Grizzlies Sign Dave Joerger To Extension
4:51pm: The deal is official, the team announced on its website.
“Following an open and honest dialogue with Dave, it became clear that Dave was fully committed to Memphis and we are committed to him,” Pera said as part of the statement. “I look forward to seeing Dave build upon the foundation he helped establish over the last seven years, and we are both committed to bringing a championship to Memphis.”
4:04pm: The fifth-year team option includes a raise over his salaries in the first four seasons of the contract, as Sam Amick of USA Today reports (on Twitter). Joerger has been set to make close to $2MM a year.
4:00pm: Memphis agreed to guarantee what had been a fourth-year team option on Joerger’s deal and add a fifth-year team option, tweets Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal.
3:47pm: The Grizzlies and coach Dave Joerger have agreed to a two-year extension, reports Eric Hasseltine of SiriusXM NBA Radio, who spoke with with Joerger this afternoon on 92.9 ESPN Radio in Memphis (Twitter links). Joerger already had two seasons left at more than $2MM, but Grizzlies owner Robert Pera reportedly “improved” the deal this weekend amid a reconciliation that forestalled Joerger from leaving the team to take the Wolves head coaching job.
The deal is the latest outgrowth of Pera’s decision eight days ago to dismiss CEO Jason Levien and assistant GM Stu Lash. Memphis brass reportedly saw Joerger as a “Levien guy”, and Pera was prepared to fire the first-year coach earlier this season. There was supposedly mutual “hate” between Joerger and team attorney-turned-scouting director David Mincberg, whose role within the basketball operations department appeared to grow and just as quickly shrink within recent days.
Joerger, a Minnesota native, interviewed with Wolves president of basketball ops Flip Saunders, with whom the Grizzlies coach is close, as well as Wolves owner Glen Taylor. He appeared well on his way to filling their vacancy before he met with Pera this past weekend and, in a stunning turn, agreed to remain in Memphis. The Grizzlies went 50-32 and took the Thunder to seven games in the first round of the playoffs this past season, Joerger’s first as an NBA head coach.
Lakers Interview Kurt Rambis
The Lakers have interviewed assistant coach Kurt Rambis for their head coaching job, reports Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com first reported he was on the club’s initial list of candidates soon after former coach Mike D’Antoni resigned. Rambis also appears to be in the running to become the next Knicks head coach, as Shelburne also reported this month, and while he’s likely to interview for that job, too, it seems he has a better shot to become an assistant in New York than the head man on the Knicks bench.
Rambis has ties to Phil Jackson, having served as a Lakers assistant while the current Knicks team president manned L.A.’s bench, as well as the Showtime era Lakers. He played on four of L.A.’s five championship teams in the 1980s. Rambis served as head coach for the final 37 games of the 1999 season for the Lakers before returning to his role as an assistant, and he also had a disastrous two-year stint as Wolves head coach, going 32-132.
His wife, Linda, is close friends with Lakers co-owner Jeanie Buss, perhaps giving him an advantage that the team’s other handful of interviewees don’t possess. Mike Dunleavy and Byron Scott have already interviewed for the job, while Alvin Gentry and Lionel Hollins are scheduled to do so this week.
Biannual Exception
The most common method over-the-cap teams use to sign free agents from other teams is the mid-level exception, but it’s not the only tool those clubs can use to squeeze an extra player onto the payroll. The biannual exception is a way to sign a player who commands more than the minimum salary and less than the mid-level.
As its name suggests, the biannual exception can only be used every other year. Even if a team uses only a portion of the exception, it becomes unavailable the following year.
The biannual exception is available only to limited number of clubs, even among those that didn’t use the biannual the season before. Teams with player salaries, cap holds and cap exceptions that add up to less than the salary cap lose their biannual exception, as well as their full mid-level exception and any trade exceptions. They must use their cap room to sign players. Additionally, teams lose access to the biannual exception when they go more than $4MM over the tax threshold, exceeding what’s known as the tax apron. So, only teams over the cap but under the tax apron can use the biannual exception.
