Bobcats Sign Abdul Gaddy
The Bobcats have officially announced their training camp roster, which includes Abdul Gaddy, confirming that he accepted the team's invitation. Fellow camp invitees Troy Daniels, Patrick O'Bryant and James Southerland are also listed on the 18-man roster, as expected. They join Jeff Adrien, who signed with the team last season, as Bobcats with non-guaranteed contracts. Jannero Pargo's deal is partially guaranteed for $300K.
Gaddy played with Charlotte's summer league team this year after going undrafted out of Washington in June. The point guard averaged 5.3 points and 2.3 assists for the summer Bobcats, but may have authored his most impressive performance at the Portsmouth Invitational before the draft, where he dished out an average of 6.3 assists in a little more than 31 minutes a game.
Charlotte has only 12 fully guaranteed deals, which would, on the surface at least, give Gaddy a decent shot to make the opening-night roster. However, Pargo is in line to be the team's third-string point guard behind Kemba Walker and Ramon Sessions, so Gaddy would likely have to unseat the veteran and convince the team to waive Pargo despite his partial guarantee.
Lakers Rumors: Free Agency, Dwight, SGs
Boston Globe scribe Gary Washburn's weekly look around the NBA includes a dispatch from Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak's chat with reporters this week in which Kupchak made it clear that his team won't settle for second-tier free agents.
"I know at some point in time we’ll be able to put together a very competitive and attractive team," Kupchak said. "I don’t think this is a franchise that can take 15 years to build through the draft. The worst thing you can do is be burdened with contracts that are $6-$7-$8MM a year that go out three or four years and have average players, and you’re kind of stuck in the middle. You’re not going to get a good draft choice and you don’t have financial flexibility. So in my opinion, we’re probably best set up as we can be for the future."
While Kupchak ponders future Lakers, here's more on Lakers past and present:
- Dwight Howard appeared to waver on his choice to join the Rockets before it became official, but the ex-Laker insists to Sam Amick of USA Today that he was firm in his decision, and that his 11th-hour meeting with Kupchak was always part of the plan.
- The Lakers have loaded up on shooting guards to cover for Kobe Bryant, who's still without a timetable for his return from injury, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports examines.
- This is the final season on the contracts of most of the players on the Lakers roster, and that can either lead to motivated team play or selfish, stat-driven gunning, posits Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times.
Kings Bringing Hamady N’Diaye To Camp
Hamady N'Diaye will join the Kings in training camp for the second straight season. He's one of 17 players listed on the team's camp roster, as Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee passes along. The 7-footer has seen minimal regular season action in the NBA, logging a total of 83 minutes over two seasons for the Wizards.
The Kings waived N'Diaye before the regular season last fall, and he agreed to a deal with Tianjin of China the same day. He averaged 11.0 points and 8.9 rebounds in 31 games with the Chinese club last season, parlaying that into a summer-league stint with the Mavericks this past July.
N'Diaye joins DeQuan Jones as Kings with non-guaranteed contracts. Trent Lockett, another camp hopeful, has a partial guarantee of $35K on his deal.
Grizzlies Sign Byars, Ely, Gaffney
The Grizzlies have officially announced the signings of Derrick Byars, Melvin Ely and Tony Gaffney. It's confirmation of news we heard about Ely and Gaffney earlier this month. Memphis extended a training camp invitation to Byars this week, but it hadn't been clear whether he accepted. The trio of signees brings the Memphis roster to 18.
Byars also drew interest from the Knicks around the same time he worked out for the Grizzlies this month. He was a second-round draft pick of the Blazers in 2007, but Portland traded him to the Sixers on draft night and Philadelphia cut him in training camp that fall. The 6'7" swingman from Vanderbilt has also been to camp with the Thunder, Bulls and Heat over the years, but he only has a pair of games with the Spurs in 2011/12 on his official NBA resume. Last year he split the season between Caciques de Humacao in Puerto Rico and ALBA of Germany.
Byars, Ely and Gaffney are all presumably on non-guaranteed deals with the Grizzlies, as are Josh Akognon and Willie Reed. The team has 13 fully guaranteed contracts, so it's possible that none of the five camp invitees make the opening-night roster, but it seems like the most impressive of the bunch will remain with Memphis into the regular season.
Elliot Williams To Join Cavs For Camp
Elliot Williams has accepted an invitation to join the Cavaliers for training camp, giving him another chance to fulfill the promise that made him a 2010 first-round pick, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who confirms that the deal is non-guaranteed. Williams missed all of 2012/13 for the Trail Blazers after tearing his left Achilles tendon, and he didn't play in his rookie year because of surgeries on both knees.
