Suns Sign Archie Goodwin
The Suns announced they've signed No. 29 overall pick Archie Goodwin. He's in line for slightly more than $1MM, as our chart of likely first-round salaries shows. Phoenix acquired the rights to the No. 29 pick from the Thunder, via the Warriors, as part of a complex draft-night trade.
Goodwin was a highly ranked recruit entering his freshman year at Kentucky in 2012, though his lone season there was something of a disappointment. The shooting guard put up 14.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, but he shot just 26.6% from three-point range. He was widely seen as a second-round prospect as the draft approached, but he sneaked into the first-round, ensuring a guaranteed contract when he signed.
Last year's 29th overall pick, Marquis Teague, was the only first-rounder to receive less than 120% of his scale amount, so it's possible Goodwin is getting less than expected, but given that he was fairly quick to sign, I don't think that's the case.
Odds & Ends: Mavs, Harris, Kirilenko, Thibodeau
The past two summers haven't gone as planned for the Mavericks, but there's still no need to panic and trade Dirk Nowitzki, as Gil LeBreton of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram argues. LeBreton is confident the additions of Monta Ellis and Jose Calderon will help the team. Here's more on the Mavs, along with other news from the Association:
- A toe injury scuttled the deal between the Mavs and Devin Harris, but both team and player still have interest in coming to another agreement at some point in the offseason, according to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
- HoopsWorld's Joel Brigham looks at several affordable role players left on the free agent market, including Samuel Dalembert, who appears close to a deal with the Mavs.
- The Wolves' decision to replace David Kahn with Flip Saunders atop their front office played a role in Andrei Kirilenko's decision to opt out of his $10.2MM contract with Minnesota, the Nets signee tells Pavel Osipov of Sport-Express (translation via Alexander Chernykh of Rush'n Hoops; hat tip to NetsDaily).
- Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau might not be pleased with the team's decision to let go of close friend and assistant coach Ron Adams, but Thibs' says his relationship with GM Gar Forman is fine, notes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel answers reader questions and wonders whether Heat president Pat Riley's statement that he won't use the amnesty clause is brinksmanship designed to up the trade value of Mike Miller and Joel Anthony.
- A respected longtime NBA executive tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that Jahlil Okafor is the most skilled high school center he's ever scouted (Twitter link). Okafor is 17 years old, so he won't be draft-eligible until 2015.
- Lester Connor and Chris Farr are joining the Nuggets coaching staff, the Denver Post’s Chris Dempsey tweets.
Spencer Lund contributed to this post.
Pistons Trying To Land Rajon Rondo
The Pistons are interested in acquiring Rajon Rondo, and they'd like to package Brandon Knight and an expiring contract in a deal with the Celtics to get him, as Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe writes in his weekly league roundup. Still, that offer wouldn't come close to prying the point guard from Boston, Washburn notes.
It's not the first time we've heard the Pistons connected to Rondo. Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News said earler this month that the team would likely be at the front of the line if Boston makes its All-Star available, echoing a report from Ken Berger of CBSSports.com that the Pistons have made their interest clear. Celtics GM Danny Ainge insists he won't move Rondo this summer in spite of the departure of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and coach Doc Rivers, the team's other cornerstones.
Rondo, 27, is recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in late January, and he seems likely to miss the early portion of this coming season. He's locked up through 2015 on a team-friendly contract that will pay him $11,954,545 in 2013/14. Knight is entering the third season of his rookie-scale contract, and the Pistons have a pair of sizable expiring deals to pair with him. Charlie Villanueva and Rodney Stuckey are set to make about $8.5MM each. Detroit isn't planning on using the amnesty clause to get rid of Villanueva, which would allow the team to use him as a trade chip this season.
The Celtics acquired three first-round picks in their trade with the Nets, but Washburn writes that the Pistons couldn't add to Boston's haul of first-rounders. Detroit owes the Bobcats a first-round pick, and the protection attached to it extends through 2016. The Ted Stepien Rule, which prevents teams from trading first-round picks in consecutive seasons, would prevent the Pistons from sending out a first-rounder in one of the next few drafts, but I think they could give up a 2018 or 2019 first-round pick, if the Celtics are interested.
Knicks Rumors: Martin, Robinson, Jordan, Tyler
It sounds like the Knicks will fall short of landing Samuel Dalembert, who's close to a deal with the Mavs. As Knicks GM Glen Grunwald and company search for free agent help, they're limited to handing out no more than the $1.7MM portion of their mini mid-level exception that remains after the team used part of it to re-sign Pablo Prigioni. Still, the team has plenty of targets, as we detail:
- The Knicks are in the lead for Kenyon Martin, a source tells Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com. Since Martin played on the Knicks last season, the team can ink him using Non-Bird rights, but that would still provide a salary of no more than about $1.6MM.