If a team uses all or part of the biannual exception, it triggers a hard cap for that season. Clubs that sign a player using the biannual can’t go over the tax apron at any time during the season in which the contract is signed.
The biannual exception provides for a starting salary of $2.077MM in 2014/15. That’s approximately 3% greater than the starting salary in a biannual deal this past season, and the figure will continue to rise by about 3% each year under the collective bargaining agreement. A biannual contract can be for either one or two seasons, with a raise of 4.5% for the second season. Teams also have the option of splitting the exception among multiple players. The bi-annual exception becomes pro-rated starting on January 10th, so it’s rarely used for late-season signees.
Five teams used the biannual exception in 2013/14, the most since 2009/10, as I noted last summer. Those five — the Nuggets, Wizards, Timberwolves, Warriors and Pacers — are ineligible to sign a player via the biannual in 2014/15. That’s true for Golden State even though Jermaine O’Neal only signed a one-year contract, for Denver even if Nate Robinson opts out, and for Washington even though the team traded Eric Maynor.
Previous versions of this post appeared on April 23rd, 2012 (by Luke Adams) and May 1st, 2013.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
Central Rumors: Cavs, Draft, Bulls, ‘Melo, Bucks
Chad Ford of ESPN.com heard conflicting reports about Cleveland’s plans for the No. 1 overall pick on the night of the lottery, and the confusion appears to persist. One source tells Ford for his latest Insider-only piece that Cleveland has already let Andrew Wiggins know that he’s in the lead to become the top pick, while another says the Cavs have narrowed their choices to Jabari Parker and Joel Embiid. The Bucks, meanwhile, don’t have Wiggins in their top two, Ford believes, but there’s plenty of time for that to change, as well. Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Ford clarifies that Tellem and the Cavs are confident not just that they’ll be able to arrange a meeting between Embiid and the team, but that they’ll work out a deal that will allow Cleveland to put Embiid through a physical exam (Twitter link).
Earlier updates:
- People close to the Bulls maintain doubt that owner Jerry Reinsdorf would allow the team to couple an amnesty of Carlos Boozer, which would still require Reinsdorf to pay him, with a max contract for Carmelo Anthony, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. That jibes with an earlier report that the Bulls will look to trade Boozer before amnestying him.
- The Cavs and agent Arn Tellem are in discussions, but both sides believe they’ll come to an agreement that will allow the team a look at Embiid, as Ford writes in the same piece. Presumably, that means Cleveland is likely to get a chance to have its doctors check out Embiid’s troublesome back, but Ford doesn’t specify just what Tellem would allow, so perhaps that’s still a matter of negotiation.
- Even if they don’t get a chance to check him out medically, there’s a chance the Cavs will have access to that sort of information from other teams, as Kyler also writes in his piece. Kyler hears that clubs will often share such intel to prevent agents from wielding too much control.
- That’s probably one reason why the Bucks are confident they’ll enter draft night with all the knowledge they’ll need, as Kyler writes, noting that sources tell him the Bucks expect to meet with and work out each of the top prospects.
