Magic, Nikola Vucevic Interested In Extension
Center Nikola Vucevic hasn’t shown the rapid growth this season that he displayed in a breakout campaign last year, but Magic GM Rob Hennigan nonetheless remains high on the 23-year-old, according to Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter links). Vucevic is similarly enthused about a long-term future in Orlando, Schmitz also notes, and he’ll be eligible to sign a rookie scale extension this summer.
“I’d love to be in Orlando for a while,” Vucevic said. “I like the direction of the team. We have a lot of good stuff going forward. I’d love to be a part of it.”
Hennigan is similarly hopeful that he can accommodate the client of BDA Sports Management. Vucevic could sign an extension for up to four years, or five if the Magic are willing to make him their designated player, which would restrict them from handing out another five-year rookie scale extension anytime soon. He could get a starting salary worth as much as 25% of the salary cap, or 30% in the unlikely event he triggers the Derrick Rose Rule provisions. The Magic can sign him to an extension any time between the end of the July Moratorium and October 31st this year. He’d become eligible for restricted free agency if the two sides can’t agree by Halloween.
Vucevic, who’s missed most of this month with a concussion, is averaging 13.0 points and 11.0 rebounds with a 17.8 PER, numbers almost identical to the ones he posted last season. A 6’10” consistent double-double producer is a valuable commodity in the NBA, but it’d be a stretch for him to command the max. He could fit into the $12-13MM range that Al Horford and Joakim Noah make on their deals, though that’s just my speculation.
Suns Will Match Any Offer For Eric Bledsoe
Eric Bledsoe is out of action while he recovers from a torn meniscus in his right knee, and while the point guard has left open the possibility he could miss the rest of the season, Suns owner Robert Sarver says it won’t affect negotiations this summer. Bledsoe will be a restricted free agent, and while any team can offer him a four-year deal with a starting salary up to 25% of the salary cap, Sarver appears ready to exercise his right to match any such offer, as the owner tells Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic.
“I think we had a pretty good idea of who Eric was when we traded for him,” Sarver said. “So I wouldn’t say we need to see more of him to match any offer. Obviously, we’d like to see more of him because our team plays better when he’s playing. And we’re competing (now), we’re making a playoff run this year. And I think if we can get him back, not only can we make a playoff run, we have a chance to be a team that can win in the playoffs, too.”
Sarver’s comments echo those of GM Ryan McDonough, who said at the beginning of the month that the Suns would do “whatever it takes” to keep the 24-year-old. Other teams could offer Bledsoe four-year contracts worth a total of approximately $60MM, depending on next year’s cap figure, while the Suns could sign the Rich Paul client outright to a five-year deal for between $75MM and $80MM. McDonough noted the team’s relatively clean books in the years ahead, so apparently the team is willing to turn over a sizable chunk of its cap space to the former 18th overall pick it acquired via trade from the Clippers this summer.
McDonough and coach Jeff Hornacek have said Bledsoe will definitely be back on the court this season, and Bickley thinks Bledsoe’s slightly less optimistic tone may simply be a matter of semantics. Regardless, it appears Sarver has already made his decision, based on Bledsoe’s performance so far this year in his first crack as a full-time starter. He’s put up 18.0 points and 5.8 assists per game with a career-high 20.0 PER.
Celtics Rumors: Rondo, Bayless, Crawford
Celtics GM Danny Ainge denied earlier this season that any team had so much as inquired about Rajon Rondo‘s availability via trade, and while that seemed a little far-fetched, he isn’t changing his story much.
“I actually did have a team call me and say, ‘Hey, would you have any interest in trading Rondo?’ Before he even offered me a package,” Ainge said to Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe. “And I said no. And that’s it. That’s as long as the conversation happened.”
There’s plenty more from Ainge amid our look at the latest on the Celtics:
- The Celtics boss also tells Holmes that the trade rumors about Rondo have emanated from outside the organization. “It’s just people, like I think recently, somebody, one of the national media guys, made a comment like, ‘Oh, I was talking with some NBA people on the road and they all think Danny is going to trade Rondo,'” Ainge said. “Well, it’s not like there’s a source. It’s just people that have their own opinion, sitting around, having a Diet Coke, talking about what I’m going to do with Rondo. Which is fine.”