- Nate Robinson, Aaron Brooks, Daniel Gibson, Charles Jenkins, John Lucas III, A.J. Price, Nolan Smith, Sebastian Telfair and Toure Murry are all point guards the Knicks are considering, Zwerling writes.
- Robinson would consider signing with the Knicks, but only if he doesn't receive a more lucrative offer from another team, reports Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. The team reached out to the diminuative point guard recently, but as we heard yesterday, a few other clubs have interest in him, too.
- Jerome Jordan, Liam McMorrow and Jeremy Tyler will draw close attention from the Knicks during the Las Vegas summer league, according to Zwerling. There's a "big chance" Tyler will draw an invitation to Knicks training camp, perhaps with a partial guarantee, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post.
- Mike Woodson is intent on keeping Carmelo Anthony at power forward, prompting the club to search for a veteran small forward to use alongside him. Zwerling points to Raja Bell, Josh Childress, Dahntay Jones, Metta World Peace, Mickael Pietrus and Shawne Williams as some of the small forwards drawing the Knicks' eye.
- Al Harrington, who seems to be drawing close to a buyout from the Magic, is another Knicks target, Berman adds.
Celtics, Phil Pressey Working On Deal
Shortly after the draft, the Celtics and Phil Pressey struck an arrangement for the summer, but now it appears they're working toward a more formal agreement. The two sides are discussing a one-year deal, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. The 5'11" point guard went undrafted out of Missouri last month.
Pressey averaged 9.4 points, 6.6 assists and 4.0 turnovers in 23.0 minutes of action per game during the Orlando summer league last week. Those numbers aren't eye-popping, but apparently the Celtics have seen enough to believe he can help them this coming season.
The Celtics haven't signed any free agents outright this summer, instead reshaping their team via the blockbuster trade that sent Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn. Boston could use a portion of its mid-level or biannual exceptions to accomodate a deal for Pressey, but I'd be surprised if he gets more than the minimum salary.
Jeff Teague Signs Offer Sheet With Bucks
SATURDAY, 4:27pm: Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times is hearing continued chatter that the Hawks won't match the offer sheet (Twitter link). The deadline is tonight.
WEDNESDAY, 11:37pm: It appears the Bucks need only to renounce their rights to Joel Przybilla to fit Teague's offer sheet under the cap, Stein tweets. If Teague has already signed the offer sheet, I'd presume the they've already renounced Przybilla, but we'll see if that's the case.
11:18pm: Teague has signed the offer sheet, Wojnarowski and fellow Yahoo! Sports scribe Marc J. Spears report.
10:32pm: Jeff Teague is set to sign a four-year, $32MM offer sheet with the Bucks, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Once he signs and the Hawks are notified, Atlanta will have three days to match the offer. The teams appeared to be pursuing sign-and-trade options, but once Teague puts pen to paper on the offer sheet, that option will disappear.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported earlier today that the Bucks were preparing the offer sheet, and he wondered if that was a tactic designed to spur sign-and-trade negotiations. Either way, it appears the Hawks aren't willing to play along. The Bucks may have to make some maneuvers before Teague can sign the offer sheet, particularly since the team is about to absorb Luke Ridnour's $4.32MM salary via trade. Grantland's Zach Lowe pointed out earlier that the team would likely have to clear some space, pointing to a Drew Gooden amnesty as a possibility. Renouncing the rights to Brandon Jennings could also do the trick, and with Teague, Ridnour and O.J. Mayo set to join the backcourt, I wouldn't be surprised if letting go of Jennings is the way Milwaukee goes. The team has already renounced its rights to Monta Ellis.
Teague will presumably sign the offer sheet Thursday, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times, leaving little time for the Bucks to make corresponding moves. The danger in letting go of Jennings and Ellis would be the possibility that Atlanta would match the offer sheet, although sources told Lowe that the Hawks have little regard for Teague. The point guard's camp was reportedly growing frustrated by Atlanta's lack of meaningful negotiation.
The ASM Sports client's numbers have gone up across the board in each year since his rookie campaign, and last year he put up 14.6 points and 7.2 assists per game with a 16.8 PER. Despite his steady improvement, it looks like he'll fall short of the money many of his peers from the 2009 draft class landed in long-term extensions last fall.