Portland took Williams 22nd in the 2010 draft, but he wound up only appearing in 24 games with the club, all of them in 2011/12. The shooting guard from Memphis averaged just 3.7 points in 6.2 minutes per game during his time with the Blazers, who declined the fourth-year option on his rookie deal before last season. Williams didn't take part in NBA summer league action this year.
Fellow NBA veteran Jermaine Taylor appears set to take part in Cavs camp as well, so Williams will bring Cleveland's roster to 17 players. Williams is a client of Wasserman Media Group agent Thad Foucher, as the Hoops Rumors Agency Database shows.
Cavs Invite Jermaine Taylor To Camp
The Cavaliers have extended a camp invitation to former Kings and Rockets shooting guard Jermaine Taylor, agent Michael Whitaker tells Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype (Twitter link). It's not entirely clear from the tweet whether Taylor has accepted the invitation, but since the news is coming from Taylor's camp, it seems he'll likely become the 16th player on Cleveland's roster.
The move isn't entirely a surprise, since Taylor's performance for Cleveland's summer league team drew praise from Cavs coach Mike Brown. The 6'4" Taylor averaged 12.8 points in 18.1 minutes per game for the summer Cavs. He also suited up for the Bulls' summer league team this year. Aside from that action, Taylor has been out of the NBA since 2011. He had a whirlwind 2012/13, playing for Lagun Aro Gipuzkoa BC in Spain, Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel, Shanxi Zhongyu in China and the Maine Red Claws of the D-League.
Assuming Taylor will be with the Cavs on a fully non-guaranteed contract, he'll join Kenny Kadji and C.J. Miles as the only Cavaliers without at least a partial guarantee. Eleven Cavs have fully guaranteed deals, and nearly half of Andrew Bynum's $12.25MM salary is guaranteed as well. That leaves Taylor with a decent shot at making the opening-night roster.
Sixers Rumors: Harris, Bynum, Anderson
While his basketball team stood in stasis, going most of the summer without hiring a head coach or signing a free agent, Sixers owner Josh Harris was busy purchasing the NHL's New Jersey Devils. That's led to speculation that the Sixers could join Harris' hockey team in the Garden State, but Harris seemed to dispel that sort of chatter when he spoke to reporters today, including Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, saying, "My answer to the fans is that I love the Sixers in Philly. I'm all in it." Pompey, Tom Moore of Calkins Media and Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com pass along more from Harris via Twitter, and we'll hit the highlights here along with other notes on the team most Hoops Rumors readers believe will finish this season with the NBA's worst record:
- Harris deemed last season "a big disappointment," so, "That made me feel empowered to make some changes," he said.
- Andrew Bynum didn't play a game for the Sixers last season, but Harris doesn't regret the trade that brought the center to Philly. "Getting Andrew Bynum was the right decision," the owner said. "I'm a big boy. We made a decision. It didn't work out."
- Harris acknowledges some of the team's other player personnel decisions haven't been sound, but he remains confident that the team can become a winner sooner or later.
- The owner said he's been traditionally more of a fan of basketball than hockey, and he insists he will remain committed to his NBA team even though he has the Devils now, too. "I'm totally focused on the Sixers," Harris said. "It won't change one iota how driven I am to make this a championship team."
- James Anderson is on a non-guaranteed contract, but he's practicing with the first unit and, as Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News points out, he appears to be the Sixers starting shooting guard for now (Twitter link).
- The team's strategy of overlooking this season's win-loss record might not sit well with fans, but at least the Sixers are doing so as part of a greater plan, Pompey opines.
Erik Spoelstra Signs Extension With Heat
12:28pm: Spoelstra has signed the extension, a source tells Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel (Twitter link).
9:00am: The Heat are close to ensuring coach Erik Spoelstra doesn't hit the open market next summer, as they're putting the finishing touches on a multiyear contract extension for the two-time champion bench boss, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Officials from several franchises have suggested to Wojnarowski that they would make a run at the Creative Artists Agency client if he were to become a free agent, so it appears the Heat are averting a bidding war.
Spoelstra's deal had been set to expire at the end of the 2013/14, which will be his sixth as head coach of the Heat. He took over a team that went 15-67 in Pat Riley's final season on the bench and, helped by Dwyane Wade's recovery from injury, guided it to a 43-39 record and a playoff berth. The Heat have finished with a record of better than .500 every year since Spoelstra took over as coach for the team he originally joined as video coordinator in 1995.
The extension will likely be announced before the Heat begin training camp this week. It'll be the second major management-related move for the team in the past few days, after Andy Elisburg's promotion to GM yesterday. In addition, Juwan Howard is joining Spoelstra's staff as an assistant coach.