Offseason Outlook: Denver Nuggets
Guaranteed Contracts
- Ty Lawson ($11,595,506)
- JaVale McGee ($11,250,000)
- Danilo Gallinari ($10,854,850)
- Wilson Chandler ($6,757,913)
- J.J. Hickson ($5,381,750)
- Timofey Mozgov ($4,650,000)
- Randy Foye ($3,000,000)
- Kenneth Faried ($2,249,768)
- Anthony Randolph ($1,825,359)
- Evan Fournier ($1,483,920)
Options
- Darrell Arthur ($3,457,149, Player)
- Nate Robinson ($2,106,720, Player)
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Quincy Miller ($915,243; guaranteed for $150,000)*
Free Agents / Cap Holds
- (Rudy Fernandez $5,451,108)
- Jan Vesely ($4,236,287)**
- No. 11 pick ($1,898,300)
- Aaron Brooks ($915,243)
- (Wesley Person $915,243)
Draft Picks
- 1st Round (11th overall)
- 2nd Round (41st overall)
- 2nd Round (56th overall)
Cap Outlook
- Guaranteed Salary: $59,049,066
- Options: $5,563,869
- Non-Guaranteed Salary: $765,243
- Cap Holds: $13,416,181
- Total: $78,794,359
Little has gone right for the Nuggets since Danilo Gallinari tore the ACL in his left knee two weeks before the start of the 2013 playoffs. Denver was cruising toward a 57-win finish in the regular season and a first-round matchup with the playoff neophyte Warriors. It’s difficult to say whether a healthy Gallinari would have swung that series, which Golden State won in upset fashion, but it’s clear that the Nuggets have been on a downward arc ever since. The team lost Executive of the Year Masai Ujiri, whose mastery with the Carmelo Anthony brought Gallinari and a host of others to Denver, and watched assistant GM Pete D’Alessandro spurn Denver for the Kings and their new ownership group. Nuggets president Josh Kroenke and company decided against bringing back Coach of the Year George Karl in a move that raised eyebrows, though they deserve credit for hiring well-respected Pacers assistant Brian Shaw to replace Karl. Kroenke is already turning away interest in Shaw from the Knicks, who’ve had eyes on the Phil Jackson protege.
The Nuggets also lost their prize from the summer before, as they agreed to participate in a three-way trade that sent Andre Iguodala to Golden State once it became clear the free agent wouldn’t re-sign in Denver. Receiving Randy Foye and a 2018 second-rounder was a pittance, but even that uneven exchange doesn’t fully explain Denver’s plummet down the standings. Season-ending injuries to JaVale McGee, Nate Robinson, J.J. Hickson together with a botched surgery that cost Gallinari all of 2013/14 fueled Denver’s nightmare. The failure to move up in this month’s draft lottery with two chances to do so was a fitting coda to a luckless year at the foot of the Rockies. The odds of so many injuries happening again are low, and there’s stability atop the organization with Shaw and GM Tim Connelly firmly entrenched. Still, there’s little opportunity for the Nuggets to climb to the heights from which they fell.
Robinson and Darrell Arthur intend to opt in for next season, so that means the Nuggets will have more than $64.6MM in commitments to start the summer, putting them over the projected $63.2MM salary cap. They’re nonetheless nowhere near the tax line, which is expected to rise to $77MM, so they’ll have the $5.305MM non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception at their disposal. That’s enough to add another complementary piece, and with the 11th pick in the draft, the Nuggets are primed to have a better roster this coming season. Kroenke and Connelly have both expressed confidence in a return to the playoffs, but even if the team is able to accomplish that feat, which is no given in the always-stacked Western Conference, there’s little to suggest the team will do any better than 2013’s first-round exit.
The most glaring need for the Nuggets is at starting shooting guard, the position at which the team was unable to replace Iguodala this past season. The free agent options available who’d be worthy of and willing to accept mid-level money range from the over-the-hill (Ray Allen, Vince Carter) to the pedestrian (Jodie Meeks) to the erratic (Nick Young). There are nonetheless a few intriguing choices, each fraught with the drawbacks inherent with anyone in the NBA’s middle class. Former No. 2 overall pick Evan Turner, who’s losing minutes in the playoffs to Rasual Butler, would be a buy-low candidate who provides versatility and above-average rebounding. Avery Bradley showed this season that he’s more than just a defensive stopper, but he’s a restricted free agent and he and the Celtics have mutual interest in a return, so it would probably take more than the mid-level to pry him from Boston. The Thunder have thrived for several years with Thabo Sefolosha starting at the two, but he’s never averaged as many as 30 minutes per game and rarely plays down the stretch. Plus, the Nuggets don’t have the likes of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant to make up for Sefolosha’s lack of offensive punch.
Shaun Livingston might be the most suitable target, particularly since the Nets only have the taxpayer’s mid-level of $3.278MM to lob at him. He’d fit the profile of the long, defensive-minded shooting guard that Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post pegs at the sort of player the team will likely target. His inspiring comeback from a gruesome injury probably gives him the sort of locker room presense Dempsey says the team will also be looking for. He’s more of a hybrid guard than a classic two-man, but the Nets thrived with Livingston and point guard Deron Williams together in the backcourt this year.
