Greg Oden Signs With Heat
AUGUST 7TH: The Heat have officially signed Oden, the team announced today (Twitter link).
AUGUST 2ND: Greg Oden will sign with the Heat, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. It's a two-year deal with a player option for the final season, Goodman adds. The two sides agreed on a minimum-salary contract, according to fellow ESPN.com scribe Marc Stein, who adds that Oden will officially sign the pact on Monday (Twitter links).
The deal is a coup for Heat president Pat Riley, not only because Oden chose Miami over five other finalists, but because he consented to the minimum salary, tweets Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. That allows the Heat to preserve their mini mid-level exception should an enticing player come available at some point this season.
The Spurs and Mavs appeared as of last night to be Miami's primary competition, with the Pelicans next in line, followed by the Kings and the Hawks. Sources from three Western Conference teams among those spurned finalists told Stein minutes before news broke of Oden's decision that they were informed that they wouldn't be landing the former No. 1 overall pick, and that they believed he was headed to Miami (Twitter link).
Oden tells former Ohio State teammate Mark Titus of Grantland.com that the Heat became the front-runners for him when he visited Miami during the NBA Finals. Three months ago, Oden told Titus that he wanted to play in Cleveland because he liked playing in Ohio. About a year ago, Oden let Titus know that the plan was to reunite in Memphis with Mike Conley, another of their Buckeye teammates. Conley's father, Mike Conley Sr., is one of Oden's agents.
The 7'0" center has only played 82 games in his NBA career, but he was on the Blazers roster for five seasons, meaning he qualifies for a minimum salary of $1,027,424 this season, as Mark Deeks of ShamSports confirms (Twitter link).
Pistons Sign Peyton Siva
6:38pm: Keith Langlois of Pistons.com has more since the signing became official.
5:46pm: Pistons PR released a statement making the Siva signing official today:
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the club has signed draft selection Peyton Siva to a contract. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Siva was drafted by Detroit with the 56th pick in the second round of the 2013 NBA Draft. The 6-foot-1 guard averaged 10.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 5.7 assists as a senior last season while leading the University of Louisville to the NCAA Championship. He scored in double figures in 23-of-40 games last year, including 18 points and five assists in the championship game. A native of Seattle, Wa., Siva was named to the All-Big East Third team and the Final Four All-Tournament Team as a senior. He finished his collegiate career as Louisville’s second all-time assist leader with 677 assists.
11:30am: Siva tweeted a picture of himself signing the contract, so it seems the deal is complete (hat tip to MLive's Brendan Savage).
10:59am: The deal has not yet been made official, tweets Keith Langlois of Pistons.com, though he suggests that it will happen soon.
10:27am: The Pistons have signed 56th overall pick Peyton Siva, as Rick Pitino, Siva's college coach at Louisville, tells Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Last week's three-for-one trade that brought Brandon Jennings aboard cleared room for the rookie point guard. Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News reported last week that Siva was likely to sign.
Siva drew plenty of looks from teams during the lead-up to the draft, even as pundits like Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranked him as no better than a late second-round pick. That's what the defensive-minded 6'1" Siva became before heading off to the Orlando summer league. In four games with the Pistons squad in Orlando, Siva averaged 6.0 assists and 1.5 turnovers in 25.7 minutes of action, garnering Honorable Mention All-League honors.
Of course, that pales in comparison to Siva's decorated college career, when he garnered the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the NCAA's best undersized player in 2013 as he helped lead Louisville to the national championship. Despite his heroics, he's probably getting a minimum-salary contract from the capped-out Pistons, unless they're dipping into their $2.652MM room exception for him.
Spencer Lund contributed to this post.
Four Coaches To Get Second Interviews With 76ers
Sixers owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer will meet this week in New York with Kenny Atkinson, Brett Brown, Adrian Griffin and Jay Larranaga, giving those four their second interviews for the team's head coaching vacancy, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Another candidate, David Vanterpool, may join them for what would be his second interview, as well. Sixers assistant coach Michael Curry also remains in the running for the job.