Maggette Most Experienced Of NBA Camp Invitees
The dozens of players joining NBA teams this week with hopes of turning training camp invitations into full-time jobs come from a diverse array of sources, as I examined earlier this month. Players from overseas, undrafted guys straight out of college, and D-League veterans all make up sizable contingencies. So, too, do players with NBA experience, many of whom are looking to get back in the league after spending 2012/13 elsewhere. Others have spent their entire careers on NBA rosters and find their continued employment in the Association up in the air this month, like Corey Maggette.
No 2013/14 camp invitee has appeared in more NBA games than Maggette has. He's trying to latch on with the Spurs and add to his total of 827 appearances. He's one of a half dozen hopefuls with more than 500 games played, two of whom — Dahntay Jones and Mike James — are attempting to make the Bulls opening night roster. Conversely, there are seven players with fewer than 10 games of NBA experience, including D.J. Kennedy and Xavier Silas, who've seen just two games of action apiece.
For the purposes of this list, a camp invitee is defined as a player who is believed to be on a non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract that covers only the 2013/14 season. The players appear in descending order of regular season games played.
- Corey Maggette, Spurs (827)
- Rasual Butler, Pacers (638)
- Dahntay Jones, Bulls (589)
- Mike James, Bulls (584)
- Damien Wilkins, Hawks (563)
- Dan Gadzuric, Lakers (527)
- Roger Mason Jr., Heat (493)
- Royal Ivey, Hawks (490)
- Brian Cook, Jazz (421)
- Josh Childress, Wizards (387)
- Melvin Ely, Grizzlies (373)
- Michael Beasley, Heat (354)
- Dominic McGuire, Jazz (342)
- Lou Amundson, Clippers (327)
- Josh Powell, Knicks (315)
- Hilton Armstrong, Pacers (277)
- Solomon Jones, Magic (270)
- Sam Young, Spurs (249)
- Stephen Graham, Bucks (239)
- Ike Diogu, Knicks (225)
- Renaldo Balkman, Mavericks (221)
- James Johnson, Hawks (219)
- A.J. Price, Timberwolves (207)
- Darnell Jackson, Pacers (138)
- D.J. White, Bulls (136)
- Xavier Henry, Lakers (133)
- Gary Forbes, Nets (111)
- Patrick O'Bryant, Bobcats (90)
- Cole Aldrich, Knicks (89)
- Dwayne Jones, Jazz (82)
- Manny Harris, Magic (80)
- Joe Alexander, Warriors (67)
- Devin Ebanks, Mavericks (63)
- DeQuan Jones, Kings (63)
- Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Wizards (61)
- Dexter Pittman, Bulls (48)
- Mike Harris, Jazz (34)
- Damion James, Nuggets (34)
- Othyus Jeffers, Timberwolves (31)
- Solomon Alabi, Sixers (26)
- Mickell Gladness, Magic (26)
- Julyan Stone, Raptors (26)
- Chris Wright, Raptors (24)
- Diante Garrett, Thunder (19)
- Kris Joseph, Magic (10)
- Justin Holiday, Jazz (9)
- Chris Johnson, Nets (8)
- Scott Machado, Jazz (6)
- Eric Dawson, Hawks (4)
- Darius Johnson-Odom, Lakers (4)
- D.J. Kennedy, Mavericks (2)
- Xavier Silas, Wizards (2)
Pacific Links: Nunnally, Bogut, Rivers, Lakers
James Nunnally was a sought-after commodity before he agreed to join the Suns for training camp. The Grizzlies also extended a camp invitation, and he went through workouts out for the Spurs, Jazz and Pelicans this month. Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside examines the 6'7" forward's journey from the D-League's Bakersfield Jam to the Suns, one of four NBA franchises that counted Bakersfield as one of their affiliates last season. There's more from Phoenix amid our roundup of the latest from the Pacific Division:
- The Warriors are taking a "wait-and-see approach" to a possible contract extension for a reinvigorated Andrew Bogut, writes Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group. An extension doesn't appear to be chief among Bogut's priorities, which is the case for most NBA veterans, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors explained.
- New Clippers boss Doc Rivers admits being "wishy-washy" as he recounts the back-and-forth decision process that led him to L.A. from the Celtics in a one-on-one with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
- Dwight Howard might be with the Rockets now, but he still casts a shadow over the Lakers as they open camp, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News details.
- The past 12 months have been unusually disappointing for a Lakers franchise that's been so successful, and with GM Mitch Kupchak's admission that the new CBA makes it difficult to attract free agents, the outlook is bleak for the purple-and-gold, opines Jeff Miller of the Orange County Register.
- Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic looks back on an offseason of sweeping change for the Suns.