The draft offers plenty of shooting guard talent in the Nuggets’ range, too, and Denver has a decent chance to end up with its pick of Gary Harris, Nik Stauskas and James Young. Yet even if one of that trio winds up exceeding expectations in Denver, or if Livingston proves an even better fit next to Lawson than he was with Williams, it isn’t likely to vault the Nuggets into the Western Conference elite, much less give the club a legitimate shot at the championship. The most frequent criticism of Karl was that his clubs failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs, but a year removed from his tenure, it’s difficult to see how Shaw or anyone else could coach the Nuggets deep into the postseason anytime soon.
Connelly must prove as creative as Ujiri, if not more so, to move the franchise forward. Ujiri inherited his job amid the “Melo-drama” of Anthony’s impending exit for Denver, and the Anthony trade plus the team’s participation in the four-team Dwight Howard swap that brought Iguodala to Denver provided the foundation for the team’s 57 wins in 2012/13. Trades will most likely have to be the primary tools that shape the next successful Nuggets team. The deadline pickup of former No. 6 overall pick Jan Vesely didn’t work out, but it was a worthwhile venture in exchange for Andre Miller, whom the team wasn’t going to play, anyway. More such moves are required. The Nuggets already have more than $45MM on the books for 2015/16, so even if Denver were a popular free agent destination, which it is not, the team wouldn’t be in position to make a splash next summer, when a handful of stars can hit the open market. Those commitments don’t include a new deal for Kenneth Faried, with whom the team plans to talk extension this summer.
The team gauged the interest of other teams about trading for Faried at the beginning of the season, likely sparking a series of trade rumors leading up to the deadline, many of them involving Iman Shumpert and the Knicks. The Nuggets didn’t seem interested in New York’s offers, but concern that agent Thad Foucher would find a suitor willing to produce an eight-figure offer sheet in 2015 prompted Denver to make the initial trade inquiries, according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe. Faried made strides this season that have probably brought him closer to eight-figure territory, if not fully into it, but it’s unclear just how high Connelly and the Denver brass are willing to go at this point. As of February, the team was reportedly willing to draw a hard line in negotiations based on misgivings about Faried’s defense. Faried will turn 25 in November, so in spite of his improvement this past season, his ceiling probably isn’t much higher. Given the limited salary flexibility at play for the Nuggets and the restrictions that the Poison Pill Provision places on teams that attempt to trade players who’ve just received rookie scale extensions, Denver would be wise not to bend too far with Foucher and Faried.
The sort of superstar talent that’s generally required to win an NBA title rarely passes through Denver, unless it’s clothed in a road team’s uniform. Connelly possesses the unenviable task of building a contender without the benefit of high draft picks in a city that’s unappealing to most free agents. Still, such circumstances beget low expectations, and with that comes the necessary leeway for the sort of risky moves required to lift the franchise into the elite.
Cap footnotes
* — Miller’s salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before opening night.
** — The cap hold for Vesely is equivalent to the greatest amount Denver can offer him for next season. Because the Wizards declined their fourth-year team option on Vesely prior to the season, before trading him to the Nuggets, Denver isn’t allowed to re-sign him for a 2014/15 salary that’s more than he would have earned on that option.
ShamSports and Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ were used in the creation of this post.
Draft Notes: Hairston, Clarkson, Cotton
Memorial Day brought no shortage of updates on NBA draft prospects and teams as they schedule workouts, and today promises still more clues about the June 26th draft. Here’s the latest:
- P.J. Hairston will work out for the Suns, Celtics and Hornets in addition to today’s previously reported audition for the Heat, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.
- Jordan Clarkson is also on the agenda for the Heat, according to Goodman, who reiterates that Miami will put Jordan Adams and Jarnell Stokes through workouts, too (Twitter links).
- Bryce Cotton will also show off for the Heat, as well as the Spurs, his agent tells Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia.
- Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel adds seniors Chris Crawford of Memphis and Drew Crawford of Northwestern to the list of the prospects working out today for the Bucks.