A report this weekend named Vanterpool, a Blazers assistant, the favorite to land the job, while many other recent dispatches put Brown, an assistant with the Spurs, in the lead. The Sixers have been without a coach since Harris confirmed in mid-April that Doug Collins won't be back on the sidelines. New GM Sam Hinkie put the coaching search on the backburner shortly after that, but he's been deliberate even as he's reached out to candidates.
Wojnarowski mentioned Vanterpool, Brown, Curry and Celtics assistant Larranaga among the contenders last week, while a report earlier in July suggested the team had narrowed its choices to Brown and Curry. Atkinson, an assistant with the Hawks, has largely been off the radar aside from the report last month that he would get his first interview. Griffin, a Bulls assistant, interviewed with the Pistons earlier in the offseason, a couple months before the Sixers showed interest.
Odds & Ends: Thunder, Rondo, Ajinca, Sixers
TNT's David Aldridge ranks each team's offseason for NBA.com, and not surprisingly, the Rockets and Dwight Howard come out on top. There are still plenty of surprises among his picks, including the Bobcats at No. 8 — I'm not nearly as sold on Al Jefferson and Cody Zeller as Aldridge is. The Pelicans, for all their re-shuffling, check in down at No. 15. Here's more from the rest of the league:
- The Thunder's choice to cut corners and avoid the luxury tax stems from GM Sam Presti and his staff, not well-heeled owner Clay Bennett, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Curiously, Berger says the Thunder are getting $15MM from the league for the change to Kevin Durant's contract, conflicting with the $8MM figure Grantland's Zach Lowe reported last week.
- Rajon Rondo's name continues to wind up in rumors, so HoopsWorld's Joel Brigham looks at some possible trade scenarios involving the Celtics All-Star point guard.
- Alexis Ajinca spent the past two seasons playing for Strasbourg in France after three years in the NBA, and he's set to re-sign with the French club, HoopsHype's Jorge Sierra tweets. The deal will include an out in case Ajinca finds an NBA deal by September 30th.
- The Sixers coaching search has dragged on for months, but Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com bets the job winds up going to Michael Curry, who's an assistant with the team and has been able to give GM Sam Hinkie and company a first-hand look at his abilities.
- Former CBA commissioner Gary Hunter tells Gino Pilato of Ridiculous Upside that the D-League has become what he wanted his league to be. He also examines the effect that "hybrid" partnerships with NBA teams are having on the D-League.
- Amid reports that Kobe Bryant's torn Achilles tendon could be healed in time for him to play in the preseason, Arash Markazi and Mark Willard of ESPNLosAngeles.com debate whether he should take a hefty paycut next summer to help the Lakers (video link).
NBA Suspends Terrel Harris For Drug Violation
The NBA has announced a five-game suspension for Trail Blazers guard Terrel Harris because of a violation of the league's anti-drug program. The nature of Harris' transgression is not immediately clear.
Harris is on a minimum-salary, non-guaranteed deal with the Blazers that becomes partially guaranteed for $150K if he remains on the roster after October 31st. As long as the Blazers don't waive him, he'll get to attend training camp and take part in preseason games with the team, but he's set to miss the first five regular season games. The suspension will carry over if the Blazers cut him and he signs with another NBA club. Harris must serve the suspension without pay, so it would cost him $53,920 out of his full $884,293 salary for this season.
Porter Fischer, the whistleblower in the Biogenesis scandal that's rocking baseball, has claimed that NBA players are involved, but no credible evidence has come forward linking anyone in the league to the Miami clinic that allegedly supplied performmance-enhancing drugs to high-profile athletes. Harris spent 2011/12 and part of 2012/13 as a member of the Heat, though his proximity to the clinic may simply be circumstantial.
The length of the suspension indicates no link to PEDs, as USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt notes (via Twitter). The NBA's collective bargaining agreement calls for a 20-game suspension the first time a player is caught using PEDs.
The Blazers acquired Harris as part of the three-team deal that also brought Robin Lopez to Portland. As Mike Tokito of The Oregonian writes, Harris isn't expected to be part of the team's long-term plans, so the suspension may not affect the Blazers.
