to take less this summer to alleviate the club’s heavy tax burden, as Miami would have to pay crippling repeat-offender tax rates if it winds up above the tax line again next season. Cheaper deals for Bosh, James and Wade would also allow the team greater flexibility to add talent to an aging roster.
Jason Kapono Retires
Nine-year NBA veteran Jason Kapono has decided to retire, as David Pick of Eurobasket.com reports (Twitter link). The 33-year-old last played professionally for Panathinaikos of Greece in 2012/13 after appearing in 27 games for the Lakers in 2011/12. The Cavs acquired him in a trade at the 2012 deadline, waiving him soon after, and a series of workouts the following September with the Spurs was his last brush with the NBA.
Kapono was one of the league’s elite sharpshooters, leading the NBA in three-point percentage in 2006/07 and 2007/08 with the Heat and Raptors, respectively. The Cavs drafted him in the second round in 2003, and he played in Cleveland, Charlotte and Philadelphia in addition to his time with the Lakers, Miami and Toronto. He won a championship with the Heat in 2006, but he played in only one playoff game that year. He had a much greater role in the postseason for the Raptors two years later, averaging 15.6 points per game in 30.4 minutes per contest in a five-game first-round defeat.
The former UCLA Bruin made nearly $28.5MM for his career, according to Basketball-Reference. He drew his highest annual salary of $6.6MM for the Sixers in 2010/11, but he averaged a career-low 4.7 MPG that season.
Bulls, Warriors, Nets Eye Toure’ Murry
Toure’ Murry is set to hit free agency in July, and even though he made barely a ripple for the Knicks this season after making the team out of training camp, he’s drawing interest from the Bulls, Warriors and Nets, among others, reports Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. Murry would become a restricted free agent if the Knicks extend a qualifying offer worth more than $1MM, about $200K more than he would make on the minimum salary next season. Rival suitors are hoping Knicks president Phil Jackson, who wasn’t around when the team signed Murry and elected to keep him past the leaguewide guarantee date, finds the qualifying offer too high and allows Murry to become an unrestricted free agent, Begley notes.
Murry averaged 2.7 points in 7.3 minutes per game in 51 appearances this past season, his first in the NBA after going undrafted out of Wichita State in 2012. The guard spent his first year after turning pro in the D-League, notching just 8.3 PPG in 23.4 MPG for the Rockets affiliate. Still, Murry beat out a handful of veterans with NBA experience in Knicks training camp this fall as owner James Dolan pushed for more youth on the team. The Knicks chose in December to retain Murry instead of Chris Smith, the brother of J.R. Smith, angering the former Sixth Man of the Year.
The Bernie Lee client took home the rookie minimum salary of $490,180 this year, making him cheaper than veteran options, but his minimum would be $816,482 next season, a relatively significant jump. Chicago, Golden State and Brooklyn no doubt have Murry fairly low on their wish lists, but even a modicum of interest at this point in the offseason indicates that there’s a chance he’ll make more than the minimum next season. It appears at least that, unlike this past summer, he’ll receive offers for guaranteed salary. There’s probably a decent chance he’ll become sign-and-trade fodder should the Knicks attempt to construct a larger swap with one of the teams that likes his game.
Draft Rumors: Embiid, Parker, Wiggins, Ennis
Several around the league believe Joel Embiid will only work out for the Cavs and Bucks as confidence grows that he won’t slip to the Sixers at No. 3, according to Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins will likely audition only for the teams with the top three picks, a source tells Holmes, though that’s much less noteworthy than the Embiid news, which signals that concerns about the health of his back are abating. Still, it appears as though Nuggets GM Tim Connelly would prefer Parker to Embiid and Wiggins if he somehow managed to have a choice, observes Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post (on Twitter). Here’s more from a busy afternoon of draft-related news:
- Toronto native Tyler Ennis will work out for the Raptors on Thursday, the team announced.
- Glenn Robinson III is auditioning for the Hawks today and the Hornets later this week, and he expects to do so for the Spurs, Bulls and Bucks sometime soon, as he tells MLive’s Brendan F. Quinn (hat tip to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution).
- Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com adds T.J. Warren, Cleanthony Early and K.J. McDaniels to the players working out on June 3rd for the Celtics (Twitter link).
- The Bulls will play host to workouts for Jordan McRae, Devyn Marble and C.J. Fair on Wednesday, Goodman tweets, adding their names to Rodney Hood‘s, which Goodman reported Monday.
- Marble pulled out of his workout with the Bucks today, but the two sides will reschedule, according to Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times (on Twitter).
- The Suns are auditioning Keith Appling, Alec Brown, Deonte Burton, Artem Klimenko, Jakarr Sampson and Jamil Wilson today, tweets Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Appling will also show off this week for the Pistons, Raptors and Wolves, agent Michael Silverman tells Matt Charboneau of The Detroit News.
- The Knicks will work out Ian Chiles, a source tells Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia.
- Xavier Thames auditioned for the Heat today, and he’s set to do so with the Bucks, Bulls, Celtics, Hornets, Knicks, Jazz, Mavericks and Pacers, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).