- Jermaine Marshall of Arizona State is working out for the Rockets today, Carchia reports.
- It appears as though Nedim Buza will audition for the Bucks, Timberwolves and Nuggets, while Adin Vrabac has a workout with the Wolves on tap, according to agent Alexander Raskovic (Twitter links; hat tip to Sportando).
Hoops Rumors Features
Hoops Rumors passes along the latest news and rumors on NBA player movement 365 days a year, but those aren’t the only updates you’ll see on the site. On our right sidebar, you’ll find a number of additional features and featured posts. Here’s a rundown of a few of them:
- You can follow all of our updates about your favorite teams or players on your iPhone or iPad using the Hoops Rumors app.
- Free agency is just a little more than a month away. Our 2014 Free Agent Power Rankings look at the top 10 free agents for this summer, and you can find a complete list here. We’ve also begun to go in depth with our Free Agent Stock Watch series.
- Another project we’re in the midst of is our Offseason Outlook series, which will offer a detailed look at the summer ahead for each of the NBA’s 30 teams.
- We’re also keeping track of the 2015 free agents as the ability for Kevin Love, Rajon Rondo and others to hit the market next year already begins to affect the landscape of the league.
- We’ve spoken with several draft hopefuls to get their insight on the process for our Prospect Profile series, which examines the next wave of NBA players in detail. We highlight their strengths and weaknesses and handicap when they’ll hear their names called on draft night.
- Our latest mock draft from Alex Lee provides a glance at the draft from a team-by-team perspective, identifying likely candidates for each first-round selection.
- The official list of early entrants for the draft is right here.
- Our agency database is a handy reference point for determining the representation for virtually every NBA player.
- Using our 10-day contract tracker, you can find any 10-day contract signed this year or in any season since the 2006/07. You can sort by player, team, year and other variables.
- We give you a turn in the spotlight when we showcase the best reader comments with our new Hoops Rumors Featured Feedback posts.
- On Mondays at 4:00pm CT, I answer reader questions in a live chat. You can check out transcripts of our past discussions here.
- Our list of outstanding traded player exceptions is updated whenever a trade exception is created, used or expires.
- We’re tracking each team’s use of the amnesty clause. Our complete table shows which clubs have used the amnesty clause and which will have it available in the summer.
- The Hoops Rumors glossary helps explain some of the more complex concepts in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement.
- Zach Links rounds up the best of the blogosphere with Hoops Links on Sundays.
- If you’re looking to catch up, our Week in Review posts compile the top news and rumors from the past seven days, while our Hoops Rumors Originals posts recap the site’s original content for the week. Both roundups are published every Sunday.
- Be sure to check out the Featured Posts section on the right sidebar for more original pieces from the Hoops Rumors writing team. Recently, we went one-on-one with lottery prospect Rodney Hood, examined how teams are using 10-day contracts with increasing frequency, and explained how cap holds tie up would-be cap space.
Draft Rumors: Hood, Stokes, Fair, Hairston
The draft takes place one month from tonight, and teams are beginning to ramp up their schedule of workouts with prospects. Busy draft hopefuls include Rodney Hood, who’ll audition for eight lottery teams, and Jarnell Stokes, who’s working out for 11 teams drafting in the back half of the first round, as Zach Links of Hoops Rumors has learned (Twitter links). One of those teams is the Magic, as we passed along Sunday, and Hood will also work out for the Sixers and Bulls, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. The Wolves are on Hood’s schedule, too, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Stokes will show off for the Heat and Sixers, Goodman also tweets. Here’s more on an evolving draft landscape:
- Stokes will also audition for the Hawks and Bulls in addition to Miami and Philadelphia, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv tweets.
- The Bucks will audition Washington’s C.J. Wilcox, Iowa’s Devyn Marble, Pittsburgh’s Lamar Patterson, Virginia’s Joe Harris, and Missouri’s Jabari Brown on Tuesday, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Journal-Times.
- C.J. Fair will work out for the Bulls on Wednesday, the Bucks on Thursday, and the Hornets on Friday, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.