Nuggets Among Teams Eyeing Nate Robinson
4:21pm: The Wizards, Bucks, Mavericks and Lakers have also shown interest in Robinson, HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy tweets. The Lakers and Mavs have signed a few other guards in recent days, prompting Kennedy to wonder if they're still in on Robinson (Twitter link).
2:33pm: The Nuggets are letting it be known that they have "certifiable interest" in Nate Robinson, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Robinson, who spent last season on a minimum-salary contract with the Bulls, has been linked to the Knicks, Wolves, Pacers at various points this month. The Bulls, under financial constraints, offered him another minimum-salary deal to return, but it seems clear that won't be happening. Coach Tom Thibodeau would have reservations about bringing him back anyway, as Stein notes in a second tweet.
The explosive 5'9" guard had moments of brilliance in the postseason, scoring 34 points in a game against the Nets, but showed his inconsistency as well, delivering a scoreless, 0-for-12 performance in Game Four of Chicago's series with the Heat. Still, when I examined his free agent stock, I thought the Aaron Goodwin client would merit an annual salary in the range of the the $3.183MM taxpayer's mid-level exception.
Denver let go of Andre Iguodala this summer, but with J.J. Hickson and Randy Foye coming aboard, the team still figures to be capped out. That means the team could offer Robinson a part of the larger non-taxpayer's mid-level, though with the Bulls, Knicks and Pacers probably out of the running and limited chatter about the Wolves or other suitors, it could be that the Nuggets wind up with Robinson for little more than the minimum salary. They'd still need to use either the mid-level or the biannual exception to give him that, but they'd preserve flexibility for another addition.
Robinson, a 40.5% three-point shooter last season, would add long-distance shooting to a Denver team that missed that element in 2012/13. He can play either guard position, but his lack of height could be a problem against taller shooting guards, so the team's interest in him lends further credence to the idea that backup point guard Andre Miller is on the trading block.
Kings Sign Ben McLemore
The Kings have signed Ben McLemore, having tweeted a picture of the No. 7 pick putting pen to paper on his rookie-scale contract. He's in line for a first-year salary close to $2.9MM, as our salary chart for first-round picks shows. That would be the standard 120% of his rookie-scale amount.
McLemore was a strong candidate to go as high as No. 2 much of this spring, and seemed to be in the mix for the No. 1 pick within 10 days of the draft. He slipped to Sacramento at No. 7, and it appears the Kings have big plans for him, having parted ways with Tyreke Evans, the incumbent starter at his position.
The shooting guard from Kansas selected Rodney Blackstock as an agent, and controversy surrounded McLemore's camp as the draft approached. McLemore has also shown inconsistency on the court, as Alex Lee of Hoops Rumors pointed out when he examined the two-guard's prospect profile. Still, as a shooter who draws comparisons to Ray Allen and Bradley Beal, there's plenty of upside.
Nuggets Hire Arturas Karnisovas As Assistant GM
The Nuggets have reached an agreement with Rockets director of player personnel Arturas Karnisovas to bring him aboard as assistant GM in Denver, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. Karnisovas will join new GM Tim Connelly with the Nuggets, who've overhauled their front office this summer. The Rockets, too, are enduring changes, having already lost executive vice president Sam Hinkie to the Sixers, where he's the new GM.
Karnisovas joined the Rockets as an international scout in 2008 after a playing career that gave him insight on the landscape in North America as well as overseas. The Lithuanian played collegiately for P.J. Carlesimo at Seton Hall before embarking on a professional career that saw him reach the Euroleague Final Four on three occasions.
The Nuggets lost GM Masai Ujiri to the Raptors this spring, while Pete D'Alessandro, Ujiri's top aide, became the new GM of the Kings. The team also replaced coach George Karl with Pacers assistant Brian Shaw.
Roundup Of International ‘Draft-And-Stash’ Players
The Nets were close to bringing 2011 second-round draft pick Bojan Bogdanovic aboard this summer, but their deal fell through. Still, it seems Bogdanovic is destined to arrive in the NBA at some point, unlike many players like him. The Magic took Spain's Fran Vazquez 10th overall in 2005, at the height of the boom in international draftees. Vazquez hasn't played a minute in the NBA, and the Magic's use of a lottery pick on him represents perhaps the most prominent and unsuccessful example of the so-called "draft-and-stash" strategy in NBA history.
The decision to draft a player from overseas and allow him to develop outside the NBA doesn't always bear fruit, but sometimes teams come away with a gem. That's what happened to the Spurs when they took Manu Ginobili with the next-to-last pick in the 1999 draft and let him play elsewhere for three years. Three championships, two All-Star Games and a Sixth Man of the Year award later, the arrangement appears to have worked out just fine for San Antonio.