Texas Notes: Mavericks, Dwight, Denmon
Mark Cuban of the Mavericks and James Dolan of the Knicks are polar opposites when it comes to their willingness to talk about their teams, but both of them opened up this weekend. The loquacious Cuban went into a lengthy soliloquoy about his roster-building philosophy on his personal blog, as we passed along yesterday, while Dolan consented to a rare 90-minute interview with Shalini Ramachandran of the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Dolan held forth on high finance, his Cablevision empire, and even his rock-star experience touring with The Eagles, but said nary a word about his Knicks. So, we'll focus on reflections from Cuban's comments instead, and round up the day's news out of Texas:
- The Mavs have traded away their own first-round pick in every draft since 2007, and SB Nation's Tom Ziller wonders whether Cuban's tactic of unloading those picks just as other teams are so eager to scoop them up will catch on around the league.
- Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM.com calls the Mavs inability to sign new Rockets star Dwight Howard a "death blow" to Cuban's plan, and opines that clearing cap space for a run at a superstar is an unreliable strategy.
- Spurs 2012 second-round pick Marcus Denmon spent the past season playing for Chalon in France, and this year he'll play for Tofas Bursa in Turkey, as the Turkish outfit announced on its website (translation via Sportando's Emiliano Carchia).
Nets Invite Michael Snaer To Training Camp
The Nets have invited undrafted Florida State product Michael Snaer to training camp, according to Florida State's website. It's unclear whether he'll accept the invitation, but it seems likely he'll join the Nets and attempt to make the team's regular season roster, even though that figures to be an uphill battle, since Brooklyn is already carrying 15 guaranteed contracts.
The 6'4" shooting guard played four years at Florida State, averaging 14.8 points per game as a senior. He also grabbed 4.5 rebounds per contest this past season, an impressive number for his height. He exceled on the defensive end as well, earning ACC All-Defensive Team honors as a junior. Snaer played seven games in summer league action last month, notching 6.4 PPG and 3.3 RPG for the Thunder and Lakers.
Snaer is the 16th player on the Nets, but they, like every NBA team, can carry 20 players until opening night of the regular season, so a few more invitees will probably join him in Brooklyn's camp. Most of them will receive "summer contracts," which are one-year, non-guaranteed deals for the minimum salary.
Fewer Teams Giving Out Lucrative One-Year Deals
Last year, eight players signed one-year deals with NBA teams for at least $1.6MM, as our 2012 Free Agent Tracker shows. There's still time left in this offseason, but with most of the major deals complete, the market for high-dollar one-year contracts appears to have receded.
Chris Kaman scored the best one-year deal in 2012, an $8MM arrangment with the Mavs. He wound up with another one-year contract this year, a $3.183MM pact worth the value of the taxpayer's mini mid-level exception. Still, it qualifies as the summer's third-most expensive one-year deal, according to this year's Free Agent Tracker. The top money-maker on that list, Elton Brand, will receive $4MM from the Hawks this year, precisely half of what Kaman got when they were together with the Mavericks last year.
The Mavs' plan in 2012 was to find talent willing to come together for just a single season, allowing the team to clear cap space for a run at Dwight Howard and Chris Paul this summer. The plan didn't work, and the Mavs have abandoned it, but it's interesting to note that Kaman's deal was the team's only true one-year contract that exceeded the upper reaches of the minimum salary. The rest of the Dallas short-timers were on expiring contracts or de facto one-year deals that included options and non-guaranteed seasons. The Mavs acquired Brand for the final season of his long-term contract through amnesty waivers.
Four players on one-year deals last year made as much or more than Brand, including Nick Young, who signed with the Sixers for $5.6MM. Young's instant walk year didn't go as planned, and he wound up settling this time for a two-year minimum-salary deal with the Lakers. The opposite happened for J.J. Hickson, who exceled on one-year, $4MM contract for the Trail Blazers last year and cashed in with a three-year, $16.15MM deal from the Nuggets.