- P.J. Hairston, DeAndre Kane and Markel Brown are also among those auditioning for Minnesota, Wolfson reports in the same tweet in which he passed along the Hood news. Nick Johnson will join that group, and the Wolves are eyeing Melvin Ejim and Chane Behanan for workouts, too, Wolfson adds (on Twitter).
- Behanan will audition for the Sixers and Wolves, as well, Goodman reports via Twitter, seconding his earlier dispatch about Behanan’s workout with the Mavs. Russ Smith, Behanan’s former Louisville teammate, is slated to work out for the Heat, Thunder and Suns, Goodman tweets.
- Johnson will also work out for the Magic, Goodman notes (via Twitter). He’ll join Smart and Hood in Orlando, as previously reported.
- The Lakers are set to work out Marcus Smart and Noah Vonleh, while Vonleh will also audition for the Celtics and Kings, according to Goodman (Twitter links).
- Goodman adds the Raptors to the teams working out Kyle Anderson (Twitter link).
- The ESPN.com scribe also reports additional workouts for DeAndre Daniels, who’s set to get a look-see from the Hornets and Hawks (Twitter link).
- The Bulls, Suns and Grizzlies are on the workout agenda of Scottie Wilbekin, Goodman reports (on Twitter). The Suns, along with the Bucks and Lakers, are also among the trio of teams auditioning Joe Harris, Goodman tweets.
- Johnny O’Bryant III will work out for the Hawks, Raptors, Suns and Spurs, according to Goodman (Twitter link).
Eastern Notes: ‘Melo, Calipari, Sixers, Erden
Reports downplaying the Lakers’ interest in Carmelo Anthony have been around for months, but apparently Phil Jackson‘s arrival in New York created another reason why Anthony is unlikely to end up in purple-and-gold. Lakers co-owner Jeanie Buss, who’s engaged to Jackson, doesn’t like the idea of poaching Anthony from her fiance’s team, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. As a bicoastal romance threatens to play a role in NBA free agency, here’s more from Jackson’s half of the NBA:
- The Cavs went so far as to reach out to rumored coaching candidate John Calipari, but he’s still a long shot to coach the team, notes Bob Finnan of The News-Herald.
- Sixers draft-and-stash prospect Furkan Aldemir has agreed to a new three-year deal for the equivalent of more than $5.3MM with Galatasaray in Turkey, Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi reports. It’s unclear what sort of NBA escape clauses, if any, are part of the arrangement.
- Another Turkish team, Anadolu Efes, has opted out of its contract with former NBA center Semih Erden, tweets Ismail Senol of NTV Spor (translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Erden, now a free agent, last played in the NBA with the Cavs in 2011/12.
Jazz, Warriors Eye James Nunnally
Former Hawks and Sixers small forward James Nunnally will work out for the Warriors and Jazz, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. The 23-year-old who received four NBA 10-day contracts this past season has been playing for Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Puerto Rican league, and he’ll be leaving the club to audition for Golden State and Utah, according to Charania. Many of the free agents receiving NBA auditions at this point in the year are striving just to make summer league rosters, but Nunnally was one of the most sought-after training camp invitees last fall before winding up with the Suns, who carried him through the preseason.
Nunnally averaged 3.4 points in 12.7 minutes per game in 13 contests with Atlanta and Philly this past season, though he spent much of the year in the D-League, where he put up 18.1 PPG in 33.6 MPG to go along with 41.3% shooting from behind the arc. The performance earned him a trip to the D-League All-Star Game, and he’s put up remarkably similar numbers in Puerto Rico, notching 18.2 PPG in 31.4 MPG with 41.2% three-point shooting.
Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey typically casts a wide net, and he’ll also audition former Kings small forward Tyler Honeycutt. The Warriors have already had a busy offseason featuring a high-profile coaching search, and Steve Kerr, who emerged with the job, remains tied up with his broadcasting duties for TNT. Still, GM Bob Myers and company seem to remain engaged with the hunt for free agent talent, a need exacerbated by the team’s lack of draft picks in either the first or second round next month.