Often, teams trade their rights to those "draft-and-stash" players, and sometimes those prospects are sent in lieu of future draft picks to clubs unwilling to take on salary as part of the exchange. That happened at the trade deadline this year, when the Grizzlies sent Ricky Sanchez to the Heat. Teams continue to deal their draft rights to overseas players, with Kostas Papanikolaou heading from the Blazers to the Rockets, and Houston sending Furkan Aldemir to the Sixers in deals that were finalized this week.
NBA teams can keep the draft rights to players in perpetuity, and some prospects who were drafted more than a decade ago still remain tied to NBA teams despite never having played stateside. It's possible that one of those long-unsigned draftees will eventually make it to the NBA, but it certainly doesn't seem likely for anyone taken before 2005, when the the Magic spent a lottery pick on Vazquez. So, we'll use 2005 as the cutoff point on our list of "draft-and-stash" players to whom teams hold rights. They're listed by team, with details on how their NBA clubs acquired their rights, as well as their whereabouts during the 2012/13 season.
76ers
- Furkan Aldemir: Drafted 53rd by the Clippers in 2012; traded to the Rockets on June 29th, 2012. Sixers have an agreement in place to acquire him from the Rockets. Spent 2012/13 with Galatasaray in Turkey.
Bobcats
- None
Bucks
- None
Bulls
- Vladimir Veremeenko: Drafted 48th by the Wizards in 2006; traded to the Bulls on July 8th, 2010. Spent 2012/13 with UNICS Kazan in Russia.
- Nikola Mirotic: Drafted 23rd by the Rockets in 2011; traded to the Timberwolves on June 24th, 2011; traded to the Bulls on June 24th, 2011. Spent 2012/13 with Real Madrid in Spain.
Cavaliers
- Ejike Ugboaja: Drafted 55th by the Cavaliers in 2006. Spent 2012/13 with Juventus in Lithuania.
- Milan Macvan: Drafted 54th by the Cavaliers in 2011. Spent 2012/13 with Galatasaray in Turkey.
Celtics
- None
Clippers
- None
Grizzlies
- None
Hawks
- Cenk Akyol: Drafted 59th by the Hawks in 2005. Spent 2012/13 with Galatasaray in Turkey.
- Sergiy Gladyr: Drafted 49th by the Hawks in 2009. Spent 2012/13 with Baloncesto Fuenlabrada in Spain.
Heat
- Ricky Sanchez: Drafted 35th by the Trail Blazers in 2005; traded to the Nuggets on June 28th, 2005; traded to the Sixers on September 10th, 2007; traded to the Grizzlies on March 15th, 2012; traded to the Heat on February 21st, 2013. Split 2012/13 between Cangrejeros de Santurce in Puerto Rico and Libertad in Argentina.
Jazz
- Ante Tomic: Drafted 44th by the Jazz in 2008. Spent 2012/13 with FC Barcelona Regal in Spain.
Kings
- None
Knicks
- None
Lakers
- None
Magic
- Fran Vazquez: Drafted 11th by the Magic in 2005. Spent 2012/13 with Unicaja Malaga in Spain.
- Milovan Rakovic: Drafted 60th by the Mavericks in 2007; traded to the Magic on June 28th, 2007. Spent 2012/13 with Bilbao Basket in Spain.
Mavericks
- Petteri Koponen: Drafted 30th by the Sixers in 2007; traded to the Trail Blazers on June 28th, 2007; traded to the Mavericks on June 23rd, 2011. Spent 2012/13 with Khimki BC.
- Renaldas Seibutis: Drafted 50th by the Mavericks in 2007. Spent 2012/13 with Lietuvos Rytas.
- Tadija Dragicevic: Drafted 53rd by the Jazz in 2008; traded to the Mavericks on June 29th, 2012. Spent 2012/13 with Azovmash Mariupol in Ukraine.
Nets
- Bojan Bogdanovic: Drafted 31st by the Heat in 2011; traded to the Timberwolves on June 24th, 2011; traded to the Nets on June 24th, 2011. Spent 2012/13 with Fenerbahce Ulker in Turkey.
- Ilkan Karaman: Drafted 57th by the Nets in 2012. Spent 2012/13 with Fenerbahce Ulker in Turkey.
Nuggets
- Chukwudiebere Maduabum: Drafted 56th by the Lakers in 2011; traded to the Nuggets on June 23rd, 2011. Did not play in 2012/13.
- Izzet Turkyilmaz: Drafted 50th by the Nuggets in 2012. Spent 2012/13 with Banvitspor in Turkey.