- Ainge says he’s hesitant to build around a single player, whether it’s Rondo or anyone else. “Nobody is ‘the future of the franchise,'” Ainge said to Holmes. “A franchise is bigger than any one individual. But we love him. That’s what [the extension offer] explains.”
- Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com examines what Rondo could make on an extension if he signed one now, and compares it to the more lucrative alternatives of signing an extension this summer or waiting to ink a deal as a free agent in 2015.
- Jerryd Bayless shares his impressions of the Celtics since coming to Boston via trade earlier this month and reiterates his desire to remain with the team long-term in a blog post on his personal website (hat tip to Forsberg).
- Ainge let Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald know that part of the motivation to trade Jordan Crawford was to open up more playing time for Phil Pressey. Still, Ainge says he remains high on Crawford and MarShon Brooks, who also departed in that deal, and Ainge added that he’ll keep an eye on both when they hit free agency this summer.
- The Celtics have six extra draft picks between this year and 2018, and that’s a reflection of a long-held philosophy that Ainge explains to Bulpett. “I’ve always believed that you build through the draft,” he said. “And whether those drafted players are Al Jefferson, who you love, and Delonte West, who we developed and loved, and then move them for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen — or whether those draft picks turn into Rajon Rondo or Paul Pierce and they’re with you forever.”
Sixers Re-Sign Dewayne Dedmon
FRIDAY, 10:29am: The deal is official, according to the team.
THURSDAY, 7:38pm: According to Moore, the 76ers will re-sign Dedmon to another 10-day contract (Twitter link).
8:25am: Sixers coach Brett Brown has little doubt the team will re-sign center Dewayne Dedmon to a second 10-day contract once his existing deal expires tonight, observes Tom Moore of Calkins Media. The Sixers announced yesterday that fellow big man Brandon Davies would miss four to six weeks with a broken finger, making it even more likely that Dedmon will get another deal, notes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.The team will make its decision today, according to Brown.
“I like what we’ve seen in him,” Brown said of Dedmon. “There’s a size and an enthusiasm and an energy.”
Dedmon says he isn’t sure of his status, but it appears the Michael Silverman client will be sticking around Philadelphia. The Warriors have also been interested in bringing him back after waiving him earlier this season, though Golden State has a full 15 man roster after acquiring Jordan Crawford and MarShon Brooks via trade last week.
The rookie has put up 3.6 points in 14.8 minutes per game for the Sixers after appearing for just six minutes total in more than two weeks with Golden State. Philadelphia has 14 guaranteed contracts, so the team will soon have decide whether to commit its final open roster spot to Dedmon. The Sixers would have to sign him for the season or let him go once his second 10-day contract expires.
Marcus Thornton Remains On Trade Block
Kings guard Marcus Thornton drew mention in late November as a player the Kings would “love” to move, and two months and two trades later, Sacramento is still trying to deal the 26-year-old shooting guard, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The Kings have maintained an aggressive posture in search of trades throughout the season, engineering a pair of swaps to acquire Rudy Gay and Derrick Williams.
Thornton’s name came up earlier this month as part of a reported proposal the Kings made to the Nuggets for Andre Miller. The Kings inserted Thornton into the starting lineup at about the same time, but he’s averaged slightly less than 24 minutes per game as a starter this month, similar to the amount of playing time he saw as a reserve. His 7.3 points and 7.5 shot attempts per game are career lows by significant margins, and his 9.1 PER is the first below-average mark in that category for Thornton in his five NBA seasons. It’s a stark contrast to the 2011/12 season, when he was Sacramento’s leading scorer.
The 6’4″ shooting guard is Sacramento’s second-highest-paid player, making slightly more than $8MM this year. He’ll make $8.575MM next season in the final year of his contract. That deal is probably making it difficult for GM Pete D’Alessandro to find takers for Thornton, and the Kings would be selling low if they were to trade him.
Sacramento has Ben McLemore, the seventh overall pick from this past June, seemingly penciled in as the shooting guard of the future, so it doesn’t appear there’s much of a call for Thornton on the Kings. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if D’Alessandro hangs on to Thornton through the deadline and tests the market for him again in the summer, when his expiring contract would probably net more in return.