Below is every player who signed a one-year deal last year worth more than the minimum salary for veterans with 10 or more years of service ($1,352,181).Their follow-up contracts from this summer are also listed. Note that Martell Webster, who had the cheapest deal on the list, is the only player to re-sign with his team, and his new contract is the most expensive of any here:
- Chris Kaman, Mavs, $8MM: Signed a one-year, $4MM deal with the Lakers.
- Nick Young, Sixers, $5.6MM: Signed a two-year, minimum-salary deal with the Lakers.
- Chauncey Billups, Clippers, $4.3MM: Signed a two-year, $5MM deal with the Pistons.
- J.J. Hickson, Trail Blazers, $4MM: Signed a three-year, $16.5MM deal with the Nuggets.
- D.J. Augustin, Pacers, $3.5MM: Signed a one-year, $1.267MM deal with the Raptors.
- Randy Foye, Jazz, $2.5MM: Signed-and-traded on a three-year, $9.135MM deal to the Nuggets.
- Marco Belinelli, Bulls, $1.957MM: Signed a two-year, $5,623,750 deal with the Spurs.
- Martell Webster, Wizards, $1.6MM: Re-signed to a four-year, $21,990,500.
Here's what this year's list looks like, with two-thirds of the entries coming from the Pelicans and Warriors. This year's minimum salary for veterans of 10 seasons or more is $1,399,507, so we'll exclude anyone who isn't making more than that.
- Elton Brand, Hawks, $4MM.
- Al-Farouq Aminu, Pelicans, $3.75MM.
- Chris Kaman, Lakers, $3.183MM.
- Greg Stiemsma, Pelicans, $2.676MM.
- Jermaine O'Neal, Warriors, $2MM.
- Toney Douglas, Warriors, $1.6MM.
ShamSports was used in the creation of this post.
International Rumors: Mack, Price, Johnson-Odom
Just as international standouts like Gigi Datome, Vitor Faverani and Pero Antic have signed in the NBA this summer, several players who spent last season in the NBA will wind up overseas. We have the latest on a few more who could join them, and a rare player who turned down the chance at NBA stardom:
- A day after it seemed like Olimpia Milano of Italy would go after Shelvin Mack, the club has shifted its focus to A.J. Price, reports La Gazzetta dello Sport (translation via Sportando's Emiliano Carchia). Price, a free agent following his one-year deal with the Wizards last season, is more readily available than Mack, who wants to stay in the NBA even if his non-guaranteed contract with the Hawks doesn't last.
- Mens Sana, another Italian team, is targeting Darius Johnson-Odom, according to Carchia. The Lakers took Johnson-Odom with the 55th pick in the 2012 draft, and he appeared in four games with the purple-and-gold last season, mixed in with stints in the D-League and in Russia with Spartak St. Petersburg.
- Milos Teodosic reportedly turned down an offer from the Grizzlies last month, preferring to pursue the chance to stay in Russia, and CSKA Moscow confirmed on the team website today that he will remain with them (Carchia again with the translation).
Eastern Notes: Ivan Johnson, Wizards, Pistons
The Eastern Conference has been the weaker side of the NBA for more than a decade, but the teams at the top of the conference should rival their counterparts from the West this season. The Bulls, Pacers and Nets all figure to be tougher competition for the Heat in 2013/14, with the Knicks right behind. As we wait to see how it plays out, here's the latest news related to Eastern teams:
- Agent Jeremiah Haylett tells Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype that he's exploring overseas options for Ivan Johnson (Twitter link). The Knicks are one of six NBA teams who've spoken to the burly power forward, and though the Hawks were reportedly interested in bringing him back as of mid-July, they've since renounced his rights.
- Wizards coach Randy Wittman is glad the team locked up John Wall, who became the 15th NBA player to have a maximum-salary contract on the books when he signed his extension this week. J. Michael of CSNWashington.com has Wittman's thoughts on the team's offseason.
- The gamble that Brandon Jennings will be better than Brandon Knight in the long run is the latest in a series of risks that will decide Joe Dumars' fate, opines Shawn Windsor of the Detroit Free Press. Of course, Dumars and the Pistons might already be plotting to move on from Jennings, according to a report we passed along earlier today.