Pacers
- Stanko Barac: Drafted 39th by the Heat in 2007; traded to the Pacers on June 28th, 2007. Spent 2012/13 with Anadolu Efes in Turkey.
Pelicans
- Edin Bavcic: Drafted 56th by the Raptors in 2006; traded to the Sixers on June 28th, 2006; traded to the Pelicans on July 11th, 2012. Split 2012/13 between KAOD-BC in Greece and CSP Limoges in France.
Pistons
- None
Raptors
- Tomislav Zubcic: Drafted 56th by the Raptors in 2012. Split 2012/13 between Lietuvos Rytas in Lithuania and KK Cibona in Croatia.
Rockets
- Axel Hervelle: Drafted 52nd by the Nuggets in 2005; traded to the Rockets on September 22nd, 2009. Spent 2012/13 with Bilbao Basket in Spain.
- Brad Newley: Drafted 54th by the Rockets in 2007. Spent 2012/13 with CB Gran Canaria in Spain.
- Sergio Llull: Drafted 34th by the Nuggets in 2009; traded to the Rockets on June 25th, 2009. Spent 2012/13 with Real Madrid in Spain.
- Kostas Papanikolaou: Drafted 48th by the Knicks in 2012; traded to the Trail Blazers on July 16th, 2012; traded to the Rockets on July 10th, 2013. Spent 2012/13 with Olympiacos in Greece.
Spurs
- Erazem Lorbek: Drafted 46th by the Pacers in 2005; traded to the Spurs on June 23rd, 2011. Spent 2012/13 with FC Barcelona Regal in Spain.
- Ryan Richards: Drafted 49th by the Spurs in 2010. Split 2012/13 between BC Vienna in Austria and Asseco Prokom Gdynia in Poland.
- Davis Bertans: Drafted 42nd by the Pacers in 2011; traded to the Spurs on June 23rd, 2011. Spent 2012/13 with KK Partizan in Serbia.
- Adam Hanga: Drafted 59th by the Spurs in 2011. Spent 2012/13 with Assignia Manresa in Spain.
Suns
- None
Thunder
- Yotam Halperin: Drafted 53rd by the then-SuperSonics in 2006. Spent 2012/13 with FC Bayern Muenchen in Germany.
- Giorgos Printezis: Drafted 58th by the Spurs in 2007; traded to the Raptors on June 28th, 2007; traded to the Mavericks on January 4th, 2011; traded to the Knicks on December 10th, 2011; traded to the Thunder on February 21st, 2013. Spent 2012/13 with Olympiacos in Greece.
- Tibor Pleiss: Drafted 31st by the Nets in 2010; traded to the Hawks on June 24th, 2010; traded to the Thunder on June 24th, 2010. Spent 2012/13 with Caja Laboral in Spain.
Timberwolves
- Loukas Mavrokefalidis: Drafted 57th by the Timberwolves in 2006. Split 2012/13 between Spartak St. Petersburg in Russia and FC Barcelona Regal in Spain.
- Lior Eliyahu: Drafted 44th by the Hawks in 2006; traded to the Rockets on June 28th, 2006; traded to the Timberwolves on June 26th, 2012. Spent 2012/13 with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel.
- Henk Norel: Drafted 47th by the Timberwolves in 2009. Spent 2012/13 with CAI Zaragoza in Spain.
- Nemanja Bjelica: Drafted 35th by the Wizards in 2010; traded to the Timberwolves on June 24, 2010. Spent 2012/13 with Caja Laboral in Spain.
- Paulao Prestes: Drafted 45th by the Timberwolves in 2010. Split 2012/13 between Uniceub-BRB-Brasilia in Brazil and CB Gran Canaria in Spain.
- Tanguy Ngombo: Drafted 57th by the Mavericks in 2011; traded to the Trail Blazers on June 23rd, 2011; traded to the Timberwolves on June 27th, 2011. Did not play in 2012/13.
Trail Blazers
- None
Warriors
- Ognjen Kuzmic: Drafted 52nd by the Warriors in 2012. Spent 2012/13 with FIATC Mutua Joventut in Spain
Wizards
- Tomas Satoransky: Drafted 32nd by the Wizards in 2012. Spent 2012/13 with Cajasol Banca Civica in Spain.
- Emir Preldzic: Drafted 57th by the Suns in 2009; traded to the Cavaliers on June 26th, 2009; traded to the Wizards on February 17th, 2010. Spent 2012/13 with Fenerbahce Ulker in Turkey.
RealGM.com was used in the creation of this post.