Blazers To Mull Aldridge Extension After Season
Amid an MVP-level performance from LaMarcus Aldridge last night, Blazers owner Paul Allen said the team would wait until after the season to consider an extension for the power forward, who recently expressed a willingness to sign an extension with the club. Allen spoke to media at halftime of last night’s victory over the Nuggets, a game in which Aldridge went for a career-high 44 points and was the only Blazer to score in the final 9:18. Ben Golliver of Blazer’s Edge provides a transcript of Allen’s remarks.
“I talked to [GM] Neil [Olshey] about those things,” Allen said, in reference to an extension for Aldridge. “As you guys know, at the appropriate time we’ll consider all those options. That’s usually when it’s time to look at an extension — after the season is over.”
That’s similar to Olshey’s comment from earlier this month that extension negotiations would not be a “conversation that’s going to play out in the media in January,” a remark he made to Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune. Allen nonetheless praised Aldridge’s performance this season and cited his improved leadership skills.
It’s somewhat surprising to see the Blazers put the brakes on extension chatter, given Aldridge’s seeming discontent with Portland in the past, but it’s no shock. They could only add two years to his contract if they signed him to an extension between now and June 30th. Portland can tack three years onto Aldridge’s deal with any extension signed after July 1st. It may also be wise to see if Aldridge can sustain his career-best level of play over an entire season. The Arn Tellem client is under contract until the summer of 2015.
Allen also dispelled the notion that the Blazers would make a major move before the trade deadline to solidify their status as a contender. Rumors linked Portland to Omer Asik when the Rockets were aggressively shopping the center last month.
“I think we’re looking more at internal development, what changes we can make or tweaks we can make,” the owner said. “I don’t think we’re looking at any blockbuster trades or anything like that. Although we always listen.”
The Bulls And The Luxury Tax
The Bulls paid the luxury tax for the first time in franchise history last season, a year they clung to ill-fated hopes that Derrick Rose would return from a torn ACL. They were set up to do so again as 2013/14 began, with a healthy Rose and legitimate title aspirations. The odds of a championship became almost nil in late November when Rose tore his meniscus, which likely ends his season prematurely for the third year in a row. Without the specter of the Larry O’Brien trophy to serve as justification for the extra spending, the Bulls traded Luol Deng and slipped beneath the luxury tax line. But not by much.
Chicago waived Andrew Bynum soon after the swap became official, and within hours of the deadline to do so before his $12.25MM salary would have become fully guaranteed. With Bynum’s cap hit reduced to $6MM, the Bulls had a team salary of $71,199,202, perilously close to the $71.748MM tax threshold. That’s less than $550K worth of room, barely enough to cover a pro-rated minimum-salary contract.
The release of Bynum left Chicago with 12 players, and teams can only stand at a dozen for two weeks at a time. So, the Bulls were going to have to spend more money and draw ever closer to the tax line. They took a pair of incremental steps in that direction with consecutive 10-day contracts for Cartier Martin, adding $104,034 to their books.
Tuesday’s swap of Marquis Teague for Tornike Shengelia helped draw Chicago back from the brink. Teague’s $1,074,720 salary is greater than Shengelia’s one-year veteran’s minimum of $788,872. Rookies and players with a single season of experience who are making the minimum and weren’t signed as draft picks, like Shengelia, count toward the tax as though they were making the two-year veteran’s minimum of $884,293. Since Shengelia signed his contract with Brooklyn as a second-round draft pick in 2012, his salary still counts as $788,872 toward the tax. That means the Teague/Shengelia swap left the Bulls with a team salary of $71,017,388, which is $730,612 beneath the tax line.
With Kirk Hinrich out for at least a week because of a strained right hamstring, the departure with Teague left the Bulls with midseason signee D.J. Augustin as their only healthy point guard. Chicago added depth with Wednesday’s signing of Mike James to a 10-day contract, bumping the team payroll by another $52,017 and reducing the breathing room underneath the tax line to $678,595, close to where the Bulls had been after releasing Bynum.
That figure isn’t set in stone. Players whose contracts include incentive bonuses that they’re unlikely to trigger can add to team salary if they pull a surprise and earn the bonuses. Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson have such clauses in their deals, so it’s possible they could outperform expectations and bump the Bulls into tax territory. Exactly what Noah and Gibson have to do to earn their bonuses hasn’t been reported. The Bulls are aware of what those incentive clauses stipulate, of course, and that knowledge could play a role in the decisions the team makes between now and the final day of the regular season, when team salary is locked in for tax calculations.
The Bulls hope to sign Martin for the rest of the season, and doing so wouldn’t allow enough room under the tax line for them to do so with James, at least not without some gap in his employment with the team. That means the Bulls and the 38-year-old journeyman will almost certainly be parting ways.
The team’s ability to stay out of the tax this year is reportedly playing a role in the team’s uncertainty regarding Carlos Boozer. The Bulls long seemed destined to amnesty Boozer this summer, but if they’re not taxpayers this season, they could pay the tax in 2014/15 without triggering repeat offender penalties. Even without that incentive for cutting costs this year, owner Jerry Reinsdorf isn’t known as a profligate spender, and so it appears the Bulls will do all that they can to avoid the tax this year.
Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and ShamSports.com were used in the creation of this post.
Pacific Notes: Jackson, Warriors, Goodwin
Three teams are separated by just two games in the loss column atop the Pacific Division. One of them isn’t the Lakers, of course, but the purple-and-gold are nonetheless the division’s only squad in TNT’s nationally televised doubleheader this evening. While we await tip-off, here’s the latest from the Pacific:
- Former Lakers coach Phil Jackson on Wednesday made his most definitive statement to date that he won’t return to the bench, as part of an interview on Fox Sports Live (Twitter link). The Zen Master left some wiggle room in previous comments, casting it as unlikely he’d coach again but leaving the door slightly ajar. This time, he made it almost entirely certain. “I’m not going to coach again,” Jackson said, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News transcribed. “I’ve done my coaching and I think I can put that aside.”
- Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob acknowledged that the team’s goal of moving into a new arena in San Francisco by 2017 will be difficult to meet, as he told Gary Radnich and Larry Krueger of KNBR radio Thursday. The hurdles to construction for the proposed bayside arena have long made the timetable seem far-fetched, as Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle points out.
- The Suns have yet to make an official announcement, but they’ve told Archie Goodwin they’ll send him to the D-League, according to Craig Grialou of ArizonaSports.com. GM Ryan McDonough says the 29th overall pick in the 2013 draft will play a pair of games this weekend for the Bakersfield Jam before rejoining the Suns. It’ll be Phoenix’s first D-League assignment this year.
Two NBA Teams Keeping Tabs On Mickael Pietrus
Mickael Pietrus is one of the most prominent free agents from this summer who’s still without a deal, and he’s rejected “significant” offers to play overseas in hopes of landing an NBA job, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.com. A pair of NBA clubs have maintained frequent contact with the 31-year-old swingman as he works out on his own in Orlando, Charania hears, though it’s not clear which teams those are.
Pietrus turned down a camp invitation from the Spurs this fall in search of a guaranteed contract. He held out for a guaranteed deal in 2012 and got one from the Raptors on the last day of November that year, but the strategy hasn’t proven as successful this time around for the client of Bill McCandless. There hasn’t been any chatter of significance about Pietrus since the start of preseason.
The 10-year NBA veteran has averaged 8.3 points in 20.3 minutes per game for his career, with a below-average 11.6 PER. His production was off in a similar amount of minutes with the Raptors last season.
Pelicans Waive Tyshawn Taylor
1:22pm: The Pelicans reached a buyout agreement with Taylor, according to John Reid of The Times Picayune, though it’s unclear how much money the one-year veteran gave up.
THURSDAY, 11:12am: The team has officially announced the move.
WEDNESDAY, 4:55pm: The Pelicans have waived Tyshawn Taylor, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). John Reid of The Times Picayune noted earlier that the team was unsure about Taylor’s future in New Orleans after acquiring him via trade from the Nets on Tuesday. The move opens up a roster spot for the Pelicans, who had been carrying the maximum 15 players.
Reid’s story suggested that Taylor might buy out the remainder of his guaranteed minimum-salary deal, but it’s not clear whether that happened. If there was no buyout, the point guard’s $788,872 will remain on the Pelicans’ books unless another team claims him off waivers. There’s a chance that a team could put in a claim, given the diminutive size of the 23-year-old’s contract and the fact that he’s unlikely to sign for more money elsewhere. Regardless, the Nets sent enough cash to New Orleans to cover their obligation to Taylor, so the Pelicans aren’t taking a financial hit.
Shedding Taylor gives the Pelicans more flexibility to add an interior player, as I explained earlier today. New Orleans is reportedly seeking a big man.